We welcomed Michele Fazari, DWWA judge and Prestige Account Manager at Jackson Family Wines of California on Wednesday October 30th at 7pm
Jackson Family Wines are based in Sonoma County – in the heart of California’s wine country. Their flagship brand is Kendall-Jackson but their portfolio now includes 40 brands, sourced from vineyards and wineries in California, Oregon and many other wine regions worldwide. They produce wines with broad appeal including some of the world’s best Cabernet Sauvignon. They are very focused on sustainability. Their founder Jess Jackson said, “Take care of the land and it will take care of you.”
We tasted a selection of five wines from the finest Californian wine regions served with a three-course dinner in the newly refurbished private room of the award-winning Bocca Di Lupo restaurant in Soho on Wednesday 30th October at 7pm.
The wines served include one of Napa Valley’s best Cabernet Sauvignon’s – Mt. Brave Mount Veeder see tasting note in our Wines of the month
Flint Wines have a comprehensive portfolio of wines from the USA and to support a recent portfolio tasting they have put together an amazing American tasting booklet. It is packed full of maps, descriptions of each AVA’s character, climate, aspect, soils and detailed winery profiles.
Quality grapes in California are very much a product of one or more factors in the vineyard that moderate the otherwise warm climate. The cold Pacific sends cooling breezes and overnight fog far inland along the State’s various east west valleys that cut through the coast mountains and of course San Fransico Bay itself. Also vineyards planted at altitude on these mountain slopes also enjoy cooler nights.
Grapes as a result ripen more slowly, developing flavour and retaining more acid giving the wine maker lots of good material to work with. Growers of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and even Syrah are particularly on the lookout for cool climate pockets. It was great to be able to visualise all this with aid of these maps.
The tasting was organised by region which allowed you to travel from one AVA to another comparing and contrasting and really see how wine makers are responding to the changing conditions.
Hats off to Rachel Dixon their USA Ambassador, who’s mission to educate about wines of American is certainly working!
For me standout wineries included:
Chanin Wines – Chardonnays & Pinots from Los Alamos, Santa Maria Valley
Christom Vineyards- Chardonnays & Pinots from Willamette Valley, Oregan
Tyler Winery – Chardonnays & Pinots from Santa Rita Hills, California.
Snowden Vineyards – Sauvignon Blanc & Cab Sauvignon from Napa Valley, California.
A condensed summary of sparkling wines of the USA including history, regions, growing environment, vineyard management, grape varieties, wine making, styles, wine law and business.
Sources include: WSET Diploma Wines of the World, Oxford Wine Companion by Julia Harding and Jancis Robinson, various producer websites.
Note this document is intended for personal use only not for commercial or promotional use. We accept no liability for any omissions or errors that may be contained in the document.
Monticello AVA, view from Pollak Winery with the Blue Mountains of the Appalachian range in the background
Blind Mondays in London was the fabulous concept of Guillaume Raffy. A team of wine lovers would meet on Monday evenings in a pre selected London restaurant and bring along hidden wines, following a theme.
I’ll never forget the Nebbiolo evening.
One wine stood out. More full bodied and fruit forward than Nebbiolos I’d had before, but with that lovely seductive perfume and classic structure.
The wine was revealed – Barboursville vineyards, Virginia, Nebbiolo, part of the Zonin family.
That was about ten years ago and I’ve been planning to visit Virginia since.
To further whet my appetite the book ‘Billionaires Vinegar’ helped set the scene.
A bottle of Lafite, with the initials of Thomas Jefferson, dated 1787, was offered to Christie’s by Hardy Rodenstock, a German wine collector . He refused to say exactly where it had come from. Allegedly a hidden cellar in an unidentified 18th century house in Paris, possibly part of a Nazi hoard.
Jefferson spent time in France and was an avid wine lover. He regularly sent wine back to Monticello, his home in Virginia. He set up some of the first Vineyards in Virginia in the 1800’s.
Bottle of Chateau Lafite from Jefferson’s house in Monticello
There are now 1200 hectares of planting and 220 wineries. The AVAs are Eastern Shore, Monticello, Northern Neck, North Fork of Roanoke, Rocky Knob, Shenandoah Valley.
I will focus on Monticello AVA and have chosen five wineries to visit based on reviews in Decanter Magazine and from personal contacts in the wine trade.
The supremely talented Benoit with degrees in Oenology and Viticulture from Bordeaux Blaqufort
Winemaker Benoit Pineau took me on a mini safari around the 100 acre property, planted with 34 acres of vines.
It’s a beautiful property with a large decked tasting room overlooking a lake with the blue ridge mountains providing the backdrop.
Benoit discussed the disease pressures here in Virginia. They have high humidity and high rainfall in summer. Up to 900mm to 1000mm annually make it a relatively high rainfall region for viticulture.
Note the mounding at the base of the vines to protect the graft site for the winter
They can’t grow organically as pesticides are required. Furthermore there is a frost risk. In 2020 most of the vine growth was wiped out. Then there’s the small matter of hurricanes, which can wipe out a harvest. Not to mention Deer and Bears necessitating the perimeter fencing . Oh, and netting to prevent the birds stripping the grapes.
It’s a wonder they can make wine here at all!
The soils are mainly clay with silt so Merlot and Cabernet Franc do well here but there’s less Cabernet Sauvignon which ‘doesn’t like it’s feet wet’. They are planting their first Nebbiolo vines which explained the mounds of soil surrounding each vine base to protect the graft sites throughout the winter as in the photo above.
Wines tasted – white wines
Pollak Sauvignon Blanc 2021
French style Sauvignon, French clones, restrained
Neutral oak Crisp fresh
Served a bit cold and then opened up.
Lovely balance
Pollak Chardonnay 2020
Hints of peach, banana apples pear
Beautiful balance again
Pollak Viognier 2021
Floral and apricots.
Lovely texture, Viognier typically has lower acid
Difficult to press as skins thicker often giving a Rich oily texture
Very smooth with good length. Lovely
Pollak Pinot gris 2021
Delicious, ripe pear on the nose
Mouthfeel Is rich and slightly oily, balanced, alive, Skin thicker, Lees 4 months, Little battonage
Award winning wine. Beautifully crafted
(Vin pair voted in top 50 wines of the world)
Wines tasted – red wines
Red wines. Benoit generously served one of their best vintages 2017 which he described as perfect.
The ‘perfect’ 207 vintage selection
Pollak Cabernet Franc 2017
Fantastic with a nose of blueberries, raspberries
Tons of fruit, No greeness No herbaceousness
Delicious ripe soft tannins. Really enjoyed a Cabernet Franc without all that Capsicum greeness.
Pollak Meeitage 2017
CF 60% merlot 24% petite Verdot 16%
Beautiful balance, 18 months 40% French oak
Bordeaux blend
I didn’t realise they have to Pay a dollar case to use the name Meritage!
Ripe delicious tannins, smooth and well balanced.
Pollak smuggler 2017
Merlot 56% cf 24% CS 20%
Slightly more pyrazine and black currant
Beautiful balanced too
More structure more tannic than Meritage
Pollak Mille fleur
100% petit manseng
Petit Manseng is Popular in Virginia following Horton winery winning a competition in California.
It is however difficult to grow, has high acidity but can lose acid fast in the heat.
This was fortified and stored in barrels for 5 years
Really complex, Brazil nuts, Prunes.Delicious
A wine transfusion? Benoit’s creativity demonstrated here with bag of red wine connected by tubing to maintain full barrels
This was a great start to my exploration of Virginian wines. Benoit is passionate and focused and brings experience from working in France, California Australia and even a spell making rum in Guadaloupe! The wines tasted were top quality. It’s a shame I can’t get them at home in the UK!
The Willamette Valley is Oregon’s most celebrated wine region, renowned for producing world-class Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Gris. While vines were planted in the region as early as the 19th century, modern winemaking began in the 1960s, when pioneering wine makers like David Lett of Eyree Vineyards took a risk on the marginal climate as a place to grow Burgundian Pinot Noir. Today, the region is home to over 700 wineries, the majority of which are small, family-owned estates dedicated to sustainable farming and minimal-intervention winemaking.
The Willamette Valley benefits has warm summers but cool air is drawn in from the Pacific through gaps in the coast range, altitude can also provide cool nights further extending the growing season. Rainfall is concentrated in winter and spring, allowing grapes to ripen slowly and develop complexity while retaining natural acidity. The valley’s diverse soils, ranging from ancient marine sediment to volcanic basal, further enhance the character of the wines, contributing to their depth and sense of place.
Clonal selection has proved to be key to successfully growing both Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and once the move was made away from those suitable in California to mainly Dijon clones both varieties have thrived. Pinot Noir yields wines of elegance and balance, often marked by red fruit, floral aromatics, and earthy minerality. Chardonnay, once an afterthought, has emerged as a serious contender, showcasing crisp acidity, restrained fruit, and a Burgundian sense of structure. Pinot Gris, also gets a look in.
The Willamette Valley AVA encompasses several smaller sub-AVAs, each with distinct characteristics.
Dundee Hills: The birthplace of Oregon Pinot Noir, this region is slightly warmer and has red volcanic soils that retain water through the growing season and advantage as water is scarce and most smaller wineries dry farm.
Eola-Amity Hills: Cooled by coastal winds through the Van Duzer Corridor.
Yamhill-Carlton: Defined by a south facing bowl formation and free draining marine sedimentary soils.
Ribbon Ridge: A tiny but highly regarded AVA on 200m high ridge.
Chehalem Mountains: A varied region at the north end of the valley with the largest area of plantings.
Van Duzer Corridor AVA: A break in the coastal range makes this one of the coolest and windiest areas.
A recent tasting organised by the Oregan Wine Board at the American Embassy provided a great chance to sample the excellent wines being produced in Willamette Valley and the wider Oregan region. Although it was hard to discern clear sub-regional characteristics from this sample, there were many wines of great quality and individuality and many passionate and engaging winemakers presenting them.
WanderCurtis Wine 