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+--- Thread: New winery for me -- nice wine (/thread-3976.html)
- Bucko - 09-08-2001
1997 Hans Fahden, Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, California, $20, 1,900 cases. Layers of rich black fruit and enhancing oak please both the nose and the palate. Moderate but silky tannins round out this wine. 88/90.
1997 Hans Fahden, Cabernet Sauvignon, Reserve, Sonoma County, California, $28, 550 cases. Dark ruby in the glass, mixed black fruits and cedar aromas are evident. Full-bodied with satiny tannins, this wine is slightly more complex than their regular bottling, but also with more obvious oak. 89/90
- winoweenie - 09-09-2001
Buck-Finder. A new one to bof'-ub-usn's. I'll try to find something out about the jernt. WW
- mrdutton - 09-09-2001
Find their web-site and you'll be able to read the following:
Property
The Fahden vineyards and winery consists of 100 acres. It is located at 1200 feet elevation, in a range of the Mayacamus Mountains, on a ridge above Calistoga. The property features panoramic views of Mt. St. Helena.
Hans and Marie Fahden, natives of Hamburg, Germany, purchased the property in 1912. They were hardworkers, who farmed the land growing grapes and then prunes, when Prohibition became the law of the land in 1920. The lessons learned as prune farmers during those thirteen years, followed by the Depression, sent the second generation of Fahdens scurrying away to a better life in the city, and professional careers. City life, though, isn’t always what it is cracked to be.
Sixty years later in 1980, Antone and Lyall Fahden, the third generation, decided they liked cabernet sauvignon better than prunes. A journey began once again to restore the land and to make it productive. The brush was cleared. Three vineyard areas, separated by volcanic outcroppings and forests of Douglas Fir, were planted in 1982, ‘83, and ‘84. Ponds were created, roads were carved, and a wine cave was tunneled into a formation of four million year old volcanic ash. The Hans Fahden Winery became bonded in 1986. The first bottle of wine which was produced from the 1987 vintage was sold in 1992. The Hans Fahden Winery became licensed to conduct public tastings in 1996.
Giant koi now swim under the bridge in our water gardens, influenced by Monet. There is an old saying in the wine business, "...if you want to make a small fortune, you must start with a large one." As descendants of a prune farmer we had to do it another way. We did the work and made the wine ourselves. We are proud of the transformation, and look forward to your visit, and to share a moment of the journey and some of the stories with you.
Sauvignon
The Fahden family produces an estate grown cabernet sauvignon from twenty acres of vineyards located on the property. Our annual production is about 2,000 cases. We began winemaking in 1986. Our educational backgrounds, which had prepared us for careers in dentistry, law, religion, and politics, were of little help.
The early wines were made in the traditional California style and were blockbusters. They were intense and "jammy" but took years to develop. The volcanic soils created an earthy taste and Bordeaux character in the wine, described by tasters as having smoky and cedary overtones. It was all new to us. The wine turned your teeth purple. We still have some wine available from the 1989 and 1990 vintages. These wines are complex and drinking wonderfully, and have years of aging left before the reach their full potential.
Our new release is our 1997. We made approximately 2,000 cases and also 500 cases of a more structured reserve. The wine is well balanced, rich and smooth in taste. We added a small amount of merlot and reduced the percentage of the press wine in the final blend, to achieve this result. The wine still has the Hans Fahden character of earlier vintages, but the tannins are significantly softer. We are excited as we have learned to tame the monster cabernet that can come from our mountain vineyards, and to make a wine of finesse from grapes grown in the most challenging of soils.
In addition to wine tours and tasting, the winery premises is available for picnicking, hiking, float tube flyfishing and elegant Wine Cave Dinners and Lucheons.
Last year a group of scientists, who in their real life seldom see the light of day, wanted to learn how to fly fish on our ponds. We have three ponds that we stocked with large and smallmouth bass in the early eighties. We made arrangements with a fishing instructor who taught them the art of casting, how to tie flys, and lectured on a wide range of subjects, from fishing equipment to pond entomology. Everyone had a great time and a story to tell about the "big one that got away". A decline in motor coordination was observed when it came to casting in the afternoon fishing session, after the group enjoyed a barbecue and a couple of glasses of Hans Fahden cabernet for lunch.
The dirt roads that lead in and out of the vineyards also serve as our hiking trails. Our most popular trail leads to the top of the hill, elevation 1,200 feet. It provides a panoramic view of Mt. St Helena, the Mayacamus Mountains, and surrounding hillside vineyards. It is a wonderful spot to enjoy a picnic and to watch the turkey vultures glide by on the thermal updrafts that rise above the vineyards.
Our Monet Garden area is also available for picnics, daily until 5 P.M., and weekends, commencing in May, until 2 P.M. The Oakville Grocery in Oakville (707) 944- 8802, The Napa Valley Olive Oil Company in St, Helena (707) 963-4173, and the Palisades Market in Calistoga (707) 942-9549 can provide you with excellent fare for your visit to Hans Fahden. A new feature attraction is our vinegar factory. A tour of the facility is worth the collage of aromas which emanate from the balsamic, champagne, and wine vinegar that are made here. In the event the day turns gray and it begins to rain, we move into the cave with a glass of cabernet. We shut the cave doors and sing acappella as best we know how.
The web site is: www.hansfahden.com
Yo, Drew, hows that for research? Buddy!!!
[This message has been edited by mrdutton (edited 09-09-2001).]
- Drew - 09-09-2001
UNBELIEVABLE!!! This is all you left out...Good Deal!
Hans Fahden Winery
4855 Petrified Forest Rd., Calistoga, CA 94515
Phone: (707) 942-6760 Fax: (707) 942-2749
E-mail: antone@hansfahden.com
Hours: private events only
Cabernet Sauvignon
Drew
- winoweenie - 09-10-2001
Heck Chimes, I've driven by the jernt hunnerts of times and nebber stopped. It's on the road from Calistoga to Santa Rosa. Great sluethin' there MrD., or should we now refer to you as MrDrew-Jr? (giggle) WW
- Drew - 09-10-2001
He's just trying to bully his way into my kingdom cause he's mad about his pine nut recipie...what's a pine nut anyway and what other than squirrels eats em? [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/tongue.gif[/img]
Drew
- mrdutton - 09-10-2001
Pine nuts are just what you might think they are - pine tree seeds. They come from pine cones which grow on pine trees which grow in pine forests.
Most pine nuts I've ever seen have come from Italy and are called Pignoli.
- winoweenie - 09-10-2001
Drew, don't be bullied. We probably have one of the largest pine-nut harvest in the country as the Navajo and Hopi indians used the nuts as a staple in their diets. Lots of Itialian receipes use the nuts as the crowning tonal for their complexity. WW
- mrdutton - 09-10-2001
WW, din't realize the Indians ate them suckers also.
They are really not bad as long as they are not rancid. Pine nuts, not indians....... [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/smile.gif[/img]