And the year end kudos begin...

As we come to the close of the year, inevitably, there are Top Wine lists that pop out from every last publication, both big and small. I would like to give a big shout out to one of the pleasant surprises of 2009, from a great winery here in Sonoma County, Magito Wines. Their Mt. Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon not only got 94 points a few months back, but it as also selected as one of the Top 100 Cellar Selections by Wine Enthusiast Magazine (coming in a number 32!). It has great fruit (especially cassis and black currant), with structure that will hold up for many years, but also very drinkable and enjoyable right now. Great choice for a nice bit of prime rib roast for the holidays, or even a big bowl of fresh pasta with a rich beef sauce. I'm particularly proud of them, as I get to work with the owner, Tom Meadowcroft, owner and winemaker, on a regular basis (I do some compliance work for them!). Tom is a great guy, and excellent winemaker, and he lets me taste his wines on a regular basis to see how they are evolving. Besides the Cab mentioned above, Magito has a wide range of wines (Chardonnay, Zinfandel, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Viognier, and more!), and at different price points, to fit most any budget. Ask for them at your local wine shop, or contact them through their website at www.magitowines.com.
Until next time,
David

The funny ways of the wine industry...

The wine industry is an odd mistress - sometimes sweet, sometimes fickle. You may have noticed that my posts trailed off - mostly with the end of harvest, I was inundated with requests for all sorts of projects that took over my time. Not that it's a bad thing, but I have missed being able to share some of the wines I've tasted and places I've had a chance to visit over the last six weeks. Now that things have settled down a bit, I hope you will join me in (once again) finding out more about the crazy world of wine we all enjoy.
Until later,
David

Let's talk Lodi Wine!!!

Here we go - Let's talk some Lodi Wine!!!
There's some many womderful wines, and better yet, some great people. For instance, Tom and Carmela Hoffman, who own Heritage OAk Winery just east of Lodi, make some stunning wines from land that Tom's great-great grandfather homesteaded on back in the 1860s. On this land, they grow some stellar Zinfandel (as well as Chardonnay and Cabernet), and make some of the tastiest Zin from Lodi, but for my money, it's the Sauvignon Blanc that really steals the show. Always crisp and full of wonderful notes of citrus, pineapple and melon, it has been a wine I have enjoyed since they opened their winery - and even before, as Tom was a VERY accomplished home winemaker, and his Sauvignon took numerous big awards in amateur competition before turning pro a few years ago. On those wonderful summer eveings we get in Northern California, especially in the Fall, the Heritage Oak Sauvignon Blanc goes great with pasta, chicken, fish and pork (especially grilled pork tenderloin!). What makes going to Heritage Oak even more special is that Tom and Carmela are truly enjoyable to talk with, about wine or any number of topics. Plus, with this land in Tom's family for five generations, you feel a sense of place on this special piece of land.
To learn even more about Heritage Oak Winery, stop by and visit on the weekends, or you can visit virtually at www.heritageoakwinery.com. Until next time, when we move onto another great place, wine and people,
Salute,
David

What? More Rain?

A thousand pardons to those of you waiting for the Lodi series - with last week's rain, and then this week's, things have been pretty hectic with some of us working with Sonoma County - the Lodi series will resume by no later than Thursday!
Also, kudos to fellow Lodi Wine Nation writer Jon Bjork, passing on the info on Iberian varietals growing in Lodi, presented at UCD by Markus Bokisch earlier this year - a must see (about an hour long, but SOOOOO worth it)!

http://stream.ucanr.org/fps_grapes_of_iberia/Bokisch/index.htm

More to come!!!

David
p.s. the ark is almost done......

And this news from our sponsors.....

That would be A LOT of rain (we had well over 3" in my neck of the woods in Sonoma County yesterday), plus some power issues, but we're back up and running! We will be continuing our Lodi series later today
Cheers
David

Lodi wine everywhere - every climate!

So, twice in the last 15 days, I had the opportunity to sample (as well as assist!) wines from the Lodi Appellation. If you're not familiar with where this is, Lodi is about half an hour south of Sacramento, and about 1 1/2 hours east of the San Francisco Bay Area. It has warm (and sometimes hot) summer days, but breezy and cool summer evenings, sandy-loamy soils, and dedicated families, which makes for growing wonderful wine grapes! The first event was the annual "Taste of Lodi" in late September, where Lodi displayed its full late summer heat, with 100-plus degree days, which were helping finish ripening this years' crop, and the second was mid October (the 11th to be precise), on a very cool day on Treasure Island, for the aptly named inaugural Treasure Island Wine Fest. Both were informative, enjoyable, and full of surprises (including the Blue Angels!). Over the next week, I'll relate some of the wines I sampled, and some of the people behind them. Hope you'll enjoy!
More coming soon
David

And the grapes keep coming......

What a harvest this is shaping up to be - tonnage is up, quality is great, and it's busy busy busy all around wine country! So far what I'm seeing on the North Coast
Pinot Noir - crop tastes wonderful, and will be coming in for some time, as the really cool regions won't be ripe for several more weeks, and tanks are full full full!
Cabernet Sauvignon - quality very good, but there is A LOT of it - hopefully that will translate into lower consumer prices down the road
Syrah - the stuff I've tasted so far - YUMMY - now, can it all be sold?
and one of my personal favorites -
MALBEC - WOW - this could truly be the break-out vintage for this wonderful variety in California.
Whites are coming in really ripe, so expect that there will be a lot of blending to get alcohols in check, or higher alcohol whites, especially Savignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio.
More later, especially some of the wines I've been tasting lately
Cheers
David

Ever wonder about how the government regulates wine?

Some of you out there know that one of my areas I work on, besides be able to evaluate wine, is on the government regulatory side as well. Ever wonder about that? If you are a winery, you might want to take a look at the piece that I wrote for an e-mailer for Winesecrets, the company I work with in my weekday life. I got to spend a week in Cincinnati this summer at TTB Expo 2009, and got a lot of good information to share. I can send you the full piece - email me at winetopics@gmail.com.
David

More warm fall evening wines....

So we're still in the middle of the heat of early fall, so what to do when you want a nice wine to go with some cool cuisine - specifically, home made Cobb salad, with grilled chicken, smokey bacon, and the works. With all those flavors? For my monry, a lightly chilled flavorful white - in this instance, Balletto Vineyards 2007 Gewurztraminer. With some spice to marry with the bacon, the crisp acidity to go with the salad, and just that hint of sweetness to compliment the grilled chicked, this was a wonderful pairing for a warm fall evening - plus the company of family made it a great way to end the week!
More later, including A Taste of Lodi!!!!
Cheers,
David

PINOT PINOT EVERYWHERE!!!!!
With the harvest going full tilt, if you are a fan of Pinot, then 2009 will be your year - there is a lot of it (especially compared with the last few years), and the quality is extremely good. I have been tasting quite a bit of the new stuff from all over the North Coast (Anderson Valley, Napa-Carneros, several appellations in Sonoma County, even Marin County), and it is yum-yum-yummy!
The quantity is WAY up - the frost damaged vines from 2008 have fully recovered, producing a bountiful crop, that, for the most part, had a nice mild growing season, and are bursting with flavor. One good thing for consumers - prices on these wines should be reasonable, given the amount of fruit, growers trying to find a place for all of it, due to the sluggish economy. I know of some growers who got $5,000 a ton (and more) last year stuggling to get as low as $1,500 a ton this year.
Now, some of these wines won't be on the market for a while, but with a good supply ready to hit, we should start to see prices ease up a bit on this most alluring of reds!

OK, so here we are in the middle of grape harvest, the weather is hot, there is fruit everywhere, and this is a blog about wine - the last thing most of us want to see are GRAPES at the end of the day. While I am a big fan of a nice cold beer at the end of these hot days, out here in west Sonoma County, we have a jewel of a place - California Cider, who make the Ace brand of fruit ciders - apple, berry, grape, and our house favorite - PERRY. It's crisp, it's dry but fruitty, clean and refreshing! Goes with grilled sausage, fish, chicken - you name it, on a warm summer night - it is the bomb!
They also have a great pub out here (on the main highway, between Sebastopol and Graton), where they serve a host of British pub favorites (the owner is originally from the UK), with a Sonoma County twist of freshness. Great bangers and mash, salads, and don't miss the fish n' chips!
Some local grocers (Raley's, Pacific Market, etc) are carrying them, but ask for them at you favorite store - and if all else fails, contact them through their website at www.acecider.com.
More later from the middle of harvest.....

Wines for a warm evening......

Ok, so we've hit that wonderful time of year of "Indian Summer", or that stretch where we get a shot of warm, warm days and moderately war evenings, just right for enjoying some whites - and not just Chardonnay (we'll get to thoughts on Chardonnay in later episodes). The real test of any wine, especially a white, is that it can go with vastly different foods, and be perfectly enjoyable - so here goes......

With these warm evenings, and long days at work (it is harvest after all), quick meals are a neccessity. Friday night was reaaly warm, so we fired up the grill for some hot dogs, and served along with potato salad (from the store) and fresh fruit. Saturday was a little cooler, but we didn't feel like fussing over dinner, so we had thawed out some salmon filets, marinated them in terriyaki and honey, put a little seasoning and panko and quickly pan seared, and had this with a mixed salad, of assoted veges and greens that we got at farmer's market. You might think this would call for different choices for wine, but we served the same wines for both meals, and if you haven't had these wines, seek them out.

The first one, with the meal, is from Burford Family Wines, under their Melanto Terrace label - a 2008 Verdelho (They also produce Verdelho under their Lady Grace label as well). If you're not familar with this varietal, it's historic home is Portugal. Owner and winemaker, Peter Burford, sourced his fruit from Lodi (a growing center for Spanish and Portugese varietals), and this wine will quickly become a top house at your place, as it has mine. With it's light gold color and subtle fruit and floral aroma, the mouth explodes with wonderful white nectarine, light apricot and white grape notes, with a surprising structure and balance that one would most would think you would only get in a red wine. It was refreshing and engaging at the same time.

The other wine we had, mostly at the end and after dinner is an even more surprising, Dreirebe, a combination of three German varietals, from Mokelumne Glen Vineyards. The one we had was a 2006 Dreirebe Late Harvest grown out in Lodi. As one might expect, from a late harvest wine, it is sweet, but has a great balance with acid as well. The flavors of Persian apricots, white peaches with a hint of subtle spices one would find in a fruit cobbler, which is a great sipper for finishing a relaxed late summer meal.

While these are not large production wines, you can ask for them at you favorite wine merchant, or visit their websites (Frin more information about Burford Family Wines at www.burfordandbrown.com; you can contact Mokelumne Glen Vineyards at www.mokelumneglen.com). More on some more wines for these wonderful late season days and nights later......

Harvest is in full swing, and there are a lot of grapes out there! Not nearly as many as in the GINORMOUS crop of 2005, but the biggest year since then. Quality is outstanding, as the summer was realitively mild, allowing for good flavor development, and now the heat is turning up, bringing the sugars up up up. BUT, there are a lot of grapes out on the vines, and with the economy in the state it is still in, many growers are still looking for homes for fruit. Some wineries, big and small, custom crush et al, are offering to crush and ferment the fruit now, for a large percentage of the wine later (I've heard of one place that will crush, ferment and store for 10 months, in exchange for HALF the wine next year). Even in this down market, if wineries can reduce the cost of goods (in this case fruit), it can mean a huge upside for the consumer, since the wineries can then offer up some of the great 2009 vintage for much less than normal, and if that gets more people enjoying wine, so they buy more in the long term, then everybody wins. Fortuneately, with prices on earlier vintages dropping (because of the market), we don't have to wait unti later to enjoy some fine wine! more on some of the wines I'm enjoying later.....

Ok, so you may be wondering my background in wine to have a blog on it, so, here goes -
Italian grandparents (on my Father's side), wine was a part of growing up. After the college thing (music), and some teaching, ended up landing a job as a wine and liquor guy with a large West Coast chain drugstore. This lead me back to some college (UC Davis) in wine (really, viticulture and enology), and finally into working for wineries - production, vineyard, tasting room, you name it. This also lead to me being a wine writer (such magazines as D'Vine Magazine, and others), as well as wine judging (San Joaquin Fair, California State Fair Home Winemakers, Amador County Fair, Mother Lode Fair, Sonoma County Harvest Fair), as well as work at American Winesecrets, where we specialize in help wineries fine tune their wines through various technologies. There's a whole lot more, but that gives you the overview.....
More tomorrow, and until then, enjoy a glass of your favorite tonight with dinner!

Welcome to WineTopics! With all the wine out there, there is a lot to taste, share, and learn - and this is a place for all of this! I hope you find this entertaining, informative and, most of all, fun!
Thanks!