Wente’s 1978 Centennial Reserve Petite Sirah delivers

I recently pulled out the pair of 1978 bottles from Wente Bros. for dinner after a tasting with several friends.  I thought I would write about these wines separately, as the history is a bit interesting.  Wente Bros. of Livermore, California was founded in 1883 by Carl Heinrich Wente who came over from Hanover, Germany.  His background was in husbandry but as cellar man to Charles Krug he learned to make wine.  Nearly 80 years later, his grandson Karl Wente took over the management of the winery.  In 1975, Karl Wente was named Wine Man of the year.  This was just the second award given out by the Friends of the Junior Art Center for the first went to Andre Tschelistcheff.  The distinguished company is is not surprising for historic newspaper accounts reveal the high regard held for the wines of Wente.

Carl Heinrich Wente brought cuttings from France to California to plant in his vineyards.  The alluvial deposits of the Livermore Valley were regarded as similar to the soils of Graves thus early plantings included Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc, and even Chardonnay. It was through the mid 20th century that Wente’s fame came from its Semillon.  In 1939, The Marquis de la Saluces, of Chateau d’Yquem, even visited Wente to see how his Semillon cuttings were coming along.   In the 1940s, you could purchase the “Cali Chateau Yquem” from the “famed” Wente Brothers.  Jane Nickerson commented on the various Wente white wines, noting the Semillon wines were the closest category to French Sauternes.

Second generation, Hermann Wente passed away in 1961.  Third-generation Karl Wente subsequently modernized the winery in 1964 and 1965.  This efforted included a new, large insulated and air conditioned winery, stainless steel presses and stainless steel tanks with temperature controlled jackets.  There was room for one million gallons of wine in tank and 50,000 bottles.  Of course, the old oak oval barrels still had their place in the winery.

In the late 1970s, neighboring Joe Concannon advocated for Petite Sirah from the Livermore Valley.  The Petite Sirah name was often lent to the “more vulgar” cousin Duriff which grew throughout California.  Petite Sirah and Duriff were typically used as a blending wine but Joe Concannon started to bottle Petite Sirah as a single variety.  After many years of bottle aging it would provide a wine with a “dependable bottle bouquet”.  Concannon’s Petite Sirah became a benchmark for the variety.

The fourth generation of Wente brothers took control of the winery in 1977.  Wente followed Concannon for they chose to release the 1978 vintage of Petite Sirah on their centennial anniversary.  Wente had planted Duriff in 1916, which was used in their Burgundy, but it was pulled out for Petite Sirah in 1940.

This choice paid off for 1978 Wente Bros., Petite Sirah, Centennial Reserve, Livermore Valley showed well at our dinner.  After double-decanting, it slowly improved over the course of an hour.  It is a dark flavored wine, supple and dense, yet eminanting from it is an attractive, floral quality.  There are many years of life ahead.  While I do not know if it will ever become more complex, it speaks entirely of 1970s California which I like.  Sadly, the 1978 Wente Bros., Cabernet Sauvignon, Livermore Valley has not held up.  It is dark and rich with almost no supporting acidity.

1978 Wente Bros., Petite Sirah, Centennial Reserve, Livermore Valley
This wine was aged for 6 months in small oak barrels then a further 2 years in large oak and redwood cooperage.  Alcohol 12.5%.  Perfumed on the nose, with air dark fruit with floral notes lifting it up.  Supple in the mouth but dark and dense with ripe spices and a lovely, inky nature.  It is perfumed in flavor and expansive in the mouth.  ***(*) Now – 2024.

1978 Wente Bros., Cabernet Sauvignon, Livermore Valley
Alcohol 12.5%.  Dark in color, dark in aroma and flavor.  Unfortunately, this wine is past prime, you can smell it on the nose and in the mouth it is flabby with almost no supporting acidity.  It might have been a very fruity, forward wine in youth.  Not Rated.

A lively 1964 Luigi Nervi, Spanna

I was in New York the other week for a midday tasting of some seriously fine and old Rioja.  That evening, I was to meet my friend William for dinner.  In need of some wine to help me transition from very old to young vintages, I stopped by Chambers Street Wines for a bottle. I knew from another friend that they are happy to double-decant wines for their customers which is exactly what they did with the 1964 Luigi Nervi, Spanna.

Luigi Nervi & Figlio was founded in 1920, eventually becoming the largest vineyard owner in Gattinara.  This bottle is simply named Spanna, which is the local name for Nebbiolo.  The Spanna bottlings are more generic than Gattinara so its possible for other varieties to have been blended in.  According to the Wasserman’s, the Nervi’s ranked 1964 as amongst the very best vintages.

This bottle was tasted after four to six hours of decanting.  It is a lighter flavored, greenhouse accented wine which does not have the fruit nor the depth of the 1964 Nervi, Gattinara.  What it does have is that undeniably attractive, Alto Piemonte acidity and structure.

1964 Luigi Nervi, Spanna 
Imported by T. Elenteny.  Initially dusty on the nose.  After a few hours, a bit herbaceous with greenhouse aromas on the nose.  These eventually resolve to celery.  The nose carries into the mouth where there are tart flavors with good acidity and grip.  There is some weight and old leather but any fruit has largely faded away.  There is plenty of presence in the mouth with enough flavor to hold interest.  **(*) Now but will last.

“[A] great prejudice here against all Wine…from any of the Northern Cities”: Motivation for Higham, Fife & Co.’s concern about the adulteration of Madeira wine

Nearly once a year, the Charleston firm of Higham & Fife advertised the acceptance of orders for Madeira wine shipped direct from the house of Newton, Gordon, Murdoch, & Scott to Charleston.  These advertisements begin in 1820, just five years after the flow of Madeira into America resumed after decades of war.[1]

Higham, Fife, & Co advertisement from 18 February 1824. [1]

Madeira was the drink of choice in America but it was not always readily available.  The availability was first disrupted during the American Revolutionary War.  While the Madeira trade did resume it was increasingly restricted during the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815), The War of 1812 (1812-1815), and stopped altogether with the British blockade in the Atlantic Ocean.

When Madeira imports picked up again in 1815, demand was so high that even Thomas Jefferson felt Madeira had reached an “exorbitance of price”.[2]  When Jefferson did order wine that year, he requested it be double cased so as to protect against adulteration.  Two years later, in 1817, Hutchins G. Burton shipped a barrel of wine to Jefferson from North Carolina.[3]  He warned against the possibility of adulteration as “Waggonners sometimes take the liberty of playing tricks”.

Higham, Fife & Co covers to Newton, Gordon, Murdoch, & Scott of Madeira.  Image linked to Schuyler Rumsey Philatelic Auctions.

The adulteration of wine was long a problem both in transit to and within America.  One can imagine though, that the high cost of Madeira made it even more common if not simply more intolerable.  Mannie Berk, The Rare Wine Co., relayed to me that Higham, Fife, & Co. were sensitive to their clients’ views on adulteration.[4]  In 1824, the firm wrote to Newton, Gordon, Murdoch, and Scott explaining how they would prefer to wait several months for direct shipment of their Madeira to Charleston rather than having it sent through New York or any other ports.  They explained that “there is a great prejudice here against all Wine & Liquors received from any of the Northern Cities” for no one will believe they are not adulterated.

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[1] Southern Patriot Wednesday, Feb 18, 1824 Charleston, SC Page: 3. GenealogyBank.

[2] “Thomas Jefferson to John F. Oliveira Fernandes, 16 December 1815,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed April 11, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-09-02-0163. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series, vol. 9, September 1815 to April 1816, ed. J. Jefferson Looney. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012, pp. 263–264.]

[3] “Hutchins G. Burton to Thomas Jefferson, 2 April 1817,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed April 11, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-11-02-0200. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series, vol. 11, 19 January to 31 August 1817, ed. J. Jefferson Looney. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014, p. 238.]

[4]  Higham, Fife, & Co. to Newton, Gordon, Murdoch, & Scott, 26 February 1824.  Transcription provided by Mannie Berk, The Rare Wine Co., who continues to surprise me, year after year, with relevant facts he has carefully accumulated.