TNs: "Life's a Holiday on Limerick Lane!" Vineyard Designate Tasting - Healdsburg Shed

We attended the first of hopefully many Limerick Lane Vineyard Designate Tastings last night at the Healdsburg Shed. Jake and Scot Bilbro hosted the event which gathered all the winemakers who produce wine from the Limerick Lane fruit. Steve Matthiasson, Adam Lee, Morgan Twain-Peterson, Scot Bilbro, Mike Officer and Tres Goetting were assembled in a panel for a discussion moderated by Tegan Passalacqua.

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The discussion started with Jake presenting an overview of Limerick Lane, how they acquired the property, what is planted and their vision for preserving the history of the site. Limerick Lane is in a unique spot at what is essentially the confluence of three AVAs (Russian River Valley, Dry Creek. Valley and Chalk Hill) where the different properties have distinct soil types from the three AVAs. The Limerick Lane Vineyards have some of all 3 of those soils and it helps produce a distinctive vineyard footprint on all the wines produced from it’s fruit. The balanced acidity, fruit and tannin profile makes it an easy site to make wine from meaning it requires little to no intervention. Winemaker styles differ by extraction techniques, oak treatment, picking times but there is no need for water adds due to over-ripe fruit or acid adds due to high pH. This allows the vineyard to shine through and shine is what it did on this night.

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2013 Matthiasson Zinfandel RRV Limerick Lane - Nose of restrained spice, Zinberry. Tart dark red berry, long tart finish. Picked @ 22.5 Very food friendly.
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2013 Novy Family Wines Zinfandel Limerick Lane - Extracted blackberry aromas. Deep, dense and chewy. Medium tannins on the finish. Biggest wine of the flight.
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2013 Bedrock Wine Co. Zinfandel Limerick Lane - Med red fruit, bramble and French oak. Elegant red fruit, creamy texture, nice balance. Spice comes on late.
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2013 Limerick Lane 1910 Block Zinfandel - Nose of black olive and earth unique to the flight. Beautiful crunchy dark berry fruit and tart acidity. Good grip on the finish. Lay it down for a spell.
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2013 Carlisle Zinfandel Limerick Lane - Expressive nose of ripe fruit and licorice. Fresh red berry with creamy texture. Easy drinking, blackberry cream, dusty tannins. Wonderful balance. Mike said this required no intervention. 15.2%
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2013 Biale Zinfandel Limerick Lane - An initial dose of sulphur on the nose followed by blackberry and menthol. Very spicy, great acidity lots of tannic grip. Another ager.
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2013 Limerick Lane RRV Estate Grown Zinfandel - Most ready of the bunch. Drink me now, expressive sweet fruit, richness and crunchy brightness balanced out by moderate tannins.
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What really showed in all the wines was the crunchy red fruit and great balance. Tegan spoke of how 2013, in his opinion, is a vintage of a lifetime. What I have seen from 2013 Northern California wines so far has been tremendous structure. Seems like a great vintage for age-able wines. Afterwards was a reception where the winemakers poured some of their other bottlings and chatted with the guests. (The 2013 Two Acres is sooo good.) Thanks to all involved, especially the Bilbro brothers, for putting on a really an enjoyable event which I hope is repeated next year.

Brian- great report! I’m very intrigued by the Matthiasson. Question on Biale- I tried some of their stuff a few years back & found it very pruney & hard to drink. Am I off base in remembering them that way? They are in this tasting with some pretty exalted company & are very easy to get, so wondering if I need to give them another shot.

Envious of you!!! I love what I have had of these wineries. Limerick Lane folks are great guys

Excellent report. I’m pleased to a a few of these in my inventory and am looking forward to them

Great notes Brian, thanks!

I’ve had a relatively small sample size the past few years but they have not disappointed. New young winemaker, different approach perhaps.

Thanks for posting your impressions from the event, Brian. I’m looking forward to visiting both Limerick Lane and Biale when my wife and I come out next month. Like Anthony, I haven’t had a Biale wine in a good number of years, so I’m interested to see what they’re producing nowadays.

Andy

The Limerick Lane story is a very sad one - for those who know the history here.

and…?

Great job Brian. Makes me wish I had been there!!

Brian, always enjoy reading about your latest wine experiences. Now that there’s this Limerick Lane event, think you might be able to convince the Mauritson bros. to do something similar with Rockpile winemakers?

http://www.northbaybiz.com/Bonus_Issues/NorthBay_biz_Wine/There_Once_Was_a_Winery_Called_Limerick.php

To Anthony Lombardi’s question: “Question on Biale- I tried some of their stuff a few years back & found it very pruney & hard to drink. Am I off base in remembering them that way?”

Biale Zins are almost always high in alcohol by volume–15 or 16%–but IMHO the ripe fruit tends to balance out the alcohol and they don’t come across as overly heated or pruney. Your opinion might vary but give it a try with one bottle and see what you think.

I first tasted a couple of Biale wines in December, if I recall correctly. The Barbera was super juicy, like a cherry lollipop. The Black Chicken Zinfandel was fresh, but big. Like very big, yet no trace of alcohol. I was impressed by the balance of flavors, the length of the finish, and the absence of caramel or super oakiness.

Thanks for the write up Brian, sounds like it was fun and educational.

Or maybe repeating in SF this year! I would have loved to go but the logistics of the location and day/time were impossible.

Brian et al,
Glad to hear that you enjoyed the tasting event! We certainly had a great time hosting and look forward to doing it again. Couldn’t have been more flattered by the cooperation from the winemaking panel and enthusiasm from the guests who attended.

We’d like to come up with a new tasting theme for the next one- any ideas? Food pairings? Vineyard tour? Let us know!

Dave Messerli
Limerick Lane Cellars

That linked article has a mistake - Ted lived until 2002. He used to be hanging at the winery when we visited in the mid-nineties and was a very friendly man. I’m sorry to hear of his passing.