Tensley Wines

Getting back to my place and wine theme, I decided that I need to write about Tensley wines.  It’s been a pretty weird path for me in getting to know Tensley wines, and partially because of that, they’re one of my favorite producers.  Here’s how I came to love their Syrah.

Several years ago, I was reading Wine Spectator and got into their featured story for the month, California Syrah.  To this point, I’d had some experience with Syrah, but mostly it was just cheap stuff and wasn’t all that good.  But, I liked the idea of a big hearty wine that could be spicy and rich or that could be smooth and fruity, or all of the above.  So, in reading the article, I noticed that there was a little profile and bio on a Syrah winemaker from Santa Barbara.  So, I got to know a little bit about Joey Tensley from that article, and after looking at his wines and their reviews from the article, I decided that I needed to try a good California Syrah and that this seemed like a good place to start.

Wine Spectator was especially impressed with Tensely’s Colson Canyon Syrah that year, and with a 95 point rating and just a $35 dollar price tag, I set out to find a place where I could pick up a bottle.  That’s when Wade’s Wines came into the picture.  After a quick search around the internet, I learned that a local wine store had exactly what I was looking for.

Wade’s is a funny place.  It’s nestled in the back of a little parking lot and surrounded by small businesses and warehouse space.  Wade’s itself is really just a wine store in a warehouse.  It has a great selection of everything California and it just so happens that it has one of the largest supplies of Tensley wines anywhere.  I later learned that Wade and Joey Tensley are pretty good friends and that Tensley actually produces Wade’s label of wine. 

On my first trip to Wade’s I was a little overwhelmed, but I knew what I wanted, had a look around, picked up 2 bottles of the Colson Canyon Syrah and decided that I needed to start doing more of my wine shopping here.  Since that first trip, I’ve been back many times and Wade’s actually opened up a tasting room that has some great local Southern California wine and some microbrews.  Anyone in the LA area should check it out.

But, back to Tensley.  I had bought 2 bottles of the highly rated wine.  My plan was to have one to drink immediately and one to hold onto for a while (I was hoping it would be named Wine Spectator’s wine of the year, but it lost out to another Syrah from the same area).  My first experience in tasting Tensley wines is what sold me.  That Colson Canyon Syrah was delicious.  It was a big wine but it was complex.  It was peppery, smoky, spicy, fruity, and smooth all at the same time.  It smelled a little like raspberries and vanilla and had one of the longest finishes in a wine that I can remember.  Simply put, it was delicious and I decided that needed to start trying more Syrah.

On my next trip to Wade’s, I picked up some more Tensley wine, this time just their basic Santa Barbara County Syrah (just $22, a little more in my price range), and I decided to try Wade’s label wine, which as I already noted is made by Tensley.  Again, everything was delicious.

Tensley kinda fell off the map for a little bit with me, but when I made a trip with some friends up to Los Olivos to do some wine tasting, it came back into the picture.  In planning this trip, I didn’t realize that Tensley’s tasting room was in Los Olivos, so it was a pleasant surprise to see it and once we did, it became a must go to for the trip.  We went, we tasted, I bought some more of their wine, and they were back on the map again.  After that trip to Los Olivos, I got in the habit of buying a bottle of Tensley every few months and definitely got in the habit of giving Syrah a larger part in my wine drinking experiences. 

After a few months of getting Tensley wines from Wades and consistently loving them, I decided that I needed to join their wine club.  It is surprisingly affordable and I only commit to buy 5 bottles a year so it’s pretty low key as far as wine clubs go.  I went to their website to sign up, only to find out that there were no more spots available for their club but that I could join a waiting list.  I was a little shocked by this, but joined the waiting list and waited.  And waited.  And waited.  I had forgotten about the wine club entirely by the time I got the email saying they finally had an opening for me some ten months later.

It’s a little bit crazy to think that I had to wait ten months just to be in a wine club so that I could buy someone’s wine.  And, what’s even crazier, is that I signed up for a mailing list at the same time with Saxum vineyards (another Syrah producer), just to get their emails and have the option to buy their wine, and still 18 months later they don’t have room for me. 

So, I’ve been a member at Tensley for about 8 months now.  I’ve gotten two shipments, and I thoroughly enjoyed the first and am waiting for an opportunity to open a bottle from the second (they’re magnums).  Everyone ought to try a good Syrah at some point.  It’s become one of my favorite varietals and if you need my recommendation for a good Syrah to try, it’s got to be Tensley.  From reading about them in a magazine to discovering their wine in a local store to their tasting room to their wait list and finally their wine club, it’s been an interesting road that’s introduced me to their wine. 

Season of Wine

So while my next post will get back to my travels and how place has positively influenced my memories of certain locations and how those locations have helped me form my opinions of the wine I’ve had, but I wanted to look a little bit at my wine drinking cycles first (that and I don’t have anything exciting to drink at the moment). 

Living in California is nice.  We get beautiful weather 330+ days per year.  Our summers aren’t too hot and the winters are like most people’s falls/springs.  That’s why it costs so much to live here.  But, even with our mild conditions, I’ve seen a pattern in my wine consumption over the past several years.  I rarely drink wine when it’s warm outside.  Part of this stems from the fact that I like big, powerful wines, and a heavy cabernet sauvignon really doesn’t sound all that good when it’s 80+ degrees outside.  If I liked white wine and could stomach it on more than just an occasional basis, I think that my wine drinking might be more balanced from season to season.  But, as it stands now, fall and winter are my go-to wine drinking seasons.  So, now that we are getting into these optimal seasons, I’m excited that I finally began to post on this blog again.  I hope that the season and my renewed interest in writing on my favorite topics will push me into a posting mood that might push me through the dry summer months where wine rarely on my mind. 

I think that at least 90% of my posts are on red wine, and while the percentage of red wine vs. white that I consume is likely greater than 90%, I hope that my curiosity on the topic as a whole will provide me with enough to write about consistently for quite some time.

For instance, my curiosity of wine extends further than just drinking wine, I am fascinated by the laws that govern wine across the world, the science that goes into the process of making wine, and how people turn wine into careers.  One of my good friends just became a CSW (certified specialist of wine).  I knew the sommelier certification existed, but I might have to look into becoming a CSW myself.  Wine is something that is both a pleasure and a lesson.  Each time you drink a wine, you are drinking history, drinking politics, local culture, and so much more.  Recently (and I’ll have to post about this soon), I went to a tasting with the Wine Economist (he’s a blogger and author far more famous than I am), but not only did we get a tasting, we got some interesting insight into the economics behind wine.  But that’s for another post.

For now, I’m just content that we are back in prime wine drinking season.  So, for all of those people out there like me, we can finally open those big red wines that have been staring at us all summer.  Salute!

Montefalco Wines

It’s been a little over 7 months since my last post so I figured it was about time to get back on it.  I enjoy writing and while I write quite a bit at work, my topics aren’t all that exciting.  As you guys can probably tell (those of you that actually read this blog), I enjoy writing about my travels as much as (if not more so) I like writing about wine.  So, to get back into writing about topics that I enjoy, I figured that I’d start writing some posts about wine that I’m currently drinking while adding some commentary/memories/insights about the regions they’re from based on my own experiences.  I know that I’ve done this quite a bit already (see all of my trip logs), but I don’t think that I’ve ever paired my trips with a wine that I’m currently drinking.

This idea came up because I just happened to open up a bottle of wine from one of my favorite areas of the world today- Umbria.  I tend to think of Chianti as my favorite wine and it is because it’s so readily available all over the world.  Wines from Umbria are much harder to find, especially my favorite “unknown” wine: Rosso and Sagrantino di Montefalco.  The best way I can describe these wines are like a rustic version of the Rosso and Brunello di Montalcino wines that are much better known.  The Montefalco wines, made from the Sagrantino grape are just as big and complex as the Montalcino wines made from the Sangiovese Grosso grape, but the raw power and in your face taste makes me prefer them (when I can find them).  I’m not sure that a Montefalco wine would ever get scores like the Montalcino wines consistently do, but the rustic nature of them gives them a special appeal to me.

As is the case with almost anything, fond memories had while drinking wine can give the drinker an especially positive (or negative) view of the wine they’re drinking.  Part of my love for the Montefalco wines comes from the way I discovered them.  A few years back, I made a trip to Italy to visit my parents for the holidays (they were living in Florence for the year).  It was to be a quick trip considering the distance I traveled (and all that I wanted to see and do in Italy), but my girlfriend and I still found some time to explore new places when we rented a car for a few days.

We ended up with a little red Fiat 500 (the ones they now sell stateside), and while the car was fun to drive, it felt a little too Italian for me, especially since I’m used to driving a Jeep.  Anyway, on our last full day with the car, we decided to take a trip into Umbria.  I had been to Perugia and wanted to show her the cute little city that is famous for its chocolate, so after taking a look around and having some sweets, we drove further into Umbria.  She had discovered a small town in the middle of nowhere that was supposedly famous for its truffles.  I don’t think she really cared for Perugia, mostly because she had truffles on her mind.  After a nauseating drive that took us deep into the mountains and valleys of Umbria, we arrived at our destination, Norcia.  As it was the middle of winter, it was already beginning to get dark outside, but it was still relatively early so we parked the car and headed into the little town on foot.  Norcia is a lot like other medieval Italian towns, it’s kind of placed on a hill and there seems to be just one main street running from one side to the other.  We perused at all of the different touristy looking shops and quickly discovered that these touristy shops weren’t like the ones we came to know well from our time in Florence, these were tourist traps constructed for Italians, not Americans.  They didn’t sell cheap t-shirts and postcards, but the delicacies of the region- truffles and wine.  Looking at all of the boar salami made with black truffle, looking at the whole truffles, the truffle oil, truffle pasta, truffle cookies (sense a theme yet), we finally noticed that all the stores we visited had the same two types of wine.

Even back then, I thought myself pretty well versed in wine so I was surprised when I did not recognize the bottles that seemed to be sold at every corner.  Finally, I asked a butcher about the wine he was selling and asked him what it was.  That was when I learned about Rosso di Montefalco and Sagrantino di Montelfalco.  Since no one spoke English and since I was out of practice (and don’t know much wine vocabulary) with my Italian, I just picked up that it was the local wine, that it was very good, strong in taste (eat with steak, he said), and that I had to try it.  So, we asked him for a good restaurant in the town and he gave us a few options. 

We walked out of the store with some food souvenirs and went out in search of one of the restaurants that he had recommended to us.  It was still early for dinner by Italian standards so the first one on our list was still closed, but the second one was open.  At 6:30ish, we were the first customers for the evening and walked in while being warmly welcomed by the owner, head chef, and waiter.  He sat us and handed us the wine list.  With the butcher’s recommendations fresh in my mind, I asked him to bring us a good bottle of Sagrantino di Montefalco.  He brought it out and let me try it and I was shocked.  I had been having wine with almost every dinner on my trip, and had even had a Brunello a few days before, but I was floored by the intensity of the wine I was trying.  I loved it.  It was big.  It was bold.  It made my mouth water and I immediately knew why our butcher recommended that we have it with steak. 

We looked over the menu and I looked for the bistecca.  I was a bit disappointed when I saw that the only steak on the menu was a massive cut of meat meant for two.  This being a date, I didn’t know how I’d be able to sell this to the gf, but once she learned that it was topped with truffle oil and shaved truffles, we were sold.  We ordered our appetizer, our obligatory truffle pasta, and our steak.  The appetizer and pasta were delicious, but I was trying to save room for the steak.  When it finally came out, I immediately realized why it was meant for 2.  Only one other time had I ever been served a bigger steak, and that was when I was eating a bistecca al fiorentina with my Italian professor and roommate (ie. meant for 3).  The steak, easily an inch and a half think was as big as hubcap.  It wasn’t just topped with truffle shavings; it was piled high with the delicacy.  We were both intimidated by the steak at first, we took pictures just to prove its size and its impressive toppings, and then I finally got to cut into it for the first bite.  Much like the bistecca al fiorentina, it was rawer than any American restaurant would dream serving a steak.  It was delicious.  So juicy.  I had never had truffle on a steak so the combination was a bit of a surprise to me, but I liked it.   By the time it was less than 1/4^th gone, the girl friend had had her fill and it was up to me to work on the remainder.  I didn’t eat it all, and I quickly realized that much of its size and great taste came from all the fat on the cut of meat (it wasn’t just a giant t-bone type cut, it was the t-bone plus everything else in the vicinity of the cow).  So, I was able to eat most of the best parts of the meat.  At the end of the meal, saying that we were full was an understatement.  Saying that the food was delicious didn’t do it justice.  The wine went perfectly with our meal.  The giant steak and its decadent toppings were barely able to tame the powerful wine that turned out to be the perfect complement to the food.

The two hour drive home was rough.  All I wanted to do was go to sleep, but luckily the drive through the mountains kept me entertained and let me enjoy the moment while thinking about the meal that was still I was still digesting.  I need to look up the name of that restaurant.  For how much I remember about that evening, the name of the restaurant still escapes me.  I still remember the wine: Rocca di Fabri Sagrantino di Montelfalco 2006.  It was the best bottle of wine that I’ve ever had at a restaurant and it only cost us about $30.  It was the best meal I’ve had at a restaurant and it was very cheap considering what we had to eat. 

And, now, almost four years later, I still think about that day often, but especially on nights like tonight when I open a bottle of wine from that tiny part of the world.  Tonight, I’m drinking a 2009 Rosso di Montefalco.  I don’t often find a Montefalco wine stateside, but when I do, I always pick it up.  It’s not a wine for everyone.  It’s not a wine for everyday drinking (like Chianti), but it is an experience.  Keep an eye out for it.  If I were a better known author and had a larger following, I’d be tempted not to write about a wine like this because I like the fact that because no one knows about it keeps it relatively cheap, but I don’t think I’m in a position to really change that by myself (yet).  Try this wine.  If you have a day in Italy, seek out Norcia.  It’ll be the best little town that you’ve ever been to.  You’ll likely be the only one you know that will have ever been there.  Or, a simpler solution, serve this wine next time you have steak and it’ll be a hit and you’ll look like a genius for introducing your friends to a delicious wine that none of them have ever heard of.

Amador County

A few weeks ago, I met up with some friends after work.  We left LA to go on a trip to visit a friend who works at a winery in Amador County, CA.  We live in LA.  She works at a winery in Amador County.  For those of you that are geographically challenged, Amador County is in the Sierra Foothills.  Taking it a step further, the Sierra Foothills are some 330+ miles from Los Angeles.  When we began our drive, I began to think that I was an idiot for thinking this would be a nice trip for a regular weekend.

As with all drives, the miles seem to pass exceptionally fast when they are spent with good company.  We made the drive up quickly and safely so that we go to Amador County shortly after midnight.  While we made it to our friend’s town easily enough, finding her house was another story.  She lived on a poorly paved road in the middle of nowhere.  We weren’t sure our directions were correct, and the owner of the Lexus we were driving cringed each time we hit a pothole, but we finally found our home for the weekend, a nice little house in the middle of farm land.  After the long work day and longer drive, it was bed time. 

Saturday morning came too quickly, but I was able to shake off my tiredness because it was time for wine tasting.  Amador County has 40+ wineries and we were scheduled to go to some of the best of them.  Our day started with breakfast at a local bakery full of locally made artisan treats.  This was a great way to start the day.  Not only did we get a delicious breakfast, we got a taste of what this place was all about.  The bakery had delicious treats made with honest ingredients.  The wineries that we visited that day would follow the same model.

Our first stop on the wine trail was Runquist wine.  The owner and wine maker, Jeff Runquist is pretty well known for making quality wine so I was surprised to discover that his tasting room was in a seemingly unglamorous location in Amador County.  As soon as we started our tasting, I quickly realized that location didn’t matter to Runquist.  It was all about making the best wine possible from the best grapes he could find.  He had Syrah’s made from grapes from Paso, Cabs made from Napa grapes, and Italian varietals made from Amador grapes.  Runquist appreciated terroir but didn’t give us a great example of the terroir of Amador, just highlights of the terroir from some of California’s premier wine growing regions.  It was a good tasting, but I was ready to get on to see what Amador County was all about.

The next couple of places kind of blend together.  Nothing about them stood out.  Each of them made one or two decent wines but nothing worth writing about.  Just before lunch time, it was finally time to visit our friend’s place of business, Vino Noceto.  Since hearing that she worked there, I’d done a bit of research on Vino Noceto and found out that they are one of California’s premier makers of Italian styled Sangiovese based wines.  Not only did they make Sangiovese, they made it in the traditional Italian style and even used Sangiovese Grosso grapes for some of their better labels.  Sangiovese Grosso is the grape that makes the fabulous Brunello di Montalcino wine, one of Italy’s best wines.  Furthermore, Vino Noceto has vines cloned from a few of Montalcino’s most legendary wineries, including Biondi Santi, the father label of Brunello.

Needless to say, I was excited to try their wine.  Biondi Santi Brunellos are among the prizes of my collection and among the best wines I’ve ever had so I was eager to see what a small Nor Cal winery could do with their grapes.  The tasting started off with their basic reds- a Sangiovese and a house red wine.  They were both decent and I could taste the Italian influence, but they didn’t meet the great expectations I’d had for each wine I was going to try there.

Then it was on to the big boys.  The Sangiovese Riserva was the wine that opened my eyes during the tasting.  Their Riserva had a quality that I’d only ever had in Italian Chianti Classico wines.  I was impressed that California could imitate the style so well because having been in the heart of Chianti, it seemed like this winery was on an entirely different planet.  Anyway, their Sangiovese Riserva was great and it got me excited for the next two wines to come.  The next wine we tried was the Hillside Sangiovese.  This wine was made from grapes cloned from one of the great wineries in Montalcino, and while I’ve never had the original product, I think that the Amador reproduction of their wine has to be a pretty accurate representation of the original.  If it’s not and if the original is much better, I need to get my hands on the original asap.  The tasting concluded with the wine that I was looking forward to- the Marmellata Sangiovese- Amador’s representation of the Biondi Santi vine. 

Biondi Santi has made the top two wines that I’ve ever tried.  A bottle of Biondi Santi 1997  Brunello is the best wine I’ve ever had.  The 2001 Brunello is a close second.  I have a feeling that the 2004 Brunello will challenge those two wines for the best I’ve ever had once I decide to open it.  Needless to say, the expectations were sky high.  The Maremellata Sangiovese didn’t immediately wow me as a great wine, but it did remind me of Brunello and showed great promise to become something special.  It was so complex and intensely flavorful that it was unmistakably related to a Brunello.  With all of the Californian representations of Sangiovese that I’d tried previously, I didn’t think it possible that I’d find some accurate representation of Brunello born anywhere but Montalcino.  This wine made me think otherwise.  And, at just $28 per bottle, this wine represents a tremendous value when it comes to wines made from the Sangiovese Grosso strain of Sangiovese grapes.  I bought several bottles of this wine and am holding them, impatiently waiting for time to pass to see if they can age with the grace that their Italian cousins do.  I’m optimistic, especially since I’ve opened and properly aerated a bottle since the trip.  If you’re a fan of Brunello di Montalcino, try this wine.

We ended up having lunch at the winery on the picnic tables just outside the tasting room.  Eating next to the grape vines and playing bocce ball was a great experience and gave all of us the great feeling of being in the middle of wine country.  The afternoon took us to a few more wineries, none of which rivaled what we tried at Vino Noceto.  The day ended with an Italian dinner shared among friends and a visit to a local bar to hear country music.  I couldn’t ask for much more from a Saturday.

Saturday is always followed by Sunday and with Sunday came time to say goodbye.  We had breakfast at our new favorite local hangout, the bakery from Saturday morning.  After that, it was back into the car and onto the 5 freeway to head home.  My goal for the year was to taste honest examples of terroir and to try to understand what makes great wine.  Amador County didn’t give me any real clear answers but it did raise more questions.  What really makes great wine?  I tried great wines grown from vines cloned from Italian legends.  I tried wines from a winemaker that selected grapes that were great examples of terroir, but didn’t grow the grapes himself.  This trip just reaffirmed my thought that it is nice to understand terroir, but it is better to try new wines and to put the dots together yourself to see which aspects of terroir really matter to you, the one drinking the wine.  Each trip into wine country teaches me something, and armed with this new approach, I began the countdown to my next trip into wine country.

Honest Wines

The wine industry is a funny business.  Most wineries (the 99% if you will) aren’t necessarily in it to make a profit.  Sure, a profit is nice, and likely is a goal of most wineries, but think about all the startup costs for a winery.  Land.  Machinery.  Labor.  Time.  That’s a big investment for any would be wine entrepreneur.  I got to thinking about this after meeting the marketing and hospitality director of Ladera Wines the other day.  At dinner we began talking about the wine business and my parents mentioned a tiny winery they had once visited and voiced the question: how do they make ends meet?
The answer that we received from our industry insider surprised me slightly, but it also gave me hope for the industry.  He said that most people don’t open wineries seeking profit.  Most people open wineries because they want to make wine the way they believe it should be made.  I’m paraphrasing him here, but this caught my attention.  Most people open wineries because they want to make wine the way they believe it should be made.  An answer like this wouldn’t fly with the big boys of the industry that are out there to make a profit.  I also doubt that this answer would fly with the Robert Parkers of the world.  But, for me, your average enthusiast, I loved this answer and it immediately made think differently about the wine I was drinking.
I liked the thought that I was drinking a product that the winemaker designed for me based on his or her relationship with the grapes.  To me, this answer was a simple way of defining terroir and describing the winemaker’s relationship with all aspects of the wine making process.  From the land to the weather to the winemaker’s personal style and everything in between, making an honest wine so people can taste a winery’s personality is what wine making should be about.  These days where the mass produced wines are out there strive to be the same year in and year out, honest wines are hard to find.  I wish this weren’t the case, but since winemaking is still a business and because people like predictability, more and more wineries are making seemingly generic wine and losing some of that personality.
With my new goal of taking notes on each wine that I drink, I hope to be able to find some more honest wines so that I don’t find myself writing the same description each time I drink a Cabernet.  So, just a few weeks into my new mission, I have new ideas about how I will try to find honest wines.  I am going to strive to try multiple wines made by the same winemaker to see how his or her influence on wines varies from varietal to varietal.  I am also going to try to sample the same varietal from the same region made by several different winemakers in hopes of discerning style and trying to learn more about the terroir of a region.  I hope that taking these two steps will help me think about the process more and will help make me a more educated wine connoisseur.  I expect this to be difficult and I expect it to take some practice, but I also expect it to be more rewarding than the random approach to sampling wine that I have been taking.
My first test with my new approach will probably come in a few weeks when I make a visit to several wineries in northern California.  I also hope that I’ll get to try this approach out when I make it up to Napa again and visit Ladera for myself.  The wine we had the other night would have put Ladera on my list of places to visit by itself, but the insights into wine I received from our guest made it a must visit.
If anyone wants to take on this new approach to tasting with me, let me know and we will figure out ways to try different wines made by the same winemaker or we’ll start focusing on a region and see where that takes us.

New Year, New Goals

So, one of my goals for 2011 was to write 100 blog posts.  I started off strong, but wasn’t able to keep up the torrid pace that I set in February and March.  I got close but work got in the way and I had to scale back my writing in order to keep up with my job.  Another contributory factor in my falling off last summer and at the end of last year was the fact that I went through a phase where I just didn’t drink that much wine.  Sure, I had those times when I went up to the Malibu winery and tasted and had those meals with friends where we tried several different wines, but I just didn’t have any of those wine experiences that made me want to write about the stuff.  I’m still trying to figure out how to consistently find “post worthy” topics on the world of wine, so any ideas along those lines would be appreciated.

I’m writing this post because I’ve obviously found one such post worthy topic to write about, and that comes in the form of one of my goals for 2012: making tasting notes on all the wine I drink.  It sounds really easy, kinda lame, but I’m hoping that once I work at it a bit, it’ll turn into a valuable source of information for me.  I did something like this a while back but it didn’t gain any traction so hopefully this attempt goes better.  I’ve bought myself 100 note cards, and each time I try a wine, I am going to make my own tasting notes on that note card and file it away so that hopefully that card will help me remember what I like, what I don’t, and what I need to/want to try more of.

Here’s how I’m going to do this.  On the top of each card, I’m going to write the name of the producer (ex. Gallo Family Vineyard).  Line 2 will have the varietal, the region, and the vintage (Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, 2008).  Line 3 will have the date on which I tried the wine and the format in which I tasted it (1/6/12, standard 750ml bottle).  Lines 3- the end will have my tasting notes (Ripe fruit and spice smell, tannic taste that overpowers everything else, might need to breathe more, but a decent wine with a meal and a decent value when on sale).

I hope that once I start writing down my impressions of each wine, I’ll become a better taster and better writer on the subject.  I expect my initial attempts at creating my own notes to be generic and kinda lame, but am hoping that this practice will help me become more specific and discerning when it comes to assessing, writing about, and ultimately enjoying wine.  I’d recommend anyone that enjoys wine but struggles when it comes to figuring out why or what they like in it to try this out for a while.  In this day in age of smart phones, pretty much everyone can make these notes on their phones rather than by carrying around note cards, so it should be a somewhat painless task.  I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes.  It is said that Robert Parker tries 10,000 wines a year and while I know that I’ll only be able to taste a fraction of that number, I’m hoping that this new practice of mine survives until I make my next trip to a wine region so that I can really begin to learn characteristics of regions and wines for myself rather than just reading about them and then occasionally trying them.

This may not be your typical new year’s resolution, but it should be more enjoyable than most that I’ve made because after all, that’s the whole point when it comes to drinking wine.

I was serious when I asked for ideas on potential post topics, but for now, I think I have the next few figured out.  Later this week, I’m going to take a look at advertising in the wine industry and how/why it lags far behind advertising for the beers/tequilas/etc. of the adult beverage world.

Temecula Tasting Trip

A few weeks ago, I made a wine tasting trip out to Temecula with several friends. A friend of mine lives out in Temecula and has wanted us to come down for a while. After missing the first group outing down there, I decided it was time to try it out for myself. I’m not gonna lie that I was had a snobby attitude when it came to Temecula and the wine they produce down there. Of course, I’d never had a wine from Temecula prior to my trip there so my prejudice was unfounded, but now I’ve had a few wines from there so I can say a bit about what they’re doing down there.   We went to a few wineries that our host had scouted out for us. To say the least, I was not impressed. The wineries themselves were beautiful and they were crowded with people so there was a good feeling there among the people doing the tasting, but the people conducting the tastings did not leave me with such a good impression.
At the first winery, the woman pouring our wine only gave us the time of day when we yelled at her telling her what we wanted and only gave us her attention long enough to pour our wine, tell us it was good (without any further explanation) and mark our tasting card saying we’d had the wine in question. Now a great first stop for someone looking to learn about the area. I didn’t need her opinion or insight though- the wines weren’t great. I don’t know if I’ve ever been to a tasting where I haven’t been the least bit tempted to buy a wine that I tried. This was the first. On the way out, we saw a woman passed out on a sofa in the tasting room. It was 1pm. The tasting room was beautiful as was the scenery, but the wine and the employees got a “F” in my book.
Tasting room number two was also beautiful. It was set on a gorgeous plot of land overlooking some of the vineyard, the tasting room was a little shack like building that was charming, and there was even a bocce court there! Also, the staff was friendly and helpful. Great start to the visit, but the wine couldn’t complete the picture of perfection. I tried the Sangiovese (I always try Sangiovese when I can). The Sangiovese was terrible. One of my friends accurately said that the wine smelled like urinal cakes. Picture it. Smell it. I tasted it. Luckily, the rest of my tasting was (slightly) better, but one of my friends tried a wine that was, without a doubt, the worst wine (or thing) I’d ever tasted. It tasted like grape juice mixed with gasoline. Not for me. On to the next stop.
Tasting room number three actually had decent wine. They made Italian style wine (that didn’t smell like urinal cakes). They had a beautiful set up (complete with big screens showing us college football). But, again, the staff disappointed me here. I tried the wines made in the Italian style, but was put off when the guy pouring my wine corrected me, not once, but twice on my pronunciation of Italian wine varietals. I speak Italian. I was saying the names of these wines correctly, and it may be snobby of me to say this, but that pissed me off and made me want to move on to the next one.
The last stop of the day was the one I was dreading. This last stop was one of those wineries that seem like they prey on suckers. They have wine tasting, but they are more a resort than anything. Complete with a spa and boutique hotel. Complete tourist trap wine establishment at its finest. I tried 8 or 9 wines here and was pleasantly surprised given what I’d tried up to this point. Still nothing that stood out to me as worthy of a purchase until I tried their desertish wines. The port was great. Maybe the best I’ve had from California. Their late harvest Riesling was also brilliant. I bought both, much to my own
surprise given the tastings I’d had that day. Still, I’m eager to try them and glad I found something other than the scenery and company to justify the trip down there.
With my day of tasting done, and after a few weeks of reflection, I’ve come to a few conclusions about Temecula. First, there is a reason that you don’t see wines from Temecula on the grocery store shelves. They just aren’t that good. Second, the wine world is small (but growing daily), but there is a reason that all the wine makers down there work in Temecula. They just aren’t that good at what they do. In an era where you can import grapes from hundreds of miles away to make wine with. In an era where you can make wine without growing grapes yourself. In an era that you can choose your ingredients from some of the best grape growing regions in the world, you still have to make wine from those ingredients. Making that wine isn’t easy even with quality ingredients, and they just don’t do it well in Temecula. Sure, this is a generalization, and a snobby one at that, but now that I’ve actually had a few wines from there, I can safely say that I will now avoid Temecula wine whenever possible.
I don’t want my negative post and view of Temecula’s wine to take away from my trip down there. It was phenomenal. My hosts were great. I had a wonderful dinner (orange chicken from a little outdoor restaurant while listening to live music). I got to experience the day with great friends, and I got to visit another wine region. All in all, it was a great day, I just wish the wines and the people serving me the wine were half as good as the company I had.