Frosty Cabernet

Frost covered 2nd crop cabernet left on the vine near Yountville on a November morning.

A packed tasting room!

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It was a busy day at our Yountville tasting room today. Please come visit us soon! We're featuring a tasting of estate Napa Valley olive oils along with our new Cornerstone and Stepping Stone releases.

04 Cornerstone Howell Mountain is Ambrosia!

Find Cornerstone 2004 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon on Ambrosia!

Tasting Room Progress!

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Progress continues on our new tasting room. The main room is finished (shown here) and the VIP tasting room is next.

Davis Block Cabernet harvest in Oakville

2009 Davis Block Cabernet harvest in Oakville

Gang of Pour Reviews New Cornerstone Releases

 New Wines from Cornerstone Cellars

Napa Valley’s Cornerstone Cellars sent out their samples packages to select reviewers last week, and we are fortunate enough to be on that list. We received four new releases, two each from their moderately priced Stepping Stone program and the prestige Cornerstone label. We published reviews of the previous vintages of the two Cornerstone Cabernet Sauvignons last May, and readers looking for further background information on this producer can refer both to that report and to Cornerstone’s own web site. Suffice it to say here that this is a well run, well-heeled operation that cuts no corners in producing the very best wines they possibly can, no pun intended. We first tried the two selections from the Stepping Stone line, which Cornerstone General Manager Craig Camp describes as being inspired by “the classic winemaking styles of France in the 1970’s.” The stated intent is not to recreate those wines, but rather “to craft wines that honored their tradition, while showing the distinctive personality of the California vineyards in which they were born.”

2007 Stepping Stone Red HIlls-Lake County Grenache, 94% Grenache, 4% Zinfandel, 15.5% alc., SRP $20: Showing a clean, ruby garnet color, this offers a fragrant melange of red fruit on the nose, including plums, berries and black cherries, and there’s plenty more of the same in the mouth, all rich and ripe, with a kiss of well-integrated oak and ever-so-subtle earthy undertones. Very smooth and easy to enjoy, it has an almost candied quality to it that reminds me a little of the 1990 Rosemount Diamond Label Shiraz that we went through cases of back in the day. Medium-full to full bodied and structured for at least a few years in the cellar, it does show a little heat from the alcohol level, but it’s not much of a detraction for this taster. The ripeness of fruit tones down a little with air, but you’ll never mistake this for anything old world, and that’s all right with me, because I like the wine for what it is, an excellent specimen of Left Coast Grenache.

2007 Stepping Stone Carneros Cabernet Franc, 90% Cabernet Franc, 10% Merlot, 14.9% alc. SRP $30: Clean, dark color, and not terribly expressive on the nose at first, this does gradually open to give earthy red and black currant and berry shaded with a little oak, though not as much as with the Grenache; the big flavors echo, and again, with a decidedly earthy character and herbaceous undertones that do resemble its cousins from the Loire somewhat, not being nearly as bright as the Grenache. Full bodied and well structured, this needs time to show its best, perhaps 3-5 years, and has the stuffing to get there. It tastes as though it saw older barrels, rather than newer, and that’s not a bad thing at all. While it does open in the glass and is certainly approachable, especially with food, time will be this one’s best friend.

2006 Cornerstone Cellars Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, 14.5% alc., SRP $65: Deeply, darkly colored, rich and refined, this beauty is ripe without going over the top, delivering pure, lovely blackberry and black currant flavors and aromas shaded with very well integrated oak, subtle earthy undertones and the vaguest hint of chocolate. Structured for several years of development and yet already quite approachable, it makes a real style statement and hits all the right notes for this taster. I enjoyed every sip, from start to finish. Sourced from Howell Mountain and Oakville; aged for two years in French oak followed by a year of bottle age.

2005 Cornerstone Cellars Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon, 14.8% alc., SRP $100: With clean, deep dark color, this is even more elegant, refined and opulent than the ‘06 Napa bottling, with lovely, ripe blackberry, black currant and black cherry character graced with a subtle note of chocolate, a pretty kiss of well-integrated sweet oak and a little more earth underneath it all than the previous selection. Full bodied, yet sleek, very smooth, yet well structured, this drinks beautifully now, yet promises to age well for many years. Sourced from Cornerstone’s organically certified block high on Howell Mountain in the famed Ink Grade Vineyard; aged for two years in French oak barrels followed by two years of bottle age before release. 

The oak in both of these beautiful Cabernets seems more restrained and in balance than with last year’s models, and while I was impressed with those last May, these are much more to my liking, and that’s coming from someone who tends to prefer more traditional, old world-styled wines. By way of contrast, Kim found these to show a little more oak than she cares for, but then, her tastes have gone even more old world than mine. I still enjoy wines from Napa when they’re well-made, and these two are very well-made indeed. I’d recommend them to anyone with New World palates still playing in the high-end wine market.

Reporting from Day-twah geo t.  http://blogs.gangofpour.com/?p=726

Sauvignon Blanc Harvest 09 - Talcott Vineyard St. Helena

Sauvignon Blanc Harvest 09 - Talcott Vineyard St. Helena

Another Wine Blog on 2006 Cornerstone Cellars Napa Cabernet

 I am referring to the 2006 Cornerstone Cellars Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Wines like this are why the Napa Valley has the reputation that it does. Nowhere else on earth can produce something this bold, powerful, and complex in exactly this way. Like the Cabs of the Right Bank in Bordeaux, once you have tasted an excellent example, there is a sense of place that exemplifies the best wine unique to that region. Cornerstone Cellars is one of the wineries that exemplifies that for Napa.

The color of this wine is a deep, almost opaque purple so impenetrable that light seems to bounce off of the surface. The color barely lightens as it nears the edge of the rim, hinting at the power in the glass. Despite my nose being slightly out of commission due to allergies, some aromas of dark cherry, bright raspberry, and rich fresh-

tilled earth managed to penetrate. Amyʼs note on the nose said: Dark cherry, blackberry, boysenberry and leather. It reminded her of a leather chair in a hunting lodge. I will try to flatter myself that it was the meal that I cooked that had her waxing poetic, but I know in my heart that it was the wine.

As young as this Cab is, I expected the tannins to be an obstacle that would need to be overcome while trying to get to the fruit. That, however, was not the case at all. While it possesses great structure, the tannins are already velvety and smooth and not overpowering at all. The only hint of youth in the mouthfeel is the way it makes the back of the tongue feel a little dry.

The first sip had me rolling my eyes and making noises like the star of a Food Network show during the money shot tasting their own cooking. Gobs of all sorts of combined rich, ripe fruit hit the tongue before separating into more individual flavors of black cherry, red raspberry, coffee, and milk chocolate. As these powerful flavors begin to retreat on the palate, they are joined by hints of plum, leather and a little cranberry. All of these components combine in a finish that seems like it will never end. It is a finish that demands to be savored.

Despite the common wisdom that California wine, particularly Napa Cabernet Sauvignon, is not made to go with food, we very successfully paired this with 1 1/2 inch steaks of grain-fed prime beef, freshly baked sourdough dinner rolls, and cooked spinach seasoned with toasted garlic and lemon. Proving, yet again, that most common wisdom, particularly as it applies to wine, is utter bullshit that gets passed around anyway in lieu of actual knowledge. Face it, wisdom just ainʼt that common of a commodity.

http://www.anotherwineblog.com/archives/6765

Vineyard Meetings

Winemaker Jeff Keene meeting with viniculturist Mike Neal on our Casanova block in Oakville.

Ink Grade Block on Howell Mountain

The beginning of our block of Cabernet Sauvignon Ink Grade Block on Howell Mountain

Casanova Block

The view from our Casanova Block on the east side of Oakville. This vineyard is split between Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc.

Ink Grade Block on Howell Mountain

Winemaker Jeff Keene walking our Ink Grade Block on Howell Mountain. This block, at 1800 feet, has been organically certified for six vintages.

Dawn over Yountville 10/26/09

Late October dawn over Yountville

More Beautiful Cabernet

Craig Camp
Cornerstone Cellars, Napa Valley
6505 Washington St.
Yountville, CA 94599
www.cornerstonecellars.com
707-260-5531
Sent from my iPhone