If you’re like most people you probably haven’t heard of Yavapai college. If you’re from Arizona you’ve probably heard of Yavapai ( Yav-a-pie) college. You might not know this but the college actually has a little over 12,000 students enrolled on 6 campuses located in the Sedona, Prescott and Verde valley areas in north central Arizona. The Verde Valley is home to some of Arizona’s most famous wineries including Page Springs Cellars, Arizona Stronghold and Caduceus Cellars.
Vavapai College offers an Associate of Applied Science degree program in viticulture and enology. The program summary is as follows:
“The Viticulture and Enology degree program prepares students for a variety of careers in vineyards (vineyard workers, crew leaders, managers, viticulturists) to wineries (winemakers, cellar workers, lab technicians).”
Volunteers big and small
3 acres of land located on the colleges Clarkdale campus in the Verde Valley were planted with about 3,000 vines. Volunteers helped plant Tempranillo, Sangiovese and Viognier. These varieties were chosen because of how well they do in Arizona’s harsh climate.
A few weeks ago The Weekly Wine Journal sent out a tweet to wineries and wine makers offering to help get their word out. For free! The response was rather tepid, however there was one response that caught my attention. @winepassionate responded to the effect, that although they are not a winery or wine maker, would I still be interested.
I’m glad I took the opportunity because it exposed me to some new wines while recharging my interest in social media!
Winepassionate.com is a brand new boutique online wine store specializing in wines from Italy, Chile, Argentina and California. They recently became the official reseller of Ducati wines.
The sample pack I received included a Chianti, a Malbec and a Sauvignon Blanc
La Moto, Chianti Riserva DOCG, 2006, Italy
Blend: 85% Sangiovese, 10% Canaiolo, 5% Cabernet
Alcohol: 12.5%
I couldn’t find too much detailed information on this wine, other than on the wine passionate website which states that this wine was aged for 2 years in oak with additional bottle aging. I don’t know why but I was expecting a dry bitter Sangiovese. I was pleasantly surprised by the supple fruitiness of this wine. It paired with my home made marinara sauce quite well. This is not a terribly complex wine, and as such it is quite food friendly. This wine retails for about $20-$25.
Juana de Sol 2010 Malbec, Mendoza, Argentina
This wine was the most interesting of the three for me. The wine itself was a very dark almost inky purple. The nose on this wine had some nice elements of black fruit and spice. The palate was the most interesting part, intermingled with a light black cherry and blackberry fruitiness was an olive like funky earthiness that I found very interesting. There is a bit of heat on this wine that sears the nostrils, and at only 13.5% alcohol that is a bit surprising but not enough to be seriously off-putting. This wine would pair very well with beef roasts and marinades. Wine Advocate gave this wine 88 points, which is in the range of 86-89 that I was thinking. At about $15 retail this wine offers a decent value
Trile 2011 Sauvignon Blanc, Valle Central, Chile
According to the back of this bottle, this 100% Sauv blanc was bottled very young. The alcohol only weighs in at 12%. I wasn’t expecting much from this wine, but was actually pleasantly surprised. If you are tired of the New Zealand lemon grass monsters, and the California sugar monsters, this is the wine for you. The nose is subdued, with hints of lemon. The palate is very light, with touches of lemon grass and an interesting nuttiness. As the wine warmed up to room temperature the lemon grass came through a little more, but not nearly as much as most. This wine is a decent value at around $12 retail, think casual summer sipper.
Thanks to winepassionate.com for reaching out, and cudos for their exceptional social media manners.
Girasole Vineyards unveiled new packaging for their 2010 vintage on May 1st. Girasole, along with Barra of Mendocino are owned by Barra Family Wines. The Barra family has been growing grapes in the area since 1955.
“My family has been farming without the use of synthetic fertilizers or pesticides since the 1950′s” says Shelley Maly, VP of Sales & Marketing and daughter of founders Charlie and Martha Barra. The family owns and farms more than 200 acres of CCOF certified organically grown grapes. All grapes are Estate Grown and hand picked.
The latest vintage (2010) includes a Pinot Noir and a Chardonnay.
The 2010 Pinot Noir has a nice ruby hue, reminiscent of cranberry juice. The nose has hints of strawberry and spice. The palate is solid, while not terribly complex it is solid, strawberry bright red cherry and a little earthiness and the finish. Alcohol weighs in at 13.5%, suggested retail price is $16
Weekly Wine Journal rating: 87 points
The 2010 Chardonnay is a light straw color. The nose is a little difficult to detect at first, but after the wine opens up and warms up a little there are hints of tropical fruit and lemon. The palate is light and creamy and fruit driven. There is a bit of toasty oak on the back end. There is a decent amount of acidity which really helps lift this wine, I think this could end up being a great value summer sipper this year. Alcohol is 13.5% and suggested retail is $13
Typically when we think of American wine, we think of California, Oregon or Washington. Wine aficionados may know of the hidden gems produced in Arizona and New York. But have you ever heard of Wisconsin wine?
You might be surprised to hear that a little winery from Wisconsin has won some big awards. Wollersheim winery from Prarie du Sac, Wisconsin took home “Winery of the Year” at the San Diego International Wine Competition. They entered 6 wines in the competition and took home an unprecedented 6 platinum medals from San Diego, while winning best of class Riesling and Syval. Wollersheim also won “Best of Show” honors at the Eastern International Wine Competition this spring. Not only that but I just did a quick search of Vintank’s Winery Social Media Index, and Wollersheim was actually ranked #46 in the world for its social engagement. These are no small feats for a little winery from Wisconsin!
I decided to travel to Wisconsin and see for myself what all the excitement was about. Being from Phoenix, Arizona I was extremely lucky that Wisconsin was in the midst of an historic spring heat wave! The temps were almost 40F above normal!
The Wollersheim property actually has some amazing history behind it. A Hungarian nobleman named Agoston Haraszthy first planted vines there in the 1840′s.
The original wine tasting room built in 1847
Haraszthy left in 1849 for California where he ended up hiring Charles Krug! The winery was taken over by the Kehl family and they continued to make wine until 1899 when Jacob Kehl died. The Kehl family stopped making wine but continued to work the farm until 1972.
In 1972 Robert and JoAnn Wollersheim bought the property. They began restoring the property into a working vineyard and winery. They replanted the hills with vines, and restored the underground wine cellars. Current wine maker Philippe Coquard first visited the winery in 1984 when he was on an exchange program from his native France. Well he ended up marrying Robert and JoAnn’s eldest daughter, Julie and now they both run the vineyard and winery.
The Wollersheim Vineyard property is as quaint and scenic as many of the secluded Napa vineyards. An interesting sidenote: The winery is located just 10 miles from the town of Lodi – - – Wisconsin!
Click on this picture to see the full size version
The original wine cellar
Wollersheim’ s vines are planted on one of the few substantial slopes in the region. Being from Arizona, and having lived in British Columbia, the landscape in Wisconsin looked REALLY flat to me. The hills overlooking the winery are top out at just over 1,000 feet and are actually some of the tallest in the region.
Original wine cave
I sat down for my afternoon tasting and manged to taste every one of Wollersheims wines. I mentioned before that Wollersheim was a little winery, well it was during my tasting I found out they are actually pretty HUGE.
Wollersheim and sister winery Cedar Creek produced 220,000 gallons of wine in 2011!! Not all the fruit is estate grown, and infact the award winning Riesling comes from Washington State. In total Wollersheim produces 1.1 million bottles of wine using fruit from Wisconsin, Washington State and New York. Wollersheim and Cedar Creek harvested 125 tons of Estate and Wisconsin-grown grapes and produced 21,000 gallons of wine in 2011.
The Wine Cow
My favorite wine was Wollersheim Dry Riesling made from custom grown fruit in Washington State. I found this wine to be a little drier than wines of Mosel, but still quite similar. For $9 a bottle this is one of the most amazing wine deals I have ever come across. I actually blurted out: “Why is it so cheap??” This wine could easily sell for $30 a bottle. In fact most of Wollersheims wines are under $10 with their most expensive running $20
If you ever come across this wine buy it! And if you’re ever near Madison Wisconsin, it would be worth your while to take a trip to Wollersheim Winery!
Photo from the Festival on the Farm at South Mountain 2011
Kief-Joshua Vineyards will be hosting the Southeast Arizona wine festival this coming weekend, April 14th and 15th, 2012
Kief-Joshua Vineyard is located in Elgin, Arizona which is about an hour drive Southeast of Tucson.
The first ever Southeast Arizona Wine Festival will feature wine tastings by 17 Arizona wineries and wine makers from all regions of Arizona will be represented. The festival will also feature two wine education seminars: a wine sensory seminar and a wine pairing seminar. Sonoita’s Steak Out restaurant will be on hand serving up chicken wings, pulled pork and sirloin sandwiches!
Buzz and the Soulsenders will be entertaining the crowd with their blues styled music too!
Tickets are $15, gates open at 10am. Tickets can be purchased on site.
Fine wine and dining experiences come in many forms, from cozy home-like settings to fresh and fancy urban settings. Cask 63, located in Scottsdale’s Gainey Ranch district, is the later. The owners of Cask 63 American Eatery and Wine Bar purchased an existing restaurant from Fox Restaurants Concepts in late 2011, quickly reworked the menu and restaurant and had it up and running by January 2012.
The mood of the restaurant is modern and hip, and minimalist, which helps keep your attention on the amazing food created by Brian Feirstein, co owner and executive chef. During my dining experience I was visited by General Manager and Owner Jerry Tingle and we chatted for a while about how Cask 63 came to be and about what they are attempting to achieve. One of the interesting things to note, is that although the restaurant has it’s own vision and concept of what it wants to be, Jerry and Brian are very much in tune with what their customers want. Jerry can be found mingling with customers most nights, searching for suggestions on ways to improve the experience. I find it a nice touch when the owner visits your table and asks for your opinion on things.
For an appetizer I had oysters of the day paired with Perrier Jouet Champagne. For a main course I had Australian lamb chops. These were double bone-in, which gives you a much bigger juicier portion than single bone. As a fan of lamb, and all grilled meats, I have to say this was one of the best incarnations of this dish I have ever had. Although I do like ‘gamey” tasting lamb dishes, this dish was not gamey and I could have easily mistook it for beef. It was delicious. I paired this with a rather unusual wine…Vall Llach Embruix – Priorat from Spain. This was a very interesting wine. It was described to me as the perfect wine for people who like Cabernet, Zinfandel and Merlot. Full bodied, smooth, with dark ripe fruit and hints of spice.
As far as the wine goes at Cask 63, you will find many of the standard high end favorites that seem to be prerequisites at wine bars seeking to endear themselves to wine aficionados. You will find all the well known Napa greats like Silver Oak, Caymus, Far Niente, and Joseph Phelps Insignia. I was happy to see some of my favorite and less well known wines including Ladera Howell Mountain and Justin Isosceles. Including bubbles the wine list boasts almost 100 names varying in price from $7.50 a glass all the way up to Hundred Acre’s Kayle Morgan Vineyard for $490 a bottle.
With Spring in full swing and summer just around the corner it’s time to start thinking about cool crisp and refreshing wines to quench our palates. To this end I took a trip to my local grocery store’s wine department and somewhat randomly picked out a selection of Sauvignon Blanc to review for you
In picking the wines, I wanted to pick three wines, from different areas and at different price points, though staying under $15 as the Weekly Wine Journal’s budget is not as robust as you might think.
Starborough, 2011 Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough New Zealand.
The nose on this wine has hints of lime and lemon grass, not an incredibly aromatic nose. On the palate the lime like acidity really pops, giving the wine a refreshing perk. The lemon grass that Sauv Blancs from Marlborough are well known for made an appearance in the mid palate, and was quite nicely balanced, not over powering. I enjoyed the tart crispness of this wine, a good straightforward, refreshing wine wine for a hot summer day.
Washington Hills, 2010 Sauvignon Blanc, Washington State
This wine really surprised me right away. The nose is amazing. Big aromatics. Ripe Melon intermingled with the interesting perfume of Lychee. The palate features tropical fruits balanced with just enough acidity to keep it from being flabby. This wine was my favorite of the group
Over the years many people have told me how much they have enjoyed the Barefoot wines. They assured me they weren’t that bad. So I decided I would give them a try. Unfortunately they were all wrong. I found it difficult to detect a nose on this wine. The palate was one dimensional. It really just tasted like watered down kids apple juice, with an unpleasant hint of alcohol.
There you have it folks, 2 wines to enjoy and one to avoid. Have you tried any of these wines? What kinds of wines do you enjoy when the weather heats up?
