Cracked last night w/ my grilled veggies & NM Arugula Aioli:
1. Yorba Barbera ShakeRidgeVnyds/AmadorCnty (14.6%; www.YorbaWines.com) 2007: Dark color; quite spicy/Italian sausage/Barbera/root beer/licorice some toasty/oak slight herbal very interesting nose; fairly tart bit lean/hard/tannic spicy/Italian sausage slight herbal/earthy/licorice/root beer very spicy/salami some fennel/rosemary flavor; long somewhat hard/tannic/structured very spicy/fennel/rosemary/herbal rather Italian sausage light toasty/oak finish; a very interesting Barbera that needs several yrs yet; a serious/structured wine w/ classic Barbera spice and acidity; lovely w/ the grilled veggies. $26.00
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And a wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Barbera: I'm a big fan of most Barbera, especially from Calif, where I feel it's an under-regarded grape. Some of the original Montevina Barberas (Cary Gott days) were as good as any wine ever made in Calif. Some of ScottHarvey's Renwood Barberas/LinsteadtVnyd were pretty spectacular. BillEaston continues to make a fine Barbera. As I was drinking this wine, I was trying to place it in context to the Barbera universe. It was not like the ShenandoahVlly Barberas I'm familiar with. Certainly not like the Piedmonte Barberas, even the high-end ones. Maybe a bit like some of the Palminas. Probably the closest I could come would be OltropoPavese Barbera, or Oltropo Barbera/Croatina blends. But it was a very impressive Barbera and one that I think will mature well.
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2. When I was researching new kids on the black afore HdR, I noted the name Yorba. Ahhhh...finally...some winery specalizing in Greek varieties. Nope...not at all. This is an operation out of Napa that makes wine from the ShakeRidgeVnyd, up in AmadorCnty. AnnKraemer is the mind-behind the label and the wine is made by KenBernards. From the Google/Satellite image of ShakeRidge, it looks like a rather complicated vnyd.
So I ordered a hlf case of the Yorba wines to try, which we've not done yet. Ann was a real sweetheart and graciously sent me a btl of the sold-out Tempranillo to try as well; one of her wines I particularly wanted to try.
I got the chance to meet Ann down and HdR and try several vintages of her Syrah. So....now I can brag that "I followed them from the very start". I was impressed with the Syrahs I tasted as well. So, definitely, ShakeRidge and Yorba are names to watch in the future.
The vnyd is located south of the ShenandoahVlly, east up towards the Sierras on ShakeRidgeRd, east of the town of SutterCreek. My sense is that the growing conditions are more akin to Fiddletown than the ShenandoahVlly. Back in the '70's (by crackey), there used to be some telephone linesman up there who had a vnyd and grew a pretty interesting RubyCabernet. Don't remember his name, though. The label was kinda ugly.
There used to be a wnry there in the vicinity by the name of SutterRidge. Alas, the attourneys from SutterHomeWnry came after them with a vengance for brand infringement and they were forced to change their name to SierraRidge. I've heard tell that the same SutterHome attourneys are now trying to force the town of SutterCreek to change their name to SmithCreek and also force the removal of the name JohnSutter from the history books. Certainly don't want folks to get confused, do we?
Anyway, my first one-on-one conversation with a Yorba wine and a mighty fine conversation it was. Look forward to trying the rest of Ann's wines.
Tom