Sonoma County and Anderson Valley – the final chapter of my Californian road trip

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Caroline

As I am going through all my notes for future blog posts my eye is suddenly drawn to my notes on Sonoma and Anderson Valley. All at once I go bright red with shame as it has now almost been 6 months since I visited the area and it actually was the highlight of my trip. So yes I should be ashamed for not sorting through these notes a whole lot earlier… The wineries I visited surely deserved better… As I have already wasted more than enough time best I get into it straight away

Sonoma County
Sonoma County is located to the West of Napa, is a little closer to the coast and has a similar climate and wine growing conditions as Napa County, though in general it tends to be a little cooler. Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are widely planted, though as I found out at Arrowood – some Rhone Varieties (Syrah, Viogner and Rousanne), Malbec, Gewurtztraminer and Riesling can be found as well… We visited 4 different wineries, where the owners work with different micro climates to experience with different grape varieties – Marimar Estate = Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, Sbraggio Estate and old vine Zinfandel, Silveroak and Cabernet and Arrowood Estate and late harvest riesling.

Marimar Estate
Marimar Estate was founded by Marimar Torres – the sister of the Spanish wine legend Miguel Torres. In 1986 she purchased a vineyard on the border of Russian River Valley and Green Valley. Being situated only 10 miles away from the Pacific ocean Russian River Valley is benefits heavily from the cooling sea breezes and drifting fog resulting in a cooler micro climate in which Pinot Noir and Chardonnay can thrive. Marimar Estate uses dense European style plantings in the vineyard (2000 vines/acre) and most of the plantings consist of different clones of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Since 2003 Marimar estate converted to Organic grape farming.

Marimar Tasting Room

Marimar Tasting Room


Tasting notes:
Marimar Estate 2009 Albarino/Chardonnay (60% Chardonnay & 40% Alborino, 450 cases produced, 100% Barrel fermented (45% new French oak) and 100% malolactic fermentation)
Dry wine with good weight in the middle palate and flavours of red apple, a little apricot and meyer lemon with some hints of clotted cream and toast in the lingering finish.
Marimar Estate 2007 Acero Chardonnay (100% Chardonnay, 2000 cases produced – vinified in stainless steel, 100% malolactic fermentation)
Complex dry wine with flavours of candied citrus, yellow apple and hints of nectarine, great palate weight and a medium finish.
Marimar Estate 2006 Las Masia Pinot Noir – Don Miguel vineyard (100% Pinot Noir, 3600 cases produced, vinified in stainless steel and aged for 18 months in French oak barriques – 33% new oak, unfiltered and unfined)
Dry, medium body/acid/tanin wine with flavours of ripe red cherry, wild mushrooms and a hint of autumn leaves in the finish
Marimar Estate 2006 Mas Cavalls Pinot Noir – Donna Margarita (100% Pinot Noir, 1150 cases produced, vinified in stainless steel and aged in French oak barriques (40% new oak) , unfined and unfiltered)
Dry wine with good acid and tanin structure with flavours of very ripe strawberries and raspberries (almost stewed), some forest floor and some salty leafy notes in the lingering finish.
Marimar Estate 2006 Cristina Pinot Noir – Don Miguel Vineyard (100% Pinot Noir – from 20 barrels that best reflect the Terroir, stainless steel vinification, 11 month aging in French oak barriques – 50% new and 50% 1 year old oak, 478 cases produced)
Dry, complex wine with an elegant tanin structure and flavours of red cherry, sweet liquorice and a little strawberry, notes of mushroom and forest floor in the layered finish.

Sbragia Family Vineyards
Sbragia Family Vineyards was set up by Ed Sbragia the famous head winemaker at Beringer Estate as a small family owned winery and the whole family is involved in the winemaking/selling process. Sons Adam and Kevin work with their father in the winery and daughter Gina and wife Jane run the tasting room. We were lucky enough to meet Ed and have our tasting with Kevin.

Zinfandel Tasting with Kevin Sbragia

Zinfandel Tasting with Kevin Sbragia


Tasting notes:
Sbragio Family Vineyards 2008 Gino Vineyard Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley) (85% Zinfandel from 52 year old vines, 10% Carignan, 5% Petite Syrah, aged for 18 months in new French oak barriques)
Fruit forward full bodied wine with a good tanin structure and flavours of jammy cherries and strawberries, dried fruit (fig, prunes, raisins) a little hazlenut and ginger in the finish
Sbragio Family Vineyard 2008 La Promessa Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley) (95% Zinfandel & 5% Petit Verdot – planted in the warmest part of Dry Creek Valley)
Dry full bodied wine with flavours of stewed plum, fresh ripe figs, some spicy black pepper notes, a little clove and ginger in the lingering finish.

Silver Oak Cellars
Silver Oak Cellars was the brain child of entrepreneur Raymond Twomey Duncan and wine maker Justin Meyer. They took inspiration from Bordeaux and decided to make a single premium wine from Cabernet Sauvignon in Alexandra Valley.7 years later they added a 2nd wine to the range – a Bordeaux blend again based on Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley.

Silver Oak Alexander Valley Tasting Room

Silver Oak Alexander Valley Tasting Room


Tasting notes:
Silver Oak 2006 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (100% Cabernet Sauvignon)
Dry wine with lots of tanin and acid and bright cherry, blackberry flavours as well as some vanilla, eucalyptus and rosemary and cedar notes and a hint of leather in the long finish. Wine will soften and improve with aging
Silver Oak 2002 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (100% Cabernet Sauvignon)
Dry wine with velvety tanin structure and great acidity and flavours of ripe black cherries, stewed plums, dried cranberry and plenty of cigar smoke/tobacco leaf in the lingering finish.

Arrowood Winery
Arrowood Winery was established in 1986 by Richard Arrowood, who as the head winemaker at Chateau St Jean was one of the first winemakers to focus on single vineyard wines in California. Under the Arrowood banner Richard aimed to make classical varietal single vineyard wines from grapes grown exclusively in Somona County. We tasted a plethora of great wines at Arrowood, and but these wines really stood out for me:

Excellent late harvest Rieslings at Arrowood Estate

Excellent late harvest Rieslings at Arrowood Estate


Tasting notes:
Arrowood 2009 Gewurtztraminer – Saralee Vineyard (Russian river Valley)
Dry spicy, well balanced medium bodied wine, with flavours of rose petals, lychee, candied peach and some Turkish Delight on the long finish. Beautiful expression of Gewurtztraminer!
Arrowood 2005 Late Harvest White Riesling – Alexander Valley
Luscious wine with a great acidity and flavours of raisins, prunes a little honey and some candied nectarine in the finish.
Arrowood 2005 Special Select Late Harvest White Riesling – Hoot Owl Creek)
Luscious yet fresh desert wine with flavours of candied peach and Meyer lemon, hints of apricot brioche in the long finish
Arrowood 2006 Special Select Late Harvest White Riesling – Saralee’s Vineyard (Russian River Valley)
Rich well balanced desert wine with flavours of stewed rhubarb, apricot jam and Acasia honey in the layered finish.

Anderson Valley
Anderson Valley is located to the North of both Napa and Sonama in the rolling hills of Mendocino County. It benefits from a cooler climate and Pinot Noir and Alsatian varieties do well here.

Roederer Estate
In 1982 the Champagne house Louis Roederer purchased vineyards in Anderson Valley as they believed the terroir and climate were very suited for the production of premium Sparkling wine using the traditional method. Roederer’s unique winemaking style is based on two elements: complete ownership of its vineyards and the addition of oak-aged reserve wines to each year’s blend or cuvée.

Selection of Roederer Estate Sparkling Wines

Selection of Roederer Estate Sparkling Wines


Tasting notes:
Roederer Estate Brut NV Magnum (40% Pinot Noir, 60 % Chardonnay, aged for a minumum of 2 years on lees)
Dry crisp wine with creamy small bubbles and flavours of yellow apple, pear a hint of citrus and notes of freshly baked bread in the finish.
Roederer Estate Brut NV Rose (60% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay, aged a minimum of 2 years on lees, 5% Pinot Noir added just before the second fermentation)
Dry fruity wine, with small creamy bubbles and crisp flavours of red apple, a little quince and some strawberries.
Roederer Estate 2002 L’Ermitage (52% Chardonnay, 48% Pinot Noir, 5 years on lees)
Dry rich wine with small creamy bubbles and flavours of stewed yellow apple and quince, brioche, a little butter and a crisp finish.

Navarro Vineyards
Navarro Vineyards is a small family Estate established in 1974 in Anderson Valley. They have an incredible range of high quality wines covering just about every major variety one can think off. But more importantly, it was the only winery I visited in California which really was excellent value for money. They were without doubt THE Californian find for me! A big thank you also to the lovely Jeremy who patiently tasted us through the whole wine list. Please find a reduced selection of my favourites here below.

With Nikki and Jeremy at the Navarro Vineyards Tasting room

With Nikki and Jeremy at the Navarro Vineyards Tasting room


Tasting notes:
Navarro Vineyards 2009 Gewurtztraminer – Anderson Valley
Dry elegant spicy wine with rich flavours of Turkish Delight and Cardemon.
Navarro Vineyards 2009 Pinot Gris – Anderson Valley
Dry medium bodied wine with flavours of apricot, nectarine and a little stewed pear and white pepper in the finish
Navarro Vineyards 2009 Riesling – Anderson Valley
Dry crisp wine with flavours of Meyer lemon, green apple and a little honey suckle. This wine will age beautifully…
Navarro Vineyards 2007 Unfiltered Pinot Noir – Anderson Valley
Elegant dry well balanced wine with a good tanin and acid structure and flavours of rich strawberry, blackberry, red cherry a little forest floor and some clove in the finish.
Navarro Vineyards 2006 – cluster select late harvest (Anderson Valley)
Rich, sweet complex wine with layers of tropical fruit – passion fruit, ripe guava, candied mango and some all spice in the finish.

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Terroir

Posted on September 25, 2011 by Caroline

The notion of Terroir has been on my mind a lot these last few days – partly because I have been studying for the Wine Location Specialist Certificate Program from the Center of Wine Origins and partly because the first #Terroircamp was on this weekend at Toulouse..

Terroir in my opinion, encompasses the uniqueness of a place – including climate, soil structure, local culture and traditional ways of production. In some ways it’s a heritage – it is what makes a product/wine from a particular place unique and distinguishable. In Europe protective legislation (AOP) has been passed in an attempt to preserve and distinguish terroir products. In these laws guidelines on how to produce a particular wine – including which grape varieties are allowed, aging requirements, vineyard management and vinification rules… These rules are sometimes perceived as restrictive by innovative or creative wine makers who are looking for new challenges and some feel that these rules put them at a disadvantage compared to New World producers…

Whilst I can understand some of these concerns I also feel that the AOP rules are beneficial for the customer as they create a safe feeling – the customer can familiarize himself with the flavour patterns related to a particular terroir so he knows what to expect when purchasing a terroir product. This in turn, I feel, is helpful when marketing terroir products.

In the case of Champagne and Porto – the two wines/wine regions which are the basis of the Location Specialist Certificate – both wines are intrinsically entwined with their terroir. They also highly recognizable products and a consumer buying either wine knows what he’s in for.

The notion of terroir is also being used more and more in new world wine growing areas. Although not regulated by law, winemakers like to stress common characteristics which they feel are related to a specific region/terroir as the realize that it often is the recognizable characteristics that the customer is looking for.

I know that there are a lot of other notions of Terroir and I am really sorry I never made it to Toulouse yesterday as I think I would have learned a lot at the Terroir camp.. I do hope this initiative will follow the #vinocamp path and that there will be more opportunities in the future to learn more about terrior :-)

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Bottling Amourvedre and Abracadrantesque at ‘les Terres Promises’ :-)

Posted on September 13, 2011 by Caroline
corking the Magnums of the Amourvedre

corking the Magnums of the Amourvedre

Bottling line

Bottling line

Vintage is in full swing at “les Terres Promises” and with more and more grapes coming in we needed a little more tank space. It’s a good thing Jean-Christophe had booked the mobile bottling plant a while ago to bottle the last two wines he had in tank – Amourvedre and Abracadabrantesque 2010.

I was quite intrigued by the mobile bottling line as in NZ we used a bottling plant which was not on our property but instead the wine was trucked there in bulk and brought back in bottle. However here, the bottling line was assembled near the tanks so the wine gets bottled directly from the tank. At “les Terres Promises” every wine has a different cork as well as a different label – the cork has the name of the wine as well as the vintage. The mobile plant works pretty much in a similar way as the ones I have seen in the plants in NZ, however, the only difference is that it cannot bottle in Magnums. Hence we filled the Magnum’s manually before corking them with the old fashioned corker.

I have to admit that bottling under the Provençal sun (please note bottling line was in the shade) is quite romantic and beautiful:-)

Amourvedre is 100% Mourvedre and Abracadabrantesque is 50% Mourvedre and 50% Carignan. According to Jean-Chistophe Comor, the owner of les Terres Promises, both varieties are often seen as very masculine however he is convinced they are very capable of making tender wines – hence the name Amourvedre – which literally translated means “love Mouvedre” and Abracadrabrantesque, which can been seen as a magic potion resulting in a very elegant yet robust wine.

Amourvedre...

Amourvedre...

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Sorting, destemming of Alibi and La Chance

Posted on September 6, 2011 by Caroline

Sorting the grapes for the Alibi at "les Terres Promises" Destemming Grenache at "les Terres Promises"
Yesterday morning the whole vintage team at les Terrer Promises worked together in the winery, which was a pretty unique experience. We started of by sorting the Grenache, Cincault and Carignan we picked this weekend. The grapes had been kept in the original cases in a cooler truck, as this allowed the grapes to be cooled before we destem and start fermention. The team first checked the grapes for rot and green/unsuitable berries. This is pretty important for natural wine – when no additives are used to correct/change the wine all the flavours come from the grapes – and the terrior – so it is even more important to use “clean” grapes.

Grenache in tank waiting for fermentation to start

Grenache in tank waiting for fermentation to start

After the sorting we started the destemming, which was actually a pretty manual exercise… Two guys lifted the cases of grapes into the destemmer, the grapes are collected in a clean case, and the stems are collected in another case. This means we were between 5-7 people at helping with the destemming. The destemmed grapes are thrown in a tank which is then covered by a “chapeau”. Every day the temperature will be taken to see when exactly fermentation will start. As natural yeasts will induce the fermentation, it takes quite a bit longer (between 2-5 days) before the fermentation starts. Yesterday’s grapes are for La Chance and Alibi, both red wines and blends based on grenanche. Maceration will take between 15 to 20 days – but it depends on the actual taste and colour of the wine.

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Vintage aux Terres Promises…

Posted on September 4, 2011 by Caroline

A while ago my friend Arnold Waldstein inspired me to learn more about natural wines and when the opportunity came up a while ago I signed up to work vintage at “les Terres Promises”. I feel, that in order for me to really learn about natural wine, I need to go back to the vines, then to the cellar and with this knowledge ultimately I will fully understand the wine in the bottle. And I feel that “les Terres Promises” is the perfect place to learn. The domaine is the brainchild of Jean-Christophe Comor, an ex politician, who bought land in the Provences and became “vingneron” in 2003. The reason he was interested in natural wine is that he feels it is the only way to make the best possible wine which really tells the story of the terrior, or in his words: “Je veux que mon vin raconte l’histore du raisin et du caillou, de la terre qui est a la base de la vigne”.*

The idea behind the natural wine is to not add any additives who take away from the “original” expression of the grape, in the vineyard as well in the winery. So minimal intervention is THE rule, and often also natural winemakers follow the cycles of the moon. Here at “les Terres Promises” we started picking when the moon started to descend in the cycle – right know I do not know exactly why but I will ask Jean Christophe tomorrow and explain this a little further at that time. All grapes are handpicked, whole bunch pressed in a horizontal basket press before they go into tank to start the fermentation. No yeasts are added, instead it is the indigenous yeast living on the grape skin which will induce fermentation. This process is a lot slower and carries more risk, but it is the only way to allow for the full expression and unique flavours of the terrior. Commercial yeasts often enhance certain flavours associated with the grape variety….

I arrived a week into vintage and will stay till the end, so I hope to give a good recount of my vintage experiences in this blog but updating it on a regular basis…

*Jean-Christophe has asked me to quote him in French so all his quotes will be in French…

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Vinocamp Bordeaux – another lesson in online communication, community recommendations and online wine sales

Posted on July 28, 2011 by Caroline

At the beginning of the month I attended #vinocamp #Bordeaux. This barcamp was a lot bigger than #vinocamp #Lisboa with significantly more winery people attending. Lately I have been pondering about how crucial an online presence has become for any (wine) business – and I had also been thinking of how an online presence can improve sales. So needless to say that I signed up for the e-commerce session or how to increase your online sales to start the day in Bordeaux.

I have to admit that I am a bit of a web02 geek so I was a little shocked to find out that a lot of wine domains are so not focussed on the web… Quite a few vignerons present in our room did not have a website… Others did, but it was of such poor quality that one tends to give up and look for the next winery.

In order to encourage wineries to invest a little more in their online presence, we discussed a few examples of online success stories. Melanie Tarlant of Champagne Tarlant shared her experiences of the Tarlant Facebook page. The page has more than 11.000 fans, generally people who have bought Tarlant Champagne at some point in the past. Their affinity with the brand is strong enough that most people will actively look for Tarlant Champagne again when wanting to purchase a Sparkling wine. Why is this page so successful? In my opinion because it’s a window with a view into the life at Tarlant, what is going on (in pictures) in the vineyard, in the winery and to a lesser extend in the sales and marketing… It gives people a great feeling about the brand and keeps them coming back for more. Regularly, people share their experience of where and when they enjoyed a bottle of Tarlant, and there always is some interaction from the Tarlant family and other fans. To me the page is alive and hence it’s growing success. Yes it does require time, effort and quite a bit of involvement of the Tarlant family, but the sheer number of fans are proof that it was worth the effort!

Gerard Spatafora, social media strategy manager at Millisema spoke about the enormous cost savings the en-primeur company has made by going digital. Online newsletters cost a fraction of the traditional catalogue, and the company’s investment in it’s online presence caused it’s web sales to surge in the last few years. At the moment almost 70% of the en primeur orders are made online – quite an impressive statistic. So how did they do it? They actively looked for ways to give the customer more (useful) information… Some examples – they shot videos of the vineyards and wine making process of some of the prestigious chateau’s who’s wine they have been selling en primeur for ages. The fact that the customers – who aren’t necessarily in France – had the opportunity to see where the wine they had purchased really came from was seemingly a big hit:-) They also focussed on social media to interact with their customers and started to partner with sites like Vinogusto where regular people are talking about wine. Vinogusto is a wine focussed review site, where people share their experiences about the wines they have drunk (or bought to cellar) and about restaurants, bars, wineries or wine stores they have visited. It is a little like the “Tripadvisor” for the wine world. Having been heavily involved in a travel review site for the past two years I understand full well the importance of customer reviews on the online conversion rate – people look for reassurance before they buy. This is not a new concept – Amazon has been using customer reviews for years as a means of information/reassurance for their customers. It works because it allows customers to read about how satisfied other people have been with this product and it creates confidence. And I feel this is something which is especially needed in the world of wine, where people are often intimidated and quite scared to make the “wrong” choice…

A perfect example that reviews or customer recommendations do work can be found in nakedwines.com, an online wine store who actively encourages its customers to share their experiences on the wines they have bought. The reviews are displayed next to the offers and one only has to have a quick look at the growing curve of this site to realize that the recommendation model works very well.

Naked wines recently launched their “market place”, an online platform which allows wineries to sell their product directly to the British consumer. There were some teething problems, which in my opinion where at least partly due to the fact that new producers/wineries did not have any brand ambassador’s and no real reviews. Greg Prévôt, CEO and founder of Boottle.fr said something similar… Boottle also is an online wine platform allowing wineries to sell their wines direct in France, Spain and Switzerland. Greg actively encourages the wineries to promote and market their presence on his site and in our workshop I asked if he would be interested to partner up with a site like Vinogusto to import wine reviews to display them on his site. This is a very common feature in a the travel industry – and Tripadvisor reviews have been incorporated on many an online travel booking website. Andre Ribeirinho, founder of Adegga.com, yet another very good wine review website, has been investigating exactly this option, and I hope that some day soon Adegga will be able to export member’s reviews. I strongly believe that wine reviews will considerably increase the wine sale conversion rate in the same way travel reviews worked their magic about 5years ago. I also believe that early adapters and integrators of wine reviews on their sites will see their sales, revenue and popularity soar. Hence, in my opinion this would be a win-win situation: The online selling site sees it’s revenue increase significantly and the review site gets a lot more exposure, which allows it to grow it user base and become a larger player. In turn this means it will have more regular visitors and can increase its advertising potential. And most importantly, I also feel the customer will benefit… If he has bought and enjoyed a wine on the recommendation of another user, he can go back to the review website and look up more information and other reviews by the same reviewer and try other reviewed wines he may not have tried without advice… People often feel more confident trusting the taste buds of “likeminded people” rather than go on advise by the experts – what they really want to know is how regular people like the wine. Customers will also benefit enormously in my opinion, by the fact that the review site is letting them know where they can purchase the wines they have been reading about. I really get frustrated when I want to buy a wine that seems to be available no-where but at the winery…. Direct online selling platforms give wineries the option to make their products available to a wider audience even if they have no distributor in the area.

One last point we touched on in the workshop is the references people use today. We have all become so used to the internet as our primary source of information – “Googling” anything we want to find out more about. Especially the younger generations seem to think that if there were no information on a particular product online it probably doesn’t exist… This brings me back to the beginning of this post and that any business really should think about an online presence, invest in this presence through social media and actively encourage it’s customers to share their experiences online as well. As Marc Roisin from Vinogusto.com very eloquently put it – no one thinks twice of opening a telephone line or a letter box as these are ways for a customer to contact you. A website and an email address is just another opportunity for people to find you. But just as with regular mail or a phone call, one has to read the messages and reply to them in order for the tool to be effective…

Posted in General wine biz stuff, networking, social media, vinocamp, wine marketing, Wine Review | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Napa Valley – part 4 of the Californian Wine Road trip

Posted on July 3, 2011 by Caroline

It seems a long time ago now, but the next wine region I visited on my Californian road trip was the prestigious Napa Valley. I have to admit that I did not really have much of a plan of where to go and who to visit except for my friend Lisa Augustine at Broman Cellars. I had met Lisa way back when at a distributor’s tasting where we had both been pouring and remembered being really impressed with the wines. It was a great honour to have Lisa give us a private tasting in the house of her parents Bob and Deborah Broman. Bob Broman has been making wine in Napa and Europe for more than 30 years and from 1994 he has been making small parcels of premium Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Sauvignon Blanc under the Broman Cellar label. Currently the total production at Broman Cellars is 1300 cases.

Delious Broman Cellar Wines

Tasting notes:
2009 Broman Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc – 397 cases produced from fruit purchased from the Beckstoffer property, Melrose Vineyard in Rutherford. The wine was cold fermented in stainless steel tanks for about 4 weeks.
Dry, high acid wine with lots of flavours of tropical fruit, nectarine and a little ripe gooseberry. Wonderful mouth feel, very well balanced and a medium + finish.
2005 Broman Cellars Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon – 626 cases produced. The fruit was sourced from 2 famous Napa vineyards – the Dr. Crane Vineyard in Saint Helena (gravel sub soil) and from the gently sloping Georges III vineyard in eastern Rutherford. The wine was aged in French oak barriques for 30 months. One quarter of this oak is new, the remainder is 2 – 5 years old.
Dry, red wine with a great tanin structure and plenty of acid. Lots of flavours of black fruit (brambles and black currant) and some stewed plum with some chocolate and hazelnut notes in the (medium + ) finish.
2005 Broman Napa Valley Syrah – 229 cases produced – this was my favourite wine and I think the best Syrah I had in California – we liked it THAT much that the bottles did not even make it back home…
The Syrah grapes were sourced from 2 different vineyards bordering the Napa River in the Oak Knoll district. The wine was aged for 30 months in French Oak – 1/3 new and the rest between 2-5 years old. It underwent a further 2 years aging in bottle before being released.
Dry, complex wine with flavours of blackberry, mulberry and black cherry, some pepper, leather and a bit of smoke and walnut on the lingering finish. The wine was very well balanced (medium + acid, tanin, alcohol) and had a great mouth feel. As already explained it is just very morish and plain old delicious!

Cakebread, the next winery we visited, is very large and an establishment in Napa. The winery is located in Rutherford and offers 8 different tasting packages. All tastings have to be booked in advance so undivided attention of the wine educators can be guaranteed. Nic and I opted for the reserve tasting which covers the single vineyard and reserve wines and takes at least 50 minutes (we were there for close to 1,5 hours) and our excellent wine educator was Summer

Cakebread Cellars

Reserve tasting room at Cakebread Cellars

tasting notes:
2008 Cakebread Cellars Chardonnay Reserve, Carneros, Napa Valey
Dry, medium acid, medium + alcohol and body, and medium flavours of Pineapple, Cavaillon melon, some toasty,buttery and brioche notes and a medium+ coconut finish.
2006 Cakebread Cellars Chardonnay Reserve, Carneros, Napa Valey
Dry, medium acid, medium + body and very well balanced wine with flavours of Charentais melon, Meyer lemon, hints of walnut and hazelnut, and a longish creamy and lemony finish.
2004 Cakebread Cellars Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley
Dry, medium tannin, medium + acid wine with flavours of red cherry, a hint of forest floor (wet leaves) and some cedar in the finish.
2007 Cakebread Cellars Dancing Bear Ranch, Howell Mountain, Napa Valley – blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot and 7% Cabernet Franc
Dry, good tanin and acid structure, medium + alcohol and weight with flavours of ripe black plum, dried dates, cedar and some cigar smoke in the medium+ finish
2005 Cakebread Cellars Benchland Select Cabernet Sauviognon
Dry, velvety tannins and good acid structure, with flavours of dried fig, prunes, stewed plum and blackberry jam, cedar, hazelnut and some walnut notes in a lingering finish. Wine would continue to age well.
2007 Cakebread Cellars Vine Hill Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville Napa Valley
Dry, velvet tannins and good acid structure, pronounced flavours of ripe black fruit, little stewed plum, some black pepper, nutmeg and chocolate in the lingering finish.

The last winery I visited in Napa was recommended to me by my dear friend Joey of Zork USA and I am very happy we got in as Palmaz Vineyards has to be THE most amazing WINERY I have ever visited! The Palmaz family, originally from Argentina, bought the old Cedar Knoll Vineyard and Winery, which had been founded in 1881 by Henry Hagen, one of Napa Valley’s pioneer winemakers. At time of purchase everything was in dire need of restoration so the family decided to start again. In 1997 they replanted the original vineyards with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdod. A few years later they added some Chardonnay and Riesling.
They also build an amazing winery which is guaranteed to make any wine maker drool:-) I copied some facts from their website and hope this and the picture will give you an idea of the awesomeness of this place:

  • “The fermentation dome is the world’s largest underground reinforced structure. It is 72’ in diameter and 54’ high.
  • Temperature stays constant at 60 degrees and humidity at 75%, the perfect atmosphere for aging wine.
  • The cave houses its own water treatment plant built to comply with strict conservation guidelines.
  • Fermentation tanks rotate on a custom-designed carousel.”
    • Palmaz Winery

    The amazing totally gravity fed Palmaz winery

    The whole family is involved in the wine project and a family member will be your host when you visit. Tours have to be pre-booked, but I highly recommend all winemakers make the effort to visit – the place really is AMAZING!! Our host was Florencia Palmaz, who runs a catering company with her mother and also looks after the sales and marketing at Palmaz. Palmaz is a boutique winery with a total production of about 4000 cases.

    Tasting notes:
    2007 Palmaz Napa Valley Riesling
    Dry, medium acid, body and alcohol, with flavours of honeysuckle, lemon and lime and a medium finish.
    2009 Palmaz Amelia Napa Valey Chardonnay
    A very elegant, dry wine with medium acid and good body; flavours of citrus, red apple, little bit of butter and some toast in the finish.
    2006 Palmaz Napa Valley Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
    Dry, high acid, medium + tannin, medium with with flavours of black currant and blackberry, some black currant leave, eucalyptus and cedar in the finish.
    2007 Palmaz Napa Valley Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
    Dry wine with grippy tannin structure and high acid, with flavours of black currant, prunes and dried black fruit and a little cedar in the finish.

    Posted in Californian wine trip, wine eductation, Wine Regions, Wine Review, wine tasting | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

    #Vinocamp #Lisboa – perfect pairing of wine, social media and the Portuguese good life!

    Posted on June 12, 2011 by Caroline

    The last weekend of May I was lucky enough to attend Vinocamp Lisbon. Vinocamp is a #barcamp about wine and social media. The concept was thought up and worked out by Gregoire Japiot and Anne Victoire Monrozier (aka Miss Vicky Wine). As in the traditional barcamp style the aim is to share and learn in an open environment, by encouraging discussions and interactions of the participants who are the main actors of the event. This means no organised presentations, instead vinocampers can suggest topics (3 per sessions) and the group breaks up in in smaller groups to explore their chosen aspect of wine and social media. After each session their is a debrief so everybody can learn from every session, even from the ones they did not attend.

    The first session I attended was about the concept of live tastings – what works, what doesn’t and how can we build on this concept. We started of with exploring to pro’s and con’s of a live tasting – established that some organisation is needed, ie it’s great if people can taste the same wine, even better if the physical tasting happens in a group, and better still if the different tasting groups have some kind of web cam/large screen connection. This will allow people to enjoy the group tasting they are attending as well as reach out to other participants in different locations without having to be too antisocial – ie send social media messages out all the time rather than enjoy the company you are in… One of the re-occuring questions/remarks was that when one is not attending a tasting, one is not necessarily interested in finding out all about the tasting (as participation is impossible anyway). In order to delve deeper into how we can share in a small way we also explored very simple ways (eg big like buttons) to share the experience in a way that does not isolate you from the tasting. Whilst I feel there is still a lot to be learned and shared about live tastings it was very educational and helpful (at least for me) to have been part of this discussion.

    The second session I attended was about why so many people drink bad wine – as you can imagine this session was pretty heated as how does one best define bad wine?? In the end we agreed upon a definition of fairly bland, easy drinking mass produced wine – this wine is not necessarily bad as in off or foul tasting, however it is a wine with no soul and can be best compared with an alcoholic Coca Cola… Having some semi agreement on this definition did not bring us any closer to answering this question, so in the end we decided to explore the path of what we – as people both active in wine and social media – can do to promote unique and small production wines. This is a topic which is quite close to my heart and which I hope we can discuss in future #vinocamp (s)…

    The topic of the third and final session I chose to attend was about sex and wine. The session started with us exploring if it is (morally) correct to use sex to sell wine – we all agreed that sex sells, and that linking wine to sex will get you a lot of attention however this attention may not come from the target audience we are looking for. The discussion then moved on to the fact that sex is getting a less and less of a taboo and seems to be all around us these days whilst in France the linking of wine with pleasure is becoming more and more difficult. We looked at some of the lessons that can be learned from the sex industry to make wine once again more accessible (in France). From here we once again talked about the link between wine and pleasure and decided that it is pleasure which links wine and sex, and has done so for a very long time ;-)

    As all #vinocamp (s) we ended of the day with a real tasting of about 40 wines – Adegga had provided us with a very useful overview where we could in a very simple (and quick) fashion mark up the wines we really enjoyed :-) BTW Adegga is a social tasting note site with a very active community sharing tasting notes :-)

    In my opinion, #vinocamp Lisboa worked really well because 1) the group was not too large, 2 ) we were all on the same wave length which made open discussions and exploring of certain theories/statements a lot simpler. It’s always easier, in my opinion, to totally engage in conversation/discussion when one feels one has something real to offer and feels at ease in the group:-)

    Vinocamp Lisbon

    Vinocamp Lisbon


    Gabriella Opaz from wineconversations.com and a co-organiser of the European Wine Bloggers Conference wrote a very interesting article about her experience at the Lisbon #vinocamp and explored the question of how to effectively engage international participants in tech and wine events. A great article in which she also talks about some of the differences between #vinocamp and #ewbc.
    Having participated at both and signed up for the next editions of both I have the following thoughts/feelings about this: #EWBC is a larger event focussed on wine bloggers, whilst #vinocamp is open to anyone wanting to explore the opportunities of wine and social media. The latter event is smaller, as I feel the #barcamp concept works best in smaller groups, and one does not know what one will learn/discuss untill the actual day of the event – the discussions can range from social media geekiness to wine tourism. With #EWBC one has a fair idea in advance – eg I already now now that #EWBC 2011 will focus on the art of story telling, I know we will be guided in a structured way and beacuse we will be following a presentation taking notes will come a lot easier than at Vinocamp. Maybe it is just me, but I do not tend to take notes whilst being actively engaged in a discussion because my mind is too busy focussing on the actual discussion.
    I think the short and long of it is that the two events are intrinsically different and each have their own place and value. I feel they complement each other in a fabulous way and am happy to be able to participate to both!

    PS The next #vinocamp will be in Bordeaux 8-9 July and I am really looking forward to see old friends and meet new people whilst sharing more thoughts on wine and social media!

    Posted in EWBC, networking, social media, Uncategorized, vinocamp, wine tasting | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

    A fun time at the #accesszone at the #LIWF (London International Wine Fair) 2011

    Posted on May 22, 2011 by Caroline

    On Monday I flew to London to help out on the Discovery Wines stand for my old winery Omaka Springs Estates.

    As always it was great to go to the fair to catch up with a lot of old and new friends, and this year THE place to me for me to find everybody was at the access zone. The access zone was set up as a “digital” network place where one can go either in person or on line and meet like minded wine and social media people. There were several presentations, workshops and interviews during the 3 days and these were the ones that stood out for me:

    1. Announcement of the winners for the Born Digital Wine Awards (#BDWA)
    The Born Digital Wine Awards give credit to digital content creators, which until now had not really explicitly been done. The winners were picked by a prestigious jury and awarded a price of 1000 Euro’s each.
    Best Wine Tourism Feature –Wink Lorch Wine Days Out in the French Alps
    Best Editorial Wine Writing – Tim Atkin Towards a New Chile (Part 1)
    Best Winery Self-Produced Content – Randall Grahm On a Mission: The Germ of an Idea
    Best Investigative Wine Piece – Richard Ross Phylloxera– the English connection
    Best Wine Themed Video – Jay Selman The Scent of Black

    2. The creation of a Pan European wine by blending Austrian Gruner Veltliner, Macon Village and Italian Falanghina.
    This was a double exercise of which unfortunately I missed the first part… However it is very well described on the Access Zone’s Sponsor Thierry’s site.
    The concept was to create a Pan European wine with the help of 3 winemakers and a tasting panel of Nakedwines.com angels and international wine bloggers. Three blends were created but one was immediately dismissed by the angels. I participated to the second part of the #disruptwine project which was the taste off. Please find my tasting notes e here below:
    Wine 1: 30% Gruner Veltliner, 40% Falanghina, 20% Macon Village
    dry, medium acid, mineral notes, a little stone fruit and some spice good body, little short on the finish
    Wine 2: 50% Gruner, 40% Falanghina, 10 % Macon Village
    Crisp and Spicy, little fresher and lighter, great minerality, more intense fruit flavours of peach, nectarine and meyer lemon flavours, lingering finish.
    The number 2 wine was the winner – most of us had picked it as our preferred wine – and is now on sale from the Naked Wines site.

    3. The Outsiders and a little private Languedoc tasting with Ryan O’ Connell of O’ Vineyards

    Enjoying some Languedoc Wine with Louise from the Outsiders

    Enjoying some Languedoc Wine with Louise from the Outsiders


    Highlights were:
    Benjamin Darnault – Picpoul de Pinet 2010
    dry, medium (-) acid, medium + body,medium alcohol, floral (honey suckle), apricot, little peach – medium + finish
    Picpoul de Pinet is a grape which is only found around the little town of Pinet – it is less stingy and more floral than the Rhone Picpoul.

    O’ Vineyard O’Syrah 2005
    dry, medium+ acid, medium to medium+ tanin, medium flavours of stewed plum, jammy black fruit, medium + body, integrated oak and little spice on the finish

    O’Vineyards Trah, Lah, Lah, 2008 (65% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon)
    dry, medium acid, medium + tanins, medium body, medium+ flavours of boysenberry, black cherry eucalyptus, little olive leaf on lingering finish

    I thoroughly enjoyed catching up with everybody at the Access zone and wished I could have spend a lot more time there. Maybe next year…

    Posted in social media, wine eductation, wine fair, wine tasting | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

    Paso Robles Wine Country and Rhone varieties

    Posted on May 11, 2011 by Caroline

    Next destination on my wonderful wine trip through California was Paso Robles. I was really excited to visit Paso as a lot of my Californian and International wine friends had been raving about the place. As soon as I drove through the rolling country side I totally understood what they meant. Paso Robles is located in San Luiz Obispo County on the Central Coast. The city is about 50 miles inland and from what I have been told their is a clear dividing line between the areas East and West of highway 101. I focussed on the West side which is generally considered to be the better wine growing region of the two. A lot of vineyards on the West are planted on steep hills, and the cool night breeze from the ocean allows for a very long ripening season, often extending harvest into November. The West side is also the most renowned area for Rhone varieties and Syrah in particular.

    The first winery I visited was L’Aventure were the very friendly Sales and Marketing Manager Michael Young took me on a VIP tour.
    L’Aventure’s Stephan Asseo, had established himself as an excellent winemaker in Bordeaux, where together with his family he owned several Chateaux. However he had become increasingly frustrated with the AOC blending rules of the area and decided to start all over in the New World. He settled on a 126 acres block just south of Paso Robles.

    L'Aventure Vineyards on the rolling hills of the Santa Lucia Ranges in Paso Robles

    L'Aventure Vineyard - Paso Robles


    L’Aventure is all about Terroir – soil, climate and very high density planting. When he first purchased the property, Stephan had the calcareous soils analysed and found out that the 18 different types of soil would be perfect to plant a full range of Rhone varieties as well as Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. The maritime influence of the Templeton Gap is responsible for an average diurnal temperature difference of 10 °C, resulting in the grapes keeping up their acid levels and allowing for a long growing season. Stephan is a fan of high density planting with an average of 2,100 to 2,200 vines per acre. The vines are bilateral cordon spur pruned, with 4 spurs per cordon and the yields are kept very low at 1 bunch per spur. The VSP canopy is allowed to grow up to 2 metres. All of this results in optimum phenolic ripeness which can be tasted in the wines. I do have to mention that all that canopy and the small yields also results in a high sugar content at harvest, which in turn results in rather high alcohol wines.

    I tasted the following wines:
    2010 L’Aventure Estate Rose (70% Syrah, 30 % Cabernet Sauvignon)
    Salmony pink coloured, notes of Cavaillon melon and rhubarb on the nose, medium + flavours of strawberry and blackberry, medium + body and alcohol and a lingering crisp finish.
    2005 L’Aventure Optimum (51% Syrah, 44% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Petit Verdot).
    Deep ruby in colour, with aroma’s of boysenberry and mulberry; full and deeply complex wine with flavours of sweet liquorice, blackberry, cigar smoke and hot tar, great tannins and acid, high alcohol and a medium+ finish. Even though the wine was lovely right know I feel it will develop and really come into it’s own with further cellaring.
    2008 L’Aventure Estate Cuvée (49% Syrah, 37% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Petit Verdot)
    Deep purple in colour, with flavours of charred meat, black stewed fruit, tea-leaf and cloves, velvety tannins, good acidity and body, and a lingering and very complex finish. This wine was simply outstanding!

    The very impressive L'Aventure Estate Cuvee

    The very impressive L'Aventure Estate Cuvee


    After L’Aventure I went a little further to the west and visited the very modern winery of Linne Calodo – which is named after the predominant type of lime stone clay present in the area. The stone also has been excessively used in the beautifully designed tasting room.

    I was lucky enough to visit the winery whilst Matt Trevisan, the owner/winemaker was blending his Nemesis, and was allowed to taste a sample straight from the barrel! I was amazed by the amounts of unusual (fiber glass and cement) tanks present at such a small place. Total production of this winery very rarely exceeds 3000 cases and the bulk of the wine is sold through the wine club and tasting room.

    Matt Trevisan at Linne Calodo in the process of blending his wines

    Matt Trevisan at Linne Calodo in the process of blending his wines

    Linne Calodo is famous for it’s Zinfandel /Rhone style blends, but I prefered the excellent GSM’s (Grenache, Mourvedre, Syrah). My top wines were

    2009 Linne Calodo Sticks and Stone (64% Grenache, 29% Mourvedre, 7% Syrah)
    Pronounced red fruit flavours – ripe strawberry, raspberry – as well as some stewed rhubarb, good body and alcohol, great tannins and a medium + acidity. Hints of clove in the medium+ finish.
    2009 Linne Calodo Rising Tide (40% Mourvedre, 30% Syrah, 30% Grenache)
    A very rounded complex wine, with a great tannin structure, high acid, medium+ alcohol and body and flavours of black cherry, boysenberry, sweet liquorice and dried fig and a long leathery finish.
    I am sure the wine would age wonderfully and to test my theory I bought a bottle and brought it back:-)
    2008 Linne Calodo Screwball (70% Syrah, 15% Grenache, 16% Mourvedre)
    Rich wine, with velvet tannins, medium body and alcohol and flavours of blackberry, mulberry, dried fig and hazelnut and a caramel coffee finish.

    The awesome Denner Bordeaux blend with a twist

    The awesome Denner Bordeaux blend with a twist


    Denner, another small winery not too far from Linne Calodo was were I stopped next. Denner produces 4600 cases and all the fruit comes from the Estate. Only 5% is distributed, the other 95% are sold from the cellar door or the wine club. Again the wines were of outstanding quality – Anthony Yount, Denner’s winemaker, really had done an brilliant job! – and my favourites were:

    2010 Denner Vineyards Viognier
    Elegant, dry very well balanced wine with flavours of lemon curd, peach and ripe pear, good acidity, medium body and alcohol and a long finish.
    2009 Denner Vineyard Ditch Digger (blend of Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre, Cincault and Counoise)
    Another great Rhone blend with flavours of red cherry, raspberry, cinnamon and vanilla, medium body, alcohol and tannin, and a medium + liquorice finish.
    2008 Denner Vineyards Mother of Exile (70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Petit Verdot, 10% Cabernet Franc)
    Complex wine with flavours of black cherry, hazelnut and little eucalyptus, high acid and tannins, medium+ body and alcohol and a long leathery spicy finish.
    This is one of the most interesting wines I have ever tasted, and I still regret not having bought a bottle as I really think I would have liked to revisit this wine in a few years.

    Sign post outside Tablas Creek Winery to their sister property in Chateau Neuf du Pape

    Sign post outside Tablas Creek Winery to their sister property in Chateau Neuf du Pape


    The last winery I visited had to be the legendary Tablas Creek. Tablas Creek is a joint venture between the Perrin family who own the renowned Chateau Neuf de Pape Domaine de Beaucastel and Robert Haas the owner of Vineyard Brands, the Beaucastel US importer. In 1987 they settled on the 120 acres Tablas Creek property and started to import the original Rhone varieties from France. A nursery to propagate the French clones was set up and all the Rhone varieties at the other 3 Paso wineries I visited were purchased from the Tablas Creek nursery. At the moment the nursery has 9 of the 13 original varieties whilst the last 6 should be shortly released from quarantine.
    Tablas Creek has been farmed organically since 2003 and have currently 100 acres under vines.
    Sample of Rhone cuttings from the Tablas Creek Nursery

    Sample of Rhone cuttings from the Tablas Creek Nursery


    I tasted at least 10 different wines and all of then were great but these were my favourites:-)

    Tablas Creek 2009 Esprit de Beaucastel Blanc (62% Roussanne, 26% Grenache Blanc, 12% Picpoul Blanc)
    Dry full bodied white whine with medium acid and alcohol and flavours of Meyer lemon, nectarine and a little red apple, a little creaminess on the middle palate and and a lingering finish.
    Tablas Creek 2006 Esprit de Beaucastel (45% Mourvèdre, 28% Grenache, 22% Syrah, 5% Counoise)
    Rich wine with velvet tannins, medium body and alcohol and flavours of boysenberry, cassis, blackberry, a delicious spiciness and a long chocolate/walnut finish
    Tablas Creek 2008 Tannat
    Highly tannic, high acidity and medium + bodied wine with bright flavours of cherries, blueberry and a little black chocolate in the finish. This wine will soften and open up with aging and I was just fascinated to try a 100% Californian Tannat:-)

    Posted in Californian wine trip, Rhone Varieties, wine eductation, Wine Regions, Wine Review, wine tasting | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment