April 2023 - Winervana

April 22, 2023

Odonata Boekenoogen Vineyard Chardonnay 2021

Odonata is a small boutique winery near Salinas, California. It is owned and operated by Denis Hoey, who traveled a winding road from business management, to would-be firefighter, to brewery worker, and finally to winemaker.

Hoey is a native of Sacramento, and grew up in a family that enjoyed wines of all kinds. In 2004 he graduated from the University of California at Santa Cruz with a degree in Business Management. But before he did any work in that field, he landed a job at Bison Organic Brewery in San Jose, where he learned sanitizing protocols and how to run a bottling line.

More profoundly, he soon met Jeff Emery, who had just taken over as owner and winemaker at Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard. SCMV was started in 1975 by Ken Burnap, who based his winemaking on Old World approaches such as moderate levels of alcohol and oak, with the goal that the true characteristics of the grape varieties are expressed. Burnap passed that philosophy down to Emery, who in turn guided Hoey in that direction. Once Hoey began his apprenticeship, his life course was permanently altered. He became the production manager for SCMV before starting Odonata Wines in Santa Cruz in 2005. That year production was a mere 65 cases. By 2008 that was up to a still modest 150 cases, mostly Petite Sirah. Production is now about 6,000 cases, of which 1,000 are bubblies.

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April 21, 2023

Case Paolin Pietra Fine Asolo Prosecco DOCG

The ancient town of Asolo sits about 40 miles northwest of Venice in Italy’s province of Trevino. The Museo Canoviano is situated here, home to some of the works by Antonio Canova (1757-1822). Canova was the son of a stonecutter and grandson of a stone mason, and was an Italian Neoclassical sculptor famous for his marble sculptures. Indeed, he is often regarded as the greatest of the Neoclassical artists. Pietra Fine is Italian for Fine Stone, an homage to the work of Canova housed in Asolo, as well as the grey stones of one of Paolin’s vineyards that was once a riverbed.

In the early 1970s, Emillio Pozzobon, a farmer from a long ling of farmers, bought the estate where his father and his grandfather had worked as sharecroppers. Although the property had largely been used for the cultivation of silkworms, he devoted himself entirely to growing grapes there. Continue reading “Case Paolin Pietra Fine Asolo Prosecco DOCG”

April 16, 2023April 16, 2023

Langtry Brut Rosé

The Guenoc Valley in California is east of San Francisco, and just south of the far eastern edge of the East Bay. Situated in Lake County, grapes were planted there in 1854, and as soon as 1884 it hosted 600 acres under vine. Its fertile fields attracted a number of individuals who dabbled in wine to a greater or lesser extent, including the legendary actress Lillie Langtry.

The 23,000 acre (9,300 ha) Guenoc Valley is a small inland alluvial fan of Arroyo Seco and Conejo loam soils which are isolated from surrounding areas by rocky ridges. Hot days are common in the region and over-ripening is a constant concern. The area also has very cool nights, making it a Climate Region III. The Guenoc Valley AVA was approved in 1981.

Lillie Langtry was born Emilie Charlotte Le Breton in 1853 to William Le Breton, a Church of England minister and his wife, Emilie Davis Martin Le Breton. Lillie was the only daughter in the family of six sons. Her father was a very handsome and cultured man; her mother as beautiful as her daughter would become. They lived on the on the Isle of Jersey, one of the islands that lie in the English Channel . Continue reading “Langtry Brut Rosé”

April 12, 2023

Chateau Minuty M Rosé 2021

Provence in the south of France is the nation’s oldest wine-producing region, dating back more than 2,600 years. It is synonymous with rosé (90% of the region’s production), and one of the leading producers is Chateau Minuty.

Minuty began in the mid-1800s. The estate was originally built during the reign of Napoleon III, as was the small chapel that gave its name to the Cuvée de l’Oratoire, which was the house’s emblematic bottling for a long time.

Things really got going in 1936 when the 170 hectares [420 acres] property was acquired by Gabriel Farnet, whose family has owned and operated it ever since.

Farnet already owned Domaine de Châteauneuf in Vidauban, so he came with winemaking experience. (That physical château still exists, but the vines are long gone.) He began renovations by replanting the entire estate. The effort paid off; in 1955, Minuty was one of the 23 properties to be distinguished as a classified growth (Cru Classé) of the Côtes de Provence (or 14, or 18, or 19; accounts vary, oddly).

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April 10, 2023April 21, 2023

Chalk Hill Estate Sauvignon Blanc Chalk Hill Appellation 2021

One fine spring day in 1972, attorney, private pilot, and wine aficionado Fred Fruth was piloting his plane over the Russian River Valley area. Down below, he hoped he saw what he had been searching for: a property that had the climate and soils to grow first-class wine grapes. Furth and his second wife, Peggy, purchased the land, named the estate Chalk Hill, and started producing wine about a decade later. They gradually planted more than 270 acres of vines. Years later, Furth said, “I have always been interested in wine because my grandfather had vineyards. I’m actually more interested in the working-the-soil aspect, but I have many very talented people in the winery who know how to produce a world-class wine. When I bought this property, I was told it was too hilly to be a vineyard, but I simply planted the grapes in rows going uphill. People said you can’t do that, but I’d seen it done in Germany so I knew it would work.” After a rich and varied life, Furth died in 2018 at the age of 84.

Lawyer Bill Foley acquired Chalk Hill in 2010. Although Foley is titled as “vintner,” I doubt he sees the interior of the winery very often. He is a vintner in the broader sense of “someone who sells wine.” He also owns the National Hockey League’s Vegas Golden Knights, is the Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors for Fidelity National Financial Inc., is Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors for Fidelity National Information Services, Inc., and owns fifteen other wineries.
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April 10, 2023September 4, 2023

Grilled Nectarines with Chive Oil, Thyme, and Chèvre

Celebrate spring with this recipe from Alec Graham, Chalk Hill Estate Vineyards’ onsite chef who oversees the culinary program there.

Serves 8

INGREDIENTS
8 nectarines, slightly under ripe
1 bunch of chives
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
1 tbs red wine vinegar*
1/2 cup neutral oil, such as vegetable
6 oz. chèvre
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

Preheat a grill or oven broiler to high heat
Whiz chives and neutral oil in blender on high for about 45 seconds. Pour chive oil through a coffee filter and let drip through.
Pit nectarines and slice into halves. Toss with olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, and thyme.
Grill nectarine halves until lightly charred and caramelized.
To serve, top nectarines with strained chive oil, fresh thyme sprigs, and crumbles of chèvre.

*If you have a bottle of leftover red wine that is no longer worth drinking, you can easily make your own red wine vinegar. There are plenty of easy recipes online, like this one: homemade red wine vinegar

April 10, 2023April 21, 2023

Chalk Hill Sauvignon Blanc Windy Ridge 2021

April 9, 2023May 1, 2023

Odonata Malbec 2019

After 10 years of working with Emery, in 2014 Hoey decided to leave SCMV and devote himself exclusively to Odonata. He and his wife, Claire, were able to buy the short-lived Marilyn Remark Winery in the Santa Lucia Highlands, moving Odonata farther south of Santa Cruz, where they are raising their family and running the winery. Their property includes a two-acre vineyard, production facility, and tasting room.

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