Wine Tasting in Paso Robles - December 2009

visited:

Vina Robles - highlights were the 2007 Petite Sirahs - most notably the Penman Springs Vineyard and Jardine (which also uses Penman Springs fruit) bottlings. Penman Springs owners Carl and Beth McCasland are good friends of Jennifer and Don and make a damn fine Petite Sirah of their own. The Penman Springs bottle was particularly dark and rich. Purchased bottles of both.

Robert Hall - met Sunny in the tasting room - had a great dry sense of humor. And he enjoyed forcing us to blind taste and guess the varietals. Did not do too well but nailed the Cabernet Franc. Decent wines but nothing spectacular. Picked up a bottle of the Cabernet Franc.

Tablas Creek - tasted through a lot of wine. The 2007 Cotes du Tablas blanc was good, the 2007 Espirit du Beaucastel blanc was fantastic with a great nose of flowers and tropical fruit. The 2006 Syrah was very good as was the 2006 Espirit du Beaucastel rouge. The 2007 Espirit du Beaucastel rouge was phenomenal. More fruity and full flavored than the leaner 2006 it had lots of dark fruits and a nice delicate earthy. mineral note. Also notable was the 2007 Tannat, a dark and brooding wine tasting with nice boysenberry flavors. Picked up bottles of the Espirit du Beaucastel rouge 2006 and 2007 as well as the 2006 Syrah and 2007 Tannat.

Denner - Also had quite a bit of wine here. Favorite was the 2007 Syrah, which exhibited lots of rich, extracted cassis, blackberry fruits along with nice minerality and well integrated french oak. The Grenache was excellent as well. I don't typically like grenache much on its own, but this wine really jumped from the glass with flowers and jammy cherry and raspberry fruit notes. I'm never a huge fan of the Ditch Digger with its strong mineral and roasted game elements, but it is clearly a well made wine. Also the 2007 Dirt Worshipper, which I've enjoyed in prior vintages, was nice but did not inspire. Purchased bottles of the 2007 Syrah and Grenache.

Zin Alley - Tasted a 2007 zinfandel which was plummy and a bit odd on the nose, a 2007 Nerelli "Generation 4" (Syrah/Zin blend) which was very good with some rich dark syrah fruit to balance the jammy zin fruit, a 2007 Zin Port which was good but a bit simple and a 2007 Nerelli "After Hours" late harvest boytritized dessert wine made from Chardonnay,Pinot Blanc and Gewurztraminer, which was very good with the Gewurztraminer tropical fruit and spice showing through.

A few Viogniers

This weekend, our neighbors Jeff and Beky came over with some Viogniers in hand for an impromptu tasting. Jeff has long been extolling the virtues of Viognier and let me tell you, he's been preaching to the choir. They brought a bottle of Summerwood 2007 and Melville 2007 (along with a nice, sweet, late harvest Garretson Viognier for which no tasting notes were taken). I supplied what turned out to be an unfortunate Melville 2006 and Tablas Creek 2006.

Viognier is a classic Rhone varietal, which is used, unblended, in Condrieu. In California it is frequently blended with other Rhone whites (e.g. Roussanne, Marsanne) and is sometimes blended with Syrah to soften the flavors. Crisp, typically dry, flavorful, fruity and flowery, California Viogniers can be very good to excellent expressions of the varietal and are made all over the state.

Following are our tasting notes and scores. Wines were tasted blind. They are listed in order of scores, highest to lowest.

I am supposed to conspicuously point out that Jeff's wines kicked mine's butts decisively.

Summerwood Viognier 2007 (Paso Robles, Westside)
Matt:
Nose: Flowers, french oak
Palate: More flowers, tart peach/nectarine, french oak, incredible balance and complexity.
Finish: Long, complex
Rating: 93
Jeff: Not much nose. Very smooth, buttery, oaky taste. Smooth, light finish.
Rating 95
Beky: All around best blend. Rating 95
Julie: ...mmm, flowery, very drinkable Rating 87

Melville Viognier Estate - Verna's 2007 (Santa Ynez, Los Alamos)
Matt:
Nose: Fruits, honey
Palate: Nectarine, tart, cotton-candy
Finish: Tart, fruity, sweet (residual sugar?)
Rating: 88
Jeff: acidic, grapefruit, oak. Rating 89
Beky: sweet start, crisp, alcoholy. Rating 87
Julie: balanced, ...mmm. Rating 89

Melville Viognier Estate - Verna's 2006(Santa Ynez, Los Alamos)
Matt:
Nose: Honey, some burnt/caramel apple aromas
Palate,: More caramel, burnt sugar, honey along with some tart fruit flavors
Finish: Long, tart, caramel
Rating: 85
Jeff: sour, acidic nose. Good upfront, lingering taste. A little sour. Rating: 82
Beky: Bubbly, champagney. Rating: 83
Julie: Effervescent, old smell, tangy. Rating: 80

Tablas Creek Viognier 2006 (Paso Robles, Westside)
Matt:
Nose: Not much
Palate: Dry, very light, not a lot of flavor development
Finish: Short, uninteresting
Rating: 80
Jeff: No nose, no body, no structure, no flavor. Rating: 80
Beky: Smoky start, dry, oak, as if cut with water. Rating: 72
Julie: Dry. eh. Neutral. Rating: 70

Final Notes -
Not being used to overt oak in Viognier, it was surprising to me how well the Summerwood fared in the tasting. It was clearly the best balanced of the bunch with great structure. Almost delicate compared to the over-the-top fruit and alcohol bomb Melville, it still had a lot of flavor and complexity.

The Melville 2007 was a very good to excellent wine. After I finished my tasting notes and we had the "reveal", I found that the flavors grew on me a little bit. The Summerwood remained king, but the gap narrowed a bit. Melville Viogniers have been a long-time favorite of mine and are a California quality benchmark year after year.

The 2006 Melville was clearly past its prime. The burnt sugar flavors are telltale signs of storage at too high a temperature or too long a period. Once great in its prime, it had by now developed tired flavors.

The 2006 Tablas Creek was a big disappointment. Clearly lacking in flavor, structure and complexity next to its peers, it really had nothing to offer. This was rated highly by Parker, but was universally panned by our panel.

I'll continue to buy Melville's Viognier as I find it to be a very interesting wine and a decent value. And next time I'm up in Paso Robles, I'll certainly make a point of stopping by Summerwood to revisit their excellent Viognier.

2004 Brunello di Montalcinos are on the way

This weekend I placed my presale order for some 2004 Brunello di Montalcino. Brunello di Montalcino, made from 100% Sangiovese hails from Italy's famed vineyards in the surrounds of the beautiful town of Montalcino in Tuscany. I have an attachment to these wines, not only due to the intense and complex flavors that are found in no other wine, but for sentimental reasons as well.

When Julie (pregnant with Sarah at the time) and I visted Tuscany in 2006 we took the opportunity to take the 1.5 hour picturesque drive from the villa at which we were staying down to Montalcino along with Big D, Jeremy and Jill. It was a fantastic day with some very memorable experiences - most notably the grounds and expansive views from Ciacci Piccolomini d'Aragona (image above), the amazing hospitality of Ettore Spina, owner of Sesta di Sopra, and tasting through several years of Brunello in barrels with Andrea Cortonesi, owner of Uccelliera.

At Uccelliera, we were treated to a taste of the 2004 which was still in the barrel at the time (a gigantic Slovenian oak cask) - it was an amazing wine which certainly piqued my interest in 2004, a vintage for whose release I would have to wait another 3 years. By law, Brunello cannot be released until 5 years after the harvest year, so the 2004's are just now becoming available for pre-sale purchase.

After browsing through several websites, the wines that I finally settled on purchasing (from K&L wines in Hollywood) were:

Argiano - I was originally introduced to this winery by my parents and Uncle who visited it on a trip to Italy a while back. They brought me back a bottle of the 1998. I've tried the 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2001 thanks to my parents and my Uncle Larry. I like the style of this house - it is fairly easy to like with lots of the classic Brunello cherry/berry and cola character. The tasting at Argiano is rather sterile, with a fairly uninterested staff, but the wines are of excellent quality and the grounds are beautiful. The 2004 received a 94 in the Wine Spectator. 10,300 cases made.

Sesta di Sopra - We didn't originally intend to visit this particular winery, but we were in the area and the 2001 was highly regarded so we decided to stop by. There was no one around so we knocked on a door and were greeted by a kind gentleman who invited us in. We sat down around a large family table (this was in his house) and he got us some plates and poured some of the winery's olive oil and provided some bread for dipping. He asked if we'd like to try some wine (of course!) and poured the 2004 Rosso di Montalcino, which was very good (excellent for a Rosso) and the 2001 Brunello di Montalcino which was excellent. He drank all of the wines with us and insisted on new glasses for each wine which he rinsed meticulously with a small amount of sacrificial wine. He showed us his cellar and the grounds and told us "next time" we should call him in advance and he would make lunch for us. We were the only customers that visited during that time and he gave us the remainder of the bottle of Brunello to take with us (this bottle was around Euro 35). The 2004 received a 94 in the Wine Spectator. A mere 330 cases made.

Uccelliera - This was our last winery of the day and we were treated to a tour of the grounds and the facility by Andrea Cortonesi, the owner, who spoke very little English, but had a helper who could help with some of the translations (although she knew nothing of wine, so it was somewhat difficult for her to translate). I can't remember all of the vintages we tasted, but I'm thinking it must have been the 2002, 2003 and 2004. He only let us taste out of the barrels and did not open any bottles of the current vintage. It was very interesting to taste the wine through the various stages of the aging process even though those particular vintages were of variable quality. The only Brunello available for purchase at the time was the 2001 which turned out, on later tasting, to be a savage wine, very powerful and earthy with grilled meat types of flavors. I remember the power of the 2004 in barrel and made a mental note to be on the lookout for this wine in the future. The 2004 received a 97 in the Wine Spectator and is the highest rated Brunello of all the wines tasted so far in this vintage. 1,890 cases made.

I'm really looking forward to receiving these wines (hopefully in the next few months) and giving them a try. I am hopeful that they will be outstanding in their own right, but also help me relive some fond memories until I get the chance to travel back to Montalcino.

Top Ten Wines

My friend Rob and I took a moment to reflect on some of the best wines we've had, many together, over the years since we really started getting in to wine in college. We picked our top ten faves and added some notes about what we remember being so amazing about the wines and whether there were any memorable circumstances related to tasting them. So, without further ado, here they are:

Matt's Top Ten (mine are in no particular order - it was too hard...)

1. 1977 Taylor Vintage Port (Purchased from Levi at Liquor Castle, Beverly Hills, now closed. I don't know how many college kids were drinking aged vintage port, but Levi and his charitable wife made us a deal too good to pass up. Youthful and powerful for such an aged wine, but with the balance and complexity I have come to love in Taylor's port.)
2. 1995 Montelena Estate Cabernet (tasted as part of "Rob & Matt's wealthy industrialist" trip to Napa Valley - classic CA cabernet dark fruit with lots of tannin and a potential for a long life)
3. 1989 Cordeillan Bages Pauillac (Rob brought this to a dinner at our house a couple of years ago, classic Bordeaux with archetypal lead pencil and eucalyptus notes accompanying black berry flavors.)
4. 1994 Mondavi Reserve Cabernet (when tasted young upon release at the winery, incredible structure, dark fruits and complexity. When I was a Mondavi stockholder, we could roll in to the To-Kalon reserve tasting room and be set up with a 4+ wine vertical flight of the expensive reserve cabernets. Holy mackerel, those were some good times. Most recently, we opened a bottle of this last year - it was still good to excellent, but I feel that it was in its prime during its youth.)
5. 1982 Montelena Cabernet (or was it 1980, tasted at our neighbor's 4th of July party, in around 2006. Amazing youth and complexity for such an aged CA cabernet.)
6. 1996 St. Jean Cinq Cepages (Purchased by Rob in the right place at the right time as a pallet was being unloaded at LA Wine Co. Have had this on several occasions over the years - this wine aged well with black berry fruit flavors and tar notes.)
7. 2003 Newton Unfiltered Chardonnay (A fruity, buttery, oaky, bomb of chardonnay flavors with an excellent overall balance. A prototypical CA chardonnay.)
8. 1995 Opus One (tasted at the winery with a sizable pour. Dark fruits, amazing length and complexity. Another of the benefits of Mondavi stock ownership.)
9. 1996 Beringer Chardonnay Reserve (had at a dinner at Rob's. Amazing fruit, but still refined and balanced. My favorite of the Beringer reserve chardonnays, a perennial favorite)
10. 1992 Taylor Vintage Port (Tasted in half bottle purchased in Buffalo, NY during an extended work stay and served with a Cuban cigar freshly purchased on a trip to Toronto. Fruity and complex, I have always favored the flavor profiles and complexity of Taylor ports)

Rob's Top Ten (in order of preference)

1. 1995 Sanford Barrel Select Chardonnay (Tasted at the winery and subsequent bottles that were purchased at Sanford. The 1996 is also excellent, but I give a slight edge to the 1995. This wine represents my Platonic ideal of chardonnay: beautiful nose, tropical fruits and pear on the palate, with a buttery vanilla finish - full-bodied, but impeccably balanced. The wine may also get bonus points because it was tasted at the charming, rustic original Sanford tasting room, poured by Chris Boroughs, long before the "Sideways" inspired boom hit the Santa Maria Valley wine country).
2. 1977 Fonseca Vintage Port (I have been fortunate enough to taste this wine a couple of times, starting in college, one of the times being the result of Sunil having to purchase a bottle for claiming that he failed a final and instead receiving an "A" or something like that. Incredibly complex and powerful port that still tastes young and as if it can last for decades to come. An absolute bench mark. I tend to prefer Fonseca's port style a bit over other houses, like the also excellent Taylor Fladgate.)
3. 1994 Mondavi Reserve Cabernet (Tasted upon release at the winery at which time the wine was absolutely fantastic! Incredibly well structured with a beautiful balance of currant, plum, cedar, tar and well-integrated tannins. Tasted about a decade later at which time the wine had unfortunately lost some of its luster.)
4. 1986 Pichon Baron Pauillac (Matt and I purchased a half a case of this benchmark bordeaux in college - yes, weird - and I have been tasting it periodically since. Very complex Bordeaux with distinctive raspberry, currant and pencil lead components. Has aged very well throughout the years.)
5. 1994 Byron Estate Chardonnay (Tasted at the winery and throughout the years from purchased bottles, including a close to ten year-old bottle. This is chardonnay was absolutely enormous with distinctive Santa Maria Valley pineapple-and-cream flavors - a hedonistic fruit-, cream- and vanilla bomb.)
6. 1995 Opus One (Tasted at the winery upon release during the "Matt-and-Rob-Wealthy-Industrialists" trip to Napa Valley. Even the equine sight of the Baronesse Philippine de Rothschild could not obscure the beauty of this wine. Very full-bodied and complex, with a distinctive and desirable tar component.)
7. 2003 Talley Rincon Vineyard Pinot Noir (Tasted at the winery upon release. Fantastic pinot, by far my favorite of Talley's releases as it hits a Goldilocks-type balance between pure pinot fruit and full-bodied-ness. Very complex. I still have one bottle - will be interesting to see how this has aged.)
8. 1997 Andrew Murray Esperance (Tasted at the winery, where it was a little young and extremely tannic, and then about 3 years later where the bottle was at its absolute peak! Very inky dark color, complex fruit and a fantastic finish.)
9. 1994 Dow Vintage Port (Tasted with Matt in combination with a great Cuban cigar. Huge black-strap port with great tannic structure, but still very enjoyable in its youth. This should have a very long life ahead of it.)
10. 1996 Beringer Private Reserve Chardonnay (Initially tasted at the winery, and several times subsequently. Very big, oaky chardonnay that is well-balance and extremely complex. I have liked subsequent vintages as well, but the 1996 is my favorite)

Some Favorite California Chardonnays

I like California Chardonnay. It gets a good deal of bad press owing to its full-bodied, creamy character, often buttery flavors, and heavy use of new toasted oak. Some argue that they are difficult to pair with food. Maybe, but give me some fresh grilled salmon and a California Chardonnay and I'm happy.

The key to an excellent California Chardonnay is balance. There should be a lot of fruit, think white peach, pineapple, mango, pear, apple, some acidity, some well integrated oak (vanilla, toasty smoky aromas) and some have a yeasty, doughy character from their yeast contact. I tend to like Chardonnays with a more crisp, lean style; not too ripe. Ripe Chardonnays develop more of a caramelly, overrripe pineapple element.

Following is a list of six Chardonnays at various price points that are my go-to Chardonnays year-in and year-out. These Chardonnays have an excellent track record of quality over many years and despite their obvious quality relationship to vintage quality, are amazingly consistent.

1. Beringer Private Reserve ($25)

I have been drinking this wine for at least 10 years now. It is an amazing wine of very high quality. This might be the Chardonnay I would recommend as the "quintessential" chardonnay. The 1996 was stuff of legend, and I am really enjoying the 2006 right now, which is a leaner style than the 2005. Very easy to find.

2. Chateau St. Jean Reserve ($28)

Another wine that I have enjoyed since visiting Napa while in college. St. Jean's Chardonnays are exellent across the board. They have a Belle Terre, Durrell and Robert Young vineyard bottling, all of which are great. The reserve is a blend of wine from these vineyards and sees partial malolactic fermentation. This chardonnay has an incredibly complex nose - I can swirl this in the glass forever. I have had the last 4 years and all are excellent. Specialty wine stores only - not common.

3. Newton Unfiltered ($45)

Probably one of the finest, most complex chardonnays I have had. Newton is well known and admired by Robert Parker and he notes that this Chardonnay is particularly know for its ageability. I have not tried holding onto a bottle for more than 2 years or so. They used to carry this at Costco. Fairly common

4. Cambria Bench Break ($30)

Along with Melville, Cambria makes one of my favorite Chardonnays from the Santa Barbara/ Santa Maria area. The Katherine's vineyard bottling is ubiquitous, and good quality, but their specialty bottlings are much more interesting. I have enjoyed the Bench Break vineyard bottling over the Rae's and Single Clone bottlings for the past few vintages. In a more tropical fruit style typical of Santa Barbara Chardonnay, it still has nice acidity and fine balance. Not easy to find.

5. Melville ($20-30)

Melville has a Verna's ($20) bottling as well as a Santa Rita Hills estate bottling ($30) that are both great. Made by the highly talented Greg Brewer (of Brewer-Clifton and the unoaked, non-malolactic Chardonnay Diatom fame) these wines are crisp and full of flavor. Not necessarily as complex as Beringer or St. Jean, but exhuberantly fruity and enjoyable. Fairly easy to find.

6. Kendall Jackson Grand Reserve ($12)

Arguably the best $12 Chardonnay out there. I remember this being one of the first "higher end" Chardonnays that I ever tried. At that time, higher-end meant higher than the $7 Columbia Crest Chardonnay available at Trader Joes. Not as complex as those above, but a high quality, consistent wine and a tremendous value.

Wine Tasting - Paso Robles - December 2008

Visited:
Calcareous - (nothing too notable)
Jada - A new find (on Vineyard Drive, West side), I liked the Mirror syrah/cab blend the best
Denner - 2005 Syrah is still my favorite, preferred over the 2006 and the ditch digger blend. Also enjoyed the 2006 Dirt Worshipper (95/5 Syrah/Viognier) which was very good if a bit wild.
Linne Calodo - Love the wines of Linne Calodo, but this was not a good tasting experience. The room was packed, the wines were too cold, the pours barely coated the glass... The worst bit was finding out that the "Leona's" blend was to be discontinued as Leona's vineyard had been infected with blight. That had been my favorite in 2005 and 2006, preferred even to the Cherry Red. Their Nemesis syrah is incredible (the 2004 was one of the best I've had) but at 95% and no discount, it's too steep.
Turley - All '06s - tasted Juvenile, Old Vines, Pesenti, Dusi and Ueberroth. Juvenile tasted young as usual. Old Vines is good. All three single vineyard bottlings were excellent with an edge to the Dusi (Dante).
L'Aventure - What can I say - this place puts on a good tasting! We were serviced by Jay who we saw during our last visit - a freindly guy who knows the wine and gives you a solid pour that you can swirl around the glass and really get into. The 2006's are stunning. I was blown away by the Estate Cuvee as well as the Cote a Cote (I did not care as much for the 05 Cote a Cote last time). I bought the second to last bottle of the Estate Cuvee. Also they were tasting their Cabernet, a somewhat rare treat in the tasting room I believe. Wow dense, dark and rich, but built for aging. I think Parker was closer than Spectator on his ratings of these gems. The wines are expensive here, but the quality is top notch.