Jeff says wow

One of our wine reps walks in the store around noon today asking do we want to taste some wine? with this bag stuffed with bottles hanging off his shoulder. And he pulls out six bottles of Charles Krug: five varietals from the 1861 appellation, plus a bottle of Generations, which has a little bit of everything in it. And so we say ok and we grab some cups and this rep pours out some sauvignon blanc and so we sip it and Jeff says wow. Which is notable.

For those of you unfamiliar with Charles Krug, the winery has the distinction of Peter Mondavi ownership and operation. Peter Mondavi and the rest of the Mondavi’s are to wine what the Kennedy’s once were to Am. govt. Check out The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty. The Amazon product review calls it “a tale of genius, sibling rivalry, and betrayal”. What with all the drama, it’s easy to forget the Mondavi family still produces some incredible bottles. These 1861 Charles Krug’s come from a winery recently remodeled after the original winery est. in that year, which was also the first winery est. in Napa. The 1861 is a brand-spanking-new label with an implicit statement of its own deep-rooted history.

As to this sauv blanc: function follows form. Grassy and reeking of citrus like any good s.b., it manages to straddle the old world and the new world with (frankly) surprising dexterity. Softer around the edges than its traditional French counterparts, but with a firmer center than most of the Cali interpretations. It’s immediately drinkable, but it leaves a lasting impression. Which is what makes Jeff say wow and I say yeah. The rep smiles, being a rep and all and enjoying making buyers say wow. It turns us into suckers.

For those of you unfamiliar with Jeff, he buys all the wine for dT and, plus, is in possession of an oft-frustrating depth of wine-knowledge. Like most in possession of such a knowledge, he tends to lean more towards the old school, citing claims of delicacy and subtlety and whatnot. California, then, and all the new school hedonists are needlessly over-the-top. So it’s rare a Napa wine will make Jeff say wow, but this is a Napa wine and Jeff says wow.

dT’s crazy today: we just got a whole coffee station (coffee by the cup or by the pound now available, by the way), we just got new signs for our wine deparment, a whole portfolio of interesting beers just became available to us… but after everything, what seems the most notable is that a wine from California made Jeff say wow.

Tags: American White, California White, Napa, sauvignon blanc
Category: The Wine Blog