Blending. The Dark Art. I think you could go your whole life and not really master it. Which makes sense since art is like that; perfection is unattainable.

During blending trials you’re always worried: Am I capturing the best of this vintage? Or am I covering up distinctiveness? Am I using enough of my juice to make this financially viable? Would this clone have been better with another barrel? Can I beef this one up with some press fractions? Can I lean this one out with some early pick free run?

The options and combinations, assuming you have more than a few lots and more than a few barrels, can be nearly endless. It’s fun – but daunting.

Keefer Ranch

Which is why I jumped at the chance to head over to Freeman Winery and taste some sample blends with Keefer Ranch winemaker Craig Strehlow.

Keefer Ranch has, in the past 25 years, become known as one of the very best vineyards for Russian River Pinot and Chard. Marcy Keefer, Craig’s mom, sells her 30 acres of pinot and 20 acres of Chard to folks like Siduri, Kosta Browne, Freeman and Failla. You know, decent brands.

A few years back in 2006 they unveiled their own Keefer Ranch label. You can read a Wine Spectator article profiling them (and scoring the wine 90 points) on their site here.

The blends I tasted were from juice barreled down in ’08. Craig’s style as winemaker is restrained and elegant. On the nose and palate the fruit is red and pure but, unlike a lot of Russian River pinot, it is picked a little earlier and acid and freshness is a huge part of its appeal.

Clones include Swan, Dijon 115 and Pommard 4 barreled down mostly in Cadus, Remond and D&J. Total production for ’08 will be around 300 cases.

We tasted each wine in barrel separately, noting the differences that each clone and barrel gave. The Swan clone was savory, and the Pom 4 was packed with fruit and surprisingly floral. The 115 was picked later than the rest. Craig thought it was a little flabby, but I thought it was delicious. Keep in mind that he keeps his pH around 3.45 whereas most CA pinots live in the 3.6 – 3.7 range. So his definition of “flabby” may be different from yours or mine.

When we finished with the barrel samples, we dove into the blends.

Stir It Up

We started with a blend of equal parts of all the free run barrels. It was really good stuff. Laser-like, precise aromas and flavors with a good long finish. But Craig didn’t have any doubt about that. He knows he’s got some awesome wine.

The challenge was that he had three barrels of press fractions to work with and wanted some feedback on which blend we preferred from the following:

A. Free run with just the first press fraction barrel added

B. The above with the second press fraction barrel added.

C. The above with the third press fraction barrel added.

Each barrel you reject costs about 25 cases in production, plus the oak you’ve extracted over the elevage which depreciates the not inexpensive barrels. Sometimes better can be the enemy of good. At least in terms of the bottom line.

We tasted through each of the blends and gave our opinions. By far blend A, the one with just the first press fraction, hewed closest to Craig’s style. Alan (Craig’s and my mutual friend, and the photog responsible for the iPhone shots you see here) and I both agreed that blends B and C were both delicious as well, and might even get better with some age on them. What the blends lost in terms of the floral nose would eventually come back, we reasoned, with time in bottle.

Still neither of us could argue with blend A which was amazingly pure, elegant and, as I mentioned, a perfect example of the Keefer Ranch style. Since Craig is a pretty uncompromising bugger when it comes to quality, he wasn’t at all concerned with the lost 50 cases like I might have been.

All in all, very good times. I’m looking forward to tasting the final blend soon at our monthly tasting group, The Order of Meat and Wine. If you want to try the ’07 vintage you can order a bottle or three here.

Thanks to Craig for the hospitality and the opportunity to help, and thanks also to Alan for snapping the shots for the post.

Today I had the opportunity to sit with Robert Parker and a room full of other wine industry nuts at CIA Greystone in St. Helena and taste through a flight of 11 different Pinots from California and France blind. I’d been looking forward to this event since I heard about it here, and it did not disappoint in the slightest. I, on the other hand, was a different story.

Before we started tasting Parker told us that the wines were young, none more than 4 or 5 years old, and that the split was 6 French and 5 California. We were also told that alcohol ranged from 14-15.5 from within the group and that the California Pinots came from all over the state (The twelfth wine was a delicious Domaine Grand Veneur Chatrauneuf-du-Pape “Les Origines” Grenache that Parker had thrown in as a ringer).

As you will see below the wine list was very impressive, and Parker was of course a knowledgeable and unpretentious tour guide. Best of all, the results from the tasting were very surprising – at least to me.

Essentially we were asked to taste each of the 12 wines and try and determine its place of origin. We weren’t asked to identify regions, just country of origin. France or California. Heads or Tails. At the end we all raised our hands and some rough estimates were made. There was no real ranking of the wines, and all but one were judged to be excellent by Parker.

Interestingly, even given that limited set of criteria (I had a 50-50 chance after all) I still did miserably, no better than guessing randomly, though I’m fairly certain some others in attendance shared my fate. Below is the evidence of the sad affair with the list of wines preceded by my predicted country/state of origin.

Wine 1
My guess: CA
Wine: Marcassin Vineyard, “Marcassin Vineyard,” 2002 Sonoma Coast.
Price: $275
Notes: The Marcassin had black fruit with spice and sweet tannins, but it was also hot. Very hot. Or maybe it was just hotter than the rest, but it stood out as a CA wine. In the end nearly everyone got this one right, but at the time I felt like I was big and strong and on a roll. Daddy couldn’t lose. Until…

Wine 2
My guess: FRA
Wine: Martinelli Winery “Blue Slide Ridge,” 2003 Russian River Valley.
Price: $145
Notes: I thought for sure this lovely wine was French. It was so pure and light, unlike any of the others in the tasting. With fresh acidity, red fruit, blueberries, and a glorious floral nose, it’s the style of Pinot we aspire to at Capozzi. I won’t lie, I was already booking my trip to France to learn at the feet of the master who’d made this. Little did I know all I would have to do is drive a half mile down River Road to complete my pilgrimage. Hey, at least I saved plane fare.

Wine 3
My guess: FRA
Wine: Mommessin Clos de Tart 2003 Morey-Saint-Denis.
Price: $200
Notes: This one had one of the more interesting noses. Smelled of coffee and dark fruit and dust. Loads of tannins. Parker called it a “big wine.” In retrospect I have no clue why I called this one for France, but my gambit paid off. Who’s the big winner? Josh is!

Wine 4
My guess: CA
Wine: Domaine Dujac Clos de la Roche 2002 Morey-Saint-Denis
Price: $200
Notes: My notes read “syrupy. dark fruit on the nose and palate. nice acid – fairly hot.” Sounds like CA, right? Wrong! Another Morey Saint Denis product showing New World character as well as a bit of Brett. And speaking of Brett, this wine sparked a lengthly discussion about the various strains of Brett and at what level Parker considered it to be a fault. I’ll spare you all the gory 4-ethyl phenol details, but according to the chicken scratch that passes for my notes, Parker had this to say: “I don’t mind some Brett in a wine.” “No Brett can make a one dimensional wine” and “I’m a fruit guy first, but Brett under control adds complexity.” Parker chalked up his affinity for the smell of mouse droppings, horse blankets, band aids and stables to the fact that he grew up on a dairy farm. My threshold is much lower, but I agree, at least in principal, that Brett is something that complexes a wine. Of course so would the smell of baby diaper, but I digress.

Wine 5
My guess: FRA
Wine: Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Grands Echezeaux 2002 Vosne-Romanee
Price: $585
Notes: Forest floor and a little Brett. Parker called it “dirty” and I remember agreeing. Thin. Moderate and unremarkable acidity. Ho hum. That’s right, a $585 dollar bottle of Ho Hum, from the Big Daddy of the Pinot world. I was floored when this one was revealed. I tasted it a couple more times after the reveal to see if I could convince myself that I’d simply overlooked a subtle genius. No go. Kinda disappointing, I must say. But I got the country right, so I’ve got that going for me. Which is nice.

Wine 6
My guess: FRA
Wine: ROAR “Gary’s Vineyard” 2004 Santa Lucia Highlands
Price: $60
Notes: This is the one I thought was DRC. It was also the favorite of the most people at the tasting by a wide margin. Thats right, the least expensive wine was the crowd favorite. Surprising. The most remarkable thing about the wine was its complexity. I couldn’t pull out aromas and flavors, it was all a jumble. But it was a delicious, perfectly integrated jumble. And the finish was looooong. If you’ve never experienced a Pinot with a long finish, seek thee out this wine. It is a winner. Unlike me. With this miss I’m back down to batting .500.

Wine 7
My guess: CA
Wine: Domaine G. Roumier Bonnes-Mares 2002 Chambolle Musigny
Price: $200
Notes: This wine reminded me of my early experiments in making Pinot in my parents garage with my friend Ken, and not in a good way. It was pretty bad, hot and acidic at the same time with a simple fruit core that kind of danced on your palate for a second and then was gone. Parker excoriated this wine, and based on his sheepish comment that he was “glad I’m not a winemaker in this room,” I think he thought it was a CA wine. Just like me. We both lose.

Wine 8
My guess: CA
Wine: Williams Selyem 2003 Russian River Valley
Price: $ 67
Notes: A really nice wine. It showed off a blueberry nose and a long finish. It was clearly a California wine, but it’s a restrained version of the style. Bob Cabral, the winemaker for Williams Selyem, was at the tasting and I noted that he voted for this wine as his favorite. Good for him. He knows his wine. Good for me also since I was able to call this one correctly. It was my last correct answer of the day.

Wine 9
My guess: CA FRA
Wine: Kistler “Cuvee Catherine” 2002 Russian River Valley
Price: $235
Notes: Parker really was effusive with his praise on this one, noting its “integrated acidity” and “savory mouthfeel.” I thought it was a rich, almost syrupy pinot. Not my favorite style, but excellent for what it was. Parker thought it was “a beautiful wine.” Which makes sense since he routinely gives Kistler 98 point ratings. This is another one that in retrospect I should have called for CA, but for some reason did not. Meh.

Wine 10
The ringer, and we all knew it. Tasty. Unfortuantely I guessed that it was a Merlot.

Wine 11
My guess: FRA
Wine: Brewer-Clifton “Mount Carmel” 2004 Santa Rita Hills
Price: $100
Notes: Another wonderful wine. A bit of Brett on the nose, but lots of fruit and sweetness on the palate. The Brett made me think France. The fruit should have given me pause. Wrong again.

Wine 12
My guess: CA
Wine: Louis Jadot Chambertin-Clos de Beze 2003 Gevrey-Chambertin
Price: $200
Notes: Another wonderful wine, equal to the Brewer-Clifton. I don’t have very good notes for this one for some reason but I remember thinking the final two were very similar. Way to go out with a whimper.

Final tally: 4 for 12.

Copia may be in trouble financially, but they have been scheduling quite a few interesting events lately. The best of the lot is the “Oregon’s Best Pinot Noir” tasting on November 19th which will focus on the Dundee Hills AVA. Producers pouring there will include Argyle, Domaine Drouhin Oregon, Domaine Serene, Erath and Sokol Blosser.

Best of all, admission is very reasonably priced at $25 bucks a ticket.

Oregon’s Best Pinot Noir
Sunday, November 19, 1:00 – 3:00 pm
$25 (includes admission)/$15 member
Walk-around winetasting

You can register for the tasting online here.