Wednesday's Wines: Creekside Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon

This past weekend a new Colorado wine event was born: Winter Wine Fest. The event was brought about by the Two Parts (formerly Imbibe) event planners and Grand Junction Visitors and Convention Bureau to provide Denver with a Colorado-themed wine event. The slow winter months just happen to be the best time for wineries to attend such an event in Denver. For a first-year event it was very successful - over 400 guests attended to taste wine from 17 different wineries. Through my position with the CO Wine Board, I attended to pour a selection of wines from the 2015 Governor's Cup Case for VIP guests. The feedback from both consumers and wineries was positive. I will be interested to see how it grows in the future.

Creekside Cellars 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon

One of the wines we poured was the Creekside Cellars 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon (13.9% abv, Sample $35). There was bit more than half a bottle remaining, so instead of dumping it I brought it home to have during the Super Bowl. This Cabernet is rather light for Cabernet - in both color and body. More than one person at the Winter Wine Fest asked if it was Pinot noir when I poured it for them. It's not anything like Pinot, but I can understand their confusion with what comes in some of the more popular Cabernet bottles from California. In fact, we pour this one before the Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot we also poured. It is a lovely translucent red color and is quite aromatic. On the nose there are aromas of flowers, spices and dark fruit. This wine is all about finesse and not power, but still shows a lot of complexity. The smooth tannins complement the clove, leather, herbs, cherry and blackberry flavors that caress the palate. The combination of flavors and brightness of the acidity harken to an old-school style of Cabernet Sauvignon not afraid of embracing the grape's savoriness. It is a lovely wine that will probably disappoint those looking for the upfront fruit and concentration that hijack so many Cabernet Sauvignon.

Wednesday's Wines: Matthiasson Red Wine and Cabot Klamath Cuvee

A few weeks ago, I wrote about red blends as a growing wine category. I personally find blends often make more complete and complex wines than varietal wines. Aroma, flavor or texture characteristics that may be missing from a single variety can be filled by another grape. It is amazing to see that as little as 1% of a variety blended in truly can completely transform a wine. Blending is also a useful tool for a winemaker to create as good of a wine as he or she can each year. Weather conditions in back-to-back vintages can treat cultivars quite differently, so by playing with the cépage (percentage of each variety of grapes in the composition of a blended wine) can adjust the characteristics of the finished wine.

I find that many wineries take two different approaches to blends. The first is to make the blend their grand vin - top wine. The best lots are used to build the best wine possible. Often with this approach, the same cultivars are used to create the blend. The cépage may change - or it may stay exactly the same - but the building blocks generally are the same each year. Perhaps certain vineyards, or blocks, are selected for the vintage characteristics each provide. What is "leftover" after the blend is finalized can then be sold as varietal wine or different blend (or off in bulk anonymously).

The second approach is to create a blend after all the varietal, single-vineyard, and premium blends have been finalized. This approach can be perfect for creating great value wines - if the winemaker still takes care in making sure the blend works. All too often, simply throwing all the "leftover" wine together doesn't produce a high-quality wine. Today's wines are examples of both these approaches, and both are beautiful wines in their own right.

Wednesday's Wines: Ruby Trust Cellars Gunslinger

The red-wine blend category has been quite popular with consumers of late. According to market research firm IRI, the red blend category has increased sales by value 14% over the past year. I don't know why it has taken Americans so long to realize that most wine in traditional wine regions (i.e., those in Europe) were created from blending grapes. A broad palette of grapes allows winemakers to create a beautiful piece of art every year when certain varieties may make varietal wine difficult, if not impossible. However, this tiny shift in the U.S. away from the focus on varietal wines to blends is probably mostly due to clever marketing and American's sweet-tooth palate. Varietal wines aren't going anywhere, but it is nice to see more creativity in the wine industry to reach a broader audience. Many of the most popular red blends are produced from lesser-known (and less expensive) grapes and with a hint (or sometimes more) of residual sugar, but there are plenty made without any sweetness.

Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux 2012 tasting and what will Premiere Napa Valley bring this weekend?

As I noted a few weeks ago, The Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux (UGCB) was in Denver showing off the 2012 vintage.  Though the organization represents 133 wineries, both classified and non-classified producers, only about 60 producers were in Denver at the fundraising event for the Denver Public Schools Foundation, with the rest of the group splitting off to Las Vegas. Just tasting the wine from these 60 was more than enough to gain some perspective on the 2012 vintage.

As you probably have read, Bordeaux had three less-than-stellar vintages in a row. 2011, 2012 and 2013 have been met with critical disdain and falling prices, especially since the esteemed 2009 and 2010 vintages caused prices to skyrocket. Of the producers I spoke with, they claimed that 2012 was the best of these three off years and certainly meant for early consumption while the venerated vintages rest in the cellar. 2014 was discussed as a favorable vintage and a welcome reprieve from the trio of disappointments, but still not up to the standard set by 2010 - the greatest ever vintage in Bordeaux, as claimed by one producer.

I left the tasting with three conclusions about the wines.

Matt Kramer got it wrong about bullies who put down wine

Without wine lore, and wine tasting, and wine talk, and wine labels, and, yes, wine writing and rating—the whole elaborate idea of wine—we would still get drunk, but we would be merely drunk. The language of wine appreciation is there not because wine is such a special subtle challenge to our discernment but because without the elaborate language—without the idea of wine, held up and regularly polished—it would all be about the same, or taste that way. —Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker

Two days ago, in Wine Spectator, Matt Kramer penned a polemic against nameless skeptics of the sensory value of wine. In Kramer's defense, he attempted to use an article by Adam Gopnik (yes, I misspelled his name (twice) in a comment over on the Jackson Family Wines blog, and for that I apologize) in the The New Yorker as evidence this anti-intellectualism bullying. The problems with him basing his condemnation on Gopnik's article are twofold. First, the article is more than ten years old. If you haven't read it, I strongly suggest that you do so. Yes, it reads as if it were written yesterday (or maybe tomorrow) and that is the sign of a good writer. But nevertheless it was written at a different point along the wine industry continuum and was actually an editorial on the 2004 state of wine prompted by William Echikson's book, Noble Rot. Second, and more important, Kramer completely missed the point of Gopnik's article. Kramer chose to quote Gopnik out of context. He should have started his article with the full quote that I've provided above. Gopnik actually accomplished what Kramer was attempting to do by making the case that wine talk and wine description are an integral "part of what lets the experience happen."

2014 Colorado Governor's Cup results

Two weekends ago, the Colorado Wine Industry Development Board (CWIDB, and for which I work part-time) held the Governor’s Cup Colorado Wine Competition. This year was the fourth incarnation of the largest, and most prestigious, statewide commercial wine competition (actually the First Lady's Choice was awarded the first year because the Governor had not given consent to use the title). The 2014 Governor’s Cup was awarded to Canyon Wind Cellars’ 2012 Petit Verdot from the Grand Valley AVA. The past two years saw cabernet franc coming out on top, but even before this result I was starting to think that petit verdot might be the best cultivar for Colorado producers. This year also marks the inaugural "Governor's Cup Case." Modeled after the Virginia Governor's Cup Case, the top twelve wines will be the wines that the CWIDB use for the next 12 months for its marketing and educational endeavors.

The California wine industry wouldn't be where it is without Colorado...

In terms of size, history and reputation, Colorado doesn't hold a candle to California. I happen to think some of Colorado's wines can compare quality-wise to premium California wines, but they're still just a drop in the bucket compared to their Bear State counterparts. Over the past 50 or so years California wine has been immensely influential in the global wine industry. Despite producing wine for over 150 years, it took until 1976 for California to get the respect it deserved. Colorado on the other hand, not so much. However, many of California's biggest names in wine have their roots in Colorado (including a wine at that Judgement of Paris tasting). Colorado, after all, is known as the headwaters of America for being the source of four major rivers, so why shouldn't it also supply some of California's vintners as well?

A winery without a tasting room, but flavor to spare... (2011 Ruby Trust Cellars releases)

Few, if any, Colorado wineries operate like California wineries. Generally speaking, that is a good thing. Colorado is not California and its wines are going to be as equally different. Yet, merlot, cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay are still Colorado's most planted varieties by acreage. Many of Colorado's vintners still think they can compete with California on these major varieties. Sure, the quality might be there, but consumers will more than likely go for the known commodity rather than take a flyer on the local juice.

Colorado vs. Virginia with Terroirist.com (Red Blends edition)

Last month, I found myself in Washington, D.C. for a work trip. On one of my free nights, I got together with David White, founder of Terroirist.com, and some members of his local tasting group for a Colorado vs. Virginia wine blind tasting. We opened 28 different bottles of wine from Colorado and Virginia, with a few ringers thrown in. We started the festivities with a flight of viogniers (12) followed by a slightly larger flight (16) of red blends. Today, I will post the results from the Red Blends flight. You can find the results for the viognier flight on yesterday's post.

All wines were wrapped in foil and randomly numbered. We poured two at a time, in no particular order (I've listed them here sequential for clarity). The group discussed each wine as they were tasted, but the identities were not revealed until all wines in a flight were tasted and voted on. The results revealed that while both regions have some work to do to be consider "world-class," they both produce some pretty good wine right now. The notes that follow are my own, though I do note the wines that were determined to be the best as voted on by the group. While I did take brief notes during the tasting, I somehow managed to not write down the vintages for the wines. C'est la vie!

Meet the Winemaker: Theresa High (Colterris)

Theresa High

A little over a year ago, I wrote about Colterris. At that time, Colterris was a custom cabernet sauvignon made by Two Rivers Winery for High Country Vineyards and Orchards proprietor, Theresa High. A lot can change in a year. Colterris is still (for now) made at Two Rivers, but Colterris has its own winery license and has expanded (will continue to expand) its family of wines. Currently on the market, you will be able to find both a cabernet sauvignon and a cabernet franc. Theresa has taken on more responsibilities as winemaker and will release a petit verdot and Meritage blend in the near future. Colterris is one of the most widely distributed Colorado wines in the state (a testament to its quality, but also helped by Theresa's husband owning a wine distribution company), so grab a bottle (or two) and get to know the woman behind this popular and tasty wine brand!

The Key is Tasting (blind)

There are a lot about misconceptions of Colorado wine. First, and most egregious, is the quality factor. Sure, just as with any wine region, Colorado wineries produce some not-so-tasty juice. But consider Bordeaux. There are somewhere on the order of 10,000 producers just in the broad Bordeaux wine region. 10,000. That is more than all of the wineries in the United States! When most wine aficionados discuss Bordeaux, we are referring to less than 100 producers. The current evolution of the 1855 Bordeaux Classification includes 61 châteaus. A handful of right bank producers in and around the towns of Saint-Émilion and Pomerol are now as highly regarded as the classified châteaus of the Médoc. My point is, only about 1% of the wineries are Bordeaux are considered to produce high-quality wine. The rest is probably mediocre to less than mediocre (or at least by the standards of the wine tastemakers). The same concept can be applied to the wineries of California. There are more wineries in California producing plonk than meticulously crafting fine wine, and I bet you can name a few wineries in both camps. The good news is, if you know which wineries to seek out, you can find wine you like.

Colorado is no different. With over 100 wineries in the state, I'd be willing to bet (not $10,000) that the average wine consumer in the state could not name more than 5 wineries. If they were to taste wines from all 100, consumers might find wines that they consider to be at the same quality level as wines from California or even (gasp!) France. One of the best ways to get wine drinkers to try new wines is through restaurant wine lists. When I worked in the retail tier of the industry, I was surprised how often people came into the store and said they tried a wine at a restaurant and wanted to by a bottle. I was relieved when people actually new which wine it was and not just that it had a red label. Unfortunately, one of the problems with the idea of getting Colorado wine onto reputable restaurant wine lists is convincing the wine buyers!

Luckily for Colorado, there are more than a few chefs and sommeliers who are open to the idea of adding more local juice to their lists. With the help of Colorado Wino (Jacob Harkins) and Swirl Girl Denver (Kendra Anderson), we've put together the #DenverWineCru where we blind tasted Colorado Wine against the world. Our goal is to see how Colorado wines compare to wines from established wine regions.

We were joined at the first by a group of eager winos and Jensen Cummings, Executive Chef at Row 14. We tasted a lineup of five different wine styles with wines from Colorado and elsewhere around the world in each flight. When things were all said and done, everyone left impressed with Colorado's quality. Colorado didn't "win" every flight, but even when it didn't there were many more home runs than strike outs (and there were a few...).

Here are my notes of the wines that I took as we tasted without know what was in each bottle:

A new wine is born: Anemoi Boreas

New wineries pop up all the time. Every year we see new wineries in California trying to sell the next big thing. New winery owners plop down several million dollars on a few acres of prime real estate, pay one of the state's top viticulturists to manage their grapes and finally pay a celebrity winemaker's ransom to consult on how to make a wine that will score 100 points from one of the wine world's tastemakers like Robert Parker, Jr. or Steve Heimoff.

More often than not, a larger winery or wine conglomerate will buy another winery and incorporate the new brand into its portfolio. The new management infuses capital and shakes things up to give the appearance of the brand being reborn. Sometimes this works, and sometimes it doesn't. Very rarely do you see one producer operating two wine brands completely independent of each other.

Terroirist.com does Colorado Wine

A few months ago, Terroirist.com founder David White (@TerroirsitBlog) tweeted that he was planning a trip to Denver. I responded to his tweet and suggested that we pull a few corks. David wanted try some Colorado wine after seeing Gary Vaynerchuk's raving review of Guy Drew Vineyards' 2007 Metate on his short-lived Daily Grape. Well, after a few tweets back and forth, we met this weekend and tasted through a lineup of Bordeaux blends and varietal wines from Colorado, California and Bordeaux along with Terroirist.com contributor Ainsley Adams and some members of my local tasting group. We started with a Colorado riesling, non-blind, and then blind tasted through 5 Colorado, 3 California and 1 Bordeaux wines (the other guests brought the non-CO bottles). One of my local wine tasting buddies was kind enough to also bring a half bottle of a well-aged Sauternes to finish the festivities. 

Starter: 2009 Reeder Mesa Vineyards Riesling. Good floral aromas with some apricot and mineral flavors and hints of gasoline. There is a bit of noticeable sulfur and it could use a bit more acidity. It is ok, but I've definitely had better CO riesling (including previous RM vintages). Good

Wine 1: This garnet colored wine has flavors of dark cherries and raspberries, tea leaves, leather and a bit of dark caramel. It has well-structured tannins and an slightly earthy and peppery finish. This was my #2 of the tasting. Very Good

Wine 2: Deep purple, this wine is clearly younger than the previous. Lots of red and blue fruits, especially raspberry and grapes and dark chocolate fill the palate.. The finish was nice with an added smokiness. Fairly monolithic, but overall a very good wine. Very Good

Wine 3: Definitely more old-world in style than the previous two. It is meaty, funky with notes of black olive. The aromas are big and complex. It has firm tannins with spicy tobacco and leather flavors. Very Good

Wine 4: This wine is exceptionally young. It is bright purple and smells and tastes like a barrel sample. Green pepper, raspberry and white chocolate suggest that is cabernet franc heavy. It needs a few years to come together; I don't think it is ready to drink yet. Good

Wine 5: This wine has complex aromas and flavors. Cedar, cigar, brown sugar, plums, blueberries, and black currants are all there along with notes of lavender and sage. I love the intensity and combination of fruit and secondary flavors. Combined with the long and smooth finish, this was easily my wine of the night! Excellent

Wine 6: Dark red fruit, cedar, tobacco and vanilla combine to create a lovely complex nose. The mouth is full of big fruit almost bordering on blackberry liqueur over vanilla ice cream. It needs time to meld and will clearly keep getting better. Very Good

Wine 7: The nose is less intense than the previous wines. Another old-world style wine, but not screaming Bordeaux like Wine 3, graphite, red plums, slight black tea and pencil shavings are evident in what is a little thin palate with a short finish. A subtle wine that needs to be drunk with food and not in a lineup of 8 other wines. Good/Very Good

Wine 8: The oak is noticeable on the nose and I immediately think Napa. Concentrated red and black fruit, and typical currant but it is acidic and lacks soul. Not doing it for me. Good

Wine 9: This was the only wine of the afternoon to exhibit a bit too much alcohol on the nose and palate to me. Sweet red fruit is prominent on the nose. The palate is not what I expected, but pencil shavings, cranberries, figs and raspberries make up for the kind of watery texture. Good/Very Good

We finished with a 1985 Chateau Gilette Sauternes. I took no notes on this, but clearly remember honeyed apricot and more acidity than I would expect in a 26-yr old Sauternes.Very Good

Canyon Wind Cellars

Norm Christianson, a trained geologist, founded Canyon Winds in the easternmost and warmest part of the Grand Valley. The vines, mostly Bordeaux varieties, are rooted in alluvial soils, reminiscent of Bordeaux, filled with cobblestones and sand. With 14 different wines, Canyon Wind offers something for everyone. Here are three recommended wines from Canyon Wind:

2008 Canyon Wind Tempranillo, Grand Valley AVA

A brilliant deep purple yields to a dark rose rim. Pronounced fruit and floral aromas fill the glass. Red cherry, strawberries, violet and dried cranberries entice you to take a sip. Good acidity is matched with dried strawberries, plum, leather and a minerality in the mouth. Well balanced but with a short/medium finish. Get this one now because a freeze killed the vines to the ground this past winter and they have been replaced by Malbec. 13.4% abv. Sample (retail $20). Good (tasted 7/19/10)

2007 Canyon Wind Petit Verdot, Grand Valley AVA

The glass is filled with an opaque black/purple wine. The nose is very subtle with blueberry, violet and graphite detectable. Robust yet velvety tannins are balanced with medium-plus acidity. Blackcurrant, cocoa and charred wood highlight this full-bodied beauty. This unique varietal is concentrated, very complex and offers a long finish. 13.1% abv. Sample (retail $25). Very Good (tasted 7/19/10)

2006 Canyon Wind Cabernet Franc, Grand Valley AVA

Clear red juice. Attractive aromas of wild strawberry and hints of spices. Fruity flavors of mulberry, strawberry, black currant complement the tobacco and herbaceousness. A well-balanced wine with good acidity and complementary fruit and spice leave a long finish. 14.3% abv. Sample (retail $18). Very Good (tasted 7/19/10)