Garagiste

• By Jon Rimmerman
  3/11/2009 (link)

  (SELENE Chesler) Selene Dear Friends, We're going to change things up a little this morning and actually offer a wine from California. Why? Because it represents exemplary quality (and actual value) in the out-of-control pricing scheme that has plagued Napa since 1993. The run up in prices now has Napa Valley in a quagmire. Supply and demand is fine as long as there is demand - what happens when there is no demand? The smart players admit that nobody actually "needs" their wine and that they'd actually like people to enjoy it at a somewhat reasonable cost. Enter Mia Klein to answer that bell with her most expensive entrant. This is Mia's home-brew "Maya" (a wine she made for Dalle Valle). It is sourced from some of Napa's most prestigious sites (like Stagecoach and Frediani) but the cost is a fraction of what many players are charging for the same source material. I can sum this up easily: If you like Dalle Valle Maya, you will like this...a lot. For $300/bottle less, you will like it even more (it is also supremely elegant and full of the class that is her trademark). Mia Klein has consulted for Araujo, Spottswoode, Viader and others and she knows how to make top-level Bordeaux-inspired wine in Napa. Her relationship with Tony Soter gains her access to the first level of premium fruit from each site and with her own project (Selene) she has the luxury of pricing the wines at the level she deems appropriate (not at the level of her boss's desire, a la Maya). The result is a serious wine (Chesler) that is among Napa's lowest priced for the level it is playing in. Enough said. Here is her TN on the 2004 Chesler: "Blackberries and blueberries; sweet, exotic spice, caramel, toasted vanilla, a floral violet character. Excellent initial impact in the mouth; very intense and long flavors with a sappy, rich texture that is full, but seamless." This wine has co-fermented Cabernet Franc and Merlot, which is quite unusual and hard to pull off. The Cabernet Sauvignon is blended to the mix after the fact as a backbone of tannin and intensity. In sum, this is wine that will impress your Napa-starved dinner guests after being so patient through the eccentric hodgepodge we've heaped upon you (and on them)... 2004 Selene "Chesler" Red Wine (Cabernet, Franc, Merlot) Thank you, Jon Rimmerman Garagiste Seattle, WA CA9110