March 20, 2006

CARLISLE OFFLINE, WITH MIKE OFFICER

Carlisle winery owner/winemaker Mike Officer took the long drive down from Santa Rosa to San Juan Capo to answer in-person for the outrageous quality of his wines. Once again, many thinks to Frank and Jill Murray for their hospitality, in opening their doors (well, some of us had to force our way in) to some of the usual suspects, along with some nice new faces.

Mike started by describing his journey from home winemaker to 5,000+ case production all within a few short years, and delved into some of the vineyard descriptions in his lineup. I was happy to hear that he's going to develop the Rhone side of his "portfolio of wines" with the depth that he already has in Zinfandels.

Mike's desire to keep buying the fruit from these 80-96 year-old vineyards is testimony to his love for Old Vine Zin. Given what he has to pay per-ton for the fruit to keep the vineyards from replanting to another varietal... well, it's like keeping a '56 Austin Healey ready for the road - it's a labor or love.

We had a pretty big lineup, furnished to a large degree by Mike. Other attendees brought some older selections to augment the tasting. One of the interesting things Mike brought was the '04 Bennett Valley Syrah -- in both filtered and an unfiltered versions. The wines were unmarked, so the idea was a comparison to see which of the two we preferred - blind, as it were. The unfilered edged out the filtered version.

2001 Three Birds - about 70% Grenache-based GSM. Very nice aromatics and flavor profile - red raspberry, and some nice meaty tones. Nice balance, softens a bit on the finish.

1998 Two Acres - about 85% Mourvedre-based field blend, with Petite, Valdigue, Alicante, and Mondeuse. Very nice blend of red and black fruit, this wine is still going strong on flavor and balance. Very tasteeeeee!

2004 Two Acres - fascinating floral quality to the nose, and even more ramped up on the flavors of the '98.

2001 Zin - Riebli Vnyd, Sonoma Co - vnyd planted in 1910, with about 6% Petite. At 16.1%, you needed a few swirls to really get the the heart of the fruit. Lots of clove-scent boysenberry and blackberry fruit, chewy mouthfeel and very smooth finish.

2001 Zin - Dry Creek - nice old viney quality - kind of sappy wild cherry/raspberry. Still beautifully balanced, and silky finish.

2003 Zin - Rossi Ranch, Sonoma Valley - this was my ZOTN. Super concentration, smooth, packed with jammy dark fruit, smooth fine-grained tannins on the long finish.

2002 Mondeuse - lighter in color than its siblings, this has a slightly floral tone and red fruit to the nose, lots of mid-palate feel, smooth and a slightly tannic back end. I was surprised to hear that this was also know as Refosco, since some Refoscos I've tried were massive.

2000 Syrah - Dry Creek - brighter and more high-toned than I expected, with silky red fruit, juicy acids, and excellent balance. Cries out for food.

2003 Syrah - Dry Creek - really nice aroma of espresso, meat, and tarry scents. Loaded with smooth blackberry fruit, light touch of bittersweet chocolate on the long finish.

2003 (unfiltered) Syrah - Bennett Valley - blackberry compote nose. Dark and smooth on the palate, lo-o-o-ong smooth lip-smacking finish. I definitely preferred this over what we were to find out was the filtered version.

2003 (filtered) Syrah - Bennett Valley - blackberry compote nose - not too dissimilar to the unfiltered version, except maybe a perception of some red fruit. Dark and smooth initially, the acids seemed to pick up a bit more on this one from mid-palate on, and the finish seemed a bit bitter to me.

2001 Zin - Carlisle Vnyd - (the vnyd formerly known as Pelletti Ranch - planted 1927) hints of dried fruit initially, but nice old vine sappy wild raspberry comes on after some swirling.

2002 Zin - Carlisle Vnyd - lots of red raspberry and boysenberry throughout. The mouthfeel was more about elegance, than power, with the slightly brighter fruit gliding along through the long finish.

2003 Zin - Carlisle Vnyd - gutsier fruit, nice sappy raspberry and dried floral notes. Smooth, refined, and delicious.

2004 Zin - Carlisle Vnyd - if the '02 was the velvet glove, this was the iron fist. Big framed, packed with ripe boysenberry and the faintest touch of herbs, yet silky on the palate, well-balanced, and smooth finish

1998 Zin - RRV (100% Feeney Vnyd) - for me, spice was the hallmark of the Zins from this vinyd. A little funky at first, the nose opens up to dried strawberries and currants. Spicy mouthfeel, lots of red and some black fruit, elagant mouthfeel, balance and finish.

2001 Zin - Tom Feeney Vnyd - bigger and darker in fruit than the '98, smooth on the palate, very nice balance and finish.

2002 Zin - Tom Feeney Vnyd - back to elegance, with a very smooth and soft (in a good way) mouthfeel.

2003 Zin - Tom Feeney Vnyd - bolder than the previous two, with a chewy and spicy dark fruit, a touch of mint or eucalyptus, and spicy finish.

March 15, 2006

STA. RITA HILLS ROUNDTABLE

With what we hope will be the first of several "spotlight" interviews on AVAs, Jay Selman and I sat in on a Sta. Rita Hills roundtable discussion on March 5th. We had asked Rick Longoria, Peter Cargasacchi, and Wes Hagen if they would be willing to be interviewed in a discussion setting, with no particular agenda, other than talking about the Sta. Rita Hills - its history and its current popularity as a special place for growing Pinot Noir.

We'd arranged with Rick Longoria to use his winery in Lompoc as the setting for the roundtable. Everyone had brought along some wine, and Rick's wife Diana had supplied some cheeses and bread, so we were all set to dig in - oh, and talk too. We started about 10:30am, and figured we might end up with about 1 to 1-1/2 hrs of recording, but, by 1:00pm we were still at it. What a treasure trove of info these guys are!

We discussed the origins of the AVA, and Wes recounted how he basically de-constructed an previous proposal that was successfully reviewed (you wouldn't want to copy one that didn't get approved), and used it as a foundation for the Sta. Rita Hills. By the way, the "Sta." is purposely used in the title of the AVA, rather than the spelling "Santa." The reasons have to do with another "Santa Rita," and it was felt best to just abbreviate the "Santa" portion to avoid future issues.

Wes discussed how the boundaries were formed, using topographical and climatological references around the region. They also secured support for the AVA from their colleagues in the larger surrounding Santa Ynez Valley AVA, an important step, since this wasn't so much a secession as it was an effort to recognize the uniqueness of this area's influence from the maritime climate.

We discussed the terroir of the region, the methods of winegrowing, the site contribution to wine and its varietal character, and finally everybody's favorite subject - clones. (What - that's not your favorite subject?) We also dabbled in discussing the currently controversial "ripe fruit" issue, as well as alcohol levels.

We talked about the "old days," from Rick's working with Andre Tchelistcheff, through the early influence of the iconic Sanford & Benedict Vineyard, to the current levels of experimentation in the vineyard to refine growing methods and define the meaning of Sta. Rita Hills fruit. Wes even wondered aloud if the Sta. Rita Hills were more suited to Chardonnay than to Pinot Noir. But, there's no denying the economic power of Pinot over Chardonnay - at least by the ton.

Jay and had had a blast just listening to the conversation, and we hope you will too. Look for the series in multiple parts on GrapeRadio, coming in the next few months.

March 8, 2006

WORLD OF PINOT NOIR - JOHN HAEGER

The author of North American Pinot Noir, John Winthrop Haeger spoke at the opening of 2006 World of Pinot Noir, an annual symposium held March 3-4 in Shell Beach, California Titled "Pinot Noir 102," John's talked along with his Powerpoint presentation of why and how Pinot Noir - especially New World, is gaining in popularity, despite its relatively small acreage. In fact, lots of Pinot Noir never gets labeled as such - rather it goes right into sparkling wines or Champagne.

With thinner skin than Cabernet, Merlot and Syrah, Pinot Noir has half the tannin as most red varieties, and is considered to be among the most "site-expressive" - relative to terroir. It commonly grows in much cooler climates than other reds, and usually right alongside many white varieties.

It's not unusual for PN to silmultaneously be earthy, yet fragrant, and musty, yet fresh, possessing a "huge organoleptic bandwidth." Interestingly, it is more likely to taste different than it smells, with more animal or decay notes that other reds. PN also apparently offers more tactile sensitivity to the palate, expressing more elegance than large frame. Besides statistical information, some of the other things mentioned were equally interesting - for instance, I didn't know that oregon required a wine to be 90% varietal to be labeled as such (California is 75%).

No particular parent varieties have been identified for PN, but Pinot itself is one of the parents of Gamay, Chardonnay, Melon, Aligote, and Auxerios. It also turns out that although Pinot Noir is only 4% or all the red grapes crushed, it is grown in almost every wine-producing country in Europe, as well as on every continent except Antarctica. Spreading Pinot Noir is apparently credited to the Cistern monks, because after the 14th century PN appeared in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Italy - finally arriving in the New World probably the 19th century - of course, that was probably via "suitcase."