Reviews of wines and spirits for the curious drinker.
Chuck Hope and his wife Marlyn came to Paso Robles in California’s Central Coast in 1978 to farm, and eventually to start what would become Hope Family Wines. This early arrival put them on the forefront of the Central Coast becoming a world-class viticultural region. Initially, the Hopes planted apples and grapes in this then sparsely-populated area. Seeing the property’s potential for grape growing, Hope eventually replanted the apple orchards with grapes.
H by Hine VSOP Cognac
H by Hine is a selection from Hine Cognac, a distinguished brand with a rich history which traces its origins back to the 18th century. Thomas Hine, a young Englishman from Dorset, traveled to France to learn French and the art of making cognac. He settled in the town of Jarnac, in the heart of the Cognac region, where he fell in love with and subsequently married Françoise Elisabeth Delamain, the daughter of a famous cognac négociant (a person or firm that sells or ships wine as a wholesaler).
Paul Hobbs Coombsville Cabernet Sauvignon 2019
It all began on a modest orchard in upstate New York. Paul Hobbs, one of eleven children, was raised on a family-run farm where the rhythm of planting, harvesting, and selling crops at farmers markets before school was the norm. These early experiences not only instilled in him the discipline required for farming, but also introduced him to the concept of terroir—a philosophy that would later become the cornerstone of his winemaking career.
Disclaimer: I’ve been a member of the Clos Pegase wine club for years, so this post is hardly impartial.
Clos Pegase was founded by Jan Shrem in 1983 on a 50-acre vineyard near Calistoga in Napa Valley. He was born in Colombia in 1930 to Jewish-Lebanese parents, and spent his childhood in Jerusalem and his early adolescence back in Colombia. After he arrived in the United States at age 16, he attended the University of Utah and UCLA. While in college, he sold encyclopedias.
Eric and Amy Gale are the owners and sole full-time employees of Anchored Roots, Door County, Wisconsin’s newest winery, founded in 2020.
The couple make an ideal front-of-house/back-of-house duo. Amy grew up in Milwaukee, with hospitality at the forefront of her career path. Her initial focus was event planning, from non-profit fundraisers and catering, to corporate events and weddings. This was followed by experience in tasting room management at Airfield Estates in Prosser, Washington.
Casa Castillo Las Gravas 2020
The Jumilla DO [Denomination of Origin] is located in the Levante region of eastern Spain, about 60 miles west of the coastal town of Alicante. With over 100,00 vineyard acres, the area has long been associated with big, high alcohol red wines. The sun-baked landscape sees 300 days of sunshine per year and a low amount of rainfall. But the soils are very good: deep, not very compact, and with great water retention potential.
Nestled amid the picturesque landscapes around Calistoga in Napa Valley lies a story that spans generations. It all began in 1993 when Rich and Leslie Frank embarked on a journey to establish Frank Family Vineyards, unaware of the rich tapestry of tales woven into the very soil they tread upon. Little did they know that they were about to become stewards of a legacy that stretches back to the late 19th century.
Larkmead Lane, where the Frank Family Vineyards stand today, has a storied history. It was once graced by the presence of Lillie “Firebelle” Hitchcock Coit, who was a patron of San Francisco’s volunteer firefighters and the benefactor for the construction of Coit Tower in San Francisco for whom it was named.
In 1948, the property was purchased by one of Napa’s pioneering winemakers, John Solari. It next passed to a German-born sekt (sparkling wine) maker named Hanns Kornell, who established Kornell Champagne Cellars in 1958 (not to be confused with Korbel California Champagne). The following year, Kornell’s daughter Paula was born, and the winery continues to this day as the Paula Kornell Winery in a different, and undisclosed, location. (Stories have been told of Marilyn Monroe making annual visits to Kornell to stock up on the bubbly.) Continue reading “Frank Family Chardonnay”
Among the picturesque vines of the Château de Villemajou, nestled in the heart of the Corbières in 1975, a young Gérard Bertrand harvested his first grapes, unknowingly embarking on a lifelong passion for wine. Under the guidance of his father, Georges Bertrand, Gérard honed his skills and absorbed the values of performance and excellence instilled in him through his years on the rugby fields of his first vocation.
Note: This isn’t really a blog post, but rather a long-form essay.
California Wine History
If you would prefer a printed copy for reading, click here for the PDF.
For an edited “Reader’s Digest” version of this essay that is about half as long, the PDF is here.
Spanish Colonization
The Spanish Mission System
The Establishment of Missions throughout California
Fray Juniper Serra and His Missions
The Exploitation of Native Americans
Southern and Central California As The First Wine Region
Missions Founded in San Luis Obispo County
Los Angeles as a Wine Making Center
The Gold Rush and the Movement of Wine Production North
Sonoma Valley Pioneers
Napa Valley Pioneers
Exporting California Wine in the Formative Years of Napa Valley
The Early Twentieth Century
The California Wine Association
The Scourge of Prohibition
Highlights of the Modern California Wine Industry
Father of the Modern Era: Andre Tchelistcheff
The Emergence of Single Vineyard Wines
The Judgment of Paris
The Mondavi Family
The Elephant in the Room: Robert Parker
The Amazing 1990s
California Cult Wines
Jean Phillips and Screaming Eagle
Bill Harlan
David Abreu
Andy Beckstoffer
Helen Turley
Contemporary Grapes and Wines
California Wine Regions
American Viticultural Areas
The North Coast
Napa Valley
Sonoma Valley
The Central Coast
A Renaissance in Southern California
The Temecula Valley
Notable Ethic Groups
Native Americans and Mexican-Californios
Chinese-Americans
Italian-Americans
Mexican-Americans
Challenges and Opportunities in the California Wine Industry
Roederer Estate L’Ermitage Brut 2015
Louis Roederer [Road-ur-ur], a distinguished champagne producer situated in Reims, France, traces its origins back to 1776, when it began as Dubois Père & Fils. While its early days were marked by still wine production, the focus soon evolved to embrace the art of crafting fine champagnes. The business underwent a transformation under the stewardship of Louis Roederer in 1833 when he not only inherited but also renamed the company for himself. He boldly ventured into international markets, focusing particularly on Russia. This endeavor gained him immense recognition, including from Tsar Nicolas II, who appointed Louis Roederer as the official wine provider to the Imperial Court of Russia.
Cava de Oro Tequila Extra Anejo
Cava de Oro is a tequila brand produced in Jalisco, Mexico at a facility historically known as Tequilera Puerta de Hierro (NOM 1477), near the town of El Arenal, Jalisco. The brand traces back to founders Gildardo Partida Meléndez and Leticia Hermosillo Ravelero, who began working in the agave fields in the early 1990s — planting, harvesting, cultivating and marketing blue agave (specifically the 100 % Blue Weber agave used for tequila). Over time, the facility expanded, first installing an “alembic” (still), then packaging equipment, and eventually launching the Cava de Oro brand.
Today, Cava de Oro markets itself as a “craft / artisanal” tequila producer. They grow their own agave, harvest “estate-grown” blue Weber agave, and control the process from field to bottle.
You could spend $100 on this incredibly sweet Cava de Oro Extra Anejo Tequila. Or, you could buy a bottle of agave syrup for $5 and a mid-range Blanco tequila for $20, mix them, and get basically the same result. I got through the bottle by making Millionaire’s Margaritas, which were actually pretty tasty.
3 oz. absurdly sweet and expensive tequila, such as Cava de Oro Extra Anejo or Clase Azul Reposado
1 oz. Grand Marnier
2 oz. Rose’s Lime Juice
Serve over ice in glass with salted rim (or even sugar if you really have a sweet tooth.).
Cost for a single margarita: For the Cava de Oro: $15 at home, $45 in a bar (at least). For the Clase Azul, $23 at home, $70 in a bar.
Back to blog posts: winervana.com/blog/
Orin Swift Eight Years in the Desert
Orin Swift Cellars was a relative newcomer on the California wine scene, having been established in 1998, but not by “Orin Swift,” as I had long assumed. Rather, it was by the now iconic, and iconoclastic, winemaker David Phinney. Orin is Phinney’s father’s middle name and Swift is his mother’s maiden name.
Penfolds Bin 704 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2018
Until Yellow Tail precipitated the boom in “critter wines” in 2000, it can be argued that Penfolds was just about synonymous with Australian wine in the U.S. The label is ubiquitous here, in both grocery stores and fine wine shops. Prices range from about $12 per bottle for the Koonunga Hill Shiraz-Cabernet, to $850 for the legendary Grange, and everything in between. (That $850 is doubly amazing, because just five or six years ago Grange was “only” about $200.) The selections are mostly reds plus a few whites and even a tawny Port.
Founders Dr Christopher and Mary Penfold immigrated to Australia from England in 1844, bringing their own French vine cuttings. Not long after, their fledgling vineyard was officially established as the Penfolds wine company at the 500-acre Magill Estate in Adelaide.
The Penfolds were believers in the medicinal benefits of wine, and they planned to concoct a wine tonic for the treatment of anemia. Initially, they produced fortified wines in the style of Sherry and Port for Dr Penfold’s patients. The operation enjoyed early growth, and since Dr Penfold was focused on his medical practice, much of the running of the winery was delegated to Mary Penfold, including the cultivation of the vines and wine blending. On Christopher’s death in 1870, Mary assumed total responsibility for the winery. According to one historical account, by that time the business had “grown to over 60 acres with several different grape varieties including Grenache, Vverdelho, Mataro (aka Mourvedre), Frontignac and Pedro Ximenez,” and the estate was “producing both sweet and dry red and white table wines with a growing market in the eastern Australian colonies of Victoria and New South Wales.” Clarets and Rieslings were especially popular. Continue reading “Penfolds Bin 704 Cabernet Sauvignon”
Whitehall Lane Leonardini Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2018
Under the stewardship of the Leonardini Family, Whitehall Lane continues to produce world-class wines, garnering accolades and awards for its dedication to excellence.
Napa Valley settlers were drawn to the gravelly loam soils and ideal climate over 150 years ago, planting high-quality grapevines at what is now the Whitehall Lane Winery site. The estate vineyards, located in the Rutherford Appellation, stand testament to the enduring allure of the region’s quality soils.
Control of the property has been transferred numerous times. Guiseppe and Rosalie Baranzini owned it in the 1940s and ’50s. Davis Bynum held the land in the 1970s, but failed to secure a winery permit (although not long after he would become the first vintner to produce single-vineyard Russian River Valley Pinot Noir), and sold to Howard Allen. He also was unsuccessful at establishing a winery, and sold to Art and Bunnie Finklestein and Art’s business partner and brother, plastic surgeon Alan Steen, and his wife Charlene in 1979. It was they who finally successfully founded Whitehall Lane on the 25-acre vineyard, setting the stage for the winery’s future. (Allen went on to be a long-time grower for Williams Selyem, starting in 1980.)
Their first vintage was in 1981. Seven years later, the Finklesteins sold the winery to Japanese-based real estate investor Hideaki Ando. (The Finklesteins remain a well-known winemaking family in Napa, currently operating Judds Hill Winery. Continue reading “Whitehall Lane Cabernet Sauvignon”
Pepperoni and Mushroom Pizza
I didn’t grow up in Chicago, but I’ve lived in the suburbs for over 40 years. Two things that I discovered when I moved up from Texas were blues music and deep dish pizza, both of which I love to this day. This riff on Chicago Deep Dish is far from authentic, but uses the ingredients I had on hand.
Continue reading “Pepperoni, Mushroom, and Banana Pepper Deep Dish Pizza”