I realize that quite a few folks that read this blog or speak to me in person are always looking for recommendations of places to visit when coming into California, but maybe aren’t able to sync up with me quick enough to get a tailored list of places I recommend tasting. So…to help remedy this situation, I’ll post “New-to-you region” write-ups for your benefit, and cross-link so that you can do additional research either on my specific wine reviews, or with the wineries themselves. These write-ups will be a little different from what you’re used to seeing on this blog, but mixing it up (read: being deviant on a deviant blog) is a great thing! Without further ado, I give you Carneros!

Carneros – rich with history, and known to produce beautiful Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines. I could go on in paragraphs about how this AVA came to be…but I won’t. You know how to read, especially since I’m giving you background links.

This event, like many, are set up to enjoy the beautiful weather and vineyard scenery. The setups were varied – some places were grilling or prepping food, others allowing folks to sample wines from special barrel rooms – but the folks at every location were great! And, don’t forget to bring your DD (designated driver), so that you can enjoy the weekend. Maybe trade-off, one person driving one day, and a different person on the second day, so that everyone can enjoy and be safe!u background links. I recently attended a tasting event called April in Carneros, hosted by the Hospitality de los Carneros Association, and had a lovely time. With only 4 hours to taste, I tried my best to move through A LOT of wines, so that I could report back on the ones that struck my fancy. Heck, I even had some fun while doing it (notice the fancy hat I’m sporting as a prize from the prize wheel at )…and you should expect to have a fun time too!

As for my selections, here they are:

Bucklin Old Hill Ranch
Zinfandel 2008 Ancient Vines

The scoop:

1.  I gotta tell you, I was tasting a lot of wines and taking super fast notes. My main goal here was to find wines that stood out, and make sure I marked them to come back to.
2. Label is neat and easy to read, but nothing that really stands out here. No big…move on.
3. I’ve not made a trip to visit or to at least retaste. This needs to happen, not just for this winery, but others in the area.
4. Here’s where this wine stands out for me. While talking to the folks at the table, I learned that there are approximately 20 varietals in blend. Field blends, in my opinion, seem to have fallen out of favor in the past decade plus. We allowed ourselves to become so tied up in being single varietal focus, we lost our way when it comes to the beauty of how wines used to be…everyday life wine. The good stuff.

The judgement: 4 of 5. I was happy with this wine for two reasons: 1) I have always loved Zinfandel wines and 2) I tasted and wanted to just stand at the table for a while. When this happens, I know I’ve stumbled across something great. The only reason I walked away –  there were many more Zins for me to taste. But I would want a bottle or two of this – be sure to get one by ordering here.

The nerdy notes:

• smooth, elegant, wonderful!
• since my notes are so shoddy, here’s what the folks at Bucklin have to say: The spice character tends towards black pepper, and cardamom while the fruit component has an impressive array of raspberries, blackberries, and ripe plums. The French oak contributes toast and vanilla aromas while the tannins are very ripe and smooth on the finish
• vines are from original 1885 planting
• take a gander at the vineyard map that Bucklin proudly promotes – I wish more wineries shared such beautiful maps like this one

Acorn celebrates this field blend, and even provides a really neat online map to show you just what’s going on in their vineyards.  Did you go take a look at it? You should – takes 5 seconds. I’ll wait.

Okay, did you see the other really neat fact about them and many of their field blend blocks? 1890!! Those vines are from 1890!! INSANITY!! Needless to say, they scored another deviant point in my book. You just don’t see vines this old, making wine this lovely, much anymore. They are truly far and few between. And me being somewhat of a sucker for old trees and old vines…well, let’s just say I’m planning a trip in the near future where I can go hug a couple of those old vines and thank them in person for a job well done for OVER 100 YEARS! Call me over-the-top, call me a little weird, call me sentimental – but color me happy for lovely, old vines.

The short:

1. Yes, there is an aroma not typically found in this varietal, and for me, that was pine tar. Now, stick with me. I’m not saying I felt like I was drinking pine tar. Instead, it was this lovely, light hint of it in the smell (nose) that I just found invigorating. I took a look around, and no one was around me, and I didn’t smell pine tar in the air (as if someone had perfume on – a BIG no-no at tasting events)…it was just part of the make-up of the wine. Truly delightful and quite possibly part of the terrior (or wine DNA).
2. Their label overall is fairly standard for the industry, but I like the little acorn graphic dropped in the “O” of their name. Way to utilize your own “critter”.
3. They do have a tasting room which I need to visit to see if they score another deviant point. Should you decide to go, be sure to make an appointment.
4. We’re talking about a very common varietal (Zinfandel), but we’re looking an a not-so-commonly-marketed style – field blend. Kudos to sticking to their guns and their customers’ preferences.

The judgement:

2010 Heritage Vines Zinfandel: 3+ out of 5. It was lovely, but young, and needs more time to relax. I look forward to trying it again in a couple more years, and felt fortunate to have the opportunity to try this barrel sample.
2008 Heritage Vines Zinfandel: 4 out of 5. That pine tar aroma really did it for me, but you can see a couple other notes below that made this wine just lovely in general.

The nerdy notes:

nose: fresh, light fruit, soft faint pine tar note (more so in the 2010)

taste: mild tannins (hello, 1890 vines!), nice body, plenty of raspberry and blackberry, and a lovely, long finish

P.S. A thumbs up for speaking to their sustainable farming practices. My thanks to them for helping to keep one more large plot of land in better shape for many more years of lovely wines, and happy habitat for the animals and organisms that cohabitate their vineyards.

I fall in with the “Advocates” portion … maybe even more narrow of a focus, I’m a lover of Zin. It’s a wonderful grape, with brightness or deep, dark tones and a mouthfeel from light to viscous, sugary goodness. Zin is happy to be so many things to so many people – a serious beverage coming out of cooler climate regions, or a high alcohol bottle of naughtiness ready to party with the best of the group.

I had the extreme pleasure of starting my 2012 wine tasting season by attending the 21st Annual ZAP Festival in San Francisco on Saturday, January 27th. With 204 wineries pouring over 500 Zinfandels to 8,000+ attendees over a 3-day span, you can bet there was a whole lot of happy folks around in The City. I surely was one of them.

I chose my plan of attack based on the new festival guide addition the ZAP folks added this year, called Zin Tracks. Basically, it was a short 10-page guide that sliced and diced the wineries into different, more “digestible” categories to help you decide how you were going to make your way through the day. I chose the track called Zin Blends. Let us not forget, I’m on a mission to find something different in the industry, and Zin Blends sounded like my best bet from the “tracks” identified.

After tasting through 11 of the wineries from that track, plus a host of other wineries, my count has left me at about 40 wines tasted that day. To some, that’s a lot. To others, they ask “why so few?”. Two reasons: 1) I still needed to drive home from SF to Napa and 2) I needed to actually taste everything I was trying. Of course, I had a little something to help me along my tasting day (aside from the massive amounts of cheese and bread and water they served us), but even then, by the end of my day, I was happy to be done tasting.

Below are some of my wrap-up tweets showing my #zinfest favorites – you’ll find that over the coming weeks and months, I’ll be highlighting these wines and wineries. Net-net: I hit pay dirt for the ol’ blog, with at least a half-dozen new wines and wineries to talk about. To keep up on these, be sure to watch for the zinfest tag for my posts. This will be your clue that I tasted their wine during the ZAP event, and should definitely be intrigued to try their wine(s) out.

Sante!

When one thinks of the term “sexual chocolate”, one might think of a movie reference, a popular WWE wrestler and heavyweight lifter, or any number of bandmates that have taken on this as their nickname. Here, however, we’ve stumbled across a new meaning for the term – a term relating to wine produced by three crazy guys having a fantastic time in a new venture.* And an obvious fun time it is, based on their well-stocked website and blog. Something I think they are definitely doing right: having a lot of fun and clearly differentiating themselves from all the other brands. (Keep hitting those Millennials and cusp-GenXers, boys!)

And so, let’s get down to it…

SLO Down Wines 2010 Sexual Chocolate

The short:

1.  Initially I thought that the aromatics were pretty common to the varietals used, but as I sat down to write this, I realized that it isn’t everyday (in my experience) to find rose petals in the profile Zinfandel or Syrah.
2. The label is one area that makes this bottle very different from almost all the others out there. They’ve gone with a heavy hand-skirtched front and back. You won’t mistake this for other bottles. Bare minimums on what had to be included, and a nice story on the back, though it becomes a bit tiring to read with the consistent skirtchy handwriting “font” (is it a font, or does someone have wonky penmanship?).
3. No tasting room to hit right now, folks. But the price of the bottle isn’t prohibitive, so I say order a couple to enjoy over the coming year. It’s a 2010, so I’ll be curious what this is like in the coming months and couple of years.
4. Although they’re using some popular varietals (Zinfandel and Syrah), they are making an uncommon, and therefore deviant, blend. The Zinfandel comes from the greater Napa area (Howell Mountain) and the Syrah comes from the greater Santa Barbara area. Two distinct winemaking regions, one distinct wine.

The judgement: 3+/4 and what I like to term as “a chugger”. Whoo, doggy, this bottle is gonna make you a happy camper. In fact, take a bottle or two camping or to your next outing, or to the next bonfire you hit up, and class the joint up while still tipping back some of this fun juice!

The nerdy notes:

• 14.5% (though I perceived it might be a tad more. and if it isn’t – day-yam!) and $22
• Howell Mountain Zinfandel and Santa Barbara Syrah
• nose: ripe red fruit, dark cherry, dusty tannins/oak, rose petals and baking chocolate
• taste: dark cherry bomb, possible that it has a little residual sugar (R.S.)?, rose petals come through faintly on a moderately lengthy finish

*Disclaimer: I went to school with one of the winemakers, Chip Forsythe, in my days at Cal Poly SLO. Chip hasn’t changed, and that’s a good thing.