Many years ago, the art director of a magazine we worked for taught us that if you name a business, say what the business is in the name.
Knowing that, we were introduced to the wines of High Valley Vineyard. A bit of research into the name and we found it to be true. Their wines come from an area in the Pacific Cost Ranges of Lake County, Calif., that rise between 1,600 and 5,000 feet above sea level.
Grapes grown at high altitudes take advantage of cooler temperatures to slowly ripen and develop greater flavor and aroma characteristics. It is at these higher elevations that the grapes for High Valley are grown.
High Valley Vineyards 2012 Lake County Barbera ($30)Like moths to a fire or cats to catnip, we are attracted to and in love with barbera wines. Why more California vintners are not growing and making wine from this grape is a mystery to us. All too often we have to revert to one of the many barbera wines coming from Italy and, while we are quite liberal when it comes to wines, we still have a preference for wines made right here in the U.S.
The High Valley Vineyards 2012 Lake County Barbera is a showpiece. While it retains the “old country” charm, it also displays the big fruit style of its California birthplace with pride. It is a balanced, big and bold wine that displays the flavors and aromas of ripe cherries, blackberries and dark plums with a hint of vanilla and sweet oak. Try this wine with your favorite red meat or red sauce pasta dishes.
High Valley Vineyards 2011 Lake County Petite Sirah ($30)The deep purple/red color heralds the aroma of ripe, red summer berries, chocolate and spice. The flavor is an explosive swirl of blueberry, boysenberry, blackberry, black pepper and vanilla. A pleasant surprise is the rather long and subtle finish, making this is a wine that should not be missed.
High Valley Vineyards Lake County Zinfandel ($30)This is a bold wine that proudly announces its attributes, of which there are many. The color is a deep garnet and heralds the aromas of raspberry, cranberry, pomegranate and boysenberry with hints of vanilla and brown sugar that seem to fill the room when the cork is pulled. The flavor, which mirrors the aroma, totally fills the mouth and lingers for an extraordinarily long time. This is a grand wine and it would truly be a pity to miss it.
High Valley Vineyards 2012 Lake County Cabernet Sauvignon ($30)The High Valley Vineyards Lake County Cabernet Sauvignon is a deeply colored, soft, fruity wine which displays everything that one seeks in fine cab.
The wine is full-bodied with a deep, almost violet color and displays its flavor in obscene quantities. Plum and blackberry dominate the flavor, with black cherry bringing up the rear. There are the under-flavors of mocha, cedar, oak and vanilla lying in the background and adding extra layers of complexity. Serve this wine with meat, hearty pasta dishes, full-flavored cheeses and roast pork. While cabernet sauvignon wines are getting to be commonplace, this wine is a level or two above the rest of the pack.
Nixa resident Bennet Bodenstein is a wine columnist and manages ArticlesOnWine.com. He can be reached at frojhe1@att.net.
