Wine Cellars Club

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Lots of wine drinkers know Benziger Winery. This family-owned operation that sits on the slopes of Sonoma Mountain has been known as a leader in organic and bio-dynamic winemaking. Their Chard and big reds are the wines we see out there in the market, so I was surprised to receive a set of four Pinot Noirs.

From Sonoma Mountain? Of course not. Pinot needs a cool climate in order to thrive, like the climate in — hey, the appellations on these single-vineyard Pinots are Russian River and Sonoma Coast! That’s two of California’s best AVA’s for great Pinot Noir.

We tasted them recently, while listening (through Twitter TasteLive) to winemaker Rodrigo Soto. He took us through the tasting in a way that really showcased their unique character — their terroir.  We tasted from furthest inland, almost at the eastern edge of the Russian River AVA,  to just five miles from the Pacific coast.

Our first wine was Signaterra San Remo Vineyard Russian River Valley Pinot Noir 2009. Not only was this my favorite of the tasting, but it had a unique quality that made this Pinot irresistible. The nose showed tart fruit aromas — rhubarb, cranberry — with a little floral note. The palate started off with red berries, but I was immediately distracted by the quality of the mouthfeel. This wine just glided over my palate. As the berry flavors turned more complex, with some smoke and “meat” coming through, the whole thing was gently seducing me.

Now I know Pinot is supposed to be “velvety,” but this one set a new standard. Winemaker Rodrigo Soto credited 25% whole-cluster fermentation with creating “a different tannic structure.” With this method, an entire bunch of grapes goes into the fermenter instead of (crushed) skins and juice. He said it affects the flavors and the finish, creating the elegant mouthfeel I enjoyed so much.

Moving further west in the Russian River, we tasted Signaterra Bella Luna Vineyard Pinot Noir 2009. Yields are kept low in this bio-dynamic vineyard and whole cluster fermentation is used again. But the nature of this wine was very different. A cooler climate produces a more austere, earthy Pinot, and one that took longer to open. In fact, when I revisited it the second day I tasted the deep berry and smoke that I’d missed first time around.

The Sonoma Coast Pinots, grown just a few miles from the cold Pacific, were bigger, brawnier, and needed time to show their stuff. De Coelo Quintus Vineyard Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir 2009 leads with a nose of black cherries and licorice, and a good deal of natural acid keeps the fruit clean and bright. Rodrigo explained that he tries to maintain the distinctive nature of each vineyard’s fruit by using native yeasts in his fermentation. That means the winemaker can’t alter the flavors through the use of selective yeast strains, and it’s a practice he applies to all his wines.

De Coelo Terra Neuma Vineyard Sonoma Coast Pinot 2009 is leaner, more peppery and meaty. I got the chalky minerality that Soto looks for in order to “lift up the wines and give them personality.” Acid levels promise good cellarability for both these wines, and Rodrigo guess-timates that coastal Pinots with the acid and tannin structure of these two can easily go seven to nine years.

It was a rare opportunity (and a real blast) to see how vineyard locations just a few miles apart can produce such different wines. Of course, having the winemaker handy to explain his approach sure adds to the experience. Maybe you can stop on down to Benziger and get a first-hand taste yourself. Cheers!

I love Chardonnay, but I’m really fussy about it.

I’ve tasted way too much over-oaked, fake-oaked, or way-too-buttery Chards. There are too many out there that are way off balance in one direction or another, and I’m done with suffering through them.

So I’m thrilled when I taste balance. That’s what stopped me in my tracks recently when I tasted Olema Sonoma County Chardonnay 2009.  I thought, “OMG, I taste wonderful richness without a 2 x 4 in my teeth!”

There’s a great back-story behind Olema.  It’s actually the second label from a winemaker who’s a veritable Napa Valley icon.

Ever heard of Georges de Latour Private Reserve? Or BV Cellars? Of course you have, and you know that BV’s Private Reserve is one of Napa’s classic Cabernets, created for more than 25 years by winemaker Joel Aiken. He left BV to pursue his own wine interests, and ended up hooking up with some good friends to form Amici (Italian for “friends”) Cellars.

I pulled an Amici cork out of my Olema, because it’s is the second label from Aiken’s winery. But this Chard is anything but second-rate. Let me give you my 1-2-3 on that.

1 – The nose on my Olema Chardonnay was positively beguiling, with luscious butterscotch mingling with bright tangerine and some creamy tapioca creeping in as it warmed in my glass. I could have sat with my nose in the glass all night, but that would have made me really unpopular with my dinner companion.

2 – My mouth tasted rich tropical fruit, with more butterscotch (or was it creme brulee?) rounding out the back.

3 – The finish, which I’d been afraid would have that California “butterball” thing going on, was tangy and bright, lifted up by good natural acidity.

Wow! I should have expected this quality from Joel Aiken — I just didn’t expect to find it in a wine under $20.

My research showed that there are a few reasons why this Chard hits my sweet spot. First, only 58% of the juice underwent malolactic fermentation. That may be an unfamiliar term, but Chardonnay lovers should get up close and personal with this key determinant of a Chardonnay’s style. This secondary fermentation takes the grape’s natural malic acid, which is like the acid in green apples, and turns it into lactic acid, or the acid in milk. Chard’s that undergo 100% ML have that buttery (some would say “flabby”) finish.

Aiken uses just enough ML to round out the mouthfeel. His oak treatment is equally restrained. Only 50% of the wine goes into French oak barrels, with the balance aged in stainless steel. That’s why Olema Chard reminds me of vanilla creme brullee instead of a 2 x 4.

Of course, Aiken had some great raw materials to work with. Grapes were sourced from Carneros and Russian River vineyards — arguably the best sources for California Chardonnay. And 2009 was a kick-ass season, with mild temperatures allowing the grapes to ripen slowly and develop lots of flavor and complexity.

So here’s my summary — just go buy this. Then pour it for someone who thinks they have to spend $40 to get a top-quality Chardonnay. And then let me know what they (and you, of course) think of it. Cheers!

When I see an Australian Cabernet Sauvignon coming my way, especially one with “Barossa” on the label, I’m tempted to jump fast and high to get out of the way.

It’s not that I don’t like Australian wines — I love many of them. But unless I’ve got a 16 ounce Rib Eye nearby, an Australian Cabernet can be just too big for my britches: the big, jammy fruit and high alcohol needs a lot of beef to tame it.

So I was pleasantly surprised recently when I uncorked a bottle of Elderton “Friends” Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon 2009. I already knew the Elderton winery by reputation — they’ve won a boat-load of awards over the years for their Barossa wines, and have made a name for themselves with reds and whites from a sub-appellation of Barossa where some good friends (like in the name, right?) own vineyards.

Eden Valley is a different beast than the hot, dry, Barossa Valley floor. The Eden vineyards are scattered up the hillsides, at elevations of 1200 to 1500 feet. So what does this do? The elevation creates cooler temperatures, and combined with more minerally soils, it produces grapes with more acid and structure. And of course, acid and structure act to balance big fruit.

So let’s taste Elderton Friends Cab. The color was as purple and opaque as I’d expect, but the nose was relatively delicate. I got mint and eucalyptus right off the bat, with dark fruit notes chiming in. Blackberry and dark chocolate were up front also.

The palate was multi-layered and delightful. The fruit came first, with blackberry and sweet black currant opening the door for gentle mint. There was a peppery note too, and all of this was wrapped up in soft tannins. But it didn’t finish there — that Eden Valley acid lifted up the finish with a bright end-note, and made a package that was bold and elegant at the same time. No jamminess here — just rich, bright fruit.

The Elderton “Friends” series (there’s a good Shiraz, too) represents a good value. A just under $20, you’re getting big wine without a big price tag. Cheers!

Here’s a mind-boggling statistic:

The number of Chinese millionaires increased fivefold in just six years. (It’s now just shy of the million mark.)

Holy cow! This country just emerging from decades of anti-capitalist rule has seen millionaires multiply like rabbits.

Except that rabbits don’t drink wine. Here’s another amazing statistic:

The country’s consumption of imported wine quadrupled between 2005 and 2009, and is expected to climb another 56 percent by 2014.

Wow! So this is what happens when an entire demographic (upwardly mobile, young- to middle-aged Chinese businesspeople) decides they want to share all the perks and signs of conspicuous wealth that are enjoyed by millionaires everywhere.

And I’m all for it. There have been many stories about the growing pains the nascent Chinese wine industry has experienced (see these recent stories in my blog).

At first, Bordeaux was the wine in favor, and some French winemakers stepped up to take their share of the market (read Decanter.com’s good story about Lafite-Rothschide’s wooing of Chinese wine drinkers).

Now it seems that Australian wineries stand to make out like crazy from China’s craze for imported wine. Read this story from Alder Yarrow’s great wine blog, Vinography, about Australian wine giant Penfold’s. They recently unveiled Australia’s most expensive wine ever, and they did it, not on their home turf, but in Shanghai. I guess the Chinese thirst for vino promises such huge rewards that Aussie winemakers will go to great lengths to win their favor.

Who knows what’s next? I’ll be on the look-out for the latest developments, so stay tuned… Cheers!

OK, I’d like to lay a bet. I’ll bet that if I took any given group of, say, 20 wine geeks, only one of them would have any clue what ZWEIGELT is. Or maybe none of them!

It sounds like a German sausage. Or maybe a German automobile — “The new Zweigelt goes from 0 to 60 in 4 seconds and gets 40 miles to the gallon on the Autobahn.”.

So what is it? Well, Zweigelt is the name of a grape grown in Austria. It’s a hybrid, created by crossing Blaufrankisch (a German red grape that’s not exactly a household name) with Saint Laurent (I thought it was a river, not a grape). Zweigelt, or Blauer Zweigelt, was engineered to thrive in Austria’s relatively cool climate.

I recently came across Winzer Krems Blauer Zweigelt St. Severin 2010, and explored it with some trepidation. Without any context clues except “cool climate red wine,” I was surprised to see the wine pour out deep burgundy colored and almost opaque. This was way more extraction than I expected, almost like a Petite Sirah.

The nose was also intriguing. I got some tart cherry fruit, but the really obvious aroma was black pepper. And I mean intense black pepper. This wine could make you sneeze! There was also a note of tar (yes, like in “road tar”). Read the rest of this entry »

Entre-Deux-Mers, Bordeaux

Grapes can be tricky things. In one bottle they can have you believing one thing — “this grape tastes like lime and grapefruit” — and in another bottle it’s anything but.

You say, “What happened to the aggressive citrus and acid?”

Well, what happened is that this grape, Sauvignon Blanc, changes style as often as my daughter changes her clothes. Sauv Blanc can be bold and aggressive, like a young career woman on the rise, or cool and refined, like one of those lucky women who look cool and elegant no matter the occasion.

You’ve probably guessed that my two players here are New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc — that’s the aggressive one — and the white wine of the Bordeaux region, which combines Sauvignon Blanc with its BFF, Semillon. The wine that I loved recently, and launched me into this barely-plausible analogy, is Chateau Guibon Bordeaux Blanc 2010.

Chateau Guibon is part of the Andre Lurton wine family, and it’s a very extended family. The Lurton’s have been in Bordeaux since Lords and Ladies rode through it on horseback, and they now own and manage six or eight Chateau in Bordeaux. Not being content to stay close to home, various family members have launched wineries in 10 other countries, including France, Spain and Australia.

So back to the French Lurton. Chateau Guibon comes from the Entre-Deux-Mers appellation, a sub-region of Bordeaux. In this area “between two seas” (the Garonne and Dordogne rivers), white wines can be made from some or all of these grapes: Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle. Chateau Guibon uses all three. Semillon is the predominant variety, and the blend is beautifully balanced.

I liked this wine for its elegance and bright fruit palate. The entry is soft — not like the aggressive attack of New Zealand Sauv Blanc — and some delicate but lush pear and melon linger on the palate. The finish is still crisp (thanks to the Sauv Blanc) but softened by the Semillon in the blend.

This is a classically styled blend that would be very appealing to fans of both the New World and Old World style. In fact, I think it beats the heck out of almost every California Sauv Blanc I’ve tasted. And it’s pretty cheap ($13). Yay for that! Take it out for a spin next time you’re tired of your Pinot Grigio or Chardonnay, and Cheers!

I thought, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

When I saw the price on the wine I drank last night, I really thought someone had switched the price tag. “This wine cannot be this cheap.”

But it is. The wine I’m ranting about is Finca Los Maza Reserva Malbec 2008, and the quality/price ratio here is crazy.

First, Los Maza comes from Mendoza, Argentina, now the Motherland of Malbec. Grapes grown here live in wine grape heaven. The Uco Valley, where these vineyards grow, has a desert-like climate and sits at somewhere around 3,600 feet elevation. This creates a dramatic difference between daytime and nighttime temperatures, which allows the fruit to develop structure and complexity. The result, according to Juan Tonconogy and Alex Campbell, is “intense wines with great personality and quality.”

Alex is the third generation of the family that planted vines here close to a century ago. Juan and Alex’s new company has acquired additional vineyard sites, and blend grapes from different lots to achieve the style they’re looking for.

For me, their style is all about power. But it’s power with depth and elegance to back it up. I saw the power as soon as I poured my glass. The color was purple/garnet and opaque, suggesting plenty of extraction. I cheated and looked at the technical notes, and sure enough, these grapes enjoyed 30 days of maceration. That’s a lot!

The nose offered berries on steroids, with dark fruit, vanilla and maybe a shot of espresso.

But the palate blew me away. Rich, powerful dark berries with depth and concentration, followed by chocolate and vanilla that lingered on the finish. There was also a purity that I liked: the structure and acid kept it from sliding over into jammy or blocky. I guess that’s where the power and elegance meet and marry.

So my guests and I (they also enjoyed the wine plenty) were playing the, “How much do you think it costs?” game. I was hoping for $20, but realizing that it could run closer to $25.

Good thing I didn’t bet on that, because I would have lost big. Los Maza Reserva Malbec goes for $12. Yes, $12! This is insanely good wine for the money. And it’s a versatile wine. You could drink it with tangy cheese, grilled meats, red sauce, or beef, beef, beef the way the Argentines do.

However you plan to drink it, just grab a bottle. Or two. Or three. You won’t be disappointed. Cheers!

If you, my loyal reader, have been paying attention, you’ll have noticed that my blog posts are always about wines I’ve enjoyed. Why waste time writing about lousy wines when there are so many good ones, right?

And the first thing I do, when I want to write about a wine I’ve enjoyed, is research. I want to learn about the wine’s region, the people who contributed to its creation, and the winery that produced it.

So after drinking this really good Bordeaux the other night — Chateau de Rochemorin 2009 – I set out to do my usual. But what I discovered in my research wasn’t “the usual”. Take the winery’s history, for example: this Chateau traces its roots back to 1520. Really! That’s a long time ago.

And over the next 400 years the Chateau at Rochemorin was home to Lords and Ladies, Poets, one of the great philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment, and even an honest-to-God Musketeer! (the dashing, sword-wielding type, not the candy bar type).

Vines were planted on Lord Rochemorin’s estate in the region we know as Graves in the 16th century, and good-to-very-good wine was made there continuously for four hundred years. Holy cow! That kinda puts the “Old” into “Old World” wines.

Then in 1919, the estate was sold to a lumber baron, and it wasn’t until 1973 that it  was rescued  by Andre Lurton, a man whose family wine history isn’t too shabby, either. The Lurton’s have been wine producers in Bordeaux since 1650, and at this point there are “no fewer than 17 family members of the currrent generation working in the wine trade today.” In fact, the appellation within Graves where the winery sits, Pessac-Leognan, was created in 1987 after 20 years of lobbying by none other than Andre Lurton.

So enough preamble: let’s get to the wine. Bordeaux is arguably the King of Old World wine. Reds from Pessac-Leognan, which is part of Bordeaux’s Left Bank, can be blended from the six traditional Bordeaux grapes (the Lurton website includes Carmenere as the sixth grape). The Chateau de Rochemorin is blended from just two grapes — 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot. Read the rest of this entry »

A friend once told me, “Sometimes, doing anything is better than doing nothing.”

I’m guessing that’s what Bruce Cakebread thought when he called in the cavalry (so to speak) to rescue his grape crop.

Bruce is the president of Cakebread Cellars, one of Napa Valley’s Blue Chip wineries. His vineyards, along with every other vineyard in Northern California, were deluged with rain during the 2011 harvest.

Take my word for it: rain during harvest is a VERY BAD THING. Moisture sitting on the grapes and caught in the bunches can allow rot to develop, and that can potentially RUIN THE ENTIRE YEAR’S CROP.

Typically, grape growers just cross their fingers and hope for a succession of warm sunny days to dry the fruit, but our friend Bruce couldn’t stand to do nothing: like I said, “sometimes, doing anything is better than doing nothing.”

So Bruce got very creative. He borrowed a trick from old-time cherry growers and hired a helicopter to come charging over the hill and save the day. The chopper flew back and forth across the Cakebread vineyards, just 20 feet above the valley floor, and stirred up enough wind to (hopefully) blow the moisture off the grapes. Wow — that’s creative thinking.

I picked this story up from Dr. Vino’s very fun wine blob, and he picked it up from NPR (National Public Radio), my sole source of information about the world. Check out the full story on NPR to get all the details.

It’s a great tale of creativity and ingenuity, but it also helps us to remember that at its heart, winemaking is agriculture, and winemakers are essentially farmers. They live by the land and are at the mercy of  Mother Nature, working tirelessly to stay ahead of whatever she might throw at them.

Those of us who drink wine need to send an occasional shout-out to those who make wine, and thank them for  devoting their lives to our pleasure.

So Thank You Bruce, and all the others like you. I’ll drink to that…

During our wonderful afternoon, our friends took us to a small, family-owned winery that owns premium real estate in the heart of Napa Valley. Salvestrin Winery sits on the valley floor in St. Helena, and is the home of third-generation grape growers Rich and Shannon Salvestrin. Rich was the first to decide to bottle wine under the family’s own label, and not long after the inaugural 1994 vintage, their Cabs started getting some very impressive ratings from the most influential critics in the business. And I mean really great ratings!

So fast-forward to yesterday, when I found a wine called Cult Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. “Cult” Cabernet is a wine that doesn’t fit the mold these days: it’s non-vintage! I wondered if that meant it was somehow sub-standard.

Wrong!

Cult Cabernet pours out like a big, rich Cab. The nose offers lots to work with: blackberries, blueberries, chocolate and a hint of spice.

The palate is rich and soft, with boatloads of ripe berries, chocolate and vanilla. And there’s structure — there’s depth on the palate  and  acid and tannins that attest to the quality of the grapes and the winemaker.

To cut to the chase, Cult Cabernet drinks like a $50 Napa Cab. It’s got “the stuff” up front, on the mid-palate and the finish. And it’s only $25! The happy surprise is that this quality effort is a huge bargain.

And to hark back to the beginning of my post — this great wine is made by Salvestrin, home of award-winning Napa Cabs. I salute Rich Salvestrin for offering up such a great wine at such a reasonable price. I look forward to more offerings. Cheers!