Filed under: Wine travel | Tags: Bacchus, Borough Market, Breaky Bottom, Elliot's Cafe, English wine, UK vineyards, Wine Pantry
Last month during a family vacation, we spent a few days in London and as we tend to do when we’re traveling, we made a point to seek out some interesting wine. Oftentimes that includes searching for local wines – even in the most unlikely places, like across the pond in Ireland. No matter where you are, there seem to be more vineyards and wineries popping up. England is no stranger to wine, as over 400 vineyards exist in the country and its wine industry is quite respected.
After perusing a random travel brochure from the hotel, we found a mention of the Wine Pantry, a shop/tasting room that focuses exclusively on English wines. Located in Borough Market, a foodie-filled zone packed with produce shops, artisan bakers, and chocolate purveyors, the Wine Pantry occupies a tiny sliver of a space on Stoney Street. Its shelves are piled high with English wine and visitors are invited to taste samples in the shop. Some customers spill out onto the the few seats available on the adjacent sidewalk. According to its website, it’s “the only exclusively English wine shop” and it is devoted to spreading the gospel of English wine.
We visited on a January evening and were invited to sample a selection of wines that were being offered from their wine dispensing machine. They started us off by opening up an English sparkling wine, which we savored while chatting a bit with our hosts, two young and accommodating English oenophiles. So accommodating that they entertained our 6-year old while being peppered with questions from us and other wine geeks.
The sparkling wines were very approachable with apple and pear flavors. Sparkling wines are definitely a forté for the English winemakers. After the sparklers, we tried two different rosés, one very pale salmon in color, and the other a very light strawberry color. Both were great representations of the different styles you can conjure from rosé wines. We tried two or three bacchus-based wines side by side to see the differences and did the same sort of comparison with English pinot noir (including a Three Choirs Pinot Noir). One Pinot (we forget the name) was a little lighter in style with some nice strawberry flavors while the Three Choirs had a little more depth to it and was showing some more oak.
Wineglass chandelier at the Wine Pantry UK
All of the wines were a delicious introduction to English wine and we had a hard time deciding on the perfect bottle to take home. We ended up with a bottle of 2006 Breaky Bottom Cuvée Reservée Brut made from seyval blanc. It was highly recommended by Julia, one of the hosts, and we knew that when we bust this one out at a dinner party that just by name it would instantly be recognized as an English wine.
After quenching our thirst – on a fairly chilly evening – we were ready to have a warm meal. Julia recommended a nice local restaurant nearby, Elliot’s Cafe in the Borough Market. Once we stepped in we felt instantly at home – this could have been a small farm-to-fork restaurant in San Francisco, just with different local ingredients. The food and the people were equally welcoming. We ended up chatting with a family sitting next to us, the father being the designer of the restaurant. We even got a quick tour of the kitchen downstairs, where there were a couple of pig’s heads sitting in brine. We wish we had found this neighborhood earlier in our trip. Alas, it was our last night, so we ended the trip on a high note!
Our trip to Borough Market got us out of the tourist zones of London and provided a great opportunity to try a range of wines from the growing English wine scene and get a feel for the neighborhood restaurant action. Perhaps on our next visit we’ll get the chance to travel outside of London in order to visit one of the hundreds of vineyards in the U.K. Until then, we have our bottle of Breaky Bottom.
Filed under: Events, Tasting notes | Tags: anderson valley pinot noir, Mendocino County Pinot Noir, Pinot Days Chicago, Pinot Noir, Russian River pinot noir, Sta Rita Hills Pinot Noir, tasting events
Brian at the Waits-Mast table at Pinot Days Chicago 2011
We had an incredible time participating in Pinot Days Chicago on Saturday. It was our 4th time pouring at the event, and as in previous years, it was great to catch up with old friends and fans of Waits-Mast Family Cellars.
Each year has been memorable, in 2008 we met some folks who have become regular customers, in 2009 we were told that we had “bangin’ juice,” and last year we heard that the wine tasted like “fall in a glass.”
This year, we poured a selection of our 2009 Waits-Mast Family Cellars Pinot Noir releases throughout the day. Most who stopped by our table got to try our wines from Anderson Valley (Hayley Vineyard), Russian River (Amber Ridge Vineyard) and Mendocino (Oppenlander Vineyard). After we poured through those wines, we had visitors sample our release from Deer Meadows Vineyard in Anderson Valley and from La Encantada Vineyard in Sta Rita Hills.
Response to the wines was amazing and we experienced a first for us when a new fan actually started tearing up after trying our wine from Deer Meadows vineyard.
Here’s a quick sampling of some of our favorite reactions to the wines:
2009 Waits-Mast Family Cellars Pinot Noir, Hayley Vineyard (Anderson Valley):
Tasters called this wine “elegant,” said it had eucalyptus characteristics, and described it as “earthy” on the nose, yet “California” upon tasting. One person said, “this is a revelation” and remarked that it has “fabulous complexity in the nose.” Another said, “I’m an Oregon guy…that’s exciting.” Others said that it had a “roundness” and was “velvety” and “delicious” with hints of “strawberry.”
2009 Waits-Mast Family Cellars Pinot Noir, Amber Ridge Vineyard (Russian River):
One of the tasters inhaled this wine deeply and said he was “just getting high” off of the nose and said that it had a “hint of creme brulee,” and was “nice and soft.” He added that, “I’ve been to every Pinot Days from the beginning and this was definitely way up there.” Another person said that it was like a “blast off in your mouth.” Someone else said it was “smokier” than our other wines and that it had an “interesting finish.”
2009 Waits-Mast Family Cellars Pinot Noir, Oppenlander Vineyard (Mendocino):
Folks who came by our table and tried our Oppenlander Vineyard Pinot Noir described it as “tart,” with a “little more acid” than our releases from Hayley and Amber Ridge Vineyards. Another said that it was “earthy” and would pair well with steak. Someone else noted that it had an “unexpected dryness.” One person said that initially there’s a burst of fruit, followed by “tannins at the end” with a nice finish. At least one person said that it was their favorite wine.
Waits-Mast "super-fan" Luke
2009 Waits-Mast Family Cellars Pinot Noir, La Encantada Vineyard (Sta Rita Hills):
We only brought a few bottles of this wine to taste. The few who were able to sample it had nice things to say. One taster said that it tasted of “burnt cranberry, orange and raspberry” with “not a lot of earth.” Another person exclaimed that this wine was an “orgasm in my mouth.”
2009 Waits-Mast Family Cellars Pinot Noir, Deer Meadows Vineyard (Anderson Valley):
As with the La Encantada, we were only able to bring a few bottles of this wine to Pinot Days. This was the wine that made a taster cry and that others described as being like “velvet.” Waits-Mast “super fan” Luke (amazingly not the taster who was brought to tears) explained his love for the wine, saying, “I don’t want to stop drinking [it] with my nose.” He told us that tasting the wine was akin to listening to the “Star-Spangled Banner” in that it produced “goosebumps.” Luke added, “You saved me months of meditation.”
Thanks to everyone who stopped by our table at Pinot Days Chicago. It’s always a fun event for us, largely due to the warmth of the crowd.
Filed under: Events | Tags: Pinot Days Chicago, Pinot Noir, Waits-Mast Family Cellars
2009 Pinot Days Chicago
It’s hard to believe that our first public wine tasting happened 4 years ago at Pinot Days Chicago.
I vividly remember setting up our table and anxiously awaiting customers. As one of the newest labels at the event in 2008, we weren’t sure that people would even stop by the Waits-Mast table. Our fears were unfounded, as plenty of people sampled our 2007 vintage at that event and we ended up making quite a few friends who we look forward to seeing at Pinot Days Chicago every year.
We’ll be pouring for the 4th time at the Pinot Days Chicago Grand Festival this Saturday, November 12, 2011 from 1pm to 5pm. At the tasting you’ll get a chance to sample a selection of our 2009 releases. If you are planning to attend, you can use the discount code WAITSCH11 to get 10% off your ticket. We hope to see you there.
Filed under: Events, Tasting notes | Tags: 2011 Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival, anderson valley pinot noir
Glasses at the entrance to the Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival (Photo: J. Waits)
Although billboards across the land had warned of impending doom on May 21, 2011; what was utmost in our minds on that date was the 14th Annual Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival’s Grand Tasting at Goldeneye Vineyards.
This was our 3rd year pouring at the grand tasting and we couldn’t have been happier to be there on a breezy May day. Around 40 wineries offered samples of Pinot Noir made from Anderson Valley fruit to the crowd of eager tasters.
Although we’d hoped to be previewing our 2009 vintage at the tasting (which is still aging will be available in a few months), we ended up offering tastes of the nearly sold-out 2008 Waits-Mast Pinot Noir from Hein Vineyard and of the 2006 Waits-Mast Pinot Noir from Hein Vineyard (a library selection).
Jennifer and Brian at the Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival
Just like last year, people were able to compare and contrast the vintages. We ran across fans of both wines, with tasters saying that our ’06 was “the best wine we’ve tasted today by far” and that our ’08 was “our favorite today” and had a “nice, earthy component” with “nutmeg and cinnamon.”
We also pulled out one bottle of our prized 2007 Waits-Mast Pinot Noir from Wentzel Vineyard from our personal collection (as it’s completely sold out) and were told that “it sneaks up on you” and paired well with the peanut butter cookies that were being served at the festival. We couldn’t be more excited to be producing more wine from Wentzel Vineyard in 2010 and 2011 (in a future post we’ll share photos from our recent visit to the vineyard).
Following the grand tasting we headed over to Roederer Estate to refresh our palates by sampling their line-up of sparkling and still wines before heading out to a winemaker dinner at The Apple Farm. In our next posts we’ll recap that dinner as well as our travels to various winery Open Houses on the closing day of the festival. And, if you missed it, our summary of the Technical Conference on Friday, May 20 can be found here.
Filed under: Events | Tags: 2011 Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival, Anderson Valley, Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival 2011, Pinot Noir
Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival Technical Conference May 20, 2011 (Photo: J. Waits)
I clearly remember being at a wine event back in 2005, several months before we starting making wine, and snickering when during a Q&A session someone inquired about the name of the particular forest in France that a barrel was crafted from. To me, it seemed to be an extreme example of wine geekery and it reminded me of arcane conversations about stereo equipment or car parts. I also felt it was kind of a showy comment, perhaps meant to reveal the extreme wine knowledge of the questioner.
Well, now it’s 6 years later and Brian and I have become that geeky wine guy. As I sat through the Technical Conference at this year’s 14th Annual Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival last Friday, I was amazed to think about how far we’ve come. I can now understand why forests might matter to some winemakers, as there are so many factors that can influence the taste of a glass of wine, from the grape clone to the soil type (and numerous other farming practices including canopy management, watering, and pest management) to one’s philosophy about organic to the date that the grape was picked to sorting practices (hand sorting, whole cluster, etc.), to pressing strategies (free run? how hard of a press?), to fermentation practices (time, yeast strain or native yeast, cold soak, etc.), to the barrel type (forest, cooper, percentage new oak, type of toast, etc.), to the amount of time in barrel, to blending the wine, to the amount of time in bottle, and on and on.
This year’s Technical Conference featured presentations on “Fertility Management Strategies” (which dissected the types of soils in Anderson Valley and how that relates to winemaking practices and Pinot Noir), “Fermentation Issues and Strategies” (which looked at the science of color and fermentation issues that arise from “chasing color”), “Winemaking Techniques and Color Enhancement,” as well as a panel discussion about the use of whole grape clusters in making Pinot Noir.
A View of the Technical Conference (Photo: J. Waits)
I was particularly interested in the panel about whole clusters, as that’s something we’ve only done once in our winemaking career.
In our first vintage, when we made a pinot noir from the Amber Ridge Vineyard in Russian River Valley in 2005, we decided to throw in about 20% whole clusters of grapes (grapes with the stems attached) to see what kind of effect that would have. Since then we haven’t used any whole clusters, in part because we were under the impression that green stems were a “no no.” We’d assumed that green stems would lead to a more herbal or vegetal flavor. During the panel Jeff Brinkman of Rhys Vineyards said that he actually uses “neon green stems” in his winemaking practices and explained that what’s more important than stem color is the dryness of the stem and whether or not it is still running sap. He said that he will use whole clusters of grapes if the stems are dry when chewed on and have a walnut quality to them.
Examining the Clusters (Our Oppenlander Vineyard sort in Fall 2010. Photo: J. Waits)
Jeff also pointed out that doing 100% whole cluster wine is dependent upon vineyard practices and that the types of grape clones used (he said that the Swan clone works well for whole cluster Pinot Noir) can have an impact. Additionally, he said that picking the grapes early is best when doing whole clusters and added that hand sorting of the fruit after picking is also critical.
He explained that it can take him 3 to 5 hours to sort through a ton of fruit because they are doing it so methodically. There have been years when they have thrown away 50% of the fruit because they are searching for the ideal clusters to use and they are not picking off berries from a cluster. If part of a cluster looks bad, they will toss the entire cluster. Jeff said that the care taken with sorting also gets extended into the processing of the fruit.
When fermenting the wine, Jeff does punchdowns by foot because he is doing 100% whole cluster fermentation. He said that it’s impossible to use a punchdown tool because during fermentation the fruit is like concrete. He admitted that making 100% whole cluster Pinot Noir is “hard to do casually.”
Joe Webb, the winemaker at Foursight Wines, also talked about using whole clusters in his winemaking practices. He said that it’s really important to use gentler techniques during fermentation and he does hand punchdowns in order to take care with the stems. He said that he starts out with whole clusters on the bottom of the bin and never lets the punchdown tool touch the bottom of the bin.
View of Navarro Vineyards as Dusk Fell on the BBQ (Photo: J. Waits)
As was the case last year, the conference featured a more consumer-oriented series of sessions in the afternoon. Author and wine educator Karen MacNeil rhapsodized about the appeal of Pinot Noir, another session provided a comparison among wines crafted from fruit from Ferrington Vineyards, and the last session including a tasting of rose style Pinot Noir from Roederer and Toulouse.
Throughout the day some memorable statements were made about Pinot Noir, beginning with UC Cooperative Extension viticulture and plant science advisor Glenn McGourty’s comment that pinot noir is “kind of like a princess.” Karen MacNeil dissected Pinot Noir even further, suggesting that there’s a “non-obviousness about great Pinot Noir,” explaining that it is not someone with a “big fur coat.” She added that Pinot Noir is “essentially unknowable in one sip” and that in fact its texture may be more important than its flavor. Karen described the essential character of Pinot Noir as being “more primordial than other grape varieties” with its “good corruption of rotting leaves and sweaty men.”
Wine Options at the BBQ (Photo: B. Mast)
Following the technical conference we headed over to Navarro Vineyards for the official after-party BBQ. On a chilly May evening in Anderson Valley, we noshed on empanadas, paella, and a variety of donated Pinot Noir options, while chatting with wine writer Greg Walter, the man behind PinotReport (and also the MC for this year’s Technical Conference).
A band played classic rock tunes while winemakers and wine lovers danced, ate, and drank. At the end of the evening, with a warm cup of coffee in hand, we said goodnight to the winery sheep and turned in for some rest before the big day ahead at the Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival Grand Tasting.
Filed under: Events | Tags: Amber Ridge Vineyard, Chicago, ENO Wine Room, La Encantada Vineyard, Pinot Days Chicago 2010, Pinot Noir, Waits-Mast Pinot Noir, wine tasting
Before the Crowds Arrived at Pinot Days Chicago 2010
After a cold summer and fall in San Francisco, it was a treat to fly into Chicago last week during their fall heat wave. The 70 degree temperatures when we arrived were a lovely welcome and were perhaps indicative of what a great weekend we had in store for us.
This was our 3rd time at Pinot Days Chicago and it’s always been one of our favorite events as we have family, friends, and a growing number of customers in the Chicago area. This year we decided to do a few more events than usual, and started things off with a distributor-only tasting on Thursday, Nov. 11th. We’re still not sure if we’re big enough for a distributor yet, but it was great to meet and greet and get some feedback on our wines. Following that event we headed over to the Eno Wine Room at the Fairmont Millennium Park for a special “Meet the Winemakers” tasting. Several wineries were dispersed throughout the lobby bar and folks were invited to stop by to taste the wines and chat with the winemakers. A few of our friends came to the Eno Wine Room tasting, so it was nice to see some familiar faces.
The Crew from the Chicago Food Whores blog
The big event was on Saturday, November 13th, with both the public Pinot Days tasting and trade tasting taking place at Navy Pier. We were floored by the number of people who came out for Pinot Days this year. For the first time ever, we completely poured through all of the sample bottles of wine that we brought. In case you’re curious, we poured our 2008 Waits-Mast Family Cellars Pinot Noir from La Encantada Vineyard in Sta. Rita Hills and our 2008 Waits-Mast Family Cellars Pinot Noir from Amber Ridge Vineyard in Russian River.
We got some great feedback on the wines, but things were so hectic that Jennifer wasn’t able to capture as many great quotes as in 2009 and 2008. Tasters seemed to enjoy both wines, saying that the 2008 La Encantada “tastes like fall in a glass,” with “great acidity” and a lovely aroma. One person said that the La Encantada was in their “top 3″ wines of the entire day at Pinot Days, with others commenting, “this is my favorite so far.” In terms of the 2008 Amber Ridge, people said that it was “velvety,” had a “great aroma,” pointed out that “this could be a staple [wine]” and that it is “very food-friendly” and could pair with an entree right through to dessert.
Probably most gratifying of all, we had several people stop by at the end of the day (when things were starting to get sloppy at Pinot Days!) and said that after being around the entire room our wines were still their favorites. It was equally satisfying to meet people who had been to our table in past years, several of whom had bought our wines before.
Jennifer, our #1 Fan Luke, and Brian (Photo by Paul Riismandel)
Our “#1 Fan” Luke came by again this year and greeted us by exclaiming, “These are Alchemists!” He’s a charmer and we swear we don’t have him on our payroll, although his pronouncements about our wine would make great ad copy. He also said to us that our winemaking project is “like a cause.” We couldn’t agree more!
After talking all day, Jennifer was also happy to have a taster tell her, “You don’t have to talk, the wine speaks for itself,” especially since she was choking on a chocolate-covered espresso bean at the time. Sweet!
Thanks to Luke and to everyone else for making us feel like rock stars this past weekend. We’re not sure that we’ll be able to quit our day jobs just yet (as one taster predicted), but all of the kind words at Pinot Days Chicago surely made our day.
Filed under: Vineyards, Winemaking | Tags: 2010 harvest, Comptche, Londer jam, Mendocino County, Oppenlander jam, Oppenlander Vineyard, Pinot Noir, Shandels
Being Guided to the Oppenlander Vineyard in Comptche. Photo by J. Waits
After crafting such a delicious wine with Oppenlander Vineyard fruit in 2009, we feel very lucky to be working with them again this year. Brian first got turned on to the vineyard last year, after tasting pinot noir crafted by Phillips Hill and Baxter from Oppenlander fruit.
Owned by the Shandel family, Oppenlander Vineyard is way off the beaten path in Mendocino County outside of the town of Comptche. It’s about 8 and a half miles from the Pacific Ocean as the crow flies at an elevation of 250 feet.
Touring Oppenlander Vineyard. October 2010.
We visited the vineyard on October 10th, just a few days before our fruit was harvested. Owner Bill Shandel showed us around the family vineyard that he owns with his brother Norman and talked to us not only about the fruit, but also about the history of the land. They are 5th generation owners of the property, which was originally homesteaded in the 1860s by their ancestors from Denmark (via the Gold Rush in Australia). The site of the vineyard was originally a meadow amid the woods. Bill told us that his great-grandfather Charles Oppenlander bought the land and then sent for his girlfriend to join him by traveling across the Isthmus of Panama.
Vintage Truck at Surprise Valley Ranch
As we looked out across this hidden vineyard amid the woods outside of the town of Comptche, it was hard to not reflect on its history and on how remote the location must have been in the 1860s, as it’s still quite remote.
The property is now known as Surprise Valley Ranch and the Shandels produce their own Shandel’s Oppenlander Vineyard Pinot Noir from the vineyards, which they originally planted in 1997 (after a test plot in 1985). We’re sourcing our fruit (114 clone) for our single-vineyard Waits-Mast Pinot Noir from a section of the vineyard that was planted in 1999.
On the property we also saw lots of brambly berry bushes, from which the Shandels create wild Himalayan blackberry jam. Bill gave us a couple of jars of it after we wrapped up our vineyard tour, so we’re looking forward to sharing it with our family on Thanksgiving. Vineyard-owner crafted jam has become a holiday tradition for us ever since we first got a hold of Shirlee Londer’s raspberry jam. It’s an interesting coincidence that jam-making operations seem to go hand-in-hand with many of the vineyards that we are sourcing from this year; so we are eagerly anticipating our family’s Londer vs. Oppenlander jam tasting at the Thanksgiving table in a few weeks. In the meantime, watch this space for our next post, which will delve into the details of the Oppenlander harvest and crush.
Filed under: Tasting rooms, Vineyards, Wine travel | Tags: Candia Vineyards, ice wine, New England wineries, New Hampshire vineyards, New Hampshire wineries, Wine travel
Candia Vineyards
We’re not necessarily fans of the well-trodden paths in wine country, so whenever we travel we try to find out-of-the-way wineries in places that aren’t necessarily on the radar of most oenophile tourists.
Last summer the challenge was to find vineyards and wineries in Ireland, and against all odds we succeeded in tracking down a few, notably Lusca Vineyards in Lusk. This year we stuck closer to home for our summer vacation, traveling to New England to visit family. Although there are lots of wineries within driving distance of our home base there of Boston, we’d never ventured to any of them before.
So, on our trip back to Boston from a visit to New Hampshire’s White Mountains, we decided to stop in at a winery in southern New Hampshire. We selected Candia Vineyards because not only was it on our route, but also due to the fact that it is one of the few vineyards in the area that makes wine solely from grapes.
Vineyards at Candia
We arrived at the winery on the afternoon of Friday September 3rd, just as bits of the then-weakened Hurricane Earl were approaching New England. Skies were grey and the air was thick with humidity and it seemed to be the perfect time to escape underground. Owner and winemaker Bob Dabrowski met us in his cellar, where he not only makes his wine, but also does wine tastings with visitors pretty much daily (by appointment).
Bob first starting making wine in 1981 as a home winemaker and ramped things up by opening his commercial winery in 1999. He talked a lot about his passion for making wine from grapes (somewhat of a novelty in the area, where only 2 or 3 vineyards craft wine from 100% grapes) and mentioned that in New Hampshire they are blessed with rich, vigorous soil.
Part of the tasting lineup
Bob offered up tastes of 9 different wines, which included Pinot Grigio, Viognier, Chardonnay, Marquette, Noiret (he was the first to grow this grape in New Hampshire), Classic Cab, Gewurtztraminer, Diamond, and Black Ice. Visitors to the tasting room are invited to try tastes of any 6 open wines for $4 and are allowed to take the tasting glass home with them. Retail prices for his wines range from $12 to $29 a bottle.
It was a treat for us to try some varietals that we’d never sampled before (like the peppery Noiret) and we were particularly taken by the just-released Black Ice. Bob wouldn’t reveal the blend of grapes used in this delicious ice wine, but to our palates it had a lovely sweet fig taste which we can hardly wait to pair with the perfect dessert.
Thanks again to Bob for his hospitality. We look forward to our next visit to New England so that we can sample the wines at other local wineries. There are lots to choose from, as the New Hampshire Winery Association website lists 18 members, including vineyards, wineries, mead and cider producers, and distilleries. Another great resource for information about wine in New England is the The New England Wine Gazette. In the issue that we picked up, there were a range of articles about the winemaking scene on the East Coast, including maps and listings of wineries in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
Filed under: Events, Wine travel, Winemaking | Tags: 100 point wine scale, Anderson Valley, Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival, blind tasting, Dan Sogg, Deer Meadows Vineyard, european grapevine moth, Greg LaFolette, Jim Klein, Jordan Mackay, Navarro Winery, Passion for Pinot, Pinot Noir, Rich Savoy, Savoy Vineyard, TastingRoom.com, Tiny Bottles, Wine, Winemaking
Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival 2010 Begins
Wow. What a great weekend we had in Anderson Valley for the 13th Annual Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival.
We’ve been going to the festival off and on since 2002. The first three years that we went, we attended the Technical Conference, winemaker dinners, and the Sunday winery Open Houses.
The Technical Conference has always been a highlight for us, as we learned more and more every year about the science of winemaking and grape growing, wine marketing, and food pairing. You can see Brian’s recap of the 2009 Technical Conference here.
This year, for the first time since 2005, both of us were able to attend not only the Technical conference, but also a winemaker dinner, the grand tasting, and open houses. It was an amazing immersion into the world of Pinot Noir and it’s always fun to see friends at the festival, both winemakers and wine drinkers.
The 2010 Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival Technical Conference on Friday, May 14, was organized a bit differently, as they opened up the afternoon sessions to consumers, with a line-up of speakers that was less technical than in the morning. The entire event was MC’d by wine writer Jordan Mackay, author of Passion for Pinot.
Getting Technical in the A.M.
Held at the Mendocino County Fairgrounds in Boonville, the conference began early in the morning with a presentation by Tony Linegar of the Mendocino County Agricultural Commission about the European Grapevine Moth.
Tony provided the attendees with breaking news about this damaging, grape eating pest, which was found just a few weeks prior in North Ukiah Valley near a winery. He said that more than 1200 traps have been placed throughout Mendocino County and said that he was confident that the traps work. He expressed concern about Anderson Valley, but stated that so far no months have been found and that the county is not part of any quarantine yet.
Tony speculated that the moth may have arrived in Ukiah on fruit from Napa County and warned that any fruit and vineyard equipment coming from outside of Mendocino County should be scrutinized for evidence of the moth or larvae. Although he said that he was worried about Anderson Valley, he pointed out that “your strength is your isolation.” He also addressed rumors about how the grapevine moth came into the United States (it was first detected in September 2009) and said that there’s no answer yet, although there is an ongoing investigation, with rumors pointing to equipment from Italy or illegally imported cuttings brought in by a grower in Napa. He said that because of the arrival of this moth, every vineyard in the state of California is being trapped and quarantines are in effect for fruit leaving affected areas. Vineyards are advised to inspect fruit coming in from outside of their regions and are asked to power wash or steam clean harvesting equipment to remove all plant material.
The remaining morning presentations focused on the physiology of fruit maturation and on how terroir, clones and winery techniques work to affect mouthfeel in a wine. Things got pretty technical in both presentations, but I appreciated winemaker Greg LaFolette’s insertion of humor into his talk, with quips about “scrotal berries,” “Samsonite selections,” and his remark on disease prevention: “We just don’t want to be bringing the clap into our neck of the woods.”
2009 Barrel Samples
Before lunch we tasted some Pinot Noir barrel samples from the 2009 vintage in order to discuss some of the concepts that we covered in the final presentation before lunch.
Then, the assembled participants (as well as consumers arriving for the afternoon) were invited outside for a lunch of pulled pork sandwiches and accompaniments. It’s the tradition to bring along a bottle of wine to share at lunch and this year people were encouraged to share Anderson Valley Pinot Noir from 2008. We brought a bottle of our 2008 Waits-Mast Pinot Noir from Hein Vineyard and plopped it in the Gazebo along with the other offerings.
After lunch Jim Klein of Navarro Vineyards led a tasting of older wines, including Navarro Pinot Noir from 1991, 1994, and 2000. Although the crowd seemed to enjoy these older wines, Jim said that he tends to be more focused on what he’s currently working on as opposed to wines of the past, saying that to him older wines are “like an octogenarian actress” trotted out and propped up at an awards show. He added, “Most of us don’t age gracefully…it’s sort of like elder porn.” The wines from Navarro, as well as the next set of wines were also matched with an appropriate food pairing.
Pulled Pork Lunch with Gazebo Action in Background
Up next was a tasting focused on the wines made from Rich Savoy’s famed Savoy Vineyard. Along with Rich Savoy, panelists included Eric Sussman from Radio-Coteau, Mike Sullivan from Benovia and Scott Shapley (our former winemaker!) from Roessler.
As we tasting through 2006 and 2007 Pinot Noirs from Savoy Vineyards, the panelists talked about the characteristics of the vineyard and the resulting wines.
Eric said that he appreciated that the vineyard has “a lot of different clonal material to work with” and Scott pointed out that it’s “the most complex site” that he’s worked with when making wines for Roessler, since there are a variety of blocks with different characteristics.
Rich also spoke a little about his other vineyard, Deer Meadows, which is one of the vineyards that we sourced from in 2009. Located up at 1600 feet (compared with the Savoy Vineyard located just off highway 128), Deer Meadows will be used in a few vineyard designate wines this year.
What's in Those Glasses?
The next presentation featured Dan Sogg (formerly of The Wine Spectator) talking about the merits and drawbacks of the 100 point scale for wine ratings.
He pointed out that even though he has some “ambivalence” about the scale, it is “THE industry standard” and “everyone understands it.” He explained that the 100 point system is “brilliant wine marketing” in that it “touches our desire for control.”
He also suggested that everyone participate in a blind wine tasting in which wines are scored and then bottles are rearranged and scored again. Dan explained that the order in which we taste can have a profound effect on how we rate a wine and demonstrated by having the audience taste 2 juices. Half of the room tried orange juice first and the other half tried grapefruit first. In this unscientific test, we saw that those who tried grapefruit juice first were more likely to prefer it and those who tried orange juice first were more likely to prefer the orange juice. He argued that a wine’s position in a tasting matters, just as the position of the fruit juice had an effect on the conference attendees.
Dan also argued that since people are “hard-wired” to notice “change,” bigger, richer wines tend to stand out more in tastings and that subtle wines don’t tend to do as well. The downside of this is that high scoring wines aren’t always the best wines for the long haul. Dan said that these wines often age badly and that “Many of the highest scoring wines don’t play well with others…and hog the table” due to their bold style.
Small Bottles from DeLoach
He added that that trying 70 different wines in one day and judging them isn’t “very useful” and argued that very few people can “make consistent judgments” when trying that many wines in a day. Dan also said that when wines are judged by a group panel (vs. by a single taster), the ensuing ratings are flawed like a “horse designed by committee.”
The final session of the day was an overview of a new service that launched on May 3rd called TastingRoom.com. Through this company, small 50ml sample bottles of wine can be produced as both a marketing tool and a method for sharing samples with potential customers. These small bottles can also be bundled into boxed tasting kits containing a handful of bottles. Interestingly, this is quite similar to the previously launched Crushpad service TinyBottles.
After a full day of information and imbibing, we headed over to Standish for the post-conference BBQ. We caught up with some friends who we see every year at the festival, ate some delicious food, and again sampled from the bottles brought to the event by the attendees. It was a great start to the festival.
Jennifer soaks up the sun at the BBQ after a day of geeking out at the technical conference
Filed under: Wine travel, Winemaking | Tags: David Llewellyn, Ireland, Irish vineyards, Irish wine, Lusca Vineyards, Stephen Skelton, Waits-Mast Family Cellars, When Irish Wines are Smiling, Wine travel, Winemaking
Lusca Vineyards in Ireland
This Sunday we’ll be celebrating our Irish heritage at the event, When Irish Wines are Smiling, up in Rutherford.
Although it’s billed as an Irish wine tasting, the wine being poured is from U.S. winemakers of Irish descent.
There’s a long tradition of Irish emigrants (known as “wine geese“) starting up wine making ventures all over the world, and subsequently wineries with a distinct Irish heritage can be found from France (Chateau Lynch Bages) to Napa (Sullivan Vineyards) to Australia (Jas Hennessy & Co.).
As we gear up for that event, we figured it was time to taste some of the REAL Irish wine that we brought back with us from the Emerald Isle. When Brian and I were planning our trip to Ireland last summer, I became obsessed with tracking down wineries, vineyards, and winemakers. I’d heard rumors that there were a few brave souls attempting to grow grapes in Ireland’s hostile climate (rain, clouds, cold, little sun) and I made it my mission to find them.
Armed with the handy reference guide, The Wines of Britain and Ireland, I tried to make contact with the owners of the 5 vineyards listed. We managed to visit 2 of them (it’s unclear if the others even exist anymore), bringing back wine from both.
David Llewellyn at Lusca Vineyards
Last weekend we tasted 2 selections from David Llewellyn’s Lusca Vineyard, located in the countryside of Lusk, just north of Dublin.
David started working with vineyards 10 years ago and was originally “bitten by the bug” while working with a vine grower in Germany.
In Spring 2003 he planted vines and apples on his current property in Lusk. Although he has some traditional, open-air vines which are “not very productive,” the majority of David’s vineyards are housed in tunnels. Some of the challenges he faces include grapes that rarely ripen (in open air) and crop-destroying wasps that will decimate the vineyard if they discover ripening fruit. The first commercial release from Lusca Vineyard was the 2005 vintage.
Although his wine making venture is notable, it’s a tiny fraction of David’s overall farming business, as he has quite a reputation for his apples, apple juice and cider. Last year he only made several hundred bottles of wine, which he sells at Farmer’s Markets, in a few restaurants, and directly to customers. In the near future one will also be able to purchase Lusca wines from David’s soon-to-be-launched website Fruit and Vine.
Grapes on the Vine at Lusca Vineyards, Ireland
It was amazing for us to see the sheer numbers of grape varietals that he squeezed into his tunnels in Lusk.
David is growing Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Gewürztraminer, Schoenburger, New York Muscat, Pinot Noir, and Dunkelfelder under cover. According to David, these vines are “summer-protected with over-row polythene cloche.”
His open-air vines include Rondo, Regent, Phoenix, and Madeleine Angevine grapes and David has successfully produced wine from these vineyards as well (a 2006 red wine).
The wines of his that we sampled last weekend were a refreshing, lemony 2006 Lusca Sauvignon Blanc and a 2007 Lusca Cabernet/Merlot. Both were produced from grapes grown under cover and they were very limited production (80 bottles of the Sauvignon Blanc and 250 bottles of the Cabernet/Merlot were made). They were both pleasant to drink and we even enjoyed the chilled Sauvignon Blanc a day later, which Brian described as crisp and acidic, with light pear flavors.
We were so impressed by David’s passion for winemaking and he’s truly a renegade in Ireland. Since he isn’t part of a winemaking community and is making such small quantities of wine, he has to be creative about ways to save on labor and expense. For example, he has one wine label and simply hand-writes the name of the wine and vintage on each bottle. He has his own crusher and press, but doesn’t make enough wine to justify using barrels (so he uses glass or plastic containers for storage and adds oak chips to his red wines).
Lusca Irish Wine
David prided himself on the fact his grapes are grown organically and are disease-free without the use of fungicides. He also doesn’t filter his wines. He recognizes that there are nay-sayers who critique his method of growing, but he pointed out that every winemaker makes choices and he questioned whether or not using fungicide could also be considered “cheating.”
Since we’re focused entirely on Pinot Noir in our own winemaking endeavors, I asked him a bit about his efforts with that grape. He told us that he just has a few Pinot Noir vines, currently not enough to make wine from. His plan is to plant more Pinot Noir and is anticipating a harvest in 2011 for wine in 2012.
To get some more perspective on winemaking in Ireland, I talked to Stephen Skelton, author of The Wines of Britain and Ireland and UK Vineyards Guide 2010. According to Stephen, there are only 3 Irish vineyards listed in his current guide. He explained that some of the older vineyards in Ireland (rumor has it that some date to the 1950s) were just not productive enough. According to Stephen, “Basically Ireland is too cool and wet. They can grow some apples there, but its mainly Bramleys which are cookers and do not require that much sugar, and growing grapes outside would be difficult.”
He added that, “Tunnels are legitimate and there is nothing in the law that says wine grapes have to be grown outside. One of the best UK reds – Beenleigh – is made from Cab and Merlot grown in tunnels.”
Kudos to David Llellewyn for his commitment to making wine in Ireland. Although most people think it’s crazy to even try, I admire his perseverance and I’m always one to champion the underdog. I’m reminded of a comment that I read about Tool front man Maynard James Keenan’s Arizona wine making project (chronicled in the film “Blood into Wine”). Someone quipped, “why doesn’t he just make wine in Napa.” Well….isn’t that the point?
