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Aron Weinkauf has been a part of Spottswoode since 2006.

Spottswoode’s Aron Weinkauf Has Spain To Thank for His Life in Wine

June 23, 2020 / / 0 Comments

I love to talk about wine with people who share my passion for it. We open bottles, we trade stories about travel and soil types, terroir and residual sugar, and we talk of taste and food and restaurants. We recommend wines to one another, we drink, and we learn a lot.

In Wine Talk, I introduce you to friends, acquaintances, and people I meet as I make my way around the world, individuals who love wine as much as I do, who live to taste, who farm and make wine. You’ll appreciate their insight, and I hope you’ll learn something from them as well. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has put me behind in meeting new people in person. Fellow writers, cooks and chefs, sommeliers, and, of course, winemakers. Aron Weinkauf (oh yes, he definitely has an appropriate family name!) is one of the individuals I look forward to meeting when next we are in Napa, and he’s the star of the latest Wine Talk.

Weinkauf is both vineyard manager and winemaker at the storied Spottswoode estate, whose team he joined in 2006 (as assistant winemaker). He is only the fifth head winemaker in Spottswoode’s history.

Weinkauf grew up in Nevada, where his family tended a vegetable garden (organic at that) and raised a variety of animals, including pigs, chickens, and horses. He went to school at Berry College, where he studied Spanish, a major that, though he did not know it at the time, put him on the road a career in wine.

During his junior and senior years at Berry, Weinkauf studied in Spain, where he learned to appreciate a glass of wine at meals. While working as a teacher after college, he volunteered at a winery in Nevada, and fell in love with the processes of growing grapes and making wine. Fresno State University was his next stop.

At the California school, Weinkauf, who was born in 1976, studied viticulture and enology, and he worked as an assistant winemaker at Ficklin Vineyards (which happens to be America’s oldest Port winery) while attending Fresno State. A stint at Paul Hobbs Winery was next.

And then came Spottswoode. Weinkauf oversees the estate’s 24 blocks, making some excellent Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc — if you have not had the pleasure of tasting these wines, do something to change that. He also makes a Syrah, from Sonoma County fruit.

Let’s see what Weinkauf has to say …

Aron Weinkauf with Panda and Cachou: Every estate needs a dog or two.

James Brock: Tell us about three wines you think are drinking well at the moment. What makes them worthwhile? How about a food pairing for each one?

Aron Weinkauf: First, if you can still find a 2012 Spottswoode Sauvignon Blanc, try it. One doesn’t age Sauvignon Blanc that often, but I really love ours with a little age on it. They can be so nuanced and yet still so fresh and youthful. You can get current vintages and try them young and try and age one if you can. My wife makes a salad with grapefruit, lettuce, shallots, a mustard dressing, and then crab or abalone (or any fish/shellfish), that is pretty awesome with it. 

Next, a Keller or Emmerich Knoll Riesling (Trocken) with some Thai or southeast-Asian stir fry.  

Drink this wine, says Weinkauf: Good things come from Weingut Knoll. (Courtesy The Source)

You can get the above bottles online, or ask at your wine shop; the Spottswoode can be ordered directly from us. 

I am very anxious to try a few more Priorat wines, too. I just had one and was amazed. The overripe, jammy versions of the 90’s seem to have made way for some really beautiful, balanced styles now. I want to see if that is true. 

Finally, I would also get a bottle of the Spottswoode’s 2016 or 2014 Estate Cab. Both are exceptional vintages and in very good shape, in youthful places. The 2017 is also great, yet one is rewarded by drinking Cabernets with a little more age on them.   

Weinkauf likes birth-year wines, and this one, from Heitz Cellar (1976), is on his list.

JB: If cost was no consideration, tell us the one bottle you would add to your personal collection, and why?

AW: I’m a big fan of birth-year wines. It’s so special to open up those bottles to celebrate with friends and loved ones. For myself, a ’76 Heitz Martha’s or Fay. 1977 Taylor’s Port for my wife. My brother’s and sister’s years are still around, too.  I guess I’m lucky in that most are not considered amazing vintages in general, so hunting them can be more affordable. 

Aron Weinkauf wants you to know the stories behind the wines you buy and drink, including those of the people who make it and the places from which it comes. (Courtesy Spottswoode)

JB: What is your favorite grape, and why?

AW: I would say Cabernet Sauvignon. I work with it, always getting to know it more, and love how it grows in the vineyard.  It has a health, structure, and balance in the vineyard, and I see so many of its physical traits in the wines it becomes. We don’t always see how dynamic it can be, but it can be very much so, though always with a more tannic edge.

JB: How about one bottle that our readers should buy now to cellar for 10 years, to celebrate a birth, anniversary, or other red-letter day? 

AW: Without a doubt I have to say Spottswoode Estate Cab. It’s from a special place, will age beautifully, and I’m proud of what we make. 

Buy this, and let it age.

JB: Where is your go-to place when you want to have a glass or bottle (outside your home and workplace)?

AW: At one point in time I would have told you Willi’s Wine Bar in Santa Rosa. It burned in the Tubbs Fire of 2017, and I now have two young kids, so if not work or home, going out is probably only going to happen with family or at a friend’s … and now socially distanced. (Note: Willi’s Wine Bar reopened, in a new location, in 2019.)

JB: If there was one thing you wish everyone would keep in mind when buying and drinking wine, what is it?

AW: Now more than ever, I wish people would know the story behind anything they purchase. Who owns it, how it’s made, farming practices, the effort, labor, and passion that has or has not gone into what you’re buying. There are real people behind each — where we choose to spend our money is how we pick whom we are supporting.  

JB: What is your “wine eureka moment,” the incident/taste/encounter that put you and wine on an intimate plane forever?

AW: I was lucky enough to have studied in Spain. It was my first introduction to wine at the dinner table, and I loved it. I was lucky, too, that Spain makes some great wines and the people I was with would open good ones. Nothing collectible, just good table wine. 

JB:What has been the strangest moment or incident involving wine that you have experienced in your career?

AW: The making of the 2017 vintage wines. The heat spikes of 2017 were so extreme … we hadn’t seen anything like it, and every day brought something new and peculiar. And then to have the vintage punctuated by all of the fires … It was a wild ride for sure. 

Jawohl, Herr Goethe, life is too short to drink bad wine. (Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, Goethe in der roemischen Campagna)

JB: What is your favorite wine reference in a work of literature or a film?

AW: There is a quote that I think Tony Soter mentioned to me, but many have heard it: “In winemaking we are all interventionalists, otherwise we’d be making vinegar.”

 On a truer literary basis, I must admit, an immediate reference did not come to mind.  So, I looked up a few things and followed those wormholes a bit.  

From Goethe’s play Götz von Berlichingen: “Wine rejoices the heart of man and joy is the mother of all virtues. ”

And from Groucho Marx: “I shall drink no wine before its time! OK, it’s time!” (I know, a little cliché, but I did have to look this up quickly. )

Want More Wine? Read On:

Alta Colina’s Molly Lonborg Wants a Bottle of Château Rayas
Mumm Napa’s Tami Lotz Talks Wine and Oysters
James MacPhail on Pinot Noir, White Burgundy, and Russell Crowe
A Very Proper Sparkling Wine
Talking With David Ramey
A Merlot That Your Snob Friend Will Love
French Couple Make a Sauvignon Blanc in California
A Perfect Afternoon Chardonnay
Terry Theise Talks Reisling
A New Wine Wonderland
Paris Wine Goddess Tells All
Rice Village Wine Bar Has a Cleveland Touch
A Texas White Blend for Your Table
A Pinot Noir Full of Flavor
This Pinot Gris From Oregon Pairs Well With Cheese
Willamette, Dammit!
A Value Rioja
Drink Pink!
Underbelly Veteran Goes for Grenache
A Man of Letters and Wine
Ms. Champagne Wants a Nebuchadnezzar
The Wine Artist Goes for Chardonnay
This American Loves Spain and Its Wines
Houston’s Wine Whisperer Has a Soft Touch
Blackberry Farm’s Somm Pours in Splendor
Mr. Pinot Noir: Donald Patz of Patz & Hall
A Cork Dork Wants to Spend More Time in Tuscany
Sommelier Turned Restaurateur Daringly Goes Greek
Texas Master Sommelier Debunks Wine Geeks
A Bottle From Gigondas Changed This Houston Man’s Life
Oil Man Falls in Love, and the Rest is Good-Taste History
Ryan Cooper of Camerata is a Riesling Man
Mixing It Up With Jeremy Parzen, an Ambassador of Italy
Sommelier at One of Houston’s Top Wine Bars Loves Underdogs

Molly Lonborg came to Alta Colina from Halter Ranch.

Alta Colina’s Molly Lonborg Talks Grenache, Asparagus, and Château Rayas

June 4, 2020 / / 0 Comments

I love to talk about wine with people who share my passion for it. We open bottles, we trade stories about travel and soil types, terroir and residual sugar, and we talk of taste and food and restaurants. We recommend wines to one another, we drink, and we learn a lot.

In Wine Talk, I introduce you to friends, acquaintances, and people I meet as I make my way around the world, individuals who love wine as much as I do, who live to taste, who farm and make wine. You’ll appreciate their insight, and I hope you’ll learn something from them as well. 

Molly Lonborg’s laughter is infectious, even experienced over a Zoom virtual tasting, which is how I was introduced to her last week. She’s the winemaker at Alta Colina, a Paso Robles-based estate “whose singular purpose is to grow superior Rhône-style wines.”

We tasted through several barrel samples on the chat, and a bottle sample of Alta Colina’s 2017 GSM. All were tasting well, and I was drinking quality, something that never fails to please me.

Lonborg came to Alta Colina in February of 2020, by way of Halter Ranch, whose team she joined in 2011 as lab manager and cellar assistant. She graduated from California Polytechnic State University in 2009, with a degree in earth sciences (with a concentration in wine and viticulture), and studied geology in New Zealand at the University of Otago. She was hand-picked by Bob Tillman, the founder and co-owner of the family-run Alta Colina, to succeed him as winemaker (Tillman is still a hands-on owner, and has the title of director of winemaking at the estate).

As you’ll read, Lonborg loves Grenache, and what she’s doing at Alta Colina with Rhône varietals is, based on my (thus far) limited tasting, exemplary. The bottle sample of the 2017 GSM we tasted was delicious, and the barrel samples caused me to write “get your hands on more of this producer’s bottles.”

I look forward to meeting Lonborg (and Tillman) in person, but until then, let’s see what she has to say in Wine Talk.

James Brock: Tell us about three wines you think are drinking well at the moment. What makes them worthwhile? How about a food pairing for each one?

Molly Lonborg: Our current technique at Alta Colina is for our red wines to undergo 22 months of barrel-aging and an additional year in bottle.  We just released our 2017 reds and a couple of our whites.  At the moment, my personal favorites are the 2017 GSM, the 2019 Grenache Blanc, and our 2019 Rose. 

Alta Colina’s GSM: France-inspired Californian

Our 2017 GSM ($56) is a blend of 76 percent Grenache, 20 percent Syrah, and 4 percent Mourvèdre. This wine has a beautiful combination of fruit and rusticity.  With Grenache in the driving seat there are notes of strawberry fruit, leather, and dried cranberry; the Syrah is providing some unctuousness and depth; and the Mourvèdre rounds it out with earthy notes and spice characteristics. I personally love to age Grenaches, as I think they are complex, and over time the flavors become more layered. So although this wine is drinking great right now, I think it has the potential to shine around 2028-2030.  This is an extremely versatile wine and can pair beautifully with a wide range of foods, from hearty vegetable dishes to wild game.  

I am also really enjoying our 2019 Grenache Blanc ($34). I love Grenache Blanc from Paso Robles. Over the years it seems that it has received a bit of a bad rep as being a flabby (low acid) white wine. However, I think a lot of that comes from the fact that it is a Rhone white varietal and historically the tank space was favored for red wines, resulting in whites that were often left too long on the vine prior to vinification. 

Grenache Blanc is actually one of the few white grapes that is able to maintain acidity in our hot climate, while also having some body.  Our Grenache Blanc is true to the varietal with notes of white flowers, honeydew melon, pear, and a great minerality. Most of our whites are fermented in barrel and aged for 18 months, but the Grenache Blanc is tank fermented and released after after months of aging in the tank, which makes it a fresh, ready-to-drink offering. This wine pairs well with summer salads and anything from the sea.

A sampling of Alta Colina’s production

My third wine is our 2019 Rose ($28).  It is 100 percent Grenache, picked early and pressed whole-cluster prior to fermenting cool in the tank. This wine saw a few weeks of neutral oak, which adds some nice creamy notes to the predominant flavors of wild strawberries and guava. I love this wine with brunch, egg-based dishes, salmon, or vegetarian cuisine (Esther Mobley just wrote an article touting this wine’s ability to pair well with asparagus, a notoriously difficult vegetable to pair wine with due to the sulfur qualities in contains).

(Note: Alta Colina’s sales skew about 95 percent direct to consumer, so the best way to find these wines is through its website.)

JB: If cost was no consideration, tell us the one bottle you would add to your personal collection, and why?

ML: This is a tough question for me … there are so many really!  Honestly, if someone said I could spend $500 to $1,000 on a bottle of wine, I would probably ask to take the money and spend it on a case or two from a bunch of different producers.  I love to try out new, fun, unique offerings from the U.S. and around the world.  I like to support small wineries that are preserving varietal characteristics in their wines.  

However, if I were forced to buy one bottle it would probably be a 2016
Château Rayas.  Although I have never been able to taste a Château Rayas I love Grenache and I have heard great things about the 2016 vintage in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. 

JB: What is your favorite grape, and why?

ML: Well, I kind of just gave it away, but Grenache is by far my favorite varietal.  There are so many reasons why I love Grenache.  It is such a versatile grape, it makes delicious Rose and red wine; it can be beautiful on its own, but also shines in blends. Because it is a medium-bodied wine it tends to not do well with new oak, as the intricacies of the varietal can easily be overpowered. It can be head-trained or trellised. It withstands virus in the vineyard well, and pairs well with a wide variety of foods. It is generally affordable, and has amazing red fruit characteristics like strawberry, cherry, cranberry, even watermelon and guava when used for a Rose.  

I am also really excited that in 2020 we are going to continue a project that I started while working at Halter Ranch Vineyard by producing a carbonic Grenache at Alta Colina.

JB: How about one bottle that our readers should buy now to cellar for 10 years, to celebrate a birth, anniversary, or other red-letter day? 

ML: Red-letter day, I love that! I would suggest two wines, our 2018 Model Citizen Roussanne (will be released this fall), as I love the way Roussanne ages, and our 2017 Ann’s Block Petite Sirah. These are both gorgeous wines that should drink well for 10 to 15 years. 

Bob Tillman, Alta Colina’s founder and co-owner, sold the first bottle of Alta Colina-labeled wine in 2009.

JB: Where is your go-to place when you want to have a glass or bottle (outside your home and workplace)?

ML: Sadly, I don’t get out much these days (and not just because of COVID-19 times), because we have an 11-month-old that keeps us pretty busy.  However, on the rare occasions we do get out we will usually head to 15C for a wide range of wines, Lone Madrone for burger Sunday and to enjoy some delicious wines crafted by the father-son duo of Neil and Jordan Collins (all fruit is sourced from dry-farmed vineyards, with minimal oak/additives), or we often frequent the Collins’ other establishment, Bristols Cider House.

Alta Colina’s tasting room is looking forward to a post-COVID-19 world.

JB: If there was one thing you wish everyone would keep in mind when buying and drinking wine, what is it?

ML: That if you think the wine is good, then it’s good.  I waited tables for years, and people would always ask me if I thought a particular bottle was a good wine.  My response was always, “It doesn’t matter what I think, if you like it then it’s a good wine.”  I think people get wrapped up in the prestige of wine, what other people think, the price, the label, etc.  At the end of the day, wine is a labor of love, and we do what we do in hopes that wherever you are when you open that bottle of wine that it makes you feel something and provides some happiness.  

I met the Alta Colina team of Bob Tillman, Maggie Tillman, and Molly Lonborg at a virtual tasting in May.
The 2019 Syrah Block 8 barrel sample is confidently speaking of the vintage’s potential.
Lots of great Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre is growing at Alta Colina.

JB: What is your “wine eureka moment,” the incident/taste/encounter that put you and wine on an intimate plane forever?

ML: That’s a bit hard to say.  I didn’t grow up in a wine family, and I don’t think I can trace my interest back to one bottle or tasting. However, I began my interest in university.  I studied earth science at Cal Poly and spent a lot of time in soil classes; after my freshman year I spent a year in New Zealand studying geology. Upon my return to Cal Poly, I discovered the wine and viticulture department. I quickly added a concentration in wine and viticulture to my curriculum. I began working in the industry thinking I would go into sustainable/organic vineyard work, but I ended up on a path that kept me in the winery.  

There used to be a wine seminar called A7 that was created for industry members who loved Rhône wines. I remember the first one was at Law Estate, and there were two presentations by amazing women winemakers, Anne-Charlotte Mélia–Bachas of Font du Loup and Helen Keplinger of Keplinger wines. I had felt a bit of an odd (wo)man out in the wine industry, as it has been pretty male dominated, but after hearing these women talk I knew I was hooked and that I wanted to be a winemaker.  

Font du Loup’s Anne-Charlotte Mélia-Bachas is in part responsible for Molly Lonberg’s winemaking career.

JB:What has been the strangest moment or incident involving wine that you have experienced in your career?

ML: So many, how to choose just one … One of my favorite wine moments was discovering a gem of a wine that I had completely overlooked. The 2017 harvest was difficult for whites in Paso Robles because we had a lot of rain, which resulted in a lot of crop and canopy, but then, in the beginning of September, we had 10 days over 100 degrees, which caused a lot of the fruit to stall in ripening. At Halter Ranch we had some Picpoul Blanc that just never ripened; we kept letting it hang, thinking it might eventually ripen, but we ended up harvesting it in the beginning of November at 19 brix (typically we would harvest around 23 brix). We vinified it in tank and racked it clean to a topped-up tank, thinking we would sell it on the bulk market. I was tasting through tanks one day, and when I smelled this tank I was completely blown away. After tasting it I was hooked! We ended up bottling it on its own at 11.2 percent alcohol, and it was such a fun wine and a beautiful expression of the varietal. 

However, by far the craziest wine incident in my career involved an intern that accidentally removed the wrong clamp, and the 3-inch bottom valve to a 10-ton fermenter that was filled with actively fermenting Syrah blew off and wine and grapes began to deluge everywhere.  It took three of us to put all of our weight into covering the hole while someone else set up a sump and a pump and we pumped as much as we could into an empty tank. It took about 45 minutes for us to get the thing under control, and by the end we had lost quite a bit of wine and fruit and we were covered from head to toe in fermenting Syrah. Man oh man, I wish those were the days of iPhones and easily accessible cameras; sadly, there is no photo of the aftermath.

JB: What is your favorite wine reference in a work of literature or a film?

ML: I wish there were more to choose from. But probably my favorite wine reference is from The Jerk when Steve Martin is asked if he wants another bottle of Chateau Latour and he responds with, “Yes, but no more 1966.  Let’s splurge!  Bring us some fresh wine, the freshest you’ve got. This year’s. No more of this old stuff.  He doesn’t realize he’s dealing with sophisticated people here!”

Want More Wine? Read On:

Mumm Napa’s Tami Lotz Talks Wine and Oysters
James MacPhail on Pinot Noir, White Burgundy, and Russell Crowe
A Very Proper Sparkling Wine
Talking With David Ramey
A Merlot That Your Snob Friend Will Love
French Couple Make a Sauvignon Blanc in California
A Perfect Afternoon Chardonnay
Terry Theise Talks Reisling
A New Wine Wonderland
Paris Wine Goddess Tells All
Rice Village Wine Bar Has a Cleveland Touch
A Texas White Blend for Your Table
A Pinot Noir Full of Flavor
This Pinot Gris From Oregon Pairs Well With Cheese
Willamette, Dammit!
A Value Rioja
Drink Pink!
Underbelly Veteran Goes for Grenache
A Man of Letters and Wine
Ms. Champagne Wants a Nebuchadnezzar
The Wine Artist Goes for Chardonnay
This American Loves Spain and Its Wines
Houston’s Wine Whisperer Has a Soft Touch
Blackberry Farm’s Somm Pours in Splendor
Mr. Pinot Noir: Donald Patz of Patz & Hall
A Cork Dork Wants to Spend More Time in Tuscany
Sommelier Turned Restaurateur Daringly Goes Greek
Texas Master Sommelier Debunks Wine Geeks
A Bottle From Gigondas Changed This Houston Man’s Life
Oil Man Falls in Love, and the Rest is Good-Taste History
Ryan Cooper of Camerata is a Riesling Man
Mixing It Up With Jeremy Parzen, an Ambassador of Italy
Sommelier at One of Houston’s Top Wine Bars Loves Underdogs

Tami Lotz oversees winemaking at Mumm Napa. (Courtesy Mumm Napa)

Mumm Napa’s Tami Lotz Covets a 1979 Salon, and She’s a Lover of German Wines

May 28, 2020 / / 0 Comments

I love to talk about wine with people who share my passion for it. We open bottles, we trade stories about travel and soil types, terroir and residual sugar, and we talk of taste and food and restaurants. We recommend wines to one another, we drink, and we learn a lot.

In Wine Talk, I introduce you to friends, acquaintances, and people I meet as I make my way around the world, individuals who love wine as much as I do, who live to taste, who farm and make wine. You’ll appreciate their insight, and I hope you’ll learn something from them as well. 

Mumm Napa is a beautiful place. Back in 2003, I toured the winery on a warm, sunny afternoon, ending the day seated on a terrace outside, glass of sparkling in hand. Memories of France — and a day at Maison Mumm — came back to me as I drank and admired the view.

Back in late September (2019), I was scheduled for a return engagement at Mumm Napa, but had to cancel, to my regret. As soon as we are able to travel, the winery will be one of our first destinations. Until then, I’m sampling a few bottles I received — a Brut Prestige, a Brut Rosé, the 2013 DVX Rosé, and the 2011 DVX — and taking the time to research the history of Mumm … it’s a fascinating (German) story, so if you don’t know the house’s origins get reading. (And here’s a bit about Mumm Napa’s founding.)

Mumm Napa was completed in 1987.

I’ll have review of the sparkling wines soon, including a profile of Guy Devaux, the man responsible for Mumm Napa, so look for that, but in the meantime I’m featuring Tami Lotz in Wine Talk. She oversees winemaking at Mumm, and is engaging and opinionated, qualities I like.

Lotz, a Napa native, has a degree in enology and viticulture from U.C. Davis, and has spent time in Germany, Australia, and Chile (focused on wine, of course). She worked as an intern at Mumm after college, and returned to the Napa estate full time in 2003.

Let’s see what she has to say.

James Brock: Tell us about three wines you think are drinking well at the moment. What makes them worthwhile? How about a food pairing for each one?

Tami Lotz: I tend to drink a lot of sparkling wine, so, of course, I have a couple to recommend.

First, I’ve been really enjoying the Mumm Napa 2014 Blanc de Blancs Reserve.  The blend is 82 percent Chardonnay and 18 percent Pinot Gris.  I love the stone fruit and melon notes that the Pinot Gris contributes to the apple and citrus-dominant Chardonnay. It aged for almost four years on the yeast, so there’s a lot of toasty complexity in the wine.  I think it will continue to age beautifully for another 5 to 10 years.  My favorite pairing with this wine? Oysters! I love living close to the coast so we can drive out and pick up a few dozen to take home and savor.  Retail price: $44

I’m always looking for new bubbles to try, and I recently came across a bottle from England, a Hattingley Valley Classic Reserve.  I haven’t tasted a lot of English sparkling, and I was very impressed by the quality.  The fruit was fresh, the acid bright, and the wine very balanced overall.  I enjoyed that bottle with sushi, but I think a cheese board would also be nice. Retail price: $50

As you can probably imagine with my sparkling wine background, I’m a big fan of acid.  I tend to seek out German wines because I love their acidity, minerality, and amazing aromatic expression.  I recently opened a 2017 Juliusspital Würzburger Stein Silvaner Erste Lage trocken. It was gorgeous.  The nose had a lot of pear and citrus, and the palate had a surprising amount of weight, with excellent minerality and a long finish.  We went with traditional German fare that evening, and paired it with Weißwurst and Käsespätzle. Retail price: $35

Tami Lotz loves — as she should — Chardonnay.

JB: If cost was no consideration, tell us the one bottle you would add to your personal collection, and why?

TL: 1979 Salon.  It’s one of only 37 vintages they produced in the 20th century and happens to be my birth year.

JB: What is your favorite grape, and why?

TL: It’s hard to pick a favorite grape, just like it is to pick a favorite wine, but I’m especially enamored with Chardonnay from a sparkling wine standpoint. It provides acid backbone, elegance, and length to blends, and it is perfectly wonderful when in the spotlight as a Blanc de Blancs. It ages exceptionally well, and pairs with the foods I enjoy most.

JB: How about one bottle that our readers should buy now to cellar for 10 years, to celebrate a birth, anniversary, or other red-letter day? 

TL: People don’t always realize how well sparkling wine can age. I would recommend the Mumm Napa 2006 DVX Extra Brut. After eight years on the yeast, this wine was in balance with very little dosage. It still shows youth in the bright fruit and acid, but offers so much complexity in the brioche notes contributed by the yeast. The palate shows a lot of weight and creaminess, and the finish seems to last forever. It will still be beautiful in another decade.

JB: Where is your go-to place when you want to have a glass or bottle (outside your home and workplace)?

TL: My go-to is the Oxbow Cheese and Wine Merchant in Napa. I love that they are constantly changing their list and bringing in new and interesting wines from all over the world. It’s a great place to catch up with friends and enjoy some wine and cheese. (Note: I miss the days of being able to experience the above. My current go-to place is the back patio next to the old orange tree, and our happy hours are virtual, but still very fun!)

A sparking named after a great winemaker.

JB: If there was one thing you wish everyone would keep in mind when buying and drinking wine, what is it?

TL: The one thing I can’t say enough is to drink what you like. I think that, too often, people drink what they think they “should” or what they think might impress someone. If we could all just take a moment and think about the wines that have made us smile, that made our day a little brighter, or that simply tasted good, and then go buy those wines, we’d be much happier wine drinkers.

JB: What is your “wine eureka moment,” the incident/taste/encounter that put you and wine on an intimate plane forever?

TL: I remember my first year at U.C. Davis. I was an Animal Biology major, but decided to take an Intro to Winemaking class. I grew up in Napa, was working in restaurants to pay for school, and enjoyed tasting wine, but didn’t really know much about how it was made. When it struck me that making wine was a unique blend of art and science, and that it could be a career, I changed my major and never looked back.

JB:What has been the strangest moment or incident involving wine that you have experienced in your career?

TL: A college classmate’s parents showed up with a bottle of dandelion wine for us to taste  It’s still one of the most unique tasting experiences I’ve had.

JB: What is your favorite wine reference in a work of literature?

TL: Ernest Hemingway wrote that “Wine is one of the most civilized things in the world and one of the natural things of the world that has been brought to the greatest perfection, and it offers a greater range for enjoyment and appreciation than, possibly, any other purely sensory thing which may be purchased.” I would agree.

Want More Wine? Read On:

James MacPhail on Pinot Noir, White Burgundy, and Russell Crowe
A Very Proper Sparkling Wine
Talking With David Ramey
A Merlot That Your Snob Friend Will Love
French Couple Make a Sauvignon Blanc in California
A Perfect Afternoon Chardonnay
Terry Theise Talks Reisling
A New Wine Wonderland
Paris Wine Goddess Tells All
Rice Village Wine Bar Has a Cleveland Touch
A Texas White Blend for Your Table
A Pinot Noir Full of Flavor
This Pinot Gris From Oregon Pairs Well With Cheese
Willamette, Dammit!
A Value Rioja
Drink Pink!
Underbelly Veteran Goes for Grenache
A Man of Letters and Wine
Ms. Champagne Wants a Nebuchadnezzar
The Wine Artist Goes for Chardonnay
This American Loves Spain and Its Wines
Houston’s Wine Whisperer Has a Soft Touch
Blackberry Farm’s Somm Pours in Splendor
Mr. Pinot Noir: Donald Patz of Patz & Hall
A Cork Dork Wants to Spend More Time in Tuscany
Sommelier Turned Restaurateur Daringly Goes Greek
Texas Master Sommelier Debunks Wine Geeks
A Bottle From Gigondas Changed This Houston Man’s Life
Oil Man Falls in Love, and the Rest is Good-Taste History
Ryan Cooper of Camerata is a Riesling Man
Mixing It Up With Jeremy Parzen, an Ambassador of Italy
Sommelier at One of Houston’s Top Wine Bars Loves Underdogs

Gundlach Bundschu’s Merlot Was Made for Lamb Meatballs

May 19, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Virtual tastings: How many have you participated in during the past week? I’ve enjoyed several, including one a few days ago that featured a Chardonnay, a Syrah, and a Cabernet Sauvignon, all from California, from different producers, and all representing great value (look for a review soon).

COVID-19 has made this type of tasting a regular thing, and I am looking forward to taking part in more of them later this week, and well (who knows for how long?) into the future. Let me know how yours are going.

Today, I want to tell you about a 2016 Merlot, from Gundlach Bundschu, an estate that traces its founding to 1858, when a Bavarian, Jacob Gundlach, purchased 400 acres in Sonoma, an expanse he named Rhinefarm. He then returned to Germany, married Eva, and the couple traveled in their homeland and France on their honeymoon, during which Jacob bought the rootstock he planted on the farm. The following year, 1859, Jacob and his three partners established 60,000 vines on the property.

The 2016 Gundlach Bundschu Merlot is well worth its $35 price.

The sixth generation of the family is now in charge at Rhinefarm, led by Jeff Bundschu, who became president of the family-owned venture in 2001, when he was 33.

To the 2016 Merlot. It marked the 40th anniversary of the wine for Gundlach Bundschu (the first vintage was 1976), and here’s the rundown on the varietal composition: 82 percent Merlot, 9 percent Petit Verdot, and 9 percent Cabernet Sauvignon. It was aged for 17 months in 100 percent French oak (Nadalié), 40 percent new. Alcohol is 14.6 percent.

I opened this bottle one evening last week, and sampled it immediately. I was met with aromas of dark cherries, tobacco, earth, and mushroom, an entirely pleasant experience. The spice notes rang out in the mouth, along with mushroom, vanilla (slight), ripe cherry, and leather. Tannins here are rounded, relaxed. My next taste came 20 minutes later, and the time benefitted the wine’s balance.

Pairings? I had laid out a block of Gorgonzola earlier in the day, and it was perfect for this bottle. The main course that evening was lamb meatballs, and I cannot think of anything I’d enjoy more with this Merlot, which can be had for around $35 — it’s sold out at the winery, but is available at many merchants.

Want more wine? Read on:

James MacPhail Has His Way With Pinot
A Very Proper Sparkling Wine
Talking With David Ramey
A Merlot That Your Snob Friend Will Love
French Couple Make a Sauvignon Blanc in California
A Perfect Afternoon Chardonnay
Terry Theise Talks Reisling
A New Wine Wonderland
Paris Wine Goddess Tells All
Rice Village Wine Bar Has a Cleveland Touch
A Texas White Blend for Your Table
A Pinot Noir Full of Flavor
This Pinot Gris From Oregon Pairs Well With Cheese
Willamette, Dammit!
A Value Rioja
Drink Pink!
Underbelly Veteran Goes for Grenache
A Man of Letters and Wine
Ms. Champagne Wants a Nebuchadnezzar
The Wine Artist Goes for Chardonnay
This American Loves Spain and Its Wines
Houston’s Wine Whisperer Has a Soft Touch
Blackberry Farm’s Somm Pours in Splendor
Mr. Pinot Noir: Donald Patz of Patz & Hall
A Cork Dork Wants to Spend More Time in Tuscany
Sommelier Turned Restaurateur Daringly Goes Greek
Texas Master Sommelier Debunks Wine Geeks
A Bottle From Gigondas Changed This Houston Man’s Life
Oil Man Falls in Love, and the Rest is Good-Taste History
Ryan Cooper of Camerata is a Riesling Man
Mixing It Up With Jeremy Parzen, an Ambassador of Italy
Sommelier at One of Houston’s Top Wine Bars Loves Underdogs

James MacPhail always has Pinot Noir on his mind. (Brockhaus photo)

A Pinot Master: James MacPhail Has Many Vintages Ahead of Him

May 18, 2020 / / 0 Comments

I love to talk about wine with people who share my passion for it. We open bottles, we trade stories about travel and soil types, terroir and residual sugar, and we talk of taste and food and restaurants. We recommend wines to one another, we drink, and we learn a lot.

In Wine Talk, I introduce you to friends, acquaintances, and people I meet as I make my way around the world, individuals who love wine as much as I do, who live to taste, who farm and make wine. You’ll appreciate their insight, and I hope you’ll learn something from them as well. 

James MacPhail was busy when we walked up to Grapewagon Custom Crush, his winemaking facility in Healdsburg, California. It was a beautiful harvest day, early October 2019. He and a crew were unloading a truck full of grapes that had just arrived, and they were in a hurry. I shook his hand in greeting, and he went back to the task at hand.

A bin of grapes await human hands at Grapewagon Custom Crush.

I was there to meet MacPhail (for the first time) and taste some of his Tongue Dancer wines — he and Kerry MacPhail, his partner and wife, launched the label in 2012. (Note: The brief wait for MacPhail to finish his work was well worth it, because there are some great wines being made in the well-designed facility.)

Grapewagon Custom Crush

MacPhail’s name is known far and wide in the wine world, for good reason. His touch with the Pinot Noir grape has been producing memorable results for a long time — his first “assistant” winemaking job started in 1999, and he launched MacPhail Family Wines, as head winemaker, with the 2001 vintage. (The Hess Collection purchased MacPhail Family Wines in 2011.)

MacPhail, in addition to Tongue Dancer, makes wine for, among others, Chronicle Wines, Grant Family Vineyard, Tipp Rambler, and Sangiacomo Wines. He has produced more than 130 Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays that have been awarded 90 points or more by critics and publications, a feat that has earned him a spot in the 90+/90+ Club in Sonoma County. Grapewagon Custom Crush counts among its clients Sangiacomo, Calafia Cellars, and Flaunt Wine Company. It’s a busy place.

Kerry and James Macphail, the team behind Tongue Dancer Wines.

After a quick tour of the crush facility, James took us upstairs, where we tasted a number of wines, including some excellent Pinots and Chardonnays. Kerry joined us and added to James’ stories — it was quickly obvious that she is more than an equal partner in all aspects of his life. They have a great thing going on.

Not long after I moved to Los Angeles, in November of 2019, I found a bottle of 2004 MacPhail Toulouse Vineyard Pinot Noir at a local merchant. I picked it up for about $30, and opened it a week or so later, to pair with a steak. Its color had faded a bit, but it was drinking wonderfully well.

This Pinot Noir made by James MacPhail, which I opened late in 2019, had aged well.
A wagon full of grapes …

MacPhail has many years of winemaking ahead of him, and for that we should all be glad, because he’s getting only better.

Let’s see what MacPhail has to say in Wine Talk:

James Brock: Tell us about three wines you think are drinking well at the moment. What makes them worthwhile? How about a food pairing for each one?

James MacPhail: There are a couple of wines right now that are singing. First, the 2017 8 Hand Fiano. It’s a beautiful domestic expression of the Italian grape. Comes from a vineyard out in the Dry Creek Valley. Beautiful nutty notes with white flowers and honeysuckle. Nice acidity, with a low impact of oak. Great wine to have chilled on these warmer days with fish dishes (halibut, ceviche, sushi), and light pastas (angel hair with prawns or pesto). I believe it sells for around $35 a bottle. (Note: If you want more information about 8 Hand, including ordering details, leave me a comment.)

Next, 2017 Sangiacomo Pinot Noir Roberts Road Vineyard, from one of my all-time favorite vineyards. I’ve been making wine from this vineyard since 2003 (13 years for MacPhail, four years now for Sangiacomo). This is a beautiful expression of bright red-fruit Pinot, with balanced oak and acidity, and a very enjoyable, fun, and thought-provoking Pinot. The vineyard sits in the Petaluma Gap, so with the cooler climate, fruit gets slightly tougher skins, resulting in a Pinot with a good backbone as well. Delicious. Best all-time pairing is Peking duck. 

Finally, my 2015 Tongue Dancer Wines Chardonnay Bacigalupi Vineyard. From a rich vintage (last drought year), this Chardonnay is weighty, rich, opulent, and lush, yet still carries an elegant acidity that keeps it bright and refreshing … the best of both worlds. We are officially sold out of this, but have kept a small “stash” because it is such a gem. If anyone is interested, here’s the link: https://tonguedancerwines.com/library-wines. Since this is a ‘big’ Chardonnay, richer, creamy pasta dishes pair well (lobster and crab!). Also, grilled chicken.

JB: If cost was no consideration, tell us the one bottle you would add to your personal collection, and why?

JP: Well, being a white Burgundy fan, I would probably head in that direction — maybe a Domaine Ramonet Montrachet Grand Cru?

A tasting sampler at Grapewagon Custom Crush

JB: What is your favorite grape, and why?

JP: Pinot Noir. When I first began in this industry, I started out learning winemaking at Quivira Vineyards, a small, artisan producer in the Dry Creek Valley. They focused on their estate varietals — Sauvignon Blanc, Zinfandel — and some Rhone varietals — Grenache, Mourvedré and Syrah. Made a nice GSM. I spent about five-and-a-half years working there. I then went to work for Unti Vineyards, another small, artisan producer in the Dry Creek Valley, also focusing on their estate varietals, this time all Italian.

Over these years, I was always going home and drinking Pinot Noir. That was the grape varietal that resonated with me the most, had the most layers, and was the most thought-provoking. I feel that our winegrowing and winemaking industry really started to “figure out” Pinot here in California in the early to mid-1990’s — where it excelled, best winemaking practices, etc.

After my time at Unti, I decided to focus exclusively on Pinot Noir, and that is when I went to work for Gary Farrell. From that point on, I committed myself to Pinot. I told myself I wanted to learn one varietal and learn it well. Now, 20 years later …

JB: How about one bottle that our readers should buy now to cellar for 10 years, to celebrate a birth, anniversary, or other red-letter day? 

JP: My wife, Kerry, and I have our own personal wine brand, Tongue Dancer Wines, that we started in 2012. We make only a limited production of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, from the best vineyard sites, artisan cooperages, and only small lots. One of the Pinots is from my favorite vineyard out on the “true” Sonoma Coast — Putnam Vineyard — about three miles off the Pacific Ocean. The site and winemaking lends itself to a wine that is very age-worthy. The way the first set of vintages has aged is very exciting. We call it the Pinot de Ville, and the label has a different classic vintage Cadillac with each vintage. In my opinion, it’s a Pinot that can go up against any other Pinot from California or Oregon!

JB: Where is your go-to place when you want to have a glass or bottle (outside your home and workplace)?

JP: Well, this is a hard one, because Kerry and I don’t really go out to drink; with so much wine in-house, we stay home! My favorite bar in town is Duke’s Spirited Cocktails. Great bar. However, when I am on the road, I seek out wine bars. I always like to patronize local establishments trying hard to educate and offer a diverse and interesting selection of wines.  

JB: If there was one thing you wish everyone would keep in mind when buying and drinking wine, what is it?

JP: That’s simple: Try. Something. New.

James Brock and James MacPhail during a tasting at Grapewagon Custom Crush.

JB: What is your “wine eureka moment,” the incident/taste/encounter that put you and wine on an intimate plane forever?

JP: Well, I never had an “Ah-Ha” moment. For me, it stemmed more from being around wine growing up, and being taught about wine. I grew up around a very European table, where food and wine went hand in hand. My parents would always have a bottle of wine with dinner, and teach my sister and me, from as early as I can remember, on special occasions with a shot glass of half wine and half water. So I think I got it in my blood.

I had an opportunity in my mid-20’s to change course in my life, and I chose to move to Healdsburg and learn how to make wine. It was already a hobby of mine. That was the biggest “Ah-Ha” moment, leaving a good corporate-paying job that was not making me happy, and packing my bags to move north, to make $10 an hour and be the happiest I had ever been, and feeling more whole because I was “crafting something” from the earth. 

JB:What has been the strangest moment or incident involving wine that you have experienced in your career?

JP: Through the hundreds of wines I have now made over my career, I would have to say that the strangest moment/incident is experiencing a wine that I thought was not my best, to having it turn out to be one of my favorites.

Case in point, the 2011 Oregon Roserock Vineyard Pinot Noir. Picked it on November 4, 2011, one of the latest picks dates in the history of Oregon. Only reason we picked it that day was because Oregon’s first major storm was coming the next day, and the window would then be closed. We picked at 21.5˚ Brix, much lower than I wanted, and much less “physiologically ripe” than I had hoped for. First and only wine I have ever chaptalized. Now, nine years later, one of my all-time favorites. The fruit still sings, the wine is perfectly balanced … really mind-blowing!

JB: What is your favorite wine reference in a work of literature?

JP: I really enjoyed Wine and War. An easy read, but a fascinating history of how the French hid their wines from the invading Germans. My favorite wine film, and don’t laugh, is A Good Year, with Russell Crowe. A bit cheesy, but the storyline is pretty dreamy. I would love to find out I had an uncle in Burgundy that left me his estate!

Want more wine? Read on:

A Very Proper Sparkling Wine
Talking With David Ramey
A Merlot That Your Snob Friend Will Love
French Couple Make a Sauvignon Blanc in California
A Perfect Afternoon Chardonnay
Terry Theise Talks Reisling
A New Wine Wonderland
Paris Wine Goddess Tells All
Rice Village Wine Bar Has a Cleveland Touch
A Texas White Blend for Your Table
A Pinot Noir Full of Flavor
This Pinot Gris From Oregon Pairs Well With Cheese
Willamette, Dammit!
A Value Rioja
Drink Pink!
Underbelly Veteran Goes for Grenache
A Man of Letters and Wine
Ms. Champagne Wants a Nebuchadnezzar
The Wine Artist Goes for Chardonnay
This American Loves Spain and Its Wines
Houston’s Wine Whisperer Has a Soft Touch
Blackberry Farm’s Somm Pours in Splendor
Mr. Pinot Noir: Donald Patz of Patz & Hall
A Cork Dork Wants to Spend More Time in Tuscany
Sommelier Turned Restaurateur Daringly Goes Greek
Texas Master Sommelier Debunks Wine Geeks
A Bottle From Gigondas Changed This Houston Man’s Life
Oil Man Falls in Love, and the Rest is Good-Taste History
Ryan Cooper of Camerata is a Riesling Man
Mixing It Up With Jeremy Parzen, an Ambassador of Italy
Sommelier at One of Houston’s Top Wine Bars Loves Underdogs

David Ramey Talks Moueix, Mexicali, and Hemingway

May 4, 2020 / / 0 Comments

I love to talk about wine with people who share my passion for it. We open bottles, we trade stories about travel and soil types, terroir and residual sugar, and we talk of taste and food and restaurants. We recommend wines to one another, we drink, and we learn a lot.

In Wine Talk, I introduce you to some of my friends, acquaintances, and people I meet as I make my way around the world, individuals who love wine as much as I do, who live to taste, who farm and make wine. You’ll appreciate their insight, and I hope you’ll learn something from them as well. 

The first time I drank a wine made by David Ramey was epiphanic. I recall that I took a few sips, then put down the glass, savoring the whole of the moment. “This stuff is quality,” I said to myself. It was probably early in 2003, in Brooklyn, during dinner at home. A friend had brought the bottle of Chardonnay with him, and we were cooking flounder. It was a perfect wine, a perfect fish, and a perfect evening.

I love these wines.

Since then, I have opened and enjoyed many bottles produced by Ramey Wine Cellars, and they’ve never disappointed. Pinot Noirs, Chardonnays, Cabernet Sauvignons, Syrahs … not one was lacking.

I have written about Ramey and his wines, and I’ve read a lot about him and his approach to winemaking. This past September I met him at his winery, in Healdsburg, California. Angela, my wife, and I walked the short distance to the facility from the house in which we were staying, and Ramey, who was out front with members of his team, invited us to share their harvest-lunch food and wine. Sitting there, my mind went briefly back to that evening in Brooklyn, and the Chardonnay. It was as if a journey 17 years in the making had reached its destination.

Claire and David Ramey

After lunch, we went upstairs to Ramey’s office and had a comprehensive tasting. Ramey talked about his relationships with growers and other winemakers, and he enthusiastically took us through the bottles. It was a productive afternoon.

David Ramey is a generous and inspiring winemaker.

Ramey founded Ramey Wine Cellars with his wife, Carla, in 1996, and before that worked with Matanzas Creek, Chalk Hill, Dominus Estate and Rudd Estate. He holds a graduate degree from U.C. Davis — his thesis, written in 1979, is a seminal one, and if you want to learn how aromas evolve in wine, read it.

And Ramey Wine Cellars is a family affair; Carla and the couple’s children, Claire and Alan, are integral to the enterprise, and more than a few Ramey employees have been with the winery for nearly two decades.

Ramey’s demeanor is relaxed but exact; while he guided us through the tasting that afternoon he answered my questions with directness and clarity. He is a man who clearly loves what he does for a living, and what he bottles is a delicious demonstration of that love.

We left Ramey that afternoon with a recommendation for dinner that evening, Baci in Healdsburg. The man has great taste.

Let’s see what Ramey has to say in Wine Talk:

James Brock: Tell us about three wines you think are drinking well at the moment. What makes them worthwhile? How about a food pairing for each one?

David Ramey: Well, I assume you’re asking about our wines, so I’ll answer to that:  1)  2017 (or 2016) Fort Ross-Seaview Chardonnay, $42, widely available — or directly from us, www.rameywine.com.  2)  2017 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir, $50, somewhat available, or from us.  3)  2015 Napa Valley Cabernet, $62, fairly available, or from us.  Foods, in sequence:  Chard — any seafood — salmon, crab, lobster, shrimp, scallops, halibut, sea bass.  Pinot — almost anything!  Cab — you know the drill — beef, lamb, chicken. For all three, nothing spicy hot or sweet (except the Pinot, which goes great with Thai). 

JB: If cost was no consideration, tell us the one bottle you would add to your personal collection, and why?

DR: A 1989 Petrus, because Carla and I were married in Montagne-Saint-Émilion while working chez Moueix, and she picked those grapes.

JB: What is your favorite grape, and why?

DR: I’m loving cool-climate Syrah these days … (plus the odd bottle of Brunello).

JB: How about one bottle that our readers should buy now to cellar for 10 years, to celebrate a birth, anniversary, or other red-letter day? 

DR: Our Pedregal Vineyard Napa Valley Cabernet, any vintage.

JB: Where is your go-to place when you want to have a glass or bottle (outside your home and workplace)?

DR: Baci in Healdsburg (closely followed by Campofina, Barndiva, and Willi’s Seafood & Raw Bar).

JB: If there was one thing you wish everyone would keep in mind when buying and drinking wine, what is it?

DR: Just as when you (or at least I) buy a car —stretch just a little — spend a little bit more than you thought you should.  

JB: What is your “wine eureka moment,” the incident/taste/encounter that put you and wine on an intimate plane forever?

DR: The long drive from Mexicali to Hermosillo in 1974, wondering what I was going to do next: The inspiration came to me, “Why not make wine?”

JB: What has been the strangest moment or incident involving wine that you have experienced in your career?

DR: I was monitoring the top of a 12,000-gallon tank of fermenting Chenin Blanc at Simi Winery in the early ’80’s, and we wanted to mix it, so a cellar worker put a propeller mixer into the racking valve down below.  We turned it on and off slowly several times — no reaction.  So we left it on longer … disaster!  The overflow went for minutes; the aisle was 6-inches deep in wine.  We lost a thousand gallons and learned that you don’t do that to a tank of fermenting wine.

JB: What is your favorite wine reference in a work of literature?

DR: “Wine is one of the most civilized things in the world and one of the most natural things of the world that has been brought to the greatest perfection, and it offers a greater range for enjoyment than, possibly, any other purely sensory thing.”

And:  “I drank a bottle of wine for company. It was Château Margaux. It was pleasant to be drinking slowly and to be tasting the wine and to be drinking alone.  A bottle of wine was good company.”

Both from Hemingway.

Want more wine? Read on:

A Merlot That Your Snob Friend Will Love
French Couple Make a Sauvignon Blanc in California
A Perfect Afternoon Chardonnay
Terry Theise Talks Reisling
A New Wine Wonderland
Paris Wine Goddess Tells All
Rice Village Wine Bar Has a Cleveland Touch
A Texas White Blend for Your Table
A Pinot Noir Full of Flavor
This Pinot Gris From Oregon Pairs Well With Cheese
Willamette, Dammit!
A Value Rioja
Drink Pink!
Underbelly Veteran Goes for Grenache
A Man of Letters and Wine
Ms. Champagne Wants a Nebuchadnezzar
The Wine Artist Goes for Chardonnay
This American Loves Spain and Its Wines
Houston’s Wine Whisperer Has a Soft Touch
Blackberry Farm’s Somm Pours in Splendor
Mr. Pinot Noir: Donald Patz of Patz & Hall
A Cork Dork Wants to Spend More Time in Tuscany
Sommelier Turned Restaurateur Daringly Goes Greek
Texas Master Sommelier Debunks Wine Geeks
A Bottle From Gigondas Changed This Houston Man’s Life
Oil Man Falls in Love, and the Rest is Good-Taste History
Ryan Cooper of Camerata is a Riesling Man
Mixing It Up With Jeremy Parzen, an Ambassador of Italy
Sommelier at One of Houston’s Top Wine Bars Loves Underdogs

The Benzinger family's land tells a tale of family, hard work, and passion. (Courtesy Benzinger Family Winery)

During Lockdown, Virtual Tastings Become The Norm

April 22, 2020 / / 0 Comments

If you are like most people I know, Zoom (or another online-meeting platform) has more than likely become a fixture around your home. This past Sunday, we used it to host my virtual birthday party, and a few days before that I participated in a virtual tasting put on by Benzinger Family Winery.

Chris Benzinger, the winery’s vice president of trade relations, hosted the tasting, and the tales he told of his family’s love affair with the land on Sonoma Mountain in Glen Ellen that they purchased in 1980 made me want to leave my lockdown in Los Angeles and head north for a visit.

Chris Benzinger

The occasion for the tasting was the 20th anniversary of Benzinger’s certification as a biodynamic farm by the Demeter Association, something of which Chris, who joined the family business in 1993, is clearly proud.

We began with the 2017 Reserve Chardonnay ($30), and followed that with the 2016 de Coelo Quintus Pinot Noir ($69), the 2016 Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon ($20), and the 2016 Sunny Slope “Signaterra” Cabernet Sauvignon ($59). Each of these wines is drinking well now; I especially enjoyed the Sonoma County Cab and the de Coelo Quintus, and I want to taste the 2016 Sunny Slope Cab five years from now. (If you join a Benzinger wine club, discounts are offered on these bottles.)

The Benzinger family left New York in 1973 and headed out to California to make wine.

These wine are, of course, available from the winery, or you can check with your favorite merchant.

Next up, tastings of a Pinot Bianco and a Pinot Grigio from Alto Adige. Until then, drink well, with those you love, and stay safe.

Drinking and Eating With Joel Aiken: My Final Two Pre-COVID-19 Restaurant Meals

April 20, 2020 / / 1 Comment

The moments in which everything changed etch themselves into my mind, never to leave. On September 11, 2001, I was living in New York City. On March 13, 2020, I was (and am still) living in Los Angeles. Things have changed, as never before, it seems.

We’ve been indoors, in our apartment in downtown L.A., since March 13. We’ve taken one stroll in the neighborhood — and need to do that more, with masks — and late last month I made a quick trip to CVS for a prescription. Otherwise, we are doing our part, happily. California’s political leaders have responded well to the pandemic, as have most of the state’s citizens.

On March 12, I had lunch with Joel Aiken, a winemaker from California (he’s featured in this Wine Talk). I met him and Rusty Eddy at NoMad , in downtown Los Angeles. The hotel occupies the former headquarters of The Bank of Italy; the building was constructed in the 1920’s, and it’s gorgeous. When you are next in L.A., and when this pandemic is under control, book a table at the restaurant and enjoy the splendor.

I liked speaking with Aiken; he’s a seasoned winemaker, and his conversational manner is relaxed and thoughtful. We discussed his academic education (see the Wine Talk), his beginnings in wine, his tenure at Beaulieu Vineyard, and his current main venture, Scattered Peaks (a project with Derek Benham).

We tasted through several wines at lunch, including the two Scattered Peaks Cabs — the 2017 Cabernet ($40 retail) and the 2017 Small Lot Reserve ($125 retail). Aiken also brought along a 2009 BV, the Maestro Collection Ranch No. 2.

Joel Aiken, a winemaker of distinction.

The several hours at the table passed quickly, beginning with a Riesling and ending with espresso. Aiken and Eddy were scheduled to conduct an online wine course in the early evening, I had some work to do, so we parted ways. Until, it turned out, dinner.

Once back home, I recalled a brief exchange during lunch about restaurants in the area — Aiken and Eddy wanted to get a reservation in the neighborhood (their hotel was near our apartment). Angela and I had been wanting to eat at Nightshade, and I knew that she would enjoy meeting both men, so we decided to meet there after their course.

Scallop at Nightshade
Shrimp toast at Nightshade
Beef rib at Nightshade

It turned out that the meal that evening, on March 12, was our final one before COVID-19 locked us away. We were already not shaking hands in greeting, and neither were hugs in the mix. I miss both of those things, and I miss sitting with others in a communal space, sharing wine and talk and being human.

Open the Cellar is your two-day opportunity to buy some hard-to-find wines and help out the industry.

Open The Cellar: Here’s Your Two-Day Way To Support Napa Wineries

April 14, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Tasting rooms are closed, no one is traveling, and you need more wine. Here is a perfect way for you to buy a few bottles (or cases) of Napa selections: Open The Cellar.

Napa Valley Vinters has organized the two-day event (April 14 and 15), and if your cellar needs to be restocked, take a look at the selections on offer. Many of the bottles are normally available to clubs members only, while others are typically sold only at the wineries. (Library releases are also available.)

You’ll find wines from more than 150 producers, including Joseph Phelps Vineyards, Ladera, Mayacamas Vineyards, PEJU, and ZD Wines. It’s an impressive lineup (I’d like one bottle of each selection).

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the wine industry hard, and this sale is a great way to help out. Plus, it’s easy: “You support the employees and small family businesses in wine country, get an exclusive wine and you don’t have to leave your couch,” Napa Valley Vintners says.

Let me know what you decide to add to your inventory.

Radishes braised in butter are comforting.

Notes From a Lockdown Kitchen

April 2, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Wine is without question the best liquid to drink while dining. Water comes in second in this equation, of course. But wine always. Hamburgers or pizza? Try a Chianti. Rouget or scallops? Open a white Rhône blend. Or if your palate calls for something entirely different, indulge it. Drink what you like, drink what pleases you and yours, by all means.

I recently received a few bottles from Joel Gott Wines, and two of them stood out to my palate. The 2017 815 Cabernet Sauvignon and the 2017 California Chardonnay. You can find the former for around $17, and the latter for $13 or so.

The (100 percent) Cabernet Sauvignon is immediately approachable, and it’s a fruit-forward pour, full of black cherry and raspberry. Eighteen months in oak produce a wine with pronounced, defined tannins and decent acidity. I paired it with a New York Strip, and was pleased.

The Chardonnay is made with grapes from Monterey, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo vineyards, and you can taste Napa and Sonoma fruit in the glass. Jasmine, citrus, and a touch of peach greet you in this easy-to-drink wine.

Both of the Gott selections are ideal for by-the-case stocking, and you can find them at a wide variety of merchants. (I’m going to sample Gott’s California Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc soon.)

I have been cooking a lot lately. I mean, I cook all the time, but since the evening of March 12, I have not dined in a restaurant, so I’m in our home kitchen even more now, for reasons of which you are aware. I have not yet given this much thought, other than being reminded that our public dining spaces, be they taco stands, food halls, or Spago or Le Bernardin, are a vital part of our existence. I hope you feel the same.

Orrechiette with green peas, zucchini, and feta

In our home kitchen, I’ve stocked up on beans and pasta, firm tofu (for saag paneer and other dishes), canned tomatoes, a lot more garlic than I usually have on hand, plus cold cuts, mushrooms, tuna, and … you get the picture, and I imagine you have done similar. My attempts at procuring yeast locally failed, but a few fine people have offered to send some, and my sourdough starter is under way (thanks for the reminder, Evan Kleiman!) We are ordering from Whole Foods and Ralph’s, and tipping the delivery workers well.

I have purposefully refrained from mentioning COVID-19 here, while I work out my myriad thoughts about what the world is going through. I am glad John Prine’s condition has stabilized, but grieving for Wallace Roney and Ellis Marsalis. I will say that I am touched by the selflessness being shown by so many medical professionals and caregivers, and disgusted by the examples of idiocy demonstrated by leaders of some states — I will single out the governors of Texas, Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, and Alabama.

I am hoping you and yours are well.

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