Navarro
Vineyards
Philo, Anderson Valley
Navarro
have been growing grapes and making wine in the Anderson Valley (which
runs
roughly east west, between the Sonoma Valley and the Pacific) since
1973, and a
second generation of the family is now involved in farming the
vineyards and winemaking. The estate covers some 910
acres in all, though only 90 acres are under vines: pinot noir,
gewürztraminer,
chardonnay, riesling, pinot gris and muscat, grown on rootstocks that
thrive in
the cool climate of Philo, where early morning fog and coastal ocean
breezes are common. They are only 10 miles from
the Pacific, so cool onshore breezes from the Humboldt current are the
norm, though they are on a climatic cusp, which makes the weather
unpredictable. Spring 2005 was, for example, very volatile:
it started wet and cold, then turned hot, then foggy, then there was
lots of
rain and hail, followed by another hot spell, and then by more drizzly
fog. Not surprisingly 2005 was one of the meanest
harvests, particularly for Gewürztraminer since 1995.
Navarro subscribes to sustainable farming, avoiding the use of
insecticides and herbicides. The rows of vines are
interspersed with flowering cover crops which attract beneficial
insects and minimise soil erosion. Southdowns sheep
graze the vineyards: they are too short to reach the grapes, but
apparently
love the weeds and suckers that grow at the base of the vines.
In addition,
there’s a moveable hen house,
which follows the sheep: the chickens help distribute the sheep
droppings. In addition to their own vines, they also buy
in from neighbours whose farming techniques match the Navarro
philosophy.
In the winery, Navarro use both modern and traditional winemaking techniques, using both French oak barriques and fûts, and temperature controlled stainless steel.
Over 90% of the production is sold direct to customers: indeed, they take pride in the fact that their bottles do not carry bar codes.
As well as wines, they also set aside some of their gewürztraminer and pinot noir to make non-alcoholic grape juice and some chardonnay to make a verjus.
2004
Chardonnay Première Reserve,
Anderson Valley, Navarro Vineyards, 13.9%
3589 cases were made of the Première Reserve Chardonnay in
2004. This has peas and apricot on the very clean
nose. Good palate: quite a rich, full mouthfeel,
which follows through right into the finish and long after.
Very Good/Very Good Indeed. 88/100
2004
Chardonnay, Mendocino, Navarro Vineyards
This has much less fruit on the nose, and there’s almost a
hint of eau de vie de poire. Quite crisp and open on the
palate. Very Good. 86/100
2005 Chardonnay Table Wine, Mendocino, Navarro Vineyards
,
13.4%
3439 cases were made. Very light, fresh
nose. Gentle crisp, appley palate. Very
Good. 87/100
2005
Gewürztraminer, Estate
Bottled (Dry), Anderson Valley Navarro Vineyards, 13.6%
1898 cases were produced. A full, musky
perfumed rose petal nose. Very forward
and delightful on the palate, but it’s completely dry.
Very impressive. Very Good Indeed+.
93/100
2005
Sauvignon Blanc, Cuvée 128,
Mendocino, Navarro Vineyards
,
13.7%
Normally, Navarro ferment most of their sauvignon blanc in temperature
controlled stainless steel tanks, but in 2005 (because the
gewurztraminer and pinot gris harvests were so limited – they
lost 50% of the
gewurz crop to frost) they decided to use temperature controlled oak
casks.
Another change in 2005 was that a higher
proportion of the grapes (59%) came from a new French clone grown in
Boonville on gravel soils. The remainder of the
grapes come from Yorkville Vineyards, which has supplied sauvignon
blanc and semillon since 1990. The 2005 contains
11% semillon from Yorkville Vineyards, and they made 1922 cases of it.
It has a crisp, fragrant nose with some green melon fruit.
Crisp and clean on the
palate, this is
nothing like a Sancerre or New Zealand sauvignon blanc, thanks in part
to the vinification method. But it is a
very pleasant, food friendly wine. Very
Good+. 88/100
2005 Pinot Gris, Anderson Valley, Navarro Vineyards
,
13.5%
1815 cases made. There’s
very light, gently spiced stone fruit on the nose: very subdued.
It’s quite subdued on the palate too, though the
pinot gris flavours build well, but ultimately it’s very
simple.
Good/Very Good. 84/100
2004 White Riesling, Anderson Valley, Navarro Vineyards
,
13.2%
1549 cases produced. A crisp, limey nose
with some talcy minerality. Very crisp,
fresh and clean on the palate. It has
good balance and a nice character. Good
finish and very good length. This has a
nice feel to it, and in its style, it seems to mix old and new worlds.
Very Good Indeed. 90/100
2005
Edelzwicker, California, Navarro Vineyards,
12.9%
In 2005 1646 cases were produced of this Alsatian blend of 66%
gewurztraminer, 28% riesling and 6% pinot gris. It has a
delicious nose: light, fresh, fragrant rose petals, mixed with lime and
fresh crushed cardamom. Light and elegant on
the palate, it is just off dry. It’s
also remarkably grapey. Very Good
Indeed. 90/100
2005 Rosé Old Vine Cuvée (Dry),
Mendocino, Navarro Vineyards
A blend of grenache, syrah and mourvèdre, from grapes
bought-in from neighbours. The
nose has perfumed fresh strawberries. On
the palate it’s light
and crisp, but very simple. Good-ish. 82/100
2004 Pinot Noir, Méthode à
l’Ancienne, Anderson Valley, Navarro Vineyards
,
13.8%
5306 cases made, mainly from estate fruit, though some is bought in on
a long term contract. Strawberry and cherry
juice on the nose. Sweet, very juicy
fruit on the palate. Nice, but not
thrilling me. Very Good. 86/100
2004 Pinot
Noir Deep End Blend, Anderson
Valley, Navarro Vineyards
The nose is quite full with fairly deep, earthy, mushroomy, raspberry
fruit. Very good on the palate with
super balance: very elegant and precise.
There are very focussed red fruit flavours with enormous
length after. Very Good
Indeed/Excellent. 94/100
2004
Zinfandel, Mendocino, Navarro
Vineyards
,
14.2%
This is a blend of zinfandels from six different vineyard sites.
All the fruit is bought in and comes from
30-60 year old vines. 2193 cases were
made – Navarro’s smallest Zinfandel production in
four years, due to the very
small berry size in 2004, which ended up yielding intensely flavoured
wines.
It has a big sweet cherry and crème de mûre nose
with hints of orange peel. There is very
sweet black and red
fruit on the palate, and overall this feels a real fruit bomb, though
without too much alcohol. It also feels very
simple indeed. That’s not to say that
it’s not a lovely, easy-drinking wine, but it’s
ultimately just rather
simple. Very Good. 86/100
2005 White
Riesling Cluster Select
Late Harvest, Navarro Vineyards
,11.1%
20.1% residual sugar by weight. This has
a very perfumed, honeysuckle and sweet apple nose.
Very precise and focussed on the palate, with
huge purity. This is a match for the
best Alsace SGNs, though it’s not the same, and it almost has
a feel of a cross
between an Alsace SGN and a German Beerenauslese.
This is notably good stuff!
Very Good Indeed/Excellent.
94/100
2005 Muscat
Blanc Cluster Select
Late Harvest, Andersen Valley, Mendocino, Navarro Vineyards, 11%
A clean, zesty sweet nose with lots of candied citrus.
Again a very pure, precise palate.
This is delicious, but it lacks much muscat character Very
Good+. 87/100
2006
Gewürztraminer Grape Juice,
Navarro Vineyards
A grapey sweet nose, and very similar in the mouth.
Possibly just a little too sticky?
This particularly needs serving as they
recommend, either over ice or with sparkling water.
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Last updated:4 January 2008