B.R. Guest

A while ago I had an older bottle of B.R. Cohn Cabernet Sauvignon and it stuck with me. So when we passed the winery on the way to our Sonoma rental in Glen Ellen this past week, I had to add them to our agenda. The estate property, called Olive Hill Vineyards, includes about 90 acres of vines, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel and a small amount of Malbec. The Special Select Cabernet Sauvignon is only made during exceptional years from 3 acres of bush vines in the front of the property that yield only about 1.5 tons of grapes per acre (this is not a lot). The Cab is dark and sultry when young and really opens up with proper aging.

I enjoyed all the reds, which had nice acidity and overall balance - Pinot Noir with berry fruit and vanilla, spicy Zinfandel with peppercorn and clove, Cabernet Franc with blue and black berries, and cinnamon-berry Malbec.

But the grand finale for me was the Late Harvest Semillon, made with grapes from Russian River Valley. Botrytis spice balanced the sweet honey and apricot flavors in this Sauternes-style dessert wine that brought me back to my sorting days at Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard.

I felt quite welcome as a guest of the B.R.Cohn family that day and also enjoyed their delicious side projects - olive oil, vinegar, and wine-infused concoctions.

Side note:

New World vs. Old World

As the line between new world and old world wines continues to blur, last week at San Francisco Wine Center we found ourselves stumped this evening as we blind-tasted through 6 comparisons of typical varietals made by old world and new world producers. With each pair, the class was literally split every time on which was which. As Mary Burnham, wine writer, explained, when we talk about old world, we mean Europe, while new world encompasses everywhere else. Old world wines are generally more earthy and savory, with marked acidity and minerality and less alcohol. New world wines are typically more fruit-forward, less acidic, and higher in alcohol. Did these generalizations hold up in this group?

In the first pair, wine #1 was fruity and dry, with grassy notes, citrus peel, and marked acidity. Many guessed it was a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc - but it was a white Bordeaux. Wine #2 was creamier, with sweet vanilla oak, lemon merengue, and peach; more complex, silky but still crisp. Were we in Pouilly-Fumé, France? Actually, Washington State. I didn’t even know anyone was making Sauvignon Blanc in Washington – this was actually majority Semillon (61%) with 20% Sauvignon Blanc – but I expect I will be re-visiting this producer, Buty.

In the next pair, many immediately thought #3 was a German Riesling due to its pungent petrol character. I got beyond that and began to think we were in Australia, since theirs take on that character as well but tend to be very lime-y and dry, which was how I would characterize this wine.  Wine #4 was more floral and peachy, like many Rieslings I’ve had from Finger Lakes producer Hermann J. Wiemer that highly mimic a German Mosel style when young.  The big reveal - #3 was from Oregon and #4 was Austrian!

The next two sets were a bit more obvious to me – Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. New World chardonnay tends to have more pronounced oak, and I almost always prefer a more refined French style. With Pinot Noir, new world versions tend to be very fruity, whereas French versions are more funky and earthy, which I also prefer. Both sets were more typical expressions of new world and old world, though not obvious to everyone.

The second set of reds was a fun one – meaty, savory and spicy with firm tannin against brambly, sweet spice and soft tannin. We had ourselves a Crozes-Hermitage Syrah against a Barossa Valley Shiraz. We learned that the Barossa Valley does not cool off at night, so the grape skins don’t thicken, contributing to softer tannins in the wine. This was a great pair that solidified my favorite for the night in the Crozes-Hermitage, since I love this style and producer and the price cannot be beat, especially for a wine that will continue to improve with cellar time.

The last set was another tough one, mostly because both these wines were very tight and could use some more aging and air. The first had a eucalyptus nose with black fruit and violets on the nose. The second was a bit more closed on the nose but we could discern some vanilla. With a few bites of cheese, things started to become clearer - these were Cabernet-dominated wines, Bordeaux from Graves against Napa Valley’s Opus One.

A wonderful selection of wines with some curveballs…

1. Chateau Lamothe de Haux White Bordeaux 2011 ($15)
2. Buty Semillon-Sauvignon Blanc-Muscadelle 2010 – Columbia Valley, WA ($25)
3. Chehalem Willamette Valley Dry Riesling Reserve 2007 – Oregon ($20)
4. Hogl Wachau Riesling Smaragd Bruck 2007 – Wachau, Austria ($30)
5. Domaines Leflaive Macon Verze 2012 – Burgundy, France ($39)
6. Wente Riva Ranch Estate Chardonnay 2012 – Arroyo Seco, Monterey, CA ($18)
7. Flowers Van der Kamp Vineyard Pinot Noir 2000 – Sonoma Mountain ($60)
8. Domaine Trappet Chambertin Grand Cru 2000 – Cote de Nuits, Burgundy, France ($200)
9. Alain Graillot Crozes Hermitage 2012 – Northern Rhone Valley, France ($30)
10. Two Hands Gnarly Dudes Shiraz 2011 – Barossa Valley, Southern Australia ($28)
11. Chateau Smith-Haut Lafite 2006 – Graves, Left Bank, Bordeaux, France ($90)
12. Opus One 2006 – Napa Valley, CA ($290)

Welcome, Summer

To celebrate the Labor Day weekend and the true start of summer weather in San Francisco, I toasted at Ridge Monte Bello in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Ridge prides itself on vineyard specific wines made in pre-industrial methods, including no irrigation. With careful vineyard selection and steep hillside plantings, the vines have to work for their nutrients and water, resulting in complex wines with good acidity and balanced structures. I've been a big fan of Ridge since moving to California, and it was nice to get back up to Monte Bello.

Ridge Chardonnay is always a welcome way to start, since theirs is quite Burgundian in style, with freshness balanced by creaminess. This one came from the Jimsomare property further down the mountain. Minimal new oak makes this a very approachable and refreshing wine, not your typical heavy California chard.

While traditionally focused on blends, a couple years ago Ridge decided to do a series of Monte Bello components - single varietal wines from the grapes that make up their famous Bordeaux style Monte Bello wine, a varying blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. These wines also showcase the vineyards from which they came. The Perrone Merlot comes from the Perrone property on the mountain and uses the grapes from the upper tier specifically, which is attached to a natural spring for a water source. The 2010 Perrone Merlot has a beautiful nose of black tea and red fruit, approachable on the palate now but with enough tannin to age several more years. We contrasted this wine with the 2011 Estate Merlot, which includes fruit from the Torre property as well, which contributes dry, dusty tannins and herbaceous flavors.

Ridge Estate Cabernet Sauvignon has tricked me before, and I'm always surprised how much I love this wine. While I find most young California Cabs to be too big, too jammy, too tannic, Ridge hits the mark exactly right, with an approachable, delicious wine with acidity and balance. The 2011 Estate Cab has a finer tannin structure that makes this wine very smooth, and the brambly, chocolate flavors cannot be beat. Even my sister, a Cab-hater, enjoyed this wine and bought a bottle.

Next we tried the Ridge 2011 Monte Bello, which did not have any Petit Verdot this vintage. The butterscotch nose and brambly fruit were delicious, and I can tell this will be a really enjoyable wine in several years once the tannins have had a chance to mellow.

On the Zin side of things, which mostly come from vineyards in Sonoma County, we enjoyed fruity Geyserville and East Bench and spicy Lytton Springs, plus their Paso Robles bottling from one of the oldest vineyards in that region, with beautiful strawberry characteristics and nice acidity.

Thanks to Aaron for a wonderful tasting during the busy Labor Day weekend!

The view over Silicon Valley

Wine and Watches

Last week the San Francisco Wine Center sponsored a tasting at Ben Shemano Jewelry, a beautiful second-floor showroom in Union Square that specializes in antique and custom jewelry.  For collectors of the finer things in life, the focus of the evening was on fine wristwatches from designers including Rolex, Patek Phillipe and Audemars Piguet.  For the group of about 30 people I helped pour an array of wines from around the world and shared stories about winemaking and travel. We even learned that the late owner of Pride Mountain Vineyards in Napa Valley was a former dentist. Wonder what toothpaste he’d recommend for wine stains? He actually wasn’t a practicing dentist but a consultant who advised other dentists on how to optimize their office layouts.

From the white wine drinkers we found many Sancerre lovers and even converted some to Riesling fans. It was a warm evening in San Francisco and many opted for the cold ones. We encountered those who thought Riesling was always sweet, so we educated them on the various styles of Riesling and the labeling term used to denote ‘dry’ in German, which is ‘trocken.’

Red wine fans enjoyed classic west coast examples of Pinot Noir, Petite Sirah, and Zinfandel, plus a Chilean blend dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon. A couple of magnums dared to impress bold palates and showed how the right amount of air can make a wine open up.

Inevitably, with an even number of wines it’s easy to find yourself comparing. 2 whites, 2 reds, 2 magnums. The Sancerre had a flowery nose and a rich palate. The Riesling had the distinct petrol nose that developed into stone fruit, followed by beautiful citrus and orange blossom on the palate. The Oregon Pinot Noir was earthy and leathery, while the Napa Petite Sirah had a flowery but smoky nose with spice, lead pencil and roses on the palate. The two magnums couldn't be more different; the Brown Zinfandel was immediately rich, fruity and lush, while the Chilean blend was super tight, smoky and herbal at first, eventually opening up to reveal warm spice, red fruit, and an herbal forest.  I found this one to be the most interesting, particularly as it evolved over the course of the evening.

Wine List

1. Gitton Sancerre 2012 - France
2. Peter Jakob Kuhn Riesling Trocken 2010 – Germany
3. Provocateur Pinot Noir Willamette Valley 2003 - Oregon
4. Pride Petite Sirah Napa Valley 2003 – California
5. Brown Estate Zinfandel Napa Valley 2006 – California (Magnum)
6. Primus The Blend Colchagua Valley 2008 – Chile (Magnum)

Bites from The City Kitchen complimented the wines and provided a wonderful appetizer to later dinner plans. For some, the jewelry was dessert.  

1989 Cabernet Sauvignon: 1 for Sonoma, 1 for Napa

The other night we were making a steak dinner so we decided to try a bottle of A. Rafanelli Cabernet Sauvignon 1989 from the Indiana basement collection. Under the capsule the top of the bottle and cork were moldy, and the fill was low in the bottle, suggesting some leakage. We didn't have high hopes for the wine. The cork crumbled and we had to push it in to get to the wine, which we then decanted. We tried it, and it was pretty oxidized with little fruit left. We figured it was gone and reached for another bottle from the collection. It happened to be Diamond Creek Cabernet Sauvignon 1989. This was pure coincidence - we were just reaching for another old bottle and it happened to be this. The cork was in better shape and came out in one piece, unless you count the many tartrate crystals attached to the end. We decanted it and tried it, and while strongly vegetal, it seemed to have more structure, acidity, and tannin, and we deemed it the winner. We left the other, not ready to dump it yet while we sipped the Diamond Creek. As we went about making dinner, about a half hour later Jeremy said, try the Rafanelli. I did, and just from the smell I could tell it had improved. Fruity and spicy, with each sip it kept getting better. We went back to the Diamond Creek - not as vegetal, with hints of dried fruit starting to emerge. We were intrigued. Both were getting better. We took a glass of each to the table to enjoy with dinner. Rafanelli was fruity, spicy and smooth, while Diamond Creek was bold, structured, and interesting with secondary fruit. When we finished eating, the Diamond Creek was pretty much at the end of its life, with the fleeting fruit now gone. The Rafanelli had kept opening up, and I quickly whipped up a batch of cookies to pair with it for dessert. Unfortunately, that 20 minutes was enough to turn this wine back on its side, as the fruit started to fade and it was time to say goodnight. 2 bottles, 2 roller-coaster rides, 2 Cabs: 1 point for Sonoma, 1 point for Napa.

An interesting and fun exercise in old wine and time.

A Fiendishly Clever Tasting

Last weekend we gathered at Ridge for the final blogger's tasting of 2012, and many bloggers confessed they had been slacking on their blogging. I realized that I too haven't written much since the last Ridge Blogger's Tasting in September. I offer no excuses - all I can say is Thank You! to Ridge for continuing to inspire my wine writing.

The theme this time was Three Blind Mice: 3 flights of wine with 3 tastes per flight, blinded. The 3 wines in each flight had both common theme and distinct difference. All 3 flights had a common thread as well.

We began tasting. On the first flight I could swear I was tasting the same wine in 3 different glasses, but all were slightly different. Jeremy and I collaborated and concluded that it was the same base wine, but with varying levels of oak exposure. On one end the wine was lighter and easier to drink, but on the other end it was bigger and more tannic, like it had more time in oak and needed to settle down a bit (age). Our varietal guess was Merlot.

The second flight clearly showed an age progression, as the first wine was a paler red color with tinges of brick on the rim, while the second and third had brighter color and fruit on the nose. We guessed it was a Zinfandel blend going back to early 90s, then early 2000s, then a more recent vintage.

The third flight was most confusing, because the differences were so slight. We thought we were tasting Monte Bello at very small age intervals.

We were wrong... about everything.

Flight #1: Ridge Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 in 3 bottle formats: magnum, regular, and half-bottle. The perceived differences in oak that we tasted could be correlated to how wine ages in different size bottles. This is due to the ratio of air to wine, which is smaller in a magnum (it ages more slowly) and larger in a half-bottle (it ages more quickly). So the one that tasted more "oaked" was the Magnum, which is aging more slowly and still hasn't mellowed. Regarding Merlot vs Cab, in the past I have confused these two at Ridge - they almost tend to take on opposite characteristics.

Flight #2: The only thing we got right here was the difference in age, though we thought there were a lot more years in between. Again, Ridge Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, this time from 2004, 2005, 2006.

Flight #3: 3 bottles of 2007 Ridge Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. The ultimate trick! The same wine, same vintage, same size bottle. People talk about "bottle variation," how the same wine can taste different from one bottle to the next. This can be due to slight variations that may develop in the wine as it travels from the tank and through the bottling line. Wine is always changing, always evolving. But how big a difference there is can sometimes be all in your head. 

In conclusion: the mind plays tricks on us, especially when the host plays tricks on the tasters! 

Thanks again, Christopher, for a fun tasting and a great end to this year of wine.

Ratings at Ridge

At the most recent Ridge Vineyards Bloggers Tasting, the challenge presented to us was to order 5 recently rated Ridge wines from best to least-best (I don't want to say worst since Ridge does not make a bad wine). Before we began I asked the question, do we rate them in our order of preference, or how we think they were rated? The reason I asked this question is because rating wine is completely subjective - everyone has a different palate. Yes, a wine can be well-made but everyone may not like it. And yes, a wine may be badly made and plenty of people may still like it. Rating wine also calls into question several factors, including approach-ability, age-ability, and value for the money. Can you rate a wine that begs for a steak the same as one that can be sipped enjoyably on its own? Can you rate a wine that you think will be better in 5 years the same as you rate one that is ready to drink now? Would you rate a $125 bottle of wine the same as a $40 one? I'm obviously not sold on the rating system. Christopher's motivation was to conduct an experiment, to see whether there would be any consistency in our tasting group and if that would support the rating system.

There were 5 glasses of wine in front of us. I knew that Ridge had just released several 2009 and 2010 wines; I had seen some of the ratings on store shelves and knew that the 2009 Monte Bello scored 98 points. Would it be included in this tasting? Would I know which one it was? Christopher told us the 5 wines were all rated within a 10-point span.

I loaded up on cheese before starting and then some bread to cleanse my palate. I tasted through the 5 wines twice, without eating anything else, since I didn't want the nibbles to factor into my tasting. On the first run-through I thought they might all be Zinfandel blends from various vineyards. On the second run-through I started noticing more complexity and variety, and I was pretty sure I knew which one was Monte Bello and which might be a Zin-based blend like East Bench, Lytton Springs or Geyserville. I liked the Zin blend more - it was more approachable and enjoyable right now. I know Monte Bello is a great wine, but I also know it gets better with age and is not necessarily at its best on release. I ranked the Zin blend first, the Monte Bello second. I was wrong and I knew it. I made a point of it, even if no one got it but me.

Here are the wines we tasted, with the ratings from wine critic Antonio Galloni of Robert Parker's Wine Advocate:

Ridge 2009 Monte Bello, 98 pts
Ridge 2009 Klein Cabernet Sauvignon, 94 pts
Ridge 2009 Perrone Cabernet Franc, 92 pts
Ridge 2009 Estate Merlot, 90 pts
Ridge 2010 Geyserville, 88 pts

The wines in the order tasted.

Our rankings were all over the map. Half the bloggers put the Monte Bello in the top position. 1 person got the order completely right, and he won himself a bottle of 2009 Monte Bello (well done!).

My conclusion: I still believe that wine tasting is completely subjective and the rating system is flawed; there are too many variables and it's riddled with preconceived notions and biased expectations. (Critics do not taste the wines blind, so they are aware of the brand, its history, its style.) The rating system doesn't really serve my purposes, but it exists for the average consumer staring at a shelf full of wines or the budding connoisseur who wants to build a collection. For a winery, it's a stamp of credibility and may be used as a marketing tool.

As for Ridge, I enjoy all of their wines and I don't care what the ratings are, 98 or 88. Thanks again to Christopher for an enjoyable tasting on Monte Bello! 

For more on my fellow blogging tasters, check out A Ridge Blog: http://blog.ridgewine.com/2012/09/22/the-wbt-pre-game-show/ 

To filter or not to filter

One of the last steps in winemaking is usually filtering. When I worked at Wiemer, we used either the superfine cross flow filter or a pad filter for the wines made in smaller quantities. In winemaking you have to make some small sacrifices throughout the process. Each time you move the wine you risk exposing it to air, and inevitably each time you move it you risk losing a bit of its character, whether it be aroma, color, or flavor. Filtering is one of those steps that some winemakers would consider optional. The reason for filtering is to rid the wine of any bacteria or yeast that might remain in the wine and to ensure a “clean” wine before bottling. At Wiemer, where we made wines that often had some residual sugar left in them, filtering was necessary to ensure the yeast was completely removed from the wine. If any yeast remained, it could feed off the sugar and start another fermentation in the bottle, which at the very least might make the wine sparkle a bit, but at the worst it might cause the bottle to burst from the excess carbon dioxide and pressure.

Newton Vineyard in Napa was founded on the principle of unfiltered wines. Dr. Su Hua Newton, the first Asian female winemaker, began making unfiltered Chardonnay in the late 70s and then added the red Bordeaux varietals – Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec. Her husband, Peter Newton, had been the first to plant Merlot in Napa when he worked for Sterling Vineyards, and the Newtons were one of the first to plant Petit Verdot in Napa. Dr. Newton built a state of the art winery between 1977 and 1979, with gravity flow and 30 feet of underground tunnels in the hills of Spring Mountain. The Newton vineyards are the only ones on the southern side of Spring Mountain, whose steep slopes and volcanic soil contribute to small concentrated berries and softened tannins. The winemaking process involves hand picking only the ripe fruit, which means they skip over the unripe fruit and go back to it later, making multiple passes through the vineyard until all the fruit is picked. The various pickings are kept separate, vinified in oak barrels in separate, temperature-controlled rooms. Then, the wines undergo aggressive “battonage” every day for 6 months – this means that after the fermentation has been complete (after a couple weeks), a long baton is inserted into the barrel to agitate the lees (dead yeast cells) that have fallen to the bottom. This action contributes a certain flavor to the wine and is “naturally antibacterial,” helping to “clean” the wine so the impurities settle out to the bottom. It’s similar to the process of riddling for sparkling wine, where the lees from the second fermentation in the bottle are forced to the neck of the bottle by a partial turn each day for 3 weeks, acting like a squeegee along the inside of the bottle until they are eventually disgorged. After the 6-month battonage, the clean wine – 85% of the barrel - is pumped out (this part is not done by gravity) and the remaining 15% of wine and solids is discarded. That amounts to about 4 cases of wine lost from this process - a significant loss but one preferred to the potential loss of color and aroma from machine filtering. The wine is then bottled and labeled “unfiltered.”

Views from Newton Vineyard

So does unfiltered wine taste better? Can you tell the difference? Newton wine still looks clear and clean. I tasted 4 wines paired with small bites from the Domaine Chandon gardens in Napa and their onsite restaurant, Etoile (Newton Vineyard is now owned by LVMH, the parent company of Moet & Chandon).  The 2009 Unfiltered Chardonnay was creamy with butterscotch and crème brulee notes. It wasn’t overpowered by oak and it went deliciously well with a spoonful of English pea soup accompanied by dungeness crab and meyer lemon. The 2008 Unfiltered Merlot had bright red fruit, black pepper and other spices, nice acidity, and grippy tannins that would soften with a bit more age. It went fabulously with a bite of tea smoked duck. The 2009 Unfiltered Cabernet Sauvignon had great black fruit that almost tasted sweet and again nice acidity and tannin that would lend well to further aging. The last wine was their Bordeaux blend that they call “The Puzzle” because of the shape of the vineyard blocks that it is sourced from. The 2008 Puzzle is made of 42% Merlot, 36% Cab Sauv, 14% Cab Franc, 6% Petit Verdot, and 2% Malbec. It was silky, smooth and complex and went great with the heirloom beet salad.

The last bonus wine was a 2002 Unfiltered Merlot from a Magnum bottle, which holds the equivalent of 2 regular bottles and is a better format for aging wine because of the reduced exposure to oxygen. This wine was musky and floral with additional characteristics of beets and lead pencil. It had great balance and structure and was very smooth. After recently enjoying the Newton 1991 Unfiltered Merlot and now trying the current releases, it was awesome to taste a wine right in the middle.

Now back to the question, to filter or not to filter? I can’t say I would be able to tell the difference unless I had the same wine in filtered and unfiltered form side by side. Winemaking is a combination of art and science, and I tend to gravitate toward wines made with the least manipulation. And as a former winemaker, knowing how the wine is made makes me appreciate and enjoy it more.

Corkscrew trees and the garden atop the wine caves

Sonoma Slumber

We've had a couple more notable wines from the Indiana basement collection - these two both from Sonoma County.

Kalin Cellars 1993 Chardonnay, Sonoma County, CA

You could tell right away from the color that it would be oxidized, but it was interesting and pleasant nonetheless. Sherry nose with nutty, caramel, fig notes. Some residual oak on the palate, which led me to believe this was a super oaky wine in its youth - typical of '90s style California Chardonnay. It still had a nice acidity which is probably what helped it stay so long. We had it with sushi and it paired pretty well.

Hacienda 1986 Cabernet Sauvignon, Sonoma County, CA

This was the first wine from the basement collection whose cork came out in 1 piece! And, this wine was a beauty, once it opened up. Still a lot of fruit and complexity, silky tannin, nice acidity. 

Currently when I think of Sonoma County I think of Pinot from the Russian River Valley or Zin from Ridge, but there are a lot more treasures to be found up north in Sonoma, a diverse wine region as wide as it is long, with many different microclimates and a lot of variety. 

Why We Love(d) the 90's

A few weeks ago I visited Indiana with my boyfriend and we raided his dad's wine cellar. His dad had managed to get himself on a bunch of coveted wine lists in the 80s and 90s and still has a lot to show for it. Now a diabetic, he doesn't drink wine as much as he used to, so he said we could put together a couple cases and bring them back to California with us. I've been lucky enough to sample some of these cellar treasures, including Ridge from the 80s and Leonetti from the 90s. It is always a gamble with older wines - you never know how they will keep. This basement wine cellar that we raided is not actually a wine cellar at all - it's a boiler room. So every time we open one of these bottles, the cork crumbles, we dismantle it in pieces, push in what we can't get out, and usually end up decanting and sometimes passing the wine through a coffee filter (into a coffee pot if we've run out of decanters). The wine may be oxidized, it may have lost all its fruit. Or it may be amazing, complex, funky, silky, and downright delicious. Here are a few winners from the latest collection:

 Leonetti Cellars 1992 Select Walla Walla Valley, Washington

The components of this wine are unknown, but I suspected it was a Merlot/Cab Sauv blend. It was gorgeous, fruity, spicy and chewy, with no oxidation and a beautiful richness.

Newton 1990 Merlot Napa Valley, California

This wine wasn't as clean as the previous but still had a lot of fruit and spice to go with the funk.

Chateau Phelan Segur 1990 Saint-Estephe, Bordeaux, France

This 1990 Bordeaux, which is dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend, still had a lot of fruit, plus richness and complexity that is so typically Bordeaux. I've learned through my tasting and study that really good Bordeaux needs at least 10 years to be drinkable, at least to my liking (the tannin needs time to calm down) and this was a perfect example. Blackberry, leather, barnyard, and dried fruit mingled with a surprising acidity (that calmed down after being open for a day) and tannin that suggested we could have waited a bit longer to open it, but not too much longer. 

A. Rafanelli 1991 Zinfandel Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County, California

I tried this wine after it being open for a day, and it was pretty oxidized, but it still had a bit of fruit and spice and was drinkable. Jeremy said it was much better the first day.

Both of these last two bottles had been leaking, which was why we decided to open them. You can see how the bottle tops are kind of moldy and icky. 

All of these wines threw a lot of sediment, as can be expected in older wines, and the 1990 Bordeaux also left tartrate crystals behind, which is from the acidity precipitating out. 

We were just saying that we should probably get some cheap Tuesday night wine to drink so we are not opening interesting and potentially amazing 20-year old bottles on a whim, but really, we are opening the bottles from Indiana assuming they are bad from the storage conditions, but hoping they will surprise us. So far so good! Thanks again, Jeff.

Ridge Lytton Springs

Recently I visited Ridge Lytton Springs, the Sonoma county location of Ridge where they grow their signature Zinfandel blends. The main vineyard was certified organic in 2011, and it is an Italian field planting, which means that it is a mix of grape varieties including Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Carignane, Mataro (Mourvedre), and Grenache. This is a common practice in Europe, with vineyards being planted like this and harvested together in a "field blend." At Ridge Lytton Springs, someone knows exactly which plant is what, so they know what quantity of which grape they are putting into the blended wine. Some of the vines on the Lytton Springs property are as old as 116 years - they are so old and their roots so deep that they reach the water table and don't need irrigation.  In general, Ridge vineyards are dry farmed and only young, new plantings are irrigated individually until they establish a deeper root system.

A note on labeling: In the United States, in order for a wine to bear the varietal name on the label (i.e., Zinfandel) it must contain 75% of that grape. The other 25% need not be named. At Ridge, nearly all of their wines are blended, and the vineyard name is usually the distinguishing factor on the label. Ridge's Sonoma county vineyards tend to be Zinfandel-based blends, while the Santa Cruz mountains properties south of San Francisco are dominated by Bordeaux-style blends of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc (including the famous Monte Bello that I have had the pleasure of tasting before).

Onto the Ridge bottlings: first, 2009 Ridge Lytton Springs. 71% Zin, 23% Petite Sirah, 6% Carignane; 14.5% alcohol by volume. It was gorgeously fruity upfront and then became spicy and earthy as it sat in the glass.  Then we tried the 2003 vintage - wow. Coffee, chocolate, warm spice, herbs. Extremely balanced - 76% Zin, 18% Petite Sirah, 6% Carignane. Could age another 10 years by most people's standards, 20 years for wine geeks. We got a bottle of the 2009 and plan to age it for at least 5 years, since the 2003 was so good after 7. We could try to age it for 20 but I don't see that happening.

Next we moved to the Geyserville vineyard, with 80 year old vines in a similar field blend but with more Carignane than Petite Sirah (17% vs 6%). The 2009 Ridge Geyserville had bright, dark red fruit and the acidity was slightly more balanced than the Lytton Springs. The 2003 vintage was more complex, with tobacco, spice, a hint of dried fruit, and a similar earthy- and herbal-ness.

A couple others we tried:
2007 Mazzoni Home Ranch - 58% Zin, 39% Carignane, 2% Petite Sirah. Similar fruit character but lighter, more spice and acidity - a great food wine, very European in style.
2010 East Bench Zinfandel - 100% Zin, from a younger vineyard. 15.1% alcohol by volume. Whoa, strawberries! Super fresh, ripe strawberries hit me immediately as I smelled and tasted it, then black pepper moved in to dry out the sweet attack. Very interesting wine.

We migrated to the barrel room at that point, where I was amazed by their stacking system and barrel processes. Every time I enter a barrel room I immediately start thinking about the logistics of the barrels - how are they stacked, how are they filled, how are they emptied? Who does this work? - since I was once in that position. At Ridge Lytton Springs, a series of ropes and pulleys hangs from the ceiling, from which the cellar workers hang to empty, clean, and fill the barrels, keeping them in their same formation, as many as 10 high. I don't quite understand how this works; I would love to see them in action. They must use pumps... but how do the barrels dry after they are washed? Wonder if I could schedule an appointment just to watch sometime. Anyway, regarding the oak barrels, Ridge uses only American oak, and only 20-25% new.

In the barrel room, there were a few special bottles open for a separate event going on, so we got to try some new wines either pending release or just released. The first was the 2009 Estate Merlot - a 100% single varietal bottling only previously made in 1974, 1976, and from 1991-1997.  It had a classic Merlot aroma with spice, leather, red fruit, and vanilla. 75% new oak was used. We then had the 2009 Klein Cabernet Sauvignon, which happened to be one of the wines from the component tasting at the last Ridge Blogger's Tasting that I attended at Monte Bello in December 2011. It's 100% Cab Sauv with classic black fruit, dark currant, juniper, eucalyptus and spice. Nine barrels were selected from the Klein vineyard to make this single varietal wine. Lastly we tried the 2009 Monte Bello, 72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, and 6% Petit Verdot. It was more earthy and tannic than the previous two, with nice vanilla notes. We compared that with the 2006 Monte Bello, which was 68% Cab Sauv, 20% Merlot, 10% Petit Verdot, and 2% Cab Franc. It was very Bordeaux-like, with red fruit, leather, vanilla and warm spices. Extremely long length.

For dessert we had the 2007 Geyserville Essence, a sweet wine made from Zinfandel grapes. Lush bosenberry pie and raisins were balanced by that Ridge acidity.

I'm so glad I finally made it to Lytton Springs! Special thanks to Eliot for a wonderful tasting experience.

Gravity Flow Winemaking at Vineyard 29

Lately I've been hearing a lot about gravity flow winemaking. I first encountered it in South America, having visited wineries in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay that are gravity-driven. The belief is that moving the wine via pumps is disruptive to the wine and steals some of its character. Gravity-driven wineries are constructed on multiple levels so that wine is transported from higher tanks to lower tanks by gravity. Conceivably you could require as many as 4 levels - sorting level for the grapes/juice to go in from the press, a level below for racking off sediment, another level below for racking off fermentation lees, and another level down into the barrel cellar. I was always skeptical - what if you run out of tanks in the lower levels? What about blending? What if you need to move the wine up to an empty tank? And forget logistics of the hoses - there would need to be trapdoors and tunnels everywhere. The mystery was solved during my recent visit to Vineyard 29 in Napa. There I understood the missing link - a holding tank that moves between levels via elevator, since they have just 1 level of tanks above the barrel cellar. With their elevator holding tank they have more flexibility to move the wine without relying on available tanks on a certain level. Hoses are snaked through tunnels in the walls and floor.

Above Tank Level

Tank Level

Holes for the hoses to snake through to reach the Lower Level

Red wine barrels in the cellar

Once we made our way through the gravity tour, we were welcomed in the barrel cellar for a round-table tasting.

Their 2009 Estate Sauvignon Blanc was unlike any I'd ever had. It was luscious, flowery and tropical while also maintaining the acidity and minerality so coveted in Bordeaux. The use of concrete tanks allows for an air exchange that makes the wine less sensitive to oxidation, so it can age for longer than most white wines - it was aged for 18 months in water-soaked oak barrels (minimal toast) before bottling. This wine was so complex and alive, yet refined and pretty. The finish was super long.

Concrete holding tank for the Sauvignon Blanc

The 2008 Aida Cabernet Sauvignon was blended with small amounts of Merlot and Petit Verdot. It was jammy and thick with super dark blueberry fruit. It was quite balanced in terms of tannin, acidity and alcohol - which was 14.8% but the wine didn't taste hot.

The 2009 Estate Cabernet Franc (75% Cab Franc/25% Cab Sauv) was also unlike any I'd ever had. It had a gorgeous rose/graphite/leather nose with an earthy spice and marked minerality on the palate. Not a ton of fruit but I did notice dark plum. It was very rich and complex with a long finish.

All the wines were decanted 1 hour before serving

Thanks again to Austin for a truly memorable experience - I look forward to enjoying the wines I took home.

Darioush

Last weekend I made another visit to Darioush in the Napa Valley, this time for a sit-down "table-side" tasting. A flat panel tv in our corner of the tasting room showed a video of the field crew harvesting the grapes at night - common practice here in California where fall days can be too hot for harvesting. I think this is such a great process - the field crew works all night and then by 7am the day shift gets to work sorting the grapes and getting the juice into tanks. I'm sure in many parts of the world (warmer climates mostly) this type of shift work is done; in the Finger Lakes it didn't really make sense for us, especially since it could get pretty cold on those fall nights.

Greg, our server, was very knowledgable about the wines and the valley. Darioush wines are made from 90% estate grapes (from vineyards they own) and 10% from vineyards that are leased over multi-year agreements. Owning your own grapes or at least leasing them is important, because it allows you to have control in the vineyard, where wine is born. Knowing the land and the vines gives you a leg up when it comes time to make harvesting decisions. The wines tasted were not far from the lineup I had on my first visit there almost a year ago - Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon. The Cab is their flagship wine and I had tasted the 2007 in March and loved it. This time I got to taste the 2006 next to the 2008 (2007 is sold out because it got great ratings and everyone went crazy for it). The 2006 was obviously smoother, with a silky texture and long finish, but the 2008 had tons more fruit and was much more exciting. The tannins were still gripping but you could imagine how a couple years in the cellar would really do this wine well.

Thanks again to Ryan and Greg for their impeccable service and attention! I highly recommend a visit to Darioush.

Ridge Blogger Tasting - Me vs. the Typewriter

Last weekend I attended the last Ridge Bloggers Tasting of 2011. We were given this picture hint as to the theme of the tasting:

I thought to myself, if we are going to go from live Twitter-fall to tasting notes on typewriters, this is going to be interesting. I arrived at Ridge Monte Bello on a Sunday afternoon in December to see 4 typewriters from Tasting Room Manager and Host Christopher Watkins' personal collections, plus the usual group of Bloggers on ipads and iphones, and of course, the live Twitter-fall. Our entry fee for the tasting was that everyone had to compose a tasting note on the typewriter. I had never used one before so I was excited. Here I am in action:

(Notice the gadget next to me - it's not an iPad but a Kindle Fire. Not to go off on a tangent, but the most shocking omission from the Fire's design is the lack of a notepad feature. So since my typewriter skills are sub par I took the bulk of my notes in an email composed to myself on the Fire.)

The reason for this theme was a throwback to the early Monte Bello Ridge property owners and the culmination of the Ridge we now know today. Ridge has just released the first vintages of these original-property-specific wines from three family properties that Ridge now owns (Torre, Perrone, and Klein), including the current Monte Bello site where we sat.

After an aperitif of Ridge Estate Chardonnay 2008, my favorite California Chardonnay, we began tasting the components.

First we had the 2009 Ridge Klein Cabernet Sauvignon. It was classic Monte Bello Cab with eucalyptus and mint, plus woodsy, herbal notes. The fruit was muted and the wine was silky smooth on the palate.

Next was the 2009 Ridge Torre Ranch Merlot. This wine seemed to be having an identity crisis of whether it was Merlot or Cab. It was closed on the nose but fruity and leathery on the palate, and much more tannic than the Cab. The fruit indicated Merlot but structurally it leaned more in the Cab direction.

Finally we tasted the 2009 Perrone Cabernet Franc, which was my favorite of the three. It was very rich, with deep fruit, fresh raspberry, warm spice and some herbal notes.

All the wines had great acidity and you could imagine how well they would play together.

Next we did an estate blend vertical from the years 2003, 2004, and 2005. These are Ridge wines from the Santa Cruz Mountains blended from the above-mentioned grape varietals in varying quantities from year to year.

The 2003 had a gorgeous nose of cinnamon, clove, a bit of cornbread and some vegetal characteristics. On the palate there was nice fruit and spice, but the tannins could use some further aging to soften.

The 2004 smelled a little funky and like creamed corn. On the palate it was herbal with firm tannins. Chris explained that for some unknown reason the wines produced in even vintage years tend to be a bit funkier than the odd vintage years.

The 2005 had a more floral nose and was brighter and fruitier than the previous two, but the tannins were very grippy and need some time to smooth out in the cellar.

For a treat, fellow blogger Allan brought a mystery wine for us to try. He mentioned it came from his cellar of Ridge treasures (which is vast and includes many member's-only releases). I guessed it was a Syrah-based wine, due to the smoky, chocolate, dark fruit characteristics that I found in the wine. It was delicious, but I was wrong - it was a 1994 single vineyard Zinfandel from the Monte Rosso property in Sonoma Valley that Ridge produced that one and only year.  There is only 1 case left in the Ridge Library, and Allan shared one of his two bottles with us. I am very thankful to have tasted this rare wine. Thanks again, Allan!

As always, a trip to Ridge Monte Bello is extremely rewarding and reinforces my love for wine and the industry. Ridge wines are always unique and interesting, and their potential for aging is remarkable. Thanks again to Christopher for hosting these fantastic events and inviting me.

For more posts and pictures from this event: 
A Ridge Blog
http://blog.ridgewine.com/2011/12/20/for-those-about-to-type-we-salute-you/

Come for the Wine

http://comeforthewine.blogspot.com/2011/12/ridge-monte-bello-blogger-tasting.html

Stay Rad Wine Blog

http://stayradwineblog.com/2011/12/11/pinky-strength-the-ridgevineyards-blogger-tasting/

Give Me Grapes

http://www.givemegrapes.com/2011/12/vintage-bloggers-wine-tasting.html

My past posts on 2011 Ridge Blogger Tastings:

First Bloggers Tasting:

http://iheartnywines.blogspot.com/2011/03/ridge-bloggers-tasting.html

Second Bloggers Tasting:

http://iheartnywines.blogspot.com/2011/06/ridge-bloggers-tasting-2-monte-bello.html

Wine PR

Last week at work some reps from PR Newswire hosted a wine reception to tell us more about their services. What a great idea, PR Newswire! Right up my alley. I learned more than I ever thought I knew about PR Newswire and tasted some nice wines as well. They brought a rep from The Wine Club, a great wine shop in SOMA near the San Francisco Wine Center, to tell us about the wines. He put together a little California vs. Spain tasting that was very interesting.

Whites:

Georis 2009 Sauvignon Blanc, Monterey/CA - This was an oaked SB and tasted more like a light California Chardonnay. Still lots of acidity and zest but very smooth from the oak. Blindfolded or not I could swear it was Chardonnay each time I sipped it. Shows how much winemaking can affect varietal character.

Pazo Senorans 2010 Albarino, Rias Baixas/Spain - Classic Albarino with bright herbal fruit and crisp acidity. Very pleasant.

Reds:

Tablas Creek Vineyard 2010 Patelin de Tablas, Syrah/Grenache/Mourvedre/Counoise blend, Paso Robles/CA - From our host's description I wanted to like this wine more than I actually did. I thought it was thin and harsh and tasted like cough medicine.

Celler Pinol 2008 Sa Natura, Carinena/Merlot/Cab Sauv/Syrah/Tempranillo blend, Priorat/Spain - This wine was rich, deep and big with lush dark fruit and firm tannin. I could see this aging well for several more years. For a big wine I often look to Priorat, but I do caution that the alcohol tends to be high in these wines.

Obviously and unsurprisingly, Spain won it for me.  Thank you to Blueshirt, PR Newswire, and The Wine Club!

Giving thanks to Leonetti

This Thanksgiving I got to try 2 bottles of 1996 Leonetti Cellars Walla Walla Cabernet Sauvignon. The corks were difficult to extract, so both bottles were decanted. The first was actually decanted with a significant amount of cork pieces, so we then filtered it through coffee filters (yes, it's the one in the coffee pot). The second bottle was a little easier to open so we decanted it without any floaters. I was so curious to try both wines and see if there was a difference, and there was! The non-filtered version was much brighter and fruitier. The filtered one lacked that vibrancy. I tried the filtered one first, and don't get me wrong, it was delicious. But then when I tried the non-filtered one it tasted even better. When I was working at Wiemer, Fred the winemaker taught me that everything you do to a wine robs it of some character - every racking, every filtering. This could have been one such example of the truth in his words. (But in a finished wine like this, there is always the chance of bottle variation, especially in wines that have aged.)

I like how Leonetti's labels say "Appellation American." Happy Thanksgiving!

Wine & Spirits' Grand Tasting

Last month my friend Oskar visited from the Finger Lakes and invited me to join him at the Wine & Spirits Top 100 Tasting, honoring the San Francisco-based magazine's chosen top 100 wineries of the year. Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard was honored for the 3rd year in a row, and I got to accompany Oskar as a representative of the winery. Going to industry tastings is always more fun with 2 people - you can share the responsibility of pouring the wine while having the chance to walk around and taste the other wines.

The best part was the Champagne and oysters section on the veranda of City View at METREON in downtown/SoMa San Francisco - great views and delicious indulgences. I tried Dom Perignon for the first time (it was ok; I've had better for cheaper) and sampled some other great names like Louis Roederer.

In the Riesling family, in addition to Wiemer's 2010 Gewurztraminer and 2009 Late Harvest Riesling, wines that I proudly helped produce, I enjoyed Joh. Jos. Prum's 2009 Mosel Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese (Germany), a similar style to our Late Harvest Riesling, and Loimer's 2009 Kamptal Reserve Langenlois Steinmassl Riesling and 2010 Kamptal Gruner Veltliner (Austria). I love this simple green label:

Again I sampled R. Lopez de Heredia's 1993 Rioja Reserva Vina Tondonia Blanco, the white Rioja I first had at San Francisco Wine Center over the summer; this is such an interesting wine. I also had their 2001 Rioja Reserva Vina Tondonia Tinto, the red version. Delicious Spanish wines.

Other notable reds included Leonetti Cellar's 2008 Walla Walla Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and 2009 Walla Walla Valley Merlot. I've had older Leonetti vintages and they have been divine, so it was nice to try the current releases and see what the wine is like in its youth. I also enjoyed Achaval-Ferrer's 2008 La Consulta Uco Valley Finca Altamira Malbec. I visited this winery during my trip to Mendoza last year but I hadn't tried this single vineyard Malbec.

I had fun bumping into Mary Burnham and Jordan Mackay, wine writers and instructors at SFWC wine school.

And as always, it was great pouring Wiemer to adoring fans from around the country.

Other coverage:
http://www.vinography.com/archives/2011/10/whats_your_best_wine_tasting_t.html