An Evening With Artesa: An Old Brand With a New Style

Last week -- before I came down with a horrific cold that has kept me drugged on Mucinex and away from wine for the last 6 days -- I was invited to a dinner with some fellow Atlanta bloggers, courtesy of Artesa Winery (Full Disclosure: they foot the bill for dinner and the wines. As always, I don't sway my opinions based on that, but you need to know!). Artesa has recently made some significant changes to its winemaking lineup and wanted to re-introduce the blogging world to their wines.

Before I review the wines, I've got to say that I was very impressed by this outreach to bloggers. Artesa and many other wineries seem to be grasping that what bloggers have to say is important to readers, and may actually be (I hope!) more helpful than opinions of wine snobs and jaded reviewers who don't explain terms in an accessible way. I give serious props to Artesa for acknowledging that the wine mags aren't the only source for wine info!

I'd like to also take this opportunity to give a nod to my fellow Atlanta bloggers with whom I've interacted online, but never actually met in person until this dinner. They all have great blogs and I encourage you to check them out as well. So here's a shout out to Atlanta Wine Guy (Kevin), Suburban Wino (Joe), and Wine Tonite (Ed). They are each terrific and unique.

So, with that said, let's get to it.

The dinner was hosted at Bone's, a highly rated steakhouse in the Buckhead area of Atlanta. It was co-hosted by Tim Shippey, the Brand Director for Artesa and all-around great guy, and Mark Beringer, the new winemaker for the brand. I sat with Tim, but was able to ask Mark a bunch of question as well, including the one that you may have on your mind -- "Are you part of the Beringer family? Like, THE Beringer family?" Yup, and he was the winemaker for my favorite California Merlot, Duckhorn, for 15 years until he made this move to Artesa.

I asked him the secret to making such great juice and he told me that he likes to make complex wines by blending simpler lots together. He looks at winemaking like a spice rack, mixing in complementary components to achieve a signature style. Whatever he's doing, it worked at Duckhorn and I'm confident that his work at Artesa will be equally outstanding. These wines we tried didn't have his influence and they were still great. I can't imagine how much better they are going to get once he gets his hands on this fruit!

We tried the wines in pairs, and there were many of them so I will write about the highlights and mention the others briefly.

The Chardonnay
The first course was served with the 2008 Carneros Chardonnay (about $16 retail) and it's slightly higher rent cousin, the 2007 Carneros Reserve Chardonnay (about $26 retail). Although I'm not generally a Cali Chard fan, these wines had great acidity and were not too fruity, buttery, or oaky. Stands to reason. The cool, southerly Carneros region that straddles the Napa and Sonoma Valleys benefits from the fog and cool air updrafts from the San Pablo Bay and Pacific Ocean, so they are prime for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, which grow best in cooler areas (like Burgundy in France).

The 2008 Carneros Chardonnay was a good wine, but the 2007 Carneros Reserve Chardonnay was far better for me. Given that this is the Reserve, and winemakers tend to throw everything but the kitchen sink at a higher tier wine, I was loving the restraint and balance. The wine had a really creamy, lemon curd flavor to it and the finish was like biting into a vanilla apple cake -- full, round, and oh-so-satisfying. Although I usually prefer a more austere style of wine, this was damn good. I'd say it is well worth the extra $10 to try the Reserve (if you can find it. Only 2,500 cases were produced).

The Pinot Noir
If you follow me, you know I am a real critic of California Pinot Noir, especially because I know from working in the industry that much of it is only 3/4 Pinot and the rest Syrah or Petit Syrah or something else that has nothing to do with Pinot Noir. I can't say this for Artesa -- these 100% Pinots were great.

For $20, the 2007 Carneros Pinot Noir ($20) had good acidity and lots of cherry fruit, although it didn't hold a candle to the delicious 2007 Carneros Reserve Pinot Noir. At $34, this wine has luscious cherry, raspberry, and cranberry fruit, a layer of nutmeg and brown spices, and a nice touch of acid to keep it bright and lively. The perfect combo of juicy and acidic. A great wine and one to try. Probably my favorite of the bunch.

The Cabernet Sauvignon
We initially tasted two -- one from Napa and one from the Alexander Valley in Northern Sonoma. The Alexander Valley Cab was the winner. It was like a bowl of black fruit with vanilla, mocha, chocolate deliciousness sprinkled on top. This is a perfect wine for a cold winter night. At $40, it's not a steal but I think it's a fair price for the wine.

As we were about to leave, Tim pulled out two single vineyard wines from their Ridgeline brand (each about $75). The 2005 Standing Bear Vineyard is 100% Cab and was a big, meaty, juicy fruit bomb with strong vanilla notes. It was big, brawny, and bold. I preferred the 2005 Lone Pine Vineyard, which was 81% Cab and 19% Cabernet Franc and a more complex wine for sure. The Cab Franc added an earthy component to the wines that tamed the big fruit. The Lone Pine had all the juiciness of the Standing Bear, but with layers of spicy, herbal flavors that gave the wine a little more finesse.

All in all, great showing on these wines. I've had Artesa before, but these were better than what I had remembered so I feel like it was a worthwhile venture for me to take a second look at them.

I thank Artesa for including us (me and, by proxy, you guys) in the dinner and I'm really looking forward to seeing what Mark Beringer does with these wines in future years!