Alan and Claire Ramey take ownership of the family winery, David Ramey to Board Chairman

An Afternoon at Detert Family Vineyards with Tom Garrett

Recently, Detert Family Vineyards winemaker, Tom Garrett contacted me regarding the imminent release of something special; essentially single barrel lots of three vintages,(2009 - 2011) representing the pinnacle of his family’s legendary East Block Cabernet Franc in Oakville.

I have followed Detert since the premiere release 2000 vintage and taste them as often as possible. The East Block represents the oldest existing repository of Cabernet Franc DNA in Napa Valley. Replanted in 1979 by Tom’s grandfather. budded with the original clonal material used by previous owner Martin Stelling when he developed the vineyard post-prohibition, 1949. The contiguous West Block originally represented a mix of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Chenin Blanc and Riesling before it too was replanted to Cabernet Franc. In 2004, the family introduced their premiere release of Cabernet Sauvignon (pictured above) - a mere one acre in the southwest corner of the property separated from the other blocks by a serene creek.

Tom’s family purchased the vineyard in 1953 and until 2000 sold the fruit to Robert Mondavi (Krug, Mondavi and Opus One) on an exclusive handshake agreement. Along with the Horton property next door, owned by the Garrett cousins (producers of MacDonald Cabernet Sauvignon), the vineyards were considered by Mr. Mondavi the best in all of Napa Valley. 

Along with the release of the East Block sets, Tom wanted to bring me up to date on new developments at the vineyard, primarily the replanting of West Block, but also the careful and deliberate replanting of missing vines in East Block. We made an aappointment to meet at the vineyard yesterday and spent several hours walking the property where I filmed a couple video segments. 

TOM GARRETT | WITH DOUG WILDER IN DETERT CABERNET SAUVIGNON BLOCK

TOM GARRETT | WITH DOUG WILDER IN DETERT WEST AND EAST BLOCKS

 pdwr EXCLUSIVE | 2009 - 2011 DETERT EAST BLOCK 

The first professional reviews on the premiere releases of the 2009 - 2011 Detert East Block, representing the non plus ultra of East Block Cabernet Franc barrels. will appear in late December, exclusively at purely domestic wine report. Take advantage of the holiday subscription special. 

wilde farm | The premiere release 2012 wines, by Pax Mahle

As a wine critic, I find it very advantageous to be based in the midst of the region I write about most, California. Rather than spending several weeks annually out here, I am always around and can either be walking a vineyard, tasting with a new producer, or picking up samples with relatively little planning or fanfare. I get to talk informally with a lot of winemakers as well as engage with people on wine chatboards. Through these resources, I sometimes learn of new projects just as they are being released, and because of the relatively simple publishing I do, the wine can get to me, be tasted and written about in a week. 

That is what happened recently with a wine I have only know about for ten days. I learned about wilde farm on the Wine Berserkers website, a chatboard started within the last five years by mostly the banned exiles of another wine board. The brand new wilde farm wine label is owned by Loren Grossman, one of those passionate wine lovers who falls hard for the idea of being a vintner yet approaches it from a very high level and seeks out some of the top talent to help him execute the plan. Loren chose well by tabbing Pax Mahle to craft the wines. Pax and I are both alumni of Dean & Deluca’s Napa Valley Wine Hall (aka, The Incubator) and actually worked there at the same time in 1999. I call it The Incubator because there were several of us who arrived there in the late ’90s from around the country and made it into the finest selection of domestic wine in the country and possibly the world before we grew our wings and eventually flew off to do other things. Pax made an immediate impact as a winemaker in the early part of the millennium with his original eponymous brand and now Wind Gap Wines, a brand dedicated to restrained, terroir-driven wines from up and down the california coast. His philosophy matches well with Grossman’s vision of letting distinctive mature vineyards express themselves in their own time by utilizing natural yeasts, neutral oak vessels and treating the wine as gently as possible by not fining or filtering. 

The premiere wines from wilde farm are sourced from three sites:

Chardonnay from Brosseau, Chalone

Pinot Noir from Donnelly Creek, Anderson Valley

Heritage Field Blend, Bedrock Vineyard, Sonoma Valley

92  2012 wilde farm Chardonnay

Chalone, Brosseau Vineyard, 13.2%, $36

Aromas of lemon drops, salt, mineral, tea, and pineapple with nuances of butter cream. Tasted at room temperature, the palate offers a honey, chamomile and bright, vibrant lemon quality persisting into the finish with clean acidity. When chilled, it primarily accentuates crispness and brings out more grain and licorice on the finish. Drink 2013 - 2017.

93  2012 wilde farm Pinot Noir

Anderson Valley, Donnelly Creek Vineyard, 12.7%, $42

A nose of cranberry, graphite, red  cherry, blueberry, strawberry and a whiff of honey. The palate is extraordinarily delicate with currant, strawberry, rose petal, mineral and subtle spice. The main allure of this wine is the texture - a silky yet tactile structure that weaves its way through all parts. This is one of those wines I find hard to put down, and as evidence, it is the only one of the three samples that is now empty. Drink 2013 - 2025. 

92  2012 wilde farm Red Wine Heritage

Sonoma Valley, Bedrock Vineyard, 14.5%, $36

A nose of dried florals with an over-arching spice box of licorice, orange peel and cherry. The palate is sharply defined by a crisp cherry, violet and fine-grained cocoa and curacao-flecked spiciness. Over a 2 hour period in the glass, everything integrates with a blue plum and blackberry streak adding extra dimension. Drink 2013 - 2019. 

www.wildefarmwines.com

MacDonald Vineyard video with Graeme MacDonald and Tom Garrett

purely domestic wine report spent Friday afternoon at MacDonald tasting the new releases from cousins, neighbors and vintners, Graeme MacDonald and Tom Garrett. After finishing the tasting, we hiked to the top of the knoll for some video. Enjoy. Please click on the image below.

Highly recommended; the launch of an excellent new website

Aaron Pott (from www.winemakersrecommend.com)Several years ago I became acquainted with a fellow named Bret Lyman who owns a video production company in Napa Valley called B. Napa. The work that he created for wineries was state of the art and I was impressed by his skills, however as a critic I don’t go to winery websites to look at the videos. Recently Lyman did something that caught my attention big time, he introduced a new website along with Marcus Krupp, called winemakersrecommend.com. I highly suggest checking it out as the concept is producing short video spots of some of Napa’s most exciting and creative winemakers discussing wines that they love to drink (that they didn’t make). 

It is exciting to watch winemakers such as Aaron Pott, Kale Anderson, Helen Keplingler, Kirk Venge, and Chris Carpenter who I know and respect portrayed in a space where they have the freedom to discuss producers they admire. It adds a new wrinkle to their personalities that most people wouldn’t expect.