Sorry if this topic has been covered. I consider myself a big fan of the Pinot (and can’t wait for AV to be added) but was wondering, with Cab being another storied grape of SCM, did you consider or actually plant any Cab or Bordeaux varietals?
Jason
I don’t think there was any mention of this when I toured up there. Plenty of estate Syrah due to come online though.
Oh great … he said sarcastically. I hope they planted some of the good Rhone grapes too ![[stirthepothal.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/f/f40faec63ca1018898a40805efbf9f0066a3d205.gif "[stirthepothal.gif]"){kind=small}
Not said sarcastically.
Jason
Not sure I’ve ever seen Kevin post a tasting note on a cabernet-based wine… so I’d wager not!
However, one or another article on Rhys mentioned that they had planted a small amount of nebbiolo in one of their estate vineyards.
Now that would be interesting. After 20 years of paying attention to the wines I drink, I have only had a handful of domestic nebbiolo but I would love for it to find success here.
Why is there so little here? I know there are many Piedmont lovers here. Has it been problematic? Sure would love it see it proliferate. It is odd that all the Pinot producers have gone with syrah over something like nebbiolo which seems more in line.
Jason
Don’t recall talk of Cabernet, but I do remember the Nebbiolo mention when visiting with Kevin and Jeff in the spring. I agree – I’d like to see the Cab.
I remember asking Eric of Ridge whether there is any Pinot future in Ridge, he gave me a “hell no” look.
I hope not. Rare is the winery that can do both varietals well (as opposed to having one just taste like a twisted version of the other).
But they are doing syrah? And I thought they even planted it. What is it with Cali producers. They all seem to do syrah and pinot. I can see pinot and nebbiolo or even tempranillo … but syrah ![[shock.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0b1dcf699ec319f43254f92e3f145786dcd93904.gif "shock"){kind=small}
I was just thinking that they look up to Mt Eden … which does pinot, cab and chardonnay well.
But I hear ya. I am happy to have them focus on pinot and chard … just thought I would ask about cab.
Jason
If anything I could see Harvey buying some cabernet grapes and releasing a cabernet under their Alesia label as a one-off bottling. Anthill did something similar for their past release: a ~$30 cabernet which was pretty tasty.
Mount Eden does Pinot and Chardonnay fantastically. They do Cabernet better than many, but if Jeffrey was to graft all his Cabernet vines over to Pinot I certainly wouldn’t be complaining about it.
Rhys’s vineyards are among the coldest in the area. I can’t see Cabernet doing well at any of those sites, certainly not as well as Pinot. Clos de la Tech has their main “Lois Louise” vineyard in that area, and they’ve been having all kinds of problems with fruit set due to low temperatures, wind, rain and fog.
As for Syrah, I’m not sure why so many wineries seem to equate them either. The area doesn’t seem ideal for Syrah either, but what do I know. I spoke to Josh in October during the big rain storms that we had; he wasn’t convinced that the Syrah would get ripe enough to harvest this year; don’t know whether it did or not.
My guess would be no. I haven’t seen any interest ever displayed by Kevin. While there are many more CA pinots than in the past, there remain too many Cabs. Pinot Noir is the most challenging grape generally, but Nebbiolo in CA is probably THE greatest challenge.
Syrah, in the traditional northern Rhone style, not the modern steroidal style, often appeals to Burgundy lovers.
Actually, I think what Kevin should consider tackling is Gamay. Made in the most natural, no sulphur way. I imagine he knows what I refer
to, the GREAT Beaujolais producers like Foillard, Lapierre, Diochon and many others. Can CA produce a compelling expression?
Come on Kevin, I look to you. I respect and applaud the Nebbiolo pursuit, but for sheer joyous pleasure, fun and near term accessibility for a pinot noir lover nothing beats the best cru Beaujolais.
I’ve heard there was Pinot planted along the Monte Bello ridge at one point. Also, Jeffrey Patterson mentioned he thought it would do very well. I’d like to see it done by somebody.
As for Rhys doing a Cab, the unique softer expression of fruit from the Morgan Hill-San Martin area of the Santa Clara Valley would go well with their style, most SCM fruit wouldn’t at all.
The '07 Skyline Vyd. Syrah seriously rocks.
Thanks! I reMember just hoping people would want to buy our Pinot!
Cabernet is not in my top 5 favorite grapes, so I don’t see it in Rhys future. Meanwhile, syrah has been really diffficult and we are just starting to get the results we want… I expect nebbiolo will be a really big challenge (that takes many years) as well.
+1
Have you talked to Ken Zinns any more about Nebbiolo? He’s making some and so is Harrington and iirc one other winery he’s involved with. (I quite liked the barrel samples of '08 and '09 from Harrington.)
Have you tried the Big Basin Grenache/Syrah? Very impressive. (Iirc, the first barrel sample i had was just Grenache. Need to check notes.) He also has Roussanne planted. There’s plenty of varieties that would be better and more interesting, not that there’s a real need. Some of the German varieties had a good reputation historically in the SCM. A somm. friend had a Cronin Gewurz from Spring Ridge Vyd. that he said was a truly great wine.
No, but it sounds like I should. Where is the fruit from?
Have you tried the Big Basin Grenache/Syrah? Very impressive. (Iirc, the first barrel sample i had was just Grenache. Need to check notes.) He also has Roussanne planted. There’s plenty of varieties that would be better and more interesting, not that there’s a real need. Some of the German varieties had a good reputation historically in the SCM. A somm. friend had a Cronin Gewurz from Spring Ridge Vyd. that he said was a truly great wine.
I did try Bradley’s Syrah/grenache and was impressed. We considered Grencahe ( I like cool year CdP), but in the end decided we don’t love the wines enough.
Just following our palates, if we added anything at Rhys it would probably be Champagne.
Those little grapes must be hard to pick…
Bryan didn’t note it on the bottles of the barrel samples he had out at the open house. Ken should know.
Just following our palates, if we added anything at Rhys it would probably be Champagne.
Cool. Paul Masson did a great job. Equinox is pretty good.
Hey, have you seen the latest Clos de la Tech newsletter? There’s actually some pretty interesting stuff on his attempts to deal with poor fruit set. After the cringe inducing reading about some trial and error results, he’s incorporated a couple innovative systems that some other cool climate wineries actually use. I can think of some potential downsides, but am interested what other people think.