Great wines possess a kind of intensity that flatters the nose and palate, as well as the imagination, with a comprehensive scope of sensation and character without burdening our faculties with any quality of the flamboyant or egotistical; they burn with a hard, gem-like flame — as Walter Pater bade us live — rather than self-immolating in the baroque furnaces of exaggeration and manipulation. Great wines exert a sense of finely tuned balance in addition to a paradoxical element of risk, at times almost playfulness, these qualities subsumed into the overall impression of integration, generosity and completeness. The models I look at today, both samples for review, as I am required to inform you by the Federal Trade Commission, exemplify such standards. Nothing links these wines except the fact that I tasted them on sequential days and that they’re beautifully wrought renditions of the grapes from which they’re made.

First, however, a comment on what’s called the “tasting note.” There’s a hue and cry in the recent press about the death of the tasting note; the tasting note is outmoded, assert its opponents, a relic of a time when wine critics were deemed authorities and their notes — typically involving Bordeaux Classified Growths, Burgundy Premier and Grand Crus and great German rieslings — regarded as sacred texts. Such notions, we’re told, are hopeless in the world of the Internet, instant reaction and analysis, the cohort-like animation of word-of-mouth, blogs, smart phones and hanging loose. I think that’s all fine and dandy. Certainly the tasting note as perfected by a magazine like the Wine Spectator — telegraphic, gnomic, superficial and pointed toward the all-important numerical score — seems unhelpful except to consumers primarily interested in the dynamic of that large, black, bold-face rating. Such punchy tasting notes bear the same relationship to the characterization of a wine in a full review as a capsule summary of a movie does to a review in The New York Times or The New Yorker.

If I may self-advocate here, I have been taking notes on wine for 30 years, and I use those notes to assemble not merely a review of the wine but a narrative that blends history, geography and intention with an attempt to get to the heart of a product, in detail and dimension. I want My Readers to take away from such a review a sense of where a wine came from, the importance of its origin in a place and time and climate, what it smells like and tastes like and feels like over passing moments and what its potential is for growth and development — and perhaps what foods it could profitably accompany. Much as I love the physical properties of many of the wines I taste every year, I also dote on a wine’s chronicle from vineyard through the hands of the winemaker to the bottle on your table. If any of you read this blog and utter a sigh and heartfelt, “Oh, there F.K. goes again, talking about vineyard elevation and late harvesting and oak aging,” well, you should be used to that by now, because you’re stuck with it.

It’s true that not all wines require or deserve such full-blown treatment; many of the products I mention on this blog are simple quaffing wines meant to be enjoyed without much thought, and there’s not a thing wrong with that. The wines that I find richly rewarding though and that capture my attention — as did the two wines under review in this post — seem valuable not merely because of their high quality and complex character but because they imply a narrative that extents into a personal, historical and geological past and into the future of possibility.

The first image above is from my wine notebook, actually a ledger, from 1986 and 1987; the second image represents a small portion of wine notebooks from about 1995 to 2005.
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The Villa Huesgen Schiefer Riesling Trocken 2010 derives from steep vineyards that rise 100 to 200 meters above the Mosel River. The slightly fractured landscape lends the slate-impacted vineyard a faceted relationship to the sky, allowing the 30- to 35-year-old vines a multitude of exposures to sunlight as the day proceeds; the result seems to be an unusual degree of richness in the grapes, as well as a profoundly significant array of mineral elements. The estate traces its origin to 1735, when Johannes Huesgen (1697-1762) moved to the town of Traben-Trarbach in the Mosel region and began buying vineyards; in 1762, his son Johann-Wilhelm, with his mother and brother-in-law, founded a wine merchant business. Among the family’s most striking achievements is Villa Huesgen itself, one of the most famous Art Nouveau houses in Europe, designed by notable architect Bruno Möhring in 1904.

I don’t want to wax too poetical here or wade into the murky miasma of metaphor, but the bouquet and the flavors of the Villa Huesgen Schiefer Riesling Trocken 2010 evince such a powerful perception of rain on dusty slate tiles, of damp lilacs, of the snap of gunflint and the mingling of crushed limestone and lime peel, of lemongrass and ginger, of quince and spiced pear that it remains with me vividly two days later. This marked intensity, however, while distinctly present in nose and mouth, is not the least overwhelming; rather it evokes an impression that’s almost poignant in its acuteness and its weaving of infinite delicacies into a fabric of strength and elegance. Close to talc-like in texture but enlivened by crisp and crystalline acidity, Villa Huesgen Schiefer Riesling Trocken 2010, made all in stainless steel, is fresh and immediately appealing yet should age beautifully through 2018 to 2020. This, friends, is great riesling. 11.5% alcohol. We drank this wine with wholewheat linguine, roasted golden beets and beet greens, kale, leeks and Gruyere. Excellent. About $35.

Imported by Quintessential, Napa, Ca.
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The Wild Horse Cheval Sauvage Pinot Noir 2009, Santa Maria Valley, is the finest wine I have tasted from the winery in years. Director of winemaking is Clay Brock, and winemaker is Chrissy Wittmann. I don’t know to what extent the wine was a collaboration between them, but whatever the case, this is well-nigh perfect pinot. The grapes for the 2009 version all came from the well-known Sierra Madre Vineyard; previous vintages have been blends of several vineyards in Santa Maria, which, except for a tiny portion in San Luis Obispo County, lies within Santa Barbara County. Santa Maria, still largely isolated compared to wine regions farther north in the state, is cool climate, with its western-most area cooled even more by sea-breezes. It you ever stay in the vicinity, it’s wondrous to see the whole valley filled with fog early in the morning.

Wild Horse was founded in 1982 by Ken Volk; the winery and its vineyard occupy land above the Salinas River near Templeton, in northern San Luis Obispo County, in the Paso Robles appellation. In 2003, Volk sold the brand, the winery and the 64-acre property to Peak International, a subsidiary of Jim Beam Brands Worldwide. In 2007, Beam was swallowed up by the Icon Estates division of Constellation Brands. In January 2011, as reported in the San Luis Obispo Tribune, Constellation decided to “cut back operations” at Wild Horse, shifting the cellaring of Wild Horse wines to Estancia Winery in Soledad and Gonzalez Winery in Gonzales. The crush occurs at the original winery, with the reserve wines still “processed” there. Few things stay the same in California (sung to the tune of “Welcome to the Hotel California”).

Wild Horse Cheval Sauvage Pinot Noir 2009 offers exactly what I want in a pinot from The Golden State, that is, an ineffable sense of tension, resolution and balance between elegance and energy, between spareness and vigor. The color is medium cherry-mulberry from stem to stern. Aromas of red cherries, cranberry and rhubarb are permeated by touches of cloves, hints of toast and licorice and, beyond all that, something fleshy, spicier and untamed, a bell-tone of wild berry and a hint of briers. This bevy of elements is not presented in a blatant fashion but rather as a tissue of subtleties and nuances exquisitely poised, dexterous and agile. The texture is supremely satiny, supple and lithe, a bit of window dressing on the stones and bones of the wine’s vibrantly acidic and scintillating earthy/graphite structure; it spent 14 months in French oak barrels. A few minutes in the glass bring in notes of blue plums, pomegranate, sassafras and fruitcake, with the latter’s attendant notes of dried fruit and spices. A refreshing 13.9 percent alcohol. Drink now through 2016 or ’17. Excellent. About $65.
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No snark today; it’s my birthday! So what I offer are eight wines that we have enjoyed at home recently, mainly with lunches or dinners or standing in the kitchen preparing meals, with no — all right, very few — quibbles. It’s an eclectic group: white, rosé and red; still and sparkling, originating in Germany, Hungary, France, Oregon, Sonoma County and Napa Valley. Prices range from $11 to $45; ratings go from Very Good+ to Exceptional. No technical notes and details; just heart-felt reviews designed to spark your interest and whet your palate. These were all samples for review.
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Count Karolyi Grüner Veltliner 2011, Tolna, Hungary. 12% alc. 100% grüner veltliner grapes. Very pale straw-gold color; bone-dry, spare, lean, subtly infused with green apple, lime peel and a tang of spiced pear and grapefruit; powerful strain of oyster-shell-like/limestone minerality, but winsome and attractive. 523 cases imported. Very Good+. About $11, a Raving, Cosmic Bargain.
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River Road Nouveau Rosé of Pinot Noir 2012, Russian River Valley, Sonoma County. 12.5% alc. 100% pinot noir grapes. The first California wine from 2012 that I’ve tasted. Lovely pale watermelon color; pure strawberries and watermelon in the nose; soft, supple, almost shamelessly appealing; hints of dried cranberries and mulberries, pert, tart, laced with limestone; touch of orange rind and plum skin; slightly sweet on the intake, but the finish is dry. 240 cases. Absolute delight. Very Good+. About $15.
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Gustave Lorentz Crémant d’Alsace Rosé (nv), Alsace. 12.5% alc. 100% pinot noir grapes. Radiant medium salmon-copper color; a constant upward swirl of tiny bubbles, glinting silver in the dusky pink; striking aromas of macerated strawberries and raspberries with touches of cloves, orange zest and lime peel; very dry, very crisp, heaps of limestone and shale; yet creamy, supple, lots of body and heft, almost chewy; a long spice and mineral-laden finish. Production was 2,500 cases. Delectable and more. Very Good+. About $25.
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Domaine Chandon Reserve Brut (nv), 82% Sonoma County, 18% Napa County. 12.5% alc. Composition is 80% pinot noir, 20% chardonnay. Medium straw-gold color with a touch of bronze; a surging whirlwind of tiny bubbles; very biscuity, roasted hazelnuts, spiced pears; lightly buttered cinnamon toast; ginger and quince and a hint of baked apple; heaps of limestone-and-flint minerality, very steely, quite elegant yet with robust underpinnings; long spicy, toast-and-limestone packed finish. Very classy. 2,046 cases. Excellent. About $30.
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Cornerstone Chardonnay 2010, Willamette Valley, Oregon. 100% chardonnay grapes. Pale straw color; pungent with pineapple and grapefruit aromas tinged with honeysuckle, lemon zest, cloves, damp limestone and a touch of mango; lots of presence, lots of personality; lively, crisp, refreshing; dense, talc-like texture, almost chewy yet taut, chiming with acidity and a vibrant limestone-and-flint minerality. Quite stylish and attractive. 166 cases produced. Now through 2014 t0 ’16. Excellent. About $35.
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Villa Huesgen Enkircher Steffensberg Riesling Kabinett 2011, Mosel, Germany. 10% alc. 100% riesling grapes. Pale straw-gold color; delicate, lithe and lacy, crisp as an apple fresh from the cellar and slightly bitter and bracing as apple skin; whiff of some dewy white flower like camellia, traces of smoke and ripe lychee, peach skin and apricot; smells like summer, what can I say? so lively that it’s almost pétillant, burgeoning quality of limestone and shale, hints of roasted lemons and pears, but all subsumed to a sense of elegance and refinement married to the power of fluent acidity and scintillating minerality. Production was 2,000 cases. Just great. Now to 2020 to ’25. Excellent. About $40.
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Signorello Seta Proprietary White Wine 2011, Napa Valley. 14.4% alc. 62% semillon grapes, 38% sauvignon blanc. Takes risks with oak but pulls off the feat. Light straw-gold color; spicy figs and pears, dried thyme and tarragon, greengage plums, roasted lemons, guava and ginger: yeah, quite a bouquet, in which you also sense, as ink seeps into the graven lines of the etcher’s plate, the soft permeating burr of oak and woody spices, as well in the body of the wine; yet boy what presence and tone, clarity and confidence; a few minutes bring in notes of white peach and gooseberry, something wild and sunny and definitive; crisp acidity, a modicum of stony minerality. 177 cases. Now through 2015. Excellent. About $42.
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Pfendler Pinot Noir 2010, Sonoma Coast. 14.4% alc. 100% pinot noir grapes. A brilliant pinot noir; you want to hand yourself over to it. Dark ruby color with a slightly lighter violet-magenta rim; deliriously spicy and floral; black cherries, red currants and mulberries, just a hint in the background of something a little earthy and funky, very Burgundian in that aspect; super satiny texture but with a slightly roughed or sanded (as if were) surface — there’s a touch of resistance; a substantial pinot noir that fills the mouth, dense and intense; gains power as the moments pass; there’s an autumnal element: burning leaves, slightly dried moss, briers but overall gorgeous fruit. 200 cases. Among the best pinot noirs I tasted (or drank) in 2012. Now through 2016 to ’18. Exceptional. About $45.
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Napa Valley’s Cornerstone Cellars has come a long way since 1991 when two doctors from Memphis bought some surplus Howell Mountain cabernet sauvignon grapes from Randy Dunn and started their own label. Great reviews poured in for Cornerstone’s cabernets, and continue to do so, issued under Napa Valley and Howell Mountain designations. The producer has a second label, Stepping Stone, while a recent addition to the roster is an even less expensive line, the punningly labeled Rocks. Cornerstone has expanded in several directions under the leadership of managing partner Craig Camp, and one of the directions is a collaboration with Oregon star-winemaker Tony Rynders (10 years at Domaine Serene, consultant to a flock of small producers) to produce Willamette Valley pinot noirs for the Cornerstone and Stepping Stone labels; there’s also a Willamette chardonnay for Cornerstone that I’ll report on in a subsequent post.

I tasted these wines at Wine Bloggers’ Conference 2012 in August and in October as samples for review.
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The Stepping Stone Pinot Noir 2010, Willamette Valley, Oregon, aged 13 months in French oak barrels, 35 percent new. If you don’t mind a moment of geekiness, I’ll list the regional sources of the grapes, to give My Readers an idea of how the wine was assembled to represent the Willamette Valley as a sort of ideal; 45 percent of the grapes derived from the Yamhill-Carlton appellation, 33 percent from Eola-Amity Hills, 15 percent from Chehalem Mountain, 5 percent from McMinnville and 1 percent each from Ribbon Ridge and Dundee Hills. What are the implications? Most of these sub-appellations of Willamette Valley consist of vineyards that range in elevation from 200 feet (this is above the valley frost-line) to 1,000 feet. Differences in soil and weather patterns are fairly subtle but very real and are largely influenced by the presence of the Coastal Range to the west and the Van Duzer Corridor that allows moderating breezes from the Pacific through to a couple of these small areas in the afternoon. Chehalem Mountains offers the greatest variation in temperature; Yamhill-Carlton tends to be the most moderate in temperature and the driest. These regions provide a thoughtful winemaker with a finely nuanced palette of characteristics to work with, using percentages of grapes from each to create a picture of a valley-encompassing pinot noir.

The color of Stepping Stone Pinot Noir 2010 is bright ruby with a magenta tinge; this is pure, bright and fresh, mounting an appealing bouquet of smoky and spicy black cherries and plums woven with rhubarb and pomegranate and that typical Willamette Valley element of briers and brambles over a base of clean earthy loam. The earthiness, the touch of loam and moss, remain consistent in the mouth, contributing a foundation for ripe and juicy black fruit flavors supported by slightly barky tannins and vibrant acidity; the finish takes on some of the austerity of those tannins and a hint of woody spice, but the wine is eminently attractive and drinkable. 13.5 percent alcohol. Production was 137 cases. Now through 2014 or ’15. Very Good+. About $30.
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The first time I tried the Cornerstone Pinot Noir 2010, Willamette Valley, my first note was “beautiful”; the second time, my first note was “lovely.” Need I continue? Well, yes, of course. The oak regimen was 15 months in French barrels, 62 percent new; the appellation blend was 68 percent Yamhill-Carlton with diminishing percentages of — in this order — Chehalem Mountains, Eola-Amity Hills, McMinnville, Ribbon Ridge and Dundee Hills. The color is a ravishing medium ruby with a violet rim; aromas of black and red cherries and currants are highlighted by touches of cola and cloves, rhubarb and cranberry and, after a few moments in the glass, tar, black tea, loam and bittersweet chocolate. It’s difficult to tear yourself away from such a panoply of sensations, but you won’t be unhappy to do so when you feel the wine’s smooth, supple and satiny texture, the way it adds spiced plums and mulberries to the mix, and how the bright acidity and slightly knotty tannins open to a fairly deep earthy-graphite quality. You feel a subtle crescendo of tannins and oak through the finish, but the wine is essentially balanced and integrated and complete. 13.5 percent alcohol. 498 cases. Now through 2015 or ’16. Excellent. About $50.

Label image, cropped and resized, from hogsheadwine.wordpress.com.
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A friend who works for a local wholesale house called me and said, “Listen, somebody sent us some wines to try, and we just can’t work with them because the production is so small. I’ll bring ‘em to you and you can do with ‘em what you will. If you can use them on the blog, that’s fine.” So, my friend brought the wines by the house, and they turned out to be two vintages — the only two vintages so far — of pinot noir from Labor Wines in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. I saw instantly what he meant by the small production; Labor Wines made 280 cases of the inaugural Pinot Noir 2009 and 336 cases of the rendition for 2010. Not a lot of juice to go around, and not exactly tons of information about the small winery out there, either, not even on its website. What I can tell you is that Labor Wines is a collaboration between entrepreneur Richard Oppenheimer and Corey T. Nyman, of the well-known Nyman Group restaurant consultants, managers and headhunters for the restaurant and hospitality industries. In addition to this pair of sequential pinot noirs, Labor Wines made a Pinot Blanc 2011. The wines can be found in some stores and restaurants in Arizona, California, Florida, Nevada, New York, Oregon and Texas.

I’ll tell you right now that if your standard for fine pinot noir is something extracted and opulent, fruity, super-ripe and forward, then the Labor Wines pinot aren’t for you. If, on the other hand, you believe that the ideal pinot noir should be lithe and spare, that the acidity should cut a bright swath on the palate and that it is altogether a congeries of infinite delicacy, nuance and understatement, well, these are definitely Worth a Search.

Addendum for local readers: These wine ARE available in Memphis.
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The Labor Wines Pinot Noir 2009, Willamette Valley, drew grapes primarily from the Yamhill-Carlton District with the addition of grapes from the Chehalem Mountains appellation. The wine aged in French oak, a combination of new and second-year barrels, but neither the percentage nor the length of time is specified, and about the latter issue I would say not too damned much time, because the oak influence here is subliminal. The color is medium ruby-cerise; aromas of red cherries and red currants are melded with hints of cloves and sassafras, dried currants, mulberries and a touch of smoke; a few minutes in the glass bring in a note of dried cranberry and (very slightly) pomegranate. In the mouth, the wine is a finely shaped amalgam of lightly sanded woody spices, dusty graphite, elusive tannins and clean, vibrant acidity, all working in concord with delicately spiced and macerated black and red fruit flavors. The finish is well-knit, sinewy, spicy. 14.4 percent alcohol. 280 cases, Drink now through 2015 or ’16. Excellent. About $28.
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The differences between the Labor Wines Pinot Noir 2010, Willamette Valley, and its predecessor from 2009, are subtle, indeed, but certainly present. The color is a similar red ruby-cerise but with a shading of magenta at the rim. In the nose, we perceive the same fresh, spare red cherry and currant scents but with more bottom in the form of new leather, briers and brambles and a wild touch of rhubarb. The ’10 is a bit spicier than the ’09, but it maintains, at all costs, a spirit of spareness and elegance that makes it easy to drink for its winsome fruity qualities yet demanding for its dry, rigorous character. The wine aged eight months in French oak, with only 15 percent of the barrels being new, so, again, the presence of oak is felt in the wine’s subtly shaped architecture, its framing and foundation, just as the dry, slightly powdery tannins feel organic and essential without being emphatic. There’s a touch more minerality here, too, in the form of cool flint and graphite, while the finish feels faceted, spicy, a little earthy in the way of dried moss and underbrush. 12.5 percent alcohol. 336 cases. Now through 2015 to ’17. Excellent. About $28.
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Mount Eden Vineyards traces its origin to the early 1940s, when Martin Ray left his job at Paul Masson in Santa Clara and launched a winery under his own name in the Santa Cruz Mountains, south of San Francisco Bay. Ray was destined to become one of California’s most out-spoken and controversial winemakers, and his often superb though equally as often erratic wines reflected his individuality and irascibility. In 1972, after a series of conflicts, Ray’s investors ousted him from control, and his family was left with a small, lower vineyard while up in the hills the former Martin Ray winery was renamed Mount Eden. Jeffrey Patterson was hired as assistant winemaker at Mount Eden in 1981 and within 18 months he was named head winemaker and general manager. In 1986, Patterson and his wife Ellie, a horticulturalist and textile artist, acquired significant shares in Mount Eden, and finally, in 2008, Jeffrey and Ellie Patterson and their children Sophie and Reid, took on the majority ownership. What a long time they worked and waited!

This succinct history of one of California’s archetypal vineyards and wineries serves as prelude to today’s Wine of the Week, the Domaine Eden Pinot Noir 2010, Santa Cruz Mountains. The “Domaine” wines, distinct from the “Mount Eden” wines, derive from a 1700-foot elevation 55-acre site that the Pattersons purchased in 2007, the former home of Cinnabar Winery in the Saratoga foothills. The Domaine Eden wines sell for about $20 less than the Mount Eden wines.

Domaine Eden Pinot Noir 2010, Santa Cruz Mountains, aged for 12 months in French oak barrels, 50 percent new. Nothing opulent or obvious here; this pinot noir continues in the venerable Mount Eden tradition of Burgundian-style pinots that emphasize structure over ripeness but sacrifice nothing in the way of freshness, purity or intensity. The wine at first feels muscular, lithe and sinewy, but gradually the texture of cool satin unfolds, and flavors of brambly black currants, plums and mulberries (with hints of rhubarb and pomegranate) broaden across the spectrum; in the nose, the black and red fruit scents become generously laden with cloves and sassafras, violets and potpourri. Tannins are fine-grained and slightly dusty, borne by supple oak and vibrant acidity, and they frame the wine firmly and indelibly but without blatant proclamation. In the end, the wine is a potent marriage of elegance and power. 13.5 percent alcohol. Now through 2015 to ’17. Excellent. About $35 is the suggested retail price; it’s $33 in my neck o’ the woods and can be found around the country as low as $28.

Tasted at a distributor’s trade event.

Except for Santa Lucia Highlands, which I’m still working on as some separate posts since I published this post on October 12. Represented today though are Russian River Valley, Monterey, Cienega Valley, Carneros, Sonoma Coast and Edna Valley, as well as one example with a general California designation; all are from 2010 or 2009. I don’t burden the “Weekend Wine Sips” (formerly the “Friday Wine Sips”) with technical detail, narrative sweep, personnel histories or geographical and geological grandeur; these are brief notes, often transcribed directly from the pages of my notebooks, designed to give you a quick glimpse into the essence of the wine. These were samples for review.

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Pietra Santa Pinot Noir 2009, Cienega Valley, San Benito. 14.3% alc. Medium ruby, slightly brickish color; ripe and spicy black and red cherries, cola and cloves and sassafras; a little fleshy, with hints of dried fruit and spices, earthy, loamy, satiny; you feel the sticks and briers in the slightly austere underbrushy finish, which falls a bit short. Drink up. Very Good+. About $18.
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Kendall-Jackson Vintner’s Reserve Pinot Noir 2010, California. 13.5% alc. Medium ruby color; a pretty pinot noir, bright and spicy red with blue fruit scents and flavors, a pleasing smooth texture and plenty of smooth-grained tannins for structure. Through 2013. Very Good. About $19.
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La Crema Pinot Noir 2010, Monterey. 13.5% alc. (Jackson Family Wines) A real mouthful of pinot noir, rich and very berryish, dark, spicy; cranberry-magenta color; cherries galore, very clean, pure and intense, lipsmacking acidity, quite dry; the oak comes up a bit in the finish, but a well-made and appealing wine. Through 2013. Very Good+. About $20, representing Good Value.
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Toad Hollow Goldie’s Vineyard Pinot Noir 2010, Russian River Valley. 14.9% alc. Medium ruby-magenta color; black cherries, red currants and plums, nicely balanced between richness and spareness, touches of rhubarb and cloves; undertone of brown sugar or something slightly caramelized; smoke and satin, sweetly succulent yet dry, a little sanded and burnished in effect; an edge of foresty austerity through the finish. Through 2014. Very Good+. About $20, Excellent Value.
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Rodney Strong Pinot Noir 2010, Russian River Valley. 14.5% alc. Dark ruby-mulberry color; beetroot, cloves, sassafras and coloa under black cherries and plums; satiny, slick and sleek; oak influence subdued to balance and integration; sapid, supple, savory; dense and almost viscous but cut by bright acidity and smooth-bore tannins; finish permeated by briers and brambles. Through 2014. Excellent. About $25.
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La Crema Pinot Noir 2010, Sonoma Coast. 13.9% alc. Medium ruby color; earthy, briery style, moss, mushroom, leather and the clove-cola-sassafras syndrome with black and red cherries and a hint of rhubarb; large-framed, dense, lithe, lively, pronounced tannins though polished and well-knit; succulent without being opulent; long fruit-and-spice packed finish with a final edge of graphite. Through 2015.
Excellent. About $25.
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MacMurray Ranch Pinot Noir 2009, Sonoma Coast. 13.5% alc. Medium ruby-mulberry color; entrancing bouquet of currants and plums, smoky and softly ripe, a little fleshy, touches of fruitcake, rhubarb and lilac; slightly roughened tannins boost the texture; very dry though tasty; leather and loam in the finish where the wood comes up. Through 2013. Very Good+. About $27
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Frank Family Pinot Noir 2009, Carneros-Napa Valley. 14.5% alc. Medium ruby with a slightly lighter ruby rim; rich, warm and spicy, more syrah-like in heft and flavor than is good for its supposition as pinot noir; a muscular manner that blunts nuance. Very Good. About $35.

(Eight others follow)
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In the deep backward and absym of time, I used to receive samples from Robert Mondavi Winery, usually twice a year in the form of a case of new releases. After Constellation bought Robert Mondavi at the end of 2004, though, for whatever reason, I stopped receiving samples from the winery; was it something I said, or perhaps it had to do with my switching from a weekly newspaper column to my own website (the old KoeppelOnWine.com, which operated from December 2004 to April 2008). In any case, I was happy to open a two-bottle box recently delivered to my threshold and find the Robert Mondavi Chardonnay 2010 and Pinot Noir 2010. Even more happily, the wines are terrific models of their kind, and while the products featured in “Pairs of Great Wines” are often rare and expensive, these represent high quality for not exorbitant prices and are widely available. Director of winemaking for Robert Mondavi is Genevieve Janssens.
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I found the Robert Mondavi Chardonnay 2010, Napa Valley, entrancing, and of course it didn’t hurt that the wine is an example of precisely what I want chardonnay to be: stony and steely but with plenty of tasty fruit and chiming acidity and a texture that balances lushness with litheness. So, there’s the review right there, but I’ll expand on the theme a bit so you’re familiar with the technical thinking behind it. Seventy-seven percent of the juice was fermented in French oak barrels, 15 percent new, with the remaining 23 percent fermented in stainless steel tanks; these lots aged for 10 months on the lees, that is, the residue of used-up yeast cells, a process that can add depth and character to a wine. The color is radiant pale gold; aromas of ripe pineapple and grapefruit open to notes of baked pear, ginger and quince and hints of jasmine and limestone; a hint of mango adds complexity. In the mouth, this chardonnay at first is spare, almost lean with its dominant limestone and steel qualities and vibrant acid nature, but the citrus and stone fruit flavors offer burgeoning spice and smoke over a mounting oak presence (from mid-palate back) that contributes firmness and a pleasing, almost powdery finish. 13.5 percent alcohol. Now through 2014. Excellent. About $20, marking Great Value.
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My first note on the Robert Mondavi Pinot Noir 2010, Carneros, Napa Valley, is “absolutely beautiful.” The wine spent only seven months in French oak, 34 percent new barrels, so the wood influence is almost subliminal, yet it’s there, shapely and suavely spicy. The color is dark ruby with a mulberry-magenta cast. Aromas of smoky black and red cherries are infused with cola and cloves, pomegranate and rhubarb, all singing over bass-notes of slightly earthy briers and brambles. In the mouth, ripe and spicy black and red fruit flavors (and a touch of dried fruit) exist in complete harmony with the wine’s super-satiny texture, but this is no kissy-face pushover; instead, the Robert Mondavi Pinot Noir 2010, Carneros, Napa Valley, avoids plushness or opulence through the agency of bright acidity and the presence of finely-knit tannins. Above all, the impression is of a lovely marriage of spareness and elegance in the service of delicious pinot noir authenticity. 14.5 percent alcohol. Now through 2015. Excellent. About $27.
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The influence of geography and geology on vineyards, grapes and ultimately a bottle of wine is inestimable. In fact, geology and geography form the Alpha and the Omega of the biological foundation and agricultural process that in collaboration with weather — born itself of geographical and stratospheric principles — pump life into dormant vines, unfurl the leaves and encourage the buds, plump the grapes and bring them to fullness so they may be harvested and turned into wine. It’s not a magical or miraculous occurrence; aside from weather, which is the most variable factor in the tapestry, the elements of geography and geology change little over hundreds of thousands of years. (Global warming and climate change are different issues.)

Monterey County nestles against the Pacific Ocean, slanting to the southeast away from Monterey Bay, where it begins. You might picture, if you will, a flat valley, the Salinas Valley, the runs from the northwest to the the southeast between mountain ranges, the Santa Lucia Range to the west and the Galiban and San Benito ranges to the east. The Salinas Valley, a broad flatland, acts as a wind tunnel, drawing wind currents down from Monterey Bay, home to one of the world’s unique oceanographic features, the so-called Blue Grand Canyon, a name trademarked by the Monterey County Vintners and Growers Association. Whatever it’s called, this two-mile-deep (from the surface of Monterey Bay) and 60-mile-long trench in the ocean floor, located less than 100 yards off the coast, generates a colossal amount of cold air that influences the climate of Monterey’s vineyard regions as far south as San Lucas, where the Salinas Valley peters out. As you can see from this relief map, most of Monterey County — the county line is pink — is mountains; the Salinas Valley spikes down between the ranges. The light green area toward the bottom, surmounted by what look like bunny ears, is the San Antonio Valley. (Map from landwatch.org)

The entire valley and the foothills of its adjacent mountain ranges are filled with fog from early morning to late morning or early afternoon, when rising temperatures click on the wind tunnel effect and winds of up to 30 miles per hour begin to churn from the bay down through the valley. The resulting Thermal Rainbow — another trademark — regulates temperatures from the bay, where it’s coolest, down through the Salinas Valley all the way to the Hames and San Antonio AVAs, where the temperature is the warmest, sometimes to a differential of 40 degrees. In the cooler areas, pinot noir, chardonnay, syrah and riesling vines flourish; farther south, the vineyards hold cabernet sauvignon, zinfandel and some Rhone Valley grape varieties. The climate of the Central Coast and Salinas Valley is characterized as Mediterranean, meaning dry summers and cool, wet winters, though “wet” is a relative terms for a region where the rainfall averages 17 inches annually, and that’s between November and April. (The image above shows the Panorama Vineyard at the western edge of Arroyo Seco AVA, looking toward the Santa Lucia Range.)

Monterey County is an American Viticultural Area, so designated in 1984, but that doesn’t mean that you can plant grapes anywhere in the county and expect to say so on the label. The Monterey AVA is restricted to the narrow, central part of the county as well as an arm that reaches to the coast around Carmel. Lying along or within the Monterey AVA are eight smaller appellations, some of which are much better known than others: Chalone (1982), high above Soledad in the Gabilan hills below Pinnacles National Monument, home to one winery, Chalone Estate, and two other vineyards, 300 acres planted; Carmel Valley (1983), with five wineries and 300 acres of vines; the crowded Arroyo Seco (1983), with 37 wineries and vineyards and 7000 acres of vines; the seldom seen San Lucas (1987), home to eight vineyards that total 8,000 acres; the increasingly prestigious Santa Lucia Highlands (1991), with 29 vineyards and wineries and 5,900 planted acres; the also seldom seen Hames Valley AVA (1994), with eight vineyards totaling 2,200 acres; San Bernabe (2004), whose raison d’etre is 4,300 acres of vines owned by Delicato Family Vineyards; and the vast and largely empty San Antonio Valley (2006), which boasts three wineries and another vineyard totaling 600 acres.

My concern today (and in a subsequent post), after this introduction, is Santa Lucia Highlands, a long, narrow and increasingly populated AVA that over the past two decades has built a solid reputation for wines made from (especially) chardonnay and pinot noir grapes. SLH perches along the eastern terrace of the Santa Lucia Range, on the west side of the Salinas Valley, looking across to the distant Chalone AVA and Pinnacles National Monument (see accompanying image, from santaluciahighlands.com). From any vantage point or dizzy coign, the valley spreads northwest and southeast in a fertile quilt-like patchwork of various intense green hues, the country’s abundant basket of lettuce, cabbage and other leafy vegetables, that would not be possible without irrigation. SLH benefits from its semi-lofty placement on the escarpment — vineyards go from about 300 to 1,400-feet-elevation — where morning fog from Monterey Bay brings moisture and late morning sun and afternoon winds dry the grapes; the cool winds also slow photosynthesis, ensuring a long, even ripening of the grapes. Soil is primarily fine alluvial sandy or gravelly loam.

I’ll look today at SLH products from two young (or youngish) winemakers, Sabrine Rodems at Wrath Wines (she also has some Monterey AVA wines) and Chris Weidemann, who owns Pelerin Wines. A post coming next week (at a rough estimate) will discuss Figge Cellars, Tudor, Boekenoogan and Hahn Estate’s Lucienne single-vineyard pinot noirs. All of these wines were tasted on a sponsored trip to Monterey during the second week of September.
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Sabrine Rodems is fast-talking, brash, opinionated, animated, funny and sincere and totally dedicated to making authentic wines with balance, integrity, grace and no small measure of power. As winemaker for Wrath Wines — formerly San Saba Vineyards –she produces very limited quantities of chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, pinot noir and syrah under three labels: Ex Anima Wines, Winemaker Series and Single Vineyard Series.

The Wrath Ex Anima Sauvignon Blanc 2011, Monterey, practically climbs out of the glass with its brash bright notes of green apple, grapefruit and gooseberry and hints of fresh-mown grass; made all in stainless steel, this is very clean, crisp and tart, with appealing personality and mineral grip. 12.9 percent alcohol. Very Good+. About $19. The Wrath 3 Clone Chardonnay 2010, Monterey, goes the whole route: barrel-fermentation, 10 months in “40 or 50 percent” (Rodems said) new French oak and full malolactic; almost miraculously, the result is not overwhelming richness but exquisite balance, lovely heft, density and texture, reams of spice-infused apple, grapefruit and pineapple scents and flavors heightened by a trace of jasmine and deepened by shimmering limestone and flint minerality. 14.5 percent alcohol. Excellent. About $35.

The Ex Anima Pinot Noir 2010, Monterey, aged 10 months in a combination of stainless steel tanks and two-to-four-year-old French oak; no window-dressing here, this is all pinot noir purity and intensity, cleanness and freshness, with clove-and-cola- inflected raspberry and red currant scents and flavors, a sleek satiny texture and invigorating acidity that cuts a swath on the palate. 13 percent alcohol. Excellent. About $25. Rodems makes a pinot noir from the Boekenoogan Vineyard (about which more later); the version for 2010, Santa Lucia Highlands, reveals a bit more obvious hand with oak, but the wine is essentially well-balanced, smooth, suave and polished. 14.5 percent alcohol. Excellent. About $49.

Finally, the Wrath Fairview Vineyard Syrah 2009, Santa Lucia Highlands, offers all the blackberry and blueberry fruit, baking spice and black pepper and potpourri you could ask for in a supple package bolstered by plenty of dusty, briery tannins and earthy graphite-like minerality. 14.6 percent alcohol. Excellent. About $35.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Sometimes you encounter wines that seem such an embodiment of grace and elegance, purity and integrity that you would like to drink them forever. It’s fitting that the labels of Chris Weidemann’s Pelerin Wines feature the profile of an elderly pilgrim depicted as if part of an ancient mural; that sense of classical decorum and timelessness is intrinsic in Weidemann’s wines, all of which carry the Santa Lucia Highlands designation. He specializes in chardonnay, pinot noir and red and white Rhone Valley grape varieties and produces about 2,200 cases annually.

The Pelerin Paraiso Vineyard Les Tournesols 2010 is a blend of 58 percent viognier and 42 percent roussanne grapes; the wine spent six months in neutral oak barrels, that is, barrels used several times before. What a completely lovely, perfectly balanced wine, with notes of jasmine, fig, melon and roasted lemon and a hint of lime peel and limestone; audacious acidity and a firm but limpid limestone element support a structure and texture of beguiling shading and dimension. 14.4 percent alcohol. Now through 2014. Excellent. About $27. The Pelerin Sierra Mar Vineyard Chardonnay 2010 offers a bright gold color and grapefruit-pineapple scents and flavors that hint at the tropical without falling into the trap of overstatement or ungovernable ripeness; it’s a beautifully balanced and harmonious chardonnay, smooth, subtle and supple but with an edge of spice and flint, ginger and quince that raises the level of discourse a notch or two. 14.4 percent alcohol. Now through 2014 or ’15. Excellent. About $42.

People often say, “Words fail,” an assertion I find ridiculous, because words and language are adequate for all purposes; it’s not the words that fail, it’s us and our imaginations. So, words don’t fail at the prospect of describing the Pelerin Sierra Mar Vineyard Pinot Noir 2009, but they certainly stand rather awe-struck. Not that there’s anything super-dimensional about the wine; just the opposite, and if you’re weary of pinot noir wines from California that push the limits with extraction and richness and ripeness and alcohol, then this pinot noir is what you have been longing for. The fruit profile is red and blue, as in red currants and plums and blueberries with a hint of the tartness of cranberries and notes of cola and cloves; supple, satiny, yes, but spare, elegant and understated, except for the essential crisply-etched acidity that plows a row on the palate and a seemingly fathoms-deep element of graphite-like minerality and earthy briers and brambles, all this panoply subdued in honor of divine harmony. 14.5 percent alcohol. Now through 2014 or ’15. Exceptional. About $42.

Finally, the Pelerin Paraiso Vineyard Les Violettes Syrah 2008 is a model of balance, purity, intensity and utter drinkablility, yet behind that sapid facade, with its tasty black and blue fruit flavors, lingers a savory bastion of tar and tapenade, leather, black pepper and graphite. 14.3 percent alcohol. Now through 2014 to ’16. Excellent. About $36.
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Though the concept of an etude could legitimately refer to any area of technical study, we are mainly familiar with its use in the realm of music, where an etude is a miniature piece designed to exercise a particular aspect of skills, such as, for the piano, playing runs with double octaves or developing speed and accuracy in chromatic passages. The most famous sets of etudes are Chopin’s Opus 10 and Opus 25, published in 1833 and 1837 respectively, brief works of fiendish difficulty and often ravishing melody, though some of the pieces are profound in their depths of fervor and bravado. It’s almost a paradox, then, that when well-known winemaker and consultant Tony Soter launched Etude Wines in 1985 he named the winery for an idea based on exercises that seek for mechanical proficiency, though Chopin demands emotional and psychological commitment from his performers, as Soter always did, in a sense, from his consumers. Whatever the case, these examples of a chardonnay and pinot noir from Etude reveal an extremely high level of proficiency and dedication. Winemaker is Jon Priest. Soter sold Etude’s brand and inventory — there was no winery facility — to Beringer Blass in 2001. Through a demerger from the Fosters Group in 2011, Etude (and a host of other interesting or important brands in California and Australia) is owned by Treasury Wine Estates.

These wines were samples for review.
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The Etude Chardonnay 2010, Carneros, rated a “just beautiful” as my first note; this is exactly what I want chardonnay to be: cool, spare, elegant, pure and transparent yet displaying inner richness and succulence restrained by dazzling acidity and scintillating mineral elements. The wine aged 10 months in neutral French oak, meaning barrels that have been used for aging wine several times so that their effect on a wine is subtle and nuanced. Notes of green apples, spiced pears and grapefruit are buoyed by hints of limestone and flint and a bit of jasmine; this is wonderfully suave, smooth and supple, with an abundance of intensely ripe and spicy stone fruit and citrus flavors that are both off-set and highlighted by a crisp vibrant acid presence and an almost crystalline edge of limestone and chalk. Now through 2015 or ’16. Excellent. About $32.
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All right, so my first note on the Etude Pinot Noir 2009, Carneros, was “OMG!” As with the Etude Chardonnay 2010 reviewed just above, this exemplary model embodies exactly what I want a New World pinot noir to be: satiny and savory, with power and elegance married in equal measure and with a sense of delicacy bringing restraint to its intent and purposefulness. Many of the Etudes in Chopin’s Op. 10 and Op. 25 deliver a metaphorical sense of ineffable tinsel supported by the backbone of tensile strength, and this eminently drinkable yet somewhat age-worthy pinot noir feels the same. Under the lovely effects of pure and intense black cherries, black currents and plums permeated by hints of rhubarb and pomegranate, blueberry and sassafras, this wine delivers a lash of vivacious acidity and an undercoat of graphite and shale, all leading to a finish packed with the resonance of deep, spicy black and blue fruit flavors — there’s a hint of fruitcake, too, and a whiff of smoke and a bit of lavender — and the welcome earthiness and slight austerity of briery, brambly qualities. Now through 2015 or ’17. Excellent. About $42.
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Morgan Winery was not on the agenda for the small group that I traveled around Monterey County with in the middle of September, but keeping with the spirit of that trip and with the day we spent in the Santa Lucia Highlands appellation, I’ll make the Wine of the Week the Morgan Twelve Clones Pinot Noir 2010, the grapes for which were drawn from the winery’s own Double L Vineyard — 56 percent — and from several other vineyards in Santa Lucia, including Tondre Grapefield and Gary’s. The winery was founded by Dan Morgan Lee and Donna Lee in 1982; winemaker since 2005 has been Gianni Abate. The wine is named for the 12 original pinot noir clones in the Double L Vineyard, though now there are 14.

The Morgan Twelve Clones Pinot Noir 2010 offers a seductive color of medium ruby-cerise with a touch of magenta at the rim; the bouquet is a welter of cloves and sassafras, spiced and macerated red and black currants and cherries with a back-note of plum and deeper hints of briers and brambles The wine aged 10 months in French oak, 36 percent new barrels, the rest one- and two-years-old, and you feel that wood slightly in the wine’s subtle and supple nature, because this is, above all, beautifully balanced and integrated, though clean acidity cuts a swath and keeps this pinot noir bright and lively, while a satiny texture wraps all elements. Black and red fruit flavors are buoyed by a hint of graphite minerality and potpourri; the finish is long and packed with spice and foresty touches and just a hint of oak’s austerity. 13.9 percent alcohol. The winery made 10,000 cases, so there’s plenty to go around. Now through 2014 or ’15, with roasted chicken or grilled salmon, or, what the hell, a grilled cheese sandwich. Excellent. About $32.

A sample for review.