Schramsberg Reserve Brut 2004
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Wine Enthusiast
The opulence of this sparkling wine has to be tasted to be believed. It’s far softer and silkier than the winery’s companion new release, the 2005 J. Schram, but then the blend is the complete opposite. This one’s mainly Pinot Noir, with the balance from Chardonnay. The Pinot Noir brings a warm, raspberry- and cherry-sauce richness to Chardonnay’s limes and pears, while an extraordinarily delicious toastiness pervades the whole, as if it had been gently smoked. So enticing now, it’s hard to keep from drinking the whole bottle...
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Wine Spectator
An opulent and rich style, with bold aromas of baked cinnamon and apple followed by complex, racy flavors of Asian pear, candied ginger and spice. Offers a long, lingering finish.
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Connoisseurs' Guide
On the verge of true grandeur yet a little on the angular, sharp side at the margins, this rather outgoing, almost powerful sparkling wine suffers no shortfall of personality, and there will be plenty of takers for its immensely toasty, developed, explosively bubbled approach. It charges into power from the first sip, and neither its mousse nor its complex, toast, soy, lemon rind flavors give any quarter from front to back. We are put in mind of Bollinger's Grande Année and comfortably recommend this wine as its American peer to any who like that French grand mark.
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In 1965, Jack and Jamie Davies founded Schramsberg and set out to make world-class sparkling wine in the true méthode traditionelle style on the property originally established in 1862 by German immigrant Jacob Schram. There were only 22 bonded wineries in Napa Valley and fewer than 100 acres of California vineyards planted to Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Schramsberg was the first California winery to provide a Blanc de Blancs in 1965 followed by a Blanc de Noirs in 1967. Now their son, Hugh Davies, leads the winery’s management and winemaking team.
The Schramsberg estate in Napa Valley’s famed Diamond Mountain District is a registered historic landmark with Napa’s first caves, hand-dug in the 1880s, and its first hillside vineyards. Quality focus drives all aspects of wine production starting with access to over 120 cool-climate sites in Carneros, Marin, Mendocino and Sonoma, which result in over 200 separate lots. Unique among California sparkling wine houses, Schramsberg ferments about 25 percent of its juice in oak barrels to produce rich, flavorful, complex wines.
Most of Schramsberg’s viticultural and winemaking practices are carried out by hand: grapes are hand harvested, the wines are handcrafted, and the bottles are stacked and riddled in underground caves. The family and the winery embody excellence and innovation in winemaking, as well as preservation of their land, their history and their community.
Representing the topmost expression of a Champagne house, a vintage Champagne is one made from the produce of a single, superior harvest year. Vintage Champagnes account for a mere 5% of total Champagne production and are produced about three times in a decade. Champagne is typically made as a blend of multiple years in order to preserve the house style; these will have non-vintage, or simply, NV on the label. The term, "vintage," as it applies to all wine, simply means a single harvest year.
Reaching up California's coastline and into its valleys north of San Francisco, the North Coast AVA includes six counties: Marin, Solano, Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino and Lake. While Napa and Sonoma enjoy most of the glory, the rest produce no shortage of quality wines in an intriguing and diverse range of styles.
Climbing up the state's rugged coastline, the chilly Marin County, just above the City and most of Sonoma County, as well as Mendocino County on the far north end of the North Coast successfully grow cool-climate varieties like Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and in some spots, Riesling. Inland Lake County, on the other hand, is considerably warmer, and Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel and Sauvignon Blanc produce some impressive wines with affordable price tags.