Levi Dalton
Levi Dalton
Awhile back I visited the Dominus property, near the town of Yountville. On this visit I discovered what the difference is between the Dominus Estate bottling and the Dominus Napanook, the later being the less expensive wine. Originally the Napanook was a selection of younger vine parcels, but this hasn't been true for some time.
First the situation on the ground:
The Dominus property is 124 acres in total, and is planted today to 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, with the remainder made up of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. The Merlot that was once planted at the property has been mostly pulled up, and there hasn't been any Merlot in the wine since 2002. All of the newer plantings run east-west (while the oldest parcel, in front of the winery building, runs north-south). They decided to plant east-west to lower the sun exposure and risk of sun burn on the grapes. The plantings are trained to what they call a "double-double cordon", which is like a dense lyre training. By splitting the canopy like this their aim is to have more leaf coverage of the fruit. Typically they don't pull leaves at Dominus, although they did do so in 2010. They don't irrigate at Dominus.
And the winemaking:
The grapes go through an optical sorter as they arrive at the winery, and one of the functions of the sorter is to sort out sunburnt grapes. They also hand sort after the optical sorting.
Tod Mostero has been the head winemaker at Dominus since 2007. All the wines are vinifited in steel, and also malo is in steel. They destem 100%.
A side by side tasting:
Both bottles were direct from the winery cellar, and were opened and double decanted 4 hours prior to our tasting.
2010 was a really intense year with the heat, and they lost the Cab Franc grapes that year.
2010 Dominus "Napanook":
This is 98% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% Petit Verdot.
The nost is a bit green, with a green herbal edge on the palate as well. The palate is red fruit dominant, with a saccharine note of brown sugar. The fruit is plump, and there is an orange brulee hint in the mid-palate. There is some brightness to the wine, though, as well as a cedar tone. There is an evolution in the glass, as red licorice moves to more black licorice, as well as blueberry.
2010 Dominus Estate:
Cedar spice on those nose (they use the same cooperage source as for the Bordeaux properties). Deeper than the Napanook, but not heavy or dense on the palate. Very classy stuff. There are very refined tannins- perhaps this was an aspect that appealed to Robert Parker when he gave this wine 100 points. Brown sugar hint on the nose. Some green pepper. Bing cherry and blueberries. There is some alcohol behind this, but it doesn't show noticeably, and really what sets this apart is the texture, which is refined.
And the big reveal:
Basically, the Dominus Estate and the Dominus Napanook are sourced from the same vines. It is true that the very oldest vines only go into the Estate wine, but it is a small percentage. What the difference is for the remainder is that when they pick the vine rows of the split canopy, the rows that sit in the afternoon shade go into the Estate wine, while the sun side rows go into the Napanook. That's right, the riper fruit off the same vines goes into the less expensive wine. They also pick for Napanook about a week earlier than they do for the Estate wines. They do a long malo in steel at controlled temperature.
My takeaway from this was Dominus' approach to ripeness: they'd like less of it. They pulled out the Merlot, which ripens easier. They changed the row orientation. They split the canopy for increased leaf coverage. They don't irrigate. They pick the riper fruit earlier. They double check for sun burn on the grapes and sort it out. The edge, for my palate, in a hot year like 2010 went to the Estate wine, which is to say the grapes that saw less sun. Interestingly, Robert Parker agreed with this assessment, although perhaps for different reasons than myself.
Something to think about: a top Napa property that is doing what it can to eschew ripeness.
First the situation on the ground:
The Dominus property is 124 acres in total, and is planted today to 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, with the remainder made up of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. The Merlot that was once planted at the property has been mostly pulled up, and there hasn't been any Merlot in the wine since 2002. All of the newer plantings run east-west (while the oldest parcel, in front of the winery building, runs north-south). They decided to plant east-west to lower the sun exposure and risk of sun burn on the grapes. The plantings are trained to what they call a "double-double cordon", which is like a dense lyre training. By splitting the canopy like this their aim is to have more leaf coverage of the fruit. Typically they don't pull leaves at Dominus, although they did do so in 2010. They don't irrigate at Dominus.
And the winemaking:
The grapes go through an optical sorter as they arrive at the winery, and one of the functions of the sorter is to sort out sunburnt grapes. They also hand sort after the optical sorting.
Tod Mostero has been the head winemaker at Dominus since 2007. All the wines are vinifited in steel, and also malo is in steel. They destem 100%.
A side by side tasting:
Both bottles were direct from the winery cellar, and were opened and double decanted 4 hours prior to our tasting.
2010 was a really intense year with the heat, and they lost the Cab Franc grapes that year.
2010 Dominus "Napanook":
This is 98% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% Petit Verdot.
The nost is a bit green, with a green herbal edge on the palate as well. The palate is red fruit dominant, with a saccharine note of brown sugar. The fruit is plump, and there is an orange brulee hint in the mid-palate. There is some brightness to the wine, though, as well as a cedar tone. There is an evolution in the glass, as red licorice moves to more black licorice, as well as blueberry.
2010 Dominus Estate:
Cedar spice on those nose (they use the same cooperage source as for the Bordeaux properties). Deeper than the Napanook, but not heavy or dense on the palate. Very classy stuff. There are very refined tannins- perhaps this was an aspect that appealed to Robert Parker when he gave this wine 100 points. Brown sugar hint on the nose. Some green pepper. Bing cherry and blueberries. There is some alcohol behind this, but it doesn't show noticeably, and really what sets this apart is the texture, which is refined.
And the big reveal:
Basically, the Dominus Estate and the Dominus Napanook are sourced from the same vines. It is true that the very oldest vines only go into the Estate wine, but it is a small percentage. What the difference is for the remainder is that when they pick the vine rows of the split canopy, the rows that sit in the afternoon shade go into the Estate wine, while the sun side rows go into the Napanook. That's right, the riper fruit off the same vines goes into the less expensive wine. They also pick for Napanook about a week earlier than they do for the Estate wines. They do a long malo in steel at controlled temperature.
My takeaway from this was Dominus' approach to ripeness: they'd like less of it. They pulled out the Merlot, which ripens easier. They changed the row orientation. They split the canopy for increased leaf coverage. They don't irrigate. They pick the riper fruit earlier. They double check for sun burn on the grapes and sort it out. The edge, for my palate, in a hot year like 2010 went to the Estate wine, which is to say the grapes that saw less sun. Interestingly, Robert Parker agreed with this assessment, although perhaps for different reasons than myself.
Something to think about: a top Napa property that is doing what it can to eschew ripeness.
