March 2019

IT’S ROSSO TIME: LISINI ROSSO DI MONTALCINO

As you have probably gathered if you have read enough of our rants, 2016 has been a generally very good vintage in Europe and ‘lights out’ in certain regions like Bordeaux and the southern Rhone. Tuscany is one of those ‘lights out’ areas as our tastings have shown. We have had spectacular Chiantis and the market is anxiously awaiting the big dogs from Piedmont, Bolgheri, etc. As an adjunct to the highly anticipated Brunellos coming two years down the road, we have come across the most remarkable crop of Rosso di Montalcinos we can recall from the 2016 vintage, and they are here now.

Yeah, we are fully aware that we are fighting convention. A lot of consumers don’t take Rossos seriously, like they are some unwanted stepchild or byproduct. Believe what you want, we’ve had a number of Rossos in 2016 that are better than the Brunellos are most years, and ceretainly more appealing.

It is simply a function of the 2016 vintage. In Tuscany, the reds have brighter profiles and more flesh, taking them quite literally to another level. If you tried any of the Collosorbo Rosso 2016 we featured a while back, you already know what we are talking about. Now our toughest decision is figuring out which ones to put one the floor out of the uncanny number of outstanding examples we have encountered.

Even being as picky as we are being, Lisini is definitely one of the stars. Lisini is a highly regarded house in the first place, and has been for a long time. But while the scribes rush to present their opinions on all of the top-line Brunellos, the Rossos are largely ignored. In 2016 that would be a mistake. This wine has all the trappings of a big time Brunello with a rich, layered fruit core, emerging aromatics of confectionary cherry, mineral and anise, and well integrated, ripe tannins. You literally couldn’t design them any better.

The texture is perhaps the most noticeable difference with the 2016 Rossos vis a vis other vintages of Rosso or even Brunello. The wines are round and seamless from front to back, with surprisingly tender edges for their relative youth all as a function of this unique year where the wines are at once plush and light on their feet. There are vineyards designated for Rosso at Lisini, all from the same missal material as the Brunello. There can also be some declassified Brunello juice in the mix though, in such an exceptional vintage, we doubt much got selected out.

It’s not like the Lisini Rosso di Montalcino 2016 needed more. It’s pretty loaded, though it will differ from the ‘big dog’ by virtue of its accessibility. We’ve never tasted Rossos like these. They are friendlier than the 2010s and fresher than the 2007s, and in our minds perform a couple of notches higher than either. Given the sourcing and vintage, this is a very classy wine for the modest fare of $24.98. The only issue is that some of your friends may not be suitably impressed by something that says ‘rosso’ on it, until they taste it that is.

Value Sauv. Blanc from a Budding Superstar Winemaker

We pretty much gushed when we first discovered the wines of Bibiana González Rave Pisoni. We could repeat her saga of making wine on three continents before she finally settled in the Golden State. She has many irons in the fire this days and we can say that have never had a wine from her, in whatever price range it was, that wasn’t top flight.

In a few words, ‘this girl is on fire’, making a style that is deeply expressive, full flavored, energetic and precise. Now granted, that would seem to be expected of the many of her wines that are in the $70-80 price range, though they do excel in that arena vis-a-vis the competition. But what we find most enticing, in line with our philosophy of seeking out the ‘little’ wines from the top talents, is her value-driven Alma de Cattleya line. We have been particularly enamored with the Sauvignon Blanc which, at $16.98, is arguably the best buy among California Sauv. Blancs.

Her just released Alma de Cattleya Sauvignon Blanc Sonoma County 2018 is, once again, a well put together, vigorously expressive mouthful of lime, guava, pear, fig, and fresh herbs. The fruit ‘pops’ up front and expands across the palate, but the tension and acidity keep it humming right through the finish. It is an attention-getting and beautifully fresh example of the breed.

The only potential problem with the wine is that it is made to be the best Sauv. Blanc it can be and true to type. That probably means it will likely not get its due when judged in some 100 example mega-tasting the media often conducts which favors blowsier and more idiosyncratic efforts because they stand out in a crowd.

But one-on-one, this is a little value gem. It’s in a straight up, juicy style with impressive purity, plus that insistent underlying hum that differentiates it from the rank and file of the genre. This is the ‘hot ticket’ among go-to Sauvignon Blancs. Even though we can’t necessarily expect big ‘numbers’, knowledgeable insiders are snapping it up quickly.

CHATEAU L’OU: “REMINISCENT OF MANFRED KRANKL’S SQN (SINA QUA NON) SYRAHS” (and under$40!)

We are nothing if not persistent. Sure we sold a bit of this in an email a while back but nowhere near what we should have. Here’s a $40 wine that was compared to one of the icons of California wine, SQN, which folks are lined up to throw $300-400 bottle at. Yes we get the whole ‘I got something that you don’t have thing’, but the math is pretty convincing when you can get a wine that carried a 96 point tout, and you could buy 5-7 bottles for what you’d pay for a single bottle of SQN, provided you even got the chance to buy that one bottle at all! L’Ou is a fantastic bottle of Syrah for the fare and we though it definitely deserved another mention. Here is a streamlined (sort of) version of the original piece…

“…We started promoting what we affectionately call ‘the Sud’ (French for ‘south’) about a quarter century ago, though admittedly a lot of the area’s potential ‘thunder’ was stolen by the Rhone which had an unprecedented string of exceptional vintages not long after the ‘Sud’ started breaking on te scene. Even given its long history, when one considers the remoteness, lack of flagship wineries, and association with ‘industrial volume’ production, it probably was predictable that buyers wouldn’t flock to the Sud right away.

Still when people in the region realized they had everything they needed to produce wines that could compete on the world stage. Unique soils, lots of sunshine, mediating influence from the sea, it was a pretty special place to grow grapes. All one had to do was drop a few clusters from the vines so the remaining grapes could be more concentrated and voila.

Séverine and Philippe Bourrier were pretty early to the party that started around the mid-90s. In 1998, they bought the estate of 30 hectares in one piece planted with 26 hectares of vineyards and 4 hectares of olive trees in the town of Montescot in the Pyrénées-Orientales, 10 km south of Perpignan. They immediately converted the entire property to organic farming. At the time, only 3 properties in the Roussillon were practicing organics. In 2009, Séverine and Philippe decided to expand their terroir options by purchasing 8 hectares of vines in Saint-Paul-de-Fenouillet and 7 hectares of vines in Caudiès-de-Fenouillèdes.

They are meticulous here. Beside the practicing organics, the grape harvest of Château de L’Ou is exclusively manual and they are specific about picking between sunrise and noon to help the grapes retain freshness. The grapes are harvested into crates of about 10 kg so as not to be damaged during transport and to facilitate handling in the cellar. The date of harvest is determined by tasting a sample of berries with particular attention to the fineness of the skin and seeds.

In our minds it is important for the region to establish a few successful estates to lend credibility to the region. Look what wineries like Booker and Saxum did for Paso Robles. We think the Chateau de L’Ou Secret de Schistes Rouge Cotes Catalanes 2015, an opaque, deeply colored, powerful and pure Syrah, can run with the ‘big dogs’ of the New World, though for all its extraction and presence, it doesn’t sit heavily on the palate. It also has the added bonus of the unique minerality from the black schist soils that are here and in Priorat to the south.

Jeb Dunnuck is making quite a statement in this piece about the Chateau L’Ou, “Saturated black in color, the 2015 IGP Côtes Catalanes Secret de Schistes is reminiscent of Manfred Krankl’s SQN (Sina Qua Non) Syrahs with its deep, unctuous, layered profile. Cassis, chocolate, licorice, smoked herbs and ample minerality all emerge from this full-bodied, sexy beauty that just begs to be drunk. Possessing ripe tannin, a stacked mid-palate and a great finish, it will be better in a year or two and keep for a decade…96 points” – Jeb Dunnuck, Wine Advocate.

We’d make the point that Chateau L’Ou, at $39.98, literally can be had for a fraction of what things like Saxum and Sina Qua Non cost! Enough said.”

BIG BOX BLUES

This tale is being told to demonstrate a point. As it is an ongoing saga to this day, there may well be additional chapters moving forward. It isn’t exactly like Game of Thrones, though the recurring theme of the ‘Big Box Bullies’ could be likened to dragons in that they have changed the landscape in the wine industry forever.

The story of Eli Callaway is an intriguing one. Before he created the golf business that still bears his name, he pioneered the Temecula area, for better or worse, as a wine designation. Eli was a great promoter who knew how to use the media opportunities. Somehow, he got the wines from his maverick north winery into a situation where one was served at an east coast function involving the English Royals.

From Callaway winery’s own website,”On July 9, 1976, Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, and his Royal Highness, The Prince Duke of Edinburgh, toasted the President of the United States at a luncheon at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. The only wine served at this bicentennial event honoring the Royal couple’s visit to this country, was Callaway’s estate bottled 1974 White Riesling. Her Majesty, not known to be a wine drinker, requested a second glass! This was the first time in U.S. viticultural history that a dry table wine from Southern California was chosen to be served on the east coast at an international diplomatic event.”

You can bet Eli made sure the word got out and, given the slower, perhaps ‘longer shelf life’ way that news worked back then, it turned out to be kind of a big deal for Callaway from a market awareness perspective. Eli also had his own team of sales people, most of whom, probably ‘coincidentally’, were attractive younger woman. While that is not something one can point at today (or even mention), at the time it was a pretty clear marketing tool. From our small store in Glendale back around 1980, Callaway was a very successful brand. Then something else happened that we think changed Callaway’s (the winery) fortunes forever.

A ‘big box bully’, noting the success of that particular brand, came calling. If memory serves the company was called ‘Price Club’ at the time (they merged with Costco in 1993). Suddenly we began hearing from customers that they were seeing the wine at substantially lower prices at these outlets, and our sales (and we are sure the sales of a number of other stores and restaurants as well) pretty much dried up. Eli got paid (this is Amercia, by gum) by selling the now higher volume Callaway winery to a liquor company. But the brand, nor the wine itself, was never quite the same.

From there Eli moved off to golf club world dominance (it should be mentioned that famous golfer Bobby Jones was Eli’s mother’s cousin). As to the Callaway wines, they went from a hot commodity to little more than a footnote, we believe as a consequence of selling big drops to big box stores at super low prices. While the term ‘brand destroying’ was not used until later (and occasionally hurled at us), that is precisely what happened. Sure the immediate sales were great. But the groundwork and enthusiasm that built the brand in the first place went by the wayside.

Our message is “How much do you hear about Callaway any more?” Their wines are virtually unseen out in the marketplace. Why? Because the small retailers and restaurants that helped build the brand felt betrayed when they were undercut and blindsided. The die was cast and the same thing has been happening repeatedly ever since. Wineries/wholesalers sell their souls for that big volume moment, but can suffer in the long run because they upset their market ecosystem making concessions to get that ‘big deal’.

Who cares? It’s always about getting the lowest price, right? Well yes and no. It’s hard to explain. We know a number of consumers aren’t going to get past that ‘always the lowest price’ thing. That’s fine. It has worked prety well for us over the years as well. But we’re going to try to explain the sometimes delicate balance that is the wine business and how there can be long term, negative effects from that one-time blowout scenario because of the high and continued visibility at such venues.

First we’ll start with the fact that big box and chain operations do virtually no brand building. They come along well after all of the hard work has been done and a brand is established and entice purveyors or wineries with eye popping volume in exchange for substantial price concessions. The ‘BBBs’, as we will call them, then turn around offer the now popular brands at substantial discounts, enhancing their image but possibly doing harm to the wine’s perception in the marketplace. It can be a big sale, but at what cost.

Because the suppliers are willing to exchange heavy price incentives for essentially unheard of volume from the ‘BBBs’, it becomes an untenable competitive situation for virtually everyone else. The ‘BBBS’ will then ride the brand for as long as it suits them and then say ‘see ya later’ when it doesn’t. At that point the high volume goes away for the purveyors, and the brand itself will have a hard time finding any new, or old friends to ‘play with’ moving forward. As with our dragons, it often becomes a ‘scorched earth’ situation

We could generate pages of specific examples of these things happening to a variety of brands through the years, but suffice it to say that it is a very regular occurrence these days. What is more important is the typical aftermath. The ‘BBBs’ make the deal, and run off all of the competition because they got such a significant price reduction from the supplier. This usually happens at the height of the brands popularity, which is why the ‘BBBs’ came around in the first place. Lots of boxes get sold and someone on the supplier’s team probably gets a big volume ‘bonus’. But the company made a substantially lower profit by offering the massive discount on the volume, and were faced with the aftermath of that decision of dealing with an ‘injured’ or possibly ‘dead’ brand.

When the next vintage vintage comes along, there are far fewer places willing to carry whatever the affected brand was. So the supplier may have had to go back, hat in hand, to the ‘BBBs’ and have to be in a position to offer them an even better deal so they could maintain some semblance of volume. Otherwise ‘numbers’ will go down, nobody gets a bonus, and the talking heads from the upper hierarchy at the supplier’s place will start to squawk. It is as predictable as sunrise in a majority of cases.

The ‘bullies’ aren’t going to do anything to promote the brand. That’s not what they do. So the supplier must sell and pray that the brand enjoys similar success with them in ‘year 2’, if indeed they get a shot at ‘year 2’ at all. If the ‘tarnished’ brand is not as successful, the ‘bullies’ will often cancel the orders they committed to with no fear of reprisal, leaving the supplier with pallets of specially cut ‘warehouse display’ cases and not a lot of options as to what to do with them except heavily discounting to others which piles on the destructive process even more.

Ultimately the brand will cease to be exciting to many of the same consumers who relished the original price markdown. The brand will be considerably less viable in the marketplace after burning so many bridges among those who were supporters before. The ‘BBBs’ will move on to another item from the ‘next victim’. The faces change, but the cycle does not. We’ll come back to this later on.

THE RETURN OF GIBBS: SINGLE VINEYARD, ESTATE NAPA CAB UNDER $25

You never mind retelling a good story, especially one that has a happy ending. 8Such is the saga of Gibbs Cabernet. There’s always a need for a well-made version of Americas’s favorite varietal (Cabernet Sauvignon) that doesn’t cost “an arm and a leg,” the search for really good Cabs at fair prices is ongoing. Since Cabernet is still kind of a big deal here in California, we were pretty sure we found the value Cabernet ‘holy grail’ back in 2014 when we rolled out the 2010 Gibbs Obsidian Block Cabernet Sauvignon. Estate grown on a vineyard near Saint Helena, a quality, pure, varietally honest effort, that had definite Napa terroir and style points to boot, seemed too good to be true.

We rode that horse for several vintages simply because we could. I mean, why not? It was pretty much everything you could ask for in a Napa Cab at this price. The story itself deserves a quick refresher. The Handlys, Susan (formerly Carpenter) and Craig, met at a label design company in Napa called Colonna-Farrell. After moving to Saint Helena in 1977, owner and winemaker Craig Handly began working as a label designer with, a notorious design studio with a history that is closely tied to the success of Napa Valley’s wine industry..

Before finding himself involved in the production of wine, Craig began a design and photography firm, Handly/Hansen, which produced materials for wineries including Beringer, Kendall-Jackson, Robert Craig, Karl-Lawrence, and Elyse. Later, Susan and Craig began their own stationary company, which started to lose ground at the turn of the century thanks to the wide acceptance of e-mail communication. It was then Craig made his foray into wine production by starting yet another company, Terroir Napa Valley.

With a focus on the staple crop of Napa Valley, Cabernet Sauvignon, Terroir Napa Valley focused largely on producing single-vineyard wines that exhibit the qualities of the vineyard site. As fate had it, Dr. Lewis Carpenter (Susan’s father), who farmed his vineyards in St. Helena for more than a half century, passed away. Craig Handly, his son-in-law, is now farming those choice St. Helena vineyards. Those well situated vines, acquired long before the real estate craziness that is Napa today, are the source for the Gibbs Cabernet.

For whatever reason, the 2015 Gibbs didn’t make the cut after 4 out of five vintages previously. But the 2016 is brighter and deeper and stands out in its field the way that the 2010 did back when we discovered the winery in the first place. The Gibbs Cabernet Sauvignon Three Clones Napa Valley 2016 is 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Merlot and 7% Petite Verdot that spends 8 months in French Oak. It is 100% estate bottled, something virtually no Napa Cabs in this price range can say. The ‘Three Clones’ moniker is a reference to the three different clones of Cabernet (6, 15, and 337) that are the heart of this engaging estate blend..

In the glass, the nose jumps forth loaded with spicy red and black fruits. On the palate, all of the promise of the nose is delivered with the fruit character persistent from the cool black fruit core to the more jubilant, redder fruit center to the wine at large, with plenty volume to the flavors delivered. If someone told you this cost $50, you’d taste the wine and look at the (single vineyard) Napa Appellation, and have no reason to question anything. The kicker here is it is less than half that ($25)! Same as it ever was, this is one of the pre-eminent deals on Napa Valley Cabernet.

If you’re looking for the ‘hook’, there aren’t any scores or reviews on this one. It seems this remarkable little wine is still under the radar, which is better for those of us that still just enjoy drinking a good Cabernet and don’t care about the media, particularly if the price is right. We understand that it might be difficult to comprehend a well made, unpresuming, delicious Cabernet, from prime Napa Valley dirt, for under $25. But it is certainly the kind of ‘adjustment’ one should be able make. With only 1600 cases produced, the impact on the market at large will be pretty minimal. But the possibilities for those ‘in the know’ is a whole different matter. Good hunting.

ONE LAST WORD ON THE RAVENSWOOD ZINFANDEL BARRICIA FOR $14.98 THING

We sent this out as an email and then mentioned it again in our Sunday ‘week that was’ piece. But we think this deal is so extraordinary, we want to make sure that everyone gets a look at it as, at the time of this writing, our source still has some wine:

“The odyssey continues, but the story lines are as interesting now as they were back some three decades ago when we started with Ravenswood, though for entirely different reasons. Back in the 90s, Ravenswoods single vineyard wines were iconic. We used to have ‘Ravenswood Day’ where we would offer up our allocations of these well reviewed , exceptional Zinfandels for distribution. At the time we, a single store, were one of Ravenswood’s larger customers in California. We sold everything from those compelling single vineyard bottlings to their ‘lowly’ but exceptionally performing ‘Vintners’ value series.

Then, one day, it all changed. OK, maybe not all of it. The key issue was that one of the first significant winery acquisitions of the modern era in California took place. Winemaker/mind behind Joel Peterson and his partner Reed Foster sold Ravenswood to Constellation in 2001 for $148,000,000. That’s a lot of zeros. Can’t blame them for taking the money, but the rub was Joel had to stay and help keep an eye on things. Small price to pay for that kind of coin and Joel, always the businessman, saw the wisdom in the move.

Once one of the most recognized brands in California, Joel had to know that the only way for the new owners to recoup that kind of investment was to ramp up production. Once Ravenswood ‘went corporate’ most of the winery’s long term loyal supporters figured production of the personality filled, well-priced Vintners wines, as well as their other regional varietal bottlings, would predictably add a zero to their production level and churn out tens of thousands of cases of soulless corporate juice. Predictably, that happened.

The same folks also dismissed Joel’s treasured line of single-vineyard Zinfandels as going ‘corporate’ as well. What now? Would there be some 50,000 cases of ‘Big River’ or 200,000 cases of ‘Old Hill’. No. With these small, ‘heritage’ sites covered with low yielding old vines, there was no way to boost production. The current iteration of Ravenswood does indeed put out a million boxes of Vintners Blend wines now. But the historic single vineyard program has remained essentially the same as it was ‘back in the day’. We talked with both Joel and his long-time winemaker Peter Mathis, who made Ravenswood wines for 20 years, and both of them had no clue why Ravenswood’s Historic Single-vineyard program was no longer revered.

Our best guess is ‘guilt by association’. Certainly, there was an emphasis by the corporate bean counters to deliver big numbers. There were ‘stockholders’ and all sorts of new criteria by which Ravenswood would be judged. As to the single-vineyard jewels upon which Ravenswood built their reputation in the first place, there was little reason to spend corporate marketing dollars to promote them. In fact, we’d guess that the accounting dept. gets downright annoyed to have to keep track of such tiny numbers. Eventually the media pretty much stopped talking about them.

Anyway the results of this story led us to a remarkable cache of Ravenswood’s treasured single vineyard Zins at fantastic prices in May of last year. Don’t ask us about the machinations that brought this about, we couldn’t tell you. But we sent that offer to an enthusiastic audience. We were pretty sure we were ‘killin’ it’ at $24.99 on Old Hill, Big River, Dickerson and Barricia, about the price we sold these special Zins for decades earlier in the mid-90s.

But even more inexplicable is the offer we are rolling out today on that 2013 Ravenswood Barricia Zinfandel. What happened? Beats us. Everything with this program is the same or better. Even though Joel’s bank account is larger, he still has ‘the fire’ concerning these vineyards. The vineyards themselves are still the same, too…. old and super low-yielding. This is still some of the most treasured dirt in California. Are they made the same way? Pretty much. Joel himself says so, except now they can buy better equipment with a corporate bankroll.

So how did an outstanding example of true California Zinfandel, from a revered vineyard, made under the auspices of one of the true Zinfandel masters, end up at this kind of price? Again, we have no clue, but we don’t care. We simply grabbed every box we could of this once-in-a-lifetime offer. This Zin is sourced half from Zinfandel planted prior to 1892 and the balance from new plantings of Zin and Petite Sirah, which makes up around 20% of the blend. That Petite gives the wine heft and another level of complexity.

The nose shows brambly blackberry and black raspberry augmented by brambly notes. Big in the mouth with notes of pepper and spice, this one shows expansive volume yet both the tannins and acidity are nicely integrated. The wine hasn’t skipped a beat over the years. The only thing missing is the ‘aura’ of times past. At roughly 1/3 the typical price, we can deal with that. If you love Zinfandel, here’s a legendary Zin for a remarkable fare… ”

THE THEORY OF RELATIVITY: REBROADCAST

From time to time we may republish some of our op-ed work because it is a window into how we see wine and, with readerships constantly in flux, it’s hard to know who has seen what.

“Einstein coined the phrase, and gave a very complex explanation for the ‘theory of relatively’ and how that space and time are relative, rather than absolute concepts. If a bit of an arcane tangent, we have observed a similar relativity with wine. It doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the time/ space continuum, though the end results can depend on the bio-dynamic calendar and the barometric pressure on any given day. What we are getting at is that we have observed a certain theory of relativity with respect to wines.

As we briefly mentioned earlier and in other pieces, how wines taste to you can be a varying experience based on a number of factors. We are convinced that bio-dynamics can play a big part in the wine experience, an observation that has been confirmed on countless occasions. For those not familiar with the bio-dynamic calendar, the basics are that there are four major aspects that are charted. A day can be a ‘fruit’ day, ‘flower’ day, ‘leaf’ day, and ‘root’ day, with ‘fruit’ being the most conducive to tasting wine and each successive being a little less advantageous.

If it sounds like voodoo, that’s what we thought, too. But time has taught us not to argue with Mother Nature. Among those we know familiar with the concept of the biodynamic calendar, there are few that would dispute the validity. While we can’t explain the ‘vibes’, they are real. There is also a pretty significant pattern with respect to barometric pressure, though because it is less ‘documented’ it is perhaps not as widely discussed. In simple terms, wines can taste dramatically different when it’s bright, sunny, and clear outside and when it’s cloudy or even foggy. Altitude? Don’t even get us started.

All of these things add to the relativity of any tasting/drinking any wine at a given time, and can vary the experience of tasting same wine under different auspices. Coupled with the fact that each bottle of the same wine might be slightly different anyway based on a host of factors (cork, age, storage, to name a few), the variation in experience can be rather extreme. Yeah, we’re wine geeks and think about this kind of thing all the time.

Whacky as this may sound, our experience has taught us that this isn’t nonsense. Variations in experience occur in relatively predictable patterns based on the phenomenon we have described. The same wine can taste vastly different on a ‘fruit day’ than on a ‘leaf day’, even within a relatively short time and for no other fathomable reason. Also, we note that wines tend to under-perform when the air is heavier, as if they are affected by the barometric pressure. Maybe it’s the wine, and maybe it’s the human. Or a bit of both. Or maybe we should just get out into the real world more often?

So every experience is to some extent affected by the individual bottle, the biodynamic aura, and the weather, not to mention your own frame of mind, palate experience within a given time frame, and perhaps even the amount of sleep you got the night before? Yep. But that’s not the end of it. Now think about comparing notes with a friend, colleague, or that snotty sommelier at the wine bar.

There are different experiences based on a lot of things that you have no control over, both personally and in the big world around you. You can have an entirely different opinion from someone else based on differences in palate experience and preference. But also your ‘standard deviation’ is further increased/skewed by all those other factors we mentioned. Person ‘A’ having ‘Wine A’ on a sunny, clear ‘fruit’ day can have a vastly different take away than the same person having the same wine on a foggy night that is in biodynamic ‘root’ mode.

Taking that all in, you have even more reason to question the review of a reviewer, particularly reviews on the lower side. Today’s ‘87’ on a ‘leaf day’ where wines tend to lean a bit more savory in profile could be a 92 on a ‘fruit day’ from the same person because all the ‘good stuff’ is in array. The ‘day’ doesn’t necessarily change what’s in the wine, only one’s perception of it. Therein lays the relativity.

Too much to think about? Yeah, we know. We aren’t trying to scare anyone. We’re just pointing out that a lot of factors are always in play that can affect the enjoyment of subjective things. On a root day or a fruit day, one plus one still equals two. But with the glass of Cabernet in your hand, it isn’t quite so black and white. “

NEW PINOT FROM AVERAEN

Every day is a winding road, and you never know what is going to roll in the door. This was a good case for this particular wine as the buyer on call that day had never seen this particular wine before. Came to find out that the store had sold the 2016 version of Averaen Pinot Noir and the other buyer, who had not seen the label previously, thought it was pretty cool juice and bought the 2017. Can’t think of a lot better testimony for the wine’s quality than that.

The short story on this label was as follows. The folks that made Banshee wines, and their value label Rickshaw, were at the INPC (International Pinot Noir Conference) and just ‘sittin’ round the campfire’ when they had a revelation that this appellation that they were in, located in McMinnville, was remarkably similar to where they were working in California’s Sonoma Coast. Cold Marine wind funneling through low-lying gaps in the coastal mountain ranges and soils of a mixed volcanic and marine sedimentary soils played off of each other to create a very advantageous environment to grow Pinot Noir. Clearly it was kismet.

Not only did the Banshee boys sense that this would be a good environment for premium Pinot Noir, but they had just completed a partnership deal with William Foley that took a lot of stress out of taking the Banshee/Rickshaw label to the next level, but they ran across one Adam Smith, a talented winemaker who had bolted to the Northwest after making the first vintage of Banshee in 2010. It was ‘kismet’ and Averaen was born.

The 2017 Averaen Pinot Noir reflects both their desire to make high-toned, cool climate Pinot Noir, and the distinctive element s of the 2017 vintage that made this a very successful but very unique expression of Oregon Pinot. This was the fourth straight successful vintage in this part of the world (global warming?), but one that differed from the previous three harvests in its personality. While the 2014-2016 run showcased the riper side of Oregon Pinot, the 2017s showed plenty of ripeness but also a higher pitched, fresher, more lifted profile.

The nose showed urgent but high-toned ripe red, spicy fruit from the get-go. In the mouth, this expressive, lifted, almost ‘crunchy’ Pinot had plenty of well-defined, vivid red fruits that sat higher of the palate and delivered a wave of energetic flavors. We were taken with the wine immediately and bought it. Some two weeks later as we sat down to write these notes, Vinous Media put their comments on this wine on the front of their website. Apparently we are not alone.

Josh Raynolds comments in that feature reflected our impressions of both performance and value here, “Displays abundant berry and floral character, with vibrant spice accents adding verve. Seamless in texture and appealingly sweet, the 2017 finishes with impressive, juicy persistence and resonating florality. This is textbook Willamette Valley Pinot Noir at a great price. ..91 points (an even better score than he gave the 2016).”

The 2017 Averaen Pinot Noir Willamette Valley is appealing, well-priced effort from a label that shows a lot of promise going forward from a group that was already quite successful further south (Sonoma Coast). This juicy, little number plays nicely in the here and now in a higher-toned, ‘Burgundy’ sort of way .

TASTY ‘HOUSE’ RHONES FROM FERRATION

We sell all manner of wines great and small, and everything we present here we believe has a good reason to be here. We can launch a treatise on virtually any vinous subject, but don’t think we always should. A quiet word or two should be sufficient for some wines, and just because we didn’t generate a tome doesn’t mean we didn’t like it. If we didn’t like it, we wouldn’t buy it at all. With that in mind here are a few words on the newly released Cotes du Rhones from Ferraton.

There are two key things to know. First, Ferraton is an accomplished house with a long history dating back to 1946. Second is Michel Chapoutier, who started working with the property to convert to organic and ultimately biodynamic viticulture starting in 1998, and buying the place outright in 2004. With Chapoutier at the helm, things are definitely on the upswing. These are both outstanding value performers at their modest fares and both come from excellent vintages for their respective hues.

The Ferraton Cotes du Rhone Samorens Rouge 2016, a half and half blend of Grenache and Syrah that is brought up in concrete, shows an ample, supple core of berry fruit laced with spice and floral notes. Jeb Dunnuck calls it “… Rounded, sexy and even voluptuous, with terrific purity in its black raspberry, violet and incense aromatics, this medium to full-bodied beauty has no hard edges, silky tannin and a great finish…90-92 points’

Perhaps even more of a surprise, because the southern Rhone isn’t necessarily known for crisp, engaging whites, is the Ferraton Cotes du Rhone Samorens Blanc 2017. A blend of Roussanne, Viognier and Clairette, all done in stainless steel to retain the freshness, it shows lovely, subtle tones of citrus and yellow stone fruits. Again from Dunnuck, “…It’s fresh, vibrant, and crisp, yet has plenty of heft in its peach, tangerine, and citrus aromas and flavors. With bright acidity, outstanding balance, and a great finish, drink it over the coming 2-3 years…91 points.” Both play well for their $10.98 tabs and are in a likeable, easy drinking style for the category.

THIS IS LAMBRUSCO CLASSICO: REFINED, VERSATILE, DRY

Popular wines in the 70’s sometimes resulted in a negative spin on a the categories at large. Soave, Bardolino, Chenin Blanc, ‘Pink Wines’ in general, all had their purpose but those mass market versions tainted the genres’ images moving forward. One of the unfortunate victims was Lambrusco, typically in those days seen as a fizzy, sweet, often mawkish red. Believe us when we tell you that the Lambruscos we are talking about here bear no resemblance to those Cella/Riunite memories of times gone by. Lambrusco has always had a cadre of more sophisticated wines and were are starting to see more and more of them now. From Central Italy, they have been around for a long time, just not in this market in any significant way.

Bone dry with definite fruit character, these play beautifully with a plate of charcuterie, pasta dishes, and cheeses, to say nothing of drinking them alone where they play like a lower dosage Champagne only with more of a ‘winey’ character and gentler bubbles. Certainly we have to be careful introducing new categories to people but are pretty confident that the duo from Paltrinieri will make our point elegantly.

Paltrinieri Radice Lambrusco di Sorbara 2017 is a visual surprise with its coppery salmon color and crown cap closure. The region is Emilia Romagna and the grape is Sorbara, and the flavors here run to a drier tropical fruit, early season strawberry, and intriguing notes of spice. As a Wine Enthusiast piece states, “One of the wines that put Lambrusco back on the map, this vibrant, linear wine boasts aromas of wild strawberry, violet, red cherry and grapefruit. The aromas carry through to the slightly sparkling, savory palate along with cinnamon and white pepper notes. Crisp acidity lifts the savory finish…93 Points!” A refreshing change of pace, very food friendly, serve chilled, a Suckling 92 as well.

Paltrinieri Leclisse Lambrusco di Sorbara 2017 looks more like what you would expect from Lambrusco but, again, expresses itself with more of a wine personality with small, not overly aggressive bubbles rather than a soft drink kind of mouth feel. Texturally appealing, you get more of the ‘red wine’ feel from this darker version but, more important, you get a unique experience with the berry/citrus flavors and creamy mouth feel. Not a lot of folks write about this sort of thing, yet. But what we did find was most ‘enthusiastic’ from Wine Enthusiast, “…this delicious, stunning wine opens with enticing scents of wild berry, rose petal and citrus. The aromas carry over to the elegant, foaming palate along with juicy strawberry, creamy nectarine, grapefruit and a sprinkling of white pepper. A silky mousse gives it an irresistible texture, while fresh acidity keeps it balanced…94 Points.”