There I was ready to enjoy four more wines from Tom Celani’s Celani Family Vineyards at The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan.  Tom had a busy day and while he was autographing wine bottles and regaling the wine tasters, his assistant Vanessa Thomas was pouring the wines at one of the tables in the shop.  The wines are made from estate grown Merlot, Chardonnay and Cabernet Franc and the Cabernet Sauvignon comes from select vineyards in Coombsville and Mount Veeder.  A perfect afternoon for any wine lover, and the shop was full and more people were coming through the doors, even though people were making appointments, others were coming in early, didn’t make an appointment, or some even came in to buy other wines and weren’t even aware of the tasting.  Regardless, I am happy to report that everyone was well taken care of, and having fun.  Now, if they could only get rid of the guy in the sport coat and hat, taking photos and asking arcane questions.

We had a chance to taste two vintages of the Celani Family Vineyards “The Family” Napa Valley 2018 and the Celani Family Vineyards “The Family” Napa Valley 2021.  The production notes for both of these wines were similar.  They were aged for twenty months in French Oak of which ninety percent was new and bottled without fining or filtration.  The 2018 was a classic interpretation of Cabernet Sauvignon with deep garnet coloring and offering notes of black fruit, violets, and graphite.  On the palate the black cherries and blackberries led the parade of flavors, with hints of cardamom, cigar box, dark chocolate, blending with fine tannins and a good finish of fruit and terroir.  This wine was drinking perfectly and still had fifteen to twenty years of cellaring to even get more complex.  The 2021 was just released and we were the lucky recipients of having the first taste.  My notes led off with terroir.  This dark garnet wine offered notes of black and red fruits, violets, and terroir.  On the palate the wine was big and powerful with tones of black cherries, cassis, and then secondary tones of tobacco, almonds, cardamom, and licorice and then finally ending with more terroir and fruit.  It may be that this wine is so young, that the terroir led and really impressed me, not a cookie-cutter Cab, by no means.  It will be interesting to try this wine over the next twenty years to see how the tannins merge with terroir and fruit.

For our last two wines, we once again treated to trying two different versions of the “Ardore” wine, one from a magnum, and one from a standard bottle.  The “Ardore” also evokes Tom Celani’s passion for a great cigar, as the label reminds one immediately of a cigar wrapper.  We tried the Celani Family Vineyards “Ardore” Napa Valley 2018 and the Celani Family Vineyards “Ardore” Napa Valley 2019 and this is their flagship wine.  The production notes are the same for the two vintages.  The wine is made from a careful selection of ten barrels of Cabernet Sauvignon from the most exceptional vineyard sites in the Coombsville AVA.  The wine is aged for twenty-two months in pure new French Oak, and the wine is never fined, nor filtered.  The 2018 vintage which came from a magnum is a dark garnet wine that offered notes of blackberries, strawberries, cassis, black tea with hints of violets, tobacco, mocha, and graphite.  On the palate the tones of the fruits have merged smoothly with the velvety tannins wrapped up in supple oak and finishing with a long count of fruit and terroir.  A powerful wine, that is totally drinkable now and could cellar for twenty-five to thirty years.  The 2019 vintage of “Ardore” immediately caught my fancy, as the first word that I wrote was “spectacular” and then I went back to being my quiet self.  This dark garnet wine offered notes of blackberry, strawberry, currents, raspberries, followed by chocolate, cigar box, leather, bramble, and graphite.  On the palate the dark fruits were elegant and supple, blending with very fine tannins and ending with a very long finish of fruit and terroir.  While easily drinkable now, another twenty years in the cellar would not be out of the question.  After I sneaked in second taste of each, while the 2018 was big, the 2019 really appealed to me, with its more ethereal qualities that truly finished this tasting.