Wine events flocking to Santa Barbara... and good inexpensive Pinot Noir

Holy Goleta! The wine events are rolling into Santa Barbara County in 2014.

This month, it's been announced that the 2014 Wine Bloggers Conference will be held July 11-13 in the Santa Ynez Valley. I've attended two Wine Bloggers Conferences, and if there's a strength to the event, it's in its showcasing of compelling wine regions. With Santa Barbara's unique east-west traversing valley and variety of terroirs, it's going to be a great insider's view of the region for wine bloggers. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to delve deeper and to learn even more about my "home" wine region.

Also, the 2014 World Of Pinot Noir event is moving from Pismo Beach to the illustrious Bacara Resort in Goleta. This is a premier event for a premier varietal, featuring seminars and tastings of Pinot Noir from around the world. Maybe not so coincidentally, 2014 is the 10 year anniversary of the Sideways film...

If you're on the Central Coast and looking for a wine event this summer, Santa Maria Valley's annual Chardonnay Symposium happens July 19-21. In its fourth year, the event brings over 50 California Chardonnay producers together to enlighten and educate on the variety and quality of Chardonnay being produced throughout the state. Educational panels, celebrity chef events, wine dinners, and a grand tasting will all commence.

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If you need an inexpensive, simple, and most importantly, good Pinot Noir for summer barbecues, hanging out by the pool, or sitting in your sweat box - 24 Knots is a Pinot Noir brand producing a balanced and lively inexpensive Pinot Noir from Monterey. The 24 Knots Pinot Noir, Monterey is notable for its fig, earth, pine needle and spice; along with nicely integrated flavors and good texture, acid, grip and presence for its price point. Serve it with a slight chill. It's around $16 and shouldn't be too hard to find. (I received this as a press sample from the winery)

Mercurey- a more casual Burgundy

Burgundy doesn't always have to be so complicated, or expensive. Faiveley's 2009 Mercurey 1er Cru Clos Des Myglands comes from the Mercurey commune within the Côte Chalonnaise subregion. While containing 1er Cru vineyards, this is much more modest territory for Pinot Noir compared to the Côte De Beaune and the Côte De Nuits to the north. 

Domaine Faiveley's Clos Des Myglands is a 1er (or Premier) Cru monopole (single estate vineyard), with clay and limestone soils and vines ranging from 21 to 50 years old. The Pinot Noir is pressed on site in Mercurey, and is then brought to Faiveley's production center to the north in Nuits-St-Georges for aging in fine grained French oak barrels for 14 to 16 months. 

The resulting 2009 is light and fresh with nice depth and elegance. There's bright and pretty raspberry and floral notes with hints of earth and heather. Lithe and silky, but with good lift through the finish. I found this on the wine list along the Florida Gulf Coast in Apalachicola at the Owl Café- a nice selection and value in the mid $50's. It was delicate and bright enough to seriously compliment both grouper and amberjack entrées at my table. The retail price is typically in the low to mid $30's. 

This is a wine good enough to give a sense of fine Burgundy, while inexpensive and with enough availability to be accessible. Faiveley produces wines from Grand Cru and 1er Cru vineyards throughout Burgundy, but their Mercurey wines really fill a nice niche. It's a great way to enjoy Burgundy on a more casual level.

Three sides of Sonoma

There are many things to love about Sonoma County wine, and variety is definitely one of them. It was the theme of the final day of wine tasting in California’s North Coast regions in April 2013. We visited three very different producers – beginning in Santa Rosa at the Punchdown Cellars facility to visit Ceritas Wines, on to Chalk Hill and Calluna Vineyards, and finally into the heart of the Russian River Valley to Scherrer Winery in Sebastopol.

Ceritas Wines is the brainchild of John Raytek and Phoebe Bass. Their mission is to produce site-specific Chardonnay and Pinot Noir most notably from the family vineyard – The Porter Bass Vineyard on the Sonoma Coast, just 8 miles inland in Forestville. There the vineyard rolls along slopes situated between ridge lines, benefiting from gentle fog, bright sunshine and cool nights. They sort grapes in the vineyard prior to harvest. In the cellar fermentation begins naturally without inoculation, and the wines are made without acid-addition. They avoid a cold-soak of the Pinot Noir, and ferment with 25% to 75% whole clusters.

Ceritas

We tasted three 2011 releases, as well as two barrel samples of 2012 Pinot Noir. My standouts included the 2011 Ceritas Peter Martin Ray Vineyard Chardonnay, Santa Cruz Mountains, which shined with bright citrus and floral notes, along with underlying depth of earthy minerals and dried herb – showing a dynamically rich structure with plenty of nervy tension. Very nice. The 2011 Ceritas Coastalina Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast showed clean tart fig and raspberry flavors along with deep notes of pine needle, tea leaf, and earth and brown spice – fine, silky, vibrant and complex. The 2012 Ceritas Porter Bass Vineyard Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast from barrel was deeper and darker with black cherry and fig notes along with earth, forest, and savory spice that framed beautiful high-toned juicy mineral notes through the palate.

Calluna Vineyards

I first wrote about Calluna Vineyards after a visit three years ago. The vineyard was planted by David Jeffrey in 2003, and his moderately cool-climate site for Bordeaux varietals is producing balanced, powerful, and graceful wines – full of pleasure and sophistication. We tasted the current 2009 and 2010 releases.

Jon and I in the vineyard with David Jeffrey (photo by Justin)

My favorite was the 2010 Calluna ‘Aux Raynauds’ Merlot, Chalk Hill – showing plenty of mineral, floral, cedar, lead and leather sophistication, along with ripe currant fruit, all seamlessly layered and velvety on the palate, and finishing with plenty of brightness and firmness. What an awesome wine, it really shows the seriousness and sophistication that Merlot is capable of in California. I also really liked 2009 Calluna Vineyards Estate, Chalk Hill – this is a blend of the five Bordeaux varietals featuring Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot most prominently in the blend. This showed cassis and currants, with tea, floral, cedar, tobacco and black pepper notes, layered with big supple/firm tannins and juicy acidity on the finish. Also, look for the relative value of the 2010 Calluna ‘CVC’ CallunaVineyards Cuvee, Chalk Hill. This is another Bordeaux blend, that shows really well at a lower price point.

Scherrer Winery is located in an old warehouse building out on the far side of Sebastopol. Fred Scherrer produces wines from his family’s estate vineyard in Alexander Valley, as well as from numerous other sites in Sonoma County. It’s not a program that focuses solely on Bordeaux, Burgundy or Rhone varietals – instead it’s all of the above, along with Zinfandel too. Fred built production through the late 1980’s while working at Dehlinger Winery, finally moving into his own facility in 1997. Today production is between 4000 and 5000 cases. Fred’s winemaking philosophy often centers on minimal handling and non-interventionist techniques, and varies by varietal.

Fred Scherrer pouring for Justin

We tasted through a broad range of wine, with favorites ranging from the 2009 Scherrer Old Vine Scherrer Vineyard Zinfandel, Alexander Valley – a broad and brambly dark fruited Zinfandel with lots of cola, spice and cedar depth, polished and rustic with a nice finish. A trio of 2008 Pinot Noirs shined- 2008 Scherrer Pinot Noir, Sonoma County and 2008 Scherrer Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley both showed nice, forward, spice-laden red fruit with earthy rhubarb notes. The 2008 Scherrer Platt Vineyard Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast showed similar flavors with more depth and a more bracing structure. A 2005 Scherrer Cabernet Sauvignon Scherrer Vineyard, Alexander Valley showed the warm friendly dark fruit of Alexander Valley with plenty of cedar, leather, dried herb, and vanilla notes, along with a rustic feel and sweet ripe tannins. Finally, the sleeper of the lineup was the 2008 ScherrerTimbervine Vineyard Syrah, Russian River Valley – showing beautiful crushed rock, tobacco and cedar, along with robust blackberry and savory earth on the palate. Elegant and balanced and very nice.

In many ways Scherrer’s wines embody Sonoma County. Not just in the variety and flavors in the bottle, but also in the down-to-earth workmanlike aesthetic of Fred and the winery. Fred’s even got a band room off to the side in the winery – jammed full of big amps and drums and guitars.

This was a fine lineup of three very different producers - click here to see all tasting notes from the day. It’s always a little sad to leave Sonoma County. Until next time!