Heavenly Hour Revisited

I couldn't resist another Heavenly Hour wine flight at Vino di Sedona in Sedona, AZ. For the white, I went back to the Selbach Spatlese from Piesporter Michelsberg. And I wasn't disappointed: ripe apple fruit, sleek and stylish.

For the Pinot, I chose Alexana Winery's Terroir Series from the Willamette Valley of Oregon. Black cherry fruit with mocha, nutmeg and violets. This wine sells for about $35 retail, about the same as Ferraro Carano's Anderson Valley Pinot I had a few days ago. Both are very good wines, but I prefer the Anderson Valley wine.

My final selection was the Quilt Napa Valley Cabernet. Very deep and dark. Smokey oak and vanilla on the nose with rich black fruits on the mid-palate and a sweetish, oaky finish. As to be expected from the Wagner Family (Caymus Vineyards, Meomi), this wine has been produced with the assistance of 20 months in French oak barrels, 70% new. It's too oaky for me but is exactly what many wine drinkers are looking for. At least some of the grapes come from the high-rent district of Napa (Oakville, Rutherford and St. Helena) so I would expect it to age for many years.