Vino101

View of Anderson Valley from Lazy Creek Vineyards - Photo Courtesy Anderson Valley Winegrowers Association

On November 20th we were offered the opportunity to attend the first showing of Anderson Valley wines at San Francisco's Fort Mason Center.  The event was hosted by the Anderson Valley Winegrowers Association (AVWA).  Founded in 1983 the AVWA is a non-profit group whose mission is to promote the grapes and wines of the Anderson Valley AVA.  www.avwines.com

Anderson Valley seems remote because it is remote.  As the crow flies Anderson Valley is roughly two and a half hours north of San Francisco and once you exit the 101 freeway in Cloverdale onto state route 128 get ready for the beautiful bucolic scenery.  You won't see any billboards, strip malls, seven elevens or fast food chains until you get back to Highway 101 or when you reach Fort Bragg off the coast on Highway 1.  The twenty-eight mile serpentine roadway running from Cloverdale to Booneville is a motorcycle and sports car enthusiast dream.  The town of Booneville, population 1,035 is located in the center of the valley.  Booneville is the hub of Anderson Valley and is where most of the activity and population rest.  In the past the main source of commerce for the valley was logging, but that industry has all but vanished.  The valley's main industries are now all centered around agriculture ( apples, beer, wine and marijuana ).  As of the 2010 census the total vineyard bearing acres in Anderson Valley was 2,244 with Pinot Noir at 1,453 acres being roughly 65% of that total.  Consider for a little perspective that Napa County has eighteen times as much area under vine with 43,500 vineyard bearing acres.  In Anderson Valley Chardonnay planted is at  500 acres and Gewurztraminer accounts for 85 acres.  As one could surmise Pinot Noir plantings are on the rise and interestingly Chardonnay and Gewurztraminer are two varietals that are on the decline in Anderson Valley.  The valley is ten miles from the Pacific Ocean and is about a half to one and a half miles wide and fifteen miles long.  At 30 degrees latitude it's one of the coolest places to grow grapes in California with an average annual temperature of about 53 degrees fahrenheit. 

We'd like to thank Janis MacDonald who serves as the Executive Director for the AVWA and Meg Murray for inviting us to this wonderful event and for their warm and ingratiating welcome when we arrived.  AVWA also host the International Alsace Varietal Festival in February and the Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival in May. 

A majority of the wineries on hand produce wine in the hundreds not thousands of cases making these wines more challenging to find.  You won't come across them at a big discounter in the market place.  Several producers only offer their products via a mailing list which means you'll have to sign up and wait for an opening before you can buy their wines.  Also due to its remoteness some vintners source their grapes from within Anderson Valley but have their winemaking facilities set up in more urban areas.

The tasting was from 11 am to 3 pm, which provided plenty of time for us to taste and chat with the twenty-nine producers that were there.  The overall feel of the gathering was relaxed, casual and informative.  Many of the principals representing the wineries were the winemakers themselves.  It was refreshing to not get the standard verbal rote one hears at larger well established tasting from winery representatives.  Most producers were very engaging and seemed genuinely interested in telling the story of their businesses and their wines.

It's always a bit of a double edged sword to generalize about a regions wines but here goes.  Anderson Valley Pinot Noir from the 2011 vintage exhibit bright red fruits ( cranberries, cherries, raspberries and

Hard to believe it’s Thanksgiving again.  The change in the seasons, holiday get togethers with family and friends, playoff baseball and football games give us many opportunities to share some of our favorite foods and wines.  The variety of foods that can be found on holiday dinner tables are numerous.  The taste sensations can range from, sweet to sour, savory to umami and salty.  Trying to find one wine that pairs well with your families honey glazed ham or smoked turkey, your sisters cornbread stuffing, Uncle Jim’s stuffed mushrooms and Grandma’s pumpkin pie would be a fools errand.  The key to making a good impression with respect to wine choices is diversity.  You’ll have a better chance of success by offering several bottles with a wide range of flavor profiles.  Just open up a few of your favorites and some of our suggested bottles, place them all on the table and let your guests pick which wines they want.

Our first suggestion a 2012 Moscato D’ Asti “Bricco Quaglia by La Spinetta is an excellent way to welcome your guest to your home.  This Moscato is the real deal and not some quickly rushed to the market mass produced bottom shelf pretender.  La Spinetta is most famous for their Barolo and Barbaresco but those wines are way too serious for most holiday gatherings.  100% Moscato at 5.5% ABV the “Bricco Quaglia” has an intoxicating aroma of green apples, apricot and white peaches.  On the palate it’s slightly sweet with a good balance of acidity and a delicate sparkle.  Priced between $18 - $22 you’ll want to stock several bottles in the fridge because we guarantee this wine will be a runaway favorite.

The 2012 Conundrum is a proprietary blend of California white wine.  This wine is from the house of Wagner Family Wines, makers of the iconic brand Caymus Special Selection Cabernet Sauvignon.  A bottle of their Cabernet will set you back $130, but for about $20 to $24 you can buy into all of their excellent winemaking expertise and bring a bottle to the table that everyone will offer a comment on.  The website www.wagnerfamilywine.com tells us the wine is made up of Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Muscat Canelli and Viognier, although they don’t tell you the percentage of each varietal.  The Wagners have farmed in Napa Valley since 1906 and they source the grapes for this wine from Napa, Monterey, Santa Barbara and Tulare counties.  If we had to use one word to describe this wine it would be “exotic”.  The Conundrum name is appropriate as it is a truly unique wine.  Honey baked apples, musk melon, peaches and vanilla spice on the nose followed by more of the same on the palate.  The wine has a thick and rich mouth feel with good acidity for balance.  Try not to open this one up before dinner is served because it just might disappear before the turkey is carved. 

The 2012 Philo Ridge Vineyards Gewurztraminer from Ferrington Vineyards Anderson Valley is a 100% vegan wine.  Not everyone is a carnivore: now you’ve got all the bases covered.  You’d be surprised how many wines can’t meet the vegan designation.  Philo Ridge is 5.5 miles up an all weather dirt/ rock road, two miles off the electrical grid and it’s 100% solar powered.  If you find yourself in Mendocino’s Anderson Valley you don’t need a four wheel drive vehicle to taste their wines though, they have a tasting room right on highway 128 in Boonville.  At 0.049 g/l of residual sugar (that’s dry) and 14.1 % ABV this Gewurztraminer will amaze your guest with its strong floral aromatics and its rich full bodied texture.  It’s packed with flavors of stone fruits, lemon, lychee and spice.  The pescatorians in your group would enjoy this Gewurztraminer with seared scallops or broiled salmon.  Philo Ridge’s Gewurztraminer will most likely be the most polarizing wine at the table.  Watching your friends and family debate over the best pairing combinations and the merits and shortcoming of the wines will be a lot more fun than bringing religion or politics to the table.  Fred Buonanno aka Tractor Butt owns the winery with his wife Heather and they only produced 195 cases of this wine so it will require more diligence to track down, but it’s well worth the hunt.  $15 to $19

If you’ve listened to some of our pod casts you know that Bill’s wife is a huge Pinot Noir fan.  Obviously Bill gets to try lots of Pinot Noir and this is one of his favorites.  Pinot Noir is right at home on your holiday dinner table because its naturally high acidity matches well with most holiday fare.  We discovered this wine several years ago.  The first vintage we tried was 2009 and I believe that may have been the inaugural vintage for the Cazar label.  The 2012 Cazar Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir is a declassified/ second label for Chasseur.  Bill Hunter is the winemaking savante and owner of Chasseur wines.  A declassified wine is a wine that does not meet the prescribed standards of the first or top wines of a producer.  For example in Bordeaux France, Chateau Latour’s second label is Les Forts de Latour.  A current vintage of  Château Latour will cost you about $1600 and the Les Forts de Latour cost about $250.  Is the Latour six times better than the Les Forts de Latour?  Not hardly,

Most wine once purchased is consumed within 24 hours.  Once you’re walking out of the retail store with your wine treasures in hand what’s the best way to protect your investment until you consume it?  What are some signs that your wine may be heat damaged?  What does heat damaged wine look and taste like?  In this pod cast we’ll answer these questions and offer some tips on how to take care of your wines so that they can show their best when you’re ready to enjoy them.  

Unless you’re a big time collector or wine investor who will be storing wines for many years you don’t have to obsess over wine storage.  Treasury Wine Estate recently dumped 33 million dollars worth of wine (1/2 million cases) that was past its prime.  Clearly they will sell no wine past its prime.  Jokes aside it’s important to remember that all wines have a shelf life unlike distilled spirits that can last indefinitely because of the high amounts of alcohol they contain.  The minute most wines leave the producers care they can become subjected to less than ideal transport and storage conditions.  Unless you’re in the unique position to buy directly from the winery there isn’t much you can do to ensure that your wine is treated properly before your buy it, but there are steps you can take to care for your wine once it’s in your possession.  Becca offers a fine article if you want to geek out on the damaging effects of heat exposure on wine.   

We decided to conduct an experiment in an effort to show what could happen to your wine if it is exposed to extreme temperature variations and high heat for an extended period of time.  Our test subjects were two bottles of 2011 Louis M. Martini Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma County.  You can purchase this wine at Costco for around $13.  Martini’s Cabernet represents an excellent value and is true to type displaying black fruit, cassis, a deft use of oak, vanilla, spice and round smooth tannins.  Conventional wisdom maintains that if you expose your wines to temperatures over 80 degrees for any period of time the wine will be ruined.  For this experiment we left one bottle in the confines of my wine closet where the temperature is fairly constant and rarely exceeds 66 to 68 degrees, not the ideal conditions for wine but more than adequate for short term storage ( 1 to 5 years ) of wines suitable for extended aging.  The other bottle we placed in the trunk of my daily commuter a BMW 2002.  This car does not get the garage treatment at home or at the office so the wine was subjected to the best and worst of conditions that Northern California had to offer at the beginning of our summer.  The bottle went into the trunk on 4/28/13 and was removed three months later on 7/27/13.  While we had a relatively mild summer this year it’s fair to speculate that the temperature fluctuations that the bottle in the car trunk was exposed to were extreme.  Diurnal temperature swings of forty degrees or more are the norm in Sonoma County and these swings were certainly magnified by the trunk space.  As the surrounding air warms, the wine and the air in the bottle warms up and expands.  The Achilles heal in the container is the cork.  The cork gets pushed upwards or the wine/ air seep up through the gap between the cork and the glass.  The excessive expansion and contraction of the wine/air draws air through the cork and hastens oxidation.  Our trunk bottle clearly showed the visual effects of heat damage with a protruding or pushed cork.  Miraculously the tin foil was able to keep the bottle from popping its cork.  We removed the tortured Cabernet and allowed it to rest in a cool dark place for several months before we opened both wines to do a side by side comparison.  Check out the pod cast to find out how our tortured bottle of wine faired.

Here are seven tips to ensure that your wine purchases show their best side.

• Don’t store your wines in the kitchen above the stove, on top of the refrigerator or near windows.  Wines should be stored in a cool, dark, vibration free area.
• Don’t store your wines in the refrigerator for long periods of time/ three or more weeks.    It dulls the flavors.
• Treat your wines just like you would treat your recently purchased perishable groceries.  While transporting keep them in the air conditioned passenger seat not the trunk.  If you’re traveling all day and making several stops take a cooler with ice packs to protect your wine from heat damage and cover them so they are not exposed to direct sunlight.  Wine is packaged in dark bottles to protect it from the light.  The suns ultra violet rays are bad for your eyes and they can also shorten the life of your wine.  Consider making your wine stop the last stop of the day to minimize the wines exposure to elevated temperatures.
• Don’t buy wines that show a pushed cork or seepage on the capsule.
• Do allow your wine time to settle and recuperate when you receive w

Tip of that Hat to Carlo Pandian for this excellent post on wine from Lebanon!  More about Carlo at the end of the post.

Due to its history of conflict over the last few decades, the reputation of the Lebanon might not necessarily be associated with wine production. But look at little closer and those seeking out something different for their vinous consumption might be pleasantly surprised. This country enjoys international repute for its fine bottles, so read further if you’re on the lookout for some glorious reds that are steeped in tradition but could well offer something extra…

 

 

If you are already familiar with Lebanese wines, one name that might spring to the mind and the lips is Chateau Musar. Its international reputation precedes it, having made its mark on the UK wine scene way back in 1979 when the renowned wine expert Michael Broadbenet named it the discovery of the Bristol Wine Fair. Established in 1930 by Gaston Hochar, his sons have continued to run the estate, adopting natural, minimal intervention wine making practices to ensure vintages of world class quality but still stand out as being completely unique and complex. According to Anna Von Bertele, wine specialists at Roberson Wine, “natural winemakers essentially try to do things as simply and, er, naturally as possible, minimising the use of chemicals and artificial yeasts (or artificial anythings for that matter) and intervening in the wine making process only when absolutely necessary”. Using those blends of those traditional French varieties mentioned earlier, they also have their hand in another form of tradition, producing white wines made from those indigenous varieties, Obaideh (a relative of the ever-popular Chardonnay) and Merwah (this one is related to Semillon).

But what about other Lebanese producers that we really should have heard of?  One such name is Chateau Kefraya, the second largest producer in the Lebanon. Again, these the 300 acres of vineyards sit in the Beqaa Valley and this winery is probably best known for its flagship wine, Comte de M, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Mouvedre. If you’re new to Lebanese wines, Chateau Kefraya is an ideal place to start your journey – its prices are a lot more attractive than its fellow aforementioned neighbour. This is probably due to not being quite so much under the influence of extreme international demand, but being no less enticing because of this.
 
Conditions in the country have been challenging to say the least. But what has been carved out of the conflict are unusual wines of the utmost quality and complexity. Ones that any self-respecting wine lover needs to seek out and experience.

About Carlo:  Carlo Pandian is a wine enthusiast that loves tastings the products of wineries from all over the world. He shares tips and tasting notes from Lebanon with the community of Vino101. Connect with him on Twitter @carlopandian. 

How do you decide what wine to pair with your meals?  Do you pick the wine then decide what food to have with it, the reverse, or neither?  I’ve always viewed wine as a compliment to the food on the table and as such a wine should make the dining experience more pleasurable.  How one arrives at the endpoint is irrelevant.  Eat and drink what you like.

What to open up?  We had the salad prepared, the pasta was almost ready.  We’re snacking on some toasted seeded sourdough bread that’s been brushed with olive oil and garlic.  It’s time to select a wine to go with the meal.  We’re having Pappardelle pasta with a light tomato sauce so we don’t need a full bodied wine which would overpower the flavors of the dish.  Usually our default wine to go with tomato based pastas is Valpolicella.  Most Valpolicellas are light to medium bodied and clock in around 12.5 alcohol by volume.  The only Valpolicellas we had on hand were of the Ripasso and Amarone style (way too serious for our weekday fair ).  Check out our podcast on Valpolicella to learn more about these wonderful wines.  To our delight we discovered a bottle of  2010 Briccotondo Fontanafredda Barbera that we had somehow previously overlooked.

Fontanafredda was established in 1858 and its current owners are Luca Baffigo, Oscar Farinetti and Eataly.  They make a full line of  wines from the southern Piemonte region. The wine is 100% Barbera and is aged partly in new Allier oak barrels and partly in Slavonian oak casks for around five months.  Displaying a medium ruby color, finished with a real cork the nose exhibits violets, red fruits, earth, mushrooms, leather and licorice.  On the palate you’ll notice red plums, cherries and smooth tannins combined with a zippy acidity.  The finish is of medium length, crisp and clean.  I believe this Barbera is aimed at the international wine market and the Biccotondo seems to always hit the right marks from vintage to vintage.  This not a showy wine ( lavishly oaked ) and at about $10 to $13  a bottle one shouldn’t expect it to be so.  Briccotondo Barbera represents a solid bargain and delivers a wine with generous fruit, good balance, remarkably easy to drink and that – I would recommend this wine to my friends factor.

Very food friendly you’ll find it pairs well with burgers, soups, salumi, cheeses, tomato based pastas, sausages and pizza.

 

 

 

We recently attended the 9th Masters of Wine at the Ferry Plaza building in San Francisco. We love the Ferry Plaza location because it gives us an excuse to drive to Larkspur, ditch the car and take the Ferry directly to the event. No worries about parking concerns or traffic congestion, just beautiful views and a relaxing ride to the affair. The ferry docks right next to the Ferry Plaza and the tasting is conducted on the upper level. We chose to get there early because that affords us the opportunity to check out the merchants and food purveyors on the first level. If you’re ever in the area don’t miss the Cowgirl Creamery, Hog Island Oyster Company, Mariposa Baking Company and the Ferry Plaza Wine Merchants. One could spend hours exploring the Plaza as it is a gastronomes mecca.

This Champagne tasting has quickly become one of our annual favorites to attend mainly because it is so well organized and the Champagnes on offer are of top quality. “The vision of the Institute is one of knowledge and integrity” and they, pardon the baseball metaphor hit it out of the park with this event. The tasting was held in two sessions 5 to 7 and 7 to 9 and since it was Monday a school night, we opted for the early session. A fair number of the more prestigious wine tastings are held on Mondays or Tuesdays because the event organizers are seeking to introduce their products to restaurateurs and members of the trade. This tasting is open to anyone that has a genuine interest in Champagne and wants to experience the opportunity to taste the different styles from many of the top houses from the Champagne region. There were over eighty wines available and if you had any questions there were four master sommeliers on hand to answer them.  Real Champagne is never inexpensive and the vintage and prestige cuvée of many of the producers can carry some eye popping price tags. That fact alone makes this tasting a great value and if you are a Champagne lover put it on the calendar for 2014.

When you check in you receive a small booklet that contains the Institutes vision and mission statement and a listing of all the wines that are available to taste with ample room for notes between each listed wine. The wines were presented on eleven tables and the wines on each table matched a page in the booklet.  There were a few exceptions but for the most part the wines were presented in a serve yourself format.  It’s interesting to note that no nondosage (no sweetener added) wines were on offer this year, although there were a few sec (medium dry) and demi-sec style (sweet) wines.  I’ve never seen these types of sweet Champagnes for sale at any retail stores we frequent so we had to give them a try. There was little activity at this table, however these styles of sweet Champagne were all the rage in the 1800’s.  The wine lady really enjoyed the Demi-Sec Traditionelle NV Champagne A. Margaine.  The types of Champagne available were Non-Vintage, Blanc de Blancs, Blanc de Blancs Vintage, Vintage, Rosé, Rosé  Vintage and Dose. There seemed to be more people in attendance this year than in previous years but it was still comfortable and easy enough to move around.

To get a good baseline of each producers house style I elected to focus on the non-vintage wines. Each Champagne house blends several wines from different years to produce an annual Champagne that is similar from year to year. When you find a Champagne house that makes a style you prefer you can expect that same consistent style in every bottle of non vintage Champagne they produce. Vintage Champagnes are not made every year and as such do not offer this consistency and can vary more in style. The quality level of the Champagnes at this tasting was very high. This was a rare opportunity to enjoy the really good stuff in one setting and if you’re already a Champagne fan or you want to learn what all the fuss is about make room on your calendar for next years event. We’ll see you there.

Tip of the hat to Nancy Johnson for trying to accommodate our teams schedule.  We really appreciate it! 

Here are some of some of our favorites in alphabetical order.

Brut Majeur NV, Champagne Ayala

Brut Special Cuvée NV Champagne Bollinger

Brut La Grande Annee 2004 Champagne Bollinger

Brut Cuvée D NV Champagne Devaux

Brut Tradition NV Champagne Jaques Chaput

Brut Grande Cuvée NV Champagne Krug

Brut Grande Cru NV Champagne Lamiable

Brut Royale Reserve NV Champagne Philipponnat

Finally!  Our follow up post to Family Wine Makers Tasting!

What a fantastic event!   A show not to miss!  Why?  Here you get to meet and talk with  the people who actually make (vint?) the wines.    These are small business owners (real people!) following their dreams and passions to produce world class wines.   You get their stories and the insight on their wines as you taste.

We did learn a few things at this event.  One key learning is to plan for this event.   We allocated a half day for the event and barely got through a 1/4 of the offerings.  A strategy we often follow is to look for those winemakers who have something unique to offer.   Next year we will plan our tastings and plan more time at the event.

 The tasting for 2014 is scheduled for August 17th in San Mateo.  Mark your calendars and get your tickets early.   This is event worth your time and money!

 

Here are our favorites from this years show:

Double Thumbs Up! 

Bien Nacido - Santa Maria Valley - 2011 - Chardonnay

Dutton-Goldfield Ranch Russian River Valley Chardonnay 2011

Eonian - Napa Valley Red 2010

Fort Ross Chardonnay 2005

Fritz Estate Russian River Valley Chardonnay 2011 

Grgich Hills Napa Valley Chardonnay 2010 

Jax Cold Creek Ranch Carneros Chardonnay 2011

Mi Sueno Los Carneros Chardonnay 2009

Darms Lane Chardonnay 2011

Ramey Russian River Valley Chardonnay 2010

 

Thumbs Up! 

Benovia Russian River Valley Chardonnay 2011

Benovia Bella Una Pinot Noir 2009

Donelan Sonoma County Nanice Chardonnay 2011

Frogs Tooth Torrontes 2011

Jax Y3 Napa Valley Chardonnay 2012

Solomon Hills Chardonnay 2011

                                                                                                                                 

                                                                                                                                 

                                                                                                                                 

                                                                                                                                 

                                                                                                                                 

                                                                                                                                 

 

                                                                                                                                 

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