Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Outstanding California Cabernet

About a week ago, James Laube kicked off a robust blog when he described the pending first release of Levy & McClellan 2004 Napa Valley Cab at the one bottle "case" price of $350. Yep, $350 per bottle for the first edition of a California Cabernet seeking immediate cult status. Audacious is one word to describe it. Suffice to say that equal doses of smugness and indignation flew fast and furious on Laube's blog from keyboards around the world, alternatively applauding and lambasting the offering. Having registered on its mailing list a while back I actually received a personalized invitation from L&M, which was lovely, and promptly tossed it in the circular file. Cutting to the chase, while reading various diatribes of the legion of posters, someone mentioned Teachworth and its recent cab release and I bought a six pack and, well the rest is history.

So I opened a bottle of the Teachworth Napa Valley 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon Diamond Mountain District, Manzanita Hill Vineyard, 13.9% alcohol. According to the winerey's website, the grapes are organically grown in two sloping one-acre vineyards lying between 750 and 850 feet in elevation. Manzanita Hill is the lower vineyard and contains more vines and gets intense afternoon sun on its chalky slopes. Teachworth wines are aged for 30 months in French Oak barrels (new to old ratio?), then hand-bottled at the winery and aged an additional eighteen months before release. The winemaker is Phil Steinschriber of Diamond Creek Vineyards. Fifty cases of this wine were made, that's right just one barrel. I purchased two bottles of each of the Teachworth wines for $75 a bottle direct from the winery, exchanging faxes, calls and emails with Joan Teachworth, a charming, thoughtful woman who I would love to meet some time and tour her winery.

Tasting Notes: Dark red in the glass, notes of blackberries and chocolate on the nose, fine tannin balance, roasted almonds and toffee mid-palate, cedar, cocoa and allspice on the finish, fine structure, refined and elegant. Easily the match of a fine second growth out of the Medoc, though with a fuller dark fruit profile. A fantastic wines that evolves in the glass into myriad flavors and essences. Truly delightful to drink.

The bottle notes that this wine should be opened at least an hour before drinking, I never wait but did find that a little air did flesh out the flavors of this lovely offering. Decanting may work too, though I find that difficult to manage as it takes me two or three nights to drink this kind of prize and decanter stoppers, well . . . .

Rating: Superb (my first!)

Cheers, Barrld

34 comments:

Sonadora said...

Quite a price tag on a first offering! That would more than blow my wine budget on one bottle. Though the cab you drank sounds lovely.

Barrld said...

A little rich for my blood too, I must admit. Made me hesitate before opening it frankly. Definitely not an every week or month wine, but I had to try one to see if it would hold up to the standards of my guzzler friends for our next special occasion.

Anonymous said...

RE the decanting.... Have you tried the Eisch breathable glasses? They are really good. It's like decanting a glass at a time. They also have a nice feel like Riedel... same price range. You just leave the wine in the glass for 5 minutes. Sounds like a gimic, but you can pour wine in two differenct glasses and compare.

Barrld said...

Nope I haven't; excellent idea though and may go get some Eischs soon.
Thanks!!

Anonymous said...

can I become one of your guzzler friends.??

Barrld said...

Sue--Any time you're in town absolutely. I'll even let you squeeze into the wine cellar with me (it's so full that it can barely hold me now!) and choose what you want to drink. Last Halloween we went through a case of my wines at a party with about a dozen of our neighbors and friends, all wineheads. SOme really excellent food too! Josie, Edie and Christine can really cook.

Anonymous said...

Fifty cases is not one barrel... It is two barrels.
1 barrel = 59.4 gal
1 case = 2.377 gal
So 1 barrel equals 25 cases

Barrld said...

Got it on the 1 vs. 2 barrels

Anonymous said...

How did you find out for Teachworth Cab? They did not make a lot of noise yet...

I tasted it a few weeks ago. It is a great wine. I heard from John, the owner, that 2004, 2005 are going to be great wines!

Anonymous said...

I meant Walter! His name is Walter...

Barrld said...

I read about Teachworth in Laube's Levy & McClellan blog responses from 1/18/07. Commentator #6 mentioned it, so I tracked down Walter and Joan's website and bought two bottles of each of their 2001 offerings.

Anonymous said...

So... I am not the only one to know about them anymore??? Too bad ;-))

Barrld said...

Yep, I hesitated on reviewing it here but given the quality of the wine I thought it best to tip off those few loyal readers that I before Laube or Parker sniff Teachworth out.

Anonymous said...

You are right! Let's wait 1 or 2 more years... Parker or Laube are going to taste and score Teachworth wines... And unfortunately prices are going to go up and up! It is always the same story...
Lets hope that Joan and Walter are goingt stay reasonable!

Anonymous said...

They should play a game or maybe we should.
Which one is going to discover the new coming vintner first? Laube or Parker?

Barrld said...

I'd bet its Laube for two reasons 1. he's California centric and really knows the good finds early and 2. he has his blog so he can do informal non-blind reviews for his blog reader base. On a different note, what do you think of Suckling? I state my views on my recent blog, which now look a bit harsh.

Anonymous said...

I'd bet Parker will be first on this one... Just a question of challenge and having fun!
Nothing special about Suckling.

Barrld said...

I'll keep my eyes out for a Laube review--he just did one on Fort Ross Vineyards in a blog--and you can let me know if Parker drops the bomb.

Anonymous said...

I will!

Anonymous said...

I heard they changed their winemaking team?

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