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Friday,
February 1, 2002
Went
up Friday afternoon to the Taos Winter Wine Festival. They
had just gotten 16" of new powder but just couldn't get all
my stuff together to get any skiing in. But all the winemakers
reported great conditions on the mountain. The event started
out with a (the 2'nd of two) Grand Tasting of the wineries
that were at the 2'nd half of the event (those of Southern
Distributors), which included most of my favorite ones at
the event. Didn't take any detailed notes at the tasting,
but there were some standouts: The Qupe Hillside Estate Syrah
'99 was easily the best wine shown, IMHO. Loads of toasty/mocha/roasted
character w/ lots of blackberry/Syrah slight green olive fruit.
I had never tasted any of the Arcadian wines, but Jill
showed two Pinots that mightly impressed me: a Jill's Cuvee
from Bien Nacido and a Gary's Vineyard. The Gary's was particularly
impressive. Landmark showed two Chard and two Pinots that
were terrific, though more Calif in style than the Arcadian.
Larry Archibald was sufficiently impressed by them to invite
the Calhouns to dinner that night. Alas (for them), they stood
us up. Jeff Branco showed both his '98 and '99 Justin Isoscles.
Both were as good as Paso Cab gets, with a slight nod to the
'99 for more structure and tannins; big rich chocolaty Cabs.
Martine Saunier showed a very ordinary Gigondas, but
the Mas du Daumas Gassac and her two Calif Rhones, Lodi Syrah
'00 and Lodi Viognier '00 were quite good for $12 wines. Ridge
showed the 2000 Sonoma Station (nice, just that), the 2000
Paso Robles (liked it a lot, classic jammy/Paso Zin) and the
2000 Lytton Estate Late Harvest (intense raspberry slightly
Kansas feed store nose, rather sweet but intense raspberry/framboise
flavors). Kent Rosenblum showed the '99 Annette's Reserve/Rhodes
Vineyard Zin and the 2000 Abba Vineyard ContraCosta Syrah
and 2000 DryCreek/Preston Vineyard Marsanne, all three pretty
nice. His Muscat Vin de Glaciere dessert wine was my favorite
of those. I probably tasted about 40 other wines there, but
nothing really rang my chimes. My impression was that the
quality of the wines shown this year was greater than in yrs
past.
The
best part of the event is easily the dinners we do a Larry&Laura
Archibald's cabin there in the Valley. This year was no exception.
Alas, Larry FORGOT his key back in SantaFe and so the lady
folks couldn't get in to prepare dinner for us whilst us guys
were down knocking back wine. The Ogg's arrived w/ there key
right at the time for dinner at 7:00pm when the guests were
slated to arrive. So, despite the 3 hr late start, the girls
were able to pull it off and get a great meal on the table
for the gentlemen. Joining us for dinner Friday night were
Bob Lindquist (Qupe) and Kent Rosenblum and Kent's national
marketing director, Kevin Brown. Kevin was brought along to
reign in Kent when his puns started to get out of hand, which
he did well from yr's of experience. The wines of the evening:
- Qupe
Marsanne 1991: Med.gold color; very fragrant figgy/hazelnutty
light pungent/smokey lovely/complex nose; soft/lush round
very complex waxy/figgy/hazelnutty light floral/spicy flavor;
one of the most attractive/mature Marsannes I've had
w/o any signs of oxidation. Bob describes Marsanne as it
ages where it goes thru this stage a few yrs out where it
has a very oxidized-like/sherry character for a few yrs
and then it comes out of it w/ beautiful/complex/perfumed
character. This wine was showing that in spades.
- Rosenblum
Dry Creek Valley Preston Vineyard Marsanne 2000: Med.light
gold color; slight metallic/steely some floral/aromatic/honeysuckle
light toasty/oak nose; tart bit metallic/steely floral/perfumed
rather lush flavor; a bit of Viognier was blended into this
and gives it a perfume that Marsanne doesn't usually show
at this young age.
- Verdad
White Wine Ibarra-Young Santa Ynez 2000: Med.light gold
color; bit steely/earthy lovely floral/ aromatic/perfumed
very spicy nose; tart metallic/steely attractive floral/spicy
flavor. This wine is made by Bob Lindquist's wife,
Louisa. It is labeled simply as WhiteWine. The back label
says the wine is inspired by Spain's Albarino wines. It
is, infact, 100% Albarino (Calif's first) but, since the
totally-clueless BATF doesn't recognize Albarino as a grape
variety (don't these buraeucrats have a simple grape
ampelography??), it cannot be labeled as such. It is, to
my, the best Albarino I've yet had, showing a roundness
& lushness that I've not found in Spanish version. A
Tempranillo is in the works.
- Bischofliches
Konvikt Eitelsbacher Marienholz Riesling Auslese 1976:
Dark gold color; incredible perfumed/ Mosel fusel oil/petrol
smokey classic mature Mosel very complex nose; near-dry
beautiful light steely/ slatey very complex Mosel/valve
oil/petrol slight earthy flavor w/ a finish that just never
quits; a terrific example of a mature Mosel & drinking
perfectly; hard to believe that convicts can make such good
wine.
- Bott
Freres Tokay d'Alsace Pinot Gris VendageTardive 1990: Dark
gold color; beautiful/complex very fragrant/ flowery/perfumed
slight nutty/toasty nose; rich/soft/lush off-dry flowery/butter-cup/honeyed
slight toasty/pungent very complex flavor; showing a bit
of oxidation but a lovely/complex PinotGris; ready to drink
& near it's peak or beyond.
- Rosenblum
Sonoma County Zin (mostly Cullinane Vineyard) 1984:
Med.dark color w/ slight bricking; slight bretty old Zin/tobaccoy
complex very slight raspberry bit earthy nose; tart/spicy
bit bretty old Zin/tobaccoy/ cedary rather peppery/spicy
flavor; a bit long of tooth but surprisingly good shape;
drink up. Kent was quite surprised on its condition but
older than he likes his Zins.
- Qupe
Santa Barbara County Bien Nacido Vineyard Syrah 1988:
Brought by Bob Lindquist. Med.dark color; bit metallic some
toasty/pungent/mocha some herbal/green olive very exotic/complex/perfumed
slight C-R/roasted nose; tart intense roasted/pungent/smokey/mocha
slight bretty very complex smooth flavor w/ very long roasted/
smokey finish; in wonderful condition and lots of NorthernRhone
smokey character. This wine eventually became labelled as
his Bien Nacido Reserve Syrah. Because EEC regs do not permit
the use of the term "Reserve" on imported wines, it will
be dropped from the 2000 vintage onwards. But it is still
the same wine.
- Tant
Pis Manfred & Elaine Krankl and John & Lorraine
Alban Tribute to Jacques Reynaud Alban Vineyard Grenache
1995: Black color; bit reduced very intense blackberry/boysenberry/Grenache
strong toasty/peppery/Fr.oaked some meaty/gamey pungent/smokey/roasted/pencilly
complex nose; big/huge rich very intense boysenberry/black-
berry/strawberry/Framboise/Grenache strong pungent/roasted/toasty/Fr.oak
mouthfilling flavor w/ a very long/lingering tannic finish;
still young and needs 3-10 yrs yet; very much like John's
Grenache but w/ more toasty/pungent/Fr.oak to it; dynamite/world-class
Grenache.This magnum was from a barrel Manfred &
John each made and was then blended together, bottled en
magnum, and sold in a two-btl box. Very rare and incredible
wine.
- Thumbs
Up Santa Barbara County White Riesling (SaH: 44 Brix) 1994:
Dark gold color; slight herbal very intense botrytis/peachy/apricotty
strong toasty/Fr.oaked bit volatile lovely Sauternes nose;
very sweet toasty/ Fr.oak intense botrytis/peachy/apricotty
flavor w/ very long sweet finish; a great Calif Sauternes.
- Chateau
Coutet 1988: Med.gold color; rather high VA very figgy/intense
butterscotchy/Sauternes fairly complex nose; soft very sweet
bit hot/volatile Fr.oaked/butterscotchy ripe/figgy flavor;
a bit hot & fumey but nice Sauternes; probably should
be drunk because of the VA.
About the time we were finishing up dessert, Jill Cashman
came trooping in w/ John Rush and Patina after their dinner
up-canyon at The Bavarian restaurant, featuring the Treana
wines, to graze a bit and try our wines. Since some folks
were skiing the next morning, we finally broke up around 11:00,
a bit the worse for the wear. A terrific evening of fine food,
great wine, a special company.
Saturday,
February 2, 2002
After
a pretty exciting morning of washing beaucoup wine glasses
w/ Larry, it was off the the noon seminar on Zinfandels. On
the panel were Mindy ? of Frog's Leap Winery, Jim Bundschu
of Gundlach-Bundschu Winery, Kent Rosenblum, and Laura Wallace
of Ridge Vineyards. After some banter between Mindy &
Jim on Napa vs. Sonoma, they launched directly into the wines,
all '99's:
- Frog'sLeap
Napa Valley Zin 1999: Med.color; pleasant raspberry/Zin
some Am.oaked attractive/simple nose; tart simple/raspberry/Zin
light oaked flavor w/ light tannins; a pleasant little quaffing
Zin; not nearly as exciting as the game on their WebSite.
- Gundlach-Bundschu
Morse Vineyard Sonoma Zin 1999: Med.dark color; bit
simple some blackberry/Zin light Am.oak nose; tart bit lean
simple/light/blackberry/Zin flavor w/ little tannins; pleasant
little simple Zin
- Gundlach-Bundschu
Rhinefarm Vineyard Sonoma Zin 1999: Dark color; deep
earthy/dusty some blackberry/Zin strong Am.oaked/vanilla/buttery
nose; soft/fat/lush blackberry/Zin some licorice/chocolaty
strong/buttery/Am.oak flavor w/ light tannins; a soft/fat/porky
fairly intense Zin.
- Rosenblum
Maggie's Reserve Samsel Vineyard Zin 1999: Dark color;
deep very spicy/blackberry/boysenberry/Zin strong milky/oak
light dusty/old vines nose; soft smokey very lush blackverry/boysenberry
some toasty/oak/buttery flavor w/ modest tannins; drinking
very well right now.
- Rosenblum
St.Peter'sChurch Sonoma Zin 1999: Dark color; deep rather
pungent/smokey/oaked spicy some blackberry/Zin rather spicy
nose; tart/bright bright/blackberry/Zin lighter toasty/smokey/oak
flavor w/ some chalky/tannins; less oak and more structure;
needs a yr perhaps.
- Ridge
Lytton Springs 1999: Very dark color; beautiful/complex
blackberry/Zin very spicy/fragrant/violets some pungent/smokey
nose; loads of blackberry/Zin fruit very spicy some toasty/milky/Am.oak
deep flavor w/ some tannins; this stuff is really tasting
good; maybe the best LS of the '90's.
- Ridge
Geyserville 1999: Dark color; bit less flagrant blackberry
fruit some dusty/black cherry some toasty/ pungent/smokey
complex nose; rich/ripe balanced spicy/black cherry/blackberry
light toasty/pungent oak flavor w/ some tannins; much more
subtle/restrained/complex than the LS.
Not a whole lot of new information from the seminar. I was surprised
that none of them mentioned Carole's recent work on the origin's
of Zin, so I asked the set-up question and Kent responded with
a bit of information, but it was clear that he didn't
know nearly as much as any of the folks hanging out here on
the wine boards. And none of them got the pronunciation right.
Alas, I had forgot my spitoon, so had to drink all those Zins.
Fortunately, there was an hour break between seminars that helped
quite a bit.
The next
seminar was on Rhone wines in California. On the panel was
Austin Hope of Treana Winery and Bob Lindquist of Qupe.
Bob started it off by a brief recounting of the varietals
used in the Calif Rhones and a bit of the history of the Calif
Rhone movement. He, of course, followed it from the very start.
The wines:
- Qupe
SantaYnez Valley Marsanne 2000: Pleasant appley/fragrant
light toasty/oak simple nose; tart appley/simple slight
floral very light toasty/oak flavor; rather simple/underwhelming.
- Qupe
Roussanne Bien Nacido Vineyard 2000: Med.gold color;
lovely/lush fragrant/floral/perfumed light toasty/smokey/
Fr.oak nose; soft/lush floral/perfumed/honeysuckle very
perfumed light toasty/oak flavor; a lovely white w/ lots
of perfumed floral fragrance; should age well.
- Treana
Mer et Soliel Vineyard Blanc 1996: Med/dark gold
color; strong butterscotchy/toasty/caramel/oak little fruit
nose; soft/tound lush toasty/butterscotchy/Fr.oaked flavor
w/ light floral fruit; tastes more like just another Chard
than anything.
- Treana
Mer et Soliel Blanc 1998: Med/dark gold color; bit waxy/floral
strong butterscotchy/toasty/oaked slight volatile nose;
soft/lush very toasty/butterscotchy/oak slightly hot flavor
w/ lots of M-L character; another Chard look-alike.
- Treana
Mer et Soliel Blanc 1999: Med.gold color; much lighter
oaked but still rather oaked bit metallic/ earthy rather
floral simple nose; tart/metallic harder more acid some
floral flavor; more like a Marsanne than anything and a
bit simple but reined in on the oak a bit.
- Qupe
Los Olivos Cuvee 1999: Bob's Syrah/ Mourvedre/Grenache
SouthernRhone blend. Med.dark color; lush licorice/ blackberry
bit pungent/smokey slight earthy/gamey/meaty light oak nose;
soft/round/lush some pungent/licorice light blackberry/Syrah
light smoky/oak flavor w/ some tannins; a very nice-drinking
red at a good price.
- Qupe
Hillside Estate Bien Nacido Vineyard Syrah 1999: Very
dark color; beautiful mocha/smokey/Fr.oaked some dusty/
roasted some blackberry/ Syrah bit gamey complex nose; rich/lush
blackberry/green olive/Syrah/Rhonish mocha/ smokey flavor
w/ some tannins; a lovely Rhone-like Calif Syrah; terrific
Syrah.
- "Treana"
(barrell sample) Syrah 2000: Very dark color; bit waxy
smokey/blackberry/boysenberry/Syrah some toasty/charred/Fr.oak
nose; soft/rich toasty/smokey/pungent blackberry/jammy/Syrah/boysenberry
slight herbal/ gamey/meaty flavor w/ light tannins; loads
of Syrah fruit and good oak balance but not the structure
for long aging; more an Aussie style.
- "Treana"
(barrell sample) Mourvedre/Beaucastel Clone 2001: Very
dark color; bit reduced/funky smokey/gamey/ pungent some
strawberry/fragrant nose; soft/round grapey/gamey/licorice
lots of soft fruit flavor w/ light tannins; no blatant oak
yet; nice/interesting Mourvedre.
I had never had a very warm spot in my heart for the Treana
Wines because of their association w/ Chuck Wagner (Kaymoose),
and had always assumed that this was just another Kaymoose product
(certainly the amount of oak in the wines would indicate that).
But, according to Austin, they are not a part of the KayMoose
operation, though they do make the Liberty School Cab for them.
And the whites (Viognier, Viognier formerly Roussanne,
and Chard) all come from the Wagner's Mer et Soleil Vineyard
up in Monterey. The Blancs seem to me to not show much Rhone
character and, because of the oak, seem just like another Chard.
As expected, his 2000 Marsanne was rather simple & underwhelming.
Bob describes the aging of Marsanne as going into this slightly
oxidized/nutty stage in a few yrs and then somewhere down the
road shedding that oxidized character and becomming very fragrant
& complex much like Roussanne. It's hard to make converts
of Marsanne unless you can show them how wonderful it becomes
w/ age; they're always pretty simple/unthrilling wines upon
release. The Roussanne was a very attractive version of that
variety, probably the best bottle around to get a good handle
on the varietal identity of true Roussanne. He also has an Alban
Vineyard version that will be released later this year. The
"Treana" Syrah 2000 was an absolutely terrific Paso Syrah. By
far, the best Treana wine I've ever had. Austin plans to keep
much of it separate and bottle it on its own, probably under
the Austin Hope label. In view of his (over)pricing of the Treana
wines, I expect it'll be $60-$80/btl. Not worth that, but it
is a good $30-$40 Syrah. I expect it'll probably be overoaked
by the time it's bottled as well. The Mourvedre 2001 is probably
destined for the Treana Red.
On back
up the Valley to Larry&Laura's cabin to do a bit of cooking
for tonight's meal (aspargras frittata app), under much more
sedate conditions than the previous night. Joining us for
tonight's soiree was Laura Wallace (Donn Reisen's indispensable
right hand) of Ridge Vineyards and her husband, Eric; plus
the rest of our illustrious group; Larry & Laura Archibald,
Mikhael & Barbara Ogg, and Susan Pfeifer. The evening's
wines:
- Fredrich
Wilhelm Gymnasium Oberemmeler Scharzberg Riesling Auslese
1976: Med.gold color; fragrant/lovely flowery/R some
steely/slatey bit complex nose; tart/lean/dry slatey/steely
light flowery/R bit Mosel/valve oil bit complex flavor;
still seems to be a young Mosel & not much complexity
showing yet; hard to believe that high school gymn
students could make such good wines, even w/ Karl Marx's
guidance.
- Philippe
LeClerc Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Combe aux Moines 1990:
Med.color; bit earthy/bretty/funky some complex/smokey/toasty
light violets/floral/Pinot nose; tart floral very spicy
bit tannic lean/hard spicy low fruit some earthy/bretty/funky
flavor w/ rather hard tannins; may never come around to
be an attractive Pinot on the palate.
- Ridge
Paso Robles Zin 1983: Alas, unredeemably corked.
- Ridge
Pagani Ranch LatePicked Zin 1992: Very dark/black color;
at first it seemed just the PaganiRanch funkiness in the
nose but then the corked aroma started to overwhelm everything.
- Ridge
Paso Robles Dusi Ranch ATP 1991: Dark color; beautiful
chocolaty/jammy/blackberry/boysenberry/Zin some Am.oaked
bit complex/licorice nose; soft ripe/almost off-dry rich/jammy/blackberry/boysenberry
round/smooth very lush light Am.oaked/pungent flavor w/
light tannins; probably near its peak; beautiful drinking
Zin.
- Ridge
York Creek Petite Sirah 1978: Very dark color; strong
peppery/black pepper very complex smokey/pungent Am.oaked
very complex perfumed nose; rather hard/tannic dusty very
spicy earthy pungent/smokey very peppery/ black pepper very
complex flavor w/ hard tannins; this was a terrific wine
in the nose but I found it rather hard & tannic on the
palate and drying out a bit perhaps; others really
liked it thru and thru. It's a very complex wine and damnably
difficult to describe. And certainly not up to the '71 York
Creek in character.
- Paolo
Scavino Barolo 1990: Med.dark color; light floral/violets
some truffly/pungent complex old/Barolo nose; bit hard/tannic/lean
violets/floral truffly/earthy/mushroomy complex flavor;
very complex/aromatic Barolo but still that hard/Barolo
tannins on the palate.
- Leftover
Tant Pis 1995: Black color (still); intense smokey/toasty/Fr.oaked
very pencilly some blackberry/ boysenberry/Grenache fruit
on the nose; rather hard/tannic very toasty/smokey/pungent/Fr.oaked/charred
some blackberry/strawberry/Grenache flavor w/ ample tannins;
still needs 3-8 yrs I would guess; it is showing much more
ManfredKrankl/oak character tonight and much less JohnAlban/peppery
fruit than the night before. Still a killer wine. Alas,
my last and only btl; but Larry still has his (hint...hint)
- Edmunds
St. John Durell Vineyard Syrah 1996: Black color; bit
reduced/pungent very spicy/peppery toasty/roasted/ pungent/smokey
some blackberry/Syrah complex nose; beautiful/rich very
peppery very spicy some roasted rather toasty/pungent/smokey/gamey/proscuitto
complex flavor w/ some tannins; a beautiful very classic
SteveEdmunds Syrah; hold for another few yrs; killer Syrah.
- Chateau
Climens 1988: Med.gold color; very fragrant light botrytis/peachy
some butterscotchy/Fr.oak bit volatile lift some complex
nose; sweet beautiful figgy/peachy/botrytis tart/round/smooth
some caramel/ butterscotchy/oaked some complex flavor; a
lovely classic Sauternes that will live another 10-20 yrs.
- Ridge
Calif Zin Essence (SaH: 40.3%; RS: 17.2%; 13.4%) 1993: Brought
by Laura. Black color; very intense blackberry/jammy/boysenberry
loads of intense fruit very young nose; very sweet very
intense/jammy/blackberry/ boysenberry flavor w/ some tannins;
a classic Paso Essence that will live for another 10 yrs
or so; not showing any raisened/pruney character at
all only huge jammy fruit. Terrific Essence.
It was nice to get a chance to socialize w/ Laura Wallace. I
had met her a few times at large tastings at which Ridge was
showing, but had never got to talk much to her. She's not just
another marketing type and she has a very thorough & detailed
knowledge of current & past operations at Ridge. Her husband,
Eric, designs, runs, maintains, etc. clean rooms primarily for
the semiconductor industry out there. He is very much a pizza
afficianado and is even importing a pizza oven ("terre blanche...terre
blanche") from France and building it in their back yard
at BoulderCreek home. But the best part of the evening was when
he regaled us with his dog's skunk/Massengill encounter in SanFrancisco.
We were laughing so hard our sides hurt & we had to plead
for mercy. Worth hearing from him sometime again.... over wood-fired
pizza I would say. It's a legendary tale. Laura indicated that
the MonteBello Estate has been trademarked by Ridge and there
should be no problem with MonteBello appearing down the road
on a label from those Cabernet grapes across to road up there.
The Estate now includes the Jimsomare Vineyard, which
is about 1,200' below the primary MB property, that is totally
farmed by David Gates of Ridge. She even thinks he's put in
some Syrah down there at Jimsomare. The Maridon Vineyard
(Kathyrn Kennedy) and David Bruce Syrahs are a great indicator
for the potential of Syrah in the SantaCruz Mtns. With our sides
still aching from Eric's story, they bid adieu & head down
the canyon to the TSV area. Up (reasonably) early in the morning
to the glass-washing detail and then back home to the real world.
The Taos
Winter Wine Festival is a very well-organized worthwhile (in
terms of my time usage) event that attracts some very good
winemakers, at least those who like to ski. The seminars are
fairly small and lots of good interchange goes on between
the winemakers and the audience. My sense was that this yr's
seminars were not quite as exciting as some in past yrs. Still,
it was a wonderful weekend. I recommend the Festival to anyone,
especially if'n you ski. The first half is devoted to the
wines of National Distributing, whose wines are far less interesting
than those in the second half from Southern Distributing.
I would like to see the two other small distributors (Botique
Wines and Cesaer Chavez) represented as well.
TomHill
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