this heaven gives me migraine

2005 ZAP: Yackity ZAP, don't come back

Saturday, despite warnings of the "it's-crowded-and-insane" variety from a million different people, I went to the final big tasting (275 wineries pouring their best current and future Zinfadels, and probably around 10,000 people all trying to taste them) of the 14th Annual Zinfandel Advocates and Producers Festival, otherwise known as ZAP. It was a kind of disaster (for me: I think it was a successful festival-type event, in general) and it is ironic that while we were eating brunch before we went up to Fort Mason, I got cold feet and I didn't want to go. There were way too many people there to do any serious tasting, and the atmosphere was more a middle-aged-wine-lovers' frat party* (complete with goofy stickers, leis, and buttons) shot through with a Yuppie meet-and-greet rather than a "let's take notes on the wine we are tasting" event, which was more my mindset. I was not expecting people to be standing around holding their chins thoughtfully, talking about bouquet and body, but I was kind of unprepared for the sheer mass of humanity. I mean, I wasn't expecting that many people. But I did it, I survived, it was only sort of traumatic and mostly disappointing, and I didn't end up in bad shape like I was at my last big (although not this big) tasting, so it's not a total loss, right?

Slightly less grumpily: It was nice people were having a good time getting wasted, but it was very difficult to get around to taste any wines and pay attention to them when so many people were running around half-drunk and yelling to each other over the din. We endured 2 hours of this and only managed to taste about 30 wines before we just couldn't take it anymore and left. There were mobs of people not only around the tasting tables but pretty much everywhere else, very few people understood the "get your taste and get out of the way" concept, and even for those who did try to get out of the way, where were they to go? There were people everywhere. I eventually got very tired of fighting my way to a table to back out and then need to fight my way in again for the next wine, or decide to forget about trying any other wines from that producer and leave for another table. I guess I am not made of tough enough stuff to deal with that, but I don't know how anyone serious about the wine can do it (well, I do; you have to get into the early trade tasting, which I will have to do next year). I am still sad I missed Turley, Nalle, Rosenblum, Lolonis, Folie a Deux (and many others), as well as most of Ridge.

I did learn some things that made the day worthwhile:

- Using a digital voice recorder is useful for taking wine notes at these things, as you only need one hand and it is much easier and faster to speak than write. Sure, half-drunk women sometimes glare glassily at you because they don't know what you are doing, and sometimes people do ask if you are a wine writer, but it's really not as embarrassing to use as you might think.
- Mike Parres at K&L is a genius because he told me to bring my own spit cup and that was definitely the best idea ever. At least I didn't have to push my way through masses of people just to spit (and also look into a bucket sloshing with everyone else's dregs, ugh).
- Zindandel is nice and all, but it is not my favorite grape, by far. This is not a surprise to me, I was pretty sure my love affair was mostly over before I went (we can still be friends though... right, Zinfandel? I will still call you up sometimes). In fact, three of the eight wines I had and liked were not pure Zinfandel, which I think says something.
- Betelnut has really good dry-fried green beans (we had dinner there after we fled ZAP and walked around for a while), possibly the best I have ever had, and the edamame and noodles were good, too. The only mediocre thing we had was the tofu appetizer, which was pasty and kind of two dimensional (bland tofu paired with hot chili). I don't hang around the Cow Hollow/Marina area much, but I am glad we got to eat at Betelnut, since I have had it on my list of places to eat for a while.

Anyway, on to the wines!

* I classify as a middle-aged wine lover, so don't get het up, you other middle-aged wine lovers (unless you were wearing a lei, and I can't help you there)

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The Basic Eight

Of the wines I tasted, these are the eight I liked most, and I wrote them up all nice-like for general consumption here. The 2002 Tres Sabores Rudy Zuidema was head and shoulders above pretty much everything else, for me; it was the one wine for which, as I spat/poured it out, I felt a pang of regret. Sob.

2002 Tres Sabores Rudy Zuidema Cuvee Rutherford ($30) I was interested in this because I have had the Karen Culler before and liked it (I know, that doesn't indicate much, given the different winemakers, but still). This wine is one of a series of three (Rudy Zuidema/Karen Culler/Ashley Heisey) wherein Tres Sabores gave the same grapes to three different winemakers and let them each create a wine in their own particular style (they do this every year with a slightly rotating cast of winemakers). Zuidema was a winemaker at Honig and Robert Craig (among other places) and as of September 2003 he is over at Ehlers Estate. The nose of this was leathery and really dark for a Zinfandel, and it was refreshingly not overly fruity, and the mouthfeel was much the same, with hints of black fruit and band-aid. As I said before, I really liked the wine and would have liked to drink it. Sadly, they were already out of the Culler and the Heisey, or I would have enjoyed trying those. Rudy was a winemaker over at Robert Craig and now I think he works for Ehlers Estate.

2002 Ridge Nervo Sonoma County ($24) (92% Zinfandel 8% Petite Sirah) This was for a short duration (milliseconds) not jammed up with people as it was at a corner of the Ridge table. I have the 2001 at home but have no idea what it tastes like, so I thought I would try it. I liked the nose, which was slightly hot, but the nose and mouth had a lot of earth, spice (peppery spice, not the vanilla-spice cookie flavor a lot of the Zinfanels had), and leather. The end also had some sweet spice but not annoying amounts of it. I guess I am glad I have the 2001 at home.

2002 Burrell School Vineyards Zinfandel/Mataro Santa Clara County ($35) This has a wacky Mataro nose with a lot of spice, and in the mouth it had a nice amount of acid but not a lot of tannin. The finish was sort of sweet/fruity but left you feeling clean and refreshed. I can't find the percentage of Zinfandel to Mataro (also known as Mourvedre), sadly. And (also sadly) this was the only Burrell wine I really liked.

2002 Hendry Block 7 Napa Valley ($27) I liked this better than the Block 28 and had to go outside to take a breather with it. I didn't note much about it but liked it and liked the zing of clean honey note I detected at the finish.

2001 Saxon-Brown Casa Santinamaria Vineyard Sonoma Valley ($40) I have had Saxon-Brown Syrah and liked it, so I had hope for the Zinfandel. I was right! It got a slightly hot/green (as in a hot summer smell) on the nose but I liked that. It had a lot of fuzzy soft tannins all throughout it, and some slight fruit at the finish, which was nice.

2002 Dashe Cellars Big River Ranch Dry Creek Valley ($28) This was a realy round wine with nice acids, and not a lot of spice at the end, which was really nice since I had just gotten through a bunch of Spicy Cookie Zinfandels. It was nicely balanced with good acidity and good body.

2002 Charter Oak Winery Monte Rosso Vineyard Napa Valley ($40) This had a big blackfruit nose, spicy on the finish but, again, not as sweet spicy (ie vanilla), but a little more peppery. It was not cloying, was fairly well-balanced and intense.

2001 Storrs Rusty Ridge ($32) A lot more hot-in-the-summer-sun fruit on nose, but a bit of leather and earth, as well. A typical spicy finish, but earthy and warm along with the spice, which tempered it. Pretty nice.

The wacky freeform stream of consciousness notes on the rest of them:

(Mostly for my own benefit/historical need, these were the few thoughts I had on these wines)

- 2002 Chateau Souverain Dry Creek Valley ($22) nice spicy nose a lot of tannins on finish so so
- 2001 Grgich Hills Napa Valley ($25) fruity funny nose not much tannin on finish, nice acid and spice, nice balance
- 2001 Grgich Hills Old Vine Miljenko's Vineyard ($59) bitter finish unpleasant
- 2002 Fritz Roger's Reserve Dry Creek Valley ($??) uh, zinfandel-y, lots of fruit, pleasant enough, but nothing fantastic
- 2002 Fritz Estate Dry Creek Valley ($??) lots more tannin and less finesse than reserve, reserve is better
- 2002 Burrell School Vineyards Ryan Oak Vineyard Amador County "Detention Red" ($22) has a fuely astringenty quality sweet finish but the petrochemical sucks
- 2003 Burrell School Vineyards Ryan Oak Vineyard Amador County "Detention Red" ($22) (barrel sample) will be bottled in May, out next year slightly better than the 2002, not as sweet, but still has that petrochemical quality I didn't like
- 2002 Esterlina Vineyards Bacigalupi Russian River Valley ($25) (Craig/Steve Sterling) clean and fruity up front, fair spice on finish not tannic but warm, enjoyable, a tad sweet some bite of acid at finish that was odd but acceptable
- 2003 Robert Biale Vineyards Old Crane Ranch St. Helena ($??) amazing nose, full of iodine and medicinal smells forward fruit sweet spice at end okay but not blown away slight tannins on finish, probably nice with some food
- 2003 Robert Biale Vineyards Black Chicken Napa Valley ($??) people are crazy for this stuff lots of spice right away, raisiny flavor at end, black fruit raisin clove ending
- 2002 Dashe Cellars Big River Ranch Dry Creek Valley ($28) nice round acidic, not much spice at the end (some of the others were getting a little weird with the spice at the end), balanced, nice overall nice acidity, nice body
- 2002 Dashe Cellars Todd Brothers Ranch Alexander Valley ($28) a lot more tannic than Dry Creek, pretty clean and fruity in the beginning and some tannin and spice at the end, fairly nice
- 2002 Chase Cellars Hayne Vineyard Napa Valley ($??) slightly soft nose, not forward simple, not complex some fruit, slightly green finish
- 2002 Storybook Mountain Vineyards Napa Estate Macayamas Range ($??) green on finish, slightly bitter, I have had this before, liked it better, this is OK but not fab
- 2003 Storrs Rusty Ridge ($??) (barrel sample) highly perfumed nose that I like, it's young, has a lot of tannin to lose on the end, but pleasant overall
- 2003 Neyers Pato Vineyards Contra Costa County ($??) crop levels down 20% from the previous year, soft nose, I can't smell much of anything, kind of inoffensive but can't say much about it, pleasant, but not interesting
- 2001 Ottimino Rancho Bello Vineyard Sonoma ($??) lots of oak, nice nose with some earth and mushroomy smells but the oak in the palate does it in for me and it's oak oak oak ugh
- 2002 Porter-Bass Winery Porter-Bass Vineyard Russian River Valley ($28) nose is a little distant and iodiney alright, some spice on finish, underwhelming, not a lot going on too bad because I wanted to like them, they have a really good label it's only their second release so maybe they will get better
- 2001 Hendry Block 28 Napa Valley ($28) well balanced, not too much spice on the end, slight tannins, soft tannins that are pleasant
(What is this stupid I love wild women on wine thing? grrr)
- 2002 Woodenhead Martinelli Road Old Vine Russian River Valley ($36) unfined/filtered, 130 year old vines it's a lot of oak and tannins, not a lot of vanilla-ey spice but more straight wood flavors (french oak?) maybe a little twiggy on finish, very woody
- 2001 Lava Cap Reserve El Dorado Sierra Foothills ($20) (for B since she wanted to know about Lava Cap) Bill Johnson seems nice, bricky not purple, nice nose but too much vanilla/spice on finish, not too terrible but not my thing
- 2002 Limerick Lane Collins Vineyard Russian River Valley ($26) mushrooms and manure on nose, clean and sweet first off, then fades out into stemmy disappointment not awful but not that great I once liked this wine oh well
- 2003 Tin Barn Vineyards Gilsson Vineyard Russian River Valley ($27) clean finish, not a lot of creepy vanilla, ok, kind of flat finish but not bad, nice with food, probably

2003 Parker Station Central Coast Pinot Noir

Region: Los Olivos, Santa Ynez Valley, California, US

Composition: 100% Pinot Noir

Background: There are a few things you might think of when you think of Fess Parker. Parker was Matt's grandfather's favorite actor, and his roles included, among other things, Davy Crockett in the Disney movies, and Daniel Boone on TV. Which explains why his Fess Parker winery label has a coonskin cap (and the Parker Station label a tiny raccoon head) on it.

Or, if you have seen Sideways, you might know that the Fess Parker winery stood in for "Frass Canyon" in the Miles-freakout-with-the-spit-bucket scene. (A lot of people are critical of the newish Parker tasting room, which brings a Napaesque grandeur, including a spa, to the more rustic Santa Ynez Valley.) Anyway, Parker Station is Fess Parker's second label, and like many second labels, it is there to bring the consumer value-priced wines. I have only had one other Parker wine, also a Pinot Noir, on the Fess Parker label, and that was long ago and I can't really say much worthwhile about it now except that it was not terrible and I didn't pour it down the sink.

Notes: This is a pretty cherry red in the glass, with hints of ruby. It's got a soft nose (which becomes more evident with some time out of the bottle) that is slightly hot but full of cherry and some forest floor (cedar/pine). It's simple and fruit-driven, not very complex but really easy to drink. Once warmed up, it's got a touch of leather and tobacco on the finish, but nothing overpowering, and the tannins are hardly evident. It's not an intense pinot a la Williams Selyem, but it is a pleasure to drink and I would enjoy guzzling this at a barbeque in the summer, or even on a not-very-cold California January night, such as this, with some potato, chickpea, and spinach stew. It feels a little bit like a guilty pleasure, like watching Nip / Tuck.

Cost: Ten bucks at K&L.

Overall: B (it gets an A for effort)

The plight of Germain-Robin

I had the funniest tasting of my life at Germain-Robin up in Ukiah, a few years ago. Some fine-spirits-fan friends of ours were in town and we decided to make a day of tasting up around Ukiah, mostly so we could go to Germain-Robin. They were interested in brandy and grappa, while I was interested in trying some more Hangar One vodka, which I had had before but wanted to try the different varieties (Hangar One is a joint effort made by Germain-Robin and St. George Spirits over in Alameda).

We drove up to Ukiah, which was a million degrees in August, and found their warehouse, located in a small industrial complex. The woman in charge was not around, so we were left in the hands of what was her temporary assistant/warehouse worker for the summer, a Brazilian soccer fanatic who was probably in his early 20's. He led us back to the "tasting room": a corner of the warehouse (defined by a rug) furnished with a cabinet, some old La-Z-Boy chairs, and a table. On the way in, we were greeted with blaring Black Sabbath, apparently his music of choice to listen to as he worked. He dug around in the cabinet and got out some glasses for us, and then we all stood around listening to Black Sabbath as we tasted grappa and brandy. I also got to play with the boss lady's adorable puppy (playing fetch in a warehouse is fun).

Then the boss came back and turned down the music, which was a little sad, but we had fun while it lasted.

Anyway, I have always had a fondness for Germain-Robin, and I am sad to see that few people love really good brandy these days. I am not a huge brandy drinker, myself, but reading that article makes me want to start. You should, too.

Wine into fuel

More wine woes for France.

Things just aren't getting any better, although something of this magnitude is one of those snowball things that have been in the works for a while. Good year plus downturn in drinking equals less sales. This still seems sad to me.

Chicken Little says France is falling

Oh, the U.S.- France rivalry continues. A British study has predicted that by 2008, the U.S. will outpace France in wine consumption. Looks like Italy might remain #2, which means France would drop two places, a pretty big fall.

Wine consumption has been on the decline in Europe for years, while the U.S. has been playing catch-up. I find it interesting that the article notes the decline in many countries over there, noting that among other things, people are drinking less wine of a better quality.

I feel bad for the French wine industry, it's had a pretty rough time as of late. I wonder if it will be able to recover. They just did have a small win in that wine ads are now allowed to have text describing the wine (they used to be allowed to show only a picture of the wine and I think state the name/producer) and maybe that will give sales a boost, but I am just not sure.

Oh, hm, maybe I stand corrected. The Wine Institute says that as of 1997 at least, Luxembourg had the biggest wine consumption per capita. Of course, the U.S. is also down at #36 (not even 2 gallons per person, goodness), so obviously things have changed a lot since then, but I wonder where Luxembourg stands now? Off to poke around...

Where wine and design geeks meet

If you have a serious love of design and about 75,000 euro to spare, you can own the Wine-Cube. Labyrinth-shaped, made of doussie wood (an orange brown African wood that ages to a dark mahogany) wood, and able to hold over 800 bottles of your favorite wine, Marco Gorini's more-than-a-wine-rack (for Strato) can also be set up with a custom refrigeration unit in case your cellar is not up to snuff.

I would be lusting after this (more) if I hadn't recently bloodied my own hands putting together my own plebian-in-comparison Bordex wine rack. Oh, yeah, and if I had a lot of spare change.

2003 Holus-Bolus Syrah

This is my entry for Wine Blogging Wednesday 5, wherein Pim challenged folks to drink up and write up a wine with an unusual name. Before making my final decision I looked around and passed over Orin Swift's The Prisoner, K Vintners' The Beautiful, Owen Roe's Sinister Hand, and D'Arenberg's The Dead Arm (I am not touching that bottle for a long time). The other day, for a very short while, I regretted (in theory, since it actually sounds like a wine I would hate) not tracking down a chardonnay called Mad Housewife. And I passed up The Ball Buster because, even though it easily beats out names like Defendant and The Last Ditch, it just seemed too easy and god knows I like to make things difficult for myself. So I ended up with the 2003 Holus-Bolus Syrah. Maybe the wine itself doesn't have a strange name, since it is their only wine and just called the varietal, but Holus-Bolus is wacky enough in my book.

Region: Santa Ynez Valley, California, US

Composition: 100% Syrah, I assume, although I am not totally sure.

Background: I knew nothing about this when I got it last summer, and was completely a victim of packaging since I picked it up because of the name and label. I mean, it's an octopus! And a very mysterious one at that. Anyway, it sat around for a few months, and then I decided to get it out for Wine Blogging Wednesday. When I first bought it I could find nothing out about it, but I was able to dig up some information on it, which I will relay in a moment. First, let's look at the phrase "holus-bolus":

holus bolus - (definition from moby-thesaurus)
a corps perdu, carelessly, desperately, furiously, happen what may,
hastily, head over heels, headfirst, headforemost, headlong,
heedlessly, heels over head, helter-skelter, hotheadedly,
hurriedly, hurry-scurry, impetuously, like crazy, like mad, madly,
overeagerly, overenthusiastically, overzealously, precipitantly,
precipitately, precipitously, ramble-scramble, recklessly,
slam-bang, slap-bang, slapdash, wantonly, wildly

As suggested by the words above, this wine is a collaboration between four winemaker-friends: Peter Hunken (of Stolpman), Jim Knight (Jelly Roll), Chad Melville (Melville, Samsara), and Sashi Moorman (Red Car, Stolpman). This is their first release as such, and they made 225 cases of it in an industrial rental until in Lompoc they refer to as "the wine ghetto". The octopus on the label represents the eight hands involved in the making of the wine.

Notes: In the glass this is dark, opaque, and practically purple. We decanted it for a short time and after that it had tar, blackberry/raspberry, black tea, and a little bit of geranium on the nose, and I could tell it was still a little closed. In the mouth this wine is positively enormous. There is a lot of black fruit and a lot of tannin, echoing the nose, and the finish was full of earth, coffee, spice and a little hint of rose.

Then it sat around while we ate and such, and it started to open up and soften more. After about three hours in the decanter/glass, it has more fruit showing on the nose and the whole wine is integrating more. Overall, if you are looking for a huge fruit-driven wine that has some nice structure to it, this wine is for you. I would give it some more time in the bottle, though. I think I opened this one a little too early, even though I enjoyed it.

I can find no other mentions of this wine online (other than places selling it) other than an old Lazy Acres newsletter and some info over at Punt Wines. I am looking forward to other efforts these guys make, though.

Cost: I got this at Amphora Wine Merchant (now Arlequin) for about $24.

Overall: A

2001 Felsner Gruner Veltliner Gedersdorfer Lossterrassen "Kabinett"

Region: Kremstal, Austria

Composition: 100% Gruner Veltliner

Background: The winery is run by Manfred Felsner, who took over the 30-acre estate in 1990 and has worked to reduce yields on the vines in order to make better, more expressive wines. He is pretty hands-off in regard to fussing with the vines, and makes a lot of Gruner from the old (30-plus years) vines on the estate. Felsner has also had some success with Riesling, even though that grape is a newcomer to the land in comparison to the Gruner.

Notes: This particular wine, as the label indicates, comes from the Lossterrassen vineyard in Gedersdorf, a town in the northeastern part of Kremstal (one of Austria's more well-known wine-growing regions, which lies a bit northwest of Vienna). Austria produces slightly richer wines than Germany (although they grow similar grapes) and this wine shows that. It's a beautiful, clear yellow in the glass with some soft paling at the rim. It has a very fruity and floral nose for a Gruner Veltliner, with a lot of pineapple and white stone fruit. With a slight CO2 snap on the tongue (at least fresh out of the bottle) it behaves more like a Gruner once in the mouth, and is hard, nutty, and full of acid and mineral. The finish has some lingering citrus, mostly grapefruit with a hint of mineral. Overall, the wine is bright, well-balanced, and refreshing.

Cost: $10

Overall: A

2001 Chateau de Montmirail Cuvee de l'Ermite

Region: Vacqueyras, France (AOC)

Composition: 50% Syrah, 50% Grenache

Background: This was a wine we had with dinner, out at Geranium. At the time I didn't know much about the producer but I like wines from Southern Rhone in general (Vacqueyras is a little bit northeast of Chateauneuf-du-Pape and directly south of Gigondas) and that the straight Syrah I was also eyeing on the menu was probably too much for what we were eating. Some investigation shows that the original proprietor, Gabriel Archimbaud, was the first bottler in Vacqueyras, and now the property is run by his daughter, Monique, and her son. They make a handful of AOC Vacqueyras wines as well as an AOC Gigondas and a few general AOC Cotes du Rhones.

Notes: This wine has a nose of rose and dust, with some red berries and some geranium and spice/pepper. In the mouth it starts out soft and strawberrylike, and you can tell the Grenache is in control, but on the finish the Syrah shows a little more (especially as it opens up). The soft tannins echo the dust in the nose. Right on the finish, in with the spice, there is a slight perk of berry, but not so much as to be jarring. Overall, it was pleasant and went well with the food we were having.

Cost: It looks like you can pick this up for a little more than $15 a bottle.

Overall: B

2000 Chateau Le Roc "Don Quichotte"

Region: Cotes du Frontonnais, France (AOC)

Composition: 50% syrah, 50% negrette

Background: I bought this when I was in a French wine buying frenzy, and I am not sure why exactly I bought it (I think it was recommended somewhere or other, or was one of my "hey, it's cheap, why not" purchases). The region of Fronton is interesting in that the vineyards must, by law, be planted with 50% negrette, and the soil is iron-rich which gives a certain character to the grapes. The brothers Ribes took over the 32- acre property in 1988 and have been working ever since to make intense wines... I looked around and they have three or four reds and a rose out there, it seems.

Notes: This looked fairly young in the glass and was a dark pure ruby color. It was very pretty, and the nose (even if a little hot) made some big promises... strawberry, violets, a bit of carnation, and a fair amount of peppery spice was present. However, I was a little disappointed with it once I put it in my mouth. There was some red berry on the palate (that's the negrette talking) but not very much; you needed to hunt for it. Not a lot going on, and it turns out most of the wine was in the finish. The finish (which was very syrah-like) had a pleasant amount of soft, chalky tannins and a fair amount of pepper and gingery hotness, along with some bitter tea flavor. I had my second glass with some food (simple pasta with vegetables and tomato sauce, maybe not the best thing but I was feeling lazy) and things improved a little but the lack of mid-palate excitement left me a little sad.

Cost: I think this was a little less than $15.

Overall: C