2000 Ca' Togni Napa Valley Sweet Red Wine

One of Togni’s specialties is a sweet red wine made from the black muscat grape. The 2000 Ca Togni tips the scales at 14.7% alcohol, and has over 20% residual sugar, although it’s not the least bit cloying. An extraordinary perfume of flowers, raisins, plums, figs, incense, and Asian spice soars from the glass, followed by a sweet, gloriously pure wine that is relatively light on its feet. It offers a decadent glass of sweet wine that is best enjoyed as dessert at the conclusion of a meal. I have no experience with aging these wines, but given their extraordinary perfumes, I recommend drinking them during their first 4-5 years of life. As a postscript, I want to acknowledge a wine Philip Togni produced early in his career at Chappellet, the 1969 Cabernet Sauvignon. Recently, one of my dearest friends, Dr. Jay Miller, was feting his 60th birthday, and brought a bottle of this wine along with a collection of profound museum pieces. Togni’s ‘69 may be one of the greatest California Cabernet Sauvignons I have ever tasted. Every bottle I have had seems to get better and better. This 36-year-old wine tastes like a 14- or 15-year-old adolescent except for the extraordinary soaring aromatics of creme de cassis, spice box, incense, and cedar. In the mouth, it’s gorgeously fresh, full-bodied, super-concentrated, and revealing no signs of age. It is both a monument to California Cabernet Sauvignon and an homage to a feisty British-born winemaker who continues to turn out some of the world’s most interesting wines. Tel. (707) 963-3731; Fax (707) 963-9186