Tag Archives: Maybach

60 Second Wine Review — Wallis Family Little Sister Cabernet Sauvignon

A few quick thoughts on the 2011 Wallis Family Little Sister Cabernet Sauvignon from the Diamond Mountain District of Napa.

The Geekery
Wallis Family Little Sister Cabernet Sauvignon

Edward Wallis first purchased 85 acres on top of Diamond Mountain back in 1975. The property included two buildings on the National Register of Historic Places–a 19th-century carriage house designed by architect William H. Corlett and a stone castle built in 1906 by Frenchmen Jacques Pacheteau.

In 1997, the Wallis’ planted 13 acres with plans of selling grapes to wineries like Lokoya and Ramey. By 2006, they were producing wine from their estate fruit.

Since 2008, Thomas Rivers Brown has been making the Wallis Family’s wines. Brown began his career in 1997 at Turley before moving on to cult producers Schrader and Maybach. In addition to making his Rivers-Marie wines, Brown consults for 45 clients in the Napa Valley including Vermeil, Revana, Round Pond and Outpost.

The 2011 vintage of Little Sister is 99% Cabernet Sauvignon with 1% Petit Verdot. The wine was aged 18 months in 80% new French oak barrels with only 650 cases made.

The Wine

Photo by Fir0002. Uploaded to Wikimedia Commons under CC-BY-SA-3.0

The juicy plums are quite fresh in this 2011 Cab.

Medium-plus intensity nose. A mix of red and black fruit–cherries and plums. Pop and pour, just the fruit shows up. But after 2 hours decanting, cured tobacco and spicy fennel emerge.

The fruit carries through on the palate and tastes fresh with medium-plus acidity. However, the palate brings out more oak than what the nose revealed. Creamy vanilla, allspice and clove become even more pronounced as the wine decants. The firm, high tannins also soften with the added time–balancing the full-bodied fruit. Moderate finish lingers on the fennel and oak spice.

The Verdict

The 2011 vintage in California has been hit or miss for me. Some wines, like the 2011 Stag’s Leap Fay have had way too much pyrazines for my taste. But there have been others that I’ve enjoyed.

This 2011 Wallis Little Sister falls into the enjoy camp, holding its own for $70-80. It definitely benefits from decanting, but it seems to have escaped the green monster of 2011.

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60 Second Wine Review — Clos Pegase Mitsuko’s Vineyard Pinot noir

A few quick thoughts on the 2012 Clos Pegase Mitsuko’s Vineyard Pinot noir from the Carneros AVA.

The Geekery

Clos Pegase was founded in 1983 by Jan Shrem, a publisher and art collector, and his wife, Mitsuko, with André Tchelistcheff making the first vintages at Rombaurer.

Charles Sullivan describes in Napa Wine: A History that when word got out of the Shrems’ plans for combining a winery with an art museum, many locals initially opposed what they thought was “a Disneyland approach to winemaking”. But the winery and grounds designed by architect Michael Graves opened to the public in 1987.

In 2013 Clos Pegase was acquired by Vintage Wine Estates and today is part of a portfolio of wines that includes B.R. Cohn, Buried Cane, Cameron Hughes, Emily, Firesteed, Game of Thrones wines, Girard, Layer Cake, Sculptor and Swanson.

In 2010, Clos Pegase appointed Richard Sowalsky as winemaker. Prior to joining, he previously worked at William Hill and Robert Mondavi Winery. He remained at Clos Pegase for a couple years following the acquisition with Vintage’s head winemaker, Marco Di Giulio, consulting. In 2016 Robin Akhurst, a protege of Thomas Rivers Brown at Maybach and Schrader, took over head winemaking duties.

The Mitsuko’s Vineyard covers 365 acres on the Napa side of the Carneros AVA. Around 2800 cases were made in 2012.

The Wine

Medium intensity. Lots of overt oak–vanilla, cinnamon and clove–with some subtle red cherry fruit.

Photo by davitydave. Uploaded to Wikimedia Commons under CC-BY-2.0

With the faded fruit, strong oak flavors dominate this Pinot.

On the palate, the faint cherry fruit becomes a little more pronounced but so does the strong oak notes–particularly the spice. Medium-plus acidity and medium tannins have decent balance. Short finish lingers on the oak.

The Verdict

I remembered enjoying this wine much more a couple years ago. It’s clear that the fruit has faded quite a bit with the oak running the show.

At $30-35, you are paying a premium for its quality level but if you’re really craving oak then it may fit your style. Otherwise seek out newer vintages.

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