I'm a mother-clucker.

Speaking of babies, besides being Vinodog 2's dogmum, I recently became the mother of quadruplets - four bouncing baby chickens. Hatched on May 29th, I purchased the chicks at Rivertown Feed & Pet Country Store in Petaluma, Sonoma. (Shockingly, they're not hip Napa-chicks.)  I had a fun time driving over to the other valley.
The chicks are four different breeds; a Golden Sexlink, a Rhode Island Red, a Silver Laced Wyandotte and a Barred Plymouth Rock.  I named them after Henry VIII's warships, (seeing as ships are female, like hens), so I have a Mary Rose (Maro), Primrose (Rosie), Lizard (Lizzie) and Minion (Minnie).  Aren't they adorable?  I love them already.

Choose your Chardonnay.

It's a tough job, but somebody has to do it.  Another staff blind-tasting at TWWIAGE this time squared off the 2016 Chardonnay (CH) against five other 2016s.  Once again, the TWWIAGE contender happened to be my favourite of the bunch.  For me, the second best wine turned out to be a 2016 Gary Farrell, Russian River Selection (Russian River Valley AVA).  My tasting notes were thus; candy, caramel apple, toast, nice mouthfeel.  A rather lovely little wine.
My least favourite wine, and the lowest rank amongst the majority of my fellow co-workers (great taste buds taste alike?), was a 2016 Mer Soleil Reserve (Santa Lucia Highlands AVA).  In my opinion, this wine was absolutely undrinkable.  And, surprise, surprise, or not, this wine hails from the cellars of the Wagner Family of Wines (Caymus...titter, titter).  Who drinks this stuff?  Apparently someone does because the Wagners make 59,000 cases of this plonk.
I'm so glad that there are alternative winemaking styles being employed with Chardonnay nowadays.  I personally never bought into the California style of this the most impressionable of grape varieties.  More choice is always good for the consumer, just don't choose the Mer Soleil.

Bright, sparkling diamonds.

These are some of the biggest tartrate crystals I have ever seen on the underside of a cork.  Not surprising, I suppose, considering the age of this Sauvignon Blanc (SB) and the fact that it has been stored upside down in a cool cellar for the past 5 years.
Tartrate crystals, also known as wine diamonds, are a harmless, flavourless by-product of winemaking.  When tartaric acid, an acid naturally found in grapes, binds with potassium (under low temperatures) potassium bitartrate (cream of tartar) is formed.  If not removed from the wine, by a process called cold stabilisation, excess tartaric acid will solidify and form crystals when wine is chilled in a refrigerator. Voila, wine diamonds!
The bejeweled-wine, in this instance, was a Kobalt Wines 2011 Sauvignon Blanc (Knights Valley AVA).  At the grand old age of 6, this is the oldest SB I have had in a quite a while. It's not that I don't like older white wines, I just tend to drink whites when they are young and fresh. One of my favourite things to do with Thud, on visits home, is share a bottle of an older vintage Sancerre (Ladoucette Comte LaFond, an absolute favourite, springs immediately to mind).  I just don't think New World white wines age as well as those from the more traditional wine regions of the world - yet. Having said that, the Kobalt SB was a delightful wine, very food friendly and very moreish.

Up a creek.

I don't normally purchase wine that I have read about in a review, but never say never.  Catching up with some wine industry reading at breakfast this morning, I came across an article on Sauvignon blanc (SB), and its many styles, by wine columnist Dan Berger.
I have rarely met a SB that I didn't like, so I was intrigued by Mr. Berger's description of the "herbal charms" of SB grown in cooler climes. The problem was that Mr. B was reviewing the 2016 Dry Creek Fumé blanc and I could only find the 2015 vintage when I went out wine-shopping.  Buying wine at a retail location can be frustrating when that retailer doesn't sell enough of a particular vintage, or producer, to facilitate cycling into the next vintage in a timely manner.
It's all good, I was having salmon for dinner and it actually did pair with the fish quite nicely. Yes, it was a little vegetal and it could have done with a tad more acid, but my only quibble is that I can purchase TWWIAGE's SB for quite a bit less than the $17.99 I paid for the Dry Creek.  And, quite frankly, the TWWIAGE SB is a more pleasing tipple. Sometimes it is alright to stick with the tried-and-true.

I dream of Zin.

A new offering from Mi Sueño, the 2013 Zinfandel (Sonoma Mountain AVA) is a big, impactful wine.  I've probably said it before, but I like it when winemakers flex their oenological-muscles.
I love a good Zinfandel because I think this particular wine varietal always pairs well with a myriad of meat-based meals, e.g., barbecued ribs etc.  Long considered the native grape of California, Zinfandel accounts for about 10% of all wine-grapes grown in The Golden State. Folks in California have been imbibing in wine made from this grape variety, now known to be indigenous to Croatia, since the mid 1800s - it's been around a long time.  However, this is not your grandmother's Zinfandel. No, this Mi Sueño Zinfandel is a rather stylistically-meaty interpretation of this varietal: it would definitely knock an old dear's socks off.
Deeply hued, this wine displays oodles of spicy-vanilla-caramelized plums on the nose, followed by more pluminess, a hint of dried cranberries, with a vanilla-smokiness on the lingering finish. And nice balance, considering the 14.8% ABV.  If I have one criticism, it is that this wine is slightly over-oaked, (but that is a Rolando Herrera trademark, after all).  The Zinfandel is, unfortunately, only available through Mi Sueño's wine club.  Paired well with my homemade beef burger.

The Land Remembers.

Another new book arrived in the post today.  The book, The Land Remembers, is ostensibly a treatise on viticulture and terroir.  However, my first impression, after a quick shufty through the book, is that this book is more about one man's love affair with his very own garden of Eden at Indian Springs Ranch, Kenwood (Sonoma Valley).
George MacLeod and his family bought acreage back in 1974 without really knowing anything about winegrape growing, it seems.  But he brought plenty of passion with him.  If one is in doubt as to Mr. MacLeod's romance with the land, his inscription to me, at the front of the book, says,"To Vinogirl - Here is a true vineyard love story! With affection, George, grower".  Case closed.
The Land Remembers has some interesting sections on soil, topography and water, with accompanying charts and photographs - all the vine-geeky stuff I love.  There is a short chapter on 'Microbial Terroir' which has really piqued my curiosity.  I am really enjoying all the viticultural reading I have been doing of late.  This book is a lovely addition to my humble reference library.
The book was written with Arthur Dawson, and other contributors.  One of the contributors is yours truly: yes, I contributed a photograph of a smudge pot (page 79).  Ta da!  That's my 15 minutes of fame done.

The Spring Mountain District AVA.

It has been over a year since I last did a post on the American Viticultural Area (AVA) signs in the Napa Valley.  How did that happen?  I know I have been a little busy, but so busy that a whole year has passed, sheesh! To remedy that I offer up, for the reader's delectation, the Spring Mountain District AVA sign.
The Spring Mountain District (an area, not a peak) was officially established as an AVA in 1993.  Located on the eastern slopes of the Mayacamas Mountains, on the western side of the Napa Valley, this AVA encompasses about 8,600 acres on elevations that range from 400 feet, beginning down in St. Helena, to 2,600 feet at the top.  Up there, one feels like the Napa Valley is a million miles away.
Today is Vinomaker's birthday and so, as is our tradition, we decided to go winetasting.  Usually it is me who chooses which winery to visit, as a surprise, but this year Vinomaker requested that we visit Pride Mountain Winery.  Pride produces a lovely Merlot that we have both enjoyed over the years, but neither of us had ever visited the winery, so we loaded ourselves into the Vino-mobile and headed north.  Driving six miles from the valley floor, up through the Spring Mountain District AVA, to an elevation of 2,200 feet, over the Napa County line and into Sonoma County, an hour after leaving Vinoland and a half mile downhill into Sonoma County, we eventually arrived at Pride.
Pride's winery and vineyards actually straddle both Napa and Sonoma counties (there is a cobblestone-strip in the pavement outside the winery's caves that delineates the boundary).  An interesting fact is that Pride has to specify on their wine labels the percentage of grapes from each county.  And, of course, Pride has to make sure they pay the correct taxes to each county.
The tasting and tour at Pride was a really nice experience, in no small part due to the hospitable Nikki who hosted our small group of eight Pride-enthusiasts.  Vinomaker was a little disappointed that they had already sold out of their 2014 Viognier, (total production for Pride is approximately 18,000 cases a year), but Nikki assuaged Vinomaker's fear of going Viognier-less on his birthday by treating him to a tank-sample of Pride's soon to be bottled 2015 - he was delighted.
Great wines, nice facility, interesting history, genial host, wonderful drive up the mossy-ferny-redwoody-winding Spring Mountain on a grey, drizzly day.  Good fun.
Happy birthday Vinomaker!
Nine down, seven to go.

The Federalist.

I love chili con carne, my own, homemade chili con carne that is.  And I love chili paired with a nice Zinfandel, however, California summer evenings are just too hot to indulge in a big plate of spicy, steaming hot chili (served over rice).  So between the months of May and September/October I simply don't make it, much to the vexation of Vinomaker.  We just recently enjoyed our last, cooler-spring-evening chili paired with a really nice Zinfandel that Thud had sent to me a couple of months back. 
The Federalist, 2010, Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel was everything I like in a well made wine of this particular grape variety; pepper, red currant, plum and raspberry, yum!  Produced by The Terlato Wine Group (a company with an extensive wine portfolio which includes vineyard ownership and management, wine importing/exporting and many international winery collaborations), The Federalist hails from Dry Creek Valley in Sonoma County.  The Dry Creek AVA has come to be recognised as perhaps the premier viticultural area in the state for producing Zinfandel.  Zinfandel is considered the unofficial state grape of California.
And besides, I love the label.  Alexander Hamilton was an interesting man; born out of wedlock, he was a patriot, legal scholar, fiscal conservative and a defender of the Constitution of the United States.  All was going well for Hamilton until his career and reputation were derailed by his complicity in an 18th century sex scandal.  And then, to top it all off, he was mortally wounded in a duel with Aaron Burr, a political rival.  Wow, what a life!  Spicy stuff, just like this wine.

Un bon raisin.

Last night, when Vinomaker suggested we open a bottle of Buena Vista's French Colombard, (that we had purchased on a visit to the winery this past March), I was a little less than enthused.  It's not that I have anything against French Colombard, or just plain Colombard as the grape is known in France, it's just that the mere thought of Buena Vista's proprietor, Jean-Charles Boisset, brings me out in hives.
Premiering in California in the 1850s, the Colombard grape was first cultivated in the southwest of France.  Nowadays, the French use Colombard mainly in the production of Cognac and Armagnac.  Thought to be the offspring of Gouais blanc and Chenin blanc, this grape variety reached the peak of it's popularity in California during the table wine boom of the 1960s and 70s when it became the most widely planted variety in California.  The grapevine displays high vigour and high productivity and can yield anywhere from 8 - 13 tons per acre.  That's a lot of grapes!  Due to the heavy crop, maturity can be somewhat slow and so French Colombard is usually amongst the last white grape varieties to be harvested in California's north coast vineyards.  The fruit has a winning combination of high acid and low pH, so it produces a fruity, crisp wine that is easy to drink - a wine that should be a popular summer tipple.  But let's face it, French Colombard is just not perceived as a very sexy grape: not many people have even heard of it.
The Buena Vista, 2011, Russian River Valley, French Colombard was a most appealing wine.  On the nose I got a lovely, limey-green apple, spicy-apricot-creaminess and on the palate, well, the elevated acidity had me on the first sip.  With just 50 cases produced (our bottle was no. 339), there is not a lot of this wine to go around.  But if you can find a bottle of it, buy it.

True Wine Lover 13.

Recently, the owners of TWWIAGE decided to do a bit of wine-library spring cleaning, which resulted in all of the staff receiving six-packs of miscellaneous wines.  In the Marketing Queen's (MQ) six-pack was the above pictured bottle of a 1979 Louis M. Martini, Monte Rosso, Sonoma Cabernet sauvignon.  The MQ brought the empty bottle into work to show me as she thought I would like the label, and I did.  The colourful pastoral scene on the front label is delightful in it's simplicity and the verbiage on the back label is pretty much the same marketing spiel that wineries still use to this day.  And just look at the alcohol - 12 1/2%, written as a fraction, not as a decimal.  But how did this 1979 wine taste?  "Delicious" was the MQ's answer: almost 33 years later this wine apparently still had a lot to offer.
Louis M. Martini, born in 1887 in Pietra Ligure, Italy, was just 12 years old when he traveled alone to join his father in the USA. Agostino Martini was a fisherman in San Francisco and the young Louis began working alongside his father selling seafood from a cart.  Louis first made wine with his father in a small shed behind the family home in 1906.  Agostino sent his son back to Italy where Louis studied oenology at the University d'Alba.  He returned from Italy in 1911 determined to pursue his passion and make a living as a winemaker.  
In 1922, Louis founded the Louis M. Martini Grape Products Company in Kingsburg, California.  During the Prohibition era, the company thrived by producing medicinal and sacramental wine, and by also selling boxes of  'Forbidden Fruit' - with the express instructions:  "Do not add water, yeast and sugar or fermentation will result."  Martini emerged from Prohibition as one of the best winemakers in California and resolved to concentrate all of his efforts on the production of premium table wines. Anticipating the repeal of the Volstead Act, early in 1933 Louis purchased 10 acres south of St. Helena and rushed to get his newly planned winery into operation for the coming  vintage. 
Convinced of the superiority of mountain grown-grapes, in 1938 Martini purchased the Mt. Pisgah vineyard high on the Sonoma side of the Mayacamas Mountains. He renamed it Monte Rosso for it's bright red volcanic soil.  It is from this vineyard that the MQ's elderly bottle of wine originated.

Described by André Tchelistcheff as an "apostle of the California wine industry," Martini was extremely instrumental in fashioning the Napa wine industry as one would recognise it today, in fact he was a true pioneer in a number of ways.  It is said that Martini was amongst the first, if not the first, in 1968 to varietally label Merlot and he later championed Zinfandel as a fine wine varietal.  In 1944, as a vintner with "arm-twisting powers," he was able to convince 7 other vintners to join him in the founding of the Napa Valley Vintners Association - a cooperative effort to facilitate the exchange of practical wine-related information common to all wineries.  Martini was the first to practice temperature controlled fermentation and he is also credited with the invention of the wind machine to combat frost damage.  The list goes on...

Gallo purchased the Louis M. Martini winery in 2002, but to this day the business remains the oldest, continuously family operated winery in the Napa Valley.
Louis M. Martini died in 1974.

Redempt-zin.

Perhaps, in an effort to make up for bringing a Charbono to Vinoland's recent Zinfandel tasting, Sky King appeared last night for a BBQ rib dinner with a fairly decent bottle of the aforementioned wine-tasting varietal.  The Trecini 2007 Rockpile (Rocky Ridge Vineyard, Sonoma) wasn't the most typical Zinfandel I have ever tasted, and at $40 it wasn't the cheapest either, but when it came to pairing it with pork ribs it performed rather admirably.

To further redeem himself, Sky King also brought dessert, a Raspberry Frangipane tart from the Basque Café (Sonoma's 'Bistro on the Square'). But wait, Sky King wasn't finished - he paired dessert with a Fritz Winery 1998 Late Harvest Zinfandel (also Sonoma) which was delightful.  Oh yum!
Sky King - he's a good lad!