Each week I pick out one wine to highlight as my wine of the week. This wine may be an outstanding wine, a great value or just something very interesting.

Overview

I guess you can call this a Social Media relationship. I learned of Jean Edwards Cellars via Twitter. I read their Tweets and started following them, luckily they followed me back. Over the last couple of years we have exchanged jokes and Tweets about just about everything. I was finally able to order a few bottles of their wine, and after giving a bottle a good 15 minutes to recover from the trip half way across the country, I popped the cork. I am now a big fan and I spread their name to anyone who will listen to me. I highly encourage you to check out their website and join their mailing list. These are two very nice people making some of the best wine in the Napa Valley.

The Winery

The owners of Jean Edwards Cellars are John and Karen Troisi. Karen and John used their middle names when determining what to name their winery. The couple is a bi-coastal family, retaining their home in New Jersey but also setting up a west coast residence in California’s wine country. When they are in New Jersey, the third member of their team, Kian Tavakoli, their consulting winemaker handles the day to day duties. Jean Edwards uses the custom crush facilities at the Michael Mondavi Family Winery.

In their words:

We are the owner/vintners of Jean Edwards Cellars – we share a passion for wine, a similar palate and a singular vision on the style of wines we produce. We live by our motto that “you should only make wines you love to drink” and focus our production on artisan red wines that are full-bodied and classically styled.

Quality and heritage are important to us – our wines are reflective of their origins and are sourced some of the most prestigious vineyards (and vineyard blocks) throughout Napa Valley including Stagecoach Vineyard (on Pritchard Hill); vineyards on the valley floor in Rutherford, Oakville and Coombsville; and mountain vineyards on Howell and Spring Mountain.

Time really flies – we started producing commercial wines in 2004 but our dream of producing high quality Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon wines started much earlier when we traveled to the valley in 1985. During that trip, we developed a true appreciation for cabernet sauvignon wines and decided we would some day be a part of the business and produce a wine called Jean Edwards Cellars (our two middle names). It was a goal worth waiting for and twenty plus years later we released our first wine in the Spring of 2006.

For more information, to order wine, or to join the Jean Edwards mailing list, visit their website.

2011 Jean Edwards Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley – SRP $65

This is a new wine for the winery. It is sourced from a well-known vineyard on the eastern hillsides of St. Helena (just below Howell Mountain). According to the winery, “We wish we could share the vineyard name with you, but contractually we can’t”. This wine has 12% Merlot blended in with the Cabernet Sauvignon.

This has 14.2% alcohol by volume and is sealed with a natural cork.

My Tasting Note

The wine is a medium to deep ruby red color. The very inviting nose has cassis, stony minerals, mint, black cherries, cedar, tobacco, baking spices and violets. This has medium body, moderate tannins and very good acidity. On the palate the rich cassis and spice jump out first with cedar, minerals and mint coming in later. The finish has very good length with the fruit and mint seeming to linger forever. For such a young wine, this already tastes very good. Down the road this could turn into something very special. (94 pts)

2011 Jean Edwards Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

Connect with me

You can follow me on Twitter for more wine info, potential food pairings, and an occasional recipe or two. Be warned, I’m also a sports fan and there are occasional Pittsburgh Penguins, Steelers, and Pirates tweets. I attended the University of South Carolina, so during football season, there will also be some Gamecock posts.

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Cheers!

* Shameless Self Promotion *

Here is a link to a YouTube video of me getting “coal” from Santa for being named the “Nicest Person in Social Media” in 2012.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOvQTeGR3-c

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Notes – I use the “official” Cellar Tracker name for the wines. I use Cellar Tracker to help manage and organize my cellar. I highly recommend checking it out at www.cellartracker.com. Loading you existing cellar is a lot less intimidating than it would first appear. There is a good chance 99% of your wine is already in the system, so you generally only need to enter part of the wine’s name and the system will find it for you.

Prices noted are the prices I paid at the time of purchase. I don’t shop around to find the best prices, but my local store is usually VERY competitive. I generally get case discounts, and since I work there part time, I get a 5% discount. Wines purchased direct from a winery do not include any shipping charges. None of the prices include the sales tax.

All wines that were sent to me free of charge to sample will be noted and I will show suggested prices when available.