Babcock Radical Pinot Noir 2013 Another installment of my recent trip to CA to visit my daughter to celebrate her birthday. We wanted to taste some great wines that cannot readily be obtained back east, so we visited Babcock Winery in Santa Barbara. Babcock Winery and Vineyards was established in 1978 when Mona and Walter Babcock purchased a 110 acre property on Highway 246 between Lompoc and Buellton in the western Santa Ynez Valley. At the time, the Babcocks were in the restaurant business, as they are to this day, being the proprietors of the legendary Walt’s Wharf in Seal Beach California. At the time of establishing the vineyard, he…
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The Hilt Vanguard Pinot Noir 2013 I recently took a trip to CA to visit my daughter to celebrate her birthday and wanted to taste some great wines I cannot readily get back east. We also visited Jonata Winery in Santa Barbara, sister winery to The Hilt. The Hilt makes pinot noir and chardonnay from California’s well–known coastal winegrowing regions of Santa Barbara County’s Sta. Rita Hills and Santa Maria Valley AVA’s. Their wine growing philosophy employs practices that enable grapes to show full transparency of site, which is key to The Hilt’s philosophy. Within this framework, The Hilt ferments two distinct styles of wine; The Old Guard and The…
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Clendenen Family Vineyards Aligoté 2014 I recently took a trip to CA to visit my daughter to celebrate her birthday and wanted to taste some great wines I cannot readily get back east. We visited Au Bon Climat, and I was introduced to some of Jim Clendenen’s, (the “Mind Behind” Au Bon Climat since 1982), projects of passion that allow him to make artisan, small lots of distinctive wines from a wider spectrum of grape varietals under different brands, for example his Aligoté. There are few legacy wineries in America. A legacy winery is a winery where the owner is committed to the future, thinking long term, taking actions and…
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Jonata Fenix Red Wine Santa Ynez Valley 2007 I recently took a trip to CA to visit my daughter to celebrate her birthday and wanted to taste some great wines I cannot readily get back east. We visited Jonata Winery in Santa Barbara. In a word, WOW! The name Jonata pays homage to the 1845 Spanish land grant, Rancho San Carlos de Jonata. At the time the land grant covered a large part of the Santa Ynez Valley. Today’s Jonata is at the heart of the former land grant. The Jonata name was borrowed by the first pioneers from the local Chumash Indian and means “tall oak”. One of the…
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Robert Stemmler Carneros Pinot Noir 2013 After making wine in his native Germany, Robert arrived in Napa Valley in 1961, working with the Mondavi brothers at Charles Krug Winery, then becoming winemaker at Sonoma County’s historic Simi Winery. In 1976, he opened his eponymous winery, and in 1982 released his first Pinot Noir to critical acclaim. Meanwhile, in 1981, Anne Moller-Racke arrived from Germany to work at the family’s Buena Vista Winery. They soon became friends. After promoting Pinot Noir nationwide, Robert retired in 1989, and the Racke family purchased his label. When Anne launched an “ultimate Pinot Noir project” at The Donum Estate in 2001, Stemmler wines became Donum’s…
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Au Bon Climat Nielson Vineyard Pinot Noir 2008 I took a recent trip out to CA, and in particular to taste some of the wines in Santa Barbara County. My next several posts will be some notes from my trip. My first stop was Au Bon Climat. Jim Clendenen, the “Mind Behind” Au Bon Climat since 1982, creates internationally acclaimed Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs. Jim has other projects of passion that allow him to make artisan, small lots of distinctive wines from a wider spectrum of grape varietals under different brands. Jim Clendenen was born in Akron, Ohio in the 1950s. He graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara,…
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Caymus 2012 40th Anniversary Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (Third Coravin Tasting) In 1971 Charlie Wagner and his wife Lorna Belle Glos Wagner asked their son Charles (Chuck) Wagner, who had just graduated from high school, if he would be interested in joining them in starting up a winery. If Chuck declined the offer, Charlie and Lorna were planning to sell out of their ranch in Napa Valley and move to Australia. Chuck accepted his parents’ offer to launch the winery, Caymus Vineyards. The Wagners produced their first vintage in 1972, consisting of 240 cases of Cabernet Sauvignon. Since then, Caymus has focused their efforts in the production of quality…
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Lynmar Estate Quail Hill Vineyard RRV Pinot Noir 2012 Lynn Fritz first purchased Quail Hill Ranch and Vineyards in 1980, drawn to the maritime climate and the authenticity of the rolling Russian River vineyards. The property has some of the oldest Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vines planted in the Russian River Valley. The grapes from these early vines were bought by Tony Soter and Merry Edwards to make wines considered to be some of the best in the Russian River Valley. Lynmar began a small winemaking activity in the early 1990s and produced small amounts of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, which were extremely well received. Over the next 35 years,…
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Sebastiani Vineyards & Winery 2013 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Sebastiani’s first century in Sonoma winemaking began when Samuele emigrated from the Tuscany region of Italy in 1895 and started Sebastiani nine years later. A stonemason by trade, he quarry-mined the Sonoma hills for cobblestones that were used to build the streets of San Francisco. He worked long hours and saved carefully to buy land in Sonoma County, from which he would make wine for the Sonoma community and San Francisco’s restaurants. The winery was the only one in Sonoma County to continue operations through Prohibition, making a small amount of sacramental and medicinal wines. It has been joked, and perhaps…
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ZD Pinot Noir Carneros 2013 In 1969, aerospace engineers Norman DeLeuze and Gino Zepponi, along with their families, turned their entrepreneurial enthusiasm toward winemaking. These were the early days of California’s wine industry, and they were among Napa Valley’s adventurous winemaking pioneers. Their founding concept was to produce world class Chardonnay and Pinot Noir reminiscent of France’s renowned Burgundy wines. They achieved this endeavor by sourcing from the cool Carneros regions of Napa and Sonoma. The ZD Wines brand highlights the initials of the founding partners’ last names, but it also symbolizes the term Zero Defects, an acronym for the quality control program Norman and Gino worked under while designing rockets…