Travaille D’Amour
(aka Labor of Love)
In the early fall of 1986 my college roommate (Scott, owner of SP Drummer Wines) and I jumped into his 70’s International Scout and gobbled up the miles between Davis and the wine country in search for fruit for some garage wine. Armed with two (slightly used) plastic garbage cans, picking knives and a few Kilos of HUTZPAH, we sped towards Napa. The blaring saxophone notes of a band called “Morphine” rattled the car windows and slightly rearranged our kidneys but this only heightened our sense of euphoria. In our minds, we were Billy and Wyatt (Easy Rider), riding across the plains on our choppers, looking for adventure. Not to put Napa residents down too much… (some of my best friends live and work in Napa) but we could not even speak to a winemaker without an appointment, much less get permission to take some grapes. Refusing to even consider retreat, we forged our way to the north of the four-letter valley, through Knight’s Valley (nothing but cows and prunes at the time) and ended up in Alexander Valley. We stopped at a big white barn next to a vineyard and introduced ourselves to the folks. “Sure” said Jim, “go ahead to block number.3, right by the road here (pointing) there’s a lot of Pinot Noir left on those vines, pick anything you want”. I made two wines from those grapes in 1986; a dry rosé named “Eye of the Swine” and a Red, a single-vineyard Robert Young Pinot Noir I named “Spice –Mélange” , (homage to Frank Herbert’s “Dune” trilogy). I have made Pinot Noir every year since then except for 1987 when I worked in Pauillac with Bordeaux varieties. I nearly got flogged by an angry mob of Chateau Lafite Rothschild employees for bringing a bottle of Burgundy to one of the Friday afternoon “let’s greet the weekend with some alcohol” – but that is another story.
In November, we released our 2006 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir, all 1,200 cases of it. I have never seen a wine with such a short half-life. As we speak, I think there are 200 cases left in the warehouse, mostly spoken for by this distributor or another. If you have met me, you probably know that I do not like talking about wines that I make much less describe them. In this case, I am going to make an exception and tell you that this wine is DA BOMB. If you like a perfect balance between old-world finesse and new world fruit and complexity – make sure you put your hands and lips on a bottle (or a glass if you are so inclined). This wine will age well (although I would not keep Pinot Noir much longer than 10 years). If you have had some of the Pinot I made in a previous life then this is close in profile to the rich 2001 Robert Thomas Pinot Noir (still drinking great, had a bottle recently).
Waiting For Syrah
California winemakers have discovered Syrah for quite a while now. A hardy variety that grows well in many climates and tends to satisfy growers, winemakers and financial managers. No wonder it was widely believed that the Merlot boom of the 90’s will be followed by a Syrah boom in the new millennium.
Growers noticed that even in cool years syrah reached acceptable maturity and decent crop levels. Winemakers realized that when grown right, the Syrah grape reaches a sensational equilibrium of flavors when the grape berries begin to “dimple”, normally in the Russian River Valley around 25 degrees brix (14.0% potential alcohol). Well made Syrah has the full body you’d expect from Bordeaux
Varieties without the excessive tannic harshness and with the added bonus of gamey and earthy notes that give it a great complexity.
Everyone was happy, everyone started planting Syrah, and the gods of wine saw that it was good and they rested on the porch with a cold beer and a plate of nachos and ignored the attack of the Shiraz from down under.
Soon, the land was awash with $4.99 Shiraz (a brilliant marketing invention to make a mediocre, overripe wine seem romantic) and the poor growers of California Syrah found their wines stuck between the glory of the Rhones (with 600 years of head start) and the cheap imports selling at prices that barely cover the cost of packaging supplies in California.
And the gods of wine saw that it was bad and thus abandoned the cheesy nachos and turned their back on Syrah and proclaimed : “We shall plant Pinot Noir instead, like a crimson carpet from Lompoc to Fresno”
Today, we have quite a lake of American Syrah waiting for a movie to save it from becoming the Carignan (once the most planted variety WORLDWIDE) of the 21st century, the workhorse that does much of the work but gets no glory.
Enter 2008, we are finally reaching a situation closer to balance. The big, industrial producers are cutting their losses and shying away from the variety while a small band of “believers” gets to seek some of the better vineyards and make smaller quantities of stellar wines (tried the 2005 DaKine Syrah Lately?) Capitalism just plainly works, every time.
Still, a movie is not a bad idea….
Paddle to The Lounge
Winter Wineland was on January 19th and 20th . More than 350 people came to taste our wines, paired with a fennel sausage gumbo. The event was a great success, it was fun meeting old friends and making new ones!
Barrel weekend will take place over the next two weekends in March (1 to 3 and 7 to 9 in March). Paddle out to taste a barrel of the O’NEEL VINEYARD 2007 Pinot Noir and one of the 2006 RRV Syrah. We will also be offering a special discount on the 2004 Syrah.
Our Decal / Sticker is now available at the tasting room and the online store.
Salmon a-la-Longboard:
Here is my favorite way to prepare a fresh salmon filet to go along with our RRV Pinot Noir or Syrah.
Ingredients:
Fresh Salmon Filet
Fine Mediterranean sea Salt
Tricolor peppercorns
1 Cup Crushed Blackberries
2-3 tsp. Soy Sauce
1/4 tsp. Sesame oil
Start with a fresh Wild Salmon (or with a farm raised variety if you have to). Put Filet skin-down on aluminum sheet or broiling pan. Season with salt and crushed peppercorns (I use a mill) and broil for 4-5 minutes (or until almost done to your taste. I like it barely beyond raw).
Mix berries, soy and oil and spread on top of Salmon. Return to broiler for no more than 1 minute. Serve immediately and call me to say thanks later.
Variation: Try Blackberry Jam instead of fresh Blackberries if they are not in season or you have a serious sweet tooth.
Wine and Surfing Part Deux
It has been a while since I wrote something about the parallels I see between the worlds of surfing and winemaking, so here I go again. Back around 1981 I was airbrushing and glassing surfboards (painting and applying fiberglass resin) for MOOSAH on the boardwalk in Tel-Aviv. Life had a sweet simplicity to it; you had a job to do and as long as you made your weekly quota, no one cared how much time you spent surfing… There were days when I would come into the shop at midnight, airbrush a batch of boards while listening to late night radio, move to the glassing booth and get into the rhythm of masking, cutting cloth, mixing resin, glassing, installing fin boxes and finishing boards. With no phones ringing and no 13 year-olds asking me to reproduce the cover of Pink Floyd’s latest album cover on their surfboard order, I’d get a lot done in 6 hours. By the time the eastern horizon started to glow with the warmth of a new sun, I’d be done with my chores around the shop. I’d quickly undress to my blue “Hang Ten” board shorts and slip into the 75 degree water north of the Tel Aviv Marina entrance for a sweet morning session of shoulder high glassy waves. We had enough business to keep everyone happy, work 9 months and go surf for 3. We did what we loved doing and it showed in the brightness of our eyes and the lightness of our steps.
A short time later, we held the first Israeli surf contest in mushy, choppy surf in front of the Tel-Aviv Hilton. As a judge, I remember saying to myself: “This is true Male Bovine Excrement” (you know what I mean..). There is absolutely no way to objectively measure who surfs better than another. At best, the results are some kind of a popularity survey. In fact, those that I considered to be the best all-around surfers in the country at the time did not even participate in the contest. Forward to 2008 and see that some of the best surfers around (anyone willing to argue that Laird Hamilton is not at the top of the surfing world?) do not take part in any surf contests.
The parallels to the world of wine are obvious (at least to me). Wine is, after all, as personal an experience as any wave dance. There are those who cherish tube rides and those who seek nothing but huge monster waves… some of us may like black licorice, some of us hate it. The need to rank wines (or waveriders) and declare a winner can be directly traced to someone’s wish to gain a marketing advantage for financial gain, nothing more. Make no mistake, when Longboard get’s a score of 93 (The 99 Rochioli Cabernet in case you forgot) I will gladly publish it and take the credit, after all we are trying to run a winery, not a non-profit organization. But, early in the morning, having sucked down a cup of java and while I walk the vineyards with Bear (my Australian Sheppard) thoughts of scores and competitions are not even close to my universe. More likely, I am thinking of weather patterns and soil moisture or just trying to suck in the fresh smell of mustard weed crushed under my boots, wondering if any of it will be expressed in the wine you will be sipping. Just thought you’d like to know.
Mahalo,
PS
As is often the case with great things, they tend to come to an end. After this past harvest, 90% of the ROCHIOLI CABERNET vines were pulled out, which means there will be very few cases to go around in the future (less than 50 a year). If you like the wine and want to make sure you get your allocation, make sure you join the wine club while we still have open slots on the Big kahuna level.
