California Wine Hikes

posted by mark in Snooth

As some of you may know, I recently was out on the West Coast for about a week. While I was out there, myself and a few other Snooth members planned to experience the countryside of California by pairing wine with hiking. Fortunately, California Wine Hikes wine and hiking guru Russ Beebe (the Winehiker) was right there to help us.

The destination was Picchetti Winery, which is nestled towards the bottom of Montebello Rd in Cupertino. Montebello road is a steep and windy, very pretty road that snakes up through the Cupertino mountains, topping out at Ridge Vineyards which I was also able to visit later during my trip.

The hike was to be an out-and-back hike along the trails behind the winery, part of the nature preserve there. The trail was well chosen by our guide as it was kept well, not too steep, and had plenty of great sites along the way. It was about 4 miles in total.

We had prepared a pot luck lunch per our guide’s instructions, but first it was time to work up an appetite. Here we are, ready to start our hike.

We had beautiful weather for the hike, and I noticed that as we walked along the path, the temperature would change from warm to cool, as the sun heated up the hills around us and breezes carried that temperature differential our way. I never felt uncomfortable as a result. It was cool as much as warm. Similarly, the breezes carried some of the smells of the surrounding countryside to our nostrils. I found the aromas along the trail changed as much as the temperature did, so there was always a new sensory combination to appreciate.

Russ gave a great overview of some of the flora surrounding us. From Mugwort plants, the California Buckeye, to Bay Trees, and the Indian Paintbrush and Soap Plant, there were plenty of stories to share.

We all enjoyed seeing this rooster come strutting through, so there was a bit of fauna as well.

I also returned with a number of great photos of the trail and the surrounding countryside. Below you can see a photo I snapped of the trail, and one of the nearby reservoir.

Near the end of the hike, we decided to tackle a hill up to the old Picchetti vineyards. The Zinfandel vines up there were over a hundred years old, very gnarled, and still producing great fruit after all of these years.

And finally we returned to the cars, doffed our hiking gear and hauled out the food. I know by that time I was ready for it. Included was a lovely barley salad and chickpea salad, great breads and cheeses, olives, cherries, and of course the wine came out, we opened a bottle of the Picchetti Zinfandel Belliciti Vineyard. We even had a few folks along without much of a taste for Zinfandel who by the end were singing the wine’s praises.

One of the wonderful things about being at a picnic table outside of the winery is that you can wander into the tasting room afterwards. Picchetti Winery pours a nice tasting of 5 wines for 5 dollars. Everyone opted into that, and we enjoyed a taste of wines made with Viognier, Chardonnay, Tempranillo, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot. Everyone was really happy with the Tempranillo particularly, which our pourer (Smiley) mentioned was doing a wonderful job of selling. If you’re interested in trying a bit of that juice, you might need to make it there before too much longer.

If you’re looking for a great way to experience the California countryside, wine, and friends, I highly recommend you call up Russ and organize a hike. He’ll tailor your experience to your fitness level, but he might suggest that wine be involved. I hope that’s okay.

Tell him I sent you.

What’s in a Name?

posted by Dan in Wine Industry, Guest Bloggers

 “That which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet.”
Really?

If I introduced you to the rose bushes in my garden and I called them, Skunk, Vomit and Sulfur, would you really take to them with a walk away feeling of delicacy and charm?  And in that we find wine’s least charming characteristic – the power of persuasion.  Anyone can pull their Pinocchio from the glass and blurt out something rather interesting or silly  and, almost immediately, you will pick up on that same character if you are sniffing the same wine.

How does this pertain to a name?  Well, in launching my new venture I have the inevitable task of naming my wine.  This is a process that I have thought about over the years; even when I had no desire to make my own wine and label it as such.

I could tell you what I like to drink and why; however, unlike the old saying, “the journey is the destination,” in hindsight I have always felt it to be the other way around – the destination (the words and snapshots in your journal, the airline ticket stubs, the restaurant matchbooks) should incite memories of the time spent or the feelings endured.  When you are dealing with a luxury, packaged good (as pricey wine can be categorized) the hope is that the name, the label, the brand identity makes a connection that either brings you to another place or helps you identify with the thoughts and inspirations of the winemaker behind the wine.  [Note: That is just my opinion and aspiration.]

So, I am torn as to how I want to present myself with this wine.  I know in today’s day of Technology ADD, a brand needs to be dynamic and changing; offering its core essence but evolving with the times.  But for me, the dilemma is deeper.  Do I care about keeping up with the Twitterati?  Or do I want to achieve something that is timeless in its place and presentation?

I concede in my willingness to possibly accept the inevitable evolution of a brand identity, and, therefore, I have accepted the fact that the first attempt may not be perfect in all its parts.

For me, at the moment, ideas are swimming somewhere between an Ivy League education reamed of Humanities, Ancient Greek and Roman studies and all their encompassing esotericism, ethereal character and intellectualism with my modern day appreciation of minimalism, simplicity and elegance.

Can one accomplish both while teetering on the imagery of Tiepolo and Richard Serra? I hope so.

But, if you know me, I tend to stand against the pretension (of wine) albeit appreciating the history of the wine and its craftsmanship – from the technical and traditional to the irreverent and risk taking.
So, how does one portray the personality of the product and the varied personality of the person behind the product?  That is the dilemma.

I am 99% certain of the name of the wine brand and the “sub names” of the white wines I wish to create.  However, I would like to hear from you, my faithful and flawless readers, what attracts you to a wine label?  I’d love to gather your thoughts and comment on them and my decision in the next post.  Thanks in advance for your time and generosity of opinion, I look forward to hearing from you.

Dan Petroski is Assistant Winemaker at Larkmead Vineyards in Napa Valley. Dan has an MBA from New York University and worked as an Ad Exec in New York for several years, before switching it up and trading his suit for a move out west

Sometimes less is more

posted by Gregory in Snooth, Wine, Food

Now don’t gt me wrong, I love wine, I love overindulging in wine. I gotta a felling that’s gonna come back and bite me! I love intense, complex enveloping experience with wine, but sometimes I just want a glass of wine. Something satisfying yet simple.

Case in point, a few weeks ago I had made plans to meet my brother at my father’s house to make some order. We had a real mess on our hands and some major cleanup  was called for. Long story short, brother didn’t show. so I was stuck cleaning this mess myself.

Now the truth is most of that stuff is my crap. No question about it, ton’s of restaurant equipment left over from my restaurant days but you know it wasn’t easy manhandling the 180lb TEC searmaster grill or ice machine compressor and that 3 door lowboy refer, how was I supposed to get that in the barn? Sheer force of will that’s how. I actually threw out the swoopy black mid-century chair, which was painful but the truth is I found it in the trash so no great loss and we now have two newer, and larger grills so that piece of crap found the bottom of the dumpster as well. It took about 6 hours, and I should have taken a picture of my bloody hands but eventually the yard looked like a yard again and the barn was, dare I say it, organized!

So what does this have to do with wine. Not much except when you consider how beaten I was by the end of the night. I had stopped by the butcher, ok it’s the supermarket but they have a decent butcher there, and got a perfect 1.5lb sirloin steak for myself earlier in the day. That and some mushrooms, shallots and potatoes made for the fixins of a decent meal. All I needed wqas a bottle of wine. What I wanted was something satisfying, with a bright acidic spine. Nothing to complex yet complex enough, aged enough to ring my bell without any effort from me. I ended up choosing a 1982 Gigi Rosso Arione Barolo. Now this should have been exactly what I was looking for.

1982 a great vintage in its prime.

Arione a grand vineyard in Serralunga.

Gigi Rosso an underachiever if there was one but I was hoping that the vintage and vineyard would trump whatever Gig had mastered to ensure mediocrity in his wines.

I was right, barely.

This was no doubt a great bottle of the 1982 Arione. The cork was tight as can be and that near perfect seal held this wine in good stead. Typically pale and borderline oxidized apon opening this freshened up in the glass revealing a moderate core of sour cherry fruit with lovely, subtle tar and anise notes all backed by the mouthwatering acidity I was after.

Truth is it was a perfectly good wine. I scored it a solid 87 points, barely sellable in today’s point beholden marketplace but PERFECT for me this evening. It was exactly what I wanted, what I needed to salve my wounds and nourish my soul and anything better, richer, or more complex would simply have been lost on me, a waste on a wasted man.

I ate my dinner and drank my bottle, exhausted, and now slightly drunk I made my way to bed happy. Oh so happy.

You see sometimes less  really is more.

Sometimes 87 points are better than 90 points.

Sometimes you want to drink the wine and forget about the points.

Ponder that this holiday weekend and have a great Fourth of July!

Yeah that steak is pretty perfectly cooked, thanks for noticing. Hardwood charcoal in the dark, but I used to do this for a living.

Gregory Dal Piaz

Community Manager

Snooth.com

From the Cellar - Beaujolais

posted by Gregory in Snooth, Wine

Weird title right?

Who pulls Beaujolais from the cellar you might ask. Well I do but I can’t say I’m a leader in that field. In fact several of my friends have rather varied assortments of Beaujolais resting in the deep recesses of their cellars and through their generosity I have come to know the wonder of aged Gamay.

Wines are strange beasts, they start life as one thing and frequently morph into something completely different with age. Gamay in particular seems to really transform itself in the cellar, which is a bit of a surprise as Beaujolais, what most of us think of when we think of Gamay, starts out life as an easy, quaffable, cherry berry delight with little to no promise of improvement.

However, after several years in the cellar wonderful things happen. The fruit both fades and morphs into something gamy and wild with more than a passing resemblance to Burgundy of a certain age.  One of the consequences of this transformation is that the fruit become less flamboyant and more transparent allowing the minerality of the terroir to express itself.

It is somewhat bizarre to think of but Beaujolais with age perhaps expresses its terroir as well as any other wine, maybe even better than any other wine. For me these aged examples of Beaujolais combine the fruit quality of Burgundy with a terroir that recalls some of the finest plots of the Northern Rhone,those granite rich bands through St. Joseph and Cornas in particular.Not a stretch when you consider that Beaujolais lies right in the midst of these two famous wine producing regions.

While I have had Beaujolais older than the wines tasted for this post I think these wine represent the peak along the ageing curve for most of the wines, which is to say about 6-12 years after the vintage. All four wines showed very well with several characteristics in common; a certain Asian spice note, a seamless, delicate texture, transparent fruit and wonderful and refreshing mineral tones.  If this sounds like something that would appeal to your palate do yourself a favors and seek out a few examples of aged Beaujolais to try or just lay down a few of the affordable beauties for your future enjoyment!

Here are 4 examples from my cellar.

1996 Domaine j Chamonard Morgon Le Clos de Lys

Pale dried rose petal color, earthy looking

Funky, earthy, Burgundian nose, intensely smoky with notes of medicinal floral tones, tea and baked wild cherry and medicinal mineral tones, intense stuff! Some dried Asian spiced beef notes dried orange peel

Soft and almost lush with plenty of acid and only a whisper of tannin supporting the dried strawberry fruit. And mandarin orange notes There are nice background notes of mossy earth, tea and Asian spice chocolate on the midpalate with a fresh brisk floral and red berry finish of moderate length.  A very savory and yet curiously fruity wine with solid length. 89pts

~~~

2002 Earl Louis & Claude Desvignes Morgon Cote du Py

dark ruby with a beige cast

A tight noise with a very fine tobacco tone, mineral notes, and a hint of violet all backed up with tight wild berry fruit, opens rather nicely revealing tea, mint,  moss and wild berry tone with some ferrous minerality.

Soft plush and full of gentle fading fruit edged in brown spice and roast fruit tone, some dried apricot up front and still has a nice touch of tannin adding depth, nice and fairly full with earth tone and a brilliantly mineral backend that leads to an almost salty vivid finish the acid here really pops with some air, lifting the fruit like a one pole circus tent and accentuating the earthy front end but this is still a mineral bomb on the back half and into the finish then there is a lovely return of spicy, briary fruit. Killer right now. 92 pts

2003 Duboeuf La Trinquee Julienas

Cedary and woodsy with a touch of zinfandel like briar here, there is a lovely wild cherry jam tone but no too cooked and subtle note of graham cracker and waxy lipstick with a white pepper spice edge.

Soft and sweetly fruity up front with nicely integrated acidity and some very attractive wild red cherry fruit and hints of baking spice and herb. Really mirrors the aromatics. Has some slightly aggressive tannins still that lead to a bit of a woodsy finish that is cut short by an earthy, beet rooty tone which gains traction on the mid-palate after about 30 mins. A touch clumsy at times but still perfectly intact and enjoyable. 85pts

~~~

2003 Coudert Clos de la Roilette

Quite pale and bricky with quite a bit of sediment

Very herbal, and balsamic on the nose with sweet fruity wax lips candy tones and huge notes of macerated flowers, game, earth, violette pastille and stone absolutely captivating aromatics that are sweetly fruited yet savory and earthy and complex.

The entry is almost slick in it’s seamlessness then the structural elements help add some texture with the bright acids adding cut and the fine tannins grab to the earthy, wild cherry, dark toned fruit. There is a lurking spiciness here, almost medicinal and lovely notes of flowers, herbs and exotic fruits like persimmon then this turns a bit lean and austere on the backend but with impressive length and even a bit of drying tannin and mucky cologne on the finale. Really long. Perhaps still a bit young too! 92pts

~~~
~~~

So the short of all this is that these wines are wonderful with some age on them and they absolutley defy our expectations. Time to change expectations folks so buy and cellar some Cru Beaujolais. You will be justly rewarded!

Gregory Dal Piaz

Community Manager

Snooth

Bennett Valley & Chalk Hill

posted by John in Snooth, Wine Industry, Wine, Guest Bloggers

It’s been a while since I’ve posted a blog on Snooth.  It also has been a while since I’ve done anything with the pages I curate.  If you don’t know I curate the Sonoma County and Sonoma Valley webpages.  One way to address both of these pages and get a blog in is to talk about two of the smaller, lesser known sub-appellations in the region.  I give you Chalk Hill and Bennett Valley.

Bennett Valley is a sub-appellation of Sonoma Valley and is located in the Sonoma Mountain chain that leads up towards Santa Rosa.  It is almost an extension of the Sonoma Mountain sub-appellation.

Chalk Hill is a sub-appellation of the Russian River Valley.  It is at the east end of the appellation running up against the Alexander Valley appellation and Knights Valley appellation in the Mayacamas Mountains.

I’m going to tell you a little bit about both.

Bennett Valley

History
Bennett Valley is one of the newest appellations in Sonoma County.  In fact, it is one of the newest California appellations.  The application for the appellation was filed in October of 2001 by the CEO of Mantanzas Creek.  Mantanzas Creek is the ‘anchor’ winery of the appellation.  The appellation was granted in December 2003.  I don’t know for sure if that is a record but it is very fast.  According to information I read, there was on opposition.

The area shares a lot of it’s formative history with Sonoma Valley and Sonoma in general.  Grape growing recorded as far back as mid-1800s.  Many of the original vineyards farmed by immigrants and used for local wines.

Geography

Bennett Vally is, well, a valley.  It is one of the smallest AVAs in the Sonoma County with only 650 acres currently planted out of 8,140 acres available.  For comparison, Sonoma valley has about 60,000 acres planted.   It is a valley that is part of the Sonoma Mountain chain that runs along the west side of Sonoma Valley.  It is surrounded by three different mountain peaks: Taylor Mountain (west), Sonoma Mountain (south) and Bennett Peak / Bennett Ridge (east).  Finally to the north is the city of Santa Rosa.

Bennett Valley, like a lot of the area, around it has volcanic type soil and is a cool weather climate.  It’s unique feature, which separates it from the surrounding areas, is cool air is  channeled into the valley from the north by the peaks via the Crane Caynon / Grange Road wine gap.  The air has no where to go but settle in the valley.

Grapes, Wines & Wineries

You would think with a small amount of land planted that there wouldn’t be a lot of variation of in the grapes being grown.  If you did think that, you’d be wrong.  It planted mostly with Merlot, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Syrah, with lesser amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon and Franc, Barbera, Grenache, and Sauvignon Blanc.  You can even find a bit of Petite Sirah, Sangiovese and Zinfandel.

Why should you care?

Bennett Valley is one of those lesser known special places.  It is one of those places that is coming into it’s own.  It is home to a well known and respected winery in Mantazas Creek and a lot of smaller family owned wineries. The growers there provide grapes to some of the best known California names including: Stag’s Leap Cellars, DuMol and Caymus.

Links

Bennett Valley Grape Growers Association

Bennett Valley @ Appellation America

 Bennett Valley @ Wikipedia

Bennett Valley @ Calwineries

Chalk Hill
When people say the name Russian River the first thing that comes to mind is Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.  That is a fair assessment as that is what the Russian River Valley is known for.  So, when people hear that Bordeaux style wines are being made in Russian River Valley they think someone is smoking some funny cigarettes or they just made a mistake.  The truth is, it is being done in a sub-appellation called Chalk Hill.

History

There isn’t anything outstanding about the history of Chalk Hill.  It wasn’t one of the first places that grapes were grown in California or even in Sonoma County.  It has, like a lot of places in Sonoma, growing grapes.  The Chalk Hill AVA was founded in 1983 when people realized this wasn’t Russian River Valley.

Geography

The Chalk Hill AVA covers about 33 square miles (85 square kilometers) and is situated at the eastern side of the Russian River AVA.  It has about 1,600 acres (650 hectares) of planted vineyard land with about a 1000 of that planted.  It is mostly rocky volcanic ash based soil and the elevation slopes upward the farther east you go.  The AVA ends on the western slopes of the Mayacamas Mountain. The elevation of the AVA ranges from a low of 200 but is as high as 1300 feet.  Unlike the rest of the Russian River Valley AVA, the Chalk Hill region is relatively warm due to the influence of a thermal belt that runs through the area.  Harvest time in Chalk Hill often takes place in September while harvest in the surrounding regions usually takes place in October.

Grapes, Wines & Wineries

Chardonnay is still the most grown grape in Chalk Hill.  But there is an increasing amount of Bordeaux varieties like Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Merlot.  Like many regions in California people experiment by growing different grapes, other grapes that are grown in Chalk Hill include: Pinot Gris, Sangiovese and Sauvignon Blanc.  With the warmer climate and big variation in altitude it is possible to find an area suitable to a lot of different grape varieties.

So what wineries are in Chalk Hill that you might know?  How about J Vineyards and Rodney Strong?  Yes, they are both in Chalk Hill with, of course, Chalk Hill Estate.
Why should you care?

Like Bennett Valley, Chalk Hill is one of those stealth AVAs.  It is an AVA with great grapes and wineries.  If you are the type of person that knows a secret that other people don’t you want to know about Chalk Hill.  The great thing about it is that you can find all wine in one area.  It produces a bit of everything, Burgundian and Bordeaux wines in 33 square miles.  Oh yeah, don’t forget the sparkling wine courtesy of J Wines.

Links

Chalk Hill @ Appellation America

Chalk Hill @ Wikipedia

Chalk Hill @ Calwineries

John Andrews is a software product manager during the week and is a professional Tasting Room staffer at Loxton Cellars in Glen Ellen, CA on the weekends.

YDN Theater - Snooth’s Spotlight on Yahoo’s Developer Network

posted by AdamL in Snooth, Partnerships

I was interviewed last week in our San Francisco office about the new What’s Cookin’ app on My Yahoo! The video is found on Yahoo’s Developer Network site, so I tried to sound like I knew what I was talking about with the technical stuff. If you haven’t seen the What’s Cookin’ app yet you can find it here.

Wine Proxies

posted by AdamL in Snooth, Wine Industry, Wine

There’s an ocean of imported wine out there, so how do you know if something is going to be good or not? While a select few people are familiar with individual producers within a wide range of regions, a slightly larger group just has a firm grasp on the main wine producing regions and sub-regions of the world, yet an even larger group knows they like wine from a specific country or knows they want to try it out. When you don’t consider yourself in that first group, you can learn the names of a few respected importers that you can use a proxy for actually knowing the producer of the wine you are about to buy.

Importers are always popping up and going out of business, but there are a number of reputable firms you can look out for. When I walk into a wine store and am looking for a new imported wine to try, the first thing I do is rotate bottles to look at the back label where the importer information is often stored. There isn’t always a logo on the label as there is in this Kermit Lynch example, but the text should be there. In the US, all imported wine must have some designation of what company imported that particular bottle. Different importers may import the same wine into different states or countries and multiple importers may have the right to import a single wine into the same place, so things can get a little confusing.

I’m mostly familiar with the portfolios of California importers, so this list skews towards the left coast of the US but here are a few of my favorites that I look out for. Some of these importers are distributed nationally.

-Chambers and Chambers – a little bit of everything. In Italy, they even use a consultant named Carla Bocchio who travels around helping them find the best producers. I had the chance to interview Carla a while back when she was in town, so will eventually post this interview on the blog.

-Kermit Lynch – French wines. The famous.

-Winemonger – Austrian wines. I’m still learning about Austrian wines, but there portfolio hasn’t disappointed yet.

-Charles Neal Selections – France

-Cape Classics – South Africa. Between these two SA importers, I think they have most of my favorite wine farms covered.

-Vineyard Brands – South Africa

-Domaine Select – a bit of everything

There are a couple of good articles you can read more on this idea of learning the name of an importer in order to discover new wines: Slate and HalogenLife

Terroir, an Addendum.

posted by Dan in Wine Industry, Wine, Guest Bloggers

Last week, Greg posted a spot-on treatise on the Terroir debate.

Between Greg and the readers who commented, there was enough meat in their words to satisfy those seeking the Executive Summary and those hoping to take a peek behind the curtain.

Greg’s comments reminded me of the wineanorak, Jamie Goode’s “Terroir” chapter in his book “The Science of Wine.”  Goode dedicates the entire second chapter (which follows ‘The biology of the grape vine) to the Terroir debate.  If a respected wine journalist is going to commit an entire chapter that early, front and center, in a book about Wine Science, then we must realize that this ethereal thing we call Terroir is and will always be up for debate.

Terroir is religion for some and bunk to others.  The notions of Terroir are deep rooted, no pun intended, shunned by those who don’t have it and celebrated by those who do.  But the comments regarding winemaking styles having an impact on the eventual representations of said dogma are true.  It is a constant debate in these parts of California as to whether Terroir exists.   Nature’s forces will never allow two wines from two different parts of the globe, even if they are from the same grape vine lineage, to taste the same.  However, the goal is that the man made impact in the vineyard and in the cellar respects his or her natural surroundings.  That being the hopeful representation of the winemaker’s motives, the conversation ensues amongst us whether or not one, five or twenty-five wines that are produced from the same vineyard will reflect the essence of that vineyard.  We hope so, but….

When a winemaker harvests grapes with a 30% sugar to water ratio and places those grapes in a fermentation tank with the intention to bleed off (what the French call ‘saigner’) the juice that was created naturally from the sorting, de-stemming and transferring processes before the ‘cold soak’ (the pre-fermentation maceration that allows the grape juice to extract non-alcoholic, color concentration along with textual and aromatic components), how much of the vineyard’s character is going to remain in the wine?  Wait, we’re not done. What usually follows this style of winemaking is the addition of pre-fabricated yeasts, water, tartaric acid and nutrients to promote a healthy fermentation.  But is that really healthy – to attempt to put back everything that was taken out of the grape?  This process is where the hand of the winemaker comes into play and knowing this, you ask, where’s the Terroir?  Where is the ‘sense of place’ as Greg D. and Greg T. point out in their comments?

This begs another question, using Greg’s example of North Coast Pinot Noir and its stylistic components - if a winemaker is stylistically apt to pursue, as Greg calls, a ‘low acid, fruit bomb’ Pinot Noir does placing a vineyard designation on the label mean anything anymore?  If one is fortunate to source fruit from some of the storied vineyards in Sonoma County are they just using the vineyard as a marketing tool?  Probably so.  And if you, the consumers, are fortunate enough to taste a number of the same wines made from the vineyard designated, it will be up to you to decide which wines you appreciate, but will you ever really know, because of different winemaking styles, the sense of place that the vineyard is offering?  Probably not.  And that is a sad state of affairs if you believe that a wine could be marketed in such a way to promote itself through association.  So now the debate comes full circle to some comments I made on this blog back in April regarding the disclosure of winemaking techniques.

As Sir Walter Scott said: “What a tangled web we weave, when first we [practice] to deceive.”

Similar to Greg, I started out one way and finished another.  But in truth, that is the beauty of wine.  We will all share our own opinions sometimes vehemently, but the truth is in the palate of the beholder.  Drink well and enjoy.

-

Here’s a quick addition to this post that is quite interesting and falls in line with this debate.  In yesterday’s Wine Business e-mail newsletter they reported on Wine Intelligence’s new research that queried wine drinking consumers about their familiarity with worldwide wine producing regions.  Some of the results are startling.  With only 31% and 29% of American drinkers aware of French wine regions Cotes du Rhone and the Loire, how is it possible that the balance would ever know the Syrah and Sauvignon Blanc “terroirs” of said regions, even if they put it in their mouth?!?  My favorite tidbit from the report asked consumers to write the first thing that came to mind when they saw the name of a wine region.  “When Marlborough was shown, the most popular response was “cigarettes”; for Chianti, the film Silence of the Lambs was one of the most frequently repeated [responses].”  Egad.

Dan Petroski is Assistant Winemaker at Larkmead Vineyards in Napa Valley. Dan has an MBA from New York University and worked as an Ad Exec in New York for several years, before switching it up and trading his suit for a move out west

posted by Adam in Snooth, Wine, Music

Wine
Wine: 2008 Manu Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc

Wine Year: 2008
Wine Label: Manu
Wine Style: Sauvignon Blanc
Wine Region: Marlborough, NZ

I picked up a bottle of the Manu Sauvignon Blanc a few weekends ago from a local wine shop called Vintage Berkeley  - it was new and had descriptor “serviced chilled and have with Oysters”. My wife asked I pick up a decent bottle of white to compliment the meal we were having that night (Halibut) and this sounded like it could fit the part. Both of us LOVED this wine, which I picked up for $14 (I see it listed on Snooth for as low as $9.95). I picked up another bottle of white for approximately the same price that day and looking back, I wish I had purchased two of the Manu. This wine is refreshing, bright and zesty with an herbaceous, fruit forward appeal. It was great with dinner, and even with the Pineapple sorbet desert which we enjoyed following our meal.  The Manu brand was founded by New Zealand winemaker Steve Bird with help from “purveyor” David Duckhorn. “Manu” is the Maori (indigenous people of New Zealand) word for both Bird and Kite. This wine is an exemplary wine which does demonstrate the greatness of what New Zealand’s Marlborough region has to offer and which was a pleasant compliment to an early spring weekend evening.

Music
Album: The Nest And The Skull

Artist: Ultre
Music Year: 2009
Music Label: Audiobulb Records
Music Style: Electronic
Music Region: United Kingdom

Ultre is a UK based artist of Irish decent, who makes great electronic music which is sourced from analog sounds and then combined to “compose” the tracks which are found on this album. Crafted from guitar, piano, electronics and homemade beats, Ultre’s second album is an elegant, bold & extravagant example of modern composition. There is an absence of Digital Signal Processing & effects within the music which provides an incredibly organic appeal. As with the Manu Sauvignon Blanc, this song (and the entire Ultre album)” is a refreshing, bright and zesty foray into modern production. I discovered Ultre about 3 months ago and have been listening to this album non-stop since that time. I have been waiting to find the perfect wine to match with this album, and when I had the Manu SB I knew I had found my match.

This album and this wine are a perfect way to welcome the warmer weather into the San Francisco Bay Area or anywhere else for that matter.

Artist Website

Adam Rabinovitz is Senior Director of Retail Marketing at IODA, the global leader in digital distribution, marketing, and technology solutions for the independent music industry. IODA distributes music from over 4000 labels, representing over 50 different countries and over 170 different genre styles.

Beaujolais it ain’t all Nouveau

posted by Gregory in Snooth, Wine

So naturally what I mean by that title is,that much, if not most, of the wine from Beaujolais is wonderful stuff marred by the phenomenon that is Beaujolais Nouveau. The marketing concept of producing wines in a blaze of forced glory, and using techniques that make the wine a shadow of it’s self, has propelled this particular wine to the tops of recognition, if the bottom of appreciation. Beaujolais is now a wine to drink from Thanksgiving until perhaps Christmas, as a novelty, the first wine of the year, and without thought, since this particular interpretation of the wine offers very little stimulative value in that realm.

So what then am I talking about? I am talking about the Beaujolais that seems at times to have more in similar with the great Burgundies that grow just to the north than other wines based on the Gamay grape. Wines that have a wonderful purity of floral scents, violets and roses, that compliment their slightly herbal stemmy notes and crisp, direct fruits. Wines that speak with a fine transparency, allowing the grape, terroir and winemaker each to have their say yet have no voice obscuring another. OK, that last line could be used to describe any great wine.

Hey did you see that point I made right there?  Yes I called Beaujolais a GREAT WINE, it ain’t all Nouveau you see. So we spent 2 weeks here at Snooth tasting through a dozen wines in an effort to share with our members the wines that together make Beaujolais a region worth exploring. Our tastings included simple Beaujolais, Beaujolais Villages and the crus so that, together, we could learn just what the labels on the bottles mean.

Our second weeks tasting was more casual in nature as a group of us tasted the wines and exchanged thoughts in a freewheeling round table. In such a setting it was more difficult to get a real handle on each persons thoughts but there was a consensus that emerged. Now this is a bit of a different take, on basically the same wines, since we had the wines with some light food, wonderful cheeses, olive scented crackers and mixed nuts.

In this setting the best wines continued to shine, The consensus top wines were no surprise. Roughly in order they were:

2007 Vissoux Pierre Chermette Brouilly

2007 Thenevet Grain & Granite Regnie

2007 Clos de la Roilette Fleurie

2007 Domaine de Billards Barbet St. Amour   

2007 Georges Trichard Chenas    

What was a bit of a surprise was that all the other wines found fans from the simple Pizay to the ethereal and gently fruited Lapierre, each wine made someone happy, though the wood on the  Jadot was still off-putting. About that Jadot, in fact the second go-round had a 2006 in place of the 2007. The wine was all together more appealing even if the wood remained obvious. Perhaps the vintage’s character, perhaps a sign of the benefit one can derive from ageing Beaujolais a bit.

In the coming days I will dip into my cellar and take a look how a few bottles of Beaujolais are ageing, 2 from 2003,  and one each from 2002 and 1996. Beaujolais is full of surprises yet one thing that will not surprise me is if these wines are wonderful and bear and even more striking resemblance with Burgundy! On that old canard, while Beaujolais may, or may not, really resemble Burgundy one thing is for sure. For $20 one can certainly drink a whole lot better in Beaujolais!

And without further ado allow me to relate what it was we discovered. I’ve included my notes below and an impression from each of the tasters that participated in our first weeks blind tasting.

Beaujolais Blind Tasting

Flight 1
2007 Chateau du Pizay Beaujolais

A bit stemmy-spicy on the nose with hints of earth, roses and a marshmallow edge. Soft pure raspberry fruit and nice zesty acidity make this a nice basic Beaujolais and a light red perfect for serving with a chill this summer. 85pts

Philip – strawberry, good structure
Lance - strawberry, mild spice
Baratunde – butter and smooth
Dave – flat, lost me at the end
Sophie – quite fruit forward, almost sweet,
Evan - indistinct, herbaceous on the palate

2007 Chateau du Chatelard Beaujolais Villages

Coming from gentle hills with a bit of rocky terrain this smoky, tobacco scented Beaujolais Villages is a step up from simple Beaujolais. This is a bit mineral toned on the palate with a bit of forced, extracted tannin that adds a touch of bitterness to the otherwise dried herbal, strawberry flavors. I bit too inky and blocky for my palate. 83pts

Philip – gamier, tobacco
Lance - not very complex, didn’t hold my interest
Baratunde – sharp and mildy spicy
Dave – chalky, strawberry,
Sophie – mineral, younger vines
Evan - fuller and actually sweet

2007 Vissoux Pierre Chermette Brouilly

Brouilly is the largest Cru in Beaujolais. Chermette produces natural wines and this is a beauty! A bouquet full of violets, crystallized black raspberry, rich forest soil, and aromatic candle wax leads to a gorgeous palate full of sweet fruit. This is wonderfully precise with great balance and a tense crisp, tannic note that frames the wonderfully transparent fruit. On the long finish a hint of medicinal herbs adds depth to the fruit and finale return of violets. Beaujolais doesn’t get much better than this. 92pts

Philip – lot of fruit, floral violet, topnotes
Lance - mild sweet fruit, liked the finish
Baratunde – sharper, dryer,
Dave –cherry candy, violets
Sophie – softer fuller approachable style
Evan - rich nose, , earthiness that I liked

Flight 2
2007 Domaine des Terres Dorees Jean-Paul Brun Cotes de Brouilly    

The Cotes de Brouilly is located within Brouilly, on old volcanic slopes and generally produces deep, dark fruit. This is decidedly herbal and stemmy on the nose with medicinal floral tones and hints of green peppercorn and juniper. Rich and well balanced in the mouth with noticeable fruit tannin balanced by a nice acid spine. Some woodsy notes recall the nose and are joined by black berry and black currant fruit. This finishes with a touch of Ricola and is bit shorter than I would like but is complex and complete. 88pts

Philip – simple fruity, a little iron on the finish
Lance - a bit spicy on the nose, nice finish
Baratunde – medicinal, hot
Dave – strawberry, bitter cola
Sophie – strange milk chocolate lactic Cadbury nutbar, firm and enjoyable tannins
Evan - tea tannins, earth, raspberry

2007 Thenevet Grain & Granite Regnie

Regnie is the youngest Cru of Beaujolais, dating from 1988 but is part of the historic home of Beaujolais. This has superb aromatics with balsamic, candle wax tones almost verging on eucalyptus with a roast meaty edge and layers of intense and complex violet pastille and wild berry fruits. This smells like old vines. This has big weight but is not weighty do to the incredible balance and precision that makes for lovely depth of fruit with a raspberry, slight roasted strawberry tone yet crystal clear transparency. I love the quality of the tannins here, they are soft and like flannel, mouth filling. A nice mineral wash cleanses the palate and leads to a long finish that ends with a wild strawberry flourish. This is simply great Beaujolais! 94pts

Philip – mushroom, black cherry, blood
Lance - , tea flavor, good
Baratunde – woody, toopia
Dave – violets, white pepper ripe cherry
Sophie – rich fruit on the palate, savory, thyme
Evan - more herbaceous, raspberry in the back of the mouth

2007 Marcel Lapierre Morgon
Morgon produces rich, earthy wine that can easily be mistaken for Burgundy. Lapierre is a great biodynamic producer. This offers up notes of beet roots, dusty earth, anise and aggressive herb and medicinal notes. With a very light, natural and elegant in the mouth this is refreshing but quite herbal and almost vegetal on the palate with a decided green streak and some granitic minerality but not much fruit. 84pts

Philip – vegetal, mineral, earthy dry finish
Lance - smoky nose, mild but complex
Baratunde – fruity
Dave – raw meats, white pepper, raspberry
Sophie – soft light fruit on the palate, lots of Gamay character
Evan - candy cherry nose, very flat, almost watery

Flight 3
2006 Christophe Pacalet Chiroubles

Chiroubles comes from vines at higher elevation that produce delicate wines and Pacalet’s minimalist style of winemaking preserves this ethereal quality. A touch funky on the nose with a gamy edge to the wooly, wet cotton, rainwater tones that feature an intriguing touch of dried thyme. This is a bit more structured in the mouth with lots of sweet yet indistinct fruit that is slightly pruny. It is very aromatic in the mouth but a bit short on the finish. 86pts

Philip – – mushroomy nose, tobacco, plums
Lance - lemony nose, nice balance and fruit,
Baratunde – soft and gentle feel on the nose, gummi bears
Dave – really perfumed with sweet resinous flowers, gamy and attractive
Sophie – high toned floral nose, savory finish is cool and sleek
Evan - nose hit me, leather, cherry, hint of tar in the background

2007 Clos de la Roilette Fleurie

Fleurie is always one of my favorite Crus, full of plush, deep fruit that takes a couple of years in the cellar to peak. Once one gets past the noticeable hit of sulfur this is dark and slightly resinous on the nose with bark and fruit tones in a masculine, cologne-scented register that includes a touch of campfire and very lovely subtle vegetal tones and medicinal herbs. In the mouth this feels a touch closed at first but with mouthwatering acid and hints of bright red fruits and red currants with a nice iron edge. The youthful tannins are a touch stiff and pop on the finish with a touch of almond nuttiness that offers contrast to the nice dark fruit return with it’s touch of fig and darker cherry fruit. A bigger style of wine but complete if a touch blocky at the moment. 89pts

Philip – smooth and supply, cherry notes
Lance - dusty nose, good forward fruit
Baratunde – did not like, chemical maybe sulfur
Dave – sour ripe cherries, black currant, medicinal
Sophie – odd nose pencil lead/shaving, fairly Gamay,
Evan - black tea spice, berries, soft tannins

2007 Jadot Chateau des Jacques Moulin a Vent 

Moulin a Vent produces low yielding vines and powerful wines from rocky soil in the north of Beaujolais. This is sweet smelling with predominantly woodsy tones of white mushroom and gardenia. There’s lots of fruit on the palate, which is a bit sweet though an herbal edge offers a bit of relief from the onslaught of prominent black gapey fruit. This ends with a bit of an extracted matte feel and some wood tannin that mars the finish and adds a bit of bitterness. 84pts

Philip – a lot of butter and oak on the nose
Lance - grassy, rosemary, chalky finish
Baratunde – acid, maybe lactic
Dave – black currants long finish
Sophie – not as expressive, nice but ambivalent
Evan - burnt cherry, hint of toasted wood

Flight 4

2007 Duboeuf Chateau des Capitans Julienas

Julienas produces elegant and spicy wines from a region that gets its name from Julius Caesar! This is dusty and mineral with a big bay leaf tone and a touch of seared beef but it lacks some liveliness. On entry this is fiercely acidic for this ripeness yet very simple with big black fruits. This finishes with some chemical notes and I can’t say that there’s much here for me to like. 80pts

Philip – Bovril, tight at first, leather but now it’s plain cherries
Lance -– tobacco nose, black currant cinnamon,
Baratunde – very strong overpowering cherry
Dave – very ripe cherry, vanilla, black olive
Sophie – sweet black cherry and licorice excessively candied viscous
Evan - not much, hints of candy, soft tannin

2007 Georges Trichard Chenas

Chenas is the smallest of the crus, many of the vineyards that formed the appellation are now part of the Moulin au Vent appellation. With waxy red fruits, dried apricot, blond tobacco, spicy, wild red berry fruits, a touch of tea and a hint of dried cranberry on the nose this is compelling to smell. The mouth feel is suave and smooth with lovely tannins nicely balanced with bright acids. There are strong cranberry tones on the palate with a touch of tea that is nice and measured and leads to a finish that has good length and offers a hint of cherry pit bitterness that adds cut, This is not super complex but a style I really like to drink. 91pts

Philip – nice nose pine needles and foresty, riverbed,
Lance – spicy, a bit woody, tannic on the finish
Baratunde – very spicy a lot of pepper
Dave – lush fruit, toasted nuttiness, and diluted texture
Sophie – lighter nose a touch vegetal, more tannin not completely well integrated
Evan - – gaminess, toast, sweet mixed berry

2007 Domaine de Billards Barbet St. Amour

St. Amour combines great fruit, spice, structure from the northern border of the region. A romantic choice!

This starts out reticent on the nose with an underlying natural sweetness of dried raspberry fruit and just a hint of earth and spice with a touch of grassiness. Fairly fleshy and round in the mouth with lovely depth. This is fairly powerful yet transparent and really bright with wonderfully precise fruits that lean to the black cherry, black currant end of the spectrum. The finish is really long and fruit driven but refreshing with a lovely final of almost gamy wild fruits. This read more…might be a touch dilute but the appeal is undeniable. 91pts

Philip – very plummy, fruity throughout
Lance - floral nose, seemed young, didn’t open up much
Baratunde – deep dark plum
Dave – gamy raspberry, prune, and cherry
Sophie – feels muted and dilute, hard to taste, at this
Evan - hint of cherry with toast, earth tobacco

Gregory Dal Piaz

Community Manager

Snooth