13-Vintage Dominus Tasting, 1983-2007: Guest Post by Ron Siegel, Orlando-Area Collector

I have always loved Dominus and, as I had 12 vintages sitting in my cellar, I decided that it would make an interesting vertical tasting. Towards that end I arranged to host such a tasting at Vintage Vino Wine Bar on Tuesday, March 29, and invited a few of my friends to participate.  Invitees were welcomed into the establishment with flutes of Duval Leroy champagne.

I have followed Dominus Estate and its wines over the years and was aware of the decade-specific differences in styles : the 1980s had more tannic structure and acid; the wines of the 1990s had riper fruit and lower acid; and Merlot was eliminated from the blend beginning in 2002. 

In setting up the tasting I decided to go with four flights of three wines each.  The youngest wines were placed in the first flight as they would be one-dimensional in style and fairly tight (I feel that Dominus needs a minimum of 10 -15 years to start showing its true character).  The second flight would contain the wines of the 1980s and the third flight would contain the 1990s wines.  Steve A., one of my friends, brought along a bottle of 1987 and I stuck that into Flight 2.  I decanted the first flight 6 1/2 hours before the tasting and the third  and fourth flights 1.5 hours later.  

My notes from the tasting are provided below.

Flight 1

2005 Still fairly tight.  Some coffee, blackcurrants, and a slight hint of vanilla.  All of the wines in this flight would have benefited from a 24-hour decant.  When you visit Dominus Estate, they serve one bottle that has been decanted for 24 hours and another is poured right out of the bottle. When I visited the winery, we tasted a 1996 that was decanted 24 hours previously and it tasted a lot better than the freshly opened bottle. 94 points

2006 Black fruits, spicebox, earth. Nice finish on the palate but still some hard tannins on the back end. This should round out beautifully over time. 95 points

2007 Wow. Nose of sweet ripe red fruits and licorice.  Richer and denser on the palate than both the 2005 and the 2006. I feel that this could even top the legendary 1994. My favorite and the groups wine of the flight (WOTF).  97 points

Again, I think that all of these wines would have shown better if we could have provided more decant time.

Flight 2

1983 Sweet red fruits, cedar, dried herb, some mushroom. On the palate, nice weight. Not too astringent. Probably the best 1983 California wine that I have tried and still going strong. 92 points

1984 Nose of ripe red fruit, more earthy than the others in the flight. Sweet fruit, coffee, tobacco and earth in the mouth.This was my fifth bottle opened out of a wood 6 pk in 9 months. Groups WOTF 94 pts

1985 Classic Bordeaux. Nose of black fruits, cedar, touch of coffee and mint. Sweet black fruits and a nice elegant finish on the palate. I have always liked the 1985 vintage in California. My favorite of the flight by a hair. 94+ points

1986 (Thank you Steve for bringing this ) This wine has always reminded me of an older-style Bordeaux. This had nice black fruits, cedar, mint and some of us got a little curry in the nose. The wine really showed well tonight. 94 points

Flight 3

1987 Decent amount of red fruits and cedar.  A touch of mushroom but I could feel the acid. The finish seemed more astringent than the other vintages. My least favorite of the flight. 90 points

1992 Beautiful nose of cassis fruits, cedar, earth, and coffee. Nicely balanced with good fruit structure.  This was our group's WOTF. 95 points

1996 Exhibits a nose of black fruits, earth, mint, and black olive. On the palate, rich fruit, coffee, spice box. This wine seemed richer than the 1992 and is beautifully balanced. My favorite of the flight. 96 points

Flight 4

1990 Red and black fruits, cedar, and tobacco. It seemed more rustic in style and not as rich and opulent as it was a few years ago when I had last tried it. This wine was easily outclassed in this flight. 94 points

1991 This has always been my favorite Dominus vintage. I have consumed more than a dozen bottles over the years and still have four 6pks left. I have put this wine in first Growth flights and it is never picked out as a California wine and is always one of the favorite wines in the flight. Tonight, massive sweet jammy fruits, spice box, and leather.  A mix between a Pomerol and a Paulliac. The finish kept building throughout the night.  Always one of the greatest California wines ever made. This was also the first Dominus that was made without any Merlot in the blend. 98 points

1994 Wow! I have not tried the 1994 in quite sometime. It always seemed to have a riper fruit and lower acidity feel to it compared to the 1991; and seemed more California-like. But tonight this wine has really blossomed into something very special. Yes it was richer and more opulent than the 1991. Huge ripe black fruits, spice, earth and truffle with amazing texture and a super long finish. This was the groups' WOTN. 99 points

The wines showed really well and a good time was had by all.  The one thing that everyone noticed throughout the tasting was how Bordeaux-like the wines appeared.

Is Dominus the North Star for Pomerol and St. Emilion?

Last night, as I worked my way through a 13-vintage tasting of Dominus wines, I could not help but remark on how Bordeaux-like these wines were.  And then it hit me.  Christian Mouiex was making a Bordeauxesque wine in the heart of Napa.  Could there be any lessons here for the Bordelais as they face the prospect of region-wide impacts associated with global warming?

Allan Hall, of the Daily Telegraph, is one of many writers to have sounded the alarm regarding the impact of global warming on the Bordeaux region.  In an article dated 3/1/11, Hall stated that the region may be unsuitable for grape growing by 2050, given the warming trends.  Harbingers of this future include the fact that harvest in Bordeaux today begins two weeks earlier than it did 10 years ago and alcohol levels continue a steady rise upwards.  In an earlier post, I reported that Jean-Philippe Delmas (Chateau La Mission Haut-Brion Estate Manager) has been increasing the proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon in the Estate blend since 2006 in order to combat the effects of the warming temperature on the wine.

Bordeaux wines have generally been characterized by their aroma, scent, flavor, and affinity for food and rising alcohol levels puts these characteristics at risk.  Cabernet Sauvignon tolerates heat a little better than Merlot which has a tendency to over-ripen in hot conditions.

Christian Mouiex, owner of Dominus, cut his teeth in Pomerol, home of Merlot, but chose Cabernet Sauvignon as the backbone varietal of his Napa wine because it is more suited to the environment.  In the decade of the 1980s, the Dominus blend averaged 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Merlot, 3.7% Cabernet Franc, and less than 1% Petit Verdot.  In the 1990s, the ratio was 76.11% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7.6% Merlot, 12.88% Cabernet Franc, and 3.33% Petit Verdot.  In the 2000s, the blend averaged 85.75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc, and 4.5% Petit Verdot.

A number of trends are obvious as this Bordeaux winemaker experimented with how to make a Bordeaux-style wine in the hot Napa environment.  First, the high Cabernet Sauvignon levels were reduced in the 90s but was even higher in the 2000s than they were in the '80s.  The lesson here? Cabernet Sauvignon is desirable in elevated-temperature conditions.  Second, Merlot went from 14% of the blend in the '80s to 2% in the 2000s.  Indication: Merlot may be problematic for Bordeaux-style wines in elevated-temperature environments.  The Merlot falloff has been taken up by Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, all later-ripening fruit.

As the estates of Bordeaux -- especially the Pomerol and St. Emilion estates -- consider strategies for dealing with the warming trend, they may do well to look at the accomplishments of a native son and use Dominus as their North Star.

Going High-Tech to Produce Better Wines

We have all heard of the use of technology to fine-tune, tweak, or outright modify a wine through the use of reverse osmosis, spin cone columns, and the like to reduce the alcohol level in a finished wine, but that high tech approach is now being used in the vineyard and during the “crush” portion of the winemaking process, hopefully to reduce the need to finagle with the finished wine.

Many wineries currently employ a sorting line, where leaves, loose stems, and miscellaneous debris are removed from the picked grapes before the grapes enter the crusher, either on an actual table or on a conveyor system that carries the clusters from the bins to the crusher.

Beginning with the 2007 vintage, Dominus Winery in the Napa Valley has been using an “air knife” device called Mistral, which acts to create a sharp breeze across the sorting line to separate any dried berries or plant material from the clusters after they have passed through the de-stemmer.

Going even further, and emphasizing Dominus’ “hands-off” approach once the grapes arrive at the winery, they began utilizing an optical sorting system in 2009. The device is a camera-based, high-speed optical sorter that analyzes individual grapes by size, shape, surface texture (smooth versus raisined), and color. This system, in theory, allows the winery to cull any and all berries or foreign material that would not be considered perfect for making wine to Dominus’ high standards. The system, made by the Swiss Corporation Bucher Vaslin Industries, allows the winery to define the parameters of what the system will accept in terms of whole berries versus crushed berries, acceptable color range, and any stems, leaves or debris that may have made it through the de-stemming process.

Electronic noses (or eNoses) are being used to assess grape maturity based on the volatile aromas (and their precursor compounds) given off by the berries. Researchers at Virginia Tech and elsewhere have found that the eNose evaluation of these volatile compounds provided more distinct and accurate predictive data than the typical physical/chemical parameters that are evaluated on the lab bench. Add to that the fact that the eNoses are extremely sensitive, being able to detect chemical scents occurring in concentrations as low as 10 to 6000 nanograms / kilogram of fruit. That is the equivalent of sensing 8 berries in a million tons of fruit.

Finally, sensors created by the Precision Viticulture International LLC (Viticision) are providing vineyard managers and winemakers with un-precedented access to data collected in the vineyard. These sensors, which are slightly smaller than a dime, can collect data on soil temperature, sun exposure, and ripening within individual clusters in the vineyard. The sensors have been in use at Opus One for the past two vintages.

The data collected are used to decide which rows to harvest first, and which need to ripen further. The data are also used to map the trajectory of the sun over the rows in the vineyard, providing data for canopy management and thereby optimizing color and flavor development while preventing sunburn. The data may also be used to modify trellis design to improve the overall quality of the fruit produced in the vineyard.

A Wine Journey: 2001 Dominus

Our random walk -- a wine journey -- through Andrew McNamara's Wines of the Decade continues with the 2001 Dominus from Dominus Estate.

Dominus Estate is owned by Christian Mouiex who, in addition to his Dominus responsibilities, manages his family's properties in Pomerol and St. Emilion,  properties that include the likes of Chateau Petrus and Chateau Trotanoy.  Moueix, whose scholastic accomplishments include a Masters in Enology from UC Davis, was, upon his return to France, given responsibility for the family holdings.  While in California, he had developed a love for Napa Valley and enlisted the late Robert Mondavi to assist him in finding a property that would allow him to produce high-quality wine in Napa.  Robert introduced Christian to Robin Lail and Marcia Smith, daughters of the legendary John Daniels and current owners of Napanook vineyard (Napanook was the former Inglenook Estate and, under John Daniels, had become famous for its Inglenook Cask Selection.).  Grapes from this site were highly sought after for the production of high-quality Napa Cabernets.  Moueix entered into partnership with the two vineyard owners in 1982 to create an entity called Dominus Estate which would focus on producing a Cabernet-based wine.  Moueix eventually bought out the sisters and took full ownership of the property in 1995.

Napanook, located in the foothills of the Mayacamas Mountains, has a history that goes back to 1836 when George Yount, who gave his name to Yountville, planted the first vines in the valley there.  The farm is 124  acres -- 108 of which planted to vines -- with volcanic, heavy clay, and loam soil types.

Chrtistian believes that the best wine is made from the best grapes and, to that end, the company expends enormous amounts of energy in the vineyard -- crop thinning, canopy management, separating clusters, leaf plucking, and rinsing, for example -- to ensure that the best possible grapes are produced.

The estate produces 6,000 - 8,000 cases of wine annually with one half of the production meeting the stringent requirements for Dominus and the remainder either being bottled as the estate's second label -- Napanook -- or sold off in bulk.  Dominus, in the Bordeaux tradition, is a blend.  Early vintages were 75% - 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and the remainder Merlot.  Cabernet Franc was added to the blend in1986 and Petit Verdot in 1989.  The first 13 Dominus vintages were crushed and aged at Rombauer Vineyards but, in 1996, production was shifted to a 50,000 sq. ft., Dominus-owned winery which was designed and built by the Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron.

According to Dominus Estate, the 2001 vintage is truly a classic and will benefit from years of aging.  This vintage was characterized by an early bloom and long growing season that yielded grapes of exceptional maturity.  This wine has the unique ability to be rich and complex while possessing a smooth and silky texture.  The blend for the 7,000 case production was 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc, 5% Petit Verdot, and 4% Merlot.  The fermented wine was aged for 18 months in French oak barrels, 40% of which were new.

Tasting the 2001 Dominus was an exercise in perseverance.  I had this wine in my cellar but, inexplicably, bought a bottle from an online retailer for the purpose of the tasting.  I took the bottle to our regular Friday tasting at Antonio's and was disappointed to see that only four of the regulars had shown up for this, my thought, blockbuster event.  It turned out to not matter.  The bottle was not good.  One member of the team thought it might be corked while another thought it was funk that would blow off.  We set the bottle aside and came back to it half an hour later.  The "corkiness" had disappeared somewhat but there was still an unidentified smell that should not have been there.  On the palate, the wine was disaggregated and phenolic with high alcohol.  A chalky residue persisted on the tongue.  This group has had extensive experience tasting both the 1991 (one of our favorite wines) and 1997 Dominus so there was a flavor profile that we were looking for and it was not showing up. Needless to say I was very disappointed and platitudes like "It's not your fault" and "better luck next time" did nothing to pick my chin up off the floor.

I had been invited by Keith M. and his wife Nancy to have dinner with them on the following night as my wife was going to be out of town.  I saw this as an opportunity to re-taste the 2001 Dominus and took a bottle out of my cellar for this purpose (I also took another bottle which I will discuss at a later date.).  So I show up at Keith and Nancy's at 6:30 pm sharp, walk into the kitchen, and begin opening my bag of goodies.  I begin telling Keith that we were going to revisit the scene of the crime, as I pull the 2001 Dominus out of the carrying case, when he points out that he already has a bottle (same wine, same vintage) in the decanter on the kitchen counter.  He had seen how disappointed I was the day before so he was giving me a piece of candy to make me feel better. Oh well.  By the way, he prepared the meal and a wonderful one it was:  Osso Bucco, butternut squash risotto, and roasted asparagus.

Keith had opened his bottle at 1:30 pm and placed it back in his cellar at 57 degrees until 6:30 pm.  We began tasting it at around 8:00 pm. Black fruit and black olives were dominant along with muted hints of graphite.  On the palate there was a distinct creaminess and a hint of coconut.  The wine was smooth and had a very long finish.

This wine is a baby and needs another 5 - 10 years to begin to reveal itself fully.