Lillie’s Delight
2007 Guenoc Sauvignon Blanc
Rating: ♠ ♠ ♠ 1/2
I’ll admit to not having the most refined palate in the world. While I like wine for its own sake, one of the things I love most about it is its rich history, which is why so many pages on this site are devoted to it. Some of my favorite wines, therefore, also come with a good back-story. In fact, a good tale on a fine wine is worth an extra 1/2 spade.
So I was excited when a rep sent me a sample bottle of the 2007 Guenoc Sauvignon Blanc. What’s its back-story? The Guenoc Valley and AVA lies north of the Napa Valley in Lake County, not far from picturesque Clear Lake, the largest fresh water lake in California. The area is known for its delicious Sauvignon Blancs, as well as for Cabs and Zins. None other than Lillie Langtry owned the vineyard between 1888 and 1906.
Fans of social, theatrical and royal history will remember Langtry, (aka, Emilie Charlotte Le Breton) as the notorious gilded age demimondaine and actress. Her lovers included Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), Prince Louis of Battenberg (father of Mountbatten, last Viceroy of India) and the American multimillionaire industrialist, Freddie Gebhard, who bought her her own luxurious Pullman railroad car, the “Lalee.” Her portrait was painted by, among many lesser lights, Sir John Everett Millais, Sir Edward Poynter, Sir Edward Burne-Jones. Next to Sarah Bernhardt’s, Langtry’s image was probably the most recognized in the world at the time.
History records that Langtry arrived in St. Helena via the “Lalee,” and then staegcoached the rest of the way over Mt. St. Helena and into Lake County. According to the winery’s website, Langtry began making wines and had 51 tons of grapes crushed in her first pressing. With the help of her winemaker, a Frenchman named Henri Descelles, Langtry produced a wine which she proclaimed to be the “greatest claret in the country.” The wine was bottled and sold imprinted with an image of her famous profile.
Langtry sold the property in 1906 and, hankering after her native England and the Isle of Jersey, where she was born, sailed back to Europe. She married Hugo de Bathe, 19 years her junior, and became Lady de Bathe. When Langtry sold the property, pre-Prohibition California wine-making was at its height, and California wines were sought after and prized, winning many medals in European capitals. A slow regression took place as the new century matured, with many wine-growers going for quantity over quality. Then Prohibition ruined much of what was left.
Luckily for us, Langtry’s vineyard somehow survived and, according to the winery’s website, when the current owners bought the property in the early 1960s, “a Syrah, Petit Verdot and white grape vines of mysterious origin were found on the hillside vineyard site after at least half a century of neglect.” The new owners then set about to follow in Langtry’s footsteps to produce the “greatest claret in the country,” and became the first vineyard in the U.S. to plant the five major Bordeaux varietals. I haven’t tried their “Langtry Red,” so I can’t say whether they have succeeded, but that will change soon.
For some years, the vineyard sold wines under the “Guenoc” label, which sported Langtry’s Greecian profile. Recently, however, they’ve changed their name to “Langtry Estate & Vineyards,” and now sell wines under that label. Though Guenoc is gone, Langtry’s face remains on the bottles*
But what of the wine? I took the bottle with me up to a cabin near Ukiah, not far from Clear Lake and the Langtry estate, where I was to spend part of my long Independence Day weekend with friends. Among these was Steve Waters, a long-time friend as well as a long-time rep for the inimitable Kermit Lynch, one of the top purveyors of imported French wines in the United States. (Yeah, talk about a tough crowd.)
We opened the 2007 Guenoc SB and were immediately struck by its freshness — not that it seemed immature, just fresh – as in refreshing. Of the nose, my roommate, Alicia, who always manages to come up with the most florid descriptors, proclaimed, “steely lavender.” I can’t argue with that: the nose was a brisk and cooling, with a touch of the floral. Others said, “hay bails,” “pear” “kiwi” and “star fruit.” Can’t argue with that either. I like a SB with a lot of grass to it, and I thought this could use a tad more. But I quibble.
The 2007 Guenoc SB is a fine daytime wine that would so well with light, refreshing meals, salad, nuts or cheese. And it has one hell of a back-story.
*You can still by Guenoc SB and other wines under the Guenoc label until the stocks run out.
Quivira 2005 Zinfandel ($20) 
After visiting Gold Hill, I headed down-slope to little Coloma, the frontier town where James Marshall first stumbled across a few gold nuggets in the race of Sutter’s Mill, precipitating the California Gold Rush, which historians agree was one of the largest voluntary mass migrations in history.
