Solid From the Ground Up

Nothing is more reassuring to a wine buyer than a winery that owns its vineyards. This offers the best guarantee of consistent, reliable wine.

Of course a winery can get consistency through a long-term contract with a grower, but that’s not the same as growing its own grapes.

The difference comes down to discipline and courage. Grape growers who sell to others tend to prune their vines with an eye to higher yields, rather than lower. They’re also more likely to pick their grapes early in the season, especially if bad weather threatens.

In short, they are inclined to hedge their bets rather than make the sacrifices and take the chances that going for the highest quality may require. It’s simply in their best financial interest.

A winery can specify more severe pruning in its grower contract, and many wineries are intimately involved with picking times and such. But in the end, a grape grower’s future lies in his vineyard, not in somebody else’s wine.

It’s no coincidence, then, that some of the consistently best wines come from winegrowers who do it all: grow their own grapes and make their own wine. Their convictions, passions and courage come literally from the ground up.

You would think that winegrowers who do this would be shouting it from the rooftops--or at least declaring it on their labels. Many do, but some, such as Gallo Sonoma (recommended below), merely declare “vinted and bottled by,” which is most commonly used by bulk producers who purchase finished wines.

Yet the Gallo Sonoma wines are entitled to the highest designation: “grown, produced and bottled by.” That’s the airtight, no-nonsense legal declaration of a winery-grown wine. The great majority of wineries cannot make that enviable declaration.

The resonant phrase “estate bottled” means something similar, but with a legalistic twist. American wines can say “estate bottled” only when both the winery and its vineyard are in the district noted on the label. A winery situated in a different district from its vines cannot use “estate bottled” on the label.

If you’re looking for an edge in choosing wine (and who isn’t?), you could do worse than seek wines that are labeled “estate bottled” or “grown, produced and bottled.” It’s no guarantee of quality, but it is of consistency. If you like this year’s wine, it’s an awfully good bet that you’ll like next year’s as well. The following wines, although of varying age, prove the truth of this with every new vintage.

1995 Trefethen Vineyards Chardonnay (Napa Valley) ($21): Napa Valley’s Trefethen Vineyards is an ideal example of the virtues of estate bottling. Trefethen has consistently been one of Napa Valley’s best Chardonnay producers. From the first, with its 1973 vintage, Trefethen Chardonnay won early fame.

In recent years, though, it lost esteem with certain Chardonnay camp followers for refusing to cater to the latest tastes, including toasty oak, extended lees contact and malolactic fermentation.

Trefethen has remained true to its school, and its terrific ’95 vintage shows just why it has no need to gussy up its Chardonnay with the latest techniques. Trefethen’s 600 acres of vines are in the (not yet legally designated) Oak Knoll district at the cool southern end of Napa Valley, not far from the city of Napa. Over the years, Trefethen’s Chardonnays have consistently displayed a distinctive Oak Knoll character. This is underlined by an unwavering winemaking style.

This brand-new ’95 Chardonnay is surely one of Trefethen’s best in years. As always, the winemaking is clean, pure, impeccably defined and mouthwatering in its crispness. In the ’95 vintage, the fruit is exceptionally dense and delivers its pure Chardonnay flavors unmarred by intrusive oakiness.

This is a wine destined to do nothing but improve over the next five to 10 years. Trefethen’s track record for aging makes that a sure thing. Look for a street price as low as $16.95.

1994 Buehler Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon “Estate” (Napa Valley) ($35): For years, Buehler Vineyards has issued estate-grown Cabernets and Zinfandels from its steep hillside vineyard in the Vaca Mountains on the east side of Napa Valley. It’s a site that produces rather burly, tannic reds, which Buehler has tried--not always successfully--to wrestle into something civilized. In recent vintages, Buehler seems to have learned the knack of retaining the rich, profound flavors of its hillside-grown Cabernet Sauvignon while reining in its tannin.

Buehler used to label its best Cabernet as “Reserve.” Now, with this ’94 vintage, that bottling is designated “Estate.” It comes from one of the oldest blocks in the vineyard, with a yield of just over two tons per acre, which is low. The wine is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon.

This is one of Buehler’s best Cabernet Sauvignon bottlings: very rich, intense and earthy, yet supple and refined. It surely will show better in a couple of years, but there’s simply no denying its goodness right now. It’s ideal for grilled meats, sausages and other hearty foods.

1993 Gallo Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon “Stefani Vineyard” (Dry Creek Valley) ($18); 1993 Gallo Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon “Frei Ranch Vineyard” (Dry Creek Valley) ($18): To paraphrase General Douglas MacArthur, great grapes don’t die, they just get blended away. That was the E&J; Gallo fine wine story in a nutshell. Until now.

California wine insiders have said it for years, decades really: Gallo could make great wines if it wanted to. This was because the huge Gallo operation, once exclusively consecrated to cheap bulk wines, used grapes grown in some of California’s top vineyard precincts. But these really good grapes were blended with the lesser stuff and lost forever in the likes of Hearty Burgundy.

But that’s changed, dramatically, with Gallo’s new label, Gallo Sonoma. For the first time, Gallo came to grips with the reality of fine wine: namely, that it comes from somewhere specific. So for the first time, Gallo has started putting vineyard names and meaningful regional appellations on its labels. That, in turn, required segregation of Gallo’s best grapes.

Gallo has staked its claim to quality in Sonoma County. For decades, it was easily the largest buyer of Sonoma grapes, purchasing as much as 40% of the county’s production. But Gallo was reluctant to own vineyards, preferring to exercise control through long-term contracts.

Eventually, though, those contracts began to expire. Meanwhile, the price of Sonoma County grapes had risen steeply as the area’s wines became as sought-after as those of neighboring Napa Valley. Growers found more lucrative contracts or opened their own wineries. So Gallo started buying land in various sections of sprawling Sonoma County: 825 acres in Dry Creek Valley, 360 acres in Russian River Valley and 800 acres in Alexander Valley.

One of the earliest purchases was Frei Ranch. Founded in the late 1800s, this Dry Creek Valley vineyard had long been a supplier to Gallo. Insiders knew that grapes from Frei Ranch Cabernet and Zinfandel were exceptional. But they were always blended away.

Now, however, Frei Ranch Vineyard (625 acres) is bottled separately, with the label proudly identifying both the vineyard name and the appellation. Ditto for Stefani Vineyard (200 acres).

These two 1993 vineyard-designated Cabernets, both from Dry Creek Valley, demonstrate just what got lost. And what a pity that was. Frei Ranch Vineyard Cabernet is textbook Dry Creek Valley Cabernet: dense, dusty, with strong tar and prune notes. Stefani Vineyard Cabernet is similar, but not quite as hefty. It displays more berry notes, as well as greater finesse. Both are simply superb. They’re also bargains at $18 each.