Russian Chapel Hills Winery

Wine: Winery: Ambiance: Aug 18, 2017

Favorite Wine: 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon

The emphasis here is not on the numbers of different wines, but the quality of wines offered from this seventeen acre vineyard. My Napa experienced friend let out a note of 'Fabulous' with his first carmel sip of 2014 lightly French oaked Chardonnay. A bright, stainless steel fermented Sauvignon Blanc followed. Of the four reds, we found interesting the dark flavored 2014 Mosaic (60% Cab Sauv, 20% Cab Franc, 20% Chambourcin). We preferred their outstanding, clean, varietally correct with some degree of finesse 2014 'Kagor' Cabernet Sauvignon. I also could not leave without their 'jammy' 24 month, uniquely French oaked 2014 Chambourcin not advertised on their web site. Interestingly, Russian Chapel Hills offers three Bodegas Antonio Alcaraz wines from the Rioja Spanish region under their own 'Karma' label. Yep, I packed away an example for our drive home. I appreciated the nice bifold information sheet presented for note taking. The five 'stars' represents our comparison to Southern wineries, not to tastes of other regional, domestic wines.