Nice view from the Inn at Spanish Bay

From April 12 to 15, 2012 I attended the Pebble Beach Food and Wine Festival. What a great experience! Probably the best part of this festival was meeting such an array of impressive people from the wine and gourmet food industry.  Click on the link below to see some of the photos of the event.

Pebble Beach Wine and Food Festival

The Festival was celebrating its fifth anniversary reinventing the concept of the food festival, creating over four days of veritable culinary playground for gastronomers and oenophiles the world over. In a short time, it has become what superstar chef Daniel Boulud calls “the most high-end (festival) in the country… my personal favorite”. “The first Pebble Beach Food and Wine Festival in 2008 sent a huge ripple through the luxury lifestyle world. Berhald (David, co-founder of Coastal Luxury Management (CLM)) vividly recalls the opening night reception in that year when 1,500 people showed up – seemingly all at once. “It really put into perspective what it took to create this behemoth event” he says. “It was an unbelievable moment for all of us who work so hard to make it happen”.

Highlighted by a 60,000-square-foot Lexus Grand Tasting Tent that housed two-dozen celebrity chefs, and volunteers pouring 400 unique wines, the initial event drew rave reviews.

The White Wines were Outstanding

An Enjoyable Wine Tasting Event

I felt so sorry I could not make it to one of my favorite events: “Celebrating Thirty Years of Extraordinary 1982 First-Growth Bordeaux“. The taste included the finest year from the finest chateaux in Bordeaux including all the First Growths – Mouton Rothschild,  Margaux,  Lafite, Latour and Haute-Brion – in addition to other standout bottlings. Of course, with such a great collection of ultra quality and expensive wines, seating was extremely limited. I hope to be able to make it next year, when hopefully my two great 2010 Bordeaux wines LATERALITE DROIT and LATERALITE GAUCHE will be featured in that or other similar venues.

I had a chance to meet so many interesting people like the team that led the “Lot18: How the Pros Hunt for Wine Treasures“, Kevin Boyer, (Sr. Director, Lot18), Ray Isle (Executive Wine Editor Food & Wine), Janine Lettieri (Imported Wine Director Lot18), Damon Ornowski, (MS Vin Divino) and Emily Wines (MS, Wine Director Kimton Hotels). With this group we managed to taste and enjoy the stories of an excellent selection of wines, such as the 2009 Chateau Cadillac (Cuvee du Pin Franc, Bordeaux, France), the 2009 Ariette (Quartet, Napa Valley), the 2007 Tolain (Valdisanti, Tuscany, Italy) and the 2007 Camianc , Cabernet Sauvignon (Blue Hall Vineyard, Howell Mountain, Napa), and the 2010 Casa Marin Sauvignon Gris (Estero Vineyard, San Antonio Valley, Chile)

I just finished reading the article published in the “Cooking and Eating” section of the Wall Street Journal titled ” Making the Mondavi Legacy New Again” (“On Wine”, by Jay McInerney, March 24-25, 2012).  An enjoyable article that shows very neatly  why the Mondavi story is so emblematic of Napa’s winemaking history.

After a trip that Robert Mondavi made to to Europe in 1962 he was inspired by the wines he encountered, especially the great growths of Bordeaux. This made him very passionate to the idea that the Napa Valley could produce wines to rival the greatest of the Old World. “After Robert founded his own winery, his drive, his technological innovations an his proselytizing helped raise the bar for Napa Cabernet and to create the market for premium California wines, his partnership with Baron Phillip de Rothschild in the creation of Opus One being perhaps the ultimate validation of his vision”.

Last summer view from our vineyard

Students of European viticulture know that many of the greatest wines come from hillside vineyards. The most successful of the wineries that went to the hills in Napa for their grape production became known for their cult Cabernet wines. With relatively small productions, the wines of Harlan, Colgin, Bryant Family and Screaming Eagle achieved extraordinary quality and price. They also …”pushed the envelope of ripeness and power to new extremes, inspiring raptures from the critics”. Tim Mondavi moved to the hills for his new venture, the Continuum Wines,  in areas close to where the Cults Bryant Family, Chappellet and Dalla Valle have their outstanding vineyards. From its first vintage, Continuum has been composed of a relatively large percentage of Cabernet Franc. “Tim is a fan of the Merlot-and Cab Franc-based wines of the Right Bank of Bordeaux, inevitable softer and more supple than the Cabernet Sauvignon-centric Left Bank Medoc wines, and eventually intends to include more Merlot in the blend when his Pritchard Hill Merlot wines mature”. See this great video about the Continuum State.

The Continuum State

The great bottles of the Continuum State go for about $165 per bottle for the 2007, 2008 and 2009 vintages. The 2008 Continuum is a blend of 71% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Cabernet Franc , 7% Petit Verdot and 5% Merlot. Compare this to the 2007 M by Michael Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon that goes for about $175 a bottle. All of these wines are perfectly balanced and although they are ready to drink now they will improve for years.

This way, Tim realized his father’s dream: to create a Napa Valley red that could stand alongside the best of the Old World wines.

On the latest issue of Wines and Vines (April 2012), Roger C. Bohmrich wrote a nice Guest Editorial tittled “Deconstructing Wine Myths”. In one of his key arguments he states that “The story of single varietals vs. blends is a perfect example of the intersection of historical influences, commercial motives and consumer responses. Bordeaux has been a potent influence in the New World – most prominently by spawning widespread plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. In large measure, the allure of these grapes originated with the reputation of Bordeaux as a paradigm to be emulated ... As it turn out, California’s emphasis on varietal nomenclature is a clever strategy since it serves to diminish competition from Bordeaux”.

It seems to me that what Tim Mondavi is doing for Napa is bringing competition with the best that Bordeaux has to offer without trying to hide the fact that the secret to Bordeaux wines success is precisely due to the blends that give this wine their very complex and balanced flavors.

Stupefying Descriptions for Wine?

While reading a book I stumbled across the author’s words ‘incoherent “stupefying descriptions”’. How accurately it describes those “classic” descriptions about a particular wine. The description leads me off the wrong trail tempting me to try and recognized the array of flavors. I feel taunted by the knowledge that I probably won’t even get close to identifying the essential flavors. So I’ve used these descriptions to refuse certain tastes. I, unlike many others, do not like licorice so any description that touts the greatness of this flavor is off my list. I don’t know about you, but I have developed my own sense of taste believing it is well rounded and adventuresome enough to tackle any new experience. So maybe incorrectly, I judge wines by what I like to taste.

Penny and Rachelle enjoying wine in Crushpad, Sonoma

The Wine Flavor Wheel

I looked at the flavor wheel. I even bought one thinking it would make me a more astute connoisseur of wine. Let’s face it, a sommelier I will never be! But the wheel did help me identify the flavors I do like in other foods. So I began to use these flavors to select particular wines to try. I don’t know what you do, but I find that too much tasting gives me palate “fatigue”. After a while I am just drinking the tastes, not tasting the wine.

So when I wine taste I decide ahead to either visit two or three wineries or choose the same varietal at each winery or try only one winery selection then purchase a bottle to enjoy outside for a picnic. The standard rule is to stop when I’ve had enough, which usually is when every wine tastes the same. Deciding beforehand makes the whole afternoon more fun. I get to enjoy fellow tasters, learning about them or learning something new about the wine. I can even enjoy a new event at special wineries. I think it is the social engagement that makes the day fun.

Do you taste all the available wines?

Certainly I could never try every wine there is. I find wine changes yearly.

The growing seasons change, the winemaker alters his wine-making process, or the harvest time varies. So one year a wine I didn’t like too much becomes exceptional the next. The
adventure is never boring.

The Essence of our Movement is the Essence of Wine

At times I find new people trying wine for the first time. They are overwhelmed by the experience. It is like speaking a foreign language except you never took the class. It’s then that I realize each person needs a sense of independence to decide exactly what they do and do not like. Wine tastes are unique to the individual regardless of what
the “experts” say about a wine.

Recently at a business seminar, the sommelier stated that everyone knows the value of a wine by the Parker point system. Yet ask any family member or close friend of mine, no one will understand this value. It is a meaningless number. The recent trend to produce bold wines means to me the wine will contain fifteen percent alcohol or higher. The reason is the belief that Parker will like these types of wines. I don’t have a Parker palate. Yes, he has his own criteria to systematically judge a wine according to his taste preferences. I realized that I too have my own self-made criteria. Variety is fun. Imagine if every bottle of wine was carefully crafted to taste just like Parker likes it—how boring for all who enjoy wine. So be your own judge.

Wine Tasting in Charles Krug Winery, Napa

Above all else, Be Your Own Judge!

Wines like people have their own characteristics. Maybe the match between the wine and the tasting individual needs a personal adjustment. Develop your own tasting criteria for judging your wine even though the corporate world might laugh at your choices. So what? Get away from the price criteria. Wine, like people, is better judged without preconceived
notions, like a blind tasting. Remember you each like certain tastes. Ignore all ridicule, be your own judge!.

The Beginning of Our Wine Adventure

Our wine adventure began in a local wine shop in Madison, Wisconsin, not the corporate world of grocery wines. As a result, wine tasting has brought many interesting people into our lives. Taste at home if you want—pick the most perfect evening or special occasion and open a new wine as an experiment. The tastes you like or don’t like will
come easily without the audience and industry influences. Learn a little about the history of a particular wine, where it came from, maybe who is making it and which types you particularly enjoy. You can develop your own sensory journey which probably will never end because of the breath of the wine industry in the world.

Be adventurous, start your own neighborhood wine tasting event. Don’t become subjected to meaningless offerings. Break from the experts, become your own sommelier.

Great Wine, Dinner and Friends in Chalk Hills Restaurant