Wine in a box, one serving at a time

The end of Cal-Ital?
Not long ago, I got an e-mail from Shafer Vineyards, the Napa winery known for its excellent, and much sought-after, Relentless and Hillside Select wines. After 13 years of producing a very lush Napa sangiovese called Firebreak, owner Doug Shafer had decided to give up and move on, replanting his vineyard with grapes more common to Napa: Cabernet sauvignon, syrah and petite sirah.

Shafer has always been savvy about managing its image (these are the folks who got plenty of what TV types like to call “promotional consideration” on last summer’s Fox show “Hell’s Kitchen”) and the winery decided to end its sangio era with a bang. Not only did it title its 2003 Firebreak “Last Chance,” but it sent a bottle — wrapped in a white flag — to Piero Antinori, who as head of Tuscany’s famed Antinori winery knows a thing or two about sangiovese.

The scuttlebutt about so-called “Cal-Ital” wines — made in the Golden State using grapes native to Italy — has long been that they’re too lush and too fruity, without the earthy subtleties that have made Brunello di Montalcino or Barbaresco so renowned. 

That assessment often is true, and it’d be tempting to view Shafer’s courteous surrender as a definitive nail in Cal-Ital’s coffin. But that’s too easy. California is too big, and too young as a winemaking region, to abandon its barbera and grignolino. It is fair, though, to take Shafer’s move as a sign that Napa’s all-grapes-welcome mentality is slowly subsiding, with its best producers focusing on the sort of wine that made the world first take notice of Napa.

Could Napa grow to become the next venue for great sangiovese? The climate and soil seem to dictate otherwise, but never say never. Here’s the thing, though: The final vintage of Firebreak will retail for a suggested $42. At that price, would you rather buy the real deal from Tuscany, or the earnest replica from California?

TASTING NOTES
Three Thieves 2004 pinot grigio California “Bandit” ($10/4x250ml): Fresh and grassy, with good basic lemon and gummy melon notes. But it’s also a bit watery, with a bite on the end.

Three Thieves 2002 Cabernet sauvignon California “Bandit” ($10/4x250ml): Decent black fruit, with no shortage of sweet oak in there, by one means or another. Totally generic, with punchy sangria-like notes, plus a few years’ age to deepen it. It is what it is, but works remarkably well when swigged from the box.

Shafer 2003 sangiovese Napa Valley “Firebreak Last Chance” ($42): The well-loved winery’s final run with Italian varieties includes 8 percent Cabernet sauvignon in the mix. Dense and deep ruby, filled with sharp cherry and blackberry, and an almost tangy overtone. Hints of charred wood play in too, along with a weird syrah-like bacon scent and a whack of that classic sangiovese dust. Yet it’s all Napa at its core, with thick fruit, grainy tannins and a ton of oak in there. A classy farewell, but you can't blame them for pulling up and moving on.

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