Wine Bloggers Conference 2009: Dinner at Spring Mountain Vineyard

The second day of the Wine Bloggers Conference rounded out with an exceptional dinner at Spring Mountain Vineyard where we got to have dinner and some great wines while chatting with winemakers from Spring Mountain and Viader and reps from Lang & Reed and BV. I was impressed that the winemakers took the time to sit down with us and talk wine, and it showed a burgeoning respect for the passion and thoughtfulness that 'citizen' bloggers can bring to the media world.


The setting itself was quite beautiful, with the rolling hills of napa etching themselves out along a sky dappled with red and golden hues over a declining hill of grape vines.


Over the course of the evening I managed to get a taste of quite a few wines, with the following four truly standing out.

1. Spring Mountain Vineyard Elivette 2001

A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot, this 8 year old wine was showing very well that evening. Smooth and full and filled with dark berry fruit, this yet had an elegant structure and a very finessed finish. A standout Bordeaux style blend.

Excellent to Excellent+
$100




2. Viader 2005

Viader makes this red blend with 69% Cabernet Sauvignon and 31% Cabernet Franc, which is a surprisingly high % for the often funky and tannic Cab Franc grape. Nonetheless, this young wine was drinking very well and may have been the standout of the night. Very fruit forward, with notes of chocolate underneath, the wine paired ideally with the BBQ'd beef we were eating for dinner. Frankly, I would never have guessed that this had such a high percentage of Cab Franc given how smooth and fruity it was. A favourite at the table with winemakers from Spring Mountain and Viader in attendance along with several bloggers.

Excellent+
$100

3. Spring Mountain Elivette 1993

It was certainly a treat to taste this 16 year old wine, which was still drinking with real backbone but without that overpowering punch that young Napa Cab blends can have. Instead, it was showing plenty of secondary and tertiary flavours from the bottle age such as slate, tobacco, and leather while still maintaining a pure line of red and black berry fruit.

Excellent
$100

4. Lang & Reed 'Right Bank' 2004

Sneaking in to our bevy of $100 cabs was the subtle and suave Right Bank red blend. Made with Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot, this wine straddled the line between styles that many in the media have come to oppose as New World v. Old World. For me, this was fruit forward and yet elegant and finessed such that the fruit did not overwhelm the development of the wine and the layering of the mid-palate. Many classic dark fruit flavours abound in this along with cedar and mocha. But this wine is special more because of its velvet glove approach. One to look for.

Excellent
$80

A Return to Brown Estate: Catharsis and Wonder

The difficulties of expressing the emotional resonance I felt upon my return to Brown Estate last weekend finally evaporated in the midst of a somewhat tragic event. Just two days ago I discovered that almost 200 bottles that I had been collecting for over four years had been heavily damaged by a Vancouver heat wave that broke all historical heat records for the city. But, why did such a sad occurrence precipitate clarity in articulating my second visit to Brown? I think I can best express this with reference to two words: catharsis and wonder.

If we think briefly of tragedy as a classic poetic form we encounter two things: pity and fear. I have received an outpouring of pity for my recent loss and I do not doubt that other collectors also fear the possibility of the same happening to their collection. The Browns have a unique experience with these feelings given that years ago they lost a huge number of their old wines in a warehouse fire. What a tragic event such as this gives rise to is myriad and great. However, I think the ancient Greeks were on to something when they suggested that tragedy gave rise to feelings of catharsis and to an experience of wonder.

Although in English Catharsis tends to evoke one notion, in ancient Greek it (Κάθαρσις) can have two meanings. First, catharsis can mean to purge. Purging is something we’ve all experienced with horror films or roller coasters that make us confront fear and then feel relief when that brief encounter has elapsed. On the other hand catharsis can also mean to purify. Purification is different than purgation because it leaves part of the feeling behind, while jettisoning the baser elements.


As I followed Deneen Brown and watched Sean and Graham’s initial reactions to the wonderful wine cave that really epitomizes what Brown is all about I realize now that I was experiencing catharsis in the second sense. Much about wine can be distorted and even avaricious: obscene prices, access only to the wealthy, hoarding and gloating. However, the Browns understand that wine is also organic, it is an expression of time and of memory and these ideas become physical when you step into the most beautiful wine cave in Napa Valley. Somehow the Browns distill this unpredictable and asymmetrical essence of wine into a purer form that expresses itself in not only their wines but also their personalities.

The 2007 Brown Estate Chardonnay was also pure with its rich expressive nose of pineapple, guava and slightly laced mineral notes. Unlike the 2006, which was more austere, the 2007 blankets you with creamy tropical fruit, wonderful floral notes, and clean minerality. Like a Napa chardonnay with the finesse and structure of a Chablis, this is one of my favourite chards in the valley. Excellent. $48.

As I think of how years of time and effort have culminated in a tragic moment with the loss of my cellar, I also recall how wine can be the sudden, unexpected appearance of something beautiful and how it is this appearance that produces wonder when consuming a glass of wine. If we think of the stress and trauma that wine grapes experience during their lives perhaps we can understand how the wonder offered by a truly beautiful glass of wine can arise from a tragic life. And, while I do not suggest that the loss of something so fleeting as a wine cellar is truly tragic compared to what the world has to offer, I do think it puts into perspective why all us wine geeks and drinkers take pleasure and wonder in truly magnificent wine. This is something the Browns understand, as they prefer to produce more challenging expressions of the grapes we have come to love.

Particularly, their 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon had a savory nose of wood, softened by blackcurrant, plum and fig. The palate was wonderfully structured, especially the mid-palate, which was very uplifting. Cedar, chocolate, black fruits and solid youthful tannins make this an absolutely gorgeous wine. Excellent to Excellent+.

The current release 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon also had a wonderful nose, but it was surprisingly extremely different. I love how the Browns let the year truly express itself and are not afraid of extreme variation in style and flavour from year to year. To me this is a more wizened expression of the art of wine making and one that more wineries need to understand. With a palate with lots of wood, forest floor, and raspberry fruit there is tremendous structure to the mid-palate on this wine and it will pair amazingly well with subtle red meats. Excellent.

There is one more ‘lesson’ to be learned from the ancient Greek understanding of tragedy, and that is its concern not with conferring glory, but with bestowing the gift of wonder. As much as wine can be about status and power, it can even more strongly be about time. Wine can produce pause, moment, and temporal articulation and it is these elements that the Browns concentrate on when they put together a wine like the 2006 Chaos Theory, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel that belies easy description and instead challenges the palate to place the wine in line with similar memories: pepper, asian spices, caramel and cranberry on the nose lead into a palate with asian 5-spice, cloves, and a much more tannic and austere structure than you would expect from Zinfandel. The fruit notes include cranberry from the zin and crushed blackberry from the cab. A challenging wine that many will adore. Very Good+ to Excellent. $45.

I failed to mention the inspired cheese pairings that Coral Brown offers with each of the wines, which serve to highlight some of their most interesting elements. It is clear that Coral understands that the expressive capacity of wine is best served in company with food, just as our best experiences with wine are those which remind us of special moments and good friends. I suppose, then, that with catharsis and wonder tragedy metamorphosizes into narrative, which, in a sense, is a form of memory.


When I drink a great glass of wine I nearly always recall Proust’s passage on the Madeleine cookie that leads into the reminiscent narrative of Swann’s Way. Perhaps Proust says it best: “No sooner had the warm liquid, and the crumbs with it, touched my palate than a shudder ran through my whole body, and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary changes that were taking place. An exquisite pleasure had invaded my senses, but individual, detached, with no suggestion of its origin. And at once the vicissitudes of life had become indifferent to me, its disasters innocuous, its brevity illusory–this new sensation having had on me the effect which love has of filling me with a precious essence; or rather this essence was not in me, it was myself. I had ceased now to feel mediocre, accidental, mortal.”

It is just such an exquisite pleasure that I experienced when tasting Brown’s Zinfandels, which are truly the heart of the Estate. The workhorse 2007 Napa Zinfandel had a cranberry, earthy, and asian spiced nose that opened into a full palate of fruit punch sour cranberry, and a distinct rose-like floral element. This is surprisingly elegant and tart for Zinfandel with great structure and balance. Very Good+ to Excellent. $36.

But lest the workhorse get all the glory, the very special 2007 Westside Zinfandel had a pinot-like barny and earthy nose with mushrooms and dried red fruits providing a quizzical pause. The intense mid-palate acidity was also leathery and had plenty of dried strawberry, cranberry and baking spices. A wonderful up front zinfandel. Excellent. $48.

But, even with the 2007’s lovely olfactory presence the 2006 Westside Zinfandel was even more elegant and integrated. A nose of flowers, cranberry and strawberry pie, the palate was pure silky strawberry fruit with a nutty edge. And, best of all there are incredible layers of spice – almost as if your most lush spices had fallen into the zin and mulled it into perfection. Stunning. Excellent+.


Ridiculously, we also took a tour of Brown’s barrel aging wines and without revealing too much I can attest that there are many many special treats and surprises that the winery will be releasing in due time, including an insanely good red blend that I won’t talk about too much more.

A tasting experience at Brown is anything but a public relations message. The Browns are some of the most authentic people I have met not only in the wine business but, honestly, in life generally. This, coupled with the fact that it is not hard to write superlative reviews for their outstanding wines (which are amazingly all good) make Brown Estate pretty much a premier destination for me in Napa and I will be making a point to visit them every time I take a trip down to California. These guys are rare for the wine industry and deserve your attention.

Lest I forget, we were treated to one last taste before heading back down into the main Valley to attend the Grand Napa Tasting: a 2006 Chiles Valley Zinfandel, which had a huge spicy nose with touches of red fruits. The palate was replete with baking spice, and dry-fried savory Indian spices like cumin and mustard seed. And yes there is still that distinctive cranberry note on the palate, which I have come to associate with the Chiles Valley as a unique AVA in Napa. Excellent.

In conclusion, my visits at Brown Estate have helped me progress from the tragedy of my lost cellar to the wonder that such tragedy can produce. If it weren’t for these types of stories and the memories that go along with them, wine would be but a hollow shell in want of meaning. Thanks to Brown for reminding me of this most important detail of our fleeting passions.

Wine Bloggers Conference 2009 - Day 2: Let There Be Wine

A bright and early saturday morning after an evening of wine tasting and discussion could have been a foreboding prospect if not for the promise of beautiful blue skies, a day's worth of tasting and talking Napa Valley wine, and a few Gatorades. Thus after a revitalizing breakfast at the Flamingo Sean, Graham and I headed over to the Culinary Institute of America for a talk by Barry Schuler of AOL fame.

Schuler's talk focused on the demise of traditional "gate-keeper" media, whether social media could become an effective model for business, how to capitalize on the fragmentation of media, and whether the niche markets catered to by bloggers could be re-aggregated effectively. In the end, it was quite an interesting talk by an engaging speaker. On my part, I wonder how social media will confront issues surrounding content quality since traditional vetting systems no longer exist - certainly one can find information on almost any topic they want to via web portals, blogs, and other forms of social media; but, what tools can assist users' digital literacy regarding the quality of content, rather than its ease of access? Nonetheless, it is clear that the wine industry is gaining serious curiosity in social media as the next big form of content delivery.

Sean and Graham of Vinifico tasting some Duckhorn Merlot

Unfortunately, we were unable to attend the lunch scheduled to take place after the conference session due to logistical and planning problems, instead leading us to grab a quick BBQ lunch before heading off to Brown Estate for a superlative and uplifting tasting experience that will be the subject of its own post.

Me, nosing some tasty vino

Later in the day, we drove down to Quintessa for the Napa Grand Tasting where we were treated to sips of some of Napa's most iconic wineries. While most of the wines were very good, the following six really struck me as something extraordinary:

1. Kapcsándy Estate Cuvée 2006

A beautifully expressive nose filled with some funky notes (maybe damp forest floor?) and replete with espresso and chocolate. The mocha elements expanded on the mid-palate in a soft somewhat Bordeaux-like manner, which was very unique for a Napa cab blend, which also had tremendous depth and a fully textured palate. A wine with personality.

Excellent+
$125


2. Staglin Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2005

It was certainly a treat to taste this rare Napa Cab from Rutherford with its perfect balance and classic cabernet flavours of cedar, cassis, and black fruits. While many Napa cabs can push the fruit so far forward that finesse is somewhat guillotined, here the fruit is both plush and in balance, and the structure of the mid-palate is very full and delineated, suggesting true aging potential. Thus, while beautiful now, this will become something very special with the proper aging. I've also noticed that Parker gave this 93 and the Wine Spectator 91, and while the wine is certainly deserving of those ratings, I don't think they fully communicate its personality and expression.

Excellent to Excellent+
$175


3. Quintessa 2006

Textbook structure: every element of the wine making process is clearly meticulously attended to. A biodynamic winery, Quintessa has a very refined and controlled style that makes the wine somewhat clinical. That said, the wine also has a beautiful soft touch, an almost Bordeaux-like texture, and such perfect structure that this might have been the most ageable cab I tasted all day. And the flavour profile? In a word, dense: dark fruits, wood, licorice.

Excellent
$135


4. Nickel & Nickel John C. Sullenger Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2005



For those who don't know Nickel and Nickel, whom I've written up before, they concentrate on single varietal wines from single vineyard parcels. This particular cab is from Oakville. I love how expressive this is of its site: extremely polished and built for aging, this is yet still soft and approachable now with lush dark berry fruit and impressive length. Great now, try this in 5-6 years for an even better experience.

Excellent
$90


5. St. Clement Oroppas 2006

Another cab blend, the Oroppas is one of the most consistent wines I've tasted. And given that I've been lucky enough to taste through at least 5-6 vintages I can attest that it never fails to impress. This cab has real structure and impressive dark fruit - in fact, this is maybe one of the best value blends in the Valley. Driven by very impressive brambly and dusty mountain fruit, the Oroppas also manages to be lithe and drinkable without age. If you like Napa cabs, especially made from mountain fruit, but don't like the price tags, the Oroppas is certainly one to investigate.

Excellent
$55


6. Quintessa Illumination Sauvignon Blanc 2008

Poured as we walked into the winery, this Sauvignon Blanc kept itself lively and replete with grapefruit, lime, and cat's pee with serious mineral lacing. This sauvignon blanc, blended with 8% semillon, was very full in its structure and the quality of fruit was outstanding. In my opinion, this is the only other Sauv Blanc from Napa that competes with Spottswoode's. Interestingly, part of the aging process occurs in concrete eggs, which Spottswoode also uses, and the winery claims that this increases the richness of the palate. Also aged in stainless steel tanks and neutral French oak barrels.

Excellent
$45


I wish I could write up every wine at the tasting since there really wasn't a dud amongst them. After a couple hours of tasting these beauties we were sent off to have dinner at Spring Mountain, a definite highlight and an experience that deserves a writeup of its own. As for the Napa Grand Tasting, Quintessa really was a beautiful setting for the event and is certainly a winery worth visiting. The Napa Valley Vintners hosted such a thoughtful and unpretentious tasting that I can't wait to read what all the other bloggers in attendance have to say about such illustrious wines.

Wine Bloggers Conference 2009 - Day 1: It All Begins

I am sitting now in the enclave dedicated to my desktop computer and feeling terribly old fashioned. The last three days at #WBC09 have been a tumult of wine and technology that puts this old clunky desktop to shame with iphones and blackberries momentarily about as ubiquitous as glasses of wine in Napa and Sonoma Valleys. Having unfortunately been stuck in Vancouver for the first half of Friday writing my final bar exam (let's hope I passed), I didn't roll in to the Flamingo Hotel until about 8pm. While my cold subway sandwich consumed on the airporter was somewhat on the malaise side, the Russian River Tasting later that night managed to properly whet my appetite for the next few days, which were so magnanimous in their generosity that it will take me quite a few extended posts to go through all of my experiences.

That said, in brief introduction I found the conference a fascinating experience as wineries from across the Valleys treated us extremely well and appeared to take wine bloggers very seriously, recognizing the shift in information production, the increase in expressive capacity, and the surprising power of niche markets. If bloggers tend to individually attract niche audiences, collectively at an event like this with over 200 bloggers in attendance you begin to realize the sheer size and impact of the movement. That, and the impressive lack of pretense, which tended to be replaced by genuine passion for, as I like to say, the confluence of extreme sensory expression and intellectual stimulation that comprises the world of wine.

Fortunately I met up with Sean (@vinifico) and Graham (@vino_g) of fellow Vancouver wine blog http://www.vinifico.com/ and had an absoultely brilliant weekend drinking wine, talking wine, debating wine, talking technology, social media and the influence of the biodynamic and organic movements on the wine world. At points we were also joined by Karen (@winebard) of www.winebard.ca, Jeff (@vinaroon) of Farmstead Wines, and Brad (@Bradinator) of Township 7 winery in the Okanagan.

During our lively discussion on the first evening we drank a Sean Thackrey Plaeides XVII, which true to form was a chameleon of a wine with its inspired open vat fermentation under Eucalyptus trees expressing itself in the floral minty nose that is so distinctive to that species. A blend of 13 grapes you wouldn't think belong together, this wine defies description and deserves a rating of excellent. I also wrote up the XVI a while ago. We also had a stunning Austrian riesling brought to the tasting by Jeff of Farmstead, which was oaked in Austrian oak and had a clean and mineral driven palate. However, there was an intensity of flavour that pushed the riesling slightly out of delicacy (its traditional territory) and into a new, brighter, burst of flavour. Frankly, I thought this was a beautiful wine highly deserving of an excellent rating. If only I wrote down its name - hopefully someone can remind me of this!

At the Russian River tasting I found many of the pinots to be pleasant but somewhat overwraught. However, there certainly were some standouts, notably Merry Edwards, Joseph Swann and C. Donatiello. I was particularly impressed with the clean lines and pure fruit of the Edwards and the austere almost Burgundian approach of C. Donatiello. Given that I had just written a bar exam and spent 8 hours on taxis, planes, and busses these are the extent of my notes for that tasting - rest assured much more is to come in future posts. Cheers!

Lastly, a HUGE thanks - my attendance at this conference was made possible by generous donations made through the Wine Blogger's Scholarship, and I thank all the sponsors for making this possible. #WBC09 was a superb event and certainly served to increase my understanding of the role of social media in not just wine, but in marketing and society more generally.

NB: Just got some stats on the conference of 1,124 Tweets, a total of 1,539,239 Followers were reached from Thursday (7/23) to Sunday (7/26).