Nickel & Nickel 2023 John C. Sullenger Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville Napa Valley ($100)

 

 

I remember when Far Niente began breaking out single vineyard sites in Napa Valley and releasing them under the Nickel & Nickel brand in the late 1990's. Napa Valley wines were in high demand, and were selling out quickly. Wineries moved to make smaller-production lots that commanded higher prices, and if I'm not mistaken, this John C. Sullenger Vineyard bottling was one of the original Nickel & Nickel bottlings. It has always been solid, and this is a fine vintage. It is full-bore Napa Valley, and specifically Oakville in personality, redolent of dense blackcurrant fruit, a whiff of lavender, a brighter black cherry note, graphite, and a bit of vanilla and cocoa. The tannins are polished, and it should go for another seven to ten years just fine. It's a terrific wine. Part of me wishes it had some more of an angle to it, because in some ways it just seems like so many other terrific Oakville Cabernet Sauvignons. Nonetheless, it is a carefully crafted wine that ticks every box for the pedigree and price point. (94 Points)

- Tim Teichgraeber 

Bella Union 2022 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($60)

Bella Union is a sub-brand of Far Niente, a Napa Valley staple. It has a Far Niente-reminiscent Art Nouveau label style, and is named after a late 1880's Deadwood, South Dakota brothel depicted in the outstanding HBO series Deadwood. Let's just say that it was a slightly classier brothel and casino than some that preceded it. On to the wine... It is delicious. Winemaker Brooke Price and consulting winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown have delivered the goods here. It's seamless, focused, even from beginning to end, and it almost reminds me of a Michel Rolland wine, where it's hard to describe what you love about it except that it is so well blended that everything fits together. There's a beginning, a middle, and an end to this vinous book, and the pages turn every second after you take a sip. There are wines that elevate a certain terroir or place, and those can be stellar teaching moments. I think this wine is a little different than those. Yes, I think it is definitely a Napa Valley Cabernet, but what it emphasizes is skilled blending and it's straight-up a wine-making clinic This is really good wine at a fair price, all pedigree considered. (94 Points)

 

 

- Tim Teichgraeber 

Far Niente 2023 Chardonnay Napa Valley ($76)

 

 

It's been marvelous to revisit this Napa Valley classic Chardonnay over the last couple of years. When I was working in a retail shop in St. Paul in the 1990's this was perhaps the 'fanciest' California Chardonnay that we sold. It was opulent, decadent, and draped in a distinctive gilt Art Nouveau label. And it was delicious. This wine is still pretty much all of those things, but today it seems opulent in a more restrained, contemporary way and mostly comes from grapes grown in Coombsville at the cooler southern end of Napa Valley and matured in about 45% new oak. There's still a hint of butter on the nose, and plenty of oaky baking spice notes, but it has complex layers of stone fruit, cantaloupe, citrus and kaffir lime leaf, and also has nice acidity. Maybe it doesn't have quite as much minerality as a fine Corton Charlemagne, but it is just as voluptuous and rich. My taste generally gravitates to crisper wines these days, but dammit, this wine is freaking DELICOUS. (95 Points) 

- Tim Teichgraeber