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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...

Email Don directly with your wine-related questions.

Winery News and Visits

January 2, 2007

Mapping the Vines

There is unrelenting forward motion in the California wine industry. Some of it is technological innovation, some is driven by market trends, and a great deal is related to the planting of new vineyards. Nearly every week our staff sees a new vineyard designation on a fact sheet or bottle - which sends us, often in vain, scrambling for a map.

Up to date wine appellation maps are always received with excitement around here and lately some especially useful ones have become available. New versions from the Green Valley (a Russian River Valley sub-appellation); Santa Barbara County's Santa Rita Hills (now being forced, for legal reasons, to re-name itself the Sta. Rita Hills); and Paso Robles, are interesting and helpful, for quite different reasons.

Most fascinating of the three is the on-line map of the Green Valley. This interactive site reveals the full extent of the Valley's late 1990s planting boom. Although maps produced fifteen years ago showed a largely blank patch of land, vineyards now extend border to border. This is noteworthy because those of us who regularly get to taste bottlings from the new sites are flabbergasted by their overall level of quality.

For all the attention and fanfare the film Sideways brought to Santa Barbara County's Santa Rita Hills appellation, the area is still largely unexploited. This is made evident by the terrific new map/poster of the area put out by the Sta. Rita Wine growers Alliance. I got my copy of the poster as a gift from Ampelos winery, but the poster can be purchased from the Alliance.

Two big challenges face the vineyard cartographer - the constant emergence of new producers and the desire for anonymity on the part of some established ones. The first problem is self-evident, but the second may come as a surprise. When great fame and the accompanying sales crunch hit a small winery, it tends to respond in one of two ways. Such operations either grow as swiftly as they can, or stay the same size: basking in the social and financial rewards of cult status. Cult wineries, with no more bottles to sell, invariably ask cartographers to leave them off the next map. Fans may have noticed that "drop-ins" at Colgin, Screaming Eagle and the like, are not encouraged.

The newest Paso Robles map skirts these difficulties brilliantly. It is remarkably up to date, with nearly every winery -- regardless of its scarcity – represented. It is worth asking them to mail you a copy, because the booklet that includes it is very useful.

Posted by Don on January 2, 2007 8:59 PM |Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

January 15, 2007

Vineyards

We get daily questions about all the new Pinot Noir Vineyards. The market for fine Pinot is booming and dozens of new properties appear annually. Some are winery driven and some are grower projects offered to multiple vintners. Often, in a now well-established pattern, they represent the next logical step in the evolution of their appellation.

Until recent years, the idea of a California parallel to Burgundy's "Cote d'Or" was laughable, yet we now have at least five important Pinot appellations. California's struggle with, and eventual conquering of, the Pinot grape followed the realization that our lack of authentic Burgundian clones was the primary issue, and the flood of fine bottlings now available is a direct result of growers procuring the more appropriate clones.

Each of our Pinot Noir friendly areas has evolved in more or less the same way. The development of the Santa Lucia Highlands appellation illustrates the process. When Gary Pisoni planted the SLHs first important vineyard, with cuttings reportedly sourced from Burgundy's famous La Tache vineyard, winemakers throughout the state began to bid for his fruit, driving up prices. His financial success spawned a new vineyard called Gary's (named for owners Gary Pisoni & Gary Francione). It was cloned from Pisoni.

As they learned to better manage Pisoni's fruit, vintners found it worth the hefty investment and they were now eager for fruit from Garys'. Many in fact, came to believe that the Gary's property was better than Pisoni. This helped justify the planting of the many important properties that now dot that landscape. SLH vintners are now gambling on new vineyards like Tondres Grapefield, a name that will soon appear on the label of half a dozen wineries.

This same 20 year progression has been paralleled in the Russian River, as names like Rochioli, Sanchetti, Keefer, Tara and Amber Ridge illustrate. In the Sonoma Coast, Hirsch Vineyard began the cycle and in Mendocino, Floodgate and others did the same. Sanford Vineyard was the Santa Rita Hills pioneer.

Why certain vineyards gain adherents so quickly is a bit of a mystery. Clearly winemaker intuition plays a part, as must price and supply, and some vineyards look attractive, as they are large enough to guarantee supply in the future, so wineries won't get 'pinched' for grapes, as has happened at Pisoni and Keefer.

The evolution of a vineyard is a bit of a gamble, if an intriguing one. We recently sent our Pinot customers an email offering for a 'new vineyard' Pinot pack, with twelve examples.* Halleck Winery had two new vineyards in that pack - one from Hallberg vineyard and one from The Farm. I told everyone who asked, that I thought the Hallberg was the better of the two. Now our customers are reordering The Farm over the Hallberg by about six to one. There is a learning curve with new vineyards for winemakers and for everyone else. Sometimes we retailers learn the most from their own customers.

* If you are a good Pinot customer and did not get this offer, ask us about how to adjust your email servers spam block so you can get these in the future.

Posted by Don on January 15, 2007 3:01 PM |Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

February 12, 2007

Barrel Fever

January is a good month for barrel tasting. Winemakers are generous with their time and are as eager to see their new babies as we are. Recently Zoe, Frank, Brandon and I made a few stops in the Russian River Valley to see some of our favorite 2005 and 2006 Pinot Noirs.

Russ and Jennifer Halleck's winery is a lesson in serendipity and good judgement. Converting a steep and unpromising back yard into a Pinot vineyard, they hit the jackpot, discovering Grand Cru terroir in a place others thought unpromising. Choosing the perfect mentor in Pinot specialist Greg Lafollette, they also found a friend, an informed guide in their search for more new fruit sources.

We tasted multiple barrels of the Halleck 2006s. "The Farm" is a seductive and beautifully floral fruit bomb. The '06 "Hallberg" is deep and statue-esque, with the class, age-ability and polish of fine Burgundy. The micro-production "Estate" shows wonderful richness and complexity and a distinctive terroir, worthy of its exalted price. Although at this moment, the 05' Halleck Pinots are flying off our shelves, the '06s could prove as fine or even finer a year from now.

Dan Goldfield, of Dutton-Goldfield, makes deep, sleek, classic Pinots that love age. His 2003 "Sanchetti" is one of the greatest RRVs in memory. Dan was just about to bottle four 2005 "vineyard-designates", and we got to see multiple barrels of all four. Watch out for the brilliant Freestone Hill and the truly wonderful "Sanchetti," could will prove better than the terrific 2004, and maybe even the 2003! Some of his 2006s look nearly as fine!

Posted by Don on February 12, 2007 4:24 PM |Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

February 18, 2007

Sippin' in the Rain

Last week I went to Napa to visit four wineries. It rained all day, but I had good company, ate well, met new friends and got some nagging questions answered; as I was tasting great wines. I hooked up with Mark Seltzer, an old customer in town on a business trip, at his Napa hotel.

Our first visit was with Greg and Petra Martin, whose 2003 Rutherford Estate Cab is delicious and whose '03 Reserve is among the greats of its vintage. Our hosts were charming, their house remarkable (Greg is an expert on medieval armor and weaponry and the place is literally a museum) and I finally learned why their Reserve and Estate have such a different flavor profile (same vineyard, different clones). We also barrel tasted their '05s, which are superb.

We met two of Mark's Bay Area friends at a new Rutherford winery. (To remain nameless until I get permission to sell their Cab and Zin blend.) We moved on to a delicious lunch at Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen in St Helena. After that, we drove up Highway 29 to Revana.

Revana, with Heidi Barrett making the wine and Tom Garrett as GM, together helping oversee a terrific vineyard: is unsurprisingly achieving great things. We re-tasted their brilliant 2003 Cab, a vintage star that I talk about often, and were graciously introduced to their fabulous - soon to be released - 2004.

At our next stop I finally got to meet Mark Carter and barrel taste his Cabernets. Mark owns a restaurant and inn in Eureka, California and is rarely available to taste with. Two of his vineyards have recently produced great wines. The 2002 Carter ToKalon was my pick as wine of the vintage, while an early vote for the best 2004 is Carter's Coliseum Block Cab.

ToKalon was considered a great vineyard before I was born, but I assumed the Coliseum '04 was overachieving when it out-performed its sibling. Guess what? It happened again. The barrel sample of 2005 Tokalon was terrific, but the Coliseum smoked it! Another question answered.

Posted by Don on February 18, 2007 10:04 PM |Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

March 5, 2007

Back in the Saddle Again

I was back in the Russian River Valley again this weekend for more 2006 vintage barrel tasting, with Russian Hill winery the first stop. RH has just released a delicious, age-worthy 2004 Leras Pinot Noir, which will quickly join the impressive '04 RH Tara and Meredith Pinots we already have in stock. A barrel taste of '06 Tara was pure pleasure, a terrific example of how that difficult (on the winemake's psyche, that is) crop is producing some really hot Pinots.

In preparation, I had made a list of seven new producers, but had mixed results contacting them. One, (new owners of a vineyard which has been a keystone for another celebrated RRV Pinot producer) had yet to return my call; another lay too far north to fit into my time schedule; a third turned out to be a "re-named" version of a perennial loser. I found the fourth, but also found it wanting.

Off to the Green Valley section, I visited a Gravenstein Highway (aka Highway 116) locale, where three of my quarry were sharing a tasting room. All three had 2006s of merit. Graton Ridge Cellars had an elegant Pinot Noir, with scents of wild strawberry and raspberry and a lingering finish. The also poured a Chardonnay, blended with 10% Sauvignon Blanc, which had fine aromatics.

Occidental Road Cellars had two appealing Chardonnays, (one in neutral oak) along with a pretty Pinot and a Syrah. The Syrah, from the Helen's Ridge vineyard, was intensely flavorful, well packed with pomegranate, red raspberry, red rose and Schezuan pepper flavors, yet elegant.

Atascadero Creek Winery produces multiple micro-production bottlings, mostly of Pinot, and had debuted earlier, with the 2004 vintage. Their sample of 2006 Railroad vineyard Pinot, (four barrels produced) was bright, floral, racy and attractive, showing flavors of Santa Rosa plums, red raspberries and yellow roses. They also poured a bright, peppery Syrah, with a lingering finish. A barrel of Huan vineyard Zinfandel (from 55 year old vines) was especially impressive; it was a bath of grenadine, raspberry, rose, pepper and Mid-eastern spices. Their recently bottled 2005 Railroad Pinot is also tasty, and is heading for our shelves.

Posted by Don on March 5, 2007 11:42 AM |Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

March 12, 2007

The Pioneer Spirit

What would possess a person, with years of cellaring and marketplace experience, to apparently abandon logic (some might say common sense) and build a new winery dedicated to producing Albarino and Tannat? Is he nuts? Is he channeling Daniel Boone?

Albarino is a fine white wine, very appealing and quite handy for both sipping and appetizer service. It is Spain's most popular white and half a dozen California wineries are producing one. At least two are making fine Albarinos regularly. No one however, is beating a path to their door.

Tannat is another story. Tannat is difficult. Native to the French/Spanish border and the Pyrenees Mountains, its wines are little known in the American marketplace. What they are known for is the difficulty vintners have in taming the grape's significant tannin. If generous in flavor and texture and cellar-worthy, the grape can be tough stuff in its youth.

Since practically no one in the US knows the varietal, it seems to me the California Tannat producer faces two basic challenges: how to make the stuff appealing at first sip, and how to get someone to try it. Cambiata Winery, located in the hills above the Santa Lucia Highlands, has managed to achieve the former. I hope to help them accomplish the later.

Their Tannat is a deeply colored, vividly ripe, darkly-scented and aromatic wine that greets the nose with blackberries, forest floor scents, coffee and a melange of sweet and savory spice. It is as generous on the palate as many $50-75 dollar-range Reserve Cabernets, and at $24.95 is certainly cheaper.

Cambiata's 2004 version, if clearly very youthful, is already generous enough to be appealing without any support from food. Within the context of its finishing richness, the tannins are only mildly bracing, and the overall impression is of a juicy, semi-rustic red that desperately wants pairing with a Chateaubriand, or any roast that is comfortably served beside a Yorkshire pudding.

Clearly I think the wine is a huge success, but back to the original question: why do it? After chatting with owner/winemaker Eric Laumann, my impression is that he just simply "wanted to," and since a Paso Robles nursery had imported the clonal material (aka - the vines), he could.

Since releasing his Tannat, Eric has learned something: he is not alone. In fact, his most curious customers have been other wineries with an interest in experimental plantings of Tannat. He has shared with or sold bottles to Pine Ridge, Niebaum Coppola and others. Will these outfits market their own versions? Will they use Tannat to "beef-up" their blends? Most likely they will just wait and see how Daniel Boone does.

Posted by Don on March 12, 2007 2:01 PM |Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

March 19, 2007

Pockets Full of Pinot

There are strong historical, economic and weather-related factors to explain the parceling-out of vineyards and the multiplicity of bottlings, which are hallmarks of 20th and 21st century red Burgundy. That multi-vineyard bottling model also forms a visible pattern among California's Pinot producers, but not necessarily for the same reasons.

The distinctive nature of the grape, grown here or elsewhere, is a common factor of course. Pinot Noir responds to subtle differences in soil and climate in a way that tends to limit both vineyard size and potential crop yield. This is in no country a grape that is friendly to the idea of mass-production.

The first California Pinot makers to embrace the multiple vineyard model were Bert Williams and Ed Selyem. They worked with the best vineyards they could find, searching through a tiny field of top-flight properties for the best choices. W & S made both vineyard-designates and blends, expanding the number of the former and the production of the later, as new local vineyards were developed.

Since 1990, the combination of new Pinot appellations and the availability of appropriate Pinot clones has fueled an extraordinary expansion of planting up and down our state. At the same time, improved fruit handling technology has made the necessity of using exclusively "local" grapes a thing of the past. The result is that our winemakers are now able to tap into grape sources of enormous diversity. They have done so with enthusiasm.

Siduri was an early and highly successful exploiter of this new opportunity, with a vineyard portfolio that stretched from Santa Barbara to Oregon. Siduri is now just "one of the boys," in what is a very crowded field. Chasseur, Tandem, Papapietro Perry, Kosta Brown, Brewer Clifton and many others have made brilliant vineyard-designated Pinots from purchased grapes; while Calera, Sea Smoke, Melville and others have done the same with "home-grown" vineyard-designates.

We have seen brilliant examples, just in the last few weeks, from Paul Mathew (Ruxton & TNT vineyards in the RRV area); Pali Wine Company (Turner vineyard in the Santa Rita Hills); Morgan (3 bottlings from the Santa Lucia Highlands) and Russian Hill (three from RRV).

Roessler, who last year made the best Sandford & Benedict vineyard (Santa Rita Hills) bottling I had tasted since the 1980s, has just released a delicious Savoy vineyard bottling from Anderson Valley, 500 miles north!

Of course, owners of those "designated vineyards" might also want to play, and some have put on "winery hats" to show what they can do with their own fruit. Santa Lucia's Gary Pisoni was a famous early example; while Peter Cargasacchi ( a more recent entrant from Santa Barbara) has just released his wonderful 2005, a wine that compares extremely well to Siduri's version. Last week a winery sign went up in front of the (typically Landmark Winery bottled) Kastania vineyard (Sonoma Coast). I can't wait to try their stuff.

Is it all too much for the market to absorb? Well I have been selling Pinot for 30+ years and have never seen it sell so fast to so many people.

Posted by Don on March 19, 2007 4:34 PM |Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

April 9, 2007

Pinot Noir 101

For years a steady stream of grape growers have entered the wine "making" industry in California. Their reasons are various, but family pride and economics are both strong incentives. One of the most recent examples is Kastania Winery, whose proximity to California's most important tourist highway makes the transition an especially obvious one.

Kastania Vineyard grows Pinot Noir at the southern end of the Sonoma Coast AVA. Kastania Road is a crescent-shaped bulge, connected at both ends to, and visable from, US Highway 101. It's location is a trace warm, but otherwise beautifully Pinot-worthy, due to its falling within the climatic influence of the Petaluma Gap.

Most of California's best Pinot AVAs are the result of "gaps" in our north-south running coastal mountain ranges. These gaps allow the intrusion of cool marine air into the warm valleys that lie east of the coastal hills. This situation benefits areas from Santa Barbara in the south, to Mendocino's Anderson Valley in the north. The passage called the Petaluma gap spreads its influence in the areas south of the more well-known Russian River AVA.

Owner "Hoot" Smith (the label has a golden owl for a logo) and his wife, Linda, have for several years sold the outstanding fruit from their property to Landmark winery. Landmark has produced a richly textured and opulent "vineyard designated" Kastania Pinot, which has gained both critical praise and a loyal following. The Kastania product is of similar quality, but is more traditional in style. The Smiths hired Leslie Sisneros, winemaker at Arista (a star RRV producer) to make their wine, and like Arista's bottlings the Estate Pinots from Kastania will be examples of steady evolution and polish, rather than early flash.

The Kastania "Estate" is already lovely, with sweet fruitiness, genteel floral notes and a rich texture. The "Proprietor's Reserve" is a darker, more structured wine, clearly meant for cellaring. The Reserve should should be more lovely in about three to five years, while the Estate is quite pleasurable right now. Try a bottle from us, or stop in at the vineyard on your way north!

Posted by Don on April 9, 2007 9:59 AM |Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

April 23, 2007

Hospices of Sonoma

In Burgundy, a charity auction, the "Hospices de Beaune" is held annually to benefit the local hospital. Lots from the upcoming vintage are auctioned, offering a preview of its quality and a "relative" if elevated, price-scale for the wines. The Napa Valley auction (which generates astounding prices, largely for Cabernets) is loosely patterned after the Beaune event. The newer Hospices of Sonoma auction is a showcase exclusively for Pinot Noir producers.

This was its fourth year and I was in attendance, lucky enough to be invited by Ellen Mack and Ed Gomez, owners of Russian Hill Winery. About 40 wineries participated. Each offered a half-barrel of 2006 Pinot, split into two five case bidding lots. Almost all lots were unique blends, although a few producers chose instead to offer an early version of an upcoming release.

The quality of wine offered was amazingly high and some lots fetched astronomical prices. Most of the highly bid wines were outstanding, yet their prices tended to reflect more a vintner's recent magazine scores and public recognition than a lots quality relative to other lots on display.

The high bid, $12,000.00, was for a Kosta Browne lot labeled Keefer Ranch Clone 23. This unique wine was, in truth, the best Keefer Pinot sample I ever tasted and was unusually feminine for a KB effort.

My own three favorite wines were a rich "Farm" and "Hallberg" vineyard blend from Halleck; a darkly flavorful "Tera", "Leras" and "Meredith" blend from Russian Hill; and a beautifully sleek and expressive six vineyard blend from Chasseur.

I admired, for differing reasons, lots from Freeman, Davis, MacPhail, Sonoma Coast, Gary Farrell, Deloach, Dutton Goldfield, Dutton Estate, Flowers, Radio-Coteau, Marimar, Emeritus, Tandem and others. I would cite the exquisite delicacy of the Freeman, the direct richness of the Davis and the unctuous fruitiness of the Macphail as examples of the versatility on display.

It was a fancy event, with brilliant appetizers, a delicious dinner, musical entertainment (too loud) and a table of newly bottled Pinots from all the participating vintners. I didn't taste the Kosta Browne, Halleck and several other beauties, but I left a well-fed and smiling guest. At the end, I snuck out with half-filled bottles of my two favorites, the distinctive and wonderfully sinuous 2004 Russian Hill "Tara" and the aristocratically elegant and seductively fruity 2005 Chasseur "Freestone Station."

Posted by Don on April 23, 2007 8:58 AM |Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

May 12, 2007

Cinco de Mayo in Napa Valley, part one

Writer Walter Mosely wrote: "A beautiful day in San Francisco is the most beautiful day on earth." Well May fifth was just such a day, but I left for Napa to join my friend Mark Seltzer for a day of great company and eating and drinking bliss.

I picked Mark up and we tooled up Pritchard Hill to Richard Martin's house, where the wind is blustery and the wine and views spectacular. Richard's home is compassed-round by the acreage that produces Versant Cabernet. The family owned property sits astride Stagecoach, Bryant and several other great vineyards.

After a hillside stroll, our host unveiled his newly released 2004. As Versant fruit was an integral component of the fabulous 2004 Lewis Reserve, I expected something special. The wine proved a thunderbolt of concentrated Cabernet fruit, with the drama and depth of its famous neighbors and the tannic spine required to balance is ultra-richness. By itself it repaid the days effort, and since we could see San Francisco's Sutro Tower from Richard's front porch, we thought Walter Mosely himself might approve.

After heart-felt thank yous we headed first downhill and then up the valley toward Sanitarium Road and the home of Richard and Chris Partridge - two of my favorite folks - to join Carmen and Greg, old friends of Mark's and new friends of mine.

I was seeking a long-promised pizza lunch and a taste of fine Chardonnay and Cabernet. The Partridge home sits before an idyllic hillside amphitheatre, with beautiful lawns and flowerbeds out front and the scent of Howell Mountain forest carried on the breeze. Richard and Chris have a treasured wood-burning Pizza oven in their backyard and Richard's specialty is a thin-crust perfection.

The Partridges make a stony-dry, vividly fruited Chardonnay, with the richness of a sipper and a balance that cries out for raw seafood. It was the perfect hot weather thirst quencher and conversation lubricator. The deeply complex 2002 Partridge Cabernet and brighter, but equally delicious 2003, were as sensational as the company was charming. We stayed nearly three hours and everyone left with new friends. The temperature was in the upper 70s, with a 5mph breeze, but the day was only half over. We headed down-valley again, returning to Pritchard Hill.

Posted by Don on May 12, 2007 9:09 PM |Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

May 18, 2007

Versant Vineyards

Posted by Don on May 18, 2007 4:41 PM |Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

May 22, 2007

Cinco de Mayo in Napa Valley, Part Two

Back on Pritchard Hill at Girard Estate, we found blustery wind replaced by balmy sunshine. The 18-acre property, formerly the Harrison Vineyard, abuts Bryant; but property manager Steve Ross showed us several wines from Girard's diverse portfolio. The 2006 Sauvignon Blanc, was as zesty, supple and deliciously fruity as remembered, while their 2005 Chardonnay from the Russian River was a wine of depth and quiet refreshment.

Three Girard reds were the stars however, and the juicy 2005 Napa "Old Vine" Zinfandel and concentrated 2005 Petite Sirah each demonstrated textbook-Napa fruit rendered in a classically food-worthy style. The brilliant 2004 Estate (Pritchard Hill) Cabernet is a concentrated, structured, age-worth bottling of vivid clarity. It should improve for five years and beyond, but is alas, sold out.

We said thank you to Steve, and then Mark and I said goodbyes to Carmen and Greg, as we left for a long-anticipated evening at Martin Estate. On our previous visit, an invitation had been extended and we were to join Greg and Petra Martin and several other guests for a winery dinner.

The Martin's Oakville Estate has a long history as both a winery and residence, and it occupies more than twenty acres, adjacent to Caymus Winery's home property. We knew well that Greg and Petra sold great Cabernets and were great hosts, but we had an extra reason to be excited.

Martin Estate's building is one of the oldest in Napa Valley and had once been a "ghost winery." It was remodeled and converted into a residence some 70 years ago. In 1995, when the Martins purchased it, the property had neither winemaking equipment nor grape vines. The plan was to remodel it as a home and showplace for Greg's extraordinary collection of antique weaponry. The plan changed when several valley neighbors offered, in advance, to buy the Estate's Cabernet fruit, should the Martin's put in vines. They decided to do so, but they decided to make their home a working winery once again as well.

At dinner, I sat beside the Martin's 14 year-old daughter. I have a girl just a year older and I greatly enjoyed her charming company. The Martin's chef was wonderfully creative and we enjoyed some delicious curried lentil soup, a truly fabulous radicchio salad, wonderfully succulent roast squab and a dessert of fresh fruit and rich chocolate cake. The outstanding 2003 Estate and the even more brilliant 2002 and 2003 Estate Reserve Cabernets were perfection with the squab. Martin's botrytised Sauvignon Blanc was just plain delicious.

Mark and I stayed late, and received a special treat, spending an hour looking at military antiques with Greg. In a house decorated with suits of armor, rare carvings, swords, cannons and French military candelabras formed from bayonets, one sees but a part of Greg's collection. Greg has in storage a veritable history of small arms development, including flintlocks, matchlocks and each stage of arms development, some of which were temporarily at the winery.

Greg showed us Elephant guns and antique swords and numerous small arms including dueling pistols. We saw more than 20 four-barrel derringers, each with a carved ivory handle, and their serial numbers began with one and two. It was a fascinating and memorable experience. We hoped to be invited to dinner again, so we said goodnight without trying to pocket Annie Oakley's lever-action Stevens.

Posted by Don on May 22, 2007 7:03 AM |Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

May 28, 2007

The Roaring Wind - part one

Wine regions have personalities. Napa Valley, is world famous for great wine, restaurants, spas and leisure activities. It is cosmopolitan, with a confident atmosphere, and everyone knows the new Cabs will be fine. The Russian River Valley is "Pinot country" and seems quieter, although it's more intense below the surface, seeming almost breathless, as it waits to see if the new vintage can surpass the last one. Optimism there is almost heady, but they can do without crowds. This very private valley has fine restaurants and spas nearby as well, catering to a local crowd and their out-of-town guests.

Vintners in the Santa Lucia Highlands also have optimism about their wines, but little else, lacking the amenities enjoyed by their northern neighbors. Anything but a "Napa-style" tourist magnet, these vineyards are an hour from a good restaurant and as far from a comfortable bed.

The advantage the SLH appellation does enjoy is its terroir, a twenty-mile strip of high plateau, perched above hot agricultural flatlands. Here well-drained Pinot vines are dry-cooled by roaring daytime winds, followed by warm, drenching nighttime fog. SLH vintners are making great wines too, with new successes coming so fast that it is hard to credit whether Mother Nature has been progressively kinder in each of the last five years, or if this is an accomplishment of the local growers and winemakers.

The lure of those wines brought Denise Johnson and I to the Inaugural Santa Lucia Highlands Wine Artisans tasting on May 19th. More about this next week

Posted by Don on May 28, 2007 5:30 AM |Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

June 4, 2007

The Roaring Wind - part two

It was a two-hour+ drive from foggy San Francisco through the Salinas Valley to the sunny, but perennially windy Santa Lucia Highlands. That Saturday, Denise and I and several dozen other members of the trade were to attend an appellation seminar, followed by a garden lunch at the hilltop home of the owners of Paraiso Winery and then a SLH wine tasting held at Paraiso. Our own plan was an overnight stay in Soledad followed by a leisurely drive home on Sunday, snapping vineyard pictures as we went.

The tasting assembled wines representing most of the Highlands growers, although the bottlings were primarily from small local producers, along with a few outsiders who source grapes from the SLH. Overall quality at the event ran from quite good to truly outstanding, so it was a very fine showcase for the local produce.

There are only 26 growers in the Highlands, but some are huge, and it is unfortunate that much of the planted SLH land is held by wine-industry conglomerates. Those giant concerns crop at extremely high yields, for the terroir is so Pinot-friendly that even at 7-8 tons it produces appealing fruit. That juice is shipped elsewhere, to fortify the watery "coastal" Pinots of much bigger wineries.

The Santa Lucia winemaking community is a friendly but rather shy one (excepting the always outgoing Gary Pisoni) and its members are clearly years away from gaining the self-aware confidence we usually encounter up North. The seminar was informative, but almost too low-key. The lunch was more up-tempo and the food was quite delicious, while the winds were well behaved, keeping us cool, but not sending our food flying.

The tasting itself was a perfectly run affair showcasing Pinots, Chardonnays, Syrahs and just a few other varietals, including a fine Rhone-based white from Pelerin. There were both new names and famous ones represented. Paraiso's own '05s, also served with lunch, were a delightful surprise; produced in a fancy new facility, they were notches above the winery's previous efforts.

Puma Road was my favorite newcomer, with a distinctive 2005 Chardonnay and an attractive Pinot. The 2005 Pessagno Intrinity; 2004 Talbott Sleepy Hollow and 2005 Bernardus Reserve were also lovely Chardonnays.

As for the Pinots, my favorites in bottle included Pisoni's 2005 Estate; the 2005 Lucia Garys; the 2005 Tudor Garys'; Roar's 2005 Garys' and equally impressive 2005 Pisoni. Barrel samples were poured by both Loring and Siduri.

Part three next week...

Posted by Don on June 4, 2007 2:50 PM |Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

June 11, 2007

The Roaring Wind - part three

Our next-day plan, before the drive home from our hotel in Soledad, was to get some pictures with which to show others our favorite spots in the Santa Lucia Highlands. This proved just about impossible, for despite the fact that all the properties have some entree via the same north-south road, virtually none have any kind of identifying sign.

Denise drove us to the extreme south end of the appellation and then we headed north. After frequent stops, side-trips and searches through remarkably unhelpful maps, we concluded that we might be near either the Rosella's or the Garys' vineyard (so named Because it is owned jointly by Gary Pisoni and Gray Franscioni). We pulled the car over to ask directions of a couple who were walking a pug. The couple turned out to by Rosella and Gary Franscioni!

I have met both previously and proudly sell their Roar Winery Pinots (named for the sound of the wind through their vineyards), but Rosella, Gary and Denise are good buddies. Before we had time to ask directions or even finish our first sentence, Gary had us heading for his four-wheel drive truck and Rosella was off to arrange wine and food!

Gary gave us a forty-five minute SLH tour, pointing out the principal vineyards, then shepherding us up and down what seemed to be "fire roads" to look over the newest Franscioni plantings. We saw a series of ever more lovely views, as the new vineyards are so high up that two miles of piping and three pumping stations were needed just to bring water to the site.

Rosella met us in the family cellar with a splendid lunch, and the four of us shared three terrific SLH Pinots, all connected with the couple's stewardship. The 2005 Roar bottling from Gary Pisoni's grapes was truly brilliant, while A.P. Vin's 2005 Rosella's bottling was wonderfully elegant. Margarite Ryan's 2004 Garys' was no less exciting. We made our goodbyes and left happy, well fed and better informed. Although we got home to the Bay Area late, we were full of gratitude toward the pet pug.

Posted by Don on June 11, 2007 9:08 AM |Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

June 18, 2007

A Farewell to California Riesling

I have always adored Riesling and have watched in dismay, for thirty five years, its gradual abandonment by California's growers and vintners.

In the early 1970s, when I began drinking it, one could buy lovely Spatlese and Auslese-style Rieslings from Wente, Freemark Abbey and a few others. In the late '70s and early 1980s, Joseph Phelps, Chateau St Jean, Freemark Abbey, Chateau Montelena, Trefethen and others made fine Napa and Sonoma Riesling, as did new wineries in Santa Cruz, Monterey, Santa Barbara and elsewhere. In 1978 Smith Madrone began producing what has become our most reliable dry Riesling and Long Vineyards began a 26-year string of beautiful late harvest bottlings.

Over the years, Long's proved my personal favorite. It was a great vineyard and winemaker Sandi Belcher's dedication and skill produced a wine that was intense, focused, balanced and age-worthy. Disasterously, the 2003 vintage was Sandi's last, as a legal dispute cost Bob Long control of the property.

Smith Madrone continues, but production is so limited that wine stores now rarely get more than one case. In fact it is now hard for wine stores to even find domestic Rieslings to sell, regardless of quality. Most good producers make much less than in the past, and they sell their limited output through tasting rooms almost exclusively, and there are almost no new plantings. In the last year we introduced three new Riesling bottlings, whose total production added up to less than 450 cases. The only one of these from new vines, produced 37 cases.

Things are not about to get better, as there is no longer a customer base to tempt growers and winemakers into expanding production. The root cause of this may be that, in California, it has never been possible to consistently produce the German single-vineyard, multi-level, dry-to-sweet pattern. In fact the sweetest and grandest bottlings have been easier to produce locally than good dry versions. With fine German wine, it is common for a drinker to learn to love a sweet or a dry bottling from Wehlener Sonnenuhr or another great vineyard, and later develop an equal appreciation for its same-vineyard opposite.

Despite all this bad news, I remain a Riesling lover, and Napa Valley Winery Exchange - a store notable for it's exclusively California shelf-stock - has for years, let me pre-sell great German vintages through the "back door" to a small group of like-minded customers. The 2006 vintage in Germany is a great one and I am pre-selling some of the best wines and some fantastic bargains. I only wish I had some domestic versions to brag about.

If you are interested in seeing Don's tasting notes and the prices on the 2006 pre-arrival offering, you can email a request to Don.

Posted by Don on June 18, 2007 11:30 AM |Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

July 9, 2007

The Day After Pinot Days - Part Two

Last April, Zoe, Frank, Brandon and I Barrel tasted the brilliant '05 Dutton-Goldfield Pinots, so we had high expectations as we sought out their table at Pinot Days.

Since its debut in 1995 I have loved both the Sanchetti vineyard and Dan Goldfield's winemaking (Dan was winemaker at Hartford Court when they first vineyard-designated the property). The '05 Sanchetti now in bottle, proved to be a brilliantly structured, lavishly fruity and wonderfully complex wine, which will (as always) need more age than their already fabulously aromatic and itself age-worthy, '05 Freestone Hill bottling. The D-G 2005 McDougal shows great promise, but wine from this vineyard needs serious age to fully reveal itself.

Dutton Estate offered the richly flavored (and currently available) 2005 Thomas Road as well as an ultra-elegant '05 Jewell Block. DEs winemaker, Matt Gustafson, also brought one of his own Paul Matthew wines, the delicious and age-worthy 2005 Ruxton.

Russian Hill poured outstanding 2005s, including their tightly structured Leras bottling (usually released a year behind its siblings), their flagship Tara vineyard (built to last, like the D-G Sanchetti) and the already wonderfully floral and expressive Meredith. The first two demand cellaring to fully deliver their best, but the third is so delicious that it may prove hard to keep around that long.

I re-tasted many fine but previously released bottlings, from people like Tantara, Londer and Alfaro and found many other exciting individual efforts. I was very impressed by the 2004 Talisman Thorn Ridge (as were Zoe and Mendel); the 2004 Donum Carneros; Freeman's 2005 Sonoma Coast, RRV and Akiko's; the 2005 Hirsch Sonoma Coast; the 2004 Inman Olivet Grange; Laetitia's 2005 Les Galets; Alfaro's 2005 Lindsay Paige and Bill Canihan's 2005 Exuberance. My big disappointment of the day was that Jennifer Halleck didn't bring barrel samples of any of her four great 2006 Pinots.

I was personally unable to try all of the new entrants (although I tasted without a pause from 11:00am to 4:00pm), but was impressed by the 2005 Thorne Rio Vista from the Santa Rita Hills; the 2006 Benovia Cohn and especially their '06 Proprietary Blend (James like them equally); and the Anthill Farms' 2005 Tina Marie (Mendel preferred Anthill's '05 Demuth, James the Tina Marie).

James was impressed by two wines I had missed; the 2004 Clary Sonoma Coast and the 2005 Baker Lane Hurst vineyard; while Morgan's 2005 Tondre's Grapefield (a wine I was hoping to taste) was gone before we got to that table. Each of us spent time retasting some wines that were already on NVWE shelves.

Looking back, I realize that there were several more wines I wish I had tried, but my resolve faded after five hours. That resolve returned a few days later however, when Zoe and Mendel came to dinner to share a pork roast with a bottle of Marcassin's Three Sisters and another of Patricia Green's Notorious.

Posted by Don on July 9, 2007 12:19 PM |Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

August 15, 2007

Family Values

Some decisions are more easily made by a wine-making family than by a wine-making corporation.

Reducing the size of an over-large crop, which may not fully ripen, can seem both a matter of family pride and a sound investment. The corporate decision-maker however, may look at the same circumstance quite differently. To the CEO, the smaller and most-likely better crop, may signify fewer bottles to sell, loss of profit, loss of market share, loss of stockholder support and a trip to the unemployment line.

Years ago, the Benziger Family Winery sold off its highly successful, value-priced "Glen Ellen" line and began to reinvent itself as a premium operation. The result is a true Family enterprise, with three central projects and the full or part-time participation in them of seven siblings and numerous other family members. The family now produces traditional varietals; their upscale Imagery Project; and a third effort that is possibly the most significant.

On August 6th, some friends and I visited the Benziger Estate on Sonoma Mountain. This was a long awaited, although thrice-postponed trip, as I have been fascinated from the start by the promise of Benziger's "Tribute" Cabernet-blend and the other wines to be produced at the site.

I had heard details of this project from its passionate advocate, Michael Benziger, on numerous occasions. Our guides for this visit were Michael's equally enthusiastic brother Bob and a helpful and very well informed VIP Tour Guide, Rosie Melero.

Tribute's birthplace is a biodynamic ecosystem (for a short definition of biodynamic, imagine "organic" on steroids -- natural ones). The system is designed, through the beneficial interaction of its people, plants and animals, to make distinctive and hopefully great wine.

Biodynamic agriculture, developed by the visionary Rudolf Steiner a hundred years ago, is a mutual support system. Plants that attract beneficial insects, birds that hunt predatory critters, and local compost that reinvigorates the vineyard are all part of the process.

The agricultural procedures involved are tightly regulated, with inspections done by the Demeter Association, an international body that demands re-certification every year. The biodynamic wines Benziger has released thus far have been notable for their flavor and intensity, and even more for their distinctive terroir-driven personalities.

We were especially impressed by the upcoming 2006 Sauvignon Blanc called "Paradisio de Maria: a vividly fruity, intensely minerally, lusciously textured beauty that reminds of a Didier Dagueneau Pouilly-Fume. The even more distinctive 2004 Tribute Red (Cabernet, with some Petite Verdot, Cab Franc and Merlot) is a mouthwatering mix of deep red fruits, savory spice and earthy complexities.

This was my second taste of Tribute "04. I had paired a bottle previously, with the wonderful herb-coated roasted Lamb Loin Chops at San Francisco's Kokari restaurant, courtesy of Michael Benziger. It was a great wine-food match, and Benziger Winery is a great stop for anyone traveling in Sonoma. I plan to reserve time in the future for a separate exploration of Joe Benziger's baby, the Imagery project.

Posted by Don on August 15, 2007 6:06 AM |Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

September 8, 2007

A Bit of Harvest-Time Advice and Etiquette

Few would plan an April holiday with a tax accountant. The idea lacks romance and one could logically expect ejection upon arrival. In the world of winemaking however, we hope for a better reception, although those bringing in the harvest may be busier in the Fall than the taxman was in the Spring.

If you plan to be in Napa this fall, or the Russian River, or Santa Barbara: be prepared and be adaptable. If you don't already have a room booked, you will have to stay elsewhere and drive in each day, or pay extra for whatever accommodation remains. ("Well Mr. Jones, we do still have the wedding suite...")

As soon as you know where you are staying, book dinner reservations. Make a list of interesting tasting rooms that are "open without appointment". Then make a list of "appointment only" favorites. Call the later in appropriate order. In other words, call Sherwin (located on top of Spring Mountain) and if they say yes, ask how long you be will likely to visit there; then call Pride Winery (also on top of Spring Mountain) and if they say yes, ask how long it takes to get there from Sherwin. Get directions! Your cell phone will probably not work on Spring Mountain. The last time I went to Sherwin, we had three different cell phones in the car and we got lost and none of them worked.

If Sherwin can't accommodate you (almost certainly they can't, as Steve Sherwin normally conducts tours himself and he is the winemaker after all), say "thanks" and call your next choice. Use the list of "open without appointment" wineries to pad your day trips. Drop one if you get to spend extra time at a favorite spot. Remember, it is an expected courtesy to reaffirm your winery reservations when you arrive in the valley.

Expect lines at restaurants. I sometimes run late and have to cancel them, so I usually keep some munchies in the car. I typically hit Oakville Grocery or Dean and Deluca in Napa, or the Downtown Bakery and Creamery in Healdsburg, for Foccacia bread, etc.

Enjoy the bustling excitement of the Harvest, eat some good meals, drink some good wine, put up with some bad traffic and overpay for a room. Then forgive your favorite winemaker for saying NO, or for turning you over to the indifferent bozo he hired as a pourer so he could bring in the harvest. Enjoy it for what it is. After all, you can come back in the Spring for a more intimate visit. The taxman will forgive your absence.

Posted by Don on September 8, 2007 11:39 AM |Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

September 17, 2007

Memory, Reverie and The Silly Season

NVWE is a dedicated to California wines and it's hotel district location was chosen for its access to "out of state" customers. We have a good relationship with the local concierges and at their request, keep a number of French Champagnes in stock. Of course we only order bubbly that has our personal tasting endorsement.

Well, Christmas marketing has started and Thursday we saw the first example, a puzzling, if pleasant one. At about 11:00am, a lady in a black evening gown appeared and, offering an elbow, escorted Denise through the front door. Fifteen minutes later Denise reappeared from the back room and the lady in black reappeared at our front entrance: a clear indicator that the Silly Season had begun.

Now this elegant lady is known to us as a representative of a wine importer/distributor. We see her now and again, in other guise. Poised in our doorway, she looked like a Hollywood waif in search of a red carpet. Of course I accepted her elbow, and we departed.

Outside was a black Stretch-Limo. (Why not a pumpkin coach?) Upon entry I found another lady and gentleman in evening dress, guarding an ice-bucket of "Tete de Cuvee" French bubbly! Clearly my hosts felt these wines should be evaluated in circumstances more romantic than those of the sales room. I found myself unable to disagree. As the driver looped through downtown San Francisco, I gave the presentation my full attention.

I am a life-long devotee of bubbly and a morning bracer of Dom Perignon, Krug Grande Cuvee and Veuve Cliquot Grande Dame is to me an excellent attitude adjuster. I confess that bubbles and fine food bring me to a state near to outright bliss. I am however, willing to "tough it out" without the customary appetizers. I sat back in the seat, grabbed a glass, smiled and reminisced.

In memory, my first Doms were the frothy '66 and the luxurious '69. They didn't need food, but liked it. Grande Cuvee was just an idea then, but vintage Krug was another thing. Ferociously powerful in its youth (the '66 vintage was my first example), it hits an extraordinary pinnacle of richness in its maturity. I hold the absolute conviction that God drinks the '52 regularly. My mind drifts off at the mere thought of it!

Grande Dame evokes other days, including one of the most serendipitous in my life. I was in Santa Barbara, in the '70s and a roommate had been skin diving. He proposed that we learn if Sea Urchin was as wonderful as rumored. He was armed with the purple critters and some freshly made toast points. For my part, I had just brought home my first Grande Dame, so we quickly broadened the scope of his experiment.

Grande Dame and Uni (what they call Sea Urchin at the Sushi bar) proved a knee-trembling combination, as it has every time since. The Universe had clearly coalesced from the "Big Bang" and life evolved just to make such moments possible. I still feel that way. I get nearly the same feeling drinking great Champagne with raw oysters. People look at me funny while I am eating them, so it shows I guess.

Back to Earth

I stepped out of the limo, thanked my well-dressed hosts and stumbled, famished, back into the real world. On reflection, it is important to keep up to date on the new vintages.

Posted by Don on September 17, 2007 11:00 AM |Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

October 1, 2007

Manic Memories

A week ago, three old customers were in town on business, and I arranged a last-minute Napa trip for them. Harvest time is frantic for most wineries, so setting up a tour with any kind of intimacy is next to impossible, unless it has been long planned. We pulled it off pretty well though.

Mark, Carmen and Greg's visit included a first stop at Whitehall Lane's wonderful new gourmet tasting center, where five vintages of WL Reserve Cabernet are poured with matching food, for $35.00. The next stop was a trip through the past and present at Schramsberg, where caves dug by Chinese laborers 100 years ago are the cool backdrop for a flight of delicious California bubbly.

A late lunch (for the shorter lines and faster service) at Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen fortified them for a more manic last stop, at Ramian Estate. I got a cell phone call from there and heard from the three travelers and the winemaker, each one shouting over the noise of production, each one gleefully enjoying the chaos of the harvest and the excitement of the moment. They clearly had fun, and left with a story to recall someday, when they finally get to drink the 2007 Ramian Cab.

Multi-tasking and Ministrations

I once sent some customers to Long vineyards in the mountains above Napa. It was a party of four: Lonnie and his wife, vacationing with another couple I had not yet met. Winemaker Sandi Belcher (also the owner and winemaker of Arns Winery) was going to be crushing Riesling, but offered to let them visit if they didn't mind staying out of the way while she worked. Like Brian Graham, owner and winemaker at Ramian, Sandi has always been a multi-tasker.

For 26 years Long Vineyards made the best and most Germanic-style Riesling in California, and they did so with a traditional wooden press made of vertical slats. A peculiarity of this press is that grapes can sometimes get stuck at the side, to eventually project a fire hose-like jet of grape juice between the slats when the grapes are pressed. One of Lonnie's traveling companions, standing far back and thinking herself well out of harms way, was drenched head to foot in sticky Riesling juice when the unexpected happened.

Dripping, sticky, feeling absolutely gross and clearly furious, she was cleaned up and then escorted by Sandi down to a St Helena dress shop for a new set of clothes. During Sandi's ministrations, the guest remained silent and made it very clear that she felt that she had been victimized. Goodbyes were said and Sandi went back to work.

Apparently the soggy guest had a change of heart later, as Lonnie has assured me that this has been that lady's favorite dinner party tale ever since. She now regards it as an indispensable part of the winery experience and recommends it for all.

Posted by Don on October 1, 2007 8:57 AM |Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

October 7, 2007

Goin' Up the Country . . . where the water tastes like wine... By Denise Johnson

During the first week of October each year, my husband is the official photographer for the B. R. Cohn Annual Music Festival and Celebrity Golf tournament. I was particularly keen on going this year to see two bands that took me far, far back in time Canned Heat and Taj Majal. (There were other bands, but I really went to see these two!) My husband's participation with this event entitles me to VIP Hospitality and Backstage passes, and I always have fun hobnobbing with people I know, both in the wine and music business.

This annual event is held on the winery property, literally between Bruce Cohn's residence and winery and the vineyard. About 2500 people sit on a small slope in front of the stage and drink great wine and listen to great music from noon until 6 pm, all within this idyllic vineyard setting. I had dinner and talked backstage through Los Lobos, and was not able to stay for Three Dog Night, but the drive to Sonoma was worth it, just to see Canned Heat perform their entire set - in particular their two biggest hits, Goin' Up the Country and On the Road Again. Canned Heat was just great in their 60's sort of way and the "50 something crowd" hazily danced the afternoon away.

Also great? The wine in my glass! I bought a bottle of the 2004 B. R. Cohn Olive Hill Cabernet Sauvignon to share with my son Casey and it was sooooo great and smooth, sitting out there in the sunshine, humming along... The excellent 2004 B. R.Cohn Olive Hill Cabernet Sauvignon is part of our Half Bottle Half Price Shipping sale which runs all through October. You gotta try it!

Posted by Don on October 7, 2007 10:16 PM |Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

October 15, 2007

Not an Accident -- Part One

Each fall, San Francisco hotels are packed from late August through much of October. The streets are even busier, as the locals tend to stick around too. It is not an accident.

This year, the first weekend of October offered the following entertainment choices: Fleet Week (the chance to board a naval vessel and chat with its crew); the Blue Angels (a three-day aerial display); the grape harvest (Napa, Sonoma, Santa Cruz and other spots are easy day-trips); the Columbus Day Parade; and various outdoor festivities designed to exploit the typically spectacular Fall weather.

"What to do/where to go" is a conscious decision here in the Fall, as one will always have to miss some other available entertainment. Working Saturday, October 6th, I chose to spend Friday and Sunday at the Not Strictly Bluegrass Festival. This annual treasure, offering about 40 world-class acts, is a free three-day series of concerts held in the acoustically perfect meadows of Golden Gate Park. During the Sunday concert, the temperature was seventy-three degrees, under a perfect blue sky.

Wednesday found me, along with co-worker James Butler and my friend, Pattie, driving to Napa Valley and particularly toward Joseph Phelps Winery. Phelps has released their 2004 Insignia, which can only be sampled at the winery. '04 produced the smallest quantity of this bottling in recent memory and stores are being offered almost none to sell.

I wanted to use the wine in our next "High Rollers Cab Club" package in order to spread the supply around (assuming its quality was up to its advance notices), but our allocation was to be less than twenty percent of last years, so we had been calling-in favors, trying to assemble enough to make the Club box possible.

A Bubble-induced Attitude Adjustment

We stopped on the way, at Domaine Carneros, for an attitude adjustment. This is a popular first stop for everyone I know. Sipping sparkling wine and nibbling fruit and fine cheeses in the clear morning air, as Red Tail hawks soar above the vineyards, will always improve the outlook.

Their new wines are lovely too, with the upcoming "2001 Le Reve" a standout. The 2003 Brut was long and very tasty. The best news is that their wonderful and notably under-priced "Late Disgourged" bottling, thus far available exclusively from the winery, will be given to retailers next year.

Psychologically prepared, we headed thirty minutes north to Joseph Phelps, to find out how good the Insignia was. Later, we stood under the winery eaves and chatted about the upcoming baseball playoffs and watched a gentle rain while sipping through the Phelps lineup and working to maintain our amiable mood. We were startled out of our reverie however, when the Insignia, with its gorgeous ruby color, was poured.

The wine hit me in three stages. The aroma, after just a moment of youthful reserve, surged forth as a deep and perfectly focused cascade of darkly sweet cherries, Cassis, Mr. Lincoln roses, violets and vanilla cream. There was no reserve at all to the flavors, an explosion of red plum, red raspberry, sweet red cherry and red rose, seamlessly joined to luxuriously rich undercurrents of vanilla, baking spice, roasted grain and earth. The finish was wonderfully fruity, polished and supple, and seemed to linger for minutes.

Even more unexpected, after the dramatically up-front fruit, was the wines "grip." This wine, for all its enormous early appeal, has a tannic spine that suggests years of further improvement.

I have sold every Insignia, since the 1974. There have been many famous ones, and some truly great ones, but I believe that the most consistently fruity and delicious was the 1994. Those who own some of that wine know that the 1994 was spectacular the week it was released and is great at this moment, with never a weak bottle in-between. Believe it or not, the 2004 would, at this point, appear to be its clone.

Part two next week, in which we re-taste a wine of near Insignia quality, at a quarter of its price...

Posted by Don on October 15, 2007 7:14 PM |Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

October 21, 2007

Not an Accident -- Part Two

It is no mistake that Cabernet is the red grape of choice in Napa Valley and I almost never go Cab-tasting there without reward. Having lingered too long at Joseph Phelps, we were now time-pressed, so we skipped a more elaborate lunch in favor of a quick fuel-up at Taylor's Refresher. A Napa Valley standby, Taylor's offers gourmet takeout food in a 1950s era drive-in, with a large shade covered lawn and picnic tables for its patrons.

Our post-lunch stop was a long planned visit to Ramian Estate. I had spent the previous three months telling all who would listen that the 2004 Ramian 'Chapter 4' from Mount Veeder grapes, was a "better Opus One than Opus One". I had heard that there were multiple projects on the premises and was anxious for a first-hand look.

Ramian is housed within the Silenus custom-crush facility and tasting room, located 1/2 block west of Highway 29, and 1/2 mile north of Oak Knoll road (at Darms Lane). Silenus turned out to be full of interesting surprises! Ramian's winemaker and owner, Brian Graham, supervises other labels under the same roof and had numerous side-projects of his own to show us.

At my request, we re-tasted the 2004 Chapter 4. To my great pleasure, it has grown even more sophisticated and charming since I last tasted it. Pattie thought it was better than the '04 Phelps Insignia! As fine as the new 2004 Opus One is, and (at $179.95) it's the best Opus in several years, it is not nearly as fine as the similarly styled Ramian is (at $47.49!).

Ramian has also produced a seductive and age-worthy 2004 Dolcetto-Nebbiolo blend, called La Morra. It is elegant and focused, but firmly structured and brilliantly designed for food-service. Brian also gave us a Ramian barrel-tasting tour which included an impressive 2006 Ramian Chapter, a brilliant Napa Merlot and an exotically rich 2006 Roussanne.

Brian introduced us to Ron Houle, and his 60 case production Due Vigne di Famiglia Napa Valley Cabernet, which was a gorgeous and very elegant discovery. We quickly ordered 5 cases when Ron offered them. Silenus itself, is owned by Robert Williamson, whose Williamson Family Estate Winery has two fine 2006 Napa Chardonnays: a supple Un-Oaked bottling; and a creamier, more sophisticated Barrel Fermented version.

Our final stop was to meet Gerich, Mark and owner Steve, at Anomaly Winery in St Helena, to try their 2004 Meritage. Like its 2002 and 2003 siblings, it proved rich, harmonious and full of appealing herbal spice. It will be a great companion to rich winter fare, but we could have easily polished off a bottle all by itself.

As I said, I am rarely disappointed when I go Cab hunting in Napa.

Posted by Don on October 21, 2007 11:51 PM |Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

November 20, 2007

Napa Valley, Saturday, November 17th - part one

I have been to the Mountain

Last Saturday was a long day, a Napa excursion that started and finished with effort, but was fun and rewarding in between. I left San Francisco's Sunset District before 8:00am, heading north toward breakfast with Mark in Napa Valley.

My path led up 19th Avenue through Golden Gate Park, an east-west running strip of greenery a few miles long and a half-mile wide. It took me thirty minutes to cross my half-mile, while transit workers made a chemical spill at the north end of 19th passable. My breakfast, if fortifying, was brief.

Our first excursion was to the top of Spring Mountain to join Jim and Barbara Richards, the wonderfully gracious owners of Paloma Vineyard, one of Napa's Crown Jewels. Mark and I were met on the mountain by Greg and Carmen, our co-explorers.

The air is crystal-clear and the view from those western heights is startling at this time of year. One looks down Paloma's dew-drenched vineyards at the wisps of fog that linger above the valley floor, and up at a broad postcard view of the forested, vineyard-dotted, eastern mountain range and the pale blue morning sky above its peaks.

Napa Valley Winery Exchange sold the first vintage of Paloma and has gladly sold every vintage since, including the 2001, winner of Wine Spectator Magazine's "Wine of the Year" award. We met to barrel-taste the 2006 with Jim, having no clue as to his new wines style or quality. He did not boast about the wine, but one sip was enough for us all.

I have re-tasted the 2001 Paloma each year since its release and watched it become as heroic as was promised; yet I have little doubt that 2006 will be its equal. We gave each other "we are not worthy" looks as we tasted. Before leaving, we tasted Paloma's little-seen Syrah; a vivid and intense bottling that is available direct from the winery exclusively.

Our next stop, just a few blocks away, was with Donna at Sherwin. Our visit could not include barrel tasting, as Steve Sherwin (who is generally the barrel-climber) and his wife Linda were back east. Donna had her hands full with a group of ten picnickers, so we enjoyed their "Cellar Series Two" Meritage (direct sales only) and re-tasted the brilliant and age-worthy 2004 Sherwin Estate Cab while we surveyed the property.

Our view was a polar opposite of what we saw at Paloma, as the sense of privacy here is acute. The winery sits on one side of a bowl-shaped mountain valley, with sky above, but forests and vineyards on all sides and a private lake in the center. We each whispered: "Why don't I live here?"

Posted by Don on November 20, 2007 7:25 PM |Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

November 25, 2007

Napa Valley, Saturday, November 17th - part two

Down in the Valley

After a delicious lunch at St Helena's "Go Fish" (I had raw Oysters and Uni, followed by a terrific grilled fish salad), we headed north to Twomey. Owned by the Silver Oak folks and specializing in Merlot, Twomey is quietly building a Russian River-based Pinot Noir portfolio, the reason for our visit. The Pinot is, thus far, winery direct only. Plans are for an expansion to wine-store sales soon, so I hoped to see if they knew how to make the stuff.

It would seem that they do. The 2005 bottling was expensive, but elegant, focused, long and age-worthy, with classic Rochioli-esque fruit. This was not entirely unexpected, as that fruit was purchased from "Westside Farms" vineyard. It should be an easy transition for Twomey when their own vineyards start producing, since the land they are developing is along Westside Road, just north of Rochioli's property.

Rombauer, was the last stop, for a bit of deliciously sip-able Chardonnay and a look at what keeps their perennially-packed tasting room humming. The other highlights, as in the past, were the delicious wines sold only at the estate: the slightly sweet Napa Zin, the Zin Port and a remarkably successful 2005 Late Harvest Chardonnay. Boxes and boxes of these specialty bottlings marched out the door as we tasted

Our mutual friends Don and Dana Gallagher (owners of Trespass Vineyard) joined Mark, Carmen, Greg and I for dinner at Martini House. The St Helena restaurant lived up to its new Michelin Star.

I had a plate of wonderfully sauced Venison, which was a great companion to the delicious 2005 Trespass Rendezvous (An as yet unreleased Meritage: 50% Cab Franc, 40% Merlot, 10% Cab Sauvignon), and an even better partner to the fantastic 2004 Whitehall Lane Leonardini Vineyard Cabernet that Mark supplied. Sadly, the '04 Leonardini, the best bottling ever from that vineyard, is expected to be sold at the winery exclusively. We are trying our best to talk them out of a case or two.

Don and Dana also brought a very impressive 2003 Baldacci Brenda's Cab, which was much the best Baldacci wine I have ever enjoyed. I brought my last bottle of 1983 Zilliken Saarberger Rauch Gold Cap Auslese for desert. It was delicious, but not as fabulous as its processors, being just a bit corked. Oh well.

After a long, easy and successful day, I said goodbyes and reentered the real world. The real world, that Saturday night, meant pea soup fog for the next 60 miles. Oh well. I turned the volume up on an old Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band CD and hit the road. As you can see, I made it home to tell the tale.

Posted by Don on November 25, 2007 8:50 PM |Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

March 24, 2008

2007 Sonoma Pinot Noir: In search of a great harvest [Part One]

There has been a steady murmur from winemakers up and down our state about the 2007 Pinots. If early enthusiasm is any kind of a marker, this is the perfect vintage. We naturally have an interest in the accuracy of such rumors and have been anxious to investigate them. On March 22nd, a cloudless seventy-two degree day, James Jackson and I, along with NVWE alumni Adam Werner and Cory Declusin headed north to investigate.

A perfect vintage for Cabernet denotes something quite different from an ideal one for Pinot. Cabernets from great vintages have more sheer power, better focus, more depth, more intensity, bigger tannins and are of altogether grander scale than Cabs made in years that are merely excellent. In such a year, Cabernet can produce majestic wines even from young vines. Great vintage Cabs are wines that you can stand back and look up at.

The perfect Pinot vintage will produce wines that are truly seamless and endlessly seductive. Wines that possess wonderful clarity and exotic depth, along with splendid mouth-feel. In such wines, fruit acidity looses its citric edge, but its zest is retained, being subsumed into the other elements of flavor and texture. The result is a wave of scent and taste that pulls you into the wine.

Pinots made from older vines have an extra dimension of structure and significantly more depth, so they hit even grander heights as they mature. I have come to believe that the primary quality differences between the best California Pinots and their French counterparts are vine age, and the expertise the grower gains as he grows old, working those vines.

One of the things I expect to find in Pinot from a great vintage is an impression of "grip". This is an old-fashioned word, which I personally define as the mouth-feel a wine has when the tannins are dense, yet fully integrated into the texture and flavor profile. In Pinots with grip, the tannins seem to have grown-up in support of the even richer fruit, rather than been added by winemaking decision. The tannin adds weight and is clearly noticeable, but it never intrudes on the forward-moving wave of fruit by clipping the finish, or otherwise blunting the impression of elegance. The mouth-feel of such Pinot strikes me as "sinewy" or full of "sap".

Four and a half stops

We made three stops in the Russian River Valley and one in the Sonoma Coast, spending our first hour and a half drinking Pinot with Jennifer Halleck and winemaker Rick Davis at Halleck Winery. We tasted from 11 barrels of Jennifer's 2007 crop, followed by a 2 barrel sampling of Rick's own 2007 Calstar Pinot.

Chasseur's Bill Hunter surprised us with a stand-up lunch, which fortified us for the three hours we spent tapping 5 of his 2007 & 2006 Chardonnay barrels, 16 of his 2007 Pinot barrels and enjoying his three 2006 vineyard-designated Pinot bottlings. Bill is releasing only those three from 2006, after offering five in 2005. He could conceivably market as many as eleven from 2007, a vintage he is ecstatic about.

At Benovia, our host Bob Mosby, poured his line-up of recently bottled 2006 Pinots, along with a 2007 Pinot Rose and a 2006 Zio Toni vineyard Chardonnay. This was a long-delayed visit, as I have been eagerly anticipating the debut of Benovia Pinot for almost three years.

Our last visit was in Petaluma, part of the Sonoma Coast AVA, at a vineyard located south of the RRV, near US Highway 101. Kastania's vineyard's owners, Hoot (note the owl on the label) and Linda Smith used to sell their Pinot grapes. Since 2005 they have marketed two bottlings of their own as well, and had the good sense to hire Leslie Cisneros (winemaker at Arista) to help make them. Kastania's bottled 2006s and barrel 2007s, and a tiny production 2005 Meritage, rounded out our tasting day.</