Tag Archive for 'France'

Stylistically Speaking…

Wine people are known to throw around such terms as ’stylistically,’ ‘nose,’ ‘palate,’ ‘oaked,’ ‘ML,’ and on and on down the sensory vocabulary list.  So why do these terms matter?  What makes one Sauvignon Blanc different than the next?  If you’ve had a wine of a particular varietal and liked it one time, doesn’t mean you’re going to like it the next.  This is where wine style comes into play.  For example, consumers typically form early opinions on the commonly bottled Chardonnay varietal.  If you had one too many glasses of a poorly made, over-oaked Chardonnay early in your wine drinking days, that stereotypical butter bomb descriptor may taint your impression of this type of wine for years to come (until you have tasted enough to see the enormous range of wine styles that this varietal can produce).  

Here is an excerpt from an interesting article from The Capital on this type of stylistic difference in Sauvignon Blanc, comparing the lush California style to a grassier New Zealand counterpart.  And herein lies the beauties of wine, and why it’s important to find your preference – it’s not that one is better than the other by any means, it just depends on the style that you prefer to sip on your patio.

But, oddly, the restaurant bottle we recently had didn’t seem to have a lot of the aggressive aromas we expect from the grape variety. And it had a lush texture – atypical of the mouth-puckering, grassy and crisply acidic character of sauvignon blanc.

Thinking the wine’s flavor had been scalped because of a flaw often associated with TCA, a chemical compound that is the primary cause of cork taint, Tom bought a second bottle the next day.

Although he expected to find a totally different wine, it was the same. So, what gives?

California is making its sauvignon blanc differently than New Zealand, Washington and other wine-growing regions.

The restaurant’s Sauvignon Blanc is blended with 25 percent semillon, a grape variety that tends to soften its assertive companion. The barrel fermentation and stirring of the lees also gives it a lush, sweet oak quality. The grassy, herbaceous notes associated with New Zealand versions are simply gone.

Whether this is good depends on what you want from sauvignon blanc. The grassy, grapefruit flavors are too strong for many folks, so the California version embodies the best assets of the grape without making your mouth pucker.

The grape known best in France’s Loire Valley, sauvignon blanc is a versatile wine for spring and summer weather. It can handle a serious chill and still taste good as an aperitif or alongside everything from a cold pasta to grilled chicken with a citrus preparation.

2007 Santa Barbara Winery Sauvignon Blanc, 16.00

Full Article

Joanie Hudson, Assistant Tasting Room Manager, Santa Barbara Winery

Lamb and Red Wine Pairing

I wasn’t aware that lamb had a season, but apparantly it is spring.  Lamb has long been a very versatile meat to pair with wines, but sometimes is overlooked.  Rhone reds (origins from France’s Rhone Valley) from Grenache and Syrah to earthy blends of these varietals are a favorite of mine to pair with this rich, almost sweetly flavored and earthy red meat.  Remember that when pairing wines with foods, one of the most important considerations is in the sauce of the dish.  Hence why these rules of varietal – meat category can be silly.  Try an oven roasted, herb dusted lamb with our 2006 Santa Barbara Winery Grenache.

Here is an excerpt and link to the full article of a fun article I found on pairing lamb with red wines, remarking on its versatility.

Spring is lamb season. That in turn means it’s wine season, as lamb is the most wine-friendly meat. It pairs beautifully with Cabernets, Rhônes, and—my newest discovery—Pinot Noir.

A classic Cabernet’s minty/herbal side goes with the grassiness of lamb (which, traditionally, can be served with a mint sauce), while Rhône reds (the grape is usually Syrah or Grenache) often possess an earthiness that flatters lamb’s meaty complexity. But Pinot Noir illustrates an important lesson of food-and-wine pairing: It’s sometimes better to go for contrast than harmony.

Click here for the full article at Chow.com

Joanie Hudson, Assistant Tasting Room Manager, Santa Barbara Winery

Vintners’ Festival Wines

Here are the wines that we will be pouring for the Santa Barbara Winery label at the Vintners’ Festival this Saturday, April 18.

2007 Chardonnay

Our Santa Barbara County Chardonnay is a lightly oaked, multi-vineyard blend.  45% barrel fermentation with the remainder done in stainless steel tanks produces a bright intensity of fruit and round mouthfeel.

2007 Pinot Noir

Velvety flavor and aromatic concentration jump out of the glass of our 2007 Pinot Noir.  Yields from our estate Lafond Vineyard and neighbor vineyard Arita Hills were low in this particular vintage due to a late frost.  These sites combine the juiciest berries from select vineyard rows, producing a classically soft textured Pinot Noir.

2006 Negrette Joughin Vineyard

Negrette traces its origins to the warm climate area north of Toulouse in southwestern France where it is known for its dark color and fragrant berry aroma and flavor.  Fans of Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon usually are the most pleased when tasting this wine and are always intrigued by its obscure presence in the wine world.

2006 Primitivo Joughin Vineyard

Primitivo has recently been shown to be genetically identical to Zinfandel. Growing well in warmer climates, it has a more “sun kissed” quality than wines that come from cooler areas in Italy, such as Tuscany or Piedmont.  Primitivo is dark red with bold fruity flavors and an intense essence of sweetness while being bone dry.

2007 Riesling 7.3

The “7.3″ represents the amount of residual sugar in this Riesling.  On the sweeter side, its medium body is buoyed by sleek acidity and crisp ripe fruit and honeysuckle.  Very harmonious and leaves a lasting impression.

It’s not too late to purchase tickets for the Vintners’ Festival!

Joanie Hudson, Assistant Tasting Room Manager, Santa Barbara Winery

New Release Santa Barbara Winery

2006 Lafond Vineyard Grenache

After three decades of wine growing in Santa Rita Hills, Pierre Lafond and winemaker Bruce McGuire are still experimenting with unconventional varieties in this very cool growing region.

Following their successful introduction of Syrah to Santa Rita Hills in the early 1990’s, they are now releasing their third Grenache from Lafond Vineyard.

Planted in loose conglomerate (sand and rocks to four inches) in the warmest section of the vineyard allows the fruit to ripen to its full potential throughout its lengthy hang time on the vines.

Historically, Grenache has been grown in the Southern Rhone Valley of France as well as large areas of Spain where it is known as Garnacha.

Often used for blending, recent years have seen more Grenache bottled by itself as growers limit yields to make more flavorful wines highlighting the plump, mid-palate flavors that make this multifaceted wine so versatile with food. Its characteristic mouth “grip” is tannic yet plush.

Simple, easy to prepare foods are at home with this wine, and the summer of 2009 should see the tannins integrate with fruit to make a most enjoyable quaff. We anticipate this wine aging nicely through 2011.

Suggested retail: 26.00

To order:

On Blending

There are a number of reasons why winemakers blend varietals together to create a finished wine.  Oftentimes, California winemakers create blends that are modeled after some of the greatest wines of France, particularly Bordeaux (called Meritage blends in California) and Rhone blends.  But sometimes when the grapes come in during harvest it is based on a decision to make the best of the fruit that came in.  Winemakers take the elements that they get from the vineyard, taste, test, taste, test, to sometimes create unique and fun blends that create a lot of buzz.  

Our winemaker Bruce McGuire has been very successful in blending different varietals that unconventionally produce the deliciously easy drinker, ZCS.  This blend of Zinfandel, Carignane, and Sangiovese has been done year after year, each time being comprised of different percentages of each varietal.  Each piece of the puzzle adds something unique to the finished wine.  And that is why we blend.  I always think of those cartoonish skits of chefs in the kitchen fervently dipping, combining, dashing, and sprinkling varying amounts of different flavors into their mixing bowl before pouring into a pan to go into the oven.

Here are a couple of excerpts and the full article of an article I came across on blending (‘The More Grapes the Merrier‘). Discussions on field blends versus finishing blends help to clarify some differences in the process and objective of blending:

Not too long ago, California wine makers’ main aim was to produce single varietal wines, taking pride in labeling those wines by the type of grape used to produce it. Quite different from their French counter-parts, who labeled their wines after the region the grapes were produced in.

The French realized long ago that blending grapes together would create a finished wine that had better flavors, aromas, and mouth feel, than if that wine was produced from a single grape type. Today, New World wine producers have found that by blending certain grapes together they can improve on the finished wine, creating more desirable flavors, aromas and complexity than a single varietal wine would have. 

There are a number of types of blending efforts a wine maker may choose to use. There is a field blend, which is wine that is produced from vineyards that have been planted with two or more types of grapes that will be harvested and fermented together to produce a blended wine. Ridge Vineyard’s Monte Bello Cabernet is an example of a quality field blend.

Finishing blends are the wine makers’ alchemy efforts used to create a perfect wine. Most of the wines produced in California will have had different varietals added to it to soften out tannins, extend the finish, add complexity, or to exemplify certain characteristics of the major grape that is in the blend. The great wines from Bordeaux are created by finishing blending.

See the rest of the article.

Our varietal blends (current releases as of March 2009):

2007 ZCS (Zinfandel, Carignane, and Sangiovese), 13.00

2005 Grenache Syrah, 22.00

** side note, unless a wine is labelled as 100% of the bottled varietal, small amounts of other grapes by law are allowed to be blended in.  A wine can be bottled as a single varietal is that varietal makes up 75% or more of the blend.

Joanie Hudson, Assistant Tasting Room Manager, Santa Barbara Winery

 

Late Harvest Wines and Port

A lot of times when we pour our Zinfandel Essence (a Late Harvest style Zinfandel) in the tasting room I get asked if it is a Port or a Port-style wine.  Port has become somewhat synonymous when referring to dessert wines in some circles.  It’s not like the terms Late Harvest and Botrytis get thrown around to describe a dessert wine, particularly because nobody wants to think about mildew or fungus having a part in the wine production.  

Chocolate and Port is a classic pairing, but is it?  In some cases, yes, but a milk chocolate Hershey’s bar paired with an overly sweet Port may make you think twice about that general statement.  For me, I like my dessert wine to be sweeter than dessert, a general rule of thumb when pairing.  So I personally would say that dark semisweet chocolate and Port are really the classic match, not just any chocolate.  

When comparing Port to Late Harvest wines, one of the most important differences is that Port is fortified, while Late Harvest wines are not.  Therefore, the Port wines are higher in alcohol.  Also, Port must come from Portugal to be really called by that name, just as Burgundy or Bordeaux must come from specific areas in France to have the privilege to use those names on the label.  I have had plenty of fortified dessert wines from California, particularly from the Napa Valley region, but they cannot call or label themselves at Port because of where they were produced and where the grapes come from.  

Late Harvest wines are made from Botrytis, aka noble rot.  This fungus basically punctures holes into the skin of the grapes, causing them to dehydrate and thereby concentrate the sugars and fruit acids.  Sauternes is a classic example of the results of this process.  There is no added alcohol in the Late Harvest wines, only the alcohol produced by the grape fermentation.    

We produce a Late Harvest Riesling, a Late Harvest Zinfandel, and a Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc.  

For those of you who love or are interested in learning more about Port, check out www.fortheloveofport.com

Joanie Hudson, Assistant Tasting Room Manager, Santa Barbara Winery

Santa Barbara Winery New Release

Joughin Vineyard 2006 Negrette

Attention Joughin Vineyard Negrette fans and interested bystanders! This is the last vintage of Negrette to be produced as Mr. Joughin tired of seeing his labors not be rewarded by fruit.

Truth be told, we are also big fans of the delicious dark berry character found in this wine, but with misfortune ranging from extreme deer predation to frost susceptibly we could not fault the decision to yank these particular vines.

Negrette traces its origins to the warm climate area north of Toulouse in southwestern France where it is known for its dark color and fragrant berry aroma and flavor. The warmer climate around Los Olivos combined with a relatively long growing season yields a Negrette with interesting flavor and a touch more complexity than one usually finds with this grape.

Bruce made 12 barrels of this wine utilzing a mix of American and Hungarian oak of which 25% was new Hungarian barrels. The barrel aging added a little spice and body to further compliment food.

Another easy wine to pair with washed rind cheeses; it would also be a good choice for hearty Mexican cuisine or Bistro style fare. Paring with food is highly recommended to cut the firm acid, bottle aging will most likely be rewarded in 2011.
Suggested retail: 24.00/750ml
To Order:

Lafond Winery & Vineyards New Release

2006 Syrah / Grenache

After three decades of wine growing in the Santa Rita Hills of the western Santa Ynez Valley, Pierre Lafond and winemaker Bruce McGuire are still experimenting with unconventional grape varieties in our very cool climate growing region.

The knowledge gained since the first planting of six varieties in 1972 (one of the early vineyards in Santa Barbara County) has led to a focused approach in which varietals are sought out according to Bruce’s hypothesis on a grape’s potential to exhibit unique character when grown in our area. While this pioneering has led to short term trials like Cabernet Franc, it has also paid off with great success such as the introduction of Syrah to the Santa Rita Hills.

Grenache intrigued Bruce and Pierre for they thought it had the same potential as Syrah to show off spicy character expressed in a different way than the white pepper spice found in our cool climate Syrah.

The 2.25 acre planting has paid off in a distinctly bright Grenache exhibiting a hint of black pepper with cinnamon spice and dark red fruit flavors with a whisper of menthol. The blend of these two grapes yields a very pleasing full bodied wine that invites paring with a wide variety of foods. The wine should be fully integrated in 2010 to 2011.

Suggested retail: 38.00
To order: Wines

Passport Pairings

I am eagerly awaiting the first Wednesday of the month with our new Passport to the World of Wine series now in full swing.  Pinot Noir will be this coming Wednesday, giving tasters and visitors the opportunity to taste five different pinot noirs from around the world (this time being New Zealand, France, Oregon, and two from the Sta Rita Hills). 

The tasting menu that will pair alongside each of these wines demonstrates the versatility of the grape in terms of matching with a variety of different weights and flavors, particularly dependent upon style.  Sesame tuna on cucumber discs will be the starting point paired with the New Zealander from a winery called Wild Earth

Baked Camambert cheese on crostini drizzled with a nutty pear walnut dressing will be served with the French Burgundy

Mushroom and Bacon Tartlets will be paired with Oregon’s Willamette Valley Pinot.

Pulled Lamb Sliders will go alongside the Santa Barbara Winery and Lafond Pinots.

All of these wines are served at the Bistro, so it’s a nice way to get a sampling of their new wine list.

Passport to the World of Wine, Pierre Lafond Bistro

January 7, 2009

25.00 per person

Joanie Hudson, Assistant Tasting Room Manager, Santa Barbara Winery