The Accidental Wino » Biodynamics

Eating Well: Slow Food Napa Valley’s Potluck Brunch @ Ehlers Estate Winery, St. Helena

The Accidental Wino — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 07:40:35 +0000

The dining area outside Ehlers Estate.

Slow Food Napa Valley hosted a pig roast and potluck on Sunday, September 11th, in conjunction with Ehlers Estate in St. Helena. The following photos highlight the event, which provided a forum for SFNV members to discuss the future of SFNV, and how they can help to increase interest and awareness of the Slow Food movement. Naturally, the brunch was amazing. Please click on any photo for a full-screen view.

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Pig cracklins, up close.

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CIA instructor Patrick Clark carves the Mulefoot Hog, which was provided by Michael Fradelizio of the Silverado Brewing Company and Beer Belly Farms.

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Michael Fradelizio (left) and Patrick Clark (right) remove the pig from the Caja China roasting box. A hungry crowd gathers.

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A look at the just-finished pig inside the Caja China.

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The Mulefoot hog, just a couple hours into cooking.

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The Ehlers Estate line-up. Delicious.

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Ehlers winemaker Kevin Morrisey (far left) talks shop with SFNV members.

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The Ehlers Estate tasting room, built in 1886.

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Debbie Fradelizio (left) and Corrie Beezley (right) greet SFNV members as they arrive for the potluck with baskets in hand.

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One very impressive apple pie.

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A beautiful honeycomb and cheese platter from Marshall's Farm.

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Heirloom tomato platter.

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In Ehlers Estate's BioDynamic vineyard.

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Flowers outside the Ehlers Estate tasting room.

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Photo Purge: Scenes from the California Bay Area and Beyond

The Accidental Wino — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 08:14:03 +0000

Gateway Market, Emeryville: Adorned with a fantastic mural alongside its parking lot, the Gateway Market is tough to miss on San Pablo Blvd. The artwork has a definite graffiti vibe, but the details are fantastic. Luckily, it hasn't been tagged over. The "W" in Gateway is pictured above (each letter has its own theme). Click on the photo to reveal all of the great flourishes.

Most of these pictures have never appeared on this site, although a couple did appear a few years ago, long before I sharpened my photo-editing skills. Many readers have emailed me about my approach to photography, and I must confess, my only real secret is to simply seek the best lighting possible. Truthfully, I’ve never had any formal photography training, but I did develop an eye for proper lighting while I was working (briefly, almost 15 years ago) as a grip in Los Angeles. Any moviegoer who has bothered to sit through the credits may have wondered what function a grip serves. In a nut shell, the grips help to manipulate the film set’s lighting, based upon the director of photography’s instructions. The “key” grip is the lead grip, while the “best boy” grip is second in command (I was never either of those, obviously). Much like cooking, gripping is long, laborious work with odd hours. However, if you pay attention on the job, you can also learn a few things along the way. Who knew that a summer of gripping would’ve ever become useful?

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Uni with Caul Fat on Crostini @ Marea, NYC: Long before Anthony Bourdain developed his upcoming show, The Layover, which premieres November 21st, I used a four-hour window at JFK to jump onto the subway and eat a seven-course lunch at Marea (top that, Tony). David Koon, my old CIA roommate, was in the kitchen at the time, so I received the VIP treatment, and fast. Coincidentally, Dave opened up his own restaurant, Chuko Ramen, just two days ago in Brooklyn. He said the 35-seat dining room turned out more than 200 covers on its first day, which is an insane number.

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Highway One, Near Salt Point State Park: I was driving up California's North Coast to forage porcinis when I spotted this old fellow gazing out over the Pacific Ocean. He was laying near the edge of the grassy cliff, apparently in total zen mode. Unfortunately, he stood up when I approached to snap a picture. After a two-minute stand-off, I gave up and left him to his meditations. Sorry, buddy.

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Philo Apple Farm, Philo: This large painting adorns the small shopping area at Philo Apple Farm, which is owned by Don and Sally Schmidt, the original owners and founders of Yountville's French Laundry. All purchases are based upon the honor system (at least every time I've visited), and the farm itself is Demeter-certified.

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Nopalito Restaurant, San Francisco: I really like the artwork on this ice-cream freezer outside of Nopalito.

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Five-spice Pork Belly over Rice: This is one of the very first pictures I published on this blog, back at a time when I was publishing recipes. My format has evolved over the years, and at this point, I save all my recipes for the annual Project Food Blog competition, which is coming up again this year (I finished in the Top 12 out of almost 2,000 contestants last year -- just saying).

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Mandina's Restaurant, New Orleans: My sentimental favorite in the Crescent City.

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The Strip District, Pittsburgh, PA: This mural was a work-in-progress during my visit to Pennsylvania a couple years back. I'm sure it's completed by now. I liked where it was headed.

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Boonfly Cafe, Napa Carneros: I spotted this little VW in the parking lot of the Boonfly Cafe one morning. I'm not sure if it belonged to a purveyor or to a guest. Pretty cool whip, regardless.

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Cookie Fortune @ China Village Restaurant, Albany: I think.

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Reviewing Napa’s Michelin Star Contenders for 2011: Ubuntu Restaurant, Downtown Napa

The Accidental Wino — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 21:48:29 +0000

These days, when a rising-star chef leaves any given restaurant, it has the potential to become news. Here in the Bay Area, we’ve seen this phenomenon recently with Nate Appleman exiting SPQR and with Jeremy Fox leaving Ubuntu. For the guests who have come to appreciate these restaurants, the departure of an executive chef can introduce many question marks, and quite possibly, a large degree of doubt. It all makes perfect sense, of course, since today’s professional chefs now have true rock-star potential. When David Lee Roth left Van Halen, it was certainly an issue for the band’s early followers, and when it turned out that Sammy Hagar couldn’t fill Roth’s shoes (or his spandex leotard), some Van Halen fans became bitter at the situation. In the restaurant business, creativity trades at the same premium, which is why professional chefs can now garner such a cult following among diners. When these chefs leave very the restaurants that they helped to build, it matters to folks.

Talking to some friends who live and cook in San Francisco, I’ve actually heard that right now, SPQR is even better than ever under Matt Accarrino, which is wonderful news to my ears. As a fan of great food, I hate to see a solid restaurant fall off. I must confess, however, that I haven’t even been to SPQR since Appleman has left, so this vote of confidence for SPQR is strictly second-hand info. As for Ubuntu in Napa, I can actually speak from personal experience: I dined there tonight, and I was floored by the level of sophistication, freshness, and creativity. There is no doubt in my mind that chef Aaron London will retain Ubuntu’s newly-granted Michelin star in the upcoming 2011 Guide. Like a great wine, London’s menu was cerebral enough for the avid diner, but approachable enough for the average diner. And for an old cook like myself, deconstructing Ubuntu’s dishes is nearly as enjoyable as tasting them.

Though I hadn’t expected it, I sampled Ubuntu’s entire menu this evening, minus just one dish. With a couple small desserts thrown into the mix, tonight’s feast at Ubuntu was a 12-course session of vegetarian bliss. Yes, vegetarian bliss: I said it. But honestly, for anyone who truly appreciates food, Ubuntu should rank as one of Napa’s top restaurants, and perhaps even the most important destination among the entire field of Michelin-star joints. But before I get too carried away, I have to disclose my own connection with Ubuntu: I have some friends who work in the kitchen, while my date for the evening actually had roommates who work in the kitchen. The Napa Valley is beyond small, believe me, and it’s like that for the folks who’ve spent any time toiling in restaurants or working here in the hospitality business. But the local VIP treatment is a nice perk.

This review, therefore, is unofficial and totally off the record. I don’t need to be called out for being biased — I am biased, in this case. However, to not mention Ubuntu would also be extremely remiss, especially for a blog that emphasizes the Napa restaurant scene. Look, I certainly have every intention of raving about Ubuntu in my personal life, so it’s only fair to rave about Ubuntu here as well. It ranks as one of my best meals this year. That being said, I did try to snap a few photos from the dinner tonight, but even with a window table and a daylight reservation, the early (almost) fall sunset offered very little in the way of good, natural lighting. It’s too bad, really, but I just can’t run mediocre pictures of great dishes. I don’t see the point. But I do have Ubuntu’s menu from the evening, which you can always click for a larger view. I sampled everything but the Rancho Gordo bean stew.

As for descriptions of the meal, I’m too full to even think about it right now. And anyway, this review is off the record, no? But there are definitely dishes — like the fermented green fig ribollita, or the cantaloupe gazpacho, or the burrata-stuffed steam bun with tomato aigre doux — that I’ll certainly be evangelizing tomorrow.

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Wine Tasting Notes: Joseph Phelps Vineyards, Napa Valley

The Accidental Wino — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 03:46:45 +0000

I’ve covered so much about food lately that I haven’t been keeping up with my wine tasting notes. The best wines that I’ve tasted recently were some older vintages of Chappellet Cab, but I’ll try to address those in the future. For the sake of staying a little more relevant to the here and the now, I do have a few notes from my recent tasting at Joseph Phelps Vineyards. I’ll cut to the chase and discuss the 2006 Insignia ($200) the winery’s flagship bottling, and a wine that has developed a loyal following over the years. Recent buzz is that Robert Parker has already anointed the 2007 Insignia with a score of 97-100 (based upon a barrel sample). We’ll see. The 2007 Insignia goes retail later this summer. As for the 2006 Insignia, I found it as underwhelming as I found the 2005 before it. Perhaps it’s just not to my tastes. Others have raved about it, but not me. I’m just not seeing it, even when I want to see it.

I did, however, enjoy the 2005 Joseph Phelps Backus Vineyard Cabernet ($225), and I felt that the extra $25 would be very well spent purchasing the Backus in lieu of the Insignia. On the other hand, smart money wouldn’t purchase any current-release Napa Cabernet at the $200 level, which is why I haven’t ever purchased Shafer’s “Hillside Select” or Loyoka’s Mount Veeder (these are the two wines that have almost convinced me to reconsider). Although the Backus does boast some terrific attributes — it’s velvety and complex — I can’t say that it ever encouraged me to break my own spending rules, so I wouldn’t place this wine in the same class as Shafer, or Lokoya, or many Napa Cabernets at the $100 level. The Backus was tasty, though. Unfortunately, it’s priced for egos.

One of the more interesting wines of the flight was the 2006 Freestone Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir ($55), which is produced under Phelps’ second label. But again, even though the Sonoma Coast appellation is producing plenty of Pinot Noir gems these days, the retail price of the 2006 Freestone was pushing the upper limits of what might be typical for that quality level. I encountered a similar scenario with the 2008 Joseph Phelps “St. Helena” Sauvignon Blanc ($32) and the 2006 Freestone Chardonnay ($55). Both of these wines were well-crafted, but they were priced at prohibitive levels. Again, if I’m going to spend $50 on Chardonnay, then I’ll simply opt for my all-time favorite, Shafer’s Red Shoulder Ranch. Meanwhile, I can’t ever justify spending more than $30 on Sauvignon Blanc (and that goes for you, too, Duckhorn).

At the risk of sounding cheap and bitter (too late), I did feel that the 2006 Joseph Phelps Merlot ($40) and the 2006 Joseph Phelps Cabernet Sauvignon ($55) presented appropriate values, but I’m not really trying to stock up on my decent-to-good reds these days. Bring on the sparkling, instead.

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Wine Tasting Notes: Santa Ynez Valley, CA

The Accidental Wino — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 02:59:53 +0000

The tasting area behind Demetria Estate offers the shade of oak trees and a view of the Santa Ynez Valley.

Before my trip to the Santa Ynez Valley becomes too much of a distant memory, I wanted to recount the wineries that I had visited a couple of weeks ago. But before I delve into the specifics, I have to say that I was surprised by the pricing structure at many of these places. In short, I found that many wineries now command prices very similar to those of Sonoma County, especially in terms of the Pinot Noir. Certainly, the 2004 movie “Sideways” has had a heavy hand in this pricing, and perhaps the posh beach communities that lie south of Santa Ynez are also providing recession-proof demand for the local juice. Even so, I expected to encounter a few more Mendocino-like bargains along the way.

In all fairness, however, I also found that the wines of Santa Ynez were admirable in their overall quality. I tasted very few “dogs” during my visit, which was also a bit surprising. Perhaps I was just fortunate to have visited a stretch of reputable wineries, but I found that as long as you taste along Foxen Canyon Road, your chances of discovering something good are certainly favorable (just expect to pay accordingly). The four wineries I visited during my most recent trip were: Foxen Vineyards, Zaca Mesa, Koehler Winery and Demetria Estate.

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• Foxen has built its reputation with Pinot Noir, although I found that all of their wines were well-crafted. I began the tasting with a pair of Chardonnays, the 2008 Foxen Tinaquiac ($32) and the 2008 Foxen Bien Nacido ($32). Despite the pedigree of the Bien Nacido Vineyard, I actually preferred the Tinaquiac, which seemed a bit more ripe on the palate. From there, I tasted the 2008 Santa Maria Valley Pinot Noir ($34), followed by the 2007 Cuvee Jeanne Marie ($34) and the 2007 Foxen Tinaquiac Syrah ($46). Although I felt that the previous two wines were fairly priced, the Syrah seemed a bit steep for my tastes.

• Zaca Mesa, by far, featured the gamiest wines of the day, so if that aromatic profile meets your preferences, then the 2005 Zaca Mesa Estate Syrah ($23) presents terrific value. Along the way, I was surprised to discover that Zaca Mesa does not produce any Pinot Noir, instead opting to focus exclusively upon the classic Rhône varietals. Their portfolio included two GSM blends — the 2005 Estate Z-Three ($42) and the 2006 Estate Z-Cuvee ($20) — the latter wine offering good value. The 2006 Estate Grenache ($28) was decent yet unspectacular, while the 2008 Estate Viognier and the 2006 Estate Roussane were not to my tastes.

• Koehler offered two of the best purchases of the day, their 2007 Estate Grenache ($25) and the 2006 Estate Magia Nera ($29). The latter wine, which means “Black Magic” in Italian, is a 65-35 Sangiovese-Cabernet blend. The other wines in the Koehler portfolio were so-so for me: The 2007 Koehler Syrah ($30) smelled of bacon (I love the pig, though not in this context), while the 2006 Koehler Cabernet Sauvignon ($29) tasted slightly under-ripe for my Napa palate (not that I drove six hours from Napa to taste Cabernet anyhow).

• Demetria Estate was the final stop of the day and a pleasant discovery. The winery was established just five years ago, and since the beginning, has been farmed BioDynamically (which always earns my admiration). I particularly enjoyed the 2006 “North Slope” Syrah ($35), as well as the 2006 Cuvee Constantine ($40), which is a GSM blend of 44-30-25 (and 1% Viognier for added aromatics). The 2006 Cuvee Sandra Pinot Noir ($50) was also tasty, but priced in competition with the Pinot Noir of the Russian River (whether delusional or not, I was searching for bargains, not another $50 California Pinot). Demetria’s whites — the 2006 Pinot Blanc ($30), the 2008 Chardonnay ($27) and the 2007 Cuvee Papou ($28) — were also consistent.

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Wine Tasting Notes: Ehlers Estate, St. Helena

The Accidental Wino — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 06:51:50 +0000

The BioDynamic vineyard at Ehlers Estate comprises 43 acres in total. In order to help amend the soil for the upcoming season, rows of vibrant yellow mustard alternate with verdant rows of grasses, fava beans and vetch. With rain subsiding, these same cover crops will assume a monotone shade of golden brown over the next month or so.

In some ways, it’s almost embarrassing to heap lavish praise onto my favorite Napa wineries. I often feel as though I might be coming across as some sort of Napa Valley rah-rah, gushing with unbridled hyperbole, as if I were posting on Yelp. As far as I’m concerned, Yelp represents the absolute lowest of the low in online content. In fact, I resent Yelp much more than I’ve ever resented the Wine Spectator. At least the Wine Spectator — with its hopeless predictability and its overblown influence — still manages to offer up some meaningful content every three weeks. On the other hand, Yelp remains aggressively mediocre, allegedly corrupt, with zero chance of improvement. I’ll say it before, and I’ll say it again: “Yelp Elite” is an oxymoron. But that’s enough Andy Rooney for now.

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Having extensively fawned over Chappellet in my last entry, I’m just going to offer up a bit of shorthand here, and point out that I consider Ehlers to be Chappellet’s equal in several ways: For instance, both wineries feature killer, world-class Cabernets at the top level, those being the Ehlers “1886″ ($95) and the Chappellet Pritchard Hill ($135); in addition, both wineries also offer their wonderful “flagship” Cabernets at under $50 each (and as far as I’m concerned, these two respective reds offer two of the very best values in the entire Napa Valley); and finally, neither Ehlers nor Chappellet makes a bad wine, no matter what varietal you may choose (the greatest wineries are always the most consistent, which is a tribute to the winemaker).

I tasted four Ehlers reds the other day: the 2007 Ehlers Merlot ($45), the 2007 Ehlers Cabernet Franc ($45), the 2007 One Twenty Over Eighty ($45), and last but not least, the 2006 “1886″ Cabernet Sauvignon ($95). Each wine was exquisite, as I’ve grown to expect over the years. The 2007 Ehlers Merlot featured ultra-ripe red fruit with an impeccably smooth finish, while the 2007 Ehlers Cab Franc offered some earth and some grip. The Cabernets, which are very different in their composition, each fill their niche. The 2007 One Twenty Over Eighty is 80% Cab, 14% Merlot and 6% Petit Verdot, while the “1886″ is 93% Cab and 7% Cab Franc (and thus, neither Cab features the same blending grapes as the other). Regardless, they’re both strong values at their respective price levels.

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The tasting room at Ehlers, once a pre-Prohibition gravity-flow winery, was constructed in 1886 by Hamden McIntyre, the same gentleman credited with building Far Niente, Inglenook (now Rubicon) and Christian Brothers (now the CIA at Greystone).

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Winemaker Q&A: Matt Taylor of Araujo Estate and Taylor Cellars

The Accidental Wino — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 07:04:32 +0000

Matt Taylor is not only Araujo's vineyard manager and winemaker, but he's also the estate beekeeper. For some reason, I'd always assumed that bee hives needed to be white by default, but Araujo's hives feature a terrific shade of pistachio. They reminded me of little droids lurking among the olive trees, standing guard over the nearby chicken coop.

With the harvest of 2009 quickly winding down, I’ve made this winter my time to catch up with a few winemakers. Among the folks I most wanted to meet, Matt Taylor certainly topped my list, not only as the winemaker for the cult-favorite Araujo Estate, but also as a BioDynamic vineyard manager and the proprietor of a brand new Pinot Noir label. This week, I ventured up to Calistoga to meet with Matt, to barrel sample some Aurajo wines, and to tour the legendary Eisele Vineyard. Needless to say, my time spent at Araujo Estate was beyond insightful, and I always value my discussions with winemakers. The Q&A below highlights our conversation from that day…

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ThirstyReader: I’ve found that when I talk with winemakers, or anyone who has really developed a passion for wine, that there is always an early moment that serves as an epiphany. Something strikes a chord and sets a person in a certain direction. Is there any specific moment that you remember that set you on this course?

Matt Taylor: The owner of Marietta Cellars was actually my best friend’s family, and growing up we would always go over there to go mushroom hunting, or to go pig hunting, or to go fishing, and we’d always come back and my friend’s father, Chris Bilbro, would always be drying out mushrooms or roasting a pig or making venison sausage, and even though we were kids he’d always put some wine on the table and cook things up for us, and we’d just have a blast. It became one of those things where that was the kind of life I wanted to live. I just wanted to enjoy life and wine and food all at the same time.

TR: Do you still find time to do a fair amount of mushroom foraging?

MT: Yeah, I just went out a couple of weekends ago and got a ton of porcinis.

TR: What you do with them all?

MT: Dry them up, cook them up.

TR: Nice. So with your early influences setting the stage, as you took steps to become a winemaker, I understand that you decided to attend Fresno State.

MT: I was working at Joseph Swan during one of my early gigs, and at that time, I had actually been accepted and enrolled at Davis, but two or three Davis winemakers told me to go to Fresno. They said that Davis was great, but that it was much more theoretical, and the industry really needed people who could finish school and know how to manage a pump and do all of those things, and not just tell us how to make wine.

TR: Interesting. I didn’t realize that was the key difference between Davis and Fresno.

MT: It still is. I have a lot of Davis friends, and they’ll all admit that Davis is very theoretical — great professors, great program. But Fresno has a full-fledged winery, they make a lot of wine, and so you get to work in a functioning winery, and make wine each day, and deal with all of the elements of the winemaking process.

TR: Fast forwarding to 2007, you became the winemaker here at Araujo, but you’ve actually been the vineyard manager here since 2005, and still hold that position. To have control over those two areas is surprisingly unique.

MT: Yeah. It shouldn’t be, but you’re right. How that all kind of happened was that my favorite wines were coming from Burgundy, where you have the vignerons over there, spending the entire time in the vineyard tending the vines and growing the grapes, and then taking them into the cellar, and I just wanted to mimic that. And that’s where a lot of my interest in BioDynamics stemmed. When I came here, I wanted to work in vineyard, and so they designed a position for me where I could assist Francoise, but also manage the viticulture. [Francoise Peschon, who was winemaker at Araujo Estate from 1996 through 2006, still consults with the winery.]

TR: What are the obvious advantages of being able to oversee the entire vintage of wine production?

MT: The main advantage is knowing those different vineyard blocks throughout the season, and seeing the stresses that they go through during the year, and how they react to different things. There is a different relationship, I think, with fermenting those wines, and how you approach them via winemaking. It’s no longer just a generic, block for block recipe. There’s a much more personal relationship with each block.

TR: The benefits of being the vineyard manager and the winemaker seem intuitive, but is there anything that would present a challenge?

MT: Well, you’ve got to work a hell of a lot more. It’s February to December, not just August to December. But it’s nice. And with BioDynamics, that means getting your feet out into those vineyards and getting to know those blocks.

TR: As you mention BioDynamics, I’m endlessly fascinated by this subject. It remains somewhat esoteric for me, although I have worked at a BioDynamic winery and I have read some of the books by Nicholas Joly. What was your introduction to BioDynamics?

MT: Well, the thing that never really sat well with me at Fresno State and Davis was that they were teaching “remedy viticulture” and “remedy winemaking” — if this happens, this is how you combat it, and if this happens, then this is what you do. And I just kept getting exposed to these wines that would pop up now and then that would just blow my mind, and this BioDynamic theme kept emerging: Chapoutier, Zind Humbrecht, and all these wines. And so I went to work in Burgundy, and that’s where it became evident that this was what I needed to do with the rest of my life.

TR: For someone who is new to this concept, how would you describe BioDynamics?

MT: It’s always been a challenge to find a short answer to explain to people what BioDynamics is. To the lay person, it’s basically über-organics, and taking into account that there are forces that we can farm with that stem back to indigenous knowledge and that extend back to using the stars and lunar movements. And all of this ties into the basic prep sets that were designed for BioDynamic farming.

TR: I know that a lot of wineries chose to outsource those BioDynamic prep sets. They’re not actually filling cow horns with manure and then burying them through the winter, and taking that super hands-on approach. Do you create any of your preparations here?

MT: All of them.

TR: Really? Where do you get all of the materials to do this? Aside from the cow horns, some of these BioDynamic preparations involve a stag’s bladder and some pretty far out materials.

MT: Well, we order the cow horns in bulk and they last a long time, but we get the manure from our cows here on property. In terms of some of the other materials, we’ll usually get together with another winery and order a BioDynamically-raised cow for slaughter — last year we partnered with Opus One. And so we’ll keep the mesentery and the intestines, and then divide the beef among the two wineries. For the stag’s bladder, I’ll usually try to get a stag on the property here each year –

TR: Just go out and hunt one?

MT: Yeah, just hunt one. And I’ll keep the gall bladder, and then make venison sausage from all the rest. And all of the other preps we can grow, the dandelion, the chamomile, the nettle, valerian, and yarrow.

TR: So you’ve been at Araujo since 2005, and that’s the same year the winery achieved its Demeter certification. Have you noticed any changes in the vineyard as BioDynamics has begun to exert its influence?

MT: There have been a lot of changes. I think that the biggest thing that we can tout is the vines’ resistance to stress. Prior to going BioDynamic, in 1998 we had a scorcher of a year and a lot of leaf burn happened. Since then, we’ve had some pretty hot years, 2006 being one of them, and the vines would go through these stressful events and maintain their same color, and that was a big wow factor. Plus, we’re seeing more earthworms and better soil structure, and I think the vines are becoming more and more balanced year to year.

TR: I assume you probably must do more than just manage the vineyard. Are you the beekeeper and everything else around here?

MT: Yeah, I take care of the bees and harvest the honey, and I oversee the harvesting of the olive trees and getting everything set up for olive oil. We also have a balsamico project and I manage that.

TR:I think a lot of people may not realize that vines themselves are self-pollinating, so are the bees here to facilitate everything else?

MT: If you look at bees and their colonies, they touch every surface of that vineyard and bring it back to that hive, and I think that’s pretty special. The honey they produce really represents the entire property and it all kind of sharees the same wavelength.

TR: In terms of the Eisele Vineyard here at Araujo, what is some of the history with this property? I read that the vineyard was first planted to Riesling and Zinfandel during the pre-Prohibition Era, but it has clearly evolved since then.

MT: The vineyard was planted to Reisling and Zinfandel in 1881, and then in 1964 it was replanted to Cabernet. The Eiseles purchased it in 1969, and Milt Eisele really wanted to see his name on a label, and he convinced Paul Draper at Ridge to make the 1971 Ridge Eisele Vineyard Cabernet, and it was one of the first vineyard-designate wines in the United States. I think the only other two at the time were the Heitz Martha’s Vineyard Cab and the Ridge Monte Bello. In 1972 and 1973 the grapes went to Mondavi — we think for the Reserve, and in 1974 Conn Creek made an Eisele Vineyard Cabernet, and then in 1975 that began the long relationship with Joseph Phelps, which made an Eisele Vineyard Cabernet until 1991, except for two years, where the grapes actually went into Insignia. From 1992 on, its all been bottled as Araujo Eisele Vineyard.

TR: Let’s switch gears from Cabernet to Pinot Noir. You’ve just released a wine under your own label, the 2006 Matthew D. Taylor Michaud Vineyard Pinot Noir from Monterey County. I suppose it marks a return to your early days at Joseph Swan and your influences in Burgundy.

MT: Pinot is kind of my bloodline, and Bart Araujo got tired of hearing me talk about Pinot, so in 2006, he said, “You know what, why don’t you make some Pinot?” And I said that sounds great, but he said, “There’s one condition: I want you to find the best Pinot vineyard in California that you can find.” A few places jumped out at me, I really love Hirsch and I really love Savoy vineyards, and I really love the Sonoma Coast and Mendocino area. But I think what kept resonating with me was that I thought of Michael Michaud, and I love his Chardonnay. I felt like his Chardonnay was probably the most Burgundian Chardonnay in the United States. I visited him, and he had some Pinot that was coming into its seventh or eighth year, and I tasted a vertical with him, and saw the development, and decided this was the type of Pinot I wanted to make.

TR: What sets this vineyard apart from some of the others?

MT: Michael sells Pinot and Chard each year, and what he sells for Pinot are his Dijon clones. But he has one area that has Swan, Chalone and Pommard clones and that’s what he uses for his wine, with whatever Dijon is left over after selling. What’s nice is that I told him that I really wanted to use those other clones, and he’s been nice enough to split those Pommard, Chalone and Swan clones, and with the Dijon, I’m able to make a blend of everything, which is how it should be.

TR: Some of the discussion regarding clones can get a bit heady but I can’t really resist. Are there any particular attributes that each clone delivers?

MT: Well, it depends on where they’re grown, but I would say that Dijon clones have much more of that Russian River strawberry and cherry jumping out of the glass, while Pommard tends to hold a little more backbone, and Swan seems to have the best of both worlds. Chalone I haven’t had muchg experience iowth, it’s just one of those clones that have been down there forever and has acclimated itself there.

TR: What’s the long-term approach with the Matthew D. Taylor label?

MT: Being that I’m able to make my wine here at Araujo, I don’t want to overstep my boundaries. I get one tank per year to keep production at a safe level, which for me was 150 cases in 2006. I’m doing a small amount and I’ve priced it at a point where, upon release, I think a lot of people recommended that I could probably be selling at a lot higher price. But I really wanted to allow people to get behind it and support it, which means no critics.

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Day Tripping the North Coast: Mendocino and Sonoma in Photos

The Accidental Wino — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:17:37 +0000

Vineyard in repose, Mendocino County.

You can say what you want about Napa. I happen to live there. But for me, Mendocino County is Northern California’s true paradise. I spent the better part of the day in the Anderson Valley today, driving past dozens of miles of vineyards that have all slipped into fall colors. All of Mendocino County looked like the photo above, at least along the winding curves of Highway 128. Outside of wine country, the landscape is dominated by moss, ferns, redwoods and oaks. In the winter, every shade of green is on display.

• • •

Late-harvest Zin...

...or a fruitless vintage?

I noticed one vineyard, located just inside the eastern edge of Sonoma County, that still had its grapes. It looked like a Zinfandel vineyard, and I wondered if it was designated for a late harvest, or if the grower couldn’t find a buyer and the fruit was left to hang. Either way, it’s oddly eye-catching to see a vine with so many grapes and with so few leaves. Of the hundreds of acres of vineyards that I drove past today, this was the only parcel that hadn’t been harvested. Interesting.

• • •

Fuyu, man. And check out that terrific bloom.

Pumpkin still life, with persimmons.

My first stop of the day was at the Philo Apple Farm, which has been certified BioDynamic since 2005. The produce included fuyu persimmons, French heirloom pumpkins, and myriad apples on display (the New Zealand Splendour was my favorite apple of the bunch).

• • •

The Live Oak Building, Boonville.

In Boonville, I picked up a Narraganset turkey at the Live Oak Building, which is now the Valley Bible Fellowship. The building was constructed in 1926, about half way through Prohibition. It was the first building in Mendocino County to have a “walter” installed, which is Boontling for telephone. Although it’s becoming archaic, and I didn’t encounter it today, Boontling is an English-based folk dialect spoken only in Boonville, if you can believe that one.

The gentleman who sold me the turkey was Eric Peterman, pastor of the Valley Bible Fellowship, and a local farmer. Aside from his Narraganset turkeys, Mr. Peterman also offered Bourbon Reds and Spanish Blacks, though he said there was no difference in taste between the three individual breeds. Although relatively pricey, heritage breed turkeys do not require brine, and they only need to be cooked to 165ºF. Even better yet, they’ve never been fed hormones or antibiotics, and the one I purchased today had never been frozen (just killed yesterday).

Before I picked up the turkey, I stopped by Toulouse Winery to pick up a couple bottles of their 2008 Gewurztraminer, which I think should be a terrific Thanksgiving wine (with a hint of spice and sweetness, it could be like drinking pumpkin pie with dinner). I’ll probably open some Pinot Noir as well, seeing how I’ve hoarded so many bottles from the 2007 vintage. Will it be Kosta Browne, Toulouse, Chasseur, Papapietro Perry, or Failla? I just don’t know yet. What’ll you be pouring?

• • •

I was hoping this roadside artwork was written in Boontling...

... but it was in plain English: "Reach the ocean walk for days"

On my way out of Boonville, I spotted an interesting piece of roadside artwork, and I had to wonder who was behind it, how long it’s been there, and what it all means.

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Book Review: “BioDynamic Wine, Demystified”

The Accidental Wino — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 02:19:19 +0000

As the former employee of a BioDynamic winery, I’ve had dozens of opportunities to promote the theories of BioDynamic farming. Unfortunately, the vagaries of BioDynamics are founded upon some very challenging ideas. For this reason, and despite my rhetoric on the subject, I feel that the BioDynamic movement remains largely misunderstood. At worst, BioDynamics is labeled as mere superstition. And while this dismissal is entirely unfair, I will admit that the underlying principles of BioDynamics are indeed strange and esoteric. I will also admit that, honestly, I don’t even understand many of the theories that surround BioDynamics — some appear intuitive, while others seem outlandish.

With its roots in cosmic energies, BioDynamics must seem like a big step backwards to many, a movement away from the hard realities of scientific fact and investigation. Inevitably, any deep discussion of BioDynamics requires an explanation of such things as planetary cycles and constellatory alignments. At this point, once the conversation turns cosmic, most people begin to roll their eyes, which is why I rarely ever delved into the real, core principles of BioDynamic farming. Before long, my dumbed-down explanation of BioDynamics became: “BioDynamic farming is basically über-organic farming.” And that was it.

But even though this statement is both true and easy to grasp, there is clearly much more to BioDynamics than the simple tenets of organic farming. Unfortunately, I’m not going to launch into my own explanation here. After all, in spite my own reading and research, I am still largely baffled by much of the “science” behind BioDynamics. When it comes to this growing agricultural movement — even though I’ve definitely been sipping the Kool-Aid — I still only half get it. As a result, having recently finished “BioDynamic Wine, Demystified” by Nicolas Joly, I cannot say that the book’s title is entirely accurate.

Of course, I never expected “BioDynamic Wine, Demystified” to answer all of my BioDynamic questions. At just 150 pages, this essay could really only scratch the surface, with Joly himself deflecting many of the specific explanations to his bibliographical sources (another reason why I don’t dare offer my own take on the subject). Often, the book must be taken with a significant grain of salt, as many unfounded statements are offered as fact. Ultimately, too many of these statements may coalesce into doubts for the reader, spawning more and more questions along the way.

In all fairness, “BioDynamic Wine, Demystified” does deepen one’s understanding of BioDynamic farming, even though it fails to offer any satisfying explanations. Instead, it offers a philosophy of farming, complete with a heady world view. Nonetheless, practicing BioDynamics does appear to have its merits, especially considering its strict rules against pesticides and other chemicals (BioDynamic farming is far more regulated than any form of organic farming). I have also heard many first-hand accounts about the successful results of BioDynamic farming, so I realize that the empirical evidence does exist. However, the actual science behind BioDynamics remains a large gray area: I certainly acknowledge the theories and the results, but the cause-and-effect connection between the two is still shrouded in archaic farming traditions.

As it is, “BioDynamic Wine, Demystified” will not be the last book that I consult on this particular topic. I am still searching for any book that can align some truly scientific data with this uniquely metaphysical approach to farming. At this point, I suspect that such a text may not even exist. Until then, books such as these can only be as convincing as the actual science behind them.

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Cabernet tasting notes: Ehlers and some others

The Accidental Wino — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 08:23:46 +0000

I went on a bit of a Cabernet bender today, my first in a while. Typically, I get a pretty decent dose of Cabernet Sauvignon just by working at a Napa Valley winery. Cabernet is the currency here, and the juice is ubiquitous. Since this varietal dominates my nine-to-five schedule, I’m usually motivated to seek out other types of wine on my days off. I go to the Dry Creek Valley on Zinfandel missions, hit up the Russian River for Pinot Noir, or simply head up-valley to Calistoga for Petite Sirahs. But today, Cabernet was the focus, and I found a couple of good ones.

By far, the best wine I tasted today was at Ehlers Estate, with their “1886″ Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 leading the pack. The consistency of the Ehlers portfolio instantly made it a new favorite of mine, and a winery that I would recommend wholeheartedly. The Ehlers tasting room is located just north of St. Helena, in an old stone winery that was originally built by Bernard Ehlers in 1886. The Ehlers estate is just 39 acres, planted to Bordeaux varietals and farmed Biodynamically. Each of their wines are delicious, but the “1886″ boasts great flavors and was devastatingly smooth, especially for a 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. I was amazed that the soft, rounded tannins had not been blended down with any Merlot.

• The Ehlers “1886″ is pricey — at least by my frugal standards — at $95 per bottle. However, I feel that this wine represents a terrific value nonetheless. And if you need any additional justification to splurge on a wine like this one, Ehlers is certainly worthy of your hard-earned cash. The winery is a not-for-profit organization, held in trust for the Leducq Foundation, which funds cardiovascular research. Certainly, this business model is unique among the Napa Valley, but the charity should not overshadow the wine (on this blog, anyhow).

• I began the day with a 10 o’clock tasting at Joesph Phelps. Honestly, I was a bit underwhelmed by the wines, although the property itself is always beautiful (even though a smoky haze from forest fires has engulfed the valley this past week). Over the years, I may have simply developed a California palate, since I really do enjoy an element of fruit in my wines. In contrast, the Phelps portfolio features wines that are very earthy, and I find them a touch austere and thin. Even the 2004 Insignia did not really deliver for me (especially at $200 per bottle), and the 2005 Cabernet and the 2005 Syrah did not seem to feature the layers that I expected. I remembered liking the Phelps wines much more when I visited the winery last summer.

• The next stop was at Heitz Cellars, another venue that I had previously visited, although not in quite some time. The wines at Hetiz were solid (as always), and I found the 2004 Napa Valley Cabernet to be far more appealing than the Phelps version. I also tasted a pair of 1998s (a vintage that is often plentiful valley-wide, having fallen between the lauded 1997 and 1999 vintages). The first wine was the 1998 Bella Oaks Vineyard Cabernet, which had an uncanny note of red bell pepper on the finish. The other was the 1998 Trailside Vineyard Cabernet, which was much more straight-forward in its profile. Both wines had a hint of black olive on the nose, which can be typical for a 10-year-old Cabernet. I weighed the merits of all of the Heitz Cabs, but ultimately settled upon the regular 2004 Cabernet.

• After lunch, I drove up to Von Strasser for a one o’clock appointment. Being located about 600 feet above the valley floor (along Diamond Mountain Road), the smoky haze was significantly more palpable in the hills. The Von Strasser wines are well-made, with many small productions of Cabernet dominating their portfolio. I opted to purchase the 2005 Diamond Mountain District Cabernet, which features the density and complexity that I expect from mountain-grown fruit.

• After Ehlers, the last stop of the day was at Larkmead Vineyards, which has a long history in the Napa Valley. Larkmead was one of the four Napa wineries allowed to operate during Prohibition, making sacrimental wines for the Catholic church from 1920 to 1933 (Beaulieu, Beringer and Inglenook being the other three). Leading up to Prohibition, Larkmead Zinfandels had earned several honors at State Fair competitions, so I was slightly disapponted that Larkmead does not bottle any Zins today. But the winery does offer a couple of nice Cabernets, my favorites being the 2005 Larkmead and the 2004 Larkmead Salon.

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