Hunnicutt Wines

Saint Helena, CA

Following our great tasting at Titus Vineyards we visited Hunnicutt Wines.  As I mentioned last week our friend Wally gave these two tastings ratings of 10.5 on a scale of 10.  Hunnicutt definitely has a different look and feel than Titus but like I have mentioned before all kinds of tasting experiences can be good.  Whereas Titus had its roots more in the grape growing business, Hunnicutt probably took a different route.  Although the label was established in 2001, everything at the winery is new and beautiful.  The winery and caves were just completed in 2011.  The facility is just up the road from Titus on the mountain side of the Silverado Trail.  Just a short drive up the hill and it is like you are in the mountains. 

Mountain feel at Hunnicutt

The winery is owned by Justin Stephens and family.  Justin’s father had started a winery several years earlier on Howell Mountain under the DR Stephens label and although they continue to retain separate brands I believe most of the winemaking will be happening at the newly complete Hunnicutt facility.  Justin jumped into winemaking in 2001 after graduating from Cal in 1998 and a short business career with his first wine job as a cellar rat working at Miner Family.  He went on to work at Saddleback and Venge Winery and formed a relationship with Kirk Venge, son of legendary winemaker Nils Venge.  Kirk Venge is the winemaker today at Hunnicutt. 

 

Kirk and Justin

Appointments are required to visit Hunnicutt.  We were unaware of the brand until this year when Hunnicutt became members of the GEMS group, a group of privately owned wineries in the Napa Valley.  We have never been to a GEM winery we did not enjoy so they must have pretty high standards.  Although the entryway is marked on the Trail, driving up the short road is almost like driving up a private road .  The road opens up and a small but beautiful facility is right in front of you.  Surrounded by pine trees sits a good sized open garden area surrounded by just a couple of buildings and the large façade of the cave structure.  The design really was well done.  There is a small inside area for tasting but I’m thinking on a lot of days you really want to be outside.  The tasting room has large doors that were open the whole way which almost gives you the sense of being outdoors.  Our tasting had been set up for us prior to our arrival.  Our group of 4 were the only ones there initially until a wine club member arrived and took seats on some outdoor rocking chairs.

Mo (or Maux) was our host and although I am guessing Mo had not been with the winery too long, he certainly had excellent knowledge about the wines and everything Hunnicutt.  Hunnicutt’s wines are divided into a three groups.  The Hunnicutt Brand is Chardonnay, Zinfandel, Merlot and Cabernet, the second label is called Cutt and these are wines that are not one of the above varietals, and then the Reserve label which is devoted to premium Cabernets.  As usual my notes are thin, or almost nonexistent here but we liked everything.  We tasted the Chardonnay, the Napa Cab, the Fearless, a Petite Sirah/Zin/Cab blend as well at two of the Reserve Cabernets.  Again, not being Chard drinkers, we found this one very drinkable and the Napa Cab was very good and in what is pretty much now the standard Napa Cab price range of $45-50.  This one was $50.00.  The Reserve’s were both $85.00 and both the Rutherford AVA and Spring Mountain AVA were excellent.  We did not taste the super premium 9-3-5 Cabernet priced at $125.00.

But what we ended up buying was the blend.  The story goes was that they were offered the Petite Sirah grapes from a grower in the Coombsville AVA and thought they were so good they could not refuse.  The Fearless was the first wine under the Cutt label.  The Fearless was really my wife’s purchase and she has an idea of doctoring the label to read Cutting after a college friend she will be seeing this summer.

 

As we were finishing our tasting we got to make a quick tour of the property and caves.  The facility is also being used as somewhat of a custom crush facility and the newly constructed caves are already filling up fast with Hunnicutt, DR Stephens and other winery barrels.  My thoughts are that Hunnicutt is really going to become a sought after wine experience and no doubt a maker of premium wines. 

 

What we liked- Mo was sharp and not pretentious.  He knows they have a pretty good thing going on there.  Every aspect of the experience was top notch.  A must stop and at $25.00 to taste it is worth it.

What we bought- Three bottles of the blend.  Hopefully I’ll get to taste it.

 

Vitals

Hunnicutt Wines

3524 Silverado Trail North

Saint Helena, CA  94574

(707) 963-2911

www.hunnicuttwines.com

 

Titus

Titus Vineyards

St. Helena, CA

We had a GREAT day of tasting in the Napa Valley this past weekend. We visited a couple of wineries that were new to us and a couple of other favorites.  The tastings at the ‘new to us wineries’ were two of the best tasting experiences we ever have had.  Our tasting partner, Walter, gave them both 10.5 on a scale of 10.  This week and next week we’ll discuss our new discoveries and then one of our other stops in a couple of weeks. 

 

Titus was a winery that I was not (too) familiar with.  A few years ago I was a regular Friday night taster at the now closed JV Wine and Spirits in Napa.  JV, being close to the wine country, had a weekly tasting that brought in a local winery and it was usually  the winemaker or winery principal pouring.  Titus was pouring one Friday.  I had also kept an article I read a couple of years ago which highlighted good but not flashy wine tasting suggestions and Titus was on the list.  When doing my planning for the weekend I came across the article and shot Titus an email about coming in for a tasting.  Titus is not normally open on Saturday but Danielle responded and said she could come in but just between 10 and 11 Saturday morning.  This worked for us.

Titus is just north of Deer Park Road on the Silverado Trail (8 telephone poles from the corner were the directions we were given).  Many of us have probably driven by it lots of times and never noticed it.  The Titus Family starting assembling the vineyard in 1968 and after acquiring the two adjoining properties they now have a single 40 vineyard along the Napa River.  The Family also has a 10 acre property on Ehlers Lane which is the source of their Napa Valley RESERVE Cabernet.  The winery is now operated by the brother team of Phillip (Winemaker and former winemaker at Chappellet) and Eric (Vineyard and Business Manager).  It was more than 20 years before Titus crushed fruit for their own production as their fruit initially went to other wineries including Charles Krug, BV and Pine Ridge.   Today the vineyards are comprised mostly of Cabernet and Zinfandel but also contain Cab Franc, Petite Verdot, Malbec, Merlot, Petite Sirah as well as Sauvignon Blanc.  Blending is a big part of the Titus winemaking philosophy. 

We arrived timely Saturday morning and searched a bit to figure out where the tasting was to take place.  There is a house and barn on the property and that is about it.  After first searching the barn we found an arrow pointing towards the front of the house. In the house there is a small tasting area off the kitchen, which might be used on a rainy day, but we went right back outside to taste at a picnic table right next to the vineyard.  We already felt we were off to a good start here.  Danielle, who I had emailed two days earlier, was our hostess and Eric Titus, dressed as if he was ready to go to work in the vineyard (and he was), started the tasting with us.

 

As is always a great way to get your taste buds working, we started with the Sauvignon Blanc and it was excellent. 



Titus (good weather) Tasting Room

Titus is about red wines though and every one we tasted was excellent.  We knew this because when we were ready to make a couple of purchases we had a hard time deciding.  Our first red was the 2011 Zinfandel.  This was made with the grapes from the vineyard just 50 feet to our left which was planted in 1977 and 1978 and at $30.00 is a great price.  We then had the Cabernet Franc and then the Cabernet.  The first Cabernet, the Napa Valley Cab, was from the vines right on this property and the second was the Reserve from the Ehlers Lane property just north of the main ranch.  Both wines were 2009 vintage and were aged for 22 months.  The Napa Valley Cab was blended with Petite Verdot and Malbec and the Reserve was a blend with the Petite Verdot, Malbec as well as Merlot and a bit of Cab Franc.  At $65.00 the Reserve is priced $10-$20 (or more) less that others in the Valley.  We finished with the Petite Sirah which was dark and yummy yet restrained.  Again, not a bad taste in the bunch.  Danielle, who is expecting her first child in April, is someone who has been around the valley working in the wine and hospitality business for some time and was a source of interesting stuff.  And she knows her wine also.  Our conversations ranged from the soil on the property, to her work experience at Auberge du Soleil, to Eric and Phillip’s Mom and so on.  It was one of those kind of small town experiences sitting in a beautiful vineyard tasting some of the best wines you will find anywhere that you do not get every day.  The Titus group, from what we saw, are really down to earth people. 

 

When we finished our tasting we first chatted about joining their wine club; going in half’s with our tasting partners, Walter and Anne (we decided not at this time since we have to drop one to join one) and then debated what to take home.  It was our first tasting of the day and everything was good so deciding was difficult. I HIGHLY suggest making an appointment to visit Titus.

 

What we liked- Everything- the conversation, the tasting room (picnic table) and especially the wine.

What we bought- Like I said it was a tough decision but I know we bought a bottle of the Reserve Cab and one other (I was putting the wine away in the dark and could not read the labels clearly).

 

Vitals-

Titus Vineyards

2971 Silverado Trail N

St. Helena, CA  94574

(707) 963-3235

www.titusvineyards.com

 

 

Week 42 Update

The Weekend Wine Taster

Update

It has been a busy week so there is no official review of a particular winery or event.  But we did go 42 straight weeks and it is still our goal to make it 52 straight weeks with something to say.  I went back and looked at the posts for the past 42 weeks and although we did visit a lot of wineries we are still really just scratching the surface.  There were 60 wineries or events that we highlighted over the past 42 weeks.  These were not all of the wineries we visited either.  We only highlight tasting experiences that have been positive and there have been many that were not worthy of a positive review.  Also there are times when we have had a really good experience but then by the time you get around to writing about it your memory is a little thin.  Sometimes you are just so relaxed that you really are not thinking enough at the time to gather some needed facts.  For instance I see that there is only one post for a Mendocino County winery and I am sure when we did our last Anderson Valley trip we visited several wineries up there that we enjoyed.  I put together a recap of where we have gone and reviewed in the last 42 weeks which may factor into where we go and what we do over the next year or so. 

Sonoma County wineries were reviewed 18 times.  This may be because Sonoma County is so big and has so many wineries but also because it can be more affordable to taste in Sonoma in comparison with Napa and also because we made a couple of weekend trips where we were able to see several wineries in a day. 

Napa was next with 15 reviews including 2 dealing with food/restaurants and lodging.  Certainly the most impressive winery facilities are in the Napa area but with some tasting fees getting out of reach we tend to do a taste at one two in Napa wineries and are generally happy.  We do have 4 scheduled Napa tastings tomorrow and are going to a couple of new spots that look very impressive.

East Bay/Urban Wineries- We have become big fans.  We have reviewed 10 different East Bay wineries so far and for the most part really enjoy being fans of these establishments.  We hope there are more worthy of reviews.

 

The rest of the reviews have been scattered.  There is only one review of a Foothill winery so obviously we need to make a trip to Amador/Calaveras/El Dorado County.  The same goes for San Luis Obispo County since we have not mentioned a single Edna Valley winery.  We made only one trip to a ‘valley’ winery and this was Winters, not Lodi, where there are dozens of wineries.   No trips to Santa Barbara County or Santa Cruz either.  We did go to a couple of Festivals and plan on more of these (Rhone Rangers is next week) and possibly some more wine bars also.  We have lots to look forward to in2013 and beyond.

 

One way or another we will get the posts categorized by the time week 52 or 53 hits and then moving forward we’ll continue to add posts but probably not at a one a week pace.

The Weekend Wine Taster

Two Mile

Oakland, CA

 

I know, we are getting lazy and not taking the time to drive to the real wine country but Two Mile (or twomile as it is shown on their tasting list) was a surprise find and right in the heart of Oakland.  We had planned on visiting another winery in Oakland that we had visited before and really liked (Stage Left) and I guessed that there must be one more winery that we had not visited.  I did some research and found Two Mile and quickly emailed them to see if they would be open on Saturday.  Quickly, Adam, one of the owners, responded and said come on by. 

Two Mile is on 25^th Street, just off of Telegraph.  It falls into the new ‘Art’ district that runs for several blocks along Telegraph starting near Grand.  They have been running monthly ‘First Friday’ events and in fact had one just the night before.  Locals galleries and shops open or stay open late on this evening and there are food truck vendors and so on.  Two Mile is located in kind of an artsy oriented building with several other vendors selling hand made products and such.  Two Mile has built a little tasting room within the former factory (apparently a screw factory) building.  It is a small space, maybe 12 by 12 with bar seats around three sides.  Outside the little bar area is some winemaking equipment but I think some of the wine may be made in various spots around town.  I understand that some is made at Urbano Cellars, another one of our favorites, about 3 or 4 miles away in Berkeley. 

 

 

The history for Two Mile is pretty limited.  They have little printed info and their website is very low key.  We were able to gather a little bit out of Deborah, our host.  Apparently a bunch of guys with some amount of wine knowledge got together back several years ago and started making some wine.  The group today is now down to just two, one of them being Adam.  The name Two Mile is associated with a law enacted in the late 1800’s that prohibited the sale of alcoholic beverages within two miles of the Cal Berkeley campus.  I’m guessing 25^th Street in Oakland is about two miles from the campus and I am also guessing that law no longer exists.  Two Mile makes wines from grapes grown in Napa, Sonoma and the Central Coast and some of their vineyard sources are well known.  My observation is that they have winemaking figured out.  All the wines we tasted were well balanced and smooth.

 

We tasted a 2007 and 2009 Sangiovese. Both were very good.  They were also pouring the 2008.  The ’07 was very elegant and you could tell the ’09 would probably be similar with some aging. These wines were from the Dry Creek area of Sonoma.  The ’07 was priced at $38.00 but the ’09 was about $10.00 cheaper.  Then we tried the 2007 Syrah from the Unti Vineyards in Dry Creek.  This was a very dark colored wine and like the first two was well received by all in our group.  The last wine we had was an Organic Blend called Founders Rock.  This is a blend of Petite Syrah from Livermore and the Dry Creek Syrah.  At $16.00 we all thought this was a great value.  None of the wines were fruit bombs so they all go nicely with foods and I would certainly have no problem serving any of these with fish.

 

Deborah was enthusiastic but low key.  There were a couple other groups tasting and she was keeping a conversation up with all of them.  You can tell she is learning about wine like all of us and enjoys the Oakland vibe at Two Mile.  They also serve wine by the glass (or plastic cup) that you can walk around with as you are checking out the art and crafts in the building. The tasting room is open Saturdays from 2:00 to 6:00 as well as the First Friday of each month. We’ll definitely be back soon.

What we liked- Another great East Bay winery destination for us.

What we bought- We split a case of the Founders Rock with our friends that tasted with us.  We opened a bottle the next day and were still impressed.

 

Vitals-

Two Mile

477 25^th Street

Oakland, CA  94612

(510) 868-8713

www.twomilewines.com

 

 

 

ZAP

Zinfandel Festival 2013

 

There are other events that bill themselves as a Zinfandel Festival but there is really only one big time Zin Fest and that is put on by ZAP.  ZAP stands for ‘Zinfandel Advocates & Producers’.  Most or all of the organizations that put on these wine-tasting events are non-profit organizations and ZAP really fits the bill.  Their mission is dedicated to advancing public knowledge of and appreciation for American Zinfandel and its unique place in our culture and history. 

Along with big time tasting events such as the annual Zinfandel Festival in San Francisco in late January/early February, ZAP is also involved in other endeavors.  One of those is the Zinfandel Heritage Project and Zinfandel Heritage Vineyard.  This is a project first established at the Oakville Research Station (UC Davis) in the Napa Valley.  The primary goal of the Heritage Vineyard Project is to provide superior Zinfandel selections for growers.  ZAP had partnered with the project after recognizing the importance of ongoing research at UC Davis in creating greater diversity for growers for future plantings.  In 2009 UC Davis released 19 Zinfandel selections to nurseries.   The overall goal is to strengthen the reputation of Zinfandel as the premier historic wine grape throughout California. 

 

Each year ZAP selects a distinguished winery member to craft a unique Zinfandel vintage from the Heritage Vineyard.  Past winemakers for this project have come from standout Zinfandel producers such as Seghesio, Ravenswood, Ridge, Turley, and Biale.   At ZAP events they usually pour the current vintage of the Heritage Zin and it may also be for sale.  So while most of the public attends the ZAP event to taste wine and probably most of the member wineries attend to bring attention to their brand, there really is an additional underlying mission going on for the ZAP organization.

 

ZAP is a membership organization.  There are the Producer type memberships but most of us are interested in Advocate memberships.  Different levels of membership provide different levels of benefits.  The benefits include early admittance to events and special and enhanced tastings at member wineries.  We have been Advocate members as well as volunteers at ZAP events.  Volunteering is a nice way to get into the events and in many cases get you the same early admittance to the events that members receive along with the invited trade representatives.  The tasting events cater first to those buying wine for the trade and secondly to those of us buying wine for our personal consumption.

 

The annual San Francisco Zinfandel Festival runs Thursday through Saturday.  Tickets can be purchased that include all events or single tickets are available to each event.  The Thursday event is called Epicuria.  This is a scaled down versions of the Grand Tasting and matches about 50 wineries with food purveyors.  The food really is amazing.  We went one year and Ruth’s Chris was serving lamb kabobs that were great and the event introduced me to gourmet cupcakes just as the craze was taking off.  The list of wineries and food purveyors is tops.  The Friday events include Flights, which takes you through special tastings broken up by geographical areas, and then Friday evening is the Winemakers Dinner, which is kind of the VIP event of the festival and includes special wines and includes a silent auction of rare and one-of-a-kinds lots.

Huge Crowd at the Grand Tasting

 

Most people will only participate in the Grand Tasting on Saturday.  While the other events accommodate a couple hundred participants, the Grand Tasting accommodates several thousand.   This year we volunteered prior to the event that afforded us early entry into the tasting.  There are a couple hundred volunteers that work the three day event and volunteering at a Thursday or Friday function gets you into the Grand Tasting on Saturday for no charge.  Volunteer activities are varied and include set-up, moving in wine to the event, security, putting wrist bands on guests, handing out glasses, and so on.  This year we checked in volunteers.  A piece of cake.  Wineries start arriving the day of the event between 8 and 10 AM.  Although I don’t believe the tasting officially opens to the trade until Noon, the room is hopping before then and wine is flowing.  About 35% of the attendees are trade representatives (hotel, retail, restaurants and so on).  This year there were about 200 wineries showcasing their Zinfandel’s.  And it really is about Zin, you really are not allowed to pour anything else. 

 

This year it was my wife and I along with my daughter and daughter’s boyfriend, who were rookies at this event.  Since we were on the floor and ready to taste just after noon I assumed we would put in our two hours and be gone by 2 or 2:30 just after the public had arrived.  We had no particular strategy.  We thought we would kind of walk through the various areas and see what and who was there and then go from there.  This is very hard to do.  We also thought we would hit some of our favorites, which we did, but not systematically enough.   ZAP puts out a great program; the booklet lists all the wineries and what they are pouring.  It also list wines being poured by price categories so if you were looking for wines in a particular price category you might let this guide you.  This year ZAP provided what they called the Terroir Tasting area that had individual wines from certain districts (Lodi, Sonoma, Mendocino, Paso Robles, etc.).  They also had a private area for higher level ZAP Advocate members.

 

I thought the event was absolutely great.  And really, there were very few stinkers that we tasted this day.  We had some favorites; we really liked the Peju Province (Rutherford), enjoyed both Brown Estate wines, the Chase Cellars wines, Dashe of course, the Kenneth Volk wine, Limerick Lane, were happy to see Pat Paulson winery back, had the Black Chicken at Biale, did get a couple of Ridge tastes, enjoyed the Saddleback, the Prisoner and were happy to see our local winery from Walnut Creek, Shadowbrook.  Stephen, our daughter’s boyfriend, summed up the event by saying it was like the Cal Poly Wine Fest, which we have gone to as well, on steroids with lots more good wines and with more adults. 

 

If you go in with the right attitude you really cannot go wrong.  Sure, there are crowds at some of the well known and respected wineries, but odds are there is an equally good winery right at the next table with a shorter line or no line at all.  The event provides cheeses and bread and plenty of water and the crowd is pretty well behaved.  Despite my intention of getting out of the place early, at ten minutes to 5:00 (closing time) we were done.  And there is no question we will be back next year.

 

Vitals-
www.zinfandel.org