You never know where the tips will come from.
Mitch Johnson, the golf pro at Napa Valley Country Club, introduced me to Shibumi Knoll winery, and I’m glad he did.
“Hey, you should try this Cabernet,” Mitch insisted a couple of weeks ago. “I’ll keep a bottle of it for you.”
The next time we got together he popped the cork on the 2004 Napa Valley Cabernet, and it’s an exciting wine, rich, plush and loaded with dusty currant and blackberry fruit. I later tried it in a blind tasting at my office for a formal review (92 points, 99 cases, $85), which appeared in the Wine Spectator Insider.
The owner is Don Ross, a wine lover and big Bordeaux fan who moved to Napa from the East Bay, across the Bay from San Francisco. The name means “effortless perfection” in Japanese. The grapes come from Ross’ small vineyard from St. Helena, which was once part of Vineyard 29, with the vineyard planted, I’m told, by David Abreu. (Regardless, it’s a terrific wine.)
As good as the Cabernet is, and it’s great, the 2005 Russian River Chardonnay Buena Tierra Vineyard ($45, 172 cases) is even better—amazingly complex and concentrated, with a rich, creamy texture and fantastic length. Not surprisingly, Ross says he was helped by John Kongsgaard with the ’05, but the the winery skipped the difficult 2006 vintage for Chardonnay.
Both wines are worth the hunt.
Mark Sinnott
Mahopac, NY — June 3, 2008 9:11pm ETJesse Calderon
June 4, 2008 1:07am ETJeffrey Nowak
scottsdale, arizona — June 4, 2008 1:42am ETClem Firko
napa ca — June 4, 2008 11:53am ETAndrew J Walter
Sacramento,CA — June 4, 2008 12:36pm ETRobert Fukushima
California — June 4, 2008 1:12pm ETDavid W Voss
Elkhorn, Wi — June 4, 2008 2:22pm ETChris Buddress
June 4, 2008 3:01pm ETMark Sinnott
Mahopac, NY — June 4, 2008 4:00pm ETSteve Lenzo
PHX, AZ — June 4, 2008 7:24pm ETMost of the videos and blogs tend to reflect the higher priced wines. I very much enjoy Sucking's videos but boy if he's not drinking a $300 bottle of wine with his rich friends we don't hear about it much.
If you want to watch videos of guys tasting $10 -$20 bottles of wines go watch Gary Vaynerchuck.
In closing, WS could probably do a better job of bringing the lower value wines to the forefront on a regular basis. Yes, they have thier VALUE ISSUE and they do print ratings for hundreds of wines at all prices. By forefront, I mean use of the video and blogs and other real time media they use to showcase these wines.
Maybe James can video his next visit to Glen Ellen for us. He probable won't have to fight the crowds in the tasting room.
Mark Lewis
Napa — June 4, 2008 7:35pm ETMark Sinnott
Mahopac, NY — June 4, 2008 8:48pm ETJesse Calderon
June 6, 2008 12:43am ETRoger Every
June 10, 2008 12:15pm ETKevin Smith
Sunshine State — June 14, 2008 1:48pm ETTroy Peterson
Burbank, CA — June 19, 2008 1:40am ETRoger Every
Fishkill. ny — February 18, 2013 4:39pm ET