Mauritson
Without a plan for the day, the only thing we were sure we were going to do was pickup our futures at Mauritson. These guys can be hit and miss for me, year over year. Some years, the offerings are flat-out fantastic and other years, a complete bust. Last year was a great year, where we split cabs and zins with our friends, here. So, I had a little optimism for this stop this year. Sadly, I was disappointed. Not only did the crowd not really bring the energy, but neither did the wines. Don't get me wrong, there are some very competent wines at Mauritson. I've enjoyed their Rockpile zinfandels over the years - they have a very rich, old vines quality about them, at times. I was less than enthused, this year, though.
Pickup:
2012 Mauritson Wines Cabernet Sauvignon Rockpile Ridge Vineyard (Split a case @$38/bottle)
Cast Wines
Positioned up on the hill across from Dutcher Crossing, this is a new winery to the area. Bought a couple of years ago, they're just getting established with a small tasting room on the property. I'll confess that this was an intriguing stop. The setup requires you to walk up the hill and pass through their processing barn to sample their barrel wines. On the other side of the barn is a little barn and Adirondack chairs overlooking the valley. They're not as high up the hill as Sbragia, but the charm isn't lost, for sure.
The wines here have a lot of really good potential, most notably their Petite Sirahs. On any given day, I don't gravitate toward PS, but these were nice. They had a rich, full-bodied quality with good complexity and balanced tannins, but there was a little something missing. I couldn't put my finger on it and the best I can tell you is that it's like driving KIA Optima. (Indulge me...) It looks like a high-end car, the performance numbers are comparable, and the interior is nice, but when you drive it there's something about it that nags at you, reminding you that this isn't a Jag, or BMW 7-series, or a Merc. That's how I felt about these Petite Sirahs and what made the feeling stronger was the price. It was as if they were inflating the price to create the appearance of higher quality product.
My final thoughts on Cast Wines is that they'll be a really good producer in the DCV, but they really need to reign-in their prices. They're anachronistic and that'll lead to their demise.
Sbragia
This is the stop we typically make to enjoy the scenery as much as the wine. Sbragia has a good track record for quality wines. Our friends are club members here and I never fail to find a wine to enjoy here. Their Monte Rosso cabernet is always a crowd pleaser, I've enjoyed the fruit forward La Promessa zinfandel on countless occasions, and their Home Ranch and Gamble Ranch chardonnays have been very drinkable. Their appeal attracts the younger crowd, as well. Expect to see hipsters pouring out of limos and buses, flooding onto the large patio...their designer jeans and sunglasses glittering in the northern Californian sun. Of course, if you've read past blogs you'll know my feelings on these neophytes. That notwithstanding, everybody has a role to play in this world... And I value the energy they tend to bring to the event.
Recent renovations to the tasting room has really added some charm to the winery. They've opened up the room with more casual seating (and less ubiquitous and gratuitous merchandising) and added a side room for tasting by club members. The tasting bar here is quite long to begin with, but it can still get two and three people deep during events like this. Having the auxiliary tasting room for club members was a smart touch.
Joseph Swan
If you're even remotely familiar with the geography of the Dry Creek and Russian River Valley, you'll know that the trek from Sbragia to Joseph is no small thing. It can easily be 45 minutes, depending upon traffic. So, when we left Sbragia at 3:20 with the idea to try hit Joseph Swan before the event closed at 4:00, I was skeptical about our chance of success...but when I'm driving, I do like a challenge. :-)
We arrived at exactly 3:56, with a little life in our step to be the last tasting of the day. From past blogs, you may remember that this can be a real wild card stop. I compare it to that slot machine that you drop your last quarter in on the last day of your Vegas weekend, as you trudge out to the parking lot, on your way to the airport. It's that last ditch chance to end the weekend on an uptick. I can't tell you the number of times we've done just exactly that, here. And there have been times where we've heard the "quarters clinking in the pan". As it turns out, this time was one of those.
Joseph Swan can be a borderline cult winery, with the occasional varietal that you can't pronounce with Google Translator! But, they are only occasional and what's more common is some rich, flavorful zinfandels and syrahs. There were only six wines being poured this year (most years are upwards of 8-10), but it was a nice offering, to be sure. Over the years, I've either bought futures on their zins or syrahs, and this year, it was syrah. A 2013 vintage from Great Oak Vineyards, this is going to be a very, very nice syrah. Our enthusiasm for the wine inspired the winemaker to offer us a taste of the same wine that he made by fermenting on the whole cluster. (For those who are unfamiliar with the process, grapes are usually de-stemmed before being put into bins for the initial fermentation. The "whole cluster" process skips the de-stemming process and, therefore, draws some of the green qualities of the stems during initial fermentation.) As expected, there was a "green" quality to the syrah. When you've been doing this as much as we have, you know how to recognize these things immediately. In some cases, it'll carry a mild smell like funky green vegetables. Depending on the flavors that appeal to you as a wine drinker, this may or may not suit you. I've bought cases of Novy Syrah that went through whole cluster fermentation, but then my tastes changed and I had trouble actually finishing them. It's a very personal preference. In this case, the Joseph Swan better suited me without the whole cluster fermentation, to the extent that we committed to an entire case. These always end up being a good value at the futures price, but if you get your hands on it at retail prices, you won't be disappointed either. Our collection is composed of a lot of expensive syrahs, so it's nice to have a number of inexpensive ones when you simply want to drink a nice wine, and you want it to be a syrah, but you don't feel like analyzing the hell out of it to justify the expenditure.
Futures:
2013 Joseph Swan Vineyards Syrah Great Oak Vineyard (12) $21/bottle
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