Mendocino Day 3: Coast and Knez

On our last day in Mendocino county, after exploring Heritage House Resort, our coastline retreat, we had lunch in the charming, quaint town of Mendocino and walked the dramatic cliffs over the ocean. Heading back to San Francisco, we happily took 128 back through the redwoods and Anderson Valley, stopping at Knez Winery's tasting room along the way. I had tried a couple of these wines at the SF Vintners Market also, so it was fun to taste the broader lineup. With around 2000 cases produced, all the wines are unfiltered, unfined and go through native yeast fermentation. The fruit is all estate-grown and farmed biodynamically. They have a super interesting white blend of Tocai Fruilano, Malvasia, and Pinot Grigio, which are all dry-farmed grapes that are picked at the same time, co-fermented in neutral oak and aged on the lees. The wine had a floral nose with orange blossom, gardenia, and anise notes. I also enjoyed their 2011 Cerise Vineyard Pinor Noir, which is a steep slope vineyard with a lot of iron in the soil. This translated into an earthy, meaty salinity in the wine that I really liked. 33% of the wine saw new French oak and 50% was fermented in whole clusters. This Pinot, being the Martini clone, is characterized by smaller clusters and thicker skins than other Pinot (which as a grape is known for having a thin skin). Very interesting and complex. A nice cap to an enjoyable weekend of wine and waves in Mendocino county.

Knez combines nature's vines with the ocean's creatures in their unique labels.

Rioja en Rioja

On a recent trip to Spain I spent 3 days in the famous wine region of Rioja, touring the vineyards and enjoying the wines. In the past I've described Rioja as my go-to wine. Drinkable, interesting, ageable, and versatile with a lot of foods, it is perhaps most importantly affordable.

In Rioja, wine laws dictate the aging and labeling of the wines, with the reds always being made from majority Tempranillo. Sometimes other grapes (Graciano, Mazuelo, Garnacha (Garnacha is the same grape as Grenache in France)) are included in small percentages (less than 15% of the wine). Minimum aging for a Rioja wine labeled Rioja Crianza is 2 years in the winery, of which 1 year must be in barrel. Rioja Reserva wines must be aged for at least 3 years in the winery, with 1 year being in barrel, and Rioja Gran Reserva must be aged for 5 years in the winery, with at least 2 of those years in barrel. This aging makes the wines both ready to drink and worthy of cellar time. The funny thing about these aging rules is that most wineries age their wines for longer, so either their Crianza ages for longer than required but still shorter than their Reserva, or they just don't make a Crianza.

White Rioja is generally made with a combination of Viura, Malvasia, and Garnacha Blanca, though Viura is by far the dominant grape. It is also known as Macabeo and stars prominently in Cava sparkling wine, Spain's version of Champagne, made in the Cava region. White Rioja is largely unknown in most of the world, but the Spaniards drink it up, and it's easy to see why. Some crisp and refreshing, others deep and complex, it was fun experiencing this wine as well.

When we planned to go to Rioja we had a vision in our heads that everything would be old, given the tradition of winemaking has been going on in Europe for way longer than the United States. But, the first winery we went to looked like this:

Very cool, but not old. Bodegas Ysios opened in 2001, setting a trend in avante-garde winery style. The name Ysios pays "homage to Isis and Osiris, two Egyptian gods closely related to the world of wine." Ysios produces only Rioja Reserva made only from Tempranillo, aged for 14 months in oak and a total of 3 years in the winery. 

Another super-modern winery that we visited, called Bodegas Baigorri, does a great tour and lunch tasting. The main tasting room is enclosed in a glass cube visible from the road, and the winery and restaurant reside in 7 floors below, built into the hill, with the winery operating by gravity-flow. Building underground provides for natural temperature and humidity control in the winery; concrete helps too. 

Lunch was delicious, and I particularly enjoyed the white and pink wines.

I like how they infused their wines in certain dishes... especially the dessert:

While modern in both their facilities and practices, these wineries uphold the traditions of the land. Not a bad way to start our visit in Rioja. 

More to come...  Salud!