Cafes & Wineries

Say what you want about the state of America, I know of no other place where it remains so imminently possible to realize your dreams. These days it takes a lot of money to do it, but this country is still one of the easiest places to decide that you want to achieve something, and then set out to do it.

This is especially true in the wine business which, despite being a far cry from the pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps success stories that typify the American Dream, continues to support those who decide to take their strongest passions and turn them into a reality.

The cynical might say that it is easy for rich people to live out their fantasies, but if you know anything about making wine, you know that there′s a lot of hard work involved, and especially so if you’re going to produce something good, rather than just a bottle with your name on it.

In fact, it’s hard enough to do that when people who simply dive in because they love wine manage to make something fantastic, it’s quite a surprise. Sort of like deciding you′re going to open a restaurant because you love food and getting a Michelin star or two. But while not commonplace, it certainly is a possibility in the wine world. Just ask Ken and Akiko Freeman.

Freeman Vineyard and Winery was born of Ken and Akiko’s mutual love of food and wine. The two met at a fateful garden party when the boat that Ken was crewing on was driven to port by a looming hurricane, and their love at first sight was soon cemented by their discovery that great Burgundy numbered in both their lists of the best things in life.

Their life together over the next 10 years revolved around three things: school (Ken would return for his MBA, while Akiko went back for a Masters in Art History), wine travel (to as many wine producing regions as they could manage), and business (all this while Ken brought the Discovery channel to Asia).

Returning to California in 1997 for Ken to take a job at CNET, the two decided that they wanted to set down roots in all senses of the word. As the Internet bubble swelled, Ken and Akiko began the hunt for a place to call home and a place to make their own wine. In 2001 they purchased a small winery in the town of Sebastopol in the heart of the Russian River Valley. Their goal was to simply make the best damn Pinot Noir they could.

And after having watched (and tasted) their efforts for the last few years since their initial vintage, I’d have to say they’re getting close. Close enough for it to not make much difference if they ever really meet their final goal, because the wines are consistently excellent.

Freeman Vineyards and Winery is a classic example of what I call an “estate-less winery,” a model that was popularized in the old world by the negociants of France, and which is gradually proving incredibly successful here in California. The Freemans own no vineyards (yet), only a winemaking facility and cellar. They purchase long term contracts for grapes with growers that let them be extremely hands-on with the vineyard management. Together with a contract winemaker, assistant winemaker, vineyard manager, and a small team of friends and family, they make small quantities of wine that bear the unmistakable signature of diligent and tender care just as they do the flavors of the soil they come from.

Freeman makes around 5,400 cases of mostly Pinot Noir from a couple of single vineyard sites around the Russian River valley, as well as a top cuvee named after Akiko that is their flagship wine each year. They also produce a Sonoma Coast designated Pinot Noir, and more recently a Chardonnay.

The winemaking regimen at Freeman, handled by winemaker Ed Kurtzmann (formerly of Chalone, Testarossa, and currently his own label, August West), is what you might expect from an artisan Pinot Noir producer. The grapes are babied in from the vineyard by hand, de-stemmed and fermented without crushing in small lots, and then mixed with the fermenting juice (”punched down”) several times per day by hand as the fermentation proceeds. The wines spend at least 11 months in French oak before spending another six in bottle before release.

The crown jewel of the Freeman portfolio for me has always been Akiko’s cuvee, which is a blend of “best-barrel″ fruit from many vineyard sites and always embodies the best qualities of Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir.

Full disclosure: I received these wines as press samples.

TASTING NOTES:

2006 Freeman Vineyards and Winery Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley
Medium garnet in the glass, this wine has a bright, horsey nose that combines cranberry, plum, and faint barnyard aromas into a pleasing whole. In the mouth it is soft and velvety with pleasant but not resonant flavors of cranberry and cherry. Soft, even plush tannins guide the wine to a decent finish with hints of herbs. Good acidity plus tannins says to me that this wine will age well. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $40. Where to buy?

2006 Freeman Vineyards and Winery Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast
Light garnet in color, this wine smells of cranberries, herbs, and wet tree bark. In the mouth it has a beautiful texture and a dark loamy quality that is arresting even as bright acids dance on the palate. The primary flavors of cranberry and herbs are nicely balanced with this earthy quality, and remain so through a nice finish. Score: around 9. Cost: $45. Where to buy?

2006 Freeman Vineyards and Winery “Ryo-fu” Chadonnay, Russian River Valley
Light to medium gold in the glass, this wine smells of buttered popcorn in the best possible way. In the mouth that same bright buttered, almost savory flavor persists with a silky texture, only to be cut, slashed, and dazzled by a tempest of citrus zest and lemon curd that bounce on through a long, intense finish. Ryo-fu means “cold wind” in Japanese. Score: around 9. Cost: $40. Where to buy?

2006 Freeman Vineyards and Winery “Keefer Ranch” Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley
Light to medium garnet in color, this wine has a rich plum and pomegranate set of aromas that creep out of the glass to take hold of your senses with a velvet vise grip. In the mouth its initial impression is of intensity — smooth, silky and bursting with tart cherry and pomegranate flavors that are beautifully balanced with acidity and fine grained tannins. Hints of sandalwood and crabapple emerge on the long finish. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $40. Where to buy?

2006 Freeman “Akiko’s Cuvee″ Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast
Light garnet in the glass, this wine has a pungent nose that, with the right memory, might instantly transport you to a misty ridge above the pacific with aromas of cedar and sea air mixed with redcurrant and cranberry. In the mouth it is soft — baby bottom soft — with bright, juicy flavors of cranberry, cherry, and amidst the nicely balanced acids and tannins, the faint traces of exotic spices that linger for a while, quietly. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $60. Where to buy?

Original post by Alfonso Cevola

From the late 1800’s to the first half of the twentieth century California represented a land of opportunity for many. In Northern California, this potential seems to have been realized in particular by Italian immigrants who settled North of San Francisco in great numbers, founding small towns up the coast and in the inland valleys. Drive Highway 1, Highway 12, Highway 116, and the Bohemian Highway North of the city and you′ll pass old barns and homesteads, country stores, and several Italian restaurants that have been operating continuously since at least the Thirties.

That these fiercely determined immigrants met with success here is evidenced by not only by the preponderance of these small towns and farming communities, but also that these same towns are, after several generations, still populated with Dinuccis and Gonnellas.

Garen Staglin grew up the son of one of those early Twentieth Century immigrants. His father, Pasquale Stagliano, later naturalized as Ramon Staglin, emigrated at the age of two with his family from Calabria, Italy and settled first in New York and later California. Like so many other immigrants, the Staglianos brought with them their love of food and wine and the central role they both play in family life.

It’s no wonder then that when Garen met with considerable success, going from UCLA to Stanford Business School to the corporate world, and then to boardrooms and the halls of Silicon Valley venture capital, he and his wife Sharalyn dreamed of owning a vineyard. Carefully biding their time, they finally found just what they were looking for.

In 1985 the Staglins purchased a very old, very large estate in Rutherford that for many years had been under the management of André Tchelistcheff, known by some as the “Godfather of California Cabernet.” Tchelistcheff managed this vineyard for Beaulieu Vineyards under the ownership of the La Tour family, and it was this 50-acre parcel that he selected for producing the vaunted BV Georges De La Tour Cabernet.

The Staglins took this vineyard and the adjoining ranch and literally transformed it, carefully replanting the vineyards with direction from Tchelistcheff and building an underground winery and a home for themselves in the style of an Italian villa.

Today, and for nearly the past twenty-five years, Staglin Family Vineyards has been winning praise for the small quantity of estate wine that it produces each year: 350 cases of Sangiovese and 2,000 cases of Chardonnay in addition to the slightly more than 6,000 cases of this Cabernet. They are certainly my favorite producer in Rutherford, and in my opinion, one of the top three producers in the appellation.

Winemaking is currently done by Fredrik Johansson, but I believe this vintage was made by then winemaker Celia Masyczek, who spent almost a decade making some of the most celebrated of Staglin′s wines before continuing her career as one of Napa’s superstar winemakers.

The wine is made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon grown organically on the Staglin Family estate in the shadow of Mt. St. John in the Mayacamus Range in an area known as the Rutherford Bench. After destemming and crushing, the berries cold soak before a fermentation that lasts anywhere from 14 to 28 days. After secondary fermentation is complete the wine is aged for 26 months in 100% French oak barrels, (65% of which are new).

Tasting Notes:
Medium ruby in color and showing little sign of its age, this wine has a nose of leather, cherry, and wet cedar bark aromas — distinctively an older California Cabernet. In the mouth it offers flavors of fresh and dried cherries, cinnamon, and what can only be described as both the flavor and texture of the softest suede. A long finish completes a very satisfying experience that, if tinged with anything other than pleasure, might be said to involve a little regret at drinking this wine now, as it clearly has a good decade ahead of it.

Food Pairing:
I drank this wine with a nicely grilled filet mignon and fresh vegetables, which is certainly a classic pairing.

Overall Score: between 9 and 9.5

How Much?: This vintage can be had at auction or select retailers for around $120

This wine can be purchased online.

Original post by Alfonso Cevola

Heritage plays out in many ways in the Napa Valley. There are only a few remaining families that have been farming in the valley since Prohibition, and even those that have tenures lasting more than three decades are increasingly being supplanted by new blood or corporate interests.

Some of those families that have left the valley after decades often move on to other enterprises after cashing out on their vineyard investments. However, it’s tough to abandon Napa Valley once you’ve lived and loved there for so long.

Winemaker Justin Meyer moved his family to the Anderson Valley in 1999 after more than 35 years of making wine in Napa Valley with a vision of producing world-class Port-style wine and establishing a family estate that could be carried on by future generations. Despite this move, the family never truly left Napa, as it continued (and still continues) to farm the same vineyard that in some ways is responsible for the fate of the entire Meyer clan.

Justin Meyer was one of the great icons of the modern California wine industry and one of its greatest success stories. Meyer thought he was destined for a life of prayer and service when he joined the Christian Brothers religious order in the late 1950’s, but a twist of fate led to him being sent to work at the order’s winery in Napa in 1964. That fateful move was the beginning of a forty-year career in the wine industry. After working for several years at Christian Brothers with the famous Brother Timothy, he left the order to marry a woman named Bonny that he had fallen in love with, and with literally a dollar to his name, he co-founded a little winery that he and partner Ray Duncan decided to call Silver Oak. The rest, as they say, is history. Justin spent 28 years at Silver Oak and built it into one of the world’s most sought-after wine brands.

During that time, Meyer, who was a lover of Port, purchased some bulk tawny port on the market and started to make small batches of the stuff under a new label: Meyer Family Cellars. The port was for friends and family, and was also sold in small quantities at the Silver Oak winery to those in the know.

During this time, Meyer raised a family with Bonny, whose name was also applied to a piece of vineyard land adjacent to Conn Creek that Meyer purchased for his wife in 1974.

From an early age, this couple’s son Matt Meyer knew that he wanted to be a winemaker and winegrower like his father. Unlike in his father’s day, the way to do that was pretty straightforward for Matt, who went to U.C. Davis for a degree in Viticulture, and then began working immediately with his father on turning the family winery into something more than just a little port hobby.

The family purchased vineyards in the Yorkville Highlands in 1999 and planted Syrah. Justin Meyer passed away in 2002, leaving the winery under the direction of Matt and his new wife, Karen, a winemaker whom he met while working a harvest in New Zealand in 2004. While their primary focus was growing a business and a brand in the Yorkville highlands, the family took special care to maintain the vineyard from which Meyer had made some of the most famous single vineyard wines for Silver Oak (and for Napa Valley) for more than a decade (1979-1991).

As Meyer Family Cellars gradually settled into a working rhythm and predictable operations, the family decided that the time had come to produce a wine that would honor in equal parts Justin and his wife Bonny — him with a world-class Cabernet, her with the honor of being its namesake. Bonny’s Vineyard last produced a wine in 1991. Since then the family continued to farm it, and completely replanted the vineyard in 1999, making the first harvest of new fruit and inaugurating this project in 2003, the first time that the vineyard has produced a wine in 12 years.

Harvested in mid-September (notably early for Oakville) the grapes for this wine were selected from small bunches of even smaller berries, and destemmed before being crushed. After a day of soaking at cold temperatures to extract color and flavors from the skins, the grapes and juice began fermentation which lasted 10 days before the wine was pressed. It completed its primary and then secondary fermentations in stainless steel before being moved to 100% new American Oak barrels where it aged for a lengthy 34 months before bottling. During that time it was racked once a year (the process where the wine is carefully poured off the sediments that have accumulated in the barrel). The wine was not fined, but was filtered before bottling.

If the pedigree of this wine is not enough to pique a wine lovers interest, two salient facts about its winemaking should gain the attention of those serious about California Cabernet. The first is the daring choice to age the wine in only American Oak, a practice which is increasingly rare in California, and even more so in Napa Valley. The second is the fact that this wine weighs in at only 13.19% alcohol, which, like the choice of oak, is neither good nor bad in itself, but is certainly even more uncommon for Napa Cabernet.

Which brings me to the bottom line on this wine. Those looking for a wine that defies the stereotypes of Napa Cabernet while at the same time upholding its reputation for being some of the tastiest wine on the planet shouldn’t miss their chance to experience the first example of what will likely be a highly sought after wine.

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

Tasting Notes:
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of luxurious chocolate and cherry aromas. In the mouth it is nothing short of gorgeous. Beautifully smooth and lithe on the tongue, the wine swirls with great acidity that carries flavors of cherry, mint, chocolate, cedar and tobacco across the palate in several waves of pleasurable, layered flavors. The finish soars off the back of the palate effortlessly and endlessly. An incredibly impressive first release that Justin Meyer could not help but be proud of.

Food Pairing:
This wine epitomizes the concept of delicate strength, which means it’s rich enough for grilled lamb on rosemary skewers, but not likely to overwhelm more subtle dishes either. A very nice food wine.

Overall Score: Between 9 and 9.5

How Much?: $135

This wine is being released on August 31st in limited quantities, and I believe it will likely only be available to members of the winery’s mailing list. You can sign up on their web site to purchase up to three bottles.

Original post by Alfonso Cevola

Good wine is rarely made by accident. So much can go wrong in the winemaking process that to get something that isn’t complete dreck is a triumph, and those who are capable of creating fantastic wines are, despite their modesty and common protestations of “just letting nature take her course,” truly talented artisans.

While wines, and great wines in particular, are made with incredible forethought and planning, sometimes wine labels can spring up overnight as the result of an opportune conversation or new friendship.

Such is the case with this wine, which may be the first an only vintage under its label, though after tasting it, and knowing the folks behind it, I’d be surprised if this one didn’t take on a life of its own.

But I am getting ahead of myself.

One of the more interesting and enterprising folks in the wine industry that I’ve met in the last few years is a guy named Cameron Hughes. In just a short period of time, Cameron has made his own name synonymous with a category of wines that he, and his rabidly enthusiastic customers, calls “extreme value” wines.

Cameron has a long background in wine sales, and has lots of connections to wineries as a result. Over the years he’s heard many times from winemakers who had multiple barrels of finished wine that they couldn’t sell for some reason — either there was no demand in the marketplace for it, or for some reason the winery ended up with more wine than they wanted after making their final blends. At a certain point the message sank in — there was lots of wine out there, and some of it was really good wine, sometimes made by top winemakers, and it was available dirt cheap, as long as someone was willing to promise never to reveal just exactly where, or more importantly, who, the wine came from.

So what was an enterprising guy to do? Cameron decided to become what you might call a modern California negociant (a French term for a type of wine producer who buys grapes or finished wine on the market and bottles it under his own label). He started buying wine from very reputable producers, blending it with other batches, and bottling it for sale under his own name.

Cameron Hughes wine has consisted of small lots of wine, each of which is marketed under simply a lot number and the appellation of the specific wine, and most often for prices between $10 and $20 a bottle. The wines have been sold almost completely through his mailing list and web site, as well as in Costco stores around the country. Due to the cult following he has developed, he has gotten access to more and more interesting lots of wine, which are increasingly not only from California but from elsewhere around the world.

But this is not one of those wines. In fact, it isn′t a Cameron Hughes wine at all. It’s his dad’s wine.

The story goes like this. Cameron′s friend Sam Spencer, winemaker and proprietor of Spencer Roloson winery where he makes excellent Syrah (among other things), was given a chance to buy some Cabernet fruit from one of the vineyards where he was already sourcing Syrah. A Cabernet Sauvignon didn’t fit into the Spencer Roloson portfolio so he offered to make one for Cameron. But Cameron Hughes wines are all about bargain basement finished wine that can be blended and then sold immediately, not brand new wines made with pricey fruit that require expensive barrels and three years of aging before they get sold.

Coincidentally, Cameron’s dad was retiring that year from his job of 33 years, and apparently had an interest in having his own wine. A few phone calls later and a new wine label was born. With the help his best friend, Sandy Wellman, the elder Hughes pulled together the capital to buy the fruit and hire Roloson as the winemaker for their project.

I’m constantly surprised at how quickly, with the right relationships, a wine label can be forged. Gone are the days when in order to make wine you needed to own some land and make huge investments in equipment and more.

The one thing that hasn’t changed, however, is the need to have good winegrowing and winemaking talent behind the scenes, which means that it’s no surprise this wine is excellent. Sam Spencer’s label debuted a number of years ago with great wines, and they’ve only been getting better with time. His La Herradura Syrah is now one of my favorites of all time, so it’s great to see what he does with Cabernet Sauvignon.

In this case, what he does is get excellent mountain fruit from Nell-MacVeagh Vineyard, which sits on the lower slopes of Howell Mountain just to the east of the town of St. Helena. This vineyard, tended to Spencer’s specifications, yields few, but very lush bunches of fruit, which are destemmed and fermented in blocks after four days of cold soaking. After fermentation the wine is transferred to 70% new French oak barrels where it ages for 22 months before bottling. Only 199 cases of the wine were made.

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

Tasting Notes:
Inky garnet in color, this wine has what I might call a “classic” Cabernet nose of bright cherry fruit with aromas of green wood, green bell pepper, and wet dirt. In the mouth it offers smooth, very pretty texture with excellent balance and acidity that allow a complex melange of rich cherry, green wood, and earth flavors to swirl and spike their way along the palate to a nice finish. This wine has a lot going on with it and a nice taut quality thanks to the slightly vegetal qualities that hover well below the threshold of objectionable and add a bit of “old world” character to the mix.

Food Pairing:
This is a classic red meat wine, and I’d love to drink it with a perfectly cooked prime rib.

Overall Score: between 9 and 9.5

How Much?: $50

This wine is only available for sale through the Cameron Hughes web site.

Original post by Alfonso Cevola

Tuscany will always hold a special place in my heart. If not for the dreamlike quality of the rolling Chianti hills in Spring, then for the fact that it was the place I realized I was probably going to marry the woman who is now my wife, and the place she fell in love with wine (she was already in love with me, thankfully) for the first time.

The red wines of Tuscany can be as frustrating as they are fantastic. Just ask anyone who’s had their share of lousy, watery Chianti at neighborhood Italian restaurants in the United States. Like many, my earliest exposures to Tuscan wine left me with a very distinct taste in my mouth, and it wasn′t pleasant. Tuscan red wines, even the good ones, can be quite dry and tannic in their youth, and if poorly made can really make you feel like you’re drinking liquid leather.

Those who have the patience to age their Brunellos and Vinos Nobile de Montepulciano, or to search out the gems of Chianti, Bolgheri, Sant’Antimo, or Maremma are often rewarded with wines of remarkable character and soul. When they’re good, they’re really frikken good, as my wife, Ruth, would say.

I find the Chianti region to be one of the most difficult in which to ferret out excellent wines. I’m sure I’ll draw some ire for claiming so, but I believe that the region has an unusually high proportion of mediocre wine compared to good, even among the DOCG (Denominazione di Orogine Controllata e Garantita) designated producers. Which means that when I find a great producer of Chianti, I get very excited.

My latest discovery is a winery named La Brancaia.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Brancaia is a relatively new producer in the Chianti Classico region. More surprising might be the fact that the estates owners, including the current winemaker, are Swiss German, and never had any intention of becoming wine producers.

In 1981 Brigitte and Bruno Widmer were on vacation in Tuscany for the first time, and not unlike many before them, fell in love with the landscape, the culture, and of course, the food and wine. On the spot, they decided to purchase a property that they might use as a family vacation destination, five hours by highway from their home in Zurich. With the help of a local real estate agent, they managed to find a few ancient farmhouses for sale, and quickly fell for the charm of the most ancient and most dilapidated of them. The property was perfect in every respect except for one: it came with 21 acres of grapes that the Widmers had no idea what to do with. The Widmers were not about to let a few vines get in the way of their dream, so they bought the property anyway, and set about refurbishing the old farmhouse.

Apparently their neighbors were the ones that talked the Widmers into trying their hands at winemaking and gave them support for the first year or two it took to get their small family operation up and running. Whether it was the neighbor’s help, their own Swiss attention to detail, or the raw quality of the vineyards they happened to have bought, it’s not clear, but their 1983 vintage won first place in a major Chianti Classico blind tasting.

And like so many stories of this kind, that was the first day of the rest of their lives.

Over the next 7 or 8 years, the Widmers threw themselves into the creation of a small, high quality Chianti winery. They purchased another vineyard site, bringing their total vineyard acreage to about 75, and fought through the nearly prehistoric local bureaucracy to get a permit to build a modern winemaking facility. All the while, their small production wines were garnering accolades throughout the country.

In 1992 the Widmers hired consulting winemaker Carlo Ferrini to help them take their operations to the next level of quality. Ferrini, even at that time, was one of Italy’s most celebrated winemakers and consultants, and quickly transformed Brancaia into one of Chianti’s most celebrated wineries. With Ferrini’s help, since 1994 the winery’s flagship wine “Il Blu″ has been awarded the Gambero Rosso Tre Bicchieri every single year except one.

Soon after Ferrini began working with the Widmers, their daughter Barbara decided to abandon her budding career as an architect and become more involved with the new family business. After managing sales and event marketing for the winery, she eventually went back to school to train as a winemaker in Switzerland, and after graduating and working at several Swiss wineries, she returned to Brancaia in 1998 to become its full-time winemaker. Barbara, along with her husband Martin Kronenberg who manages operations and sales, has taken over management of the winery, and Ferrini continues to consult.

In 1997, the family purchased another property, this time in southern Tuscany in the Maremma region, from which they make a single wine called Ilatraia.

The wines are all made in the family’s production faculty in Chianti, a three story winery designed to all but eliminate the use of pumps in favor of the gentler forces of gravity on everything from the destemmed, crushed grapes to the fermenting and finished wine. The wines are all aged in French oak barrels, of which roughly 66% are new each year.

Brancaia certainly represents a new wave of producers in Chianti, and may be seen by some as “nuvo″ or un-traditional (some Tuscan winemakers consider anyone using French oak to be a non-traditionalist). This may be true, but it should not obscure the fact that Brancaia is producing some truly fantastic wines that are true to the soul of the place from which they come, and top examples of what the region is capable of producing in the right hands.

Full disclosure: I received these wines as press samples.

TASTING NOTES:

2005 Brancaia “Ilatraia″ Rosso Maremma Toscana IGT, Tuscany
Dark garnet in color, this wine has an incredibly distinctive nose that screams COLA! Followed by softer murmurs of cherry and chocolate. These murmurs turn into songs of such flavors on the palate, as beautiful rich flavors of cola, spices, chocolate and cherry swirl amidst lovely texture and very faint tannins through to a very nice finish. Tasty, tasty, tasty. 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Sangiovese, 10% Petit Verdot. Score: around 9. Cost: $70 . Where to buy?

2005 Brancaia “Il Blu” Rosso Toscana IGT, Tuscany
Cloudy medium garnet in color, this wine smells of chocolate covered cherries and wet dirt. I don’t know about you, but that tends to make my mouth water. On the palate the wine offers an overwhelming sense of having just been dug up out of the wet ground and plopped in your glass. This damp earth quality quickly plays a low rumble to higher tones of cherries and chocolate that modulate to higher tones of rosehip and herbs on the long finish. Delicious. 50% Sangiovese, 45% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $60 .Where to buy?

2005 Brancaia “Tre” Rosso Toscana IGT, Tuscany
Medium ruby in the glass, this wine has an altogether funky nose of farmyard aromas — gamey, horse sweat, and other pungent but not entirely objectionable smells mesh with red fruit. In the mouth, thankfully, the wine centers around more traditional flavors of leather, sandalwood, and cherry, as well as a distinctive, unusual flavor I couldn′t pin down. This wine is beating to it’s own rhythm. Sangiovese with unspecified amounts of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $18. Where to buy?

2004 Brancaia Chianti Classico DOCG, Chianti, Tuscany
Medium garnet in color, this wine has a beautiful nose of floral and cherry aromas that compels multiple inhales before any drinking begins. In the mouth it is rich and full, while holding the earthy dryness one expects from a good Chianti. The primary flavors are of cherry and leather with rich earth undertones that linger on a bed of fine grained tannins into a nice finish. 95% Sangiovese and 5% Merlot. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $20. Where to buy?

Original post by Alfonso Cevola

Formulaic is an adjective that is often leveled at some of California’s top boutique wines and their winemaking. As if when you finally manage to afford all the components required to make a high-end wine, that somehow you just throw them together and, “poof” you’ve got yourself a $300, 94 point superstar.

This stereotype is especially convenient for those who can’t afford to drink such wines. I should know. I still can’t afford to drink such wines, and while I’ve learned better now, about 10 years ago I believed that the only thing special about big name wines was how much money people spent making them.

Not much richer now, but older and wiser by far when it comes to wine, I’ve come to realize that if it were just about money, then everyone and their brother would have a mailing list 5 years deep. If there is a formula to making a world class wine, it’s so damn complicated that no one can simply buy it.

But nonetheless, it certainly is possible to set out to create a world class wine, and actually succeed. You might say that everyone begins that journey, but very few actually complete it. And if you look closely at those who do end up with truly fantastic wines, the common denominator is not money (though most certainly have that in common) it is something much harder to come by: a combination of knowing what the hell you are doing and the willingness to work your ass off.

Jess Jackson most certainly qualifies for the designation of a guy who knows his stuff. One of the most successful wine moguls of America, Jackson’s successes range from the amazingly consistent supermarket wines of his Kendall Jackson brand to the luxury wine of Cardinale. So when Jackson decides to buy a few of Sonoma county’s best hillside vineyards, plunks a house down amidst the rows, and begins a “little project” to make world-class Bordeaux blends, one should pay careful attention.

Vérité Wines is Jackson’s “little project.” Founded on the simple premise of farming the absolutely best quality Bordeaux varietals possible in Sonoma County and then turning them into carefully blended masterpieces, Vérité is one of the few highly sought after wines from Sonoma County that is not made from Pinot Noir.

Winemaker Pierre Seillan comes to Vérité after a long and distinguished career of winemaking in Armagnac, the Loire Valley, and Bordeaux, where he spent nearly 20 years as technical director for seven chateaux in the region. Recruited by Jackson in 1997, Seillan holds the title of “Vigneron,” by way of explaining his role both in the cellar and in the vineyards, much like the winegrower-winemakers that are much more common in Europe. Seillan wields total control of the winegrowing and winemaking operation at Vérité (with an awful lot of help, of course) to produce wines that reflect his particular vision of what his vineyards have to offer the world.

Seillan describes his three vineyard sites in terms of “micro-crus” — small sections within the vineyards which possess their own unique characteristics, and which Seillan attempts to harness like a conductor managing the various tones of a chamber orchestra. With all the notes available to him, Seillan constructs three melodies each year, named La Muse, La Joie, and Le Désir. Each is a particular blend of varietals, vineyards, and flavors that walks the line between paying homage to the Old World while embodying the New. La Muse emphasizes Merlot, La Joie, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Le Désir, Cabernet Franc.

This fine line between classic Bordeaux styling and California power is a difficult one to walk, and in this, my first taste of these wines, I’d have to say Seillan does it remarkably well. These wines have a brawn that you’ll rarely find in Bordeaux, but they are miles from the extracted, oak-laden Cabernets that are far too common in California.

That isn’t to say these wines don’t use oak. After careful harvesting, sorting and individual fermentation of the grapes from each block of the vineyard, the wines spend 16 months in new French oak barrels, but despite this long engagement, the wood has only a suggestive presence in the wines, rather than a dominant flavor. After barrel aging, the wines spend another 18 to 24 months in bottle before release. I do not know what the case production levels of these wines are, though they cannot be very high.

As I mentioned, this is my first time tasting these wines, and I found them to be truly impressive.

Full disclosure: I received these wines as press samples.

2004 Vérité “La Joie” Bordeaux Blend, Sonoma County
Inky ruby in color, this wine has a rich nose of dark roasted espresso, leather, and forest floor aromas that jump out of the glass. In the mouth it is surprisingly lithe given its powerful nose, and once past a deeply earthy first impression it offers beautiful flavors of cherry, tobacco, cassis and notes of herbs that seem like a light haze mixed in with the fine dusty tannins. The finish is long and dry. A very pretty wine. 66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20 % Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and 4% Petit Verdot. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $150. Where to buy?

2004 Vérité “Le Désir″ Bordeaux Blend, Sonoma County
Medium to dark ruby in color, this wine has a surprisingly Old World nose of earth, graphite, and the unmistakable scent of green bell pepper, which manages to hover well below the range of objectionable. In the mouth that greenness manifests as a hint of green wood studded in a matrix of bright cherry fruit dusted with fine tannins. Beautiful texture and a long finish make for lingering pleasure on the palate. 49% Merlot, 47% Cabernet Franc, 4% Cabernet Sauvignon, with a splash (0.1%) of Malbec. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $150. Where to buy?

2004 Vérité “La Muse” Bordeaux Blend, Sonoma County
Dark ruby in color, this wine has a brawny nose of pipe tobacco, cola, and incense. In the mouth it reminds me of an operatic baritone — rich, clear and resonant with flavors of cherry, tobacco, cola, and beautiful cedar notes that merge with the drying, powdery tannins. “Hot damn” I wrote in my notebook, “this is definitely the best Bordeaux blend I’ve ever had from Sonoma County.” And all the while the finish kept going and going and going. 86% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc, 4% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Malbec. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $150. Where to buy?

Original post by Alfonso Cevola

Some people seem to get into the wine business through sheer determination. After years of saving, scraping, dreaming and planning, vineyard or winery ownership is the fulfillment of many people’s long held (if not hard earned) fantasies.

And then there are those people who somehow seem destined for it — people whose stories you hear and you think, how on Earth did you manage not to do this earlier?

If Stephen Singer was going to fall into one of these categories it would most certainly be the latter. In 2003 he became the proprietor of a small winery called Baker Lane, which was the end of a long road, and will no doubt be the beginning of another.

Singer has been in the wine business in the San Francisco Bay Area for decades, starting with a small wine shop and distribution business in the City that began over 30 years ago. His retail skills and wine knowledge were parlayed into wine consulting for many restaurants, eventually landing him at Chez Panisse, where he was the wine director for many years (and also was married to owner Alice Waters). After leaving Chez Panisse, Singer went on to become a restaurant owner and entrepreneur, a career which still takes up much of his time. He is a partner in the popular Cesar in Berkeley (next door to Chez Panisse) and the newly opened West Country Grill in the town of Sebastopol in Sonoma County.

As if that weren’t enough, Singer has been importing artisan olive oils and vinegars from Italy for over ten years. I find myself asking, is it any wonder that this guy eventually had to get his hands on a vineyard?

Singer was waiting for just the right piece of land, apparently, and eventually found it in a ranch just outside of Sebastopol, where two sloping edges of small valley in the Laguna de Santa Rosa watershed offer good exposure for Syrah and Pinot Noir.

To make his wine, Singer has enlisted veteran winemaker Steven Canter, who currently also makes wine for Davis Bynum and Quivira, as well as for his own personal label Luddite Vineyards. I suppose with a label name like that, it goes without saying that Canter doesn’t go for much fancy-shmancy technology when it comes to making wine. Canter, who comes to winemaking first via music and then via a series of jobs in most every facet of the wine industry, has developed his craft through experiences working at Torbreck Winery in Australia and Foris Vineyards in Oregon, among other places.

Canter makes this wine from grapes grown on the east-facing slope of a hillside vineyard that sits nearby Singer’s property near Sebastopol. The Hurst Vineyard is planted with the Pommard, 777, and 115 clones of Pinot Noir, which are hand harvested and fermented in small lots. The wines age in large (450 liter) French oak casks, of which 40% are new and the rest (including some smaller barrels) are old enough to be classified as “neutral,” meaning that they impart little or no additional flavor to the wine. The 570 cases of this wine that are made are bottled without fining or filtration.

The 2006 vintage represents the third commercial vintage (and the second I have tasted) from this small winery. It confirms for me that Baker Lane is on the path to being another coveted producer of excellent Sonoma Coast Pinot Noirs. 2006 wasn’t an easy vintage for Pinot Noir in many places, but this wine shows a steady hand in the vineyard and cellar.

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

Tasting Notes:
Cloudy medium ruby in the glass, this wine has a pretty nose of exotic spices and raspberry fruit aromas. In the mouth it is beautifully soft, like baby skin or velvet, and offers bright raspberry fruit flavors laced with mixed herbs that seem to expand on the palate as the wine lingers in a long finish that elicited a “wow” note in my tasting book. This is an honest, excellent wine that is a pleasure to drink.

Food Pairing:
Not overbearing in the slightest, this wine is very food friendly and I′d gladly pour it alongside grilled rosemary and pork tenderloin brochettes.

Overall Score: between 9 and 9.5

How Much?: $39

This wine is available for purchase on the Internet.

Original post by Alfonso Cevola

The wines of Alsace are some of the most unique and distinctive in the world. They are also some of my favorites, not only because they are delicious, but also because they are made by some of France’s most individualistic and headstrong vintners.

Alsace has long been a place apart, both from France and Germany, each of which have laid claim over the valleys and hills that lie west of the Rhine river which currently demarcates the border between the two nations. It’s easy to characterize the region as a smooth and quirky blend between the two countries, but such a simple description belies the unique nature of the region, especially when it comes to its cuisine and its wine.

Alsace is the only region of France whose wines have historically been labeled with varietal names (though since 2001 they can now bear the names of their Grand Cru vineyards). Alsace was also the first wine region to adopt Biodynamic viticulture, the holistic growing and winemaking regimen based on the teachings of Rudolph Steiner. Since it’s first Biodynamic vineyard in 1960, Alsace has been at the forefront of the movement. The region can now claim to be the most Biodynamic winegrowing region in France, with more than 37,000 acres of vineyards and more than 57 producers adhering to the strict and often bizarre methods of cultivation and winemaking.

Though I count myself as a skeptic of many of the processes and beliefs associated with Biodynamics, I must also admit that some of the greatest wines in the world (not to mention the greatest winemakers of the world) are Biodynamic. So there’s clearly something to it.

Which is why when Alsatian vintner Marc Kreydenweiss talks about selecting vineyard sites based on their exceptional vibrations and constructing his wine cellars using the golden ratio and an “accumulator to charge the telluric and cosmic forces” I have to roll my eyes a bit, but then enthusiastically explore his range of distinctive wines that are made in small quantities and with the extreme care that characterizes Biodynamic methods.

Kreydenweiss took over the farming and winemaking of his family’s domaine in 1970 at the tender age of 23. At the time, the 12 or so acres that his family owned were producing grapes for sale to neighbors, despite a history of winegrowing in the very same vineyards that stretched back nearly three centuries and included periods of great renown for the little hillsides of schist and sandstone. Kreydenweiss set out to recapture some of the glory of this history, and spent the next two decades acquiring additional neighboring vineyard plots and overhauling the domaine’s winegrowing practices to focus on low yields and strictly organic farming. In 1991 Kreydenweiss converted the first of his vineyards to Biodynamic techniques, and the rest of the vineyards soon followed.

Today Kreydenweiss farms a little less than 30 acres of vineyards in Alsace, which include portions of three Grand Cru vineyards: Kastelberg, Moenchberg, and Weibelsberg. The domaine produces a number of small production wines from the typical grapes of the region.

Like most of the long time winemakers of Alsace, Kreydenweiss is fervently dedicated to his terroir. But unlike many of his colleagues, he harbors a desire that is hard to quench with the soils and the wines of his home: deep red wine.

Alsace grows a bit of Pinot Noir, of course, but it is almost exclusively a white wine region. So when Kreydenweiss wanted to make himself a red wine, he needed to look elsewhere. His quest for distinctive terroir eventually led him to the far south end of the Rhone valley, in an appellation called Costieres de Nimes. Here he found rich soils supporting old-vine Carignane, Mourvedre, Syrah, and Grenache, and a place to make red wines with the same passion as his whites. This review does not include these wines, but they are quite good, and are excellent values, to boot.

Only about 20% of the estate’s small production levels reach the United States. I have tasted the domaine’s wines each year for the past three years and found them quite consistently good. I often have a small complaint — that they tend to lack enough acidity for my palate — but the most recent vintages seem to have improved in this department. The wines below are some of the best I have ever had from the domaine.

Full disclosure: I received these wines as press samples.

TASTING NOTES:

2005 Marc Kreydenweiss “Wiebelsberg” Riesling Grand Cru, Alsace
Pale green gold in the glass, this wine has an amazing nose of star fruit, herbs, floral notes and unknown, exotic scents. In the mouth it is bright and beautiful, with nice acidity wrapped around flavors of apples and exotic fruits. Like some of the best Rieslings, it manages to be sweet without any trace of sugar, but also savory in some obscure respect. A forever finish makes this a wine to savor, quietly, alone or with friends that require little conversation. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $35. Where to buy?

2006 Marc Kreydenweiss “Kritt″ Pinot Blanc, Alsace
Pale gold in the glass, this wine smells of honey and old parchment. In the mouth it offers a light sweetness (it is slightly off-dry) flavored like delicate honey, and aromas of white flowers that soar into a long finish. The wine has a soft character (just a hair light on acidity), but this cannot mar what is otherwise a lovely concoction. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $30. Where to buy?

2005 Marc Kreydenweiss Andlau Riesling, Alsace
A pale green gold color, this wine smells of honey poached pears. In the mouth it is gorgeous chalky and dry, with beautifully balanced flavors of honey, white flowers, and citrus zest. The long finish is mostly citrus dominated, and lovely to behold. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $22.Where to buy?

2005 Marc Kreydenweiss “Kritt″ Pinot Blanc, Alsace
Pale green gold in color, this wine has a stony nose of apple and pear aromas. On the palate it is a little waxy in flavor, with a nice texture and a smoky quality that wraps around core flavors of unripe apples, and spiced pears. Like its brethren, the wine possesses a lovely finish, though perhaps less complexity. Score: around 9. Cost: $24. Where to buy?

2005 Marc Kreydenweiss “Clos Rebberg” Pinot Gris, Alsace
Light gold in color, this wine has a nose of chamomile, dried herbs, and yellow flowers. In the mouth it offers quite distinctive flavors of bee pollen, dandelions and honey. Well balanced with a lovely finish, the wine dances on the palate. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $32. Where to buy?

Original post by Alfonso Cevola

There are those in the wine world who seek out (and often pay for) the best possible advice they can get. Winemaking and winegrowing are sciences as much as they are arts, and these days, there are plenty of experts to be had in both arenas. And then there are those in the wine world that no matter what the scientists, experts, and even their friends say, choose to follow their instincts. Call them pig-headed, call them eccentric, call them iconoclasts, there are certain people that will always walk their own paths when it comes to wine.

Jim Dierberg seems to be one of those people. He’s a man that puts a lot of stock in his intuition. He proposed to his wife on their first date, and the first time he set eyes on a piece of property near Santa Ynez Valley he knew it was where he needed to live and to make wine. And not just any wine. Jim decided that this little plot of land was where he was going to make the Cabernet that he had dreamed of making for years.

Never mind that the idea of making Cabernet Sauvignon in the chilly, fog-influenced Santa Ynez Valley (known, for good reason, for it’s cooler climate Pinot Noir and Chardonnay) was pretty much the most insane idea anyone had heard of for some time. Jim spent nearly ten years fending off his friends and neighbors, all of whom confirmed the insanity oh his plans. In those ten years he methodically planted his vineyards and experimented with rootstocks, built a winery, and (perhaps just to prove that he wasn’t totally bonkers) bought some land in the neighboring Santa Rita Hills and started making excellent Pinot Noir and Chardonnay under the Dierberg Estate and Three Saints labels.

Jim’s faith in his own vision wasn’t easy to shake, perhaps because Jim lived on the property that came to be known as Star Lane Vineyards for those ten years. And he needed little more than a good set of eyes and a thermometer to prove to himself that the tiny little North-South valley where his vineyards climbed up the steep valley walls was a climatological anomaly. At the start of his driveway, several miles away, the mid-summer fog would be thick and the air a chilly sixty degrees Fahrenheit, but out his front door it would be sunny and between 80 and 100 degrees.

Indeed, the Happy Valley, as this little crease in the San Rafael Mountains is named, happens to be both the highest and the hottest place in the entire appellation. Daytime temperatures routinely climb above 100 degrees and nighttime temperatures often fall well below fifty degrees. This wide range of temperature, known as the diurnal shift, is coveted by winemakers for its ability to coax complexity and richness out of grapes of many varieties.

Now, after ten years of work, Jim and his winemaking crew, which includes winemaker Nick DeLuca and consultant David Ramey, are releasing the first vintage from Star Lane, including this wine, which is a special selection from three specific blocks of the vineyard. The vineyards are planted almost exclusively to Bordeaux varietals, with the exception of a little Syrah that is mixed in amongst the Cabernet Sauvignon, and are so steep in places that there is only one guy on Jim’s staff that is willing to drive the tractor between the rows (he apparently keeps asking for a raise on this account).

The vineyard management crew, all of whom are full-time employees rather than hired contractors, pick the grapes in the dead of night to escape the day-time heat, and load them in small batches into the winery (which has been built with two distinct sections, one dedicated to the Dierberg Estate Burgundy-style wines, and the other dedicated to the Star Lane project). The grapes ferment slowly with native yeasts, and are then aged in 100% new French oak barrels for 20 months before bottle aging another 14 months before release. The wines are never filtered and are fined lightly with egg whites before bottling.

Star Lane makes about 1900 cases of this special Cabernet Sauvignon, and about 9000 cases of their estate Cabernet (which is also fantastic).

Santa Ynez Valley, barring some serious effects of Global Warming, will never be known as a place that’s ideal for growing Cabernet Sauvignon, but if Star Lane Vineyards continues to produce blockbuster wines like this one, Santa Ynez Valley may well become known for at least one Cabernet.

Tasting Notes:
Inky garnet in color, this wine bursts out of the glass with a rich nose of earth, tobacco, and dark fruit aromas that had me salivating immediately. In the mouth it is rich, heavy, and pure liquid silk on the tongue, with powerful flavors of black cherry, vanilla, and chocolate mixed with an undertone of dirt. The wine has just the slightest touch of sweetness to it that I eventually decided was a hint of residual sugar, but couldn’t possibly hold against this wine in all its lusciousness. Perhaps it’s best to think of this wine as a monster Napa Cab, that isn’t from Napa. A wine for those times when you’d prefer that your wine not show a little restraint.

Food Pairing:
This is a wine that while perfect for grilled meat, I would simply prefer to drink on its own. It’s big enough to demand all of your attention.

Overall Score: between 9 and 9.5

How Much?: $100

This wine is available for purchase on the internet.

Original post by Alfonso Cevola

In the world of sake, perhaps even more so than the world of wine, just when you think you′ve figured out that things work a certain way, you stumble across an exception that completely destroys whatever sense of predictability you might have been cultivating.

It’s fairly safe to say that most fine sakes should be served chilled, to preserve and highlight their subtleties and delicate qualities. However, there are a specific class of higher end sakes that not only can be served at room temperature, but actually benefit from a little warmth.

These sakes bear no resemblance in style (or price for that matter) to the hot sakes served in most American sushi restaurants. Instead, such sakes represent a relatively unknown segment of the fine sake world known as yamahai sake. Sake continues to gain in popularity every year in America, but the range and variety of sake poured in restaurants and purchased by consumers continues to be somewhat narrowly focused, and most definitely does not tend to include Yamahai sakes like this one, which represent less than 1% of the sakes brewed in the world.

The easiest way to explain yamahai sakes to wine lovers would be to suggest that yamahai sakes are the equivalent of wines fermented with native yeasts. But this analogy doesn’t quite illustrate the full extent to which yamahai sakes differ from more conventionally brewed sakes.

Like in traditional winemaking, sanitary conditions are paramount to the production of high quality sake, but in sake brewing, this is taken to a much greater extreme. Any contamination by outside agents of any kind, be they yeasts, other bacteria, or any other biological elements, can result in a sake that tastes like a burning heap of trash, if you get my meaning. This is the primary reason that sake is traditionally brewed in the dead of winter, when the air and the spring water used for brewing are the most free from living contaminants.

Sake is made from two “fermentations.” The first is the koji mold, which attacks and begins to break down the starches in a small batch of rice kernels mixed with spring water. This small batch of rice, known as the “starter” is later added to a big batch of rice to make the sake. After the koji has had a chance to get started, one of several commercial sake brewing yeasts (sake never really undergoes a full natural yeast fermentation) is added to the starter mash and allowed to grow until this starter is highly concentrated with yeast cells. This is the second fermentation.

So why is Yamahai sake the equivalent of a natural yeast fermentation? Well, for the 99% of the world’s sake that is not yamahai, in between the koji inoculation and the yeast fermentation, the rice mash is treated with a bit of lactic acid to make extra sure that any stray yeasts or other organisms that might be present in the rice are dead. When the commercial yeast is added in traditional sake brewing it is added to a biologically sterile rice mash. Yamahai sake is simply sake that is missing this basic sterilization process. The rice is allowed to ferment with the combination of brewers yeast and whatever natural yeasts and enzymes might be present.

Brewing sake in this fashion is a bit like walking a tightrope without a safety net, or playing Russian roulette. Take your pick of metaphors. There’s a fine line between a sake with character and that burning pile of trash I referenced earlier. The wild yeasts that can and do infect the koji and yeast mixture for the sake starter can add a wide range of flavors and aromas to the final sake. They can also ruin it. For this reason, the brewing of yamahai sake is either a total crapshoot, or a delicate art, depending on your point of view.

Kamoizumi Shuzo, was founded in 1912 in Hiroshima prefecture in Western Japan by Hazime Hitoshi, the first son of a famous rice merchant. For three generations, the family run brewery has been working to perfect its brewing process, including their careful brewing of what is one of the best best yamahai sakes in the world under the name Shusen or “three dots.” It is a testament to the skill of their master brewer Yukio Masuda that they are able to turn out this sake year after year with a consistent flavor profile and personality.

Personality is the reason to drink yamahai sakes like this one, and their particular character traits are no more expressive than when they are served warm. Yamahai sakes tend to be fuller bodied, pungently earthy, and just slightly sweet in character. While not for everyone, especially those who don′t like the smell of mushrooms, these sakes can be fantastic accompaniments to richer foods that would overpower their more floral daiginjo cousins.

Tasting Notes:
Pale blonde in color, this sake smells of shitake mushrooms and wet leaves baking in the sun. In the mouth the sake is smooth and velvety on the tongue with pungent flavors of cooked mushrooms, wet earth, Chinese medicines, and hint of sweet tropical fruit on the finish. This is perhaps a sake for the more adventurous, but those willing to stray from the mainstream may find it richly rewarding. Serve warmed, but not hot, or at room temperature.

Food Pairing:
This sake goes particularly well with meat dishes in my opinion, especially those that have a light sweetness to them, as well as anything that has an earthy element such as potatoes and squash.

Overall Score: between 9 and 9.5

How Much?: $27

This sake is available for purchase on the Internet.

Original post by Alfonso Cevola