California Cabernet at the 1976 Paris Tasting

 

Brief descriptions of the aging practices follow below:

• Warren Winiarski worked two harvests with Lee Stewart at Souverain before going to work at the brandspanking new Robert Mondavi Winery for its 1966 and 1967 harvests. Warren then established Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. He chose French oak barrels from Nevers for cellaring his wines, including the 1973 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon.
• Joe Heitz assisted André Tchelistcheff at Beaulieu from 1951 to 1958. He then worked to establish Heitz Wine Cellars in 1961. In 1963, after Jim Zellerbach’s sudden death, Joe bought some of Hanzell’s new wine and a number of its small barrels. Besides assisting in aging, small barrels simplify the keeping of small lots of wine separate. In 1965 Heitz blended a new source of fruit with its own and in 1966 bottled that lot separately, a practice it continues today.The lot is Martha’sVineyard, aged in Limousin oak as it first was in 1966.
• Paul Draper had worked for Lee Stewart at Souverain in 1967, and traveled and worked in Chile and Bordeaux, when he came to Ridge in 1969 (Ridge was founded in 1962). Paul prefers American oak in which to age the Monte Bello. In 1972 about 10 percent of the barrels were new. Paul has not been the only advocate for American oak for California Cabernet. André used American oak at Beaulieu for its reserve Cabernet.
• While Paul Draper was at Souverain, Bob Travers was working for Joe Heitz. Bob had taken classes at UC Davis and Berkeley while he did investment research for new technology in San Francisco and came to realize winemaking was his true destiny. Bob worked the 1967 harvest at Heitz and then in 1968 bought Mayacamas Vineyards, which he continues to run. He ages his wines in large oak tanks and then small oak barrels, all of French oak, and then in the bottle. His 1971 Cabernet was aged in this manner, but in exactly which French oak Bob couldn’t say.
• Clos du Val got underway in 1971 under the guidance of Bernard Portet. Bernard was born in Cognac and educated at institutes of wine inToulouse and Montpellier, and is descended from many generations of Bordeaux winemakers, vineyardists, and wine brokers. Bernard aged his 1972 Cabernet in French oak from Demptos and the forests of either Nevers or Allier (he’s forgotten which).
• In 1967 Freemark Abbey was acquired by Chuck Carpy,Bill Jaeger, Laurie Wood,and Brad Webb. Brad had been winemaker at Hanzell, and insisted Freemark Abbey use small French oak barrels for aging. Bill and his wife, Lila, went to France with an introduction from Brad to Philippe Demptos of Demptos. After visiting several cooperages, the Jaegers pronounced Demptos the best cooperage for Freemark Abbey. Its 1969 Cabernet was aged in Demptos barrels, probably of wood from Limousin.