Patricia Green Cellars

If you heard the following: “Anden, Balcombe, Bonshaw, Etzel, Windlea” would you be:

1. Saying: “Roger…Wilco, over and out” and preparing for the carpet bombing of an enemy target?
2. Calling for a linebacker blitz audible out of a 3-4 package and man-to-man coverage on the wide-outs?
3. At a new age baby shower helping to pick out names for a boy/girl?

Actually if you were around when I did repeat the above you would be grabbing bottles of single vineyard Pinot Noir wines produced by Patricia Green Cellars.

Patricia Green & Me +some signed Magnums

Patricia Green is a self taught winemaker who through pluck, tenacity and extreme passion has risen to the top echelon of premier Pinot Noir producers in the Willamette Valley. I had come across a great article about Patty and wanted to share it.

The following is an excerpt of an article written by: Christina Kelly, Avalon Editor/Writer
Everything about Patty Green defies appearance.
The 53-year-old winemaker didn't follow the usual path to wine country. In fact, her arrival followed a long history of working in non-traditional professions, including tree planting, sailboat crewing, work in construction and geophysical surveying. (Norm's note: I even heard tales of her having been a mocassin maker, a silver jewelry artisan and even having boasted of living in a cave in the SW at one time. None of this is verifiable and it may have been my overactive imagination and or too much of her wine that planted this in my memory).
At 5-feet tall, she doesn't look like a winemaker, although up close, her small frame contradicts a physical and inner strength often overshadowed by a beaming smile.
With nearly 17 years of winemaking experience, Green finally opened her own winery, Patricia Green Cellars, in the fall of 2000. This also didn't happen the way most transactions occur in the purchase of a winery. In fact, Oregon's wine industry almost lost Patty Green that year.
How it Began
In 1986, Green began working at Hillcrest Vineyards in Southern Oregon at the request of a friend. With an innate sense of how things work and a mechanical aptitude, Green performed a number of jobs at the winery. When the 1987 harvest came in, she made wine and in 1988, became the official winemaker.
She left Hillcrest in 1989 and took work in the construction industry. However, she continued to keep one foot in the wine industry, working the harvest for Adelsheim in 1990-91. For the following two years, Green made wine for La Garza Winery in Southern Oregon.
Torii Mor hired Green in 1993, where she worked for the next seven years. It was during this time that Green developed a loyal staff that stayed with her after she left Torii Mor. The parting was not easy.
Green was uncertain what she would do next. She didn't think it would be in the wine industry.
"I was ready to change my life," Green recalled. "I was burned out, fed up and tired with the wine business. I don't think people understand how hard this work can be."
Making wine for other people was sometimes frustrating, especially if winery owners and the winemaker didn't always see eye to eye.
Although Green was ready to leave the wine industry, it was not ready to let her go. She left Torii Mor in 2000 without knowing where the future would lead her. It was deja vue with Green - following instincts when the path before her was as clear as a desert sand storm.
In the past, Green always landed on her feet, happy to pursue another adventure in her life. This time, however, grape growers and winemakers urge her to stay in the industry and produce wine.
Vineyard owners told Green they wanted to sell their fruit to her. She explained she had nothing - no winery, no equipment, no staff. But Green promised to consider their offers if something fell into her lap.
"A short time later, I walked into Panther Creek Cellars and there were a number of (Willamette Valley) winemakers doing a tasting," Green recalled. "As I walked over to their table, they all applauded me.
"It was the spurring on from people in the wine industry that kept me here," she added. "I am very thankful to those people in the Oregon wine industry."
Winemaker Ken Wright said he doesn't believe Green would have left the industry.
"Her internal compass would have brought her back," Wright said. "She so obviously loves what she is doing and she wears that enjoyment. She loves it right down to her soul."
On March 1, 2000, about two weeks after she left the wine industry, Jim Anderson, who worked at Torii Mor with Green, and left at the same time, received a call from Tom and Wendy Kreutner, owners of Autumn Wind Vineyards. The couple offered to sell their winery. Green and Anderson had a friend who wanted to be a silent partner in an Oregon winery so all parties began discussions.
"By July 21, we closed the deal and looked forward to harvest," Green said. "It was pretty fateful alright."
The estate has 26 acres, although Green and Anderson farm 60 acres of property for grapes. Green lives at the estate with four cats - they take care of the house and farm just fine when their owner is on the road.
Were it not for the loyalty of her friends and employees - Anderson (her business partner and cellarmaster), Jose Garcia (her vineyard manager who worked with her at Torii Mor) several vineyard workers who have been with her for years and others who helped out when it was needed, Green said the winery would only be a dream, not a reality.
"I think when you go to a winery, there is a feeling about it, an ambience," Green said. "We are a cohesive bunch. We are a loyal group and I think it shows.
"I don't do all of this by myself - it's physically impossible to do it all. If you take care of the people around you, you will get rewarded."

Oregon (The Willamette Valley) has definitely been discovered in regard to the Pinot Noir we produce here. The industry has just barely transitioned into the second generation of most family wineries and vineyard owners and managers are still trying to figure out what grows where. The distinct soil types and different Pinot Noir clone varieties will keep this area playing hop scotch with their vineyards for more than my life time. Pinot Noir is a grape that reflects not only where it is grown but also the personality of the winemaker.

I tasted the 2007 lineup at Patricia Green Cellars on the pre-Thanksgiving release weekend. Patty poured 12 + wines and all had a distinct personality

Patty Green's wines have her personality. The wines are approachable young, but they have the ability to age and develop complexity over time. Earth, fruit, a bit of funk and a whole lot of fun is how I would describe these wines.

I swung over to Penner-Ash after a 2 hours stop at PGC. Lynn Penner-Ash is a classically trained winemaker and she and has a gorgeous winery within eye sight of PGC. Lynn makes roughly the same amount of wine as Patty (8,000 cases), but the styles are dramatically different. Lynn has a strong science background and an incredible palate. She has a much more cerebral approach to her wines vs. the intuitive approach that Patty projects. I urge anyone who thinks that all Pinot Noir tastes the same to do a side by side of these two great producers. Maybe I will even see some of you next year (the weekend before Thanksgiving).

Vintner

Sineann, Domaine Drouhin, Boedecker, Ken Wright....Oh My!

Chien Fache (Mad Dog)

This Saturday I was fortunate enough to be a guest at a Foodbuzz 24,24,24 event. My friend Heather came up with the idea to do a locavore event called: Hunter, Gather, Vintner. My contribution to the event was the idea of providing local wines as well as some homemade (soon to be commercial) wines I helped to make.
I have been making wine with a handful of friends since 2004 and my passion for wine has never been stronger than it is today. The wine I want to make is so much more than a commodity and what my co-winemakers and I believe is to make great wine you need to start with great grapes. The term "Wine is made in the vineyard" is probably overused, but none the less very true.
The menu that Heather developed for the dinner included Elk, Salmon and Chantrelle mushrooms. These are flavors that to me almost scream to be paired with Pinot Noir and since we happen to live adjacent to a "World Class" wine region the access to high quality, small production wine was more than just a wish.
For the event I brought out five wines that I helped to produce and also four commercial wines as well.
The line-up with tasting notes included:

2004 Chien Fache Yamhill County Pinot Noir-Light colored, almost a rosé in color and very Burgundian in the nose. This is a wine that early on we would chill and serve as a Rosé. With time this wine has become more complex and the bright acidity remains and this wine has a nice balance of perfume on the nose and a good interplay of fruit and acid on the palate.
2005 Chien Fache Dundee Hills-Holstein Vineyard- Pinot Noir-This wine was made from grapes sourced from the vineyard of Allen Holstein. Allen is a long time vineyard manager and has managed properties for Stoeller, Argyle, Domaine Drouhin & Knudsen. His home vineyard is on a great Southeast facing slope in the Dundee Hills. This appellation is know for its red Jory Clay soil.
This wine has big, concentrated black fruit driven nose. The palate shows dark fruit and maybe even a bit of dried fruit (fig and dried currant). Good acidity and a long finish. Unfortunately this was a wine we only made a tiny amount of so today I have about 2 bottles left.
2005/2006 Chien Fache Dundee Hills-Holstein Vineyard- Pinot Noir-2006 was a leaner year than 2005 and this "Cuvee" balances the richness of the 2005 with the bright cherry fruit of the 2006. Great perfume on the nose and a brighter fruit focus that leans towards red cherry and sour cherry. Again a very small production and I might have two bottles of this hanging around as well.

Oregon's next "Cult" Pinot Noir

2006 Chien Fache Dundee Hills-Holstein Vineyard- Pinot Noir- This is a very "Manly" Pinot Noir. Concentrated black/purple fruit on the nose and a fruit driven style of wine that brings blackberry, marionberry and blueberry on the palate. I am sipping this tonight and I am getting a taste of berries and some black licorice. Great balance and mouth coating tannins that are very polished considering this has only been in the bottle for two months. Great with Salmon or venison and this wine has enough stuffing to go well with a rare Ribeye as well.
2006 Chien Fache Walla Walla-Ash Hollow Vineyard-Cabernet Sauvignon- A Cabernet that shows what the fuss is about Walla Walla. Good upfront dark cherry fruit on the nose that shows a bit of spice and vanilla as well. A balance fruit driven style that has good tannin and a Cabernet we were very pleased with (this was our first effort with that grape). This wine went especially well with the Elk served with dinner.
2003 Domaine Drouhin-Laurene-Pinot Noir-This was a great bottle of Oregon Pinot Noir. The "Laurene" is the reserve wine of DDO and all of their wine is "estate wine" which means they own their own vineyard (100+ acres of top notch Dundee Hills property). The wine had very good balance and a perfumed nose. Red fruits with a hint of French Oak. You could do worse than to have this be your introduction to Oregon-Willamette Valley- Pinot Noir.
2003 Ken Wright-Elton Vineyard-Pinot Noir-Ken Wright is one of the 2nd generation of winemakers that came to the Willamette Valley. Ken has been making Pinot Noir for over 20 years and today he has achieved "cult" status for his line-up of single vineyard wines. The Elton vineyard bottle was a concentrated wine that showed earth and dried rose petal on the palate. Bright acidity and a fun mushroom component that paired well with the bounty of Chantrelle's we harvested.
2004 Boedecker-Stoeller Vineyard-Pinot Noir-This wine is made by Athena and Stewart Boedecker. Their part time wine venture is on the verge of becoming their vocation. The Stoeller vineyard is also in the Dundee Hills Appellation and the Boedecker's got enough grapes to make 50 cases of wine (2 barrels). This wine showed good restraint and a balanced nose of red cherry/raspberry fruit. Good acidity and a nice finish.

2004 Sineann-Resonance Vineyard

2004 Sineann-Resonance Vineyard-Pinot Noir-Last but not least was my favorite wine of the night. This wine made by Peter Rosback of Sineann was stellar. Peter is a self taught winemaker who today has enough reknown to also make wine for Thomas Keller and his restaurant "The French Laundry". I have been buying Peter's wines for years, but when I heard he was making wine for Thomas Keller my respect for him grew even more and I remember uttering that if he is making wine for Thomas then he "Is the Sh**".
Great nose of red and purple fruit, a well balanced wine that showed enough acidity for the Salmon and enough tannin for the Elk. Blueberries with heavy cream on the palate and a very long finish.

Okay, I know these notes were a bit wordy and probably give you more than you want to know about wine but most of the information is there to glean. All in all I was very pleased with how the wine I helped to produce held up in this esteemed company.
All of the commercial wine is in the $40-65/bottle category and wines like the Boedecker Stoeller vineyard are nearly impossible to obtain. The food was fantastic and this was truly a special day of great food and great company. I am glad to have been a part of it.

Blind Tasting

Professionals at work

This weekend my "formal" wine group Confrerie des Vignerons de St. Vincent Macon held a "blind" tasting of 10 Oregon Pinot Noir wines. By blind I don't mean that you needed a seeing eye dog to attend. Tasting blind means that you conceal the identity of the wines you are tasting and you judge on taste alone. The quality of the wine has to stand on its own and just because the producer is reknowned or that the label happens to be a cute animal is not going to carry the day in one of these events.

Like the "Unknown Comic", except for wine

The great thing about these events is that you really get a chance to smell and taste and throw out random comments about how stuff tastes. The downside is when you have the winemakers in attendance (we had three) you just hope that none of the wines they brought is going to be an embarrassment (none were).

The only REALLY funky wine of the night was a 2001 Panther Creek-Bednarik Vineyard that tasted like a slightly older Bordeaux (kind of a "barnyard meets saddle leather" not exactly what I am looking for in a Pinot Noir).

Tasting or drinking?

My winemaking friends Tom Harvey and Andria Shirk were able to attend the event. What made that special is we had spent the morning bottling our own 2006 Holstein Vineyard-Dundee Hills Pinot Noir and we were throwing it into the event as well. Just for good measure we also tossed in our 2005 vintage of that same wine. If you click on the below photo you can see my notes of the tasting. We ended up being really happy with how our wines showed. The 2006 needs some time in a dark, cool place. I want to see how this shows after a year in the bottle.

Notes

Good Things Come in Small Packages

1998 Chateau Reignac

I was able to purchase some "half" bottles (375 ml.) of a Bordeaux wine that I discovered about 8 years ago. I had found the 1998 Chateau Riegnac online at $9.oo/bottle. FYI, that is a screaming deal!!!
In Bordeaux as it is in the rest of the wine world, the quality of the fruit has the largest single impact on the quality of the wine. Typically soil and micro-climate or as the French call it: "Terroir".
The problem in Bordeaux is that in 1855 just before they hosted the World's Fair the Chamber of Commerce for the City decided to actually put together a list of the quality producers of wine. At that time price was generally perceived as the measure of quality. I don't think that anyone would have an issue with the wines that were selected as part of the 1st Growth:

Chateau Latour
Chateau Lafitte Rothschild
Chateau Margaux
Chateau Haut Brion
Chateau Mouton Rothschild (re-classified from a 2nd growth in 1973)

The real issue is that since that original Classification in 1855 there have been exactly two chateau's who have either been added or bumped up the list. The first wine added was Chateau Cantemerle. That winery was added in 1856. The next revision was for Chateau Mouton Rothschild which after decades of lobbying and a tremendous amount of money spent by the powerful and influential Phillpe de Rothschild they were granted 1st Growth status in 1973.

Today the quality of winemaking has improved in Bordeaux just as it has in the rest of the world. Much more is understood about weather, grape clones, vinification and what constitutes true "ripeness" in grapes.
There are only 61 wineries that have what is called a Cru Classes designation. By all accounts there are probably an equal number who make quality at or above that of the Cru Classe wines. At stake is the sales price of the wines on the list. There are 5 growth classifications and the prices drop steadily from the 1st Growth downward. The quality level from Ch. Latour (1st Growth) to Lynch Bages (5th Growth...but widely considered to be 2nd Growth quality) is very small, but the price differential is almost 10 fold. The 2005 Ch. Latour is retailing at around $1900.00/per bottle. The 2005 Lynch Bages goes for just over $100.00/btl. Keep in mind that the 2005 vintage was spectacular and coupled with the 2000 vintage (the vintage of our lifetime and the best since 1961) we are experiencing a "tipping point" with these wines. Due to the world demand and also to their limited production, the prices on the creme de la creme wines are going to continue to go up.

Chateau Reignac is one of the wines that has no classification and really no pedigree. The winery Reignac is the poster child for a modern-styled, "better than its pedigree" Bordeaux Superieur. The wines high quality is a testament to the exceptional commitment demonstrated by proprietor Yves Vatelot. This large (125 acres) hillside vineyard, planted in gravelly/clay soils, is composed of 75% Merlot and 25% Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine is aged on its Lees and it ages in new French Oak ($1000 per barrel) for 22 months. Yields are often lower than many classified growths (1.8 tons per acre). It is typical for quality wine producers to thin or "green harvest" the number of clusters they allow per vine. The magic number is somewhere around 2 tons per acre. Grapes left to grow untended will easily produce 3 to 4 times that amount of fruit. For table wines, yields that high may be acceptable, but for the highest quality producers the decision to reduce yield and concentrate fruit and flavors is to the benefit of the drinker. Wines like Chateau Latour see this yield reduction rewarded with release prices in the $600-1000/bottle range. Chateau Reignac who puts all the care of a Cru Classe wine into its production sees their wines selling in the low $20's /bottle.
The winery has also employed as a consultant the internationally acclaimed Michel Rolland, what does that mean? It means that unless you are Bill Gates or Warren Buffett (Bill drinks Pepsi) you should be spending your hard earned dollars on stocking up on wine like Chateau Reignac. Personally, I don't know how they can spend this much money in the vineyard and in the winery and sell wine in the American market for $20-30/bottle. Take advantage of the prices and the quality of this wine.

1998 Chateau Reignac
Deep garnet with just a hint of brickish color. Complex nose of black cherries, cedar, tobacco and baking spices Medium to full bodied with ripe black cherries and dark chocolate with the slightest hint of vanillian(oak) Lush and concentrated with quite a long finish. Can cellar for 10+ years.

The Fruits of our Labor

Bottling 2006-Ash Hollow Vineyard-Walla Walla-Cabernet Sauvignon

In early 2004 it was my fortune to meet Tom Harvey. I had ordered some 2000 Bordeaux futures a couple of years earlier and the wine was getting ready to be delivered. Tom is the co-owner of Portland Wine Storage along with his wife Andria Shirk and his business partner Joe Padulo. The facility they own is a self storage temperature and humidity controlled wine cellar. A person can rent a small locker or in some cases a large room to house a fine wine collection.
When I met Tom, he and Andria were just dating. Another person I met about the same time was Sam Sundeleaf. I met Sam at a wine tasting event in Portland and we discovered that we both stored wine stored at PWS. Soon, Sam, Tom, Andria and I were holding informal wine events and as fall approached in 2004 we discussed actually making wine together. Andria had made wine at home and had a small hobby vineyard in her parents backyard. I had made wine the two previous years as well. My first batch was from a wine kit and my second was from fruit a friend had given me from Seven Hills Vineyard in the Columbia Valley.
In October we went out to a small vineyard site just outside of Beaverton, Oregon and picked about 1200 lbs of fruit. The four of us thought that picking 1/2 a ton would be a snap and we would be out of the vineyard by noon. By 2:00 we still needed about 200 lbs. more and we all agreed at the days end that picking grapes was some of the most strenuous work any of us had done. I had picked apples as a teen, moved sprinkler pipe, bucked hay and I will testify that I have never been so sore and tired.
Our 2004 Pinot Noir ended up being a light colored (quails eye), high acid wine that had a Burgundian edge to it.
In 2005 we found a much better fruit source for our Pinot Noir and we were able to buy grapes from Allen Holstein. Allen owns a vineyard in the Dundee Hills and he also happens to be a vineyard manager who has worked with the likes of Argyle, Stoeller, Domaine Drouhin.

Making wine is easy, making great wine is difficult. The better the fruit is, the higher your odds are of making a truly exceptional wine. If you start with bad fruit it doesn't matter how phenomenal of a winemaker you are, the end result will still be average at best.
One thing that we have understood from the beginning is that wine is made in the vineyard and the less you manipulate it, the better your results will be. Since our equipment is makeshift, we essentially are making wine as the French did 50 years ago. Hand harvesting, hand sorting, and hand crushing. We use older French barrels for our wine so the fruit isn't overpowered by the wood of the barrel and we allow the wine to barrel age a bit longer than a commercial winery would. Our results have been beyond our wildest dreams

2005-Dundee Hills-Holstein Vineyard Pinot Noir

It started out of a curious interest, but since 2004 we have made a Pinot Noir in every vintage. Our 2005 Pinot was an exceptional wine and the 2006 Holstein Vineyard Pinot Noir promises to be even better.
In 2006 we were able to source Cabernet Sauvignon fruit from Ash Hollow Winery in Walla Walla. The resulting wine was bottled in July of 2008 and the wine shows the characteristic chocolate and cherry flavors that are prevalent in wines from that appelation. This wine was a top ten finisher in the 2008 Oregon State Fair competition.
Tom and Andria have both taken Oenology course work and Andria has worked crush for Joe Dobbs and Shea Vineyards. This year Dick Shea has even offered us a small amount of his vineyards fruit. Shea Vineyard is widely accepted to be a Grand Cru (highest classification in Burgundy) vineyard site and our little group is very excited. An interest that turned to a passion that someday may become even a small business venture. We are making the kind of wines we want to drink and since we don't have stockholders or a board to please we are free to make wine with integrity.

Andria and our hand crafted bottling line

Our hope is that we can share wine with all of our friends and that someday we can share our wine with people whose palate matches our own.

Cheers!

Rose

From time to time I write a little about wine. Wine I drink, wine I collect, what mailing lists I am on, blah....blah....blah...blah! After all, this blog did start out with a wine focus and since the world of wine geeks is an inch wide and a mile deep this blog gives me a small platform to share my humble opinion.
I am sure many of you are looking at the above photo and thinking (WTF?). A pink wine and a screw top? Let me tell you this, there has been a huge paradigm shift with alternative wine closures such as screw tops (actually Stelvin Caps) making huge inroads into with wine industry. Where these closures were once the indication of a "cheap" bottle, today if you know anything about wine you will know that a large number of $20-40 wines are using these Stelvin Caps.
The above wine is a Rose made from Merlot grapes grown at the Celilo Vineyard in Washington State.

As a quick primer, I want to explain in rudimentary terms that Rose wines can be made three different ways.

1. Red wine and white wine are fermented separately and then blended together to create a Rose.

2. The winemaker may decide that in the course of making a red wine that they want to concentrate the juice to skin ration (less juice to more skins) to boost the flavor profile. What the winemaker will do is actually do what the French refer to as a Saignée. This process involves the draining off of a small percent of the grape juice. Since the unfermented juice has had little skin contact the color will be may range from a light pink to a deep Salmon or even Copper color.

3. Rose may be made intentionally by crushing the red grapes and treating the wine as though it were a white wine. White wines are lightly crushed as they are brought in from harvest and see little skin contact. Red wine on the other hand will have extended skin contact (two weeks or so). The Rose wine is then fermented in either stainless steel tanks or neutral oak barrels.

Personally I love Rose and some of the finest Champagnes in the world are technically Rose wines. If you grew up drinking White Zinfandel then these wines will be a suprise to you. Most of them are bone dry, with a hint of red fruit (think Strawberry, Raspberry, Cherry, Cranberry) and a big dose of crisp acidity. They are perfect chilled as an alternative to a cocktail and they go well with almost all poultry.

2007-Phelps Creek- Ceililo Vineyard Rose

2007 Phelps Creek-Celilo Vineyard Rose-Dark for a Rose, almost a Copper color (the skins had 4 days contact on the juice). The wine is made from Merlot grapes and shows bright ripe strawberries on the nose. Good fruit on the palate that is balanced with a crisp acidity and a clean finish. While the wine is fermented almost completely dry, the fruit is big enough to give the slightest hint of sweetness. This is about as far away from a White Zinfandel as you can get. I love this wine!

German Reisling (I am not talking about Blue Nun)

In the wine world there are numerous examples of stellar wines and wine regions being ripped off by less scrupulous producers to make a buck.
Does anyone think that Gallo "Hearty Burgundy" contains any French Pinot Noir juice?
Chablis is a spectacular white wine region in Burgundy that gets little street cred with the general public, mainly because of the ocean of crappy California plonk that gets boxed and sent out to BFE for consumption. I am sure someone is picking up a 5 Litre box and thinking "Gee, this has a French name, it must be good".
Have you seen the Inglenook wines in the grocery store? Does anyone know that the original Inglenook was one of the first top quality California Cabernet Sauvignon wines? Today the entire Inglenook estate has been purchased and brought back to its former glory by Francis Ford Coppala. Today the property is called Rubicon Estate Winery and they don't make any wine that goes into a box (they do make a sparkling wine that goes in a can though...oh, well).
I can think of numerous examples, but I think you get my drift. This weekend my wine group did a German Riesling tasting. These wines are absolutely singular in their ability to express where they come from. Living in the Willamette Valley I have heard winemakers, grape growers, and merchants all proclaim how Pinot Noir is terroir driven. Well, as expressive as Pinot Noir is to where it is grown, Riesling takes the concept of terroir to a whole new level.
Being in my 40's (late) I can remember the Blue Nun craze that started in the 50's and continued into the 80's.
When it was created, the label was designed as a consumer-friendly alternative to the innumerable German wine labels with Gothic script and long, complicated names. Blue Nun was advertised as a wine that could be drunk throughout an entire meal, thereby eliminating the often intimidating problem of wine and food pairing (Who wants to actually have to serve wine that might taste good with your food?).
Anyway, I digress, the line-up for this tasting, along with my tasting notes is as follows:

1985 Christoffel-Prum Auslese Wehlener: Creamy nose, good acid balance with a touch of Caramel on the finish. This wine had no discoloration at all and was remarkable fresh for being 23 years old.

1994 Christoffel-Prum Auslese Urziger: Petrol/kerosene on the nose (classic) and palate. Nice acid balance. This wine too had no visible discoloration or apparent oxidation.

2005 Heyman-Lowenstein Laubach Erste Lage: Petrol nose, funky mid-palate, very thin, watery and a short finish. This wine started off poorly and got worse.

2006 Ackerman Spatlese Zeltinger: Lemony citrus nose, great acidity, a crisp minerality, a full bodied viscous texture. This was my favorite wine of the night.

2006 Kees-Kieran Riesling: Peach on the nose, a hint of effervesence on the palate, tart acidity and a good finish.

2006 Gunderloch Spatlese Nackenheimer: Soft Peach/apricot on the nose, tart acidity and good fruit with a long finish.


I found the follow information (in italics) on a site called Walter's Web If you really want to exercise the wine geek in you check it out.


Leave it to the Germans to devise a wine labelling system that includes all the information that there is to know, and none of it useful. The top tier German wines are labelled Qualitatswein mit Pradikat, abbreviated QmP. These wines have attained the specified ripeness level (pradikat), come from the named location, are made in the traditional styles, and passes chemical analysis and taste tests (yes, the Germans chemically analyze their wine and look for things like Ph and residual sugar parts per million) The second tier is labelled Qualitatswein bestimmter Angaugebeite, often written simply as Qualitatswein, and abbreviated as QbA. These wines come from the specified location and are made in the traditional styles, but typically do not achieve the ripeness levels required for pradikat designation. The bottom tier consists of things labeled Deutscher Tafelwein or Deutscher Landwein, and rarely escape the country. A German wine label includes the following things: Winemaker, the people who made the wine, such as Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt. You will often see the word "Weingut"; this means winemaker and indicates that the wine was grown, made, and bottled on the premises (in the manner of a French chateau). There are other designations for cooperatives and merchant resellers. Varietal, the type of grape. Most top German wine is Riesling, but one occasionally runs into other varieties like Gewurztraminer or Silvaner. Muller-Thurgau is one of the most widely grown varieties, but nobody advertises this fact because it's a fast-ripening grape designed to be grown in bulk. A named varietal guarantees a minimum of 85% content. Vintage, the year the grapes were harvested. All grapes must come from the named year. Geographic Origin, the region the grapes came from, such as Mosel-Saar-Ruwer. All grapes come from the specified region. A pradikat designation for QmP wines. A vineyard may also be named, such as Piesporter Goldtropfchen, although this is usually done only for the better pradikat wines. Some of the low-end QbA wine omits the varietal and uses a traditional name instead, like Blue Nun or Schwarze Katz. There are rules covering these names as well and are specific to the traditional name. The pradikat designation on the wine indicates the level of ripeness that the grapes have attained. They are, in order of increasing ripeness: Kabinett These grapes are considered ripe. They make the lightest wines of the pradikat-designated wines. Spatlese These grapes are considered late harvest; they have been left on the vine much longer and are more intensely flavored. Auslese These grapes are very late harvest hand-selected grapes, and are extremely ripe. Beerenauslese These grapes are over-ripe and are showing signs of botrytis fungus infection (which is a good thing). The grapes are extremely concentrated and intense, and is usually made as dessert wine. Eiswein These are Beerenauslese grapes that have been deliberately allowed to freeze on the vine. The grapes are pressed while still frozen. The ice locks up most of the water, leaving a more concentrated, sweeter juice. Since the frozen grapes must be hand selected and processed immediately in the middle of the night while they are still frozen, production is very limited and expensive. Trockenbeerenauslese These are Beerenauselse that have been left on the vine so long that they have shriveled due to botrytis. This produces fine dessert wine. Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese is extremely rare and expensive. Sweetness usually goes up as you move up the pradikat scale, although this is not required. The designation only refers to the sugar levels at harvest time, not in the final product. However, in most cases, a higher pradikat wine will taste sweeter and more concentrated than a lower wine at the same alcohol level, since the higher wine has much more residual sugar. Beerenauslese and higher wines have sufficient residual sugar to taste sweet even at 14% alcohol. Wines are reasonably priced through Auslese. Beyond that, prices increace very rapidly. In the case of Riesling, the growing season is often not long enough to produce significant quantities of Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese, and this extreme scarcity leads to high prices. Eiswein of any sort tends to be very expensive as well. For Beerenauslese and higher, the wines are frequently sold in half-size (375ml) bottles, to be more affordable and more accessible (it is difficult for two to finish a full bottle of very intense dessert wine in one sitting). In addition to the pradikat designation, the modifiers trocken and halbtrocken may be added. Trocken means dry; halbtrocken means off-dry. Most Riesling is made with higher residual sugar (hence the common 8.5% alcohol); the trocken and halbtrocken wines are made drier and thus reach more typical alcohol levels of 11.5-12%. Putting all this together: consider this label, courtesy Fitz-Ritter. The pertinent information is that it is a Fitz-Ritter Ungsteiner Herrenberg Riesling Spatlese 1996, Qualitatswein mit Pradikat Pfalz. This means that the wine was made and bottled by Fitz-Ritter (as the "weingut" indication tells us), that it comes from the Herrenberg vineyard near Ungstein, that Riesling grapes were used, that these grapes attained Spatlese level ripeness, tha the harvest year was 1996, and that the region is Pfalz. There, that wasn't so hard, was it? What did I learn from this tasting?
I learned that I much prefer the younger wines. The fruit on the nose and crisp acidity in their youth is more enjoyable than the muted fruit and the petroleum scents that these wines pick up when they are aged (sure, call me unsophisticated).
Since this is a social group that I taste with we usually all bring a bottle to share after the event.

This wine is fun AND kicks Ass!

I had grabbed a bottle of Kung Fu Girl Reisling from Washington State. This is bottled under Charles Smith's (of K-Vintner fame) Magnificent Wine Company label. He has done a terrific job with putting some great juice in the bottle for around $10/bottle. This is a bottle that would more than hold its own against German wines twice its price...plus you get to drink American. Think of it as doing your part to prop up the U.S. economy.

Red Burgundy = Pinot Noir

Coat of arms of the second Duchy of Burgundy and later of the French province of Burgundy

I have been writing about food so much that I almost forgot that this blog started out being more focused on wine. This past Sunday the Confrérie des Vignerons de Saint-Vincent de Mâcon (formal wine group to which I belong) held their June event at Burdigala in the Sellwood neighborhood in Portland. Tastings in this group are set up around a theme and this month it was Red Burgundy. Actually to get specific it was old, really good, Red Burgundy.
In Layman's terms Red Burgundy = Pinot Noir grown in the Burgundy region of France. The French City of Beaune is to Pinot Noir what the Vatican is to Catholicism. I will confess that even with what I consider to be a broad wine knowledge my understanding of the Burgundy region of France is sketchy at best. For more than 10 centuries the Burgundy region was under the powerful control of Benedictine and Cistercian monks. Through painstaking labor they cleared and planted much of the exceptional vineyard sites that today produce some of the most primal and haunting wines in the world. The monks kept meticulous records and made notes regarding soil type, sun exposure, what grapes produced well under what conditions. My own theory is that since these guys were literate (not that common in the middle ages) and they weren't getting laid, they had a lot of energy to channel. Ultimately, their pain has been our gain.
After the French Revolution, much of the church holdings were sold to private parties

The bitch of these wines is that Pinot Noir is a harsh mistress. While she can deliver a wine you will never forget, she is notorious for being inconsistent from vintage to vintage and even from bottle to bottle. Many wine experts (lets use the lay term "geeks") will tell you that much time and money has been wasted on chasing this wine "Holy Grail". Producers are generally the best indicator or quality as is the vintage. Do however keep in mind that a spectacular, mind blowing wine one night may turn into something weak and insipid if you opened it the next night.
Pinot Noir is a fast ripening grape that need cooler weather to ripen slowly. When Pinot Noir has a long growing season this grape when vinified will express the place it comes from almost better than any other grape (German Riesling is in the same small ballpark).
Okay, enough of the cork-dork talk, lets get to some wine tasting (ahem,drinking) notes and a brief explanation about quality levels of Burgundy wine.

At the bottom of the pyramid is Bourgogne Rouge (Pinot Noir) and Blanc (Chardonnay). Bourgogne Rouge & Blanc account for approximately 52% of the wine produced in Burgundy. Next are the Village Wines which are a step up in quality and account for 35% of the wine produced in Burgundy. The grapes for these Village wines come from a smaller, more well-defined place. The names of the village-Beaune, Pommard, Meursault, Chambolle-Musigny, etc. will appear on the label.
The next designation is Premier Cru, these wines make up about 11 % of the total production in Burgundy. These wines are all what is called single vineyard wines. The specific vineyard name will appear on the label after the village name. An example would be Beaune (the village) Clos de la Mousse (the vineyard).
At the top of the pyramid is the Grand Cru designation. These wines are also single vineyard wines and the vineyard sites are so famous that some villages have actually hyphenated their name to include the vineyard. Chambolle-Musigny used to be called just Chambolle until the name was appended to add the name of its most famous vineyard. These wines are made in tiny quantities (think $$$) and the total production of Grand Cru wines make up about 2% of the wines produced in Burgundy. There are only 33 Grand Cru vineyards in Burgundy and the wines that come from these sites can fetch thousands of dollars per bottle.

We tasted 9 wines and the line up included:

2003 Mercurery, Domaine del la Croix Jacquelet, Faively (Village Wine)
Tart Cherry fruit with tart acidity. The mid-palate was balanced and this had a nice finish.
Even though this was a village wine this was the most expensive bottle we tasted.

2003 Savigny Les Beaune narbantons, Mongeard Mugneret (Premier Cru)
Toasty, almost burnt sugar (think creme brulee') nose, concentrated fruit that was very well balanced. This bottle was also slightly corked-f***.

2003 Nuit St. Georges Clos du Marechale Faiveley (Premier Cru)
Floral nose with mouth coating beefy tannins. This wine would go well with a rare steak.

1990 Beaune Clos du Roi, tollot-Beaut (Premier Cru)
Toasty floral nose with smokey sweet fruit and a tart almost citrus marmalade quality. This was my favorite wine of the night.

1986 Vosne Ronamee Les Chaumes, Daniel Rion (Premier Cru)
Barnyard nose with some toasty character. The acidity was at the tipping point and the wine was showing almost all mineral and no fruit. Another note I had was that this wine had almost a whiff of Durian (since I had an opportunity to actually eat one the previous evening)...sweetish, barnyardish essence.

Yeah, this is a crappy picture, but we were literally tasting in a basement with candles for lighting.

The second flight were consisted of four Grand Cru wines. Quick note, the name of the producer is shown after the name of the wine (village/vineyard/producer). As noted above the Grand Cru wines are difficult to come by and you probably don't want to crack these out if you friends are going to add 7-up to make a wine spritzer.

2001 Charmes Chambertin, Mommessin
Feminine nose with a very rich cherry fruit component. Silky finish.

1998 Pommard les Vignots, Leroy
Perfume nose, sweet fruit, good balance and a nice finish.

1997 Latricieres Chambertin, Faiveley
Sweet fruit and perfume on the nose, nice balance and a nice finish.

1997 Mazis Chambertin, Pilippe Naddef
Earth and game on the nose. Tart fruit and good mouthcoating tannins. Long finish. This one needs to see some bottle time in a cool, dark place.

White Burgundy (The Red Wine of White Wine)

The Chardonnay grape is arguably the widest planted vinifera grape varietal in the world. This grape is grown world-wide and the wines produced from it can often be called: "winemakers wine" due to its ability to reflect what the winemaker does in the cellar.
The physical and spiritual home of Chardonnay though is the Burgundy region of France. The true origin of this grape is somewhat suspect, but it appears that it dates back to Roman times and that the grape is a cross between Pinot Noir and Gouais Blanc. Whatever the origin, this grape is being grown around the world. Chardonnay has the reputation of being hardy, adaptable and it grows with relative ease in a wide variety of climates. The "new world" style Chardonnay wines have a very ripe, almost tropical fruit component. Australia and California wines often show this trait. They also tend to have a buttery, oaky (vanilla) edge. The "buttery" component is due to malolactic fermentation which converts malic acid into the softer tasting lactic acid. The use of new oak barrels contributes a vanilla component to the wine, but it can also add hints of baking spices or even a toasted bread quality.

This past Saturday I had a chance to sample 11 Chardonnay wines from Burgundy. The wines were good examples of terrior driven wines. The winemakers used a minimal intervention approach (i.e. , the wine is made in the vineyard). Below is the line-up and my tasting notes.
While the above description and the attached tasting notes may seem a bit pretentious, the reality of these tasting are they are much less formal than it would appear and there is substantially much more "drinking" vs. "tasting" going on. As one of my friends says: "Wine, it's not brain surgery"

The "starter" wines of the afternoon were two Chablis wines.

Simonnet Febvre Chablis Millesime-2004: Mineral nose, tart citrus fruit with a nice minerality on the palate.

Simonnet Febvre Chablis Millesime-2005: Toasty nose, softer citrus fruit. I much preferred the 2004 vintage.

The first flight were three Bourgogne's. These wines are basic "table wines" by their designation, though they cost around $30.00/bottle.

Etienne Sauzet-Bourgogne 2005: Mineral nose, citrus fruit and honey on the palate. Nice clean finish.

Henri Boillot 2005: Smoke and oak on the nose, crisp fruit, dry finish.

D. Denis Mortet 2005: Mineral nose, minerally palate with crisp lemon/citrus fruit.

The second flight were three wines from Meursault. The Wikipedia entry says about Meursault:
Meursault is an Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) situated in the Côte de Beaune subregion of the Burgundy wine region. It lies along the foot of the Cote-d'Or escarpment, around Beaune and with the broad Saône valley plain to its east. Meursault produces mainly white wines from Chardonnay grapes, primarily in a style with a clear oak influence, which have led to descriptions such as "buttery" to be applied to powerful examples of Meursault wines. Within the Meursault AOC there are some Premier Cru vineyards, but no Grand Cru. This has however not stopped the wines from Meursault from competing with the white burgundies from the villages Chassagne-Montrachet and Puligny-Montrachet, where several Grands Crus are situated.
The three wines in this flight were:
Guy Bocard - Meursault-Charmes 2004: Citrus on the nose with a hint of toast.

Guy Bocard - Meursault/ Le Narvaux 2004: Herbaceous nose, creamy mid-palate and a soft finish.

Guy Bocard - Meursault-Vielle Vignes (old vine) 2004: Complex honey/perfume nose, bright, crisp fruit with a creamy finish.

The last flight of the night was two wines from Puligny-Montrachet. The wines from Puligny-Montrachet have a complex minerality. The two wines in the flight were:

Louis Carillon - Puligny-Montrachet 2005: Savory nose and palate, bright lemony fruit, long finish.

Louis Latour - Puligny-Montrachet-"Sous Le Puits" 1st Cru 2005: A lively, with pleasant freshness, slight woody notes on the nose, more mineral. Citrus aromas of lemon, are first noticed, leading into more vegetable ones, fresh cut grass and menthol.

The last wine I tasted (since I was sitting next to Sam Sundeleaf who brought this wine to share after the "real" tasting) was:
Sam Sundeleaf
Michel Colin-Deleger & Fils - Saint-Aubin- 1st Cru "Les Combes" 2003: Big, powerful, toasty new-oak nose. Lots of nuttiness . The palate is very cool and classy. There is lovely clear orchard fruit and a definite mineral acidity. Juicy fruit, and really quite long and fine finish.

All of these wines were nice and these are definitely "big boy" Chardonnay wines with the prices to go with them. The wines in the 2nd and 3rd flight would retail between $40-70/btl. These are wines that you want to share with people who would appreciate them. If you are roasting a pig in the backyard, stick with something a more affordable. Nothing is wrong with macro-brew or even a Two Buck Chuck. While I keep hearing the story about how the Two Buck Chuck Chardonnay won a gold medal at the California State Fair, all of these above wines would beat it like a rented mule in a head to head competition.
Jay Fewel & Guest-Photo-Courtesy of John Montague

1989 Produttori del Barbaresco

Produttori del Barbaresco is a Northern Italian (Piedmont) grape growers co-op dedicated to producing Barbaresco wine. Produttori del Barbaresco was founded in 1958 by the local parish priest, Don Fiorino Marengo, this co-op is widely considered the best in the whole of Italy and among the world's most respected in that category. Today 56 families farm about 250 acres. The co-op produces roughly 35,000 cases annually and in a good vintage they are divided among Barbaresco (40 %), single vineyard Barbarescos (40%) and Nebbiolo Langhe (20%).

The entire Barbaresco appellation has only 1692 acres, so you can see this single producer controls a big share of the market.
You will often hear Barbaresco mentioned in the same breath as Barolo.
Comparisons between Barolo and Barbaresco are unavoidable because they are both made from 100 percent Nebbiolo and their respective growing areas lie not only in the same northwestern region of Piedmont, but on either side of the same town in a hilly area known as the Langhe. The small Barbaresco appellation, named after the sleepy village where the wine originated, radiates to the north and east of Alba and covers the communes or towns of Barbaresco, Neive, Treiso and a sliver of San Rocco Seno d'Elvio for a total of 1,692 acres registered to it.

Last night I had an opportunity to taste the nine single vineyard wines that Produttori del Barbaresco produces. The vintage was from 1989 and the wines are listed below alphabetically with my notes attached. The link above is to the Produttori website and there is some great information about the individual vineyards and their characteristics. What strikes me is that this wine is fairly readily available, yet the single vineyard wine production is around 1000 cases per vineyard (that is tiny!).

Produttori del Barbaresco

1989 Asili: An earthy nose with bright cherry fruit that verges on cherry liquor. The wine finishes with a bit of a bitter edge.

1989 Moccagata: A burnt nose, very astringent, almost mouth puckering with no middle palate and no finish. Over the 90 minutes we tasted this wine actually got worse.

1989 Montefico: Perfume on the nose with a hint of leather. Good soft/ripecherry fruit with a bitterish mid-palate.

1989 Montestefano: Funky nose (sulphur?) that blew off with some time in the glass. Nice tart cherry fruit and a bitter, firm finish.

1989 Ovello: Leather on the nose with ripe, tart cherry fruit, good balance with a long finish.

1989 Pajè: Leather nose, rich cherry fruit with great body and balance and a very long finish.
This was my second favorite of the night. #2

1989 Pora: Medicinal nose, maybe even a bit nutty. A hint of some rich fruit that is overpowered by a bitter, astringent mid-palate and an unpleasant finish. To be fair, this wine was corked and probably oxidized (the nuttiness) as well. This would get a rating of: DPIM-(Don't put in mouth).

1989 Rabajà: A very pleasant earthy nose, rich, tart cherry fruit that verges on cherry liquor. Great balance and a very long finish. My favorite of the night. #1

1989 Rio Sordo: Menthol on the nose, bright cherry fruit with great body and balance with a terrific finish. #3

General Notes: All these wines were purchased at the same time and have been cellared properly since somewhere around 1992. The wines had a similar appearance in the glass as there was a slight brickishness in the color, but this is to be expected from wines approaching 19 years of age. A great opportunity to taste this Produttori horizontal. As with any tasting favorites are all over the board. In this case, the group of 15 scored these wines the same way I did. My top three of the night have more than enough structure to go 5 more years, but they would be great with a nice Italian dinner tonight.

Hey, Ho,Lets Go, Hey, Ho, Merlot!

After all the bad press that Merlot wine got from the movie "Sideways" all I can say it that Miles should have been a little more specific about what Merlot he wouldn't drink. I had a chance to taste eleven wines from St. Emilion last week. All of these wines were primarily Merlot with the second largest component being Cabernet Franc and a couple had a smidge of Cabernet Sauvignon.
St. Emillion is a gorgeous mid-evil village just outside of Bordeaux. The area is referred to as the Right Bank (as opposed to the Medoc and the Left Bank). Unlike the Medoc, the scenery is stunning and the village is a World Heritage site. This area was not classified in 1855 and thus there are no 1st Growth St. Emilion wines. The area finally classified itself in 1954 and to their credit they update the classification every ten years. Without a doubt the top wines from this area would have swollen the ranks of the 1st and 2nd Growth Estates had they been included in the 1855 classification.
We tasted wines from as recent a vintage as 2001 and as early as 1966. This was a rare treat to be able to taste this many wines of this quality at one sitting.
I will list the wines youngest to oldest and include my notes.

2001 Chateau Angelus: Perfume nose, very aromatic, some cola notes. Fruit forward and needing a little more time. This was my favorite wine of the night even if it was a baby.

1998 Chateau Gracia: Very new world in nose (big vanilla) and fruit (bright cherry). This could easily be mistaken for a California wine This is a wine that Parker loves and it is considered a Garagiste wine. The fruit is from a 4.4 acre Grand Cru vineyard and the wine is 85% Merlot & 10% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon which is aged in 100% new French oak.

1998 Chateau Pavie Decesse: Fennel seed on the nose followed by sweet Cherry fruit.

1998 Chateau Tour du Pas St. Georges: Black licorice on the nose with a hint of mint on top of red Cherry fruit.

1996 Chateau Beau Sejour Becot: Savory nose, smoky cherry fruit, a hollow middle but a decent finish.

1993 Chateau Cheval Blanc: Tobacco on the nose with a sweet cherry fruit. Nicely balanced and a strong finish. This is one of the "Big Boys" of St. Emilion and it is the first time I have had this label (thanks Steve and Kimberly) This is the wine that Miles of Sideways fame was drinking out of a paper cup while scarfing a burger. Did he know that this wine was 66% Cabernet Franc and 34% Merlot?

1990 Chateau L'Arrossee: Savory nose, concentrated cherry liquor giving way to a cola overtone.

1989 Chateau Grand Mayne: Smoke on the nose layered with fennel/cedar. Good fruit still left from what was a great vintage in Bordeaux.

1982 Chateau Larmande: Smokey nose, fennel seed, sweet fruit and seemingly slightly thin without much finish.

1982 Chateau La Dominic: Savory nose with a floral component. Secondary fruit character is starting to show.

1966 Chateau Troplong Mondot: Smoked meat on the nose, savory, red fruit with tobacco and a terrific finish. This is why people buy and age Bordeaux wines. The level of complexity showed itself as this wine sat for over and hour. Tasting after an hour the wine still had a nice concentrated fruit character but it was showing almost a caramel sugar on the nose-Too bad I didn't buy a case of this when I was 7 years old.

I ♥ Vieux Telegraphe

I came across a great quote the other day on a neighboring wine blog and I wanted to share it, it says: "It is good to have good friends, and even better to have good friends who love wine, but it is absolutely spectacular when those good friends love the really, really good stuff and want to share."
I would only add, that sharing great food with that great wine heightens the experience that much more.
As my wine palate has shifted over the years I have become a huge fan of the wines from the Southern Rhone, and if you are having a serious wine discussion about this region you "have" to include the appellation of Chateauneuf-du-Pape. These wines are wonderful with food and they offer incredible layers of fruit, smoked meat, garrigue, earth, stone, and animal scents and flavors. You will hear the terms "rustic", "brooding" and maybe even "backward" when these wines are described, but you will certainly know you aren't drinking a Two-Buck Chuck when you enjoy these wines. What they may lack in polish and finesse, they more than make up for in complexity, interest, structure and intensity. While there are 13 grape varietals allowed for the production of red Chateauneuf du Pape, typically the blend of grapes is heavy on the Grenache and then followed by equal parts Mouvedre and Syrah and maybe some trace percentages of Cinsault.
To understand the term "garrigue" I think the following description by Daniel Brunier (owner of Vieux Telegraphe) is very apt, he says:
“The garrigue. That’s the place where nothing else will grow. It is the domaine of the wild lavender, wild rosemary, and scrub oak. It is a place austere and hospitable at once. With nothing more than your nose, you’ll know you are there! But if is is possible to stretch out on the ground without getting jabbed in the back or rear end, you are not really in the garrigue, because in the true garrigue, you’d need to find a flat rock just to sit down. The garrigue smells so good, I can smell it just thinking about it. And in the summer heat, if you piss in the garrigue it is as if you had prepared an herb tea. It is so fragrant, but the garrigue is never silent because it is teeming with life.”
I had the opportunity to sample nine Vieux Telegraphe wines at a recent event. The oldest was from 1978 and the youngest was a 2004. I love this estate and these wines are also among my favorites of any in the world. If forced to choose one wine to take to a desert island (with an unlimited supply of course), my pick would be a Chateauneuf du Pape, and one could do far worse than to be stranded with a container of the 1998 Vieux Telegraphe.
Here are the notes and my ranking from that great tasting:

Vieux Telegraphe 1978: Spice on the nose with some garrigue, dried fruit and saddle leather on the palate, nice tannins (especially after 30 years), nice spicy finish. 4th

Vieux Telegraphe 1985: Unfortunately this bottle was bad and had serious oxidation/maderization. 9th

Vieux Telegraphe 1988: Bright fruit with tart cherry, cracked black pepper on the nose and palate. 2nd

Vieux Telegraphe 1989: Cherry liquor, black pepper with some mineral character. Long finish-very nice. 3rd

Vieux Telegraphe 1990: Earthy/Animal/Barnyard on the nose (in a good way), tart cherry fruit with hints of graphite followed by dusty tannins and a VERY long finish. 1st YUM!

Vieux Telegraphe 2000: Fresh red fruit nose, seemingly a lighter style than the older wines. This opened up later and showed jammy fruit on the palate and some eucalyptus on the nose. 7th

Vieux Telegraphe 2001: Perfumed nose with tart cherry fruit, mouth coating tannins that should age well. 5th

Vieux Telegraphe 2003: Cherry liquor and red fruit showing through. This wine is from a very warm vintage and will need some time to come together. 6th

Vieux Telegraphe 2004: Dried fruit nose, nice balance with firm tannins. 8th
Note: I had a bottle of this on New Years Eve and the fruit was more along the lines of a baked raspberry tart, good spice with garrigue and a very nice finish. I was very happy sharing this bottle with friends! Stay tuned for a long post about the appellation of Chateauneuf du Pape.
Happy 2008-Cheers!

Pax, Saxum, Copain, Oh My!

Photo: l to r; Pax, Norm, Duncan
I have been drinking wine since I turned 19 (Pre-Reagan era Idaho). I had been to Napa, Sonoma, Monterrey and even France (2001) before the wine bug really hit me. I had always enjoyed wine, but I had never really thought (deeply) about what I was drinking and tasting. Once that tipping point occurred, there was no looking back.
Old Vine Zinfandel is what finally threw me over the edge. I was in a wine shop in Calistoga, Ca. and had come across an Oregon Zinfandel from "The Pines" vineyard. That led me to discover Owen Roe, Sineann and like a gateway drug this Zinfandel led me to Walla Walla Cabernets, a 15 case futures purchase of Cru Classe & Petit Chateau 2000 vintage Bordeaux, a 35 case wine cellar (suprising how fast that 5 case undercounter model seemed to fill up) and finally winemaking (100+cases of Dundee Hills-Pinot Noir, Southern Oregon-Del Rio, Syrah and Walla Walla Cabernet Sauvignon).
My wine "journey" had started with high alcohol, fruit bombs from literally my back yard and then with a bit of time, effort and much tasting, my journey left the wine Interstate and headed for paths less taken.
I was lucky enough to come across an article in Food & Wine Magazine that profiled a winemaker named Pax Mahle. Pax had been a wine buyer for Dean & DeLuca and had by chance been presented with some really exceptional Syrah grapes. What did he do?, of course he made wine. Following is excerpted from that Food & Wine article published in October 2005:

Pax Mahle got a good idea of what it was like to be a cult winemaker when a special five-case lot of his 2004 Pax Wine Cellars Syrah sold for an auction-high $18,000 at the Paso Robles Hospice du Rhône benefit this past spring. Word has gotten out fast about this talented, ultratraditionalist 34-year-old who released his first wines just five years ago. "We take a very pure approach," explains Mahle, "one that was more commonplace 100 years ago in France than it is today." That approach includes organic farming, foot-crushing the grapes, natural fermentations and absolutely no fining or filtering. Though he's new to winemaking itself, Mahle says, "Wine is the only business I've ever been in." His résumé includes stints as a waiter, sommelier, cellar rat and, finally, wine buyer at Napa specialty market Dean & DeLuca. After tasting a few thousand wines for his job at D&D, Mahle became convinced that the cool coastal vineyards of northern California could produce his beloved Rhône style of nuanced, layered Syrah. While working at D&D, Mahle met the owner of the renowned Alder Springs Vineyard, Stuart Bewley, who asked Mahle who he thought would one day make California's best Syrah. "I will," answered Mahle. "At the time I was kind of joking," he says. Today Pax Wine Cellars produces 15 small-production Rhône-style wines in a converted warehouse space in Santa Rosa. Among these wines are 11 vineyard-designated Syrahs from sources all over Sonoma and Mendocino counties, including the much sought-after Alder Springs Vineyard "The Terraces" ($75), a bottling that evokes descriptors such as marzipan, baked blueberries and roasted coffee.















Photo: Sharon, Norm, Larry -ZAP 2007
Fast forward to January 2007 when I was in San Francisco for ZAP (yes, that is me with Larry Turley...what a really nice guy!). I had been in loose email contact with one of Pax's associates (Tripp Donelan). Tripp had extended an invitation to "Stop by when you are in the area", and I had taken him for his word. I scheduled a morning appointment to stop by the winery and meet Pax and tour the "winery". I had been smart enough to join the mailing list after I had read the F & W article and had been buying Pax's Sonoma Hillsides Syrah online. I also thanked my lucky stars that I was smart enough to Mapquest the location of the winery before venturing out, because driving around Santa Rosa in a funky residential/industrial neighborhood I would have thought I was lost. No vineyards, no tasting room, heck, I think one of Pax's neighbors in this tilt -up concrete, flex space, office park is a garage door manufacturer/screen door repair business (Although to be fair, Copain Cellars is less than a mile away).
Okay, so it is my 48th Birthday, I am amped up on coffee, and I am FINALLY getting to actually meet Pax. We walk up to the glass entry door (which is locked), Pax lets us in, and introduces us to his assistant winemaker Duncan. I don't know what I was expecting, but these guys are super nice, down to earth and after I hand them a 2003 Sineann Old Vine "The Pines" Zinfandel we head back to the production area. However funky the outside of this facility is, the wine production and barrel storage area is 1st class. Clean, well organized and I could tell these guys weren't flying by the seat of their pants.
A quick look at the facities and then we proceed to taste (and spit.....well mostly spit) about 10 different wines. Pax is modeling his wines along the lines of a Northern Rhone Syrah in California. When I took a bottle of his Kohbler Vineyard Syrah to a large BYOB cellar party with a ton of wine people in attendance, the response was that this wine "Kicks ass" and if it had a French label it would be selling for $100+/bottle.
I regret I didn't take notes, but we tasted though nearly all the single vineyard wines in barrel.
We talked about his wine, wine we collect, wine we drink, how if we made more money it would be invested in more wine. I sensed an intense passion and drive for what they are trying to do. These wines are very "Terroir" driven wines. These wines have good acid, a nice tannin structure to age well, lower alcohol, flavors of game, smoked meat, dark purple fruit, plums, blackberry, blueberry's, earth, tobacco, baking spices, minerals, tar (and a partridge in a pear tree...just kidding) and a REALLY light hand with oak (love that). These wines are part of what I have been discovering this past couple of years and describing as "cool climate Syrah". John Alban was a pioneer and now the next generation that includes labels like Pax, Copain, Saxum, Peay and the like are producing Syrah like we in Oregon produce Pinot Noir. That means the wine is made in the vineyard, with attention paid to how much fruit is grown (2 tons or less per acre), sorting of fruit prior to fermentation, minimal handling, natural fermentation, no fining or filtration with bottling. These wines are unlike any other Syrah, in fact it is almost an injustice to call this just "Syrah", it is like calling a Lamborgheni a "car". Interestingly enough there are several vineyard growing these "cool climate" Syrah grapes that also make a dynamite Pinot Noir (Peay sells fruit to Williams Selyem.......nuff said?) I admit to having had few, if any Northern Rhone wines from France but my feeling about these California Syrahs is that they are attractive with a ton of depth and interest and complexity-kind of like if Heidi Klum the supermodel had a Ph.D in quantum physics, had a show on the Food Network, played professional beach volleyball and also happened to be the U.S. Secretary of State.
Lets just say that if I made more money from selling the wine I make, I would be buying more wine from the above group of producers (anyone wanna buy some Oregon Pinot?).

By the way, Pax is a super fun guy to hang out with, plus, since I brought an offering (Sineann 2003 Old Vine "The Pines" Zinfandel) he sent me home with a Kohbler Family Vineyard Syrah-(I love it when that happens!)