Five More Things to Love About California Wine

There are plenty of reasons to love California wine. TNTC, as microbiologists might say (too numerous to count). For those lucky enough to live in California, there’s probably a winery within easy driving distance. If not, you’re still likely to find a Golden State bottle worth a pop at your neighborhood grocer, not to mention the great prices and choices that abound at wine boutiques and big-box warehouses. 

Kenneth Volk wines from Santa Barbara and Paso Robles include many rare heirloom varieties. 

With only a week left in September, designated by the Wine Institute as California Wine Month, you can still find wine events worth attending up and down the state. If you'd rather stay put, tap into your wine stash or drop by a favorite California wine seller to enjoy a more intimate taste of California wine.

No matter where you choose to sop up all that California goodness, here are five more things to love about California wine, listed in no particular order.

How green are our valleys?

California wineries and vineyards have embraced sustainability with 1,800 now participating in the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance. Altogether, they represent nearly three-quarters of all winegrape acreage and case production. Consumer choice is also driving greater sustainability efforts. A recent study showed that one in three wine consumers considers the environmental or sustainable impact of the wines they purchase.

We are family

The vast majority of the state’s 3,800 bonded wineries – up from 1,700 in 2002 – are family-owned businesses. They have the stories, and the drama, to prove it.

  

Show us the money

California winegrowing activities have a huge impact on economic metrics, whether you count dollars-and-cents, tourism, employment or all of the above. More than 330,000 California jobs and 820,000 jobs nationwide are linked to California wine production. The Wine Institute’s 2012 California wine profile reported a statewide economic impact of $61.5 billion, which soars to nearly $122 billion on a national scale. 

Variety, volume and value

California winegrapes are sourced from 116 diverse winegrowing regions or American Viticultural Areas. By next year, there may be 11 additional AVAs drawn from the Paso Robles appellation alone. Beyond regional differences, the state’s winegrowers aren’t content to stay with the top white and red varieties, Chardonnay and Cabernet. California grows more than 25 white grape varieties and another 35-plus types of red grapes. Catarratto or Negrette, anyone?

2012: Another great California vintage

Despite climate change, California wines tend to show less vintage-to-vintage

variation than those from other parts of the world, be they from Old or New World regions.  California’s 2012 vintage was marked by an ideal growing season. The result was a larger grape harvest than the low-yielding 2011 crush from that chilly and more extreme vintage. Abundant sunshine in 2012 gave grapes what they needed to achieve excellent ripeness while the benign weather allowed flavor development that drinkers will appreciate in balanced and structured wines with excellent concentration.

We can all look forward to drinking to that.

With thanks to all California wine growers, pickers, producers, bottlers, makers, scientists, tillers, testers, retailers, publicists, supporters, drinkers, sommeliers, educators, writers, tasting room staff, cellar rats and everyone in between.  

Idaho Wines are Hot Potatoes

Vacation brings discovery, and that includes wine. On a summer break to postcard-pretty Jackson, Wyoming, we looked west for an exciting wine discovery – Idaho wine.

In the late 19th century, French and German immigrants brought grapes to the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley of Northern Idaho, where they founded the first wineries in the Pacific Northwest. While these vineyards produced notable wines, Prohibition brought an end to Idaho winemaking. Despite repeal of the Volstead Act in 1933, Idaho grape growing didn’t resume until 1970. Today, wine production is concentrated in the north, southwest and southeast portions of the state.

Despite its legacy as the birthplace of Pacific Northwest wine, the Gem State is the least familiar of the four wine-producing regions. Unlike Oregon, Washington and British Columbia, Idaho has no shoreline. However, the state shares ancient geologic history with its neighbors, including Ice Age floods and soil types that range from sandy and wind-blown to volcanic. Idaho’s southwestern winegrowing region possesses basalt soils and a growing season marked by warm summer days and cold nights, as in Washington’s Columbia Valley. The 40-degree day-to-night temperature variation allows grapes grown at higher latitudes to mature and ripen during long, sunshiny days while the chilly nights help preserve grape acidity.

The Snake River Valley was Idaho’s first American Viticultural Area, designated in 2007. At more than 8,000 square miles in area, it is nearly the size of New Jersey and the third-largest AVA in the western United States, extending into two easternmost Oregon counties. Winegrowing regions range from 1,500 to 3,000 feet in elevation with about 1,800 acres under vine. The AVA is home to most of the state’s wineries, including Idaho’s largest family-owned winery, 3 Horse Ranch Vineyards. Founded in 2003, the sustainably and organically farmed winery has been on an upward trajectory. With nearly twenty years’ experience making Idaho wine, Greg Koenig (who also makes wine and spirits – including huckleberry vodka – under his own label) knows how to elicit finesse and typicity from 3 Horse Ranch Vineyards' Rhône varietal rootstock plantings. Winery owners Greg and Martha Cunningham are etching their marks in the rocky terrain and rolling foothills with a petition for a proposed Willow Creek AVA that would encompass their vineyard lands north of Eagle, Idaho.

The 3 Horse Ranch Vineyards Reserve 2010 Vivacious is a lightly oaked blend of 66% Viognier and 34% Roussanne that unfolds with aromas of honeysuckle and stone fruit. Medium-bodied and complex, it delivers flavors of honeyed white peaches, apricot and orange zest and a lingering, tropical-inflected finish. A bottle of the current 2012 vintage is listed at $17 on the winery website.

A tip from the helpful staff at Jackson Hole’s Pearl Street Market led us to another find, the Snake River 2010 Riesling. This 100% Riesling from the Snake River Winery’s 30-year old Arena Valley Vineyard is an off-dry, varietally correct delight with peach, lime and honey on the palate and a crisp, mineral finish. It delivers great value too, with an online price of only $10.

Wine Press Northwest named Snake River Winery its 2013 Idaho winery of the year after its 2009 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon took platinum at the publication’s wine competition. The winery is revving for Riesling, Idaho’s most planted wine grape, with 2,000 cases produced from the 2012 vintage.

Taken altogether, Idaho wines barely comprise 0.1% of California’s production. Yet, as vines and sites mature, so does Idaho winemaking. Vintners are gaining experience and seek to match grape varietals to distinct Idaho microclimates and soils. Given their success with white wines, winemakers are exploring – and succeeding – with reds too. Idaho winegrowers can now boast 11 white and 16 red varietals, plus blends, sparklers, rosés, dessert and ice wines.

Awards aside, Idaho has shown it’s time to give their wines a nod. Take a shine to wines from the Gem State. They’ve shed their potato sacks and are due to dazzle. Vacation breaks optional. 

Aromatic Whites, Spicy Reds

At the next thoughtful tasting next week with The Girlfriend Factor, you'll learn to make sense of wine scents.

We found a wine that makes a great bridge between the first two aromatic whites and the last two spicy reds − Gewürztraminer, a white wine that's both aromatic and spicy. Grown in the cool climate of Sonoma's Russian River Valley, the 2009 Hook & Ladder is a tasty example of this versatile varietal.

A quick swirl releases aromas of ripe melon and tropical flower blossoms. On the palate, clean flavors of green apple, honeydew and a hint of lychee come to a spicy gingered finish.

Not to be confused with their sweeter late-harvest wine, Hook & Ladder's early harvest Gewurz is barely off-dry. It makes a terrific pairing with spicy and Asian fare, curries, simpler chicken and fish dishes (chutney or mango salsa, anyone?) or just some fresh fruit and cheese. Remember this one in summer for melon and prosciutto, too.

The winery takes its name from owner and winemaster Cecil De Loach's first career as a San Francisco fireman. For nearly thirty years before De Loach winery was sold in 2003, his Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Zinfandel wines brought worldwide attention to the Russian River Valley region. The district was designated an American Viticultural Area (AVA) in 1983 and the appellation's boundaries were expanded in 2005. Today, Cecil and the next generation of the De Loach family continue to develop that region's potential for top-flight viticulture in Sonoma's coastal fog belt.

Get with Gewurz for a refreshing change of pace or just the right wine complement to spicier or fruit-laced dishes. Sign up here to give this a swirl next week and learn more about this under-appreciated varietal. Find it for around $12 at Dan's Wine Shop in Palm Desert.