Panel Discussion at Spring Mountain Vineyards

Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

After a lovely lunch at Peju Province the folks on Bus 7, i.e. Me, et al. (I am withholding names to protect the innocent… or you can identify them if you dare via my sometimes odd photography) headed off to our panel discussion at Spring Mount Vineyards. We were looking forward to this tasting as we would have representatives of four wineries presenting a current vintage and a library selection (an older vintage). We were running a bit late so when we arrived at Spring Mountain Vineyards we were met by the somewhat anxious Valli Ferrell who led us quickly but graciously from Bus #7 to a table full of of glasses of Sauvignon Blanc (The 2006 I think.. Sorry, I didn’t have my notepad out) that was made from fruit grown in the lower, Miravalle vineyard and the upper, LaPerla vineyard. In both vineyards the vines are trained in the Gobelet method which allow for a greater density of vines per acre. As we walked along with our wine, we learned that the building that we would be heading over to for our panel discussion is the centerpiece of the Miravalle property and is more commonly recognized as the mansion from the 1980s TV series, Falcon Crest.

As we made our way to the tables in the mansion, we sat down in front at the table in front filled with glasses. Each place setting had eight glasses of wine layed out on a placemat. Two wines from each of the wineries participating on the panel, Spring Mountain Vineyard, Freemark Abbey, Beaulieu Vineyards and Oakville Ranch Vineyards. The wineries were represented by Jac Cole of Spring Mountain Vineyard, Ted Edwards of Freemark Abbey, Jeffrey Stambor of Beaulieu and Paula Kornell of Oakville Ranch. The wines presented to us were all bordeaux blends.

It is a treat to be able to to taste vintages back to back in order to get a sense of the effects of age and even weather on a wine. Naturally, I drank them the wrong way. Because I like to be different. The richness of the library wines was heady. They were meatier than their younger counterparts. In my opinion the Oakville Ranch tasted of peppery black fruit, The Beaulieu was even and plummy, the Freemark Abbey 1994 selection was the most alcoholic to me but the most medium bodied of the library selections and the Spring Mountain was full of olives and cherries. The younger wines naturally were nothing to sneeze either. The 2004 Elivette Cabernet from Spring Mountain was smooth though it didn’t have much nose. The 2004 Freemark Abbey was leathery with dry cherry tones, the 2008 Beaulieu was woody with bright plums a nd the 2005 Oakville Ranch was smooth and even with light fruit.

Among the most interesting part of this stop was sitting between two real wine experts and watching them taste. I learned a lot from watching them.

I have to admit that by the end of the panel discussion I was a bit Cabernet’d out and was thankful for a bottle of water as we headed back onto Bus 7 for our next stop.

This entry was posted on August 14, 2009 at 12:08 am and is filed under Gretchen Neuman, Road Trip!, Win(e)ding Roads, Wine Bloggers Conference. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.