The Accidental Wino » Mendocino

Book Review: “Riesling Renaissance” by Freddy Price

The Accidental Wino — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 19:19:12 +0000

“Coffee’s for closers only.” Anyone who has seen 1992′s “Glengarry Glen Ross” might recall this line from the film’s first act, when Alec Baldwin delivers one of my all-time favorite movie monologues. The scene marks Baldwin’s only appearance in the film — a scant seven minutes — but his abusive tirade establishes the movie’s tone, and it sets up the second act perfectly. In “Glengarry,” Baldwin plays the character of Blake, an über-alpha real estate salesman, and a role that was written specifically for Baldwin by playwright David Mamet (as great as it is, Baldwin’s “Glengarry” monologue was not part of Mamet’s original 1983 stage play). During his brilliant rant, Baldwin espouses the acronym “ABC” — short for “Always be closing” — a hard-boiled sales mantra that he imparts to an ensemble of A-listers, including Jack Lemon, Ed Harris, and Alan Arkin (with Al Pacino and Kevin Spacey rounding out the cast, just for good measure). As someone who’s seen “Glengarry” dozens of times over, I’m always reminded of Baldwin’s monologue whenever I hear someone use the acronym “ABC” within the context of wine.

For folks like me, those who are devoted to drinking and exploring Napa wine, “ABC” usually means “Anything but Chardonnay.” This quippy, yet dismissive critique of Napa’s most prominent white wine may seem surprising to some, especially since Chardonnay still enjoys both pedigree and popularity the world over. However, the “ABC” philosophy does have some merit in regard to local wine. On one hand, the Chardonnay alternatives are few and far between here in the valley; for most Napa wineries, Sauvignon Blanc represents the only other local option for white wine (Chardonnay accounts for almost two-thirds of Napa’s total white wine production, while Sauvignon Blanc accounts for about one-fourth). But for the “ABC” camp, it’s not so much the fact that Chardonnay dominates the white wine landscape — it’s more the idea that California Chardonnay, despite its overall popularity, simply lost its taste appeal to many wine drinkers.

The local backlash against California Chardonnay began to build in the late 1990s, following an era when many local producers used to treat Chardonnay with a heavy regimen of new oak, coupled with heavy malolactic fermentation (often referred to simply as “malocatic” — or even “ML” — this secondary “fermentation” is actually bacteria-based, and isn’t a true yeast-based fermentation). With Chardonnay, heavy oak plus full ML typically results in the oaky-buttery style that many folks still enjoy (Rombauer Vineyards is the poster-child for this particular approach, and Rombauer will probably always bear the oaky-buttery torch). In the 1980s, this heavy-handed style became the vogue for many (perhaps most) Napa Valley winemakers, and the result was that Chardonnay eventually began to taste less and less like the grape, and more and more like the process. Taste, of course, remains subjective, and inherently, this particular style of winemaking wouldn’t necessarily present an issue, except that it began to make lots of Napa Chardonnays all taste the same.

Indeed, Chardonnay is widely known as “the winemaker’s grape,” a canvass that can lend itself to plenty of tweaking and manipulating in the cellar. As author Freddy Price acknowledges in his brief introduction of “Reisling Renaisance,” the Riesling grape is the complete opposite of Chardonnay. Classically, Riesling is rarely aged in oak barrels and the use of ML is non-existent. As Price also points out in his introduction, Riesling expresses its terroir more clearly than any other wine. Terroir, or what I would colloquially call” the taste of place,” is the notion that no grapevine grows within a vacuum. For better or worse, nature’s elements are bound to have an influence on the vine, and farming techniques are also bound to play a role in a grape’s flavor development. For serious wine drinkers, this idea of terroir is what allows experts to identify a wine’s origin simply by its taste, smell and appearance.

“Reisling Renaissance” is invaluable for anyone who wishes to gain a deeper insight into the world’s Riesling production. Price has spent more than 50 years pursuing his passion for the grape, and his knowledge of Riesling certainly shines. The book is divided into regional chapters, leading off with the most important, Germany, and then delving into sections on France, Austria, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. “Riesling Renaissance” features great maps, concise and insightful histories, and lists of the top Riesling producers for each wine-growing region. Unfortunately, here in the Napa Valley, Riesling is all but absent, even though the grape was extremely popular before Prohibition, and also during the 1960s and 1970s (today, Riesling accounts for a little more than 1% of Napa’s total white wine production). To be fair, however, Napa is generally too warm to grow world-class Riesling on a large scale (Washington State has since become the domestic leader in Riesling production).

“ABC” has become a tough bet for Californians who wish to drink locally, but a few wineries have continued to produce Riesling with some success. Among the California wineries in consideration, Price highlights Bonny Doon, Greenwood Ridge, Navarro Vineyards, Smith-Madrone and Trefethen. Although it is noteworthy to point out that Bonny Doon sources its juice from Washington State and Germany’s Mosel, the other four wineries do grow and produce a true California Riesling. Trefethen and Smith-Madrone are the only Napa representatives on the list, although personally, I would also add Stony Hill Vineyards, since they’ve been producing an admirable dry Riesling in Napa Valley for more than 50 years now.

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Clash of the 2007s: Kosta Browne, Chasseur, Papapietro Perry, Cobb, Capiaux and Radio-Coteau

The Accidental Wino — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 22:21:22 +0000

With the afterglow of last Tuesday night finally starting to fade, I still need to acknowledge the preamble to the evening, which was a blind tasting of 2007 California Pinot Noir. I had been anticipating this tasting for quite some time, and I had also exhibited tremendous patience in the process: Back in March 2009, I had eagerly purchased Pinot Noir allocations from Kosta Browne and Chasseur, having finally earned a coveted spot on their respective mailing lists (these unclaimed allocations were the function of a sputtering U.S. economy, no doubt). At the time, slipping behind the velvet rope was extremely fortuitous, with California’ s 2007 Pinot Noir vintage earning considerable praise for its exceptional quality. Even in a bad economy, with these 2007s finally hitting the market in 2009, last year was certainly not the time to forfeit any allocations (unless, of course, you were actually facing foreclosure).

• • •

Now that the 2007 vintage was finally approaching its third year, my goal was to pit some of the most lauded producers head-to-head in a blind tasting (my rule of thumb for California Pinot is to drink them between three and seven years from the vintage date). For me, the wait was finally over, and I was interested in unveiling the best of the best, to see if these mailing-list wines could rise above some of my more “accessible” favorites. With that agenda in mind, I pulled three selections from my own personal stash: the 2007 Kosta Browne Russian River, the 2007 Chasseur Joyce Vineyard, and the 2007 Papapietro Perry Leras Vineyard (the latter selection is not a mailing-list Pinot, yet). Alongside these three wines, my friend Geoff Harner of Mosher Imports added the 2007 Cobb Coastlands, the 2007 Radio-Coteau Savoy, and the 2007 Capiaux Widdoes.

We invited a few other people to evaluate these wines, including a sommelier (Jean-Marie), an enologist (Dianne), and a veteran of the Napa Valley restaurant industry (Andrew). My strategy was to assemble a panel of folks who each offered various wine-related backgrounds, but who might also evaluate the wines through different criteria. Rather than having just one critic hand down an edict, I like the idea of tasting by committee, as I feel it provides much more insight than a single person’s opinion. The task at hand was simple: Each member of the tasting panel ranked the wines in their order of preference, with a “1″ representing the favorite and a “6″ representing the least favorite. Just as in golf, low scores are good scores. I’ve circled the top choices for each individual in red, along with the lowest aggregate score. I’ve only put my own scores (“Yours Truly”) on record, and I’ve left the other four opinions (“The Field”) anonymous. Here’s how it all shook down (click the chart for a larger view):

Depending on how you slice and dice the statistics, two wines emerged as the favorites: The 2007 Chasseur “Joyce” (which claimed the lowest aggregate total) and the 2007 Papapietro Perry “Leras” (which scored the second-lowest aggregate, but which also received three first-place votes). The “Leras” proved quite divisive, in fact, scoring near the very bottom among the folks who did not choose it as their overall favorite. One aspect that is revealing, however, is that all five first-place votes were awarded to the same three wines with the lowest aggregate scores. These three — the Papapietro, the Kosta Brown, and the Chasseur — should boast the broadest appeal. Frankly, I was a bit relieved to discover that the mailing-list selections (the Chasseur and the Kosta Browne) held their own among the flight, although I also suspected that the Papapietro Perry would prove formidable. I have raved about that wine for the last couple years. No surprise that it was also my personal favorite last week. CKGRX29EXX84

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Daytripping Mendocino’s Wine Country: Gowan’s Oak Tree, Anderson Valley

The Accidental Wino — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 02:46:53 +0000

Gowan's Oak Tree, Anderson Valley, Highway 128.

Although Mendocino County remains one of my favorite wine-tasting regions in all of California, I need to point out that Highway 128 offers much more than wine, and that the almighty grape is not the only show in town. The Anderson Valley excels in apple production, in particular, although the beginning of apple season still remains about two weeks away (yes, most current supermarket apples are actually from last year’s crop, just out of cold storage). Anyhow, when it comes to tasting the best of the best, the Anderson Valley is a West Coast apple mecca, and Gowan’s Oak Tree is one of the main apple epicenters in the area (along with the Philo Apple Farm, just a small stretch to the north, on the same side of the highway). Believe it or not, Gowan’s will offer about 65 different apples during their season, which will usually wrap up completely by Thanksgiving.

• • •

I suppose that my timing could have been much better last Monday, considering that I jumped the gun of apple season by a mere two weeks. However, I can always find something to buy at Gowan’s, and the cherries looked delicious. Each one was perfect, and I ate the entire bag in one sitting. I would do it again. How could you not?

• • •

For those keeping score, Gravenstein apples are one of the more than 200 items on Slow Food’s Ark of Taste, which complies a list of heritage foods facing extinction. Fresh Gravensteins should begin to appear by the end of this month, but for now, I’m happy to buy a jar of Gowan’s Gravenstein Apple Sauce (the ingredients are simply “whole peeled, cored Gravenstein apples and well water”). I’ll be eating this apple sauce alongside pork chops, no doubt. Isn’t that schwell?

• • •

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Daytripping Mendocino Wine Country’s Anderson Valley: Toulouse, Navarro and Roederer

The Accidental Wino — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 01:49:40 +0000

The welcoming sign for Toulouse Vineyards, Anderson Valley.

I’d spent most of the spring stockpiling some quality Napa Cabernets, taking advantage of the lauded 2007 vintage. But while these big reds gain some age and finesse, I needed a mixed case of white wine and sparkling wine to provide some relief from the summer heat. I suspect that the weather here in the Napa Valley could become very serious in the near future, and while most of June has been relatively cool by Napa standards, the end of the month did deliver a more realistic taste of summer, and July temperatures may soar. I certainly didn’t want to be caught drinking the few Chardonnays that I keep on hand. I rarely turn to Chardonnay as it is. Instead, I was looking for some crisp, fruit-forward wines at reasonable prices: Wines that were killer for quaffing, but that didn’t demand for each sip to be scrutinized. Thus, Mendocino County.

• • •

I began the afternoon at Toulouse Vineyards, and I tasted seven or eight of their current releases. I’ve noticed that whenever I visit Toulouse, owner and winemaker Vern Boltz is always up to something, though it’s not always winemaking. In the past, I’ve seen Boltz pouring wine behind the tasting bar, chatting up the guests, and a couple of years ago he was hand-labeling a few of his future releases (for those folks in search of truly artisanal winemaking, look no further). Today, Boltz was building a new tasting room for the winery, which is scheduled to be finished within a couple months (just in time for harvest, most likely). As for the wine, the entire portfolio featured the consistency that I’ve come to expect from Toulouse, and the winery has even expanded its line-up to include Muscat, which makes its debut with the current 2009 release.

My purchase history with Toulouse elicits an interesting pattern: I tend to gravitate towards the same two varietals, namely Gewurztraminer and Pinot Noir. Although there have definitely been times when I’ve purchased the full complement of Toulouse wines, the Gewurz and Pinots usually see the bulk of my business. Today was no exception — I purchased a bottle of the 2009 Toulouse Gewurztraminer ($24), and even though I was scouting specifically for summertime whites, I couldn’t resist buying the 2007 Toulouse Estate Pinot Noir ($50). Normally, I would’ve probably also purchased the 2009 Toulouse Pinot Gris ($24) and the 2009 Toulouse Estate Riesling ($24), but I’ve been making an effort to curtail my wine buying, and to just cherry-pick the selections that really demand my attention.

As a side note to my visit to Anderson Valley, there seem to have been concerns and reports about the 2008 Mendocino wildfires affecting that vintage. If I remember correctly, these fires, which were originally sparked by lightning, scorched nearly one million acres in Mendocino County that summer. At the time, there were accounts of ash dusting the vineyards and of smoke obscuring the summer sun. Then, in March 2010, there was even a report in the Wall Street Journal that some Anderson Valley wines were, as some had feared, smoky (Boltz is actually quoted in this particular WSJ article). As part of today’s flight, I tasted the 2008 Toulouse Estate Pinot Noir ($50) and the 2008 Toulouse Anderson Valley Pinot Noir — the latter of which was scheduled for bottling next week — and neither wine tasted nor smelled of smoke (Boltz mentioned that he successfully removed the smoky element through osmosis filtration).

• • •

After tasting at Toulouse, I continued northward to Navarro Vineyards, where I tasted 10 of their 16 current releases. People just seem to adore Navarro, which always features the busiest tasting room, by far, whenever I make my mid-week visits to Mendocino County. And really, what’s not to like about a winery that produces a solid portfolio and that prices most of its wines at $20 or less? I purchased the 2009 Navarro Riesling ($18), the 2008 Navarro Mendocino Pinot Noir ($16!), and the 2007 Navarro Zinfandel ($19). Many other wines were tempting, especially the 2009 Navarro Pinot Grigio ($15), the 2009 Edelzwicker ($13) and the 2008 Navarrouge ($14), but again, I really didn’t want to return to Napa with three cases of wine.

• • •

About half the reason for my visit to Mendocino County was to purchase some sparkling wine from Roederer Estate. In my mind, if anyone cares to discuss California sparkling wine, the conversation begins with either Roederer, Schramsberg or Iron Horse (although I do have a predilection for the sparkling wines from J Vineyards, as well). I purchased a couple bottles each of the Roederer Anderson Valley Brut MV ($23), The Roederer Anderson Valley Brut Rosé MV ($27) and the Roederer Anderson Valley Extra Dry ($23). The latter bottle is a winery-only offering, and the Extra Dry is only a 400-case production (in contrast, the Anderson Valley Brut MV is about 70,000 cases). The Extra Dry features a little more residual sugar than the Brut (since “Brut” means “dry” in French, this concept is counter-intuitive, I know), which really makes it easy to sip. And that was the whole point of this trip, right?

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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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Wine Tasting Notes: Toulouse Vineyards, Mendocino

The Accidental Wino — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 19:20:38 +0000

A road trip to Mendocino this week provided an easy to excuse to visit Toulouse Vineyards, which has quickly become my favorite winery in the area. Luckily for me, I happened to catch Toulouse at a great time — just a few days before a new vintage was slated to be released (although these wines were still available for tasting and purchase). I had last visited Toulouse in late March, and I found their wines to be the model of consistency. For me, Toulouse captured the very soul of winemaking: small, artisanal, exquisite. Even their rosé was delicious.

Vern Boltz makes the wine over at Toulouse, and he also puts the labels on the bottles, which happened to be his enterprise during my most recent visit. The winery — even by the quaint standards of Mendocino — is a boutique operation, so the case production at Toulouse remains extremely low. Quality, on the other hand, remains at an all-time high: the 2007 Toulouse Pinot Noir ($42) is tremendously vibrant, intense, and complex, and it will likely become a front-runner among the top Pinot Noirs in California. I purchased two bottles, which is something I rarely ever do at that price-point.

But as much as I loved the 2007 Toulouse Pinot Noir, the strength of the entire Toulouse portfolio is what makes it a destination winery. The tasting room offered a flight of six wines in total, including the 2008 vintages of Estate Riesling, Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminer and Rosé of Pinot Noir (each priced at $24). All of these wines are terrific, and I recommend each and every one of them, without hesitation. Toulouse also had some remaining bottles of its 2006 Pinot Noir (now $39), which was a wine I had also tasted back in March. I liked it as much as I did back then — it’s a great bottle. But that 2007 Pinot Noir is something else again.

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