New Clairvaux New Release Party

New Clairvaux Vineyard is a personal favorite. They always deliver when it comes to good, quality wine. They had a release party for their Aimée Old Vine Zinfandel and Napa Valley Primativo, and they allowed us to taste many of their quality wines. Here’s a rundown of our notes.

2011 St. James Viognier 12.6% alcohol ($16) – This wine’s nose had a peach and lemon bouquet. The wine was nice, sweet, and off-dry. It would pair very well with white fish with sauteed mushrooms.

2011 St. James Syrah Rose 13.4% alcohol ($14) – This was very summery. It had a smokey nose and had notes of orange and strawberries. This New Clairvaux wine would pair quite well with sausage.

2009 St. James Syrah 14.1% alcohol ($17) – This wine had a lovely, buttery nose. It was full bodied and had notes of black cherries, white pepper, and plums. It would be a very nice pairing with pasta – especially a pasta with a white, creamy sauce.

2010 Aimée Old Vine Zinfandel 15.1% alcohol ($28) – This was my favorite wine of the tasting. The vines were planted seventy years ago in Napa. They produce less fruit, but more flavor. They were aged in American-French Oak for 18 months. The wine had notes of plums, cherry, vanilla, cloves, anise, licorice, and oak. It would be a lovely pairing for a Greek eggplant feta cheese casserole Wining Husband makes.

 2011 Aimée Napa Valley Primativo 16.2% alcohol ($22) – The Primativo grape is genetically the same as the Zinfandel grape, though the wine is higher in alcohol content which makes it slightly sweeter and bolder. The Primativo grape is the first grape to ripen, and legend has it that wine from the Primativo grape was the wine to be served at the Last Supper. This wine gave off a bouquet of licorice on the nose. It was sweet and had notes of berries, milk chocolate, mocha, cigar box, tobacco, cayenne pepper, and black pepper. It was a robust wine with a lavender color that would pair very well with Wining Husband’s spicy chicken recipe.

2009 Poor Souls Petite Syrah 13.1% alcohol ($18) – This wine had notes of almonds and a nutty flavor to it. It also had notes of Italian spice, allspice, cherry, and plum. It was dryer, and was more of a cheddar than a mozzarella. This was also quite nice as far as wines go.

If you’re close to Vina, California, I strongly suggest visiting this vineyard and tasting their wines. They are consistently very good.

Related articles

• New Clairvaux Barbera
• Trappist Ale from Northern California, thanks to William Randolph Hearst, Sierra Nevada, and some stones from Spain
• Sierra Oro Farm Trail Passport Weekend to include Chico, Paradise, Oroville and more