Far Niente Celebrates in Style
July 27, 2004
By Jenny Peters

For lovers of fine wine, a trip to Napa Valley is always a wonderful way to spend the weekend, visiting great wineries and trying out a new restaurant or an old favorite.  There's much to love in the valley, from the way the sun hits the vine-laden landscapes to the scent of the air, hot and dusty during a summer day and then morphing to crisp and clean as the afternoon winds blow in the sea air.

It's always fabulous in the valley, but last Saturday the fabulous turned downright fantastic, as Far Niente Winery celebrated their 25th Retrospective with an incredible day that began with a special invitation-only vertical tasting of Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, the two wines that, along with their Dolce late harvest dessert wine, make up the extent of their production.

Fifty lucky participants joined Far Niente partners Beth, Erik, and Jeremy Nickel, Larry Maguire, and Dirk Hampson (who is also Director of Winemaking), along with current Winemaker Stephanie Putnam, out in the carriage house, the winery's classic car barn packed with to-die-for vintage autos, for a quick reception. Standing amidst the gorgeous cars that Gil Nickel, the Oklahoma entrepreneur who rescued the Far Niente Winery from disrepair back in 1979, one couldn't help but feel sad that he didn't live long enough to experience this celebration.  Nickel succumbed to cancer last year, but his wife Beth, son Jeremy, and nephew Erik, along with Maguire and Hampson, are keeping his vision intact and today both celebrating and remembering him.

After a quick (and slightly lustful) look at the cars, it was on to the main hall of the winery, where glasses of ten different Chardonnays ranging from 1979 to 2003 awaited tasting.  "I can't believe that twenty-five years has gone by since we got here," Beth Nickel said welcomingly, then choked up a bit.  "Being here without Gil is hard."

But considering that the Far Niente wines being tasted were all a direct result of Gil Nickel's personal philosophy of concentrating on making just two fine wines every year, it would seem that he was still with the group, who began busily swirling, tasting, and (sadly) spitting out his signature Chardonnays.  After the 1979 vintage, a deep honey color whose taste proved that there probably is a limit to aging even the best white wines, every one of the following vintages, particularly the 1984 and the 1990, were densely flavorful, with balanced structure and Far Niente's signature balance of oak and citrusy fruit.

Then it was on to the caves, where a complete vertical flight of the winery's Cabernet Sauvignons were presented on an awe-inspiring table literally stacked with glasses of wine. And again, the older vintages (with a few exceptions, like the 1992, with a thin, flavorless taste, and the year Dirk Hampson described as "the most trying year in my career as a winemaker") stood the test of time beautifully, with standouts being the 1990, 1991, 1997, 2001, 2002, and for future reference, the 2003, which came out of the barrel and showed substantially less tannins than wines twice its age.  "The 2003 is what we've been setting the style for over all these years," said Hampson proudly.

After the afternoon of tasting and spitting, it was a relief to arrive at the Gala Dinner that evening, and actually get to swallow whatever Far Niente vintage tickled our fancy.  The evening began in the caves, where a gaggle of well-heeled guests hit tasting stations that awaited down every aisle.  Watching wine stewards pour liquidly beautiful, darkly red Cabernets from a huge Nebuchadnezzar bottle (one holds 15 liters, or 20 bottles of wine) into a decanter is an experience that hasn't happened very often in my lifetime, and it's hard to image it will again.

After lots of tastes and appetizers to go along, the party moved out onto the great lawn of the old stone winery, to celebrate the anniversary under a huge tent.  Well-known chefs and restaurateurs on hand for the festivities included Kevin Cronin of Tre Vigne restaurant, St. Helena's jewel (and one of my favorites in the valley), was in the crowd, as was Peter Fleming of Fleming's steakhouses and Cindy Pawlcyn of Mustard's, along with "Bon Appetit" magazine's Barbara Fairchild.

During dinner more wines were poured, of course, including two Chardonnays (1990 and 2000), four Cabernets (1986, 1990, 1994, and 2001), and two Dolces (1997 and 2000).  Each wine was paired with delicious food created by winery executive chef Michael Cornu, including a wonderful concoction of lobster, langoustines, and sea scallops for starters with the Chard and yummy beef short ribs and buffalo steak as the main with the Cabs.

The only problem with such a wonderful and extravagant day?  Getting up the next morning.  Ouch!

As Larry Maguire put it, "It will be quite a while before we try to put on another one of these!"  Good thing, since we need some time to recover from such a special evening, but most likely a certainty, considering that Far Niente seems to be getting better and better as the years go by.

You can now visit the winery for tastings, to tour the car collection, and see the beautiful gardens, a recent development just inaugurated in May.  To make an appointment or order their wines (even some of the old ones mentioned here), go to www.farniente.com or call 707-944-2861.