Archive for the George Heritier Category
Touring California Wine Country ~ 2010
May 24th, 2010 | 
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Five appellations, with six appointments in fourteen days. That was our calendar in late April through early May, and we couldn’t have asked for a finer return to California wine country for the first time since 2002. We decided right from the get-go that we were going to do it right this time; no exhaustive three of more appointments per day, and not even one appointment every day. We were going to enjoy ourselves, take our time, see some of the state and concentrate on a select group of producers, two of whom were new to our experience and three with whom we were very familiar.
Our travels took us to Napa Valley, Dry Creek Valley, Mendocino County, Paso Robles and the Santa Cruz Mountains. On off days, we simply toured or renewed acquaintances with old friends like Allan Bree, Frank Joyce and John and Pat Wolf. And of course, there was never any lack of good food and wine, as we’ve already detailed with recent blog entries.
Our site visits were all marvelous, and included appointments with John Olney at Ridge Lytton Springs, Julie Johnson at Tres Sabores, Mario and Danelle Storm Rosati at Rosati Family Winery, Jason Haas at Tablas Creek Vineyard, Paul Draper at Ridge Monte Bello and Sean Thackrey at his barn… OK, it’s REALLY Sean’s office-auxiliary storage facility outside of Bolinas and equipped with a kitchen many would envy.
We made extensive use of the video camera, and indeed, some of our reports could have stood on that footage alone – candid as they are, but there are always anecdotes and tasting notes to be included.
Our trip report begins in reverse, with accounts of our last two visits, with Paul Draper and Sean Thackrey. We met with the two of them just a few days apart, and couldn’t help but be struck by the differences in style and technique of these two otherwise brilliant winemakers. Subsequent reports will follow individually in quick succession. Read the rest of this entry »
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Three French Rosés
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There’s nothing quite like drinking good French rosé in Napa Valley in the springtime. I don’t mean that in a smarmy thumb-your-nose-at-Napa-because-the-French-make-better-rosé-than-the-locals-do kind o’ way, because that’s not necessarily true. It’s just that there’s something amusingly ironic about going to the heart of California wine country, only to drink French wine as the weather warms and the growing season starts to get into full swing. It also bears pointing out that these three cost less than anything made locally that we happened to run into, not that we searched every nook and cranny in a quest to price comparatively. These three are simply the ones that looked the best to us in our travels, so they’re the ones we bought, and as it turns out, all were quite satisfying, starting with a producer that’s new to us. Read the rest of this entry »
Two ’93 Domaine Tempier Bandols
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On our last night in Napa, we took Allan Bree to dinner at Bistro Jeanty, a delightful restaurant in Yountville that he had introduced us to during our last trip out. Allan brought along two equally delightful wines from one of our very favorite producers, Domaine Tempier in Bandol, which we proceeded to enjoy with a succession of delicious appetizers and entrees, including Chef Jeanty’s famous cream of tomato soup, deep fried Great Lakes smelt, a marvelous artichoke heart terrine with lemon pesto, Epaule De Porc (slow roasted pork shoulder), steak tartare and a lovely little duck tart. Read the rest of this entry »
1999 Dehlinger Russian River Valley Pinot Noir Estate
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A few nights after opening the two Dehlinger Bordeaux variety wines for us, Allan Bree followed that up with an 11 year-old Pinot Noir. We have much more experience with these, so in a way, it was like welcoming an old friend back in our glasses, even if we hadn’t had this particular vintage. We’ve never had a Dehlinger that we didn’t like, and this was certainly not the one to ruin that track record. Read the rest of this entry »
Tweet & Taste on May 17th with Lake Michigan Shore Wineries
Our friends Shannon and Cortney Casey at MichiganByTheBottle are teaming up with four Lake Michigan Shore wineries, including St. Julian, Domaine Berrien, Round Barn Winery, and Warner Vineyards for the third Tweet & Taste Michigan event, and we’ll be right there twittering along with them. The first two virtual tastings were great successes, and this one should be every bit as much fun. Read the rest of this entry »
2 from Dehlinger
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When you consider wine growing in the Russian River Valley, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot are hardly the first two varieties that come to mind; Pinot Noir is the obvious first choice, with Syrah, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc vying for runner-up positions. So, when Allan Bree opened these two with dinner a few nights ago, I was more than a little intrigued to taste what they had to offer. Allan has shared more than a few Dehlinger Pinot Noirs and Syrahs with us over the years, but we’ve never tried any of their Bordeaux varieties, and these two selections, now at 13 years old, acquitted themselves admirably. Read the rest of this entry »
Two Whites from Edmunds St. John
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Steve Edmunds’ reds aren’t the only wines he makes that are remarkably “Euro” in personality. Give them a few years in the cellar and some of his whites take on characteristics that might allow them to pass for white Rhones in a blind tasting. The two selections noted here, opened for us by Allan Bree over the past few nights, are perfect examples. Read the rest of this entry »
Three with Bree
Stop in to visit Allan Bree (aka califusa) and you can always count on some corks being pulled from some most interesting and diverse (not to mention downright tasty) wines. Such was the case when we pulled into Sonapanoma after a short 9-hour series of flights from Day-twah. Read the rest of this entry »
