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Friday, July 26, 2024

MAHA and Villa Creek Founder JoAnn Cherry, Central Coast Biodynamic Vintner, Dies After Long Struggle with Cancer

JoAnn and Cris at their tasting room in 2017 when then Demeter Executive Director Elizabeth Candelario and I visited in advance of  the 2018 International Biodynamic Wine Conference

It’s a sad day when you look at your Facebook page and see that the female founder of a prestigious biodynamic winery–and someone you’ve met and written about–has died.

Here’s what the winery’s Facebook page posted: 

“It is with a heavy heart and a sense of peace that we say farewell to our beloved JoAnn after a 5 year battle with colorectal cancer. She was a beacon of joy, a creative force, an icon of style, devoted friend, mother, and partner. To know JoAnn was to know someone who always went out of their way to make you feel better. Though her loss has shaken our world, we are comforted by endless memories of her smile, her laughter, and her irreplaceable warmth. 

A celebration of life honoring JoAnn will be held on August 24, 2024 from 10:00am-2:00pm at the MAHA Estate. 

In lieu of flowers or other gifts, please consider a donation to MUST! Charities in JoAnn’s name.

To RSVP to the event or to make a donation, please see the links below. Kindly RSVP by August 17th.

JoAnn and her husband Cris were always among the “cool kids” in Paso, first with their restaurant Villa Creek, which every renowned wine critic who hit town raved about. 

By 2001, they started their Villa Creek winery, originally buying grapes and making 300 cases of wine to serve as the house wine at their restaurant.

After their 2001 vintage won 93 points from the Wine Spectator, they decided to expand production and sell wine, building a winery in 2003. The couple purchased a 60 acre property where they planted 14 acres to vines—including the classic Rhone varieties (Grenache, Mourvedre, and Clairette Blanche) along with Carignane and Petite Sirah. The couple also planted 25 olive trees, which they made olive oil from, and 30 sheep, who mowed the vines in the spring

Biodynamic consultant Philippe Coderey initially helped the Cherry's adopt and integrate biodynamic practices.

Their biodynamic vineyard case production grew from 400 to 750 by 2024. 

In recent years, rave wine reviews from top voices have lavished praise on the limited production wines, receiving some of the highest scores in the Paso region. While their first wines were pretty big and extracted, they became more nuanced and complex over time. Today, even at prices of $100 a bottle, they sell out.

They were also among the few to label wines organic and biodynamic on the bottle. 

Certified

MAHA Estate 

• Vineyard, organic, 2015-2018 (Stellar Certification Services), 2018-present (CCOF); biodynamic, 2015-present, Demeter USA

• Winery certified, organic and biodynamic, 2022

ESTATE WINES | MAHA ESTATE

Adelaida District AVA

WHITE

• Clairette Blanche-Before Anyone Else

 RED

• Red Rhone Blend-Understory

• Red Rhone Blend–Backlit

MORE

The Wine Independent shared a 2023 piece about MAHA and Cris and Joann. Read it here

MEMORIAL


Thursday, July 18, 2024

Is There a More Beautiful Biodynamic Farm and Vineyard than Filigreen? I Don't Think So. Open One Evening Only.

The most beautiful farm and vineyard I have ever seen. 

Catch the good vibes at this (never open to the public) farm and winery in beautiful Anderson Valley this summer. Includes a farm tour. It's sure to be a very memorable event.  



Monday, July 15, 2024

Trivia Contest: Five Things You Likely Did Not Know About the Rhone Rangers

Photo from Steve Edmunds Lifetime Achievement Award event
From left to right: Patrick Comiskey, Randall Grahm* (second from the left), Bob Lindquist*, Bill Easton*, Steve Edmunds*,
Adam Tolmach, John Buechsenstein, and Frederic Cline*  

* indicates Lifetime Achievement Award winner

I came home from Trivia Night at a local club I belong to right after all the Rhone Rangers festivities and this was the result. Enjoy!

1. Three of the Rhone Rangers lifetime achievement award winning winemakers sold wine in retail shops before becoming winemakers. Who were they?

2. True or False: The “Estrella” clone brought to Paso Robles by Gary Eberle was from a French vineyard and was “imported” illegally by two U.C. Davis professors whose identities were not revealed until after their deaths. 

3. Not one but two wine retailers in California helped the first Rhone winemakers from the US "discover" Rhones. Who were they? 

4. How many years did it take to get the first Vaccarese vine imported into California? 

5. How much Syrah is planted in Washington compared to California? 

Answers - click here

(Note: All of the winemakers featured use organically grown grapes or have certified organic vineyards.) 

Sunday, July 14, 2024

The Wait is Over: "Vineyards and Biodiversity Conference" Sessions Are Now on YouTube!

I've attended this fabulous conference sponsored by OIV and held in Avignon twice, and have been ecstatic about the information presented. So it's with great pleasure that I am here to inform you you can see videos of the presentations with ENGLISH SUBTITLES...

While you may enjoy all of the videos, if you are pressed for time, I would recommend two to start with:

1. Winegrowing landscapes - from before to after oil

2. Bio-indicator plants - wild flora revealing the health of the soil, the vine and biodiversity

The language barrier is overcome by the subtitles and the feeling that you are getting a free trip to the south of France. The French point of view on the topic of vineyards and biodiversity is one to watch. 

ALSO

Here are some previous articles about the event.

https://www.winebusiness.com/news/article/285428

http://winecountrygeographic.blogspot.com/2022/12/french-conference-highlights-vineyards.html



Saturday, July 13, 2024

Napa Green's Climate Smart Wineries: The Certified Organic Among Them

Napa Green Launches Special Event Highlighting Climate Smart Wineries


Read more about the event here. Here's a list of the organic participants.

100 Percent Organic

• Clif Family Winery

• Grgich Hills Estate

• White Rock Vineyards

Partly Organic 

• Spottswoode Estate (estate is organic)

• Stags' Leap Winery (In transition on the rest of the vines)

• Tres Sabores (estate is organic)

• V. Sattui Winery (In transition on the rest of the vines)

Thursday, July 4, 2024

Exceptional Wines from the Rhone Rangers Tasting in Sonoma

Last Saturday on yet another super hot day, the Rhone Rangers tasting took place at Cline Family Cellars in Sonoma, with 31 wineries pouring... on the green, expansive lawn where big umbrellas shielded the throng of Rhone wine lovers from the 86 degree heat. Cooling fountains, large garden ponds and a low stone wall you could sit on in the shade helped attendees beat the heat. A few couches covered by shade structures made up the VIP lounge. (The choice of Saturday was a lucky one; now temperatures are forecast to be over 100.)

Only one of these wines was from Sonoma, but, as Phil Coturri likes to point out, Sonoma's Rhone presence is growing. (That is partly thanks to his efforts to promote Grenache.) 

It was a lively gathering. The VIP/press preview hour was very busy, even before the doors opened for the rest of the wine lovers. As I walked from the parking lot to the event, I noticed this...(photo below) which somehow seemed emblematic of the Rhone peeps. 

Best license plate in the parking lot


Lesser known, but classy. Doing their thing. And paying attention to the grape varieties that will only become more popular over the years. 

Kermit Lynch was advocating for Rhones long ago–before the world began noticing climate change was real. Before that, it was obvious that Napa's climate was never like Bordeaux's. California's regions bore more of a resemblance to southern France than to the Medoc. as Lynch told Bob Lindquist, who was to become one of the Rhone Ranger's leading talisman.

Earlier, Darrell Corti had suggested to Gary Eberle to try drinking and planting Rhones, which later led to Eberle planting a "secret" clone from Chapoutier's Tain vineyard–in Paso, where Syrah had not been grown.

It was posh English wine writers and well organized French wine merchants who made Cabernet the thing it has become, and wineries gravitated to it because of the prices it could thenceforth command. (Think Mondavi, the Lodi Italian, upscaling Napa from heavy bearers like Zinfandel and Petite Sirah to Cabs and a joint winery with Bordeaux royalty in the form of Rothschild). 

It goes without saying that Rhone wines rate today among some of the finest in the world today–based on quality. And California winemakers would not mind becoming a Chave or a Beaucastel, despite the geological and climatic differences. I know at least one steep, granitic site in Carmel Valley striving to become the next iteration of Condrieu, and I'm rooting for them.

Of course, Rhones find their own expressions in California, not imitating their French forbearers, but leading to something new. That movement codified itself in 1985 when the pioneers started the Rhone Rangers. More than 35 years later, they persist. 

Steve Edmunds of Edmunds St. John (left) who received his lifetime achievement award from the Rhone Rangers Friday night, with Craig Camp (right), general manager of Troon Vineyard and president of the Rhone Rangers 

THE TASTING

Here are the wines I most enjoyed at the tasting. (All are from certified organic grapes.)


2022 Amphora Mourvèdre, Troon Vineyards (95 cases, $65) Applegate Valley AVA

A friend told me about this wine beforehand, so I made a point to taste it first. This Mourvèdre was blended with 25 percent Grenache.

I love a well made Mourvedre. And this one was quite unique. I'll take it.

A trip to Bandol to Domaine de la Begude in 2022 opened my eyes to the variety (since so little is grown in California). Bandol is Mourvedre country. The grape is also famously the backbone of Bandol Rouge from Domaine Tempier, made famous by Kermit Lynch, the Berkeley importer, and Alice Waters. 

Further north in Chateauneuf du Pape, the Perrin family, owners of Beaucastel (as well as part owners of Tablas Creek), base their red wines on it, instead of Grenache (the latter being what most of the other wineries in Chateauneuf du Pape focus on) as long as the Mourvedre harvest is good. It's not the easiest grape to ripen as it takes its time in the fall.

When Tablas Creek was looking for a site to buy in California, the Perrin family's requirement was a place that had a long enough growing season to produce high quality, ripened Mourvèdre.

There are so few people who make Mourvèdre here that to find an amphora aged one is really rare. This one did not disappoint. It displayed the lighter side of the grape, from the amphora, which also makes extraction unique. 

"The lees stay on the sides of the amphora," explained Camp to me at the tasting. It should appeal to wine lovers who prefer a lighter style of the wine's characteristic "sauvage" but it is still complex.

Note: I don't think anyone is doing more to embody the biodynamic spirit and commitment here in the U.S. than Craig Camp and the team at Troon Vineyard in southern Oregon. With Tablas Creek, they are among the first to go Regenerative Organic Certified at the Gold level, which is a high achievement. Both wineries are also certified biodynamic. (Camp is also the president of the Rhone Rangers.)

2022 Syrah, Grenache, Mataro - Ridge Vineyards ($44) Dry Creek Valley AVA

Lytton Springs has three acres of Syrah which it makes it into a variety of wines, including this blend–64% Syrah, 26% Grenache, 8% Mataro and 2% Viognier in the 2022 vintage.

It's a bit of a departure from the previous vintage which was 74% Syrah. The Syrah here was planted in the mid 90's at Lytton Springs estate west.

David Gates
Senior VP of Vineyard Operations, Ridge Vineyards 

Gorgeous red and dark fruits that will develop beautifully with cellaring, but, of course, you could succumb now.

2021 Lindquist Family Syrah Bien Nacido Z Block ($65) - Santa Maria Valley AVA

Rhone Rangers extraordinaire Bob Lindquist 

Proudly wearing his LA fan gear in the heart of northern California. Letting nothing stop his love for the Dodgers from flowing.

2022 Tablas Creek Vaccarese ($40) Adelaida District AVA 

If you want to play stump the wine expert, this is the wine to give them in a blind tasting. The variety is very rarely planted and is usually a blending grape. 

There are only 2/3 of an acre in the U.S. and it took Tablas Creek 12 years to get a virus free vines through the inspection process. (Three tries).

It was a lovely, lighter variety I enjoyed. Sorry, no photo. More info here.

2022 Winery Sixteen 600 / A Deux Tetes - Grenache Oakville Ranch ($105) Oakville AVA


The dream team of super star Philippe Cambie (deceased) and Isabel Gassier is pretty unbeatable. They weren't there in person, but their wine was. I've become a huge fan of the Oakville Ranch Grenache. Jeb Dunnuck is singing their praises pretty well, too. 

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A Final Comment: Our National Treasures

Without exception, these are among the finest U.S. wines on the market today. And look at the prices. Not that you should be influenced by prices, but compare this to what you find in Napa. Or at the wine shop in wines from the Rhone. 

Becoming a wine club member at any of the wineries should classify as a national treasure. Consider the options.