Chuck and Linda hosted a wine dinner on August 30, 2009 to feature a Broman Cellars vertical tasting.
Bob Broman, the winemaker and owner of Broman Cellars was in Fort Myers on March 6, 2007 and poured his wines for a select few tasters at Austin’s Wine Cellar. Broman Cellars is a small boutique winery in Napa Valley, California. Bob made wine for a number of years at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, St. Supery and several others before releasing his own Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon in 1994. Their winery and home is located in St. Helena up on Deer Park Road.
The vertical tasting at the August 30th event included these three great vintages of cabernet sauvignon: 1999, 2000 and 2001.
The Broman Cellars Vertical
The 1999 Broman Napa Valley Cabernet was sourced from vineyards way up on Howell Mountain. The blend is 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot and 7% Cabernet Franc. It was aged in French oak for 24 months and only 524 cases were produced. According to the winemaker’s notes “the aroma is full of ripe, dark berry with toasty oak and mocha with mouth filling ripe blackberries, cassis, black cherry and wild berry flavors accented by hints of leather and cedar.”
The 2000 Broman Valley Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon was also sourced from Howell Mountain vineyards with a blend of 92% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc. It was also aged in French oak for 24 months. The winemaker described this vintage as “full and juicy” with ripe cherry, blackberry and cassis aromas followed by mocha, cedar, pencil shavings and mint.” We definitely agreed when tasting it in 2009. Only 775 cases of this terrific cab was produced.
The 2001 Broman Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon was distinctly different from the 1999 and 2000. The grapes were sourced from the Dr. Crane vineyard in St. Helena and the Georges III in Rutherford. There was also some fruit from Oak Knoll and 4% Merlot for added smoothness. It was aged in French oak barrels for 24 months; however 30% of the barrels were new and the rest were from 2-5 years old. Bob said this was Broman Cellars best yet with plum, pomegranate and cranberry fruits with some cocoa, leather and cedar. 727 cases of this vintage were produced.
There was a decided difference in taste of the 1999 and 2000 versus the 2001. Some of our tasters preferred the first two vintages while others the 2001. However they were all excellent, and it was really exciting to be able to taste them as a vertical comparison.
Ready for our taste test
Appetizers featuring mini crab cakes and caviar parfaits started off the evening and were paired with another of Chuck and Linda’s California favorites, Laetitia Brut Rose sparkling. Laetitia is located just outside of San Luis Obispo and was one of the highlights of our own “Sideways” wine tour of spring 2006. That tour also included Santa Barbara County, Paso Robles and Monterey County. It was just a “warm up” for the now infamous 2007 wine tour, but was none the less a fantastic trip worthy of any experienced wine lover. If you haven’t taken that trip, it is well worth your time.
"L" is for Laetitia
On with the dinner menu…………The cabs all paired amazingly well with Chuck’s version of pork tenderloin topped with a prune and caper sauce. Everyone was amazed at how much we could love prunes!
The dessert course of gelato, fresh figs and lots of dark chocolate was paired with a 2005 Rafanelli Zinfandel. Rafanelli Winery is located in Dry Creek Valley of Sonoma County, California, and if anyone reading this knows anything about Rafanelli, it is that the Rafanelli’s say you can only purchase their wine at the winery (no credit cards, mind you!). But they certainly make wonderful zin. And we can’t forget to mention the pictures taken with David Rafanelli and the autographed bottles.
On Dry Creek Road in Sonoma County
We were all privileged to enjoy another outstanding tasting treat provided by one of our diners — a bottle of 1985 Heitz Cellars Bella Oaks Vineyard. A 1970 Heitz (Martha’s Vineyard) was the 7th highest rated red wine in the famous 1976 Judgment of Paris wine tasting. Just as a point of information for you wine history buffs, Warren Winiarski took first place with his red from Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, and Mike Grgich first place in the white wine category with his 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay. Needless to say, the French were not too happy with Napa Valley! And since Chuck and Linda did their two week long “65 for 65” wine tour of Napa and Sonoma in the fall of 2007, here are some pictures of these wineries.
The dinner menu and several of the recipes are included on other pages.
Vineyards in early November 2007
Heitz Tasting Room
Home of Stags Leap Wine Cellars
Chateau Montelena is where Mike Grgich made his famous Chardonnay of 1976. Also winery in Bottle Shock, the movie, 2008.
This is where Mike makes Chardonnay now!
