What follows is the account of what else I did during a recent 5 day
stint in Ventura, CA for a scientific meeting.

Day 1 - Los Olivos
With a free afternoon to burn, I motored up from Ventura to Los Olivos
by the most direct route, CA Hwy 154, thereby traversing the westward
arm of Los Padres Nat'l Forest via San Marcos pass, then down to Lake
Cachuma and on through the Chumash Indian reservation and into the Santa
Ynez Valley. My first stop on this day was at Stolpman in "downtown"
Los Olivos. Entering via a footpath leading through the front door of
the house, I find myself in their cramped "tasting room." Finding
myself one-on-one with the woman pouring the wine (a leitmotif of this
trip) I proceeded to taste through the lineup of wines:

2008 Sauvignon Blanc (20% barrel aged, 80% Inox) - citrus and herbs,
rounded mouthfeel with good acidity, much like a restrained example of
Marlborough SB

2005 'La Coppa' Syrah - an initial lactic and piney impression gives way
to red berry fruit in a restrained and structured package -- very nice

2006 Sangiovese (100% new French oak) - dark cherry fruit with alcohol
sticking out, a bit tannic and quite anonymous (like every CA Sangio
I've yet had)

2007 Estate Syrah - a nose of pine sap and alcoholic heat, acidic and
tight, dark berry fruit -- not as appealing as the La Coppa, but
possibly more ageworthy

2006 Hilltops Syrah - more of that lactic and piney character with more
alcohol sticking out, soft tannins, red berry fruit with some citric,
herbal and pepper notes -- this was the tête de cuvée bottling, but too
pricey for what it offered

2007 'La Croce' (Sangio/Syrah/? blend) - mix pine sap, blueberry and
red cherry fruit, add some tannins and acid and you've got this very
anonymous blend

The people were friendly and informative and the wines well made, but
only a few truly appealed to me. Although the wines weren't overtly
oaky, the use of 100-200% (seriously!) new French oak in all but their
'La Coppa' Syrah to me obscured much of their character. A $10 tasting
fee was credited to a purchase of wine (and you get a complimentary
glass, something I need like a hole in the head).

I then walked two blocks to the recently opened Qupé tasting room, where
again I was the only visitor, altthough toward the end of my visit
another winemaker walked in to invite the staff to a winery opening.

2008 Verdad Rosé (Tempranillo/Garnacha) - some minerality and citrus,
light, fairly crisp and lightly fruity -- OK, but no more

2008 Verdad Albariño - salty, herbal and slightly floral, light and
herbaceous -- no resemblance I can see to any Albariño I've ever had
before. Interesting more from a novelty perspective than out of real
appeal.

2006 Qupé Roussanne - buttery, licorice, fairly full body with balanced
acidity -- a pretty good example of a CA Roussanne, which is a
backhanded compliment if ever there was.

2007 Verdad Tempranillo (20% Grenache, 4% Syrah) - smelling lightly of
smelly socks and stones, tasting of dusty cherry fruit in a structured
package -- not bad, but not exciting either

2007 Qupé Los Olivos Cuvée (68% Syrah/26% Mourvedre/16% Grenache) -
bright red fruit, slightly alcoholic and tart -- pretty good but needs a
bit of time

2007 Qupé Syrah Bien Nacido Vyd - seaweed and red berry fruit, well
structured -- now this is the real deal! Sign me up, baby!

2006 Qupé Syrah Alisos Vyd - spicy dark fruit, big and briery, tannic --
much bigger wine, but again structured for the long haul; I'm sure that
this will turn out well with some serious aging

2006 Qupé Syrah Nielson Vyd - soy sauce and red fruit, much less tannic
than the Alisos -- probably the least impressive of the three monocepage
Syrahs.

The Verdad wines are made by Bob Lindquist's wife. They also taste
Ethan wines there, which are made by his son, though none were available
on the day of my visit. The wine was being poured by Bob Lindquist's
son-in-law while his daughter was working in a back office. After the
conversation got interesting, she wandered into the tasting area and,
after a while, related the following story: she gets a phone call from
Tom Hill ("an old friend of dad's") who tells her that he's just read
Parker's reviews of the latest Qupé wines ("taking Bob to the woodshed")
and has to find out what's up for himself, so he orders one bottle of
everything that they're selling, then calls back the next week to order
three cases more. As she's telling this story, I just laugh and laugh
and mention that I've heard something of the outcome. Overall, this was
my favorite visit of the day, both for the wines and for the people.

My last stop before returning to Ventura was at Beckmen. For the first
and only time during my visit, I actually entered a busy tasting room.
I finally managed to signal for the attention of the one server and
selected the tasting of their "Purisma Mountain" wines. While it was
hard to have much of a conversation with the guy pouring the wines, I
did manage to extract a bit of information. All their vineyards are
Demeter-certified biodynamic and, judging from the attitude of the
pourer, they are quite proud of that fact and, in turn, dismissive of
other wineries that are only employing organic viticulture. I didn't
get the chance to probe his opinions on some of the loopier aspects of
Steinerite doctrine.

2007 Purisma Mountain Marsanne - white stone fruit, crisp and not too
heavy -- a decent example of Marsanne, but not my favorite grape

2007 P.M. Grenache - lactic, with some alcohol showing, candied cherry
fruit and licorice -- far from my favorite rendition of Grenache

2007 P.M. Syrah - smoky, somewhat meaty, dark fruit and fairly well
structured -- quite evolved but a fairly appealing if not overly complex
Syrah

2007 P.M. Syrah 'Clone#1' - slightly piney, bright red berry fruit, well
structured -- my favorite wine of this tasting

2007 P.M. Syrah 'Clone#6' - very rich mouthfeel, red berry fruit and
chocolate -- nope, not my kind of Syrah

It would have been interesting to get the pourer's views on the clonal
distinction between the various Syrahs and whether there were
differences in the soil, exposure, etc., but alas time didn't permit
that level of detail. One thing I'll note in passing is that vineyard
maps were available at virtually every winery I visited, so that one
could see the various parcels and what was planted where. Moreover, I
found the service staff very knowledgeable about their wineries and the
vineyard practices employed, which was a very pleasant surprise. On the
negative side, Beckmen was the only stop where the tasting fee wasn't
applied to a purchase.

Your roving reporter,
Mark Lipton

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