Winter Wine Producer Tour Highlights Wineries and Winemakers

Continuing with my personal impressions and notes from meeting some of the finest minds and biggest names behind wines. If you missed the first installment, you can catch up and read about meeting the people behind the wines.

The Cult of Wine; Meeting Greg Brewer Master Winemaker

In 1989, Melville Vineyards was founded in Sonoma County’s Knights Valley.   The Melville Estate, with winemaker Greg Brewer, at the helm achieves quality through the integrity of its farming practice and its respect to the microclimate, allowing the true terroir of the vineyard to shine through in the wines. 

Born of an obsession with Santa Barbara County terroir, Brewer-Clifton was formed in the early 1990’s by Greg Brewer and Steve Clifton.  Both men previously worked for the other area producers, and had expressed a desire to fully integrate their tireless work ethics with the cutting edge wine making techniques they were beginning to employ in their various projects.  

At first glance, I assumed the man I just meet was the CEO of Melville/Brewer-Clifton.  I would never have guessed it was Greg Brewer “the wine maker”. 

He was dressed in what looked like European business attire, very stylish!   He looked just great.  Now, I don’t want you to think that I *think* that all  “winemakers”  are poorly dressed and monotone, because that is untrue.  I was just pleasantly surprised when I meant him. He was super up beat and had a great personality as well.

Patz & Hall’s Donald Patz & the  Buffalo Coat!

Patz & Hall began producing wines in 1988 in order to fulfill a life long dream of making elegant Pinot Noir and chardonnay.  Partners James Hall, Anne Moses, and Donald and Heather Patz created their first vintage after years of experience working for other wineries in the Napa Valley.  

Now into their third decade of fine winemaking, Patz & Hall has refined their focus to include small production, single vineyard wines, while expanding their portfolio to include over ten different bottling of elegant Chardonnays and enthralling  Patz & Hall Pinot Noirs. 

When I meet Donald, I felt his happiness.  He greeted me with a huge smile and firm handshake.  He is one of those “cool” ones. 

He had a slideshow of pictures on his laptop that he showed me.  One picture I will never forget.  It is a picture of him in a buffalo jacket.  He told me that the jacket weighed 20 pounds.  It was coolest looking jacket I have ever seen!  Thank God, PETA was not around. 

***

 Donald is scheduled to come back to Orlando to have a wine dinner with us.  Well, actually,  it will be with Adam and the board meeting.  No girls allowed, but that’s OK;  I have a bottle of the Patz & Hall 2007 Dutton Ranch Chardonnay!  

Don’t Forget the Best Romantic Wines, oh Valentine!

Valentine’s Day gift ideas are often hard to come by. The traditional “romantic” Valentine’s Day present ideas of flowers and chocolates can sometimes feel a bit boring. For someone special, we often want to really DO something special to show them how much we care.

Valentine’s Day Gifts for Men

Don’t dismiss the Valentine’s Day idea of a romantic dinner! They say the path to a man’s heart is through his stomach. This does not need to be scientifically proven since our grandmother’s have been heard saying it for generations! Plus it’s very logical:

• Cooking is a caring and nurturing task
• It takes time and thought and preparation
• A full stomach on top of delightful taste sensations equals a very satisfactory situation. (more…)

Winter Wine Producer Tour Highlights Wineries and Winemakers

Recently, I took part in the “Winter Wine Producer Tour”. I went to Fisher’s Island, FL and Orlando, FL and was able to have the opportunity to meet the people and personalities behind some of the wines that we offer at Wine on the Way. 

Tasting with the Staglin Family Vineyard

Shari and Garen Staglin, presidents and founders of Staglin Family Vineyard talked about the direction and motivation behind their production.

The Staglin Family Vineyard is a family owned Napa Valley winery devoted to producing extremely limited quantities of the highest quality wines from its own vineyard.  Staglin has been rated one of the top five vineyards in all of CA.  The vineyard manager,  David Abreu, has over 20 years experience.  Their commitment to farming the property as organically as possible has provided the winery an outstanding source of consistently high quality fruit which makes high quality wines, such as the 2005 California Cabernet that we carry.

What I loved most about this vineyard is that they formed a nonprofit organization for mental health.  Since 1995, Staglin Family Vineyard has raised over $710 million for charitable causes.100% of profits from two of their wines go directly to the organization. Great wine, great people and personal ethical integrity makes for a winning combination!

Chehalem, Wine and Bacon

Harry Peterson-Nedry-president & founderof Chehalem came all the way from Northern Willamette Valley in Newberg, Oregon.

 

He was kind enough to have dinner with the group of us in Fisher’s Islan

d after the trade show was over and it was a great chance to get to know him personally. Can you tell by his face just how fun he was?   If you doubt me, then just take a look at their website and be sure to check out the wine and bacon tasting for Valentine’s Day.

Shafer Vineyards and Doug Shafer

Doug Shafer from Shafer Vineyards  is a legend in the wine world.  Doug Shafer became winemaker in 1983 after graduating from the University of California at Davis with a degree in enology and viticulture. I have to admit, I thought he was going to be a jerk.  I was so surprised at how cool he was. 

His station at the Orlando show was right next to the golf course. When we tasted his wine a group of older ladies were playing golf.  Every time a lady hit a ball well he would walk over onto the green and offer them a glass of wine.  They all refused.  We just could not stop laughing; if they only knew who he was!

Our group decided to award him with “having the least amount of wine in the dump bucket”.  Cool cat for sure!

Von Strasser Winery & Rudy Von Strasser: out of the caves!

The Von Stasser Winery,located in the Diamond Mt region of Napa Valley nestled between the towns of St Helena and Calistoga, sent us Rudy Von Strasser himself.

Prior to the trade show, we had a wine dinner at the Ravenous Pig with Rudy. It was a huge success.  Rudy is a very down to earth type of guy.  He took control of the wine dinner and had everyone on the edge of there seats just listening to his story.  At Fisher’s Island, he was also kind enough to have dinner with us.  Even though, he was the one who ordered a weird pizza pie. 

He told us that he plays a lot of scrabble with his wife and children. 

I told him that is what happens when you live on top of a mountain and hang out in caves.  Not much to do. 

The Girl Power of Lail Vineyards

Being with another woman in the wine business was a personal highlight to me. Robin Lail, president & founder of Lail Vineyards has a rich history in winemaking stretching back  over five generations, to Robins Lail’s great granduncle Gustav Niebaum, whose Inglenook Vineyards was widely recognized in the late 19^th century as the finest wine producer in the country.

Robin Lail is a very soft spoken woman. She is so elegant and when she speaks she just demands attention even with that soft voice. It was very interesting to me that she is a Mormon and has a strong belief  that women can take over family businesses.  After speaking to her for a while, I told her I was very proud to have meet her.  It was so  refreshing to meet a very powerful woman.  GO GIRL POWER!

I have more pictures and fun stories from the Winter Wine Producer Tour, so stay tuned!

Spanish Cava Sparkling Wine For Less Than $20 – 91 Point Rating

I attended a house warming the other night and, of course, the evening started off with a round of bubbles. There were some nice champagnes and a couple of roses. I have to admit, I am partial to roses! Since the first several bottles were real champagne (i.e., from France) I made the assumption that the roses were as well.

The best sparkling wine since 1887

The two roses were excellent, although one stood out as the best sparkling wine. When it was revealed that it was a Spanish Cava, I was really surprised. It was a Llopart Rose Brut Reserva. The bottle said the cava had been there since 1887 and the wine had spent three years sur lie.

Inside, I was struck by the color – a very clear, sparkling medium pink wine. 

The nose on this cava was very pleasant with some lovely strawberries, perhaps some cherries. The wine had plenty of small bubbles, but the style was a creamier, elegant style than what I was expecting. The finish on this balanced wine was very nice.

An Unexpected Price For A Spanish Cava Sparkling Wine

I have pretty much identified Spanish Cava’s with lower priced bubbles appropriate for Mimosas. This wine had more class than the rougher, less expensive bubbles from Spain. It got me thinking about price and value. 

What would I pay for this sparkling wine in a retail shop? I thought the wine was worth mid-$20s, perhaps even $30. Later, the next day, I learned that the wine sells for under $20. It is a super deal at that price and worth every penny.

A Sparkling Wine So Good It Was Gone

This wine pairs well with food, by the way. We were having a tapas dinner, but unfortunately, by the time we came to eat, it was gone. Folks were surprised by the quality of this wine. It also dispelled a couple of myths about Spanish sparkling wines. 

The Llopart Rose Brut Reserva Cava sparkling wine was one tasty bottle of bubbles and WineOnTheWay.com has it for just $18.00.

Pairing Wine with Food

All wine dinners purport to have one thing in common; the wine pairs well or  uniquely to the food it is paired with. There is always the presumption that somewhere along the way of planning for the event, the chief and the sommelier (or the persons in charge of food and wine) actually met and discussed what they proposed pairing and how they complemented each other.

I also assume, probably not with a lot of confidence, they may have prepared actually proposed dishes, selected some possible wines and tried them together. What the cost of a reasonable wine dinner these days? $55-$85 ++?  Yes, I understand that the consumer gets their money’s worth, but so does the restaurant. The wine dinner menu is prepped for known number of people, and it brings people to a restaurant or event in good numbers. I am sure I could list other benefits, but I am not a restaurateur and this is a wine blog, not a food blog.

Much Experience with Wine Dinners

I have been drinking wine more or less seriously for thirty years or so and have been going to wine dinners for, let’s see…..thirty years or so:

• I’ve been to wine dinners and sat next to real winemakers. I still remember sitting next to Tom Rinaldi and Dan Duckhorn when their wine was being introduced into Florida.
• I’ve been to wine dinners featuring the wines of a single winery.
• I’ve been to wine dinners focused on a specific varietal of wine.

At some dinners the wines are all pre-poured at your place. Some our poured as you go. There are probably as many variations on how to do wine dinners as there are restaurants, sommeliers, wine directors, chiefs, distributors and winemakers combined. But the end result is that the food and wine parings are suppose to knock you out of your socks.

The Art of Pairing Wine with Food

I went to a wine dinner recently:”Napa vs. Sonoma: Cross-Valley Rivals Go Head-To-Head.”

After some bubbles as a greeting wine to open up our palets, we sampled one Napa and one Sonoma Chardonnay which were paired with a crab cocktail and citrus relish. The wines were (from Napa Valley) Merryville, Napa, 2006 and (from Sonoma) Picket Fence, Russian River Valley, 2006.

Both wines were very enjoyable, but in my judgment, neither went with the food exceptionally well. The food didn’t give the wines a chance to show themselves and did not bring forth either wines best features. The citrus relish and crab tried to be the star over the wine, but as a dish it too failed pretty miserable. The wine did not make the food taste any better at all and the poor crab did need some help.

Matching Wine with Food: take two -Cabernets 

The Napa Cabernets were paired with a filet mignon and wonton crusted Ahi tuna with a Cantonese mushroom sauce. Both foods are strong and heavy with protein, usually a strong contender for a Cabernet to stand up for itself. 

In this case of food wine matching, the wines paired were not on an equal footing. The Napa Valley Freemark Abbey 2004 has something else going on; Merlot, Petite Verdot, Cabernet Franc and Petite Sirah. On the other side, the Sonoma wine contender, Rodney Strong Alexander Valley Reserve 2005, was a different vintage plus an 100% Cabernet Sauvignon.

As part of this wine dinner, we were handed sheets with tasting notes,  probably from a review or perhaps winemakers’ notes. A statement of what each wine brought to the food pairing   was included for those who did not, I assume, want to think too much or perhaps to suggest what they were attempting to do with the wine and food paring.  A scoring sheet of 1-5 on Aroma. Taste, Finish and Pairing was also part of the Wine Dinner kit. After the second food pairing failing, the wine dinner notes were doing little to impress me.

Cute Gimmicks do not make up for poor wine and food parings

At this point, suffice it to say, this would not have been my favorite wine dinner, but it gets worse.

The sommelier and waitstaff were dressed up in referee uniforms; the ever so classy zebra shirts. They had “contests” to see which table could get the most trivia questions right. The crowd became louder and louder and eventually I would have thought we were in a bar in downtown Orlando watching the Magic beat the Lakers in Game 6.

 I adore fine food with well pared wine and I use to really like wine dinners, but after this experience,  it might be awhile before I can be convinced back to a wine dinner any time soon.