With apologies to actor Paul Muni, I must say that the relatively new California AVA of Rockpile (established in 2002) is a pretty tough row to hoe, worthy of a chain gang.
It’s a pretty desolate, cool acreage, with only about 165 planted to grapes, abutting Lake Sonoma. The lake draws Pacific Ocean fog downward, allowing the clay “soil” to dry out for maximum concentration in grape bunches.
Kath and I headed up to the Dry Creek Valley of Healdsburg, for the first time in several months, just to see how valid our VISA Signature-your-tasting-fee-money-is-no-good-here promo was.
We did not have to worry. Oh, sure, there were a couple of “Tastings are not free, but we give you a discount on purchase,” and more than a couple of cheesy 5% discounts (what’s that when it doesn’t pay even half of the sales tax?). But generally, it was a nice return. Picked up our Geyser Peak wine shipment, did a Tasty-Taste (another guilty-pleasure movie, in this case, Rusty Cundieff’s “Fear of a Black Hat”) upstairs overlooking the barrel room at GP, and was heartened to hear that the former winemaker was back in the fold.
In addition to our catholic club selections, Kath decided to purchase a half-case of a Geyser Peak 2008 varietal Petit Verdot offered on deep-disco. Like a lot of Cali, Alexander Valley wine country wines, this experienced many wildfires (love that term: they’re “wild”; nobody set them.) The slight smokiness, only on the back nine, makes this Foothill bottling different from the 2007. It’ll, I want to say “a dunk,” but that would imply that to drown the smoke. Wrong; this stuff is great. Just take a second to savor the aftertaste.
At Mauritson, chez Dry Creek, you are greeted by a sweet Lab (or two), and led to a tasting spot. Rockpile, as an AVA, is a given. Never had a sweet pup lead me to old-vine Carignane around here.
No comments:
Post a Comment