Procrastination is a funny thing, according to my go-to confidante and spiritual guide on the matter, Carl Gustav Jung. To put it bluntly and briefly, he posits that it is a neurosis. But it is more complicated than one might think. For the purposes of this piece, which is geared especially for procrastinators, let’s go with this blunt thesis: You delay because you are seeking to avoid pain, pain you fear will be produced by your actions. I’m here to tell you, however, that you need not fear any discomfort from the action of buying any of the following three items as last-minute gifts for the wine lovers in your life. (The first part of my 2024 Wine Gift Guide came out in a more timely manner, but I’m sure you have an abundance of gift-worthy friends and could use even more recommendations, so consider this my bonus for you.)
Wine Spectator likes this one.
First up, a wine that was awarded the top spot on Wine Spectator’s Top 100 Wines of the World for 2024. It’s the 2021 Viña Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon Puente Alto Vineyard, and you can get it for $150 directly from the producer, and at lower prices at many retailers. It carries a suggested retail price of $175. Enrique Tirado is the winemaker at Viña Don Melchor, and his reputation is one of excellence. He’s been in charge of production at Don Melchor since the harvest of 1997, and his experience and talent are on display in the 2021, the 35th vintage of this wine.
The Puente Alto Vineyard, a Chilean landmark, encompasses 314 acres and seven major parcels, and was originally planted more than a century ago; it was replanted after Concha y Toro, the parent company of Don Melchor, purchased it in 1968. The 2021 is mainly Cabernet Sauvignon, with 4 percent Cabernet Franc and 3 percent Merlot. This is a serious wine, and since I like to offer a food pairing with the wines I recommend, I urge you to buy the finest example of ribeye steak you can find and cook it medium rare, with nothing but olive oil, salt, and pepper. Let it rest for 8 to 10 minutes before you slice it. The Don Melchor’s velvety aroma – I savored the tobacco and cacao notes – impressed me, as did the kirsch and raspberry hints. Sensual tannins and a long, confident finish complete the package. I daresay that almost anyone on your gift list would appreciate adding this bottle to their collection, no matter what they think of “Wine Spectator” rankings.
Enrique Tirado, winemaker at Viña Don Melchor.
“The 2021 vintage provided us with very expressive wines, brimming with concentration, dense and long, that cast a spotlight on the fruit and textural quality of every variety grown in the Don Melchor Vineyard, displaying a fine balance between finesse and energy, with extremely expressive flavors and aromas,” Tirado said. The winemaker sums it up with grace.
An enormous number of books devoted to all aspects of the wine world have been published, and while my library is always expanding, I want to offer two of my all-time favorites to you, dear procrastinator. The first one I purchased many years ago in Germany, and it became worn and dog-eared from the myriad times I perused it and opened it for research. That original copy was long ago recycled, but the 8th edition of The World Atlas of Wine, by Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson, is available and should be in the collection of anyone who loves wine. Johnson wrote the first edition of this masterpiece, which was published in 1971, and the subsequent three editions, and Robinson took over in 1998 and has been in charge of the most recent four editions, including the current (8th) edition. Its 417 pages are packed with the wisdom and wit of Johnson and Robinson, along with maps, charts, and other information that will become indispensable. I look forward to many future editions of this work.
The World Atlas of Wine is indispensable.
The second book on this list, which I cherish and recommend without hesitation, is The Vines of San Lorenzo, by Edward Steinberg. Its subtitle is “Making a Great Wine in the New Tradition,” and the author’s wonderfully captivating storytelling draws the reader in from the opening page. The volume tells the tale of the Gaja Sorì San Lorenzo 1989 vintage and brings to life Angelo Gaja, a legend of the wine world who made Barbaresco a star. The book includes vintage photographs of some of the personalities that populate Steinberg’s tale, including members of the Gaja family, and transports one to the lands and soils that have produced some of the finest wines ever made. Literary in style and never slow, “The Vines of San Lorenzo” makes a great stocking stuffer.
Now, get online, or out there, and make some people very happy with these three gift ideas.
I love to talk about wine with people who share my passion for it. We open bottles, we trade stories about travel and winemakers, 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.
You’ll appreciate their insights, and I hope you’ll learn something from them as well.
Wine and family: I love those two words. They make my mind wander to Germany, where I first began learning about and drinking wine (Riesling, natürlich); I moved there when my father, who was in the U.S. Air Force, was assigned to Europe. My time spent there made me, in large part, who I am today. Those words also bring forth memories of visiting wineries and meeting the families who founded them and put their energy and love into their land and bottles. One is lucky indeed if family and wine are there for you.
I met a family recently, a wine family, one that hails from Austin and now owns a prime piece of property in Calistoga, California, 10.5 acres once known as the Dutch Henry Winery. The Glass Fire devastated most of the estate’s infrastructure, but its cave was spared. And this family, the Epprights, have big plans for the property. Enter Parable Wines.
First, a brief introduction: Fred Eppright, the owner of a commercial real estate firm based in Austin, has a son named Trey, who took his first sip of wine in 1999 or 2000, aged 15 (he was allowed one sip only). Trey later began to immerse himself in all things wine, especially Wine Library TV, and in 2013, after traveling and tasting and learning, decided to establish a career in wine. Trey, who graduated from Texas A&M, spent some time in Oregon in 2020 working for a friend who ran a farm that supplied produce to local restaurants; he liked the work, getting his hands into the soil and growing things, practices that put him in good stead when he convinced his father that buying a property and making wine was a great idea.
In 2021, the Epprights – Fred and his wife, Paula, and Trey and brother Matt – purchased the Calistoga property that was formerly occupied by the Dutch Henry Winery, and that’s where the big plans really took off.
The Parable team. From left, Kale Anderson, Fred Eppright, Paula Eppright, Matt Eppright, Trey Eppright, and Brian Kelleher, Parable’s general manager.
Of the 10.5 acres on the Parable estate, 2.4 originally hosted Syrah; they are now planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, and the Epprights, with winemaker Kale Anderson, hope to bottle their first estate vintage in 2025 or 2026. To commence the Parable journey, Trey and Kale began sourcing fruit from other locales, including the Vangone Vineyard, the Ritchie Vineyard, and the Beckstoffer Bourn Vineyard. In addition, Parable has signed a five-year sourcing contract with Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard and plans to produce a Cabernet Sauvignon with that famed and expensive fruit; the 2024 vintage will be released in 2027.
If you want to purchase Parable’s current offerings, which include a 2021 Beckstoffer Bourn Cabernet Sauvignon, a ’21 Vangone Cabernet Sauvignon, and 2022 Chardonnays from Ritchie Vineyard and Larry Hyde & Sons Vineyard, check out this section of the winery’s site. The Parable team is using a custom crush facility to produce its wines, but plans to move all production onto the property and will also use the 4,400-square-foot cave.
Let’s see what Trey 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?
Trey Eppright: The 2021 Parable Vangone Cabernet Sauvignon ($225) is drinking beautifully now. It’s a classic Atlas Peak Cab. I would have it with barbecued pork ribs and beef brisket (and not just because I’m from Texas).
The 2021 Parable Vangone Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon.
The 2022 Parable Ritchie Creek Chardonnay ($90) from the Russian River is just beautiful. It was fermented in a concrete egg, instead of an oak barrel, which gives it wonderful complexity. I’d have the Ritchie with raw oysters and/or a flaky white fish with lemon butter sauce.
The 2022 Parable Ritchie Creek Chardonnay.
The third wine, which I had recently and is drinking fabulously, is the 2012 Maya Dalla Valle Red Blend. It’s a 50-50 blend of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s a perfect wine made in some of the most special soils, and has everything you’d want in a wine. Funnily enough, I had it with pork and beef tacos. (Editor’s note: Not many bottles of this vintage are on the market, but a quick search found a few going for around $450; JJ Buckley is selling the 2020 vintage for $599.)
Trey Eppright, managing partner at Parable Wines.
JB: How did COVID-19 change your life, both personally and professionally?
TE: Because of Covid, I ended up with a winery in Napa Valley. My life couldn’t have changed much more if it wasn’t for Covid. During the pandemic I moved to Oregon and got into farming; and then to California, where my family and I bought a winery, which turned out to be Parable. Otherwise, I would have stayed in Austin, where I grew up, where I would’ve tried to figure out my life. Covid helped me figure a lot out.
JB: If cost was no consideration, tell us the one bottle you would add to your personal collection, and why.
TE: DRC (Domaine de la Romanée-Conti) Échezeaux Grand Cru. I paid $2,000. Which was 30 percent below market. I said, “I guess I have to.” La Tache (DRC) and Salon (Cuvee ‘S’ Le Mesnil Blanc de Blancs Brut) Champagne would be great, too. It’s a toss-up. There are too many good wines.
JB: What is your favorite grape, and why? If you don’t have a single favorite, tell me about one that you are especially passionate about.
TE: I don’t have a favorite. That would be real boring. But if you forced me, it would be Syrah. I’m also super passionate about Chardonnay. But Syrah is very versatile. It shows terroir very well. It really has a good sense of place, and it’s a fun grape to work with. As a winemaker, your input means a lot. And Chardonnay is interesting because it produces Champagne and still wine.
Kale Anderson, winemaker at Parable.
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?
TE: The 2018 MacDonald Cabernet Sauvignon from the MacDonald brother’s section of To Kalon Vineyard. It has so much power, so much energy. But it needs a 12-hour decant. As far as vineyards in Napa Valley, it’s an amazing, perfect wine, but it still needs 10 years in the bottle. (Editor’s note: Angry Wine Merchant is selling this vintage for $1,095. This wine will age wonderfully for decades.)
JB: Where is your go-to place when you want to have a glass or bottle (outside your home and workplace)?
TE:V Wine Cellars in Yountville. It’s a special wine bar. It has couches, and the selection is great. Anything you can dream of, they’ve got it. Good Chardonnays and Champagnes. And on Fridays there’s a very good chance, after 2 pm, if you want to meet a vintner or a winemaker, this is the place.
JB: If there was one thing you wish everyone would keep in mind when buying and drinking wine, what is it?
TE: Enjoy it. Just fuckin’ enjoy it. I think sometimes we all take wine too seriously. Enjoy it and share it. Take a second to appreciate it. Close your eyes on that first sip.
JB: What is your “wine eureka moment,” the incident/taste/encounter that put you and wine on an intimate plane forever?
TE: The first sip of wine I’d ever had changed my direction in life. It was the ’93 Dom Perignon Champagne, in 1999 or 2000. It was that whole thing: a lawyer had won a big case and brought it to this place. There was Dom stuffed into a commercial icemaker. I was only allowed to have one glass, but … I was 15.
Have you tasted this vintage?
JB: What has been the strangest moment/incident involving wine that you have experienced in your career?
TE: I shared a bottle of ’82 Salon with Lady Gaga’s bandleader, Brian Newman, in Las Vegas. He was doing a performance after a Gaga show, and the next day I was seated next to him at brunch. I handed a glass of the Salon to him. And we became friends, playing blackjack and sharing a joint.
The entrance to the cave at Parable Wines.
JB: Your favorite wine reference in a work of literature (fiction, film, poem, etc.)?
“Drinking good wine with good food in good company is one of life’s most civilized pleasures.” – Michael Broadbent, British wine critic/wine writer.
That saying simply states one of my favorite pastimes and something I get to do often.
It’s been too long since I dined at Rossoblu, an Italian restaurant located in Los Angeles’ Arts District. The food is commendable, the restaurant’s interior is well designed and comfortable, and the wine list contains lots of quality.
At the end of this month I’ll visit Rossoblu again, for Taste of Italy: Ancient Rome, a family-style meal with wine pairings selected and led by Jeremy Parzen. I met Jeremy Parzen back in 2013 or 2014 in Houston, and it’s also been too long since I’ve seen him.
Steve Samson, Rossoblu’s chef.
Steve Samson, the chef at Rossoblu, has put together a menu steeped in history, and here’s what you’ll eat on July 31 if you make a reservation for the dinner:
Columella salad: fresh greens and herbs, pecorino cheese, soft-boiled egg, garum and pine nut dressing
Puls Tractogalata: farro pasta circles with roasted lamb
Stuffed porchetta: sausage and fig, honey sauce, coriander lentils
Savillum: ancient Roman cheesecake with bay leaves and honey
Parzen says he is keeping the cost of the wine pairing as low as possible. “The menu is very reasonably priced and the wine pairing (including generous pours) is priced aggressively so as to make it accessible to all. It’s a great deal and I have some awesome wines lined up,” he writes.
In my head, Trimalchio’s dinner is coming to life … toga optional.
Want a seat at the table: Here’s a link to the dinner, and I hope to see you there.
Palomino. Carnelian. Souzao. If you read those words and think, “grape varieties,” I applaud you. If, however, the words are unfamiliar, I suggest you get a ticket to The Festival of Forgotten Grapes, which will take place in Los Angeles on June 29. (If you are in the former group, you, too, should attend this event, because it’s a great opportunity to sample and purchase an outstanding and diverse lineup of wines from California producers at a great price.)
First, I know that many of you know from Dornfelder and Nebbiolo (which are both on the Forgotten Grapes Wine Club’s – the organization behind the festival – list of forgotten varieties). It’s important to note that by “forgotten” we are not talking about wine grapes that have been lost to humans in the mist of time. No, what Allison Levine and Chris Kern mean by the word are grapes that aren’t widely grown in the state. As they write, “More than 100 different grape varieties make up only 7 percent of the total planting in California.” Those grapes are the focus of the festival.
An exciting feature of this festival is the number of wineries that will be pouring their wares (click here for the full list); it’s a cornucopia of producers from the state, including San Rucci Winery, Tansy Wines, Tres Sabores Winery, and Unti Vineyards. Taste, talk to the producers about their wines, and order bottles that you like. If you live locally the Forgotten Grapes team will deliver your selections for a low fee ($15), and for those of you who reside in other locales your wine will be shipped at an economical price.
I love the idea that most of the wines that will be poured at the festival are made either from varieties planted during the settling of California, the early days of the state’s wine industry, or before the Judgment of Paris. This means you’ll taste history and take some home with you.
The Festival of Forgotten Grapes takes place at Frankie in downtown Los Angeles. VIP check-in begins at 11:30 am – I recommend going the VIP route, because the perks are worthwhile, including early admittance; a pre-tasting discussion with Wes Hagen titled “How Forgotten Grapes Became Forgotten: The Changing Landscape of California Wine Since Prohibition;” free delivery of wines that you order at the festival; and discounts on purchases of 6, 12, 24, or more bottles. VIP tickets are $75, and general admission passes are $59. (A portion of ticket proceeds will benefit Minds Matter Southern California.)
When one sleeps surrounded by Chardonnay and Pinot Noir vines the essence of the fruit seems to slip into the subconscious. A final glance at the vineyard outside my room before retiring for the evening, moonlight allowing a view of the young light-green leaves, the cold air and ground working to strengthen the vines. Last night’s temperature fell to around 46. I closed the window and slept, warm under down.
Early morning mist fades away as the sun rises and warms the surroundings. The vines, the leaves, the tendrils – the tops of the trunks low to the ground, perhaps 1 foot or so in height where the green begins – appear fresh, confident even, their color uniform across the parcel. Buds are present, small, tight, promising. (Smudge pots and other weaponry against the dangers of frost abound – it’s late April in Burgundy, and though next week is forecast to bring warmer temperatures, farmers are worried.)
These vines are promise. And our tastings of various vintages this week bring to life the effort and fears and work and dreams that have been deposited into the surrounding vineyards. A 2020 Aligoté lively and fresh, a 2019 Pinot Noir flirtatious and tempting. A premier grand cru that made one’s eyes close with pleasure. That’s the promise.
I like 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.
Dusty Nabor’s journey into winemaking began with a carboy in his Ventura County, California, kitchen. A business associate with a passion for cult Napa wines had introduced Nabor to that rarified sector of the wine world, and he began frequenting events as a consumer. But this son of SoCal wanted to do more than drink wine. He wanted to make it as well.
“I got interested in wine right around when I became legal, back in the late 1990s, but I didn’t really learn much about it until around 2005 or so,” Nabor says, referring to that business associate’s influence on him. “I was always really drawn to the production personnel of the winery rather than the hospitality staff or ownership, and I wanted to know what they did. I wanted to make wine commercially.”
In 2014, Nabor made his way to a custom crush facility near his home, and laid the plans for his first vintage, two barrels of Cabernet Sauvignon harvested in 2015. “After a couple of years at the custom crush I decided to venture out on my own and opened my winery, in Camarillo, in time for the 2020 vintage,” he says. Dusty Nabor Wines was born.
Nabor’s stated focus is on Syrah, Grenache, Viognier, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, and he and his partner Karin Langer source fruit from vineyards in Santa Barbara County, from the AVAs of Sta. Rita Hills, Ballard Canyon and Los Olivos District. (His production last year was around 1,500 cases, and he is anticipating 2,000 cases this year. The wines are sold mainly through the Dusty Nabor Wines mailing list — click here to add your name.)
Nabor is a self-taught winemaker, though he is quick to credit a few mentors, including Matt Dees, Nile Zacherle and Paul Frankel. And he taught himself (an ongoing process, as always) while working at his family’s business, 101 Pipe & Casing. The company was founded by Nabor’s father, Fidel, and the winemaker is the firm’s executive vice president. He’s worked there for 28 years.
In addition to Dusty Nabor Wines, he and Langer are behind Bolt to Wines and NSO Wines.
Another thing to know about Nabor is that he has raced cars, competed as a triathlete (he and Langer still do), played competitive poker and golf, and. . . well, the point is that he loves adventure and accomplishment.
Let’s see what Nabor has to say in Wine Talk.
James Brock: How has COVID-19 changed your work and life?
Dusty Nabor: COVID for us (Karin and me) has been extremely easy. It definitely was a tale of two pandemics. Those who were affected greatly and those who simply were not. For me personally, I didn’t know anyone whom I am close with that was affected adversely by the virus. We were also able to get vaccinated very early on due to our affiliation with the food and service industry.
Our lives have been set up in sort of an introverted way from the beginning. We do a lot of endurance sport training (triathlon, cycling, running and swimming) and those sports by their nature are very individual and solitary. We don’t need to be around large groups of people and usually are not.
Professionally, it was very similar. My day job was considered an essential business from the start of the pandemic, and the winery was as well. So income never stopped for us and the winery kept on going as usual. Also, the winery was started as if I knew the pandemic was coming.
We have no tasting room and the winery is not open to the public. All of our sales channels were done online or remotely. While others had to pivot to meet the demands of the pandemic, we just continued doing what we were already doing. Don’t get me wrong, all of this was by sheer luck. I had no idea this would be the case setting up the winery years ago.
JB: 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?
DN: Yeesh, this is a tough one for me. I’m terrible at food pairings. Three wines doing well right now. . .
A Chardonnay for your consideration.
Well, our 2019 Chardonnay from Spear Vineyards is really starting to hit its stride. It’s a Wente clone of Chardonnay and just needed a little bit of bottle time to settle in. It suffered a little bit of bottle shock after we bottled it last year, and it’s regained it’s form nicely. I’d pair it with pretty much anything, but I’d really like to enjoy it with a pear salad with some candied walnuts.
Second wine would be our 2018 Bolt To Wines Syrah from Ballard Canyon. This is a serious dead ringer for a Côte-Rôtie Syrah. It has all the hallmarks that we strive for in Syrah. . . bloody meat, iodine, some forest mustiness, a little cigar box and beautiful blue and black fruit. I’d drink this wine with anything savory.
Third would be the 2017 Jaimee Motley 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon from Peter Martin Ray Vineyard. What a wine. Just a gorgeous example of what Cabernet Sauvignon can be without any heavy-handed oak or mass extraction. Just flowers and tea and fresh berries. . . just lovely. I had this wine and paired it with a light pasta with red sauce and some “Beyond” meat sausage.
This Cabernet Sauvignon pairs well with red sauce and pasta, according to Dusty Nabor.
JB: If cost was no consideration, tell us the one bottle you would add to your personal collection, and why?
DN: I’d like to experience DRC. I don’t have the financial ability or enough friends who do to have been able to try it. I would like to because Pinot Noir is a joy of mine to make and I don’t feel like I’ve really experienced it without having some of the inaccessible grand crus of burgundy.
JB: What is your favorite grape variety, and why?
DN: Syrah. Always Syrah. I absolutely love Syrah because of all the magical expressions it has. I will die trying to create the perfect Syrah. . . I am a long, long way away.
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? Can be one of your wines, but need not be.
DN: Our 2019 Pinot Noir from Spear Vineyards in the Sta. Rita Hills, which was done 100 percent whole cluster. I’m dying to fast-forward into the future and try this wine 10 years down the road. It has all the structure of a brilliant wine to cellar. It has so much nerve and tension in such a great way. Once it starts to relax and unwind, I think it will be a very good wine.
Dusty Nabor and Karin Langer are partners in life, endurance athletics, and wine.
JB: Where is your go-to place when you want to have a glass or bottle (outside of your home and workplace)?
DN: Our local spot Boar Dough Tasting Room is our Cheers. Always great wines and fun people.
JB: If there was one thing you wish everyone would keep in mind when buying and drinking wine, what is it?
DN: If it’s an honest wine, made by a small producer, just keep in mind how much love, care and heartache went into that wine. Wine is a living thing and it goes through phases like any living thing. And they ain’t all great phases.
JB: What is your “wine eureka moment,” the incident/taste/encounter that put you and wine on an intimate plane forever?
DN: A 2007 Hundred Acre Kayli Morgan Vineyard, which I opened at Karin’s birthday six or seven years ago. My tastes have changed since, but I had no idea wine could taste like that.
JB: What has been the strangest moment or incident involving wine that you have experienced in your career thus far?
DN: Experiencing bottle shock of our first vintage, a 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon. A week after it was bottled it was absolutely terrible. I thought I totally messed everything up and it made me really doubt myself. A year later, the wine was very good. So now, we wait 18 months in bottle before releasing our flagship Cabernet.
JB: Your favorite wine reference in a work of literature?
DN: I’m a sucker for Sideways. I’m a SoCal kid, and that entire movie took place in my backyard and in the region I now work. I still think it’s a fantastic movie.
Every year, as Thanksgiving and Christmas approach, I am the recipient of requests for wine recommendations for the holidays. It’s a job I take seriously, as Thanksgiving is one of my favorite days of the year, for several reasons, chief among them being the food. Whether I’m making Mama Stamberg’s Cranberry Relish, Scooter’s Southwestern Dressing, brining and roasting a heritage turkey, ordering a smoked bird from Greenberg Turkey, or grilling lamb chops or a rib eye, what to drink with my feast is always on my mind. It’s not a small matter.
And then there’s Christmas (and New Year’s Eve and Day). Plenty of opportunities to try something new and to open and savor some of your tried-and-true favorites. It’s a wonderful time of the year …
My view on pairing wines with Thanksgiving and Christmas festivities is simple, and is aligned with what I often say: Drink what you find pleasurable. It really is that easy. You open a bottle of, say, Endless Crush Rosé of Pinot Noir, from Inman Family Wines — which is one of my recommendations this year — and snack on some cheese straws while drinking it. Perfect. The salty/spicy flavor profile of the delicious Southern staple (click here for a great recipe from Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock) marries well with the Rosé’s remarkable acidity, and all is well for you and your guests.
Now, you could as aptly open a bottle of Piquette from Noblemen Wines (another of my holiday selections this year) with those cheese straws, and I daresay your pleasure would in no way be diminished. Lively, low in alcohol, a great way to begin a day of celebration.
What I’m saying is this: Yes, there are a number of “rules” that most people are told they should (or must) follow when pairing wines with food, and some of them do have merit. There are wines that clash on the palate with salmon. I would not pair salmon with a boldly tannic California Cabernet Sauvignon (and here I am thinking of the 2018 Scattered Peaks Sage Ridge Vineyard Cabernet, which is also on this year’s holiday wine list). Neither would I drink an Auslese with a grilled rib eye or pasta with Bolognese sauce.
Gathering around a holiday table is one of life’s great pleasures, and wine plays a starring role. (Wikimedia Commons)
I could lay out a few more of these strictures, but you get the picture, and here is the main thing: Once you actually “taste” why a wine should not be be paired with a particular dish or type of food you can proceed to write your own set of rules. When that’s done, a certain sense of freedom opens and you are on your way to wine-pairing liberation. You will most likely not want to eat salmon and drink a Cabernet Sauvignon at the same time, but you will have the confidence to know which pairing rules apply to you.
So, on to my 2021 Holiday Wine Selections. As with previous years, this is a highly subjective and personal roster of wines, bottles that appeal to my palate and sensibilities. I am an eclectic consumer of wines — yes, Riesling is my true love, my passion, but you will find me drinking Albariño as often as Chenin Blanc; one day I crave Syrah, the next Cabernet Franc or a Barolo or Müller-Thurgau — and hope my approach appeals to you. (Of course, I would love to — and could easily — include many more bottles on this list, but space does not permit me that luxury.)
At the least, I urge you to never, ever paint yourself into a corner when it comes to what you drink. I’ve met too many people who profess to like Chardonnay only, or who tell me they drink wines only if they garnered “at least” 96 points from this or that critic. Such individuals are generally lackluster conversationalists whose culinary predilections mirror their wine dogmas. These people are best avoided.
To our list.
Sparkling and Rosé
I wrote above that a bottle of Piquette would be a great way to commence a holiday gathering, so that’s what we’ll do. I’ve chosen Noblemen Wines, a producer based in Kerrville, Texas, to supply our effervescent, low-alcohol (7 percent), refreshing, and thirst-quenching Piquette, and it’s a worthy and fun entry on the Sparkling and Rosé category. It will cost you $20 a bottle from Noblemen. Mourvedre and Teroldego skins, plus some added carbonation, are the ingredients behind this unfiltered offering.
I recently had the pleasure of tasting with Remi Cohen at Domaine Carneros, and the 2016 Ultra Brut ($48) from that California house is our next wine. Cohen, the CEO of Domaine Carneros, guided a small group through some excellent bottles on a rainy October afternoon, and I was not alone in picking the Ultra Brut as my favorite on the day (the 2014 Le Rêve Blanc de Blancs was no slouch, of course). Crisp and fresh, this Chardonnay (53 percent)/Pinot Noir (43 percent) bottling should stand beside your seafood tower, because it was made for raw oysters and butter-poached lobster.
Drink this sparkling wine with a bevy of oysters. (Courtesy Domaine Carneros)
A Champagne is next, the Charles Heidsieck Brut Réserve ($70), a vintage beauty of a wine whose finish will (should) stun you. I think it represents a great value in the rarefied world of Champagne. You can spend more, much more, on a bottle (say, $350 for a 2013 Louis Roederer Cristal), but this Heidsieck selection will more than satisfy your needs. It’s a blend of 60 crus, and it’s full of superb white fruits.
We go back to California now, and to the 2016 Frank Family Vineyards Brut Rosé ($55). You and your guests will love to look at this bottle, because the wine possesses a seducing, tantalizing coral hue. Brioche and raspberries dominate the aroma, and you’ll appreciate the crispness and minerality here. I opened a bottle recently and paired it with a room-temperature round of Brie, and you might enjoy doing the same. (And for those interested in the business of wine, here’s some news about a recent transaction involving Frank Family.)
This sparkling wine will pair wonderfully with fried crustaceans.
To round out this section, the 2020 Endless Crush Rosé ($38) from Inman Family Wines. Estate fruit from the Olivet Grange Vineyard, low alcohol (12 percent), and luscious flavors of strawberries and white flowers. This wine is one of my go-to Rosés, and I recommend it on a regular basis. Kathleen Inman is the winemaker, and her story is a good one … you can learn more about her here.
White Wines
The thoughts of most people gravitate toward white wines when they think of pairings for turkey, and they are not wrong. As you’ll see in these selections, however, turkey is not the sole food on the menu during the holidays. Oysters, stuffing or dressing, lobster, mushrooms, and caviar (to name but a few items) are also in the mix, and white wines are great with all of these things. Again, taste and taste, and come up with your own rules.
Let’s begin with a Russian River Valley Chardonnay that is a perennial solid choice. It’s from Jordan Vineyard & Winery, and the 2019 vintage sells for $36; older vintages are also available, and this wine ages gracefully. (I profiled Maggie Kruse, Jordan’s head winemaker, in Wine Talk back in 2019, and she’s now firmly in control of the estate’s program.) I sampled this vintage several weeks ago and would gladly pair it with a roasted turkey at my table.
A Russian River Valley Chardonnay that pairs well with turkey and chicken, not to mention quail and pheasant.
Washington State is the source of our next wine, and I’m excited about this one. It’s the 2019 Öömrang Estate Siegerrebe ($75), a lovely, delicate expression of the German grape. (Siegerrebe can be translated to “Champion Vine” or “Victory Vine” and its name refers to its ability to produce high yields.) This wine is highly aromatic, with a supple mouthfeel … and it’s fun to drink. I enjoyed it with a mushroom risotto, and if you’ve never tasted a Siegerrebe, don’t skip this one. (I’ll have a profile of the producer in the coming weeks.)
This is one of my favorite wines of the year.
Chenin Blanc is never a bad idea, and the 2020 Domaine Huët Vouvray Le Mont Moelleux Première Trie is an excellent idea. I’ve seen it offered for between $69 and $75 recently, and to be frank, anything from this producer is worth your time, attention, and money. Your turkey and stuffing will both pair well with this wine, and your guests will envy your taste.
An Albariño hailing from Lodi is next, from Mettler Family Vineyards. The 2020 vintage was recently released, and you’ll likely find it and the 2019 for the grand price of $20. Buy them both if you can, and you’ll have no regrets. The Mettler family has been farming grapes in the Lodi AVA since the late 1880s, and have been selling their fruit to other producers for a long time. And, they make their own wine, obviously. I like their Old Vine Zinfandel as well, but this Albariño speaks to me in an eloquent and fun manner.
This Albariño, from Lodi, should be on your holiday wine lineup.
The Riesling on my 2021 list is from New Zealand, the 2019 Eden Valley Dry Riesling ($18) from Pewsey Vale. Previous vintages of this wine have been mainstays in my inventory, and for the price it is something I recommend by the caseful. Some of the fruit in this wine comes from vines planted in 1961, and the people behind Pewsey Vale run an exacting program. I will be drinking this wine for years to come, happily. If you are serving a piquant green bean casserole this holiday season pair this wine with it.
Red Wines
On to the reds, and a few bottles that will appeal to those seeking wines to pair with turkey, steak, lamb, ham, and other festive foods. As with wine rules, no one should feel fenced in when it comes to holiday menus. If you want to cook a leg of lamb for Thanksgiving, do so. Some of these reds display lively acidity, others are suited for heavier dishes, but they are all quality bottles that you won’t regret opening.
William Allen’s approach to winemaking is to my liking.
First up, the 2019 Two Shepherds Pinot Meunier ($40). This wine, made by William Allen, the founder of Two Shepherds, is on my list this year because it’s a wine that will pair well with turkey, ham, and roasted vegetables. If you drink Pinot Noir, try this wine. We’re talking 13.5 percent alcohol and layers of complexity, an easy-to-drink, well-made bottle. Allen is an iconoclastic crafter of wines, and if you find yourself in Healdsburg, be sure to visit his warehouse winery in nearby Windsor. You’ll enjoy conversing with him, trust me.
Joel Aiken is the man behind our next wine. In 1985, he was named lead winemaker at Beaulieu Vineyards, becoming the youngest person to hold that position at the historic estate. He was winemaker at Amici Cellars from 2009 to 2015, and founded Aiken Wine Consulting in 2009. He has also held positions with Provenance, Acacia, and Glen Ellen in California, and Navarro Correas in Argentina. His 2018 Scattered Peaks Sage Ridge Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon ($125) is a serious wine that I’ll serve with a grilled rib eye this holiday season. It spends 22 months in French oak, possesses a richness that I love, and will, of course, age with aplomb.
Seavey makes stellar Merlot.
We’ll stay in California for one more wine, and that is the 2014 Seavey Merlot ($85), a beautiful expression of this grape. If you are planning to prepare a pork roast this holiday season, drink this wine with it. The tannins will amaze, as will the lush mouthfeel. Seavey Merlots are among my favorite Napa wines, and I advise you to take possession of several bottles and age at least two of them for a decade or so. Jim Duane and Philippe Melka made this.
On to Italy. I chose this wine after sampling the 2018 vintage recently, and, at $15 a bottle, there’s no reason to not buy La Valentina Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOC by the case. I also added it to my 2021 Holiday list for those who will be grilling or smoking meats between now and the end of the year, say, lamb chops, pork butt, or brisket. Uncork this wine and enjoy an uncomplicated yet satisfying pairing for your meat dishes.
Let’s close the red section with, yes, a Pinot Noir, one with elegance, great acidity, and wonderful depth. The 2018 ROAR Rosella’s Vineyard Pinot ($70) is a worthy companion for your turkey, and will also pair wonderfully with game birds (pheasant, duck) and wild boar. The Franscioni family knows from wine, and this bottle demonstrates that well. Give it 20 minutes to breathe after you pull the cork.
That’s a wrap. The wines on this list represent diverse styles of winemaking, and everyone should find at least one bottle on it to their liking. I’ve forgone the normal “stick to wines with just the right amount of acidity” holiday advice here, not because I disagree with that statement, but because I want to recommend wines that pair well with more than turkey. We are a diverse nation, and our holiday tables hold more than poultry, something about which we should be proud and grateful.
Ask for these wines at your favorite merchant, and order directly from the producer if possible.
And one final note: At the end of your Thanksgiving and Christmas meals, toast yourself, your great taste, and your guests with Amaro Averna.
Ilike 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 wines were intriguing, pleasurable. I opened the bottles — a 2018 Barbera, a 2017 Sangiovese and an Aglianico — over the course of several weeks, and tasted their contents alone and with food. First impressions: The quality of the winemaking was evident, clear and profound. Restrained yet confident these wines are. In addition, the fruit is of a high calibre.
I knew nothing about the winemaker, Pietro Buttitta. A public relations consultant had reached out to me about him and his Prima Materia label after reading a Wine Talk piece, and a few weeks later I was tasting the wines. My future drinking will include more selections from the producer, because his offerings are worth revisiting.
What I’ve learned about Buttitta (without having met him in person — yet) is that he is, in addition to being a fine maker of wine, an opinionated writer with a style I find engaging and honest. He grew up on a vineyard in the Russian River Valley AVA and fell in love with food early on, the latter of which I certainly identify with. He is not a “foodie”. . . he is a perfectionist. He worked in restaurants, struggled with the low pay and slovenly (or worse) colleagues, and, in 2009, found himself back in California and in the family vineyard.
You’ll find lots of Italy in these vineyards.
That vineyard encompasses 12 acres in the Kelsey Bench AVA, in Lake County, and includes (among others) vines of Sagrantino, Nebbiolo, Negroamaro, Sangiovese, Aglianico, Primitivo and Dolcetto. Buttitta makes his wine in small batches (two to 10 barrels of each). He eschews herbicides and pesticides, and his wines are unfined and unfiltered. You taste the place, you taste the fruit, and you taste the winemaking. That’s a bountiful trifecta.
Buttitta is, as I wrote, opinionated, and I find myself in agreement with much of what he says and writes, including his takes on cooking and the importance of listening to what a grape has to say to one. I also share with him a passion for Sagrantino. He’s a serious person who is familiar with Nietzsche, and he’s a self-taught winemaker who never fails to credit and thank those who helped him learn. I hope to meet Buttitta as soon as I can, and would, I think, enjoy spending time with him in the vineyard and kitchen.
If you want to taste his wines, and I recommend that you do so, they are available here. Now, let’s see what Buttitta has to say in Wine Talk.
James Brock: How has COVID-19 changed your work and life?
Pietro Buttitta: Beyond obvious illness paranoia, and the ethical dimension of trying to keep one’s self safe while simultaneously having a responsibility to protect other people and a part-time employee, it made life challenging. I was very lucky to have the grounding element of the vineyard in 2020, and even through the 2020 fire insanity it had a touchstone effect. I really missed eating in restaurants, though, and face-to-face meetings are still awkward. I sorely miss professional/industry tastings – even the bad ones as my cellar palate gets worse and worse.
It really threw the wine industry for a loop. In 2020, grocery store wine went bonkers, I became a delivery service, then the public drank too much and slowed down, then we opened, then we closed, and then we reopened and the tasting room was insane for two months with cabin-fever escapees, then it nosedived, and now we are stuck in a lame plateau where people just don’t seem to be interested in wine in the same way. They want to drink and be out, in a wine-bar way, but it seems like residual exhaustion and overly on-demand commodification and delivery has left people disinterested.
Ninety percent of customers roll their eyes when I talk grape cultivars at the tasting room now. Hopefully this is just temporary, but I think about the business and how to safeguard and grow it in a different way. We took smoke-free grapes for granted, like bottles and label paper, or packing people into a tiny tasting room, and all of a sudden it all changed. Suddenly nothing is permanent, and how a tiny business can operate without any safety net in that scenario is very stressful.
We also watched tech-platform wine retailers, who went crazy last year and wrote themselves big paychecks, and are now cutting staff and downsizing. That tired old myth of building wine brands in restaurants (this DOES NOT work for small brands) took a serious beating. The industry went from 30 million surplus gallons of wine 3-1-2020 to facing a serious shortage today. And we are still wearing masks, and thinking about every surface that we touch.
If there is a positive when thinking about all of the challenges in the hospitality industry and agriculture, one is how we think about our responsibility to employees, and also what reasonable expectations and mutual respect should look like for longevity. In 2021 Covid drags on, but now record heat in our area, supply-chain issues, and the smallest crop in 20 years just sent us a whole new curveball. Last year’s adaptation and pivoting was only the beginning, so plan for impermanence, and be ready to reassess everything every day is my lesson.
Pietro Buttitta is the man behind Prima Materia wines.
JB: 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?
PB: I’ll start with one of mine – our 2016 Sangiovese. It was the last mellow and boring vintage, not too hot, the initial 25 percent stem inclusion was a little too much. Five years down the road it has integrated beautifully with full spice and touch of tannin mellowing allowing New World fruit with Old World structure and earthiness to really show, and an innate whiff of pine. Time is magical with wine. Braised beef – maybe a mole?
This wine? I’d pair it with wild boar.
2). Giacosa 2002 Barbaresco – Aged Nebbiolo is an easy win, but sometimes the fruit desiccates too much and parches out while waiting for the tannin to round off. This bottle had that magical balance of all things being in harmony, and the aromatics grew and grew the longer it was open. Simple pasta and cheese or risotto with mushrooms.
3). Always drinking well – Sercial Madeira. Before dinner, after dinner, even drinking nicely with food like vegetable stir fry or something cheesy. Acid plus caramel!
Nothing wrong with these at all. Nothing.
JB: If cost was no consideration, tell us the one bottle you would add to your personal collection, and why.
PB: I haven’t had this one, but Mastroberardino – Villa dei Misteri. Not the most expensive bottle, and their best wines are always oak-free and get pretty mixed reviews otherwise, but I love the concept and historicity of it all.
JB: What is your favorite grape variety, and why?
PB: Sangiovese. It fills the pinot void (our vineyard is far too hot for pinot) while also touching on spice elements of cool-climate syrah. Sangiovese is also very finicky about texture, riding a knife edge of tannic astringency, fruit and acid without having a cluttering mid-palate texture. I am definitely a texture person, and I will never use the term “perfume” in reference to wine like some aromatically focused winemakers do. It also ages very well, and clonal variances are as pronounced as with Pinot.
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?
PB: While vintage Champagne is tempting – and it is very predictable with aging – another safe bet is above-mentioned Madeira, especially on the drier end of the spectrum. But in keeping with the big Italian red theme of Prima Materia, I will go with a Taurasi (Aglianico from Campania) or Sagrantino from Umbria on the bigger end of the spectrum.
Though Antonelli can be very nice and pure, and I love Bea, but here I say big, wild-boar-like stinky and shape-shifting Milziade Riserva Sagrantino. Just be prepared to have your face ripped off and spend an evening trying to figure what is going on exactly. Magic for $75.
JB: Where is your go-to place when you want to have a glass or bottle (outside of your home and workplace)?
PB: A nice summer evening outdoor with a few friends sounds very appealing, with the sun going down, sliding into the Dionysian darkness so vision becomes secondary. I like really simple food if focusing on a wine, and a simple environment.
JB: If there was one thing you wish everyone would keep in mind when buying and drinking wine, what is it?
PB: LET IT BREATH! White wines, too. They are living things. You know how that soft cheese smells stinky and dank suffocating in plastic wrap? Or how raw chicken gets sulfury-smelling in plastic? Let it breath and enjoy how it changes. Of course, commodity wines may not need this, but you don’t treat meatloaf like Beef Wellington, or fish sticks like fresh sablefish, do you?
JB: What is your “wine eureka moment,” the incident/taste/encounter that put you and wine on an intimate plane forever?
PB: One of my early professional tastings in 2008, with Marchesi di Grésy, going through all of the wines and then the single-vineyard Nebbioli. That was the mind-expanding moment of a novice suddenly getting it, flavor and texture unfolding in 20 dimensions, hurting so good.
JB: What has been the strangest moment or incident involving wine that you have experienced in your career thus far?
PB: A few:
1). The many times I’m pouring wine at a consumer tasting and two people try the same wine and one says, “It is so smooth” and the other says, “It is so dry and harsh”. . . and then they look at each other, and I at them.
2). Watching fire eat into the hillsides so many times now, and wondering what will happen next.
3). Selling lots of wine in New York and having the distributor cancel all of the sales because he didn’t like me and I wasn’t impressed by his self-absorbed bicep-flexing reflection in the subway.
4). Picking at 10 pm at night, still 90 degrees, and the tractor breaking down in the middle of the worst vintage ever, and just carrying picking tubs all night long.
5). Winery owners who don’t know anything about making wine calling themselves “winemakers” right in front of me. That doesn’t fly in restaurants, or any other industry except this one, somehow.
6). The hauntingly quiet winery during harvest with no electricity.
7). Napa Valley at 4:20 am last year with hot winds and the Glass Fire swirling at St. Helena crossroad. I kept thinking the sun was coming up but it was too early …
8). Watching some celebrated “natural wine” producers bottle, and thinking, oh my god, they really don’t care about the product, or watching them make natural wine using $500,000 worth of equipment at a custom crush facility. And then having transcendental ones that make me take all of that grumbling back.
9). Conversely, how my 100 percent whole-cluster fermentations come out undrinkable while those of others come out beautifully. They can taste my fear.
” … lust is only a sweet poison for the weakling, but for those who will with a lion’s heart it is the reverently reserved wine of wines.”
JB: Your favorite wine reference in a work of literature?
PB: Can’t really think of one. Usually they conflate ethanol intoxication with the aesthetic nature of wine, and though these things overlap, they are not the same, but they are somehow inseparable. I guess “Mondovino,” for all of the misrepresentations, is pretty fun. Some of the movies about sommeliers are so gross and precious that they are unwatchable, but I haven’t seen Somm II yet. I am waiting for the film that takes on the “natural wine” or tackles class in the wine industry.
Oh, though not a literary wine reference per se but more of a heuristic tool, I do use the Apollonian/Dionysian spectrum pretty regularly. Light, structure, symmetry for the first, the rationality of daytime, think technical but soulless production wine, which has its place. The Dionysian is all that swirling dank darkness, emotion over rationality, feral qualities, the fear and thrill of darkness. This is an oversimplification, but music and wine fit well within these two poles, though we need a third dimension, thank you, Birth of Tragedy.
Tasting wines on a daily basis brings abundant opportunity for assessment, reassessment, discovery, and reinforcement (“that wineis as good as I thought it was,” or, “I did not notice such stark acidity in my previous tasting of this Riesling”). It is an illuminating process.
The other day I opened a bottle of Domaine Guion Bourgueil “Cuvée Prestige” — 2018 vintage — with comparison as the goal … that, and enjoying a glass of something that I liked immensely back in April of 2020. I wanted to see how the ’18 had changed in the bottle between tastings. Little, was my answer; it was still one of my favorite wines of the year, and I look forward to drinking more of this wine come 2022 (and beyond).
Stéphane Guion knows how to make fine Cabernet Franc. (Courtesy Domaine Guion)
Stéphane Guion is the man behind this bottle — the fruit comes from vines averaging 50 to 70 years of age planted on a domaine that’s been certified organic since the 1960s — and works from his base in Bourgueil, in the Loire Valley. I first tasted wines from this producer back in the 1990s, at a dinner in New York, and recall that they were inexpensive and delicious.
Cabernet Franc is one of my favorite things to drink, and this one is among my top picks. Low alcohol, lovely acidity — cellar this one for a decade and thank me when you open it in 2031 — with wonderfully ripe, soft tannins. You’ll appreciate violet and strawberry aromas, plus some spice and tobacco. In the mouth, dark fruit and subtle black pepper. Pair this with everything from grilled asparagus to lamb, sausage, and seafood stew. You can find this wine for around $17 at select outlets, including Chambers Street Wines.
Buy as much of this as you can.
The lesson — or one lesson — to be had from the act of daily tasting is, aside from the pleasure of it, development of the palate. While taste is subjective, objectivity is vital to individuals engaged with wine. Taste, taste, then taste some more.
Another wine I sampled recently: the 2018 Aperture Cabernet Sauvignon. Jesse Katz, the young winemaker behind this bottle, has for a good while been the recipient of accolades for his approach, one that he began working on (if originally through osmosis) while traveling as a young boy with his father, photographer Andy Katz, in Bordeaux, Burgundy, and other wine-growing regions. The younger Katz was the first winemaker to be included in the “Forbes 30 Under 30” list, and Wine Spectator named him a “Rising Star.” He made wine for Justin Timberlake. And if all of that does not impress, his wines, including his Devil Proof Malbecs, will.
Jesse Katz made this.
First, know that the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon from Aperture Cellars is drinking well now. If you were to open a bottle of it this evening and pair it with a grilled ribeye you would have no regrets. However, this wine will also reward patience. Drink a bottle now, and put one (or a case) away for eight years or so.
The Alexander Valley AVA is the source of this wine, which is 86 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 7 percent Malbec, 5 percent Merlot, and 2 percent Petit Verdot. It retails for $70. The Cabernet here is sourced from four volcanic-soil sites on hillside slopes, and the wine is unfiltered, unfined, and un-acidified.
By the way, if you can get your hands on some of Katz’s Malbec, do so.
Do give this bottle some time to breathe … decant it for a few hours. The cassis, tobacco, and coffee notes will please your olfactory senses, and the dark fruit and slight spice and vanilla will linger in the mouth.
A sparkling wine with a British accent. (Courtesy Nyetimber)
Let’s turn to some sparkling wine from England — West Sussex and Hampshire to be exact. It’s from Nyetimber, and it’s a multi-vintage cuvée (Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier) that retails for $55. I consider this one of my go-to sparkling wines at that price level, and like to keep one chilled at all times.
The Nyetimber Classic Cuvée is aged for an average of three years, and its toasty quotient is remarkable. Brioche, frangipane, a slight nuttiness … all of that is there, plus fine bubbles and an elegance that makes this wine more than ideal for celebrations, anniversaries, and brunch. Would I pair it with oysters or salmon? Yes, and if toro and ebi were served to me I’d be happy drinking this wine with them as well.
Nyetimber as a producer has put a lot of money and thought into reducing its carbon footprint, and I like that. Thirty percent of its estate holdings is comprised of “nonproductive” hedgerows, sheep from a nearby farm graze the grass and other ground vegetation in vineyard plots — their waste supplies nutrients to the soil, and their eating habits reduce the use of tractors and lower carbon emissions. I am a firm believer in the adage that every little effort counts, and these types of practices at Nyetimber (and at many other producers) add up.
The Contini Bonacossi family has been making wine for a long time.
Finally this week, a red wine from Italy that spoke to me with confidence and promise. It’s from Tenuta di Capezzana, an estate whose founding dates back to 804 A.D. It’s situated 12 miles west of Florence, and is a leading name in the Carmignano region, the history of which is fascinating.
In 1716, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo III de’Medici, granted the region official and legal status; today, Carmignano DOCG regulations stipulate that Sangiovese must be at least 50 percent of the blend, and allow 10 to 20 percent of Cabernet Sauvignon or Cabernet Franc, as much as 20 percent Canaiolo Nero and 5 percent Mammolo and Colorino, and up to 10 percent white grape varieties, such as Trebbiano or Malvasia.
To the wine: It’s the 2015 Trefiano Carmignano Riserva DOCG, and it has a suggested retail price of $59. It’s bottled during the best vintages only, “best” as deemed by the winemaker, and it’s aged for 18 months in French oak (10 percent new oak) and an additional year in bottle.
The 2015 is 80 percent Sangiovese, 10 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, and 10 percent Canaiolo, a blend put together well by Benedetta Contini Bonacossi (Capezzana is owned by the Contini Bonacossi family). For those of you who are interested in names, Trefiano refers to the 15th-century villa purchased in the 1920s by the Contini Bonacossi clan. Five hectares of vineyards that surround the villa are the source of the grapes used to make this wine.
Deep ruby in color, the Trefiano greets the nose with dark cherry and cedar. This is a wine with serious intent, and I loved it with lamb. Steaks, wild boar, and sausages would be other great pairings. Ripe tannins never jar the drinker, and the tobacco notes on the palate are delightful. I’m looking forward to revisiting this vintage in five years.
I also sampled three other offerings from Capezzana, bottles at different price points; each is worth consideration.
I began with the 2018 Barco Reale di Carmignano DOC, at $18 a great value. It’s 75 percent Sangiovese, 15 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 5 percent Canaiolo, and 5 percent Cabernet Franc, and is fermented in stainless steel and aged in Slavonian oak. Drink now.
Next, the 2016 Villa di Capezzana Carmignano DOC ($30). It’s considered the flagship wine of the estate; 80 percent Sangiovese and 20 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, fermented in French oak and aged for a year in the barrel. Drink now-2026.
Finally, the 2013 Ghiaie della Furba Toscana IGT ($51). As with the Trefiano, this wine is made in the best vintages only. “Ghiaie” refers to the gravelly soils near the Furba, a stream on the estate. It’s 40 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 35 percent Syrah, and 25 percent Merlot. Delicious now, and is still full of aging potential.
Next week, I’ll be sitting down with, among other selections, some California Zinfandel, a Prosecco, and a Malbec from the Temecula Valley AVA.
Ilove 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.
From the moment I perused the wine list I knew I wanted to feature its creator in Wine Talk. It (and they) had me at the Claus Preisinger Zweigelt and the Martha Stouman Nero d’Avola, not to mention the Alfredo Maestro “Amanda.” This small, concise list was put together by someone who cares about what her guests drink with their food.
This was in May, and it was my first visit to Ronan, a restaurant in Los Angeles that is now high on my “Brockhaus Approved” list. The meal was something to write home about — read the review here — and I’ve been back once more since then, and plan to be a frequent guest.
Asking around, I was told that Caitlin Cutler was the woman behind Ronan’s wine program. She also co-owns the restaurant with Daniel Cutler, her husband and Ronan’s chef. They have a good thing going on Melrose Avenue.
Caitlin runs the front of the house, and her presence is one of calm and confidence. She’s a welcoming person. Her past work experience includes stints in the corporate finance and real estate development worlds, and then she entered the restaurant industry, serving as general manager at two Los Angeles Italian restaurants: Sotto (now closed, it’s where the couple met and fell in love) and Alimento, Zach Pollack’s Italian restaurant in Silver Lake.
The pair opened Ronan in September 2018. During the first year of Ronan’s existence Caitlin was pregnant — they now have two children — and the couple faced the challenges familiar to all mom-and-pop restaurant owners. Reviews were favorable; Bill Addison, of the Los Angeles Times, loved the French Dip-inspired calzone, and Eric Wareheim’s endorsement of the pies brought scores of people in asking for the “Instagram pizza.”
The inevitable dip in traffic came, as the “see and be seen” crowd came and went, but the restaurant’s team labored on and word about the food at Ronan spread. Then came COVID-19. (Jenn Harris has written a wonderful piece on Caitlin and Daniel’s life the day after Los Angeles ordered all restaurants to cease service; you can read it here — LA Times subscription required.)
It’s been, needless to say, a rough, harrowing time, the days and nights since March 31, 2020, for restaurants and the rest of the world. The National Restaurant Association, in a study published in September 2020, reported that nearly one in six restaurants (representing nearly 100,000 establishments in the United States) “is either closed permanently or long-term,” resulting in the unemployment of nearly 3 million individuals. It added that the industry “is on track to lose $240 billion in sales by the end of the year.”
Some meatballs: Ronan’s pork polpettini are things of beauty. (Photo by The Brockhaus)
Ronan survived, about which I am glad, and if you’ve never been to the restaurant, I urge you to book a table. Order the focaccia and the burrata. If you go on Wednesday, all wines made by women are offered at 30 percent off. Try the meatballs, and if the calzone is on the menu, go for it.
Meanwhile, here’s Caitlin Cutler in Wine Talk.
James Brock: How has COVID-19 changed your work and life?
Caitlin Cutler: I am able to spend a lot more time at home with my kids. My husband and I co-own Ronan, and prior to COVID, we both worked five to six nights a week. When safer-at-home orders came out, we had to alternate who would come into work, because one of us had to stay home with the kids (no childcare!). It really gave me the personal and professional balance that I was craving, but couldn’t quite allow myself to have, and now I work at the restaurant three nights a week.
Caitlin Cutler and her husband, Daniel Cutler, are the couple behind Ronan, a great restaurant in Los Angeles. (Photo by Liam Brown)
JB: 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?
CC:“Bon Jus” Sauvignon Blanc is our skin contact BTG right now, and it just slaps for summertime. I had never had a skin-contact Sauvignon Blanc before this wine, and I’m not particularly partial to the grape in general, but leave it on the skins for 15 days and we’re in business. The wine is unfiltered, no additives, and you can almost taste the coastal Santa Barbara laidback vibes in the glass. Pairing: Sea bass Zarandeado at Ronan.
The “chilled red” is really having a moment, and I am fully behind it. We have three chilled options on the list at Ronan right now, but the one that has my heart is “Soul Love” from Tessier Winery out of Healdsburg. It’s a blend of Riesling (50 percent), Trousseau (20 percent) and Mourvedre (30 percent), and it just sparkles behind its psychedelic label. Don’t let the playful nature of the label fool you, this is a fantastic, nuanced bottle. Tessier is run by a husband-and-wife team, and is 30 percent off on “Women in Wine Wednesdays” at Ronan. Pair with the classic Margherita pizza, do or don’t add anchovies (do).
From Austria, courtesy Claus Preisinger. (Image courtesy Midfield Wine Bar)
I just have to close out this list with the “Puszta Libre!,” a biodynamic Zweigelt from Austrian wine producer Claus Preisinger. This wine never sells unless I suggest it to a table, and it is such a missed opportunity for so many guests who want a bold red, but don’t know how to get out of their comfort zone. I promise you all there are sophisticated reds outside of France, Spain and Italy! Pairing: The pork meatballs at Ronan with a side of some thick focaccia piping hot and dripping in good Sicilian olive oil over the toasted rosemary garnish.
JB: If cost was no consideration, tell us the one bottle you would add to your personal collection, and why.
CC: I like collecting wines from significant years. My husband and I were both born in 1985, and for our wedding we got two magnums of Emidio Pepe 1985 Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. I would probably get two more from my daughters birth years (2015 and 2019) now, while I can still afford them.
JB: What is your favorite grape variety, and why?
CC: Hands down, Malvasia. This was the first grape that taught me how much depth there was to discovering wine. I have had bottles that are light and floral, I have had bottles that are earthy and, dare I say, masculine. I have had it still and I have had it sparkling. I have loved it every which way and I can’t wait to try many more iterations.
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?
CC: I wish I had a good suggestion for this, but I tend to focus on lower cost, newer production on my list. I would say find something sentimental to you and cellar that. Maybe a bottle you had on your first date, or a producer you love from a significant year. Nostalgia can add a lot to your experience years down the road.
JB: Where is your go-to place when you want to have a glass or bottle (outside of your home and workplace)?
CC: I adore Esters Wine Bar in Santa Monica. The service, the vibe — it’s all so welcoming and yet special at the same time, and you can find really fabulous wines by the glass that you don’t see everywhere else around town.
JB: If there was one thing you wish everyone would keep in mind when buying and drinking wine, what is it?
CC: It’s not about what the restaurant wants you to drink or what will impress the table next to you. It’s about you. This is your experience, and we are just here to facilitate it. Talk to your server or the person who does the wine list, ask questions and they will lead you to the hidden gems that fit your needs, but make sure you listen to your gut and drink what you want to drink that night. Sometimes it’s what they suggest, but sometimes it’s a dirty martini or your go-to bottle of Chianti, and that’s A-OK too.
This bottle makes a wonderful gift.
JB: What is your “wine eureka moment,” the incident/taste/encounter that put you and wine on an intimate plane forever?
CC: In 2014, it was my boss’s birthday and I went to Silver Lake Wine to buy him a bottle of wine. He was a chef with many years of wine knowledge under his belt, and I was a novice restaurant worker just beginning to scratch the service of my wine studies. I went into Silver Lake Wine and bought him a bottle of Rojac “Royaz” sparkling Refošk. He opened it for us to share and it knocked his socks off. He put it on the opening list of his trendy new restaurant in Silver Lake and I had never been prouder.
Ronan’s dining room features communal tables, booths, and bar seating. (Photo Courtesy Ronan)
JB: What has been the strangest moment or incident involving wine that you have experienced in your career thus far?
CC: I had a friend of a friend (who I didn’t know and had never even met briefly) email me multiple times and repeatedly ask me to waive corkage for his upcoming reservation for a party of six. Ronan was three months old at the time, and we were still paying off our contractors from the years of construction leading up to our recent opening, never mind tackling paying back our investors. I was so insulted that a stranger thought it was appropriate to bring their own wine in and not expect to pay a fee (mind you, our corkage is VERY reasonable). I am so happy that the pandemic brought to light how hard the financials are from a restaurant perspective, and moments like that seem to be a distant memory.
JB: Your favorite wine reference in a work of literature?
CC: Country music is my guilty pleasure, and any time a female musician talks about drinking red wine and plotting revenge on an ex, I can’t help but smile.
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