Geyser Peak Winery: Master of Many Styles

One of our favorite wineries in California is the Geyser Peak Winery in Sonoma Valley.  Geyser Peak is a long time resident of the Sonoma Valley, having been founded in Geyserville in 1880.  Geyser Peak has benefited in the past several years due to a strong winemaking team.  Australian Daryl Groom (famous for GROOM Shiraz out of Australia) joined the team in 1989.  In 1992, another Aussie came to Geyser Peak: Mick Schroeter, who had worked with Groom at Penfolds.  Mick won a number of awards at Geyser Peak, and the quality trend has continued for two decades under these two men plus assistant winemaker, Ondine Chattan.  Ondine is now the Director of Winemaking, after Mick very recently decided to make a move to Sonoma-Cutrer.  We had tried a few of Geyser Peak wines before visiting the winery for the first time, and when we went to Wine Country in the fall of 2005, we were sure to make a visit.  We were aware of the Geyser Peak Sauvignon Blanc at the time, but we weren’t as familiar with the red wines.  Geyser Peak has a tasting room on its main floor, and upstairs is a reserve tasting room which overlooks the barrel room.  During our first visit, we decided to go upstairs to the reserve tasting room and try the library wines, all of which were rich, full-bodied red wines.

We made our second visit to the winery back in April, and found that the main tasting room was relatively quiet, particularly given that it was late in the day on a Sunday.  Junior was our tasting associate and we started off with one of our favorites, their Sauvignon Blanc.  We like it even better than the Block Sauvignon Blanc, which is Geyser Peak’s reserve bottling.  We first experienced their Sauvignon Blanc many years ago at the Nantucket Wine Festival.  Daryl Groom was pouring wine at the event, and at the end of the last day of tasting, he gave us a bottle to try.  At that time, many California Sauvignon Blancs were too soft and overly grassy for our tastes.  Sauvignon Blanc is a grape that shows its best potential in a cool climate, and now it seems that more and more winemakers are selecting the cooler areas in which to grow Sauvignon Blanc.  Geyser Peak has always produced a crisp and acidic Sauvignon Blanc at an amazingly reasonable price.  We have been fans since that first taste.

We are club members at Geyser Peak and as is the case at many wineries, this allows a fair amount of flexibility in terms of tasting.  After the Sauvignon Blanc came a new release, a Pinot Grigio.  In the past we had been hesitant about Pinot Grigio from California or Italy.  While Sauvignon Blancs can be too green and grassy if not made properly, too many Pinot Grigios in the past displayed a complete lack of fruit and were very dry and astringent wines.  Happily this trend seems to be changing as many Pinot Grigios these days show a nice balance of fruit and dryness.  The Geyser Peak was not an exception.  The wine showed prominent lemon and citrus flavors, but shined with a bright acidity and eminent drinkability.  We were intrigued to learn that small amounts of not just Sauvignon Blanc, but also Gewurtztraminer and Viognier had been added, giving the wine additional complexity and a bit of spice.  This wine is also amazingly affordable at the same price point as the Sauvignon Blanc, and we hope that it begins to make its way into all your wine stores.

At the top of our red tasting was the Malbec, which is only available in the tasting room and to club members, the Reserve Alexandre Meritage, and the higher end Kuimelis Cabernet Sauvignon.  Generally the reserve reds can be very intense but the Kuimelis has that approachable softness as if a little Merlot had been added.  This fruit forward character is characteristic of Cabernet from the Alexander Valley of Sonoma. 

Geyser Peak has a strong offering of Block vineyard Cabernets such as Kuimelis and the Ascentia Cabernet which we wrote about previously.  However, we are always impressed when a winery gets a little inventive and tries new things, and Geyser Peak does that with its Petit Verdot and its Tannat.  Petit Verdot is a traditional Bordeaux varietal and is usually found in meritage blends with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.  Petit Verdot is valued for the deeper color and aroma and spice flavors that it contributes to the blend, with notes of violets, cedar and tobacco.  Tannat is a much rarer find.  It’s grown in both southwestern France and Uruguay and is know for intense tannins and more woody spices such as rosemary.  The warmer climate of California allows Tannat to ripen more fully than it does in France, with more fruit to balance out the sometimes rough tannins.  Both were tasting great at the winery, and we look forward to receiving more of these unusual wines in our quarterly shipments.

Unfortunately for us that day, Geyser Peak was out of some of the limited release offerings such as the Tawny Port.  However, we did sample two great dessert offerings:  the Late Harvest Riesling and the Sparkling Shiraz.  Usually when we mention dessert wines such as the Late Harvest Riesling, a common response from people is that they do not like sweet wines.  But these wines are not syrupy or grapey sweet, but a natural sweetness such honeyed apricots and nectarines with a pleasing mouthfeel.  For us, a nice dessert wine is a substitute for dessert itself, but they do pair well with almost any dessert, from a fresh fruit tart to chocolate.  The Sparkling Shiraz is something very new for Geyser Peak and we were excited to try it.   This is not a rose sparkler but more like sparkling red wine.  It’s actually a Shiraz that undergoes a secondary fermentation using methode champenoise, where sugar and yeast (the “liqueur de tirage”) are added to the wine prior to bottling.  The result is a deep red wine with nice small bubbles and lots of berry fruit flavors with a creamy nuttiness from the contact with the lees, or the yeast (22 months).   This was a very unique (and tasty) bottle of wine.  We wrapped up our very thorough tasting with Junior, bought a Pinot Grigio, Sparkling Shiraz, and Late Harvest Riesling and headed for dinner in Healdsburg.

As we have mentioned before, there is nothing better than good Mexican food and a margarita after a day of wine tasting.  After driving around Healdsburg square several times, we happened on just the spot: El Farolito.  Often times we have found that Mexican food can be “dumbed down” especially with regards to the heat.  On this occasion, that was not the case at all.  We had a flavorful fiery meal that was one to remember for our last night in wine country.

The Refrigerator White – A glass of white wine for any time.

Hello everyone! Well, the weather is warming up and although it may not be summer yet, the official start of spring is just around the corner. Daylight savings has given us an extra hour of sunlight and the days will continue to get longer. This time of year we begin to look into purchases of our “Refrigerator White.” The refrigerator white is a wine that you buy by the case or back the truck up, and always have a bottle handy in the refrigerator. That way you can just have a nice refreshing cold glass of wine anytime you want. In our house, we have a mantra for this time of year and into the summer: “There must always be a bottle of cold white wine in the fridge at all times.”

Our requirements for the refrigerator white are the following:
(1) You absolutely love the wine and can have at any time of year.
(2) The wine is readily available and you can get it by the case.
(3) The wine is relatively inexpensive – generally $10 a bottle or less.
(4) We prefer wines with a screw cap since they hold better for a day or two in the fridge.

Over the years, we have been using two wines as our primary refrigerator whites: Geyser Peak Sauvignon Blanc and Chateau Bonnet White Bordeaux, a Sauvignon Blanc blend. We love the crisp acidity found in Sauvignon Blanc along with the citrus flavors of grapefruit, lemon and lime, a bit of grass, and enough fruit to be well balanced with a minerally finish. Both Geyser Peak and Chateau Bonnet have all of those characteristics and both come in a screw cap. One of the other aspects of Sauvignon Blanc that we like is that it is generally the least manipulated, or most honest, wine. Each of the regions that makes a Sauvignon Blancs – California, South America, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, and France – will generally put its own stamp on the wine, a stamp that shows the best characteristics of the region. With Sauvignon Blancs from New Zealand, you tend to get a crisp, racy, grapefruity acidity, a fruit-forward wine with a real zing. In South Africa, you taste the fruit, but you can also taste more of the steel and mineral flavors that are characteristic of South African Sauvignon Blanc. French wines are usually a little more restrained, frequently balanced out with a bit of Semillon (another white wine grape) added.

Geyser Peak Sauvignon Blanc

In a previous post, we wrote about Geyser Peak’s Ascentia Cabernet Sauvignon, a high-end wine. We enjoy all of the offerings from Geyser Peak and belong to their wine club. For the past nineteen years, Geyser Peak has been making this wine in its pure style with no oak aging, no malolactic fermentation, and no winemaker tricks. To do this, they source grapes from cooler growing areas, pick some grapes early to preserve the acidity and grassiness, make each lot separately in stainless steel tanks under cool conditions. The result is probably one of the best showings of Sauvignon Blanc from California; flavors of green apples and lots of grapefruit and citrus, some grass and a hint of tropical fruit flavors to round it out with a good crisp finish.

Chateau Bonnet White Bordeaux

Chateau Bonnet is situated on chalky, clay slopes in the Graves region of Bordeaux, France, known as Entre-Deux-Mers, which translates to between two seas. In fact, it’s in an area that is between two rivers. It is a blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Muscadelle, another indigenous Bordeaux grape that should not be confused with Muscat or Moscatel. The result is a similar flavor profile as the Geyser Peak with good crisp acidity, nice citrus flavors with a good bit of peach and melon fruit and nice mouth feel. Many white Bordeaux winemakers stick to using just Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon, but Andre Lurton adds that extra touch of Muscadelle, approximately 10%, that seems to make all the difference. White Bordeaux without the Muscadelle, or that has a greater percentage of Semillon, can be a little too lean and grassy for our tastes. Chateau Bonnet has switched to a screw cap with the 2008 vintage.

Both wines can retail for as low as $8.99 which makes them a steal, but you’ll typically see them in the $10 range and perhaps a little more. If ordered by the case, you might get a 10% or 15% discount which helps bring the cost down. Geyser Peak should be available anywhere, and Chateau Bonnet has become more and more available to us over the past few years.

So go to your favorite wine, grocery, or package store and pick up a case of either one, or six and six, and enjoy for the next few months. Just remember, when you are getting to the end of the bottle, remember our mantra, and make sure you put another in the fridge.

Drink what you like, like what you drink!

Rachel and Bryan Gavini

Bottled Poetry Meets Ascentia

Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, once remarked "Wine is bottled poetry." (As we write this blog, the song "No Poetry" by Gary Jules is playing in the background.) Okay - now back to wine. Today we're discussing wines from two of California's great wineries. Robert Louis Stevenson's quote may be the inspiration for Cliff Lede Vineyard's wine called Poetry, which is a Cabernet Sauvignon from the Stags Leap District in California's Napa Valley. Ascentia is a reserve Cabernet Sauvignon from Geyser Peak's Block Collection in the Sonoma Valley. The name comes from the Ascentia Estate Vineyard, which is a rising set of meandering hills and terraces in the Alexander Valley which creates a variety of different microclimates and soils.

Cliff Lede Vineyards is located on the Silverado Trail in the Stags Leap district, and is owned by Canadian Cliff Lede. We feel a special affinity for this winery because our friend Jack Bittner (a Massachusetts native), is VP & General Manager at Cliff Lede. We've known Jack since our early days at the Nantucket Wine Festival when he worked for Silverado Vineyards and insisted to us that Silverado really did make good white wine in addition to red (and gave us a bottle of Silverado's Sauvignon Blanc to prove it. Of course this is when you could actually walk out of the Nantucket tasting with a bottle tucked in your bag).

Geyser Peak has been a favorite for many years, and their Sauvignon Blanc is our original "back up the truck" wine. We were excited to have met the winemaker, Aussie Mick Schroeter and his friend Daryl Groom, at the Nantucket Wine Festival many years ago, and were impressed by their approach to winemaking in the Sonoma Valley. We visited the winery in Geyserville back in 2005 and had the opportunity to try some of the library wines. It was in this tasting that we first tried the Ascentia, and later joined Geyser Peak's wine club.

Okay - now how does a wine from Alexander Valley meet one from Stags Leap? Several years ago, Dorothy and John from the Wall Street Journal started an event called "Open That Bottle Night" (OTBN). On that night, which is now each year in February, people all over the world gather their friends and family together to share a special bottle and enjoy a great meal. Many of the stories that surround the wine and people are heartwarming. It's just people like you and us getting together to open that special bottle that may otherwise sit on the rack because it was too expensive or special. We have come to accept the phrase that "It's never too early to open a bottle, only too late". You can decant, aerate, or open a bottle an hour in advance to help advance the clock and open up a tight wine - if it's too late and past its prime, then there is nothing you can do to turn back the clock and revive the wine.

This year, we decided to do a comparison of 2004 vintages of the Ascentia Cabernet and the Poetry with a dinner of burgundy pepper lamb, garlic mashed white beans and a mixture of asparagus and kale. When we first opened the wines, the Poetry was a bit more aromatic than the Ascentia but both were very powerful Cabs. We could immediately tell that the Ascentia was built to last and could have been held another 5 - 10 years. The Poetry, being from Stags Leap, had softer tannins, incredible bouquet and aromas and was very approachable. We needed to aerate the Ascentia a bit to get it to open up. Both wines exhibited deep dark fruit characteristics and and Ascentia had a bit of cedar hints to it. The Poetry had a little more of a lush chocolate flavor to it. We had both wines through the course of dinner and later on; it took about 3 hours to finish both bottles. In the beginning, we both felt that Poetry was showing better, but as the time went by the Ascentia showed its staying power and held up well as it opened and showed us new dimensions with the passing of time.

Both of these wines rate as buy again and very, very good. However, they come with some pretty hefty price tags, Poetry is in the $125 - $150 range. Ascentia, on the other hand comes in at around $45. These are both truly special occasion wines and it's rare that we get them. In fact, we got Poetry as part of the Stags Leap Appellation Collection (obligatory disclosure-not sure we would have spent the money for this wine had it not come as part of the Collection). The Appellation Collection is 19 of the best wines from Stags Leap. We also belong to the Geyser Peak club which ships us great wines like this a few times a year.

A little note about Stags Leap and why it is famous. In 1976, Steven Spurrier, a British wine merchant, arranged for the famous Tasting of Paris often termed "The Judgment of Paris". This event was a blind tasting in which the highest quality red (and white) wines from France and California were tasted by French judges. Two California wines took the top prizes: the winner among the red wines was Stag's Leap Wine Cellars 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon, and among the whites was Chateau Montelena's Chardonnay. (Check out the movie "Bottleshock"-even better wine film than "Sideways.") Several other American wineries made strong showings in the competition, including Ridge, Clos du Val, Heitz, Mayacamas, Chalone, and Spring Mountain. Several interim contests have been held and a 30 Year Anniversary of the same wines was held in 2006. California still wins against French powerhouses such as Chateau Mouton-Rothschild, Chateau Haut-Brion and Chateau Montrose.

The Alexander Valley region became famous in 1975 when Chateau St. Jean created the first "vineyard designated wine" in California wine history. Today it is the largest and most fully planted region in Sonoma, and we think some of the best of Sonoma wines come from the Alexander Valley.

Like what you drink, drink what you Like!

Rachel & Bryan Gavini