1WineDude TV Episode 28: Premiere Insanity (A Glimpse Into Premiere Napa Valley Auction 2011)3 min read

The Scarecrow becomes Mrs. King of Napa Cult Cabs at Premiere Napa Valley Auction 2011, and you get to see the action in today’s vid.  The record-setting winning Scarecrow bid is featured, as is a compelling one-of-a-kind wine story by Casa Nuestra (and lots of purple teeth)!

Some of my tasting notes are featured below after the jump, so stick around and check them out after you watch!

(reviews after the jump)…

My faves from the lots that I tasted at the 15th annual Premiere Napa Valley are below (in alphabetical order), bearing in mind that I make no strong effort to taste all 200 lots because there are limits to my own insanity; these are simply the wines that stood out most in my mind after the madness was over:

1. 2009 Blackbird Vineyards “Cinq Cas” Red Wine – A powerful, black-fruited and beautiful beast of a wine. They’re firing on all winemaking cylinders right now. A
2. 2009 Continuum Red Blend – Over 80% of the fruit is coming from Tim Mondavi’s stunning Pritchard Hill property, so this offered a glimpse into the focused, structured wines that we  might soon be seeing from them. Great stuff. A
3. 2009 Corison Winery Premiere Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon – They are making the most elegant wines in the Valley for the price, and this example was no exception. A
4. 2009 Casa Nuestra Winery & Vineyards Blend – As you might expect from the content of today’s video, the wine is nearly as compelling as the story itself, with great spiciness to liven up the dark fruits. A-
5. 1985 Schramsberg Vineyards Late Disgorged Blanc de Blancs Sparkling Wine – You’d expect a yeasty, lovely, green-fruited sparkler to go down great amidst all that purple juice at Premiere.  And you’d be soooooo right. A

Some notes on a few others that stood out to me from the tasting (also in alphabetical order):

• 2009 Buehler Vineyards “Kindly Well” Cabernet Sauvignon – nice, dark fruit but a bit on the riper side of things. B+
• 2009 Chimney Rock Winery Alpine Vineyard “Tête de Cuvée” Cabernet Sauvignon (Stags Leap District) – This one just went down dangerously easy. A-
• 2009 Cornerstone Cellars Davis Block Cabernet Sauvignon (Oakville) – A rounder, fleshier side of Cornerstone, quite a departure from their more focused (but not as easy-drinking when young) Howell Mt. Cab.  A-
• 2009 Faust Cabernet Sauvignon – Deep, with tons of black cherry, but a bit more refined than their… well… deep, black cherry standard bottling. A-
• 2008 Hestan Vineyards Stephanie Cabernet Sauvignon – Could have laid off the oak a bit but it could be still to young to have integrated it properly.  Very ripe and juicy. B+
• 2009 Martin Estate “The French Connection” Cabernet Sauvignon (Rutherford) – A collaboration between Martin’s French winemaker Frederic Delivert and Meadowood’s entertaining French wine educator, Master Sommelier Gilles de Chambure. The result is a cassis-laden tribute to the rich Left-Bank Bordeaux red blends. A-
• 2009 Palmaz Vineyards “Single Favorite” Cabernet Sauvignon – I love what Palmaz is doing now, and this showed the bright acidity that I think they’ve been pushing for more lately.  Well done. A-
• 2009 Pride Mountain Vineyards “The Brother and Sister of (Volcanic) Rock” Cabernet Sauvignon – Very ripe and maybe could use a bit more focus for me, but it was a hit with many on the tasting floor that day. B+
• 2009 Robert Foley Vineyards/Switchback Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon – This is one BIG boy.  But it’s a tasty big boy, like the Bob’s Big Boy buffet of the Napa Cabs on order at Premiere. B+
• 2009 Trefethen Red Table Wine (Oak Knoll District) – Trefethen continues to kick ass, and there’s great acidity in their Premiere lot. I think it will show better with further development (not that I’ll ever get to try any to find out). A-
• 2009 Tres Sabores Petite Sirah (Calistoga) – One of the most fun wines at Premiere, for sure.  The tannin profile is classic, mouth-drying PS, but the nose was vibrant and exciting and got some heads turning (including mine). B+
• 2008 XTANT 50/50 Red Table Wine (St. Helena) – A blend of one barrel of Cab and one barrel of “non-Cab” (Malbec and Merlot, I think) from the 2008 vintage. Tended towards the extracted and a little woody for me, but loved the dark fruit combo going on underneath all that. B+

Cheers!