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wine blogging wednesday

Are wine bloggers and writers influential? Should we be?

Aug 30th, 2012
by winebratsf.
16 comments

There is a lot of conversation going around the blogging world about how, if at all, bloggers and online wine writers influence the wine world.  Do we?  Do we have an impact?  Do we influence consumers?  Do we just read each other’s blogs?  Those are all valuable questions that spawned a lively debate at the Wine Bloggers Conference earlier this month.

One of the key questions that came up was was how do we, and online writers of content, move beyond having an audience made up solely of other online writers.  This naval gazing has been a sore point since the beginning of wine blogging, and while to a certain extent it is true, I think that that is a shortsighted view point.

Yes, many wine bloggers read wine blogs.  In fact, most wine bloggers read more wine blogs than the average consumer.  That said, as wine bloggers are wine consumers, and typically a more educated wine consumer, where is the problem with this?  One thing that is missing in the conversation about influence is that we, as bloggers, are wine consumer as well.  In fact, we are primarily a picky crowd of wine consumers.  So, if you audience is primary wine bloggers, you might actually be targeting the right crowd – typical wine bloggers have more disposable income and spend more of that on wine than most readers.

The counter argument to this is that the wine world is not just consumers and readers of the blogs.  The wine world is also producers, distributors, retailers, and the PR people that help them sell their products.

So, how much influence does blogging have on this collective audience?  Whether blogging as an individual or as a group (like Palate Press), how does the gestalt of wine blogging (online wine writing) impact the industry?  Blogs, and other e-media are, by their very nature, unique.  Blogs are a conversation starter, and the seed to a further discussion and further discovery by the reader.  When you write a post, or read a post, it’s often just the jumping off point for a longer conversation that may or may not occur on the blog post itself.

Case in point:  most of the conversations that happen as a result of my posts are on Facebook and Twitter.  Whether that is on my page on Facebook, in a group that I am a member of, or on twitter is somewhat immaterial.  The very nature of social media means that the comment as a means of feedback is not necessarily the most accurate measurement of the social impact of that writer - and by extension that bloggers’s audience.  Unfortunately, while comments appear to be on life support, they are an easy way of measuring value and interaction.  Until social media monitoring tools can read cross platform transactions and measure tools like Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter, comments need to be taken with a grain of salt.  Likewise, measuring tools like Alexa are misleading as they only measure direct traffic to your blog and do not include RSS feed readers and other social media interaction.

E-media and social media specifically offers agility and speed, and the ability to be unique, whether you are a winery, wine business, or writer.  Bloggers can respond quickly and create follow up posts with an agility that no other media has.  You have the power to create direct and powerful collaborative relationships with your readers.  However the conversation gets started, as an online writer, you need to join a crowd that has them come to you so you can grow your wings & fly.  It’s up to you to go out and make that happen.

The under 30 crowd is becoming hugely influential in the wine world.  There is, however, an unfortunate tendency to hyper focus on the Millennial and their obsession with technology.  This obsession with tech toys and the internet is not limited to the Millennials, as the vast majority of Generation Xers grew up with technology and are now the young-middle aged crowd with the disposable income to spend on wine.  As one of these Gen Xers, I do get somewhat offended to be boxed in with the Baby Boomers who might not have grown up around technology.  Yes, I live in a bubble here in the Bay Area, however, the majority of my generation are smart phone carrying, educated consumers that are empowered to make decisions based on information that is more easily accessible.

Another important point to review is that wine is a long tail business.  If someone walks in to a winery or wine shop and buys a bottle of wine, you have a sale.  If you build a relationship with that person, you have a customer.  I think this gets lost in a lot of the conversation about how we influence buying habits; my primary goal is not to have a reader buy a bottle of wine I recommended, however that is often a side effect.  My goal in writing about wine is to expose my readers to new producers and wines they might not already know.  Hopefully, they influences them to seek out these wines, and quite possibly try other wines from these producers.

Wine bloggers are as much publishers as they are writers.  This has been a steady message for several years, and Tom Wark continues to drive the point home.  As such, finding topics of interest that last over the long haul, that gather steam and have direction, will increase our influence.  Examples of this as the noiw somewhat defunct Wine Blogging Wednesday.  The collective posting of a general topic, say Malbec, or Pinot Noir from Oregon, or wines that go with football, not only inspire us to think in new ways, but they create a web ring of posts for readers to follow with a single wrap up post as a jumping off point.

While some find this to be “telling us what to write”, I believe the opposite.  Who doesn’t need inspiration sometimes?   Creating themes that are broad enough to allow us to maintain creative control is the key to a successful Wine Blogging Wednesday or any other themed group posting effort.  However, these efforts have to be regular and consistent or they will fail, as it the case of WBW.

So with all of that, what does the word influence mean in the blogging universe?  Blogger, or online wine writer, influence helps to drive demand for wine in general, and perhaps specific wines in particular.  Even if you cannot locate a wine that I write about locally, you can still go out and find a similar wine.  Online wine conversations get people talking about wine, and this is a primary goal of the wine industry.  Whether or not the wine is in the shop on the corner is somewhat immaterial; the important thing is that we are spreading the wine love and we are educating about wine.  No, I don’t mean that we are teaching you the WSET Advanced Course, but with 90% of wine consumers being the Average Joe, giving a flavor profile in a wine we like can educate a consumer enough to build the confidence to make their own choices at the local market.

Online wine writers need to define themselves clearly enough so that readers can know what to expect.  I am guilty of not doing this well enough, and I tend to morph in and out of themes; however, my specific goal is to write about the little guy, write about the story, and write about what’s going on in my local wine business.  If you write wine reviews, great!  However, you should have some framework for your writing.  With intention and content, influence will follow.

The spark within – WBW 73

Jan 23rd, 2012
by winebratsf.
4 comments

Ahh, Wine Blogging Wednesday.  Once upon a time, WBW was a monthly spark for wine bloggers to collective think about a particular topic, and form the gestalt of the blog.

The sum of the many is the one.

Sadly, WBW all but disappeared over the past few years.  Formed in 2004, WBW is having a resurgence thanks to a new committee and new life behind it. I for one, am grateful to have a guided post every month, as I struggle to be inspired and write posts that are both thoughtful, but also interesting to my readers.  This month, as we kick off a new year, January’s theme reminds us to think about what make us start blogging int he first place.  The Corkdork asks us what sparked our interest in wine, but more why we decided we needed to write about it.

For me, I actually have to thank my wine loving friend, and fellow blogger Liza Swift of the Brix Chicks for challenging me to put my money where my mouth was.  There was never one wine, or a specific experience that made me put pen to paper.  I had always been involved int he wine community one way or another.  But Liza, whom I encouraged to blog before I even started my own, asked me why I wasn’t writing when she was.

Good point!  Wine fascinates me.  the fact that it is alive, and forever changing, inspires me.  I have been drinking wine since before I was 21, and I have been entrenched in wine, while maintaining a techie career, for the better part of (*gasp*) 17 years.  I felt compelled to share my favorite wine discoveries with friends via word of mouth, but then in a newsletter.  That newsletter, which was filled with wines that I had consumed and fallen in love with, as well as tips on events that were up and coming in the Bay Area, and stories of my adventures in wine, are what sparked this blog.

Why do I write?  To write puts thoughts on paper - or on the internet – and shares them with your audience, however selective that might be.  To share the joy that I have experienced drives me.  My tastes have changed from zinfandel to pinot, and further more to the complex wines of the Rhone.  Starting out with my so called newsletter, I had the overwhelming feeling that to keep such knowledge to myself would be indulgent and selfish.  Beyond that, writing is cathartic, regardless of whether it’s in a personal journal or in a public format.  This blog, Facebook, and Twitter act as a life coach, therapist and best friend.

Wine is alive.  Wine changes.  Both time and place can turn the same wine in to very different beasts.  What happens when you taste a wine 5 years after the initial release?  Is it better?  Is ti worse?  Is my taste just different?  All of these are true, all of these are not.  Wine also changes in the glass.  What other tangible and consumable object has this much life to it.  It sound like I am quoting Maya from Sideways, but it’s true.  Wine lives, and wine is alive.

What sparked me?   My gateway wine was definitely zin.  Having worked for and with ZAP for over 10 years, I was exposed to over 200 wineries that had a wide variety of zinfandel to offer.  Is it the brambly jammy blackberry from Dry Creek?  Or perhpas the spicy mincemeat raisin from Sierra Foothills?  Dig a little deeper and try the rose petals and somewhat lighter style from Russian River.  I still love zin, and while my everyday tastes have changed somewhat, there is nothing better on a cold rainy night.

Today, my passion is for learning about and discovering pinot.  Why are pinots so fickle?  What are they so different?  How can I possibly love a pinot from Willamette Valley but also love one from the vast and strange Sonoma Coast?  While keeping my love affair with pinot alive, I am ever the explorer.  My latest quest.  Grenache!  Where fort art thou!  One of the essentially Rhone grapes, you can get Grenache for days in the Rhone Valley and also in somewhat rougher, inexpensive Spanish Garnacha.  But what about in the New World?  Where can I find that meaty, spicy, unique in a way that only Grenache can produce, flavor here int he new world?  Apart from a few favorites that I can’t seem to keep in my cellar, I am always on a quest to meet the winemaker who has taken on the bold new world of the Rhone, Spanish, interesting varietal.  Beyond the Grenache, what of the misunderstood, misplaced, lost and lonely Mouvedre/Monastrell/Mataro?

It’s a bold new world out there, and wine is waiting.

KEEEEEEEEEEEVINNNNNNNNNNNNNN!

Mar 17th, 2011
by winebratsf.
3 comments

Kevin Hamel

Sorry, I just had to get that one in there.  you remember, when Mom FINALLY realizes that she left the kid at home halfway through Home Alone?  Yeah.

So that’s exactly how I feel about this wine.  My friend Kevin Hamel, who makes Hamel Wines and has had a rather illustrious career as a winemaker, make some spectacular syrah.  And pinot noir.  Recently, I was able to attend a private tasting where Kevin poured some damn fine wines.  A few months later, I headed up to Winemaker Wednesday at Scopa, hands down the BEST restaurant in Healdsburg.  Ok I’m biased, but…no wait, it’s true!

At Winemaker Wednesday, a monthly event that Scopa has in the Spring and Fall, Kevin poured some library wines which really blew my mind.  But alas, I didn’t have any in my cellar (not yet anyway.  Kevin, we need to talk about this little problem I have!) so I opted to enjoy the 2002 Sonoma County Syrah, Westside Hills that I did have in my cellar, in honor of Wine Blogging Wednesday #71.

Wine Blogging Wednesday, our monthly blog around a theme, was created by Lenn Thompson of the New York Cork Report (formerly LENNDEVOURS), and has a new theme every month.  This month, we were asked by Tim Elliot of Winecast.net to talk about wines that are in the style of, but not from, the Rhône.  Well, since I happen to adore Syrah and most other things Rhone, I hopped on this theme of  “Rhones Not From The Rhône.”

Tim asked us to choose a wine from a Rhône variety that we all know and love – but not made in France.  Since Syrah is one of the biggest (in production not style I hope) wines made in California, and since I really enjoyed Kevin’s wines, ba-da-bing, ba-de-boom.

At the private tasting, we enjoyed the 2001 and 2002 Sonoma County Syrah, Westside Hills.  These two wines were absolutely stellar, and yet so different.  The 2001 showed much older, and it was difficult to fathom that it was juts one year before the ssecond wine.  At the tasting event, we went back and forth over which one we liked the most.  Of course, I couldn’t decide because – they were both awesome.  The 2001 could certainly count counter any Rhône out there.  It was austere adn acidic (in a good way) and would be AMAZING with food.

The 2002, while bigger, was certainly no fruit bomb in my estimation.  It was elegant and silky, and had a lot of plum and red fruit.  This was the crowd favorite, but it took several tastes to confirm which one I liked the most.  I refuse to make a distinction because they were THAT good.

Moving on to the Winemaker Dinner at Scopa, Kevin pulled out all the stops with the 1998 Sonoma County “Vitis Allobrogica?” Syrah.  1998?  Yeah 1998.  This Syrah was off the hook with my pork pasta, and as much as I tried not to order a bottle, I pretty much did.  For myself.  It was THAT good.

The moral of this story?  There is some really really good wine out there; Syrah doesn’t have to be over extracted and syrupy.  It can be juicy, acidic, balanced, restrained, and blow your mid.  You just need to explore some new regions and new wineries.  There is a ton of Syrah on the market out there, from Australia, California, Washington, and of course France.  California Syrah can be big. bold and jammy.  However, if you hunt around, you can find these juicy gems.

Another personal fave?  2007 Olson Ogdon Stagecoach.

Want to try the wines?  YOu can go eat at Scopa, and I highly recommend it.  But you can also ask Kevin where the wines are, and if he’ll share.  Please reach out to kevin on TWITTER!

WBW 65 (no I can't count) – Let it snow let it snow let it snow!

Jan 20th, 2010
by winebratsf.
1 comment

http://www.winebloggingwednesday.org

Thunder and lightening and rain oh my!  What is it about winter weather that makes me want huge red wine.  Maybe it’s the way it warms me up, maybe it’s the romantic notion of red wine in front of the fireplace.  Whatever the reason, Michelle Lentz over at Wine-Girl has asked us to cozy up with a glass for Wine Blogging Wednesday.

As you may remember, Wine Blogging Wednesday is the brainchild of Lenn Thompson, whereby bloggers and wineaux around the world, blog on a particular theme once a month.  So this month, it’s all about what you drink when you’re tucked up inside while the weather outside is frightful.

So, while I have been known to tipple the Scotch and swig the Irish, wine is my passion – so off to the cellar i went.  A syrah popped out at me, in this case a 2005 Petroni Syrah that was a gift from my friends Chuck & Paige  WOW!  When I first poured this wine i could tell it was a bruiser, which is just what i would want on a day like today when we have had thunder, lightening, flash floods and sunshine.  Oh and howling wind.  No, I don’t like in Iowa, I live in San Francisco!  Anyway, back to the wine.

When i poured the first glass, I could see this would be a big daddy.  It was almost black in the glass, and the aroma is of blackberry jam on the stove, followed by stewed plums and cherry brandy.  The first sip makes me smile, because I taste coffee and bacno fat, while i chew on the big blue fruit.  The finish has a touch of black pepper, which adds an interesting finish to the wine.

The 2005 syrah i sa blend of two blocks, both located on their estate in Sonoma Valley.  Both of these blocks are hillside plantings, which Petroni feels makes for phenomenal syrah growing.  The first block is the Hooker’s Creek  is on the lower, gentler South East facing slope on the eastern edge of our property.  This is the main source for the syrah, and the remainder is from the Diablo block which is located on a steep south facing slope in volcanic soil.  this is where the bruiser quality comes from.

Each block lot was fermented separately, which gives the winemaker more control over the finished product.  After the fermentation, the lots were blended and aged in 35% new French oak for 16 months, which gives a touch of spice and sweet toastiness without overpowering the wine.  Only 150 cases were produced of this big bold racy wine were made, so at $48 it really is a STRONG BUY if you are a syrah fan like me.  It’s not overpowered by fruit, and there is a lot of interesting stuff going on in the layers beyond the first sip.

The only thing I’m missing on my snow day here in the rain in a fire in the fireplace, but alas – it’s a spare the air day and I’m not allowed.  So I’ll pump up the heat, tuck my toes under a blanket, and watch some of my saved Tivo shows while sipping on this luxerous bottle.  Thanks Michelle for reminding me to slow down and enjoy the rain days!  Err, snow days.

Au Currant…A WBW Adventure

Sep 16th, 2009
by winebratsf.
7 comments

This month, Wine Blogging Wednesday returns to it’s founder,WBWlogo Lenn Thompson of Lenndevours for a little twist on drinking locally.  Lenn charged us to not only drink wines that are made locally, but rather to DRINK them locally, vis a vis at a winery.  Well, I took it an extra step.  As I had a wine adventure to the Sideways Land planned with some friends, I thought I’d tell you about the shining beacon of hope in an otherwise rained on my parade weekend.

The Curran Collection of wines has a tasting room in Lompoc the Danish village of Solvang, but they make their wines in a small shared use space on a ranch that grows grapes, veggies, and legends.  Kris Curran, half of D’Alfanso-Curran, got her start at Cambria but really cut her teeth at Seasmoke where she shined as a superstar winemaker.  In 2008, she left Seasmoke for Foley Estates, and also focuses on her Curran label.  Kris has the distinction of being the ONLY person who is allowed to call me Precious.  Yep, that’s right – she named me Precious after the first 5 minutes, and we hit it off like mozzarella and crust for the next 3.5 hours.

The other half of the team is Bruno D’Alfanso, who was instrumental in making Sanford a powerhouse in the Santa Rita Hills wine scene.  Bruno started at Sanford in 1983, and left when Sanford was cold to a corporate interest.  Personally, I’m glad to see him using his talents on his own wine!  Now, he’s making D’Alfanso and Badge wines in partnership with Kris at Trio VintnersTasting Room, their name for the three labels they are producing.

We were greeted with the Curran Grenache Blanc, Santa Ynez Valley, 2007.  This spicy little number was an amazing departure from the mor e well known Chardonnays of the region, and was impressive.  The crispness of the fruit was fermented in stainless steel,and carries a lot of citrus fruit, baked apples, and spice.  It wasn’t heavy but it wasn’t as acidic as a Sav Blanc and was just delicious.  This was the wine we went back to and kept opening as we chatted the early evening away and is a MUST BY at $22.

Next, we moved on to the most beautiful dark salmon-colored rosé, the Curran Grenache Gris, Santa Ynez Valley, 2007.  Here’s a fun little factoid about Grenache.  Did you know there are actually three Grenache grapes?  There are three color related varietals:  Noir, Blanc, and Gris.  The Noir is what you would typically find as a Grenache red wine, while the Gris actually produces the pink juice, as opposed as a sagniee method rose where the juice is bled off or fermented on the red skins.  This crisp rose had a ton of tropical fruit and melon flavors, with a hint of roses.  It was a meaty rose with bold blood orange flavors.  I loved this wine.  I’ve been drinking a lot more rosé lately, and this one is a MUST BUY as well, at $22

I confess, at this point, I was having a blast and the last wine I will review will be the Curran Black Oak Reserve Syrah, Santa Ynez Valley, 2005.  This wine really developed in the glass and was a velvety dark wine, with tons of plum and fig fruit.  This is a STRONG BUY, only because it’s $38.  However, the quality of this wine deserves the price, and I would buy it again.

Overwhelmingly, I am impressed by how approachable Kris and Bruno are.  They truly are a power couple, and are simply lovely, funny, irreverarant, REAL people.  I’m sure they’ll appreciate my stalker love ;-)   The fact that they maintain an affordable price point between $20-40, when they could be $30-70 easily just drives the point home that you don’t have to charge cult prices for cult wines.

You can find Curran at the source, but also at K&L in NorCal and Woodland Hills Market in SoCal.

Forgive me, for I have zinned! A WBW Post

Aug 12th, 2009
by winebratsf.
21 comments

For this month’s adventure in the themed blogging topic known as Wine Blogging Wednesday, our hostess @sonadora from Wannabe Wino, is hosting us for the 5th Anniversary.  This time, Megan goes back to her love of Zinfandel, and encourages us to taste our favorite zins paired with some yummy BBQ.

As luck would have it, this post coincided with the annual ZAP Summer Celebration, which is famous for it’s BBQ and plethora of zins.  To start out, we took a little tour of some of the ZAP producer vineyards, starting out with Pete Seghesio at Saini Vineyards.  Saini was planted in 1946, and is now run by the 4th generation of Sainis.  Prior to being farmed for grapes, it was planted with apples, pears, and prunes, as was much of the Dry Creek Valley where this vineyard is located.

Saini zin undergoing verasion

Saini zin undergoing veraison

You may not have known this, but dry farmed zin can be one of the most difficult grapes to grow because it can rot from the inside out; the cool fog that drifts in to the valley over the western mountains cools down the fruit and can make it damp, and prone to botrytis.  Now, if you’re in to Sauternes, this is a good thing.  In red wine, not so much!  Dry farming also can have a 1pt increase in the over all brix (measurement of sugar) a day, in the summer heat.

From Saini Vineyard, we went over to Lytton Springs, where Ridge has 175 acres planted next to their straw bale winery.  One of the most interesting things we saw was a newly planted field on the drive in, which is a purpose ffield blending of Zinfandel, Charbono, Petite Sirah, Syrah, Mataro, Cinsualt, Grenache, Grenache Blanc, Palomino and pretty much everything else in the kitchen sink.  This is an old school Italian field blend, and should be some interesting stuff.  Ridge will be harvesting this vineyard block by block, and while this will allow them to harvest depending on each varietals individual ripening, it will undoubtedly have some cross over.

The Lytton Springs Vineyard is planted on old river rock, and you can really see the red soil coming through.  This vineyard is on a small bench, that seperates the Dry Creek and Alexander Valleys, and is between 80-100 feet in elevation.  The red river rock holds those 100 year old Zin vines in the cool morning fog, with hot summer afternoons.  This will give it a district flavor profile from the Saini Vieyard, which is on the more fertile flood plain of the Russian River.

Ridge purchased fruit here since 1972, and bought he property in the early 1990s, making it part of their estate portfolio.  There has been zin planted here since the very early 1900s, when the old Captain Litton (spelling changed later) owned the land and had a large variety of grapes growing here.  That history of complementary varitals is show in that new field blend I mentioned above.

But enough about the grapes, what about the wine!  After the vineyard tours, we headed back to Seghesio in Healdsburg where we were treated to a smorgasbord of ZAP Producer zinfandels, including the delicious Rock Wall Sonoma County zin.

If you don’t know, the Rock Wall Wine Company is Kent Rosenblum of Rosenblum Cellars fame.  Rosenblum is now owned by Diageo, but Kent and his daughter Shauna started the next chapter up down the street and are producing some mighty tasting stuff.

The Sonoma County zin is a punchy one, at 15.6% ABV, but I found it well balanced and subtle, even in the 80 degree heat.  There were only 475 cases produced, so at $25 you better get out and buy some before it’s all gone.  I tasted the classic blackberry, but also some dark raspberry and bittersweet chocolate.  I was lucky enough to meet Shauna, as she was behind the table pouring, so I thank you and look forward to seeing you in September for the ZAP Volunteer Thank You party!

Rock Wall Wine Company tastes their wines by appointment only (hey, it’s a licensing thing kids!) and is located at 2301 Monarch Street, Suite 300, in Alameda.  For you locals, that’s part of the old Naval Air Station, and is spitting distance from Rosenblum.  It is part of the booming urban vintners trend, and is a member of the East Bay Vintners Alliance. I love the fact that I can taste at almost 20 wineries less than 20 minutes from my house!  Keep an eye out here for urban winery events soon.

I also had the chance to taste Duane Dappen’s zins, from D-Cubed Cellars, in Napa.   Duane is the new ZAP Board President, and I have been talking to him on Twitter, so it was fun to meet him in person.  Duane has been working in Napa Valley since the early 80s, and has worked with some of the biggest names in zin, like Grgich Hills, Storybook Mountain, and Rombauer.  Happily, he now has his own label, and was pouring both the Napa Valley and the St. Helena versions at our BBQ.

I loved the 2006 St. Helena Zinfandel, which is now in its second vintage.  It is made from the Korte Ranch Vineyard, which was planted back in 1910. Talk about some old vines!  OK, so they’re not 100+ years old, but they are old at the same.  This fruit creates a wonderfully bold and balanced zin, with raspberries, blackberries, notes of vanilla, and some herbal notes.  It’s also relatively low ABV for a zin, at 14.5%.

You can taste D-Cubed wines, along with a dozen others, at the Vintners Collective in Napa.  They are located at 1245 Main Street, and area a great destination in town!

With both of these wonderful zins, as well as a smattering of tastes of others, the BBQ boys were there serving up pulled pork sliders, ribs, and sausages.  This is classic zin food, where the richness of the BBQ sauce and its tang goes with the bold dark berry flavors of the fruit in the zin.

I have always enjoyed this event, because we not only get to stuff our faces with pork product, but we get to taste a lot of different zins in one place that is more restrained than the Grand Tasting in January.  On a final note, for dessert, I took my raspberry sno-cone, and poured some leftover zin of unknown origin in to it.  Let’s just say it was probably the best zin based dessert I’ve had since the Zinfandel ice cream at Rosenblum’s Open House Last year.

I hope you’ll go out and taste some zin for yourself, and be sure to try some tasty BBQ treats with it!

PS please stay tuned to Palate Press for some more news regarding zin soon!

Inspirational inspiration – WBW #57

May 14th, 2009
by winebratsf.
3 comments
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Oh my!  Are we here again?  Wine Blogging Wednesday already?  Oh my.  Hard to believe that a year has gone by since Robert Mondavi passed away, and a great icon – however controversial – was lost.  This month, Jeff LeFevre, of Good Grape, has asked us to find our own California Inspiration.

What is my California Inspiration?  Wow.  To be honest, I had a really hard time thinking of what to write about for this post, because I am a California native who grew up in the city closest to one of the world’s greatest wine regions.  Wine has always been a part of my life.  Growing up in San Francisco, my parents would have dinner parties and let me taste their wine.  At the time it was Gallo’s Hearty Burgundy, but hey.  It was the 70s and 80s.  Back then, these jug wines were not only all the rage, they were actually of decent quality.  As my parents moved on to more palatable pursuits, they still let me sip their libations.  Not only did this prevent me from going completely wild, it made me appreciate the local fruit.  Yes yes ok, so I’m still completely wild, but I never snuck out of the house to drink.  Or stole my parent’s liquor, or really went on a bender.  Much.

When I finally left my community college for greener pastures, I chose Sonoma State University.  Not so much for its proximity to wine country, since I really didn’t drink, but because of the psychology programs I was looking at.  Working nearly full time and going to school more than full time takes a toll on a girl however, and I quickly discovered that there were many opportunities in the Sonoma area for tasting and talking, and that *SHOCK* they were free!  A poor college student who spends $800 on books a semester does not a rich woman make, so off we went on weekday excursions to local tasting rooms.  It was during this time that I discovered the big, powerful Zinfandels of Dry Creek Valley.

During my senior year, I was lucky enough to graduation from the retail sector and strange college student jobs, to a receptionist job at a local winery sales office.  It was here where my love of the grape really took flight.  The company took a keen interest in educating their employees, and held Friday wine tastings, of their own wines as well as local wines that might be in competition.  When I left the summer job to move back to San Francisco and begin a misguided career in the employment arts, they sent me off with a case of wine and an open invitation to come back to taste.

What really inspires me is the small, family run winery, many of which are in Sonoma County.  Particular favorites of mine are Mounts Familiy Vineyards, Manzanita Creek, and the collectives at Front Street as well as Hudson Street Wineries.  As I’ve written about in the past, these small, family owned wineries exclude hospitality and know that the hey to their success is their customers.  Here, I get personal attention and am greeted like a member of the family.  No amount of overpriced cult Cabernet can ever make up for that.  For these wines, I seek out the lesser known, I travel to new regions, I spend more than I would normally spend.  This to me, is the true meaning of inspiration.

Speaking of Inspiration, I’ll close with a story of a small winery on Olivet Lane in Santa Rosa.  Inspiration Vineyards.  The little yellow house sits just off the road, surrounded by vineyards, and some larger operations like DeLoach, Hook & Ladder, Sunce, and Harvest Moon, but is a spot of calm in a sea of wine travelers.  Jon & Barbara have been making wine  on their small 4.5 acre estate in the Russian River Valley appellation.  They produce Chardonnay and Zinfandel on the property, as well as Pinot Noir and Syrah from other vineyards.  At Inspiration, they strive to produce high quality, food friendly wines at reasonable prices.  I’d say they manage that and more!

My personal favorite from Inspiration is the Pinot Noir.  Every year it is slightly different, giving me a little thrill every time I go by to taste.  If you’re lucky, you’ll get to do a side by side of vintages.  The 2005 Los Carneros Pinot Noir was a memorable experience, with a light body, which was aged in new & old French oak for 10 months. The grapes for this wine come from a small vineyard in the Los Carneros area of southern Sonoma, and they were hand tended.  This alone is inspiring to me, as it is a rare and expensive commodity in the grape market today.  I found it light and earthy, with mushroom, bright cherry and slight tobacco flavors.  It was a surprising wine with some spritz, proving that sometimes forgotten rocks can produce amazing gems.
The following vintage was a completely different wine.

The 2006 was a fruit forward, intense and bold Pinot Noir.  Jon attributes this change to a stylistic shift he made in the wine making process.  The fermentation was extended, and the wine shows big rich flavors and a dark cherry red color.  I found lavender, strawberries, dark cherries, and smoke.  Yum!

Inspiration is is open by appointment only, so be sure to call ahead.  They are however, often open on days when there are events in the area, such as Barrel Tasting and Winter Wineland,  so you might just get lucky.

Wine! It's what's for breakfast!

Jan 13th, 2009
by winebratsf.
5 comments

This month, for Wine Blogging Wednesday,   El Jefe, of Twisted Oak Winery and El Bloggo Torcido asked us to to tell him what wines we’d eat with breakfast.  OK, so more specifically, breakfast foods.  The difficult part was he ix-nayed the use of anything sweet or bubbly, the traditionally breakfast or brunch pairing.

My favorite drinking buddy and fellow wine blogger, Liza of the Brix Chicks (@brixchick_liza), graciously decided to host us at her house for a smorgasbord of breakfast items!  Also in attendance were Marshall (@wineq) of WineQ, Lisa de Bruin (@winedivergirl) of California Wine Life and Hahn Estates, and a friend of Liza’s.

First off, we started with a sparkling red. OK OK so we weren’t suppose to go there, but Lisa brought this Chandon Sparkling Red, which is made of Zin and Pinot, and I thought it was interesting.  It seemed a little bit like Welch’s grape juice, and also had flavors of black cherries and plums.  We paired this with the Amuse a la BrixChick, which was a date, stuffed with creme fraiche and a reduction syrup made with Hahn Meritage.

Next up, we had a silky egg custard with mushrooms.  We tried to pair this a forest floor style pinot, but ended up withe a fruitier Savannah Chanelle pinot instead.  The pairing didn’t quite work, so we kep drinking the Chandon Sparkling Red instead.

Then, we moved on to delicious savory waffles, topped with a smoked salmon ceviche style, which was truly amazing.  We paired this with the Hahn SLH Pinot Gris, and the citrus zing of the wine really complimented the salmon.  This was a huge winner in my book.  I have previously reviewed the Pinot Gris in our Hahn Twitter Taste Live, and I found tons of citrus which really balances the smoked salmon, combined with a nice round mouthfeel.

Now, we had the bacon course of course!  This was no ordinary bacon course, and Liza put together fresh baked croissants, bacon, a tomato coulis,  and greens.  We slathered fresh brie on the croissants and went to town building our bacon towers.  This was paired with El Jefe’s own The Spainard, a blend of Tempranillo, Garnacha and Graciano.  I really love this wine.  I mean really, really love this wine.  The smokiness of the bacon brought out the earthly goodness of The Spainard, and this was the first bottle we wrung out hoping to get a few more drops.  The Spaniard gives off a powerful aroma of smoky blackberries sprinkled with baking spices, and a whiff of your leather jacket.  It tasted like crushed blue fruit, and those same baking spices, with an earthy note to the finish.  This is a huge wine and held up well to the rich BBLT.

Next, we had Brioche French Toast with more of that amazing Meritage syrup, whipped cream and a poached pear.  We paired this with the Hahn Meritage, again reviewd at the Hahn Twitter Taste Live.   While this still isn’t my favorite wine, the pairing with the richness of the french toast and the reduction was lovely. The fruity flavor of the wine played off of the creamy brioche, and I had a very happy taste bud that day.

For dessert, we had some delicious cheeses paired with Penfolds Grandfathers Port which sealed the deal for pickling our merry crew.  I’d review it but well, I was lost in the heaven of it’s deliciosuness!

This was a fun event, and I look forward to more breakfast foods with wine!  Mushrooms in particular go quite well with earthly pinot noirs, and I”d love to pair some more syrahs with bacon.  Additionally, Bagels & Lox are calling my name with osme more lovely whites!  Wine can definately be paired, and paired well, with breakfast foods.

Happy eating, and I hope you try your own pairings soon!

In Celebration of no more Shrubbery!

Sep 16th, 2008
by winebratsf.
2 comments

Yes yes I’m a day late, and a dollar short. That said, this month, we have a special theme for Wine Blogging Wednesday #49.

In light on the current political climate and the impending election, David Honig of 2 Days Per Bottle has asked us to toast to the end of this madness we call the Bush era.

What will I drink to toast this momentous occasion? It certainly will not be something to honor the President, although I will be celebrating his demise.

If Obama wins the election, as I hope he does, I will be toasting with a lovely bottle of Champagne. The current candidate is Perrier-Jouët NV Brut, which my friend Liza the Brix Chick brought over to my house before an event on Sunday. In this tasty sparkler, I found creamy toast, hazelnuts, and a lemony backnote. Ahhh refreshign!

IF however, my worst nightmare comes true and McLame & Caribou Barbie win this freak show, I will be drowning my sorrows in some good single malt scotch as I drive up to the border to escape. My favorite single malt thse days is Glenmorangie Sherry Cask, but that, is another blog post me thinks!

Happy drinking!

Wine Blogging Wednesday #48, Back to our ROOTS!

Aug 13th, 2008
by winebratsf.
1 comment

It being the Olympics, when I think of Roots, I think of those silly berets they made us wear the last time around. That said, I was looking forward to this WBW because Lenn asked us to “get back to our roots”.

When first reading the theme, one might think I was going to go to the grocery store and stock up on Sutter Home White Zinfandel (and no Lenn, that is NOT really wine it is Cool Aid for mommies) or Almaden Chablis, but no! I strongly protest! For me, my roots are in Sonoma County.

Growing up in the Bay Area, my family would often take weekend drives up the coast, or in to Petaluma to look at the chickens. Yes, we city girls know what chickens look like. When I got older, I decided to go to college in Sonoma, since it was just far enough away from home for me to not kill my parents, but close enough to the city to have some fun.

That being said, I was first exposed to wine when working for Windsor Vineyards one summer. Granted, it was only in the office and was not terribly exciting since I was the receptionist in their corporate sales office, buy hey – we had weekly wine tastings! Since I wasn’t a huge drinker in college, this was eye opening for me. What better way to prompt the sales team to sell custom labels for corporate gifts than by getting them liquored up! Poor fools didn’t know what they were in for. Once I started drinking wine, I never stopped; as my parting gift at the end of the summer, they gave me a case of wine to go. Not bad!

When I moved back to the city, I was broke and making $10 an hour. Needless to say my habit for Long Island Ice Teas was not supported on such a meager income. I ask you, what can you do that is free, but allows you to enjoy the fruits of nature? Wine tasting of course! Thus began my weekly forays in to Sonoma Valley and Dry Creek Valley to imbibe in the good juice. In the 90s, Sonoma was still up and coming and no one, I mean NO ONE charged for tasting. Since my friends and I were all broke, there was nothing finer than a free glass of wine-a!

One of the first wineries that stole my heart was Peterson, nestled between Dry Creek Valley and Alexander Valley. Before it moved in to it’s current digs on Dry Creek Road, Peterson would occasionally open it’s barn doors and share it’s wine right out of the barn door. I instantly fell in love with it’s “I’m going to make wine my way and I don’t care” attitude, as well as the rich, jammy zinfandels Peterson produces. As a newly minted wine drinker, the full bodies and slightly sweet style of red wine is easy to love. Many of these wines lack some complexity, but are thoroughly enjoyable as sipping wines. Fortunately, as my palate matured, so did many of these wines. You can now find a vast array of complex, spicy, fruity wines all over the valley at every price point.

For this Wine Blogging Wednesday, I cracked open the 2004 Bernier Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel. I had picked up this bottle a couple of weeks ago on a whim, since I hadn’t tasted Peterson’s zins in a while. Classic in it’s Dry Creek characteristics, there were tons of blackberry brambles kissed by Oak, with lush jammy flavors wafting up from my glass. This wine was purchased at the winery for $26 but can be found elsewhere for as little as $20.

While my current infatuation has been with Pinot Noir, my budget has been impacted by gas prices and I have had to curtail my wine spending a tad. It’s great to knwo that you can still pick up a decent bottle of zin for under $50!

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