Dec 2018 a Tale of Two Napa Valley Tempranillos
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NAPA VALLEY REGISTER Napa CountyFRIDAY, wine DECEMBER 7, 2018 | C1 coverage: Visit us online at NapaValleyRegister.com/wine for more coverage of the wine ON WINE industry. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2018 | napavalleyregister.com | SECTION C ON WINE Celebratory bubbles as A tale of two tintos needed, Part 1 Growing Tempranillo in Cabernet Country any food experts at this time of year suggest that TONY POER Mthe best libation to serve When he was coming up in the at parties and other celebra- wine business as a restaurant tions is Champagne or any dry buyer in the 1990s, Calistoga sparkling wines. winemaker-turned-grower Sam It’s for toast- Spencer fell in love with Spain. ing, they say, Not the country, per se, but the and people like it vinos tintos — its red wines. almost regardless Guided by savvy importers, of the style in the industry veteran became so which it is made enamored of Spain’s most fa- or how sweet it is. mous wine regions, Rioja and DAN But most never Ribera del Duero, that, just a few BERGER mention Cham- years later, he planted his fami- pagne’s greatest ly’s Lake County property with raison d’être: the vine that ties these denomi- pairing it with food. nacións to each other and is the I suppose we are all creatures Spanish calling card to the rest of habit when celebrations are of the wine world: Tempranillo. planned, such as year-end par- Two decades ago, Spencer ties, graduations, promotions, wasn’t the only North Coast and retirements. We launch vintner to focus on this noble, ships by sacrifi cing a bubbly on age-worthy variety. In a small the bow as the ship is named. but signifi cant way, the late And some people mistakenly ‘90s were an auspicious time for give the parents of newborns Tempranillo up and down Napa a bottle of Champagne to hold Valley. onto for the scion’s 21st birth- After a visit to a famous Ri- day. (Almost all will be about 20 bera del Duero estate in 1998, years too old at that point.) Napa importer-brokers Steve The trend of Champagne and and Faith Ventrello acquired an sparkling wines being so widely armful of Tempranillo vine cut- regarded as essential on festive tings from the owner and air- occasions has been around for mailed them back to California. decades. But I always see it as They used these raw ingredients a symbol. So do waiters. If a to establish a one-acre vineyard restaurant patron orders any- for Parador Cellars, Napa Valley’s thing with bubbles (Cava, Pro- fi rst Tempranillo-centric wine secco, Sekt) waiters often ask, brand. “What’s the occasion?” Need “The hardier red wine vari- there be one? eties have done really well up French Champagne makers here,” Steve Ventrello said in an don’t like talking about the interview a couple of years ago. subject since they have year- “I consider Tempranillo one of round issues, such as: How these.” to market bubbly in the eight Northern California’s climate months that celebrations de- is a factor. Recall that in “My Fair cline? The celebratory months Lady,” Eliza Doolittle carefully are June and the last three of enunciates, “The rain in Spain TONY POER PHOTOS each year. stays mainly in the plain.” Here The celebrations-with-bub- in the North Bay, it mainly just BOT- istoga — o er an intriguing look bles thing is based also on stays away — for much of the at how Spain’s signature grape sound. The well-known “pop” growing season, anyway. But in TLES can perform at opposite ends of of the cork and the sounds the Napa Valley, Ventrello noted TONY POER the Valley. coming out of the glass signify the weather works to Tempranil- PHOTO “I probably drank some Tem- happiness. lo’s advantage. Coquerel’s pranillo earlier in France, but I “They love to hear the pop “The dry climate leading up Calistoga don’t have the memory of it,” and the fi zz,” said one wine to the harvest, usually speaking, Tempranillo confessed Coquerel winemaker salesman to me 30 year ago. lends itself to it,” he said. “It’s an and Truchard’s Christine Barbe over lunch at As such, the quality of the early-ripening variety, which is Carneros are Zuzu Restaurant, Napa’s default sparkling wine rarely is an issue how it got its name: temprano Napa Valley locus for Spanish wine and food. for infrequent bubbly con- means ‘early’ in Spanish. So you examples “I’m from Bordeaux and we drink sumers. Most people wouldn’t know that is something that’s a lot of Cabernet and Cab Franc, know the di erence between benefi cial for the grape.” Left: Sal maybe a little bit of Burgundy. Dom Perignon and a $3.99 Around the same time the DeIanni But you know, Bordeaux people Brut from Arkansas. And most Ventrellos’ package was jetting is Tony barely drink Pinot Noir!” wouldn’t care as long as there is west over the Atlantic, Tony Truchard’s Barbe arrived in the U.S. in a loud pop. Truchard got inspired by Rioja longtime 1996 after earning a Ph.D. in Some French folks I’ve met and planted two acres of Tem- winemaker enology from the University of have pointed an accusatory pranillo on a volcanic knoll at the Bordeaux. She worked for a de- fi nger to “you Americans” who eastern edge of his and his wife Jo cade at the volume end of the in- they indicate are daft to ignore Ann’s Carneros property. dustry, in viticultural research at the best reason to drink Cham- In 2000, the vintner Peter E & J Gallo and Robert Mondavi. pagne: serving it with food. Prager grafted the vine over from When she signed onto the Cock- When the bubbly and the Muscat in a Calistoga vineyard erells’ boutique project in 2006, food are excellent, pairing bub- he owned. He farmed it to blend she was tasked with shaping up bly with food can be an amazing into some of the Port-style wines Walnut Wash Vineyard, their wine experience. A key reason made at his St. Helena winery. the project was more conven- to be true to the grape. We want Calistoga property. is that most sparkling wines Prager still buys the fruit from tional: to produce a 100 per- to show you what the vineyard “We bought the vineyard next have better acidity than most the vineyard’s current owners, cent varietal wine that, like the can do here with each variety.” door in 2008, and the Tempra- table wines. Brenda and Clay Cockerell, who dozen other varieties his boss Seen, then, through Steve Ven- nillo was there,” she said over When I mentioned this sup- bottle Tempranillo under their grows, demonstrates how the trello’s lens of a dry, mild Napa the busy midday din at Zuzu, posed American penchant for own label, Coquerel Wines. cool Carneros climate a ects Valley, the bookended Truchard a Flamenco tune blaring in the For Sal DeIanni, Tony Tempranillo. As DeIanni put it and Coquerel sites — one in cool Please see ON WINE, Page C2 Truchard’s longtime winemaker, during a harvest break, “We try Carneros, the other in warm Cal- Please see TINTOS, Page C2 PLEASE THE PALATE Brooks Winery is sustained by friendship n 1998, Jimi Brooks started pioneering varieties planted in They purchase Riesling from Brooks Winery, focusing on Oregon. Today, there are 782 vineyards across the Willamette IOregon’s potential for ex- acres of Riesling planted in Ore- Valley, including Yamhill-Carl- pressive, complex and balanced gon. It may be a minor grape va- ton, Dundee Hills, Chehalem Riesling and Pinot Noir. riety in Oregon, but Brooks Win- Mountains and McMinnville. In 2004, at the age of 38, ery is showing what a versatile This allows them to highlight the Brooks unexpectedly passed and expressive white wine it is. diversity of the region, and of away two weeks before harvest. Riesling is a grape that speaks the grape, and I experienced this A group of his friends donated to place, and it is very much at during a recent tasting at the their skills and home in Oregon, specifi cally in winery. time to make the Willamette Valley. The cli- Brooks 2016 Estate Ries- the 2004 wines mate is relatively mild through- ling, Eola-Amity Hills AVA in Jimi’s style. out the year, with cool, wet ($32) – A dry Riesling with 10.6 Twenty years winters and warm, dry summers, G/L of residual sugar, this wine ALLISON LEVINE PHOTO later, Brooks and the soils are ancient volcanic has lively acidity and makes the Winery continues Brooks Winery winemaker Chris Williams. and marine sediment. mouth water. The aromas of ALLISON to produce deli- Brooks Winery is located in lemon, cherry blossom and apple LEVINE cious wines under laKenzie Estate and Maysara and his desire to express the the Eola-Amity Hills AVA where give way to lime, lemon, honey- his name under Winery and also worked in the terroir of the Willamette Valley they have an 18-acre biodynam- suckle on the palate. The wine the guidance of cellar at Brooks. Chris was one of through the wines. ically-farmed estate vineyard. has a crisp and refreshing fi nish. Jimi’s sister, Janie Brooks, and the many friends who stepped in Oregon is known for its Pinot The estate vineyard includes fi ve Only 150 cases produced. his friend and winemaker Chris to make Jimi’s wine in 2004 and Noir, and Brooks produces el- acres of self-rooted Riesling that Brooks 2016 Ara Riesling, Williams.