Desert Wines and Spirits

Saturday, September 13, 2008
4 to 6 pm

$5.00 per person

       Home of: ExecutiveGiftService.com
611 S. Palm Canyon Drive, Suite #1, Palm Springs, 92264,
760-327-7701, 800-925-0030

This Saturday Lisa Wherry will be here representing two Napa Valley wineries, Hess Winery and Trinchero Winery.  Both wineries have estate vineyards within the valley and both source grapes from other appellations as well.  The Trinchero family owns several wineries including Sutter Home, Montevina and Napa Cellars.  They grow grapes in their estate vineyards in Lake County (200 acres), Santa Barbara (525 acres) and Napa Valley (200 acres), and purchase grapes through contracts in other counties as well.  Donald Hess owns 4 vineyards in Napa Valley; 210 acres on Howell Mt., 180acres in the Carneros, 285 acres in the Mt. Veeder Hills area and 116 acres at Mt Veeder summit.  Besides wine, his passion extents to art and the winery features a museum where at least 25% of his collection is on display at any time.

2007 Trinchero Family Sauvignon Blanc, Santa Barbara
7.99
Most of this vintage blend came from the 525-acre Los Alamos estate vineyard in the rolling costal hills of central Santa Barbara County.  This cool, maritime-influenced site is tailor-made for this varietal.  Some additional ripe fruit characteristics were added this year by including warmer weather Lake County grapes as well as some from their Napa Valley vineyards.  This wine combines both the earthy, melon-like flavors of warm weather Sauvignon Blanc with the citrus and tropical fruit of cooler climate Sauvignon Blanc.  It is bright, aggressive and quite refreshing.

2007 Trinchero Family Chardonnay, Santa Barbara
8.99
Los Alamos estate vineyard in Santa Barbara County was the source for this bottling.  A majority was aged on oak, adding aromas of vanilla and caramel to the finished wine.  The balance of the wine was aged in stainless steel, retaining crisp varietal characteristics to balance the tropical flavors.  There’s a slight spice on the silky smooth finish.

2006 Hess Chardonnay, Monterey
8.99
Donald Hess also owns a vineyard in Monterey from where the grapes for this wine are sourced, producing a wonderfully textured, lush Chardonnay with bright acidity and an intrinsic fruit character.  The tropical character of the wine centers on mango, pineapple and citrus.  It is well balanced and ripe.  Wine Enthusiast rated this wine a Best Buy: “Good value in a classy, super drinkable Chardonnay.”

2006 Hess Chardonnay, Su’skol Vineyard, Napa
19.95
This fine wine offers a delicate bouquet with aromas of pear, and apple, with hints of lemon, mandarin orange, and pineapple.  In the second layer, shades of caramel add complexity from the oak toast.  The palate is seamless with good mid palate viscosity, adding both weight and dimension.  Apple-citrus flavors, subtle and well integrated oak, and a nice backbone of acidity lingers well into the finish and brings the focus of the wine back to the fruit forward flavors.

2005 Trinchero Family Merlot, Napa, Santa Barbara, Monterey
8.99
This Merlot was sourced from some of California’s premier, cool-climate; coastal appellations; contracted vineyards from Monterey (48%) and estate production from Santa Barbara (41%) and Napa County (11%) were blended to enhance complexity, balance and varietal accuracy.  The wine is lush, rich and smooth with ripe, juicy fruit and mouthwatering acidity.  The blend was enhanced with the addition of Cabernet Sauvignon (18%).

2004 Hess Cabernet Sauvignon, Allomi Vineyard, Napa
22.75
This vintage displays ripe plum and black licorice followed by cedar, currant, and toast.  The flavors are expansive starting with black cherry and finishing back to fleshy plum.  The texture of the wine lets you know it’s a Cabernet; deep and concentrated, but supple tannins round out in the after taste, then dovetail into a dark chocolate finish.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 11th, 2008 at 5:42 pm and is filed under California wine, wine knowledge, wine party. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.