Dallas Wine Chick

Christmas in August: Pioneer Wine Expo in Dallas

I can’t help but thinking about the Christmas song “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” whenever I venture into a Pioneer Wine Portfolio tasting.  In order to bring this scenario to life, imagine a room full of five year old children who make a mad dash for all the shiny toys left for them by Santa on Christmas morning.  Well, maybe it’s a little more dignified than that, but it’s the same concept when you take a hotel ballroom filled with tables and tables of wine with wine makers that are passionate about sharing the story of their wines.  For me, it’s better than Christmas (sorry Jesus).

I wanted to outline some wines that were the highlight of my tasting; some that are new to Texas:

Tuck Beckstoffer Wines, Tony Glorioso

Tuck Beckstoffer wines – Tuck has been producing wines under his namesake label since 1997 and is known for well-priced, critically acclaimed wines.

• The Cabernet Sauvignon ‘Amulet’ was great and the single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon ‘Mockingbird’ 07 red was exceptional.
• The terrior made a big difference (warm vs. cooler and higher elevation) between the Pinot Noirs tried – the 07 ‘Semper’ Gold Vineyard and the ‘Semper’ Ellenbach Vineyard.  I loved the fruit, femininity and silkiness of the Ellenbach Pinot.

Lioco, Matt Licklider

Lioco wines –  These are a labor of love from Matt Licklider and Kevin O’Connor, two wine lovers who decided to create a negociant wine label focusing on Old World style wines made in … get this … California.  The philosophy is to tie the wines to the terrior and to make them naturally.  My favorites included:

• Lioco 09 Sonoma Chardonnay – this wine mirrors a French Bourgogne Blanc and was a very nice Old World style wine.
• Lioco 09 Pinot Noir Hirsch Vineyards was full of black tea, dried orange peel and oriental spice.  It’s a wonderful Pinot.
• Lioco Indica 09 – this blend of Old Vine Carignan was a nice and inexpensive wine that you want restaurants to serve by the glass.  Just a nice drinking wine.

Mauritson Vineyards, Suzanne Gay

Rockpile wines – the Healdsburg-based Mauritson Family is known for making award-winning wines from tough vines located on a rocky ridge, an active earthquake fault and at a high elevation.  From what I tried, they are doing it exceptionally well and the terrain is tough enough that only 13 others are making wine there.  My favorites included:

• My absolute best of show was the 08 Rockpile Petite Sirah.  What a lush, fruity spicy, fabulous wine.
• 07 Rockpile Red Blend ‘Buck Pasture’ was also great with notes of black cherry, tobacco and even a little cola.

I also had a chance to run into Rick Ruiz from Twenty Four Wines, who was nice enough to share his latest vintage.  Lots of berry, dark fruit, cassis with the nice integration of oak.  This was a wine you wanted to drink at the beginning of the party verses the end.  If this preview served as a snapshot of some of the wines available in the Texas market, grab the wine list at most local restaurants and demand more.

Joel Peterson and Ravenswood Zinfandels: Bold, Brash and Unafraid

I had the chance to hang out with Joel Peterson, winemaker for Ravenswood Winery, during his trip to Dallas in June.  Peterson’s background has always fascinated me.  Educated as a clinical laboratory scientist with a degree in microbiology, he worked in cancer immunology research while he dabbled in wine.  His passion led to an apprenticeship with Joseph Swan to learn about making Zinfandel and he founded Ravenswood in 1976.  His Zinfandel’s were quickly named the #1 and #2 wines in 1979 at a prestigious San Francisco wine tasting.  He continued to work in the medical field until 1992 when the winery made a profit and Robert Parker raved about his wines.

Peterson was in town for the Texas pre-release of his upper-end wines, which surprisingly were not all Zinfandel wines.  We tried eight wines – all were very different stylistically – but you could tell he was passionate about each and every one of them.

He started with an overview of mixed black wines and the point that it is rare to actually have a Zinfandel that is 100 percent Zinfandel because of the amount of mixed black grapes – a term used to refer to a blend of grapes native to Sonoma — Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Carignane, and Alicante Bouchet.  The wines were all made exactly the same with the terrior showing differently in each wine.  Like Peterson, Ravenswood wines are big, bold and brash.  Here was our line-up: 

Dickerson Napa Valley

This single vineyard showed bright red raspberry, eucalyptus and spicy notes.  This was a big California Zinfandel lovers Zinfandel.

Belloni Russian River Valley
I tasted boysenberry, sandalwood, tobacco and even some cardamom, which Peterson described as oriental baking spices.  This wine was 78 percent Zinfandel and Carignane, Petite Sirah, and Alicante Bouchet grapes.

Barricia Sonoma Valley

This Zinfandel was definitely one of my favorites and I loved that the grapes came from a vineyard owned by women.  Silky is how I describe this with raspberry, cherry, pepper and spice.  

Big River Alexander Valley

The Big River Vineyard in Alexander Valley on the border of the Russian River was made from 100 percent Zinfandel grapes.  I tasted blackberry, spiced plum, oak, floral notes and a bit of fennel.  It was a fatter, juicer wine and possesses more of what traditional Zinfandel is known for.  

Old Hill Sonoma Valley

This is one of the most historic vineyards and Sonoma’s first famous Zinfandel by William Hill was grown in this vineyard.   This blend contains more than 14 different varieties and is made in a Rhone style.  I tasted a nuttiness, vanilla, oregano, cherries and black raspberries.  

Teldeschi Dry Creek Valley

Ravenswood has been working with the Teldeschi family and their famed Dry Creek Valley vineyards since the 1970’s. This was my favorite wine that was to die for with my salmon and the mushroom risotto passed around the table.  I tasted black raspberry, cherry, chocolate and smokiness in the finish.    

Icon Sonoma County

This is what a great mixed black wine tastes like – a complex blend of Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Carignane, and Alicante Bouchet.  Black cherries, plum, cedar, bay leaf, vanilla and cinnamon with a very long finish.  Put this one down for a while and see what happens.    

Pickberry Sonoma Mountain

This Bordeaux style wine is a blend of cabernet sauvignon and merlot.  Named because of the ample blackberry vines on the property, you taste red currant, plum, vanilla and tobacco.  Also a wine that needs some age or a decanter to fully bring out its nuances.

Wine, Love and Auburn Football

Last weekend I took my first trip back to Auburn University since I graduated in 1992 (in case you are wondering I graduated when I was 10 years old).  I had a very close-knit group of six friends that became my running buddies.  After all reconnecting on Facebook (go social media), we planned to reunite in Auburn for the opening game of the season with our families in tow.  Since my last Auburn football drinking experience was comprised of bourbon and coke or Gallo blush wine in a Big Gulp cup with ice, I decided I would bring a few bottles of wine (or nine) to show that “Weezie had moved on up” and so I didn’t need to navigate finding “off the beaten path” wine at a shop in Auburn, Alabama.

As I looked around that first Friday night at this group of women that I loved with all of my heart and because I liken many situations back to wine for the purpose of Dallas Wine Chick, I realized that I had inadvertently chosen wines that reminded me of my friends and how we evolved from crazy college kids to the women we are today.  In the spirit of full disclosure, I have one friend who has turned into a beer aficionado and other than champagne in mimosas, has no use for the grape.  Because of our friendship, we have agreed to disagree. 

The Pinot Gris Phase (the age of the 20’s):

Capalanca Pinot Gris Sueno Profondo – this reminded me of when we all first met.  Our outlook on life was fresh and crisp – we had the whole world ahead of us and the world was literally our oyster (coincidentally this wine would go well with oysters).  Fresh and crisp also translated into young and stupid at times, not with this wine, but with this group back in the day.  I may or may not have dropped a class once because a test coincided with Kappa Alpha’s Old South three-day party.   I do believe that my friends are a bit incredulous that I eventually found career success in my chosen industry of public relations due to my college choices.  

The Cabernet Phase (the age of the 30’s):

David Arthur, Sojourn and Del Dotto St Helena Cabernets — This is when we became much more nuanced as we matured.  We realized that we were no longer the center of the world (at least most of us did).  We were knee deep in kids, families, careers and the realities of life.  Like these wines, we were working on balance – trying to be a good wife, mother, employee, friend, relative, etc. – and often because of our Type A standards, failing miserably in our own eyes.

The “Off the Beaten Path” Phase (now – you read between the lines, okay?)

Quinta de la Quietud Toro, Turley Duarte Zinfandel, Mi Sueno, Fefinanes Albarino “1583” – We’ve reached the stage of being comfortable in our own skins – working to find balance from realizing that family and friends are the most important things in the world.   For me, this is the most fun stage.  As I say, “it is what it is” and you realize that you no longer care about appearances the way that you used to in your youth.  As I reconnected with my friends and got to know their families, I realized that we all did well on the most important thing in life – raising well mannered, ethical, smart and fun kids. 

While times have definitely changed and we have a few more wrinkles than we used to as well as 17 kids (holy crap – 17 kids) between us, it felt like time had stood still when we got together.  So much had changed – a successful battle with breast cancer, deaths/illness of parents, one of us now lives in Saudi Arabia – but so much remained the same including the fact that we were all still married to our college or right after college sweethearts. 

While I don’t like to admit that I have hit my 40s, I’m looking forward to what the next wine phase will bring.

Esteemed Women Winemakers in the House: Heidi Barrett & Carol Shelton

Last week, I was invited by Greg Kassanoff, owner of Pioneer Wine Company, to its annual portfolio tasting, a traveling road show held in Houston, Austin and Dallas.  Seventy one exhibitors representing unique small production wines gathered at the Palomar Hotel to pour hundreds of wines Pioneer is bringing to the Dallas market.  As a consumer, imagine a “speed dating” scenario where you are given one glass and hundreds of wines to sample.  Needless to say, you had to use the dump buckets to survive.

Much to my surprise I also found two iconic women wine makers in attendance.  Carol Shelton, winemaker for Carol Shelton Wines, is often named the most awarded winemaker in the United States with numerous Winemaker of the Year designations.  I always love talking to women winemakers like Merry Edwards or Carol because they stumbled into wine making versus pursuing it as their first career choice.  In Carol’s case, she entered UC Davis to be a poet.  Merry was going to be a biologist.  But the grapes came calling…
 

Carol Shelton and my friend, Susan Hartman

Carol Shelton formed her winery in 2000.  Focusing on Zinfandel only, Carol chooses vineyards with unique terroirs and put her poetry to use with the naming – 05 Wild Thing Zin, 05 Karma Zin, 06 Monga Zin and my favorite, the 06 Rocky Reserve, which was balanced with big blackberry flavor and chocolate notes.

I did a little happy dance when I saw that La Sirena was exhibiting, but did a double take when I saw Heidi and Remi Barrett pouring the wines.  Heidi is a Napa Valley icon, the former wine maker for Dalla Valle Vineyards and Screaming Eagle and was named by Robert Parker as “The First Lady of Wine.”  In addition to her La Sirena wines, she is the winemaker for Amuse Bouche, Paradigm, Au Sommet, among others.

Remi and Heidi Barrett

I had the chance to talk with Heidi and Remi briefly and asked about the Texas market for La Sirena wines, which is booming.  I had the chance to taste all of Heidi’s wines – the 08 Moscato Azul, Napa Valley, which was full of honeysuckle and fruit; the 05 Syrah Napa Valley, which was a traditional Syrah with berry and graphite; the 05 Syrah Santa Ynez, which tasted of chocolate covered cherries and currant; the 07 Pirate TreasuRed Blend, which was full of blackberry jam.  Finally, we got to the 06 Cabernet Sauvignon.  Wow!  Black cherry, cassis, chocolate, French oak.  The quintessential Cabernet with a big price to go with it.  However, based on some of the more expensive, “slap you in the face” cabs that I’ve tasted, this is worth the $150 price point.

While I didn’t get to try the majority of the wines offered, I can say that the snapshot of those I did try bodes well for Texans in terms of bringing small production, interesting varietals and wines from around the globe to our neck of the woods.

Marietta Cellars: A Conversation with the Prodigal Son

It all started with the need to catch up with my dear friend, Julie, who I had not seen in ages and who had some big life decisions to make.  We sat outside Veritas on a glorious Spring day in Dallas.  We actually only get about twenty days a year like this before the temperature makes the jump from low 70’s to high 80’s and above, so we were savoring the sunshine and the tasty wine in front of us. 

Brooks, the owner of Veritas, came out to greet us and told us that we needed to leave the sunshine in order to attend a tasting of his latest find – Marietta Cellars.  Of course I can’t pass up the chance to taste a new winery and meet the winery family.  Also…it was free.  We started talking to Sam Bilbro, one of the brothers involved in the business whose business card reads “Prodigal Son.”  Sam had a clear passion for the wine business and his family’s wines.  He’s considered prodigal because he just returned to the vineyard after working for several other wineries.  After answering about 101 questions from me about Napa, his wines and what it is like to work in a family business, he began to pour.

We tasted five wines that day and I had a very definite favorite.   Our first wine was Marietta Old Vine Lot 51 NV (retails around $13).  Let me just name this an official pizza wine.  It was very fruit forward and bursting with spice and jam.

The next wine was the 06 Marietta Petite Syrah, which retails for $19.99.  Big blueberry fruit with spice, it was a full-bodied wine.  We then moved on to the 07 Marietta Zinfandel, which retails for $19.99.  It was a well balanced zin with hints of earthiness and a big berry taste.  The 06 Marietta Cabernet Sauvignon followed.  This  is an everyday drinking wine with lots of blackberry flavor,  priced at $19.99.

My favorite was the more expensive Marietta Angeli Cuvee.  Worth every penny of its $29.99 price tag (it drank like a more expensive wine), the Old Vines brought out the complexity of this wine.  I love the blend of berries, the spice and the balance.  It’s what a big red wine should be and one that will soon be joining my collection.

This week, Sam reached out to me to offer any assistance or answer any questions – even about other wineries.  Even though this little blog is less than two months old, I have been amazed at the responsiveness and willingness to help offered by the winemakers and families involved in the wine business.   Having worked in another industry for about 20 years, it is a nice discovery and I believe a testament to why wine consumption has continued to grow in the US.

Welcome to DallasWineChick.com

Welcome.  I thought I’d start the first column with a discussion about “wine defining” moments.  I wrote about mine a few months ago in a neighborhood wine column: Wine and Eureka: A moment of discovery (reprinted from Black, White and Read).  Since then I’ve been thinking about other wine defining moments in my life and ironically how a moment that should have been defining with wine was not. Almost sixteen years ago, I married a wonderful man.

He was my college sweetheart and we were in our 20’s when we tied the knot. The wedding was gorgeous and the reception was everything I wanted it to be – great food, friends from all over the world, an open bar and dancing for hours.  Near the end of the reception we made our final dramatic exit.  As we ran through the shower of birdseed and headed toward the limo, we flung open the door and piled in.  And there it was – a bottle of White Zinfandel?  On our wedding day?  Really?  Well, it seems the hotel forgot to box up meals for us and provide the wine so one of the groomsmen grabbed the only bottle of wine left at the bar before we ran out.  That’s when I learned my first wine lesson – there are some experiences that go better with wine and there are some times when it’s better to wait for the champagne in the room.