Recent Articles
Something
new from California
Rhone Ranger wines charge ahead
Michael
Vaughan
Weekly Wine & Spirits Columnist
National Post • Saturday, May 12, 2001
Next
Monday’s California wine fair presents a great opportunity to take stock
of what’s happening. As we all know, prices are through the roof - the
strong US dollar being principally to blame. Nevertheless some great
drinking value still exists.
Of the 245 wines being presented (click here for details), there are scads of standbys. Chardonnay is still king with 56 different wines or 23% on show. Of 20 Chards previewed, my best buy would be the classy Clos de Bois 1999 Chardonnay Reserve Alexander Valley. It was the only one in the 90+ range with its slightly smoky, lingering, ripe lemon-lime flavours – a terrific value at about $27 (CSPC 479527 coming soon to Vintages)! (www.closdubois.com)
Reds,
of course, are California’s strong suit making up 71% of the wines on
show. Cabernet Sauvignon is still king, closely followed by Merlot. Of 11
Cabs tasted at our preview ranging from $19 to $170, my definitive best
buy is the extracty Gallo
1996 Cabernet Sauvignon Frei Ranch at $34.90. It was released
in Vintages last December and a small quantity still remains at the LCBO
(Crossroads has about 20 bottles).
One
of my favourite grapes, Pinot Noir is surging ahead with 16 entries at
this year’s fair. Great Pinot Noir is always hard to find and
unfortunately 1998 was not the greatest of vintages meaning that you’ll
have to buy with great care. For instance, both bottles of the previewed Carneros Creek 1998 Pinot Noir Côte de Carneros
were off and their usually reliable 1998
Fleur de Carneros Pinot Noir (just released in the May’s
Vintages at $19.95) was just ok.
Of
course, there are always exceptions. Robert
Mondavi 1998 Pinot Noir Carneros has fine complexity, structure
and sweet ripe beefsteak tomato purée flavours. It was my winner at last
weekend’s Santé comparative blind Pinot Noir tasting and will appear in
a future Vintages release. Let me also recommend their very decent 1997
Pinot Noir Carneros (released in Vintages last February at
$39.95) which will be at the fair and is still available.
Coming
on strong is Zinfandel (29 entries), which shows ever-increasing strength.
On the General List is a terrific best buy – the crowd-pleasing Cline
1999 California Zinfandel at $16.00. Its gently spicy, tangy,
fruit-driven flavours brim with bright, ripe black cherries, strawberries,
cassis and just a touch of vanilla. Beware; this quaffable smoothie has
14% of alcohol.
Most
exciting is the emergence of California’s “Rhône Rangers” an
organization dedicated to traditional French Rhône Valley grape varieties
grown in America. Although only formally established in 1997, many of
these grapes have been grown in California for well over 100 years. It
wasn’t until the 1980's that several maverick wine makers began
experimenting with these wines. Best known in this movement is Randall
Grahm of Bonny Doon who was one of the key players in 1988 when he and 17
others formed "The Rhone Rangers".
Today’s
membership stands at 128 wineries - up almost 40% from only a year ago
(including producers from Idaho, Virginia and Washington). To qualify, a
wine must contain at least 75% of the traditional Rhone varieties. The
most important variety is Syrah (which is also sold as Shiraz, Sirah and
Petit Sirah). Under these four names, some 19 wines are being featured at
Monday’s fair.
As
Syrah is definitely on a roll, I made a point of visiting the recent
annual Rhone Ranger tasting in San Francisco where hundreds of new wines
were available for assessment. I discovered that they come in an amazing
array of styles. Although technically “dry” with less than one-half
percent of residual sugar, many seem faintly sweetish with fruit-forward
flavours. Only a handful have the slightly smoky, meaty quality found in
great Coronas from the Northern Rhône.
Visiting
Cline (just a short 45 minute drive to Sonoma), home of the delicious
Ancient Vines series, proved too enticing to resist. The winery’s
tasting room is in a quiet and laid back 1850’s farmhouse. It’s the
antithesis of many upscale Meccas designed for busloads of well-heeled
tourists. You can taste 5 of the 13 items for free (six are ominously
stamped “sold out”). For the 9 single vineyard designated items,
it’s a buck a shot.
Modestly
eccentric 44-year old Fred Cline purchased this new 350-acre farm in 1989.
It permitted him to expand enormously from his original tiny 1982 Contra
Costa Bay operation where his Mourvèdre, Carignane and Zinfandel are
produced from dry-farmed, ungrafted 80 to 100 year old vines.
“It
was Robert Parker who bailed me out back in 1988,” admits Fred. “I was
totally in debt and couldn’t even afford to bottle the stuff I had in
cask. I had tapped out my credit card at $25,000! When Parker put out a
call to taste these new Rhone Ranger wines, his article put us on the map
– we were inundated with calls. East coast distributors wanted to buy
pallets (56 cases) of my wine and I didn’t even know what a “pallet”
was! We had never had sold more than five cases at a time. I was
eventually able to borrow the funds to get it bottled – all 1,400 cases
of our 1987. Thanks to him, we’ve expanded to the point where we only
owe $25 million!”
Prolific
may well be an understatement for Fred, not only did he now whack out
78,000 cases of excellent 1999 Zin, but he has a brood of seven kids. At
Fred’s side is his younger brother Matt, a Davis grad who makes these
wines possible. While some are loathe to acknowledge vintage fluctuations,
Matt knows the limitations of what he is working with. Better yet, he
doesn’t appear to have sacrificed quality during this explosive
expansion. His upper end wines are always on allocation and hopefully some
of the massive 1999’s, which Matt states are the best of the decade,
will make their way to Vintages.
Coming up: If you missed booking next Monday’s California fair (now sold out) at the Royal York, New Zealand’s annual tasting takes place on May 28th at Alice Fazooli’s. Details are on my website or cal1 705-444-5255 to reserve.
Copyright Food & Beverage Testing Institute of Canada
2004
Prior written permission is required for any form of reproduction
(electronic or other wise) and or quotation.
Contact Michael Vaughan at
mbv@total.net