The timing was perfect, too. Twenty-two Super Bowls ago Vermeil led the Rams franchise to its only Lombardi trophy until Sean McVay’s Rams rallied late to beat the Bengals 23-20. Vermeil’s 1999 team, which called St. Louis home, had eked out a similarly dramatic 23-16 victory over the former Houston Oilers, who had moved to Tennessee three seasons earlier. Fortuitously, Vermeil had seen his first wine, the Jean Louis Vermeil Cabernet Sauvignon, go into the bottle that fall while the Kurt Warner-quarterbacked Rams were marching toward their date with destiny against the Titans in Atlanta.
But, no, he wasn’t by then just another celebrity trying to capitalize on fame and fortune earned in another profession. Vermeil’s roots in Calistoga go down as deeply as those of the vines he grew up surrounded by, producing wines he first tasted as a child. Jean Louis, an émigré from France’s Var region in the hills above the Riviera, was his great-grandfather and every Christmas young Dick would be given a shot-glass-sized sample to try – and evaluate – by his winemaking grandfather Albert.
An essential source of grapes for Vermeil’s wines remains the Frediani Vineyard, 130 acres of prime Napa Valley terroir just east of Calistoga that first went under vine around the turn of the last century, when it was owned by Garibaldi Iaccheri, Vermeil’s other great-grandfather who had immigrated from Lucca, Italy. Vermeil might not have been destined to win a Super Bowl or become a Hall-of-Famer, but with his Franco-Italian grape-growing heritage he was all but certain to one day become a serious vintner.
I never knew Vermeil personally as a football coach, although I covered both Super Bowls his teams played in. In the first, his 1980 Philadelphia Eagles lost to the Oakland Raiders (who had brought an end to Bum Phillips’ tenure with the Oilers a few weeks earlier). But I got to know him very well when he began passing frequently through Houston to help market his wines, which have always done well here. If there existed a Hall of Fame for all-time great human beings, Dick would be a first-ballot selection, as he should have been with the NFL’s years ago. A two-time NFL Coach-of-the-Year, he’s also one of only four to have taken two franchises to the Super Bowl.
At least the Hall’s Veteran’s Committee finally got it right and Dick, who remains supremely fit and sharp as a tack at 85, will get his just desserts in Canton next summer. It’s safe to say Vermeil wines will be front-and-center on tables during the many celebrations surrounding his long-overdue induction.
I’ll be there in spirit, believe me. I love the man. And I love the Vermeil wines, too. The three I shared with friends during the game Sunday are described below. All of them were still the shelf at the Midtown Spec’s Saturday afternoon, although, truth to tell, I may have purchased the final bottle of the 2017 Sauvignon Blanc. However, the current-release 2020 is available through vermeilwines.com for $38.
* 2016 Vermeil Chardonnay – Made with sustainably-farmed grapes sourced from the heart of the acclaimed Dutton Ranch property in the Russian River Valley, which has been under vine since the mid-1960s (when Vermeil first broke into the NFL with George Allen’s Rams), it screams California – but with a refined, elegant voice. The Spec’s price is $39.89.
* 2018 Vermeil Sauvignon Blanc – All Frediani Vineyard fruit, it’s a classically creamy, oak-kissed Napa Valley expression of the grape and sells for only $24.99 at Spec’s.
*2016 Vermeil XXXIV Proprietary Red – This is a voluptuous, delicious fruit-forward cab-centric wine that finishes long and smooth. The cabernet franc and petit sirah in the blend add to its complexity. An off-the-charts value at $32.99 from Specs. I don’t need to tell you what the XXXIV refers to, right?
The Sporty Wine Guy 