Serendipity is a great thing.  Sometimes something unexpected catches your eye.  It's a mistake to ignore such finds.  Frequently it pays off to stop and explore that which is unknown to us.  Such was the case on a recent Friday night at Mille Fleurs Restaurant, where I was enjoying an appetizer at the lively piano bar.  I asked our bartender for the wine list.  They have a great one, and I've perused it countless times, but I always seek to try something new.  The wine buyer for the restaurant has a great palate, and if they feature something on the menu that most wine afficionados have never heard of, it is most likely because it showed well in a direct tasting with the owner and his wine buying staff.

This particular night I saw a caberenet based wine from St. Helena Road Winery, called the "Roy J. Maier Cabernet Sauvignon".  It was from Sonoma.  I had never heard of St. Helena Road Winery, nor had I heard of Roy J. Maier.  Given that I tour Napa and Sonoma quite extensively,  and do a lot of research for this site and other wine endeavours,  I am always interested in wineries that I have never heard of.  This is particularly true when they are featured in restaurants with formidable wine lists.  The wine was in the mid-range of prices for Cabernets.  No one with me (or around me) had heard of the wine.  So I took a gamble and ordered a bottle.  It was the best move I made all night!

The wine is actually a Bordeaux style blend of 80% cabernet sauvignon, 10% merlot, 5% malbec, 4% cabernet franc, and 1% petite verdot.  The wine was aged in French Oak, 70% new.  It has great coloring, and a huge bouquet that leaps from the glass with little provocation.  Black currant, mint, anise, and coffee hit the nose hard, followed by a nicely balanced approach on the palate with layers of black fruit and crushed plums.  Sweet without being jammy, and silky tannin that give the wine a Bordeaux like elegance without the 10 years of ageing that the latter wines require to achieve such balance.  This was a phenomenal wine, and the most shocking revelation regarding the wine is that this was the first vintage for this winery.

So what is St. Helena Road Winery?  They are a family owned estate winery that makes only one wine, the Roy J. Maier Cabernet Sauvignon (Blend).  The grapes are 100% estate grown on the family vineyard in the Sonoma mountains.  The winery was built new, and passed county inspections in 2004.  They produced about 500 cases of wine for thier first vintage in 2003, with plans to increase production to 900 cases for the 2004 vintage.  So who is Roy J. Maier?  He was the grandfather of the current winery owner, and was a respected jazz musician of the 1920's before starting a  company in the 1930's that made reeds for saxophones and other woodwind instruments.  The legacy of the Roy Maier's company provided the capital for this winery.  The name of the wine is the family's tribute to their talented and entrepeneurial grandfather.

This was an outstanding wine, and warrants 4 stars.  The 2003 is sold out, and the 2004 retails for $49.00.  I imagine that savy internet consumers can obtain it at a discount if they shop around.  Otherwise, it can be obtained at the retail price by ordering from the winery web site www.StHelenaRdWinery.com

 

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