Category Archives: wine tasting

Last Wines at the Old House

Yes, we’ve moved, from our old house near the Livermore Valley wine region to our new house a bit further north in Sonoma County. One of the many issues with the move was moving the wine collection. The easiest way to deal with the problem was to reduce the number of bottles we had to move. We still had a couple hundred bottles left to move, but we did have fun drinking those last bottles. Here’s the lineup over the last days at the old house:

Armida Winery, 2012 Il Campo (Zinfandel/Petite Sirah field blend), Dry Creek Valley
Donkey and Goat, 2013 Grenache Noir, El Dorado County
Pessagno, 2011 Zinfandel, Idyll Times Vineyard, San Benito County
Soquel Vineyards, 2012 Trinity (red blend), California
Tobin James, 2010 Ballistic Zinfandel, Paso Robles

Armida Winery 2012 Il Campo (Zinfandel and Petite Sirah field blend), Dry Creek Valley

Armida Winery 2012 Il Campo (Zinfandel and Petite Sirah field blend), Dry Creek Valley

Yes, we drink a lot of Zinfandel. It’s a good value wine, both at the low end (price-wise) and the high end (high end of the Zinfandel range). It’s also a grape that lends itself to different styles, from big bold fruity wines to more complex layered wines, all of which can be very tasty.

The Il Campo is an excellent Zinfandel blend from Winemaker B at Armida. It’s a field blend, so it’s a bit difficult to say how much of what went in, but likely it’s somewhere around 75 – 80% Zinfandel.

Donkey and Goat 2013 Grenache Noir, El Dorado

Donkey and Goat 2013 Grenache Noir, El Dorado

Donkey and Goat is relatively new to us, with our first and only visit there 2 years ago. A Berkeley winery, sourcing grapes from all over Northern California, this Grenache was very good, surprisingly good. Actually, you’ll see Grenache (or Garnacha from Spain) mentioned in a couple of future posts. Grenache, while one of the big three Rhone grapes — Grenache, Syrah, Mouvedre — is rarely made as a single varietal, especially in California. Syrah, yes, but not Grenache, nor Mouvedre. When Grenache is grown well and made well, it’s a really nice treat. Not too big a wine, not too big body, really good with food.

Pessagno 2011 Zinfandel, San Benito County, Idyll Times Vineyard

Pessagno 2011 Zinfandel, San Benito County, Idyll Times Vineyard

The Pessagno is a bit more in the understated style for Zinfandel, and this has been outstanding from our first taste at the winery to the two bottles we’ve opened. (I’m kicking myself now for not buying more when we were there. But of course, then we’d have had to move those bottles, so probably just as well.)

Soquel Vineyards 2012 Trinity Rosso (red blend), California

Soquel Vineyards 2012 Trinity Rosso (red blend), California

The Soquel Trinity is consistently, year after year, one of the best low end red blends, now matter what grapes they’re using. Soquel Vineyards is either number 1 or 2 on our Santa Cruz Mountains wineries hit list. They’ve been building great wines, and providing a great tasting experience, for a couple of decades now, longer than most in that area. We’ve talked about their wines and tasting room a few times in this blog; just search on Soquel to find those posts.

Tobin James 2010 Zinfandel "Ballistic", Paso Robles

Tobin James 2010 Zinfandel “Ballistic”, Paso Robles

The Ballistic Zin is the flagship for Tobin James, a classic big juicy jammy Zinfandel from the East side of Paso Robles. They’re almost the last winery heading east on Hwy 46, but worth the extra couple of miles to visit the tasting room.

L’Chaim,

Larry

Charity Wine Auction for Lake County Fire

A charity wine auction is being held to help rebuilding efforts in Lake County after last year’s destructive Valley Fire. The auction will be held this Sunday, March 20th, at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone (St. Helena, Napa Valley). Headlining the event are Congressman Mike Thompson and grape-grower Andy Beckstoffer. Fritz Hatton is managing the auction, which will include both live and silent auction items. The #LakeCountyRising event is sponsored by Lake County Winegrape Commission, Lake County Winery Association and Lake County Wine Alliance.

Some of the auction items look pretty amazing:

– Tasting menu with wine pairing for 3 couples at The Restaurant at Meadowood

– Your own barrel lot from Beckstoffer Vineyards

– Luxury suite at a SF Giants baseball game

Multiple lots of wine and dining experiences are also available.

More information on the event is available here: http://lakecountyrising.org/news/2016/3/14/thompson-beckstoffer-hatton-lead-charity-wine-auction.

You can register for #LakeCountyRising, or donate if you can’t attend, here: http://lakecountyrising.org/charity-auction.

L’Chaim,

Larry

Wine Is More Than Manischewitz and Hearty Burgundy

Al Lapides on his 80th, glass of Diamond Creek Cabernet Sauvignon in hand

Al Lapides on his 80th, glass of Diamond Creek Cabernet Sauvignon in hand

My father, Al Lapides, died last year. He taught me a lot, and set a pretty high standard to try to live up to. Maybe the most important thing he ever taught me was to “brake before the curve, accelerate coming out.” First, it’s a good driving practice. If you hit the brakes while you’re in the curve, there’s much more likelihood of losing control of the car. Second, it’s a life philosophy. When you see a curve coming, when you see the unknown coming, be under control and leave your options open. Then, once you’ve seen the curve and know which line you’re going to take, hit it. Commit to it. Accelerate.

A turning point in my father’s life, and in my life, came between my 11th and 12th birthdays. In that time he quit his big company job, joined my uncle in an executive search firm (which was just the two of them), and he, my uncle and a friend of theirs started another company. Just for kicks, my father and uncle also started a wine appreciation club, led by a local wine merchant/distributor, to learn more about fine wines. Talk about accelerating out of the curve!

As I look back on this time, a few lessons were absorbed in my subconscious, the first two more quickly than the third.
1) Working for a large company can be stressful; being your own boss means more pressure, but less stress.
2) Starting your own company is a lot of work. The company started by the three partners was started by an incredibly small investment by each of them, which meant a lot of sweat equity went into it, including from my brother, my sister and I.
3) Wine can be interesting, delicious and fun.

The first two lessons moved from subconscious to conscious fairly easily and quickly. From my first job out of college to my current day job, I have gone to smaller and smaller companies, including being part of high tech startups for the last 26 years. With my current company I am part of the founding group, which took no outside funds, and it was really rough at the beginning. It’s still hard work now, but we’re at least profitable at this point.

Wine, the third lesson, took more time. Not that I didn’t drink wine from an early age. I grew up having Manischewitz Concord Grape (or for a change of pace, Blackberry) wine, cut by seltzer water, at Passover seders and other holiday events. Mom and Dad used to have Gallo Hearty Burgundy by the gallon jug in the house. The wine club changed at least the wine in the house pretty quickly. (It didn’t really change what I got to drink.) I didn’t take the time to learn about wine then, only to see that this was something my father was enjoying. Occasionally I got to taste the good stuff, but really didn’t know what I was drinking.

As an adult, when I could legally go out and buy and drink wine, I got to develop my palate a bit more. Lori and I have been fortunate to have lived in wine regions: first in the Finger Lakes area of upstate New York, then in the Santa Barbara area, and for the last 20+ years in the San Francisco Bay Area, with the Napa, Sonoma, Livermore and Santa Cruz wineries all within easy striking distance. Visiting wineries was both fun and educational, and a way to see the beautiful areas we lived in.

Dad also shared some of his wine when we were living back in California, and could bring a bottle or two home from a visit. One meal I remember clearly is having a couple of my college friends over after we moved back to the Bay Area. Lori cooked a Greek lamb dish, and we drank a 1970 Cos D’Estournel and a 1974 Louis Martini Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Easily the best wines I had ever tasted to that point. As I recall, at that time (around 1994?) the wines were about the same (11 on a scale of 10), although the Louis Martini did take more time to open up.

The best wines I have ever had

The best wines I have ever had

As a final story I give you my mother’s 65th birthday, where my parents decided to have a sit down dinner at the house, catered by a nice restaurant, for just the immediate family. My parents, my brother and sister and their spouses. As an added bonus, our boys, then 16 and 14, were deemed old enough to join the dinner and share the wine. I can’t remember the meal, but as with the wines above, I have the wine bottles. 1961 Chateau Latour and 1970 Chateau Pichon Lalande. Amazing. The Chateau Latour is the best wine I’ve ever had, and the other is tied with the wines from the previous story.

L’Chaim, and don’t forget to brake before and accelerate coming out,

Larry

Malm Cellars: Pinot Noir and Zinfandel

I often get asked what my favorite wine is, meaning what is my favorite varietal. I usually take that opportunity to talk for as long as that person is willing to listen, about how it depends on white or red, or food or no food with the wine, or price, or any one of a dozen other factors. It’s really the wrong question to ask a wine person. The interesting question is, Which wine(s) do I buy the most? Then the short answer is “Pinot Noir and Zinfandel.”

The medium length answer is that I buy more reds than whites (probably about a 4:1 ratio), and among the reds Pinot Noir and Zinfandel are usually a good value, go very well with food and don’t need a lot of aging. Also, these two wines are the best wines of the Russian River Valley wineries and Dry Creek Valley wineries, which are the two wine growing regions I visit the most.

(There is a longer answer too, but I’m not sure I have your attention for enough time.)

Brendan Malm getting ready to open another bottle of his Malm Cellars wine

Brendan Malm getting ready to open another bottle of his Malm Cellars wine

Nearly 3 years ago, when Lori and I visited Malm Cellars in Healdsburg during a barrel tasting event and saw the lineup of only Pinot Noir and Zinfandel, I got my hopes up just a bit, that maybe here was a winemaker aligned with my tastes. Then we tasted from the barrels, and I allowed my hopes to rise just a bit more, enough so that we bought some “futures”. Futures are wines in the barrel that have yet to be bottled. This is the purpose of the barrel tasting events, with the winery then shipping you the wine when it’s bottled and released.

Or you go to pick up the wine. Which was our option, since we get to Healdsburg on a regular basis. The only problem was coordinating our schedule with Brendan Malm’s schedule, since Malm Cellars is essentially a one man shop, and only open to the public on special event weekends. (That’s changing soon, but not quite ready yet.) So from buying futures of 2012 vintage wines at a 2013 event, with the wines released in 2014, it took until 2015 for us to pick up our case.

Malm Cellars 2012 Zinfandel, Dry Creek Valley

Malm Cellars 2012 Zinfandel, Dry Creek Valley

It may have taken us a long time to pick up the wine, but it didn’t take long to open the first bottle. About 6 hours later we were having a birthday dinner for one of our daughters-in-law, and wouldn’t you know, a bottle of Malm 2012 Zinfandel Dry Creek Valley was opened. 2012 was a pretty good year in the Dry Creek area, after two years in a row where harvests were below par for quality and/or quantity. Also, typical Dry Creek Zinfandels tend towards the big, jammy, drink-now end of the spectrum, especially in a good harvest year, which is not my favorite style. The Malm Zinfandel had the fruit flavors on entry, but was actually well balanced and went well with our dinner that evening. This is what I remembered from the initial barrel tasting, and I’m starting to feel pretty good about the purchase of the futures.

Then a couple of weeks later we opened a bottle of Malm 2012 Pinot Noir Russian River Valley (RRV). (I’m feeling pretty good about waiting even that long to open the first bottle of Pinot and see what we’ve got!) Well, this was worth the 2+ year wait, and it will be worth waiting even longer for the other bottles. Very nice RRV Pinot Noir, with some delicacy and subtlety, that should get better for the next few years. With half a case each of the Zinfandel and Pinot Noir, we’re pretty well set for opening one Malm per year for the next 10 years, if we can hold ourselves back.

L’Chaim,

Larry

Carr Winery Shows Off Area Varietals

Carr tasting room in Santa Barbara

Carr Winery in Santa Barbara

We met Ryan and Jessica Carr last year at the Wine Bloggers Conference, and enjoyed talking with them and drinking their wine. Actually, I only got to try the Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir as part of the Pinot Noir Heaven tasting night, and their Pinot Gris was worthy of special mention that night. Ryan started out doing vineyard management and still does that, and Carr Vineyards & Winery gets their grapes from vineyards Ryan manages. This knowledge of the grapes shows up in their wines. A good example of the old adage that the first job of the winemaker is to get out of the way of the grapes.

Painting on display at Carr Winery

Painting on display at Carr Winery

Carr was our last tasting stop on this trip. Their bottle storage, and a tasting room, is in the Santa Ynez Valley, and the wine making and another tasting room are in downtown Santa Barbara. It was the Santa Barbara site that we visited. Small facility, but they have a nice tasting bar and can accommodate more than a few people for tasting. They also feature a couple of local artists in the Santa Barbara tasting room, with different artists each month.

Jessica was in the tasting room, and led us through their wines. The Pinot Gris that I liked so much a year ago was great again, now in the 2014 vintage. We bought a couple of bottles of this, and opened one the next night with a Roasted Cauliflower and Garlic Soup.

In addition to the Pinot Gris, we really liked their Rhône varietal wines. The 2014 Crosshatch white blend (70% Viognier, 30% Marsanne) was very nice, as was their 2012 Syrah (Morehouse Vineyard, Santa Ynez Valley). Our favorite was their 2012 Grenache, with the grapes coming from the Paredon Vineyard in Carpenteria, just south along the coast from Santa Barbara, and not from the Santa Ynez Valley. The vineyard is high up, at 1200 feet, so above the fog and direct marine influences, but still a cold climate vineyard. The Grenache was deep red, full bodied, fruity and just plain delicious.

Oil companies self-promotion at a Santa Barbara beach park

Oil companies self-promotion at a Santa Barbara beach park

As we were leaving the Santa Barbara area, we stopped at a beach park that we had never seen before. It appears that the park was built by the oil companies that support the offshore oil rigs and other oil activities in the area. Seems to me that building a small park is an absurdly low price for them to pay for the environmental damage they’ve inflicted on the Santa Barbara coast and channel. But maybe those oil execs feel better now, and can sleep at night.

Oil rigs off the coast of Santa Barbara

Oil rigs off the coast of Santa Barbara

L’Chaim,

Larry

Dierberg and Star Lane Make a Great Pairing

Dierberg and Star Lane share a beautiful tasting room in the Santa Rita Hills area.

Dierberg and Star Lane share a beautiful tasting room in the Santa Rita Hills area.

The Santa Barbara County area – Santa Ynez Valley and Santa Maria – is known for producing very good Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah (and other Rhône varietals). So we went to the Dierberg – Star Lane tasting room, in the heart of the Santa Rita Hills AVA, the original Pinot Noir growing region in the Santa Ynez Valley, with an eye to taste the Pinot Noir.

The garden at Dierberg Estate Vineyard.

The garden at Dierberg Estate Vineyard.

Dierberg Estate Vineyard and Star Lane Vineyard are the two brand names that the Dierberg family uses for their wines, with the Dierberg label used for the Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah, and the Star Lane label used for the Sauvignon Blanc and red Bordeaux varietals grown at the Star Lane Vineyard in the warmer Happy Canyon area of Santa Ynez Valley. The tasting room serves wines from both brands, and is located at their Drum Canyon Vineyard. They also have a third vineyard, producing grapes for the Dierberg label, in the Santa Maria area.

Bean bag toss at Dierberg.

Bean bag toss at Dierberg.

As I said, we were looking to taste their Pinot Noir, and we got to do that. But we were also able to taste the Star Lane wines, and these were a revelation. An excellent Star Lane Sauvignon Blanc, really well balanced, led off the tasting. (Yes, bought a bottle of the Sauv Blanc.) After going through some of the Dierberg Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs, we went to the Star Lane Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignons. They make a few variations on these, ranging from a Cabernet Franc at about 90% Cab Franc, to a standard Cabernet Sauvignon (Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Malbec), to a high end Cabernet Sauvignon (called “Astral”, with just Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc), to the “Roots” Cabernet Sauvignon. This last has just a bit of Merlot blended in (4%), with the Cabernet Sauvignon grapes coming from a block of the Star Lane Vineyard that was planted with actual Cabernet Sauvignon root stock instead of the usual American grape root stock with grafting of the Cabernet Sauvignon. The Astral was very good, very balanced, as one would expect from their high end wine. But the Roots caught our attention. There was a lot going on there, from the fruit in the nose and the entry, to the big body, to the tannins on the finish. Loved it, had to buy a couple of bottles.

We were seated outside for the tasting. Beautiful day, beautiful wines. Our tasting was led by Megan, who has already passed her first level sommelier exam and is studying for the second level. She was incredibly knowledgeable, and responded to both our basic and advanced questions with easy to understand answers. So a great tasting experience also. Megan thinks the Astral will age better than the Roots, but I put my money (literally) on the Roots Cabernet Sauvignon. I’ll check back in 10 years or so and see where we are on this one.

L’Chaim,

Larry

More Pink, Now For Summer

I talked about rosés before, using them as a sign of Spring. Well, rosés are equally good, if not better, for Summer. Good rosés are cold, crisp, light, flavorful; everything I want on a warm day sitting outside. It might not be what you drink with your barbequed meal, but it’s what you drink until the meal is ready.

Here are a few that we’ve had recently that we really liked:

Bonny Doon Vineyard, 2014 Vin Gris de Cigare, 35% grenache, 18% mourvèdre, 16% grenache blanc, 12.5% roussanne, 8% carignane, 8% cinsaut, 1.5% marsanne, 1% counoise
Dragonette Cellars, 2013 Rosé, Happy Canyon (Santa Barbara County), 70% grenache, 25% mourvèdre, 5% syrah
Windwalker Vineyard, 2012 Grenache Rosé, El Dorado County (Sierra Foothills)

No accident that these are all made from Rhône grapes. These grapes typically have the fruit, the acid and the body to not get washed out in a light rosé. These are the grapes traditionally used for rosés in France.

The Bonny Doon was brought over to our friends’ house for a recent barbeque get together. Appetizers served that afternoon included salsa and guacamole, and grilled shrimp. Bonny Doon has been making Rhône varietal wines since the beginning, and Randall Grahm is one of the Rhône pioneers in California. This was delicious.

2013 Dragonette Cellars Rosé

2013 Dragonette Cellars Rosé


The Dragonette was opened at my parents’ house a few weeks ago, just as an afternoon drinking wine. I had never had it before, and now I’m looking forward to visiting the Dragonette tasting room in Los Olivos (Santa Ynez Valley) when Lori and I vacation there later this month.

Windwalker Vineyard 2012 Grenache Rosé, El Dorado County

Windwalker Vineyard 2012 Grenache Rosé, El Dorado County

The Windwalker we picked up on a wine tasting run through the Sierra Foothills while visiting Lori’s mother, who lives in the area. (Winery visits are not the only reason I visit my mother-in-law. Really.) Another Grenache based rose, with about 70% of that varietal as the base. Again just opened as an afternoon drinking wine, and hit all the right points.

L’Chaim,

Larry

There Are Bubbles In My Alcohol

As reported in my previous post, Lori and I spent Memorial Day weekend up in Mendocino with our boys and their families. I won’t say too much about the weekend, except that we ate and drank quite well. It took a lot of running after the grandchildren to avoid a huge weight gain for the weekend. One highlight which deserves mention was our “Dude” night: we watched The Big Lebowski and drank White Russians. After the little ones had been put to bed, of course.

On the way home we went through Anderson Valley. It had been a number of years since our last visit to any of the wineries there. Since we were traveling as a group, we decided that one winery and lunch would be our stops.

The winery we chose was Roederer Estate, the sparkling wine people. Lori and I aren’t huge sparkling fans, but we do enjoy a glass now and then. Our younger son, Jacob, and his wife Brittany are huge bubbly fans, and this was a highlight of the trip for them. Roederer is a beautiful facility, wonderful to visit and taste at. They also have a nice lawn outside, and garden, great for the grandchildren to run around on and play hide and seek.

They had a nice selection of their sparkling wines open. The one that they’ve gotten the most acclaim for is the Brut Rosé. We walked out of there with both non-vintage and vintage versions of this, including a magnum of each.

The Buckhorn in Boonville, "A Fine Grub Pub"

The Buckhorn in Boonville, “A Fine Grub Pub”

After that we headed into Boonville for lunch, at The Buckhorn Boonville (“A Fine Grub Pub”). While Anderson Valley is known for its wineries, it’s also home to Anderson Valley Brewing Company (AVBC), one of the best microbreweries around. Their Boont Amber is widely distributed, but my favorite is the Hop Ottin’ IPA. There’s no AVBC brewpub, but the Buckhorn has carried nearly the full line of AVBC beer for as long as we’ve been heading up there. So we ordered a pitcher of the Poleeko Pale Ale for the table, ordered some fine grub (the food was very good, as always), and watched the S.F. Giants win another baseball game. Nice way to end a holiday weekend.

L’Chaim,

Larry

Sharing a Doobie With My Brother

View from B.R. Cohn Winery.

View from B.R. Cohn Winery.

My brother and his family were in town a few weekends back. The ladies ended up spending a few days in Santa Cruz, while the guys – myself, my brother, his 15 year old son – otherwise amused ourselves. One of our side trips was up to Sonoma County, eventually to see my kids and grandkids. On the way we stopped in the city of Sonoma for lunch (Murphy’s Irish Pub, down an alley off the main square, great food and vibe) and then at B.R. Cohn Winery in Sonoma Valley.

Doobie Brothers platinum records behind the tasting room bar at B.R. Cohn Winery.

Doobie Brothers platinum records behind the tasting room bar at B.R. Cohn Winery.

Bruce Cohn was and still is the manager of The Doobie Brothers band, from the beginning of the band’s rise to stardom. This was music my brother and I grew up with as teenagers in the ‘70s, listening to China Grove, Long Train Running and the numerous other hits. There are a few platinum records mounted above the tasting room bar. Well, Bruce bought the land the winery is on in 1974, and started making wine in 1984. The land originally had olive trees on it, and still does, with olive oil being made, sold and tasted at the same location as the winery.

B.R. Cohn Winery tasting room in Sonoma Valley.

B.R. Cohn Winery tasting room in Sonoma Valley.

B.R. Cohn’s focus is on Bordeaux varietals, especially Cabernet Sauvignon and blends. I find it difficult to buy Cabernet Sauvignon: It’s usually expensive, you want it to age to get better, and yet it’s a bit of a guessing game as to how well the wine will age. So most of the time I ignore the Cabs and go for the Pinot Noir and Zinfandel as reds, with the occasional Syrah, as I’m not taking as big a risk. [Thus the lack of Cabernet Sauvignon related posts in this blog.] My brother and I both made an exception to our no-Cabs rule at B.R. Cohn. First, the Cabs were good, really good, and showed every sign of being age-worthy. Second, the winery has been around for a number of years, and wouldn’t be doing so well if they didn’t put out a good bottle of wine. Third, their wines are not overly expensive. Our favorite was the 2010 Olive Hill Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, with grapes grown from the vineyard just in front of the tasting room, which retails for $69. Very good wine, very good value.

The Gourmet Shop at B.R. Cohn Winery features estate olive oil.

The Gourmet Shop at B.R. Cohn Winery features estate olive oil.

By the way, we also each bought a bottle of the 2012 Doobie Red, a drink-now Cab with some of the proceeds going to Veteran and other charities. I’ve already opened my bottle, and enjoyed it immensely.

Thanks also to Linda for her excellent help guiding us through the tastings. It was a great tasting experience, and now on my list of wineries to recommend, especially to Cab lovers.

Bruce also puts on a charitable music festival each year. This year the lineup includes Chicago, America, Ringo Starr, Todd Rundgren, Gregg Allman and of course The Doobie Brothers. For more information, see 2015 Sonoma Music Festival. Hope to see you there!

L’Chaim,

Larry

Soquel Vineyards on a Saturday Afternoon

No, not “Saturday in the Park,” for those of you old enough to remember the song by Chicago, but a Saturday afternoon spent at Soquel Vineyards in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Lori and I started really spending time in the Santa Cruz Mountains area about 2001, and Soquel Vineyards was our first “find”. Small winery, and it takes a bit of an effort to get there, but worth it. Excellent wine, great people, great setting and view.

View of Monterey Bay from Soquel Vineyards

View of Monterey Bay from Soquel Vineyards

We hadn’t been to Soquel Vineyards in a few years, but we’ve been drinking some of our older Soquel wines lately. (Read our posts on The Business of Blends and When Should You Open That Bottle.) And since we’re almost out of Soquel wines, and had a free afternoon, there we went, up the winding road, and found ourselves there on a simply beautiful day. When we first visited many years ago, they only had a small tasting bar inside. They have since added an outside patio, and have different inside and outside tasting menus. We got one of each tasting menu, and they were nice enough to serve us both outside on the patio. (Thanks to Kelsey for taking great care of us!)

Soquel Vineyards tasting room

Soquel Vineyards tasting room

We really enjoyed the following wines (i.e. we bought a mixed case of these):

2013 Chardonnay, Lester Family Vineyards, Santa Cruz Mountains
2013 Pinot Noir, Lester Family Vineyards, Santa Cruz Mountains
2012 Trinity Rosso, blend of Zinfandel, Tempranillo, Nebbiolo

(As an aside, we opened a bottle of the Trinity Rosso a few days ago, and it was perfect for dinner with Lori’s meat loaf.)

After finishing our tasting, we wandered inside, and caught up with Peter Bargetto. On every visit we’ve made to Soquel, either Peter or his twin brother Paul – two of the three partners in the winery – have been there talking with the guests and helping with the tastings, usually providing some select barrel tastings at the end. Today was no different, and Peter treated us to tastes of the 2013 and 2014 Intreccio, and new Bordeaux blend that Soquel will be releasing soon. Each year the blend changes a bit, depending on the quality and taste of the grapes. We were impressed with both vintages, and can’t wait to see them in bottles and released to customers. We also tasted a 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, Coombsville District, which was still really young; hard to get a read on. Although based on the Soquel track record, it’s going to be great.

To our view, Soquel embodies and exemplifies what is great about the Santa Cruz Mountain wineries: small family wineries, producing outstanding wine with a lot of passion and care, in a great area, and taking great care of their customers. In particular, their longevity and consistency make them a must visit winery in the area.

L’Chaim,

Larry