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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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...