Pina, Napa Valley and Grgich Hills Estate

We heard about Pina, Napa Valley from a customer a little over a month ago, who was looking for this wine they’d bought in Napa. I tracked it down, and found out a little about this boutique winery, and had a chance to taste their wonderful wines. Pina, as a company, survives by doing vineyard management, which gives them access to some exceptional grapes.

AT Pina

Clair Palmer, a 20 yr retiree gave us a thorough explanation of their wines, including many statistics on wine and the area. They do only 2000 cases, with 90% sold in tasting room or wine club, so it’s in very limited supply. All of their 6 cabs are 100% cabernet sauvignon and single vineyard, which is very unusual for Napa (where most wines are blends, even if they’re called cabernet sauvignon). The first wine, Cahoots, is very nice, but the next two, which probably are available in MA, are fabulous. We look forward to have them again. Here are notes taken during the tasting.

D’Adamo Vineyard 2007 – (decanted) $75; Intense black fruit with expresso on the nose; delicious and lush; fresh and long; lovely

Howell Mountain Buckeye Vineyard 2007 –(decanted) $85, Wonderfully intense nose with coffee, leather; decayed volcanic ash; beautiful on the palate, complex and very long.

The also have a chardonnay which is sold out (said to be unique) and a late harvest chardonnay that we tasted and loved.

Grgich Hills Estate – Next we headed over to Grgich

Winemaker from Beehive at Grgich

Hills, since we carry a chardonnay and cabernet from them that are popular at the store. We’d never visited and wanted to check them out. It’s on the busy side of Napa, and, being Sunday, it took a few minutes to make a right hand turn onto the main drag. They are smaller than you might think, at 30,000 cases per year, and both organic and biodynamic. We were happy with the quality of the wines, but they have a name and aren’t inexpensive, ranging from $35 for a zin up to $150 for a cabernet sauvignon, of the ones we tried during the visit.

We were happy to find out that they were having their 2nd annual Wine and Cheese Festival, with many cheese-makers on hand to present their cheeses. There were five tables, each with a different wine and cheese company. This was lunch….and a lot of fun…and we expect you will get to try some of these exceptional cheeses. Our favorite was BeeHive Cheese company; their Tea Hive (coated with bergamon…much better than it sounds), Barely Buzzed (hand rubbed with expresso and lavender) and Sea Hive (hand rubbed with local honey and sea salt) are unusually delicious. That’s all for today.

Cheese-fest at Grgich

Tags: grgich, pina

AVV, Trentadue and Valdez Family(!!!)

Alexander Valley Vineyards (AVV) was our first stop of the day. We carry several of their wines because of their exceptional value to price ratio. Even though they’re on the large side at 150,000 cases per year, they’re family owned and maintain control. We visited them in 2004, and the tasting room is still the same friendly place it was then, and the wines are even better.

Lori, Jacob and Ray

We arrived right after opening and we had a nice visit with Jacob, energetic and friendly and a wine geek like us (see picture). We got to talking about pairing and one of Jacob’s cohorts brought out some cheeses for us to try….what fun. One of the cheeses was coated with coffee and lavender, from the Beehive Cheese Company, was a perfect pairing with their Cab. We re-tasted some of the wines that we have at Pairings, being reminded of how good they are for the price, along with some reserve and wine club wines that aren’t generally distributed. The Cyrus, a Bordeaux blend we have is superb. Their “primitivo” has 25% zinfandel, pointing out that although Primitivo is genetically the same as zinfandel, there are different clones.

Outside at Trentadue

Our next stop was Trentadue, which also is family owned and has been around since being bonded in 1969. They hand-pick all their grapes, with production of about 25,000 cases. Trentadue made their name with “Old Patch”,  a jammy, spicy, inky, chocolatey, delicious blend of old vines zinfandel, petit syrah and carignan, a very popular wine at Pairings. We started with a fresh Viognier, and ended with their upper level of “La Storia” wines. We carry the La Storia zin, which has a huge jammy nose and palate. We also like their “supertuscan”, petite syrah and cab. They also make several ports, which, now that we’ve tried 5 of them, we’ll look to bring into Pairings. Their Angelica (made with mission grapes, which aren’t good for dry wine but are excellent for port, which we didn’t know), Viognier, zin and petite syrah “ports” are excellent. Trentadue also caters to the college crowd, labeling wines with the symbol from most NCAA colleges.

Mauricio and Ray

The find of the day was Valdez Family Winery, north of Healdsburg in Cloverdale. We’d had their wine at the restaurant Zin the previous night. It was the best of a line-up of zins we tried…wonderful. Mauricio, the winemaker, led us through the tasting. The Valdez family started out as viticulturists, and manage many vineyards. In 2004 they started making wine themselves, with help from some of their famous customers (e.g., Paul Hobbs, a winemaker from Jordan, etc.). Whatever they did, it turned out great! These wines are fabulous, and we’re going to see if there’s any way to bring them into MA. The Sauvignon Blanc is awesome, as is their chardonnay (which has been served at the White House, amazing for such a small winery), the Pinot Noir, 2 zinfandels, petit syrah…all exceptional. During our discussion about many things wine we found out that Maricio loves Enkidu, which we’d visited recently (see previous blog) and also love. What can we say but “awesome tasting”.

Tags: Alexander Valley, AVV, Trentadue, Valdez

Siduri (&Novy), J Vineyards, Chalk Hill and Zin

Today we travelled north from Kenwood to Healdsburg (our favorite town in Napa/Sonoma wine country). We stopped in at some wineries that we carry in the store, and had dinner at an old favorite (which led to a “discovery” the next day).

Siduri

Siduri is in an industrial park outside Santa Rosa…keeps down the overhead…reminds us of the Wine Ghetto in Solvang (Santa Barbara wine area), as there are several other wineries near Siduri. The tasting room is out in the open adjacent to a big storage area. Siduri is famous for their Pinot Noirs. In fact, that’s all they make under the Siduri label. We have a delicious one at Pairings, and we tasted several more during the visit. The label symbol is a conservative version (required in order to get regulatory approval) of the Babylonian goddess of fermentation. They source all their grapes and make many Pinot Noirs, all of them small production. Novy Family Wines is the same company/winery, making everything non-Pinot. Siduri’s success story involves putting a sticky on some early wines and leaving them for Robert Parker to hopefully taste (which he did). Go to their web site to get the details.

They make a total of 15-20,000 cases. We tasted a line-up of wines under both names.  The first was a Russian River Sauvignon Blanc, finishing up with an excellent Late Harvest Viognier – floral – honey and orange blossom – delicious.

Entrance to J

Next we stopped at J Vineyards, which has grown to 100,000 cases per year from a relatively small production when we first visited them in 2007. Their specialty is sparkling, where they make the big $, but also several other nice wines. The business model of having one or two wines that make it big (see Landmark in previous blog and Chalk Hill next) and making several small production wines for their wine club and tasting room seems to work well. We have their Pinot Gris, which is excellent, and very popular at Pairings.

Up on Chalk Hill

Chalk Hill has pretty much its own appellation. Again, the wine that makes the big $ is a chardonnay (60% of their production), which we have at Pairings. It has nice oak, butteriness, is big and elegant at the same time, with hints of hazelnuts. It’s a classic CA chardonnay, but better than most. We tasted a dozen wines, ending with a fabulous dessert wine, 100% Semillon – much like a sauternes.

We had a nice hike at Shiloh Ranch Regional Park, not too serious but a way to get out in nature and get some exercise. It’s a great alternative to going to one of the National Parks in the area and spending half the day on a serious hike. Shiloh is half way between Santa Rosa and Healdsburg, and you can have a short or long hike. We did about 3 miles in a little over an hour, with nice views of the valley.

Crispy Green Beans and Sausage Apps

Dinner was at Zin, which is famous for its crispy green beans (with cilantro on the beans and mango salsa). We first had this ten years ago, and they can’t take it off the menu. The foods are designed so that Zin (red, not white) can pair, and we had several…a glass of Zin from Valdez was the hit, and led to us visiting them the next day (see next blog), another hit.

Tags: chalk hill, J vineyards, novy, siduri, zin

Landmark (Finally) and Lagunitas (yes, beer not wine)

Landmark is right down the street from where we’re staying….it closes at 4pm and we hadn’t gotten back in time in previous days….so after breakfast Lori and I walked down there and had a fine tasting (even surprising). The entry to the winery has a pair of evergreens intertwined, meaningful to Lori and I (so we’re hokey…) Their hallmark wine is Overlook chardonnay, and the 2010 is even better than I remembered, well balanced, with bright acidity, along with the buttery oak that you expect. It sees 20% new oak and goes through full malo, giving it nice creaminess. We tasted 8 additional wines, most of which aren’t generally available, but I’m going to see if it’s possible to get in a fantastic Pinot Noir (the Kanzler). Justin did a fine job presenting the wines talking with us about wine life. The facility is beautiful, not overdone. The total production is 25,000 cases (2/3 is the Overlook), so even being pretty well-known, they’re definitely in the small category.

Beth and Ian in the keg room

The whole “research group” visited a couple of creameries (cheese factories and not worth mentioning) in Petaluma, and then had lunch at Lagunitas, a brewery near Petaluma. We carry their “Lil Sumpin” at Pairings, Ian’s favorite. We had a nice lunch (the pork tenderloin nachos are way too good) and tried a bunch of their brews. Ian and Beth helped out in the barrel room.

Tags: Laganitas, Landmark

Bald Mountain and Enkidu

Group at at the top of Bald Mtn

Wild Turkey

Day 2 was a “recovery” day, sleep in, exercise and visit a couple of wineries. After a nice breakfast and some blogging, we headed up the road (Adobe Canyon Road) to Sugarloaf Ridge State Park…wonderful hiking with great views in all directions, views of Napa and Sonoma Valley….highly recommended if you’re in the area and like to hike. Hikes can be tailored to different lengths and difficulties. The shortest route to Bald Mtn is about 2.5 miles and well worth the effort…you’ll get those views, and probably see some interesting wildlife. We saw deer, lizards, lots of wild turkeys, road runners and snakes (one a rattler).

Bring lots of water, per the usual. We did a little extra, making a loop that was between 6 and 7 miles….then back to the house, a dip in the pool, lunch, a shower and already it was almost 3pm. The day just flew by as we all enjoyed the exercise, the venue and each other. We had a few wineries in mind, but the main objective was -

Group at Enkidu

Enkidu, which is only a few miles from the house. We’d “discovered” Enkidu just about a month ago, loved the two wines we had a chance to taste, and now have them at Pairings. You can try them this coming Saturday (May 26, 4-7 pm) at Pairings Wine and Food. We wanted to be at Pairings for the tasting, but going to the Tasting Room in Kenwood is way more than sufficient compensation.

Enkidu is a small boutique winery, making only 3,500 cases per year, from sourced grapes. The quality is outstanding with super value. We tasted several more wines at the tasting room and will be looking into additional wines to carry at Pairings Wine and Food. Go to Enkiduwines.com to read the story about the name, coming from an ancient story of Gilgamesh. Some of the names (see below) are from that story. Paul checked our ID’s (first time in 30 yrs for me), lead us through the wines and took our picture.

The Kick Ranch Sauvignon Blanc (Sonoma County) has honeydew on the nose; it sees some oak, has nice acid and is very long on the palate.

Shamhat Rose of Syrah is delicious, full bodied for a rose, but good acid. You can have it with dinner, but we bought some and tonight we’re having it with apps.

The Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir (which you can try Saturday) has lovely balance of fruit, spice and minerality…dustiness and chalkiness coming from the inclusion of some whole clusters. A touch of earthiness, with raspberries and cherries.

Odyssey Syrah – is very different, with dried herbs, “brown spices” and hints of expresso. The taste is influenced by eucalyptus trees growing next to the vineyard.…the oil from the Eucalyptus trees blows onto the vines, leading to notes of “camphor” on the palate. This is a unique Syrah, and was the favorite for two of the tasters…very different; dried herbs and long, with integrated tannins.

Humbaba is a Rhone Blend (also at Pairings and open to taste on Saturday), with lovely fruit and minerality at the same time – blueberries, blackberries and a hint of olive…balanced in the mouth – delicious.

Enkidu Sonoma Valley Cabernet Sauvignon with 10% Petit Syrah, is inky and big, but at the same time has finesse, with plum and coffee notes – delicious – I’ll see if we can get it in at Pairing.

Paul told us about a 2^nd level wine “E”, which he said is a fabulous value…we bought the Napa and the Sonoma “E”, a regular Enkidu cab and will compare them all in a tasting.

Paul recommended Audelssa as a small winery not to be missed. They are very small and sell all the wine to club members and out of the tasting room…an interesting business model as they get a full mark-up….and the wines are expensive.

Steak dinner with the MacRosti Syrah (peppers and spices) was a great match.

Combining Business and Pleasure – Spann and MacRostie Impress

We (Lori and Ray) are continuing research on wine and food and pairings, currently visiting Sonoma and Napa over the next 10 days; this is the first report. Our son Sam just graduated from Quinnipiac and daughter Kristin from Hass business school at Berkley. Along with son Ian and their significant others, we are staying at a rented home in Kenwood, in Sonoma. They all are providing great support with the research. After a taxi pick-up at 4 am to fly to San Francisco, we got right to work and visited 3 wineries, Gundlach Bundschu, Spann, and MacRostie, wineries we hadn’t visited before but with at least one wine from each at Pairings Wine and Food.

Gundlach Bundschu is the “oldest family owned winery” in Sonoma. Because of their fame, the tasting room is pretty big and busy. We’re impressed that Gundlach Bundschu has reduced production from 90,000 cases to 30,000 per year and that all the wines are estate (no more sourcing). We had a nice tasting, a line-up of 10 high quality wines. It started with a lovely Alsation style (dry) gewurz and ended with their Cab Vintage Reserve, a complex bold red that we loved (the symbol above Lori and Ray in the pic is the label for the Vintage Reserve). We had just opened their delicious Cabernet Sauvignon at the most recent Saturday Pairing, a big hit, and which will remain at the store.

The next two wineries are small and relatively unknown, with special wines made with passion…which we love. The Spann tasting room shares a small art/photograph store in the town of Sonoma. As a group (see picture) these wines were well-loved. Rick did a nice job presenting the wines. We tasted their Chardonnay, Carneros (lemony, crisp and refreshing, touch of oak), followed by the 2010 Chard – Viognier which was even better than I remembered (it’s at Pairings), yummy and long. The MoZin, (also at Pairings), is a great blend of, you guessed it, Mouvedre and Zinfandel, another lovely blend. The S&M (Syrah 90% Mourvedre 10%) is fruity and big and the MoJo (2005) is elegant, with black fruit and minerality on the nose with dried cranberry notes; complex and fresh on the palate, muscular and long. We will see if the MoJo and/or the S&M can be brought into the store. We bought both to have with steak at dinner sometime soon.

Next was MacRostie, whose winery and tasting room is in an industrial park. If you ever go, call to make a reservation. Kevin Holt, the winemaker, presented the wines (see pic of him and Lori and Ray). We have their chardonnay at Pairings, which is wonderful. The tasting started with the regular 2010 chard, followed by a barrel tasting of the 2011, and the wines just kept getting better. The Wildcat Mtn. Chard, at less than 1000 cases, is

From the Barrel

special, even richer and more intense than the regular chard. The grapes are grown high up and near San Pablo Bay, with soil that is the product of ancient volcanism…red and decomposed. Two Pinot Noirs are similarly impressive, the 2009 Sonoma Coast beautiful, with spicy and complex fruit, floral aromatics…just delicious. The Wildcat Mtn Pinot Noir has similar qualities, but more complex and balanced with earthy notes. The Syrah was a big surprise, with black pepper and spice; a Northern Rhone, cool weather type of Syrah seldom found in CA. We’re hoping to have Steve MacRostie present his wines at Pairings in the near future.

Tags: gundlach, macrostie, spann

St. Clement Sauvignon Blanc with Nerina – Nice!

On the back porch

Yesterday was a wonderful day to sit out on the back porch with a nice wine and cheese..one of our simple pleasures of life. St. Clement is our most recent new favorite Sauvignon Blanc (which sold out at our Pairing at the store on Saturday), with “floral aromas, ripe green apple, guava and melon with hints of pineapple and orange zest on the nose. The palate is tropical and complex yet clean and balanced.”….very little citrus, unlike typical New Zealand SB’s. We enjoyed sipping it with Nerina, an aged goat’s milk cheese from Piedmont Italy. Nerina is coated in ash, adding earthy notes to a creamy cheese with hints of sour milk…a delight with the SB.

Tags: nerina, sauvignon blanc, St Clement