Holy Cow, we’re back. Monterey summary with lots to come…

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Hello again! Just got back from some vacay about a week ago and I’m always amazed at how I need a vacation to recover from my vacation! In any case, we had a great time in California and certainly came back with strong opinions on many things.  One of those is that we somehow stayed at the right place in Napa. This was the view from the window in our room:

B and I are planners, but we still managed to go with the flow a bit and change things up as we went along. Our general plan to start in the Monterey/Pacific Grove area was a good one. Driving south from San Francisco on a Friday is not something I enjoy, but I suspect that leaving SF to go anywhere on a Friday night would be not enjoyable. We stayed at the Gosby House Inn in Pacific Grove which I would highly recommend. The Inn was fine, but “reasonably” priced (for the area) and the location was great. Wine wise, we did head into to Carmel Valley Village and had a great time at Talbott (more later). Instead of Boekenoogen and Bernardus, we made our way to a couple of other tasting rooms. And we took a break from wine tasting for a day (sorry Pierce Ranch and Taste of Monterey) to walk along the Pacific and take in some views. This just means more to do when we go back!

While at Talbott we learned that Winemaker Dan Karlsen has his own wine label Chock Rock… So of course we had to wander down there (more later). We had a great time talking to Dan’s son Rob, who reminded B and I of Bo Barrett from the movie Bottle Shock. We also really liked their wines. Can’t wait to drink more. We also received a free tasting while at Talbott for Joullian winery. And well, free is hard to resist so we wandered over there.

The woman pouring for us at Joullian was very talkative and friendly, so we had a lovely time there. No wine reviews at the moment, but suffice to say that we liked some of their wines quite a bit and others not so much. They have a beautiful tasting room and friendly staff, so I’d go back for sure.

We did more than just wine in Monterey. We had our anniversary dinner at Aubergine in Carmel. I have much to say on this (we had a great time and spent a great deal), but I don’t want to bore you all at once. We also headed out to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, walked along the Pacific (very different from the Atlantic), and had a couple of other good meals.

All in all, the Monterey portion of our trip was great fun and I look forward to returning to that area of California. I’ll wrap up Napa later, but to paraphrase Rob (from Chock Rock): “It’s not like this in Napa.”

Quick summary:

Gosby House Inn: Would stay here again. Comfortable, good value, good location. Loved Pacific Grove, easy walk to Monterey.

Talbott: Yay!

Chock Rock: Wow! Glad we learned about this wine and we had a great time chatting with Rob Karlsen.

Joullian: Huh. Pretty good overall, lovely tasting room.

Aubergine: Two expensive thumbs up!

Monterey Bay Aquarium: Where did the time go? Got some great pics!

Napa wines, a prelude: More Grgich Hills

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2008 Grgich Hills Estate Chardonnay (Napa Valley, California)
purchased for approximately $35 on sale at Gordan’s

We originally learned about the Grgich Hills Estate after reading Judgement of Paris. Mike Grgich was the winemaker for Chateau Montelena at the time and had (and still has) very strong opinions about how wines should be grown and created. Those opinions are reflected in the wines from Grgich Hills. The wines are all biodynamically grown without the use of artificial fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides. Interestingly, they also use wild yeast fermentation.

I haven’t tasted all that many Grgich Hills wines (I’m looking forward to the visit). But those that I have tried share an elegance that speaks to well crafted wines with a minimum of fuss. My favorite chardonnays are fruit forward and rich with lots of buttery oak. I would not describe the 2008 Grgich Hills Estate Napa Valley Chardonnay in that way. It was a quieter wine, more elegant. Crisp, clean, perhaps some apple or pear on the tongue. There was some buttery oak at the end. Overall a very nice wine, though not to my usual taste. Enough to make me want to try more though I think that I lean more towards the Grgich Hills reds than whites. I can’t wait to try the Zinfandel…

Napa Wines, a prelude: Grgich Hills Cabernet Sauvignon

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2006 Grgich Hills Estate Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley, California)
Purchase for $35-40 at the Wine Bunker

I appreciate Grgich Hills Estate because their focus is not on getting the highest ratings for their wines but rather making the best wine possible from the grapes that they grow. That said, this was a nice wine, especially in the way that a nice wine is sometimes about what you don’t taste.

We decanted the cabernet sauvignon and let it breathe for about an hour before we started drinking. That let it open up and just become very smooth and subtle. This is a slow drinking wine but I can’t complain. Full bodied and a bit dry, the fruit balances against the oak very well. A hint of dust with the fruit makes me want to try it again. The price was certainly reasonable for this wine.

Napa Wine Train… here I come

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What is the most quintessentially touristy thing to do when visiting Napa and going wine tasting? Why the Wine Train, of course! I have to admit that when we started planning our trip this was at the top of the list of things I wanted to do. I’m not sure what it is about trains, but I love them.

Back when I was a youngster there was, for a very short while, a passenger train that connected Houston to Galveston and my mom took me on it. So awesome! We sat in economy class on the way out (I think) and the seats were like airplane seats but much more comfortable and I could get up and move around. On our way home, we rode in 1st class. I can remember red velvet seats and little tables. Now THAT was first class travel! I have great pictures of us on the Cumbres & Toltec in New Mexico and great memories of the Minnesota Zephyr (which apparently is no more). Needless to say, I seek out rail rides when I can. Add in wine and duh. OF COURSE I’m riding the Napa Wine Train.

I also want to say to the Napa Wine Train – you made it even more appealing by adding a stop at Grgich Hills. While I cannot say that Grgich Hills is my favorite Napa area winery, I must say that I have a great respect for the wines that they craft. Grgich Hills was also on my must visit list, so to be able to combine my love of trains with a visit to a great vineyard was a no-brainer. I hope to report that it is as good as I expect!

Monterey, a prelude: Yet more Talbott

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I’ll mention our wine group more at some point, but for now, let me say that it has provided us the opportunity to quite a few wines that we likely would not have purchased “just to try”.  Our wine group gave us a chance to try yet another Talbott wine. 

1997 Talbott Sleepy Hollow Vineyard Chardonnay (California)
Currently selling online for between $80 and $169 (assuming you can find it in stock)

The Sleepy Hollow Vineyard is one of the higher end of the Talbott Vineyard’s offering and I cannot wait to try more! We actually had two splits of the 1997 Talbott Sleepy Hollow Vineyard Chardonnay which provided an opportunity to see how the wine had changed in the bottle after more than a decade. (We opened this in winter/spring 2012.) I should also note that splits do tend to age more quickly than larger bottles, as well. The wine was originally given a 92 by Wine Spectator.

Split #1 was a gorgeous golden color in the glass. On the nose it was a bit grassy with hints of strawberry. A very rich mouth feel, the grass continued on the tongue. One could definitely taste the smoothing of the oak, but this split seemed to hold up well and still tasted fresh, though not perhaps young.

Split #2 was darker in color; still gold but a much darker gold. The nose was completely different more peach and earth, while the taste was a bit raisiny and thick mouth feel. This bottle seemed to have aged more than Split #1. While most of us preferred Split #1, there were a handful in the group that preferred Split #2.

Interlude: words on wine labels

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For whatever reason I was thinking about wine in the shower this morning. More specifically, I was thinking about the words that winemakers (or sellers, if they post little placards next to wine) use to describe a wine on the back of a label. And I don’t mean the silly vignettes that tell us nothing about the wine.

I certainly have a few words that are sure to catch my attention. I’m a sucker for strawberry, red fruits, pepper, mineral, peach/apricot, vanilla, and honeysuckle to name a few. Almost any of those words will make me pause to look further at a wine (where is it from, what varietal or blend, year, etc).

I was also giggling to myself about words and phrases that I have used to describe wines I’ve drunk that I (hopefully) would never see on wine description: old sneakers, damp cellar, dirt, dusty mummy wrappings, rust. You can probably guess by this list which types of wine I lean toward and those of which I am less of a fan. Don’t judge though, I’m an equal opportunity taster!

What words/phrases pull you in or turn you off?

Monterey, a prelude: More Talbott… Kali Hart Pinot Noir

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When I said that my enjoyment of the Talbott Vineyards might be turning to obsession, I was only partly kidding. When we went back to our go-to wine shop to pick up more of the Talbott Logan Chardonnay, we also decided to try the pinot noir. This time they only carried the 2008 Talbott Kali Hart (pronounced Kay-Lee) Pinot Noir.

Before I get into the wine, let me go off on a bit of a tangent and tell you a bit about what I’ve since learned about my favorite winery… Talbott Vineyards was started by Robert Talbott in the 1980′s. He first started with the Diamond T Estate in the Carmel Valley, then added fruit from the Sleepy Hollow Vineyard in Santa Lucia Highlands. By 1994, Talbott had purchased the Sleepy Hollow Vineyard and was able to make Talbott Vineyards an entirely estate winery. According to their video (a must watch for someone geeking out on Talbott wines like I do), they make essentially three levels of wine every year (and some more occasional wines). The Talbott Kali Hart (named after a daughter) is the wine with the least wine maker influence. This has the least oaking and is the most representative of the fruits. The Talbott Logan (also named after a child) is their middle influence wine. This one is about equal parts fruit and equal parts winemaker influence. The other Talbott  wines are typically more expensive and have the most winemaker influence.

So, back to the Talbott Kali Hart Pinot Noir…

We picked up the 2008 Talbott Kali Hart Pinot Noir for about $15 at our go-to wine shop. (I think it was also on sale.) And it was a beautiful surprise. A medium bodied wine, it was a lovely color. The nose was very much cherry and red fruits and the first sip bore that impression out. This was a very nicely balanced wine with lots of fruit expression and a bit of oak to smooth and balance the wine. The wine also had a medium finish. It held up to salmon as well as some heavier foods, but also didn’t overpower a meal when we had this with a lighter, flakier white fish. The 2008 Talbott Kali Hart Pinot Noir became my go-to pinot until we ran out. A great wine to drink on its own or with food and a truly great price at $15 on sale.

Once we did run out of the 2008, we went looking for the 2009 Talbott Kali Hart Pinot Noir. We found this for the not-sale price of $18 a bottle. Let me first say that I love, love, love the 2008 Talbotts that I’ve had, so any comments here are made in comparison with the 2008 and reflect the mad-crazy love I have for them. Okay, so the 2009 just wasn’t as good. Still a lovely pinot noir, it had the nose of strawberries (which got us very excited) and the first taste was light red fruits with very little oak coming through. We like pinots because of the subtlety to them, but this was perhaps a bit too subtle. The 2009 had a more difficult time standing up to salmon or other heavier foods. Don’t get me wrong, I still drank (and enjoyed) quite a few bottles of this. And I will also note that we have three bottles of the 2010 Talbott Kali Hart Pinot Noir sitting in our wine cabinet at home. Also at a not-sale price of $18 which is very reasonable for a good quality pinot noir. We haven’t opened them yet, but I’m excited to try the 2010 to see how it stacks up against the 2008 and 2009. Talbott Vineyards tasting room… here we come!

Monterey, a prelude: Talbott Vineyards (Logan)

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When we began planning our wine trip for this year, I knew one thing. No matter what we were going to the Talbott Vineyards. Now, this has meant a bit of challenge… we were going to Napa and Talbott is in Monterey. Oh well. I’m so enthusiastic about Talbott I’m willing to plan our vacation around it!

We first encountered the Talbott Logan Chardonnay a couple of years ago at our go-to wine shop. We were trying to explore more chardonnays (after being anti-chard for awhile) and the 2008 Talbott Logan Chardonnay was on sale for $15. Little did we know that this would be the beginning of an obsession.

Opening this wine was completely unexpected; it was much all tropical fruits at first – pineapple and citrus – almost like a NZ sauvignon blanc. However, the butteriness of the oak came through and just mellowed it all out at the end of the sip. After falling in love with this wine, we later discovered that it was rated a 92 by Wine Advocate. While Robert Parker and I don’t always agree, I fully support that rating here!  So we ran off to our go-to wine shop to purchase more of this wine at such a great price. In fact, we decided to just get half a case…
And of course, we had to chill and drink it right away. Only to find that something had changed…
Oops. We had grabbed the last couple of bottles of the 2008 and the rest were the 2009 Chardonnay. The 2009 Talbott Logan Chardonnay is not quite as good as the 2008. That said, it is still very good! Like the 2008, it starts with tropical fruits but was more acidic and bright. The butteriness of the oak still comes through, but more as an afterthought rather than as well balanced. But don’t worry, we quickly drank through our remaining bottles! We’ve purchased some of the 2010, but have yet to drink them… I’m looking forward to comparing!