Whoa. I’m still reeling from yesterday’s exploits in the world of wine. My boyfriend’s birthday is next Friday and for his gift, I got tickets to the annual Central Coast Food & Wine Celebration, held in the parking lot of Wally’s Wine & Spirits in Westwood:
In addition to presenting more than 50 of the finest wineries of the Central Coast, we are assembling an All-Star lineup of participating restaurants. The anchor restaurants of Hitching Post and Spago Beverly Hills are scheduled to be joined once again by Santa Barbara’s Bouchon and Olio e Limone. Other top-notch food stations will include Lucques/AOC, Sona, Sushi Roku, Campanile, Wolfgang Puck Catering, Literati II, B.L.D., and a few other surprises.
Past-participating wineries expected to return include stellar producers such as Sea Smoke, L’Aventure, Linne Calodo, Saxum, Ambullneo, Clos Mimi, Brewer-Clifton and Alban.
The whole experience was, as expected, fairly overwhelming. Table after table of California wines were spread out in the humid August air as we wandered, happily clutching our Riedel tasting glasses like kids in a candy store. After an early bout of indecision (because really, where do you start?) we gathered our wits and hit the tables—I in search of any white that was not Chardonnay (though I did taste some of those, too) and he after the ubiquitous pinot noirs, as well as grenache, cab sauv, syrah and the like.
Early on, all we tasted were winners. We managed to pick some really excellent wines right out of the gate, naïvely assuming that the big wineries we had heard so much about would prove to be slam dunks later on. This logic proved slightly faulty, though not in every case. My only major complaint about the day was the variety. Nearly 60 wineries were represented, yet at least 50% of the wines available to taste were pinot noir, syrah or chardonnay. There’s nothing wrong with any of those grapes, but in a world of varied and interesting wine varietals the California bias toward pinot and chardonnay is, frankly, disappointing.
That aside, however, we had some truly transcendent glasses. To speed things along, I’ve broken this up into the “Yeah” and “Meh” categories. In the “Yeah” category are our stellar picks, wines that really turned our heads (mostly toward the buying list that was handed to us as we walked in). If it falls in “Meh,” it was okay; a lot of these wines were off-balance—lovely on the nose and strong on the mid-palette, but flat as a pancake on the finish. Many of the others were just okay overall, with generally appealing characteristics lacking overall cohesion. A small minority were just dreadful. And so, without further ado, the Wally’s 2007 Wine & Food Celebration wine recap:
Yeah!
Alta Maria
2005 Grenache
A solid, well-balanced wine. One of the better grenaches being poured.
Ambullneo
2005 Pinot Noir Rancho Ontiveros | 2005 Chardonnay Fang Blanc
Price point does not necessarily indicate the quality of the wine, but Ambullneo is not kidding around. The chardonnay alone retails for $50 and up, but the incredible quality of both varietals from this producer convinced us both that they are worth every penny. Outstanding all the way around, these two were amongst our very favorites of the day.
Curran
2005 Grenache Blanc
Absolutely my favorite white of the day. Beautiful color, a little tight on the nose, super balanced. Just awesome.
Fiddlehead
2004 Pinot Noir Seven Twenty Eight Fiddlestix | 2006 Sauvignon Blanc Happy Canyon
Fiddlehead is one of the producers I was very curious about. I’ve heard people talking about them all over the place (thanks to a mention in Sideways) and I looked forward to this tasting. I was in no way disappointed. My aversion to California sauv blanc is well known by now, but this wine was the best I’ve ever had. The balance was perfect, the herbaceous and mineral qualities were in perfect harmony, there were just enough hints of citrus and some slight floral notes. The pinot was also great, balanced and nuanced, though it appeared a bit young. In a few years that will be a killer bottle of wine.
Herman Story
2006 Rousanne Santa Ynez Valley
Surprisingly, aside from chardonnay, rousanne and viognier were well represented among the wines being tasted. This was a very lovely New World rousanne; I liked it very much.
Jaffurs
2006 Viognier
Though this is not the best viognier I’ve ever had, it was definitely the best I tasted at Wally’s. It’s light and refreshing, but just a tad too dry on the finish.
L’Aventure
2006 Rousanne
This wine had the best introduction ever—the winemaker, Stephan Asseo, was pouring it himself and gave us a spirited explanation that this is a French-style rousanne, so we were not to expect the heavy florals of the New World style. He told us it was not his best wine, but we both loved it. It’s also the wine pictured in the photo above.
Qupè
2005 Rousanne Bien Nacido Hillside Estate
Another fine rousanne, this was my favorite of the three. Lovely balance, with citrus and floral notes. Refreshing and wonderful.
Sea Smoke
2005 Chardonnay Gratis
Surprisingly, this chardonnay was far better than the pinot noir Sea Smoke is known for. Though not my favorite chardonnay of the day, it managed to avoid all the pitfalls that generally cause me to avoid this wine, and I enjoyed my little tasting glass.
Villa Creek
2006 White Paso Robles | 2005 Bete Noire | 2005 Mas de Maha
Villa Creek was, hands down, the standout of the day. We tasted three of their wines and were uniformly impressed with all three. The White, a 75% Denner roussanne, 25% Blacksmith grenache blanc blend, was excellent—floral, citrus, and crisp. The Mas de Maha was one of my two favorite reds of the day (see next producer for the other), a 60% Ohana Vineyard tempranillo, 25% Denner grenache, 15% Denner mourvèdre blend, had a deep, earthly nature with lots of blackfruit and a touch of spice. The Bete Noire was the boyfriend’s favorite, composed of 60% James Berry and Booker syrah, 40% Denner mourvèdre, it had an Old World richness, as well as plenty of smoky, dark, earthy flavors. I really can’t say enough good things about the Villa Creek wines.
Whitcraft
2002 La Grein
This was a varietal I had never encountered, so I prevailed upon the kind fellow from the winery to educate me. A traditional Italian varietal grown in the far north, it is an “orphan grape” here in the States, being grown only a few vineyards. This wine was delightful—rich and dark with a huge fruit nose and a thick, jam-like nature. As recommended, it is definitely a winter wine, and absolutely one I’m going to seek out.
Meh.
Alban
2006 Viognier Central Coast
So off-balance it makes a three-legged dog look graceful.
Au Bon Climat
2005 Chardonnay Nuits-Blanche Anniversary XXV
Save yourself the trouble and just lick the inside of a popcorn bucket. All butter.
Beckmen
2005 Grenache Purisima Mountain Vineyard
Off-balance, our major hurdle for the day.
Calera
2005 Viognier Mt. Harlan | 2003 Pinot Noir Mt. Harlan Mills
Generally okay; nothing to write home about. I can say, though, that the woman from the winery was exceptionally nice, and was monitoring the temperature of her bottles to be sure they were appropriately chilled.
Cobblestone
2006 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Rose
A nice enough rose, but nothing to write home about.
Core
2005 Core White 613
A grenache-roussane blend; too off-balance on the finish but nice up front.
Gainey
2005 Sauvignon Blanc Limited Selection
Wines like this are why I avoid California sauv blanc; pleasant nose, finishes like swallowing sand.
Jorian Hill
2005 Viognier
Pleasant and enjoyable but nothing I’d write home about.
Justin
2005 Cabernet Sauvignon
Great nose, excellent mid-palette, crazy tannins at the end. General feeling was that the wine is too young.
Kunin
2005 Viognier Stolpman Vineyard
Awesome up front, much too dry on the end. Another disappointment on the balance front.
L’Aventure
2005 Optimus
A cabernet sauvignon-syrah blend that tasted like all syrah, but nothing mind-blowing. The winemaker, however, is completely awesome.
Linne Calodo
2005 Sticks and Stones | 2005 Martyr
A grenache-mourvèdre-syrah and mourvèdre-syrah blend, respectively. Pleasant enough, but lacks anything special overall.
Malibu Vineyards
2005 Cabernet Sauvignon-Cabernet Franc
A little more cab sauv than cab franc, in an uninteresting way.
McPrice Myers
2005 Grenache L’Ange Rouge
Nice enough, nothing special.
Ojai Vineyard
2006 Sauvignon Blanc Westerly Vineyard | 2005 Grenache Santa Barbara County
Yet again, more reason I don’t drink California sauv blanc; the grenache was fair.
Paige 23
2006 Sauvignon Blanc
Surprise, surprise, another California sauv blanc that feels like drinking sand.
Saxum
2005 Booker Vineyard | 2005 James Berry Vineyard
Saxum was problematic because both wines were excellent, but they are both so huge and bold that you feel more assaulted than satisfied.
Sea Smoke
2005 Pinot Noir Botella
Along with the Saxum, this was a sad surprise. Sea Smoke is one of the big-name producers and their pinot is spoken of in hushed tones, but we both found it to be relatively mediocre—a good wine, definitely a textbook pinot noir, but with the reputation and price point of the wine we were expecting to be bowled over.
Westerly
2005 Merlot
When the words “Smoking Loon is better than this” are the review, I don’t think there’s much else to say.
