Pinot Days

Yesterday I attended the Pinot Days Grand Festival Tasting at Fort Mason in San Francisco. My ticket included a sit-down tasting with 4 winemakers, and I chose the one called "Passion, Personality and Pinot," featuring the wines of Inman Family, Winderlea, Clos Pepe, and Big Basin. Each winemaker talked for 10 minutes about their vineyards, winemaking philosophies, and the 2 wines they chose to share with us. All of these wineries are small, low-production operations that use sustainable or organic vineyard practices and natural (spontaneous) fermentations. Each winery's offerings included 2 wines for comparison.

Inman Family: A one-woman show, Kathleen Inman called her winery Inman Family to encourage her daughters to participate. While her daughters and husband help out, she is the vineyard manager, winemaker, sales and marketing manager, and tasting room manager. When I think about the work I did at Wiemer, I marvel at how she does it all - she is one tough cookie (who drinks a lot of coffee). Inman Family is located in Russian River Valley and their focus is Pinot Noir, but they also make some rose and Pinot Gris. We had the 2007 and 2008 Inman Family OGV Estate Russian River Valley Pinot Noir. The 2008 was slightly richer but I preferred the more restrained 2007.

Winderlea: Located in Dundee, Oregon, the Winderlea vineyards are slowly being infected with phylloxera, a root disease that wiped out vineyards in Europe in the mid- to late- 1800s. The red basalt volcanic soil of the Dundee hills has helped to slow down the spread of the disease throughout the vineyard, so they are keeping an eye on it and replacing vines as needed. We compared the 2009 and 2010 Winderlea Legacy Pinot Noir, made from their older vines. 2009 was a warm vintage so this wine was very jammy, while the 2010 was a cooler vintage, and I preferred this wine's more earthy, spicy, refined flavors.

Clos Pepe: Winemaker Wes Hagen loves the cool climate and maritime influence of the Santa Rita Hills for the consistent vintages they are able to produce. When other areas in California are struggling with heat spikes, this area in Santa Barbara county hardly gets above 80 degrees, and on average their warmest temps are in the 70s. We compared the 2009 and 2010 Clos Pepe Estate Pinot Noir. Wes said that 2009 was a perfect vintage and allowed him to make a very deliberate wine - every action was due to his inclination instead of being dictated by weather. He described the 2010 as "overtly slutty" in the sense that it is showy and obvious in its intentions and delivery. I found it to be too fruit-forward for my taste, but Wes said he is making wines to be aged and this wine could probably use some cellaring so that it will eventually emerge as more of a "sexy librarian" like the 2009.

Big Basin: Bradley Brown is proprietor and winemaker of Pinot Noir and Rhone varietals (Syrah/Grenache) at this Santa Cruz producer.  Instead of a vintage comparison like the previous 3 producers, Bradley served 2 unreleased Pinots from the same vintage but different vineyards: 2010 Big Basin Coastview Vineyard, Monterey County and 2010 Big Basin Woodruff Family Vineyard, Santa Cruz Mountains. The Coastview Vineyard Pinot was more jammy but with a great minerality and acidity. The Woodruff Family Vineyard Pinot had great acidity, marked salinity, nice structure and balanced fruit. This vineyard is dry farmed (no irrigation) and is the oldest vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Bradley expects to release theses wine in a year or so. There's only about 100 cases of each.

After the sit-down tasting I walked around the tables and tried some more wines from local producers. Chandon (located in Carneros) is known for sparkling wines made from traditional Champagne grapes, but they also make still wines from these grapes. I tried their 2010 Pinot Meunier (fruity and lively), 2009 Pinot Noir (more structure and spice) and NV Brut Rose sparkling (65% Chardonnay sparkling with still Pinot added). I've been to Chandon Australia and Moet & Chandon in France, so Chandon California is a must-visit for me. Other tables I visited included Cuvaison, Buena Vista, Cartograph and Robert Sinskey, plus the earlier wineries from the sit-down tasting to further geek out with the winemakers and taste what else they had brought. Walking around a huge warehouse with tables upon tables of wine can be overwhelming, and you have to have some discipline at these things. So I stopped by familiar tables and producers I'd been wanting to try. After a couple hours I was feeling wine-fatigued, so I headed for the table marked "FOOD" and got some empanadas and alfajores from El Porteno, brought in from the Ferry Building. Yum!

A nice little Saturday.

Frances and Newton

Last week I finally made it to Frances, a popular restaurant that I've been hearing about for a year where you can never get in. It received 1 Michelin star in 2011 and is classic Californian, with a daily changing menu inspired by local ingredients and a casual setting. The reservation list is full for months, but they have a "bar" area in front with about 8 seats available on a first-come, first-served basis. I've tried to go in the past but with wait times over an hour I usually am too hungry to wait. This week though, to celebrate a special occasion on Wednesday, we tried again after calling and hearing that the wait for the bar wasn't too long. We got there and were first in line for 2 seats at the bar, a 30 minute wait. As we perused the wine menu, Jeremy had a thought that we should've brought a bottle from home. Corkage fee was only $15, and with a half hour to kill, why not go home and get a special bottle? So he went while I waited for the table. He got back 2 minutes after I was seated and presented a bottle of 1991 Newton Merlot - a bottle from his father's cellar. We had the 1990 a few weeks ago and it was really interesting, so I was excited to try this slightly younger vintage. The waiter decanted it for us, showed us the cork, which he managed to keep 75% in tact, and previewed by saying that while pouring it into the decanter it smelled amazing. We encouraged him to grab a glass and share some with us.

Amazing it was - rich and deep, with earthiness, leather, warm spice, and a bit of complicated fruit - not quite dried but still lively and bright. It went great with our meals (I had the Quail and Kale and Jeremy had beef) as well as the dessert - a decadent chocolate cake with bing cherries baked in and caramel sauce on top.

Frances and Newton - a match made in heaven!