Finally, a winery with potential here in the Livermore Valley

WINE TALK
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I happen to see some positive press on a new winery here in the valley called Nottingham Cellars. Started in 2009 by a father/son team. So, this weekend I did a 15min drive by to taste a few wines. Well, I’m not crazy about the name, but the wines are really good. I’ve been looking for a winery here that made more balanced, less extracted/high alcohol/fruit dominant wines. I think I found one, finally.

I tasted their Viognier, a reserve Petite and a Bordeaux blend called Symposium. I had my 5 year old with, so no notes.

The viognier was light, balanced and feminine and in the opposite end of the spectrum from the full throttle ones I’ve had.

The Symposium was finesse driven and reminded me of a balanced, young Bordeaux. Need to taste again.

So, I bought the Petite and a no oak Chardonnay to take home.

I opened the Chardonnay. No oak, all steel fermentation and aging. Pear, apple and tropical/melon fruit on a texture that has some weight. Energetic, feminine and balanced with a lingering fruit centric finish. Delicious. How did they get that texture without oak??

Can’t wait to follow the Petite over a couple of nights.

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This can’t be, Tim. LivermoreVlly??? Say it isn’t so. [snort.gif]
Thanks for the head’s up, Tim. Were all their wines from LivermoreVlly grapes?? Much like the SantaClaraVlly, LivermoreVlly once made great wines
in their day…as good as anything in Calif. And you still will occasionally glimpse that greatness from time to time in a wine. They can, and should,
be doing better on average.
Don’t much care for the name, either. Stirs up images of veddy proper Englishmen w/ a cob up their…whatever. Or a scruffy RobbinHood.
Tom

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Tim,

I agree Nottingham holds some promise (as does Longevity who just moved from my office complex near the airport to just beside Nottingham). My boss is walking distance from this winery and his wife frequently works the tasting room. Although Lori and I did not care for the unoaked chard, we really liked the Petite Sirah and Ralphie’s Claret.

As far as Livermore wineries holding some promise, if you’re a fan of Central Coast Pinot Noir, I’d also recommend La Rochelle. Since they want to chase Pinot, I wouldn’t fault them for sourcing outside the valley, although I’ve heard grumblings from others that they’re not really a Livermore winery.

4

Larry,
I’ve had a number of the LaRochelle Pinots and liked them quite a bit. Aren’t they somehow connected to EricKent?? Or they just happen to be on the
same property??
Tom

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Hi Tom, you mean Steven Kent and yes Steven Kent Mirassou owns both La Rochelle and his eponymous label, same family of the MIrassou label which was bought by Gallo. The La Rochelle label was originally started by Steven’s cousins in the old Mirassou winery in San Jose. When that property was sold to housing developers, they moved to Livermore and merged with their cousin. Steven has expanded the scope of La Rochelle since taking over.

Strangely, I’ve never tasted at Steven Kent. Partly, I’m not all that excited about another estate Cab winery in Livermore, but also because for some reason La Rochelle keeps later hours than Steven Kent, and every time we’ve walked over after visiting La Rochelle, we’ve found the tasting room closed.

BTW the “grumblings” I hear are from one winery who makes a Livermore Valley Pinot. Apparently they have a “shady” spot with just the right terroir.

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Yup…StevenKent is who I meant, Larry. I’ve had a couple of Syrahs I recall as being pretty good from them. Their Cabs didn’t move me…but then
ScreamingChickadee or any of those does either.
Tom

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I can think of another Livermore Valley winery that shows potential:

newhere

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+whatever on La Rochelle.

Very elegant (but not stuffy) little tasting studio, and good quality pinot noirs in a lighter and more complex style. A very nice tasting experience, complete with friendly service and delicious cheeses.

Wente is a big, industrial winery, and their tasting room is crowded full of bachelorette parties and the like, but I think that amid all the generic stuff they produce, they make some interesting and offbeat wines that are worth a look, like the Duetto, the Contraste, and the Counoise. If you’re reasonably skilled at negotiating through big Napa-type tasting rooms and getting to try the most interesting wines, it’s not a bad experience.

Jorge is right, too, about Kalin Cellars. The Livermore Valley Semillon is terrific – I’ve got a bottle of 1998 in the fridge at the moment waiting to be opened soon.

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Jorge, true and worth seeking out! However located in Novato, I wouldn’t have considered Kalin to be a Livermore winery [snort.gif]

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As much as I’m not a fan of Wente (their tasting room) they do own Murrieta’s Well which is a good laid-back place to try some off-the-wall Spanish & Portuguese varieties and you could do worse then visiting Concannon for some Petite Sirah (also owned by Wente).

Wente has been responsible for saving these historical wineries when they were in desperate need for an injection of capital.

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Thanks Tom, I’ll put it on my list to check out their Syrah.

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Tim, funny you’d write that, because for a long time I held this against them (as well as some lame language (no longer) on their web site about their wines appealing to “the most prestigious collectors”). Anyway it turns out there’s a reason:

We take our name from the history pages of this long-standing, famed wine region. Nottingham was, for a period of time, the original name of Livermore in the mid-19th century.

I also thought Longevity’s name was presumptuous. …until I found out the owners name is “Long”. [oops.gif]

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Indeed! In the 80s, Concannon made first-rate petite sirah – one of the very best.

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Any thoughts on Page Mill? They used to be here, under a house, but moved out there to expand awhile after the son took over.

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I’m not sure what the status of the business or the winery license is at the moment but I have had some good wines from Livermore Valley Cellars. Some are a little on the big side for me but I have found that they age well and the Zin, Syrah and Petite’s have been nice after 5 or so years. I’ve enjoyed the Semillon also. I think Thomas Coyne is one of the better experiences in the valley as well.

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Concannon still makes a decent Petite Sirah and La Rochelle’s Pinots are quite good and from slightly off the beaten track Central Coast vineyards. For example, I recall one from Arroyo Grande.

Dave
ITB Calicaro Wine

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Thanks for letting me know that I am not going crazy, great to hear another perspective on them. Longevity is on my list to drop by this coming weekend (hear some nice buzz down at the Farmers Market) and I’ll probably drop in at Occassio since they are next door.

I have the Reserve Petite open now, hoping it opens up and gets more interesting, kinda simple and one dimensional at the moment.

I used to be a wine club member at Steven Kent and tasted through the line up at La Rochelle (well last time was the '07s). Pricing has always been an issue for me there and the wines were a bit over the top. I dropped out of the SK wine club years ago, got tired of the unusual blends that seemed to be nothing more than the left over wine that he blended up for the “club”. Steven is a really nice guy, always enjoyed talking to him.

Amen


Yup, 100% of their lineup is sourced from the Livermore Valley. Same grapes as the others, but Nottingham is making wines in a different style to the fruit bomb/crowd pleaser seen at most of the other establishments.

Thanks for the comments on the the potential for the area. I’ve always thought there should be potential here with the weather and mix of hills and valley floor. Its irritated me that no one seems to really be trying to make a decent bottle of wine in these parts.

I like Wente, love the restaurant and the campus down there. The Riva Ranch Chardonnay is a go to house wine for us. I’ve enjoyed some of their Small Lot wines like the Grenache and the Eric’s Chardonnay. The nth series is way over priced for the quality. I just dropped out of the wine club again after signing up for the last release. Three wines for 120+ and I dumped all three, including the Nth Degree syrah which was like drinking a liquid 2 x 4

I like the red spanish varietals from Murrietta’s and the whites with Semillon. Their non spanish varietals from the Los Tesoros line up leave a lot to be desired IMHO. I agree, fantastic place to just hang out and enjoy the weather.

I thought Concannon was owned by The Wine Group and that huge building is the Wine Groups headquarters [scratch.gif]

ok, that totally helps me out on the name, i still don’t like it, but I can deal with it now.

Its funny, they are pretty much right across the street from me, but I’ve never dropped in. They have a Sunday “bring your own container” event once a month I’ve always wanted to go to. I might end up there this weekend since they are doing a fundraising event for the kids school. I’ll drop some thoughts into this thread if I do go.

Semillon from the Livermore Valley seems to have real potential and is probably making the most interesting wines. I tried a mourvedre from LVC, it was ok but I wasn’t inspired and I haven’t made the trip back there.

I need to taste through the Thomas Coyne wines again, went there once or twice when we first moved here and haven’t been back. I love the property, that building has some neet history being one of the first “environmentally” friendly sustainable building designs.