Australian Vintage Winery

• November 2009

  I think I agree it's not what else so much as who else. Speaking of malbec, there are also some interesting fortified wines from Uruguay and I kind of like those because they also add spices and herbs and flavorings. But I suppose if you want Port, you need to go to Portugal.... Read moreI think I agree it's not what else so much as who else. Speaking of malbec, there are also some interesting fortified wines from Uruguay and I kind of like those because they also add spices and herbs and flavorings. But I suppose if you want Port, you need to go to Portugal. The problem I have with the Australian ports is that they tend to be too sweet and in fact, that's the issue with a lot of tawnys in general. There are a few fortified wines from elsewhere, like Malaga or Banyuls, but I really haven't had many that I thought were great or much more than curiosities. I did pick up some petite sirah port from a winery that was closing out in CA, last vintage was 1991 and those were pretty nice. I've kept a number of them and plan to open once in a while.    (hide)

  Forum post in the topic What else would make a good... by GregT

  
  

• October 2009

  Expectations and experience tend to soften excitement in wine, muffling the high pitch of greatness to meager moans. It can be difficult to savor the high highs once a sensory resume has been established, just as the anticipatory thrill of perfection can carve the pleasure from the... Read moreExpectations and experience tend to soften excitement in wine, muffling the high pitch of greatness to meager moans. It can be difficult to savor the high highs once a sensory resume has been established, just as the anticipatory thrill of perfection can carve the pleasure from the stem like a critical mass. As oddly as it sounds, the Quilceda Creek 2004 & Barroche Pure 2005 had the odds stacked high against them on football Sunday. Adding two 100 point albatrosses to two discerning palates, coupled w/ atrophied wallets, was certain to net disastrous results of squared proportions. The backdrop, a non-competitive NFL match between the New York Giants and Oakland Panty Raiders, proved to be as scintillating an event as a horizontal comparison of country appellation boxed wine. I pity the people of Oakland, home to a professional band of charlatans, who continue to pilfer millions of dollars from their masked fans, governed by a throng of stern senility. We began with a chuckle, swilling down a bottle of 2007 Beaurenard blanc, which had the ullage of a 35 year old wine and all the zip one could hope for from a local grocer’s hard apple cider. Secondly, I unearthed a bottle of 1986 Trotanoy, which managed to fan a flame of mediocrity w/ all the smoke & heat of a damp kindling fire. Insipidly vegetal, with beet root and tired fungal flavors smoldering through the palate like dead leaves. A quintessential example of what tertiary wines taste like with nary a drop of fruit left in the well, leaving the mouth w/ a hankering for Australian Shiraz, desiccated. As the Quilceda & Barroche lay in their decanters, juxtaposed in dark brooding shades, all I could think of was how much I wanted a beer. Bad football and over-priced, frothy Bud Light go together like Stilton and Sauternes. That said, my apathy for the game kept me away from Miller time, so I drew some of the Barroche into my Burgundy stem like a scientist sucking away a sample into a slick pipette. It had been brewing in the decanter for over an hour, intensifying like hot coffee in a French press. Now I’d tasted every other vintage of Pure to date, the ’04, ’06 and ’07 (Julien came on board at Barroche in ’02, w/ his first two vintages being to erratic to bottle), but I had yet to taste ‘the vintage.’ ‘The vintage,’ deified w/ a 3 figure salute in the Hedonist’s Gazette, is scarcer than a defected Cuban ballplayer on Castro soil. My opportunities to savor one of my two bottles hadn’t existed up to that point, so I created one. I took a deep breath & did my best to extricate all the pomp and circumstance from the glass, then tasted the wine. It was closed at first, almost blinding you to its intensity and depth. As I patiently swirled away, scents of rose petals, pepper and sweet kirsch emerged, on the verge but far too coiled to disband. Its flavors attacked slowly but continued to progress, elevating like numbers on a dial with each swish and swirl. Full and enveloping, then absolutely blasting off to an explosive finish that leaves your senses recoiled, like an abrupt stop to a high speed chase. The flavors ran the gamut through the dark side of the Grenache-spectrum, twisting a bitter cocoa and fruitcake note on the midpalate, then spackling its tactile mineral core on the back-end. The ’05 Pure is tangibly young, but seems to share a bit of its neighbor’s sandy soil driven minerality, in spite of its immense size, structure and breadth. I own one more bottle, and I aint’ touchin’ it for at least another five years. One down…. If the Quilceda Creek were a person, it would be stewing away in that decanter thinking ‘great, now it’s my turn?!’ Tough act to follow, but the Quilceda did have a leg up on the Pure from a couple angles. One, I’d only tasted one previous vintage of the wine (’04), and two, the Cabernet grape was sure to seem like a novelty to my palate, seeing that I draw Grenache fluids into my body intravenously. Well, the stars were aligned for QC ’03, scattering a constellation of fruit that blanketed any possible dissension from each one of its 100 points. Its perfume, redolent of eucalyptus and the oils of crushed flowers, was as pure and natural an aromatic expression of New World Cabernet as I’ve ever smelled. While large-scaled in the palate, it possessed an ethereal sense of ease that belied her density, unspooling layers of flavors like wavering fields of wheat in the breeze. The finish was awash with tiers of cassis and blueberry fruit, packaged by impeccably suave tannins. I found myself more contemplative after I swallowed it, as it grew in presence the longer the flavors lingered. If I were an architect conjuring a Cabernet from the ground-up, I don’t think I could have even imagined assembling a structure more impressive than this. On this particular day, the two wines defied all the drugstore psychology. While it is quantitatively impossible to smash the expectations of a 100 point wine (save for a new scale), these wines left resounding impressions in addition to their promise, and I found that particularly noteworthy. If a certain entity is supposed to illicit a certain familiar emotion, does that render the end result less pleasurable? I’d gather the answer is sometimes yes, sometimes no. Wines, like people, are moody, fickle creations that are too multi-dimensional to predict or expect. Even if they possess the raw materials & acute evolution to affect you in a subjectively ‘perfect’ manner, what if you are incapable of embracing that affection at that given point? The mood wasn’t right, the company was stifling, the food was loathsome, you didn’t sleep well last night….so on & so forth. Should I be more impressed w/ these wines for their ability to deliver perfection in spite of some peripherally damning elements? Or should I credit the environment for enabling the experience to proceed w/o a hitch? I’m inclined to champion the former, particularly w/ the Oakland Raiders and hot dogs filling out the nexus of the latter. As an epilogue, I can say that the two wines shared an objective profundity in terms of presence and length. While it is difficult to quantify either trait, I can only describe them as aspects of 3 dimensional wines. They affect your senses through a range of emotions. Their perfumes, textures and array of vivid flavors seem to mature and excite each aspect of taste & all at once, while the wine is present and when it is gone. They evolve like scenes of a play, maintaining the moment while impressing upon a broader scope. For comparison purposes, we drank a bottle of 2000 Beaucastel afterwards. With all due respect to the Chateau, it seemed a mere aperitif after these two goliaths, demonstrating just how ‘normal’ even a great wine can be in such classic company. When interpreting scores, don’t kid yourself into believing that the differences between a 100 point wine and a 93 point wine are negligible (for those that don’t score wines, you can extrapolate the points into whatever classification of experience that you choose). As an addendum, these wines were all drank 3 weeks ago. I took no notes but remember the Pure & QC as if they were still on my lips. I had no intention of using Beaucastel as a whipping boy, but it provided a much needed sense of relativity.    (hide)

  Forum post in the topic 100 Point Wine, Before & After by Brad Coelho

  
  

• October 2009

  About the ratings that equate a $20 chardonnay with a $120 Margaux, "peer tasting" is what RP has claimed to do and I believe that he himself still does that, although it's not clear that any of the other critics for the publication do it. It means that you're tasting wines from... Read moreAbout the ratings that equate a $20 chardonnay with a $120 Margaux, "peer tasting" is what RP has claimed to do and I believe that he himself still does that, although it's not clear that any of the other critics for the publication do it. It means that you're tasting wines from Bordeaux with wines from Bordeaux and rating them against each other and then you're tasting the Australian chardonnay with other Australian chardonnay and rating those with each other. So there is equivalence between the 90 points for two Bordeaux of the same vintage, whereas perhaps there's less equivalence between the Bordeaux and a chardonnay, although both represent quality in their respective spheres. That sounds nice initially but that breaks down too. If you're comparing Australian wine, you have to lump together all French wine. If you're doing regions, then you have to do regions in both. Moreover, just like all publications, WA has people like Parker who are able to make some kind of comprehensible statement about regional wines, there are some people who may not be able to but who work their butts off to learn, and there are maybe some who seem to be satisfied with very little knowledge, and all of them of course have individual palates. So the individual critic matters if you're actually considering scores and reviews. I don't think most customers know or care about any of that though. A sticker with a 92 on it is all that really matters on the shelf. As far as evolving palates, that's an interesting question. I have a friend who criticized me a while ago because I was opening a nice Australian grenache and he said "You still like the same wine you liked 15 years ago." He was busy telling me how his palate had been changing over 20 some years. "D*****bag," I replied. "I liked cheesecake 20 years ago. Am I supposed to stop liking that now? And you still thrill to eat the same food that your grandmother prepared when you were a child. Do you stop liking that? Unless you've had brain damage, if it was good then, why is it crap now?" For good measure I mentioned that a number of years ago I had served him some of the wines he was now touting and he had pronounced them second-rate. If someone doesn't know any wine and tries a bottle of Rosemount shiraz and likes it, that would be his favorite wine. But isn't it also his least favorite wine? After all, it's a unitary data point and his entire reference. Liking that, he tries another and another and then before long he's got a handful of shiraz reference points and maybe one of those becomes his favorite wine. He doesn't know Lagrein so he can't compare. Eventually he tries some and maybe he likes it and in relative terms, maybe likes it more than the shiraz he originally knew. He just knows more so the center of his reference has shifted. That is an evolving palate. But it doesn't necessarily mean that you have to abandon your earlier wine if you actually liked it. I understand that people can come to appreciate different things as they try new ones but it's like words. As your vocabulary increases, you don't stop using the first simple words you learned. I can't understand people who professed to love something one day and hate it the next. OTOH, some people never move their set point. I have a few friends who started drinking wine as poor students and all they could afford were nasty, rough, and very cheap Italian wines. Now, many years later, they still love those kinds of wines - searing acidity, scouring tannins, absence of flavor, etc. I guess it's like the difference between "progressive" and "conservative"? One has no center, the other no flexibility.    (hide)

  Forum post in the topic Parker 95 pts - Wine... by GregT

  
  

• September 2009

  I've tried another vintage of this wine, at a wine tasting. It was a pretty good wine, but I'm not certain I'd give it 95+. I'm also fairly certain that I wouldn't give it 77. I would have thought that even if they did not like the style, they would have at least given it credit... Read moreI've tried another vintage of this wine, at a wine tasting. It was a pretty good wine, but I'm not certain I'd give it 95+. I'm also fairly certain that I wouldn't give it 77. I would have thought that even if they did not like the style, they would have at least given it credit for being a more than competent example of that particular style. Unfortunately, I didn't make any notes at the time, so can't post any detailed remarks about it. My experience with South Australian shirazes has been quite varied. I've tried a lot which I don't particularly like -- generally over-the-top, over-ripe 'jammy' fruit bombs, and quite a few which I have liked -- which can be a bit more restrained, with spice and dark fruits. Generally, the former type seem to be mostly from the Barossa, the latter from the McLaren Vale, though that's not always the case. The McLaren Vale seems to be able to produce fruit bombs just as easily as the Barossa, and you do see more elegant Barossa shirazes to (eg, Langmeil). Equally, I recently tried BK Wines 2008 Jean Bernard Syrah from the Adelaide Hills. Completely different again, and not at all typical of an Australian shiraz. But certainly very good, and very interesting.    (hide)

  Forum post in the topic Parker 95 pts - Wine... by penguinoid

  
  

• August 2009

  dumcker - oxidation is also an option for sure. I just poured some wine down the sink - it had been open for a couple weeks in the back of the fridge and I needed the space. penguinoid - cool name incidentally. Have a clean half bottle - I rinse them and set upright for a while... Read moredumcker - oxidation is also an option for sure. I just poured some wine down the sink - it had been open for a couple weeks in the back of the fridge and I needed the space. penguinoid - cool name incidentally. Have a clean half bottle - I rinse them and set upright for a while before opening the other one just because we have ants sometimes and I don't want them or cobwebs in the bottles. Anyhow, pour in as gently as possible and as full as possible and then jam the cork or stopper back in and put in the fridge. I've kept wine for a long time in that way - over a month. Vinofreak - the 2001 was in general a fairly good vintage in most places down there as far as I know, and you have some decent wines - they're quite different IMO however. Penfolds tends to be a more structured wine than some at almost all levels but they're a good producer to explore. The "bin" wines in particular offer some pretty good quality - e.g. Bin 389, 407 etc. The cellar reserve line is from a different region - Adelaide I think? But those are pretty decent wines and something to trot out when people make broad comments about "all" Australian wines. Cheers.    (hide)

  Forum post in the topic Question about a Shiraz....... by GregT

  
  

• July 2009

  Well, regarding aged Aussie whites and price, you may very well be surprised. Nobody really collects those wines and the new ones aren't priced in the stratosphere, so you may be able to pick some up at really reasonable prices. It's kind of like vintage Port - why buy a new one... Read moreWell, regarding aged Aussie whites and price, you may very well be surprised. Nobody really collects those wines and the new ones aren't priced in the stratosphere, so you may be able to pick some up at really reasonable prices. It's kind of like vintage Port - why buy a new one when you can get a 20 year old vintage for nearly the same price? Anyhow, just a note regarding riesling. Germany has had a run of warm vintages. The classified wines are categorized based on the sugar levels in the grapes at harvest, not in the sugar in the wine itself. So a Kabinett for example, will be made from grapes that had less sugar than Spatlese when the grapes were picked. However, the winemaker may choose to ferment the Spatlese to complete dryness, as they do with the GGs, so the wine might not seem as sweet on your palate. The point is that if you want to compare the wines, you need to find wines that can compare without being confusing. So "Trocken" in addition to the Pradikat level of Kabinett or Spat or whatever, may be something to look for. Going back to what I was saying - Germany has had a string of warm vintages and when you taste Kabinett or the QBA level wines, they will very often show a marked sweetness. There's a big debate as to whether the "real" riesling is supposed to be like that or whether it's just for the export market, but I dismiss most of it. Germany has come up with a new designation in an attempt to ape Burgundy - they call them Grosses Gewachs and the wines come from specific classified vineyards, they're harvested at Spatlese levels, and fermented fully dry. Those are supposed to be Germany's answer to the dry white wines of France. I've tasted many of them and think it's a real disappointment and a stupid goal on top of it. At any rate, those wines will set you back at least $40 and many will be much more. On the other hand, Australia, counter to what one might expect, makes super dry riesling. I asked a few winemakers about it once and they told me that in the 1950s and 1960s, "riesling" was a generic word for white wine, maybe akin to using "Xerox" as a verb to mean copy. In Nevada, people use the word "Coke" to mean soda. Anyway, the styles and varieties were all over the map, semillon was the most widely planted, and a lot of what was called "riesling" was actually semillon. The growers got together and decided that state of affairs was bad for marketing. So they decided that they would come out with a consistent product so that the customer knew what to expect when picking up a bottle. They decided to make their rieslings dry. It's a perfect example of why I think they are the smartest winemakers on the planet - no government interference, just enlightened self-interest. The result is that today when you pick up a bottle, you get a dry wine. OTOH, when you pick up a bottle from Germany, which is a far colder place, you don't usually get a dry wine. That said, the Australians are experimenting with off-dry wines just as the Germans are developing the dry GGs, the ELs, and the EGs, depending on which area you're in. German riesling happily, still remains one of the best buys on the planet. At the low end, Gunderloch makes a bottle called Jean Baptiste. Lietz makes Dragonstone, and Schmitges makes Blue Slate. All of them are usually under $15 and they're very nice, drinkable examples of German riesling. As far as "great" French wines, it all depends on how you define that term. I've never been particularly excited about most white Burgundies for example. But for the types of wine you like, go to the Loire and pick up some Muscadet. Pepiere for example, puts out a great muscadet for about $12. It doesn't get much leaner than that. Or get a good dry Furmint from Hungary. There aren't many imported but if you can find it, get Zoltan Demeter's for about $18.    (hide)

  Forum post in the topic What's wrong with Australian... by GregT

  
  

• March 2009

  About this time in 1999, I took an unknowing, impassioned first step into what has now turned into a ten-year love affair with wine.  Today I find myself back in my old stomping grounds of New York City pouring wines at a trade tasting.  Not as a volunteer, but as a vintner. ... Read more About this time in 1999, I took an unknowing, impassioned first step into what has now turned into a ten-year love affair with wine.  Today I find myself back in my old stomping grounds of New York City pouring wines at a trade tasting.  Not as a volunteer, but as a vintner.  From a career in magazine publishing to wine production, it is amazing how quickly one’s life can change. While I was living and pursuing my passion in Italy, fresh out of Business School, I wrote these thoughts about the wine industry.  I will admit the statistics (culled back in 2005) are somewhat dated, but from recent reports I have read, the wine industry has seen a continued trend in the direction I report.  Although, just as fast as one’s like can change, so can the world around us - we are all living with a (global) economic recession of galactic proportions that has already impacted some sectors of the industry.  Knowing what I wrote then, and what is happening now, I am reluctant to make any predictions on the future of the wine industry, because as I have learned with winemaking, it is good to be patient and make decisions when the sediment has settled. On a lighter note, I was prepared to cringe while reading my youthful idealism for wine.  Expecting my words to sound like a post-Sideways Hallmark card; I actually found that my initial feelings have only been strengthened over the recent years.  So, please indulge me, read on and let me know if anyone has any thoughts about the future of wine. - [Ten] years ago, a friend from Hollywood, who traveled regularly to the sets and soundstages of New York, introduced me to fine wine.  When his day was done, over dinner at haute restaurants in midtown Manhattan, he would wax poetic about the Californian wines on leather bound lists that were larger than the scripts he would read.  He talked about buying a piece of land in wine soaked Napa Valley and retiring.  We drank Pahlmeyer, Caymus and Thackery.  Names I knew only by the corks I saved from his dissertations. I left each dinner with self-imposed homework.  I began reading more about wine, then drinking it.  I felt I was gaining an intelligence that allowed me to appreciate the wine we would drink on his next visit.  Inevitably our friendship waned, but I continued my studies and began to refine my taste.  Through the years since, I was considered an expert amongst my friends.  However, in my mind I was far from an expert; I was an amateur connoisseur.  Like most amateurs, I can confess to having hit or miss moments while drinking.  Some nights, I will open a bottle of wine and capture the orchestration in the glass; I am able to identify with the wine's origins and create a memory the moment the grape juice touches my tongue.  Other times, I fail in achieving such oenological delight and proceed to swill the wine, while throwing sobriety to the wind. In September 2004, I took wings to an easterly wind and visited Sicily and the family of one of my fellow business school class mates.  During the weeklong journey, we spent a day visiting vineyards on the southeast side of the island.  When I returned to the States, it was not the Sicilian wine's fruitful finish that stuck with me, but the culture of the wine making process.  I pondered the essence of this culture. The Business of Grape Growing Wine, in all its forms, is a packaged good.  Wine is an industry that is ultra-competitive.   Worldwide it tallies $225 Billion in sales, but the top 10 producers control just 15% of the market, in comparison, the top 10 brewers and spirit distillers account for 54% of all sales. Wine prices range from $2 a bottle to north of $2,000 for a taste of first-growth Bordeaux.  Ask the MBA educated Brand Managers at Procter and Gamble if they would be interested in overcoming the barriers to entry in this market and they would certainly dazzle you with a "five forces" analysis of the question's stupidity. But what I learned on the vineyard is how these winemakers produce a product of quality. The philosophy of wine is delicate.  Wine is human.  On the farm, the grapes are given a heart.  During the growing season, the vines are like a mother during pregnancy.  At harvest, the grapes are reared to produce the best quality juice.  Then aged until they are uncorked. When uncorked, the wine will blossom in the glass throughout the drinking process. Far from any classroom or boardroom, the values put into every vintage are textbook classic.  The vines are cultivated by generations of family members with consistency of purpose.  1) The grapes are the product of your self.  2) Guide them down a path, but allow them to flourish on their own - with autonomy the product will ripen.  3) Polish the product and prepare it for market. 4) While in market, the product will reflect the company's care. However you translate this philosophy, it remains a poetic, although, a process that struggles with the speed of the developing consumption patterns in the beverage alcohol market. Old vs. New World Today, the wine industry continues to outpace its competitors. Some will argue that wine's growing popularity amongst consumers was bolstered by a medical report released in the 1980's that stated a glass of wine a day is actually better than the old "apple" adage.  Twenty-odd years later, in 2001, wine sales in Germany overtook beer consumption and has a penetration rate of 70% of all households. In Australia, a new winery opens every three days.  In the United States, the Yellow Tail brand (from Australia) is the #1 sold import - a couple of years prior, it did not exist.  By 2010, the United States will be the largest consumer of wine in the world. France and Italy are considered "old world" producers.  There are 230,000 producers in France alone; many cultivating the 'wine is human' process where "wine is consumed, not sold." There is no marketing strategy.  The best grapes from the best "terroir" are the best value no matter what the price.  Terroir, or soil, is of utmost importance.  Without it, you can't identify with the wine.  You can't feel the wine.  Consumers in the old world appreciate wine like a work of art - they will stand in front of a painting and make an emotional connection, without such a connection a memory will not exist.  In the "new world," such opinions about wine are still developing.  Wine appreciation is still inaccessible to the masses. In America, 15% of drinking age adults consume 85% of the wine sold, and new world producers (American, Australia, Chilean) are taking advantage of this trend, and wine production is becoming industrial. The new world is consuming the P&G model, the product approach, where the value proposition is different - low price points for high volume sales. An international marketing machine has been created that produces "standardized" wines.  This model caters to consumers where wine is made through mass media.  Dominate holding companies, like Diageo and Pernod are returning 15-20% of sales revenue into their marketing expenses for budget wines that command a price point in the $7 range. These producers are exploiting opportunities where there are obstacles for appreciation - inexperienced consumers, language barriers and limited imports.  Retail outlets are recognizing these obstacles and consolidating shelf space to support sales that produce optimal returns. Wines with simple packaging categorized by red or white and grape name, i.e. Cabernet, Chardonnay, Syrah and Sauvignon Blanc, are delivering volume sales and the right balance of profit. To Sell or Not to Sell The new world is no longer new, it is established.  Consumer attitudes and consumption habits are gaining traction, and the Darwinian philosophy of pushing sales will only continue the precipitous demise of the fragmented, old world producers. For example, in the United Kingdom, over last 15 years, wine consumption per person has doubled to 23 liters (or 2.5 cases) per year per person; however, old world - French, German, Italian and Spanish - wine sales have plummeted from 87% market share to 42%, while new world (American, Australian and Chilean) share has soared from 4% to 47%. Larger producers are succeeding in turning farms into factories and limiting the distribution opportunities of artisan (old world) wine makers.  A global philosophy is dominating, a philosophy that takes cue from Coca-Cola brand management, where regional not central decision-making is helping profit margins. Brands of scale are being produced to identify with the market and not the product source. If wine continues to be sold in this fashion, the low volume-high quality producers of the old world will have a few questions to answer.  Is there a healthy balance between artisan wine making and commercialism?  Is it possible to subsist on appreciation alone?  How can you increase brand awareness, therefore sales, without the marketing expertise or dollars to do so? For many of these producers it is impossible.  The investment for innovation, distribution and education through marketing looms large. - I have extracted my thoughts about the future, which were written in 2005, based on the notion that I am not in the game of predictions; even if, as I re-read them, some of them have come true.  But when I look at the way I have predicted the outcome(s) of this year’s NCAA March Madness, I don’t want to put the cart before the horse.  That being said - feel free to predict away.  Would love to hear your thoughts on the future of wine drinking and selling. Dan Petroski is Assistant Winemaker at Larkmead Vineyards in Napa Valley. Dan has an MBA from New York University and worked as an Ad Exec in New York for several years, before switching it up and trading his suit for a move out west.    (hide)

  Forum post in the topic Ten Years Back (and Forward?) by danpetroski

  
  

• March 2009

  This past weekend was a very special weekend in Sonoma Valley.  It was Heart of the Valley Barrel Tasting.  Barrel Tasting weekend is the biggest single event in Sonoma Valley.  The only other event that even comes close is the Holiday Open House right after Thanksgiving.  The... Read moreThis past weekend was a very special weekend in Sonoma Valley.  It was Heart of the Valley Barrel Tasting.  Barrel Tasting weekend is the biggest single event in Sonoma Valley.  The only other event that even comes close is the Holiday Open House right after Thanksgiving.  The number of visitors in the valley triples and the normally calm and pleasant tasting rooms take on a more festive atmosphere. What’s the big deal?  Well, for Sonoma Valley wine lovers this is a time to get be treated as a VIP without having to write for an internationally distributed wine magazine.  All the participating wineries will make barrel samples of an upcoming release available for people to taste.  On top of that, most wineries will sell futures for those wine and pair their existing wines food.  Barrel Tasting weekend always happens over the third weekend in March every year and it is a very hectic, energetic weekend. In Sonoma Valley there are two main associations of influence; The Sonoma Valley Vinters & Growers Association and The Heart of the Valley Association.  The first association includes all the wineries and vineyards in Sonoma Valley and extends south of Sonoma Valley into the town of Sonoma and into the west end of Carneros.  The Heart of the Valley Association is concentrated in Sonoma Valley proper starting at the north end of the town of Sonoma and extending northward to include the towns of Glen Ellen & Kenwood and ends at the south end of Santa Rosa.  Sonoma Valley Barrel Tasting is hosted by the Heart of the Valley Association.  All the wineries up and down Highway 12, the main and only road that runs the distance of the valley, join in the fun. We at Loxton Cellars take a lot of pride in making sure this event is very well managed and that people that visit us have a very good experience.  Our tasting room is also our barrel storage room.  Normally, 10 people in our tasting room would be a lot of people, during barrel tasting we average more than 50 people in the same space.   This often means a line forms out the front door for entry into our winery space.  However, we are often told that it is worth the wait.  People compliment us on our organization for the event and, the thing we like the most, is that comment on how much we seem to be enjoying what we are doing.  I can honestly say we do.  What makes it so enjoyable is that we have a lot of ‘friends of the winery’ that volunteer to help.  We only have 5 ‘real’ employees at Loxton Cellars but on barrel tasting weekend we suddenly have triple that number.  In a way, it is like a family reunion. This year was a very special event for us.  The Loxton Cellars tasting room opened five years ago on barrel tasting weekend.  The owner and winemaker, Chris Loxton, made two special wines available for barrel tasting.   A special syrah cuvee named Cuvee Ellen after his grandmother and Cabernet-Shiraz blend, called Grandfather’s Cuvee, to celebrate the traditional Australian blend and the grapes grown on his family’s vineyard in Australia.  That vineyard has been in his family for more than 100 years.  Both wines were from the 2007 vintage which many people in Sonoma are considering to be one of the best vintages in 20 years. The 2007 Cuvee Ellen Syrah blend (multiple vineyards in Sonoma Valley) shows some uncommon power for a Sonoma Valley Syrah.  The wine has nice rich black fruit aromas with a bit of smoke and the taste has strong blackberry and plum flavors.  The acid was still high and tannins were bold but this is expected from a barrel sample but will mellow out by the release.  This wine will be bottled soon and will be released in the next six months and, based on what I tasted, this wine will age gracefully for the next five to eight years easily.  The cabernet-shiraz blend was simply outstanding.  This is a wine that has incredible balance and power.  We will keep this one in barrel for another 6 months (total will be 18), we’ll bottle it and then keep it in bottle for at least another 10 months in bottle before release it.  Again, based on what I tasted, this wine will age nicely for the next 10 years. Barrel Tasting weekend can be hectic, it can be very, very busy but there is a lot of value to it for both the producers in and consumers.  The producers get to show case their wines, generate excitement around new releases, generate revenue through the sales of futures and create a lot of new customers.  For the customers, they get access to wineries and wines that might not be normally be available.  There is opportunity to taste the wines with food as many winemakers intend but the real draw is the wine from the barrel.  Many people will purchase futures based on the barrel samples.  If you can handle the crowds, it is well worth doing.  Join in Sonoma Valley for Barrel Tasting next year … mark your calendars now, it will be March 20th and 21st 2010. John Andrews is a software product manager during the week and is a professional Tasting Room staffer at Loxton Cellars in Glen Ellen, CA on the weekends.    (hide)

  Forum post in the topic Sonoma Valley Barrel Tasting... by HondaJohn

  
  

• March 2009

  Sonoma Valley Barrel Tasting Weekend This past weekend was a very special weekend in Sonoma Valley.  It was Heart of the Valley Barrel Tasting.  Barrel Tasting weekend is the biggest single event in Sonoma Valley.  The only other event that even comes close is the Holiday Open... Read moreSonoma Valley Barrel Tasting Weekend This past weekend was a very special weekend in Sonoma Valley.  It was Heart of the Valley Barrel Tasting.  Barrel Tasting weekend is the biggest single event in Sonoma Valley.  The only other event that even comes close is the Holiday Open House right after Thanksgiving.  The number of visitors in the valley triples and the normally calm and pleasant tasting rooms take on a more festive atmosphere. What's the big deal?  Well, for Sonoma Valley wine lovers this is a time to get be treated as a VIP without having to write for an internationally distributed wine magazine.  All the participating wineries will make barrel samples of an upcoming release available for people to taste.  On top of that, most wineries will sell futures for those wine and pair their existing wines food.  Barrel Tasting weekend always happens over the third weekend in March every year and it is a very hectic, energetic weekend. In Sonoma Valley there are two main associations of influence; The Sonoma Valley Vinters & Growers Association and The Heart of the Valley Association.  The first association includes all the wineries and vineyards in Sonoma Valley and extends south of Sonoma Valley into the town of Sonoma and into the west end of Carneros.  The Heart of the Valley Association is concentrated in Sonoma Valley proper starting at the north end of the town of Sonoma and extending northward to include the towns of Glen Ellen & Kenwood and ends at the south end of Santa Rosa.  Sonoma Valley Barrel Tasting is hosted by the Heart of the Valley Association.  All the wineries up and down Highway 12, the main and only road that runs the distance of the valley, join in the fun. We at Loxton Cellars take a lot of pride in making sure this event is very well managed and that people that visit us have a very good experience.  Our tasting room is also our barrel storage room.  Normally, 10 people in our tasting room would be a lot of people, during barrel tasting we average more than 50 people in the same space.   This often means a line forms out the front door for entry into our winery space.  However, we are often told that it is worth the wait.  People compliment us on our organization for the event and, the thing we like the most, is that comment on how much we seem to be enjoying what we are doing.  I can honestly say we do.  What makes it so enjoyable is that we have a lot of ‘friends of the winery' that volunteer to help.  We only have 5 ‘real' employees at Loxton Cellars but on barrel tasting weekend we suddenly have triple that number.  In a way, it is like a family reunion. This year was a very special event for us.  The Loxton Cellars tasting room opened five years ago on barrel tasting weekend.  The owner and winemaker, Chris Loxton, made two special wines available for barrel tasting.   A special syrah cuvee named Cuvee Ellen after his grandmother and Cabernet-Shiraz blend, called Grandfather's Cuvee, to celebrate the traditional Australian blend and the grapes grown on his family's vineyard in Australia.  That vineyard has been in his family for more than 100 years.  Both wines were from the 2007 vintage which many people in Sonoma are considering to be one of the best vintages in 20 years. The 2007 Cuvee Ellen Syrah blend (multiple vineyards in Sonoma Valley) shows some uncommon power for a Sonoma Valley Syrah.  The wine has nice rich black fruit aromas with a bit of smoke and the taste has strong blackberry and plum flavors.  The acid was still high and tannins were bold but this is expected from a barrel sample but will mellow out by the release.  This wine will be bottled soon and will be released in the next six months and, based on what I tasted, this wine will age gracefully for the next five to eight years easily.  The cabernet-shiraz blend was simply outstanding.  This is a wine that has incredible balance and power.  We will keep this one in barrel for another 6 months (total will be 18), we'll bottle it and then keep it in bottle for at least another 10 months in bottle before release it.  Again, based on what I tasted, this wine will age nicely for the next 10 years. Barrel Tasting weekend can be hectic, it can be very, very busy but there is a lot of value to it for both the producers in and consumers.  The producers get to show case their wines, generate excitement around new releases, generate revenue through the sales of futures and create a lot of new customers.  For the customers, they get access to wineries and wines that might not be normally be available.  There is opportunity to taste the wines with food as many winemakers intend but the real draw is the wine from the barrel.  Many people will purchase futures based on the barrel samples.  If you can handle the crowds, it is well worth doing.  Join in Sonoma Valley for Barrel Tasting next year … mark your calendars now, it will be March 20th and 21st 2010. John Andrews is a software product manager during the week and is a professional Tasting Room staffer at Loxton Cellars in Glen Ellen, CA on the weekends.    (hide)

  From the article Sonoma Valley Barrel Tasting Weekend

  
  

• March 2009

  Vine age has to be one of my favorite, controversial arbiters of wine quality (next to native yeasts). I strongly believe that my favorite region of the wine world, Chateauneuf du Pape, benefits greatly from the century old Grenache vines that dug their roots in the ground sometime... Read moreVine age has to be one of my favorite, controversial arbiters of wine quality (next to native yeasts). I strongly believe that my favorite region of the wine world, Chateauneuf du Pape, benefits greatly from the century old Grenache vines that dug their roots in the ground sometime before World War One. Well how old is old? According to Lenz Winery in Long Island, they happen to have the oldest Merlot vines on United States soil, checking in a little over 30 years of age. Well the gnarly vine Zinfandels of California can claim close to 100 years of age or greater, so I suppose that puts Zin in such rarified New World Air that they can rival some of the oldest bush vine Syrah in the Australian outback. How about 200 year old vines? Now you must have just done a double-take, so let me repeat for effect. How about 200 year old vines? I guess vine age is all relative. Do Ferreiro, of Rias Baixas Spain, reportedly has Albarino vines that push the 2 century mark, planted on sandy soils just west of the Atlantic (and just south of the War of 1812). The prestige cuvee, referred to as Cepas Vellas (or Vieilles Vignes to you Francophiles), is from a single plot of ungrafted, pre-phylloxera vines that are so old they could have been a great grandfather to shoeless Joe Jackson. Whether or not vines hit a particular age that ‘maxes out their potential’ (in terms of clusters per vine, root penetration, minerality, depth or concentration) is certainly debatable, but really, how many 200 year old vine data sets to we have to form an educated opinion? While 200 year old vines are a notable, freakish accomplishment of enduring viticulture in and of themselves, what does it mean in terms of the actual wine product they’ve created? Well I’ll just say this; the historical pundits won’t be the only ones interested as the wine’s quality is nothing short of remarkable. Think warm vintage Chablis, w/ a bit of Sancerre tossed in for good measure. Do Ferreiro Cepas Vellas Albarino, '07 Profound Albarino may seem like an oxymoron, but Do Ferreiro's Cepas Vellas absolutely smashes any preconceived notions of this varietal’s potential. Deep straw in color and surprisingly flattering in the nose, as a whiff of a tropical breeze rises from the glass in the form of peach, sea salt, cantaloupe, white flower and hot stone notes. A powerful, honeyed attack turns expansive and full in the midpalate, chiseling its way to a lacy, mineral-rich finish that seems to sail on and on. A unique display of force and focus that really stretches out as it evolves in the glass. What breed! 94 points. *Eh-hem, behind the bottle the winery makes a rather modest suggestion of pairing this wine w/ oysters. Do yourself a favor, up the ante and bring something more serious to the table...it will plow right through shellfish.    (hide)

  Forum post in the topic How old are your vines? by Brad Coelho

  
  

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