So, it’s been a while since my last post – almost three months. Life’s been busy. So busy, in fact, I opened one helluva bottle the other night with my beautiful wife to take a breather and relax.
The bottle that we opened, was a 1997 St. Supery ‘Elu’. Both this wine and the vineyard are special to us, as it was one of the first vineyards we ever visited and one that we’ve consistently loved since we first tasted their wines and visited the winery.
ABOUT THE WINERY
St. Supéry is a family-owned estate winery in the heart of Napa Valley, recognized for outstanding Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Élu & Virtú blends. Their Dollarhide property is a historic cattle and horse ranch nestled among the hills of Napa Valley. The Rutherford property became the home of the winery and first class Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards.
Beyond the wines themselves (which are fantastic), it’s the people who make St. Supery special. During our initial visit, we met Nick who was working the tasting bar. Nick was who ‘convinced us’ to try almost all of the wines on the tasting menu that day, and besides the buzz we were able to taste the full array of wines that St. Supery makes. Both of these things improved our opinion of St. Supery. We signed up for the wine club that day (surprise), and soon after we started to recieve our wine shipments in the mail. This too, allowed for us to taste all that they offer, and apprecate them even more.
St. Supery also hosts some wonderful events for their wine club members too – such as an Elu blending and release party and more. Their events are NOT to be missed. On our most recent visit, they were hosting their 20th Anniversary party, and I actually won a 6 liter bottle of 2003 Cabernet for correctly guessing a blind taste test of 4 of their wines. Add this to the fact that we could bring guests there for free when they visited us, and you had a winning combination.
ABOUT THE WINE
The Elu is a red Meritage (pronounced like ‘Heritage’) which is a blend of two or more of the red “noble” Bordeaux varieties — Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Merlot, and Petit Verdot.
While each year’s blend is different, the 1997 is a blend of 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot, 1% Cabernet Franc @ 14.2% alcohol.
My tasting notes are as follows:
- Has a very ‘brick’ color – thinning around the rim – most likely due to the age.
- Starts off very light and lean. The fruit is secondary at opening, in relation to the tannins.
- The oak nose is still very powerful after 13 years. Not piercing or overpowering, just prominent and typical to all St. Supery reds.
- For it’s age, it opens very quickly (<30 mins) to begin to reveal a wonderful bouquet of rich red fruits and chocolate.
- Throughout all of this, there is a herbal aspect that permeates the nose.
- 2 hours in, the wine was still opening rather than fading. Up to the last glass, it was going strong and actually the best yet.
- Overall, this is a ridiculously enjoyable wine that has stood the test of time and patience.
Lastly, a very interesting side aspect of the Elu (and twin white Virtu blend) is the beautiful labels that vary from year to year:
There are two things – for me – that set a winery apart from the rest (in this order):
- Their wines kick ass.
- The winery either doesn’t know or doesn’t care that they could be charging 50%+ more than they do.
This small Stags Leap vineyard has certainly grown thru the years and branched out, and for the best. When we went, there were 4 wines that Baldacci produced (pictured below).
We recently opened our 2002 ‘Brenda’s Vineyard’ Cabernet Sauvignon, which has certainly aged very well. It opens with a beautiful, refined oaky nose. It’s warm, spicy, and luscious – revealing cloves and a slight orange citrus. There’s a subtle mocha and cola aspect that lies underneath all of this, complimenting it all the way. The tannins and fruit are beautifully intertwined and balanced. The fruit is lucious and deep. Cherries, anise, currants, and cassis. This wine is a winner.
Of these new wines, I’ve only had the 2005 Allwin Syrah becuase I just had to know what it was like. Anyone who knows me knows that Syrah is my favorite grape. It’s so versatile, robust, blendable, and thankfully underrated for what you get.It has a warm, soft oak, that envelops everything without overpowering it. I really am a fan of the oak that they use and/or their methods. Oak can make or break a wine, and in too many cases its used as a crutch to cover sins. This is the opposite of that. Its a highly complimentary aspect, which assists rather than overshadows.
This all leads into a huge strawberry and blueberry fruit flavor profile, with beautiful eucalyptus and menthol notes. This wine is wicked tannic, mouth coating, luscious. It’s a big dog, and I’d expect nothing less from them.
The next time we visit the Valley, this is a place that we plan on spending some time at. I’m interested in tasting their whole portfolio, and hopefully a few library wines as well.
If you are in the Valley, and are interested in visiting them (which I highly advise), you’ll need an appointment :
6236 Silverado Trail, Napa, CA 94558
707-944-9261
Info@BaldacciVineyards.com
Open daily from 10AM to 4PM.
Life’s a little different now.
When we lived in CA, we didn’t have any kids…which meant we could come and go in the Valley as we pleased. Now we have kids. 
Between my job and our love of wine, we frequent Napa & SF as a vacation destination. Therefore, every time I get on a plane, it happens to be going to ‘Californ’ (as my 3 year old pronounces it). Since she keeps asking me if she could go to ‘Californ’ one day…we decided to take her on our anniversary trip to SF & Napa this year. What a great idea. There’s nothing like seeing places you’ve been 100 times like seeing it through a childs’ eyes for the first time.
We now had to seek out some ‘kid friendly wineries’ if we wanted to take Addy anywhere – and one that came *highly* recommended is Dutch Henry Winery in Calistoga.
(Side note – if you are interested in hearing about our other experiences at ‘kid friendly wineries’ in Napa Valley, leave me a comment or email me and I’ll get back to you, as this post is just about Dutch Henry.)
Dutch Henry Winery is a little further up the Silverado Trail in Calistoga, which is never a bad thing. I prefer the Silverado Trail for everything from getting up/down the valley to the ‘type’ of wineries to visit – as it’s much less touristy than Hiway 29.
When we went in late September, it was about 100 degrees out, but luckily the tasting room was nice and cool as it is essentially setup inside a warehouse. They did a real nice job making it into a ‘tasting room’ though still – from the decor to the layout. It had a cool and welcoming feel to it.
I forget the gentleman’s name who poured for us and walked us thru the wines Dutch Henry offers, but he was very nice with a good, dry sense of humor – so that wasn’t lost on us. He warmed right up to Addison, and made sure that she was welcome and comfortable. They also never complained when she ate about a DOZEN small slices of bread meant to be sampled with their olive oil. It was much appreciated as it kept her happy and full (ie quiet).
The full array of wines was impressive – each very different from the prior – and all were slightly ‘different’ than the run of the mill Cabernet or Merlot you’ll taste in a tasting room line up. While I won’t compare the wines, the style of having a refreshingly different ‘take’ on each varietal reminds me of Artesa, who does the same thing. Its hard to explain, but essentially after a while the nuances from winery to winery are rather small. Certain places, and Dutch Henry is one of them, add a little ‘twist’ to the wines they produce which make them THOROUGHLY enjoyable.
Two wines that stood out to us the most was the Rose (Cab Franc, I believe) and the ‘05 Napa Merlot. The Rose we drank within a week of getting home – as we had a few SUPER hot days here in MA – and it was perfect. Tart, lucious, not over the top, refreshing yet with good body.
As for the Merlot – I can’t find the winemaker’s tasting notes online, but I believe that it’s a Merlot-driven Bordeaux blend rather than a pure Merlot – and it’s friggin’ awesome. I actually wish that I would have let it sit a little longer in the basement to settle down (or that I just had some more of it), as it never quit.
While we were there, it was the standout from the lineup. The other wines – Syrah, Cabs, etc – were all great, but this one was balanced with great fruit structure and power. I loved it.
Tonight, the wine was a little different at first than what I remembered in the tasting room, but they ALWAYS are. Mid-bottle though, it was back to what I remembered – which was friggin’ awesome.
It opened with a very interesting nose, consisting of deeeeep dark chocolate and (of all things) a savoryness that resembled something between BBQ and beef and broccolli. I know that sounds crazy, but it wasn’t a bad thing at all…it was just a very deep and savory scent.
After 10-15 minutes, the wine began to loosen up, and a powerful chocolate covered cherry flavor emerged. The tannins began to emerge and become slowly but surely more refined and really counter-balanced the tartness of the cherry fruit.
The next ‘phase’ was a woodsy, cedary, sage, and spiciness that appeared. Again, this added further complexity and depth to the wine. Did I mention that it had a nice, loooong, finish as well?
The bottle ended (yes, we drank the whole bottle) with a beautiful ‘cola’ aspect to it, which really rounded everything out and made this wine super enjoyable all around.
We drank this with grilled skin-on, bone-in chicken breast, gnocchi w/ brown butter sage, and roasted broccolli w/ parm cheese – oh, and it was friggin’ awesome!
Great job guys – all around. Dutch Henry was super welcoming and accommodating when we were there, and the wines surpass all of the ‘mass market’ stuff out there. There is an attention to detail and a style to their wines that will make us keep coming back.
Cheers!