Last month, I was
invited by my friend Stefano, President and Founder of 54 Hundred Restaurant
Group, to attend “Sonoma in the City: San Francisco Trade & Media Grand
Tasting at the Presidio.” Each region of Sonoma County was represented, and
Stefano and I were particularly excited to try Pinot Noir and Zinfandel from
the Russian River Valley. As Stefano and I were making our way through the
Chardonnays and a few Sauvignon Blancs, even before we reached the reds, we
were surprised by how similar all the winemaking styles were. Though all of the
wines were of excellent quality (I didn’t notice any flaws in terms of flavor,
nose or color), few of the wines we tried expressed the subtle nuances of
terroir that I have come to appreciate from the best wines produced in the
Santa Cruz Mountains and elsewhere.
The Sonoma wines
felt like “new couch wines,” as Stefano and I came to describe the full-boded,
in-your-face fruit-bombs, sweet with oaky vanillin, and slick like oil in the
mouth from pushed malolactic fermentation. These Sonoma wines were not like our
grandparents’ couches—worn pieces of furniture with individual character, that
you often have to ease into—these “new couch wines” had all the accoutrements
you could think of, and in many ways were a testament to modern winemaking
techniques and technologies.
Too
often, however, these advances take philosophical precedence during the
winemaking process, and when vintners favor modern innovations over the unique
expression of a vineyard, wine’s metaphoric value—and its individuality—can be
lost. The ‘somewhereness’ that a wine might express is easiest to attain if minimal
interference is made by the winemaker.
I do not want to
suggest that modern winemaking techniques shouldn’t be employed when necessary.
This is the view of one of my favorite Sonoma wineries, Limerick Lane Cellars,
known for their cool-climate Zinfandels. Jake Bilbro, owner and viniculturalist
for Limerick Lane, was pouring at the Sonoma in the City event, and he told me
that while he and his brother, who makes the wines, try to be as hands-off as
possible, they don’t hesitate to step in and solve problems when they arise. I
think this is why Stefano and I found so many good yet identical wines at the
tasting event, and also why I believe it is important for winemakers to strive
for the expression of terroir in their wines. Modern viniviticultural practices
have enabled quality wines to be produced every vintage; but this one-time
dream of winemakers has eclipsed another desire just as old: to produce a wine
that is unlike any other.
