Odd Bacchus

“Where are you off to now?” a car valet in Napa Valley asked. I told him. “Lodi? Ah yes,” he said. “They have the quantity, but we have the quality,” he replied, with palpable hauteur. Ever since a Napa wine won the Judgment of Paris in 1976, Napites have just been insufferable.

I jest. Sort of. And, unfortunately, the valet has a point: Lodi is the biggest grape-growing region in the U.S., with some 100,000 acres of vineyards. That’s more than Washington and Oregon combined. And, unfortunately, the valet is also correct that much of that production does not go into fine wine.

That does not mean, however, that fine wine is absent in Lodi. I’ve been here just a couple of days, and already it couldn’t be clearer that Lodi has immense potential. Indeed, numerous wineries here are already fully exploiting that potential, producing richly ripe, balanced bottlings with real class.

If you have had a fine wine from Lodi, there’s a good chance it was a red Zinfandel, the grape for which the region is most famous. I like to think of myself as a very in-the-know, anti-Parker kind of guy, who prefers earthy, austere Old World wines. But in those rare moments I’m honest with myself, I have to admit that I’m a sucker for rich fruit. The Zinfandels here have that in spades.

But they’re not the only wines that do. The whites have been a revelation. The best have ripe and lush fruit, elegant acids and spice, and a mineral finish, which sometimes feels like dustiness (which makes sense — after walking through the vineyards, I practically needed a vacuum to clean myself up).

The recent speed blogging event hosted by this year’s Wine Bloggers Conference confirmed that Lodi is capable of producing truly world-class white wines, not just Zinfandel fruit bombs. Speed blogging is always one of my favorite conference activities. Here’s how it works: Winery representatives move from table to table around the room, spending five minutes at each pouring and describing their wines.

It’s wild and wooly, and I always discover some fascinating stuff:

2015 Klinker Brick Rosé: According to pourer Farah, this Rhône-style blend of Carignane, Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre — only Klinker’s third rosé vintage — is vinified in a more “French” style with plenty of acids. It’s a lovely pale peach, and indeed, the acids are there. It’s not just strawberry candy. There’s light strawberry fruit, some juicy and tart orangey acids, and a bit of minerality and spice on a finish. A very fine deal for $15.

2015 Oak Ridge “Old Soul” Chardonnay: The oldest operating winery in Lodi, with Tasting Permit #1, touches this Chardonnay “lightly with French and American oak.” There’s plenty of stone fruit like apricot in the nose, with a hint of cream from that oak, I dare say. It starts well, with some ripe apple and peach fruit, with almost enough orangey acids to balance, and some vanilla and just a bit of wood on the finish. Not my ideal Chardonnay, but at $12, it feels churlish to complain too much.

Jardesca: This aperitif is a blend of three different white wines, notably Viognier (the founder Marcus wouldn’t name the other two). Then they add alcohol and botanicals like pink grapefruit, pink peppercorns. Served on ice, it has a rather voluptuous flavor with lots of fruit, and the pink peppercorn spiciness comes through loud and clear. Marcus tossed a peach chuck in my glass, which added a lovely aroma to it, and he came around again to clap some mint in as well. Against my better judgement, I kind of like it. But I don’t $30-a-bottle like it.

J Winery Brut Rosé: This peachy-colored sparkler from the Russian River Valley is a traditional Champagne-style blend of 66% Pinot Noir, 33% Chardonnay and 1% Pinot Meunier. I liked the rich aroma of orange peel and strawberries, and it has an interesting savory quality. Prickly, teeny bubbles; bright orangey acids (tangerine, if you’ll allow it), and a surprisingly long finish. Very tasty.

2014 Concannon Vineyard Assemblage Blanc: This Livermore winery made it through the horrors of Prohibition, and I’m glad it did. I had a glass of its ripe Petit Sirah earlier, which I enjoyed, but this wine, a blend of 60% Sauvignon Blanc and 40% Semillon is quite the opposite: the aroma is light and mineral, with a bit of swimming pool to it. It starts a touch flabby, but it tightens up into white pepper spice and some chalk. It’s $22 a bottle, which I don’t think I’ll be paying.

2014 Peirano Estate “The Other” White Blend: The grandfather of Lance, who poured this wine, started the vineyard in 1879, and Lance is a fourth-generation grape grower. He knows what he’s doing — the wine has a pleasant aroma of dried herbs and apple/pear fruit, lush white fruit flavor, just enough acids and spice to keep things balanced, and some appealing oak on the finish. I wish there had been a bit more acid and spice to balance the fruit and oak, but again, at $13, I don’t feel I can complain too vociferously.

2014 Kenefick Ranch Pickett Road White: Chris Kenefick’s father started this vineyard in 1981, and like many grape growers, he sold all his fruit, but they now make their own estate wines. The Pickett Road is another Rhône-style blend, composed of 75% Grenache Blanc, 20% Marsanne and 5% Viognier. It’s a lovely rich green-gold color, and it has a taut, spicy aroma. The fruit is fresh, clear and cool on the palate, followed by some light limey acids and a little honey on the finish. There’s a flabby quality in the midsection, though, so I don’t much feel like paying the $24 price tag.

2015 Left Coast Cellars White Pinot Noir: The ownership is mostly left-handed, which influenced the name, but of course the name also references the politics of this misguided section of the country. The juice sees no skin contact, and because the flesh of the Pinot Noir grape is light in color, the wine has a surprisingly pale straw color. It has a nose of spice and dried herbs, not the usual cherry fruit and earth of a Pinot, and an attack of apple and pear flavors. It moves quickly to some lively spice and a mineral, almost chalky finish. It’s quite delicious, and in an extravagant mood, I might well buy it for $24.

And… Table 1 has no wine. This is, unfortunately, a typical problem of speed blogging in recent years. Whatever is coming next, it better be good. Ah, the pourer, Craig Camp, just found us. Ah, and he’s walking away. And he’s coming back. Slowly. Argh.

2015 Troon Vineyard Blue Label “Longue Carabine” Applegate Valley: This Willamette wine is quite good, with ample fruit and spice, and Craig said something about natural winemaking. It must make a difference — this wine had excellent balance. I wish we’d had more than 30 seconds with it.

2015 Corner 103 Sauvignon Blanc:  Corner 103 has been in business for just 16 months! I’m amazed, considering the quality and finesse of this Sauvignon Blanc. It has a pretty grapefruity aroma with an overtone of grass, and flavors of bright citrus, apple, pear, and a little minerality on the finish. It’s not big, but it’s quite graceful. Its hillside vineyard in the Kenwood section of Sonoma is obviously a great location — I would certainly pay $25 for this one. Good to end on a high note!

Read about the sensational reds I tried in Speed Blogging session #2 here, or if you prefer more whites and rosés, check out last year’s Speed Blogging report here.

These wine tastes were provided free of charge.

As we drove along Burgundy’s Route des Grands Crus, each sign we passed sent a shiver of excitement up my spine. Vosne-Romanée… Chambolle-Musigny… Morey-Saint-Denis… And finally Gevrey-Chambertin, our destination. Even to this old goat of a wine blogger, the thought of doing a wine tasting in Gevrey-Chambertin had me tingling with anticipation.

We pulled up to the Domaine Trapet-Rochelandet (which also makes wine under the name Domaine François Trapet), a relatively modest stucco house on the edge of the village with a tractor parked in front. This is a family winery, and the son, Laurent greeted us at the door. When you picture the scion of a winemaking family located in one of France’s greatest wine towns, you might imagine some sort of grandee in a flawlessly tailored sport coat and trousers and name-brand loafers. But here, in unpretentious and informal Burgundy, Laurent wore a blue athletic shirt, red shorts and hiking boots. He had been working in the vineyards.

The cellar served as both a functional winery and a tasting room, though it clearly was much more the former than the latter. Laurent led us through a fascinating vertical tasting of Trapet’s Le Carougeots, from a village-class vineyard kitty-corner to the La Perrière Premier Cru vineyard and just south of the village itself. We started with a taste right from the barrel.

The 2015 Le Carougeots tasted “noisy,” as Laurent remarked, with youthful acids that still felt a touch overpowering, but this was not at all a bad sign at this point in its life. There was plenty of ripe fruit, too, and I have no doubt the wine will be delicious by the time it’s released. The 2012 had wonderful dark fruit, gentle spice and velvety tannins on the finish, but it was the 2008 that really seduced me, with its sumptuous aroma and flavor of cassis (currant), a note of violets and more forceful tannins. Both vintages were difficult, Laurent explained, but both these wines were delicious, as was the 2007, which had an earthier, more savory character along with stronger spice. Tasting these wines together made it perfectly clear why vintages in Burgundy are so important — each wine had its own distinct character.

Laurent also poured us a taste of the 2013 Les Champs-Chenys, the first vintage of this wine, also made from a single village-class vineyard. Les Champs-Chenys has Grand Cru vineyards bordering it on two sides, which made Laurent think that its fruit might be worth vinifying on its own. He was right. The wine was deliciously complex, with ample dark fruit lifted by notes of fresh hay and vanilla, and after a shaft of white-pepper spice, the finish felt minerally — almost saline.

The two Premier Cru wines we tasted, the 2012 Petite Chapelle and the 2013 Bel-Air, each offered a notable increase in finesse. I loved both — the dark fruit, fresh herbs and peppercorn notes in the Petit Chapelle, and the rich cassis and long finish of the Bel-Air. But I felt truly smitten by the rich Bel-Air, a funny little Premier Cru located just above the hillside from a Grand Cru. Usually Grand Cru vineyards occupy the highest parts of the hills, but because the soil in Bel-Air is so rocky, the vines are “too stressed” to make Grand Cru-level wine, Laurent explained.

Then Laurent absolutely floored me. He produced a bottle of sparkling wine; a bottle of sparkling red Pinot Noir, in fact. “What?!” My voice went up about a dozen decibels and at least an octave, and it echoed briefly in the cellar. “This is a sparkling red Pinot Noir, made from grapes grown in Gevrey-Chambertin?” I asked, again a little too loudly. I had no idea such a thing existed. Who on earth makes sparkling Gevrey-Chambertin?

Laurent didn’t seem entirely surprised by my reaction. “It is unusual. Actually, this kind of wine was popular in the late 19th century,” he explained, as I listened wide-eyed. He thought it would be interesting to resurrect the style. And indeed, sparkling red Burgundy is officially recognized, as evidenced by the words “Appellation Bourgogne Mousseux Rouge Contrôlée” on the back label. The grapes come from village-class Gevrey-Chambertin vineyards, but because Trapet has no sparkling wine production facilities, a winery in Savigny-lès-Beaune vinifies and bottles it.

The 2014 Petill’ Rouge was most definitely a red sparkling wine, not a Blanc de Noirs, the much better-known bubbly made from Pinot Noir. It looked brick-red in the glass, and it smelled of cherries and earth, as many non-sparkling Pinot Noirs do. The flavor was juicy and earthy, with elegantly small bubbles and some delightfully surprising tannins on the finish. I bought a bottle for about $16 (try finding a Gevrey-Chambertin in your local wine shop at that price).

I think of Burgundy’s Côte d’Or as one of the world’s most settled wine regions. For centuries, its terroir has been studied and carefully classified, and at this point its wines, while gorgeous, seemed more or less set in stone. Yet here stood Laurent, pouring me something I’d never even heard of, a wine he wanted to try making just to see how it would turn out.

The Côte d’Or, as I discovered first hand, is not entirely ossified after all. And it won’t become so, as long as winemakers like Laurent continue to take risks and experiment.

Sumoll, minor Catalan red wine grape usually blended, known as Vijariego Negra on the Canary Islands.

Thus reads the entirety of The Oxford Companion to Wine‘s description of Sumoll, which ranks among the shortest entries in the volume. If even the Oxford Companion can’t muster enough energy to make a single complete sentence about a grape variety, you know it’s really, really obscure. I was therefore amazed to learn from DeVinos that there used to be more Sumoll in Spain than Garnacha (Grenache), a variety which now counts among the country’s most ubiquitous grapes. What happened?

The 19th-century phylloxera plague took its toll, DeVinos explains, and according to Wine Searcher, most of the remaining vineyards were uprooted “in favor of less temperamental varieties.” The website of the Heretat MontRubí winery calls Sumoll a “delicate variety and so difficult to grow.” Wine Searcher agrees, noting that “The variety gives large grapes but low yields and is quite difficult to work with.” It’s not difficult to empathize with farmers who, faced with phylloxera-devastated fields of Sumoll, decided to grow something just a little bit easier and more internationally popular.

For much of the 20th century, the only people with any interest in Sumoll, it seems, were Australians. For all its fussiness, Sumoll is “particularly drought-resistant,” according to Wine Searcher, and wine growers Down Under created four hybrids using the variety: Rubien, Cienna, Tyrian and Vermillion (Cienna merits no fewer than three sentences in the Oxford Companion). But aside from some Australian ampelographers, few cared all that much about Sumoll.

The last few years have seen a resurgence in interest in local, indigenous varieties that arguably better express the personality of a wine region. This fashion may just have rescued Sumoll from extinction. Current plantings only cover about 300 acres, but a handful of dedicated wineries are giving the grape some much-needed attention.

This underdog variety captured my attention at a recent Catalan wine tasting, and I could hardly pass up the chance when a winery offered to send me four different samples of wines made from the variety.

Heretat MontRubí stands in Penedes, the heart of Spain’s Cava country, but the winery produces only small-production still wines — nothing sparkling. It released the first varietal Sumoll in 2001 (at least the first seen since phylloxera hit), and the winery now bottles three, a rosé and two reds, in addition to a Sumoll-based blend. Finding one Sumoll is rare enough, but to taste four side by side in one evening? That’s like winning the Odd Bacchus lottery.

Should you encounter a Sumoll yourself, and it’s not out of the realm of reason, here is what to expect:

2015 Gaintus “One Night’s Rosé” Sumoll: This wine has a lovely pale peachy-pink color and ample red fruit on the nose, along with some citrus like grapefruit and lemon. Surprisingly, it doesn’t taste especially fruity, feeling more tart and lean. But sampled with some roasted asparagus wrapped in prosciutto, it filled out nicely. This is a rosé you want to drink with food.

2014 Gaintus “Radical” Sumoll: I quite liked the aroma of vanilla, chocolate and peppercorn, and its color looked enticing as well — a Pinot Noir-like transparent garnet. My dinner companion remarked, “It tastes young,” and I sensed that as well. There was a green peppercorn note intermingled with the ripe black-cherry fruit. The finish felt tannic but certainly not harsh, and with some tagliatelle Bolognese, the acids came more to the fore. Again, it was with food that this wine really sang. I’m of a mind to buy a bottle or two and see what happens in five years, after it ages a bit longer.

2007 Gaintus “Vertical” Sumoll: The Vertical Sumoll sees more time in wood — 14 months in new French barrels compared to the Radical’s six months in second-use barrels — and it’s aged an additional 24 months in the bottle before release. Its aroma smelled like a more subtle version of the Radical, again with the notes of vanilla, chocolate and a bit of pepper. But this time, the peppercorn flavor tasted more black than green. The dark cherry fruit was there, as were more than enough acids for balance. Indeed, it tasted a little too acidic for my taste, but some chicken with tomato sauce tamed the acids beautifully. As with the wines above, the Vertical was at its best with food.

2009 Durona Red Blend: A blend of 50% Sumoll, 25% Garnacha and 25% Samsó (a “confusing Catalan name used for both Carignan and Cinsault,” according to the Oxford Companion), this wine had a totally different character from the Sumoll varietals. It smelled big, ripe and rich, with lots of fruit and a vanilla overtone. My friend took a taste and exclaimed, “Oh, I love that.” I did, too. The flavors felt deep and powerful, with ample dark fruit, a shaft of white-pepper spice and a well-balanced note of wood underneath. If you like high-quality Cabernet Franc, I suspect you’ll like this wine a great deal. With the chicken, it became more taut and spicy, but I would happily drink the Durona all on its own.

It’s unlikely you’ll find a Sumoll aisle in your wine shop any time soon, but should you come across one of these wines while shopping for something to accompany dinner, don’t hesitate to pick it up.

This time of year, I find it especially satisfying to relax with a well-composed and well-chilled cocktail. There are certainly plenty of summery wines out there, but when the temperatures start heading north of 90 degrees, nothing beats the feel of a frosty ice-cold glass in my hand.

When you have people over, it’s fun to make them a cocktail that’s a little unusual — it makes guests feel special. And, just as important, it makes them feel impressed by your mixology skills. Yet you don’t want to end up struggling with drinks that are time-consuming to make, forcing you to stay glued to the bar for the duration of the party, filling drink orders.

The eight recipes below all are relatively simple to make, and each drink has something of a twist. You likely won’t find any of these on the cocktail list of your local bar. I’ve tested each of these recipes myself, so I can give each of them the Odd Bacchus guarantee of quality.

 

LEMON GINGER MARGARITA

–2 parts Tequila (I used El Jimador Reposado, but any decent reposado or gold tequila should do the trick.)

–1 parts Ginger Liqueur (If you can’t find Koval‘s organic ginger liqueur, Stirrings makes a perfectly tasty substitute.)

–1 part Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice (There’s no substitute for this. Use bottled juice or sour mix at your peril.)

–A smidgeon of honey (or agave nectar or simple syrup)

I love, love, love this drink. It tastes citrusy and sweet, with some intriguing spice and floral notes. Juice a whole lemon, and use the amount of juice you get as the measure of one part. Combine the lemon juice, tequila and ginger liqueur in a shaker. Add the honey, and stir to dissolve.

You can also use a splash of simple syrup or agave nectar, but I like the additional depth from the honey. In fact, you can make this cocktail without any added sugar and it will taste fine, but honey, simple syrup or agave nectar really does wake it up.

Add ice to the shaker, shake vigorously, and strain into a large martini glass. Garnish, if you’re feeling fancy, with a slice of lemon or a strip of fresh ginger.

 

MILANO

–2 parts gin (I used Death’s Door)

–1 part Campari

–1/2 part ginger liqueur (we used Koval)

–1/4 part fresh-squeezed lemon juice (do not use bottled)

Popular though Campari and orange juice may be, my favorite mixology buddy and I decided that it was time to come up with something a little more interesting to do with Campari. Inspired by the Negroni, we started with gin and Campari, and eventually settled on the additions of ginger liqueur and lemon. The result tasted very zippy, spicy and sweet, but with a grounding bitterness provided by the Campari. I loved the balance of this cocktail, as well as the pretty pink-orange color.

Combine all the ingredients above in a shaker with ice, shake vigorously, and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a twist of lemon or orange. Or not.

 

THE BEST EXOTIC MANGO MARTINI

–2 parts vodka (I like Sobieski — it’s an excellent value for the money — but use whatever brand you prefer)

–1 part mango juice (100% juice if possible)

–1/2 part fresh-squeezed lemon juice

–2 or 3 fresh basil leaves, depending on their size

Small splash of lychee liqueur (I used Soho Lychee Liqueur, which is available at Binny’s for $25)

Juice a lemon, and use that as the measure of one part (one lemon will make two cocktails). Add all the ingredients above to a shaker with several cubes of ice. Be sure not to add too much lychee liqueur — it can very easily overpower a cocktail. Just a tiny splash should do the trick. Shake vigorously, so that the basil leaves bruise and release their flavor. Strain into two martini glasses, and if you want to get really fancy, garnish with a basil leaf. It tastes sweet, tart and vaguely exotic, with whispers of the basil and lychee. It’s just the thing to pair with Asian food.

 

GIN & ROSE LEMONADE

This cocktail couldn’t be simpler. Just mix 3 parts Fentiman’s Rose Lemonade soda with 1 part gin (I used Death’s Door). This combo smells amazing, with aromas of rose and juniper co-mingling beautifully. Aromatic, tart, not too sweet, complex — this is the whole package. And you can mix one up in about 20 seconds! Many Whole Foods stores carry the Fentiman’s soda line.

 

PINK PIGEON DAIQUIRI

–2 parts Pink Pigeon Rum (a vanilla- and orchid-infused rum from the island of Mauritius, available at Binny’s for $30 a bottle)

–1 part fresh-squeezed lime juice

–Very small splash of simple syrup (1 part sugar dissolved in 1 part water, also available in bottles at liquor stores)

A classic daiquiri has summer written all over it. As always, fresh lime juice is important — do not substitute bottled, which tastes quite different. Combine all of the above ingredients in a shaker. If you don’t have simple syrup, just add a small pinch of sugar to the lime juice and rum before you add the ice, and stir to dissolve. Add some ice, shake, and strain into a lowball or martini glass.

Ordinarily you would use more simple syrup in a daiquiri, one of the simplest and best rum-based cocktails, but because Pink Pigeon already tastes sweet, only a touch of additional sugar is necessary to balance the tartness of the lime. The resulting drink is refreshing and citrusy, with a wonderful additional layer of flavor from the vanilla. It has an almost Dreamsicle-like quality.

 

LION’S TAIL

–2 parts White Lion VSOA (available at Old Town Wine and Spirits for $25 and at Binny’s for $28).

–1 part coconut water

–1 part freshly squeezed lemon juice

–Splash of simple syrup

VSOA stands for “Very Special Old Arrack,” not to be confused with anise-flavored arak from the Middle East. This Sri Lankan spirit, distilled from coconut flower nectar, tastes more like Cognac.

As before, use the amount of juice you get from your lemon as the measure of a part. Combine the ingredients in a shaker with ice, and shake vigorously. Strain into a martini glass, or — why not — into a coconut shell. This mix has a uniquely savory flavor which is not at all unpleasant. You can omit the simple syrup, but I found that it brightened the citrus notes considerably.

 

NECTARINI BELLINI MARTINI

–Two white nectarines, cut into large chunks (you can cut up a bunch in advance to have at the ready)

–1 1/2 parts vodka

–1/2 part Triple Sec (I use Stirrings)

–Ice cubes

Making a Bellini, a classic Venetian cocktail of white peach purée and Prosecco, is a royal pain in the ass. Harry’s Bar, which made the cocktail famous, suggests hand-grating the peaches (a food processor aerates the fruit, giving you a foamy mess when you add the Prosecco), but who wants to go through all that? So forget the Prosecco.

And let’s change out the peaches as well. With peaches, you can either have little bits of furry skin floating in your drink, or you can peel them. Screw that. No peeling. Instead, secure a supply of ripe white nectarines, which have thin, non-furry skin. White nectarines are a must in this cocktail. In addition to tasting sweet and fruity, white nectarines have a wonderful perfumed quality you simply don’t get from the yellow variety. They also look gorgeously pink when you blend them up. This drink would surely taste OK with yellow nectarines, but I promise you, white nectarines make a huge difference.

Add the nectarines to the blender, followed by the vodka and Triple Sec. With my average-size fruits, I found that the cocktail tasted balanced with one ounce of booze per piece of fruit. If your nectarines are unusually small or large, adjust the proportions accordingly. The amount of ice cubes you add should approximately equal the amount of fruit.

Blend until very smooth, at least 30 seconds. Serve in champagne flutes (these are still Bellinis, after all). Two nectarines should get you about five or six full flutes of an unusually refreshing and fragrant cocktail.

 

FANCY CHERRY LEMON STUFF (suggestions for alternative names are welcome)

–One can of club soda

–One lemon

–One ounce tart cherry juice

–Orange slice

Most of us have at least one friend who chooses, for whatever reason, not to drink alcohol. I want my non-drinking friends to feel like they’re drinking something as fun as everybody else, and so I like to serve them perhaps the most unusual drink of all: The Non-Alcoholic Cocktail. This example is one of my favorites.

Juice the lemon. Pour the can of club soda over a little ice in a large tumbler. Add in the lemon juice, and a full shaker cap (about one ounce) of 100% tart cherry juice, available at Whole Foods. This tastes complex and sweet, but not too sweet. Again, the orange garnish adds another layer, its aroma mixing beautifully with the flavors of the drink.