Napa Part I.

[dstgolf]

Back to reality. A great week in wine country with a fabulous meeting thrown in for good measure.

Two days of wine touring and one sightseeing along the coast. It was fun seeing the whales frolicking off Bodega Head. Way out of season but that may give an indication of what a crazy Summer the wine growers are dealing with. There is a real fear in Napa/Sonoma of what 2010 will bring. Coldest temperatures in over 40 years. Grapes are along way from being ripe and many fear significant crop losses. Many have done a severe green harvest dropping 20-30% of the fruit on the ground. Severe cropping to let more sun on the grapes in areas has proven devastating for some. Two weeks ago they had a +100*F heat wave that fried a lot of the hanging exposed fruit! Many wonder what they'll have left. Seen in conjunction with the financial crisis,a glut of wine on the market and many producers teetering you may see a big shake up in the wine fields. There already are a lot of For Sale signs up as it is. Only time will tell.

Day 1

First stop at Rick Julien's referral we stopped at Loxton with a personal tour by Chris. He was quite discouraged by what has happened this summer and you could hear the fear in his voice. A small producer of 5500 cases can't aford to have too much of a loss because what's left in the end?? His Chardonnay Parmalee Hill field is close to Bodega Bay coast capturing the cooler temperatures to give a less ripe crispness and acidity to the fruit. This was the weakest of our tasting but still a very good wine.

2007 Pinot Noir Russian River 161 cases $35. Lovely drinkable Pinot with nice light red berry fruit and balanced. Pretty smooth going down and drinks well now with a 3-5 year window.

2007 Zin Reserve 151 cases. Not a Zin fan but I certainly could drink this. Not an overly extracted alcohol bomb like others. I thought this might have been a less oaked Aussie Shiraz.Drinking very well with more prevalent tannins than some other Zins I've had that I'm sure would be tamed with BBQ.

2006 Syrah Cuvee Ellen 296 Cases. Great wine drinking well now. Not a favourite but still a lovely wine.

2006 Cab Shiraz Easy drinking and smooth with dark fruit and well balanced. Nothing off putting here.

Sonoma Reds Your every day drinking wine. Super value at $16 a bottle. Fabulous for the price and certainly have paid 2-3x's more for a worse wine. I could make this a house wine no problem. Drink me now with no pretences of anything else.77%Syrah 19% Zin 2% Pinot 2% Cab 211 cases

2008 Late Harvest Zin was a good surprise. Never seeing a late harvest Zin before I thought the balance of fruit,acidity and alcohol was perfect for my taste.With a taste of dark chocolate this was a match made in heaven. Macerated Bing Cherries meet chocolate! Wow! A wine lovers must try.

2008 Port Very nice but not my thing. 100% Syrah fortified with nuetral grape alcohl. Won the gold medal for ports in 2009.

Chris was a gracious host and would not hesitate drinking his wines,returning or recommending a visit. Lovely visit. Thanks to Rick for the referral.

[JimHow]

Our visit to Loxton was one of the highlights of our BWE Sonoma '06 convention Danny. I can visualize him reporting to you about the '10 vintage, he's a great guy.

Thanks for the report.

[Rick]

Long time no post or read....

Danny - I spoke to Chris yesterday about the fall releases for the wine club..............he was telling me some growers have had all their grapes dropped ....as you reported those left were fried

I have been thinking of giftes I need for the rest of the year...............I would like to support Chris by buying wine gifts and hope others here who were out there in 05 might do that too.

Last year I think they did a chocolate and dessert wine package for Thanksgiving - I will check on

Danny - based on your comments I am wondering if the Sonoma Red would be a good basic Thanksgiving wine for those that are not wine geeks ( or maybe it would work well anyhow)....my staff can not afford what I drink anyhow so maybe the Sonoma Red is on target $16 less 20%

Chris says his to be released Syrah Reserve and his Cab Sav will be two really good ones....he compared the Syrah Reserve to the 07 CdPs

Chris is such a good hard working guy............he is probably the best wine guy I have ever gotten to know ....he knows all the chemistry and the farming part

Rick

[William P]

I went to Loxton and talked to Chris about 13 days ago. Basically, he says he is not worried about the cold summer because he has no control over it. He dropped alot of bunches and hopes that what is left will ripen before the rains. This is not just his problem, we heard this complaint across Napa and Sonoma.

BTW we went to dinner at Morimoto's in Napa. Had a wonderful dinner. Highly recommend for food. The wine was nothing to get excited about.

[dstgolf]

" he says he is not worried about the cold summer because he has no control over it".

Bill,

That quote sounds very Bordolaise. How can someone not be worried about the coldest summer in over 40 years. You don't drop 30% of your fruit on the ground at this late date thinking everything is fine. He's trying to salvage a crop and do the best he can with what the wine gods have dealt this year. There certainly is no talk in Napa of the "Vintage of the Century" They're not quite that Bordolaise!

[Michael-P]

Danny:

Good notes and I'm sure you had a wonderful visit. I miss my frequent trips to Napa (although Chris is in Sonoma, showing my Napa-snobbery!).

Chris is a good guy.

Painful forecast for the vintage.

Michael-P