Discovery Program
The Carneros Appellation Discovery Panel convenes
to examine the characteristics of Chardonnay and
Pinot Noir from their southern Napa Valley AVA.
A new era of Carneros Chardonnay reveals a uniform regional style of elegance
by Alan Goldfarb, Napa Regional Editor
"...the overall quality of the wines, which saw elegance without the overuse of oak, was that if one is tired or turned off to Chardonnay, they need to try these."
~ Alan Goldfarb
The new era of Carneros Chardonnay is marked by wines of smoothness and elegance. A defining trait is a suede-like texture with typical citrus qualities, good acidity, and minerality with a bit of herbal greenness. The regional winemaking style includes a judicious use of oak that befits this generally restrained style of Chardonnay.
Los Carneros: its beginning; recent vintages; and the future
In the beginning
It was most likely the late André Tchelistcheff who, as the longtime winemaker at Beaulieu, first discovered the virtues -- and vagaries -- of growing grapes in the Carneros (or Los Carneros) region of the Napa Valley. The diminutive Tchelistcheff thought that Pinot Noir, then a little planted grape in California, would do well in the windswept region. As the southern-most area of the Napa Valley, whose southern border tipped the shore of nearby San Pablo Bay (north of San Francisco Bay), the White Russian surmised that since Pinot was a cool weather, hard-to-harness, fickle grape, it would thrive here.
Although it took years for Pinot to be understood by Carneros’ winemakers, Tchelistcheff’s empirical knowledge proved to be correct. Others such as Frank Mahoney at Carneros Creek, David Graves at Saintsbury and Michael Richmond at Acacia, soon followed.
As did Chardonnay, due chiefly to the same notion that the grape does best in cool climes. And goodness knows, Carneros is the coolest American Viticultural Area (AVA) in Napa as well as Sonoma, the two counties it straddles.
The Vintages
The 2003 and 2004 harvest seasons in the Carneros (the focus of this Discovery tasting) saw a couple of records fall. The rains of April ’03 made it the wettest in Napa Valley history; while the harvest of ’04 was one of the earliest on record.
2003:
the unpredictable nature of this growing season began with a series of early heat spikes in March, followed by the aforementioned wet April. A long cool summer allowed the fruit flavors to evolve beautifully ahead of the sugar accumulation. Heat spikes in September helped move the harvest forward after many felt it would be a late year.
The cold, very wet spring delayed vine development, and once bud break occurred, so did more rainfall, causing a greater than normal threat of mildew. Heat in late May spurred vegetative growth that may have interfered with fruit set.
The relatively slow and seemingly late vintage was put into fast forward by the two heat spikes of September 12-13 and 21-22. Yields were anywhere from 10 to 40 percent below average, but quality was excellent.
2004:
Bud break occurred earlier than many vintners could remember and the trend carried forward throughout the growing season. Heat spikes occurred in June and at scattered intervals throughout the summer.
Grapes completed veraison (coloring) early and ripeness with well-developed sugars in all varieties was realized early. The cool nights of the Carneros helped preserve the acidity and growers held on as acid balance eventually caught up. A heat spell in late August betrayed the summer's moderate temperatures and quickly changed the pace of the harvest. Relatively light crop loads only quickened the maturation process. Sugars rose, acids dropped, and crews found themselves working into the small hours of the morning to keep pace with optimal ripeness.
In what turned out to be the earliest and shortest harvest on record, grape quality was very good with a crop that was smaller than average. Chardonnay ripens a couple weeks later than Pinot Noir and was more robust when the heat came.
Looking to the future
Throughout the Discovery Panel tasting Michael Richmond, who recently returned to the Carneros after many years to become general manager at Bouchaine Vineyards, kept referring to the “old” and the “new” Carneros.
The “new” Carneros that he witnesses now, is quickly transforming itself in response to other regions, which have come on the scene with Pinot Noir in recent years to eclipse Carneros. In the vineyards and in the cellar new methods which will produce wines of distinction are taking hold. And perhaps regain the foothold that Carneros enjoyed in the 1970s and ‘80s when it was the first region in California to tame the finicky Pinot Noir grape.
He disagrees, therefore, with Jim Laube of the Wine Spectator, whom he considers a friend, who once wrote some biting remarks about the Carneros.
Writing in June of ’01, Laube told his readers to look at “the Russian River and Sonoma Coast for the future,” and “Wineries that pick Carneros instead of the Russian River, bet on the wrong horse. Big advantage: Sonoma. … When it comes to sheer value and getting the most for your money, well then, chalk one up for Sonoma.”
As you can imagine, that still sticks in Richmond’s craw.
“Laube’s comments have reverberated,” he admits. “(But) if there’s an intellectual honesty at all, people’s opinion about Carneros will have to change.”
He beseeches Laube too, to try Carneros again. He admits that many of the techniques utilized in the region “were old” and that clonal material “was old.” He also says that it’s going to take another three to five years before the Carneros gets its groove back.
He concludes regarding Laube, “He was right for the time, but maybe that horse has sired a new colt.”
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
The Carneros Appellation Discovery tasting took place on a chilly but sunny Thursday, January 19 in the conference room at Bouchaine Vineyards, with myself and Sonoma Regional Editor, Dan Berger, moderating the tasting and recording the observations of the Panels.
The focus of this Discovery tasting was to discern those qualities of taste and style that best define Carneros Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. In other words, what is the terroir stamp that impacts these signature varietals of Los Carneros?
Sitting on the Discovery Panel were five of the region’s top winemaker’s/growers. To witness the proceedings and findings of the Discovery Panel was a 12 member Confirmation Panel consisting of other top Carneros winemakers, industry professionals, and journalists.
A total of forty-two wines (22 Pinot Noirs and 20 Chardonnays) representing 23 wineries were tasted double-blind in Riedel glassware. This Record of Proceedings will concentrate only on the Chardonnay portion of this tasting, which included two flights of eleven and nine, 2003s and 2004s respectively. (Dan Berger’s report on the results of the Carneros Pinot Noir tasting will follow next week in this same section.)
Discovery Tasting Analysis
Before we can begin to discuss how the terroir impacts Carneros Chardonnay, one must ask, what are the characteristics of a Carneros Chardonnay that the consumer can identify?
Michael Richmond’s (Bouchaine Vineyards) most prevalent observations throughout the session described Carneros Chardonnay as possessing “the hallmark of Carneros: suede, emery cloth, with a honeycomb quality.” By this, Richmond meant that the “new-era” Chardonnays are exhibiting a certain smoothness and elegance.
Referring to one wine he said, “This is a bell-ringer for the texture and feel it has on your gums. It does have a Carneros citrus-y (quality) and aromatics because I don’t think of Carneros Chardonnay as having apricot or peach flavors or aromas. It is my vision, my abstract concept of Carneros.”
Anne Moller-Racke (Donum Estate / Robert Stemmler Winery) said of the same wine, “It’s typical Carneros. It has acidity, structure, minerality and a bit of greenness.”
Richmond again commenting on another Chardonnay as being typical of the region: “There are three wines in this flight and this is one of them. It has citrus-y notes and that sueded texture. To my mind, it’s Carneros.”
Stéfane Vivier (HdV Wines) chimed in, talking about another wine, “It’s Carneros again. It has a very elegant, nice grain. If I had to drink Chardonnay every day, this is the wine.”
Indeed, my comment regarding the overall quality of the 19 wines, which saw wines of elegance without the overuse of oak, was that if one is tired or turned off to Chardonnay, they need to try these.
Vivier echoed, “I was not expecting that many great wines.”
Finally Moller-Racke concluded, “With the Pinots (today) you saw different styles. But with Chardonnay, it seemed more like one style.”
Those comments reflected the group’s findings which resulted in 11 wines being named as AppellationAmerica’s “Appellation Signature” wines.
"Appellation Signature" Wines
The following wines, listed in alphabetical order, were found to be of high quality and share common and defining characteristics, and together, they represent the signature of Carneros.
Los Carneros: its beginning; recent vintages; and the future
In the beginning
It was most likely the late André Tchelistcheff who, as the longtime winemaker at Beaulieu, first discovered the virtues -- and vagaries -- of growing grapes in the Carneros (or Los Carneros) region of the Napa Valley. The diminutive Tchelistcheff thought that Pinot Noir, then a little planted grape in California, would do well in the windswept region. As the southern-most area of the Napa Valley, whose southern border tipped the shore of nearby San Pablo Bay (north of San Francisco Bay), the White Russian surmised that since Pinot was a cool weather, hard-to-harness, fickle grape, it would thrive here.
Although it took years for Pinot to be understood by Carneros’ winemakers, Tchelistcheff’s empirical knowledge proved to be correct. Others such as Frank Mahoney at Carneros Creek, David Graves at Saintsbury and Michael Richmond at Acacia, soon followed.
As did Chardonnay, due chiefly to the same notion that the grape does best in cool climes. And goodness knows, Carneros is the coolest American Viticultural Area (AVA) in Napa as well as Sonoma, the two counties it straddles.
The Vintages
The 2003 and 2004 harvest seasons in the Carneros (the focus of this Discovery tasting) saw a couple of records fall. The rains of April ’03 made it the wettest in Napa Valley history; while the harvest of ’04 was one of the earliest on record.
2003:
the unpredictable nature of this growing season began with a series of early heat spikes in March, followed by the aforementioned wet April. A long cool summer allowed the fruit flavors to evolve beautifully ahead of the sugar accumulation. Heat spikes in September helped move the harvest forward after many felt it would be a late year.
The cold, very wet spring delayed vine development, and once bud break occurred, so did more rainfall, causing a greater than normal threat of mildew. Heat in late May spurred vegetative growth that may have interfered with fruit set.
The relatively slow and seemingly late vintage was put into fast forward by the two heat spikes of September 12-13 and 21-22. Yields were anywhere from 10 to 40 percent below average, but quality was excellent.
2004:
Bud break occurred earlier than many vintners could remember and the trend carried forward throughout the growing season. Heat spikes occurred in June and at scattered intervals throughout the summer.
Grapes completed veraison (coloring) early and ripeness with well-developed sugars in all varieties was realized early. The cool nights of the Carneros helped preserve the acidity and growers held on as acid balance eventually caught up. A heat spell in late August betrayed the summer's moderate temperatures and quickly changed the pace of the harvest. Relatively light crop loads only quickened the maturation process. Sugars rose, acids dropped, and crews found themselves working into the small hours of the morning to keep pace with optimal ripeness.
In what turned out to be the earliest and shortest harvest on record, grape quality was very good with a crop that was smaller than average. Chardonnay ripens a couple weeks later than Pinot Noir and was more robust when the heat came.
Looking to the future
Throughout the Discovery Panel tasting Michael Richmond, who recently returned to the Carneros after many years to become general manager at Bouchaine Vineyards, kept referring to the “old” and the “new” Carneros.
The “new” Carneros that he witnesses now, is quickly transforming itself in response to other regions, which have come on the scene with Pinot Noir in recent years to eclipse Carneros. In the vineyards and in the cellar new methods which will produce wines of distinction are taking hold. And perhaps regain the foothold that Carneros enjoyed in the 1970s and ‘80s when it was the first region in California to tame the finicky Pinot Noir grape.
He disagrees, therefore, with Jim Laube of the Wine Spectator, whom he considers a friend, who once wrote some biting remarks about the Carneros.
Writing in June of ’01, Laube told his readers to look at “the Russian River and Sonoma Coast for the future,” and “Wineries that pick Carneros instead of the Russian River, bet on the wrong horse. Big advantage: Sonoma. … When it comes to sheer value and getting the most for your money, well then, chalk one up for Sonoma.”
As you can imagine, that still sticks in Richmond’s craw.
“Laube’s comments have reverberated,” he admits. “(But) if there’s an intellectual honesty at all, people’s opinion about Carneros will have to change.”
He beseeches Laube too, to try Carneros again. He admits that many of the techniques utilized in the region “were old” and that clonal material “was old.” He also says that it’s going to take another three to five years before the Carneros gets its groove back.
He concludes regarding Laube, “He was right for the time, but maybe that horse has sired a new colt.”
The Carneros Appellation Discovery tasting took place on a chilly but sunny Thursday, January 19 in the conference room at Bouchaine Vineyards, with myself and Sonoma Regional Editor, Dan Berger, moderating the tasting and recording the observations of the Panels.
The focus of this Discovery tasting was to discern those qualities of taste and style that best define Carneros Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. In other words, what is the terroir stamp that impacts these signature varietals of Los Carneros?
Sitting on the Discovery Panel were five of the region’s top winemaker’s/growers. To witness the proceedings and findings of the Discovery Panel was a 12 member Confirmation Panel consisting of other top Carneros winemakers, industry professionals, and journalists.
A total of forty-two wines (22 Pinot Noirs and 20 Chardonnays) representing 23 wineries were tasted double-blind in Riedel glassware. This Record of Proceedings will concentrate only on the Chardonnay portion of this tasting, which included two flights of eleven and nine, 2003s and 2004s respectively. (Dan Berger’s report on the results of the Carneros Pinot Noir tasting will follow next week in this same section.)
Discovery Tasting Analysis
Before we can begin to discuss how the terroir impacts Carneros Chardonnay, one must ask, what are the characteristics of a Carneros Chardonnay that the consumer can identify?
Michael Richmond’s (Bouchaine Vineyards) most prevalent observations throughout the session described Carneros Chardonnay as possessing “the hallmark of Carneros: suede, emery cloth, with a honeycomb quality.” By this, Richmond meant that the “new-era” Chardonnays are exhibiting a certain smoothness and elegance.
Referring to one wine he said, “This is a bell-ringer for the texture and feel it has on your gums. It does have a Carneros citrus-y (quality) and aromatics because I don’t think of Carneros Chardonnay as having apricot or peach flavors or aromas. It is my vision, my abstract concept of Carneros.”
Anne Moller-Racke (Donum Estate / Robert Stemmler Winery) said of the same wine, “It’s typical Carneros. It has acidity, structure, minerality and a bit of greenness.”
Richmond again commenting on another Chardonnay as being typical of the region: “There are three wines in this flight and this is one of them. It has citrus-y notes and that sueded texture. To my mind, it’s Carneros.”
Stéfane Vivier (HdV Wines) chimed in, talking about another wine, “It’s Carneros again. It has a very elegant, nice grain. If I had to drink Chardonnay every day, this is the wine.”
Indeed, my comment regarding the overall quality of the 19 wines, which saw wines of elegance without the overuse of oak, was that if one is tired or turned off to Chardonnay, they need to try these.
Vivier echoed, “I was not expecting that many great wines.”
Finally Moller-Racke concluded, “With the Pinots (today) you saw different styles. But with Chardonnay, it seemed more like one style.”
Those comments reflected the group’s findings which resulted in 11 wines being named as AppellationAmerica’s “Appellation Signature” wines.
"Appellation Signature" Wines
The following wines, listed in alphabetical order, were found to be of high quality and share common and defining characteristics, and together, they represent the signature of Carneros.
- Bouchaine Vineyards
Chardonnay, Carneros, 2004 ($28)
Unbeknownst to him, this was one of the wines that Mike Richmond said, “fits Carneros.” This is a fresh, bright yet restrained wine with excellent oak integration and nice acidity, with pineapple and nutty notes. It’s a fairly big wine with some aging potential. - Ceja Vineyards
Chardonnay, Carneros, 2003 ($30)
One panelist described the texture as pineapple pudding and yogurt with foxy grape-y and good grain notes. He said the texture is very much representative of Carneros. The fruit is crisp, with intense tropical and zesty lemon notes. The wine didn’t experience malolactic fermentation and the listed alcohol is a relatively “low” 13.7 percent. - Clos du Val Winery
Chardonnay, Carneros, 2004 ($22)
According to the panel, “this is Carneros again” and “it’s the Chardonnay I’d drink every day.” It has a very elegant, nice grain with jasmine, citrus and a mineral and earthy quality. The oak is in check here and it will get better with age, perhaps up to 10 years. - Cuvaison Winery
Chardonnay, Carneros, 2004 ($24)
Delicious, light wood-spice balsam character with citrus candy notes and some flintiness on a long finish. This is a nicely crafted wine that grows on you. - Gloria Ferrer
Chardonnay Estate, Carneros, 2003 ($18)
This house, better known for its sparkling wines, is turning out some excellent still wines, too. This is one of them. And the one, according to a panelist, that is the “hallmark of Carneros.” The juice is totally free run, and the wine has brilliant color with complex and layered peach, pineapple, honey and nutty flavors, with good acidity and length. The alcohol is 13.5 percent. It’s truly a great effort. - HdV Wines
Chardonnay, Carneros ~ Hyde Vineyard, 2003 ($55)
This wine exhibits less citrus character and more pear and peach with a goodly dose of wood. But it is balanced with a long finish. There are also creamy, herbal-grassy notes. There is some hotness from the 14.5 percent alcohol. The wine was neither filtered nor fined. - MacRostie Winery and Vineyards
Chardonnay, Carneros, 2004 ($21)
A very well-balanced, complex Chardonnay with a mouth-feel and texture “representative of the region.” There’s a faint herbal note and fine grain with citrus flavors. It’s crisp and the fruit is a bit subdued, which will likely reveal itself with some age. - Merryvale Vineyards
Chardonnay, Carneros ~ Hyde Vineyard, 2003 ($45)
There are evident oak and butterscotch overtones with perfumed orange blossom aromas. On the palate, this Chardonnay is complex and elegant on a nutty, rather than fruit-driven texture, although some pineapple emerges. The length is good, where there’s a cleansing wash of acidity. - Robert Stemmler Winery
Chardonnay Estate, Carneros, 2003 ($26)
A panel favorite. This is the “bell-ringer” of the flight which most represents Carneros, according to one panelist. It has typical Carneros structure of acidity, minerality, and a bit of greenness. “This is the kind of wine I’m trying to make,” remarked another. Another commented “great,” with an exclamation point. - Schug Carneros Estate
Chardonnay Heritage Reserve, Carneros, 2003 ($30)
Lots of citrus in the nose with complex peach and apricot flavors on a structure augmented with integrated oak. There’s also honey, which adds to its silky quality. It has a very long finish. It’s also a clean, well-balanced, well-made wine that is a little young. It could use just a bit more acidity. The alcohol is 13.5 percent. - Schug Carneros Estate
Chardonnay, Carneros, 2004 ($22)
Young, fresh and quite fruity with well-integrated toasty wood and complexity. It’s rich and spicy with pineapple, green apple and cotton candy notes. The finish is nice with some minerality but it’s perhaps a bit hot, due perhaps to the 14. 5 percent alcohol.
