Tag: bordeaux

Nestled under California pepper trees on a property that was once a dairy farm, Lincourt Vineyards retains the rural charm and simplicity of an earlier era. The winery was founded in 1996 by Bill Foley who was inspired by the winegrowing potential of the Santa Ynez Valley and the Sta. Rita Hills in particular, which has since become one of California’s premier cool-climate viticultural regions. Sta. Rita Hills is also one of the state’s smaller AVAs, with 99 percent of its territory falling within the larger Santa Ynez Valley.

Although he grew up in a family that has been making wine for six generations, it wasn’t until 1996 that Steven Kent Mirassou brought his love of great Cabernet Sauvignon to the Livermore Valley and started The Steven Kent Winery, with the singular focus of crafting the very best possible Bordeaux wines.

Actually, Cabernet was anything but new to the Livermore Valley; it had grown there successfully since the late 1800s. But, inspired by the climate and soils of Livermore Valley, Steven wanted to raise the bar. And he did.

When Russ and Stacie Hamilton first decided to start a winery in 2006, they knew what their signature wine would be. Although Malbec was relatively new to the State of Washington, they were intrigued by its peppery and aromatic black fruit scents and flavors. At the time, this enticing Bordeaux varietal was almost exclusively used in its traditional role: as a blending grape for a red Bordeaux blend. However, Russ and Stacie noted a trend. As they visited tasting rooms around Columbia Valley, they saw that more and more wineries were bottling Malbec as a single varietal.

Sanger Family of Wines invites guests to fully savor the Mediterranean lifestyle as they discover three distinctive wine brands, all born on California’s Central Coast. In late 2013, Bill and Jan Sanger, proprietors of Marianello, welcomed Consilience and Tre Anelli into the Sanger Family of Wines—creating an exciting portfolio inspired by the wines of Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal. The releases from all three labels are under the direction of Winemaker Brett Escalera.

Winemaker Steven Kent Mirassou’s Lineage is the realization of his personal mission: to create one of the best single Bordeaux-style wines—not just in Livermore Valley—but in the entire world. Steven, a sixth generation member of America’s oldest winemaking family, was an early proponent for growing noble Bordeaux varieties in Livermore Valley. He started the winery in 1996, and today, The Steven Kent Winery is a standard-bearer for the region, crafting small lot vintages of Cabernet Sauvignon and other Bordeaux grape varieties.

Set on an oak-dotted hillside in eastern Paso Robles, California, Vina Robles epitomizes the stylistic bridge between old and new-world winemaking. The distinctive winery was the brainchild of Hans Nef, a Swiss entrepreneur, engineer, and developer who always had a passion for wine. His passion led him from collecting fine Bordeaux, to importing select wines to Switzerland, then partnering with another Hans, Hans-R. Michel. They co-founded Vina Robles in 1996.

For lovers of Cabernet and other Bordeaux varietals, Paso Robles, California, is a fascinating new frontier. I say this with confidence, because I recently participated in a side-by-side tasting of eight Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignons. Very impressive! Each of the eight wines was produced by a winery that’s joined the Paso Robles CAB Collective, a nonprofit group of leading Paso Robles growers and producers of Cabernet and red Bordeaux varietals. This group’s goal is to work as a team to produce superior quality, classic, and age-worthy wines that compete on a global stage.