Tight Squeeze: Wally's Napa/Sonoma All-Stars Draws Throng

Well, so much for the notion that wine-tasting is just for the elite (not that it should be).  Or the image of folks swirling their glasses and discussing a wine's virtues in hushed tones.  Sunday's annual event in Wally's tented north parking lot was more like a rave or a fraternity party: it was so loud and crowded, it was hard to talk with the winemakers or to even get to some of the wines.  So, a tremendous success from Wally's standpoint, but not the venue to appreciate wine-tasting.

It's a shame, because Wally's generally does a fine job with its major events and its $10 weekly Saturday in-store tastings (a very good place to schmooze with the winemakers or reps).  I've long been a fan of Wally's Central Coast Wine and Food Celebration and silent auction, which annually benefits the Michael Bonaccorsi scholarship fund that honors the Santa Ynex vintner and master sommelier who was felled by a heart attack in 2004 at age 43.  Of course, that event costs more ($125 versus $40 for the All-Stars), but includes great food; past events have featured Comme ça, Lucques, A.O.C., Tavern, Spago Beverly Hills, CUT, Bouchon, Osteria & Pizzeria Mozza, The Hitching Post, Artisan, Brothers' Restaurant at Mattei's Tavern, The Ballard Inn Restaurant and Jar.  At right is a list of other great wine events.  But I digress.

The All-Stars event included no food, other than two Cowgirl Creamery cheeses feverishly being doled out on crackers and bread snipets.  But there were plenty of pricey Cabernets, featuring Caymus, Chappellet, Chateau Montelena (of Bottle Shock fame), Far Niente, Gemstone, Kristine Ashe, Nickel & Nickel, O'Shaughnessy, Oakville Terraces, along with Joseph Phelp's Insignia and Pahlmeyer's Napa Valley Red (which are both mostly Cab).  But, I'm not a big Cab fan, or a fan of big Cabs; my palate may not be sophisticated enough, and my wallet certainly isn't.

So, given the crowd and the Cab, what did I like?  Well, there were a few other varietals, I met some nice people once it thinned out and we could talk.  And I learned a few things.  First, wine is becoming very international.  Even though this was the Napa/Sonoma All-Stars, I met the new winemaker for Lynmar Estate (Russian River, Sonoma), the very charming Bibiana Gonzalez Rave, who is from Columbia.  Lynmar, with a gorgeous tasting room and setting, does it right, setting out four separate stemware for their two Chardonnays and two Pinot Noirs.  It was here where my wife was converted into a Chardonnay drinker, because Lynmar's are unoaked and let the fruit come through.  You should visit them.  Strangely, it had been difficult to find their wines in local wine stores (we bought ours from New York - nice carbon footprint), but distributor Marco Campo from Chambers & Chambers assured me that he would address the issue.

Newton Vineyards The Puzzle (primarily a Cab/Merlot blend) was another example of the globalization of wine.  Poured by the dazzling Jeridan, this smooth, mouth-filling wine ($90, on sale for $80) is out of my league, but is part of the Moet Hennessey conglomerate.  Jeridan remembered me from Wally's Tent Sale where she was pouring Moet's Clos Apalta from Chile's Lapostolle Winery ($75, a Carmenere/Cab blend) that has earned very high scores from Wine Spectator.  What I found particularly intriguing, though, was that Moet owns wines from Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, as well as Chile and California (notably Chandon).  In fact, the cover of its 2011 Winemaker Tour handbook displays a map of the world.  French wine-making practices have borne great results in South America.  So much for small winemakers.

Orrin Swift's The Prisoner (a surprising Zin/Cab/Syrah-blend, $35, on sale for $31.50) has cult status, renowned for its bold, fruit-forward taste and catchy label, which features an etching by the artist Goya that the winemaker received from his parents as a teenager.    It is the creation of a (still) young man who was trying to figure out what to do in life (aren't we all?), and worked his way up from the bottom as a vineyard worker and intern at Robert Mondavi Winery.  Bit of trivea: the winemaker's name is David Phinney, not Orrin Swift (which is a combination of his parents' names).  Great story.  It gets a bit confusing, though, because as of the 2009 vintage, The Prisoner and Saldo (a mostly Zin blend, $28) is now owned by a small conglomerate, Huneeus Vintners, which also owns Quintessa in Napa Valley, Flowers (nice Pinot and Chard) in Sonoma Valley and Veramonte in Chile.  "Even though it was a sale, it's more of a collaboration," said Phinney, who plans to maintain control of production and winemaking. "It's two family-run businesses joining together."  This will give David access to a larger sales organization and someone with experience with big brands, as he continues to produce other wines under the Orrin Swift label.  Small guy goes bigger; hope the quality remains. 
       
Iron Horse small,is  independent, estate, family owned winery from Sonoma's Green Valley known for its mid-priced sparkling wines as well as its Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs.  Jennifer Hallock, its sales manager, was pouring two sparkling wines that was favored by some repeat revellers, its Pinot Noir-based Wedding Cuvee ($30, on sale for $27) and its Chardonnay-based Ocean Reserve ($40, on sale for $33).  Ocean Reserve is a special, limited edition sparkler created in partnership with National Geographic to benefit the ocean. For every bottle you purchase, Iron Horse will donate $4 to establish marine protected areas and reduce overfishing around the world.  Nice touch.

I'm not sure I'll make the Napa/Sonoma All-Stars event next year, unless Walley's finds a way to spread out the crowd (Hint: I know an event organizer who can help).  But, I hope you got a sense of what it was like, and if you don't mind crowds, love Cabs, then mark your calendar for next year.         

Pinot Envy: Review of Pinot Days in Santa Monica, January 2011

I confess: I love Pinot Noir.  Even before the 2004 film Sideways catapulted it to fame with Virginia Madsen’s seductive description of the grape’s virtues to Paul Giamatti.  Although I loved that movie.  And I’ve been on the self-guided Sideways Wine Tour.  So, it didn’t take much to get me to the event.

This wine is food-friendly, and goes great with salmon.  Yes, red wine with fish.  It works.  Unfortunately, at Pinot Days – as with most wine events – there was little food, just some cheese and bread.

Event Organization

The event was held at Barker Hanger, allowing lots of room for meandering.  Cost was $60, plus $10 for parking; not too bad.  Maybe next year I’ll get a “press discount.”  Some 90 wineries were represented, mostly by their winemakers.  This lent a very personal touch, and is far preferable to distributors because you’re directly exposed to the creative energy (like talking to a god rather than a church director).  There were plenty of choices, although with hundreds of other West Coast Pinot Noir producers, some of my favorites were missing.

The wineries were organized alphabetically starting at the entry and then snaking around the room, which made them easier to find from the list, but far more challenging to compare the taste profiles of different wine-growing regions.  Pinot Noir is a hard grape to grow, and prefers cool morning/nighttime breezes, which relegates it to specific growing regions in California and Oregon.  Among these are Oregon’s Willamette Valley, Napa’s Carneros region (which is near the coast and south of Sonoma County), the Sonoma Coast, Sonoma County’s Russian River Valley, Monterey’s Santa Lucia Highlands and Santa Rita Hills (of Sideways fame).

What a Difference a Region Can Make

Each region tends to have its own taste profile, although the winemaker has a major influence (as does the specific vineyard).  The organizers recognized this by offering (for an extra $40) early birds an opportunity to be guided through the vintners from a region of their choice.  Perhaps next year, they will arrange the wineries by region, which will give visitors an easy way to compare and choose a preference.

Generally speaking, Willamette Valley produces bigger, bolder and earthier wines, Santa Rita Hills produces more fruit-forward wines, while Sonoma Coast and Santa Lucia Highlands tend to provide lighter wines with a good balance between fruit and wine.  That being said, the winemaker’s technique (such as leaving on the stems) and the specific vineyard can create a lot of variation.  Some wineries will offer a bigger style of wine as well as one dubbed “Burgundian” (for Burgundy, THE home of Pinot Noir), which tend to be lighter, lower in alcohol, more laid back and food friendly. 

The food friendly nature of European wines is the reason that the wine list at Alice Water’s Chez Panisse used to exclude California wines, notwithstanding her “farm to table” focus on local produce and meats and the proximity of Napa Valley.  In the last five to seven years, that has changed, as more and more California winemakers have been producing more food-friendly wine.

It’s All a Matter of Taste: Some New Discoveries and Returning Favorites

Taste is relative, of course, and ultimately personal, which makes ratings (e.g., Wine Spectator, Wine Advocate, Robert Parker) a bit dubious.  I say, it’s like movie reviewers.  If you find one whose taste you like, then use it.  Otherwise, make up your own mind.  At blind tastings, invariably some low-priced, unknown wine scores very highly.  Go figure.  Perhaps it’s all marketing.                  

My favorite growing regions are Santa Lucia Highlands and Sonoma Coast, but I love many wines from the other regions.  Although I’ve tasted hundreds of Pinot Noirs over the past eight years, I am always excited to discover new “friends” while treasuring the old.  Here are some vignettes, listed alphabetically, with their region noted parenthetically:

Returning Favorites

·       Alma Rosa (Santa Rita Hills).  This is Richard Sanford’s newish label (and no relation to the young lady from The Apprentice).  Richard is renowned as the founder of Pinot Noir in Santa Rita Hills, and was long associated with Sanford & Benedict wines.  He is a true gentleman, giving of his time and I love all of his wines (Pinot and not).

·       Flying Goat (2007 Rio Vista “2A,” Santa Rita Hills).  You can tell by the name that they guys take themselves way too seriously, but this is serious, fruit-forward good wine for $40 a bottle.  They have other fine vineyard-select wines, all worth taking a fly at…

·       Pappapietro Perry (Sonoma Coast).  A long-time favorite of mine, first sampled up in Healdsburg (my favorite Sonoma County town), where I became enamored with Peter’s Vineyard, and bought the last six bottles from Wally’s Wine upon returning to LA.  Their wines are in the upper $40’s now, and tasted a bit “hot” to me (meaning high in alcohol).

·       Tantara (Solomon Hills, Santa Rita area).  Really wonderful, fruit-forward smooth and juicy wine.  It’s a family affair, and nice folks.  At $48/bottle, it pushes my upper limit.

New Discoveries

·       Belle Pente (Willamette Valley).  One of my favorite Burgundian style Oregon Pinots is from Du Pente Vineyards, and since the latter wasn’t there, I figured the name was close enough, why not try it?  It was in the same mode, and cost in the $25-$40 range, but I recently purchased a bottle from K&L Wines for around $25, and Woodland Hills Wine Company has a good supply.

·       Fog Crest Vineyards (Russian River, Sonoma).  Very smooth, easy-drinking wine.  Around $40/bottle.

·       La Follette (Sonoma Coast).  My ah-ha moment with Pinot came from a tasting of Tandem’s 2001 Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot, where Greg La Follette was the winemaker.  Like fine restaurants, you need to follow the “chef” not just the label (as with Alma Rosa).  He was pouring offerings from different vineyards retail priced from $37 to $50 a bottle, but I recently drank a tasty $27 bottle of La Follette from K&L Wines.

·       Sheid Vineyards (Santa Lucia Highlands).  Wonderful people, wonderful wine, sold mostly from the winery and their wine club.  Never heard of them before, and I am generally suspect of wineries that produce lots of different varietals, rather than concentrating on a few.  But I was particularly fond of their Estate Pinot, which runs around $30.  Liked it so much I tried to purchase a bottle, only to be admonished by event organizers that I could not remove wine from the premises.  Full disclosure:  I stayed til the end of the event, helped load up their remaining supply in their Mini for the return trip, and they gifted me the bottle.

All in all, though, an adventurous afternoon.  And I drove home safely.