VERY SPECIAL VINO A look at several of the top wineries appearing at Celebrate the Grape. BY ROBERT BELL, DAVID KOON, LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK AND DAVID RAMSEY
ALTA VISTA Combining the winemaking passion of the Old World with the unique grapes of Argentina, Alta Vista made a huge splash with the release of its malbec in 1998; the entire production sold out within a few hours and helped to spark a new tradition of top-quality Argentine wines. The d’Aulan family traces its roots to 13th century European nobility and owned a prominent Champagne house for more than a century. Count Patrick d’Aulan joined forces with Jean-Michel Arcaute, the late Bordeaux winemaker widely considered a visionary genius in the trade, to seek out interesting terroirs (the climate and geography of a place that make for distinctive grapes). They purchased vineyards in the Mendoza and Salta regions in Argentina, with exquisite conditions for the emblematic malbec and torrontes grapes. Based in the heart of Chacras de Coria, a small town just south of Mendoza city, the winery was originally built in the 19th century and was fully restored in 2003. Employing classic aging techniques and cutting-edge vine-growing technology, Alta Vista has managed a perfect French-Argentine fusion. In addition to malbec and torrontes, they’ll be pouring cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay. DR.
BELL WINE CELLARS
The signature wine of Bell Wine Cellars in Yountville, Calif., Clone 6 Cabernet, first crushed in 1991 by viticulturist Anthony Bell, will be poured at Celebrate the Grape. Bell developed Clone 6 as part of a cabernet sauvignon clone trial at Beaulieu Vineyards, where he worked more than a decade before founding Bell Wine Cellars in the Napa Valley. The Clone 6 rootstock (history available at bellwine.com) was found in an overgrown and abandoned wine grape experimental field station. Clone 6’s aging process begins in the barrel for two years. The Napa Valley vineyard’s claret, blended from select barrels of its cabernet, and its rose, produced from syrah juice, will also be poured. The vineyard’s production has grown from 500 cases in 1991 to 15,000 today; Arkansas is Bell’s biggest market outside California. LNP. BELL WINE CELLARS
CHARLES SMITH WINES
Sure, you can’t judge a book by its cover. But Charles Smith certainly does not look the part of “respected winemaker.” He’s not the tanned, perfectly coiffed patriarch with the top three buttons undone on his very expensive shirt, smiling and looking off into the distance, surveying the glorious CHARLES SMITH vineyard over which he presides. No, Smith is more like the enfant terrible of American winemakers, brash and bold, clad in a black T-shirt and jeans, unafraid of the sort of heroic partying that would flatten lesser men. Makes sense, though. Dude used to manage independent rock bands and he takes a similarly punk-rock, no-BS approach to winemaking, summed up by a quote featured prominently on the company’s website: “It’s just wine, drink it.” But don’t let that seeming nonchalance fool you: Smith loves wine deeply, and many of his creations have earned big-time accolades from wine-world heavyweights like Robert Parker. His Modernist Project wines are made to be consumed “without delay” and usually fall in the $12-$20 range. The popular Kung Fu Girl Riesling “kicks ass with tons of complexity,” and the Boom Boom! Syrah’s “fruit explodes in your mouth!” Both of these will be poured at Celebrate the Grape, along with the Eve Chardonnay, VINO Pinot Grigio, Velvet Devil Merlot, Chateau Smith Cabernet Sauvignon, Secco Bianco and Secco Sparkling Moscato. RB. CONTINUED ON PAGE 17
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MAY 30, 2013
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