The madness must come to an end. Last night, a new men’s champion was
crowned. The field was narrowed, and
narrowed, and narrowed...until just two teams were standing. Those two fought hard, but only one could
win. Someone, somewhere, chose the winner
and today sat victorious over the others in the office pool. Was it you?! (I took second in my office pool, by the way!)
Last week, I made the tough choices of eight elite wineries
I was dying to visit in northern California.
I put much thought and logic into my picks. I used a certain set of rules when making my
choices, but just like with the regular bracket for the NCAA men’s tourney, there
were literally another thousand different choices other than my eight.
Experts say that the possible bracket
combinations for the men’s tourney were more than nine quintillion…yes,
quintillion...options. I did not find nine
quintillion other views on eight elite wineries in California, however. I found two!
The first opposing bracket is from Eric Gardner—Rapid City,
South Dakota’s wine and food loving meteorologist. His love for wine and food are shown in
multiple ways, but they appear first and foremost in his “In the Kitchen with
Eric Gardner” segments on the KOTA network out of Rapid. He has taught wine and food pairing classes in the area and has led multiple tastings and wine events around the
Black Hills. It is obvious through Eric’s
elite picks that he loves a good cabernet sauvignon, yet he appreciates many
California wines.
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| [Eric Gardner with his two favorite hobbies: food and wine!] |
One—[Morlet Family Vineyards]: Patriarch Luc Morlet came from France to the
U.S. with just a thousand dollars in his pocket. He sought the best grapes to make wines in
the fashion of his homeland, and he has done just that. Eric loves the Morlet white Bordeaux blend—sauvignon
blanc and semillon—but he also enjoys Morlet’s cabs, pinots, and syrahs.
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| [Morlet Family Vineyards] |
Two—[Varozza Vineyards]:
Jack and Dianna Varozza started by growing fruit for other wine
producers. However, they make small
amounts of their own wine. Eric tells they grow
some of the best petite sirah in Napa to produce wine under their own
label. They also grow and ferment a
wonderful old-vine sauvignon blanc, a show-case Chardonnay, and a world-class
zinfandel.
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| [Varozza Vineyards] |
Three—[Verite Wines]:
Another transplant from France, Pierre Seilan makes Bordeaux blends
using merlot, cabernet sauvignon, and cabernet franc. Verite’s Le Desir blend has a higher
percentage of cab franc than his other wines; it is made this way to be similar
to the traditional wines of St. Emilion.
Eric’s “Parker palate” is evident in his love of this producer—a producer
that has received perfect one hundred point scores from Robert Parker himself.
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| [Verite Wines] |
Four—[Detert Family Vineyards]: The Detert family has been growing grapes on
the west side of the Oakville region of Napa for over sixty years. Year after year after year, Eric believes the
Deterts produce one of the most delightful, unusual, and complex cabernet
francs from California; they are big reds with floral notes. Since this is a smaller
producer, to purchase these wines, get on the winery mailing list.
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| [Detert Family Vineyards] |
Five—[Schrader Cellars]:
Speaking of winery mailing lists, Eric’s father was fortunate to be one
of the elite on Schrader’s, earning the ability to access some of California’s
greatest cabernet sauvignons. Eric believes
these wines show the “essence of California”; they have also received more perfect
scores from Parker and other critics than any other wines in California
history.
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| [Schrader Cellars] |
Six—[Alban Vineyards]:
Eric’s love of Napa is quite evident in many of his choices, but he
shows his diversity with Alban Vineyards, a tiny winery near San Luis Obispo in
Arroyo Grande. One of the first wineries
to produce wines exclusively from Rhone varieties, Alban specializes in syrah, grenache,
mouvedre, marsanne, and grenache blanc.
Eric still considers an Alban wine to be the most moving wine-drinking
experience he has ever had: “When I drank the 2006 Alban 'Reva'
Syrah. The enormous wine changed every 15 minutes in the glass - much like
John Alban's personality, interestingly enough!”
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| [Alban Vineyards] |
Seven—[Entre
Nous]: Grapes for Entre Nous wines are
grown in the Kristine Ashe Vineyards and produced by the team of Philippe Melka
and Julien Fayard. Entre Nous has one of
Napa’s finest sauvignon blancs but also produces a cabernet that is, as Eric
states, “More than fruit and tannin.” It
is so complex that even floral notes show through.
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| [Entre Nous] |
Eight—[Barbour
Vineyards]: Jim Barbour has tended some
of Napa’s most prestigious grapes over the past thirty years. He grows his own fruit for elite winemaker
Celia Welch to ferment into wine. (Celia
is the second Barbour winemaker; the first was equally as impressive—Heidi Barrett.) This duo only makes cabernet sauvignon--which Eric loves--from
Barbour’s dry farmed, sustainably grown vineyards. Celia also makes wines under other
labels: Scarecrow, Keever, Hollywood and
Vine, and Corra (her own).
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| [Barbour Vineyards] |
Enjoy Eric’s elite eight wineries. Check back soon when I have yet another
bracket to add to our “bracketology” madness, a viewpoint that will be
completely different! My fellow
International Wine Guild sommelier from Austin, Texas—Oscar—is going to share
his unique insight on eight special California wineries. This is yet another bracket that could be a winner. Let the madness continue!
