Sojourn Cellars

Recently, I had a chance to visit Sojourn Cellars just off the plaza in Sonoma. The tasting salon has only been open for about 18 months, but is quite successful already. They specialize in small lot Pinot Noir and Cabernet. When I heard that, I was very curious because those two wines are usually made in very different ways. More on that in a moment, but first some pictures...


The outside of the salon....

What a cool little "house"....no wonder it's so comfortable.

We were met with quite a spread....

Oh, how I love cheese, especially when paired well with wines!

Okay, let's get back to the wine.

I was greeted with the Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir. In case I need to remind you, I'm a hard sell on Pinot. This one was good, not great, but good. It takes a lot for me to really enjoy a Pinot Noir and while I wouldn't kick any of these wines out of bed, I liked a couple of the other ones better.

Next I had the Rodgers Creek Pinot and I thought this one had a little more complexity and thought immediately that it would be a perfect Pinot for a lot of different food pairings. Dishes with mushrooms came to mind.

Then came the Gap's Crown Vineyard and the Sangiacomo Vineyard Pinots. These two blew me away. Seriously. This is what Pinot is all about. The winemaker was there to talk all about the differences in the vineyards and the locations. Maybe there was just more of a story to tell about these two places, but I think that these two vineyards are just more expressive. I would drink a glass (bottle) of either of these wines in a heartbeat. Their velvety smooth texture and abundance of aromas and flavors were just amazing.

Now on to the Cabernet Sauvignons. Unlike Pinot, I generally like most Cabernets. Of course, there are many styles and I can't say that I like them all. It was interesting to learn that the Cabernet wines were made in the exact same way as the Pinot Noir - open top fermenters (very rare for Cab) and basket pressing, one of the oldest ways to crush grapes. Sojourn is also small enough that they can do a lot of sorting. They sort clusters in the vineyards and then again back at the winery and they also sort berries. Yes, berries. Now that is meticulous. All of this extra work leads to higher price wines, but generally better quality and flavor. Pretty important, if you ask me.

Like the Pinot Noir, the Cabernet differences were based on vineyards (soil, heat, vine management, etc...). They currently have three different releases: 2006 Sonoma Valley, 2006 "Reserve" Mountain Terraces Vineyard and 2007 Home Ranch. All three were good, solid wines. The standout, for me, was the reserve. And before you jump to conclusions about reserve being better, you should know that the term / word "reserve" on a label is not controlled by the government. A winery or winemaker can use it on any of their wines. In this case, I really thought it was the best of these particular wines. I will let you know that these Cabernets were lighter than the typical Cabs, due in part to the way the grapes are handled. It was a nice change though because the wines were ready to drink now - you wouldn't have to wait!

The setting: relaxed, home-like. The service: outstanding. The wines: very good - great. Will I go again? Yes. And I recommend you visit the tasting salon on your next trip to Sonoma.

Cheers!

An afternoon in Healdsburg

Yesterday was a special afternoon. The kids were at my in-laws house and my wife and I headed up to Healdsburg for a couple of wine events. Time alone (even with groups present) is precious and rare, so we took full advantage.



The first event we went to was a release party for Bedarra Vineyards. Bedarra is a small (very small) winery producing about 500 cases a year and is not open to the public, so it was an experience just to be there. They specialize in white wines - Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay grapes from Dry Creek Valley.



Normally, Chardonnay grapes aren't found in this area because it's too warm, but Jeff and Brigid Harris are out to prove that wrong. The biggest issue with growing Chardonnay in warm to hot climates is that it can have lower acid when picked, compared to cooler areas. Lower acid can lead to fatter, more buttery Chardonnays. I don't know exactly how this couple manages to create high acid Chard with tons of complexity and a creamy texture (no butter), but they need to keep it up. In addition, this outstanding product - found almost exclusively on their website - is sold at very reasonable prices. This is their vineyard. The palm trees are very fitting with their "story".

Check them out and you won't be disappointed. I highly recommend the Beachfront - a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay, but thought all the wines would fit nicely into my cellar.

Our second stop was Bella Vineyards and Wine Caves, a small, though not as small as the above winery, family owned winery in Dry Creek Valley. We were invited to a special library / vertical tasting held after hours. Library refers to anything older than the current vintage being offered and a vertical is the same wine from different vintages.

Bella was founded in the mid-1990's by a couple who loved wine and wanted to pursue their passion. If you're not aware, getting into the wine business from a grower / winemaking standpoint is a losing proposition. If you start from scratch it's at least a 3-5 year process before you even get grapes. Once the vines produce grapes that can be harvested, it's another 1-3 year process before that wine can be bottled and sold. That's a long time before you start to see any return. So, for a couple to jump right in and produce the results that these two have, it's an amazing story.

The entrance looks rustic, but don't be fooled these guys are producing some phenomenal wines and are definitely not low tech. We started with the 2007 and 2008 Two Patch Zinfandel from Alexander Valley. This wine is absolutely amazing and the 08 was one of my favorite wines from the entire tasting.

A toast to the two hours ahead.... Shortly after arrival we jumped into this....
What is it? It's called a Pinzgauer and it's a 6 wheel drive go anywhere Swiss Army vehicle from Austria. In addition to wine, I'm a total car nut and this thing is awesome! The estate's driver, Ross, took us up to the top of the 42 acre property. If you visit, definitely take the tour.

Some pictures from our Pinzgauer tour of Lily Hill Vineyard....

In addition to Zinfandel, the winery produces very small amounts of Syrah and Granache. They also have a fresh and lively Rose. One thing you won't find at Bella? White wines.

The obligatory dog (not associated with the winery). His name is Otis....

An amazing view from the top....

One of the things I love about wine events is you get to meet local people that own local businesses. Like Jeff Mall, owner of Zin restaurant in downtown Healdsburg.

He's holding his book, a cookbook collaboration with another Restaurant (Syrah) in Santa Rosa called Down home, downtown. Jeff was very much down home - what a nice guy!

There were several food pairings, including this lamb kabob....

And my favorite pairing of the evening: Late Harvest Zinfandel with chocolate mousse cake.

We had a fabulous afternoon / evening out. I'm sure it won't soon be forgotten. The wines were oustanding, the people were wonderful and the two properies we visited were just amazing. I love wine country!

Cheers!

Wines under $15 (and $5)

I'm pretty lucky. It's not bragging, and it's not snobbery, but working in the wine business means I get some pretty great wine. Most nights we get to take home some "leftovers" to enjoy. There are some other perks too, including discounts at most wineries in the area which means I'm able to acquire some other great wines at reasonable prices. In fact, I can't remember the last time I bought a bottle of wine at a grocery store or retailer. With one exception. I occasionally buy a Cava (Spanish Sparkling wine) from Trader Joe's. It good and under $6. Again, I'm not trying to be a snob, but felt I needed to preface the posting below with this information.


Carneros Highway (Highway 12 Winery) sells this Chardonnay for about $14 a bottle... This wine was quite good. The grapes in the wine came from the Los Carneros region and it spent 10 months on oak. My only criticisms would be that maybe there was a little too much oak for me, but it came through in some nice nutty and creme brulee notes and it was just a little on the buttery side. This characteristic is not uncommon in wines that cost two and three times more than this, so I wouldn't consider it a flaw at all. In general, it's still what the American public seems to enjoy the most.

We also opened this bottle....

This wine is a blend of 60% Shiraz (in California we call this grape Syrah) and 40% Cabernet Sauvignon. Surprisingly, this wine had a real cork. Australia is known for embracing the screw cap revolution and I thought it was interesting that this wine didn't have one. My experience with Australian wines is pretty limited, but mostly they are known for fruit forward, big (giant in some cases), bold wines. This wine followed suit: tons of fruit on the nose and it continued in the mouth. It was rich and full, but had a relatively short finish. My only complaint was that until the wine got enough air, it had a medicinal quality that was underneath the fruit and not that appealing. Overall, I'd try it again. Plus the regular retail price is $10, but a local store had it for under $5. A steal, in my opinion.

The next night, I thought I would try this one....

I was not overwhelmed by this Shiraz from Barefoot. In fact, I was quite underwhelmed. I couldn't even finish half a glass. I think I equated it to rot gut. It was totally void of fruit, oak or even one single character. This wine sells for under $5, but I've had plenty of 2-Buck Chuck over my drinking years that was far and above this one. Sorry, it's true.

The lesson? There are plenty of great wines out there at reasonable prices. But I think in the under $10 range, you have to search with more diligence. I also think in the under $5 range, it's like finding a needle in a haystack - it takes some serious effort to find good to great wine.

Cheers!

Memorial Day 2010

Today was Memorial Day. Though not everyone has the day off, many people do. And my family was lucky enough to not work today. Naturally, we took advantage of this 'extra' day off work, but not without a few thoughts about the men and women who have paid the ultimate sacrifice to keep us safe and give us freedom. One of my daughters is obsessed with flags right now and I'm sure that we saw (and heard) about every American flag between Sonoma, Kenwood, Calistoga, St. Helena, Napa and back to Sonoma. It's always a patriotic drive with her in the car.


The real reason for the drive was to get out of the house and enjoy this nice weather we've had for only a few days. Unfortunately, today was not as nice as previous, but it was still a good day.


From Sonoma, we drove North to Santa Rosa and headed over Calistoga Road to the northern part of the Napa Valley. We stopped along the way and took some pictures, like this...



This vineyard caught my attention because it appeared to be all one block - vineyards are broken up into blocks with larger row spacing between the blocks making them easier to manage - with no row spacing. I imagine they would harvest (and manage) this vineyard very differently on the bottom than the top because of the slope as well as the sun exposure. Cool stuff. Next time you're driving by a vineyard think about it.

Some small clusters about to bloom....

We're getting close to bloom. This is when the buds begin to flower and pollinate. It can be a very dangerous time in the vineyard. Without proper pollination and set, the grape clusters will contain both grapes that are growing and grapes that never started. Not a good thing.

We also found some pretty flowers today....

I'm not a horticulturist, but I think this is a type of poppy.

I love vineyard pictures with old barns, particularly red ones....

And for some reason, I have a fascination with wind machines....

We stopped in Calistoga and walked around. I found these two shops next to each other....

Who knew I would find two of my favorite things in Calistoga? - wine tasting and candy. Maybe I should think about making a spot in my cellar for candy.

We drove into Castello di Amorosa. We didn't get out, but I thought the girls would like to see a castle. They had some pretty flowers and some flags, of course.

Just looked like a pretty spot up on the hill....

After a quick refresh back at home, we headed over to my in-laws house for a swim and a BBQ dinner. Of course, I brought along some wine.

Unfortunately, the Deerfield Ranch was corked. Corked refers to a bacteria that can live in cork closures and can ruin the wine very quickly. You can read more about it here. It is very easy for humans to detect this taint and once you know the smell, it's something that will generally be easily detectable. The question came up, "what can you do with a corked wine"? I wasn't sure, so a quick search on the web turned up this website. Not sure if it works, but it's worth a shot.

Luckily, my in-laws have a well stocked cellar and pulled out this 2000 Arrowood Chardonnay.

It was quite amazing for a 10 year old Chardonnay. There are plenty of red wines that don't hold up that long, so it was a real treat to have a white that was still full of life at that age.

A foodie shot of the ribs on the BBQ!

Full menu: BBQ pork ribs, corn, rosemary red potatoes, Syrah and flag napkins!

Syrah and BBQ or grilled foods go together like meat and potatoes. This Syrah came from Zaca Mesa Winery in Santa Ynez Valley near Santa Barbara, CA. It had good structure and aromas and flavors of blackberry, raspberry, clove and licorice. The latter coming through on the long finish. The back label said to drink now or within the next 8-10 years. It was a 2003 and I think we hit a sweet spot. A very nice wine, especially when considering the price of about $20.

Of course, no meal is complete with out dessert. On tonight's list was this Mudd Pie from Trader Joe's. It was very tasty.

Sure, we had a great time today. Sure, we ate (and drank) like true Americans. But let's not forget why we received this extra day off. Someone, scratch that, thousands of someones gave their lives so we can continue to enjoy the finer things in life. Time with family.

Old(er) wine

As I sit here tonight drinking a wine from the mid 90's, I wonder how many people out there enjoy older wine. Older is a relative term, of course, and it can depend on where you're from or what style of wine you are used to drinking.

For Americans, in general, they enjoy wines that are younger. There is only a small percentage of the population that "collects" wine and consumes it when it is older. Some don't ever consume it and just collect it. I've never understood that and I think the winemakers out there would be disappointed to see their product go to waste - but that is another story.

Young and younger wines are great for many reasons. For starters, young wines tend to be fruit forward. If you smell wine from a barrel after fermentation, it tends to have very strong fruit flavors. Unfortunately, like many things in wine production, young is not the only factor for fruit forward - hotter climates will produce wines with more fruit aromas as well.

Young red wines also have higher levels of tannin (an astringency that comes from the skins and seeds). This can be great with certain food pairings. For instance, if I'm grilling up a Rib-Eye steak, I want a wine with a high tannin level to counterbalance the fattiness of the steak. A young Malbec works really well.

But most importantly, young wines are what we are used to. Rarely do we order an older wine off a wine list - likely because it's too expensive. But also because it's not often available and we don't like to stray away from the "norm".

So for the few that are patient and able to put a wine away for many years, what are the benefits?

Well, let's begin with what you'll encounter first - the aromas. Smells can change dramatically with age in the bottle. What was once a bright red cherry flavor could become dark cherry or cooked cherries or something completely different from cherries, like licorice. One never knows how wine is going to change and develop, but to me that's the interesting part.

One of my favorite things about older wines is their texture. Once in the mouth, these wines can take on some of the best textures my tongue has ever run across. The tannins have generally faded away and what's left is a velvety smoothness that coats the mouth. Now, let's take that same young Malbec that was paired with the Rib-Eye above. Pair it with an aged wine and the steak will overpower the wine. But, cook a Fillet-Mignon and match it up with an older Malbec and you'll likely have a winning combination. Interesting. As the wine ages, the foods it goes with will change too.

Another factor (an overlooked one, I think), is that an aged wine is understated. It takes a lot more concentration to identify flavors and aromas in an older wine than it does in a younger one. Maybe we're more familiar with the fruit flavors of a younger wine, so they're easier to notice. But I think that most wine is consumed without much thought. Really understanding wine is like stopping to smell the roses - it sounds like a good idea, but most people don't take the time to really do it.

Don't take that last statement the wrong way - it sounds kind-of snobby, I know. But I'm okay with "I like this wine" or "I don't like this wine". In most cases, that's good enough. But if you have taken the time to age a wine (or purchased one that was aged properly for you), you should sit down and really think about it. If you're from the area the wine is from, think about what the weather was like that year - if you can remember. Think about the area and what the terrain is like and how that might affect the wine. But most of all, think about what's in the glass. Smell it. Stick your nose in the glass and really smell it. Taste it. What do the aromas and flavors remind you of? You might be surprised how much you know about wine.

Just a quick aside....not all wine has age-able qualities. How do you know? Well, the best thing to do is to ask the source how long to age the wine, if at all. The top three things that allow for a wine to be aged are acid, tannin and sugar. A wine with high amounts of any of these can usually be aged for longer than one that doesn't have them.

So what am I drinking?

A 1996 Zinfandel from Teldeschi Vineyards in Dry Creek Valley. I bought it a couple of years ago (so it was already aged). It's rare to find a Zin that has age-able qualities, but I think this one shows really nicely. For me, the acid that's still apparent in the wine is the staying quality that worked for this particular one.

Alcohol Part II

We had some visitors to the winery this week from another country and the question came up again about alcohol (as it does on many occasions). The question was, of course, about high alcohol levels. My answer was the same as it has been for a while - we have high alcohol levels because we can.

There are many reasons for high(er) alcohol in California wines, some of which you can find in my first posting on alcohol here.

"Because we can" sounds like a really egotistical reason. And like true Americans, we have a big ego. Not just in Sonoma, but in California, Washington, Texas, New York and all the other wine growing regions in America. Maybe egotistical is a bad word or the wrong word, maybe we're just proud - is that a bad thing?

But there is some truth behind "because we can". There are other parts of the world that only dream about being able to get their grapes to full ripeness and not have to add sugar (yes, this happens) to raise the alcohol levels to decent levels. Decent enough to create wines that taste good enough anyway.

Generally, we don't have to worry about many of the weather problems, including rain at the end of the season. which in turn means we can get our grapes to full ripeness. As a result, we end up with higher alcohol levels.

My favorite reason though, and this is a relatively new one, is this:
Every region has their own style. In my opinion, it's what makes wine interesting. If the juice tasted the same no matter where it was from, then what would be the point? So, my new theory/reasoning goes like this - we have higher alcohol levels creating big, bold wines because it's our style. It's what we're known for. If we did it any other way it just wouldn't be the same.

So, be proud of our high(er) alcohol wines, it's still relatively low compared to many other alcoholic drinks. And please, please stop saying we make wines in a "French" style. I can't tell you how many times I've heard this in a tasting room. It's impossible to re-create the conditions of any place other than where you are. We have our own style, let's be proud.

Cheers!

The rain

I love the rain. Well, I love it during the late fall and winter, which is when we expect to see it here in Northern California. Of course, my concern for grapes has biased my opinion a little.


So here's the big question - does rain in May cause complications with the grapes?

It depends. Like everything else in growing grapes and making wine, it depends. I know it sounds like a cop out, but it's true. Here's why.

You see, we got a late start to bud break this year because of an extended cool and rainy season. As a result, bloom hasn't happened yet. If we were in the middle of bloom, this rain today could be disastrous. If rain, especially heavy rain or hail, happens during bloom it can seriously effect the number of grapes on the clusters and create what we call shatter.

Shatter is when clusters have grapes that are both pollinated and unpollinated. In most cases, these clusters will later be cut off. If the vineyard workers have to cut off too many of the clusters this can put the vine out of balance or in the worst case, not produce enough tonnage. These are all things that could have happened today, if it hadn't been so cool and rainy this year.

So, the good news is that we are in the clear, so far. There's always a chance for more rain later, but we're pretty lucky here in California. Unlike other regions of the world, like the famed Bordeaux and Burgundy, California rarely has catastrophic rain and hail events. For the most part, it's tough to make bad wine here. In case I mislead you with the last statement, it's also tough to make excellent wine as well - so don't be fooled.

We'll keep crossing our fingers and doing our "no rain" dances from here until we have picked the grapes and they are resting safely (relatively) in their tanks and barrels. Until then, there will be many worried and stressed individuals in the wine industry. Good thing we all have wine in our glasses to de-stress at the end of the day.


Cheers!