I just found the few photos of one block (not great) that I quickly snapped while visiting the Deerheart Vineyard. There was a crew on site (The Alesia Crew I believe) trellising that day. The plant material includes a block of Wadenswil which I’m excited to work with along with Dijon clones 667, 777, 828, 943, 459. I’ve never worked with 459 so look forward to seeing what character it brings to the blend.
Interestingly, one of the blocks is trellised at 18" (see photo - my sons are playing in the poppies there) so that will also be interesting to see whether it ripens differently or brings a different dimension than the same clone trellised higher.
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Beautiful place.
Are those olive trees on the right (top photo)?
As did I. I have 2 bottles of 2017 Waxwing Deerheart from that bottling session.
Those are olive trees. Perhaps there should be a Syrah block on that side…
We were out Le Boeuf vineyard in Santa Cruz on Friday doing some chute thinning and raising the trellis wires. Great time working with friends in the vineyard and tasting through a bunch of Blind Wines. I forgot to get a picture of the Line up but I know Rob has one
Left to Right: Tom Pohorski, Rob Bergstrom, Wes Barton, Mark and George Chadwick
View looking up from within this giant fairy circle of Redwoods right next the vineyard
The Vineyard with the circle of redwoods in the background
George and Rob posing the Vineyard
More of the vineyard
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Pohorsky with a “y”. He’s not on social media so he won’t see it anyway. ![[wink.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/04707e6a7bbb03e0153e349d8a9270d30e1e9525.gif "wink"){kind=small}
It was fantastic to have a bunch of friends join us in the vineyard. Huge shout out to Berserkers Wes B, Sean S, and George C along with friends Mark U and Tom P for coming out in the morning and staying until the sun was setting. With that many folks along we knocked out the first pass of trellising with a single day of hard work. The case of wine opened at lunch and throughout the day helped to make it interesting.
I was amazed at Sean’s excellent ability to trellis with a beer or wine glass in one hand. True dexterity.
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Here is a quick photo of most of the wines we opened on our vineyard day Friday. Hiding in the background is the '82 Pomeral George brought. Also missing is the 2012 Bergstrom Sigrid Chardonnay, and the 2017 Chacra Mainque we opened at the end of the day. New to me was the 2019 Royer Chardonnay from the Eola Amity Hills which was bright lemon and apple aromas and with a great linear acidity with great length. I’m looking forward to following this new grower/producer in the coming years. Just as a note, the 1978 Clos Vougeot was from a previous tasting at the same location.
New to me was the 2019 Royer Chardonnay from the Eola Amity Hills which was bright lemon and apple aromas and with a great linear acidity with great length. I’m looking forward to following this new grower/producer in the coming years.
I think 2019 was their first commercial crop. Vincent also made a 2019 Chard from Royer.
-Al
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The Royer was really good I enjoyed it. I forgot Vincent made Chardonnary from them this year. Its buried in the cellar with new releases and hasn’t been touched yet. The 2007 PGC and the 2012 Scherer also showed really nice but my WOTD was Georges 82 Pomerol (so good).
Sean
I never got around to posting this, but it seems fitting to catch up on it on Berserker Day eve. It was a rainy Sunday afternoon in Fall at Cantine Wine Pub in Aptos, with just a couple other parties present for a tasting with RobB. Rob was very generous with both his time and wine. As you see upthread, he is a great storyteller, and has the diverse background that makes for interesting conversation.
Rob poured us a mini-vertical of his Bruzzone Chardonnay, 2018 vs 2019. The former is a dead ringer for Chablis. It is flinty, mineral, bordering on austere. Great acidity, should be fantastic with oysters. 2019 is a more Californian interpretation, same great foundation but more open and giving in terms of fruit. Next in line was the 2019 Bald Mountain that prompted this thread - more floral with oak here on the nose, and stone fruit on the palate, otherwise a similar experience. Definitely feels Burgundian.
2018 vs. 2019 Mindego Ridge Pinot formed another mini-vertical, spontaneously when our food arrived. The former shows as a serious wine, typical varietal nose, balanced red fruit on the palate. I really enjoyed the slightly bitter whole cluster undertones. These bass notes made for a great combo with duck confit. The just-released 2019 seemed a bit immature - very pretty, but not as profound yet as its predecessor. I’m sure it’ll get there. 2018 Bates Ranch was the grand finale. This is the epitome of Santa Cruz Mountains cab for me. Bates ranch is distinctive and captivating, a classically styled mountain cab. Rob expertly pays hommage to this hallowed site.
As you may have already guessed, Rob is truly a rising star winemaker. He not only shines a bright light on underrated sites in the Santa Cruz Mountains, but California’s potential as a whole.
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Thanks for the nice words Uli! It was great to meet you at that event and fun to pour for you through your meal. We are popping up again at Cantine in Aptos, next Saturday February 5th from noon to 4pm. I hope to see you and other Berserkers there. I’ll be pouring a barrel sample of the new Deerheart Vineyard Pinot, a beautiful new site for us out near San Gregorio. The site is amazing, just a few miles from the beach, many blocks trellised at 18” high, and an incredible mix of clones including large blocks of explosively aromatic and concentrated 943, and the high toned Wadenswil. And if you can make it I can pull a sample of the 2020 Mountain Winery Chardonnay. That is the site of the historic La Cresta vineyard of Paul Masson, just a stones throw from Mt. Eden.
Hope to see you there.
My pleasure, we had a great time! Thanks for the hospitality. Lineup for the 5th sounds amazing. I’ll likely be out of town though. Will be there if that falls through.