“Light is the lion that comes down to drink,” Wallace Stevens, 1879-1955, The Glass of Water (1942), st. 2.
A little more than a year ago, good friend Dr. Terry Wilkins brought me a few bottles of his newly received Guilliams Cabernet Sauvignon in exchange for an equal number of Stony Hill Chardonnays, a fair exchange on both sides. I immediately sampled his proffered treat and enraptured by its wonderfully high quality, called the winery to buy a case. Many phone calls and emails later, I received my case of 2005 Guilliams (pronounced “Gwilliams”) and began to nearly hyperventilate.
Subsequently, I had been hearing that Stony Hill, not too far away near St. Helena, had been tinkering with a red wine blend of its own. When I was notified that their first release, dubbed Red Table Wine, was being released in its second vintage, I tried to jump to the front of the line in order to snag a case of the 2008. Romantically, it meant a lot to me because I had first visited Stony Hill back in 1968 when founder Fred McCrea graciously steered this naive kid along and watched my growing amazement at his produce. To my knowledge, Stony Hill is not sold in any retail stores in our area but generally relies on its enthusiastic mailing list. Yesterday, a few of us, my enthusiastic son, Patrick, included, tasted through these two rare reds and had a ball. Here are my tasting notes, using my subjective “A”-“F” scoring:
1. Stony Hill 2008 Red Table Wine, Napa Valley, $30. Owned by Peter and Willinda McCrea, winemaker Michael Chelini has been dazzling the Napa Valley winemaking crowd with a series of stellar wines, including Chardonnay, Riesling, Gewurztraminer and a beautiful dessert wine called Semillion du Soleil. Ordering is done by phone at 707-963-2636 or by email at info@stonyhillvineyards.com.
This wine had a clear, almost sparkling garnet color, as it subtly strutted its blend of 95 percent Cabernet Sauvignon grapes combined with 5 percent Merlot. Some cherries and raspberries quietly danced on the nose. Wonderful, medium body eased into a clean, elegant and long finish. A+
2. 2005 Guilliams Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, Spring Valley District, $45. Owned by John and Shawn Guilliams (see aforementioned pronunciation), this wine production is limited to 800 cases per year and is composed of 90 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 8 percent Cabernet Franc and 2 percent Merlot. Ordering is done by phone at 707-963-9059 or via email at guilliam@napanet.net.
With a dark brick color and medium body, this wine displayed medium-rich and balanced notes on the nose with nice depth and a suggestion of violets. In the mouth, it showed lightly elegant fruit and finished cleanly with long notes begging for more enjoyment.
Cheers to you both, Stony Hill and Guilliams. I heartily recommend a vigorous pursuit of each winery for an order!
