Historic Vineyard Society Tasting - April 21 @ Press Club SF

The Historic Vineyard Society will be holding a tasting on April 21 at Press Club in San Francisco. I had some conversation with Chris and Morgan about this at the Bedrock pickup day last weekend, and it sounds like an interesting event. Not just for Zinfandel anymore, expect a wider variety of varieties, plus this will be a larger event than in the past, with a greater core of wineries participating.

Tickets can be purchased here: https://historicvineyardsociety.org/product/ticket

From the web site:

HVS Tasting at the Press Club

$40.00

Join us Saturday, April 21st from 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm at The Press Club in San Francisco for the first-ever gathering of Historic Vineyard wineries. You’ll have the opportunity to taste wines from 20+ wineries and over two dozen historical sites, from Cienega Valley Riesling to Contra Costa Carignan, Calistoga Petite Sirah and numerous eclectic field blends from California’s oldest vines.

Participating Wineries:

Arnot Roberts
Bedrock
Biale
Carlisle
Carol Shelton
Day
Failla
Hanzell
Hartford
Ian Brand
Limerick Lane
Lodi Winegrowers
Matt Cline
Nalle
Neyers
Old Crane
Once & Future
Precedent
Ridge
Sandlands
Seghesio
St. Ahmant
Stirm
Turley
Under the Wire
Williams Selyem

Vineyards Include:

Aldo’s Vineyard
Alta Vista Vineyard
Hanzell’s Ambassador’s 1953 Vineyard
Bacigalupi Vineyard
Bechtold Vineyard
Bedrock Vineyard
Besson Vineyard
Buchignani Ranch
Carlisle Vineyard
“El Diablo” (Day)
Enz Vineyard
Esola Vineyard
Henderlong Nalle Ranch
Evangelho Vineyard
G.B. Crane Vineyard
Gaudi-Carli
Hayne Vineyard
Heinstein Vineyard
Limerick Lane
Mancini Ranch
Montafi Ranch
Monte Bello Vineyard
Montecillo Vineyard
Old Hill Ranch
Pagani Ranch
Palisades Vineyard
Papera Vineyard
R.W. Moore Vineyard
Sadie Upton
Saitone Vineyard
Teldeschi “Frank’s Block”
Two Acres Vineyard
Wirz Vineyard
…and more!

Sounds awesome. I might have to make a quick trip up for that if work isn’t too nuts.

Nalle caught my eye on the list of participants. Been a while since I had one of their Zins but enjoyed a fair number quite a few years ago.

They participated in the DCV tour & dinner a few years ago. We visited the Henderlong vineyard and poured the wines at the dinner. Really nice, elegant wines.

Do it Chris! Contact me offline if you’re coming up.

Hell of lineup, wish I could be there

I had a great time! So nice to talk to the wine makers and many who I consider legends of the industry. They opened the doors at noon and you got a handy booklet with the wineries and the wines they were pouring; used it for notes. Basic cheeses and plenty of water. Over 30 wineries. Some wineries got crowded at times, but come back around a little later and no problem. You saw most of the wine makers visiting each other during the last hour. Here are some of my highlights,

  • liked Bedrocks gewurztraminer. Heritage wines were good, especially the Bedrock.
  • loved Birichino! Grenache was my favorite.
  • Hanzell’s Ambassadors 1953 Vineyard wines were really good!
  • I.Brand Mourvèdre (similar to D&R) and Grenache were really good
  • Mike and Molly Hendry Moore Zin was beautiful
  • Once and Future zins were great.talking to Joel Peterson was wonderful! He poured an 1994
    Ravenswood Dickerson- nice!
  • Sandlands, been on list from start- nice meeting them and tasting without popping corks.
  • Seghesio, Montafi was great. Pagani needs time.
  • Stirm, a wonderful Mataro
  • Williams Selyem was pouring four different zins. Wonderful. Wish I could afford them.

Overall, a fun and educational afternoon!

Regret missing this one. I will echo my very pleasant surprise at the Birichino Grenache, though.

Link to a bunch of photos on Facebook here (you don’t need to be on Facebook to view these):
Historic Vineyard Society tasting in San Francisco, 4/21/18

Really fun tasting, and the winemakers were there to pour for almost all the producers there. I figured this would be a good tasting but I have to say it was even better than I expected. Notes to come.
Ridge.jpg

Thank you for sharing your experience with us, Douglas!! I am so envious of those West Coast events!

My response to your thoughts:

• I had the first vintage of the Bedrock “Alta Vista Vineyard” Gewürztraminer (2014?) and, even having tasted it so soon after release, it was an astounding wine! The purity of the fruit and the bottle’s amazing balance was present even early in its life. Anyone who has a bottle - fight the temptation to pop yours for a bit.

• In my search of information for the “Santa Clara and San Benito Wine Heritage” thread, Birichino’s “Besson Vineyard” Grenache keeps popping up. I live in a state where I cannot get some, but the reviews are unanimous with regard to the Grenache being the best wine in Birichino’s line-up. My readings lead me to believe their bottling of a “Besson” Grenache might currently be the best out there from that vineyard.

I.Brand & Family’s “Enz Vineyard” Mourvèdre (from old-vine fruit, according to the label) has garnered some very high praise. I have seen more and more wineries’ getting grapes from this Lime Kiln Valley vineyard in the past year, and I am interested in seeing what they do with the fruit. As Mr Ian Brand specializes in tracking down great sites throughout San Benito & Monterey Counties, he ought to be making one of (if not the) best Mourvèdre wines from the site.

• I don’t think one can ever praise Mr Joel Peterson enough! The mind-blowing quality of his absurdly long-lived Ravenswood Zins and the oomph! in his suave Once & Future wines keeps him at the top of the California wine game.

• I would really, really like to read your impressions on the Sandlands wines. I am sure that I am not the only person who is afraid of popping one of my limited number of bottles, only to discover that it’s an act of infanticide. :stuck_out_tongue:

• I count myself lucky to have exchanged a couple of emails with Mr Ryan Stirm. The STiRM Riesling wines get the most press, but he put in a lot of work with Enz Vineyard fruit (Mataro, Nouveau Red, “Los Chucaquis” Rosé, etc) before more recently shifting towards the reds and whites of the Wirz Vineyard of Cienega Valley.


I would be most appreciative of any additional tasting notes you can share on these wineries’ products. :slight_smile:

Thanks for all the killer photos, Ken!!!

Can we expect to see a Grapenutz report on the event in the future? :slight_smile:

Of course there will be a Grape-Nutz report, Drew! Pretty busy with other things at the moment (like my real work) but hopefully in a couple of weeks.

Drew, thank you for giving me so much info on the things I enjoyed. The event was better than I hoped for! The one thing that really shined through from the wine producers was their love of their work. And, love to talk about it. Very enriching event in every way.

The thing that surprised me was how much I liked the ‘lighter’ wines. So many wineries are making zins and other wines that are ready to drink now. And, some of the lighter ones will age well too. So many rich, heavier zins at the tasting were great- but, they kind of get ‘repetitive and typical’ at this type of tasting. Some thoughts from your post,

  • all the old vine whites were all easy drinking wines that would be fun afternoon sippers and food friendly. I’d buy some if under $25. I did like the whites from Stirm and Arnot Roberts particularly. Carlisle’s whites are always a great value and I always kick myself for only getting one or two.
  • Birachino opened a wine tasting room in Santa Cruz. I will be doing some more research soon! Their zin was in the lighter style.
  • Swan and Nalle were wines I loved in the 80’s. And for some reason, stopped drinking. Their lighter style zins are exactly what I want to drink more. Everything goes in circles?
  • I have not been shy about drinking my Sandlands. How some will age is the question. It seemed the early vintages all drank well young. Recently, I thought the 2015 Trouseau and Carinane really needed some time. I’m doing better at keeping my hands off them. Particularly the a Trousseau’s. The 2012 Chenin and Trouseau recently were wonderful. Have drank a couple dozen, aging a couple dozen- haven’t had one be at peak or past it’s prime. The research continues!

This wine event was eye opening for me. I will be buying more lighter style reds to diversify my wine world. Old vine wines from my backyard just feels (and tastes) like the right thing to do. I love this hobby!

During the tasting I got all excited and went on my phone and bought a mixed case of Bucklin. Today I broke down and bought Stirm Wirz Riesling and Carol Shelton Oat Valley Carignane.

Ridge was great, the Historic Vines a beautiful WOTD from gentle old vines clearly losing vigor. Williams Selyem Saitone was near perfect. I Brand Mourvedre was great. I’d love to taste a vertical combining Marea Besson and Birichino Besson grenaches, this seems a very vintage sensitive vineyard and that’s fun. When I visit back East anything made by Hendry is usually the best thing in the wine store and the zin was consistent with their principles.

Douglas and George, thanks for your thoughts!!! :slight_smile:

Douglas, there is an apparent pendulum swing by many wineries towards a lighter style of wine, or at least less man-handling of the juice in the cellar. I have loved the few Swan Winery’s reds I have been fortunate enough to try!

STiRM is more focused on Riesling and other white wines. I have two bottles of the “Kick On Ranch” Riesling and one of the “Wirz” Riesling, which I am resisting the urge to pop.

George, the Bucklin reds are from such an amazing piece of historic land. If one vineyard in all of America deserves more attention, it’s gotta be the “Old Hill Vineyard”.

I think that it’s awesome that the “Oat Ranch’s” ancient planting of Carignan has been preserved for so long. Not many such vineyards remain - especially in Sonoma!

As for comparing La Marea and Birichino Grenache, I would love to hear what you think of them head-to-head!

I have only tasted the Hendry red made from the Mission grape. I enjoyed it, though I have not tasted much to compare against it.

Thanks for the report. Anyone have impressions of the 2016 Arnot Roberts Syrahs?

They were not pouring any Syrahs since I don’t believe the vines at their Syrah vineyards are old enough to qualify for this tasting.

This was a really nice tasting. So many great wines and a chance to catch up with winemakers I haven’t seen in a while. Highlights of the day for me were Ian Brands 2016 Mourvedre Enz Vnyd and Sandlands 2016 Mataro from the same vnyd (I believe). Was also really impressed by the Cinsault’s from Bechthold Vnyd. The Birichino, Fields Family and Turley were all excellent. Evangelho vnyd was well represented with my favorites including Bedrock Heritage, Neyers Carignon and Precedent Zin. Joseph Swan poured a 12 Mancini Zin and a 13 Zeigler Zin. So nice to catch up with Lynn and Rod. Limerick Lane poured “1910 Block” Zin and “Rocky Knoll” Zin were great. Favorite whites included Rieslings from Stirm and Precedent from the Wirz vnyd., Carlisle “The Derivative”, Bedrock Alta Vista vnyd gwrtz, Hanzell 11 and 14 Chard and Failla Haynes vnyd Chard.

Edit to add the Once & Future wines were great across the board: 16 Mataro, 16 Teldeschi Franks Block zin and 16 Palisades petite and a 1994 Ravenswood Wood Road Belloni (I didn’t see a Dickersonas reported above but maybe poured before or after I hit the table). Always nice to see Joel but being the godfather that he is the table was packed.

Thanks for your report, Sean!!!

I am fascinated by the fact that Joseph Swan showcased the “Mancini Vineyard” Zinfandel. The 2012, I believe, was that winery’s last vintage of this vineyard-designated bottling. Perhaps it was showing exceptionally well for the tasting…?

I wish I could have joined every one in savoring so many amazing, rare wines, all without having to sacrifice one’s own tiny holdings! :wink: I have to wait a few years (if my fortitude allows it) before trying a Sandlands Mataro, Limerick Lane’s Zins, or anything from Once & Future.

The Bechthold Vineyard Cinsault and Enz Vineyard’s Mourvèdre seem to have stolen the spotlight these days.

Did this event include the special HVS Zin or the vineyards tour?

No tour as this event as it was held at a wine bar in SF. Talking to a couple of the winemakers it looks like future vineyard tours are up in the air. One winemaker thought it would be good to alternate years with one being a vineyard tour and the next a tasting like this [shrug.gif]

Maybe Mike D. will chime in.