Don's Gillette's Weekly Wine Blog
Weekly musings from our store's resident wine guru
Don has over thirty years experience in the wine industry. For the last eighteen years his attention has been focused on the growing local industry. Don has a large following of customers who search out his opinions (never in short supply!) on new releases and on what's currently most distinctive on our shelves. Others seek his insights on wineries and trends that are still under the radar. Check back here each week for Don's latest thoughts on various wine-related topics. Read Don's full bio...
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Worth Waiting For
I tried to coordinate schedules with Jennifer Halleck for six to eight weeks, but it never quite worked out. December has its issues, even more for a wine store than a winery, but this week we were finally able to get together at the store.
Last Spring, I and three other NVWE staff members visited the Russian River Valley to barrel-taste 2006 Pinots with Ross Halleck. There were five different versions and we tried multiple barrels of each. 2006 had elsewhere proven to be a vintage of high peaks, but occasional valleys, but the Halleck wines proved to be among the finest and most consistent examples we saw last year. As our customers had been extremely enthusiastic about the 2005 Halleck Pinots, we were anxious to get early bottle samples from '06.
We tasted and re-examined Jennifer's wines for close to 48 hours. They are certainly what I had hoped, although they are big, and their pace of development is a bit behind the 2005s. We tried the Three Sons blend, the Hallberg Vineyard, the Farm Vineyard, and a brilliant new Sonoma Coast bottling called (after its clone) the 828. Jennifer did not bring the 50 case production Estate Vineyard, which we will see later in the year, when it is released.
NVWE customers who purchased last years Three Sons have seen it grow dramatically in appeal over the last twelve months, so I get regular requests for release information on the 2006. Well the '06 appears to be a bigger, firmer clone of the 2005. It is absolutely lovely already and will have a fine future.
The 828 is a one-time bottling, as the fruit will be Estate Bottled by the vineyard owners beginning in 2007. This is too bad, as the wine is brilliant already and is just a puppy. The property is just north of Peay Vineyard and Hirsch Vineyard in the upper Sonoma Coast. Like Peay, it is a hilltop vineyard. Like Peay it combines deep blackberry, dark cherry and black tea fruit with a sinewy texture and impressive tannic structure. Very delicious now, it will only get better.
The Hallberg bottling took twelve hours or more to fully reveal itself. With airing, it showed the polish, richness and reserved strength of the outstanding 2005, yet the tannins are fuller and the oak is pushed more into the background by slightly more powerful fruit. As with the Three Sons, its development should closely parallel 2005.
The greatest contrast to 2005 lies with the Farm Vineyard bottling. So flamboyantly fruity, rich and floral in barrel as to seem an outright copy of the 2005, the 2006 is thus far extremely tight in bottle. It should be just fine, but can't be gulped at once, like the 2005.
The Hallecks bottle two lovely white wines as well and both the richly floral 2006 Gewurztraminer and the mineral-citric Sauvignon Blanc were poured as well. Surprisingly these beauties appreciated the airing as well, expanding in aroma, flavor and polish. Both are outstanding and both will, along with the four Pinots, be arriving this week. They were worth the wait!
The Halleck wines should appear on our shelves and website later this week. Visitors to the NVWE website will then be able to read Don's tasting notes and also order wine.