Zely and Ritz Restaurant in Raleigh, Friday, March 16. A winemaker and distributor were on hand to talk about the wines and answer questions. I arrived late but was soon caught up on pours and food. We had a pizza with pesto, clams with a citrusy sauce and white wine stock, a salad with black barley and dried cherries, and beet risotto. The food was placed on the table family style and we help ourselves from the platters. I didn't take notes on the Chardonnay.
We had the 2008 PINOT NOIR, 14% alcohol. Pretty color. Berries/cherries and spice on the nose. Quite attractive and well received at my table. Santa Maria Valley in Santa Barbara County.
2008 CABERNET SAUVIGNON. Velvety with cherry, red currants. Exhibits viscosity. Drinking smoothly for a young C.S. This was released just three weeks ago and the winery holds the wines until they feel they are ready to drink. They ran out of the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon six months ago but did not hurry the release of the 2008 vintage. This showed a similarity in style to the Pinot Noir, both wines expressing some elegance and restraint. The grapes for this are from three vineyards in Pasa Robles that the winemaker said have a microclimate that doesn't cause the wine to taste of green olives and bell pepper. Under 2000 cases. The wines were made available to us for purchase below normal retail prices.
2009 ZINFANDEL is part of the black label single vineyard program. It is from Lime Kiln Valley AVA in the Central Coast region inland from Monterey in San Benito County. The Kenneth Volk location in Santa Maria Valley is not warm enough for growing Zinfandel grapes. The Zin was a paler color than the Cabernet Sauvignon--a pretty cerise/cherry colorl. Kenneth Volk has a long-term lease on all the fruit from this Enz Vineyard. 114-year old vines are dry-framed. The Zin shows elegance, subtlety and finesse rare in California Zins. Again, a style similarity to the Pinot Noir and the Cabernet.
I liked the wines well enough to order two bottles each of the Pinot Noir and the Cabernet Sauvignon and one bottle of the Zinfandel (all in the $20's.) I had visited the Kenneth Volk tasting room on my trip to Santa Barbara County several years ago and had been impressed with the Pinot Noir. Kenneth Volk also grows unusual grapes making a Tannat, a Mourvedre, Malvasia, Tempranillo, Negrette, etc. I remember liking the Negrette on my tasting at the winery.
The luncheon was a bargain for only $15.