My Article: Some Winemakers Look For Character Not Just Ripeness

One theme that seemed to surface a lot this week in Napa Valley and Knights Valley from the winemakers that I was videoing with my business partner and film director James Orr was that they all were dedicated to making Cabernet that showed the character of their terroir and the vintage.

They continued to say the same thing, that if they picked their grapes too late to make a “certain California style,” they would lose the character of where their grapes came from and when. In other words, some people harvest his or her Cabernet Sauvignons so ripe that the raisiny, high sugar character that ultimately translates into high alcohol masks the true personality of the wine.

“The signature of the vintage and the signature of the terroir is the most important thing to me,” said Pierre Seillan, the French winemaker for the Jess Jackson family who makes Anakota wines from Knights Valley. “It’s is so easy to make body building wines that lose their true character.”

I really liked the fresh and refined character of the Anakota Cabernets, which come from mountain grown grapes near the vineyards of Peter Michael Winery. Peter Michael Cabs from its Les Pavots vineyard show a little more concentration, but they are all in balance – particularly the 2008. The 2008 Screaming Eagle (vineyard in photo) was certainly terroir driven even though it was very ripe.

It was the same thoughts with Peter Michel’s winemaker Nicolas Morlet. The Frenchman said that his ultimate goal was to pick his grapes at just the right time to highlight the character and goodness of his vineyards, or terroir.

American vineyard managers and winemakers echoed the same thoughts during my quick trip. Mike Wolf, the vineyard manager of a number of great terroir in Napa such as Scarecrow and Vine Hill Ranch (which is just releasing its own amazing small production Cabernet Sauvignon), put it a little more direct. “You want to harvest the grapes so people can make wines that people want to drink, and finish the bottle,” he said with a smile this morning in the Vine Hill Vineyards.

Sounds very simple. But apparently it isn’t for some Cabernet Sauvignon producers…