Notes From The Cellar » 2007

☆ 2007 Ravenswood Barricia Single Vineyard Zinfandel

Steve — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 15:00:48 +0000

Single-Vineyard Zin Brings The Ruckus

I’ve had quite the personal history with Ravenswood. Their Vintners Blend Merlot was one of the first wines I ever drank regularly. It was quite good for its price¹ and it was easy to find.

I have since had some hit-or-miss times with Ravenswood. I’ve come to find that while the “approachability” of their Vintners Blend wines was perfect for me at 21 years old, I need something with a little more personality these days.

Enter the Ravesnwood Single Vineyard Zinfandels. There are quite a few of them, and I have actually had several. This one, the Barricia, is a big dog zin. No joke. It spends 20 months in 100% French oak, clocks in at 14.5% ABV, and is actually 76% zinfandel and 24% petite sirah.

The wine is a dark purple in the core of the glass, lightening to a bit of a garnet red on the edges. On the nose is some blackberry and dark cherry, but also a touch more heat than I like to see.²

The 2007 Ravenswood Barricia is medium bodied, with a long finish. The alcohol comes through, but not too hot. The wine is robust and full-flavored, with a touch of dark fruit, but more obviously, a smoky, meaty element.

The flavor profile would go excellently with grilled meats, but the relatively heavy body, long finish, and higher alcohol make it hard to recommend as a summer barbecuing wine. Still, robust, tasty, and all up in your face: if this is what you look for in a zinfandel, then look no further.

Price Point: $35

Footnotes

Or, at least, so I thought. My palate, as underwhelming as it may be now, was downright infantile back then.
Smell.

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☆ 2007 Hess Collection Mount Veeder 19 Block Cuvée

Steve — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 15:00:03 +0000

Big-Time High-Elevation Cab Blend

I’m a huge fan of this wine, for more than a few reasons.

It’s a mostly-Bordeaux-style blend (called “meritage” (rhymes with “heritage”) here in California), but there’s this dollop of Syrah thrown in for good measure.

In general, I’ve found myself becoming a big fan of wine that, while officially from the Napa Valley, is not from the valley floor. One of my favorite Napa reds is Regusci’s “Angelo’s Vineyard” Hillside Cabernet Sauvignon from the eastern edge of the Stag’s Leap AVA. I have adored just about everything I’ve ever tried from Howell Mountain. I’m even going to put that on my birthday list this year: if you want to get me wine, just get me something—anything—from Howell Mountain.

Mount Veeder, an appelation that hugs the Napa/Sonoma county line along the western edge of Napa Valley, is one I haven’t been as familiar with. Most of my Napa Valley experience has been along the iconic St. Helena Highway (a.k.a. Highway 29) or the Silverado Trail, to the east. But that’s simply going to have to change. I want more.

To this wine in particular, then. The 2007 Hess Collection Mount Veeder 19 Block Cuvée (whew!) is a gorgeous wine in the glass: a burgundy red core with just barely-lighter ruby edges. The nose shows off subtle, but apparent, fruit notes. Mostly blackberry and raspberry, but some plum as well. The nose more obviously shows off some earthier tones, tobacco, cedar, and cigar box. Very rich.

The wine is medium bodied, a bit lighter than I’d expected, but it shows off right away, with lush, supple tannins and a long, lingering finish. The palate is a bit fruitier than the nose, and some of the notes lighten slightly to cherry and strawberry, but everything is nuanced and in balance. There is structure here, structure like a nun running detention. Not to be trifled with.

This is really great wine. This is really, really easy to recommend wine. I’m a recent convert, but I’m going to be doing some more exploring of Mount Veeder, I can promise you that much.

Price Point: $36

☆ 2007 Intelligent Design Cuvee

Steve — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 15:00:32 +0000

Smart Central Coast Southern Rhône-style Surprise

There were reasons I thought I wouldn’t like Intelligent Design.

I’ll be perfectly honest, I’m not a fan of the name. Sure, this is my personal bias showing as if my zipper were down (XYPB, Steve), but when I hear the term “Intelligent Design,” I think of crazy fundies trying to teach kids creationism in science class. Rubs me more than just a little the wrong way.

I’ve got another bias to admit, and it’s this: I have something of a bias against wines that state a region on their bottle of either “California” or of one of the Super-AVAs (North Coast, Central Coast, South Coast, Sierra Foothills, Central Valley¹). I usually prefer my wine with a bit more geographic specificity than can be offered by these topographical behemoths.

But, as in all things, bias must be set aside (or at least recognized and accounted for) and wine must be tasted and judged on its own merits.

The 2007 Intelligent Design Cuvee from Wesley Ashley Wines is a serious blend of southern Rhône varities: 51.5% carignane, 15% grenache, 14% cinsault, 11% petite sirah, 4.5% mourvèdre, 4% pinot noir.

Yeah, I said pinot noir. That was another reason I eyed this bottle with more than a little suspicion: who blends pinot noir with the southern Rhône Valley?

My biases and prejudices were all totally thrown out the window when I tasted the wine. This is very tasty stuff.

The wine has a ruby red core in the glass, that lightens to edges of dark pink. On the nose is a simultaneously bright-and-dark mixture of stewed cherry, blackcurrant, black pepper, and just a hint of raspberry.

The wine is light-bodied, lighter than its look in the glass belies. There are notes of spice and earth and smoke that mingle with a touch of the nose’s red fruit. Really awesome mixture. My only complaints here are a relatively short finish, and tannin that is just a touch too sharp. Perhaps more time in the bottle will solve the latter issue.

And a small issue it is. This is a very tasty wine from a newcomer to the California wine scene. I know I for one will be paying attention.

Price point: $38

Footnotes

is the Central Valley an “official” Super-AVA now? Is there an “official” status of Super-AVAs?

☆ 2007 Raymond Sommelier Selection Cabernet Sauvignon

Steve — Mon, 09 May 2011 15:00:14 +0000

The Sommelier Selects the Uninspired

Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t bad wine. It might not be easy to find, and it might not be the cheapest (Raymond’s “Reserve Selection” sells for less and is more readily available, from what I can discern), but it isn’t bad. The thing is, it isn’t particularly good, either.

These are tough wines to write about. Wines from renowned producers (or at the very least, popular producers), that really are not examples of bad wine, but that I also can’t get all giddy excited about and explain breathlessly to you why you should drink it.

I know this is available by the glass at a local wine bar to me, because that’s where I tried it, but you may not have a hip wine bar near you. You may not be able to find the Sommelier Selection, but if you really like cabernet (who doesn’t?), the following notes sound up your alley, the price is right, and the opportunity presents… you could do much worse.

The wine is dark ruby red at its core, and only lightens a touch, to a brighter shade of ruby. On the nose is a bit too much alcohol for my taste, but some nice blackberry and black cherry, and a hint of cedar box.

The 2007 Raymond Sommelier Selection is light to medium-bodied, with a short finish, and tannins that are present, but not too rough on you. Mostly-similar notes to the nose appear on the palate, including the black cherry and cedar, but there is a touch of herbaciousness here, something just a touch green, that you’ll either love or hate, depending on how you like your cabernet.

I can recommend the Raymond, it’s a bit simple, but easy to drink and inoffensive.

☆ 2007 Felsina Berardenga ‘I Sistri’ Chardonnay

Steve — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 17:25:12 +0000

Chardonnay From Another Planet (Actually, From Tuscany)

The concept and history of the Super Tuscan is one of my favorite stories in wine.

First off, it just sounds cool. “Super Tuscan.” Like a crime-fighting superhero who loves pasta and his nonna. But the best part is, of course, how this rogue brand of Italian winemaking came to be.

See, before the 1970s, everyone who made fine wine in Italy did so under the strict rules laid down by the governmental DOC and DOCG bodies, which defined things like the fact that Chianti Classico is a blend, with sangiovese as the dominant grape, and that Barolo is always 100% nebbiolo, etc. But DOC(G) classifications also define almost every element of the winemaking process, like what to use during, and for how long fermentation can occur, to barrel-aging requirements, picking procedures and methods, and on, ad nauseum.

In the 70s, a winemaker in Chianti Classico had had enough. While he was not the first to do this, he may have been the most famous. Piero Antinori wanted to take the Chianti Classico his family had made for over six centuries and make a richer variant. He removed the white grapes from the traditional (and DOCG-required) blend and replaced them with Bordeaux varieties, mostly cabernet sauvignon and merlot. He called the wine Tignanello.

The thing is, Tignanello was not Chianti Classico, though it was wine made from one of the region’s esteemed producers, and still predominantly featured sangiovese. They could not use the name, and in fact, the bottle had to feature the phrase vino da tavola, or “table wine,” normally a phrase reserved for low-grade juice, which Antinori’s new concoction was not.

To this day, the same is true. DOC(G) requirements have not changed. The Italians have created a new label to stamp on fine wine that does not conform to DOC(G) scripture, “IGT.” This wine from Chianti Classsico producer Fattoria di Felsina falls into this IGT category.

The ‘I Sistri’ is 100% chardonnay, and a dark, rich, lustrous gold in the glass. The nose is also rich and lush, featuring, predominantly, notes of pecan praline and honey. This is not chardonnay as I have tasted either from California, or from my favorite French region for the grape, Chablis.

The honeyed nuttiness continues on the palate, as this medium-to-full bodied white brings the same honey and pecan praline flavors from the nose. There is a little residual sugar, it seems, but this is not a dessert wine by any means. On the back end is the most incredible finish of cinnamon that I have ever tasted, and not some sickly-sweet-spicy-fake cinnamon, but like real, freshly grated cinnamon.

Really quite impressive, actually. Not for everyone, to be sure, and not something I would want to drink every day. But if you’re someone who thinks of white wine as the sole province of summer, the warmth and sweet spice of this wine would turn anyone into a chardonnay-in-winter convert.

Verdict: A-

2007 Felsina Berardenga 'I Sistri' Chardonnay

☆ 2007 Quivira Wine Creek Ranch Mourvèdre

Steve — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 16:00:21 +0000

Pure Dry Creek Valley 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+

☆ 2007 Salinia “Heintz Ranch” Syrah

Steve — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 15:00:41 +0000

You’re Gonna Love This Syrah; Or, You Really Won’t

I struggled with the title of this one a bit. The fact of the matter is that this syrah, from winemaking couple Kevin and Jennifer Kelley of the NPA, is something I liked quite a bit, but I could see how many would not.

Ain’t that the fun part about wine?

Salinia is the Kelley’s micro-winery with a bit more of a traditional place in the wine world than the Natural Process Alliance. For one, Salinia wine comes in glass bottles. The purpose and driving force behind Salinia seems to be pretty different. While NPA wines are all about process (and the extraction of the winemaker from it in many ways), Salinia wines are all about terroir. The specific vineyard sites, and the general location in Sonoma’s Russian River Valley near the town of Occidental, CA, are chosen for what they bring specifically to the wines.

The thing is, that can’t be all there is to it. Terroir is important, obviously, but other wineries source grapes from Heintz Ranch, and I can’t believe they taste quite like this.

In the glass, the ’07 Syrah offering from Salinia is ruby at its core, but lightens to almost-clear, muted pink at the edges. The nose on this wine is stinky (in that way I oh-so-love) with pickle brine, manzanilla olive, and pimento pepper.

On the palate is more of the same. There is good tannin structure here, and as the wine has just been released, it’s entirely possible that with a few years’ time, it will taste nothing like this, but for now: olives. Manzanilla, kalamata, and olive brine. This is like the wine world’s version of a dirty martini.

It’s different, it’s interesting. It’s stinky in a fun, drinkable way. It really tastes very natural, very un-screwed-around-with, which is a complement in and of itself.

Verdict: B+

(photo: Flickr user clkohan / CC BY-NC-ND)

☆ 2007 TRÉ Cellars California Merlot

Steve — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 15:00:22 +0000

Modern ‘Market Merlot Makes Mark

I’m trying out a few new things here, as a milestone approaches.¹ What milestone? A question best answered tomorrow, but in the meantime I have a supermarket merlot to tell you about.

This is the fourth in a series of four wines I received from a PR firm on behalf of TRÉ Cellars. The first three were a mixed bag, with the cab and syrah finding no sanctuary here, but the chardonnay surprising me quite a bit by being downright good. And now we come to the end.

And now we come to the merlot.

Do I have to go into it? Do I have to describe my general feelings about merlot? Must I quote Sideways for the like thousandth time? Well, to be honest—no, no I don’t. Why?

Because this stuff is pretty good.

Will it blow you away? No. If you really can’t stand merlot, will you love this? No. But if instead of having a verifiable hate for the grape, you simply don’t come across many merlots that are all that yummy these days, this might be one for you to try. And at approximately a Hamilton, the experiment won’t hurt if it doesn’t work out.

So, the wine? A bright ruby red at its core, it does tan slightly to the edges. Doesn’t turn brown or anything, but the lightening to the edges is not wholly red. The nose is pleasant, perhaps inherently so, with notes of raspberry bush and bright cherry, and just a hint of dried herbs.²

The palate, too, is pleasant,³ and features notes of raspberry and rhubarb. The TRÉ Merlot is medium-bodied, and pretty easy drinking for a merlot. Very New World-ish.⁴

All in all, another TRÉ that is easy for me to recommend. Should be available at your local supermarket.⁵

Verdict: B-

(full disclosure: I received this bottle as a press sample from Folsom & Associates)

2007 TRE Cellars California Merlot

Footnotes

Between the alliteration in the headlines, and the use of footnotes, I hope people don’t start to think of me as affected. I also hope I can keep coming up with alliterations
The specific herb, however, I couldn’t quite place. My bad.
Though uninspiring.
Or, y’know, modern.
But then again, maybe not.

☆ 2007 TRÉ Cellars California Syrah

Steve — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 16:29:32 +0000

I Just Don’t Know Why Anyone Would Drink This

I get supermarket wine, I really do.

Not everyone lives near a wine shop. Not everyone wants to bother with an additional trip to a wine shop to buy their wine. Many people just drink wine, and all they want to do is drink something familiar and inoffensive that won’t break the bank.

I was sent several bottles of an admittedly supermarket-grade wine (it was right there in their literature) to review here on Notes. One was a chardonnay that really pleasantly surprised me, and one was a cabernet sauvignon I couldn’t find much to say good things about.

There are two more bottles. This is one of them. It is far, far more the latter than the former.

The 2007 TRÉ Cellars California Syrah is the TRÉ in the pink label. Its grapes come from some of the most prestigious growing regions across California. The TRÉ Cellars motto is “Three generations of winemakers. Three brothers continuing the family legacy. Three unique characters, sharing a common vision, To create the perfect wine to be enjoyed as ‘One of Life’s Simple Pleasures.’”

None of this tells you anything about what’s in the bottle, of course.

In the glass, the syrah is a dark maroon red at its core, with lightening, pinker-but-still-red edges. The nose offers some interesting aromas, including strawberry, stewed cherry, and red apple skin. Not something I’m writing home about, but the nose certainly had me in the mood for a fruit-forward, young-drinking, quality wine.

Oops.

The wine is medium-to-full bodied, with harsh, unforgiving tannins and a hint of raspberry. But that’s not the main flavor note. It’s not what I walked away from still tasting, still thinking about in this wine. No no, the fruit is there—I just question whether anyone will know when they taste the note that dominated the bouquet on the palate. What aroma-slash-flavor is this, you ask?

Pen ink.

Yeah. Pen ink. A little metallic, a bit oddly minty, the 2007 TRÉ Cellars California Syrah tastes like pen ink. I guess I can’t judge people if they like this—but I certainly wouldn’t be able to understand them.

Verdict: sub-70/100

(full disclosure: I was sent this bottle as a press sample from Folsom & Associates)

2007 TRE Cellars California Syrah

☆ 2007 Murphy-Goode Sonoma County Chardonnay

Steve — Wed, 26 May 2010 15:00:13 +0000

Murphy Is Goode

Is that the laziest pun ever, up there in the headline? I mean, It’s not Ron Washam lazy, but as far as puns go…

At any rate, Chardonnay Week continues, and with this Sonoma County offering, you get a little bit of both worlds of California chardonnay. It’s not quite all butter and toothpicks, and it’s not actually unoaked.

It’s a happy medium between the two. I could drink this with food (in fact, I did), I could cook with it (in fact, I did), and I could drink it on its own (did that too). This is right in my wheelhouse as far as good, solid, everyday-style chardonnays go. I might personally still prefer sauvignon blanc, riesling, and viognier… but sometimes chardonnay comes calling.

The Murphy-Goode is an excellent answer.

It’s a light straw yellow in the glass, but there is a hint of green here too. It’s not always easy to see (and no, I wasn’t holding the glass up to a green wall or anything) but it’s there. The nose features aromas of oak, grass, lemon zest, and rain.

Yeah, I said rain, wanna fight about it?

The wine is medium-bodied, with a light oakiness, but the wine in general is clean, crisp, and light. There’s a little of that chardonnay “butteriness” here too, but so’s some minerality, a nice wet stone minerality that cuts the butter (haw!) and keeps everything a little more light hearted.

A solid, solid addition to any chard fan’s cellar. Murphy is, after all, Goode.

Verdict: B+

2007 Murphy-Goode Sonoma County Chardonnay