So, what exactly was that wine chosen “Best of Show” at the TVC Uncorked competition in June? It was simply listed as “Cabernet blend,” but it’s not what you think. It’s not a Bordeaux blend in the classic sense at all. Instead, this wine, made by Chris Graves, winemaker at Ruby Hill, is comprised of two varietals for which he has the utmost respect: Barbera (42%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (58%). Called “Intesa,” which means “agreement” in Italian, this wine has plenty of verve and vitality, isn’t polished off like a rock in a constant stream, and delivers a balance of fruit, acid and tannin that you look for in a well-crafted red blend. That it was Barbera playing the supporting actor role made it all the more interesting, as it sure seemed like there were more than two instruments playing in that band.
Intesa exudes the ripe black cherry, leather, pepper and cassis of Cabernet (Clone 7 sourced from the Ruby Hill estate vineyard), along with the racy currant and blackberry acidity of the Barbera, sourced from the Steven Kent and Smith Ranch Vineyards. Goes to show that French and Italians can co-exist nicely in the Livermore Valley, to the point where they can share the same bottle. And in fact, some of Livermore’s best wines, might, indeed, be blends.
For those of you who don’t know, Chris spent a few years under the Wente umbrella, working primarily on the Tamas Estates brand, before he was lured away to build Ruby Hill Winery for Mike Callahan. He’s a UC Davis graduate who grew up in the Sierra Foothills, in a small town called Somerset, near Placerville. He has a healthy love for all things Italian, and has gained a deep appreciation for Roman beauties like Barbera and Sangiovese. “I love Cab, but the Italians are my great love: I’m an acid fan!”
Barrel-tasting with Chris reveals a passion for pushing varietals to be their most expressive best. He’s like a “Tiger Dad” in the cellar: forcing nascent wines to develop as fully and expansively as they can in their individual barrels. In fact, he practices quite a bit of barrel fermentation for reds, which is one of the most labor- intensive of winemaking practices, as the must is pumped into the barrel as it comes off the sorting table, then sealed to do its thing. The Tonnellerie barrels with their steel doors on their heads, must be rolled several times a day to keep the cap and juice interacting. It’s the total opposite of open-topped fermentation, so there’s no punching down, only rolling around. And there’s no oxygenation, which makes the resulting wine more reduced, much less fruity, and yet fiercely intense in the mid-palate, due to the high-heat fermentation which extracts the phenols out of the barrels like a star prosecutor squeezes damning testimony from a witness. He then softens the effect with open-top fermented wines, which are fresher and fruitier.
Graves invests a lot in equipment: a new sorting table and Puleo membrane press help up the ante. “The key to great wine is proper sorting and a gentle destemmer: I want perfect berries. I never crush.”
Sometimes Graves pushes Petite Sirah to the edge of ferally reductive, trying to accentuate the coffee flavors that can develop from little oxygen exposure in strong French. His idea is to extract the maximum flavor from several aggressive barrels and then tone it down in the final blend with more subdued players.
For both Barbera and Sangiovese, he uses quite a few Gamba barrels, sourced from Italy. They begin their lives in a French forest, then are transported to Asti, high in the mountains, where the staves are air-dried in a hostile environment that literally beats the tar out of them. Says Chris, “This really adds softness and gentleness to the wood, which helps me achieve my ‘Holy Grail,’ which is a plush mid-palate in my wines.” Gaia uses these barrels almost exclusively.
The 08 Estate Sangiovese Reserve automatically got a juicing of Cabernet as it began barrel aging, and the sample from a new Gamba barrel displayed unbelievable aromas of sandalwood and cherry pie, with mouth-filling flavors of gorgeous dark cherry, leather, coriander and exotic spice: this will be a stellar wine.
In contrast, the 08 Barbera in Kelvin American was assaultive with pepper, licorice and clove, while the same vintage in a Vicard barrel delivered a raspberry bomb, accompanied by a big blast of chipotle pepper. These barrels wore boxing gloves: the Gamba barrels preferred deerskin.
Other promising youngsters include the 2009 Estate Reserve Petite Sirah, with its gorgeous blackberry, graphite and allspice flavors from the American oak, and the 2009 Casa de Vinas (Julio Covarrubias) Petite Sirah, which blew me away with its floral aromas of roses, violets and orange blossoms, phenomenal mouthfeel and charming dark chocolate cherry flavors. We finished with a sample of a non-vintage “Armona,” a blend of the best barrels from several different years, this one including Sangiovese, Barbera, Merlot and Cabernet.
It’s intriguingly disparate, like listening to an orchestra warming up for practice.
Patience will reward. This young man has a bright future, and many gems hidden in the cellar.
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