On the Wine Trail Day 2 – the Day Continues in the Sonoma Valley

Hi everybody!  When we last left you, we were wrapping up at the Olive Press and Jacuzzi Family Vineyards down in the Carneros region of the Sonoma Valley.  Unfortunately, we were not able to try any of the Jacuzzi Family wines – having decided to move on to our next stop rather than hang around and wait out the crowds.  We did have a couple of interesting personal experiences at Jacuzzi Family/The Olive Press however: we ran into a couple from Arkansas, Rachel’s home state, and Rachel recalled that at least a part of the Jacuzzi family settled in Arkansas, where the hot tub factory formerly was located.  Just a few interesting connections before we move on to our next stop: Gloria Ferrer.

As we previously mentioned, until this visit, Gloria Ferrer was our only wine club in the Sonoma Valley.  We joined the Gloria wine club during our visit in 2005.  Back when we first met, Bryan was not a huge fan of sparkling wine/champagne, having mostly experienced the inexpensive bubbly that is served at weddings.  However after a few visits to the Nantucket Wine Festival and trying various sparkling wines and champagnes, our tastes changed.  One Nantucket Wine Festival tasting is particularly memorable, the year we met Bob Iantosca, the winemaker for Gloria Ferrer.

This day at the Nantucket Wine Festival was a day not atypical for May on Nantucket – sheets of rain, winds blowing 40 knots – the passing of a Nor’easter.  The wine festival organizers had previously decided to move the tasting out of town, down to the beach at Brant Point.  Our B&B was only about a half mile away, so we decided to walk down to the tasting that day.  Needless to say, we were quite soaked, but in good cheer when we arrived at the Festival that Saturday morning.  The festival organizers had arranged for a large tent to be set up down at Brant Point, and this particular day, it felt a little hairy inside the tent: quite chilly temperatures (the red wine being poured for tasting was a little on the cold side – however the Pierre Ferrand cognac table was quite popular), and winds blowing so hard that the tent poles were shaking fiercely.

After trying a few different wines (and the aforementioned Pierre Ferrand), we found ourselves at the Gloria Ferrer table.  We had always liked the Gloria Sonoma Brut, and made a special point to locate their table at the wine festival.  When we approached the table however, quite a different scene was taking place.  The guy pouring the wine was a laid back, gray haired fellow who seemed that he would be just as at home on a New England fishing boat as pouring wine; the woman he was speaking to (festival attendee) was quite the opposite – she was basically berating him about the wines and his explanation of the wines.  Needless to say, our jaws were hanging open as this lady spent a good 5 minutes ranting about the wines and his (as she perceived it) lack of knowledge about them.  The fellow took all this abuse with good humor, and when the lady finally left, we expressed our sympathy to him as to the beating he had just taken.  Come to find out, this guy who had been taking all this abuse was Bob Iantosca, the winemaker for Gloria Ferrer.  We shared a few laughs with Bob, tried a few of his wines (sparkling and still), and left the table with an even stronger admiration for Gloria Ferrer and Bob Iantosca.

On our most recent trip, when we showed up at Gloria Ferrer winery on that cloudy Saturday morning, we introduced ourselves as club members and began our tasting.  We started with a tasting of the Va di Vi, and the Blanc de Noirs sparkling wine.   The Va di Vi is a recent release for Gloria Ferrer, and one that we have really taken to.  The Ferrer family (Gloria and also the actor Jose Ferrer) are from the Catalunya area of Spain, and in Catalan, Va di Vi means, “It’s about the wine!”  This is a wine made in the Champenoise style, with definite Spanish influence.  This is a very refreshing sparkler, with the perfect balance of fruit and dryness.  Va di Vi is a blend of the traditional Chardonnay and Pinot Noir that you usually see in sparkling wine, but with a touch of Muscat to give it a little hint of sweetness.  This is a great everyday sparkler that is very refreshing and not at all heavy on the palate.  It’s also a value sparkler at around $20-23, although the traditional Sonoma Brut is a complete steal at around $16 a bottle.  The Blanc de Noirs is always a favorite as well: while Pinot Noir is not our favorite varietal, there’s no denying that it is a great component in sparkling wine.  The Gloria Ferrer is predominantly Pinot Noir, with a small amount of Vin Gris.  This is creamy sparkler showing nice smooth fruit hints.

As club members, all of our tastings were complimentary (actually, apparently you only get a couple of free tastings, but once our server noticed we were from Connecticut, she deduced that we probably were not coming to the winery every weekend, and that it didn’t make sense to charge us for the tastings).  We also tried the Gloria Blanc de Blancs, which was 100% Chardonnay.  This is an elegant wine but a bit on the dry side for our tastes, particularly after having just tried the Va di Vi and the Blanc de Noirs.  Although Gloria is known more for its sparkling wine, Bob Iantosca believes in making quality still wines from the same grape varietals that go into the sparkling.  He convinced the family to let him try out some still wines, and as a result, Gloria Ferrer produces some quality still wines, particular their Pinot Noir.  As we mentioned earlier, we are not huge fans of the Pinot Noir grape.  However, we do really like Bob Iantosca’s expression of the Gloria Ferrer Pinots, particularly the Rust Rock Terrace Pinot and the Gravel Knob Pinot.  The Rust Rock in particular shows some deep black cherry and blackberry with a hint of oak and cocoa.  This wine also sees French oak aging rather than American oak, which tones down the oak flavors in the wine and allows more of the fruit to shine through.

After trying a few other sparklers and still wines (including the still Rosé of Pinot Noir), we decided to take our leave.   We consulted our map, and decided to head into the town of Sonoma to the winery of Ravenswood.  We’d bet most of you have heard of Ravenswood, which is particularly known for their Zinfandel.  We last visited Ravenswood on our last trip to Sonoma in October 2005, and it was somewhat of a surreal experience.  Ravenswood is one of the earlier opening wineries in Sonoma, and so we showed up right about 10am, before we were scheduled to meet up with our friend Marc Cuneo at Sebastiani.  As we drove past the misty fields prior to turning up the drive to Ravenswood, we actually saw ravens hunting in the fields below.  We also noticed a sign in walking up the path to the winery warning us to stay on the path, as there might be rattlesnakes on the hill.  We were a little surprised to learn that they were actually serious about that!  So good tip, make sure you stay on the paths when you visit any wineries in the hills!

It wasn’t quite as dramatic when we visited Ravenswood 5 years later in 2010, but it was still fun nonetheless.  There was a nice and enthusiastic crowd in the tasting room, some of whom were gathered around the roaring fireplace.  We sidled up to the tasting bar with Uncle Bob (not to be confused with the band Unkle Bob, whom we also like).  Uncle Bob is a Connecticut native who was living down in Florida when he visited the Sonoma Valley for the first time a few years back.  He fell in love immediately, and so he picked up and moved out to the Valley with no plans and no prospects.  Many years later, he’s still in love with the Sonoma Valley.  We exchanged a few Connecticut moments with Uncle Bob, and commenced to tasting their wonderful Zinfandels, as well as their Vintners Blend Cabernet and Merlot, and Rachel’s favorite, the Petite Sirah.  One wine in particular is a favorite, the Ravenswood Icon, and we apparently got a great deal on it a few months back.  The Icon blend varies each year, but the 2006 vintage contained a blend of Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Carignane, and Alicante Bouschet - the Native Sonoma Mixed Blacks.  This was a big powerful wine, and if you can find it for a decent price, be sure to pick it up!  

In looking through all the Ravenswood materials, we noted that Ravenswood is having a “Tattoo Coming Out Party” on July 17^th, and that if you have the Ravenswood logo inked on your body, you are entitled to free tastings for life!  Although we did not have a Ravenswood logo tattoo (actually the Morrigan ravens of Celtic mythology), we do have a very similar symbol, the Faerie Cats of the same Celtic mythology.  When we mentioned this to Uncle Bob, he called out the Boss Lady for a final determination, and upon reviewing our tattoos, she announced to the tasting room that we had “Free Tastings For Life!”   Much excitement ensured in the tasting room and a great time was had by all.  In tasting the wines, we did inquire about joining the wine club, but found that Ravenswood does not ship to Connecticut.  Oh well, we thought, as we do get great distribution for Ravenswood in Connecticut, and we always have a fantastic time in the tasting room.

When we were wrapping up our tasting with Uncle Bob, we realized we were getting a little hungry, and Rachel in particular was craving some authentic Mexican food.  Uncle Bob recommend that we check out a place called Juanita Juanita not far from there, a dive, he warned us, but good food.  Oh, and one other thing to recommend them, they actually printed the diners’ checks on the back of old Ravenswood labels.  He’d already had us at “authentic Mexican food,” and the “dive” characterization only made it sound yummier.  So we headed back towards Arnold Drive (same road that Viansa, Cline, and Gloria Ferrer were on), and found Juanita Juanita.  This place looked like a little diner, and so we cozied up to the bar and started off with some hot and crispy chips and some green salsa and some Negra Modelo draft beer.  Even though it was getting a little later in the afternoon and we had plans for dinner, we couldn’t resist the big yummy burritos with all the different sauces they had lined up on the bar.  We finished up our late lunch, received our (inexpensive) check on the back of a Ravenswood label, and headed on our way.

 Although we had a much longer than expected day in the Sonoma Valley, it was quite satisfying.  But the day wasn’t over yet!  We still had our Casa Nuestra wine dinner to come that evening.  So we headed to our B&B for the evening, to get ready for the Casa dinner.  Stay tuned for more details on the Casa Nuestra dinner and our meeting with the “Ghost of Elvis”!

Drink what you like, like what you drink!

Rachel & Bryan Gavini

On the Wine Trail Day 2 – A Great Beginning in Sonoma

Hello Everyone!  After a fantastic first day in the Napa Valley, we were making plans for our second day, and decided to do things a little differently.  Originally, we were looking to spend another day in Napa and then wrap up the evening with our winery dinner up near Calistoga.  Since we were staying in the southern part of Napa, we decided instead to head over to the Sonoma Valley by way of Carneros.  We planned to make stops at Viansa, Gloria Ferrer, Cline Cellars, maybe hit Ravenswood, and then head back over to Napa.  Since we were club members only at Gloria Ferrer, we did not think that this plan was too ambitious.  However, wine country hospitality proved us wrong as usual.

It was starting to cloud over a little as we drove west on the Carneros Highway, but it was a beautiful drive.  We passed by the vineyards of Domaine Carneros, Bouchaine, and other vineyards, and then headed south on Highway 121 to start at Viansa Winery.  Viansa was started about 20 years ago as a dream of Vicki and Sam Sebastiani, part of the famous Sebastiani family.  Drawing from their Italian heritage, they set out to do something unique: build a winery that focuses on Italian varietals.  The Sebastianis no longer own the winery, but their dream continues.  We first visited Viansa in 2005, and Rachel remarked that it looked like an Italian villa and the surrounding area reminded her of Tuscany.  Our first visit was during harvest time in October, so the hills were brown and dotted with evergreens and other trees showing off their fall colors.  This time when we drove up the hill towards the winery, the view was much different but just as beautiful, with rolling green hills, olive trees, vineyards, and surrounding marshlands.  The bayside marshlands around Viansa were restored by Vicki and Sam Sebastiani during their stewardship of the property, earning them recognition as Private Conservationists of the Year.  Viansa is also unique in that in addition to the winery, they also have a full-fledged Italian marketplace selling meats, cheeses, olive oils, and vinegars.  There is a great picnic area all around the outside of the winery, with an amazing view of the surrounding vineyards and wetlands.

We made our way into the tasting room and marketplace excited to try some very unique wines.  With such a diverse selection of wines, we decided to each purchase a tasting rather than share (in this case because there are so many different wines, we each tasted different wines and passed our glasses back and forth).  The first two wines were Arneis and Pierina Vernaccia, both white wines.  Both were what we love about European white wine, a bit of good acidity and floral notes with some minerals.  Arneis is from the Piedmont area of northeastern Italy, and Pierina is a native of Tuscany.  The Pierina was a little heavier than the Arneis but both were refreshing.  Next came the Dolcetto rose.  This was chilled slightly and tasted much more of a regular Dolcetto than a rose style, but we could see it fitting the bill for a great summer red.  Next, came the reds: Piccolo Sangiovese, La Nebbia Nebbiolo, and the Farneta Primitivo.  These are the representative reds of their respective areas: Tuscany, Piedmont, and Puglia.  The Piccolo Sangiovese had all of the flavors of a Chianti with additional weight and fruity richness courtesy of the California climate.  The Nebbiolo was big, acidic, and dry – just like a big Barolo or Barbaresco and what we were hoping for.  The Primitivo, which is a clone of Zinfandel, was made in a drier style than is typical with Zinfandel in California.  We like these drier styles because some Zinfandels can be too jammy or port-like, and this was a nice balance.  We also tried Viansa’s Super Tuscan, the Thalia Sangiovese, and the Prindelo, which is a proprietary blend of Primitivo, Zinfandel, and Teroldego (Teroldego is a particularly interesting grape – it is one of only a couple of grapes with red flesh – most red-skinned grapes have white juice, and the color in the wine comes from contact with the grape skins).  Our tasting rep took note of our interest and enthusiasm and gave us a taste of a few others for comparison.  We were taken with the style of the wines offered by Viansa, with all the Italian grape varietals made in a California style (frequently called Cal-Italian).  Given the uniqueness of the wines, we made some purchases and decided to join the wine club.  In the marketplace, we tried a variety of dipping oils, bread, and some cheese, which we picked up to enjoy later.  Satisfied with our Tuscan experience, we headed on out to enjoy the view a little more and then move on to our next stop.  On our way out, we happily noted that there were parking spaces reserved for club members, which would be a great perk for a busy day.

Next on the list, and only a couple hundred yards down the road, came Cline Cellars.  We were initially a little nervous by the presence of a bus, a limo, and a very crowded parking lot, but we later learned that a wedding was being held on site later that day (it was interesting because Viansa was also set up for a wedding event – wine country weddings are a big business and a great option for a destination wedding!).  Despite the crowded parking lot, we managed to squeeze into a spot next to the famous Red Truck.  Cline makes a wine called Red Truck, a blend of several Rhone varietals and an easy drinking and inexpensive wine (they also make a White Truck chardonnay and a Green Truck organic wine).  The tasting room was pretty crowded, but tasting room consultant Gayle beckoned us over to an empty space, and our Cline tasting experience began. 

We previously wrote about Cline’s Cashmere wine, and we gave you a bit of the history of Fred Cline’s attitude towards viticulture and winemaking.  So we were anxious to try some of the other wines.  Gayle started us off with the Viognier and the Oakley fourWHITES.  We enjoy Viognier because it has a similar tropical fruit flavor profile as Chardonnay, but it is usually made differently, with no secondary malolactic fermentation or extended oak aging – for the purpose of letting the fruit flavor shine through, not all the oak and butter that frequently overwhelms Chardonnay.  The Cline Viognier is all those things, with peaches and honeysuckle – a very yummy wine.  The Oakley fourWHITES wine is composed of Sauvignon Blanc, Palomino, Malvasia Bianca, and Viognier.  We were very intrigued by the inclusion of Palomino, which is a thin-skinned grape most often found in Spanish sherry.  The result is a crisp, slightly sweet, refreshing floral white wine that can handle being well-chilled. The fourWHITES reminded us of the old days of Francis Ford Coppola’s Bianco, which used to be made with Malvasia, Riesling, and Sauvignon Blanc.  Coppola has sense changed the blend in the Bianco, but the Oakley fourWHITES still brings back memories of sitting in our lounge chairs on the driveway at Bryan’s mom’s house (sounds strange but there’s a good reason – there were a lot fewer mosquitoes out on the driveway than in the back yard), sipping some chilled, refreshing white wine.  Following the two white wines, we were in the mood for some Rosé.  We are big fans of Rosé and the Mourvèdre Rosé was just what we were looking for: a nice fruit forward (think grapefruit) Rosé with a dry finish to round it out.

We then moved on to some of the reds that Cline is more famous for, especially the ancient vines collections.  These ancient vines wines come from vineyards that were planted 80 to 120 years ago and produce some very concentrated flavors.  Both the Ancient Vines Carginane and Mourvèdre are medium bodied wines that have a balance of fruit and spice with some pepper.  The Mourvèdre has additional notes of plums and chocolate.  Both wines were big enough to enjoy on their own without overwhelming your palate.  Earlier, we wrote about the Cashmere which is a GSM, blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre, so we decided to revisit our new-found friend and enjoyed it once more.  In our Cashmere write-up, we referred it as “GSM,” which stood for Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre.  In the tasting room however, “GSM” means “Gimme Some More” and the testing room folks are very nice at providing that second taste.  (We found all the write-ups on the Cline tasting sheet to be particularly amusing as well as being informative – Gayle later told us this was because the tasting notes are developed at their staff meetings, during which they drink plenty of the wine for inspiration!)

The highlight wines of the tasting came next, the Syrah.  If grown in an overly warm climate and allowed to overripen, Syrah can produce very jammy, fruity wines with high alcohol content (14.5%+) which can taste unbalanced.  The cooler climate of Carneros allows for a more balanced finish and makes a classic Rhone-styled wine.  Our first experiences with Syrah over ten years ago were some of the best.  The wines were full-flavored, hearty reds with good cherry flavors and very little wood.  We served Paul Jaboulet’s Parallèle 45 for our wedding red wine.  What really made these wines stand out was the black and white pepper flavors that accompanies, and we think that these flavors have been lost in the fruiter Syrahs that are made now.  But one sip of the Cool Climate Syrah made our mouths pop with the pepper flavors – it was a real “Wow” experience that we haven’t had in ages.  The wine had a sweet tobacco and cherry flavor with the zing of the white pepper.  The Sonoma County Syrah had more cherry flavors and was a little softer than the Cool Climate Syrah, but had the hint of cracked black pepper that we have missed.  We finished off the tasting with a round of their famous Zinfandels.  The first two were the California and the Ancient Vines.  The California Zinfandel was easy drinking and could very much be a “house red” while the Ancient Vines showed more intensity and had more black raspberry flavors.  The single vineyard designates were a special treat and we were excited to try the Live Oak Zinfandel and the Big Break Zin.  The Live Oak had a bit more oak and hint of butterscotch on top of the traditional Zinfandel flavors while the Big Break had more chocolate and a hint of mint.  As you can probably see, Gayle was taking good care of us in the tasting room.  We finished the tasting with a Late Harvest Mourvèdre which was pared with a piece of dark chocolate.  We find that port-like dessert wines and chocolate are a perfect match.  We decided to pick up the Cool Climate Syrah and the Oakley fourWHITES, and joined to club to keep these unique wines coming to us.  Other than the uniqueness of the wines (while Cline is pretty widely distributed, you don’t normally see some of the special wines in your local store), one other reason we decided to join this club was that these wines are relatively inexpensive and so a very good value.  Cline also has a separate tasting room for club members, which would really be great on a busy day like this one was.  Gayle also told us that through our membership, we would get discounts across the street at Jacuzzi Winery and the Olive Press.  Excited about our experience, we headed on over to Jacuzzi and the Olive Press.

When we entered Jacuzzi Winery and the Olive Press, there was quite a crowd in the wine tasting room.  For a cloudy Saturday, there were many people out and about at the wineries.  Looking at the crowds on the wine side and being food fans, we popped into the Olive Press to taste some extra virgin olive oil combinations.  Olive oil can run the gamut of flavors including fruity, buttery, and nutty with no bitterness in the more delicate oils, to the medium-bodied oils with some of the green, herbaceous olive flavors, to the robust oils with quite a bit of pepper and spice to them.  We decided to try the full complement of oils available for tasting, starting with the most delicate.  Among the most delicate, we liked the flavor of the Arbequina, which is fresh and fruity tasting, perfect for dipping or on a salad.  Next came the medium-bodied oils, and of these, we favored the Mission and Master Blend.  The Mission extra virgin olive oil is a traditional California blend that perfectly combines the green olive flavors with a rich buttery base.  The Master Blend is similar but uses a blend of olives to create its fruity flavors.  The robust oils were also blends, and we were partial to the Italian blend with its spicy pepper flavors on top of the olive fruitiness. 

We decided to keep tasting olive oils as the wine tasting room was still pretty full, and happily moved on to the infused oils.  We tried oils of every flavor, from Clementine-infused, Basil-Parmesan-infused, Limonato, Roasted-Garlic & Rosemary-infused, Olio Diavolo, and the Jalapeño oil.  If you know us, you can probably guess which of these oils we chose to take with us: the spicy Diavolo and Jalapeño oils.  We also (maybe somewhat surprisingly) picked up two of the medium bodied extra virgin oils: the Mission and Master Blend.  Along with olive oils, the Olive Press also sells vinegars and olive products such as hand and skin creams.  The Olivina olive-scented hand crème had a fresh scent and was perfect for soothing our dry skin.  Since we like to travel light on the plane (i.e. no checked luggage), we decided to have the olive oils and skin cream shipped to us.  After checking out, and seeing that the lines were still quite long over on the Jacuzzi Winery side, we decided to continue along the trail.  It was only early afternoon and we still had many places yet to go!

Drink what you like, like what you drink!

Rachel & Bryan Gavini

Open Letter to Our Congressional Representatives Urging a Vote AGAINST Discriminatory Commercial Regulations

This is our letter to our Congressman and Senators, urging them to vote AGAINST HR 5034.  HR 5034 could effectively end direct shipment of wine from wineries direct to consumers, and is a direct violation of the Commerce Clause of the Constitution.  We urge you to contact your Congressmen and Senators today!  Check out the Free the Grapes site for more information.
Free the Grapes - Urge your Congressmen to vote AGAINST HR 5034


As an adult voter, I urge you to OPPOSE HR 5034, a special interest power grab by beer wholesalers that could overturn legal, regulated winery-to-consumer shipping working successfully in 37 states.

The National Beer Wholesalers of America (NBWA) is asking you to weigh in on an intra-industry dispute to protect their monopoly distribution system. Their legislation is couched as addressing public safety and states’ rights, but it will likely reverse reasonable wine shipping legislation and further restrict consumer choice for wine lovers like me.

I have been fortunate enough to have visited California several times and have joined many wine clubs there, which are currently shipping their wine to me legally. Many of these wineries are not large conglomerates, but in fact, are smaller farmers who are attempting to make a living by selling the fruits of their labor. This bill is a naked attempt by the large conglomerate wholesalers to consolidate their power, and to prevent the individual wineries from establishing a direct relationship with the consumer. The effect of this bill will be to hurt the American wine industry, plain and simple. Americans will no longer be able to obtain the product of their choice, and so will instead turn their business to support the products of Europe, South America, and Australia. By voting in favor of HR 5034, you would be voting AGAINST America's interests.

In addition to the fact that this proposed bill is a direct violation of the Commerce Clause of the US Constitution, it does nothing to address public safety and the issue of drinking by minors. A minor is not going to order wine from an out of state winery and have it shipped to his or her house. A minor instead will go to his local package store, and attempt buy a bottle of booze or a six-pack of beer. In addition, I would argue that direct shipping of wine to the consumer does MORE to protect public safety, because shippers are REQUIRED to obtain the signature of a person over 21 years of age to deliver the wine. The argument that direct wine shipments is a threat to public safety is completely disingenuous, and is simply an excuse for the large conglomerates to maintain their monopoly over the 3-tier system.

HR 5034 has been immediately condemned by winery associations representing America’s 6,700 wineries, as well as voters. Please let me know how you intend to vote on this important consumer rights issue.

Day 1 in the Valley – the Adventure Continues in the Afternoon

Hi everybody!  In our last post, you heard about our first morning on the wine trail in the Napa Valley.  Our afternoon and evening were equally exciting and gave us the chance to visit some old friends.  After we left Cliff Lede, we headed up to the northern part of St. Helena to meet our friend Chuck Parker at the new Trinchero Napa Valley facility.  Many of you probably have never heard of the Trincheros, but we’re sure you’ve heard of one of their biggest ventures: Sutter Home Winery.  Sutter Home was established in the late 19^th century by Swiss-German immigrants to the US, but as with most wineries in the US, it was shut down during Prohibition.  In 1948, John and Mario Trinchero, Italian immigrants from New York, purchased the winery and kept it going as more of a mom-and-pop type place, filling their neighbors' barrels and jugs.  The winery essentially continued in this fashion until 1975, when a new era in American wine was created: white Zinfandel.

The story of how white Zin was created is one of those fortunate accidents that could probably never be duplicated if they had actually been trying to create this wine.  Bob Trinchero, Mario’s oldest son, noticed that some of the run-off juice from his red Zinfandel was not fermenting to dryness and was retaining a substantial amount of residual sugar.  Bob decided to set the wine aside for awhile, worry about it later.  Later when he tried it, he decided maybe it was actually pretty good, and decided to bottle it.  From this, the white Zinfandel era was born.  The Trinchero family, with Bob at the helm, still runs Sutter Home and has acquired a number of other labels (Folie a Deux, Napa Cellars, Montevina to name just a few), but it is the Trinchero Napa Valley wines which are considered the premium wines in the Trinchero portfolio. 

We first came across the Trinchero wines during a visit to the Nantucket Wine Festival several years ago.  We had attended a Cabernet Sauvignon tasting which included about 8 Cabernets from the 2000 or 2001 vintages.  We thought that the 2000 Trinchero Main Street Cabernet was excellent, and thought it stood up nicely against the other Cabernets we were tasting, including Stags Leap Wine Cellars and Rubicon Cask Cabernet.  Later that evening at the Winemakers Reception, we happened across the Trinchero table and its ambassador and former Cellar Master, Chuck Parker.  We had immediately taken a liking to Chuck at the earlier Cabernet tasting because of his laid back style and relaxed attitude towards wine.  Chuck has been involved in making fine wines for many many years, but his attitude is very much like ours – what makes a wine enjoyable is that you like it – whether it’s a $10 bottle or a $50+ bottle.  So we started chatting with Chuck, and a friendship was born.

Each visit to the Napa Valley usually includes a visit with Chuck, and this year was no exception.  We met Chuck at the brand new Trinchero Napa Valley Winery on Highway 29 in northern St. Helena – the new facility is absolutely gorgeous.  The family has taken the former Folie a Deux facility and made it a real destination point – beautiful architecture, a world class kitchen, and gorgeous grounds with an incredible view of Mount St. Helena.  Oh yes, and a state of the art winemaking facility!

In addition to Chuck, we always meet some fantastic people at Trinchero.  Last year, Chris, who had just returned from Afghanistan, was pouring wines for us, and this year it was Lou.  We tried the wines and as usual, they did not disappoint.  We have always enjoyed all of Trinchero’s wines, but our favorite has always been their Petit Verdot.  Petit Verdot is one of the five classic Bordeaux grapes, and not many wineries will produce a single varietal Petit Verdot.  We have been hooked on this wine’s flavors of plum and violet, its rich color, and velvety tannins, and we frequently pick up a few on our travels.  Unfortunately we are unable to join the Trinchero wine club since they don’t ship to Connecticut, but we always make sure we pick up several bottles on our visits.  We loved all the Trinchero wines we tasted but a standout this year was the Cabernet Sauvignon from the Cloud’s Nest Vineyard, which sits high atop Mt. Veeder.  This wine was a powerful example of a Cabernet, with rich dark cherry and tobacco flavors with an incredible finish.  Winemaker Mario Monticelli (who we were lucky enough to meet at the Mohegan Sun wine tasting in January) joined Trinchero in 2007, and we are looking forward to many more incredible vintages.  By the way, Mario’s wife Anna is the winemaker for  Piña Napa Valley, which makes incredibly huge Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon.  We also belong to their wine club.  

After spending some time walking around the grounds, we had to bid goodbye to Chuck, with plans to meet up for dinner later.  We then traveled the short distance south on Highway 29 to the winery of Charles Krug.

Charles Krug is another winery in the Napa Valley with a storied history.  Krug was the first winery in the Napa Valley, and was acquired by the Mondavi family in 1943.  The winery was initially run by Cesare Mondavi, and his sons Robert and Peter.  After Cesare’s death, the brothers worked together for a few years until their now famous quarrel in the early 1960s.  In 1966, Peter Mondavi took over winery operations at Charles Krug, and Robert moved to Oakville to start his own legacy. 

We have long been fans of Charles Krug, and confess that one of our first wines from this winery was its white Zinfandel.  Bryan first tried Krug’s white Zin during a visit in 1996, and both he and Rachel loved it for its fruity, strawberry flavors, which were not overly sweet.  Unfortunately, Charles Krug has ceased production on white Zinfandel, and although Bryan’s grad school roommate Mike accidentally drank one of our last bottles, we did manage to hold on to one last bottle to enjoy on our wedding night in 2001.  We are also especially fond of Charles Krug because we had the opportunity to meet Peter Mondavi himself during a visit to the Nantucket Wine Festival in 2001.  Peter was incredibly gracious and friendly, and seemed genuinely happy to talk to us.  In recent years at Nantucket, we’ve had the opportunity to meet Peter’s son Marc, who is great fun and represents the family well.

Upon arriving at the Charles Krug tasting room, we announced ourselves as club members, and the royal treatment commenced.  We started off with a glass of the Sauvignon Blanc, which was fresh and lively, full of grapefruit and lemon-lime flavors.  It was a great palate cleanser and would be perfect for sitting outside on a warm day.  We particularly enjoyed the St. Helena Zinfandel, which was blended with a fair amount of Petite Sirah, giving more of a coffee and pepper balance to the raspberry fruits of the Zinfandel.  And no tasting at Charles Krug would be complete without the Reserve Generations.  As you can probably tell, we have a lot of history and sentimentality when it comes to Charles Krug and the Peter Mondavi family, and Generations is a part of this history.  While on Nantucket for one of our first wine festivals there, we happened upon a bottle of 1993 Generations.  Generations is a blend of several different red wine grapes, and the blend changes with each vintage.  At the grand tasting that year, we mentioned to Jennifer at the Charles Krug table that we had recently come across the ’93, and so of course she insisted that we try the ’94 that she was pouring that day.  We are great fans of blended red wines such as this – the wines tend to be a little bit softer depending on the amount of Cabernet that leads the blend, and have incredible complexity that results from the intermingling of flavors of all these grape varietals.  You don’t normally see Generations in your local store, but very often, your wine store owner can order this for you.  We most recently ordered it from Nine East in Natick, MA, and wine director Harry Zarkades was happy to get it for us.  The current release is the 2005 vintage, which is 62% Cabernet, 23% Merlot, 9% Petit Verdot, 3% Cabernet Franc, and 3% Syrah (but for the Syrah, which is not a Bordeaux grape, this would be a classic Bordeaux bottling). 

We previously alluded to a quarrel between Peter and Robert Mondavi, which resulted in Robert starting his own operation farther south in Oakville, including not only his eponymous winery, but also the famous Opus One.  The brothers remained estranged for a number of years, but in 2005 they reconciled, making a small amount of wine together for the first time since the feud.  The wine was a Cabernet Sauvignon from a blend of grapes from both family wineries, and was called Ancora Una Volta – Once Again.  The reconciliation was timely, as Robert passed away in May 2008.  Peter Mondavi carries on at Charles Krug at the age of 95.  We encourage everyone to look for Charles Krug wines in your local stores.  Peter is very pragmatic about wine and even though he sells some ultra-premium wine, you will still find high quality wines in the $20-25 range.

After we left Krug, we decided we still had some time before meeting Chuck for dinner, so we headed south to Peju, in Rutherford.  From the moment we pulled into Peju for the first time last year, we were hooked.  We immediately dubbed it “The Temple of Wine” (the pictures should indicate why).  

The Peju family moved to California and purchased the property in Rutherford in 1982, in one of the best locations in the Napa Valley.  The family is still involved in running the winery.  After going through the usual jaw-dropping experience entering the tasting room, we proceeded to the tasting table where Richie Cooksey, tasting room cruise director for the day, was holding court.  We lined up between one couple from Brazil and another couple from Seattle, and the tasting commenced.  Peju has a full complement of wines but we gravitate towards the red wines (in fact, we joined Peju’s Red Wine Club last year).  Before we go to the reds, we have to say a few words about Peju’s Provence, which is a unique red and white blend.  The current release contains Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Zinfandel, blended with white wine grapes Chardonnay and French Columbard.  What a combination!  You chill this wine down, and it drinks like a nice dry Rosé.  We could have this wine just on its own, but it is great with BBQ and spicy foods.  

Peju’s red wines are a great example of a powerful Napa Valley wine, Cabernets and Merlots equally.  In fact, Peju makes a wine called “Fifty-Fifty,” which is half Cabernet Sauvignon, half Merlot.  They describe it as “Merlot elegance meets Cabernet power,” and that is exactly what this wine is.  Peju also makes a Syrah, Cabernet, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and a Zinfandel (as we mentioned, we’re in the Red Wine Club – Peju wines aren’t extensively distributed – so we’re focusing more on the reds here), all of which are powerful, rich red wines.   

We were enjoying chatting with Richie in the tasting room, but soon realized we needed to hurry or we would be late for dinner with Chuck.  So we made a quick run by our hotel, and then over to Chuck’s home outside the town of Napa.  We were greeted by Chuck, his wife Leslie, and their dog Millie (Jack-Jack and Chippie, their two cats, made a later appearance).  Chuck’s house looks out over a vineyard so we enjoyed the view and the sinking sun with a glass of Sea Glass Sauvignon Blanc (another part of the Trinchero portfolio), before heading out to dinner. 

Dinners with Chuck and Leslie are always entertaining and this one was no exception.  After dinner, we headed back to Chuck and Leslie’s house for some musical entertainment (Chuck on guitar and Rachel on tambourine), and then finally decided to call it a night.  It had been a long, but extremely satisfying first day in the Napa Valley, and we couldn’t wait for tomorrow.

Drink what you like, like what you drink!

Rachel & Bryan Gavini

Day 1 - Morning on the Wine Trail in Napa Valley

Hello Everyone! We got up early after our late night arrival in Napa and had a bit of a breakfast, which is key if you plan to taste many wines. Additionally, we made a stop for some basic wine tasting supplies, which for us now includes plenty of water, diet coke for Rachel, and some V8 juice. We picked up a collapsible cooler on our last trip, so now we just flatten it and throw it into the carry-on, load it with ice from the hotel, and fill it with our water and juices. Having plenty of water is key to wine tasting. In the past, we purchased cheese, bread, and olive oil to have along the way, but the big breakfast, water, and V8 is a great help in keeping us hydrated. We will often share a single tasting at the winery’s tasting room, which also helps keep us in good form.

Loaded up with our tasting survival kit, we headed off to our first winery – Luna Vineyards. Our first experience with Luna wines was while we were living in Bermuda, when a friend brought along a bottle of the Sangiovese to a dinner party where we were serving Moussaka. Last year during a visit to the winery, we joined the club because we loved their excellent Sangiovese and Napa Valley Howell Mountain wines. There are only a few vineyards up on Howell Mountain which produce low-yielding, intensely flavored grapes that make incredible Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Using our club criteria mentioned in the last post, this winery had two of those criteria: Howell Mountain fruit which is not widely distributed in our area. (Also we have to confess that Luna is a name that is endearing to us - in 2004 we rescued a little jet black kitty from the coldest night since the 1880s, and named her Luna.)

The facility has been recently remodeled and is absolutely beautiful. The best way to describe it is modern luxury Italian. Lots of stone and earthy colors, columns, beautiful tile, doors imported from Italy, and plush couches. Yvonne was working the tasting room and she greeted us with an enthusiastic smile. When we mentioned that we were club members, she told us that the tasting was open. We started off with 2007 Pinot Grigio which had 5% Chardonnay added to round out the flavors. It was a well-balanced, fruity, and minerally wine that was perfect for the first taste of the day. We then proceeded to the 2007 Napa Valley Sangiovese, which had small amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Sirah to help power the wine forward. The wine had all of the nice flavors of a Sangiovese with some added structure from the Cabernet and Petite Sirah. This wine was very full-bodied, intensely and inky-colored. We were then offered the 2006 Sangiovese Reserve from Napa Valley, which was 100% Sangiovese. This was just great – juicy, fruity, cherry flavors held together with smooth velvety tannins. We have heard that Sangiovese is difficult to grow in the Napa Valley, but Luna is apparently not having any problems with it. Next came one of our favorites, Howell Mountain Merlot – a big bold brambly Merlot that handles like a Cabernet. This wine has the softness of a Merlot with the muscle of a Cabernet. During the course of the tasting we chatted with Yvonne about cooking and cats and general life in Napa. She informed us that as club members, we had access to “the Tower” which is a nice structure atop the building with panoramic views of southern Napa Valley; a nice place to enjoy wine on a beautiful day.

We finished up with some great Cabernets including a few reserve comparisons, and a very rich apricot, honey, and fig tasting Late Harvest wine that had hints of toast and butter from the oak aging. One of our favorite wines of the day was the 2005 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, which was a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot. The wine had lots of good tannin, earthy aromas and a spicy mint flavor. Sometimes, the non-reserve wines are a little more approachable especially if blended like this one. We made a few purchases, thanked Yvonne for her time and headed out.

We then headed back toward the town of Napa to pick up some spices at The Whole Spice in the Oxbow Market. The Oxbow Market is a great place to get sandwiches, coffee, meats, spices, etc. It is an open marketplace in a building with a variety of specialized small businesses. We were so excited to come across Whole Spice since we love cooking, and it can be difficult to find some of the more obscure spices. After smelling a lot of canisters, we picked up a series of spices to help us with our Moroccan cooking, including sumac, Ras el hanout, a special red pepper spice (like Moroccan Paprika), and some smoked Serrano chile powder. With warm earthy scents in our bag, we walked across the street to the tasting room of Gustavo Thrace.

Gustavo Thrace is a joint venture between Gustavo Brambila and Thrace Bromberger. We first learned of Gustavo from the movie “Bottleshock,” in which he worked for Jim Barrett and Mike Grgich at Chateau Montelena. When Mike left Montelena to open his own winery, he asked Gustavo to join him. Gustavo stayed with Grgich Hills Cellars for twenty-three years. Thrace now handles the sales and marketing for the winery while Gustavo handles the winemaking not only for his own label, but also for some other wineries in the valley. Having spent so many years at Grgich Hills, Gustavo became somewhat of an expert at chardonnay, and his 2006 Carneros Chardonnay is very well-known. It had lots of pear and tropical fruits with some vanilla, caramel and hazelnuts from the oak aging. The wine did not undergo malolactic fermentation (this is the process that gives many California Chardonnays that big, oaky, buttery taste), and has plenty of acid to keep it fresh and crisp. Not being big fans of chardonnay, we liked this wine quite a lot. The next wine that we tried was the 2006 Napa Valley Merlot. This is a serious Merlot, just the way we like ‘em; lots of cherry balanced with the oak flavors of cocoa, tobacco, and good tannins for a nice long finish. Next, we tasted a dark, inky 2006 Petite Sirah full of spicy cloves and a very concentrated, extracted flavor. This is a huge wine so you’ll want a hefty meal like lamb or duck to go with it. The last, and definitely not least of the tasting was the 2005 Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon. With its tight tannins and flavors of earth, tobacco, black licorice, cocoa, and sweet cherries, it was our favorite of the tasting. During the tasting we really enjoyed talking to Thrace and hearing the story of how she met Gustavo (he was her son’s little league coach). One of the funniest stories we heard from Thrace involved dinner parties and “the third bottle.” This is the wine you serve after opening the first two “big” wines so that you don’t wake up the next morning with a bunch of expensive half-drunk uncorked wines. (When we have guests over, it’s more like the 4th or 5th bottle but who’s counting.) So, they make an inexpensive, easy-drinking red wine called 3rd Bottle Red Table Wine. We swapped a few more good stories about Gustavo and 3rd bottle experiences with Thrace, picked up a Petite Sirah, and headed back up the Silverado Trail to Cliff Lede.

Before we left for Napa, we were able to get in contact with our friend Jack Bittner at Cliff Lede, so that was the next stop. Cliff Lede is a beautiful winery on the northern edge of the Stags Leap district that specializes in high end Cabernet Sauvignon. Cliff Lede’s flagship wine is the Poetry, which we wrote about awhile back. In 2002, Canadian Cliff Lede bought the winery of S. Anderson, which was a producer of sparkling wine. Over the years, we have been able to purchase some of these wines and have really enjoyed them. They are a bit unique for US sparkling wine, since the wine is left in contact with lees (the yeast) for several years to develop a complex flavor profile. We met up with Jack around noon and enjoyed some sparkling wine, a nice Sauvignon Blanc and a very special Cabernet Sauvignon while we sharing the latest news with each other. (Jack is the master of the “Wine Under the Table.” Many wineries keep some special wine on hand under the table that they will pour for their special guests. If you’ve struck up a good conversation with the person pouring you the wine (especially if it’s not too crowded), you may be able to taste some of those under the table wines.) After getting the upcoming events and visits, we said goodbye to Jack and to Caesar, the winery cat, and continued up the Silverado Trail to meet up with another friend.

It was a great way to start our first morning in wine country.

Drink what you like, like what you drink!

Rachel and Bryan Gavini

Membership has its Privileges – A Note About Wine Clubs

Hello Everyone! Before we begin to give you a recap of our recent trip to Napa and Sonoma, we would like to talk a little bit about wine clubs. Just about every winery has a club you can join if you’re able to receive wine shipments in your state. If you really like a certain winery’s offerings and have the ability to visit every so often, this may be a great option for you. In general, belonging to a wine club offers the following benefits:

(1) Regular shipments to your house. The shipping schedule depends on wine club. We belong to a few clubs that ship quarterly, and a couple that ship bi-annually.
(2) Discounts and notices of special wine deals. As a club member, you will receive a discounted price on the wines, and the option to reorder additional wines from the club shipment at even more significant discounts. Occasionally a winery may even offer free shipping.
(3) Access to wines that are only offered to club members or at the winery.
(4) Newsletters with articles, events, and recipes to go with your wine. Part of our recent visit included a winemaker’s dinner, and most wineries have special events for club members throughout the year.
(5) Complimentary tasting of wines being offered in the tasting room (and very special treatment as club members!).

There are some other benefits and privileges and that are dependent on the specific club. Additionally, if the winery is large and offers a wide variety of wines they are likely to have a few types of clubs:

(1) Red or White wine only. These are good if you really only prefer one over the other.
(2) Mixed where you get a red and white. This is a great way to get many different wines from your club.
(3) Reserve or Library clubs. These clubs are a bit more expensive but they give you access to special wines that probably would not be otherwise available.

We belong to many wine clubs in Napa and Sonoma and we really enjoyed visiting some of them on our recent visit. For the longest time due to shipping rules in our state, we were only able to join the clubs at two wineries. One of these specialized in sparkling wines, and we received a wide variety of reserve, vintage, non-vintage, and other cuvees, in addition to a few still Pinot Noirs, that are the base of the sparkling wines. The other club is a very small winery, with an annual production of only about 2000 cases, and that specializes in unique blends and some powerful and intense red wines. These wines were only available at the winery, through the club, or by ordering online. We were very lucky to get into its club – as it maintains only a small membership and is currently closed to new members.

Over the past five years, we have been able to join more clubs, giving us access to unique wines that we might not otherwise find. We generally use the following criteria for deciding what clubs we want to belong to (other than, of course, the fact that we love the wine!):

(1) The wines are generally not distributed in our area or are only available at the winery.
(2) The winery has some distribution in our state, but many of its gems are available only through the club.
(3) The winery has special properties in areas such as Napa’s Howell Mountain, or specializes in unique wines that are usually difficult to find (such as Rhone or Italian varietals).

During this past visit to some of the wineries where we are currently club members, we were really wowed by the treatment we received. We were able to taste a wider variety of wines than available to non-club members, all at no cost. A couple of the wine clubs have special rooms or locations on the winery only available to club members (which is really a plus if you’re visiting the winery on a busy Saturday). We were really given some special treatment that we were not expecting, and thoroughly enjoyed the experiences. Most wineries will roll out the red carpet for their club members. With approximately 350 wineries in the Napa Valley alone, the decision to join a club really tells the winery “We love your wine,” and they say thank you in a great way.

So, if you can visit a winery that has a club and are able to get direct wine shipments to your home, consider joining one of the clubs. Membership really does have its privileges and you will be rewarded by tasting some special wines and being treated like a member of the family.

Drink what you like, like what you drink!

Rachel and Bryan Gavini

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

A Cashmere That’s Smoother than Silk

Hi everyone! One of the things that is most exciting to us about wine is that we’re always coming across something new and exciting. Sometimes it’s a grape we’ve never heard of, or a winery we’ve never heard of. Or, as in this case, it’s revisiting a producer that we that we know and like, but for a totally different type of wine.

We had become familiar with Cline Cellars through their Zinfandel, which has always been a winner for us, particularly their Ancient Vines Zin. Cline is located in the Carneros region of the Sonoma Valley, which is a cooler region frequently planted to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. However, Fred Cline has taken a different approach with his Zinfandels, and also as we’re now finding out, his Rhône varietals.

As we were preparing for the weekend, we needed to make a quick run to the store for some white wine (having run low on refrigerator whites), but what caught our eye was a wine enticingly called Cashmere. In reading the label, we noted that the Cashmere was a blend of Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvédre (“GSM”), a classic Rhône blend. Since we were familiar with and have liked Cline wines in the past, we decided to pick it up. We were also interested in trying a GSM because it’s been awhile since we’ve had one. We were not disappointed.

The Cashmere opened to warm berry notes on the nose with a hint of spice. Upon tasting, this was a smooth and silky (like cashmere?) wine that had flavors of chocolate, dark raspberries, and plum. The peppery-spicy notes helped balance out the fruit and round out the wine. This was not an “in your face” wine, but was full-bodied and warming. There were very few tannins in this wine, which is partially the result of the winemaking process. The grapes used in Cashmere undergo full destemming prior to a very gentle crush, which means there is very little tannin released from the grape pip (seed). Most of the time when a wine is very tannic, some of the stems are crushed with the grapes, and unless you do a very gentle crush, you’re likely to extract some tannins from the pip. The intensity and full bodied quality of the wine is due to the older, lower-yielding Grenache vines, and the presence of whole berries in the fermentation (because of the gentle crush). Having whole grape clusters in the fermentation results in more intense berry flavors than you would ordinarily get., and also a softer wine profile due to the fact that there are no crushed grapeseeds to give the wine tannin and astringency.

We recommend this wine to any red wine lover, but particularly those of you out there who aren’t as keen on the heavier tannic reds like Cabernet. This wine retails for around $17.99 and it is definitely a buy again for us. Cline Cellars is a sponsor of the Breast Cancer Network of Strength’s Ride to Empower, and on this particular label you will see the pink ribbon symbolizing support for breast cancer research. We hope to visit Cline when we’re in Sonoma next weekend, and were excited to find that they’re conveniently located between two of our favorites, Gloria Ferrer and Viansa. We’ll let you know what other great wines we try from Cline!

Red Zinfandel – the “Black Lab” of Red Wine

Hello Everyone! In this post, we are going to do a short survey of red Zinfandel. Zinfandel has been called the “Black Lab” of wines because it is usually a very versatile wine that just enjoys being around you. Depending on the style, you can have it as an aperitif, as the main wine to go with a barbeque, steak, or even Thanksgiving fare. You can even have some of the richer Zins with dessert – they go great with chocolate. Or you can just drink it by itself when relaxing by a fire. It really is that flexible and happily goes along with everything. Our very first experience with red Zinfandel was in 1996 at the Brew Moon pub in Boston. Our friend Tim was bartending, and he gave us a nice sampling of the wines. We spent many Sundays enjoying food, wine, brew, and good conversations at the Brew Moon. It’s kind of interesting that we got our start in red Zinfandel with Beringer’s red Zin, as they are well known to many for their White Zinfandel.

Wine researchers have been looking into the origin of Zinfandel for years, and have determined that it is equivalent to the Croatian grape Crljenak Kastelanski. You’re not likely to find anything with this name, but if you look in your Italian wine section, you may see a few wines called Primitivo. Primitivo comes from the eastern “heel” of Italy known as Apulia (Puglia), and is the genetic equivalent of Zinfandel. Like many varietals that are grown in multiple locations around the world, you can get different profiles.

California Red Zinfandel

We are going to start with a discussion of California red Zinfandel, which can be bottled on its own or blended with other grapes. Typical complimentary grapes are Syrah, Grenache, Petite Sirah (also known as Durif), Carignan, and Mourvedre. Depending on the alcohol levels and blends it develops strawberry, then cherry and finally blackberry flavors at riper, higher levels of alcohol. As the alcohol levels approach 15%, raisin flavors begin to develop and at higher alcohol levels, the wines are almost like the fortified wines of Port.

Zinfandel runs the range of alcohol levels from 13.5% up to 16.5%. At 13.5%, they tend to reflect the fruity strawberry character of the wine. To use a phrase from my cousin’s husband, some of the cheap Zinfandels can taste like “motivated grape juice” – i.e. too jammy. We have found that the optimal alcohol level that balances flavors and fruit is 14.2% to 14.5%, where there more rich complexity to the wine. Additionally, we find that those Zinfandels blended with Petite Sirah and have significant oak aging make the most complex wines, balancing the strawberry and blackberry flavors with oak, vanilla and coffee tones, with some pepper and spice. The Petite Sirah adds the tannins to round it all out. A good oaky, tannic Zinfandel with all of its fruit can rival a good Cabernet and we are eager to keep finding producers of this style.

You will also notice that several zinfandels are called “Old Vine Zinfandel.” The old vine designation is like akin to the word reserve. It has no legal definition, but the usual standard is that the vines that produced the grapes are 50 to 80 years old. If you see “Ancient Vines,” the vines are likely over 80 years old. You are getting some wine with vines that have some real history. They are thick, gnarly vines that have low yields, and as a result, the grapes have intense concentrated flavors. Old vines often add a bit of licorice, spice, and earth to the flavor profile.

When people ask about Zinfandel, our general rule of thumb rule is pick one that begins with the letter “R.” Start looking for Ravenswood, Ridge or Rosenblum. A bottle of Ridge wines will tell you the blend of grapes on the bottle, which is very useful. Ravenswood has a number of different styles and price points that are fun to sample. Murphy-Goode made a great woody, earthy version called Liar’s Dice, and we have also enjoyed releases from EOS and St. Francis. We also liked the Zin from Clos du Val which we frequently drank while living in Bermuda. Unfortunately Clos du Val only produces Zinfandel for the export market, but they do produce a Primitivo in United States. Good “Old Vines” designated wines will run you $20 – $25 but there are plenty of Zinfandels in the $10 - $15 range. There are so many out there and the best way to find out is to buy a few and have some fun tasting them.

Primitivo

We first encountered Primitivo in March of 2002 at a special Frederick Wildman tasting in Boston. Mike Gilly, the “wine guy” at Blanchard’s in Jamaica Plain offered us complimentary tickets to the event. We would often seek out Mike’s advice for something new or when we had a choice between two wines, and he never steered us wrong. The tickets were a great gift. We were able to try vintage port from a barrel and were introduced to Primitivo from the winery of Feudo Monaci.

We were trying different wines at the tasting, when we noticed there was a large crowd around one of the tables. As it turns out, the winemaker from Feudo Monaci was at the event pouring both the Primitivo and the Salice Salentino (made from the Negroamaro and Malvasia Nera grapes). Well, the wine was a hit that night and success followed, because the winery has since changed from Feudo Monaci, meaning “fiefdom of the monks” to Castello Monaci, “castle of the monks.” The monks are doing well.

This Primitivo is very dark crimson, almost inky in color. There are notes of pepper and vanilla as well as some green herbs, black fruits, and licorice. As expected, there is a similar flavor profile as Zinfandel, but a completely different taste. Sometimes Primitivo is blended with Negroamaro to give it more tannin and earth. Primitivo is a drier form of Zinfandel than its California counterpart. It is definitely a much more rustic wine. Another great Primitivo that we found is from Cantele, also from Apulia. And we have recently become fans of the Primitivo from Layer Cake (of Layer Cake Shiraz fame) – which comes with a screw cap, another plus. A-Mano is another popular label. Primitivo generally runs in the $10-$15 range but don’t let the price fool you, many of the wines are from old vines and taste much more expensive than they are.

So next time you want a red that will be happy with no matter what you serve, reach for a Zinfandel or Primitivo and have some fun with the “Black Lab” of red wines.

Like what you drink, drink what you like!

Rachel and Bryan Gavini