December 5, 2001
2001-quite a year! As it wraps up, it's time to reflect. A great harvest in Santa Barbara County as reported in this column. And of course, there's the horrific tragedy indelibly marked forever on September 11.In this reflective moment on 2001, I offer you the wine of the year, the wine news of the year, and the hero of the year!
WINE OF THE YEAR: First impressions count!
The Stolpman Vineyards 1998 Santa Ynez Valley Nebbiolo Riserva. Nebbiolo is a noble red Italian varietal, the chief grapevine of Piedmont. According to Alexis Lichine's "Encyclopedia of Wines & Spirits", both the wines of Barolo and Barbaresco, appellations in the Piedmont, are made from nebbiolo, and according to the author, "Both are big, strong, enormously robust wines with powerful depth and a heavy pungency." This aptly describes the Stolpman reserve.
When I first tasted this nebbiolo from Stolpman on its release some months back, I was immediately impressed with the structure of the wine-the tannins, the intense perfume in the nose, the intriguing complexity and exquisite finish. Estate grown, the wine is a blockbuster with 15.3 percent alcohol by volume. It retails for about $30.
I wanted to confirm my first impression so last week, I bought a bottle and tasted it with turkey pot pie, rice pilaf with some leftover Honey Baked Ham added to it, and some fresh Sweet 100s I am still harvesting off several tomato plants. (When I mentioned the long hangtime of this fruit, analogizing it to hangtime in the vineyard, a friend and wine rep Terence Livingston suggested I try making some late harvest bloody Marys-not a bad idea I think!)
And it's important to taste and evaluate wine-especially Italian varietals-with tomatoes, because they are such an important ingredient in Italian cuisine.
At dinner I quaffed down the Stolpman in three different glasses, an eight ounce Libbey glass, a 20 ounce bulbous burgundy red wine glass, and a Riedel glass engineered for Rhone and Italian varietals. Glasses are very important in wine tasting and could very well be the subject of a future wine column. I think the wine tasted the best out of the basic, cheap Libbey wine glass. I suspect that's because it's the glass I usually use on a day-to-day basis.
I think the future of the Santa Ynez Valley is Italian varietals and Rhone varietals such as syrah. While several Bordeaux varietals from Gainey and Buttonwood Farm were highly recommended in The Times's "Central Coast Wine Guide" published last month (good wines too-I was one of the three judges), I would highly recommend some of the local sangioveses-the noble red grape of Tuscany and Chianti. I would particularly recommend the 1999 Vandale sangiovese (made by Sanford Winery's Bruno D'Alfonso who also produces his own di Bruno sangiovese), the 1998 Stolpman estate grown sangiovese, both retailing for about $25, and Tantara's 2000 sangiovese from grapes grown at French Camp Vineyard near Shandon in San Luis Obispo County, retailing for about $18.
WINE NEWS OF THE YEAR:
The Santa Rita Hills appellation was approved by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms in July 2001, 20 years after the Santa Maria Valley appellation was approved by BATF. Climatically, the Santa Ynez Valley appellation was gerrymandered and goes all over the place. The east end, in and around Los Olivos and Santa Ynez, is warmer than the west end in the environs of Lompoc. The east end (east of US 101) where you find vineyards like Vandale and Stolpman, you will find a growing environment perfect for Italian and Rhone valley varietals like nebbiolo, sangiovese, syrah, grenache and mourvedre. In the cooler, western end-now approved as Santa Rita Hills-you find a great growing environment for the noble burgundian varietals such as pinot noir and chardonnay.
There is one-hopefully minor- glitch however. Chilean winery Vina Santa Rita has recently filed an injunction against the newly approved appellation name. After we take care of the Taliban, it might be time to send the fleet and F16s down to Chile for a symbolic show of force. Remember the Monroe Doctrine?
HERO OF THE YEAR:
Three puffs go to grape grower Kevin Merrill, president of CCWGA (Central Coast Wine Growers Association), for quickly and pro-actively organizing a pickup of the Sharpshooter-infested rose bushes offered in Los Alamos and replacing them with "clean" and certified roses from a nursery in the Santa Ynez Valley. (By the way, "three puffs" [95-98 points] would be a near-perfect rating in a wine publication called The Connoisseur's Guide.)
Times wine columnist, Bob Senn, lives in the Los Alamos Valley and owns the Los Olivos Wine & Spirits Emporium.
Bob Senn lives in the Los Alamos Valley and owns the Los Olivos Wine & Spirits Emporium.
