More Highlights from the Skurnik Grand Portfolio Tasting

Though you’d be forgiven for thinking otherwise if you caught the first part of my coverage of the recent Michael Skurnik Wines grand portfolio tasting, there were wines on hand from regions other than Burgundy. Actually, without doing a thorough statistical analysis of the event’s tasting notebook, I’d hazard a guess that there were more wineries represented from the US than from any other single nation. Before we get to the small handful of American wines I sampled, though, let’s finish up with France and dabble in Italy.


Outside of Burgundy (though not by much), the lineup that most impressed me was that of Stephane Robert, from Domaine de Tunnel in the Northern Rhône. His wines showed enough richness to appeal to voyeuristic imbibers but maintained a sense of purity that clearly expressed each wine’s terroir and typicity. Robert makes two varietal cuvées of Saint-Péray rather than the Marsanne/Roussanne blend that’s more typical to the AOC. His 2007 “Cuvée Marsanne” was round, clean and pure, while the “Cuvée Roussanne” from the same vintage showed a grippier, higher acid profile with a touch of vegetal savor to its fruit. In the Syrah department, a 2007 Saint-Joseph was aromatically closed but displayed fantastic length on the palate, while his 2006 Cornas, produced from 50 year-old vines, was redolent of sour black olives. Produced from 100 year-old vines, the Cornas “Vin Noir” is the top wine at Domaine du Tunnel; the 2006 delivered substantial richness bolstered by a firm backbone of oak-driven spiciness. A sample of Stephane’s 2007 Cornas, which I tasted when stopping by for a re-visit toward the end of the day (something I did only here, at Domaine de l’Arlot and, of course, the Theise Champagne table), was full of lively red berry fruit laced with aromas of pumpernickel rye. Very tasty stuff.


After a Burgundy-intensive spell on the ground floor, I headed downstairs for a quick glimpse at some of the Italian producers who’d flown over for the event. As I’d tasted through many of the wines at a Marc DeGrazia event last year, I picked and chose my way around the room, eventually spending a good chunk of time chatting with Sara Palma, Sales Manager for Azienda Agricola Matteo Correggia. Sara, who is pictured above, walked me through Correggia’s current lineup, including a tank sample of their 2008 Roero Arneis, a wine for which I’ve always had a soft spot, and an herbal, refreshing Brachetto called “Anthos,” which tasted of marzipan and wild cherries. Sara taught me that as much as 75% of all Barbera d’Alba is produced in the Roero and also spoke of the struggles the Correggia estate has been faced with overcoming since Matteo Correggia's untimely death in a 2001 tractor accident.

I was also pleased to discover the wines of Romagna-based producer, Fattoria Zerbina. Winemaker Cristina Giminiani (sorry, no pic) was on hand, pouring her direct, juicy, good-value 2007 Sangiovese di Romagna “Ceregio” as well as a delicious and finely balanced botrytis-affected 2006 Passito di Romagna called “Scacco Matto,” produced from 100% Albana.

Back upstairs, I made an even stricter selection when pruning my way through the huge array of American wines. I stopped for a quick visit with Peter and Willinda McCrea, both of whom I’d missed during a trip to Stony Hill Vineyard a couple of years back. Their 2005 Napa Valley Chardonnay was the star of their lineup, a classic example of the old school, age worthy style that continues to earn the estate its reputation. A half step away, I also tasted through the Chardonnays from David Ramey. Though much more modern in style, they’re well done, showing good differentiation from site to site and always retaining bright acidity that helps to balance their sometimes intense weight. My favorite was their “basic” 2006 Sonoma Coast bottling, crisp and full of tropical fruit flavors.


Last up, I wandered over to the Dashe Cellars table to check in with Michael Dashe. After eight years on the winemaking team at Ridge Vineyards, Michael and his wife Anne are now on their own, turning out wines produced from fruit sourced in various parts of Northern California. The wines don’t show the strong oak stamp I associate with Ridge but do, as at Ridge, clearly reflect their places of origin. They’re not shy but are also not over-the-top. Michael is avoiding manipulation in the winery and is not afraid to let the naturally tannic structure of some of his wines show. His 2006 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon displayed good fruit clarity and structure, while a 2006 Zinfandel from Louveau Vineyard in Dry Creek Valley was crunchily tannic, its texture providing startling counterpoint to its raisiny fruit. I’d hoped for a taste of his Potter Valley Zin called “L’Enfant Terrible.” It wasn’t listed in the book but when I asked about it Michael uncovered a sample bottle of his 2008, which he’d drawn from tank just after a recent racking. It’s an intentionally cool climate Zinfandel, finished at less than 13% alcohol and treated with minimal intervention and very low doses of sulfur. Mike’s goal with his “wild child” is to make a Zin that drinks more like a Morgon. I was pretty convinced. Now if only I can get my hands on a few of the very few bottles from Dashe’s 280 case production that make it to the New York market, I’ll be a happy camper.

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Wines at the Autumn Table

After spending 40 hours a week in a wine shop making food and wine pairing recommendations for customers, sometimes picking wines for my own purposes becomes a less precise, more gut, heart and whim based process. Such was the case when picking bottles from the cellar to carry along to a recent meal at Talula’s Table.


Sydre Brut Tendre, Eric Bordelet 2001
$12. 4% alcohol. Cork. (ex)Importer: Petit Pois, Moorestown, NJ.
I could say that I chose this as a perfectly seasonal aperitif. In actuality, it went something more like this: “Holy crap! I can’t believe this one got away from me.” That meant time to drink up, so no better occasion than prior to an autumnal feast. I’d had Bordelet’s Poire “Granit” with some time under its belt before, but I really didn’t know what to expect from his regular Sydre bottling with nearly seven years under cork. Once opened, any question marks quickly dissipated. It was still amazingly alive, smelling of pithy red apple skins and displaying kombucha-like characteristics, both in its funky, slightly acetic nose and in its appearance, slightly cloudy and full of little swimmers. The nose became purer with airtime. Any hint of residual sweetness that was present on release had completely integrated into an incredibly dry cider, full of apple skin tannins that made for fuzzily astringent texture. Even though it cried out for a hunk of Pont l’Évêque, we happily settled for sipping it solo.


Champagne Premier Cru Rosé Brut, Aubry NV
$45. 12.5% alcohol. Cork. Importer: A Terry Theise Selection, Michael Skurnik Imports, Syosset, NY.
On the orange side of salmon to the eye, Aubry’s rosé gave a toasty, nutty nose of rose petals, dried herbs and early season strawberries. Disgorged in February 2007, this had already lost much of its fruit. Even though it was still enjoyable – in fact, it paired extremely well with saffron sauced oysters – I think I’d have preferred this nearer to its disgorgement date when its red-fruited flavors should have been more vibrant. On a related tack, Peter Liem had some interesting things to say about rosé Champagne just a few days back. Be sure to read through the comments, where he builds upon the quick point made about aged rosé in the body of his post.


Napa Valley Gewurztraminer, Stony Hill Vineyard 2006
$21. 12% alcohol. Cork.
I suggested a visit at Stony Hill Vineyard to my friends Scott and Marisa during their recent trip to Napa. They took me up on the suggestion and brought me back a bottle of SHV’s Gewurztraminer as a generous gesture of thanks. Stony Hill is a champion of the old school in Napa. From their tiny planting of Gewurztraminer vines they produce a fully dry wine, replete with smoke, spice and mineral extract carried on a lean (for Traminer), food-friendly (for Traminer) frame. Orange oil, muskmelon and peach preserves unfolded across the palate, with an ever so slightly unctuous feel on the finish, lifted by fresh acidity.


Südtiroler Lagrein Gries “Berger Gei,” Ignaz Niedrist 2005
$35. 13.5% alcohol. Cork. Importer: Petit Pois, Moorestown, NJ.
Niedrist is something of a cult producer, farming a small estate in the hills of the Südtirol. Tiny quantities of his wines come into the country each year. While I often get to taste them immediately upon arrival, it’s rare that I get to drink them with any kind of time under their belts. I remember this being a bruiser upon release. In just a bit over a year, it’s really come into stride, so much so that my notes from the evening actually read, “Holy shit! That’s delicious.” Mulberry, damson plums and blackberry jam – all pretty typical characteristics of Lagrein – jumped out of the glass, backed up by really energetic mouthfeel and a lively acid profile. Bracingly clean and bursting with aromas of sweet red earth and crushed hothouse flowers. Absolutely tailor made for our final savory course of cocoa rubbed venison and cocoa roasted beets.


Saumur Blanc, Château du Hureau (Philippe and Georges Vatan) 2005
$12. 14% alcohol. Cork. Importer: Fruit of the Vines, New York, NY.
Tremendous value and character in a $12 Loire Chenin Blanc. Slightly off-dry in style; also slightly hot but not so much as to mar its drinkability. It delivered vibrant fruit, with generously floral and grapey aromas. Typical quince and pear nectar on the palate. I really dig off-dry Chenin with the cheese course. This had an acid-to-fruit profile that made it work with just about everything in this night’s assortment. Though it wasn’t quite rich enough to balance the spice and strength of the blue cheese fondue, the cheese did bring out the funky, mineral side of the wine, providing hints of what the wine’s likely to taste like a few years down the road.

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Napa: A Day of Contrasts, Part Two

Afternoon session – Stony Hill Vineyard:
Following our morning visit at Oakville’s Harlan Estate and a reasonably tasty yet uncharacterful lunch at St. Helena fossil Tra Vigne, we headed up the valley for our afternoon appointment. Character abounds, we would find, at Stony Hill Vineyard. Heading north out of St. Helena, turning left up the access road for Bale Grist Mill State Park and then left again onto the private road which leads to the winery, we quickly found ourselves in an atmosphere that would have provided fodder for the tales of Poe or Tolkien. A forest of small, gnarled trees – dark red bark mottled by lichen, limbs intermittently draped with a local moss – lends an eerie aura to the narrow dirt road that winds its way up the mountainside.

Making the last sharp turn up the incline and crunching to a stop in the gravel parking area at Stony Hill, we were greeted first by an enthusiastic little wire-haired terrier and then, our presence announced, by office and site manager, Mary Burklow. After a round of introductions, Mary led us on a path along the ridge of the hill, straight through the vineyards and directly into the estate’s tiny winery building. As soon as she thrust the door open, a blast of cold, damp air rushed out to meet us. Welcome to Stony Hill’s barrel room…. With little ado, Mary pulled a barrel sample, poured us each a splash from the pipette and asked us to guess. Knowing that they produce one of Napa’s few Tocai Friulano (from old-vine fruit grown at neighboring Larkmead Vineyards), and sensing a faint floral, peachy hint lurking behind the yeasty aromas of fermentation, I guessed – and was wrong. It was their 2006 Gewurztraminer, light, bone dry and misleadingly crisp and un-spicy.

Five or six barrel samples later, we’d learned a bit about Stony Hill’s winemaking practices. The barrels themselves first jumped to attention. In stark contrast to the uniform ranks of gleaming new cooperage at Harlan, many of the casks here, bowing and graying though still obviously airtight, showed signs of serious age. Mary explained that the barrels, mostly barriques with some larger casks and tonneaux, are anywhere from 14-50 years old. That’s right, 50, almost as old as the winery itself. Kept sanitary from year-to-year, these relics go right on doing their work, providing a neutral environment for Stony Hill’s backward wines to come to life. New barrels are introduced only when a member of the older generation finally gives up the ghost.

Fruit is bladder pressed, the juice settled and then inoculated. Primary fermentations are carried out in wood in most cases, followed by a racking off the lees. Their Riesling is fermented and aged half in steel, half in barrel and then blended prior to bottling. The Gewurztraminer and Tocai are barrel aged until April following the harvest; Chardonnay and Semillon stay in wood until June. Malolactic fermentation is avoided for all wines, a practice necessitating a wee bit of sulfur but kept relatively natural by the incredibly cool cellar conditions. In their own words, “Malolactic fermentation both destroys the acid structure of the wine and introduces extraneous flavors not borne from the grape itself.” Given this admirably stoic approach, I was a bit surprised that primary fermentations are not left up to the wild yeasts; Mary explained that native yeasts do play a role but are often not strong enough to ensure a complete, steady fermentation.

Since 1973, Stony Hill’s wines have been made by Mike Chelini, who originally joined as vineyard foreman and was quickly promoted to winemaker. Mike’s approach is as old-school as I’ve come across just about anywhere, much less in the heartland of ultra-modern California wine country. The wines are grown naturally in the vineyard and brought to life in the cellar. They speak of both. The concept of terroir at Stony Hill clearly reflects not just the hillside environment but also the feel, taste and smell of their old, stone barrel room, a trait that reminds me very much of a past visit to the caves of Prince Philippe Poniatowski in Vouvray. Like there, the wines are meant to taste of the place and they’re built to last.

If it hasn’t already become obvious, Stony Hill is one of the few estates in the Napa Valley that rests its reputation solely on the production of white wine. They’ve been at it since 1947, when original owners Fred and Eleanor McCrea planted Chardonnay in homage to the great whites of Burgundy. At the time, only 200 acres of Chardonnay were planted in the entire state of California but the McCrea’s sensed that their little kingdom, perched on the hillside 400-800 feet above the valley floor, was a special place. Their commitment to the potential of Napa Chardonnay remains today, as it represents over 75% of their overall vineyard area of 39 acres. The balance of their land is planted to Riesling (10 acres) with Gewurztraminer and Semillon rounding things out at three and one acre, respectively.

The only wines of color produced come from a small plot of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot – planted as a pest control device along a property line bordering on a stream – and from a ¼ acre plot of Syrah planted only five years ago as part of the family garden. At present, all 100 or so cases – two reds and one rosé – are destined for staff consumption and entertainment only; not a bottle of any is sold. Current owner Peter McCrea, son of Fred and Eleanor, described the rosé – a saignée of the Cab/Merlot blend – as “swimming pool wine.” Mary more colorfully called it a classic PD wine. If you’re scratching your head like I was, “PD” is code for panty dropper…. Peter confirms that the estate does not plan to market anything other than whites in the future.

Coincidentally, as at Harlan, annual production at Stony Hill runs around 3,000 cases. And nearly all of the wine is sold directly to mailing list customers, with just a small percentage going to local restaurants and to a few detail-minded distributors in key urban markets. With a 60-year history though, Stony Hill Vineyard is one of Napa Valley’s pioneering estates. And their wines top out at $35 per bottle.

Stony Hill Chardonnays and Rieslings have earned a reputation as being among the most age-worthy dry whites produced in the Napa Valley. Thinking back to those barrel samples pulled for us by Mary, even the 2006 Gewurztraminer and Tocai, wines meant for early enjoyment, showed uncommon structure. Still in steel, the Riesling was too impenetrable to assess. The 2006 Chardonnay, however, held serious promise. It smelled a little of cellar must on the nose but, loaded with stony minerality and vibrant acidity, hinted at a long future.

Back in the McCrea’s dining room toward the end of our visit, tasting the current releases of Stony Hill Chardonnay from bottle reinforced our earlier impressions and spoke volumes about good work in the vineyard. The 2003 Chardonnay, product of a drought year in this part of St. Helena, was atypically rich and fleshy for Stony Hill yet still tasted young, fresh and clean. The 2004, though, really spoke to the potential for these wines. Tight on the nose, very Chablis-like in its aromas, bright, racy and steely on the palate, it’s a wine I’d love to drink in another ten or even twenty years.

That was just about it for our visit. We followed Mary down the grade to the bottle storage barn to pick up the handful of ’03 and ’04 Chardonnay we’d purchased. As I packaged the bottles for a safe ride back East in the airline baggage compartment, Mary disappeared for a moment. Upon her return, she handed us a bottle of their White Riesling, vintage 1992, and made us promise to have it with dinner when we got back to Monterey that night. Paired with a simple plate of sautéed snapper and roasted Jerusalem artichokes, it was a delicious reminder of our visit – hinting at the mellowed edges and mineral tones that come with age, tasting very much alive and finishing with a touch of sweetness.

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