The South is at risk of losing it’s title of having the friendliest hospitality in the land.  Once I arrived safely in Santa Rosa after my 5-day trek across this great land of ours, I had expected to take a few days to relax, get settled and work on a few things.  Well that thought didn’t last long as I was greeted by great friends in the area, including those I had met face-to-face before as well as others I had only known as online friends.  I truly appreciate this outpouring of generosity and friendliness which has made me feel at home very quickly and has helped my transition to living in wine country that much easier.

It Takes Lots of Beer to Make Wine

So, I roll into wine country and you’d think I’d celebrate the arrival by cracking open a fine bottle of local juice, no?  No.  My first two night were chilling with Shana Ray and Hardy Wallace at Toad in the Hole in Santa Rosa and Healdsburg Bar & Grill (HBG), respectively, on the first two nights.  Toad in the Hole is a British-style pub off of 5th street in the historic Railroad Square area of Santa Rosa.  I did not know that there were so many local microbreweries in the area and I enjoyed a Bear Republic Racer 5 and Lagunitas IPA.  At HBG, the bartender, Dave, enlightened us with some unique brews (at least to me) including Supplication wild ale from Russian River Brewery, Hitachino Nest White Ale and a German Smoke beer.

Grape to Glass

This weekend was busy with many events in the area including Grape to Glass and on Saturday I attended a discussion on Russian River Valley terroir and the Hog in the Fog dinner.  The setting along the Russian River could not be any more beautiful as Darek Trowbridge, Mark Greenspan and Kevin Hamel discussed terroir, grapegrowing practices and the impact of the river to the region.  Thanks to Old World Winery and Steven Washuta for allowing us to attend.  Some tidbits I took away from this discussion included:

• the identification of Goldridge Soil, which is a sandy loam in which Pinot Noir will  flourish
• 1800-2000 degree days is ideal in this area for Pinot
• you may detect more tree fruit aromas (i.e. apricots, peaches) in Chardonnay in the warmer, northern end of the AVA
• you may detect more green apples, pears citrus in Chardonnay in the colder, southern end of the AVA
• The 2008 Olivet Lane Pinot Noir by Pelligrini rocks

Steven Washuta and Kevin Hamel

Olivet Lane and Pellegrini

Darek Trowbridge

Hog in the Fog was at Saralee’s Vineyards in Windsor where we enjoyed some fine animal flesh (mainly pork and beef for me) and more fantastic wines.  I met more winemakers, owners and other local social media personalities.  It was funny how every time I mentioned that I was working for John Holdredge at Holdredge Wines this harvest I would get the occasional snicker, but all in good fun.  It’s good to see John (and his wine) is well known and well liked.

Soiree Lighthouse

There’s nothing like a bonfire near Diamond Mountain in Calistoga at Drew’s pad (@winesoiree) with some new and old friends.  Oh yeah, there was more wine.

Photo by Andrew Lazorchak

Dirty Drive Around Russian River Valley

The weekend wrapped up with a surprise early morning text from my fellow ATL-ien, Sir Dirty himself to take a cruise around wine country and maybe hit a few wineries.  We made two great stops for Pinot: Woodenhead and Iron Horse, not to mention some fantastic sparkling wines are also made at the latter.  While at Iron Horse, we ran into Clint and Loni of Stark Silver Creek, a great local lifestyle site that I have followed in the past.  It was great to finally meet them in real life.  I highly recommend the 2007 Woodenhead Buena Tierra Pinot Noir.

Loni, Clint and Hardy

Thanks to everyone for the great hospitality!

The idea for the #PinotNoir Twitter smackdown was hatched over wine and wings in my basement with Joe (@SuburbanWino)  and was later fleshed out further over crawfish and shrimp at the Crawfish Shack on Buford highway.  There’s just something about filling our gullets with food that really gets the creative juices flowing.  Throughout the entire process a lot of jokes were made and many more fun and crazy ideas were discussed.  Of course, we needed a west coast correspondent so we brought in Tamara (@SipWithMe) who was fantastic in moving things forward from her Oregon HQ.  In the end, the Pinot Noir Twitter tasting created a buzz we could not have fathomed and we could not be more happy with the turnout.  Thanks to everyone who participated or followed along.  Without further ado:

Winner of the 2010 #Pinot Noir Twitter Smackdown:  

#WV (Willamette Valley)

Play-by-Play Summary:

• We saw a serious flurry of blows thrown immediately out of the gate as #WV (Willamette Valley) took the early lead and really never looked back
• #NZ (New Zealand) was hanging tough though in a distant second place followed by #GV (Green Valley) after the first 40 minutes of the night
• By the halfway point, however, #RR (Russian River Valley) had swooped into 3rd place followed by #GV and #SLH (Santa Lucia Highlands).  No doubt, the Belle Glos Las Alturas and Hahn submissions were behind the quick rise of Santa Lucia Highlands in the rankings
• #CN (Los Carneros) started making a late surge with 30 minutes to go, but couldn’t muster enough flying elbows to gain any glory
• #RR and #GV were gunning neck and neck for 3rd place — in hind sight, if the regions were aggregated, could #RR have provided more of a challenge to #WV?  No, not really.  #WV stole the show.

Event Stats:

• Total tweets during the 2-hour event:   2,073
• Total unique tweeters during the event: 323
• Tweets per minute: 17.3
• Tweets including a #hashtag region vote: 873 or 42.1%
• Several event sites, including ours, are reporting significant sales generated at the event – would like hear other results if you hosted an event or promoted a special offer as part of the event
• [UPDATED] 2,224 pageviews of the pinotnoir.eventbrite.com invitation

Top 8 Results during Event:

________________________________________________________

July 1 – July 15 #PinotNoir Stats: (incl. 2-hour event)

• Total tweets:   4,145
• Total unique tweeters during the period: 677
• Tweets including a #hashtag region mention: 1,461 or 35.2%

Top 8 Results during July 1 – July 15:

Notables:

• Mentions for #ARG, #FLX and #CdN were great to see and generated some interest from many on the stream
• Others include #Bacon, #Pinotentendre and #wewantthefunk

MANY THANKS TO:

Joe Herrig – SuburbanWino.com

Tamara Belgard – SipWithMe.com

Andrea Robinson – AndreaWine.com

Tower Beer Wine Spirits   

Paul’s Restaurant  

And most importantly  YOU  the participants, the pinotphiles, the wineries and the winemakers.  Thanks for sharing your thoughts and drinking along.

Wow, you are very attentive and detail-oriented aren’t you?  I did mean to use the plural version of the word Winner, because we had a tie at the top and, NO, we didn’t wuss out and crown a wine for each location just to be safe   I guess this can happen with so few “judges” but I think both wines are very deserving.  This weekend we arranged a blind throwdown to pit Pinot Noir from Russian River Valley against those from Willamette Valley just for a bit of fun and to educate the palates a little further in the process.  Here were the results:

T1st – 2006 Willakenzie Estate Kiana (WV) - $45 - Very light in color compared the rest of the lineup, tart cherries on the nose with just a little warmth as well as a hint of herbs, possibly mint.  The texture was very fine on the mouthfeel though I would still consider the body at a medium level.  The acidity was perfect leading to a long finish.

T1st – 2006 C. Donatiello Russian River Valley (RRV) - $38 – The only cuvee of the evening.  The nose was a little spicy and reminded me of jerky, with cherries and other red fruits.  The palate presented cherries, raspberry and hint of chocolate.  This was well-balanced as well with good tannins and long finish.

3rd - 2007 Papapietro Perry Peter’s Vineyard (RRV) – $49 – Literally only one point behind the winners, the aromas on this PP were just crazy (!) and separated it as unique among the competitors.  It had a very herbaceous nose and we all couldn’t really nail down specific herbs, but we settled on eucalyptus.  Black cherries and spice were there too.  Great acidity gave it a little zing, but a slight bitter ending probably cost it the crown.

4th - 2006 Bergstrom de Lancellotti (WV)- $60 – Darkest hue of them all, but with interesting mushroom, forest floor and vanilla aromas.  A second round of tastings surfaced some licorice as well.  The palate was luscious with black cherries and cassis, but a little bitter at the end too.  I think this could/should have been decanted and could have blossomed more on this evening.

5th - 2007 Halleck Vineyard Estate (Sonoma Coast)- $75 - OK!  I know, this isn’t technically RRV, though you can see the valley from the Halleck’s deck since this Estate vineyard is only 1 acre that surrounds their house in Sebastopol.  There were differing opinions and scores on this wine which was the lightest in color and body.  Light cherries and earth on the nose, with bright cherries and some spice on the palate.  Still a very good wine.

6th - 2007 Penner-Ash Shea Vineyard (WV)- $55 – This one disappointed me and the wife since we are big Penner-Ash fanatics.  But, it just wasn’t to be this night.  The hue was very light and elegant, but the nose was hot and smoky.  The acidity seemed a little to me on this one too, so it just didn’t score well against the rest of the lineup and everyone agreed in the scoring.

Overall, Russian River Valley was a little stronger on this evening for these tasters.  It’s also VERY interesting to note that the two least expensive selections took the top prize.

By the way, the Pancetta, Mushroom and Baby Spinach Risotto with Asiago cheese was a success though we did not specifically pair each the wines directly with the food.  I will have a follow up video of the process of making a fine Risotto.  Note: stirring arm was a little fatigued but I survived.

Tonite we are having an intimate tasting while the thunderstorms and tornado warnings blast their way through Atlanta.  As widely professed pinotphiles, we are pulling some bottles from some well-known producers in these two regions.  The 6 producers (3 from each location) are listed below, but only my wife will know the vintage and single-vineyard designation, if applicable, as we will taste these otherwise blind.  Throwing an informal poll out on Facebook, most are backing RRV while there are a few votes for Willamette as favorites.  Of course, this data could be skewed based on the follower demographic as I tend to chat more with folks in NorCal than Oregon.  I must really fix that.

All we know are the producers and of course the regions (so, I know this isn’t really all that blind), but it will still be fun to see if we can identify them all the same:

• Papapietro Perry
• Halleck
• C. Donatiello
• Penner-Ash
• Willakenzie Estate
• Bergstrom

To warm our bellies on this rainy and chilly night will be a pancetta and wild mushroom risotto with asiago cheese that I will make myself.  Each of these components make great complements to Pinot Noir and I hope my arm can withstand the constant stirring that will be required and still be able to raise a glass.  So, if you are into Pinot Noir, which is your favorite?

Cheers!

Moving on to Part 3 of our recent Sonoma trip, we head further south in the Russian River Valley to the town of Sebastopol, where Ross and business partner, Jennifer, Halleck had our party of 6 over to the their house and estate vineyard for a visit.  This is very unique but nothing new for this very charming and down-to-earth couple.  They pride themselves on getting to know people and give club members exceptional treatment when they are being visited or vice versa.  I became a club member just last Fall when our close friend, Jack, introduced us to Halleck’s wines and told us the stories of Ross’ visits to Atlanta.  As it turns out, Ross visits Atlanta quite a bit and many other locations around the world, as does Jennifer.  It seems a winery owner’s job is never done or dull as they are seemingly on the road all the time visiting distributors, restaurants, and members or they are hosting member events such as a Kenyan Safari or a trip to Hawaii.

View from the Backyard

The Halleck estate vineyard is literally in their front and back yard surrounding the house.  It was the Pinot Noir from this vineyard that wine consultant, Greg La Follette, of Tandem Wines (name to be changed to La Follette Wines), sourced fruit for the 2001 Tandem Pinot Noir Halleck Vineyard that won the Pinot Noir Shootout in 2002, giving the Hallecks the needed promotional and credibility boost for their business.  In 2005, Rick Davis became their full time winemaker who worked with Greg on the award-winning 2001 wine as well.

As I mentioned, Ross travels quite a bit and last Fall he spent an entire week in Atlanta.  The whole trip was all business as he attending the Quality wine show, visited restaurants, hosted dinners and visited club members.  According to their website, Halleck’s wines are present in 37 locations in Georgia at last count, which is pretty successful for a smaller winery in this behind-the-times state.  Jack opened his home to Ross his first night in town not only to share his wines and have dinner (Jack is a pretty damn good cook, by the way), but to also crash for the night.  How many winery owners or winemakers have stayed at your house?  I, unfortunately, did not have the pleasure of staying up with those guys until the wee hours of the morning, but I am told there were some great stories. 

Jennifer & Ross

Later that week, we joined Ross once again at Murphy’s, a restaurant, bakery, bar & wine shop in Virginia Highlands, for a wine dinner.  Nick Salpekar is Murphy’s wine consultant and got Jack hooked onto the Halleck’s wines from the beginning.  Ross is so engaging and grateful that everyone at the dinner follow his every word and find it super easy to talk to him.  Of course, he doesn’t really need to say much because these wines speak for themselves.  Finally, to end a busy week, we asked Ross to join us once again, this time at our house, so that we could thank him for his generosity during the week and show him a little southern hospitality.  We were hosting a BBQ and pairing Lodi Zinfandel with the various dishes, but we let a few Pinots and a Gewurztraminer into the mix too.  You can read more about that party here.  In the end, a great friendship and great respect for the wine had begun.  So, you can see, a personal touch really does go a long way.

As you can probably already tell, the main focus for Halleck is Pinot Noir being situated in the heart of the Russian River Valley.  However, they do offer a fabulous Sauvignon Blanc and a phenomenal Gewurztraminer.  I also noticed that Jennifer likes to say “phenomenal” almost as much as I do.   You can tell Ross is a spiritual man and he easily offers up that piece of personal information very proudly.  He also loves spicy Indian food, which the main driver for the Gewurztraminer they make, which is the perfect pairing for this style of food and inherent spice.

Wines

2007 Hillside Cuvee Pinot Noir - This was my favorite of the day.  It was very fruit-forward and elegant.  Tart cherries on the nose, smooth and a great finish.

2007 The Farm Vineyards Pinot Noir - This vineyard is made up of Dijon Clone 777, but I didn’t take any notes.  I recall it had great structure.

2007 Three Sons Cuvee Pinot Noir - Named after for their three boys, whom you can see on their website.  This Pinot is a blend of fruit from the Hallberg and The Farm vineyards.

Thanks to Ross and Jennfifer for opening their home to us.  It is a trip we won’t forget!

You will need to call ahead and get an appointment if you are in the area: Jennifer Halleck, 707-738-8383, Jennifer@halleckvineyard.com

Blaze not chasing any Turkeys this time