This Week’s Tasting: Rhone Rangers
2010 Winderlea Dundee Hills Pinot Noir Vignette: Invertebrate Terroir
This Week’s Tasting:
Wednesday, August 8th, 5:00pm - 7:00pm
60 State Street, 7th Floor
We have an exciting tasting this week. As a fan of the wines from the Rhone Valley, I am pleased to show American versions of these wines, which I find more interesting than the more familiar Chardonnays and Cabernets.
If you are unfamiliar with the term, Rhone Rangers are American winemakers who promote the use of grape varietals grown in France’s Rhone Valley. The Rangers began in California in the 1980s, but did not really catch on with consumers. The movement received some further attention in the late 1990s when the Perrin family, proprietors of Chateau de Beaucastel, one of the two or three best estates in Chateauneuf du Pape, founded Tablas Creek Vineyard in Paso Robles, in partnership with their American wine importer. They also began a nursery with grape vine cuttings from Beaucastel itself, which they both sell to other growers and use to make their own wines.
In the southern Rhone, the wines are almost always blends, while northern reds are nearly all Syrah, and the whites, if not single varietals are two or three at the most. However, in America, winemakers are free to make either single varietals or blends at their will. While the Rhone Ranger are now represented in a number of winemaking states, all of this weeks wines are from California.
Whites
The 2010 Truchard Roussanne is pure Roussanne from Carneros, Napa Valley. This wine shows the elegance and finesse of well made Roussanne with its floral quality and balanced acidity. The 2011 Tablas Creek Patelin de Tablas Blanc is a blend of 45% Grenache Blanc, 34% Viognier, 18% Roussanne, and 3% Marsanne from Paso Robles. We had to include at least one Tablas Creek. Rich fruit, acidity and minerality make this wine a great value. The 2009 Treana is an equal blend of Marsanne and Viognier from California’s Central Coast. With a few years of bottle age, this wine shows the interesting oily texture and honeyed nut flavors mature Marsanne can produce, while still displaying the floral note of Viognier.
2010 Truchard Roussanne: Color: light yellow; Aroma: lemon citrus, floral, spice; Mouth: Full Body, bright, melon and spice Very Good Plus 21; Mixed Case, 18.99; Case, 17.85
2011 Tablas Creek Patelin de Tablas Blanc: Color: light straw yellow; Aroma: bright lemon and stony minerality; Mouth: medium body, creamy, lemon, floral spice, bright acidity Very Good Plus 21; Mixed Case, 18.99; Case, 17.85
2009 Treana: Color: medium gold; Aroma: lemon, honey, floral Mouth: Full, oily, rich, lemon, honey, nutty, balanced acidity Very Good - Excellent 22.99; Mixed Case, 20.69; Case, 19.54
Reds
The 2008 Writer’s Block Grenache is pure Grenache from Lake County in northern California. This is a restrained yet very interesting representation of the varietal which is spicey sweet fruit. The 2010 Beckman Vineyards Cuvee Le Bec is a blend of 44% Syrah, 34% Grenache 13% Mourvedre, and 9% Counnoise from the Santa Ynez Valley in Santa Barbara County. Balanced, lush and delicious. At this price, this wine will likely become my house red. The 2008 Bonny Doon Syrah Le Pousseur is all Syrah from the Central Coast. Bonny Doon is one of the original Rhone Rangers. This is clearly new world fruit but it has many of my favorite characteristics of Northern Rhone Syrah, such as black pepper and an earthy savoriness.
2008 Writer’s Block Grenache: Color: medium garnet; cherry liqueur and clove spice; Mouth: medium, cherry, fennel, smoky mesquite Very Good Plus 16.99; Mixed Case, 15.29; Case, 14.44
2010 Beckman Vineyards Cuvee Le Bec: Color: dark purple; Aroma: dark berry fruit, black cherry, tar; Mouth: Medium, bright, rich, cherry cordial, dark fruit, hint of dark chocolate Very Good Plus 19.99; Mixed Case, 17.99; Case, 16.99
2008 Bonny Doon Syrah Le Pousseur: Color: dark garnet; Aroma: black pepper, earth, dark fruit, savory, hint of dark chocolate; Mouth: full, juicy dark berry fruit, pepper, bright, balanced Very Good Plus 21; Mixed Case, 18.99; Case, 17.85
Instore only 8/8 Rhone Ranger Pack: Special, one each of the above wines - $111
2010 Winderlea Dundee Hills Pinot Noir
In 2006, Donna Morris and Bill Sweat (formerly of Fidelity Investments here) foreswore finance for agriculture and purchased a Willamette vineyard which they renamed Winderlea. With a love of Pinot Noir (and particularly Burgundy, Bill and Donna are committed to making artisanally made wines of the highest quality.
Donna dropped in the store last week with her new releases. While New World in fruit, all three of the wines I tasted expressed a clear stylistic nod to Burgundy. These wines have balance and structure and speak of the soil from which they come. All three were extraordinarily good, but the 2010 Winderlea Pinot Noir Dundee Hills Vineyards shone right off for its elegance and balance at its price.
2010 Winderlea Pinot Noir Dundee Hills Vineyards Dundee Hills, Oregon: Color: light garnet; Aroma: smoke, earth, fresh, cherry, strawberry, herbs; Mouth: medium, smokey, cherry, light orange peel Very Good - Excellent 44.99; Mixed Case, 40.49; Case, 38.24
Vignette: Invertebrate Terroir
Wine is a wondrous complex thing, and it has become curiouser and curiouser with a recent article in the New York Times Science section. It seems that researchers in France and Italy wondered how warmth-loving wild yeasts survive the winter.
They discovered that one way was in the digestive systems of grape-eating hornets and wasps. Further they discovered that yeast strains which strongly influence a wine’s flavor are different in the guts of insects of different regions.
If a venomous insect ever menaces you in Napa, Provence, or Tuscany; have mercy on the poor thing. It may be carrying a part of what defines the regions wine.
For the full article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/07/science/dont-swat-that-bug-it-may-be-working-on-next-years-vintage.html?_r=1
John Syfor -
Wine Consultant
Federal
Wines and Spirits
29 State
Street, Boston MA
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