Arete Wines was founded in 2009 by Dejan Nikitovic. Dejan is originally from the former Yugoslavia (Serbia) and immigrated to the United States in 1991. He’s a man of many talents. Upon arriving to the states, he settled in Chicago and was a Civil Engineer; he managed some of Chicago’s largest projects during the 1990′s. Looking for a career change and some warmer environs, he packed up and moved to Los Angeles where he became a Real Estate Broker. It was here that he nurtured his growing passion for food and wine.
After deciding to more seriously pursue his wine interests and start making wine commercially, in 2009 Dejan called a number of growers in various wine regions on the West Coast. He started making his calls unfortunately during early harvest which can be a difficult time to reach vintners! Finally he was able to reach a grower in Southern Oregon. While his initial harvest was with grapes from southern Oregon he now focuses his efforts on wines entirely from Napa. He left Los Angeles, moved to the Napa Valley and is now making wines here full time. His first wine from Napa to be released was a 2010 100% varietal Sauvignon Blanc.
Currently production is small at about 400 cases but he plans to grow this over time. The grapes for the 2010 Sauvignon Blanc are from Pope Valley (east of the valley floor). This wine is fermented in stainless steel and then some of the wine was aged a bit in neutral oak barrels to help round out the flavors, mouth feel and give it a little more weight. Similar to beer in which you choose yeasts to help bring flavors to the alcohol, Arete’s winemaker uses several different types of yeasts for the fermentation of this wine.
The 2010 shows some nice tropical aromas on the bouquet – including pineapple as the wine opens more in the glass. Other notes of peach with some citrus are present. The wine is fairly lively, clean, balanced and drinks well by itself. The finish is clean and lingers slightly with some lemon and delicate citrus flavors.
The etymology of the word Arete can be traced back to ancient Greece. Literally it means “be the best you can be” and refers to anything of excellence.
You can taste this wine at the co-op tasting room, Savour in St. Helena. Arete will release a number of other wines including a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Bordeaux style blend. Website under construction at the time of this review: www.aretewinecellars.com
NOTE: This review has been archived.
REASON: Stopped producing wine commercially and their tasting room in St Helena also closed down a number of years ago.
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