TASTING NOTES from the Cellar

  What Robert Parker, Wine Advocate has to say about Ahlgren Wines, Click HERE

AHLGREN Semillons

      Ahlgren Semillon continues to find favor as the versatile white wine enjoyable as an aperitif before meals, and also with shellfish, curries, spicy Asian food, and so on. It is hard to imagine a better wine/food match than Ahlgren Semillon with oysters or Dungeness crab, two of our special favorites.

       Many have never even heard of Semillon, even though it is ranked as one of the five noble grapes of France, and is reputed to be the most planted variety there. It forms the base wine for the great wines of Sauternes and is the premier white wine of Bordeaux.

       Although Semillon is sometimes thought of, and made, as a sweet wine, at Ahlgren it is fermented to dryness in barrels, and then aged on the lees, developing its complex, distinguishing character. The lees are what falls to the bottom of the barrel when the yeast has completed its work. The French call aging on the lees, aging sur lees, and the we use this method for both of our whites, Semillon and Chardonnay. When the aging is complete, the wine is gently pumped from the barrel and prepared for bottling, leaving the lees behind.

     There are those who tell us they neither like nor drink white wines, except that they do like Ahlgren Semillon. We think it is the complexity and character of our Semillon that appeals to palates that might otherwise favor the reds.

2007 AHLGREN Chardonnay

Monterey, Ventana Vineyards  (Sorry!  Sold out!)

2007 AHLGREN Pinot Noir

Santa Cruz Mountains, Veranda Vineyards

      Typical of Ahlgren Pinots, you will find that they respond enthusiastically, if a wine can possibly show enthusiasm, when decanted and given air.

      Fragrant, rich floral bouquet. Violets? Dark in color with deep Pinot flavors. Mouth filling. Elegant and balanced.

      Aged in French barrels, Unfined and unfiltered. 240 cases produced

AHLGREN Cabernet Sauvignons

Santa Cruz Mountains, Bates’ Ranch

 The Ahlgren Santa Cruz Mountains, Bates’ Ranch Cabernet continues to impress and receive recognition by consistently meriting awards. The 2001 received a "Best of Show" and Gold Medal in the Santa Cruz Wine Judging, 2006, with the 2005 and 2006 vintages taking Gold & Silver.  The only problem the Ahlgrens have with this wine is keeping it in stock.    The Ahlgrens are holding some small supplies of the 2001 Cabs for direct sale from the winery to their fans, which is why these older wines are available.

OLD NEWS!

We have recently celebrated a significant family birthday, and as part of the festivities, not all in one sitting, we opened some older wines. Here is our report:

1976 Ahlgren, Chardonnay, Ventana Vineyards: The fill was very low, down about two inches and the cork was wet and just slid out. The wine still had good color, but the flavor was not terrific.

1977 Ahlgren, Chardonnay, Ventana Vineyards: Fill about as low as that of the ’76, color just fine, flavors delicious!!. This may have been the last bottle. We will be searching for another. With the fills this low, there is no sense in keeping them any longer. Thirty years for a Chardonnay? Amazing!

1979 Ahlgren Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, Rutherford, Adamson/ Tupper Vineyard: This vineyard was once a favorite of ours. At one point, we were advised that Joe Heitz told the owner he would no longer buy any of the grapes unless he got them all, so Ahlgren was cut out. Sometime later, the vineyard was sold to El Molino, and we are told the vines were pulled and replaced with Pinot Noir. A sad act, we would say.

Anyway, ’79 was not a vintage we liked much at the time. The grapes did not reach the full maturity we really wanted, and the alcohol was only 12.3%, a little light for a Napa Cab. The label description says, “…elegant … claret style, reflecting the character of the vintage…” Well, the wine has outgrown its somewhat wimpy beginnings and is full and deeply flavored. A very pleasant surprise. The cork did not cooperate and pretty much crumbled, the wine was just lovely.

1978 Ahlgren, Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford, Adamson/Tupper Vineyard.

This wine was terrific as well. It has a luminous history, winning a series of tastings of sixty four California Cabernets conducted back East over a number of weeks in flights of eight wines. It then went on to a wine tasting of the top eight of the original sixty four Cal wines with eight French Bordeaux of similar prices. The dollar was very high then, and the French selections included such names as Beychevelle, and Leoville-Las-Cases. Ahlgren won over all the French and over the other seven California Cabs as well, which included: William Hill, Cakebread, Shafer. The magic of this tasting was that Terry Robards had been invited. He was then the wine writer for the New York Times, and he wrote up the tasting. (We are enclosing a copy of the article.)

1978, Ahlgren Zinfandel, Livermore: We were impressed that a Zin would hold up so well. It was delicious, good color, much enjoyed.

      We have more of the ’76 Chardonnay, each bottle of which has a low fill, as did the one we tasted and commented on above. So, we will just have to open them and check them out. There are also older Bates’ to be tasted. Work, work, work!!