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Karl Lawrence Cellars is owned and run by the well-known Napa winemaker, Michael Trujillo and his partners. We caught up with him at Sequoia Grove during the midst of the busy harvest. This winery is all about premium Cabernet Sauvignon. In fact that is the only wine they produce. Karl Lawrence was founded in 1991 and the winery name comes from Michael's middle name as well as the middle name of his founding partner. Michael has a long history of winemaking in the Napa Valley - he studied under the famed Andre Tchelistcheff, and Tony Soter (founder of Etude winery) and worked for many years as wine maker at Sequoia Grove Winery. Today he is their President/Winemaker. Based on his long experience with high end Napa vineyards from his time working at Sequoia Grove he has been able to source from some of these same vineyards for his own wine.
All the grapes for Karl Lawrence's Cabernet are currently sourced from premium Napa Valley vineyards located in popular Cabernet producing districts such as Rutherford, Oakville and near Howell Mountain. However, Karl Lawrence has its own 40-acre vineyard on Howell Mountain that will be coming into production in the next few years (planted to the 5 major Bordeaux varietals). Michael is excited about finally having his own vineyards come into use for his label. As of press time, their total production is about 1500 cases. They have a mailing list which can be tough to become a member, as due to the popularity of this wine there is currently a hefty waiting list. High end restaurants in very select markets also receive some cases and you can find their Cabernet in some well-to-do restaurants in the Napa Valley. Michael was taught to make wine to express the "grape"and its varietal characteristics. As a winemaker he says you have to be patient and do not over manipulate the wine, especially when its still young. He strives to makes balanced wines that are enjoyable today but will evolve over the next 5 to 10 years. As he says, his wines are "pleasurable when you open it young, but even more pleasurable when you cellar it." When you smell the Karl Lawrence wines you are not going to be able to pick out which cooper and oak that was used during the aging! We are currently seriously backed up on tasting for a number of reviews. As a result, our tasting notes on the 2004 Karl Lawrence Cabernet Sauvignon will be coming by the end of November 2008. In addition, Michael Trujillo runs a second label called Aldin (also derived from another partner's middle name) of which their are two wines, a Red Table Wine which is a Cabernet Sauvignon based Bordeaux style blend and the only white wine Michael makes - a Chardonnay. The total production on these two wines is extremely small - only about 250 cases. We tried the 2005 Chardonnay. This wine has a nice golden color in the glass with aromas containing nuances of minerals, honeycomb, lemon twist and wet straw. The palate has a nice phenolic grip, is rich from the higher alcohol - flavors of lemon, and pear are most noticeable with some nice spices towards the finish, which by the way has excellent length. Visit: www.karllawrence.com |
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All of their wine has been made from day 1 by the well-known Napa winemaker, Celia Welch Masyczek - who also produces her own small label here called Corra. Celia focuses her consulting efforts typically on single vineyard high end wineries. Keever produces one high end Cabernet Sauvignon which is often only sold at the winery due to the limited availability after it ships to their mailing list customers. This what you expect of a beautiful Napa Cabernet when everything comes together from the vineyards to the winemaking. It is smooth, velvety and a pleasure to run across your tongue. They also have a Chardonnay and recently sourced fruit from Pope Valley for their Sauvignon Blanc. Note that only specific amounts of wine are released through their website (not their entire production). Because of this wineries location, on a clear day you will have excellent views of the Napa Valley and the Palisades which rise nearby the famous Stag's Leap district in the distance. Be sure to get directions and the gate code ahead of time as they are located in a gated neighborhood. Keever also has a mailing list. Visit: www.keevervineyards.com |
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You can choose to taste in their fancy wine room or outside on the veranda if the weather permits. Kelham currently produces a Chardonnay and a Sauvignon Blanc but their real focus is on the Cabernets for the serious wine enthusiasts and collectors. Unlike other wineries who make Cabernets which are soft and low in tannins thus readily drinkable right out of the bottle, Kelham's philosophy has been to make Cabernet's that are extremely rich, bold, very high in tannins and are meant to sit for 10 to 15 years. We tried the 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon - blended with 10% Merlot. Big aromas, good spices, rich fruit layers and strong tannins follow through on the finish. Releases tend to be a bit older than most other wineries giving these "big wines" additional aging time before reaching the consumer. Their best of the best is their 100% Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. Letting these wines age will allow all components of the wine to come together resulting in a extremely high quality wine.Visit: www.kelhamvineyards.com |
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Kelly Fleming Winery is located in the northern part of the Napa Valley, nestled in a narrow canyon against the steep hillsides. From this part of the Napa Valley you hardly know you are in the Napa area. Rugged hillsides, narrow secluded canyons and forested slopes all form the backdrop for Kelly Fleming's 12 hillside planted acres of Cabernet Sauvignon. This is prime Cabernet Sauvignon country - nearby neighbors include the Araujo Estate and Kenefick Ranch. Kelly is founder of this winery - she and her husband visited the Napa Valley for over 20 years and and like many others before them fell in love with the area. They purchased property in 1998 and soon thereafter planted various Cabernet clones on an assortment of rootstalks. This particular hillside soil is extremely rocky and well drained. As a result, cover crops and the addition of organic layers to the surface are extremely important - helping with erosion control as well as ensuring the soil retains additional moisture. The vineyards are certified CCOF organic.
As Kelly says building a winery and brand come in small steps. She is making these steps one at a time. The wine is currently made at Laird Estate in Napa but as of press time twin caves have been dug into the hillside. Much of the caves were drilled through solid rock so the gunnite covering you normally see won't have to be used and the natural rock is left exposed. Additional plans call for a stone winery to be built on site and once this is complete Kelly Fleming will be an entirely self contained winery. The property is 300 acres so the vineyards take up only a small portion of the total acreage. Kelly is a firm believer in creating a healthy balance between the vineyards and the natural environment. Bee hives have been introduced to the property, a native plant reseeding program is in place and additional plans call for possibly solar and wind generated power sources. Speaking of winds, it is often breezy in this area from the steep canyons that rise behind the property. One advantage of this over the valley floor is these winds really mitigate stagnate air and colder temperatures which can produce frost damage during and after bud break. Kelly Fleming's first vintage was in 2002 - merely 300 cases were released at that time but since then each vintage has grown slightly and they do have the capacity to produce additional amounts. Look for a French styled Sauvignon Blanc to be released which as of press time is still in barrel. The well-known local winemaker, Celia Welch Masyczek consults for a number of boutique high end Napa wineries including Kelly Fleming. Celia's specialty is working with single vineyard estate properties such as this one. We tried the 2004 100% Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. All the Cabernet clones in this wine, are picked separately based on individual ripeness, and are also fermented and aged separately until the final blending. This wine is inky and dark in color, perfect color characteristics for hillside fruit. As the wine opens up seductive aromas of ripe juicy blackberries come to the forefront along with some exotic earthy spices. The palate is rich and well layered with lots of fruit on the mid palate with a well structured elegant finish. You can find this wine locally at Dean & Deluca, Enoteca in Calistoga and Backroom Wines in Napa. Visit: www.kellyflemingwines.com |
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However today, not all fruit is sold - in 2002 he released his first commercial vintage under his own label; he holds back select blocks on his estate for his own wines. He has a large number of varieties and clones planted (mostly Bordeaux varietals). As of press time they produce a slightly blended Cabernet Franc and a Cabernet Sauvignon. Future vintages will include a Merlot. Kenefick strikes a balance between the high alcohol fruit bombs that may not age very well and the lower alcohol wines that contain additional acidity with less sugar in the fruit at the time of harvest. We tried the 2004 Cabernet Franc. This is one of the nicer Cabernet Francs we have tasted in the Napa area. Sometimes Cabernet Francs are associated with vegetal or bell pepper characteristics. Not so with this wine. Their Cabernet Franc is a reflection of where it is grown and the type of climate that Kenefick's vineyards experience. The nose is complex with various spices and hints of cedar - the smooth tannins do not overwhelm the black cherry flavors on the palate. It has a very velvety mouth feel. We also tried their 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon. This is a dark wine with a great nose that includes touches of chocolate and and some vanilla imparted from the New French Oak aging. The tannins are mild and the fruit flavors are ripe cherry and plum. Both of their wines are very reasonably priced and hold up extremely well in competitions in which the other wines are often priced significantly higher. The fruit for their Cabernet Sauvignon was used in a Behrens and Hitchcock (a local winery) wine which was "wine of the year" in a recent Sunset Magazine "Western Wine of the Year" competition. Kenefick produces only about 1500 cases and has national distribution in select markets. In the valley, you can find their wine at Enoteca wine shop in Calistoga and at the fancy Solage Resort just south of the town of Calistoga. They also have a mailing list which of press time is still open to new customers. Visit: www.kenefickranch.com |
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Their focus is on his favorite varietal, Pinot Noir. They own 15 acres of vineyards in Carneros not far from the San Pablo Bay, all planted to Pinot. The vineyard was planted in 1979 making it one of the earlier Pinot Noir vineyards in this part of Napa. Kent remembers standing in his vineyard and looking out at grazing land in all directions. Today in Carneros you are hard pressed to find any grazing land among the rolling sea of vines! The Carneros region skyrocketed in popularity for cooler weather varietals such as Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in the 1980's. The current winery and surrounding property was purchased in 1995 and since then has been the production facility for every vintage. However their real "roots" so to speak are in the Carneros where they used to make wine - and as of press time they are planning to upgrade the original winery and in a few years start making their wines there. The one wine that sets themselves apart from most of the other wineries physically located in the "up valley" is their delicious Pinot Noir. In fact this varietal comprises about 70% of their total production and is their flagship wine. They currently offer three different labels - the Kent Rasmussen wines are all from Napa vineyards, the Ramsey label includes wines priced affordably - mostly from North Coast vineyards (Mendocino and Lake Counties to the north of Napa) - most of their wines are produced under this label - about 30,000 cases, and lastly the Esoterica. This label incorporates its own flagship wine, the Petite Sirah as well as non mainstream very limited production wines which often include varietals from Napa and beyond that only the most hard core of wine lovers will have heard of. Try, Touriga Nacional, Sousao (both Portugese varietals), and Carmenere (hails from Bordeaux France). Some of the past vintages have included late harvest Viognier and a rare Napa grown Riesling. The word Esoterica means "secrets known only to an initiated minority" - well the secret is out on these wines. Combined with their small productions and uniqueness they often sell out rather quickly. We tried the 2006 Chardonnay sourced from Rutherford. It should be pointed out that for any fruit sourced, Rasmussen has locked up these vineyards in long term contracts thus ensuring the consistency of each harvest. Due the abundance of Chardonnay in the Napa Valley and the scope of our project we have tasted more than our fair share of this varietal. As a result, it is always refreshing to find a take on this varietal that is slightly different than what we are used to. Try this. It was barrel fermented (both the initial and the malolactic) and aged for about 7 months in American Oak (50% new, 50% used). A portion of the wine was fermented very cold to help retain additional fruit flavors. Is this wine "oaked" as you would think both in aroma and on the palate? Not so at all. This is a crisp golden colored wine, not overly creamy in nature with tropical notes including honeysuckle on the nose as the bouquet opens up. The palate is refreshing, lots of fruit including apple and even a touch of stone fruit flavors. The 2006 Estate Pinot Noir is their flagship wine. It is quite dark for a Pinot and is sourced from some of the oldest Pinot vines in Carneros (their own vineyard). It has a wonderful herbal, somewhat floral bouquet with lots of fruit showing through - mainly raspberry. Balance is the key to this wine as in... perfectly balanced! The mouth feel is rich, smooth and rounded anchored by wonderful fruit on the slightly spicy finish. This is a great food wine - think of anything tomato based. We have slowly been developing our palate to Pinot Noir - its harder than you think with our focus entirely on Napa wines. There are much fewer Napa Pinot Noir producers in comparison to the hundreds of Cabernet Sauvignon producers in the valley. This is definitely one of the nicer Pinot's we have tried. If you would like to pick up some wine - you should call ahead to make sure someone is at the actual winery - as most of the time when we drive by (and it is often), there are rarely cars parked in the gravel parking lot. By in large the majority of their wine is sold only through distributors - as of press time they typically do not sell direct to the consumer. However you can find their wines in select markets in about 35 states and locally in Napa's Whole Foods. Visit: www.kentrasmussenwinery.com and also their blog here: http://kentrasmussenwinery.blogspot.com |
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The inside of the building has a rustic western motif with lots of hard wood, USA flags and remnants of animal kills hanging on the walls. Souvenirs and other wine related goodies are sold downstairs. This is a winery built for mass tourists and as a result most of their wines are sold through the winery with a select number of wines only available for purchase at the winery. The wine bar is upstairs and it is quite large. Tour buses have made this winery one of their stops and it can be insanely busy at certain times of the days when the large buses drop off the masses of people who typically all head straight for the upstairs tasting bar. We've been upstairs when 1 or 2 large buses roll in and we rapidly complete our tasting flight although we admit, for some the group tasting experience is definitely one of the highlights here :) Weather permitting there is a very nice outside deck surrounding the upstairs tasting area. There are at least 8 wines on the tasting flight - two whites, the majority are reds and several desert wines. Their Sangiovese is light and very affordable. what is one of their more popular wines is the Estate Cabernet Sauvignon which is on the lighter side for a Cabernet and very soft. The Viognier Late Harvest is very light, non syrupy - not too sweet, in general a great summer dessert wine. This winery often holds fun events including BBQ's and hors d'oeuvres with wine and games. Visit: www.kirklandranchwinery.com |
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After the vineyard tour we sat down with Jan and tasted through several of his wines. His son has been the winemaker and convinced his father to branch out into other wines besides the core varietals of Cabernet and Merlot. As a result, Krupp Brothers now makes a well-rounded selection of wine including several nice white wines. They have three labels; Veraison, Black Bart and their Estate Wines. The Black Bart label was named after the notorious stage coach robber Black Bart who took down some stagecoaches nearby the main vineyard property. We started out with their Marsanne a delicious structured floral wine - with a slight viscous peach flavor producing a long finish. Not every Napa winery makes a Marsanne and it was a treat to taste it here. We also had the privilege of sampling their Black Bart's Bride before it was released. Again this is a delicious white composed of Marsanne, Viognier and a lower amount of Chardonnay. That is just the whites! They have a large selection of wonderful reds including our favorite, their Cabernet Sauvignon under their Estate label - 100% cabernet. Like Syrah - they make a 100% varietal and also a Syrah Rose. You can taste their wines at A Dozen Vintners in St. Helena - and if you would like to taste & buy additional Krupp Brothers wine, consider an appointment. Visit: www.kruppbrothersestates.com |
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Arguably the highlight of the tour is the scenic overlook next to Pat's weight room and the pool. Here you sit under stately oaks and drink wine looking out over Napa Valley far below you. If you visit during a warm spell, well groomed men and women may be lounging around the pool enjoying life. The pool literally seems to end at a cliff and where the water ends, the sky begins - when the fog rolls in here, it is truly a walk in the clouds. When its clear as it often is - it seems as if you are perched on the edge of the world watching nature unfold below you. When we were sitting here dreamily sipping excellent wine the wine dog shows up and someone says "oh the dog has brought us some wood" - the concierge then says, nope its just another dried frog!" Not even that could wreck the "it" or ambience of the moment we were enjoying. Kuleto has excellent Sangiovese. Also try their Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel. Their "lightest" wine is the Rosato which is a blend of several types of grapes. They also make a Muscatto and Port in extremely low quantities which pretty much guarantees these wines will be sold out. Several cheeses, fruits and nuts are provided at the end of your tasting. A gourmet chef's kitchen is located upstairs - as well as beautifully furnished rooms. The parties here are supposed to be out of this world and are available for wine club members. One party had 500 people - don't know where they all park! www.kuletoestate.com |
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