Tag: mondavi

A Renaissance for the Mondavi Family

Today’s Story: Continuum Estate

Continuum Estate was established in 2005 by Robert Mondavi and his children Tim and Marcia following their sale of Robert Mondavi Winery in 2004 to Constellation Brands. In 2008, they purchased the estate vineyard high up on Pritchard Hill in the Vaca Mountains on the eastern boundary of the Napa Valley, and the winery was finished in time for the 2013 harvest. While most of the fruit they used starting 2008 was from the Continuum estate vineyard, they did not use 100% estate fruit until 2012. Though Robert passed away in 2008, Continuum is still run today by siblings Tim and Marcia Mondavi with the help of their children.

Continuum consists of about 172 acres, of which roughly 62 acres are planted to the Bordeaux varieties of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot. The property sits at elevations between 1,325 and 1,600 feet, offering both optimal winegrowing conditions and impressive views of the valley below. Continuum focuses on one premium Bordeaux blend each vintage, though they do produce a second wine called Novicium from the younger vines and it is typically Merlot-dominant or closer to an equal blending of the four varieties.

In making their wines, Continuum practices organic viticulture though they are not certified. All fruit is hand-harvested into small baskets, then hand-sorted, destemmed, and hand-sorted again. The resulting fruit is gravity-fed into small French oak and cement tanks for fermentation to begin. Following primary fermentation, the wines are drained into 85% new French oak barrels for malolactic fermentation and aging. Each vintage roughly 25-30% of the lots will be declassified because they do not meet the strict quality standards of the team, and each vintage spends 19-20 months aging in barrel. The wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered.

Today’s Wine: 2014 Continuum Proprietary Red

65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Cabernet Franc, 15% Petit Verdot, 5% Merlot; 14.8% ABV

The 2014 Continuum is opaque deep ruby in color with deep purple hues. Given about 2 hours in the decanter, this blossoms into aromas of blueberry, plum, blackberry compote, black cherry, licorice, pipe tobacco, tilled rocky soil, sage, pine, and cedar. Meanwhile on the palate I get notes of cassis, sweet blueberry, spiced plum, redcurrant, blue and purple florals, pine, crushed rock, baking spice, iron, dried vanilla, light smoke, and green herbs. This is full-bodied with medium (+) acidity, fine-grained medium (+) tannins, and a long finish. A very opulent and silky wine that probably needs another 3-5 years of cellaring.

Price: $220. Like many of the wines produced on Pritchard Hill, this is not an inexpensive bottle. In value terms, I think this is a bit of a stretch and there are wines which drink just as well if not slightly better around the $150 mark. Nonetheless, this is a delicious wine and I think it is a solid renaissance for the Mondavi family.

Remarkably Preserved and Burgundian Napa Valley Pinot Noir

Today’s Story: Robert Mondavi Winery

I just wrote about the 1981 Robert Mondavi Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, so I will save you the duplicate reading today and jump right into the tasting notes on today’s 1980 Reserve Pinot Noir. If you missed my prior commentary on Robert Mondavi, however, feel free to pause and click the link above!

Today’s Wine: 1980 Reserve Pinot Noir

100% Pinot Noir; 13.8% ABV

The 1980 Reserve Pinot Noir is translucent medium garnet in color with slight bricking (though it’s really not too bad). The fill level was superb (about 1-2cm ullage), the cork was pristine, and there was hardly any sediment thrown. Though firing on all cylinders as a pop-and-pour, this only got more complex in the glass with a nose of tobacco, coffee grounds, worn leather, forest floor, earthy mushroom, underbrush, gravel, tar, grilled herbs, and black olive. There’s even some cherry, baked strawberry, and black raspberry clinging on for dear life. The palate showcases some of the more primary notes up front with black cherry, black raspberry, brambly red fruits, and red rose petal, but offers similar depth and complexity to the nose with further notes of cigar tobacco, leather, smoke, scorched earth, black truffle, wet gravel, garden herbs, cracked green peppercorn, and green underbrush. This is light-bodied with medium (+) acidity, medium (-) dusty tannins, and a long finish. There was one owner who purchased this upon release before us, and this wine is one I will remember for perhaps the rest of my life.

Price: Your guess is as good as mine, but looks like this was last available in auction a few years ago for about $50. If you are able to find a perfectly stored bottle of this with great provenance, I would buy it. This was an absolutely incredible bottle of wine that grew in the glass and drank like some of the top-tier aged Burgundy I’ve had. Absolutely mind-blowing experience.