Great, well-priced, go-to Beaujolais…we got that

As a store that has been heavy into the Beaujolais game for more than a quarter century, it is interesting to note how much more interest the genre gets now than it did a couple decades ago.  The thing it that most of that attention is devoted to the ‘cru’ level wines and folks like Liger Belair and Desjourneys who are trying to shake the traditional foundations of Beaujolais.

If you are looking for the classic, juicy, versatile example of Beaujolais, there are plenty of them out there, particularly from special vintages like 2015 and 2016.  Unfortunately they are usually the entry level wine of some producer’s hierarchy and, because they are usually overshadowed by those ‘upper cuvees’, are less likely to get the kind of reviews that will inspire buyers.

Market mechanics are a big part of the equation to be sure.  But one of the producers that has been a part of our lineup by virtue of a consistent juiciness and engaging personality to their wines is Domaine de Colette.  These guys make that fruit driven, in-your face style that will make friends and influence people…in other words classic Beaujolais.  The 2016 shows pure, ripe Gamay with very specific flavors that sit atop beautifully measured tension that gives this wine an uncommon energy along with a pleasing core of fruit.

The comments from Vinous’ Josh Raynolds on the Domaine de Colette Beaujolais Villages Coteaux de Colette 2016 are very positive, “Vivid red. Spicy, mineral-accented red berry and floral scents, along with a hint of white pepper. Juicy and focused on the palate, offering tangy red currant and strawberry flavors and a touch of allspice. Unfolds slowly, picking up a subtle floral pastille quality on the gently tannic, focused finish.’   But perhaps on a more mundane level, if you are looking for a well made, fruit driven, really pleasing Beaujolais, Colette has been a good source for us for a long time and this is a particularly good example.  Great price for the performance!

IN THE PINK, PART ONE: ROSE TIME

It’s that time again, though admittedly when we started getting serious about rosés back with the 2001 vintage we never imagined it would play out like it has.  Back then, after a couple of decades of white Zinfandel domination, most wine buyers were reluctant to try pink wines because they thought of them as the mawkishly sweet, soda pop examples that grandma drank.  The folks that bought pink wine were typically looking for the white Zin experience and thus disappointed with a crisp dry rose.  Our only thought back then was to try to introduce more people to dry pinks because they served such a need during the warmer months because they were fresh, light, and versatile with food.

A decade and a half later we and others like us fear we may have done our job too well.  There is a thirst for rosé in the marketplace like there never has been.  People are willing to try all kinds of different pinks and many consider them a necessary part of their beverage program.  The industry has responded, as it so often does, by overdoing it to the point of silliness (see also White Zinfandel, Syrah, Merlot, and high-octane, red  ‘mutt’ blends with artsy labels and big price tags).  There are anywhere from five to ten times as many rosé options as back when we started, a great many of them from places that never made pink wine before and arguably shouldn’t be making them now.

All of this rose madness has done a number of things.  We get a lot more selection from places like Provence, Bandol and the Rhone, places that have a long and positive history with the genre.  There are also a few intriguing new options that have been created simply because there was a potential market.  Sadly, there is way too much mediocre-to-poor pink out there and our task of working through them has almost become a slop.  Everybody has a pink wine (or two, or three) to sell.

With that, our game plan this year is to be even more selective in what we offer than in years past.  The 2017s, while perhaps a half-step behind the 2016s (which are still showing beautifully by the way) and the 2015s, are still quite complete and engaging.  Our preferred profile is still fresh, honest fruit and bright acidity.  We tend to avoid efforts with higher alcohols and lower acidity because they simply aren’t refreshing and that is what pink wine is all about.  Even as we work with fewer wines than before, it is still a fair amount of juice to talk about.  So with summer right around the corner, we’d best start talking…

RIMAURESQ ROSE PROVENCE CRU CLASSE 2017–While the whole idea of Cru Classe de Provence has been around for a long time, with even the ‘official’ founding of the appellation happening back in 1955, there has been a real interest recently to put more vigor into the marketing of this special little spot for pink wine.  This is one of the ‘original’ fourteen members of this very specific delineated terroir and these guys appear to be upping their game a bit.

The microclimate of Rimauresq is a real singularity of the Côtes de Provence appellation.   The vineyard is  located at an altitude varying from 140 to 190 meters at the foot of Notre Dame des Anges. The shade of the hill and the beneficial effects of the Mistral play a role in this wines fresh personality.  The estate consists of a clay-schist and crystalline soil, with sandy and stony parts. It is common to benefit from the combination of several soils (degraded schist, pink sandstone, rolled pebbles) within the same plot and that is the case here. Rimauresq takes its name from the Moors River which crosses the Domain.

They make other ‘flavors’ but this is a house rosé built.  They make five different versions.  The Rimauresq Rose Provence is a mix of 43% Grenache, 24% Cinsault, 10% Mourvedre, 8% Syrah, 6% Carignan and 9% Rolle (aka Vermentino).  The aromatics speak of berries, apricot and citrus with a little garrigue and some mineral and floral aspects.  In the mouth it isd both fleshy and lifted with the red fruits as the central theme but subtle layers as befits this wine’s diverse makeup.

ELIZABETH SPENCER GRENACHE ROSE MENDOCINO SPECIAL CUVEE 2017- We aren’t going to say we weren’t a little surprised by this wine.  Usually California pinks have a tendency to be a little plodding.  To tell the truth we went back three times to make sure we weren’t just in a good mood or it was a biodynamic ‘fruit day’.  The wine delivered plenty of mouth-watering red berries flecked with stone fruit, apple, and floral notes, with just the right amount of snap at the end.  The story is that this wine came from Mendocino, where it is cooler and therefore more likely for the wine to retain its necessary acidity.

The grapes came from rocky soils in the benchlands up by Ukiah, and they were harvested specifically to make pink wine (as opposed to being a saignee of something else.  That accounts for the depth of flavor here, and some of the wine saw a bit of neutral oak for rounding out.  Bright, insistent yet still with a playful quaffabilty, this one definitely has a European demeanor, but the Mendocino fruit makes for an interesting change of pace.

Made from 100% Grenache, this one checks all the boxes in a way few domestic versions do in our minds…fresh, fruit driven, lifted, and well-priced.

MOURGUES DU GRES COSTIERES DE NIMES GALETS ROSE 2017- We go back a long way with this domaine, and their 2017 is arguably one of te best buys on pink wine values we have seen this year.  Located in the Costieres des Nimes at the southern end of the Rhone Valley.   This vineyard is covered with the round rocks that you see in Chateauneuf to the north (hence the reference to galets) which add a subtle mineral character to the rose.  The main show is red berry flanked by notes yellow atone fruit and a touch of both white pepper and garrigue.

The style here is definitely old school, with a rather broad fruit component but just the right touch of acidity to keep it fresh on the palate.  The mix here is a pretty standard one of 50% Syrah, 40% Grenache, and 10% Mourvèdre, but they produce a lot of red win so the juice comes mainly from saignee.  The wine has a bit more size than some pinks which allows it to play with a wider array of grilled fare, and the price ($11.98) definitely makes it easier to swallow.

CHATEAU VANNIERES BANDOL ROSE 2017-  No discussion of rose is complete without Bandol, arguably ‘Provence reserve’ but with its own unique twist thanks to the healthy portion of Mourvedre in the blend.

Bandol is historic, the first vines being planted here by the Romans some 2500 years ago.   Also, Bandonl is arguably the elite category of French rose and prices have edged up accordingly on the heels of producers like Domaine Tempier.  Finding good Bandol Rose isn’t as big a challenge as finding good Bandol rose that is reasonably priced.  Vannieres fits that requirement nicely.

The current family that owns the property, the Boisseaux, are outliers from Beaune that bought this property in 1957.  Father Gaston has now passed the reins to son Eric who is a bit of an epicurean and is currently tinkering with concentration and elegance among other things.   This wine is an indication that the program is working well.  One could call this ‘classic’ Bandol Rose, a blend of 60% Mourvedre from saignee, along with 20% comes from the each of Grenache and Cinsault from direct pressing, all from vines ranging from 20 to 60 years of age.

The flavors range from white stone fruits to red melon to faintly citrus tones, with that inviting, intriguing musky note that the Mourvedre from this area delivers.  Mouthwatering, maybe even a little intellectual, it is a fine example of what Bandol rose is all about and very reasonable for this currently ‘too hot’ genre.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OREGON CHARDONNAY 2.0: LINGUA FRANCA BUNKER HILL 2016

There’s a lot to digest here.  First of all, it would have been easy for us to dismiss this as another ‘somm label’.  You know, famous sommelier decides he can do it better and goes off to create some undernourished wine that ‘pairs well with food’.  Only in this case the sommelier in question is one of some repute, Larry Stone, and he partnered with a ‘hall-of-fame’ Burgundy producer, Dominique Lafon.    They then hired Thomas Savre, an accomplished young winemaker from Evening Land’s Seven Springs Vineyard and put him to work on the project.

Perhaps even a bigger challenge here is that we are going to talk about an Oregon Chardonnay that sells for around $50.  But the performance here was so remarkable that we are thinking about it not as an Oregon Chardonnay, but as a white Burgundy look-alike that, given the cost of ‘real’ white Burgundy these days, actually looks reasonably priced.  We know a lot of you are still like we used to be, thinking of Oregon Chardonnay a sea of lean, mediocre juice grown in the wrong location, planted to the wrong clone.  There is still a lot of that.  But the upswing in quality from those who have reoriented their Chardonnay programs and corrected some of the old mistakes is astounding.

Lingua Franca Chardonnay Bunker Hill 2016 is exclusively from Salem’s Bunker Hill in Eola-Amity, with 20-year-old CH76 vines on pure Nekia soils at an altitude of around 800 feet. It is a west-facing vineyard that is exposed directly to the cooling ocean winds of the Van Duzer corridor (yeah pretty geeky stuff). The name of the winery, Lingua Franca, which is defined as “a language that is adopted as a common language between speakers whose native languages are different”, seems an appropriate tongue-in-cheek reference to this ‘Franco-American’ endeavor.

All we can figure is that these guys, who have tasted some of the world’s greatest wines, have figured out a way to make something in the image of a great white Burgundy.   No easy task but knowledge is power.  The wine has both substance and lift.  The aroma is complex with layers of mineral, smoke, herbs, caramel apples, and a faint hint of that hazelnut character we associate with Meursault (or is that power of suggestion?).  The wine is intense, long, racy and complex on the palate with a lasting finish of citrus, herbs, and white flowers.  There are flinty, mouth-watering mineral notes as well, which we don’t typically associate with Oregon Chardonnay.

All in all this is an impressive glassful and indicates this project is going to turn some heads (the inaugural 2015s got some nice ink from Vinous), and that Oregon is capable of bringing Chardonnay drama when the juice is in the right hands.  A good run of vintages probably hasn’t hurt the early success here but, clearly, there is some vision here as well.  Talking about $50 domestic Chardonnay typically isn’t our ‘jam’, but exceptions do come along.  We highly recommend this one as a breakout kind of effort as well as a darned tasty bottle of serious Chardonnay that deserves attention.  Also there’s that whole thing about ‘preconceived notions’…

B. MILLET SANCERRE LE CHEMIN BLANC 2017-THE REAL DEAL

It is interesting in talking to our suppliers about the current high demand for Sancerre.  Many told us they can’t keep the stuff in stock because of overwhelming on-premise demand and that a number of purveyors simply don’t bring the wines out to show as a result.  This demand might also explain why we have had a tough time finding good, well-priced Sancerre.  Demand has pushed up the prices, and a lot of , ahem, less compelling examples are coming to market.  That is why finding on like this is noteworthy.

B. Millet, a 22 hectare estate based in Bué, is a third generation Sancerre producer run by husband and wife Betty and Franck Millet. In Sancerre, there is a mix of limestone and chalk terroirs. Bué is a top village in the region and the majority of the domaine’s white wine vineyards are located on the limestone that accentuates the minerality that Sancerre is famous for.

This is a classic, archetypal Sancerre that combines a core of bracing acidity and focused flinty minerality with aromatic citrus, grapefruit and herbal notes. The cellar regimen here is stainless steel for the Sancerre Blanc and the vineyard work is done by hand, with a rigorous green harvest during the summer. The resulting wine her has enough tenderness to the fruit to avoid being severe, but sufficient acidity to hum on the nicely on the palate.

The B. Millet Sancerre Le Chemin Blanc 2017  is the real deal, definitely strutting the clear signature of the region and yet at the same time ‘user friendly’.  Given what we have seen from this heated market over the last few years, not to mention some unfortunate supply problems thanks to Mother Nature, we found the price performance here to be compelling as well.

 

 THE NEVERENDING STORY

In a recent Wine Spectator, we read yet another article about how “the battle over (consumer) shipping could rage for years to come.” Yeah, and the sky is blue, the ocean is salty, and the problems in the Middle East aren’t likely to get resolved soon either.  Duh.  Must be a slow news week.

For as long as we have been involved with the industry there has been substantial resistance to addressing some sort of national policy with regards to wine shipments direct to consumers.  Every state has its own unique set of rules regarding alcoholic beverages and doggedly clings to those tenets in the face of the growing awareness of life across state lines, brought to you by the internet.

The arguments in favor of maintaining the status quo never seem to change either.  The ‘talking heads’ consistently put forth that the problem with having ‘open borders’ has to do with tax collection and minors.  Our take is that those are the easy targets for politicians who are simply protecting a source of donations in the wholesalers who directly benefit from maintaining the status quo of a well-managed legal monopoly.

Alcoholic beverage companies operating within a ‘closed system’, without any real competition from outside of their borders, are in a position to make silly amounts of money simply because they have that virtual monopoly. If you think about it, they are not unlike the bootleggers that most of the curious alcohol laws were created to thwart in the post-Prohibition era.  The wholesalers and retailers within a given boundary ‘don’t want anybody muscling in on their territory’.

If this all sounds like the dialogue for some 1930s gangster drama, it kind of is.  But instead of ‘tommy guns’ to deal with intruders, it’s a state’s parochial legislation which will cost sometimes prohibitive sums of money for outsiders to fight.  This we know from both observation and experience.  No other business has to deal with this sort of minefield, though the internet age is creating similar issues regarding sales tax.  In all of this, however, no one seems to be particularly concerned with consumers .

The point is that the issue will never be resolved because those entrenched in the various markets will continue to fund the political machine to protect their interests.  You can debate the 21st Ammendment vs. the Commerce Clause all you want (the diametrically opposed legal precedents that give rise to a debate in the first place).  Those within the particular states have absolutely no interest in doing anything else but fighting to block competition, nor in all fairness should they.  They don’t give a damn about the consumers’ right to do anything except buy their stuff.  In many cases they don’t even do a very good job in offering the pricing, products and service that would remove the consumers need to look elsewhere .

We’re certainly not going to solidify the definitive argument today.  We don’t expect there is one.  The debate has been raging for as long as we have been doing this and shows no sign of tapering off.  The position of one state or another may change, the intensity of the political saber-rattling increases or ebbs, but the situation itself will always exist as you have one side of the equation with absolutely no reason to accept or work for any kind of change.

Our question here is a simple one.  The discussions of consumers’ right to buy alcoholic beverages across state lines have been voluminous, often very heated, and we expect will be ongoing. But, really, how much are we talking about here as a percentage of all alcoholic beverage sales?  All of the bar and restaurant business is local, and those bars and restaurants make up a huge portion of the wholesalers business.  There isn’t a huge incentive to buy spirits and beer across state lines, and the cost of transport plus the hassle would deter most buyers from doing it anyway.

That leaves wine.  How many wine buyers, as a percent of all wine buyers, care enough to reach out to other markets to acquire certain labels or genres.  We’re guessing that percentage of buyers looking to other markets to be infinitesimal as a percentage of the total buying population..

And why do these few consumers do it?  To save a couple of bucks?  Not on every day stuff.  The numbers, with the cost of transport figured in, don’t typically make sense.  In fact, from an acquisition perspective, only higher end purchases pencil out from a cost perspective.  So, really, you’ve got a few high-end buyers who can’t find what they want in their own environment that are venturing out to look elsewhere.  We’d suggest, if they could get the stuff locally at a fair price, a good many of them wouldn’t bother with the hassle and risk of shipping and this conversation wouldn’t be happening at all?

The only answer is that they can’t get what they want locally at a reasonable price.  More likely they can’t get it at all! So what are they supposed to do?  This kind of thing doesn’t happen in any other industry.  If I want to ship a couch from Maine to California, I can.  It may be crazy given the cost of shipping something as heavy as that couch, but the law doesn’t prevent it.  Yet the wine guy is supposed to just suck it up and buy local because of some arcane local law that was enacted 80 years ago?

The governments rail on about lost taxes.  Really?  How much are we talking about? We’d guess they’re getting all but the tiniest portion of the tax due because most of the market doesn’t care enough or have any motivation to step out.  The taxes the states  don’t get are because their market has failed to satisfy the needs of those few customers that do want another option.

To put it simplistically, these wholesalers and governments seem to be overly concerned with the one or two buyers out of every, say, 10,000 that feel that need to go to other markets to get what they want.   Hundreds of millions in tax revenues (or more) that are coming in give way to concerns about a few thousand bucks that aren’t?  The Spectator article mentions a couple of cases where a state attorney general has filed suit against out-of-state wine interests.  Don’t state attorney generals have much more important things to do?

Granted the whole shipping thing is probably perceived as a bigger problem today than it was twenty years ago.  But that is likely because there is more information available to the consumer regarding new wines and places to find wines that may be outside the state boundary.  We don’t expect that the internet is going anywhere, so there will always be access to tantalizing information regarding wines and wine prices for the consumer to take in.   But, sadly, the alcoholic beverage wholesaler, sitting in a truckload of money grousing about the few pennies he didn’t get and paying someone to ‘fix it’, isn’t going anywhere either.  Neither are the ‘squeaky wheels’ that will start the next cycle of this ongoing hysteria.  Does this make the whole discussion pointless?   Sadly, it does.

 

 

The Best Charbono in Years

Unless you have had a somewhat unusual wine experience, we are pretty confident that this will be the best Charbono you have had in years.  We can say that because it is very likely the only example of this varietal you are likely to have experienced over the last few years.  There is precious little even being produced any more.

Charbono has a shadowed past. To this day there is no agreed upon origin of the grape. Some suggest it comes from the northwestern part of Italy under the name Bonarda Piemontese.  Others claim it comes from the southwestern part of France and exists under the handle Corbeau or Douce Noir.  The only things that can be stated with any certainty is that the Charbono grape thrives in a harsh mountain terrain, and that it made it across the ocean as the Italians that settled California early on planted multiple-varietal field blends to assure, through diversity, there would always be some sort of crop to harvest.

For a lot of you, there is no point of reference for a wine like this.  In truth, we don’t need more than our fingers to count all of the California versions of Charbono we have had over the years.  The thing is that, among the limited experiences we have had with California versions of this varietal, there have been a disproportionate number of intriguing efforts.  So on the rare occasion we are presented with a Charbono, we pay attention.

This story is particularly interesting.  We initially were a little skeptical of the ‘program’ at Inizi, a small side project for some wine professionals who have ‘day jobs’ at other wineries.  That in itself is not a big deal.  But the fact that they were focusing on eclectic Italian varietals like Sagrantino and Tocai Friulano, and blends of things like Dolcetto and Montepulciano, gave us some concern that they were a little bit out on the fringe from a marketability standpoint.  The Inizi Charbono 2014, however, showed us some of the best traits of this somewhat hard to pinpoint grape.

The profile is engaging red and mainly black fruit, a touch of woodsiness and lots of spice, ample enough but with plenty of freshness and lift.  There’s some tobacco and vanilla in there, too. It is a delightful example of what Charbono can be. It is a unique situation.  The grapes come from the Heitz Brothers vineyard near Calistoga, a 1.5 acre plot with 40-year-old, head-trained, dry-farmed vines.

A long, dry vintage delivered great optimally ripe fruit that was 30% whole berry fermented.  About 25% saw once used barrels, the rest neutral wood, for 10 months.  Plenty to like here, Charbono is one of those grapes that has elements that remind you of other varietals, but ultimately has its own unique character.

Mauro’s Very Special V.S.

As has been obvious over the years, we are huge fans of Spanish wines.  We love the dusty plum fruit of an old Rioja and the opulence of an old vine Garnacha that tastes like a new twist on Chateauneuf.  But we also understand that these are unique flavor profiles that might take a little getting used to for someone accustomed to the straightforward, in-your-face blast of fruit from a top flight Napa Cabernet.  Well here we are going to present an immensely impressive wine that not only will pander to the hedonists who like a lot of engaging flavor up front, and purists who don’t mind modern styling provided the wine still has the trappings of classic Spanish reds, but save folks money who think you have to pay $150+ to get something truly special.

Mariano Garcia, winemaker at Vega Sicilia for about a couple of decades, is the force behind Bodegas Mauro.  This is an exceptional performer in the somewhat less defined Tierra de Castillo y Leon, sort of the outskirts of Ribera del Duero.  His ‘regular’ bottling were one of the eye opening efforts that really got us into Spanish wines back in the early 90s, and some of his reserve bottlings have been epic for their genre in the same way that certain producers have become iconic for Burgundy, Bordeaux, and Napa Valley.

This particular wine is a ‘modern’ reserve, meaning that the eye here is on making the best wine possible while no being confined to the guidelines of traditional nomenclature which carry certain rules that winemakers might find a little confining.  This wine is not made every year and comes mainly from two plots of older vineyards.  The wine was bottled in March, 2017 after spending 26 months in a combination of French and American oak.

The scents of smoke, vanilla, and chocolate harmonize beautifully with the classic cassis and plum fruit character of this 100% Tempranillo.  The entry is cool and authoritative with the intensity and dimension of the oak fused with the sleek, polished palate.  This is on par with any Classified Growth Bordeaux and we’d make the comparison with a ‘trophy’ Napa Cabernet except that the Mauro Tierra de Castillo y Leon V.S. 2014 is more harmonious and refined than most New World reds we can think of.  Packed with flavor, this plays on many levels.  You can delve into the wine’s sweet and savory complexity for an engaging intellectual exercise, or you can just sit back and let the intense, layered, toasty, chocolaty flavors roll across the palate.

This is very serious wine that, while it is true to its genre, doesn’t expect you to cross the line to appreciate the context.  There’s plenty of well-heeled but intense flavor to make quite an impression.  Yeah, 2014 was a problematic vintage in some parts of Europe.  But clearly not in the Ribera/Castillo y Leon or a wine of this magnitude would not have been possible.  This to us is that ‘crossover wine’ that will give Bordeaux and Cabernet drinkers a whole new perspective.  Killer juice here, this wine just arrived and, while this has not been reviewed, this series has averaged 95 in Wine Advocate over the last several vintages.  This is definitely one of the best versions of the V.S..

JUFFER SONNENUHR TWO WAYS

There are lots of ways to present a wine and we thought that, over all the time we have been doing this, we had probably done all of the possible permutations at one point or another…until today.  But then offer like this have never came along before.  We had the opportunity to purchase two different Rieslings at great discounts, from one of the greatest vintages in Germany in this century and from one of the most storied vineyards in the Mosel.  Same price, same pradikat levels, both knockout deals, but the wines are from two different producers.  You talk about wine being made in the vineyard? You will never have a better chance to see that it action, and get some pretty wicked spatlese in the bargain.

We’ll start with the vintage.  As we have said on multiple occasions, the 2015 vintage in Germany (OK, a lot of places in Europe for that matter) was special.  It stands alongside the 2001 as the icon vintage of the 21st Century (thus far anyway).  The wines have unique power and cohesiveness to the fruit and surprising palate length.  Wine after wine has exhibited the same vintage personality as we have tasted through probably 200+ examples.

The vineyard?  Maybe Brauneberger Juffer isn’t quite as well known to the broad market as Wehlener Sonnenuhr, Graacher Himmelreich, and Bernkasteler Doctor because producers like Prum and Thanisch have been here much longer promoting them.  But among those more tuned in to great Mosel vineyards, Brauneberger Juffer is one of the great ones.  We have come to appreciate the vineyard a lot over the last three decades as we have been presented several striking examples from the likes Fritz Haag and Schloss Lieser.  More specifically the Sonnenuhr part of the Brauneberger Juffer is the best part, the ‘sweet spot’ if you will.

Given those similarities, and the strong characteristics of both the site and the vintage, our ‘tale of two Juffers’ would seem to come down to the producers.  Or does it?  That is what makes this exercise so exciting.  Besides the fact that the producers are different, and presumably the grapes came from different plots in the vineyard, we don’t actually know the harvest must weights.  There is a range to qualify for spatlese designation, including declassified auslese.  The alcohols are .5% apart (8% vs 8.5%), but that is all we know.

Both the Karp Schreiber and St Nikolaus Hospital labels boast long histories, the Karp Schreiber tracing its roots back to 1664 and the St. Nikolaus Hospital winery having existed for more than 500 years as the money-raising arm of the  foundation that runs  the actual hospital in Bernkastel-Kues, the hospital itself founded in 1458.  As we opened these two side by side, they started in different places.  The Karp Schreiber Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese 2015 shows a more delicate, filigreed profile, with whiffs of slatey minerality to the peach and pear fruit, a livelier, more active mid-palate and an airier finish of spice and slate.  It is a bit higher pitched on the palate with a more evident mineral element.

By contrast, the  St Nikolaus Hospital Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese 2015 is a more centered wine that shows a more direct, pronounced element of peach and pear, with a little hint of apricot possibly as a result of a greater must-weight (this is the one that is the .5% higher in alcohol), but not necessarily.  The sweetness level seems slightly more overt out of the gate and the palate is more concise.

As we sat there going back and forth and between the two, it was fascinating to watch them change in the glass, and certainly even more intriguing to watch as they began to show a much more familial streak that we have to presume is the vineyard talking.  The Karp got more mid-palate-focused as time passed while the St. Nikolas more high-pitched minerality and lift than it had presented early on.  In short, as they developed they became much closer to each other as the elements of one of the middle Mosel’s best terroirs took hold of the proceedings.

While there were still slight differences in line with their original profiles, it was Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr that won the day with the strongest voice.  As to our preference, it was not unanimous and way too close to call.  We highly recommend taking the opportunity to experience this unique comparison yourself.  As to predicting a winner, the winners would be those that take advantage of these two exciting spatlesen from a great vineyard  in an epic vintage for a good 40% less that you would typically find anything from this esteemed dirt.  These are steals for under $20, the educational/geeky opportunity merely a special bonus here!

DEROSE: GREAT OLD VINE REDS FROM THE LAND TIME FORGOT

This is a story that spans three centuries. We are speaking of the historic Cienega Valley located near Hollister between Hwy 101 and the 5 Freeway. Probably the only time most folks have heard of Hollister at all, except as a freeway exit or a clothing brand, is as the claimant as one of the ‘earthquake capitals of the world’ (along with nearby Coalinga). In fact, the San Andreas fault not only runs through the town of Hollister, but through the main building of the winery we are featuring here, Derose.

It all starts way back in 1854 when a French immigrant called Theophile Vaché was marketing his vinous wares in nearby San Bautista. It goes through German immigrant William Palmtag who won medals his wines at the 1900 World Expsotion in Paris, and later on involved California giants of their respective times, Almaden and Heublein.   During that last Heublin phase, probably due to that company’s historic meltdown, these grand old vineyards on this terraced hillside suffered a bit from neglect.

The DeRose and Cedolini families purchased this estate in 1988 and subsequently rescued and revitalized 100 acres of overgown vineyards including 40 that were planted before 1900. Historical research also found that this is the oldest existing winery in California as well. This isn’t one of the first areas people think of with regard to fine wine, however.  In fact we’d be a little surprised if many folks even knew of it.  There are no plans to put a “Wine Train’ in the Cienega Valley, but there are very special and unique wines produced here that make this an important wine stop nonetheless.

DeRose Cabernet Pfeffer Cienega Valley Old Vines 2015 ($24.98)-Four of the 10 acres of Cabernet Pfeffer that exist in California are here at Derose.  This obscure varietal is said to be a cross between Cabernet Sauvignon and either Gros Verdot or Trousseau (depending on who you ask).  The real issue is that it doesn’t taste like Cabernet but something entirely different.  Lighter on its feet, without the hard tannic back bone, it leans more flavor wise to dark cherry and pomegranate with a lifted palate feel and notes of pepper (pfeffer is the German word for ‘pepper’).  Stylistically unique, it plays best with pork, chicken, duck and salty cured meats.  From very old vines planted between 1865 and 1905, this is a one-of-a-kind wine but quite the engaging experience.

DeRose Negrette Cienega Valley Old Vines 2015  ($39.98)-Speaking of one-of-a-kind wine experiences, this is the only varietal Negrette bottling we know of from this part of the world, and maybe anywhere.  A dark grape with primarily dark red and black fruit character laced with notes of smoke, brown spices and white pepper, this is a substantial red with rich, smooth old vine fruit.  Again very pleasing and rather complex, a plush, ample texture with some supporting ripe but slightly chewy tannins, this is a wine of substance with plenty of stuffing but that doesn’t cross over to extreme ripeness. Some of these vines are 120 years old and the old-viney complexity is a big part of the wines appeal. Grapes harvested at less than one ton to the acre.

DeRose Zinfandel Old Vines Cedolini Vineyard Cienega Valley 2015 ($29.98)–This one is love at first sniff for any true fan of Zinfandel.  It will also win a lot of converts to the varietal among those who don’t think of Zinfandel as ‘serious’ wine.  One good whiff of the spicy, brambly, old-vine berry aromas transports us back to some of Zinfanel’s greatest hits from the breakout efforts of the early 1990s.  DeRose has 15 acres of Zinfandel vines originally planted on their own roots in the late 1890s. Dry farmed on steep hillsides in Cienega Valley, the head-trained vines produce highly pigmented grapes inscribed with a spicy mountain terroir. This kind of profile is very hard to create.  You either have the special old vines and the understanding of what to do with them, or you don’t.   Captivating aromatics and tender, ripe, plush but still buoyant fruit on the palate are on stunning display here.  This is the essence of what ‘old vines’ are all about.  In all of the wines we taste we’re lucky to run into two or three a year like this one.  A rich-yet-balanced expression of Zin-ness, with flecks of the area’s spice and faintly chalky mineral terroir, this wine has incomparable harmony and surprising complexity.  Everyone should taste this just to see what Zinfandel at the top of its game can be, and Zinfandel fans simply should not miss it, period!

This is a one of a kind property with a unique story and some very special wines.  History can be very tasty sometimes and, for as unique and distinctive as these wines are, they are very attractively priced.  Quantities, as you might guess, are limited.

Another Great Kiwi Pinot from C.P. Lin

One of the most fascinating stories we have ever come across in the wine trade is that of C.P. Lin. Born in Taiwan, he has been blind most of his life because of a carcinoma of the retina. His parents left Taiwan when he was relatively young and headed for New Zealand. In college, C.P. was a promising mathematics student at Canterbury University. While at university he became involved with a social wine club that gave him the opportunity to explore the grape. He became fascinated with the subject and his acute sense of smell and touch gave him the tools to explore a career in wine.

It wasn’t a cakewalk, and in fact his classmates laughed when he responded to a teacher inquiry about why he was taking the winemaking class by announcing that he wanted to make world class wines.  As a matter of fact he couldn’t actually graduate because he couldn’t perform the lab work required to do so due to his disability. Yet on he went to make wine commercially for nearly two decades and become one of the best known winemakers in New Zealand, achieving an international reputation for Mountford Estate winery in Waipara.

There are many legends surrounding C.P.’s prowess and acute sense of smell.  His run at Mountford was pretty epic.  His unique talents and personal story were truly one of a kind, and he would have been ‘news’ just for doing this at all.   But the level of performance, particularly with Pinot Noir, was extraordinary.  Dude has chops and an unbelievable nose and we were willing participants in spreading the word about his wines, even hosting him once at a tasting at the old location.  What was most impressive was the purity and style of the wines.  The Pinots tasted like Burgundy, the Riesling like a German, and so on.

C.P. left Mountford after 16 years because, according to him, because the winery’s orientation became more focused on dollars than wine quality.  He then founded the Erewhon project.   The name is an anagram for ‘Nowhere’ and a reference to the remote vineyard sites that C.P. is working with in this multi-vineyard blend focusing on fruit from Waipara and Central Otago.

We sold the 2013, to our knowledge the first edition and now have the 2014, another winner with perhaps an even more tender palate feel (no small trick in New Zealand).  It’s another stunning effort from C.P. though perhaps, again, more ‘Kiwi’ than his Mountford stuff. The Erewhon Pinot Noir New Zealand 2014 has all the cool, savory (but not too savory) flavor profile that the very best from the region have, but not of the green or edgy character that can sometimes detract.

It’s fleshy and pretty, but at the same time purposeful, pure and precise. Mulberry, plum and confectionary cherry combine with spice, stones, thyme, tea, and flecks of mushroom, and the wine is both lifted and tender with surprising continuity from front to back. The 2014 got a 92 from Wine Spectator yet again back in March, 2017 with comments, “Rich, plush and generous, with fleshy dark cherry, plum and sandalwood flavors. Notes of black tea and fresh earth linger on the finish. Drink now through 2026.”

Like last year, the notes are nearly a year old on this wine which means it was probably tasted last January or before (it takes time to put ‘print’ magazines together).  We suspect this Pinot has come a long ways since then. Again, one of the most complete Kiwi Pinots we have tasted and the price is extremely attractive given the performance here…orange label notwithstanding. Only 832 cases produced, more than last year but still not very much.  A must have!