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Part 1 | Part 2
Fisher Cameron Red Wine & The Future
 I mentioned to Whitney that
Bill Schwab (aka The Psychopomp) and
I had a chance to taste the 2002 Fisher Cameron, and had in fact
enjoyed it. Here're my impressions
of that wine:
2002 Fisher Napa Cameron Vineyard Red Wine, $49, 35% Cabernet, 35%
Merlot, 19% Cabernet Franc, 11% Malbec, 14.7% alc.: An inky opaque
purple garnet, this exudes a rich red fruit nose with a nice kiss of
oak, and the red currant and black cherry flavors show just the right
amount of ripe, rich, creamy fruit, accented with hints of cocoa -
chocolate and tobacco. This is quite delicious right now, a big, fun
wine with lots of exuberant fruit and moderate tannins that show mostly
on the finish. Not a wine for extended aging, but rather one to drink
now, or to cellar short term over the next few years. Based on our
experience with the '01 Fisher RCF Merlot noted below, I gave this a
little time in a decanter, and it certainly didn't seem to hurt.
Whitney gushed with enthusiasm over the quality and success of the
project.
"The Cameron came from a vineyard that was planted in 1998, and it's
really different. It's not a varietal blend; it's about 35% Cabernet,
35% Merlot, and then it's split between Malbec and Cabernet Franc. It's kind of unusual; people DO pick up on the Malbec in the
aroma to begin with.
"It came about by tasting through lots. We were coming up with our
Coach
Insignia blend for 2002, and we had done a lot of vertical tastings for
Coach Insignia wines, really defining what that wine is, and redefining
for ourselves, because it is estate grown and has the characteristics of
vineyards that have been in balance and are producing fruit that have
some great earth tones to them that I love, and also have some more
sophisticated fruit to them. While doing the tasting for this blend, the
Cameron Vineyard stood out to us, because it was very fruit forward; it
just had this lush quality to it, this fatness, this chewiness that we
thought, 'God, this should be highlighted!' And so we did the 500 case
production of this Cameron blend; it was lots of fun coming up with it.
"The blend will change in '03, it won't always be the same, but again,
it's the focus of young fruit with precocious quality, a fruit the young
vines are producing that just smacks of "Look at me!" There's some great
aspects, some nice high - toned qualities to the fruit of the wine, and
also, it's easy to understand, that's why I think it's been so popular.
That wine has been such a huge winner out in the marketplace. I've got
local retailers who are like "I'm killin' 'em with this stuff, Whitney,
people can't get enough of it!" And I can understand that. The
sophistication of the wine is not what some of the others are, it is a
wine that is pushed to the edge a little bit, less composed, less
balanced in some respects, but I
think it's really hitting a niche. It's a fun wine."
Bring up the future of Fisher Vineyards, and again, Whitney is all about
enthusiasm.
"I'm all fired up, I can't tell ya! It's a great community of winemakers
that are in the area that are about my age, and we're all getting
together and doing a lot of tasting and talking, and it really is a team
effort, which I find invigorating, rather than some areas which seem to
be more secretive. It's fun to share what you're up to, and really, at
the end of the day, it's the sites that you have, and highlighting the
terroir - driven fruit that you're producing, and that's what we're
about at Fisher.
"And we are lucky to have some really special sites, both in the
mountains and on the valley floor. I think we've been blessed, and it's
also been luck. People say, 'God, how did your dad purchase this piece?'
And I say, 'It was luck.' He'd come in and purchase four different
pieces, two in Napa Valley that were sold to build the winery. The
pieces that we've ended up with have defined our winery, and yet it
wasn't any one thing that caused people to gravitate toward them. It's
been good luck, and I think we're up for some more of that. We're
putting some great effort in, a big investment in time, and I think that
it's going to pay off. Of course, patience is always a virtue,
especially in this business; we're in it for the long - haul, and boy,
if you're not, you've got trouble. You gotta stick it out. So yeah, I'm
hoping to see some great stuff.
"I'm really excited about the wines we're coming out with now; the
2002
Whitney's (Chardonnay) was a total coup, in my mind. It was a wine that we made that
I came out just going, "Yes!" We really hit the nail on the head. I'm
thrilled with the 2003 vintage that's coming out and I think we're
really going to be gaining some momentum in the marketplace. And, '05
will be the first harvest from the replant of the Wedding Vineyard, so
I'm so excited about that."
Spend a little time with Whitney Fisher as I did, and you may be hard -
pressed not to get caught up in her infectious fervor for what she doing.
Little wonder that she feels that she has the best job in the world.
 Another recent taste from Fisher Vineyards:
2001 Fisher Vineyards Napa Merlot RCF Vineyard, $52.99, 14.2% alc.:
Dark garnet in color, fading to pink at the rim; sweet creamy oak over
red currant and cherry flavors and aromas, with toasty, earthy
undertones. Creamy smooth, with moderate tannins that show mostly on the
finish. I wasn't wild about this for the first 30 to 45 minutes that it
was open; the obvious American oak seemed a little too much, but as it opened in
the glass, it all fell into place and became so much more harmonious. By
the last glass, the wine was quite enjoyable, if not particularly
complex, with a very nice presence and an engaging personality. I'd
recommend giving this an hour in a decanter before drinking for it to
show its best.
 Reporting
from Day-twah,
geo t.
Part
1 of Winemaker Profile: Whitney Fisher
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