WHO: Chappellet Winery WHAT: 51% Cabernet Sauvignon, 46% Merlot, 1% Malbec, 1% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot WHEN: 2007 WHERE: Pritchard Hill, Napa Valley, CA HOW: According to our friend Danny who works at the winery, the grapes went through about 20 days of maceration and were barreled in 40% new oak for 18 months. This allows for some extraction of oak without it being overly assertive.

WHY: This Bordeaux style wine is a mosaic of French & American influences. To start, the complete nose of the Mountain Cuvee is a French wine drinker’s dream. (Specifically speaking, a hot Spaniard with a rockin’ tan and well-placed tattoos… or maybe that’s just ours.) After pulling the cork, the nose shifted and changed like a chameleon – as only the best wines do. It had all of the rich topsoil dust of a Bordeaux bouquet complemented by deeper aromas of cigar box and toasted barrel. Despite a consistent progression, we still knew that even after an hour of decanting, this wine’s secrets were still being kept aggressively guarded. After two hours, the wine only then began to deliver subtle hints of stewed blackberries and figs. We could have spent a full day dissecting the nose without even tasting the wine but where’s the fun in that?

The smallest sip of the Mountain Cuvee covers the mouth, front to back, cheek to cheek. The touch of unavoidable, angry alcohol from Napa blends with a soft mosaic of French-inspired features to create a kaleidoscopic, yet complete taste. This is the stuff that Robert Parker’s dreams are made of; California in the front, Bordeaux in the back. Notably, there is a lack of fruit in this wine, but once you peel back the layers of earth, baking chocolate, and mulling spices, you will still find a rich, decadent, and evenly balanced wine.

The Wrap: If you’re a Napa fan with a penchant for the old world, the 2007 Chappellet Mountain Cuvee is for you. As far as “bang for your buck,” it doesn’t get much better. This bottle retails around $25 in savvy wine shops & will stand up to the “big boys” of Napa. We were very fortunate that Danny thought it important for us to try this wine and gifted us this bottle from his private collection. Since then, we’ve probably purchased at least half a case without leaving one bottle in our cellar for proof. Do as we have, and treat yourself well without breaking the bank.

WHO: Arizona Stronghold Vineyard WHAT: 55% Cabernet Sauvignon 36% Sangiovese 9% Merlot WHEN: 2008 WHERE: Sulphur Springs Valley near Cochise, AZ HOW: Mostly neutral oak (older barrels that impart no flavor) and a few choice 2 to 3 year old French oak barrels. Around January, they rack all of the barrels once, and then pump the juice back into those same barrels. Come April/May, the blending process begins and after the blend is chosen, it is pumped into stainless steel to homogenize for a couple of months until bottling.

WHY: Arizona Stronghold set out to create a re-imagined “Super Tuscan” ending up with this label as the payoff. Mangus strikes a balance of old world poise and new world spunk. We noticed that the 2007 vintage was slightly dominated by the Sangiovese (’07: 43%, Sangiovese, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot 9% Cabernet Pfeffer, 3% Petite Sirah VS. ’08: 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Sangiovese, 9% Merlot) so we asked Tim White, the winemaker, about the difference in vintages. (We’re nothing if not thorough.) He explained that they just had more Cab to work with for the ’08 but would like to see the blend return to being Sangiovese-driven for subsequent vintages. The name Arizona Stronghold may also ring a bell with some of our readers, as one of the wine labels associated with famed musician Maynard James Keenan. Other affiliated wine labels also include Caduceus & Merkin. His passionate exploration of wine has been recently documented in the film, Blood Into Wine.

The 2008 Mangus is a remarkable wine. Considering the rugged region in which these grapes were grown makes this accomplishment even more significant despite the more than 400 years of viticultural history in the state. We breathed in scents of buttered toast, dusty attic, and the sweetness of freshly-baked cranberry wheat bread. At the time, we expected a buttery dusty wine such as this to also have the scent of vanilla. Now, knowing that the wine bathed in mostly neutral oak, the lack of that note isn’t surprising. While not the dominant grape in the blend, their Sangiovese adds a rustic old-worldness to the wine lending to an approachable complexity on the palate. All four of us were amazed by the stand off of acid and tannin in the Mangus blend. As the wine rolls over one’s tongue, the mouth both waters and dries at the same time. This duality elicited a few “yums,” one “giggedy giggedy,” and [REDACTED] from our group.

The Wrap: Italy has something to learn from this new world interpretation of their wine. We suggest drinking this bottle with lamb kabobs, roasted red peppers, blackened anything, or gumbo. Seek out flavorful foods for this wine and take the time to decant it before pouring. Just because the wine is from Arizona doesn’t mean that anyone should feel comfortable letting the bottle heat up past 60°. This is a wine that need not be aged as it is already primed for consumption. In regards to this bottle, we were very lucky to have a sample sent to us by ASV, but we’ll be buying more in the near future. Likewise, their Nachise blend as featured in Our Top Wines of 2009 has already become a regular impulse buy.

WHO: Michael~David Winery WHAT: 85% Petite Sirah, 15% Petit Verdot WHEN: 2005 (We had to reach to the back shelf for this one!) WHERE: Lodi, CA HOW: Aged 14 months in French Oak barrels, then bottle aged.

WHO: Justin Vineyards & Winery WHAT: 100% Sauvignon Blanc WHEN: 2008 WHERE: A pair of Paso Robles, CA vineyards lying to the East and West of the 101 freeway HOW: The two vineyards’ grapes were hand-picked, cluster-pressed and fermented separately until we thought never the twain shall meet, or at least until they were aged together for 5 months in stainless steel.