"They all graduate from UC Davis or Fresno, and all the wines taste the same."
I was thinking about this off-the cuff remark as I was doing my bicycling-and-tasting-my-way-through-the-Napa Valley-thing today. There does seem, indeed, to be a particular style of wine making among many-but not all-of the Napa Valley wines-especially Cabernet Sauvignon. Is it just the "terroir"? I'm not sure, because the OTHER winemakers (the ones I like more, frankly) don't seem to have this kind of character-the caremlly, somewhat harsh, no herbal savoriness when young, and lots of alcohol. This is the most common Napa style, and I continue on my search fro wines that don't have this as much.
Signorello, for example, has a bit of this "Mediocre Napa Cab" character just at the very, very beginning -then wow, the savoriness comes in and the wine becomes delicious at midtaste and on the finish -especially at the price point of $40 for a small production Cab near Stag's Leap.
I look at the brochure on the company-family owned, small production, and a
FRENCH winemaker