Ovid Wines First Taste

We were lucky enough to score an invite to the "first taste" of Ovid (pronounced AH-VID) wines out of Napa Valley -- and I was lucky enough to be the one to represent CA Wine Merchants (thanks Winemonkey!). The wines are made by sought after winemaker Andy Erickson (of Screaming Eagle fame) and the tasting was at Per Se (double score!) in the Time Warner Center over lunch. Ovid is made from a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Petite Verdot and is fermented in a combination of wooden and old-school concrete tank fermenters.

We sampled the first commercial vintage, Ovid 2005, which had been open for about two hours. The wine has great aroma intensity which makes for an intriguing first impression. The palate is rich, with dark red fruits, deep chocolate, graphite, earth, and some licorice. This is not an overblown fruit-bomb style and it has the acidity to prove it. I thought the finish was extremely long. Only 418 cases were produced and the only problem with it is, well, the price. You can expect to pay over $200 per bottle at retail and I can only guess the wine will go for over $400 at restaurants. But considering the 2005 vintage of Screaming Eagle goes for over $1,500 at retail, I suppose you can consider it a relative bargain!

All sarcasm aside, we moved on to taste a barrel sample of a 2007 wine that was made solely for the Premier Napa Valley Auction. Apotheca is a blend of Andy and company's favorite lots, all of which were fermented in concrete. This wine is super concentrated, WOW! Too bad it will not be available commercially because this stuff is killer. The way this 2007 juice is tasting can only mean great things for the 2007 vintage of Ovid.

Ovid will also be making a wine called the Experiment, which will change from vintage to vintage. We did not taste this at the lunch, however, this coming Tuesday we should be able to secure a taste and will report back. The first Experiment, 2005, is apparently a barrel selection of Cabernet Franc. Again, we'll let you know...!

The vineyards include 15 acres, 1,400 feet above Napa Valley, that were quite literally dug out of dense rock. The pedigree, from Andy Erickson as winemaker, David Abreu as vineyard manager and Michel Rolland as consultant, is very impressive. The wines are named after Ovid, the Roman poet, and his famous work Metamorphosis, which represents the metamorphosis of grapes into sublime wine. Some of the language on the bottle is a little 'puffed up' if you ask me, but this is a serious wine and you can expect to hear more about it.

Cheers!

Napa Valley Takes NYC By Storm

A long week of tastings coupled with friends in town and some crazy overtime play for Syracuse in the Big East Tournament (shout out!) makes for one broken down Vino Girl. That said, there were some good times, fabulous wines, and compelling people that certainly deserve some air time.

We already talked about the Napa Valley Vintners tasting but it doesn't stop there. Next up was the Skurnik portfolio event which means tables and tables of great wines from all over the globe for tasting. We carry a great deal of wines in the shop from this distributor including amazing producers such as Ramey (known for reliably awesome Chardonnays and Cabernets), Peter Michael (focused on killer Chards and Cabs), Karl Lawrence (amazing Cabs for less-than-amazing prices), and Detert and Lang & Reed (the kings of Cabernet Franc).

I did discover some new things at the Skurnik tasting too including the Peay Syrahs, particularly a Syrah called Le Titans, and the Capiaux Pinot Noirs, especially the Widdoes Pinot Noir. The biggest surprise for me was the Turley Wines. I had always thought the wines were way over the top, particularly the Zinfandels for which they are known. I must admit that the wines were approachable, balanced, intensely flavorful, and enjoyable – but not over the top. My apologies to Larry Turley and wine maker Ehren Jordan for trash talking the wines for so long. (No, c'mon, I would never do a thing like that!)

The next day I was off to the Napa Valley Women of Wine & Vine Luncheon at Gramercy Tavern. (I know, I know, poor me, no rest for the weary, and all of that!) This was probably my favorite event of the week because I was able to speak to some fascinating women in wine in a more intimate setting. Guests included Linda Lawry of the International Wine Center, who taught me while taking the WSET advanced certificate, as well as female journalists, retailers, and sommeliers in the world of wine. The hosts were an impressive group of proprietors and wine makers including Cathy Corison of Corison Wines, Karen Cakebread (who is not working on Cakebread any longer but her own soon-to-be-released project), Paula Kornell of Oakville Ranch Winery, Elizabeth Pressler of Elizabeth Spencer Wines, Julie Johnson, owner/winemaker for Tres Sabores, Sharon Crull of The Terraces., and Jeanne Cabral , Director of Sales & Marketing for Heitz Cellar. Wow, what a lineup! We chatted (natch!), and had a few flights of their wines paired with some tasty morsels from the Gramercy Tavern kitchen. It was a very gracious group of ladies and there was much praise and even more sharing of ideas.

As if that was not enough, the icing on the cake was that when I returned to the store (At 3pm, which Winemonkey attributed to the fact that it was a 'chatty lady lunch'), winemaker Tor Kenward was on his way to pay us a visit. We adore Tor's wines (clearly since we have a whopping 8 skus!) and it was a pleasure to see him again, taste some of his wines, and have him sign some bottles (come on down, they are available at the store!). To cap off the day, husband and wife wine making team Mike Hirby and Schatzi Throckmorton (best name ever) came in to share their Relic Wines with us. We carry their Artefact Cabernet-based blend but all their wines were intriguing.

All that and the week ended with Winemonkey attending a Lieff Wines lunch, where they shared their Cabernet (which we carry) and previewed their new Sauvignon Blanc, which I was able to taste at the Vintners tasting and I think we both agree is an exceptional wine for a first bottling.

I swear I am getting tired again just reading this. Sorry to be long-winded, but there is more wine tasting fun to come next week so stay tuned!

Napa Valley Vintners Tasting NYC 03-10-2009

Given the nature of our shop, you would expect that we would be in attendance when the best Napa Valley Vintners appear en mass in New York; and that we were! We tasted through a lot of impressive wines at the Metropolitan Pavilion on West 19th Street yesterday when ‘Taste Napa Valley: New York’ came to town. One hundred wineries, big and small, were represented and overall the tasting was well done and well attended.

Our only real gripe was the thimble sized spit buckets. Seriously?! The buckets were frighteningly diminutive and it seemed like every time you put a wine in your mouth and swished it around – wooosh – a staff member would whisk the bucket away for a much needed emptying. This attentive service left you with the option of drinking the wine (a clear detriment when you have to return to work) or leaving it simmering in your mouth until the bucket reappeared. Not a pretty thought, aye? But I digress, so on to the TOP TEN of the tasting for us, in no particular order:

2006 Blackbird Illustration (86% Merlot with Cabernet Franc & Cabernet Sauvignon)
2006 Cliff Lede Cabernet Sauvignon
1997 Corison Cabernet Sauvignon
2005 Cornerstone Cellars Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon
2005 Lail J. Daniel Cuvee (Cabernet Sauvignon blend)
2006 Larkin Cabernet Franc
2008 Lieff Sauvignon Blanc
2005 The Terracess Petite Sirah
2005 Sequoia Grove Cabernet Sauvignon
2005 Twomey Merlot

Wow, and you thought Napa was not all about Cabernet anymore! It looks like from our notes that the Cabs reigned supreme for the most part ─ at least in our memory. It’s going to be a crazy week with Wine Makes galore in town and distributor Michael Skurnik’s portfolio tasting tomorrow. Stay tuned as we persevere through purple teeth and palate fatigue to bring you more favorites and other news from the “front lines”! In the meantime, check out our website for some of the Top 10 selections noted above!