After finishing our time at Switchback, well, it was time for some tasting with Jim Mack, who owns both the vineyards and the wines of Jemrose. For some of you in the OC that have met Jim, he is a great guy: passionate about making great wines in the Bennett Valley and doing it right. He has Michael Browne of Kosta Browne as his winemaker, with support from Shane Finley, also of KB and Shane. Jim tasted us on his new releases, some of which will be out later this year, some already sold through.
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Before I drop you some TNs, a couple photos of the Jemrose Vineyards are in order. If you are new to Bennett Valley, think visually in your mind the gap between the Sonoma and Santa Rosa area…Bennett is the meat in this geographical sandwich, running north to south from, parallel to Hwy 12 and 101, as a rough marker. It’s cool, somewhat undulating and beautiful. Some photos. Notice the fog in the second one…this fog is common in the valley and the Jemrose portion, as well:
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And the Jemrose Vineyard is beautiful. Cool, sloping in sections, flat in others. Here is a sample of the various topos and the varietals on them:
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And then there is Cardiac Hill, the steep slope towards the front of the property where Mike Officer (Carlisle) and Shane (Shane Wines), and of course Jemrose, get their Cardiac Hill BV fruit. Jim shows us the developing syrah, this being I think the Estrella Clone portion towards the top end of the vineyard:
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And then the vineyard as adding some new grenache, shown below, which was in the process of being put in when we visited:
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And to the Jemrose TNs…thank you Jim for a great visit. Look forward to the 2008 Cardiac!
2007 Jemrose Gloria’s Gem - USA, California, Sonoma County, Bennett Valley (6/7/2009)
50% merlot and 50% syrah, all estate. Graphite, bacon fat, olive and lavender notes in the bouquet. I perceived a bit higher alcohol in the nose than the listed 14.8% but others tasted with me did not get that aspect. Big core of sweet edged black cherry fruit, along with toasty cherry and a backdrop of licorice. Finish shows bittersweet chocolate. Good density and weight and clearly to me this wine is young with life ahead of it. Very nice.
2007 Jemrose Grenache Foggy Knoll - USA, California, Sonoma County, Bennett Valley (6/7/2009)
Produced with 20% new wood. Fresh, roasted with an irony quality, along with a floral aromatic and a trace of pepper. Balanced and elegant in tone but as it airs, picks up more dark notes with a chocolate cherry and peppery, spiciy finish.
2007 Jemrose Syrah Cardiac Hill Bennett Valley - USA, California, Sonoma County, Bennett Valley (6/7/2009)
I recall really liking this bottle when we sampled it very early on this past January at Falltacular 09. For reference, this is Jim’s vineyard, with Michael Browne (Kosta Browne) as the winemaker. 30% whole cluster and 30% new oak. Black pepper, bacon fat and dark flavors but not heavy styled or thick. Call it medium weight with blackberry, fresh smoky blueberry. Like with the Jemrose Grenache, the weight and the flavors match nicely. Excellent, much as it was 4 months ago.
2008 Jemrose Viognier Egret Pond - USA, California, Sonoma County, Bennett Valley (6/7/2009)
Produced with 15% new wood. Tangerine skin, silky and citrusy with a creamy, lemony note and more tangerine on the palate. Acidity keeps it fresh.
Following an evening with Jim and his cool stuff, we headed out the next morning to see Jeff Pisoni at their place in Santa Rosa. Next door literally to where Pax used to make his wine, Pisoni and Lucia are snugged in, with the location looking a lot like the Novy/Siduri digs a few blocks away. In year’s past, we have visited regularly with Jeff’s brother, Mark, who does the vineyard management and often times left Rob, Chris and I under the table from killing bottles of Lucia and assorted other things. This time, we timed it right and visited Jeff in Santa Rosa, barrel tasting and also running through all of the 2007 Lucia and Pisoni wines.
We did tasting of the various Garys’ pinot picks, which are done and barreled off in 5 separate passes, some with larger percentages of whole cluster, others destemmed. These barrels showed various degrees of watermelon, game, pebble, strawberry and texture, from juicy to silky. All were very good. We also did a few barrels of the 2008 Pisoni estate stuff, which showed pomegranate, blueberry, pippin apple and complexity. We also tasted the 2 Lucia syrahs, which are fairly close to final blends. The Garys’ syrah was extremely dark in color, with tar and coffee, ink and pepper. The Susan’s Hill was less dark and more wound up, which I find is common now between these two sites. Stone fruit, what I now consistently see as apricot, along with blackberry, tar, licorice and pure blackberry. Killer. Both 2008 Lucia syrahs look to be outstanding again.
As for the bottled line up, we retreated to the upstairs with cheese and the following. These are notes I compiled over about 60 mins, revisiting each selection a few times. Thank you Jeff for a killer visit and for also a nice dinner with Zardo, along with William Segui (nice to meet you again, Will). Before the TNs, a few photos:
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2007 Lucia Chardonnay Santa Lucia Highlands - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands (6/7/2009)
Nose of lemon zest and pineapple custard, lemon oil. I have had this wine a few times now and while I think it’s good, I keep wanting more zest in the wine, with less wood.
2007 Lucia Pinot Noir Garys’ Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands (6/7/2009)
In comparison to the 2007 Lucia SLH, this shows more silky with higher acidity. Nose of watermelon, strawberry, hint of pine needle and a green apple wedge. Raspberry and toast on the finish.
2007 Lucia Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands (6/7/2009)
Plump, fat, with dark cherry, a gamey note and a roasted toasty finish. Coming back to the wine about 45 mins later, same flavors but more focus. This for me is the first Lucia SLH that has showed this level of complexity and red roasted flavors and probably will be the best Lucia SLH pinot made to date IMO. At the end of the evening, tried the wine again and it picked up some sweet edges, too. Excellent.
2007 Lucia Syrah Garys’ Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands (6/7/2009)
Added to the database. Early on for this bottle, as it’s been bottled only about 4 months and won’t release until later this year. A peppery whiff floats up from the wine, with jerky and whole cluster. Deep flavors, plush and generous, with blackberry. As it sits in the glass, it gets better and better. Like with the 2006, which at this point I still prefer the Garys’ over the Susan’s Hill, this Garys’ looks to be killer again.
2007 Lucia Syrah Susan’s Hill - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands (6/7/2009)
Like with the Garys’, added to the database. Early on for this bottle, as it’s been bottled only about 4 months and won’t release until later this year. As I found in the 2004 Susan’s Hill, which still runs on my 2009 WOTY list, I sense and find apricot/pit notes on the nose. Dense and dark but still tight and this stage with a little heat on the nose, that blows off after the wine sits out. Florals, minerals and juicy but tannic finish. As a final comment, the wine dramatically unfolds with air so not sure what place this wine is in later in 09 when it gets shipped out so as a caveat now, decant well if you drink on release. And, like with the 2006 Garys’, the 2007 here shows more structure and grip so as these vintages start to unfold now with Lucia, I am thinking the Susan’s Hill bottlings will outlive the Garys’. In 5 years, it will be cool to a side by side vertical of each after the Susan’s vines have time to put some age on them.
2007 Pisoni Pinot Noir Estate - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands (6/7/2009)
Added to the datbase so construe that this wine is early in the game…and as such, tannic and spicy but also shows some juiciness and layers of blueberry, trace of whole cluster on the nose, with the oak filling in on the finish showing mocha. The tannin also fills in on the finish. I suspect this version of Pisoni will go a long time, as the structure is surely there.
After leaving Pisoni/Lucia, we had some lunch, some laughs and then headed to see the 'Ol Officer, Mike Officer of Carlisle. Like with Lucia/Pisoni, we have regularly visited Mike over the years and like in year’s past, we drank all barrels. I have been buying Mike’s wines now for about the last 6 vintages, his wines comprising with Copain the dominant position in my cellar. I dig Mike’s stuff, from the purity of the Zins to the richness and balance of the syrahs. It’s all there, for a bitchen price and I think a lot of Mike and the wines he has consistently made now for several years. Below are some observations (and photos) of some of Mike’s barrels that I noted. Before the barrel impressions, a couple photos:
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2008 Papera Zinfandel–Jammy fruit, coffee and an intennnnnnnse finish.
2008 Montafi Zinfandel–Inky tasting, intense blue fruit, black raspberry, red and black licorice, which maintain a creaminess, too.
2008 Dry Creek Zin (Teldeschi)–dark and jammy, but maintains it all together with acidity and verve.
2008 Cardiac Hill Syrah–Flowers, bacon fat, inky dark in glass, neon like. Gravelly, blackberry and some game. Inky flavors. Outstanding. See, you blend Jim Mack fruit and Mike Officer winemaking and BAM…
2008 Rosella’s Syrah–Dark again, with meat, black and blue fruit, from a 5 year old barrel, no less. Rich and dark, peppery and citrus. !!! Wonderful.
We moved through a # of barrels but these are the highlights. Amazing color, flavors and intensity. Mike does it again.
At the end of Day 2, we killed some more bottles at Rosso’s Pizza in Santa Rosa and called it a day. Day 3 will be Rivers-Marie/Schrader and Kosta Browne/Shane/Jemrose. More to come, thanks for reading…
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