Tag Archives: Crystal Basin Cellars

10 Great Hot Weather Wines from Gold Country

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It is finally Summer and the temperature is rising.  What wines do you drink when the temperature is up?  I know what I drink, and I thought I’d share with you my “go to” hot weather wines from California’s Sierra Foothills.

 

White Wines, Duh

Hot Weather Wines

A crisp refreshing glass of wine hits the spot in the Summer heat.

Well, it’s kind of a “no brainer” to suggest drinking white wines in hot weather.  But it is true that white wines and Summer weather go together well.  In my opinion, Gold Country Chardonnay’s are nothing to write home about.  The climate and soils just aren’t optimum for Chardonnay grapes.  There are precious few good Sauvignon Blanc’s there as well.  So when you’re in the Sierra Foothills, look instead for Semillon, Verdelho (Verdejo), and Malvasia Blanca.

10.  Andis makes a stunning Semillon that simply tastes of Summer: pears, apples and a little citrus, it’s a smooth wine with a nice mouth feel and goes with shrimp the way peanut butter goes with jelly.

9.  There are a couple of wineries that feature Verdelho, a grape originally from Spain.  It makes a light, refreshing wine.  Check out the Verdeho from 9 Gables especially.  It’s a wine with some acid and some minerality that mark it as distinct in this region.

8.  A nice, refreshing Summer white is Sera Fina’s Malvasia Blanca.  It is slightly sweet with a crisp finish.  It is so good, it’s dangerous.  I could drink this stuff non stop in hot weather.  That would lead to tipsiness and for a big guy, that ain’t pretty.  So I have to restrain my natural impulses and remember to share when we open a bottle.

 

If you have to drink Red make it Counoise

Red Wine

7.  This is a tough one if you can’t find any.  Holly’s Hill made a Counoise in 2009 which they released last year.  This is for me THE Summer Red wine.  It is light, bursting with strawberry flavors with great citrus flavors lingering on the palate.  I only have one bottle left and I’m planning to serve it for my partner’s birthday later this Summer.  Shhh!  Don’t tell.

 

Rose

Rose Wine

Roses will come in a spectrum of pink colors.

Yes, it’s a bit of cliche to denigrate Roses.  There was a time, 20 or 30 years ago, when Roses sold in this country were just plain bad.  This is not the case today.  There are some terrific Roses being made and sold in the Sierra Foothills.

6.  Helwig makes a very nice Rose, with a deeper color than the Andis wine I discuss next.  The Helwig Rose is crisp and tart, not the least bit sweet and is a wonderful food friendly wine.

5.  My favorite is made by Andis.  I sang the praises of this wine before.  I proposed it as an excellent pairing for the Thanksgiving Turkey.  And, it’s wonderful in the Summer as well.  A relatively dry wine, with a light acid touch, it pairs really well with food.

 

Sparkling Wines!

Sparkling Wines

There is nothing like a nice chilled sparkling wine when the weather is hot.  They are great for drinking on their own and often pair pretty nicely with Summer foods.  The wineries in Amador and El Dorado County that make wonderful Sparkling wines include Crystal Basin Cellars, Gold Hill, Deaver, and Vino Noceto.

4.  Vino Noceto makes what they call Frivolo.  It is a low alcohol Moscato, sweet and a lightly bubbly beverage.  This is ideal for those who don’t like sparkling wines, because the bubbles are very small and subtle.  It pairs nicely with spicy foods.

3.  Deaver has a full range of sparkling wines, including what are to me somewhat dubious flavored sparkling wines.  But, I will say, that the almond flavored sparkling wine is surprisingly tasty, however dubious it may be.  It is a guilty pleasure.

2.  Crystal Basin Cellars makes a yummy sparkling wine which is more fruit forward than any a conventional sparkling wine, but without being sweet.  It tastes of pears and goes down a treat.  If you’re looking for a sparkling wine to sip on the patio when it gets hot, this a real contender.

1.  Gold Hill has been making sparkling wines since the late 70′s, predating the US agreement with France over the name “Champagne”.  So their sparkling wine has been “grandfathered” in and is still sold as Champagne.  Take that, France!  And, here’s the deal, it is a really good sparkler.  It holds up well in comparison to French Champagne.  A drier wine, made from a blend of Chardonnay and Colombard grapes.  This wine can very easily be paired with food.

Red Wine, Rock & Roll and Book Signing at Crystal Basin Cellars

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Thanks to the fine folks at Crystal Basin Cellars, I will be selling and signing my book at their Public Release Party on Saturday, June 9, 2012 from noon to 5pm or until the books sell out.  Crystal Basin is one of the few El Dorado wineries making a sparkling wine, which is a great warm weather beverage.  They also make one of my favorite Cabernet Franc’s being produced anywhere.  I am happy to be a part of their Red Wine and Rock & Roll Public Release Party.

El Dorado Passport 2012 Fun and Fabulous!

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Vineyard at Gold Hill

The vineyard at Gold Hill, Photo (c)2012 David Locicero

Now that some time has passed, I am able to reflect on this year’s El Dorado Winery Association’s Passport 2012 with a bit more objectivity.

It was fun and fabulous!

My partner and I have been venturing to El Dorado County for Passport events since 2006.    Our first introduction to the region was a Passport event and that inspired us to continue going up 6 or more times a year for the past 6 years and led directly to my writing Pour Me Another.

The Passports have been crowded and sparsely attended varying from year to year and day to day (it is a 2 day event and Sundays are usually less crowded that Saturdays).  This year seemed pretty sparse to us.  We never ran into any crowds.  But in conversation with those pouring as well as the wine makers and owners we ran into, it seems our experience may not have been typical.  Sales were reported to be brisk.

My theory is that anybody venturing into the Sierras for a weekend of wine tasting in this economy tend to be the people that buy wines by the case.  So, even though the crowd aren’t as thick, sales remain more or less the same.  All the better for those of us who brave the threat of rain (it didn’t rain) or heat (it was blazing hot on the second weekend): no crowds makes it nicer.

I often get asked where I buy wine.  Well, with very few exceptions, I buy most of my wine at the wineries as a direct result of tasting it first.  This way I know pretty much that just about everything in my “cellar” is good.  I will also buy at Dig, a wine shop in San Francisco that specializes in French and Italian wines, based on the owner’s recommendations.  But for the most part I buy locally produced wine: California wines made in the Sierras, Santa Cruz mountains, at urban wineries or even in Napa and Sonoma that I have tasted.  In northern California we are spoiled like that.  But if the local wines are good, why buy foreign wines if you really are serious about sustainability and “green” issues.  The carbon footprint of those European, South American and Australian wines are HUGE.  The Passport events are my opportunity to taste at even more wineries that on a normal weekend in Gold Country.

This year there was an over-arching “theme” to the Passport event: “Mediterranean”.  Each of the wineries served their interpretation of “Mediterranean” food with their wines.  I suppose the theory was that most of the varietals that grow well in the Sierras are French, Italian or Spanish in origin.  I wasn’t that impressed.  One of the things I liked about past events was that the wine makers were able to serve food that they thought best went with their wines.  I didn’t always agree, but it led to some interesting and unexpected pairings.

White wine and beef

Madrona paired a riesling with a beef dish and it was GOOD. Photo (c)2012 David Locicero

Madrona often pairs their white wines with Thai food, which can be really interesting. This year the stand out pairing for me was at Madrona, where they paired a Moroccan beef tangine over couscous with their riesling.  The pairing of a white wine with a beef and beet dish was unexpected.  But the riesling was a perfect accompaniment to the citrus and spices in the beef stew.  Unexpected and perfect.  Such a wonderful discovery!

I personally tasted  36 wines at 11 wineries over the two days.  Most of the pours were in the 1/2 to 1 ounce size, though some were quite generous (2 ounces or more).  It probably added up to three glasses of wine consumed with food over the span of 5 hours on each of the two days.  These tweets from my Twitter feed sum up the best of the weekend:

 #passport2012 day 1 highlights: David Girard’s Coda Rouge, Alzante’s 04 nebbiolo, Jodar’s 08 cab franc

 

#passport2012 day 2 highlights: Mount Aukum’s 08 Bordeau blend BDX (futures), Skinner’s 1861 blend, Narrow Gate’s cab syrah blend (futures)

Passport 2013 is on our calendar already!

 

 

 

2008 Crystal Basin Cellars Reserve Mourvedre

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A couple of weeks ago we ventured east to El Dorado County with a small group of friends who had never been tasting in Gold Country before. We dropped in to a couple of our favorite wineries to taste and buy.  One of our destinations was Crystal Basin Cellars.

CBC has revised their tasting menu.  We were offered a list of a dozen wines to be tasted for a low $5 tasting fee.  The fee would be waived if we purchased any wine.  If you’re gonna charge a tasting fee, that’s the way to do it.  Even though I wasn’t driving, I could not taste a dozen wines after having tasted a half dozen at the previous winery.  So I stuck to the reds.

The had a “mini vertical” tasting of the 2008 and 2009 El Dorado County Reserve Mourvedre’s.  In the tasting room I liked both, the 2008 more.  I thought the wines were smooth and complex with a depth of flavors and enough acid to go with some not quite lean meats.  Because they were having a deal on these wines – one bottle of each for a total of $40, the normal price is $27 / bottle – I made a purchase.

Yesterday evening I opened the 2008 to accompany a lean and slightly spicy beef dish.  I thought that the light black peppery quality to the Mourvedre would complement the food.  Wow.  Was I wrong!  Instead, the food and wine combined and the spice seemed to increase exponentially!

It was a total food and wine pairing fail.  And it was my fault.  My error made the Mourvedre over power the food and overwhelm my palate with a strong, black pepper flavors.  I needed water to cool my mouth down.  Individually, neither the wine nor the meal was remotely that spicy.  But in combination it was a nuclear spice explosion on the tongue. My partner agreed, and switched to a sweeter, less complex table red to finish the meal.

Needless to say, the wine did not shine under these conditions.  I finished the meal with water as the beverage.  I had some bland crackers to clean my palate and after the meal, I had another glass of the Mourvedre.

The 2008 Reserve is a medium bodied wine with a 14.1% alcohol.  It has a lovely dark ruby color.  The 2008 has a bit of acid that would go well with a slightly fatty food, and very smooth tannins.  It is is a moderately complex wine.  As I mentioned, it does have a slight black peppery quality to it that would complement lamb or beef, or even turkey, but not foods with even a little bit of black or spicy pepper!

After the meal, and by itself, I enjoyed the wine quite a bit.  It took about 45 minutes for the wine to relax and open up before the dinner and after dinner it was very good.  I think for this wine to shine, it needs to be paired with a completely different food to really come into it’s own.  I’ll have to remember this when I’m opening up the 2009.