Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/26650
INTRO-VINOUS Flying High I by E. C. Gladstone TIM DARRIN OF DAVIANA WINERY WENT FROM AVOIDING GRAPES TO LOVING THEM t isn’t every day that a neophyte winemaker with no experience wins two Gold Medals from the San Francisco International Wine Competition with his very first bottlings. In fact, this might be the only time. And the story of how Daviana Winery’s Tim Darrin did it is as unlikely as they come. When Darrin first arrived in Napa, he admits, “I spent the whole time avoiding grapes.” Darrin means it—that was the late ‘70s, when Darrin’s Adventures Aloft brought Napa its first hot air balloon, forever trying not to land it in the vines. It was only when he and wife Debbie bought a 24-acre property in Napa’s Coombsville area (official AVA under review), next door to Far Niente’s Dolce vineyard, and near Silverado and Meteor, that he became interested. Tim Darrin. “I like to reinvent myself every once in a while,” he says slyly. Darrin pulled out the original Chardonnay grapes and had Vineyard Manager Michael Wolf plant several Cabernet clones, Cab Franc and even “pauper” grape Grenache because, as Wolf told him, “You might want a few spices on the rack.” Just shy of his 50th birthday, Darrin enrolled in winemaking classes at Napa Valley College. It would appear he aced his final test. Of the four 2007 bottlings (only 171 cases total), the two wines that weren’t submitted for competition (and still sold out) show just as nicely as the ones that won Golds. The Daviana Red Wine (SRP $55), a Bordeaux-style blend of 58% Cab Sauv and 42% Cab Franc, aged in 50% new French oak, shows raspberry/strawberry and a little tobacco on the nose with a palate of ripe berries, red pepper and ash followed by black tea, pluot and a little dark chocolate, and a long tart finish. The Daviana Estate Cab Sauv (SRP $65), a blend of four clones, aged individually in 50% new French oak, with 15% alcohol, has a bright cherry and floral nose, lush cherry-plum palate, with a creamy caramel mid-palate and that “Jolly Rancher” end- less finish—a bit of earth and mineral on the very end. Simply gorgeous. “Our wines really are food friendly,” Darrin says. “We don’t have huge tannin structure—it’s not a typical over-extracted Napa Cab.” With two teenagers in the house, the Darrins intend to keep production small (Duckhorn and Andy Erickson take most of his grapes). Clearly this is a labor of love, emphasis on both ‘L’ words. “I have never worked so hard to make so little,” he says, sound- ing tired but happy. 32 / the tasting panel / march 201 1 PHOTO: DAVID DARRIN