TN: Hanging w/ SamBilbro @ BergamotAlley..(long/boring)

WINE TALK
1

I had tried SamBilbro’s Idlewild wines a few months ago and was mightly impressed. So I thought this
trip would be a good opportunity to meet Sam, who suggested w/ get together at BergamotAlley WineBar
in Healdsburg. I invited SantaFe friend JoanGoldsmith to join us, along w/ her friend, Greg, who is
in charge of imported wines at Young’sDistributors.
BergamotAlley is a very neat wine bar w/ a selection of some pretty wild stuff. Run by KevinWardell
and Sarah, he has some pretty exotic wine stuff on his list and on the shelves. I noticed that he had
the Massa Timorasso. Hmmmmm…I just happened to have a Timorasso out in the boot of my car. Sam had never
before tried a Timorasso, so I suggested I get mine and I’d buy the Massa and we could do a Timorasso
horizontal right then&there. So we tried:

  1. PierCarlo LaColombera Semino Derthona DOC: ColliTortonesi Timorasso (13.5%; L0116) 2010: Med.light
    gold color; some stony/mineral/earthy light floral/carnations aromatic nose; fairly soft/lush light mineral/
    stony/metallic/tangy light floral/carnations bit washed out/dilute flavor; med.short soft some floral/
    carnations light stony/earthy finish; a pleasant enough expression of Timorasso but a bit on the bland side.
    $28.00 (SFW&S)
  1. Vigneti Massa VinoBianco (14%; Timorasso) 2010: Med.gold color; more intense mineral/stony/floral/
    carnations quite perfumed spicy/nutmeg beautiful nose; rich/more intense tangy/tart/mineral/stony quite
    perfumed/floral/carnations lovely flavor; very long rich/textured strong floral/spicy light tangy/stony/
    mineral finish; one of the best renditions of Timorasso I’ve had. $54.00/2 (BA)
  1. Idlewild Arneis FoxHillVnyd/MendoCnty (13.6%) 2013: Light yellow/gold color; beautiful floral/mango/
    pineapple/spicy slight stony quite perfumed/aromatic almost GWT-like/spicy nose; fairly tart/lush/rich very
    strong pineapple/mango/floral light stony/chalky quite aromatic flavor; very long/lingering powerfully aromatic
    mango/pineapple/floral slight stony/chalky finish; a beautiful rendition of Arneis and maybe better than the
    wonderful '12. $30.00 (JB)

I tried at dinner at Scopa that night:

  1. Ka! Macine DOC: Rosesse di Dolceacqua (13.5%; L.01/13G; www.Kamancine.It) Soldano 2012: Med.light
    color; very fragrant/perfumed bright cherry/spicy/black cherry light earthy/dusty rather mineral bit
    Nebb-like quite complex nose; rather tart/lean very bright cherry/spicy/cherry pie some mineral/earthy/
    dusty bit pungent/tarry/Nebb-like very aromatic flavor w/ light/bitey tannins; very long bright/cherry/
    spicy some mineral/dusty/earthy finish w/ light/bitey tannins; a bright/cold-climate zippy/zingy/nervy
    little red; some of the perfume of Marzimmino, some of the pungent/tarry of Nebb; beautiful red.
    $48.00 (Scopa)

The next day, I picked up at BottleBarn & tried:

  1. Nico fiano RRV/SonomaCnty (13.9%; 165 cs; www.NicoWines.com) Cloverdale 2012: Med.light yellow color;
    rather yeasty/cabbagey/earthy/decayed vegetation no fruit rather unpleasant nose; soft/bland earthy/cabbagy
    flavor w/ little fruit; a rather dull/bland wine w/ no fruit nor Fiano character that I can tell. $19.00
  1. BuonoVitaCllrs Nebbiolo RRV (13.6%; www.BuonoVitaCellars.com) JoeHealy/Healdsburg 2009: Med.light
    some bricked color; rather earthy/tarry/pungent/smokey light toasty/oak nose; tart rather hard/tannic/bitey
    bit pungent/tarry/earthy/smokey light oaked flavor; med.long tart/tangy/grapefruity bit pungent/tarry/earthy
    light oaked finish w/ rough/hard/coarse tannins; a pleasant enough example of the tarry/pungent aspects of
    Nebbiolo some like Gattinara. $20.00 (BB)

BloodyPulpit: WalterMassa was the person who rescued Timorasso from extinction in the Piemonte in the '80’s.
Timorasso is an ancient variety in the Derthona/ColliTortonesi region in the eastern reaches of the Piemonte.
No known parents or relatives. I was first introduced to Timorasso by DarrellCorti some ten yrs ago. It’s
relatively rare, but I think it makes Piemonte’s best white wine…over Cortese/Arneis/Erbaluce/Nascetta/
Riesling. It has the aromatic perfume some like Riesling, but the richness of Chard and some of the stony/
mineral character of other Piemonte whites. Good grape.
I’ve been drinking the LaColombera because it’s what’s available in SantaFe, and like it quite a lot.
But it doesn’t hold a candle to the Massa rendition of that grape.
Sam’s wife, Jessica, makes the wines at Passalaqua there on LambertBridgeRd. I gather Tegan/Turley is one
of their distant relatives. Sam also makes his wines there at Passalaqua. I’ve had his Arneis/Cortese/
Dolcetto last December and was mightly impressed. The Cortese is made as a skin-contact white and one of the
better renditions of skin-contact whites around, with a great balance between phenolic character and fruit.
The south-facing fruit turns a lovely golden hue and is given skin contact. The north-facing fruit shows less
color and is directly pressed. His Arneis is one of the best expressions of that grape I’ve found, here or
from Piemonte; wonderfully aromatic w/ some of the stony/mineral character that grape has. This '13 Arneis has
not yet been released. He also makes a GrenacheGris from the family’s 120 yr old GibsonRanch up in McDowell
Vlly. Sam also has a Nebbiolo in the works. Across the board, very good wines at very fair prices.
Earlier in the day, I stopped just at closing at UntiVnyds. Alas, neither George nor Mick were there.
The tasting room guy, Cameron, was absolutely flabbergasted when I asked if any of the wines contained their
LaCrima da Morro d’Alba they have planted. The have, in fact, 1 brl of the '12 and 2 brls of the '13 and haven’t
decided what to do with them. Turns out, KevinWardell was instrumental in gettin George those LaCrima vines
after he turned them on to the variety. I’m pretty excited about the LaCrima being in Calif. Great variety
from the Marches.
I shared the Timorasso remains w/ MattRorick/Forlorn-Hope on Fri morning. Never having met an obscure/
forlorn-hope grape he didn’t like; he was disappointed the variety isn’t in Calif. I did open for Matt his
first Visciola wine. Since they grow a lot of cherries (not the right variety for Visciola, though) there
in the SuisunVlly, I hoped it sparked an idea in his mind. He liked the wine quite a lot.
This was my first chance to try a a wine from the Ligurian variety, Rosesse. This wine is imported by
Oliver McCrum. I was mightly impressed and think it’s a variety that should be planted all up&down the
coast in Calif.

2

I ahve now been through 5 different Idlewild wines, and enjoyed every single one of them. The Arneis and the Grenache Gris have been my favorites, with the Dolcetto close behind. I could easily drink the Grenahce Gris from magnum all by myself.

3

Uhhhh…it’s called self-restraint, David.
Totally agree, Sam’s GrenacheGris is about the best I’ve had from those grapes. He’s delaying the release of the '13 Arneis
to give the '13 GrenacheGris a bit more time to come around.
Tom

4

Sam and Jessica are two of the most down to earth people, who happen to make some exquisite wines. I look forward to seeing what they’ll produce going forward- a style I enjoy as well. The dolcetto is amazing!

Trevor Chlanda
J Stephen Wines

5

Tasted with Sam in his dining room over Xmas. He was kind enough to set up a quick tasting on short notice over the Holiday weekend.

A unique portfolio of wines, at least to the US, and overall a breath of fresh air in a region otherwise dominated by pinot/chardonnay/cab/syarh.

What was also interesting to learn was how close several of the young, up-and-coming winemakers/producers live to each other in Healdsburg, including Idlewild, Ryme, Arnot Roberts etc. That’s my kind of neighborhood! Sure, we’ve got the housewives here in OC, but it’s just not the same.

I typed some notes on my iPhone that I promised Sam I would post, so I’m obviously just a bit behind schedule on that…

6

Thanks for the notes, Tom. I’ve really enjoyed the Idlewild wines I’ve tried so far. I’ve been working on Bryan Harrington to get in some Arneis, and hoping this might be the year.