About 60 miles north of Healdsburg and along some seriously winding roads that might cause motion-sickness for some lies the Anderson Valley.  This American Viticultural Area (AVA) is well-known for producing some fantastic Pinot Noir, so it didn’t take much for my tour guide for the day, Deb Kravitz (@whatdebpours), to convince me we should make the trek.  If you are visiting the Napa/Sonoma area and want to check out what Anderson Valley has to offer you will need to plan for an entire day due to the distance and time it takes to get up there and back.  But, it will be well worth the trip.

The main grape varieties planted in the AVA are Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer and White Riesling.  Warm sunny days and cool foggy nights are ideal for these types of grapes and ensures slow maturation leading to maximum flavor and development of varietal character.

Roederer Estate Brut Rose

Roederer Estate – Started in 1982 by the historic, 200-year old Champagne Louis Roederer, they are obviously well-known for sparklers but also make still wines.  We chose to stick with the bubbly to start our trip.  The view from the property is spectacular and my favorite was the NV Brut Rose.  However, Deb informed me that the L’ Ermitage Rose rocks even more, though they were not pouring it

Husch Vineyards Tasting Room

Husch Vineyards – Husch has quite a large list of wine to choose from which made it difficult to select just 6 for the basic tasting.  It included Sauvignon Blanc, Gewurztraminer, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel.  After some deliberation and a little sensory-overload, we ended up with 2 Gewurztraminers, 3 Pinots and a Zin.  The 2008 Pinot Noir was very expressive with anise and bing cherries on the nose while the 2006 Knoll Pinot Noir reminded me of Oregon-style Pinots with cherry cola characteristics.  In the end, I enjoyed the 2009 T-Bud Dry Cuvee Gewurztraminer the most with it’s floral, citrus and spice aromas.

Toulouse Vineyards – Named for the type of domesticated Goose originating near Toulouse, France, the owners released their first vintage (2002) in 2005.  The Pinot Noir Rose’ had a light, salmon-orange tint and was refreshing with watermelon and strawberries on the nose.  The 2009 Pinot Gris and 2009 Muscat were standouts as well.

Phillips Hill Estates – The tasting room is a cool little old house in Philo.  While you are there, you can get a sandwich at the small grocer next door too.  The winery is the child of artist, Toby Hill, who was, unfortunately, not around while we were there.  Deb tells me he is quite an interesting guy and that he creates his own labels for the wines. There is more Gewurz and Pinot Noir, including 2 bottles of 2008′s containing fruit that was affected by the fires in the area that year.  I particularly enjoyed the 2008 Ring of Fire and the smoke taint was less recognizable on the nose still allowing the luscious fruit to take center stage.  The 2007 Corby was the most delicate and elegant in the lineup.

2009 Jim Ball Rose of Pinot Noir

Jim Ball Vineyards – A retired lawyer, Jim started his winery and teamed up with infamous winemaker, Greg La Follette, to make some truly outstanding Pinot Noir.  This was a great way to finish the day of tasting.  The 2009 Rose’ Pinot Noir has a salmon-orange hue with luscious red fruit and watermelon aromas.  Greg’s creations, the 2006 Estate Pinot Noir and the 2007 Boonville Pinot Noir were also outstanding.  The latter was a little herbaceous at first, but eventually blew off allowing anise and black cherries to come through.  For those looking for a bolder Pinot Noir, check out the 2007 Jim Ball Pinot Noir that displays bacon fat, sandalwood (like woodust on the floor of my grandfather’s wood shop) and black cherries.  Deb and I had the pleasure to also try a few barrel samples and we both agree that the 2009 vintage is going to knock your socks off.

The evening ended with dinner at long-time and well-known Rodney Strong and Iron Horse winemaker in a previous life, Forrest Tancer, and Cynthia Ariosta.  Both are very much involved with horses and hosting long-distance riding events.  The view from their home up on the Greenwood Ridge was phenomenal, though we did not get to the see the usual early evening fog “event” everyone talked about.  Still, this was a good day.

Horses

James Cagneyclaims he never actually said “Mmmm you dirty rat!” in his 1931 film Taxi!  But, I will claim it proudly come this harvest season in Sonoma as I get the pleasant opportunity to scrub tanks, clean barrels and help prepare and execute crush and fermentation at Holdredge Winesin Healdsburg, CA.  I owe a lot to John Holdredge for allowing me to work for him this Fall as I guess I am probably twice as old as most of his usual harvest interns.  The opportunity came as a surprise one day on Facebook when John noticed I was applying to win an opportunity to work with Lynn Penner-Ash in Oregon last November.  He reached out and said something to the effect of “If you don’t win this thing, you can come work for me.”

Then, in February, I called him on his proposal as I had just learned that my company was about to embark on a radical organizational change that was going to reduce everyone’s level of job security.  John is a witty and bold individual and gave me what I suspect is the usual schpeal about the overwhelming work involved and how only those entirely devoted to the wine industry should apply.  Of course, I am a devoted wine geek and just completed a winemaker certificate program from UC-Davis, so I was adamant about putting that book-learnin’ to actual use.  He and I came to agreement.

So, here I am.  Two months from being let go from said re-organization and about 3 weeks away from what I can only assume to be synonomous with the hell week I experienced as a neophyte in my college fraternity (only to have John state that it will be more like a month, than a mere week) and I cannot be more excited.  As many already know, the weather in the North Coast has delayed harvest an estimated 2-3 weeks, so early September will most likely be spent cleaning tanks and preparing the facility for the harvest activity.  But fear not, as it has been said more than once that it takes a lot of good beer to make great wine and I intend to uphold that legend.

John Holdredge

If you are not already familiar with Holdredge Winesthen you are truly missing out on some fantastic Russian River Pinot Noir.  If you are familiar with me at all, you know I love this grape and just recently coordinated a global Pinot Noir tasting via Twitter.  My wife and I met John (and have yet to meet his better half, Carri) last summer.  Though we caught him early when he was about to send some barrel samples to the lab, he was gracious and courteous to commence a tasting and give us some insight as to the bike route we should take that afternoon as we were going on a bike ride later.  He came highly recommended from Michael Bryan, owner of the Atlanta Wine School, and Atlanta is a market John visits regularly.

As a part of my journey, it is my desire to bring to you the behind-the-scenes look at harvest in a winery including the personalities that abound in such a hectic yet passionate environment.  If you are in the area, you must visit.  If you have any questions about the process, please ask.  It’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it!

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.

Join the Twitter Tasting with Halleck Vineyards!
Open any bottle of your Halleck Vineyard Pinot Noir on July 15 th at 5 – 7 pm PST.   Taste.  Tweet with others all over the US.

Ross and Jennifer Halleck are hosting a Halleck Vineyard Pinot Noir tasting at:  
        Aubergine Café and Bar
        755 Petaluma Ave.
        Sebastopol, CA 

View Larger Map

They will have the big screen wired to follow tweets around the country. And they will be adding theirs too. Please join them!!

For those new to the medium, including the Hallecks, Twitter is a mobile application for passing short news messages to anyone interested from your phone or computer.

We hope you gather your friends and break out your Halleck Vineyard Pinot for this ground breaking event. Then log on with your phone or computer to Twitter. Type in your comments and include “#pinotnoir” (no quote marks) at the end plus “#SN” for Sonoma Coast to “vote” for our region. This will allow your comments to appear on the Twitter Tasting and Smackdown thread.

If you write a tweet about Halleck Vineyard Pinot, they will give you a 15% discount on a bottle of Halleck Vineyard Pinot Noir!  Get tweeting!

For more information and to register go here: http://pinotnoir.eventbrite.com/

If you are a winery and want to know how to take advantage of a fun event like this, please check out this link.

When we visited Jordan Vineyards & Winery back in the Spring the newest releases were still over a month away and we settled on the 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon and 2007 Chardonnay instead.  We were not disappointed, of course.  Since we did not have the opportunity to taste the new vintage releases during our visit, Lisa Mattson was gracious enough to send some samples [disclaimer!] for us to review once they were available on May 1st. 

As a reminder, here are my tasting notes from the visit that are contained in the hyperlinked story above along with some vintage highlights:

2007 Chardonnay– Apples, pears and hint of vanilla.  Chardonnay was aged on the yeast lees in French Oak, but the oak level is acceptable and adds just a bit of the vanilla and some texture in the mouth.  The wine is well-balanced, somewhat crisp and minerally on the end and paired well with the hamachi tuna provided by Chef Todd.  Bud break was early in 2007 leading to inconsistent berry set.  However, resulting smaller berries mean higher concentration meaning higher color and quality.

2005 Cabernet Sauvignon– Dark, garnet hue.  Cigar box, blackberries and black cherries on the nose, with black fruits and cassis on the palate.  A lingering finish.  Breakdown: 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot.  Fruit yields reached record levels in 2005, which allowed vineyard managers to drop as much unwanted fruit as necessary during the long and cool growing season which resulted in a very high quality vintage.

Here are my thoughts on the new releases:

2008 Chardonnay- Light straw hue, clean and bright.  Citrus, lemons and granny smith apples on the nose.  The palate presents apples pears and nice acid to make a well-balanced wine.  I was surprised at the crispness of this wine after hearing it was aged in French oak following 2 months aging on the lees.  However, only 55% oak was used and only 28% completed malo-lactic fermentation (MLF).  Both oak treatment and MLF lend buttery (from diacetyl) attributes to wine while sur-lie aging can also bring in some additional texture to the mouthfeel, yet the process applied here kept those sometimes overbearing characteristics in check.  2008 was similar to 2007 in that berries were smaller leading to more concentration of color, flavor and phenolics.

2006 Cabernet Sauvignon- This is a Bordeaux blend, of course, and this one really had an old-world feel boasting black and red fruits with cassis and a highly mineral finish.  The mouthfeel was silky and supple.  The main difference in comparing my notes is the level of minerality I experienced and the lack of noticeable cedar.  Nothing to be worried about, but I wonder how that will change with more time in the bottle.  The 2006 growing season was more normal though yields were slightly less than average.  Red wine varieties were down 16% compared to 2005.  Higher temperatures later in season accelerated harvest but optimal ripeness levels were achieved and many are claiming this a quality vintage as well, but maybe a tad behind 2005.

John Jordan, Lisa Mattson and the rest of the crew are doing a fantastic job and I am glad I have re-discovered the Jordan experience and the wine.  Have you enjoyed Jordan wines or visited their winery?  If so, please tell me what you think in the comments below.