Category Archives: Winemaker Profiles

Joel Peterson and his Ravenswood vineyard designate wines

Posted on by
Recently I had the chance to sit down with Ravenswood’s winemaker Joel Peterson to discuss his latest line, his single vineyard designate line. I must say I was looking forward to seeing how many Zins just one can produce, and how much of a difference they were. I was in for a shock.
Joel is a well-spoken, experienced and extremely knowledgeable winemaker. He’s held the winemaker position for 30+ years, a feat most wineries only dream about. And he still has a remarkable passion to the land and to the grape. Over dinner and 8 bottles of wine (for the record, we didn’t even come close to finishing them), Joel recounted of the days when he first met Robert Parker Jr., going on to explain that he had just driven from Tahoe that morning and arrived to the winery wearing his ski parka and corresponding attire (you would think you would want a good first impression to a man who can literally change your wine’s future in a matter of 2 to 3 digits).
He recounted the wine that got him started, the day Costco wanted his wines, the day his friend offered him to try a 1929 bottle of Bordeaux that had been underneath a New Jersey beach house for nearly half of a century. And all of this lead to the 8 vineyard designate wines which I was happy to sample.
The wines can be summed up with a phrase from fellow winemaker Greg LaFoiette of Tandem— Vint with honor. And that is what Joel has done. Having more information in his head than what is probably in the library at UC Davis, Joel has crafted 8 wines from 8 distinctive locations in Napa and Sonoma County. The most interesting part of the tasting was that most were not 100% ZIn. I assumed that having come from the same vineyard that they were, to which I was incorrect.
Taste of the location
If you want to taste precisely what wine from specific regions, AVA’s even, taste like, then these wines are for you. Dry Creek, Russian River Valley, Sonoma Valley and Napa Valley are all represented. Closing my eyes, I could see exactly where these wines came from (having sampled a fair bit of wines in the past from the regions mentioned above). Greg accompanied each wine with a personal story, explaining everything about the vineyard from the former owner to how he found the vineyard. I’m still torn whether I treasured the stories, the wine, or the charm of the winemaker more. I guess, in the end, it was all-of-the-above.
The next time you’re in Sonoma, stop in to Ravenswood and sample these exquisite wines. The prices are fair and, given the current economic times, they are an affordable luxury. They range from the mid $30s to $75 for the Icon (one beautiful almost-Bordeaux blend from one vineyard). A new look at a legendary winery.
Cheers,
Haydn

ravenswoodRecently I had the chance to sit down with Ravenswood’s winemaker Joel Peterson to discuss his latest line, his single vineyard designate collection. I must say I was looking forward to seeing how many Zins just one can produce, and how much of a difference they were. I was in for a shock.

Joel is a well-spoken, experienced and extremely knowledgeable winemaker. He’s held the winemaker position for 30+ years, a feat most wineries only dream about. And he still has a remarkable passion to the land and to the grape. Over dinner and 8 bottles of wine (for the record, we didn’t even come close to finishing them), Joel recounted of the days when he first met Robert Parker Jr., going on to explain that he had just driven from Tahoe that morning and arrived to the winery wearing his ski parka and corresponding attire (you would think you would want a good first impression to a man who can literally change your wine’s future in a matter of 2 to 3 digits).

He recounted the wine that got him started, the day Costco wanted his wines, the day his friend offered him to try a 1929 bottle of Bordeaux that had been underneath a New Jersey beach house for nearly half of a century. And all of this lead to the 8 vineyard designate wines which I was happy to sample.

The wines can be summed up with a phrase from fellow winemaker Greg Follette of Tandem— Vint with honor. And that is what Joel has done. Having more information in his head than what is probably in the library at UC Davis, Joel has crafted 8 wines from 8 distinctive locations in Napa and Sonoma County. The most interesting part of the tasting was that most were not 100% ZIn. I assumed that having come from the same vineyard that they were, to which I was incorrect.

Taste of the location

If you want to taste precisely what wine from specific regions, AVA’s even, taste like, then these wines are for you. Dry Creek, Russian River Valley, Sonoma Valley and Napa Valley are all represented. Closing my eyes, I could see exactly where these wines came from (having sampled a fair bit of wines in the past from the regions mentioned above). Greg accompanied each wine with a personal story, explaining everything about the vineyard from the former owner to how he found the vineyard. I’m still torn whether I treasured the stories, the wine, or the charm of the winemaker more. I guess, in the end, it was all-of-the-above.

The next time you’re in Sonoma, stop in to Ravenswood and sample these exquisite wines. The prices are fair and, given the current economic times, they are an affordable luxury. They range from the mid $30s to $75 for the Icon (one beautiful almost-Bordeaux blend from one vineyard). A new look at a legendary winery.

Cheers,
Haydn

Winemaker profile: Greg La Follette of the winery Tandem

Posted on by

winemaker-greg-la-folletteWinemaker Profile: Greg La Follette

I was a bit confused when Greg said, “plan on leaving the hiking boots at home as we cruise Sonoma Mountain and beyond by pulling corks,” when he invited me out to his custom crush facility in the wine country.

What evolved was a whilwind barel tasting, which consisted of Greg wrangling ladders, jumping on barrels and thus confirming that a wine had aphrodisiac qualities to it (we left that bottle for him and and his wife to share, for the record).

Greg is, quite simply, a genius when it comes to wine. His wine label, Tandem, has shared many years basking in the spotlight, and it is, in part, thanks to Greg’s expert knowledge in sustainable and biodynamic wine growing. He also claims that the wine tastes great because of his bagpipe and penny-whistle  playing to the wine while in the barrel. I think he’s just in the “flow”.

There is a level at which the struggles become effortless and it just makes sense. Such as the phrase, “Mozart’s music is too easy for children and too hard for adults” would equally apply to Greg’s winemaking style.

winermaker-greg-la-folletteAs he took us around the various barrels, he showcased how elevations and different clones make quite a difference in the wine (we were sampling Pinot Noir clones). Some clones complete with medium toasting on the barrels showcased more tobacco and dark fruit, while other clones in completely different barrels showcased beautiful cherries.

His knowledge ran deep, and yet he explained his methods for making great wine in very easy-to-understand methods. And in between the expert info came bits of bad jokes and a bunch of laughter.

In conclusion, I’d like to close with the same phrase as Greg closed out one of his e-mails to me. At the bottom, he wrote, Vint with Honor*, complete with the asterisk. He went on to follow up the mark with an explanation of how he felt he wished it would be used more often these days. At first read, I basically shrugged off the line. But reading it again after I had just spent a few hours spitting his prized Pinot into the drain, I now understand it. Greg is, without a doubt, a winemaker. And with a touch of grace, humility and a knowledge of vitaculture that could fill the UC Davis library, he makes great wine. I was honored and grateful to spend a few hours learning more about wine from one of the masters out there in the wine world.

And so, I say, to all the winemakers out there—Vint with Honor.

Cheers,
Haydn

——————————-
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. If he is not working in Marin or San Francisco, you can find him roaming the streets of Sonoma County (and at times, Napa, and at times Lodi) looking for that next hidden gem.