This year, Andrew's Spring Break was spent in the Bay Area to visit our
friends and relations out there. Many of these folks take our visits as
excuses to open up their long-awaited treasures (either that, or stuff
they can't get anyone else to drink). A bottle of 1998 Tinhorn Creek Cab
Franc (Okanagan) proved to be surprisingly tasty, with a leafy, herbal
quality atop dark berry fruit and firm acidity. The bottle of 1997
Staglin Cabernet Sauvignon was much less interesting, with the usual
blackberry/graphite thing, soft and glossy and still primary. Ho hum.

A visit to our friends Bruce and Joy is always great fun, but Joy (aka
Queen of the Mailing Lists) loves to pull out older bottles of cult
wines for us to try. On this occasion, we got to try 2003 Aubert
Chardonnay "Lauren" with a nose full of tropical fruit and a rich,
viscous mouthfeel complete with low acidity. That was followed by a pair
of Pinot Noirs, the first of which, the 2004 Aubert Sonoma Coast smelled
of pine needles and sappy red fruit with a surprisingly tart sense to
its very deep fruit. The second wine, the 2002 Williams-Selyem Westside
Road Neighbors clocked in at 14.3% ABV and was huge, oaky, soft and hot.
Yuck. We had a great dinner and much fun with our friends, but the wines
weren't the highlight.

Jean and I took one day out of our NoCal swing to venture up to Sonoma
for a day of R&R. Of course, R&R in Sonoma must include a few stops at
wineries of interest, so we found ourselves in the early afternoon
visiting the operations at Wind Gap and Arnot-Roberts in Forestville. At
Wind Gap, we were hosted by Susan, their marketing director (Pax was in
LA that day) who guided us through their current releases.

2009 Chardonnay James Berry Vyd - somewhat muted citrus, butter, dry
2008 Chardonnay Yuen (James Berry/Brosseau) - apples and distinct
mineral notes, crisp and dry with a slightly buttery finish
2009 Pinot Noir Griffin's Lair - bright, juicy cranberry, lactic, light
on the palate with a long finish
2008 Syrah Sonoma Coast - savory, dark fruit, well structured but tight
2008 G/S/M Rana - somewhat hot, meaty, red fruit with firm acidity
2008 Syrah Griffin's Lair - seaweed and soy sauce, dark fruit, plenty of
structure
2005 Agharta black label - soy sauce, black fruit, huge, tannic

The talk here was about sustainability as in the use of lighter glass
bottles. The highlight of this visit was getting to see their concrete
egg fermenters.

The Griffin's Lair vineyard was proudly proclaimed to be the coldest
Syrah vineyard in California, apparently acing out the competing claim
of the Peay vineyard (much talk about the inversion layer over Peay that
involved Duncan from Arnot-Roberts, too). The wines were quite
interesting. Of the two Chardonnays, our preference was clearly with the
Yuen. We were quite impressed with the Pinot Noir and also liked the
Sonoma Coast Syrah. The Rana, like many CA GSM blends, left me a bit
cold. Susan explained that the Agharta label is used for wines deemed
too big for the Wind Gap label and such was this wine. Big and brawny,
it may turn into something very nice with sufficient age, but I was
unsure whether it had enough acidity remain fresh.

Mark Lipton