Please forgive the lateness of this posting as it is well overdue.
On the weekend of July 4th(!), I finally managed to drive up to Southern Humboldt County with my better half, Linda (who is really more like my better third, as I outweigh her nearly 2:1). The purpose of the trip was simple: I wanted to meet
up with Andrew Morris of Briceland Vineyards, whose wines I have been enjoying for the better part of 3 years.
Andrew and his wife Rosie were tremendously gracious hosts. When they heard that we were visiting, they insisted that Linda and I stay at a cabin on their property. Over the course of our 2-day stay, Andrew took us on a tour of the redwoods,
toured a couple of vineyards (including one where he is doing some consulting), took in the local sights (it’s Humboldt County after all),
and shared meals with his lovely family.
We also tasted through a number of Andrew’s wines and I came away very impressed. Andrew is doing fabulous things at Briceland, producing classy, restrained wines with a number of different grapes. The wine that was probably most surprising to me was a 2006 sparkling rosé that had just a touch of sweet fruit on entry and finished clean and dry. (I brought a bottle to my friends Will and Steve who live in the City and they guzzled it down greedily.) The Arneis was also superb – a very aromatic grape that is a nice change from most Cali whites.
I am primarily a Pinot drinker, so as part of my way of saying “thank you” to Andrew I brought along a couple bottles of 2008/2009 vintages of a VERY well-respected winery who grows grapes in the Anderson Valley (SVDs). Andrew decided to have an impromptu blind tasting at the kitchen table.
The Methodology:
Andrew selected 5 wines and Rosie, Andrew’s wife, labeled and poured the wines into glasses. The wines were blind for Andrew, and double blind(ish) for me – I was pretty sure that the Pinots that I brought would be in the tasting and that the other 3 wines would likely be Briceland.
When presented with the 5 glasses, the first thing I did was line them up from lightest to darkest (never did that before, but it just felt right) and then did a lot of swirling, sniffing, tasting and retasting over approximately an hour. I never tried to figure out which wines were which, concentrating instead on what was in the glass. I do recall thinking that I’d feel awful if I picked the two wines I had brought as 1-2 and I fully expected at least one of them to be in my top 2.
The Results:
(lightest to darkest)
Wine A - Medium cherry red with some cinnamon and heat on the nose. Slightly sour bing cherry flavors with noticeable acidity and slightly gritty tannins. Medium- finish. My #3 overall. 2011 Briceland Bosco Vineyard PN
Wine S - Dark red with indistinct red/purple fruits and some smoke on the nose. Sour blackberry flavors, silky smooth, very light on the tongue and just a hint of pepper with a medium+ finish My #2 overall. 2009 Briceland Elk Prairie Vineyard PN
Wine B - Dark cherry red with tart red fruit aromas. The palate followed the nose with tart red cherry fruit, rhubarb, cranberry, minerals, a hint of cinnamon. and just a small kiss of smoke. Nice complexity and a velvety mouthfeel – most definitely the nicest wine texturally and the best tasting too. Med- tannins and Med+ acidity, Med finish. Simply delicious. My #1 overall. 2008 Briceland Phelps Vineyard PN
Wine E - Deep red with a purplish hue. Somewhat shy nose with some dark purple fruit poking through, though nose grew more expressive and complex with air. Flavors of boysenberry, cherry, cranberry and a slightly off note that I could not place. Silkyish texture, but tannins still a bit rough. Med+ acids, with a slightly clipped finish. My #4 overall. 2009 Anderson Valley PN
Wine T - Very dark purple. Nose is a bit funky with some oak and purple fruits present, with a floral element hidden in the background. Palate revealed boysenberry, oak, some smokiness and gritty tannins. Mouthfeel was bitter and astringent. Maybe an off bottle? My #5 overall. 2008 Anderson Valley PN
A funny side note: I bet Andrew that he wouldn’t be able to pick out all three of his wines. He did. Lesson learned.
Note that I have chosen not to name the winery that made the AV wines because I don’t want this to be seen as “slamming” anyone else’s wine. I like this producer as do many others who post on WB and I shall continue to buy from them. In some ways this might actually be unfair to Andrew because I think most people would be surprised at the “competition”, but I didn’t want the focus of the post to be misplaced.
If you haven’t tried Andrew’s wines, I highly recommend them. Personally, I like his wines with a few years of age on them. Best of all they are a great value – his SVD Pinots are about $30.
A HUGE THANK YOU to Andrew, Rosie and Stella for a wonderful visit. ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}