Night, Cap

I don’t promote wines I don’t like, and often times certain wines from certain regions just don’t work well, in spite of wineries planting the same tired grape over and over, thereby creating a tedious version of something you can get better elsewhere. All that to say the Chardonnays from the Sierra Foothills have been lackluster. It just isn’t the best spot to grow it. So imagine my double take when I tried the 2012 Lava Cap Winery Chardonnay. I was not prepared for what I had just tasted. Sure, Chardonnay is ubiquitous, but at $18 this has terrific acidity and the new French Oak is all caramel, and a subtle smoky element with a touch of citrus. They perform a battonage on it – meaning after the yeast converts the sugars to alcohol, the tiny dead yeast cells are stirred up inside the wine barrel, which adds additional flavor and texture to a wine. At 14.6 this Chardonnay is a big boy, but it does not drink that way and frankly I’d take this over more expensive Chards from Sonoma in a heartbeat. I love the mouth feel on this and the slight bite at the end. 

I hold in my hand...the lava cap!

 

Lava Cap Winery has been in the Foothills, near to Placerville, for a quarter century and is one of the leaders in the wine industry in this underappreciated region (hint: Forgo Napa and drive to the Foothills, El Dorado, Amador, Calaveras counties - 40 minutes east of Sacramento). Their winery name refers to the actual cap of old, thick lava that permeates parts of the lower Sierra Nevada Mountains. And that cap has created some pretty cool growing conditions in terms of unique soils of volcanic clay mixed with minerals. The bottom line? Chard from this region does not excel, but this Chardonnay does and it will surprise you. Worth every penny, go find it. LAVA CAP WINERY

2012 Lava Cap Winery Chardonnay

ORIGIN: El Dorado County, Sierra Foothills, California

PRICE: $18 - 750/ml

ALCOHOL: 14.6%

BOOZEHOUNDZ SCORE:  91 POINTS

Play Fair, Zinfandel

You’ve probably never heard of the Fairplay AVA, nor El Dorado County. Maybe not even the Sierra Foothills region in California. But this area is actually older than Napa and Sonoma and blossomed during the California Gold Rush of the late 1840s and early 1850s. Long a bastion of overripe one-trick pony Zinfandel, this region does Rhone and Italian well and on occasion you find an authentic, expressive Zin like the Gwinllan 2010 Estate Zinfandel. At 15.4 this is a hefty boy, but the fruit is fully restrained and paired judiciously with oak resulting in sultry earthy and dusty notes. There’s black cherry, black berry, cinnamon and sweet oak, all balanced against each other deviating from the usual jammy Foothills Zinfandel. This wine shows one of the valid reasons for visiting the Fairplay region – namely that with all the volcanic and granite soils, the region genuinely reflects the earth. Farmed at 2,300 feet, these grapes give a smoothness and richness with a bit of tannic structure, but not enough that it dries out your palette. Yes, it’s a tad hot, though it is excessively easy (and quite fun) to drink. I popped this with a pork sausage pizza with fresh oregano, chives and edemame. You couldn’t ask for better combo. Fairplay is game on and Gwinllan plays well with others. GWINLLAN ESTATE

ORIGIN: Fair Play, El Dorado County, California

PRICE: $36 / 750/ml

ALCOHOL: 15.4%

BOOZEHOUNDZ SCORE:  88 POINTS