Holiday Wines

Having reached the point just after the holidays when life and wine consumption assume their normal pace, it seemed a propitious moment to collate my notes on certain particularly pleasing wines I enjoyed during the holiday season, and reflect on the ways in which very different grapes, grown in different settings, reveal their own special grace, and the ways in which the same wines can be cagey, especially if one imagines having tasted them blind.

I brought a bottle of Orin Swift "The Prisoner" 2006 home for Christmas dinner. Universally acknowledged to have been a particularly interesting blend released within the last year, with Zinfandel unusually occupying the most prominent place within the cepage, the nose revealed blackberries and laurel leaf, with a palate of black raspberry, thyme and anise. It wasn't surprising the second grape in this Napa Blend waas Cabernet, but the footprint left by a small percentage of Charbono on this wine was almost imperceptible. Certainly, the nose and mouthfeel revealed hot fruit, which said New World, and even Zinfandel, but the initial rustic palate mellowed quickly in the glass to stymie even half-educated guesses at its precise composition.

Similarly, the Ken Wright Pinot Noir, McCrone Vineyard 2005, displays a hot nose and distinctly Californian fruit. My first guess might have been a cepage led by Zinfandel, except for a concommitant earthiness and green profile, which didn't point to Cabernet or Zinfandel, but rather Pinot. This is a full-bodied wine, with a black center and violet meniscus, but its slight acidity, herbaceous profile and demure finish says Burgundy, even as the nose belies the possibility of it being an Old World Pinot. The nose is too full of plums and black raspberry, and there is too much blackberry and cassis in the palate for the essential earthiness of the wine to deceive you into thinking you're drinking, let's say, a Gevrey Chambertin. There is a vivacious, fresh green bean quality, married with fennil and dill , but the alchohol level and fruit-forward quality bespeaks New World growing conditions. Oregon often strikes a balance betwem Californian exuberance and heat and Burgundian restraint and minerality, and this wine clearly expresses its Willakenzie soil and Yamhill-Carlton provenance, if your antennae are up.

Back in the realm of Cabernets, we consider the Chilean Calcu 2005, from the Colchagua Valley. This particular blend of Cabernet, Cabernet Franc and Carmenere is a far more accesible blend of Bordeux varietals. While the nose of roast meat might suggest Syrah, the palate of cigar box, raspberries, roses and espresso says Cabernet, as its velvety tannins suggest Merlot, which has so often been confused with Carmenere.

The final wine I offer for consideration is a California Roussane from the Santa Ynez Valley, the Zaca Mesa 2003. With it's full-bodied palate of bosc pears, figs and honey, this wine was a charmer in every way, so much so that I drank the whole bottle in one sitting, and very nearly missed my flight home the next morning as a result.