Jon Emmerich, leading us on a recent walk through some lush, bright green Napa Valley vineyards, stopped abruptly, pointed. A rabbit looked back at us, stared for a few seconds, turned and loped off. It was about four times the size of those who hang out in Clayton back yards, and it showed off large floppy ears and long legs as it moved. Hassenpfeffer on the hoof, as it were.
A couple of strides later, he stopped again, looked down, bent down and picked up a small rock, wiped it on the sleeve of his shirt. It was black, and it glittered in the afternoon sun. "Obsidian," he said. "It’s all over these vineyards. Shows their volcanic origin."
Emmerich is the winemaker at Silverado Vineyards, has been for almost 20 years while making elegant, excellent wines from properties in Carneros, Napa and the Stag’s Leap AVA District. The latter, also home to some of Napa’s top producers like Robert Sinskey and Stag’s Leap, flanks the Silverado Trail, which runs parallel to famed Highway 29 through the Napa Valley. Ron and Diane Miller, who own Silverado, started buying vineyards in the 1970s. Like so many others in the wine business, their first thought was to become a grower, or just an investor, but with time and an increase in interest and in value, they became winemakers, too.
Diane Miller also has a Missouri connection. Her father, Walt Disney, cartoonist and producer of legendary films, was born and reared in Marceline. Ron’s St. Louis connection is even more tenuous. He was a football player at USC, where he and Diane met, and he played one season for the old Los Angeles Rams.
Emmerich, who earned an enology degree from Cal-Davis and worked at several wineries before taking over at Silverado, led a brief tour through several vineyards, starting with the Miller Ranch, across the road in the Yountville District, with the Napa River flowing nearby. It’s planted mainly in Sauvignon Blanc, and tiny buds, eventually to be grapes, were much in evidence. (Photo below.) The soil is rich and loamy, holding moisture well. "We pick these grapes at a lower sugar level," Emmerich explained, "so as to insure the wine has good acidity while showing off its great citrus flavors."
Silverado also has two Carneros vineyards, one in Napa (Carneros) the other in Sonoma (Vineburg), both planted primarily in Chardonnay. The Mt. George vineyard, south of the winery, recently was replanted in Merlot grapes, while the 100-acre Stags Leap vineyard, in the heart of the Stag’s Leap District, is principally planted in Cabernet Sauvignon, and the Soda Creek vineyard, on a rocky hillside, is home to Sangiovese. As Emmerich, like so many makers of fine wine, was quick to point out, the winemaker has to do what the fruit tells him (or her) to do, so techniques vary from vintage to vintage. Malolactic fermentation, used in Chardonnay to reduce acicity, is only occasionally on his agenda, and he likes to pick early because he prefers that elegance be a major characteristic.
The finesse and elegance showed when we began to taste, sitting just off a patio in a shaded are of the winery, a lovely mission-style building on a knoll overlooking the Silverado Trail and facing west to the Mayacamas Mountains that separatre Napa from Sonoma. No overpowering alcohol or fruit bombs, just wines that brought out the flavor of the grape at the peak of ripeness. The top reds, still a little on the youthful side, will grow more into perfect balance, with any sharp edge softened and rounded. In order, we went this way:
2008 Miller Ranch Sauvignon Blanc ($20): Though a little (7 percent) Semillon is blended in, the wine shows what Emmerich talked of, lots of citrus and a hint of melon, crispness and a wine that shrieks, "summer!" and "picnic!"
2006 Vineburg Chardonnay ($30): Solely Chardonnay grapes from the Sonoma side of Carneros, a bright offering midway between an austere white Burgundy and a buttery California creation. My own preference is for the former, but the Silverado would work well with many foods.
2006 Soda Creek Sangiovese ($28): Blended with 6 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, this is an excellent companion to pasta with a spicy meat sauce. Rich and hearty, with a berry aroma and superior flavor.
2005 Cabernet Sauvignon ($46): A Bordeaux-style blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (87 per cent), Merlot (8), Petit Verdot (3) and Cabernet Franc (2), the wine comes from several Silverado vineyards, primarily from Stags Leap but also from Mt. George, which is being phased out of that grape. A little tannin shows through, so put some down for 5-7 years, when it should be close to its peak, though it will improve for another decade after that. Big flavor of plum and other dark fruits, hints of leather and tobacco in the aroma. A delicious wine, a splendid example of fine Napa grapes vinified under a talented hand.
2005 SOLO Cabernet Sauvignon ($85): A high-priced wine, but a worthy one and an outstanding example of 100 percent Cab in the bottle. Still a touch hard, but deep in color and flavor, smooth and gracious on the tongue, with blackberry, vanilla, stone fruit overtones. Delicious. Special.
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A NEW LOOK AT SEMILLON: I’ve not been a fan of Semillon, always thinking that the wine fell short of excellence, no matter who made it. When it was blended into Sauvignon Blanc, for example, it tended to make the final result flabby.
But I liked Emmerich’s Sauvignon Blanc, which has a little Semillon, and I recently tasted some Semillons from Brokenwood, an Australian winery, that I thought were terrific. A 2008 Semillon from Hunter Valley ($20) was clean and crisp, light in alcohol (10 percent) and extremely easy to drink, with bright citrus overtones and a pleasing finish. A 2005, from the Brycefield and Belford vineyards ($32), in another part of the valley, showed the extra age, with a wine that was more mellow and beautifully balanced, but still with brightness and nice citrus and melon. Neither wine has ever seen oak, or malolactic fermentation. Like so many Australian whites, it’s a screw-cap wine, which may be an improvement at a picnic.
Brokenwood’s ‘08 Cricket Pitch White ($21) is a blend of Sauvignon Blanc (62 percent) and Semillon (38), and a very small amount was fermented in wood, giving it a hint of complexity and a little more alcohol (12.5 percent). Good citrus and grassiness and, like its Hunter Valley siblings, a brilliant accompaniment to spicy Asian meals or oysters on the shell.
The name comes fro the fact that the site originally was planned as a cricket pitch, but that was before the growers got involved.
–Joe