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Lots of us are thinking green these days. Earlier this week when I was driving back to St. Helena from my weekly visit to the San Francisco office, I spoke to one of my sales reps who I was supposed to meet with as soon as I arrived. It turned out I was passing within a mile of his house and we decided it would be better use of both our time and reduce his emissions on the road if I stopped at his home and tasted there. I got to enjoy the company of his very sweet Black Labrador as well.

Recently I saw something on line about some producers in Languedoc transporting 5000 cases of wine to Ireland by sail boat and saving over 18000 pounds of carbon. This initiative will eventually grow to destinations in England and Canada. Will we see barges going down the Napa River anytime soon destined for San Francisco and Marin loaded with Cabernet Sauvignon? It certainly is a romantic notion and would no doubt gather some publicity for anyone who did it first but there are some producers that carry out their green initiatives on a regular basis and have been doing it for years.

Our friends at Spottswoode have always been champions of the environment for as long as I remember. I just received their spring update printed on 100% recycled paper entitled "Cultivating a Green Legacy". It was in 1985 when Tony Sotor began consulting for the Novaks that he introduced the whole notion of organic farming. Five years later, the vineyard was certified by the California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF). Always looking for ways to continue reducing their impact on nature, they have now gone 100% solar for their vineyard machinery, winery and production facility. Even Mary Novak's electric runabout is recharged by the sun. All fuel used on site is bio-diesel, and all glass, plastic and cardboard is recycled.

How have they accomplised this?

Bio Diesel for tractors produce 78% less Carbon Dioxide than petroleum diesel

Solar Panels account for a reduction of 12000 pounds of Carbon Dioxide a month

Beneficial insects, creek restoration, nesting boxes for birds and raptors, bee hives, free range chickens all play a part in creating as natural environment as possible.

Spottswoode has demonstrated they can be champions of the environment as well as produce consistently outstanding wines.

I would like to hear more stories of green wineries. Please share your favorites. 

Click here for the link to Spottswoode's newest release, the 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, rated 96 points by Robert Parker

Well the dust has settled following the annual Premiere Napa Valley barrel auction which raised 2.2 million dollars for the Napa Vintners to fund their marketing over the next twelve months. There were 200 lots represented at the tightly controlled trade tasting on Saturday, February 23 at CIA - Greystone. I was struck by how closed many of the wines appeared. Ones that seemed to showing well were the

2006 Clark Claudon Cabernet Sauvignon:

Very concentrated and rich showing lilac and violet in the nose with a solid, well integrated palate

2006 Farella Park Cabernet Sauvignon Terrace Reserve

Pretty nose of dark berries and cherry and elegant on the palate

2006 J. Davies Cabernet Sauvignon McEachern Terra Luna

Excellent concentration and extraction

2006 Parallel Cabernet Sauvignon

Toasty aromatics with ripe black cherry and cassis

2006 Rubicon Estate Cabernet Sauvignon

A beautiful nose (Clone 29) and exceptional elegance

2006 Cliff Lede Cabernet Sauvignon Bohemian Devil

A really beautiful wine that punches all the right buttons

2006 Corison Cabernet Sauvignon Premiere Reserve

Quite robust yet elegantly formed showing cherry, blackberry and spice

Yet the wine that absolutely floored me was the

2006 Spencer Roloson Syrah La Herradura Vineyard Le Ferrieur

It was brimming with chocolate, coffee, blackberry and currant and a kiss of herb on the finish. It was one of only two Syrah in the entire room, yet it was outstanding and noteworthy. This has always been one of my favorite properties for Napa Valley Syrah. It went for only about $800 a case to Paul Roberts and the French Laundry. Congrats to Sam and Wendy for pulling the upset of the day (at least in my opinion)

Monday Sam invited me over to the winery to taste the first 2006 Spencer Roloson Cabernet Sauvignon La Herradura. There will be about 150 cases and the wines in barrel display beautiful polish, blueberry, spicy chocolate and espresso. Look for more extensive tasting notes in June or July. This will be one to watch for as will be the 2007 Spencer Roloson Viognier. The first impressions in barrel reminded me of a well focused, apple and marmalade nuanced Condrieu. One barrel was produced. Vinfolio will be one of the few places on the planet to find these wines once released. Stay tuned.

I was honored to be a guest of Michael Polenske of Blackbird and Erin Martin of Martin Interior Design for lunch last Friday in recognition of Premiere Napa Valley and the 2006 Blackbird lot.

In addition to the excellent 2005 and un-released 2006 Proprietary Red, Winegrower Aaron Pott introduced the first as yet unreleased Rose from Blackbird - the 2007 Arriviste. Asked about the reason Blackbird is producing a Rose, Aaron shared a charming story about the connection of Rose and his time as winemaker at Chateau Troplong Mondot in St. Emilion. French wine law mandates one liter of wine per day be made available to vineyard workers. At Troplong, they kept a supply of saignee  to give to the workers. Aaron explained the ritual of the workers lining up for their allotment then returning to their camp where they would prepare their evening meals and enjoy it washed down by the day's Rose. Maybe I should volunteer to pick at Blackbird and ask for my daily liter of Arriviste. It would be worth it.

During lunch, Michael filled me in on the latest news for Blackbird - The opening in late Spring this year of Ma(i)sonry Napa Valley in Yountville. I had heard of this project late last year but didn't have many details to work with as it was still in the planning stages.

Ma(i)sonry Napa Valley, housed in one of only three original masonry structures in Yountville and listed on the National Register of Historic Places is designed to have the feel of a private home surrounded by antiques Michael and Erin bring back on their regular shopping trips to Europe. All the furnishings will be for sale, as will the original works of art from around the world installed on the walls. This is a brave new concept for tasting rooms in Napa Valley and Michael has spared no expense to make it one of the most exceptional venues to taste not only Blackbird but an assortment of as yet unannounced boutique producers.

The time has finally arrived for the release of the 2006 Auteur Pinot Noir from Sonoma Stage and Manchester Ridge. Those who read the reviews I wrote on my blog in October have been counting the days until these extraordinary 100 point wines are released. For a reminder of what the reviews were like click here. There isn't anything quite like this pair of Pinot Noir tasted in recent memory. Give them plenty of air before drinking contemplatively or sock away in the cellar for a couple years.

As a matter of perspective, these are the only wines I ever recall that made me cry. If you have the same experience, don't feel bad. The wines are allocated and are priced at $65.00 each.

Want to have dinner with one of the top winemakers in the world? Celia Masyczek is our featured presenter and guest of distinction at Vinfolio's Inaugural Winemaker Dinner to be held March 10, 2008 at TWO Restaurant in San Francisco.

Celia's career has gone into somewhat of an overdrive in the past 24 months with back to back superb vintages of Scarecrow (2003 VF 97 and 2004, VF 96), 2004 Rocca, VF 95, 2004 Keever VF 96 and her own Corra VF 97 that had its world premiere at Vinfolio in October of last year.

We are honored to have her all to ourselves to share personally with you her thoughts on winemaking at the very highest level. She has agreed to bring a rare treat. We will be pairing her wines with multiple courses throughout the evening. A limited number of tickets for this special evening are $185.

I hope to see you there!

Update 2/27/08 : This dinner has been postponed until May. Please check back for more information.

The wine that started it all, the delicious 2005 Siduri Pinot Noir Ewald Vineyard, bottled in 30 magnums and 60 750mL bottles. Offered to our clients in 2006.

As you may have seen in the most recent issue of The Wilder Side of California, we have made our allocations of the 2006 Hospices of Sonoma Pinot Noir magnums available for the first time individually. They are now available on the Vinfolio site with no limits.

Please click on the link above to read about the wines, all of them are extraordinarily rare half barrels of North coast Pinot Noir. The Donum and Kosta Browne lots are a collaboration between the winemakers (Kenneth Juhasz and Michael Browne) and Vinfolio where we personally participated in tasting trials from barrel to identify the final blend.

These are truly one of a kind wines.

Free Run Juice Blog Post #100

One of the lead up events this year to the prodigious Premiere Napa Valley is called "In Vino Unitas", a group of twenty-four producers who self distribute in California. It is being staged in Napa Valley on February 11 and San Francisco the following day. It is a little bit like the who's who of small to mid size producers. With names like Stony Hill, Mayacamas and Diamond Creek you immediately recognize the caliber of the wines as this trio have been producing for over 40 vintages each. Generally the principals or Senior Sales Executives are on hand and create a special insider environment like few others.

There were more than a few wines that were startling good led by Paul Frank's Gemstone duo of 2005 Facets and 2005 Gemstone. Both of these wines showed excellent, dynamic balance that belied their youth. Michael Polenske's Blackbird was featuring three of their wines, including the 2004 Blackbird, which for the longest time seemed reluctant to come out of its shell. I believe the extra year has benefitted it. The nose and mouthfeel were more tightly integrated than I had recalled when first tasting in 2006. As happens with producers who stress the basics, the tight wines will eventually blossom. Sadly all of the 2004 is soldout. The 2005 Blackbird Proprietary Red Wine, VF 94 was in fine shape as well. This is still available on the Vinfolio site.

Wines I will take a hard look at bringing into the Vinfolio fold are Mayacamas: their 2004 Chardonnay was classically focused with clean, bone dry mineral. the 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon was every bit as attractive, again showing classic mountain fruit intensity so indicative of this iconic producer. Pride Mountain was showing 2005 Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon that all displayed ripe, sculpted aromas and flavors, La Sirena's Heidi Barrett was pouring a beautiful 2004 Syrah from Santa Ynez.

Beaux Freres was offering three of their 2006 Pinot Noir from Oregon; Willamette Valley, Beaux Frere Vineyard, and The Upper Terrace. All were very solid wines and merit a revisit when I travel to Willamette Valley in early April.

You may place quote requests for any of these wines at www.vinfolio.com

Three years ago next week, I attended Premiere Napa Valley - The Napa Valley Vintners Winter Barrel Auction of the 2003 vintage. I tasted many excellent wines there, but one of the top three or four was made by Bill and Dawnine Dyer under their label, designated Meteor Vineyard. All I could learn about it was that they were working with a new site in Coombsville and they were quite pleased with how it turned out. A couple weeks ago I received a call from Dawnine asking if I would like to come out to visit Meteor Vineyard and taste the premiere releases with her and Tracy Schuler. Bill and Dawnine are co-proprietors of Meteor Vineyard with Tracy and her husband, Barry.

The property is set in the rolling foothills of Mt. George on the northern outskirts of the City of Napa and is about 500 feet in elevation and is planted to several clones, including 7 and 337.

We tasted three wines (all 100% Estate grown Cabernet Sauvignon) in the cellar of the Schuler's rammed-earth home located on the property. The first wine, 2004, only produced 40 cases and there are no plans currently to release the wine commercially. In 2005, the vineyard yielded enough to produce 700 cases of Meteor Vineyard, and about 75 cases of Meteor Vineyard, Special Family Reserve. 

Here are my impressions: Overall the wines possess a velvety dark purple garnet color that Dawnine describes as "blue".

2004 Meteor Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, VF 94

A nose of blackberry, pomegranate, bright cherry and hints of smoke. The palate is lean and focused showing good acidity framing the blackberry and blue plum flavors.

2005 Meteor Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, VF 94

An exotic nose of black currant, delicate flower blossom (jasmine?), espresso, blueberry and chocolate which continues to amplify and complex with aeration. The palate is lush and expansive - oozing cinnamon, toast, mocha and black currant (cassis).

2005 Meteor Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Special Family Reserve, VF 97

By selecting the top three barrels from the vintage, the partners are able to coax some noticebly extra rich characteristics into the bottle. Violet and seville orange-infused chocolate dance around the nose. The mouth entry is sublimely textured - round but powerfully focused, showing finely integrated espresso, black currant, soft date and lush sun-warmed yellow plum.

Prices and availability, TBA