The Iron Chevsky Wine Blog

When I started covering Dunn Vineyards few years back , they seemed to be a classic winery, kind of left in the past, unpretentious, un-marketed, appreciated mainly by wine geeks. I immediately fell in love with the wines, and wrote about them with great enthusiasm and appreciation on this blog. In the last couple of years, the famous critics seemed to have re-discovered Dunn, bestowed raving articles and high scores upon them, and the winery now enjoys more prestige and buzz, which in my opinion they duly deserve. I am proud to have jumped on the Dunn band-wagon earlier, and happy to see that Mike Dunn has not let the recent recognition go to his head. Still the same down-to-earth, easy-going man that makes you feel comfortable whenever you sit down with him at the Dunn's family home in Angwin (Howell Mountain). Unfortunately, alas, prices expectedly are up, though still far below other top cabs. In January, I made a trek over there to pick up my case of 1998's - one of my ...

Dunn is one of my all-time favorite Napa Valley wineries, and along with Diamond Creek and Ridge, is a reference point for what a mountain Cabernet should taste like. I love the wines. They have stood the test of time. They are incredibly versatile with food, due to acidity, savoriness, and low-alcohol frame. They are intense (without being heavy) with dark fruit, tar and mountain rocks, and echos of pine forest. They are not easy to understand for newbies because they are tannic and rugged, with zesty herbs and root vegetables pronouncing themselves with age. By the time the tannins soften (10-15-20 years+ down the road), the baby plushness and primary fruit sweetness are gone, and you get great intensity and complexity that is anything but "fruity" - perhaps an acquired taste. Mike Dunn, Randy Dunn's son who works and makes the wines alongside Randy, has always been an incredibly fun and gracious host. Simple and honest to deal with - no BS, no marketing. The wines ar...

I run a wine tasting club at  Tango . It's a great perk for employees, especially when their VP of Engineering (i.e. yours truly) personally invests time and energy to entertain and educate. About a third of the company attends, it's popular. To celebrate our recent D round ( $280M ) and passing 200m registered users, we splurged a little bit. See for yourself - this was a mesmerizing line-up of some of the world's greatest wines. Chave and Quintarelli were jaw-droppingly, mind-bogglingly great. Others - very good too. Tasting notes: JL Chave Hermitage blanc 2009 - wow, amazing wine, depth, complexity, impact! Up there with top grand cru white burgundy. Marquis d'Angerville Volnay 1er "Clos des Ducs" monopole 2006 - top wine from Volnay, complex and interesting, secondary notes, but a bit medicinal / pine-needle and in need of more time to smooth out the remaining tannins. I suspect that 2006 was not the greatest vintage of this legendary wine. Gia...

For background, see notes from my two previous tastings at Dunn Vineyards  atop of Howell Mountain  here  and  here . It's been 2.5 years since - almost exactly my son's age and my tenure at  Tango , the two passions that have dominated my life. But finally, the stage was set for my third passion - and on a very rare day off, off to Napa Valley I went! Dunn Howell Mountain Cabernets: 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2008 The first whiff of Dunn Howell Mountain Cabernet with some age, and a smile comes over my face... I love this stuff, just love it. So damn delicious and drinkable. "Oh yeah, that's what I was hoping for!" In front of me a lineup of epic proportions - three decades of Dunn Howell Mountain Cabernet, from 1980's through 2000's, fifteen bottles in all, 100% cab. A fascinating display of the evolution of the wines through time. A rare treat, perhaps never done before, maybe never ...

What did I do with the left-over 1986 Dunn? (See my previous post to find out where I got it). I sucked the air out, put it in the fridge, and a few days of hibernation did it no harm, even despite the seemingly fragile age. These babies can last! Without the distraction of other Dunns , I had no need to over-analyze or draw comparisons. Mano-a-mano against the smoked Russian cold cuts, this Dunn was killer, with its own cured meat, leather, and eucalyptus notes. The meats? Cured pork loin, cured beef tongue, and Estonska sausage - Russian store all-time favorites. Over the past week, I paired the '93 and '86 Dunns with arugula salad with dried berries and balsamic vinegar, beef bourguignon, angel hair pasta with meatballs in red sauce, and now the smoked cold cut meats. These Howell Mountain Cabs of yesteryear performed great in all those pairings. I think it's the cool earthiness and the great acidity that make them work. Hat's off to Randy Dunn for making such great...

My last memory of 2010 was my first visit to Dunn Vineyards, on January 31. Mike Dunn made time to taste through a royal array of his Howell Mountain cabs: 1989, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006. Out of appreciation of the wines, and sub-consciously maybe the appreciation of his hospitality, I did extol the winery. Value-wise, Dunns appear to be priced incredibly competitively for California, and arguably more in-line with 3rd, 4th, and 5th Growth Grand Cru Bordeaux of similar quality. Not inexpensive (new releases selling for $80+), but certainly nowhere near the prices of the top wines of the other Napa brand names that I have visited in the past year. The account of my first meeting with Mike Dunn, along with the introduction to the winery and the Howell Mountain sub-appellation is here . The follow-up visit this weekend was to dive deeper into the Dunn cellar, and to hopefully re-examine the initial impressions. Mike pulled a 1985, 1986, 1987, 1991, 1992, and 1993 Howell Moun...

Rona and I were having a Sunday brunch at Ad Hoc. Phenomenal comfort food! The brunch menu consisted of smoked salmon on brioche for starters, short ribs with eggs, mushrooms, and potato cakes (hash browns) for mains, and vanilla panna cotta for dessert. I brought in the left-overs of the '98 Dunn cab opened two days ago, about a third of a bottle left, and the wine was absolute killer with short ribs and sauteed mushrooms - great acidity, little animal, wet earth and forest floor, graphite and mocha dark, very satisfying - I would have never guessed it was a domestic! I felt like I was in a French bistro! As usual, I was taking photos of the food and ambiance. Surveying the room, I saw the "Ad Hoc" sign on the far-away wall. I wanted to point and shoot, but Rona stopped me lest I disturb the table next to us. Then I noticed directly in the line between me and the wall, the TV star of Hell's Kitchen and world famous chef Gordon Ramsay with his wife Tana and kids, and ...

Few hours remaining in the year. Am I Dunn yet? Not until Mike Dunn and I spend a couple of hours drinking through his stash. While everyone else was getting ready for New Year's, I headed to Howell Mountain, overlooking Napa Valley, to check out what the fuss in my wine circles was all about. A year ago, a friend treated a group of us to a killer magnum of 1999 Cabernet Sauvignon from Dunn, and that bottle still decorates my butler's pantry. Dunn is a small family-owned operation, run by Randy (dad), Lori (mom), Kristina (sister) and Mike, with a long standing office manager and vineyard crew. They make a respectable 4000 cases a year, and been making cabs since 1979 from old vines (some since replanted) atop the rural Howell Mountain just 15 minutes east of Saint Helena in the town of Angwin. Not much else seems to be going on there but wine making and Seventh Day Adventist church-going. Yet, Randy Dunn, who was the wine-maker at Caymus from 1975 to 1985, and his son Mike man...