Earlier this month, I was invited to cover the 20-year Dominus Vertical Tasting and Dinner at Wink Restaurant in Austin, Texas. The vintages 1983 through 2003 were generously donated to the Wine and Food Foundation of Texas by collector and friend, Brian Owens. Chef Mark Paul offered his entire restaurant, staff and imagination to the event. Devon Broglie, of Whole Foods and Master Sommelier candidate, contributed his expertise in the handling and serving of the wines. Pre-kick off, while I was enjoying the 1996 Vilmart Cuvée Création, I was asked to say a few words during one of the breaks between courses. Joyous and apprehensive, I got up to say my piece. I looked around the room and thought, “Holy crap. This is a little surreal.” A wine event that reflects what is in the glasses we’re tasting: an upstart wine estate, appreciated by devotees living in the quintessential upstart city: Austin, Texas.
A tale of two upstarts Napa Valley in the 1980’s seems like the least likely place for a Frenchman to place his stake. California wasn’t new to Christian Moueix, owner of Dominus and JP Moueix, which boasts a collection of some of the finest in Right Bank Bordeaux estates such as Château Petrus, Château Hosanna, Château Belair, Château La Fleur-Petrus, Château Latour-a-Pomerol, Château Magdelaine, and Château Trotanoy, to name a few. In fact, he left the Right Bank to study at UC Davis in the late 1960s before returning home to run the family wine business. While in California, he saw something to appreciate in the Napa Valley and returned in 1981 to purchase the Napanook vineyard in Yountville. The time had come for him to do something completely on his own, away from the inherited privileged background of his family’s business in Bordeaux.
I find his story similar to Austin’s, a city where people move from all over to do it their own way. Just as Napa has changed much from the early 1980s to now, Austin has moved from a provincial state capital / college town to a city garnering international acclaim for its green meets creative populace. Moreover, it’s a city that’s as easy to live in as Napa soil is fertile. People see something to appreciate in Austin and want to call it their own, ultimately putting their stamp on the landscape. I think the winemaker could appreciate that.
Equilibrium
A fine, balanced wine is the culmination of several factors. For the vineyard, its altitude, soil, location, aspect, gradient, vine density, microclimate, vine varieties, vine age, yield and maintenance all play a part. In the cellar, a winemaker then uses the resources from the vineyard to make the best wine he can through a myriad of modern and traditional techniques.
The wine’s equilibrium is the interstice of viticulture (vineyard) and viniculture (winemaking). How important are both factors? Have you ever encountered fine wines from terrible vintages or the travesty of awful wines from spectacular vintages? Both factors play crucial roles in the final product. To Christian Moueix’s credit, even the wines from less than perfect vintages such as 1983, his inaugural release, and 1988 were superb.
Similarly, a wine event such as this celebration of Dominus seeks equilibrium. Bringing together culinary and service staff, collectors, devotees and journalists; this was the task of the contributors, Mr. Owens, Chef Paul and the Wine and Food Foundation of Texas. The room was as diverse as you could imagine, but what brought the group together is what everyone shared, an earnest appreciation of these celebrated wines. Through varied lenses, we were looking at one wine, Dominus, and celebrating its diversity throughout twenty very different vintages. The equilibrium of the room was found in folks from different stations in life, of varying levels of discernment and age sharing one commonality, an appreciation of wine and food.
Patience
One of the best attributes a wine maker possesses is patience. There’s the winemaking team, then the vineyard, the growing cycle, the harvest, the winemaking techniques, the aging, bottling and ultimately the selling. It takes years of planning, sacrifice, monetary resources, and forethought. Brian Owens and Chef Paul planned this dinner for three years before it came to fruition. What took so long? “I have the wine. You have the restaurant. Let’s do this thing.” Doesn’t work like that. Choosing the right day, promotional vehicle such as the Wine and Food Foundation of Texas, volunteers such as Devon Broglie, while coordinating writers and schedules is a daunting task and requires much patience. The attendees of the event were the beneficiaries of patience, not only of Christian Moueix and his Napa winemaking team, but especially of Mr. Owens’ and Chef Paul’s.
A glimpse at the past, a glimpse at the future
Having tasted through the wines from Dominus, 1983 through 2003, all could appreciate Christian Moueix’s mission to do something unique, solidly placing his stamp on Napa through diligence and time. His is a story many of us in Wink’s dining room could relate to with the added benefit of actually tasting his quest. As we find a connection in his story, we might also find something to strive toward. For those of us that call Austin “home,” if in time we can reflect on our endeavors here as fondly as this retrospective at Wink, then what a rich story we will have to tell.
Assessment of the Wines
I know Brian Owens personally. He is ever-fascinated, residing in the camp of the moment you stop learning is the moment you die. He contributes not for prestige, but out of his endless generosity and genuine desire to learn.
There was much to be learned at this tasting. I like to examine wines in a vertical tasting at a macro-level, not granular at all. In fact, once you mix food, conversation, pacing, noise, and alcohol by volume, I find it is impossible to evaluate these wines in any other manner.
Much like the man, Christian Moueix, the essence of his wines presented here were about understated power. They were uniformly as balanced as you will ever experience coming from the Napa Valley or anywhere else for that matter. The use of oak was as expected, elegant and discreet. Many of the wines had hints of brettanomyces, a joy to some and a curse to others. I, myself, love a little brett, which I discovered in 1985, 1990, 1991, 1992, and 1994. 1997 also had it, but was also corked, bummer. The older wines shared an element of beef stock which was delightful.
Looking at the wines from the 1980s, there was much more of a Right Bank red fruit elegance. The wines from 1989 through the early 1990s were reminiscent of finesse-forward Left Bank Bordeaux, and the mid to late 1990s through 2003 showed that these were products of the Napa Valley.
In the 2008 interview, in Decanter magazine’s April issue, commemorating his Man of the Year award, Christian Moueix stated of Dominus, “It’s not an achievement yet, but it’s part of my daily life.” I don’t know how Mr. Moueix defines “achievement,” but my guess is that the closer he comes to not reflecting anything except the vineyard itself, the closer he might feel he comes to a success with Dominus.
Thank you Mr. Moueix for having such high standards, but, for the record, I’ll drink your underachieving parvenu any day of the week.
Additional and Superb Coverage of the 20 Year Vertical Dominus Tasting and Dinner at Wink:
Good Taste ReportPelz on Wine The Alcoholian Anthony Garcia
www.wineisdivine.com
