Stefan Dolhain

8.9

2019 vintage. Strawberry jam and spices. Round mouthfeel, not particularly complex. A little alcoholic heath in the finish. — 9 months ago

Tom Garland

9.5

Cliff Lede Vineyard Valentines Day Dinner in their tank room. Fun party and generous pours.

2019 FEL pinot gris
2012 FEL pinot,  savoy vineyard
2019 FEL chardonnay, savoy vineyard
2008 Cliff Lede songbook cab..Stunning!!
2018 Cliff Lede poetry cab..Must try!!!
2018 Cliff Lede cab sav, Beckstoffer To Kalon

HORS D'OEUVRES
Oyster on the 1/2 shell, cheese puff, stuffed mushrooms
FIRST COURSE
butter lettuce salad with lobster
SECOND COURSE
carnaroli risotto & mushrooms
MAIN COURSE
black Angus tenderloin, bone marrow, potato
DESSERT
warm chocolate cake, port soaked cherries — 4 years ago

with Brenda

Sarah Smith

9.2

First night in OT. Might like this more than the FEL. — 5 years ago

Deiniol ap Dafydd

9.1

Difyr iawn. Mwynhau ac wedi ei dderbyn fel sampl gan y mewnforiwr — 6 years ago

Johan Larsson

Owner/Sommelier tapasbar

9.3

Inte lik nån annan Albarino jag druckit. Krämig textur och ek som hade lett mig helt fel i en blindprovning. Stort vin med fantastisk karaktär från jästen och mogna gula stenfrukter. — 8 years ago

Tooty Frooty

8.9

Hade jag sett ett rödvin med en tomtejävel på etiketten så hade jag ratat den direkt. Men det här var en snyggt fyllig, söt och baktung barbera. Glad att jag hade fel. Kalas till wallenbergare. Dracks på Kometen, gbg. — 9 years ago

Peter Rando

8.9

Was a nice example of Pinot but I expected more given the vineyard. — 9 years ago

Phil Stice

9.2

All the goods. Apple skin, citrus, creamy texture. A great wine especially at the price — 11 years ago

Serge Mismetti

9.2

Red wine
Superbe découverte sur une fondue au veau ! — 2 years ago

Ming L

9.1

This is the Solar Fel, the first vintage of this CS/PV/CF blend, all estate grown, and it’s a great start.
The nose has a purple floral component that I seldom associate with Paso, in addition to ripe plum, bing cherry, black steeped tea, dried herbs, and dark chocolate. Rich and supple palate. Enticing acidity. Candied mellow tannins. Deliciousness all around. — 4 years ago

Tooty Frooty

9.2

Från Jura till Göteborg: denna GPS hittar inte fel, ty allt rann ner i truten. Bonden och vinet. — 5 years ago

Peter Falk

9.3

Trodde Napa Cab blint, inte första gången man gissar fel åt det hållet... — 6 years ago

Tooty Frooty

8.9

19%igt dessertvin utlovar precis vad som står på etiketten: det är äppeljuicekoncentrat deluxxe. Inget fel i detta såklart men det finns andra vin som bjuder på lite mer intressanta händelser i smakcentrat. Favoriten är nog Raisignac, släng er över alla sådana flaskor ni finner! — 8 years ago

Bryce Wiatrak

9.2

Alsace in America. Ripe, fleshy, and oxidative after 9 years - it tastes of gooey peach skins, mango peels, lychee, crystallized honeycomb, and macadamia nuts. Enough residual sugar to pair beautifully with dessert, but equally alluring earlier in a meal. Breggo was sold to Napa producer Cliff Lede in this same year, where it was later renamed FEL. — 8 years ago

Michael Schamis

8.9

This is a Pinot Gris that is just on a different level. The nose does show some of its high alcohol but it also shows off juicy stone fruits and honeysuckle. The body is full bodied and lush without seeing any oak with flavors of melon, pear, peach, honeysuckle and a touch of stone with lots of juicy acidity. This is something that could pair with lots of food options but is just delicious on its own. — 9 years ago

with Kati

Andreas

9.4

Boom! Aprikos jajamän fy satan i jävla fucking gatan. Bästa avslutet på Ledbury och bästa kompis med doughnuten. Att jag gissade fel på ett år gör inte saken värre. Så jävla fin! — 10 years ago

Tom Garland

9.3

Annual Cliff Lede valentine's dinner in their tank room.  Always a great time with wine, food, live music (plenty of pours on the wine)

WINES:
2015 FEL Brut sparkling
2021 Cliff Lede Marla Blanc(semillon)
2020 FEL Pinot Noir
2019 Cliff Lede High Fidelity cab
2009 Cliff Lede Songbook cab
2019 Cliff Lede Songbook cab

DINNER:
Appetizers of Kumamoto oysters, Maine lobster arancini, goat cheese coquette.
Beet Salad
Potato gnocchi with truffle
Prime beef tenderloin with truffles
Chocolate framboise and red velvet cake — 3 years ago

with Karin and Brenda

Willem Booij

9.3

And so it happened that after 30 years or so since I started to fel in love with wine the wife says: “I think it’s time I learned more about wine”. Even when you thought live is not longer capable to surprise you, it does🤣 so after finishing a bottle of Gloria ‘06 we opened a bottle Pontet Canet ‘06 and the education started. And with a little help of the internet we kicked of, meanwhile swapped the full bottle into a empty bottle 🤪 so now we find another reason to drink some wine, let there be rock!! — 5 years ago

Adam Gäfvert

9.2

Bestämde i förväg att inte leta fel. Men det behövdes inte. Det här är verkligen ett bra vin. Påminner mest i stilen om en lite fylligare Sauvignon Blanc från Friuli eller liknande. Mycket aromatisk. Gräsig, äpplig, krusbär, fläder med viss kryddighet. Bra vikt och snyggt rundade hörn. Svenskt! Välgjort! KUL! — 6 years ago

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.5

On the nose; very ruby, floral plum fruits of; blackberries, dark cherries, black raspberries, Thompson raisins, fresh dates and prunes. Black licorice, creamy dark fruit cola, caramel, milk & dark chocolate, soft beautiful dark spice, touch of eucalyptus, fresh herbs, limestone, soft presence dry crushed rocks, a whiff of pepper, fresh lavender, violets and dark withering floral bouquet.

The body is full and lush. Fine meaty, tarry, tannins. Very ruby, floral plum fruits of; blackberries, dark cherries, black raspberries, Thompson raisins, fresh dates and prunes. Black licorice, creamy dark fruit cola, caramel, milk & dark chocolate, soft beautiful dark spice, touch of eucalyptus, fresh herbs, limestone, soft presence dry crushed rocks, suede leather, dry clay, dry top soil, dry underbrush, a whiff of pepper, fresh lavender, violets and dark withering floral bouquet. The acidity is very nice. There is good structure, tension, length and balance that needs 10 years plus to flush out. The finish is good, well balanced with fine powdery sticky tannins.

Photos of, Cliff Lede tasting facility, wire woven sculptures that decorate the grounds, Owner David Lede and the Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard.

Producer history and notes...Cliff Lede Vineyards (pronounced LayDee) was founded in 2002 on what used to be S. Anderson Vineyard, a winery that was founded in 1971 by Stanley and Carol Anderson primarily known for their sparkling wines.

Cliff Lede is from Leduc, Alberta a small town just south of Edmonton. The reason you see a Canadian flag in front of the parking next to the US Flag. David and Cliff helped run their father’s construction company he founded in 1947, Leduc Construction. Later the company was renamed to Ledcor Construction in 1982. They ultimately built the business into one of the world’s largest construction companies. Through Cliff, the company established business in the Napa Valley focusing on wineries, restaurants, premium resorts and private residences. Some of their more notable works include; Morimoto Restaurant, Davis Estate Winery, Lokoya Winery, Marciano Estate and the Riverfront Residences in downtown Napa.

After several decades at Ledcor, Cliff decided to pursue his passion for wine. His first introduction to wine was helping his mother make wine at home. Later he began collecting wines from Bordeaux, and even considered purchasing property there. However, he fell in love with Napa after business took him to Northern California.

Cliff Lede owns 60 acres of vineyards in the Stags Leap District. This includes the Twin Peaks Vineyard surrounding the winery and tasting room. The Poetry Vineyard was acquired a year after Cliff established Cliff Lede Vineyards. It is planted on steep hillsides down to the Silverado Trail. It’s planted with red Bordeaux varietals, mostly Cabernet Sauvignon. The soils there are extremely rocky. Despite being so close to the Poetry Vineyard, the soils in the Twin Peaks Vineyard are dramatically different. They are gravelly loam.

From a viticulture aspect, this diversity of terroir is a good representation of what the Stags Leap District has to offer, ranging from its upper most reaches of 400 feet to the valley floor. Even among their two Stags Leap properties, there are micro-climates. The west facing vineyard hillsides become quite warm during the day in the summer but cool off significantly in the evenings. This diurnal temperature swing is important for growing premium grapes including maintaining acidity.

The winery also owns a 20 acre vineyard in Calistoga at the base of Diamond Mountain planted primarily to Cabernet Sauvignon as well as a small block of Sauvignon Blanc.

Further to the north in Mendocino County is their Savoy Vineyard, which is a 42 acre site in Anderson Valley. It is planted mainly to Pinot Noir along with Chardonnay. It provides fruit for their FEL Wines (a name that Cliff chose to pay homage to his mother, using the first three initials of her full name Florence Elsie Lede.

Cliff’s love for all things “Rock and Roll”, he named all their blocks in their Stags Leap District Vineyards after famous rock and roll songs or albums such as “Dark Side of the Moon”, “Walk on the Wildside”, “Light my Fire” and “American Girl. ”Collectively these are referred to as the “Rock Blocks.”

David Abreu quickly realized the exceptional terroir of the Poetry Vineyard as did Cliff when they initially tried some of the S. Anderson wines from this site. Abreu oversaw its replanting and clonal material sourced from a number of premiere Napa vineyards. While Abreu was the original vineyard architect, he is no longer involved in the management of the their vineyards. They are now controlled by their in-house vineyard team.

The winery, tasting room and the nearby luxury Poetry Inn all opened around 2005. Architect Howard Gillam was hired to design the winery. Cliff’s background in construction and architectural preferences certainly influenced its design. The tasting room has a more contemporary feel rather then some of his more rustic looking designs. It features beautiful views of the Napa Valley. Inspired by the shape of tanks during a visit to Château Latour in Bordeaux, Cliff commissioned Missouri based Paul Mueller Company to create special truncated tanks for fermentation to help submerse more of the cap. Each tank corresponds to a specific vineyard block. During harvest, a specially designed crane gently moves and lowers a hopper full of whole berries into each tank.

Sorting is a big part of their attention to detail before fermentation. After the grapes come into the winery, they are sorted by hand, then run through an optical sorter and then finally put through an additional final hand sorting. Nearby is a 20,000 square foot cave that connects directly to the winery. World famous Michel Rolland was brought on in the early years as a consultant. Philipe Melka also made Cliff Lede wines for several years and today Christopher Tynan is the Winemaker. He was formerly Assistant Winemaker at Colgin.

Total annual production is between 18,000 and 20,000 cases depending on what Mother Nature gives them. The majority of this is comprised of their Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc and their Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon. — 8 years ago