{"id":579,"date":"2016-05-31T13:19:24","date_gmt":"2016-05-31T20:19:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.sostevinobile.com\/?p=579"},"modified":"2016-06-02T13:21:05","modified_gmt":"2016-06-02T20:21:05","slug":"pecorino-palomino-and-pedro-ximenez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.sostevinobile.com\/?p=579","title":{"rendered":"Pecorino, Palomino, and Pedro Xim\u00e9nez"},"content":{"rendered":"

As readers of these sporadic postings realize, Your West Coast Oenophile<\/strong> <\/em>continues to plug away in discovering off-the-map wineries and nascent wine labels to add to the comprehensive database Sostevinobile<\/strong><\/span> is creating for our wine-by-the-glass and reserve lists. I would really prefer to be on the road far more often than I have been, visiting all the various AVAs that dot the three West Coast states\u2014not to mention possible inclusions of such bordering regions as the Guadalupe Valley and Okanagan BC. Fortunately, the various major trade tastings, like next week\u2019s Rh\u00f4ne Rangers<\/a><\/span>, afford me the opportunity to visit with numerous wineries from regions I have only explored peripherally. <\/span><\/p>\n

Recently, a couple of my affiliated wine undertakings\u2014building wine programs for a handful of local restaurants and producing wine tastings for Ivy league alumni groups\u2014redrew my attention to a slew of wineries producing Italian varietals in Riverside\u2019s Temecula Valley<\/a><\/span>. Many of my fellow members of the Nebbiolo Enthusiasts and Believers (NEB<\/strong>) hold a deep skepticism over the potential of this region, and I concede I am hardly in a position to refute them. Much to my chagrin, I have scant little familiarity with most of the wines produced here, and have only visited a small sliver of the AVA on a drive-through several years before I launched Sostevinobile<\/strong><\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Still, I want to believe Temecula can become an important wine producer. Not surprisingly, the AVA is abundantly planted with varietals generally associated with warmer climates, like Vermentino, Tempranillo, Nero d\u2019Avola, and Sangiovese. But here you also find wineries like Cougar<\/a><\/span> and Ponte<\/a><\/span> that are in the vanguard for a number of decidedly esoteric varietals planted nowhere else on the West Coast: Falanghina, Coda di Volpe,\u00a0Ciliegiolo, Piedirosso,\u00a0Lambrusca di Alessandria, Brachetto d\u2019Acqui, and\u2014is it a wine or a cheese?\u2014<\/em>Pecorino. Sound like high time I hit the road. <\/span><\/p>\n

To many readers, these varietals may seem adventurous, perhaps even esoteric (some, I\u2019m sure, regard any Italian varietal, other than Pinot Grigio, as esoteric)<\/em>. For many others, the divergent selections poured at the recent rendition of Seven % Solution, constitute eclecticism. Sostevinobile<\/strong><\/span>, of course, is on a mission to source as many of these wines as we can find; as such, exotic is not a term that comes to mind with any of the wines I have encountered. Nonetheless, I would <\/span>categorize a handful of producers as niche specialists, wineries that eschew the mainstream categories of still wines and limit themselves to crafting wine variants. Though technically a distillery, Ukiah\u2019s Germain-Robin<\/span><\/a> is probably the most reputed of this lot, pioneering the production of varietal alembic brandies (actually, a cognac, were it not for the restrictions of the 2006 EU pact)<\/em>. Also in Mendocino, Scharffenberger<\/a><\/span> and Roederer<\/a><\/span> make superb sparkling wines, while Napa\u2019s St. Barth\u00e9lemy<\/a><\/span> bottles an array ports fortified with specialized distillates from the same varietal. Other North Coast producers include Prager Port Works<\/span><\/a> in St. Helena and Sonoma Portworks<\/a><\/span> in Petaluma. Unique even among this subset, Quady Winery<\/span><\/a> in Madera only produces infused and fortified wines, ports, vermouths, and even a sherry (though, curiously, not a Madeira)<\/em>. <\/span><\/p>\n

I have known Andy Quady for several years now and have long championed his Vya Vermouth<\/strong>\u2014the sweet version, along with 136\u00b0 Thomas Handy Sazerac<\/a><\/span>, forms the base of my atomic cocktail recipe, The Manhattan Project<\/em>. For sheer decadence, however, his dessert wines, based on a range of Moscato varietals are without peer. I have enjoyed earlier vintages of the 2014 Elysium<\/strong>, 2014 Essentia<\/strong>, 2015 Electra<\/strong>, and 2015 Red Electra<\/strong> on numerous occasions, but was only introduced to their seductive ap\u00e9ritif, the NV Deviation<\/strong>, an Orange Muscat infused with Rose Geranium<\/a><\/span> and Damiana<\/a><\/span>, at the recent Wine Warehouse<\/span> <\/a>trade tasting a couple of weeks back. Granted, the setting at Fort Mason hardly allowed for experiencing \u201cthe aphrodisiac powers of Damiana,\u201d but the effect was perceptible. <\/span><\/p>\n

Andy\u2019s other revelation this afternoon was his homage to Amontillado<\/a>, the NV Palomino Fino<\/strong>, a barrel-aged sherry produced from this relatively-obscure varietal. I could wax Poe<\/span>-etically<\/em> about this wine interminably, but suffice it to say that it has been progressively produced as a solera<\/a><\/span> since its inception in 2002. <\/span><\/p>\n

Only a handful of wineries in California vinify a solera-style wine, including Tackitt<\/a><\/span> in Templeton, a Tempranillo from Geyserville\u2019s Mercury<\/a><\/span>, Lodi\u2019s Berghold<\/a><\/span>, Heritage Oak<\/a><\/span>, and OZV<\/a><\/span>, Cabernet soleras from ZD Wines<\/a><\/span> in Napa and Le Cuv\u00eder<\/a><\/span> in Paso Robles, and a Late Harvest Zinfandel Vineyard 29<\/a><\/span> identifies as a \u201cmodified solera.\u201d
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