Producer and Wine Highlight: Wing Canyon Vineyard

Hello and welcome again to Cèpage et Cuisine, Brian's and Mary's wine and food blog.  Today, we're highlighting the fine folks and outstanding wines of our friends at Wing Canyon Vineyard, high above Napa Valley, California on the steep slopes of Mt. Veeder.  Bill Jenkins and Kathy Dennett own Wing Canyon, farm the land, grow the grapes, make the wine, and live in a solar-powered home on the property.  Years ago when we were first starting our wine hobby, Mary and I somehow discovered Wing Canyon, telephoned and asked if we could visit, and they graciously accepted.

Bill and Kathy acquired the property in the early 1980s.  Bill literally cleared land for the vineyard, built a rammed earth home and winery, designed by themselves, planted Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Chardonnay, and began producing wine in 1991.  The vineyard has been farmed sustainably from the beginning, about 10 acres planted.  They are good stewards of their land, doing things their way.  To say the property is rugged is an understatement.  When we visit them, which is always a highlight of our trips to the wine country of California, we have to hike to the house from Mt. Veeder Road or they have to come out to pick us up in their four-wheel drive vehicle.  They are not a big-name Napa Valley producer.  Their entire production is under 1,000 cases of wine per year.  Here's a Google map of the area to give you a better idea of their location, marked with a red arrow.  Click on the map for an enlarged view.

You can see Wing Canyon is located near the southern end of Napa Valley.  Mt. Veeder is part of the Mayacamas range on the west side of the valley, separating Napa County and Sonoma County.  Its elevation and proximity to the cool breezes of San Pablo Bay keep temperatures cooler and allow gradual ripening of the grapes.  Here are a couple of satellite photos to give you an idea of the ruggedness of the terrain.  In the closeup view, you can see the vineyard plots on the Napa Valley floor on the right.  Once again, click on the images for an enlarged view.

Grapegrowing under these conditions is hard work, for both man and vine.  The grapes are stressed by the poor, thin soil, forcing them to send their roots deep for the nutrients they require.  In addition, Bill dry farms, which means the vines are not irrigated.  Yields are low but, typical of mountain grown grapes, the berries are intensely flavored with excellent structure and producing wines capable of long cellaring.  Check out these babies, Cabernet Sauvignon first, then Chardonnay.

We've enjoyed all of their wines, but today I'm especially highlighting the Chardonnay.  They make only a little, some of which is reserved for Kathy because she loves it, so not much is available for sale.  I think they only made one barrel of the most recent vintage, which is about 25 cases, but let me tell you, it is fantastic Chardonnay.  We have a few bottles of the 2005, which we are consuming slowly to see how it evolves.  Here's a label photo, taken by Mary.

Here are my tasting notes on this amazing wine.
This is a wonderful wine, even profound.  I am an unapologetic Francophile and I think a good white Burgundy is a thing of beauty.  This wine is every bit as good as any Burgundy I have tasted, but a little different in expression, reflecting where it was grown, but complex, balanced, interesting.  When we first opened it, we immediately noticed a melange of aromas, a wonderful caramel, almost like crème brulée, yellow tree fruit like peach, maybe even banana, and a fascinating lemon, not a racy, tart lemon, but more a lemon creme, even a lemon meringue.  Wow, this is great!  And that's just the initial aromatic impression.  The palate shows first of all an exquisite balance.  All elements are in proportion ... bright acidity, flavor characteristics, and alcohol.  Not too much of anything.  In particular, not too much oak character.  Kathy described the lemon flavor during one of our visits as "lemony snickets," but this wine is keeping no secrets, unlike the famous author who uses this pen name.  The flavor is not powerfully citrusy, but it definitely has a joyful lemon creme quality, along with lovely butterscotch and peach qualities.  We tried to make the wine last as long as possible.  I'm taking my last sip as I type this, more than two hours after opening.  The texture is full, creamy, with medium acidity, and flavors of caramel, butterscotch, lemon creme, and peach.  On the long finish, there is a curious intensity I have noted previously with this wine, approaching a bitter almond or a spruce needle, evergreen quality.  I timed the length after swallowing at over a minute, extraordinary for a Chardonnay.  To Bill Jenkins and Kathy Dennett, I say simply, thank you.  If you intended to produce a wine that would please your own palate, but would also please others and express your creativity with what nature has given you, you accomplished your goal.  I still have a few of these in my cellar, but I will open them slowly to see how they evolve.  Balanced, complex, long finishing, outstanding.  The next time we drink one of these, I plan to decant it before drinking.  13.0% alcohol.

We paired the wine with steelhead salmon, cooked on the grill with a little herb seasoning, spritzed generously with fresh lemon juice, oven-roasted Brussels sprouts, and a crunchy green salad first course.  It was a simple meal, but simply delicious.

A couple of final remarks about Wing Canyon.  Their prices are reasonable, not the Alice in Wonderland prices of so many Napa Valley producers.  We paid $35 for the Chardonnay.  Second, Kathy is a gifted painter, creating hex sign art that is a reflection of her Pennsylvania Dutch heritage.  Check out her work at http://www.wingcanyonvineyard.com/.  Here's an example.

That's our post for today.  I'll talk about other favorite producers and their wines in future posts.  If you are in Wine Country and want to support real people who farm their land and make their wines, not the Disneyland of Highway 29, think about Wing Canyon.  Bill and Kathy, here's to you,

Cheers,
Brian and Mary