May 22, 2020

FAR NIENTE “Estate Bottled” Cabernet Sauvignon 2017

(Oakville, Napa Valley, CA) $200

One of Napa Valley’s magnificent historic stone wineries, Far Niente (the name means “without a care” in Italian) was founded in 1885. The winery and exquisitely sited vineyards are poised up on a bench in the western hills of Oakville. Abandoned in 1919 at the onset of Prohibition, it was bought in 1979 and painstakingly restored by the late Gil Nickel, whose family continue as co-owners. With its beautifully polished tannins, the 2017 is rich without being heavy and the flavors (black currants, forest, damp earth, and spices) are very alive.

Available at Far Niente

Welschriesling is a genetic offspring of riesling.

Answer: False.

Despite the word riesling in its name, welschriesling (pronounced: WELSH-rees-ling) is not directly related to riesling at all. In Burgenland, Austria, welschriesling is used to make delicious late-harvest, botrytized wines. In Hungary, it’s known as graševina and olasz rizling. In Italy, it’s known as riesling italico. There are numerous grapes with the word riesling in their names that are not riesling. These include: cape riesling in South Africa and emerald riesling in the U.S. (The latter is a cross of muscadelle and garnacha developed at the University of California at Davis).

“In Spain, no matter if you make screwdrivers, at some point after you have saved a little money, the first thing you want to do is own a winery. It is very important to the Spanish soul.”

—Yolanda Carcía Viadero
Winemaker, Bodegas Valduero

FAR NIENTE “Estate Bottled” Cabernet Sauvignon 2017

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