Ridge Monte Bello Blogger Tasting--Historical Vineyards Series

The final Ridge Vineyards Blogger Invitational of 2011 was hosted this past Sunday, December 11th, at Ridge Monte Bello in the historic barn that served as the very first tasting room for the original winery. In the barn our host, Christopher Watkins, set the stage for the tasting theme--Historic Family Farmers-- Back in time to the original family farmers that started the vineyards know as Ridge today. 

In keeping with that theme, we tasted 3 never before tried by the public wines from the Torre, Klein and Perrone vineyards. These tiny production wines are a part of the Historical Vineyards Series and were sourced entirely from the original planting locations, each wine named for one of the founding families -- Torre, Klein and Perrone. These small quantity wines are actually "beta releases" in a way, harvested from sub parcels, following a premise of "viticultural gerrymandering" based on original planting areas. 

Also part of the tasting was a vertical of Ridge Santa Cruz Mountains Estate Cabernet. 

But there was more to the "Historic" theme-- Christopher brought in four curious machines--ancient hunks of metal, steampunk style communication devices--called typewriters, and each blogger was required to "go back in time" and write a tasting note using one.

We got warmed up with a splash of Monte Bello Chardonnay 08-- always a pleasure.

Klein, Torre & Perrone

Historic Family Vineyards Series--

Today the oldest vines on the property are those planted by William Short in 1949. Prior to Short acquiring the property John Torre planted 100 acres on Monte Bello ridge and the old Torre winery building is now the Monte Bello tasting room.

Klein Cabernet Sauvignon 2009--

Very young and green on the nose with eucalyptus and earth tones on the palate that opened up with more dusty notes and medium-soft tannins.

Torre Ranch Merlot 2009 -- 

This wine is just a baby in terms of it's longevity and has lot's of room to develop over the next several years, but I really liked as is. It was full of flavor with plums and violets and spice. Also a brief whiff of  oregano in there. Beautiful garnet color.  

Perrone Cab Franc 2009--

A tone poem of bright fruit. Very berry, with perfume of violets and a burst of acid. Of course these wines have a lifetime ahead of them, but the Perrone was distinct and fresh and most enjoyable in the present state. The Perrone was my favorite of the Historical Vineyards series.

With these beautiful wines inspiring our palates and our brains, it was time to hit the typewriters-- below are Fred Swan and Jeff Solomon striking out a tasting note. 

I wrote a tasting note channeling the spirit of Mattie Ross from the Charles Portis novel, True Grit-- because in a way that's what Ridge wines have --True Grit. Not in a literal sense, but in a sense of honesty and purity of intent. Unfortunately my first attempt at typing the note was foiled by the fact you must manually advance the paper to the next line...so things go a bit cramped on the page.

Next we tasted a Vertical of Santa Cruz Mountains Estate Cabernet. These wines all 100% estate grown were being featured as a holiday 3 pack in the tasting room. You better have been a very good boy or girl this year if you expect to see these beauties under your tree.

Ridge 2003 Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet -- Smokey, smoldering, and silky--with a toasty, salt water taffy nose and rich dark fruit.

Ridge 2004 Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet  -- Chalky nose with blackberry, current and minty fresh flavors. Tannins were supple but with room to bend--may need a Thai massage to loosen up a bit.

Ridge 2005 Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet  -- I found it dusty on the nose at first, that then developed into light florals with a hint of cocoa and spice. On the palate it was full of dark fruit, very concentrated-- but it's still tightly wound and needs some time to unwind.

The Mystery Guest Wine--

By the graciousness of Mr. Alan Bree, we were treated to a lovey Monte Bello 1985 Zinfandel from his private collection, which after quick calculation, Christopher determined that by drinking the bottle, of which only 33 barrels were produced, we had just enjoyed 5% of the worlds know supply of Monte Rosso Zin. Wow.

Thanks Alan. And thank you Christopher, for another fun, inspiring and enlightening blogger tasting.

The Ridge Master Class: Wine Blogger Tasting Series 2011

On Sunday September 25th  I joined a group of wine writers and bloggers for the 3rd edition of the 2011 Wine Blogger Tasting Series, one of the most sought after wine events hosted by Christopher Watkins of Ridge Vineyards at the Lytton Springs location in Dry Creek Valley.

I attended last year when we sat out on the crush pad and the temperature hovered around 90 degrees. This year the crush pad was in glorious use for harvest and we got to watch as the fruit came in and was hoisted into the de-stemmer. Then after tasting some carignane direct from the tap, we retreated to the barrel room where it was nice and cold.

The wines Christopher selected for the tasting were all small production library wines. Most came from stock with less than nine cases on hand. We tried wines from Monte Bello and Lytton Springs, some from vineyards I've never even heard of before.

I’m always amazed how well the Ridge wines hold up for years and years and years. I probably should not be surprised really since the age-ability of Ridge is it's common denominator. But I have very little discipline when it comes to cellaring wine and tend to drink things in the now rather then in the future.

Christopher reminds me of this crazy cool professor I knew in college who was obsessed with rare books, German literature and Swing music. His house was filled with shelves of classic and esoteric works of literature and old records.

He’d scan a shelf and pull a book out and say-- Oh have you read this? Do you know this work? Then he would read a passage aloud. Or he’d grab a record and say --You gotta hear this. He would play a piece of music and you would be so wowed by it. This professor was like a spirit guide to the volumes of written works that you just had to read. I'd leave his house with my mind slightly blown and a lengthy list of books I had to get my hands on. 

Ridge events to me are so similar, Christopher is our "spirit guide” scanning the library wines for just the right passage, just the few phrases that will jolt you, change you, make you rethink all other wines. It's a sybaritic journey of wine and poetry and the simple pleasure of letting go and dropping into what's in the glass. I love these events it like a master class for bloggers who want to be challenged and stretched in the most wonderful way. 

At some point in the day I always realize note taking is futile. I just put my pen or in this case phone down. Nothing I say will do it justice. So I just give in to the pleasure in the glass. I find it takes days to process it all. Ridge events are journeys that take you on a wild ride to the far corners of your palate and expectations. 

We also had a special treat courtesy of Richard Jennings @rjonwine who brought a mystery bottle that we tasted blind then were asked to guess the vintage, varietal and vineyard designation. I guessed 92 based on absolutely nothing but the color and was not far off, but struck out, way out, on guessing the varietal and vineyard. It turned out to be a 1990 Barbera from Rancho Pequeno. It was lovely and wonderful of Richard to bring it along to share. 

If you want a full account of the wines and tasting notes I suggest you check out the blogs of Richard Jennings @rjonwine or Fred Swan @norcalwine for full details. 

Thank you Christopher (and Brandy) for a great day at The Ridge Master Class! 

 

UPDATE-- 

Links to other blog posts from the day:

Martin Redmond -- Great re-cap of the wines we had with tasting notes.

Christopher Watkins -- Thoughts from our "spirit guide" Christopher and a groovy video. 

Wines of Croatia Tasting: The Recap!

What a day for Croatian Wine! I could never have predicted how a simple tweet would lead to one of the most fun, educational and incredibly delicious events I've ever had the pleasure of hosting.



As mentioned previously in this preview post, it was Cliff Rames of Wines of Croatia (@winesof croatia) who dropped the pebble in the lake triggering my connection with Frank Dietrich @bluedanubewine of Blue Danube Wines. A date was set, bloggers were invited, a hashtag chosen, wines were selected and it all came together beautifully on August 28th.

Croatia has a wide range of grape growing areas but they are basically split into inland and coastal regions. Since the majority of the bloggers were unfamiliar with Croatian wines Frank decided to focus on the coastal region of Istria. And so for a few hours my deck in Sebastopol was transformed into an odd shaped yacht as we virtually cruised the Istrian peninsula and tasted wines from the countries many islands.

Frank proved to be a great guide on our journey as he led us through the tasting and provided extensive background information and details about the wines, winemakers and growing regions of Croatia.

Frank Dietrich leads the tasting

Early on the sun was bright and hot providing the perfect setting to taste the crisp and refreshing selection of whites:
CORONICA -- Malvasia--Istria  2009
KORTA KATARINA--Pošip--Island of Korčula 2008
KRAJANČIĆ--Pošip--Island of Korčula 2009
ENJINGI--Venje--Slavonia 2003
GRGIĆ-- Vina Pošip--Korčula Island 2009

A selection of the whites. The Grimalda was a special addition. 

Previously I tried a different Enjingi Graševina, but this one was fuller bodied and more developed. All of the whites were outstanding, plus we tried a Rose from Korta Katarina that was a spicy delight. My favorite of the whites was the KRAJANČIĆ Pošip from the island of Korčula where apparently Marco Polo was born. Many of the wines we tasted were from Italian born winemakers and the connection to Italy is very strong historically as well. Below are some of my quick tweet impressions at the tasting.

My quick tweet notes on the whites

As the sun dipped westward and shade creeped overhead we turned our attention to the Reds which included the following:
TERZOLO--Teran--Istria 2008
BIBICH -- R6 Reserva -- Dalmatia 2008
MILOŠ--Stagnum Plavac Mali--Pelješac Peninsula 2005
KORTA KATARINA--Plavac Mali--Pelješac Peninsula 2006
SAINTS HILLS--Dingač Plavac Mali--Pelješac Peninsula 200
MARA POSTUP-- Plavac Mali--Pelješac Peninsula 2008
ZLATAN PLENKOVIĆ--Crljenak Kaštelanski--Island of Hvar, Makarska 2008

Selection of the Reds

I enjoyed the Bibich R6 Riserva, Korta Katarina Plavac Mali, and the Zlatan Plenkovic Crljenak Kaštelanski which is considerd to be the original Zinfandel. But the wine that most intrigued me was the MILOŠ--Stagnum Plavac Mali--Pelješac Peninsula 2005. This wine had a very deep purple color with the scent of rosebuds and a slight briny taste. Maybe that explains the claim that this wine pairs well with oysters. Oysters and red wine? I need to do some first hand research on that, but I have a feeling it could be true.

The Saints Hills Dingač Plavac Mali image seemed well crafted, maybe too crafted? I can just imagine the eye rolling and the "there-goes-the-neighboorhood" effect this could have on the wines of Croatia. But I think attention is good and if it gets the peeps drawn in then I think it bodes well for all the smaller producers and gives them a greater chance to be discovered by an enthusiastic audience that will want to travel the wine roads in Croatia.

Paski Sir upper right corner

In addition to the wines we had a special guest cheese-- The Paski Sir from the island of Pag pictured in upper right hand corner. Nutty and rich it was a great complement to the whites we tried and also a few of the reds. One of the bloggers, Anthony Burich who is actually Croatian, brought an unmarked bottle of Croatian olive oil too. I did not get the chance to serve it, but tasted it afterwards and was impressed by its distinct spicy and herbal notes. Very bright and delicious. Thanks Anthony!

A few of the "off list" selections Frank poured. 

At the height of the event I took quick look at Tweet Reach which indicated that over 375 tweets had been sent with an exponential reach of over 100,000 impressions! The hashtag went on the generate more than 400 tweets and many impressions beyond that, as the metric was based on only the last 50 tweets at the time. But over all it was pretty impressive for a deck full of wine bloggers to create that much buzz for Croatian wines in one day. The RTs were fast and furious. Another cool way to view the tweets is through Revist  a real–time visualization of twitter messages around a specific topic which shows a dynamic flow of the tweets and the connections as they happened. Check it out here.

"Zivili" or also spelled "Zivijele" is a Croatian toast that means "to life!" So I would like to shout a hearty "Zivili" to Frank Dietrich, Cliff Rames, Andreja at the Croatian Tourist Board for supplying the maps and excellent background materials, Michelle Buster for sourcing the Paski Sir, also special thanks to KORTA KATARINA for the samples (check them out on twitter @kortakatarina) and of course to all the wine bloggers who came to the event and made it so much fun --@amybcleary @brandyea @winebratsf @SonomaWilliam @aburich @VitaeVino @SLHousman @JamesTheWineGuy @RJonWine @20dollarwine @slowgrapes @BrixChick_Liza @norcalwine & @Brixchik_xan

Zivili! -- Thanks so much. Perhaps next time we should have a game of pin the tail on the Donkey Dingac!

Links to other posts from the event. (more to be added as they become available)

Amy Cleary--WineBookGirl
Richard Jennings -- Post on CellarTracker

Links to all previous Croatia Posts:

• The Wines of Croatia : A Preview Tasting
• Croatian Wines Making Waves
• Country of Good Vines: Countdown to Wines of Croatia
• I Can Almost Taste It! Croatian Wine is Near

I Can Almost Taste It! Croatian Wine is Near.

Paski Sir Cheese

The excitement is building, the hashtag has been selected, the cheese has arrived, and the cards and letters keep coming in as the day draws near for the Wines of Croatia wine blogger tasting. For those who would like to follow along on Twitter on Sunday Aug 28th, the hashtag for the event will be #WoCroatia.

This week I picked up the Paski Sir cheeses from James at Sunshine Foods and it has been a struggle to keep from eating it before Sunday. I had a taste in the store and it is lovely. It's a sheep cheese and is similar to pecorino but with a salty nutty punch. Michele Buster was the first to source and import the Paski Sir from the island of Pag, and she arranged for me to get the cheese for the tasting. You can learn more about Michele and the cheese here in this article from the SF Chronicle.

Although the tasting is only a few days away we already have a post from WINEpiphany by Anthony Burich, one of the bloggers who will be attending. You can read Anthony's heartfelt post and excellent tasting notes on the Enjingi's Grasevina wine here.

In the meantime Frank of Blue Danube Wine Company, who will be presenting the wines has been preparing a list for the tasting.  Here is a sneak preview. 

1. CORONICA -- Malvasia--Istria  2009

2. KORTA KATARINA--Pošip--Island of Korčula 2008

3. KRAJANČIĆ--Pošip--Island of Korčula 2009

4. ENJINGI--Venje--Slavonia 2003

Graševina, Riesling, Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, and Traminac

5. TERZOLO--Teran--Istria 2008

6. PIQUENTUM--Teran--Istria 2008

7. MILOŠ--Stagnum Plavac Mali--Pelješac Peninsula 2005

8. KORTA KATARINA--Plavac Mali--Pelješac Peninsula 2006

9. SAINTS HILLS--Dingač Plavac Mali--Pelješac Peninsula 200

10. BURA--Dingač  Plavac Mali--Pelješac Peninsula 2007

11. ZLATAN PLENKOVIĆ--Crljenak Kaštelanski--Island of Hvar, Makarska 2008

Plus there could be a few suprises! So follow the #WoCroatia hashtag on twitter and stay tuned for the post-tasting post. 

Also, just to set the mood I’ve downloaded some Croatian folk music for the day. So barring any crazy weather or earthquake or wild locust attack, I think we are going to have a spectacular day of tastes from Croatia. 

The Wines of Croatia : A Preview Tasting

 Ever since I made a very brief visit to Croatia in 2007 I've been fascinated with the country. I have never seen more crystalline waters than those around the pristine Croatian coastline, the clarity of the Adriatic there is unlike anywhere else. The air quality was exceptional too, not something you normally notice, yet I remember it distinctly. But my best memory is the food and wine I experienced on my visit which left me wanting more. I've been anxious to get back for a longer visit and a proper introduction to the food and wines ever since.

Recently through the miracle of Twitter (and I do believe Twitter is a miracle as it has facilitated so many great connections) I got to chatting with Cliff Rames from @WinesofCroatia and @istriaficionado, and that chat led Cliff to set up a "twitterduction" with Frank Dietrich of @BlueDanubeWine an importer of Croatian wine in Palo Alto, California.

Frank and I exchanged an few emails and I'm happy to announce that we will be working together to host a Wines of Croatia Tasting for local wine bloggers at my house later this month. It's going to be a fun event and the great folks at the Croatian Tourist Board are providing me with maps and wine background materials for the event. Plus they have very kindly offered to supply a traditional Croatian sheep cheese from the island of Pag called Paški sir for us to pair along with the wines. The cheese is available locally in St. Helena at Sunshine Foods and other cheese shops in the Bay Area including The Cheese Shop in Healdsburg. Click on the picture below for more information.

Blue Danube Wine has a terrific website with excellent information and a great map of the wine regions of Croatia. I have no idea how to pronounce many of these wines and some of the names look like they may put your tongue in traction if you try. I'm not entirely sure which is the grape variety and which is the producer from looking at some of the labels, but I'm hoping that Frank will give us a little tutorial on how to read a Croatian wine label at the tasting.

After exploring Frank's Blue Danube Wine site I decided I could not wait for the blogger tasting to try the wines so I went right out and bought a few bottles at my local wine shop. I found a Peljesac, a Graševina/Welschriesling and a Zlatan Plenković all priced under $20.

I really was impressed with the 2007 Peljesac Red from Dingač. This wine had nice balance and was full and flavorful like a Zinfandal with slightly spicy tannins. I tried it with a fusilli pasta dish made with fennel and oyster mushrooms along with a side of marinated eggplant and it was a delicious complement to the food.

The Zaltan Otok 2009 Zlatan Plenković white a blend of Pošip and Maraština grapes was quite full bodied and also paired well with eggplant and sausage pizza that I made with the leftover eggplant from the night before.

My favorite label design was on the Enjingi 2009 Graševina and the wine was well constructed too. Loved the bright flavors of apple, apricot, and linden berry with a crisp mineral hit of granite. It's body compared to the Zlatan Plenković was delicate, more whisper than shout.

I can't wait to learn more about these wines and other varietals at the blogger tasting with Frank and share the findings here. I'm hoping to visit Croatia again soon, possibly before or after the International Wine Tourism Conference in Italy, where I will be presenting. So stay tuned wine and wine tourism fans. There's a lot more to come from Croatia!