Waterkloof: serious South African Sauvignon

I'm conscious I haven't done much on new world wines here so was pleased to discover Waterkloof, thanks to Louis Boutinot who had picked up on the blog and suggested I might like to see what he and his family were doing in South Africa.

The estate follows biodynamic practices and 'minimal intervention'in the winery though it isn't certified (certainly no harm in that. I've a lot of sympathy with producers who don't want to go through the paperwork or even limit their market by marketing their wine a certain way. And it appears that some of the vineyards from which they draw fruit are still conventionally farmed.)

Interestingly the Sauvignon Blanc is their flagship wine - and it is a fine one without the aggressive herbaceous character that marks some South African sauvignons. It's rich, textured and long in the mouth with crisp citrus and passionfruit flavours. I suspect it would age well, hence, perhaps, the cork with which it's sealed rather than the screwcaps they use for the rest of the range. (Hopefully they'll comment on that) Very moreish, anyway. I found myself going back to it more than once when I was tasting through the range for an extra sip. I'd serve it slightly warmer than you would typically drink a Sauvignon Blanc with some classy seafood - maybe scallops or crab.

I also liked their Circle of Life Red - a gutsy blend of Merlot, Shiraz, Cab Franc and Petit Verdot which we drank with an equally punchy dish of chicken and patatas bravas. It's dark and savoury, almost smokey - I thought for a minute there must be mourvèdre in there. And plummy but not in a Merlot-ish way - more like Chinese plum sauce.

I'm not quite sure why they don't put the grape varieties on the label or even on their website. Maybe because it's an unconventional blend or because they want to change it from vintage to vintage, including grapes that may not be grown organically or biodynamically though they say that they are moving the whole estate that way.

Their 2010 Circumstance Cape Coral Rosé however is mourvèdre and very like its counterparts from Bandol: pale, dry and delicately fruity - stronger than a typical Provençal rosé. Good summer drinking - if only we were having one ...

I was less keen on the Circle of Life White which showed rather too much oak influence for my taste though perhaps I should have decanted it as they recommended. Again they don't reveal the grape varieties online but I gather they're Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc and Semillon.

Although the wines taste relatively mainstream (I'd give them all a 'green light' under this traffic lights system I'm still trying to get off the ground) what's interesting about the estate is the seriousness with which they take the natural winemaking agenda. For example they use Percheron horses to plough the vineyards and have a goal of getting rid of their tractors by 2013. They also keep chicken, sheep and Dexter cattle on the farm to graze the vineyards and provide manure. The wines are made with wild yeasts and are not acidified (relatively unusual in South Africa).

The estate is owned by importer Paul Boutinot so the wines are in pretty wide distribution in the UK (look them up on wine-searcher.com). Readmore »»

Wine For Normal People Radio : Episode 017 The Grape Mini-Series, Installment 1: Sauvignon Blanc

FINALLY -- we are back in action after the move from hell and the inability to locate the microphone in the face of it all!!! So, hopefully this 'cast will be a hit!

In homage to the great TV trend of the 1980s, M.C. Ice and I begin a mini-series on the big grapes from around the world. We're moving beyond Grape of the Week to go in depth on the wine major league that you ask the most questions about. This week's episode is on Sauvignon Blanc, just in time for the warm summer weather!!

BTW-- you HAVE to listen to this 'cast. M.C. Ice and I had a "Muffin Moment" just like when Betty White hosted SNL. If you haven't seen that clip, please watch this...hilarious.

Show Notes:

Mea Culpa -- we forgot shout outs (let's face it, we're lucky we found the microphone post our big move)! We'll be sure to double up next week!

Main Topic -Sauvignon Blanc

1. The Sauvignon Blanc grape, its origins, flavor profile, and why methoxypyrazines and cat pee aren't such bad things in this grape.
2. We then drilled down into the main regions that produce Sauvignon Blanc and talk about differences in styles:

• Sancerre/Pouilly- Fume for minerally wines that strip the enamel off your teeth (but are delicious)
• Napa, California for a softer, floral style, sometimes with an oaky twist
• Marlborough, New Zealand, for excellent grapefruit flavors, acid, and even a jalapeno kick
• Bordeaux for a softer blend with Semillon and Muscadelle, and the sweet wines of Sauternes
• South Africa and Chile for styles in between the ones we already talked about

Please leave us your feedback at the Wine for Normal People blog, on the Wine For Normal People Facebook Page, and on Twitter @normalwine

Episode 017 -- The Grape Mini-Series Installment 1:
Sauvignon Blanc

To listen, download the podcast from the iTunes store (and if you like it please add a comment or rate it so we can make sure to stay on the radar, which helps other folks find us easily that would be great!), click the link above, or use the player below! Thanks for listening!

Podcast Powered By Podbean

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Frank Family and Tres Sabores: Two Highs at the High...

I'm pretty lucky. Not in the Irish sense, but practically speaking. As a blogger and wine educator, I get to go to a lot of amazing wine events and try a ton of wines so I can share my opinions with you (although, as you probably know by now, that's not always a good thing for the wineries!). With that said, I hate sounding like a total ingrate and ass when I am critical of events I attend...but I gotta tell the truth.

So when I say that the biggest wine event that my current city, Atlanta, has -- the High Museum Wine Auction, which took place last week -- was a big snoozer for me, I hope you don't think I'm a jerk.

The annual auction is for an amazing organization and our best fine arts institution, so it's no knock on the cause. It's one of the highest grossing wine auctions in the US and each year they assemble a big assortment of very expensive, high-end wines for people to try and buy. But after three years of attending, I've noticed that the selection is the same year after year and fewer than 10% of the wine there is from outside of the US. For an adventuresome wine lover, hell, just even for someone who isn't particularly fond of high alcohol, very fruity, oaky, lower acid wines, this spells trouble. It's not a terribly interesting proposition to taste dozens of wines so similar and flavorful, and it's one that can make your mouth really tired after a while from tannin and too much fruit flavor building up on your cheeks.

At all wine events, you've got to have a strategy to tackle them. I always try first to survey the landscape and then figure out what I want to try. You can't taste it all (although I think some of the people there were attempting to do so, with bad results), and I'm all about discovering something new so I picked wineries that are well reputed but whose wines I haven't tried. I stayed away from those that I knew and have pretty good access to (either because they make wines under $20, which I can afford and get or because I see them on the shelf and know they're there if I want to spend more).

So this time I went to about 8 tables and am only going to tell you, in depth, about two of them. The rest were just blah to me. Not to be too bitchy, but I'll call a few out...for example, Ovid -- which showcased two wines (at $95 and $175 respectively) was just over the top. You couldn't possibly drink them with food -- they were food! Hawkes Winery, out of Sonoma, had a good Chardonnay, but their Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon didn't have the interesting, multi-faceted flavors I want from those wines.

Although loved and lauded by so many, I thought Cliff Lede's wines were just meh. Although it smelled good, the Sauvignon Blanc's alcohol was so high that, for me, it burned my mouth and made the grapefruit and grass flavors taste like they'd be wrapped in sandpaper. Give me New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc any day over this one! Their $60 Stag's Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon had so much sweet oak and overwhelming blackcurrant, black plum, and blackberry fruit that it was a little much to take. That with the mouth-drying tannins had me scrambling for a few glasses of water and crackers so I could taste wines afterward. The Cab wasn't bad, but it was a little over the top.

So when I finally happened across Frank Family Vineyards, which I'd heard so much about but had never tried, and the wines of Tres Sabores, which I've seen so many times but had, (I'm now embarrassed to say) passed over, I was relieved and excited to have some good things to tell you about. I tried 7 wines, so below are shorter reviews but if you have questions on them post on the comments and I can elaborate.

First up for review, Frank Family Vineyards. Housed in the third oldest winery in Napa, way up north in Calistoga (which is where the fabled Chateau Montelena, another very old winery and a favorite of mine, is located), Frank Family makes sparkling and regular wine. I have to insert my snarky comment about how this Winery, like most in Napa, has the rich-former-executive-loves-wine-and-buys-winery pedigree, since Rich Frank is a former big-time Disney exec who earned bank in the corporate world before turning his big fortune in for a small one in wine (always the case for those of you considering buying a winery). But I'll hand it to the guy -- he's got the right talent on the job. Each wine was pretty spectacular and I'll be visiting them the next time I'm in Napa, for sure. Here's the lineup:

2008 Frank Family Chardonnay, $32.50
Color: From the looks of this wine, I was already liking it. Rather than a rich golden yellow that's typical of Napa Chardonnay because it's so ripe it has no acidity and has so much oak you're picking splinters out of your gums, this was the color of a bale of hay -- a medium straw color.

Smell: It smelled delicious -- like jasmine and gardenia flowers and the like a ripe bosc pear (the brown ones -- my favorite) and a golden delicious apple (sweet and a little tart at the same time). I didn't smell much oak -- maybe a little vanilla, even though the wine was aged in 100% new oak barrels, which should make the it ultra-vanillay and like licking a tree.

Taste: The taste was in line with a Chardonnay from the cooler southern area of Napa: Carneros, which is where the grapes for this originate. Pineapple and pear flavors with some sweet vanilla oak weren't overwhelming, because they were offset by the taste of savory herbs sauteed in butter and then a big hit of mouthwatering acid.

Drink or down the sink? Drink. I really loved this wine. Totally balanced, even for someone like me, who doesn't really like oak on her Chardonnay! I could have this with a cheese plate and be a happy girl.


2009 Frank Family Reserve Pinot Noir, $57.50
Color: I wasn't too encouraged by the very dark color of this Pinot. As I've mentioned in my posts on Burgundy, I'm a pretty firm believer that Pinot shouldn't be dark plum colored. It's a thin skinned grape and in its natural state generally light on color, so the hue kind of made me think it was going to be a heavy style of Pinot that I'm not crazy about.

Smell: Smelled like a typical Pinot Noir from the Carneros region -- plum, dried cherry, with a little earthy/minerally note.

Taste: Sour cherry with a touch of exotic spice (like chai tea) from the oak. The wine had pretty high acid and alcohol but it was just squeaky clean -- no earth, very crisp cherry flavors.

Drink or down the sink? Drink. This was good, but not great. Definitely the weakest of all the wines I tasted in their line, which is funny because it was also the most expensive (see price doesn't always dictate quality!)


2008 Frank Family Zinfandel, $36.75
This wine is 16% Petit Sirah and 84% Zinfandel (remember that the law in the US only requires that 75% of the grape be in the bottle for it to be labeled as such). I think the heavy, bold Petit Sirah added a real kick to the Zinfandel.
Color: This was super dark -- maroon and purple-y. Lots of color hopefully would mean lots of flavor, which is a plus in a Zin.

Smell: The backbone of black raspberries and ripe purple plums was overlaid with serious Indian spices -- like sandalwood and cardamom (Chai tea again). It was also kind of floral, like dried roses. It was unusual for a Zin, which is usually peppery, fruity, and less exotic.

Taste: Some prune flavor and then bold, mouth-drying tannins -- it was more textural than ripe and juicy than I would normally expect, which is definitely from the very tannic Petit Sirah addition. It also had a hot burn from the 14.9% alcohol (pretty high).

Drink or Down the Sink? Drink. This was a stunner. It was so ballsy and brazen -- just what I want out of a blend of two American grapes! There's nothing like an unabashed, full-flavored red every now and then and this fits that bill.


2006 Frank Family Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, $45
Color: This was DARK. Blood red and so heavy in color that the legs on the sides of the glass were stained red. I expected lots of flavor.

Smell: The wine wasn't too fruity but more like dried flowers, cinnamon, and sauteed thyme and other cooking herbs. Totally interesting for a Cab.

Taste: Super tannic with a short finish and very stingy on the fruit -- like it was there but was a lot of flavor hiding behind the tannin...

Drink or Down the Sink? Need another category, which is HOLD. This wine is not ready to drink quite yet. It needs to chill out in a major way for a few years. When big, tannic wines like Cabernet are served too young they just don't live up to their potential. This wine will be amazing in another 2 years or so. All the elements are there to make it so, but right now -- not ready.

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With my support of organic farming and admiration of female winemakers, I'm a little embarrassed that I haven't had the wines of Tres Sabores before. I've passed the sign for their winery when in Napa and never knew about the gems I'd find in the turnoff. I was fortunate enough to have an acquaintance point me in the direction of Julie Johnson, owner and winemaker, who was right next to Cliff Lede. Julie's unbelievably warm, open character...which, in my skeptical New Yorker way, I at first thought may be a screen for the fact that her wines weren't great...was an instant plus but more importantly, her wines really kicked ass.

This graduate of Columbia School of Nursing found a second career in wine and her caretaking skills translated to the vine and the land. These wines were surprising, innovative, and all around delicious. They're in pretty wide distribution, so you can actually get them, and the ones I tried were all less than $35, well worth the money! Here are quickie reviews of the three I sampled:

2009 Tres Sabores Sauvignon Blanc, $22
Color: Julie told me that the wine was fermented 2/3 in stainless steel and 1/3 in 4 year old, nearly flavorless barrels. With no oak and growing in a cooler climate, the wine was so pale it was almost colorless.

Smell: This was nice and subtle. It had some grapefruit and gardenia, but was so light and airy. A very different style of Sauvignon Blanc and atypical of Napa, which I was happy about. I'm not at all an advocate of putting Sauvignon Blanc in an oak barrel, which is common here and was happy to see someone letting the grape express itself.

Taste: Just like it smelled except with great acidity. I could have mistaken this for a very light style New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. The grapes grow on a cool, Northeast facing slope, which spares them from too much sun and preserves acidity -- just what Sauv Blanc calls for.

Drink or Down the Sink? Drink. I'm not generally a Napa Sauvignon Blanc fan, but I loved the delicacy of this wine. Perfect for spring and simply delicious!


2008 Tres Sabores, Rutherford Estate Zinfandel, $35
In a place known for Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford (people usually talk about how the wines have a dusty, earthy flavor that's unique), I'm impressed that they'd give up the land to Zin, which they can less money for. But it's a good call in this case -- Zin apparently likes the unique soil of this area as much as Cabernet!

Color: Like a bowl of dried roses! It was a dark rose color -- so pretty and appetizing!

Smell: A subtle plum and cinnamon note with a hit of violets and dark-colored flowers. I loved that it wasn't overpowering, and that I couldn't smell alcohol (which feels like my nasal cilia are burning), which I often find with Zinfandel.

Taste: Fruit, black pepper, and cinnamon spice were wrapped in a creamy vanilla texture. The black cherry and plum were rich and jammy. Again, I loved that the alcohol was in check -- it didn't burn the sides of my mouth. There was great mouth-drying tannins and mouthwatering acid but nothing stuck out. It hung around in my mouth for a long time and that was just fine by me! The wine was very harmonious and just great for sipping.

Drink or Down the Sink? I love Zinfandel, but I've been a little disappointed lately with many that I've tried. I expect a bold style wine made out of this grape, which is so authentically California. This is one of the best Zins I've had in a year or more. Definitely my favorite of Tres Sabores, and a new fave in the world of Zins. Go Julie!


2008 ¿Porqué No? Red Blend, Napa Valley $25
Literally, ¿Porqué no? means 'why not?' in Spanish, but Julie explained that it also translates to an amorphous concept that challenges you to use your imagination. And that's what she did! This wine is like a good chef throwing something together. It's mainly Zinfandel (50%+) with Cabernet Sauvignon (about 30%), Petit Sirah, and Petit Verdot thrown in. The fruit is from Napa, Sonoma, and Lake Counties and it's a very interesting, if totally unorthodox, mix (Zin and Petit Sirah are common partners and Cab and Petit Verdot go together, but the double date isn't something you usually see).

Color: With the grapes blended in above, all thick skinned and robust, you better believe that this wine was super dark. I expected big, bold flavor -- dark color usually means big taste.

Smell: It wasn't too different from the Zinfandel -- plums, black cherry, and cinnamon spice were the leaders. There was a hint of some sort of thyme or tarragon too -- very cool

Taste: Immediately I thought of Christmas! It tasted piney or like one of those Christmas shops that smells like cinnamon sticks and balsam. This was rich, flavorful with fruit and nutmeg/cinnamon notes and super balanced. There was just a little bit of mouth-drying tannin, but it was easy drinking.

Drink or Down the Sink? Drink. Although given the choice between this and the Zin, I'd pick the Zin, I really liked this wine. It's interesting, creative, and pretty cool. There's a balance between the bold fruit and the pine forest flavors that was very cool. A great wine and one to try for sure.
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So that's a wrap on this year's auction. I'll go next year (if they let me after this post!) but unless they expand the floor to a more international set of wines, I expect the results will be similar -- a 25% success rate for stuff I can tell you about. But hey, it's better than nothing! If you've tried these wines, let me know what you think! Readmore »»

Wine For Normal People Radio: Episode 11, How to Speak to a Sommelier

I've gotta say, this is my favorite episode to date. Although I love them all, this one gave me an opportunity to share some of the funnier things I hear in my line of work, and for Rick and I to talk about our experiences in restaurants (which are pretty common and sometimes frustrating). I hope you like it and it helps you next time you're out to dinner. Here is a rough outline of what we talked about...

• Shout-outs - Some awesome comments posted on the blog, Facebook page, Twitter, and also iTunes
• News - We're number one! We're number one! The U.S. ramps up its wine consumption.
• Main Topic - How to Speak to a Sommelier
  1. The correct pronunciation of sum-muhl-YAY (thanks to forvo.com)
  2. Different levels of wine expertise
  3. The surprising etymology of the word "sommelier"
  4. Ordering from the wine list, and what to ask the sommelier
  5. How ordering wine is like choosing kitchen cabinets (I'm going through a renovation right now, so I had to draw the parallel!!!)
     
  6. What to do if your sommelier is an ass
     
• Grape of the Week - Sauvignon Blanc
• Next Week - Keep listening and you'll find out!

Here's the link:

How to Speak to a Sommelier

To listen, download the podcast from the iTunes store (and if you like it please add a comment or rate it so we can make sure to stay on the radar in "New & Noteworthy," which helps other folks find us easily that would be great!), click the link above, or use the player below! Thanks for listening!

Podcast Powered By Podbean

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Fritz Winery: A Subterranean Wine Delight!

A few weeks ago I had occasion to visit Fritz Winery in the far northern Dry Creek Valley of Sonoma County. I'd been to this amazing cave built into the side of a hill in Cloverdale a few years back and really enjoyed my experience there, so I was worried when MC Ice and I drove up.

After a bad experience at Bella, which has suffered a precipitous decline in quality AND after learning that the owner of Lynmar, which was a (controversial) non-fave of mine, is the brother of Clayton Fritz who runs this place, I was a little concerned. But upon rolling up to the cave (which we learned goes down 3 stories and is 200 feet deep, hence provides a natural gravity flow and natural air conditioning for the wine -- very cool), and trying a few of the wines, I realized that nothing had changed...quality remains at this little gem.

Fritz was built with the idea of creating a sustainable winery that didn't need expensive cooling systems and could use gravity to feed the grapes straight from the vineyard to the tank with little human intervention and no energy usage (after sorting and destemming they are pushed over into a subterranean tank, which is much gentler on the grapes). It was built in the late 1970s by Jay Fritz -- he was definitely part of the first wave of 20th century environmentalists and its great that the Winery stayed in the family and is still churning out great wine (although I do wish they would convert their vineyards to organic farming to take the environmental thing to its fullest extent).

For a standalone property, the Winery is kind of big in size, making 10,000 to 12,000 cases of wine (120,000 to 144,000 bottles) per year, depending on harvest. They make a ton of varieties but they are best known for Chardonnay and Zinfandel. Although good, I think there's a sleeper in their bunch, but I'll save that for the end of the post.

Here's the review of the 5 wines tried.

Wine #1: Fritz Russian River Valley Sauvignon Blanc
Where It's From: Russian River Valley, Sonoma County, California
The Grapes: 100% Sauvignon Blanc
Vintage: 2009
Price: $18

Color: Almost platinum in color, this was one of the palest California Sauvignon Blancs I'd seen. I expected either something watery or something with super high acid. Either way, lack of color was telling me the grapes were grown in a cooler climate where the vines were most likely kept in check -- which means no stem-like bitterness, which occurs with Sauv Blanc when not pruned and grown in cooler places.

Smell: The wine smelled like a classic California Sauvignon Blanc. What the hell does that mean? Cali tends to produce Sauv Blanc with some grapefruit and cat pee (seriously) aromas, but also a melon-y, abundantly floral (like gardenia or white jasmine or hyacinth), fig-like character that I find is really unique to this state.

Taste: This was a real surprise. The wine tasted unmistakably like a fresh, ripe mango -- something I've never tasted in a Sauvignon Blanc. It had secondary flavors like grapefruit and lemon and a really great floral note, but the overriding essence -- mango all the way. Great acid made the wine very fresh and bright too. Super unique.

Drink or down the sink? Drink! I usually don't love this style of Sauvignon Blanc: I like the kind that rips the enamel off my teeth and is all grapefruit and lemons (New Zealand or French SB does the trick usually). But this was so different without being oaky that it was great. Whether it be the cooler site or the 20% of the wine that is fermented and aged in old oak barrels to mellow out the flavor, I don't know, but I dug it. I like to taste something completely different in wine from time to time and this fits the bill!

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Wine #2: Russian River Valley Reserve Chardonnay
Where It's From: Russian River Valley, Sonoma County, California
The Grapes: 100% Chardonnay
Vintage: 2008
Price: $45

Color: This wine was a golden yellow. Dark -- which can mean a few things: oak aging, an older wine, ripe fruit, or sugar in a wine. Here, given that it was Chardonnay, I assumed it was oak all the way.

Smell: And the smell confirmed that! Although tart apple from the grape shone through, the predominant aromas were all from oak -- burnt toast, bread, vanilla, and most prominently, a buttered English muffin (Thomas's, of course). It tasted like something to eat, not drink.

Taste: This was a traditional Russian River Valley style -- a green apple and lemon backbone was layered to the hilt with lots of flavors from oak. Caramel, croissant, and burnt toast were all over this wine. There was a very creamy, buttery mouthfeel from a secondary (malolactic) fermentation too. Classic style.

Drink or down the sink? This is one of Fritz's flagship wines, but I think it's imbalanced. The oak and malolactic fermentation overpowered the fruit and left me a little cold. There was just too much winemaker influence and not enough natural fruit flavor for me. It was overdone and this place makes so many better wines that this, I'm giving it a thumbs down.

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Wine #3: Dry Creek Valley Estate Zinfandel
Where It's From: Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County, California
The Grapes: 100% Zinfandel
Vintage: 2008
Price: $25

Color: I was excited by the color of this Zin. It was like the skin of a ripe black plum or plum juice (or before it was re-branded -- hilarious, BTW -- prune juice). It had a watery edge, which is typical of Zin and thick, heavy legs, indicating lots and lots of alcohol (14.5% is pretty standard for Zin -- and pretty high by most standards!).

Smell: A little lighter than what I'd expected, but still lush and full of berry goodness. Raspberry, ripe strawberry, and a little dark cherry filled my nose. It was like a briar patch! Then there was a bit of leather, clove and a touch of vanilla. It was a more refined Zin nose, but still really good and pungent.

Taste: Again, kind of lighter than most Dry Creek Zins, but still the sour cherry and baked berry pie (cinnamon and strawberry) were really delicious. There was a character that I usually find in Syrah in this wine -- a meaty, bacon-like flavor that was edgy and satisfying. That leather and dark potting soil essence lingered in the background too.

Drink or down the sink? Sumptuous and subtle -- DRINK. I usually don't love more subtle Zins (it's probably one of the only wines where I want a fruit bomb) but this was so well done. A great blend of fruit, meatiness, and earth make this wine a real winner. Love it.

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Wine #4: Estate Malbec
Where It's From: Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County, California
The Grapes: 100% Malbec
Vintage: 2008
Price: $35

Making Malbec in Sonoma is a ballsy move. I applaud Fritz for trying it. The conditions aren't Mendoza, Argentina-like for the grape, or even like Southwestern France, so it's a risk. I like that they experimented by making 140 cases of this.

Color: Malbec is traditionally a highly pigmented grape. They call it "black wine" in Cahors, France, where it is bottled as "Côt." This one held its color through to the watery, plummy edge. At least in color, this seemed like a good showing for Malbec.

Smell: Malbec to me is a bowl of dark berries and soft vanilla and oak smells. This was a little different. The parcel of land on which the wine is grown is on the estate right on the line between the Dry Creek and Alexander Valleys. Either this vintage, or the site seems a little hot for Malbec given the nose of overripe, scorched fruit, prune, and boysenberry compote. There was a bit of leather and vanilla on the nose, but I would have liked more.

Taste: This was a little more like cranberry juice than boysenberry! Slightly bitter with a bit of band-aid taste (that's often from brettanomyces, a yeast that naturally occurs on grape skins and can add an awesome complexity to the wine in low levels but can be a little overwhelming in higher levels), this wasn't what I expected from the nose or wasn't what I generally like in a Malbec.

Drink or down the sink? I know I was harsh on this wine, but really I would like to taste it again in a few years because the palate didn't align with the nose and I think it may just be that the wine needs a little more time to integrate and relax. Right now, I wouldn't drink it, but I'd love to try it again in 2 years and see where it's gone. Although the nose was a little over-ripe, the components of fruit and vanilla were there, and the fact that they didn't show on the palate says to me this story's not over yet!

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Wine #5: Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
Where It's From: Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County, California
The Grapes: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon
Vintage: 2007
Price: $35.00

Color: A crimson color. A dark ruby with purple tinges. I expected lots and lots of flavor -- it stained the glass and had cankles, the legs were so thick.

Smell: What a fresh smell! This smelled like a berry briar. It smelled like boysenberry and blackberry picked right off the bush. These lovely bright, natural tones were highlighted by dark earth, leather, and cola notes.

Taste: Dark berries and blueberry were so lush and ripe on this wine. It tasted like dark violets and roses. The wine had cinnamon and mocha notes and then complex flavors. Soy, balsamic vinegar (not in a bad way), and a little hint of gasoline were present but against the backdrop of lush berry and mocha notes. The texture was satiny and buttery in feel, even though there was a touch of astringency from the tannins.

Drink or down the sink? Drink this. What a value and what a wine! I was impressed by its layers and complexity. I love Fritz for many reasons, but it's rich reds (which it's not known for) are the jewels in its crown in my opinion. A great Cab...especially for $35!!

One final note before I sign off, which is that I was slightly disappointed that they weren't pouring what I think is their "sleeper" -- a wine that blows all of these away and is Fritz's best in my opinion: the Syrah. I know it's not a very popular variety right now, but I love it and I love Fritz's version. We bought 3 bottles to bring home and I'll revisit the wine again when we crack them open. In the meantime, check out the (very old) post I wrote on the wine last year!

Cheers and thanks for reading!
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Simi Winery: A Slice of Sonoma History

Let me take you through a scenario that I know you've been through before. You go visit a friend or a family member. You've traveled via plane or taken a long car trip and haven't brought any wine with you to give to your host. So on your way to the person's house, you stop off somewhere to grab a bottle of wine. As you're heading to the grocery store or the bottle shop you're thinking of all the possibilities. Should you bring them something from Spain -- maybe a Ribera del Duero to wow the crowd? Or maybe a New Zealand Pinot Noir? Maybe you'll do a Sancerre (Sauvignon Blanc) from the Loire Valley to match the goat cheese you plan to buy? Ah, the possibilities.

Then you hit the WOW (wall of wine) and the reality hits you -- you're out of your element and you're out of luck. All that's available is big brand names. All the alternative stuff you so meticulously planned to buy just isn't there.

Well s*&t. Now what? Bring liquor? Beer? Snickers bars or Twizzlers that stare at you temptingly from beneath the register? Nah, you can still go for wine but you've got to have some ideas of which big name brands make solid wines that you can feel good about bringing.

And that's where Simi comes in. I visited the property 6 weeks ago and had a great experience courtesy of my dear friend MP, who works for the company and who rolled out the red carpet to show me and M.C. Ice what the longest continuously running winery in Sonoma County had to offer. And it was good.

Simi is a beautiful property located just outside of the main square in Healdsburg, my personal favorite little town in wine country (if you ever can swing it, stay at the Hotel Healdsburg, which has the most insanely comfortable beds you will ever sleep on. The Hotel gets so many compliments on the beds and linens that they actually sell the linens and tell you how you can buy the bed. I have the former, when I make it big the latter will be my first splurge : ). Simi is a great first stop out of Healdsburg if you're staying there, and it's well worth the visit -- it's a very old and beautiful property.

Just to give a quick background, two Italian immigrants -- Pietro and Giuseppe Simi -- came from Tuscany to San Francisco to strike gold. And they did find gold and they also found a wealth of something else -- sunshine and plentiful, ideal land on which to grow grapes. In 1876 they started the winery.

Their project was a huge hit and they planted roots in Healdsburg where they built an underground stone cellar, that still stands today. Sadly, the brothers died within 4 months of each other in 1904, but waiting in the wings was Giuseppe's daughter, Isabelle. She couldn't even vote and barely had rights, but she took over the management of the winery at age 18.

The Winery was a huge success until 1919, when Prohibition exerted its evil grip, but Isabelle and her banker husband Fred Haigh had a "devil may care" attitude. Although illegal, they continued to make wine throughout this ridiculous time in US history, storing it in their stone cellars (and I'm sure selling a bunch on the sly). Unfortunately, they had to sell most of their vineyard land to keep the winery operational (they've since reacquired 700 acres in Sonoma so don't feel so bad for them). They managed through the dry years and then led the way in helping the wine industry recover after the repeal of this dumb law in 1933. Isabelle ran operations at Simi until 1970, when she sold the property and retired at age 84.

If you decide to go to Simi, don't just stay around the tasting room -- walk the grounds as much as you can. The event spaces are beautiful and the old winery, which lies just across the semi-functioning railroad tracks (I think MP told us only a rare train makes its way down the track but look before you cross anyway!), is a very cool piece of history itself.

One thing to look for -- where the old winery ends and where expansion began. How can you figure it out? Italian immigrants, with great attention to aesthetics and visual detail meticulously built the first part of the winery. The expansion, which took place decades later, was built by very efficient and "get-it-done" Chinese laborers who made a solid product that is a slightly less attractive to the eye. I thought that was a very neat feature. Rarely do you get to see heritage, history, and cultural shifts so well defined in stone craft!

To get off the history and into modern times, today Simi is owned by the mega wine corporation, Constellation, but it's still run pretty autonomously. This is not a boutique winery, but on the flip side, it's a good example of a place that's gotten pretty big but managed to uphold quality. You can bring a bottle of this wine to a friend and feel good that you're bringing something solid. We tried 5 wines. I'll give you a very quick rundown of each...

The Wine: Simi Sonoma County Sauvignon Blanc
Where It's From: Sonoma County, California
The Grapes: 90% Sauvignon Blanc, 5% Semillon, 5% Viognier
Vintage: 2009
Price: $15

Color: This wine was more golden than I had expected. It's fermented in stainless steel tanks, so it wasn't color from oak, as I initially thought. Both the Viognier and Semillon are richer in color than Sauvignon Blanc, so that may have been the reason for the darker than expected color. The legs on this wine meandered slowly down the glass -- it had some good alcohol on it.

Smell: A simple but refreshing nose of grapefruit and a bouquet of white flowers. It reminded me a little of the Honig Sauvignon Blanc, but less aromatic.

Taste: This is a super straightforward wine -- tasted just like it smelled. It had nice acid but the addition of Semillon and Viognier made the wine soft and round. It was more mouthcoating than I expect from a Sauvignon Blanc but nice for this style.

Drink or down the sink: Although my rule for Sauvignon Blanc is the more acid the better, I can appreciate the softer style. This is a great starter Sauvignon Blanc -- for people getting into the variety but who aren't used to the mouth puckering acid you'll find from New Zealand, Sancerre in the Loire Valley, and even sometimes in white Bordeaux.
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The Wine: Simi Russian River Valley Chardonnay
Where It's From: Russian River Valley, Sonoma County, California
The Grapes: 100% Chardonnay
Vintage: 2008
Price: $30

Color: This wine was the right color for a Russian River Valley Chardonnay -- a rich golden yellow, from the ripe grapes that went in and from the barrel aging that lends a darker tinge to the wine.

Smell: Again, kind of "banker's style" for a Russian River Valley Chard -- with bright apple and light pineapple, underscored by a rich burnt sugar, caramel note from the barrel aging.

Taste: I have voiced this before and I'll say it again, I'm not a huge fan of Russian River Valley Chardonnay, but I have tasted so much of it (when I worked for the hulking winery I worked on a large Sonoma brand and did a lot of comparative tastings!) that I am very familiar with the typical style. This is a straight arrow for Russian River Chard -- tons of tropical fruit and baked apple, but then a salty mineral quality (that reminds me of edamame) to underlay the fruitiness and counteract the rich toasty caramel. The acid was fairly low and it was very soft on the finish.

Drink or down the sink: Because I'm not a fan of this type of wine, I wouldn't choose to buy it for me. HOWEVER, it's well made and if you like the Russian River Valley style, this wine will be up your alley. Winemaker Steve Reeder, who I met briefly while visiting, did a great job of not going too crazy with the oak -- you can still taste the fruit and minerals from the grape, which is my standard gauge for whether or not the wine is in balance and made well. ______________________________________________________________

The Wine: Simi Pinot Noir
Where It's From: Sonoma County, California
The Grapes: 100% Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2009
Price: $25

This is Simi's first vintage of Pinot Noir in its history. It was neat to taste this historic wine!

Color: The wine had a ton of color. This was not a light-handed Pinot Noir. Lots of color was extracted in the winemaking process, or the grapes were left on the vine for a long time, giving the skins a chance to thicken and impart lots and lots of color to the grape juice.

Smell: Similar to the Russian River Valley Chardonnay, Simi didn't take many chances on the style of this wine. It's very typical in style for Sonoma County -- great raspberry, cherry, and strawberry fruit were underscored by a mineral note that reminded me a little of an salty oyster shell. The nose was super-fruity and direct -- not much complexity, but nothing to offend either.

Taste: Just like the nose, the taste was really direct -- no surprises, no weird angles, no complex undertones. There were great berry and sour cherry notes to the wine, and fruit was the reigning force in the wine. Although it was simple and straightforward, it had good acid to clean out my mouth so it wasn't at all flabby or overly fruity. The alcohol was certainly noticeable at 14.5%, but the cherry and berry flavors were a good balance to that slight burn.

Drink or down the sink: Here is a great example of a wine you can feel good about bringing as a gift to your host if you are in a scenario where you're in that shop I mentioned above that carries only national brands. It's a solid, typical style Pinot Noir that will be a good match with food and people with a variety of wine preferences will like. ______________________________________________________________

The Wine: Simi Landslide Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon
Where It's From: Alexander Valley, Sonoma County, California
The Grapes: 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot, 5% Malbec, 3% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot, 1% Tannat
Vintage: 2007
Price: $35

Color: This was a huge wine -- dark purple and almost opaque in color and it stained the glass when I swirled it. The Landslide sat with the skins for 34 days according to MP, so it picked up a ton of color in the process. This was going to be a big arse wine.

Smell: Although it had a green pepper and green herb note to it, the over powering aroma was of violets and dark flowers. It was a very pretty nose with some warm cinnamon and mocha in the background.

Taste: Similar to the others in the line, the wine delivered on the nose but it also had a rich candied black currant flavor to it and a stronger cinnamon component that was really interesting. This wine was good now, but texturally it was a little tannic and tight -- too young or needed a good dose of decanting. I think in a year or two this could be quite a wine.

Drink or down the sink: This wine was my favorite of the line and it's a great value for a Sonoma Cabernet (although I must snarkily comment that it is more of a Bordeaux blend with all the grapes that are included than a straight Cabernet, but that's US labeling law for you -- it only has to be 75% of the grape for it to be labeled as such). This wine has depth, dimension, interesting flavors, and potential to age for up to five years. Certainly the standout of the day, and it's a great price. ______________________________________________________________

The Wine: Simi Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
Where It's From: Alexander Valley, Sonoma County, California
The Grapes: 95% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Petit Verdot
Vintage: 2005
Price: $65

Color: Like the Landslide Vineyard Cabernet, this was black-purple in the center with a crimson rim. It stained the glass just like the previous wine.

Smell: The wine had the vegetal notes of green pepper and freshly picked mint leaves, but it was also rich with ripe plum, black cherry, tobacco, and roasted coffee bean smell. There was a warm, toasted oak note too. A great aroma!

Taste: Typical of the Simi style, what you smell is what you get! The flavors were multi-faceted, but exactly as I smelled them. Another really direct, straight-shooter from this winery. The wine had strong tannins and noticeable acid, but it was so fruit forward that the textures were mellowed by the fruit.

Drink or down the sink: A solid Cabernet although, to me, not quite as interesting as the Landslide Vineyard Cab, which I really thought was quite unique and special. This wine is made from a few select and excellent vineyard sites in the warm Alexander Valley, which is great for Cabernet, and it's a solid and delicious wine. It's a wine club exclusive so you'll have to order it or buy it on site to check it out for yourself! ______________________________________________________________

Sincerest thanks to MP and to Simi -- great hospitality, a fabulous tour, and solid wines! Definitely head there when you're in Sonoma next to see a slice of history and taste some good wine!
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