Celebration of Mendocino County Sparkling Wines

John On Wine – Celebration of Mendocino County Sparkling Wines

Originally published in the Ukiah Daily Journal on February 27, 2014 by John Cesano

Destination Hopland, the non-profit group charged with promoting tourism for the Hopland area wineries, is sponsoring a new event on Saturday, April 5 and invited participation from sparkling wine producers from throughout Mendocino County. A “Celebration of Mendocino County Sparkling Wines” will be held from noon to 4 p.m. at Terra Savia, 14160 Mountain House Road, Hopland. Eleven local producers will come together at Terra Sávia winery in Hopland to showcase their finest offerings. Great and classic food pairing treats for sparkling wines will be served, like smoked salmon, local oysters, pate, canapés, fresh strawberries, artisan breads and, for dessert, delicious lavender infused sponge cake. Classical guitarist Joel DiMauro will be performing. Participating wineries include:

Graziano Family of Wines

Handley Cellars

McFadden Vineyard

Nelson Family Vineyards

Paul Dolan Vineyards

Rack & Riddle

Ray’s Station

Roederer Estate

Scharffenberger Cellars

Signal Ridge

Terra Savia

Tickets are $55 and available online at mendocinosparkling.brownpapertickets.com.

The folks at Wine Enthusiast magazine taste a lot of wine, well over 10,000 wines each year, I am sure. Last December they announced their Top 100 wines of 2013, and the #1 wine of the year was the 2004 Roederer Estate L’Ermitage. The 2014 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, with 5,825 wines entered, was the largest judging of American wines in the world. The only winery in the nation to win two Double Gold Medals (unanimous Gold from the judges) for sparkling wines was McFadden Vineyard for the NV McFadden Sparkling Brut and the 2009 McFadden Reserve Sparkling Brut.

Bubbly in Mendocino County is spectacularly good, the quality high, while the prices are remarkably affordable. Far too many people open a bottle of sparkling wine only to celebrate a special event, when a good quality bubbly is an absolute delight when enjoyed as a before-dinner cocktail, or when paired with a host of foods from oysters to salmon bagels and poached eggs with caviar to chicken breasts in a citrus glaze.

Some sparkling wines that will be poured have notes of green apple and grapefruit, unapologetically crisp, while others will showcase a bready, yeasty, brioche character. Lemon, hazelnut, and toffee are notes you might taste in a sparkling wine, or rose petal and strawberry notes from a sparkling rosé.

Cuveé is a word that you will see on more than one label. Cuveé means blend, and a sparkling wine with a cuvee designation is likely a blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes, with perhaps a small amount of Pinot Meunier.

You will also see NV on a bottle or three, and this is also a blend, but a blend of different vintages. NV means non-vintage. The folks who produce sparkling wines in Mendocino County scrupulously refer to our bubblies as sparkling wines and never Champagnes. Practically the same thing, but we respect that real Champagne comes from Champagne, France. That said, most of us understand and do not mind when our customers use the terms sparkling wine and Champagne interchangeably.

Here’s a thumbnail sketch into how sparkling wine is made: Grapes for sparkling wine are picked earlier than for still wine, at lower sugar, usually in August. Chardonnay is picked for a Blanc de Blanc, Pinot Noir is picked for a Blanc de Noir, and a blend of the two is often picked for a Brut or Brut Rosé. After crushing the grapes for juice, the wine is made in the bottle, rather than an oak barrel or stainless steel tank.

A little active yeast in the bottle feeds the sugar – this is fermentation and where the alcohol comes from. The fruit notes come from the grapes. The wine spends time with unspent yeast, and spent yeast, also known as lees and picks up some yeasty or bready notes.

By tilting the bottle toward a neck down position, and giving the bottle little turns, the yeast and lees collect at the neck end of the bottle. This process is known as racking and riddling. The neck end of the bottle is submerged in a below zero freeze bath so a solid plug of yeast and lees can be formed and removed.

A second fermentation happens when a small dose of sugar, or dosage, is added to the wine and the cork and cage are affixed to the bottle. A small amount of unspent yeast remains in the bottle and eats the dosage, resulting in carbon dioxide, the bubbles that make sparkling wines so fun. This is how good bubbly is made. I hope you’ll get a ticket to the inaugural Mendo Bubbly Fest; If you do, then I’ll definitely see you there. Cheers!

John Cesano pouring one of two Double Gold Medal awarded McFadden Sparkling Brut wines.

 

 

January is busting out all over

John Cesano of John On Wine

John On Wine ­ – January is busting out all over.

Originally published in the Ukiah Daily Journal on January 9, 2014 by John Cesano

 

I know the saying is “June is busting out all over,” and I love June, but we’re in January and there are lots of events this month, so here goes:

Patrona Restaurant & Lounge, located at 130 West Standley in Ukiah, is a wine-friendly restaurant that I am finally getting around to mentioning. In their own words, “we serve refreshing lunches and inspired dinners using the freshest Mendocino sourced ingredients. We have a huge Mendocino wine list and a full bar serving the cocktails of your dreams!”

Having eaten there a dozen times in the last six months, I can attest that they have delicious food, a terrific wine list and possibly the best cocktails in Ukiah. I’m a wine guy, but I love stopping in after work to sample whatever brilliantly conceived special cocktail is being offered that day.

Patrona is pairing Roederer Estate wine maker Arnaud Weyrich with Patrona chef Craig Strattman for a very special Crab and Wine Dinner starting at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 18.

The working menu, subject to change, features a crab eggroll in sesame aioli and Roederer Brut; poached crab, green apple and avocado in a saffron curry and 2012 Carpe Diem Chardonnay; chicken and crab with a Winter Pin Nut Pistou and 2004 Roederer Estate L’Ermitage (Wine Enthusiast magazine’s #1 wine of 2013!); pork belly with crab or mushroom pastry in a crab sauce and 2011 Carpe Diem Pinot Noir; and a Crepe and Roederer Estate Sparkling Rose.

The dinner, food and wine, will run $75 per person. For more information, or to secure your spot, call Patrona at (707) 462-9181.

On a related note, Patrona is making Monday a little more magical with a special wine 50 percent discount on all bottles of wine. You can look over your menu, choose the perfect bottle to pair with your food, enjoy the wine at half off, and take any unpoured wine home for later enjoyment.

_____

Second Saturday in Hopland will take place on Jan. 11th. This January edition of Second Saturday sees several tasting room managers featuring the crab dishes that will be paired with wine over the following two weeks. Visit Ray’s Station, McFadden Vineyard, McNab Ridge, Cesar Toxqui Cellars, Graziano Family of Wines, Milano Winery, Naughty Boy, and Rivino tasting rooms to sample delicious complimentary appetizers and wine pairings. Don’t forget to stock up on local wines at the very affordable Hopland-wide January Case Sale event.

The Mendocino County Crab, Wine & Beer Fest is January 17-26 this year. More than 40 winery tasting rooms throughout Mendocino County, with roughly half along or near Highway 101 and the other half along Highway 128, will be celebrating January’s bounty of the county: Dungeness Crab.

Enjoy the most delectable crab creations, from crab and corn chowder at Milano Family Winery to crab mac and cheese at McFadden in Hopland, and crab and Pennyroyal Farm Laychee Wontons at Navarro to Blini with creamy Crab at Yorkville Cellars along Highway 128. Most of the winery tasting room crab dishes will be served on the weekends, but the many restaurants of Mendocino County, whether inland or on the coast, will be serving up special crab-centric menus during the event, and the biggest event of the festival falls on my birthday (a coincidence, I’m fairly sure) with the 15th annual Crab Cake Cook Off & Wine Competition taking part on Saturday, January 25 from noon-3 p.m.

For more information about everything Crab this month, go to VisitMendocino.com/crabfestival

_____

Barrel Tasting 101, runs Saturday, Jan. 18 and Sunday, Jan. 19, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, during the Crab, Wine & Beer Festival, and stretches from Hopland to Calpella and Ukiah to Redwood Valley.

The $10 price includes one commemorative wine glass. Each tasting room will be offering crab themed pairings.

Participating winery tasting rooms include: Barra of Mendocino, Brutocao Cellars, Campovida, Cesar Toxqui Cellars, Frey Vineyards, Graziano Family of Wines, Jaxon Keys Winery & Distillery, Jeriko Estate, McFadden Farm Stand & Tasting Room, McNab Ridge Winery, Milano Family Winery, Naughty Boy Vineyards, Nelson Family Vineyards, Parducci Wine Cellars, Ray’s Station, Rivino, Saracina, Seebass Vineyards, Simaine Cellars, and Testa Vineyards.

_____

Check out Zinfandel Advocates & Producers’ (ZAP) ­ The Zinfandel Experience on Wednesday, Jan. 22 through Saturday, Jan. 25 at various spots in the bay area. If you love Zinfandel, this is your event!

The event kicks off for trade and media at Rockwall in Alameda on Wednesday when Tim Fish moderates a panel that includes Morgan Twain Peterson of Bedrock, Tegan Passalacqua of Turley, and Mike Officer of Carlisle; three Zinfandel powerhouses.

My two favorite events from the past fall on Thursday at The Presidio and Friday at the Four Seasons, both in San Francisco. Thursday features Epicuria, an evening tasting of food from top restaurants and caterers paired with Zinfandel from some of California’s best producers, is an amazing event. Friday’s panel tasting, Flights, is enjoyable for the sit down, off the cuff comments offered by Zinfandel luminaries on a Zin-centric topic, with flights of Zinfandel poured to illustrate points.

Friday evening is the big and fancy event, the Winemaker’s Dinner and Auction at the Four Seasons. Everyone who has attended raves about this event. I have not attended…yet. There is a small chance, space permitting, that I may be able to attend this year.

Saturday is the big day, with the giant Grand Tasting, which has been changed into smaller educational tasting tracks this year: Sensory Tasting, Reserve & Barrel Tasting, and Terroir Tasting. All three events within an event take place at The Presidio. For more information, or to grab tickets to these very limited space events, visit Zinfandel.org.

_____

January offers many great events, and you’ll see me at a number of them. I know we need rain, and that means the winter cold that comes with it, but this January I find myself wishing I was surrounded by June. I love June’s warmth, and the perfect combination for me, not for farmers but for me, would be to enjoy a little June in January. Cheers!