The Cellar: Californian Classics

Friday, March 04, 2016

Steffen Rasch, GoLocalWorcester Wine Writer

I recently hosted a tasting at the Providence Wine Academy. Among the wines featured were half dozen red wines from Californian, including a Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon from producers Gary Farrell and Robert Mondavi. The participants really enjoyed these wines, so this week I have decided to take a closer look at some other wines made by these two great producers.

The first wine is a Chardonnay made by Gary Farrell Vineyards and Winery. The man behind the label started his carrier as a consulting winemaker in the booming 1970's Californian wine industry with a specific focus on Sonoma's cooler Russian River Valley wine region. Gary Farrell would release his own wine, a highly rated Pinot Noir, in 1982. While no longer at the helm the winery continues to produce high-end, small-lot, artisanal wines.

"This week's featured Gary Farrell wine is their $35ish 2013 Russian River Valley Chardonnay. This particular wine is made by blending different single vineyard lots of Chardonnays together. The blend, which changes from vintage to vintage depending on the conditions at each location, is made before any of the single vineyard wines - a painstaking, multi-week long process of tasting trial and error. This 100% chardonnay underwent 8 month oak aging in 40% new French barrels. The resulting wine, of which less than 6000 cases were produced, was awarded 93 points from Wine & Spirits Magazine. This is a massively complex Chardonnay. It comes across very tight, youthful but full of promise as it is filled with ripe pear, butterscotch and hints of vanilla on the finish. Thankfully, I also get a healthy dose of creamy citrus which keeps all the ripe fruit and oak in balance. This is a wine I see age gracefully for 5-8 years.

This week's second wine is made by a real iconic producer. I am referring to Robert Mondavi and their newly released $27ish 2014 Napa Valley ‘Carneros’ Pinot Noir. Since the winery was established in 1966 the folks at Robert Mondavi Winery have been on the forefront of the modern Californian wine industry constantly pushing the envelope for what could be produced and where. Today, the Mondavi portfolio consists of slew of well-made wine across many price points; from your everyday $10 bottle of Chard, to the highly sought-after single vineyard $150+ Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.

This week's featured Pinot is from their 'Napa Valley Wines' series. It is a 100% Pinot Noir sourced almost exclusively (96%) from Napa’s southern sub-region of Carneros. While Californian Pinot is hugely popular category, I generally prefer Pinots from cooler climates, such as Germany, France, Oregon and New Zealand. I often find that warm-climate Pinots, especially some of what is coming out of California these days is either manipulated, too ripe, too high in alcohol and has too much obvious oak. Thankfully, this wine strikes a really good balance. First of all, this wine is medium bodied- silky on the palate. It comes across bright and juicy with ripe red fruits and hints of baking spices on the finish. The wine is well-structured with velvety tannins and acidic grip. For $27 this is a really good wine!

Cheers,

Steffen Rasch is a Certified Sommelier and Specialist of Wine. Feel free to email him at [email protected] with any wine-related questions or learn about wine in person by signing up for one of his tastings at the Providence Wine Academy.

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