Clos du Val

[Devotay]

It began simply enough. A Frenchman named Bernard Portet, with the backing of American John Goelet, began to search the world for new vineyard land that would be suitable for growing great classic grapes. After searching 5 continents, it was the perfect climate and soil of what is now called the Stag’s Leap District of California’s Napa Valley. Then undiscovered as a wine-growing region, Goelet & Portet would eventually make these Carneros hillsides famous.

The first of their wines to gain attention was a 1972 vintage Cabernet which Portet made from purchased grapes because his new vineyard was too young to yield. It scored well at a tasting in Paris in 1976, then 10 years later the same vintage won the rematch of that classic tasting, demonstrating that Portet and Carneros could produce outstanding wines that aged with grace and dignity.

No one was surprised. Portet has wine in his blood. His father was régisseur for no less than the legendary Bordeaux estate Château Lafite, and would take the boy through the caves and vineyards at a very early age. Today Portet is considered one of the visionaries, a founding father of the Stag’s Leap District. Using the proprietary fruit of Australian-trained Vineyard Manager Al Wagner, Portet makes some of the most consistent, top-flight wines in the Napa Valley.

All their labels have the same joyful logo, with swirls surrounding three naked women. Nothing too risqué here though. The women are the three graces of Greek mythology, Aglaia (Splendor), Euphrosyne (Mirth) and Thalia (Good Cheer), three things you’ll find inside each bottle of Clos du Val as well.

As is becoming a custom in California, Clos du Val’s wines are divided into 3 tiers: classic, estate and reserve. The concomitant rise in price though these tiers is due to increasingly careful hand-selecting for fruit and smaller, more carefully attend batches. Their just-released 2002 Cabernet is about $28/btl; $308/cs, while its sister the 2000 estate, called “Stags Leap District Oak Vineyard” is about $62/btl; $682/cs. The 1999 reserve could set you back $100/btl and $1100/cs, but absolutely worth it if you have the means.

For those on more modest budgets, the classic 2002 Cabernet is a great choice for a romantic evening with your sweetie. Full of ripe cherry fruit, with just the right amount of oak and a nutty coffee finish, this is the best California Cabernet (in this price range) I have tasted this year. Take a bottle home, light a candle, and serve it with this

Jamon-stuffed Duck Breast with Brandied Cherries

2 duck breasts

2 ounces Jamon de Serrano

4 ounces Demi-glace

2 ounces brandied cherries, drain and reserve brandy

Salt and pepper, to taste

2 sprigs thyme, for garnish

Using a sharp boning knife, split the breasts from the side to make a small pouch in each, and sprinkle lightly with salt, inside and out. Stuff with the Jamon, then sear over high heat, skin-side first, in a dry sauté pan. Deglaze with the reserved cherry brandy (WATCH OUT! Remove from stove first, BIG FLAME!), then simmer to a glaze. Add the demi-glace and simmer until dick reaches desired doneness (medium-rare is best). Add the reserved cherries at the last minute

To serve, bias-slice the duck breast and fan out on a small plate, then spoon-over the demi-glace. Garnish with thyme and serve immediately.

[TarteTatin]

I believe its Clos Du Val which is partnered with an Australian winery, Taltarni, in showcasing Ronald Searle's wine drawings. Really fun postcards and books about wine. Ronald Searle.

[wattacetti]

Definitely a good winery. I visited on my last trip to San Francisco and came out carting Reserve Cabs and bottles of Ariadne. Not exactly the easiest find in Canada, but certainly well worth the hunt.

[Devotay]

After I ran that story in my column last week, Clos du Val's marketing guru, Holly Myers, wrote to say thanks and to add:

Just so you know for future reference, while Bernard oversees the winemaking, John Clews is the day-to-day winemaker for all Clos Du Val wines. He makes blending decisions with Bernard, but he is the primary winemaker and came in with a special emphasis and passion for Pinot Noir. He has been instrumental in really enhancing our Carneros program – the Chards and the Pinots.

[porkpa]

What, if any, is the story with Robert Parker and Clos du Val? Years ago, I read some very caustic, almost vicious, reviews by Parker on these wines. In recent years, he hasn't reviewed them at all, which I believe he said he was going to stop doing. I've enjoyed the wines several times without complaint. I'm just wondering if there is a story behind the story.

Porkpa

[Devotay]

Curious. I didn't know about that until you brought it up. A google search yields nothing by Parker about Clos du Val. Even stranger is that a search of the forum like this one on Parkers website revealed that no one there is talking about Clos du Val either.

[Jaybert41]

Parker v. Clos du Val is an interesting point... I happen to like both, and would be curious to know if there is any correlation between the two. We're drinking a 2001 Cabernet tonight in fact... (waiting in the decanter)

[OPJK]

I just checked his reviews and Parker has reviewed Clos du Val as recently as Oct 2003. In general, he makes it clear that he hates the sterile filtration of these wines, finding the result soulless and one-dimensional. His highest scored entry was an 85 for the 1985 Cabernet Sauvignon (reviewed in 1995).

[Jaybert41]

I just checked his reviews and Parker has reviewed Clos du Val as recently as Oct 2003.  In general, he makes it clear that he hates the sterile filtration of these wines, finding the result soulless and one-dimensional.  His highest scored entry was an 85 for the 1985 Cabernet Sauvignon (reviewed in 1995).

←

Thanks for the reply. Sterile filtration is certainly a bone to pick with Parker...

[Devotay]

Since I don't know as much about the procedure as perhaps I should, I did a little searching and came up with this:

University of California, Davis

September 1994

The question of whether sterile filtration harms wine flavor evokes much debate and emotion. Although there is little scientific research on the question, filtration proponents rightly emphasize the financial risks incurred by producers who choose not to filter. These risks are real.

Filtration proponents point out that wine flavor components are smaller than the pore size of the sterile filter membrane, and that insoluble filtrate doesn't possess significant flavor, anyway. Thus, proponents argue that there is no reason why filtration, properly performed, should affect wine flavor.

In the other camp are filtration opponents who believe they do taste a difference. They claim filtration strips wine of significant properties and flavors. However, one is hard pressed to obtain from opponents just what these properties and flavors are supposed to be. Nevertheless, they observe filtrate being removed from a wine and associate filtration with the taste difference they perceive. Thus, they conclude filtration is detrimental to wine flavor.

Read the whole paper here @ the American Vineyard Viticulture and Enology Lab

Edited March 23, 2005 by Devotay (log)

[Rebel Rose]

Regarding sterile filtration, I can't say that I objectively know or can prove that it affects flavor, but I have been taught by a number of winemakers that it does. I can tell you for a fact that sterile filtration sometimes strips significant amounts of pigment out of a wine. I've seen it happen. In fact, on one of our zins (which we were filtering due to its high alcohol content), the filters kept plugging with pigment and had to be removed and cleaned frequently (and that means the whole bottling process has to stopped and restarted, which means priming the lines again . . .it was a real headache.) If flavor components are tightly tied to pigments, then they would also be stripped out. Unfiltered wines are almost always darker than they would be after filtration.

In addition, a wine that is going to be sterile filtered during bottling is almost always pre-filtered. Modern cross-flow filters are gentler but prohibitively expensive and generally leased for one-time use. Many wineries use a diatomaceous earth filter.

In addition, wines that are filtered are often fined as well, and most fining agents, egg white, bentonite, powdered sturgeon bladder or ox blood, will strip out color and flavor as they remove particulate matter.

[mikeycook]

Ironically, it's the UC Davis crowd that Parker is particularly opposed to on this issue.

[Devotay]

Well, I'm usually a bottom-line kind of a guy, and the current batch of Clos du Val wines were awesome to me. If the filtration kept it from being even better, well, that's a shame, but they are awfully tasty just as they are.