Petite Verdot and the James Cole Winery
Thanks to a nice coincidence I found myself at the James Cole winery twice on tours within a few days. The first was with a big group, a festive occasion with all of the doorways open to the breeze and the wine flowing. As much as I enjoyed the place and marveled at the improvements since Lisa took over as tasting room manager, I didn’t have a chance to check out the wines. But yesterday I did!
I picked up my clients at the Avia Hotel, which has become my favorite downtown Napa location, new, contemporary, charming, helpful with the most convenient location to the restaurants and shopping. They have a restaurant on the main floor that I’ve heard great things about from our friends at the Quent Cordair gallery, and now they are installing a wine bar near the front; always a welcome addition in wine country.
The clients originally wanted to go to Russian River, one problem, it was already noontime and it takes an hour to get there. I suggested that since they had never been to Napa or Sonoma before we start off with a tour of the Napa Valley, just ten minutes up the road. Thanks to their good sense that’s where we headed.
As we drove they told me that they liked Pinot Noir most. Now the smart thing to do was turn the car around and head to Carneros and visit Artesa, Bouchaine, Schug and Sojourn. But I’m also flexible, and as I said in yesterday’s blog, there are advantages to knowing which wineries offer diverse wines. I planned to stop at Signorello who produces a nice Pinot Noir. I hadn’t been there in a while although I saw Cathy, the tasting room manager at last month’s Tweet Up in Napa. But when we pulled in their parking lot it was filled with work trucks taking down a tent that was probably used for bottling and I couldn’t even get near to the building. So we enjoyed the views and then headed next door to James Cole Winery.
As Lisa poured through the list I was in for a surprise; after the Chardonnay, instead of being based around Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot as most of their neighbors are, their reds are built around the less well known Petite Verdot, that dark, deeply flavored grape that is mostly known as a blending wine. Its name, ‘the little green one’ comes from its common usage as a way to restore tannins to a blend, when harvest time rains in France have washed the sulfur out of the Cabernet grape skins. Petite Verdot is a late ripening grape and when the Cabs come in its still green, and packed with tannins. Without the tannins the Bordeaux blends won’t age properly.
In California, with our much longer growing season, Petite Verdot has a chance to ripen completely so we find a nice, although small collection of wineries that produce a single varietal version. James Cole also offers a blend built around the Petite Verdot, and not only are these really good wines, but let your palate explore flavors that are normally buried in a Bordeaux blend.
After that Lisa poured a Malbec. Now famous in Argentina, this was also a popular Bordeaux blending grape. But we shouldn’t forget that it is the principle grape of Cohors, that region up river from Bordeaux that has produced the famous ‘Black wine of Cohors’ for centuries. It was the Czar’s favorite and the official wine of his General Staff due to its reputed healthfulness. With its lower tannins and full body it’s nice to see more and more being planted in California. My clients didn’t taste the Ice Wine, the only in Napa, but that’s just another way in which this winery stands out. Tomorrow I’ll write about Failla, producers of some of the best Pinot Noirs in Napa.
Ralph & Lahni de Amicis are authors of the Amicis Winery Guides, and owners of Amicis Tours. They are authors of over twenty books on health, design, business and travel. Their iPhone Apps, The Napa Valley Wine Tour, and The Sonoma Winery Tour are a tour guides approach to these beautiful area, complete with 1000’s of photos and insights. Their articles and products can be found on the sites http://www.amicistours.com and http://www.spaceandtime.com
Wine,Tours,Napa,Sonoma,iPhone
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