This is a new wine from Buena Vista, presenting a blend of varieties that once thrived in Napa Valley - valdiguie from pre-Prohibition vines and charbono - along with petit verdot. The old vines perform well in the warm Calistoga climate, creating a generous red with sour plum flavors and darker fruit, like the blackness of cherry skins. The finish leaves a trace of Napa Valley hillside scrub, a woodsy scent that brings to mind Manzanita and lichen-covered rock. A clean, intriguing red, this will add depth to seared duck breast.
Buena Vista Winery Reviews
SILVER
This is the ripest wine of the three with notes of plum, dark raspberry, tea and discreet spice nuances. There is also more volume and mid-palate concentration to the medium-bodied flavors that possess an appealingly seductive mouth feel, all wrapped in a dusty, mouth coating and ever-somildly warm finish. I like the complexity but some may find the level of warmth to be borderline. Note that this too could easily be enjoyed now even though it should reward a few years of bottle age.
Here too there is a trace of herbal tea but it’s definitely less prominent than the Geza’s with fresh, cool and pure pinot and plum aromas. There is a lovely sense of tension and punch to the well-detailed and delicious middle weight flavors that terminate in lingering finish that possesses a more complete sense of balance though not necessarily any better depth.
Herbaceous and earthy, this playfully ponders the juicy delights of soft, red raspberry and black cherry, the wine somewhat silky on the tongue. It finishes consistently and bright in acidity.
This big-bodied Zinfandel intrigues with a commingling of rustic charm and brawny California ripeness. The power and concentration of lush blackberry and plum are accessorized by dusty leather and dried herb, with a finishing touch of black pepper.
Soft, approachable tannins frame the red berry exuberance that marks this Zin, a medium-bodied expression of enjoyable vanilla and cinnamon swirls. The power in the wine is sizable yet well-managed.
This is an earthy and somewhat savory wine, buoyed by level acidity. It offers stewed lemon and fennel around a feral nose.
Golden colored, this is a clean, hedonistic wine, with a nose of rich coconut flake followed by caramel and baked apple. Enjoy with winter fare or as a gloomy day turns to night.
More complex, the 2012 Pinot Noir Geza’s Selection possesses notes of forest floor, earth, plums and black cherries in its round, generous, Burgundian-styled personality. It could easily be mistaken for a generic Côte de Nuits. Drink it over the next 4-5 years.
Notes of red and blackcurrants, plums, background oak and earth emerge from this juicy, medium to full-bodied, well-made Cabernet. Consume it over the next 10-15 years.