I recently judged at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. This is the largest competition of American wines done in the United States. No boring details, but I’d like to share a couple things about the wine industry. First, I judged the high-end Cabernet Sauvignons ($40+) and also the high-end Zinfandels and, to our panel’s complete surprise, we were not overpowered by tannin and brutal wood components as in past years. Also, I’m not sure what the alcohol levels were in any of the wines but very few were hot, so either they’re really lower in alcohol or winemakers are finally learning to mask it. Let’s hope it’s the first.
There were some great wines in those groups and Zinfandel was dominated by Lodi and Sonoma while the Cabernet Sauvignons were dominated by, as you’d guess, Napa. As for Sauvignon Blanc, I still think we need to get more uniform in style with grassy vs. fruity or flat. Most of that goes back to vineyard practices where certain things can either encourage or discourage certain flavor components. I like the grassy style and another judge on my panel liked the less grassy, fruitier styles. It made for some interesting votes and discussion. In the end, the best bargain in the store won the mid-range category: Geyser Peak followed its tradition of great Sauvignon Blanc (often available for $6.99 to $7.99). Gary Farrell Sauvignon Blanc won the high-end best of class. Both were from Russian River Valley—so they can grow something besides Pinot Noir.
Second, in the sweepstakes round, we had about eight Chardonnays, priced from $2.99 to $65 retail. Set down in order from low price to high price, you could smell and taste the differences, with lower-end wines smelling like wood chips or extract, then older oak barrels, then—watch out—new French oak barrels and malolactic fermentation.
Third, I bet you didn’t know there are 60 Tempranillos produced outside of Spain. Well, we had 60 and they were all very good but darker and more tannic and heavier than their Spanish counterparts. The Sierra Foothills, Paso Robles and Lodi regions dominated the category’s appellations. Pinot Gris/Grigio is also growing rapidly, with about 130 entries from all over the country, even the East Coast in the Finger Lakes area. Good trend because I really like them, especially the Gris style (more finesse).
Fourth, the Midwest (Missouri, Michigan and such) have made giant strides in making hybrid white varietals such as Seyval Blanc, Vidal and Vignoles. They used to be very sweet and flabby, but now they’re much drier with a lot more structure. Maybe now Midwestern tourists will quit using the terms "bitter," "sour" and so forth when first tasting West Coast wines.
If you’re wondering why they don’t grow vinifera varieties like we do, the answer is climate. Our varietals won’t tolerate the very low temperatures in the winter and totally dislike the rain in the summer. Some new varieties have been bred (Chardonel and Traminette) that overcome some of those problems. Oh my God, since they’re genetically engineered, does that mean we couldn’t drink them had the idiotic California GMO law passed? Thank God there’s still at least a majority of sane and reasonable people. On the other hand, had it passed, it would have been one more mandated statement to put on the label, like government warnings and sulfites notices. Maybe we could attach a little book to each bottle with the warnings and statements like garden chemicals do. We laugh now, but we never know what those clowns, idiots and bastards in Washington are going to do. Exhibit one: the fiscal cliff fiasco. They should all be sent home in their own little pork barrel and we can start sensible regulations and an understandable tax code over again. Sorry, I wandered again.
Hopefully, this will be the last time on the continuing Mendocino County saga where everybody knows about its wonderful marijuana growing and nobody knows about its wines. You may recall a couple of issues ago, I stated that one really good way to spread the word is to enter judging competitions and win. Well, in the first part of January, the largest American wine competition was held in our own backyard—lovely little Cloverdale. I spent a fair amount of time going over the results and singled out Mendocino wines to see if the entrants followed my advice after reprimanding me for telling all my readers the truth about why nobody loves them: They don’t know them, that’s why!
OK, the final word, or at least until we see if they enter the new North Coast Wine Challenge being held in June where they’ll be pitted against their big bad brothers (Napa and Sonoma) and their little brother, Lake. In the sweepstakes round (best of classes), they had five wines: one from Redwood Valley grapes and made in Anderson Valley, one made in Yorkville, one from Anderson Valley fruit made in Napa and two more from Mendocino grapes but made in Napa. Not the best way to gain notoriety by letting your neighbors have your fruit and they win. Mendocino had 94 total medals with nearly all being silver and bronze. (Footnote: It looks like the trend overall with judgings is that silver is the new bronze and bronze has become less than kissing your sister. Double golds and gold seem to be the really high standard and overall run about 10 to 15 percent of the entries.) Ninety-four medals from 5,500 wines is a measly 17 percent—save the postage, it isn’t worth writing home about.
A large number of the medals were won by wineries that don’t really conjure up Mendocino in your mind, like Green Truck, Fetzer and Bonterra. Actually, I guess none do. Navarro and Handley are the shining stars and they’re in their own little heaven called Anderson Valley. You’ll finally have Jaxon-Keys winery giving you some luster if Ken and Diane will continue to do the wonderful things they’ve done in Sonoma County. With 57 wineries using a Mendocino County appellation, 22 of them weren’t Mendocino County wineries. So—didn’t the others even bother to enter or did they and got their butts kicked? Maybe this is one of the answers to why Mendocino can’t play with the big dogs in quality, quantity or both. We must now wait with baited breath for the North Coast Challenge in June to see if they’re still in the dog house (“nobody knows me” syndrome) and earned their way out of the kennel.
Homework: Make it Mendocino just to help them out.
