April 8, 2011

One Ukiah and One Hopland April 9 Wine Event

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Tierra – art, garden, wine

312 N School St

Ukiah, CA 95482

(707) 468-7936

 

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Also scheduled for Saturday, April 9, 2011, just about 15 minutes away from the Tierra event, half a dozen Hopland winery tasting rooms will be taking part in Second Saturday.

Each Second Saturday of the month, the participating Hopland winery tasting rooms have special one day one sales, prepare tasty treats to pair with their wine, and stay open an hour later.

As an example, McFadden Vineyard tasting room will be offering their stainless steel fermented, no malolactic 2009 Chardonnay, Potter Valley, made from organically grown grapes, at 35% off the regular case price which brings the per bottle price down to $10.40 each for your 12 bottles. The pairing snack will be a toothpick skewered medley of French bread, cheese, and apple – which will all show different notes in the day’s featured Chardonnay; and the tasting room will be open an extra hour, from 10:00 AM until 6:00 PM.

Other wines available for tasting include two Pinot Noirs, two Zinfandels, the Coro Mendocino, Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc, Gewurtztraminer, and two Rieslings. All McFadden Vineyard wines can be purchased at the tasting room or arranged to be shipped to your home or to a friend or family member as a gift.

With five different wine clubs, you can choose the perfect one for yourself or as a gift, and we will ship at special low wine club member rates either four bottles three times a year, or six bottles four times a year, with or without the addition of some of the non-wine items grown organically at McFadden Farm in nearby Potter Valley. While our shipping rates are low, local wine club members often elect to pick up their orders and save that cost.

Non-wine items like McFadden Farm Organic Herbs, Herb Blends and Dried Herb Wreaths, McFadden Farm Organic Beef, McFadden Farm Garlic and Wild Rice, Marinades, Pottery, McFadden Logo Hats and Shirts, McFadden Logo Riedel Wine Glasses, Wine Themed Shirts, and Wine Accessories are also available for purchase at the tasting room, or can be arranged to be shipped as a gift to a friend or family member.

Other Hopland winery tasting rooms taking part in April 9, 2011 Second Saturday include Cesar Toxqui Cellars, Graziano, Jaxon Keys, McNab Ridge, Milano Winery and Weibel. Other winery tasting rooms may participate as well.

DISCLOSURE: I am the tasting room manager and wine club coordinator for McFadden Vineyard which is why I was able to share so much about their Second Saturday in Hopland activities.

 

April 4, 2011

Wine Adventures

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Today is my first day off since I last posted here.

Two Sundays ago, I wrote about being hired to be the Tasting Room Manager and Wine Club Coordinator for McFadden Vineyards, and after short deliberation, weighing the ethical considerations and potential conflicts of interest in working for one winery while writing about wines from other wineries, announced that I would continue to write about wine.

I have been so busy learning, working, tasting, living my new job – I put in nearly 60 hours of work last week; and spent considerable additional hours thinking about, obsessing about, even dreaming about my new job – that I don’t have much to write about wine this week that isn’t directly related to McFadden Vineyard.

That said, I have gone from feeling cast into the deep end of a very large pool to having a comfortable confidence, and am genuinely enjoying my job.

I have two great staff (Gary and Eugene) who have valuable insight, and experienced neighbors to ask questions of, in the nuts and bolts operation of the tasting room; I have another potential staffer training this week, and have interviewed two more. I put together an introductory newsletter, complete with a recipe featuring a made in Heaven McFadden Vineyard wine and food pairing, and e-mailed it to all of our wine club members. Our wine is easy to enjoy, delicious and approachable, very drinkable, very friendly; everybody who tastes it likes it. I have begun planning for upcoming events.

Speaking of events, the Hopland tasting room scene is very cooperative, and each month on the second Saturday we all stay open a little longer, have special one day one sales, and make food treats available to pair with our wines. I invite my readers and friends to a wine adventure; visit the tasting rooms of Hopland this Saturday, April 9, 2011, stop in to the McFadden Vineyard tasting room, say “hi” to me, taste our wines, including our stainless steel fermented 2009 Chardonnay made from grapes organically grown on our Potter Valley farm which will be available on a one day sale at just $10.40 a bottle if you buy a case, have a snack, and enjoy the beauty of Mendocino County.

I promise that not all of my future entries will lead with, or even include McFadden Vineyards, but I write about what I know and experience, and this is what I experienced last week.

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The folks at V. Sattui Winery in Napa County sent some wines for me to taste and comment on, and I look forward to having my work schedule calm down soon so I can return to cooking dinners and tasting wines at home, then writing about my own food and wine adventures. I’ll get around to tasting these wines, and others previously sent by other kind wineries, plus undoubtedly some from around Hopland; my notes to follow. Thanks for being understanding about my life intruding, for the short future, on my wine tasting schedule.

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One of my favorite television programs, Top Gear, features three men talking about cars with videography so slick as to make someone like me who doesn’t know or care about cars much actually covet unapproachably exotic cars, the three men along with a tame racing driver blend sophomoric humor and genuine passion delivering something akin to car porn, and it is one of the BBC’s highest rated series. All of which has absolutely nothing to do with wine.

Except that one of the Top Gear presenters, James May, has teamed up with Oz Clarke, a highly respected and knowledgeable (unlike me) wine writer and together they have turned out two great seasons of wine and travel programs. The first season featured the two tasting the wines of France; but the second season features episodes covering some of California’s grape growing wine regions. For me, the enjoyability of these shows comes from seeing the familiar through different eyes, from two wholly different perspectives; it is at once both educational and enormously entertaining. Wonderfully, just as Top Gear does not require particular car knowledge, so too is Oz and James’s Big Wine Adventure fun to watch for anyone regardless of your wine knowledge or passion.

As always, thanks for reading, and cheers!

 

March 27, 2011

Having been hired by McFadden Vineyards, will I continue to write about wines on JohnOnWine?

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Tomorrow, I start a new job. I have been hired by Guinness McFadden to be the Tasting Room Manager and Wine Club Coordinator for McFadden Vineyards in Mendocino County’s town of Hopland, right on Highway 101.

Guinness McFadden has been organically farming in Potter Valley since 1970. The land, the climate, and the choices McFadden makes allow deliciously distinct wines to be made from the high quality, sweet, flavorful grapes he grows. Many other wineries choose McFadden’s grapes to help make their wines.

I have tasted McFadden’s wines and liked them, without exception, each time I have tasted them. I am happy to come to work for a winery I like.

I had been invited come to work in a similar position for a winery that produced wines I didn’t really like, and I politely declined the offer because I can’t market or sell something I don’t believe in.

Almost twenty years ago, I was asked to work for a winery. My opinion, formed several years earlier, was that they were a gimmick winery, featuring custom labels, but producing barely drinkable plonk wine. I shared my perception with the friend that had invited me to consider working at that winery, and she arranged a tasting of over 20 wines, all current releases at the time. Each wine was more than just drinkable, they were all good, some very good, a couple were unreservedly great. I ended up working for Windsor Vineyards for the next eight years, focusing on sales to larger corporate clients, creating and managing a highly successful trade show program, meeting more of my clients at the tasting room for private tastings – and having the highest average sale for those tastings – each year I was with the winery.

My job was easy, I grew with it, I enjoyed it, but it all started with the wine. If the wine wasn’t good, I could not have taken the job.

I have a strong sense of ethics. I love to use my sales and marketing skills, putting wine into the cupboards and cellars of the people I come into contact with, but it has to be good wine. I sell what I know, what I believe in. I work words around in my head until I can tell the most persuasive story. Sales come as a natural consequence of people sensing earnest honest happiness in the person sharing information.

Last week, after hiring me, Guinness McFadden asked me what my intentions were with respect to my wine blog.

Ethics. Conflict of interest. Believability. Would I continue to write on my own time about wines that aren’t from McFadden Vineyards when I am taking a paycheck for selling McFadden Vineyards wines? If I tasted a Napa bubbly, would a less than glowing review be seen as one more effort to steer people away from Napa or Sonoma County and toward Mendocino County wine, part of a long term strategic campaign perhaps? Would my shared thoughts be viewed with skepticism by readers, if they were aware of my professional relationship, my employment by McFadden Vineyards?

I have a great friend, Nancy Iannios, who as the Tasting Room Manager and Wine Club Coordinator for Schmidt Family Vineyard in Oregon’s Applegate Valley near Grants Pass chose to never be seen in public drinking any wine but those of her employer. Nancy chose to eat at restaurants that had her employer’s wines on their wine list, or drank iced tea or micro beer when visiting eateries that did not carry SFV wines. Her community was small, tight knit, and she had developed a strong thriving wine club and wanted to do nothing to jeopardize her hard earned successes.

Tamara Belgard, another wine blogger, ceased her wine blogging when hired as Marketing Director for Cana’s Feast Winery, perceiving both the conflict of interest and demands on her time too great.

My situation is different. I have given disproportionate attention to the wines and wineries of Mendocino County, and made clear my desire to focus even more on local wines, in my writing over the last two years.

Mendocino County is the number three wine grape growing county in California, behind Napa and Sonoma counties, same goes for wine tourism.

As a Hopland tasting room manager, my first thought should be how to get wine lovers to come to Mendocino County on their next visit, either in addition to or instead of the expected trip to Napa or Sonoma County.

Once people decide to come to Mendocino County, the choice comes down to Anderson Valley or Hopland corridor.

I do not believe that a McFadden Vineyards wine sale is threatened by saying that I love a Saracina Syrah. I think it more likely that someone passing the Hopland tasting room of McFadden Vineyards to Saracina and then again returning home might just stop at our tasting room, conveniently situated on Highway 101, not far from the Bluebird Café.

I think I can sell more wine increasing traffic for all, than fighting for each sale with my neighbors. Nancy at SFV had a much more limited population to draw from in Grants Pass. In addition to welcoming local Mendocino County residents to our tasting room, I see everything to the south, from San Jose to Sonoma County as my target audience.

After establishing myself at McFadden Vineyards, I want to become involved, using my marketing background, helping with the Destination Hopland and Hopland Passport promotional initiatives, and perhaps become involved with the Mendocino Winegrape and Wine Commission as well.

Wine is, at it’s best, cooperative, that is something I have always liked about our industry. When I sold Windsor Vineyards, I was selling Sonoma County and every grape grower that helped make our wines. In selling McFadden Vineyards wines, I will be selling Mendocino County, Hopland, organic farming, a culture of green growing.

I will undoubtedly write more about local events, or about future meals that incorporate McFadden Farms organic wild rice or organic herbs with a McFadden Vineyards wine, but that will not be so much marketing as it is sharing my personal experiences. I have always written about what I’ve drank and tasted, I will continue to do so, but it is foreseeable that I will be drinking more of what I sell and writing about it.

Last year, I was invited to guest chef at a special evening event at Parducci Wine Cellars in my Mendocino County hometown of Ukiah. Tasting room and wine club staff from both Jeriko Estate and Milano Family Winery in Hopland came to the event to support me. Similarly, I would like to support other local wineries whenever I can. I believe that what goes around comes around, and that a rising tide lifts all boats.

Will my wine blog become a forum for shilling, for uncompensated advertising, for undeserved glowing reviews of all things local? No.

I have four of six bottles sent from local wine powerhouse Fetzer Vineyards to review, need to replace the two bottles broken in transit, and want to tour with Ann Thrupp as soon as things settle down after the Concha y Toro takeover announcement. I have a standing invitation and overdue to tour and taste with Jimmy and Lillian Kimmel of Kimmel Vineyards in Potter Valley.

I will try to visit and taste, in most cases retaste, the wines of every Hopland Passport member winery. The Hopland Passport wineries are Brutocao Cellars, Campovida, Cesar Toxqui Cellars, Graziano Family of Wines, Jaxon Keys Winery, Jeriko Estate, McDowell Valley Vineyards, McFadden Vineyards, McNab Ridge Winery, Milano Family Winery, Nelson Family Vineyard, Parducci Wine Cellars, Patianna Vineyards, Rack & Riddle, Saracina, Terra Savia and Weibel Family Vineyards.

I will also continue to taste wine samples that are sent from wherever. Last year, I tasted and reviewed some really delicious wines from Bollinger Champagne, Cleavage Creek Winery, Olson Ogden Wines, Pedroncelli Winery, Pepperwood Grove, Petroni Vineyards, Sonoma-Cutrer Wines, Swanson Vineyards, Tangley Oaks, Toad Hollow Vineyards, V. Sattui Winery, Willamette Valley Vineyards and Wine Guerilla because they sent sample wines or because they extended an event invitation.

Last year, I tasted and wrote about the wines of Carol Shelton Wines, Dunnewood/Mendocino Vineyards, Jacuzzi Family Vineyard, J. Lohr Vineyards and Wines, Keller Estate, Mendocino Farms, the NPA, Preston Vineyards, Rodney Strong Vineyards, Schmidt Family Vineyards, Sokol Blosser, Topel Winery, and Trinchero Napa Valley simply because I like them or because I visited their tasting room and was impressed.

At varietal specific tasting events, often at Ft Mason in San Francisco, I have tasted hundreds of different wines in the last year.

I have been part of organized tastings for wines from Virginia to Bordeaux.

While it is my stated focus, I am not likely to be able to contain my writing to just Mendocino County wines, or Hopland winery wines, or McFadden Vineyards wines. I love wine from different areas. Pour me a glass, I’ll taste it; send me a bottle, I’ll write about it.

I use my blog to write about what I like, it is usually about wine; but I have written about everything from travel to Pokémon. I am not a hardcore journalist, and would write about the wines of Burgundy if it gave me a shot at traveling to Burgundy to taste wines that I could then come back home and write about having tasted. I try to disclose sample wines or contest entry inspired entries within such a post.

I will continue to review wines fairly. I don’t believe I have written a negative review, trashed a wine or winery, in two years. I am a cheerleader for the industry, and if I don’t have anything nice to say about a wine  then I will look for something nice to say or simply refrain from writing anything at all.

Anyway, that is my long-winded way of saying congratulate me on my new job, and I’ll keep on writing here as time allows.

 

February 23, 2011

Miami, my son’s basketball teams, and early March winery visits

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I am leaving home today, traveling to Miami for a weekend gig at an art festival in South Miami.

On my way, I’m picking up a six pack box of wonderful Ultima Burgundy wine glasses won in an internet giveaway promoting the Pinot Noir Summit in San Francisco this Saturday, Feb 26. I figure it is easier, and greener, for me to jump off the freeway and pick up my glasses than to see them packed and shipped.

When I return from Florida next week, I will be picking up two bottles at Hopland to replace two bottles that were broken in shipping from Louisville, Kentucky. Fetzer wines are made nearby, but Fetzer is owned, marketed, and distributed by Brown-Forman in Louisville. Again, rather than repackage and ship two bottles across most of the continent, I offered to stop in and pick up two bottles at the winery.

As a huge bonus, I will also be touring Fetzer in Hopland. I am pretty excited. A goal of my wine blog when I started writing was to illuminate good wines to pair with meals, that are affordable. Wines with a good QPR, or quality/price ratio. A New Year’s writing resolution for 2011, I decided to focus more of my attention on the wines of my home county, Mendocino County.

Fetzer is the biggest winery in Mendocino County, and their economy of scale allows them to keep their costs low, which makes for widely available, good tasting, affordable wines – exactly what I want to write about. Touring is great, because the winery has no tasting room, or organized tours, and I am pleased to receive this kind accommodation. I will also post, at a minimum, tasting notes on Fetzer’s Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Chardonnay, Riesling and Gewurtztraminer.

I will also be able to visit, tour and taste wines from Bonterra, Fetzer’s sister winery under Brown-Forman, located off Hwy 101 near Hopland.

Home from Florida, when the weather is nice enough to take some outdoor blue sky, green grass pictures, I will also be visiting Kimmel Vineyards in Mendocino County’s Potter Valley. The Kimmel family offered to drop wine samples off at my home for taste and review, but once again I can save them a little gas and hassle by visiting with the intention of writing a winery visit feature piece in the future.

I have a 13 year old son, turning 14 next month, that played on three basketball teams this year. Charlie is just over six feet tall, and was the starting Center for his 8th grade school team, the Pomolita Panthers. Charlie also played as the tallest Center for St. Mary’s of Ukiah 8th grade boy’s CYO team, and a Ukiah City League team. Three teams has meant practices nearly every day, and three to five games most weeks for several months. Many days involved two practices, or a practice and a game. After months of happily being my son’s chauffeur to practices and games – these experiences only come around once – I will soon be free to visit more wineries more often.

Although I wish I could have been more wine busy the last few months, I have to say that watching my son practice, play, and grow has been terrific. His teams were good, but not great. They could have been great, but something got away from them. Charlie’s teammates are incredibly talented, each differently talented, and when they play together at their best they are amazing, unbeatable. Unfortunately, they got off track, not running plays crisply, losing focus, failing to execute in games what they mastered in practices.

I hope we find a good AAU, or other summer basketball program for Charlie, and next year he will try out for the Ukiah High School Freshman Wildcat team where rival middle school basketball team players will compete to make the squad. If Charlie plays for Ukiah High School next year, that will be the only team he plays on during the season.

Okay, I am out of here. I’ll write more when I’m back, early in March.

 

February 16, 2011

Dunnewood and Mendocino Vineyards; Jeriko Estates; two wine events; and Tierra in Ukiah

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I visited Dunnewood Vineyards in Ukiah recently.

The first thing I learned is that the Dunnewood Vineyards name was all marketing, and no one knows where they got that name. The good news is that most of the wine in the Dunnewood Vineyards tasting room carries the Mendocino Vineyards label, and I can grasp where that name came from.


Located in Ukiah, north of town, at 2399 North State Street; the sign for Dunnewood Vineyards is the most visible clue that a winery exists in this industrial zone outside Ukiah city proper. The winery location features vineyards around, an old front building doubling as tasting room and office, and a rather large winery facility in rear.

The large winery facility is owing, in part, to Dunnewood/Mendocino Vineyards being owned by wine giant Constellation. All Mendocino County grapes for Contellation Brand wines are made into wine at this facility. More interesting, from a “green” Mendocino County wine industry perspective, Mendicino Vineyards makes certified organic grown grape wines.

From Constellation’s website:

Mendocino Vineyards comes from the proverbial heart and soul of organic viticulture, Mendocino County. Bordering California’s rugged Pacific Coast, the county is enveloped by the cool morning fog that rolls in from the ocean and settles on the vineyards to produce wines with bright green apple flavors and a crisp, clean finish. It’s here that our team crafts this world-class wine that exemplifies environmental integrity by employing the strictest certified organic farming practices.

It may be unfair, but I don’t think of corporate responsibility and eco awareness when I think of of worldwide business conglomerates, yet Constellation seems to embrace and support Mendocino County’s eco spirit in their grape growing and winemaking choices surrounding their Ukiah facility.

Helen Kelley poured wines for me at the tasting bar. Helen is the office manager, and her pride in the winery and wines was evident.

2009 Mendocino Vineyards Chardonnay Mendocino County $12 clear color of light straw, nose of apple, pear, lemon, nice fruit shown. Tasty tropical sweetly candied fruit flavors. Nice body. Very, very long finish. Made with organic grapes sourced from about Mendocino County.

2003 Dunnewood Vineyards Coro Mendocino $35 Winemaker George Phelan has a lighter bodied, brighter Zinfandel based wine. 64.6% Zinfandel, 25.7% Syrah, and 9.7% Sangiovese. Nice fruit, raspberry and mixed berry, and cedar wood spice.

1997 Dunnewood Tawny Port Signiture Napa Valley $19 A charbono port, really really nice. Rich, sweetly delicious, plummy goodness.

Helen poured me a library selection, the 1979 Dunnewood Tawny Port California Limited Edition $28. At first nose, I wasn’t in love, it is tobacco juice tar color, but I came stuck with it to find plum dark fruit, sticky caramel apple and fig. I would enjoy trying to pair this with a fig reduction sauced pork. Helen shared a story of having to hand fill the unusual shaped bottles, and how at the end of the task, she was a syrupy, sticky, sweet mess.

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Last week, I stopped in at Jeriko Estate in Hopland to taste a local Mendocino County Brut Rosé for a Valentine’s Day bubbly write up.

As long as I was there, I tasted the 2009 Jeriko Estate Pinot Noir Mendocino 14.3% alc $38 as well. Lovely Burgundy color, delightful dried cranberry nose, delicious lush cranberry and cherry fruit flavors. Lingering finish, Nice acid. Well balanced.

J.J. Cannon, my host in the tasting room, told me that this was winery owner Danny Fetzer’s favorite wine, the wine he most often has a glass of when choosing from among the winery’s releases.

J.J. also serves as the wine club manager, and has grown the membership to a bit over 150 members, about an 18% increase, in a relatively short period of time. Founder’s Club members receive a case, discounted 20%, spread over 3 shipments each year. Estate Club members receive two cases, discounted 25%, spread over 12 shipments each year. Cellar Club members receive a half case monthly at a 30% discount. Other benefits include a big discount on wines purchased at the tasting room on the day you sign up for a wine club membership, an annual wine club member appreciation party, wine club pick up parties, complimentary reserve wine tasting for members and guests, and special pre-release priority and prices. Wine club members can choose all white, all red, or a delicious mix of both with each wine club shipment.

Wandering about the tasting room area, I noticed some lovely jewelry available for purchase. It turns out the jewelry from Hook & Loop Jewelry Designs is made by winery owner Danny Fetzer’s niece Christina McDonald and her partner Rasean Powell. I would encourage the introduction of additional items of interest to warm the feeling of the tasting room area. Books on wine, wine accessories, art, jewelry, olive oils and foodstuffs placed about the tasting room would increase movement, and warm the experience immensely.

Outside the Tuscan styled and colored main building, the vineyards were readied for the upcoming spring and bud break a month or two away. A fountain burbled, olive trees decorated the property, and baby goats played on the property’s neighboring hillside.

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Two events I attended last year are coming up and I highly recommend them for lovers of Petite Sirah or Pinot Noir respectively:

Dark & Delicious Petite Sirah and Food Event
February 18, 2011
6:00pm – 9:00pm
Rock Wall Wine Company
2301 Monarch Street
Alameda, CA 94501

40 top Petite Sirah wine producers and 30 top bay area restaurants and caterers, one night, stain your teeth purple.

Parducci Wine Cellars of Ukiah in Mendocino County will be pouring at Dark & Delicious

The 8th Annual Pinot Noir Summit
Saturday, February 26, 2011
11:30am – 6:45pm
Hilton San Francisco
750 Kearny Street
San Francisco, CA 94108

Blind taste 32 or 64 top Pinot Noir wines, rate them, attend workshop seminars, enjoy the results of the blind tasting while enjoying these and more Pinot Noir paired with hors d’oeuvre.

Mendocino County’s Handley Cellars of Philo in the Anderson Valley and Rack & Riddle of Hopland will be pouring at the Pinot Noir Summit.

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Finally, Tierra, art, garden, wine in Ukiah will be closing their doors after the end of this month. If you live in or near Ukiah, stop in Wed-Sat 11am-6:00pm, and help out by purchasing a thoughtfully artful gift for a friend or something beautiful for your home, and save 30-70$ off most items.

Tierra is located at 312 N School Street in Ukiah.

I am sorry that Nicole Martensen and Nicholas Thayer’s Tierra will disappear from Ukiah, I will miss it. I wish I had visited more often.

 

February 11, 2011

Getting into the pink for Valentine’s Day

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Valentine’s Day.

Red heart shaped cards, and pink boxes of chocolates, and jewelry boxes filled with diamonds.

Romance. Roses. Strawberries dipped in chocolate. A Nora Ephron movie. Special dinners, amazing food, amazing drink.

Looks of love, and lust. Kisses, touches, hugs, holds, embraces, caresses, fondles, petting.

Whispers, pleas, laughs, sighs, yeses, purrs, moans, screams.

Hotel rooms, bubble baths, massages, candles, heavy sheets, rich comforters, big pillows.

Soft music playing, saxophone, piano, sultry soulful voice; smoky jazz or dirty blues.

An ice bucket, two glasses, a bottle of pink bubbly.

Hopefully, I didn’t lose you there. I know that the words “pink bubbly” are enough to cause more shrinkage in men than a swim in an ice cold pool.

Guys drink beer. Guys don’t drink frilly, frothy, or pink drinks.

But let’s be honest, most guys don’t buy cards, or candy, or flowers, or jewelry, or watch chick flicks on a regular basis either. Most guys are not particularly romantic, or given to extravagant displays of affection.

Valentine’s Day is the one day each year when guys go all out to show their gal just how much they love them, and hopefully have a night of lovemaking that transcends what happens most other nights of the year.

As long as guys are willing to do unusual things, either for romance itself, or to improve the likelihood of getting lucky – or the quality of the event – I would heartily recommend picking up a bottle of pink bubbly for Valentine’s Day night.

Champagnes and Sparkling Wines are often made from Chardonnay grapes, but in the pink or Rosé bubblies the red wine grape Pinot Noir is most often used. The Pinot Noir is crushed, and the skins are left with the juice long enough to impart a beautiful color, and more flavor and complexity.

Wine collectors, and drinkers of the best Champagne, pay more, often much more, for the Rosé Champagnes, or Brut Rosé, than for a non blush Brut Champagne.

Most folks upon tasting a Brut and Brut Rosé side by side blindfolded will choose the Brut Rosé. The cool thing is that any guys picking up a bottle of pink bubbly to share with their Valentine are going to look knowledgeable, confident in their masculinity, and much more attractive – all boding well for later that night.

The bonus is that you will likely find something delicious to share that you can come back to throughout the year, injecting a little Valentine’s Day magic into any night.

I tasted three pink bubblies so you can get lucky. That is how generous I am. Follow my lead, pick one of these three, or another delicious sparkler for Valentine’s Day night, or any date night, and make it special.

NV Korbel California Champagne Brut Rosé, 12% alc, 1.5% dosage, $10-$12


A blend of Pinot Noir, Chenin Blanc and Gamay, this bubbly wine makes me smile just thinking of it. I grew up with Korbel Champagne. Almost a neighbor, Korbel brandy was in the liquor cabinet and Korbel Champagne was poured at events.

My brother and I tasted a lot of wine and bubbly growing up, and not wealthy we looked for the best Champagne or sparkling wine for the lowest price. There are certainly less expensive bubblies than Korbel, but most of the ones you know about taste terrible. There are certainly fancier more exquisite bubblies than Korbel, but most of them are incredibly expensive. It is in Korbel that I found a wine made in the traditional method, with more than a little care, that tastes good. In the case of the Brut Rosé, really good.

Located at 13250 River Road, Guerneville, CA 95446, in the Russian River Valley, you will find Korbel, with tours, tastings, and gardens for picnicking. I have sent countless people on Korbel’s tour. To make their Champagne, they have to do everything to make still wine, plus the extra steps to make it bubbly. The tour explains it all, and is among the best tours in California’s wine country.

The tour always winds up in the tasting room, where you can taste more styles of Champagne than you imagined exited, from very sweet to very dry. You will learn why the sweetest is labelled “extra dry” and, if you are like me, you may begin a lifelong love affair with Brut Rosé bubblies.

I need to stop here and explain that typically bubblies produced in Champagne France using traditional methods are referred to as Champagne. Bubblies made outside Champagne France using the same traditional methods are typically referred to as Sparkling Wines. Korbel unapologetically calls their bubblies California Champagne, and has for over one hundred years. I am fine referring to Korbel as such.

NV is short for Non-Vintage, which means wines made from grapes of more than one vintage were blended or that the vintage was not declared by choice or custom.

The first two things you note when pouring a glass of Brut Rosé are visual, the color and the bubbles. The Korbel Brut Rosé is light orange rose color, and the bubbles are tight and lively.

I need to talk about the three wine grapes that make up this Brut Rose. Pinot Noir is the heart of Burgundy’s red wines and Champagne’s Rosé Champagnes. Grown in the Russian River Valley, it produces beautiful flavors. Chenin Blanc and Gamay are largely used as blending grapes by the wine industry, but delicious varietal wines can be made from these grape varieties.

Cherry and strawberry flavors follow identical aromas. Fruit flavors abound, clean and straightforward. A nicely balanced wine, with the fruity sweetness balanced by acidity. The bubbles, color, and flavor delight.

I like the Korbel CA Champagne Brut Rosé, and I like that I can easily find it in many stores, even when I travel.

2005 Jeriko Estate Brut Rosé Sparkling Wine, Mendocino County, 12% alc, $49


100% handpicked for whole cluster organically grown Pommard clone Pinot Noir grapes from Jeriko Estate were used in this Sparkling Wine. America’s first Blanc de Noir created from 100% organically grown and certified organic Pinot Noir grapes.

Jeriko Estate wrote:

This Pommard clone Pinot Noir was sent directly to the press after harvesting, crushed & underwent a cool fermentation in stainless steel with minimum skin contact – this gives the wine its unique pale pink pearl color. The juice was then matured in stainless steel for 12 months. The wine was bottled & given a dosage of sugar & yeasts, & left for a second fermentation in the bottle for 12 months. The bottles were riddled & disgorged, before being given a final top-up of the same still Pinot Noir.

I tasted the Brut Rosé at Jeriko Estate’s tasting room this week with Tasting Room and Wine Club manager J.J. Cannon.

It should be noted that while Korbel is huge and their bubblies are available almost everywhere, there were only 180 cases of the 2005 Jeriko Estate Brut Rosé made and it is rarer in every way. More attention is given at almost every step, from grape choice and method of growing the grapes, to harvest and fermentation. This is a one grape, one vineyard, organic bubbly. It is special.

Apricot Rose in color, this Brut Rosé had lovely small beaded bubbles. A delightful aroma of peachy light raspberry and a delicate toasty mousse gave way to raspberry flavor and nice acid, balance, mineral and complexity.

J.J. told me that the tasting room would be pairing their Brut Rosé with Chocolates Saturday, February 12, 2011 from 11:00 am – 4:00 pm and offering all wines at 15 off for a Valentine’s Day event. Danny Fetzer, the winery owner, came into the tasting room and said there might even be chocolate dipped strawberries and Brut Rose paired Saturday at Jeriko Estate.

With only 180 cases produced, and limited distribution, you may have to visit or order it from the tasting room, the winery and tasting room is located at 12141 Hewlitt & Sturtevant Road, Hwy 101, Hopland CA 95449.

While at Jeriko Estate, I tasted another wine, and took more pictures, and will post them in a near future piece.

NV Champagne Bollinger Rosé, Grands and Premiers Crus from La Montagne de Reims and La Côte des Blancs, Aÿ France, 12.5% alc, 7-10 g/l dosage, $100


62% Pinot Noir, 24% Chardonnay, 14 % Meunier including 5% of still red wine.

I have friends who are wealthy through feats of visionary imagination or industry, and who could drink Bollinger nightly. I am not that fortunate, so being able to taste this was a treat indeed for me, although having tasted it puts it on my list of things to taste again, and again.

Pale pink and sunset salmon color, beautiful string of pearls bubbles rising uninterrupted.

Aromas of cherry and raspberry with baking spice and citrus, complex toasty vanilla nut and dried herb. Many layered flavor notes, rich, unbelievable profusion of notes, strawberry, candied cherry, raspberry, cassis, and toasty lees. Massive yet restrained by solid acid, incredible balance.

Champagne Bollinger is THE British Champagne, having been awarded the Royal Warrant by seven British Monarchs, been served at the nuptials of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, and perhaps most importantly it is James Bond’s Champagne of choice, having been ordered by Bond both in Ian Fleming’s novels and in no fewer than 11 movies from Live and Let Die to Quantum of Solace.

Almost defying description, Champagne Bollinger Rosé is at once both robust and delicate. I get why Bond orders food with his Bollinger, this beautiful Champagne can handle being paired with many food and hold its own.

1,400 cases produced with almost worldwide distribution makes this a semi rare wine, you will have to seek it out at a finer wine shop or order it online.

So, there you go, notes on three pink bubblies. All were delicious, and of course the price asked allows for greater complexity in the bottle, so it really comes down to what you are looking for and what you are willing to spend. I hope you have a great Valentine’s Day filled with love and romance. I hope you get lucky. I hope you try a pink bubbly, which might help you with the love, romance, and getting lucky. Having tried it, I hope you love it as much as I do, try others, and see about enjoying Rosé Champagne and Sparkling Wines more than just once a year in February.

Other local Mendocino County Pink bubblies of note, not tasted this time around, but well worth a taste:

Rack & Riddle Sparkling Rosé $24

2006 Handley Cellars Brut Rosé, Anderson Valley Estate Vineyard $40

Roederer Estate Brut Rosé NV $25

Roederer Estate L’Ermitage Rosé 2003 $70

Thanks, and cheers!

DISCLOSURE: Brown-Forman sent me the Korbel CA Champangne Brut Rose, Terlato Wines sent me the Champagne Bollinger Rosé, and Jeriko Estate waived the tasting charge for their Jeriko Estate Brut Rose. Thank you all.

 

February 4, 2011

A tiny time out

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Dear Readers,

I am changing internet service,  going from fast to faster. To do so, there wasn’t a simple transition plan, but a service stop and new service – and a gap of a week.

Posting an entire entry, without pictures, from my phone, just is not practical.

I’ll be back next week, and post a feature piece on Dunnewood/Mendocino Vineyards from here in Ukiah. I visited last week, tasted wines, took some pictures and you’ll be able to read more about that visit next week.

I’ll also be writing a Valentine’s Day piece about the yummiest of the bubblies, Brut Rose, and will taste and feature bubblies from Korbel (Sonoma County), Bollinger (Champagne France), and locally a Brut Rose from Danny Fetzer’s Jeriko Estate in Hopland.

Look for a piece upcoming on Mendocino County winery powerhouse Fetzer Vineyards and their wines, some wines from Bordeaux France, and wines from places in between.

Until then, remember that rules like “red with meat” and “white with fish” are broken all the time, but wine with friends and family is the best pairing rule of all.

See you next week. Cheers!

John

 

January 20, 2011

Announcing a winner, and a visit to Campovida

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I am thrilled to announce the winner of two tickets to ZAP’s 20th Anniversary Grand Zinfandel Tasting, the biggest Zinfandel tasting in the world each year, and what many feel to be the crown jewel big event of the entire 3 day, 4 event Zinfandel Festival.

Earlier this week, I announced the ticket giveaway contest, writing

To be in consideration for the pair of tickets to the Grand Zinfandel Tasting, name a Mendocino winery that produced a Coro Zin blend in 2010. Leave your submission as a comment to this post. Contest entry submissions will be accepted through noon California time, this Thursday, Jan 20, 2011.

I spread the word using facebook and twitter, and received entries from eight folks, and correct qualifying entries from seven.

For the record, the 11 wineries of Coro Mendocino are Brutocao, Mendocino Vineyards, Fetzer, Golden, Graziano, McDowell, McFadden, McNab Ridge, Pacific Star, Parducci, and Philo Ridge Vineyards. The 2007 vintage was released on Saturday, June 26, 2010 at the Little River Inn on the Mendocino Coast. Coro Mendocino wines from all 11 wineries were poured that evening.

When there were only 6 correct entries, I was going to use a die to determine a winner, each die side representing a contest entrant.

I went looking for my 7 sided die when I received the, just barely in time, 7th correct qualifying entry; but I don’t have a 7 sided die.

From my son’s room, I did find a set of various energy cards from Pokemon, the card game. I chose 7 different energy cards, one to represent each contestant, directly from cellophane packaging. The contest instruments of randomization could not be more fair, more even.

These are the entrants, their qualifying winery, and their energy card:

Robin Miller – Golden Vineyards – Psychic Enrgy Card

Gina Braden – Brutocao Cellars – Lightning Energy Card

Sara Raffel – Fetzer – Darkness Energy Card

Michael McMillan – Graziano – Water Energy Card

Elizabeth McLachlan – Brutocao, McFadden, Parducci – Metal Energy Card

Ian Karch – Pacific Star Winery – Fighting Energy Card

Brendan McGuigan – McFadden – Grass Energy Card

I shuffle cut the cards for ten minutes, chose one at random and it was the Metal Energy Card.

That means Elizabeth McLachlan is the winner of the pair of tickets to ZAP’s Grand Zinfandel Tasting. Congratulations to Elizabeth, and thanks to everyone who entered and made this a fun contest.

Tickets are still available for purchase to attend the Grand Zinfandel Tasting at Fort Mason in San Francisco on January 29th. Tickets are not available for all Zinfandel Festival events, having sold out, so I would urge anyone considering purchase to hurry and do so.

Cheers!

__________

Yesterday, I visited Campovida, home to the wines of the Magnanimus Wine Group, to drop off a package.

While there, even without a walk through the gardens, I was wowed by the serenity and beauty, the magic of the place…again.

I took a couple of pictures, sort of abstract for being close ups cropping out background information or clues. I thought of it as a deconstructed view of my visit. Enjoy.

 

January 17, 2011

Two [FREE] tickets to [Zin] paradise, plus some Mendo love.

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Last week, I gave away two tickets to the Thursday night, January 27, 2011 Good Eats and Zinfandel Pairing event, kicking off the four event, three day Zinfandel Festival in San Francisco, thrown by ZAP, Zinfandel Advocates and Producers, each year. The lucky winner was, and is, Nancy Howard Cameron Iannios.

This week, you have a chance to win a pair of tickets to the final event of the Zinfandel Festival, the Grand Tasting on Saturday, January 29, 2011, 2:00-5:00PM at Ft Mason’s Herbst and Festival Pavilions in San Francisco. The pair of tickets is valued at $140.

With around 1,000 Zinfandels being poured, learning to spit instead of drink is highly recommended, and because Zin is a big bold high alcohol content, black pepper spiced fruit bomb of a wine, expect some palate fatigue.

It is best to plan ahead, figure which dozen or two Zinfandels you want to taste, then follow your plan – allowing for an extra taste or two to take advantage of wines receiving positive buzz from the crowd. Taste, spit, cleanse palate with bread, repeat. Stop while still sober. Enjoy.

I decided to focus more on the wines from where I live this year in my writing. Sadly, the only four Mendocino County wineries pouring their Zinfandels, so far, at this year’s Grand Zinfandel Tasting are: Brutocao, Claudia Springs, Edmeades, and McNab Ridge. I hope to find wineries from outside the area pouring wines made from grapes from within the county.

I would love to see more wineries from the county pouring, and bringing along their Coro as well.

This year, ZAP is allowing Zinfandel blends to be poured where the companion grapes are ones found in traditional field blends, and these wines will be called Heritage blends. Coro Mendocino is kind of a Mendocentric Heritage, where a participating winery makes a Zin blend, choosing what they feel are the best grapes for blending from Mendocino County’s vineyards to make the best bottle possible. No two Coro are alike, winery to winery, vintage to vintage, but they are all stellar.

To be in consideration for the pair of tickets to the Grand Zinfandel Tasting, name a Mendocino winery that produced a Coro Zin blend in 2010. Leave your submission as a comment to this post. Contest entry submissions will be accepted through noon California time, this Thursday, Jan 20, 2011. I will randomly pick, and announce, a winner Thursday afternoon or evening.

Good Luck!

__________

I was contacted by the folks who make sure that Korbel CA Champagne, and Bollinger Champagne, separately but within a day of each other, about running a piece related to bubbly as we get closer to Valentine’s Day.

Thanks to the marketing folks at Brown-Forman and Terlato Wines, that is exactly what will be happening. Owing to my commitment to focus on wines from Mendocino County this year, I hope to include a bubbly from either Roederer Estate in Philo or Rack & Riddle from Hopland too.

Brut Rosé will be my focus for the upcoming piece. I just wanted to give you all a “heads up” so you could start thinking ahead about the perfect romantic beverage for Valentine’s Night.

 

October 21, 2010

Hopland Passport Weekend this weekend, Oct 23 & 24

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This weekend, Saturday, October 23 and Sunday, October 24, from 11:00AM to 5:00PM each day, the wineries of Mendocino County’s town of Hopland, located on Highway 101 less than an hour north of Santa Rosa, join together for the 2010 Fall Hopland Passport Weekend.

Participating wineries include Brutocao Cellars, Fetzer Vineyards, Graziano Family of Wines, Jaxon Keys, Winery, Jeriko Estate, McDowell Valley Vineyards, McFadden Vineyards, McNab Ridge Winery, Magnanimus Wines, Milano Winery, Nelson Family Vineyards, Patianna Vineyards, Rack & Riddle, Terra Savia, Saracina, and Weibel Family Vineyards.

I attended the Spring Hopland Passport Weekend, and wrote of my experiences, visiting each participating winery and tasting an even 100 wines – it helped that I could use both days.

Two day tickets are available online for $35, or for $45 at any of the participating wineries on the day of the event.

Saturday shuttles are available for only $15, picking up from and delivering to a host of Ukiah hotels. The shuttles run all day between the participating wineries.

Each winery puts their best foot forward; food treats are provided that pair well with wines served, live music, arts and crafts, artisanal honeys and olive oils are among the treats offered by the wineries. For two days, you get to travel from winery to winery, tasting wines, savoring tasty foods, surrounded by the beauty of Mendocino County’s vineyards and wineries. A wristband, tasting glass, and a map make for a weekend of discovery.

Tastings like this are one of the best ways to expand your wine tasting experiences, learn which wine varietals you prefer, and perhaps develop an appreciation for a wine region you aren’t fully familiar with.

Every person tasting in the spring version of the Passport Weekend was happy, smiling, enjoying themselves, and having a great time. I loved visiting all of the Hopland wineries earlier this year. I encourage you to come to Hopland this weekend, and hope you have as wonderful a time as I did.

 

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