Wednesday, December 1st, 2010

2008 Turley Dusi Vineyard Zinfandel

Hot Paso Zin For Your Cold Autumn Nights

It’s cold!

For those of you without the good fortune of calling the San Francisco Bay Area home, let me introduce you to the term “weather wimp.”

Weather Wimp, n., one unaccustomed to extreme changes in weather conditions and temperature, and who will embarrassingly complain about daytime temperatures outside the range of 65°–85° Fahrenheit.

This obviously changes a bit from season to season. We weather wimps are not unreasonable. We don’t expect 85 degree weather in November. But we also can’t handle 35 degrees in November. During the day. With the sun out.

In order to salve my worried soul over the implications of such CLIMATE CHANGE (sorry, was that emphasis distracting?) on my future and the future of my as-yet-to-be-conceived children, I turn to you, dear reader, with a tale of hot wine for cold nights.

Now, “hot” isn’t always a good thing. Usually, in fact, it’s used in a derogatory manner to describe wine that shows off too much of its alcohol; that is, to put it bluntly, unbalanced. Perhaps nigh undrinkable.

But I also think of “hot” wine as big, bold, fruity, and yes, alcohol-heavy wine from hot regions of the world, like Australia, parts of South America, and California’s Central Valley, like Lodi or Fresno.

Or Paso Robles.

Dusty, windy, seemingly inhospitable, to an outsider appearing to be fit for neither man nor beast, Paso Robles provides the world with some very impressive wine. The hot region within California’s sprawling Central Coast AVA is home to, among many others, Dusi Vineyard.

Turley Wine Cellars, located just a hop, skip, and a jump down 101 from the city of Paso Robles itself, is one of more than a few winemakers to make zinfandel from Dusi Vineyard grapes. And what kind of zinfandel is it, you ask?

It’s pretty. It’s really quite pretty. Bright, brilliant red-pink in the glass. Lots of zinfandel hangs out in the darker hues, but this is nice and bright. Warm, and inviting. It stays pretty on the nose, too, with underripe strawberry and some succulent red apple notes. Finally, it’s pretty on the way down, as well: a sort of candied cherry mixes with some earthtones to mellow out what was beginning to be a too-pretty, too-sweet affair.

And the alcohol is here. This isn’t, by any means, a food-pairing wine. But on a cold autumn night, with temperatures hovering in the high 30s or low 40s, your favorite weather wimp likes to be warmed up. And this is a hot Paso Robles zinfandel that can do just that.

Verdict: 89/100
Price Point: $50-$60

Friday, October 8th, 2010

2008 Sebella Chardonnay

Sonoma County Chard Leaves Me Dreaming Of Chablis

I am a Chablis fan. Something about the chalky minerality, the incredibly light touch of oak, the focus around creamy custardy flavors just does it for me.

I have a few friends who are much more into the “standard” California-style chardonnay. Butter, oak, lots of it. A color that looks almost like burnt almond or like 14k gold jewelry. Not me. That’s not my style.

This, this is my style.

The 2008 Sebella Chardonnay from Sonoma Valley’s Hanzell Vineyards is a very true-to-Chablis chardonnay. The intention of the winemaker of “following old world Grand Cru Domaine and First Growth Chateau classification philosophies”¹ truly shines through, as this wine sidesteps most of the problems I usually have with California chardonnay.

The wine is a light straw-yellow in the glass, though it fades to clarity at the edges. It’s darker than, and without the green tint of, sauvignon blanc, but much lighter than the “classic” California chard look.

On the nose are a touch of grapefruit, apple, lemon pudding or custard, and granite. Wet stone. The minerality is my favorite part of Chablis, so when I noticed it here, unabashed, on the nose, I was quite excited.

And the wine did not let me down.

The 2008 Sebella Chardonnay is medium-bodied, with a long, lingering finish. Chalk and granite minerality play here, especially on the back of the palate and on the finish. In the meantime, grapefruit, lemon zest, lemon custard, and the bite-you-back of Granny Smith apple peel play around on the front and mid-palate.

This is incredibly drinkable. Very classic. True to Burgundy.

In other words, exactly what chardonnay should be.

Verdict: A-

2008 Sebella Chardonnay

Footnotes

Reference ↩

Monday, August 30th, 2010

2008 Soléna Estate Hyland Vineyard Pinot Noir

Fruit-Forward Oregon Pinot Worth More Than Just a Taste

Oregon’s doing something right with pinot noir, I don’t think anyone is really arguing otherwise at this point.

Sure, you can argue, as I have, that nothing happening over on this side of the world matches up to the best of Burgundy, but when the great pinot noir regions of the western hemisphere are named off, Oregon cannot be excluded.

And if you know your Oregon pinot, you know Willamette Valley. McMinnville is a sub-appellation of the WV that sits at the north end of the valley, south of Portland. An elevation-restricted AVA, qualifying vineyards need not only be within the geographic borders of the McMinnville AVA, but they must sit between 200 and 1000 feet above sea level.

These people are specific about their wine.

Not surprisingly, the AVA is dominated by vineyards of pinot noir, with a smaller amount of other Burgundian varieties like chardonnay, pinot gris, and pinot blanc. One of the most storied vineyards within the AVA is the Hyland Vineyard, a pinot noir-dominated vineyard that has produced award-winning pinots for decades.

This is Oregon. I wasn’t going to say “centuries.”

Anyway, this wine is Soléna Estate’s Hyland Vineyard pinot noir, all pinot, all from the single vineyard. The wine is a dark, vibrant ruby red at its core, and lightens a bit to a dark pink at the edges.

The nose is a mixture of bright ripe strawberry, and darker, stewed fruit, mostly cherry and plum. The wine is medium-bodied, with a long, lustrous finish. The stewed fruit from the nose is all over the palate, but so is a hint of mossiness that starts to get us towards that “forest floor” element that Burgundies always seem to feature. Not quite, though.

The 2008 Hyland Pinot from Soléna clocks in at a bit-high-in-my-opinion 14.5% ABV, but it’s balanced very nicely. The alcohol dominates neither the nose nor the palate, and the whole experience is very pleasant.

In fact, it’s more than pleasant. This is an excellent fruit-forward pinot noir. The “New World” doesn’t always have to compete with France and Italy. Sometimes, we can make our own rules, and rule our own wines. Viva Oregon pinot!

Verdict: A-

Soléna Estate