Cafes & Wineries

I pride myself on my broad tastes in wine. I like wine from everywhere, and don’t believe I have a specific bias towards one region or another. However, each year, that claim is shaken a little as I emerge from what is one of the best wine tasting events held in San Francisco, The Gambero Rosso Tre Bicchieri tasting.

For those unfamiliar with the Gambero Rosso, it is essentially an organization focused on the promotion and evaluation of Italian food and wine. Each year the organization publishes a guide by the same name. The Gambero Rosso is the Italian Wine bible, and in my experience, it is the most thorough and high-quality guide to any wine region that exists in the world. The guide covers a dizzying 14,000+ wines each year from the incredibly diverse regions of Italy.

Each year the Gambero Rosso guide awards one, two, or three “Bicchieri” (or “glasses”) to wines of exceptional character and quality. From tens of thousands, there are usually a couple of hundred Tre Bicchieri wines, and every Spring Gambero Rosso brings many of them to San Francisco for the media and the trade to taste.

While I don’t love all the wines at this tasting, I am constantly amazed by the quality and individuality of these wines. I leave the tasting every year pining for many of these wines, and wishing I had the means to add them to my collection, though invariably, there are always some fantastic $15 wines that are easy to seek out and find. It’s quite a contrast to attend this tasting merely a week or two after tasting 200 barrel samples of Napa Cabernet. Comparing Napa Valley to the whole of Italy is quite unfair, of course, but the adjacency of the two tastings definitely provides the opportunity to reflect on how narrow an experience one would have if they only drank wines from Napa.

This year I was particularly taken by a number of 2005 Barolos which are hitting the market after the much vaunted 2004 vintage and not getting the attention they deserve, in my opinion. I also fell head over heels in love with yet another wine from the flanks of the volcano — my next trip to Italy absolutely must include a pilgrimage to Etna.

Without further ado, here’s what I thought of these wines.

Whites

WHITE WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9.5

2008 Cantina Termeno A. A. Gewürztraminer Nussbaumer, Alto Adige. $45
Pale gold in the glass, this wine has a beautifully fragrant nose of classic rose petal aromas. In the mouth it is rich and silky in texture with flavors of rose petals, orange blossom water, and a mixed bouquet of flowers that rise through an incredible finish. Click to buy.

2008 Donnafugata Passito di Pantelleria Ben Rye, Sicilia. $25
Medium gold in the glass, this wine has a nose of freshly cut cedar and orange blossoms. In the mouth it is thick and sweet but with bright acidity that buoys flavors of candied orange peel, honey, and white flowers through a beautiful finish. Wow.

2007 Livon Braide Alte, Friuli Venezia Giulia. $45
Pale blonde in color, this wine has a wonderful nose of green melon and floral aromas. In the mouth it offers rich silky textured flavors of star fruit, cucumber, and delicate white flowers that linger in a very long finish. The foundation of the wine is a deep rainwater minerality that is faint but persistent. Excellent.

WHITE WINES SCORING BETWEEN 9 AND 9.5

2008 Marisa Cuomo Costa d’Amalfi Fiorduva, Campania. $42
Pale gold in the glass, this wine has a nose of peachy and vanilla aromas. In the mouth it is zingy and floral with orange zest and rose petal flavors, which morph to more citrus notes in the very long, clean finish. Delectable.

2008 Venica & Venica Collio Sauvignon Ronco delle Mele, Friuli Venezia Giulia. $40
Palest gold in color, this wine practically explodes out of the glass with what may be the most incredibly floral set of aromas I’ve ever smelled on a wine. In the mouth it offers an incredibly delicate bouquet of mixed white flowers, from Lilly of the Valley to jasmine, all doused with rainwater and fresh green apple juice. An altogether disarming and beautiful wine. Click to buy.

NV Nino Franco Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Brut Rustico, Veneto. $18. Click to buy.
2000 Ferrari Trento Giulio Ferrari Riserva del Fondatore Brut, Trentino. $70.

WHITE WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9
2007 La Vis/Valle di Cembra  Ritratto Bianco, Trentino. $16
2008 Cantina Produttori San Michele Appiano A. A. Sauvignon St.Valentin, Alto Adige. $45
2006 Cantina Terlano A. A.Terlano Pinot Bianco Vorberg is., Alto Adige. $30
2008 Cantine Lunae Bosoni     Colli di Luni Vermentino Cavagino, Liguria. $??
2008 I Campi Soave Cl. Campo Vulcano, Veneto. $25
2005 Il Mosnel Franciacorta Satèn, Lombardia. $??
2007 Jermann Vintage Tunina, Friuli Venezia Giulia. $50
2008 Nino Franco Valdobbiadene Grave di Stecca Brut, Veneto. $28
2008 Planeta  Cometa, Sicilia. $??
2006 Terre Cortesi Conero Vign. Del Parco Riserva, Marche. $??
2007 Villa Sparina Gavi del Comune di Gavi Monterotondo, Piemonte. $50
2008 Volpe Pasini COF Pinot Bianco Zuc di Volpe, Friuli Venezia Giulia. $32

WHITE WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8.5 AND 9
2007 Ca’ Rugate Recioto di Soave La Perlara, Veneto. $??
2008 Cantine Lunae Bosoni Colli di Luni Vermentino Etichetta Lunae Nera, Liguria. $??
2007 Cusumano  Sàgana, Sicilia. $20
2007 Gioacchino Garofoli  Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Cl. Sup. Podium, Marche. $20
2008 Ottella Lugana Sup. Molceo, Veneto. $16
2008 Pietracupa  Greco di Tufo, Campania. $25
2008 Prà Soave Cl. Monte Grande, Veneto. $30
2006 Terre Cortesi Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Cl. V. Novali Ris., Marche. $??

WHITE WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8.5
2008 Ca’ Rugate Soave Cl. Monte Fiorentine, Veneto. $23
2002 Cesarini Sforza Trento Aquila Reale Brut Ris., Trentino. $90
2004 Guido Berlucchi & C. Franciacorta Brut Extrême Palazzo Lana, Lombardia. ?
2007 Ottella Lugana Sup. Molceo, Veneto. $25
2006 Perticaia Montefalco Sagrantino, Umbria. $50
2007 Sergio Mottura Latour a Civitella, Lazio. $18
2008 Sergio Mottura Grechetto Poggio della Costa, Lazio. $18
2008 Tenute Sella & Mosca  Vermentino di Gallura Monteoro, Sardegna. $??
2008 Vitivinicola Broglia Gavi del Comune di Gavi Bruno Broglia, Piemonte. $36

WHITE WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8 AND 8.5
2005 F.lli Giorgi OP Pinot Nero Brut Cl. 1870, Lombardia. $??
2002 Cavit Trento Altemasi Graal Brut Ris., Trentino. $49

Reds

RED WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9.5

2005 Batasiolo Barolo Boscareto, Piemonte. $75
Light ruby in the glass this wine has a wonderfully floral nose of dried flowers, herbs, and redcurrants. In the mouth it offers redcurrant and raspberry flavors that mix with dried flowers. You could call the wine delicate but for the muscular tannins that underlie the gorgeous fruit and floral qualities that linger with excellent balance in the finish.

2004 Elvio Cogno Barolo V. Elena, Piemonte. $110
Light ruby in color, this wine has an incredibly aromatic nose of cherry and cedar aromas with hints of the floral. In the mouth it is beautifully juicy with cherry, leather, cedar and redcurrant fruit supported by firm, leathery tannins and enlivened with great acidity. The wine finishes long and airy. Outstanding.

2007 Palari Faro Palari, Sicilia. $65
Light ruby in color, this wine has a nearly otherworldly nose of dried flowers and a perfect summer’s day, with an underlying brightness of fruit. In the mouth it is nothing short of stunning, with near perfect balance and acidity cradling delicate flavors of redcurrant, cherry, and again that heavenly floral quality. The faintest of tannins give some grip and body to the wine, and they have an incredible sweet aroma to them that is quite unlike any other wine I’ve had. Remarkable and compelling.

2005 Zenato Amarone della Valpolicella Cl., Veneto. $60
Dark garnet in color, this wine has a rich beautiful nose of violets and cassis fruit. In the mouth the wine offers the light sweetness of dried cherry fruit with rich chocolate covered cherry cordials and violets. The wine has an incredibly long finish that incorporates hints of spices. Stunning.

2004 Palari Faro Palaro, Sicilia. /a.

RED WINES SCORING BETWEEN 9 AND 9.5
2005 Castellare di Castellina I Sodi di San Niccolò, Toscana. $70
2005 Marchesi di Barolo Barolo Sarmassa, Piemonte.
2006 Allegrini Dedicato a Walter, Veneto. $120
2006 Barone Ricasoli Chianti Cl. Castello di Brolio, Toscana. $58
2005 Batasiolo Barolo Cerequio, Piemonte. $75
2005 Ettore Germano Barolo Cerretta, Piemonte. $80
2007 Fattoria Carpineta Fontalpino Do Ut Des, Toscana. $35
2006 Fattoria di  Felsina Fontalloro, Toscana. $??
2007 Fattoria Petrolo Galatrona, Toscana. $120
2001 Fontanafredda Barolo Lazzarito V. La Delizia, Piemonte. $110
2004 Giancarlo Travaglini Gattinara Ris., Piemonte. $??
2006 Isole e Olena Cepparello, Toscana. $70
2005 Malvirà Roero Renesio Ris., Piemonte. $60
2004 Masi Amarone della Valpolicella Cl. Campolongo di Torbe, Veneto. $120
2006 Michele Chiarlo Barbera d’Asti Sup. La Nizza Court, Piemonte. $55
2004 Oddero Barolo Mondoca di Bussia Soprana, Piemonte. $60
2007 Palari  Rosso del Soprano, Sicilia. $35
2005 Pio Cesare Barolo Ornato, Piemonte. $109
2006 Podere Le Berne Nobile di Montepulciano, Toscana. $33
2006 Podere Sapaio Bolgheri Sapaio Sup., Toscana. $45
2005 Prunotto Barolo Bussia, Piemonte. $90
2004 San Giorgio Brunello di Montalcino Ugolforte, Toscana. $65
2006 Velenosi  Rosso Piceno Sup. Roggio del Filare, Marche. $54
2005 Vietti Barolo Lazzarito, Piemonte. $150

RED WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9
2005 Allegrini Amarone della Valpolicella Cl., Veneto. $90
2006 Benanti Etna Rosso Serra della Contessa , Sicilia. $??
2005 Brezza &amp Figli Giacomo Barolo Sarmassa, Piemonte. $75
2006 Ca’ del Baio Barbaresco Asili, Piemonte. $??
2007 Cantele    Amativo, Puglia. $??
2007 Castello Monaci   Artas, Puglia. $35
2006 Donnafugata Contessa Entellina Milleunanotte, Sicilia. $90
2006 Fattoria Colle Allodole Montefalco Sagrantino Colleallodole, Umbria. $90
2006 Feudi della Medusa  Gerione , Sardegna. $80
2007 Feudo Maccari  Saia, Sicilia. $??
2004 Fontanafredda Barolo Lazzarito V. La Delizia, Piemonte. $110
2005 G. D. Vajra Barolo Bricco delle Viole, Piemonte. $??
2007 Giovanni Almondo Roero Bric Valdiana, Piemonte. $55
2007 Guerrieri Rizzardi Valpolicella Cl. Sup. Ripasso Poiega, Veneto. $??
2006 Melini Chianti Cl. La Selvanella Ris., Toscana. $25
2005 Michele Chiarlo Barolo Cerequio, Piemonte. $99
2006 Nino Negri Valtellina Sfursat, Lombardia. $45
2006 Nino Negri Valtellina Sfursat 5 Stelle, Lombardia. $70
2006 Pelissero Barbaresco Vanotu, Piemonte. $65
2007 Pietradolce  Etna Rosso Archineri, Sicilia. $35
2007 Rocca di Frassinello Baffo Nero, Toscana. n/a
2006 Serafini & Vidotto Montello e Colli Asolani Il Rosso dell’Abazia, Veneto. $60
2006 Tenuta Mazzolino  OP Pinot Nero Noir, Lombardia. $??
2006 Tenuta Olim Bauda Barbera d’Asti Sup. Nizza, Piemonte. $40
2006 Tenuta San Guido Bolgheri Sassicaia, Toscana. $150
2007 Tormaresca  Masseria Maime, Puglia. $40
2006 Valle Reale  Montepulciano d’Abruzzo San Calisto, Abruzzo. $38

RED WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8.5 AND 9
2006 Antinori Tignanello, Toscana. $95
2004 Antonelli - San Marco Montefalco Sagrantino Chiusa di Pannone, Umbria. $??
2006 Argentiera Bolgheri Sup. Argentiera, Toscana. $??
2007 Barone Ricasoli Chianti Cl. Brolio, Toscana. $22
2006 Barone Ricasoli Casalferro, Toscana. $51
2005 Benanti Il Drappo, Sicilia. $??
2004 Canalicchio - Franco Pacenti Brunello di Montalcino, Toscana. $??
2006 Cantine Lunae Bosoni     Colli di Luni Rosso Niccolo V, Liguria. $??
2006 Castello di Cigognola  OP Barbera Castello di Cigognola, Lombardia. $??
2006 Cesarini Sforza Chianti Cl. Villa Cafaggio Ris., Toscana. $28
2005 Còlpetrone Montefalco Sagrantino Gold, Umbria. $85
2006 Conti Zecca   Nero, Puglia. $??
2007 Di Majo Norante Molise Aglianico Contado Ris., Molise. $18
2006 Famiglia Cecchi Coevo, Toscana. $60
2007 Feudi del Pisciotto  Nero d’Avola Versace, Sicilia. $33
2004 Greppone Mazzi - Tenimenti Ruffino Brunello di Montalcino, Toscana. $75
2007 Librandi Cirò Rosso Duca Sanfelice Ris., Calabria. $23
2004 MezzaCorona  Teroldego Rotaliano Nos Ris., Trentino. $39
2006 Nino Negri Valtellina Superiore Mazer, Lombardia. $35
2004 Podere La Fortuna Brunello di Montalcino, Toscana. $??
2006 Poliziano Nobile di Montepulciano Asinone, Toscana. $??
2006 San Patrignano  Colli di Rimini Cabernet Montepirolo, Emila Romagna. $??
2006 Tenuta La Fuga Nozzole, Toscana. $??
2007 Tenuta San Guido Guidalberto, Toscana. $40
2005 Tenuta Sant′Antonio Amarone della Valpolicella Campo dei Gigli, Veneto. $125
2007 Terre del Principe Centomoggia, Campania. $??
2006 Umani Ronchi  Pelago, Marche. $99
2006 Umani Ronchi  Conero Cumaro Riserva, Marche. $52
2006 Villa Medoro  Montepulciano d′Abruzzo Colline Teramane Adrano, Abruzzo. $??

RED WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8.5
2006 Cantina Convento Muri-Gries A. A. Lagrein Abtei Ris., Alto Adige. $??
2007 Castello di Cigognola  Barbera Dodicidodici, Lombardia. $??
2008 Ermete Medici & Figli Reggiano Lambrusco Concerto, Emila Romagna. $21
2005 Guerrieri Rizzardi Amarone della Valpolicella Cl. Villa Rizzardi, Veneto. $??
2007 Tasca d’Almerita  Cabernet Sauvignon, Sicilia. $70
2004 Tenuta La Fuga Brunello di Montalcino, Toscana. $65
2006 Tenuta La Fuga Cabreo il Borgo, Toscana. $50
2004 Tenute Sella & Mosca Alghero Marchese di Villamarina, Sardegna. $??
2006 Villa Vignamaggio Vignamaggio, Toscana. $97

RED WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8
2007 Bricco Maiolica Diano d’Alba Sup. Sörì Bricco Maiolica, Piemonte. $??

Original post by Alfonso Cevola

With just a quick glance at the bottle, you might think to yourself, “Oh, it’s just some random little white wine from somewhere in France.” After all, it’s just a Vin Blanc with some unfamiliar name on it.

But look a little closer, and you might start to get the idea that this isn’t just any wine. For starters, the bottle is somewhat unusual, resembling something you might see in Germany or Austria. Indeed, it would be easy to mistake this wine as coming from the Alsace region of France for that reason.

A slightly more studied glance at the label will reveal, however, that this wine hails not from Alsace, but from… Chateau-Grillet, which happens to be the name of both the winery, and the AOC (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée), or appellation, where the wine is made.

This place, the winery that provides its name, and the wine produced there are part of one of the more unique stories in French wine. Just ask Thomas Jefferson, who played hooky from his diplomatic duties while in France in order to make a detour to the winery and it’s 9 acres of vineyards and the little white wine that even then was regarded as one of the best in the world.

Just a few kilometers south of the village of Condrieu in the Northern Rhone valley lies the hamlet of Verin, backed up against some granite hills that have been worried at for millennia by the nearby Rhone river. Carved out of those hills, in steeply terraced rows, sits a small amphitheater of grape vines. People have been growing grapes in this spot as far back as Roman times. Presumably someone knows exactly when, but at some point someone figured out that the friable, sandy granitic soil was perfect for growing Viognier, the primary white grape of Condrieu, the wine region within which Chateau-Grillet sits.

Surrounded by the vineyards of Condrieu, Chateau-Grillet is its own separate appellation, and at 3.5 hectares, one of France’s smallest, and also one of the few that are farmed and owned by a single producer. Since the time that Jefferson visited in the late 18th Century, Chateau-Grillet has been owned by a single family whose modern day descendants, the Neyret-Gachet family, currently display their name on the label.

Chateau-Grillet is both Condrieu and it is not. Like the larger region in which it sits, the wine is made with 100% Viognier grapes, but both the qualities of the wine, as well as its making are different than its neighbors.

To start with, the estate has some pretty old vines, averaging about 40-years-old across the vineyard, some of which have been bearing fruit since before the Chateau-Grillet appellation was officially sanctioned in 1936. Like the rest of Condrieu, but perhaps even more thanks to vine age and very nutrient-poor soils, Chateau-Grillet’s yields are miniscule.

Needless to say, the fruit is harvested painstakingly by hand, and carefully destemmed and crushed. From there it is fermented and then aged in old oak casks for well over a year before being bottled. This cask aging is a significant departure from the relatively insignificant aging that most Condrieu gets, and is no doubt partially responsible for the character difference between Chateau-Grillet and those wines. Chateau-Grillet does not have the explosive intense aromatics of Condrieu, nor quite the intense honeyed fruit flavors. More reserved in character, Chateau-Grillet also tends to be longer lived than its neighbors.

Only roughly 2000 cases of wine are produced each year, to a demand that far outstrips the estate’s supply. It is one of those wines slavishly cherished by those who love the white wines of the Rhone, though thankfully with less fanfare and cash than the red wines of the region. Consequently it is not impossible to find, nor prohibitively expensive to buy, considering it is one of the wine world’s treasures.

Tasting Notes:
Pal gold in the glass, this wine has an electrifying smell of lemon… cocaine. Something ethereal and intense and distinctly lemony, but not exactly of this world, so to speak. On the palate the wine has a gorgeous, silky, texture and the viscous weight that often accompanies Viognier. The magic of this wine comes from its fantastic balance between a creamy lemon curd and lemongrass-scented richness, and a bright crystalline acidity that hang in a taut balance that resonates through a long finish. This interplay between fruit and mineral, lushness and crispness simply just makes you want to drink more, and more, and more. Which I highly recommend you do.

Food Pairing:
This wine will match an incredible array of foods, from shellfish to starch to salads. I drank this recently with cold antipasti plates and found it a stunning match with grilled octopus salad.

Overall Score: around 9.5

How Much?: $85

This wine is available for purchase on the Internet.

Original post by Alfonso Cevola

One of my favorite events each year involves the opportunity to sample some of the best wines that Napa produces in a given vintage. At Premiere Napa Valley, an auction that serves as the world’s most expensive “bake sale” to support the efforts of the non-profit Napa Valley Vintners Association, journalists like me get a chance to sneak a taste of hundreds of unique wines that are purchased by the nation’s top wine retailers at staggeringly high prices.

This year, as every year, 200 member wineries each crafted a unique auction lot of wine that in most cases represents the very best wine that they are capable of producing. Some bottle five or ten cases of wine from their best barrel and some make a unique blend from their two best vineyard blocks. No matter what their composition, each auction lot must be a unique wine that will never be available anywhere else, and implicitly, it must be as good as possible, to ultimately fetch the highest price.

So what’s the good in me tasting wines that neither you nor I will ever get a chance to taste again, let alone purchase one day? As I swoon over some of these wines, I often ask myself the same question.

Some of these wines can actually be purchased by the public, though they require persistence to track down, plus a cavalier attitude towards the price of wine. When the 5 cases of Shafer Sunspot Vineyard Cabernet that sold for $37,000 last Saturday eventually get sold, I shudder to think what the price per bottle will be. The event web site lists the buyer of each lot and their contact information if anyone really is interested in finding one of these wines.

Many of the lots are spoken for well before the gavel falls — purchased by wine retailers and brokers who essentially take orders (and bundles of cash) from their best customers, and then show up to invest, as if they are managing a wine hedge fund.

For the rest of us, apart from offering a ringside view on the uppermost echelon of California wine buying, the Premiere Napa Valley auction provides three main insights:

1. The measure of demand strength for the luxury end of the Napa wine industry
2. A gauge of the quality of wine that a large number of Napa producers can make when they really try
3. A broad sense of the qualities of a particular vintage — in this case, 2008

I attend every year for these insights, along with the fantastic food and laid-back camaraderie that accompanies the event.

This year’s event was a marked contrast to last year’s, which came hard on the heels of the recession. The room was packed, the energy high, and the bidding enthusiastic, if somewhat less extravagant than in years past. However, while the highest price that any lot fetched was $37,000, many of the final prices were higher on average than in many past years. This translated into auction proceeds of almost $2 Million, a significant jump from last year’s $1.5 million, and slightly lower than the $2.2 million raised in 2008 before the stock market crash. It can be dangerous to extrapolate anything about the larger wine economy from the bubble-like world of Napa, but that didn’t keep the optimism out of the room, nor the spring out of many steps. In general, it felt like a recovery.

As for the 2008 vintage in Napa, the best word to describe it is: massive. The wines are huge, brawny, and rich, but the best maintain a good acidity and balance that will make them truly tremendous by the time they are release 2 years from now. Some wines suffer from extremely aggressive tannins, though they are on the whole much smoother tannins than in 2006. My sense is that well balanced wines from this vintage, like 2007, will age extremely well.

The Premiere barrel tasting is quite a marathon, especially for a guy like me who sets out to taste literally every single one of the 200 wines on offer. I have to work my ass off in order to get through them all. This year, I tasted all but one. When I first got to Anomaly Vineyards′ barrel they weren’t yet pouring, so I skipped them and forgot to go back. Oops.

Despite being a several-hour-slog through a lot of big wines, I really enjoy the opportunity to sample fabulous work of 200 master craftsmen and women. This year included some real highlights, including another phenomenal late-disgorged sparkling wine from Schramsberg, the still cloudy late harvest Sauvignon Blanc from Honig, and several Cabernets and Bordeaux blends, including the stellar offering from Spottswoode. And while I can’t get my hands on any of these specific wines, having tasted “the best they can produce” I am always reminded which labels to look out for as I′m in search of great reds from Napa.

WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9.5
2008 Barnett Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Spring Mountain District
2008 Cardinale Bordeaux Blend, Napa Valley
2008 Chateau Boswell Winery “The Fourth Estate” Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville
2008 Corison Winery “Premiere Reserve” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 HALL “Sacrashe Vineyard - Block 2″ Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford
2009 Honig Vineyard & Winery Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc, Rutherford
2008 Hourglass “36-24-36″ Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 J. Davies Vineyards “Jack’s Block, 96 Vines” Cabernet Sauvignon, Diamond Mountain District
2008 Lang & Reed Wine Company “Parcel 33″ Cabernet Franc, Napa Valley
2008 Larkmead Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Lewis Cellars “Premiere Blend” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 PlumpJack Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville
2007 Porter Family Vineyards “Duet” Red Wine, Napa Valley
2008 Schrader “Double Diamond Turbo X” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
1994 Schramsberg Vineyards “1994 Reserve - Late Disgorged” Sparkling Wine, Napa Valley
2008 Spottswoode Estate Vineyard & Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena
2008 Spring Mountain Vineyard “Vertical Gobelet Vines” Cabernet Sauvignon, Spring Mountain District
2008 Staglin Family Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford
2008 Venge Vineyards “Family Reserve, Oakville” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
NV ZD Wines “Petit Abacus” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley

WINES SCORING BETWEEN 9 AND 9.5
2007 Astrale e Terra Syrah, Atlas Peak
2008 Beaulieu Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford
2008 Blackbird Vineyards Bordeaux Blend, Napa Valley
2008 BOND “Quella” Bordeaux Blend, Napa Valley
2008 Cain Vineyard &amp Winery “Francois’ Pick” Cabernet Sauvignon, Spring Mountain District
2008 Carter Cellars “Envy” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Clark-Claudon Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Cliff Lede Vineyards “Let It Be Layla” Cabernet Sauvignon, Stags Leap District
2008 Coho “SummitVine Ranch Upper Block” Cabernet Sauvignon, Diamond Mountain District
2008 Coup De Foudre Winery “Upper/Lower Valley Love Blend″ Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Darioush Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Diamond Terrace “Two Mountains” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Domaine Chandon “Barrel Select″ Pinot Meunier, Los Carneros
2008 Duckhorn Vineyards “Three Palms Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Ehlers Estate “The Geomancer” Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena
2008 Fantesca Estate & Winery “Tastes Like a First Kiss” Cabernet Sauvignon, Spring Mountain District
2008 Farella-Park Vineyards “Terrace Reserve” Bordeaux Blend, Napa Valley
2008 Gargiulo Vineyards “OVX Estate Blend” Meritage, Oakville
2008 Gemstone “Essence of Gemstone″ Cabernet Sauvignon, Yountville
2008 Girard Winery “Mountain Cuvee″ Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2007 Hestan Vineyards “Stephanie Selection” Red Table Wine, Napa Valley
2009 Hill Family Estate Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc, Los Carneros
2008 Howell at the Moon “Knoll Vineyard Clone 4″ Cabernet Sauvignon, Howell Mountain
2008 Husic Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Stags Leap District
2008 Jones Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Joseph Phelps Vineyards “Backus Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville
2008 Kuleto Estate “El Coyote″ Red Wine, Napa Valley
2008 La Jota Vineyard Co. Red Wine, Napa Valley
2008 Ladera Vineyards “Two Mountains” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Livingston Moffett Wines Cabernet Sauvignon, Yountville
2008 Martin Estate “Premiere Row” Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford
2008 Mi Sueño Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Newton Vineyard “Piece of the Puzzle” Cabernet Sauvignon, Spring Mountain District
2008 O’Shaughnessy Estate Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, Howell Mountain
2008 Ovid Napa Valley “Block 1A” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2007 Page Wine Cellars “Your Personal Stash” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2007 Parallel Napa Valley “Two Hills” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 PEJU “P.S. We Love Rutherford” Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford
2008 Pillar Rock Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Stags Leap District
2008 Pride Mountain Vineyards “Premiere Napa Valley Cuvee” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Realm Cellars “Premiere Cuvee” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Reynolds Family Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, Stags Leap District
2008 Rocca Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Yountville
2009 Saintsbury “Brown Ranch” Pinot Noir, Los Carneros
2008 Seavey Vineyard Red Wine, Napa Valley
2008 Shafer Vineyards “Sunspot Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, Stags Leap District
2008 Signorello Estate “Big Rock Cuvee” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Silverado Vineyards “SOLO, Double Block” Cabernet Sauvignon, Stags Leap District
2008 Sodaro Estate Winery Petit Verdot, Napa Valley
2008 Stags’ Leap Winery “Ne Cede Malis Estate-Grown Field Blend” Petite Syrah, Stags Leap District
2008 Sterling Vineyards “Three Palms Vineyard″ Cabernet Franc, Napa Valley
2008 Swanson Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Switchback Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Terra Valentine “Fleur De Lys” Cabernet Franc, Spring Mountain District
2007 Tom Eddy Winery “Block One Plus” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 TOR Kenward Family Wines Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville
2008 Tuck Beckstoffer Wines Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 White Rock Vineyards Petit Verdot, Napa Valley

WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9
2008 Amuse Bouche Winery Merlot, Napa Valley
2009 Arietta “A-grec” Semillon, Napa Valley
2008 Ashe Family Vineyards “One Acre” Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville
2008 Barlow Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Behrens Family Winery “Cemetery Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Bennett Lane “Calistoga Appellation Lot” Cabernet Sauvignon, Calistoga
2008 Beringer Vineyards “Mountain to Valley” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Black Coyote Chateau Cabernet Sauvignon, Atlas Peak
2008 Bravante Vineyards Red Table Wine, Howell Mountain
2008 Buoncristiani Family Winery “Fratelli Fervor - Stagecoach Vineyard” Malbec, Napa Valley
2008 Cakebread Cellars Red Table Wine, Napa Valley
2008 Chappellet Winery and Vineyard “Heaven on the Hill” Bordeaux Blend, Napa Valley
2008 Chateau Montelena Winery “Montelena Estate G Block Old Vine Finale” Cabernet Sauvignon, Calistoga
2008 Cimarossa “Poppy Flats” Cabernet Sauvignon, Howell Mountain
2008 Conn Creek Winery “Lucky 13″ Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Continuum Red Table Wine, Napa Valley
2008 Cornerstone Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon, Howell Mountain
2008 Dyer Vineyard Cabernet Franc, Diamond Mountain District
2008 Elyse Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Etude “Vine Hill Ranch” Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville
2008 Far Niente “Martin Stelling Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville
2008 Fontanella Family Winery Merlot, Mount Veeder
2008 Frank Family Vineyards “Winston Hill Block 5 (Heart Block)” Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford
2008 Frazier Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2009 Frias Family Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Spring Mountain District
2008 Grgich Hills Estate “Old Vine Cabernet Sauvignon” Cabernet Sauvignon, Yountville
2008 Groth Vineyards & Winery “Core Blend” Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville
2008 Hess Collection Winery, The Cabernet Sauvignon, Mount Veeder
2008 Hewitt Vineyard “Unique Hewitt Vineyard Blend with Petit Verdot” Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford
2007 Hopper Creek Winery “Proprietor’s Private Estate Reserve” Cabernet Sauvignon, Yountville
2008 John Anthony Cabernet Sauvignon, Oak Knoll District of Napa Valley
2008 Keenan Winery “Tribute Part 3: Grand Classique” Cabernet Sauvignon, Spring Mountain District
2008 Krupp Brothers “Two Bald Heads Cuvee” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Meander “The Twist” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Miner Family Vineyards Bordeaux Blend, Napa Valley
2008 Monticello Vineyards “Yewell Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena
2008 Mount Veeder Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, Mount Veeder
2008 Nickel & Nickel Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford
2008 O′Brien Estate Cabernet Franc, Oak Knoll District of Napa Valley
2007 O’Neill Vosti Estates “3×3″ Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena
2008 Oberon Wines “Hillside Reserve, Michael Mondavi Family Selection” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Paradigm Winery Cabernet Franc, Oakville
2008 Paraduxx Red Wine, Howell Mountain
2008 Raymond Vineyard &amp Cellar “The Final, Final” Red Table Wine, Napa Valley
2008 Renteria Wines “Vintner’s Cuvée” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Revana Family Vineyard “Premiere Cuvee” Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena
2008 Rombauer Vineyards “Proprietors Reserve Stice Lane” Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena
2008 Round Pond Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford
2008 Rubicon Estate “Estate Clone 29″ Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford
2008 Rutherford Hill Winery “Premiere Blend” Red Table Wine, Napa Valley
2008 Schlein Vineyard “Schlein Vineyard Special Cuvee” Bordeaux Blend, Oakville
2009 Snowden Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley
2008 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars “The Alchemist” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Tetra “ARTET” Red Table Wine, Napa Valley
2008 Thirteen Appellations Red Wine, Napa Valley
2008 Tierra Roja Vineyards “Katharine’s Blend” Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville
2009 Truchard Vineyards Pinot Noir, Los Carneros
2008 Viader Vineyards & Winery “Roaring Twenties” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Vineyard 29 “The St. Helena Special” Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena
2008 Volker Eisele Family Estate Bordeaux Blend, Chiles Valley District
2008 von Strasser Winery “Rudy’s Choice″ Cabernet Sauvignon, Diamond Mountain District

WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8.5 AND 9
2008 Alpha Omega “Proprietary Red Wine″ Red Wine, Napa Valley
2008 Ardente Winery “Organic” Cabernet Sauvignon, Atlas Peak
2008 Atalon Winery “W.S. Keyes Vineyard″ Merlot, Howell Mountain
2008 Barbour Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2009 Bouchaine Vineyards “Auction Select Best Barrel” Pinot Noir, Napa Valley
2008 CADE Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, Howell Mountain
2008 Clos Pegase “Tenma Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2009 Coquerel Family Wine Estates Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley
2008 Emblem Wines “Michael Mondavi Family Selection” Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford
2008 Faust “A Faustian Bargain” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Frog’s Leap “Galleron Vineyard” Petite Sirah, Rutherford
2009 Gamble Family Vineyards “Gamble Vineyard” Sauvignon Blanc, Yountville
2008 Ghost Block Bordeaux Blend, Yountville
2008 Judd’s Hill “Friends at Harvest / Lot 15″ Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Juslyn Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Spring Mountain District
2008 Kenefick Ranch Winery Cabernet Franc, Napa Valley
2008 Lail Vineyards “Henry” Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley
2008 Larkin Wines “Pritchard Hill” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Long Meadow Ranch Winery “Spice Rack” Petite Sirah, Rutherford
2008 Louis M. Martini Winery “Premiere 254″ Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2009 Madonna Estate “Barrel Selection” Pinot Noir, Los Carneros
2008 Merryvale Vineyards “St. Helena Estate″ Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena
2008 Moone-Tsai Vineyards “Caldwell Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Oakville East Wine Company Red Table Wine, Oakville
2008 Oakville Ranch Vineyards “The Queen” Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville
2007 Palmaz Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2007 Paoletti Estates Winery Malbec, Napa Valley
2009 Pine Ridge Vineyards “5 x 5″ Bordeaux Blend, Napa Valley
2008 Robert Craig Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, Howell Mountain
2008 Robert Mondavi Winery “To Kalon Vineyard, Monastery Block” Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville
2008 ROY Estate “Voix Basse (a whisper)” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Sequoia Grove Vineyards “She Walks in Beauty” Cabernet Franc, Napa Valley
2008 Silver Oak Cellars “A Tale of Two Ranches” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Soñador Cellars “Dream Weaver” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2009 Spelletich Cellars “Premiere Pinot” Pinot Noir, Napa Valley
2008 St. Clement Vineyards “Armstrong Ranch” Cabernet Sauvignon, Diamond Mountain District
2008 St. Supery Vineyards & Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford
2008 Steltzner Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Stags Leap District
2008 Summers Estate Wines Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Terlato Family Vineyards “Premiere Assemblage” Red Table Wine, Napa Valley
2008 Trinchero Napa Valley “East to West Mountain Cabernet Cuvee″ Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Turnbull Wine Cellars “Courage” Cabernet Franc, Oakville
2008 Twomey Cellars “SCR” Cabernet Franc, Napa Valley
2008 Vineyard 7 & 8 “Collaboration” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 VinRoc Wine Caves “Koko’s Block” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Whitehall Lane Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 William Hill Estate Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Zahtila Vineyards Zinfandel, Calistoga

WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8.5
2008 Ahnfeldt Wines “Quid Pro Quo IV″ Bordeaux Blend, Napa Valley
2008 Antica Napa Valley - Antinori Family Wine Estate “Ante Up in ‘08″ Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2007 Boeschen Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena
2008 Chimney Rock Winery “Tomahawk Vineyard, Premiere Cuvée″ Cabernet Sauvignon, Stags Leap District
2008 Clos Du Val Cabernet Sauvignon, Stags Leap District
2008 David Arthur Vineyards “Prima Annata” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Freemark Abbey “York Creek Cabernet″ Cabernet Sauvignon, Spring Mountain District
2008 Harris Estate Vineyards “Melange Magique” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Hendry “Vintner’s Barrel Selection″ Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 JAX Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Work Vineyard “Napa Valley Reserve” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
2008 Trefethen Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Oak Knoll District of Napa Valley

Original post by Alfonso Cevola

Many of the world’s greatest wines are also the most unlikely. Unlikely because most sane, rational, educated, and professional winemakers wouldn’t be caught dead making wine in some of the strange ways and places that yield the truly exciting.

It takes a strong vision, or as some might suggest, a special breed of insanity to break all the rules of modern winemaking and winegrowing, but those who break such rules often follow their passions across the border without a moment’s thought to the uncharted territory they are exploring.

High on the slopes of one of the world’s most active volcanoes, Frank Cornelissen nurtures a few acres of vines to produce some truly astounding wines that tend to leave wine lovers shaking their heads in either respectful awe or confused disgust.

I’m in the first camp. Conelissen is one of the world’s greatest iconoclastic winemakers.

Born in Belgium, Cornelissen fell in love with wine as a young man, and eventually began a career as a wine sales representative that led him to the single defining moment of his life: his first taste of a wine made from grapes grown on Sicily’s Mount Etna. I’ve not had the pleasure of meeting Cornelissen, so I haven’t had a chance to ask him what he tasted in that fateful sip, but presumably, he tasted a terroir that spoke to him in a way that no other had before. Within little more than a year of that taste of wine, despite lacking any formal training, he had become a winemaker.

At first he rented some vineyards on the slopes of the volcano, but soon thereafter (2001), he purchased several small vineyard plots and other sections of land which he would plant himself. One of these plots was what may be one of the world’s most unique vineyards — a roughly three-acre plot of own-rooted vines that pre-date the Phylloxera epidemic that wiped out most of Europe’s vineyards. These near 140-year-old vines sit at about 3000 feet of elevation on the flank of Mount Etna. In the winter, they are buried under more than six feet of snow. During the summer they sweat through 100+ degree days, followed by nights that can dip down to below fifty degrees. The scraggly, head-pruned vines (using no trellises or supports for the vines) sit low to the ground and sink their roots through the shallow soil into nearly solid volcanic rock. Rock that was not so long ago, and may become any day again in the future, molten lava. Many of these vines yield only a single bunch of tiny berries, resulting in yields per acre that so miniscule as to be nearly commercially non viable.

Cornelissen′s farming methods make even biodynamic winegrowing seem unnatural. He adds nothing to his vineyards. No compost, no manure, no water, no copper, no sulfur, no herbicides, nothing. In between his rows and blocks of vineyards he has planted native fruit and nut trees, buckwheat, and wildflowers. Every vine is carefully pruned and managed throughout the growing season, and harvest is done on a vine by vine level, resulting in many multiple passes through the vineyards over the span of days.

Eschewing any and all additions to his wine, including sulfur even at bottling, Cornelissen practices a form of “natural” winemaking in the extreme. The wines are fermented with ambient yeasts either in big plastic tubs in his front yard, or in buried terra cotta amphorae in the style of Josko Gravner from Friuli. The white wines (really orange) macerate for weeks, even months, on their skins, as do, in some cases, the reds as well. The wines are bottled without fining, filtration, or in some cases, even racking of any kind. As a result both reds and whites have a lot of beautiful, fine sediment, and some are just downright cloudy.

This particular wine is a blend of the varieties Grecanico Dorato, Coda di Volpe, Carricante and Cataratto. The grapes were mostly destemmed and crushed by foot. The juice stayed in contact with the skins for some months (I’m unclear how many) in plastic tubs before being transferred to tank for about five months before being bottled, without once being treated with sulfur dioxide.

Because of this lack of sulfur, Cornelissen’s wines are quite delicate, and anecdotally there seems to be a lot of bottle variation among the wines. To avoid such issues, Cornelissen suggests the wines always be stored and transported below 60 degrees fahrenheit.

Like many other orange wines, this one benefits greatly from at least a day’s worth of decanting in advance of drinking.

Tasting Notes:
Cloudy orange in the glass with noticeable clumps of sediment, this wine has a nearly otherworldly nose of orange oil, roasted nuts, ranier cherries, and pine sap. On the palate it has a wonderful texture that includes the light powdery quality of the sediment. Searing acidity that mellows as the wine opens to the air makes lively flavors of sarsaparilla, cloves, and a woody pulpy quality that morphs into a coffee-with-milk-flavor in the finish. This utterly compelling wine may freak some people out, but that’s OK, there will be more for the rest of us who know a great wine when we taste it.

Food Pairing:
I drank this wine with a good friend and a meal of basque specialties, and found the wine a fantastic accompaniment to everything from sardines in olive oil to oxtail croquettes.

Overall Score: around 9.5

How Much?: $30

Unfortunately these wines can be tough to find. My primary source has been Garagiste in Seattle. This particular wine is not for sale on the internet, but a more recent vintage is available. Note that the wine’s name is sometimes spelled Monjebel, which was the original spelling in the first couple of vintages.

Original post by Alfonso Cevola

Many of the world’s greatest wines are also the most unlikely. Unlikely because most sane, rational, educated, and professional winemakers wouldn’t be caught dead making wine in some of the strange ways and places that yield the truly exciting.

It takes a strong vision, or as some might suggest, a special breed of insanity to break all the rules of modern winemaking and winegrowing, but those who break such rules often follow their passions across the border without a moment’s thought to the uncharted territory they are exploring.

High on the slopes of one of the world′s most active volcanoes, Frank Cornelissen nurtures a few acres of vines to produce some truly astounding wines that tend to leave wine lovers shaking their heads in either respectful awe or confused disgust.

I’m in the first camp. Cornelissen is one of the world’s greatest iconoclastic winemakers.

Born in Belgium, Cornelissen fell in love with wine as a young man, and eventually began a career as a wine sales representative that led him to the single defining moment of his life: his first taste of a wine made from grapes grown on Sicily’s Mount Etna. I’ve not had the pleasure of meeting Cornelissen, so I haven’t had a chance to ask him what he tasted in that fateful sip, but presumably, he tasted a terroir that spoke to him in a way that no other had before. Within little more than a year of that taste of wine, despite lacking any formal training, he had become a winemaker.

At first he rented some vineyards on the slopes of the volcano, but soon thereafter (2001), he purchased several small vineyard plots and other sections of land which he would plant himself. One of these plots may be one of the world’s most unique vineyards — a roughly three-acre plot of own-rooted vines that pre-date the Phylloxera epidemic that wiped out most of Europe’s vineyards. These near 140-year-old vines sit at about 3000 feet of elevation on the flank of Mount Etna. In the winter, they are buried under more than six feet of snow. During the summer they sweat through 100+ degree days, followed by nights that can dip down to below fifty degrees. The scraggly, head-pruned vines (using no trellises or supports for the vines) sit low to the ground and sink their roots through the shallow soil into nearly solid volcanic rock. Rock that was not so long ago, and may become any day again in the future, molten lava. Many of these vines yield only a single bunch of tiny berries, resulting in yields per acre so miniscule as to be nearly commercially non viable.

Cornelissen’s farming methods make even biodynamic winegrowing seem unnatural. He adds nothing to his vineyards. No compost, no manure, no water, no copper, no sulfur, no herbicides, nothing. In between his rows and blocks of vineyards he has planted native fruit and nut trees, buckwheat, and wildflowers. Every vine is carefully pruned and managed throughout the growing season, and harvest is done on a vine by vine level, resulting in many multiple passes through the vineyards over the span of days.

Eschewing any and all additions to his wine, including sulfur even at bottling, Cornelissen practices a form of “natural″ winemaking in the extreme. The wines are fermented with ambient yeasts either in big plastic tubs in his front yard, or in buried terra cotta amphorae in the style of Josko Gravner from Friuli. The white wines (really orange) macerate for weeks, even months, on their skins, as do, in some cases, the reds as well. The wines are bottled without fining, filtration, or in some cases, even racking of any kind. As a result both reds and whites have a lot of beautiful, fine sediment, and some are just downright cloudy.

This particular wine is a blend of the varieties Grecanico Dorato, Coda di Volpe, Carricante and Cataratto. The grapes were mostly destemmed and crushed by foot. The juice stayed in contact with the skins for some months (I’m unclear how many) in plastic tubs before being transferred to tank for about five months before being bottled, without once being treated with sulfur dioxide.

Because of this lack of sulfur, Cornelissen′s wines are quite delicate, and anecdotally there seems to be a lot of bottle variation among the wines. To avoid such issues, Cornelissen suggests the wines always be stored and transported below 60 degrees fahrenheit.

Like many other orange wines, this one benefits greatly from at least a day′s worth of decanting in advance of drinking.

Tasting Notes:
Cloudy orange in the glass with noticeable clumps of sediment, this wine has a nearly otherworldly nose of orange oil, roasted nuts, ranier cherries, and pine sap. On the palate it has a wonderful texture that includes the light powdery quality of the sediment. Searing acidity that mellows as the wine opens to the air makes lively flavors of sarsaparilla, cloves, and a woody pulpy quality that morphs into a coffee-with-milk-flavor in the finish. This utterly compelling wine may freak some people out, but that’s OK, there will be more for the rest of us who know a great wine when we taste it.

Food Pairing:
I drank this wine with a good friend and a meal of basque specialties, and found the wine a fantastic accompaniment to everything from sardines in olive oil to oxtail croquettes.

Overall Score: around 9.5

How Much?: $30

Unfortunately these wines can be tough to find. My primary source has been Garagiste in Seattle. This particular wine is not for sale on the internet, but a more recent vintage is available. Note that the wine’s name is sometimes spelled Monjebel, which was the original spelling in the first couple of vintages.

Original post by Alfonso Cevola

If I were Hugh Johnson or Jancis Robinson, I could clear my throat and begin my story with a distinguished pronouncement about how I’ve watched several wine regions around the globe evolve from their infancy to later stages of maturity. But I lack the perspective of someone who’s been a professional observer of the industry for decades. While I may not be able to tell you how, exactly, I do know that wine regions evolve over the course of their history, and that Chile finds itself in a particular stage of evolution that most regions probably encounter after a few decades of solid growth.

Chile has recently entered the age of the garagiste winemaker. For those unfamiliar with the term, it originated in the Bordeaux region of France in the mid-1990’s, where at the time it was a slightly derogatory term for winemakers who usually purchased grapes from other growers and made small lots of wines in equally small production facilities, which, in some cases, were garages. These upstart winemakers were controversial at the time, not only for breaking out from the traditional chateau model of winemaking (i.e. ownership of vineyards and making wine from a very specific place) but for styling their wines more towards the emerging California style of rich, ripe reds.

These days, garagiste can refer to any small winery operation, whether it be someone who has made the transition from being a hobbyist to selling their wine commercially, or more commonly, a well established winemaker who, in addition to their day job making wine for someone else, may be making a few thousand cases of wine under their own label.

For the most part garagiste has lost any negative connotation it might have once had, and in places like California, such wine operations have become more than commonplace, fueling a whole industry of custom crush facilities that exist to help such people make their wines. That doesn′t mean, however, that some who adopt the moniker, or merely resemble it, don′t still struggle for acceptance and visibility in their wine industry, wherever that may be.

Which brings me to a recently formed group in Chile called MOVI: Movimiento de Viñateros Independientes (Movement of Independent Vintners). Established on the first of June, 2009 through the launch of their website and a public constitution of their purpose, this group has staked out a position outside the conventions of the modern Chilean wine industry. But in addition to their philosophical stance as smaller, independent wineries in an industry dominated by big players, they also represent the beginnings of a natural diversification that was likely inevitable in Chile’s wine industry.

While small winemaking projects have occurred before in Chile (indeed some of the bigger players in the industry began that way) there have never been a significant number of smaller wineries, and especially few that owned no vineyards themselves. Likewise, few Chilean winemakers have struck out on their own and created their own labels. Indeed, this is not only uncommon, it is seen as threatening by some in the mainstream Chilean wine industry. At least two of the founding members of MOVI have been fired from their jobs as winemakers for larger wineries for their participation in the group, and several more have gotten somewhat cold receptions to the news.

While some in the Chilean wine industry have welcomed, or at least made peace with the existence of MOVI, the fact that even a few might see the desire of a talented winemaker to make their own wines as a threat seems particularly backward. Especially when all over the world there are plenty of examples pointing to the value of letting winemakers do their own thing. Not only does it keep the winemakers happy (and less likely to be looking elsewhere for work) their success with their own projects often brings attention (and sales) to their employer’s wines. Of course, there will be examples of superstars whose success will allow them to leave their employers and work only for themselves, but that’s just the way things go with capitalism.

MOVI, above all, represents the maturing of the Chilean wine industry. While I′m not sure that a movement or an association was wholly necessary, certainly the diversification and experimentation that MOVI represents is very necessary to the evolution of Chilean wine.

I first heard about MOVI from importer Joe Dressner, who (rather impolitely) suggested I look them up on my trip to Chile, and not 48 hours later I was sitting in the hotel lounge with Max Morales, who runs the popular and comprehensive site AndesWines.Com and he brought them up in the course of our conversation about the current state of the wine industry, and mentioned that he knew them. Five days later, about two dozen bottles showed up at the hotel, and the last thing I did before I left the country was taste through all the wines.

But before we get to the tasting notes, the folks at MOVI were kind enough to answer some of my questions by e-mail, via Derek J. Mossman Knapp, who owns and runs Garage Wine Company, and holds the title of Director of MOVI.

Vinography: Can anyone be a member of MOVI?

MOVI: Movi wants to embrace, not exclude, independent projects. Lord knows we are all very small, and the Goliaths of the Chilean wine business are very, very large. It is a tall order to convince the world we exist, let alone be found on the shelf and find our way to the dinner table in our industry. We need to get to a critical mass if we pretend to create some gravity with consumers.

Vinography: What makes a winery suitable for membership?

MOVI:
Wineries that are:
- small, quality-oriented
- make wine personally, on a human scale.
- craft wine to reflect a particular vision, beyond origin and terroir (which are a given)
- not Fortune 500 companies, not economic groups, and not patrons of convenience.

At our pourings there are no ‘promotoras’ (read: smiling Barbie-like-bimbos). The owner-maker pours. Above all the owner must have a quintessential passion for the endeavors of growing grapes and crafting fine wine.

To apply for membership a winery must meet the above criteria and send samples that are then tasted by the directors of our organization. Upon entry to the group, each project extends an invitation to receive all of the members at their winery, as a gesture towards cementing themselves into the group. Movis know Movis personally, and we also know and believe in each other’s wines.

Movi’s twelve founding members (we are now 16) stem from widely differing histories and more than a half-dozen wine-making countries. We are steadfast against homogeneity and insist Chile is anything but stock and standard. Give us some time!

Vinography: What has been the reaction to the creation of MOVI in Chile?

MOVI: Movi launched at an annual wine event at the W Hotel and briskly became a sensation. We didn’t do anything so radically different. The idea that wineries could crank up some good tunes, show pictures of their families helping in the bodega (perhaps the photos of our dogs eating grapes was a little over-the-top), share pouring tables, help each other, and get people tattooing the Movi logo on their arm did, however, cause a stir. That tasting was the first time that the public could find many of the wines. Long story short: the restaurants, hotels and sommeliers had a chance to try all of the Movi wines and this was terrific for the lesser known projects in the group. Several hotels and restaurants now have a section of their wine lists devoted to Movi.

Afterwards, Movi was the darling of the Chilean wine press for a stretch, but Movi intentions are long-term and much more profound than the Chilean press let on. They tried to re-coin us as Vinos de Autor and a rather fresh Brazilian tried to ride our shirt-tails naming his distribution company “the association of chilean boutique wineries″ or some such nonsense but he is all wet. Movi is the one and only. We are here to stay and we are only just beginning.

The press also reported about two winemakers being fired for being members of the group, amongst other minor scrapes. Movi is not out to play victim nor to create a schism in the wine trade. Movi aims to complement the works of the big trade and trade marketing associations like Wines of Chile, with everything we have: quality, personality, diversity, and that much needed dose of irreverence to complement the consumer’s appreciation of Chile. We want the world to know Chilean wine does not come from mega projects alone. The industry needs smaller projects and we Movis are patient people — otherwise, what would we be doing in wine.

Vinography: Why did the Chilean wine industry need MOVI right now?

MOVI: Movi is a breath of fresh air in a healthy but comfortable and conservative industry known for blue blazers, grey flannels, incessant profit, and industry concentration. That is not the whole truth about Chilean wine and we are here to prove it.

Movi will contribute positively to the Chilean wine trade and most of all, complement existing projects and missions with our own personal signatures and our energy keenly focused, albeit sometimes irreverently, on what consumers want: quality, diversity and personality.

The Chilean wine press, in particular, needs needs a push — some impetus to dedicate more space towards opening up wine to new wine drinkers. They need to take the stuffiness out with the trash. Chile needs to tell more stories. Movis make for great stories.

Vinography: What is MOVI hoping to accomplish?

MOVI: Simple. We want a space on your table. (Well, not your table precisely, Alder, since you probably receive free samples, but definitely your neighbors’ tables). We want people to open their minds about Chile. Investigate Chilean wine on the Internet. Read blogs, follow tweets, and find the whole Chile — including the mavericks amongst the saints. And once in their lifetime, everyone should all come and see us on their airline miles.

Vinography: Are MOVI members’ wines different from other wines produced in Chile? If so, why?

MOVI: Movi does not pretend to have any exclusive taste. That would be arrogant and fallacious. And there is certainly no uniformity whatsoever amongst the wines of Movi. Generally speaking, Movi wines surprise– but only because people have not tried enough Chilean wine.

Are they less commercial? Perhaps. Is this because these are wines created by a person and for personal reasons and that person only found a market for them afterward? Perhaps. Are they generally well-rounded yet not in a manipulated way? Perhaps. The jury is out. You tell us. Ever so slowly people are taking interest. The consumer will have the last word.

* * *

And so now, the tasting notes. It’s worth noting that the staff at the W Hotel in Santiago did a particularly lousy job keeping track of the wines that were left for tasting, and we (myself and my two fellow journalists on the trip) suspect that some of the wines may never have made it to us. But here’s what we did receive and taste through before we jumped on a plane back to the United States. Many thanks again to Max Morales and Andes Wine for making it happen.

POLKURA
Winemaker Sven Bruchfeld started this small Syrah project in 2002. After a career making wine for other people he says, “It may sound cliché but I wanted to make my own wine, walk my own vineyard, see it grow and make a living from all of that.” Pokura means “yellow stone″ in the native Mapuche language and references the yellow granite found in the Marchigue region of the Colchagua Valley where the wine comes from. Bruchfeld also makes a Sauvignon Blanc called Aylin from the Leyda region of the San Antonio Valley. Between the three wines (Aylin + the two syrahs) Polkura makes about 5000 cases annually. The wines are imported by Wine Markets International in New York.

2009 Aylin Sauvignon Blanc, Leyda, San Antonio Valley, Chile
Pale blond in the glass, this wine has a nose of warm hay, citrus zest, and fresh apples. In the mouth the wine is brisk with citrus and apple and pear flavors that linger in the finish. Good acidity, but some slight heat on the finish makes the wine end awkwardly. Score: between 8 and 8.5. Cost: $14.

2007 Polkura “Block G1″ Syrah, Marchigue, Colchagua Valley, Chile
Inky garnet in color, this wine has a nose of blackberry and cassis, with hints of blueberry. In the mouth it is rich, broad and beautifully textured, with velvety tannins, and flavors of blackberry, blueberry, and cassis that linger in a long finish. Unfiltered as far as I can tell. Lovely, if a bit brawny. Score: around 9. Cost: $40.

2007 Polkura Syrah Marchigue, Colchagua Valley, Chile
Dark garnet in color, this wine smells of black cherry and cedar, with hints of blackberry. In the mouth it offers cassis and blackberry flavors with an underlying earthiness and leathery flavor which is echoed in the texture of the tannins. Moderate finish. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $22

FLAHERTY
Winemaker Ed Flaherty spends his days working at Viña Tarapaca, but at night he comes home to a front yard full of Tempranillo and his wife Jennifer Hoover, who sometimes he may find in their carriage punching down their latest creation. While they are a commercial operation (just barely — selling their 500 case annual production in Brazil and Chile) Flaherty Wines started when their home winemaking experiments turned serious in 2004. In addition to the fruit they can harvest from their front yard, they buy Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon from the Manzur vineyard in the Aconcagua Valley.

2006 Flaherty Red Wine, Aconcagua Valley, Chile
Dark garnet in color, this wine has a nose of barnyard, cedar, and dried cherries. In the mouth it offers dried cherry fruit, light tannins and a dirt and leather sort of flavor as the wine finishes. Score: between 7 and 7.5. Cost: $25

GARAGE WINE CO.
An unusual project that literally did start in a garage, Garage Wine Co. is the product of winemaker Pilar Miranda, cellar chief Derek Mossman, and co-owner Dr. Alvaro Peña. Miranda’s day job is as a flavoring consultant to the cocktail industry, Mossman spent more than a decade in marketing for Chilean wineries, and Peña is a research scientist focused on anti-oxidants and the effects of oak on wine. Initiated by Mossman as a “kind of personal anti-dote to the disappointment of working with Chilean marketing.” 20% of each vintage is pre-sold as futures to folks who then get a chance to come help out in the cellar. The wines are made almost entirely naturally, and fermented in oak. The grapes come from long-term contracts with growers, and include enough fruit for about 400 cases of wine. The wines are not yet imported to the United States.

2008 Garage Wine Co. “#18″ Cabernet Carignan, Chile
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of gamey meat, huckleberries, and cassis. In the mouth it offers huckleberry, cassis, and cedar flavors with lightly bitter, faint tannins that linger into the finish. Score: around 7.5. Cost: $25.

VINA VON SIEBENTHAL
Located basically just across the street from Errazuriz in the Aconcagua Valley, Viña von Siebenthal was started in 1998 by Mauro on Siebenthal, a swiss lawyer who left a 25-year career to start a winery. The first vintage was 2002, from the estates 60 acres of vineyards. Winemaker Stefano Gandolini, who also makes the Viña Carmen wine (across the street at Errazuriz), makes the roughly 12,000 cases of production, split across six different red wines. Imported by Vindino Wines in San Diego, Puerto Viejo Wines in Florida, and JC Imports in Rhode Island.

2007 Viña von Siebenthal Carmenere Reserva, Aconcagua Valley, Chile
Medium to dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of cherries and camphor wood. In the mouth it is lean and taut with cherry, cedar, and oiled leather flavors. Moderate leathery tannins emerge on the surprisingly long finish. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $19.

2005 Viña von Siebenthal “Monthelig” Red Wine, Aconcagua Valley, Chile
Dark garnet in color, this wine has a nose of wet earth, sweet cassis, and aromatic cedar. In the mouth it is intense, with cherry, cedar, tobacco, and high-toned notes of berries and a very long finish that I can best describe as a long dusty road. Excellent. Score: around 9. Cost: $55.

2006 Viña von Siebenthal “Toknar” Red Wine, Aconcagua Valley, Chile
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a perfumed nose of sweet cherries, flowers, and raspberry aromas. In the mouth the wine is beautifully composed with bright cherry and raspberry fruit, supple tannins and bright acidity, and a long lingering finish that sweeps in notes of vanilla and sour cherry. Really lovely. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $115.

CLOS ANDINO
Started in 2007 as a personal project by José Luis Martin-Boquillard, Clos Andino produces about 1000 cases of wine, starting with its inaugural vintage of 2006 Cabernet. Martin-Boquillard spent nearly 20 years working as a winemaker for “big conglomerates″ before leaving that all behind to focus on Clos Andino. The wine is not yet imported to the United States.

2006 Clos Andino “Le Cabernet Sauvignon” Reserva, Chile
Medium to dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of sweet stewed cherries and chocolate aromas. In the mouth it offers sawdust, dried cherries, and lightly floral flavors with a long finish. Lacks some freshness that would make it a better wine. Score: between 8 and 8.5. Cost: $ not given.

GILLMORE
Gillmore is now in its second generation of ownership as a small family-run winery. Owner and patriarch Francisco Gillmore made his first vintage of Cabernet Franc in 1993, but since 2001 his daughter Daniele Gillmore and her husband, winemaker Andres Sanchez have been shaping the raw materials provided by Gillmore into something truly tremendous. Those raw materials include family vineyards of dry-farmed 20+ year-old vines in the Valley of Loncomilla. Sanchez is a talented winemaker and consultant, whose career has included and continues to include much international work in places like Tuscany and India. The winery produces a miniscule 2000 cases annually, of which a small amount is imported by Schneider Selections.

2006 Gillmore Carignane Riserva, Loncomilla Valley, Maule, Chile
Medium to dark garnet in color, this wine smells beautifully of violets, mulberries and blueberries. In the mouth it is juicy and bright with wonderful fruit flavors of mulberry, blueberry, and raspberry. Lightly grippy tannins emerge on the finish which is long and, again, gorgeously lush with fruit. Great balance and exquisitely juicy acidity makes this wine a fantastic pleasure to drink. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $28.

2003 Gillmore “Cobre” Gran Reserva, Loncomilla Valley, Maule, Chile
Medium to dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a gorgeous nose of cherry and cola and cedar. In the mouth it offers restrained but darkly complex flavors of cherries, tobacco, and wet wood. Perfectly balanced with excellent acidity and a nice dark earthiness that lingers along with floral qualities into a long finish. 13.8% alcohol. Outstanding. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $28.

2006 Gillmore Cabernet Franc Reserva, Loncomilla Valley, Maule, Chile
Dark garnet in color, this wine has a nose of cherry, leather, and hints of raspberry. In the mouth it has grippy, leathery tannins with cherry and wet earth flavors but not as much dynamism as it should. Good acidity and long finish with a touch of alcoholic heat. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $28.

2006 Gillmore Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva, Loncomilla Valley, Maule, Chile
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a very nice nose of ripe cherry and black cherry fruit with notes of pencil shavings. In the mouth it is expansive and bright with nice acidity and fine grained tannins that support a core of cherry, black cherry, and wet earth flavors. Refined and juicy, this is a very tasty wine. Score: around 9. Cost: $28.

CALIBORO
Francisco Marone Cinzano is better known in Tuscany than in Chile. There he owns the famous Col d’Orcia winery in Montalcino. In the early 1990′s he decided to begin work on a project in Chile because of the potential he saw there. The winery produces a single wine, made by consultant winemaker Maurizio Castelli (who consults on projects in California and Italy), from a single vineyard planted in 1998. This dry-farmed vineyard in the Maule Valley has a mix of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc that we’re specifically imported from Europe for the project. About 8000 cases of a single wine, Erasmo, are produced each year, some of which are imported to the US by Palm Bay Imports.

2006 Erasmo Red Wine, Maule Valley, Chile
Medium garnet in color this wine has a nose of mixed fresh herbs, fennel seeds, and dried cherries. In the mouth it is bright and unusual in flavor with a mix of leather, cedar, sour cherry, and raspberry flavors. Good acidity balances very grippy sandpaper tannins and moderate finish. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $30.

2005 Erasmo Red Wine, Maule Valley, Chile
Medium garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of black cherry and cedar aromas. In the mouth it offers sour black cherry, wet earth, cedar, and hints of licorice on the finish. Fine grained but aggressive tannins emerge as the wine finishes. With a few years this will mellow and be even better. Score: around 9. Cost: $30.

Original post by Alfonso Cevola

Some people like to go to flea markets, where they will spend hours wandering around the stalls hoping to stumble on something wonderful. I spend hours wandering through huge public wine tastings in much the same way, and every once in a while I stumble across a winery that I’ve never heard of nor seen before, whose wines pull the needle off the record and bring me up short in breathless surprise.

When I first tasted the wines from Jemrose in just such a fashion, they immediately impressed me, not just because they were so high quality, but also because they had achieved such quality in their very first vintage. Clearly this was a producer that had nailed the right combination of place, farming, and winemaking right out of the gate.

Jemrose is the dream of James Mack and his wife Gloria. After a career in advertising, Mack purchased about 20 acres of vineyards in Bennett Valley, the smallest of Sonoma’s AVAs (American Viticultural Areas). For the first few years after purchasing the property in 2002, Mack and consultant winemaker Andy Smith (of DuMOL and Larkmead) made some limited bottlings from select vineyard blocks to get a sense of what they were able to do with the four vineyards that made up the property. Together with viticulturist Greg Bjornstad, they arrived at the right combination of vineyard and cellar techniques that they felt achieved a balance of the qualities they were looking for, and in 2006 the winery bottled its first commercial vintage.

Because Smith had obligations elsewhere that prevented him from assuming the duties of head winemaker, Mack brought on Michael Browne of Kosta Browne winery to make the wines on a longer term basis, and in 2009 Mack teamed up with entrepreneur Keith Jaffee as a partner in the business.

The winery’s four distinct hillside vineyard blocks are planted with primarily Rhone grape varieties (Viognier, Syrah, and Grenache) as well as a little Merlot, which seems to do extremely well in Bennet Valley’s volcanic soils. Under Bjornstad’s direction, the densely planted vineyard is farmed with a minimum of irrigation and an eye towards lowering yields, which rarely get above 3 tons per acre.

The fruit is hand-harvested and rigorously sorted before winemaking begins. Fermentations are made with native yeast whenever possible, and often with a portion of whole clusters for the reds. Most wines are aged in a majority of neutral and used French oak barrels, with a small percentage of new oak, resulting in wines that speak more of fruit in than of wood. The wines are all bottled unfined and unfiltered.

The tiny Jemrose portfolio of wines (only about 1500 cases made in total) demonstrates a wonderful common thread of excellent acidity, balance, and freshness throughout all the wines. I highly recommend them.

Full disclosure: I received these wines as press samples.

TASTING NOTES:

2008 Jemrose “Egret Pond Vineyard” Viognier, Bennett Valley, Sonoma
Pale gold in the glass this wine smells of cold cream and dried apricots. In the mouth it is silky and heavy on the tongue, with flavors of dried and fresh apricots, mixed citrus zest, and a tart kumquat finish that has a tiny bit of alcoholic heat. 275 cases made. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $32.

2008 Jemrose “Egret Pond Vineyard” Late Harvest Viognier, Bennett Valley, Sonoma
Light yellow-gold in the glass, this wine has a heady nose of peaches in syrup. In the mouth the wine is not as sweet as the nose might suggest, with flavors of ripe apricots, honey, and a nice floral note on the finish. Not particularly complex, but some decent acidity keeps the wine from being too cloying. 48 cases (375 ml.) made. Score: around 8. Cost: $28.

2007 Jemrose “Foggy Knoll Vineyard” Grenache, Bennett Valley, Sonoma
Medium garnet in color with strong purple highlights, this wine has a gorgeous nose of spicy raspberry and strawberry fruit. In the mouth it is juicy and bright with great acidity that makes flavors of cherry raspberry and strawberry dance on the palate with notes of cocoa powder on the finish. Above all, this wine is simply delicious. 150 cases made. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $38.

2007 Jemrose “Gloria’s Gem” Proprietary Red, Bennett Valley, Sonoma
Dark garnet in color, this wine has a nose of sweet black cherry and cassis aromas. In the mouth it is explosively juicy with black cherry, cassis, and blackberry flavors. Faint powdery tannins creep around the edges of the wine and good acid makes it quite easy to drink. A light minuteness marks the finish. Lovely. An unusual blend of Merlot and Syrah. 125 cases made. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $65.

2007 Jemrose “Cardiac Hill Vineyard” Syrah, Bennett Valley, Sonoma
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of blackberry and white pepper. In the mouth it is taut and rippling with muscular, fine grained tannins that support beautiful cassis and blackberry fruit through a lovely finish. Delicious. 550 cases made. Score: around 9. Cost: $38.

Currently these wines are made in such small quantities that they are not readily available for sale in internet wine shops. The pest place to purchase these wines are on the winery’s web site.

Original post by Alfonso Cevola

Every time I review a wine from some little producer whose wines I adore, I experience a pang of regret, because I know that by writing about these wineries and their wines, I only make them more expensive and harder to acquire for myself (and others). I do occasionally get e-mails from ticked off wine lovers bemoaning the fact that I′ve divulged one of their secret sources for great wine.

But that’s just an occupational hazard for me, and doesn’t outweigh the joy of being able to say things like this: Listen up people. There is some seriously amazing wine being made in a little out-of-the-way place in the northernmost part of California’s Sierra Foothills AVA (American Viticultural Area). At the hands of soft-spoken resident winemaker Gideon Bienstock, Renaissance Vineyards is making small lots of Bordeaux and Northern Rhone style wines that are pretty much unlike any other wines being made in California — in a really good way.

Renaissance Vineyards is not some upstart young winery that is pioneering new things in a new region. Rather, they are more like a wild-eyed hermit, that disappeared into the mountains years ago to live in the valley that he believed was the promised land, showing up in town every once in a while for supplies. Some people have known about them for years, but for others, the idea of a winery out in the middle of nowhere, CA elicits the scratching of heads.

German winemaker Dr. Karl Werner discovered the vineyard potential of the steep hillsides of the North Yuba river valley in the upper reaches of what was not even yet the Sierra Foothills AVA. It was not until 1987 that the appellation of the Sierra Foothills came into existence, and by then Renaissance Vineyards had been making wine for 8 years.

Just how Renaissance Vineyards and Dr. Karl Werner starting making wine in North Yuba is quite a unique story for a California winery.

In 1971 an organization known as The Fellowship of Friends, already well established at that time, purchased nearly 1300 acres in North Yuba County in the Sierra Foothills. The Fellowship of Friends was, and continues to be, a religious organization that many regard as a cult, built around the charismatic founder Robert Earl Burton who serves as the spiritual teacher of the organization. Its members tithe 10% of their gross monthly income to the organization, which has used those funds since the mid Seventies to completely transform this land into a spiritual retreat for the organization. One that also happens to have a very large, very impressive vineyard.

The group didn’t set out to have a vineyard to begin with, but one of its early disciples was a man named Dr. Karl Werner, who in addition to being a devotee of the spiritual teachings of the organization, also happened to be a very accomplished winemaker back in his home country of Germany. Apparently on his first visit to the Fellowship’s property, he recognized the potential for grape growing, and his enthusiasm for the project, as well as the attraction of the craft itself, convinced the organization to undertake a vineyard development project that lasted several years — clearing, terracing, and planting the hillsides with vines. The first harvest took place in the fall of 1979.

Today the organization continues to own the vineyard, but is perhaps less involved than it was in the past. Dr. Werner passed away in 1989, just after the winery’s first commercial release, and after being run for a time by Dr. Werner’s wife Diana, winemaking operations were turned over in 1994 to Gideon Bienstock who has spent the last 13 years transforming Renaissance Winery from a broad, almost experimental winery, to a more focused winery with a clearer vision of what it wants to accomplish.

Dr. Werner’s vision was originally for a winery that combined the best of the Bordeaux and the German traditions, which meant that a lot of Cabernet, Sauvignon Blanc, and Riesling were planted to start. Over time, Bienstock discovered that Rhone varietals performed particularly well, and now the winery focuses primarily on Bordeaux and Northern Rhone varietals. In addition to “learning the terroir” as he puts it, Bienstock has gradually increased the focus of the winery, reducing yields, reducing production, phasing out the use of commercial yeasts, pump-overs, fining, filtration, sulfur use, and cold stabilization. In addition he has moved the winery to 100% organic viticulture, and has introduced some Biodynamic farming techniques in the most recent vintages.

If you ask him, even after 13 years of winemaking, and nearly 20 years of experience in the Sierra Foothills, Bienstock will tell you that he is still figuring out the terroir of the area, which he believes to be quite possibly the most remarkable of any in California. But as someone who has been tasting the wines pretty regularly for the past few years, I can tell you he’s had it dialed in now for some time.

“Some time” means at least since 1995, only a year after he took over as full-time winemaker, and the year of one of the winery’s current releases. Not content to be the sole winery in what is now its own North Yuba AVA, under Bienstock’s leadership Renaissance is defying all the common sense of traditional winery marketing and release schedules. To wit: this 2001 wine is their current release, and several other of their current releases date back into the 1990s.

The only other winery in California that I know of which approaches this sort of delayed release program is Kalin Cellars, whose current releases are typically aged about 10 to 12 years. To any normal winery, such delayed release dates would be financial suicide, but Renaissance vineyards has never operated like a normal commercial business.

Leaving aside the financial and operational considerations, such a move takes guts, and a particular vision for what your wines can be and ought to be. From Bienstock’s perspective, it’s a simple question — he lets the wines tell him when they’re ready. “We originally scheduled the release of our ‘95 Cab to be around 2004 or 2005 but the wine was still completely “dormant” and did not cooperate with that idea, so we had to postpone it until 2008,” he says.

This sort of intuition and old world thinking pervades Bienstock’s winemaking, resulting in wines that are strikingly unique in character and personality, not to mention long-lived. The winery currently has two sets of releases, those older wines that it has chosen this year to release, and more current vintages that follow a more traditional release schedule. Both are exceptional in quality, and worth the time and effort required to seek them out.

Most wines undergo very long fermentations, the reds in open-top oak fermenters with frequent hand punchdowns, the whites in stainless steel. Oak aging, which some of the late harvest wines receive as well, is done primarily in a combination of French and American oak between 1 and 5 years old. Some of the top reds are aged for up to 30 months in barrel before bottling.

Full disclosure: I received this wine as a press sample.

Tasting Notes:
Dark ruby in color, this wine smells of cherries, lilacs, and cedar aromas. In the mouth it is incredibly aromatic, with soaring flavors of cherry, cedar, floral notes and hints of darker deeper earth and leather. Muscled, suede-soft tannins hug the palate and linger as the wine finishes in a resonant way. Excellent.

Food Pairing:
Relatively low in alcohol with wonderful acidity this wine will pair well with lots of things. I’d be utterly content drinking it with slow braised beef short ribs over polenta.

Overall Score: between 9 and 9.5

How Much?: $45

This wine is available for purchase on the Internet.

Original post by Alfonso Cevola

Should one of your New Years’ resolutions be to broaden your wine horizons without breaking your wine budget, one of the places worth exploring would certainly be Beaujolais. Much maligned, or at the very least avoided — and rightly so — by many wine lovers whose experience with Beaujolais consists of a glass of banana-scented Nouveau in November, the region actually produces some truly wonderful wines that can be tremendous values.

The Beaujolais region has seen a renaissance of winemaking in the past decade, with many serious, small producers trying to make wines that have much more in common with its parent region, Burgundy. This means eschewing the methods and principles that are employed to make massive quantities of Beaujolais Nouveau, and instead focusing on growing and vinifying the region’s lovely Gamay grapes like any sensible person would if they wanted to make really high quality wine.

And that is precisely what the team behind Potel-Aviron has tried to do. Nicolas Potel has made a prominent name for himself in the past few years as a new star negociant of Burgundy. For those unfamiliar with the term, that means he owns no vineyards, and instead buys grapes (and occasionally finished wines) on contract from growers, which he uses to make wine. Potel’s top Burgundies have become hot items for collectors in recent years, though as a result of some investment relationships gone bad he is now no longer associated with his eponymous label.

Presumably, however, he continues to work in partnership with Stephane Aviron to produce the wines of Potel-Aviron. Potel and Aviron met studying winemaking together in Beaune (though apparently Potel dropped out, while Aviron finished) and became friends. Aviron’s family has worked in the wine business in Beaujolais for some time, so when one day Potel needed to get his hands on some good Gamay, he called up Aviron. That first collaboration must have gone well, and the following year the two struck up a partnership around a simple goal: to make some of the best wines possible from the region.

Together they sought out six groups of some of the oldest vine Gamay in the region and established contracts with the owners giving them complete control of the farming. Drastically reducing yields, and whenever possible farming organically, the two have produced some of the highest quality fruit in the region from these 40- to 100-year-old vines.

The fruit is sorted rigorously at the winery (when possible they like to make the wines at the location the grapes are grown to minimize the handling of the fruit) and treated the same way they would treat their top Pinot Noir fruit. Fermented in small lots, sometimes with whole clusters and always with native yeasts, the wines are coaxed through to completion and then aged in traditional Burgundy barrels, of which at most only about 20% are new. This aging, which lasts at least 10 months, is quite uncommon, even among those who are trying to make serious wines in the region. As a result, their wines are quite profound, with the texture and complexities of Burgundy instead of the cloying fruitiness of their bad brethren Beaujolais Nouveau.

This particular wine comes from the village of Fleurie, and is made from fruit grown in two separate vineyards. The first is an east-facing vineyard from the northern part of town closer to Moulin-a-Vent, with 50 year-old-vines planted in slightly richer soils. The second is a more southerly-facing vineyard from across town with 55-year-old vines and very powdery, nutrient-poor soils.

This wine represents a great example of how wonderfully expressive “cru” Beaujolais can be, and in particular the delicacy and finesse that Fleurie can produce.

Full disclosure: I received this wine as a press sample.

Tasting Notes:
Light garnet in color, this wine smells of dark chocolate, exotic flowers, and mulberries. In the mouth the wine is soft and bright with excellent acidity, subtle black cherry, mulberry, and light floral aromas that carry through the airy finish. Undertones of wet wood, light tannins, and a gorgeous texture round out the package. Quite nice. One of those wines that, when encountered at a dinner party, makes you want to tuck the bottle under your arm and disappear into another room to finish it yourself.

Food Pairing:
While this wine is elegant enough to serve even with more delicate fish, it also has the backbone of complexity and hint of tannin to do wonders with roast chicken, quail, or even braised pork.

Overall Score: around 9

How Much?: $19

This wine is available for purchase on the Internet.

Original post by Alfonso Cevola

It’s hard to get attention in the world of wine. Many wineries and winemakers struggle their entire careers for recognition, both deservedly and some, not quite. In the days of big marketing budgets and cult wines that are only figuratively on everyone′s lips (and literally on the lips of very few), it’s easy to overlook wineries that have quietly been doing their thing for decades.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve driven by the understated Corison Winery on Highway 29 without ever going in. The number must literally be in the hundreds. While I′ve still not actually stopped to pay Cathy Corison a visit, I′ve had a chance to taste her wines (and chat with her) on several occasions and under different conditions, from barrel samples to cellar aged verticals, and it’s clear that for being in plain sight amidst all the glossy wineries on Highway 29 in Napa, she is one of the more under-appreciated wineries in the valley.

Cathy Corison fell in love with wine as an idealistic and romantic college student in Biology at Pomona college. Fascinated by the “living″ microbiology of wine, she went on to get a degree in Enology in the hallowed halls of U.C. Davis. After graduating in the Seventies and starting her career in winemaking at a time when Napa was just coming into its own again as a major wine producing region, she worked at a number of major wineries in the valley, including York Creek Vineyards, Yverdon Winery, Chappellet Vineyard, Long Meadow Ranch, and Staglin Family Vineyards.

Getting started in winemaking at that time afforded Cathy the opportunity of realizing a dream that many new winemakers will never achieve: to own their own vineyard in Napa. It took her 12 years, but eventually in the late 1980’s, Corison Winery was born. Since its first vintage in 1987, the winery has been a labor of love and life’s work for Cathy and her husband William Martin, who wears most of the hats that Cathy does not, including barn builder, back-office manager, and system administrator.

Cathy’s roots in Cabernet Sauvignon run deep. Inspired by the old world wines of Saint-Julien, Bordeaux, she has spent decades learning everything there is to know about growing and making Cabernet in the Napa Valley with a single-minded, quiet intensity. Apart from a small production of Gewurztraminer, and occasional dabblings in other varietals for second labels, Corison winery makes only two wines, both of them Cabernet Sauvignon from her 10 acres of alluvial vineyards on the sloping west side of the Napa Valley between Rutherford and St. Helena.

Even at a time when it was harder to find reasonably priced land in Napa, the Corison property was a diamond in the rough. In an interview a few years ago in the San Francisco Chronicle, Cathy noted that the property was passed over by many buyers because of an old, likely-to-be-condemned farmhouse on the property and a Cabernet vineyard that most believed needed to be ripped out and replanted. It turns out that neither supposition was quite true, and both the farmhouse and the vineyard continue to fulfill their original purposes today.

Cathy’s Kronos Vineyard, as she named it, has been dutifully producing her vineyard designated Cabernet for almost two decades now. I have had the good fortune to taste nearly every one of the last ten of fifteen years of this wine and I find it to be one of Napa’s most expressive single vineyard Cabernet Sauvignons — expressive of both its individual vineyard characteristics, but also of the particulars of the vintage. In an age when technology and vineyard management practices allow winemakers to make highly polished wines that are remarkably consistent between vintages, Corison and her wines seem bent on expressing a bit more of the personality of the each year than many of her neighbors.

Not unrelated to this expressiveness, I find Corison wines undergo quite an evolution in the bottle over time. In short, they seem to age incredibly well, developing wonderful aromatics and more finesse over time. Quite possibly the best Corison wine I have tasted was the 1996 Kronos I tasted several years ago at a public tasting. I had appreciated the Kronos vineyard before that taste, but I had not taken it seriously enough. Corison’s wines, like the ancient pottery shards that grace the labels, are of another time and place, even as they are firmly and undeniably some of the best of what’s available in Napa today.

Full disclosure: I received these wines as press samples.

TASTING NOTES:
2006 Corison Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
Dark garnet in color, this wine smells of tobacco, wet dirt and perfectly ripe black cherries. In the mouth it is beautifully restrained, with flavors of black cherry, mulberry, and wet wood — sort of like untreated redwood decking in the rain — making for an elegant, complex flavor profile. Excellent acidity is what helps Cathy’s wines age so well, as this one undoubtedly will. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $70 Click to buy.

2005 Corison “Kronos Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
Medium to dark garnet in color, this wine smells of black cherries, wet earth,and tobacco leaves. In the mouth it is rich and layered with cherry, tobacco, and cola flavors mixed with a darker cassis or blackberry quality that has a gorgeous aromatic sweetness to it. Faint powdery tannins remain in the mouth along with a bright fruit essence in the finish. Lovely. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $98. Click to buy.

Original post by Alfonso Cevola