Working Hard

Raj Parr on Charlie Magazine

Meredith over at Charlie Magazine just posted a great article on Raj so head over to www.readcharlie.com and check it out!

Giorgio Rivetti Winemaker at La Spinetta in Charleston one night only

Come join Giorgio Rivetti renowned winemaker of La Spinetta for a fantastic evening of amazing Italian wines and food @ Trattoria Lucca.

4 course dinner including wines for $78.00 plus tax & gratuity = SWEET DEAL!!!

This is the wine dinner you CAN'T miss! Seating is limited so please RSVP With Trattoria Lucca (843) 973-3323

http://www.la-spinetta.com/
http://luccacharleston.com/

About the Winemaker and Wine:

Giorgio Rivetti is a serious equestrian and amateur chef who also happens to be one of Italy’s best winemakers. Twenty years ago there were more than a handful of world class wine producers in Piedmont. Today the number is closer to one hundred, according to Giorgio Rivetti, scion of LA SPINETTA, one of the most acclaimed wineries in Piedmont, if not in all of Italy. Rivetti is the head winemaker at La Spinetta (named Winery of the year in 2001 by Gambero Rosso, Italy’s leading wine guide), where he works side by side with his two equally talented brothers: Bruno and Giancarlo. The three work together through every phase of the winemaking process--pruning, cultivating, thinning and, of course, harvesting. “Never lose contact with the vineyard” was his parents’ advice, Giorgio says. It’s clear the brothers took it to heart.
Rivetti has turned La Spinetta into a veritable force in Italy. Not only does he make an excellent Moscato d’Asti that has been widely acclaimed for years — the Bricco Quaglia is said to be the first single-vineyard Moscato in Italy — his stable of Piedmont reds, including single-vineyard Barbarescos, Barolo, Barberas, Dolcettos and Langhe Nebbiolo, is impressive and garners high scores across the board. And now, Rivetti has purchased 75 acres in Tuscany, where he is producing single-vineyard Sangiovese-based wines.

Hot off the press!

WINE ADVOCATE’S FAVORITE WINES THAT WE HAVE IN STOCK!

2009 Vestini Campagnano Pallagrello Bianco

… a gorgeous, lush wine. A foral, minty bouquet leads to juicy ripe apricots and peaches, all of which come together with beautiful delineation and clarity. This is a fabulous white from Vestini Campagnano.

- 90 points, Antonio Galloni

2006 Vestini Campagnano Pallagrello Nero

… an exotic wine laced with freshly cut roses, sage, mint, rosemary and red cherries. Somewhat ethereal at first, the wine gains volume and richness in the glass, showing layers of dark red fruit. Ripe, islky tannins frame the finish

- 90 points, Antonio Galloni

2008 Parusso Langhe Nebbiolo

The 2008 Langhe Nebbiolo comes across as impeccably refined in its silky red fruit, flowers and spices, with an inner sweetness that is impossible to resist. The soft tannins make this approachable today, but it should drink well for a number of years. It is a jewel of wine from Marco Parusso.

- 90 points, Antonio Galloni

90 POINTS FOR LA RASINA BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO FROM SPECTATOR

2005 La Rasina Brunello di Montalcino

Wow. What a powerful wine for the vintage. Full body, with loads of ripe fruit and toasted on the palate. Chewy and rich. It needs bottle age to soften, but its all three. This is one of the best producers in Montalcino now.

- James Suckling

90 POINTS FOR DI GIOVANNA NERELLO MASCALESE IN WINE & SPIRITS

2008 Di Giovanna Nerello Mascalese

Grown at DiGiovanna’s estate in Contessa Entellina, 1,000 to 1,475 feet above sea level, this is made with the help of Riccardo Cotarelli. Its scents of dried cherries and black pepper spice open into a juicy length flavor, with tannins and fruit melding seamlessly. Earthiness and oak modulate the dark cherry flavor, all in balance. For a meaty lasagna.

Charleston Wine + Food Festival

The Charleston Wine + Food Festival has been praised as one of the top five food and wine festivals in the U.S. by Forbes traveler. This event will have the some of the top chefs and winemakers from around the world!

Don’t miss out on Charleston Food and Wine Festival on March the 3-6. We, at Grassroots will not be missing out! We will be participating and sponsoring various events, such as the dine- arounds. So, come out and support Grassroots Wine along with many other sponsors to enjoy great food and great wine.

Please visit http://www.charlestonwineandfood.com/ for more details

France trip with Jon David Headrick

I'm off to France today for a week long trip with Jon David Headrick. Stayed tuned for updates and highlights
-Harry

A Very Big Thank You From Grassroots Wine on Helping Us Fight Hunger!

We all want to thank everyone who helped to fight hunger in the area by participating in Wal-Mart's Fighting Hunger on Facebook! Your help pushed us from the bottom of the ranks all the way to number 5 New Years Eve. Wal-Mart won't officially announce the winners till Wednesday, January 5th, but if we stay at number 5 then that means you helped bring in $100,000 worth of food into the Charleston area. So pat yourself on the back, cross your fingers, and check out this great article in the city paper about Charleston's fight against hunger!

We're Number 5 in anti-hunger vote

And check back here on Wednesday the fifth to see where we ended up!

Fight Hunger in Charleston

Did you know Charleston has a Food Hardship Rate of twice the national average? Help out- it's simple, follow the link and click "LIKE" to support Charleston. The Low Country Food Bank gets $100,000 from the Walmart Foundation if we finish in the Top 6 communities. We all know someone who is hungry.

Charleston-N Charleston-Summerville, SC
fightinghunger.walmart.com

Chono Reserva Syrah-90 Points and One of Chile's Greatest Wine Values-Wine Advocate

Chono Reserva Syrah- 2008

Jay Miller of Wine Advocate has listed the Chono Reserva Syrah in his "Chile's Greatest Wine Values" category! 

Producer Notes:

Alvaro Espinoza had returned to Chile from a stint at Fetzer and Bonterra where he experienced his own eureka on biodynamic farming. Upon his return to Chile and under the spell of the teachings from Alan York and Jim Fetzer, Alvaro was burning with ideas to put into practice in his home vineyard.  

Chono was started by Alvaro's father, an important enologist himself, and with Alvaro's recent feat of having succeeded him in receiving the Chilean Enology award for outstanding winemaking, the Espinoza family has gained legendary status among winemakers. In the central Maipo appellation Alvaro's father planted Carmenère and Cabernet Sauvignon, with Alvaro adding Syrah later on to the mix. These grapes constitute now the Chono Winery label. With some plots still in conversion, and a growing operation, only part of his production is certified as organic today.  

Wine Notes:

If it was up to us, we would call this wine Eureka! Here we find everything we are looking for in a wine; texture, ripeness, precision, uniqueness, fruit, length, balance and great harmony. Excuse our enthusiasm, but this un-oaked wine will change the way that the world will look on South America’s viticulture. Way north of Santiago, under the clearest skies of the world, with barely any air moisture, photosynthesis does something that we have never seen before.

90 Points-"Medium purple; smoked meat and game, lavender, spice box; lots of flavor, no hard edges." - Jay Miller, Wine Advocate, December 2010

Give us a call or shoot us an email if you are interested in buying this fantastic value wine!

Three SF Chronicle Top 100 Wines In Stock Now:

2008 Lioco Charles Heintz Vineyard Sonoma Coast Chardonnay
Lioco's goal is to frame the potential of outstanding vineyards, and Heintz is such a profound Chardonnay spot that it yielded two wines in this list. With zero oak influence, this shows a vivacious citrus edge, with a woodsy aroma of heather amid pineapple, focused mineral and honeyed pear and apricot. Heintz can yield tricky results in some years, but this is as pure as it gets.

2008 Hirsch Vineyards M Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir
Though wildfires prompted many wineries to skip a Hirsch designate in 2008, Hirsch itself stood firm, producing the M (usually a second tier) as its top wine. New winemaker Ross Cobb has finessed a blend dominant in old Pommard and Mount Eden clones that's packed with pleasing wild strawberry fruit and layered minerality.

2007 Qupé Bien Nacido Vineyard Santa Maria Valley Syrah
Bob Lindquist's benchmark Syrah from this Santa Barbara County site is in gorgeous shape. Dark and earthy, with brawny peppercorn spice, dusky plum and fine, delicious tannins. It's equally rewarding whether you drink it now or age it.

90 Points for Chateau Smith Cab from Spectator

Charles Smith Wines - Chateau Smith Cabernet Sauvignon - 2007
90 Points
"Lithe, elegant and nicely focused to show off its bright raspberry and cherry fruit. Lightly veiled in fine tannins, picking up white pepper and cinnamon notes on the lively finish. Drink now through 2015. 7,800 cases made." –HS, Wine Spectator, Dec. 2010

High Scores for Our Grower Champagnes!

L. Aubry Fils - Brut Rose - NV
93 Points-Wine & Spirits
Tart cherry scents and bright citrus lend the rosé its freshness. The fruit is substantial and firm, captured just as it was coming into ripeness. Juicy at the moment, the wine focuses attention on its long, savory finish. It hints at limestone and floral edges of rose, both suggesting the complexity that bottle age will bring.

L. Aubry Fils - Brut - NV
92 Points-Wine & Spirits
"While this is creamy in its richness and silken in feel, there’s a gentle push back in its texture that signals the formidable structure underneath. It has a savory, talc and mineral expression, with a purity to the clean flavors that reveal it’s authenticity. The saltiness will match jamón Serrano or sharp sheep’s milk cheeses if you open it now; the structure will sustain the wine for ages."

Pierre Gimonnet - 1er Cru Blanc de Blancs Brut - NV
90 Points-Wine & Spirits
"Beautifully proportioned, this feels like a young wine with plush peach flavors sculpted by vibrant acidity. It’s austere and closed off for now, but its limestone core should evolve toward complexity as it ages."

Marc Hebrart - ‘Cuvee de Reserve’ Brut - NV
90 Points-Wine & Spirits
"A full-bodied yet subtle wine, this is closed off behind flinty notes of reduction. As it opens, the flavors broaden into red cherry, stony, autumnal fruits and floral hints of lilies. Store it away for several years; if you open it now, decant the bottle for roast quail."

Pehu-Simonet - Rose Brut - NV
91 Points- Wine & Spirits
"The rosy scent of a fine Burgandy carries into this wine’s savory, cranberry- and tart apple middle. The finish transitions to pleasant sweetness, with flavors of candied ginger. Delicious with sushi."

Eryie Vineyards has arrived.

In January 1965, after earning a degree in viticulture and enology from UC/Davis, and research in Europe, 25-year old David Lett AKA "Papa Pinot" moved to Oregon “with 3,000 grape cuttings and a theory”. He planted the cuttings in a rented nursery plot, and went looking for the perfect vineyard site. It was the first planting of Pinot noir, Chardonnay, and related varieties in the Willamette Valley, and the first Pinot gris in America.

The Eyrie Vineyards, founded by David and Diana Lett in 1966, is located in the Red Hills of Dundee, about 30 miles SW of Portland. It was named for the red-tailed hawks who make their home (EYE-ree) in the fir trees at the top of the first vineyard plantings. The winery is in nearby McMinnville. In 1975, The Eyrie Vineyards produced the first American Pinot noir to compete successfully with the renowned Pinot noirs of Burgundy. (Paris, 1979; Beaune, 1980). Total annual production is around 10,000 cases. All wines are estate-grown and produced.

In addition to handcrafted Pinot noir, Pinot gris and Chardonnay, the Eyrie Vineyards also makes limited bottlings of Pinot blanc, Pinot Meunier and Muscat Ottonel. In 2005, Jason Lett took over from his father as winemaker and vineyard manager at The Eyrie Vineyards, and continues his family’s pioneering legacy.

The Wines:

Pinot Noir Estate - 2008- 92 Points "The medium ruby red 2008 Pinot Noir Estate offers up a lovely perfume of cherry blossom, cinnamon, incense, cranberry, and raspberry. Elegant on the palate with plenty of spicy red fruit, lively acidity, and enough structure to evolve for several years, it will be at its best from 2013 to 2023." -Jay Miller, Wine Advocate, Oct 2010

Pinot Gris Estate - 2008- 91 Points "The 2008 Pinot Gris Estate has an alluring nose of melon, mineral, and floral notes leading to a creamy-textured, rich, concentrated wine. The price is a steal."-Jay Miller, Wine Advocate, Oct 2010

Pinot Blanc- 2009 - A lively Pinot Blanc that has hints of spice, with the fruit taste of apple and pear.

Chardonnay- 2009 - Like the Reserve, grapes for this wine also come from Eyrie’s original plantings. Jason selected this cuvée for suppleness and more approachability in its youth than the Original Vines Reserve.

Daniel Donahoe Answers Our Questionnaire

Kevin Pike (right) and Daniel Donahoe
at Music In Your Mouth at Palmetto Bluff

Daniel Donahoe is the founder of Teira Wines and Silvertap Keg Wines. Daniel's Grandmother grew up with Julia Child and introduced the two during his first year at Boston University. Over the next four years, Daniel was fortunate to spend a great deal of time learning about food and wine from Julia and ultimately chose a career in wine instead of International Relations. He responded to our questionnaire while still recovering from his trip to South Carolina:

What's going on in the vineyard or winery right now?

Fall colors.  It's beautiful: reds, yellows, oranges, golds - with only a few leaves on the ground. Duff Bevill's team has put all of the harvest equipment back in the barn.

How is the current vintage looking?

In a word: short.  Our 20-acre Sauv Blanc vineyard yielded less than 50% of 2009 yeild.  That said, even with the heat damage, the fruit that came in after we dropped clusters was beautiful and is tasting great in tank.

How is your wine different from every other wine?

Place - Dry Creek Valley.  Style - accessible.  Quality - consistent.  Pricing - value.  Julia Child taught me the importance of pairing food and wine.  Too many California wines hit you over the head with oak, fruit and alcohol.  My wines are always balanced, and will always represent an extremely high price-to-quality ratio: regardless of an up or down economy.  Just say no to overpriced wines.

If you weren't making wine what would you be doing?

Surfing a point break in Indonesia, with a cold beer in the ice chest on the beach.

With so much wine out there already why do you want to make more?

See "How is your wine different from every other wine?"

What kind of shoes are you wearing?

Clark's Desert Boots

What's your favorite thing to eat with your wine?

Oysters from Pt. Reyes

What's the next grape for you?

Carignane

What is the greatest challenge you face as a winemaker?

Consistency

What's do you see as the biggest problem in the wine industry today?

Consolidation and Evil Empires taking over sales, marketing and distribution channels - pushing mass-produced, mass-marketed crap wine to the masses.  Layer Cake, anyone?

What do you drink when you're not drinking you're own wine?

Beer.  Or Leitz Riesling.

How important are the phases of the moon to you?

So TOTALLY important, dude.

Describe your favorite vineyard.

The Beeson Ranch - 100+ year old Zinfandel vines across West Dry Creek Road from my Merlot vineyard in Dry Creek Valley.  Beautiful.  Delicious.

What makes a wine great?

The dirt.  Sorry, "terroir" for all the wine geeks.

Why should someone who tries to eat only food grown in South Carolina consider drinking your wine with dinner?

Good question.

What is the most overused winemaking technique?

Micro-oxidation.

What's your favorite cake?

Carrot.

What question should I have asked you but didn't?

When is the American wine consumer going to migrate away from being wedded to a "brand"?

The holiday season is the perfect time for celebration and Beaujolais Nouveau is the perfect wine to celebrate with. This wine is not only tasty, but it is also fun to drink. The grapes (100% Gamay) come from the Beaujolais region and are all harvested by hand. The wine is fermented for a short time and then released onto the public on the third Thursday in November. This is known as "Beaujolais Day".

If you missed out on Beaujolais Day, you don't have to miss out on our Beaujolais Nouveau! If you are a fan of a wine that has a lot of fruit and berry flavors, then this one is for you. The Bourgeois Family has brought us an excellent Beaujolais that comes from wine producer Domaine Marion Pral. It is an excellent wine to drink with friends and family around the holidays, and it goes great with Turkey or Ham! Here is a little more info from our producer:

DOMAINE MARION PRAL:

A 50 acre Family organic estate for several generations, located in the heart of the “Pierres Dorees” country, 10 miles from Villefranche, capital of the Beaujolais. The Domaine Pral vineyard is planted on granite soils with a South East exposition in the Beaujolais region.

The region of Beaujolais, situated at the bottom of the Burgundy AOC, is more than just the fun nouveau. Some Beaujolais wines can be kept (gasp!) for up to 10 years! Those are usually the Cru Beaujolais and are much lower in production than the drink-it-now.

Even though Beaujolais is technically part of Burgundy, its climate, soil, grape varieties and winemaking methods make it completely separate in character. The primary grape of Beaujolais is Gamay, a very thin-skinned, light bodied grape that does particularly well in Beaujolais. The result is a very fruity wine with fresh berry favors and super-light tannins and body.

Technical Info

Blend: 100% GAMAY

Harvest: The exceptional terroir is

composed of granite soil and enjoys

Southeast exposition. The owners of the

property, who love and respect nature,

raise their crops sustainably preferring

organic nutrients over chemical

fertilizers.

Last night I cracked open a bottle with a couple of friends and we loved it. Give us a call or shoot us an email so you can get you some Beaujolais today!

Keenan Now Available!

We have received our first shipment from Keenan Winery!

Chardonnay Spring Mountain District - 2008
Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley - 2006 - 90 points - Wine Advocate
Mernet - 2006 - 96 points - Wine Advocate
Cabernet Franc Spring Mountain District - 2007 - 94 points - Wine Advocate
Merlot Reserve Mailbox Vineyard - 2006 - 91 points - Wine Advocate
Zinfandel Napa Valley - 2007

High in the Mayacamas Range, at an elevation of 1,700 feet above the Napa Valley floor, are Spring Mountain and the Robert Keenan Winery and vineyards. Peter Conradi first identified this area as prime vineyard land in the late 19th century when he planted 100 acres of terraced vineyard in Zinfandel and Syrah grapes. The Conradi Winery operated until Prohibition when the vineyards and winery fell out of use.

In 1974, Robert Keenan purchased 180 acres of forest on the defunct Conradi Winery site. No vines remained. Only the crumbling walls of the former winery and a few old broken tanks told of its history, but Robert was certain the mountain top vineyards would be perfect for an estate winery. He replaced tree stumps and rocks with rows of Cabernet and Chardonnay, hired an engineer to redesign the original winery structure, and brought in a contractor to begin construction. The winery was made operational just in time for the harvest of 1977.

From that time on, Keenan has earned a great reputation for producing wines of intense character and renowned acclaim. Keenan focuses on three varietals -- Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot. It produces nearly 14,000 cases per year. Combining the dedication of experienced winemakers with a commitment to excellence, the Robert Keenan Winery has distinguished itself as a maker of exceptional wines-- in limited varietals and quantity. Wines for sipping, wines for enjoying, wines for enhancing any occasion.

Grassroots Wine Interview with LIOCO's Matt Licklider

Matt Licklider at Mr Friendly's in Columbia, SC

Matt Cory - What I really want to ask you about today is a series of questions about terroir, but I think they’ll make more sense if I ask you first about the history of LIOCO. A lot of people who’ll read this have met you and know the LIOCO story already, but many others don’t, so first, tell me why you started LIOCO.

Matt Licklider – Kevin O’Connor, my partner and the “OCO” part of LIOCO, was for eight years the wine director at Spago Beverly Hills. I at the time was the national sales manager of North Berkley Imports, a west-coast importer of artisanal French and Italian wines. Kevin was a client of mine, and we had been tasting wine together for six years. We had an ongoing dialogue about wine: who was making interesting wine; who wasn’t, and why? Inevitably he and I would end up lamenting the fact that California was largely by our estimation underachieving in it’s wine growing and wine production. The wines from California we were tasting at the time – mind you, this was back in 2001 to 2005, and much has changed since then – so much of the wine we were tasting was perfectly serviceable, it just lacked any excitement. It didn’t seem to demonstrate the characteristics of the vintage, number one, and also fell short in the area of demonstrating the characteristics of place. Those were two concepts we seemed to get without fail from European wines, whether it was a $14.00 Muscadet or a $75.00 Barbaresco. The wines always seemed to demonstrate those two characteristics: place and vintage. So this conversation of ours would often stop at the question “is it possible to make wine like that at home?”

So after talking about it for six years we finally decided to sit down and write a business plan together. The goal was to see if we could make wines that demonstrated the characteristics of place and vintage. The way we would go about achieving that was by selecting vineyards that had very distinct terrors to begin with and by making the wines in as nonintrusive a way as possible so as to let the intricacies of place and vintage come through.

MC – I used the word “terroir” and you used the words “place” and “terroir.” I think maybe because that French word doesn’t translate into a single English word a lot of Americans have different understandings about what it means when it comes to wine. So before we start talking about the particular places you grow wine, can you tell me what you mean when you talk about place and terroir?

ML – I guess I would start by saying that what’s utterly so unique about the grapevine, what distinguishes it in the fruit and vegetable kingdom as I understand it, is its heightened capacity for interpreting the particularities of where it grows. In other words, a navel orange from Naples, Florida compared to a navel orange from Orange County, California compared to a navel orange from Valencia, Spain are virtually indistinguishable. They’re carbon copies of one another, and any nuance of difference between them is virtually indecipherable to the human palate. Contrast that with a chardonnay vine growing in the Margaret River Valley in Australia versus a chardonnay vine growing in the Russian River Valley of California versus a chardonnay vine in Chablis, France. The resulting wine from those three places is very, very different. Why is that? This sort of begs this question about the uniqueness of the grapevine. So terroir as I understand and know it is all about the winegrower and the winemaker working in concert with the vineyard to best capture the individuality of each place. So to me the great wines of the world are less about fruitiness and more about this other element, this fifth dimension that can only be traced back to soil and to aspect, to water table, row orientation, flora and fauna in the environment. All these other things affect the grapevine and in the best cases come through in the finished wine.

MC - Before we get to those things in detail, you said before you make the wine with as little intervention as possible. What do you mean by that?

ML – Well, again, the nuance of terroir is somewhat elusive and very delicate. I think there’s a danger on the part of the winemaker to use too heavy a hand in the cellar, whether that’s picking the fruit too ripe in the vineyard, pressing to hard on the skins and extracting too much, and ultimately I think the great pitfall is placing the juice in too high a percentage of new oak. All of these things detract from the expression of terrior. So what we want to do, as I said, is, number one, to identify vineyard we believe have a capacity for showing terroir, and then the winemaking is done in such a way that the delicacy is allowed to come through. So for us, our chardonnay program is essentially crushing the fruit, allowing the ambient yeast, that is the wild, native yeast, to ferment the wine, and fermenting the wine in a container that’s totally inert. So in this case we use stainless steel tanks instead of oak barrels. It’s not that we have an aversion to using oak on wine; we use oak barrels for our red wines, and we really enjoy Raveneau and Roulot and many other producers in Burgundy who barrel ferment chardonnay in a beautiful way. But for the purpose of our little experiment to capture terroir in California we felt the best method was to go the whole way with this and ferment in a container that imparts no flavor, no aroma, and no texture to the wine.

MC – I have this idea that people like you who pay so much attention to place and who take it so seriously when they’re making wine can look at a vineyard or learn about a vineyard and have a good idea what wine made from that vineyard will taste like, and that you can taste a wine and have a good idea what the conditions were in which the grapes were grown. Can you describe enough about that relationship in terms of a couple of your wines that you can explain how the facts about those vineyards are expressed in those wines?

ML – Yes. First thing is that we tend to look at vineyards through the lens of what we’ve learned from great European wine-growing communes. So what we know about noble wine from Europe is that the vines tend to be older, and they tend to be rooted in more complex, tough soil. In the case of pinot noir there tends to be great clonal diversity in the vineyard; in Burgundy you might have as many as a hundred different pinot clones in one vineyard. And I think in the best cases there is some measure of stress on the vines, whether that’s coming from tough soil, or a low water table, or elevation, or cold proximity to the Pacific Ocean, or virus in the vineyard, or a number of these things working in concert. The idea is that we look for stressed vines, older vines, tougher soil, good clonal diversity. In other words we have some benchmarks that we’ve established as standards. Then we go out with a viticulturist who can see things in the vineyard that my untrained eye can’t see: nutrient deficiencies, pests, disease pressures, etc., and he helps us make the final decision. That’s how we look at vineyards, and I’ll tell you, Matt, that we look at a lot of vineyards. We probably look at twenty vineyards for every one vineyard that we end up signing a contract on.

That said, the one vineyard I think is great example is the Michaud Vineyard up in the Chalone Pinnacles. Chalone Pinnacles is the AVA, the county is Monterey, although I always make the caveat that it has almost nothing to do with the rest of Monterey. It is the mountains above Monterey way up in the highest parts of the Gavilon Mountain Range, and the microclimate is very distinctive. It’s the high dessert, it’s bone dry, there’s no water. It’s on the most active seismic fault in the western United States, the San Andreas fault, and so, from what geologist have told me, long ago a number of different plates crashed into each other, so we’ve ended up with a braid of different soils: decomposing granite, volcanic soil and calcareous soils that were pushed up from the ocean floor. Again, if we go back to our example, Tough soil: Most definitely, some of the most interesting and complex soils you find anywhere in California are in the Chalone Pinnacles; Clonal diversity: The grower, Michael Michaud has planted a number of French clones as well as propagations from some old California selections, like Joseph Swan and Mount Eden clones; Stress on the vines: Most definitely, it’s extremely hot in the day, like a dessert environment, and extremely cold at night. There’s no water, so vines are shooting their roots very deep into the soil, so they’re stressed; and Older vines: the vines are approaching thirty-years-old.

All of this incredibly complex flora and fauna up there make it like no other place in California. It’s cactus and thorny desert plants and rattlesnakes and wild boars. It’s the wilderness; I always say this is wilderness farming, and it’s trying to grow grapes at the far reaches of where it might be possible to do so. By the way and as an aside, I’d put forward that the most interesting wines are always made at the margins of where growing those grapes is possible, whether it’s syrah in Hermitage, Riesling in the Mosel, chardonnay in Champagne or Chablis, or pinot noir in the Cote de Nuits; you can go down the list. Those are all places where the vines are pushed to their absolute limits. To the degree that we can reproduce that at home and find the places where the vines are pushed to their limits I think we have a better chance of making terroir-driven wine.

MC – Why is that? Why do the limit conditions produce the most interesting wine?

ML – That’s a good question. I don’t know that I have a scientific answer; it may be more of a philosophical one. I think vines can be compared to a human being in that the more a vine suffers and struggle through life, the more character the vine displays in old age. You just never find interesting wine growing in the valley floor on top of deep, fertile soil next to an abundant water supply. You have problems with vigor there, whereas a vine growing in an extreme situation, like Michaud Vineyard, will have a biological response to send all of the energy into ripening the clusters to make a more attractive lunch for a would-be scavenger that could come by to snack on the clusters, process the fruit, so to speak, and deposit the seeds back into the soil, which would propagate new vines. That’s why stress is good for a vine. It tells the vine it needs to spend it’s energy ripening the fruit.

MC – So what do you taste in the LIOCO Michaud Vineyard pinot or chard that you see as an expression of that complex soil, that clonal diversity, those stressed vines that you’ve just described.

ML – I think, Matt, it’s more about what you don’t taste. You don’t taste a bunch of super-ripe fruit, which again distinguishes this vineyard from so many others in California. This vineyard produces wines that are very savory and non-fruited. It’s mineral that you taste and herbaceousness. To me that wine is all about the chalky, limy, white soil. It smells like the asphalt right before a rain storm, and it tastes like licking a rock and the sun-baked dessert where you can taste the sap dripping out of thistly desert plants. That’s what the wine smells like to me, and I love that about it. I love how savory it is, because it transports me right to the vineyard. It takes me there. I guess that’s how I would quantify that idea of terroir: wines that express terroir have the ability to transport you to the place.

MC – One of the things that exciting to me about LIOCO is that you’re using the same winemaking program with grapes from very different vineyards. You’ve described a lot of positive qualities that it sounds like you’re looking for in every vineyard you’re going to use. Is there a vineyard that is different enough from Michaud that you can describe the ways in which it’s different and the way the wines grown there are different?

ML – I like to show the Michaud chardonnay in contrast with the LIOCO chard from the Heintz Vineyard. The Charles Heintz Vineyard is kind of the polar opposite of the Michaud Vineyard in terms of microclimate. Michaud is the high desert; Heintz is the true Sonoma coast. At Michaud you have cactus and thorny desert plants and scorpions; at Heintz you have redwood trees and mushrooms and salamanders. It’s cold, foggy, ocean climate. It’s just as you would imagine the true Sonoma Coast to be. I think that manifests in the wine with a kind of saline quality, as if all of the fruit quality of the wine has been washed in a saline solution. There’s a brininess to the wine, and even the mineral component in the Heintz wine derives from this very different soil complex. At Charlie Heintz you have what’s called goldridge soils, which are a blend of sand and clay together. It’s soil that retains water, whereas at Michaud you have soil that drains water. I like to highlight the difference between chardonnay growing in soil that retains versus chardonnay growing in soil that drains. They have very, very different mineral expression. I call it clay-mineral, and it’s less about licking a rock and more like Bull’s Blood, that sort of irony minerality in meat and organ meats. I don’t know if that’s going to make you want to drink this chardonnay, but it’s a different mineral aspect than you find in chalky-mineral wine.

MC – Do you think this is because there’s iron in the vineyard that’s making it into the grapes?

ML – It’s a good question. There’s an active discourse about the question. To me it makes logical sense. I’m not ready to weigh in as any kind of scientific expert, but philosophically again I’d say that it makes perfect sense to me. A grapevine growing in clay, which has a lot of iron, is feeding off of that soil or, at least, the water is filtering through on it’s way up through the root system, which eventually make it up into the vine, which eventually make it up into the fruit. Something is translated. And I almost like the idea that we don’t use science to describe it, but that there is something unscientific and unexplainable about this magical grapevine. So it makes sense to me: there’s a relationship between the soil and the flavor and aroma compounds in wine.