Text 7401, 153 rader
Skriven 2006-11-08 09:09:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: CCOG wine tasting 560
=============================
[On a trip to California to see my friends Mark and Elizabeth
and Kathy, I stumbled on the CCOF shindig at the Ferry Building]

I envisioned doing a quick tour of the California Certified
Organic Farmers wine tasting and running off to see my friends.
Asked the enthusiastic young volunteer at the ticket table how
much to expect to be poured, and she indicated about a 3 oz
pour per sample chit. I shouldn't have, but I sprang for the
15-tasting (or was it 20?) plan ($25) instead.

I should have known. The producers were all more interested
in pushing their products than in the protocols, and very
few of the booths even took the chits at all. Every booth
had multiple products and offered multiple pours. I estimate
that had I showed up at opening and stayed until closing (4
to 8) I could have had 60 3-oz samples, some of them really
5 or 6 ounces. Or more if I'd revisited some of the favorites.

I'd just had a fish snack (not a fishnack), so to get the
taste out of my mouth, I went first to the Eel River Brewing
table and had an IPA - tasty, well hopped, but a bit floral
for me (the Cascade, Hallertau, and some Pacific-specific
type). Did a good job on the residual oils, and soon I was
ready to do some tasting.

=
La Rocca Vineyards ("Grapefully Organic") - a genial guy,
apparently the winemaker, was pouring impossibly big
tastes (filling the 6-oz taster glass nearly to the brim
unless you asked otherwise) in an ebullient Italianate
sort of way. Makes pretty honest no-nonsense wines.

Chardonnay - honey oak quite nice, worth buying almost;
Merlot - eh, hardly memorable;
Pinot Noir - had no varietal quality, something peculiar
that I found about many California Pinots (I exclude the
Russian River, not represented here); maybe the grapes are
grown in the wrong climate to bring out the character (too
warm and cozy?);
Cabernet - greenish in the style I grew up imagining as the
California style but pretty nice
Late harvest Zinfandel - had botrytis and a raisiny aspect,
aggressively sweet, long finish, not too alcoholic.

=
Contrast the Moon Mountain booth, which had apparently
hired some cuties from the local modeling agency, some of
whom sort of knew about wine. This was the bling table of
the show, with the most costly and actually some of the
best wines.

Cabernet Franc was disturbingly honeyed, with notes of wax
and plum; it was actually rather fine and grew on me;
Cabernet Sauvignon was less concentrated, with an acidy
brown coffee-like taste; I didn't like it as much;
Malbec had more of that coffee, but it was muted somehow,
so the fruit came out more; a fairly impressive wine, and
one I'd consider bumping my normal Malbec for, so I asked
the price: $45 (gulp - my usual, the Norton, can be had
for 7.99, 6.99 on special).

=
Sobon is one of the few wineries represented whose products
are readily available on the east coast. I'd tasted the Old
Vines before and hadn't been blown away (despite its name,
it sells for under $12); here I had the chance to taste it
against a single-vineyard product by the same winemaker.

But first, the Viognier, which tasted disturbingly like
Bazooka bubble gum; I couldn't get over that, but I guess
it makes sense that occasionally those yummy fruity and
floral components go wild, and so ...
Tried the Old Vines Zinfandel again: a little petrolly,
tannic, ok, one-dimensional;
Rocky Top Zinfandel had spice, honeyed fruit, and chocolate
on the palate and the usual raisiny finish; it was a big
wine with good tannin - ageable for a few more years and
at this point a decent tipple;
the Zinfandel Port was almost Port-like, with raisins and
honey; it had more alcohol and less residual sweetness than
the La Rocca, which I'd tasted maybe 15 minutes before. I
think I liked it better.

=
Frey Vineyards

Chardonnay - a bit alcoholic on the nose, decent fruit, a
little lactic tasting: not bad, not compelling;
Sangiovese - lots of new wood, spices; attractive but
going into a dumb stage (I didn't get vintages for most
of the wines, but they're the current offerings);
Zinfandel had honey and tannin competing, but the overall
impression was not unpleasant.

=
Jeriko

Chardonnay - lots of acid but good fruit; oddly, despite
the acid, gave a slightly sweet impression - I liked it;
Merlot - not Merlot style, sort of odd, dumb;
Syrah - spicy and attractive; I'd buy (maybe).

=
Ukiah Brewing Co. Pilsner - floral (bathroom disinfectant)
aroma carrying over into the palate; good hops, though. As
one can guess, I didn't care for it.

=
Girasole Chard - a bit overt on the fruit; I thought it a
bit unsubtle; might go well with food.

=
Barra (poured by Madame Barra, first name forgotten)

Muscat Canelli - very sweet aroma, honey and peach (she said
pear) on the palate, moderately sweet, maybe the pears came
out on the finish (if I closed my eyes and thought about it,
I could detect some);
Pinot Noir - light honey, honeycomb, actually fairly typical
of a California Pinot Noir;
Zinfandel - good body, fruit; liked it quite well;
Cabernet - didn't care for, found it a bit wimpy.

=
Butte Creek Brewing

Pilsner - quite heavily hopped, enjoyed this
IPA - less floral than the Eel River; liked it a lot, maybe
better than the other.

=
Preston white and red Rhone blends

Viognier - floral aroma, sort of thin, Jell-O like;
Syrah-Mourvedre - dark fruit, meaty, a rich wine.
I wonder if L. Preston was trying to make quintessentially
"feminine" and "masculine" wines - if so, he must like
guys better than gals.

Staggered out of there - I estimate that, despite my asking
that each dose be a few milliliters only, I was poured about
40-50 oz of alcoholic liquid in toto. Some of the tables had
spit buckets, so I spat; some did not, and if I really liked
their wine, I'd suck it up and suck it down, and if I didn't,
I'd run off with this panicked look on my face to try to
find the nearest bucket or water fountain. I figure I downed
about 12 to 15 oz.

Ended up giving half my tickets away to a young couple who
professed to want to do some real drinking.
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