A Cellar Rat!  When I first met Alan Baker, aka @thecellarrat, I was in my first year of making a mess wine at Crushpad.  What I didn’t know, or rather, the connection I failed to make, is that he was the same Alan Baker who was the voice behind this crazy podcast that I had [...]]]>

A Cellar Rat!  When I first met Alan Baker, aka @thecellarrat, I was in my first year of making a mess wine at Crushpad.  What I didn’t know, or rather, the connection I failed to make, is that he was the same Alan Baker who was the voice behind this crazy podcast that I had become addicted to over at Cellarrat.org.  Mind you, this was before I was a wine blogger, before I was the “glue that holds the twitter wine universe together”, and before I was Wine Biz Radio’s #1 fan.  Ahhh the olden days.

The months past, and I would see Alan every now and then around Crushpad, like a mad scientist on a mission to create the world’s best wine for himself, and other clients at the same time.  Enter Cellar Rat wines.  I first tasted the Cellar Rat syrah at one of Crushapd’s infamous tasting events parties, where Alan was pouring a touch of pinot and a smattering of syrah.  WOW!  I was blown away by this wine.  Both the pinot and the syrah were outstanding, and somehow, I was lucky enough to get a door prize (thanks Alan!) in a bottle of syrah that I took home and squirreled away for safekeeping and later drinking.

Fast forward 3 years, and Alan is now working with Arista Winery where he can both hone his winemaking craft and work on his social media and broadcasting skills.  I somehow convinced, cajoled, and begged him to let us come up and taste his pinot noir in progress, and so a blogger’s binge was born.

On a recent cool and foggy day, we met up at the picnic grounds of Arista, off of Westside Road in Healdsburg to talk wine, blogging, and fun.  Amongst the hoards were Patrick Llenra (@oenophilus), Marcy Gordon (@marcygordon), Hardy Wallace (@dirtysouthwine ), Ashley Routson (@thebeerwench), Shana Ray (@sharayray), Paige Granback (@thesnarkhunter), Danica Sattui (@danicasattui), and of course Alan & Serena.  Cool and foggy but happy, we set out to taste the latest and greatest.

Patrick Llerna, the birthday boy!

First, we started out with a barrel sample of the 2008 Two Pisces Vineyard.  This vineyard is located just west of Petaluma, and has a wide variety of soil types, giving it a lot of diversity.  With 5 clones planted, I tasted sour cherries in this rich and spicy pinot, with bright raspberry flavors and classic Russian River Valley character, with cranberries and cinnamon.  33% new French Oak gives the wine just enough structure and spicy without going overboard.  Though I rather enjoyed this wine, Alan says he’ll definitely add some bigger fruit pinot in to the final blend, since it already seems to be falling off a  bit.  Tasty tidbit about this vineyard:  This is where our Bus 4 Cellars 2009 Sparkling Wine is coming from!  I’m excited about hte potential in this pinot, and what it means for my fledgling bubble enterprise.

The 2008 Split Rock (also known as Gap’s Crown, but they don’t like us to say that) is in the Sonoma Coast AVA, near Petaluma.  The cool growing region helps develop concentrated flavors that aren’t overripe.  Some of my favorite northern California pinots are from here, like Humanitas and Stomping Girl.  In the Cellar Rat, I found sweet cherry cola, strawberries (Shana’s favorite!), white pepper, and nutmeg.  This tasted of rich dark red fruit.  Yum!

Finally, we had the finished product in the  2006 Wentzle Vineyard Pinot from Anderson Valley.  This is the pinot I tasted at the Crushpad party, and it was even better than I remembered.  This wine was held in a combination of barrels, most notably one new barrel, one zebra barrel, and two neutral barrels, and then blended to created the finished product.  Now if you don’t know what a zebra barrel is, it’s a mad coopers experiment in fermentation where you basically deconstruct one used and one new barrel, stick it back together with every other stave being from one or the other.  You know what I mean, one new french, one used, one new one used, etc.  This is one way to accomplish x% of new oak, without actually using separate barrels and is quite effective for the small winemaker.

This finished wine was lighter in style, and true to what I would expect in the Anderson valley, with black raspberries and earthy mushroom characteristics with just a touch of Dr. Pepper.  The nice thing bout this wine is that it has the bold flavors that I’ve come to love in a California pinot, but its’ very subtle and not overpowering by some of the Syr-Pinots or Pino-syrahs I’ve had from parts south.  The Pinot 2.0 was crushed wtih about 7% whole clusters remaining, and these whole clusters were fermented with native years.  The rest of the juice was inoculated with yeast, and when blended with the whole clusters and the combination of the different oak barrels, it makes for a truly stunning pinot.

If you can bribe Alan, I HIGHLY suggest you get your hands on some of this, because it’s AMAZING and the $42 price tag is worth every penny.  I have great hopes for the future Cellar Rat (or whatever he names it) projects to come, and can’t wait to taste the barrel samples along the way.

Thank Alan for having us up and check back for my notes on the Arista Pinot-Thon soon!

Samples were provided by Alan Baker of Cellar Rat.  No actual rats were harmed in the tasting of this wine.

I’ve long been an advocate of shopping locally to somehow, in some tiny way, support my local merchants.  It can be challenging and expensive in some [...]]]>

As I was reading through my backlog of blogs, I came across my favorite Caveman, Mike Wangbickler, who reminded me that this week is the second annual Regional Wine Week.

I’ve long been an advocate of shopping locally to somehow, in some tiny way, support my local merchants.  It can be challenging and expensive in some arenas, and just plain fun in others.  Living on the Left Coast, I am an hours drive from at least 5 world class wine regions, and this affords me a bit of luxury when drinking locally.  Yes, I know it will cost a bit more to support a small business, but isn’t it worth it?

Regional Wine Week is the genius of  WineCurmudgeon.com‘s Jeff Siegel and and WineLine”s David McIntyre (also of the Washington Post) who gathered a few wine writers to talk about their respective regions’ wines at the same time.  With 40 participants talking about their local juice, it was a great success and spawned the DrinkLocalWine.com website.

DrinkLocalWine gives readers a single source access point to read about different wine regions.  They are aggregating the psots during Regional Wine Week, and is really opening up doors for some lesser known areas producing areas in the US and worldwide.

For me, it’s too easy to pick Sonoma or Napa.  I live in San Francisco, the hotbed of technology and wine, where there are at least 5 wineries in the city limits, and many more using coop facilities and there are at least 20 member producers of the SF Wine Association.  I’m going to drink local this week, starting off with Vie Winery, maybe a little Sol Rouge, and perhaps sipping a bit of Blue Cellars.  I don’t have any AP Vin sadly, so you’ll just have to write about that yourselves!

I encourage you to go out and find somethign produced locally, and even better, owned locally.  If I could raid my friend Andy’s backyard for his Garagiste syrah I would, but sources tell me this might not be the best idea.

I hope to read some entertaining posts!

Well, I’m excited to announce that June 20th is Crushpad’s Annual Open House! This event is ALWAYS a blast, and it’s our chance to celebrating the upcoming harvest and and the past year’s toils in winemaking at [...]]]>

No doubt, you loyal readers have heard me spout the virtues of my local custom crush facility, Crushpad.

Well, I’m excited to announce that June 20th is Crushpad’s Annual Open House! This event is ALWAYS a blast, and it’s our chance to celebrating the upcoming harvest and and the past year’s toils in winemaking at the winery in San Francisco.

Join us from 2pm – 6pm, where you can meet the winemakers, and drink some of the fabulous stuff made at Crushpad!  This is going to be the BIGGEST Open House ever, so tell your friends and come on down to The Pad!

Oh and PS!  The best part is it’s FREE!  And did I mention, the taco truck?  Seriously, this has got to be some of the best food I’ve had an an event.  Other than the woodfire oven pizza they had at the client mashup.  OHHHH Yeah baby!

Crushpad really appreciates it’s customers and it’s community, and they go ALL out to show the love.  So click the RSVP link below and join the party!  I’ll be there tweeting with #crushpad hashtags, so keep an eye on the big screen for the Luscious Lushes blow by blow.

Crushpad is located at
2573 3rd Street
San Francisco, CA 94107
Plenty of parking around the back, but I heartily advise the T-Third Street or a cab!

I first met Uzi Cohen, and his wife Kathryn, at at event at Crushpad about a year ago.  After spending some time talking about the wines we were drinking, I came to learn that he actually made wine himself.  Lo and behold after much planning and anticipation, I finally got to do some barrel [...]]]>

I first met Uzi Cohen, and his wife Kathryn, at at event at Crushpad about a year ago.  After spending some time talking about the wines we were drinking, I came to learn that he actually made wine himself.  Lo and behold after much planning and anticipation, I finally got to do some barrel tasting of his amazing pinot noirs!

After meandering my way through Berkeley, I finally found their tasting room, or rather their beautifully furnished basement.  We were warmly welcomed by our hosts, and we proceeded to taste through some of the best Pinot Noir I’ve had.  Sadly, two of the tasty delights were Uzi & Kathryn’s personal homemade wine, so they are not for sale, but if these are any indication of their talents, I see a brilliant future in wine!

The two commercially  produced wines under the Stomping Girl label are from two vastly different regions in California:  Santa Lucia Highlands, and Sonoma Coast.  This gives the taster an excellent opportunity to taste two different terroirs side by side.  Both of these pinots are single vineyard selections.  Both of these wines will be released early next year, so I have to be patient!

The 2008 Lone Oak Vineyard, Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir comes from the Lone Oak Vineyard, which is in the northern part of the larger SLH appellation.   The location of the vineyard provides a great foundation for Pinot Noir, where the soil is rocky and the fog is cool.  The Lone Oak fruit was hand sorted, something I myself have done – and the source of great amusement to my friends – and then cold soaked and punched down several times a day.  It was aged in a mixture of new and used French oak, which gives it the depth of character of oak aging without overwhelming the delicate fruit.  This wine showed flavors of bright cherry cider, spices, juicy strawberries and raspberries with nice earthy undertones of mushrooms and bark.

The 2008 Split Rock Vineyard, Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir comes from the Gaps Crown vineyard, in the southern Sonoma Coast appelation. Again, this area has the cooling influences of ocean fog, but the Sonoma Coast appelation provides a different flavor structure.  The Split Rock section of the vineyard is planted between 300-800 feet, in rocky soils.  Another personal favorite from Gaps Crown is the Humanitas Gaps’ Crown Pinot, and i plan on doing a side by side when the Stomping Girl gets released!  I found this pinot earthly, with tons of sour cherry and Dr. Pepper flavors.

I hope you’ll get the chance to taste these great wines, and get to know these lovely people!  Enjoy!

As some of you might know, I am trying to be a winemaker.  No, I don’t have carboys set up in the garage, and no I’m not living in the lap of luxury in Sonoma.  I am lucky enough to live in a city that has it’s own community custom crush facility, Crushpad.

I am part [...]]]>

As some of you might know, I am trying to be a winemaker.  No, I don’t have carboys set up in the garage, and no I’m not living in the lap of luxury in Sonoma.  I am lucky enough to live in a city that has it’s own community custom crush facility, Crushpad.

I am part of a winemaking crew where I am making a Dry Creek zinfandel with a group of people, which is one of the great services Crushpad offers.  We were blending our finished zin with a variety of components, and we were able to decide how we wanted our finished product to come out.  Initially, we tried the control sample of our 2007 Grist Vineyard Zinfandel, which is a jammy, bright, and powerful zin.  Then, we tried a control sample of some petite sirah.  Once we tasted the components, we were able to think about what proportion of Petite Sirah we wanted to add to our zin, which we were hoping would add some depth of flavor, as well as a little backbone.

First, we tried a 5% Petite Sirah and 95% Zinfandel blend.  We all agreed that this was too much, as the Petite overpowered the subtlety of the zinfandel and we lost it’s character.  Then, our consulting winemaker Kian Tavakol suggested we try a different Zinfandel.  This zin was from the Beatty Ranch on Howell Mountain in Napa.  This vineyard is at 1800 feet and offers a completely different experience from Dry Creek.  These wines have a deeper black fruit and chocolate overtone, which is absolutely amazing.  I had a sample side by side with the Grist, and while totally different, they were both amazing.

Now that we had tried the control samples, a 5% blend, and a new zinfandel, we mixed it up by adding some of the Beatty Ranch zin to the mix.  Kian guided us to do a 2.5% Beatty Ranch Zin, 2.5% Petite Sirah, and 95% Grist Zin blend, which allowed us to keep our vineyard designate on the label.  We also tried another blend, which had a bit less Petite Sirah, but no Beatty zin.  The first test was not blind, and we were having a hard time deciding what we liked most.  Initially we were set on keeping the Beatty out of it, but then Kian played a trick on us.  He sent us out of the room, and presented the blends to us again, but this time blind.

When we came back in the room and tasted the wines again, we still loved them.  However, being blind, we had no idea which wine was what.  Most of us were completely convinced that sample B was our Dry Creek zin with no Beatty.  We were fooled, but we knew that sample B was our favorite.  It turns out, this was the 2.5% PS / 2.5% Beatty / 95% Grist!  We were all very happy with our final blend, and left Crushpad feeling giddy with delight that our zin would be bottled in a month, for us to take home and admire.

If you would like to blend you own wine at home, check out Fusebox, a custom wine blending kit in a box!

As some of you might know, I am trying to be a winemaker.  No, I don’t have carboys set up in the garage, and no I’m not living in the lap of luxury in Sonoma.  I am lucky enough to live in a city that has it’s own community custom crush facility, Crushpad.

I am part [...]]]>

As some of you might know, I am trying to be a winemaker.  No, I don’t have carboys set up in the garage, and no I’m not living in the lap of luxury in Sonoma.  I am lucky enough to live in a city that has it’s own community custom crush facility, Crushpad.

I am part of a winemaking crew where I am making a Dry Creek zinfandel with a group of people, which is one of the great services Crushpad offers.  We were blending our finished zin with a variety of components, and we were able to decide how we wanted our finished product to come out.  Initially, we tried the control sample of our 2007 Grist Vineyard Zinfandel, which is a jammy, bright, and powerful zin.  Then, we tried a control sample of some petite sirah.  Once we tasted the components, we were able to think about what proportion of Petite Sirah we wanted to add to our zin, which we were hoping would add some depth of flavor, as well as a little backbone.

First, we tried a 5% Petite Sirah and 95% Zinfandel blend.  We all agreed that this was too much, as the Petite overpowered the subtlety of the zinfandel and we lost it’s character.  Then, our consulting winemaker Kian Tavakol suggested we try a different Zinfandel.  This zin was from the Beatty Ranch on Howell Mountain in Napa.  This vineyard is at 1800 feet and offers a completely different experience from Dry Creek.  These wines have a deeper black fruit and chocolate overtone, which is absolutely amazing.  I had a sample side by side with the Grist, and while totally different, they were both amazing.

Now that we had tried the control samples, a 5% blend, and a new zinfandel, we mixed it up by adding some of the Beatty Ranch zin to the mix.  Kian guided us to do a 2.5% Beatty Ranch Zin, 2.5% Petite Sirah, and 95% Grist Zin blend, which allowed us to keep our vineyard designate on the label.  We also tried another blend, which had a bit less Petite Sirah, but no Beatty zin.  The first test was not blind, and we were having a hard time deciding what we liked most.  Initially we were set on keeping the Beatty out of it, but then Kian played a trick on us.  He sent us out of the room, and presented the blends to us again, but this time blind.

When we came back in the room and tasted the wines again, we still loved them.  However, being blind, we had no idea which wine was what.  Most of us were completely convinced that sample B was our Dry Creek zin with no Beatty.  We were fooled, but we knew that sample B was our favorite.  It turns out, this was the 2.5% PS / 2.5% Beatty / 95% Grist!  We were all very happy with our final blend, and left Crushpad feeling giddy with delight that our zin would be bottled in a month, for us to take home and admire.

If you would like to blend you own wine at home, check out Fusebox, a custom wine blending kit in a box!

Wow it’s been a wet weekend.  Fortunately we have been catching up on our drought ravaged region’s rain consumption, but Australia has not been as lucky.  If you haven’t heard, there are over 13 separate out of control wild fires (called bushfires in Oz) burning as we speak.  With Victoria being one of the [...]]]>

Wow it’s been a wet weekend.  Fortunately we have been catching up on our drought ravaged region’s rain consumption, but Australia has not been as lucky.  If you haven’t heard, there are over 13 separate out of control wild fires (called bushfires in Oz) burning as we speak.  With Victoria being one of the most prolific wine producing regions in Australia, many well known names have been catastrophically affected.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOY8hI2c89k]

Some of the many fires have been intentionally set, and many lives have been lost.  To benefit the Australian Red Cross, which is assisting with those 7000 people left homeless and over 300 people that have been killed by these fires, The Jug Shop has partnered with Crushpad to host a benefit this Friday, Feb 20th, at Crushpad in San Francisco.  for those of you that remember our own wildfires here in California, please try to make this event where several of Victoria’s greatest wines will be poured for your $30 donation.

Please RSVP HERE.  Advanced registration is essential.  No tickets will be sold at the door.

http://www.advance.org/en/cev/reg/744/

The event takes place on Friday Feb 20th at Crushpad – 2573 – Third Street in San Francisco

If you would like to donate additional funds or items to a fundraising auction, please email Dawn Lillington at ozchamber@aol.com

If you’d like more information regarding the fires and information on how to donate directly to the Australian Red Cross, please visit:
http://www.advance.org/en/art/?3541

Wow it’s been a wet weekend.  Fortunately we have been catching up on our drought ravaged region’s rain consumption, but Australia has not been as lucky.  If you haven’t heard, there are over 13 separate out of control wild fires (called bushfires in Oz) burning as we speak.  With Victoria being one of the [...]]]>

Wow it’s been a wet weekend.  Fortunately we have been catching up on our drought ravaged region’s rain consumption, but Australia has not been as lucky.  If you haven’t heard, there are over 13 separate out of control wild fires (called bushfires in Oz) burning as we speak.  With Victoria being one of the most prolific wine producing regions in Australia, many well known names have been catastrophically affected.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOY8hI2c89k]

Some of the many fires have been intentionally set, and many lives have been lost.  To benefit the Australian Red Cross, which is assisting with those 7000 people left homeless and over 300 people that have been killed by these fires, The Jug Shop has partnered with Crushpad to host a benefit this Friday, Feb 20th, at Crushpad in San Francisco.  for those of you that remember our own wildfires here in California, please try to make this event where several of Victoria’s greatest wines will be poured for your $30 donation.

Please RSVP HERE.  Advanced registration is essential.  No tickets will be sold at the door.

http://www.advance.org/en/cev/reg/744/

The event takes place on Friday Feb 20th at Crushpad – 2573 – Third Street in San Francisco

If you would like to donate additional funds or items to a fundraising auction, please email Dawn Lillington at ozchamber@aol.com

If you’d like more information regarding the fires and information on how to donate directly to the Australian Red Cross, please visit:
http://www.advance.org/en/art/?3541

It never fails to impress me how lucky I am living here in San Francisco. I am pretty much an hour from 4 world class wine producing areas:

And I live [...]]]>

When the lights go down in the city
And the sun shines on the bay
I want to be there in my city
Ooh, ooh

It never fails to impress me how lucky I am living here in San Francisco. I am pretty much an hour from 4 world class wine producing areas:

• Sonoma
• Napa
• Santa Cruz Mountains
• Livermore Valley

And I live in, what I think, is one of the smallest, friendlisest unique cities in the world.

To prove this point, last night I attended the first event hosted by the San Francisco Wine Association.   This new association is a group of 16 high end urban micro wineries, who produce small lots of ultra premium wines at a shared facility in San Francisco.  Each winemaker has thier own trademark style, with the focus being on New World wines of distinction.  Many of the winemakers have had recognition in some of the traditional wine media publications.

Because these are urban micro wineries, these brands do not have tasting rooms.  That is what makes an open house like this so special, because we get to taste small lot ultra premium wines side by side in a rare tasting event.  To have the ability to taste these wines in one place is truely special.

I found some truly memorable examples of Pinot Noir and Syrah from all over California, in a relaxed setting at Crushpad, where the wines are made.  Crushpad Crushpad is the custom crush facility in The City’s Dogpatch district, where commercial wineries share the winemaking facilities.  Additionally, lay winemakers like you and me can also participate int he process by buying in to a non-commerical group.  I am currently making a zinfandel and a cabernet blend in my efforts to better understand the chemical magic that occurs in the barrel.  These custom crush facilities have long been a secret in the wine industry, since the capital outlay for the winemaking equipment can be daunting for a new brand.  In recent years however, Crushpad has been a leader in opening up this community to the public, giving us a glimpse in to the secrets of winemaking and exposing us to new and unique brands.  By pooling resources, micro wineries are able to concentrate on souring the best fruit, and making the wine, and not worry about buying the equipment.

The San Francisco Wine Association members that I tasted and stood out for me, with the caveat that I was NOT taking notes due to my making very merry:

• Connor Brennan Cellars
  • 2006 Pinot Noir Amber Ridge Vineyard
  • 2006 Pinot Noir Bohemian Vineyard
  • 2006 Syrah Stolpman Vineyard
• Damian Ray Winery
  • 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
• Flying Wine Cellars
  • 2006 Santa Barbara Syrah White Hawk Vineyard
• Guy Riedel Wines
  • 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
• Mark Moretti Winery
  • 2005 Pinot Noir Anderson Valley
• Ricardus Corculum
  • 2006 ClandestZin Zinfandel Russian River Valley
• Seawind Wines
  • 2006 Pinot Noir Sleepy Hollow Vineyard
• Townley Wines
  • 2007 Haley Vineyard Pinot Noir Anderson Valley

Because these brands do not have tasting rooms, you can only purchase the wines online via their websites directly, or through the SFWA site.

I encourage you to try them if you get the chance!

Prior to the screening, we convened at Crushpad to taste 5 chardonnays and 5 Cabernet blends, to see if the current results would match or [...]]]>

Last night I was lucky enough (OK, so I paid) to attend the San Francisco premier of Bottle Shock as well as a modern day interpretation of the Judgment of Paris.

Prior to the screening, we convened at Crushpad to taste 5 chardonnays and 5 Cabernet blends, to see if the current results would match or best the original 1976 tasting. At the same time, i wanted to present myself with a personal challenge and see if I could (accurately) guess which wines being tasting were French, and which were from California.

First, my tasting results, as compared to the crowd’s popular vote at our recreation, and the results in 1976.

First, my results:

Now that you’re wonder what the hell these wines were, here are the actual bottles we tasted (and if they were tasted in ’76, where they placed:

So now that I’ve completely confused you – a question:
Are palates demographically and attuned? It it in our genes to like particular wines, or is it what wines we have been given as we are training our palates?

Now! On to the movie! First, let me tell you how important it is to be able to bring wine in to the movies, particularly if the movie is, well, about wine.

Fortunately, the Sundance Kabuki has a wine bar with balcony seating, that allows you to order wine and food for your enjoyment in the theater. You might think that this is sacrilege, but what better to go with a campy soap opera treatment of the wine wars than a nice glass of wine & a nibble? They have done a great job revamping this San Francisco institution, and include soft liek seating with cocktail tables every two seats int he balcony. For all this cozy atmosphere, you only pay $1.50 plus food, which brings the ticket price to $11.50. Doesn’t seem like much more than the Metreon if you ask me, and I’d pay that anytime. The wines by the glass could use a little help, but the food was quite tasty.

Bottle Shock needs to be viewed with a grain of salt. The producers were on hand to give us the backstory, as was Bo Barrett and Gustavo Brambila two of the main characters in the film.
I
take this movie to be a reality TV show type spin on the true story of Chateau Montelana as well as Beau, his father Jim.

Telling the story of the 1976 Paris tasting requires a certain amount of camp treatment, and the producers were given creative license to…well…enhance their characters. What this amounts to is the portrayal of Bo as an ambition-less hippie at odds with his father. Yes, most of this is actually true, but the over the top performance of Chris Pine as Bo and Alan Rickman as British wine merchant Steven Sperrier just add to the hilarity.

My favorite moment in the movie was when Rickman takes a sip of the Montelena Chardonnay and makes a face as if he is eating dirt since he can’t believe that this California swill could possibly be a palatable solution to the French domination in the wine market.

Take it for what you will, part soap opera, part realty TV. I loved it, just as I loved Sideways and give it 5 Chardonnays.