Hi everybody! When we last left you, we had just pulled out of the Clos du Val winery, still in a driving rainstorm. We were going a little bit on the fly, since our original plans to go to the Sonoma Coast had been derailed by Mother Nature. So we decided to make our next stop at the Steltzner Family Vineyard. Dick Steltzner has been farming in the Napa Valley since the 1960s, and spent many years as a vineyard manager, growing grapes for other wineries, before finally establishing his own winery in the Stags Leap District. Steltzner grows more varietals than the average winery, including Malbec, Sangiovese, and Pinotage in addition to the usual Cabernet and Merlot. Pinotage is an especially interesting choice; it is a grape of South Africa created from the crossing of Pinot Noir with Cinsault, and is rarely grown in California. On this visit we were unable to try the Pinotage, but there were plenty of other options for us. After coming in from the rainstorm, we started out with a sunny glass of Allison Rose. Allison Rose is a rose of Syrah, and is the first rose produced at Steltzner. The story goes that Allison Steltzner, Dick’s daughter, wanted to make a rose, and Dick finally agreed with the condition that Allison’s name had to go on the label (not the Steltzner name). We think this rose is a big hit – it’s a dry rose with lots of fruit, but with enough body to stand up to most meals, especially good barbeque.
We tried several other wines, including the Sangiovese. Sangiovese is the noble grape of Chianti and Brunello in Italy, but has not traditionally performed well in California, with a few exceptions. Steltzner is one of those exceptions. We also learned that Steltzner was soon releasing its first even Pinot Noir, which had been a request by the winemaker and finally granted by Dick. After sharing a few stories with the tasting associate, she remembered that we were the only people at last year’s Vineyard to Vintner event to take advantage of Steltzner’s one time only free shipping offer. There is nothing like being a unique guest to ensure a nice time in the tasting room, and we were able to try most of the wines being poured that day. We have always loved the variety and quality of the wines; so being true to ourselves, we joined the club. As a result of joining, we were recently able to try the new Pinot Noir. We aren’t typically huge fans of Pinot Noir in general, but this wine was definitely an exception. The grapes for this wine were sourced from Hendricks Vineyard on the Sonoma Coast, in the Petaluma Gap. The Sonoma Coast is a cool maritime climate, and receives the cooling breezes that Pinot Noir loves. The wine is more Burgundian in style than California, but with a fuller body and richness of flavor that we loved. This wine is only in limited production (441 cases) but makes us yearn that more Pinots were made in this style.
Even though you probably can’t find the Steltzner Pinot Noir, we highly recommend that you try the Steltzner Claret. The Claret is fairly widely available, and is very reasonable for its price in the range of $16-20. The Claret is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc, using grapes from both Steltzner’s Stags Leap vineyards, and other vineyards in Napa Valley. This wine has dark fruit and cedar, with nice tannins to balance it. We highly recommend you check it out!
Drink what you like, like what you drink!
Bryan & Rachel Gavini
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