Classifying California
Have you ever felt badly for the makers of Silver Oak (whose Napa wine retails for $100 a bottle)? Well, now is your chance. The winery has been relegated to a lowly “fifth growth” status in a new “classification” in the British magazine Wine International.
Simon Woods has drawn up the classification, modeled on the 1855 classification of wines of the Medoc, using price as his guide. If, wondering into your local wine store, you didn’t realize that a Colgin Herb Lamb Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon ($420) cost more than the Silver Oak, then I’m not sure that this classification is going to help you since it is determined solely on price (and what’s with the apparently random price breaks?)
For me, the fun in finding wine and writing about it is that the market mechanism has such a hard time with quality when it comes to wine: simply reading a bottle’s price tag is not always indicative of what’s in the bottle. That’s why I spend my time finding value vino, the juice that falls between the cracks in the market.
Anyway, here is the classification…
First growths: $300+ (£171+)
Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley – £1,225 (£697)
Bryant Family Pritchard Hill Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
Dalla Valle Maya, Napa Valley (also Cabernet Sauvignon)
Grace Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
Colgin Herb Lamb Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley (also Tychson Hill Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon; Cariad)
Harlan Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley (also The Maiden)
Blankiet Estate Paradise Hills Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
Abreu Madrona Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa ValleySecond growths: $175 – $300 (£100 – £171)
Barbour Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
Schrader Beckstoffer Cabernet, Napa Valley
David Arthur Elevation 1147 Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
Shafer Hillside Select Cabernet Sauvignon Stags Leap District, Napa Valley
Pride Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, Napa Valley (also Claret Reserve)
Hourglass Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
Araujo Eisele Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley (also Altagracia)
Gemstone, Yountville, Napa Valley
Bond Vecina, Napa Valley (also St Eden; Melbury; The Matriarch)
Peter Michael Cabernet Sauvignon Les Pavots, Knight’s Valley
Beringer Bancroft Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley (also the Cabernets from Chabot Vineyard; St Helena Home Vineyard)
