Cafes & Wineries

The good $15 Pinot Noir is the unicorn of the California wine industry. A mythic beast, highly sought after, no one is actually sure whether it exists or not. I’m always on the lookout myself, as it’s one of the most frequent questions I get asked when people find out I review wines.

Consequently, whenever I do come across something that comes close, I feel almost obligated to share the find. It’s been some time since I visited the wines made under the brand TAZ, but a couple of bottles arrived recently and went into the tasting lineup and they showed extremely well.

TAZ is one of the many wine brands that are part of wine and spirits conglomerate Fosters USA. Originally a part of the Beringer-Blass portfolio, it has been subsumed, like many others, in the wave of consolidation that has swept through the California wine world in the last five or ten years.

The wine brand is named after winegrower Bob “Taz” Steinhauer, who earned the nickname due to his resemblance to a certain cartoon character. Despite being part of one of the world’s largest wine corporations, the TAZ brand is operated with a certain degree of independence. The wine continues to be made out of a winemaking cooperative in Santa Barbara, under the guidance of winemaker Natasha Boffman, who took over from the original winemaker John Priest in 2005. Boffman’s prior credits include winemaking stints at Stags’ Leap and Meridian Vineyards as well as some time spent down under in Australia’s Coonawarra region.

The winery produces several wines from Santa Barbara County, Steinhauer’s stomping grounds, with a special emphasis on Pinot Noir from several sites, including Steinhauer’s most well known property, the Fiddlestix vineyard (which sites next to the well known Sanford and Benedict vineyards).

This particular wine is made from fruit from the North Canyon Vineyard in the Santa Maria Valley, as well as the Fiddlestix vineyard in Santa Rita Hills. After destemming and fermentation, the wine is aged in French oak barrels of which about 25% are new.

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

Tasting Notes:
Light to medium garnet in color, this wine has a nose of sweet cranberry fruit. In the mouth it is beautifully soft and juicy with cranberry and raspberry flavors that stay lively thanks to good acidity and very judicious oak. Not incredibly complex, but hard to dislike in all its bouncy juiciness. Delicious.

Food Pairing:
This wine showcases its fruit beautifully, and will complement anything earthy and savory I think. I’d love to drink it with mini chicken pot pies with bacon and marjoram.

Overall Score: between 8.5 and 9

How Much?: $17

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

The Aconcagua valley presents the first time visitor with a surreal vista. From the flattened floodplain of the valley floor, mountains rise steeply on either side but only their rocky peaks are visible. Starting only a short distance down from their spires, and extending all the way to valley below, the mountains are wreathed in a bumpy, dense green outgrowth that makes them look like they’ve been carpeted with a dark Astroturf on a grand scale.

How someone figured out that they could grow avocados on slopes so steep I’d love to know. But once upon a time they did, so now the Aconcagua valley reserves its steepest slopes for avocados, while the vineyards begin as the hills slope shallowly towards the river below.

Less well-known to global consumers than the highly visible and successful valleys of Maipo or Casablanca, the Aconcagua region of Chile nonetheless has an incredibly long and celebrated history as a winegrowing region, if only thanks to one pioneering winery estate called Errazuriz.

Begun in 1870 by Don Maximiano Errázuriz in the tiny town of Panquehue, Errazuriz vineyards was, not long after its founding, one of the largest single-owner wine estates in the world, with 1730 acres planted in an area largely unknown for viticulture in Chile at the time. Don Maximiano was used to making big bets, however. As the part owner of the country’s (and at one point, the world’s) primary copper producer and the owner of the country’s primary natural gas producer, Don Maximiano did not do anything half-heartedly. As the elder son of one of Chile’s most influential families (of which 4 sons became presidents, 2 sons became archbishops, etc.) you might say it was in his blood.

Planted with cuttings imported from Europe, the estates vineyards were planted, cultivated, and vinified with a spare-no-expense approach that is much more common today than at the end of the 19th century. As a result, the estate has had the reputation of making some of Chile’s best wine for nearly 100 years.

Given the power and influence of the family, it is perhaps less than remarkable that the winery continues to be run by one of Don Maximiano’s descendants. President Eduardo Chadwick is the sole owner of Errazuriz, as well as a major shareholder in the other parts of the small wine empire that has accumulated over the past few decades, including the brands Seña and Chadwick.

Errazuriz is just completing construction of a brand new winery building that is one of the most stunning pieces of modern winery architecture I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing. I had the opportunity to walk through on my visit as the tanks were being moved in and fitted. Designed at a price of $50 million dollars by architect Samuel Claro, with the help of sustainability consultant Guillermo Hevia, the winery is masterful in its use of light, curved surfaces, and airflow, resulting in an incredibly compelling space that is naturally cooled from air recirculated from underground. The winery maintains a small web page with renderings of what it will look like when completely finished. This building will be used to produce the winery’s flagship wines.

The estate’s vineyards still include much of the land purchased by Don Maximiano when he built the estate, including around 35 acres of vineyards that rise up behind the winery to meet the descending carpet of avocado trees laid down by the neighbors. The winery owns several other vineyards clustered around the town of Panquehue, as well as a newer vineyard much farther west in the valley towards the ocean in a fog-influenced that was, until recently, thought to be too cold to grow wine grapes.

Winemaking at Errazuriz is overseen by Swiss winemaker Francisco Baettig with help from Purisima Vergara, and consultant Nick Goldsmith. The approach to making the wines, even at the lowest end of the portfolio, remains as it always has, one in which the expense is not necessarily correlated with the profit to be gained. Unlike many wineries in Chile, all the fruit for the wines is hand-picked in small bins and heavily sorted before fermentation. The reds typically undergo cold soaking and extended maceration, and the top reds are also fermented (at least partially) in oak.

Here are my notes on a selection of the winery’s current releases that I tasted on my visit. Sadly, they did not include the La Cumbre wine, a Syrah that is one of the winery’s top three wines.

TASTING NOTES:

2009 Errazuriz Estate Sauvignon Blanc, Aconcagua Coast
Pale gold in the glass, this wine smells of unripe pear and fuji apples with hints of green herbs. in the mouth it is zingy, with very sharp acidity that makes for very juicy fuji apple flavors and little hints of grassiness on the finish. Yum. From the winery’s super-cool-climate vineyard near the coast in the Aconcagua valley. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $14. Click to buy.

2009 Errazuriz Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc, Aconcagua Coast
Pale gold in the glass, this wine has a nose of green olives, cut grass. In the mouth it is quite mineral in character with nice unripe apples, wet stones, and a beautiful finish that is slightly savory. Also from the winery’s coastal vineyards, the fruit from this wine was macerated for six or seven hours and then fermented on the lees. 2800 cases were made. Score: around 9. Cost: $16. Click to buy.

2008 Errazuriz “Wild Ferment″ Chardonnay, Casablanca Valley
Light yellow-gold in the glass, this wine smells of melted butter, lemon curd, and pastry cream with an interesting savory note. In the mouth that savory note continues in a quite compelling way as the melted butter quality and pastry cream take on a little bit of a salty aspect that makes you want to swallow every bit of wine that gets in your mouth. Apple and lemon flavors make up the majority of the fruit, which linger with the salty note into the finish. Unique and compelling. 30 percent of the wine is aged in second-use French oak, the rest in stainless steel. 3400 cases are made. Score: around 9. Cost: $21. Click to buy.

2007 Errazuriz Single Vineyard Carmenere, Aconcagua Valley
Very dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of chocolate, sweet tobacco, and cherry with a light herbal greenness. In the mouth it is plush and medium bodied, with a velvety texture to its soft tannins. Oak influenced, the wine is airy, and white quite tasty with cherry, red licorice and vanilla flavors, it seems to be missing a little something from the middle of the wine. High toned, but nonetheless delicious. It has a wonderful coffee with milk and vanilla finish. Contains 3% Syrah, which was macerated along with the rest of the grapes for 30 days and then aged in 50% French, 50% American oak (of which 70% of both were new) for 12 months. 20,000 cases were made. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $21. Click to buy.

2007 Errazuriz Single Vineyard Shiraz, Aconcagua Valley
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of stony black cherry and licorice aromas. In the mouth it is rich and round with back cherry and blackberry flavors touched with the sweet vanilla and toast of oak. Very faint tannins and good acidity make this wine an easy wine to drink as does a light mineral aspect. This wine has a very smooth quality. Quite tasty. Macerated for 20 days, the wine was aged in a blend of French and American oak of which about 30% was new. Score: around 9. Cost: $21. Click to buy.

2008 Errazuriz Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Aconcagua Valley
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of cassis and what I like to call grapey-purpleness. In the mouth it is somewhat thin with cherry and violet notes, very light, woody tannins and a high toned finish. 13.5% alcohol makes it quite easy to drink, but lacks complexity and excitement. Score: between 8 and 8.5. Cost: $14. Click to buy.

2007 Errazuriz Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Aconcagua Valley
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of cherry, wet slate, and a light briary note. In the mouth it is beautifully smooth, with cherry, black cherry, and hints of cedar. A mocha note emerges on the finish. Very nice, super smooth faint tannins, and this gorgeous texture make this a really seamless wine that is incredibly easy to drink. My notes have the word WOW underlined three times. In the quantities that this wine is made, and for the price, the wine is utterly stupendous. Run, don’t walk, to your nearest wine store and buy as much as you can. A blend of 91% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Cab Franc, 2% Petite Verdot, and 1% Syrah, 110,000 cases are made. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $21. Click to buy.

2007 Errazuriz KAI Don Maximiano Estate, Aconcagua Valley
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of beautiful black cherry nose. In the mouth it is incredibly smooth with black cherry, mocha, very velvety tannins, the mocha note continues on the impressive finish. Beautifully structured and smooth with incredibly velvety tannins. Without a doubt one of the best Carmenere’s I’ve ever tasted. Actually a blend of 86% Carmenere, 7% Petite Verdot, and 7% Syrah, the wine is aged in 100% new French oak for 18 months. 1100 cases are made. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $80. Click to buy. (2007 vintage not fully released yet)

2007 Don Maximiano “Founder’s Reserve,” Don Maximiano Estate, Aconcagua Valley
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of dark black cherry, wet slate, with notes of graphite and cedar. In the mouth it is broad shouldered and expansive with gorgeous rich flavors of black cherry, cherry and dark chocolate with incredible balance and acidity. Wonderfully drinkable. Loooooong finish. Classic. A blend of 82% Cabernet Sauvingon. 6% Cabernet Franc, 6% Petite Verdot, and 6% Syrah, the wine is aged for 20 months in 100% new French oak. 1600 cases are made. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $90. Click to buy. (2007 vintage not fully released yet).

As an interesting side note, the Founder’s Reserve wine has been made for about 30 years, making it one of the oldest “icon” wines of Chile. Apparently, though, those early years weren’t all that great, nor were they widely available, so only the last 15 years are considered truly commercially viable. But even so, that is a longer vertical of flagship wine than most producers in Chile can claim.

Original post by Alfonso Cevola

It’s hard to believe that in the early 1990’s less than 100 acres of vineyards were planted in Chile’s Casablanca valley. In little more than two decades, this region of Chile has surged in growth and popularity, and is currently producing excellent wines that generally represent excellent values on the world market. The region is currently home to more than 10,000 acres of vineyards.

Back when the grape acreage was still in the triple digits Agustin Huneeus decided that the Casablanca valley was one of Chile’s most promising wine regions, and that he needed to start making wine there. Not surprisingly, the world took notice. Huneeus was not just any aspiring winemaker. Indeed, by 1990 Huneeus could lay claim to being one of Chile’s first great modern wine pioneers.

In 1960 Agustin Huneeus entered the Chilean wine scene by becoming CEO and majority owner of Concha y Toro, the wine brand that would eventually put Chile on the wine map for the rest of the world. In 1971 the political climate in Chile became unstable and Huneeus left for the United States, where he took over the helm of the beverage giant Seagrams Worldwide for a time, as well as Franciscan winery in Napa. He went on to purchase the Quintessa winery in 1989, and more recently, Flowers Winery on the Sonoma Coast.

The early 1990’s were calmer times in Chile, and Huneeus was afforded the opportunity to spend more time in his home country exploring the continually expanding wine regions, including the Casablanca Valley. These explorations turned serious rather quickly, and before long Huneeus was the proprietor of a brand new Chilean winery called Veramonte.

Driving west from Santiago out towards the cooler coastal region of Casablanca valley, the highway maces several graceful curves up an incline and then enters a very long tunnel that bores through Chile’s coastal range. When the road finally emerges again into daylight it caresses the apex of a triangular valley that lies between two mountain ridges and fans in a gradually broadening arc towards the Pacific ocean about 25 miles away.

At this narrow apex, the vineyards begin immediately, sneaking down the hillsides into a the flatlands as the valley widens, and surrounding the massive yellowish stone building that is the Veramonte winery.

Veramonte is a well established and massive producer of Chilean wine — an easily recognizable brand for anyone who strays into the global section of their wine shops, as well as those who have a thirst for reasonably priced Sauvignon Blanc, of which Veramonte makes a seemingly never-ending supply.

It is easy to dismiss Veramonte as yet another massive industrial Global producer, but that would be short-sighted, and would belie the quality of Veramonte’s wines. At the scale of hundreds of thousands of cases made per year, they are hardly artisans, but the Veramonte wine portfolio is significantly higher in quality than most producers their size.

The winery’s 1100 acre vineyard in the Casablanca valley is one of the country’s largest, and section by section, it is gradually being converted to organic farming, with wildflowers bursting up between the rows, and huge piles of compost dotting the roadsides.

On my recent trip to Chile I had an opportunity to sample a few of the winery’s current releases. The wines were not all amazing, but as usual, the best of them represent some of the best wine values on the planet today.

TASTING NOTES:

2009 Veramonte Sauvignon Blanc, Casablanca Valley, Chile
Pale gold in the glass, this wine smells of gooseberry and passionfruit, with a hint of grassiness. in the mouth it is juicy and bright, with kiwi and passionfruit flavors, hints of green grass and lime juice. Very clean, very crisp, very refreshing. 95,000 cases made of which 65% are sold in the United States. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $10. Click to buy.

2008 Veramonte Chardonnay Reserva, Casablanca Valley, Chile
Yellow-gold in color, this wine smells of buttered popcorn, cold cream and pineapple. In the mouth it tastes of buttered sourdough toast, pastry cream, and lemon zest. Hints of pineapple emerge on the finish. Solid but not spectacular. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $10. Click to buy.

2008 Veramonte Pinot Noir, Casablanca Valley, Chile
Medium ruby in color, this wine smells of wet wool, cranberry and apple juice. In the mouth it is soft in feel, with cranberry and cherry flavors that are somewhat clunky. A wet dirt flavor emerges in the finish along with wet wood. Tastes incomplete. Score: between 7.5 and 8. Cost: $14.99.

2008 Veramonte “Ritual″ Pinot Noir Casablanca Valley, Chile
Medium ruby in color, this wine smells of cedar and sandalwood, with cranberry and cherry aromas as well. In the mouth it is exceedingly silky with cedar and cranberry flavors with cherry and spices. Nice character and personality. Good acidity, very light tannins. Red apple skin barely peeks through in the finish. New world styled, but not egregiously so. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $20. Click to buy.

2007 Veramonte “Primus″ Red Blend, Casablanca Valley, Chile
Dark ruby in the glass, this wine has a nose of sweet cherry and plum, with hints of cassis. In the mouth it is gorgeously balanced, incredibly smooth, with a hint of velvety tannin but barely so. Really integrated and silky, hint of earthiness and a balsamic quality. Beautiful. The blend of this wine has shifted over the last couple years to be less Carmenere and more Cabernet, with the addition of some Syrah as well. The 2007 is 36% Cabernet, 31% Syrah, 15% Carmenere, 8% Merlot. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $20. Click to buy.

In addition the wines above, the winery also produces a Merlot, a Cabernet Sauvignon, a rosé, and a Malbec from Argentina.

Original post by Alfonso Cevola

I suppose you might measure my enthusiasm (or insanity) for learning about wine by the glee with which I look forward to the opportunities to taste several hundred wines from a particular region, vintage, or variety. The public tastings that afford any wine lover the chance to taste in this fashion are the single most valuable way to educate the palate as well as to find out what’s going on in a particular place or vintage.

So when the chance came to hang out on Treasure Island for a few hours to taste the wines of Lodi a couple of weeks ago, I jumped at the chance. While the Blue Angels streaked overhead on the chilly, overcast day, I milled about with several hundred other attendees in a tent, trying to taste every wine on offer from about 40 Lodi wineries.

This tasting, put on by the Lodi Woodbridge Winegrape Commission was the first ever tasting of its kind in San Francisco — an attempt to bring the wines of the region to the Bay Area instead of the other way around. For me, the tasting was the single largest collection of wines from Lodi that I had ever had the chance to taste. I usually get a good dose of Zinfandels at the annual ZAP festival, but other than that, I encounter Lodi wines only occasionally in restaurants, in the collections of friends, and as occasional samples that I receive to review.

In short, before this tasting, I did not feel like I had a grounded perspective on the region. But now, having comparatively tasted wines from roughly sixty percent of the wineries in the region I’ve got a better sense of the place. Unfortunately that sense can generally be summed up as: underwhelmed. While there is clearly some excellent Zinfandel grown in the region (and often made by wineries that don’t have a presence there), I’m quite disappointed at how few wines out of the nearly 140 I tasted that actually excited me. Almost without exception, the Cabernets were vegetal, surprising given that the primary flaw of most Zinfandels and other reds from the region is over-ripeness. There were far too many red wines that tasted raisined, dried-out, and just plain bad.

The whites were quite lackluster (with a few notable exceptions).

Apart from Zinfandel, some folks are making credible efforts with Spanish and Italian varietals, perhaps most notably Bokisch vineyards, whose work with Spanish grapes is laudable and tasty.

Aside from this slightly downbeat assessment, it’s worth pointing out that if there’s one thing that Lodi seems to get right it would be their pricing. Bargain hunting readers will find some exceptional values below, perhaps most notably the Delicato Viognier and the Heritage Oaks Vino Tinto which were both outstanding for the price.

The tasting itself was nicely put together, if a bit oversold, with nice facilities for hand washing, getting drinks of water, and a reasonable proliferation of spit buckets. I didn’t get a chance to look over the food on offer until quite late in the tasting, but there seemed to be a lot of hungry people milling around the dregs of what was on offer, suggesting that perhaps things had run out a bit prematurely, or at least before the crowd would have liked them to.

Without further ado, here are my scores for the tasting. All wines below are from the Lodi appellation unless otherwise labeled.

White Wines

WHITE WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9
2008 Delicato Family Vineyards Loredona Viognier. $10. Click to buy.
2008 Bokisch Vineyards Albariño. $16. Click to buy.
2008 Harney Lane Winery Albariño. $19.
2007 Peltier Station Peltier Station Viognier. $16. Click to buy.

WHITE WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8.5 AND 9
2007 Michael David Vineyards 7 Heavenly Chards. $16
2008 Peltier Station Hybrid Pinot Grigio. $7
2008 Uvaggio Moscato. $14
2008 Uvaggio Vermentino. $14

WHITE WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8.5
2007 Borra Winery Fusion White. $16
2008 Heritage Oak Winery Sauvignon Blanc. $15
2008 LangeTwins Winery Chardonnay, Clarksburg. $13
2008 LangeTwins Winery Viognier, Clarksburg. $13
2008 McConnell Estates Wackman Ranch Sauvignon Blanc. $14
2008 Michael David Vineyards Muscovy Duch Roussanne. $20
2008 Ripken Vineyards Under the Sea Roussanne Viognier. $20
2008 St. Jorge Winery Verdelho. $18

WHITE WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8 AND 8.5
2007 LangeTwins Winery Sauvignon Blanc. $13
2008 Vino Con Brio Estate Brillante White Wine. $16

WHITE WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8
2007 Gnekow/Campus Oaks Viognier. $13
2007 Onus Onus Chardonnay. $17

WHITE WINES SCORING BETWEEN 7.5 AND 8
2007 Abundance Vineyards Bountiful Blanc. $11
2008 Heritage Oak Winery Chardonnay. $15
2007 LangeTwins Winery Pinot Grigio. $??
2008 Mokelumne Glen Vineyards Bacchus. $14
2008 The Lucas Winery Lucas Chardonnay. $30

WHITE WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 7.5
2007 Berghold Vineyards & Winery Viognier. $19
2007 Harmony Wynelands Chardonnay. $16
2008 Mokelumne Glen Vineyards Late Harvest Kerner. $15
2006 The Lucas Winery Lucas Chardonnay. $30
2008 Vicarmont Vineyards & Winery Sauvignon Blanc. $13

WHITE WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 7
2007 Barsetti Vineyards Chardonnay. $12
2008 Peltier Station Hybrid Chardonnay. $7
2008 Van Ruiten Family Winery Double Barrel Reserve Chardonnay. $13
2008 Woodbridge Winery Woodbridge Winemaker’s Selection Lodi Vermentino. $9

WHITE WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 6
2008 Mokelumne Glen Vineyards Dreirebe. $20
2008 Talus Collection Winery Chardonnay. $7
2008 Woodbridge Winery Woodbridge Winemaker’s Selection Lodi Viognier. $11

Pink Wines

PINK WINES (ALL SCORING AROUND
2008 Harmony Wynelands Rosé. $16
2008 Vino Con Brio Estate Passione Rosé. $14

Red Wines

RED WINES SCORING BETWEEN 9 AND 9.5
2007 Klinker Brick Winery Old Ghost Zinfandel. $37. Click to buy.

RED WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9
2006 Bokisch Vineyards Graciano. $26. Click to buy.
2005 Borra Winery Old Vine Zinfandel - Gill Creek Ranch. $20. Click to buy.
2007 Harney Lane Winery Old Vine Zinfandel. $23.
2007 Heritage Oak Winery Vino Tinto. $18.
2007 Klinker Brick Winery Old Vine Zinfandel. $18. Click to buy.

RED WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8.5 AND 9
2005 Abundance Vineyards Abundantly Rich Red. $14
2006 Bokisch Vineyards Tempranillo. $21
2007 Bokisch Vineyards Garnacha. $18
2006 Borra Winery 47.5 ° Syrah - Gill Creek Limited Edition. $35
2007 Delicato Family Vineyards 337 Cabernet Sauvignon. $14
2005 Harmony Wynelands Alicante Bouschet Premier Cru. $30
2007 Klinker Brick Winery Farrah Syrah. $18
2007 LangeTwins Winery Petite Petit. $16
2007 Mettler Family Vineyards Epicenter Old Vine Zinfandel. $19
2006 Michael David Vineyards Gluttony Zinfandel. $59
2007 Peltier Station Zinfandel. $18
2006 Ripken Vineyards Ripken El Matador Tempranillo. $22
2007 St. Amant Winery Barbera. $18
2007 St. Amant Winery Marian’s Vineyard Zinfandel. $24
2007 St. Amant Winery Mohr-Fry Ranch Zinfandel. $18

RED WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8.5
2005 Abundance Vineyards Old Vine Zinfandel. $16
2006 Benson Ferry 95240 From the Heart of Zination. $14
2006 Borra Winery Fusion Red. $18
2007 Delicato Family Vineyards 181 Merlot. $14
2006 Harmony Wynelands GMA - Rhone Blend. $30
2006 Harney Lane Winery Petite Sirah. $24
2007 Harney Lane Winery Zinfandel. $20
2007 Heritage Oak Winery Zinfandel. $22
2006 LangeTwins Winery Cabernet Sauvignon. $13
2007 LangeTwins Winery Zinfandel. $13
2007 LangeTwins Winery Merlot, Clarksburg. $13
2007 M2 Wines Ridgetop Syrah. $22
2005 Maley Vineyards Zinfandel. $18
2006 Michael David Vineyards Rapture Cabernet Sauvignon. $59
2006 Michael David Vineyards Earthquake Zinfandel. $28
2007 St. Jorge Winery Tempranillo. $20
2005 Trinitas Cellars Old Vine Petite Sirah. $18
2006 Trinitas Cellars Ratzinger Zinfandel. $18
2005 Uvaggio Barbera. $18
2007 Van Ruiten Family Winery Old Vine Zinfandel. $22

RED WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8 AND 8.5
2007 Delicato Family Vineyards Gnarly Head Zinfandel. $9
2007 Gnekow/Campus Oaks Old Vine Zinfandel. $18
2005 Mettler Family Vineyards Petite Sirah. $22
2007 St. Sophia St. Sophia Zinfandel. $22

RED WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8
2005 Abundance Vineyards Petite Sirah. $16
2006 Benson Ferry Benson Ferry Old Vine Zin. $12
2006 Benson Ferry Nine x Nine Zinfandel. $12
2007 d’art Wines Zinfandel. $18
2004 Grands Amis Winery Petite Sirah. $20
2006 Harmony Wynelands Zinfandel. $23
2007 Ironstone Vineyards Syrah. $10
2008 Ironstone Vineyards Old Vine Zinfandel. $10
2006 Jessie’s Grove Winery Westwind Zinfandel. $32
2004 Maley Vineyards Merlot. $11
2007 Mettler Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon. $22
2006 Mokelumne Glen Vineyards Dornfelder. $15
2005 Ripken Vineyards Syrah. $30
2006 Van Ruiten Family Winery Cab-Shiraz. $18
2007 Vicarmont Vineyards & Winery Zinfandel. $18
2007 Vino Con Brio Matzin Old Vine Zinfandel. $22

RED WINES SCORING BETWEEN 7.5 AND 8
2007 Abundance Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon. $18
2005 Berghold Vineyards & Winery Zinfandel. $22
2007 d’art Wines Tempranillo. $24
2008 Jessie’s Grove Winery Jessence Blanc. $18
2007 ̄ Wines ф ‘Old Vine’ Zinfandel. $28
2007 Macchia Outrageous Zinfandel. $24
2006 McConnell Estates Wackman Ranch Tempranillo. $18
2007 McConnell Estates Wackman Ranch Zinfandel. $18
2006 Peltier Station Peltier Station Cabernet Sauvignon. $18
2007 St. Jorge Winery Zinfandel. $23
2005 The Lucas Winery Lucas ZinStar Zinfandel. $35
2007 Vicarmont Vineyards & Winery Merlot (Vicaramont). $16
2007 Vino Con Brio Estate Petite Sirah. $18
2004 Watts Winery Syrah. $24
2005 Watts Winery Dolcetto. $15
2005 Watts Winery Malbec. $20
2005 Watts Winery Zinfandel. $28

RED WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 7
NV Barefoot Wines Barefoot Zinfandel. $8
2007 Christine Andrew Malbec. $18
2005 Stama Syrah/Zinfandel. $17
2007 Talus Collection Winery Zinfandel. $7
2007 Woodbridge Winery Section 29 Zinfandel. $12

RED WINES SCORING BETWEEN 6.5 AND 7
2005 Onus Onus Cabernet Sauvignon. $26

RED WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 6.5
2005 Oak Ridge Winery Moss Roxx Zinfandel. $27

RED WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 6
2006 Barsetti Vineyards Zinfandel. $13
2006 Christine Andrew Old Vine Zinfandel. $18
2007 Stama Zany Zin. $21
2007 Woodbridge Winery Select Vineyard Series “Red Dirt Ridge” Cabernet Sauvignon . $12

Original post by Alfonso Cevola

There are those who suggest that the moment that wine went wrong when it became more than just what a few family members could manage to carefully wring out of a few acres. Wine’s romance and magic tends to be bound up in a picture of how wine gets made that increasingly does not accurately portray the reality of today. And with good reason. The world of wine is bigger and more complicated than the local villages it grew up in, and there is both room and reason for there to be many size, shapes, and strategies for wineries throughout the the world.

Having said that, some of my favorite wines are those that are the products of just such an ethos — one man or woman, their vines, and the final product a purely a result of their labors, skills, and passions. These kinds of wines are truly magical not only for their quality, but for the heritage that they evince.

These days, like it or not, most of us live in a different world, and that goes for winemaking, too. The global marketplace makes possible the creation of brands — symbols of experience and quality that are larger than just the efforts of one person, or one family. Both dangerous and powerfully seductive at the same time, brands can be guideposts to wonderful experiences or they can deafen us to reality, masking something lousy in a wrapper of blinding expectations.

The world of wine is full of brands that fall everywhere along the spectrum of wonderful to shameful. Some are even the modern incarnations of families that once operated at the intimate, rustic level that characterized all winemaking only a mere sixty or eighty years ago. E. Guigal represents just such a transformation, from Etienne Guigal’s tiny winery in Ampuis to it’s modern incarnation as major grower and negociant.

The dichotomy between the modern reality of the global marketplace and the intimate romance of the world’s finest wines might not look like a business opportunity to most people, but John Hunt’s successful career building and selling companies (one to Starbucks, one to AOL) hasn’t exactly been run-of-the-mill either. Hunt, a long time wine lover, looked at the state of the wine world and decided the time had come for its first truly global wine brand.

In retrospect, the idea that became Oriel Wines was incredibly simple: find top winemakers in the best wine regions around the world, have them get their hands on top quality grapes, make the wines, and sell them under one simple name. Of course, you could build a business with this premise that was all marketing hype and no substance. Or you could take the idea to its logical extreme, and do exactly what you said you would: have talented people make great wines in small quantities just like they would if they were making the wine for themselves, and not a global brand. Today Oriel Wines includes 29 different wines made in exactly that fashion.

When I first heard about Oriel a couple of years ago, I fully expected it to be a marketing exercise and little more. But when a couple of boxes of the wines showed up a couple of months ago, I was quite pleasantly surprised to not only recognize the names of some excellent winemakers on the bottles, but also to taste the excellent traces of their talents inside. The wines are not always excellent, but they are usually very good, and occasionally outstanding. What’s more, the wines are often available at very attractive prices.

While Oriel may not conform to the traditional notions of artisan winemaking, to dismiss them as only a marketing concept would be to do them a great disservice. And would also mean that you’d miss out on some great wines.

Full disclosure: I received these wines as press samples.

TASTING NOTES:
2004 Oriel “Palatina” Riesling Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Germany
Light gold in the glass, this wine has a nose of wet slate and unripe pear aromas. In the mouth it is crisp and bright, with flavors of unripe pears, flowers, meyer lemon and hints of paraffin as the wine finishes. Dry, bright, and nicely balanced, the wine only lacks a bit of depth and complexity that would take it from great to stupendous. Score: around 9. Cost: $20. Click to buy.

2006 Oriel “Mana” Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand
Pale gold with green highlights, this wine has a classic nose of gooseberry aromas tinged with cat pee. In the mouth it is bracing with acidity. Crackling limestone, kiwi, and gooseberry flavors race around the palate leaving airy residues of green grass and green apple flavors dangling from the edges of the mouth. Very true to form, and quite delicious. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $20. Click to buy.

NV Oriel “365″ Prosecco, Valdobbiadene, Italy
Light gold in the glass with medium fine bubbles, this wine smells of freshly cut hay, ripe pears, and honey. In the mouth it is honeyed and a little flabby, not having the acidity it needs to offset the sweetness. Not a particularly successful effort. Score: between 7 and 7.5. Cost: $20. Click to buy.

2006 Oriel “Femme Fatale″ Rose, Bordeaux, France
Light ruby in color with orange highlights, this wine smells like orange peel, rosehips, and apple skins. In the mouth it is smooth and silky with flavors of hibiscus, crushed stones, and redcurrants. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $20. Click to buy.

2005 Oriel “Jocunda” Red Blend. Gigondas, Rhone Valley, France
Medium garnet in the glass, this wine has a shy nose of black plum with hints of lavender. In the mouth it has soft tannins that taste of well worn suede. These wrap around flavors of cassis, wet sawdust, and wet dirt. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $35. Click to buy.

2005 Oriel “Les Paves” Red Blend, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Rhone Valley, France
Medium garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of sour cherry, oiled leather, and sawdust. In the mouth it is soft and round with flavors of cherry, wet earth, leather and forest floor. Moderate finish. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $40. Click to buy.

2006 Oriel “Midnight Rambler” Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford, Napa
Dark garnet in color, this wine smells of ripe black cherries, cassis, and cola. In the mouth it is glassy and smooth with light tannins that wrap around a core of cassis fruit with notes of cola and cedar. Somehow this wine is not as deep or complex as it should be, and ends up being merely pleasant and a bit flat. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $35. Click to buy.

2006 Oriel “Jasper” Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast
Light ruby in color, this wine has a nose of dried cherries and raspberry jam that has a slightly cooked fruit character. In the mouth it is juicy and tart with flavors of raspberry jam and cranberry sauce that linger in a nice finish that has a light green herbal quality. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $30. Click to buy.

2003 Oriel “Etereo” Nebbiolo, Barolo, Piemonte, Italy
Light to medium ruby in color with a hint of brick on the rim, this wine has a nose of dried cherries and dried rose petals with hints of fig and cedar. In the mouth it has lovely acidity with lightly tacky tannins that are smooth as suede and wrap around flavors of dried cherries, roasted figs, cedar, and coffee and vanilla. There is a hint of heat on the finish. Score: around 9. Cost: $75. Click to buy.

2004 Oriel “Sygnet″ Shiraz, McLaren Vale, Australia
Medium garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of prunes and dried cherries. In the mouth it is velvety with a character that is mostly based on dried fruit — prunes, figs, and dried cherries. Unfortunately this gives a slightly baked quality to the wine that is unappealing. Score: around 7.5. Cost: $75. Click to buy.

2002 Oriel “VQM” Cabernet Sauvignon, Maipo Valley, Chile
Medium ruby in color, this wine has a nose of bright black cherry fruit with a beautiful note of roasted figs and smoked meat. In the mouth it is velvety with soft, smooth tannins and rich, juicy dried cherry, espresso, black cherry, and cassis flavors that are perfectly dry and poised with great acidity. This wine is aging beautifully and will clearly develop more in the next 5 or more years. Lovely. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $17. Click to buy.

Original post by Alfonso Cevola

Despite all kinds of advice to the contrary, we continue to judge our books and our wines by the label. As humans we find it quite hard to turn off the part of our brains that rushes to judgment based on the surface of things.

Presumably our lightning-quick opinions were advantageous to us at some point in evolutionary history, to the point that our first impressions are often so powerful we can’t move past them. From racial stereotypes to celebrity obsession, we’re often captives to our own psychology, whether we like it or not.

So tell me, what comes to mind when you hear the phrase “celebrity wine”? My head immediately reconfigures into a mode of skepticism. I’d like to think this is because I’ve actually had a number of wines that bear the names (or the backing) of a number of Hollywood movie stars, musical icons, and sports legends, and on the whole I haven’t been impressed. But I’m sure not all that skepticism is borne out of true reflection. Much of it probably lives in the same zone of my brain as the disdain I carry for the latest commercial antics of any number of stars who attach their name to something as a means of brand extension and bankruptcy prevention.

This wine is a doubly refreshing antidote to the commercial cult of celebrity and all of its (usual) mediocrity — it tastes great, it’s not yet another Cabernet with a celebrity name on it, and it’s not just a movie star wine, it’s a porn star wine.

Savanna Samson is the adult film persona of Natalie Ontiveros, who grew up in Rochester, New York, in a family of five sisters with Italian roots. Her career in the adult world started as dancer at the Scores gentlemen’s club in New York, where she was “discovered” by Howard Stern.

Perhaps by virtue of her Italian roots, Samson always had an interest in and passion for wine, but as her fortunes grew in the porn business, she began spending her spare time traveling around Europe tasting wine, and even began dreaming of owning a vineyard. In the course of her travels around Italy, she met Roberto Cipresso, one of the country’s most prominent consulting winemakers.

Perhaps most famous as the partner and winemaker of the superstar La Fiorita estate in Montalcino that rocketed to prominence in the late 90’s, Roberto Cipresso first made a name for himself making Brunello wines for the likes of Poggio Antico and Ciacci Piccolomini. Since then he has made wine in most of Italy’s major wine regions including Veneto, Friuli, Piemonte, Toscana, Marche, Sicilia and Sardinia as well as further abroad in places like Croatia, Spain and Argentina.

Around about the time that Samson encountered him, Cipresso had been laying the groundwork for a commercial venture for making private label wine for various customers using the vast network of growers he had come to know over the course of his career. The enterprising winemaker already made private label wine for the Vatican, so when Samson asked about getting her own wine, apparently it was an easy decision — no irony involved.

The two began with a red, named “Sogno Uno” or “Dream #1″ which was a blend of several red grapes, made to Savanna’s taste (rather than to any specific regional regulations). After a surprising commercial success, partially fueled by a 90-91 rating from Robert Parker, the two released the first vintage of this wine, Sogno Due. More wines are in the works.

Sogno Due is 100% Falanghina grown near Capri in Italy’s Campania wine region. Falanghina is one of Italy’s ancient indigenous grape varieties, and possibly one of its most storied, as it is believed to possibly have been used to make Falernian, a world famous wine popular in Roman times. Today Falanghina is being used to produce very tasty aromatic white wines like this one.

This wine is made from vines that average between 70 and 80 years of age. It is carefully fermented at low temperatures in steel, and I do not believe it sees any oak before bottling. 400 cases were made.

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

Tasting Notes:
Pale gold in the glass, with a bright mineral nose of Asian pears and wet stones, this wine tastes of raw quince, old paper, and the soft tones of vanilla. Smooth and silky on the palate, with a lightly smoky incense quality on the finish, this is a classic southern Italian white wine, delicious in its simplicity.

Food Pairing:
Properly chilled, this wine would be a lovely accompaniment to various antipasti or fritto misto.

Overall Score: between 8.5 and 9

How Much?: $18

This wine can be purchased on the Internet.

Original post by Alfonso Cevola

Adulterous. Maybe a little sneaky, and a tiny bit rebellious.

There I was at the International Pinot Noir Celebration in Oregon — a whole weekend dedicated to the glory of Oregon Pinot Noir and it’s Burgundy forebears — when someone in a trench coat pulled me aside and whispered, “Hey buddy, wanna taste some Riesling?”

The thought, frankly, couldn’t have been the furthest thing from my mind at that point. But when the shadowy figure suggested that this was a nearly comprehensive tasting of all the Rieslings made in the state of Oregon, give or take a few, my interest was piqued. Not to mention the fact that it would also make for a pretty nice palate refresher after a day of tasting Pinots.

A little while later I found myself in the back room of Nick’s Restaurant with a lineup of more than thirty Oregon Rieslings and a couple other intrepid tasters: Dave McIntyre of the Washington Post and David Schildknecht of the Wine Advocate. Together, we plowed through the lineup and had a good time of it.

My tasting notes for all the wines follow below, but on reflection, I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the wines, which certainly exceeded my expectations on the whole. Most were quite varietally true, well made, and at least pleasant to drink, with some being quite delicious. It’s clear that good Riesling can clearly be made in Oregon. Do these wines approach the profundity of great Austrian, German, or Alsatian Rieslings? Not yet. But they’re certainly better than most California efforts I’ve tasted, and many are better than some of the Washington State wines I’ve tried.

Several of the wines were offered in pairs of 2007 and 2008 vintages, and there were often stark differences between the wines (most notable the Montinore below), but I couldn’t tell if those were clearly vintage variation, or the results of adjustments in winemaking technique. In many cases, I suspect it was the latter.

The wines are listed in my descending order of preference. Prices have been supplied by the wineries, so they must be taken with a grain of salt — meaning that if you do encounter these wines in a retail environment, they’re likely to be slightly less expensive.

TASTING NOTES:

2007 Trisaetum Willamette Valley Riesling Yamhill Carlton &amp Chehalem Mtns, Oregon. $28
Palest greenish gold in color, the wine smells of paraffin and honeysuckle. In the mouth it offers lovely semi-sweet flavors of green apple, pear, beeswax and white flowers that linger in a nice finish. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Where to buy?

2008 Brooks Sweet P Riesling McMinnville, Oregon. $23
Palest gold in the glass this wine has a nose of peach and honeysuckle aromas. In the mouth it is really lovely nectarine quality with bright apple qualities and excellent acidity with hints of mandarine orange on the finish. Moderately sweet. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Where to buy?

2006 Daedalus Maresh Riesling Dundee Hills, Oregon. $18
Pale gold in the glass, this wine has a nose of white flowers. In the mouth it is crisp and bright and silky and lean and quite high toned. Fades on the back palate. Score: around 9. Where to buy?

2007 Daedalus Maresh Riesling Dundee Hills, Oregon. $18
Palest gold in the glass, this wine has a nose of green herbs, white flowers, and green apples. On the palate the wine has qualities of pear and wet stone with nice subtle spicy delicacies that linger into a tart finish. Score: around 9. Where to buy?

2007 Lemelson Dry Riesling Dundee Hills, Oregon. $20
Pale gold in the glass, this wine smells of poached pears and honeysuckle, in the mouth it is super silky and smooth with honeysuckle, ripe pear and lovely mineral qualities that linger into the finish. Score: around 9. Where to buy?

2007 Willamette Valley Vineyards Dry Riesling Willamette Valley, Oregon. $14
Pale gold in the glass, this wine has a nose of linalool and wet stone. In the mouth it is crisp and pure with a crystalline lemon juice and wet granitic quality, and a nice hint of apple fruit on the finish. Score: around 9. Where to buy?

2007 A to Z Oregon Riesling Oregon, Oregon. $13
Pale gold in the glass this wine smells of ripe pear and a beautiful honeyed sweetness. In the mouth the wine is super silky and smooth, with a great liquid crystal quality to it and an incredible note of orange and clove that hovers in and out of perceptibility in the wine. Quite alluring. Score: around 9. Where to buy?

2007 Anam Cara Nicholas Estate Riesling Chehalem Mountains, Oregon. $22
Nearly colorless in the glass, this wine has a nose of wet stone and white flowers. In the mouth it is crisp and linear with nice tart gooseberry, cucumber and pear flavors with hints of lime zest and seawater on the finish. Off-dry.Score: around 9. Where to buy?

2007 Brandborg Riesling Umpqua Valley, Oregon. $16
Pale green gold in color, this wine has a nose of baked pear and wet stone. In the mouth it is crisp and stony and crystalline, with a stark granitic quality and really lovely white flower, apple, and pear qualities. Off-dry. Score: around 9. Where to buy?

2008 Montinore Almost Dry Riesling Willamette Valley, Oregon. $10
Pale greenish gold in color, this wine smells of honeysuckle and ripe apples. In the mouth it is beautiful tart ripe fuji apples, with beautiful ethereal honey notes that sail above the finish. Off-dry. Score: around 9. Where to buy?

2008 Siltstone Hyland Vineyard Riesling McMinnville, Oregon. $15
Palest gold in color, this wine smells of green apples and wet stone. In the mouth it is crisp and mineral with a core of apple and pear fruit tinged with lime zest and a warm felt quality that lingers in a nice finish. Score: between 8.5 and 9

2007 Brooks Willamette Valley Riesling Willamette Valley, Oregon. $18
Pale green gold in the glass this wine has a nose of unripe pears and green apples. In the mouth it is smooth and silky with tart green apple and unripe pear flavors, with hints of lemon zest on the finish. Score: between 8.5 and 9

2007 Chehalem Corral Creek Riesling Chehalem Mountains, Oregon. $24
Pale green gold in the glass this wine has a nose of paraffin and unripe pear with hints of wet stone and honeysuckle. In the mouth it is bright and racy, with great acidity, and tart grapefruit zest and very dry felt quality on the finish. Score: between 8.5 and 9

2007 Chehalem Reserve Riesling Chehalem Mtns/Dundee Hills, Oregon. $21
Pale gold in the glass with hints of green this wine has a nose of gooseberries and unripe pear with lovely flavors of green apple and hints of white flowers on the finish. Score: between 8.5 and 9

2006 Amity Willamette Valley Riesling Willamette Valley, Oregon. $18
Palest gold in color this wine has a nose of rich Juicyfruit gum, in the mouth it is smooth and crisp with Juicyfruit, green apples, and pears, with a quite long finish. Score: between 8.5 and 9

2008 Anam Cara Nicholas Estate Riesling Chehalem Mountains, Oregon. $22
Nearly colorless in the glass, this wine has a nose of jasmine and poached pear. In the mouth the wine has a honeyed aspect with silky smooth quality that has a clean fresh character that is tough not to like. Lovely floral, though not complex. Off-dry. Score: between 8.5 and 9

2007 Montinore Sweet Reserve Riesling Willamette Valley, Oregon. $12
Practically colorless in the glass, this wine has a nose of beeswax and poached pear. In the mouth it is soft and satiny with a nice weight on the tongue. The main flavors are of apples baked in honey with a hint of bitterness that sneaks in quickly and then out just as quickly leaving the wine to finish nicely. Score: between 8.5 and 9

2007 Anne Amie Estate Riesling Yamhill-Carlton, Oregon. $25
Light gold in the glass, this wine has a nose of white flowers and ripe pears. In the mouth it is crisp, bright with pear, nice smooth, good acid, but not quite enough. hint of flabbiness. Score: around 8.5

2007 Amity Willamette Valley Riesling Willamette Valley, Oregon. $18
Pale gold in color, this wine smells of crisp apples and rainwater. In the mouth it offers crisp fuji apple and a hint of creaminess on the finish. Score: around 8.5

2008 Argyle Riesling Eola-Amity Hills, Oregon. $25
Pale green gold in the glass, this wine smells of cut green grass and ripe pears. In the mouth it is linear and straightforward, with cool flavors of wet stone, fuji apple, and hints of floral qualities in the finish. Off-dry. Score: around 8.5

2007 Elk Cove Estate Riesling Yamhill Carlton, Oregon. $19
Near colorless with greenish aspects, this wine has a shy nose of candied citrus aromas. In the mouth it is smooth and brighter than the 2006 vintage, with persistent flavors of candied grapefruit, pears, and sweet apples. Score: around 8.5

2008 Hawk’s View Chehalem Mountain Vyd Riesling Chehalem Mountains, Oregon. $24
Near colorless in the glass, this wine smells of fresh ripe pears and apples. In the mouth it has a tart apple quality with nice acid and a smooth texture. Pleasant but not complex. Score: around 8.5

2007 Willamette Valley Vineyards Willamette Valley Riesling Willamette Valley, Oregon. $12
Near colorless in the glass, this wine has a nose of pear and ripe apples. In the mouth it is smooth with apple and pear flavors with hints of lemon emerging on the finish. Score: around 8.5

2007 Argyle Minus 5 Riesling Eola-Amity Hills, Oregon. $30
Light gold in the glass, this wine has a nose of sweet peach and honey, with flavors of peach and honey and lovely goodness but somewhat simple. Score: around 8.5

2008 Chehalem Sext Riesling Chehalem Mountains, Oregon. $24
Near colorless in the glass with fine bubbles, this wine has a nose of honeysuckle and ripe pears. In the mouth the wine is hardly sparkling, more sptritzy, with a light bubbly quality on the palate with honeyed apples, nectarine and hints of mandarin citrus on the finish. Score: around 8.5

2006 Elk Cove Estate Riesling Yamhill Carlton, Oregon. $19
Near colorless in the glass, this wine smells of white flowers, lemon juice, and pears. In the mouth it is soft, and a little light on acid, with linear, floral qualities but not as much complexity or zip as I might like. Score: between 8 and 8.5

2007 King’s Ridge Oregon Riesling Chehalem Mountains, Oregon. $12
Palest green gold in the glass, this wine has a nose of ripe pear. In the mouth it is somewhat simple with a lightly bitter quality that quickly morphs to a simple sweetness. Score: around 8

2007 Penner Ash Willamette Valley Riesling Dundee Hills & Eola Amity, Oregon. $18
Near colorless in the glass, this wine smells of Juicyfruit gum with a hint of warm hay. In the mouth it is soft and nicely balanced but has a yeasty quality that fights with the fruit in a way I don′t care for. Off-dry. Score: around 8

2006 Vitae Springs Vitae Springs Vineyard Riesling Willamette Valley (Salem area), Oregon. $18
Palest green in color, this wine has a nose of linalool and green candy. In the mouth the wine is sweet and somewhat simple with apple and pear flavors that are pleasant but not fantastic. Score: around 8

2007 Montinore Almost Dry Riesling Willamette Valley, Oregon. $10
Pale green gold in color, this wine has a nose of “vague tropical fruit” according to my notes. In the mouth it is somewhat flabby, missing the acidity required to really push it out of a syrupy state which I don’t really care for. Off-dry. Score: between 7.5 and 8

NV Brooks Tethys Riesling Eola-Amity Hills, Oregon. $25
Light gold in color, this wine has a nose of brewers yeast, malt, and freshly baked bread. In the mouth it is malted and raisined and with flavors of hay that lean towards manure. I do not care for this wine. Score: between 6.5 and 7

Original post by Alfonso Cevola

I make it my habit to seek out and try a particular kind of wine that flies well under the radar of most wine lovers. Indeed, this kind of wine is all but unknown to most, yet some of my favorite wines in the world fall into this category — a category that is not included in any book, classification, or encyclopedia of wines anywhere.

These wines have something very special in common. Not the grapes used, nor the soils on which they are grown; not the country they come from, nor the climate in which they are grown. The one thing that all these wines have in common is their color.

They are orange.

Regular readers know that every once in a while I wax poetic about an orange wine here on Vinography. Usually these wines are made by eccentric Italian or Slovenian winemakers, and rarely see the light of day in California. But now and again, orange wines have been popping up in other corners of the world, including right here in California, which is where I stumbled across this little wine almost by accident.

First, a little background on the category of orange wines. Most, but not all, orange wines have historically come from Northeastern Italy and Slovenia, where they have an obscure tradition of making wines of this color by treating white grapes like red ones. That is to say, the winemaking processes for an orange wine are much more like those used to make red wine, in particular the use of extended maceration and fermentation “on the skins.”

Maceration is the fancy word for soaking the crushed grape skins and juice together for a period of time before fermentation begins in order to extract color, tannins, and flavor compounds that are trapped in the skins of the grapes. Such cold-soaking is not commonly performed on white grapes, mostly because there is no need to extract color.

Yet color is exactly what you get when you leave white wines on their skins for long periods of time, along with flavors that can truly be otherworldly. And that’s why orange wines should be sought out and sampled by anyone interested in broadening their wine horizons.

This particular wine is the product of experimentation by a well known winegrower and winemaker named Peter Cargasacchi. Peter has been growing top quality Pinot Noir in the Santa Rita Hills appellation of Santa Barbara County since 1998, when he planted the vineyard that bears his family name. The fifth generation of his family to live and work in California, but the first to be born here, Peter is carrying on a long family history of farming on the Central Coast of California that stretches back to the 1900s.

Cargasacchi Vineyards have become well known to lovers of Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir, bottled both under Peter’s eponymous label as well as in the renditions of many top producers, including Brewer-Clifton, Loring, and Siduri, among others.

Peter and his wife Julia also have a second label called Point Concepcion wines, under which they make a variety of wines, leaving the Cargasacchi label to focus exclusively on Pinot Noir.

In 2005 Peter set out to solve a long standing food and wine pairing problem for himself. Specifically, he couldn’t find any wines that he thought paired well with artichokes, asparagus, and other bitter green vegetables. In his opinion, these vegetables needed tannic structure married with acidity, but without red and black fruit flavors. So taking a page from his Italian forbears, he decided to take some of his ripe Pinot Gris grapes and let them soak on the skins for 4 days (as opposed to 4 hours, which would have been normal). During this time he kept fermentation from starting using dry ice (a common technique for keeping the mash of juice and skins below the temperature required for yeast metabolism to kick in), and then pressed off the juice to be fermented in one-year-old oak barrels.

The result is a unique and special wine that, despite landing somewhere between orange and pink on the color scale, most definitely fits into my pantheon of orange wines. Peter has made about 400 cases of this wine each year since his first experiments in 2005 and if we all buy it, maybe he’ll keep making it.

I’ve had the 2008 recently as well, which is just as good as this 2007, if not slightly better, but I didn’t make tasting notes on it, so that’s why this is a review of the 2007.

Tasting Notes:
This wine is a stunning shade of what might be described as orange-pink, not quite salmon colored, not quite baby pink. It has an intoxicating nose of orange peel, roasted nuts, and bee pollen aromas. In the mouth it is just as surprising. Weighty on the tongue, with a gorgeous texture, it delivers flavors of candied orange peel, mango, orange pith, and then as the wine finishes, strawberry and other red berries. Reasonable acid and crispness, though it betrays a hint of its slightly elevated alcohol: 14.5%. A very unusual and distinctive wine.

Food Pairing:
Well, you should definitely try it with grilled asparagus or roasted artichokes at the winemakers suggestion. I had it with an arugula and prosciutto pizza topped with an egg, and thought it was divine.

Overall Score: between 9 and 9.5

How Much?: $18

This wine is available for purchase on the Internet.

Original post by Alfonso Cevola

It’s not a huge leap from veterinary medicine to winemaking, and that leap is made even shorter when you’re enrolled at UC Davis which happens to be the top school in the nation for both. Dan Lee initially thought he wanted to work with animals, but a few courses as electives during his vet school tenure were enough to convince him to immediately enroll in the Enology program as soon as he finished his undergraduate degree.

While he still loves animals, Dan hasn′t looked back, graduating and continuing on to become a winemaker for Jekel and Durney (now Heller Estate), all the while plotting to start Morgan Winery. In 1982 he and his wife Donna celebrated their inaugural vintage with the release of a Chardonnay and since then have been making a wide variety of high quality wines with fruit sourced from other vineyards, and starting in 1999, with fruit from their own vineyard, the “Double L.”

With the maturation of their estate vineyard, Lee switched to focus exclusively on Monterey County fruit as well as to completely organic farming at the estate. Winemaker Gianni Abate also came aboard, fresh from a career as winemaker at some of the country’s largest wine companies, including Bronco, Delicato, and Robert Mondavi Winery, allowing Lee to assume the title and responsibilities of “Winegrower.”

After more than 25 years, the Morgan portfolio includes nearly 30 wines, including those produced under the second label “Lee Family Farm.” Lee has been making this Metallico Chardonnay for the last 7 years, with fruit primarily from the Arroyo Seco appellation of Monterey County. The bulk of the grapes come from the winery’s estate vineyards along with their neighbors, the Lucia Highlands Vineyard.

The grapes for this wine are crushed from whole clusters into stainless steel fermenters that are cooled to make sure the fermentation takes place slowly and in a controlled fashion. After the primary fermentation, the wine is racked into neutral, three-year-old oak barrels and is not put through a secondary malolactic fermentation (one of the chief sources of the buttery qualities of most California Chardonnays). It is aged for several months in these barrels on its fine lees (the yeasty sediments that fall to the bottom of the barrel) which are stirred to give the wine more body.

Unoaked Chardonnay is a wonderful invention as far as I am concerned. I think I had my first such wine in Australia about a decade ago, and fell in love with Chardonnay all over again. While it doesn’t achieve the profundity of some of the great white Burgundies, unoaked Chardonnay from the New World preserves some of their most appealing characteristics: crisp, pure fruit coupled with a nice minerality, usually accompanied by great acidity. More versatile than their heavily-oaked brethren, these wines are yet more proof that anyone swearing off Chardonnay on principle is really missing the boat.

Tasting Notes:
Light gold in the glass, this wine has a lively nose of crisp apples and unripe pears, with a hint of guava. In the mouth it is crystalline in quality, with restrained lemon curd, cold cream, green melon, and wet slate flavors that slide refreshingly across the palate. A hint of buttered sourdough toast creeps into the finish, which, like the rest of the wine can only be characterized as refreshing.

Food Pairing:
I had this wine with a crab, tomato, and watercress terrine, and while most Chardonnays would have been a little heavy for the dish, this wine was a great match.

Overall Score: around 9

How Much?: $19

This wine is available for purchase on the Internet.

Original post by beatrice.russo