Wine Newsletter - Fall 2021 Edition

We suggest skipping the lime and salt! This super-premium spirit is extremely smooth and perfect for sipping neat–the way it would be done in Mexico. "Dobel" refers to Juan Domingo Beckmann Legorreta. Beckmann is CEO of the company that owns Cuervo Tequila, a family-owned enterprise for more than 250 years. That history reaches more than halfway back to the dawn of tequila production, when indigenous peoples along western Mexico's coastal areas began making a distilled spirit known as mezcal from agave plants in the late 1500s. They learned the technique from Filipino immigrants whose stills were used to make a coconut sap liquor. Mezcal is made by cooking the heart of the plant–the piña– slowly over many hours or days in ovens or pits before mashing the pulp, mixing it with water, and initiating fermentation. The resulting liquid is then distilled, yielding a clear spirit (like new whiskey or brandy) that can be consumed young or aged for months or years. By Mexican law tequila is mezcal made from the blue agave variety in the state of Jalisco (and a few municipalities in nearby states). It is named for Tequila, the town that is most famous for its agave quality. (So tequila is mezcal, but not all mezcal is tequila.)

Maestro Dobel Diamonte Tequila is made 100% from Weber Blue Agave from a single estate in the Jaliscan Highlands. After double distillation it is aged in Balkan new white oak barrels. (Reposado tequilas age 2 months or more, añejo ages at least 1 year, and extra-añejo ages 3 years or more.) Maestro Dobel Diamonte tequilas are blends of all three ages which are double filtered to remove any remaining harshness and color. Draeger's Special Blend selection was finished in American oak.

Regularly $54.99 $47.99

Tucked along the Silverado Trail since 1978 in Napa Valley's Rutherford district is ZD Wines, founded by aerospace engineers Gino Zepponi and Norman deLeauze in 1968. (Their initials became the winery name, and also referred to the "Zero Defects" mantra in their profession.) They rented an old farm building in southern Sonoma's Carneros region, receiving Sonoma's first winery permit in 20 years. More than 50 years later the deLeuze children and grandchildren grow organic grapes on their estate vineyards in Carneros and Rutherford, and source organic fruit from exceptional growers in Monterey and Santa Barbara. This Chardonnay was barrel fermented and aged 10 months in American oak with no malolactic fermentation permitted, so no buttery flavors intrude to mask aromas and flavors suggesting citrus, pineapple, kiwi, guava and vanilla. Its classic style is appealingly rich and bright at the same time.

Regularly $44.99 $39.99

Vineyard 29, located slightly north of St. Helena to the west of Highway 29, makes some of the most awarded and exclusively priced wines in California. It also makes a highly respected second label called Cru, and within Cru’s lineup is a Cabernet Sauvignon made from about 40% estate fruit and 60% sourced from a variety of high-end neighbors in Napa Valley. (Their neighbors include famous properties like Grace Family and Colgin.) Winemaker Keith Emerson crafted this 2019 vintage to display memorable concentration and structure, offer juicy acidity and firm but "polished" tannins resulting in a velvety-textured and full-bodied Cabernet. Expect a looong, luscious finish to follow flavors like Bing cherry, black cassis, dried lavender, espresso bean–we could go on.

Regularly $64.99 $59.99

In the 1990s famed winemaker Ehren Jordan (Marcassin, Neyers, Turley, and other wineries) bought 43 acres from some pot farmers in the Fort Ross-Seaview AVA, a very cool location about 2.5 miles from the Pacific Coast just above the fog line. He and wife Anne-Marie Failla planted 11 acres there in 1997; it became their estate vineyard when they founded their own winery, Failla (FAYla), in 1998. The winery added a vineyard on Olivet Rd. in recent years and also sources grapes from some of the most revered vineyards in far west Sonoma. About 25% of this Pinot Noir is estate fruit. 2021’s moderate growing season and cool temperatures during harvest resulted in moderate alcohol and ripe tannins in a beautifully balanced wine leading with red fruit aromas.

Regularly $38.99 $34.99

Chablis is closer to the Champagne district than it is to the rest of Burgundy, of which it is a legal part. The village and surrounding wine region sit in the middle of a chalky basin that was once the bottom of an ocean, and is layered with fossils. Those "calcareous" soils and a relatively cold climate impart a special mineral character to the wines, most of which never see the inside of a wooden barrel. So expect crispness, not weight, and a hint of stoniness sometimes described as flinty or steely. This single vineyard, organically grown wine from the well-respected Brocard domaine is aged on its lees in tank. Suggestions of apple, stone fruit and citrus flavors preface a long minerally finish in a classic Chablis style.

Regularly $27.99 $24.99

From Australia to Austria, from Slovenia to Germany, from upstate New York to Alsace and California, Riesling makes bright and juicy wines that star with food. Most of them are dry; the fruity aromas and flavors found in Riesling fool lots of people. Good ones are vibrant, high in acid and often have a steely quality. In fact, all these characteristics apply to Trefethen's Dry Riesling. The family (now in the 3rd generation) has made the wine since 1974. Its fruit comes from a block in Trefethen#39;s Main Ranch vineyard surrounding the winery in the relatively cool Oak Knoll district north of the town of Napa. Drought conditions kept the crop size lower than usual, but the quality is superb.

Regularly $23.99 $19.99

When David Stare founded Dry Creek Vineyard in 1972 it was the first new winery in Dry Creek Valley (west of Healdsburg in Sonoma County) since Prohibition. 50 years later the family still owns and operates the winery, the kind of longevity that’s becoming a rarity. There are no oil wells, trust funds or tech fortunes to support their business; the wines must deliver. Famous for Fumé Blanc, the winery also makes excellent reds, including this Old Vine Zinfandel. The term Old Vine is used loosely by some wineries, but these vines are an average of over 100 years old–and some exceed 140 years. Enjoy this rich, handsomely balanced wine and be glad Prohibition died a long time ago! Double Gold, San Francisco Wine Competition.

Regularly $34.99 $31.99

Pouilly Fumé ("pooay foo-may") is Sauvignon Blanc made in the eastern Loire in France, around the town of Pouilly-sur-Loire. Its wine tends to be a bit broader and softer than that of Sancerre across the river to the west, and is often more minerally or "flinty." (That and the grey smoke-colored dots that appear on the grapes when ripe account for the "fumé" in the wine’s name.) Arrêt-Buffette is a vineyard located along the old Roman road linking Paris to Clermont-Ferrand. Annick Tinell and her daughter Marlène, 12th and 13th generation owners of Domaine Tinell-Blondelet, fermented these grapes in tank and aged the wine on its lees for 4 months. Suggestions of grapefruit, hints of flinty minerality and crisp acidy make it a mouthwatering glassful.

Regularly $19.99 $23.99

One of the red wine treats in the world is Beaujolais, a deliciously fruity (but dry) product of Gamay (Noir) made in the southernmost part of Burgundy. The grape's mix of fruit flavors may include red and black berries, cherries, peaches, apricots, violets, roses–and peppery spice notes, too. Tannins are present but not aggressive, acidity is bright, and a mouthful is downright fulfilling on several levels. (We're talking about the real-deal Beaujolais, not the party wine known as Nouveau.) Château de Chatelard makes this old vines blend sourced from three of the best villages in the area: Moulin-a-Vent, Fleurie and Morgon. It saw no oak during production or aging and the wine shows great balance of freshness, elegance, and complexity.

Regularly $17.99 $14.99

Barolo is made from the Nebbiolo grape in northwest Italy's Piedmont, and often referred to as the, Wine of Kings, because of its power and perfume. Barolo's eleven recognized winemaking villages (La Morra in this case) are famous for making full-bodied reds that are at home on a table laden with robust foods (which might include the white truffles for which the area is also famous). Barolo’s typically elegant nose of fragrant rose and spice leads to mixed red fruit flavors framed by firm tannins and nice acidity. This Pertinace was aged in Slovenian casks for two years, and spent another year in bottle before release. It shows classic garnet red color and offers aromas and flavors suggesting dark fruits and herbs. It's a classic match for aged Parmigiano-Reggiano or Pecorino.

Regularly $52.99 $46.99

If you were a Tuscan family finishing up dinner at home with guests, you might offer them a homemade sweet wine treat known as Vin Santo. The grapes (Trebbiano, very often) would be partially dried in a warm place, an attic or loft perhaps, while nearly 50% of the water in the grapes would evaporate over a span of 3 to 6 months. After pressing, the concentrated juice would be put into small barrels of mixed sizes and dosed with a little "madre" (mother) from a prior batch to initiate fermentation. Four or five years later, if all went well, the liquid gold would be ready to serve. Tuscany's Montellori winery has done all this for you, spending five years or more coaxing a creamy, dried-fruit, caramel-and-nutscented elixir from Trebbiano grapes. Enjoy it with almond or hazelnut biscotti!

Regularly $44.99 $39.99

Brothers Georges and Daniel Daou ("Dow") noticed that the Adelaida district soils west of Paso Robles mimic those in parts of Bordeaux–calcareous clay with limestone underlayment, a rarity in California. Their winery has achieved stardom, in part, because the estate wines from those soils on Daou Mountain are made with free run juice (without pressing), yielding exceptional concentration of color and flavor compounds in the wine. They have also developed their own proprietary yeast strain now used in more than thirty countries, and use some extremely rare French oak for some of their barrels. Soul of the Lion is winemaker Daniel’s and co-proprietor Georges' collectible tribute to their father, and its list of flavor references goes on and on: blackberry, blueberry, black currant, dark cherry, tobacco, licorice, and floral notes. It offers voluptuous texture and polished tannins in a super elegant premium Cabernet.

Regularly $169.99 $149.99

The winegrowing region Pomerol, east of the city of Bordeaux, is famous for top-flight and sometimes quite expensive Merlot-based wines that can age for decades. The clay and mineral-rich soils favoring that grape are also found in the small Lalande-de- Pomerol district just to the north, where Château Belle-Graves is located. Vineyards in that area date to the 1500s; the Château building itself was erected before the French Revolution. A former barrel cellar was recently converted to a modern high-tech winery where grapes from the 42-acre estate yield a lush, smoky, juicy, plummy wine with firm tannins. The blend (nearly all Bordeaux wines are blends) is 88% Merlot and 12% Cabernet Franc, aged 12-15 months and bottled unfiltered.

Regularly $39.99 $34.99

Wrath Wines is situated in a nook west of Soledad along Foothill Road, about 25 miles southeast of the town of Monterey. The winery’s name references Led Zepplin's song "Going to California," which contains the phrase "wrath of the gods"–a nod to the unpredictable power of the weather grape growers contend with. The region has low rainfall and one of the longest growing seasons in the world. Former San Francisco Opera stage hand Sabrine Rodem arrived there in 2004 having earned an M.A. in viticulture and enology in her "second career." She interned at Gloria Ferrer, and became Wrath’s winemaker in 2006. She oversees the 72-acre estate vineyard which is planted with Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Syrah, and Falaghina. She also sources grapes from her neighbors who farm some of the most prestigious vineyards in California in the Santa Lucia Highlands AVA, which rises up the mountainsides from its lower boundary just across the road from the winery. She and archeology professor-owner Michael Thomas, and his mother, Barbara Lemmon, are experimenters: the Winemaker Series (one of three tiers of Wrath wines) contains a mix of grape clones, or blends from particular vineyards, or fairly unknown grapes. For example, they make a Falanghina, a white wine from that Italian variety rare in California.

Swan/828 Pinot Noir is all estate fruit, mixing two clones to suggest cherry, raspberry, cranberry, eucalyptus and rose petal as well as meaty and earthy aromas and flavors. It is a compelling mediumbodied wine with a lingering lightly spicy finish, having spent about 12 months in mostly neutral barrels. 3 Clone Chardonnay, made with a mix of Montrachet and native yeast, offers hints of pear, apple, butterscotch, Meyer lemon, and vanilla, closing with an extended finish that hints of bitter orange. Wrath wines have a well-deserved reputation of quality, born of winemaking curiosity and great vineyards in Monterey County.

Regularly $27.99 $24.99