I was invited to The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan as Tom Celani, the owner of Celani Family Vineyards would be hosting and pouring his wines, and autographing the bottles as well.   Since my earliest days as a clothier, I had stopped listening to music on the radio and listened to the top news radio station in the Detroit area, so that I, as a clothier, could speak rather intelligently with the customers, a trait that has been lost, I have noticed among the clerks that I now encounter.  I lead in with this introduction, because for years I had heard Tom Celani and all the philanthropic work he has done in the Detroit area, long before he had a winery.  Tom Celani is lauded in the Detroit area for his largesse for charitable organizations that he helps in a grand manner.  Tom was in town to maintain his support for “Hunger Free in the D” and the two charities that he rewards for their continued service.  He and his father ended up creating one of the largest Miller distribution companies in the United States along with other beers and wines.  Tom Celani fell in love with wines, first as a drinker and a collector and finally acquiring a Tuscan-style estate with seventeen acres of grapes and one-hundred-twenty olive trees in the foothills of the Vaca Mountain range in Napa Valley.  As the proprietor of the Celani Family Vineyards he has chosen to bottle wine without costs becoming a consideration, to him wine is about quality and not quantity.  In fact, he was joking that he is not sure if the winery will ever truly show a profit, because of his concern about getting the best wine each and every time.

Tom is very partial to Burgundian white wines and that is the goal of his winemaker Mark Herold.  The tasting began with Celani Family Vineyards Chardonnay Napa Valley 2022 from the Oak Knoll District.  The Chardonnay comes from estate grown Wente 2A clone grapes and was whole cluster pressed and fermented on its lees for ten months using forty percent new French Oak and sixty percent in self-stirring egg-shaped concrete fermenters. To maintain the natural acidity of the Chardonnay, malolactic fermentation was inhibited.  The wine was a nice soft golden color and offered notes of Meyer Lemon, apple, pear, tropical flowers and brioche and some soft notes of spices and jasmine.  On the palate there were tones of fruit and floral flavors with crisp acidity, balanced and with a very decent length finish of oak and roasted nuts.  This Chardonnay was big and impressive and they feel that it will cellar for about ten years. 

We then started with some red wines with Tom Celani and the first wine, I have probably introduced to more people than any other wine.  I am talking about Celani Family Vineyards Robusto Proprietary Red Wine Napa Valley 2020.  This is truly a Proprietary Red Blend, as there is no information even on the trade notes, but the winery grows Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc and they are partial to new French Oak.   Though in talks with Tom at a couple of tastings, he told me that this vintage was pure Merlot.  This was the first 2020 Napa Valley wine that I have had, and I could not detect any traces of smoke damage. This deep garnet wine offered notes of black plums, black cherries, and blackberries, along with notes of vanilla, tobacco, and chocolate.  On the palate, this is a rather full-bodied wine for being affordable and the tones of the dark fruits, and traces of licorice, and orange peel; blended well with the softer tannins offering a fruit-forward, but not jammy wine that was easy to drink with the food, and ending with a good medium-count finish of fruit and spices and graphite (terroir).  We then had the Celani Family Vineyards Tenacious Napa Valley Red Wine 2021.  I had tasted and wrote about the Tenacious 2012 and the 2016 and we may have a bottle or two left of them in the cellar.  When I first had the wine, I was told that it was created in the image of Le Pin and Chateau Petrus, and quite a lofty goal.  The wine is a blend of seventy-three percent Merlot and twenty-seven percent Cabernet Franc.  The wine is aged in new French Oak for twenty-two months and has become their affordable signature wine.  This had a big nose of black fruit and raspberries, and currants, followed by wildflowers, tobacco, and graphite. On the palate it was dominated originally by the black cherry and finishing with some rich terroir and some great acidity for cellaring; truly evoking the Right Bank.  If I was crazy about the pure Merlot, the addition of the Cabernet Franc put it over the edge.