Chateau Boswell (4.69)



Open: By appointment

Appt required? Yes

Last barlinwine.com visit: 2014

Directions:

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Tasting:
I came across Chateau Boswell the old fashioned way: by scouring the Napa Map. At this point I’ve been to well over half of the wineries on the main highways, and so I’m constantly looking for interesting places that are either off the beaten path or that have eluded me on previous trips. I took a glance at Chateau Boswell’s website and it looked like a good fit, and so I called to make an appointment.

According to the website, people interested in visiting should contact Matt Simpson. Wait a second…I know that name! Matt used to work at Larkmead several years ago around the time I first became a wine club member, and he was always great to taste with. I booked the appointment and let Matt know I thought I knew him. Sure enough, it was the same guy.

Meredith and I arrived for our 12:30pm tasting and were greeted in the parking lot by Matt. He gave us a brief history of the property and walked us through the production area into a domed circular room inside their cave used for tastings. Matt talks fast, knows a ton about wine and more about French wine than the average Californian, and he had plenty to talk to us about regarding the wines and the winery.

Chateau Boswell has two lines of wine – those under the Chateau Boswell label and those under their Jacquelynn label. It was with a Jacquelynn wine that we started. The Jacquelynn Cuvee White was a well-made refreshing wine as summer approached in Napa, and one that both Meredith and I thought was good but not amazing. We then moved on to a side-by-side tasting of two fantastic Chardonnays: the 2009 Dutton Ranch Sebastopol Vineyard Chard and the 2009 “The Voyage” Chardonnay. Both came from the Russian River Valley and the same vintage, but each presented a different approach to Chardonnay.

Matt posed a question before we tried the wines, something along the lines of “Do you prefer a hearty opulence or a refined elegance?” He presented the Sebastopol as a bigger, meatier Chardonnay and The Voyage as a softer, more elegant version. Where Sebastopol is a single vineyard Chard, The Voyage is a blend of five Russian River vineyards from which Chateau Boswell sources fruit: Dutton Ranch House Block, Morelli, Rued, Ritchie and Sebastopol. To be honest, I thought both wines were excellent, with my preference barely swaying toward The Voyage. However, given a different food pairing or mood, I could definitely see myself choosing the Sebastopol. The easy solution? Just buy both!

Meredith at work following the tasting
There was just one more wine to try, but it was stellar: the 2009 Chateau Boswell Estate Reserve Cabernet. One of the better Cabernets I had on my visit to wine country in May, I loved this wine and expect it to age well for years. At $125, it’s not cheap, but I think it’s worth it. Although they are extremely low-production (only 102 cases of Estate Reserve Cab produced, for example), Chateau Boswell did have some library vintages available for purchase as well. It’s well documented on this site how much I love 2007 Napa Cab (although 2009 I’m finding to be close behind). Matt waffled, but it didn’t take much convincing for him to round me up a couple of bottles of the ’07 to go with my ’09.

Overall, really high quality wine and an enjoyable tasting experience at Chateua Boswell. According to their website, they charge a steep $40 tasting fee, but they do it the right way – if you purchase any wine, the entire fee is waived. No limits to hit, no awkward extra charges to leave a bad taste in your mouth. The tasting experience is used to sell wine, as it should be. This final expression of doing things right sealed their position in the upper echelon of tasting rooms I’ve been to. Well done, Matt, and well done Chateua Boswell!


Recommended wine: Both Chardonnays we tried and the Reserve Cab were all top notch.

Ratings (out of 5):


WINE
5.00
TASTING ROOM
4.75

ATMOSPHERE
5.00
VALUE
4.00

OVERALL
4.69

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