Tasting the first 10 vintages (2005 - 2014) of Pritchard Hill's Continuum plus a 2022 Sentium and a 1980 Robert Mondavi Fumé Blanc

The launch of Continuum represented an attempt to resurrect (in short order) the Robert Mondavi branch of the winemaking family tree. The line from Cesare, founder of the Mondavi winemaking tradition, ran through his sons Robert and Peter. Robert was pushed out of the family-owned Krug Winery and founded Robert Mondavi Winery. This family winery was partially lost to the Market and fully lost when bought out by Constellation in 2004. "The sale of the company left the family wealthy but adrift." Peter, on the other hand, retained Krug as a family business -- one of his proudest achievements -- and has passed it on to his sons Peter Jr. and Marc. 

For the Robert Mondavi branch, the world would be unbalanced if wine was not being produced on their side. They had the funds coming out of the sale to Constellation and the requisite winemaking know-how. It was up to Robert's kids, then, to uphold the family honor. And so they did, with Tim and his sister launching the Continuum label.

I have previously discussed the pedigree and operations of the estate and will, herein, recount a recent tasting of its first 10 vintages.

The charts below provide background material on the estate, its wine blends, grape sources, and wine production environment.

The tasting was organized into the following flights:

1. 2022 Sentium, 1980 Mondavi Fumé Blanc -- White wines
2. 2005, 2006, and 2007 Continuum -- No Merlot and fruit sourced from Constellation vineyards
3. 2008 and 2009 Continuum -- Transition in fruit source from Constellation to Pritchard Hill
4. 2010 and 2011 Continuum -- All fruit from Pritchard Hill but not all Estate-grown
5. 2012, 2013, and 2014 Continuum -- All Sage Mountain Vineyard fruit.

The Tasting Team. From left, clockwise,
Caryn Reiker, Laurie Levin, Matthew Martin,
Fred Wittenstein, Carol Lopez-Bethel, Al Archibald,
Richard Cohen, Sean Charles Hall, and the Author

Flight 1: 2022 Sentium and 1980 Robert Mondavi Fumé Blanc

It was thought that these Mondavi Family bookend wines would serve as perfect lead-ins to the main event. The Fumé Blanc was Robert Mondavi’s first hit wine and here was his granddaughter Chiara seeking to recreate that magic by releasing a Sauvignon Blanc through the Continuum vehicle.

These wines are both primarily Sauvignon Blanc but the similarity ends there. Chiara sourced her grapes from Mendocino County and fermented them in small lots in equal parts concrete, neutral French oak barrels, and small stainless steel vessels. The 2022 edition of this wine was aged for 9 months on the lees with regular, gentle stirring applied throughout fermentation and aging. The wine was racked off the lees and blended with 7% Semillon prior to bottling. 

The wine was disappointing. Perfumed nose of sweet white fruit which carried through to the palate in an unflattering manner. No attack and a flaccid finish. 

Just 13 years removed from its launch vintage, the Robert Mondavi 1980 Fumé Blanc Reserve Special Selection is a wine that demands your full attention.

This vintage is considered one of the most outstanding in Napa, reflecting “the exceptionally high acid-to-sugar balance developed” during the growing season. The wine experienced 7 hours of skin contact with 7% of the blend barrel-fermented and 46% aged in contact with the lees. The wine was aged for 12.5 months in new French oak barrels and blended with 5% Semillon post-aging. These specific bottles were part of a unique wine kit selected for the first (1981) annual Napa Valley Wine Auction.

This wine was spectacular from the get go and improved with residence in the glass.

The wine had a rich golden brown color. On the nose, carmelization, beeswax, figs, mint, tangerine, and orange rind. Bright acidity initially with almost a crystalline affect at the palate rear. Lemon flavor along with green and dried herbs

After some time in the glass, dried tamarind, hot pepper, and used bourbon barrel. A long, bitter, metallic finish. After additional time, Tokaji-like effect without the sweetness. Absolutely stunning wine.

Flight 2: 2005, 2006, and 2007 Continuum

The 2005 exhibited chocolate-covered red fruit and silky tannins while the 2006 showed dark fruit, tobacco, leather, and spice. An elegant wine which presented a step up from the 2005.

The 2007 was a crowd pleaser: Red and black fruit, lavender, cassis, spice, forest floor, and graphite. Balanced, with a lengthy finish.

Flight 3: 2008 and 2009 Continuum

The 2008 Continuum exhibited red and dark fruit, minerality, leather, and lead pencil. Concentrated yet balanced. Tannins fully integrated. Lengthy finish.

Rich red and dark fruit on the 2009 along with leather, spice, tobacco, and a florality. Medium body with a savoriness and integrated tannins. Long finish.

Flight 4: 2010 and 2011 Continuum

For the 2010, rich dark fruit, earth and baking spices. Balanced, with a lengthy finish.Dark fruit, plum, graphite, leather on the 2011. Balanced with deep, complex flavors and a long finish.

Flight 4: 2012, 2013, and 2014 Continuum

The 2012 showed dark fruit, chocolate, and graphite enveloped in a tannic shell while the 2013 showed a similar fruit profile accompanied by notes of forest floor, tobacco, graphite, and cassis. This full-bodied wine had a long, tannic finish. The 2014 showed rich dark fruit, leather, earth, baking spices, chocolate, and tobacco. Full-bodied on the palate with aflavor pull-through. Smooth tannins and a long, smooth finish

Post-Tasting thoughts of Selected Participants

Overall the wines were good, not great.  Certainly not for the price. I liked the 06 and 13 best. I went back and forth on the 07.  -- Fred

It was very interesting and informative. I liked the 1980 Robert Mondavi Fumé Blanc and the 2013 Continuum. Of the horizontal I felt it had opened the most. I was surprised that these didn’t have the typical Napa fruit bomb. I got a green olive taste. I think I liked the Sage Mountain Vineyard wines the best. -- Richard

I thought they were great.  Not your typical Cali.  In order: 2013, 2007, 2005.  -- Matt

I like Continuum wine in general. Some tend to be a bit typical big Cali, sometimes a bit too much for me, but also can be a nice accompaniment to steak or lamb, or salts and fats. Definitely a food wine. The ones which stood out the most to me were the 07, which is typically a vintage which I usually enjoy from Cali. I know you said it was at its end, but I actually felt it was young and in need of some air to open it up more. It was improving the longer it was in the glass. I would buy another bottle of that to try over the course of an evening and watch it evolve. 13 is another favorite vintage, so not sure I’m just leaning into my historically favored vintages out of habit, but that 13 was one which lingers on in my mind these days after the tasting as one of the top wines served. I didn’t really take notes, so just going on what I remember from the tasting. If I recall correctly I also liked the 05 vintage, but most definitely the 07, and 13. The 1980 white was interesting in that I rarely get white wine that old. The other white, while I get what they wanted to do with it, it just didn’t really work for me. If it was all there was to drink at some event I could easily quaff it down. Could be good at the beach perhaps, but not one I’d typically purchase myself. 

Thanks again for organizing this. I think the food at the Vineyard paired well with the wines. I need to frequent that restaurant a bit more. 

All in all a good time was had with good wine and good people. -- Sean

Thanks, I thoroughly enjoyed the lineup. My overall favorite of the night was the 1980 Fumé Blanc; remarkably preserved, nuanced and totally interesting. You suggested that it was a stellar year and yet that still doesn't explain all of how it kept its acidity and complexity. Good winemaking, I would guess. I could have sat with it for an hour.  Of the reds, although I did not find the variances by vineyard and blend to be as expansive as expected, they worked together well. The  '07 was the most approachable and easy to drink, I liked  the '09 the best. -- Carol

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Like Carol, even though not a part of the main line of the tasting, I thoroughly enjoyed the 1980 Fumé Blanc. The Continuum's seemed to operate within a defined range of good not great. The wines tend towards balance. Most of the wines in the tasting were purpose-bought but I did not feel the urge to immediately go add the label to my collection.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Tasting Tignanello 1990 - 2020 (Selected vintages)

A small group of Orlando-area wine enthusiasts have been holding monthly in-depth tastings of specific wines in order to improve our understanding of the producer, variety, and wine characteristics. Our most recent tasting was held at Enzo's on the Lake and covered selected vintages of Antinori's Tignanello. The three charts following provide background information on (i) the genesis of the wine, (ii) the vineyard, and (iii) production characteristics. The winemaker was covered in great detail under separate cover.

The wines were tasted in three flights organized as follows:

• Late Teens and 2020: 2016, 2018 2019, 2020
• 2000s and Early Teens: 2008, 2012, 2014
• 1990s: 1990, 1997, 1998, 1999.

The tasting Team is pictured below. 

Tasting Team. From left to right: Ron Siegel, author, 
Bev Siegel, Al Archibald, Sean Charles Hall, Richard
Cohen, Fred Wittenstein, Laurie Levin, Matthew Martin,
Caryn Reiker

The specific tasting notes were recorded by Ron Siegel while overall impressions were provided by a subset of the attendees.

Late Teens and 2020

The 2020 was fat, rich, and mostly primary. Still youthful red fruit. Nice spice. The 2019 had more structure and detail. Lighter in weight than the 2020. Ron liked this wine. 

The 2018 exhibited spice and underbrush on the nose. Reminded him of the 2020 in style: big, rich, with lots of fruit and spice. Still youthful and primary. The 2016 has so much material. It is structured for the long term. Sweet red fruit with an acid spine.

2000s and Early Teens

The 2014 was lighter in style with not as much fruit. More linear in style. The 2012 was lighter in style and weight while the 2008 was a younger 2016. Great wine with lots of structure. I would buy this.

1990s

The 1990 was more advanced than Ron liked while the 1997 showed nice fruit and spice along with leather, tobacco, and florality.

The 1998 showed beautiful fruit and spice and was a far more complete wine. Balanced. His favorite wine so far and very much the wine of the nite. The 1999 lagged a little behind the 1998 and 1997. It showed classic red cherry, leather, spice, underbrush, and tobacco.

Post-tasting thoughts of selected participants

Fred thought that the wines were great and all showed well. He felt that the 1990 was fading a little but, conversely, the 1998 was stellar.

Sean felt that Tignanello is very much a food wine in that the wines got even better when the food came out. He agreed with the group on the eminence of the 2016 but did not feel that the 2019 garnered enough attention. According to Sean, "It was young but very much sour cherries, smoke (or tobacco) and mushroom with a spiciness on the nose. Long finish." The 2019 surprised him the most. The standouts were, he felt, the 2019, 2016, 2014, 2012, and 1998. "The 2014 was drank with the pasta course which, I think, upped its quality. Good tannins and nice acidity, so the best of both worlds, and went well with that pasta and red sauce. I wsa surprised at how well the wine drank young as well as old, although that 1990 was perhaps near its end, or past, but the 1998 was still alive and well. Very smooth tannins in the 1998."

Al was" excited to taste a well-balanced and delightful wine." The later vintages, he felt, showed amazingly well with the fruit and acidity levels balancing each other perfectly. His favorite vintages were the 1998, 2008, and 2016.

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All in all a stellar tasting that was enjoyed broadly. The consensus best wines were the 1998, 2008, and 2016 and the one least appreciated was the 1990.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Giacomo Tachis and the foundations of Super Tuscandom

He is said to have dragged Italian wine "kicking and screaming" into the 20th century by changing the style and the way the wines were perceived. According to Piero Antinori, he was "instrumental in the evolution, not only of Tuscan wines, but Italian wines." These words of praise from lofty wine perches were aimed at none other than Giacomo Tachis who drinksbusiness.com has referred to as "the father of Italian wine."

As shown in the timeline below, Giacomo was born on November 4, 1933 in the vicinity of Turin. 

He graduated from the Alba School of Oenology in 1954 and took jobs first at a Sparkling Wine House and then a large distiller prior to being hired into the Antinori fold as a Junior Oenologist by Niccolò Antinori. Within a short space of time was promoted to Technical Director with responsibility for (i) expanding the winery's output and (ii) developing products that would meet the expectations of the world market. This was a tall order because wines from the region were not well regarded at that time. Wines were of poor quality due to :

• High-yielding Sangiovese clones
• Low-density planting
• Poor site selection
• Unhygienic cellar practices
• Old, dirty barrels.

Quality was further affected by an increase in the white grape contribution to the blend. Chianti Classico had historically been a blend of Sangiovese and Canaiola plus 5% of the Malvasia grape. In 1967 the formula was adjusted to allow up to 30% of the blend to be Malvasia and Trebbiano. This led to thin, watery wines lacking in structure and ageability.

Giacomo was a great admirer of the French Oenologist Emile Peynaud and had been working with him to understand his processes and to determine which elements could be implemented in Tuscany to resolve the wine quality issues. Peynaud had garnered fame due to his very successful efforts in cleaning up the Bordelaise wines. His practices included:

• Harvesting fully ripe grapes
• Accepting low acid levels in grapes and wine 
• Controlled temperatures in the cellar, especially during fermentation
• Understanding and controlling malolactic fermentation
• Aging wine in clean oak barrels.

The plan was to use Peynaud's methods to clean up the Antinori wines but, before landing that plane, Giacomo was asked to assist Piero's uncle, Marchese Mario Incisa delle Rochetta, in taming the Cabernet Sauvignon wines from his Bolgheri estate. The Marchese had planted his Tenuta San Guido estate in Bolgheri in 1948 with cuttings sourced from the Bordeaux vineyard of Chateau Lafitte-Rothschild. The grapes had been faithfully fermented but the resulting wines were rather rustic. Incisa delle Rochertta reached out to Piero to have Antinori distribute the wines and he agreed to do so if Giacomo were named chief winemaker on the project. All parties were on board and the rest is history.

Tachis blended the 1966, 1967, and 1968 vintages and released 6000 bottles as Sassicaia 1968. That wine was an immediate and smashing success. Further, he added the 1970 crop to the blend for the 1970 vintage. That was also a success and the label has never looked back.

With the Sasicaia success under his belt, Tachis turned his full attention to the core project, fruit from the Tignanello vineyard. In 1970 Antinori released a Chianti Classico with the smallest percentage (5) of white wine allowed. This wine was called Chianti Classico Riserva Vigneto Tignanello. The initial Tignanello release occurred in 1971 and featured Sangiovese plus small percentages of other local varieties and aging in oak barriques.

The second vintage of Tignanello was released in 1975 and included the following modifications:

• All white grapes eliminated from the blend
• 20% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc added to the Sangiovese backbone
• Pumpovers employed to facilitate tannin extraction
• Malolactic fermentation induced
• Wines aged in new French oak barriques.

The Peynaud influence was on full display in this vintage.

In 1978 Antinori released a Cab-based blend using grapes sourced from Solaia, Tignanello's sister vineyard. In this wine the Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon percentages from Tignanello were switched. By this time Tachis had become so famous that his name on a project almost guaranteed commercial success.

Tachis retired from Antinori in 1993 -- a run of 32 years -- but continued to consult with the company on its Super Tuscans as well as with other companies on their initiatives.The below chart curates the labels with which Tachis has been associated during the course of his career.

Giacomo Tachis died in 2016.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Book Review: Tor Kenward's Reflections of a Vintner

I have the good fortune of being able to call Tor Kenward friend. I have shared golf carts with him on Florida courses, sat through multiple Tor-led tastings of his wines, dined with him in Napa Valley, hosted him on one of my Covid-era Instagram Live Chats, and walked the Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard with him and Andy Beckstoffer (along with a group of Orlando-area wine enthusiasts). 

I consider Tor a great story teller and a raconteur so it was with great anticipation that I awaited his telling of his Napa story. The book -- Reflections of a Vintner: Stories and Seasonal Wisdom from a Lifetime in Napa Valley -- arrived a week ago and I buried myself in it immediately. 

Tor arrived in Napa at one of the most consequential times in the history of American -- nay New World -- wines: a group of unheralded Napa Valley winemakers had just bested some of the greatest Burgundy and Bordeaux wines in the now-famous Judgment of Paris. While not dealt with as a whole, either temporally or thematically, the book indicates significant improvement/growth in Napa in the following areas from that period to today and delves into Tor's role along the way.

• Massive growth in the number of wineries resulting from an improved acceptance of Napa products in the broader marketplace
• Tolerance for outsiders -- Napa has gone from being a town where they preferred to not have the sun set on visitors to being a veritable Disneyland for adults
• Has grown from a single eating spot where the locals hung out to a destination spot for foodies. French Laundry, for example, is a Michelin Three Star establishment.
• Wine criticism focused on Napa wines. This had the impact of raising awareness of Napa wines among consumers as well as forcing wineries to up their game. Tor mentions the Wine Advocate, Wine Spectator, the New York Times, and, more recently, Anthony Galloni's Vinous. He is good friends with Jancis Robinson and is a fan of her work beyond the borders of Napa.
• Philanthropy -- the establishment and increasing importance of the Napa Wine Auction as a source of funds for area charities
• His own personal education - Tor came into Napa with limited practical wine knowledge and no formal wine education yet was able to acquire knowledge from international and local contacts and, buttressed by late-life UC Davis certification, was able to launch his own successful wine brand.
• All for one and one for all - winemakers in the valley have always been there for each other understanding that (i) a rising tide lifts all boats and (ii) I might be the one in need of help tomorrow.
• Preservation of Napa as an agricultural space -- Tor mentions efforts to keep developers at bay and Andy Beckstoffer's initiatives to ensure that his vineyards will never be anything but.

As described in the book, at the time of Tor's entry, and for some time thereafter, giants roamed the Valley: André Tchelistcheff (the Father of California wine); Robert Mondavi (led the way in the sales, distribution, and promotion of American wine while focusing on quality improvements); Mike Grgich (known for his world-beating Chardonnays out of Chateau Montelena; and Warren Winiarski (exceptional Cabernet Sauvignon's and wine as a culture), among others. And Tor walked among these giants, and supped with them, and learned the origin of their strengths, and applied those learnings first to his efforts at Beringer and then in his own enterprise.

Tor started out at Beringer Vineyards and, over the next 27 years, helped to build a wine company "known to collectors for its single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignons and Chardonnays." Over those 27 years Tor developed a deep knowledge of Napa and European terroirs and winemaking practices. And it was this reservoir of knowledge that he tapped into when he retired from Beringer in 2001 to launch, along with his wife Susan, his own venture: TOR Kenward Family Wines.

But the book could quite easily have been named Reflections of a Vintner, Foodie, and Winelover because Tor, due to his role at Beringer (and Beringer being owned by Nestlé) gained access to the greatest wineries and winemakers of the Old World, tasting some of the worlds greatest wines and learning lessons along the way. In addition, he served on a number of boards of institutions whose goal were to advance the food culture within Napa Valley and, in those positions, met, and interacted with, the leading lights of the burgeoning food culture. He has played a key role in the founding and furtherance of the food scene that has now become a key part of the Napa experience.

So this is a telling of the most productive period of Napa Valley's history but it is not a sweeping tale. Rather, it is a close-in history, limiting itself mostly to events surrounding Tor and his interactions with the leading lights that he has interacted with over the two phases of his Napa life.

While I enjoyed the context and content of Tor's Napa history, there were a few areas of dissonance. Tor tells the tale of doing some writing on his website during the pandemic and those writings being some of the source material for the book. That becomes evident in the fact that there is no journey in the book, no sense of traversing history. Further, there is duplication of themes and anecdotes which should have been edited out to make it less obvious that the book is a compendium of past writings. An attempt has been made to stitch the chapters together by having each headed with a winemaker's activity during the course of a calendar month. This material would have been more valuable if curated in a single spot because, as it stands, it generally has no relationship to the remainder of the chapter.

The book is relatively thin and there is some filler in the form of quotes (in oversize type0 and info boxes. In my view these do not add to the book and I found slightly distracting. The book contains quite a few pictures and I found those very interesting in that they showed Tor over the years plus they captured visuals of the major players along the way.

A definite read if you are a lover of Tor, Tor wines, and Napa history.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

California wines of the 70s-80s versus wines of the 90s: Robert Parker in a Foreword of Tor Kenward's Reflections of a Vintner

I recently got my hands on a copy of Tor Kenward's Reflections of a Vintner and was stopped dead in my tracks by its two (count them, two) Forewords by wine and food industry stalwarts Robert M. Parker, Jr., and Thomas Keller. Parker's Foreword, comparing California wines of the 70s and 80s to the wines of the 90s, and identifying the root cause(s) of the departure, was especially intriguing and launched me down an investigatory rabbit hole. 

Parker's basic thesis was that California wines of the 90s were far superior to the wines of the 70s and 80s largely because of the region's response to the phylloxera infestation of the 1980s. Parker's view of the greatness of the wines of the 90s is not universally accepted so, herein, I will explore his thesis and selected competing views.

The chart below illustrates Parker's perspective on the wines of the 70s and 80s.

Parker was not alone in this assessment. According to Greg Byrne (Wine surges in popularity ..., Santa Fe New Mexican, 7/15/09), in the 1970s and 1980s, many Napa wineries picked too early in an attempt to emulate the wines of Bordeaux.  The standard practice was to harvest grapes based on sugar ripeness -- pick at 23.6 degrees Brix in order to yield 12.6% alcohol in the fermented wine.  This path, according to Byrne, was littered with overly tannic, underripe, harsh wines.

The wines of the 90s, according to Parker, were the cat's meow, due, in large part, to producer-responses to the mid-80s Phylloxera epidemic.

Parker's views, as regards the wines of the 90s, were not universally held. According to Byrne, the lack of rain in Napa in September and October allowed for much longer hang time and phenolically ripe fruit. It also brought along, however, higher sugar levels, lower acidity, darker color, and richer flavors.  By marrying this style of wine with young oak, the Napa winemaker was now promoting power and exuberance over elegance and finesse.  Byrne feels that too many winemakers went too far down this path.

While Byrne saw viticultural practices, as it related to phenolic ripeness, as the Napa problem, Gilman (California Classicism, The World of Fine Wine, Issue 35, 2012) saw the problem as the industry's pursuit of cellar-based technology solutions aimed at closing the "Bordeaux gap."  In addition, phylloxera had caused widespread replantings in the 1990s and cellar manipulation was used to paper over resulting problems such as young juice in the mix, improperly sited vines, and the pursuit of high yields by the growers in order to meet high demand.

Adding fire to the flame was Robert Parker himself assigning high scores to these wines and an unquestioning public snapping up the wines at every turn, based exclusively on these scores. This created a vicious cycle with existing wineries adjusting their wines in pursuit of points and new entrants applying the formula from day one.

The industry seemed to be in a "bad place" by the end of the 1990s.  Gilman has characterized that place: high-alcohol wines made from late-picked fruit, vinified with residual sugar, sprinkled with winemaking additives, and matured in expensive new oak. "Phenolic ripeness became the mantra behind which this was all concealed."  Alcohol levels had gotten so high that a number of post-fermentation mechanisms were created for mitigation purposes; likewise, technical solutions were employed to address acid deficiency.

I think Parker would have been better served by focusing on Tor's contribution to the lore and accomplishments of Napa than reminding us of the trauma of the time for balanced-wine adherents.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme