One of our regular customers who is a savvy California wine lover held a wine party the other night at Hortensia where I work as Head Sommelier. I didn't ask him if I could use his name in this blog so I would call him "Dr. K."

Dr. K has been a serious California wine lover for a long time during which he has collected amazing selections of California wines, ranging from a vertical selection of Harlan estate, many vintages of Screaming Eagle, Dalla Valle Maya or even a rare bottle of Araujo "Viognier" Eisele Vineyard.

Dr. K had been dreaming of having a special wine party dinner where he could share his favorite wines with his friends, comparing rare bottles of Diamond Creek "Volcanic Hill MICROCLIMATE" '02 and '99 with normal Volcanic Hill of the same (or similar) vintages as well as again, very rare old vintages of the same vineyard, Volcanic Hill '94, '91 and '81.

All the Diamond Creek wines are difficult to get because of both its popularity and rarity but Microclimate series is the one that is almost impossible to find, especially outside the US. The Microclimate wines are special cuvees that are produced once in a while when the winemaker finds a particularly outstanding barrel of wine from a certain section of the vineyard and bottles it individually rather than blending it with wine from other sections. It doesn't take a genius to figure out how rare the wines are, considering the fact that even the blended ones have a cult status.

Dr. K was (or has been as usual) so generous that he offered me to taste all the wines he brought for the guests.

Here are my tasting notes;

Diamond Creek "Volcanic Hill" 2002 (decanted 2 hours before serving)
Densely packed and structured. It has just started revealing subtle earthy bouquets of tobacco, dry leaf, lead pencil yet still retains ripe yet fresh fruit aromas such as cassis, blackberry and black cherry at the forefront. It holds a firm tannin structure that restrains the ripeness of fruit on the palate. Very concentrated and wild.

Diamond Creek "Volcanic Hill" 1999 (decanted 2 hours before serving)
Tightly knit yet graceful. It shows a higher ratio of earthy bouquets than '02 because of the longer bottle age in a more developed style such as cigar box, humus and oriental spices along with ripe yet fresher cassis and blackberry aromas with higher acidity that proves that '99 was a cooler year than '02. Very complex yet still has a long life in the future.

Diamond Creek "Volcanic Hill Microclimate" 2001 (decanted 2 hours before serving)
Dense, intense and substantial. It has even more concentrated yet detailed aromas and flavors in a much bigger scale. Amazing depth and staying power. Very focused with tightly knit fruit and nuanced subtle bouquets with an overtone of earthiness. It still retains a massive tannin structure at the core packed with ripe and rich fruit.

Diamond Creek "Volcanic Hill Microclimate 1999 (decanted 2 hours before serving)
Refined, seamless and complex. More elegant and subtle than '01 yet retains the same intensity and concentration. It shows more complex bouquets of cigar box and dry leaf with mature fruit flavors mixed with dry flowers and roasted bay leaf and sage. Very complex. On the palate, it is tightly focused with great fruit purity that is still there, being pushed forward by the ripe and fine grained tannins, leaving complex earthy bouquets in the finish that is quite long.

Diamond Creek "Volcanic Hill" 1994 (opened 2 hours earlier and decanted right before serving)
Elegant, harmonious yet broad. The ratio of fruit aroma and earthy bouquet is now reversed, showing more cigar box, dry leaf and oriental spices than fruit aromas that are more developed into mature fruit flavors that give UMAMI-like impression on the palate. The style is very similar to '99 yet is more developed because of the age, suggesting that '99 might be maturing in the similar way. But who knows? The similar kids can be very different in 5 years. The same thing happens to wine as well.

Diamond Creek "Volcanic Hill" 1991 (opened 2 hours earlier and served directly from the bottle)
Polished, discreet yet plush. Gorgeous aromas of ripe black fruits that have been mature enough to be nicely intermingled with earthy bouquets of cigar box and humus are jumping out of the glass. Very impressive. On the palate, it is a bit dry fruit cakey. And it has a seamless tannin structure that gives the smooth mouth feel yet still retains a firm core at the center that prevents itself from falling apart or being flabby. The finish is amazingly long.

Diamond Creek "Volcanic Hill" 1981 (opened 30 minutes earlier and served directly from the bottle)
Extraordinarily pure yet tremendously complex. I am literally speechless not because English is my second language but also even in Japanese I would be so. So would be everyone else. Who said that California wine cannot age well? I would be happy to go to the Narita airport flying to Paris with this bottle of wine and put some in as many glasses as possible to give to the biased wine lovers on the Champs-Élysées street, showing how beautifully California wine can age or even on the street in front of this restaurant in Tokyo. (Japanese French wine lovers are even more prejudiced on American wines in general.) It is incredible that the purity and the complexity, the completely different or opposite elements, can co-exist in just one wine. Amazing.

Some guests at the table said that the wines are more like Bordeaux than California Cabernet. To the extent that I'm doing the "Bridge Wine" thing in my wine program at the restaurant to make it easier for Japanese French wine lovers to understand California wine, I agree. I'd give two to three bridges to all the Diamond Creek Cabernets. But, to be very honest with you, well, I don't think so. It is the way a classic California Cabernet ages with time.

California Cabernets that many people think of are the ones that are made in the excessively modern way that could be made anywhere in the world as long as the vineyard can get a lot of sunshine and there is a winemaker with a master degree of enology (and a deep pocket) with no respect to the wine culture. Given that, yes, the Diamond Creek Cabernets are closer to Bordeaux than modern California Cabernets.

But it doesn't mean that it tastes like Bordeaux. It absolutely tastes Californian. The wines that we tasted that night are the ones that cannot come from anywhere else but the small vineyard high up in the mountain in Napa Valley that has a distinctive microclimate or terroir. The wines don't taste like Bordeaux in that the wines have riper and richer fruit and more generous, mature tannins with great purity in fruit that cannot be achieved without the California sunshine yet still can reveal complex classic Cabernet bouquets without crossing the fine line between great Cabernet and just great red wine.

All the guests at the table seemed impressed by the wines that Dr. K generously offered. So was I. Probably, it was the best wine tasting dinner that I have ever attended. And I felt that this kind of a wine party could not happen in my life time. But Dr. K said to me at the end of the dinner "Would you be interested in a vertical tasting of *Lake vineyard Cabs?"
*Diamond Creek "Lake" Cabernet has been produced only 10 times in the past. Obviously the rarest wine.

How could I not be?

One of our guests tonight brought a bottle of wine for the dinner.

The wine was Chateau Lascombes 2001, a 2nd growth of Bordeaux from the Margaux village. 2001 in Bordeaux is a classic year that produces an accordingly classic, terroir-oriented style of wine rather than big and rich ones that are more likely to be made in a hot vintage such as 2003.

The wine is 10 years old, which means it is supposed to show classic nose of mature Bordeaux bouquets such as cigar box, tobacco and oriental spices with integrated tannins.

They looked happy to drink the wine through the dinner, saying how wonderful the wine is!

The guest offered me to taste the wine. Since I mostly have American wines on the list and more importantly I mostly recommend American wines to guests, I have fewer chances to taste French wines recently. Of course, I got excited!

"Sweet aromas of blackberry jam, crème de cassis, reduced port wine sauce, mixed with sweet vanilla, chocolate from new oak. Ripe, rich texture on the palate with low acidity."

Is this really Bordeaux??

It surely tastes like what's called "Bordeaux blends" but not ones made in Bordeaux. It is more like Cabernets made in the New World such as California.

I would think that it is a good wine in a blind tasting but not a Bordeaux. In other words, it's a good wine but not a good Bordeaux. The wine doesn't show terroir.

The bottle was finished before their main courses so that the guest decided to buy a bottle of red wine from our list. And he asked for my recommendation.

I asked him if they wanted to drink a similar wine or a completely different one. His answer was "both." But, he added that both must be Cabernet.

As for a completely different one, I chose Chateaux Leoville Barton 2001. And for a similar one, I brought Spottswoode 2004 Napa Valley, California!

The guest told me that I mistook one for the other. He thought that the Bordeaux was a similar one and the Napa Cab was a completely different one.

I said "NO."

Ch. Leoville Barton is a same 2nd growth of Bordeaux as Ch. Lascombes but is a very classic style that shows earthy cigar box and tobacco with rich yet fresh cassis and blackberry as opposed to Spottswoodes that is more fruit-driven with rich and ripe black cherry and crème de cassis with integrated oak flavors though it is more restrained than other Napa Cabernets.

The label of Ch. Lascombes is obviously more similar to Ch. Leoville Barton but what's inside has more in common with Spottswoode.

The guests tasted both wines. And the opinions were divided. Three of them preferred Leoville Barton and the other three liked Spottswoode better.

They asked me which one I like better. I said that I like both very much despite the fact that they taste completely different. A polite sommelier's ubiquitous way to answer (or avoid) that kind of a question obviously made them bored. (usually, it's followed by "they are just different!") But, it is true that I like both very much for the same reason.

Both wines express where they come from clearly, in other word, terroirs. Ch. Leoville Barton tastes like Bordeaux and Spottswoode tastes like Napa Cabernet both in a very high level.

For exactly the same reason, I didn't like Ch. Lascombes despite the fact that I liked the taste of the wine.

It tastes more like California but the label says that it's Bordeaux.

Apple should taste like apple.
Orange should taste like orange.

I would send back a bottle of orange juice to a grocery store if it tasted like Apple juice no matter how delicious it was.

I can clearly remember a bad experience that I had two years ago when I was working for the restaurant Citabria. The gentleman that we had as a guest in the restaurant asked a waiter to bring Ridge "Monte Bello" Cabernet Sauvignon 1990. The waiter told me that there was a savvy wine lover at the table in the private room so a sommelier should open the wine for the guests because the wine is so expensive.

I slowly and gently brought the wine to the guests waiting in the private room and showed it to the gentleman who had ordered it. He seemed very excited and so did everyone else, which of course made me excited too because the wine is one of my favorites! (In a way, I felt sad because it was the last bottle!)

He tasted it after carefully cleansing the mouth with water and abruptly looked at me with an unsatisfied face, saying "is this really the "famous" wine that beat the famous French Chateaux in the blind tasting?

There was a blind tasting competition "California VS Bordeaux" both in Napa Valley and London several years ago to see how the wines of both regions have evolved since the Paris tasting in 1976 where Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon from California won the 1st place. And it was the Ridge "Monte Bello" Cabernet that won the highest praise in the tasting this time.

Obviously, the guest was not happy with the wine. Initially, I thought that the wine was not open enough to show its real quality and asked the guests to wait about 20 minutes so the wine would gain more depth and complexity, showing more flavors with rounder tannins. They accepted my suggestion.

In the meantime, I had a chat with the guests, asking what their favorite wines are.

Shafer "Hillside Select," Caymus "Special Selection," Lewis "Cuvee L" and their most favorite is Harlan Estate.....

I was shocked to hear those names not only because the wines are all super famous (and expensive) but also because the wines are all super big and rich Cabernets whose style is completely different from that of Ridge, quite the opposite.

Ridge "Monte Bello" is located in the cool region called St. Cruz Mountain, the same area as Mount Eden that I introduced in the last blog.

Ridge "Monte Bello" is as high a quality as the famous Napa Cabernets but it is never super big and rich with ripe, sometimes jammy black berry aromas and showy oak flavors. It is more old world-like, revealing ripe yet fresh cassis aromas with classic cedar, tobacco and dry leaves, a lot of earthy non-fruit flavors that are missing in the modern California Cabernets. (Three bridge wine when it's old. Two until 10 years after bottling.)

I told the guests that the wine would never be to their liking no matter how long they wait so I'd like to offer a different wine instead of the Ridge Cabernet. (It was obviously our fault since a waiter recommended a wrong wine.) I chose the Ovid Cabernet, a new wave winery in Napa Valley with a modern style Cabernet.

They loved the modern Cabernet very much, which made me relieved.

There are many wines out there that are "famous." But if the style doesn't fit your taste, the wine is worth nothing no matter how much you spend or/and how long you wait both at the table and in the cellar.

On the night, I served the Ridge Cabernet by the glass to other guests, mainly Bordeaux lovers (especially who were drinking an expensive Bordeaux.) As you can imagine, they loved the wine, being surprised to know the fact that California could make such a great wine with a restrained body and complex bouquets reminiscent of Bordeaux. They added that they had misunderstanding about California wine. To some extent, they are right.

But, the other side of the coin is that they would never accept California wine if they first tried Ovid or Screaming Eagle!

Tonight, I had a guest who told me that he loved Bordeaux. He looks through the wine list and seems disappointed to know that all Bordeaux reds we have at this restaurant are ones he has already tried before. (We don't have so many Bordeaux...well chosen though!)

And I immediately recommended this California Cabernet, Mount Eden. But the guest soon interrupted me when I started explaining about this wine, saying "Oh, no. I can't drink sweet cassis juice."

Although he loves French wine, he has been a wine lover for long enough to have tried some California wines that are quite famous (and expensive.) And every time he tried, he was overwhelmed and disappointed by the overtly sweet flavors of concentrated rich black berry and cassis with nothing else.

After telling me everything he likes (and hates), he asked for my recommendation again. And I pointed at exactly the same wine, Mount Eden Cabernet because listening to him made me even more confident on the decision.

This wine is made in a very cool area called St. Cruz Mountain near the cold Pacific Ocean, being exposed to the cold sea winds but high enough to be above the fog line, which means that the grapes can get a lot of sunshine all through the day without being interrupted by the fog.

The resultant wine has relatively high acidity that gives restrained body that comes from cool temperatures and fresh yet ripe black fruit flavors and firm tannins that are derived from the continuous exposure to the sunshine. And the giveaway is earthy cedary flavors and cigar box bouquets that are reminiscent of classic Bordeaux. (Two Bridge Wine) Additionally, this "NOT SO GOOD" vintage, 2003 accelerates this Bordeaux-like characters. "Not so good" climatic conditions by the California standards could be normal and classic ones by the Bordeaux standards!

The guest told me that this wine was more than drinkable and didn't make him exhausted by the powerful richness, which he had experienced with other typical California Cabernets before.

That said, he seemed happier than it sounded.

At the end of the dinner he told me that the wine was less good than his favorite Bordeaux but much better or different than he had expected, resulting in the dinner that was more fun than repeating the same dining experience with French wine where he could imagine what it tastes like and how the dinner goes. His comments made me unexpectedly happy!

Unexpected surprise is always a fun thing..... unless you go to San Francisco in just a T-shirt, shaking in the unexpectedly cold weather, which I did.....

Actually, that's where Oregon Pinot Noir can easily sneak in. But unfortunately, people tend to think that Oregon Pinot must be almost the same as California Pinot only because they are both American wines.

Oregon Pinot Noir is more like Burgundy not only because it has fresh red berry aromas and bright acidity with earthy non-fruit elements but also because it is more terroir-oriented.
  

Cristom is one of the top wineries in Oregon that produces wines that truthfully reflect their own terroirs. They own four single vineyards planted to Pinot Noir around the winery in Eola Amity Hills. The wines are all distinctive, showing their own unique characteristics or terroirs.
 

Among them the most complex one is "Marjorie" in my view, in other words, the most old world-like, hence a Bridge wine.
 

One of the reasons is that the vineyard was planted in 1982, the oldest among them. That means that the roots have grown deep into the soil, absorbing a variety of minerals from layers of layers of soils that are transmitted into grapes turning into complex wine accordingly, showing earthy, savory flavors along with fresh raspberry and red cherry characters.
 

Another reason is that the vineyard was planted long before the fashionable Dijon clone became available in Oregon, resulting in using clones that were around even at that time such as Pommard and Wadensvil. Those are the ones that give more earthy characteristics to the wine whereas the Dijon clones give predominantly concentrated, rich fruit flavors. Pinot Noir from Sta. Rita Hills, California is a prime example of this style that is bold and full, using mostly Dijon clones. This area was "discovered" around the mid 1990s when Dijon clone started gaining recognition and popularity that attracted everyone to use except Sanford & Benedict that had been already planted to more classic Martini Clone since long before.
 

I gave "two bridges" to this stunning Pinot Noir from Oregon.
 

The wine reminds me of Pinot Noir from Cote de Beaune, particularly Volnay because it is earthy and mushroomy yet doesn't show animal related nuances such as leather which are more often found in Cote de Nuits wines. The Oregon producer takes classic approach to make this wine to enhance the classic, elegant Pinot Noir characters reminiscent of traditional Burgundy, yet no lack of richness.

It is always fun to look at skeptical faces of the guests who accepted my recommendation and see them change into the happy ones with just one sip of the wine!

One of the great examples is a wine called Beaulieu Vineyard "Georges de Latour" Private Reserve.
 

It was when I was still in Napa Valley, working for Auberge du Soleil that I first met this wine. One day, I came to work as usual at 2pm after the lunch time of the restaurant and realized that there was a glass of red wine placed on the shelf where we always collected wines left over from guests. I tasted the wine without knowing what it was. (it was a great way to improve my blind tasting ability.) I immediately thought that it was Bordeaux of very high quality such as a 2nd growth or even a 1st growth. But it turned out that it was the Napa Cabernet whose vintage was 1990.
 

While I was making the wine list for Hortensia, I was looking for some American wines of old vintages so as to prove that there are some American wines that can age beautifully, And I accidentally found exactly the same wine that had once wowed me in Napa Valley 4 years ago.
 

And today I had a chance to open this wine. It's been 4 years since then. I told my guests the story mentioned above with the notion of what I mean by Bridge Wine. I was very excited whereas the guests seemed still skeptical, though. Obviously they were serious French wine lovers. But I was quite confident.
 

It turned out that the wine was even more marvelous than before. It displays complex bouquets of earthy cigar box, dry leaves and oriental spices that are reminiscent of old claret, intermingled with ripe cassis and black berry flavors with subtle oak nuances that have been already integrated. Very impressive!
 

It is even more decadent than back then yet still retains the firm structure simultaneously that seemingly claims to last several more years or even a decade.
 

I gave 3 bridges to this incredible wine that could last as long as great Bordeaux. Not a small achievement.

Most of the high end California wines give immediate excitement yet rarely patience-required profoundness. But, it is the profoundness that a lot of French wine lovers expect in fine wine. And they believe that it doesn't exist in California wine. I thought that way too until I encountered this wine in Napa several years ago. And I know how difficult it is to believe in this view without tasting this kind of wine.
 

But now I have 4 more people in the same circle who can happily share the same view with me. They are the ones who enjoyed this stupendous Napa Cabernet with great profoundness tonight. A great discovery. That's what the "once" French wine lovers said continually during dinner. Undoubtedly, it made me so happy!
 

Welcome to the new world!
 

Would you like to join us?

When I first heard about the wine, I automatically thought that it would be another expensive Napa Cab that is made in the same modern style that tastes the same as other high-end ones. And the next thing I knew was that I immediately lost interests in the wine. (I was getting sick of tasting a lot of similar expensive Napa Cabernets that were churned out at that time.)
 

I was completely wrong. And I didn't notice it until I had a chance to taste this great wine that is quite distinctive.
 

The wine is great not only because it is high quality but also it shows its own unique characters. It is so individual that I cannot help but think that　the wine cannot come from anywhere else but the vineyards high up in the mountain, the mountainous appellation called Howell Mountain.

That said, the way the wine is made is modern (in a good way), showing ripe black berry, cassis aromas & flavors that come first. But it also reveals distinctive iron note as well as black peppery nuances in the finish with the massive tannic structure that acts as a firm backbone. Those are the signature characters of Howell Mountain.

Howell Mountain is in the northeast of Napa Valley, being farther from the San Pablo bay where the cool air comes in so that it's fairly warm compared with the southern parts of Napa Valley such as Mount Veeder, another mountain appellation. Besides, the vineyards of Howell Mountain are located above the fog line, which means that the vineyards are exposed to sunshine all through the day. And because it is on the east side that faces west, the harsh afternoon sunshine attacks the vineyards, resulting in grapes whose skins are thick. (Skins get thick when it's exposed to strong sunshine to protect their kids which are pips!) And it is the skin where flavors and tannins exist. The thicker the skins are, the more flavors and tannins the resultant wine has.
 

What I found by tasting this wine is that the winemaker uses modern techniques to bring about ripe tannins and rich fruit flavors yet is modest enough not to cross the line, letting the wine speak for itself. It is so subtle a line that many winemakers become blind, ending up with a wine that shows the wine maker's hands rather than the terroir.
 

It's been about three years since I came back to Japan, being less exposed to California wine than back then. But the wine reminded me of how I had been like in Napa and also gave me the opportunity where I could reconsider what's important as a sommelier.
 

TASTE, TASTE, TASTE!!!

If you grab it in the wine shop, only assuming that it's a California Pinot Noir so it should be big and rich with jammy ripe fruit flavors with no trace of earthiness, you surely would end up getting disappointed with this wine at home.
 

This is what I said to the guest who had told me that he was a big fan of Sea Smoke Pinot Noir (big and rich California Pinot Noir with a hefty price tag) but didn't want to spend too much on wine on the night with his fellow co-worker and got curious about this wine because he had never heard of it (and because of its reasonable price!)
 

But obviously this Pinot Noir is not for him but for people who prefer Burgundy and have decided not to drink California Pinot Noir any more because of their bad experiences with modern and typical California Pinot Noir where they expected complex earthy Burgundian bouquets along with fresh red berry aromas and flavors but not jammy fruit bomb that they would rather associate with Australian Shiraz, but never with Pinot Noir.
 

Mind you. I'm not saying that modern and typical California Pinot Noirs are inferior to Burgundy or Bridge Wine of Pinot Noir like this.
 

What's important in wine is not to consider a difference as better or worse but a difference simply as a difference as they are, which will lead to the appreciation of its great diversity that I have been enjoying all through my career as a sommelier.
 

Anyway, they ended up with Drew "Fog Eater" Pinot Noir 06 Anderson Valley, California. The wine possesses typical Californian ripe black & red berry flavors and rich texture with a great value. They were happy with the wine. Given the price versus the quality, they should be.
 

The British guests who just finished the elegant Chassagne Montrachet Blanc "Morgeot" 01 Domaine Michel Colin got curious about the conversation that I had had with the gentlemen at the next table and asked for the Pinot Noir.
 

The wine shows fresh raspberry and red cherry aromas, followed by complex earthy black tea and orange peel flavors with a touch of undergrowth and leather notes in the finish. Initially I gave only 1 bridge to this wine based on the tasting experience that I had in California 4 years ago but re-tasting the wine recently made me reconsider and decide to elevate it to 2 Bridge Wine.
 

It seemed to come as a big surprise to the seemingly conservative Burgundy lovers. They admitted that the wine was elegant and had old world-like characters but added that it was not on par with Gevery Chambertin or Chambolle Musigny.
 

I would say that Porter Creek is a California's answer to Savigny les Beaune with the reasonable price in mind. It's pure and subtle yet no lack of characters. 

The vineyard is located in Russian River Valley, Sonoma. Within that appellation, there is a small area that is considered as "different". (I don't say "better" because there are great producers or vineyards in the other parts of Russian River Valley that are as great such as Merry Edwards.)

That area doesn't have its own name yet is usually recognized among locals as vineyards along Westside Road which is a narrow, winding road leading up the hill. The area is special because that's where the fame of California Pinot Noir began to spread with the now famous names such as Rochioli, Williams Selyem. Porter Creek is found along the road on the half way up the hill

The winemaker of Porter Creek was trained in Domaine Christophe Roumier in Chambolle Musigny, one of the top Domaines in Burgundy for several years and brought the classic winemaking policy with him to his home wine region, Russian River Valley in US, which is a great gift to American winemakers.
 

But, fortunately he didn't bring their pricing policy to his winery, which is a wonderful gift for us, consumers!

Hello. I'm Kaz Chiba, Head Sommelier of French Restaurant Hortensia in Tokyo.

Yes, we are a French restaurant but as you can imagine from the title "American Wine Journey", I love American wines and selected mostly American wines for the wine list.

American wine in general conjures up images of only limited styles of wine even for people in the know here in Japan. Having returned from the Napa Valley in California where I was trained as a sommelier at the restaurant Auberge du Soleil, I realized that quite a few wine lovers in Japan still believe that American wine has only two types; "big, rich Cabernet" and "oaky, buttery Chardonnay." Considering the famous faces of California wines, I cannot help admitting that those are the most popular ones. However, as a matter of fact, there are a lot more that American wine has to offer in addition to those stereotypes.

With the three year experiences of being fully exposed to American wine in the capital city of the American wine world, I am confident to say that the most fascinating thing about American wine is its diversity. In other words, there are many "styles" of wines that surely exist in US.

For example, in the Napa Valley alone, you can find various mesoclimates; some vineyards in Oak Knoll, a cool appellation that are conducive to making an elegant, restrained Cabernet with fresh acidity. On the contrary some vineyards in Howell Mountain, a mountain area that is exposed to harsh afternoon sunshine and is well-drained with a poor soil, which produce massive, dense Cabernet with a tannic structure that is completely different from ones made in the mid valley floor such as Oakville where rich yet balanced Cabernets are more likely to be found.

In addition, there are many wineries that have different winegrowing philosophies that create distinctive wines accordingly. That includes some American wines that taste more like French wine such as Cabernet made in the old school style that is elegant and layered with earthy, cigar box-like aromas & flavors which are reminiscent of Bordeaux or early harvested Chardonnay that is fresh and restrained with balanced acidity and graceful minerality which remind you of Burgundy. And the giveaway is low alcohol!

Those are the wines that we call "Bridge Wine" which tastes somewhere between the new world (ex. US) and the old world (ex. France). And for the wine list of the restaurant, I intentionally selected as many bridge wines as the space allows so as to show its great diversity that the American terroirs take pride in.

In this blog, I am going to share what I learned during my time in Napa Valley (and am learning here) about American wines and its terroirs, including of course American Bridge Wine. (with regard to the details of Bridge Wine, please refer to our restaurant's home page.)

http://www.lahortensia.com/en/menu/

By the way, why bridge? Well, because those wines are the ones that provide you with passage between the old world and the new world, hopefully leading you to new discoveries. Have fun! Cheers!