Jerry Thomas Project
Pym Rae
Tesseron Estate Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Blend 2016
This is Alfred Tesseron’s (Owner of Pontet Canet) Napa Valley’s project on Mount Veeder. You can also clearly see Sugar Loaf from the property.
The previous owner of the property was the late comedian Robin Williams. Robin never made wine and the fruit was sold to other producers.
The name Pym-Rae is an homage to Robin Willams two children.
The Winemaker for Pym-Rae is the son of Jean-Michel (Winemaker of Pontet Canet), Thomas Comme. Thomas has taken out all the drip irrigation and dry farms all the fruit. He has some progressive ideas on farming fruit. Pym-Rae is also certified biodynamic and organic.
This 2016 inaugural vintage is just now about to be released.
The nose reveals; big and brooding dark currants, deep; blackberries, black raspberries, big black plum, purple fruit mix, blueberries, black cherries with poached strawberries. Grilled meats, anise to black licorice, sweet tarriness, touch of incense, burnt ambers, crushed dry rocks, dark, rich earth, cinnamon, clove, vanilla, limestone minerals, alluvial soils with nice, purple, dark flowers with violets and hints of lavender.
The body is huge, brooding and thick. Big, dark, meaty, tarry rounded tannins with dusty edges. The structure & tension say it’s big and meant to be well cellared. The length is nice and the balance sets in as it opens up but, will be much better with 5-10 years plus of cellaring. Dark currants, deep, ripe, lush & ruby; blackberries, black raspberries, big black plum, purple fruit mix, blueberries, black cherries with poached strawberries. Grilled meats, cracked pepper, anise to black licorice, sweet tarriness, black olive, touch of incense, burnt ambers, dark spice with palate heat, lots of crushed dry rocks, dark, rich earth, dry stones, dark chocolate, caramel, cinnamon, clove, vanilla, good presence of dry herbs, cigar box, lots of graphite, limestone minerals, dusty top soil, alluvial soils with nice, dry, withering purple, dark flowers with violets and hints of lavender. beautiful round acidity. The finish starts with ripe, lush fruit and slides into pronounced dry, powdery, tannins and earthiness. It persists until you put something else in your mouth. This is not a pop & pour wine. It needs a very long decant if you drink it young and really should be cellared 8-10 plus years.
Patience will increase my rating by 2-4 points. It is just too young and massive for me to give it a higher score. However, it has all the stuffing for greatness.
Photos of; the yard and estate vines above the main house, 2019 Cabernet grapes that will start harvesting in the next week, a look inside the house Robin built and the infinity pool and view from the terrace. — 5 years ago
Rivers-Marie
B. Thieriot Vineyard Chardonnay
thomas brown garage project tasted by theglass at rutherford grill napa — 11 years ago
Caterwaul
Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2018
Pop & pour,
Better than the 17, its not a thinker just a drinker.
Caterwaul is a collaborative project between Thomas Rivers Brown and Matt Hardon. Thomas Rivers Brown is the winemaker for some of Napa and Sonoma’s most iconic labels (Schrader Cellars, Outpost and his own Rivers-Marie), has more than twenty 100-point wines on his resume. Matt Hardin, is a 6th generation Napa resident and farmer, is a partner in Barbour Vineyards, one of the most renowned vineyard — 4 years ago
Château Lynch-Bages
Grand Cru Classé Pauillac Cabernet Sauvignon Blend 2000
The 2000 is delicious but, it is evolving at a glacial pace. Out of magnum.
On the nose, touch of barnyard, glycerin, ripe; blackberries, dark cherries, black raspberries, plum, strawberries & cherries. Vanilla, dry clay, limestone, river stones, just a touch of pyrazines & bandaid, dark,,turned, moist earth, dry grass and dry & fresh dark florals.
The body is full, round & sexy. Dry softened, sweet tannins. ripe; blackberries, dark cherries, black raspberries, plum, strawberries & cherries. Vanilla, dry clay, limestone, river stones, just a touch of pyrazines & bandaid, fresh tobacco leaf, saddle-wood, dry underbrush, dark, turned, moist earth, dry grass and dry & fresh dark florals. The acidity is magnificent. The structure, tension, length and balance are sensational. The finish is drop dead gorgeous. I’d still hold mine another 5 years as long as you have 3-4 bottles for more 5 year increments.
Photos of, their Estate vines, Clyde Beffa-Owner of K&L Wine Merchants, Owner of Chateau Lynch Bages - Jean-Michel Cazes, guests of the dinner and a sunset view from their Estate.
Producer notes and history...Lynch Bages takes its name from the local area where the Chateau is located in Bages. The vineyard of what was to become Lynch Bages was established and then expanded by the Dejean family who sold it in 1728 to Pierre Drouillard.
In 1749, Drouillard bequeathed the estate to his daughter Elizabeth, the wife of Thomas Lynch. This is how the estate came to belong to the Lynch family, where it remained for seventy-five years and received the name Lynch Bages. However, it was not always known under that name.
For a while the wines were sold under the name of Jurine Bages. In fact, when the estate was Classified in the 1855 Classification of the Medoc, the wines were selling under the name of Chateau Jurine Bages. That is because the property was owned at the time by a Swiss wine merchant, Sebastien Jurine.
In 1862, the property was sold to the Cayrou brothers who restored the estate’s name to Chateau Lynch family.
Around 1870, Lou Janou Cazes and his wife Angelique were living in Pauillac, close to Chateau Pichon Longueville Baron. It was here that Jean-Charles Cazes, the couple’s second son, was born in 1877.
In the 1930’s, Jean-Charles Cazes, who was already in charge of Les-Ormes-de-Pez in St. Estephe agreed to lease the vines of Lynch Bages. By that time, the Cazes family had history in Bordeaux dating back to the second half of the nineteenth century.
This agreement to take over Lynch Bages was good for both the owner and Jean Charles Cazes. Because, the vineyards had become dilapidated and were in need of expensive replanting, which was too expensive for the owner. However, for Cazes, this represented an opportunity, as he had the time, and the ability to manage Lynch Bages, but he lacked the funds to buy the vineyard.
Jean-Charles Cazes eventually purchased both properties on the eve of the Second World War. Lynch Bages and Les-Ormes-de-Pez have been run by the Cazes family ever since. In 1988, the Cazes family added to their holdings in Bordeaux when they purchased an estate in the Graves region, Chateau Villa Bel Air.
Around 1970, they increased their vineyards with the purchase of Haut-Bages Averous and Saussus. By the late 1990’s their holdings had expanded to nearly 100 hectares! Jean-Michel Cazes who had been employed as an engineer in Paris, joined the wine trade in 1973. In a short time, Jean Michel Cazes modernized everything at Lynch Bages.
He installed a new vat room, insulated the buildings, developing new technologies and equipment, built storage cellars, restored the loading areas and wine storehouses over the next fifteen years. During that time period, Jean Michel Cazes was the unofficial ambassador of not just the Left Bank, but all of Bordeaux. Jean Michel Cazes was one of the first Chateau owners to begin promoting their wine in China back in 1986.
Bages became the first wine sent into space, when a French astronaut carried a bottle of 1975 Lynch Bages with him on the joint American/French space flight!
Beginning in 1987, Jean-Michel Cazes joined the team at the insurance company AXA, who wanted to build an investment portfolio of quality vineyards in the Medoc, Pomerol, Sauternes, Portugal and Hungary.
Jean-Michel Cazes was named the director of the wine division and all the estates including of course, the neighboring, Second Growth, Chateau Pichon Baron.
June 1989 marked the inauguration of the new wine making facilities at Lynch Bages, which was on of their best vintages. 1989 also marked the debut of the Cordeillan- hotel and restaurant where Sofia and I had one of our best dinners ever. A few years after that, the Village de Bages with its shops was born.
The following year, in 1990, the estate began making white wine, Blanc de Lynch Bages. In 2001, the Cazes family company bought vineyards in the Rhone Valley in the Languedoc appellation, as well as in Australia and Portugal. They added to their holdings a few years later when they purchased a vineyard in Chateauneuf du Pape.
In 2006, Jean-Charles Cazes took over as the managing director of Chateau Lynch Bages. Jean-Michel Cazes continues to lead the wine and tourism division of the family’s activities. Due to their constant promotion in the Asian market, Chateau Lynch Bages remains one of the strongest brands in the Asian market, especially in China.
In 2017, Chateau Lynch Bages began a massive renovation and modernization, focusing on their wine making, and technical facilities. The project, headed by the noted architects Chien Chung Pei and Li Chung Pei, the sons of the famous architect that designed the glass pyramid for the Louvre in Paris as well as several other important buildings.
The project will be completed in 2019. This includes a new grape, reception center, gravity flow wine cellar and the vat rooms, which will house at least, 80 stainless steel vats in various sizes allowing for parcel by parcel vinification.
The new cellars will feature a glass roof, terraces with 360 degree views and completely modernized reception areas and offices. They are not seeing visitors until it’s completion.
In March, 2017, they purchased Chateau Haut Batailley from Françoise Des Brest Borie giving the Cazes family over 120 hectares of vines in Pauillac!
The 100 hectare vineyard of Lynch Bages is planted to 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. The vineyard has a terroir of gravel, chalk and sand soils.
The vineyard can be divided into two main sections, with a large portion of the vines being planted close to the Chateau on the Bages plateau. At their peak, the vineyard reaches an elevation of 20 meters. The other section of the vineyard lies further north, with its key terroir placed on the Monferan plateau.
They also own vines in the far southwest of the appellation, next Chateau Pichon Lalande, on the St. Julien border, which can be used in the Grand Vin. The vineyard can be split into four main blocks, which can be further subdivided into 140 separate parcels.
The average age of the vines is about 30 years old. But they have old vines, some of which are close to 90 years old.
The vineyards are planted to a vine density of 9,000 vines per hectare. The average age of the vines is about 30 years old. But they have old vines, some of which are close to 90 years old.
Lynch Bages also six hectares of vine are reserved for the production of the white Bordeaux wine of Chateau Lynch Bages. Those vines are located to the west of the estate. They are planted to 53% Sauvignon Blanc, 32% Semillon and 15% Muscadelle. On average, those vines are about 20 years of age. Lynch Bages Blanc made its debut in 1990.
To produce the wine of Chateau Lynch Bages, vinification takes place 35 stainless steel vats that vary in size. Malolactic fermentation takes place in a combination of 30% French, oak barrels with the remainder taking place in tank.
The wine of Chateau Lynch Bages is aged in an average of 70% new, French oak barrels for between 12 and 15 months. Due to the appellation laws of Pauillac, the wine is sold as a generic AOC Bordeaux Blanc, because Pauillac does not allow for the plantings of white wine grapes.
For the vinification of their white, Bordeaux wine, Blanc de Lynch-Bages is vinified in a combination of 50% new, French oak barrels, 20% in one year old barrels and the remaining 30% is vinified in vats. The wine is aged on its lees for at least six months. The white wine is sold an AOC Bordeaux wine.
The annual production at Lynch Bages is close to 35,000 cases depending on the vintage.
The also make a 2nd wine, which was previously known as Chateau Chateau Haut Bages Averous. However, the estate changed its name to Echo de Lynch Bages beginning with the 2007 vintage. The estate recently added a third wine, Pauillac de Lynch-Bages.
— 7 years ago
Jerry Thomas Project
Il Gin del Professore 2018
Rivers-Marie
Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2015
dark ruby violet; cassis, licorice, mocha, vanilla, cedar; intense, concentrated flavors with plum, black cherry, bit of spice; full bodies, good acidity, supple tannins, 14.5% ABV; sourced from Panek, Pellet, Larkmead, and Kennedy vineyards, project of Thomas Rivers Brown and Genevieve Marie Welsh, great appellation level wine at $65 — 5 years ago
Flora Springs
Napa Valley Red Blend 2009
Over 20 years ago Jerry & Flora Komes purchased their first vineyard which became a retirement project and a passion for their son John. Very dark red with black fruit aromas. On the palate cherry, currant and raspberry. A nice blend of Cabernet, Merlot and Malbec, smooth and refined tannins and oak work in harmony, with a layer of complexity. Will continue to develop in the bottle. — 8 years ago
Tripod Project
Deep Probe LaGae Vineyard Riesling 2013
Lady Hill Winery
Freedom Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir 2012
Really enjoyed this Pinot from Jerry Owen's new project! — 11 years ago
Byron Hewett
Thomas Boccon is Francois Mikulski’s son-in-law. He now makes the wines at Mikulski. This is a little side project. — a year ago