Highlights
Vineyards become the most dramatic at the end of the day, when, like mountain ridges, they can be caught by the last light of the sun. I love this image, both for the way the light rakes across the rows of vines, but also for the subtle depth of the landscape in the haze beyond the foreground. The willingness to wait for moments like this separates the average photographer from pros like Andy. -- Alder Yarrow

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Many wine lovers early in their education (and in their earning power) are often flummoxed by prices for wines that start to head north of $80 or $90 per bottle. Should they pursue their love of wine long enough to really learn (and see for themselves) what kind of work goes into some of the world's best vineyards, and to taste the wine that they produce, such prices no longer seem outrageous.

Indeed, there are some wineries and vineyards in the world that seem to produce wines of such quality and consistency as to be nearly magical. In Europe, and especially France, such pieces of land are often given special designations, such as Grand Cru, to signify their quality.

There are very few plots of land in California that might be accorded Grand Cru status, should Americans decide to institute some method of classifying vineyards for quality, if only because many of California's vineyards are so relatively new. There are some very few, however, that have definitively proven their distinctiveness and quality over several decades.

Unquestionably, the first vineyard on my list of such wineries and vineyard sites would be Rochioli Vineyards in the Russian River Valley. Tucked in between Westside Road and the meandering curves of the Russian River as it heads south past Healdsburg, Rochioli Vineyards produces some of the most sought after Pinot Noir in California.

Since the early part of the 20th century, the 162 acres of flats and sloping hillsides that run down towards this particular bend in the river have been farmed by someone with the last name Rochioli. After working the land for decades, Joe Rochioli, Sr., began buying up the land, bit by bit. By the 1950's, he had been joined by his son Joe Rochioli, Jr. and together they spent several decades growing grapes that were sold to wineries throughout Sonoma County.

It wasn't until the early Seventies, however, that the farm produced Pinot Noir. Like many long-running family winegrowers, however, eventually the hankering to make their own wine started to germinate, and in 1976 Joe Jr. made a bunch of Pinot Noir at one of his customers' wineries.

By the early Eighties, the Russian River Valley had clearly proven its potential for growing Burgundian varietals, and Pinot Noir in particular, and the Rochioli's saw a gradual increase in the demand for their fruit. One small winery named Williams Selyem became a particularly good customer, and the single vineyard wines they made from Rochioli fruit rapidly made their fortunes and brought Rochioli to national and international attention.

Around this time, Joe Jr.'s son Tom had grown dissatisfied with his business career and decided to return to the family business. Capitalizing on the rapidly increasing demand for the family's fruit, Tom helped transform the Rochioli ranch from a farm to a full working winery. With the help of another of their customers, Gary Farrell, the family produced its first vintage under the Rochioli brand in 1982, a 150 case production of Pinot Noir from a vineyard plot known as the West Block.

Within a few years, Tom had taken over as winemaker, a position which he continues to hold today, even as his father Joe Jr. continues to direct the management of the family's vineyards.

Producing about 13,000 cases of wine each year, Rochioli produces appellation designated wines under the Rochioli Vineyards label, and single vineyard and block-designated wines under the J. Rochioli label. These latter wines, including this River Block Pinot Noir, are available only to their mailing list customers.

Tom Rochioli's winemaking style, as well as his entire family's philosophy of wine production are based in the traditions of Burgundy, and in particular the Cote d'Or. Exacting quality standards, clonal diversity, and vineyard management techniques produce top quality fruit, which is then babied through a traditional hands-off winemaking process that attempts to manipulate the wine as little as possible through its lifecycle.

More so than almost any other Pinot Noir in California, Rochioli wines are built to age, and do so beautifully. I have had the pleasure of drinking bottles dating back to 1990 in the past few years, and they are holding up magnificently. Whether they have the 50+ year longevity of old world Burgundy, only time will tell, but if any Pinot Noir America will likely age in that fashion, it will most certainly be Rochioli.

Whenever possible I avoid favoritism, as I believe my life and the lives of my readers benefit from a diverse exploration and recommendation of wines. However, when it comes right down to it, there are few wines in California wine that I care for more than Rochioli's block designated Pinot Noirs, especially when they are properly aged for a decade or two.

Tasting Notes:
Medium ruby in color, this wine has a bright, bold nose of cranberry and spice aromas that you can smell long before your nose is in the glass. On the palate the wine has a gorgeous glassy silk texture that conveys an impression of coolness, while all but bursting with bright, juicy raspberry fruit and a deep complexion of mulling spices and fresh herbs that linger in a very long finish. Incredibly well balanced and poised, this wine has fantastic acidity that makes it a joy to drink now and a sure bet for a couple decades of aging.

Food Pairing:
I'd love to drink this wine with a crostata of goat cheese and sauteed chanterelle mushrooms with fresh thyme.

Overall Score: around 9.5

How Much?: $85

This wine is available for purchase on the Internet.

It's so easy to get caught up in the stuffy, over-intellectualized world of wine geekery, where people endlessly debate the smallest aspects of winemaking or vintage ratings. All of us who spend enough time talking, thinking, and reading about wine get sucked into that world occasionally. But I find myself attracted to those who fall into that trap with the least regularity.

As luck would have it, there are several simple cures for me readily at hand whenever I forget that wine is first and foremost, fun. One of them arrives in two volumes every year with the name Terry Theise boldly printed across the top, usually accompanied by a pretty picture.

Theise is one of the genius-fools of the wine world, who despite their immense knowledge and experience, manage to talk and write and think about wine with the boundless and pretensionless enthusiasm of a beginner. Picking up a Theise catalog is like opening one of the crazy manifestos that some Berkeley radicals mimeographed and sold in independent bookstores in the Sixties. Part rant, part poetry, part reference manual, and part literature, Theise's catalogs are simply a hoot.

Case in point, one of my favorite of his many descriptions of terroir:

"Soil...is a wine's DNA. It is the fundamental building block of that wine's identity. Elvis is Elvis. Some years it rained and he was thin Elvis; some years it was hot and he was fat Elvis. He was sometimes drunk Elvis, sometimes sleepy Elvis, or cornball, sleazy, charismatic or horny Elvis. In fact it's safe to say that he was every imaginable variety of Elvis his temperament could contrive. But always, he was Elvis."

Theise is madly passionately in love with wine and it shows in everything he writes -- he may well be my favorite wine writer, and he doesn't even get paid for it.

Theise has been bringing German and Austrian wine (and Champagne) to the States since... well, it seems like since before time immemorial. I actually don't know exactly when he started doing his thing, but his name has become synonymous with the highest quality wines from both countries. It is not fair to compare two unique and talented individuals, but a shorthand that helps me explain Theise to some people often suggests that he's the Kermit Lynch of Germany and Austria.

Now, about the wines.

I had a chance to attend a tasting on Monday of many of his selections from the much heralded 2008 vintage. Now, I haven't been carefully following vintages in Germany and Austria for many years years, so you'll have to take my commentary on the vintage as a whole with a grain of salt and look elsewhere for authoritative pronunciations of the soundness of the year. Having said that, 2008 pretty much looks like it rocks across the board. The wines are rich, bold, and have a depth to them that is quite striking.

Sadly I was time pressured at this tasting so I didn't get to taste everything I wanted to -- I tried to focus on the Kabinett and Spätlese wines, as those tend to be what I drink, and I threw in some Gruner Veltiners and an occasional Scheurebe just for fun.

As usual with these wines, some of my favorites are really smashing deals, and if I didn't have to buy new brakes for my car, I'd be plunking down for a couple of cases of this stuff. Yummy!

Enjoy.

Austria

WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9.5
2007 Bründlmayer Riesling Zöbinger Heiligenstein, Kamptal, Austria. $43. Where to buy?
2007 Bründlmayer Riesling Zöbinger Heiligenstein "Lyra", Kamptal, Austria. $40. Where to buy?

WINES SCORING BETWEEN 9 AND 9.5
2008 Alzinger Riesling Hollerin Smaragd, Wachau, Austria. $65
2008 Bründlmayer Riesling "Kamptaler Terrassen", Kamptal, Austria. $28
2007 Bründlmayer Riesling Steinmassel, Kamptal, Austria. $39
2008 Hirsch Grüner Veltliner Heiligenstein, Kremstal, Austria. $28
2007 Hirsch Grüner Veltliner Lamm, Kremstal, Austria. $54
2007 Hirsch Riesling Heiligenstein, Kremstal, Austria. $54
2008 Salomon Undhof Riesling Pfaffenberg, Kremstal, Austria. $20

WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9
2007 Hirsch Riesling Gaisberg, Kremstal, Austria. $52
2007 Nikolaihof Riesling Vom Stein Smaragd, Wachau, Austria. $80
2008 Salomon Undhof Sal'mon Riesling, Kremstal, Austria. $21
2008 Salomon Undhof Riesling Kögl, Kremstal, Austria. $28
2008 Schloss Gobelsburg Grüner Veltliner Renner, Kremstal, Austria. $41
2008 Schloss Gobelsburg Riesling Gaisberg, Kremstal, Austria. $39

WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8.5 AND 9
2008 Hirsch Riesling Zöbing, Kremstal, Austria. $28
2008 Nigl Riesling Kremsleiten, Kremstal, Austria. $45
2008 Schloss Gobelsburg Grüner Veltliner Steinsetz, Kremstal, Austria. $30
2008 Schloss Gobelsburg Riesling "Gobelsburger", Kremstal, Austria. $21
2008 Schwarzböck Riesling Pöcken, Weinviertel, Austria. $23
2008 Setzer Grüner Veltliner "8000", Weinviertel, Austria. $49
2008 Setzer Riesling, Weinviertel, Austria. $30

WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8.5
2008 Nigl Grüner Veltliner Freiheit, Kremstal, Austria. $23
2008 Nigl Grüner Veltliner "Privat", Kremstal, Austria. $54
2008 Nigl Riesling Senftenberger Piri, Kremstal, Austria. $45

WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8 AND 8.5
2008 Heidi Schröck Furmint,, Austria. $26
2008 Nikolaihof Riesling Vom Stein Federspiel, Wachau, Austria. $43

Germany

WINES SCORING BETWEEN 9.5 AND 10
2008 Müller-Catoir Mandelring Scheurebe Spätlese, Pfalz, Germany. $60.

WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9.5
2008 Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling Spätlese, Nahe, Germany. $69. Where to buy?
2008 Kerpen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett, Mosel, Germany. $24.
2008 Kruger-Rumpf Münsterer Dautenpflänzer Riesling Spätlese, Nahe, Germany. $30. Where to buy?
2008 Leitz Rüdesheimer Klosterlay Riesling Kabinett, Rheingau, Germany. $21. Where to buy?
2008 Leitz Rüdesheimer Magdalenenkreuz Riesling Spätlese, Rheingau, Germany. $24.
2008 Meulenhof Erdener Prälat Riesling Spätlese, Mosel, Germany. $26.
2008 Meulenhof Erdener Treppchen Riesling Spätlese* Alte Reben, Mosel, Germany. $26.
2008 Müller-Catoir Mussbach Riesling Kabinett, Pfalz, Germany. $39. Where to buy?
2008 Müller-Catoir Bürgergarten Riesling Spätlese, Pfalz, Germany. $60. Where to buy?
2008 Strub Niersteiner Paterberg Riesling Spätlese, Rheinhessen, Germany. $26.
2008 Wagner-Stempel Siefersheimer Höllberg Riesling Spätlese, Rheinhessen, Germany. $45.
2008 Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spätlese #10, Mosel, Germany. $41. Where to buy?

WINES SCORING BETWEEN 9 AND 9.5
2008 Dönnhoff Norheimer Kirschheck Riesling Spätlese, Nahe, Germany. $50
2008 Dönnhoff Schlossböckelheimer Kupfergrube Riesling Spätlese, Nahe, Germany. $64
2008 Gysler Weinheimer Riesling Kabinett, Rheinhessen, Germany. $21
2008 Kerpen Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Spätlese, Mosel, Germany. $29
2008 Kerpen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese* Artist Label, Mosel, Germany. $34
2008 Kruger-Rumpf Münsterer Pittersberg Riesling Spätlese, Nahe, Germany. $31
2008 Leitz Rüdesheimer Berg Roseneck Riesling Spätlese, Rheingau, Germany. $39
2008 Meulenhof Erdener Treppchen Riesling Kabinett, Mosel, Germany. $21
2008 Meulenhof Erdener Treppchen Riesling Spätlese*, Mosel, Germany. $26
2007 Minges Burrweiler Schlossgarten Riesling Spätlese, Pfalz, Germany. $30
2008 Müller-Catoir Herrenletten Riesling Spätlese trocken,, Germany. $60
2008 Reuscher-Haart Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Spätlese #10, Mosel, Germany. $26
2008 Reuscher-Haart Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Spätlese #12, Mosel, Germany. $26
2008 Schmitt-Wagner Maximiner Herrenberg Riesling Spätlese, Mosel, Germany. $28
2008 Strub Niersteiner Brückchen Riesling Kabinett, Rheinhessen, Germany. $21
2008 von Othegraven (Saar) Ockfen Bockstein Riesling Spätlese Erste Lage, Mosel, Germany. $50
2008 Weegmüller Haardter Herrenletten Scheurebe Spätlese, Pfalz, Germany. $36

WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9
2008 Dönnhoff Kreuznacher Krötenpfuhl Riesling Kabinett, Nahe, Germany. $31
2008 Eugen Müller Forster Kirchenstück Riesling Spätlese trocken "Cyriakus",, Germany. $40
2008 Eugen Müller Forster Pechstein Riesling Kabinett halbtrocken "Terra Cara",, Germany. $23
2008 Geil Bechtheimer Geyersberg Riesling Spätlese, Rheinhessen, Germany. $24
2008 Kerpen Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett feinherb Artist Label, Mosel, Germany. $25
2008 Kerpen Bernkasteler Bratenhöfchen Riesling Spätlese, Mosel, Germany. $29
2008 Kruger-Rumpf Scheurebe Kabinett, Nahe, Germany. $23
2007 Kruger-Rumpf Münsterer Rheinberg Riesling Kabinett, Nahe, Germany. $24
2008 Kruger-Rumpf Binger Scharlachberg Riesling Spätlese, Nahe, Germany. $31
2008 Leitz Rüdesheimer Berg Rottland Riesling trocken "Alte Reben", Rheingau, Germany. $56
2008 Leitz Dragonstone Riesling, Rheingau, Germany. $19
2008 Loewen Leiwener Laurentiuslay Riesling Spätlese, Mosel, Germany. $33
2008 Loewen Thörnicher Ritsch Riesling Spätlese, Mosel, Germany. $33
2008 Messmer Burrweiler Schäwer Riesling Spätlese, Pfalz, Germany. $43
2008 Meulenhof Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese, Mosel, Germany. $24
2008 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling "Rotlay", Mosel, Germany. $23
2008 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Schlossberg Riesling "Schmitt", Mosel, Germany. $23
2008 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Himmelreich Riesling Spätlese "Anrecht", Mosel, Germany. $31
2008 Weingart Schloss Fürstenberg Riesling Kabinett, Mittelrhein, Germany. $26

WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8.5 AND 9
2008 Dönnhoff Estate Riesling, Nahe, Germany. $25
2008 Eugen Müller Forster Mariengarten Riesling Kabinett, Pfalz, Germany. $20
2008 Kerpen Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spätlese trocken, Mosel, Germany. $30
2008 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett, Mosel, Germany. $26
2008 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Schlossberg Riesling Spätlese, Mosel, Germany. $31

WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8.5
2008 Biffar Deidesheimer Herrgottsacker Riesling Kabinett, Pfalz, Germany. $24
2008 Geil Bechtheimer Rosengarten Riesling Kabinett, Rheinhessen, Germany. $18
2008 Joh. Jos. Christoffel Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Spätlese, Mosel, Germany. $36
2008 Kruger-Rumpf Scheurebe trocken, Nahe, Germany. $23
2008 Leitz Eins Zwei Dry "3", Rheingau, Germany. $17
2008 Weegmüller Haardter Bürgergarten Riesling Kabinett, Pfalz, Germany. $25

WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8 AND 8.5
2008 Kruger-Rumpf Scharlachberg Riesling Grosses Gewächs, Nahe, Germany. $26
2008 Kruger-Rumpf Riesling halbtrocken, Nahe, Germany. $23
2008 Messmer Riesling halbtrocken, Pfalz, Germany. $19

WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8
2008 Bernhard Hackenheimer Kirchberg Riesling Kabinett, Rheinhessen, Germany. $22
2008 Weegmüller Cuvée Fleur, Pfalz, Germany. $24

I was interested to see whether attendance at this year's event would be noticeably lower, but if it was, I couldn't tell. The place seemed just as packed as ever, which is a good thing -- the California wine industry needs all the help it can get in this recession.

So needless to say, I was in good company tasting yesterday with 3500 of my wine loving friends.

I use such events, comprehensive as they are, as a means of judging the overall quality of the vintage in California, if it is possible to generalize in such a way as this. At this most recent tasting, the 2007 Pinot Noirs were on display, and I found them generally quite good, with excellent acidity, bright fruit, and, increasingly less ripe than past vintages.

The industry thankfully continues to dial back the extraction and ripeness from levels that seemed to peak in the 2002 and 2003 vintages. This is especially true for the wines from the Santa Lucia Highlands which tend to be some of the most overripe Pinot Noirs made in Northern California. Wines from Garys' Vineyard, Pisoni Vineyard, and Rosella's Vineyard, continue to be moderated to saner levels of fruit and alcohol than in the past.

I've called out the few nice roses I found as well as a couple white wines that were on offer.

Enjoy.

WHITE WINES THAT SNUCK INTO THE TASTING
2007 Chasseur Lorenzo Chardonnay, Russian River Valley. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $55.
2006 Bjornstad Ritchie Vineyard Chardonnay, Russian River Valley. Score: around 9. Cost: $40
2006 Fort Ross Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $32
2007 Hirsch Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $50

PINK WINES
2008 Clos Pepe Rose of Pinot Noir, Santa Rita Hills. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $18
2008 Fort Ross Rose of Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast. Score: around 9. Cost: $16
2008 Macrostie Rose of Pinot Noir, Sonoma County. Score: around 9. Cost: $20
2008 Inman Family Vineyards Rose of Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $25
2007 Albiouness Rose of Pinot Noir, Carneros. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $15
2008 Lynmar Rose of Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley. Score: between 8 and 8.5. Cost: $20
2008 Bjornstad Rose of Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley. Score: between 8 and 8.5. Cost: $18

AND NOW LET'S GET DOWN TO BUSINESS:

WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9.5
2005 Clos Pepe, Santa Rita Hills. $48. Where to buy?
2000 Clos Pepe, Santa Rita Hills. $48.
2004 Derbes Les Pinots, Russian River Valley. $45. Where to buy?
2007 Morgan Hat Trick, Santa Lucia Highlands. $62. Where to buy?
2006 Woodenhead Wiley Vineyard, Anderson Valley. $60. Where to buy?

WINES SCORING BETWEEN 9 AND 9.5
2007 Auteur Sonoma Stage, Sonoma Coast. $50. Where to buy?
2007 Belle Glos Taylor Lane, Sonoma Coast. $45. Where to buy?
1997 Calera Reed, Mt. Harlan. $65.
2007 Chasseur Umino, Russian River Valley. $60.
2007 Chasseur Blank, Russian River Valley. $60.
2007 Clos Pepe, Santa Rita Hills. $48. Where to buy?
2006 Clos Pepe, Santa Rita Hills. $48. Where to buy?
2006 Derbes, Russian River Valley. $47. Where to buy?
2006 Domaine Serene Evenstad, Willamette Valley, OR. $58. Where to buy?
2007 Failla Occidental Ridge, Sonoma Coast. $60.
2006 Fort Ross Pinotage, Sonoma Coast. $32. Where to buy?
2007 Freeman Vineyards Akiko's Cuvee, Sonoma Coast. $52.
2006 Hirsch, Sonoma Coast. $60. Where to buy?
2007 Jim Ball Signature, Anderson Valley. $45. Where to buy?
2006 Keller Estate El Coro, Sonoma Coast. $52.
2006 Morgan Double "L" Vineyard, Santa Lucia Highlands. $62. Where to buy?
2006 Morgan Rosella's, Santa Lucia Highlands. $85. Where to buy?
2006 Scherrer, Sonoma County. $35. Where to buy?
2006 Scherrer, Russian River Valley. $40. Where to buy?
2007 Woodenhead Humboldt County, Mendocino. $34.
2007 Woodenhead, Russian River Valley. $40.

WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9
2007 August West Graham Family, Russian River Valley. $50
2007 Auteur Manchester Ridge, Mendocino Ridge. $60
2007 Auteur Shea Vineyard, Willamette Valley, OR. $60
2007 Balletto Burnside Road, Russian River Valley. $36
2007 Belle Glos Clark & Telephone Vineyard, Santa Maria Valley. $45
2007 Bjornstad Hellenthal, Sonoma Coast. $40
2006 Calera Ryan, Mt. Harlan. $40
2006 Calera Mills, Mt. Harlan. $45
2007 Chasseur, Russian River Valley. $40
2007 Clos Saron Home Vineyard, Sierra Foothills. $45
2007 Dain Savage Juliet, Anderson Valley. $45
2005 Domaine Serene Winery Hill, Willamette Valley, OR. $75
2006 DuNah Estate, Russian River Valley. $45
2006 DuNah Sangiacomo, Sonoma Coast. $45
2007 ENO The One, Santa Lucia Highlands. $35
2006 Expression 44 Degrees - Zena's Crown, Willamette Valley, OR. $48
2006 Failla Vivian, Sonoma Coast. $70
2006 Fort Ross Symposium, Sonoma Coast. $32
2005 Fort Ross Reserve, Sonoma Coast. $49
2007 Freeman Vineyards, Russian River Valley. $41
2006 Gary Farrell Starr Ridge, Russian River Valley. $50
2006 Gary Farrell, Russian River Valley. $40
2006 Goldeneye, Anderson Valley. $55
2006 Inman Family Vineyards OGV, Russian River Valley. $52
2007 Jim Ball Booneville, Anderson Valley. $50
2006 Keller Estate La Cruz Vineyard, Sonoma Coast. $42
2006 Keller Estate Preciosos, Sonoma Coast. $$75
2007 Ketcham, Russian River Valley. $38
2007 Ketcham Estate, Russian River Valley. $48
2007 Ladd Moore Ranch, Russian River Valley. $??
2007 Le Cadeu Equinox, Willamette Valley, OR. $47
2007 Le Cadeu Rocheux, Willamette Valley, OR. $47
2006 Louis Latour Marsannay, Burgundy, France. $20
2005 Louis Latour Les Chaillots -- Aloxe-Corton, Burgundy, France. $45
2006 Lynmar, Russian River Valley. $40
2006 Lynmar Hawk Hill, Russian River Valley. $70
2007 Macrostie Wildcat Mountain, Sonoma Coast. $40
2001 Michaud, Chalone. $n/a
2007 Miner Family Vineyards Garys' Vineyard, Santa Lucia Highlands. $55
2007 Morgan 12 Clones, Santa Lucia Highlands. $31
2007 Perception Orsi Vineyard, Russian River Valley. $53
2006 Pey-Lucia Frisque, Santa Lucia Highlands. $39
2006 Pey-Marin, Marin County. $39
2004 Pey-Marin, Marin County. $n/a
2002 Pey-Marin, Marin County. $n/a
2006 Roesseler Ridges, Sonoma Coast. $50
2007 Rusack Reserve, Santa Rita Hills. $40
2006 Scherrer Big Brother, Sonoma Coast. $50
2006 Skewis Bush Vineyard, Russian River Valley. $48
2005 Stonier Reserve, Mornington Penninsula, Australia. $45
2005 Varner Picnic Block, Santa Cruz Mountains. $40
2006 Woodenhead Troika, North Coast. $120

WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8.5 AND 9
2006 Abiouness Stanley Ranch, Carneros. $42
2006 Abiouness Hudson Vineyard, Carneros. $48
2006 August West Graham Family, Russian River Valley. $48
2007 August West Rosella's Vineyard, Santa Lucia Highlands. $50
2007 Balletto Winery Block, Russian River Valley. $36
2007 Belle Glos Las Alturas, Monterey County. $45
2006 Bjornstad Hellenthal, Sonoma Coast. $
2007 Calera, Central Coast. $24
2006 Calera Mount Harlan Cuvee, Mt. Harlan. $30
2002 Calera Mills, Mt. Harlan. $55
2007 Cargasacchi Cargasacchi-Jalama, Santa Barbara County. $??
2007 Cargasacchi, Santa Rita Hills. $??
2007 Chasseur, Sonoma Coast. $40
2004 Clos Saron Home Vineyard, Sierra Foothills. $45
2006 Clos Saron Texas Hill Vineyard, Sierra Foothills. $45
2007 Coterie Fairview Road Vineyard, Santa Lucia Highlands. $35
2007 Dain Amber Ridge, Russian River Valley. $45
2007 Dain Savage Juliet Reserve, Anderson Valley. $45
2006 ENO Never Say Never, Santa Lucia Highlands. $32
2007 ENO The Brilliant Mind, Santa Lucia Highlands. $32
2006 Expression 44 Degrees - Willakia, Willamette Valley, OR. $48
2007 Expression 39 Degrees - Annabella, Anderson Valley. $48
2007 Freeman Vineyards, Sonoma Coast. $41
2007 Freeman Vineyards Keefer Ranch, Russian River Valley. $46
2006 Freestone Vineyards, Sonoma Coast. $75
2006 Gary Farrell Ramal Vineyard, Carneros. $50
2007 Goldeneye Migration, Anderson Valley. $34
2007 Grochau, Willamette Valley, OR. $24
2007 Grochau Cuvee des Amis, Willamette Valley, OR. $36
2007 Hirsch M, Sonoma Coast. $45
2006 Inman Family Vineyards Thorn Road Ranch, Russian River Valley. $52
2006 Lynmar Quail Hill, Russian River Valley. $60
2007 Lynmar Terre de Promisio, Sonoma Coast. $70
2006 Mac Forbes Coldstream, Yarra Valley, Australia. $50
2007 Macrostie, Carneros. $30
2007 Martinelli Zio Tony Ranch, Russian River Valley. $60
2007 Miner Family Vineyards Rosella's, Santa Lucia Highlands. $55
2006 Morgan Garys' Vineyard, Santa Lucia Highlands. $62
2007 Papapietro Perry 777 Clone, Russian River Valley. $70
2005 Pey-Marin, Marin County. $n/a
2003 Pey-Marin, Marin County. $n/a
2007 Rusack, Santa Maria Valley. $35
2003 Skewis Floodgate Vineyard, Anderson Valley. $n/a
2006 Tondre, Santa Lucia Highlands. $43
2006 Varner Hidden Block, Santa Cruz Mountains. $40
2005 Varner Holly's Cuvee, Santa Cruz Mountains. $40

WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8.5
2006 Albiouness Stanley Ranch Pommard Selection, Carneros. $55
2006 August West Rosella's Vineyard, Santa Lucia Highlands. $48
2007 Auteur Ophelia, Oregon and California. $38
2007 Balletto Estate, Russian River Valley. $20
2007 Bjornstad Van der Kamp, Sonoma Mountain. $40
2006 Brokenwood, Beechworth, Australia. $25
2000 Clos Saron, Sierra Foothills. $n/a
2007 Coterie Saralee's Vineyard, Russian River Valley. $28
2006 Derby, Central Coast. $42
2007 Hirsch Bohan Dillon, Sonoma Coast. $40
2006 Inman Family Vineyards, Russian River Valley. $45
2006 Kendrick, Marin County. $33
2007 Ladd, Sonoma Coast. $32
2007 Ladd, Russian River Valley. $32
2007 Ladd Cuvee Abigail, Russian River Valley. $??
2007 Le Cadeu Cote Est, Oregon. $47
2005 Louis Latour Chanfleure Pinot Noir, Burgundy, France. $15
2003 Michaud, Chalone. $n/a
2005 Michaud, Chalone. $35
2007 Olsen Ogden, Sonoma Coast. $42
2007 Olsen Ogden, Russian River Valley. $$32
2006 Olsen Ogden, Russian River Valley. $32
2006 Penfolds Cellar Reserve, Adelaide Hills, Australia. $45
2007 Perception, Russian River Valley. $42
2007 Spell Barton, Russian River Valley. $47
2005 Springvale, Tazmania. $29

WINES SCORING BETWEEN 8 AND 8.5
2006 Le Cadeu Cote Est, Oregon. $47
2006 Mayro Murdick, Carneros. $35
2004 Tamar Ridge, Tazmania. $27

Billionaires getting swindled by fake bottles of wine purportedly belonging to Thomas Jefferson aside, as the world's greatest wines continue to climb in price, wine fraud continues to increase in frequency and in value.

At this point, the fakery of wines has become a big business. No one knows just how large, but some wine experts say the real figure is probably shudderingly large: millions of dollars worth, to be sure, and perhaps even tens of millions. Wine Critic Allen Meadows told writer Michael Steinberger that he believes perhaps 10% of the pre-1960 wines he comes across these days might be fakes.

And it all may be due, in part, to things like this:

3 x RED WINE BOTTLE LABEL SCREAMING EAGLE GRACE ..Empty

A bottle of 1994 Grace Family Vineyards Cabernet, a bottle 1995 Tignanello Red Blend from Tuscany, and a bottle of 1996 Screaming Eagle, all empty, of course.

Together they may sell for between $10 and $60 on eBay. Filled up again with some red wine, re-corked and re-foiled, these three wines would sell for a total of about $2224 according to WinePrices.Com.

And that, of course, is the problem.

As mentioned last week in the New York Times Freakonomics blog, a recent paper by a member the American Association of Wine Economists (see the PDF abstract) suggests that online auction sites like eBay may be significantly contributing to the problem of counterfeit wine.

The logic presented in the paper is quite simple: after watching a bunch of sites like eBay, it's quite clear that the sale price of empty bottles directly correlates to the price of that bottle were it to actually be full. In short, those willing to pay $100 for an empty bottle of Petrus must be getting some value from the bottle that is completely out of whack with its real value in the marketplace (as a glass container with a paper label on it).

While eBay certainly can't be held responsible for people doing illegal things with innocuous items that they buy perfectly legally online, I wonder whether it might be in everyone's interest for them to prevent people from selling bottles that are particularly prone to counterfeiting.

This wouldn't be easy, of course, and may be unreasonable to ask, but they've got a lot of controls in place already to make sure that people don't break the law in a million other different ways (like, for instance, selling dangerous chemicals online). How hard would it be for them to pay a little more attention to the empty bottle problem? It certainly would be good for the wine world.

Just as there exist regional benchmarks for grape varieties or wine styles, there also exist some individual wine producers, and even individual wines, that manage to define the uppermost limits of quality or the epitome of a regional style.

The wines of Giacomo Conterno can all too easily be defined purely with superlatives. They are arguably the finest wines made in Italy's Piemonte region, and are often described as the best wines made in Italy. Undeniably, they rank among the top wines of the world regardless of the criteria used to make that assessment, whether by reputation, critical accolades, marketplace demand, or resale value at auction.

Over time Giacomo Conterno has become the standard bearer and even the definition of what "traditional" means in the context of Barolo wines.

The Giacomo Conterno story begins in 1908 when Giovanni Conterno opened what we might these days call a wine bar in the little town of San Giuseppe. In those days if you wanted to have some place where people sat around and drank wine, you had to make the wine yourself. So Giovanni bought grapes from various farmers, and made Barolo, which were kept in small wooden barrels with spigots attached to them next to the bar.

Business kept up during the first World War, but Giovanni had to make do without the help of his son Giacomo who was sent off to fight. When Giacomo returned in 1915, he got right back into the family business, albeit with some new ideas. Giacomo had decided to start experimenting with making wines that were designed to age for a long time rather than the bright, fruity wines they were making for easy and immediate drinking.

That early experimentation quickly lead to a complete dedication to making the slow aging, complex and nuanced wines that Conterno still produces today, including the practice of taking the best grapes every year and making them into a special wine called Monfortino, which he began in 1920.

Giacomo was eventually joined in the business by his two sons, Aldo and Giovanni, though these two would end up having different philosophies about the future of Barolo winemaking. Giacomo's estate was split in two for his sons, and Aldo went off to start his own winery which has become a standard-bearer in its own right for a more modern style of winemaking in the region.

Giovanni Conterno along with his son Roberto, who continues to make the wines today, would steadfastly continue the family's traditional methods of winemaking, with one exception. While Giacomo Conterno achieved fame for the quality of his Barolo wines well before the middle of the century, these wines had always been made from purchased grapes. In 1974 Giovanni Conterno decided, reportedly on the advice of his wife and others, that the way to make better wine was to farm the grapes himself. And so Conterno purchased a 35 acre vineyard site named Cascina Francia planted to Nebbiolo and little bit of Barbera. Since that date, every Giacomo Conterno wine has been made from their estate vineyard.

The Cascina Francia vineyard rises steeply up a hillside to a height of more than 400 meters above sea level in the hills of the Piemonte region. It is farmed painstakingly by hand, and if you ask Roberto Conterno about the key elements of his winemaking he will insist that most of his most important decisions are made while the grapes are still on the vine. This includes the annual decision of which blocks of the vineyard will be made into the Monfortino reserve bottling (if one is to be made at all).

True to his word, when the grapes are harvested, Roberto Conterno does very little to them after they are stripped from their stems and dumped into barrels for an extremely long (sometimes up to five weeks) maceration and fermentation using their native yeasts. While the fermentation for the Cascina Francia wine is temperature controlled, the Monfortino wine is always left to ferment at its own pace and its own temperature, sometimes reaching levels that would cause less strong-willed winemakers to panic. But with three generations of family tradition informing his work, Conterno knows exactly what he's doing.

After fermentation, the wine is poured into barrels where it sits for a long, long time before bottling. But these aren't just ordinary barrels. In fact, they are perhaps better described as ancient oak oak swimming pools than barrels. The largest of them hold more than three thousand gallons of wine apiece, and are more than 50 years old. These monstrous vats impart literally zero oak influence on the wine and merely allow the wine to develop and mature with a tiny bit of oxygen exchange for the four to ten years that the wine remains in them before bottling.

Conterno's wines are often considered timeless in every sense of the word -- they age effortlessly for decades and they represent a purity of traditional winemaking that has remained remarkably consistent for almost a century.

While I have had one or two Conterno wines before, a tasting at the 2009 Aspen Food & Wine Classic provided me with the opportunity to taste a number of them side by side. Here's what I thought.

TASTING NOTES:
2006 Giacomo Conterno Barbera d'Alba, Piemonte, Italy
Medium garnet in the glass, this wine smells of orange peels and forest floor. In the mouth it is highly acidic almost, almost too much so at first, but once the mouth settles in it offers lovely orange peel, pine duff, and red fruits in a long, smooth, silky package with virtually no tannins. The flavors linger in the finish but more remarkable is the memory of the texture of the wine. Score: around 9. Cost: $45. Where to buy?

2001 Giacomo Conterno Barbera d'Alba, Piemonte, Italy
Medium ruby in the glass this wine has an incredible nose of wet conifers in the rain mixed with the wet earth and green pine needles at their bases. In the mouth it is amazingly smooth, with a beautiful silky texture and a complex set of flavors that include cedar, orange oil, leather, and redcurrant. The wine has a fantastic finish. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $45. Difficult to find online.

2004 Giacomo Conterno Barolo "Cascina Francia," Piemonte, Italy
Light ruby in the glass with orange on the rim, this wine has an amazing nose of wet stones, hints of dried apples and dried apricot aromas. In the mouth it is bright and juicy with fantastic cherry and floral flavors wrapped in soft, suede-like tannins. Complex with hints of spices, exotic woods, and flowers, the wine has an incredible texture and incredible length, soaring, wheeeee, through an airy finish that goes on literally for minutes. Score: between 9.5 and 10. Cost: $145. Where to buy?

2000 Giacomo Conterno Barolo "Cascina Francia" Piemonte, Italy
Light ruby in the glass with hints of orange, this wine has an otherworldly scent of anise, fresh bubble gum, and a sweet quality that eventually resolves to rose petal. Sweet on the palate, with an incredible weightlessness, the wine tastes of silky redcurrant, dried flowers... and.... there's fruit there, but what the hell is it? Dragon fruit? Something exotic, and incredible aromatics. Light tannins grip the edges of the mouth light a velvet glove as the wine soars through a finish that seems without end. Tasted from a magnum. Score: between 9.5 and 10. Cost: $175. Where to buy?

2001 Giacomo Conterno Barolo "Monfortino," Piemonte, Italy
Light ruby with orange at the rim, this wine smells of wet stones, old wet wood, and a bright green fruit smell like a ripe guava before it's cut open. In the mouth it is an unusual combination of power and grace. Brightly acidic with tangy raspberry, redcurrant, and sour cherry flavors, the wine also has a deep resonance and tannic structure that show like a body builders bulk under his clothes. On the finish the wine is airy, and expansive, and oh-so-delicious. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $395. Where to buy?

1997 Giacomo Conterno Barolo "Monfortino" Piemonte, Italy
Light ruby in color with orange on the rim, this wine at first has a faint nose, which over time develops into a compelling combination of floral and mineral aromas mixed with wet wood and dandelion stems. In the mouth it is mineral driven and slightly austere, with flavors of wet stones, wet wood, and a granitic fruit that seems to seethe beneath the surface. This is a brick house of a wine, broad and expansive, but possesses less fruit than I might like at this point. The finish tastes the way my deck smells after a rainstorm, which is to say, excellent. Tasted from magnum. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $300. Where to buy?

Lone Trees
Every week, photographer Andy Katz sends me a new image to post here for your viewing pleasure. I never know what I'm going to get, but I do know that it's going to be good. This week, when I opened his e-mail, something different happened. Everything got quiet, and I smelled freshly cut grass, bee pollen, and felt a warm breeze....

Amazingly, we are not lost, but I wouldn't care if we were. Just as I give up and decide we have no idea where we are, another road sign appears that tells us indeed, we are on our way to Montepulciano. It hardly matters, though, because it is one of the most beautiful days I've ever experienced in my life. I have a gorgeous woman sitting next to me in this little rattle-trap of a rental car, and moments ago, as we snapped our picture standing in a field of orange poppies that stretched out across a Tuscan field behind us, I realized that this was the woman I needed to spend the rest of my life with.

"Yes!" Ruth says, triumphantly, "we're going to get there!" And so we are, winding our way from the walled city of Siena to the picture perfect hill town of Montepulciano where we will wander the cobblestone streets, drunk first with love, and then later with Vino Nobile de Montepulciano.

Suddenly we round a bend and on our right, the hills roll up and away towards the horizon like the frozen surface of a turbulent green sea, undulating and chaotic except for a single oasis of calm. There, amidst the pitching waves of new wheat is a little gem -- a tiny island populated by perfect cypress trees that we recognize instantly as the quintessence of Tuscany.

Ruth and I both immediately have the same longing: to photograph. In the emotion of the moment we naively believe that by fixing this image onto film we will preserve this feeling that runs through both of our veins, and capture this beauty that we have been swimming in for more than a week together.

"Oh my God," she says. "We gotta stop and take a picture of those trees!"

I look at my watch, torn.

"We've gotta be close to Montepulciano by now," I say, anxious about getting there in time to do some serious wine tasting.

"We can get a photo on the way back...." I hesitate for a moment as the urge to stop nearly becomes overwhelming.

"It won't take more than a minute," she says, almost pleading.

But my brain wins over my heart, and the hesitation never completes, and even at the limping pace that our little car can keep, the trees are passing behind us now, and the landscape continues to unroll in front of us, and soon the perfect day fills in the gap and smooths over the little seam that is left in our memory for lack of an image.

And the day was perfect. And the wine was good. And we were in love.

And by the time our little tin can of an automobile rounded that bend in the road again, it was dark. We were sated with yet one more fantastic meal, but not enough to avoid exchanging a glance as that little stand of trees swished by in our mind's eye, and in the darkness outside.

We all carry with us many images, but some seem quite indelible, fused like vertebrae to create the spine of our experience -- the bright line we can trace back through our lives without fail.

Ruth and I will always remember that moment, wistfully, and definitely with a bit of a chuckle. She says "that proves you should always listen to your wife, even if she isn't your wife yet."

And I say that I will never really need that photograph, which is the honest truth. It could never hold what I hold in my mind's eye and in my heart.

But just the same, I know that she is absolutely, positively, right.

And now, thanks to my friend Andy, we've got a photograph of those very same trees.

INSTRUCTIONS:
Download this image by right-clicking on the image and selecting "save link as" or "save target as" and then select the desired location on your computer to save the image. Mac users can also just click the image to open the full size view and drag that to their desktops.

To set the image as your desktop wallpaper, Mac users should follow these instructions, while PC users should follow these.

PRINTS:
If you are interested in owning an archive quality, limited edition print of this image please contact photographer Andy Katz through his web site.

ABOUT VINOGRAPHY IMAGES:
Vinography regularly features images by photographer Andy Katz for readers' personal use as desktop backgrounds or screen savers. We hope you enjoy them. Please respect the copyright on these images.

Scheduled over a long July weekend every year, IPNC is one of the most relaxed and intimate wine tasting experiences I've had the pleasure of attending, not to mention the fact that it also involves some extremely high quality wines in a gorgeous setting.

One of the top draws of IPNC, apart from the idyllic nature of the program, is the heavy representation of Burgundy at the conference. Too many events in the San Francisco Bay Area that are focused on Pinot Noir might as well be subtitled "With a California Focus." But despite taking place in the heart of Oregon's Willamette Valley wine country, IPNC draws some top Burgundy producers, and occasionally, top Champagne producers as well.

This will be my second year attending IPNC, and I'm very much looking forward to it. If you're interested, you can check out my coverage of the 2007 event:

Submerged in Pinot Noir: IPNC 2007
Wine Jeopardy at IPNC
Dinner Wines Day One
The Secret Life of Pinot Noir
Grower Champagnes
Al Fresco Tasting Notes from IPNC
Tidbits and Gossip from IPNC

This year's program includes many of the highlights that made the 2007 program so impressive, including the rosé tasting, the al fresco tastings on the lawn, lunches in wine country, the grand dinner (one of the most impressive large scale catering jobs I've ever seen), the famous salmon bake, and more. Jancis Robinson will be the master of ceremonies this year, and will be joined as a speaker by David Schildknecht from The Wine Advocate, along with top winemakers.

If you're looking for a compact vacation that includes some truly exceptional wine tasting, a beautiful setting, a mellow atmosphere, and fantastic camaraderie, you can't go wrong with IPNC.

I'm not sure if it still applies, but for a while they were offering to give you a six pack of wines for $0.01 for each full weekend ticket you purchased. Give them a call and see if it still applies.

International Pinot Noir Conference
July 24-26, 2009
Linfield College
900 SE Baker St.
McMinnville, OR 97128

Tickets for the full weekend is $975, and always sell out. This year may be an exception, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't grab your ticket as soon as possible. On its face, the price is pretty inexpensive, and all the more so knowing the proceeds support a charity focused on offering health care to vineyard workers. You can register at www.ipnc.org.

The weather is generally perfect for this event, warm or even hot and sunny during the day, and cooler at night. Casual dress, sunscreen, and a sun hat and you're set.

See you there?

One of the main characteristics of Japanese is its vagueness. Language is culture, and Japanese helps people get along in crowded, resource-poor cities by preventing hard feelings in conversation.

Here's a good example of how this works: In a business meeting, everyone sits around the table vaguely feeling out each others' position until eventually everyone realizes what they're expected to say. Thus the first and only vote is almost always unanimous.

Here's a more frustrating example: I think this sake is named "140" (hyakuyonju) because it's the 140th attempt at crossing Aomori's native Hanafubuki rice with the more famous Yamada Nishiki, which doesn't usually grow so far north.

However, I can't confirm that; the Japanese describing it is just too vague. All I know is that in the crossing experiments, somehow this rice got the number "140." Maybe that's the number of wins Aomori native Daisuke Matsuzaka expects to pile up in Boston. Maybe it's just a mellifluous number.

As a journalist, I hate that vagueness -- it makes reporting anything from Japan a challenge, as you get notebooks full of quotes that, translated, essentially mean, "Maybe so." I can't help but wonder, as I struggled to get information on this product, how much Japanese exports would benefit from a trade export organization with English skills.

Oh wait -- there is one. I went to JETRO, the Japan External Trade Organization, where I learned the following about Aomori rice:

"The value that is delicious by the security that only the person who ate understands.

Please enjoy it in your mouth."

OK, at least we know where to put it. Let me tell you what I do know.

Aomori prefecture is the snowiest in Japan -- even more so than Hokkaido. Aomori is at the very tip of Honshu, and even in summer it's foggy and windy.

The prefecture is 66% covered by forest, and the rest mostly by farmland, such that a visiting English teacher posted somewhere on the web, "There's nothing but rice paddies here."

Aomori is fairly poor and has been losing population since it peaked in 1983, because young people don't want to pursue the number one industry -- agriculture. When they get to Tokyo, they have to relearn how to speak, because Aomori is famous in Japan for its unfashionable rural dialect. They also have to learn to have fun, because all there is to do in Aomori at night is carve artwork in the rice paddies -- which they've gotten quite good at.

Aomori grows 75% of the garlic in Japan and 52% of the apples. It also grows more yam and burdock root than any other prefecture. But we didn't come here to talk about garlic or burdock root (though we can talk about Calvados if you like).

Nowadays we believe that the best wines come from marginal growing areas -- areas that are too cold to guarantee a crop every year. Could it be true for sake as well? There are so many factors in creating great sake that it's hard to tease out the influence of cool climate.

But Aomori prefecture, with only 1.5 million people, has 45 sake producers. Nishida, maker of this sake, likes the area so much that it uses the Denshu brand just for junmais, and has a second brewery in Aomori where it makes its more famous brand Kikuizumi. And it's not the only famous name from Aomori, because Momokawa, which has an outpost in Oregon, has its home base there.

Nishida's Denshu Junmai is one of the most popular junmai sakes in Japan, regularly making local lists of top 10 junmais. The 140 is a more recent product, created in 2003.

Nishida claims over and over that all their Denshu sakes are "handmade." Here we get back to vagueness -- what does that mean? The rice can't possibly be polished by hand (down to 40%, hence daiginjo) in this day and age. But what the heck, it's good sake. When it comes my turn, I might prepare to possibly express an opinion in the direction of approval.

In any case, remember to follow the official instructions, and please enjoy it in your mouth.

Tasting Notes:
Aromas of fresh cream, peach, white chocolate and orange pith. There's plenty of fresh fruit (peach and apricot) up front. You taste a jolt of alcohol (it's a hefty 17.0%) in your first sip, but then it turns quite smooth, with a long creamy finish. It's not the most complex daiginjo ever, but it's rich and smooth and crowd-pleasing.

Food Pairing:
In Aomori they would drink this with seafood stew, but I think it's fine with miso-glazed cod or other dishes where the creaminess would match the food's texture.

Overall Score: between 9 and 9.5

How Much?: $45 for 720ml

This sake is difficult to find online. Look for it at your nearest specialty sake retailer.

W. Blake Gray is a former Japan resident whose first wine book in Japanese will be published in August. Please enjoy other writing from him at wblakegray.blogspot.com.

DAY 0
I got the opportunity to kick off the weekend's festivities as the guest speaker at a luncheon for the Aspen Chamber Resort Association. My job was to entertain, to guide the attendees through the wines selected for the lunch, and to thank the ACRA for everything that they do to support the Classic. The ACRA takes responsibility for all the invisible logistics of the festival, including the setup of all the various venues for seminars, the signage around town, the coordination of all the volunteers, among many other things.

The speech was my opportunity to admit my childhood crimes of lying about my age to some of these folks so I could begin earning money to support my burgeoning fireworks habit as an adolescent, and to thank them for not running a background check on me.

My favorite of the wines selected for the luncheon (not by me, but by the sponsors, Wines of Spain) was the 2008 Martin Codax Albariño, Rias Baixas, Spain:

Pale greenish-gold in the glass, this wine has a nose of unripe pears and wet stony aromas. In the mouth it is bright and zingy with lemon zest and mineral flavors that incorporate a hint of wheat in the crisp finish. Score: around 9. Cost: $14. Where to buy?

That Thursday evening, the parties began, of which the highlight was certainly the Wines of Spain party, at "La Casa de Jose Andrés" a house where celebrity chef Jose Andrés and a host of assistants threw a lavish BBQ, featuring whole spring lambs roasted on a spit by the river.

Here's the (admittedly crappy) image I took of the idyllic scene on my iPhone:

Along with my chorizo sandwiches, lamb crostinis, and roasted lamb lettuce wraps, I drank some very nice Priorat from Viñedos Ithaca, among other things, and discovered a new cheese (Goat aged 5 months) called Abrigo from Valencia.

That evening the most exciting party for me is the Magnum Party, where for most people, the ticket in the door is a magnum of nice wine.

I brought the 2001 Pride Mountain Vineyards Merlot which disappeared quite quickly once it was opened. Good stuff:

Medium ruby in color, this wine has a soft, dark nose of plum, cedar and forest floor aromas. In the mouth it is all plum, with nice balance, barely perceptible velvety tannins and hints of tobacco and black cherry on the moderate finish. More than anything, a pleasure to drink. Score: around 9. Cost: $120 for 1.5L. Where to buy?

Other highlights of that evening:

2005 Winter Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa. Score: between 9 and 9.5
1992 Diamond Creek "Volcanic Hill" Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa. Score: around 9.5.
1984 Freemark Abbey "Sycamore Vineyard" Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa. Score: between 9 and 9.5
2004 Hundred Acre "Ancient Way Vineyard - Summers Blocks" Syrah, Napa. Score between 9 and 9.5

The Diamond Creek was definitely the best bottle I have ever tasted from that producer, whose wines I often don't care for nearly as much as most other critics. The Freemark Abbey was of course, a special treat, as it was in pristine condition and simply delicious.

DAY 1
On the first official day of the event, I gave my Cabernet: New from Napa seminar, sharing six wines and their stories with a nearly sold-out crowd of 200 attendees. The wines I poured and discussed with them were (click for my reviews):

2004 Erba Mountainside Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa
2005 Lieff "Auberge Road Vineyard" Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford
2006 Fontanella Family Winery Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa
2006 Hourglass "Blueline" Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa
2006 Jack Larkin Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa
2006 Hall Exzellenz "Sacrashe Vineyard" Red Wine, Rutherford

The crowd favorites, by a show of hands, were the Hourglass and the HALL wines, but each of the others had their factions of strong proponents as well.

I also had time to attend one other event besides my own, which was the annual Sommelier Challenge, where top sommeliers compete to "sell" wines to the crowd, who then vote on who did the best job.

I was happy to see the young Jordan Salcito of Gilt Restaurant take the trophy at this year's event. For more details, see emcee Lettie Teague's blog post about it.

Later in the day I cruised through the main Grand Tasting tent, where I got a chance to try, among other things, some Colorado wines, which was a new and exciting experience for me. While the reds seemed to suffer from lack of ripeness, I enjoyed the 2008 Sutcliffe Vineyards Viognier:

Pale green-gold in the glass, this wine has a nose of peaches, cold cream, and ripe pear aromas. In the mouth it is pleasantly balanced and juicy, with good acid, a a nice texture that wraps around flavors of peach, wet stones, and a hint of lemon curd, all of which finish crisply. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $21 Where to buy?

The first day ended with a party at the top of Aspen Mountain in the Sundeck restaurant, where we arrived to the sun setting on the peaks, a red fox capering about on the grass below the restaurant, killer cocktails, and some nice Italian food.

DAY 2
In addition to giving my Napa seminar again, I gave the first of my Sonoma Superstars seminars, where I shared the following stories and wines (click for my reviews):

2006 Flowers Winery "Camp Meeting Ridge" Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast
2006 Peay Vineyards "Scallop Shelf" Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast
2007 Rivers-Marie "Occidental Ridge" Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast
2006 Williams Selyem "Flax Vineyard" Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley
2007 Merry Edwards "Meredith Estate" Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley
2007 J. Rochioli "River Block" Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley

Favorites for the crowd were the Flowers, Williams Selyem, and J. Rochioli wines.

I also got the chance to attend two special wine tastings, which will merit their own postings later: a retrospective of wines from BOND estate, and a survey of Giacomo Conterno's recent wines from the Piemonte.

At the end of the second day, the main event of the evening is the Best New Chefs dinner, where all 10 of the 2009 Food & Wine Best New Chefs make a signature dish for a crowd of well dressed and appreciative revelers. My favorite of the evening was the Uni Ice Cream over Konbu Gelee, by Paul Liebrandt of Corton Restaurant in New York, though I did eat two of the pork belly sandwiches offered by Vinny Dotolo and Jon Shook, of Animal Restaurant in Los Angeles. And of course, with great pride I consumed several meatballs from my hometown talent Nate Appleman of A16 Restaurant in San Francisco.

As a sign of my age, my hipness quotient, or maybe just the effort of speaking in front of about 200 people for a couple of hours, I found myself unable to muster the energy to make it to any of the parties that followed that evening, much to my regret.

DAY 3
The third and final day of the Classic is always a bit mellow, and it began with me sharing my selected Pinots with a dedicated group of about 70 wine lovers who got up and mustered the energy to taste those fantastic wines with me in the morning.

I then had a brief TV appearance, as I was interviewed by CEO of American Express Publishing, Ed Kelly, and Food Network TV personality Sissy Biggers for Plum TV:

I finished the day with some rounds in the Grand Tasting tent, which included the discovery of one of the better Proseccos I have ever tasted (though, if you asked someone from the Prosecco region of the Veneto, they'd be miffed that this wine is referred to as Prosecco, since they're trying to restrict use of that name to wines made in their region, despite the word being the proper name for the grape variety):

NV Fantinel Prosecco, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy
Near colorless in the glass with fine bubbles, this wine has a mineral, melon-like nose with a bright, almost tangy whiff of freshly baked bread crust aromas. In the mouth it is gorgeously soft with pear and apple fruit, excellent zingy acidity, and a crisp dryness that all combine to lift the spirits. This wine is a lovely sunny day in the bottle if I've ever tasted one, and one of the best examples of the use of the Prosecco grape I've ever tasted, and more remarkable for being outside the traditional growing region. Fantastic. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $14. Where to buy?

And if that isn't a good note to end my account of this year's festivities, I don't know what is. You certainly don't want to hear the 9 hour saga of cancelled flights, sprints down the concourse, and missing baggage that capped my weekend.

I hope to see you in Aspen next year!

A New Leaf
So much attention is paid to the fruit of the vine. Everything in wine, at least from the standpoint of the drinker, is about the grapes. Grape vines are particularly beautiful, though, especially as they are just unfurling their downy little leaves as Andy has so nicely captured here. And more than beautiful, leaves play a crucial role in displaying the health of the vine, shading the fruit, and converting sunlight into the sugars from which we derive so much pleasure. -- Alder Yarrow

INSTRUCTIONS:
Download this image by right-clicking on the image and selecting "save link as" or "save target as" and then select the desired location on your computer to save the image. Mac users can also just click the image to open the full size view and drag that to their desktops.

To set the image as your desktop wallpaper, Mac users should follow these instructions, while PC users should follow these.

PRINTS:
If you are interested in owning an archive quality, limited edition print of this image please contact photographer Andy Katz through his web site.

ABOUT VINOGRAPHY IMAGES:
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When Jeff Smith's father moved the family to St. Helena in 1964, he wasn't thinking about wine, he was thinking about real estate development. He was also thinking about the tiny trickle of tourists that were making their way up from San Francisco to visit Napa and then turning right around at the end of the day and driving back home since there weren't really any nice places to stay. Without any real idea of whether it would work, he turned a beautiful old home into the Wine Country Inn, and very quickly learned the meaning of "build it and they will come." The Inn ran at around 95% occupancy the first year it opened.

When the neighboring parcel of land came on the market, Jeff's father snapped it up with the idea of building a home on it, and because he liked Zinfandel, he planted a bit of it on the hillside behind the building site in 1977. His way of thinking about the 4-acre vineyard was "landscaping that could pay for itself." He gave most of the grapes to friends in exchange for bottles of wine made from them in return, and sold the rest.

Jeff's father passed away in 1990 and within a year, the vineyard succumbed to phylloxera, and had to be pulled out. Jeff's mother was making ready to sell the property just as Jeff was getting interested in the wine business, but his entreaties to keep the property and replant to see if they could start a small winery weren't convincing. As a last ditch effort, Jeff talked a buddy who was in school at U.C. Davis to get their top viticulture professor to come down and take a look. He did, and in the process of telling Jeff, his friend, and his mother that this was quite possibly one of the best Cabernet vineyard sites he had ever seen, he also pointed out that it sat at the narrowest point of the hourglass-shaped Napa Valley.

The vineyard, needless to say, was not sold. It was replanted to Cabernet Sauvignon, and enlisting the help of a family friend, winemaker Bob Foley (also of Pride, Switchback Ridge, among others), Jeff launched Hourglass Wine to nearly instant acclaim.

From that 4-acre vineyard, Hourglass produces about 600 cases of Cabernet Sauvignon that are snapped up the moment they are released to the mailing list, and thousands of people wait patiently for their chance to get on that list.

After a few years, Jeff and his wife Carolyn started thinking about buying another piece of land, but faced the difficulty of needing a vineyard that could both compete at the level of quality they already had, and that would be distinctive enough to merit being bottled on its own, as they had no intention of diluting Hourglass.

Over the years, they nearly bought several properties, but backed off each one when they got the feeling it wasn't quite right. They looked pretty hard for almost three years, and gave up. Growing up in the valley, Jeff knew that the kinds of vineyards he wanted were not common, and all the examples he knew about were unlikely to be sold anytime soon, or for a price anywhere near what he could afford to pay.

But then one day, on his way to the dump in early December, he saw a For Sale sign on a piece of property he had driven by thousands of times without a second thought, and something clicked. Across the street from the famed Three Palms Vineyard, this piece of property sits at the neck of Dutch Henry Canyon, and defines the transition zone between valley floor and the hillsides above. Covered in alluvial gravel and cobble, the property is essentially an overlap of two alluvial fans created by the wanderings of the two blue line streams (year-round streams that are marked with blue ink on topographic maps) that drain the hillsides above.

With the help of some investment from friends and family, the Blueline Estate was born, giving Hourglass its own winery facility for the first time, and offering a distinctive new set of vineyard designated wines, of which this is the very first release.

The Blueline Estate Cabernet is made by Bob Foley in exactly the same way that Hourglass has always been made. Incredibly rigorous fruit selection in the vineyard, and then again in the winery, temperature controlled maceration and fermentation, and then a lot of time in the barrel. The wines are aged for 22 months in French oak, of which only about 30% is new -- an incredibly low amount among this wine's peers in Napa.

The Blueline vineyard is being replanted in stages, which means that for now only about 10 of its 20 acres are in production. For now that means this wine is being produced in quantities of about 450 cases, and will be joined in this vintage by about 150 cases of Cab Franc, and 350 cases of Merlot. When producing fully, the winery will be producing about twice that much wine.

Tasting an inaugural vintage of a wine represents the opportunity to taste the aspirations of the people behind the bottle. Jeff and Carolyn Smith were looking for a vineyard that could produce wines that would rival their already stupendous track record. While I'm not prepared to say definitively after tasting the first vintage that Blueline is as good as Hourglass has been in the past, I can say without qualification that it is definitely in the ballpark.

There are some Cabernets that are worth paying more than $100 for, and there are a lot that are not. There are still fewer that I personally would ever pay more than $100 for. This wine, like every wine I have tasted with the Hourglass label, is absolutely in that final category.

Tasting Notes:
Medium garnet in the glass, this wine has a simply gorgeous nose of tobacco, sweet cherry, and the barest hints of toasted oak aromas. In the mouth it is velvety soft and slippery on the tongue, with full rich flavors of juicy cherry, candied violets, and cola. Great acidity seamlessly marries with light, smooth tannins as the wine finishes with a zingy, peppy quality that makes me smile. Rich, profound, and quite delicious, this wine is definitely young and will likely benefit from 3 to 5 years of age.

Food Pairing:
I wish I had been drinking a bottle of this tonight with my short-rib pot-au-feu with horseradish cream, instead of the unremarkable Cotes-du-Rhone I had instead.

Overall Score: around 9.5

How Much?: $125

This wine is due to be released to the Hourglass mailing list in September. Since the new property will effectively triple or even quadruple Hourglass' currently tiny production, a lot more people will be able to get their hands on a bottle than ever before. That, combined with the current recession, means that it would be a very good time to get on the Hourglass mailing list.

Now in it's fifth year, Pinot Days has firmly established itself as one of the largest and most exciting Pinot Noir events in America. If you enjoy Pinot Noir or are still trying to figure that out, this is an event that should not be missed.

Like many such events, Pinot Days occurs over the course of a long weekend, beginning Wednesday, June 24th with a small dinner with winemaker Ed Kurtzman and his wines as well as an event highlighting some of the newer producers of Pinot Noir in California. The festival kicks off for real on the 25th with a multi-winemaker dinner at Pres a Vi restaurant in San Francisco. The festivities continue on Friday and Saturday with educational seminars and a bus tour of the Russian River Valley, and the weekend finishes up with the main event: the grand tasting of 200 different producers from around the globe pouring more than 300 different wines. The tasting, as in past years, is heavily focused on California producers, but increasingly draws in participants from Oregon, Washington, New Zealand, and Burgundy.

For details on the various activities as well as a list of the producers who will be pouring their wines for the grand tasting, check out the event web site.

Pinot Days Grand Tasting
Sunday June 28th
1:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Festival Pavilion - Fort Mason Center
Marina Boulevard, San Francisco, CA 94123 (map)

Tickets for the grand tasting are $50 and should be purchased in advance online, especially if you don't want to stand in a long line at the event. Tickets for winemaker dinners and other activities range from $80 to $150. Details are available on the event web site.

Parking at Fort Mason is easier now that it is a paid lot, but for large events like this, you'd be better off parking several blocks away and walking. Or better yet, taking public transport.

Like all such large public tastings, you will enjoy yourself more and learn a lot more by following my simple guidelines: get a good night's sleep, wear dark clothes, come with a full stomach, drink lots of water, snack a little, and SPIT YOUR WINE!

Robert Lieff has a long history with wine, and with Napa Valley in particular. How he has managed to only just now end up with his name on a bottle, is in part a testament to his success in his chosen career, but also to the persuasive powers of his wife Gretchen, who finally convinced him a couple of years ago to consummate a lifelong flirtation, and have a wine made in his name.

Even though Lieff Wines is a new project for Robert, it is far from the first vineyard or winery that he has owned.

As a bright-eyed young lawyer in 1966, Lieff managed to get himself a job working for Melvin Belli, who, at the time, was one of the most prominent lawyers in Northern California. Together, they began work on a legal case that in its resolution, would literally define some of the most famous vineyards in America.

The project was litigation of a trust, where the main asset was 4000 acres in the heart of Napa Valley held by the Stelling family. As the case wound down, chunks of this land were spun out and sold off to become what are now household names in Napa, at least to anyone who knows wine. To Kalon, Screaming Eagle, Harlan Estate, Bond, and even the iconic Robert Mondavi Winery, all were purchased out of this chunk of land that Lieff and Belli spent almost a decade wrangling about in court.

In the process of all this litigation, Lieff became friends with Doug Stelling, and when Doug ended up getting 12 acres alongside Highway 29 in Napa, Lieff became his partner and together they founded a winery that would be called Far Niente. This particular plot of land wasn't anything special at the time, and included an old farm house that couldn't even charitably be called decrepit. It was completely overgrown with ivy, and had been for so long, that when Lieff and Stelling dragged the ivy off by tying it to their pickup trucks, the local planning and zoning commission sent them a letter telling them they were going to be fined for putting up a building without a permit.

That old farmhouse is now one of the most picturesque of Napa's historic landmarks and Far Niente and its sister winery, Nickel & Nickel, are some of the valley's most recognized brands.

Lieff sold his interest in Far Niente to his partners in 1984, but by that time, he had been bitten by the vineyard bug. From the early 1970's onward, Robert Lieff lived a strange double life. During the week he was building one of the country's most successful plaintiff law firms, and on the weekends he was planting vines and coaxing a 1940's tractor through his vineyards.

Lieff is now well known for his part in building the firm Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, but his closet affection for wandering around in vineyards led to him partially owning several more wineries over the years, and perhaps more importantly, owning and personally farming a small vineyard in Kenwood. He took viticulture classes at U.C. Davis Extension, and tried to learn as much as he could about how to run a vineyard. In the process, Lieff got to know a lot of people in the wine business, including, most notably, the legendary Andre Tchelistcheff, with whom he traveled through Bordeaux, and alongside whom he was inducted into a fraternal order known as the Commandres de Beautemps Medoc et Graves.

Lieff lived in Napa on and off starting in about 1980, and in 1997 he purchased a 22 acre property on the eastern hills of Napa's Rutherford appellation where he had architect Scott Johnson build him an award winning house. This property was the first arable land Lieff had owned in Napa in some time, but he wasted no time getting vines in the ground. Not with any intention of making wine, mind you, simply with the idea that it would be nice to have some vines around to hang out with and to be able to sell some grapes to neighbors and friends.

And that is exactly what he did with his little three acre vineyard, until his wife planted the seed that grew into Lieff Wines.

Now, with the help of his wife Gretchen, who does all the sales, marketing, and general management, and the help of vineyard manager Jim Barbour and winemaker Cary Gott, Lieff produces around 300 cases of Cabernet from his little hillside vineyard.

With such a small vineyard and production, the crop can be precision tuned by Barbour, and Gott can baby the wine from vine to bottle, which is exactly what happens.

The vineyard is still maturing, and the Lieff's are still settling into their roles as winery owners, but this wine represents the early beginnings of what will undoubtedly become a sought-after label in Napa.

Tasting Notes:
Medium garnet in the glass, this wine smells of cherry cola and cassis. In the mouth it is juicy and lively, with great acidity that gives it an overall impression of enthusiasm. Medium bodied with smooth cherry fruit and hints of tobacco and leather, the wine has soft, suede-like tannins emerge in the finish, though the memory preserved is one of fruit more than anything else.

Food Pairing:
Given the opportunity, I would love to drink this wine with a chipotle rubbed flat iron steak.

Overall Score: around 9

How Much?: $50

This wine is available for purchase on the Internet

Twenty-five years ago, I got a call from a client of mine, originally from Bordeaux, who had a wine bar in Dallas, Texas. "My father is visiting from France and would like to go to Denison, Texas, and see where Mr. Munson lived and worked. Would you like to go with us?"

My friend's father was Raymond Chandou, who studied and worked under Emile Peynaud, and who ran one of the largest and most successful wine cooperatives in France. "You bet," I said. I was definitely in on this trip.

A few years before, while making wine in North Texas purely as an amateur, I had gone to Denison to pick grapes and to find out about some of the hidden Thomas Munson vineyards that were scattered over North Texas. One of them, an ancient field of Carman grapes, became my favorite vineyard for making wine in the area.

More than 100 years after some of those vineyards were first planted, the work that Munson did still influences grape growers and winemakers, as far away as France. The reasons for this are recounted in compelling detail in the recently published Grape Man of Texas, Thomas Volney Munson and the Origins of American Viticulture, by Sherrie S. McLeRoy and Roy E. Renfro.

Munson may still have influence abroad, but he is truly revered in Texas, and Renfro's love for his subject is clear. Renfro's life as a teacher and viticulturist has been devoted to elaborating and working upon the foundation that Munson built. Over the years, he has been as tireless as Munson in promoting the role of grapes and wine in America.

The first third of the book deals with Munson's beginnings. Here he is portrayed as a man searching in the American frontier for his mission. He wandered from Kentucky to Nebraska to Arkansas before settling in North Texas, all the way along looking for his El Dorado. Texas finally provided him with the right environment in which he would set about making his life's work.

Biographical sketches can easily be boring and flat. But Renfro channels Munson, as if all those years that Renfro spent working in Munson's vineyards have allowed him to channel the spirit of a man who was larger than life. Munson was what we refer to in Texas as a Big Tree, and in this book we get to peek inside his head and see his dreams, feel his pain and witness how he went about a making a meaningful life in the American frontier of the late 1800's.

People who know a little about Munson recognize him as one of the Americans who helped Europe deal with their vineyard-destroying phylloxera crisis. That was one of his many accomplishments, but one that still draws French winemakers to Denison, Texas, in pilgrimage to a shrine that saved their lives.

The 1880's saw the peak of the phylloxera, a plague of aphids that burrowed into the roots of European grapevines and destroyed them completely. In that period, events in Africa, India and Afghanistan dominated the attention of world leaders. The world was also in the midst of a financial depression. Vines weren't the top priority, even though they were being ravaged.

It was almost by chance that Munson met with Pierre Viala, the French government appointee from the viticulture institute in Montpellier. Viala was on a six-month mission to find grape stocks that would grow in "marly and chalky foundations." On what seemed almost a last minute change to his plans, Viala headed to Denison, Texas, to see Munson. That meeting would change everything for the vineyards of France.

Americans were sending rootstock to France, but none were successful. Munson's genius was in pinpointing several specific rootstocks that could be hybridized successfully in France. Munson told Viala that these rootstocks could be found in the Texas Hill Country. This was the pivotal event that saved the vineyards of France.

Grape Man of Texas reads as part biography and part mystery. Renfro's co-writer, Sherrie S. McLeRoy, knows how to spin a yarn, and her considerable skills help to make this an entertaining and valuable reference. The last third of the book is loaded with references, appendices, a time line and something I found most useful: an alphabetical listing of the grape varieties created by Munson. It was there that I rediscovered a Texas wine I made almost thirty years ago. It was called Carman (not Carmen as I had labeled it).

That day when Raymond Chandou, his family and I went to the Grayson County College experimental viticulture station in Denison, we met with Jack Dempsey, the station's vineyardist. Jack was a tall Texan with a welcoming smile and genuine warmth. As he and Chandou got to talking, we discovered that when Dempsey fought in WWII, his final mission included a role in the liberating army.

Comparing notes, Chandou and Dempsey uncovered that Dempsey had liberated the area where Chandou lived. Touched by this reunion of sorts, Dempsey went into his office and brought out an ancient looking book, and gave it to Chandou. The book was Foundations of American Grape Culture, by Thomas Munson.

Tears and hugs later, we said our goodbyes and went about our ways. A Texan had once again saved the French, reinforcing an enduring historical connection between peoples in the two places. France and Texas are both about the same size, fiercely independent, and are both growing larger-than-life grapes and people. And T.V. Munson was one of those giants.

Sherrie S. McLeRoy and Roy E. Renfro, Grape Man of Texas, Thomas Volney Munson and the Origins of American Viticulture, Wine Appreciation Guild 2008, $30.36, (Hardcover).

Alfonso Cevola is the Italian Wine Director for the Glazer's family of companies, based out of Dallas, Texas. Alfonso is a Certified Specialist in Wine and a Special Contributor to the Dallas Morning News and The Sommelier Journal. His wine blog is On the Wine Trail in Italy, posting every Thursday and Sunday. He also recent began another blog, called The Blend, covering wine and spirits.