Schramsberg J. Schram 2012
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Winemaker Notes
The 2012 J Schram opens with aromas of caramelized pineapple, dried orange peel, ginger, and toffee, enhanced by notes of lemon curd, honey, and brioche. The elegant and lingering palate delivers elements of baked apple, orange, and pineapple upside-down cake, layered with flavors of white peach and graham cracker on the finish.
Blend: 86% Chardonnay, 14% Pinot Noir
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
A wonderful complexity lifts this bottle way above the pack. A beautiful perfume of marzipan, lemon, toasted baguette and ginger lead to crisp and substantial citrus, green apple and fresh ginger flavors that pique the palate and linger for minutes on the finish.
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Connoisseurs' Guide
86% Chardonnay; 14% Pinot Noir. J. Schram sparklers are always deep, extraordinarily rich and complex wines, and this one is no exception. It begins with voluminous, fully autolyzed aromas that feature an abundance of creamy yeast set well ahead of a lesser bit of residual fruit, and its layered, very involving flavors follow suit in their emphasis on intense toastiness. To be sure, there is still a whisper of fruit present, but aged complexity is what stands the most here in a way that begs comparison with the wine’s most accomplished cousins from Champagne. It is, in all ways, a seriously good bubbly that invites slow and contemplative sipping on special occasions and is sure to make more mundane times something to celebrate.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2012 Schramsberg J. Schram Sparkling Wine is tightknit, well-built, and elegant. TASTING NOTES: This wine delivers aromas and flavors of tart apple, freshly-baked biscuits, and dried fruits. Enjoy it with a tray of raw oysters, twists of black peppercorns, and Meyer lemon wedges. (Tasted: February 25, 2022, Napa, CA)
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Wine Spectator
Full-bodied and appealingly decadent, this sparkler is a bounty of rich lemon tart, fresh ginger and hazelnut brioche flavors, yet never loses track of its lively core of acidity. Drink now
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2012 J. Schram has mature aromas of bruised apples, mushroom, candle smoke and graphite. The palate is soft and gently creamy with savory flavors, rounded freshness and a long, earthy finish. This particular bottle feels like it's over the hill.
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In 1965, Jack and Jamie Davies founded Schramsberg and set out to make world-class sparkling wine in the true méthode traditionelle style on the property originally established in 1862 by German immigrant Jacob Schram. There were only 22 bonded wineries in Napa Valley and fewer than 100 acres of California vineyards planted to Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Schramsberg was the first California winery to provide a Blanc de Blancs in 1965 followed by a Blanc de Noirs in 1967. Now their son, Hugh Davies, leads the winery’s management and winemaking team.
The Schramsberg estate in Napa Valley’s famed Diamond Mountain District is a registered historic landmark with Napa’s first caves, hand-dug in the 1880s, and its first hillside vineyards. Quality focus drives all aspects of wine production starting with access to over 120 cool-climate sites in Carneros, Marin, Mendocino and Sonoma, which result in over 200 separate lots. Unique among California sparkling wine houses, Schramsberg ferments about 25 percent of its juice in oak barrels to produce rich, flavorful, complex wines.
Most of Schramsberg’s viticultural and winemaking practices are carried out by hand: grapes are hand harvested, the wines are handcrafted, and the bottles are stacked and riddled in underground caves. The family and the winery embody excellence and innovation in winemaking, as well as preservation of their land, their history and their community.
Representing the topmost expression of a Champagne house, a vintage Champagne is one made from the produce of a single, superior harvest year. Vintage Champagnes account for a mere 5% of total Champagne production and are produced about three times in a decade. Champagne is typically made as a blend of multiple years in order to preserve the house style; these will have non-vintage, or simply, NV on the label. The term, "vintage," as it applies to all wine, simply means a single harvest year.
Reaching up California's coastline and into its valleys north of San Francisco, the North Coast AVA includes six counties: Marin, Solano, Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino and Lake. While Napa and Sonoma enjoy most of the glory, the rest produce no shortage of quality wines in an intriguing and diverse range of styles.
Climbing up the state's rugged coastline, the chilly Marin County, just above the City and most of Sonoma County, as well as Mendocino County on the far north end of the North Coast successfully grow cool-climate varieties like Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and in some spots, Riesling. Inland Lake County, on the other hand, is considerably warmer, and Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel and Sauvignon Blanc produce some impressive wines with affordable price tags.