My Article: More Thoughts on California Cabs

(MEXICO CITY) I arrived at the airport here yesterday for a promotion of One Wine One World, and I received an email on my iPhone from an American friend in Bordeaux who is a wine merchant. Jeff Davies, the owner of Signature Selections, is well-known in wine circles, and I enjoy hanging out with him wherever our paths may cross in the world. There’s always a good bottle to share. I am sure you know friends like that.

Anyway, I was impressed with his email following my Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon report. So I thought I would share it with you after I asked him if it would be okay. Check it out. (The yellow markings are his for emphasis.)

It seems many others share similar sentiments regarding what I wrote in the introduction to the tasting report. How about you?

On Feb 17, 2011, at 9:28, Jeffrey Davies wrote:

Enjoyed your article/tasting on the 2006/2007 Napa Valley Cabernets. Think you pretty well summed it up with your remarks below.

I just can’t help but remember what a Napa Valley winemaker told me during one of my two trips to the valley last fall. “The problem is that some people make wines from raisins instead of grapes,” she said.

I am not sure it is true, but my impression from a number of Napa winemakers is that many wineries are pulling the reins back a bit on the full-throttle in-your-face high-alcohol fruit-bomb wines for more balanced and refined ones. This, in my opinion, would be a great thing. I recently drank a bottle of 1968 Beaulieu Vineyard Private Reserve Georges De Latour in Hong Kong and the wine was gorgeous, with such complexity and finesse. It went wonderfully with our Italian meal at Otto e Mezzo restaurant. I miss those great Cabs from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. They were all about balance.

“Why doesn’t California make wines like this anymore?” asked my friend, who is an important wine merchant and collector in Hong Kong. “They go so well with food. So many California wines you taste now are overdone and you can’t drink them with food.”

May be he needs to try more California wine to understand that the finesse and balance is certainly there? But the perception of many in the global market is very much like his. California reds are too alcoholic and don’t go with food.

Another obvious problem with California — particularly Napa Valley Cab — is pricing. I was shocked to hear a number of wine producers say to me that they thought their wines were a “good value” because they were $125 a bottle. Maybe I have been gone from the States for too long, but $125 is not a good value. Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon on the whole is too expensive. Wine producers have to be more reasonable.

I did a wine tasting of California wine in Hong Kong for Watson’s Wine Cellars, and the overwhelming comment from the 50 or so wine lovers in attendance was that California wine was too expensive.

I did notice, that much like myself, you seemed to have a consistent preference for the hillside wines (Colgin, Sloan, Chappellet, Shafer “Hillside Select,” etc.) from the eastern side of the Valley with one possible exception (Ovid). And from the western side as well (Diamond Creek, Harlan, etc.). The one vineyard source, however, that seems to belie the superiority of the hillside vineyards, would seem to be Andy Beckstoffer’s To Kalon vineyard.

And yet, most of those great Cabernets from the 1950s and 1960s that you enjoyed with your father — as did I, on occasion, with my parents — came from valley floor fruit (BV Private Reserve, Charles Krug “Vintage Select,” Robert Mondavi “Reserve,” and some of the Inglenook “Cask” bottlings). The only memorable exceptions were Mayacamas and some of Heitz’s bottlings, but those didn’t really gain much attention until the early 1970s.

Chappellet has certainly made a significant comeback! I believe that Donn Chappellet’s Pritchard Hill vineyards were among the first vineyards high up in the hills on the eastern side of the Valley. Lee Stewart’s Souverain, the original one, may have been up in that vicinity, too.

I still have a few bottles of things from the early 1970s. Next time you’re here!

SHARE ON:
FacebookTwitterLinkedInEmail

Leave comment

You must be logged in to post comment. LOG IN

7 thoughts on “My Article: More Thoughts on California Cabs

  1. ElCubano says:
    After many years of being supportive of California Cab's, I have stopped purchasing them mainly due to their high prices. California Cab producers need a big reality check!
  2. plzachar says:
    James, thanks very much for sharing Jeff Davies' letter which discusses, among other things, the fact that Napa Cabernets from the 1950s and 1960s were so great. I never realized just how great these wines could be until I read a review of older Napa Cabernets by Jancis Robinson in Wine & Spirits magazine. Ms. Robinson's review was done several years ago when she attended a Napa Cabernet tasting in London. She raved about Lee Stewart's 1969 Souverain! She said the 1969 Souverain was so much better in so many ways than that famous bottle of 1974 Heitz Martha's Vineyard, Napa Valley Cabernet (Anniversary 1974 Vintage)! I searched high and low for the 1969 Souverain and eventually found a bottle. And you know something - it was fantastic, just like Ms. Robinson said! One of the best wines I've ever tasted!
  3. marcrobillard says:
    Though I cannot go back anywhere near that far, I am always scratching my head when I see the the prices for Napa/Cali Cabs. I do like many of them but for the money, I will almost always shop elsewhere.
    The best bottles I have had are the 1994 Groth (beautiful wine!) and a few examples of Insignia. The '99 Insignia beeing the latest that I have had and it is outstanding.
    Having said this, I almost exclusively stick to and look for wines in the $50.00 range such as the basics Heitz, Cuvaison and the occasional Mondavi Napa, which are not always oustanding but quite enjoyable.
    Availability here in QC (where is the Chapellet!) is also an issue.
    At the end of the day though, there is clearly a market for these overpriced Cali Cabs and I suspect the majorty of which are consumed by Americans who are willing to pay the price...Not much different than Bordeaux I guess. If the market can bear the price than they will continue to charge the price.
    Marc
  4. marcgilmartin says:
    I agree. California Cabernets are not the good value per dollar that they once were. It's too bad since we travel to Yountville/Rutherford a couple of times a year and enjoy visiting our favorite vineyards but just can't justify the price per bottles for the favorites that we've been buying since the early 80s. We'll still be getting a few but the Italian and French wines have become the mainstays for our cellar in the last 5 years or so. I imagine however that the market will be self correcting some time in the near future like all markets eventually do.
  5. rapopoda says:
    Many Napa cabs are overpriced and the giant sized versions are too ponderous to really enjoy. However, their arrogance is nothing compared to producers of cru classe Bordeaux: miserably absurd prices of relatively high production wines from an area where "terroir" means next to nothing
  6. James Suckling says:
    Not sure you can generalize like that about Bordeaux or Napa. But I can show you dozens of excellent Bordeaux for $50 or less. The crazy prices in Bordeaux are with about 30 labels or so.
  7. bradw says:
    Couldn't agree more on the subject. It's a shame because I would like to keep more of my wine budget dollars here in the U.S. but the wines are just too overdone.