Hawk Wakawaka Wine Reviews

The Butterfly Effect: How the death of a fad gave birth to beautiful color in wine, Part 2: Variety, Terroir, and Mind Scrambling

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Mar 11, 2013

To read the first post in this series: The Butterfly Effect: How the death of a fad gave birth to beautiful color in wine, Part 1: Considering Recent History

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A Visit to the Egg with Hardy Wallace

We’re standing in front of a concrete egg filled with fermented straight-to-press Semillon harvested alongside the Napa River during the 2012 harvest. It’s fruit grown in a rocky vineyard directly beside the water. The egg holds the answer to a question we’re there to consider–how does its wine compare to the same fruit fermented during skin contact? Wallace processed the white grape both ways.

In discussions of macerated fermentations, claims are often made that such techniques obscure terroir. Side by side lots offer some insight into the validity of such an assertion. Going deep enough points out another consideration. In conjunction with the idea of terroir, the variety of the fruit also has to be considered.

Considering Wallace’s Mentor, Kevin Kelley

Wallace started his label, Dirty and Rowdy, with a close friend only three vintages ago, their work in white wine beginning in their second vintage. But Wallace stepped into the project thanks to the encouragement of winemakers Kevin Kelley, of Salinia and NPA, and Angela Osborne, of A Tribute to Grace and Farmer Jane.

The Venture reaches back to a chance flight in 2009 to San Francisco when Wallace decided to take a quick trip to the Bay Area to visit with friends he’d made online in wine, thanks to his popular wine blog, Dirty South Wines. Having gotten to know Jon Bonné of the San Francisco Chronicle, the two decided to meet at Terroir SF, a popular wine bar in the city. There Bonné suggested they purchase a bottle of Kevin Kelley’s 2008 skin-contact Chardonnay. As Wallace explains, he’d had skin contact wines before but none “necessarily as heart warming.” Kelley’s Chardonnay “wasn’t just a funky glass of wine, not just a puzzle or intellectual stimulation.” He pauses, “what a core of joy it had. Other examples I’d had at that point were beautiful but didn’t move me like that.”

Kelley’s Chardonnay changed Wallace’s perspective on domestic wines and he returned again to spend a week touring Sonoma and Napa wine specifically hoping to meet with Kelley.

When asking Wallace to think through what it was about that particular wine that so affected his view, he considers the grape itself. He responds, “It’s an example that changes the way you feel about wine, and what it can express. Kevin’s wine…” He thinks on the question again, then continues, “it was chardonnay, a grape that has so much baggage that comes with it, and here is this experience that redefines the grape.”

That wine by Kelley was made with Heintz Chardonnay, a well-known, quality vineyard, but it was a distinctly different expression of the the site–fruit fully fermented on skins and sold in a stainless steel thermos.

By Spring of 2010, Wallace had moved to Sonoma and was working with Kelley helping to market the NPA project, and create the weekly blends ordered for local delivery.

While working with Kelley, and Osborne as his assistant, Wallace realized he wanted to step into making his own skin contact white wine. But, after securing a vineyard source, an incredible heat spike hit. It was Labor Day 2010, right before harvest, and the fruit was entirely lost to sunburn. Having to find a new grape source, with a lot of vineyards lost from the weather, that year Dirty & Rowdy started by shifting to red fruit and making Mourvedre. In 2011, they were able to locate a white grape again, and return to their original interest in making skin contact Semillon alongside the red wine project.

Ryme Cellars Mind Scrambles

Ryan and Megan Glaab of Ryme Cellars began making two of their white wines with skin fermentation after an experience analogous to Wallace’s first contact with Kelley’s Chardonnay. 2006, Ryan explains, was the first time he had an orange wine, tasting Ribolla Gialla from both Radikon and Gravner in one night. The experience, he explains, “was mind scrambling. I’d never tasted anything like it.” He continues, “I like to be really surprised by wines. That experience sparked a fascination.”

Within a couple years, Megan and Ryan were able to visit Stanko Radikon in Fruili, and see first hand how he made his wines, fermenting on skins in open top wood containers, then storing for extended periods often still on skins. During the visit, the Glaabs were told by Radikon that a friend of his, George Vare, was growing Ribolla in Napa, and making wines with macerated fermentations too. In 2009, the Glaabs heard from their friend Dan Petroski that Vare might have fruit they could purchase. That year, inspired by their visit with Radikon, they started making Ribolla Gialla with incredibly extended macerations. The next year, they followed suit with a skin contact Vermentino, keeping the contact time shorter there out of consideration for the differing characters of the grapes.

The Role of Tannin, Flavor, and Mouthfeel

The differing fermentation choices between Ribolla Gialla and Vermentino made by the Glaab’s highlight an obvious but oft overlooked point–when it comes to orange wines, it depends on the grape.

Tannin structure of grapes resides primarily in the skin, rather than the pulp of the fruit. As Wallace likes to illustrate, the skin of the grape acts as the tea bag, with the pulp giving water for the tea. The longer you steep tea, the stronger the beverage. Similarly with grapes–the longer the skins are in contact with the juice, the greater the effect. However, different white grape types have differing levels of tannin in their skins. The amount of tannin available helps determine whether its worth leaving the juice in longer contact or not. As Ryan explains, other varietal factors such as smell, flavor, and weight also come into consideration.

Ryan offers insight by contrasting their Ryme his Vermentino (they also have a hers presentation of the grape that is made straight-to-press) versus their Ribolla Gialla. “The grapes have different things to give. With Vermentino it isn’t beneficial to use long maceration. The grape is more sensitive to oxidation, and volatility, but I like the richness it gets from skins.” The grape also has comparatively little tannin, offering less structural alteration in the wine from extending maceration. So, to protect the wine, while balancing structural benefits, the Glaabs press off their his Vermentino after two weeks maceration, then allow it to finish ferment to dryness.

Ryan then discusses the Ribolla, “Ribolla requires a lot of patience. It has a very tannic structure.” Ribolla Gialla is considered one of the most tannic white grapes, in fact. He continues, “I like the evolution of tannin you get from long maceration with Ribolla.” In working with the Ryme Ribolla Gialla, the Glaab’s patience isn’t just kept through extended maceration (their 2012 is still on skins after harvesting the fruit in September), but after bottling as well. Their 2010 Ribolla Gialla will be released later this Spring.

The Glaab’s experience with macerated fermentations is extended too by Ryan’s work with Pax Mahle at Wind Gap Wines, where Ryan is Assistant Winemaker. There the team has experimented with Roussanne, Marsanne, Viognier, and Chardonnay on skins, thus witnessing the effect of using the technique on differing grape types over a number of years.

Glaab explains that when it comes to skin contact “variety is a key piece.” With some types, extended macerations can make the wines too heavy. Scientific studies have shown that extended skin contact increases the potassium levels of the wine (Ramey et al 1986), effectively raising the pH, thus making the wine heavier on the palate. This is true with as little as twenty-four hours of contact (Darias-Martin et all 2000). Skin contact also increases the aromatic and flavoral elements of a wine (Singleton et al 1983). But as Glaab explains, this has to be considered in relation to the characteristics of the particular variety. For some varieties, he points out, “the aroma and flavor are too singular, very strong and direct, almost thick” thus working against the potential advantages of time on skins. This isn’t to say you can’t successfully make an orange wine with those varieties. It is to say you may have to think about different factors in their treatment. As a result, in considering what will be heightened by fermenting on skins, the use of the technique has to be judged in balance with the overall characteristics of the particular grape type–structure and flavor, aroma and mouthfeel.

Tasting Rocky: Dirty and Rowdy’s Semillon

Wallace has pulled samples from three lots of Semillon. The first comes directly from the concrete egg we’re standing beside–fruit harvested then put straight to press and into concrete for fermentation followed by aging. The second two lots were fermented on skins in a large stainless steel fermenter. After fermentation, the fruit was pressed with half going into old oak barrels, and the rest being kept in steel.

We taste the straight-to-press wine first. It is pretty while also light. As Wallace describes, “more pretty than wild.” It carries at this stage very light sleeping fruit, dried grasses, and white sage with a long tang finish. We move to the wine from barrel. It has a stimulating, vivacious nose, with refreshing lifted elements. The palate is rocky and stimulating. The flavors of the press lot are present, but richer, with more charisma. This rendition is pretty with substance. The third lot, also skin fermented, is tasted. It has the wildest edge to it, but with a more focused texture than the barrel aged wine. Finally, we quickly mix the three together in rough proportions. The blend immediately offers a river bed nose. It is multi-layered, grassy, herbal, and hits in stages. The palate too is multi-dimensional, and multi-staged, rocky. This wine opens to gorgeous.

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To read Part 3 in this series: The Butterfly Effect: How the death of a fad gave birth to beautiful color in wine, Part 3: The Craft of Wine Tasting, and the Question of Responsibility, Conversation with Two Sommeliers

To read last year’s series explaining Orange Wines beginning with how they’re made, then their presence in Georgia, Italy, and California, begin here: Understanding Orange Wines Part 1: A Quick and Dirty Look at How They’re Made and What Their Tannins Do To Our Saliva

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As this series continues specific grape varieties and other examples of both Oregon and California wines will also be explored. The question of terroir will also be more centrally addressed in a future post in this series.

Visiting Lethbridge Wine, Geelong, Victoria

Hawk Wakawaka

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Mar 6, 2013

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Visiting Lethbridge Wine in Geelong

Entering the winery at Lethbridge olive trees welcome you. The hardwood dots the property producing pressable fruit only every other year.

Lethbridge rests in Geelong at the Western reaches of Australia’s Southeastern province, Victoria. The area is aptly called a cool climate, consistently harvesting last among the mainland wine regions.

looking across the Lethbridge vineyards to the house

Together Ray Nadeson and Maree Collis established the Lethbridge Vineyards in 1996. The two both worked as academics in Melbourne at the time, Nadeson doing research and teaching in neuroscience, Collis in biochemistry.

Nadeson had an established love for wine, especially Burgundy. On days off from work, with a friend he would daydream about the idea of getting to make wine himself someday. Over time the brainstorm took hold till Collis and Nadeson together decided to research the possibility. They each completed programs in winemaking and spent time thinking through the principles implicit in a good vineyard site. Nadeson explained that they were determined to invest in a basic understanding of soil science, which led them to recognize the role of rocks in good vineyards around the world.

Ray Nadeson, and Maree Collis began Lethbridge in the 1990s. With the production of Lethbridge Wine having expanded over time, Alex Byrne now also helps with their winemaking.

The couple spent several years searching for their ideal location. They wanted proximity to Melbourne because of their day jobs, soils that would support but challenge the vines, and a cooler location. At the time they were looking, Geelong was primarily ranch land. The area had been a historically important wine region for Australia, with vines planted through the area in the 1870s by Swiss immigrants. But in the ~~early 1900s~~ late 1800s, when phylloxera arrived on the continent, laws were enacted to pull all of the Geelong vineyards out.

To find a suitable site, then, Nadeson and Collis applied their research skills to land maps. They identified the areas within driving distance of the city, then overlaid soil studies and ownership parcels. Finally, after a couple years of looking they zoned in on two potential properties near the town of Lethbridge. The sites weren’t for sale, so they decided to knock on the owners’ door.

Touring the land that would become their Lethbridge Estate, the owner at the time finally asked if the couple could use any old vineyard equipment. He walked them to a tin sided shack from the 1880s full of vineyard and winery materials left there from that century. Nadeson and Collis made an offer and soon after moved onto the land.

Geelong sits in a region also known as the Golden Plains. The area is an old seabed full of limestone, but due to volcanic activity much of it is covered in a top layer of basalt. As a result, few trees show through the district, covered instead by surface crop, thus the grasses and flat land of the moniker.

black basalt soil at the base of the Shiraz vines

The land of Lethbridge falls on a divide with dark basalt soils covering most of the vineyard, cracking in the dry weather of the region, and lighter basalt falling over other parts. (These cracks are impressively deep. As Ray mentioned, you could lose your keys in there.)

honeycomb basalt rocks in the vineyard

The basalt is also dotted throughout with iron stone, or hematite. Only about six inches into the soil honeycomb basalt rocks begin to persistently appear resting atop a field of bluestone, a type of basalt boulder that was also harvested for government buildings in Victoria. Below rests the limestone.

8-year old vines at Lethbridge

The result of the soil and climate combination at Lethbridge includes miniaturized vines, and ultra low yields. The ironstone is palpable on the palate resulting in light bloody notes in the Pinot, and a long ferric finish in the Shiraz. The soil-rock combination of the site also creates impressive tannin structure throughout the varieties grown at Lethbridge. The tannin is assertive without being aggressive or harsh. It’s a structure Nadeson explains he prefers. Lethbridge also hold their top-tier wines several years in bottle before release to help prepare the structure for drinking. As an example, their 2009 Mietta Pinot Noir (grown on the Lethbridge vineyard) is only about to be released.

We tasted an older Merlot-blend that showed far more grip than would be expected from the predominate grape. When I asked Nadeson how much Cabernet he’d blended in (expecting that was the source of the tannin) he told me very little, then walked me out to the Merlot vines. Tasting the fruit of the vine that same tannin is apparent.

Lethbridge’s Mietta Pinot Noir Vines

The structural character of Lethbridge fruit is not only a matter of tannin, however. The cooler climate keeps excellent acidity throughout the wines. The depth of the vine roots, and the character of the soils generate a wonderful tension through the wine as well. It’s the same sort of description Chef de Cave identify as minerality in Champagne–a kind of flavor-muscular stimulation in the mouth. It pulls the flavors of the wine into unified concert with the structure of the wine by stimulating the tongue and creating an echoing tension effect. The flavors resonate, and the structure of the mouth literally responds long down the throat.

Lethbridge produces three tiers of wine. The Allegra Chardonnay, Mietta Pinot Noir, Indra Shiraz, and Hugo George Super Tuscan represent their top level wines, all meant to age and are held in bottle for several years before release. We were able to taste multiple vintages going back to the first on each of these wines. They carry a smart progression of drinking nicely on the older vintages while still showing greater focus and clarity on the newer ones–the sign of an evolving while consistent winemaker. I especially liked the Allegra Chardonnays. They offer that pulpy texture of just biting into fresh orchard fruit, while carrying a mix of citrus and light apricot flavors touched by a focusing line of reductive character. Impressively, the 2004 and 2005 were brilliant right now.

Lethbridge’s midlevel label, the Estate bottlings, offer still generously flavored and structured wines, that drink a little sooner and still do well with age. Where the upper tier wines are very structurally focused, the estate bottlings come in comparatively more relaxed line. Compared to the Indra, the Estate Shiraz offers a more approachable style that is still definitively Geelong for its distant desert spice and wound lines, for example.

The Menage label represents their younger, most affordable line, with a juicy Pinot Noir as the real show piece. Lethbridge also revels in trying various new projects alongside their central themes. We were able to taste a range of one-offs and side bottlings that show the playful side of the winemakers. My favorite of these was their Riesling and dessert Rieslings–brilliant acidity throughout.

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post-edit: I originally said early 1900s for the arrival of phylloxera, but it came over in botany samples in the late 1800s. The response was to enact vine pull laws through parts of Victoria in an attempt to protect other areas with vines. If you’d like to read more on this history here is a nice post from Gonna Warra Vineyards: http://www.goonawarra.com.au/a-taste-of-history

The blog Betty’s Wine Musings briefly mentions something I’d been told while traveling through Victoria, that the vine pull scheme was likely motivated by more political reasons than scientific need. Her post can be found here: http://www.bettyswinemusings.com/australian-wines-from-devastation-to-deluge

Also, Australian wine writer, Max Allen, wrote to clarify that while Geelong is a cool climate, and does start among the last for mainland harvest, other areas in mainland Australia can harvest later. Here’s what he had to say in email:

“Geelong is definitely a cooler climate wine region, yes, but there are quite
a few others on the mainland that consistently harvest later (or at least
consistently finish harvesting later) – Orange, 1000 metres up on the slopes
of an old volcano in New South Wales, for example, and Henty, further out in
the widescreen country of southwest Victoria …”

Thanks for the information, Max. Always glad to get more clarification!

If you’d like to read more about Orange, here’s a good start from the Vignerons of the region: http://www.winesoforange.com.au/

And to read more about Henty, here’s a start from the Wine Diva website: http://www.winediva.com.au/regions/henty.asp

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Thank you to Ray Nadeson and Maree Collis for hosting me. Thank you to Alex Byrne. Thank you to David Fesq. I very much enjoyed my time at Lethbridge and appreciate the generosity you showed. Thank you.

Enjoying Victorian Syrah and Shiraz: Lethbridge, Best’s, Bobar, and Jamsheed

Hawk Wakawaka

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Mar 5, 2013

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Victorian Syrah and Shiraz

We were barrel tasting through the recent Lethbridge vintage and arrived at the 2012 Indra Shiraz. The wine was juicy and spiced filling my head with purple and blue notes, and a long bloody iron clenched finish. Suddenly my entire body was so full of energy I could barely contain it. This wine was exciting and unexpected. I was thrilled by surprise. We went on to taste multiple vintages going back to their first.

the cracked basalt soils of the Indra Block, Lethbridge

Indra grows from the hard luck soils of Geelong, a cool climate area harvested last of the mainland regions. Pushed into cracked black basalt soils onto limestone, the vines at Lethbridge struggle for what they need, producing structure with serious, though not harsh tannin traction. The Indra Shiraz is impressive, a red with a French sensibility, carrying Australian spice, and a slightly bigger frame. It needs time in bottle to be appreciated, but gives lean lines, multidimensional flavors, and depth.

One of the highlights of my trip through Victoria was discovering I could love the Shiraz and Syrah coming out of that province. The poor history of exposure to Australian stereotype in the United States had left me skeptical. Still, knowing the previously apparent monolith of California wine is actually quite varied, I was ready to be surprised by Victoria too.

To the North of Geelong, Great Western offers a more Continental climate giving wines a rounder feel to flavors, but with still cool nights the acidity stays vibrant for juiciness.

part of the 1866 Nursery Block, Best’s Great Western

Best’s Great Western grows some of the oldest vines in the world. Their nursery block, planted in 1866, is still bottled as a field blend wine that is both strange and wonderful to drink. In the late 1800s, the Best’s team recognized their Shiraz was doing well in the climate and so a Shiraz-only vineyard was established. It is still used to produce the Bin 0 Shiraz bottling, a rich flavored, textural wine, with melt away tannin, and a focus on cocoa, tobacco, and forest floor. Their Bin 1, from newer vines, carries a family resemblance to Bin 0 with a younger, juicier feel. Both give a texture that seems native to the wines of the area–tannins with traction and presence that melts away for a long lingering finish.

Through Victoria, both Syrah and Shiraz are used on wine labels to designate that grape’s varietal-specific wine. There is no regulation on which is used when, but generally speaking Syrah designates a lighter style for the grape.

Jumping to the Yarra Valley two Syrah labels stood out.

the Belfords, Bobar Wines

Our first visit in the Yarra was with the Belford family, where we were able to taste each vintage of their young label. Together, Tom and Sally Belford produce Bobar Wines, an ultra light, fully carbonic Syrah with the weight of Poulsard, the aromatic lift of Fleurie, and the Australian spice of Shiraz. It’s refreshing, and light with just the kiss of strangeness to make it a wine geek’s dream. That said, later on the trip a winemaker we met confessed to buying a case of Bobar before camping trips because “you can drink it with anything.”

Gary Mills, Jamsheed Wines

Gary Mills, of Jamsheed Wines, devotes himself to Syrah from fruit sourced all over Victoria, made whole cluster to celebrate the earthy elements given by stem inclusion. Having worked with Paul Draper at Ridge Monte Bello for several years, Mills credits Draper for being the inspiration behind Mills’ views of “real wine.” The 2011 Jamsheed Syrah’s have a combined strength and focus that make them both desirable and heady. I wanted more of these wines. From barrel the 2012s are intensely vibrant and rich, most already about ready to drink. But the Great Western barrel (full of those melt-away tannins) drinks like a horse still bucking and sweaty after being caught–no brett, just an animal intensity wrestling its way from the barrel, still almost too big to handle. I can’t wait to see how its transformed before release.

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Thank you to Mike Bennie, Tom and Sally Belford, Gary Mills, Ray Nadeson, Maree Collis, Alex Bryne, David Fesq, Jonathan Mogg.

Keeping it Simple: Love for Cathy Corison Cabernet

Hawk Wakawaka

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Mar 4, 2013

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Both my sisters are visiting this week, though independently–one now, the other in the second half of this week.

My brother in law ran the Napa Valley Marathon yesterday (bad ass). Today I’m bringing the two of them on a wine tour of Napa Valley including a mix of their requests and my suggestions. Both my sisters get to visit and taste Corison, some of the best wine in Napa Valley.

It’s a Corison week, as Cathy hosted several of us for lunch and a library tasting a few days ago. In celebration of that meal, and of my sisters’ visits, here are notes from the library tasting.

Corison Cabernet

click on comic to enlarge

Cathy Corison makes both Napa Valley Cabernet, using fruit from vineyards along the Rutherford Bench, and Kronos, fruit from her own Estate Vineyard. The Kronos site generates incredible low yield, concentrated flavors fruit. Both wines are full of elegance, dance, and lifted texture. The older of these vintages tasted drank as though they could have stayed in bottle for years longer.

Cathy explained that for the five wines we enjoyed with lunch she selected her favorite vintages to drink right now.

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Thank you to Cathy Corison.

Lots of love to Lisa Shara Hall, and Amy Cleary–what a lovely day with you both.

Thank you to Hardy Wallace. Rachel had a great time too.

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Tomorrow: a look at Victorian Syrah and Shiraz (including: what’s the difference?).

And Now for Something Completely Different: Crazy Alaska: The Start of the Iditarod

Hawk Wakawaka

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Mar 2, 2013

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I got back from Sydney and went right into wine events with friends for a few days. Then I realized I was tired and decided it was appropriate to take the week off from posting. I’ll get back to a more regular schedule this coming week with write-ups from Victoria, Australia, Santa Barbara, California, and the world of Orange wine cycling through together. Since we’re in an interlude anyway, here’s a random tidbit.

The Start of the Iditarod

image courtesy of The Anchorage Daily News: the mushers and the course

In just a few moments… by the time I finish writing this post, Iditarod 2013 will have started.

Iditarod is a sled dog race crossing over 1000 miles of Alaska, traversing some of the biggest mountain ranges in the state, with temperature ranges going from well below zero F to well above freezing. Teams usually start with 12 to 16 dogs, led by a single husky and the musher, all moving a sled packed with several hundred lbs of supplies.

Mushers ride on the sled for portions of the race but during the final crunch when teams are pushing against each other to get or stay in the lead, racers will run behind the sled for hours to keep the dogs’ speed up. On downhill slides the musher must muscle the sled around corners to keep the team on trail. And in stuck spots the sled has to be pushed from behind as well. There are two long lay overs required–one of 24 hours, another at 8. Otherwise, mushers simply must check-in at certain points, make sure their dogs are healthy, and then check-out again. Many run for days on end. Incredibly, the race finishes now at just 10 days. All together it’s a seemingly impossible feat.

I grew up watching the Iditarod with dog mushing as a sort of normal option for people, even if only a few chose it. My dad’s close cousin used to race when I was little. Then my dad’s fishing partner spent a year training with the cousin and ran his dog team that winter, completing the full 1000+ mile course. That year I helped my mom sew a wealth of little booties to protect the dog team’s feet from ice and snow. I took up putting the booties on our dog too when I brought him out for a run. He always chewed the fabric off again.

In junior high, I volunteered at the Iditarod call station where people could phone in, the days before the internet or GPS tracking, to find out when and where a particular musher had last checked in along the trail, or who was in the lead.

By the time I went to graduate school in Montreal, life in French Canada was so foreign (tho loved) to me that following life in Alaska became a deep comfort. I’d grown up commercial fishing for salmon in Bristol Bay, which fascinated people, but when they asked me to tell them what fishing was like few people believed my answers. They’d tell me what I’d done wasn’t possible. (Strangely, my life in Montreal included a lot of hearing that my family’s daily reality wasn’t real.) The truth was too that much of the time getting through graduate school with a five year old also felt impossible. In the midst of that, somehow the Iditarod Sled Dog race became a symbol for me of how righteous people can actually be, of how much is possible simply by our deciding to get it done. It was a reminder too that none of us have to prove our accomplishments. Instead, we can just focus on doing good work, while we also celebrate what we love and what inspires us.

By the time I left Montreal fellow grad students that had entered the program believing dog racing was wrong were rushing into class asking me who was in the lead. The stories of mushers that had survived cancer then gone on to win; or the first woman to race; or the people that helped get the race started were inspiring to us all.

Still today, the idea that these people right this very minute are about to start the first steps of an impossible race… it still makes me emotional. There is such a concentration of intention and attention that goes into those early steps of an almost insurmountable task.

Here’s to all the mushers of Iditarod 2013. Run hard. God be with you and keep you and your dogs safe. I’ll be cheering for you.

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Here are some great portraits of every musher all cleaned up before the race (you get a glimpse of how fancy Alaskans are actually able to get, though there are mushers here from all over the world): http://www.alaskadispatch.com/slideshow/iditarod-2013-musher-portraits

For regular race updates, including GPS tracking of mushers on the trail, and video interviews of these serious characters: http://iditarod.com/

The best news coverage of the race happens here: http://www.adn.com/iditarod/

Visiting Gembrook Hill, Ian and June Marks

Hawk Wakawaka

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Feb 24, 2013

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Meeting Ian and June Marks

When we arrive at the Gembrook Hill winery down the hill from the Marks’ home, June Marks is picking tall grass to feed to the horse next door. She realizes we’re there and invites us up to sit with her and her husband, Ian, to taste through wines. She’s already done her weights, she explains. She’ll just feed the horse and then go up and get things ready.

Over thirty years ago the Marks moved into what was then uncultivated property. No one had planted vines as far south in the Upper Yarra subregion, and not in their nook of the valley. The wine divisions were based on shires, rather than distinct growing zones.

Having considered property throughout Victoria, the Marks arrived in the Yarra Valley as part of a second wave of winery owners. Some vine experimentation had been done to see what grew best in the region, but the area was still largely undeveloped. After planting, the Marks would become part of the turn in attention to the Yarra region as a good place for making quality wine, and Ian would help redelineate the appellation boundaries based on growing characteristics.

This vintage marks their 30th anniversary.

The Marks’ Story

Ian Marks

In the early 1980s, the Marks had been looking for property to build a home and plants some vines. “Eventually we saw this place and bought it in a quarter of an hour.” Ian tells us. “We didn’t really know anything about the soil, or rainfall, so it was quite a bit of luck. When we bought it, it had three cows and a tree. So, June and I planted everything.”

“On the weekends,” June adds.

Earlier June had pointed out parts of the property and explained together she and Ian had planted, tended, and cropped the vines themselves. She’s comfortable now leaving the work to Timo Mayer and their son Andrew Marks, Gembrook Hills’ winemakers, she explains because “I’ve already done everything.” She laughs.

Ian nods and continues talking about how they got started. “We planted one clone of Sauvignon Blanc originally but it picked at about one-quarter ton to the acre so we had to plant a new clone. Ian pauses, “it makes a beautiful wine.” He continues, “we’ve been lucky. That one clone is about the only big mistake.”

from the top of Gembrook Hill

Gembrook Hill’s Sauvignon Blanc is widely considered the best in Australia. When we taste their 2011 current release I am surprised. It’s style rests outside the variety’s stereotypes. It is a texturally focused, light and lifted wine with real herbal, bay leaf elements, delicate fruit, and a long seashell, sea air finish. The acidity is dancing.

The Australian white wine market generally considers young wines the most desirable. Even among the winemakers and wine geeks I spent time with on this visit, the older vintage whites I’d brought from the States consistently got a surprise remark, though the wines were then enjoyed after. As Mike Bennie explained to me, as far as sales here go, in Australia people most often want to drink their white wines within the year of their vintage date.

But the Marks’ Gembrook Hill wines are known to age well. To showcase the quality of their whites, the couple recently hosted a vertical tasting of their Sauvignon Blanc, written up by Tim White in the Financial Review.

Ian Marks continues his story, revealing more luck in securing the quality of their white wine. “To be honest, this was 30 years ago. I’d never heard of Sauvignon Blanc.” The Marks’ had a friend help them with planting advice to best judge the character of the site. “He surveyed the property and said, this is the perfect site for Sauvignon Blanc, and I said, okay.” Ian pauses. Referring again to their advisor, “he doesn’t even like Sauvignon Blanc.”

Tasting Gembrook Hill Wines

The Marks’ success has extended beyond the white grape. They’re also appreciated for their sparkling Blanc de blancs. They’ve produced still Chardonnay as well, and I quite enjoyed the 2008, but they’re shifting their attention with it to the bubbles.

The Gembrook Pinot Noir also shows off how well the wines age. We did side by side tastings of their current 2010, and the 2002. The ’10 was lifted, again with a textural focus, and plush while lean dark lines. The older vintage was still youthful and vibrant with a perfumed nose and graphite tension. The flavors had deepened into meats and cigar box. Ian explained that 2002 was an intense year with very small cropping. They didn’t produce that much fruit. But the wine is elegant, with supple tannin.

***

Thank you to Timo Mayer, Andrew Marks, Ian and June Marks, and Mike Bennie.

How Victoria Turned Me Back Towards Pinot Noir

Hawk Wakawaka

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Feb 23, 2013

7

Investigating Victoria Pinot Noir

looking across the Golden Plain, Geelong region

Victoria has reinspired my faith in Pinot Noir. Drinking Burgundy was the first experience to enliven my relationship with wine, Willamette Valley the first U.S. wine region to pull my heart strings. So, I carry a love for Pinot Noir. But it’s also a grape almost everyone makes. Unlike other varieties, where middlin versions can rest in being drinkable if not exciting, something about Pinot Noir makes okay-only versions less drinkable. Well made Pinot wants delicacy but it also wants risk. Unlike Syrah that can keep interest grown in a range of warm to cool climates (though I vastly prefer cool), Pinot’s structure often falls to squishy grown in the wrong locale. Truth? I’d grown tired from it.

Enter Victoria.

Timo Mayer

Timo Mayer on his Bloody Hill

Timo Mayer grows his own grapes on a steep slope he has named “Bloody Hill,” actually carving that name into the wild grass of the hillside below his house where it’s too steep to easily put vineyard. Describing the choice as art, he laughs, explaining the grass acts like a painting viewed in the right light–when the sun is high the words shimmer. His not-yet-released 2012s are sexy carrying the curved hips of a finely dressed woman when destemmed, and a lean Zorro debonair flair when whole cluster. Both versions drink taut and poised.

Mac Forbes

Mac Forbes showing Mike Bennie the Worri Yallock Pinot Vineyard

Also, in the Yarra Valley, Mac Forbes cuts what Mike Bennie aptly describes as “fine boned” wines. The lines are lean while fleshed, with the pointed toe grace of a ballet dancer outside performance. Forbes strengthens his intended longevity with annual experimental batches he aptly names EB followed by a number. Each EB represents the testing of a hypothesis Forbes wants to consider in his overall program. The resulting development shows with the wines carrying a consistency of character while also becoming more focused in current vintages.

Gembrook Hill

Ian and June Marks standing at the top of Gembrook Hill

Ian and June Marks, of Gembrook Hill, shared a 2002 Pinot Noir, made by Mayer, from the Marks own vineyard. They planted the site themselves more than 30-years ago, as part of the second wave of vineyard owners moving into the Yarra, establishing the furthest south site for the Upper Yarra sub-region.

The eleven year old bottling shows how well their wine ages, generating plush while directed midlines that deepen into earthy, cigar box, meaty characteristics on a juicy light, still lively frame.

With such experience, Marks offers insight into the particularity of the variety. “I reckon the grapes tell you everything.” Ian Marks described to us how he encouraged Mayer, and the Marks’ son Andrew, now also winemaker, to push the envelope on their wines. “I told them, go for it. You have to go right to the edge and produce what the vineyard is capable of producing.”

Such edginess can be found too on the other side of Victoria.

Lethbridge Wine

tiny bunches at Lethbridge Vineyards

Ray Nadeson and Maree Collis, of Lethbridge Wine, grow grapes at the edge of possibility, the Geelong region consistently harvesting last among the mainland appellations. Their Mietta Pinot Noir is home planted on a cool climate vineyard dominated by dry seasons over shallow, dark basalt soils poured on limestone, creating tiny berried small clusters with outrageously low yields.

Thanks to the site’s conditions, the wines are nervy, meant to age, with Lethbridge holding their wines at least three years in bottle before release. In this way, Lethbridge speaks to a French style with a slightly bigger frame. Mietta showcases the couple’s top tier Pinot, while their entry level Menage a Noir Pinot Noir is meant to drink more immediately upon purchase. Menage drinks juicy and fresh, while still offering an energized structure.

Ray Nadeson, Maree Collis, Alex Byrne at Lethbridge Winery

Byrne Wines

The newer label, Bryne Wines, from Alex Bryne (also winemaker at Lethbridge alongside Nadeson and Collis), showcases the fruit of cool climate Ballarat, near the Geelong region. Bryne was forced to declassify his 2011 Pinot after a hard working season due to the extreme weather conditions of that year. (Many people lost fruit thanks to weeks of non-stop rain.) But his soon to be released 2012, and his previous 2010 both offer a sensual youthfulness, giving fruit without sweetness, and a pleasing texture.

Victoria Soils

Looking into the Yarra Valley, in the Woori Yallock area

What excites me about Victoria Pinot Noir comes partially from the cool nights common throughout the region. (Even the warmer Continental climate of Great Western offers a diurnal shift that helps retain wines’ acidity.) The other piece comes from the soils.

Victoria is spotted by iron stone that translates into a ferric finish in many wines. Some locations also generate a slight saltiness. Together the result is a reverberation effect in the throat, with flavors coupled by an echo that generates palpable multi-dimensionality, and longer finish.

***

Thank you to David Fesq, Ray Nadeson, Maree Collis, Alex Byrne, Jonathan Mogg. Thank you to Mike Bennie, Mac Forbes, Timo Mayer, Ian and June Marks.

Portraits from Victoria, Australia

Australia

Hawk Wakawaka

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Feb 23, 2013

1

I love wine. We know this. That said, the reason I do this is for the people. Here are a few portraits of people I was lucky enough to spend time with in Victoria.

More photos and write-ups of these and other wines to follow. Finally back to an internet connection.

Portraits from Victoria

Ray Nadeson and Maree Collis of Lethbridge Wine, Alex Bryne, Bryne Wines

Tom and Sally Belford (and kids), Bobar Wines

Gary Mills, Jamsheed Wines

Mike Bennie, Mac Forbes

Mac Forbes, Mac Forbes Wines

Timo Mayer, Mayer Wine

Ian Marks, Gembrook Hill

Ian and June Marks, Gembrook Hill

Stu Proud, Yarra Valley Viticulturalist

Mike Bennie, Me

***

What a beautiful region.

Thank you.

Geelong and the Great Ocean Road

Australia

Hawk Wakawaka

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Feb 19, 2013

1

Driving the Great Ocean Road

A dear friend that lives in Seattle, Washington, USA asked me to make a point of looking at the night sky in Australia to tell her what it’s like to see entirely new stars.

So, last night after a day of flying into Victoria, vertical tastings of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Shiraz, an Australia-focused dinner of classic regional wines plus locally (as in backyard) harvested lamb leg and shoulder, I walked outside and looked up at the night sky. The first thing I saw was Orion.

Today my host was kind enough to drive me into Geelong and along part of the Great Ocean Road. We stopped and looked south into the Southern Ocean, the water here, a beautiful ultramarine.

Here are photos from two lookouts along the Road.

Eastern View Beach, looking West, Great Ocean Road

standing in front of the Southern Ocean in summer

the view from Devil’s Elbow, Great Ocean Road

The Great Ocean Road often includes whale sightings as they swim through the Southern Ocean. We did not see any this visit.

After the drive we turned to the city of Geelong, the second largest to Melbourne in the region of Victoria, for dinner.

the Geelong Harbor

***

The visit so far has included:

Whale Beach Dinner

(1) an intensive taxi ride from the Sydney airport to a wine party at Whale Beach. The Aussies took a collection to raise the money to get me to the party after my flight arrived in Sydney 12-hours late. The ride cost almost $200 but they decided they’d rather meet me there than have me stay in town. Cool.

Wines they were drinking at the party?

These people have damn good taste.

Rootstock

(2) Rootstock all day intensive Aussie hipster viewing session. Okay, it was actually a WINE TASTING event, and I did taste a ton of wine but just as significant was learning what the Sydney hipster scene looks like. (I’ll post on the stand-out wine from that event soon. Thank you to Mike Bennie for the invitation and his hard work on the event. Congratulations on its success!)

VIctoria

(3) A flight to Victoria. Geelong (and a few from Ballarat) region wine tasting. Tasting of some Australian wine classics from other regions.

I’ve got a lot of wine to write about, but I am also letting myself calibrate to this unique place first.

Tomorrow I head to the Grampions, then on to Yarra Valley.

Cheers!

***

p.s. My internet access here is spotty so I’ll be posting as I’m able. I’d intended to get in a longer write up today but by the time I had internet access I had to admit I was tired. So, instead, these photos.

***

Thank you to David Fesq, the Fesq family, Ray Nadeson, Maree Collis, Alex Byrne.

The Butterfly Effect: How the death of a fad gave birth to beautiful color in wine, Part 1: Considering Recent History

Hawk Wakawaka

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Feb 15, 2013

10

Thank you to Eric Asimov for recommending this article in The New York Times Diner’s Journal “What We’re Reading”, February 19, 2013.

***

Circling George Vare: One Way White Maceration Ferments Came into California

George Vare, an investor with decades of experience in Napa wine, celebrates the work of experimental winemakers. For Vare, the passion of young people trying new approaches exemplifies the future of the California wine industry.

Operating outside the mainstream appears as a theme in Vare’s own history with the industry. In early 1995, Vare and Michael Moone decided to step outside the Cabernet and Chardonnay focus of 1980s and 90s Napa Valley and established a new company, Luna Vineyards. Vare had worked for decades already at scouting and expanding the commercial success of now historic Napa wine labels, including Geyser Peak Winery, Beringer Wine Estates, and others. In 1995, however, after considering the pulse of Napa wine, Moone and Vare realized there was room for taking their business in a different direction.

George Vare in his Ribolla Gialla, Friulano vineyard

Though Italian immigrants had helped establish the original wine industry through the valley, by the end of the last century, little interest in Italian varieties could be found rooted in the area. Together, Moone and Vare decided to take advantage of that missing piece by making Sangiovese and Pinot Grigio.

The original goals of Luna were to make Italian varietals to rival old world quality. Early vintages were described as carrying “old world austerity and terroir, bolstered by new world fullness and verve” (Boca Raton News 16 March 2003).

In March 1995, Vare and Moone’s Luna purchased a Chardonnay vineyard at what were then the Southern reaches of the Silverado trail. What is remarkable about the story is that soon after buying the 82 acre vineyard they replanted most of the site to Pinot Grigio, establishing 44-acres of the variety by 2000, and increasing from there. At the time, the idea of pulling out Napa Valley Chardonnay and replacing it with Pinot Grigio, was surely crazy. So, the group renamed themselves the Luna-tics. Where Oregon had begun the Pinot Gris experiment as early as the mid-60s, Luna stood as one of the leaders of the grape in California. In this way, the intention to do things differently defined the beginnings of Luna. As John Kongsgaard once explained, the self-named Luna-tics even used to play classical music to the vines.

John Kongsgaard Starts the University

After 20 years of success in the Napa Valley wine industry, Kongsgaard was brought in to Luna in 1996 to establish the house’s winemaking style. Konsgaard had started his career making wines in 1980, side-by-side with Doug Nalle at the now defunct Belvedere Winery. By the mid-1990s, however, Kongsgaard had proven himself as an influential winemaker through his 13-years of work with Newton Vineyards.

In 1997, Kongsgaard and Vare began making regular trips to Italy, originally searching for “the holy grail of Pinot Grigio.” As Vare explained, they searched first in Alsace, and though they liked those wines, the climate didn’t suit Napa. Alto Adige also proved too cold. Finally Friuli gave a closer parallel, and a wealth of influence through small scale and experimental winemakers of the region.

Kongsgaard worked with Christopher Vandendriessche, of White Rock, as assistant winemaker initially. Together they helped establish what Abe Schoener calls a university environment in Luna’s winery. Schoener had begun working with the team at the end of the 1990s, gathering data on their vineyard sites, but also learning from Kongsgaard as Schoener’s mentor. Schoener makes clear too that Vare supported and encouraged the winery’s university methodology.

By allowing interns to make their own barrels of wine, while also doing their work for Luna, the facility trained a number of young wine enthusiasts that would go on to influence the area’s wine industry. But the approach also effectively expanded the experimentation witnessed by the mentors as well. Kongsgaard has stated that he fine-tuned some techniques he’d go on to use for his own label through the early investigatory period of Luna.

Schoener explains, Kongsgaard had a talent for standing back to let his mentees explore their interests in wine, while being there to facilitate a successful project at the same time. Vandendriessche operates with a similar approach in his work today at White Rock as well. The site served as Schoener’s first winery in establishing Scholium Project, and today facilitates the work of other new winemakers getting ready to release their work.

Learning from Radikon and Gravner

After Vandendriessche chose to move his attention to the White Rock facility, Kelly Wheat was brought in as the new assistant winemaker to Kongsgaard. Wheat began traveling to Friuli with Kongsgaard and Vare, who had already established strong relationships with the winemakers through Friuli and Slovenia. Wheat benefited, then, from the friendships already started with the likes of Stanko and Sasa Radikon, Josko Gravner, and others.

Radikon had begun experimenting with making his wines with extended skin contact in 1994, utilizing open top wood fermenters. Stanko Radikon’s father had talked about techniques used in Oslajve prior to the onset of more contemporary pressed wine techniques. Eventually Stanko decided to invest in using them.

Previously, Radikon explained, wines were made using all of the fruit, rather than removing the skins. The result was to develop wines with greater texture, aroma, and flavor, that also kept longer after being made. The skin contact style of winemaking, then, was historically situated–a normal approach for the technology of the time–but it was also economical–it made the wine last.

Drawing on Georgian winemaking history, Gravner began using extended maceration fermentation in clay anphora in 1996. He had helped introduce the focus and freshness of temperature controlled stainless steel vats to Friuli, thus introducing the winemaking changes associated with newer technologies. But after a friend brought Gravner a kveri (Georgian anphora), the winemaker experimented with the winemaking techniques of that region, known to be thousands of years old.

With both Radikon and Gravner there was an adjustment period while moving to the historical-but-new-to-them techniques. Each winemaker had developed expertise with their previous styles, and were known for making quality, terroir-driven wines. In shifting to the use of extended maceration, however, they also needed time getting to know the effects of the approach. In 2001, Gravner released his first fully anfora based portfolio (though bottlings as early as 1998 are still available for purchase in the United State). In establishing friendships with both Radikon and Gravner, the Luna-tics were able to learn new techniques both through direct witness at the Italian wineries, and through on going consultations had by phone.

Kongsgaard and Vare had befriended Radikon as early as their first trip to the region, meeting Gravner a few trips later. On one visit with Gravner, a barrel with a plexiglass side stood in the corner. Grapes were inside aging not only on lees, but skins, with the wine in such a state for over a year. The Americans were able to taste the wine from the experiment and were pleased at the result, not having heard of such an approach previously. As Vare described it, the wine had a nice weight and texture, without any bitterness.

Showing Skins: the practice moves to California

After returning from a visit with these winemakers in Friuli in 2000, Wheat decided to try the techniques himself and make extended skin contact lots for some of the white wines at Luna.

In 2000, Wheat began making a Pinot Grigio blend that sent 40% of the grapes straight to press before fermentation, while the rest were put through a crusher to allow more aromatic and textural contribution from skins.The technique loosely resembles the impact of older technology that broke up grapes more than simply pressing them, causing more skin and stem influence (and thus both more aromatics and more body) on the juice.

Wheat experimented further however, making small lots of white wine left to ferment like a red. Inspired by his time in Friuli, Wheat located some Friulano in 2001, sourced from the Hollister area (and grown in limestone) and fermented to dryness on skins, working similarly as well with Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay grown in or closer to Napa. The most successful of these, Schoener believes, was the Fruilano.

Having worked with Luna in various capacities for several years, Schoener became winemaker there after Wheat’s departure in 2002. Witnessing Wheat’s trials with skin contact, Schoener encouraged the Luna label to make some skin contact bottlings. Having become more mainstream by that point (Vare was also no longer acting president), the board was resistant to investing in wines without more proven market success. Schoener stayed in the role at Luna long enough to help winemaker Mike Drash take up the reins in 2003, only ever intending to secure a smooth transition from Wheat to the new person. After Schoener dove into his Scholium Project, beginning to make a skin contact Sauvignon Blanc, the now oft mentioned Prince in his Caves, in 2006.

Luna would not be bottling skin-contact only white wines. However, drawing on Wheat’s experience with the approach, Drash continued making what Luna called their Freakout White blend. The wine included extended maceration of Sauvignon Blanc, as well as Friulano left to ferment to dryness on skins.

Looking for Texture: Pax Mahle experiments

Over in Sonoma County, independently of the work being done with the Luna-tics, Pax Mahle had started Pax Wine Cellars in 2000. The label had a central focus on Syrah, but made Rhone whites as well. Working against the norm at the time, Mahle was committed to making low alcohol white wines, without the influence of new oak. One of the downsides of whites made in this approach, however, is a textural change in the wine’s mouthfeel–they become lighter, with less weight, and to some people, less interest. Searching for a way to offer more textural interest without reliance on new wood, while keeping alcohol levels low, Mahle began experimenting with skin contact lots in 2003. Just like the adjustment period between a new technique and quality wine necessary for Radikon and Gravner, Mahle explains it wasn’t until 2007 that he bottled a skin contact wine. He wasn’t willing to put a label on something he couldn’t get behind. It took those several years to find a barrel he believed in as a stand alone wine. Prior to 2007 the experimental lots were blended back into other white blends.

***

To read part 2 in this series: The Butterfly Effect: How the death of a fad gave birth to beautiful color in wine, Part 2: Variety, Terroir, and Mind Scrambling

Part 3: The Butterfly Effect: How the death of a fad gave birth to beautiful color in wine, Part 3: The Craft of Wine Tasting, and the Question of Responsibility, Conversation with Two Sommeliers

To read last year’s series explaining Orange Wines beginning with how they’re made, then their presence in Georgia, Italy, and California, begin here: Understanding Orange Wines Part 1: A Quick and Dirty Look at How They’re Made and What Their Tannins Do To Our Saliva

***

Over the next weeks I’ll be exploring the work of contemporary skin contact wines from California and Oregon winemakers, both varietals and blends. I’ve been lucky enough to taste several dozen examples both bottled and barreled from a range of grape types in both California and Oregon, and to interview a range of people on the subject.

I’ll be traveling in Sydney, Melbourne, and Geelong as well, however, and so my posts here will be mixed in with updates from Australian adventures.

Cheers!

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