Of Goats and Wine

Hello everyone! We are excitedly planning our upcoming visit to Napa and Sonoma, and when we think about the area, one of the first things that comes to mind (other than wine!) is farming. Most winemakers will tell you that wine is made out in the vineyard. A good number of winemakers in Napa, and probably even more so in Sonoma, Mendocino, and other grape growing areas in California, view themselves as farmers first. Along with farming comes certain animals, and a very useful (and usually friendly) farm animal is the goat. For many vineyards, the goats are a great form of weed reduction (although if left alone, they can cause some havoc). We recently had two wines that feature goats in the labels: Casa Nuestra’s Two Goats Red and South Africa’s Goat-Roti. It’s more than just pretty labeling and marketing that goes into these wines. Both utilize interesting and highly complementary grape blends.

Casa Nuestra Winery

Before we get into the goats and wine, we would like to tell you a bit about our friends at Casa Nuestra. We first learned about Casa Nuestra winery during our visit to Napa in the fall of 2005. Carlos, the manager of the Ambrose Bierce House, our bed and breakfast in St. Helena, highly recommended it to us. Our best tip about visiting wine country – take advantage of the knowledge of the locals. One of the great things about visiting a wine region is that there are so many wineries you have never heard of, and without a spirit of adventure or a good recommendation, you might never discover them. Casa Nuestra was our first new adventure.

Casa Nuestra is a small winery, approximately 2000 cases produced annually, and sells all of its wine through its wine club, tasting room, and website. Pulling in the driveway, we knew that we had been directed to a hidden gem. We drove by the vineyards, saw the goats in the pasture, a black lab roaming around and just a few visitors – no huge crowds. This was definitely a working farm and winery. We met Stephanie, who is the assistant winemaker (and chief ambassador ☺), and after enjoying some great wines, we joined the club. Being a smaller winery, the staff gives each club member personalized service, and we even had their wines shipped to us while we lived in Bermuda. They really live up to the meaning of their name “Our House.”

We started with Casa’s Chenin Blanc, which was excellent. Later on a friend told us that Casa was the only North American representative at an international Chenin Blanc conference in the Loire Valley of France. Then came the reds. These are very powerful and intense wines; the Merlot drinks like an expensive Cabernet Sauvignon – and we totally loved it. They also make a Cabernet Franc, which has yummy fruit, spice, earth with plenty tannin to give it structure and finish, and a Cabernet Sauvignon which is also an intensely built wine. Casa’s Meritage is styled after the wines of the right bank of Bordeaux, using their Merlot as the backbone and blending in the right amounts of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. The result is a full-bodied wine with a balance of all of the flavors of each varietal and plenty of tannins for aging.

Now, on to a discussion of wine and goats. Casa Nuestra specializes in its field blends. In a field blend, the different grapes are planted side-by-side, and harvested and vinified together. There are nine different grapes that go into Casa’s field blends, including Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Carignan, and others. Much of the field blends go into Casa’s Tinto Classico and Tinto St. Helena. Many also go into the Two Goats Red, a wine dedicated Casa’s weed abatement staff, their goats. The Two Goats Red is an intensely concentrated wine with a mix of berry flavors, good structure, and a nice finish. Often wines made with these blends can be a little rough or rustic. This one is one of the best that we have tried.

Goat-Roti

Goat-Roti is one of the higher end releases from Charles Back, the owner and vintner of Fairview wines in South Africa. The winery was started in 1999 as a side project for making wines blended from Rhone varietals. Charles Back’s Fairview wines are single varietal oriented wines while the wines of his Goats do Roam Wine Company are blends. Many believe that the names of these wines are a jibe at France, playing on such popular names as Côte-Rotie, Côtes du Rhône, and Côtes du Rhône Villages (the Goats do Roam company also produces a wine called “Goats do Roam in Villages” – pronounced just the way you’d think villages would be in English). But in reality, the name actually goes back to a story about the goats.

Goats were originally brought to Fairview Farms in 1980 with the goal of producing South Africa’s first goats’ milk cheeses. The project was a success and Fairview is considered a market leader in artisanal cheeses in South Africa. The goats still produce milk for the cheese, but most of the cheeses are produced from the herds of Jersey cows. One day, the door to the goats’ paddock was left open and being the inquisitive animals that they are, the goats found their way into the vineyards. Being smart as well as inquisitive, the goats found the ripest of berries from the best vines to snack on. That story has sparked a line of wines that include blends of Shiraz, Viognier, Pinotage, Cinsault, Mourvédre, Carignan, and Grenache. In addition to Goat-Roti and the two versions of Goats do Roam, the labels include Bored Doe and Goat Door. The Goats do Roam company makes red wines, white wines, and rosès.

The 2007 Goats do Roam Goat-Roti is a blend of 96% Shiraz and 4% of the white wine grape Viognier. This may sound like an unusual blend since Viognier is typically used to make floral whites. However, older Rhone vintages did blend some Viognier into its red wines. Similar to the field blending technique used by Casa Nuestra, this wine is made from co-fermenting the shiraz and viognier together. The resulting wine has pepper and cloves layered onto a dark berried flavored wine. The Viognier adds soft tannins and a small amount of floral character. The oak flavors in this wine are nice and gentle since only 10% of the barrels used for aging were new oak.

We noticed up front that both wines had a similar flavor profile. However, the Casa Nuestra Two Goats Red was a little more concentrated and intensely flavored. Both wines are considered “buy a case” for us given their flavor and value. We actually do buy the Two Goats Red by at least the half case. If you are comfortable ordering wine online and having it shipped to you, we heartily recommend checking out Casa Nuestra’s website (www.casanuestra.com) and picking up a few bottles. If this isn’t an option, check out the Goat Roti. Both wines are in the $20 -$25 range.

Drink what you like, like what you drink!

Rachel and Bryan Gavini