Wine and Food Adventures

2012 Provenance Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford
Rutherford, Napa Valley, California
Alcohol 14.9 %
Bought: 2015-09-20 at CostCo
Price (w/o TAX 9.00 %): $ 28.49
Tasted: 2015-09-29
Ratings: -

Deep dark cherry red. Heavy in the glass. Surprisingly concentrated. Lots of black fruits, cherries and black pepper. Delicious. Needs one hour decanting. On the palate cajoling; the fruits are dominating. Already very well developed with nicely integrated tannins. A real recommendation if you like to drink a young Cab with a remarkable body. The finish is medium to long and very smooth up to the end. Of course easy drinking, but on a very high level.

I like the philosophy behind the Provenance winemaking: "Our goal is to showcase the distinctiveness of Napa Valley's best growing areas. Great wines start in the vineyard, so we've selected top vineyards and intervene as little as possible during the winemaking process. We gently guide the grapes into wine, striving to bring out the personality, complexity and uniqueness of each vineyard and vintage. Provenance wines offer a balance of elegance and substance with deep, intense flavors that reflect the vineyards where the grapes were grown. We craft these age-worthy wines to be approachable upon release to the public." (http://www.provenancevineyards.com/) All this I could taste in this beginner Cab of the winery - and for me it would be very interesting to see the quality of the "higher-level" Cabs of Provenance. By the way: "The word 'Provenance' (rhymes with renaissance) is derived from the French language, and means origin or source".

This is a very good Napa Valley beginners Cab. You can get it in nearly every grocery or wine shop and you can't do anything wrong buying one, two or more bottles of this honest wine. If you are looking for a high-level partner to your bison, ground beef or lamb burger... do it.

2012 Liparita Cellars V Block Yountville Cabernet Sauvignon
Napa Valley, California
Alcohol 14.9 %
Bought: 2015-09-20 at CostCo
Price (w/o TAX 9.00 %): $ 39.99
Tasted: 2015-09-24 & 2015-09-25
Ratings: WA 88/100

Deep, dark cherry red. Intensive aromas of black fruits, some tree root and tart plum compote. Rich, creamy, and very sexy. Warm and pleasant taste. The plum compote is present all the time up to the very long finish which is accompanied by a wonderful acidity after swallowing. This is a wonderful Napa Valley Cab!

"Resurrecting the Ghost" - that's the motto on the Liparita website (http://www.liparita.com/). The reason for this motto is quite obvious: Liparita's long and successful history. The Liparita stone cellar was built in 1880 and still stands high atop Howell Mountain. Therefore Liparita is one of the "Ghost Wineries" - wineries that were built between 1860 and 1900. Liparita was awarded already 1900 in Paris and 1904 in St. Louis with gold and bronze medals!

Today the different Ghost Wineries have different faces. Some were simply abandoned, some were converted to shops, restaurants, etc., and others were renovated and used again in wine business. I will describe in a further entry the way the Hall winery is going.

Liparita was reinvented by proprietor Spencer Hoopes - a former lawyer and entrepreneur. His goal is to bring back Liparita to its former glory. And this 100 % pure Cab is a perfect statement. For the 2012 vintage fruits from 15 different sub-appellations of Napa Valley were blended - and the Liparita people did a great job. I love the warmness and the charm of the wine. It is a wonderful partner for an overwhelming Thanksgiving dinner. The delicate sweetness of the wine together with the turkey ... not from this world.

You can already drink this beauty, but you can also wait another five to seven years.

2012 Raymond Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Selection Napa Valley
Napa Valley, California
Alcohol 14.5 %
Bought: 2015-09-17 at Safeway
Price (w/o TAX 8.25 %): $ 22.49 ($ 39.99)
Tasted: 2015-09-20 & 2015-09-21
Ratings: -

Medium-deep cherry red. Stewed black fruits, a little bit bacon, forest floor with fallen branches covered in moss. Already well-developed. Very fruity with a special smoky aroma. Strong, pleasant and cajoling.

Since 2009 Raymond Vineyards is part of the French Boisset Family Estates (like Buena Vista and DeLoach). The Reserve Selection series is a classical brand for grocery stores or similar. You can't buy these wines in the online shop of the winery. This is a typical way wineries with good reputation go these days when owned by groups (cf. Robert Mondavi).

Usually I don't like these wines produced for the masses. Very rarely I can find in these wines something like a soul. However the 2012 Reserve Selection Cab is a good choice if you are looking for good Cab for a fair price (only the reduced one; the original Safeway price is far away from reality). You should drink it now or in the next two years. No decanting. Simply open the bottle for a nice Sunday NFL gameday BBQ. On the second day the wine was not any longer on the same level as directly after opening.

2012 Clos Du Val Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
Napa Valley, California
82 % Cabernet Sauvignon, 9 % Cabernet Franc, 6 % Merlot, 3 % Petit Verdot
61 % of the grapes came from the estate
Alcohol 14.1 %
Bought: 2015-09-17 at Safeway
Price (w/o TAX 8.25 %): $ 26.09 ($ 39.99)
Tasted: 2015-09-18 & 2015-09-19
Ratings: -

Medium ruby red. Discrete aromas of sweet cherries, bacon, white pepper and a little bit leather. At the beginning fruity, but a little bit reduced. Then the tannins become more present, but not aggressive, more with a pretty acidity. Suddenly the sharpness of the white pepper takes the control and the spiciness comes to the foreground. Due to the more subtle smell and the unspectacular first point of contact on the palate this is surprising. Indeed the finish is the very best part of this more silent representative in this series. For the moment! Let's see if some air changes this.

Clos Du Val has a very good reputation. Also in Europe. And this is not only the case due to the famous 1976 Judgment of Paris Tasting. In this context it is remarkable that the 1972 Cab from Clos Du Val took the first place in the "rematch" organised 1986 by the French Culinary Institute. And indeed it is the Cab of Clos Du Val which is widely known. And this has of course something to do with the three estate vineyards which "include more than 30 different Cabernet Sauvignon blocks, with a variety of soil types and exposures, dozens of unique clone and rootstock combinations, and an array of vine ages." (www.closduval.com)

Seeing from this perspective the "first touch" with the 2012 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is a little bit disappointing. Even if it is only the "beginners" Cab of Clos Du Val. Tasting the wine the next day shows only nuances of changes. The smell is a little bit smoother and the overall picture more harmonic. But I can't get rid of the suspicion that the wine has currently a difficult phase. So it could be that in two or three years all jigsaw pieces will come together in a perfect way. Then buying the wine now at Safeway with the existing discount would be an outstanding bargain. Betting on the future .

If you want to drink the wine now I would pair it to a menu starter with lamb. Perhaps a traditional dish from Central Asia like Manti.

2012 Jamieson Ranch Vineyards Double Lariat Cabernet Sauvignon
Napa Valley, California
Alcohol 14.5 %
Bought: 2015-09-17 at Safeway
Price (w/o TAX 8.25 %): $ 35.99 ($ 46.99)
Tasted: 2015-09-17 & 2015-09-18
Ratings: WA 88/100

Medium clear cherry red. Fruity. Morello cherries, red currants and a touch of melted dark chocolate. A certain sharpness behind the fruits. On the palate at the beginning a very spicy taste which converts after a while into a wonderful bouquet of red fruits. The finish is very long and far at the end the taste is changing again to a spectacular creamy and velvety "hovering" note. Not a typical California Cab, but a damn good wine.


For my valley vacation of this year I decided to create a small series of 2012 Napa and Sonoma Cabs entries. 2012 was an extraordinary vintage for North Coast Cabs. The wines are usually still very tannic but it is worth to get a first impression of the quality now. All California wines - not only the Cabs and not only from the North Coast - I tasted so far were amazing with huge potential.

For the series I gave me two simple rules - the wines must be available at grocery stores and from wineries I would not visit during my stay. Also I decided to give a little bit more fact information as usual, like the prices and votings from well-known critics. Especially the prices should be interpreted carefully. The original prices of the grocery stores are usually far from reality. These prices shall only give the buyer a good feeling due to the possible savings and shall convince the customer to become a club member. So I noted both prices - the original one and the one I paid after all savings without tax. For my European friends I also add the TAX value.

Furthermore it is worth to mention that buying a bottle of wine in a grocery store is usually not the same as buying the same wine on the winery. Bottles available in grocery stores are often special bottlings. There are several indications to recognize this: Bottles from the winery have an additional remark "Estate Grown" or different labels. But to be honest this is more academic. Important is only one thing: How good is the wine? Nothing more.

My first candidate was the 2012 Jamieson Ranch Vineyards Double Lariat Cabernet Sauvignon. I didn't know the winery so far - at least this was my opinion - but Safeway offered a nice saving (:-)) and the label on the back informed about a interesting fact: This Cab is barrel fermented and barrel aged. The idea of the winemaker for the extra step of barrel fermentation was to "weave together notes of toasted oak, anise, chocolate and raspberry into a seamless and silky blend that finishes with waves of richness". So far the information on the label.

At home I detected in the shop on the Jamieson website (http://www.jamiesonranchvineyards.com/) some other labels - amongst others Reata and Whiplash. Whiplash Chardonnays I bought in the past via auctions in Germany. The wines were OK but not more.

Totally different this Cab. Also on the second day the quality was remarkable. The wine was now more harmonic and didn't fall apart. Still very young. So I would recommend a two hours decanting time or simply cellar for another two years. Then it will be on the top for around three years.

I mentioned before that for my opinion this is not a typical Northern Coast Cab. And I also noted in previous entries that I do not totally support the general food pairing recommendation "steak and Cab". But if I ever drank the perfect Cabernet Sauvignon for a Rib eye, then this Jamieson is it.

Sonoma County, California
14.1 % Alcohol
Tasted 2015-09-04

Deep golden-yellow. Wonderful vanilla tones paired with pineapple and Jonagold apple. Creamy, wide flavor spectrum and full-bodied. Very, very long. Remains further three years on this level. Total lifetime another ten years.

This bottle was offered as part of a tasting with friends in a nice steak house in Pforzheim. I didn't expect too much. The last bottle I drunk two years ago. At this time the wine was OK but not more. Reduced flavors and aromas. Short. Far away from the quality that was recognizable when I tasted the wine at the winery. But now? Total difference. A wonderful example of massive Californian Chardonnay in an absolutely positive sense. A wine which tells you: "I am great and strong. Can you handle that?" We could. This was the only bottle emptied after the dinner.

In the restaurant we paired the wine with grilled prawns. Result? Life is good.