The gorgeous view at Barnett Vineyards on Spring Mountain.
For the past two decades, we’ve been visiting the Napa and Sonoma Valleys almost annually. The two Valleys run parallel, separated by the Mayacamas Mountains in northern California. Both are terrific tourist destinations and among the top wine regions in the United States. While Sonoma is much larger in terms of vineyard area and variety of wines produced, Napa is the better-known region of the two with a world-class reputation built on Cabernet Sauvignon. For years, wine enthusiasts have debated the difference between the Cabernets produced on the Valley floor versus those produced from fruit higher up on the mountainsides.
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The front gate entrance at Barnett.
There is definitely a difference between the fruit that is grown on the Napa Valley floor versus the fruit that is grown high up in the mountains. We got to taste that difference first-hand when we visited Barnett Vineyards, atop of Spring Mountain, at the northern end of the Mayacamas Range that separates Napa from Sonoma.
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Miljenko “Mike” Grgich [photo courtesy of Grgich.com]
May 24, 1976 is a date forever ingrained in the history of California’s wine industry. No one could have predicted how the outcome of one wine competition in Paris would cause such reverberations across the world. The “Judgement of Paris” not only put Napa Valley on the world wine map, it also marked the arrival of Croatian-born Miljenko “Mike” Grgich, the winemaker behind the 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay that earned the highest score of the white wines. More than 40 years since that historic tasting, 96-year-old Mike has ensured that his legacy of producing world-class wine continues at Grgich Hills Estate through his daughter Violet (President) and nephew Ivo Jeramaz (Winemaker/VP Vineyards & Production).
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2003 Robert Mondavi Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
A powerful but not overpowering wine, it delivered superb complexity with notes of blackberry, blueberry, spice cake and vanilla. Bold and intense yet so well balanced as to still come across as elegant. Drinking beautifully now but still has lots of time if you were to lose it in the back of your cellar for another decade. Extraordinary
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2004 Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards Right Bank
Made up of 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Franc, this wine showed big fruit, solid structure and is drinking well now but could easily go much longer. Great complexity with notes of black cherry, plum, stewed fruits and vegetal notes combined with earth, spice and herbs. A powerful but balanced wine with a nice acidity on its wonderfully long finish.
Excellent+
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