Get Excited.  We have some super cool wines from some of the most respected wineries out of Northern California, Seghesio and St. Supéry

 

 

2006 St. Supéry Virtu, Napa Valley, California

Virtu is a blend of 52% Sauvignon Blanc and 48% Semillon, a classic white Bordeaux blend. It is made at St. Supéry Winery in Napa Valley California crafted from all estate grown fruit and is an amazing display and expression of what these two grapes can be especially when blended together.

St. Supéry is a family-owned estate winery in the heart of Napa Valley, recognized for outstanding Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Élu & Virtú blends. This blend combines the best wines from the estate of each vintage. With 475 acres planted at the Dollarhide ranch and 35 acres planted in Rutherford, St. Supéry is a major vineyard owner in Napa Valley. St. Supéry wines are “estate bottled” – created by St. Supéry from start to finish, with no purchased fruit, offsite production, storage, or other outside influences. They have complete control over how the grapes are grown, and they strive diligently to keep the land pristine through sustainable agriculture.

While St. Supéry is the steward of 510 acres of prime Napa Valley vineyards, nearly 1000 acres of Supéry’s land lie fallow, a virtual nature park. They believe that vines thrive with some elbow room, as do the resident bugs, birds and critters. St. Supéry creates its own compost from a byproduct of the winemaking process. Pumice – seeds, skin and stems left over after crush – is trucked back to Dollarhide to be composted over the winter and eventually returned to the vineyard soil as a viable fertilizer and organic matter booster/soil builder. One hundred percent of St. Supéry’s water use is reclaimed from rainfall. It takes effort and planning to make it all work, both at Dollarhide and at the winery, but not a drop comes from a municipal source, including the water used in wine production, their Visitors Center and landscaping.

 

St. Supéry Vineyards & Winery is owned by the Skalli family of France. Robert Skalli’s family has made wine for several generations in South of France. While traveling in Napa Valley during the 1970s, Robert was inspired to create an estate winery in Napa Valley to make wines of distinct and respectable character. Dollarhide, an historic cattle and horse ranch nestled among the hills of Napa Valley, was planted with the noble grape varieties of Bordeaux, France in the early 1980s.

 

The color of pale straw draws you into this cool wine. With inviting aromas and flavors of banana, peach, baked Granny Smith Apples, slight citrus notes of orange and lime, undertones of flint and subtle fresh herbs and grass with a creamy finish of butterscotch and sweet vanilla (care of the barrel fermented Semillon) which is matched nicely with the racy acidity making this wine very balanced and structured with great but not overwhelming complexity.

 

2006 Seghesio Old Vine Zinfandel, Sonoma County, California

 

Seghesio Old Vine Zinfandel perfectly embodies the Seghesio family’s goal of sharing uncommon ground as only the finest lots from their oldest vineyards are selected for this composite blend.

These vineyards are rare treasures they farmed over the course of their family’s century as grape growers. Although “Old Vine” is often loosely interpreted in the wine industry, their benchmark is fifty years. The average age of the vines producing this wine nears 90 years from an estate, head-pruned vineyard in Alexander Valley, planted in 1895. The Old Vine Zin is Barrel-aged 11 months in 75% French and 25% American oak; 30% new barrels.

 

The Seghesio Story begins in 1886 when Edoardo Seghesio departed his family’s vineyards in Piedmonte, Italy for a new life in America. Like so many immigrants, he was drawn to Northern Sonoma County and the Italian Swiss Colony, to follow his passion for winemaking. The “colony,” as it was known, hired immigrants for three year stints, providing room and board and then, a lump sum at as the end of those years enabling employees to buy land or set up a business in their new home.

 

Edoardo remained at the Colony while building his own winery in the evenings after work. Upon its completion in 1902, Seghesio Winery was born. In 1910, they acquired additional acreage surrounding the bustling train station in what was then “Chianti, California.” Edoardo, appropriately, planted the 10 acres to the Chianti field blend of Sangiovese, Canielao Nero, Trebbiano and Malvasia. That vineyard, Chianti Station, is North America’ oldest planting of Sangiovese.

 

In the years preceding Prohibition, the business flourished and the Seghesio Family gained a reputation for quality wine and their generosity toward others getting their start in this fledgling industry. Seghesio continues to be a family business to this day.

 

With very low yields and 5-7% Old Vine Petite Sirah, this wine is nothing if not in your face with character. An abundance of flavors and aromas of red and black cherry, licorice, rose petals, dried herbs, stewed raspberries, fresh cracked peppercorns, violet, clove,  anise and cinnamon with just a hint of sage in the finish which adds to the elegant complexity. A pure treat and a classic outstanding example of how old vines can magnify the already prolific personality of the great American Zinfandel. The Old Vine Zin received 92 points from Wine Spectator.