Sold-out Chardonnay Symposium scores another hit with winemakers, guests, chefs

Participants in Saturday’s third-annual Chardonnay Symposium at Byron Vineyard & Winery enjoyed chardonnay from 56 California winemakers during a summer day that showcased both the gentle warmth and gusty winds for which the Santa Maria Valley is famous.

The symposium’s morning panel session and afternoon grand tasting both sold out, said Chris Slaughter, executive director of the Santa Maria Valley Wine Country Association, event sponsor. “We are thrilled to be able to share our Santa Maria Valley hospitality with so many people from throughout the state of California.”

Some of the Central Coasts most popular restaurants and caterers, among them Full of Life Flatbread, the Ballard Inn, Central City Market and Trattoria Uliveto, offered guests some of the freshest fare around, as well as cooking and wine pairing demonstrations.

Eight chardonnay producers from throughout California participated in the symposium’s morning panel: Bob Cabral of Williams Selyem; Joshua Klapper of La Fenetre Wines, (subbing for Jenne Lee Bonaccorsi of Bonaccorsi Wine Company, who had a family emergency); returning 2011 panelist Dieter Cronje, Presqu’ile Wines; James Hall, Patz & Hall; Eric Johnson, Talley Vineyards; Heidi von deer Mehden, Arrowood Vineyards & Winery; Bill Wathan, Foxen Winery; and Graham Weerts of Stonestreet Wines.

Led by moderator Steve Heimoff, each speaker offered a variation of the panel’s theme, “Chardonnay & Terroir.” Heimoff is an editor at “Wine Enthusiast” and wine blogger.

Klapper noted that Byron’s Nielsen Vineyard, one of the Santa Maria Valley’s oldest, produces grapes that are “very much Santa Maria Valley” in that they showcase the balance of acidity and sugar for which the region’s chardonnays and pinot noirs are known.

The cool area leads to vines’ early bud break and a long growing season, one described by panelist Bill Wathen of Foxen Winery as lasting an average of 125 days from bloom to harvest.

While winters are “warm,” and the warmest time each day tends to be around 11 or 11:30 a.m., by noon the winds pick up and the window for the vines’ photosynthesis closes, Wathen said. “There’s a very short growth period during each day.”

At Stonestreet Winery’s Alexander Mountain Estate Vineyard, winemaker Graham Weerts has learned that “cooler climates make better chardonnays — and better wines” in general, he said.

The South African native described how the vineyard that produces Stonestreet’s Broken Road and Bear Point chardonnays ranges between 1,800 and 2,000 feet in elevation. “We grow chardonnay right about at the fog line” on the property, he said.

The Stonestreet 2010 Upper Barn Chardonnay radiates flavors of white peach. To be sure, Weerts noted, some of the best characteristics of chardonnay are “peach pits” and an essence of gravel on the palate.

As California’s most widely planted grape, chardonnay is “even more diverse” than it was 25 years ago when some of the state’s earliest vineyards were created, said panelist Bob Cabral, winemaker for Williams Selyem.

With so many chardonnay styles from which to choose, Cabral urged panel attendees to “find the one that you like, and just drink wine.”

At the panel’s end, Heimoff led panelists in saluting the Wente chardonnay clone, which was imported to California in 1912 by Ernest Wente via cuttings in France and cultivated at the famous Wente Winery in the Livermore Valley.

Local chefs who offered live cooking demonstrations were Budi Kazali of The Ballard Inn; Alfonso Curti of Trattoria Uliveto; and Ryan Gromfin, consulting chef for the Santa Maria Inn.

The weekend event, in its third year, featured a “BYOC (chardonnay) barbecue Friday night at Sierra Madre vineyard, Saturday’s Byron events, a sold-out winemaker dinner Saturday night with longtime area winemaker Kenneth Volk, a seafood-and-chardonnay dinner at Riverbench Vineyard & Winery and a Sunday brunch at Cottonwood Canyon Vineyard & Winery.

Copyright centralcoastwinepress.com

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Cooking Light spotlights Lompoc “Wine Ghetto” in “Hidden Gems” feature

The current issue of Cooking Light includes the feature “Hidden Gems and Delicious Destinations,” which details what the magazine calls an “American Food Revolution.”

From coast to coast and cities in between — the obvious (New Orleans, Los Angeles and Chicago) to the less so (Florida Keys and Viroqua, Wisconsin) — the writers describe purveyors of farm-to-table eats that tempt a reader to hop in the car and head east, north or south.

On the feature’s second page, under the headline “Santa Barbara County’s wine-tasting revolution,” are three scant paragraphs that mention Los Olivos, Los Alamos and, in more detail, Lompoc’s Wine Ghetto.

The story notes the obvious: The Ghetto is “no romantic sipping experience; it’s a fluorescent-lit warehouse located behind a Home Depot. But you’re clinking glasses with the winemakers themselves, and their passion for what’s coming out of nearby vineyards can be every bit as beautiful as those scenic Napa cliches.”

Of course, we locals understand we’ve got something special in Lompoc and those “nearby vineyards.” We know them as the Sta. Rita Hills AVA, home to some of the region’s best pinot noir and chardonnay.

One quibble: Both Santa Barbara County and San Francisco are categorized as “Northwest,” a geographical oddity that seems to have been corrected to Southwest in the online version at http://www.cookinglight.com/healthy-living/travel/food-destinations-00412000076050/

Copyright centralcoastwine.press.com

Our panel’s third tasting report: Grenache

As it is one of the world’s most widely planted wine grapes, one might assume that grenache has cultivated more prominence in the New World.

I feel silly even writing those words, for grenache is hands down my favorite red grape varietal. Perhaps I have France in my bones, for while grenache is a key component in some Northern Rhône reds, and the lead varietal in nearly all Southern Rhône red blends, it’s famed for being the base varietal for Chateauneuf du Pape, Côtes du Rhône and Gigondas. Grenache is also used to produce the rosés for which the Tavel district of Côtes du Rhône is known.

Grenache, however, has its roots in Spain, where it is known as garnacha, or garnacha tinta, and nearly three times as much grenache grows in Spain as in France.

Grenache thrives throughout California, especially in the interior valleys, since this state’s conditions match those in the hot and driest regions of Spain and France.

I tell people who are newer to grenache to look for flavors of bright strawberry, raspberry and blackberry, with a dash of black pepper on the finish. Grenache is supple but bold, and sassy like a playful cat. Michelle Lee Ball aptly described grenache as the Rhône sister to pinot noir both in color and on the palate. Think light and bright.

Anyone who farms grenache understands its virility; viticulturists routinely thin shoots and drop fruit clusters throughout each growing season. The shoots of the grenache vine in my yard wave in the Lompoc wind like the arms of an octopus.

On May 25, members of the centralcoastwinepress.com tasting panel gathered round to taste grenache. We were short one panelist, but general rakishness — the theme that unites us — kept us in stitches throughout the night.

During this, our third tasting (the first two being malbec, in January, and chardonnay, in March) our hosts raised the bar considerably by providing six grenaches, which they described as two from the Central Coast, and one each from Australia, France, Italy and Spain.

Who we are: Michelle Lee and Jeremy Ball, Bottle Branding Inc.; Katie Baillargeon and Marcel Rivera-Baillargeon, UCSB creative writing professor and online marketing specialist, respectively; Mark Cargasacchi, winemaker/owner, Jalama Wines and Joseph Blair Wines; and myself. (Missing this evening was Laura Sanchez, wine journalist for several local and national publications).

Over cheese and crackers, home-pickled snap peas and spicy beef sliders, we blended our trademark hilarity with the six wines. It was a Friday night, and we let loose.

Wine One: “Fruity; moderate alcohol; chalky, with viscosity; definitely from Ballard Canyon; very little acidity; balanced; not flabby; austere and basic; good, but not balanced; definitely ‘local’ fruit; pairs well with the cheese; lovely nose.”

Wine Two: “Has a slight menthol-like taste; oak; could be from the Barossa Valley (Australia); I don’t know how to describe this, but it’s intriguing; this is a superior food wine; elegant; spicy; has an aftertaste; probably made with neutral American oak barrels, or maybe Hungarian; a great wine; this is a nice European wine — if this is from the Central Coast, I’ll be surprised; this is lighter and fruitier, but it eases off at the end.”

We jumped back and forth between wines one and two, sipping each repeatedly. We took a poll, and both wines one and two were in a dead heat for first. One panelist described wine one as more masculine, and two as more feminine, and in general, we agreed, describing two as full of intrigue.

Wine Three: “Sweet; almost Australian; it’s got candy-like sweetness, and I like it — but after a while, it would get on my nerves; lovely; short finish; jammy, sweet and short; not much here, taste wise.”

Wine Four: “Chocolate nose; inky; oaky; alcohol, sweet ethanol; California; no, Australia; has a little bit of funk.”

Wine Five: “Definitely from the U.S.; coconut flavors, which I take to mean American oak; just really drinkable.” (Note: This wine was decanted).

Wine Six: “It sucks; we love it — not; definitely French (three panelists agreed); no, it’s Italian (in the end, all four were wrong); stinky sweet on the nose, but better on the palate.”

The wines:

Wine One: 2007 Herman Story, Larner Vineyard, $38.

Wine Two: 2009 Argiolas Costera, Sardinina, Italy; blend of 90 percent cannonau (described as a descendant of grenache), 5 percent carignano and 5 percent bovale sardo; $25.

Wine Three: 2008 Kenneth Crawford, also from Larner Vineyard; $12.

Wine Four: 2009 Pertuisane “Le Nain Violet” Maury Rouge; 100 percent grenache from the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France; $20.

Wine Five: 2008 Alto Moncayo garnacha, $50.

Wine Six: 2008 Yalumba Bush Vine, Barossa Valley, $17.

Copyright centralcoastwinepress.com

The Ghetto’s New Vineland Bread Company offers local bread subscription

New Vineland Bread photo/Freshly baked loaves of bread line shelves inside the bakery, located in Lompoc's Wine Ghetto.

New Vineland Bread, located in the Lompoc Wine Ghetto, will next week launch its long-anticipated bread subscription with a 12-week session.

Beginning June 6, fresh loaves of bread will be available to members who join the June-through-August session, said Melissa Sorongon, co-owner of New Vineland Bread with her husband, New Vineland/Piedrassasi winemaker Sashi Moorman and Peter and Amy Pastan of Washington, D.C.

Moorman also is consulting winemaker for Evening Land Vineyards, Sandhi Wines and Stolpman Vineyards.

Peter Pastan is chef and owner of Two Amys Pizzeria and Obelisk, both in Washington, D.C., and Amy Pastan is a longtime writer, editor and book producer.

The New Vineland Bread subscription will operate like a Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) program: participants will pay to “join” for at least one session and receive a set number of loaves each week.

The owners are limiting membership to the first 50 who join, Sorongon explained, but will create a waiting list for latecomers, or those who wish to retrieve the breads from a different location, such as the Santa Ynez Valley or Santa Barbara.

Members active in the summer session get first dibs on continuing with the fall session before it is opened to those on the waiting list, she noted.

The breads available each week will be the choice of baker Kate Heller, “so folks won’t know what they get until they come to the bakery,” Sorongon said.

Heller’s efforts currently include the Durum, Franciscan (whole wheat), Fifty-Fifty (spelt and fresh-milled wheat) and Walnut (with vin santo) loaves, Sorongon said.

New Vineland recently began selling bread and olive oil at the Ojai Farmers Market (Sundays), and once the company harvests its first locally-grown wheat early this fall, it will also participate in Santa Barbara County Farmers Markets, she said.

Subscription information: Choices: Family (small) two loaves, one small and one large, for $145 per session, or Family (large), two large loaves, for $180. No bread service Wednesday, July 4. Member pickup will be Wednesdays between 4 and 6 p.m. at the New Vineland/Piedrasassi winery/tasting room/bakery, 1501 E. Chestnut Ave., at the western edge of the Lompoc Ghetto.

Information: http://www.newvineland.com, or info@newvineland.com, (805) 736-6784.