The Wine Fairy

It was a fab Cab lab at The Wine Authority this past Saturday. Napa Valley’s Clos du Val was in the house with barrel samples from the 2023 vintage–and one very special finished wine, the 2021 Yettalil blend ($200 retail).

I booked the blending seminar for “educational” purposes. My wife (and fellow Cab lover) Sarah tagged along.

That Yettalil was indeed a beauty–but before sipping the super-premium pour we were treated to a deconstructed tasting of the forthcoming 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon. (It’s slated for release in a few months.) All the component varieties are harvested, vinified and aged separately, then blended. We were tasting three base wines midway through their aging cycle, all sourced from the Hirondelle Vineyard in the Stags Leap district.

The Cab’s formula gets tweaked every year, but the 2022 blend (from Clos du Val’s new winemaker Carmel Greenberg) was 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot, 5% Malbec, 4% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Petit Verdot. So it’s a safe bet that the 2023 will be similar in its proportions.

Sure enough, the three unblended wines in front of us were Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Malbec. The 2021 Yettalil was waiting tantalizingly on the side. (Wine Authority owner Tom provided a fifth, empty wineglass he dubbed the “f*ck around” glass. This was for folks who were cheeky enough to try crafting their own Clos du Val cuvée.)

Clos du Val’s regional sales manager Jessica led us on a tour of Clos du Val’s history, from their origins as a small family winery, to their Judgment of Paris triumph, to their current projects and upcoming bottle releases. We peered at vineyard maps and sniffed soil samples. Then our merry crew–about a dozen Cab drinkers who had convened around the bar–moved on to a tasting of the unblended wines.

Seeing the building blocks of Clos du Val in their pure form was so cool! The varieties were all so distinct from each other, and so fresh. I’m not experienced enough with new wines to be able to extrapolate on what a few months’ rest will do to them. But the quality and character of this juice was eye-opening.

We tasted a robust and juicy Merlot, a floral and lower-acid and intensely purple Malbec, and a medium-bodied, prickly Cabernet with flavors of herbs and tart red berries. (Clos du Val didn’t furnish us with any Cabernet Franc or Petit Verdot–and there’s a small plot of Carmenere in the works, too–but those three wines were enough to get an idea of the power of blending.)

Finally, it was time to f*ck around! Everything I know about blending could fit on a notecard…but that didn’t hold us back. Sarah and I concocted (and drank) three different glasses with varying proportions of each wine. (No droppers or graduated cylinders at the bar. It’s all good–just eyeball it and swirl!)

Sarah’s blend, we both agreed, was the best. I have no idea if she cheated by looking at the spec sheet or not, but her proportions closely mimicked the winery’s own: About two-thirds Cab, a generous helping of Merlot, and a sploosh of Malbec for color and tannin.

(Edited to add: Sarah just read this and insists that she did not cheat–she just knows what’s in a Bordeaux blend. Alrighty then!)

As you may know, this is not a fine wine blog and I do not have the good fortune to drink Napa Cabs on the regular. But I had recently had the 2022 Clos du Val in a tasting–and some previous vintages on various occasions–so I do have a passing familiarity with the house style.

I would describe it as a riper, more fruit-forward version of a left-bank Bordeaux with moderate use of French oak. It’s not the biggest and boldest of Napa Cabs, retaining some Old World delicacy. Merlot is prominent in the blend’s texture and aromas, contributing softness and body along with red fruit and minty notes.

Besides the expected berries and plums, I also strangely get watermelon when I drink Clos du Val. (Including in me and Sarah’s ad hoc blend.) I don’t know why. I’d venture to guess it’s an interaction between the red fruit and something fresh and green in the aroma profile. I’ve never seen watermelon in anyone else’s Cab tasting notes, which makes me feel like maybe I have a screw loose. But it’s noticeable enough to me that I think I could pick Clos du Val out of a lineup.

The blending of black grape varieties was pioneered and perfected in Bordeaux, a hedge against spotty weather patterns on France’s Atlantic coast. But in the snug and sunny Napa Valley where Cabernet rarely struggles to ripen, why even blend? Because it tastes good, that’s why!

Blending can get a bad rap from wine drinkers who feel that it muddies varietal characteristics and obscures terroir. Certainly, there is a fashion for single-varietal, single-plot wines–a fashion that winemakers are often tempted to pursue because the perceived value of theses wine is higher. And as a student, drinking and comparing varietal wines from single vineyards can teach you a bunch about wine.

But for pure drinking enjoyment, most people agree that Cabernet Sauvignon is a grape that rewards skillful blending. (Or in our case, unskillful blending). I love the inherent flavors of Cab Sauv–but 100% Cab for its own sake can be overly structured and stern. Like a good makeover that brings out your features, adding a little something to Cabernet paradoxically makes it taste more like itself.

Clos du Val’s blending seminar is really an infomercial for the power of the blend. Even our too-young, splash-and-dash bartop blend was eminently drinkable. By contrast, I wouldn’t order any of the three base wines to drink on their own–except for (perhaps) the Merlot. That was a marvelous (and startling) thing to see and taste.

We closed out the tasting session with a glass of the excellent 2021 Yettalil, a Cabernet-based blend named for Clos du Val’s co-founder, Henrietta Goelet. I was annoyed at how much I liked it, because even at The Wine Authority’s very nice member price, it’s too rich for my blood. We also tasted the new, limited-availability Napa Sauvignon Blanc. (It’s also a blend, with Semillon.) At the end of class, each participant received a bottle of the current-vintage 2022 Cabernet as a souvenir. (I’ll review it later and let you know if it still tastes of watermelon.)

The seminar was an illuminating look at Clos du Val’s work-in-progress, the 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon. I knew next to nothing about blending when I signed up for the class. I have always appreciated blended wines–in the same way you can enjoy the beauty of a painting without knowing anything about art composition–but I’m excited to learn and understand more about the process. This quick peek behind the curtain made me even more appreciative of artfully made Cab.

Where: The Wine Authority, 508 W Lookout Dr st. 24, Richardson, TX 75080

When: Saturday, March 22, 2025 (Follow their Facebook page for future events.)

How much: $65/person (non-member) $50/person (member)

Review disclosure: I was not compensated or provided any free products for this review. Opinions expressed on The Wine Fairy blog are entirely my own.