2008 Cabernet Sauvignon Majesty Napa Valley

Val Bure's name will be quite familiar to hockey fans. Bure played ten seasons in the NHL and also represented the Soviet Union in two Olympic games before the toll of constantly being on the road proved to be too much. Bure now is settled in California, and makes stunning wines with winemaker Luc Morlet. I was very impressed with the quality of what I tasted across the board. Majesty is a Cabernet Sauvignon-based wine from a hillside site in Calistoga that Morlet describes as similar to Peter Michael's Les Pavots (which Morlet made for many years) in its soil composition, but with the climactic conditions of the valley floor. Bure intends to reinvent Majesty. There will be no 2010, but at press time Bure intended to make a 2011 Beckstoffer To-Kalon. Thirteen is a second Cabernet Sauvignon (typically 100%) from a hillside vineyard in St. Helena. It is typically a bigger, more powerful wine than Majesty. Duration is 80% Cabernet Sauvignon from Beckstoffer Missouri Hopper and 20% Cabernet Franc from Beckstoffer To Kalon vineyards. Duration is the most opulent, seamless of these wines. The combination of clay (which gives body and round tannins) and gravel (which drains well) works beautifully here. Rigid berry by berry selection and partial fermenting in 600-liter barrels for about a third of the individual lots are some of the elements that inform these wines.