2011 Bettina

The Bryant wines were among the disappointments of my tastings of the 2011s. There is just no way to look past the fact that the 2011s are evolving at a fast pace, both taken on their own and also relative to the vintage more generally. It was a time of organizational chaos. Don Bryant’s health had begun to fail, while the winemaking team was a revolving door. Since then, Bettina Bryant has done an admirable job in righting the ship on all counts. Unfortunately, the 2011s reflect a very difficult time at the estate. Those challenges weren’t so apparent in the wines when I first tasted them years ago, but they are quite evident today.

Winemaker Todd Alexander took over the reins for Don and Bettina Bryant in the middle of the 2012 harvest, no easy task. Alexander blended the 2011s, which were started by Helen Keplinger, and has been solely responsible for the 2012s and 2013s. The 2011s are a bit closed today, so it will be interesting to see where they go with a little more bottle age. I also had a chance to taste the 2012s, but readers should be aware those wines are preliminary blends that had not been assembled at the time of my visit in October 2013. The 2013s I tasted from tank were all super-impressive and point to a vintage that is going to be a fascinating to follow. Today, the best 2013s are dazzling. My tasting concluded with 1996 and 1997, two of the very finest wines ever made from this world-class Pritchard Hill estate. Today, it looks like the 1996 has pulled ahead of the 1997, but both wines remain gorgeous. Over the last few vintages, Bryant has introduced two new wines; the Bettina, which is made from sites farmed by David Abreu, while the entry-level DB4 is one of the absolute best values in top-flight Napa Valley reds. Readers who haven't tasted those wines owe it to themselves to do so. For more on Bryant, readers might enjoy this short video shot in the spring 2013.