55 bottles of wine on the wall, 55 bottles of wine…
Note to everyone who has nagged me over the past three years: the demands of keeping this house (Sostevinobile) clean and in reasonable order is inexorable. Your West Coast Oenophile can’t possibly be expected to maintain the same level of punctiliousness in the upkeep of my home office! And so I soldier on in my attempts to pay long overdue citation to the various vintages I have been sampling with single-minded purpose since April.
55) I’ll be the first to concede that Homefire of Sonoma sounds more like a Country/Western band than a wine label. Nomenclature notwithstanding, this accomplished winery excels in its single-varietal focus, as exemplified by its superb 2007 Homecoming Zinfandel.
54) I first stumbled upon John Viszlay one afternoon when I was combing Limerick Lane in Healdsburg. Until we met at the facility he shares with Christie Estate Winery, I had not realized that Prosecco was a distinct varietal, not simply a style of sparkling wine. To the best of my knowledge, Viszlay has the only vineyard producing Prosecco on the West Coast, and while John had declined to bring his sparkling wine to the San Francisco Vintners Market, he did share his striking 2010 Sweet Prosecco, a still wine with 10% alcohol and 2% residual sugar.
53) Christie also shared Viszlay’s booth here and poured an array of their eclectic bottlings. I’m not sure owner whether Steve Aitken’s Panty Dropper Wines constitutes the broadest marketing ploy, but one can hardly argue the appeal of the 2008 Russian River Valley Late Harvest Zinfandel produced under this label.
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52)
My final citation from the Vintners Market highlights a winery after my own
heart, Huge Bear, an enterprise that pays homage to the brief
incarnation of the independent nation known as California Republic, founded in what is now recognized as Knights Valley. With three releases of their Sonoma wines, the particular standout from this secessionist sympathizer inarguably had to have been the 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon, a wine nearly as big as its ursine emblem and nationalist aspirations.
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51) Though Huge Bear clearly bills themselves as a Sonoma winery, their listed contact is in St. Helena, the proverbial seat of Napa Valley. And while I may be bit perplexed by this anomaly, it does little to diminish my enthusiasm for their wine or overall branding. Many others, I am aware, are hardly as ecumenical, in their delineations.
In putting together the wine program for Sostevinobile, I tend to encounter an inordinate amount of hostility towards Napa among the various other AVAs. Granted, charging $50 for a tasting room visit does seem contrary to the inclusive spirit of the wine industry, and the number of $125 Cabernets that really deserve to be priced at nearly ⅓ that level is legion; still, there is inarguably a phenomenal amount of truly great wine produced throughout the Napa Valley, and, when warranted, I am unabashed in lavishing accolades upon it.
Case in point, the extraordinary 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Padrone from Signorello Estate on Silverado Trail. Listed at a mere $110/bottle, this luxuriant wine could easily be deemed a bargain.
possible.
possible.
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50) This year, Taste Napa Valley
held satellite tastings throughout California instead of a single,
central Grand Tasting. My designated venue was the Walnut Creek branch
of Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar. This 64-unit, nationwide chain, owned by OSI Restaurant Partners, the parent company of ersatz Australian Outback Steakhouse, may boast a wine-by-the-glass program twice the size and breadth of Sostevinobile—the Fleming’s 100, but I will not deign to make a qualitative comparison.
Along with Signorello, I discovered several visiting wineries here,
including Match,
a boutique Cabernet enterprise that farms a duet of proprietary
vineyards, Butterdragon Hill and Baconbrook. Comparisons to the Big Rock
Candy Mountain seem tempting but unwarranted—the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Butterdragon Hill proved a stunning bottling. |
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49) Back in February, I literally found myself lost in the maze of caves at Far Niente and missed out on Oakville Ranch Vineyards. Here, I atoned for my lapse by working my way through the craftsmanship of legacy winemaker Paula Kornell, favoring her buttery 2008 Chardonnay Oakville slightly above her red selections.
48) One of the most astounding Chardonnays I have ever tried was the 2008 Chardonnay Finch Hollow Reserve that Jarvis poured here. Boasting another legacy winemaker, Dimitri Tchelistcheff, this wine demanded that I revisit Jarvis’ table at least three times during the course of the event.47) Of course, I was completely predisposed to like their puckishly named wine, the 2007 Will Jarvis’ Science Project, even before I sampled it. A Cabernet Franc literally borne from their son’s 8th grade experiment, here was a wine whose flavor actually exceed its promotional whimsy.
46) Truth be told, I had met Ellen Reich Luchtel a few evenings before this gathering and had sampled a number of her Fortunati wines while practicing my Italian with her. As luck would have it, I hadn’t tried her sublime 2007 Pinot Noir, vinted by husband Gary Luchtel of Suhr Luchtel, a winery prized for both its Pinot and Syrah.
45) Apart from Chardonnay and Zinfandel, Napa tends to be almost monomaniacal in its adherence to Bordeaux varietals and blends. In contrast to this orthodoxy, Lagier Meredith has always stood out for its Syrahs, as amply exemplified by the 2007 Syrah Mount Veeder, a bottling without peer at this particular tasting.
I frequently admit to being worn thin at times with all the tastings I undertake for Sostevinobile—to wit, my increasing inability to keep up with this blog in any reasonable time frame. But even if I lag behind with my chronicles, the wines that I assay, and the people that produce them maintain an enduring relevance.
Posted by Your West Coast Oenophile at 7/21/2011 10:11 PM 
Categories: Prosecco, Chardonnay, Syrah, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon
Tags: Homefire Viszlay Christie Huge Bear Signorello Match Far Niente Oakville Ranch Jarvis Fortunati Lagier Meredith
Categories: Prosecco, Chardonnay, Syrah, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon
Tags: Homefire Viszlay Christie Huge Bear Signorello Match Far Niente Oakville Ranch Jarvis Fortunati Lagier Meredith
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