Superb Cabernet from Frog's Leap

Full disclosure: I am a longtime fan of Frog’s Leap wines.  All of them.  Zinfandel, Sauvignon Blanc but especially Cabernet Sauvignon from estate vineyards on the Rutherford bench in Napa.  Owner-winemaker John Williams was saved from being a New York dairy farmer when he discovered wine and moved to California.  After learning the basics at UC Davis, Williams worked at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars and Spring Mountain Vineyards. He also learned to appreciate classic Napa Valley Cabernets like Inglenook and Beaulieu.

Over the years he has acquired several Rutherford Bench vineyards  and treated them with the respect great vineyards deserve.  They are all organic and dry-farmed.  When a vine is not irrigated, the roots dig down deeper in the soil searching  for water and  leading to more complex wines. Irrigation was not common in Napa the 1970s, so the Napa classics that Williams admired were dry-farmed.

I believe that wine made from dry-farmed grapes express the terroir, the local dirt. These wines are wines from a particular place, a particular season. It’s what great wine is all about. 

The 2015 Estate grown Cabernet from the Rutherford AVA is a superb wine. On the palate, the wine is balanced and elegant with long and deep flavors, rounded with a touch of minerality. A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc, it hits all the right flavor points.  It’s a wine to linger over with good friends, good conversation.

John Williams believes it will be at peak in about ten years.  Sorry John, I can’t wait that long for this superb  wine.

Chill Out With Besa del Sol Sangria

My wife and I were sitting on a shady terrace overlooking the Guadalquivir River in Seville.  It was August. It was hot.  We didn’t even know what the temperature was.  Afraid to ask.

We were nibbling on olives and thin slices of Bellota jamon. We had finished a couple of copitas of chilled fino Sherry but it hadn’t managed to chill us.

A waiter passed our table carrying a large pitcher of sangria and several glasses on a tray.  The pitcher was frosty and so were the glasses,  taken from the freezer only moments before.

Ann turned slightly in her chair to follow the progress of the sangria toward a table of young women who greeted the waiter and the sangria with welcoming smiles.

“Why didn’t we think of that,” Ann asked?

What, I ventured, would happen if two wine nerds were spotted drinking sangria?

She gave me that look.

I signaled the waiter and ordered a pitcher of sangria.

Might have saved our marriage.

*

So come on, people. Loosen up.  It’s summer. It’s hot. And I have some virtual sangria for you.

Besa del Sol Sangria from Spain has just arrived in the US market in red, white and pink versions and it is delicious and cooling, The wine base is made from a single estate in the Valdepeñas wine DO. The red and pink versions are made from Tempranillo, the white sangria from Airén, the most widely grown white wine grape in Spain.

The wines are refreshing on the palate with a welcoming edge of acidity and a touch of citrus leading to a just off-dry and slightly spicy finish. Serve it over ice or straight up from the fridge. It comes in a 3 liter bag in box, a 1.5 liter glass bottle and 500ML TetraPak.  It is fairly low alcohol, at only 8.5%.

Just try it. Nobody’s looking.  Besides even wine nerds can chill out when the weather is so hot.

Another round, please.

And make mine pink.

'Way Cool' Wines From Marimar Estate

There was a time not so very long ago that wine ‘experts’ decreed that California’s climate was just too hot for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.  Those experts obviously spent too much time in their office and not out in the field checking the temperature.

Now there are any number of winegrowing regions in California that are producing outstanding Pinot Noir and Chardonnay---coastal Santa Barbara, Monterey County, the Carneros region in Napa and Sonoma and the Anderson Valley in Mendocino are just a few examples.

There is also outstanding Pinot Noir and Chardonnay being made in the Russian River Valley of Sonoma County, especially Green Valley, only a few miles from the Pacific.  Which leads me to the wines of Marimar Estate,  where Marimar Torres (of the Catalan wine family) and her staff are making outstanding wine.

She has just released two Pinots and two Chardonnays that offer a good window into the terroir of the Russian River Valley and into her particular style of winemaking.  All her wines are estate bottled from organic and biodynamic vineyards.

Let’s have a virtual taste.

Marimar Estate La Masia Chardonnay, Don Miguel Vineyard, 2015.  $39. The vineyard is only ten miles from the Pacific and is a high density planting (over 2000 vines per acre) which gives balance and concentration to the grapes. There is classic green apple with a touch of citrus on the nose, followed by a hint of spice in the mouth.  The finish is long and layered, with a touch of cinnamon and white pepper.

Marimar Estate Bonita’s Hill Chardonnay, Don Miguel Vineyard, 2014. $49.This is a barrel selection of the best the vineyard has to offer.  It is an intense wine with good minerality with just a touch of oak.  The mouth feel is long and lean with layers of flavor wrapping around the palate.  This is serious Chardonnay and one of California’s best.

Marimar Estate Stony Block Pinot Noir, Don Miguel Vineyard, 2014. $59.  An elegant wine with typical cool climate Pinot Noir spice ---a touch of cloves ---and lively red berry fruit.  The finish is complex and balanced with good minerality to back up the fruit.   It will undoubtedly age well, but who can wait.  Buy a case for aging and another to drink now!

Marimar Estate Cristania Pinot Noir, Don Miguel Vineyard, 2014. $65.  Flat out one of the half-dozen best Pinots in California.  An intense wine with balanced concentration of fruit, ranging from red cherries and dark plum. There is good acidity minerality as well with a long echoing finish.  If you can manage, keep this one for a decade. It should develop beautifully.

Food Notes

Marimar Torres is an excellent cook. She has written two fine cook books, The Spanish Table, and Catalan Country Kitchen, so she understands the role good wine plays with food.  Because her wines are balanced and layered with nuanced flavors, they pair well with a wide range of food. The Stony Block Pinot Noir would be a good match with a classic Spanish paella.

--- Ann Walker