The
wines of Chimney Rock, Napa Valley, California
Tasting the wines from this Stag's Leap property with winemaker
Elizabeth Viannan
As I meet Elizabeth Vianna, winemaker for
Napa winery Chimney Rock, she has just finished vintage. This must
be a great time in the year of winemaker: that year's wines are all
safe in the winery, and the intensity of the harvest has now
receded. Maybe that's why she seemed so relaxed, and happy to be
showing her wines.
Chimney Rock is a small
winery at the south end of Stag’s Leap district, founded in 1984
by a Pepsi Executive, Hack Wilson. Hack and his wife Stella bought
and 18 hole golf course and turned the first 9 holes into a
vineyard, as well as building a faux Cape Dutch winery. This love of
South African architecture stemmed from his time in Africa, where
Hack established 23 Pepsi plants in 19 different countries.
The initial plantings were on AXR
rootstock, which is not properly phylloxera-resistant, and so these
vines had to be replaced. By this stage Doug Fletcher was in charge,
a meticulous viticulturist who planted the right vines in the right
places. Currently there are 103 acres planted (40 hectares), the
majority of which is Cabernet Sauvignon, but also some Merlot,
Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. As well as the estate vineyards,
Chimney Rock also have some vines in Rutherford: 6.8 acres of
Sauvignon Blanc and 1.6 acres of Sauvignon Gris.
Elizabeth’s story is an interesting
one. She was born in Brazil, and grew up between the East Coast of
the USA and Brazil. She speaks three languages – Spanish,
Portuguese and English. Her dream was to become a paediatrician, so
she decided she wanted to go to medical school. She did premed at
Vassar College in upstate New York, and before going to med school
she got a job at Cornell Medical School Hospital in New York City
working with GC-MS and liquid chromatography. It was then that she
began to discover wine, aided by a friend’s dad with a deep
cellar. She started going to tastings. At a Christies pre auction
tasting, she had a glass of Sociando Mallet 1985 in her hand and was
talking to Christian Moeiux when she decided, age 29, that she
should go to study winemaking instead. Her expertise with GC-MS
proved to be a golden ticket into UC Davis, where she studied
viticulture and enology. She’s
now been winemaker at Chimney Rock for 12 years.
In 2001 the Terlato family became
partners to the Wilsons. Hack died in 2001, and in 2004 Terlato
became sole owners. They planted the rest of the property, the final
nine holes: the well-drained volcanic soils made for a mediocre golf
course, but a great vineyard.
‘My job is to be an interpreter,’
says Elizabeth. ‘I want to get to know the vineyards and tell
their tale in a particular vintage. I’m an opponent of
over-engineered wines.’ The only thing she does is to occasionally
add a bit of tartaric acid and inoculate with yeasts.
‘I don’t like super-ripe fruit,’
she says. ‘Fruit integrity is an important component of retaining
varietal character. Hang time got away from Napa winemakers: now
they are moving back towards balance.’
She
gives an example from her own work, the Midas block on the property.
‘When I started, we picked it last, waiting for the chalky tannins
to evolve. We’d get dehydration and it would make lousy wine. Then
one year we decided to pick as soon as it had lost the pyrazines,
ignoring the chalky tannins. It has made the best wine since.’
Elizabeth also things that tasting fruit
doesn’t always translate to the wine when deciding picking time:
you have to get to know the vineyards.
We focused on two of the wines, a white
blend called Elevage Blanc, and a Cabernet Sauvignon from the
Tomahawk vineyard. Elevage Blanc is a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and
Sauvignon Gris, fermented and aged in barrel. Elizabeth wanted to
make a Bordeaux style white, but Semillon isn't very good in Napa,
so she chose to use Sauvignon Gris, which does much better, as a
blending partner for Sauvignon Blanc. Pressing is very gentle, using
whole bunches and a Champagne cycle to restrict the phenolics from
the skins. She uses 8 different cultured yeasts (she found natural
fermentation too unpredictable). ‘It’s remarkable how much
impact yeasts can have on acidity, aromatics and body,’ she says.
The wine is fermented in a mix of new and used oak, plus stainless
steel barrels of 70 gallons, which allow for lees work without any
oak impact. The wine goes through malo because she doesn’t want to
sterile filter, a process that can lose the texture gained from the
battonage.
Chimney Rock Elevage Blanc 2010 Napa,
California
88%Sauvignon Blanc, 12% Sauvignon Gris, aged for 5 months on
lees. Fresh with lovely definition and very well integrated oak.
Notes of pear, quince and citrus, with a floral edge to the nose.
Lovely delicate texture with real finesse. This was from a cool
vintage by Napa standards. 93/100
Chimney Rock Elevage Blanc 2009 Napa,
California
59% Sauvignon Blanc, 41% Sauvignon Gris. Textured and quite
broad with lovely white peach and pear fruit, and well integrated
oak. There's lovely delicacy and finesse here. Ripe and
smooth-textured but with definition,and some subtle nuttiness in the
background. 93/100
Chimney Rock Elevage Blanc 2008 Napa,
California
70% Sauvignon Blanc, 30% Sauvignon Gris. Ripe and warm with
sweet pear and peach fruit as well as some nutty, toasty notes.
Broad, full textured and smooth, with depth and richness. 91/100
Chimney Rock Elevage Blanc 2007 Napa,
California
Vibrant, fresh grapefruit and tangerine edge to the rich,
rounded, slightly nutty fruit. Showing a bit of toasty evolution.
Ripe, smooth and satisfying. 92/100
The Tomahawk vineyard is from the
southern end of the Stags Leap district, and the fruit is red toned
rather than black. All of these wines are youthful, linear and quite
pure, still, and could age gracefully. They are 100% Cabernet and
made in 500-800 case quantities. US retail is $135.
Chimney Rock Tomahawk Vineyard
Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 Napa, California
26 days skin contact, 18 months in 75% new oak. Ripe and sweet
with nice density. Bold black cherry and blackberry fruit with some
warm spicy oak in the background. Sweetly fruited with nice
definition, this wine is currently simple, easy and tasty. 91/100
Chimney Rock Tomahawk Vineyard
Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 Napa, California
35 days skin contact, 20 months in French oak, 70% new. Fresh
with nice definition to the sweet pastille and red cherry fruit.
Good structure with some spiciness. Supple, direct and shows
elegance allied to ripeness. 92/100
Chimney Rock Tomahawk Vineyard
Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 Napa, California
30 days skin contact, 70% new oak. 14.7% alcohol. Very
attractive sweet, ripe blackberry and blackcurrant fruit. Nice
weight and good concentration, but still quite supple with a hint of
minty freshness. Nice balance and structure here, with a hint of
chocolatey richness. 92/100
Chimney Rock Tomahawk Vineyard
Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 Napa, California
18 months in 75% new French oak. Nice fresh berry fruits here,
with some blackcurrant too. Nice purity and balance. Fresh and
supple with lovely weight and good definition. It's still youthful
and linear. 92/100
Chimney Rock Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Napa, California
89% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot. Lovely ripe,
sweet red berry and blackcurrant fruit with nice definition. There's
lovely structure here: it has edges, as well as sweet fruit. Pure
and fresh with real potential. 94/100
Chimney Rock Cabernet Franc 2009 Napa,
California
Fresh , vivid and bright with red berry and cherry fruit, backed
by good acidity. Very lively and pure with vivid tannic structure. I
really like the freshness. 93/100
See
also:
Visiting
Napa (series)
The
wines of Silverado, Napa
Wines
tasted 11/13
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