Our CC Wine Club is growing!  Members are not only receiving a guaranteed allocation, but also special pricing on all wine orders, unique invitations and little perks along the way. 

I love to share special places in the Napa Valley.  Consequently, each club member recently received a gift from the Napa Soap Company, one of my favorite shops in St. Helena.  Using just the right combimation of essential oils and natural ingrediants, owner Sheila Rockwood’s most important ingrediant is cold pressed grape seed oil.  Her products are luxurious and very limited!  For example, only 50 hand made bars of soap are produced each day.  Not surprising, Cabernet is my favorite!

You can plan to stop by Napa Soap Company the next time you are in St. Helena or visit them at; www.napasoap.com.

This recipe by Chef Stephen Barber; Fish Story, Lark Creek Group in Napa, defies the general belief that only white wine or light reds should be paired with fish.  In fact, Chef Barber created this recipe specifically to pair with our Estate Cabernet.  I expected him to come up with a meat dish, but not only does this work, it is spectacular! 

I have summarized the recipe below.  The detailed recipe can be found in, Decanting Napa Valley; the Cookbook.

Clark-Claudon Cabernet
Grilled Crispy Skin Wild Salmon with Creamed Corn, Baby Bok Choy & Beurre Rouge Sauce

Ingredients:                                          Beurre Rouge:
Salmon fillets; wild, skin on                1/2 C Clark-Claudon Estate Cab
4 heads baby bok choy                       1/4 C minced Shallots
4 ears sweet corn                                1/2 tsp. red wine vinegar
3/4 C cream                                         8T unsalted butter
lemon
olive oil                                                 Garnish:
salt & pepper                                        Pea shoots on top, with a squeeze of lemon & drizzle of olive oil

To Make Beurre Rouge:
Bring wine, shallots, & vinegar to boil
Reduce heat & simmer until liquid is reduced to 2 T
Add 8 T of butter; one at a time wisking continually until thick.
Season with salt & butter.  Hold in warm kitchen spot

Creamed Corn:
Shuck corn & grate on largest side of box grater
Milk cobs by running the back of a knife down them
Bring corn & “milk” to simmer
Add cream, cook for 10 minutes & season with salt & pepper

Bok Choy:
Cut each head in half length wise
Drizzle with olive oil, squeeze of lemon, salt & pepper

To Assemble:
Prepare Grill
Generously sprinke each side of Salmon with salt & pepper
Grill skin side down until skin shrinks and separates from flesh 
Flip and grill until opaque throughout and translucent at very center
Transfere to platter
Grill Bok Choy
Spoon Cream Corn on plate, place Bok Choy on top
Place Salmon, skin side up, on top
Drizzle sauce around. Serves 4

It was a Buen Dia; 'good day'!

…funky barn, yummy wine, sticky fingers, hand filler, purple smiles, crooked labels, family fun, laughter, hand corking, amazing sky, vineyard beauty, new friends…

If you weren’t…you should have been there!

Next Event: October 2010

Barrel Party/2007 Release Celebration/2010 Harvest Party all rolled into one

2007 being bottled, every detail in the vineyard being covered, Paxton Joshua Clark is born, move to Arkenstone Winery soon under way, changes in our winemaking team & beating back the effects of the recession…never a dull moment around here!

Since wine making is about the most regulated business there is we had to send a huge packet to the TTB to prove we are who we have always been & have not become felons etc.  I have been assured that the license will be in our hot hands in time for harvest! 

In the interim; what hasn’t made the cut is being sold on the bulk wine market while used barrels & racks are going too.  Since we experienced such frost damage in 2008, the cream of what was harvested, about 20 barrels of 2008 Cab, will be moving with us to Clark-Claudon @ Arkenstone.  That translates to 500 cases.  Once we go through our evaluation process it may go down to 250!

We are so excited about this upcoming vintage.  In many ways it feels like a new beginning.  It has been 20 years since we began to develop our vineyard…I wonder what the next 20 will bring!

More about winemaker changes soon…

Well, I don’t know if the stars are in line, but the moon was bright orange and beautifully full when I walked to my office this morning.  Don’t be impressed; it is only 20 yards from my house, but it was cold and crisp outside.  Add that orange moon peeking through the trees…absolutely awsome.  

So, what better day to be releasing our 2006 Three Stones.  It too is awsome & perfect for drinking by the fire or with a hearty meal.  At $48 a bottle it won’t break the bank either…of course your bank might already be broken…all the more reason for a $48 Napa Cab…as good or better than many Napa Cabs twice the price.

What could be better; a wonderful wine, at a bargain price while supporting the future of small production wines.

Reason #1:  Check out the Episodes link on the new site www.wineexpedition.com.  It is the first of three episodes at Clark-Claudon Vineyards.  In the first, Tom is discussing fruit ripeness in the vineyard, next will be bass fishing in the reservoir & then a wine & cheese pairing on the vineyard cottage deck.  I hope you enjoy!

Reason 2:   It is raining! Hallaluja!  We are down 10 inches below normal.  Ugh!  First the economy and now an angry Mother…Mother Nature that is…but, today it is raining…oh the simple pleasures.

Thankfully our reservoir will be full by irrigation time.  Our spring fed creek, dry last fall, is now flowing beautifully.  We have a license to capture some of its wet glory for agricultural use.  Tom engineered a system that takes the water up over the hill and into the reservoir…little by little…it will be full just in time.

Growing grapes & making wine is so much like life; oh, thats right, this is our life…what doesn’t get us will give us character, complexity & grace.  Well, at least that is true for our wine.  

Two reasons to smile! 

Prompted by the film Bottle Shock, there is a lot of talk these days about the famous Paris tasting in 1976.  It was then that everyone realized that Napa Valley could compete on a wine world stage.  In 1998 a similar tasting was repeated in San Francisco with some new additions, including the 1995 Clark-Claudon Cabernet. 

The tasting was organized by Gordon Getty in conjunction with the Headlands Foundation Wine Auction.  A stellar panel of wine gurus blind tasted 42 wines including each French First Growth & every California Cult Cabernet.  In addition, a number of up and coming wineries were included. 

We were pleased just to be invited to participate.  That pleasure turned to pure thrill when we heard that our 1995 Estate Cabernet took a very strong first place.  Again, a Napa Cabernet won the tasting, but not just any Napa Cab, it was ours! 

If that tasting was repeated again today I wonder what the outcome would be.  As Eric Asimov deftly discussed on August 19th; New York Times, The Pour, “The prevailing style of Napa Cabernet today emphasizes power, weight and extravagance.” A very different animal from the wines that won in ’76 or our 1995 Cabernet that won in 1998.  Yet, he goes on to say, “…a small but significant number of Cabernet producers form a kind of alternate Napa universe. They are making wines of balance and restraint that are a direct link to Napa’s past, when wines…forged the region’s reputation as a source of great Cabernet Sauvignon.”  Asimov then named Clark-Claudon as one of those, “alternate universe” producers.

On August 7th, in the Long Beach, CA Press Telegram, staff writer Eric Nolan writes, “There are many merchants and restaurant sommeliers who believe California’s vintners have strayed off course…Finding wines made in styles similar to the classics of ’76 is the tricky part.  It means gravitating to winemakers who don’t follow rating chasing fads. For Cabernet purism, Stromer of the Woodland Hills Wine Company suggests Clark-Claudon.” 

I appreciated Azimov’s, Nolan’s & Stromer’s views. Finally the pendulum is beginning to swing back again.

Napa Chardonnay went through a similar evolution about 10 tears ago.  The extravagent wines being produced at first dazzled and then diminished its popularity.  Chardonnay sales took years to recover as people sought out varitals that were lighter in style with food friendly balance. Thankfully, though you can still find those huge Chards, today there are many lovely alternatives available.

Napa Cabernet is going through the same growing pains.  The bigger is better logic has prevailed for a number of years.  Yet, many previous Cab drinkers have switched to Pinot, a wine much lighter in style.  Still the fruit bomb Cabs tend to get the very high scores.  In a blind tasting they jump out of the glass always attracting attention.  But, we trust that the pendullum will continue the swing that has begun, back to more complex, nuanced Cabernets that speak from where they come.

I believe the ideal Cabernet combines the best of both the old and the new world.  We strive to produce a wine that is elegant, nuanced & balanced with beautiful varietal fruit character; a wine that is invitingly seductive rather than obtuse; a wine that is delicious upon release, but also worthy of aging.  Most importantly, we want our wines to represent their origin rather than score seeking, over ripe fruit & manipulation in the winery.  If that makes me old fashoned, I guess I will happily own it!

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Welcome to Clark Claudon’s blog where we plan to engage you in the unique experience that is Clark-Claudon. For us, producing wine is more than a life style; it is our life and a door to some wonderful possibilities. This blog is one way for us to invite you in to share the experience.

We hope you will be able to visit us and/or enjoy some of our events. Until then, this is a way for you to experience our world, share in a conversation or continue one that has already begun. So, check back regularily, add your comments and enjoy some beautiful photography.

Briana ventured out to grab some different views of the winter vines before our first real storm arrived. Now the vines are taking their last taste of 2007 rains before the new year comes.

Enjoy the photography.