[Disclosure: Artesa picked up the tab for dinner and, of course, brought the wine]

Artesa has been around since 1991 when it was established as Cordoniu Napa before transforming into its current identity in 1997.  Starting in 2009 and now going into 2010, it is clear Artesa is making some changes once again.  One obvious shift, that Tim Shippey, Brand Director, admits right off the bat this evening is that they recognize the need to approach alternative media channels, including wine bloggers, to help promote their products, which triggered this dinner hosted at Bone’s in Buckhead, near Atlanta.  To legitimize Artesa’s new foray into social media marketing, the marketing and technical sheet for the 2005 Ridgeline Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley includes a list of tasting scores by Vinography, a well-respected wine blog authored by Alder Yarrow.  I was just happy when they visited my city I was included along with some of my favorite local wino’s to join in the festivities.

If you’re not familiar with Artesa, they are located in the cooler climes of Carneros, a great place to be growing Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.  The winery is built into a hillside that reminds me of a short Mayan temple or Indian burial ground.  I understand the desire to blend into the environment, but it takes on a spaceage feel with the straight lines and bunker-style entrance that reminds me of the door to the Empire’s underground fortress on Endor.  The grounds (internal and external) are decorated with fantastic art, which was by original design.

When you hear Mark Beringer’s name, most who have had at least one glass of wine in their life will probably recognize his last name, which denotes U.S. winemaking royalty of Beringer winery, which have been around since the late 1800’s.  Mark is a fifth generation winemaker, but has created a legacy all his own having made some tremendous wines at Duckhorn winery since 1992.  When asked what he brings to the table as the VP of Production and Winemaking at Artesa since early 2009, he deftly applies some baseball analogies stating that his predecessor focused on “going yard” while he likes to play a little small ball.

When asked why he decided to take the position at Artesa, Mark discusses his love of the historic winemaking background of the Raventos family of Spain having been established in 1551 as well as the company’s current state-of-the-art facilities and vineyard assets.  However, there are a few things he’d like to bring to the table all his own and implement his “small ball” strategy.  Mark focuses on developing and grasping multiple components that he can have at his disposal during the blending stage, much like building a spice rack containing fruit, structure and spice.  This way he has something to build with and develop stylistic wines that are fruit-driven, requiring minimal manipulation and contain more representation of terroir.

Another change, which is very obvious in the marketing materials and readily confirmed by Tim and Mark is the focus on Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, the jewels of Carneros.  Previously, Artesa stretched itself beyond those core competencies of the region venturing into many varietals in an attempt to be all things to all people.  But, now many of those will be demoted to the new secondary Elements label.  Just last Fall I enjoyed the 2005 Artesa Reserve Tempranillo Alexander Valleyand I wonder what will be the impact of such drastic changes to this winery’s lineup?  Only time will tell and it will be a couple of years before we begin to see some of Mark’s work under the Artesa label.

Here is the rundown of the wines experienced during the dinner:

2008 Chardonnay Carneros – About 10,000 cases produced.  Light straw in color, the nose presented pears and some caramel/vanilla.  The taste carried the vanilla forward with citrus and a medium level of acid.

2007 Chardonnay Reserve- About 2,500 cases produced.  The color was a darker golden hue and produced toast, apple and vanilla notes on the nose.  This wine underwent only 30% MLF so the toast and vanilla was not overwhelming.  On the palate I got vanilla, citrus and with higher level of crisp acid.  More importantly there as a level of texture and mouthfeel perceived due to the increase time in barrel and sur lie aging.  This was a phenomenal Chardonnay.

2007 Pinot Noir Carneros- Light to medium ruby color and pure fruit up front on the nose with a hint of tobacco and cola.  The taste brought on some strawberries and cherries.  This wine was 100% Pinot Noir.

2007 Pinot Noir Estate Reserve- The color was a little darker more toward the garnet spectrum possibly due to some extended cold soak time.  The nose had some big fruit along with some “funk” and hint of cedar and spice.  The taste provided some dark, black cherry and a decent level of texture on the mouthfeel.

2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley- This wine was a little hot at first, but much blew off quite quickly.  Nose and palate brought big fruit of blackberry and cassis with a medium level of mouthfeel.

2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley- This was very fruit-forward and silky smooth on the nose.  I felt this contained more chewy tannins and was more complex than the Napa Valley offering.

To finish the night off, as many wine-filled evenings often do, Tim asked if he should bring a stash of some single vineyard Cabs he had in his car.  I hope we are not giving away any secrets here.  As any good wine lush would do, we sat back down and said “hell yeah!”  This was the result:

Ridgeline is another property owned by Cordoniu that sits upon Oak mountain in the northern part of Alexander Valley.  There is an interesting story behind this property, but I’ll let you research that yourself.  Here’s what we thought about the wine:

2005 Ridgeline Cabernet Sauvignon Lone Pine  – only 100 cases produced (81% Cab, 19% CF) – 1200′ elev – Nose of chocolate and mint and was very smooth on the palate with blackberries and vanilla.  The mouthfeel was long and strong and down to get the friction on…

2005 Ridgeline Cabernet Sauvignon Standing Bear – 100 cases produced, 100% cab – 1700′ elev -  A little darker than the Lone Pine and much more fruit forward and reminded me of candied fruit.  The saying goes that manly-men enjoy this wine, whilst the women-folk flock to the Lone Pine.  Don’t tell the others, but I preferred the more vibrant Lone Pine myself.

So, there you go.  Read it and weep.  A job well done by Artesa in communicating their change in focus and exposing some powerful offerings from Carneros, Napa and Alexander Valley.  Now we wait for Mark Beringer to do his thing at the plate taking whatever the pitcher gives him and building his spice rack.  Can’t wait.

Cheers!

Everyone else has a Top X list for the year, so I didn’t want to feel left out.  2009 was a year of great growth for me as it relates to wine and I have really enjoyed sharing those experiences with friends and family including those who stop by now and again to read my musings here at Wine Tonite!  I committed to immersing myself in the world of wine including drinking from a fire hose (filled with wine, of course!) to begin learning the history, the culture, the process, the geography and the fruit by starting off the year obtaining my CSW credentials.  It’s been a wild ride from the very beginning and I can definitely say I consumed the most wine in 2009 than I ever have before. 

I was also lucky to be a part of a wonderful experiment by Murphy Goode winery to initiate a job search for a wine country lifestyle correspondent requiring applicants to submit videos and display their social media marketing skills and was selected to the Top 50.  The best part of that opportunity for me was meeting and engaging with so many wonderful people in and around the wine business and those who just love to drink it too!  Several of those new close friends now have jobs in the Napa/Sonoma wine country and serve as inspiration to many of us who teeter just on the outside of the envelope looking in.  Three other wine-related events I really enjoyed and have been instrumental in my continued growth as a wine connoiseur and as a person were the 2nd Annual Wine Blogger’s conference, the St. Supery Tweetup in Atlanta where I co-hosted with Rick Bakas and the wine tasting I hosted for the ERLSA fundraiser to help families in Nicaragua without clean drinking water.

There were so many good wines I enjoyed in 2009, it is very hard to narrow them down to such a short list of favorites.  And please note this is a not a “Best of” list, just some wines of note that stood out to me, so feel free to comment if you like/dislike my picks.  Not to mention, one of my new year’s resolutions for 2010 will be to be more organized with my tastings notes.  Cellartracker.com and their iPhone app, Cor.kz, have helped me tremendously in this regard lately andI will continue to use them going forward.  Note: these are in no particular order.

2007 Lioco Indica – Aside from the little trivia tidbit I got about Indica being a type of mary-jane (yes, that’s code for marijuana) plant, which shouldn’t be a surprise from this Mendocino county wine, this was just “Booya!” in your mouth.  Thanks to Chris Gaither, local wine guru and mixologist, for showing me this one.  This radical red is 78% Carignan, 10% Petite Sirah, 9% Mourvedre and 3% Grenache.  Blackberries, violets and caramel on the nose with more black fruit and spice on the palate.  Duuuude… I got the munchies…

2006 Alto Moncayo Campo de Borja- Just the facts here: Vanilla/caramel nose and a bit smokey, smooth velvety on the palate, licorice and big mouthfeel.  Nose: Awesome! Caramel, vanilla, oak… not a hint of hotness from the 16% alc.  Taste: fruit-forward, spice, vanilla and smooth.   WS 92, WA 94

2006 Caravan Cabernet Sauvignon from Darioush in Napa Valley.  Big black fruit up front, with some vanilla and chocolate but, again, not the huge oak bomb one comes to expect from the region.  It was well-balanced, velvety smooth with good tannins and spice at the end and really set the mood for the evening and meal.  A very nice second label offering that I felt was a steal at $39 listed restaurant menu price (Abattoir).

2006 Miolo Sparkling (Brazil) - One of the wines I brought to the ERLSA fundraiser, with assistance from Ryan Mullins of Quality Wines, this sparkler is produced using the traditional method (methode champenoise)  and contains a 50/50 split of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.  Did you know 25% of fine wine made in Brazil is sparkling?  No, me either.  Vines were first introduced in the early 1500’s by the Portuguese but didn’t really become established until the late 1800’s thanks to Italian immigrants.  The dry sparkler was fresh with citrus and good acid and would be a nice change of pace to the Rustico Prosecco I often serve to start a party.

Renardat-Fache Bugey du Cerdon- Sparkling Gamay - This is on the list mostly because it was probably the most unique wine I had during the year and can barely pronounce.  Yet, it was memorable in that I hadn’t tasted anything like it either, certainly never a “sparkling” Gamay.  Stewed veggies on the nose with a fizz strawberry explosion on the palate that countered the spicy Popeye’s chicken we were pairing with it for the infamous Popeye’s Wine Pairing Challenge by Hardy Wallace.

1999 Clos Ste Hune Riesling – Thanks to @rowdyfood for this wonderful house gift that I most certainly did not deserve.  After having started my wine journey with Riesling back in 1994, I have neglected to return to the distinct grape until this year thanks to some local wine friends like Matt and Hardy.  This summer I attended a tasting of 20 Rieslings from NY which was quite an eye opener.  This has a bright, yellow hue with citrus and petrol on the nose and maybe a little honey.  The palate displayed lemon, orange peel, acidic and mineral.  A great wine.

2007 Donatiello Floodgate Block 15 (667 clone)- As self-proclaimed pinotphiles, we have to have a couple of Pinot Noirs on the list and this one was the most memorable during my visit to the 2nd annual Wineblogger’s Conference in Sonoma.  Chris Donatiello is doing some great things at his winery include the Floodgate with bold, fresh cherry fruit and some old world funk on the nose.  Another great representation of RRV fruit.

2006 Halleck Pinot Noir Three Sons Cuvée - I had an opportunity to hang out with and break bread with another Pinot Noir winemaker from the Russian River Valley, Ross Halleck.  Ross was in Atlanta for a week back in September and he was gracious to hang out with us at my wine pal Jack’s house since he is a club member, then we attended one of his tasting’s at Murphy’s and then wrap the week up at my house for a BBQ.  These are the experiences that really do it for me as a wine lover.  Other wineries can learn from Ross in how to share the wine experience instead of simply peddling their wares.  This favorite showed a little heat early on that burns off eventually and reveals beautiful black cherry, allspice, cinnamon, all delivered in a smooth, velvety conveyor belt to the nice finish.

1977 Ridge Zinfandel Shenandoah Esola Ranch vineyard- Purchased this bottle at Bern’s Steakhouse in Tampa. Nose: medium-high toastiness and rich caramel and toffee releasing after half hour of being opened. Chewy Zin mouthfeel became more pronounced and satisfying after an hour with pralines becoming present later on. Somewhat subtle blackberry fruit and spice rounded out throughout the meal and was just delicious!

2005 Ch. Du Glana- This was probably the value wine of the year.  This little Bordeaux beauty was hanging real tough against some serious competition at Jack’s Bordeaux Madness party back in March.  I mean, it was up against the likes of ‘85 Ch. Troplong Mondot, ‘85 Ch. Palmer and ‘79 Margaux to name just a few.  Here are my notes, which can be seen with all these wines (click here)…”certainly this year’s Arizona, the youngest of the bracket, but held it’s own to make the final four.  Nice ruby color with cherry, cedar/oak and pencil nose.  Black cherry, violet and light spice on the palate with a medium to long finish — the crowd favorite!  WS gave this a 90 and it’s terroir is same/similar as Ducru-Beaucaillou, so it’s gotta be good.”  This is the one 2005 Bordeaux I had this year that really came through on the promise of how phenomenal 2005 was going to be for the famous wine region.

So, there it is … read it and weep… another year gone by… may you have calm seas and following winds in 2010… Cheers!

 It was kind of a Pinot type of weekend for us.  The Fall weather really put us in a great frame of mind to start the weekend off with a Friday night fire in the backyard pit and so we reached into the cellar for some treats. 

2007 Papapietro Perry Pinot Noir RRV– we received our first shipment from Papapietro Perry a few weeks back and were just jonesin’ to pop one open to re-live a little bit of our Sonoma trip this summer.  Barbara (@wineevangelist) reminded me it would be even better at least 12 months from now, which I would concur.  But, we were in that kind of mood… besides, we had more where that came from and were definitely keeping them in the cellar for sometime in the future.  Surprised at the alcohol level (14.5%) but it didn’t matter… bing cherry on the nose and clove, bright red fruits on the palate, with good spice on a lingering finish… just well-balanced and delicious!

2006 Landmark Pinot Noir Grand Detour - Since were in a Pinot-state-of-mind, I grabbed a bottle I had bought for the Pinot Taste Live several months back that had to be postponed due to twitter issues (I think that was when MJ passed?)  Anyway, I had almost forgot it was in there, so we pulled it… I said, it was that kind of evening… the fruit burst out of the glass and was warming to my nostrils with a hint of coffee, chocolate and black cherries.  More red and dark fruits on the palate emerged with a velvety texture and light spice on the finish.  We didn’t actually finish this bottle and 2 days later (after vacuum-pumped) it was even better!

2007 Belle Glos Meiomi Sonoma Coast - by this time, I probably stopped taking notes while one hand gripped a stem and the other a Cohiba.  My wife really enjoyed this wine.

On Saturday, it was Taste Live! time with Hahn Estates the next in line to unveil a custom TasteLive.com page.  Though some bugs were still being worked out in this beta version, there was quite a lot of twitter activity with a live Ustream feed direct from Hahn Estates and Matthew Horbund (@mmwine) pairing up foods with each selection.  We only had the Cycles Gladiator Chardonnay and Hahn Estates Pinot, but enjoy the time with online friends.  I was truly multi-tasking as the Gators were taking on Vandy this night, which sometimes provides the opportunity to become a trap game as they seem to always play us well when we look towards the SEC championship before even finishing out our schedule.

2008 Cycles Gladiator Chardonnay- learned it had about 11% Viognier blended in which was nice and probably the cause for some of the wonderful aromatics (white flowers?) and only a hint of toast (only 20% new oak used).  The oak provided a good, but not overly, creamy texture to complete the  fresh citrus fruit taste on the palate.  A very nice quaffer.

2006 Hahn Estates Pinot Noir Monterey - more elegant than you’d expect from many California Pinot - tart red cherry nose, smooth, silky and petite… mild spices to round it out at the end.

I visited a small lot winery with some wineblogger pals and continued to cement my love for the persnickity grape that is Pinot.  The story of C. Donatiello is that of taking the bull by the horns blended with timely opportunity as well as love for the grape.  Partnering with Bill Hambrecht, who has an eye for success having previous ventures with Gary Ferrell, Ravenswood and Ridge, Chris acquired the old Belvedere winery, scaled down ops and focused on the best Chardonnay and Pinot Noir they can find in the Russian River Valley.  Chris told me “their main goal was balance,” which I found evident in spades in his aromatic 809 Clone Chardonnay that showed zesty citrus and slight minerality (who else hates this word?).  It was aged in neutral oak and did not go through MLF… nice, clean and lean.

My favorites, however, were the 2007 Maddies Vineyard Pinot as well as the 2007 Floodgate Block 15.  Maddies was bigger with full on cherry, raspberry and strawberry fruit bowl and a medium spice on the finish.  I did receive the 2008 Marie Pavic Rose as a complementary gift which I consumed later in the summer back home and was fantastic.  A nice summer sipper with rose petals on the nose with sour strawberry on the palate.

Now, if the wines and the music weren’t just awesome to begin with, Chris has set up a nice musical series where he brings local and national acts to his courtyard that makes for a nice one-two punch to enjoy on a wonderful, sunny afternoon.  I heard he recently even had the talented Sara Bereilles on stage.  Can you say, Sha-wing!? (I know, that’s so ’90s Wayne’s World)  And then finally, walk through his herb garden.  My descriptions cannot do it justice, but he encourages visitors to stomp and walk all over the herbs on the steps.  By doing so it releases the aromas that fills the air and adds to your sensory experience.  It’s simply something you cannot miss.

I’ll be back to Sonoma and RRV next Spring and I’ll be sure to hit C. Donatiello again… and I’m bringing more friends!  Enjoy this video:

In these trying times, as you and I tilt back a fine wine, there are others who are not as fortunate.  I had the opportunity to join my neighbor, Robert, who is a DeLoach Vineyards club member, and attend a wine event sponsored by Tower where Jean-Charles Boisset himself entertained, talked about his wines and asked us to join him in the fight against hunger.  The event was held at Paul’s Restaurant.  Basically, for every bottle of wine purchased over the next 6 months from Tower, Boisset Family Estates will supplement 3 meals for families in need.  What’s more, these will be families in Georgia.  Of course, they are touring the nation and asking other retailers and restaurants to do the same in their states and regions.  I walked away with a case order.  Won’t you help?

Boisset Family Estates includes the DeLoach Vineyards, Lyeth Estate, Oceana and French Rabbit labels and we had an opportunity to taste wines from each that evening.  Robert and I were partial to the DeLoach brand, but mostly Robert who has been drinking their wine for decades, and Jean-Charles was very excited to talk to a rabid fan.  Of course, I am very much a Pinot Noir fan and this is the grape Jean-Charles really likes to focus on, so this was a treat for me too.

Boisset owns one of only two Pinot Presses in the U.S. of which the main feature is a much slower pressing time and smaller fractions.  The Pinot grapes, most of which are organically farmed, are then slow pressed for 2-3 hours before they are racked into barrels.  They also implement a 30 day slow fermentation at cooler temperatures in open wood barrels.  He doesn’t like to use too much new oak so that it does not overbear the delicate fruit that you want in a traditional Pinot Noir.

Our favs on the night were:

2007 DeLoach Pinot Noir OFS – black cherry and pepper spice on the nose, thought just a little hot.  Red fruit and some toffee on the taste, very nice and balanced.

2006 DeLoach Pinot Noir Green Valley– light toast, crackers on the nose with smooth, light cherries on the taste.  Went well with the pork tapas we had, which is the traditional French Burgundy pairing.  Here’s a short video of Jean-Charles talking about this wine and the fact it won over other Pinots (i.e. Burgundy) in a recent tasting in France… listen for the great quote about “wine experts”

YouTube - Link toJean-Charles Boisset