1991 Philip Togni Tanbark Hill Sauvignon Blanc

Philip Togni Vineyard was founded in 1983 by Philip Togni and his wife Brigitta. The 11-acre estate is located in the Spring Mountain District of Napa Valley. The vineyards are high, at 2,000 feet, and the family estate produces only about 2,000 cases of wine annually. Philip Togni received his oenology degree from the University of Bordeaux, where he studied under the legendary Emile Peynaud. He worked at Chateau Lascombes before moving to California and working for Chalone and Chappellet. The couple’s daughter Lisa, who has a graduate degree in business and has worked in the wine trade, is also a partner. Robert M. Parker Jr. notes that Togni’s flagship Cabs are “some of the most concentrated in California…..this may be the Chateau Latour of Napa Valley.”

Napa Valley AVA is the most famous winemaking region in the United States and one of the most prestigious in the world. With nearly 43,000 acres of vineyards and more than 300 wineries, it is the heart of fine wine production in the United States. Winemaking started in Napa in 1838 when George C. Yount planted grapes and began producing wine commercially. Other winemaking pioneers followed in the late 19th century, including the founders of Charles Krug, Schramsberg, Inglenook and Beaulieu Vineyards. An infestation of phylloxera, an insect that attacks vine roots, and the onset of Prohibition nearly wiped out the nascent Napa wine industry in the early 20th century. But by the late 1950s and early 1960s Robert Mondavi and other visionaries were producing quality wines easily distinguishable from the mass-produced jug wines made in California’s Central Valley. Napa Valley’s AVA was established in 1983, and today there are 16 sub-appellations within the Napa Valley AVA. Many grapes grow well in Napa’s Mediterranean climate, but the region is best known for Cabernet Sauvignon. Chardonnay is also very successfully cultivated, and about 30% of the AVA’s acreage is planted to white grapes, with the majority of those grapes being Chardonnay,

This crisp, dry white wine hails from France but is grown in wine regions around the world. In California, it is sometimes called Fume Blanc; while in Sauternes, it is a component of their famous dessert wines.