Sonoma Mountain Versus Westside Paso Robles 2016 Vintage,New

Just in Time for Christmas. (click for larger image) The gift for every wine lover you know. Available through Amazon.com in many varieties. Just in time for Christmas. Sonoma Mountain versus Westside Paso Robles 2016 Vintage Last night we cracked open two bottles of pinot noir, both 2016 vintage. One was the Belden Barns Serendipity block. The second was Jack Creek Cellars Estate Reserve. The former is in the Sonoma Mountain AVA just east of Santa Rosa. Jack Creek is in the Westside district of the Paso Robles AVA. We are long-time club members of both these fine wineries. This is our Sonoma Mountain versus Westside Paso Robles 2016 vintage tasting competition. At the outset, we’ll confirm your suspicions. Both these wines are terrific right now. The Belden Barns entry will probably improve a bit with one more year in the cellar. We’re old and impatient. Both of these need time to breathe. Immediately after opening the bottles, each wine had excessive earthy notes both aromatically and on the palate. The Jack Creek developed in about 15 minutes. We decanted the Belden Barns to encourage it. To put it mildly, a little air was just what they needed. The Jack Creek offering opened with aromas of cherries and spice. The palate is cherries and huckleberries with a solid underpinning of earthiness. The finish is long and exquisite with silky tannins and a nice acid balance. Belden Barns opened with rose petals and cherries with a hint of brambleberry on the nose. The palate was more cherries with a solid spice base and a nice acid balance. You could easily cellar this for another year, but we suspect anything longer than that would be excessive. Comparing the two led to an unusual result. We are accustomed to the idea that the further north the vineyard, the lighter the pinot (palate, not color). In this case, the Jack Creek was lighter. Once again the importance of microclimates shows itself. Norma preferred the Jack Creek while I liked the Belden Barns. Which makes for both a good tasting experience and a good marriage! New European Union Planting Rights Via the American Association of Wine Economists, the new European Union planting rights are available. As you may have guessed, winegrapes are being planted. This is yet another illustration of EU overregulation and interference with the market. (click for larger image) The note below the table is important. Each country may expand plantings by one percent of the current total. This, of course, gives an advantage to countries with large areas planted since they will be allowed to plant more acreage than those with smaller planted areas. And there seems to be a certain absence of logic in the allocations, most likely reflecting the political negotiations within the EU commmission. France was entitled to 8,101 hectares of new planting, asked for 11,744 and was gtranted only 5,755. Meanwhile ltaly received the rights to 6.685 hectares, 163 more than they were entitled to. This decision is clearly political so I won’t bother worrying about the economics. But I will add that the U.S. also restricts new plantings. Our saving grace is that these decisions are usually made at the local government level by zoning and other land use regulations. For example, a developer who wants to build a new housing tract in the Livermore Valley must purchase an equal acreage and declare it to be used only for agriculture in perpetuity. The result, naturally, is houses and condominiums crammed together with developments separated by large parcels of land that are often not used for much of anything. Kent Rosenblum, an Appreciation Kent Rosenblum (Click for larger image) I just heard that Kent Rosenblum passed away on September 5, 2018. Mr. Rosenblum, founder of the eponymous Rosenblum Cellars, became famous for zinfandels, sourcing grapes from all over Northern California. But his real fame should be starting the warehouse winery movement. In 1978, Kent opened his winery on the north end of the island of Alameda, just across an estuary from Oakland. The main feature of that area is the Alameda Naval Air Station. It was an industrial area and, clearly, no grapes were grown there. Instead, he expanded the practice of sourcing grapes from various growers. Today we take warehouse wineries almost for granted. One of our favorites, Siduri, was started in 1994. Carol Shelton opened her winery in 2000. William and Jack Salerno started Manzanita Creek in 1996. Interestingly both Ms. Shelton and Manzanita Creek have a fondness for zinfandel. Siduri, of course, produces some of the finest pinot noirs anywhere. [pullquote]California has lost yet another pioneer of our industry. Robert Mondavi brought science to winemaking. Ernest Gallo understood marketing and showed us the way in that field. Kent Rosenblum gets all the credit for rediscovering Zinfandel and bringing it to its current popularity.[/pullquote] I was fortunate to be part of a group that had lunch with Kent about 15 years ago. He was delightful, sharing with us tales of his experience in the wine industry. In his earlier life, he was a veterinarian. He was famous for producing Chateau La Paws, proceeds of which were donated to animal related causes. In 2008 Diageo made the Rosenblums an offer they couldn’t refuse. With some trepidation, they sold the winery. Today Diageo has turned Chateau La Paws into its own label, producing three different wines. The winery supports the North Shore Animal League of America (NSALA), the largest no- kill animal rescue group in the country. (Click for larger image) Over lunch, Kent also told a story relevant to wine economics. He said that you could take a tanker full of grape juice from Australia, bring it to the U.S., ferment the grape juice, and ship it back to Australia at a total cost of about five cents a gallon. And remember, this was quite a few years ago. Shipping costs are even lower today. Chateau La Paws Chateau La Paws bottles (click for larger image) Writing at IHeartDogs.com, Kristina Lotz describes the relationship between Chateau La Paws and NSALA. “NSALA’s no-kill efforts and emphasis on education and advocacy align seamlessly with our passion points at Chateau La Paws Wines – we love our furry friends just as much as we love our wine,” says Chateau La Paws. As a testament to this, their wine labels feature rescue dogs from NSALA. “We worked closely with NSALA to identify the 28 rescue dogs featured on the label of each varietal,” says Chateau La Paws. “Our goal was to assemble a varied mix of breeds and ages to showcase the expansive selection of loveable pets that may be available in shelters across the country.” But Chateau La Paws has a much longer history. The Wine Spectator took note of the Rosenblum’s charitable activities in 2007: Yet another reason to likeRosenblum . The winery’s proprietors, Kent and Kathy Rosenblum, have joined the trend of vintners using their wines to benefit their favorite charity for those on four legs. Starting this year, $6 from the sale of each case of Rosenblum’s Chateau La Paws wines benefits Paws with a Cause, a national organization that provides assistance dogs to people with disabilities. Sales of Chateau La Paws Côte Du Bone Roan California ($14), a Syrah blend, and Chateau La Paws Côte Du Bone Blanc California, a Viognier blend ($14), have thus far generated $21,378 for Paws with a Cause. Although the wine’s name seems tailor-made for the charity, the Chateau La Paws name was in existence long before any charity connection was made. Rosenblum began making the wine in the ’90s after Kent and Kathy took a trip to La Paz (pronounced “la paws”), Mexico. “We were joking around about putting paws on a [wine] label and calling it La Paws as a fun tie-in to [my veterinary background]” said Kent. That “paws” pun morphed into two wines, which now have a combined production of about 11,000 cases. In my time I drank several bottles of these wines. They were exactly what you would expect: quaffable and very tasty. Notably, the 2002 Côte du Bone Roan San Francisco Bay scored a respectable 85 points and made Wine Spectator’s list of 50 of California’s new red wine values in 2004. The 2002 Amador County zinfandel also made this list, scoring slightly better at 86 points. And the Rosenblum zinfandel also made the list giving Kent three of the 50 best values in California rents for that year. Exploring the Wine Spectator archives, the earliest release of Château La Paws that I could find was 1997: Other Rhône reds include the silky-textured Mourvèdre (pronounced mohr VED dra and formerly known in California by its Spanish name, Mataro) and Counoise (pronounced coon- WAHZ), a lesser-known grape whose wine is soft and fruity. Mourvèdre was planted throughout Northern California in the late-1800s, and some of the old vineyards survive, producing intensely flavored, supple wines such as Rosenblum Contra Costa County Chateau La Paws Côte du Bone 1997 (88, $10). Dark-colored and somewhat tannic Petite Sirah has also been grown in California since before Prohibition. This cross between Syrah and Peloursin grapes was created in France in the late 19th century, but is hardly seen there today. I suspect the label goes back even further, but my time for this project is limited. History The San Francisco Chronicle in their appreciation of Kent ‘s life recounted the families early history and their migration into winemaking: Kent Martin Rosenblum was born in Iowa in 1944 and grew up in Minnesota.

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