WTN: 2001 Dashe Zinfandel, 2002 JC Cellars Syrah
I liked Lenn's theme for this edition of Wine Blogging Wednesday, the Internet-wide tasting group. Find the winery closest to your home, he wrote, and taste their wines. I assumed his theme deliberately coincided with August's "Eat Local" challenge, but no. His choice was pure coincidence.
Those of you who know the area might assume I'd be tasting a wine from Rosenblum Cellars or Edmunds St. John. In fact, two wineries—Dashe Cellars and JC Cellars— recently moved into a shared facility mere blocks from my apartment. Fatemeh (who lives even closer to their building) and I thought about visiting the wineries and talking to the wine makers while tasting their wines, but it didn't work out. The Dashes were away in Europe until Monday, and the representative from JC Cellars claimed they weren't yet set up for visitors. One suspects the winery would have figured something out if I had said we were two writers from Wine Spectator instead of two bloggers with a sizable combined readership. On the other hand, I don't actually expect the busy wine maker to take time away for every single press person. Still, I'm disappointed I can't give you a more intimate look at our neighborhood winery.
I can't tell you which of the two wineries is closer to my home, since they're in the same building, so I reviewed one wine from each. The wineries source grapes from throughout the state, though I'm sure they're both considering the potential for vineyards under the dock cranes near Oakland's Jack London Square. The Mediterranean climate would, I'm sure, be excellent for Rhône varieties. (ack! I'm making wine geek jokes! Stop me, quick!)
2002 JC Cellars "Ventana Vineyards" Syrah, Monterey, $30 at Solano Cellars
Jeff Cohn has built quite a reputation as the wine maker for Rosenblum, across the estuary in Alameda. It's tempting to wonder if he forged his own love for single-vineyard wines at that facility, which is well-known for its innumerable bottlings from small plots. He's launched JC Cellars even as he continues his wine making duties at Rosenblum, but this isn't a simple side project. A JC Cellars syrah won first place at the Syrah Shootout at this year's Hospice du Rhône, no small feat when you look at the other entrants.
It's not hard to imagine this wine showing well. It's a seductive syrah, with potent, intense aromas perfectly in line with the almost black color. Tilted on its side, the wine looks like blood. It's an unabashedly New World wine, and I'm surprised James Laube and Robert Parker scored it under 90 points. I sniff this wine and imagine the sticky smell of blackberry must on a warm day. I imagine pork fat rendering over a low flame, or bacon sizzling on the stove, hints of smoke trailing along behind. This wine smells the way velvet feels. But when I taste it, I'm surprised. I expected a heavy, tannic wine, but the lip-smacking liquid has mild, fine-grained tannins and great acidity. The taste didn't quite match up to the lush aromas, and a hot finish tipped the hand to the 14.6% alcohol. It's a wine I'd serve with a braised lamb or duck, or perhaps a grilled magret (the breast of a bird raised for foie gras).
Their website reveals a curious fact: These vines are planted on original rootstock, not grafted onto phylloxera-resistant Vitis labrusca roots. The louse has never fared well in sandy soil, and so it can't make headway in this Salinas vineyard.
2001 Dashe Cellars "Todd Brothers Ranch" Zinfandel, Alexander Valley, $23 at Solano Cellars
Michael and Anne Dashe each bring a wealth of wine knowledge to their new winery. He's worked in cellars around the world, from New Zealand's Cloudy Bay to Ridge's Dry Creek facility, while she's received extensive enological training in her native France. The two look for small lots, and use indigenous yeasts to ferment the grapes. Michael, the wine maker, avoids the filtration that might strip flavor from their wines.
The Todd Brothers Ranch is a steep, rocky vineyard perched above the town of Geyserville along the Russian River. The 65-year-old vines have come into their own, offering the maturity and depth you only get from old Zinfandel vines.
The rose-petal edges and garnet core make for an eye-catching wine that offers up bready, earthy aromas that develop into an almost floral flavor with uplifted fruit. The medium tannins and decent acidity all combine to provide a wine of balance and elegance. You don't even notice the 15% alcohol. This is a wine to drink with a hearty, fatty steak.
Comparing these two is a fruitless exercise: They're apples and oranges. But my favorite of the two was the Dashe. The JC seemed a little too sculpted, whereas the Dashe seemed truer to itself. Despite the manicuring on the JC, the Dashe seemed the more balanced of the two. Even with its higher alcohol (which diminishes a wine's food-friendliness), the Dashe seemed like a wine that would integrate into a meal rather than try to grab center stage. Both are good representatives of their type, however, and I'd happily order either again in the correct circumstances.
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