Catching up with my notes from earlier in the summer. What follows are notes from two days spent playing wine tourists in Sonoma, culminating in a dinner with Hoke and Roxi Harden.
Our lodgings were in Sonoma itself, at MacArthur Place (http://www.macarthurplace.com), a very classy small hotel that is close to the Sonoma square. The day we arrived, Jean just wanted to lay by the pool and sun herself (Sonoma was unseasonably warm and sunny when we were there) so I visited two wineries in the Russian River Valley solo:
First stop was Porter Creek, open to the public and charging no tasting fee. It's located at the lower end of Westside Road near Gary Farrell and Rochioli. The tasting was conducted by a very knowledgable pourer in a converted garage. He explained that they were certified organic and biodynamic and that the winemaker strived to make non-interventionist wines with character and restraint.
2005 Viognier Timbervine Ranch RRV
color: pale yellow
nose: mostly alcohol (14.8% ABV)
palate: limited flavors, dry, a hint of stone fruit, quite muted
2004 Pinot Noir "Fiona's Vineyard"
n: smoky, earthy
p: medium body, very good acidity, moderately fruity and quite elegant
2005 Carignane Alexander Valley
[The only grapes not grown on their property]
c: purple
n: brambly blackberries
p: medium body, low acidity, generous blackberry fruit
2005 Zinfandel (10% Carignane, 5% Syrah)
c: dark red-purple
n: tart berry fruit, restrained
p: decent acidity, medium body, raspberry and pepper
2003 Syrah Timbervine Ranch (5% Viognier cofermented)
c: dark red-purple
n: juicy, dark berry fruit
p: earthy, berries, pepper, good acidity, moderately tannic
Overall, the standouts to me were the Carignane, which I found to be a fascinating example of old vine Carignane (80+ years, according to the pourer) and the Syrah. All the wines were well made, though, and only the Viognier failed to hold my interest. The reason for the cofermentation with Viognier, I learned, was that it helps extract pigment and fix the color of the Syrah. Another interesting factoid learned: this same principle of using white wine to extract color from red wine can be used to get rid of red wine stains -- use white wine to remove them! Who knew?
Second stop was an appointment at Joseph Swan. They are open to the public on weekends but I was there on a Monday, so they graciously found time to meet with me. The assistant winemaker/gofer/sole employee served me the wines on a makeshift bar in the barrel storage shed and again I wasn't charged a tasting fee. The owner/winemaker/son-in-law of Joe Swan Rod Berglund was in and out during the tasting and often pitched in to the conversation. All the wines tasted had been opened the day before and stored under nitrogen (I think).
2005 Gewurztraminer Saralee's Vyd (14% ABV)
c: very pale
n: tropical fruit and lychee
p: light body(!), slightly alcoholic, dry finish
2004 Pinot Noir "Cuvée du Trois"
{"Trois what?" I asked. Three different vineyard sites was the reply}
n: smoke, soft red fruits
p: velvety, juicy fruit, pure finish
2004 Pinot Noir Great Oak Vyd (13.3% ABV)
n: pencil lead, reticent
p: a bit closed in, fine tannins, good acidity, beef blood, deeply fruity
2002 Syrah Trenton Estate
n: brambly, dark berry fruit
p: rich, med-full body, good acidity, moderately tannic, dark fruit
2000 Zinfandel Lone Redwood
n: herbaceous, tea leaf
p: spicy, briery, berry fruit
2002 Zinfandel Stellwagen
n: pencil lead, berries, baking spices
p: high toned (a touch of VA?), juicy fruit, moderately tannic
They explained that Rod makes 17 different wines, so I was tasting only what was around at the time (they had just bottled something else that afternoon). He's also unusual in that he ages his wines for 3 years after bottling typically before release and can afford to do that courtesy of Joe Swan, who left the winery in a fairly unique financial situation (it's been early 20 years now since his death, but it feels like just yesterday that we lost Joe Swan, a true CA winemaking pioneer). I was very impressed with all of the wines, though the Gewurztraminer didn't really excite me. The Zins were about as atypical as I've ever had but very interesting and utterly different from each other. Both PNs were outstanding. The Cuvée du Trois is their biggest bottling, designed for wide release and is a great QPR CA PN. The Great Oak OTOH reminded me of a quality 1er from the Cote de Nuits: it had real depth and structure and will probably take a decade to come into its own. The Syrah likewise has a long future ahead of it and will make a great ringer in a N. Rhone lineup. We also had some great discussions of local geology: Rod explained that his hilltop vineyards were actually more fertile and less well drained than his valley floor vineyards, which he explained was a result of geological uplift, raising younger soil up and leaving the older soil at the bottom. Fascinating! I highly recommend a stop here for anyone who is disaffected with CA wines.
After Swan, I picked up Jean at the hotel and headed up to Santa Rosa for dinner at Willi's Wine Bar. They feature small plates/tapas and wines by the glass, some of which are arranged into flights. Jean got the Pinot Noir flight and I got a glass of the Gruet Blanc de Noirs to start.
NV Gruet Blanc de Noirs
n: apples, toast
p: fine mousse, tart fruit, good acidity
From Jean's flight:
2004 J. Swan Cuvée du Trois Pinot Noir
[yes, the same wine I had at the winery but probably opened more recently]
n: sappy, bright cherry
p: fresh, bright cherry fruit, smoke, earth
2005 Lutea RRV PN
n: butter, sappy
p: medium body, acidity, tart cherries, alcoholic finish
2005 Portalupi RRV PN
n: soft, smoky, red fruit
p: soft and fruity
Of the three RRV Pinots, Jean and I both agreed that the Swan was the clear standout -- lucky for me since I'd bought it at the winery earlier that day! I earned several attaboys for the decision to go there and to buy that wine.
We both then tried the Zinfandel flight:
2004 Bradford Dry Creek Valley Zin
n: tart berry fruit, oak
p: slightly oaky on entry, raspberry milkshake and an oaky finish
2005 Robert Biale Napa Zin
n: tart berries, pencil lead
p: pure berry fruit, moderately acidic
2004 Papapietro Perry RRV Zin
n: closed down
p: moderately tannic, berries, closed down
Jean and I both agreed that none of the Zins did a whole lot for us, with the Bradford being downright disagreeable and the Biale OK but no better. The foods that we had with the wines were very good and quite varied. We got a plate of three different salames, each of which was fascinating, a grilled flatbread topped with cheese and ramps (outstanding), Scallop Dumplings with Crispy Pancetta & Lemongrass Butter, Jones Farm Rabbit Rillettes, Rhubarb & Tart Cherry Moustarda, Toasted Brioche Sautéed Broccolini with Green Garlic & Meyer Lemon Confit. The total of five small plates was enough to comfortably feed both of us and each dish was superb, with the rabbit rillettes and the flatbread as the two standout dishes from our dinner. All in all, a very satisfying meal and quite reasonably priced.
Our second day began with provisioning ourselves for a picnic lunch at the Sonoma Cheese Factory on the Sonoma square. There we got salame, cheese, bread, tabbouli and fruit salad. So equipped, we then set out for an afternoon in the Dry Creek Valley.
First stop was Bella Vineyards and Wine Caves at the top of W. Dry Creek Rd. north of Healdsburg. Bella is open to the public 7 days a week and the tasting was conducted in their "cave." This was the only tasting fee we were charged ($5 per head) and was waived when we purchased wines there.
2006 Dry Rosé (14.5% ABV)
nose: strawberries
palate: med body, lacking in acidity, alcohol
2004 Syrah Sonoma (15% ABV)
n: juicy, blackberry
p: med body, tannins, good acidity, deep berry fruit
2005 Zinfandel Dry Creek Valley
n: typical tart berry fruit, very nice
p: good acidity, berryish fruit, medium body
2005 Zinfandel Lily Hill Vyd
n: pencil lead, berries
p: tannic entry, good acidity, berries, med-full body, long finish
Across the board, the red wines were good here and the rosé suffered only in having a typical (for CA) high alcohol content. The whole experience was quite worthwhile, and we ended up eating our picnic lunch on the grounds, which commands a marvelous view of the upper Dry Creek Valley. For as remote a location as they have, it's amazing how much traffic they got on a Monday.
Our next stop was Unti, on Dry Creek Road, where we had made an appointment for 2 pm. Although they require appointments, it appears that they get a fairly steady stream of visitors; I wouldn't be surprised if at least several of the parties we saw had made appointments not long before arriving there. Unti is a family-run operation (as were almost all of the wineries we visited) with a focus on Italian varieties and Syrah. The tasting "room" is a plywood "table" laid out in their barrel storage facility.
2006 Rosé (14.5% ABV, 65/35 Grenache/Mourvedre)
c: pale salmon
n: alcohol, minerals
p: alcohol, muted fruit
2005 Segromino (89/7/4 Sangiovese/Syrah/Barbera)
n: butter, tart cherry
p: acidity, anonymous cherryish fruit
2004 Zinfandel Dry Creek Valley (80/20 Zin/Petite Sirah, 14.9% ABV)
n: alcohol
p: good acidity, slightly tannic, dark berry fruit, much more impressive than the nose would indicate
2005 Grenache (84/14/2 Grenache/Syrah/Mourvedre)
n: cherries
p: tart cherry, good acidity
2004 Syrah
n: brambly, blackberry
p: good acidity, medium body, slightly tannic, dark berry fruit
This was one of the few mixed bags in our two days of tasting. I liked the Zin and Syrah very much, I was impressed with the overall winemaking there, but was left cold by the Segromino and the Grenache (about which I've heard others rave). I must admit, though, that I rarely am impressed with the CA renditions of most Italian varieties and my standards for renache-based wines are set in the S. Rhone, so I'm probably overly hard on them. The people were great and we had a most stimulating discussion with their French winemaker over whether there was a standard size for a foudre or not (Unti sported some large barrels which were nonetheless clearly smaller than the foudre I've seen in CdP).
Our last stop of the day was at Merry Edwards, again made by appointment. The location was in an industrial complex that also housed their administrative offices in Windor pending the completion of their new winery facility in Graton. The tasting was conducted by Ron Hayes, a longtime Sonoma winery employee who was recruited by Merry Edwards to head her tasting operation. Ron was friendly, knowledgable and gracious, a real treat. The eponymous Meredity "Merry" Edwards was one of the first female winemakers in CA, starting back in '79 (we spoke with Ron at length about some of the barriers she faced) and we first became aware of her wines in the mid-'80s when she was the winemaker for Matanzas Creek in their heyday. More recently, she's been the winemaker for Laurier and a successful consultant, starting her own winery in 1997.
2005 Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast (14.1% ABV)
n: smoke, slightly alcoholic
p: medium body, velvety, classic Pinot Noir fruit
2005 Pinot Noir Russian River Valley
n: smoke, deep, dark fruit
p: medium full body, richly fruity, good acidity
2005 Pinot Noir Olivet Lane
n: smoke, minerals
p: good acidity, medium full, deep, dark fruit, long finish
2006 Sauvignon Blanc Russian River Valley
n: minerals, grass
p: crisp entry, tropical fruit, minerals, clean finish
Not a mediocre wine in the bunch! All 3 Pinots were classy, beautiful expressions of the fruit. Unlike the vast majority of RRV Pinots, her's never veered off into overripeness or overextraction. The SB brought us back to our grad school days, as it tasted so much like those memorable Matanzas Creek Sauvignon Blancs that first opened our eyes to the grape. Ron explained at length why he put the SB at the end of the tasting, a trick he'd learned elsewhere. It relies on the SB being slightly off-dry as this one was and it did in fact work well for us. Merry Edwards only sells wine through their mailing list and to restaurants (although their wines get reviewed by WS and the CGCW -- go figger!) so we signed up. Mirabile dictu, they even ship to IN!
That concluded out winery visits. Had we had more time there, we would have gone to Ridge's Lytton Springs Rd output and to De La Montanya, but we weren't at all disappointed with any of our stops. Tops on my list would probably be Joe Swan and Merry Edwards, but they were all well worth visiting. What they shared was: small operations, trying to express terroir through non-interventionist winemaking and generally owning their own vineyards and using <20% new oak.
That evening, we dined at Cafe La Haye near the Sonoma square with Hoke Harden and his wife Roxi. The food was exceptionally good "bistro" fare ("elegant comfort food" according to Hoke) and the wine list was nteresting and reasonably priced. Jean got a smoked trout appetizer while I started with a salad of pea shoots, peas and green onions. We began with a bottle of the 2006 Navarro Chenin Blanc Mendocino ($20 on the wine list). It was clean, fresh and had a hint of varietal fruit, but didn't really distinguish itself beyond being a good partner for our food. Jean and both got a main course of quail with sourdough stuffing served over a white bean puree and grilled radicchio. The dish itself was delicious and we got a bottle of the 2003 Dehlinger "Goldridge" Pinot Noir ($68 on the wine list) to accompany our mains and Hoke and Roxi's grilled Alaskan char, the fish of the day. The wine was very nice, a nicely restrained RRV Pinot, but after our tasting at Merry Edwards, it seemed to lack a bit of the elegance that made her wines so appealing.
All in all, the two days were wonderful and most relaxing. Hotel, restaurants and wineries all come highly recommended.
Mark Lipton