Jordan Wine Tasting with Virtual Guest Winemaker Maggie Kruse

"Spent my days with a woman unkind,
Smoked my stuff and drank all my wine.
Made up my mind to make a new start,
Going to California with an aching in my heart."

Going to California by Led Zeppelin

I wish I was going to California… or anywhere for that matter but while sheltering in place here at Wine Watch we are now hosting virtual winemaker dinners as most people in the trade are still not travelling. 

When our friends at Jordan winery presented us with the opportunity to host a virtual winemaker dinner and offered us with an amazing collection of their library wines – all of which are available for purchase, we booked the first date open on the calendar to host this event.

Join us as we experience the new releases from Jordan Winery along with a vertical selection of Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon and the new Champagne from Jordan winery, a collaboration between winemaker emeritus Rob Davis and Champagne AR Lenoble.  Our special guest winemaker Maggie Kruse will be here to present the wines via zoom.  I have all the wines listed here along with the zoom meeting information so if you can’t make the event (there are only 14 spaces available) you can follow along at home.

The fee for this tasting which includes dinner is $175 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.

Jordan Wine Tasting with Virtual Guest Winemaker Maggie Kruse
Thursday, August 27th 2020
7:30pm

NV Brut  Champagne Jordan Cuvee
by Champagne AR Lenoble

2017 Jordan Chardonnay Sonoma

2005 Jordan Cabernet Sonoma

2006 Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma

2007 Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma

2008 Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma

2009 Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma

2010 Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma

2016 Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma

Menu

Selection of Cheese and Charcuterie

Lobster Enchalada with Tamatillo Salsa Verde

Wild Boar Lasagna with Wild Mushroom Béchamel

Maraschino Cherry Ice Cream Tartufo

The fee for this tasting which includes dinner is $175 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.

All attendees will receive a gift box with Jordan’s Olive Oil and a chance to win a
Magnum of 2014 Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon SIGNED by the Winemaker and John Jordan

Topic: Jordan Wine Dinner
Time: Aug 27, 2020 08:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/98007197301?pwd=aTRJa2EzTjBIbG8rbm81R0lqZ1VzUT09

Meeting ID: 980 0719 7301
Passcode: 627813

Library Releases from Jordan Winery

2017 Jordan Chardonnay Sonoma
Price: $39.50   Your Price: $34.76

Often mistaken for a white Burgundy, Jordan Chardonnay charms wine lovers with its subtle nuances and characteristics. Since its inaugural vintage in 1979, Jordan Chardonnay has evolved into an elegant expression of pure Russian River Valley fruit … captured in a glass.

A combination of night-harvested Russian River Valley grapes, French oak aging and old-world winemaking techniques create a balanced white wine defined by purity of stone fruit flavors, vibrant acidity and a succulent finish that makes you want to take another sip. Not a typical California Chardonnay, Jordan is harmoniously balanced to best pair with a broad range of foods.

The final blend of Jordan Chardonnay begins with nearly a dozen different vineyard blocks on the east side of the Russian River in Sonoma County. The exposed gravel deposits found in the soils of these top vineyards help give Jordan Chardonnay its elegance, minerality, and lush, lingering finish.

**All Library wines on this offering came direct from Jordan’s Cellars.

2004 Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley Magnum
Price: $252.00             Your Price: $221.76

2004 Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley (3 Liter)
Price: $960.75             Your Price: $845.46

The 2004 growing season started early with a very warm spring. Harvest began in August and ended in September. Our skilled vineyard workers picked the fruit at optimal ripeness, preserving its delicate flavors. Our hillside vineyards accounted for 30% of the final blend, giving this wine intensity and structure.

2005 Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley
Price: $143.00 Your Price: $125.84

2005 Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley (3 Liter)
Price: $960.75             Your Price: $845.46

The 2005 growing season was remarkably abundant, allowing us to thin the vines early in the season for optimal uniformity. Exceptional weather during harvest allowed the grapes to develop optimal ripeness and complex structure.

2006 Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley
Price: $143.00 Your Price: $125.84

2006 Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley Magnum
Price: $252.00             Your Price: $221.76

2006 Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley (3 Liter)
Price: $933.75             Your Price: $821.70

“A growing season without extremes, 2006 provided the opportunity for a classic vintage. The smaller berries resulted in a beautifully structured Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon that is built to endure.” — Winemaker Rob Davis

2007 Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley
Price: $143.00 Your Price: $125.84

2007 Jordan Cabernet Alexander Valley Magnum
Price: $252.00             Your Price: $221.76

2007 Jordan Cabernet Alexander Valley (3 Liter)
Price: $905.75             Your Price: $ 797.06

“2007 provided exceptional growing conditions that made the flavors in our fruit flourish, which were more intense due to the smaller crop size. The beautiful, temperate conditions allowed us to pick pristine grapes over a six-week period, ensuring optimal maturity with dark fruit flavors, mature, round tannins and bright acids.” — Winemaker Rob Davis

2008 Jordan Cabernet Alexander Valley
Price: $100.50             Your Price: $88.44

2008 Jordan Cabernet Alexander Valley Magnum
Price: $202.50             Your Price: $178.20

2008 Jordan Cabernet Alexander Valley (3 Liter)
Price: $726.75             Your Price: $639.54

“To make a wine of greatness, the vintner must accept losses in both grapes and wine due to strict quality standards similar to the very best crus in Bordeaux. Two significant frosts in spring of 2008 affected grapevine growth, lowering grape cluster yields as much as 20% per vine. More sacrifices made in the vineyard and the cellar allowed us to overcome a difficult growing season like 2008, to achieve, in the end, a classic vintage marked by elegance, restraint and Jordan’s hallmark consistency—a wine that will wow wine lovers for a decade-plus.” — Winemaker Rob Davis

2009 Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley
Price: $100.50             Your Price: $88.44

2009 Jordan Cabernet Alexander Valley Magnum
Price: $204.75             Your Price: $180.18

2009 Jordan Cabernet Alexander Valley (3 Liter)
Price: $726.75             Your Price: $639.54

“The 2009 Jordan Alexander Valley Cabernet reminds me of a great symphony—it hits all the right notes. Clearly the direction of our fruit sourcing is paying off in top dividends. We have dreamed about making a wine like this for so long; we are ecstatic!” — Winemaker Rob Davis

2010 Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley
Price: $103.50 Your Price: $91.08

2010 Jordan Cabernet Alexander Valley Magnum
Price: $184.50             Your Price: $162.36

2010 Jordan Cabernet Alexander Valley (3 Liter)
Price: $726.75             Your Price: $639.54

“The 2010 growing season in Alexander Valley, like many, had its interesting variety of cool and warm weather. Our 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon is defined by the success of top fruit sources we have been particularly focused on since 2005. This is truly a benchmark year that showcases our desire to get better each vintage.” – Winemaker Rob Davis

2011 Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma
Price: $93.50               Your Price: $82.28

2011 Jordan Cabernet Sonoma Magnum
Price: $171.00             Your Price: $150.48

2011 Jordan Cabernet Sonoma (3 Liter)
Price: $699.75             Your Price: $615.78

“2011 was one of those challenging years where agility was needed to overcome the challenges presented by Mother Nature. Despite small yields and an unseasonably cool growing season, our growers and their superb vineyard sites supplied the quality fruit necessary for us to craft a silky, fruit-forward Cabernet Sauvignon.” – Winemaker Rob Davis

2012 Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma
Price: $103.50             Your Price: $91.08

2012 Jordan Cabernet Sonoma Magnum
Price: $195.00             Your Price: $171.60

“The 2012 vintage validates our decision to elevate the black-fruit intensity in the wines without abandoning our house style. I didn’t think a wine like this was possible for Jordan twenty years ago. Our 2012 is one of the most complex, balanced Jordan Cabernet Sauvignons I’ve ever tasted upon release.” – Winemaker Rob Davis

2013 Jordan Cabernet Sonoma Magnum
Price: $195.00             Your Price: $171.60

"What began as one of the warmest, driest and earliest growing seasons on record, 2013 had moderate weather throughout summer, allowing the grapes to develop very intense, concentrated flavors with lots of structure. 2013 is the richest, most complex Jordan I’ve tasted upon release.”
—Winemaker Rob Davis

2014 Jordan Cabernet Alexander Valley Magnum
Price: $195.00             Your Price: $171.60

“Jordan is often considered more Saint-Julien in style for its early drinkability, forward fruit and elegant tannins. But the 2014 Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon follows all the cues of 2013 and then some—certainly more reminiscent of Bordeaux’s Pauillac with its broader tannins and sturdier structure. Classic black fruit is framed perfectly by a higher percentage of French oak, which assuages the lengthy fruit tannins to create a lasting finish. This will be a long-lived vintage.” —Winemaker Rob Davis

2016 Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley
Price: $72.00   Your Price: $63.36

2016 was an incredible year for Cabernet Sauvignon. Right off the vine, the fruit aromas were so bright, beautiful and rich, and the delicious fruit flavors were maintained all the way to the bottle.

“We all have vivid memories from the 2016 vintage; it’s hard not to salivate when thinking about that harvest. This is a wine that tastes great now, but also has structure to make it a phenomenal library vintage.” —Maggie Kruse, winemaker

Aromas of black cherries wrapped in a spice box of nutmeg, clove and allspice jump from the glass. The palate is filled with flavors of black currants and plum that lead seamlessly to silky tannins and black cherry notes. Blackberry, Mission fig and black cherry notes linger on the finish. The combination of elegance and intensity make it a fitting vintage to celebrate 40 years of Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon. Enjoy now after decanting for 30 minutes or cellar through 2035.

A bit about Jordan Winery:

Challenged by the idea of creating a wine that pleased his own palate, Tom Jordan found himself financially able to realize his dream of owning a winery back in the early 1970's.  Tom and Sally Jordan descended rather quietly upon the Alexander Valley in Sonoma County.  But those quiet beginnings did not hide the fact that something extraordinary was happening.  Jordan originally hoped to purchase a château in France; but stymied by the French bureaucracy and lack of great available property, he turned to California.  Having made the decision to become a vintner, Jordan hired the very best talents available.  The late Andre Tchelistcheff, the prominent Russian-born consultant, credited with much of the improvements seen in the California wine business, was engaged.  Teams of soil experts made extensive tests on all the land being considered for purchase.  A young, talented winemaker fresh from UC Davis named Rob Davis was hired to make the wine in close tandem with Tchelistcheff.  After months of deliberation, 280 acres were planted to grapes in a part of northern California that was, until then, not considered a prime spot for wineries.  That first calculated risk - to buy acreage in Sonoma's untested Alexander Valley - has turned out to be fortuitous.  The cool nights and long periods of fog that extend from winter to as late as June and July help preserve the fruity quality of the grapes.  Characteristically choosing his own path, Jordan set out to make a style of wine to his own palate preferences.  "I love the Bordeaux style," says Jordan, "I didn't want to produce monster wines.  Though the monsters are very good in their own way, that isn't what I wanted."

Tom Jordan then proceeded to build one of the most spectacular wineries in North America, a château of yellow stucco with a gravel courtyard, reddish tile floors, and an orange terra-cotta roof that looks out over the Alexander Valley.  It could just as well be on a promontory above the Gironde estuary in the famous Bordeaux villages of Pauillac or St. Julien.  Upstairs, there are three bedroom suites filled with Oriental carpets, Louis XV reproductions, and genuine antiques.  Enormous redwood beams are everywhere, including a massive structure of 12 by 12's framing a fireplace.  The bathrooms have marble sinks and tubs with gilded fixtures and gooseneck faucets...even bidets, just as in every French château!  Through a glass door on the inside wall of the master bedroom suite is a balcony above the winery itself.  A guest seated on a sofa can look through the glass and see row upon row of oak storage tanks where the cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and chardonnay are aging.  The estimated cost of this magnificent structure was $15 million (in 1976 dollars).

The Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon was, from its first year (1976), one of the most popular Cabernet Sauvignons produced in California.  The wines have been described as "elegant" and "feminine" by some critics - others would prefer more concentration of fruit and structure for aging.  The wines are designed to be drunk with food, have never been considered among the blockbuster wines of California, and are meant to be drunk between the ages of five and ten years old.  The first vintage that we really liked was the 1978 - a wine that scored first in our extensive tastings (conducted in 1982) of all the great California Cabernets of the 1978 vintage.  The 1978 was followed by an equally great 1979 and 1981.   By 1984, Jordan Cabernets were riding at the top of the heap and were tightly allocated.  During the late 1980's and 1990's we never quite understood the demand for Jordan, for we have felt that the winery's recent Cabernets have not rivaled the great wines of those early years.  Some critics have been particularly tough on Jordan Cabernets.  James Laube, an editor of The Wine Spectator, said of Jordan in his California's Great Cabernets: "...collectors and investors who are holding on to these wines in hopes of aging them...will be disappointed."  Robert Parker, editor of The Wine Advocate has wondered "if the wines are as good as they should be."  However, American restaurant patrons have no doubt about the quality of Jordan; for years it has been the leading selling premium Cabernet according to polls conducted by Wine & Spirits.

The winery is also noted for its Chardonnay - though many believe that the Chardonnay has ridden the road to success on the coattails of the enormously popular Cabernet.  When Jordan began planting grapes in 1972, he put down cabernet sauvignon and merlot vines in the reddish soil in low-lying land near the Russian River.  But the American wine boom, just then building up steam, seemed to be concentrated on white wines; and Tom Jordan remembered that he was first a businessman.  "I lost my nerve and pulled out 80 acres of two-year-old cabernet and merlot," he recalls, "and planted 80 acres of chardonnay."  When fully planted, Jordan Estate about 120 acres of Bordeaux varieties under vine, divided into 20 individual blocks: roughly 88 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon, 24 acres of Petit Verdot, four acres of Merlot and three acres of Malbec. Using results from an extensive soil-mapping study, our vineyards are micro-farmed according to soil type, texture and water-holding capacity. Our vineyards are sustainably certified and carry numerous green business certifications. The oldest vines were planted in 1996, but a replant of all estate vineyards is underway from 2018 to 2021.
Rob Davis, Jordan’s first winemaker, transitioned sourcing Chardonnay grapes from Alexander Valley in favor of grapes from the Russian River Valley in 2000. He sought to emulate the stone fruit flavors, vibrant acidity and minerality found in the best white Burgundies of Puligny-Montrachet and Meursault, and he never looked back. The Russian River’s distinct climate and its soils help us to craft a Chardonnay that is more akin to France than California.

The final blend of Jordan Chardonnay begins with roughly a dozen different vineyard blocks from five sites on the east side of the Russian River with gravelly, well-drained soils. Vines range in age from three to 35 years and are planted to a variety of Dijon and UC-Davis clones. The exposed gravel deposits of these vineyards help give Jordan Chardonnay its elegance, minerality and lush, lingering finish. These Russian River Valley vineyards are situated just 15 miles southwest of the warmer, mountainous Alexander Valley where Jordan Estate is located. All Jordan Chardonnay grower vineyards are Sonoma Sustainable certified.

Thanks to Jordan’s long-term relationships with their extended family of growers and historical experience with many of the region’s vineyards, Chardonnay grapes are grown precisely to their standards from vintage to vintage. Winemaker Maggie Kruse works closely with their growers to adapt every minute detail of the winegrowing process based on constant changes during each growing season.

Even after four decades, we refuse to rest on our laurels. John Jordan and Winemaker Maggie Kruse continue to push the farthest boundaries of winemaking quality with a diverse selection of vineyard blocks, fine-tuned year after year. Honoring the best of France’s winegrowing philosophies, grapes from our estate vineyards and a family of Sonoma County growers receive equal consideration for our master blends. Only the highest-ranking wine lots will be selected for Jordan’s barrel cellar, where a judicious combination of mature and new oak, primarily French, helps Jordan wines achieve our elegant style. The inspiration for Jordan wines include the noted Chardonnay appellations of Meursault and Puligny-Montrachet in Burgundy, and Saint-Julien and Pauillac in Bordeaux, villages known for their silky, Cabernet Sauvignon blends.

While current trends in much of winemaking today may focus on recipes for crafting big, powerful wines to garner scores, Jordan remains committed to a timeless style of wine renowned by chefs, sommeliers and consumers alike for its food pairing affinity.