Napa – Sonoma Trip Booked

Our annual pilgrimage to Sonoma/Napa is booked – Finally!  Given my new schedule, which is predicated on last minute, unexpected travel, I wasn’t able to book this trip as early as I hoped.  Rather than visit during the summer as I did last year, I’ve opted for March with the hope of avoiding some of the crowds and having more quality time with winemakers in their ‘off season’ (if there is such a thing for a winemaker/vineyard owner).

I have a handful of items on our to do list while we’re out there – include attending a bloggers tasting event, as well as meet ups with a couple of friends and winemakers –  but, I would also like to solicit additional suggestions, especially from locals.

I would be most grateful for any interesting, cool, neato, amazing, gotta-do recommendations for small out-of-the-way boutique wineries, hikes, restaurants.  Please email me directly or leave a comment here.  Or, if you are around the Sonoma/Napa area and want to get together for a drink, please let me know.

____________________________

Learning by Doing – A Pinot Tasting

What do you find to be the most effective method to learn about wine?  Reading? Tasting? Wine classes?  For many, ‘learning by doing’ is the most effective way to learn about wine, or any other subject for that matter.

Learning by doing is an economic concept that can be roughly defined as the capability of workers to improve their productivity by consistently repeating the same actions.  For businesses, this consistent repetition – learning by doing – leads to production and cost efficiencies.  For us humans, we tend to get better at stuff – golf, writing, and even wine tasting – via repetition.  Duh, of course, it’s common sense, eh?

Reading about, and tasting a lot of wine is how I began my wine education back in 2005/2006 after suffering a bite from the ‘wine passion bug.’  Although I did learn quite a bit about wine from reading The Wine Advocate, Wine Spectator and a host of wine-related books, along with tasting a lot of wines, I’ve found that my personal wine knowledge tends to expand more by tasting with other people.  By tasting and talking through the wines with a group, and looking at a wine through someone else’s lens, I learn exponentially more than just reading about wine or having a glass or two a night.

To that end, I try to attend all of the small group tastings I can during my weekly travels.  Last week I was in the Washington, DC area working and took that opportunity to get together with fellow wine blogging friend, Dezel of Vine Spot and a couple other winos for a Pinot tasting.  We all threw in a few bucks and got together at Dezel’s place with a few bottles of Pinot.

We tasted five Pinots in the following order:

• Philip LeHardi Mercurey 2005, $25.99
• Muirwood 2007 Pinot Noir Reserve, Suter Vineyard $19.99
• Adelsheim 2006 Pinot Elizabeth Reserve, $39.99
• J 2006 Pinot Noir, Thomas Vineyard, $28.99
• Domaine Jean Luc Dubois Chorey-Les-Beaune Clos Margot 2005, ~$22

First up for the tasting was the Philip LeHardi Mercurey 2005 1er Cru.  Had this been a blind tasting, I would have picked this one as an Anderson Valley, or Russian River Valley Pinot vice a Burgundy.  Very fruit forward – with an intense violet soap aromas along with spice, cherries, and earth.  Equally intense floral flavors, spice and wet straw flavors in the mouth.  A couple of the other guys noted intense mushroom aromas on the nose that I didn’t detect (one of the benefits of group tastings).  Not as much minerality and acidity as I would have liked, but a solid effort and price point for a Premier Cru Burgundy.

Second up in the tasting was the Muirwood 2007 Pinot from Central Coast, CA.  This one was my least favorite of the tasting – the oak treatment overwhelmed the fruit.  18 months in new French oak was way too much for this wine. (my personal opinion – ONLY neutral oak should be used with Pinot) I gave this wine the benefit of the doubt by giving it quite a bit of time in the glass to air out, but the sweet oak aromas and flavors seemed to just get stronger.  This is a big pass.

After the Muriwood, there was only one way for this tasting to go – UP!  Next up was the Adelsheim 2006 Pinot Elizabeth Reserve from Willamette Valley, Oregon.  An elegant, velvety Pinot with cherry, raspberry, spice, earth, and floral notes throughout – followed by a lengthy berry and spice finish.  Adelsheim is one of the premier Willamette Valley producers, and has never disappointed.  At $40, this certainly isn’t a Tuesday or Wednesday night wine, but would make a great wine to open for the holidays.  My favorite wine of the evening by far.

Next up was the J 2006 Pinot Noir from the Russian River Valley.  I consider this a typical mid-level RRV Pinot.  On the nose, this wine showed raspberry, cherry cola and intense pepper aromas that I found unusual.  On the palate, this wine is medium bodied, ‘ok’ balanced, with a flavor profile similar to the nose – cherry cola, wet mushroom, baking spice and more pepper.

The last wine in the line up was the Jean-Luc Dubois Chorey-Les-Beaune Clos Margot 2005.  This wine started out with an unusual, and off putting cheddar cheese aroma that quickly burned off with a little air (thankfully).  On the nose I found cherry, raspberry, nice coffee, and wet straw aromas.  Medium bodied wine with flavors of an herbal component with mineral, cinnamon and cherry.  I felt this one had more notable acidity than any of the other Pinots in the line up.

My ranking for the evening, in order …

1. Adelsheim 2006 Pinot Elizabeth Reserve, $39.99
2. J 2006 Pinot Noir, Thomas Vineyard, $28.99
3. Jean-Luc Dubois Chorey-Les-Beaune Clos Margot 2005, ~$22
4. Philip LeHardi Mercurey 2005, $25.99
5. Muirwood 2007 Pinot Noir Reserve, Suter Vineyard $19.99

As with many small-group tastings, I found this Pinot tasting to be a great time to just hang out, talk wine and learn about how others view and perceive wine.  Hat tip to Dezel for hosting the tasting – hopefully he can make it to our ‘Pork and Pinot’ tasting next week.

_____________________________

Drinking Local To Boycott Beaujolais Nouveau

What was lost is now found – I finally found my notes from my trip to Ottawa two weeks ago which is the reason for this belated post.

It’s that time of year again – turkey, family, friends, more turkey, football, and Beaujolais Nouveau release time.  The third Thursday of November marks the annual release date of the young, light purple-pink, bananaish version of Gamay from the Beaujolais region of France.  We have George Duboeuf (primarily) to thank for littering the globe with this disrespectful-to-the-Gamay-grape swill.  (An interesting factoid about Beaujolais Nouveau – the release date is always the third Thursday of November, regardless of which date harvest occurs.)

I’ve read that the carbon footprint to ship Nouveau across the globe is obscene and is reason many avoid purchasing the Nouveau.  I don’t buy it because I think it sucks.

Once again I celebrated the annual release of Beaujolais Nouveau by not buying any.  Instead, I quietly expressed my disdain for the Nouveau by drinking local – local to Canada that is.  My work travels took me to Ottawa, Canada, and on Thursday I found myself in Play Food & Wine in Ottawa’s ByWard Market.   Play Food & Wine is one of the best places in Ottawa to experience small plates, along with Canadian cheese and wine.

For my drink-local-to-boycott-Nouveau wine of the evening was the Stratus Vineyards 2007 Gamay from Niagara-On-The-Lake.  Although the bartender highly recommended this wine, I had my doubts about a Gamay from Canada.  Much to my delight, this Gamay was really tasty good.   This light purple Gamay opens with a lively nose of cherry, overripe raspberry, dust and hints of a meaty component.  On the palate, this wine is light bodied (but very lively) with blueberry candy and that same meaty component.  This wine, in my opinion, showed more acidity than traditional Beaujolais. Although this wine was $62CA per bottle on the Play menu, you can pick up a bottle for $29CA on the Stratus website.  According to the Stratus website, this is only the third release of their Gamay since 2001.

If you find yourself in Ottawa, a stop by Play Food & Wine for dinner and drinks is a must – and be sure to order a glass of the Stratus 2007 Gamay.

Other Drink What You Like Beaujolais related posts:

• Beaujolais – The Summer to Fall Transition Wine
• Marcel Lapierre Morgon
• Not So Nouveau

Coming next… Southbrook 2008 Triomphe Merlot from Niagara…

_______________________________

In search of Canadian reds, eh!

Ok, I realize that ‘eh’ is usually used in the context of a question, but I just had to use ‘eh’ in the subject line since I’m in Canada this week.  (I am still working on my creativity  and photography skills.)

Although I have had many Canadian ice wines, I have never tried a Canadian red, so my mission for this trip is simple – expand my palate, taste a bunch of Canadian reds, and bring back a few.  Admittedly, I have never considered Canada a serious producer of anything other than ice wine, but I am keeping an open mind.

My first Canadian red (just wish I could embed a cheesy drum roll audio clip here)…  Inniskillin 2007 Reserve Series Pinot Noir made from fruit from the Niagara Peninsula.   Located in the Provence of Ontario, the Niagara Peninsula has the largest planted area of all the viticultural areas (VQA) in Canada with 13,600 acres under vine.  Thirty-two varietals are grown in The Niagara Peninsula (surprised by that fun fact).

Inniskillin Pinot Noir 2007 Reserve Pinot –  I ordered this as my first glass to accompany dinner of grilled salmon.  Not a very positive beginning – I found this wine thin, green with loads of very tart cherry.  I believe this wine retails for about $18CA/bottle ( ~$17/bottle US).  I noticed this wine in the airport Duty Free shop for just $14CA.  I think I’ll stick with the excellent Inniskillin Ice Wines from now on.

My next wine of the evening was this ‘little’ beauty, the Jackson-Triggs 2007 Cabernet-Merlot also from the Niagara Peninsula.   I received this as a check-in gift at the hotel, but I believe a bottle of this wine retails for about $15 CA.  Dark ruby in the glass, this wine showed a basic nose of dark fruit – blackberry, plum, and currant.  In the mouth, muted tannins with dark fruit and earth flavors.   An ‘ok’ wine, but definitely not on my ‘gotta have again’ list.

 

Although I have not had much luck here in Canada in terms of finding a nice red (yet), I must say Canada could win the ‘Friendliest Locals in The World’ award.  It’s interesting how friendly and social the Canadians are.

Next stop is Play Food and Wine in the By Ward Market to check out their Canadian offerings.

Hat tip to Tom Firth of Wine Access Magazine and Natalie MacLean for wine and restaurant recommendations while here in Ottawa.  Any one else out there with Canadian red recommendations?

_____________________________