melissa

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Looking for a Great Merlot???

I love finding wines that taste like they’re SUPPOSED to taste!  So many Merlots from California just don’t taste like Merlot.  The 2011 Neyers Conn Valley Merlot, however, does!

Last week I was fortunate enough to attend a tasting at Tim’s Wine Market in Orlando where Barbara and Bruce Neyers, the owners of Neyers Vineyards in Napa, presented some of their wines.

They do a great Chardonnay, some great Cabs and one of the best Zinfandels I’ve had in a very long time.  My favorite of the night, however, was probably the Merlot.

Made with Merlot grapes from their own certified organic vineyards surrounding their home, the Neyers and their talented winemaker Tadeo Borchardt have produced a wonderful Merlot.

The ruby colored wine has aromas of cherry, black raspberry and some chocolate shavings.  The palate is beautifully balanced with layers of the raspberry, cherry, along with some plum and licorice.  Blended with 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, this wine has a lovely velvety finish and is more reminiscent of a Pomerol than a California Merlot. 

At 13.8% alcohol, this isn’t one of those huge Napa Merlots that have forgotten what they are meant to be.  It’s a lovely wine that I could drink every night of the week.  Coming in at about $30, this wine is definitely worth its price.

To learn more about Neyers Vineyards, or to purchase some of their wines, go to there website here:  http://www.neyersvineyards.com

History (and great wine!) at Halter Ranch Vineyard

As I mentioned in my previous blog entry, I’ve just returned from a visit to the Central Coast AVA. We stopped in Santa Barbara County for a couple of days, but my main focus on this visit was to taste in Paso Robles. We had the opportunity to taste at many wonderful wineries, but today I’m going to focus on Halter Ranch Vineyard, located in the heart of Paso Robles’ Westside Adelaida District.

Full of history, Halter Ranch is one fun winery to visit. We were fortunate enough to embark on the full tour, hosted by our informative and personable guide Ray King. After checking out the Victorian farmhouse built in 1885 (which is a Paso Robles landmark!), we were loaded into a Jeep and crossed their picturesque covered bridge. Then off we drove into the 280 acres of vineyards!

We were shown some of their newly planted vines as well as a lot of old vine plantings. We stopped along the way for some breathtaking views, all while Ray was sharing a lot of the winery’s history and explaining which varietals were planted in which blocks, and why!

The highlight of the vineyards may not have been vines at all (although they WERE spectacular), but a huge, very old Coast Live Oak tree.  Thought to be about 600 years old, it is one of two largest trees of this variety in the world.  The tree sits in the middle of their Block 11 Syrah vineyard.  The rows of vines were planted in a radius around the Ancestor Oak (as they have named the tree) to twelve foot spacing so that the tractors could get between the rows when the vineyard was first planted back in 1996. This was definitely a photo op. As you can see by the picture, the branches have reached down into the ground and now help to support the massive tree.

At one point in the tour we hooked up with another group headed by Assistant Winemaker Molly Lonborg. Our two groups became one as we began the tour of the winery itself. 

Halter Ranch’s winery is the most state of the art I’ve seen. Architect John Mitchell worked closely with the winemaking team (headed by Winemaker Kevin Sass) to design this multi-level facility that employs gravity flow in all facets of the winemaking process. This allows the fruit to be handled in the gentlest way possible to get the grapes from the de-stemmer to the tank.

Molly showed us around the pristine facility, stopping to explain some of the many green aspects of the new facility, including rain harvesting water systems, the night cooling system, and a gravity based CO2 evacuation system. After showing off their new de-stemming machine and all of the other amazing features, she lead us to the cave where we saw barrels and barrels of fermenting juice!  

Next up was a visit to their lab. Again, the lab was immaculately clean and fascinating. Molly shared some of the fun (and not so fun) stories of their days in the lab.

Last, but certainly not least, we were led to a beautiful outdoor patio where Ray began pouring us some of the Halter Ranch wines.  This gorgeous spot was the ideal place to enjoy our tasting.

All of the Halter Ranch wines are good, but a few of them stood out for me.

Firstly, they make a rockin’ Rosé! Their 2014 is a blend of 71% Grenache, 9% Syrah, 13% Mourvèdre and 7% Picpoul Blanc. With aromas of strawberry and watermelon, it is made in the Provençal way and is refreshingly dry on the palate.

Another of my favorites was the 2012 Ancestor Estate Reserve. This is their flagship wine and is named after the “heart and soul” of their property, the Ancestor Tree. Comprised of 73% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Malbec and 7% Petit Verdot, this lovely Bordeaux Blend has lots of dark fruit and mocha.

I also loved the 2012 Malbec Estate Reserve (76% Malbec, 20% Petit Verdot and 4% Cabernet Sauvignon) and the 2012 Syrah Block 22! Honestly, all of the wines we tasted were very well made and enjoyable.

So, if you’re in the Paso Robles area and would like to have a very memorable wine experience, be sure to put Halter Ranch on your list. You might even get really lucky and see the resident chickens.

Oh, and by the way … don’t forget to take your camera!

http://www.halterranch.com

Halter Ranch is also SIP (Sustainability in Practice) Certified. To learn more, click here:  http://www.sipcertified.org

Old World Style in the New World!

If you follow my blog, you know that I love to travel! And when I travel, it’s usually to a wine region somewhere in the world! Well last week my husband and I hit California’s Central Coast AVA. We visited a few different areas, but today I’m going to tell you about three wineries from Santa Barbara County that really stood out to me!

First up was Whitcraft, located in Santa Barbara! Fresh off the airplane, this was our first stop. I’ve always wanted to taste here and was very excited.  I wasn’t disappointed! Sadly, Chris Whitcraft (who started making wine as a hobby and turned it into an award winning winery) passed last year. Happily, his very talented son Drake is now in charge of the winemaking and operations of Whitcraft Winery. He also happened to be pouring in the tasting room that day!

We had a wonderful tasting here, perhaps my favorite of the entire trip!!! Whitcraft’s Chardonnay is powerful with fruit, and has notes of earth and minerals. The Pinot Noir and Syrah are lovely “Old World” representatives that make me very happy! I can tell that Drake cares about the fruit! The wines are not overdone; he lets them speak for themselves. I bought three of his Pinots and one of his Chards. Believe me, if I lived in the area I’d buy his wines by the truckload!

Oh, and by the way, Whitcraft has a very cute Wine Dog named Terra!

Another winery that definitely stood out was Transcendence! I’m a very picky Pinot Noir drinker (see above). I admit it! Most “New World” Pinots just don’t rock my boat. Transcendence, on the other hand … WOW! 

Once again we were fortunate to taste with owner/winemaker Joey Gummere in their Lompoc tasting room. His Pinot Noirs are (in my opinion) being made the way Pinot Noir is supposed to be made! There is some earthy funkiness behind the fruit, along with lovely floral notes. He also does some nice Chardonnay and some rockin’ Rhone blends. In fact, I’m drinking a bottle of his 2012 Parea (50% Syrah, 29% Mourvèdre and 21% Grenache) as I write this! I bought a bunch, and he gave me a nice deal on shipping.

Last (but not least!) was Liquid Farm. Located in Buellton, this winery focuses on Chardonnay. I love the name (their goal is to promote that what happens above and below the ground produces the liquid in the bottle) and I also love the wine.

Anna set us up with a tasting with the Assistant Winemaker Tanner and his playful Wine Dog Button. We tasted through 5 different Chardonnays, and there wasn’t a dud in the group! My personal favorites were the 2013 Golden Slope, named for the famous Côte-d’Or of Burgundy France and the 2013 Bien Bien, which had a wonderful finish and reminded me of a Chassagne-Montrachet! I’m a sucker for Chassagne-Montrachet, so you can imagine how much I loved this wine!

Again, wish I could have bought a heck of a lot more, but thankful that I can order online!

As you can imagine, this was a great start to a very rewarding wine excursion.  I look forward to sharing more in future blogs!

If you’re interested in visiting any of these wonderful wineries, or are simply curious to check out more about them, here are links:

http://www.whitcraftwinery.com/Home.html

http://transcendwines.com

http://www.liquidfarm.com

Some of the Lovely Wines & People of Bordeaux!

Oh how I love France.  I’ve been a Francophile since I can remember, and it only increased after catching the wine bug.  I’m blessed to have traveled to France many times exploring many of their wine regions, but I have yet to go to Bordeaux.  Well this past week, Bordeaux came to me!

More than 30 chateaux from Bordeaux stopped in Orlando during their “North American Tour”.  This night’s tasting was sponsored by ABC Fine Wine and Spirits.  Representing these chateaux were owners, winemakers, marketing reps and some distributors.  None of the First Growths were there for tasting, but many of the other Growths, as well as some lovely Cru Bourgeois and fabulous wines from the Right Bank!

Almost all of the wines being poured were from the 2012 vintage.  Here are some of my favorites of the evening:

 2012 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron (2nd Growth from Pauillac) – Winemaker Jean-René Matignon was pouring his lovely 2012, which is comprised of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Merlot.  On the nose are tobacco, forest floor, blackberry and black cherry.  The palate has the dark fruit, cassis and vanilla.  The finish seems to go on and on and on.

2012 Château Lynch-Bages (5th Growth from Pauillac) – This needs time, but oh it will be worth the wait.  Made from 71% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot, some earth and licorice come through on the nose.  The palate is rich and yet fresh, with dark fruit and a touch of baking spices. 

2012 Château Clinet – From Pomerol on the Right Bank, this wine is a blend of 90% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% Cabernet Franc.  With aromas of cherry, wet earth and licorice, the palate explodes with black cherry and blackberry.  There is a hint of chocolate on the finish as well.

2012 Château Gazin– Again from Pomerol and considered one of the great wines of Bordeaux.  Christophe de Bailliencourt, the delightful Co-Owner and Co-Manager of Château Gazin, was pouring their lovely wine.  Gazin is located in the eastern part of the Pomerol plateau.  The 26-hectare vineyard adjoins the vineyards of L’Evangile and Petrus.  On the nose are cassis, blackberry and smoke.  Chocolate covered black cherry and the cassis and blackberry come through on the palate, leaving a long and lush finish.

Truthfully, there wasn’t a dud at this tasting.  I wish I had room to write about them all.  Perhaps I’ll do that as they have more time in the bottle.

Meanwhile if this tasting comes anywhere near you and you’re a lover of the wines of Bordeaux, don’t miss it.  For me it was a night that won’t be forgotten.  I have a feeling that my next adventure in France will include a visit to Bordeaux!

“Taken” Me Away …

I’ve been looking for a wine at a fair price to “take me away” … and I’ve found it! I’d heard of the Bordeaux blend Taken, but had yet to find a bottle to purchase. Well the other day I was fortunate enough to find a bottle and I grabbed it. Now I wish I’d grabbed a case!

Taken is the brainchild of two childhood friends, both of whom are from Napa wine families. Josh Phelps is the son of Chris Phelps (former winemaker for Dominus, Caymus & Swanson) and Carlo Trinchero’s family runs Trinchero Family Estates. Let me tell you something, these two young men have got it going on!

The 2012 Taken is a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot. It is already drinking so well, and some time in the bottle will only bring out more of its earthy qualities.

The wine’s color is deep garnet red with a rim variation of bright purple. On the nose are blackberry and black cherry. The velvety mouth feel provides flavors of chocolate covered cherry, blackberry and coffee. The fruit isn’t overbearing, and there is a wonderful earthiness that follows with smooth tannins on the finish. This wine has nice complexity and rocks, especially for the $30 price tag. Now I just need to find more!

Phelps and Trinchero have two brands under the Taken Label (Taken and another called Complicated) and are about to launch a third, which they’ve named Available! I sure am looking forward to trying them as well.

So … if YOU’RE ready to be Taken away … give this lovely wine a try. Here’s their website:  http://takenwine.com

 

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