Wine Each Week – 2017 Frank Family Carneros Chardonnay

The word “summery“ is used often to describe a wine but it seems like a cheap descriptor. What does “summer in a glass” even really mean? Yet it seems to be the perfect word to describe this Frank Family Chardonnay. Bright, lively, warm, vibrant all come to mind. The 2017 is full of white peach, citrus lemon, Kieffer lime, lemon verbena, toasted bread, red apple, and a beautiful acidity that supports the structure of the wine. This iteration sheds some of the more caramelized notes in the past and brings forth an expressive Chardonnay that can easily pair well with an abundance of foods given its acidic nature. Aged for nine months in roughly 1/3^rd percentages of new, once used and twice used French oak barrels, it offers viscosity and grace.

ORIGIN: Carneros, Napa, Sonoma

ALCOHOL: 14.4%

PRICE: $38/ 750ML

SCORE: 90 POINTS

FRANK FAMILY

Wine Each Week – 2017 Tayson Pierce Chardonnay

Though Chardonnay is ubiquitous (and popular) there as many iterations as there are wine drinkers. The 2017 Tayson stands out in a crowded field. Winemaker Jeff Ames (formerly of Opus One) picks at night then whole cluster presses and keeps the fruit and lees in Francois Frères barrels.

This single vineyard wine avoids the typical overt citrus fruit (pineapple, lemon-lime) and shuns the heavy oak and butter treatment, instead making the case for an unusual Chardonnay that threads the needle - everything is uniquely muted, soft, almost shy. There are notes of honeysuckle, crystalized ginger, white peach, Meyer lemon, sweet Madagascar vanilla, and Alpine grass with a delightfully long finish and a supporting acidity.

“The 2017 Chardonnay is a fantastic vintage for us as it marks a new era for our Chardonnay line. The wine is unparalleled to what Chardonnays are typically known for and this vintage is truly something to experience as it caters to both the novice wine drinker as well as the sophisticated aficionado,” says owner Taylor Rothchild. And I agree.

400 Cases

ORIGIN: Napa/Carneros, Calif.

ALCOHOL: 15.3%

PRICE: $65/ 750ML

SCORE: 90 POINTS

TAYSON PIERCE

Blind Man’s Bluff – The Consistency of Wine Writers

In blind tasting through a new vintage of Patz & Hall wines I came back to a specific Pinot Noir in their portfolio; one that seemed familiar and trustworthy. It was a Pinot Noir, but P&H make 8 different Pinot Noirs so how do I know this one was so recognizable? The Pinot Noir was made from Hyde Vineyard, located in Carneros. Patz & Hall makes single vineyard Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from Hyde and has been doing to since 1996. I’ve had many of their wines, but I knew this wine. I’ve tasted it many times before and it was stored in my memory bank. Now, I taste thousands of wines each year, as a professional wine judge, wine writer and wine buyer (Montecito Village Grocery), so why did this stick out? Well, this is what a wine writer actually does – gets to know wines across vintages, soil types and the influence of weather changes. Though I hadn’t seen the label, I was familiar with this wine – it was identifiable, it was from Hyde. “When the grapes come into our winery from Hyde,” says winemaker and co-founder James Hall, “It’s almost like we hear trumpets blare.” And co-founder Donald Patz added, “We just did a tasting of 12 vintages of our Hyde Vineyard Pinot dating back to 1996 and it’s amazing how poised and hauntingly delicate that debut vintage still is.” Of course, you might expect him to say something like that; after all it is his wine. But I have no vested interest in Patz & Hall wines. I’m just scouring the globe for great wines. And the 2014 Hyde Pinot from Patz & Hall is all blueberry, raspberry, strawberry, rich pomegranate, black cherry, cedar and a great acidity. As I have gone through notes that I have written about past vintages and compared those with current lines from the same producer I routinely see, as is true of many of my wine colleagues, is that our pallets are consistent. What's cool about the Patz & Hall Hyde Vineyard Pinot Noir is that too is consistent – it is one of those wines that’s a slam-dunk and you won’t go wrong. 1,050 cases were made, my friends. Yes, it’s about $75, and yes, I think it’s worth it. PATZ & HALL

ORIGIN: Carneros, California

PRICE: $75/ 750ML

ALCOHOL: 13%

BOOZEHOUNDZ SCORE:  91 POINTS

Red, White and Chews – HalloWine Candy

Wine and chocolate is decidedly not my favorite combination, let’s be honest. Potent sweet rarely goes with wine, (and I’m not talking sweet wines) but some combinations of wine and candy do work pretty well (for my spirits and candy pairing for The Hollywood Reporter, go HERE). So…a few ideas this All Hollow’s Eve.

From Carneros come the 2013 Educated Guess Chardonnay (a mere $17) which takes as its dancing partner the Butterfinger, originally created in 1923 and intended to be a peanut butter concoction, though that is all but lost these days. Nonetheless the chocolate on the Butterfinger is of little concern as the majority of flavor comes from the flaky Butterfinger center with its sweet caramelized toffee
 

M&Ms are obviously artificially sweet, though nonetheless addictive and the 2014 Old Vines Sorbo a Sorbo Garnacha (Grenache, a mere $12) from Spain already with a bright acidity, menthol, cedar and blackberry allows the overt sweetness of the M&Ms to become mitigated and it softens the wine, dropping out the acidity so it feels more seamless while the chocolate loses it’s fundamental sweetness.

The best idea is to experiment with whatever candy and wine you’ve got on hand, or, as I suggest, try a few new things, either way, life is predicated on being creative!

One Cool Cat: Pinot Noir & Steve MacRostie

Grapes are grown across Planet Earth so there is no shortage of growing sites. What is lacking is near perfectly suitable growing sites. Several years ago I visited Steve MacRostie at the base of his Wildcat Mountain property in Sonoma, overlooking the San Pablo Bay. We drove up a lengthy hill to the top of a sparse parcel of land where meek looking grapevines were planted. I wrote about the experience for IntoWine.com:

A wild cat & Wildcat Mountain Pinot

"I felt Wildcat would push the envelope, something untried. The cooler climates, the stressful site, the thinner soils; this is not a safe place to set up a farming operation. In a business sense it was probably rather stupid," he said plainly. Stupid or not, MacRostie planted 4 acres of Syrah, 23 acres of Pinot Noir and 23 acres of Chardonnay, all on volcanic soil with elevations ranging from 500 to 700 feet. From the very top of the vineyard, assuming it's a clear day, you can see the Golden Gate Bridge, Oakland and the Mayacamas mountains to the west. But it is the fog, funneled through San Pablo Bay from the cold Pacific Ocean that is the most frequent guest on Wildcat Mountain. "Often we're not above the fog or below it," says MacRostie with a grin, "we're in it." And if it's not the fog, it's the wind. The vines are literally windswept, bent back by the consuming force of wind off the bay, running up the mountain and pummeling the vines like a boxer with too much confidence. Though it is an odd choice for a vineyard, isolated and abused by Mother Nature, once you find yourself standing in its midst, it seems that it's the perfect place, where soil, prevailing breezes for cool climate varieties and well drained soil all complement each other to bring forth great wines. "What I didn't know was how windy it would be here and how difficult that would make the farming," he adds. "The vines read the climate as being cooler than it really is and they slow down their activity.  We don't have monstrous crop levels and we don't drop fruit. In fact, we're challenged in the other direction, how to get more crop."  (read the entire article HERE)

Fast forward to 2015 and I have the 2012 Pinot Noir Wildcat Mountain in front of me. There is a luscious spicy black cherry and blueberry cedar and vanilla component to this wine. It’s earthy, mineral driven, with a mild acidity that can only come from the beat up vines on Wildcat  Mountain. The velvety viscosity, earthy richness and specific flavors are unique to what MacRostie gets from this fruit. Only 878 cases so go on the prowl and find it. www.macrostiewinery.com

ORIGIN: Sonoma, California

PRICE:  $48 - 750/ml

ALCOHOL: 14.5%

BOOZEHOUNDZ SCORE:  90 POINTS

My Big Ass Chardonnay's

Chardonnay is one of those grapes it’s popular to hate.

Yet Chard is also the most widely planted grape in sunny California. Wine writers and sommeliers (some of whom are my friends) keep bashing Chard and the old ABC movement (Anything But Chardonnay) from years back is still alive and well. It’s a bitch being in demand. 
 

The Wine Institute of California based in San Francisco says this: Chardonnay is California’s most widely planted winegrape, with 95,074 acres reported in 2012. Chardonnay far and away remains the most popular wine in the U.S. and has continued to be the leading varietal wine for the last decade, with sales increases every year.

People keep buying it so somebody is loving it. What many people hate is the big oak and butter bomb. There has been a move recently to produce more stainless steel fermented Chard – avoiding oak - and that’s a great idea too. The point is, there’s a place for all types of Chardonnay on your table and a brief pause amidst the hype reveals something remarkable: “Chardonnay makes a more diverse portfolio of wine styles than any other variety in the world,” Richie Allen, Rombauer’s winemaker told me recently. “You have everything from blanc de blanc Champagne, barrel fermented, stainless steel, and dessert wine.” And Mr. Allen is correct. So I happily present two versions – yes they are big ass wines, and no apologies are necessary – a lot of people still adore this style and they are damn tasty.

Rombauer 2013 Carneros Chardonnay ($36) is the quintessential oak and butter bomb. Vanilla, citrus, sour cream, lemon curd and lots of buttery goodness overflow in this wine. There is a huge market for this style and they sellout of their 65,000 cases each and every year. It retains a nice acidity is easy to drink and has a velvety viscosity in the mouth. 14.6% alcohol. ROMBAUER

Landmark 2012 Overlook Chardonnay ($23)

Sourcing fruit from Sonoma, Monterey and Santa Barbara, this offers a little less oak but more vanilla, acidity and a tangy citrus, almost pineapple note, as Monterey and Santa Barbara fruit are prone to do. But make no mistake, aged 10 months in 100% French oak – it’s definitely a caramel and butter bruiser. 14.3% alcohol. LANDMARK

Other Chardonnay's to Consider: LAVA CAP, DOLIN