Selections Released for Holidays

Two Napa Valley wineries have released so-called vertical selections of their Cabernet Sauvignons for the holiday season, both packed in horizontal wooden cases.

The Robert Mondavi Winery has released a special six-pack of Mondavi Reserve Cabernets from the 1980 through 1985 vintages.

The Mondavi Reserve Cabernet set will sell for about $200, an average of about $33 a bottle--a bargain considering that the current price of Mondavi Reserve Cabernet now is about $40 a bottle.

Chappellet Winery’s six-bottle Cabernet vertical may be an even better bargain. The set includes one bottle each of the vintages from 1979 through 1984. The suggested price is $145.

Also available in shops this holiday season is a limited number of Clos du Bois wines in six-bottle vertical sets. One such set is the winery’s Briarcrest Cabernet from the 1980 through 1985 vintages. Price is $150.

Two wineries have released red wines called Meritage, the proprietary designation used for wines blended from the traditional red grapes of Bordeaux.

Franciscan Vineyards’ 1985 Meritage ($15) is 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot. All the grapes were grown in the winery’s vineyard in Rutherford and were aged in a combination of French and American oak.

The wine is softer and more supple than some of Franciscan’s Cabernets in the past, but has rich fruit and the substance to age for a number of years.

Also silky and elegant is the 1985 Dry Creek Meritage ($22), a blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 42% Merlot and 8% Cabernet Franc. The wine is richer, with a chocolatey-currant aroma and a leaner, more refined finish than Dry Creek Cabernets of the past.

Grapes for this wine were grown in the Dry Creek region of northern Sonoma County.

Dry Creek produced 1,000 cases of its Meritage, Franciscan only 500 cases of its wine with that designation.

The first wine to be called Meritage was a 1986 red wine from Cosentino, which will continue to use that designation. Other wineries with Meritage wines that designate them with other names are Flora Springs (Trilogy), Inglenook (Reunion), Cain Cellars (Cain Five), and Joseph Phelps (Insignia).

Grisanti’s Restaurant in Memphis is offering a menu and a wine list in Braille.

Owner John Grisanti noted that many restaurants offer special accommodations for the physically handicapped, but rarely is there any accommodation for the blind.