California Here I Come

Time to unpack our bags! We’ve certainly covered a lot of ground in the last few posts: South Africa; Australia; Italy; Spain; Argentina. I thought it would be good to give the passports a rest and spend some time in America’s most iconic wine country: Napa Valley, California.

When you say “Napa Valley”, thoughts usually turn to red wine. I know mine do! I decided it might be fun to compare two reds from Napa - same vintage, same retail price point. What is not the same is the grape: one is a Cabernet Sauvignon, the other is a Merlot. Sorry white fans, only reds today. By eliminating vintage, price and (for the most part) location differences, we can focus on understanding the characteristics of these two very popular varietals. Oh, by the way, these wines both retail for $24 at my local store.

So let’s meet our contestants:

Rutherford Ranch 2016 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Markham 2016 Napa Valley Merlot

Before we dive into the wines themselves, let’s talk about these two varietals for just a minute.

Cabernet Sauvignon - “King Cab”; the world’s most popular wine. The go-to red for many of you. A rich, concentrated wine made for aging. Black fruits and baking spices are typical flavors, with some terroirs producing tobacco and even graphite-like notes. Cabernet will almost always have a high tannin content, which makes it a great partner for a variety of bold foods.

Some things you may not know about Cabernet Sauvignon:

• Its parents are Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc.

• France is the number one grower of Cabernet Sauvignon, yet you generally won’t find bottles that are 100% Cabernet. The Bordeaux region of France is viewed by many as the greatest expression of Cab, but those wines are blends - most frequently with our friend Merlot.

• Despite its popularity in this country, the US is actually the 3rd largest producer of Cabernet Sauvignon, with Chile ahead in the #2 spot.

• California Cabernet truly arrived on the world wine stage in 1976, after an English wine merchant held a blind tasting of French and Californian wines (red & white) judged by French wine critics. Known as the “Judgement of Paris”, the results shocked most everyone as a California Cabernet and Chardonnay took first place in both categories!

Merlot - Despite being the object of scorn in the movie Sideways (“I am NOT drinking any f*****g Merlot”), Merlot is the world’s second most widely planted grape. Depending on where it is from, Merlot will typically be a little more fruit forward than Cabernet Sauvignon, emphasizing dark cherry or plum flavors, as well as notes of chocolate, cedar, leather and vanilla. Most noticeably, when compared to Cabernet, its tannins are softer, making the wine more approachable.

Some other Merlot facts:

• It is a cousin of Cabernet Sauvignon. They share Cabernet Franc as a parent.

• In Bordeaux, Merlot is more widely planted than Cabernet. Wines from the “Right Bank” regions in Bordeaux such as Pomerol and St. Emilion are Merlot-dominant. One of the world’s most sought-after wines, Chateau Petrus from Pomerol, is 100% Merlot. A bottle will set you back $3,000.

• Its name traces to a dialect still spoken in a few regions of France that loosely translates to “little blackbird”, believed to refer to the birds that would try to eat the dark skinned grape on the vines.

Before we continue I want to go on record to say that when I came up with the topic for this post, I thought I knew “how it would end”. I was wrong. Keep reading and I will explain.

Let’s quickly reacquaint ourselves with Napa Valley:

First, the Cabernet. Rutherford Ranch. While the Rutherford AVA is one of the most recognized appellations in Napa, I was unfamiliar with this producer. Rutherford Ranch was founded in the 1970s by a group of family investors. In 2001, the Zaninovich family took full control and embarked on a plan to replant the estate vineyards and become certified in sustainable, organic viticultural practices. They also have a 100 year-old olive grove. On the map, look for that mustard colored area about halfway up. Rutherford Ranch is on the Silverado Trail, right by that lake that looks a little like a whale…

Tasting:

I learned after purchasing the Rutherford Ranch that it is not all Cabernet. Although mostly Cabernet (85%), the winemaker has blended in 7% Malbec, 4% Merlot, 3% Petite Sarah and 1% Petit Verdot. In the glass the wine is a deep ruby color. On the nose, I get those classic Cabernet aromas: plums and other dark fruits, accompanied by some spice and maybe even a little fig. My first taste was a little surprising - juicy red fruits rather than a continuation of the black fruits I got on the nose. These red fruit qualities most likely come from that supporting cast of grapes! The juicy impact I perceived up-front transitions to firm tannins (which you should expect from Cabernet) that help frame and deliver a long finish. This is a ripe, balanced wine.

Before we deliver the Bottom Line, let’s try the Merlot..

Markham Vineyards. Although I was unfamiliar with Rutherford Ranch when designing this comparison, I certainly had experience with Markham. They are one of Napa Valley’s oldest continuing operating wineries, founded by Jean Laurent in the 1870s. Laurent was born in Bordeaux, and quickly became one of Napa’s wine making pioneers. He built a 6,000 square foot stone winery, seen here in the late 1930s:

The building remains today, and you can see it on the wine bottle label

In the 1970s, the winery was purchased by an Arizona advertising executive by the name of Bruce Markham, who added 230 acres to the re-named Markham Vineyards. In 1980, Markham released its first Merlot. By the next decade, Wine Spectator named Markham’s 1990 vintage its “Merlot of the Year”. In 2009, Bruce Markham sold the winery and vineyards, now comprising 350 acres, to Kirin, who still owns it today.

The original winery is located in St. Helena (upper left on the map), with the two flagship vineyards in the Oak Knoll District (yellow region on the map just above the words “City of Napa”) and Yountville (light green area just above Oak Knoll). Markham also has an art gallery on premises displaying work of resident artists. It was ranked in 2019 as one of the Top 10 Wineries for Art Lovers. Here is what it looks like today:

Similar to the Rutherford Ranch Cabernet, I discovered after purchase that the Markham Merlot is a blend: 85% Merlot; 12% Cabernet; 2% Petite Sarah and 1% Cabernet Franc. The wine was fermented in stainless followed by 14 months in both French & American Oak, 1/3 of which was new. Alcohol is about 1% higher than the Cab at 14.8%. The winemaker sourced 60% of the fruit from the Markham estate grapes in Oak Knoll and Yountville, the balance from warmer, up-valley vineyards.

Tasting:

Similar to the Rutherford Cab, the Markham Merlot is a deep ruby in the glass. The Cabernet and Petite Sirah are probably adding to this depth of color. On the nose, I got aromas of dark cherry and maybe some cassis - often a Cabernet quality. The word fragrant comes to mind. On the palate, there are plums and cherries along with spice notes - all good. The tannins are not overpowering, which you look for in Merlot. The wine finishes very smooth. On the back end, there is a distinct vanilla note, likely from the amount of new oak used.

Day 2:

Given how important food pairing can be with these two varietals, I tried them both the following day with a dry-aged ribeye steak. YUM. Both were excellent matches and enhanced the enjoyment of both the steak and wine. However, I found I liked the Rutherford Cab more with the steak. The tannins probably played a role. The vanilla component in the Markham Merlot seemed a little more pronounced and I liked it less, even with the steak.

The Bottom Line:

Your Doctor tends to prefer Old World reds over New World. That new oak vanilla note can be found more often with New World wines using American oak. For me it is a bit of a negative - but that’s just my personal preference. Doesn’t mean one style is right and the other wrong. In fact, that’s the whole point of what we are doing here: experimenting; learning; finding out what works and what doesn’t. The more things you try, the more confident you become, and the more enjoyment you will have with wine.

Lessons Learned:

I went into this biased by my name recognition of Markham. Their reputation precedes and is well-deserved. I thought I would like the Merlot over the Cabernet. Don’t get me wrong, it was very enjoyable, but I ended up liking the Rutherford Ranch a little more.

Maybe this just comes down to the differences in the two grapes, Cabernet vs Merlot. Come to think of it, isn’t that what we set out to discover at the start?

Until next time….Cheers!