Tasting highlights- Garagiste Festival, Southern Exposure

Southern Exposure, the Garagiste Festival previewed last month, was an exciting and eclectic mix of Santa Barbara County wineries. Ranging from the small and well-known to the smaller and more obscure, the festival grand tasting provided a one-stop shop opportunity for exposure to new Santa Barbara wineries and vineyards.

Among the new and interesting favorites were Altman Winery. The winery is so small that the website is a Wordpress blog and I had to manually input the wines on Cellartracker. Proprietor Mike Altman produces a pleasant and inexpensive Santa Ynez Valley Chardonnay and Rosé, but what really shined was a pair of Petite Sirahs from the Sunset Ridge vineyard in Paso Robles. Both the 2008 and 2009 Altman Petite Sirah Sunset Ridge showed bright wild blue fruit, violet, and tangy mineral notes - with the 2009 adding firm complexity to the structure.

Baehner Fournier Vineyards is located in the eastern hills of the Santa Ynez Valley. The Baehners decided to plant Bordeaux varietals on their property and are now bottling quality Santa Ynez Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot from hillside fruit. Their 2010 Baehner Fournier Estate Merlot is grown in gravely clay on sloping northeast-facing blocks. The wine is cold-soaked and fermented in small open-top fermenters with aging for 19 months in 20% new French oak. It's got a pleasing leathery cedary blueberry nose, with balance and layers of flavor, and lingering polish on the finish.

Living near the Sta. Rita Hills AVA, I often drive by the Kessler-Haak vineyard. Planted in 2005 and next to Clos Pepe, it's an organically farmed vineyard on rolling hillsides and sandy loam soils. I had yet to try their wines, but it's a no-brainer that the Pinot Noirs and Chardonnay would be as good as they were. I enjoyed the entire lineup, with the highlight being the 2010 Kessler-Haak Vineyards Pinot Noir Clone 2a. It towed the line between brooding dark fruit & earth, with brighter mineral and floral notes building tension and complexity- a very nice wine. With the vineyard at only 8 years of age, it will be fun to watch these Pinot Noirs develop complexities in future vintages.

Josh Klapper's La Fenêtre Wines come from multiple vineyard sites throughout Santa Barbara County. The specialty is bright and elegant Burgundian Varietals, along with Syrah. Josh's Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Syrah from Santa Maria Valley were shining on this day. The 2010 La Fenêtre Chardonnay Bien Nacido shows beautifully bright lime and slate notes that counter a subtle toastiness. The 2010 La Fenêtre Pinot Noir Presqu'ile shows depth with rich dark fruit notes complimenting the floral earth and cherry elegance. One of the biggest and baddest Syrahs that I tasted at the event was the 2009 La Fenêtre Syrah Z Block Bien Nacido, showing wet-earth, sandalwood, cured meat and black currant, highlighted a bright mineral-acid streak and stitched together with huge structure- epic stuff.

Long a key vineyard in the new Ballard Canyon AVA, Larner Vineyard began producing its namesake wines in 2009. Ballard Canyon is known primarily for richly elegant Syrah and other Rhone varietals grown in the moderately cool hillside slopes in the center of the Santa Ynez Valley. The 2009 Larner Vineyard Elemental, a Grenache/Syrah blend, is hugely deep and expressive with mint, cherry, blueberry, earth and spice notes - quite a beautiful wine. The 2009 Larner Vineyard Syrah shows beautiful mineral, earth and floral notes that compliment the spice laden dark fruit. 

These aforementioned highlights capped off an enjoyable day of new Santa Barbara wine discoveries. Click here for a full list of 33 wines tasted at the event.

Quick impressions from the 2013 Pasadena PinotFest

Happening annually in February, the Pasadena PinotFest is surely a highlight on the Los Angeles-area wine lover's calendar. Benefiting local charity, the events run for several weeks before culminating with a Grand Tasting held at the Altadena Town & Country Club overlooking the beautiful San Gabriel Mountains - a beautiful setting in which to showcase new and top producers of California Pinot Noir. Like last year's tasting the producers in attendance were mostly Central Coast, although there were a few North Coast producers represented. I worked the event for Arcadian Winery, but a few moments in the crowd provided highlights and exciting new discoveries.

A trio of 2011 Sonoma Coast beauties from Sojourn Cellars. Impressive for their opulent balance- rich and pretty. The Sangiacomo vineyard bottling was my favorite.

Gypsy Canyon's estate vineyard is located in the northwest corner of the Sta. Rita Hills AVA. The 2011 Trois was filled with intensity of fruit, florals, and earth. The amazing packaging is a lightweight hand-blown glass and is capped with beeswax.

Randy Rozak's wines come also come from the western edge of the Sta. Rita Hills. Deep and brooding with tons of earthy complexity, wines such as the Rozack 2006 C Block from the Rozak Ranch are notable for their youthfulness as well as value.

Other highlights included 2009 Zotovich Estate, 2010 Alma Rosa La Encantada, and 2008 Hartley-Ostini Hitching Post Julia's Vineyard. Click here for tasting notes on all of the above wines.

Fontannafredda's new yet traditional sizes for Barolo

The first taste of good Nebbiolo is like a clarion call to the palate. It’s a jolt of something racy and powerfully elegant, yet it takes time to fully unfold and tell its story. With that in mind, a casual dinner with friends may not usually be the best setting to fully savor the energy of a young Barolo. But after receiving a unique one liter bottle as a Christmas gift, I was compelled to share.

Fontanafredda is an historic estate in Piedmont dating back to 1878. More recently, winemaker Danilo Drocco has led initiatives to modernize the winery and to become fully sustainable in the vineyards. New ownership in 2008 has helped these initiatives to become fully realized.

The changes have also led to innovations in packaging. Fontannafredda’s Barolo Serralunga d’Alba is now being released in what is called the Volumi Bollati series. Bottles are made from 85% recycled glass with sizes based on the classic Italian osteria system for serving wine by the glass – a half liter (2 people), liter (4 people) and 1.5 liter (6 people).

My bottle was a one liter of the 2006 Fontannafredda Barolo Serralunga d’Alba. The wine comes from Fontannafredda’s estate vineyards in the famous Serralunga commune. The sites are south/southwest facing and on the medium and upper slopes (985-1300 feet elevation); with soils of limestone, marl and sand. Aging of the wines takes place in both barrique and large oak casks, both from Allier.

Dinner was at Root 246 in the Santa Ynez Valley, and the wine pared with a variety of small plates and cheeses. The most notable parings were with a duck sausage with beans, cress, IPA and compote, as well as dates with violet mustard, bacon and molasses. The wine needed about an hour to start hitting its stride, opening up with a mélange of red florals, berries, mineral and earth notes. It was silky and elegant on the palate, with firm and fine tannins and the sharpness of its acidity. It was certainly not mature, but was totally enjoyable with great food and company. I’d buy again and hold.

Aside from the novelty of the size, the one liter bottle is perfect for dinner with friends. The Fontannafredda along with a bottle of Sandhi 2011 Santa Barbara Chardonnay (featured in the previous post) were a fun couple of wines for a group of four and a variety of small plates!

Beautiful Chardonnay at The Watering Hole

Tucked away in Los Olivos, almost hidden behind Mattei’s Tavern, is the unassuming home of the exciting new Sandhi Wines project. Opened in October of 2012, The Watering Hole as it’s called is the tasting room for Sandhi as well as other wines from the new Terroir Selections portfolio.

Sandhi was founded in 2010 by the famed sommelier Rajat Parr, former owner of Screaming Eagle & Jonata Charles Banks, and winemaker Sashi Moorman (Stolpman, Evening Land, Piedrasassi). The aim is to produce elegant and balanced Chardonnay and Pinot Noir of terroir-distinction from the Sta. Rita Hills AVA, including classic vineyards such as Sanford & Benedict, as well as newly emerging sites such as Rita’s Crown and Bent Rock.

 The current available lineup of Sandhi Wines highlights the best of what Santa Barbara County has to offer in Chardonnay. The Chardonnays are barrel-fermented and aged in neutral French oak, undergoing malolactic fermentation.

The 2011 Sandhi Santa Barbara County Chardonnay bottling is bright and complex with a trove of flint, mineral, citrus and honeyed spice notes throughout a rich sleek frame. It’s a pretty amazing introduction to a trio of single vineyard Chardonnays. The 2010 Sandhi Sanford & Benedict Chardonnay,Sta. Rita Hills comes from Mt Eden clones from the oldest blocks within the vineyard. This is a young and complex wine with notes of fresh cream, butter toffee, white florals, and tropical fruit. It’s bright and sturdy on the palate with earthy mineral highlights, lithe richness, and emerging spice on the finish- an absolutely beautiful wine.

View at Rita's Crown Vineyard, June 2012

Rita’s Crown Vineyard is an extreme vineyard site sitting atop Mt. Carmel in Sta. Rita Hills. It’s known for its diatomaceous soils and high elevation of up to 1000 feet. It’s windswept and cold, however the Sandhi 2010 Rita’s Crown Chardonnay, Sta. Rita Hills comes from warmer south-facing blocks. It shows juicy orange and lime zest notes with hints of hazelnut and honey, along with a beautiful textural richness that belies its angular acidity. It’s another beauty.

View at Bentrock Vineyard, June 2012

The 2010 Sandhi Bentrock Chardonnay, Sta. Rita Hills comes from another extreme site within the far southwestern corner of the AVA. Steeply sloped north-facing blocks are in the direct firing line of cool winds from the Pacific, creating concentrated flavors from low-yielding vines. It features a notably bright gold color with notes of vanilla, nutty butterscotch, creme fraiche, and complex tropical fruit – along with ample depth and sleek texture on the palate. This is another exemplary Chardonnay.

I also tasted a nice 2011 Sandhi Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir, and several other Terroir Selections wines. Click here for tasting notes on all wines tasted.

This is an exciting chapter in the wine evolution of Sta. Rita Hills and Santa Barbara County. Sandhi’s acclaim and attention are certainly well-deserved.