250 miles on my HD with the Ipod blaring during a visit to & from Sonoma. great day was had! began with lunch @ La Salette with two old friends from elementary school. super fun and really fresh food, can recommend without hesitation…
then i got invited to taste @ Audelssa and man, oh man is this a wonderful winery! got toured through the glorious setting by Dan Schaefer; senior proprietor, and true gentleman, of this amazing 20 y/o property. head N on Hwy 12 out of Sonoma Square a piece and turn back towards Mt Veeder on Cavedale Rd. get ready for switchbacks and gravel roads to travel a good way up the mountain as only then will you come upon Audelssa…
the above view is S/SW from the only flat portion of Audelssa, the area Dan refers to as “The Village”, and you can see The San Pablo Bay in the background. just past the immediate vines in the foreground i hope you can get a sense of going downhill. the ground i was standing on when the photo was taken is predominantly gray/beige ash and the soil in that valley past the foreground vines is stained red from the last Mt Veeder eruption lava flow. obviously there will be real differences in the fruit from all parts of this geologically varied terrain.
when you turn E you look straight up this hill and @ the apex there is a guest crib and Syrah vines over 2000’ above sea level. Yuummmm, cold weather Syrah…
while there is a separate tasting room in Glen Ellen there is also this very comfortable room above the lab where yesterday we tasted 8 wines. i know many like to degrade the concept of value-oriented wines from California and i would implore these folks to visit with Dan and taste these wines. the bottles tasted yesterday were priced from $25 to $52, a very welcome pricepoint in our current economy and these wines perform well above their price consistently thru all 8 wines.
brief notes…
2007 Chard that sees 100% ML and tasted like it sees 25%. very Chablis-like, and i mean 1er Cru Chablis. lots of citrus and minerals this would kill with shellfish. under $30! i must have some.
2006 Zephyr is their G/S/M mix as Audelssa grows both Bordeaux and Rhone varietals. this wine was not my favorite in the line-up, truthfully G/S/M rarely hits me right, and is $48.
2006 Tempest is Syrah with 5% Viognier and a real step up from Zephyr. definite floral component from the Viognier and this wine is deeper and darker though a touch hot on the finish. EtOH was ~ 14.5% i believe.
2006 Maelstrom is 100% Syrah from the top of the hill above and a glorious cool-weather version priced just over $40. have to put this wine with Arnot-Roberts Clary Ranch as the best under $50 domestic Syrahs i have enjoyed. yummy, could drink all night long!
2007 Zinfandel that is so light, articulate and varietally correct i revisited this one bottle @ the end of the tasting. pure elegance this wine is everything extracted, jammy, muscular Zin isn’t. Bravo to Erich Bradley, winemaker here and @ Sojourn Cellars. $42 and i must have some.
2006 Tephira is a ~ 50/50 mix of Syrah and Cab and it is $25! again, rarely a fan when these two mix but, c’mon the price is just so right for fruit from this kind of setting.
2006 Summit is a Meritage wine using all 5 classic varietals but only 50% is Cab Sav. this is very smooth and approachable with a high delicious factor. no green notes from the Cab Fr and tons of sweet Merlot. $52 and man did i want to grill a steak while i was tasting this wine.
2006 Cab Sav is $36. yeah, that isn’t a typo and this is SW facing mountain fruit! i can’t tell you where this wine is going as it was very young, tannic & tight compared the other wines but there is fruit and acid so i feel assured any journey these bottles take will be worth $36! i’d guess this wine is 3-5 years away from beginning to appreciate what it will one day be.
