Christina Waters

Comparison shopping can be sweet. In order to better understand California pinot noirs - and specifically those made in the Santa Cruz Mountains appellation - it is sometimes necessary to cave in and purchase, taste and sigh over a pinot noir made in France.

Here’s one that rewards the splurge — and soars to great heights paired with aged sheep cheese.

The lovely Pernand-Vergelesses 2003 from Domaine Rollin Pere et Fils, is a subtle powerhouse of a Burgundy grand vin, fully equipped with notes of tobacco, leather and a heart of ripe plums. Yet at 13% alcohol and intricate acidity, it never tires the palate. Not one bit. Poetry down to the last sip, it opens and just gets better by the hour. The next day (should you be able to restrain yourself and save some) it is yet another ravishing creature, with a rounder tone and yet sturdy enough for some choice bit of oil-rich seafood or a roast pork loin.

Grab $30 — remember, you’re celebrating one more year of getting your taxes done on time — and head for Soif. There might just be a bottle left.

What a delightful creation, this vivacious 2007 Muscat from Bonny Doon Vineyard’s Ca’del Solo estate. Cultivated according to the exacting standards of biodynamic agriculture since 2004, this spare, rugged vineyard has produced a luscious new wine that is full of surprising characteristics.

Whatever one’s attitude toward the esoteric agricultural teachings of Rudolph Steiner’s biodynamic philosophy, several things are obvious. 1) Grapes grown according to these hyper-organic standards, in which the soil is nurtured to maximum health, prosper through meticulous husbandry. And 2) the proof of whether biodynamic techniques are worth their calendula and nettles, is in the drinking. And that’s where this very young, 12.5% alc. wine excels.

Within minutes of twisting off the yellow screw-top, this wine was practically bouncing into the glass. A shimmering hint of effervescence was followed by a band of salinity, honey and then a center of lead crystal began to open. The finish - at first - was perfumed with wild gardenia. After a half hour, a top-note of lime entered this very pretty, crisp white wine. In other words, this wine offers a fabulous mystery tour for the palate, balancing neatly between mineral and floral.

Lively and complex, this intricate wine bodes well and beautifully for the Demeter-certified, biodynamically-farmed grapes of Ca’ del Solo vineyard down in Monterey County. Such a wine would be perfect with curries or jambalaya. Ready to drink now! $14.99. - Bonny Doon Vineyard.

Silver Mountain Vineyards - 2004, Tondré’s Grapefield, Santa Lucia Highlands.
I’m convinced that something close to sorcery must occur in the Tondré Grapefield. Because Tony Craig - formerly of David Bruce, who’s now joined founding winemaker Jerold O’Brien at Silver Mountain - is making all the Silver Mountain wines I’ve been tasting. But these Tondré grapes just seem to power the vintage into another plane of flavor duration. Sassafras, plum, rhubarb and licorice and a finish that lasts over a minute. This is a pinot noir that requires absolutely nothing more than a glass! And it gets better the second day, when more earth and mushroom tones appear at the top and the bottom. Roses perfume the very summit of the finish. Incredible stuff.

2004 Miller Hill Vineyard. At 13.5% alcohol, this wine has real finesse and cries out to be joined by chicken, fish or perhaps a lightly-seasoned duck dish. We tasted an initial round of ash and tobacco, something rich, meaty and spicy in the middle - Bolognese? blood? - and a finish of pomegranate, licorice and wood putty. (more…)

Friday. 5:30pm. A splash of Gruner Veltliner from the Austrian house of Nigl in the glass and a beautiful appetizer plate of alternating coral and green bands of ahi and avocado. Add a dusting of black sesame seeds and a luscious vinaigrette spiked with tamari and sesame oil. The entire sensuous array has been dusted with a chiffonade of fresh basil. You are at Soif and you know you’re in exactly the right place at the right moment.

Especially since winemaker Richard Alfaro was sitting two seats away, just close enough to reveal a few key plans for his winemaking future. No, I will not tell you. Yet. In his honor I switched to a spicy Pinot Noir 2005 made by Richard himself. It went brilliantly with the remains of the vivacious appetizer plate.

Pinot and primavera are now firmly fused in my sensory memory banks. A splendid union.

Somebody’s gotta do it. My intensive, rugged - nay, grueling - taste testing of Silver Mountain Vineyards Pinot Noirs is nowhere near complete.

Next week I’ll be providing in-depth notes, but meanwhile I am morally obligated to urge every single one of you to go out right now! and scour the countryside (or simply email the winery) and see if you can find any remaining bottles of this outstanding example of Central Coast terroir.

Silver Mountain Vineyards - 2004 Pinot Noir - Tondré’s Grapefield, Santa Lucia Highlands.

Simply amazing.

At a table set for two dozen people, the pinot noir flowed freely. Well of course it did - after all every other person at the table was a winemaker specializing in Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noirs.

Jeff and Andrea Emery (SCMtn Vineyard), Nick Guerrero (Vine Hill), Jim and Judy Schultze (Windy Oaks), Jerold O’Brien (Silver Mountain), Ryan Beauregard (Beauregard) David and Anne Moulton (Burrell School), and a few other leading names in local wine had gathered for dinner at the Hallcrest estate of John and Lorraine Schumacher - the night before the big Pinot Paradise weekend tasting event in Campbell.

In addition to meeting media and growers, I discovered a few special attractions among the many samples - predominantly vintage 2005 - being poured before dinner. I was already converted to the wines of Windy Oaks, and of course the wide range of varietals made by Schumacher in his historic cellar. So I helped myself to a few lesser-knowns. Burrell School, for example. And the new Cumbre label from Wines of Vine Hill, which also makes the Gatos Locos label. The Cumbre, Raffaelli Vineyard, was just edgy and tannic enough to make it perfect for big foods, even at its tender age.

After grazing my way through a lovely smoked salmon, artichoke and tomato primavera salad appetizer, and some sliced pork loin with salsa, I fell hard for the stupendous Branciforte Creek estate Pinot Noir 2005 made by Emery at Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard. The sleek new label replaces the one made famous by founding winemaker Ken Burnap - the one with the bobcat. Emery’s latest is a masterpiece (more…)

The pick of the week at Vinocruz just happens to be the mighty 2005 Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyards Pinot Noir, Branciforte Creek, which won Double Gold Medals in the recent San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. Kudos to winemaker Jeff Emery.
Come test drive this amazing wine - loaded with blackberries, earth and spice. Voluptuous yet buttressed with enough acid to take you all the way home.

The Branciforte Creek Vineyard, incidentally, occupies the original site of the first European vineyards in this area, planted by Henry Jarvis in 1863. 2005 was a mighty year for Pinot Noir, in the Santa Cruz Mountains as well as in Burgundy. Get some now before it disappears.

And by all means get on over to Vinocruz for those Saturday tastings - 3-5pm. The deck is now open! Vinocruz, 725 Front Street, just behind Abbott Square and next to the Octagon Lulu’s. Open M-Th 11-7, Fri & Sat 11-8, Sun noon-6pm.

Wine pundit John Locke recently demystified the emerging world of biodynamic wines at one of his extraordinary Soif wine classes. And to illustrate some of the agricultural principles of biodynamic theorist Rudolph Steiner, Locke brandished a cow horn, sans the manure that is required for true biodynamic practice.

There are simply too many horn jokes already loose in the world, so let’s not go there. Shall we? The entire presentation was simultaneously esoteric, rewarding, delicious and down-to-earth. And everything you’ve heard about John is true - this is not a man to lock horns with.

Bonny Doon Vineyard has no peer when it comes to self-reinvention. The oenological shape-shifting continues with this week’s preview of the first all-biodynamically produced, Demeter-certified bottlings from BDV’s Ca’del Solo Vineyard in Monterey County. And there is much to like.

The immediate eye appeal, for one thing (see image). Note the fresh green graphic design on the Stelvin screw cap, quoting the crystallization image which now adorns all estate vintage labels. The 2007 Albariño visually proclaims its heightened sensitivity, an opening salvo of the new, improved, downscaled Empire of Doon. But that’s not all.

From the branding genius of founder Randall Grahm - a man who continues to set the pace when it comes to value-added consciousness - comes new labelling transparency. Not only are the grapes grown according to the terroir-nurturing practices of biodynamic farming, but the labels now list every last blessed ingredient (all of them benign, naturellement) involved in the making of these wines. To whit: “Indigenous yeast, organic yeast hulls, bentonite, tartaric acid.” How evolved of our local heroes! It would seem that no other winery is offering to let it all hang out, contents-wise. And this, once again, separates Grahm’s crew from the rest of the pack.

Marketing, schmarketing — how does it taste? (more…)

Two recent visits to Soif put me in direct contact with flavor dazzle, starting with small plates of those addictive roasted Marcona almonds and crostini topped with tangy boquerones and aioli (shown left). An appetizer of fresh Dungeness crab salad joined by a mega-side portion of watercress added more Meyer lemon top notes. On another visit I shared a voluptuous side dish of Brussels sprouts (probably the first time “voluptuous” and “Brussels sprouts” have been used together in a sentence) with bacon. All wonderful. But best was the duck entree centerpiece of each of my two meals.

Duck is one of my passions and this particular version is everything you want a duck dish to be. Slices of rare, lean roast duck breast join succulent baby bok choy and plump whole shiitake mushrooms, all married by a velvety sauce of lemongrass and ginger. This is all magic, but even more so accompanied by an elegant 2005 Dufouleur Nuits-St.-Georges 1er Cru Pinot Noir from Burgundy ($6.75/taste). Sure the duck would also have been memorable partnered by a glass of the remarkable 2005 Leitz Riesling Spatlese, as suggested by le maison Soif honchos. But I’m pretty firmly committed to red wine with duck. Heaven.

Soif Wine Bar & Restaurant holds forth at 105 Walnut Avenue in downtown Santa Cruz - 831/423-2020.