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Morgan Clendenen winemaker/owner of Cold Heaven
When I think of Harvest Festival, I imagine there is an autumn chill in the air and I’m sipping red wines bundled up in a cozy sweater. However, this year, the 20th year of the festival, we were in the midst of a late summer heat wave, so shorts and sandals were de rigueur. This year there were over 115 different wineries represented at the festival. Of the 115, there were many wonderful, familiar wines from Ampelos, Beckmen, Brander, Dragonette, Fiddlehead, Foxen, Margerum, Jaffurs, Tre Anelli, Stolpman, Ken Brown, Cold Heaven, Palmina, Qupé, being poured, so I a made point to seek out wines that I had not sampled before.
Bob Lindquist winemaker/owner of Qupe and his son Theo
With far too many wines to sample everything, I had to really pick and choose carefully from the offerings. Of the wines I tasted, there were a few real stands outs. Jim Vogelzang was pouring an absolutely lovely ’06 Vogelzang Cabernet Sauvignon, but his superb 2009 Sauvignon Blanc was what took my breath away. Jim took a few minutes to explain to me what they do differently. Naturally, they start with great fruit – after all you cannot make an outstanding wine if you start with bad grapes. Here is where it gets interesting. After the grapes are picked; they are put on refrigerated trucks which are driven to Napa. In Napa they delivered to renowned winemaker Robbie Meyer (of Versant, Jericho Canyon, Peirson Meyer and L’Angevin) who works his oenological magic. Jim also let me know that for the Sauvignon Blanc, Meyer uses neutral French oak barrels that have been used for Chardonnay. Another outstanding white was the unreleased ’09 Dragonette Happy Canyon Sauvignon Blanc which was heady with the aroma of honeysuckle and tasted of creamy lemon curd. Yes, dear reader, I know I said I was going to avoid familiar labels, but this was an unreleased Sauvignon Blanc from Dragonette, so I had to bend my own rule. It was less of a hard and fast rule and more of a guideline really, anyway. 😉
Dan Reeves of Reeves Ranch Vineyard
Even though it was a very warm day and white wines were helping me cool off, I did taste some wonderful reds at the festival. I loved the 2006 Jalama Paradise Road Syrah, which is co-fermented with 3% Viognier in the classic French Côte–Rôtie style. Young winemaker, Mark Cargasacchi is crafting some truly beautiful wines. It runs in the family; Mark’s brother is making some outstanding wine too. Speaking of Mark’s wines, he wasn’t pouring it at the festival, but his 2006 Jalama El Capitan is *really* worth getting your hands on (while you still can). It is a red blend of 47% Syrah, 30% Mourvedre and 23% Cabernet. He only made 92 cases of this rich beauty, and last time I checked they only had 8 cases left, so if you’re a fan of GSM blends, give the folks over at Jalama Wines a call: 805-735-8937 or go visit the new tasting room in the Lompoc. Tell them that Anne from Wine Nation Underdog sent you. You’ll thank me later after you’re tucking into your first glass. Overall, my favorite Syrah of the festival was the 2008 Reeves Ranch Syrah. I had heard of the name Reeves Ranch Vineyard because Kris Curran (winemaker/owner of Curran) made a Reeve’s Ranch Reserve Syrah from fruit from this vineyard a few vintages ago. It was extraordinary, so naturally I had to go investigate the source of this outstanding fruit. Boy was I in for a treat. Dan Reeves poured me some of his 2008 Reeves Ranch Vineyard Syrah and I really enjoyed the well integrated flavors of coffee, mocha and spice. Most of the fruit is from the estate which is located in the foothills above Los Olivos. The vines which were originally planted in 1989, were grafted over to Australian and French Syrah clones (Shiraz clone 3, Estrella and Clone 99) in 1994. The rest of the fruit is from Black Oak vineyard in Los Alamos. Though the grapes from Reeves and Black Oak were fermented separately, it was eventually blended together and aged for 18 months in French oak, some of which was neutral. After I tasted this wine, I thought it would be priced around $35 a bottle. Are you ready for this? The wine sells for $24 on the Reeves Ranch website and you get a discount if you order a case. Don’t you love it when you find a great wine at a really good price? I do! If you are in the Central Coast area, you can taste this wine at Avant Tapas and Wine bar in Buellton. It is also being poured by the glass at Los Olivos Café (in Los Olivos). Don’t wait too long though, because they only make 400 cases a year.
Peter Stolpman of Stolpman Vineyards
There were lots of great events over the Harvest Festival weekend, including an open house at Au Bon Climat / Qupé winemaking facility. There was also an open house event at Cold Heaven – as soon as I get my notes and snapshots organized I will post again. Until then, let me leave you with this thought. Those who abstain from alcohol die sooner than those who drink moderately (1 to 3 drinks per day)…as if you needed an excuse!
Danish visitors who are cellar ratting at Ampelos for the summer
So much has happened since I last posted. Nope, I am not part of the witness protection program – I’ve just been really, really busy. Let me try to condense the last month into a few words and some photos. First and foremost I moved from Santa Barbara to a lovely house out in wine country with a view of the edge of the Sta. Rita Hills AVA. Moving is never easy or fun, but in this case the massive effort was worthwhile. I’m reminded daily about what makes Pinot Noir so good, when I wake up to a view of the Santa Rita Hills. Often times the hills are shrouded in fog that burns off by mid-morning. The east-west coastal valleys combined with fog, wind and rocky soil stress the vines and reduce crop yield. This results in incredibly complex and layered Pinot Noir. If you want to taste what I am referring to, check out Ampelos Cellars’ 2005 Rho Pinot Noir. You’ll be happy you did!
Though I’ve only been in my new place about a month and a half, so much has happened! In the few weeks I:
- unpacked a seemingly infinite number of boxes, many of which were full of wine or books…I wonder if I really need all these books?
- enjoyed some of my favorite fabulous local wines (De Su Propia Cosecha, Brander, Tre Anelli, Stolpman, McPrice Myers) while unpacking boxes – no wonder it took so long!
- poured Consilience wines at an event at Blush in Santa Barbara
- ate amazing woodfired pizza at Full of Life Flatbread (and oysters – WOW!) – if you’re into woodfired pizza come to Los Alamos to eat at Flatbread
- wrote the tasting notes for a couple of fabulous soon to be released wines from Tre Anelli (2007 Pinot Grigio, 2007 Sangiovese, 2008 Diavolessa)
- went wine tasting at Brander (Thank you Fabian and Louise for the tour and barrel tasting!) – I *love* the Purisima Sauvignon Blanc and the reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
- encountered all sorts of wildlife out here in the country – deer (see photo below), red tailed hawks, turkey vultures, mice, moles, skunks (unfortunately one of my dogs got too close to the skunk, sigh) a myriad of songbirds, mice, horses and a tree frog (oddly enough the frog was in my shower…go figure)
- visited chef Paul Kulik at the Boiler Room restaurant and La Buvette in Omaha – my two favorite places to eat and drink in the Old Market district
So much has happened and so many wonderful things are on the horizon! First and foremost, there is lots of great news from one of my local favorites, Dragonette Cellars. Very soon you won’t have to go out to the wine ghetto in Lompoc to visit Dragonette, because they are opening up a tasting room in Los Olivos, right across the street from Stolpman. Also, any day now, Dragonette will release a wine that consists mostly of the co-fermented Syrah/Viognier that I fell in love with while barrel tasting last year (there are a few photos from this below). The wine is a reserve release and is called MJM. John Dragonette, Steve Dragonette and Brandon Sparks-Gillis dedicated this wine to their wives (Mitchi, Jen and Michelle), hence the name MJM. Smart husbands. 🙂 Recently I visited Dragonette and tasted the 2007 MJM with winemaker Brandon Sparks-Gillis. He was quite proud (and rightly so) of the almost released blend of 96% Syrah, 3% Grenache and 1% Viognier. This is a gorgeous wine with layers of flavors – definitely one to save for a special occasion! It wasn’t officially for sale yet (the bottles had not yet been hand dipped in wax) however I was able to convince him to let me go home with a couple of bottles. Thanks Brandon! Last but not least, Dragonette now has a wine club – you can join online too!
On Saturday May 15th, the Wine Hound Santa Barbara County Wine Futures event is happening. Last year was an amazing opportunity to taste incredibly fabulous local wines. Check out my post with details from last year’s event. This year I promise to charge my camera battery. There will be around 130 different wines available for tasting from local producers. Old favorites, including Au Bon Climat, Jaffurs, Qupé and Stolpman will be there and also some newer producers like Rey, Kaena and Shai. I am really looking forward to this event!
Last but not least, my wine tasting group is collecting bottles for a special Colson Canyon Vineyard themed tasting. So far we have collected red wines made from Colson Canyon fruit produced by Cleb, Tensley and Brander. If you know of any other wineries that make a Colson Canyon vineyard designate wine please drop me an email.
Here are some random snapshots of food, wine and other miscellany. Cheers!
Dragonette winemaker Brandon Sparks-Gillis with a bottle of MJM
De Su Propia Cosecha red (Grenache/Mourvedre/Syrah)
Me pouring Consilience wines at Blush in Santa Barbara
Lunch at Terravant (a fun place to taste wine - ask for a tour)
This is the first meal at the new house -we hadn't unpacked much yet
Dragonette 2008 Sauvignon Blanc - it makes unpacking boxes better
McPrice Myers 2007 L'Ange Rouge at Side Street Cafe (we were too tired to cook)
Tre Anelli 2008 Diavolessa - red blend of Dolcetto, Barbera, Petite Sirah, Zinfandel
First course of salad and oysters at Flatbread
Happiness is eating at Flatbread
What a fun surprise - a deer in my yard
2007 Duckhorn Decoy at Urban Wine Company in Omaha's Old Market district
La Buvette - you'll think you're in France, but it is really Omaha's Old Market district
One of the walls of wine at La Buvette
The view from the patio - cool foggy mornings help make good Pinot Noir
Foggy mornings turn into warm, clear days
- Barrel tasting at Dragonette (photo courtesy of pixillusion.com)
Dragonette extracting wine with a wine thief (photo courtesy of pixillusion.com)
On the way out to Los Olivos for a wine tasting event, we stopped at Brander. I’d served Brander’s 2008 Purisima Sauvignon Blanc at a wine dinner a few weeks ago. I’d been meaning to come back to buy more ever since. One of the guests at the wine dinner, a self-proclaimed “reds only” guy, tasted it and said “I’ve been wrong about white wine my whole life”. Truly a high compliment – and a worthy wine. Many Sauvignon Blancs, especially those with aromatics of grass or “cat pee”, are totally lost on me. This Sauvignon Blanc has heady floral aromatics and a great balance of fruit and acid. It will be a great match for seafood! In addition to the Purisima Sauvignon Blanc we tasted a number of other wines from Brander. The 2008 Cuvee Nicolas, a blend of 80% Sauvignon Blanc and 20% Semillon, was another well balanced white from Brander. It spent 5 months in neutral French oak before it was bottled. It is slightly rounded on the palate, though it still has good acidity. An all-around great food wine! We also tasted some of Brander’s red wines. The 2008 Brander Merlot is really wonderful with flavors of black cherries and chocolate. It only spent 5 months in French and American oak – so the flavor of the fruit really shine. Priced at $20 a bottle (or $216 a case), this wine is an incredible value – lots of bang for the buck! Another great red is the 2007 Brander Estate Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. Even though it is young, there is already fabulous flavor integration and it is drinking well now. I grabbed a few of these so that I can have Cabernet to drink while I am waiting for my Napa Cabs to sufficiently age. =)
Bob Lindquist, Ethan Lindquist and Paige Lindquist
After Brander we headed to Los Olivos to the Qupe tasting room where winemaker Bob Lindquist lead a tasting of all the wines that Qupe makes from the Bien Nacido Vineyard. It was an impressive lineup of whites and reds:
2008 Qupe Bien Nacido Cuvee – this is a blend of 50% Chardonnay/50% Viognier. Qupe has been making this blend since 1992. For this blend the Chardonnay fruit is picked underripe and the Viognier is picked slightly overripe – resulting in good structure, freshness and balance.
2008 Qupe Chardonnay Bien Nacido Y Block – This wine is made from fruit picked at varying times which means that the wine is both crisp (from earlier picked fruit – at 21 brix) and lush (from later picked fruit – at 25 brix).
2007 Qupe Chardonnay Bien Nacido Reserve Block 11 – This Chardonnay has 22% Roussanne blended into it which gives the wine headier aromatics. Bob Lindquist says that “this wine can age beautifully for 10-15 years.”
2007 Qupe Roussanne Bien Nacido Hillside Estate – Roussanne is a challenging grape on many different levels. It is difficult to grow well and it is also challenging in the cellar. This wine is fermented and aged in barrels that were used once for Chardonnay. This year’s vintage is more crisp and minerally than past vintages and should develop into a more complex wine over time.
2006 Qupe Roussanne Bien Nacido Hillside Estate – Named “Best New World Wine” by Decanter magazine, this is a perfectly balanced 100% Roussanne grown in Block 10 of Bien Nacido. The vines are Tablas Creek clones; these are originally from Chateau de Beaucastel in the Chateauneuf du Papes.
2000 Qupe Roussanne Bien Nacido Vineyard – At 10 years of age, this balanced wine is drinking really beautifully. The fruit for this wine was the first crop off of a custom planting at Bien Nacido. It was fermented and aged in one year old Francois Freres French oak barrels (that had been used once for Chardonnay) for 15 months.
2007 Qupe Syrah Bien Nacido – 3% of the Syrah fruit was sourced from the new Sawyer-Lindquist Vineyard. The weather during fruit set was very windy, which caused yields to be low and increased the intensity of the flavors. Lindquist says that this one can be cellared for 8-12 years.
2006 Qupe Syrah Bien Nacido Hillside Estate – The fruit for this Syrah is from a 5 acre southwest facing slope called Z block. This block is farmed organically to Qupe’s specifications. This is Qupe’s 20th vintage of Syrah.
2006 Qupe Syrah 25th Anniversary Bien Nacido X Block – The block where this fruit was grown is farmed biodynamically by the Bien Nacido team. Lindquist used 50% whole clusters in the fermentation which adds layers of spice and complexity. He made this wine specifically to cellar – he says you can lay this one down for 20-25 years.
1999 Qupe Syrah Bien Nacido Hillside Estate – Lauded by critics (96 points from Wine & Spirits magazine) since its release in 2002, this wine is drinking beautifully in 2010 with flavors of fruit, spice and smoke. 1999 was rainy and cold and the grapes ripened very slowly. In fact, the grapes for this wine were harvested on November 18 at 22.5 degrees brix – later than any other Qupe vintage to date.
Lindquist was clearly in his element pouring wine with help from son Ethan and daughter Paige. After we tasted through the entire list of wine, Lindquist told stories. He said that Paige’s first word as a child was “cheese”. Of course! We also played a few rounds of 1960’s music “name that tune”. Jason and I didn’t recognize a single song; sadly we didn’t win any wine. Oh well, we didn’t go home empty handed – we picked up a few bottles of the 2007 Qupe Central Coast Syrah, 2006 Qupe Syrah Alisos Vineyard (one of my favorites!) and the 2007 Qupe Grenache Purisima Mountain Vineyard.
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