onefortywines

2004 Duckhorn Three Palms Merlot

The Winery

I forget how I first learned about Duckhorn, but I knew about them early enough on in my wine ‘career’ to know to visit them when we first went to the Valley on our honeymoon.  When I was setting up places to visit – I called Duckhorn, inquired about a tour and tasting, and mentioned (literally just mentioned) that we were on our honeymoon.

The unexpected, and impressive, thing was when we arrived at the vineyard and the treatment that we received – for free, nonetheless.  We were treated to a private guided tour of the facilities & barrel room by the winemaker, and a private tasting in a reserved ‘board room’.

On just about every return visit to the Valley, we would go on our own or take our guests for a tasting.  While the experience wasn’t the same as our honeymoon (how could it be), we were always given a ‘red carpet’ treatment which is standard to all their guests and simply the way they do business.

The property and grounds are beautiful, well manicured, and simply relaxed and welcoming.  You honestly feel like you are visiting your friends house in the Valley instead of a winery.  There is a warm fireplace upon entering, a giant atrium for tasting, and a big wrap-around farmers porch all around the house.

Personally, I think that Duckhorn wines are in a bit of a transitional period since they were acquired by GI Partners in 2007.  Volume has significantly increased, and they have launched a few new off-shoot brands like Paraduxx and Goldeneye to maximize profit.  I’ve primarily noticed this in the Sauvignon Blanc (the ‘07 and the ‘08), and the ‘06 Merlot – and I’m interested to see how it affects the rest of the portfolio going forward.

The Vineyard

In the late 1800s, the land that is now home to the Three Palms Vineyard was a residence for famed San Francisco socialite Lillie Hitchcock Coit. She left her mark on San Francisco in the form of Coit Tower. She left her mark on the Napa Valley in the form of three lone palm trees, which were all that remained from her estate after the house fell into disuse and ruin. The 83-acre vineyard is located on the northeast side of the Napa Valley in an alluvial fan created by the outwash of Selby Creek where it spills out of Dutch Henry Canyon. The site is covered with volcanic stones washed down over the centuries from the canyon. The soil is rocky and well drained, causing the vines to send their roots far, wide, and deep to find the necessary nutrients and water. The stones aid the vineyard, absorbing the sun’s heat during the day and radiating the heat during the night to protect the vines during frost season and help ripen the fruit.

The Wine

Duckhorn may say it makes ‘Merlot’ or ‘Cabernet’, but they focus on Bordeaux style wines which means that they always blend to balance and provide a consistent product.  The 2004’s blend is:

• 75% Merlot
• 10% Cabernet Sauvignon
• 9% Petit Verdot
• 5% Cabernet Franc
• 1% Malbec

There is a surprising amount of Petite Verdot in this – 9% – which is equal to the amount of Cabernet.  I’ve never seen a Bordeaux blend with more than 2-4% or Petite Verdot, so I’m assuming that the Merlot was a little too soft on it’s own, as Petite Verdot is a real peppery-licorice powered grape.  It adds that deep, dark complexity to a wine, and can be overpowering if not done carefully.

When I first opened the bottle and smelled inside – it literally smelled like a raw steak.  Usually, you get oak and cork at this stage, so I don’t even know why I do it to be honest.  I did find it interesting though.

There is a beautiful blueberry and violet nose at open.  A nice cassis comes in as well, with very subtle oak. This screams Napa terrior on the nose.

A cherry tartness is prominent at first taste. Slight mint or wintergreen, ever so subtle, most likely a byproduct from the oak.  Lite body, not very viscous, which is not what I expected and I’m not sure how I feel about it either.  My wife, however, loves this wine from the get go, so my palette might just be mis-firing – but my nose knows.

There was a weird tannin/bitterness battle at first, but it will subsided once the wine opens and warms up from the cellar.

The wine eventually settles into a deeply tannic, dark, minty, earthy, wine with a nice cola touch to it.  The blend really hinders tying it to one varietal over the other, which is essentially the goal.  It’s a nicely blended wine, which is NOTHING what I expected to be.  Its a nice touch, and something to enjoy with each sip.

Whitehall Lane Winery & Vineyards is located is right on Highway 29 (the winery ’strip’ in Napa Valley).  We’ve visited twice, a few years apart, and both trips were highly enjoyable due to the tasting room staff and especially the wines!

I’m admittedly more of a fan of wineries which are “off the beaten path”, b/c I think that they generally offer more character and value than the mass market wineries.  However, Whitehall Lane hasn’t been tainted by it’s location, and it still operates – both in the character of the people AND the wines – like a smaller boutique winery focusing on quality and value.

While I believe that WHL has decent annual production, you don’t see it everywhere on the east coast.  Due to this, it’s admittedly a winery that kinda fell off my radar for a while.  Whenever I see it as I troll the aisles, I do actually think “I like those guys”, but I just never think to pick it up.  This is a big mistake on my part, and tonight I fixed that by buying the 2006 WLH Cabernet Sauvignon.

This wine is 88% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Merlot, and 5% Malbec.  Now let me preface this entire review with the fact that I am NOT a malbec fan.  To me, it is too sugary and too tannic.  It’s just too much of everything, and not enough of the others.  Because of this, I am sensitive to it and it can ruin a wine for me.  Luckily, this is NOT the case with the ‘06 Whitehall Lane Cabernet Sauvignon b/c the Cabernet and Merlot fruit have really made up for it.

There is essentially 2.5 “stages” to the wine:

• Up front there is a big, round, fruity, and friendly Napa Cab
• The 0.5 stage is the Merlot that bridges the gap with softness
• Lastly, the Malbec takes over for structure and finish

There is a great core of Napa Valley ‘floor’ Cabernet fruit here.  Luscious and well-rounded, it’s very appealing from the first sip and beyond.  There is a nice oak touch to it as well – not intrusive, but it is definitely a primary element to the wine up front.

The Malbec is *very* tight upon opening, which adds a dark, tannic, and black licorice nose to the wine.  This subsides over the course of an hour or so, and the Malbec begins to simply add body and tannic structure.  You can still taste the Cabernet and Merlot ‘underneath’ the Malbec, and it comes to life as the wine opens.

All in all, I miss my friends at Whitehall Lane, and I’m glad we reconnected again!  I’m looking forward to drinking more and more of their wines soon.

UPDATE: 24 hours later – it’s much more fruit driven, and the Malbec’s bitterness has subsided and been replaced by a subtle and nice white pepper bite.  There is a new cherry ‘tartness’ associated with it now too, it’s nice.  This wine definitely benefited from some air, which confirms for me that this wine needs a few years (not too many) to really find it’s peak balance of drink-ability – and I’d expect nothing less from a nice Cabernet from Napa Valley.  Great work.

Ahhh, Pine Ridge.  The thing is, I know that I love them, so I usually end up expecting too much them on the outset and truly appreciating the wine midway thru the bottle.  The other part is that their wines usually need to sit and open for an hour or two, until they really start to shine.  I’m halfway done by then as well.  (That one is my fault.)

Pine Ridge is nestled (literally) in the foothills of the Stags Leap District.  I had driven by Pine Ridge a few times in prior Napa Valley visits, but nothing really enticed me to pull over until a friend told me to.  Personally, I’d suspect that this is how the folks at Pine Ridge PREFER it, as would I if I had a vineyard in the Valley.  Tour buses and limos are the kiss of death to a high end winery.

Now that I live on the East Coast – anything I get sent to me needs 3 months+ to settle down until I know what I am dealing with.  By then, all the deals are gone and you are stuck or blessed.  I bought up a few of these ‘05 Oakville Cabernets last year during a special promotion, as they are out of my usual price range at $75/btl.  I tried one of the three that I own the week I got them, and I was admittedly disappointed.  It was definitely ‘travel sick’, and the fruit was so far removed from the tannins, that it amazed me they could ever charge $75/btl for this.  However, my what a difference a year makes!

Now, I need to be honest and say that I have 2 preferred regions of Napa Valley that I like my Cabernet’s to come from – Rutherford (hot, fruit driven, and big) and Howell Mountain (lean, mean, tannin machines).  I don’t usually prefer Oakville Cabernets given their prices though.  YES, I know the ‘best’ Napa Cabs come from Oakville – I just don’t buy in to it so blindly as some.  Maybe the best Napa ADDRESSES are in Oakville, but I think that each AVA and district offers something special.

With that said…This ‘05 Oakville Cabernet impresses now.  It’s settled.  It’s refined.  It’s ready to dance.

It opens with a nice mocha/cocao powder and cassis nose.  Almost dusty like a Rutherford Cabernet…almost.  The other thing that struck me right off the bat was the beautiful fruit to tannin ratio is back and where you’d expect it to be.  It doesn’t overpower, but is solid and strong – I suppose that this is what Oakville is known for. (OK, Oakville – you’re swaying me.)

There was an interestingly light peppery/nutmeg note on midpalate, almost baking spices.  It almost went unnoticed until I went out to the grill to flip the steaks.  The cool fresh autumn air changes a wine (or at least what you notice) instantly, and this subtle spicey, leathery, tobacco-y notes came right thru.

Once back inside the luscious, structured fruit began to take center stage (2 hours since opening) and it just got better and better.  This is a wine that is aging VERY well. I think that 3 more years and this will be perfect.  Either way, it is a very nicely structured wine from what was a relatively a hot year.

The fruit was a beautiful blend of cherry, raspberry, and cranberry fruits.  It was a range of tart to sour, and all wonderful.  If you are looking for a Thanksgiving CABERNET, this one would do perfectly.

All in all, The ‘05 Oakville has settled down properly, and is beginning to hit it’s stride.  It’s is a good representation of what a Stag’s Leap vineyard does with Oakville fruit, and holds true to the tradition of the Pine Ridge style.  Nice big ripe Cherry and Raspberry fruit combined with perfectly balanced tannins.  Lean, mean, and a long finish…which all adds up to a heck of a bottle of wine.