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J ack Larkin brought some of the best wines in his California portfolio to a special tasting at Wine World Friday night, and several of the 11 wines tasted brought “Wow” responses. The wines came from four producers: Steele, Morgan, Buehler and ZD. Each winery had great wines, and Larkin had great stories about the wineries.
The tasting started with four nice whites, a Pinot Blanc, a Sauvignon Blanc and two Chardonnays made in different styles. Then we had three Pinot Noirs that were as different as could be, but all had great charm.
After a break for some roast beef and cheese, we had a Lemberger, a fabulous Zinfandel and two Cabs. The tasting offered a nice sampling of terrific California wines at affordable prices. As the tasters started their journey through the wines, Larkin offered this bit of advice he got from his father: “The road to wine knowledge is littered with empty bottles.”
Larkin, vice president of Pacific Southern Wine Company, talked about each of the wineries, giving the tasters insights into what the winemakers are trying to achieve. All four wineries are fairly small and have been in business for at least 20 years.
Here are the wines presented:
Steele Pinot Blanc 2011, Bien Nacido, Santa Barbara
Tasting notes: The wine has a pleasant tropical fruit nose and a smooth, full mouthfeel, with notes of peach and green apple. There is plenty of fruit and a bright, fresh taste. It spends four months in neutral oak which gives the wine more weight and texture. When the tasting was being put together, this wine wasn’t available, and when it became available, Wine World added it to the original 10 wines picked because it has been a shop favorite. Co-owner Dick Benjamin said Pinot Blanc “is what Chardonnay would be if it could.”
Winery: Steele Winea has been in business since 1991, but founder Jed Steele has been around wine for 44 years. Most notably, he was the winemaker for the first nine vintages of the highly successful Kendall-Jackson winery. He left to found his own winery when Kendall-Jackson grew rapidly, and he found he was doing more managing and less wine making. Steele is in Lake County north of Napa Valley. Steele makes nearly 50 different kinds of wine, as Jed likes to experiment with different vineyards and varietals. Some of the wines are for less than 1,000 cases. His total production is 65,000 cases under four labels.
Morgan Sauvignon Blanc 2011, Monterey County
Tasting notes: The wine had a bright, crisp citrus flavor. It suffered a little bit by placing it after the Pinot Blanc, as it tasted tart in the first few sips. It probably should have been the first wine tasted. After a couple of sips, the wine really blossomed. It had elegant notes of plum, lime and pear with good acidity. It was especially good after nibbling on some cheese. The wine was fermented in stainless steel and spent six months in oak barrels, 7% new. The grapes are grown in the Arroyo Seco AVA and the warmer San Lucas AVA, and include some Semillon and Sauvignon Musqué.
Winery: Dan Morgan Lee started the winery in 1982, after working for Jekel Winery and Durney Vineyard. In 1996 Dan and his wife Donna bought the Double L Vineyard in the famed Santa Lucia Highlands. (The name stands for double luck, because they have twin daughters, Annie and Jackie.) Today it is one of the best known vineyards in California. The Morgan label has become known for artisan, vineyard-centric wines from the Santa Lucia Highlands and Monterey.
Buehler Chardonnay 2010, Russian River Valley
Tasting notes: The wine starts out with a pleasant citrus nose. It has a creamy mouthfeel, with good acidity and lots of fruit. It has a long, clean finish. The winery says its philosophy remains the same since they first introduced the Russian River Chardonnay in 1993: “less intervention is better in dealing with a delicate variety like chardonnay.” Winemaking techniques including sur-lie aging, lees stirring, full malolactic fermentation, and about 15-18% of the wine goes through oak barrel aging.
Winery: The roots of Buehler Vineyards date to 1971 when John Buehler, Sr., decided to retired. A 1934 West Point graduate who served 20 years in the Army Corps of Engineers and another 20 years as a Bechtel Corporation executive, he and his wife bought a remote northeast Napa Valley hillside property and grew grapes on 300 acres. His son John Jr. got interested in winemaking and in 1978 hand crushed 700 cases of wine. Production grew until 1982 when he hired a talented young winemaker, Heidi Peterson Barrett. By the time she left in 1988, Heidi had become a rising star, and Buehler Vineyards was building a worldwide reputation. Production now is 42-43,000 cases, mostly Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Zinfandel. The Zin made this year’s Wine Spectator Top 100 Wines.
ZD Chardonnay 2010, California
Tasting notes: This is a unique style for a California Chardonnay. There is no malolactic fermentation, with main fermentation in oak barrels, in a long and cold process using American oak. It’s lush and full of tropical fruit flavors, mellow and bold at the same time. The oak is noticeable, but it is not overpowering. The finish is long and smooth. The winery buys fruit from five areas, ferments the grapes separately and then blends the finished wine.
Winery: Launched in 1969 ZD was the creation of two aerospace engineers, Norman deLeuze and Gino Zepponi. They received the first winery permit in Sonoma County in 20 years. Their Pinot Noir that year was the first wine to carry the Carneros designation. The ZD comes from the first letter of the founders’ last name, and also from banners hung at their aerospace factory that read “Zero Defects.” The deLeuze family is still active in the business. They make about 2,300-2,400 cases of Pinot Noir, 13-14,000 cases of Chardonnay and 35,000 cases total.
Steele Sangiacomo Pinot Noir 2009, Carneros
Tasting notes: This is a smooth, well-rounded wine with strong black cherry flavors. It’s a rich, bold, muscular wine. Like many Pinot Noirs from Carneros, it is more in the Burgundy style, earthy and restrained. Only 400 cases were made.
Morgan 12 Clones Pinot Noir 2010, Santa Lucia Highlands
Tasting notes: This is a slightly different style than the Steele Pinot, with bright Bing cherry and blackberry flavors. There are some leather notes at the end. It starts with aromas of plum and cola. It’s a well-balanced wine that should do well with food. The name refers to the number of different clones of the Pinot Noir grape planted in the vineyard as Dan Morgan tried to find the perfect grape for the Double L vineyard. The number of clones planted there is now up to 14. The wine spent 10 months in 100% French oak. It was number 83 on this year’s Wine Spectator Top 100 list.
ZD Pinot Noir 2011, Carneros
Tasting notes: This was a wonderful, rich, full wine, tight and muscular. Aromas of dark cherries and vanilla lead to a lush, silky mouthfeel with bright fruit flavors. There is good acidity, so the wine should hold up well to food. It tasted even better after a few bites of cheese. The finish is long and smooth. After fermentation in stainless steel tanks, about 15-18% of the wine spent 10 months in French oak barrels. About 3,000 cases of this wine were made.
Steele Shooting Star Blue Franc 2010 (Lemberger), Washington State
Tasting notes: The wine tasted like a souped-up Beaujolais, full of fresh fruit. It is clean and crisp, with traces of pepper and cinnamon. It was great with roast beef Wine World provided, and with Leyden cheese with cumin. The wine is made from the Lemberger grape grown in Washington. Originally the grape came from Germany and Austria, where it is known as Blau Frankisch. Steele didn’t want to call his wine Lemberger because of the association with smell cheese Limberger, so he modified the original name to Blue Franc and put a drawing of a French Franc (in blue) on the label. Larkin said the character of the wine changes with each vintage. In warm years it can taste more like Zinfandel and Syrah. In cool years it takes on characteristcs of Beaujolais, full of Gamay fruit.
Steele Zinfandel Pacini Vineyard 2008, Mendocino County
Tasting notes: This is a beautiful, rounded wine with tastes of berries and spice with a dry finish. It is very much in the Old World style, not jammy like some Zinfandels can be. It does not overpower the senses. It is an incredible value at under $20. Steele bought this famous vineyard in 1996 after buying fruit from it for years. The vineyard was planted in 1940 and as some of the vines die out, Steele is replacing them and repairing the vineyard. Because of its location, the winery cannot irrigate or use frost protection.
Buehler Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley, 2010
Tasting notes: This was a big hit of the tasting, bold, rich, a vibrant Cab. It is full bodied, with great structure and good fruit, especially blackberry and plums. It is aged 18 months in French and American oak barrels. The grapes come from the winery’s estate hillside vineyards (30%) and from other mature Napa vineyards on the valley floor. This was a big wow wine, especially considering the price, which was just over $20 at the tasting. This had all the attributes of a huge Napa Cab at a third or less of the price you’d expect to pay.
ZD Cabernet Sauvignon 2010, Napa Valley
Tasting notes: This was a luscious, big, bold Cab, with typical Napa Cab blackberry and plum flavors and a little pepper on the finish. It has a silky smooth mouthfeel, and well integrated tannins. The wine is aged 24 months in American oak barrels. It will cellar well for several years.
Where: Wine World, 133 Georgia Ave., North Augusta, SC
803-279-9522
e-mail: wineworld@wineworldsc.com.
When: Friday, November 30, 2012, 7pm.
Cost: $15 prepaid. $20 at the door if space is available. Reservations suggested as space will be limited.
Notes: http://bottlereport.com/?p=4460
