Wine & Spirits

33RD A N N UA L B U YI NG G UI D E

CA LI FO RN I A
B E S T S PA R K L I N G W I N E
516650

95 | Roederer Estate

$75

2011 Anderson Valley L'Ermitage Brut
Rosé ^ This is the fifth release of L'Ermitage
Rosé since its introduction with the 1999
vintage, and the cool 2011 season earned
the wine's third 95-point score. Arnaud
Weyrich selects the fruit for this top cuvée
from Roederer's 580-acre vineyard, planted
and farmed for sparkling wine. What sets
L'Ermitage apart is the purity of its fruit,
completely present and yet delicate, a ghosting of raspberry and currant flavor. Weyrich
brings out that fruit essence and achieves the
color of the wine by blending in a small portion of still wine from pinot noir, taking those
grapes through an extended cold soak, then
finishing their fermentation off the skins to
capture the fruit rather than the tannins.
Seven years on the lees has taken that fruit
in a savory direction, a gentle evocation of
the forest mists of Anderson Valley with an
undertow of ethereal raspberry flavor. (W&S
8/19; 480 cases) -J.G.
514767

95 | Roederer Estate

$48

2011 Anderson Valley L'Ermitage Brut ^
When Jean-Claude Rouzaud searched out a
site for Roederer's California sparkling wine
estate, he settled on a cool spot for chardonnay and pinot noir-where vines could
deliver flavor depth in their grapes before
sugars rose to levels unsuited for sparkling
wine. This 2011 is a vindication of that decision, a fragrant, elegant sparkling wine from
a cool season, with flavor depth that sets it
apart. Notes of fresh apple, honeysuckle and
jasmine layer over an herbal austerity that
tightens up the wine's fruit, ending savory.
That length of flavor is amplified by a small
addition of reserve wines (four percent), aged
five years in oak. Arnaud Weyrich blended
it in a style formed and determined by its
site, resulting in an honest, clean sparkler
destined to become a classic. (W&S 12/18;
2,845 cases) -J.G.

BEST CHARDONNAYS
517380

94 | Chanin

$45

2017 Sta. Rita Hills Sanford & Benedict
Vineyard Chardonnay ^ A complex old-vine
chardonnay, this delivers a litany of flavors
with spritzy precision: white flowers and sea
air, lime salt, fennel frond and white peach,
jasmine, acacia and smoke, to name just a
few. They yield to a finish that's soft, yellow
and creamy, like lemon curd and diatoma86

WINE & SPIRITS

ceous earth, and like the light at Sanford &
Benedict when the fog lifts, around noon.
(W&S 10/19; 268 cases) -P.J.C.
517391

95 | Trail Marker

$36

2017 Mendocino Ridge Manchester Ridge
Vineyard Chardonnay ^ If a California chardonnay could be Zen about its alcohol, this
one may be, delivering a wine that's plump
and structured rather than austere (the abv
is 12.7 percent). This has the flavor depth
of finely ripened fruit, hinting at nectarine, loquat, yellow roses, gingerroot and
white tea. But it's mainly about coastal air.
Drew Huffine harvests it from a vineyard
he first got to know in 2007, when he was
making wine for other wineries. The vines
have a direct view of the Pacific from their
sandstone ridge 2,000 feet above the ocean,
and their fruit impressed him for its flavor
expression at low potential alcohol levels (21
to 22˚ Brix). In fact, it was the fruit from this
vineyard that led him and his wife, Emily,
to start Trail Marker in 2012. Huffine says
the site was relatively immune to the heat
waves of 2017. After he crushed the grapes
by foot, he let them macerate for four hours
before pressing the juice into neutral French
oak barrels, where the wine finished primary
fermentation the following May. A delicate
chardonnay with the freshness of the Pacific
is a rare beast; this one is merely 112 cases. I
wish there were more-we need more quiet
beauty in California chardonnay. (W&S
10/19) -J.G.

517311

93 | Massican

$30

2018 Napa Valley Annia ^ There's a generation of winemakers who benefited from
George Vare's interest in friulano and ribolla
gialla, including Dan Petroski at Massican
and Steve Matthiasson. The Massican Annia
adds a little chardonnay (11 percent) to a
base of friulano and ribolla, presenting a
flinty, creamy white with a jazz riff of mineral tension, a play on the Meyer-lemon-andpomelo-pith acidity racing through it. That
freshness holds it tight, energizing the wine's
luxurious feel. It's a fascinating take on Napa
Valley terroir. (W&S 10/19) -J.G.

BEST CABERNET BLENDS

96 | Ridge

514742

$28

2017 Anderson Valley Filigreen Farm
Ramato Pinot Gris ^ Delicate red wines with
flavor intensity are not something you often
find out of California. Here's one that could
only be grown in California, and isn't even a
red wine, though it has the complexity and
flavor length of a great pinot noir. Tracey
Brandt works with a biodynamic grower in
Booneville for this fruit, bringing it to the
winery in Berkeley, where she and her husband, Jared, destem the grapes, leaving them
whole, in a concrete vat, covered in carbon
dioxide. The weight of the fruit creates freerun juice, and they draw off enough of that
juice to fill one barrel each day. After five
days, they press the grapes, leaving the wine
to ferment and then rest in those used French
oak barrels for ten months. In 2017, the wine
developed fresh woodland berry flavors, the
red fruit underscored by meaty scents of
charcuterie. There's also a Campari-like bitterness to the fruit-skin tannins, bringing the

BUYING GUIDE 2020

BEST WHITE BLEND

518049

BEST PINOT GRIS

95 | Donkey & Goat

spice of dried orange peel and the crunch of
a red-skinned apple. Intriguing and vinous,
this is a pleasure to drink. (W&S 12/18; 381
cases) -J.G.

$225

2016 Santa Cruz Mountains Monte Bello
Vineyard ^ A wine destined to evolve for
decades, the 2016 is a muscular vintage of
Monte Bello. That textural grandeur sets it
apart from most contemporary California
cabernets; and part of that distinctive texture connects to the way grape-skin tannins mature on vines David Gates farms on
this coastal limestone ridge. All of the parcels that contributed to this blend are certified organic, a practice that also sustains
the health of the microbial population Eric
Baugher relies on for the yeasts that ferment
this wine. It is increasingly rare to find cabernet sauvignon produced at commercial
quantities anywhere in the world that does
not rely on commercial yeasts; and whether
or not you believe this is significant to the
flavor and complexity of the wine, it is, in a
real sense, a reflection of the health of the
farming practice. If you are interested in
a strapping young cabernet, infused with
the kind of energy that health sustains, the
2016 Monte Bello is a wine for your cellar.

https://www.massican.com/product/2018-annia/

Wine & Spirits - Winter 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - Winter 2019

Wine & Spirits - Winter 2019 - 86

Wine & Spirits - Winter 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - Winter 2019