(Posted in the Sauvignon Musque thread, but I realized it really deserved it's own.)
Well, Peter May did on the Musque thread...
Anyway, speaking of Charbono, had occasion to go up the mountain with Thomas Pellechia and a friend to visit the Spann Winery up in the Mayacamas Range (perched between Sonoma and Napa off Trinity Road).
We had previously stopped in the Family Wineries Tasting Room in Kenwood and had tasted the wine. It's a 2006 Napa Charbono, and all of 150 cases were made. It's a big, bad bruiser of a wine---but not in the least spoofulated or exaggerated; it's quite simply that way....because it's quite simply that way!
The Charbono variety, and particularly in Napa, is now legendary, although there's not that much of it left. It has made some tremendously compacted, big wines with long ageing potential in the past, and this one follows in that grand tradition.
Oddly enough, for all its massive presence, it betrays a resemblance to a Dolcetoo or Gamay on Steroids, for it is full to bursting with ripe fruit aromas and flavors.
'Tis a curious wine, but altogether lovable. And makes a mockery of all those exaggerated-for-effect Napa Cult Cabs.
Good luck finding it. You can always try the Spann website.
