wineries

Start those tractors up!

There’s something of a revolution going on in the East Bay’s sleepy corners; a revolution of wine. The urban winery is alive and well in Oakland, and Cerruti Cellars is brightening up a lonely Jack London Square.

Cerruti is part of the Tudal portfolio, which includes some well known Napa names as well as this fun loving Italian style house. The family has been making wine and growing grapes for four generations, and while the Tudal Winery in St. Helena is going strong, in 2011 another branch of the family was born when Cerruti Cellars opened in a historic building at Jack London Square.

One of the most intriguing things about the winery itself is the historic property. Build int he 20s as a cold storage facility, it has been many things for many years until the winery took over the space. The family kept th historic touches, and walking in the tasting room is walking back in history.

While Tudal has unique signature wines that are appropriate for Napa, Cerutti focuses on fun, Italian style wines with a twist. Tractor Shed Red for example, is named after an antique tractor that decorates the vineyard. This blend of Sangiovese, Merlot and Zinfandel is as unique and fun as that old tractor.

Beyond the tractor, I also enjoyed the 2010 Honker Blanc, named for the geese that migrate over the vineyard properties. This Napa Sav Blanc is small production, with green apple, lime, and just a hint of hay. This crisp white is fermented in 100% stainless, and is 45% Sauvignon Musket which gives a fuller body and complexity to the wine that could so easily be simple.

These are just two of the offerings at Cerutti, and are great for your summer BBQ or picnic needs. They are priced ~$15 and are as much fun as the winery!

If you find yourself in Oakland, drop by. I’ve heard tales that they have had the BBQ trucks in the back parking lot, and the wine flowing – you might get lucky! you can’t beat the hospitality; John Tudal, 5th generation wine kid, was a gracious host and an avid entertainer. The stories of growing up on a once rural Alameda island, and playing in the vineyards craft images of a time gone by and one that you are sure to think of sipping these wines!

I look forward to seeing them again and tasting the Tudal portfolio soon.

Go give him a wave in Oakland!

Happy Earth Day!

Apr 21st, 2012

by winebratsf.

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It’s Earth Day again, that one day when we’re supposed to stop to smell the roses, and celebrate Gaia. I try to be kind to my planet every day, by taking care of her and recycling, reducing and reusing – since it’s clear to me that she is one pissed off mama.

Today, I’m sipping on some green wines, in partnership with Sip Certified. Sip Certified has spent the last 15 years working with growers and wineries rethink their strategy about sustainability. Pretty cool stuff!

To become Sip Certified, you msut address the entire farm ecosystem, from soil to vine, from bottle to cork. you can learn more HERE.
But today, I’m sipping on Riverbench Pinot Noir from Santa Maria Valley.

Riverbench Vineyard began in 1973, when it was planted to Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Now, over 30 years later, they are a leading fruit source for the Santa maria Valley. In 2004 the property was purchased, and the new owners embarked on their own wine adventure, reserving some of the fruit for their own estate wines.

The 2010 Estate Pinot starts out with some bold red fruit on the nose, with ripe strawberries and raspberries on the palate. Surprisingly, there is some great acidity in this wine; I am constantly looking for more acid in my pinots, and it’s nice to find a southern Central Coast example that has some bright cranberry and bright red fruit along with the rich ripe berry. There is also a nice spice box hiding in there that gives the wine a kick on the finish. I am enjoying the allspice and pepper kick.

One of the hallmarks of this wine is the silky mouth feel and smooth palate, due to the 96% neutral oak. with only 4% new French Oak, the flavor of the fruit shine through wihtout being overpowered.

At a budget friendly !~$25, this is a Santa Maria wine I will keep my eye on!

Enjoy!

This wine was provided by Sip Certified, to celebrate Earth Day.

Mambo Italiano

Apr 6th, 2012

by winebratsf.

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It’s time to get super! Super Tuscan that is. Traditionally, wines from Tuscany are Chianti, made from the Sangiovese grape. These days however, more and more “Super Tuscans” are turning up, making use of the newer plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon and other Bordeaux varietals. Adding a big, round red to a Sangiovese will give the resulting blend, making a plusher, bigger, more New World style, which is really a crowd pleaser for the average wine drinking.

In this case, the Super Tuscan that I tasted was the La Sala Campo All Albero, which was 85% Cab and 15% Sangio, provided by Wine Passionate, a great new website dedicated to value oriented Italian wines.

This wine was dry and earthy, with flavors of tobacco and dried plum. It was chewy and meaty and was great with food.

I was also able to taste the 2010 Pandiani Aglianico from Sicily, a great wine for a crazy price ($12). Aglianico is not a grape I come across frequently, and I was really pleased by this valiue wine.

Though to be brought over by the Greeks, Aglianico is a black skinned grape that produces a dark, intense wine. Fermented in stainless steel tanks instead of barrels, this gives the wine a freshness and bright quality with a lot of great acid. It’s an easy wine to like, and goes great with any pasta dish.

I loved sipping on this and it really opened up over the evening. Lots of dark red berries, chocolate, Chinese Five Spice, and pepper in here, with a strong anise undercurrent.

I love discovering new wines, and now I can add this to my Century Club list, and go out and see other Aglianicos! The moral of this story, is, be adventurous. DOn’t be afraid to try something you have never heard of, especially at these prices. You might be delightfully surprised!

Thank you Wine Passionate for providing these wines for me to taste!

Pulling it all together

Mar 28th, 2012

by winebratsf.

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Now that we have seen the grapes come in and the base wine made, it’s time to pull it all together. It’s time for the assemblage!

Assemblage is the process of choosing which case wine will be blended to make each sparkling wine. Each base wine can be classified in to different levels of wine, and the process involves several components, including multiple trials and blends. But first, you need to taste the base wine from which the blended cava will be made.

Each primary still wine is made specifically for the purpose of creating cava. Unlike the table wine, these wines are made with a lower sugar content and a higher overall acidity.

First up, the Macabeo cava base, showed lychee and a slightly tropical undertone, with bright acidity, green apple and grapefruit. It’s easy to see how this can create an excellent cava.

Next, we compare the Macabeo cava base with the Macabeo wine base. IN the wine base, you get a creamy undertone, it’s roudner and softer with more pear flavors followed by citrus.

Now on to the Xarel.lo cava base. This uniquely Spanish wine has a very subtle nose and is bright, lean and tight. A strong banana scent is followed by bitter lime. This wine adds more weights and depth to the finished cava.

Finally we taste the Xarel.lo wine base. This was a bit like unfiltered grapefruit juice, stll with that banana flavor and a heavier mouthfeel. I would call this a pithy wine.

Now that we know who the players are, it’s time to play mad scientist with the assemblage!Now we get to the third traditionally cava base, Parellada. The base wine had a slight spritz, and was full bodied and had lemon custard flavors with heavy aromatics and floral notes.

Gabriel Suberviola, Master Winemaker at Segura Viudas, was on hand to help walk us through the process. As we found out in the component tasting, each wine contributes its own unique notes, and bringing it all together takes patience and skill. To maintain a consistent product, winemakers need to be able to replicate a flavor profile year after year, with minor changes to the blend.

Gabriel and his team taste up to 200 wines, and they are classified in to specific lines. Each line will become a different wine. For our small team of amateur wine blenders, we had to learn how to spot a premier cava in the making in the unusual base wines we tasted. The winemaking team has years of practice and can tell in one sip, but we needed a bit more time.

We started our adventure with four bottles of base wine:

Macabeo base wine
Xarel.lo base wine
Parellada base wine
current candidate of test wine, for control purposes

Over the next 2 hours, we tediously tried to create the best blend possible, which Gabriel would then be grading them as we ate lunch. And so it begins. Never one to play exactly by the rules, I started creating concoctions immediately. Instead of trying to match the current test candidate, I decided to go out on my own and create a blend that I thought would make an amazing cava.

In the end, my favorite blend didn’t wine, but I sure had fun trying! It’s amazing how as little as 5% of one wine or another can have a profound impact on the finished product. If you’ve never played with blending, I encourage you to do it at home. You can try it with any old wine, just add a dash of Petite Sirah to your Zinfandel. Maybe some Malbec to your cab1 be your own winemaker!

The winner of this round was erstwhile wine director Mark, who proudly carried home an

excellent bottle of cava. The most vivacious team goes to Rebecca and Tom, who had nearly identical blends, but still didn’t win.

Cin cin!

The People’s Wine

Mar 21st, 2012

by winebratsf.

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So I’ve told you a bit about Cava, and a bit about the history of Segura Viudas. Now, let’s dive in deeper.

While Cava is Spain’s sparkling wine, it is also the national beverage. It’s a drink for the people, and isn’t reserved for special occasions. Cava can be seen every day, in bars, in restaurants, in hotel lobbies, and on the dining room table. The high value proposition makes this an ideal beverage for any occasion.

So, let’s review:

Cava is Spain’s version of sparkling wine, traditionally made from indigenous white varieties – Xarel·lo, Macabeo and Parellada. Most Cava is made in Catalonia, a region at the north east tip of Spain. Cava must also be made in the méthode champenoise, whereas sparkling wine made in other (shall we say, less than desirable in my opinion) methods may only be called vinos espumosos (sparkling wines).

Historical records show that some form of sparkling wine has been made in the Catalonia region of Spain since the 14th century; it wasn’t until the late 19th century however, that serious efforts were made to compete with France for a sparkling wine with a similar profile to Champagne.

In the US, probably the most recognizable brand of Cava is Frexinet’s Cordon Negro, in the signature black bottle. This budget bubbly gets a bad rap, and while I was one of the guilty poking fun, it’s a great, fun, simple Cava to serve at parties or in mimosas. At a recent twitter tasting I participated in, I was pleasantly surprised that my memory of a product similar to Cook’s was completely wrong and the Cordon Negro is really a perfectly fine sparkling wine.

Any way you put it, the value proposition for Cava is excellent. With most bottles hovering around $8 and many more up to $20, there are some great examples at any price point but it’s a great wine to enjoy anytime. While there are certainly more expensive cavas out there, you can easily find a great example for under $20, which is very affordable in my book.

My hosts at Segura Viudas focus on making cava of distinction, in the traditional method. While you are allowed a certian amount of other grapes, head winemaker Gabriel Suberviola focuses on the local grapes to create special cavas that really exemplify the region. While they are a large operation by American standards, the team at Segura Viudas is careful to maintain the quality of the fruit by hand harvesting the grapes, and evaluating each load carefully. The grapes are then graded, and sorted in to what wine they will become. You could make the argument that you can just throw everything in the hopper and see what comes out, but they won’t settle for that. Less quality grapes go in to the every day wines; not lesser quality wines by any means, but these are your $10 every day cavas, vs the iconic Reserva Heredad ($25). Gabriel and his team can tell on site, and through a detailed process with 17 data points, what wines each small bin is destined to become.

Up next, we blend our our base wine! This could get interesting…so, pop a bottle, clink your glasses to life, and enjoy cava!

Cava cools you off…

Mar 19th, 2012

by winebratsf.

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It’s hot here in Spain, even though it’s only March. There hasn’t been much rain, and you can feel it all around. The rivers are dry, the air is dry, the vines are dry.

One critical observation about Spain is there is an inordinate amount of smog at atmosphereic gunk. While I belive most of this is organic smog, it makes for a rough go for anyone that is used to clear skies and easy breathing. I myself am suffering after 3 days of heavy smog, where you can barely see the skyline of Barcelona and you can only make the outline of the breathtaking Montserret mountain formation . Even today, from my hotel room less t

han 1 mile away, the giatn Gaudi Masterpiece, the Segrada Famila, is barely visible in the haze.
When i was in Madrid and Rioja last year, I noticed a simlar issue. With the contstant burning of organic waste (and quite probably inorganic) I wonder how long this city can continue to manage this level of pollution. However, I see steps that are postivie: the city busses are natural gas powedered; there are far more diesel fueled vehicles in Europe than anywhere else ( particular in gas guzzling US); Segura Viudas is making steps to become a green, closed ecosystem.

While in the vineyard in the Penedes region of Catalonia, we toured one of the old vineyards at the estate. Segura Viudas is a pioneer in the area, practicing sustainable agriculture, as operates as organically as possible with out being constrained to the organic rules of operation. Currently, they are experimenting with reusing the biomass created by pruning, as well as other vineyard activities, and seeling this as fuel. Future plans include using the biomass fuel within

the winery system to becoming a self contained ecosystem.
Additionally, the vineyard manager Sebastià Raventós has been working with cover crops such as hay and oats, to provide a nutrient balance. Of course, this also protects the vineyards from erosion during the rainy season, and also provides another attraction for insects and animals to build a sustainable ecosystem in the vineyard.

Sebastià was born and bred in this small wine growing region, and has the soil in his blood. His familiy has worked the vineyards in the area for generatiosn. He belives that great cava or great wine begins in the vineyard, and that great wine cannot be made without great grapes. He is part of the landscape here, born and bred in this small wine growing region of Penedes, and has the

soil in his blood. His family has worked the vineyards in the area for generatiosn. He belives that great cava or great wine begins in the vineyard. To this point, he fiercly guards his vines, and has a particular reverace to the old, gnarly vines that are growing freely. While there are advantages to head trained, neat, trellised vineyards, they are also more prone to diseases and pests since they aren’t allowed to grow naturally. These old vines, planted 40+ years ago, producer less grapes, but grapes of an intensity that cannot be compared.

Sebastià is a lovable charmer, and his passion and lvoe for the vines is clear. He is a fighter, and is dedicated to a more traditional way of growing grapes; this return to the past has a greater respect for the environment. Even though he claims not to speak English, there is a glint in his eye when we get excited about talking about green practices. He pulls out the seeds for the cover crop and grins when we recognize his efforts.

In effect, he is an ecologist who uses less invasive methods, and studies the history of the vineyards to predict future outcomes. With 19 years of experience on the saem vines, he has been keeping track of weather patterns, including the global climate changes that are impacting all grape growers. with this knowledge, he can predict down to the day, when the grapes will be ready to harvest. Planning a trip on Tuesday? Nope! We harvest on Tuesday!

Using methods such as pheromone traps for moths, cover crops to stabilize the soil on erosion prone hillsides, and creating biomass from clippings, Segura Viudas has been a pioneer in these efforts. They have even gone so far as to create a nature train within one vineyard, which explains the natural habit and what they are doing to assist in rebuilding the environment.

Sebastià has such a passion for the vineyards taht he has been taking care of for the last 19 years; it is clear that he is as much a part of them as they are him. Teh excitement he holds for creating the best possible fruit, and ensuring that every possible action can be taken to take care of these gems is clear.

Since it was hot and dusty outside, it was a welcome sight to come inside and taste some of the delicious Cava that the winery produces. Next up, a bit of history about the property, and some tasting!

¡Viva España!

Feb 24th, 2012

by winebratsf.

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Happy February everyone! I can hardly belive it’s still “winter” here in San Francisco, given that it’s in the mid 70s, and the sun is shining. Time to get out and enjoy some crisp sparkling delicious Cava!

I am so excited that in 3 short weeks, I will be spend a whirlwind week, learning all about this magical elixer, from the masters of Segura Viudas.

Some of the activities I will be participating in are:

An Assemblage master class, where we learn about the traditional cava grapes, terroir, region and climate.
A blending session, where we will learn to create our own special bubbly blend
A cooking class to learn about the regional cuisine
Meals paired with the wines of the region
A side trip to Priorat, one of my favorite regions. Did someone say Garnacha? Monastrell? Garnacha Blanca? Pack me a straw!

And did I mention, they are rather fond of jamon in Spain?

And now, a bit more about my hosts, Segura Viudas:

Segura Viudas has developed a reputation as a premium cava producer, with the property dating back to the 11th century. The brand was born in 1959, and the wines were first released in 1969. The Ferrer family of Barcelona, who owns brands like Gloria Ferrer and Frexinet, purchased the estate in the 1980s making it a global competitor.

I’m looking forward to learning more about cava and the Catalonia region of Spain! As you might now, I was in Spain & Portugal last year, when I spoke at the International Wine Tourism Conference. At that time, I took some extra time and explored Madrid, Rioja, and the northern regions, so this will be a great way to round out my Spanish adventure. I wonder if I can accidentally miss my return flight and get lost in Barcelona?

Watch out for tweets and posts from the road! Can I do this all with just my iPad? I hope so!

Sometimes, smaller is better

Feb 13th, 2012

by winebratsf.

2 comments

Often times, people have the assumption that larger is better; whether it’s in wine, packages of snacks at Costco, or houses with more bedrooms than people in the town where I went to boarding school, the message is bigger is better. Even in wine, the message can be bigger is better; while not referring to size, it often shows up in large production labels, that assume that releasing 10,000 cases means they are successful. It also shows up stylistically, when wines become Fraken-fied, with additives and strange concoctions of science much more than art.

My choice, therefore, is to spend as much money as I can on supporting smaller, local producers who not only need to cash more, but have more creativity and stylistic control than – dare I say it – that label with the Kangaroo on it down the street.

Luckily for me, I was invited to the Micro Winery Open House at Inspiration Custom Crush in Santa Rosa recently. Here, several smaller wineries - including Inspiration, were pouring their wares. I have a few highlights from the event and a shamless plug for a fellow blogger turned winemaker who is doing some great things with Rhone varitals.

First up, Wesley Ashley Wines‘ Intelligent Design Cuvee Blanc is a Rhône style

blend of Vioginer, Roussanne, and Grenache Blanc from Santa Barbara. The Viognier adds a nice aromatic note, while the Roussanne gives a crisp acidity that would be perfect for a summer sipper. We all know by now, that I love a good Grenache Blanc, and the 20% addition to this blend rounds out the white and gives it a solid body. This is no wimpy wine! Classic flavors of nectarine and apricot show up under the floral notes of the viognier.

Also from Wesley Ashely, the 2009 Intellivent Design Cuvee is another classic Rhône blend of Grenache, Syrah, and Petite Sirah. The Grenache, which is 75% of the blend, shows off its strawberry spice, with the Syrah adding some great backbone.

YOu can find Wesley Ashely Wines at the winery by appointment, The Wine Mine in Oakland, and several restaurants around the bay area.

This is a winery to watch!

Keeping on the Rhône theme, next up we meet the Two Shepherds. William Allen, a fellow wine blogger over at Simple Hedonisms, and partner Michelle Berger launched Two Shepherds wine to focus on Rhône style wines from California with distinction.

So far so good I’d say! It takes extreme talent and guts to start a winery, particularly if you’re day job is in sales, as William’s is. Having known him for a few years now, I have seen first hand the sheer tenacity that it takes to launch a brand, learn about the chemistry of winemaking, the ins and outs of running a business and also trying to pay the bills. Kudos to a successful launch!

I was one of the lucky few to taste the delicious Grenache Blanc, which is sadly sold out now – but it was a great example of a Rhône white, that balances out acidity with the creamy subtle sweetness. Some GBs can be either too acidic (I’ve had a few from Spain) or too full bodied which implies sweetness. The Two Shepherds balances those two, with a nice minerality, white peach, lemon lime flavors, followed by a flinty finish. I am eagerly waiting for more of this to be bottled so I can nab some for the cellar!

Also from Two Shepherds, the MRV is a classic white Rhône blend, comprised of Marsanne, Roussanne, and Viognier. I enjoyed a bottle of this last night with Butternut squash Lasagna, and the creamy body of the MR balanced the sweetness of the Butternet perfectly. The Addition of the viogner adds a touch of honeysuckle.

There are two red offerings from Two Shepherds, the GSM, and the SM (Syrah/Mourvedre). The GSM blend is a bit different than your average southern Rhone, or for that matter, Paso Robles Rhone blend, as the Grenache in this blend adds acidity and flavors to develop that are unique to the area. The lighter style blends perfectly with the fuller bodied Syrah and Mourvedre, to create a masterpiece of bright red berry, spice box, and a lingering flavor that I personally can only describe as Grenache.

This wine isn’t technically released, but it will be soon and I suggest buying a bottle and letting it sleep for a bit. If not, give it some air before you sip and swirl.

The Syrah/Mourvedre blend uses the same Syrah from Russian River, and is blended equally with Mourvedre. The SM is slightly fuller bodied than the GSM, as you don’t have the higher acid in the Grenache to lighten the load. It is also delicious and would be fantastic with roast chicken, a burger, or cassoulet.

You can find Two Shepherds wines at the winery by appointment, and via mail order, but also at K&L Wine Merchants, Wicked Wines in HBG, and several restaurants in the Bay Area including The Girl & Fig, Spoonbar, and Toast Wine Lounge. Click here for details.

The moral of this story? Seek out those small producers. They work in small lots, and can be more creative than people making large amounts of wine. Have fun discovering them. The custom crush / coop tasting room is more and more popular, as it allows smaller brands to showcase their wines while sharing costs for capital expenditures.

Now, I don’t harbor any fantasies of being able to be a chemist and make my own wine, but it sure is fun to live vicariously! I’ve picked up some of the pieces of the puzzle on the way, and while I don’t think I could go it on my own, I do lust after a barrel or two of Pinot Noir in my future.

Some of my other favorite coop tasting rooms:

Winery Collective – San Francisco
The Wine Yard – Santa Rosa
The urban wineries of Coffey Lane (that’s my own name) – The NPA, Carol Shelton, Vinify Winery Collective & Custom Crush, Inspiration Custom Crush, all located in the same complex as the micro wineries featured in this post.

Explore your town! There are Urban wineries in San Francisco such as Dogpatch Wineworks and Bluxome Street. Oakland and Alameda have an urban explosion.

Support your local winemaker! You won’t be sorry!

Dark & Delicious, mysterious, Petite Sirah

Jan 30th, 2012

by winebratsf.

6 comments

Long the source of confusion, Petite Sirah is such a misunderstood grape. Dark and brooking, dark and delicious. Yum is what I say!

The love child of Peloursin, a very old, and pretty much dead French varietal, and Syrah, that charming, eclectic Rhône grape, Durif became known as Petite Sirah because of it’s boyish good looks. Well ok not exactly, but it does sort of look like baby Syrah grapes.

Don’t know much about Petite Sirah? Lucky for us, Petite Sirah I Love You (PS I Love You) is here to help! If you’re located in the greater Bay Area or can be here on Friday, February 17th, Dark & Delicious, the annual food and wine pairing focusing on Petite Sirah will take place at Rockwall Winery in Alameda.

Don’t know much about Petite Sirah? Want to learn more? Check out the amazing wineries pouring at this event:

Pouring side by side with these wineries, there is also a list of over 35 food purveyors making tidbits to specifically match Petite Sirah’s unique flavor

What others have said about Dark & Delicious:

Wineries Debuting	Wineries Returning
Andis Wines	Artezin (Hess Collection)
Aratas Wines	Aver Family Vineyards
Christian Lazo Wines	Ballentine Vineyards
Flying Horse Wines	Berryessa Gap Winery
Guglielmo Winery	Bogle Vineyards and Winery
Handal Denier	Clayhouse Wines
J. Baldwin Wines	Concannon Vineyard
J. Rickards Winery	David Fulton Winery
Odonata Winery	Diamond Ridge Vineyards
Ridge Vineyards	Don Sebastiani & Sons
Shadowbrook Winery	Estrella Creek Wines
Trueheart Vineyard	F. Teldeschi
Turkovich Family Winery	Field Stone
	Foppiano Vineyards
	Grizzly Republic
	Gustafson Family Vineyards
	Harney Lane Winery
	Lava Cap
	Line 39
	Line Shack + Lido Bay Winery
	McCay Cellars
	Mettler Family Wines
	Michael~David Winery
	Miro Cellars (with Trentadue)
	Mounts Family Winery
	Nottingham Cellars
	Occasio Winery
	Page Mill Winery
	Parducci Wine Cellars
	R&B Cellars
	Robert Biale Winery
	Rock Wall Wine Company
	Rosenblum Winery
	Rutherford Grove
	Silkwood Wines
	Stage Left Cellars
	Stags’ Leap Winery
	Stanton Vineyards
	Tercero Wines
	Trentadue Winery
	Tres Sabores
	Twisted Oak
	Vezér Family Vineyards
	Vina Robles
	Wilson Vineyards

This is a not to miss event! Tickets are on sale NOW for $63. But you, my fabulous readers, have a chance to win a pair! Just tell me why you love Petite Sirah in the comments below (and for additioanlly entries, don’t forget to use the RaffleCopter Form). What makes you crave the dark & delcious grape?

See you there! Happy drinking.

(more…)

Red, ruby, Garnet!

Jan 11th, 2012

by winebratsf.

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Garnet: -A semi precious mineral gemstone, often mistaken for a ruby.

-A middle English word meaning dark red.

-A wine producer that specializes in Pinot Nor from Carneros.

Recently, I was tretaed to a dinner featuring the wines of Garnet, hosted by winemaker Alison Crowe.

Once a lower brow brand of large California fighting varietal house Saintsbury, Garnet was sold to the grape supplier Silverado Winegrowers in 2011.

With over 11,000 acres of California vineyards, Silverado has been a longtime supplier of premium grapes to several brands. With the purchase of Garnet, they now focus on production of higher-end wines.

Creating wines that retail between $11 – $30, you can bet there is something in there for everyone. I was delighted by the quality of the lower price point Monterey Pinot Noir, which typically can be a bit off putting to me. I just don’t personally care for the Monterey terroir in my pinot.

While most Garnet wines are sold at restaurants, they recently announced a partnership with Safeway to sell the Monterey pinot in stores, which means you can get a inexpensive wine for a steal. The Garnet label has been around since 1983; in the mid nineties, the production swelled to 15,000 cases, which, while I don’t know for sure, probably lead to some degredation in quality.

Alison cut her winemaking teeth at Chalone, one one of the great family houses in Central California (ok that’s another story). From there, she move don to work with Randall Graham, and really honed her style with some of the world’s best renegade wine makers. Now, she has the opportunity to build a brand in to one of Carneros’ finest. It is her goal to ensure that each wine is a true expression of the terroir, and by selecting specific sights in the vineyard portfolio for each bottle, she can do this.

Before dinner, we were greeted by the 2010 Sonoma Coast Chardonany. Now, you know that I’m not the world’s biggest chard lover but this was a nice departure from the overly cloying, butter bombs that are typical of the region. Filled with bright lemon and citrus, there was a lemon curd sprinkled with nutmeg hiding in there. I loved the brightness with a hidden agenda. The fruit is 75% Carneros and 25% Green Valley (Russian River). It’s my personal opinion that the Green Valley fog brings an acidity and zip to this wine that you wouldn’t otherwise find in a Carneros chard. The other quality that has promise in this is that it is 100% stainless steel fermented and is just kissed by oak barrels when the wine is finished, so you get very little of the oaky butter bomb effect. For $15, this is a great wine for your white wine sipping ladies on the porch. A-

The 2009 Monterey Pinot was a sleeper hit. As I mentioned, I don’t care for the flavor profiles I often find in Monterey Pinot. There is an oddness in there, and something that doesn’t sit well with me, in the form of green sticks and odd leaves. But this example has dusty dried cherries and strawberries, and while it was a bit tight at first, opened up to white pepper with a lot of floral influence. Again for $15 it’s a crowd pleaser. Solid B.

The 2010 Carneros Pinot was, as is expected, big and jammy with bright raspberry. I personally thought it was a little hot, and bold but silky. Even though it was big and jammy, the body was lighter, which was somewhat surprising for a Carneros wine. There was a lot of darker fruit hiding in there. Not my fave. C+

My personal favorite glass was the 2010 Rodgers Creek Pinot. This single vineyard designate is the only wine that is finished with cork and showed Earthy mellow mushroom, bark, sarsaparilla and spicy gingerbread. In a way it reminded me of a Coca Cola cake (it’s a southern thing). The foggy terrain of Rodgers Creek gives this a stunning baking spice palate that I just love. I couldn’t quite believe that this was only $30, and it definitely gets n A in my book.

The moral of this story is that it pays to dig a bit under those big brands. They often hide premium wines under their hats that you might not otherwise approach. Since I prefer to dig under the vines for smaller, less well known wines, I am appreciative to find a larger production winery that is focusing on quality, even when quantity makes the bankers happy.

Thanks to Alison and Laura from The Barn Group for a lovely evening!