2007 Balletto Vineyards Winery Block Pinot Noir

Mission Codename: The Secret Stash

Operative: Agent Noir

Objective: Agent Noir is back, and this time we sent him to Sonoma County’s Russian River Valley to locate a great Pinot Noir that drinks above its price category.

Mission Status: Accomplished!

Current Winery: Balletto Vineyards

Wine Subject: 2007 Winery Block Pinot Noir

Winemaker: Anthony Beckman

Backgrounder: The Russian River Valley in Sonoma is particularly well suited to producing exceptional Pinot Noir. This AVA was officially designated in 1983, but many of the wines in the region used the designation as early as the 1970s (early in California’s wine history) with the many of the vines having been first planted in the early 1900s.

Wine Spies Tasting Profile:

Look – Pretty and brightly colored with a ruby hue that gets more vibrant on the edges, this wine shimmers and reflects the light like a red gemstone that seems alive.

Smell – The bouquet is full of flowers, fresh cut and dried, some roses and a few violets, with red fruits, spice and smoky sweet vanilla, mocha and oak shadings.

Feel – The palate is smoothly lush, rich and silky round, classic Pinot Noir in texture and class, but still lively and zesty too.

Taste – The mouth starts with black cherry, plum, boysenberry pie and cocoa, with layers of cola, exotic spices and earthy lavender, again this is classic Pinot Noir character, plus it shows the Russian River Terroir to perfection.

Finish – Savory sweet and long on the finish with lots of blackberry jam, coffee bean, vanilla and candied cherry all lingering, while still all balanced with crisp acidity that makes you want even more.

Conclusion – This focused and very well made Pinot Noir is pure and a real joy, with style and substance that make this wine punch way above its weight price wise. You can enjoy this wine anytime and anywhere without quilt as it is light on the wallet and great with food and or just sipping away. I would suggest mild cheeses, simple red meats or salmon to go with this Pinot, and lots of smiling friends.

Mission Report:

WINEMAKER INTEL BRIEFING DOSSIER

SUBJECT: Anthony Beckman

WINE EDUCATION: 3 years as the wine buyer for Taylor’s Market in Sacramento, CA. Bachelors of Science in Viticulture and Enology University of California-Davis

WINEMAKING PHILOSOPHY: Grow it on the vines, and do as little as possible in the winery.

FIRST COMMERCIAL WINE RELEASE: 2001

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WINEMAKER INTERVIEW

AGENT RED: Greetings, Anthony. We are thrilled to be showing your Winery Block Pinot Noir today. Thanks so much for taking some time to answer questions for our Operatives today.

ANTHONY: It’s a pleasure to be here with everyone.

RED: Was there a specific experience in your life that inspired your love of wine?

ANTHONY: When I was12 or 13, I went to dinner with my parents in Santa Fe, New Mexico at a place called Julian’s, and they served a duck breast with a fresh blueberry reduction sauce. That first bite changed my life. It was the first time that food gave me such a strong emotional and physical response. I was in heaven. To this day, I have a vivid memory of those flavors, how well they fit together and – most importantly – the incredible feeling they gave me. After that, I started searching for foods that would re-create that first food-related emotional experience, and of course came across fine wine in the process, and…well, everything changed when that happened and there really was no turning back from a career that involved wine. It became too much a part of my daily life to not dive in and become a part of it.

RED: What wine or winemaker has most influenced your winemaking style?

ANTHONY: As a young winemaker, there certainly are some giants in the winemaking world that I look up to, and they all share the same qualities in their winemaking. In general, their wines are balanced, and beautiful, with an elegant texture, a healthy dose of acidity and lots of complexity. Wines that make you think about the flavors and layers instead of being beaten over the head with them. Regardless of the variety, if a wine has all those things, I’m going to like it. And, it’s really what I am trying to do with all the wines I’m making for Balletto Vineyards.

RED: Who do you make wine for?

ANTHONY: I feel that winemaking is 95 percent artistic expression, and – like a painter or sculptor or poet – the end product needs to be displayed and shared so that someone across the world can open a bottle and get that awesome spark of enjoyment from a wine that I’ve made. Without that wine-loving consumer, winemaking wouldn’t be nearly as fun or fulfilling.

RED: Please tell me a little bit about the wine we are featuring today.

ANTHONY: The 2007 Balletto Vineyards Winery Block is selected from a special block of Pinot Noir that surrounds our winery in the cool southern third of the Russian River Valley. It’s always the most pretty of the single vineyard Pinot Noirs we produce. It’s also the wine that we most sell to high-end restaurants as chefs love this wine because it’s such a versatile food pairing wine. The aromas are classic Pinot with bright cherry, raspberry, forest floor and clove and cinnamon spice. It has a fine-grained tannin structure and it’s all held together with an incredibly balanced acidity. It’s drinking beautifully right now, but will improve in bottle for another three or four years.

RED: What is your favorite pairing with today’s wine?

ANTHONY: I’m a sucker for fresh wild salmon – caught that day if you’re really lucky – grilled with a touch of salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon. The flavors are just big enough to compliment this elegant wine without overpowering it.

RED: In your opinion, what makes the Russian River Valley so special?

ANTHONY: The Russian River Valley – especially where we’re located in the cool southern tip of it – is one of those perfect places to grow wine grapes. In the morning, we’re drenched with cold fog from the nearby Pacific Ocean. By mid morning, the sun will be shining and we’ll gain 30 or more degrees in a few hours. By early evening the fog will roll back in and cool things down again. Because of this weather pattern, we’re able to get ripe flavors at lower alcohols and still maintain the grapes’ natural acidity.

RED: What is occupying your time at the winery these days?

ANTHONY: This is the best part of the season. Bottling is over and the 2009s are safely tucked away in barrel. Now I’m just starting to think about my Pinot Noir blends and tasting all my barrels to figure out what new oak worked for which lots and which barrels I want to order for the 2010 season.

RED: How would you recommend people approach your wines and wine in general?

ANTHONY: In general, I’m a true believer in the axiom ‘Drink what you like, and like what you drink.’ Because we’re dealing with individuals and their personal tastes, there is no universally excellent wine. It doesn’t matter if it’s cheap, expensive, critically acclaimed or critically panned. If you like it and it gives you enjoyment, then it’s excellent. The person sitting next to you might disagree, and that’s what makes it entertaining. If we all liked the same things, the wine world certainly would be a boring place.

RED: Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?

ANTHONY: We’ve just started our Balletto Vineyards Facebook page and it’s a cool way to keep track of everything we’re doing throughout the growing season.

RED: I’ll tell people to check it out. Thank you so much for your time. We learned a lot about you – and your wine. Keep up the great work, we are big fans!

Wine Spies Vineyard Check:

The location of the Balletto Vineyards winery can be seen in this satellite photo.

2006 Peterson Winery Dry Creek Valley Syrah

Mission Codename: The Fred and Jamie Show

Operative: Agent Red

Objective: Return to stellar stand-by, Peterson Winery, in Sonoma County’s Dry Creek Valley. There, secure the remaining allocation of their Bradford Mountain Syrah.

Mission Status: Accomplished!

Current Winery: Peterson Winery

Wine Subject: 2006 Bradford Mountain Syrah – Dry Creek Valley – Bradford Mountain – Gravity Flow Block (whew!)

Winemaker: Jamie Peterson

Backgrounder:

Sonoma County’s Dry Creek Valley is a treasure trove of great wines. While The Wine Spies have been trying to keep from acquiring too many wines from the region when the wines are great, why not? Today’s selection is from the Bradford Mountain Vineyard which is located on the western edge of the DCV and its higher elevation and unique soil composition most influencing the grapes grown there. This co-fermented masterpiece Syrah also contains 8% Vioginier and 2% Petite Sirah – a classic Norther Rhone trick of the trade

Wine Spies Tasting Profile:

Look – Dark purple with a deeper heart of even darker purple. There is clarity, throughout, if hold the wine up to the light. When you do hold it to the light, or swirl it, beautiful ruby edges shine brightly.

Smell – Dark and softly earthen, with gorgeous blueberry and blackberry up-front. After some swirling, a deep inhalation reveals kola nut, tobacco, leather, dark chocolate and black pepper.

Feel – Plush and soft on the attack, the the wine eases into a medium-bodied feel that coats the mouth. The wine spreads around the palate, starting at the center of the tongue and radiating outward.

Taste – Richly delicious with complex flavors that lead with in instant but fleeting burst of bright red cherry. This is quickly replaced with darker flavors of blackberry, cola, bramble, black cherry and love. Yes, I taste love in this wine!

Finish – Long and lingering with a solid structure that shows great fruit that gradually tails off, leaving behind a soft minerality and a hint of spice

Conclusion – Wow! There is an awful lot going on in this wine. Not only in its delicious flavors and bold aromas, but also in the way that it was crafted. Fred grows the grapes that go into a Peterson wine and his son, Jamie, makes the wine. Both father and son work as a team to create some of our very favorite California wines. Jamie, who has been working in the family winery since he was just 12 years old, shows off remarkable winemaking skills, especially for someone seemingly so young. This wine is a solid, delicious, wonderful and balanced treat that our tasting panel could not stop gushing about. If you love great Syrah, this wine is sure to please.

Mission Report:

WINEMAKER INTEL BRIEFING DOSSIER

SUBJECT: Jamie Peterson

DATE OF BIRTH: 03/20/1981

PLACE OF BIRTH: Saratoga, CA (Mt. Eden Vineyards)

WINE EDUCATION: Ongoing, on-the-job. UC Davis Extension chemistry/lab analysis/viticulture classes.

CALIFORNIA WINE JOB BRIEF: Grew up in Peterson Winery, helping with odd jobs in the winery and vineyard as a teenager. Worked first harvest at 19, and then traveled to Australia and New Zealand to work harvest in 2001. took over as Assistant Winemaker at Peterson Winery in 2002. Given full Winemaker responsibility in 2006.

WINEMAKING PHILOSOPHY: “Zero Manipulation”/Minimal intervention, letting the vineyard and vintage show through in each bottling. No fining, no filtration. Minimal new oak usage, minimal additions and SO2 use.

SIGNATURE VARIETAL: Dry Creek valley Zinfandel.

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WINEMAKER INTERVIEW

AGENT RED: Greetings, Jamie. We are thrilled to be showing your 2006 Syrah, Gravity Flow Block, today. I am insane-crazy about the wine!! Thanks so much for taking some time to answer questions for our Operatives today. And, thanks for making such amazing wines!

JAMIE: Thank you for giving me the time.

RED: Was there a specific experience in your life that inspired your love of wine?

JAMIE: It’d be hard to pick one. Growing up with the sights, sounds, and smells of the winery and vineyards, there were many inspirational moments. But I didn’t think I’d be getting into the life of wine as deeply as I have until I worked harvests in 2001 in Australia and New Zealand. Seeing the international wine community and how it ties people together made me decide to come back to the family winery and join full time in 2002.

RED: And where did you learn the most about winemaking?

JAMIE: From my father, growing up in the winery, and being able to learn on the job.

RED: What is your winemaking style or philosophy?

JAMIE: I believe that vineyard and vintage driven wines are the only reason for small wineries to exist. I prefer wines from different vintages to reflect the growing season (otherwise why put the vintage on the bottle?) rather than use additives (acid, tannins, enzymes, gum arabic, overblown new oak) or technological processes (filtration, alcohol removal, micro-oxygenation) to create wines that taste the same each year. I don’t filter or fine our wines, and I predominantly use native yeast fermentations and malo-lactics, so we have to keep things clean and monitor closely, as we don’t choose to use the tools for fixing mistakes that some wineries do. We source from the same vineyards each year, so there is a thread of continuity running through vintages. Our vineyards are sustainably farmed, with a few certified organic, and a number of others dry-farmed.

RED: What wine or winemaker has most influenced your winemaking style?

JAMIE: I’m inspired by European vintners who have made wines from the same places for generations, and haven’t succumbed to commercialism.

RED: How long have you been making wine?

JAMIE: 2002 was my first full year of working with wines from grape to bottle. 2000 was the first full harvest I worked with my father. At 28, I have 12 harvests under my belt (including working in both Australia and New Zealand in 2001).

RED: Who do you make wine for?

JAMIE: I make wines for my own tastes, and then we find enough people that share our ideas to buy it. We don’t submit our wines for scoring or competitions.

RED: Tell me, what makes Bradford Mountain so special?

JAMIE: We are above the fog line, and the vineyard is at a place where it gets the full brunt of the cooling winds from the coast. So we are getting the benefits of both more hours of sunlight and the acid-retaining and flavor developing cooler nights. This makes for a fully ripe but also very complex and balanced wine. The Bradford Mountain has a distinct soil, at least where our vineyards are. There is a large proportion of rock and clay, providing great drainage, and the vines really struggle to get the roots deeper into the red soil, making more mineral characteristics in the wine.

RED: What is one piece of advice that you would give to someone that is considering a career as a winemaker?

JAMIE: Realize that winemaking is both simple and complicated. It’s all just fermented grape juice, but it’s all about the details; every minute little thing you do or don’t do to the grapes or wine will affect how it turns out.

RED: What is occupying your time at the winery these days?

JAMIE: We just finished bottling our 2009 Sauvignon Blanc, and will start on some of the 2008 red wines soon. I’m already looking ahead to the 2010 harvest, thinking about what grapes we will be getting this year beyond our estate fruit. I’m tasting through the barrels of the past two vintages, assessing the development in the wines, and deciding what new barrels to purchase this year.

RED: Please tell me a little bit about the wine we are featuring today

JAMIE: The Gravity Flow Block Syrah was the realization of a dream of my father’s to plant a Cote Rotie style Syrah/Viognier vineyard on our most rocky, exposed piece of land at the top of Bradford Mountain. We put the vines in the ground in 1999 and 2000, and got our first crop in 2003. Each year the wines show more and more depth as the vines roots get deeper into the rocky clay soil. The 2006 is a great vintage, showing the huge, rich qualities that the Syrah provides, but isn’t over the top, being balanced by the brightness the 8% Viognier brings. It was aged for nearly two years in barrel, and bottle unfined and unfiltered.

RED: What is your favorite pairing with today’s wine?

JAMIE: I always like to open our Syrah whenever I or my father cook (ideally on the grill) lamb. A leg of lamb with garlic, herbs, and black pepper, and the smokiness from the grill, is the classic, but any type of lamb dish really brings out all the fruit and complexity of the Syrah, and the Syrah mountain tannins and fresh acidity help cut through the richness of the meat.

RED: Please share one thing about yourself that few people know

JAMIE: I like to go mushroom hunting (for chanterelles and porcini), even though as a teenager I accidently picked and ate Death Cap mushrooms.

RED:What is your favorite ‘everyday’ or table wine?

JAMIE: Zinfandel is the wine I seem to open the most often of our own, but I also drink a lot of Rhone wines, and wines from the Ventoux.

RED: How would you recommend that people approach your wines, or wine in general?

JAMIE: So many people look for the “best” wine. I always ask them “best for what?” Every wine has a place and time for appreciating (unless it just is a wine that really sucks…), and it’s more important for people to figure out what types of wine they like, and why, than what others think is the best. Trust your own palate rather than what a critic or others say.

RED: Thank you so much for your time. We learned a lot about you – and about your wine. Keep up the great work, we are big fans!

JAMIE: Thanks for having me, and for appreciating and selling our wines!

Wine Spies Vineyard Check:

The location of the Peterson Winery can be seen in this satellite photo.

2006 Sausal Winery Family Zinfandel

Mission Codename: Fifty and Fabulous

Operative: Agent Red

Objective: Return to Sausal Winery and secure their 2006 Family Zinfandel for our Operatives around the world

Mission Status: Accomplished!

Current Winery: Sausal Winery

Wine Subject: 2006 Family Zinfandel, Alexander Valley

Winemaker: Dave Demostene

Backgrounder: Our Operatives loved the last Sausal wine that we featured, and they have asked us to return to the winery to procure an allotment of their lower-priced, Family Zinfandel. While perhaps not as robust or complex as the Reserve Old Vine Zin, today’s wine is an easy-drinker with plenty of charm. If you are looking for a budget Zinfandel that pairs easily, you might consider picking up a few bottles of today’s wine.

Zinfandel is related to the Italian Primitivo grape, tracing its origin to the Croatian grape Crljenak Kastelanski. Zinfandel is one of the most versatile varietals with the ability to make wines, both rich to fruity, dark to light, and dry to sweet. Alexander Valley Zinfandels, which are characterized by their big, extracted flavors, are gaining in popularity with our Operatives. Read Agent Red’s tasting notes and mission report below.

Wine Spies Tasting Profile:

Look – When looking at this wine, sitting still in the glass, it has a somewhat garnet hue to it. Move the wine, however, and ruby color leaps out at you. Perfectly clear through its core, and showing off pinkish edges, the wine shows thin tears that cling to the glass for a moment, before the streak their way downward.

Smell – Mixed black and red fruit present up front, with soft cherry and subdued blackberry. Dried fall leaves, soft leather, mixed spice and black pepper.

Feel – Light and easy in the mouth, then soft, fine-grained tannins take hold, adding a soft and spreading dryness.

Taste – Blackberry, juicy bright cherry and plum lead the way. These are joined by soft spice, soft black pepper and a hint of smokey oak.

Finish – Long and bright, with pronounced red cherry and a hint of black pepper.

Conclusion – This wine likes a fair amount of decanting to really get the most from it. After 30 minutes of decanting, the wine was much more flavorful and had a far more balanced overall appeal. After an hour, the wine was transformed, offering the drinker a deeper, more flavorful wine that delivered better flavors, more complexity and a richer nose. Be patient with the wine and you shall be rewarded. Our tasting panel paired the wine with chips and salsa. I can think of few pairings that are more challenging for a wine, but this 2006 Sausal Family Zinfandel, made from 50 year-old vines, held up beautifully.

Mission Report:

WINEMAKER INTEL BRIEFING DOSSIER

SUBJECT: Dave Demostene

DATE OF BIRTH: 12/1939

PLACE OF BIRTH: Healdsburg, CA

WINE EDUCATION: After graduating from Cal Poly and completing the wine oenology program at Davis, I worked for 17 years with my father who was a winemaker

CALIFORNIA WINE JOB BRIEF: Sausal Winery, Winemaker since 1973

WINEMAKING PHILOSOPHY: The less you do to the wine the better

SIGNATURE VARIETAL: Zinfandel

CAREER HIGHLIGHT: 1986 Sausal Family Zinfandel was featured as the 2nd “Great Buy” in 1989 Wine Spectator. At the time it retailed for $6.75 a bottle.

CAREER HIGHLIGHT: 2003 Sausal Century Vines Zinfandel was featured as the Zinfandel of the Year with 96 pts in the Connoisseurs’ Guide to California Wine

WINEMAKER QUOTE: It takes good grapes to make good wine

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WINEMAKER INTERVIEW

AGENT RED: Greetings, Dave. Thanks so much for taking some time to answer questions for our Operatives today.

DAVE: You’re welcome!

RED: Was there a specific experience in your life that inspired your love of wine?

DAVE: I grew up in the wine business, watching and helping my father make wine… this was way before it was popular. It was just our way of life then: Growing grapes and making wine.

RED: And where did you learn the most about winemaking?

DAVE: I learned by watching my father and in those days if someone made a good wine you’d ask them how they made it and they would tell you. It was a small industry then and everyone shared what they did or would be happy to help you out.

RED: What is your winemaking style or philosophy?

DAVE: I try to get away from the heavy fruit and high alcohol wines. I like a more balanced wine.

RED: What wine or winemaker has most influenced your winemaking style?

DAVE: My Dad

RED: How long have you been making wine?

DAVE: I’ve been making wine all my life. I started working in the winery when I was 14 years old, after school and on weekends. I did everything: Shoveling pumice, pumping over, and racking wine.

RED: Who do you make wine for?

DAVE: I make wine that I like and our customers seem to like that too.

RED: Tell me, what makes the Alexander Valley so special?

DAVE: The soil and micro climate make this a good area. We have well drained soil, warm days with cool nights and a breeze that blows through the valley. Perfect growing conditions.

RED: What is one piece of advice that you would give to someone that is considering a career as a winemaker?

DAVE: Get your basics at school, but then find a winery that makes wine you like to get your apprenticeship from. Work a harvest there to learn how its done.

RED: What is occupying your time at the winery these days?

DAVE: We’ve just finished up some bottling in the winery. In the vineyard, buds are breaking. As of this week all of our vines buds have pushed and the 2010 vintage has begun.

RED: Please tell me a little bit about the wine we are featuring today

DAVE: Sausal Family Zinfandel is a classic Alexander Valley Zinfandel, produced from estate grown grape vines averaging 50 years old. Following fermentation, the wine was aged twenty-one months in a combination of American and French oak barrels, adding complexity. The 2006 vintage is a medium bodied Zinfandel, bright with cherry and plum aromas, and a long mouthwatering finish.

RED: What is your favorite pairing with today’s wine?

DAVE: I like to pair this wine with a creamy pasta Alfred or stroganoff, but this wine also holds up nice to chili spice like southwestern dishes.

RED: Please share one thing about yourself that few people know

DAVE: I like to hunt. Mostly pig, deer and elk

RED: What is your favorite ‘everyday’ or table wine?

DAVE: You can’t go wrong with our Sausal Family Zinfandel

RED: How would you recommend that people approach your wines, or wine in general?

DAVE: Our wines are ready to drink when they are released and are made to be enjoyed with food.

RED: If you could choose any one wine to drink (regardless of price or availability), what would it be?

DAVE: Sausal Century Vines Zinfandel. This wine is made from vines that are over 130 years old. It’s soft and elegant. A perfect afternoon sipping wine.

RED: What is the one question that I should have asked you, and what is your answer to that question?

DAVE: Can Zinfandel age? It depends on the grapes and the vintage, but as a rule old vine Zinfandel can age. The older vines, maybe because their yield is so low, make wine that ages for a long time.

RED: Thank you so much for your time. We learned a lot about you – and about your wine. Keep up the great work, we are big fans!

DAVE: Thank you very much, and I hope you enjoy our wine.

Wine Spies Vineyard Check:

The location of the Sausal winery can be seen in this satellite photo.

2008 Comelli Paolino Friulano Colli Orientali del Friuli DOC

Mission Codename: Confusion no more

Operative: Agent White

Objective: Secure an exclusive Soave D.O.C. for our operatives

Mission Status: Accomplished!

Current Winery: Comelli Paolino

Wine Subject: 2008 Friulano Colli Orientali del Friuli DOC

Backgrounder:

The Colli Orientali del Friuli is located in Italy’s northeastern location and specifically in the Venezia Giulia. Home to some of Italy’s finest white wines, the region is well known for Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio and, like today’s selection, Friulano (Tocai Friulano or Sauvignon Vert). While Pinot Grigio is referred to Tokay d’Alsace in France, it is not related to the Friulano varietal nor is it related to Hungarian Tokaji. To avoid confusion, the EU is now prohibiting the use of the name Tocai Friulano and thus this wine is simply known now as Friulano.

Thought to be native to Italy’s Veneto, Friulano produces wines of medium to full body, with bright acidity and fresh white and green fruit as well as distinct floral aromas and flavors.

Wine Spies Tasting Profile:

Look – A clear straw yellow to pale golden in color that becomes slightly more pale along the edges. Subtle golden hues reflect through the clear core. When swirled, this wine shows off its springy surface texture and leaves medium fast thin legs along the side of the glass

Smell – Aromatic and medium in intensity with aromas of pears and green apple with a touch of citrus. Subtle floral and herbal notes along with hints of minerality also make an appearance on the nose.

Feel – Lively and fresh, this medium bodied wine is dry and crisp with a slight tingly sensation that hits at the mid palate and dances over the tongue into the finish. Bright acidity, a touch a spice and minerality hold on to the fruit and floral notes.

Taste – Fresh and juicy green apple, tart pear, peach and citrus flavors meld with subtle herbal and floral components from the nose.

Finish – Clean and medium long in length with lingering minerality and a characteristic white and green fruit bitterness that invites another sip.

Conclusion – The 2008 Comelli Paolino Friulano Colli Orientali del Friuli DOC is a fresh and delicate white that is very approachable and a perfect pair for a light lunch of seafood or antipasto. Bright acidity and minerality along with fresh and lively white and green fruit and its distinctive floral notes make this wine a joy to drink.,

Mission Report:

Dateline: Trieste, Italy – March 2010

Agent Baco Noir had long gone missing… every now and then, the crackpot command center, what I call my office, had received an unlabeled box with some spectacular wines and detailed intel reports. Those reports, always unsigned, had the distinguished characteristics of Baco.

I was in Italy, and got a call from my Ms. Money Penny saying that a box had just come in. Perfect timing, I though, I was in Italy when something arrived, perhaps I could get back on the trail. The wines were from the small boutique farm of Comelli Paolino in the Colli Orientali del Friuli.

Hot on the trail, I quickly arranged transport up to Faedis. From there I would hunt down leads. I new where to find Baco. The first place I looked was the cafes and the second was there shoe stores. She had a passion for wine, coffee and tall Italian shoes…. No luck at those locations (there was only two shoe stores in this small town), so I headed up to the winery. Once there, I was greeted by the family who informed me I was about a week behind. They indicated that they thought she had headed back to the Piedmont.

It wasn’t a total loss however, I had a chance to taste their delicious Friulano and also their Sauvignon Blanc (look for that wine in the near future).

Wine Spies Vineyard Check:

The location of the Comelli Paolino north of Trieste, Italy can be seen in this satellite photo.

2006 Bravante Vineyards Howell Mountain Trio

Mission Codename: Bravante? Bravado!

Operative: Agent Noir

Objective: Send newly-returned Deep Cover Agent, Agent Noir, to locate a stellar Napa Valley red blend – for our thirsty Operatives.

Mission Status: Accomplished!

Current Winery: Bravante Vineyards

Wine Subject: 2006 Howell Mountain Trio

Winemaker: Duane Dappen

Backgrounder: Today we welcome back Agent Noir, who has been on an extended deep cover mission in California’s Central Coast. We press Noir into service, today, to procure a delicious Napa Valley Red blend. His search took him up the slopes of Howell Mountain, in Napa Valley’s

Wine Spies Tasting Profile:

Look – Classic dark garnet hue with a black middle, showing the Howell Mountain blooding edge, leaving a thick coating to the glass with slow rolling tears of pure glycerin.

Smell – Oak vanilla, flower petals, cedar, spices and racy red fruits all wound up on the nose with good depth and perfume.

Feel – Richly tannic from the Mountain fruit and grip from the Cabernet Sauvignon, but still smooth and balanced from the Merlot, and elegance with subtle spiciness from the Cabernet Franc. This is a real Bordeaux style full-bodied Meritage from the famed Howell Mountain, in the Napa Valley.

Taste – Big dark fruit, ripe tannins, and vanilla spice from the classy oak use, all comes flowing across the palate. Once introduced to some air, lush blackberry, ripe plum, kirsch and currants come to the forefront of this mountain red. Some notes of pepper spice, lavender, cocoa, tobacco and licorice frame the fruit in the background and vanilla bean linger towards the end of each sip.

Finish – Plush fruit, oak and earthy mineral flashes all pop on the vibrant and powerful finish, this is serious stuff.

Conclusion – A polished and powerful display of a California Meritage. Rich viscosity and solid fruit create an vigorous, but elegant flavor profile; with Haut-Brion style characteristics and depth you want to savor with each glass. Pair this special bottle with friends, hard cheeses or hearty simple fare.

Mission Report:

WINEMAKER INTERVIEW

AGENT RED: Greetings, Duane. We are thrilled to be showing your 2006 Trio today. Thanks so much for taking some time to answer questions for our Operatives today.

DUANE: You’re welcome. I am excited to be working with you spies and I promise to not reveal your true names.

RED: We appreciate that! Was there a specific experience in your life that inspired your love of wine?

DUANE: As I was growing up in El Dorado County, I worked with a friend’s father making home wine in their cave that was an abandoned gold mine. I actually did a 4-H project of winemaking. We entered our wines in the El Dorado County Fair and won ‘Best of Show’ for our Wild Blackberry wine.

RED: What wine or winemaker has most influenced your winemaking style?

DUANE: I have worked with many winemakers and have influences from several, so there is not any to really single out. Working here in the Napa Valley for 25 years has allowed me to work with and try many wines.

RED: Who do you make wine for?

DUANE: I make it for the ladies. Wine sales many times ultimately come down to whether chicks dig it or not.

RED: Please tell me a little bit about the wine we are featuring today.

DUANE: The 2006 TRIO is a blend of the three Bordeaux varieties we grow on our Howell Mountain property; Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc. I make this wine to have all the flavors that a Howell Mountain wine will have, but to be a little more approachable so it can be enjoyed now. This wine will still improve and become even yummier with some more bottle time.

RED: What is your favorite pairing with today’s wine?

DUANE: The TRIO goes great with a grilled steak, my 6 year old makes sure it’s a steak with a bone. A nice ribeye or New York. I also enjoy it with a rich risotto with mushrooms.

RED: In your opinion, what makes the Howell Mountain region so special?

DUANE: Howell Mountain is a great place to grow red grapes. Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Merlot and Cabernet Franc all do great here. We are above the spring and summer morning fog that Napa Valley has so we have more hours of sunshine but that fog keeps the temperature down so the grapes ripen evenly. Between that and the rocky iron rich soils we have we get great complexity and intensity of flavors.

RED: What is occupying your time at the winery these days?

DUANE: We are bottling our 2009 Sauvignon Blanc’s on Monday. We will have our first Estate Howell Mountain Sauvignon Blanc! After that I will be working on the 2008 red blends.

RED: How would you recommend people approach your wines and wine in general?

DUANE: They should get some good friends and loved ones have some of our tasty Howell Mountain wines and good food and enjoy themselves. The main thing anyone needs to know about wine is what they like!

RED: Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?

DUANE: Come check out the new winery and enjoy the beautiful Howell Mountain countryside.

RED: Thank you so much for your time. We learned a lot about you – and your wine. Keep up the great work, we are big fans!

Wine Spies Vineyard Check:

The location of the Bravante Vineyards winery can be seen in this satellite photo.

2008 Grgich Hills Estate Napa Valley Fumé Blanc

Mission Codename: Love is a smoke made with Fumé

Operative: Agent White

Objective: Return to Operative favorite, Grgich Hills Estate. This time secure an allocation of their fantastic Fumé Blanc

Mission Status: Accomplished!

Current Winery: Grgich Hills Estate

Wine Subject: 2008 Napa Valley Fumé Blanc

Winemaker: Miljenko “Mike” Grgich

Backgrounder: Fumé Blanc, a creation in name by Robert Mondavi was conceived to add a new dimension to the lackluster Sauvignon Blanc that was being mass produced in California. Taking its cues from the styles of French Loire wines, specifically Sancerre and Pouilly

Fumé, Fumé Blanc expresses this varietal’s true delicious character and ties in its unique ability to be Terroir driven with excellent chalky, limestone and flinty minerality.

Wine Spies Tasting Profile:

Look – Crystal clear glistening light golden yellow that pales to almost clear along the edges. When swirled, this wine shows its springy surface that settles quickly, leaving behind closely-spaced, skinny legs that emerge quickly and then settle slowly down the inside of the glass.

Smell – Fresh and aromatic with citrus notes of fresh lemon, key lime and also a touch of tropical fruit and melon with hints of smoke, subtle fresh herbal components and chalky minerality.

Feel – Smooth, cool, dry and elegant with excellent minerality and acidity, this medium bodied white has good weight and balance that finds its support at the mid palate and lingers into to the long finish.

Taste – Crisp and tart citrus fruit including Meyers lemon and key lime with a touch of tropical melon are layered over a taught chalky and flinty minerality. Subtle smoke and herbal hints emerge under the fresh and bright fruit.

Finish – This wine finishes very long and ultra clean with lingering citrus, smoke and herbal flavors that are supported by great acidity and fine flinty minerality.

Conclusion – The 2008 Grgich Hills Estate Napa Valley Fumé Blanc is even better than the 2007 vintage in our humble opinion. Crisp and clean with exceptional balance between its weight, acidity and minerality. Fresh and bright citrus fruit and its subtle complexity makes this wine perfect for food and just tastes like Springtime!

Mission Report:

WINEMAKER INTEL BRIEFING DOSSIER

SUBJECT: Miljenko “Mike” Grgich

DATE OF BIRTH: April 1st, 1923

PLACE OF BIRTH: Desne, in Croatia’s coastal Dalmatian region

WINE EDUCATION: Attended University of Zagreb. Field of study, viticulture and enology

CALIFORNIA WINERIES EXPERIENCE: Christian Brothers Cellars, Souverain Winery, Robert Mondavi and Beaulieu Vineyard (with André Tchelistcheff)

FOUNDED NAMESAKE WINERY: Grgich Hills Cellar, founded 1977, renamed to Grgich Hills Estate in 2006

WINEMAKING PHILOSOPHY: To, ”… year after year, is to improve the quality of [the] vineyards and [the] wines” and to, ”… remain committed to making distinctive wines with quality, consistency and longevity”.

SIGNATURE VARIETAL: Chardonnay

CAREER HIGHLIGHT: In 1976, Mike Grgich’s Chateau Montelena Chardonnay won the infamous Judgement of Paris tasting, to become the best Chardonnay in the world. The fact that a California wine won the tasting shocked the wine world – and spurned Mr. Grgich on to great success with his own winery

CAREER HIGHLIGHT: On March 7, 2008, in recognition of his impact and contribution to the wine industry, Mr. Grgich was inducted into the Vintner Hall of Fame. The honor coincided with his 50th vintage of winemaking in the Napa Valley

GRGICH QUOTE: ”For years, everybody in the world believed that only French soils could produce great wines. We shattered that myth. That was probably the most significant result of the Paris tasting. Our victory pumped new energy into the California wine industry, particularly in the Napa Valley.”

BLACK BERET: Mr. Grgich wears an ever present black beret. It is rumored that the beret is imbued with magical energies that power his winemaking talents. Further investigation is required…

Wine Spies Vineyard Check:

The location of the Grgich Hills Estate can be seen in this satellite photo.

2006 Franciscan Oakville Estate Cabernet Sauvignon

Mission Codename: Monks Pride

Operative: Agent Red

Objective: Return to Franciscan Winery, in beautiful Oakville in California’s Napa Valley – and secure an allotment of their multi-award winning 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon for our Franciscan-loving Operatives

Mission Status: Accomplished!

Current Winery: Franciscan

Wine Subject: 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

Winemaker: Janet Myers

Backgrounder: The Oakville AVA, centrally located and adjacent to Napa Valley’s famous Rutherford AVA, was established in July 1993. Oakville is considered on of the most diverse AVA’s in the Napa area.

Wine Spies Tasting Profile:

Look – Darkest garnet with ruby-hued edges. The wine has a slightly grainy look to it, giving it an old world feeling. soft and springy when swirled, the wine leaves behind broad, garnet-stained tears.

Smell – Richly dark, leading with earthen dark fruit of boysenberry, blackberry, black cherry and a hint of blueberry. These aromas are interlocked with tobacco, hard leather, dark chocolate, softest spice and soft forest floor.

Feel – Lush and light, on the attack. Then, the wine becomes softly dense as plump tannins slowly emerge, adding depth and character.

Taste – Delicious and multi-layered, with flavors of black currant, cranberry and cherry at the beginning. As the wine settles onto the palate, flavors of darkest chocolate, toasted vanilla, black pepper and plum emerge.

Finish – Dusky, bright and high, with pronounced red fruit and earthen blackfruit that lingers – then tails off slowly. After several seconds, a surprise hit of cracked pepper appears on the mid-palate, and spreading across the entire tongue!

Conclusion – Great flavors, deep aromatics and a fabulous feel all combine to make this a very special wine! The black pepper that magically appears at the very end of the finish was a real surprise – and a delightfully unique thrill that our tasting panel can’t help but keep talking about. This wine, with its bright acids, is an easy and very flexible food companion. It is no coincidence that, while reviewing this wine, I received a special Flash Traffic alert that the wine had just garnered a #1 Restaurant Wine of the Year award from Wine & Spirits Magazine.

Mission Report:

WINEMAKER INTEL BRIEFING DOSSIER

SUBJECT: Janet Myers

DATE OF BIRTH: 04/64

PLACE OF BIRTH: Centralia, Illinois

WINE EDUCATION: M.S. Enology and Viticulture, University of California, Davis

CALIFORNIA WINE JOB BRIEF: Director of Winemaking, Franciscan Estate and Mount Veeder Winery. Previous experience with Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, Beaulieu Vineyards, Louis M. Martini Winery, and Robert Mondavi Winery.

WINEMAKING PHILOSOPHY: To make wines that are rich, balanced, supple, food-friendly, and show varietal character and place of origin.

SIGNATURE VARIETAL: Cabernet Sauvignon

CAREER HIGHLIGHT: The chance to make wine with great fruit from many vineyards.

WINEMAKER QUOTE: ”It’s all about what’s in the glass. As a winemaker, take the wine very seriously, but don’t take yourself too seriously.”

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WINEMAKER INTERVIEW

AGENT RED: Greetings, Janet. We are thrilled to be showing your 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon today. Our tasting panel loved the wine. Congratulations on winning the “#1 Restaurant Wine” award! And, thanks so much for taking some time to answer questions for our Operatives today.

WINEMAKER: Thank you, Agent Red! We’re happy to be on another covert mission with you today.

RED: Was there a specific experience in your life that inspired your love of wine?

WINEMAKER: I was in London, living above a wine shop and getting to taste a lot of great wines, and also working in restaurants serving wine. This got me interested. But while traveling in Italy, where my mom’s parents are from, the vineyards and wineries fascinated me and I became focused on winemaking. The stars lined up, and I realized I could pursue a field that combined agriculture, food, flavors, science, and history.

RED: Where did you learn the most about winemaking?

WINEMAKER: The tools to understand what is going on in the wine were gained from UC Davis, a great foundation. But learning to make wine happens in the winery, you learn by doing, building on the practical knowledge that accumulates with each vintage. When I started out, I did back-to-back harvests in Italy and Australia. Such different approaches, but both made great wine; it was really an eye-opener.

RED: What is your winemaking style or philosophy?

WINEMAKER: To make balanced wines, with vibrancy and complexity, to stay true to the varietal character, and strive to bring the best out of the grapes. Tailor the approach to what the wine needs, use intuition, and don’t try to turn it into something it’s not.

RED: What wine or winemaker has most influenced your winemaking style?

WINEMAKER: All wines interest me, the range of personality between varietals and styles. Napa Cabs and their depth and complexity are inspiring. Over my career, experiencing different winemakers with different approaches has grounded me.

RED: How long have you been making wine?

WINEMAKER: Just finished my 17th harvest.

RED: That’s impressive. Who do you make wine for?

WINEMAKER: For our consumers, ultimately. The winemaker has a vision of the wine he or she wants to make that will bring out the best potential of the fruit. That said, wine is made to be consumed, so you think about enhancing consumers’ experiences, complementing their meals. I strive to make wines that I love, that people will enjoy, and that respect the tradition and style of the winery.

RED: Tell me, what makes the Napa region so special?

WINEMAKER: A great combination of soil and climate. This is Cabernet spa treatment, with intense, warm summer days to build structure and richness, and cool nights to maintain vibrancy and deep color. No rain between May and October is a major bonus.

RED: What is one piece of advice that you would give to someone that is considering a career as a winemaker?

WINEMAKER: Work in a cellar to try it out. Keep an open mind, trust yourself. Be flexible and be prepared for anything!

RED: What is occupying your time at the winery these days?

WINEMAKER: We are currently busy blending the 2009 vintage and starting to walk the vineyards to watch bud break

RED: You’ll have to keep us covertly informed as to how those are progressing! Please tell me a little bit about the wine we are featuring today

WINEMAKER: With each vintage we With each vintage, we make up to 200 separate lots of wine, and then hone the blend during the year-and-a-half of barrel aging, blind tasting trial blends repeatedly before selecting the final blend. The 2006 vintage has a rich bouquet of deep blackcurrant, dark cherry and blackberry. This is a concentrated and well-built wine, the mouthfeel is substantial with generous body enhanced by flavors of currants, cherry, cocoa.

RED: What is your favorite pairing with today’s wine?

WINEMAKER: This wine pairs wonderfully with grilled New York strip steak with morel mushrooms and roasted red potatoes.

RED: Please share one thing about yourself that few people know.

WINEMAKER: I grew up around my parents’ and grandparents’ fruit orchard operation in Southern Illinois, apples and peaches, which gave me a love of the land and farming. It was a great way to grow up.

RED: What is your favorite ‘everyday’ or table wine?

WINEMAKER: There isn’t just one, it depends on what we’re eating. We do drink a lot of Sauvignon Blanc, then Chard for richer dishes, Rieslings for Indian and Asian. For a red, Cabernet is the go-to wine by far, but Pinot Noir is a wonderful counterpoint for a completely different experience.

RED: Sound like a good, balanced approach to playing favorites. Tell me, how would you recommend that people approach your wines, or wine in general?

WINEMAKER: Overall, the most important thing is to drink what you enjoy, and pair it with foods as you see fit. Trust your palate. Try new things, but don’t feel like you have to “move on” or “move up,” it’s ok to stick with your favorites. Don’t let anyone tell you what you should like.

RED: If you could choose any one wine to drink (regardless of price or availability), what would it be?

WINEMAKER: There are so many I enjoy, but probably I’d go with a Cabernet or Cab blend.

RED: What is the one question that I should have asked you, and what is your answer to that question?

WINEMAKER: Question: Could you talk about your vineyards and what they bring to the wine? Answer: The heart and soul of our red wines comes from our Oakville Estate Vineyard, 240 acres which we’ve been farming for 35 years (ever since Justin Meyer established it as our estate vineyard). Having that continuity helps ensure consistency across vintages. Years ago, Andre Tchelistcheff observed that it was a great place for Bordeaux varietals, and we’ve been doing that ever since. We also have 20 prime Chardonnay acres in Carneros, the Larsen Vineyard, which provides the backbone of our wild-yeast fermented Cuvee Sauvage. I love the firm acidity and vibrancy, which complements a reserve style Chard with the creaminess and richness of barrel fermentation.

RED: Andre is something of a hero of ours. And now, so are you! Thank you so much for your time. We learned a lot about you – and about your wine. Keep up the great work, we are big fans!

WINEMAKER: Thanks, it was a pleasure. Enjoy the wine. Cheers!

Wine Spies Vineyard Check:

 

The location of Franciscan can be seen in this satellite photo.

2006 Andrew Murray Vineyards Stolpman Vineyard Syrah

Mission Codename: Stolpman, Stolpman

Operative: Agent Red

Objective: Return to Wine Spies Santa Barbara County Favorrite, Andrew Murray Vineyards. This time around, send junior Agent, Agent Petite Verdot to infiltrate the winery – and return with their fabled 2006 Stolpman Vineyard Syrah.

Mission Status: Accomplished!

Current Winery: Andrew Murray Vineyards

Wine Subject: 2006 Andrew Murray Vineyards Stolpman Syrah

Winemaker: Andrew Murray

Backgrounder: Several months ago, Agent Red began a new round of Wine Spies Agent recruitment. His search uncovered an eager young man named [REDACTED]. After thoroughly vetting [REDACTED], Agent Red brought him into the fold, making him a Junior Agent, and giving him the code-name, Agent Franc. Fran quickly proved his mettle, and when he sleuthed out an Andrew Murray Syrah, it was clear that Agent Red had recruited wisely. Today we are proud to feature Agent Franc’s first wine selection, a brilliant Andrew Murray Syrah.

The popularity of Syrah is undeniable. Big and bold in flavor and texture, it packs a concentrated punch of flavor that many people love. This Rhone varietal, although many believe that the grape originated in the Persia region, is 100% French in lineage. The Syrah grape is directly descendant from the Monduese Blanche and Dureza varietals and is grown worldwide with great success. Today’s delightful Syrah is a bold and balanced delight with deep flavors, dark aromatics and a voluptuous mouth feel

Wine Spies Tasting Profile:

Look – Beautiful in the glass! A dark mulberry pool with brandy and cola feathering out to the rim.

Smell – Aromatic dark fruit and mild vegital notes are complimented by hints of clove and chicory.

Feel – Full bodied with soft tannins and a supple velvet mouth feel.

Taste – Rich blackberry, plum and blueberry caress the palate. Once decanted the bold dark fruit remains and shares the stage with black pepper, anise, bell pepper and dark chocolate.

Finish – Incredibly mild tannins make for a soft finish yielding fruit and licorice.

Overall – A stunning Syrah with a lot to offer, both on the nose and for the taste buds. The intense fruit complimented by a soft vegital note reminds me of a Syrah from Rhone. If you are bring this Syrah to a dinner party be sure to bring two as you are sure to run out of this crowd pleaser!

Mission Report:

WINEMAKER INTEL BRIEFING DOSSIER_

SUBJECT: Andrew Murray

WINE EDUCATION: Double BS in Fermentation Science and Viticulture, UC Davis

CALIFORNIA WINE JOB BRIEF: Founded eponymous Vineyard and Winery in 1990.

WINEMAKING PHILOSOPHY: Wine starts and very nearly ends in the vineyard. We are blessed to be in Los Olivos, in the heart of the Santa Ynez Valley, where we focus exclusively on Rhone varieties, and mostly on Syrah. We have worked tirelessly to pursue relationships with a select few local growers who share our passion for excellence and our attention to detail. We strive to craft wines that speak of their unique hillside origins while adhering to our philosophy of non-interventional winemaking. We will employ as few inputs as possible towards our goal of crafting delicious and ageworthy wines.

FIRST COMMERCIAL WINE RELEASE: 1994 Vintage Syrah, released in 1996.

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WINEMAKER INTERVIEW

AGENT RED: Greetings, Andrew. We are thrilled to be showing your Watch Hill Syrah today. I had the great pleasure to review the wine, recently, and I have to tell you, I love it! Thanks so much for taking some time to answer questions for our Operatives today.

WINEMAKER: Hello, I am truly delighted to have our Syrah featured on the site…

RED: Was there a specific experience in your life that inspired your love of wine?

WINEMAKER: Wow…deep question right off the bat… Sometimes I feel as though my parents raised me to be a winemaker, though I know that they would argue with that! My parents raised me as an inquisitive foodie, and shared with me their passion for travel and all things Gourmand…they took me on a few culinary tours of Europe while I was just a young teenager. These food trips once led to the Rhone Valley in Southern France…there we sampled Viognier for the first time. It was the most unusual variety…rich, un-oaked, floral, oily, unctuous, palate filling. It got us all started with the crazy notion of starting a vineyard together, back on a parcel of land that my parents had recently purchased as a Los Angeles getaway…it just happened to be along Foxen Canyon Road, in the heart of some really up and coming wine country…

RED: What wine or winemaker has most influenced your winemaking style?

WINEMAKER: No one winemaker or wine has singularly influenced my winemaking…rather the influence comes from so many wines and so many regions. I lived and worked in Western Australia for nine months before launching AMV, so I was and am heavily influenced by Australia…though I often find the wines to be over the top. So, I temper this influence with my European travels (including virtual travels while sitting at dinner with a great bottle of wine in front of me), where I have often found the wines to have too much restraint. So, I am uniquely influenced by a mythical blend of in-your-face Aussie Juice and wonderfully elegant Old World wines.

RED: Who do you make wine for?

WINEMAKER: I used to answer this kind of question with the answer, “Myself”…yet it always sounded so self-serving and shallow. What I really meant was that I craft our wines for our consumers, while staying true to MY core values as a person and a winemaker. I strive to make pure and honest and delicious wines for our customers, as I certainly want our customers to appreciate and purchase our wines and to share this ride with me…

RED: Please tell me a little bit about the wine we are featuring today.

WINEMAKER: The wine we are featuring today is our 2006 Syrah Stolpman Vineyard. The Stolpman Vineyard lies along the beautiful Ballard Canyon Road, in what I would call a moderate zone…not quite cool, not quite warm. The soils are laden with limestone, which mimic the great soils of the Northern Rhone region of France. This produces a very “classy” Syrah that hides its “bigness” quite well. The vineyard owners have stopped selling fruit as of the 2008 vintage so this is the 2nd to last Stolpman Vineyard Syrah that we will craft. It is one not to be missed. It should continue to age for 3-4 more years.

RED: What is your favorite pairing with today’s wine?

WINEMAKER: I am always overly simple about food pairings, taking the philosophy that I usually choose the wine and then enjoy it with whatever we are eating…however, this wine would be great with grilled meats or a gourmet burger.

RED: In your opinion, what makes Santa Ynez so special?

WINEMAKER: The Santa Ynez Valley has a magical combination of varied and fantastic soils, amazing hillside aspects, and consistently near-perfect weather. This is combined with conscientious and focused vineyard owners and managers who strive to grow the best fruit possible. Also, the local wine community is a fun bunch of people who are always stretching and trying to improve their own wines and thus the reputation of this place.

RED: What is occupying your time at the winery these days?

WINEMAKER: We are making final blends and getting ready to bottle the 2008 Vintage wines for release later in the year.

RED: How would you recommend people approach your wines and wine in general?

WINEMAKER: My great hope in life is that people enjoy the kinds of wines that they ACTUALLY enjoy rather than simply drinking a wine that they think is O.K. to like because someone else has told them that it was good. I see lots of unsure wine consumers out there, who endlessly apologize for their lack of knowledge or sophistication, or for liking a kind of wine that others have deemed less-than-worthy. It really bums me out. I always tell people that they are their own best expert, their own best judge and that they should never be embarrassed to like or dislike a certain wine. It sounds so simple, yet there are too many folks out there that do not approach wine like this at all. I think that too much emphasis has been placed on the wine critic and not enough on their own personal strength. Don’t get me wrong…the wine critic or the expert is a very important piece of the puzzle…often helping a confused consumer (and yes even me) wade through the ever expanding world of wine. But, don’t let them be the judge and the jury, retain that power for yourself. Everyone has some sort of system for liking something over something else…whether it be art, cars, music, sports, books, etc. and usually that system is established over a lifetime of experiences and interactions. Wine seems to intimidate people (not all people certainly), but enough people that it worries me that people are drinking certain wines for someone else’s ego, rather than for their own hedonistic delight. So, I would wish for folks to try our wines with an open mind and an open palate (we have been lucky to get some really nice scores through the years) and to appreciate them (or not, of course) based upon their own perceptions…

RED: Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?

WINEMAKER: One will notice right away that this wine is closed with the Stelvin screw top. We switched to this closure system for all of our wines in 2006 after several years of experimentation. We believe so strongly in the superiority of the closure that we purchased our own bottling line so that I could directly oversee each and every bottle as the cap is spun on. Many are confused about the qualities of the screwcap, so I wanted to leave you with one interesting morsel. The Stelvin screwcap is engineered to let in a small amount of oxygen over time, just like a cork allows. So, it is a miss-truth to say the screwcap is aseptic or airtight. The cork and the screwcap differ in a very important way…the cork is the bark of a special oak tree…it is a living organism and thus is quite variable from batch to batch. So, even though TCA taint has been dramatically reduced through these last few years, there is still chance for leaking and severe oxidation from a bad cork. When we looked at the evidence proving the screwcap as a superior choice, we had NO choice but to bottle our wines this way. Because the air ingress is engineered and is rather a small amount, our wines tend to age more slowly and taste “fresher” long after bottling. We are also allowed to employ smaller amounts of sulfites prior to bottling…all good things in my humble opinion.

RED: Thank you so much for your time. We learned a lot about you – and your wine. Keep up the great work, we are big fans!

Wine Spies Vineyard Check:

The location of Andrew Murray Vineyards can be seen in this satellite photo.

2005 Trentadue Winery La Storia Meritage

Mission Codename: Making History

Operative: Agent Petite Verdot

Objective: Secure another exclusive wine from Trentadue Winery in Sonoma County’s pristine Alexander Valley

Mission Status: Accomplished!

Current Winery: Trentadue

Wine Subject: 2005 La Storia Meritage

Winemaker: Miro Tcholakov

Backgrounder: Alexander Valley in northeast Sonoma County is located on the western side of the Mayacamas range and extends westward to the edge of the Russian River Valley. This appellation was formerly considered a part of Dry Creek Valley but became its own appellation in November 1984. The region is best known for exceptional Bordeaux Varietals. Read Agent Petite Verdot’s detailed tasting notes and winemaker interview, below

Wine Spies Tasting Profile:

Look – Deep crimson with cherry edges. When swirled this Meritage has beautiful soft, rolling tears for legs. Glints of ruby reflect out of the glass when light shines through.

Smell – Oak, Vanilla and Mint are present throughout. Once decanted a dark fruit medley greets your senses accompanied by brown sugar, camp fire smoke and eucalyptus.

Feel – Well balanced acidity and soft tannins lend to a silken mouth feel. This is a delightfully full-bodied Meritage.

Taste – Dark fruit, vanilla and a mild spice introduce themselves first. Once decanted, Bing cherry, ripe plumb and blackberry come to the forefront of this wine. Soft notes of cocoa and coffee bean linger towards the end of each sip.

Finish – Pleasant dark fruit and a soft minerality make for a long and exuberant finish!

Overall – A beautiful display of a California Meritage. Wonderful viscosity and supple fruit create an elegant flavor profile; with the characteristics and qualities you want to enjoy everyday. Pair this great bottle with friends, veal Parmesan or your grandmothers hearty beef stew.

Mission Report:

MIRO INTEL BRIEFING DOSSIER

SUBJECT: Miro Tcholakov

DATE OF BIRTH: 02.04.1966

PLACE OF BIRTH: Trojan, Bulgaria

WINE EDUCATION: Higher Institute of Agriculture, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, UC Davis, SRJC

CALIFORNIA WINE JOB BRIEF: Dry Creek Vineyards-1990-1999 as Assistant Winemaker/Cellar Master, Trentadue Winery-1999-present-Winemaker/VP of Production, Miro Cellars-2001-present. Also consulted and continue to consult for a few other small projects domestically and abroad. Currently serving on the Board of Directors for ZAP and “PS I Love you” organizations

WINEMAKING PHILOSOPHY: “Freedom of Expression”- meaning for Miro wines I source only vineyards that are interesting to me in regard of geology, soil types, location, grape growing styles, grape grower…etc. Not being confined to an “Estate” vineyard gives me the freedom of choice. If the vineyard does not deliver I move on. Great wines can be made without blue blooded heritage and a Chateau in the foreground.

CAREER HIGHLIGHT: Well I’m not sure what do you consider Highlight but if you mean wine scores I have a few 90 points and above from Wine Enthusiast, Parker, Wine Spectator, Connoisseur Guide, California Grapevine, top picks in New York Times, USA Today, and hundreds of Gold medals and Best of Class and a few Sweepstakes from wine competitions that matter.

I have met and tasted my wines one on one with Michelle Rolland (without paying for it) if that is considered an event but I found that to be very interesting. I have been on the pages of few wine publications. Once Dan Burger put me on the top 20 winemakers in the country… There is probably more that I don’t remember…

MIRO QUOTE: Just drink it-it is only wine!

Wine Spies Vineyard Check:

The location of the Trentadue Winery can be seen in this satellite photo.

2007 Sol Rouge Vineyard & Winery Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Mission Codename: Exclusive Endeavors

Operative: Agent Red

Objective: Secure and exclusive pre-release allocation form our friends at Sol Rouge.

Mission Status: Accomplished!

Current Winery: Sol Rouge Vineyard & Winery

Wine Subject: 2007 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Winemaker: Bryan Kane & Jill Brothers

Backgrounder:

We all love Napa’s Cult Cabs, with many receiving the top ratings, awards and accolades, we deserved in every sense of the word, but at prices of $100-200, and often times much more, the are difficult to justify in these difficult economic times. This is the motivation behind our mission today. We’re not quite sure how he did it, but Bryan Kane of Sol Rouge Vineyard and Winery has again acquired limited allocations of some of amazing fruit from the 50+ year old Clone 6 Cabernet Sauvignon on Howell Mountain used previously by Randy Dunn, of Dunn Vineyard, in his Howell Mountain bottling as well as some Napa Valley fruit shared by one of the eight “Cult Cabernet” producers.

In today’s selection, we’ve been negotiating with the winery to be able to offer you this exception, and extremely small production wine, at an unbelievable one-day only price. Once this wine gets out into the mainstream, it will be gone fast. This is your chance to stock up for your own Cult Cellar Collection.

Only 175 cases produced, 50% less than the highly allocated 2006 Sol Rouge Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine will most likely be sold out on release, this may be your only chance to purchase this wine.

Wine Spies Tasting Profile:

Look – Dense, deep and dark purple with a barely clear dark core that shows clear streaks of ruby and garnet when held to the light. Along the edges the color remains dense and when swirled thin legs of varying speeds descend deliberately to the wine below.

Smell – Rich and redolent with expressive aromas of red and black fruit, specifically wild berry with balanced notes of oak, licorice, earthy pine and floral violets and spicy pepper.

Feel – Smooth and elegant, this full-bodied wine has powder fine but firm tannins that soften as this wine opens up. expansive and mouth coating, and for a young wine, it is remarkably well developed with exceptional balance that is enhanced by subtle acidity and dark mineral notes..

Taste – Well integrated and bold flavors of wild berries and dark cherry lead off and then layers of oak, licorice, spicy pepper and earthy components unfold over its fantastic textural tannins and minerality.

Finish – Extremely long with this wine’s wild berry and oak components gently fading over several minutes and leaving behind elegant tannins and dark minerals.

Conclusion – The 2007 Sol Rouge Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is a fantastic wine that is drinking surprising well for a wine that has yet to be released. Give this wine a few minutes to open up to express itself and you’ll be handsomely rewarded, if you can, stash a few bottles in the cellar as this wine has tremendous potential and will likely improve and evolve for the next decade.

Mission Report:

WINEMAKER INTEL BRIEFING DOSSIER

SUBJECT: Bryan Kane

WINE EDUCATION: For his Bordeaux varietal training, Bryan studied under winemakers from classic California Cabernet producers including Clos du Val and Opus One, where he learned both new world and old world winemaking techniques passed on from what was learned at Mouton Rothschild. Bryan has come up through the ranks as a winemaker with his training on Bordeaux varietals, his work at wineries suck as Copain and Nicholson Ranch, and his experience and training with Rhone varietals for which he was recently named a “Next Generation Cult Winemaker” by Sommelier Journal.

WINEMAKING PHILOSOPHY: The fruit we source and the land from which it grows is our primary focus because we believe in utilizing minimal intervention winemaking techniques. This ensures that the unique qualities of the grapes and terroir of the vineyard are reflected in the color, structure, nose and taste of the wine without unnecessary manipulation. So, by closely managing the vineyards and harvesting based on phenolics, we minimize the need to make non-native additions in the winemaking process.

Still, close management of the winemaking process is very important to us. The use of significant temperature and cap management is needed to create an environment in which the indigenous yeast can thrive. The use of a 24-hour fermentation management program is used, varying the temperature and cap management procedure on a 3-4-hour time basis during various stages of the fermentation process. This unique approach is very time intensive and costly, but insures the environment for the fermentation so that the wine develops the necessary color, extraction and structure without the use of external additives. To some, our 24-hour fermentation management program seems crazy, but, remember, yeast don’t sleep!

On the finish, we believe in traditional oak barrel fermentation for almost all of our wines. Most wines age at least 16-18 months in barrel, with Bordeaux varietals remaining in barrel 24 months total. French oak is used exclusively in at Sol Rouge to bring out a true “old world” quality within our wines.

WINEMAKER QUOTE: At Sol Rouge, we focus on extreme farming and minimal winemaker intervention for intense wines.

FIRST COMMERCIAL WINE RELEASE: 2004 Sol Rouge Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon – April 2007 (75 cases)

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WINEMAKER INTERVIEW AGENT RED: Greetings, Bryan. We are thrilled to be featuring the exclusive pre-release of your 2007 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon today. Thanks so much for taking some time to answer questions for our Operatives today.

BRYAN: Thank you for having me here, Agent Red

RED: Was there a specific experience in your life that inspired your love of wine?

BRYAN: Yes, I was 21 years old and a recent college grad in my first job out of college where I had to take a number of clients out for a “working lunch”. It was November and the Beaujolais nouveau had just been flown in from France and the restaurant was doing a wine flight with the lunch. We decided to all participate in the tasting. After the first wine of the flight, the wine, not work, took over the entire focus of our conversation. It brought us closer together as people, not just work associates, that, at the end of the lunch, I was able to easily close the sale. I loved the way that wine brought people together.

RED: What wine or winemaker has most influenced your winemaking style?

BRYAN: For Bordeaux varietal wines, one of my mentors, a fourth generation winemaker from Ch. Latour, has been a good friend and mentor over the years and has had a great influence over my wines from vineyard management to barrel selection.

RED: Who do you make wine for?

BRYAN: I primarily make my wines for the vineyards that we work with and their owners. Since I firmly believe in minimal winemaker intervention, I like to think of myself as one who acts as a “coach” with the vineyard workers through the growing season and with the yeast through the fermentation process in order to make wines that expresses the unique characteristics and terroir of each vineyard.

RED: Please tell me a little bit about the wine we are featuring today.

BRYAN: Well, although most of the recognition that I have received as a winemaker has been with Rhone varietals having only worked with Bordeaux varietals since 2004, much of my recent “hype” and many of the recent accolades have been over my Cabernet Sauvignon. In 2008, the 2005 Sol Rouge Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon was named “Best of Appellation” for all Napa Cabernet Sauvignon by Dan Berger, Alan Goldfarb and a team of respected wine writers. Then, our 2006 Sol Rouge Lake County Cabernet Sauvignon took “Best in Class” at the California State Fair as the Top Cabernet Sauvignon for Napa, Sonoma, and the entire North Coast. With our 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon receiving Top Cabernet honors as a Double Gold Medal Winner at the 2010 San Francisco Chronicle tasting, I seem to be on a run with my Bordeaux varietals. I just wish I would have made since I only made 175 cases, down from 350 case in the 2006 vintage.

RED: What is your favorite pairing with today’s wine?

BRYAN: I love a 2” Filet Mignon, bacon wrapped cooked medium rare and quickly seared in red port reduction sauce. I love when all that structure from those well integrated tannins cuts through the steak like a hot knife through butter. Wow, I am really making myself hungry!

RED: In your opinion, what makes the Mayacamas Mountains so special?

BRYAN: California’s Mayacamas Mountains. I love working with high, elevation, mountain fruit. I work with Mayacamas Mountain fruit from Howell Mountain, Diamond Mountain, and the highest Cabernet Sauvignon fruit in the entire Mayacamas Mountain range (at 3000’ elevation) from the new Red Hills Appellation. All of it is spectacular. The set produces small berries for a greater skin-to-pulp ratio and thus produces a lighter overall crop, so each vine can focus on less fruit, producing more intense characteristics in the grapes which come through in the wine. And, with the high elevation, the nights cool, allowing the vines relief after a hot day, allowing the wines to rest (like a prize fighter after the bell rings) and come out stronger the next day, producing energy through photosynthesis, and producing a more intense berry with a thicker, more flavorful skin.

RED: What is occupying your time at the winery these days?

BRYAN: Winemaker dinner and trade tastings are more common these days than anything. The 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon has been racked off their gros lees, and are nicely in barrel, being topped every two week, and going through the aging process.

RED: How would you recommend people approach your wines and wine in general?

BRYAN: Well, the best way is to join the Sol Rouge Wine Club. I love wine and I love to drink lots of different wines, so I produce a large number of wines (20+ bottling this year alone) for such a small winery. And, I love to produce special bottling only available to Wine Club members. If you like my wines, I encourage you to join our Wine Club so that you don’t miss out on anything.

RED: Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?

BRYAN: Yes, our 70 acre hillside, high-vine density estate vineyard in the Mayacamas Mountains started to produce fruit in 2009 after four years. We yielded 1 ton per acre from our estate vineyard. It is incredible. Plus, I began working with all five Bordeaux varietals in 2009, so watch for some amazing thing coming out of Sol Rouge in the future!

RED: Thank you so much for your time. We learned a lot about you – and your wine. Keep up the great work, we are big fans!

Wine Spies Vineyard Check:

The location of the Sol Rouge Vineyard & Winery can be seen in this satellite photo.