It doesn’t take much convincing to get me venturing On the Trail with Kate on my day off, especially when it means being surrounded by beautiful vineyards, drinking fabulous wines, and connecting with some cool people.
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Sharon and I took our show on the road again, this time visiting Dragonette Cellars and Peake Ranch in the Sta. Rita Hills. My Vans squished in the mud; my hair blew in the wind. Patton poured us tasting samples of their wine, John talked to us about the vines, and I felt that this is the exact reason to love wine—to connect with people and to feel places in your bones.
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If there is one time of the year that we break out our best, it’s December. The china gets pulled out, the silver is polished and those bottles that have been stashed away for special occasion finally get opened. All this decadence got me thinking about our library wines at K&L. Although relatively small, it is perhaps one of the more exciting categories of wines that we sell. These are cult classics, old wines and rare bottlings. These are the really exciting wines that always seem so unattainable, but it turns out, with a little money to spend, they’re pretty easy to get. To find out more, I visited Molly Zucker, our Library Wine Department Director.
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When you pick up a bottle of Eric Kent wine, you know it. There’s no line drawing of an elaborate château, no fancy script, no coat of arms. What you see is an arresting piece of art or a poem, and, though each label is done by a different artist, there’s a sensibility that connects them. It’s a sense of humor. It’s a sense of whimsy. It’s a sense that you’ve entered a world through an artist’s unique looking glass.
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Time to raise a glass - it’s National Zinfandel day! This seductive varietal, with its powerful dark fruit, rich spices and elegant tannins, has charmed winemakers and drinkers since the early wine days in California. When we think of Zin, its story and its captivating charm, it’s hard not think of Storybook Mountain and Jerry Seps. His vineyards were part of the early winemaking pioneers in Napa Valley, and today, Seps and his family are creating highly awarded Zinfandels, raising the bar (as well as awareness) for this Americana grape.
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Today is International Merlot Day, so it got me thinking about this varietal – in particular, how sorry I am that it has gotten such a bad rap. But in the hands of a talented winemaker, Merlot makes a beautiful wine. When grown in the right locations and given proper care, it can be a stunning, complex wine that combines both power and finesse, rivalling the finest Cabernets. Bordeaux, Napa Valley and Tuscany are probably the best-known regions in the world for producing exceptional Merlots.
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And so there we were, in 1100 square feet packed with people and barrels and grapes and a forklift and a bucket of Tecate—at ground zero of what I have no doubt is a new moment for wine in this city, because here’s the thing: the wine is good. And they have the momentum and enthusiasm behind them to keep these wheels turning. Owner Jasper Dickson is a bon vivant/musician/winemaker/entrepreneur, who has a passion for wine and for LA—and he’s got a plan for both.
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An icon in California wine, Talley is a family-run farming operation who’ve been growing and bottling classic Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines from the Central Coast since the 80s. This is their 33rd harvest since they began, back in the day when they were the first growers of Pinot and Chardonnay in the region. I talked to Brian about cooking, food, wine, and the holistic approach that is the backbone of his family business.
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Tucked in the northeastern corner of Napa Valley, just south of the Palisades Mountains is the legendary Eisele Vineyard. Long recognized as one the finest Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards in Napa Valley, this stunning site owes its success to its various owners over the last century, each who contributed significant influences to the quality of vineyard. It is no surprise then that the new owner, François Pinault from Château Latour, is likewise elevating the standards that were already so remarkable. As the 2015 vintages are being released, we are starting to see these new influences, and it’s pretty exciting.
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Jeff says his family are farmers, that’s their identity. It’s not hard to romanticize that connection to the land—that’s what us wine geeks go in for, right? The beauty of how a glass of wine connects us to the weather and the soil and the people? But there is something so rooted and real about this family in this place. It’s a different California wine story than, say, much of Napa, where people came from elsewhere to stake their claim on winemaking. The Pisoni story happened from the ground up: a family already connected to the land with one visionary and a crazy idea.
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The temperature was a beautiful 78F, the sun shone brightly, and a delicate wind rustled the surrounding trees. I opened my car door and was immediately embraced by the comforting smell of smoky BBQ wafting towards me from the large outdoor grill. The soon-to-be snack- shack Airstream trailer was occupied by a catering crew preparing an array of delicious Spamburgers and spicy grilled shrimp. I checked in, poured a glass of rosé and observed the finished space. The new building is gorgeous…
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Terroir is a complex concept. It’s commonly translated as “a sense of place,” and most understandings of the term are largely dependant on how the vine’s physical environment affects the expression of the resulting wine. Soil type, aspect, climate and farming regime all contribute to the raw material—grapes. Then it’s over to the winemaker to preserve these distinctive markers of that particular place and encapsulate them in a bottle. Very few times in my life has this concept of a more holistic definition of terroir made more sense than on a recent trip to visit Ordaz Family Wines in Sonoma.
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