July 2, 2020 | Ralph Sands
Dalle Valle was founded in 1986 by Naoko and Gustave Dalle Valle and is located on a hillside east of the Silverado Trail in Oakville.
In my opinion Dalle Valle has always been a Napa Valley -Cult wine because the wines were awesome from the first release with no track record and took the Napa Valley by storm.
When I first tasted the 1991 Cabernet Sauvignon, it was pure cashmere! The wine was so lush, and driven by pure red fruits and absolutely delicious. I bought it for myself and sold it to all my customers but soon the horse was out of the barn and everyone wanted the wine and the allocations were getting smaller and were small to begin with, and eventually went mailing list only soon.
That was sealed when there 5 acre parcel named after their daughter Maya received their first 100 point score from Robert Parker. Maya herself now directs the property with her mother. ’ve been fortunate to taste many of the Maya’s over the year’s and they are indeed different that the Napa bottling.
The Maya wine is a huge Cabernet, loaded with intense, dark-sweet fruit that comes at you layers with spicy new oak! Exactly in the California Cult , and in the style of the world’s best and most famous (and yes he deserves this title 100%) wine consulting oenologist, Michel Rolland who consults here.
The last Dalle Valle I tasted was at a PrimeCellar tasting in Hong Kong and we later drank a bottle at a famous seafood restaurant if you can believe that! It just goes to show, that a great wine goes with everything; in fact many of my customers would say the perfect pairing for a Dalle Valle Maya would be a great big cigar out on the deck!
Cheers to you!
Ralph Sands
PrimeCellar Consultant
