Perlis Picks: Benom Wines

June 23, 2018 by Michael Perlis Leave a Comment

In a recent article, I wrote about Guillaume Fabre, who came from the South of France and created Clos Solene for his wife and fortunately for all of us as well.

BENOM As it turns out, Guillaume has a brother – Arnaud. And while Karen and I had initially met Guillaume at a wine festival, our introduction to Arnaud was indirectly related to one.

Back in 2013, we attended the Ojai Wine Festival for the first time. Karen came across a new winery that she insisted I try…Law Estate Wines. She was right, of course. The wines were great and we’ve been fans of Law ever since.

But that’s not when we met Arnaud.

A couple of years later, we were tasting at the new Law tasting room in Paso Robles where we met Arnaud for the first time when he conducted a tasting for us. Now, I’m no genius but even I could figure out when we met this tall young man from France with the last name Fabre, that he must be the brother of Clos Solene’s winemaker / owner Guillaume.

In my article about Clos Solene, I wrote about how Guillaume convinced the love of his life, Solene, to come to Paso Robles. Arnaud’s story is similar, as he found his soulmate once he joined Guillaume in Paso and met Chloe of L’Aventure Winery. His job as Sales and Marketing Manager of Law keeps him very busy, especially now that he and now-wife Chloe have a baby.

Busy as he is, the pull of making wine with his brother Guillaume has always been present. So, when Guillaume moved Clos Solene from its spot in Tin City to the new estate property, it was time for the brothers to see what they could do together.

Benom was born. Arnaud told us that focusing on Cabernet Sauvignon and Blends, they wanted to bridge their roots (Languedoc-Roussillon and Bordeaux) with Paso Robles, producing wine that reflects the style of a French wine with the richness and power of Paso Robles.

What does “benom” mean? Don’t try to look it up. It is the phonetic spelling of the French word “binôme”, meaning “a project together, a duo”. I’ve tried to allude to similarities and differences of the two Fabre brothers, such as how we met both of them and how they met their loves. The wines reflect this as well.

The 2017 Contrast is an almost 50/50 blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay, which is a very atypical blend. It is definitely not something you’d find in France or in many places, actually. It turns out that the natural acidity of the SB matches up perfectly with the richness of the Chardonnay.

Another blend is the 2017 L’Essor, 52% Grenache and 48% Cabernet Sauvignon. Did I mention this was a Rosé? When did you last or ever come across Cab in a Rosé? The Grenache was picked especially for this wine and the Cabernet is the bleed-off from their 100% Cabernet Sauvignon [more on this below]. This is an unusual blend that really works well.

Speaking of unusual blends, the 2015 Les Deux Frères is comprised of Grenache, Tempranillo and Cabernet Sauvignon. Even my very limited knowledge of French enabled me to translate this as The Two Brothers; and a fitting tribute to them it is as it was my favorite wine of our visit.

Finally, we tasted the 2015 Origin. This 100% Cabernet Sauvignon has everything the Cab lover could want – great fruit and aging structure. It is a beautiful nod to the Fabre brothers’ French roots with the power of Paso Robles. But, a sneak peek of the 2016 makes me think the best is yet to come.

It is going to be exciting to see what this project borne of brotherly love creates for the future.

Benom

3050 Limestone Way

Paso Robles, CA 93446

Michael Perlis has been pursuing his passion for wine for more than 25 years. He has had the good fortune of having numerous mentors to show him the way, as well as a wonderful wife who encourages him and shares his interest. After a couple of decades of learning about wine, attending events, visiting wineries and vineyards, and tasting as much wine as he possibly could, he had the amazing luck to meet Eve Bushman. Now, as Contributing Editor for Eve’s Wine 101, he does his best to bring as much information as possible about wine to Eve’s Wine 101 faithful readers. Michael is also Vice President of Eve Bushman Consulting (fka Eve’s Wine 101 Consulting) http://evebushmanconsulting.com/ and President of MCP Financial. Michael can be contacted at michaelthezinfan@aol.com or michael@evebushmanconsulting.com.

Perlis Picks: Hospice du Rhône [Part Two]

June 16, 2018 by Michael Perlis Leave a Comment

THE GRAND TASTINGS

Of course, the HdR event wasn’t all “work” [I use this term very loosely] at the seminars that I wrote about in last week’s article.

HDR Friday afternoon was the Opening Tasting and the Closing Tasting was held Saturday afternoon. The participants were the same at both, with the opening tasting focusing on older vintages and the closing tasting representing current releases. Wineries could only pour wines that were primarily made up of the 22 Rhône varieties. This was not only a great opportunity to taste an incredible number of fine wines, but to also interact with lots of winemakers.

I did not take notes on individual bottles and did not get a chance to taste at nearly every table – check out this list of participants and you’ll see why I didn’t make it to everyone. I also focused primarily on California producers as these would be wineries I’d be most apt to follow up with for in-depth reporting in the future.

Of those I tasted, these wineries poured my favorites…

Alta Colina, Paso Robles, CA

Anglim, Paso Robles, CA

Barton Family Wines, Paso Robles, CA

Bedrock Wine Co, Sonoma, CA

Caliza Winery, Paso Robles, CA

Carlisle Winery and Vineyards, Windsor, CA

Clos Solene, Paso Robles, CA

Delmas, Walla Walla, WA

Denner Winery, Paso Robles, CA

Donelan Family Wines, Santa Rosa, CA

Jeff Cohn Cellars, Sonoma, CA

Keplinger Winers, Napa, CA

Larner Vineyard and Winery, Los Olivos, CA

Law Estate Wines, Paso Robles, CA

Ledge Vineyards, Paso Robles, CA

Levo, Paso Robles, CA

Onx Wines, Paso Robles, CA

Paix Sur Terre, Paso Robles, CA

Saxum Vineyards, Paso Robles, CA

TOP, Paso Robles, CA

Turtle Rock Vineyards, Paso Robles, CA

Not on the list on the website, the wines of Santa Barbara’s Kunin Wines were also being poured. Seth Kunin passed away last year; I never met Seth and by all accounts my life is poorer as a result. Seth’s wines were being poured by his wife and his brother and they were delicious.

THE MEALS

Wine tastes great on its own, but ultimately it really shines as part of a meal – oft times for me as the star of the meal, but part of it nonetheless.

Lunch on Friday was devoted to Rose, with bottles of Rose everywhere being provided by HdR participants, along with food prepared by Chef Nick Nolan of Society Cuisine.

The Live Auction Lunch on Saturday featured dishes prepared by Martin Testa of Testa Catering along with lots of wine provided by the HdR participating wineries. The auction generated funds for the HdR organization to continue to provide these kind of events and to help Northern California Wildfire Relief…

In addition, the passing of two wine luminaries was addressed, Seth Kunin of Kunin Wines and Robert Haas of Tablas Creek, as well as the Person of the Year being announced – Jed Dunnuck of jebdunnuck.com.

The Farewell Dinner Saturday evening provided a wonderful time to reflect on the weekend that had passed so quickly. The four course meal was prepared by Chef Spencer Johnston of Danior Kitchen, featuring Southwestern inspired fare capped off with a delicious selection of meats [beef, chicken, chorizo and lamb] followed by dulche de leche cake along with strawberries and cajata. Not to mention the cooked grasshoppers which were a big hit at our table. And of course, the wines…it looked like all the bottles that had been opened at the tasting were sitting somewhere, along with plenty of full ones.

I can’t say enough about this event – hopefully you’ve gotten this far in my writing about it. From the organizers to the participating wineries to the attendees, from the seminars to the meals to the tastings, whether one bought a weekend pass or went a la carte, I can’t think of a more well run event or one with higher quality wines across the board. As we headed off into the night, I thought that I couldn’t believe it was over and that two years couldn’t pass soon enough. Kudos to all involved.

Perlis Picks: Hospice du Rhône [Part One]

June 9, 2018 by Michael Perlis Leave a Comment

INTRODUCTION

Over the years that I’ve been writing for Eve’s Wine 101, I’ve probably used the expression “if you only attend one event per year” often enough that it’s become almost a cliché.

Now I can say “if you only attend one event every two years, this is the one you should attend.”

GUIGAL

Hospice du Rhône is, per their website, “…a non-profit business league with the specific purpose of improving the business conditions of the grape growers and wine producers of Rhône variety wines and grapes throughout the world. We serve as an international vintners association, providing promotional and educational opportunities.”

Based on California’s Central Coast, HdR holds regular events at Blackberry Farm in Tennessee and last year participated in Découvertes en Vallée du Rhône in France’s Rhone Valley. Every two years, HdR brings it all back home to Paso Robles for a multi-day extravaganza to showcase wines made from Rhône grapes, not just from local wineries but from international ones as well.

I write a lot about Rhône varieties. Other than Zinfandel, the Rhônes are where my palate usually takes me. For a refresher, there are 22 Rhône varieties, called as such due to their origins in France’s Rhône Valley. Most well-known of these for the reds would be Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre and for the whites Viognier, Roussanne, Marsanne and Grenache Blanc. If you’re interested, you can see the entire list here.

The most recent HdR event in Paso Robles took place April 26^th through April 28^that the Paso Robles Event Center. Attendees had options of attending seminars, onsite lunches, grand tastings, offsite dinners, or the onsite farewell dinner, in any combination. Most popular seemed to be the purchase of the weekend pass which gave the pass holder all seminars, both lunches, both grand tastings as well as the farewell dinner. Individual event tickets could also be purchased a la carte.

THE SEMINARS

The schedule of events covered by the weekend pass spanned Friday April 27^th and Saturday April 28^th. But the fun actually started on Thursday April 26^th with a group of seminars held at the nearby Paso Robles Inn. Not included with the weekend pass, these seminars could be purchased individually by those who were looking for a true immersion experience. Called the Focus 22 [after the 22 Rhone grape varieties] Master Classes, each of the three seminars focused on a different region producing Rhone-style wines.

Unfortunately, Karen and I were unable to attend the first two of these Master Classes, but they definitely looked interesting, featuring wineries and regions that I did not have much familiarity with.

The first was called Elevating Arizona: Height Matters, presented by Todd Bostock of Dos Cabezas WineWorks and Maynard Keenan of Caduceus Cellars and the second was The Rhône Rocketeers from Walla Walla, presented by Ali Mayfield of The Walls Vineyard, Billo Naravane of Rasa Vineyards, Steve Robertson of Delmas, Todd Alexander of Force Majeure and Dr. Kevin R. Pogue of VinTerra Consulting. Both classes were moderated by esteemed wine critic Jeb Dunnuck of JebDunnuck.com.

We did make it into town for the third Master Class, and I was definitely glad that we did. I suppose it would be technically incorrect to say that this class was also about a region that produces Rhône-style wines as we got to learn about the Rhone Valley itself: Romancing the Rhônes of Rhône Valley. Presented by Eileen Fabunan of Rhône Valley Wines along with Jeb Dunnuck, we got the opportunity to learn about the Rhône Valley and taste eight wines in total from both the North and South Rhône Valley. This was great for someone like me as I have had limited exposure to Rhônes other than those from California.

The HdR event officially kicked off bright and early Friday morning with Seminar One | South Africa’s Cinsault Renaissance. Moderated by Lauren Buzzeo of Wine Enthusiast, the presenters were Ryan Mostert of Silwervis, Andrea Mullineux of, Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines, Tremayne Smith of The Blacksmith and Danie Steytler of Kaapzicht Wine Estate.

Tasting through nine wines in various styles made from a grape that is usually [but not always] a blending grape in California was pretty interesting and gave additional exposure to a wine region that is still little known to many.

The second seminar on Friday was Seminar Two | A 6th Generation Crusade in the Barossa Valley. This seminar was moderated by Chuck Hayward of Vinroads and the presenters were Adrian Hoffmann of Hoffmann Vineyards, Paul Heinecke of Soul Growers, Russell Johnstone of RBJ Vintners, Chris Ringland of North Barossa Vintners Collaboration and Michael Twelftree of Two Hands Winery & Twelftree.

Karen and I used to drink a lot more Australian wine than we do now, so this was especially fun, made more so by the nine wines we tasted all being from one vineyard owned and managed by Adrian Hoffmann, a man as dedicated to growing great wine grapes as the winemakers making the wine.

Not to take anything away from any of the other sessions, Saturday morning’s first seminar was probably the one I was most excited about. Titled Seminar Three | Lost and Found: Old Vine Rhônes Across California, it was presented by Morgan Twain-Peterson, MW of Bedrock Wine Company and Tegan Passalacqua of Turley Wine Cellars and Sandlands. Tegan and Morgan are also two of the founding members of the Historic Vineyard Society, an organization near and dear to my heart and one that I have written about in the past. We got to learn about and taste through 10 wines from nine of these old vineyards. Some of the wines were made by Tegan, some by Morgan, but there were also wines made by Pax Mahle, Angela Osborne, Bruce Neyers and Ian Brand as well as two of my person favorites, Mike Officer of Carlisle and Joel Peterson of Once & Future Wines.

It was time for the final seminar of this year’s Hospice du Rhône event, Seminar Four | The Majesty of Guigal, kind of taking us full circle back to the Rhône valley and learn about this great winery and taste 11 of the wines made there.

Read more about the Paso Robles HdR event in my next article.

Perlis Picks: Epic Times at Epoch Estate Wines

June 2, 2018 by Michael Perlis Leave a Comment

In my last article, I mentioned that I’d next be writing about who went into the old Clos Solene spot at Tin City. Well, some technical difficulties have delayed that report, so this week you get…

Photo from Epoch Facebook page.

One of the benefits of living in Southern California, as do most of our Eve Wine 101 readers, is proximity to various wine regions. Santa Barbara wine country is just a couple of hours away, Paso Robles a little farther and a few more hours gets you to Napa, Sonoma and beyond.

Inevitably, once you do start visiting wineries, you’ll be presented with opportunities to join winery clubs. With so many wineries offering great wines, it is easy to get overwhelmed. How do you decide which clubs to join? For us, it is often, in addition to the wine quality, it is the feeling that we have a personal relationship with the people involved.

Epoch Estate Wines in Paso Robles is a great case in point. Karen and I first tasted the Epoch wines in 2010 when they were still being made at Denner. We had the good fortune to meet Kristen Darnell (née Carrillo), now Epoch’s Vice President of Sales and Personnel as well as newly hired winemaker Jordan Fiorentini. The wines were great, Kristen and Jordan were too, and the fact that the owners had purchased the old York Mountain Winery site to develop their winery [a place we had first visited in the 1980s] was icing on the cake. We were hooked.

A perk of being in a wine club is that members often get invited to special events. Recently, Epoch members were invited to the beautiful state of the art winery on York Mountain to attend not one but two events.

The first event, reserved for the top tier of Epoch members, started with a reception that included passed appetizers along with Epoch’s newly released white blend [Viognier, Grenache Blanc and Roussanne] and Rose [Mourvedre, Grenache and Syrah] wines. Both were excellent but the Rose is really something special. Just ask my wife Karen.

Then, we were treated to an elegant sit-down dinner in the winery, paired with the great Epoch wines.

The 2015 Sensibility [Grenache and Syrah] was paired with Manchego & Prosciutto. The 2015 Zinfandel [with a touch of Grenache] was matched with Grilled Quail and the 2015 Veracity [Grenache, Mourvedre and Syrah] with Wild Mushroom Risotto. Finally, the 2015 Estate Blend of Syrah, Mourvedre, Grenache, Tempranillo and Zinfandel was served with barbecued New York Strip with bone marrow butter and Roquefort whipped potatoes. The dessert table filled with petit fours and brownies topped off the evening, along with more wine to accompany them.

The next evening, open to all Epoch members, was a more casual affair with serving stations set up in the winery. The white blend and the Rose were available at the entry to the event along with various appetizers. The reds were paired as follows…

2015 Sensibility with two flatbreads – one wild mushroom and the other prosciutto and arugula.

2015 Zinfandel with bacon wrapped blue cheese stuffed dates.

2015 Veracity with Capicola and blue cheese skewers.

2015 Estate Blend with lamb sliders.

There was also Seafood and Chorizo Paella, which Karen really enjoyed with the Rose.

Although the events were markedly different from each other, they both really emphasized one thing to me. While the wines are delicious on their own, they really shine when they are paired expertly with the right dishes.

The other thing that always has struck me about Epoch is the amazingly nice people that work for them. Owners Bill and Liz Armstrong told me that this is the first requirement in their hiring process as almost anything else can be taught. Kudos on a job well done.

Perlis Picks: Clos Solene

May 12, 2018 by Michael Perlis Leave a Comment

It’s hard to believe that I’ve been writing about Guillaume Fabre, winemaker/owner of Clos Solene for almost nine years. Yet, he and his winery haven’t been the focal point of the article until now.

Karen and I first met Guillaume in 2009. In that article, I spent most of the time whining about events that provide tasting tickets as opposed to unlimited tastes of wine. In spite of that focus, we did taste some nice wines, including Clos Solene, about which I said: “An outstanding Roussane from Paso Robles.” [And yes, now I see the typo.]

My understanding is that this was the first wine released under the Clos Solene label. Guillaume had not yet made the full-time leap to his own winery, but was still working as assistant winemaker at L’Aventure in Paso Robles. Leaving his native France where he had grown up growing grapes and making wine with his family, Guillaume had come to Paso Robles to work with L’Aventure as an intern and fell in love with the Paso Robles area. Guillaume describes this as “un coup de foudre” – a bolt of lightning moment when he realized what the future in Paso Robles could be. This was the second such moment in his life, the first being when he met his future wife Solene, whom he convinced to join him in the New World.

My next article about Clos Solene was nearly five years later, in 2014, as part of a longer article about up-and-coming Paso wineries. My big takeaway about his wine was “in addition to the purity of the fruit being expressed, these wines were incredibly elegant.” At this point, Guillaume had just left the relative security of L’Aventure and was devoting himself full-time to Clos Solene, pouring at the collective tasting room in downtown Paso Robles known as Paso Underground.

Since that last visit, Guillaume has moved Clos Solene –twice!

Paso Underground is still there, of course, and definitely worth your time visiting, with four wineries pouring their wares along with all the other tasting rooms in downtown Paso Robles. But just a few miles south of downtown Paso is an area known as Tin City, with an ever-growing number of small wineries. Tin City is well on its way to becoming a day’s destination all on its own. And as Clos Solene’s popularity and production increased, having a private tasting room / winery made sense.

By the time we planned to visit him there, he had acquired the old Pipestone Vineyards property on Paso’s west side and was deep in the process of making changes to meet his vision of what Clos Solene needed to be. So we never did see him during that trip.

Although we did see Guillaume and taste the Clos Solene wines at a handful of events over the years, it took us another year [and about four years since our Paso Underground visit] to make the drive on a rainy Saturday morning into the hills and follow the long driveway to visit the property that Guillaume and Solene had acquired about a year before.

Sitting with Guillaume on the estate’s patio, as the rain stopped and the sky cleared, looking out over the property and sampling the current tasting room offerings, we got a chance to reflect on the last nine years and the plans for the future. As it turns out, everything has been in a state of evolution. That Roussanne we tasted nine years ago? That was the first wine under the Clos Solene label and it has evolved over time into Hommage Blanc, a blend of 80% Roussanne and 20% Viognier. The Rose has evolved as well, as Guillaume has focused on using grapes grown specifically for the Rose as opposed to bleed-off from grapes to be used for red wines. And then there are the reds. Every year, Guillaume has been perfecting these blends as well. One after another, these wines prove that Clos Solene represents the best of Paso. Some, like Harmonie, are pure expressions of Rhone varieties. Others, like Fleur de Solene, show what an artist like Guillaume can do without the restrictions of his native France, blending Rhone and Bordeaux varieties into true masterpieces.

Truthfully, we are fortunate to be able to taste a lot of really good wine on a regular basis, both as writers and as consumers. But, the quality of the Clos Solene wines is still the exception rather than the rule and it helps to remind us what drove us to this passion in the first place.

The future is exciting as well. Guillaume has always sourced fruit from outstanding vineyards, such as James Berry and Glenrose. But now with the new property, he’ll be able to produce wines from his own estate, controlling the process from beginning to end. It will be just like back home, but better. Production will continue to be very limited with some slight growth in production. Guillaume and Solene are working harder than ever, now with three little mouths to feed in addition to their own.

Karen and I joined the Clos Solene Wine Club to make sure we don’t wait four or five years for another visit.

[Are you wondering what happened to that Clos Solene tasting room in Tin City? Read about that in my next article.]

PERLIS PICKS: NAPA AT LAST LIGHT

April 28, 2018 by Michael Perlis Leave a Comment

The book Napa at Last Light by James Conaway was very hard to read. Not because it was poorly written. Far from it. Mr. Conaway is an excellent writer, having authored thirteen books as well as having been published in numerous magazines. This book, subtitled “America’s Eden in an Age of Calamity”, is the most recent installment of what is called his Napa trilogy, which started with Napa: The Story of an American Eden and continued with The Far Side of Eden: New Money, Old Land, and the Battle for Napa Valley.

So when I say it is hard to read, it is because the third volume, unlike a certain other famous trilogy, reads like “Sauron” is on his way to winning and that is sad.

Not one to pull punches, Conaway writes about the large corporate interests as well as the millionaire vanity vintners who threaten to take over Napa Valley, using up its twin scarce resources of land and water in the search to produce the next high scoring Cabernet. Providing much detail about the political intrigue and machinations involved, he’s not afraid to name names either. [I’ll leave those for the reader to discover.]

Personally, I wish he would have spent more time on people like Steve Matthiasson, who emerges in the book [to continue the analogy from above] as a possible real-life “Frodo Baggins”, or perhaps more aptly “Samwise Gamgee”. There are a few other heroes presented as well, probably most notably Randy Dunn of Dunn Vineyards.

I’m not naïve enough to suggest that development is all bad and that money is the root of all evil. Personally, Napa is not our usual stomping ground, but in the wine regions that Karen and I frequent we’ve seen plenty of inroads from wealthy people who have caught the wine bug, as well as from corporate interests. We tend to favor the smaller wineries, some of which hang on by a shoestring. Yet, I’m not ashamed that some of our favorites are also from people who made their fortune in other walks of life and have the financial wherewithal to invest significantly in their winemaking operations.

I also believe that for smaller wineries to be successful, Direct-To-Consumer sales are critical, versus giving away profits in multi-tier distribution systems. But, DTC usually requires visitors and visitor facilities use land. And the addition of event centers enables wineries to attract more visitors and generate more revenue. Commerce, ultimately, is the end goal in order to keep the winery operations going.

But there is no denying the issues that Conaway discusses. Land and water are finite.

Climate change is real. And there are certain political forces at various levels of government that are seeking to reduce environmental protections.

Some people say that Mr. Conaway has gone too far. They say he only presents one side of the issues and doesn’t tell the whole story. Personally, I’m not qualified to judge. I do know that voices like James Conaway’s are important to keep the conversation going.

And while this is referred to as the final volume of the Napa trilogy, I’m hoping for at least one more installment – with some good news.

Napa at Last Light: America’s Eden in an Age of Calamity

By James Conaway

Perlis Picks: Family Winemakers of California [Part Two]

April 21, 2018 by Michael Perlis Leave a Comment

This year’s Family Winemakers event, held at the Pasadena Convention Center, had about 70 wineries presenting their finest bottlings to an appreciative crowd of trade, media and consumer attendees. Yes, I said 70. Obviously, I couldn’t taste everything, but I think I made a pretty good dent. Here are some of my favorites…

Ascension Cellars – specializing in Rhone and Bordeaux varietals, this was one of several wineries at the event representing Paso Robles. Enjoyed the Rose, the Soul Shaker Cab/Syrah blend as well as the dessert Primitivo.

Bokisch Vineyards – a Lodi winery focused on Spanish varietals, I was excited to see they also produced a Zinfandel from the Kirschenmann Vineyard. This vineyard is owned by Tegan Passalacqua of Turley Wine Cellars. Turley, of course, makes a zin from this vineyard as do a few other wineries. This version was about as pure an expression of the vineyard as I’ve had.

Brecon Estate – I’ve been wanting to try this Paso Robles winery since they were named winery of the year in Doug Wilder’s Purely Domestic Wine Report. Both the Forty-Two red Rhone blend and the Petite Sirah were excellent.

Cass Winery – what can be said about this Paso Robles winery that hasn’t been said? Great white and red Rhones with Ted Plemons providing the entertainment.

DRNK – the name of this Russian River Valley winery is made up of the initials of family members. The “K” is for winemaker Ryan Kunde – yes, that Kunde family so you know the winemaking pedigree is there. Great Pinot Noir and Malbec.

Frog’s Tooth – this winery serves as a great reminder that well-priced high quality wines can be found when you expand your wine search into the Sierra Foothills. Especially liked the Sauvignon Blanc and the Petite Sirah.

Pech Merle – based in Geyserville, this tiny winery is producing some really good juice. I really liked their Zinfandel.

Petrified Forest Vineyards – Ken and Susan Piters are making excellent Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon from their vineyard in Sonoma County’s Knight’s Valley.

Pride Mountain Vineyards – speaking of Cabernet, just a big “wow” for the one from this winery that overlaps the north end of Napa and Sonoma counties.

Sobon Estate / Shenandoah Vineyards – consistently one of my favorite Amador County wineries, the reserve Zin was my pick at this table.

Sol Rouge Vineyard & Winery – pouring a wide range of mostly Rhone inspired wines, there was a lot to enjoy at this table. Favorites for me were the Cinsaut and the Cabernet Franc.

Treasure Island Wines / Kohler & Frohling Wines – I had planned on visiting this table anyway and I was especially intrigued when I got an email reminding me of an article that hit The Daily Beast early in 2017. Kohler & Frohling was originally founded in the 1850s in Los Angeles and has now been recreated by the great-great grandson of the founder Charles Kohler. The wines are made by the same winemaker as San Francisco’s Treasure Island Wines, Jim Mirowski. I really enjoyed the Rose wines at this table, my favorite being the K&F Rose of Pinot Noir, which struck me as a pretty serious version of a Rose.

Eve’s article already listed all the wineries that poured at this event, so I won’t bother listing them again. But, I highly recommend you watch our site for more events in the future, both from Family Winemakers and other great organizations.

Perlis Picks: Family Winemakers of California [Part One]

April 14, 2018 by Michael Perlis Leave a Comment

Since I have not written about Family Winemakers of California in a while, I feel some backstory may be in order.

From the FWC website:

Family Winemakers of California is an “organization that reflects the small producer’s point of view.” With nearly 5,400 licensed wineries in California, someone needs to consistently speak for small, family wineries in the fight for more access to markets, protecting individual freedom from government over-regulation, and fostering aspirations to make the best wine. Our beginnings are humble. Family Winemakers was founded in 1990 after the wine market order extension was voted down in a true grassroots campaign. Industry growth and public policy on a myriad of issues begged for input from small producers. One man, one vote is the bedrock principle behind Family Winemakers that guides our views on legislation, regulation, litigation and business practices. We’ve spent 25 years and counting working to loosen up the post-Prohibition restrictions in California law and broaden access to domestic markets.

The organization has always held a special place in my heart. Many years ago, long before I began writing for Eve’s Wine 101, I received in the mail [yes, the real mail] an invitation from a Northern California winery to attend a trade tasting of FWC wineries at the LAX Hilton, along with two guests. Not being sure how I had achieved this honor, I contacted the FWC offices and was assured that if I had been given the invitation that it was legitimate. Of course, my first guest was my wife Karen. Secondly, as I had been working with a client business right down the street from the venue, I invited one of their executives.

As the date of the event drew near, I received the dreaded notification from that Northern California winery telling me that I had received the invitation in error. Oops. Well, I contacted the FWC offices, pleaded my case and was granted the exception to attend based on their previous commitment. And was I glad I did. Dozens of wineries were pouring their latest releases and the ability to hang out with the people in the wine biz just made it that much more special. This one event really helped to feed my developing passion for wine.

Since writing for Eve’s Wine 101, I’ve tried to make a point of attending FWC tastings as frequently as possible. They hold an annual event in San Francisco [which I’ve never made it to] and typically one in Southern California, most often in Del Mar but in recent years sometimes in Pasadena [although not for a while]. We have made the trek to Del Mar and once to Pomona for this event, but I was very happy when FWC announced that this year the So Cal event would be back in Pasadena at the Convention Center, with the trade event starting at noon and the public tasting beginning at 2 PM. Consumers did have the opportunity to purchase VIP passes to enter with the trade – I highly recommend doing this when the opportunity presents itself.

Next week, I’ll tell you which wineries stood out for me at this year’s event.

Perlis Picks – The New Wine Rules by Jon Bonné

January 20, 2018 by Michael Perlis Leave a Comment

A few years ago, Jon Bonné’s book The New California Wine became one of my favorite books on wine. I think some people looked at that book as the author telling people that these are the only wines you should be drinking out of the vast selection available to us. Instead, I took Mr. Bonné’s intent to be to advise his readers of which wineries he felt were most involved in pushing the boundaries of quality winemaking in California.

Admittedly, I especially appreciated Bonné’s theme as I tend to gravitate towards wine outliers myself; often those who don’t follow the standard rules.

So, I was somewhat surprised by the author’s latest book, which is all about rules. I expected to dislike this book, but I liked it – a lot. Truthfully, the “rules” read more like suggestions to make your wine-life easier, whether you be a possibly intimidated wine novice or a seasoned wine lover. And as the book reads like suggestions, the reader can feel free to choose which ones works best for him or her.

Some of the “rules” that resonated with me were…

Rule 1 – Drink the rainbow.

It’s easy to get in a rut of one color [red, white or pink] or even one varietal [sayeth the Zin Fan]. That’s a good way to do it, if you want to miss a lot.

Rule 6 – There’s a difference between “fruity” and “sweet.”

While the author tries to not get hung up on technicalities, this is a good one to remember. They definitely mean different things.

Rule 14 – Organic and biodynamic mean something specific. Natural means a different thing.

I like this one because, ironically, these terms mean very little to me as to whether I select a wine for my own drinking. Although it does make for interesting conversation while sharing a glass or two of it with fellow wine drinkers.

Rule 17 – Stop worrying about sulfites.

I love this one for all of you who complain that the sulfites gave you a headache when it is really probably because you drank too much.

Rule 23 – No two bottles of wine – even of the same wine – are exactly alike.

So many factors can contribute to bottle variation, from conditions at the winery to conditions with the consumer and anywhere in between. It is just a fact of life and what contributes to wine being so interesting.

Ditto for…

Rule 25 – The occasional faulty bottle of wine is a fact of life. Don’t let one ruin your day.

Something I need to remind myself of sometimes.

The author also provides a very nice explanation of what the various faults [corked, cooked, oxidized, brett, etc.] are. Personally, I’ve found that people can be sensitive to some faults more than others; for example, “oxidation” is my pet peeve. I also am reminded of a conversation I was having with a WSET-2 graduate [no, not Eve] who was describing a flawed wine she had tasted and said “It was corked; it was totally oxidized.” When I inquired which it was [corked or oxidized] I was met with a blank stare.

Rule 26 – A wine’s price rarely reflects its quality.

As long as we’re not talking about bargain supermarket plonk, I tend to agree. Although I still think you are more likely [but not guaranteed, of course] to get a better bottle by spending the extra bucks.

Rule 42 – Never judge a bottle by its closure.

If it were up to me, all wines would have twist-off caps.

I’ll stop with that one. There are a lot more rules in the book, 89 in total. This book is definitely worthy of your time, not just for the rules but also for the large amount of useful information that the author manages to include in a fairly small space.

Perlis Picks: Historic Vineyard Society Newsletter – Winter 2017

December 23, 2017 by Michael Perlis Leave a Comment

I’ve made little secret about how much Karen and I appreciate the work done by the Historic Vineyard Society to preserve California’s treasured old vineyards. Having just received their latest newsletter, I wanted to share it with Eve’s Wine 101 readers. So, with the permission of HVS’s Mike Dildine, here it is…

It’s difficult to describe the last several weeks throughout Sonoma and Napa. Horrific fires raged a path of destruction across our beautiful land, and while the fires are behind us, they left deep scars that will take a great deal of time to heal. But amidst the heartbreaking news were countless examples of heroism and generosity, along with astounding stories about historic vineyards being saved. A few specific examples:

Old Hill Ranch in Sonoma – Will Bucklin and members of his family stayed at the vineyard as long as possible, putting out fires as the Nuns fire threatened the vines. A few vines are scorched and several structures on the property burned, but the vineyard, and Will and Lizanne’s home, are still standing.
Pagani Ranch – a firefighting team made up primarily of prison inmates created a fire break just behind Norma Amantite’s home. While the fire came right up to the vineyard, these amazing vines – and Norma’s house – survived.
Puccini Vineyard – this tiny one-acre vineyard, was threatened by the fire but was unharmed. The stone ‘clos’ that surrounds the vineyard, built by Puccini’s planter in 1906, helped save the vineyard 111 years later.
Monte Rosso Vineyard – the fires burned up the Mayacamas Mountains, burning from Sonoma Valley to Napa, but Monte Rosso still stands.

We clearly have much to be grateful for, and can’t emphasize enough how much we appreciate all your messages this month. As we approach the end of another year, we’d like to remind you about a few ways to be more involved with HVS and continue to support our efforts to keep these important pieces of California history in the ground.

Ways to Support HVS:

Donate! Perhaps the most obvious answer, but we can’t overstate how much we value all your contributions. As a reminder, your tax-deductible donation directly supports historic vineyards through education, research and vineyard-related events. Help keep these precious vines in the ground!
Attend HVS Events! Save the date for 2018 HVS Events:
- February 7th, 2018, when HVS will be pouring at Cadet Beer & Wine Bar in Napa
- Date TBD: we’re looking forward to scheduling an HVS Tasting in San Francisco! Please stay tuned for more details to follow.
Shop using AmazonSmile, where .5% of every eligible order will be donated to HVS. To get started, visit smile.amazon.com, then search for and select Historic Vineyard Society. Every penny counts!

Once again, we can’t thank you enough for all your support of HVS. We look forward to another great year to come.