Fort Ross 2007 Rosé of Pinot
by Haydn S. Adams | Beyond Napa Valley
June 16th, 2009

Appellation: Sonoma Coast, California
ALC: 14.2%
You can buy this wine at: fortrossvineyard.com
Retail price: $16
Haydn gives it: 89pts

I discovered this wine from a personal invitation from co-owner, Linda Schwartz. I was told by a friend that I had to try their Pinotage. I had had it in the past, and apparently said that I gave it less than a favorable oral review, so I was out to try it again and see what I thought of it. It was in the e-mail correspondance that I found out that she was pouring her wines down the street from me, and I ought to stop in and give it a swirl. I happily agreed to meet her and try a bottle or two.

I will get to the Pinotage in a later review, I promise, but that night one wine really stood out—the Rosé. I knew it was the shining star that night because when I surveyed what I wanted to try again, rosé was the first thing uttered out of my mouth.

On the nose, you’ll get the default strawberry components, but dig a bit deeper and you’re bound to get a bit of watermelon as well. Smelling this wine, images of fresh watermelons being picked right off of the vine came into vision. Just fresh, fresh watermelon.

The wine, made in a dryer style, is very silky to drink and lingers for a while after. I’d serve this wine knowing it is going to take a bit to finish. Call up a good friend you haven’t seen for a while, break out some cheese from Whole Foods and kick back on the balcony. Remember to put it on ice as this wine is served cold.

Overall, the wine is delightful with a great balance of fruit coming out on the palate as well as crispness in a bit of acidity. I wouldn’t cellar this one for more than the summer as it is ready to drink now, and summer is just round the corner.

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Haydn Adams is the author of the book, Wineries Beyond Napa Valley: Dry Creek and Alexander Valley, an insider’s tasting guide to the hidden gems region. He also contributes to the Beyond Napa Valley Wine Blog, writes for vinvillage.com, and can be found roaming the hills of Sonoma County looking for the next hidden gems. You can contact him at haydn@beyondnapavalley.com

2006 Ventana Rubystone
Blend: 62% Grenache / 38% Syrah

Appellation: Arroyo Seco (Monterey), California
ALC: 14.9%
You can buy this wine: at ventanawines.com
Retail price: $18
Haydn gives this wine: 91pts

There is something mystious about red blends. There is no way to assume anything. Yes, sure I know relatively how the wine is going to taste, but in no way am I going to bank on anything until that wine hits my lips.

I had the pleasure of attending the LA winefest this past weekend. Numerous wineries were pouring, including Quivira, one of the wineries in my book, Wineries Beyond Napa Valley: Dry Creek and Alexander Valley (shameless self-promotion, I know). The wines seemed to range from the California / Oregon border to as far south as Malibu. And with over 40 or so wineries representing nearly double that amount of wines, I literally just picked random booths to try.

One of my first booths to sample was Ventana, hailing from Monterey. Out of the 4 wines being poured, it was their red blend that stole the show.

Grenache on it’s own is very light, and you have do quite a bit to punch it up a bit (that’s wine lingo for, to bring out the characteristics in the wine). Thankfully, the 38% Syrah highened the spice and earth in this wine with a bit of cherry. Indicative to the Rhoné world , I was surprised and delighted that, while missing the Mourvédre, it still held up very well. I kept going back and smelling this wine as the aromas were distinced and delightful, even for a earthy wine. There were a bit of tannins, but give it two years and they’ll be a distant memory.

As I mentioned before, the wine was particularly earthy, with a bit of fruit to round it out. The finish went on for a bit. This wine could go very well with some medium-game meat, nothing too heavy. The wine is not big enough to mount a charge against a t-bone or a filet mignon.

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Haydn Adams is the author of the book, Wineries Beyond Napa Valley: Dry Creek and Alexander Valley, an insider’s tasting guide to the hidden gems region. He also contributes to the Beyond Napa Valley Wine Blog, writes for vinvillage.com, and can be found roaming the hills of Sonoma County looking for the next hidden gems. You can contact him at haydn@beyondnapavalley.com

Quivira 2007 Grenache
by Haydn Adams | Beyond Napa Valley Wine Blog
June 6th, 2009

Retail price: $26
Appellation: Dry Creek, California
ALC: 14.9%
You can buy this wine: at Quivirawine.com
Haydn gives this wine: 88pts

Grenache is a funky grape. It is one of the lightest of red wines and while is one of the most widely planted, it rarely bottled as a single variety. Grenache in itself is a soft wine. So growing and producing a bottle of 100% Grenache is often overlooked for a Rhoné blend. Quivira does both. And while the Rhoné blend is good, the single varietal Grenache shines.

The color on this clearly states that it is young. Vibrant red tones with a touch of brick can be seen in the wine. The rim is abundantly clear and is fairly deep in color. You can see your hand through the wine, but not by much.

The nose is fruit-forward with hints of a touch of strawberry and cherries. It is no wonder why winemaker Steven Canter calls the Grenache, “Pinot Noir’s Mediterranean cousin.” There is also an underlying touch of some sort of spice to this wine.

The mid-palate is similar with the fruit coming out in full force, yet mixed in a bit with an asian spice. It also feels like the fruit have just been picked, where you can smell a bit of earth on the fruit, straight from the ground (or in the case with the cherries), the tree.

Kudos to the winemaker for putting this wine in mostly neutral oak, as the tannins would attack too much of this wine and overpower it. I gave this wine an 88 because at first the wine comes out a bit hot. At 14.9%, the high alcohol will make you think twice before pouring that second full glass. I’m all in favor of getting a bit of a buzz when drinking, I just don’t want to get it on my 4th sip.

However, don’t let the high alcohol deter you. This Grenache is a shining example of what a good 100% varietal should taste like. No overbearing tannins, no sharp hits to the palate. Just easy-drinking wine.

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Haydn Adams is the author of the book, Wineries Beyond Napa Valley: Dry Creek and Alexander Valley, an insider’s tasting guide to the hidden gems region. He also contributes to the Beyond Napa Valley Wine Blog, writes for vinvillage.com, and can be found roaming the hills of Sonoma County looking for the next hidden gems. You can contact him at haydn@beyondnapavalley.com

Lodi ZinFest – Part 3 – Saturday
by Haydn Adams | Beyond Napa Wine Blog

Following great wine at the winemakers’ dinner and a few extra drinks at the bar the night before, I was all set to go wine tasting on Saturday. Today was the main day of the Zinfest where everyone who even remotely grew wine in Lodi brought out there wares for the general public. Top it off with 98 degrees, and you’ve got one fun day.

A big kudos as well to vinvillage.com, for providing the ticket to the event, in addition to the VIP booth. (I guess this is the advertisement of the review)

Having not looked at a map (I didn’t even see one the entire time I was there) we set out on a random journey through the many ubiquitous white tents in search of some fabulous Zinfandel. One of the first wineries we came across was the M2 wines, to which we figured would be a great wine to wet our palates. In general, it is always a good idea to use the first wine as a control, to more wet your whistle than to actually judge it. The next time you’re out wine tasting, notice how the first sip of wine tastes, versus the second.

My suspicions were correct that their “artist series” Zinfandel was good, 88pts good, however their normal good ‘ole fashion Zinfandel was even betting, scoring (in my book) 90pts.

The joys of going to a wine festival like Lodi’s is your bound to find quite a few that you’re just not going to like. And I did run across them on occasion, however, for the most part, the wines were pretty good. I can’t say that I walked (or would it be stumbled) into this Zinfest with no pre-conceived notions that Lodi is not a “true” wine growing region, however I did have some cloud of doubt. To my delight I can say that Lodi is a formable growing region.

Overall the wines did lack the complexity that I observed in some of the other Zin countries, such as Paso Robles and Dry Creek, yet nearly everything that I approached was, well, approachable and I would hesitate to recommend most wines that I tried. I look forward to trying the wines of Lodi again next year.The real kicker in the winefest was that there were quite a few non-Zin wines that were beautiful. I’ve attempted to note a few below, with my scores and all. Please bear in mind that I was not jotting down notes, and was using my camera to record the actual bottle.

The Top 3 Wines / Wineries from the Lodi Zinfest

1. Bokisch Vineyards – All great wines. Yet no Zin. Their abariño, Granache and Tempranillo were devine. However Spain (all three of the varietals are native Spaniards) does have a similar, albeit slightly cooler temps to Lodi, so it does make sense that you’d see a few of these varietals in Lodi. The surprising twist was that they were all excellent wines, especially the abariño. Yet, on a cool day, the white wines do have a bit of a draw.

2. Berghold Vineyards. Once again, the presense of a Zin was noticeably missing, but not the other wines surly made up for it. Up first was the Cab Franc / Syrah blend. I can still remember the deep berries mixed with a bit of spice. Also, the VIogner seemed to quell the thirst on a hot day and with a bit less acidity then a few other of the whites of that day. A little lemon could be picked up in this wine.
1. Klinker Brick 2006 Old Ghost Old Vine Zinfandel - The clear winner for the day (the M2 doesn’t count). Wow! I could tell this old vine packed a lot of punch, with the grapes being sourced from 90, yes, 90 year old vines (from Lodi no less)!. Yet the wine maker did an amazing job of quelling the potential berry blast that could have erupted here. The berries that came through were subdued, but there, and they added to the beauty of this wine. Obviously the winemaker put a lot of care and attention to this wine. As well, I give this wine bottle the “Most Beautiful Bottle” design award (click on the image for a larger view). I light etched ghost of a tree is gorgeous.

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Haydn Adams is the author of the book, Wineries Beyond Napa Valley: Dry Creek and Alexander Valley, an insider’s tasting guide to the hidden gems region. He also contributes to the Beyond Napa Valley Wine Blog, writes for vinvillage.com, and can be found roaming the hills of Sonoma County looking for the next hidden gems. You can contact him at haydn@beyondnapavalley.com.

Hug 2007 Mourvedre
by Haydn Adams | Beyond Napa Valley Wine Blog

Appalachian: Santa Barbara
Alc: 14.1%
Haydn gives it: 84pts

Mourvédre’s had their day in the sun, but today they are relatively unknown. Chances are probably great that you’ve had a Mourvédre before, but the name wasn’t on the bottle. More times than not this varietal shows up with it’s two other compradres in the rhone blend, Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre. The Mourvédre is a beefy grape, with some strong characteristic. So I was jazzed when I discovered Hug Cellars producing a single varietal Mourvédre coming out of Paso Robles.

The age of this wine is very clear from the very first pour. On the appearance scale, we’re talking light ruby to indigo/violet. This dear young one just got into the bottle. The reddish tones were there but the violet/purple tones made it known it was a very young wine. I’m curious to know how long ago this wine was bottled.

The nose showcased wonderful tones of deep fruit, blackberries and plum. There was also a little bit of spice on the nose, which came out quite pronounced on the inital whiff.

While the nose was delightful, the palate didn’t fair so well. All of the aromas came through on the mid-palate but they bounced around on the tongue like someone shook up the wine like they way Champagne is shaken up before uncorked during a celebration. The wine felt like it was still in bottle shock. Two theories for this. 1) The wine was just bottled maybe a month or two ago or 2) California Overnight, the shipping company, pulled a Jimmy Carrey in Ace Venture Pet Detective and played soccer with the packaging. Ok, so maybe I’m going a bit too far, but it could have come from too much movement in shipping.

The silverlining? After two days of it sitting completely still, the wine did soften. The tastes were still bouncing around, but with less movement. I could detect more of a pronounced plum tone with a mixture of some sort of spice.

Overall, I could see this wine shining in a few months. Very low tannins for an ’07, it has a lot of potential. I gave it 84 pts due to it having possible bottle shock, and I’m looking forward to trying it again in the late summer when it has time to nap in the cellar.

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Haydn Adams is the author of the book, Wineries Beyond Napa Valley: Dry Creek and Alexander Valley, an insider’s tasting guide to the hidden gems region. He also contributes to the Beyond Napa Valley Wine Blog, writes for vinvillage.com, and can be found roaming the hills of Sonoma County looking for the next hidden gems. You can contact him at haydn@beyondnapavalley.com

2002 Archipel
Price: $40
Region: Sonoma and Napa Valleys 
Haydn gives it: 92 pts 
You can purchase this wine: At archipelwines.com. Unfortunately the ’02 is sold out, but the ’03 is available (stay tuned for that review soon). 

A Bordeaux blend is generally comprised of three main grapes—Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cab Franc (generally in that order as well). The three grapes together make up a generally smoky and earthy style of wine. Unless you’re going for more of a new world fruit-forward style of a Bordeaux. Case in point—the Archipel. 

The Archipel is a single label Bordeaux blend. It’s a very quiet wine, due to the fact that 1) only a handful of restaurants and wine merchants carry it, and 2) they wine is poured at Vérité’s tasting room in Chalk Hill so unless you knew where to look, this wine wouldn’t even remotely appear on your radar. However, while it is hard to find, this wine is truly a “hidden gem”.

The 2002 Archipel composition is 49% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33% Merlot, and 18% Cabernet Franc. The colors is extremely deep (thanks in part to the Cab Franc) and a deep purple, almost violet color can be seen. Just judging the color of the wine, you know you’re going to be in for something fairly intense. 

The nose had a bit of nutmeg and vanilla in combination with black cherries and a little inkling of strawberries. The black cherries carried a small bit of a smoky flavor, as if you they were just put into a smoker (something we all do on a regular basis, right?).

The wine showed no tannins whatsoever. The silky texture gave way to an ample amount of black cherries again with a kick of spice. I was very impressed how the merlot showed in this wine. A friend of wine I was tasting this wine (ok, more like drinking than tasting in this case) noted the abundance of Merlot in the wine. For only about a third of the wine comprised of Merlot, it sure did want the spotlight. The nutmeg migrated to a little cocoa on the tongue but it was half muted due to the spiciness.

The complexity of this wine was enormous. With every sip (and this was even after opening it for at least an hour), new flavors appeared and the spiciness became more apparent. The length was equally enormous, lingering for many minutes at the end with a little more cocoa and smoked cherries.

This wine confirmed my hypothesis that with a good wine, you’ll drink it slowly, whether you are conscious or unconscious about it. It’s in part due to that powerful finish. There is no real need to take another sip right away, you inherently want to wait a few minutes before taking another sip. 

A beautiful Bordeaux Blend.

I’ve been wanting to open this one up for a while. With any prized wine, you have to, albeit a nonsensical reason, attribute something to the reason for opening it. For this one, it was successfully receiving my wine books last week. Plus I had a great friend over which made it that much more enjoyable.

At first glance, it’s apparent that this wine has lost a lot of its vibrancy. A dull brick color was evident and I had some trouble seeing my fingers through the glass. To further show its age, the rim of the wine had almost no color at all. 

On the nose, you could find a little smoke mixed in with rhubarb and blackberry. A few cherries could also be found, but they were extremely faint. The aging of the wine I feel seemed to reduce the once vibrant cherries to almost memories. It was clear (unlike the clarity of the wine’s color) that this wine was going to be deep and complex.

Their seemed to be a hint of rose pedals on the palate (no, they don’t throw rose pedals in the wine, don’t worry). What usually comes out more in the nose was found in the taste on the mid-palate. No tannins all all here. Just a dry wine that almost left your tongue thirsting for more. On the second taste, the smoky traces came back with the blackberries. There almost seemed to be an incense type of aroma floating around my palate. Interesting.

Overall the wine was dense. A strong force in the mouth that commanded attention. This wine’s grapes came from “J’s crown jewel hillside Pinot Noir parcel overlooking the Russian River Valley”. It is clearly evident that the grapes were well cared for. 

This wine is not for sale any more at J’s tasting room in the Russian River. To get your hands on this jewel, you’re going to have to search the internets. A quick Google search showed the bottle priced between $32 and $42 dollars. 

For even more information, check out J’s Library Wine page on the Pinot Noir.

Nothing drives a winery crazier than someone who walks into the tasting room doused, no, drenched in Chanel No. 5 (or any other perfume for that matter). If you are going wine tasting, just say no to wearing perfume. If you thought being highly intoxicated in a tasting room was a faux pas, wait til you walk in smelling like you just walked out of Saphora.