Robert Dentice
Robert Dentice
Wow! Wow! Wow!
In SF for work this week and luckily I finished early yesterday and an eager colleague drove me out to Fairfield to see Abe and crew. We tasted through all of the 2012 wines in various stages of evolution with Abe and interns Andrew (former French Laundry Chef) and Brenna (former Sommelier) . The 2012 wines are alive, energetic, balanced and thrilling! I love them! Lower ABV by a significant margin for Abe, lots of acid and Abe is tinkering with his S02 regimes. I could not be more excited for the 2012s!
The Glos might be the best ever and production is up significantly (24 cases!).
We also tasted some amazing reds including a 2011 Sangiovese Merlot blend and Chuey. The Sangiovese blend reminded me of a Paolo Bea and the Chue is a wonderful cool climate Cabernet that has some violet aromatics that remind me of a Allemand or Dard & Ribo syrah. The reds would go really well with some slammin duck too bad I do not eat meat.
I also asked to taste some problem children (Abe always has a few in the winery). We tasted a very funky barrel of Sylphs that I loved - I joked it might be the first ever hipster chard made from $10,000 per ton grapes.
After a typical Abe tasting Marathon we drove into Napa and had an amazing meal at Oenotri where we drank a beautiful spicey Laura Aschero Pigato, a Miani Friulanao that Abe nailed blind and a 04 Gravner Ribolla.
Normally I would not post on these wines here but I think the 2012 vintage will appeal to some here.
In SF for work this week and luckily I finished early yesterday and an eager colleague drove me out to Fairfield to see Abe and crew. We tasted through all of the 2012 wines in various stages of evolution with Abe and interns Andrew (former French Laundry Chef) and Brenna (former Sommelier) . The 2012 wines are alive, energetic, balanced and thrilling! I love them! Lower ABV by a significant margin for Abe, lots of acid and Abe is tinkering with his S02 regimes. I could not be more excited for the 2012s!
The Glos might be the best ever and production is up significantly (24 cases!).
We also tasted some amazing reds including a 2011 Sangiovese Merlot blend and Chuey. The Sangiovese blend reminded me of a Paolo Bea and the Chue is a wonderful cool climate Cabernet that has some violet aromatics that remind me of a Allemand or Dard & Ribo syrah. The reds would go really well with some slammin duck too bad I do not eat meat.
I also asked to taste some problem children (Abe always has a few in the winery). We tasted a very funky barrel of Sylphs that I loved - I joked it might be the first ever hipster chard made from $10,000 per ton grapes.
After a typical Abe tasting Marathon we drove into Napa and had an amazing meal at Oenotri where we drank a beautiful spicey Laura Aschero Pigato, a Miani Friulanao that Abe nailed blind and a 04 Gravner Ribolla.
Normally I would not post on these wines here but I think the 2012 vintage will appeal to some here.
