A little over a week ago I had the luck to attend the fifteenth annual Family Winemakers of California tasting up at Fort Mason. Being that this was the fifteenth one, things went pretty smoothly: there were spitbuckets galore, wide aisles with room to walk around, and even though it got crowded, it was pretty manageable (I only had to cut my visit to a few of the tables short because of other people). I felt a little down and off that day for various reasons, so I didn't get through quite as many wines as I might have liked, but since there were almost 400 wineries there pouring at least two (in more cases, more like four or six) wines each, I had no illusions that I was going to get through them all, or even through most of them.
So what I did was decide on wineries based on a few things:
1- I keep seeing or hearing about a winery's wine, enough so I feel like I know the winery, but have never had it or don't remember having it and am embarrassed to admit it so I corrected that (Nickel & Nickel, Navarro)
2- The winery makes a wine I have had that has interested me enough to check them out (Mantra, Surh Luchtel, Bacio Divino, Saracina)
3- Totally random sightings (Seduction, just because I have ranted about it so much I had to taste it)
I also took the time to talk to a lot of the people working the tables (now I just have to get better at documenting all the stuff they tell me) and found out about some of the wineries, which was more enjoyable to me than keeping my head down and power-tasting through twice as many wines (not always a bad thing, but I was not up to it for this tasting). The wines were all pretty interesting and well-done, even the ones that weren't my cup of tea, so to speak.
Since I was busy for the trade-only tasting (pesky day job!), I went to the Sunday trade-and-public tasting. I would have liked to go to both, since there was so much to taste, but c'est la vie. The public tasting meant I was exposed to the usual annoying wild-women-on-wine junk, glasses hitting the floor (not as many as I have heard at other tastings), gaggles of tipsy twentysomethings standing around and blocking the tables, and fifty year old women who seemed to be on manhunts because they were overdressed and wearing a lot of perfume, which is very annoying since they stink and prevent you from smelling the wine because you are reeling from a big dose of Poison or Trésor as they trip by. Most excitingly, I was almost run over by a Trésor-free but very drunk man while I was tasting at Saracina (he slurred at me something about not trying to run me over and not being able to run me over if he tried). About four minutes later he dropped his glass and staggered his way out the door. I clutched my spit cup, and, as he staggered by us, said to Patricia Rock, "I hope he doesn't take out your table," and thought that there are a few good reasons for spitting at these things, and he was demonstrating most of them. It seemed a good omen that it was time to go (as did the time on my watch), so I left in his wake, listening to people mutter to each other "I hope he's not driving" as they shook their heads.
Navarro
Talked to Chris Spazek. The verjus will be out before Christmas, he told me a little bit about the wines and winery.
2004 Anderson Valley Gewurztraminer dry, nice nose, spicy in the mouth, finish is pretty zippy, pretty tasty
2004 Anderson Valley Pinot Gris a lot of acid acid in it, really nice! soft floral nose and then it bombards your mouth, mouthwatering
2004 Mendocino Sauvignon Blanc Cuvee 128 Floral, grassy, lingering finish, but not as interesting as the previous two
2003 Anderson Valley Ancient Method Pinot Noir a lighter style PN, bubbly redfruit cherry cola, some oak but nice and well-done
2003 Mendocino Zinfandel restrained, nice tingly finish, nice fruit and not too much spice, balanced, very pleasant
O'Brien
After all my griping about the marketing, I spotted the table on my way back from finding a napkin and figured the time was right to taste it. The nice lady behind the table pointed out that each bottle comes in its own "fun wrapping".
2003 O'Brien Seduction fruity, dark, extracted, a lot of licoricey flavors, very Cabbish (Cab nose, Cab finish) and not terrible like I expected or hoped, but not very interesting, one of those not very interesting but easy to drink wines
(Go Rebecca Chapa, the new wine ambassador for Niebaum-Coppola!)
Nickel & Nickel
2003 Russian River Valley Syrah starts off super austere and smooth and silky and then gets a bit of spice on the finish-- close to too extracted and fruity for me, but not quite over the top
2002 Dragonfly Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon funky stemmy nose, not a lot of blackberry spiciness you would expect, but it is all in the finish, which is very nice, starts out slightly medicinal but the finish makes it very nice
2002 Schlumberger Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon (the vineyard where the winery is) not as medicinal on the nose as the Dragonfly, mouth drying, heavily tannic
Project 3000
Grenache soft spicy nose, a LOT of fruit in the mouth, has a nice finish, but the fruit is a little much for me, somewhat overwhelming
Ravenswood
Icon heavy funk fruit nose, kind of crazy smelling especially after all the Cabs, it is very fruity and intense and overwhelming but still kind of fun
Red Car
2004 Red Wind (freshly bottled) brooding and dark and intense and everything I usually don't love in a wine, but it works for me in this case, for some reason I don't understand
2004 Boxcar (entry level Syrah) has that sweet cigar/blood/manure nose I love in all those Italian wines, beautiful, pleasant in the mouth but finish is a little tight; still pleasant and a big CA Syrah
2003 The Fight will be out in October, more of that sweet fruity manure nose, slight coffee/mocha notes, lots of extracted dark intense fruit, a goodly amount of tannin that sort of sneaks up on you
York Creek
Talked to Scott who works in the winery
2002 Merlot odd green smell in nose... not stemmy or planty, but soapy... clean in the mouth, lots of berry fruit in mouth
2002 Cabernet Franc slightly fruity on the finish, extracted
2001 Petit Verdot brett on nose, okay, but I didn't love it because it is bretty, I didn't love it but what's a person to do with Petit Verdot?
2002 Meritage green bell peppery in nose that dissipated with swirling, pleasant but not mindblowing (I have that thing with Cabernet, though)
2002 Port whoa! super spicy on finish, very peppery, along with the typical Port profile (lots of sweet fruit)
Surh Luchtel
2003 Gary's Vineyard Pinot Noir clean cherry fruit, pleasant fuzzy finish with slight tongue-tingling spice, a little fruit-forward
2002 Napa Valley Zinfandel spicy finish, fair amount of fruit but not overwhelmingly so, most of the wine is in the finish
2002 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon green nose, lots of fruit, softish tannins on the finish and slightly too much fruit at finish for me, personally
Mantra Wines
stopped because I liked their rosé at ZAP, talked to Michael Kuimelis, the winemaker, don't have proper notes because we were talking
Started in 2001, 3500 cases in production now, 2005 vintage will be up to 5000 and that is where they want to be, (and maintain at about 5000), bulk of production is in the black label Cab
2002 Revelations Reserve (500 cases) has some Syrah in it, I liked it best, I think
2003 75/25 Cabernet (700 cases) slightly stemmy but okay
2002 Zinfandel Reserve (350 cases) high alcohol, almost desserty (old vines at high elevation next to cab, dry farmed, watered twice a year, 5 percent Petite Sirah and in an isolated vineyard with no phylloxera, mostly aged in Hungarian oak) the wine is not always like this, but this is what Michael said "the grapes wanted" this year, they know it is a little over the top, but kind of go with the grapes
DuNah
wines are unfined, unfiltered, and all made using only wild yeast, no inoculation, usually around 1/3 new oak and full malolactic fermenation
2002 DeeDee's Vineyard Chardonnay nose slightly on the oaky side, but very pretty and in the mouth it is beautiful, with some peaches and creme brulee, a goregous soft finish (yes, and even with all that ML! go figure)
2002 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay (3 vineyard blend) lots of oak on the nose, lots of fruit on the palate, more fruit than DeeDee's, very rich and girly (I preferred the DeeDee's)
2002 San Giacomo Vineyard Pinot Noir good nose, but descends into a little too much cherry fruit for me
2003 DuNah Vineyard smells like it has more oak on it than the San Giacomo
Laetitia
2003 Laetitia Estate Pinot Noir barnyard funk going on, fair amount of oak and fruit, this is where I started thinking maybe I was having Oak Issues and was off in some way, but it was well done and I liked it. It warmed my chest like a hot toddy
Eric Ross
2001 Saralee's Vineyard Pinot Noir cigar/manure nose, very very soft, with perky finish, soft soft soft and then bam! almost-spicy finish with a lot of stuff going on
2004 Old Vines Carignane really blueberry? nose and no weird Carignane finish... some slight spice and then it fades out, nicely
Flowers
2003 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir some barnyard on the nose, tobacco, possibly a little brett? pleasant but not mindblowing, which I think I was hoping for
2002 Andreen Gate Pinot Noir more oaky, woody tobacco smells on nose than the Sonoma Coast, well-balanced, nice acid, some spice on the finish, overall a woodier, tobacco-ier, more dried leaf type of wine
Fritz
talked to Stephen Schelke
2003 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir funk on the nose and a nice little Pinot overall, very friendly, easy to drink, slight puckery finish
2003 Estate Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel very happy and friendly, lots of cherry fruit, not a dark Zinfandel, but a kind of happy and light Zinfandel, if such a thing exists
Hendry
2003 Blocks 4 and 5 Napa Valley Pinot Noir well integrated oak on the nose, so far possibly my favorite of the day
(did I try a second pinot)
Cambria
2003 Katherine's Vineyard Chardonnay nose too brown for me (oaky, brown smells) but the finish is pretty, creamy but not too much, tart apple and nectariney and white stone fruit
2003 Estate Benchbreak Vineyard Chardonnay less oak and more peaches than the previous, and I think I liked the first one better, overall, even though both were fine
2004 Julia's Vineyard Pinot Noir finally a Pinot that isn't super oaky! cherry and iodine, not very big, slightly medicinal finish, not so sure about that finish
2003 Benchbreak Vineyard Pinot Noir softer, less aggressive, less medicinal than the Julia's
Bacio Divino
talked to Brian Lipton
2003 Pazzo (just released, 66% Sangiovese, 23% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Petit Sirah, 4% Viogner) a very pretty floral nose, high acid, not much tannin, mostly fuzziness, I like this wine and this is going to be a really nice year for it
2002 Bacio Divino (66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Sangiovese, 15% Petite Sirah) while Pazzo is more red fruit, this is more black fruit, all about the Cab (it's a Cab, Sangiovese, , dark and brooding, intense, nicely done
Corison
2001 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon not much on the nose but is very elegant, very well done, so smooth
2001 Kronos Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon this one has a nose that is more willing to talk to you, more fruit in the mouth than the Napa Valley, not quite as smooth as the Napa Valley
Dashe Cellars
2002 Todd Brothers Ranch Zinfandel more extracted and fruity style of Zin, a lot of spice, a lot of alcohol
2002 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon good nose but finish is a little awkward and blocky
Acorn
2002 Sangiovese nice lingering finish, almost too clean and fruity for a Sangiovese, not as rustic as I am used to
2002 Medley (Cab Franc, Zin, etc) the perfect bastard child of Cabernet Franc and Zinfandel, lots of cherry-strawberry-blackberry fruit
2002 Allegria Vineyard Axiom Syrah a soft fruity Syrah, but there is an element of medicinal bandage, not band-aid, not iodine, kind of a cough syrupy flavor, it is my least favorite of the three
Davis Bynum
2004 Fume Blanc slightly tropical nose, not as grapefruity as the 2003 (or was it the 2002?) and closer to the 1999 which I loved (I tried this to see if it was similar) with some hay bale/grass/straw on nose, but full of pineapple and peach in the mouth
2002 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir spicebox tobacco nose, slight bready manurey touch, soft and clear in mouth with pleasant fruit
Fiddlehead Cellars
2003 Happy Canyon Sauvignon Blanc first sniff freaked me out, smelled like frying chicken (and I mean that in a nice way, although it was very unexpected) but that disappeared, maybe I hallucinated it... very fruity tart apple on palate, not grassy at all, pleasant enough but I didn't love it
2002 728 Pinot Noir not much on the nose, but at least there isn't too much oak (ha), a quiet Pinot Noir, light red fruit, would be good with food, pleasant
Saracina
talked to Patricia Rock, wife of winemaker (John Fetzer, and yeah, he is the guy who started Fetzer years ago, with his family)
Altrea is the Saracina second label, devoted to blends, while Saracina is all varietals
NV Atrea "The Choir" White (300 cases, just released, already those 300 cases are allocated) Viognier/Roussanne blend beautiful, floral, nice acids, bright and tasty
NV Atrea "Old Soul" Red a little fruit, a little spice, a little tannin, very pleasant and well-balanced
2004 Saracina Mendocino County Sauvignon Blanc grassy nose good high acid finish, lots of tart citrus and even pear and hay, nice, almost has a snap on the tongue at first hit
2003 Saracina Mendocino County Syrah crazy, starts out with a lot of fruit and is very extracted, then goes into a bitter period and then comes out with more fruit and spice on the finish, dark and brooding, lots of tannin
The team at Bacio Divino stick their necks way out to blend wines that produce immense satisfaction. They "create" their wines, new and exciting wines . Who else in Napa combines Cab with Sangiovese, Syrah, and a little Viogner to create a new taste? . Blending in this manner is an art form increasing lost to a "sideways" culture emphasizing varietals at all cost. Explore on, Claus!!
Posted by: Poldark Maximus | 11 November 2005 at 08:40 AM