Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.5

Beautiful. Young Tempranillo is rough & rugged Wild West tumble weed. This is soft, ruby, lush falling onto minerality and dry brush.

The fruits are dryish to ripe, creamy and rich; blackberries, black raspberries, black plum into black plum pudding, dark cheries, blueberries hues on the long set, dry tobacco, sandalwood to cedar, dry herb-sage & thyme driven, limestone/sandstone minerals, black pepper, anise to black licorice, dark chocolate, caramel, mocha, moist, grey, volcanic clay, withering, dark red, flowers, round acidity, balance, softened tensioned, nicely structured and polish for days that lasts two-minutes.

Paired this with/ a dry rub tri-tip and a burgundy marinaded Cardiff Crack tri-tip. Both very different and enjoyable, but this was a slightly more enjoyable with the Cardiff Crack burgundy marinate.

Photos of; two of their different seasonal vinyards, cave entrance & large cellar vats. — 2 years ago

Valerie Barber

9.7

Love this wine. It’s a great flavor and so glad it’s local. — 5 years ago

Shay A

9.5

Monthly WTF group recap. Theme this month was “bring something special”. Normally we taste all of the wines blind, but we decided to do a relaxed night with amazing wines at a great restaurant. Spectacular evening!

This was my contribution. Again, it was paired next to the filtered ‘11 vintage and the colors were incredibly different, with this being hay/straw colored with just a touch of cloudy appearance. If guessing blind, I would have called this Aubert SugarShack (which I love). Medley of lemon cream, marzipan and honeyed sea salt on the nose with a rich and powerful profile on the palate, yet it is nimble...perfectly balanced. Sweet oak, caramel dipped golden delicious apple at the finish. — 7 years ago

with Steve, Jack and 8 others

Michael Cockerill

9.7

Absolutely sensational Malbec. Flavours coming through long after the mouthful of joy has finished. Jammy jammy jammy! Beautiful! — 9 years ago

Steven Beishuizen

9.0

Toast and butter with some restrained pear. I remember doing some sort of cave tour in Margaret River years ago. Wonder if it's the same cave? — 10 years ago

with Anita

Andrew Whittle

Co-Owner/Director Summit Estate Wines

9.4

Cheapie from a good maker & a great region - went very well with eye fillet and chips at the Kingscliff Beach Hotel — 11 years ago

Marissa Carvalho

8.9

Celestial — 3 years ago

Marcus Weber

9.0

Skin macerated wine (8 days) from Swartland, West Cape. Floral and spicy, macis! And bit sandy character and well balanced tannins. 
Dazu: Tajine: Lamm - Mandeln - getrocknete Pflaumen / gerösteter Blumenkohl - Salzzitrone - sehr junge Minze / Karotte - Kreuzkümmel - Orangenblüte / couscous
& nick cave — 5 years ago

Carina Clark

9.0

Crisp CH, not overall Oakes. Stone fruit notes and citrus finish — 6 years ago

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.5

On the nose; very ruby, floral plum fruits of; blackberries, dark cherries, black raspberries, Thompson raisins, fresh dates and prunes. Black licorice, creamy dark fruit cola, caramel, milk & dark chocolate, soft beautiful dark spice, touch of eucalyptus, fresh herbs, limestone, soft presence dry crushed rocks, a whiff of pepper, fresh lavender, violets and dark withering floral bouquet.

The body is full and lush. Fine meaty, tarry, tannins. Very ruby, floral plum fruits of; blackberries, dark cherries, black raspberries, Thompson raisins, fresh dates and prunes. Black licorice, creamy dark fruit cola, caramel, milk & dark chocolate, soft beautiful dark spice, touch of eucalyptus, fresh herbs, limestone, soft presence dry crushed rocks, suede leather, dry clay, dry top soil, dry underbrush, a whiff of pepper, fresh lavender, violets and dark withering floral bouquet. The acidity is very nice. There is good structure, tension, length and balance that needs 10 years plus to flush out. The finish is good, well balanced with fine powdery sticky tannins.

Photos of, Cliff Lede tasting facility, wire woven sculptures that decorate the grounds, Owner David Lede and the Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard.

Producer history and notes...Cliff Lede Vineyards (pronounced LayDee) was founded in 2002 on what used to be S. Anderson Vineyard, a winery that was founded in 1971 by Stanley and Carol Anderson primarily known for their sparkling wines.

Cliff Lede is from Leduc, Alberta a small town just south of Edmonton. The reason you see a Canadian flag in front of the parking next to the US Flag. David and Cliff helped run their father’s construction company he founded in 1947, Leduc Construction. Later the company was renamed to Ledcor Construction in 1982. They ultimately built the business into one of the world’s largest construction companies. Through Cliff, the company established business in the Napa Valley focusing on wineries, restaurants, premium resorts and private residences. Some of their more notable works include; Morimoto Restaurant, Davis Estate Winery, Lokoya Winery, Marciano Estate and the Riverfront Residences in downtown Napa.

After several decades at Ledcor, Cliff decided to pursue his passion for wine. His first introduction to wine was helping his mother make wine at home. Later he began collecting wines from Bordeaux, and even considered purchasing property there. However, he fell in love with Napa after business took him to Northern California.

Cliff Lede owns 60 acres of vineyards in the Stags Leap District. This includes the Twin Peaks Vineyard surrounding the winery and tasting room. The Poetry Vineyard was acquired a year after Cliff established Cliff Lede Vineyards. It is planted on steep hillsides down to the Silverado Trail. It’s planted with red Bordeaux varietals, mostly Cabernet Sauvignon. The soils there are extremely rocky. Despite being so close to the Poetry Vineyard, the soils in the Twin Peaks Vineyard are dramatically different. They are gravelly loam.

From a viticulture aspect, this diversity of terroir is a good representation of what the Stags Leap District has to offer, ranging from its upper most reaches of 400 feet to the valley floor. Even among their two Stags Leap properties, there are micro-climates. The west facing vineyard hillsides become quite warm during the day in the summer but cool off significantly in the evenings. This diurnal temperature swing is important for growing premium grapes including maintaining acidity.

The winery also owns a 20 acre vineyard in Calistoga at the base of Diamond Mountain planted primarily to Cabernet Sauvignon as well as a small block of Sauvignon Blanc.

Further to the north in Mendocino County is their Savoy Vineyard, which is a 42 acre site in Anderson Valley. It is planted mainly to Pinot Noir along with Chardonnay. It provides fruit for their FEL Wines (a name that Cliff chose to pay homage to his mother, using the first three initials of her full name Florence Elsie Lede.

Cliff’s love for all things “Rock and Roll”, he named all their blocks in their Stags Leap District Vineyards after famous rock and roll songs or albums such as “Dark Side of the Moon”, “Walk on the Wildside”, “Light my Fire” and “American Girl. ”Collectively these are referred to as the “Rock Blocks.”

David Abreu quickly realized the exceptional terroir of the Poetry Vineyard as did Cliff when they initially tried some of the S. Anderson wines from this site. Abreu oversaw its replanting and clonal material sourced from a number of premiere Napa vineyards. While Abreu was the original vineyard architect, he is no longer involved in the management of the their vineyards. They are now controlled by their in-house vineyard team.

The winery, tasting room and the nearby luxury Poetry Inn all opened around 2005. Architect Howard Gillam was hired to design the winery. Cliff’s background in construction and architectural preferences certainly influenced its design. The tasting room has a more contemporary feel rather then some of his more rustic looking designs. It features beautiful views of the Napa Valley. Inspired by the shape of tanks during a visit to Château Latour in Bordeaux, Cliff commissioned Missouri based Paul Mueller Company to create special truncated tanks for fermentation to help submerse more of the cap. Each tank corresponds to a specific vineyard block. During harvest, a specially designed crane gently moves and lowers a hopper full of whole berries into each tank.

Sorting is a big part of their attention to detail before fermentation. After the grapes come into the winery, they are sorted by hand, then run through an optical sorter and then finally put through an additional final hand sorting. Nearby is a 20,000 square foot cave that connects directly to the winery. World famous Michel Rolland was brought on in the early years as a consultant. Philipe Melka also made Cliff Lede wines for several years and today Christopher Tynan is the Winemaker. He was formerly Assistant Winemaker at Colgin.

Total annual production is between 18,000 and 20,000 cases depending on what Mother Nature gives them. The majority of this is comprised of their Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc and their Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon. — 8 years ago

Shay A

9.3

Jarvis has always been such a unique producer with its incredible underground facility and fascinating lineup of wines. Their Finch Hollow Chardonnays (this one and the Unfiltered version) are outrageously expensive, but they sure know how to deliver on flavor profile.

My notes here are actually quite similar to the 2015 I opened last year, but everything is a touch more restrained. Normally quite rich with expensive oak usage, this seems nicely balanced…it’s almost fresh in profile. Sweet lemon cream alongside marzipan and sea breeze aromatically. From a phenolic standpoint, it’s close to some of the Aubert offerings with its powerful texture. Finishes with a surprising amount of honeysuckle, caramel dipped apple, and honeycrisp. This seems to be built for a bit longer aging compared to the 2015. I’ll be curious to see how the 2018 is. — 5 years ago

Severn G

9.6

🎇🎉New Year's Eve 2020🎉🎇
❤️🍾Cheers to the Delectable Community🥂❤️

There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.
(Nelson Mandela)

Amount disgorged: 16,388 bottles in October 2008 - Dosage: 4g/l (No Reserve Wine)

Winery Notes:
"The 1990 Vintage is a blend of 17 different Crus, all classified as Grands and Premiers Crus.
Black grapes make up two thirds of the blend: 56% Pinot Noir, from the Montagne de Reims and the Grande Vallée de la Marne, and 11% Meunier, from the Premiers Crus in the west of the Montagne de Reims.
The blend is completed with 33% Chardonnay from the Côte des Blancs and, to a lesser extent, from the Montagne de Reims." — 6 years ago

Shay A

9.3

Last day in Napa Valley. Always bittersweet. We’ve been fortunate to visit Jarvis a few times over the years and they always do a fantastic tasting as well as tour. A must visit in Napa.

Though we weren’t able to taste any Reserve Cabernets or their Unfiltered Finch Hollow Chardonnay, this merlot was probably my favorite of the tasting, though the normal finch Hollow Chardonnay was a close second! One of the few Merlots I actively purchase when I can. Dark but very clean/pure fruit profile of black cherry, cedar, nutmeg and a really lovely texture that is incredibly smooth. — 8 years ago

Michael Cockerill

9.7

An exemplary Pinot Noir, light yet full flavored. All round superb wine! A favorite of mine — 10 years ago

Jane Wilson

9.3

Interesting style from the south west of France. Love the sweet style too. — 11 years ago

Erica West

9.7

This wine has the very distinct flavor and scent of A CA vineyard. It instantly brings back memories of my trip west. This is a very earthy blend with undertones of cranberry and roses. — 13 years ago