Salamandre Wine Cellars Fall 2004 Newsletter

The following are excerpts from the Salamandre Newsletter:

Harvest 2004-Twenty Years and Something Special

Pinot Noir 2002, Arroyo Seco, Dijon Clones. Double Gold and Best Wine of Show, 2004 Santa Cruz Mountains Wine Competition

Our Santa Cruz Mountain Wine Competition is an annual "must." Most of our 50 wineries are small, family-and-friends operations, with a few big brothers. We share a wholesome delight when our comrades do well-as winemakers, businesspeople, and parents. We also share a grail pursuit of perfect Pinot Noir, which assures that most of us stay humble.

My humble imagination began tingling in 2000 with the very first harvest from an experimental planting of Dijon clones Pinot Noir at the Arroyo Seco Vineyard. I believed we had stumbled onto the perfect match of soil, climate, clones-and people-for this finicky varietal. Veteran vineyardists Roger Moitoso and Serafin Guzman concentrated their expertise on this small plot, committing countless hours and sacrificing crop yield to demonstrate the true potential of these grapes. The vines obeyed…with a wink.

That 2000 Pinot was extraordinarily fragrant, but rather light in color and body, similar to many Burgundies. It remains one of my favorites with salmon. The 2001 showed a surprising leap in depth of color and tannins, perfect with pork tenderloin, and it continues to add layers of complexity with bottle age. That was a prelude.

After the long, steady summer of 2002, the drums began to beat and the cymbals clashed. We picked at full ripeness in late September, yet with plenty of natural acidity to capture the swirl of black cherry, pomegranate, and complex spice aromas. We aged in French oak for a year, making minimal cellar disruptions to its natural development. The wine is deeply colored and quite full bodied for a Pinot, with an aftertaste that lingers and changes with the intrigue of a mountain sunset. The judges loved it when it was barely a teenager. Just wait until it learns how to dance! I expect this Pinot to age for 7-10 years, but actually, there's little point in postponing this hedonistic indulgence. Silk over polished burl.

Fall Wines for Dionysian Splendor

In addition to our Best of Show Pinot 2002, we received 6 Silver medals at the 2004 Santa Cruz Mountain Wine Competition. Taste them all!

Ménage à Trois 2001 Let's be frank. It's challenging to show up as an adolescent when the seductive 2000 is still strutting around the kitchen in tight jeans, but we think kids are learning fast these days.

Chardonnay 2002 Arroyo Seco We've made Chardonnay from these same vines for 25 years, and this is one of the best. Abundant fruit, perfect balance, crisp acidity, and tasteful touches of oak. Silver medal at Orange County, too.

Merlot 2002, Arroyo Seco. Bold, inky wine with an aroma which billows across the table. Flattens the stereotype of Merlot as handmaiden to Cabernet.

Syrah 2002, Los Lobos. Jammy fruit, earthy notes, and black pepper spice with an enticing raspberry aroma. Wine bottles are too small for something this tasty.

Don Carlos Red 2002 Everyday red blend with bright "red fruit" of strawberry, red cherry, and currant.

We're nearing the end for several other stars

Ménage à Trois 2000. Smirking threesome of Primitivo, Merlot, and Syrah keeping secrets after 2 years in a dark corner of the cellar. Too charming to be credibly moral, but discreet at least through dinner.

Primitivo 2000, Los Lobos. This wine won its gold in 2002. We're not wasting any more on competitions. I typically serve this wine last in our tastings, because it's just not fair to pour even excellent red wines after the Primitivo. It sweeps the table clean. It's my favorite rocky beach wine, mountain meadow wine, icy plunge wine, desert moon wine, eagle crags wine, big-one-that-got-away wine, I-can't-believe-you-really-said-that wine, still-in-love wine.

Too Scarce to Enter in a Fair, Unfair if we did….