Wine Description

Muscat highlights in a nose balanced between floral and ripe white peach. Yellow green color with no browning whatsoever. Dense flavors with refreshing acid finish. Perfect for a lemon custard cake. Tasted in Fine Wines of the Southern Hemisphere class at Fort Mason in San Francisco. Southern Hemisphere class will next be offered as a Weekender in August 2011.

Wine Education

Even with the attention lavished on South Africa by the World Cup soccer matches, few people realize how accomplished the South African wine producers are. Founded at a time when New York City was still called New Amsterdam, the wine industry at the Cape of Good Hope flourished while Californios were still fermenting in cowhide bags. Sweet wines from Constantia were the toast of the Russian court during the late 1800’s, where they competed quite favorably with France’s Ch. d’Yquem and with the best Rieslings of Germany. Burgundy? At the time it was considered a backwater. Its wines couldn’t command one-twentieth the price of Vin de Constance, the luxurious dessert wine from South Africa’s premier winery, Groot Constantia, which had been founded on the estate of the Capes’ first Dutch governor, Simon Van der Stel.
     After Van der Stel’s death in the early 1800’s, Groot Constantia was split into three parcels and sold. Hendrik Cloete bought the homestead piece, and with his offspring raised the quality and recognition of Vin de Constance to worldwide acclaim. Cloete called his winery Klein Constantia. In Afrikaans groot means ‘great,’ while klein means ‘small.’ Phylloxera dealt a crushing blow to the South African wine industry, and by the end of the 1800’s Klein Constantia was in the hands of Abraham de Villiers and his American heiress wife Clara. They created an elegant party venue out of the estate, and even sent their nephew to U.C. Berkeley to study viticulture, but they did not resurrect the extraordinary reputation of Vin de Constance. That was left to the Jooste family, which purchased the property in 1980. Their U.C. Davis-experienced winemaker, Ross Gower, began the wine’s resurgence with his first release in 1986. Today son Lowell Jooste is in charge of the property, and Adam Mason has taken over as winemaker. Vin de Constance is reaching new heights every year.

Regional Description

As a wine producing district Constantia has three distinct characteristics, two of them related: (1) It is basically a suburb of Capetown, with correspondingly fine exposure to the marketplace (both domestic and international); (2) it is a very up-market piece of real estate, with sumptuous houses and beautiful landscaping; and (3) it is perhaps South Africa’s coolest (using the temperature sense of the word) growing region, no small factor when the tip of the continent is at 33º of latitude. Constantia is on the eastern side of a ridge running 20 miles south from Capetown along the peninsula which comprises the Cape of Good Hope. Constantia looks out to the east across False Bay (where the English landed to begin the Boer War). Technically I suppose Cape Agulhas (the southern tip of Africa) is the terminous of the Indian Ocean, but one could certainly argue (after swimming in it) that False Bay is the westernmost vestige of the warm Indian Ocean. The cold Bengula Current runs up the western side of the Good Hope peninsula, i.e. the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic side is not only colder, it carries much less moisture (cf: the Kalahari desert in Namibia further north). Constantia stands astride this divide, protected by its western ridge tops.

Food and Wine Pairing

Klein Constantia makes Vin de Constance from Muscat de Frontignan grapes (cf: Liqueur Muscat from Australia). They are picked very ripe, but not excessively dehydrated. Then they are matured over a four-year period in changing combinations of stainless steel and 120-gallon oak puncheons. The wine has more the 15% residual sugar, but also has very high acid for balance. In the 2005 vintage the pH is 3.45 with 8.75 g/l of total acid. Alcohol is less than Sauternes at a little over 12%, but considerably more than botrytized German Rieslings.
     On a one-dimensional scale of dessert wines, Vin de Constance falls somewhere between Canadian Icewine and Sauternes. It is not as honeyed, nor as volatile, as Sauternes. Which means milk chocolate and nut tarts are probably not going to be preferred matches. At the other extreme, fruit aromatics are a feature of Vin de Constance, but they are far from the only arrow in its quiver. Moreover the aromatics have a distinctly floral component. In the mouth the wine is an extraordinary balance of Vin Santo-like, dried fruit concentration, and refreshingly acidic length. A simple fruit dish, such as peaches with crème fraiche, would not do justice to this complexity.
     I believe the right answer is a custard cake. Decorate each plate with jasmine flowers. Buy or make a pound cake. Slice it horizontally into three levels. On top of level one put a layer of Meyer lemon custard. If you don’t want to make it yourself, you can buy a packaged product from the Jello Company, and tart it up with a real Meyer lemon or two. Include some zest from the lemon. On top of layer two put a layer of light caramel custard. Again, if you don’t want to make your own, use crème fraiche with some brown sugar stirred in. Layer three of the pound cake goes on top. I’d be delighted to eat the dessert this way, but purists will probably want to frost the cake. Once more, packaged frosting will suffice. Vanilla or butter crème would be my choice, but apply it sparingly. You don’t want any wine to have to fight its way through legions of butter and sugar. This dessert should be 75% cake, no less. And serve it in small portions. Things always work out better if the wine is slightly sweeter than the dessert.

Wine Education Background

     Gary Pisoni is a wonderful incarnation of a colorful, eccentric lineage of wine personalities in California. They go back a long way, and they’re legendary. Agoston Harazthy, who claimed to be a Hungarian Count, and reputedly died in Nicaragua while trying to cross a crocodile-infested stream on a small tree limb. Paul Masson, who delighted in hosting sparkling wine baths for actresses at his Saratoga mountain winery during the waning years of the Victorian age. His successor, Martin Ray, who sold shares in his winery (Mount Eden) to investors, then denied them access to the property, while pricing his wines at three times more than any other examples on the market. Dr. David Bruce, Randall Grahm, Jim Clendenen. Mike Grgich, always ready with a double-entendre, and a staunch claimant to never having owned a pH meter. Or my favorite, Marilyn Otterman (Sarah’s Vyd), who always responded in interviews as two separate people: as herself and as Sarah. Marilyn was such a delight. She always described her wines in the female gender. As in, “My Ventana Chardonnay is always the center of attention at parties. You know, all boobs and hips. Whereas my Estate Chardonnay is more reserved, tall with a Greek nose. She hangs back, and waits for maturity on your part.”
     It’s an extensive thread ~ completely wacked out, and further distinguished by the fact they ALL made (or make) excellent wine. Gary Pisoni fits right in. He reminds me of Mario Batali: tuxedo shirt and madras shorts; catnip for the high-end collector and socialite crowds …

Read this entire post, including information on the World of Pinot Noir festival, descriptions of 6 current-release Pinot Noirs from Pisoni Vyd grapes, and 6 older examples, on the Stanford wine blog.

Tasted in Art & Science of Fine Wine class in Menlo Park (see Class Descriptions). Wine sells for around US$100, but would be hard to find in an American retail store. I use this wine to illustrate a lecture point on pruning and trellising decisions. The wine is very unusual, and not everybody likes it, but personally I always find it enormously impressive.

Background Wine Education

     1998 Wynn’s ‘John Riddoch’ Cabernet Sauvignon is from Coonawarra in the state of South Australia. Many people consider Coonawarra to be Australia’s finest Cabernet district. It is about a day’s drive south of Adelaide, and perhaps two day’s drive west of Melbourne. In short, it is way-the-hell-and-gone away from civilization. The first time I visited, in 1980, the only pub in town was still divided into separate men’s and women’s sections ~ smoke in either. Of course that was nearly two generations ago. The point is Australia has a very meager viticultural labor force under any circumstance, and Coonawarra’s isolation exacerbates the situation there.
     Things have changed somewhat in more recent vintages, but in 1998 anything a machine could do to replace manual labor was something the vintners of Coonawarra employed machines to do. That would be the polar opposite of (say) Chile, where men do so much of the work machines do in Australia. Up through at least the 1998 vintage, in Coonawarra the vines were frequently hedged rather than pruned. ‘Hedged’ implies something akin to a military haircut. Instead of one bud left on each of (say) five evenly spaced, 1” spurs vertically positioned along the cordon arms of each vine, hedging allows perhaps eighty 6” spurs protruding in all directions from the cordon arms. There may be several buds on each spur. The result is a canopy that looks like a thickly tangled cylinder, with the cordon arms running down the center. Leaves on the inside of the cylinder are in the shade all summer long. Those leaves consume nutrients, but they do not contribute to ripening.
     Coonawarra is naturally a fairly cool growing district. It’s only 37 miles from the coast, and there is persistent cloud cover. ‘Degree-days’ is a technique for measuring the highest daily temperature throughout the growing season. [Don’t try comparing these Australian numbers to those you might see from California. The Australian figures are in ºC, while those from the U.S. are usually in ºF.] Coonawarra only gets about 1,365 degree-days, while Barossa Valley, north of Adelaide gets 1,832, upper Hunter Valley, north of Sydney gets 1,743, and balmy Margaret River, hard on the Indian Ocean gets 1,629. Ultra-ripe is not a description applied to Coonawarra Cabernets in general, and back when they were grown on hedge-pruned vines, they were reliably expressive of Cabernet’s historic ‘leafy’ character.

Wine Taste Description

     Vintners in Napa Valley have discovered over the last fifteen years, as they replanted vineyards threatened by phylloxera, that Cabernet vines with all their leaves in sun will ripen faster than those on sprawling trellises with a lot of shaded leaves. Faster, more complete ripening removes any trace of the pyrazine flavor, a characteristic Cabernet Sauvignon shares with its biological parent, Sauvignon Blanc. That pyrazine flavor is similar to green peppers. Riper Cabernet grapes move toward a cassis character, and away from that green olive or haricot vert character.
     The Wynn’s ‘John Riddoch’ Cab from 1998 is a throwback. Old school. From the very start it was loaded with pyrazines. Not sprinkled; fully inundated! It was complex, wonderfully structured, and long in the finish with supple tannins. But many tasters were never able to get past the intense herbaceous smell. Which is one reason why there aren’t many (if any at all) Cabernets made in this manner anymore. Call it “Epitaph for a Cabernet” (my apologies to David Masumoto). Personally I’m a fan of the green olive style. In fact, I’d call it the aromatic signature of red wines from Pessac-Leognan in Bordeaux. I like it because I think it clearly distinguishes Cabernet Sauvignon from other red grapes. If I want a red wine smelling of sour cherries, I’ll buy a Syrah.
     I further believe the big payback from this older style of Cabernet comes when the wine gets seven or eight years of bottle-age under its belt. To me the pyrazine smells of youth are precursors for the unlit pipe tobacco smells I enjoy so much as bouquet. The Wynn’s 1998 Riddoch goes several steps beyond pipe tobacco. We’re talking big tobacco leaves, the ones meant for cigar wrappers, drying in a not too well ventilated barn. The 1998 Riddoch Cab is, today, extraordinarily intense in the nose with a wonderfully full, round, textured smell. It is still nicely balanced in the mouth, and long, but you barely notice the flavors or structure because the bouquet is performing such a thorough waterboard interrogation on your face.

Wine – Food Pairing

     I think the perfect way to pair this wine is to go all gaucho on it. Simple too. Get yourself a flank steak. Mash up a bunch of parsley, and a couple anchovies, in butter (you can use anchovy paste). Slather the mixture fairly thickly on one side of the flank steak. Roll the steak up tightly, with the paste on the inside. Once rolled, wrap the outside in Saran-wrap to secure the roll. Place it under the back of your saddle as you spend the day punchin’doggies on the Pampas ~ or leave it 8 hours in your refrigerator if somebody else is employing your horse for the day. Then grill it over hot coals that night. Serve with a baked potato and chives. Es muy macho!

Wine Classes

     Tasted in Art & Science of Fine Wine class held in Menlo Park (see Class Schedule). Beaulieu 1994 and 1995 Private Reserve Cabs are priced around $150 per bottle (if available) in most fine wine stores. Reference year-to-year California growing conditions on this website under Useful Wine Info – California Vintage Reports.

Wine Education Background

     Beaulieu ‘Georges de Latour’ Cabernet Sauvignon is a classic of the American landscape, and has been for a very long time. Originally crafted by the legendary Andre Tchelischeff, from grapes grown on Napa Valley’s Rutherford Bench, the wine was famously aged in 100% American oak. That gave the wine a considerable relationship with Bourbon ~ also aged in American oak, as is Australia’s most expensive wine, Penfold’s Grange Hermitage. What more could any cowboy want? Big slab of corn-fed beefsteak, and to wash it down, a drink that smelled like Whisky Sour and pipe tobacco. Made in America, like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Modestly expensive, but not rare. For a long time, Beaulieu made 25,000 cases of the ‘Private Reserve’ Cab each year.
     Things have changed a little bit since Andre’s time. In the 1990’s Beaulieu replanted much of their venerable BV #1 and BV #2 vineyards as a phylloxera precaution. During the process they did some clonal experimentation, concluding that while a mix of Cabernet clones was desirable, the best outcomes always included a big percentage of UCD Cab clone #6. That clone produced smaller berries, and smaller clusters than the others. It also got riper faster, and retained better acid. Beaulieu also began adding a little Merlot to the Private Reserve. And they started using some French oak as a complement to their American barrels. BV PR Cab is not the strapping hulk of yesteryear, but it’s still pretty robust.

How Does the Wine Taste?

     What are the best vintages for BV Private Reserve? Depends whether you want to drink it at age eight, or at age twenty. Andre always thought his best vintages were the hottest years; vintages such as 1958, 1966, and 1974. Perhaps he was anticipating the current fad for ultra-ripe Cabs. 1974 was a perfect example. Temperatures during the Summer of 1974 were relatively mild, but they soared from late-August through September. The Cabs were intense, fruity, and softly supple when released. They sold like hotcakes. Contrast the 1973 vintage. It started late, due to a cold, wet Spring. Summer was cool. Harvest progressed under sunny skies, but without high temperatures. Cabs from 1973 were nicely balanced, but more acidic, and roughly tannic in youth. When superseded in the marketplace by the lush ‘74’s, the ’73’s retreated from buyers’ radar. That is until it became fashionable in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s to compare the two vintages side-by-side. At age twenty, BV PR 1974 Cab was flabby, with prune-ish overtones, while the 1973 BV PR Cab had all the structural integrity in the world, a rich cigar box bouquet, and enormous persistence in the glass.
     The results from comparing BV PR 1994 Cab to the 1995 version were similar, although the chronology is reversed. In this instance, 1994 was the dry, mild Winter followed by a balmy Summer and a dry harvest. The ’94 Cabs were smooth, concentrated, and very impressive upon release. 1995 was a wet, cold Winter and Spring. Budbreak was delayed; Summer was cool. Harvest was very late, but conducted under cool, dry skies. The ’95 Cabs were hard, closed, and unrelentingly tannic upon release. In 1999, I would have preferred (hell, I did prefer) to drink the ’94 BV PR Cab rather than its successor.
     Tasted last week, the ’94 BV PR Cab was squat and stodgy compared to its ’95 brother. Nothing wrong with it; just that its singing days are clearly numbered. Its vaunted fruitiness was diminishing and dehydrated. Twenty minutes swirling in the glass left the ’94 bent over gasping with its hands on its knees. The ’95 was much more lively in the glass. No longer tight, its walnut pesto bouquet was rich, deep, and obvious to everyone in the room. It was longer on the palate, and in the memory. It finished with the reminder of black stone fruits, and it maintained that impression for an hour. Today, I wouldn’t be disappointed with either wine served by itself. But I’d be much happier with the ’95, if I got my choice after tasting them both side-by-side.

Wine-Food Pairing

     Beef is on the menu for most people when Beaulieu Private Reserve is on the sideboard. But I think not roast beef. I think the key is grilled beef, and that implies a smokey flavor. It is a natural match with the heated leather overtones in the bouquet of bottle-aged Cabernet Sauvignon. Moreover, I don’t mind doing a little chewing when enhanced flavor is part of the deal. That implies tougher cuts, maybe grass-fed beef, longer marinade times. Think Argentine-style indoor grill.
     BV PR is a good investment wine. Not in the sense of money for resale. But certainly in the sense of consistency, reliability, and track record. Laying some bottles down, from adroitly selected vintages, for ten years of maturation in your cellar is always a good idea. It is a strategy which will allow you to drink well-developed Cabernet at a noteworthy financial savings: comparable to investing the same amount of money at an interest rate of 7% compounded annually. Call it portfolio diversification; very liquid assets.

California can do world-class Riesling. Not many, and not every year. Still, a handful of producers have proved the potential over decades. The hardship is their best examples are better with six or seven years of bottle age. And consumers just don’t get that concept. The result is a population of soda-like, eminently forgettable, Rieslings from the rest of the CA pack aimed at the mass market. Riesling should not be a mass market wine. Let the masses drink Pepsi. Or Arbor Mist.

Wine Tasting

     The 1996 Madroña Riesling was tasted in a Varietal Series class, which are held the second Friday evening of each month in Nevada City, CA (see Wine Education Vacation). It’s a great way to start off a romantic getaway in the mountains. Nevada City is the cultural centerpiece of the Sierra Foothills ~ live music, good food, palpable history, original art, quaint shopping, wonderful scenery. And several good wineries to discover. Call it The Liquid Gold Country.
     One portion of the class compared this bottle-aged Madroña with two older Rheingaus: a 1992 Robt. Weil Spätlesen and a 1988 Domdechant Hochheimer Hölle Spätlese Halbtrocken. The Weil had the lightest color and the most acid. Its aromatics were all green apple, even at 17-years-old. It continued to develop throughout the weekend, and was even more fragrant on Sunday. The Hochheimer smelled more of caramel, but also had some Pippin apple in the flavor, and it was the least sweet of the group. Neither German wine walked on the Madroña. Both German wines had less than 10% alcohol, while the Madroña had 12%. That’s not a recommendation. But the Madroña also had a lifted fruitiness and a very refreshing acidity. Most importantly the Madroña had completely shed the blocky rough edges of its youth. Once it got a little air, the wine had a burnished luminosity that was just delicious.

Background Wine Education

     As a general proposition California is never going to be a great a producer of Riesling. Washington makes more of them, and quality is usually better in Canada or upstate New York. In the 1960’s there were hundreds of (pretty mediocre) Rieslings made in California. Remember, that era predated White Zinfandel. The number of CA Rieslings dropped to just a dozen or two by the turn of the century. Most of California is just too hot. Riesling here tends toward nicely fruity, but flabby sweet, or else awkwardly alcoholic.
     Nevertheless, California is a really big place. There are lots of extreme climatic and topographical opportunities within CA’s borders. Both the highest point (Mt. Whitney) and the lowest point (Death Valley) in the contiguous U.S. are located in California, and they are not even two hundred miles apart. Two ways to gain more delicate structure, better natural acid, and more pronounced aromatics in CA Riesling are: (1) grow the grapes close to the Pacific Ocean; or (2) grow the grapes at higher elevation. The two best practitioners of these techniques are, respectively: (1) Greenwood Ridge Vyds; and (2) Madroña Vyds.

Winery Descriptions

     Greenwood Ridge is technically in the Anderson Valley AVA of Mendocino County, but the vineyard is actually up on a promontory south of the valley overlooking the coastal village of Elk. Greenwood Ridge gets a lot of rain and fog. It ripens slowly, and retains a lot of acid. Usually finished with around 2% residual sugar, the Greenwood Ridge Riesling always improves over 6-7 years in the bottle. It becomes more aromatic. Madroña can argue its case for highest vineyard in CA at about 3,500 feet of elevation. It is up the hill above Placerville in El Dorado County. They get snow in the vineyard every year, and share the characteristic of high rainfall with Greenwood Ridge. What they don’t share is diurnal fluctuation (difference between low temperature at night and high temperature during the day). Greenwood is cool all the time; Madroña is cold at night and hot in the middle of the day during July and August. Even with a percent or so of residual sugar, Madrona Riesling is a hard wine when it’s young, brusque and unforgiving. It softens with bottle-age, and shows its aromatic features more easily.

Food – Wine Match

     To be impressive in age, Riesling must have strong acid. Some tension between that acid and a bit of residual sugar is nice to give the wine focus. Sushi is a very broad category, but all of it shares an affinity for the cleansing effects of a clean acid bite. I have a local sushi place, in a not-too-distant strip mall, run by a couple young, pierced and goateed Americans, by all appearances under-employed musicians. They’re clearly well traveled. They do a roll with spicy tuna and shrimp tempura inside, wrapped with fresh salmon and avocado. They top it with a sweet mustard, with hot sauce, and with tempura ‘crunchies.’ Traditional? Perhaps not. But a spectacular match with an old Madroña Riesling. As the wine ages, its peachy fruit aromatics take on a noticeable honeyed tone. That character is matched by the tempura. The wine’s slight sweetness modulates the hot sauce, and the acid cuts through the oiliness of the salmon, the tuna, and the avocado. Wonderful match. Rolls are half-price between 2:00 pm and 4:00 on weekdays. For my birthday I plan to eat three of them, with a bottle of wine and a nap.

Mama tried to raise me better, but her pleadings I denied…

Wine Background

     Zinfandel prices have risen dramatically since the early 1990’s when the first one costing double figures appeared. Higher prices mean more expense can be lavished on artistic production. That means better barrels, but it also affords the opportunity to harvest by hand with several passes through the vineyard.
     Zinfandel has large clusters, and it is notorious for ripening unevenly. Many people believe the grapes need to get well past 24ºBrix to exhibit the variety’s signature boysenberry aroma. But that much sugar pretty much guarantees alcohol in the mid 15’s, and acid that will require a supplementary adjustment. No problem for us cult-Zin cowboys, but what of those sissies who demand balanced table wines?
     One answer is to pick a quarter of the crop aiming for 22.5º-23ºB. That fraction of the finished wine will supply a crisp core, a solid backbone, for refreshing length and bottle-aging potential. Then make a second pass through the vineyard a week later aiming for half the total crop at 24º-24.5ºB. That fraction will be the foundation wine: good texture; good flavor; complex aromatics. Then get the final quarter of the crop a week to ten days later at 26º-27ºB. This final fraction will have wonderful berry-like intensity. By itself the final fraction would be alcoholic and flabby, whereby in the blend it will be structurally saved by the initial fraction, and still contribute a spectacular burst to the nose.
     No one could profitably sell such a wine for $8.95 a bottle. No matter. I’d happily pay $25 to $35 a bottle for it, and I think most critics would as well (possible exceptions being Messrs. Parker and Laube).

Wine Event Description

     The 19th Annual Z.A.P. festival was held last weekend in San Francisco. I went hoping to find a couple new, or little known, producers making bargain-priced gems. No such luck. Although I do have to plead palate fatigue. [Note proper spelling, all you wine copywriter aspirants. It’s not pallet, as in something moved by a forklift, nor is it palette as in the board on which painters hold their pigments.] I tasted about 60 wines, walked several miles, and eyeballed an unusually large number of tall women in short skirts with boots. That’s a worthwhile three hours, but it’s well below 10% of the wines on offer at ZAP.

Wine Recommendations

     Noteworthy in the value category were Sierra Foothills wineries Cedarville and Miraflores, along with St. Amant which is a Lodi winery closely bordering the Sierra Foothills’ 800-foot contour-line boundary. Cedarville is about 2,500 feet of elevation, and their Zin reflects this more restrained, more elegant pedigree. It has nice fruit, but more in the red than black spectrum, and more of the eating-out-of-hand persuasion than the stewed or jammy flavors often encountered elsewhere. At $17 you couldn’t beat the price of Cedarville Zin with a police baton. St. Amant makes their best Zin from very old vines grown on sandy Hanford Loam soil at Mohr-Fry Ranch. It is riper and more effusive than Cedarville, but doesn’t step over into the realm of short and bimbo-ish, as so many Lodi Zins are wont to do. St. Amant is also attractively priced at right around $20.
     Perhaps the biggest bargain at the ZAP festival was the 2006 Heritage Zin made by Jerry Seps from Storybook Mountain Vyds. This is the wine produced every year by a different ZAP winemaker from the collection of exceptional old vine cuttings taken from around the state, then grown as a research project in Oakville. Dr. Seps (he formerly taught History at Stanford) is a very talented winemaker whose own wines command $40 and $50 a bottle. The Heritage Zin though, sells for $25 a bottle, and was being offered for $18 on the day of the ZAP festival. That opportunity alone was worth the cost of admission ~ consider hem lengths a bonus.

Wine Critique

     Some stars at ZAP shine more brightly than others. And some don’t shine at all. I always find it entertaining to compare the standard-bearing warhorses of the past to new challengers. The comparison is not blind, of course, and I readily admit a fondness for the brands such as Ridge, Rosenblum, and Seghesio who have been around through the tough times. They are not cheap, as they were in the 1980’s when I drank so much of them. But today they make such reliably great wine, that I always look forward to tasting their new releases.
     Many new entrants seem to operate in an imaginary world separate from the sweaty rabble of the marketplace. How else to explain nouveau riche winery owners today asking $40 a bottle for their very first release, which smells like damp hay and feels like sandpaper in your mouth.
     Zinfandel is a grape that rewards experience, particularly with any specific vineyard. It takes more than a couple vintages to learn a Zin vineyard’s tricks. A good example from ZAP were the three 2007 wines offered from Hartford Court in western Sonoma County. In the past these wines from very old vines have seemed pinched, minerality taken to a raspy extreme. Not so the 2007 wines. While different from each other, all three had a family resemblance of deep, well-integrated marionberry roundness. The slight alkaline edge, which says old vines to me, merely served to pull them back from unseemly generosity. All three were wines which simultaneously expressed the enthusiasm of California’s warm summers, and the gravitas of a multi-generational vineyard lineage.

Green Wines

     At speaking engagements, British wine writer Clive Coates likes to joke about Burgundian vintners, “You know, they’re all peasants.” Clive is not being disparaging. He is colorfully illustrating the manner in which Burgundians are yoked to the land. Wealthy, well-educated, well-traveled vintners from Burgundy still spend months of every year in their vineyards pruning, pulling leaves, replanting, and harvesting. This close relationship to the soil may help explain why Burgundy has so many organic and bio-dynamic vineyards. Heaven knows, organic grape growing is not easy when rain is likely to fall at any time during the Summer.

Wine Education

     Domaine de la Vougeraie was organized by Jean-Charles Boisset and his sister Nathalie in the 1990’s to consolidate several prestigious properties they had acquired with their father Jean-Claude under a single, more easily marketed label. In all, the vineyards for the Vougeraie project totaled 37 hectares (94 acres) spread out over 29 Burgundian appellations. The goal was definitely to create a luxury brand: there are parcels in five red and one white Grand Cru vineyards. About a quarter of the property is in Vougeot. Yields are low ~ barely over two tons per acre. These holdings ~ plus ownership of prestige domaines such as Bouchard, Jaffelin, Ropiteau, and Mommesin ~ make the Boisset family the wealthiest wine estate in all of Burgundy. As if that weren’t enough, in September of this year 40-year-old Jean-Charles married Gina Gallo …

Find the remainder of this post on the Stanford Wine Blog titled Straight from the Vine.

Both Volnay and Montelie can represent pretty good bargains in a Burgundy market which seems to be continuously hyperventilating. This off-vintage wine, nevertheless comes from a very highly-regarded 1st Cru vineyard, and perhaps Volnay’s most illustrious producer. Like a tall, slim woman on a Parisian boulevard, this wine is both elegantly understated and eye-catching at the very same time. It makes you feel grown up, at a young adult price.

Wine Education Vacation

2006 Marquis d’Angerville 1st cru Volnay (les Cailleret Vyd) from the Côte de Beaune. Tasted at the monthly Friday night Varietal Series class in Nevada City [href="http://wineeducationvacation.com"]. Retail store wine cost is around $85. Wine was part of a comparison to illustrate district characteristics amongst red Burgundies. Others included two Frederic Magnien premier crus from the Côte de Nuits: a Chambolle-Musigny (Feusselottes); and a Vosne-Romanée (Suchot). Unfortunately the Suchot was corked.

Background wine education

     Volnay is a small town just south of Pommard in the southern half of the Côte d’Or, France’s legendary Burgundy region. This southern section is best known for white wine, and some of Volnay’s vineyards do cross over into neighboring Meursault. There are no Grand Cru vineyards in Volnay. Indeed there is only one Grand Cru red vineyard in the whole of the Côte de Beaune (Corton Bressandes), i.e. in this southern half of the Côte d’Or. Nevertheless, Volnay does have several Premier Cru vineyards of which they are justifiably proud. Les Cailleret is just south of town along the main road.
     The proximity of Volnay to Pommard is confusing because the wines bear virtually no resemblance to each other. Pommard is jammy, the most californicated of all the red Burgundies. Volnay is more frequently delicate, perhaps in the style of New Zealand Pinot Noirs from Central Otago in the middle of the south island, except Volnay has a floral perfuminess reminiscent of Chambolle’s best wines. Bad Volnay is thin and watery. Great Volnay has a lifted berry character backed up by the complexity of black tea. Rarely would anyone describe Volnay as robust in the mouth. Restrained is more often the phrase that springs to mind. Careful never to over accessorize. Understated. Old money.

Taste the Wine

      The 2006 d’Angerville was a wonderful example of what the French would call Volnay typicité. Far from lightweight, on an internet dating site it would still have called itself “slender,” and I would have gone along. The wine was much more substantial in terms of flavor concentration than in terms of alcohol and extract. That is an impressive structural expression, no less because it is so unusual when one’s daily fare is California wine, especially today. The nose was overlain by blackberry essence, but lifted by the scent of yellow roses and heather. Round and full, but not big nor obvious. In the mouth the wine was smooth, not at all grippy, with long acid to make you salivate. Like a good comedian, this wine left you wanting to hear more next week.

WINE – FOOD PAIRING

     This wine would be perfect with duck leg confit served in a salad of spring greens with pomegranate seeds. Just a hint of raspberry vinaigrette and some hazelnut oil to dress the salad. It could be the first course, but would be better as the third or fourth in a five- or seven-course meal. The idea is you want fragrance without weight. Don’t turn the confit into high-end sloppy Joes with a sauce. Merely use the duck leg by itself, maybe crisped just a bit under the broiler before being separated from the bone and sprinkled in meaty chunks about the salad.

Made from grapes frozen on the vine, Canadians have carved a very successful niche for themselves with Icewine because they know they are going to get the appropriate climatic conditions if they just wait patiently. Several of these Canadian Icewines have ruthlessly bitch-slapped top Sauternes in head-to-head competition.

Canadian Icewine

2005 Inniskillin Vidal from the Niagara Peninsula. Tasted at Fundamentals of Taste & Smell class in Palo Alto. Retail store wine cost is around US$20 for 187 ml (a quarter-bottle). This size bottle works well for such a focused dessert wine, because you don’t need much, and it is expensive. Even the little bottles are heavy. They look and feel like a round of artillery ammunition. Very popular for gift giving in Japan.

Background wine education

     Canadians use a voluntary marketing incentive to severely regulate the production of Icewine. In Italy such a mechanism is called a consorzio. In order to get a little neck indicia, producers agree to comply with certain standards. In Canada this group is called VQA (Vintners Quality Alliance). The regulations state grapes can’t be picked if the air temperature is above 17ºF. That means the grapes have frozen and thawed many times before they’re finally picked. Pressed immediately, a large amount of water remains behind in the press trapped as ice. The resultant wine not only has 10-12% residual sugar, but it has elevated acid to balance that sugar.
     Theoretically the mechanics of this process can be duplicated in the winery – chill the juice; filter out the ice. This cryogenic technique is used in the US, much to the Canadians’ chagrin, and the result is often labeled ‘Icewine.’ Randall Grahm at Bonny Doon has the decency to label his example “vin de glacier” (wine of the refrigerator). Tasted separately on successive nights, a VQA Icewine and a cryogenic example can both be quite pleasant. Tasted side-by-side, the VQA wine is clearly superior, albeit four or five times more expensive.

What does Icewine taste like?

Intense, concentrated, tropical fruit. The intensity is the most startling initial impression. One picks it up while the glass is still ten inches away. The second impression is sugar::acid balance. The wine is very sweet, but it also has a long, clean, refreshing aftertaste. That’s rare, and no one misses it.
     Many VQA Icewines are made from Riesling grapes. This one was made with Vidal grapes. Vidal is a French-American hybrid with good winter hardiness and a strong citral aroma. The nose of this wine takes on a soft sweetness which might be illustrated by that which distinguishes a Meyer lemon from a Genoa or Lisbon lemon. Now imagine a slice of Meyer lemon placed on a hot skillet.

WINE – FOOD PAIRING

Canadian Icewine is a fine illustration, particularly when compared to Sauternes, of how important it is to pair wines to desserts carefully. Crème brulee is the place where VQA Icewine and Sauternes intersect. Sauternes is not very good with fresh fruit; Icewine is. Sauternes is okay with milk chocolate; Icewine is not. So, for this Icewine I might try a crème brulee with a slice of perfectly ripe peach on top. But the best indication of how powerfully this Vidal Icewine comes across would be to serve it with a lemon tart. Believe me, it will pass the test.

Bottle-aged Syrah

can be quite special. Old vines from the Barossa Valley make good candidates (Shiraz), and the right food pairing always seals the deal.

Class Tasting

1998 St. Hallett (Old Block) Shiraz from the Barossa Valley in Australia. Tasted in the monthly Friday night Varietal Series class in Nevada City (California’s Sierra Foothills) – an excellent way to begin a weekend getaway in the mountains. See www.brucecasswinelab.com for the Fall – Winter – Spring schedule.
This wine probably costs a little over $100 in a retail store, but it would be very hard to find. It is from a warm, and highly regarded vintage in Australia. St. Hallett produces three Shiraz wines each year. The one called Faith, and the one called Blackwell, are pleasant enough when young, and should probably be drunk for maximum pleasure then. Old Block is the one built for aging. It comes from 60- to 100-year-old vines. It has an excellent track record, and definitely deserves a spot in the Aussie Top Five for consistently rewarding ten years of bottle age. St. Hallett has existed since 1944, but only upgraded their production facility for fine wines in 1988. Since then the Old Block Shiraz has been the winery’s flagship. It is aged 20 months in French oak barrels. All the St. Hallett grapes are sourced in the Barossa appellation, which is something even Penfolds’ Grange can’t say.
In class we compared the Old Block side-by-side with a 1995 Jaboulet (Les Jumelles) Côte-Rôtie. Both were wonderful, but they could not have been more different. The Jaboulet was all bouquet – roasting pork fat and frying onions. Which works great on my scorecard. The St. Hallett was bigger, darker, rounder. It had plenty of bouquet development – more in the roasting coffee beans and sun-scorched leather department, but most notably the St. Hallett had this gigantic core of mulberry and pomegranate fruit. Not fresh fruit; stone fruit… hammer fruit. The Jaboulet had more acid, but it didn’t have more length. The Jaboulet was friendlier; the Old Block more memorable.

Wine & Food Pairing

I’m tempted to recommend the St. Hallett with wild game, say elk. In fact elk steaks are commonly sold in the supermarket near where this class tasting was held. But I realize access to elk steaks may not be that common. Of course neither is access to a ten-year-old bottle of St. Hallett’s Old Block. So there you have it. Marinate the meat for several hours in soy, plain yogurt, rosemary, garlic, and papaya pulp. Doesn’t hurt to smack the steaks a few times with a 2-ft-long stick before marinating. Sear the steaks quickly over intense heat. Then move them to a low heat section of the grill for slow, indirect, smoky cooking. Serve to a small group. I’d say four people per bottle max.