Spring is in full swing in Napa Valley, where the nights remain cool and the days can provide you with a degree of warmth and sometimes even heat. Despite the delayed growing season this year, the environment looks very healthy, water reservoirs are full and all looks promising, especially for wine.
When I recently visited the legendary Robert Mondavi Vinery in Oakville, chief winemaker Genevieve Janssens and director of winemaking Kurtis Ogasawara took me through some of their latest releases. I had a great experience tasting their sauvignon blancs, which they traditionally label as fume blanc, a fashion established by Robert Mondavi himself.
The best part was tasting those from To Kalon Vineyard, especially the single-block Robert Mondavi Winery Fumé Blanc Napa Valley Oakville To Kalon Vineyard I Block 2019. It reminded me of some of the best Pessac-Leognan whites with its texture and depth. There is so much going on in this wine, and it clearly stands out. It is so complex and lingering yet at the same time fresh and fragrant, showing notes of nectarines, orange blossom, citrus leaf and beeswax. I was stunned by its tension and energy.
The I Block is a dry-farmed, head-trained, single parcel of sauvignon blanc planted back in 1945, and it’s believed to be the oldest vineyard in the United States for the variety. Its low density and old, deep root system allows it to be farmed with no irrigation. The pure essence of the terroir and unique old vines come through clearly in the wine. However, with a crop level under a ton per acre for the block’s five acres in total, only about 200 cases of wine are produced from it annually, making the wines very rare and difficult to find outside the winery.
After Janssens and Ogasawara saw my excitement in drinking the wine, we hopped into a car and drove toward the Mayacamas Mountains to explore To Kalon Vineyard and its famous historical parcels of red Bordeaux varieties, dominated by world-class cabernet sauvignon from the likes of Beckstoffer and Opus One. But if you look closely, you’ll find the benchmark for quality white wine as well – in the sparse plantings of the quintessential sauvignon blanc found in the I Block.
– Andrii Stetsiuk, Associate Editor
