What is it with the individuals who get recognized as my Winemakers of the Year? They are not the heralded handful you have read about in every wine or lifestyle magazine at some time or another. With all due respect that is yesterday's news. My intent is to bring the emerging artists to prominence and introduce all of you to the phenomenal wines they are responsible for. Every year it seems that the stars align pointing to a particular producer that likely you have never heard of before.
- In 2000, Andy Smith made his first wines at DuMOL and I tabbed him as a winemaker to watch , two years later he posted 5 wines in the Top 20, repeating the feat the following year. He is now recognized by Robert Parker as "a new discovery". The mailing list is very difficult to penetrate.
In 2005, the virtually unknown Abe Schoener more than established his credentials by following up the 2002 and 2003 Maldonado Chardonnay with the mind-bending SCHOLIUM PROJECT that introduced winemaking theory that bordered on heretical. The proof of the quality was recognized with excellent reviews from Vinfolio and just recently by Stephen Tanzer. The mailing list sells out nearly as soon as an offer is made.
In 2006, Vinfolio's Winemaker of the Year is Ken Juhasz of Auteur Winery. He emerged on the scene last year with a couple bright spots; two vineyard designated Pinot Noir from the Willamette Valley in Oregon. One of them possessed the excellence to claim the first spot for a non california wine in my annual top wine list although it was the #25 wine. in 2006 the wines from Auteur came to me in the following order:
2005 Chardonnay Donum Vineyard, Los Carneros; VF 92
2004 Pinot Noir Hyland Vineyard, Willamette Valley; VF 93
2005 Pinot Noir Sonoma Stage Vineyard, Sonoma Coast; VF 96
2005 Pinot Noir Shea Vineyard, Willamette Valley; VF 100
With the steady escalation of scores throughout the year you may ask where do we go from here? The answer is that Juhasz is fine-tuning sources and increasing production from the benchmark sites. Shea will increase to 300 cases in 2006 from 172 in 2005 and there may be a Pommard bottling from Shea.
Juhasz' philosophy is to use only fruit from designated cool climate vineyard sources in California and Oregon allowing him to create wines that exhibit both masculine and feminine characteristics. I am extremely impressed by the devotion to quality and excellence here and look forward to more of the same in the coming months.
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