this heaven gives me migraine

1999 Fritz Rockpile Cabernet Sauvignon

Region: California, US

Composition: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon

Background: Fritz Winery has been undergoing a Renaissance of sorts for the last few years, evidenced first to me by their changing labels, since I am a label junkie. They used to employ an Eighties-style label that looked cheesy at worst and dated at best, and now they have moved to a much more sedate style of label involving some animals I think of mentally as "dinobirds" on it (I think they are really just peacocks or grouse or some land-bird along those lines, but the posing makes me think of dinosaur dioramas). From what I can tell the actual switch in labelling came about in 2001/2002, but because some of the older wines are just now being released, you can find a mix of labels for Fritz wines in the stores.

Jay and Barbara Fritz started Fritz winery in 1979, converting a family farm retreat they had owned since 1970 into a winery. It was the height of the energy crisis and gas shortage worries (as I can remember, since I was in elementary school at the time, being inundated with those "This Is A Landfill (Don't Be Part Of The Problem And Throw Things Away)" movies and Big Blue Marble), and echoing those early 1970s sentiments, they did the green thing and built an energy-conscious winery that is actually underground in a hillside. In 1996, they decided to ramp up their winemaking, and started making changes. They hired Helen Turley on as consultant, and worked with her for a few years. In 2002, they hired Christina Pällmann, who had worked with Jacques Seysses at Domaine Dujac, and Blair Walters at Felton Road, and she is now consulting with Merry Edwards on the winemaking.

This wine is interesting because it is a single vineyard Cab (Rockpile, no less... in what is now the Rockpile AVA, I believe, but that didn't happen until 2002) and it is cheap. It is about fifteen bucks normally, but I got some through my wine club for less than nine. And it is fairly simple and fruity, but still, for nine bucks it is a very good Cabernet. And I don't usually even like Cabernet very much, but this is kind of a guilty pleasure Cabernet.

In any case, it was just what I needed last night, after a weekend of weddings and cleaning and not enough studying. The exam is in ten days, I have an opera to see tonight, and my parents roll into town on Thursday. I am already having nightmares about misidentifying wines in blind tastings, and even though I need the next week to finish preparations (I am still trying to memorize all the sub-regions in Australia and where they are/what climates they possess/what grapes they grow, not to mention Bulgaria and Romania), I kind of wish it was over already, because I am tired of dreaming about wine (last night, I was creating a cellar from scratch, and that isn't even on the test).

Notes: Deep garnet with a slightly paler rim. Forward nose of black currants, bell pepper, mint, maybe some pine or spruce. Nicely balanced in the mouth... not a lot of tannin, enough but not a ton of acid. Pleasant persistent black cherries and currants, a tiny bit of leather, and minty freshness. It's simple and fruity, not complicated and brooding like a grown-up Cabernet, but tasty and easy enough to drink. I think that it is excellent value for the price, and am sad to see K&L is already sold out of it. It's the kind of thing you can take just about anywhere and people will enjoy it, rightly so.

Cost: $9 from my wine club (normally about $15)

Overall: B

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(Old Fritz versus New Fritz, label-wise, for those interested:)

1998 Davis Bynum Cabernet Sauvignon, Hedin Vineyard

Region: Russian River Valley, California, US

Composition: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon

Background: I have a special fondness in my heart for Davis Bynum, since the first case of wine I ever bought was a Davis Bynum Fume Blanc. Cabernet Sauvignon is different, and I don't have a special place in my heart for it. I don't end up drinking a lot of it since it's not really something I seek out. It's not that I don't like it, I just haven't gotten into it, like The Flaming Lips or The Magic Mountain (I am making my attempts with The Flaming Lips, but may have given up on the latter). I sometimes have good ones and think I should reconsider, but never do. If given a choice between Cabernet and Syrah, I will pick Syrah many times before I go for a Cabernet. And even then I will usually be more interested in Bordeaux.

I don't think a 1998 California Cabernet will change my mind. '98 wasn't a great year, especially after 1997. The growing season was cool and wet, and the grapes didn't ripen quickly. The cool weather continued into fall, when the grapes were supposed to be harvested, and it left the wineries with a decision... hope for some warmer weather (which didn't happen), or thin the grapes to allow the remaining grapes to ripen. Many grapes were harvested a month or so later than usual, and the resulting wines varied greatly in quality and many were not very intense or full.

The Hedin Vineyard (as far as I can tell) has not been used for Cabernet by Bynum after 1999. At least, I can find no records of a Hedin Cab from post 1999 (it looks like they are now using the grapes from Hedin in their second-label River Bend wines). The vineyard, owned by Dr. Roger Hedin, is on Westside road close to the winery, and this wine was made under Gary Farrell's supervision (he was a consultant in this case, even though his first winemaking job had been at Davis Bynum). Each vintage (this one 900 cases) was aged in French oak for a year and a half. You can tell this when you taste it.

I remember I bought this back in 2001 on a trip up to Arcata (I got in to town the day after The Great Fire of 2001, and was in town to meet Kevin Hoover, writer of the best police log ever). I wasn't sure I liked it then, but was intruigued by the band-aid I got in the nose (brett). Funnily, I got a whiff of it when I opened the bottle, but it was mostly gone, now, almost four years later. Or my nose has changed. In any case, it was a lovely tasting and lunch I had at the winery, and there were a lot of Bynum family members running around working (there are four or five Bynums, at least, involved with running the winery and making wine).

Notes: Ruby red, and it hardly shows its age aside from the fact that the red is slightly red-based and almost orange-based, rather than bluer. Typical blackcurrant and some tobacco leaves are strong in the nose, along with some cedar, and it has black fruit and olives in the mouth with a bitter chocolate finish. It's got a minty/bell pepper thing going on, too. The tannins weren't too bad, which was a nice thing, although I think this could age longer and it might be a little smoother and more integrated... there were a lot of flavors roaming around in the glass, but they felt a little disjointed and smorgasboard-y to me.

Cost: About $30, from the winery

Overall: C+