{"id":32,"date":"2011-07-02T00:52:11","date_gmt":"2011-07-02T00:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.sostevinobile.com\/?p=32"},"modified":"2011-07-02T00:52:11","modified_gmt":"2011-07-02T00:52:11","slug":"99-bottles-of-wine-on-the-wall-99-bottles-of-wine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.sostevinobile.com\/?p=32","title":{"rendered":"99 bottles of wine on the wall,* 99 bottles of wine\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
Your West Coast Oenophile<\/b> has remained deluged with<\/font><\/font><\/font> responsibilities for keeping the vision of<\/font><\/font><\/font> Sostevinobile<\/b><\/font> alive, and yet I owe acknowledgments to so many whose wines I have enjoyed these past few months. So, in no particular order or with any attempt to rank them, here\u2019s a list of the many memorable vintages I\u2019ve sampled:<\/font><\/font>
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99)<\/b><\/font> I visited with Ray D\u2019Argenzio<\/a>, who is developing a cluster of artisan wineries and food purveyors in an enclave he calls Santa Rosa Vintners Square. As we compared our common roots from Avellino to California via grandparents who had settled in Glen Cove, NY, I sampled what is arguably the first bottling of \u201craisin wine\u201d in California, the 2007 D\u2019Amarone<\/b>. Classic Amarone is produced from a blend of semi-desiccated <\/font><\/font>Corvina, Rondinella, and Molinara<\/font> grapes<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font>, but I am unaware of any successful plantings of these varietals stateside. Ray\u2019s interpretation came from a mix of Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, and Petite Sirah\u2014grapes that are no strangers to late harvest bottlings, but he is striving ultimately to bottle a replica of the authentic constituency. Perhaps even with a hand-blown, twisted bottle neck?<\/font><\/div>\n

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98)<\/font><\/b> From next generation winemaker, daughter Breanna, came a highly impressive debut effort, the 2008 Sant\u2019Angelo Sangiovese<\/b>, vinted from fruit grown in Amador County.<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/div>\n

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97)<\/b><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/b> I had come to the Vintners Square, following a most promising meeting with Silicon Valley Bank<\/a>, to meet with Matthew Trulli of MJ Lords<\/a>. His first allure had been the promise of sampling only the third pure varietal bottling of the <\/font><\/font><\/font>\u201csixth Bordeaux red\u201d<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font> I have found in California, though several wineries do blend this grape into their Meritages. The signature grape of the emerging Chilean wine industry, Matthew\u2019s <\/b>yet-to-be-released <\/b>2009 Carm\u00e9n\u00e8re, <\/b>clearly showed an ability to give the South Americans a run for their money.<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/div>\n

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96)<\/b><\/font><\/font><\/font> Another signature varietal rarely cultivated here, Matthew\u2019s 2009 Montepulciano<\/b> (to disambiguate, the Abruzzese varietal, not the Tuscan vino nobile <\/b>derived from Sangiovese) <\/i>amply displayed the kind of complexity I have come to expect from this burgeoning viticultural talent.<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/div>\n

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95)<\/b><\/font><\/font><\/font> Matthew shares his space with Krutz Family Cellars<\/a>, a decidedly understated venture that left a deep first impression. Owner\/winemaker Patrick Krutz showcased his take on yet another South American standard with his 2007 Napa Valley Malbec<\/b>.<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/div>\n

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94)<\/b><\/font><\/font><\/font> Not many fledgling operations can presuppose to charge $195 for a 1.5L bottle of anything, but, without question, Patrick\u2019s 2007 Stagecoach Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon<\/b> rose to the occasion\u2014and then some.<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/div>\n

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93)<\/b><\/font><\/font><\/font> A third suite mate, Sheldon Wines<\/a>, moved here from the Sebastopol caboose where I had originally met with them last year. Here Dylan\u2019s 2009 Graciano<\/b> continued to rise in my estimation from the exceptional previous vintage that I had tasted.<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/div>\n

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92) <\/b>I have long felt the same ambivalence towards Viansa<\/a> as I have about the Punahou Kid<\/a>. On a philosophical level\u2014at least in what they purport to champion\u2014I am vocally in accord; what they actually have accomplished or delivered, however, has been a far cry from what I am able to bring myself to endorse. But while the neophyte in the Oval Office combats our economic miasma by committing our scant resources to yet a third theater of overseas combat, Sonoma\u2019s Italian varietal pioneers have taken stock in their disparate \u0153nological forays and revamped with a focus on quality, while still retaining a pronounced fidelity to their founding mission.<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/div>\n

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Under the stewardship of independent owner Lloyd Davis, Viansa<\/a> has realigned, jettisoning a number of varietals that failed to gain traction, increasing their portfolio of more traditional wines like Chardonnay and Syrah, along with Bordelaise varietals Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon, while still fortifying the array of Italian wines on which founder Sam Sebastiani had originally focused. Perhaps no wine better exemplified this transition than the 2009 Arneis<\/b>, a crisp, delectable rendition of a varietal that had hovered near mediocrity in its earliest vintages here.<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/div>\n

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<\/font><\/font><\/font>91) <\/b>Just as astounding was the risorgimento<\/i> of Viansa\u2019s 2009 Reserve Vernaccia<\/b>, one of the most delightful Italian whites to be produced in California.<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/div>\n

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<\/font><\/font><\/font>90) <\/b>Not all Sangiovese is created equal, and few on this side of the Atlantic realize that there are multiple variants to this grape. The Sangiovese Grosso used in Barolo is, as one might infer, a bold, powerful strain of this varietal; here, Viansa showed the subtle intensity of its somewhat overshadowed brethren, with their 2005 Piccolo Sangiovese<\/b>, again an exceptional expression that reaffirmed the appropriateness of transplanting the Italian family of grapes along the West Coast.<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/div>\n

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<\/font><\/font><\/font>89) <\/b>I made my way through virtually all of Viansa\u2019s lineup before I tried their thoroughly splendid dessert wine, the 2009 Tocai Friulano<\/b>. Some winemakers seek to restrain the sweetness of this grape; here, the unfettered expression created an extraordinary wine that could complement the finale of any repast.<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/div>\n

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I took my leave of Lloyd and his gracious tasting staff, not before collecting a bottle from his hand-picked Signature Series for further evaluation, to head north for more tastings, meetings, and the inexorable pursuit of the wherewithal to make Sostevinobile<\/b><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font> a prominent presence on the viticultural scene.
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*this actually should have read \u201cdeposited in the blue recycling bin,\u201d but there wasn\u2019t headline space to fit it.<\/font>
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Your West Coast Oenophile has remained deluged with responsibilities for keeping the vision of Sostevinobile alive, and yet I owe acknowledgments to so many whose wines I have enjoyed these past few months. So, in no particular order or with any attempt to rank them, here\u2019s a list of the many memorable vintages I\u2019ve sampled: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[104,106,4,103,17,23,2,36,105,89,107,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-amarone","category-arneis","category-cabernet-sauvignon","category-carmenere","category-malbec","category-montepulciano","category-petit-verdot","category-sangiovese","category-sangiovese-piccolo","category-tocai-friulano","category-vernaccia","category-zinfandel"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.sostevinobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.sostevinobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.sostevinobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sostevinobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sostevinobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sostevinobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.sostevinobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sostevinobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sostevinobile.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}