It is always a pleasure to attend a tasting with Tom Celani along with his Celani Family Vineyards wines, when he holds court at The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan.  The first red wine tasting was the Celani Family Vineyards Robusto Napa Valley 2022.  I have probably written about this wine so much over the years, that it would be redundant, and though it is listed as a Proprietary Red Wine, it is pure Merlot, and it is awesome.  In fact, when we heard that it may be discontinued, we immediately bought two cases, followed by another case.  Though when I asked Tom, if the rumor was true, he just winked and had a twinkle in his eye, so we shall see. 

We proceeded to enjoy the Celani Family Vineyards Tenacious Red Blend Napa Valley 2022.  I had tasted and wrote about the Tenacious 2012, 2016 and 2021 and we may have a bottle or two left of each 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 fruit is from the estate, Oak Knoll and Napa Valley.  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, plums and currants, followed by wildflowers, tobacco, Sous-bois and graphite. On the palate this full-bodied, well-balanced wine was dominated by the black cherry and plum 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.

The penultimate wine of the afternoon was the Celani Family Vineyard “The Family” Cabernet Sauvignon Unfiltered Napa Valley 2022.   This wine is made using fruit from two respected Napa Valley AVA districts; Mount Veeder and Coombsville.  Here is a wine that was aged for twenty months in French Oak, of which ninety percent was new. This wine offered notes of black fruit, especially black cherry, blackberries and currants followed by violets, pencil lead, suede and crushed rocks.  On the palate this full-bodied, well-balanced wine displayed tones of black fruit, and then tones of licorice, dark chocolate and spices and herbs blending with velvety tannins and ending with a long-count finish of fruit, black pepper and terroir.  There were several spices that were mingling in the taste along with supple tannins that made this wine great fresh from the bottle and will be stellar ten to fifteen years from now.

The final wine of the tasting was Celani Family Vineyards Ardore Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2023. The “Ardore” also evokes Tom Celani’s passion for a great cigar, as the label reminds one immediately of a cigar wrapper.  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 French Oak of which eighty-five percent is new, and the wine is never fined, nor filtered.  The wine is a deep inky purple-red color and offers notes of black cherries, blackberries and dark plums followed by hints of tobacco, graphite and chocolate.  On the palate this full-bodied, well-balanced wine displays tones of dark fruits, minerals blending with silky tannins and ending with a very long-count finish of rich fruit, minerals and terroir; that is wonderful for immediate consumption or to lay down in the cellar for another twenty years.