TN from Sonoma: Swan, Copain, Holdredge, Ridge +++ LONG but read it!

WINE TALK
1

So this past weekend Jessica and I took an unexpected trip to California. We had been planning a trip to the Niagara wine region for this weekend, but unfortunately one of Jessica’s best friend’s mom died. She ran the largest soup kitchen in San Francisco so the fuineral was to be held there. So…we made an about-face and started to plan a trip to CA with one week notice. Luckily everything came together perfectly and with a little help from the Berserkers board, we had an amazing time.

The funeral was Sat night and we spent the evening in Sunnyvale with some friends parents. Woke up early on Sunday and headed up to wine country. I’ll keep my notes short, but feel free to ask for more details if something sparks your interest. First stop was Joseph Swan.

Joseph Swan Vineyards:

2008 Gewurz - smelled great, lychee, spice, but flat on the palate, little jasmine and white pepper.
2007 Pinot Gris - Almonds and honey on the nose. Citrus and nutty flavors. Ok.
2007 Cuvee de Trois Pinot - bright Pinot nose, cherry, raspberry, very elegant with nice acid. I really liked this and want to see it in a few years.
2006 Pinot ‘Great Oak Vineyard’ - Caramel and meaty nose. More ripeness with roasted red pepper notes on the finish. Good, but I prefered the CdT
2005 Mancini Ranch Zin - Green pepper and raspberry on the nose. Med body and a littly oaky.
2003 Zeigler Zin - Actually a 2002 vintage but it hung on the vines so late it was harvested in 03! Candied port like nose with a big mouthfeel and definite RS. Sweet red fruits but a short finish.
2002 Lonewood Ranch Zin - Big brambly raspberry nose, huge but balanced with cranberry notes.
2004 Syrah Great Oak Vineyard - Violet and blueberry nose and an easy finish.
2004 Syrah Trenton Estate Vineyard - Slate and smoky green pepper on the nose. REd and black fruits in the Crozes-Hermitage style. I liked this.

Overall I found the wines to be good but not great. they all seemed to have the same style of elegance, but I think they needed a little more substance. I will revisit some of these on my own time instead of a crowded tasting room.

Next we went up to Copain. It is surrounded by beautiful vines, none of which go into the Copain wines, they all get sold to Kosta Browne!

Copain Wines:

2008 Tous Ensemble Viognier - Big aromas, honey, almond, lemon peel and pineapple. Slight RS but it works really well to round out the fruit. Delicious.
2007 James Berry Roussane - Barrel fermented and full malo, nutty nose with wet stones, white pepper, and white flowers. This was excellent.
2008 Tous Ensemble Rose - Cherry, strawberry, rich but balanced.
2007 Tous Ensemble Pinot Noir - Smokey, peppery, with black cherry. A rich style but elegant and ready to go.
2007 Monument Tree pinot Noir - Bright lifted nose, cherry, cole, with good acid and some tannin. Clones 777 and 115. A few years in the cellar please.
2007 Hacienda Secoya Pinot Noir - Darker nose with bark, violets, very much brooding but raspberry on the palate and a big finish. Excellent. Pomard clone.
2006 James Berry Les Copains GSM - Deep candied blackberry nose with herbs, licorice, and pepper. Fruit forward with lots of pepper on the finish. Very sweet fruit, possible RS.
2007 Tous Ensemble Syrah - Smoke, violets, blackberry with strawberry and earthy notes on the palate. Easy drinker.
2006 Thompson Syrah - Minerals, smoke, cherry, dark fruits with big structure underneath the fruit.

I can see the appeal of these wines. They are impecably made, polished and delicious. But the sweetness of the fruit is too much on some of these for my palate. Some RS on some of the reds, that sugary/candy note that I get from Villa Creek, but less offensive! We bought the Viognier and the Haciendo Secoya Pinot…should have grabbed the Roussanne!

HOWEVER…we got VERY lucky and got to try a rare bottle that they had open. This bottle was what I was expecting from Copain from what I had read.

2005 Gary’s Syrah - Big black nose, stones, blackberry, smoke, still very tannic and a nice bay leaf note on the finish. Very restrained fruit, dark and brooding. I really really dug this wine and I’m jealous of whoever has this in their cellar. Apparently there wasn’t much made.

We hopped in the car and headed up to Holdredge wines. In a little shopping plaza off the highway.

Holdredge Wines:

2007 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir - Beautiful nose, cherry, green pepper. Tasty.
2007 Bucher Pinot - Orange peel and lifted cherry nose. Elegant style with a spicy finish.
2007 Mazie Rose Pinot - Strawberry fruity nose with more weight and a touch of alcohol heat.
2007 Selection Massale - My favorite of the Pinot flight with tons of baking spices, raspberry. Smoky and rich, but not heavy. Really liked this one!
2007 Wren Hop Pinot - Subtle and layered nose and the fullest body. Long juicy finish.
2006 Alexander Valley Zin - Raspberry, pepper, and cherry flavors. Elegant style, I wish it was a little bigger.
2006 Lovers Lane Syrah - Floral nose (3% Viognier) with darker fruits behind it. Touch of blackberry and cacao. Very tasty.
2006 Russian River Valley Syrah - Darker nose with earthy peppers aromas. Stony and meaty finish.
2006 Late Harvest Pinot Gris - Musky apricot nose. Moderately sweet with Macintosh apple flavors in the long finish. Very good, but IMHO outshined by the…
2006 Late Harvest Gewurz - Wowza! Textbook Gewurz on the nose with layers of honey and pineapple. Really well balanced and again, not too sweet. Some pear notes come out too. Long spicy finish.

I really felt like this was a strong lineup of wines. The Zin was my least favorite, but it was still good. The pinots were all elegant and balanced with lots of complexity. I’m really glad we stopped here!

Then we headed up to Ridge to snap some pictures of their 115 year old Zin vines. (And taste their wines)

Ridge Vineyards:

2007 Santa Cruz estate Chard - honey, lemon peel nose with a nice leesy character, some hazlenut, and orange blossom notes.
2006 Monte Bello Chard - More smokey and earthy with a rich mineral presence. Apricots on the palate with lots of smoke.
2007 Buchignani Ranch Carignane - Smoke, blackberry, baking spices with mocha and some great acid. Really liked this one.
2005 Buchignani Ranch Zinfandel - Big strawberry and smoke nose with a tannic finish.
2006 Geyserville - Candied strawberry, cigar ash, mint. Very nuanced nose with great structure and a great future.
2006 Lytton Springs - Bigger nose with Iodine, strawberry, and rose pedal. Blackberry on the palate. Just a baby…a tasty baby!
2006 Old School Zin - Youthful grapey aromas, touch of oak, candied but elegant. Very tannic. Very good.
2007 east Bench - Thanksgiving in a glass! Cranberry, orange peel, cinnamon, and even a nice savory note. Great potential here too.
2006 Santa Cruz Mountains Estate Cabernet - Smoke, green pepper, cassis, and ash on the nose. Tons of tannin. Let this sleep for 3-5 years and then enjoy.
2006 Monte Bello - Big and elegant nose here. Strawberry, black cherry, cassis, smoke, mocha. Backwards at this stage of the game with 2 tons of tannin. Put this away for 10 years, but this will be great.

After Ridge we drove out to Jenner for dinner at River’s End Restaurant. First off, the drive through the Russian River Valley was great with grapevines and redwoods. But getting to Jenner was just mindblowing! Nice clifs with huge rock formations coming out of the Pacific ocean. Our dinner was at 7 just in time to have an amazing sunset with some very good food. Salmon tartare, Duck two ways, and Filet Mignon.
We got two glasses of 07 Pinot to wash it all down. The basic bottlings from arista and Merry Edwards. What a contrast! The arist had bright fruit and great acid, perfect for our meal though not super complex. The Merry edwards was all black fruits and extracted Pinot. Not my cuppa, but well made.

Day 2 coming soon!

2

Mike, thank you for taking the time to post your impressions. On the Copain stop, I can speak to that piece. Your point about not being totally with it on the wines from what you tasted…let me offer that what you tasted is not the tier where the best Copain is made. You got some of that with the 07 Monument Tree (which I too drank from my cellar 2 weeks ago and I found it terrific with as you indicate, time to spare and still improve), the 05 Garys’ and Thompson syrah, which is BTW made with 100% whole cluster and neutral oak, and the Hacienda Secoya. The other Tous bottlings and the GSM from JB should not be how you define the Copain line up, IMO. I still believe the 2007 Copain lineup is his best yet so get yourself one the Kiser pinots, the Hawks Butte and James Berry syrah—I’d pour these for you if you lived out here.

And Holdredge, that turkey? neener John does a very good job on the LH gewurz…I am not surprised you liked that–I know this is a wine he takes great pride with. [dance-clap.gif]

3

Mike, as you and I have discussed a little on-line, I think Frank is right. The Baker Ranch and Eaglepoint Ranch Syrah (in addition to the PN and Syrah Frank mentioned) also tend more to the style you are after. Since you live near me and not Frank, I will gladly pour any of these for you. It doesn’t take much arm-twisting to get me to open some Copain.

By the way, great notes. Sounds like you covered a lot of territory in a short time.

4

i know it is heresy but i agree the Copain line-up is not harmonious thru & thru. obviously the Tous wines are designed around a quality pricepoint but you must make it past those wines to peek @ what Copain can accomplish. i liked Baker Ranch and bought some in 2007. love Hawks Butte and have bought this wine in a few vintages now. both En Haut and En Bas are really impressive PNs but require significant time sideways to shine. also really enjoy Wells’ Roussanne but i am partial to that varietal.

a lot of the other wines you tasted Mike i found forgettable.

5

Love that 05 Copain Garys’ syrah. Been raving about it since I tasted it in March, bought 2 bottles and already succumbed to popping one. Tasted about 10 syrahs at Copain including library wines, including the others mentioned here, but that was the one who stood out to me. I take it they have no more to sell anymore?

By the way, you might want to seek out my post about Bedrock 07 Old Lakeville syrah - had a similar profile to that 05 Garys’ , to my palate.

I need to get some Ridge and Holdredge when I’ve got free $$ again.

6

Thanks for your insight Frank. Brad has been telling me the same stuff (see his next post). But this is all I have to go by at this point. The Garys Syrah was excellent and exactly as you guys are describing some of the other wines. If they are as good as that I will look forward to trying them!

We did sign up on their mailing list so I will see what I get allocated and hopefully get to try some of the good stuff!

The LH Gewurz was one of the top wines of the trip for Jessica and I. And they even had a little sale in the tasting room on it. Making it a no brainer!

7

OPEN SOME COPAIN FOR ME!!!

[berserker.gif]

Have you had the Hacienda Secoya Pinot? I can open that!

8

Any time! [cheers.gif]

9

Mike- I’m going to Copain in a week. It will actually be the last stop on our Napa/Sonoma trip. They have an appellation and Single Vineyard tastings ?

It looks like you tasted primarily the appellation wines ?? I’m not real familiar with their line up so wanted to clarify.

Thanks
Fred

10

I have bought ever bottle they offered to me since being on the list. I really enjoy especially for the price all of the syrahs and pinot’s I opened, including one last night.

No tasting notes since I was pretty stressed but it was damn good.

11

Hey Fred,
According to the sheet that they gave us they had a regular tasting for $10 that had 4 wines and then a single vineyard add on for $5 that offered 2 more wines.
However, we tasted a bunch of other things that they had open and not listed. Maybe we just showed up at the right time. they were very happy to share as much as they could including the 05 Garys syrah that was in the back room.
My girlfriend and I are both ITB, not sure if that helped. But I’m sure if you show interest they will be happy to pour anything they had open.
It was a very nice tasting and the people working the counter were awesome and knowledgeable about the whole operation.
You will have a blast!
Where else are you going?
Mike

12

Mike,

I concur about how fascinating the coast is around Jenner.

Thanks for these notes also.

13

Hey Mike- thanks for the nice comments. Next time let me know you’re coming by and I’ll try to be around. Best, JAH

14

Will do John. The whole trip was planned last minute and i wasn’t sure we were going to make it to your place. but it was a really nice stop with a strong lineup of wines.

15

Thanks Mike. Here’s our schedule.

We arrive next Thursday.

Thursday afternoon
Sojourn
Holdredge
Dinner at Cyrus

Friday- Napa
Lamborn
Switchback Ridge
Trespass

Saturday- Napa
Lewelling
Ruston
Hartwell
Mike Smith- Myriad, Quivet, 12 C, Tamber Bay
Dinner at Bottega

Sunday
C. Donatiello
Arista
Copain

Dinner with Zepaltas at Zazu

Can’t wait !

16

Looks like fun Fred. We had an Arista Pinot with dinner one night and I really enjoyed it. I think it was their entry level one. Not too complex, but tasty in the higher acid style. Went well with my food, and we prefered it to the Merry Edwards that was aside it. I would have liked to have stopped in there.
Post notes!

17

I tried a Copain Garys’ Syrah a couple days ago and found the combination of dark fruits, smoke, tannin, sweetness, soy, etc. absolutely disgusting. Definite example of palate variation. I’ve never liked that vineyard expression in the many Garys’ Pinots I’ve tried, but have noticed I tend to like Syrah from vineyards I find the Pinots too dense/dull/over-the-top. In this case, the vineyard character I find off-putting was magnified. So, I suppose the many Garys’ fans would really love this.

18

Thanks for weighing in Wes, it’s always good to get another perspective. I don’t think I have ever had a gary’s Syrah before so I can’t compare. Come to think of it, I can only recall one Pinot from Gary’s by Arcadian, but I don’t remember a whole lot about it, had it maybe three years ago.