Rolf Binder Halliwell 2005

Last night I decided to make myself a nice birthday steak dinner. I wasn't all that impressed with the steak selection at my local Market Basket, but finally settled on a reasonable looking rib-eye cut. After I finished my afternoon work-out, I rummaged around in the cellar looking for a good bottle to pair with steak, potato planks, and a salad with ginger-lime dressing. Came across this bottle that had me stumped where I got it from. I don't recall purchasing it, so perhaps it was a gift? If you were the giver, the givee would appreciate a note of reminder!

Rolf Binder Halliwell 2005

Country of origin: Australia
Territory: South Australia
Appellation: Barossa Valley
Varietal: 60% Shiraz & 40% Grenache
Stats: 14.5% ABV
Cost: ~$25 (no idea where I got this)

Appearance: Dark brillant red, clear, good legs
Aroma: Chocolate, stewed plums, black cherries, strong oak flavors with coconut & vanilla predominating
Taste: Smooth & supple. Moderately light tannins with muted flavors of black fruits & chocolate. Nice lingering (and smooth) after taste.

I've tried to find some additional information about this wine, but interestingly the Rolf Binder website doesn't contain tasting notes for the 2005 Halliwell. The description on Wine.com states that the Grenache comes from the "Western Ridge" estate vineyard located along the edge of the Marananga bowl in the western rim of the Barossa Valley, while the Shiraz is purchased from Rolf's neighbors. I can't find independent verification, so for now, I'll go along with them. Wine.com also had Robert Parker's review, which I found humorous:

"A sexy, knock-out effort for drinking over the next 5-7 years is the 2005 Shiraz/Grenache Halliwell. This aromatic blend of 60% Shiraz and 40% Grenache offers up notes of blueberries, raspberries, cherries, earth, spice, and a hint of oak. It is full-bodied with juicy, concentrated flavors, supple tannins, and a velvety, opulent finish."
Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate, 92 Points

I'm guessing that he rated this wine upon release in 2007 or so. I'd have to disagree with some of his review, as I found the oak to be very strong and almost masking the duller fruit flavors. That was rather surprising since the screw-cap closure would have led me to expect a much more fruit-forward style. Perhaps the wine has already reached its peak and is declining, or perhaps Robert's insured palatte is more discriminating than mine. :)

I did enjoy scoping around the Rolf Binder website. There's a lot of viticulture, harvest, and winemaking info and pictures posted. Interestingly, I learned that the winery was originally named Veritas in 1955, but changed to "Rolf Binder at Veritas" in 2005 to avoid marketing confusion with another Veritas wine brand in the US. That of course led me to search for the competition, but the only US Veritas winery that I turned up with a quick Google search was the Veritas Winery of Afton, Virginia. If this was the other brand, it's rather interesting that the VA winery that only started in 2002 could force a much longer established Australian winery to change the name of their brand, but that's up to the lawyers to settle.

Salute,
a Wine Student

Rio Seco Zinfandel Paso Robles 2000

Country of origin: USA
State: California
Appellation: Paso Robles
Varietal: Zinfandel
Stats: 14.3% ABV
Cost: ~$20, purchased at the winery in 2003/4

Appearance: Dark brick red, clear, good legs
Aroma: Chocolate, leather, blackberries, cassis, slight vanilla & caramel notes
Taste: Smooth, light tannins, low acid, cherries & raspberries dancing behind a curtain of leather & chocolate. Hints of mint in the smooth, lingering after taste.

This is an old Zin that I might have caught slightly past its peak. I discovered Rio Seco on a wine tasting trip to Paso Robles in 2003 or 2004 (same year that my ex-brother-in-law got married). Found it through a personal recommendation from another winery. They were a young winery at the time. Housed in a newly purchased building that had been used for illicit drug production (had the bullet holes for proof), I was fascinated that the owner/winemaker also was a former MLB baseball catcher and currently a scout for the Detroit Tigers. Fortunately, his wine was better than the players he found for the hapless Tigers! His wife gave us a tour of their facilities, including the vats of actively fermenting must. The smell in the tasting room/winery was pure heaven and probably one of the reasons that I ended up purchasing a case of wine! Seriously, I enjoy finding small, family-owned wineries that produce good wine for a reasonable price, and Rio Seco fits that bill to a T. Interestingly, the website currently lists the 2000 Zinfandel for sale. I'd suggest buying and consuming quickly because I think this wine is at its peak. A lovely old zinfandel that went great with a pumpkin/italian sausage pasta & green salad, it didn't hold up very long after opening--was pretty flat after 24 hr under vacuum.

Salute,
a Wine Student

Bedell First Crush 2007

I was cleaning off my desk a few days ago and came across some tasting notes that I could have sworn that I'd already written. However, a quick peruse through the archives says that I did not. I stumbled across Bedell on a 2008 spring trip to Long Island. At the time, this was about the only wine that I liked and was willing to pay their price (most everything else was really expensive). Enjoy!

Bedell 2007 First Crush
Country of origin: USA
State: New York
Appellation: North Fork of Long Island
Varietal: 82% Chardonnay, 18% Viognier
Stats: 12% ABV
Cost: $18 at the winery

Appearance: Light straw yellow
Aroma: Notes of pineapple and green apples with a melon finish. Very light & delicate nose.
Taste: Crisp & clean citrus and melon with a slightly acidic finish. There's a vegetative earthy undertone.

Salute,
a Wine Student

Elk Cove La Bohéme Pinot Noir 2001

I couldn't get enough turkey over Thanksgiving so after spending the T-Day with friends (who brought out an amazingly complex 9 year old Napa cabernet), I cooked a turkey and trimmings for myself the next day. I was drinking a white wine while I was cooking all afternoon, but opened up one of my library wines to celebrate the dinner. The menu included turkey, the Powell special cranberry sauce, maple glazed roasted brussel sprouts with turkey bacon, and sourdough stuffing with italian sausage & mushrooms. And for the wine...

Elk Cove La Bohéme Pinot Noir 2001
Country of origin: USA
State: Oregon
Appellation: Willamette Valley
Varietal: Pinot Noir
Stats: 13% ABV
Cost: Unknown, purchased at winery in 2003

Appearance: Medium brick-red, good legs, clear, lightly translucent
Aroma: Dark cherries & vanilla, complex notes of leather, tobacco, & tar.
Taste: Silky smooth with muted dark fruit flavors of cherries & cassis. Finishes with complex layers of leather, tobacco, and cocoa.

Wow--that just about sums up this Oregon Pinot Noir. Amazingly complex & wonderful. Flavors that I'd normally associate with a cabernet sauvignon. The kind folks at Elk Cove Vineyards are nice enough to have historical tasting & viticulture notes on past vintages so we can glean a little more of how this wine was made. The 17 acre La Bohéme Vineyard was planted in 1985 on steep, south-facing slopes of well-drained Willakenzie soils with cuttings from the original estate Pommard vines. The vines are extensively pruned and cluster thinned to limit yields. Indeed, the 2001 harvest was a mere 1.9 tons/acre with Brix = 23.8 and total acids = 0.80%. After fermentation and aging in French oak, the wine was bottle with a total acids = 0.65% and pH = 3.62. Only 484 cases were produced. For those who keep track, this vintage received a score of 90 points from Wine Enthusiast magazine in 2003.

I visited Elk Cove in 2003 while I was on vacation. It was my first visit to the Oregon wine region and I fell in love with their pinot noirs. I visited a number of wineries on that trip, but I distinctly remember Elk Cove because it was the last winery of the visit. It's located in the hills of the northern Willamette Valley way off the beaten track. But it is well worth the trouble of getting there. The winery/tasting room was situated on the top of the hill overlooking the vineyards--an absolutely gorgeous spot as the sun was beginning to go down over the western hills. Elk Cove wines are pretty widely distributed, at least their larger base lines, and I've found them to be pretty consistent over the years since 2003. You may not be able to find the La Bohéme, but definitely try any of their wines that you can find.

Salute,
a Wine Student.

Spier 2008 Sauvignon Blanc

While I'm reminiscing about my trip to Namibia, I'll add another note about some South African wines that I tried. Namibia was run by the South African government as a protectorate after World War I when Germany ceded control of its former colony. Lots of politics and bad history there, but even after Namibia gained independence in 1990, South Africa has remained as strong presence. Namibia gets most of its tourists, fresh produce, infrastructure, and wine from South Africa. Pretty much from the moment I stepped on the Air Namibia flight where they were serving a South African pinotage to the flight home, I was drinking South African wines. Fortunately, South Africa makes some pretty good wine, so it was all good! The first night in Namibia, my brother wanted to treat me to a traditional brai. Normally that word is simply translated as BBQ, but brai is not just a noun or verb, it's almost a way of life. It brings to mind visions of the early Afrikaaner settlers building a bed of charcoal in the middle of the veld and roasting hunks of fresh meat (beef or wild game). Real man stuff here--the hunt, meat, fire, beers, you get the idea... I missed my brother's big game hunt, so off we went to the grocery store to get some garlic wurst, toasties, and kebabs. To wash down our bounty, we bought some Windhoek and Tafel lagers (some of the best beer on Earth!) and a nice bottle of South African sauvignon blanc. The store did not have the greatest wine selection, but I rooted around until I found a bottle from the Stellenbosch region, one of South African's rising stars.

Spier Sauvignon Blanc 2008
Country of origin: South Africa
Appellation: Western Cape WO
Varietal: Sauvignon blanc
Stats: 12.5% ABV
Cost: Nam$49.40 or ~US$6.50

Appearance: Light straw yellow, crystal clear
Aroma: Tropical fruits, pineapple, melon, apricot, floral notes, and a light coconut finish
Taste: Crisp citrus and floral notes. Well balanced acid.

For you wine techies, here's a link to the Spier website with the winemaker's detailed notes. Overall a very nice welcome to Namibia and South African wines. Don't know how readily available this or other Spier wines are here in the States, but get out of the France & CA aisles and go explore the small South African section. You're likely to find a number of inexpensive, good wines.

Cheers,
a Wine Student.

Oysters & Champagne---In the Desert

A couple of posts ago, I alluded to trying oysters for the first time--in the middle of the Kalahari Desert along the coast of Namibia. Sounds too fantastical to be true? Well, guess again, it happened.

In October, I took a wonderful extended vacation and went to visit my brother and his family in Namibia. After a photo safari to the Etosha Pan National Park and getting far closer to lions and elephants than I would like, we headed for the Skeleton Coast and Walvis Bay/Swakupmond. One day we headed out for a boat tour of Walvis Bay and then a dune buggy ride through the sand dunes south of Walvis Bay in the Namib-Naukluft National Park. The boat tour is an interesting blend of the mechanical (Walvis Bay is the only deep-water port along the Skeleton Coast) and the natural (home to many sea lion colonies, bird sanctuaries, and Bengali dolphins that ride the bow waves of your boat). You also get an up close introduction to the burgeoning oyster fishery in the bay. It's still a small experiment, but one with great potential. They've found that the cold waters of the Bengali current that sweep north along the Skeleton Coast are so cold and nutrient rich that oysters grow to full size in 6-9 months compared to 3 years elsewhere. That's some fast growing!

The boat dropped us off on an abandoned pier along the tip of the bay where our dune buggy drivers were waiting for us. I swear these guys were transplanted stock car drivers! We went careening off up and down dunes that were 400-500 ft tall. After doing his best to get us to lose our lunches, Nick stopped for lunch. Here we are in the middle of the desert and this guy is breaking out the dining tables, chairs, champagne, and a bountiful buffet including none other than Namibian oysters. This was the first time that I had ever tried a raw oyster and I will admit to being rather trepidatious. The briny oyster juice was a little much, but the meat was one of the most tender & succulent things I have ever sucked down. And big! These oysters were almost handwidth in size.

They were paired with a very nice South African sparkling wine. I have no idea of the winery that produced it, but it was brut dry, crisp, toasty, and lightly citrusy. Delicious after a morning on the water and in the sand. We shared this feast with a few other folks from France, who didn't seem to enjoy the wine as much as I did. So I did my best to make up for them! Here's a picture of us enjoying the feast.


I'm the rosy cheeked guy with his glass at the ready! Who would have believed that I'd have a glass of sparking wine in the middle of the desert, let alone a feast of local oysters fit for a king!

Cheers,
a Wine Student

Sokol Blosser Evolution

I was wondering through Gordon's Wines & Liquor shop a couple of weeks ago in search of some viognier-based wines for a wine tasting that I was hosting, and came across this bottle in their "Other Varietals" section. Earlier this year, I read "At Home in the Vineyard", which was written by Susan Sokol Blosser and tells the history of the Sokol Blosser Winery. I enjoyed the book quite a bit because it talks about the struggles & triumphs of building a winery from scratch (I fundamentally disagree with Susan's seemingly cavalier attitude towards divorce as it spoke a little too close to home for me, but that's a side story). The final chapters of the book discuss the development and legal issues of the wine that became Evolution, so when I saw a bottle, I had to buy and taste it. Quite frankly--I was pleased that I had the opportunity to try this wine!

Sokol Blosser Evolution, Lucky Edition
Country of origin: United States
Appellation: Oregon
Varietal: blend of 9 varietals (riesling is definitely involved)
Stats: 12% ABV
Cost: $18 at Gordon's Wines & Liquor, Waltham, MA

Appearance: Light straw yellow, crystal clear
Aroma: Flowers! Pineapple, guava, & maybe some lichee fruit, with a final touch of apricots
Taste: The nose definitely repeats in this wine. Clean & crisp. Medium bodied white that leaves a pleasantly clean fruity taste on your tongue. Slightly sweet finish, although that is probably just perceived sweetness.

Glenora Wine Cellars 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon

I needed to make some room in my cellar this month, so I started rummaging amongst the bottles to find some wines that I wanted to taste soon. Came across this gem that I've been looking forward to for some time.

Glenora Wine Cellars 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon
Country of origin: United States
Appellation: New York Finger Lakes
Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon
Stats: 12.5% ABV
Cost: not sure on original price, but somewhere around $20 at the winery

Appearance: Big legs! Dark garnet color with slight bricking around the edge
Aroma: Black cherries, cocoa, & vanilla, with hints of leather
Taste: Muted flavors of cherries and strawberries with chocolate, leather, and a slight green pepper in the finish. Full bodied wine that lingers on the tongue.

This is an impressive red wine for a Finger Lakes red. I came across this during a visit to the Finger Lakes region a few years ago. While I was most impressed with the region's white wines, I was surprised to find a few reds that could stand on their own two feet. Being in the east, the area is vintage-challenged, meaning that each year can be very different from the previous year due to the weather. Some years are poor years for grapes, in other years, the stars align, the grapes ripen, and a great wine is born. 2002 was obviously a good year, and a full bodied, complex wine that cellared very well was born!.

Glenora Wine Cellars is one of the regions larger & fancier wineries, but they do make some good wine. They also have an inn & spa with a beautiful view of Seneca Lake just north of Watkins Glenn. I would strongly encourage everyone to make a wine tasting trip to the Finger Lakes area and enjoy the beautiful scenery and some very nice wines.

Salute,
a Wine Student

Oyster & Wine--a "Shucking" Experience!

Yesterday I went to an Oyster & Wine "Shuck Fest" at Gordon's Wine & Liquor in Waltham. They had Island Creek Oysters shucking local oysters from Duxbury, MA and paired them with 23 different wines. I do have to admit that oysters are a recent like. I tried them for the very first time in the middle of the Kalihari Desert during a trip to Namibia. Wow! So, when I saw the notice for the Oyster & Wine tasting, I jumped at the chance to go.

It was a walk-around tasting event so I had to balance a plate of oysters, a glass of wine, and my tasting notes all at the same time. The oysters were delicious, but the line for the shuckers was so long that I gave up after a couple and focused on trying the wines. We were supposed to vote for which wine paired best with the oysters, but I had to abstain from judgement! I tried to focus on specific varietals at a time so I could make good cross comparisons.

First up was the champagnes & sparkling wines. I tasted three excellent French champagnes side by side:

Moet et Chandon Brut Imperial (mostly Pinot mineur) $45
Ruinart Blanc de Blanc (100% Chardonnay) $65
Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin (mostly Pinot noir) $40

My overall favorite was the Moet. Crisp, slightly sweet, nice creamy nose and mouthfeel. Tasting all three in a row allowed me to really pick out the differences in the nose and taste. The Ruinart had more toast notes from aging on the lees, while the Veuve had an interesting smokiness to the nose. But let's face it, I'm getting picky with three very good French Champagnes!

The second round was the sauvignon blancs:
Chateau de Sancerre (France--Bourdeaux), $26: restrained minerality, less fruitiness
Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc (New Zealand), $31: Classic NZ sauvignon blanc, big citrus & lemongrass aromas. Two thumbs up!!!
Sauvion Muscadet Haute Culture (France--Loire Valley), $15: Nice & fruity
2007 Goisot St. Bris (France--Burgundy), $18: Limp & tasteless
Croney Estates Three Ton Sauvignon Blanc (New Zealand), $15: Excellent, crisp, big citrus nose.

Overall favorite--Cloudy Bay was the hands down winner. But, the Croney Estates was excellent for the price. Greg Crone, the winemaker, was there pouring. The 3 ton thing refers to the grape yield restrictions that he places on the vines to concentrate the flavors. I was very impressed with his wines. I bought a bottle!

Third round was chardonnay:
Croney Estates Three Ton Chardonnay (New Zealand), $15: More like a sauvignon blanc than a chard. No oak. Big fruity flavors. Clean
2006 Billaud Simon Chablis (France--Burgundy), $30: Smooth, nice crisp, mineral finish.
2006 Billaud Simon Chablis Premier Cru (France--Burgundy), $50: Even better!

I liked the Premier Cru the best, but again, for the money, the Croney Estates was excellent. I bought another bottle.

I also tried a couple of random varietals. The 2007 Stafford Hill Riesling ($15) from Oregon was one tart wine! And the Bartenura Moscato ($16) was a nice sweet wine to finish the whites. Too sweet for me to want to drink a bottle, but would make an excellent date wine. And I finished the day on the Croney Estates Two Ton Pinot Noir ($20). A little austere & restrained, but still a very nice pinot noir.

As you can tell, even though I didn't get to have many oysters, the afternoon was a smashing success! It was a lot of fun to try the champagnes together and the two quality levels of Billaud Simon Chablis side by side.

I highly recommend the classes and events at Gordon's. A good time is always had by all!

Salute,
a Wine Student

A German Reisling Experience, Part I

Last month I took a MUCH needed vacation and went to visit my brother in Namibia. Where in the world is that, you ask? Well, it's on the western coast of Africa just to the north of South Africa--or about as far away from Massachusetts as I could get! My brother and his family have been living in Namibia since January, 2009 while he teaches wildlife ecology & conservation at the Polytechnic University of Namibia. For more details on his adventures, I'll refer you to his blog.

But getting from Boston to Namibia is half the fun of the trip. There are no direct flights from the US, so I had to hop a plane to Frankfurt, Germany and then switch to Air Namibia for the flight down south. Namibia used to be a German colony and it still serves as a big vacation spot for Germans and other Europeans. I was facing a 7.5 hr flight to Germany followed by a 10 hour flight to Namibia, so I decided to break it up and spend a few days in and around Frankfurt in between flights. Since Frankfurt is on the edge of several German wine regions, I wanted to try as many German wines as I could during my stay. The first evening in Frankfurt, I went for the beer experience with dinner and had a very nice local Pilsner and Dunkelbier at one of the touristy restaurants in the Aldstadt (Old City). The second evening, I found a wonderful fish market/restaurant called the Fisch Franke and had a wonderful broiled plate of salmon, tuna, and pike perch along with a Rheingau Reisling Kabinett. Don't ask me the winery because I didn't have my notepad with me during dinner, but it was a very nice wine with an acidic bite in the finish. On the way back to the hotel, I stopped into a local wine shop and found a very helpful salesman (who fortunately spoke English) who gave me a good recommendation for a bottle of premium riesling to sample back at the hotel.

Weingüter Wegeler Geiheimrat J Riesling 2006 QmP
Country of origin: Germany
Appellation: Rheigau
Varietal: 100% Riesling
Stats: 12.5% ABV, Spätlese Trocken
Cost: 16.80 Euros (~$24)

Appearance: Light straw yellow
Aroma: Light floral, pears, apricots, strawberries, and delicate citrus
Taste: The nose repeats on the pallate with a lightly crisp finish

Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of the bottle and the winery seems to be constructing their webpage, but here's a link to a German wine site with a LOT of information on the winery. I really enjoyed this wine. For those of you who don't know much about the German AOC system, QmP is the highest level of quality. There are additional quality designations that are based on the sugar content of the grapes at harvest. Kabinett is the lowest level of sugar allowed at harvest, while spätlese is a late harvest when the grapes are more fully ripe and have higher sugar levels. There are about 3 more levels beyond that, but they quickly soar into the dessert wine arena, while kabinett and spätlese wines are often finished dry (trocken). This wine still has a low level of residual sugars (1.5 g/L glucose and 5/4 g/L fructose) but well within the dry category.

The Rheingau region is probably considered Germany's highest quality wine region and lies exclusively along the banks of the Rhine River between Kelsterbach in the east and Bacharach in the west. The Rhine River cuts almost straight east-west between these towns and the vineyards are almost exclusively on the north bank of the river where the steep, steep hillsides catch the most sun. I took a train ride along the Rhine and these are steep hillsides! I blatantly stole this photo from the web, but it shows how steep these vineyards are. Amazing!





Salute,
a Wine Student

Kaz Vineyard & Winery Machismo 2006

Kaz Vineyard & Winery Machismo 2006
Country of origin: USA
Region: California
Appellation: Sonoma Valley
Varietal: 100% Counoise
Stats: 13.8% ABV, dry
Cost: $40 at the winery

Appearance: Light medium garnet, good legs
Aroma: Initial burst of vanilla & cherry with some black pepper and vegetal notes around the edges. A little dark cassis in the end.
Taste: Upfront sharp cherry fruit with a fairly tart cedar finish. Medium body.

I was rather intrigued by this wine when I visited Kaz Vineyard & Winery earlier this year. I can't say that I've ever heard of the grape varietal Counoise before and had to try it. Kaz describes it as a "studly" Pinot Noir with sharper fruit plus leather and cedar. I agree with the sharpness and cedar, but I'm not getting much leather in this wine. Wikipedia claims that the dark-skinned, but low tannic grape is grown almost solely in the Rhone Valley region of France (1580 acres), where it is allowed as a blending varietal in Chataueneuf-du-Pape wines. The Rhone connection is not a surprise since a Google search indicates that another Rhone Ranger winery, Tablas Creek, is the only place that admits to growing (5 acres) and using Counoise.

I've tasted this over 3 evenings. Night one was in a classic Bourdeaux-style Riedel glass, which did not showcase the wine. The flavors seemed tight and very in my face. I tried a Burgundy-style Riedel glass on the second night due to the pinot reference and found that much more to my liking. Granted, the wine had had an additional 24 hrs under vacuum to breathe, but the larger glass bowl seemed to give the aromas room to move and not deliver a concentrated punch to the nose.

Salute,
a Wine Student

Loxton Cellars 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon

After getting off the plane from Germany, I felt like a nice glass of wine before heading to bed to sleep off the jet lag. I chose a bottle that I had picked up on a recent visit to Loxton Cellars earlier this spring. A relatively new winery, winemaker Christopher focuses on syrah and zinfandel (although he obviously makes a cabernet sauvignon, too!).

Loxton Cellars 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Buffalo Bluff Vineyard
Country of origin: USA
Region: California
Appellation: North Coast
Stats: 14.3% ABV, dry
Cost: $26 at the winery

Appearance: Inky garnet with just a hint of brick along the edge. Massive legs.
Aroma: Massive fruity blast of cherries and blackberries. Hint of chocolate and coconut.
Taste: The blast of fruit in the nose repeats in the mouth along with a tannin chaser. Big, massive cabernet that wakes up your senses. Relatively nicely balanced considering the alcohol levels.

Notes from the winemaker:
Buffalo Bluff is a steep hillside vineyard north of Calistoga. It gives me some of the smallest grape berries I’ve seen and the challenge of this dry-farmed hillside fruit is to tame how big the wine wants to be. Aged two years in barrel and one year in bottle, this is a full-throttle mountain Cab that screams for a good steak. Big wine, sweet fruit, grippy Cab tannins; it’s like chocolate covered cherries and should age well. 187 cases produced.

Westport Rivers Vineyard & Winery Tour

I just got back from spending a very rainy day visiting the Westport Rivers Vineyard & Winery in Westport, MA with ~20 other friends from my social club. Thanks to Tropical Storm Danny, we did not get to wander through the vineyards or taste on the lawn, but we did get a very nice in-depth tour of the winemaking facilities. Our tour guide, Craig, also gave us a very detailed walk-through of the winemaking process.

Those of you in New England (and other sparkling wine fanatics) may have heard of Westport Rivers. They are probably the best quality winery in Massachusetts, and are well known and regarded for their sparkling wines made from 100% estate grown grapes. I can hear the outcry--"It's too cold to grow grapes in MA!" Well, yes, the growing season for MA is short and is not well suited for the ripening of red vinifera grapes, but is actually quite similar to the climate of northern European grape growing regions like Champagne, Alsace, Chablis, and the Mosel & Rhine valleys. So just as those regions specialize in wines from white grapes that ripen faster, Westport Rivers grows only colder climate vinifera grapes, such as chardonnay, pinot gris, pinot noir, & meunier. Ah ha, you're sharp eyes correctly identified that pinot noir is a red grape, but Westport Rivers uses it to make sparkling wine and róses, not red wine.

Their sparkling wines are made in the "Traditional Method", or "fermented in this bottle." Since they ain't in Champagne, they can't legally say that the wine is made in the "Méthode Champenoise", but it's the same thing. A still base wine is made and bottled, along with a shot of sugar and yeast. The wine bottles are then tiraged, or allowed to rest for 3-14 years while the wine undergoes a secondary fermentation in the bottle. Once the winemaker determines that the flavors are what he's looking for, then the bottles are riddled (slowly turned) to allow the yeast solids to fall into the neck of the bottle. That solid plug is then disgorged and the champagne is ready for consumption.

After our tour, we tasted 6 wines. Unfortunately, 4 of their sparkling wines were sold out, so we only got to taste the 2003 Westport Brut made from 73% pinot noir & meunier and 27% chardonnay. A delightful crisp, drier sparkling wine with a lot of apple & pear aromas. We then moved on to the still wines and tasted the 2006 Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, 2007 Rosé of Pinot Noir, 2007 Rkatsiteli, and the Pineau de Pinot. All were quite good, but the Pinot Gris was my favorite. It's a blend of the 2006 & 2007 vintages with a big full body, wonderful aromas of pear, honey, and citrus, and a long fruity finish.

This was the first time that I've ever tried a Rkatsiteli wine. It's a white vinifera grape that was originally native to the Georgian region of Asia. Similar to a reisling or gewurztraminer, but not quite as floral. Big aromas of lemon and kiwi that ends on the tongue with a crisp citrus note.

The Pineau de Pinot was also an interesting wine. It's fortified wine of about 18% ABV almost like a sherry that's made by distilling a pinot noir wine. The distillate is then mixed with fresh pinot noir juice and aged in old French oak. Definitely a sipper along side a créme brulée.

I've wanted to get down to Westport for awhile and I'm very glad that I had the chance today. Fortunately, we were indoors during the worst of Tropical Storm Danny while we enjoyed some very nice wine. I like the wines so much that 6 bottles followed me out to the truck! I'll report on each of them in turn.

Salute!
a Wine Student

VJB Vineyards & Cellars 2007 Gabriella Ranch Chardonnay

I had an opportunity to stop at the VJB Vineyards & Cellars winery on a business trip this past February 2009. Hey--there's only so many hours in the day for work! I was glad I did because 6 bottles of their wine followed me home. I popped in on a fairly slow Saturday morning and had a chance to talk with the pourer. This is a fairly new winery, having been started in 1999. The Belmonte family had been running a restaurant in the Kenwood area, and the sons, Victor & Henry, decided to start making their own wine to serve in the restaurant. Victor passed away shortly after the winery was started, so it was renamed as VJB in his honor. Ten years later, it is still a smallish operation with only 4000 cases of annual production. When I was there, they had just gotten the permits to start construction of a new larger wine production & tasting facility next door.

VJB Vineyards & Cellars 2007 Chardonnay
Country of origin: USA
Region: California
Appellation: Sonoma County
Stats: 13.5% ABV, dry, stainless steel fermentation.
Cost: $18 at the winery

Appearance: Crystal clear, light straw yellow, good leg structure
Aroma: Initial aromas of pears and white peaches, with a light pineapple finish at the end.
Taste: Clean & crisp. Muted fruit flavors of pears, melons, white peaches, & apricots. Slight butteriness & minerality on the finish.

Since summer has finally hit the Boston area, I thought this would be a good summer wine for dinner last night--and I was correct. The grapes from this wine were sourced Sonoma County and fermented in 100% stainless steel to produce a European style wine with clean, crisp fruit flavors. I've been trying to decide if a malo-lactic fermentation was performed, and I think so (rounded mouthfeel & slight buttery notes), but this is not your massive over-oaked, buttery chardonnay that used to dominate the California chardonnay scene. Very delightful wine that paired well with grilled BBQ chicken & brocolli last night.

Salute,
a Wine Student

Lone Oak Vineyard Estates Vin du Roi

For you faithful blog readers, you'll recall that I blogged about visiting Laurel Lake Vineyards on Long Island, NY last spring and a tasting report of their 2003 Cabernet Franc. I have the distinct pleasure of reporting on another of their wines, the 2004 Merlot.

Lone Oak Vineyard Estates Vin du roi
Country of origin: USA
Region: Michigan
Appellation: SE Michigan (not an official AVA!)
Stats: 13% ABV, dry, blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, & Petit Verdot
Cost: $25 at the winery

Appearance: Dark garnet
Aroma: Toasted oak, black pepper, green pepper, hint of dark stone fruit in the background
Taste: Overwhelming burst of vanilla, caramel, and oak. Green pepper in the quick to dissipate finish. Not a lot of fruit flavors to bind it all together.

Another entry from my back-log of tasting notes. I was a frequent taster of Lone Oak Vineyard Estates when I used to live in MI since the winery was only about 20 miles down the road outside Jackson, MI. Some wines I liked, some missed the spot. This is one that missed the spot. The oak simply overwhelmed the stone fruit flavors.

Salute,
a Wine Student

Laurel Lake Vineyards 2004 Merlot

For you faithful blog readers, you'll recall that I blogged about visiting Laurel Lake Vineyards on Long Island, NY last spring and a tasting report of their 2003 Cabernet Franc. I have the distinct pleasure of reporting on another of their wines, the 2004 Merlot.

Laurel Lake Vineyards 2004 Merlot
Country of origin: USA
Region: New York
Appellation: North Fork Long Island
Stats: 12.5% ABV, dry, aged in French oak 12 months
Cost: $18 at the winery

Appearance: Clear dark ruby red. Excellent color for a cold-climate merlot
Aroma: Dried plums with a nice smooth vanilla-filled finish.
Taste: Full bodied with a silky finish. Well balanced. Mild fruit flavors of plum, black cherry and a subtle smokey undertone. Smooth tannins.

I'll refer you to my earlier posts for information about Laurel Lake Vineyards. I am very impressed with this wine. The intense color only hints at it's cold-climate origins. This is a wine that strengthens the growing reputation of Long Island merlot. For you nay-sayers that think CA is the only place in the US to grow and make quality wine, I challenge you to take a trip to Laurel Lake and learn what all an Eastern merlot can be.

Salute,
a Wine Student

Chateau Beauchene Les Sens de Syrah 2004

Country of origin: France
Region: Rhone Valley
Appellation: Cotes de Rhone
Stats: 13 % ABV, dry, 100% syrah
Cost: $15 at Colonial Liquor Store in Acton, MA

Appearance: Deep, deep, deep red.
Aroma: Dark black cherries and currants with hints of cocoa.
Taste: Silky smooth and subtle from beginning to end. Dark fruit with currants dominating. An almost sweet finish. This wine gives meaning to the phrase "smooth as silk".


Chateau Beauchene is located just south of Orange in the Rhone Valley. There's some family history here with Bernard family buying their first vineyard in 1796 after the French Revolution made former noble's estates available. The Bernard's bought Chateau Beauchene in 1986. This wine is made from 2 different vineyards, one to north of Orange on slightly stony and clayey calcareous soils and the other in Bollène with rounded pebbles mixed with sandy red clay. The Bernard's cultivate the vineyards using the principles of "agriculture raisonnée" with eye towards sustainibility The wine is made by complete destemming and a long 20 day maceration to extract polyphenols and anthocyanins.

I like the family crest on the neck of the bottle!


Salute,
a Wine Student

Sanford 2001 Pinot Noir Santa Rita Hills Sanford & Benedict Vineyards

Country of origin: USA
Region: California
Appellation: Santa Barbara County/Santa Rita Hills AVA
Vineyard: Sanford & Benedect Vineyards
Stats: 14.5 % ABV, dry
Cost: no longer available

Appearance: Ruby red, clear, big legs.
Aroma: Cherries with a raspberry finish, vanilla, and light oak.
Taste: Medium body, muted cherry fruit flavors, bright finish, slightly lingering finish of raspberries & pomegranate. High alcohol overtakes a lot of the fruit notes.

Pretty good by itself (which was how I drank it), I think this wine would probably be best when served with some fatty food to help calm the high alcohol and acidity. Something not too flavorful as the food might overpower the fruit flavors, like a creamy cheese.

Sanford Winery was the very first winery I stopped at when I first went winetasting in Santa Barbara. When the Sanford family owned and operated the winery, it definitely a laid back, hippy feel. The tasting room accommodated only about 10-12 people at a time with open windows overlooking the valley and vineyards, breezes blowing through, and lots of flies! For you "Sideways" fans, the tasting room and iconic pourer was featured in a gorgeous sunset shot and was one of the few wineries to use their real names in the film.

Richard Sanford was the first to plant pinot noir in Santa Barbara county in the Sanford & Benedict Vineyard, and made some of my favorite pinots. In the early 2000s, they tried to reach more of a mass market and teamed with Terlato Wine International. In 2005 after the partnership had a falling out, the Terlato family purchased the majority interest in the winery and assumed control of the Sanford & Benedict and Rancho La Rinconada vineyards.

Richard Sanford has since started a new winery, Alma Rosa, using organic certified grapes from the new La Encantada vineyard that they had planted in 2000 and their home ranch vineyard El Jabalí. I haven't had a chance to try any of his new wines, but history should repeat itself.

Salute,
a Wine Student