2010 Michel-Schlumberger “La Bise” Pinot Blanc

Maybe The Most Refreshing Wine Ever

Last weekend, my wife and I stayed at Michel-Schlumberger Wine Estate in Dry Creek Valley. But it wasn’t our first trip there together.

2010 Michel-Schlumberger "La Bise" Pinot Blanc

We’ve been to this beautiful jewel a few times. And the first time we came, we had the 2009 Pinot Blanc. And it was spectacular.

But I already wrote about that wine. Now I’m writing about the newest incarnation of this refreshing, delicious wine.

Pinot blanc is something I’ve liked for a long time. Most of the time, it’s light, and crisp, and refreshing. Sometimes it’s tropical. Usually, there’s a chalkiness, or a minerality that rocks.

The pinot blanc from Michel-Schlumberger is everything you could want in a pinot blanc. In the glass, it’s incredibly light, almost clear, but with a pretty lemongrass tint.

On the nose is the most incredible tropical bouquet, a mixture of floral aromas with grapefruit and light citrus oils. And on the palate, well, this is something you could drink almost anywhere, almost any time.

It’s bright, and crisp. It’s light, and clean. But it manages to pack a lot of flavor into what seems like a “small” package—this is no “big wine,” by any stretch. The finish lingers nicely, but not for too long. Grapefruit, the smallest hint of lime, perhaps even a touch of passionfruit, all with the clean chalky minerality that keeps everything in check and makes sure we don’t even tiptoe into the sweet zone.

This is even better than the 2009. There’s more complexity this year, and the aromas are a bit more varied. You cannot go wrong here.

Price point: $24

2008 Lambert Bridge Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel

Supple, Refined Sonoma Zin

One of my favorite dichotomies in California wine is the massive gulf of disparity between Sonoma and Lodi zinfandel. Both areas are well-known for California’s Grape,™ but both areas do it so very differently.

Zins from Lodi tend to be what I think most people get the idea that zinfandel is, which is big, spicy, high in alcohol but not exactly a fruit bomb. Not totally food-friendly unless you’re pairing it with something that can hold its own (a peppered steak, or maybe some pretty heavy curry).

On the flipside, zinfandel from Sonoma tends to be a bit brighter, more supple and refined. Less spicy, lower in alcohol and more food friendly. It can also be, well, pretty boring at times.

The 2008 DCV Zin from Lambert Bridge is definitely not one of the boring Sonoma zinfandels.

85% zinfandel and 15% petite sirah, this blend from Lambert Bridge’s own Winery Ranch Vineyard is an excellent example of the supple, refined side of California zinfandel. The introduction of the petite sirah, however, gives it a bit of an edge that keeps it from being too flabby or uninspired.

The wine is ruby in the center, and a light pink to the glass’s edge. On the nose is a very nice mixture of fruit and texture aromas, where raspberry and espresso mingle with tobacco and a hard-to-define chalkiness that comes off very rustic, very authentic. The wine is medium-bodied, soft and supple in the mouth. The dominant note is black cherry, but more of the chalky rusticness from the nose appears here on the palate.

What you won’t find are rough edges, super-high ABV (14%), or a lot of spice notes. A little rustic, a whole lotta refined, the 2008 Zin from Lambert Bridge is a very good example of what Sonoma has to offer zinfandel fans.

2008 Lambert Bridge Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel

2007 Quivira Wine Creek Ranch Mourvèdre

Pure Dry Creek Valley Mourvèdre

2007 Quivira Wine Creek Ranch Mourvèdre

Have you ever had a pure varietal mourvèdre wine? I don’t think I had until this one.

Mourvèdre (a.k.a. Monastrell and Mataró) is a common grape in both Spanish blends (as Monastrell) and as a main ingredient in Châteauneuf-du-Pape and CdP-style wines (usually called “GSMs”). But finding it made as a pure 100% varietal wine is a bit more difficult.

I think, after tasting this, I know now where some of the rusticness of GSMs comes from: it’s the “M.” I’ve had plenty of 100% (or dominant 85%+) grenaches and syrahs, from all over the place (France, Spain, California, Washington, Australia) and not one ever felt “rustic” to me. Syrah is bold and powerful; grenache, supple and gorgeous—when done well, of course.

Mourvèdre, on the other hand, is rustic. It’s the Gerald McRaney to grenache’s Jameson Parker. Although McRaney was kind of like syrah, too. Whatever, this is a discussion for another time, anyway.

So, given mourvèdre’s usual place as a blending grape, what does a 100% mourvèdre taste like? Did I mention this is also a certified Biodynamic wine?

In the glass, the wine has a ruby red core that fades to pink edges. On the nose is that rusticness I was talking about: a hint of fruit (cherries and blueberries) but mostly earth, dirt, and chalk, with a hint of barnyard that some freaks like me enjoy, and some non-freaks (maybe like you) might not.

The wine is light-bodied, and crisper than its shade in the glass would lead you to believe. The wine is exceptionally balanced: a bit of biting acidity, some supple, soft tannins, and its not-low 14.7% ABV all come together to sit on a three-way playground see-saw, and no one falls down. The herby-vegetal cherry bush thing is here that I sometimes find in cabernet franc, but it’s nice and subtle. Way more cherry than bush, as it were.

I think I need to find more 100% mourvèdre.

Verdict: B+