I enjoyed a quiet time at The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan. For a brief period with Jim Lutfy, the proprietor, Mike Farmer of Paula Kornell Sparkling Wines and ZFG Winery.
As Mike Farmer explained, it was serendipity that he and his wife had been Paula Kornell’s first customers when she launched her inaugural vintage of her Napa Valley Blanc de Noir 2017. They ended up bonding over their passion for wine, dogs and commitment to charitable work. Paula Kornell was the president of the board of directors for Napa Valley Vintners and served on the boards of Napa Humane and Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa. Mike Farmer was formerly president of commercial operation at Builders FirstSource and now serves on the board of directors for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. His wife Jenny, who as a labor and delivery nurse for twenty years, now serves on the board of Hope Scarves, which raises funds for metastatic breast cancer research and patient support.
After the first two non-vintage offerings, we then were going to taste two vintage wines and the first of the two was Paula Kornell Wines Blanc de Blanc Napa Valley 2020. While all the wines from Paula Kornell are Methode Champenoise, this was the start of a vintage year and not a blend of years. This bottle of wine is pure Chardonnay and after the harvest the grapes are pressed, and the juice is first in Stainless-Steel tanks. The “tirage” was done on January 22, 2021, and this is a crucial step in the process known as Methode Champenoise. A mixture of sugar and yeast (Liqueur de Tirage) is added to the still wine, which is then bottled; this mixture creates a second fermentation in the bottle and is essential for creating the effervescence qualities of this type of wine and explains the need for heavier and sturdier bottles. Disgorgement is the next step and is the removal of dead yeast cells that have accumulated in the neck of the bottle. The small amount of liquid is replaced with additional wine, and perhaps some sugar, and allows some fresh oxygen to let the wine “breathe and evolve.” The wine was a pale straw-color leaning towards a soft-golden shade with fine, persistent bubbles that offered notes of pear and lemon zest, along with white florals and baguettes and croissants. On the palate this medium-bodied, well-balanced wine displayed tones of citrus and golden apples blending into a creamy-textured wine with a medium-count finish of fruit, brioche, chalk and almonds.
We then went with Paula Kornell Wines Blancs De Noir Napa Valley 2020. This Methode Champenoise wine is a blend of seventy percent Pinot Noir and thirty percent Chardonnay. The grapes were harvested in August 2020 and underwent Initial Fermentation in Stainless-Steel tanks, then Tirage occurred on February 1, 2021, to start the Second Fermentation. The Disgorgement occurred in October 2024 after three years of “riddling” which is process to finally get the bottles upside down very gradually, to allow the art of disgorgement to proceed. This golden-colored wine with tiny, persistent bubbles offered notes of lemons, strawberries and currents followed by freshly cut hay. On the palate, this medium-bodied, well-balanced wine displayed tones of lemons, peaches and white cherries, followed by croissants and brioche ending with a medium-to-long finish of citrus, fruit, brioche and a whisper of ginger.
