by Fred McMillin
for December 29, 2000

Wine of the Week...er, Year!

Prologue

This winery was one of the finalists last year.

Last year in the race for our Winery of the Year, we had five finalist, including two from the Napa Valley and one from Australia. This year we have ten finalists. (To reach the finals, at least three wines had to be rated excellent by my tasters.) Their scores were averaged and my wife stacked the results sheets, with the highest scorer on the bottom. Let's see who won.

Number Ten
One of the most popular wineries to visit in the Napa Valley. My panel loved the Zins and Cabs of...Sattui.

Number Nine
Mendocino County didn't make the finals last year. However, in 2000 a Syrah and old-vine Zin whiz, Dennis Patton, brought them plenty of recognition for the winery he founded, Hidden Cellars.

Number Eight
This winery is small (7,000 cases annually). It specializes in Syrah, which blew the sox off of my tasters. It also is in the Napa Valley...Jade Mountain.

Number Seven
Hey, here's a non-Napa repeater from last year. The vineyard-designated Zinfandels made it a finalist. Rosenblum Cellars.

Number Six
Another non-Napa repeater from last year, with beautiful Shiraz. It's Australia's Rosemount.

Number Five
Flash! Here's the first winery to win with its Chardonnays, the Napa Valley's Joseph Phelps.

Number Four
I've been waiting. Some Pinot Noir ace had to make our Top Ten. Sure enough, they don't get any better than the Pinots of Gary Farrell.

Number Three
I'd say the most important wine in the New World is Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Yet, we've not mentioned it until now. But here a trio of Napa Cabs put this winery in the top 1% of the year, that is 3rd out of about 300 wineries, Peju Province.

The Runner-Up
Another repeater. Third last year. Second this year. Dazzling Chardonnay and Cabernet, fashioned by Dimitri Tchelistcheff, who in turn was fashioned (taught) by his dad, the immortal André. So here's our fourth Napa Valley gem, Jarvis. (pictured)

The Winner!
This winery just missed the finals last year. But you can't keep a great winemaker down (Joel Akin). His grand Cabs catapulted this winery to the top. It's another Napa jewel, Beaulieu!

Postscript

To learn more about each of our Top Ten Wineries see these Year 2000 WineDay articles:

#1 —Beaulieu, "James Beard & Joel Butler," Nov. 10, 2000

 

About the Writer Fred McMillin, a veteran wine writer, has taught wine history for 30 years on three continents. In 1995, the Academy of Wine Communications honored Fred with one of only 22 Certificates of Commendation awarded to American wine writers. For information about the wine courses he teaches every month at either San Francisco State University or San Francisco City College (Fort Mason Division), please fax him at (415) 567-4468.

 
 

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December 2000

12/28/00—Finish with A Flourish
12/27/00—The Odd Couple
12/26/00—Acres and Acres of Errors?
12/25/00—A Grape from the Time of Christ
12/22/00—Our Best-Buy Winery
12/21/00—The First Fish and Wine Dish
12/20/00—A Fight to the Finish
12/19/00—Too Cool!
12/18/00—A Merlot for Mary
12/15/00—Big Talk or Big Wines??
12/14/00—The Bishop's Fate
12/13/00—That Creek Mystique
12/12/00—Going Up?
12/11/00—Fire Below!
12/08/00—Against All Odds
12/07/00—It's Time for The Rosé Bowl
12/06/00—Just Checking!
12/05/00—Cod and Carneros
12/04/00—Boom!
12/01/00—Something New Under the (Southern) Sun

 
 

This page created December 2000

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