Posting a few photos and notes from a California old wines / old vines themed wine dinner last night at The Wolf in Oakland, with Steve Edmunds, Matt Wood, Wes Barton, and Sean Smith. There were a couple of wines that were outside the main theme, both of which were really good - 2018 Edmunds St. John “Heart of Gold” and 1994 Vieux Télégraph. We were able to compare two 2017 Wirz Vineyard Rieslings, from vines planted in 1963 in San Benito County’s Cienega Valley. The bottlings from Bedrock and Haarmeyer were both quite nice though stylistically different with the Haarmeyer showing a richer texture despite the lower labeled alcohol. The 2018 Birichino Pét-Nat from Cinsault planted in 1886 at Bechthold Vineyard in Lodi (the oldest Cinsault vines in the world) was a fun wine but no discernable Cinsault character that I could tell. We had three younger reds made from old vines, including 2014 Andis Original Grandpère Vineyard Zinfandel (from vines in Amador County’s Shenandoah Valley that may date to 1869) and 2007 Woodside Santa Cruz Mountains Zinfandel, and I think the consensus choice of the three was the 2014 Bedrock “Lorenzo’s Heritage” from Teldeschi Ranch in Dry Creek Valley - a field blend of Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, and Carignan.
We did have three older California wines. The Woodside Vineyards 1974 La Questa Cabernet Sauvignon was sadly showing past its prime. Several of us have had terrific bottles of older La Questa Cabs - sourced from vines planted in the Santa Cruz Mountains by Emmett Rixford in 1884 - so that was disappointing. From a legendary old Livermore winery, the NV Cresta Blanca California Souzao Port (Wes guessed this bottle might date from the 1960s) was quite sweet but showing nicely. The wine of the evening was undoubtedly the one that brought this group together in the first place - the 1975 Harbor Winery Shenandoah Valley Zinfandel, sourced from vines at Deaver Vineyard in Amador County that may date back as far as the late 1860s (and almost certainly no later than the 1880s) and made by vintner Charles Myers at his winery in West Sacramento. Once some initial mustiness blew off, this wine was in perfect shape and was a classic old Zinfandel. Matt was kind enough to share this bottle with us and to suggest the dinner - thanks, Matt!
Agree, the Harbor Zin was definitely the wine of the night. It just got better and better over the course of the night.
La Questa went through a replanting process after Rixford brought cuttings from Chateaux Margaux. Presumably, this was to maintain a decent harvest volume during the transition. The replanting was done in the same proportion of varieties as CH. Margaux, from 1895-1905. Some of those vines still exist. Martin Ray took cuttings from there to plant his Mount Eden Vineyard, and when Jeffrey replanted those gradually, he continued with the same clonal material. Cuttings from both were used in many other SCM vineyards. Woodside Vineyards was founded in 1962 to help preserve what was left of the La Questa Vineyard. In some vintages, when there’s enough and it’s distinct enough, it gets bottled on its own. More often, it gets blended into the Estate (which is mostly vines planted in the 1960s, iirc.)
Anyway, this La Questa was slightly corked as well as being tired. From this lot a friend and I purchased have been a couple fantastic bottles and a couple failures.
I quite liked the Souzao. Mature, compact/simple, density supporting its sweetness. I assume that unique fruit expression is typical. Intriguing enough in that way I’d like to play with the grape and see what I could bring out of it.
Thanks for organizing it all and making it happen Ken. It was lots of fun and I learned a ton. I’m glad the Harbor drank well, it was as good as I hoped it would be but I had my doubts about it still being alive. Having that wide range of wines was wonderful, so much variety.
What a fun group of wines Ken. I never knew that there was any Souzao even planted, but I guess it shouldn’t be surprising - who knows what people brought over. And thanks for the history as well guys! Great dinner.
Particularly exciting to hear about the 75 Harbor/Deaver, as I have one in the cellar that I’m hoping to open soon. Sounds like I might be in for a treat!
Finally opened the 75 Harbor Winery Zinfandel Deaver Vineyard and it was even better than i had hoped. Seriously incredible wine and history in a glass! Check out the color in the second pic. Amazing!
Seeing Harbor brings back great memories. Charles Myers was a great winemaker and a great man. I sold his wines for a while (or rather represented them and tried to sell them with just a few successes). I may have learned more about wine from him than from any other single person.
One evening I cooked dinner at his home for Charles and a friend of his who had just launched a wine that was immediately a runaway success. I cooked lamb chops from Darrell Corti. Charles’ guest complained that I was overcooking them. They came out medium rare, and he formally apologized: “Dan, I apologize. You were right about cooking those lamb chops and I was wrong.” The guest was Bob Trinchero.
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