Richard Sanford of Alma Rosa
Richard Sanford was one of California’s true pinot pioneers and was one of my first tutors on the great potential of pinot noir in America. I have found his wines to be consistently among America’s finest pinot noirs for decades. Sanford had his namesake winery ripped away from him from one of the Engulf and Devour Corporations of the wine world and today is making outstanding wines at his new winery, Alma Rosa. Richard and his wife Thekla are among the most gentle and artistic souls on the planet and it shows in their wines. I thought this interview with him was well worth sharing:
Titus TV
Titus Vineyards in Napa has a live webcam on their harvest this year. Check out their video at: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/titus_tv
Next live broadcast is at 3 p.m. PDT today.
A Pleasant Surprise
One of the most consistently disappointing categories of wine is moderately priced California Cabernet. That range from say $15 to $25. Most just have no reason for existence as they have more to do with $10 grocery store cabernet rather than $50 bottles. Not that you can find top quality California Cabernet in the $50 range anymore. Bordeaux has always had a many Petit Chateau and Cru Bourgeois that delivered excellent value, but nobody in California seems to want to get into the mid-price business. Everybody wants to be Screaming Eagle if they have the grapes or not.
So I tasted the 2006 Hess Cabernet Sauvignon, Mendocino, Lake, Napa with little optimism, but I was in for a pleasant surprise. Certainly not a great cabernet, but it is a very nice one and at $15 is a very good value. While definitely forward and ready to drink, there is just enough tannin to remind you that it is truly cabernet and to let you keep it around for a year or two. The blend is 88% cabernet, 8% syrah and 4% merlot harvested from vineyards in Mendocino, Lake and Napa counties. At 13.5% it’s medium-bodied by American standards. Hess Chef Chad Hendrickson offers this recipe suggestion to pair with this wine:
Herb Marinated Skirt Steak with Point Reyes Blue Cheese and Sweet Onion Relish, Balsamic Reduction
Skirt Steak
1 lb. Skirt steak, cleaned, defatted
½ Tbsp. Thyme, chopped
½ Tbsp. Oregano, chopped
½ Tbsp. Sage, chopped
½ Tbsp. Garlic, chopped
2 Tbsp. Extra virgin olive oil
To taste Salt and Pepper
Point Reyes Blue Cheese and Onion Relish
1 oz. Extra virgin olive oil
1 cup Sweet onions, small dice
½ cup Pt Reyes Blue cheese, crumbled
1 Tbsp. Chives, sliced ¼” bias
1 Tbsp. Balsamic Vinegar Reduction
To taste Salt and Pepper
Method for the skirt steak
Season the skirt steak with salt and pepper. Set aside. Combine the herbs, garlic, and olive oil in a bowl. Add the steak and toss to coat with the herbs. Set aside for 4 hours.
Method for the Sweet Onion Relish
Heat a sauté pan over high; add the oil and onions, season with salt and pepper. Let cook stirring periodically until caramelized. Adjust seasonings and keep warm.
Grill the skirt steak to desired doneness. Let rest for 5 minutes, and then slice ¼ “thick on a bias (against the grain). Fan the steak on a plate.
Heat the onions over medium until warm, toss in the crumbled blue cheese and chives.
Place on top of the skirt steak. Drizzle the balsamic reduction around the plate.
Striking a Match
Several decades ago I met an enthusiastic young couple with a new winery located in the Dunnigan Hills of California's Yolo County. No one had heard of Yolo County in those days or, for that matter, these days. Yet, that young couple, John and Lane Giguiere, built their new winery, R.H. Phillips, into a national brand that reached 750,000 cases in sales by the time they sold the brand in the year 2000. What made the Giguieres so successful was that they made wines that were great values and then took them to market in some of the most fun, innovative packaging in the industry. The labels got people to try the wines, but once they tasted what was inside they were hooked because of the quality. Having not tasted the Phillips brands after their departure, I have no idea if that tradition has been continued.
Like most entrepreneurs, once they attained their success, they longed to get back to what got them into the business in the first place. For the Giguieres this meant getting back to, "making wine again, instead of making sales forecasts." Their new venture, Crew Wine Company, is taking them back to their winemaking roots in the Dunnigan Hills, with some side trips to the Russian River and Mendocino. The several brands under the Crew umbrella include: Mossback, which features pinot and chardonnay from the Russian River; Sawbuck, which offers chardonnay, cabernet and malbec for around $10; and Matchbook, that is built on the Giguiere's estate vineyards in the Dunnigan Hills.
There is a growing buzz for Spain's most important variety, tempranillo, up-and-down the West Coast. Oregon's Abacela Vineyards has been making an outstanding tempranillo for years and there's even a new trade association for tempranillo producers called the Tempranillo Advocates Producers and Amigos Society or TAPAS, which just had their first convention last August in Napa, where more than thirty American tempranillo producers shared their wines and exchanged ideas. The Giguieres and their Matchbook wines are in the forefront of this New World tempranillo revolution offering two excellent wines from this variety that, as you would expect from them, are also good values.
Their 2006 Matchbook Dunnigan Hills Tempranillo is just simply delicious. Round, deeply fruity with just enough tannin to hold its edge, this is a wine that just draws you in and invites another sip. There's big fruit here, but it's no simple fruit bomb. At only $15 a bottle, this tempranillo is a great bargain. The 2005 Matchbook Dunnigan Hills Tinto Rey (43% syrah, 40% tempranillo, 7% malbec and 6% petit verdot) is a bigger, more powerful wine with the syrah showing through in the gamy, butcher shop highlights in the nose and on the palate. It's deep and rich with a bitter chocolate backbone to balance the extracted, ripe blackberry fruit. While these wines are big, they're not monsters. Both are under 14% alcohol and are the better for it as these are two wines you can really enjoy with food. Match these wines with chops, steaks and sausages hot off the grill.
The name Matchbook came from John Giguiere's childhood tendency to play with matches. With their new brand Matchbook he may have started another fire.
The Three Faces of Pinot Noir
Poor pinot noir. As the variety most transparent to terroir and the hand of the winemaker it has become a schizophrenic variety producing a full rainbow of styles from all corners of the planet. The staggering range of wines produced makes it impossible and pointless to define which personality is the best expression of the variety. As usual, lovers of any particular style are absolutely convinced of the superiority of their preferred style.
Most pinot noir aficionados are drawn to the variety because of its capability to produce the most terroir-driven of wines. Vineyards mere meters apart produce astoundingly different wines. Strangely enough, this same love of the wonderful diversity and endless fascination with the nuances of terroir seems to put blinders on many tasters. Instead of being willing to experience the myriad of styles offered by the terroir-sity (take that Colbert), that is the hallmark of this variety, they become stuck in a narrow range of styles with a disdain bordering on the violent for wines produced in other styles, or perhaps more accurately, other terroirs. It seems to be quickly forgotten that the very reason we love pinot noir means by definition that the wines will be, and should be, very different when grown in different places.
It's important to taste wines for what they are, not what we wish they were. You cannot will a Sonoma Coast pinot noir to taste like Pommard 1er Cru because not only shouldn't it taste like a Pommard, but why would you want it to? The interesting part of pinot noir, and, for that matter all varieties, are these very differences. Of course everyone will have their own personal preferences, but personal preference in taste is not the same as superiority.
Having recently immersed myself (almost literally) in pinot noir for three days during the International Pinot Noir Celebration I could not help but be struck by the wonderful diversity and the exceptionally high level of winemaking that exists in the world of pinot noir these days. Four wines highlighted the range of this golden age of pinot we're living in: the brooding, powerful Littorai Wines
, Mays Canyon Vineyard, 2006 from California; the firm, spicy Sokol Blosser Winery, Dundee Hills Estate Cuvée, 2005 from Oregon; the explosively fruity, black current flavors of the Felton Road 2007 from New Zealand; and the closed, biting youth of the Volnay, Vendanges Sélectionnées, Domaine Michel Lafarge, 2005 from Burgundy. These four wines could not be more different or more delicious in their own right. It is their very differences that make them so exciting and make them, well, so pinot noir.
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Wine Notes: IPNC 2008
Tasting all the wines at IPNC is probably impossible and, as at all large events, a challenge. I did my best concentrate and taste as many wines as possible, but I'm sure I missed a few gems. Tasting Burgundy amid the many New World wines was certainly difficult. The tight, young French wines could be easily overlooked among all the lush, forward New World wines. Oregon was particularly lucky as most were showing the fruit-forward, easy to like 2006 vintage wines, which showed very well in such conditions. Below are some of my favorite wines from my tasting notes. Wines from the seminars are listed in separate posts.
Recommended wines from the 2008 International Pinot Noir Celebration:
Australia
- Bindi, Block 5, 2006 - Brilliant, fresh and loaded with up-front fruit.
- Frogmore Creek, 2006 - Leaner and more compact than expected, nice balance with a long elegant finish.
Austria
- Wiengut Fred Loimer, Dechant, 2006 - Delicate, floral and impeccably balanced. Refined pure pinot noir.
France-Burgundy
- Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru, Domaine d'Ardhuy, 2006 - Lush, exotically spiced, but still tight with a firm structure that needs time to resolve.
- Marsannay, Les Faviéres, Domaine Charles Audoin, 2005 - Lovely spicy lively minerality with zesty sweet tart cherry fruit, needs just a year or two more. Charming and delicious.
- Beaune 1er Cru, Champs Pimont, Maison Champy, 2005 - Great style and richness, but closed tight as a drum. Very good potential.
- Beaune 1er Cru, Teurons, Domaine du Chateau de Chorey, 2005 - I have always loved wines from this estate for their refined purity. They consistently make wonderful pinots and this does not disappoint. A classic, refined Chateau de Chorey. Lovely now, but wait a bit please.
- Ladoix 1er Cru, les Corvées, Domaine Chevalier Pere et Fils, 2005 - These lesser known appellations in Burgundy have become a treasure trove. Perfectly balanced with a firm backbone that needs a few more years to show its best.
- Bonnes Mares Grand Cru, Domaine Fougeray de Beauclair, 2006 - A contender for wine of the event, but it's a bit expensive for that. A gorgeous pinot noir in a class by itself. Great finesse in a luscious, velvety package. Not nearly ready to drink, wait ten years please.
- Volnay Robardelle, Domaine Huber-Verdereau, 2006 - Tight, tight, tight. It's so hard to show very young Burgundy, but I think this will be a very good wine in four or five years.
- Volnay, Vendanges Sélectionnées, Domaine Michel Lafarge, 2005 - A coiled spring of a pinot noir waiting to explode. When the acids and tannins come into harmony what a wonderful wine this will be.
- Beaune 1er Cru, Bressandes, Domaine Albert Morot, 2006 - A silky pinot noir with great style and length. The tannins are still a bit too hard, but soon this will be a charmer. Very lively.
- Aloxe Corton, Clos de la Boulotte, Monopole, Domaine Nudant, 2006 - So tight it's not funny. Somewhere under all that structure is a good wine biding its time.
- Pommard 1er Cru, Philippe Pacalet, 2006 - A stunningly elegant pinot noir with firm tannins that close down the finish. This will be excellent in a few more years.
- Gevrey Chambertin, Vielles Vignes, Domaine Marc Roy, 2006 - Very tight now, but what promise! One of those wines that is so complex and complete in all its aspects that you know greatness awaits. There's real potential for this to become an outstanding wine.
- Gevrey Chambertin, Domaine Trapet, 2005 - Very fine, long and complex. Alas this is another wine that was very closed. However, I believe it will age into a beauty.
New Zealand
- Felton Road 2007 - An explosion of concentrated red fruit essence. The intensity of the fruit almost puckers your mouth with its bittersweet punch. Hard not to like.
- Pegasus Bay 2006 - Very tight with a mineral and red fruit focus. Excellent length and balance. Very stylish and elegant. A year or so more will bring out more complexity.
California
- Cobb Family Wines, Coastlands Vineyard, 2006 - A very impressive wine. Great complexity and a refined, yet rich character. A very graceful pinot that glides across the palate. An excellent effort.
- Hirsch Winery, Hirsch Vineyards, 2006 - Wonderful structure and texture with elegant flavors highlighted with just a bit of that funk that works so well in some pinots. I'd love to put some of this away for a few years.
- Littorai Wines, Mays Canyon Vineyard, 2006 - Here's a pinot that's unabashedly from California and I like that about it. Rich, smoky, oaky and dense, but it all comes together in an hedonistic package that is irresistible. Still closed and unresolved I really suggest at least two or three more years of aging.
Oregon
- Adelsheim Vineyard, Elizabeth's Reserve, 2006 - This wine is so balanced, elegant and refined that you may want to drink it now, but wait a few years and you'll be rewarded. I wish more Oregon producers would respect elegance and complexity as represented by this lovely pinot.
- Belle Vallee, Grand Cuvée, 2006 - Rich and fruit-forward, but with plenty of complexity. Belle Vallee continues to offer some of the best values in Oregon pinot noir.
- Broadley Vineyards, Marcile Lorraine Vineyard, 2006 - This was my wine of the event. An almost perfect pinot noir that combines elegance and power in the way only pinot can. Outstanding complexity and length. A stunning wine that absolutely grabbed my attention amid all these great wines.
- Coelho Winery, Paciência, 2005 - The best pinot I have tasted to date from this winery and they seem to be headed in the right direction. The firm structure suggests a few more years in the bottle before enjoying.
- Domaine Drouhin Oregon, Willamette Valley, 2006 - Style, style and more style. An Audrey Hepburn of a wine that is certainly the most elegant Oregon pinot I have tasted from the fruit-forward 2006 vintage.
- Panther Creek Cellars, Freedom Hill, 2006 - A solid step forward for Panther Creek and the nicest pinot I've tasted from them lately. A bit on the oaky side, but a lot of people like that. Rich, smooth and forward enough for drinking now, but it will be a lot better next year.
- Raptor Ridge, Raptor Ridge Estate, Aldalfo's Block, 2006 - A rich, big pinot with more than enough backbone to carry its weight. Expansive and dramatic, but nowhere near ready to drink. Probably not a long-term ager, but please wait a year or two as a lot is going on in this wine that needs to evolve to show its best.
- Scott Paul Wines, La Paulée, 2006 - With a tip of the hat to Burgundian structure, the fruit-forward character of the 06 Oregon vintage soon shows itself. A lovely wine of beautiful red fruits with just a touch of chocolate and black truffles. Delicious.
- Sokol Blosser Winery, Dundee Hills Estate Cuvée, 2005 - Like the Adelsheim and Drouhin, this is a beautiful, elegant wine. Certainly delicate by today's pinot standards, but here is a wine that embodies the refinement and delicacy that makes pinot noir unique. A really pretty pinot noir.
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IPNC: Day 1 Morning Seminar
Sustainability without sacrifice was the title of this International Pinot Noir Celebration seminar. A title that is perhaps a bit off the mark as New Zealand winemaker Nigel Greening noted that the real sacrifice is not farming sustainably, which is something we all will end up paying the price for in the end.
Fight one was led by Burgundy winemaking superstar Dominique Lafon and Master of Wine Jasper Morris, while flight two featured winemakers Frédéric Lafarge (Domaine Michel Lafarge), Ted Lemon (Littorai), Nigel Greening (Felton Road), Ted Casteel (Bethel Heights) and Michael Dhillon (Bindi).
While a good tasting and seminar it ended up being more focused on biodynamics than a general look at the various sustainable models. Lafon made one comment I think all winemakers should keep in mind, “My wine should not be to show off my skills as a winemaker or the skills of my cooper, but to show the character of my appellation.”
Flight #1 - Domaine Comtes de Lafon
- Meursault, Desirèe, 2000 - Expansive aromas and flavors with an underlying tightness. Crème brûlée with a citrus punch. Great firm, mineral textures. Still very young.
- Volnay Santenot du Mileu
- 2004 - Very bright fresh and lively. Touches of fresh porcini peek out from under the ripe red fruit flavors. Needs a few more years to limber up. Outstanding quality.
- 2003 - Big and rich as you would expect from this super-hot vintage, but well made. Under the lush, velvety ripe black fruit favors is a firm enough backbone to hold it all together. Needs more time to resolve everything, but not more than a few years.
- 2000 - It takes a few years in the bottle for Burgundy to really become Burgundy and this wine has arrived. Touches of black truffles, roasting pork and new leather are layered with the zesty orange spiced red fruit, which all lead to a great finish. A very nice wine from a difficult year.
- 1997 - Another hot year and the ripe characteristics show in the touch of prune layered in along with the wild mushroom and lush dark fruit flavors. I think it’s best to drink this wine up.
Flight #2
- Volnay, 1er Cru, Les Mitans, Domaine Michel Lafarge, 2005 - Absolutely pure pinot noir essence. Tight, fresh, alive and electric. Way to young to be drinking now. A very fine wine.
- Sonoma Coast, Haven Vineyard, Littorai, 2006 - This wine was difficult at first, but after an hour in the glass opened into a very interesting wine. Quite oaky with the resulting smoky, toasty flavors and aromas. With air the wine broadens adding a meaty, savory touch to the deep, rich black fruit character. Needs 3 or 4 years to better integrate everything that’s going on.
- Central Otago, Block 3, Felton Road, 2006 - Pure dark fruit essence. This wine is intensely fruity with an almost pungent explosive bittersweet cassis fruit. Very distinctive and interesting.
- Eola Hills, Flat Block Reserve, Bethel Heights, 2006 - Lightly oaked, very perfumed with orange zest, violets and wild black cherry characteristics. Great balance and very long in the finish. Rich without being overdone.
- Victoria, Original Vineyard, Bindi Wines, 2006 - Bright and fresh with a distinct cherry Kool-Aid powder smell. Smooth and velvety. Becomes more appealing with air.
The star of out of the dozen or so pinots poured at sumptuous lunch following the seminar was the South Block Reserve, Bethel Heights 1999. This is a wine at its absolute peak with great complexity, rich wild red fruit and those wonderful earthy characteristics that pinot develops with age.
A Little Sad
It was a little sad. Our host pulled out a bottle of 1992 Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon and poured it around the table and we all immediately raised our glasses to the memory of Robert Mondavi, who recently passed away. The wine was lovely, everything a mature cabernet should be with a firm elegant character, a wonderful cigar box nose and that long, linear, intellectual finish that defines the variety at its best.
The sad part was not the passing of Mr. Mondavi, who lived a full and meaningful life into his nineties. It's hard to think of someone who lived a fuller life and no one left a bigger imprint on the American wine industry. The sad part was a wine blog post I read earlier in the day that grumped away about all the coverage of his death, wondered what the big deal was all about and why he should care. Writing a wine blog and not knowing about Robert Mondavi is like writing a blog about American history without knowing who George Washington was. How can a wine writer that doesn't understand the immense impact of Robert Mondavi provide meaningful commentary on the American wine industry? They can't and that's a little sad.
Understanding the sublime art that great wine can become is more than pulling the cork and giving it points. In every bottle of California wine that achieves greatness there will always be a bit of Robert Mondavi. To not understand that is to not fully know or appreciate that wine. It is the human spirit that raises wine from a beverage to an emotion.
We can be assured that there have been thousands of corks pulled from treasured old bottles of Robert Mondavi's wines in the last week and tens of thousands of glasses raised in his honor and memory. I can't think of a better tribute.
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Marriott Blues
I admit I really out of it when it comes to California wines. I just don't drink them as there are so few I enjoy. There are also California wines I love like: Calera, Alma Rosa, Edmunds St. John, Iron Horse, Corison and Spottswoode to name just a few. However as the number of wineries I really enjoy are indeed few, I don't pull many corks from bottles of California wine.
Forced into a hotel restaurant dinner due to the late hour of my arrival, I decided to try to be open minded and give The Golden State another shot and ordered a glass of 2005 Clos du Bois Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon, which my host for the evening, Marriott, was offering for $15 a glass and $50 a bottle. I mean, at that price it must be pretty good, right?
The first sip was smooth enough, although there was little varietal character. My taste buds now awakened, the second sip revealed much more. This wine tasted, for lack of a better word: cheap. It was like the awful under $10 California Cabernet stacked up at your local grocery store. My righteous indignation meter was off the charts. How could Clos du Bois dare foist such a mediocre wine on consumers at such a price!
Upon returning to my room I checked wine-searcher.com to find the retail price of this rip-off only to find this wine sells for around $13 a bottle. That means Marriott is paying about $7 a bottle (or less). What we have here is rip-off build up. First of all, this weak effort by Clos du Bois would be overpriced at $4 a bottle, but, perhaps, the Marriott has even more to be ashamed of as, instead of offering their guests a decent glass of wine for $15, they offer only wines they can cut a deal on.
How does this happen? Well Clos du Bois is owned by Constellation Brands, which describes itself as " a leading international producer and marketer of beverage alcohol brands" (that's inspiring) and "the largest by volume wine producer in the world" (doesn't that excite your taste buds). Besides wine this massive company sells beer and spirits. Conglomerates like this come in and set up all sorts of cross-brand deals with national chains like Marriott and often incentives that, shall we say, don't meet the letter of the law have been known to change hands. However (ahem), I'm sure this did not happen in this case.
Brands like Clos du Bois are industrial wines at their worst. They are bad wines and bad values that exist and sell only because of the marketing muscle and money behind them. They also exist because national chains like Marriott are too lazy or too cheap to put in place decent wine programs.
You can be sure you'll find the folks from Constellation and Marriott partying down together in Vegas as this year's WSWA convention. After all, what better place is there to cut a deal than in Vegas.
Drinkin' Those 88's
Not being a big fan of California wines these days, I did not expect much when I pulled the cork, but the wine soon converted me. It was certainly rich and full-flavored, but there was an underlying structure and a lot more to grab your attention than simple fruit. This was a damn good cabernet as it was very varietal and had personality, but best of all, the second glass was even more interesting and enjoyable to drink than the first. My instincts led me to check out the pointy rankings awarded this wine by the major critics. Sure enough, I was right as the point rankings hovered in the high 80's with the top wines hitting that magic number 88.
The reality is that many (if not most) of the wines that are really wonderful to drink with food are rated in the high eighty point range by The Wine Advocate and The Wine Spectator and other major wine publications. We all owe them a debt of gratitude for this service as their reviews are keeping high alcohol, oaky, over-extracted wines designed for pointy reviewers instead of dinner at the highest prices, while the very best wines are held to more reasonable price points. While those suckers are out there taking out second mortgages to grab the latest Screaming Eagle, we can grab up cases of wonderful wine for what they pay for bottles. The dangers of buying these highly rated wines with scores as high as their pH can be found in this previous post.
Somehow we need to shift our concept that the very first sip of a wine tells you more about its character than the second glass. Considering that's not likely to happen in a Wine Spectator world, we'll just have to save money and enjoy the fact that many of the best wines don't make it into the hallowed 90 point range. The point about these points is clear to anyone who knows anything about statistics. That is while there is statistically no difference between a 90 point wine and a 88 point wine, there almost certainly will be a difference in price.
These particular 88's came from the Dry Creek Estate Vineyards of Michel-Schlumberger, a brand name that must cause their marketing director migraines and proves that naming a winery after yourself is not always a great idea. I first visited this estate years ago when it was simply Domaine Michel, but with the arrival of current owner Jacques Schlumberger, of the famous Alsatian winemaking family, the name morphed into its current hyphenated form. However, this is bonus points for frugal consumers as the combination of a clumsy name with under 90 points reviews is a positive boon when the wines are this good.
- Cabernet Sauvignon, Deux Terres, Estate Bottled, Dry Creek Valley, 2004 - A lovely structure with great balance and well integrated tannins. While it will improve for years, this wine is approachable now. I found my nose drawn to the glass again and again as I tried to identify each refined nuance. While decidedly a California wine, this is a wine made by someone who loves great Bordeaux.
- Merlot, , Estate Bottled, Dry Creek Valley, 2004 - Here is a wine that reminds how good a merlot can be. Fragrant and soft while maintaining an edge that keeps the wine alive and delivers a long, complex finish.
- Syrah, Estate Bottled, Dry Creek Valley, 2005 - Appropriately big, but not over the top. You won’t confuse this syrah with grape concentrate. Meaty and oaky with a firm structure and more than enough fruit to carry the alcohol. I liked this wine quite a bit as it’s so hard to find a California wine that knows how to be big with dignity.
- Chardonnay, La Brume, Estate Bottled, Dry Creek Valley, 2005 - Loaded with rich fruit, yeasty lees, mineral and light toasty oak aromas and flavors all tied together in a tight package. You have to wonder why more California chardonnay does not taste like this. Proof that chardonnay can be both rich and structured.
Wine Notes
Recent wines I’ve enjoyed:
- Weiβburgunder, pur mineral, Trocken Franken, Fürst, 2006 - Pur mineral indeed. This is a razor blade of wine with electric acidity and flavors that slap your taste buds awake. Served with fresh Dungeness crab it was an amazing match. It took me three days to finish this bottle and it never changed a bit.
- Riesling, Winninger Uhlen Kabinett, Mosel Saar Ruwer, Freiherr von Heddesdorff, 2005 - Bright and refreshing and a wonderful aperitif. Clean apricot with just a hint of petrol, I enjoyed the first two glasses as an aperitif on two days after work and finished the bottle with some Thai carryout. I think it is better to drink this younger rather than cellaring it as it seems all about the fruit.
- Pinot Noir, Littorai, Sonoma Coast, 2005 - One of the best California pinot noir wines I’ve tasted. Great balance, weight and structure. One of those pinots that deftly blends both bright fruit and funk into a wine of unending interest. The finish lasts longer than you can wait to take another sip.
- Pinot Noir, Walter Hansel, Hansel Family Vineyards, Cahill Lane Vineyard, Russian River Valley, 2005 - An excellent pinot noir that had the unfortunate luck of being served next to the Littorai. However, this is an very good pinot noir that exhibits what could be called the best characteristics of a balanced California style. Rich without being jammy with an lush balance and a lingering finish.
- Syrah, Dry Creek Valley, Michel-Schlumberger, 2005 - Appropriately big, but not over the top. You won’t confuse this syrah with grape concentrate. Meaty and oaky with a firm structure and more than enough fruit to carry the alcohol. I liked this wine quite a bit as it’s so hard to find a California wine that knows how to be big with dignity.
- Nebbiolo Langhe, Serralunga d’Alba, Germano Ettore, 2005 - A real classic angular nebbiolo with tannin to spare. So many nebbiolo wines these days seem to try do disguise themselves as zinfandels these days, it’s wonderful to taste a wine like this that lets the true character of its variety sing its own song. This wine will be much, much better in two or three years, but I drank my three bottles anyway. Note to self: buy more ASAP.
- Rioja Riserva, Muga, 2003 - What’s the deal with Rioja? The overt oaky character that I would hate in most wines just seem to work in Rioja. Muga is one of the premier estates in Rioja and this wine does not disappoint. Fragrant and elegant with a sweet oaky character that slides silkily across the palate with an underlying acidity that lifts and brightens the rich oaky fruit.
- Brandy, Germain Robin, Anno Domini 2000 - I’m a long time fan of the California brandies produced by Germain Robin, but I had not heard of their 2000 Anno Domini when a bartender friend recommended I give it a try. I was stunned at the quality of this brandy, which literally blows all the big commercial Cognac houses out of the water when it comes to quality. The depth and complexity displayed by this spirit cannot be overstated. Except for a few producers, buying Cognac is a waste of money these days when there are spirits like this outstanding brandy.
Pinot Noir, Fiddlehead Cellars, Fiddlestix, Seven Twenty Eight, Santa Rita Hills, 2002
Brilliant light ruby with touches of garnet. A nicely complex nose with hints of toasty oak, caramel sugar and black tea. Good ripe fruit on the palate, with tar and burnt wood notes over bright bitter cherry fruit. A lovely finish dominated by tea, smoke and a touch of vanilla. Very nice. Drink over the next 2 to 3 years.
Pinot Noir, Pisoni, Estate, Santa Lucia Highlands, 2003
What a lovely wine. Deep ruby in color, but still translucent. Expansive velvety nose full of spices, violets, vanilla and a rich earthy bittersweet black cherry fruit. Velvety and creamy on the palate, it still packs a crisp acid bite to hold it all in balance. The finish is very long and makes you stop and experience the full sensation of each sip. A shade hot in the finish, but the other qualities of this wine more than make up for this slight fault. It should age beautifully over the next five or six years. Expect to pay big bucks if you are lucky enough to find a bottle.