Laurie Love on Wine: Cabernet to sparkling, chardonnay to pinot, Grand Tasting wows again

Welcome to Laurie Love on Wine! I am Laurie Love, a professional wine writer and educator based in Santa Cruz. In this column, I share my wine passion, knowledge, and experience with Lookout readers. Follow me on my wine blog, Laurie Loves Wine, and on Instagram at LaurieLoveOnWine. I love email from readers! Stay in touch: Email me at laurie@lookoutlocal.com. Join me as we journey together through the wonderful world of wine.

WINE NEWS

Grand Tasting at historic Mountain Winery a huge success

The Mountain Winery in the hills above Saratoga was transformed from its usual concert venue into a breathtaking site and back to its winemaking roots for the very popular annual Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrowers Association’s Grand Tasting event on March 24. This year, thanks to the weather, the event took place inside the historic Mountain Winery buildings. Although crowded at times, tasting wines indoors from over 45 local wineries all in one spot and in the same place where Paul Masson began making wine over 100 years ago was a special and poignant experience.

The event is the only one of its kind where members of the public and the wine trade can taste wines from almost all the wineries in the Santa Cruz Mountains American Viticultural Area (AVA). Hosted by the Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrowers Association, wineries that pour at this event are members of that professional organization. There are of course more very fine wineries in our AVA that do not belong to this group (such as Bottle Jack Winery, Margins Wines, Soquel Vineyards and more), at least not yet. And several member wineries were not pouring on this day. Nevertheless, the depth and breadth of the offerings (both in terms of location across our well-spread-out appellation and variety and quality of wines) at the Grand Tasting are truly remarkable.

I started at the cozy nook set up in the Paul Masson cellar VIP lounge for library wines,  older and rare vintages from 15 wineries, including Big Basin Vineyard, House Family Vineyards, Kings Mountain Vineyards, Ridge Vineyards, Thomas Fogarty Winery and more. If you have been following my columns for the past few months, it won’t come as a surprise when I tell you that the Kathryn Kennedy Winery 2009 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon was a standout. At over 14 years old, the wine was still so fresh with fruit and soft tannins still present. Ripe blackberry, blueberry, cassis, mint, tobacco, cedar and chocolate aromas and flavors, the wine was full-bodied and generous with a long, luxurious finish. The fruit comes from their organic-certified estate vineyard. I’ve written about Kathryn Kennedy’s outstanding cabernet sauvignon in the past. It blows me away every time I taste it.

I also enjoyed the Mount Eden Vineyard 2015 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon (75% cabernet, 14% merlot, 10% cabernet franc, and 1% petit verdot). This elegant wine is a true Santa Cruz Mountains classic. With aromas and flavors of blackberry, black plum, mint, earth, and lovely floral notes, the wine is so well balanced with good acidity and a long silky finish. The Mount Eden vineyard, which sits at 2,000 feet and is also certified organic, was the subject of a recent documentary called “Eden,” which I wrote about in this column. 

At the sparkling wine and rosé table, I had three favorites. My top sparkling here was the La Vida Bella 2020 Brut Brillante. It was sublime, and tasted like a true Champagne, with subtle apple, citrus and toast notes, good acidity (so important in sparkling), and brioche on the finish. A very well-made sparkler. On the rosé side, I loved the elegant and pretty Mount Eden 2022 Rosé of Pinot Noir. A lovely salmon color with aromas that just made me want to keep smelling this wine: refreshing fruit notes of raspberry, sour cherry, white peach and tangerine alongside pink jasmine floral notes. This rosé is dry (not sweet) with good acidity and drinks beautifully on its own but would also pair well with food such as seafood salad, smoked salmon, charcuterie, brie or goat cheese, grilled vegetables and sushi.

Since we were at the Mountain Winery, it was only fitting to taste wines from fruit grown right there in its immaculate, historic vineyard, which is expertly tended by viticulturist Prudy Foxx. One of my favorite wines of the day, Sandar & Hem Winery 2021 Mountain Winery Chardonnay, takes chardonnay to the next level. The balance and freshness of this wine is so special. Minerals and stoniness alongside citrus and just a kiss of French oak, the wine is a true testament to terroir in the glass. Also excellent: the Mountain Winery 2019 Estate Chardonnay. Its fruit qualities were well-balanced with a very pleasing brightness. I enjoyed sipping on this between samples of the heavier reds on offer at the tasting.

Other chardonnays I loved included Maison Areion 2019 Santa Cruz Mountains Chardonnay, a riper version than those from the Mountain Winery vineyards with fruit coming from near the town of Woodside; the wine had good body and texture from just the right amount of French oak. Neely Wine 2019 Bee Block Estate Chardonnay also impressed with its perfect balance between fruit, acidity and body. These four wines are not oaky-buttery chardonnays. These are chardonnays that are elegant and terroir-focused, and I hope they change your mind about drinking chardonnay.

As for the reds, Santa Cruz is known for exceptional pinot noir, and my goodness there were so many great ones at this tasting! One of the newer members of the winegrowers association is Birichino. The winery has been around since Alex Krause and John Locke founded it in 2008 and is well-known for its wide variety of wine styles from diverse grape varietals. (I enjoyed its floral and fruity 2022 Sparkling Malvasia Pétillante Naturelle at the tasting, which is also available in cans.) Locke poured an incredible flight of wines at this event from more traditional (for Birichino) grape varietals: chardonnay and cabernet from the historic Peter Martin Ray vineyard, and the outstanding Birichino 2022 Lilo Vineyard Pinot Noir. This pinot – from a steep, south-facing slope composed of thin sandstone, shale, and schist soils in the Aptos hills – was perhaps my favorite pinot noir at the event. With aromas of bright cherry, sandalwood, red flowers and a hint of redwood forest, the wine dances across the palate with fruit for days and good acidity to deliver a long, lingering and very pleasing finish. Still youthful, this wine will age beautifully and only get better.

Other standout pinots: Beauregard Vineyards 2021 Coast Grade Pinot Noir (partial whole-cluster fermentation and 20 months aging in French oak, 25% new), Muns Vineyard 2012 Estate Pinot Noir (classic, elegant, rich and aged in Hungarian oak), Kings Mountain 2019 “Bacchus” Pinot Noir (a full-bodied blend of two pinot clones aged in 100% new oak), Charmant Vineyards 2019 Juliette’s Block Pinot Noir (42 months wood aging!) and Neely Wine 2019 Upper Picnic Block Spring Ridge Vineyard Pinot Noir (cranberry, pomegranate, clove, cedar – highly aromatic).

The Grand Tasting is not only a great event for tasting fine wines from our local AVA, it’s also a community gathering of local who’s-who in wine. Local winemakers, wine enthusiasts, wine industry professionals and wine media people all mingled to share in the festive atmosphere. Cabrillo College had a vendor table set up to promote the new A.S. of Wine Studies program and the Slow Wine Guide USA 2024, which supports small wineries that source fruit from sustainably grown vineyards and features many local wineries. (More on that in a future column.) Deborah Parker Wong, lead instructor of the wine studies program at Cabrillo and national editor of the Slow Wine Guide, manned the booth alongside Prudy Foxx, who teaches the viticulture course at Cabrillo.

All wines mentioned here can be purchased directly from the wineries. A few local shops that carry many local wines include Shopper’s Corner, Staff of Life, New Leaf Community Markets and Deer Park Wine & Spirits.

UPCOMING WINE EVENTS

With spring upon us, a bevy of wine events are coming up this month. If you are a winery or organization that has an upcoming wine event, email me with the details at laurie@lookoutlocal.com.

In case you missed my previous column announcing this event, Cabrillo College Culinary and Cabrillo College Wine Studies in collaboration with the Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrowers Association will present a food and wine pairing showcase event on Saturday, April 27, from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Sesnon House on the Cabrillo College campus (6500 Soquel Dr., Aptos). Dubbed “The Perfect Pair,” the daylong event features a walk-around tasting of delectable dishes, prepared by 11 teams of Cabrillo College culinary students, that are paired perfectly with 11 Santa Cruz Mountains wines, plus two masterclass wine seminars with seated tastings taught by Deborah Parker Wong, lead wine studies instructor. As a member of the planning committee for this event, I will be there so come out and join me. All-inclusive tickets for the day are $140, or $90 for The Perfect Pair walk-around tasting only, or $35 for each seminar. Get your tickets and more info (including a list of participating wineries) on the Wines of Santa Cruz Mountains website here.

Rhys Vineyards (11715 Skyline Blvd., Los Gatos) is now open for private tastings at its winery and vineyard location. Rhys Vineyards is highly acclaimed for its outstanding quality pinot noir, chardonnay, and syrah. Tastings are by appointment only. Email Rhys for a reservation and more information at rose@rhysvineyards.com.

Head over to Margins Wine Cubby on Thursday, April 4, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. for “Cubby Conversations,” hosted by Chaney Janssen of Destined for Grapeness. Hang out with Megan Bell and Melissa Russi of Margins Wines, enjoy a flight of wine and engage in community and conversation around winemaking and wine enjoyment. $35 per person (includes the flight of wines) and tickets are available here.

On Sunday, April 7, from 1 to 3 p.m., Mentone in Aptos is hosting a class on Alsace wines led by Anne Bourne from producer Cave de Ribeauvillé in Alsace, France. Tickets are $95 and include appetizers (cheeses, meats, and Alsace-inspired small bites) and tastings of four wines:  2019 Riesling Grand Cru Osterberg, 2015 Grand Cru Clos du Zahnacker, 2016 Gewürztraminer Grand Cru Pfersigberg and 2015 Pinot Gris Grand Cru Gloeckelberg. Here’s the link to make reservations.

Farm Cottage Wines, a small hand-crafted winery led by owner/winemaker Ryan Alfaro, will be pouring his minimal-intervention wines at the upcoming Natural Coast Wine Festival (Saturday, April 20, from noon to 5 p.m.). Natural Coast Wine Festival takes place in Santa Barbara and bills itself as the first and only wine festival focused on natural wines from the Central Coast. For more information on Farm Cottage wines, check out the website. For more information on the Natural Coast Wine Festival, click here.

Charmant Vineyards in Aptos is hosting a spring release party Sunday, April 21, from 2-5 p.m. Wine flights, wood-fired pizza, music. Open to the public ($40 per person) and wine club members (complimentary). More info and reservations here.

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I will be on vacation for a few weeks, traveling in Europe and taking some wine journeys … so my column will pause until May when I return.

Until next time!

Cheers, Laurie

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