8th February 2009

After an entertaining tasting at Franciscan Estate and a leisurely lunch, I rolled up at the Robert Mondavi Winery - only a stone’s throw from Franciscan - to meet Senior Wine Educator Dana Andrus.

A veteran of the Mondavi team, Andrus explained the original vision of Robert Mondavi and the formation of the Oakville estate.

He also clarified the current relationship between Opus One and the Robert Mondavi Winery - now both owned by Constellation - which are distributed through different channels; with Genevieve Janssens, former winemaker at Opus One, now serving as Director of Winemaking at Robert Mondavi alone.

I saw plenty of largely Cabernet Sauvignon vines beautifully tended and fitted to drip-irrigation (as in the above photo).

We then turned to the wine-making side. Among the masses of impressive and immaculate equipment, perhaps the Mondavi barrel room is the greatest attraction (see below).

Just as I was admiring these tranquil surroundings, jets of intense mist were suddenly sprayed all over the cellar (in order to maintain reasonable humidity).

There was also a state-of-the-art bottling line, not only used for the Mondavi wines but by other properties too.

All very impressive, but how were the wines?

I have to admit that as a Brit I find it hard to fall in love with US marketing-speak and had wondered just how good the Mondavi wines might be.

Thankfully, Andrus had nothing to peddle but his considerable knowledge of Napa and a genuine desire to share fine wine.

We sat down to a tasting of the following:

Robert Mondavi Fumé Blanc, Napa 2007

Robert Mondavi Fumé Blanc Reserve, Napa 2006

Robert Mondavi Pinot Noir Reserve, Carneros, Napa 2006

Robert Mondavi Merlot, Napa 2005

Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa 2006

Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville (Napa Valley) 2005

Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, Napa 2005

Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, Napa 1999

All were made extremely well and more than that had elegance, finesse and something above varietal purity.

Andrus explained how the Mondavi Fume Blanc have changed stylistically over the years (with less oak and riper Sauvignon fruit coming to prominence).  I especially liked the Carneros Reserve Pinot and for sheer value the Napa and Oakville basic Cabernets.

However, the Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve wines - compared with what is asked for some Napa Cabernets - are still, in relative terms, very good indeed for their asking price (see individual notes) and I was impressed that some older vintages were similarly priced to the current release (even given vintage variation).

Posted on Sunday, February 8th, 2009 at 2:38 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.