Trick Or Treat In L.A.

The horror of Halloween disappeared 12 stories up at a friend's apartment in a tower at Park La Brea. Safely ensconced far away from the echoing cries of the neighborhood ghosts, goblins, pirates and princesses, we drank some good wine. We looked out through the descending darkness at the Hollywood hills, sniffing and swirling as we enjoyed no trick, just treat.

As is her wont, Elaine directed me to the chiller to "pull out anything you see that you like." Elaine really decorates for Halloween. I had to make my way past the mad butler, the angry granny, the spiders and the shrunken heads to get there, but I arrived at the small box and just reached in a pulled out a winner.

Linne Calodo was started in 1998 by Matt Trevisan in Paso Robles' Willow Creek District. Sustainably farmed vineyards produce the grapes he uses to make his blends.  Trevisan, I’m told, is quite selective about who gets his wine. I heard an anecdote that he sometimes refuses to supply a restaurant with his wines if they have snubbed him in the past. It sounds like the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld… "No wine for YOU!" But whether it’s true or not, I admire his allegiance to his wines.

Linne Calodo Sticks and Stones 2014 is a Paso blend of Rhône grape varieties: 71% Grenache, 12% Syrah, 9% Cinsault and 8% Mourvèdre. Alcohol sits at a lofty 15.8%  

This wine has a really pretty nose that sports a floral cherry sensibility. On the palate, expansive dark fruit are joined by savory touches of leather and cigar. Great tannic structure shows well in this big and brawny wine.

We also opened a bottle from the Santa Ynez Valley of beautiful Santa Barbara County. The Consilience Grenache 2012 is a Sanger family wine. The alcohol number is a typical 14.5% abv.

There is a beautiful cherry nose here with lavender notes. A very floral palate also displays cherry with a leathery thing going on as well as coffee flourishes.

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A Red Wine For Indian Food

Which wine to pair with Indian food is always a hot topic. There's a lot of debate on the subject, with many people, myself included, usually opting for beer. And why not? Beer is just about perfect with spicy cuisine, especially India's pale lagers like Kingfisher or Taj Mahal.

Most Indian restaurants seem to recognize the challenge of pairing wine with their food and give up. Some present a thoughtful wine list full of great choices to complement the meal. In Los Angeles, Cardamom does it that way. Sommelier Stewart Prato's choices are decidedly Francophile, and they all seem to hit the intended target in the bullseye.

On my last trip there I had a Côtes du Rhône with my lamb and spinach dish. I usually go with a white  wine at an Indian restaurant because I feel they work better with spicy food. Since this dish didn't advertise a lot of heat, I tried the red. I'm glad I did.

The 2011 Domaine de la Janasse Reserve is a Grenache-heavy blend that also includes Syrah, Carignan, Mourvedre and Cinsault. Winemaker Christophe Sabon apparently put this cuvée together especially for an importer and is available only in the U.S. It is said to better than the one he sells in France, and it costs under $20 retail.

The Janasse Reserve shows a medium-deep ruby color, and delivers aromas of bright cherry, with a touch of tar and meat. Flavors of blackberry liqueur meet earth and minerals. Tannins are low and the oak is barely noticeable, musts for an Indian food pairing.


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Santa Barbara's L.A. Road Trip: Rhône Varieties

Living in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara is "our" wine region. A mere two hours north of L.A., Santa Barbara wine country offers nearly 200 wineries producing truly world class wines. We take a lot of road trips up there to visit Santa Barbara Vintners, so it was nice of them to return the favor and come down here.

Santa Barbara County is home to the only transverse mountain range in North America, where the wind from the Pacific Ocean is channeled right across the Santa Barbara County Appellation.  The sub-appellations - Santa Ynez Valley, Santa Maria Valley, Sta. Rita Hills, Ballard Canyon, Happy Canyon of Santa Barbara and Los Olivos District are distinct and varied. The region is also home to an unrivaled growing season with the aforementioned coastal influences giving great grapes a place to thrive.  Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Syrah, Grenache, Roussanne, Marsanne, Viognier, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and more are found in Santa Barbara County.

Santa Barbara Vintners brought their best to Los Angeles for four days in May. Instead of overwhelming us with close to 50 different varieties at one tasting, each day was broken down into a specific wine theme for more focus. Monday was given to Chardonnay, Tuesday Pinot Noir, Wednesday featured Rhone varieties and Thursday gave us the Bordeaux grapes.


Wednesday, May 18 - RHONE VARIETALS

Doug Margerum stole the show this time. His 2015 Margerum Riviera Rosé, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara county, are a Grenache blend, bone dry and beautiful with big cherry notes. The 2014 Margerum M5 Santa Barbara County shows ripe red fruit with an herbal quality running underneath. Margerum served it chilled and showed how great this wine would be for summer BBQs.

At the Core table, Becky Corey poured for me. She poured when I visited the tasting room, too. I don’t know if husband Dave is avoiding me, or what. Their wines are riddled with lovely floral, lavender and clove notes. The 2008 Core Mister Moreved is 94% Mourvèdre and 6% Grenache from Santa Barbara County.  It’s smooth, dark and musky.

The Fess Parker table is always a great stop. The 2013 Fess Parker Viognier, Santa Barbara County shows some fantastic earthy tones. The 2012 Fess Parker Rodney’s Vineyard Syrah, Santa Barbara County is smokey, earthy.

Ross Rankin's Imagine Wines have a non-vintage Melange that is awesome, full of spice and red fruit. The 2007 Imagine Winged Paradise Mountain Syrah, Santa Barbara County got a one-word explanation in my notes: "Silky!"

Jaffurs Wine Cellars' Craig Jaffurs poured his 2015 Viognier Bien Nacido Vineyard Santa Maria Valley, displaying grapefruit and flowers. The 2013 Jaffurs Syrah Santa Barbara County is elegant.

The Central Coast Group Project is headed up by Scott Sampler and he has produced a very pretty 2012 Santa Barbara County GSM and a 2012 Names Syrah from White Hawk Vineyard. He produces his wine at a collective in Buellton, the Buellton Bodegas.

Andrew Murray again has scored with his Esperance GSM. It is extremely elegant.

The 2013 Foxen Syrah shows a funky nose, and a palate that is excellent and very smooth.


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Wines Of Spain: Gil Family Portfolio Vertical Tasting

Gil Family Estates is celebrating their 100th birthday this year. The bodega was founded in 1916 by Juan Gil Jiménez in Spain’s Jumilla region, in the southeast, close enough to the sea to get a Mediterranean influence. Four generations have made wine there, and they keep getting better at it.

They actually have vineyards in eight of Spain’s appellations, so they can show off as much terroir as you like, maybe more.

I was lucky enough to be invited to a special winemaker's portfolio tasting in Los Angeles in a private room at The Bazaar by José Andrés. Members of the family and winemaking team were on hand and presented two of their lines, Clio and El Nido, in a vertical tasting. I think I was supposed to be at "the press table," but I got there late and was directed to the meeting of sommeliers. It was lucky day for me. I also got a great parking spot.

Clio is 70% Monastrell - Mourvédre, if you prefer - and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon. El Nido is the reverse, with Cab taking top honors. Both wines get about two years aging, in French oak for the Cab and American for the Monastrell. El Nido is aged in smaller barrels than Clio, and they recommend aging in your cellar for 15 to 20 years.

The wines come from the partnership between the Gil family and Australian winemaker Chris Ringland. Grapes are grown at the highest spot in the area, at an elevation of about 2400 feet. Further north in Spain, that might not be possible, but the sea’s influence in Jumilla tempers the cold at that height. They dry-farm at Juan Gil, not that they have much choice. Southern California, even in a drought, is a tropical rain forest compared to the precipitation the weather reports allow for in Jumilla.

The roots of the old vines have to dig through three feet of solid limestone to get a drink. That’s terroir. Loren Gil said that just 20 years ago "it was not possible to think of wines of this quality from Jumilla." Things have really changed.

Gil mentioned that the biggest market for their wines is the U.S. Second is Canada, third is Switzerland. Spain, he was proud to say, has just moved up to become their fourth biggest market.

I’ll go through the wines they way they poured them, younger to older.

Clio 2011 - Big red and black fruit is layered with a floral aspect that is quite pronounced. The tannins are a little toothy yet, but not to distraction. And that will change.

Clio 2009 - Beautiful nose, fruity and floral., with blackberry, lavender and a savory edge. Very concentrated aroma and flavor. Great structure with enough tannin, but not too much.

Clio 2007 - A more earthy nose. More savory, too. Extremely smooth. Black fruit is more pronounced. They say the vintage was not a favorite, with rain at the close of harvest. It did not hurt the wine at all, though.

Clio 2005 - Very savory nose, with bramble, black fruit and a vanilla note coming out. Savory palate, even smoother. Bacon fat appears, the most savory of the lot.

Clio 2003 - Savory aromas of meat are really coming on, but there is still much dark fruit showing. Lots more vanilla here. Structure holding just fine. Palate is tasting very fruity but the dark, savory notes are becoming more vocal.


El Nido 2011 - Very dark color. Nose showing oak spice. Great acidity, extremely smooth with fantastic structure.

El Nido 2009 - Very dark again. Nose has black and blue berries and a floral aspect, rather perfumed. Very savory edge to the dark fruit flavors and quite smooth again, with great acidity.

El Nido 2007 - Beautiful smokey nose with very dark color and fruit. Very savory palate with nice tannins and juicy fruit.

El Nido 2005 - Smoke is giving way to bacon fat on the nose. The palate is blue and black fruit. Structure is very defined. Aromas and flavors show age, structure does not.

El Nido 2003 - Color is dark. Nose shows a tad of smoke, very savory. Palate strong with dark fruit, oak is nice, less savory than earlier vintages. Great structure, still with very firm tannins.


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Le Cigare Volant Réserve 2011

The Réserve version of Randall Grahm’s flagship wine is aged en bonbonnes, which means it is aged not in oak but in glass carboys, or, less elegantly, jugs. It is also aged sur lie, or in contact with the used-up yeast cells that gave their lives making alcohol. We salute them. The former insures that you are tasting all fruit, the latter that it’s got a creamier mouthfeel than the normale Cigare.

As Grahm explains, "The Réserve has a slightly different texture than the 'normale,' tannins not quite as firm, rather softer, plusher and more velvety, with enhanced mouth feel and a slightly more savory aspect."

The varieties are 37% Mourvèdre, 34% Grenache, 20% Syrah and 9% Cinsault picked from eight Central Coast vineyards, Ventana, Del Barba, Rancho Solo, Evangelho, Bien Nacido, Alamo Creek, Bechtold and Gonsalves. At 14.5% abv, the alcohol is noticeable, but not an intrusion. 966 cases were made, and it retails normally at $79 per bottle. There was a pretty big sale going on, last I checked.

Le Cigare Volant Réserve is as fresh as a just-picked daisy. The nose full of ripe red fruit shows a touch of spice, while the palate seems even more youthful and exuberant. That’s something I might expect in a wine produced just last fall, but this one was made five years ago. Cherries, raspberry and blueberry cover the fruity side, while leather, spice and earth handle the savory lifting. It is an amazing wine, one of my favorites for the four vintages it has been produced.


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Tercero Wines Of Santa Barbara County

It had been a while since I stopped in on Larry Schaffer at his Los Olivos tasting room for Tercero Wines, so it was a great and pleasant surprise to see him in Los Angeles recently for a tasting event.

Schaffer uses grapes from some top-notch vineyard sites in Santa Barbara County to make his mostly-Rhônish wines. His reds seem to be what people really want to experience, but his whites are the show-stoppers, in my opinion. I love a good white wine, and the Tercero whites are much better than that.

Tercero 2013 Grenache Blanc, Santa Ynez Valley - This is possibly my favorite. It has a beautiful, savory nose and palate, with a slight funk and great acidity.  $25

Tercero 2014 Albarino, Santa Ynez Valley -  Funky and floral, the salinity comes through on the sip.  $25

Tercero 2014 Outlier Gewurztraminer - Floral to spare, but minerals make it more complex and less sweet than this grape usually turns out.  $25

2015 Mourvedre Rosé - Grapes from Vogelzang Vineyard, in the Happy Canyon AVA are footstomped and fermented, with some oak involved. The light cherry and strawberry flavors show wonderfully right now, and this rosé gets even better with age.  $25
 
Tercero 2011 Mourvedre Santa Barbara County - Schaffer likes the mix of warm and cool areas in a cool vintage, Larner and Camp Four vineyards being the draw here.  There is a great use of oak (nearly three years.)  He says it’s his best-selling red and he didn’t get to make an awful lot of the 2012 to be released soon.  $35

Tercero 2011 Grenache, Larner Vineyard, Ballard Canyon - This wine is muscular and savory. Shaffer calls it, "my favorite grenache," and you just may as well.  $35

Tercero 2015 Abberation - 40% Cinsault, 40% Grenache and 20% Mourvedre, all from the Camp 4 Vineyard in the newly created Los Olivos District. It’s a steel-aged red, and it takes a chill very well and still shows the dark earthiness of the soil.  $35


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Lodi Wine: Borra Blend

Borra Vineyards dates back 100 years to Steve Borra's grandfather, but the last 50 years have been under Steve’s watchful eye. Swiss-born winemaker Markus Niggli has handled the cellar since 2010.

The 2012 Borra Red Wine 47.5" is a masterful mix of 80% Petite Syrah, 10% Syrah and 10% Mourvèdre, three great varieties for Lodi. They only made 115 cases, the wine hits a very reasonable 13.7% abv and it sells for $35.

2012 was a warmer vintage, unlike 2011. The grapes are not pressed, the juice is free-run overnight. Yjhe wine spent 22 months in French oak, 75% of which was new. That said, the oak treatment is beautiful, not overwhelming.

The wine shows a dark color with a nice purple rim. The nose is loaded with big, black and blue fruit and a touch of graphite that makes me think there must be some Cab in it. Cinnamon and licorice join a sweet, vanilla-laced oak spice which plays a major role but is not overdone. The palate is extremely smooth, and I want to stress that adjective. I don't know that I have ever tasted these grapes appearing so elegantly in the mouth. Tart blackberry flavors and a good acidity go right into the finish. It's dry and has a great oak feel. An herbal slant is marked by a very slight green pepper note, while a bit of a smoky essence comes on after it has sit for a while.


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Texas Tempranillo: Brennan Vineyards

Many in the great state of Texas would consider Tempranillo their signature red grape. Texan winegrowers have done a great job over the past decade or so of finding the right grapes for their various terroirs. Mediterranean and Iberian grape varieties are working well, and Tempranillo seems to be a popular favorite in Lone Star vineyards.

A virtual tasting from Texas Fine Wine, a group of four distinctive wineries committed to making quality wines from Texas appellation vineyards, included Tempranillos from Duchman Family Winery, Brennan Vineyards, Bending Branch Winery and Pedernales Cellars.

The Brennan vineyards in Comanche, Texas were purchased in 1997, while the winery opened for business in 2005. The McCrary House Tasting Room & Gift Shop, is one of the oldest remaining homesteads in Texas - built in 1879 - and is designated a landmark by the Texas Historical Commission. Located right at the meeting point of the Hill Country and Texas High Plains AVAs, it is probably the best thing about Highway 16.

The Brennan Tempranillo Reserve 2013 is made from 78% Tempranillo grapes and 22% Mourvedre. Winemaker Todd Webster made it dark and delightful. The nose shows black fruit, but it has to fight its way past the spiciness of the grape and the oak. Vanilla, tobacco and sage come through ahead of the fruit. The flavors also lean to the savory side, with blackberry cutting through the cedar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Great tannic structure calls for a big rib eye steak.

The Brennan Tempranillo 2013 tries to sneak in without being noticed. The muted nose is a little hard to get, but worth it once you do. Black fruit and coffee lead the blunted aromas. The palate offers more strength - tons more - and blows plenty of fruit-forward blackberry and plum your way. A nice dollop of spice augments the full fruital attack, but not as much as the Reserve shows. There are some manly tannins here, so grill a big steak or two for this wine.


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Summer Wine: Bonny Doon Vin Gris De Cigare

Summer is generally considered rosé time, although I have noted - many times before - that it will serve us well any time of year. I always say the best day of the year for a nice, dry, pink wine is the day after Thanksgiving. It's a perfect pairing with those leftover turkey sandwiches after hitting the Black Friday sales or watching a few of the dozen or so college football games with a salami and a cheese ball.

The Bonny Doon Vin Gris de Cigare is a perennial favorite, always delightful and elegant, always a Randall Grahm-sized slice of Rhônicity that's pretty in pink.

The '14 Vin Gris de Cigare is made from eight different Rhône grape varieties of the Central Coast - 35% Grenache, 18% Mourvèdre, 16% Grenache Blanc, 12.5% Roussanne, 8% Carignane, 8% Cinsaut, 1.5% Marsanne - whew - and 1% Counoise. This rosé has a 13% abv number and sells for $18. The iconic label art by Chuck House recalls the red and white relatives of this pink Cigare.

This wine is a very pale pink, like the inside of a sea shell. There is a fair amount of salinity to go along with that shoreline appearance, too. A nose of strawberries and cherries has just a slight green quality to it, while the acidity-fresh palate shows red fruit in a salty, earthy setting. A perfect match for anything from the sea - it's elegant, it's complex, it's refreshing and I'm doon with it.

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A Pair Of Cigares

It is sometimes remarkable to taste the same wine from different vintages back to back. In the case of Bonny Doon Vineyards’ Le Cigare Volant red Rhône blend, the differences are striking. Not only does the growing season show itself, but the actual blend varies from year to year, making for a wine that is not only a delight, but also a surprise.

Bonny Doon Le Cigare Volant 2010 Unfiltered

This flagship wine from the land of Bonny Doon is a Rhônish blend: 28% Syrah, 22% Grenache, 17% Cinsault, 17% Mourvèdre and 16% Carignane. The grapes were picked from a wide assortment of great Central Coast sites: Bien Nacido Vineyard (27%), Evangelho Vineyard (23%), Alta Loma Vineyard (17%), Bechtold Vineyard (16%), Gonsalves Vineyard (9%), Ca’ del Solo Vineyard (5%), Alamo Creek Vineyard (2%) and Enea Vineyard (1%).

There is nothing wrong with enjoying Le Cigare Volant right now - it’s hard to resist - but it is billed as a wine that will age gracefully for ten to fifteen years from release, which was in February, 2014. Alcohol is a very reasonable 13.3% abv, 1,344 cases were produced and it sells for $45 per bottle.

 A beautiful purple tint looks great in the glass. It is wonderfully fragrant with cherry tart and a touch of spice, a little light clove. A hint of earth peeks through, but in an elegant way - not rustic. On the palate, black pepper meets blackberry. The mouthfeel is quite full and juicy, and earth notes last well into the lengthy finish. There is a sense of dirt, but it's elegant dirt. Cigare’s acidity is refreshing and its tannins are brawny enough for beef,but its flavors are pretty enough for pork.

Bonny Doon Le Cigare Volant 2011 Normale

The 2011 Cigare is a different mix of grapes: 37% Mourvèdre, 34% Grenache, 20% Syrah and 9% Cinsault. The Carignane did not make it into this bottle. The vineyard selections are a bit different, too. Again, eight vineyards contribute fruit, with the addition of Ventana, Del Barba and Rancho Solo vineyards joining Evangelho, Bien Nacido, Alamo Creek, Bechtold and Gonsalves.

"This is a wine from an extremely cool and elegant vintage,” winemaker Randall Grahm notes, and he figures this 2011 Cigare will age gracefully for ten to 15 years from right now. Alcohol is almost a full point higher, 14.2% abv, and the bottle retails for $45.

The nose is full of red berries, with a dark flair. Raspberry, cherry, and red currant are met with Grahm’s signature savoriness of roasted meat, beef jerky and black olive tapenade. The sip reveals that the ‘11 Cigare is a festival of darkness. The savory aspects come forward in a rush. The forest floor, the olive, the spice - all are cloaked in a dark fruit setting. Black plums, currant and berries work hard to mesh with the wine's earthy character. The acidity is remarkable and the tannic structure is firm.


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A Revolution In A Bottle

Just in from the western bloc, the terse message concerns Contra 2012, "a contrarian blend of mostly old-fangled grape varieties from mostly older vineyards located primarily in Contra Costa County." This adverb-riddled communique bears the unmistakable mark of CEO Randall Grahm, President for Life at Bonny Doon Vineyards. The presidential flair continues during his address to the troops in which he awards a purple heart to "a field blend that counter-intuitively contravenes convention." Alcohol hits 14.1% abv, while Grahm's wordplay scores considerably higher.

Contra. The ragtag grape militia is headed up by General Carignane 56%, Major Syrah 17%, Lieutenant Grenache 15% and Sergeant Mourvèdre 11%, followed by the grunts, Cinsault, one percent.

The extremely dark wine is aromatic with blackberry, black currant and plum. A whiff of tar sneaks in late. Flavors of dark fruit sit embedded in oak spice and feisty acidity with all the tannins needed to fight off the fat power of a heavily marbled steak.  It won't pull a sneak attack - it flashes its weapons upon the loosening of the screw cap, referred to as a Stelvin closure in the dossier.

The rebels hoist the wine in defiance of those for and against. Who knows which side is right. May as well keep all options open. Meet the new boss. Smoke 'em if you got 'em. Ten-four good buddy.


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A Good Cigare Is A Smoke

To say that Randall Grahm is an iconoclast may be a little strong.  After all, he did knock down a few walls while finding his way as a winemaker.  He did not do so out of spite, of course, but as a means of redefining what was possible in the vineyards of California.  He had a go with Pinot Noir but, in a case of “right grape, wrong place,” he moved on to helping give the grapes of the Rhône Valley an official residency in the Golden State.  His Franco fascination really knows no borders, extending to the vines of Spain, Italy and Germany as well.

Grahm’s label notes say the Bonny Doon Vineyard 2010 Le Cigare Volant Réserve en bonbonne “seems to disarmingly suggest a Burgundian take on Châteauneuf, if such a notion can be fashioned.  This is not an ordinary wine.”  To which I can add, somewhat less poetically, “You got that right.”  You may be tempted to think of Le Cigare Volant Réserve as a brawny Pinot Noir.  Its roots are Rhône, though - no surprise, coming from the winemaker who is sometimes billed as The Rhône Ranger.

The wine is made from Central Coast grapes, 28% Syrah, 22% Grenache, 17% Cinsault, 17% Mourvèdre, and 16% Carignane.  Alcohol is a very restrained 13.3% abv,, which makes this a beautiful wine to sip - despite its obvious talent as a mate for food.  It retails for $79.  Grahm advises us to, “Ideally hold for a year or two (Sept. 2015-16).”  He feels the wine can stand a good 15 to 20-plus years of aging.  The iconic label art by Chuck House appears so often in my home it’s almost an installation.

This Cigare is the same blend as Le Cigare Volant normale, but for the réserve, the wine spends only a short time in barrel.  It is put in five-gallon glass carboys - bonbonnes - for twenty months of sur lie aging.  Grahm feels aging the wine in glass, while still in contact with the spent yeast cells, adds to the wine’s integration, complexity and savoriness.

The dark wine shows some truly outstanding attributes, beginning with the nose.  Black cherry fruit is delightfully muted by the savory side - black olives, tobacco, smoke and spice all have a part to play.  It's an olfactory experience to be savored, and it gets better.  In the mouth, this Cigare really gets lit.  The acidity is phenomenal and the tannins are nice and firm, so save a seat for it at the dinner table.  Flavors of plums, raspberries, blackberries and cranberries make a broad palette that showcases a spicy aspect, stretching from cinnamon to sassafras. Slightly tart on the finish, that Burgundian reference plays out nicely.

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Holiday Wines 2014: A Great Dessert Wine From Santa Barbara County

A series on wines for the holidays

While winemaker at Zaca Mesa, Benjamin Silver started fooling around with small lots of Zinfandel, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Franc, and Nebbiolo.  It was this experimentation that laid the foundation for what would become his own label, Silver Wines.  After exiting Zaca Mesa, he started the work toward that goal and also became winemaker at White Hawk Vineyard.

Benjamin Silver Wines allows him to continue feeding his fascination of extremely small bottlings.  He produces Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Viognier, Mourvedre, Syrah, Nebbiolo and Sangiovese - all grown in Santa Barbara County.

Oh, and there's this tallish, slender bottle of dessert wine that will top off your turkey tremendously.  Silver calls it, "the beast I call Fifty Cask."  He continues, "It is an animal, it’s own entity, and it morphed itself into a delicious tawny-styled dessert wine that should last and last and last."

In 2006, through a series of unfortunate events, Silver found himself with a cancelled vintage, 144 barrels of wine and no place to store them.  Two wineries did find enough space to accommodate them, and they stayed in their separate locations for a year.

The extended period of discontent ended when a fellow winemaker offered to take in his barrels and put them in a single large tank.  Silver says, "We sweetened it a little, and we bumped the alcohol a little.  There it still sits marinating in its own juices, and marrying its unique distinct personality into a smooth experienced operator.  No trace of the pain and anguish.  Only getting better with age."

Silver says, "Fifty barrels were selected over the course of time for this blend. The majority is 2002 through 2005 Cabernet Franc, Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon.  There is a pinch of Syrah and Mourvedre in it as well."  Alcohol is rich, at 17.8%, and residual sugar hits 8%.

Fifty Cask Tawny Red Blend is a very dark ruby color, tinged with amber.  In the right light, it appears almost brown.  Raisins, burnt caramel and alcohol dominate the nose, with rich oak tones cascading forth.  The mouthfeel is full and tingly with tannins.  Dark fruit plays a part, but the star of the show, obviously, is the decade of oak.  Vanilla, brown sugar, clove, cinnamon, orange peel and nutmeg make cameo appearances, one after another.

At the risk of exposing myself as habit-driven, I could literally have this wine everyday.  All. The. Time.

The Silver Fifty Cask is one of a kind, produced only one time in a batch of about 2,500 cases.  The wine retails for $30 in the 500 ml bottle.  The various wines aged for an average of ten years.  Silver says it is good paired with a stinky cheese, a sweet dessert, or all by itself.


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Holiday Wines 2014: Wes Hagen

It's October now, which means the Halloween decorations have been in the seasonal display racks at your local merchant since the glow wore off of "Back To School."  I'll take that as a cue that it is not too early to start thinking about holiday wines.  I think about them all year long.  As the months pass, I make little lists of the wines I want on my holiday table, with my holiday feast.  I know I'm not alone in that little obsession.

The Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays traditionally involve lots of family, so whatever wines you choose to highlight will be special, owing to the simple fact that they were along for the ride.  It's nice to put a little thought into it, though.  I have asked some wine folks to help me do a little less thinking this holiday season by outlining which of their wines they feel are special.  The requests went out right about the time harvest was getting underway - great timing! - so I really appreciate the effort the responses required.

The very first response I received was from a Santa Barbara County winemaker who has become indispensable to his industry.  When he's not making some of the best Pinot Noir in the Sta. Rita Hills, he's busy drafting the papers to make a new American Viticultural Area happen, or working to prevent an existing AVA from being expanded.  Wes Hagen, of Clos Pepe Vineyards, has some very specific ideas about a holiday feast and the wines that go with it.  I'll let him explain:

"I think a West Coast Christmas should start with a few dozen Morro Bay oysters and a bottle or three of chilled Axis Mundi Mourvedre Rose!  Another great match is Dungeness Crab with garlic butter.  This is a bone dry rosé with low alcohol, which will help your traveling guests get home safely."

"Ham or turkey matches beautifully with a 2011 Clos Pepe Estate Pinot Noir, which just won a Gold Medal at the Los Angeles International Wine Competition.  Pinot noir has bright acidity that can cut through gravy or a glaze, and the bright fruit will refresh the palate and charm the soul."

"Thinking of something a bit richer, like lamb or ribeyes on the grill?  It’s not Santa Barbara, but the Olin Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is our sister brand and we can’t get enough of this balanced, sumptuous offering.  And the price is hard to beat!  Big red meats love the tannin structure of Cab."

"And don’t forget to make the Spirits Bright with our 100% pinot noir grappa!  Great to drizzle in coffee, on top of some apple sorbet, or straight up sipping!"

Wes Hagen, Vineyard Manager/Winemaker

Learn Wine: Clos Pepe Vineyards and Estate Wines:
Buy wine:  email Wes after setting up an account to get best pricing

Vineyard:  4777 East Highway 246, Lompoc, CA 93436
Office:  (805) 735-2196     Cell: (805) 886-0325  FAX: (805) 736-5907
National Sales Manager: Andrew Turner 310-486-2080, andrew@clospepe.com
Twitter:  @weshagen, @clospepe, @staritahills
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Tasting Room:  Taste of Sta. Rita Hills (Thursday-Sunday)
1505 East Chestnut (Back of the Wine Ghetto), Lompoc, CA (805) 735-8774

“Every wine deserves an hour at table, delicious food and two people in love.  Wine cannot be fully understood unless all three of these conditions are met."  --WD Hagen

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Casey Flat Ranch CFR Red Blend 2010

The spring releases from California winery Casey Flat Ranch were featured in a virtual tasting event recently.  PR firm Charles Communications staged the Twitter tasting, which was also on a live video stream which is archived here.  Casey Flat Ranch Managing Partner Alison Garrett and winemaker Laura Barrett hosted, while those who joined in sipped and commented on four CFR wines.  Today, we cover the 2011 CFR Estate Red Blend.

Casey Flat Ranch sprawls for 6,000 acres, and a 24 acre vineyard sits at the 2,000 foot level above Capay Valley.  In case you have not heard of Capay Valley, it is the next wine region over to the north and east of Napa Valley.  That part of the ranch not under vine, is under a couple hundred head of Texas Longhorn cattle.  They have plenty of room to roam.

Tweeters who were tasting at home chimed in with lots of favorable notes on the Casey Flat Ranch CFR Estate Red Blend.  @cliffordbrown3: “blackberries, dried herbs, cassis, minerals, cedar, tobacco and dried violets. I need a piece of juicy meat, hot off the grill to go with the CFR Estate Red.”  @Luscious_Lushes: “Red Wine blend, kitchen sink - deep, dark, brooding. Coffee -- 75% new French oak. Black cherry, blackberry notes - anise. ohh yes, Earl grey tea in there.”  @WineUpdate: “Spice cake, plum, blackberry-balsamic, peppercorn, black tea. Balanced oak. Excellent!”  @BigNoseWino: “big herbal, berry bomb nose w/ a savory mid palate & lightly acidic, tannin finish.”  @WineJulia: “$35 is an outstanding price for this red blend. It's lush."

The CFR Estate Red Blend 2010 is a four-variety mix of grapes that are pretty well-known in Bordeaux and the Rhône Valley:  44% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33% Syrah, 19% Cabernet Franc and a four-percent drop of Mourvedre.  2,233 6-pack cases were produced, and the wine retails for $35.  Alcohol is a hefty 14.8% abv.

CFR is one dark wine.  Calling it "indigo" or "inky" sells it short.  If it were not for the sliver of purple around the rim, it would look like a glass of motor oil.  It is - in appearance - the Guinness stout of grape-based beverages.  As expected, the darkness carries through into the wine's aroma package.  Concentrated black plums and blackberries are shaded by spices - clove, cinnamon and pepper.  The palate reveals more darkness, laid on with a trowel.  The black fruit is explosive, the notes of licorice and strong tea have no trouble competing for attention and the tannins are muscular.  This is not a wine which will be sipped idly, without note.  This is a wine that demands - and deserves - your attention.

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Bonny Doon Vineyard Vin Gris de Cigare 2013

Spring is official now, although it may not feel like it yet where you are.  In Southern California, the shading between seasons is not so dramatic as it is elsewhere, but we still know when it feels like a rosé.  Yes, it feels like a rosé pretty much all the time.  Look for some great rosé wines to be featured under the "Drink Pink" heading on Now And Zin Wine as we work our way towards summer.

A rosé wine has a tough job to do.  It needs to be serious wine, but it needs to be fun, too.  Too much serious, not enough fun.  Too much fun, that's bad, too.  Bonny Doon's Vin Gris de Cigare gets the balance right - serious fun.

The bottle's front label is adorned with the famous "flying cigar" shining its illegal light over a French vineyard.  As described on the back label, "Vin Gris de Cigare is the pink analogue of Le Vigare Volant, our flagship named in honor of the cigar-shaped alien craft banned from landing in the vineyards of Châteauneuf-du-Pape by decree of the village council in 1954."  The wine is made by using "the lightest pressings of a noir."  The label also boasts that this is a "pink wine of the earth."  If all that doesn't add up to serious fun, then the concept must be alien to you.

The rosé bears a modest alcohol content of only 13% abv - so you can have two percent more fun than with a Zinfandel - and is produced from  55% Grenache, 23.5% Mourvèdre, 10% Roussanne, 7% Cinsault, 2.5% Carignane and 2% Grenache Blanc grapes.  It's a veritable smorgasbord of serious Rhône varieties.  So that as many serious wine lovers as possible could have fun with a bottle of their own, 14,800 cases of this wine were produced.  A sample was provided to me for the purpose of this article.

Light pink in color, the nose shows slightly earthy strawberry notes - always a great start for a rosé.  It gets better, though with a hint of smoke here and a whiff of spearmint there.  Gettin' serious up in here.  The palate's fruity fun is balanced by a serious savory nature, a gentle earthiness.  The acidity is substantial, but this wine opts for a creamy presentation owing to the fact that the lees - yeast cells used up in fermentation - are stirred periodically through vinification.  

Vin Gris de Cigare is serious, without losing sight of the fun.

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Drink Pink: Stinson Vineyards Monticello Rosé 2012

Spring is official now, although it may not feel like it yet where you are.  In Southern California, the shading between seasons is not so dramatic as it is elsewhere, but we still know when it feels like a rosé.  Yes, it feels like a rosé pretty much all the time.  Look for some great rosé wines to be featured under the "Drink Pink" heading on Now And Zin Wine as we work our way towards summer.

This pink wine comes from the great state of Virginia.  Stinson Vineyards is run by the father/daughter team of Scott and Rachel Stinson - she's the winemaker.  Located in the Monticello AVA, the Stinson's are showing that Thomas Jefferson was right - great wine can be made in ol' Virginny.  Stinson Vineyards provided a sample of their rosé to me for the purpose of review.  Next week the full article on Stinson Vineyards in the Now And Zin Wine Country series will run.

This rosé is made from 100% Mourvèdre grapes, soaked on their skins for 72 hours, fermented and aged in steel tanks.  The wine is aged for three months on the lees (spent yeast) which imparts body and creaminess to the wine.

A Rhônish 13% abv in alcohol, only 220 cases were produced, in keeping with the artisanal concept of the winery.  The wine sells for $17 per bottle.

Intermittent rain during the 2012 harvest made ripening difficult for red grapes.  The Mourvèdre - from Horton Vineyards in Virginia's Madison County - was harvested in early October, when the weather cooled and rains let up.  Vineyard owner Dennis Horton is well-known to Virginia wine lovers.  He planted some of the first Rhône varieties in the state in 1988.

Stinson Vineyards says their Monticello Rosé is styled after the pinks of the Southern Rhône, Bandol in particular.  They're not just whistling La Marseillaise, either.  It looks, smells and tastes like a Rhône wine.  Strawberry and cherry aromas are filtered through a significant funky earthiness, while the flavors are soaked in minerality, too.  The acidity is a delight, and the finish carries a bit of smoke with it.  This is a serious rosé - there is certainly no mistaking it for White Zinfandel.  Thomas Jefferson would be proud.


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Bonny Doon Vineyards Old Telegram 2010

I had never received a telegram before.  I’ve seen them in the movies a lot, and they usually carry bad news, so I don’t feel I’ve been shortchanged.  I have heard them referenced in the great Kinky Friedman country classic “Western Union Wire,” which is likely the only country song about a telegram.

“It said, ‘from Billy’ at the bottom, ‘to baby’ at the top.

Western Union wire please help me. Stop.

Western Union wire don't leave me. Stop.”

The label on the bottle of Old Telegram - received as a sample - will stand as the only telegram I have ever received, and it will do nicely.  With STOP at the end of each truncated sentence and a little Friedmanesque wordplay thrown in - “I can’t STOP” - it makes for an amusing read while you are letting the wine breathe.  That is the purpose of a wine label, right?  The small, less entertaining print reveals an alcohol content of 14.5% abv.  Retail is $45.

Bonny Doon Vineyards Old Telegram is winemaker Randall Grahm’s love letter to the great wine of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Vieux Télégraphe.  Like the Rhône classic, it is produced from grapes which the label identifies as Mataro, an alias under which thick-skinned, late-ripening Mourvèdre sometimes goes.

Grahm states that the grapes for the varietal wine are taken from "two exceptionally old, dry-farmed, head-trained Mourvèdre vineyards - Enea (75%) in warmish Antioch and Enz (25%) in the coolish Cienega Valley of San Benito County."  He says the 2010 Telegram has lots of heft, but is riper than the typical release.  It is mostly reserved for DEWN wine club members, but he says a few cases will drift into “wholesale commerce.”

One of the telegram lines on the label promises a “wildly aromatic” experience, and it is.  The nose of this dark red wine shows pepper, tobacco, anise and some beef jerky amid the riot of dark fruit.  After a sniff, the heft is expected.  With a sip, it is delivered.  The wine has great acidity and firm tannic structure.  The fruit does come on strong - big, dark shades of black plums and blackberries.  There is a rather large licorice play, too, and some some tarry meat figures in - especially on the finish.  A singing telegram.

Pair it with as much beef as you like, but I think it would be wonderful with some duck, grilled chicken or even roasted potatoes and veggies.


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Rebel Wine: Bonny Doon Vineyards Contra 2011

2011 is the third vintage of Contra, an "old-vine field blend" of primarily Carignane, Mourvèdre and Zinfandel.  Bonny Doon's Randall Grahm writes that the grapes come from "the sandy, head-trained, dry-farmed vineyards of Oakley and Antioch in the Sacramento Delta of Contra Costa County."  This vintage is, as Grahm says, "a happy medium between the mineral-driven '09 and the riper '10."

The wine's name suggests not only the county in which the grapes were grown, but the Nicaraguan opposition forces funded by the US government.  I don't think Bonny Doon is being subsidized by the feds, but now that I'm thinking of it, Grahm's Twitter communication seemed to drop off after the guvmint shutdown.  For all I know, Carignane, Mourvèdre and Zinfandel could be code names for three old rebels still hiding out in the fields.  The couch-in-the-vineyard imagery on the wine's label suggests that one could get comfortable amongst those gnarly old vines, or at least in the presence of their fruit.

Grahm calls Contra one of the "straightforward and frank wines of yester- and future-year."  When I came across that nugget on the label it didn't sound the least bit unusual, possibly because of the spaceship hovering near the words.  I don't know what the future holds, but I sure get a sense of the past in this wine.

Contra is, specifically, 56% Carignane, 28% Mourvèdre, 9% Grenache, 6% Syrah and 1% Zinfandel.  Grahm calls it a "contrarian blend of old-fangled grape varieties from mostly older vineyards."  The varietal makeup certainly harkens back to California's gold rush era and the field blends of that day.  Although field blends are referenced here, it's not a true field blend, since the grapes were vinified separately.  2,256 cases were made, and it retails for an affordable $16.  Alcohol sits at a very respectable 13.5% abv.

Inky purple, Contra displays a dark and brooding nose full of currant, anise and all the dark fruit that's lying around.  It's wonderfully pungent and even a tad funky - I guess that's how they roll in the Contra Costa.  Sipping it shows a distinct mineral note running right through the middle of the blackberry, cassis and black licorice flavors.  Acidity is great, tannins are round and the wine goes down very smoothly with notes of cinnamon and allspice.  The finish is extraordinary - and extraordinarily long.

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Troublemaker Non-Vintage Red

Some winemakers see trouble when they produce a non-vintage wine.  Vintage, after all, is a prime factor to which wine lovers look when determining the quality of a wine.  Perhaps more important in wines from French regions than in those from California's warmer locales, the vintage has become blurred in Hope Family Wines' Troublemaker red blend produced in Paso Robles.

The winery's website calls Troublemaker "a blend crafted from multiple varietals and vintages. The majority of wine comes from 2011 vintage, with a remaining portion coming from 2010.  By using a multi-vintage approach, winemaker Austin Hope allows the wine to show uncanny complexity in its youth, yet rich and fruit-forward characteristics that make it ready upon release."

The blend is 50% Syrah, 20% Grenache, 10% Mourvèdre, 10% Zinfandel and 10 % Petite Sirah, from California's expansive Central Coast appellation.  The wine kicks 14.5% on the alcohol meter and retails for $20.  I was provided a sample from a publicist.

The grapes involved bring forth the attributes for which they are known.  Troublemaker is a very dark-colored wine, with an extremely fragrant nose of black currant, blueberry, vanilla spice and cinnamon.  There is quite a show of Syrah, Zinfandel, Mourvèdre and Petite Syrah.  On the palate, a rich and ripe fruit display shows dark fruit in the form of plums and blackberries. Spicy with the nice acidity one would expect in a Grenache, and with firm tannins, the wine is smooth enough to provide enjoyment as a sipper while maintaining good structure to allow for pairing with some meaty dishes.

If you are looking for a nice, affordable red to put on the holiday table, this Troublemaker won't cause any trouble in that setting.


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