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May 1 2010
For the intellectually curious, far along the curve of consumer wine enthusiasm, beyond the run-of-the-mill kibitzing about varietals, regions and appellations, an investigation into vineyard sources and, notably, the different styles of wine that can come from the same place happens.
It’s a wonky conversation for sure, but also integral to teasing out the nuances of understanding the New World terroir vs. winemaking debate.
Indeed, wine is made in the vineyard, but like a chef working with the best raw ingredients, a deft touch in the process is significant, as well.
In January, Wines & Vines magazine (a must read companion to Wine Business Monthly for anybody interested in a fuller, 360 degree understanding of U.S. wine), had an interesting feature on the different expressions of Pinot Noir from Julia’s Vineyard (south of Paso Robles in the Santa Maria Valley) and its “Artisan Vineyard” program.
Started in the mid-1990’s, the idea behind the artisan program was to provide grapes to small vintners so long as they used the fruit as a vineyard designate bottling. It was a win-win. The Julia’s Vineyard owners (the inimitable Jess Jackson and wife Barbara Banke), received slow burn branding for their vineyard and the small vintners received guaranteed and consistent access to high-quality fruit. And, of course, a natural by-product of sourcing to small vintners from the same vineyard was/is an examination of the influence that winemaking style can have on the end wine.
The Wines & Vines article noticed significant stylistic differences in between Pinots produced by Lane Tanner, Cambria and Foxen. Terroir apologists might not want to hear that it’s not just the fabric that makes the fashion; it’s the designer, as well—each winemaker providing their own recipe for a high-quality, low-production product. Brix level at harvest, grape handling, yeast type and use of oak all play a significant part in the style of wine that ultimately goes into the bottle, after starting with good source material.
In the same vein as Wines & Vines, I took a look at Bacigalupi Vineyard in the Russian River Valley in Sonoma County.
Some in the Russian River Valley have taken to calling Westside Road, an area noted for being a viticultural slice of nirvana, the “Miracle Mile.” It’s a stretch of winding road running a meandering parallel to the Russian River. The vineyards along that stretch of road turn out some of the finest Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Zinfandel in the country.
With history dating to 1954, Bacigalupi Vineyard has long been a source of grapes to third-party vintners including Chateau Montelena and the Chardonnay grapes that went into the 1976 Judgment of Paris winner.
Flash forward to modern day and second-generation Vineyard Manager John Bacigalupi tends over 150 acres of vines at the eponymous vineyard including Petite Sirah, Chardonnay and more notably, Zinfandel and Pinot Noir.
Grapes from Bacigalupi Vineyard go to Rudd, Williams Selyem and a cadre of small vintners as well – up and coming names like Chronicle, Gracianna and the Bacigalupi’s own label, John Tyler wines. Each have a Bacigalupi Vineyard designate bottling.
I tasted through several Zins and Pinots sourced from Bacigalupi and the results were interesting – widely varying styles, all high-quality, and each enjoyable – an underlying quality from the viticulture, all marked by the signature of the respective winemaker.
2006 Chronicle Russian River Valley Bacigalupi Vineyard Zinfandel
ABV: 14.5%
SRP: $36
Production: 165 cases
Tasting Note: Lighter-styled, and translucent garnet in the glass. This wine forsakes the syrup that marks so much Zinfandel these days. A fruit forward, balanced, and restrained expression of Zinfandel – what I like to call a “Nü California” style – good with food, good alone. Notes of blackberry, raspberry, vanilla, with a hint of tar on the edges and an underlying earthy, nuttiness. Palate offers an extra dimension with spice, herbal notes and a streaky cranberry. Finishes complex with black olive juice, cola, spice and touches of leather.
I’m of the notion that Zinfandel isn’t capable of much beyond the “very good,” never breaking through to exceptional. This one pushes that edge. 93/100
2007 Gracianna Russian River Valley Bacigalupi Vineyard Zinfandel
ABV: 14.4%
SRP: $42
Production: 52 cases
Tasting Note: Candied nose of blackberry with vanilla, cola syrup, wet stone and a briary component. Palate offers blackberry and a beguiling minerality, but lacks significant stuffing. Overall style is feminine and approachable; the kind of glass you want to have after dinner as the conversation continues with good friends. The 5% Petite Sirah was an inspiration as a blending component, adds rich depth. 89/90
2007 Gracianna Russian River Valley Bacigalupi Vineyard Pinot Noir
ABV: 14.3%
SRP: $48
Production: 58 cases
Tasting Note: Brick tinted garnet in the glass and made in a vexing style that needs some time to open up in the glass, yet is extremely soft. Bright, pure strawberry juice, cherry, plum and cotton candy on the nose. Palate is soft, round and rich with strawberry and cherry with added complexity from notes of violet, mushroom and a hint of orange peel on the edges. Finishes long, and balanced.
This wine is like Target store designed products – a cut above in quality; trustworthy, well-designed, and accessible. Winemaker Trini Amador is cutting his own style. 91/100
2006 John Tyler Russian River Valley Bacigalupi Vineyard Pinot Noir
ABV: 14.7
SRP: $42
Production: 589 cases
Tasting Note: Brick tinted cranberry. Nose is reasonably muted, but offers a delicious and complex stew of macerated strawberry, cherry, blackberry, and earthy spice, with beet juice on the edges. Palate offers more earthy complexity, cola, spice, cranberry on the edges and a healthy dollop of oak. Typical to many Pinot’s, this is a brooding, complex mysterious wine. On the one hand it lacks a third dimension that would truly separate it as exceptional. However, it is, unmistakably, a food wine, that would allow an entrée to fill in that 3rd dimension into a harmonious whole. Finishes with a touch of heat. I wish I had a second bottle and roasted lamb with rosemary, perhaps the biggest and most positive endorsement I can make for it. 89/100
Note: Lady Bug photo credit: John Tyler Wines
All wines provided by the respective wineries
February 11 2010
Every wine enthusiast should have five excellent, small wineries that nobody else has ever heard of at the ready to recommend to an inquiring friend.
It’s similar to the stockbroker having an obscure stock pick queued up for a lunchtime query, a doctor carrying a prescription pad to the Saturday afternoon social and an Uncle having an awe-inducing card trick intended for a five year-old.
Kimmel Vineyards in Mendocino, with just a Chardonnay and Merlot in their offering, and a minuscule total production of 556 cases, have made their way into my mental rolodex for small winery recommendation.
My criterion for this is principally based on the wines, of course. The wine has to be good and it has to be small production and reasonably obscure and it has to be priced at a level that is within reach as an “I deserve it” luxury. The recommendation is even better if there is a good story associated with it, there isn’t a public tasting room and the principals at the winery are reachable by email or phone.
All of this builds into a mélange of recommendation magic – good wine that is affordable, people that you can exchange an email with, and the glowing pride of below the radar insider-ishness.
Kimmel wins on every count.
Their entry into my “love it” recommendation file started with their Chardonnay, a wine so delicious my tongue wanted to make love to my tonsils. Made in the classic California style, but with a restraint that could create its own category, the Chard sees a combination of new and old French oak along with partial ML on the wine lot – the result is a crisp, vibrant, lushly tropical wine that carries a mouth-filling creaminess, but forsakes being “over-oaked”—a hallmark of lesser Chardonnays. At $32 and 285 total cases of production, it’s worth every penny.
According to Jim Kimmel, who, true to my criteria, was very accessible via email, the winery is experimenting with an unoaked Chardonnay, as well. While reluctant to “chase trends” for a winery of their size, they are using steel for a portion of their 2009 Chardonnay. In his words, “As long as our oak is not ‘too oaky,’ we hope to produce an elegant, traditional Chardonnay and seek to be the best in our price range.”
They are well on their way.
Another fascinating aspect of Kimmel Vineyards that makes for a good “story factor” for peer recommendation includes the fact that they are in Mendocino – the next Paso Robles in California wine. And, they have history as an 1100 acre ranch that converted to about 37 acres of grapes in the mid-eighties while their work at creating a winery started just a couple years with the 2007 harvest.
Small and earnest equals good.
Particularly amusing for me is how people answer dumb questions. I didn’t ask a dumb question on purpose, but I think my tongue was making love to my tonsils at that point, temporarily putting me into a swoon. I asked Jim, “Mendocino bills itself as, ‘America’s greenest wine region’ is there anything Kimmel does to support green business practices?” Graciously, very graciously, Jim responded something along the lines of (paraphrased), “Well, we have 1100 acres and we farm about 3% of that and you can see all kinds of crazy wildlife in their natural habitat. That counts for as much or more than a solar panel array, right?”
Point taken.
Next year a Sauvignon Blanc will be available to bring total production to around 1000 cases and there are plans for a Cabernet, as well – delayed for a year after they elected not to harvest the fruit this year – one of the tough vagaries of truly being a farmer.
Kimmel Vineyards gets my highest recommendation. You can check them out at their web site or, feel free to shoot Jim an email (jim -at- kimmelvineyards.com). He’ll respond, and quickly.
As a part of an email exchange and interview, below are excerpts from my conversation with Jim Kimmel, a glimpse into the values that he and his siblings put into their project.
Good Grape: How tired are you of people making a reference to Jimmy Kimmel the comedian and late night talk show host?
Jim Kimmel: I was “Jimmy Kimmel” long before the comedian was Jimmy. My friends call me Jimmy in fun and obvious reference to the more well known personality. I do not tire to the reference although it does not get me preferential treatment at restaurants and hotels.
Good Grape: What’s your favorite golf course?
Jim Kimmel: Pebble Beach. Like Jack Nicklaus, if I only have one course to play before I die, it is Pebble Beach.
Good Grape: Which of the Seven Deadly Sins are you most guilty of?
Jim Kimmel: Pride.
Good Grape: What is your biggest pet peeve?
Jim Kimmel: That people do not try to do their very best in anything they do.
Good Grape: What do you drink when you’re not drinking wine?
Jim Kimmel: Single malt scotch.
Good Grape:In what era would you live if you transport yourself?
Jim Kimmel: Anytime in the past because then I would know the future.
Good Grape: What is the best wine-related book you’ve read?
Jim Kimmel: The Official Guide to Wine Snobbery by Leonard Bernstein.
Good Grape: Are you always early or terminally late?
Jim Kimmel: Early. It lessens anxiety.
Good Grape: Who would you want to play you in the movie about your life?
Jim Kimmel: Sean Connery
Good Grape: What super-power would you most like to have, and why?
Jim Kimmel: Mind reading because I do not understand most people and how they think.
Good Grape: You are moving and can only take three or four articles with you—what do you grab?
Jim Kimmel: Wedding album, collection of 1927 NY Yankee game bats, computer, reading glasses.
Good Grape: Where and what was the last great meal you had?
Jim Kimmel: Bone in rib-eye at the Tap Room at Pebble Beach
Good Grape: What is the best compliment you have ever received?
Jim Kimmel: Anything dealing with honesty.
January 6 2010
Of all the wine myths, legends, truisms, factoids and other bits of dubious information marauding as accepted fact, the one “You know what they say” bit of side of mouth “I heard …” wisdom that you can reliably believe is the fact that domestic Pinot Noir under $20 usually sucks like a Dyson.
In fact, buying a Pinot under $20 is pretty dumb, because reliably that wine is going to disappoint.
Unless, of course, it doesn’t disappoint—the point of this post.
Another “more true than not” truism in the world of wine is that it’s intimidating, hard to understand, difficult to penetrate and a complete grab bag of “hope and pray” when shopping at retail. Of course, this is palpable reality for the wine uninitiated.
However, in the “file under: Making Everything Easier” category, introducing the For Dummies Wine Collection.
The ubiquitous yellow and black attack, a brand that some say is as well known as Starbucks and Coca-Cola, with the goal of making the complex understandable, have licensed their brand to a savvy entrepreneur in Florida who is making significant progress in bringing a reliable hub of wine quality to retailers across the country.
Here is where I note my bias and appropriate disclosures. My wife is an editor for Wiley Publishing, publisher of the “For Dummies” series of books. However, she has nothing to do with the “For Dummies” wine books (much to my chagrin) and less than nothing to do with the organization’s brand licensing. I happened across the “For Dummies” wine program at a local retailer.
Winner of the 2009 National Grocers Association “Top 3” new products at the 2009 convention, the Karadeci Group is an enterprising importer and distributor in the state of Florida exclusively dedicated to promoting a portfolio of wines via a “For Dummies” retail display.
With the “For Dummies” brand license for a wine program in place, the Karadeci Group made a call to tender for wines yielding 180 submissions, according to Ericca Robinson, Karadeci Group Director of Marketing. Using a tasting panel with a range of palate experience and a goal to keep wine prices in the $8 - $15 range, 22 wines were selected representing an international mix of wines from Torrontés and Malbec to Merlot.
Working with individual state distributors as a complement to their operations in Florida, Karadeci and their Wine for Dummies Collection and display is currently in 10 states, mainly in the Southeast and the Midwest, with three states pending and the goal to grow to 44 states.
The program is simple – using elements of the well-recognized “For Dummies” brand, it’s a programmatic end-cap display, well merchandised with point-of-sale materials, a mobile marketing program and a curated selection of wines that varies by market.
The key to this program (in my estimation) isn’t necessarily the ability for a baffled wine shopper to have a brand point of reference from which to choose a wine, the key is quality in the wine for the price. In order to make a marketing program successful it has to be underscored by quality and consistency with individual wineries and wine brands that jive with the “For Dummies” brand promise.
The Dummies brand isn’t predicated on the yellow and black cover or their mission of “Making Everything Easier” it’s predicated on reliable quality across thousands of different topics. You pick up a “For Dummies” book and you know you’re going to get a high-quality survey of a topic, enough to make you “conversationally dangerous” with confidence.
The Karadeci Group have done a great job staying consistent with the “For Dummies” mission – identifying wines that are value-priced, representative of their varietal and high quality, with reliability.
And, according to Greg Blackman, Sales Manager at Cavalier Distributing in Indianapolis, IN, the program is working:
The displays are an effective “store within a store” concept acting like a silent wine expert to offer information on both the wine and appropriate food pairings. Each display works as an educational tool for both the consumer and the account itself. Bottom line, the goal is to take a complicated subject and simplify it, and that is what the “For Dummies” program does for wine. It’s meant for that customer who wants to get the right quality, affordable wine and be educated and confident in (their) purchase. The feedback has been great up to this point, and customers appreciate the education that this program offers.
One wine, in particular, the Pinot Noir from Sylvester Winery, priced at $12.99 in my market, is a stunning wine at price point – I drank ½ the bottle trying to talk myself out of thinking it was a fantastic wine at a fantastic price—it’s an under $20 Pinot that was darn good.
The next time you hear an alleged piece of wine truth, something along the lines of, “Pinot’s under $20 are horrible” or “wine is hard to shop for” remember that sometimes buying wine “For Dummies” is a smart move and it’s coming to a retailer near you.
2007 Sylvester Vineyard & Winery Pinot Noir
December 25 2009
One of the side benefits of the economic malaise we’ve experienced over the course of the last eighteen months (if there is a silver lining) is an appreciation for simpler things.
The unspoken demands of competitive consumerism, the spending treadmill, if you will, has given way to a more pragmatic sensibility about “stuff” and its relative value and dubious need.
My immediate family decided this year that we wouldn’t exchange gifts amongst ourselves. Instead, we all made a donation to the same cause and focused gifting on the kids.
I, for one, am thankful.
Personally, I don’t anticipate missing a single DVD, or shirt.
In fact, if you think book trends are a larger indicator of cultural trends, you might believe that I’m in good company with forsaking the mindless gifting. While I don’t need to buy these books to tell me what is already obvious, three books have recently published that focus on frugality – not penny-pinching, but being judicious with your money relative to the acquisition of unnecessary material things—the opposite of being “penny-wise and pound foolish.”
One book, in particular, is called Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn’t Buy Presents for the Holidays. Its central premise is that gifting at the holidays, from an economic perspective, is flawed and wasteful. Not only could the money be better spent for different uses, but the monetary value in action is wasteful. Rare is the time that the actual cost of the gift that we give is valued at the same level by the recipient –a $50 sweater costs us $50, but the receiver may only marginally like the sweater and value it at $15. Or, how many “Secret Santa” office gift exchanges happen nationally where you purchase a $10 candle for Betty Sue in accounts payable, but Betty Sue hates the scent of lavender and puts the candle in the attic.
It’s that kind of wasteful gifting that is predominant during the holidays.
In another book called, “The New Frugality” the focus is on living a consumer life that matches up with “sustainable” lifestyle. “Sustainable” is spending that is commensurate with your income; it sounds so simple, even though that sensibility hasn’t been the case over the course of the last 15 years as savings rates have plummeted.
All of these macro trends – cutting back on mindless gifting, living a more reasoned consumer life and another trend that I haven’t yet mentioned, more of a “do-it-yourself” reliance, all have an impact on the wine world – notably a sense that good wine doesn’t have to cost in multiples of $15, nor is it requisite that it come from a well-recognized region. In fact, if anything, it seems that “offbeat” and “affordable” are the sweet spots in the wine market.
This triage of trends all came to roost for me recently as we got together with friends for a holiday gathering. My wife and I hang out with a wide cross-section of people that are collectively known as the, “Pottery Hippies.” These are folks that have one time or another taken a pottery class together at a local art center and all have a down-to-earth artistic sensibility.
There is a gift exchange at this annual holiday get-together with one rule – the gift has to be homemade.
My wife and I hit the jackpot on the potluck-oriented gift exchange. We gave a homemade holiday wreath and received a cigar box guitar, a jaw-dropping beauty that rivals my previous all-time favorite Christmas gift—the Millenium Falcon –given to my twin brother and me in 1980. Until this point in my life, the Millennium Falcon was my Red Ryder BB gun, a gift of unspeakable beauty.
Now, of course, based on this guitar, I know it’s possible for a grown man to get verklempt based on awe other than observing childbirth and winning a home team championship, so inspiring is this three string gitbox. Handmade right down to the inlaid frets on the handmade poplar neck, the sound this guitar makes conjures up images of Robert Johnson sitting on a dusty porch coaxing a bittersweet fat wail, playing “Sweet Home Chicago.”
Fittingly enough, we drank the 2006 Josh Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon at the party – a wine described by Joseph Carr of Joseph Carr Cellars, the vintner for this second label, as a “Vin de Garage” – an unassuming and approachable wine designed to be enjoyed amicably with friends.
It was and we did.
Amongst good friends with an artistic sensibility, eating well, but simply, drinking a very nice wine that didn’t break the bank, a so-called “Vin de Garage,” and receiving a stunning homemade gift, yes, if there is a lesson for 2009 it is, indeed, that sometimes the simple things in life are the best.
November 29 2009
As we push aside the leftovers, the Thanksgiving table in our rearview mirror, our sights set on the holiday season and the New Year, have you ever stopped and wondered what occurred behind the scenes that led to the Thanksgiving wine pairings that dominant mainstream wine media coverage?
If you think the local newspaper wine columnist has a test kitchen, recipes at hand, a wine cellar to practice pairings and a lot of time, think again.
Continuing a re-occurring theme of examining “the business of the business,” I went behind the scenes on a recent Thanksgiving press release to better understand how Thanksgiving wine pairings and recipe recommendations(link starts a download) were constructed.
The short answer is: More carefully and thoughtfully then you might anticipate.
The shorter answer is: Public relations pros have a lot to do with it.
The shortest answer: A professional chef is a good thing.
A few of weeks ago I received a press release from the PR agency representing Rancho Zabaco wines (an E&J Gallo-owned winery), with suggestions for pairing their wine along with a few provided Thanksgiving recipes from Chef Bruce Riezenman, the noted Chef/Owner of Park Avenue Catering in Sonoma County and winner of “Best Caterer” in 2002 and 2004 as noted by NorthBay Biz magazine.
Taking the PR prompt, I received the Rancho Zabaco wine samples and got in contact with Chef Riezenman, who acted as Rancho Zabaco ambassador. He has worked with Gallo off and on in various capacities for over a decade– catering and pairing wine for industry dinners, conducting food and wine pairing seminars for their sales team and doing ambassador-like media work, as well. This Thanksgiving PR campaign is an example of the media work.
One of the more interesting things to note is that, yes, we’ve been having Thanksgiving for nearly four hundred years and the flavor profile doesn’t materially change. Therefore, the recipes sent out this year are the same recipes that were sent out in 2006 when Rancho Zabaco coverage was received by the Oakland Tribune, amongst others.
While it’s easy to cast a weary, jaded eye and suggest that these sorts of PR programs are put together in a slap-dash self-serving effort (you can’t update the recipes, guys?), intended to cater to lazy writers, my conversation with Riezenman proved contrary. I found a thoughtful, contemplative guy who has “bona fides” and is serious about wine and food pairings and the people he associates with.
In addressing my query about Zinfandel being down the list (way down the list) as a match for the Thanksgiving table, he noted, “There is a natural connection between Zinfandel and Thanksgiving. (Zinfandel) is considered our ‘indigenous’ grape … same with Thanksgiving. It is considered an American holiday.”
He continued, “What a good Zin has going for it is this magical combination of ripe fruit, good acidity, firm tannins and alcohol that is balanced by the fruit.”
What Reizenman artfully didn’t mention is that most California Zinfandels are flabby fruit bombs, but he did note:
”(Rancho Zabaco) Zinfandels have good fruit, and also bold flavors all around. Turkey white meat is general is pretty bland, and on its own Zin might not be the 1st choice, but once you start adding side dishes and sauces it all changes. You are adding bigger and bolder flavors to your plate. It’s all about creating something that is bigger than the sum of its parts when you are putting together a Thanksgiving dinner.”
Riezenman knows that which he speaks, emphatic in his counterintuitive approach. His style of food and wine pairing is exactly the opposite of what most people traditionally do – match the wine to the food. Instead, Reizenman matches the food to the wine. It’s a 180 degree difference in perspective that allows him to philosophically get to a pairing that works while, perhaps, uncovering some nontraditional insights into what goes well with what. “I usually begin with the wine and its unique characteristics. Then I decide what food, flavors, textures, weight and nuances will complement the wine. I emphasize flavors that work with wine and introduce people to a broader spectrum of possibilities,” he said.
Reizenman continues, “There are many times when the food will ‘improve’ the wine but my goal is to ‘enhance’ it or at the very least do it no harm and allow the original character of the wine to shine through. The real goal is do this with full flavored and satisfying food. I am not shy with my pairings. I prefer to be more bold and daring and to challenge many preconceived notions of what will work.”
In proving his food and wine pairing prowess, Reizenman has released an iPhone application called Pair It! In developing the application, Reizenman said, “We tend to be very specific when recommending pairings for a particular dish. The truth is, there are many wines that will work beautifully with any dish you can think of. That is the basic philosophy behind (the application). Each dish has on average 20 different varietals that (it) can work with.”
The app itself is clean and elegantly designed with a deep amount of information. There are over 1000 recipes from Reizenman’s repertoire and 20,000 pairings, all written and tested.
Overall, It would be easy to mark this conversation as the work of a paid professional staying on message; that is, of course, if his message didn’t work. It does, however. The 2007 Rancho Zabaco Reserve Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley) and the 2006 Rancho Zabaco Toreador Zinfandel (Monte Rosso Vineyard) all scored with my Thanksgiving dinner putting a Pinot Noir to shame as a complement to the rich food on the table. A Zin would not have been within my first six choices for a wine pairing, but the Rancho Zabaco wines were indeed a genuinely good complement. They are high in alcohol at 15.5% with a touch of residual sugar (0.4) and while that will put them in the “do not drink” category for many, I choose to look at wines for their individual merit instead of choosing categorical brushes with dogmatism. These wines are good, and especially good with the sweet/savory sides of many holiday meals.
My takeaway in talking with Chef Reizenman is three-fold – don’t overlook a well-structured Zin as food complement on an order more sophisticated than BBQ, food and wine pairing is a well-considered art, and being a Chef is as much about being entrepreneurial and getting the word out as much as it is about the food.
Chef Reizenman (and by proxy Rancho Zabaco) score with this press release offering. The wines are good, and a good match to Thanksgiving – and that’s a pairing I can support, PR or no PR.
Monte Rosso vineyard photo credit: Elliot Essman / Stylegourmet.com
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