Saturday, Feb 26, I’ll be at Pinot Summit in San Francisco, where 64 mostly amazing pinots from 56 appellations will be presented, along with excellent seminars, for your oenophile erudition. Blind tasting such a vast spectrum of wines can be daunting: at least you know that for the most part, they’re well-made wines, having made the cut from an original headcount of 240. It’s like the Oscars of pinot noirs, filled with sexy, seductive stars. However, fashion is not the focal point here. Instead, said stars are all wearing aluminum foil and color coded for reference. The unveiling is half the fun: the other half is trying to decide which are your faves.
The event starts at 1130am on Saturday, with a series of workshops, including one led by Sid Sall on New World pinots from Central Otago and Marlborough, New Zealand, the Extreme Sonoma Coast, and Williamette Valley. Or you could explore oak influence with Panelists: Coby Parker-Garcia, Winemaker, Claiborne & Churchill; and Fintan du Fresne, Winemaker, Chamisal Vineyards.
Another intriguing topic is Winemaking 101, with Panelists: Greg Freeman, Assistant Winemaker, Hahn Family Wines; Steve McIntyre, Winegrower/Winemaker, McIntyre Vineyards; Patrick Murray, Winemaker, PARO Wines.
Blind tasting goes from noon til 4pm, followed by a champagne reception and awards ceremony at 4:45.
You get to vote on your faves, and the results are always fascinating. Full report next week.
More information here: http://www.affairsofthevine.com
Excellent representation from SLH, including Hahn, Lucienne, McIntyre, Scheid, Sequana and Tondre, emphasizes how special this region is for growing outstanding pinots. Vine Hill Winery’s 2008 Santa Cruz Mountains pinot will also make an appearance. Pinot Summit gets better every year: so do the pinots entered. Is there a correlation?
In the posthumous good news department, the late Dick Graff, a legend in Monterey county winemaking, was just inducted into the Vintner’s Hall of Fame in Napa at CIA Greystone on President’s Day. The class of 2011 inductees also included Joel Peterson, August Sebastiani, Vernon Singleton and Bob Trinchero. Graff represents Monterey’s first entrant in the Vintner’s Hall of Fame.
Graff, a pioneer of California pinot noir, was killed in 1998 when his plane crashed in a field outside of Salinas. With a loan from his mother in 1965, Dick bought Chalone vineyard, which had been producing mistletoe. Recognizing that the limestone soil was similar to terrain he had worked on during a year spent in Burgundy, he restored neglected grapevines. He also introduced Burgundian methods of winemaking: fermenting in oak barrels imported from France, aging white wines on their lees, and encouraging malolactic fermentation: anathema in California at the time. He partnered with Phil Woodward in 1971, brought in additional partners and eventually acquired Acacia, then a leading producer of pinot noir in Carneros. Chalone is now owned by Diageo.
Today, Phil Woodward, who accepted the award on behalf of Dick, carries on the tradition of fine wine from the Chalone bench with the Woodward-Graff wine foundation, a non-profit that provides scholarships for students in the hospitality industry. All of the wines made under the Graff Family Vineyards label are sourced from the original vineyards planted in the Chalone Appellation on the Gavilan Bench. The wines, which are made by Dan Karlsen (also of Chalone fame, now at Talbott), include pinot blanc, viognier, grenache, mourvedre, the “Consensus” blend, and July Muscat. To order, call 707-935-2100, or visit woodward-graffwinefoundation.org. Or go to Star Market and ask Victor for a recommendation.
As much as I am besotted by pinot, sometimes, nothing satisfies like a cab. We like grilling top sirloin in any season, and often have leftovers, as my husband loves horseradish and cold beef. In cold enough to snow weather, it’s great to have something hot, so I sauté mushrooms, Walla Walla onions, chopped radicchio and sweet mini peppers, with wine that didn’t quite make it into my glass (don’t believe it when people tell you not to cook with wine you wouldn’t drink –hogwash! As long as it is not corked, you can find a way to use any wine you just don’t want to drink straight), and a generous splash of fig, pomegranate or raspberry balsamic and a dash of blood orange olive oil: one of the true staples of my winter kitchen. Carmel’s Bountiful Basket carries lots of great flavored vinegars and infused olive oils: try roasting halved brussel sprouts with Meyer lemon olive oil and Hawaiian pink sea salt.
But back to the beef and cab. 2008 Earthquake cabernet from Michael David is a succulent, sonorous, bass fiddle effort, with bigness enough, bolstered by petite sirah. This Lodi winery turns out some decent values: this cab at $26 is certainly impressive, well-fleshed and plush in the mouth. At the same pricepoint, we also enjoyed a 2006 cab from Waterstone, a Napa brand. This wine, a bit less fleshy and flashy than the ‘Quake (disturbing name, given what’s going on down under in New Zealand), sports 17% merlot and 4% cabernet franc, which gives it a lovely lilt. It’s a viola to the bass of the former, with good structure and depth, firm beef-loving tannins and tasty herbal hints from the franc. A little franc goes a long way.
For Valentine’s Day, I fell for a great promotion at Safeway on Cupcake Vineyards 2009 Red Velvet wine: for $11.99, they took $2 off your favorite bakery item. I bought my husband eclairs. Red Velvet’s winemaker Adam Richardson creams together zinfandel, merlot and cabernet sauvignon, baking up a very tasty blackberry chocolate cupcake with a mocha frosting wine. Perfect for a winters day.
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