I’ll admit it; I love single-vineyard wines. There is something about the nuance and singularity that speaks volumes me. When drinking a single-vineyard wine, I like to imagine the vineyard, its rows of vibrant vines offering abundant fruit. Sometimes I’ll even go techie and try to find pictures of the vineyard on Google so I can be even more anchored to the very spot that produced the wine in my glass. If I’ve personally walked amongst the vines of a particular vineyard, I can return with just a tip of my glass and a bit of imagination.

I wanted to learn more about these special wines. But not from the perspective of the wine drinker, I wanted to learn from winemakers themselves. So with the help of a few talented single-vineyard winemakers, here’s what I learned in a nutshell. The winemaker’s ultimate duty to single-vineyard wines compels him/her to draw on the incalculable variations of each vintage to bring forth the true voice and personality of the vineyard. When made well, a single-vineyard wine will convey a very specific sense of place, nuance and art. Obviously not all vineyards produce fruit with enough unique characteristics to be worthy of vineyard designation. Vineyards, like people, all have something to say, but not everything said is worth your attention.

To be designated single-vineyard, at least 95% of the grapes must come from one defined vineyard. An estate-bottled designated wine may be from a single-vineyard but can also include grapes from other vineyards controlled by the estate through ownership or long-term leases within the same appellation. Single-vineyards can be quite small, comprising only a few acres, with very unique characteristics as seen with gnarly old vine Zinfandel vineyards.

In contrast, some are very large offering unique characteristics across different blocks within the vineyard. Napa Valley’s Stagecoach Vineyard rolls across 600 acres divided into 175 blocks among four designated regions. The prized 89-acre Napa Beckstoffer To Kalon (prn. Toe kalon) Vineyard, planted with Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, has been in recent years used by over 20 winemakers to create their single-vineyard designated wines. Each winemaker/artist creates a unique interpretation of the vineyard in much the same way no two artists could paint a sunset in exactly the same way.

Single-vineyard wines may be of all one variety or may be a blend of several varieties, grown in the same vineyard. The grapes within the vineyard may be picked all at the same time and co-fermented. In other cases the winemaker may choose to pick, ferment and barrel age separately only to blend later in a way that best expresses the singular beauty of the vineyard.

The winemaker often needs time to get to know the vineyard in a personal and intimate way. Joel Peterson, founder of Ravenswood and a single-vineyard Zinfandel pioneer, works with a vineyard for a minimum of three years and feels “it must produce flavors that are distinct and representative of a location, and it must be different (or better) than any of the other single vineyard wines I make.” Jamie Kutch, a Pinot Noir specialist says “You let the vineyard tell you by tasting and looking for unique characteristics which are exposed vintage after vintage.” Old vine Zinfandel whiz, Bruce Patch of Wine Guerilla researches the history and makeup of his heritage vineyards but in the end finds that “most all old vine vineyards are worth it.”

In many cases, blended wines are created in a consistent house style with little variation year after year. Although some blended wines are created to combine the best attributes of multiple vineyards, allowing for vintage variation. The bottom line is that multi-vineyard and multi-varietal blending gives the winemaker more wiggle room to get it right. Peterson knows “you have to get it right every time. There is no fudge factor like there is when making a blended wine. You either get it right or you blend it away.”

Blending however, can be very much a part of creating a single-vineyard wine. As mentioned earlier, some vineyards are very large with many varietals planted. With these single-vineyard wines, the winemaker has more latitude than with smaller single variety vineyards. Pinot Noir vineyards usually include any number of different Pinot clones that ripen at different speeds and respond best to different styles of oak barrels. In these cases the wines are often fermented and aged separately to be blended before bottling.” Mike Kohne of Mercy Vineyards explains, “Pinot Noir clones can have wildly different personalities so we find an advantage when we go to blend, if they’ve been kept separately.”

Other wines, like old vine Zinfandels lend themselves to field blends. These ancient vineyards, many planted before prohibition, contain predominantly Zinfandel vines but frequently include Petite Sirah, Carignane, other black grapes and the occasional white grape. Most old vine Zinfandel winemakers agree that co-fermentation of all the grapes from the vineyard offers the truest picture of the old vine vineyard’s soul.

Single-vineyard fruit is a limited resource requiring the winemaking style to be such that the vineyard speaks louder than the winemaker. So where does the vineyard end and the winemaker begin? A gentle touch and almost Zen-like understanding of the vineyard is required to let the vineyard sing its own distinctive song. Kutch explains it in terms of supermodels, “The challenge is to not mask the attributes with excessive use of oak, extraction, ripeness etc. In other terms, think of it like putting make-up all over a supermodel. You mask the beauty.” Joel Peterson agrees, “the aggressive use of oak, Brettanomyces, very ripe fruit, and excessive sweetness get in the way of vineyard expression.”

Single-vineyard wines, as I learned, are about nuance, requiring a winemaker’s special touch. A touch that is so in sync with a particular vineyard that he/she can coax out its unique voice from the terrior, without their personal winemaking style downing that voice out. I wonder to which unique vineyard I’ll be transported tonight with a simple pull of a cork.  So raise your glass to singular beauty. Free the grapes, give them a voice and allow those grapes to speak their singular truth to us all. In vino veritas – In wine there is truth!

Read :The Unlikely Conversion of a Wine Evangelist (Pt. 2)

Read :The Unlikely Conversion of a Wine Evangelist (Pt. 3)

Read :The Unlikely Conversion of a Wine Evangelist (Pt. 4)

It was the birth and adolescence of our children that slowed the wine-stained part of our lives and seemed to bring it all into perspective. While my passion for wine and winemaking never died, for the next 20 years it often took a backseat to soccer and volleyball games, golf tournaments and ski races as by then we had relocated to Colorado to find a simpler lifestyle in the mountains.

But a true passion, like a long lost love, never dies. And while we may stray from our roots, it is those very roots that anchor us and call us home. Those two roots for me are wine and Austin, Texas. As the children left for college, Donna and I began to migrate back to the wine-stained lifestyle we enjoyed so much, now more mature and less prone to excessive hedonism. And we purchased a small place in Austin and reunited with many of our wine friends there, if only part-time. It was not long before my smoldering passion for wine reignited into an all engulfing conflagration.

Surprisingly, and I say that seriously, our eldest son Conch, chose to study viticulture and enology (winemaking) at Texas Tech University. He was drifting in school, not able to find a major that created passion in his life, until I made a joke one night about the new V&E program at Tech, the first of its kind in Texas. His eyes focused on me and he said, “Dad, that’s what I want to do, I want to be a winemaker!”

Though the wine-stained life was obviously a part of his upbringing, he’d never really shown much interest until that moment. Needless to say, I was excited to share his new-found passion and wine became a bond we shared. The evangelist had a disciple.

We shared wines and even took a father/son trip for his 21^st birthday to Napa Valley. While Napa had grown from the quaint rural vineyard-laden valley I’d first visited 27 years earlier, it still held the same magic for Conch as it did for me. His Charlie Wagner moment came one sunny spring morning standing on the patio with Doug and John Shafer of Shafer Vineyards as Doug explained some of the vineyard techniques used to create their renowned Hillside Select Cabernet Sauvignon.

But every true evangelist hopes to increase his flock, and I was no exception. While I love wine, I love teaching about and sharing my gospel of the grape even more. But how? Though I am not prone to Bible quotes, Isaiah 11:1-10 seems appropriate; “And a child shall lead them.” While driving to Austin across the desolate expanse of West Texas, the cell phone rang with Conch on the caller ID. He had a school project in a wine class (in conjunction with a class at the University of Bordeaux) that required him to find a man and woman to write a short account of a moment where wine impacted their lives and friendships. We, of course, offered to write the pieces.

In response, my wife wrote a piece entitled When Disasters Create Opportunities about the time our toddling, diaper-swathed daughter, with her infantile thumbs, pushed the old, dry and a little crumbly cork into a bottle of 1908 Dow’s Vintage Port. We were packing for a move. Donna was impressed by how quiet and self-occupied Whitney was while she packed the kitchen. As she looked up from her pots and pans, Donna witnessed Whitney with a focused expression on her face, waddling across the room with both hands wrapped around the neck of the Port bottle she had pulled from an open box during her self-occupation. Whitney’s two tiny thumbs pressed the cork a little deeper with each unsteady step. Donna looked on in astonishment, but was able to grab them both in her arms before either crashed to the hardwood floor.

Once exposed to oxygen, we knew we had to drink the Port I had bought at an auction only a few months earlier to commemorate my grandmother’s birth year. The taste was more like Sherry than Vintage Port and we were at a loss about what to pair with the 80- year-old wine.

Our older and more experienced wine friends, Leonard and Sue, were summoned and showed up with a surprising yet perfect food pairing for the sherry-esque ancient wine, take-out Chinese spare ribs. Certainly that event that seemed so disastrous in the morning created an opportunity for fellowship and education in the evening. The piece I wrote, Inconsequential Moments, recounted the weekend with Luther, when I discovered my love of wine.

Shortly after writing our college papers, we watched the movie, Julie and Julia, The Year of Cooking Dangerously, about blogger Julie Powell as she chronicles her year of cooking every recipe in Julia Child’s Mastering The Art of French Cooking. An evangelist seeking a flock, the movie inspired me to create a wine blog of my own. With the two stories we’d written at Conch’s request and a few other wine pieces I’d written over the years, Bacchus and Beery Wine Blog was born. The evangelist had found his pulpit at last.

Roger & Charlie Wagner - Founder of Caymus circa 1983

It was around that same time that all three of our children were home for the winter holidays. Whitney decided to dig through the large green plastic tub filled with old photographs and came up with a handful of pictures of Donna and me in our teens and early twenties. She was particularly humored by a photo of me at 26-years-old, dressed in a tweed jacket, striped Rugby shirt, sporting a full beard, standing next to an older round man in a red plaid shirt, suspenders and a black puffy jacket. She asked, “Dad, who’s this old guy you’re with?”

By then Michael and Conch had gathered, interested in Whitney’s stash of old photos. I stared long and hard at that slightly faded snapshot. After a good moment, I looked at my three children and said, “Sit down, let me tell you about this man, Charlie Wagner. Without ever knowing it, he changed my life.”

Advice from six who successfully made a wine-stained reboot

Each year millions of enthusiasts visit California wine country. In fact, Napa Valley is California’s second most popular tourist destination, behind only Disneyland. While many tikes dream of life in the Magic Kingdom, many like me, dream of a life in wine country.

What is so alluring about the wine country lifestyle? Certainly there is the idyllic vineyard landscapes, the sweet aromas of oak barrels and the chance to create liquid art that brings pleasure to so many. But the one thing above others that seems to engage most wine country visitors is the passion they feel from winemakers, tasting room folks and locals they meet during their visit. The passion for the grape is so contagious that many wine lovers leave wine country wishing they could reboot their lives or “do it over again” and somehow create a new wine-stained life.

Of course we have all heard the stories of the rich and uber-rich that bought or built the winery of their dreams. While those stories are wistfully intriguing, most of us will never have that kind of money, short of acquiring that lucky Powerball ticket while filling up the aging Toyota. The passions of wine country however are not limited to the uber-rich and those with viticulture and enology (winemaking) degrees. Wine country is filled with people who sacrificed established careers, good jobs and in some cases friends and family to chase their wine-stained dreams.

During my time as a wine blogger I’ve met quite a few people who found their lives unfulfilled until they took a leap of faith and landed an hourly winery job. Though I share their dream, so far I have not been willing to quit my secure real life job, to be an $8 an hour harvest intern. Am I missing out on the adventure of a lifetime?

I set off to Napa Valley and Sonoma County to meet and learn from those who had successfully accomplished what I have only been willing to dream about. Funny thing, I arrived with a short list of wine country adventurers and left with a very long list of others who had found the courage to reboot their lives in wine country. I discovered a whole culture of people willing to leave their old lives behind to live their wine-stained dreams. Better yet, they reported their lives in wine country even exceeded their expectations before arrival.

I interviewed a cross-section of individuals representing different facets of the wine industry. Though each followed a slightly different path, some with more stones than others, all are still as passionate about their wine country lives today as when they arrived. Some sought formal wine or hospitality education after arrival while others apprenticed under established winery professionals.

Fredrik Johansson

So what are the keys to a successful reboot in order to chase those wine-stained passions to a successful life in wine country? To find the answers I met with two winemakers, formerly from the financial services industry, Fredrik Johansson of Staglin Family Vineyard and Jamie Kutch of Kutch Wines – Pinot Noir. We shared wines with a 14-year police veteran from Virginia, Cindy Cosco, owner/winemaker of Passaggio Wines and Mia Malm, a longtime Broadway song and dance star who now owns Malm Communications, a wine country public relations firm. Taking an even less expected route, Hardy Wallace was laid off from Kodak in Atlanta. On a lark he entered and won a contest for “A Really Goode Job” at Murphy Goode Winery as their “Wine Country Lifestyle Correspondent.” Today he owns a micro-winery Dirty and Rowdy Family Wine Company and also works in the tasting room of extolled Cabernet producer Cathy Corison of Corison Winery. Finally, we shared breakfast with Mark Elcombe who lost his sales and importing company when his client, The Sharper Image, closed. After taking classes in hospitality at a local junior college, Mark is now the tasting room manger for Sonoma-Cutrer Vineyards near Healdsburg in Sonoma and a sought after wine competition judge.

All offered up some great advice for the wine country wannabe. The more we spoke, the more some reoccurring themes became apparent to the success of a wine-stained life transition. What does it take to make wine-stained dreams a reality? Here’s what I learned.

Jamie Kutch

Passionate about wine – All of the people who made the leap were passionate about wine, to say the least. All had been deeply involved with wine in some way for a long time. Hardy had a wine blog. Jamie, from New York City, had immersed himself in the Pinot Noir world and for years interacted with winemakers and Pinot lovers via the web and chat rooms. Fredrik went so far as to interview his friends about what direction they felt he should take his life. As Fredrik tells it, “they said all you talk about is wine…do something with wine.” Fredrik was so passionate; he left his successful career for an $8 an hour winery intern job, so he could apprentice under celebrated winemaker Thomas Brown (2010 Food and Wine Magazine Winemaker of the Year).

Mia Malm

Be willing to take a big step backward – You may have been very successful in your previous career, but that was your past life. Put your ego in a box. Expect to take a bottom rung winery job, just to get your foot on the ladder. Mia Malm recommends you be willing “to take a step back financially to live the larger dream.” She insists that winery wannabes “be humble and say I don’t know this industry, but I want to learn it.”

Hardy Wallace

Network…Network…Network – The wine industry is a small tight knit community and it pays to network both online and in real life. Networking lets people get to know you and feel your passion. Networking also gives you a chance to interview other wine professionals about their jobs. What do they like and dislike about it? What are the challenges? How does your skill set fit with the opportunities? Hardy Wallace came out for a PR and social media position with Murphy Goode but learned his real passion lay in small winery winemaking and production where “you wear every hat.” When Jamie Kutch began to sell his now highly regarded Pinot Noirs, he already had a substantial list of potential buyers from his time networking online with other Pinot lovers. Fredrick was the assistant winemaker at Outpost when a friend of a friend recommended Fredrik for the open winemaker position at Staglin.

Marl Elcombe

Work Hard…Very Hard – There is an old adage that you don’t have to out run the bear, just the fellow next to you. Winery work is physically hard, especially during crush and harvest. It is fast paced and with cleanliness being of utmost importance, there is always something that needs to be done, even as simple as sterilizing tank valves. Harvest jobs are seasonal, so the people who work the hardest, stay focused, wear their wine passions on their sleeve and ask the best questions, are kept on the longest. With some luck, a seasonal cellar rat can transition to a full time winery job.

Mark Elcombe wanted to go into winery sales and felt the best way to gain wine knowledge was to work harvest as a cellar rat. Normally a young person’s position, Mark was in his early 50’s. Working for a big winery, he recounts “I was the last one in the break room and the first one out. I carried a rag in my back pocket so even when there was little to do, I could polish the stainless-steel fermentation tanks and clean valves.” Cindy Cosco moved from Virginia in 2004 and worked at a liquor store for a month before landing a seasonal cellar rat job at Chateau St. Jean. Halfway through harvest they moved Cindy into the enology laboratory for what became a full time position that she left three years later to pursue her winemaking dreams. Cindy credits her good luck to “the passion you show, a willingness to do anything required, a strong work ethic and maturity.”

Cindy Cosco

Be willing to take a chance – As songwriter Pat Green says, “If you live your whole life upon a shelf…You got no one to blame but your own damn self.” So what makes someone willing to trade a safe and stable existence for a dream in wine country? Everyone we interviewed was quite introspective and had a strong sense of self. They wanted more from their lives and lifestyles and were willing to sacrifice security for heart-felt happiness. After much teeth-mashing contemplation they became certain about the direction their lives needed to go. “You have to be willing to jump off the diving board,” Cindy Cosco said. I asked her how she knew she was ready to dive. After many meetings with those who left stable yet unfulfilling jobs to follow their wine-stained passions, she said to herself, “I can do this, too…AND WHY NOT!

Press Release

Napa County Non-Profits Host Third Annual Napa Valley 360

Online auction to raise funds to benefit local families

Napa Valley, CA – The four major nonprofit agencies throughout Napa County are gearing up for Napa Valley 360, an online auction designed to bring one-of-a-kind Napa Valley experiences to top bidders. Funds raised for this auction will benefit the 8,300 Napa County community members who are supported by Family Service of Napa Valley, Calistoga Family Center, St. Helena Family Center and Cope Family Center. The auction can be viewed at www.napavalley360.org and will run from Friday, March 30 at 8:00 am through Monday, April 2nd at 8:00 pm.

“This has become one of our best fundraisers, and we are excited to be partnering again with the other incredible family-service organizations in Napa County,” said Joelle Gallagher, Executive Director of Cope Family Center. “We want people to understand that by bidding on these auction lots, they not only receive the chance to experience the best of the Napa Valley, but also help raise funds to better serve our families in need.”

This is the third year that these organizations have come together to organize a fundraiser of this size and scale. Last year’s auction raised over $52,000 for services provided from the four agencies, with winning bidders from across the United States. This year’s goal is to raise $75,000. The online auction will last for three days only. From Friday, March 30^th, at 8AM PST through Monday, April 2nd at 8:00 pm, people will have the opportunity to bid on their favorite auction packages ranging in price from $500-5,000. Similar to other online auctions, bidders will have the chance to bid on their favorite items and they will be notified via email if they have been outbid. At that point, bidders will have the opportunity to submit a new bid before the close of the auction.

Over the past year, each organization has seen a 50% increase in the need for safety net services that help those in the valley who are unemployed and emotionally or physically distressed.  All proceeds from Napa Valley 360 will benefit local families and will make the community a safer, healthier place to live.

Listed below is a sampling of the wonderful packages that are offered in this year’s auction.

• Hands-On Wine Blending Experience: Here is your opportunity to enjoy an incredible hands-on blending experience with winemaker extraordinaire, Dawnine Dyer, at award-winning Meteor Vineyard in Napa. After the wine blending, enjoy a casual lunch at the vineyard with Dawnine and vineyard manager Mike Wolf. To ensure the day will remain in your memories, bring home a magnum of Meteor to share with family and friends.
• Asian Culinary Experience and Lunch for Six: Experience a cultural awakening of the senses and an unforgettable afternoon. Enjoy a private tour for six of the fabulous Dana Estate, designed by Howard Backen, followed by a cooking class with Hospitality Director and Chef Daniel Ha, with a focus on traditional dishes from Vietnam and Korea.
• Meadowood Golf & Croquet Getaway for Two: Nestled into the forested hillside above St. Helena is Meadowood Napa Valley, an award-winning resort highly south after for its intimacy, serenity and trademark luxury. One couple will enjoy one night’s stay in this magical hideaway, complete with lunch for two at The Grill. Your getaway also includes private golf lessons for two.
• Napa Valley Film Festival: Two lucky people will be treated like STARS at the second annual Napa Valley Film Festival 2012. Enjoy overnight accommodations in a lovely Yountville Bungalow, along with two tickets to the Napa Valley film Festival and dinner at The Restaurant in Bardessono.
• Mondavi Handpainted Double Magnum: What could be better than enjoying a bottle of wine from the iconic Mondavi Winery? How about one that includes personalized art work by Margrit Mondavi? This double magnum Cabernet Sauvignon magnum has been hand-painted by Ms. Mondavi exclusively for this event. A must have for true wine and art enthusiasts!
• Barbeque and Chocolate for 18: Experience firsthand the delicious transition St. Helena’s famous Woodhouse Chocolates’ team has made from fine chocolate to award-winning competitive barbecue. Woodhouse Barbecue founders John and Tracy Anderson will create a feast fit for a champion for the successful bidder and 18 guests at their Napa area home or other favorite location. A selection of wines provided by the St. Helena Family Center Board of Directors will complement the Bay Area’s finest meats cooked on the Woodhouse family of barbecue pits, all topped off by morsels of the Upper Valley’s finest chocolates.

The Honorary Committee, Napa Valley Destination Council, 55 Degrees and WineCountry.com are key sponsors for the online event.

About Napa Valley 360

Napa Valley 360 benefits four Napa County nonprofit agencies that provide essential mental health, family support and child abuse prevention services to over 8,300 Napa County residents from Calistoga to American Canyon through the collaborative Bridges Program. 75% of these families have demonstrated improvement in their daily functioning and/or level of emotional distress as a result of their participation.

Again, these are just a few of the superb wines we reviewed this month. Please check out Bacchus and Beery Wine Blog – Wine Reviews for all the reviews and ratings. Full disclosure – These wines were samples provided by the winery.

Red Wines

Lava Cap Winery Reserve Zinfandel 2008  Estate Bottled, El Dorado, CA, $20

A delicious medium-bodied Zin from Lava Cap Winery. Rich and round Zinfandel flavors of ripe blackberry, plum, black cherry and a touch of oaky vanilla and dark spice. Supple tannins add backbone. This wine screams out for grilled meats or dry-rubbed BBQ.

J Vineyards Pinot Noir 2009, Russian River Valley, CA, $32

A well-balanced and medium-bodied Pinot Noir with ripe fruit flavors of dark cherry, raspberry, and strawberry highlighted with notes of spice, black tea, cocoa and hints of oaky vanilla. Supple and unobtrusive tannins add complexity.

Nickel & Nickel Branding Iron Cabernet Sauvignon 2008, Oakville, Napa Valley, CA, $95

A beautiful example of a single varietal/single vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. A deep wine that holds your attention. Well-integrated tannins add depth and structure.  About an hour in the decanter and this Cabernet opens to show off flavors of dark cherry, blackberry tobacco, dark berry, dark spice with hints of toasty oak vanilla.

Roadhouse Winery Zinfandel 2009, Dry Creek, CA, $29

Known more for their Pinot Noir, this Zinfandel from Roadhouse Winery rocks it. A bit of extra zip comes from the Petite Sirah and Carignane in the blend. Rich and jammy flavors of black cherry, blackberry, ripe plum, currant, bramble and dark spice. Supple tannins add a bit of backbone.

MacPhail Family Wines Wildcat Vineyard Pinot Noir 2009, Sonoma Coast, CA, $49

James MacPhail is a master of big, rich Pinot Noir and this beauty from MacPhail Family Wines is no exception. Ripe and round flavors of cherry, raspberry, red berries are complimented with hints of oak, spice and minerality with just a touch of fruit sweetness. I shared this wine with a friend who said “I just don’t get Pinots”…he does now!

White Wines

Patianna Sauvignon Blanc 2010, Mendocino, CA, $17

Winemaker Mike Lee left this world too soon. He left us however, with this wonderful Sauvignon Blanc from Patti Fetzer’s Patianna Estate. Made from organic grapes, using only stainless steel and no malolactic fermentation, the wine is crisp but still has an enticing soft and round mouth-feel. The nose offers aromas of melon, citrus and a hint of wet stone and crème. Flavors of ripe grilled pineapple, melon, minerality, white stone fruit and honeysuckle combined with balanced acidity and creaminess creates a wine that can be enjoyed on its own or paired with summer fare.

Mollydooker The Violinist Verdelho 2010, Wine of Australia, $25

Verdelho is a white grape originally from Portugal that produces a crisp wine.  A satisfying nose of ripe pineapple. Crisp on the palate with a semi-round mouth-feel followed by well balanced flavors of pineapple, citrus, tropical and minerality with enough zippy acid to make it a good food pairing wine. It paired very well with our meal of boiled shrimp with 3 sauces.

Lava Cap Chardonnay 2010, El Dorado, CA, $18

Another delicious Chardonnay from Lava Cap. A rich nose of baked apple gives way on the palate to a round mouth-feel full of ripe red apple, ripe pineapple, died apricot, baking spices, Meyer lemon, and tropical flavors integrated with oaky vanilla and a light creme finish. Sit back and enjoy sip after sip

Chatom Vineyards Chardonnay 2010, Calaveras County, CA , $18

This sumptuous Chardonnay from Chatom Vineyards opens with a soft nose of baked apples. A round mouth-feel with flavors of ripe apple and pear that give way to flavors of apple pie, cinnamon, ripe citrus and tropical fruits with finishing notes of vanilla Crème Brûlée. 80% stainless steel fermentation creates nice acidity to balance the rich flavors.

Crosby Roamann Eternal Return Sauvignon Blanc 2010, St. Helena AVA, Napa Valley, CA, $24

This lightly oaked Sauvignon Blanc by Crosby Roamann opens with a nose of herbal citrus which gives way to a crisp yet soft mouth-feel with flavors of  pear, vanilla, flinty minerality, and Meyer lemon with a bit of zippy acidity. It paired well with broiled scallops. This wine needs to approach room temp before all the flavors come into play.

Read :The Unlikely Conversion of a Wine Evangelist (Pt. 2)

Read :The Unlikely Conversion of a Wine Evangelist (Pt. 3)

The years that followed my wine revelations at the hands of Charlie Wagner continued to advance both my zeal and enthusiasm for the gospel of the grape. Austin’s wine scene grew exponentially, due in no small part to the hi-tech boom fueled by the meteoric rise of Dell Computers and the literally thousands of “Dellionaires” (many from California) looking to spend their good fortune on wine, food and a party time. Winemaker dinners, wine bars, wine friends and a few more trips to wine country filled the rest of the 1980’s and well into the 1990’s, often to excess. That period saw the birth of the Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Festival, a wonderful series of winemaker dinners at the newly opened Four Seasons Hotel and a bevy of restaurants with great wine lists and bars in the newly re-envisioned Warehouse District, near downtown.

At the center of the excess and wine scene was Mezzaluna, the final piece to my wine indoctrination. Standing at the helm of Mezzaluna’s opening was, Henry Schmidt. Located on a former brothel site, Mezzaluna immediately became the hub of the Austin wine and young professional crowds and was packed most every night. The wine bar area was almost as big as the restaurant and the staff knew their wines. Owner Reed Clemons, along with Henry, Jeff, Benny and Jay became the kings of Austin wine and Mezzaluna their domain. Probably more people were introduced to good wines by the staff at Mezzaluna than any place in Austin before and since. Mezzaluna was a lifestyle and we were deep in it. Wine here was cool, nothing geeky about it. I was in my early 30’s drinking the likes of Dunn and Caymus Cabernets, Ridge Zins and Rombauer Chardonnay like crazy. Winery owners like Doug Shafer of Shafer Vineyards and Koerner Rombauer of Rombauer Vineyards would drop by Mezzaluna and pour. This new wine world of Austin was worlds apart from my life in San Antonio and we loved it.

Henry to this day believes that much of the sexy frenetic energy that was Mezzaluna was influenced by the property’s illicit sexual past. From the 1870’s until 1913 when the Reverend Bob Shuler led a frenzied movement to close them down, the Warehouse District was known as Guy Town offering hookers of every race to men of every socio-economic level. While the spiritual sexual energy may have played a part, Mezzaluna was unique in many ways. While Chef Harvey offered up some truly inspired rustic Tuscan Italian cuisine from one of Austin’s first open concept kitchens, it was the wine and Mezzaluna’s excellent staff that kept the folks packing the restaurant and bar.

Henry insisted that all the wait staff be able to demonstrate a significant wine knowledge, unusual in such a casual setting. No one was seated without a discussion of wines. The wine list too had its unique qualities. The wines were divided by sparkling, white, red and rose only. Each category was listed by price so you may have a Cabernet followed by a Pinot Noir, followed by a Super-Tuscan. Henry’s theory was that most people know what color wine they want and how much they were willing to spend. His list made it easy to see all the choices in the patron’s price range. “Mez,” as it was often called, was also one of the first Austin eateries to offer a large wine-by-the-glass menu with a frequent rotation. Adventurous wine lovers always had new and exciting wines to try, even those of us who camped out a few nights every week.

The staff was enthusiastic about wine and it was contagious. Never was there a blank stare when a customer asked about the taste of a wine. No need to bring a stuffy sommelier to the table, the staff was that knowledgeable. All this in a casual, hip and popular setting, Mezzaluna had it goin’ on. It was the place to see and be seen, to taste and to eat, a beautiful crowd of the young rising stars of downtown Austin. The Mezzaluna bacchanalia went on most every night of the week. Nothing exemplified the unabashed hedonism of the clientele more than the fact that for a couple of years, this restaurant in Austin, Texas, led the entire nation in sales of Veuve Clicquot Brut Yellow Label Champagne. Times were good in Austin in the early 1990’s, and the young “Dellionaires” and real estate moguls partied hard. Veuve at Mez was more often served in a 2oz. shot glass for $10, than a flute. A circle would gather, some young techie hipster would plop down a $100 bill for 10 shots and the party crowd knocked back sparkling shots as if it were Tequila.

Much of the Mezzaluna staff went on to great wine careers. Jeff Courington now owns his own popular wine bar,Vino Vino, Jay Knepp is one of the state’s premiere winegrowers at Salt Lick Vineyards/Cellars (at the famed Salt Lick BBQ site in Driftwood, TX) and Ben Baroden is still my go-to wine guy at Reed’s current restaurant incarnation, The Grove Wine Bar.

It was during this time, in the exhilarating Mezzaluna wine scene, that I graduated from student to full-fledged wine evangelist. My cellar and knowledge was now respectable and my wine passion was boundless, if not annoying to some. A young man had come to work for me after being one my top university students. Robert Garza and I became and remain close friends. He had grown up in far south Texas near the Mexico border and like me at his age, had no experience with wine. I felt it was my duty, if not obligation, to show young Robert the way to the grape. It wasn’t a very challenging task; Robert took to wine like a cork to bottle. By the time Mezzaluna opened, Robert was fully converted and we were there after work 2-5 nights a week.

One night, while sitting at the pale green concrete Mezzaluna shaped bar at its namesake restaurant, we devised a wine-stained plan to help him find just the right girl to date. Robert, being strikingly handsome in a Jimmy Smits kind of way and very outgoing, had no problem meeting women, especially at Mez. The problem was that Robert was convinced any girl worth spending time with must share his newly developed love of wine. The plan we concocted was simple, maybe silly but it worked to perfection.

White Zinfandel was at its zenith of popularity at that time. The girls who 10 years earlier would have drinking, “Ripple on ice, “a light wine that goes with people who set the pace!” or even God forbid, Cold Duck were now drinking the pink colored White Zin. Of course, I can’t be too hard on them; I, the randy 18-year-old who drank Mateus Rose´. For those of us who love the deep rich spiciness of old vine Zinfandel, it is important to remember that those old vines (some well over 100 years old) were in fact saved by cheap sweet White Zin. If fact the wine we now know as White Zin was an accident of sorts.

Sutter Home was the first major producer of white Zinfandel in the sweet pink form we know now. As the story goes, Sutter Home’s winemaker (now chairman and Vintner Hall of Fame inductee) Bob Trinchero was a big fan of rich red Zinfandels. To create those concentrated jammy Zin flavors, he would bleed off some of the free run juice early in the process. Not wanting to waste good Zinfandel juice, it was fermented into a dry rose´ they called “Oeil de Perdrix,” or “Eye of the Partridge.” In 1975, a portion of the fermenting free-run juice stuck. Stuck fermentation is a term for the fermentation process coming to a premature end, leaving unfermented sugars and thus adding a level of sweetness commensurate with the residual sugar. In this case, the residual sugar was around 2%, not excessively sweet but still sweet to the taste. Trinchero decided the sweet wine tasted better and was more marketable than the dry version and began to bottle it as White Zinfandel. In the 1980’s, White Zinfandel sales soared and the wine became a popular easy drinker, particularly with women. In 1990 alone, Sutter Home sold three million cases.

But the best part of the story for those of us who love red Zinfandel is this: Zinfandel in the 1970’s was not terribly popular though a few winemakers like Trinchero, Joel Peterson (founder of Ravenswood), Paul Draper at Ridge Vineyards and others produced some amazing juice. Even so, the old vine vineyards, many in Sonoma, were in danger of being ripped out and replanted due to their low production. The demand for Zinfandel grapes grew exponentially with the increasingly popularity of white Zinfandel. The owners of these older vineyards found a new market and as a result did not replant their vineyards with more popular grapes.

With increased demand came increased prices for Zinfandel grapes. White Zin was outselling red Zinfandel by 6 to1. The producers of White Zinfandel, like Sutter Home and Beringer, realized that the old vine grapes were far better in quality than they needed for the sweet wine and so they planted large vigorous vineyards in the California Central Coast area, where land and labor costs were less. Once these vineyards came on line, there was no need to buy from the higher quality, lower production old vine vineyards. But by then, the popularity of red Zinfandel, especially old vine Zinfandel was on the rise. So it is fair to say the meteoric rise of cheap White Zinfandel saved many old vineyards from being ripped out until the public was ready for those spicy jammy Old Vine Zinfandels we love today.

So what was the simple, if not silly, Zin plan? Robert and I would go into Mezzaluna and order a bottle of Zinfandel and pour ourselves a glass. If he found a girl who enticed him, he would walk over to her, start a conversation and if that went well, offer her a glass of wine. The wine he would offer was a “Zinfandel.” With glasses of Ridge or Dry Creek Zin in hand, he would return and offer one to his prospect. If the response was surprise or confusion over seeing a red wine instead of pink, Robert knew she wasn’t right for him. He would replace the glass with White Zin and move on.

Did it work? To some extent it did. While he didn’t marry a girl from Mezzaluna, he did marry the manager and fellow wineaux from a restaurant, Gilligan’s, just a block away. Today, I can report they are still happily married and great wine is still very much a part of their lives.

Press Release

With only 1 week left until Fort Collins Wine Fest, don’t miss your chance to reserve your spot at one of the largest wine tasting events in Colorado. Since 1982, Wine Fest has been inspiring wine connoisseurs, food fanatics and local philanthropists alike. In its 30th year providing funding for Disabled Resource Services, this event fundraises thousands of dollars each year for those living with disabilities. The 2012 event will be held on March 23 at the Fort Collins Hilton. Featuring 150 vineyards and 500 wines from around the world, Wine Fest has a full roster of activities to keep you entertained throughout the evening. Wines and beers are complemented by an assortment of delicious food items from local restaurants.

Proceeds from Wine Fest ticket sales and auction items provide services for nearly 6,000 individuals living with disabilities in Larimer and Jackson Counties. Disabled Resource Service provides support those living with a disability need to navigate the world without isolation. As one of ten centers for independence in the state of Colorado, Disabled Resource Services provides resources to empower individuals with disabilities to achieve their maximum level of independence through advocacy, awareness and access to the community.

Tickets for this exciting event Tickets are available for purchase at Pringles Fine Wine & Spirits, Wilbur’s Total Beverage, Supermarket Liquors, The Melting Pot (Fort Collins), at the door or online at http://www.winefestfc.org/tickets.html.

Read :The Unlikely Conversion of a Wine Evangelist (Pt. 2)

Late in the fall of 1983, John, an eccentric wine-business friend, insisted we join him and his wife, Jennifer, on a trip to Napa and Sonoma. The excursion included events that would ultimately change both our wine-stained lives forever. We flew into San Francisco and rented a white Lincoln Towne Car, the size of a small yacht. We cruised across the bay and into wine country. I was mesmerized. In November, with harvest completed many of the vineyards still had leaves of rustic red, yellow and harvest gold. The trip had many memorable moments, including the haunted San Francisco B&B’s where John insisted we stay. Lest we forget the corner sushi bar whose concept of hospitality was to curse in Japanese as you entered.

Donna spent the whole trip politely passing on any red wine tastings, limiting herself to whites. She had yet to develop a taste for rich red wines with their structured tannins. As if acting in unison, the red wines would begin to pour and her right hand would cover the wine glass. That was until the moment in the living area of our Healdsburg B&B when Donna lost her cabernet virginity. Around four in the afternoon we sat with a few other guests to share the day’s wine tasting bounty. John opened a bottle of Jordan Cabernet and insisted Donna give it a full-on chance. With much trepidation, she lifted the glass to her lips and took a sip, letting the wine settle on her palate. At that instant she knew what she had been missing all along.

Time was short, Jordan closed at 5. John and I jumped into the Lincoln, crammed full with 25 cases of wine we could not easily find back in Texas (which at that time was many). We raced the clock up the winding road to the Jordan Estate. Our tail pipes literally scraped the ground from the weight as we hit bumps in the road. A small car headed down the drive in our direction, stopped and a young lady told us the tasting room was closed. John impatiently pleaded our case, offering the tale of lost cabernet virginity. Understanding our plight, she turned around and sold us our final two cases of Cabernet. In 1983, airlines had no baggage limit. All 27 cases made it to Austin without so much as a single lost bottle and thus my wine collection was born in style. While Donna still loves her Chardonnays and Sauvignon Blancs, red wines are now often her wine of choice.

While losing one’s Cabernet virginity is an experience not to be trifled with, it was my chance meeting with Caymus founder Charlie Wagner that proved to be my second seminal wine moment. A picture from that day, me in my stylish 80’s beard and red striped rugby shirt standing beside Charlie in his red plaid work shirt still hangs in my office. The day was cold and drizzling and we were driving the crossroads between Hwy. 29 and Silverado Trail looking for interesting little wineries when we saw the unassuming Caymus sign.

We pulled up to what appeared to be a small home, got out hoping to get inside, away from nasty weather. It was there a gruff 70ish looking round, bald man, in a well-worn plaid shirt and puffy black jacket, came around the corner. We introduced ourselves and he introduced himself as Charlie. I knew from pictures he was Charlie Wagner, owner of Caymus. After asking if we could do a tasting, Charlie’s response was something like, “You can’t understand my wines unless you know my vines.” He said we could only do a tasting if we were willing to take a trip through his sloppy wet vineyard. This man who always saw himself as a farmer first, no doubt offered the ploy as a way to send us packing, assuming we’d pass on a rain-soaked vineyard excursion. Charlie assumed wrong.

Charlie Wagner was born in 1912 on a farm and vineyard in Rutherford, not far from where the winery sits today. His parents began making wine in 1915 and by the enactment of prohibition in 1920 were producing 30,000 gallons a year. 1943 was the year Charlie and his wife Lorna Belle Glos (the namesake of Belle Glos Pinot Noir made by their grandson, Joseph Wagner) purchased their first vineyard, 73 acres, in Rutherford. After gaining a reputation as an artful wine grower, Charlie grew weary of his superior grapes going into other winemakers’ blends. In 1972, Charlie at age 60 and his family (including 21-year-old son Charles who now runs Caymus) produced their first wines under the Caymus label.  Wine Spectator magazine in1989 named Caymus Special Selection Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon “Wine of the Year.” Two years prior his picture appeared on the cover of Spectator with the headline declaring “The Best Damn Cabernet in California.” In that same issue, Charlie was quoted as saying, “There’s more work than glory in being a farmer, but I get a lot of satisfaction out of it.” Charlie worked those vines until 2002, when he passed at 89 years old. This was the man who wanted me, a young wine wannabe from Austin, to know his vines. I was honored.

That day we traipsed out into the muck, fully unprepared for such an adventure. Joining us was a big, friendly and water-logged yellow dog that continuously shook his woolly coat free of moisture, giving us the sensation of standing in a yard sprinkler. Charlie talked about each vine as though it was his child and I was mesmerized. I was, at that moment, forever destined to live a wine-stained life.

We spent close to an hour in the vineyard, Charlie wearing his large rectangular glasses, suspenders and puffy waterproof jacket, me in my damp stylish tweed coat. Apparently, we’d passed the test and were allowed to move on to the winery for a tasting of this man’s wine. It was my first time to share wine with such a notable winery owner. He took us through the wines, pointing out flavors and nuance. A board resting atop two wine barrels served as the tasting room.  Apparently we passed the tasting test, too. I hope we appeared as eager students rather than just another carload of tourists. That must have been the case because we were invited into his home, there on the property, where we spent a wonderful afternoon in the kitchen of his small home, tasting and talking. I was hooked.

It was there, in the warmth of the Wagner kitchen, feeling the glow from rich Caymus Cabernet, I knew that someday I would return as something more than a tourist. Someday I wanted to share my wine and hoped the recipient enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed Charlie Wagner’s wine on that wet November afternoon.

This experience was my first introduction to what I call the “wine club.” The wine club has grown in dramatic fashion over the last twenty years. All it takes to join the club is a passion for wine. Exclusive it is not. This shared passion for wine is often enough to pollinate relationships, start friendships, open doors and interestingly enough break down social and economic barriers. Looking back to my meeting with Charlie Wagner, all it took was for him to feel our shared passion to create the opportunity to spend an afternoon together with one of the great wine pioneers of his time. From time to time, I still chat with winemakers I met twenty years ago over a glass of wine. At wine events and tastings you find people discussing this shared passion, who, if they passed on the street, might never engage in so much as a second glance. Through wine, we who share the passion are all part of the club. Do we find people developing lasting relationships over a shared passion for vodka? Rarely.

In 2011, I was back at Caymus for a tasting of Belle Glos Pinot Noirs and ran into Charlie’s son Charles, as he sat at a picnic table sharing lunch and a glass of wine with friends. I pulled out my iPhone and showed him the 1983 photo of me and his dad dressed in that red plaid shirt. Charles became noticeably moved as he stared at the picture. Looking up he said, “That was Dad’s favorite shirt. Every time it got a hole, he’d have Mom sew it up.” The shirt was such an iconic part of Charlie, Charles reported that after his father’s passing; it was cut into squares, each one framed and given as a visual memory to Charlie’s children.

I also learned from Charles that the winemaker for those early Caymus vintages was a young U.C. Davis graduate, Randy Dunn. I have been an ardent fan of Randy Dunn’s Howell Mountain Cabernets since their early releases in the late 1980’s. In fact, a bottle of 1989 Dunn lays prominently in my cellar, a memento of my eldest son’s birth year. Napa Valley was and continues to be a small world.

Cindy Cosco

Mr. B&B and I had breakfast with Cynthia Cosco of Passaggio Wines recently as we left Sonoma County for the Oakland airport.  Passaggio translates to passageway and is a tribute to her Italian ancestors who four generations ago, came to America.  Cindy shares her passion for winemaking with her grandfather who took great joy in sharing his wine with neighbors, friends and family. She spoke of growing up in an Italian home where there always wine and food; thus, she makes her wines to be enjoyed with food (a crisp style with zippy yet balanced acidity) and to bring wine, food and friends together.  The true testament to her winemaking passion is the fact she left a 14-year career in Virginia law enforcement  to pursue her winemaking dream, starting at the bottom.

I grew up with a Chinese mother who came to America when she was fourteen-years-old.  Wine in our home was rarely served, mainly at holidays, so when I did begin to drink wine it was as a stand-alone beverage.  While I enjoy a glass of wine with dinner, I still choose my wines for their ability to stand-alone (usually robust with lower acidity) and those are not always the best food pairing wines. I like to have my glass(es) of wine before, during and after the preparation of the food.  To give Cindy’s Passaggio white wines their due, we decided to design our own food pairing meal.

Cindy in a fermentation tank

The Passaggio 2010 Unoaked Chardonnay ($19) is stainless steel fermented with no malolactic second fermentation.  Cindy’s notes state that the Chardonnay tastes of citrus and lemon with hints of tropical fruit and a bit more acidity than most Chardonnays.  It pairs well with fish or chicken and oysters and pasta with white sauce.

The 2010 Pinot Grigio ($18) and has a crisp long finish with tastes of citrus, pear and green apple. It should be paired with grilled or baked chicken, seafood and pizza and pasta dishes with a white sauce. Now to work on my food pairing with the items I have on-hand in the pantry and refrigerator. I am trying to avoid going out in the freezing Denver weather with predicted possible snow flurries on this Sunday afternoon.

Since we were sampling the wine as I prepare the evening meal, I decided some nibbles would be in order. First up:  Prosciutto, soft Brie, warm sun-dried tomato Goat cheese and crackers. Both wines were enjoyable on their own with a crisp long finish but when paired with the food they really came to life. The Pinot Grigio tastes of pineapple and the Chardonnay of lemon crème pie. Both paired very well with the saltiness of the Prosciutto, the creaminess of the Brie and the tang of the Goat cheese. The Chardonnay took on a much rounder mouth feel when paired with the nibbles. Mr. B&B and I decided to use the Chardonnay in the wine sauce for the scallops. Round one was a success.

As our main course, I prepared scallops in a white wine sauce. The sauce is a reduction of chicken broth, white wine, lemon juice, onion and garlic enriched with a bit of butter. The scallops can either be broiled or simmered in the sauce. I broiled mine because I like a crispy outside (perhaps pan sauté). The scallops were served over a bed of Swiss chard that had been sautéed in olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper, I think over pasta would be delicious also (I would make double the sauce if you choose pasta, Mr. B&B suggested lemon basil orzo).  The recipe was a snap to make and both wines paired fabulously. The additional acidity melded well with the wine sauce and the subtle flavors from stainless steel fermentation did not over-power the scallops. Good job Cindy. The night was a total success.

It was not really a sunny Chardonnay or Pinot Grigio kind of day here in Denver. However, I so enjoyed our breakfast with Cindy, feeling her passion for her wines, the talk of bringing family and friends together over food and wine that I could not wait for warmer weather to give her food pairing wines a try.  With the fire blazin’, the predicted flurries becoming something more and dinner completed, we enjoyed the last sips of Chardonnay.

Rachel Manning, the tasting room manager, greeted us and led us through a tasting of their wines.  VML is mainly a Chardonnay and Pinot Noir producer but don’t miss a taste of their Sauvignon Blanc with notes of white peaches, honeysuckle and lemon cream pie it is perfect for sitting under a big shade tree with friends.  Under their Bradford Mountain label the tasting room does offer an excellent Zinfandel, Syrah and their El Grandote (Dessert Wine).

Virginia Marie Lambrix

VML Winery opened in April, 2011 on the site previously occupied for 25 years by Belvedere Winery owned by Bill Hambrecht and later C. Donatiello.  The winery is named for winemaker Virginia “Ginny” Marie Lambrix and is a partnership of Bill and Woody Hambrecht, Phil Hurst, Mark De Mawulenaere and Paul and Heath Dolan.  In 2008, Virginia became the winemaker for Paul Dolan’s Truett Hurst label while producing small lot Pinots of her own, so when they decided to reopen a winery on the Belvedere property, she was a natural choice for winemaker. Ginny says “I pinch myself as I stand by our winery sign, feeling so lucky to be part of this sensational team who support my enduring fascination with the vineyards in Russian River Valley.”

VML Tasting Room

Currently the winery produces 4000 cases of wine from Russian River Valley fruit, with plans to expand VML’s single vineyard Pinot Noir production.  The focus is on single vineyard wines with fruit from sustainable, organic and Biodynamically farmed vineyards, limiting synthetic chemicals. Under the Bradford label, which uses Dry Creek Valley fruit, the production is 2000 cases with half sold at VML and the other half at Truett Hurst, their sister winery.

As for the wines, we enjoyed them all; however there were a few standouts. The Chardonnay was exceptionally well-made and delicious (Read Review). Amongst the single vineyard 2010 Pinot Noirs, Boudreaux was our favorite. All the 2010 Pinots are young and will improve in flavor and complexity over the next few months and years. On the Bradford Mountain side of the isle, the 2007 DCV Zinfandel was juicy and lush.

The unique and eye-catching label designed for VML Winery reflects Ginny’s approach to winemaking, organic and biodynamic. She’s been known to say she feels like a sorceress in the vineyard and winery, working with natural elements to create her wines. In a 2011 interview in Wine Business, Ginny was quoted as saying “I do believe there is something more to the vitality of the estate when the person farming it is completely engaged. Biodynamics is a really elegant way to farm, and I think the wines that come out of grapes that are grown Biodynamically are more interesting.”

The winery is located on Westside Road about 3.5 miles south of the town of Healdsburg and is open from 11-5 daily. Oh, and the barbequed tri-tip was amazing, even by Texan standards. Do yourself a favor and stop by VML winery and enjoy!