PEORIA FOOD + WINE FESTIVAL 2020: CHEF’S TABLE
WINE SELECTIONS
2016 PLUMPJACK ESTATE CABERNET SAUVIGNON
OAKVILLE, NAPA VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
This exclusive wine is available at the Peoria Food + Wine Festival 2020: Chef’s Table with a Chef’s Angel Sponsorship.
VINTAGE
The 2016 vintage was yet another drought year – the fifth in a row in the Napa Valley. Though the little rain that did fall came at the right time. Our vines got a healthy dose of water before and after budbreak, when they need the water for a burst of growth. The spring and early summer were warm and dry, and the days grew hotter as summer progressed. It seemed as though we would have another early harvest due to the heat of late-August and early-September. However, the days cooled enough for our grapes to mature more slowly, allowing flavor to develop and tannin to mature prior to harvesting.
FERMENTATION & AGING
The Estate grapes were cold soaked for a period of 3-4 days and then fermented up to a maximum temperature of 94 degrees. The wines from each block on our Estate extracted incredible tannin, color, and flavor concentration in a very short time, and the wines were drained off the skins after a total maceration of only 7 – 12 days. The wine was then racked to barrel to undergo malolactic fermentation and to age. This wine was aged in 100% French oak barrels, 80% of which were new. The coopers used were primarily Sylvain, Taransaud, Cavin, and Nadalie. The cooperage is a blend of medium, medium-plus, and heavy toast barrels from a variety of forests. This blend of coopers, forests, and toasts lends the wine more layers and aromatic complexity.
WINEMAKER IMPRESSIONS
The seductive and alluring 2016 PlumpJack Estate Cabernet Sauvignon immediately draws you in with fruit aromas of blackberry, blueberry, and black cherry. Savory spice aromas of sage, clove, and nutmeg compliment the fruit and bring depth and complexity. These flavors carry over to the palate, which has a rich, creamy texture balanced by a crisp, fresh acid. The tannin is bold yet seamless and silky, while the persistent finish gives the impression of blackberries dusted with baker’s chocolate.
VARIETALS/BLEND: 91% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Malbec, 3% Petit Verdot
PRODUCTION: 180 barrels
ALCOHOL: 15.4%
HARVEST DATES: September 10th - September 28th, 2016
95 POINT RATED WINE
SAINT CLAIR SAUVIGNON BLANC
Saint Clair Family Estate is owned by Neal and Judy Ibbotson, viticulture pioneers in Marlborough since 1978. Grapes were originally supplied to local wine companies; however a desire to extend the quality achieved in the vineyard through to the finished wine led to the establishment of Saint Clair Family Estate in 1994.
It was in this first that all wines won medals including gold, that the name Saint Clair has been synonymous with quality and its award-winning record continues today.
Fruit was sourced from a selection of vineyards located predominantly in the lower Wairau sub-region. This is what Saint Clair regards as Marlborough’s best sub-region for Sauvignon Blanc, producing wines with heightened expression.
Rich and weighty with pungent flavors of passionfruit and fresh grapefruit along with green notes of nettle and capsicum. A salty minerality leads to a long lingering finish.
CAKEBREAD NAPA VALLEY CHARDONNAY
Our story begins with a piece of land, a family passionate about wine, and a community of friends and partners who helped bring Cakebread Cellars to life. Since founding the winery in 1973, we’ve set out to create quality wines that pair best with good food and good company. Our wines reflect the personalities of our estate vineyards as well as the spirit of our entire team. We’re proud to share these wines—from our family to yours.
The first wine ever released by Cakebread in 1973, This wine opens with aromas of ripe golden apple, white peach, and notes of oak. On the palate, apple and pear characters are balanced by fresh acidity, and the finish is clean, with appealing mineral notes.
GOLDENEYE ANDERSON VALLEY PINOT NOIR
Goldeneye Winery was founded in 1996, years before the Pinot Noir boom that has reshaped the landscape of California winemaking. But the genesis for Goldeneye goes back even further. In 1990, after fifteen years of making world-class Bordeaux-varietal wines, Dan and Margaret Duckhorn embraced their growing love of Pinot Noir. Their vision for Goldeneye was simple, though not easy. They wanted to found a winery that could make a terroir-inspired expression of California Pinot Noir of equal stature to the acclaimed Merlots they had pioneered at Duckhorn Vineyards in Napa Valley. For Pinot Noir, the Duckhorns believed that true greatness would be found on the cool-climate edges of modern California viticulture and found what they were looking for in the Anderson Valley.
Capturing the rustic elegance of the Anderson Valley, this wine begins with lively aromas of fresh-picked wild strawberry, dusty earth and sweet tobacco leaf. The dynamic strawberry aromas are echoed on the palate, where they are supported by supple tannins and a bright underlying acidity that adds energy and zest to a long, nuanced finish.
LA CREMA FOG VEIL PINOT NOIR
The winery's original name, La Crema Viñera, means "best of the vine," setting the standard for all the team has done since 1979. For more than 35 years, the family-owned and operated winery has focused exclusively on cool-climate appellations, from its original home in the Russian River Valley, to Monterey and, now, the Willamette Valley. La Crema is continually exploring these very special regions—passionate in the belief that they make uniquely expressive and elegant wines. Thorough vineyard site selection and boutique winemaking techniques ensure the consistently distinct, naturally balanced wines La Crema is committed to producing.
Crafted with their restaurant partners in mind, this wine features aromas of black cherry, wild blueberry, and allspice are followed by flavors of red plum, boysenberry, and sassafras. On the palate, it presents juicy acidity and soft tannins. La Crema Fog Veil Pinot Noir is a reserve vintage label that cannot be purchased from general retail.
STAG’S LEAP CABERNET SAUVIGNON
A fashionable country resort in the mid-twentieth century, popular with Hollywood due to its 1892 stone Manor House and historic gardens, legends of bootleggers and gangsters, ghosts and gypsies, Stag’s Leap has been home to three major family groups up through the modern revitalization of the winery that began in the 1970s.
Stags Leap Manor, as it was called in the 1920s, was known as one of the prominent country retreats in the Napa Valley at a time when resort and spa business was big. In addition to lodging and dining, amenities included lawn tennis, swimming, horseback riding, children's activities, golf, music, cards, a library, and Napa Valley wines and liquors (prior to and after Prohibition).
An intimate valley within the greater Napa Valley, Stags Leap is a place of natural beauty, storied buildings and gardens, a lively history, and a reputation for elegant wines showing finesse and intensity.
This Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is plush and inviting, with an enticing array of brambly blackberry fruit along with raspberry sorbet notes alongside nuances of lifted violet, allspice, sweet cinnamon, clove, cedar and crushed bay leaves. On the palate, the dark berry fruits proliferate with blackberry, plum and cassis, but there are also savory elements showcasing light herbal notes and earth, giving this Cabernet a classic depth and elegance. Seamlessly integrated oak and refined tannins provide a smooth mouthfeel and add layers of complexity, all wrapping up with a lengthy textured finish. Incredibly approachable and pleasing upon release, this wine is sure to impress and pair well alongside many culinary treats.
ALTVS BY MERUS CABERNET SAUVIGNON
Merus began as the quintessential “garage wine,” made by Merus founders Erika J. Gottl and Mark Herold in the two-car garage behind their home in the town of Napa. The wine won international renown starting with its first vintage in 1998, but the garage imposed serious limitations. The very hands-on Merus winemaking regimen was cramped by lack of space, wine storage had to be outsourced, and legal restrictions barred visitors or tastings.
Now the fully updated winery includes custom-made winemaking equipment and 7,000 square feet of caves for barrel storage. The winery’s new tasting salon and a second tasting area in the caves were stunningly renovated by Merus co-founder Erika Gottl’s Amsterdam-based UXUS design consultancy.
Because our production is so restricted, the winery and its tasting salon are closed to the general public and may only be visited by invitation.
Napa Valley from north to south. Founded in 2005, Altvs, which means “noble and profound,” is a luxury-class Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay. Produced in extremely small quantities, Altvs harvests fruit from a combination of mountain, hillside and benchland sites to produce a wine of extraordinary intensity, concentration and lushness.
ORION SWIFT CELLARS 8 YEARS IN THE DESERT RED BLEND
The name 8 Years in the Desert gets its name from a sentence Phinney recently served in varietal purgatory. After selling The Prisoner to Huneeus Vintners in 2008 he signed a non-compete, agreeing not to make Zinfandel for eight years. Now, he’s finally free to produce it for Orin Swift Cellars.
8 Years in the Desert is creatively packaged. Just 3,500 cases of the 2016 vintage were released to collectors, each bearing a different mixed-media label. All were personally designed by Phinney, a lover of all things tactile, including magazines, books, and skateboards (a holdover obsession from his youth). Each year one of the original 8 labels will be used for the remaining 8 vintages to be produced.
This zinfandel-based blend features an opaque core with a red amethyst rim. The wine opens with ripe raspberry and blackberry, dark plum preserves and hints of black pepper and clove. An entry of heft, the palate is packed with blueberry and sweet black cherry along with touch of fresh herbs—thyme, savory and tarragon. Long on the finish, the ripe tannins, a dash of ash, and notes of black tea round out the wine.