This is the first of what I hope will be many updates straight from our winemaker Cary Gott. We’re trying something new: since Cary is a busy guy who rarely spends time writing at a desk, he recorded a voice memo on his iPhone, emailed it to me, and I have transcribed it. If you’d like to “hear” more from Cary, please take a moment to click on “Like” or comment. And please let us know if there are topics you’d like Cary to talk about in the future.
From Cary:
I’m going to be racking the ’09 Cabernets next week. So what we’re doing right now is I’ve got them [Bin to Bottle — where we custom crush our wine] set up to have the barrels down on Tuesday afternoon and we’re going to rack it on Wednesday. I’ll taste every barrel and make sure everything is fine. Once the wine’s in tank, we’ll take a big sample of it and send it off [to ETS laboratories] for full analysis plus Scorpion [test for wine spoilage microbes] and adjust the SO2 and then go back to barrel. So it’s a very gentle process. This will be the first racking for the ’09s.

I just finished a week trying some Loire Valley wines with fellow members of the wine board WineBerserkers.com. This was a virtual tasting. Board members around the country tried their Loire Valley wines during a one week period and wrote about them online.

If you want to increase your odds of buying wines that you will enjoy, get to know your local retailer and let them get to know you. Once he knows your tastes and budget, he should be able to help you navigate your options. If not, find another retailer. I didn’t know much about Loire Valley wines and had to go shopping to be able to participate in the tasting. On the recommendation of a staff member at Paul Marcus Wines (Oakland), I bought a Cab Franc (my 83 points), a “dry” Chenin Blanc (flawed), a Sauvignon Blanc (my 78 pts), and a sparkling wine — a very generalized sampling of the wines of the Loire. I’d never shopped at Paul Marcus so as a result, the staffer, who wanted to be helpful, didn’t know me and was just guessing on what I might like. Unfortunately, his guesses didn’t pan out.

Here is the third tasting note:
2007 Domaine Deletang Montlouis-sur-Loire Sec Les Batisses – France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Montlouis-sur-Loire (2/25/2010) Lemon furniture polish and watermelon bubblegum. Also a bit maderized. I originally panned this wine with a below average score but have thought more about that oxidation. Perhaps a damaged bottle. NR (flawed)
Posted from CellarTracker on GrapeStories.com

To say the Loire wines did not immediately sweep me off my feet would be an understatement. However, since they are relatively inexpensive, we can afford another date. I’ll need to retry the Cab Franc (2004 Clos Rougeard (Foucault) Saumur-Champigny) as apparently I didn’t give it enough air and it needed more cellar time. I was also expecting a bigger wine with more robust flavors. Apparently that was a false expectation. It would have been helpful if that salesman had made some serving recommendations along with the wine recommendations.
While Loire Valley wines are, in my opinion, under-the-radar of the general U.S. wine drinking public, they are popular and considered distinctive and a good value by wine enthusiasts. I won’t write them off as I am apparently missing something with this very limited exploration. As with any new wine region, the advice is to keep drinking. I still have to try that sparkler. I’ve got my fingers crossed.

Similar quality, but I only paid 12 bucks for the Carménère retail and paid $50 for the Cab off a restaurant wine list. BYOB is my friend.

2007 Viña Ventisquero Carménère Root:1 [The Original Ungrafted] – Chile, Central Valley, Rapel Valley, Colchagua Valley (2/18/2010)
Aromas of baked fruit, pepper, and violets but rather simple sour cherry flavors in the mouth. Still, quite pleasant and recommended at $11.99 retail. (84 pts.)

2007 Beringer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Knights Valley – USA, California, Sonoma County, Knights Valley (2/14/2010)
Expressive cassis and tobacco flavors backed up by a healthy dose of sweet new oak, however it finishes very short and thin. Disappointing given the vintage. (82 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker on GrapeStories.com

2002 Round Pond Cabernet Sauvignon – USA, California, Napa Valley, Rutherford (2/24/2010)
Generally, folks love the 2002 vintage from Napa. I love them too – they are big, fruity, rich, and fun. I’ve often called our own 2002 “our party wine.” 02 Napa Cabs are loud music and colorful balloons. (And no small amount of alcohol.) The 2002 Cab from Round Pond fits right in with its peers: massive raspberry, currant, campfire, molasses, and vanilla. The thing holding this wine back – and what has held many Cabs from this vintage back – is a lack of developed, secondary, earthy flavors that can round out a wine and make it special. It’s always hoped that these flavors will develop with time but at least with the 2002 Round Pond, I don’t immediately perceive the necessary structure to develop further. (88 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker
Part of a Wineberserkers.com 2002 Cali Cab Virtual Tasting

Round Pond just completed construction on a beautiful winery a couple of years back. The architecture and wines are worth a visit when you are in Napa. Their tastings (by appointment only, I believe) are paired with little nibbles in a very comfortable, sit-down setting.

2008 Philippe Raimbault Sancerre “Apud Sariacum” – France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre (2/22/2010)
Strong lemon grass nose promised MUCH more than this wine delivered. Mowed grass is out of balance — almost bitter weedy, melon, and some off flavor that I couldn’t id. Certainly not recommended at $22 retail. Drank as part of the Wineberserkers.com Loire Valley exploration week. (78 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

2004 Clos Rougeard (Foucault) Saumur-Champigny – France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Saumur-Champigny (2/19/2010)
Light in color, body, and flavor. Mint and cedar nose. Initially, I couldn’t help but be reminded of grape kool-aid when one added too much water to the powdered mix. Luckily it did flesh out a bit with air. Tart strawberries, rhubarb, and celery in a delicate package. Not bad but could have used a little “something-something” to make it worth the $40 retail. Drank as part of Wineberserkers.com Loire Valley wine exploration week.(83 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

Wineberserkers.com will be exploring wines from the Loire Valley next week. Members will each try wines from this region and post their thoughts. It should be a good learning experience for me as I know virtually nothing about the Loire.

Here’s what I bought on recommendation from Paul Marcus Wines (Oakland):
N.V. François Chidaine Montlouis-sur-Loire Brut $21
2004 Clos Rougeard (Foucault) Saumur-Champigny $45
2007 Domaine Deletang Montlouis-sur-Loire Sec Les Batisses $16
2008 Philippe Raimbault Sancerre “Apud Sariacum” $22
Why don’t you stop in at Wineberserkers.com and pop a bottle from the Loire with us.

Yesterday we racked both of our 2008 Cabernet Sauvignons: Butterdragon Hill and Baconbrook. The wines are loooooking gooooood. (Try to picture Freddie Prinz — no, his father, you young whipper snappers — from Chico and the Man saying that.)
Now back to your regularly scheduled social networking.

One night. Two 2002s. One from Napa. One from Bordeaux. Identically priced at $159 on a relatively pricey restaurant wine list. Of course, not too much should be read in this head-to-head tasting. Comparing a vintage from two different wine regions is an imperfect comparison at best.

2002 Corison Cabernet Sauvignon – USA, California, Napa Valley (1/30/2010)
Full bodied and lavishly flavored as expected from the 02 Napa vintage, but beyond just a big boy party wine, Cathy Corison has crafted a wine that causes pause for thought as well. Aromas of a bowl of berries burst from the glass but those flavors are well in balance on the palate accompanied by black cherry, dark chocolate, and cinnamon with secondaries of clove and mellow sweet oak. It’s a little early for this wine: it’s lovely now with and hour of air, but will be awesome in 2012 and wonderful for years to come. (92 pts.)

2002 Alter Ego de Palmer – France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux (1/30/2010)
Reticent nose. Soft and refined flavors, but lacks distinction. Currant, tobacco, cedar closet, black olive and a touch of stemmy greenness. Medium finish. Very good wine that doesn’t quite eek out excellence. Drink now though 2012 because I think it’s drying out. (88 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

By the way, neither of these wines are their winery’s flagship wines. Cathy Corison makes a single vineyard Cabernet from her Kronos Vineyard. Palmer, of course, makes the famous Chateau Palmer Margaux.

• Get munchies… check
• Get beer… check
• Pick some wines to drink… partial check
• Make sure I know who is playing… check

Who are you rooting for?