Tasting notes: Shafer Vineyards, Napa Valley

Thirsty Reader — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 06:51:17 +0000

A recent trip to Shafer Vineyards reconfirmed what I have long argued: that Shafer is probably the best winery in the Napa Valley. Normally, I wouldn’t spend the time posting about this producer, since their wines are pretty well-known and well-regarded already. In terms of my tasting notes, the purpose of the Thirsty Reader is to highlight the wineries that are good, but which are still a bit under the radar. With this site, I don’t have the time nor the resources to be completely comprehensive, nor do I want to be. After all, even for the folks who live and work here in the Napa Valley, it literally takes years to visit all of the tasting rooms.

Even though this entry may be a bit obvious and redundant, however, I do feel that it is worthwhile to join the chorus of support for this winery. I’m not sure that any wine pundit has panned a Shafer wine in recent years, although I rarely read any wine criticism anymore (I live in Napa and I drink California wines almost exclusively, so I almost always have the luxury of tasting before I buy). But for any wine critic who might take an issue with one of Shafer’s wines, I probably wouldn’t grant that person’s opinion very much weight; quite frankly, it would be like someone who grew up in the 1960s and didn’t like the Beatles. More than anything, this post serves to assure my readers that I’m not that guy.

• This week, I tasted Shafer’s five current releases, beginning with the 2006 Shafer Red Shoulder Ranch Chardonnay, which had already slayed the competition in a Chardonnay blind tasting that I attended in May 2008, just a couple months after that wine’s release. After revisiting the Shafer Chardonnay this week, I was instantly reminded why I had loved it so much last May: it’s probably the best Chardonnay produced in the Napa Valley. The Shafer RSR is absurdly good, which is something I will rarely ever say about any Chardonnay. For more notes on this wine, and the overall results of the May 2008 Chardonnay blind tasting, please click here.

• Among the Bordeaux varietals, there were three wines in the flight: the 2006 Shafer Merlot, the 2005 Shafer One Point Five, and the 2004 Shafer Hillside Select. To be honest, the Shafer Merlot was a little lighter than in years past, and I think that for Bordeaux varietals, the 2006 vintage was a little less dynamic than the 2005 vintage. I have already begun to notice this trend in other Napa wines. That being said, the One Point Five was a terrific wine, and the Hillside Select was one of the best wines that I have ever tasted. Both Cabernets are full-flavored, densely layered, and velvety smooth, while the Hillside Select, in particular, lingers forever on the palate.

• Rounding out the flight, I also tasted the 2005 Shafer Relentless, which is a Syrah-Petite Sirah blend. This wine is yet another endorsement for the potential of lower Napa Valley Syrah. But, like every other Shafer varietal, the Relentless may also be the best example in the entire Napa Valley appellation. It is smooth, dark, and wonderfully refined.

Tasting notes: Quixote Winery

Thirsty Reader — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 08:15:58 +0000

In the context of Napa wineries, the term “cult following” usually conjures up images of those boutique Cabernet producers with outrageously high prices: Harlan, Screaming Eagle, Bryant Family, and all the rest. But another Napa winery has developed a different type of cult following for its unique architectural design. Constructed by Austrian painter and sculptor Friedensreich Hundertwasser, the tasting room at Quixote Winery draws scores of visitors each year (many with little interest in wine) who schedule tasting appointments simply to admire Hundertwasser’s avant garde craftmanship.

Quixote is the vision of long-time Napa vintner Carl Doumani, who founded the label shortly before selling Stags’ Leap Estate to Beringer-Blass in 1997. Doumani retained about 150 acres from the sale, and planted Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Syrah on about 27 acres. For Doumani, creating Quixote was an effort to recapture the whimsical spirit of winemaking. In 1988, he enlisted the architectural services of Hundertwasser after seeing the artist’s work in a calendar, and the two embarked on a 10-year collaboration.

Hundertwasser, who passed away in 2000, had designed 16 buildings around the world, but the Quixote Winery is his only structure in North America. The buildings at Quixote have no straight lines, and the roof of the facility features olive trees growing in about 30 inches of soil. Brilliant color schemes adorn the building inside and out, and the walls of the tasting room house dozens of interesting photographs. To align the brand with the property, Hundertwasser also designed the Quixote label.

I tasted four wines during my visit to Quixote, including the 2005 Panza Grenache-Mouvedre, the 2003 Quixote Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2002 Panza Petite Syrah, and the 2004 Quixote Petite Syrah. The Quixote wines are 100% varietal wines, while the Panza wines (in some ways, the winery’s second label) are blended. Keeping in the spirit of Napa counter-culture, both labels have featured screw-cap enclosures since the 2001 vintage. For me, the two Petite Syrahs were the stars of the tasting, and it’s encouraging to know that Quixote plans to increase its focus on this varietal.

Of course, making Petite Syrah in the Stags Leap District, an appellation so well-known for its Cabernet Sauvignon, is a bit of a departure from the norm. But then again, that’s also the fundamental idea behind Quixote.

The Accidental Wino » Stags Leap District

Tasting notes: Shafer Vineyards, Napa Valley

Tasting notes: Quixote Winery