Wine Review

HdV Syrah 2004
Two distinguished families with impressive lineages united six years ago with the aim of establishing a jointly owned winery in Napa Valley’s Carneros region that would turn out a portfolio of wines comparable in quality to the grand cru of France, yet distinctly Californian in character.

While HdV winery was officially established in 2000, its story begins in 1964, when Aubert de Villaine traveled to California to write a story for the Revue du Vin de France (one of that country’s leading wine journals) on the re-emerging California wine industry. In 1969, de Villaine met his wife, Pamela, who was a cousin of the Hydes, among the oldest farming families in California, being descended from Santa Barbara’s de la Guerra family—also winemakers. In 1979, Larry Hyde established Hyde Vineyards on 132 acres in Carneros, which sells its grapes to more than 20 wineries.

De Villaine happened to taste one of the Hyde Chardonnays in Paris in 1998, and at a family gathering in Woodside he broached the possibility of a partnership with his wife’s cousins. In 1999, HdV (Hyde de Villaine) was formed to produce wines that represent the finest expressions of Hyde Vineyards’ terroir. Currently, HdV releases a Bordeaux-style blended red wine, an outstanding Chardonnay and a Syrah.

The 2004 Syrah ($60) is a dark, smoky red with delicious aromas of blackberry, currant and cedar. Its palate amplifies these fruit flavors, punctuating them with accents of dried meat, cinnamon and a long, lingering finish of lavender perfume.

HdV, 707-251-9121, hdvwines.com.

Darioush Signature Viognier 2004
Everything that Darioush Khaledi does has its own, inimitable style—especially his winery, which the entrepreneur established in 1997 with the object of making world-class wines in the Bordeaux style. Still, his roots in Iran have expressed themselves not only in the design of his facility along Napa’s Silverado Trail—a magnificent stone temple transplanted from a Cecil B. DeMille epic—but also in the winery’s powerful yet elegant Shiraz, a varietal that originated in ancient Persia.

One of the most fascinating white wines Darioush produces is made from a white Rhône varietal. Viognier has a fuller, more luscious, less ascetic flavor profile than Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc, and Darioush winemaker Steve Devitt’s rendition of this too-often-ignored wine is one of the best.

This ethereal, silky white combines concentration with elusive delicacy. Thick with heady scents of jasmine, orange blossom and honeysuckle, the Signature Viognier 2004 ($35) produces an intense, lush melon flavor on the palate, before evaporating in a finish as delicate as a mirage.

Darioush, 707-257-2345, darioush.com.

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

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