Lyeth Wines

It was one of those days you never forget. It was not a great or catastrophic event that shakes history but rather a quiet, mundane but very memorable occurrence; we drank a bottle of wine.

It was in the late eighties, we were lunching with a winemaker when a wine on the wine list caught his eye. He ordered it and commented that it had to be one of the finest cabernet sauvignons he had ever tasted. When it was served and sampled, we had to agree that it was very, very impressive and the wine was not even made by the vintner who we were with.

Enough with the mystery; it was a 1990 Lyeth Cabernet Sauvignon. We tried to find the wine but for some reason never did and were led to believe that Lyeth had gone out of business; but the memory of that wine has stayed with us.

Just the other day we received an email from a winery representative, telling us about Lyeth wines and the fact that they had not changed since its inception in the early eighties. Eureka; Lyeth is alive and well and still producing wines.

2007 L De Lyeth Cabernet Sauvignon ($12.99). How do we start a review of a wine that we have been waiting years to taste again? If we are professionals, as we hope we are, we disregard everything we might feel and attack the subject objectively. 2007 was one of the finest vintage years in California, and all of the wines from that vintage are well above average. The 2007 L De Lyeth Cabernet Sauvignon is a wine with the feel of silk about it. It displays a kaleidoscope of fruit flavors, red current, cranberry, and dark cherry wrapped in a background of soft oak. There is also a fascinating under flavor that vintners describe as earthy. This characteristic is derived from the soil at the vineyard site where the grapes are grown and adds another layer of character and complexity to the wine. The finish is elegant and lingers long after the wine has been swallowed. This wine can truly be considered to be among the finest of its type, regardless of price, and was everything that we remember, and then some.

2007 L De Lyeth Merlot ($10.99). The gods of weather were kind to the merlot crop too during the 2007 growing season and the Lyeth vintners again had exceptional grapes to work with. The wine they made has the brilliant amethyst color of a classical merlot and a full, almost overpowering varietal flavor and aroma. It has a bold blackberry flavor with a background of black currants and oak. All of these factors combine to make 2007 L De Lyeth Merlot one of the better merlot’s of the 2007 vintage. This wine will cover a broad spectrum of foods. It will go well with any meat from the darkest to the lightest, as well as the full flavored grilled sea foods and cheese of every description.

2008 L De Lyeth Chardonnay ($12.99). As good a vintage year as was 2007, the 2008 was just the opposite. Mother Nature threw everything she could at the vineyards and only a few came out unscathed; Lyeth was one. This Chardonnay has a rare balance of fruit and oak. The delicate fruit flavors that separate a great Chardonnay from the rest of the pack are found in this wine. The 2008 L De Lyeth Chardonnay is an almost perfect combination of the French and the American style for chardonnay. The wine has a heavy apple/pear, oaky aroma, and a lemony under flavor with a long aftertaste in the French style. The California contribution is the intense tropical fruit flavor, a hint of butterscotch and a buttery feel in the mouth. As with all better Chardonnay’s, this wine is capable of being cellared for several years to gain the mellowness and grace that a great wine attains with age.