Alcohol levels

From the label of a 1988 Dry Creek Vyds Zinfandel.

Out to dinner last night at a popular restaurant in Healdsburg. A nice, local wine list, but a $20 corkage fee (a little high).

They offered one Zinfandel by the glass and I figured that would go well with the Pork Chili Verde with Polenta.

By now I should know to check the alcohol level of any Zinfandel I'm not familiar with before purchasing. It was not the kind of wine to have with a meal unless you like having shot of tequila with your food. The overriding characteristics of the wine was alcohol in the nose and taste. I thought the waitress may have noticed I left my wine glass full when she handed us the check, but she didn't say anything so I didn't either.

I've been to a wine bar in Santa Rosa a couple of times trying their Zinfandel flights of three small producers--always wines I've never had before. It's great to try new stuff, but I've found most of what they pour unpleasant because of the high alcohol levels. There was one Zin from Alexander Valley that I couldn't even drink.

Why do the winemakers / marketers feel we need alcohol levels of 15.5% plus? I can't figure this trend. I've had a few of these high alcohol monsters that have enough fruit to mask the alcohol, at least while the wines are young, but these are few and far between, and usually very expensive. A few of these wines are outstanding while the majority are stinkers.

I think/hope most are looking for fruit, spices and other complexities in their wines and a balanced product that you can enjoy by itself or with a meal. That shouldn't be too much to ask.

It's not just Zinfandel; I've had a few hot Pinot Noirs, too. Pinot should never push 15%. It's no longer Pinot when it does. Heck, the microbreweries are putting out beers typically 7 to 8%.

I've talked with Europeans and others who drink European wines and when they sample California, especially zinfandel, they call it "strong" meaning they are tasting alcohol.

In the vineyards we go through period trellising trends. You can pretty much tell when a vineyard was planted by the trellising system used. Currently we seem to be using a Burgundy style, I guess it is, where the fruit is fully exposed to sunlight. That's great for even ripening, it's great for cloudy areas, I'm not sure why we need to cook 'em on the vine here in sunny California. I realize the old head pruned Zinfandels must be a royal pain as Zin is notorious for uneven ripening (and sometimes pruney tasting wines). OK, I'm no vineyard manager so maybe someone can explain this to me.

If I want a glass of alcohol I'll buy Patron. If I want a dinner wine I'm expecting the alcohol to be buried under the other characteristics of the product.

I do love my Zinfandel and Pinots. Just keep them under control!

The upcoming season

Not the grape season, but the tourist season. The biggest months are May, and July through October. Yeah, June is kind of a "sleeper" month. It seems like summer, but everyone is busy with weddings, graduations, or whatever. It's a good month to visit if you like decent weather and semi-light crowds.

The 2009 season is not shaping up to be a good one. That's no secret, huh? Business is down (the number of visitors) and sales are significantly down.

What's that mean to you? A great time to visit if you're not wound up in the fear factor of The Next Great Depression looming. I was in Hawaii in February, normally their busiest month, and hotel reservations were off 60%. This meant no lines anywhere and even some good deals.

You should be able to find some good deals on lodging, if you book ahead, and at many wineries. In Napa and Sonoma I've seen some waiving tasting fees. I've also occasionally seen someone raise their fee to cover expected shortfalls. That's what happens when you put the accountants in charge!

A few April winery visits

I spent a Saturday afternoon visiting a few local tasting rooms. I was mostly on a hunt for Pinot Noir.

Dutton-Goldfield and Balletto share a tasting room and wine-making facilities. I've had Balletto Vineyards Pinot before and liked it. It's a more fruit-forward style and is the bargain of the day at about $24. Dutton-Goldfield's Pinots ran in the $50s and they had several different ones open. I wound up with a bottle of the McDougall Ranch from the Sonoma Coast appellation.

Sheldon has a tasting room in Sebastopol. It's very small production so you've probably never seen the wine. He's old school or more accurately old school European-style. That is, it's the opposite of the current fad of fruit-forward, soft/low acid wines. His wines are stark, clean, and all require bottle age. Actually, I'm not quite sure what you'd wind up with five years down the road. It would be interesting to try one with a few years bottle age.

Merry Edwards is a pretty well known premium brand--mostly for Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noirs. I didn't try the SB, but sampled a few Pinots mostly priced in the $50s. I wound up with a Russian River Valley blend that was less expensive and an estate Pinot. They have a new facility and aren't well set up for visitors. Hopefully, they'll work that out.

I wanted to stop by Joseph Swan, an old time Pinot producer in the area, but missed a turn on the road. Maybe next time.

Other recent Pinot purchases are from Gary Farrell, Artesa, Landmark and Thumbprint. Gary Farrell made outstanding wines at one time. The wines went downhill, but have made a recent comeback. Gary sold off his namesake winery a few years ago, but has another wine project starting up. Artesa is a beautiful facility in the south end of Napa (Carneros). Most of their wines are excellent. Thumbprint is a very small producer with a tasting room in Healdsburg. He does more Cabernet blends.

Most of these guys Pinots retail in the $50 range. Ouch. I guess that's why I'll take Russian Hill over most.

I wonder how they're all doing with these $50+ wines. This is supposed to be the price range that isn't selling well in this economic climate. On the other hand Pinot is the "in" wine.

Artesa:

The Barrel Tasting (and other special events)

Sonoma County hosts three weekends of "Barrel Tasting" in March. Do you get to taste barrels? NO, luckily. But maybe wine that hasn't made it from the barrel to the bottle yet. What's the point? From the wineries point-of-view it's usually to get visitors to buy futures.

I've been going out to the Russian River Barrel Tasting for a number of years. Besides the price going from free to $30 the other big change is the crowd. It's a lot younger (and for some reason I keep getting older).

There's lots of talk in the wine marketing areas about the Millennials (aka the young crowd) and their interest in wine. I can't decide if it's wine specifically or just wanting an excuse to party. Looking around downtown Healdsburg late Saturday afternoon during the Barrel Tasting event looked a lot like I'd expect Mardi Gras to look. Lots of people in their twenties having a really good time!

Many wineries don't know what to make of this. On one hand they don't buy nearly as much as middle-aged people with disposable income; on the other they are the future wine buyers. Of course, most accountant-types want to see the money now and aren't interested in who's buying what in 2030.

Trendiness

I understand how trends happen and one decade you have Merlot as #1 and another Pinot. But there's a helluva lot of people looking to be out in front of the next trend. For instance, if Syrah and Viognier gain some popularity then the buzz starts. And there will be someone wanting to know what's next after that. Hell, I dunno, go buy some Tempranillo futures. :)

In the high-end price range where people with that kind of money should be much smarter you find folks looking for the next trendy $150 Napa Cab. Not the ones that are popular now, but who's next. Remember all the rage over Pride Mtn? Are they out of fashion now? The really trendy seek out "pre-cult" wines. Want to know what these are? Just Google "california cult wines" and you'll find thousands of "answers."

There are different kinds of wine-buyers: These folks are sometime called image seekers--they're looking to impress somebody else. Other types of wine buyers are traditionalists that stick to the big brands that have been around a long time--Gallo, Mondavi, etc. Other people just look for bargains, sometimes in traditional varietals (Chardonnay and Cabernet); sometimes in non-traditional wine like Malbec. Of course, Malbec is kind of trendy. See how complicated it gets for the wine marketing people!

I guess I don't get the trendiness. I still wear t-shirts in the hot weather, flannels in the cold, and drive a Mustang, so I'm not much for being out in front of everybody else, I guess. It's great to try different and new things, but don't spend a lot of time (and money) on Albariño because you heard it's The Next Big Thing. Just try it (by the glass if you can) and see if it's worth the money.

One of the problems with new varieties in CA is learning where to plant, how to grow and how to make it. It took a long time to figure out Pinot Noir; it seems like they're still figuring out Syrah. And if CA didn't try to make Viognier like Chardonnay maybe it would do better. We're starting to get some nice Rhone-style blends; maybe we'll see some Spanish blends, too, someday.

Screwcaps on premium wine

Yeah, screwcaps are a big topic amongst wine geeks. The Traditionalists vs. The Practical as it's usually played out.

What has cork got going for it? It's renewable, sort of, if we don't use it too quickly (like timber).

I worked at a winery using screwcaps on several wines. I occasionally got a call from someone upset or confused about it, but not very often. I also spent quite a bit of time educating customers and that's all right. I'd rather pour good wine for people not sure about our choice of closure than pour crap with a cork.

In the U.S. it's really Gallo's fault because all of their cheap crap many of us remember, not in a good way, comes with screw tops. Other countries don't have this issue with screw tops = cheap, bad wine. Hopefully, we'll get there.

I've opened lots of bottles in tasting rooms and the wine quality and variability by bottle does depend on the winery and their source of corks. It's probably one bottle in every couple cases that is corked. (producing a musty smell to the wine).

The other issue is corked wine is not just and on-off switch. Slightly corked wine doesn't have the musty odor, but it does knock the fruit down. That is there's no fruit aroma or taste. Unless you really know a particular wine it's unlikely you'd detect it as being corked; more likely you'll just think it's not a good wine. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want my product being distributed this way.

So is a screw cap a better closure for wine? Easily. Heck, even wine in a box has a better chance of survival than cork.

It comes down to, would you rather be corked or screwed? :)

Visting a winery

Whether you've done this lots of times or maybe will try this just once sometime in the future here's a couple thoughts:

What to expect

1. You will get to sample wines
2. The folks at the winery hope you would buy something while you're there

But they at least want you to leave with a good, memorable visit so you'll tell friends or pick up a bottle at your local store when you get home. They all have different policies--some charge for tasting, some will refund it if you buy, some limit you to a few tastes, some serve food or crackers, etc. It's their store; they get to run it how they see fit.

If they don't tell how it works you when you first arrive ask questions.

Some offer tours of the facility. Most offer a "how wine is made" tour, a few have historical or art tours. Some charge for the tour; some offer a tasting with the tour.

How to act

It's not the neighborhood bar. If you treat it like a drunken college party the folks at the winery realize this. If you are friendly you'll get great service. If you act like you know more than anyone else about wine, you won't. In my experience this usually happens because someone is intimidated. There's no reason.

You can be uninformed about wine. Just say so. It helps the staff know what sort of things to talk about. There's no shame in not knowing the difference between a Sauvignon Blanc and a Cabernet Sauvignon (let alone how to pronounce them).



Just like some folks think prostitution must be legal in Vegas also think it must be OK to drink anywhere in the wine country. Nope, we have laws, too. I've seen folks walking down the street at night with a glass of wine in their hand. I've seen open bottles with wine glasses in the cupholders of their rental cars. Either can get you in a bunch of trouble.

99.9% of the people visiting are great. It's easy enough to be one of those.


When to visit


Don't like crowds? Then don't go on holiday weekends during the summer. The busiest months are July through September. The busiest day is Saturday. The busiest time-of-day is about 2 pm to 4 pm.
You'll find Highway 29 (the main drag) in Napa to be much busier than going where the wineries are more spread out. In Northern California the closer you are to San Francisco the busier the wineries will be.


So if you're coming in January you get to pick without worrying about the crowds. If you're visiting during the peak season look for out-of-the-way areas.
Best time of year? That depends. What's most important? Staying away from crowds, good weather, getting to see the grapes on the vine, seeing the harvest? You can find good weather any time of year in California, but you can also get deluged with rain or searing heat. (As I'm writing this in mid-January it's about 70 degrees outside). My favorite time, balancing all of these factors, is March-June and October-November. June is interesting as it's an in-between seasons month. Not many travellers because of graduations, weddings, or whatever, but the weather is good and there's something to look at in the vineyards.

Buying at the winery


Is it cheaper than at the store? Probably not, but it depends on where you live. You will run into many wines that are hard or impossible to find at home. Wineries may run tasting room only sales or offer quantity discounts.


Should you feel obligated to buy?


No. It's OK to shop. It's OK to check out wines you can find at home to see what you'd be interested in purchasing off the retail shelf. Heck, your trip almost pays for itself if you can stop making $30 mistakes at the local wine shop!
How about tipping? No, it's not expected. A few places have tip jars on the counter "primed" with a couple five dollar bills. It's uncalled for especially if you're already paying a tasting fee. Of course, if someone really shows you a good time...


Getting wine home


If you didn't drive your own car to go wine tasting then you can't just load up the trunk. What are your options?
1. Take it on the plane with you. If you are an international traveller you will have customs to deal with. Find out the rules first before you travel. Within the U.S. you can pack as cargo, but most airlines will charge for the extra baggage. You can purchase a wine shipping box and fill it up with your favorites. This may still be cheaper than shipping the wine.
2. Let the winery ship for you. The easiest way is to buy several bottles at a winery you like and let them ship. Mostly it depends on which state it's being shipped to (don't expect international shipping from the winery). It's up to the state's laws. It varies a lot. You may find one winery will ship to you and another won't. It's not their fault. The laws are complicated and sometimes restrictive.
If you ship from the winery see what quantity discount you get and if your state requires them to collect sales tax. You may find it reasonably inexpensive to get wine home this way.
Note: Federal law requires a adult to sign on delivery for alcohol. If you aren't home much on weekdays ship to your work or your retired uncle.
3. Ship from a UPS store or another shipping company. Collect the wines you like from all your stops, take them to a shipping company, they'll pack and ship to your home. This will be the most expensive way to get the wine home. What's nice is they can ship to pretty much any state or country.


Planning your day(s)


There are two things to watch out for: Getting drunk (duh) and palate fatigue. What is palate fatigue? Your taste buds (actually your brain) just gets tired of the taste of wine.
The best way to avoid these problems is to spread out your tasting over the day. Put in several food breaks. Some wine judges eat nearly raw beef while tasting for the protein, but something as simple as a bottle of sparkling water will help. If you are doing multiple days of winery visits take every other day off and do something else, or at least make only one or two stops on the odd days.
I've found that a nice, cold Pilsner is a great way to refresh the palate (of course you still have the alcohol issue). That's probably better left for the end of the day if you're not driving. :)


Most of all


The wine country is "Disneyland for Adults." It's a great time. Great wine, great food, great accommodations. What more can you ask for?

Blending

Europe's mostly archaic wine laws remove a lot of the creativity and potential for their wines. In the U.S. we do a bit of this, too. One key problem (it's not just legal, it's marketing too) is to call a wine a Cabernet, for instance, means 75% of the juice in the bottle must be Cab.

I'm not saying this is a bad law, but it seems to be stifling blends in this country. In general, I love blends. They are so much more interesting. After many, many years of CA Cabernet I'm bored. Give me some Merlot, some Malbec, hell even some Cabernet Franc in there! Cab and Syrah seem to be made for each other.

And not just with Cabernet. How about Zinfandel with Barbera and/or Sangiovese? I've had some odd-ball blends. How about Pinot and Syrah or Barbera and Pinot?

There's the guy that makes a 50/50 Zinfandel and Barbera blend he calls Zinberra because he said, "Barfandel didn't sell." :)

Rhone blends... yum! These are starting to show up more in the Sierra foothills wineries (Amador, El Dorado) and they are good. Easy to drink and interesting at the same time--a combination that can be hard to find.

There was a plan to help the popularity of blends in the U.S. Twenty years ago a group came up with "Meritage" for blends because otherwise you are stuck with White or Red Table Wine which means cheap. Meritage sounds expensive. It also didn't take off. First, a lot of people can't pronounce it (rhymes with heritage). Second, the group charges to use "their" name, Meritage. So lots of wineries make up their own names to signify a blend. Third, it sets rules around Bordeaux-style blends only (it's limiting).

There's actually a White Meritage, also, made up of Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and some other obscure grape. If you've never had a Sauv Blanc/Semillon blend give it a try (if you can ever find one). They're not as austere as typical Sauv Blancs.

Merlot

What happened to CA Merlot? It used to be such a good wine. OK, there's still great ones like Shafer (as you can find exceptions to pretty much anything I say).



Before the "French Paradox" it seemed like the best Merlot was usually blended with Cabernet. If fact, when I sample Merlots I usually think to myself, "This would be great with about 20% Cab blended in."

After demand outstripped the supply when "everybody" needed red wine to stay healthy we got Merlot juice from the Central Valley or threw it whatever you could find and get as much to market as quickly as possible. That's when a lot of Merlot starting tasting too similar to Pepsi for me. Easy to drink; very uninteresting. But then people drink Pepsi because they just want to drink it, not analyze it. No reason to expect any difference with wine lots of the time--you just want a drink--you don't want to actually think about it. This drives the wine geeks nuts!

Pinot Noir

If you're old enough to remember the "French Paradox" you remember that CA Merlot sales took off afterwards. And it's happening again with Pinot mostly because of "Sideways" and because wine is trendy (a topic for another time).

I love Pinot Noir. It's not too in-your-face (usually), not too high in alcohol (usually), and mostly because it versatile enough to go with many different foods or is great just by itself. I really love Russian River Valley Pinot. Yes, I have a local palate. Can't help that!

Pinot Noir is great young, with a few years of bottle age, and goes with lots of foods or just by itself. I use it to sub in when you're "supposed" to be having a white wine; such as with seafood.

However, supply and demand have kicked in. I see lots of $40 Pinots and maybe 25% are really good and worth the money. The good news, in Sonoma anyways, is there has been a lot of Pinot planted in the last five to ten years and there's still a lot in the pipeline. Maybe supply will catch up and we'll see some really good $25 Pinots in a couple years.

Some Pinot Noirs to look for in the $35 range (not sure on availability in retail outlets):
Balletto, Pellegrini, Russian Hill, Selby.

Oh no! Not another wine blog!

Welcome to Sonoma County, California!

Why this blog is here -- and why it's a bit different from most:

What is the Current State of the California Wine Industry (mostly the Sonoma/Napa region)? And how much does it really matter? I mean, people are losing their jobs in the economic mess or their lives in the political mess we're in. So I won't take this too seriously if you don't.

I believe it should be light-hearted as I'm in this biz mostly because it's fun; NOT for the money (trust me on that one).

My perspective is one of being a consumer since about 1980 and working in tasting rooms on-and-off since the mid-80s. There have been many changes, mostly good, but not always. Though I work in the local wine biz I'm not mentioning who I work for nor will I talk about them in this blog to avoid any hint of commercialism.

My plan, for now, isn't to be another list of tasting notes until I run out of other stuff to talk about. And it's not just about Sonoma County, though that's what I know best.