Vintner’s private collection of Tandem: Case of 750's from 1998-2006 

Vintners notes: 

1998 Flowers van der Kamp (1 bottle): a remarkable year with intense fruit, still fresh and vibrant, done with submerged cap fermentation and Chardonnay lees additions to soften the high mountain tannins.

1999 Flowers van der Kamp (1 bottle): still tight and young with many years ahead of it, also using Chardonnay lees to tame those Sonoma Mountain tannins rather than traditional fining and filtration.

2001 Tandem van der Kamp (2 bottles): drinking perfectly now, all of the pine duff and terroir that one has come to expect from van der Kamp.

2002 Londer van der Kamp (1 bottle): the only vintage of Londer for van der Kamp, picked from the oldest Pinot noir vines in Sonoma County (planted in 1950 or 1951) – still intense!

2003 Tandem van der Kamp (1 bottle): the last of the oldest Pinot noir vines in Sonoma County.  This is a rare treat and the last of the “old guard” of van der Kamp that was so treasured.  After the 2003 vintage, these vines were pulled up as they were producing only about 1/16 of a ton to the acre.

2004 Vergari van der Kamp (1 bottle): a collaborative effort between Greg and David to produce this larger-than-life, forward Pinot from one of the warmest years on record on Sonoma Mountain

2005 Cellar Magic van der Kamp (2 bottles): one of only two vintages of van der Kamp from Cellar Magic,  wife Mara La Follette’s own personal label of their family’s effort.  Story is on the back of the label.  The La Follette kids bottled, labeled and hand-waxed these, giving veracity to the story of “The Old Winemaker”. 

2006 Tandem: in the wild side of sauvage, you can see the van der Kamp vineyard speaking clearly in this blend.  

2006 Tandem van der Kamp (2 bottles): the most sauvage et animale, wild and untamed of the bottlings that Tandem has done.  So very Burgundian in its presentation, it has been called “sex in a bottle” by Burgy-loving Mara La Follette.