So what do you think of the first video blog post? I was a lttle nervous shooting it and I know they will get easier.

It has been a little over a year since I tasted the wines of Capture, a project headed by Ben and Tara Sharp, and made by another husband and wife team, Denis and May-Britt Malbec. The previous vintage 2008 Sauvignon Blanc received a 93 point rating from me and was one of the first published reviews. In 2009 there are a pair of wines; the Tradition and Les Pionniers. The wines show subtle differences yet both retain a polished and sophisticated quality that makes them notable. 

I opened both of the samples at the same time and initially tasted at refrigerator temperature. I revisited approximately 24 hours later with the wines only having the corks replaced and returned to the refrigerator. A glass poured and left overnight on a table showed no serious signs of degradation.

2009 Capture Sauvignon Blanc Tradition, California; DW 91 $30.00

14.0% alcohol, 875 cases produced, Clone 1 and Musque, sur lie aged in stainless steel for 5 months.

Aroma: A chiffon of apricot and dewy white peach kissed with sweet cream

Palate: Firm and focused entry with nicely sculpted roundness on the mid-palate, backed by a briny, mineral-laced acidity

Impression: Very nice effort - shows classic weight and subtle restraint

2009 Capture Sauvignon Blanc Les Pionniers, Sonoma County; DW 93 $36.00

14.5% alcohol,  360 cases produced, Clone 1 and Musque, sur lie aged in stainless steel for 5 months

Aroma: Concentrated with very solid stone fruit (apricot and peach) with hints of citrus blossom

Palate: Shows more sophistication and length than the Tradition - starts off deeper, and more polished then brightens to display beautifully poised acidity

Impression: The subtlety here is quite impressive - the wine can sneak up on the unsuspecting palate and create one of those “hmm, I just finished my second glass! What is this stuff?” moments…

The wines may be ordered directly from the Capture website.

Disclosure: I received these bottles as a professional sample.

Today’s Grand Tasting of Pinot Noir is shaping up to a marathon of finding the producers who nailed it in a difficult growing year, 2008, which was punctuated by frost in March followed by smoke damage from the fires in August.

Here is some more video of two of my favorite producers of Pinot Noir, Rod Berglund - Joseph Swan, and Ryan Zepaltas, Zepaltas. Both of these winemakers have received excellent reviews from me and placed wines in the Top 25 list in recent years, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at the review section on their websites. Just reams of Spectator, Parker and Tanzer notes six months after the wine is released… 

I hope you enjoy the following videos of Rod, who was kicked in the face by a deer in the vineyard that morning and still showed up (hopefully AFTER dressing out a carcass), and Ryan (who plays a great straight man) Who knew!

I will be updating on Facebook today from the event. 

Disclosure: I am attending Pinot Days as a writer and received a trade credential for access.

I met Morgan at his tiny winery in Carneros, tucked in the back of a small vineyard  off of Arnold Drive. It  is a good spot for him at this stage of his brand development. The 500 square foot shed  is full of an exotic mix of barrels of different sizes and coopers is small enough for him to manage everything himself and he keeps the overhead low by making wine for the owner of the vineyard in front. As the son of Joel Peterson, the renowned winemaker/owner of the iconic Ravenswood, Morgan was born into wine. Brought up tasting the iconic fruit sources of his dad’s old vine, single vineyard zinfandels instilled a deep appreciation of the history of the site and people involved.

Now 29, Morgan, according to his website made his first wine at the age of five. The wine, known as Vino Bambino was produced from 1986 - 2001 and wound up on some hi profile wine lists - Gramercy Tavern and Aureole, for instance. Fifteen vintages under his belt before he was twenty-one - not bad! He capped that off with stints at Hardys Tintara, and Noon in McLaren Vale as well as Chateau Lynch-Bages (Paulliac).

I must admit I have had limited exposure to Morgan’s wines; an initial introduction to one of his reds in San Francisco in early 2008, and then the aforementioned Kick Ranch tasting. I knew he had more to show me and was happy to see there were close to a dozen wines we would try together.

The one thing I noticed running through all of the Bedrock wines was a strength - essentially a core that the individual wine was built upon; dense in the middle with nuanced layers. As they are all from designated sites, or proprietary blends there is a lot of variety. I was left with an impression that there is a purity of character imbued in all the wines - I found no breathtaking blockbusters, but each had structure… no, let me change that - it is more like a personality that lets you feel comfortable with the wine quickly. 

2009 Bedrock Rose of Mourvedre Ode to Lulu, Sonoma Valley; DW 89+ $22.00

13.2% alcohol, 290 cases produced from 120 y.o. Mourvedre yielding 2.5 ton/acre 

A: Atypical of what we normally think of when nosing a rose, there is none of the bright, strawberry character, rather find a rich, creamy red  cherry and less acidity

P:  Rich and densely packed, this is no festive ballerina. It comes across as a serious contender for hearty foods with a nice mineral texture.

There is no truth to the rumor I convinced Morgan to create a wine especially for my Coordinator, and fellow site blogger, Lulu Roberts, but I think she will be quite pleased to see it here.

2009 Bedrock Sauvignon Blanc, Kick Ranch, Sonoma County; DW 92, $24.00

14.4% alcohol, 200 cases produced, SOLDOUT

A: A nose of chamomile tea, white peach and round richness

P: Decidedly weighty with a round feel to the mouth. The texture here is pretty unique for the varietal - fat, rich and mouth-coating. 

Morgan considers this wine his ‘ode to Didier Daganeau’. It saw a regimen of one, two and three year old oak as well as some stainless.

2008 Bedrock Pinot Noir Rebecca’s Vineyard, Russian River Valley; DW 90, $45.00

14.4% alcohol, 189 cases produced, harvest yields less < 1 ton/acre 

Rebecca’ is located across from Joseph Swan, and under Kistler’s Vine Hill, all native yeast, open top fermenters and only sees 50% new oak from four coopers

A: a bit of herbal black cherry and smooth, extracted fruit

P: smooth and fruit - focused with a little herb and mineral

I: Morgan told me this is all Clone 115,. The property also has Pommard, but Morgan didn’t get any. I’d swear some jumped in when nobody was looking! 

2008 Bedrock Red Wine Lorenzo’s Heirloom, Dry Creek Valley; DW 92, $35.00

 208 cases produced, a field blend of approximately 50% Zinfandel, 25% Carignane, 25% Petite Sirah - Morgan tells me there are traces of other varietals; Alicante Bouschet, Valdigue and Cinsault

From a 100+ year-old site on the Dry Creek bench, the grapes were co-fermented with native yeasts. As is typical with Peterson’s regimen, the wine was not racked until just prior to bottling.

A: This is a very pretty wine with an intense nose of dark berries and spice

P: violet pastille, creamy cherry and solidly structured backbone of acidity

I: A wine to be applauded for its value - very enjoyable

2008 Bedrock Red Wine Bedrock Heirloom, Sonoma Valley; DW 93, $35.00

228 cases produced, from a field blend of eighteen varietals including 40% Zinfandel, 30% Carignane and the balance mixed blacks

From Morgan’s 120 year-old Sonoma Valley vineyard. The wine was fermented using native yeast in open top redwood vats, followed by manual basket pressing into 100% French oak, 35% new (a mix of Rousseau, Cadus and Boutes) with the Zinfandel going into a single, once-used 500 liter puncheon.

A: Very pretty nose, orange citrus rinds, dark cherry and warm stone fruits

P: Essentially seamless without being a lavishly extracted wine, solid fruit, well-integrated tannin

I: This reminds me of Ravenswood’s Mantra of “No Wimpy Wines” 

For his Syrah program, Peterson has chosen the venerable Hudson Vineyard to produce three wines, of which i tasted only two. This is a similar program to what Jeff Ames (Rudius) did at Alder Springs Vineyard.

2008 Bedrock Syrah “Whole Cluster”, Hudson Vineyard North, Carneros; DW 93, $42.00 (release Fall 2010)

60 cases produced

Uses 80% whole clusters, pressed directly to a neutral 600 liter french oak demi-muid where it remained for 20 months

A: Primal and intense with rich aromas and a tarry density

P: Very solid fruit at this early stage - will need a year or two to completely integrate

I: This wine will be very competitive against other North Coast Syrah in the $55 - 60 range. 

2008 Bedrock Syrah “Cofermented” Hudson Vineyard North, Carneros; DW 93, $45.00 (release Fall 2010)

85 cases produced, 5% Viognier (cofermented)

The assemblage spent 20 months in 100% new, tight-grained french oak barrels. Inspired by Gaillard, Gerin and the La-La’s

A: A nose of herbs and blackberries, baconfat

P: Very rich and seductive. Dense with beautiful length. Lots of smooth black fruit capped with a dollop of espresso

Not tasted:

2009 Bedrock Compagni Portis Heirloom White; $20.00 SOLDOUT

2008 Bedrock Syrah “Pleine de Chene” Hudson Vineyard; $42.00 (Fall 2010 release)

All of the Bedrock wines (that are not sold out) are available on the Bedrock Website

I can’t think of any other tasting that duplicates the singular mission of this one.  Over seventy wineries are members and they were all pouring barrels, or should have been… There were a couple that for one reason or another had not brought a recent barrel sample. Disappointed? Yes. However there was a current release on virtually every table. To cover as much of the room as possible, Lulu and I started fro opposite ends, and I decided to taste primarily the barrel samples only. 

Note: As the 2009 wines are largely unfinished and may not represent the final assemblage of what will make it to market I will not assign numerical scores, rather a range of stars ( ** - ***) to denote wines that represented the best in the room. 

The general characteristics of the 2009 growing season was that it started early and was marked by rains in late September that came hard and fast. Most of the winemakers I talked to didn’t seem to define the best fruit as coming off before the rains, but being able to manage the crop afterwards that allowed them to harvest grapes that were physiologically ripe. I think overall, the vintage will be of very good quality. Unlike other years, all of the wines have finished their fermentations (at least the ones that were there), and more than a few were excellent.

*** Wines

2009 Arns - Sandi Belcher, winemaker

2009 Ashe - Philippe Melka, winemaker

2009 Carter - Nils Venge, consultant

2009 Cornerstone - Jeff Keene, winemaker

2009 Mario Bazan - Victoria Coleman, winemaker

2009 Martin Estate - Frederic Delivert, winemaker

2009 Robert Craig - Stephen Tebb. winemaker

2009 Rocca - Paul Colantuoni, winemaker

2009 Sherwin - Mike Hirby, consultant

2009 Sojourn Georges III - Craig Haserot

2009 Star Lane (Dierberg) - Nick De Luca, winemaker

2009 Vineyard 7 & 8 - Luc Morlet, winemaker

2009 White Cottage - Rudy Zuidema, winemaker

** Wines

2009 Barnett 

2009 Buoncristiani

2009 Corison

2009 Diamond Creek

2009 Gargiulo

2009 Hendry

2009 O’Shaughnessy

2009 Pina

2009 Sequem

Every tasting I go to, I consider myself very fortunate if I can come across a new producer that pours a wine that stops me in my tracks. Today that winery was Mario Bazan Cellars.

Proprietors, Mario and Gloria Bazan and winemaker, Victoria Coleman impressed me with not only their elegant 2009 barrel sample, but their excellent 2006 as well. Mario arrived in Napa Valley in 1973 from Oaxaca, Mexico and in the ’80s and ’90s worked with Mondavi and Opus One in vineyard management before creating Mario Bazan Vineyard Management in 1997. His relationship with Opus One winemaker Michael Silacci introduced him to Coleman who was his production assistant. When Mario decided he wanted his own label, he asked Victoria to make it. 

The second vintage, 2006 was recognized by Robert Parker in a Hedonist’s Gazette post where he scored it 92. I look forward to doing a more formal tasting with the Bazan team soon. 

I was excited to get inside and the first table I came to was the very familiar Eric | Kent Winery represented by the brother and sister team of Kent and Renee Humphrey. I tried their 2007 Eric | Kent Syrah, Dry Stack Vineyard and it was showing nicely; rich, polished aromatics with a velvety mouthfeel.

The next table I visited was one I have been very interested in trying for quite some time. Epoch Estate , made by Consulting Winemaker, Justin Smith. I tried a trio of 2007 wines; Veracity, Authenticity, and Ingenuity. The blends are shown in the image below. Next are pictured the Epoch crew, Eric Smida (L), and Matt Hobbs (R). And yes, Matt looks a lot like his brother Paul.

      Initial impressions on these wines were very high across the board. I plan on doing a followup formal tasting of them soon. Already I realized I was first in line for a reason.

Halfway through the event i came to K Vintners, the domain of the storied and larger-than-life Charles Smith. His wines have knocked down just about every serious accolade among print journalists in the last few years, but I had not tasted anything but Kung Fu Girl. Based in Walla Walla, Smith produces nearly a dozen wines and had brought several that were quite interesting.