…I’m a Tur-key!

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One of the truly great things about kids is their ability to embrace absurdity simply for the sheer pleasure of nonsense. Reflect, for a moment, on the guileless lyrics of a childhood parody (I hate Bosco, it’s rich and chocolat-y. Mommy puts it in my milk to try and poison me…) or the unabated pleasure of jejune humor. When I was much younger, I used to delight in the banter of the lock & key joke. The first person would start with something like:

“I’m a Hair-lock…”

To which the other would respond:

“I’m a Hair-key!”

Then he’d say:

“I’m a Nose-lock…”

The reply:

“I’m a Nose-key!”

The next round might start with:

“I’m a Don-lock…”

Unaware, the other person would announce:

“I’m a Don-key!!!” Peals of laughter would ensue.

Alternatively, the jokester might try:

“I’m a Mon-lock…”

“I’m a Mon-key!!!”

Or perhaps:

“I’m a Tur-lock…”

Suffice it to say that this sleepy little hamlet in Stanislaus County, a minor of satellite in greater metropolitan Modesto’s orbit, does not take kindly to my theory on the origin of its name. Several years ago, amid exceptional tribulation, Your West Coast Oenophile accepted a position with Turlock’s most storied enterprise, the (allegedly) not-for-profit Medicalert Foundation. On my drive out to the First Sip in Lodi this past Saturday, there was nary a moment I was tempted to veer south and revisit this inglorious chapter from my past.
Having tasted nearly all the wines being poured this weekend at the recent Treasure Island WineFest, my visit was more of a goodwill tour on behalf of Sostevinobile, a chance to visit with friends and see them operating in their own setting, not to mention a respite from the diurnal struggles of urban survival.
Over at Abundance, owner Dino Mencarini sat rather regally in the recesses of his warehouse as the crowds descended from what seemed like an endless parade of stretch Hummers. The long drive from San Francisco mandated that I start with something cool, which his Colombard-based NV Brut fit the bill nicely. I hadn’t tried the 2005 Old Vine Zinfandel before, and it certainly exemplified why Lodi has become so renowned for this varietal. And, of course, how could I say no to a taste of the just-released 2008 Bacio Dolce, Abundance’s signature late harvest Carignane, pipetted from an unstopped mini-barrel?
Mitch Cosentino operates branches of his winery in Lodi and in Yountville, focusing on grapes that flourish in each locale. I could launch into an extended peroration on why wineries should never forge a connection between their products, which have pronounce health benefits, to tobacco, the most-readily accessible carcinogen on the planet, but I will concede that his 2006 CigarZin was quite delectable. On the other hand, pushing tolerances at 16% alcohol, his new 2006 Daredevil, a Syrah-based blend, proved an exceedingly fine wine. Clearly my favorite was the modestly named 2006 The Franc, from his Lodi-based The Wine series.

My visit to LangeTwins proved most eye-opening. Their scant production of ~4,000 cases in no way prepared me for the site of the 2,000,000-case contract winery I encountered. A ginormous facility recalling Lodi’s cooperative warehouses from the 1980s, this plant makes the Lange’s fervor for sustainable winemaking all the more impressive. Their fidelity to making a classic Meritage was manifest in the 2006 Midnight Reserve, a Cabernet Sauvignon-based blend, while their less traditional 2007 Petit Verdot|Petite Sirah seemed quite approachable.
More startling than LangeTwins, however, was my discovery of Viaggio, a wine estate so opulent, it seemed an apparition on the banks of the Mokelumne. Whether this gargantuan erection makes Acampo a true destination remains to be seen; still, it made quite a stirring first impression.


The new Viaggio Estate

Viaggio has yet to make wine at this facility, contracting their production to Oak Ridge in Lodi. Nonetheless, I did appreciate both their 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon and their 2006 Pinot Grigio, which, respectively, paired quite nicely with the superb Beef Tri-Tip and the Mango Bread Pudding, prepared by Viaggio’s Vino di Vita cafe that owner Kent Raverty to showcase his forte as a pizzaiolo.
I had wanted to visit with quite a number of wineries this afternoon, but time and the wide spread of locations made completing my list an impossibility. I was sure I could make it to both Harney Lane and Harmony Wynelands at the end of my loop but fell short of my expectations. I also wanted to pay a courtesy visit to Onus Vineyards, to thank Marty Peterson for sending me a bottle of his superb 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Lodi, an exquisite interpretation of this varietal that is drinking at its peak right now.
I did manage to squeeze in Michael~David, a winery that seems hellbent on milking every pun it can construe from its 7 Deadly Zins and other allusions. Still, I enjoyed their Petite Sirah-dominant 2007 Petite Petit and found their 2005 Rapture Cabernet Sauvignon a true pleasure at this stage in its development.
After trying a third 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon from Lodi at the opulent estate of my longtime friend Joe Berghold, I had to concur with his observation that Lodi wines attain their peak more rapidly than wines from nearby Napa. Given how a wine bar’s wines must offer an immediate appeal to its clientele, his analysis was not lost on me or the program I am building for Sostevinobile. Berghold is billed as a “Victorian winery,” and the breadth of the antique collection Joe has amassed approaches museum quality. With two 26-foot-long carved bars imported in their entirety from Pennsylvania and a collection of 19th century armoires that words cannot truly depict, the tasting areas convey a sense of warmth and romance few wineries could better capture. Joe spent the better part of an hour pouring me a wide selection of his wines, ranging from his truly delectable 2005 Merlot to the very special 2005 Souzão, a varietal I had tried but once before. The blended 2003 Cabernet Franc/Syrah was a revelation in itself, while the 2007 Viognier was remarkable in it restraint. I even found myself delighting (there goes that pernicious tobacco reference, again) in his Stogie Club Petite Port, a post-prandial pleasure even without a cigar to accompany it.

 

Way out on the eastern edge of Lodi, the town of Clements seemed halfway to Jackson, but I was happy to trudge out there to visit with Markus and Liz at their tasting station for Bokisch. As per usual, I readily partook of their familiar Spanish trio, the 2007 Tempranillo, the 2007 Garnacha, and the 2007 Graciano, which somehow tasted better on their home turf. The real treat, however, was a chance to sample their limited-production 2007 Monastrell, which may be my favorite of their bottlings to date. Bokisch shared tasting space with Clements Ridge Produce, perhaps the only winery in California to have a Web page devoted to its selection of fruit pies. My efforts to scarf a piece of their mini pumpkin tarts obliged me to try a sampling of their wines; despite my transparent pretext, I found both the 2005 Gatos Locos Syrah and especially the 2007 Gatos Locos Zinfandel surprisingly likable wines.
I might have stayed around for Sunday’s tasting, but my agenda for the next several days proved beyond manageable. With any luck, I hope my next installment can convey my appreciation for these ensuing absurdities with the same unfettered delight I enjoyed during my formative years.

How Green Was My Thursday

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A most interesting piece in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat on Sunday highlighted how consumers may one day see wine bottles making carbon claims to show consumers these products aren’t contributing to the destruction of the planet. The article quoted Robert Nicholson from Healdsburg wine consulting firm International Wine Associates as predicting that “It’s going to be increasingly important for consumers to know that the wines they choose are participating in the green revolution that our planet is going to have to go through to survive.” 
Your West Coast Oenophile could not agree more. I’d like to believe that Sostevinobile has been quite prescient in insisting that we implement the highest degree of sustainable guidelines from the outset of our development, in the expectation that most, if not all of these practices will soon become mandatory. And it is gratifying to see this article cite that the California wine industry (as well as its counterparts in Washington and Oregon) has been “long at the forefront of the sustainable agriculture movement.”
Throughout much of the West Coast wine region, there is no formal standard for defining “sustainably-grown wine;” it will, of course, be incumbent upon Sostevinobile to establish a set of criteria for what we will ascertain as sustainable in the wines that we select for our wine bar operations. On the other hand, it is just as much our responsibility to encourage all vineyards and wineries within our designate locale to adopt sustainable practices throughout their farming and production. As I grind out this latest blog entry, I am of a mind to focus not solely on those operations that have already adopted strictly defined parameters for sustainability but also to embrace those labels that show a true impetus towards incorporating an identifiable and well-reasoned environmental stewardship into their winemaking and distribution.
Last Thursday, Napa Valley Grapegrowers stage their bi-annual Wine & Grape Expo. It wasn’t merely the lure of a free lunch and superb wine tasting—not to mention a much-needed break from midweek urban realities—that drew me up to Yountville. The day was packed with seminars, trade booths, and some lively demonstrations of cooperage and barrel blasting, nearly all of which focused on advancing sustainable practices throughout the entire wine production cycle.
With my linguistic abilities limited to English, Italian, Russian and French (along with my facility in ancient Greek or Latin, if ever summoned to the Vatican), I spared myself the arduousness of attempting to arrive at 8 AM for the early morning seminars in Spanish, even though topics like Importancia del Cambio Climático Sobre la Fenelogía de la Vid and Introduccíon a la Agricultura Biodinámica have obvious implications for sustainability. I did manage to attend the later morning sessions on developing water wells and the integration of vineyard architecture and soil reservoir as determinants for winegrowing strategy, subjects that play a significant role in the sustainable management of a vineyard.

 
Lunchtime gave opportunity to visit with a number of the exhibitors, including the solar power advisers from Solarcraft and the ecologically imperative The Compost Store. I suspect (though will willingly stand to be corrected) that the offerings from Dow Agro Sciences and Chevron’s Allied Propane would not meet the litmus for sustainability, but nonetheless I was happy to partake of one of their reusable cloth shopping totes for my intended stopover at Berkeley Bowl West en route back to San Francisco. 
A number of custom crush facilities, including Judd’s Hill & Microcrush and Bin to Bottle, also operated trade booths, but the true crowd pleaser for the afternoon was the barrel-making demonstration from Seguin Moreau Napa Cooperage.Watching such time-honored precision handicraft up close was indeed a marvel to behold. Across the courtyard, the truly modern technique of CO₂ barrel cleaning and sanitization held court. The environment
al implications of Cryo Clean’s Barrel Blasting method, a patent-pending process that propels dry ice pellets at airstream velocity into the fine wood surface of the barrel’s interior include no chemical residue or runoff, dramatically reduced waste residue, no water contamination, and significant increase in a barrel’s longevity.

Still, the most salient presentation of the day came from UC-Davis Steven Sinclair Scott Professor Roger B. Boulton, a leading proponent of sustainability in the wine industry. His comprehensive presentation, entitled Self-Sustaining Vineyards and Wineries, examined the myriad aspects and challenges of developing a self-contained, truly sustainable vineyard and winery operation, not merely in terms of carbon emissions but also mitigating the emission of CH₄ (methane) and N₂O (nitrous oxide), consumption and onsite generation of energy, reclamation and reapplication of winery water, and the use of environmentally-sound cleaning and sterilization solutions—particularly in terms of potential soil contamination.
Boulton’s far-sighted proposals and solutions for future development and implementation in wine industry extended beyond the theoretical. Following his discourse, he unveiled a preview of the Research and Teaching Winery under construction at UC Davis’ Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science. Upon its opening for the 2010 harvest, this working laboratory will constitute “the world’s most sustainable vineyard and winery,” with innovative features that include onsite photovoltaic hydrogen production, passive solar-fuel cell co-generation of hot water, reverse osmosis (RO) and nano-filtration (NF) systems for water purification, an all-electric vehicle fleet with recharging station, hydrogen fuel cell hybrid, and rainwater capture and storage systems, all to be housed in a LEED Platinum Certified facility.
Even preoccupied with all these innovations, I think one can safely assume that Davis’ Department of Enology can also make a fairly decent wine. And, of course, this jaunt up to Yountville had its own perquisite tasting of an impressive selection of local vintages (after all, a trip to Napa without tasting wine is like sunning on a nude beach wearing blindfolds). Following a final seminar on olfactory sensations in wine by one of France’s leading parfumiers, an assortment of Napa Valley wines were scattered about the various exhibition booths. This arrangement made finding particular wines or determining whether I had sampled each of the donations rather haphazard, but my notes covered as much as I could sample during the brief period before the expo concluded.
Many of these wines marked my first tastes of their 2006 vintage. I started out on a high note with the 2006 Corison Cabernet Sauvignon. My enthusiasm did not diminish with Branham Estates’ 2006 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon nor were Cade Winery’s two selection, the 2006 Napa Cuvée Cabernet Sauvignon and the superb 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain any bit the letdown.
Rocca Family Vineyards also featured a pair of wines, their 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Yountville and their 2006 Merlot Yountville, proving that here the Burgundian Left Bank/Right Bank schism has little corollary. The 2006 Georges de Latour Private Reserve from Beaulieu Vineyards was its usual excellent self, and I found the 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon D’Adamo Vineyard from Piña would have made quite the indulgence—if only I weren’t compelled to swill and spit!
Benessere makes a number of Italian varietals I have yet to try, but made quite the impression with their 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon. As wondrous as this wine was, however, it still placed a distinct second to their 2005 Phenomenon, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sangiovese and Syrah, with no need for false modesty. The 2005 vintage from Napa continues to impress me every time I enjoy it; the tastings this afternoon merely elucidated this opinion, with Trefethen’s exceptional 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Oak Knoll, my old friend Ren Harris and his Paradigm’s 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville, and the hitherto unfamiliar Meander with their 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon.
For this day, at least, the head of the Class of ’05 had to have been the 2005 Cornerstone Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley, one of Celia Welch’s most noteworthy efforts. beyond that, my most joyful discovery of the afternoon was the 2006 Opus One, and not just because it was being poured so liberally. As documented in many installments of this blog, I tr
uly dread how the giant conglomerates eviscerate a respected label after they acquire it (cf: Diageo and BV Coastal Estates; Constellation and Solaire by Robert Mondavi; Gallo and Louis M. Martini’s Ghost Pines). With such a dismal history, one ought to be downright euphoric to discover that Opus One has weathered the takeover virtually unscathed, thanks, I am told, to the perseverance of Baroness Philippine de Rothschild, who insisted that this icon label not be tampered with. The result was a glorious 2006 Meritage (the first produced since the sale of Robert Mondavi) that unabashedly maintained its esteemed pedigree.
The one white wine I managed to try was the 2005 D’Argent Chardonnay from Silver Rose, which bills itself as Napa’s only resort winery. I am aware of missing a few other whites, Sauvignon Blancs from both Cakebread Cellars and from Long Meadow Ranch, but did manage to slip in a modest sip of their 2004 LMR Cabernet Sauvignon. Two other labels, Jaffe Estate and Snowden Vineyards were listed as being poured, but I have no recollection of encountering either. Another winery I did taste, but—true confession—I cannot decipher the scribble from my own hand.
The rest of the wines stood out from Cabernet’s inevitable domination. Though quite elusive (at least on the Internet), Blair Estate dazzled with their 2002 Blair Estate Meritage, an enormously pleasing wine. Tofanelli strayed even further with their amiable 2006 Zinfandel. Truly a Napa apostate, B. Kosuge managed to comport himself quite respectably with his 2007 The Shop Pinot Noir. Ever the iconoclast, my friend John Wilkinson poured his 2006 Wilkinson, his esoteric blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah he bottles at Bin to Bottle, his custom crush facility in Napa. And just for fun, I had to try a sip of the 2006 Lagrein from Jacuzzi Vineyards, a very festive wine, to say the least.
I had hoped that this event would have provided the occasion, at long last, to meet brothers Sloane and John Upton, owners of the famed Three Palms Vineyard and fellow survivors of the arcane rectitude of the storied Hotchkiss School. If they did attend, we still managed to miss each other, and while it would have been a special treat to sample the flagship Merlot Duckhorn Vineyards produces from their grapes, the 2005 Duckhorn Vineyards Howell Mountain Napa Valley Red Wine, a blend of 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc, and 4% Petit Verdot proved more than adequate compensation.
The Napa Wine & Grape Expo provided considerable fodder to help validate my espousal of sustainable practices for Sostevinobile; y seeing these tenets so universally embraced by the California wine industry greatly reassures me that our focus on serving only sustainably grown wines will embrace an incredibly wide selection from the preponderance of wineries here and throughout the West Coast. I left the Lincoln Theater amid a slight drizzle and plodded my way down the East Bay corridor to attend the last half-hour of the Green Chamber of Commerce’s 2nd Annual Celebration, entitled Building an Honest Economy. Here, overlooking the Tribune Tower in downtown Oakland, I found an assembly of like-minded ecopreneurs, passionate in their vision, but nonetheless pragmatic. Their unapologetic mantra: “people, planet, and profit.”
The Green Chamber of Commerce (GCOC) comprises a San Francisco-based business network of more than 160 Bay Area businesses from various industry sectors including architecture & design, media, finance, legal, renewable energy, and health. In light of recent developments, GCOC is aggressively seeking to present a viable alternative for major companies like Apple, Nike and PG&E, which have withdrawn from the US Chamber of Commerce in protest over its sheer inanity in refusing to endorse legislation that would counter the precipitants of climate change.
The annual celebration featured a dynamic presentation from Ahmed Rahim, co-founder of Numi Organic Tea and a preview of the Chamber’s new promotional video. Oakland’s Savoy Events highlighted the evening with a rather sumptuous spread of sustainably-farmed, healthy appetizers (although hors d’œuvres of sculpted, purple-dyed potatoes strike me as somewhat counterintuitive), complemented by the 2007 Organic Syrah and 2008 Organic Chardonnay from Mendocino’s pioneering Frey Vineyards, recognized as the first organic winery in North America.
I received a complimentary toothbrush fr
om GCOC member Dr. Nammy Patel as I left. My 23 years as a copywriter makes me question certain connotations of billing her practice as “green dentistry,” albeit her extreme awareness of the environmental impact caused by numerous aspects of basic dental practices. But even the dreadful glass of White Zinfandel I was offered at my final stop of the day, the Bravo Club party in the lobby space of San Francisco’s Automattic, could not diminish the fact that a green time was had by all.

Waiting for Pinot (an œnostential comedy)

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Two desolate characters, Vigneron and Donatello, lean heavily back-to-back in an empty field. The midday sun blazes overhead. Donatello is sweating profusely and repeated takes out a handkerchief to mop his brow. Though wearing a black bowler, Vigneron seems impervious to the heat.

Vigneron: Have we arrived here again?
Donatello: It would seem so.
Vigneron: As we have done every time.
Donatello: As we will continue to do… 
Vigneron: Shouldn’t we go onto something different…go somewhere else?
Donatello: You know that we can’t.

Vigneron holds his empty wine glass up toward the sun, as if examining a pour. He swirls, examines it for legs, then holds it to his nose as if inhaling its aromas.

Vigneron: What is it that he wants?
Donatello: Who?
Vigneron: Him!
Donatello: What does he want?
Vigneron: Exactly!
Donatello: What does he ever want?
Vigneron: He told us to meet him here.
Donatello: Was it today?
Vigneron: He said to meet him at noon.
Donatello: I am beginning to develop a tremendous thirst.
Vigneron: We must wait.
Donatello: There is a large bead of sweat dangling from the tip of my nose. If I extend my tongue as far as it will go, I might just be able to catch it. (Donatello sticks out his tongue, but is unable to reach his nose.) Drat! I was sure I could reach!
Vigneron: I am sure he will provide.
Donatello: Who?
Vigneron: (adamantly) Pinot! We are waiting for Pinot!!
Donatello: Perhaps I should face West.
Vigneron: All things must face West eventually. It’s inevitable.
Donatello: How do you know?
Vigneron: The azimuth of the sun.
Donatello: It is at its apex now. From here, we cannot tell which way is which.
Vigneron: Pinot will tell us.
Donatello: But when?
Vigneron: When he arrives.

Long pause.

Donatello: Switch places with me. I want him to see the back of my head as he approaches.
Vigneron: I don’t see how that matters.
Donatello: Everything matters, Vini. Everything.

Both men simultaneous try to aright themselves, but keep falling back into their interdependent posture. After four or five attempts, they realize the futility and make a 180° turn, backs pressed against each other, in order to switch places.

Vigneron: Which of us is facing West?
Donatello: Does it matter?
Vigneron: He might be concerned.
Donatello: Who?
Vigneron: He for whom we wait.
Donatello: Who?
Vigneron: Pinot!

A loud commotion is heard offstage. Miljenko, a Croatian field hand pushes a large field crusher, piled to the brim. A radiant child, Agostin, sit atop the clusters, squeezing grapes one by one, in order to shoot the seeds. A small donkey ambles beside them…

to be continued?

Your West Coast Oenophile segued into writing this blog after many years of pursuing fame & fortune as a playwright. Not that I’ve abandoned the vocation, mind you, but it has been a year or more since I’ve open up my Quark Xpress template (no writer worth his or her salt would even consider using the utterly execrable MS-Word) and set to typing.
Most of my plays constitute mordant satires, farces on the human condition as seen through wine-colored glasses, as it were. To be honest, thinly-veiled parody, as illustrated above, doesn’t really lend to expressing a distinctive voice, and, as those who have seen me toil to create Sostevinobile well know, I at all times refuse to be derivative! Still, I suppose I am a long way from putting the final touches on The Straight of Messina and seeing it mounted at The Magic Theater or Mark Taper Forum while the monumental tasks of creating this enterprise preoccupy me.
Admittedly, I derive enormous satisfaction from my forays into the wine world—an artistic pursuit unto itself—and the trip to the Pinot on the River Festival at Rodney Strong Vineyards last weekend was no exception. Like my Beckettian excerpt, the Grand Tasting began just before noon, beneath a blistering sun against which the rows of white tents could only tenuously shield. Along with the intense heat of the setting, my pulchritudinous partner-in-crime inexplicably displayed a most unwarranted petulance that quite had me taken “aback,” but rehashing of such matters are best played out offstage.
What differed this day from the preceding theatrical script was a distinct absence of waiting—Pinot Noir flowed readily and bountifully. With more than 100 wineries in attendance, it would have posed an insurmountable challenge even on a mild afternoon to cover all within the five hours allotted (roughly one visit every three minutes), so I must apologize in advance to all the places I could not cover. Certainly, there will be future opportunities to make amends.
The configuration of the pouring tables immediately thrust us upon Olson Ogden, which certainly was no misfortune. I have cited, if not lauded, their array of Pinot Noir and Syrah several times in this blog, and the 2007 Olson Ogden Pinot Noir Russian River Valley deliciously set the tone for the afternoon. A deft 180° turn brought us face-to-face with the table for Hirsch Vineyards, a grower whose lots were featured by numerous other vintners throughout the afternoon. Tasting their eponymous 2007 Hirsch Vineyards Pinot Noir was a rare treat, while their 2008 Bohan Dillon Pinot Noir offered a tantalizing glimpse into its future.
Hook & Ladder pays tribute to owner Cecil De Loach’s days as a San Francisco firefighter in the 1970s; at times, the extreme afternoon heat led one to wonder whether he might have to don his red helmet yet again. Nonetheless, his 2007 Pinot Noir Third Alarm Reserve was a marvelous complement to the festivities. Reach back a tad further, owner James Ontiveros’ Native⁹ Wine is a homage to his family’s nine generations in California since 1781! Looking ahead, his estate-grown 2008 Native⁹ Pinot Noir Ontiveros Vineyard was a wine of considerable portent, while both the 2007 Alta Maria Pinot Noir Bien Nacido Vineyard and the 2007 Alta Maria Pinot Noir Santa Maria Vineyard proved eminently drinkable now.
There were a few wineries at this festival with whom I had no previous contact. Moshin Vineyards, the first I encountered this afternoon, made a strong initial impression with their much-heralded 2007 Pinot Noir Lot 4 Selection, as well as the 2007 Moshin Vineyards Pinot Noir Russian River. Though I had tried Morgan Winery’s other varietals on prior occasions, I was not aware that they were the only certified organic winery in the Santa Lucia Highlands. Dare I say that their 2007 Double L Vineyard Hat Trick Pinot Noir was quite a mouthful?
Merry Edwards has long been revered as on of the wine world’s pioneering women for her fabled Pinot Noirs. Her 2007 Klopp Ranch Pinot Noir proved excellent; the 2007 Meredith Estate Pinot Noir, spectacular. It seems that at every Pinot tasting I attend, Kosta Browne is always the first to run out of wine. We wound our way to their table before the public tasting crowd filtered in and greedily two tastings each of their superb 2007 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir Russian River Valley and the vineyard-designated 2007 Amber Ridge Pinot Noir. Let’s just say that I do not intend ever to be denied again!
We sauntered along the row of artisanal cheesemakers, fortifying ourselves with some much-needed sustenance before reaching the back section of tables and the multi-latitudinal offering of Expression. Like Siduri/Novy (whom I’d wished would be on hand), Expression operates in both California and Oregon; this blurring of boundaries underscores the reason why Sostevinobile elected to embrace the entire West Coast as our locale. The 2007 Expression 39° Annahala, their Anderson Valley Pinot Noir figuratively seemed the more elevated of the two Pinots they had brought, though the 2006 Expression 44° Eola-Amity Hills was certainly a superb wine in its own right. Next up, Sojourn Cellars debuted their 2008 Pinot Noir Sangiacomo Vineyards, one of the most notable wines of the afternoon. At their neighboring table, the aptly-named Small Vines, a boutique Chardonnay and Pinot Noir producer out of Sebastopol, brought their striking 2007 Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast MK Vineyard and an appealing 2007 Small Vines Pinot Noir Russian River.
I’ve known Andy Peay (like myself, as well as my vexatious tasting companion, a fellow Dartmouth alum) for quite a number of years; I can always count on him to bring a little something outside of his announced pourings, especially at these single varietal affairs. A sip of his 2007 Peay Vineyards Estate Chardonnay provided a welcome palliative to the mounting heat, and it was a treat to preview his 2007 La Bruma Estate Syrah. And, of course, befitting this event, his 2007 Sea Scallop Estate Pinot Noir did nothing to disappoint. Another longtime acquaintance, journeyman winemaker David Vergari brought a wide selection from his own label, including a couple of side-by-side comparisons. His extraordinary 2007 Pinot Noir Marin County offered an amazing contrast to the previous vintage of the same, while his well-aged 2003 Pinot Noir Van der Kamp Vineyard displayed tantalizing hints of where the 2006 bottling would be headed.

 Speaking of tantalizing, San Rafael newcomer Claypool Cellars turned more than a few heads with their uplifting costumes, as well as their inaugural Russian River Valley Pinot Noir, the 2007 Purple Pachyderm. Also debuting at this event was Healdsburg’s Gracianna Vineyards, with an exquisite 2007 Pinot Noir Bagiacalupi Vineyard. Formerly known as Green Truck, the rechristened Road 31 Wine Co. shared a few last bottles of their sold-out 2007 Pinot Noir Napa Valley. The newish Pillow Road, sister winery to Ladera, translated their well-established virtuosity to this Pinot-only venture with a remarkably smooth 2007 Pillow Road Pinot Noir Russian River Valley.

Another recent single-varietal foray, Joelle Wine Company, offered a trio of vineyard-designated Pinot Noirs, including the 2007 Amber Ridge Pinot Noir and an enchanting 2007 La Encantada Pinot Noir, grown organically in the Santa Rita Hills. George Levkoff’s eponymous George Wine Co. has bottled nothing but Pinot since 2003, their array of single-vineyard wines labeled by their respective vintage. 2007 produced the Vintage 5 Pinot Noir Ceremonial Vineyard, quite the pleasing effort from this solo endeavor.

Former Benziger winemaker displayed his most efforts under his twin Ooh and Ahh labels. The 2006 Ahh Brickhill Vineyard had considerable merit, while the 2004 Ooh Bien Nacido clearly stood out as his most significant bottling this afternoon, a wine meant to be enjoyed over candlelight dinner, the means for which were generously furnished by his chandelière wife, Krassimira. Another Benziger offshoot, Signaterra represents their fusion of the forces of Earth, Man, and Nature to create distinctly sustainable wines. Their trio of vineyard-designate wines poured here included the 2007 Pinot Noir Bella Luna, the 2007 Pinot Noir San Remo and their standout, the 2007 Pinot Noir Giusti.
Nearby, Ketcham Estate is closely allied with Kosta Browne, sharing the same winemaker. Here his efforts shone brightly in the 2007 Ketcham Estate Pinot Noir Russian River Valley but utterly glistened with the 2007 Pinot Noir Ketcham Vineyard. Glistening may have been the visual effect the web designers for Cloud Rest hoped to achieve; instead, the bloat of this infuriatingly slow multimedia presentation brought my Safari browser to a crashing halt. However, I have nothing but praise for their winemaking pyrotechnics, both with the 2004 Cloud Rest Pinot Noir and the superb 2005 Cloud Rest Pinot Noir.
I hope that other wine bars will see Sostevinobile as a comrade-in-arms, not a competitor; a number of these have introduced me to wines that were pour at Pinot on the River. I’ve had the occasion to try several of Sea Smoke’s wines at on of the clubby Monday night Meet the Winemaker tastings at California Wine Merchant, but was quite disappointed they had exhausted their supply of 2007 Pinot Noir Southing by the time I made it to their table. Similarly, I’ve tossed back a few glasses of Roessler’s 2006 Pinot Noir La Encantada at San Francisco’s District; both their 2007 Pinot Noir Gap’s Crown and 2007 Pinot Noir Widdoes Vineyard held up with equal aplomb.
I can’t remember a major tasting I’ve recently attended where Santa Cruz’ Sarah’s Vineyard wasn’t a presence; nonetheless, I was more than happy to revisit their 2007 Pinot Noir Santa Cruz Mountains and the utterly splendid 2007 Pinot Nor Santa Clara Valley. A few tables over, I made the acquaintance of brothers Aaron and Jesse Inman, nephews of Pinot legend August Briggs and founders of Romililly, a 350 case operation that featured the highly commendable 2008 Romililly Pinot Noir Russian River Valley. Not much further down the row of tables, I followed David Vergari’s suggestion and visited with Pali Wine Co., a Lompoc undertaking. Like Elevation, Pali sources single vineyard fruit from major Pinot Noir AVA from the Central Coast to Oregon. Their 2007 vintage alone included 13 different Pinot bottlings, represented this afternoon solely by the 2007 Pinot Noir Turner Vineyard, a Santa Rita Hills selection. The next vintage was pared down considerably, with two of the four Pinots produced present: the commendable 2008 Pinot Noir Huntington from Santa Barbara and, de rigueur, the 2008 Pinot Noir Bluffs from Russian River Valley. Much to my relief, a chilled 2008 Pali Chardonnay offered a respite from both the heat and the orthodoxy of the Pinot focus.
Don’t get me wrong—I am not disparaging of Pinot Noir; eventually, however, any tasting with but a single varietal makes making distinctions a considerable challenge. Happily, the best counter to this monolithicism was the ever-popular Fort Ross, cooling things down with both their 2006 Chardonnay Fort Ross Vineyard and their 2008 Rosé of Pinot Noir. Their 2006 Pinotage Fort Ross Vineyard easily matched the numerous versions of this varietal I had sampled at a recent South African wine tasting, while their true Pinot, the 2006 Pinot Noir: Symposium easily rated among the top ten wines of the afternoon.
A sparkling wine, like a Blanc de Noir from Rodney Strong’s onetime affiliate, Piper Sonoma, or Marimar Torres’ Gloria Ferrer, would have been both welcome and appropriate at this stage, but, alas, it was not to be. Still, her namesake Marimar Estate managed to keep this temperate with their organically-farmed 2006 Pinot Noir Don Miguel Vineyard and its maternal corollary, the 2006 Pinot Noir Doña Margarita Vineyard. In 1999, sparkling wine producer Domaine Chandon found they had an excess of Pinot Meunier and bottled it as a single varietal; we were so impressed with this bottling, we bought a case just for Thanksgiving dinner. Tasting the 2007 Domaine Chandon Pinot Meunier at this festival proved more than nostalgic.
While on the subject of nostalgia, this afternoon afforded me the chance to taste C. Donatiello, a rebranding of the former Belvedere Winery where I did my first bottling in 1990. The head of Bill Hambrecht’s restructured wine operations, Chris Donatiello held forth at his table with his 2006 C. Donatiello Pinot Noir Russian River Valley and the more distinctive 2007 Pinot Noir Maddie’s Vineyard. Just down the row, Cécile Lemerle-Derbès offered her 2006 Derbès Pinot Noir Russian River, while Sebastopol’s DuNah showcased both the 2006 DuNah Estate Pinot Noir and the 2006 Dunah Pinot Noir Sangiacomo Vineyard.
In addition to its lineup of seven different Pinot Noirs, De La Montanya Estate produces a dizzying array of varietals from Primitivo and Zinfandel to Cabernet Sauvignon and Tempranillo. I was content to limit myself to their 2007 Pinot Noir Tina’s Vineyard and the formidable 2007 De La Montanya Pinot Noir reserve. At the other end of the spectrum, I delighted in sampling the 2007 Desmond Estate Pinot Noir Russian River Valley, a single production of only 80 cases.
A couple of Pinot Noir superstars came through like—well, Pinot Noir superstars. Hank Skewis showed off a quartet from his Skewis portfolio, ranging from Anderson Valley’s 2007 Pinot Noir Corby Vineyard and Russian River’s 2007 Pinot Noir Lingenfelder Vineyard to the 2006 Pinot Noir Anderson Valley Reserve and the wondrous 2006 Pinot Noir Salzgeber-Chan Vineyard. Likewise, Gary Farrell’s renowned dedication to Russian River fruit was exemplified by his 2006 Gary Farrell Pinot Noir Russian River Valley and his 2007 Pinot Noir Hallberg Vineyard.
K & L Wine Merchants are exclusive wine purveyors renowned throughout the Bay Area. Fittingly, I concluded the 2009 Pinot on the River Festival with my own K & L’s. First up was a revisit with Kokomo Wines, a recent acquaintance from the Dry Creek Festival, and their just-released 2007 Pinot Noir Peters Vineyard. Landmark Vineyards followed with their highly-rated 2007 Pinot Noir Grand Detour and the 2007 Pinot Noir Solomon Hills.
Winding down, I felt self-proclaimed vigneron Eric Ladd comported himself nicely with the 2007 Ladd Cellars Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast and his 2007 Pinot Noir Cuvée Abigail, a tribute to his wife. Named in homage to Roman goddess of gaiety, Laetitia Vineyards paired its 2006 Pinot Noir La Colline with its distinctive 2007 Pinot Noir Reserve du Domaine. I sprinted to the finish with four wines from Littorai,: their 2008 Les Larmes Pinot Noir, the 2007 Pinot Noir Mays Canyon, and the 2007 Pinot Noir Cerise Vineyard, along with a final 2007 Chardonnay Charles Heintz Vineyard.
A good time was had by all—but one, apparently. My erstwhile date felt compelled to unleash a torrent of invectives that, if not vituperative, felt quite officious. Importuned to drive back to San Francisco at a speed that could well have earned us an evening’s accommodation in the beneath the Marin Civic Center, I nonetheless managed to maintain both my equanimity and the posted legal limits. Call it the perceived entitlement of a latter generation or a fundamental difference in our personal ambitions; nonetheless, I can fathom no cause for her discontent nor did I receive any semblance of an explanation for such. I am still waiting…

Why, oh why, can’t organic be synonymous with dietetic?

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Unfortunately, organic isn’t even synonymous with sustainable—yet. But this prefatory section isn’t designed to extoll one over the other, merely to outline the points of contrast between what defines each litmus. Your West Coast Oenophile believes we will soon reach a point where there is a convergence between the standards for organic and sustainable certification, and as each approximates the other, so, too, will the criteria by which Sostevinobile qualifies its wines (along with its beers and menu ingredients) be attenuated.
For now, however, it does seem pertinent to delineate these two allied approaches to œnology and viticulture. Sustainable winemaking focuses on practices that least impact the environment, in terms of resource depletion, pollution of the ecosystem, and the generation of carbon by-products proven to accelerate global warming. These ecological practices do not necessarily preclude, at this time, the use of fertilizer, pesticides or certain chemical treatments to prevent spoilage or infestation, though nearly every sustainable grower strives to utilize these as minimally as possible.
On the other hand, organic farming focuses on the exclusion of chemical additives for treating infestation and spoilage or to stimulate crop growth. Primarily, the organic methodology is intended to prevent human consumption of chemical additives, as well as the seepage of these artificial compounds into the soil and water tables. Yet, in theory, one can strictly adhere to organic practices, while flouting green tenets of resource conservation, energy consumption or generation, recycling, etc.
Overwhelming, however, practitioners of organic agriculture in California have been just as diligent in their environmental stewardship as their fealty to holistic farming. Last Friday, several of the most prominent proponents of organic grape growing showcased their viticultural virtuosity, alongside an array of organic beers, produce and vodkas(!) at the 2009 CCOF Organic Beer, Wine & Spirit Tasting at San Francisco’s Ferry Building.
Though formed in 1973, California Certified Organic Farmers and their distinctive tag were a rare sight in the wine country until relatively recently. It has been even more recent that labeling a California wine as organic was not seen as camouflage for some fairly mediocre vinification. But great strides have been made of late both in improving the quality of winemaking that accompanied organic farming, as well as in attracting many notable longtime vignerons to this practice.
I’ve known Richard Arrowood since his winemaking days at Chateau St. Jean in the mid-1980s; I suspect he and I have never once voted for the same candidate or state proposition in the past 25 years. His latest venture, Amapola Creek, is an intense, highly-individual undertaking, with small lots of handcrafted wines from estate vineyards that were organically certified in 2008. This hasn’t been the result of a political epiphany, but rather his awareness as both a farmer and a chemist how the introduction of pesticides and inorganic fertilizers adversely impacts both the quality of the produce and the health of the soil. I had the privilege of barrel tasting several of his current wines back in February. Now bottled, both his 2005 Amapola Creek Cabernet Sauvignon and the 2006 Amapola Creek Syrah did nothing to disappoint.
Mendocino County bills itself as the greenest wine region in the country. One of their many standout organic wineries, Yorkville Cellars, bills itself as the only California winery producing single varietals from the eight primary Bordeaux grapes. Though we have crossed paths at several tastings this past year, I had yet to have the opportunity to try their 2006 Carmenère, a silver medalist in the International Green Wine Competition; even my tasting companion, the semi-recalcitrant David Latimer, was impressed enough to take a bottle back to Half Moon Bay. New also to me was the 2007 HiRollr Red, an intriguing blend of 51% Zinfandel with Merlot, Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Petit Verdot.
BARRA of Mendocino is the sister label of Girasole Vineyards, a frequent exhibitor at green wine events. Their South San Francisco-based distributor primarily imports sustainably-grown wines and sponsors the Golden Glass tasting for Slow Food San Francisco, which Villa Italia Wines president Lorenzo Scarpone helped spearhead. BARRA/Girasole’s adherence to strict environmental practices and their affinity for Italian varietals makes for an intuitive alliance with Villa Italia, who was on hand, alongside Martha Barra, to pour the splendid 2006 Girasole Vineyards Sangiovese. I found both the 2006 Girasole Vineyards Pinot Noir and the barrel-fermented 2007 BARRA of Mendocino Chardonnay quite drinkable, but it was the stunning 2004 BARRA of Mendocino Petite Sirah that truly opened my eyes to just how far organic wine making has come along over the past several years.
I am quite aware that my blog entries run a bit long, and I would bet, were I technically savvy enough to embed a legal copy of the MP3, this column would run the full 13:01 of Boz Scaggs’ immortal version of Loan Me a Dime. Lacking these faculties, I must resort to paying tribute to the wines of Scaggs Vineyards, a surprising discovery at this event. Though their 2007 bottling was admirable indeed, their 2008 Grenache Rosé was near stratospheric, an astoundingly wonderful wine that, like BARRA, again showed just what organic winemaking could achieve. Rounding out their pours for the evening, Dominique Scaggs also featured her 2007 Montage, an organic take on the traditional GMS blend.
Inarguably, the best way demonstrate the virtues of organic produce to the uninitiated is with tomatoes; no one I know has ever been able to deny the intensity of flavor an organic Lycopersicom esculentum imparts versus the utterly bland taste of one mass-produced in a field leeched of nutrients. The 2006 El Jabali Chardonnay from Alma Rose Winery displayed the same stark contrast with the highly manipulated Chardonnays we have all experienced, an absolute revelation. This Sideways star also upheld its claim to Merlot-free fame with its 2007 Santa Rita Pinot Noir and the 2007 La Encantada Pinot Noir.
Not that organic Merlot can’t be equally delightful. This tasting gave me a chance to revisit with Hawley Winery, which impressed me considerably with their 2003 Merlot, as well as a well-rounded 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon and the 2006 Pinot Noir Oehlman Vineyard. Emtu Wines from Forestville ought not be confused with M2 Wines in Lodi; though both share a passion for environmental preservation, their varietal focus is quite different, as witnessed by the delightful 2008 Emtu Estate Rosé (of Merlot) and the 2006 Emtu Estate Pinot Noir. 
Merlot blends also showed well at this tasting. Along with their amiable 2008 Sauvignon Blanc, Medlock Ames featured their 2006 Red, evenly split between Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Trefethen’s aptly-named True Earth Wines paired their 2007 True Earth Chardonnay with their 2007 True Earth Red, a Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon/Petite Sirah in their Three Thieves style.
With a name like Adastra and a winemaker like Pam Starr, one cannot afford not to have wines that are stellar; just to be sure, they brought a pair of Burgundian whites, the 2007 Chardonnay and the 2006 Proximus Chardonnay, along with a pair Burgundian reds, the 2006 Pinot Noir Carneros and the 2006 Proximus Pinot Noir. Making even more of a hedge, Chance Creek Vineyards brought a trio of the same varietal, their 2006 Sauvignon Blanc, the 2006 Sauvignon Blanc Reserve, and their unzipped premium , the 2006 Terroir 95470, along with a lone 2006 Sangiovese.
Magnanimus Wines handles quite a lineup of organic venture from Mendocino and featured both the biodynamic-certified Mendocino Farms and organically-farmed Old River Cellars this evening. The latter scored with a powerful Bordeaux blend, the 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Ponderosa Vineyard, while the 2005 Mendocino Farms Syrah batted cleanup to the prodigious 2007 Mendocino Farms Grenache. I wish La Rocca Vineyards had brought a deeper bench along this evening, as I only managed to taste their 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon but would have loved to sample the array of their other wines, especially the 2006 Barbera that owner Philip La Rocca so extolled. Oh well, they’ve been certified organic for nearly 20 years—I expect they’ll be back for the Fifth Annual CCOF tasting next year.
Korbel Vineyards has been around since 1882, but has only recently offered an organically-grown sparkling wine, their NV Brut Champagne, crafted from Chardonnay, Sangiovese and Colombard grapes from the 2007 harvest. Meanwhile, across the room, Jim Milone’s Terra Sávia debuted its first sparkling wine, the 2006 Blanc de Blancs; I also had the chance to revisit their 2008 Chardonnay and the 2006 Meritage they introduced at Family Winemakers this summer.
I’d had the pleasure of tasting Tres Sabores on a number of occasions over the past year; still, why not sip again from their 2006 Estate Zinfandel, the 2007 Farina Sauvignon Blanc and their enchanting ¿Por Que No?, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel and Petite Sirah? Like Tres Sabores, Silver Mountain holds organic certification since 1991 and their long-standing facility in this classification showed admirably in the quartet of wines they poured: the 2007 Estate Chardonnay, the 2006 Miller Hill Pinot Noir, a 2008 Rosé made from Pinot Noir, and an exquisitely-aged 2002 Alloy, their Bordeaux blend.
I’ve recently contemplated abandoning Sostevinobile to develop a restaurant focused on Mineralism. Unlike other dietary precepts, Mineralist (or abiotic) cuisine eschews the consumption of all forms of life, be they animal, vegetable, fungi, or unicellular. Acceptable foods include soil, water (both fresh and saline), evaporated salts, and natural deposits of elements, minerals or other digestible compounds. I jest, of course—my commitment to this all-encompassing venture remains undiminished. I just felt compelled to tweak the concept of veganism. I mean, how can anyone subsist without honey or butter or milk? And do not even dare suggest to this Italian that you can make pizza with soy mozzarella!
That said, the folks from Hallcrest Vineyards, one of only four vegan wineries in California, produced some extraordinary wines, including an amazing 2005 Zinfandel Nova Vineyards, the 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Brigantino Vineyards and, under their Organic Wine Works label, the 2007 À Notre Terre Red, a Rhône blend. Also in a rather esoteric niche was Napa’s Hagafen Cellars, a certified Kosher winery. Again, I personally cannot imagine life without prosciutto or Cozze in Brodo, but the 2008 White Riesling entailed was neither clawingly sweet nor restrictive to taste.
Organic entrées abounded at this event (albeit for an additional charge). I managed to sample some incredible Offal with Mango in Paper Cones from Boccalone Salumeria, fried shrimp cakes from Delica rf1, and generous dollops of caviar from Tsar Nicolai, which paired quite nicely with the organic vodkas from Shadow Spirits. I liberally consumed the free olive oil samples from McEvoy Ranch, mini-discs of Tcho Chocolate, copious amounts of Acme Bread, and a couple of servings of sausage from where I honestly can’t recall. With all that, I still managed to quaff a few of the organic beers interspersed throughout the tasting floor: a beer & tea blend from Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing and the Valencia Wheat Beer from San Francisco’s Thirsty Bear (Sostevinobile intends to feature a half-dozen sustainably-produced, local beers along with our wine selections).
By the time the 2009 CCOF Organic Beer, Wine & Spirits Tasting had concluded, I was beyond the point of satiety. And it was certainly reassuring to know that everything I had consumed over the four hour span was organically certified and wonderfully nutritious—not to mention sapid. The only problem is organic or sustainable, biodynamic or kosher, macrobiotic or vegan, why can’t any of these be non-caloric as well?

Make Wine, not War—the Sequel

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I haven’t written about the Punahou Kid since he took office. Of course, if he had actually accomplished anything beyond soaring rhetoric over the past nine months, I might have felt compelled to comment. Still, I find it alarmingly incongruent that a person perpetuating one war and escalating another can be accorded the world’s most revered award for the promulgation of pacifistic ideals. Failure to see the inherent contradiction here fundamentally correlates to an unabashed appreciation of the Blue Angels as a precision flight formation performing purely for entertainment value, while myopically ignoring the militaristic propaganda underlying such displays.

Far better to see military facilities turned to civilian use. Once again, Your West Coast Oenophile had the pleasure of visiting one such converted base, this time on the man-made Treasure Island, a four hundred acre development attached to the natural formation of Yerba Buena Island at the middle juncture of the Bay Bridge. This past Sunday, the first annual Treasure Island Wine Fest hosted Lodi on the Water, a celebration of more than 40 wineries from this surprisingly diverse AVA can no longer be considered the backwater of the California wine industry.

  

A chance to see old friends, a chance to meet new ones. Before I started developing Sostevinobile, the Ginkgo Girl and I ventured out to the delta for Lodi Zinfest on a day where the temperature rose above 100° F. Not exactly the most conducive way to pour or to taste wine. This weekend, however, a fog so heavy the Blue Angels had to cancel their Saturday performance hovered well into the afternoon before dissipating.
Not that the wines still weren’t in danger of overheating. An overwhelming crowd had already inundated the tent Treasure Island had recently erected to host large gatherings even before I arrived—and this was only the preview reception for media and trade. Dreading the arrival of the public attendees, I beelined over to the table for Mokelumne Glen, a winery I believe is the only producer in California devoted exclusively to German varietals. With such scant basis for comparison, I concede I feel somewhat hesitant to assess these wines, though the 2008 Late Harvest Kerner certainly ranked as one of the standouts; also quite pleasing, the 2008 Bacchus blended Müller-Thurgau with a Riesling/Sylvaner hybrid.

Another hybrid varietal grown with greater proliferation in Lodi is Symphony, a cross UC-Davis developed from Grenache Gris and Muscat of Alexandria. Abundance marries Symphony with Sauvignon Blanc to create their 2007 Bountiful Blanc, a most distinctive blend. I used to drink their 1999 Viognier almost religiously and had hoped to sample their current vintage, Nonetheless, their 2005 Abundantly Rich Red, a Carignane/Zinfandel mélange, provided more than satisfactory consolation. Murphys stalwart Ironstone Vineyards offered an undiluted interpretation of Symphony with their 2008 Obsession, but true kudos belonged to their 2006 Cabernet Franc.
Ironstone’s Kautz family also produces Christine Andrews as a more sophisticated line of wines. Certainly their 2007 Malbec, though still young, portended a promising evolution, but I found myself wishing they’d brought their 2005 Tempranillo as a benchmark.

Not that the afternoon was lacking for Spanish varietals. Assuredly, Lodi’s leader in this category has long been Bokisch Vineyards, which also spearheads Lodi Rules, the rigorous standard for sustainability throughout this AVA. Markus could not attend this event, owing to harvest duties, but, much to everyone’s delight, this wife was on hand to promote the winery. Liz is the kind of girl who could pour Two Buck Chuck and make it taste good, but her own wines required no embellishment. I found myself liking the 2008 Albariño better than its previous vintage, while the 2007 Garnacha outpaced the other reds she offered.
Standing just behind her, Harney Lane’s interpretation of Albariño seemed somewhat fruitier, but both their 2007 Zinfandel and their 2006 Petite Sirah were monumental expressions of their particular varietal. Housed in Elk Grove, McConnell Estates also produced a noteworthy 2006 Tempranillo, as well as a forthright 2006 Petite Sirah, while Acampo’s St. Jorge Winery accompanied its stellar 2007 Tempranillo with a refreshing take on the standard Portuguese white varietal with their 2008 Verdelho. With a motto of “No Boring Wines,” Ripken Vineyards certainly produces strikingly colorful labels, but I felt neither the 2005 Vintage Port nor the 2006 El Matador Tempranillo had quite the same con gusto zest that their packaging conveyed. Still, I was quite enamored of their immensely flavorful 2006 Late Harvest Viognier.
What? No Pinot? In addition to German and Iberian grapes, Lodi offers a wide range of Italian, Bordeaux and Rhône varietals, not to mention a ubiquitous supply of Zinfandel (interestingly, no one with whom I spoke ventured to mention Tokay or the other filler grapes that made up the bulk of Lodi’s growing 25 years ago). I typically think of Peltier Station for their Petite Sirah, and was pleased to discover their new Hybrid label, a line of sustainable wines that included a new 2007 Hybrid Petite Sirah, as well as a nicely drinkable 2008 Hydrid Pinot Grigio. Watts Winery is a small operation with a big heart—they produce a special On Wings of Hope line to benefit Burkitt’s lymphoma research. I wish they would have taken their 2005 Montepulciano to the tasting, but their 2005 Dolcetto Los Robles Vineyard Clements Hills was more than delightful in its own right. Time constrains caused me to overlook the 2007 Pinot Grigio from Van Ruiten Family Winery, though I did manage a taster’s sip of their splendid 2006 Cab-Shiraz.
Several years ago, I introduce Macchia to Consorzio Cal-Italia; this tasting offered a chance to reconnect and sample their 2007 Amorous Sangiovese and their 2007 Delicious Barbera (one of several versions of this varietal that they produce). Still, it was their library offering of the debut 2001 Barbera that really sent me back. St. Amant Winery also brought a pair of strong Barbera vintages, contrasting their 2007 Barbera with a just-released 2008 Barbera, Another old acquaintance, l’Uvaggio di Giacomo has simplified its name for non-Italian speakers (something Sostevinobile will never do!), but the new Uvaggio label is undiminished with an outstanding 2005 Barbera and a 2008 Vermentino that makes for an easy apéritif.
The Woodbridge Winery not only compelled the gargantuan industrial wineries in California to start making wines with an eye toward quality, it also catalyzed recognition for the potential of Lodi as a varietal-driven AVA. Although this facility’s repute has dwindled since Robert Mondavi stepped back from personal control, and portends to devolve into an indistinguishable jug factory under the current regime, they still managed to produce a respectable 2008 Vermentino for this event. I can’t say that Constellation’s other holding, Talus Winery, struck much of a positive chord with any of their offerings, while Gallo’s Barefoot Cellars seemed outright pedestrian compared to their heyday as part of Davis Bynum. Once again, I could not bring myself to warm up to any of the lackluster Campus Oaks wines that Gnekow Family mass-produces. Central Valley conglomerate Delicato Vineyards ponied up to the table with four disparate labels, and managed to make a slightly positive impression with their 2007 181 Merlot.

 

 Back to accentuating the positive. One thing for certain, Lodi has know lack of inventiveness in coming up with offbeat names for their wines.Witness Michael~David Winery,which seemingly tries to squeeze more life out of a pun than juice can be extracted from a ton of grapes. From their collection of collection of 7 Deadly Zins, I immensely enjoyed the 2006 Gluttony Zinfandel and luxuriated in the 2005 Rapture Cabernet Sauvignon; also noteworthy but obvious, their 2007 Petite Petit, a Petit Verdot/Petite Sirah blend. Grands Amis also offered a young but promising 2007 Petit Verdot and a similarly evolving 2007 Première Passion, a Bordeaux-style blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot. Along with their noteworthy, 2007 Estate Petite Sirah, Vino Con Brio! shared their 2008 Estate Brillante, a deft mix of Viognier, Roussanne, Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc and the 2008 Passione Rosé, a blushing Sangiovese. Stama Winery made their pitch with the 2005 Curvaceous Cabernet and 2007 Zany Zin, but I cottoned more to their 2005 Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc.In and of itself, Klinker Brick is a great name, so they can be excused if their 2007 Farrah Syrah is a tribute to owner Farrah Felten and not the late Charlie’s Angel. Besides, their 2007 Old Ghost Zin was enough to make one downright jiggly!

A pun on the name of owner Dave Dart led to the development of d’Art Wines, a highly stylized line of wines that feature the artwork of spouse Helen Rommel Dart on the labels. With lush red coloring on the inside of the bottles, as well, they painted a bold swath with both their 2007 Tempranillo and the 2007 Zinfandel. m2 Wines featured their 2007 Artist Series’ Zinfandel, a perennial commissioned showcase, along with their appealing Syrah/Petite Sirah mix, the 2006 Duality and the 2007 Trio, which blends the same varietal with a predominant Cabernet Sauvignon. The artwork of painter Chris Spencer adorns the very Van Gogh-like label for Barsetti Vineyards. Though it may seem heretical these days, their oaky 2006 Chardonnay outshone their steel-barreled version from the following vintage.; their 2006 Zinfandel showed quite nicely, too.
Several Lodi wineries stay close to the basics and produce quite admirable wines. The Lucas Winery offered a 2006 Chardonnay, as well as a panoply of different Zinfandel bottlings, featuring their 2005 Zinstar. I remain surprised that Maley Brothers still lacks a website, but their trio of 2004 Merlot, 2006 Petite Sirah and 2005 Zinfandel remained as true as when I’d previously sampled them. Lodi mainstay Berghold Vineyards, a long-standing acquaintance, brought out a truly elegant 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, along with the debut of their 2006 Footstomp Zinfandel, both estate bottlings. And it was no onus to sample the 2007 Chardonnay and 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon from Onus Vineyards.
Readers know I am never hesitant to tweak the wineries, whenever I see an opening. I told Trinitas Cellars their 2006 Ratzinger Zinfandel tasted rather “papal;” I was also quite fond of their 2005 Old Vine Petite Sirah. I also thought Oak Ridge Winery needed a wine called Elvira, but they handled themselves quite ably with their 2007 3 Girls Cabernet Sauvignon and the 2005 Moss Roxx Zinfandel.
Call it an Italian thing—I’ll refrain from the obvious puns on Borra Winery, tempting though they may be. Their designated 45.7° series may seem eclectic to some, but their Fusion wines, particularly the 2008 Fusion–Red, a blend with 60% Syrah and 30% Petite Sirah (with other varietals comprising the remaining 10%) set the standard for this winery. I hold a similar respect for LangeTwins, a winery that has been cited for its implementation of sustainable technology and long-standing dedication to environmental preservation. Their 2007 Petit Verdot shows that their fidelity to the Lodi Rules only enhances the flavor of the wine; the 2005 Midnight Reserve is a finely-tuned Bordeaux blend, with Cabernet Sauvignon predominant.
Zinfandel being a hallmark of Lodi, it was not surprising to find some wineries exclusively featuring this varietal, like the Paul Simeon Collection, whose only pour was their 2007 St. Sophia Zinfandel. Benson Ferry staged a Zinfandel trifecta, with their 2006 95240 Zinfandel zipping by and winning by a nose. Jessie’s Grove Winery also featured a number of their Zinfandels, including the cleverly-named 2006 Earth, Zin & Fire and a deep 2006 Westwind Zinfandel; My true fondness, however, was reserved for their 2008 Chardonnay and the 2008 Jessence Blanc, a Roussanne/Viognier blend.
I concede that my fondness for Harmony Wynelands may have precipitated from the charms of event coordinator Kitty Wong, who was on hand to pour their esoteric 2006 GMA, a marriage of Mourvèdre, Grenache and Alicante Bouschet. This latter varietal, a cross between Grenache and Petit Bouschet, a hybrid vitis vinifera created from Aramon and Teinturier du Cher, which gives Alicante Bouschet the rarity of having red flesh; such a complex pedigree is cause for Harmony Wynelands to give its bottling the lofty appellation of 2005 Alicante Bouschet Premier Crush. On the less exotic side, I also found their 2006 Riesling quite approachable, as well. 
In contrast, Heritage Oak Winery may have seemed to venture into the slightly exotic with their quite satisfying 2007 Vino Tinto, but its Spanish appellation belied a distinctly California combination of Zinfandel, Syrah and Petite Sirah. Their 2007 Block 14 Zinfandel was equally appealing. Namesake Carl Mettler of Mettler Family Wines provided a well-received 2007 Epicenter Old Vine Zinfandel, along with the 2005 Petite Sirah and a somewhat early 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon that offered indications of future promise. Further down the row of tables, Vicarmont Vineyards’ Vic Mettler chose to stake his claim in the Right Bank’s dominating varietal, with a 2007 Vicarmont Merlot and the palindromic 2006 vMv Merlot.

My general sense is that the Lodi AVA, which had but eight working wineries in 1991, has made sizable strides in its viticultural evolution, especially since my last visit in 2007. Even though I would rate the inaugural Treasure Island Wine Fest as one of my more manageable tastings this year, with 43 wineries attending, there clearly was a enormous amount of information (and wine) to absorb. Certainly, a more capacious guide than a two-sided 8.5″ x 11″ print would have helped make the event more manageable, but I managed, most ironically, to visit with each of the presenters, thanks to the Blue Angels! Had they not put on their display somewhere near the midpoint of this marathon, the bulk of the crowd would have remained inside the tent, and my mounting sense of claustrophobia would have never permitted me to finish. Go figure!
I managed to attend a number of other tastings this past week, including Napa Valley Vintners’ Battle of the Palates that kicked off Harvest Week in San Francisco on Monday and Wednesday’s sumptuous Wine & Spirits Magazine Top 100 Tasting at The Galleria. The Punahou Kid came to town Thursday, yet inexplicably neglected to invite me to either of his soirées. I could have stood outside the St. Francis and joined the protests over the predictably lackluster results of his stewardship or the feckless selection of the Nobel Prize committee; instead, I opted to spend the evening uncharacteristically uncorking unimaginative imported wines at the Officer’s Club at Fort Mason. The first military base ever converted to civilian usage!

A Columbus Day tribute: Welcome Back, Sangiovese!

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I am starting to suspect there may be more polyphenols than hemoglobin in my bloodstream. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, as far as Sostevinobile is concerned. Your West Coast Oenophile began last weekend with a fall swing up to Napa, with stops at half a dozen wineries before attending the final Cheers! St. Helena of 2009.
The wineries could not have been more hospitable. I first arrived for the Estate and Wine Cave Tour at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, a winery I had not visited since its sale to Chateau Ste. Michelle some three years prior. Despite its parent company’s recent acquisition by Altria, there seems to be no nicotine taint on this brand, only slight wafts of tobacco aromas in their array of incredibly textured Cabernet Sauvignons and Merlot.
After a few overly generous tastes of their exceptional 2005 S.L.V. Estate Cabernet Sauvignon and the 2005 Cask 23 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, I headed north up Silverado Trail to Quixote Winery, the current organic wine venture of former Stag’s Leap apostrophic rival Carl Doumani. Liberated from his Stags’ Leap Winery, this contrarian vintner has set out on a highly Cervantean quest to bottle the perfect California Petite Sirah. Few, if any, would claim that his luxuriant 2005 Quixote Petite Syrah is tilting at windmills; equally delightful was the 2004 Panza Cabernet Sauvignon, an organically-grown “Rhôneaux” blend inadvertently poured by Quixote’s ever-affable hostess Anne White.
Anne had formerly worked at Diamond Creek, a later stop this warm afternoon. But first, I made a long-delayed swing over to Martin Estate in Rutherford, a boutique gem with 8 acres of organically-farmed Cabernet Sauvignon. Words cannot begin to capture the opulence of this winery, a 19th century edifice that originally had been constructed as a (comparatively speaking) miniature version of Greystone in St. Helena where Georges de Latour first made his wines. The building, converted in the 1940s to a residence, has been restored by current owner Greg Martin to include the current wine operations while housing part of his vast collection of antique arms and other artworks. From the decor of the mansion to the 120′ swimming pool to the Teutonic grandeur of the wine label itself, nothing about Martin Estate could be described as minimalist; befittingly, his wines, too, evoke an unabashed opulence, notably the 2005 Martin Estate Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon and his very limited port selections, including Greg’s “answer to Château d’Yquem,” the 2002 Martin Estate Gold, a botrytis-laden Late Harvest Chardonnay.
I swung back to Silverado Trail and wound my way up to Calistoga. There, it was a quick hop over to Highway 29 and over to Diamond Mountain Road, where I returned for a followup visit to Diamond Creek. Oddly, I somehow managed not to taste their array of vineyard-designated Cabernets while chatting with winery President Phil Ross. Phil did, however, provide me with a golf cart that enabled me to take a self-guided tour along the rickety paths that comb Diamond Creek’s three distinct vineyards, each distinguished by a highly differentiated soil composition and a definable microclimate that impacts their growing season. It is a tour best appreciated with one’s faculties fully intact.
Having managed not to flip the golf cart along the steep pitch of the trails, I thanked my host for his hospitality and zipped over to Twomey’s Calistoga facility. This winery, an offshoot of Silver Oak, exclusively produces their estate-grown Merlot (with an occasional touch of Sauvignon Blanc) while its sister facility in Healdsburg, the former Roshambo winery, sources and bottles a quarter of Pinot Noir selections.Of the several wines I tasted, the 2001 Napa Valley Merlot peaked beautifully at this age while the 2005 Napa Valley Merlot longed for more time in the bottle; my choices in Pinot Noir spanned the California Coast from Mendocino on down, with the 2007 Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir most pleasing to my palate.
My ailing friend and fellow advertising refugee Ira Zuckerman could not meet with me at Emilio’s Terrace; instead, I was hosted by founder Phil Schlein, an ardent devoté of organically-farmed grapes. A walking tour of his steep hillside vineyard crowned my boots with a fine layer of dust, a veritable badge of honor for this urban dweller. Inside, I partook of Phil’s considerable insight into the financial aspects of business development while sipping his straightforward 2004 Emilio’s Terrace Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve.
Porting home a bottle of their Cabernet Franc-based 2005 Moonschlein Red Wine, I found myself with enough spare time to attend the Friday afternoon Pulse Tasting at Acme Fine Wines. Up & coming winemaker Mark Polembski was on hand to pour from three of the wineries that employ his talents: Anomaly Vineyards, Charnu Winery, and Zeitgeist, a project he co-owns with his wife, Jennifer Williams of Spottswoode. All three wineries offered a limited-production 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon, all quite good, with a slight edge going to Mark’s own label.
Cheers! St. Helena proved to be a veritable potpourri of local vintners, ranging from the large and well-known to the hard-to-find 400 cases operations that many people employed by other wineries put out under their own label. As my habitual readers know, I tend to find these large-scale events a bit of sensory overload and make best with what I can do. With barely enough time to introduce Sostevinobile to these vintners and manage a quick swill of their offerings, my observations on individual wines manage to be tenuous at best. Still, my introduction to Nichelini’s 2008 Sauvignon Vert was a pleasant introduction to a wholly unfamiliar varietal, while Soñador’s 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon was exactly what one might expect from this benchmark vintage. Roxanne Wolf’s trademark painting lend a certain concupiscence to the labels for Eagle Eye, certainly an apt trait for their trademark blend, the 2006 Voluptuous. On the other hand, the 2006 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon from Lieff let its considerable pedigree stand out front. A most auspicious debut was the 2006 Wallis Family Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Diamond Mountain District, while the 2006 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Peterson Family Vineyard from SwitchBack Ridge heralds from an estate that dates back to 1914.
I wanted to find out that Kapcsándy Family Winery produced a California Tokaji, but their 2006 Estate Cuvée State Lane Vineyard instead combined Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc in a true Pauillac blend that reflected the background of winemaking consultant Denis Malbec. I exchanged pleasantries and thoroughly enjoyed the wines I sampled from other Napa ventures, including Intersection, Varozza Vineyards, Calafia Cellars, Wolf Family, Front Row from Napa’s pioneering Carpy Family, Salvestrin, and Tom Scott Vineyard, while sundry other wineries offered their current Meritage or Cabernet Sauvignon, but, at the end of the day, the standout wine was the 2006 Sangiovese Eaglepoint Ranch from Abiouness, a pure expression of this varietal (as opposed to the mask of a Super Tuscan blend) that I have not experienced at this level in California for quite a number of years. I was ready to call it a day.
I was scheduled to attend the West Coast Green Expo in Fort Mason the next day but inadvertently stumbled on the debut of the Taste of Fillmore festival on my way to Walgreens. I tried to resist—surely my venal-CO₂H capacity had attained its maximum tolerance for the weekend. Alas, my ecological impulses fell by the wayside (though I did manage to attend the after-party at the Academy of Sciences later that evening), and I warily flung myself into the thick of the cordoned-off block between California and Pine. After revisiting Dick Keenan’s Carica Wines and his delightful 2007 Temptation, I sampled the nascent talent of Pacifica’s Barber Cellars, an array of interesting wines from Napa’s Farella Vineyard, and a consensus favorite, the 2005 Proprietary Blend, a mélange of Syrah and Grenache, from Singh Family Cellars.
The very French-focused Beaucanon Estate offered a septet of wines, including a Bordeaux-style 2003 Trifecta and the utterly compelling 2005 Beaucanon Estate Cabernet Franc ‘L Cuvée.’ This afternoon, however, belonged to Italian-style wines, starting with Kelseyville’s Rosa d’Oro, with a discrete selection of their varietals that included the 2007 Primitivo, 2006 Barbera and 2006 Aglianico. Ramazzotti Wines glistened with the 2007 Ramazzotti Frizzante, a Prosecco-style sparkling Chardonnay, and their compelling 2005 Ramazzotti Ricordo, a Zinfandel blended with Petite Sirah, Alicante, Syrah, Carignane and Chasselas Doré. However, as had been at Cheers! St. Helena, the 2002 Ardente Sangiovese Atlas Peak from Ramazzotti’s kindred Ardente Estate Winery defined this day’s tasting.
For Sostevinobile, it is particularly gratifying to see a winery stake their œnological claim with the resurrection of an Italian grape that has lost much of its cachet in California. While local expression of this varietal differed from its classical vinification in both Chianti and Brunello, I felt the 2000 Atlas Peak Sangiovese Reserve had solidified its inclusion among the leading wines produced on the West Coast.
Sadly, however, when Paolo Antinori reacquired the Atlas Peak winery, the Sangiovese vines were uprooted and replanted with Cabernet Sauvignon. This conversion coincided with a general downturn in production of Italian varietals on the West Coast and the collapse of Consorzio Cal-Italia, the trade organization devoted to local production of these wines. Originally, the Consorzio had paralleled Rhône Rangers and sponsored an annual Grand Tasting in Fort Mason. Industry ambivalence toward these varietals and internal financial disarray precipitated the collapse of this event after only three years. Some members tried to maintain the tasting as a larger food and wine festival in North Beach’s Washington Square to coincide with Columbus Day celebrations, but this, too, fizzled, after only one year.
Call it Columbus Day. Call it Italian Heritage Day. Either way, it is a celebration whose importance the Consorzio Cal-Italia tasting helped underscore. To the Italian people here, the incorporation of so many of our cultural institutions and artifacts by the population at large, while at the same time denigrating us in popular media and in social settings, is a source of both pain and bewilderment. The expediency of politicization aside, we take this one day each year to affirm the inextricable role Italians have played in the development of the cultures throughout the Western Hemisphere. 
Senza la cultura italiana, la civiltà occidentale non esisterebbe. A translation is not necessary, but, as a popular Italian bumper sticker boasts, immodestly but accurately, “We Found It. We Named It. We Built It.” Each year, we express our pride in what we have contributed on this day. It would truly be wonderful to have a resurgence of Consorzio Cal-Italia, a reinvigoration of Italian varietals among the local wineries, and a return of an annual festival on this holiday weekend rivaling the other Grand Tasting held in San Francisco. These renewed forays into the cultivation and local production of Sangiovese may well be harbingers of greater things to proliferate.

Make Wine, not War

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Some parts of Alameda definitely do not resemble Mayberry. The decommissioned Naval Air Base on the west side of the island is gradually being transformed with residential developments and commercial enterprises, an irenic reinvigoration of the local economy that parallels many of the tenets Sostevinobile embodies. Among the facilities that have been converted to civilian utilization, perhaps none offer a more dramatic environment than the former airplane hangars. Fans of St. George Spirits (Absinthe Verte!), including Your West Coast Oenophile, have long been quite familiar with the facility that lends its name to their Hangar One Vodka.

Finally, Alameda’s favorite artisanal spirits producer has company. Over at the next hangar, Rock Wall Wine Company has set up shop. Self-billed as a continuation of a “legacy of fine winemaking,” this grandiloquent venture constitutes the evolution of pioneering Alameda winemaker Kent Rosenblum and is daughter Shauna. The facility is massive, some 40,000 ft.², with a vaulted roof that is at least 35 ft. high. On a clear day, the open-air portion of the former hangar offers unsurpassed views across the Bay to downtown San Francisco and beyond, like an oversized Gottardo Piazzoni mural, only more vibrant.
Last Saturday presented a picture-perfect afternoon; a more enticing scenario for Rock Wall’s first Open House could not be imagined. Rocked by the Downwind Run’s authentic cover versions of classic rock anthems from the Sixties and Seventies (Allman Brothers, J.J. Cale) and fueled by an endless, carnivore’s delight from Angela’s Bistro, Rock Wall and five of its tenant wineries offered an array of new wines for one’s delectation.
I started off at the table for Carica Wines, fulfilling a long-overdue promise to join owner Dick Keenan for a tasting of his varietals and blends. I found the 2006 Sauvignon Blanc Kick Ranch to be an exceptionally clean expression of this grape, to the point it almost reminded me of an unoaked Chardonnay. Standout among the five wines they poured, though, was certainly the 2007 Temptation, again from Kick Ranch, a superb take on the classic GMS blend. I also found the futures tasting of their 2008 Petite Sirah displayed noteworthy potential.
Carica’s 2006 Syrah struck me as a tad on the sweet side. In contrast, fellow resident winery Blacksmith Cellars brought forth a 2005 Syrah from Alexander Valley, a wine rounded out with 7% Tannat, that utterly exploded the flavor of a well-done slice of Tri-Tip from one of the carving stations. I was pleased to sample Matt Smith’s 2008 Torrontés once again, but felt less enthusiastic about his 2008 Chenin Blanc, a once-popular varietal that has fallen into near oblivion in California. On the other hand, Blacksmith’s 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon from Alexander Valley offered tantalizing hints for the unreleased 2005 vintage, and their two dessert wines, a non-vintage Malvasia Bianca and the 2007 Late Harvest Syrah were almost perfect alongside the ice cream made from Rock Wall’s Late Harvest Zinfandel!
Readers know that I’ve cited R & B Cellars a number of times recently, including the Urban Wine Experience in Oakland; their wines were not so much a revelation this afternoon as a chance to revisit several outstanding vintages. Like the Blacksmith Syrah, R & B’s 2006 Counterpoint, a straight Cabernet Franc, made me cry out “bring on the steak!” Three vintages of Cabernet Sauvignon made an indelible impression, with the 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Reserve begging to be drunk now, while the 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Reserve demands another 5-7 years before hitting its peak. I personally preferred both R & B’s 2006 Swingville and 2007 Swingville, a zinfandel blended with ~10% Petite Sirah to their 100% Zinfandel, the 2007 Zydeco from Napa Valley. Unquestionably, however, the 2007 Minuet in Merlot completely outshone the 2005 Metronome, an unblended Merlot.
I wish I could be more encouraging about Ehrenberg Cellars, formerly known as Nectar Vineyards. Despite winning amateur winemaking awards, these wines seemed rather unfocused; perhaps, their move “out of the garage” into a community of well-seasoned wine producers, including the peripatetic Edmunds St. John, will enable them to achieve their potential.
Weighing in at the next viticultural tier, JRE Wines, the Rock Wall co-tenant from namesake John Robert Eppler, offered glimmers of his winemaking pedigree at Rosenblum and Robert Mondavi. Again, one sensed that this winemaker had yet to hit his stride, though I found his two blends, the 2007 Tradition (Zinfandel/Petite Sirah/Tempranillo) and the self-proclaimed “Rhôneaux”-style 2006 Petit Rouge (Syrah/Petite Sirah/Cabernet Sauvignon/Petit Verdot) eminently drinkable.
Even though Shauna Rosenblum did give me her last bottle of Rock Wall’s 2007 Tannat, I will not be compelled to say every single one of her wines were extraordinary; after all, the wine program at Sostevinobile has always been and must remain predicated on objectivity in our selection process. Still, Shauna is an enormously affable next-generation winemaker and her skills clearly show why it is far better that she has pursued this vocation rather than succeed her father in his veterinary practice. Their 2008 Chardonnay Russian River Valley was a pleasing revelation, as was the 2007 Rock Star Rouge, a blend of Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cinsault. Even stronger was the 2007 Zinfandel Sonoma County, to my taste a more approachable wine than its Reserve incarnation. 
Lipitor be damned! I headed back to the food counter for another generous helping of Tri-Tip before downing Rock Wall’s 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley, the veritable Grammy-winner from their lineup and another ideal pairing for this delectable meat. I also found their 2007 Late Harvest Riesling to be a worthy complement to the aforementioned Zinfandel ice cream, but had to beg off from marrying it with Blue Cheese, as one of my fellow attendees recommended.
I do look forward to great things from Rock Wall, both from its resident producers at its custom facility, as well as the winery itself. I have seen this same scenario played out so many times before. Successful winemaker sells his inextricably self-identified label to one of the handful of corporate megaliths devouring independent producers these days. Promises of autonomy are made initially, but slowly the eponymous brand is exploited to further the conglomerate‘s reach and by the time the attendant service contract has expired, the label feels like a vestige of its former grandeur. On the positive side, however, the original winemaker tends to go on to found a new label that does express the ideals of his vinification. Witness Carl Doumani’s Quixote, Richard Arrowood’s Amapola Creek or Tim Mondavi’s Continuum—by the time Diageo releases Rosenblum Coastal Cellars, I fully anticipate Rock Wall will be in this league.

Dam Good Wine!!

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Years ago, I was lounging on the sun deck of at the San Francisco Bay Club when the fellow next to me suddenly exclaimed “Wow! There’re two decks on the bridge!” In complete disbelief, I turned to him and asked “in all the years you’ve lived here, haven’t you ever driven across the Bay Bridge?”
He assured that he had—many times in fact. “And you never noticed that, say, there was steel overhead in one direction as you drove?’ I queried. “Or sky overhead when you came back?” He promised to check out this startling revelation the next time he drove to Oakland.

Your West Coast Oenophile had a similar epiphany last weekend. However, unlike the addleheaded heliolater from my health club roof, I can claim mitigating circumstances. The invitation to last week’s Drink Dry Creek’s ZinTopia listed the event’s location as the Warms Springs Recreation Area at Lake Sonoma. I was baffled. How many times had I trekked through Windsor, Asti, Healdsburg, Geyserville, Cloverdale, etc., in the early 1980s and never encountered a lake in northern Sonoma? How could I have missed such a prominent landmark?

It took a bit of Internet sleuthing to discover that I hadn’t indulged to the level of delirium on my frequent wine tasting forays—indeed, in the early 1980s, there wasn’t a Lake Sonoma! This marvelous recreational jewel turns out to be man-made phenomenon, a limnological accretion formed by the development of Warm Springs Dam. Following the dam’s completion in 1983, water impounded from Dry Creek gradually filled the basin over the next several years and altered its historic topography in creating this 2,700 acre reservoir. In other words, rather hard to miss once it was created.
The 319′ high rolled earth embankment that comprises the dam stands as the lone barrier between 470,000,000 m³ and the verdant field of the Warm Springs Recreation Area, a thought only slightly less discomfiting than the notion of encountering the CHP upon leaving the wine tasting. As things turned out, neither a deluge of Biblical proportion nor of wine lay in store for this afternoon.
ZinTopia turned out to be a wonderfully balanced event, just enough food and wine to keep pace for four hours in the hot afternoon sun and reach an acceptable level of satiety by day’s end. Actually, had they only served the grilled California White Sea Bass, I would have been content (not that the outdoor grilled Pizza and Angus Beef Sliders were anything to scoff at). But, as loyal readers of my Sostevinobile well know, restraining me from tasting good wine is no mean feat!
The organizers from Drink Dry Creek had paired the Sea Bass with an array of Sauvignon Blancs from participating member wineries. Some chose to bring one bottling; others presented contrasting vintages. I must concede that I rarely indulge in this varietal by itself, and, in retrospect, I might have felt more glowingly about the wines I did sample had I ported my dining plate to these tables. Still, these wines fared far better being chilled than did those Zinfandels that vintners valiantly struggled to keep from cooking in the sweltering heat, and certainly proved quite refreshing. 2008 Sauvignon Blanc seemed de rigueur for the wineries that were pouring this white, and both Mauritson and Dry Creek Vineyard proffered admirable vintages. The standout in this category, however, came from Sbragia, with a distinctively crisp Sauvignon Blanc that held its own as an apéritif. 
The lone contrast amid the white wine section under the event tent was the 2008 Petite Zin Rosé from Dry Creek Vineyard. The centerpiece of the afternoon, as well as the center island of the tasting, was, of course, the gem of Dry Creek—Zinfandel, in all of its red glory. Ridge Winery sent out a team from their Lytton Springs bale house, so it seemed a logical starting point to swing by and say “hi.” Their formal pourings included the debuts of the 2007 Lytton Springs, a long-standing workhorse of their single vineyard program that featured a blending with 22% Petite Sirah and 7% Carignane, and the 2007 East Bench, a relative newcomer to this lineup that was rounded out with 8% Petite Sirah. Ridge’s bonus pour, the 2003 Zinfandel Del Carlo Ranch, outshone the younger wines and raised the bar for the rest of the afternoon.
Befittingly, Lori and Ray Teldeschi, proprietors of this same vineyard, manned the station directly behind Ridge and poured both the 2006 Old Vine Zinfandel and the 2005 Old Vine Zinfandel from their Del Carlo Winery. Though both featured an identical blend with 11% Old Clone Petite Sirah, all from the same vines, I clearly favored the newer release as a wine that might give Paul Draper a run for his money! On the other hand, Talty Vineyards contrasted their 2006 Estate Zinfandel with their 2005 Estate Zinfandel—in this case, my preference fell to the earlier vintage.
In recent years, Wilson Winery has gained much acclaim for both their Zinfandels and their Cabernet Sauvignon. I found their 2007 Zinfandel Molly’s Vineyard quite appealing and truly relished bother their 2007 Zinfandel Sawyer’s Vineyard and 2007 Zinfandel Carl’s Reserve. In this era of winery consolidation, Wilson is becoming a bit of a mini-mogul, having recently purchased a handful of smaller wineries, including Mendocino’s Jepson Winery inexplicably renamed Jaxon Keys). Another of their holdings Mazzocco, out on Lytton Springs Road, proved a worthy partner with their popular reserve Zinfandel, the 2007 Maple, and an enticing 2007 Zinfandel, Sonoma County.
The wineries I commended above for their Sauvignon Blanc proved equally adept with Zinfandel. Both the 2007 Mauritson Zinfandel and Sbragia’s 2006 Gino’s Vineyard Zinfandel proved noteworthy, while Dry Creek’s 2006 Old Vine Zinfandel showed a delightful complexity. In reviewing my note, I regret missing the Sauvignon Blanc from a handful of other wineries but did manage to enjoy both the 2007 Zinfandel Dry Creek Valley Mother Clone from Pedroncelli and my gamble on the 2006 Zinfandel Dry Creek Valley from Ferrari-Carano.
I know I should rise above making bad puns, but the 2006 Zinfandel-Dry Creek Valley from Rued was definitely not rued; indeed, discovering this winery for the first time was a most unexpected surprise. Optima Wine Cellars was also a serendipity for me, but with a 2005 Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel on hand; their 2005 Orgaz Zin, truly a deft pun, proved to be anything but a misnomer. Other newcomers to the Sostevinobile roster included Bella Winery with its 2007 Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel and Dutcher Crossing with its expression of the 2007 Maple Vineyard Zinfandel. In contrast, Everett Ridge seemed an old friend—I had just sampled their 2006 Diablita Zin-A the night before at California Wine Merchant; their 2006 Old Vine Zinfandel easily amplified my favorable impression of their wines.
Tony Terlato’s Alderbrook, truly an old familiar, brought a 2007 Old Vine Zinfandel that made a similarly strong impression. Their 2006 Confluence, a Zinfandel/Syrah blend, balanced its components quite gracefully. Other wineries that offered both Zinfandel and contrasting varietal or blend included Amphora, whose excellent 2006 Zinfandel, Dry Creek Valley was matched with its 2006 Malbec, a varietal many wineries here find too challenging to tackle. Mounts Family Winery brought its 2007 Mounts Malbec, a striking expression of this wine—a perfect complement to their 2007 Mounts Estate Zinfandel. Moniclaire rose to the challenge with its 2006 Petite Sirah but truly stood out for its 2006 Zinfandel. Given its close identification to Zinfandel, I was surprised that Collier Falls’ 2006 Primitivo presented the only offering of this varietal; in addition, their newly-released 2005 Zinfandel showed signs of incredible promise.
The only winery pouring an alternative white wine with its Zinfandel was Mill Creek with its 2008 Gewürztraminer. Their 2006 Zinfandel-Beacham Downey Vineyard deserved a prize for best name of the afternoon. Kokomo Winery seemed an odd choice for a name until owner Erik Miller explained his allegiance to his Indiana roots, and, certainly, his 2006 Zinfandel, Dry Creek Valley showed no sign of Midwest terroir. These days, any place east of the Rockies seems indistinguishable, so I kidded Forchini that their 2006 Papa Nonno, a Super-Tuscan blend, sounded more like a wine from Arkansas (you have to speak Italian to get the joke).
A stop at the Montemaggiore table gave me another chance to practice the familial tongue with owner Vince Ciolino before I sampling his wondrous, organically-grown 2005 Nobile, a Paso Robles-style blend boasting 60% Cabernet Sauvignon to 40% Syrah. Even more the purists, Quivira, one of only two Demeter-certified biodynamic wineries in Dry Creek, could make anyone a convert to this practice; both their 2007 Quivira Grenache Wine Creek Ranch and their 2007 Quivira Mourvèdre Wine Creek Ranch came close to bringing tears to my eyes. 
I reacted as fervidly to the 2006 Mountain Cuvée from Gustafson Family Vineyards; this extraordinary blend combines Zinfandel from their three-acre Heritage Tree block with adjacent lots of Petite Sirah and Syrah. I extolled the incredible wines from Frick when I covered Rhône Rangers earlier this year, but was more than happy to retaste his wizardry with his 2007 Frick Counoise and the 2007 Frick Viognier.
I found the 2008 Viognier from Hawley Winery a tad of the sweet side, but feel confident these young, organic vintners will soon hit stride. On the other hand, the well-seasoned organic winemakers at Michel-Schlumberger showed their considerable talents with a restrained 2008 Viognier and a marvelous 2007 Cabernet Franc their delightful volunteer repeatedly overpoured (if only I could allow myself to taste like a civilian)! Rounding out the afternoon, the renowned Preston of Dry Creek, one of the most prodigious organic wine growers in California, validated themselves with a spicy, complex 2006 Carignane Dry Creek Valley Certified Organic. If only I had saved room to complement with an Angus beef slider!
We headed back to San Francisco after a quick detour to survey Lake Sonoma and its array recreational facilities. Suntanned and sated, there was little left to say about this splendid afternoon gathering except “Dam Good Wine!”

I’m not Robert Parker (nor am I trying to be)

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Your West Coast Oenophile believes it’s entirely reasonable to expect that a San Francisco Chronicle Top 100 Restaurant serve decent Wine by the Glass. Especially one that has garnered and warrants a $$$$ for relative pricing. My research for Sostevinobile has long since opened my eyes to the incredible markups some places charge in their programs—it is no longer shocking to find a per-glass price that comes close to the retail value for the entire bottle. But any establishment that has a respected sommelier ought to be able to craft a wine menu that reflects the reputation of their restaurant, with a consistent level of quality from their $9 glasses to those that top $20.
Professional conflict precludes me from identifying where I stopped by Saturday night in search of solace following the dénouement of my relationship with the Ginkgo Girl. Granted, I may have arrived with a bitter taste already in my mouth, but my desire was not to leave with the same. A more celebratory occasion might have warranted a $22 glass of the 2006 Ladera Cabernet Sauvignon; instead, my eyes gravitated toward the more reasonable ~$10 offerings. Judiciously, I requested a small sample of each of the three selections before making my choice
I expected to find myself partial to the 2006 Rock and Vine North Coast Cabernet Sauvignon, but this tenuous Meritage aggregated from vineyards in Lake, Mendocino and Napa Counties fell flat soon after crossing my palate—a scant approximation of a textured, Bordeaux-style blend. The wine I landed up selecting, the 2006 Sean Minor Four Bears Merlot, fared only marginally better. Given that it boasted a more centralized Napa Valley appellation, I had again anticipated a nuanced wine, only to find this offering mono-dimensional and lackluster.
A quick Internet search reveals the frugality implicit in listing these two decidedly mediocre selections; still, even that pales compared to the egregiousness of including the 2003 Niner Bootjack Ranch Barbera, a wine no longer commercially available, on this menu. Niner’s current release, the 2006 Bootjack Ranch Barbera, commands a retail price in the $16 range, making listing this wine at $9/glass quite a significant markup. Several years after its release, a truly special vintage (after all, the 2003 bottling did win a Silver Medal at the Denver International Wine Competition three years ago) might justify a premium price, but this Barbera was at least two years beyondits peak and, in all likelihood, was sold to the restaurant in a fire sale. Frankly, the wine tasted brutal.

Both bartenders tried to assuage me that this wine merely reflected a California style that was more fruit-forward than the kind of Barbera d’Asti to which I (!) might be accustomed—truly a hollow claim. Even in this moribund economy, there is no excuse for serving a wine that was so palpably undrinkable. Whatever profit margins this restaurant might sustain with such a parsimonious ploy will easily be offset by loss of subsequent business and damage to their reputation.
Allow me to make a rare concession. Apart from the inarguable flaws of this Barbera, it’s possible that the wine steward may have genuinely appreciated the other wines I’ve disparaged. Even though I’ve intensely devoted several years now to training and refining my palate, I recognize that my partiality in wines may not be held universally. Just as there may be people out there who like Barbra Streisand or cotton to the Geico Gekko, so, too, may others favor certain wines or styles of wine that I do not particularly relish. Sostevinobile cannot afford to pander to our clientele, nor can we succeed without addressing their tastes in our wines selections.

One man alone cannot be the definitive arbiter of wine quality. Unlike Robert Parker, Sostevinobile is building a team that will develop a consensus for the wines we select for our rotating wine l
ist. I am certain there will be many occasions when my preference is outvoted. My excursion Saturday to A Donkey and Goat’s Fall Open House Party highlighted this realization on a number of levels.

 My recent review from San Francisco Natural Wine Week was a bit tepid on Tracey’s pourings that evening. Saturday afforded me a new opportunity  to sample these wines, along with several others being introduced to coincide with the unveiling of their new label design. Perhaps it was the enhancement from Barbecued Ribs, served on recycled Banana Leaf plates, by Oakland’s B Restaurant and Bar, but the 2007 Four Thirteen El Dorado blend seemed more balanced and eminently more drinkable at this stage than I had allowed a few weeks ago. Even more enjoyable this time was the 2006 Syrah Fenaughty El Dorado, which seemed mellower when tasted alongside the 2007 Syrah Fenaughty El Dorado, one of the afternoon’s standouts.

Only the blended 2007 Mendocino Syrah, successor to the 2006 Syrah Vielles Vignes Mendocino County, failed to reignite my interest. On the other hand, a taste of the sold-out 2007 Tamarindo Roussanne made me regret not having purchased this wine when I had had the opportunity. The reincarnation of this wine, the 2008 Coupe d’Or blended Roussanne and Marsanne in equal parts and managed an exquisite balance. As is often their style, A Donkey and Goat tantalized with an experimental new wine they had no intention of bottling at present, the 2006 Prospector; when they finally do decide to release a Mourvèdre, it damn well better be this good!
The last trio of Syrahs took my judgment to task. To my taste, the 2007 The Recluse Syrah Anderson Valley most brought to mind the kind of Syrah that made A Donkey and Goat the major revelation of Rhône Rangers a few years ago. On the other hand, the 2007 Perli Vineyard Syrah, Mendocino Ridge, a principal component of the Mendocino blend cited above, seemed less distinctive, the kind of wine I’d expect Parker to rate in the 85-90 range. Perli vineyardist Steve Alden ebulliently described the 2006 Reserve Syrah, Perli Vineyards as a “meal in itself,” the kind of wine meant to be drunk as a cocktail or apéritif—more to the point, the kind of wine that should grace the menu at a wine bar.
I might concur, but with a retail price of $68, that would command a stratospheric by-the-glass price only the most extraordinary wines could warrant. Economic factors aside, the interesting aspect of this wine came from how many people gushed about it to me. Could there be something I was missing? I retasted it twice, without any major revelation. I again tried both The Recluse and the Mendocino Ridge without any shift to my original impressions. My personal assessments of these Syrahs remained in conflict to the preferences apparent majority; such disparities I can ill-afford to ignore in moving forward with my wine program.
Like any other enterprise, Sostevinobile needs to address practical realities in order to thrive. Even if I did have the perfect palate, I would still need to recognize that varying tastes do abound; a monomaniacal approach to wine selection can only doom what we are trying to achieve. If we can strike an honest balance between the strength of our wine knowledge and appreciation and what will genuinely appeal to our clientele, we stand a fighting chance at succeeding. With integrity and an intelligent approach to consensus, we can and we will always strive to offer wine selected by the dictates of quality, not cutting corners economically.

Déjà vu all over again

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Why must Howell Mountain wines be so uniformly good? Granted, this consistent quality bodes well for Sostevinobile and our future patrons, but leaves little leeway for Your West Coast Oenophile to eke out a column that offers a modicum of variation as I endeavor to assay last Monday’s Wines of Distinction Tasting in San Francisco. Granted, I approached this tasting with an established bias, having sampled the majority of these same wines only a few months before, at the Howell Mountain benefit in St. Helena; still, this reevaluation only confirms my belief that this AVA offers a climate and terroir so ideal to viticulture, even Alistair Muller could not help but make a great wine from grapes grown here.
Few, if any, of my readers will readily recognize this oblique reference, which, of course, allows me to digress—the hallmark of this blog—with an anecdote from my earliest days in the wine industry. Back then, Laura and I had befriended neighbors to whom we referred off-handedly as Fred and Ethel. A more bumbling duo could not be conceived. All along we had assumed that she was the more inept of the pair until that weekend when she was “compelled” to attend a company retreat in Honolulu, leaving him to fend for himself. Resourceful nonetheless, he tripped down the road and brought home a package of Ready-to-Eat Ribs, the four easy steps for preparation recounted here verbatim:

1) Preheat oven to 375°.

2) Place ribs in oven. Cook for 10 minutes.

3) Take ribs from oven and remove tin foil wrapping.

4) Cook for 10 more minutes.

Alistair was absolutely flummoxed. After struggling for nearly an hour, he traipsed down the hall to see whether I could decipher the immense complexities of these instructions. “Am I supposed to cook this on the stove?” he queried.
I responded with utter incredulity. “Do you see the word ‘stove’ anywhere there?”
“But it says ‘take ribs from oven, then cook 10 more minutes.’”
“Exactly!”
“So then I put it on the stove…”
“No!” I replied, my agitation mounting. Nonetheless, this conversation continued in this elliptical fashion for the next fifteen minutes, without penetration. “But why does it say ‘take ribs from oven and remove wrapping’?” he asked in complete candor.
Exasperated, I exploded. “It’s for idiots like you who would try to take off the tin foil while the ribs were still in the oven and burn the shit out of their fingers!”
“Are you sure???”
I don’t know whether Alistair ever had dinner that night. These days, I periodically check out the obituaries from the South Bay. Just to make sure he hasn’t accidentally electrocuted himself. With the TV remote. Still, I remain firmly convinced that, even with his lack of basic acumen, even he could churn out a memorable Cabernet from a sloping vineyard on Howell Mountain.
Before I delve into my review of the wines actually poured at last Monday’s gathering, I must commen
d the organizers for how they staged this tasting. Twenty-nine wineries aligned the perimeter of the Bently Reserve lobby—just enough to make visiting each table leisurely within the time allotted. Attendance was moderate, which permitted me to engage each of the wineries in a detailed conversation, even though I had met most earlier this summer at Howell Mountain’s benefit in St. Helena. If only all the events I must cover could be as manageable!

 For no reason other than it allowed me a certain ease with taking notes, I decided to sample each winery in alphabetical order. Nonetheless, my review of the Howell Hountain tasting need not follow the same motif.Were I to continue with classic television allusions, as mentioned above, I would likely cite that Bedrock duo, Fred & Wilma, as my segue into Arkenstone, a name that could easily double as the state from where President William Jefferstone Flinton hails. All jest aside,this organically-farmed winery once again began the afternoon with their rather demure 2006 Arkenstone Sauvignon Blanc, somewhat of a rarity for this AVA, and followed with their still-memorable Cabernet blend, the 2006 Obsidian.

Basta! If I continue in this vein, this entry may never end. And so I will forego any attempts to link Dr. Marc Cohen’s Howell at the Moon with the comic genius of Jackie Gleason and Audrey Meadows as immortal Ralph and Alice Kramden, leaving their excellent 2005 Howell Mountain Cabernet to stand on its own merits. Like Howell at the Moon, Blue Hall is run by a run by Andrew Zolopa, a physician from Stanford. His reprise of his 2005 Camiana was as memorable as the first time I tasted it—a special bottling of 100% estate grown Cabernet Sauvignon that contributes a portion of its sales to benefit HIV-infected children in Africa.
Idealism of a different sort came from CADE, a sustainably-focused winery applying for LEED Gold Certification. A division of the PlumpJack enterprises, CADE’s 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon reinforced Sostevinobile’s tenet that sound environmental practices and skilled œnology are wholly synergistic (one can only hope that a portion of their profits is not donated to Newsom for Governor, however). With no competing agenda, Neal Family Vineyards poured sequential releases of their Certified organically-grown Cabs, the 2004 Howell Mountain Estate Cabernet Sauvignon being one of the afternoon’s true standout.
One of the more pleasant aspects of this afternoon was not being inundated with an endless selection of wines; most participants brought 2-4 of their vintages, with many offering but a single wine. Still, it was hardly a burden to taste all of Outpost’s six hand-cultivated, organically farmed wines. Standouts in this group were the 2006 Howell Mountain True Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon and the 2007 Howell Mountain Zinfandel; as an aside, I could not help but think their 2007 Howell Mountain Grenache would have made the perfect accompaniment to the cherry-glazed Duck Leg I described in my previous posting. Duckhorn Vineyards (note the deft segue) poured an interesting quartet of wines, dating back to their previous ownership. Their more recent pair, the Cabernet/Merlot blend 2005 Howell Mountain Red Wine and the Zinfandel-dominant 2006 Howell Mountain Postmark were clearly their more impressive offerings.
Six other wineries elected only to pour one Cabernet Sauvignon; for each, staking their repute on a single wine proved fortuitous. I very much enjoyed the 2005 Reserve Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon from Spence, as I did the inaugural 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon from Roberts + Rogers, despite the absence of owner Bob Matousek. Despite its more recent vintage, the 2006 Howell Mountain Cabernet from Red Cap seemed quite drinkable at this stage, while the 2005 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon Riva di Ponente Vineyard underscored why Cimarossa has become so highly prized among wine cognoscenti. Another mouthful to pronounce came from Napa stalwart Cakebread Cellars, with their 2006 Howell Mountain Cabernet Dancing Bear Ranch; another longtime veteran, Piña Napa Valley, dazzled with their 2006 Howell Mountain Cabernet Buckeye Vineyard.
Interestingly, two wineries were willing to stake their claim based on a wine other than Cabernet. I had previously tasted the 2004 Howell Moun
tain Merlot from W.S. Keyes, but was pleased to revisit it. New to me, however, was Retro Cellars, with their 2006 Old Vine Howell Mountain Petite Sirah, a reserved, almost muted expression of this normally outspoken varietal. Retro’s owners, Randy and Lori Dunn, also presented their eponymous Dunn Vineyards label, showcasing their 2004 Howell Mountain Cabernet while delighting a few privileged attendees with their 1998 bottling of the same, a classic example of this vintage as it mellows through its second decade.
Where there is Cabernet Sauvignon, there is often Cabernet Franc. Clearly excelling with the latter varietal was La Jota, with its wondrous 2004 Cabernet Franc; their 2004 23rd Anniversary Release Cabernet Sauvignon was certainly no slouch, either. White Cottage Ranch brought both Cabs, along with a Rosé of Cabernet Sauvignon. Admittedly, the 2005 Howell Mountain Cabernet Franc seemed a tad young, whereas the 2006 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon held greater promise. The rejuvenated Atlas Peak offered a tantalizing preview of its 2008 Cabernet Franc, with another barrel sample, their 2008 Merlot, alongside; their soon-to-be released 2005 Howell Mountain Cabernet showed that it will be a worthy successor to their much-honored 2004 vintage.
I mentioned to Cornerstone Cellars owner Craig Camp I thought his 2005 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon begged to be tasted in 2013—and beyond. Even the 1999 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon he poured held future promise. Cornerstone also makes another 100% Cabernet Sauvignon that assembles grapes from three corners of Napa: Howell Mountain, the western edge of Oakville, next to the Mayacamas Mountains, and the Southeast corner of the Napa Valley, but Camp did not serve this “blend.” In contrast, the amiable Joan and Bill Smith, owners of W. H. Smith, blend the classic Bordeaux mix (Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Malbec) from their Piedra Hill Vineyard into both their 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Bronze Label and 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Purple Label. Ironically, another couple, Notre Vin’s May-Brit and Denis Malbec, do not bottle or even grow Malbec, reserving their Hughes Vineyard solely for Cabernet Sauvignon, from which they made their 2006 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon Rosé and their 2006 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon.
Besides Cabernet, the other hallmark of Howell Mountain is its Zinfandel. Wineries that showcased both included D-Cubed, with a truly outstanding 2006 Howell Mountain Zinfandel and an admirable 2005 Bravante Cabernet Sauvignon and Robert Craig, whose 2006 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon shone quite brightly beside both his noteworthy 2006 and 2007 Zinfandels. At Lamborn Family Vineyards, the ubiquitous Heidi Barrett worked her usual magic with both the 2005 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon and the pre-released 2007 Howell Mountain Zinfandel. Summit Lake also brought two Zins to accompany their 2006 Emily Kestrel Howell Mountain Cabernet; of the three wines, I can only say that the 2002 Clair Riley’s Pirate Reserve Zinfandel struck me as memorable.
I was, admittedly, underwhelmed by the Sauvignon Blanc Ladera Vineyards poured, but the outstanding 2005 Ladera Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon readily dispelled any doubts about this winery’s efforts. On par with this wine was la crème de la crème of Cimarossa, Tor Kenward’s 2005 Howell Mountain Cimarossa Cabernet Sauvignon (the 2006 bottling was still too premature to tell if it will rival the magnitude of its preceding vintage). And, of course, the true joy tastings like this is discovering that rare gem you might not have the opportunity to experience elsewhere, like Diamond Terrace’s 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain—a scant 190-case offering from owners Hal and Maureen Taylor’s Eagle Summit Vineyard. That they also slipped in a taste from their more prolific (235 cases!) 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Diamond Mountain District was a perfect coda to the afternoon.
In going over my previous column on the wines of Howell Mountain, I realize this entry may be a bit, to paraphrase that famous icon of 1950s baseball and telev
ision, Yogi Berra, “déjà vu all over again.” Pour me a generous glass of Howell Mountain Cab, and I can live with that criticism.