San Diego Magazine / April 2006 / Wine Review

 Email  Print  Feed

Wine Review

THE GENIUS OF CHAMPAGNE lies as much in the region’s talent for marketing itself as it does in its soil and cellars. That famed province east of Paris has accomplished what the mavens of Madison Avenue can only rarely achieve: the identification of a brand with a generic product—in this case, Champagne with sparkling wine. Too few American consumers realize that one of California’s oldest wineries also happens to specialize in producing sparkling wines that, at their best, rival the balance, grace and complexity of their cousins from Reims and Épernay.

Schramsberg was founded in 1862 by a stern and tenacious German immigrant named Jacob Schram, who, with his wife, Annie, planted vineyards in the Napa Valley town of Calistoga. By the 1880s, they had built a winery, which Robert Louis Stevenson mentioned in his travel writings.

In the post-Prohibition era, the venerable vineyard and winery came into the hands of businessman Jack Davies, who, by the mid-1960s, had restored the property and set out to convince the world that California could compete with Europe in producing fine sparkling wines. Up to that point, most American producers relied on inferior varietals as the base for their “champagnes”—Chenin Blanc and French Colombard.

Following the French model, Davies planted Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Acceptance came slowly, but in 1972, on his historic visit to China, Richard Nixon toasted Prime Minister Chou En-lai with a glass of Schramsberg Blanc de Blanc 1969, and a decades-long tradition was born. Since then, Schramsberg has been a staple at nearly every White House state dinner, having been served by President Ford to Emperor Hirohito in 1975, by Reagan to Prince Charles and Princess Diana in 1982, by Clinton on Thomas Jefferson’s 251st birthday in 1994 and most recently by the current President and Mrs. Bush to Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip at Winfield House in London.

The excellent J. Schram, named after the winery’s founder, is a Blanc de Blanc blended from the very finest Chardonnay produced in each vintage, 40 percent of which is fermented in the barrel to give it depth of character. The 1999 vintage was a cool one, and the resulting wine is exceptional, with a nose of Camembert, candied orange and cream. On the palate, a lean acidity is softened by fresh apples and the tangy sweetness of cherry drops. The finish is long and delicate—something to savor.

The grapes for this and Schramsberg’s other sparkling wines no longer come from Calistoga. The Davieses long ago realized this region was too warm for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, which they grow on their properties in Carneros, Anderson Valley and Mendocino County. Instead, this prized acreage now produces a Bordeaux-style wine, J. Davies, named for Jack, whose youngest son, winemaker Hugh, succeeded him when he passed away in 1998.

The 2002 vintage comprises 97 percent Cabernet Sauvignon and 3 percent Malbec. The flavors are an intensely ripe infusion of black cherry and boysenberry laced with vanilla and oak. The texture is silky to the point of decadence.

707-942-2414; schramsberg.com.

---

Brett Anderson is senior vice president, editorial, for CurtCo Publishing.