Red Bizeljcan PTP (P riznano radicionalno P oimenovanje T) is the result of several years research experts of the Institute of Agricultural and domestic wine. It is a basic blend of varieties of velvety blackness, Blue Franc and Pinot Noir. As in cvičku Red is also less Bizeljčanu PTP% white varieties. Winegrowing Sremič Bizeljsko-known for extremely high-quality sites, where the grapes are perfectly ripe.
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There is a winemaker in the Russian River valley who is marking her ninth Pinot Noir vintage this year, and she seems to have charmed this recalcitrant grape into allowing her to produce wines that sell out as soon as the waiting world hears another is on the way. Eugenia Keegan, owner and winemaker of Keegan Cellars is the person whose name is on the label of these Pinot Noirs, and that’s all that many people need to know before heading to their favorite wine shop.
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If you fancy fine wines, are delighted to spend an overnight or more in a cozy bed and breakfast, enjoy walking through acres of flowering and fruiting plants, and find joy in browsing displays of tantalizing foodstuffs or racks of unique gift selections, you will find any or all of the above when you visit the Fetzer Vineyards Tasting Room and Visitors Center at Valley Oaks just east of Hopland. And, lest you fear there will be large crowds and little elbowroom, you’d be only half right.
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There has been a lot of publicity about overproduction of grapes over the last few harvests. This can mean lower prices paid to growers for their grapes and more bulk wine on the market. On the plus side, for the consumer, a heavy harvest and more vines coming into full bearing can possibly mean lower bottle prices, better quality wines in low end packaging and, for some emerging wineries, it can mean an opportunity to expand production with grapes from vineyards with a long history of providing quality fruit to the industry.
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When a man has spent more than 60 years guiding grapes to their ultimate triumph as fine wine (usually red!) there is no way he is going to sit back and watch the seasons roll by without having a hand in the winemaking process. So, it comes as no surprise that John Parducci, with partners Jim Lawson and Bill Carl, is now the owner of the former Zellerbach Winery, just south of Ukiah in Mendocino County.
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“The reason I bought this land,” remarks Dave Caparone, founder of Caparone Winery in Paso Robles, “was that I had been experimenting in 1974 and 1975, making wine from Zinfandel grapes from a number of different vineyards. I became convinced that grape maturity was a big factor in quality, so looked for a good site to grow Zinfandel. In 1978, my wife Mary and I bought this piece of about 98 acres. We planted our first vineyards in 1980 and made a little wine. Then I knew I had found the right micro-climate for good Zin.”
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As a result of his classic ” School of Tasting “Pierre Casamayor explores in depth the possible alliances of 88 recipes. Each has a double page where we can find the recipe itself and usually four specific wines, ie for example, not a “Haut-Medoc” but a “Haut-Medoc, Chateau Malescasse 1995″ which he describes the tasting before the meal and the dish.
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With all the national and international conglomerates gobbling up small, independent wineries like so many breakfast sausages, it’s pleasant to stand at the tasting bar, sipping super-wonderful Zinfandels - the wine they are most famous for - with the Demostene clan. Though not anywhere near as well known as those other family wineries, Gallo and Mondavi, the Demostenes can trace their vine roots back farther than either of those big boys.
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Some wine-lovers thrive on seeking out small wineries, with small production of very fine wines. So, here’s one for that list. The winery is Collier Falls Vineyards, located on West Dry Creek Road at the northern end of Dry Creek Valley near Healdsburg in Sonoma, California. Its winery carries the Dry Creek Valley appellation. The first Collier Falls wine, the 1997 Zinfandel (100% estate grapes) was released in spring, 1999. There were only 500 cases, so a good bit of it is already gone. Those who collect numbers will be impressed by the 90 points the wine was given by the Wine Spectator, and the two stars (out of a possible three) granted the wine by Connoisseur’s Guide.
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Among the French wine regions, the Languedoc-Roussillon offers the highest density of cooperative cellars. For hundreds, they are born, mostly in the inter-war years, the need to overcome the domination of trading and equip itself to winemaking performance. Published on the initiative of the Regional Council, the book paints a picture of that heritage is part of the soul of this region.
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