• 2006 Vina Pargua Pargua II – Chile, Central Valley, Maipo Valley (10/19/2009)
  Overripe plum with woodsmoke and green herb offer some promise but the finishing tannins turn bitter and disjointed. A few years in the cellar should help. I didn’t hate this wine, but it’s hard to think of when one might use it right now. At almost $20 retail at a LWS, it’s possibly a bit pricey to serve passed at a party or host bar. Right now, I’d put it with a rustic, hearty meal. (79 pts.)
  

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Ouch. Sometimes a wine is just not good and you don’t know why.

• 2000 Château Pavie Macquin – France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru (10/16/2009)
  Nice cassis aromas but very thin, muted flavors and mouthfeel, short finish. It seemed tired which should not be the case. I could not identify any specific defect but judging by others’ tasting notes, I suspect something was wrong. I’ll withhold a rating for now.
  

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• 2006 Milat Merlot Estate Bottled – USA, California, Napa Valley, St. Helena (10/15/2009)
  It’s easy to miss Milat as you whiz by on Highway 29 south of St Helena. It’s a very small winery and tasting room and often is going to be staffed by a member of the family. But their wines are good and reasonably priced. When folks ask me for a recommendation of where to taste that doesn’t require an appointment, this is one I mention. I like their wines with their Chenin Blanc being my favorite. This Merlot isn’t big or especially complex, but it is charming with sour strawberry pie flavors that make you pucker until the meal starts but then go very nicely with food. Nice value too at about $20. (86 pts.)

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The first shipments of 2006 Baconbrook started shipping this week and I thought I would take a moment to give you some background on this vineyard.
Baconbrook was our second vineyard. We purchased it a couple of years after Butterdragon. It sits on a 40 acre parcel we bought in 2003 from the founders of Oakford Vineyards. They planned the vineyard and it was planted by, and continues to be maintained by, Pina Vineyard Management. Our original goal was NOT to purchase another vineyard — remember this was before we’d ever released a bottle of wine and our last thought was to have more wine to sell — but we really liked the property and wanted the bigger house. The Baconbrook vineyard was a bonus. And oh, what a bonus.
When Cary Gott, our winemaker, saw the Baconbrook vineyard, he gave a little excited exclamation and assured us that we were really going to love that little vineyard. In fact, he told us we would have trouble letting it go if we ever decided to sell the property. (Initially Baconbrook was going to be a temporary investment.) He urged us to make wine from it.
Flash forward to now… Baconbrook is 2 3/4 acres planted entirely to Cabernet Sauvignon clone 337. Root stock is 101-14. Pina tells me that they urged the original owner to use a different, drought resistant root stock but he insisted on 101-14 for the quality. It makes a tasty wine, but we’re always worried about getting enough water to the young vines. We had a very small harvest in 04, less than 3 tons but since that time, we’ve discovered that this vineyard can eek out ~6 tons with careful farming.
It is officially Spring Mountain District but that can be misleading since most people think of the wineries up Spring Mountain Road (Barnett, Pride, etc) when they think Spring Mountain. The vineyard sits on a ridge west of St Helena overlooking the town. You can see it from Spottswood and Madrona Ave. Each vintage has had this really big complex character. You feel like you need to brush your teeth after trying the wines when young. Cary’s opinion is that Baconbrook’s wines seem more like Howell Mountain than Spring Mountain. We age Baconbrook longer in barrel than we do Butterdragon — 26 months versus 22. This wine is a monster, but a nice one. If I was to compare to Butterdragon, I’d say Butterdragon is a feminine wine, a romantic embrace from a sophisticated lady. Baconbrook is a wild man, a rogue with rough edges who speaks 5 languages. Most everyone except me has a favorite between the two but there’s no clear consensus. I could never choose.
2006 is the third release from Baconbrook. Production is expected to hover around 200 cases most years. Baconbrook’s label is like the Butterdragon label except instead of blue, it is a rusty red. Baconbrook’s coordinates: 38 29’33.67″N, 122 29’41.71″W. Just paste those coordinates into Google Maps and see Baconbrook from above.
The photos in this post are of some modifications we made this past season to the irrigation drip system. Water is scarce up there and each year our well is not quite up to the task. By the end of the summer, we’re buying truckloads of water. Conservation is important. This year we drilled holes down into the root system of each vine and placed the emitter directly down near the roots. We started with a test of about a 1/3 of the vineyard. The test was successful. We needed much less water in that section as we lose far less water to surface evaporation. We plan to do the rest of the vineyard this winter.

We harvested yesterday at Butterdragon Hill. We brought in just over 6 tons for our own crush. The fruit looked wonderful. Mild weather really paid off and rewarded patience. It was time to bring it in though… rain is in the forecast for next week. My camera was a bit late to the party, but here are a few pics:

I’ve got to admit it. I’m tempted to spend the $20 to order this game.

From plant to pick to press to pour, run your very own French vineyard!
Create the vineyard of your dreams in 10 of the most important wine regions of France. Commanding operations from your very own French chateau, build your winery, plant and tend your vines through all four seasons of the year, and hire staff to harvest and process your grapes. Produce 50 French wines such as Bordeaux, Burgundy, Pinot Gris and Champagne from more than 40 different grape varietals, all in the ultimate goal of becoming a wealthy wine baron!
-Wine Tycoon Website.

Please note, I have no connection with nor is this an endorsement of this game.

Here are some pictures and comments from our winemaker, Cary Gott. He took these the other day while visiting an unnamed high-end winery that was using their new Bucher Vistalys grape sorting machine. It can process 8 to 10 tons per hour and is a programed sorter that sorts by flying the grapes over a computer/optical controlled air-blast rejector. Cost $150,000 for the machine. It is capable of selecting raisins and dehydrated grapes (and trash)… an ultimate / luxury piece of winemaking equipment. It does work.

“We have to get over what I call the trophy mentality”
-Dick Grace

Our neighbor, Dick Grace, created what could justifiably be dubbed the first Napa Cult wine back in the in the mid-80’s. His wines at the time were some of the most expensive and still are. Release price is $225. BUT, Dick Grace, is not your average high-society, new money, big party throwing winegrower. His profits, after what he admits supports a very comfortable lifestyle, go toward supporting charities world wide.
Read more: SF Gate (the San Francisco Chronicle) article
When you spend a lot of time and money on a passion like wine collecting, there can be the tendency to get that trophy mentality. We strive for the next big wine prize. It certainly happens to us winegrowers. We strive for recognition from our customers, peers, and the press. Times are tough and we’re all watching what we’re spending. Charitable organizations are having a heck of a time with most facing reduced giving and funding. If it comes down this year between supporting a charity and buying our wines, give to the charity.

A fellow member of Vinocellar.com asked me recently if I’ve ever posted a vertical tasting note on our Butterdragon Hill wines. I haven’t. In fact, the only time I write a tasting note on a Match wine — or even think about it in that way — is for the particular wine’s release letter. Still, I am constantly trying our wines and, when hosting folks for tasting, usually get a chance to try a vertical. I make mental notes about how a wine is developing, what would be the optimum decant time, drinking windows, etc. I also make a mental note that I should post such thoughts either here on the blog or, probably even better, on a web page on the site. That mental note seems to always get filed away and never done.
Anyway, here are some current thoughts on the Butterdragon Hill vintages:
2002 – the first vintage, the highest score from Wine Spectator, very popular, currently my least favorite. While the fruit is delicious, big, round, and sweet, I always thought this wine was a bit too heavy and stylistically simple. Not really where I wanted to be but a full throttle Napa Cab for those looking for it.
2003 – currently drinking the best (I’m hearing this from a bunch of folks as well) and ironically, on release it was definitely the most worrisome and the least popular. It seemed a bit thin while barrel aging and on initial release but continued gaining heft to where now it is an awesome wine. I think one of the biggest initial stumbling blocks for us business-wise was that the 03 (from a cooler vintage) followed the 02 in a different style. I know this caused some confusion as distributors and brokers tried to follow up the 2002 with the 2003 in placements. It also didn’t help that 2003 Napa vintage was generally damned by the press. Very elegant and drinking wonderfully right now.
2004 – Fruit and flowers. This was the first vintage, in my opinion, where the vineyard really started showing its character and we could start to see the Butterdragon HIll style. It sort of combines the roundness of 2002 with the elegance of 2003. Lovely candied fruit aromas fill the glass and yet it doesn’t seem to be all about candy. I love the complexity we’re able to get from this cooler side of the Valley. Depending on how many you have in the cellar, it wouldn’t be a crime to open one now with about an hour in the decanter though I’d say the perfect time will be in two years.
2005 – Spicier. This vintage shows much more traditional cabernet flavors… currant, green herb, tea leaves, pepper. Reminds me of old world more than new. Although it is far from ready to drink, this is one of my favorites so far. This is the wine Gary Vaynerchuk gushed over to the tune of 93+ points. My favorite way to serve this wine right now is to just open the bottle a couple of hours before serving and pour right from the bottle. It could use a few more years in the cellar too.
2006 – More like 04 but everything is a bit bigger on this wine… the fruit is more lush, complex undertones are there and will develop further, tannins are not overbearing but promise long-term ageability. Just a baby, but 3-4 years from now should be an awesome wine. Definitely needs time.
2007 – The younger the wine, the harder it is to evaluate and we just bottled the 2007 Butterdragon Hill in July. I think it is going to be incredible.

1. Hard Habit to Break – Chicago
2. Happy Xmas (War is Over) – The Moody Blues
3. Melt My Heart to Stone – Adele
4. Folsom Prison Blues – Johnny Cash
5. Coming Home – Fleetwood Mac
6. One Irish Rover – Van Morrison
7. The Number of the Beast – Iron Maiden
8. I Think I Smell A Rat – White Stripes
9. Lady Madonna – Beatles
10. Bye Bye Love – Simon & Garfunkel

Feel free to share what happens when you hit “shuffle” on your iPod/MP3 player.