Sonoma County has a lot to celebrate. The most obvious is great wine. I am a believer that the most incredible Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Zinfandel in the ENTIRE world come from Sonoma County!
Sonoma Valley Grapevines
One of the best perks about what I do here as the Texas Wineaux, is I get invited to many incredible wine events throughout the year. A few years back Sonoma In The City rolled through Dallas promoting the incredible wines of Sonoma County. It was a first class event held at The Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek near downtown Dallas, and sponsored by Sonoma County Winegrowers, Vintners, and Sonoma County Tourism.
It was a open tasting event that featured some of the best wines in Sonoma County including legends such as; Patz & Hall, Ferrari-Carano, J Vineyards, Seghesio, Gary Farrell, MacPahil, Francis Ford Coppola, Jordan, Rodney Strong, Chateau St. Jean, Gundach Bundschu, Martinelli, and Ramey. But what I enjoyed most is tasting some of the not so well known producers such as Papapietro Perry (one of my favorites!), Benovia, Dry Creek Vineyard, and possibly my favorite; Davis Family Vineyards. I was able to taste my way through Sonoma County and celebrate the diversity of the wines.
I have since traveled to Sonoma County several times, and actually visited many of these vintners, wineries, and producers. Some have elaborate wineries and tasting rooms, while others are considered “Boutique Wineries”. This is a fancy word penned by the fine folks that are in charge of selling small wineries wines. Basically it means the wineries production is usually very small, and usually sold to restaurants or to wine club members only. Thus they cannot afford to build big elaborate tasting room. Often the tasting room is simply a small building on the property and you taste from one of the family members! Other small producers will share a facility with 3-10 other Boutique Wineries. This can be very fun because you can taste several different producers’ wines side by side. One of my favorite spots for this is The Barlow in Sebastopol. You can taste local wine, buy local art, and enjoy local foods all in one location! I would encourage you to stop by next time you are in Sonoma County.
Well, back in early December Sonoma County Tourism partnered with Rodney Strong Vineyardsand Davis Bynumto highlight the incredible diversity of Pinot Noir Clones. Once again, the Sonoma County Tourism doesn’t go cheap with the sites, as this wonderful affair was held for the media at the hippest spot in uptown Dallas; the Dragonfly at Hotel ZaZa in Uptown
I knew it was going to be something special when we walked in and I saw Robert Larsen of Rodney Strong Wine Estates. I had met Robert a few times before at various tasting events including Sonoma In The City Dallas, and he is so witty and funny. Robert is very good at his job and is gifted with incredible communication skills. He can get down and dirty with the ‘wine geeks” like myself and talk shop with the best of them. But he also has a admirable ability to “not talk over the heads” of the others in the room (media mostly) that might not have quite the so called wine knowledge. Whatever you throw at him he always has the perfect response, smiles, and makes you feel great for asking (“great question” he said more than once).
He was joined by Tim Zahner, the Chief Marketing Officer for Sonoma County Tourism. Tim is very good at his job as well, and keeps the program moving, interesting, and broadened the talk into Sonoma County in general, not just the wonders of wine.
Together they joined forces for one of my favorite and most informative wine events I have attended.
Clone Tasting Seminar Dec ’14
We started out with seven glasses of wine, six with the typical 2-oz pours, and one with about 5-oz pour. It was explained by Robert Larsen that all the wines were produced by Robert Bynum and from Russian River, Sonoma County. They were all pinot noir wines made identically (same fermentation, same amount of oak, same vinifcation procedures, etc…), and all fruit was sourced from the same Jane’s Vineyard, but different blocks within the vineyard that are planted to each individual clone. Each of the first six wines was produced with individual clones only, and the final glass was the finished product blended from ALL the wines at different percentages of each clone.
These clones included; Clone 777, Clone 114, Clone 115 Pommard, Wadenville Clone 2A, and Clone 667.
Clone Tasting Seminar
As you can see from the chart above, different clones add different color, aromas, texture, tannins, and acid
Now for the wine geek that I admit to be, this was a fascinating seminar that highlighted the way the different pinot noir clones can taste, smell, and feel in the mouth, simply by blending different clones together. Blending the right clones together for the perfect pinot noir is an art, and should be considered such!
So…what is a clone?
A clone is a group of identical genes, cells, or organisms derived from one single ancestor.
Grapevine clones are those that have been propagated and grown from cuttings from one single “mother vine,” and were found to have an interesting or superior qualities.
Calwineries has a great explanation of why this is important here: Calwineries
Basiclly all 6 of the clone pinot noir were very nice wines on their own, and especially the 777 and the 114 clones were representative (to me) of what comes to my mind when I think “Russian River Pinot Noir”. But the way Davis Bynum winemaker blended the 2012 Jane’s Vineyard together was outstanding (see tasting notes below).
Davis Bynum has been making Pinot Noir in the Russian River valley for over 40 years. In fact, Davis was the first to produce a single vineyard Pinot Noir from RRV. The vintage was 1973, and the grapes were from Joe Rochioli’s now prized vineyard. In 2007 Davis sold to the Klein Family but he stays on as support. Now Davis Bynum is under the infamous Rodney Strong label.
2012 Davis Bynum Jane’s Vineyard Pinot Noir
Profile: Bright med red in color. Aroma of oak (vanilla), cola, bing cherry, and cocoa. Med light body. In the mouth it is clean, delicate, and fresh, but with definite earthy and slight mushroom notes as well (possibly from clone 115?). Bright Cherry and Cocoa notes seem to change dramaticlly on the tongue, and a nice long oaky finish. This wine retails for $35 and is a strong buy from me. Great Russian River Pinot Noir at sub <$50 is difficult to find.
This is an elegant wine with med tannins and complexity that is the very reason I believe Russian River makes some of the best pinot noir made in the world!
2012 Davis Bynum Jane’s Vineyard Pinot Noir
Well done gentleman, and thank you Sonoma County Tourism, Rodney Strong Wine Estates, and Davis Bynum Winery for this informative and entertaining event!
Thank you for reading my post. I would ask that you please leave a comment with your thoughts.
A bucket list (for those who have lived in a cave for the last 20 years) is a list of things that you want to do or accomplish before you “Kick the Bucket”. While everyone has their own persoanl list, I offer my suggestions for my own personal bucket list… travel to Tuscany, Italy!
Ok, it seems like everyone has a bucket list these days. In fact a really funny movie by the name The Bucket List with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman was a huge hit a few years back. Most of us never actually write them down on paper, let alone work towards them. But I do believe most of us have a kind of working bucket list in our head that changes from time to time. They will change from time to time because life can (if you let it) really beat you down!
We all start out in life thinking life is going to be such a kick-ass time with everything playing out like it does on TV, or the way we play it out in our mind when we are young and naive.
You know what I mean;
We get out of college with a new BMW, a great Executive job, buy a big house, raise perfect kids that become doctors, and vacation in the Hamptons…
Right?
God blessed you if that is your life!But “real life” is full of challenges that we constantly have to contend with such as; down-turns in the economy, health problems, divorces, and job changes, teenagers, etc… And these challenges, and how we respond to them, build who we are as a person and what kind of character we have.
So, let’s get back to the bucket list and what that means to me personally at this time in my life. I say this “time in my life” because I would have had a substantially different bucket list in my twenties than what I will have now in my mid-50s.
Top of my bucket list: I love to travel.
I have always loved to travel, even when I was a kid. I couldn’t wait for Dad to load us up in the family sedan and drive us to some distant place that I had never visited before. Luckily my beautiful wife Margie and I do take a lot of small-medium size trips several times a year. But after marking off a huge part of my bucket list by not only visiting Paris, but my lovely bride and I were actually married in Normandy, France. And we returned to France in 2009 for 2-weeks of incredible wine tasting throughout; Loire, Chablis, Cote D Beaune, Alsace, and Champagne. (Check out previous articles for more details from those trips).
So… “where next” you say?
Italy
Tuscany for my Bucket List!
Top of my Bucket List: Rent a villa in Tuscany for 2 weeks with close friends. Then use the house near the center of Italy as a base where we make short 1-2 day trips to different areas of interest in Italy that I dream about.
Tuscany in Spring
Florence is at the top of my list because of The David and the other incredible works of art at the Uffizi Galleryhousing the famous masterpieces from Leonardo da Vinci, Giotto, Botticelli and Michelangelo!
Then? Days of touring the beautiful vineyards and wine tasting throughout Tuscany of course! The wine regions of Bolgheri (Antinori), Brunello di Montalcino (Argiano!), Chianti, and Chianti Classico for all the Super Tuscans! Some of the most incredible food friendly and world class wines in the world come from Tuscany. My good freind Michelle Williams actually just came back from touring the wine country in Italy. Check out her great blog at www.rockinredblog.com
On days when we are tired and simply want to relax (it is vacation after all), we head down to the local panetteria for fresh bread, macelleria for fresh meats and deli, and cook at the house. Of course we will enjoy the terrific wines we have picked while tasting throughout the region on the patio overlooking the vineyards of Tuscany! Those relaxing days at the house, and getting to know the locals, sound as great as the sights of Italy to me!
Tuscan Country Home
Then back on the road again with a day trip to Naples for “pizza vera napoletana,” true Neapolitan pizza. We are blessed to have a authentic Italian pizzia restaurant in our town of Frisco by the name of Pizzeria Testa that is serious about making real Neapolitan Pizza from a 7000 lb brick oven imported from Napoli, Italy. The chef Michele (pronounced Mi-kay-lah) D’Amelio was brought in from Italy, and has won two international competitions for pizza-making. So enjoying authentic pizza from Napoli, Italy and washing it down with a terrific Super Tuscan direct from terra firma really excites me!
Then off to the Amalfi Coast including Capri, and Positano for the beautiful Italian Coast, people watching and of course; Lemoncello!
Lemons are ready for Lemoncello!Delikatessen, Positano, Amalfi
And a Tours of ancient Pompeii is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Pompeii, stopped in its tracks by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79, offers the best look anywhere at what life in Rome must have been like 2,000 years ago. An entire city of well-preserved ruins will be ours to explore. Once a thriving commercial port of 20,000, Pompeii grew from Greek and Etruscan roots to become an important Roman city. Then Pompeii was buried under 30 feet of hot mud and volcanic ash.
An overnight trip to Venice is a must for anyone’s bucket list! You just have to experience Venice at night to truly get how romantic it can be! And yes I know… it can be dirty, crowded, and expensive. But this is one of the most unique, romantic, and historic cities in the history of the world. How can you not take a gondola ride with your sweetheart, and get lost in the back streets of Venice?
Romantic Venice at night
Rome should be a 2 day trip minimum as well. History buff or no, it’s impossible not to marvel at a structure like the Colosseum, or stand in awe on the cobblestones of the Roman Forum and think about who walked there before you. Plus the incredible restaurants in Rome are outstanding. A must for my bucket list would have to be a fabulous dinner at l’Archeologia Cucina for fabulous Amatriciana Pecorino Ravioli or Beef Carpaccio!
The adventure of traveling to a distant land and immersing ourselves in the local cuisine, terrific wines, and the interesting locals of the land is something Margie and I really love.
When you dream about it, talk about it, and then put it down on paper as on a Bucket List; it is amazing how somehow it becomes reality. And the next thing you know…you are getting on a plane for an adventure!
Thank you once again for taking the time to read the rambling of a Texas Wineaux! Check back from time to time to see how my Bucket List is progressing as well as sharing my other dreams I have on my own personal list. I would love your thoughts so please leave your comments, suggestions you may have, or even stories of your own travels that you would like to share in the comments section.
