Andy Abramson's Road Reports

Hospice du Rhone All Rookies Team
© Andy Abramson
June 1, 2003

There's something exciting about discovering a new winery and tasting their wines before the rest of the world has caught on to them. Having the wines in your hands before the "national" wine press has taken to them is a rush. So is being able to buy them before the wines have become Parkerized to the point where winemakers with production levels that are too small to meet the demand have to yank the phone out of the wall and turn off their web after having to disappoint trophy hunters. This is what going on the road to wineries and wine events like Hospice du Rhone is all about.

Every year at Hospice du Rhone, new wineries unveil new wines, hoping people will take to their wines and that they'll get discovered. Many a winemakers come, but only some leap to the level of sure-thing-can't-miss status like athletes in their rookie seasons capture the hearts and minds of the fans and the media.

You can tell these budding stars. It's a focused yet wide-eyed look, an almost Rockyesque "Eye of the Tiger" slant that signals emotion, drive and yes, passion. Their heads cock a certain way. The mouth opens and the eyes glimmer. It's more than confidence. It says "I can talk the talk, but I can also walk the walk." But past all that there is something in the eyes of the producers that separates the great from the pack. It's what they put in the bottle that counts.

So with that in mind, it's only fitting that the top new winemakers are bestowed something of their own. Thus, the Andy Abramson WineScene All Rookie Team for 2003 Hospice du Rhone.

The three winemakers on this year's All Rookie Team are Cris Cherry (Villa Creek), Dave Corey (Core Wine) and Ethan Lindquist (Ethan Wines). They all have that same look that I first ran across in Randall Graham (Bonny Doon Vineyards) back in the 1980's and saw in Sylvain Fadat (Domain d'Aupilhac) when I first met up with him in the mid 90's in his basement winery in Montpeyroux. Most recently I saw that unmistakable glint in the eyes of Walla Walla Washington's K Vintners Charlie Smith. Once you see it, you never forget it. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards exude it. Garth Brooks has it. So did Michael Jordan, Charles Barkely, Bobby Clarke and Wayne Gretzky in their prime. The late, great hitter Ted Williams had it and so does Apple's Steve Jobs. You see it in Donald Rumsfeld and Prince William. It's called destiny. Desire. Dedication. These three all have it.

So, for Cris Cherry the release of his first wine, the Villa Creek 2001 Avenger, earlier this year was the attainment of a goal that started back when he ran his Early Californian restaurant, La Paloma in Vista, CA. Many a night I brought along bottles of Rhone, Australian and Central Coast wines and Cris, with his thirst for knowledge was there to sample. You saw that look. It was there. When Cris first moved his wife and young family to Paso Robles in mid 1998, they opened Villa Creek, a restaurant that rapidly became the epicenter of the Rhone movement in Paso Robles. Cris' friendly and outgoing nature and personal style made every old and new winemaker feel at home, Cherry still had the look. It wasn't long after the restaurant got running smoothly that Cris began his next adventure. Making wine. And fine wine he's making with almost no prior vineyard or in the winery experience. Just a lot of tasting as a restaurant owner, and as a wine lover.

For Ethan Lindquist, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. The son of Qupe winemaker Bob Lindquist, one of the Rhone pioneers in California has just begun releasing his wines about two months ago. But rather than rest on the laurels of "dad" the younger Lindquist has chosen to go it on his own, making wine elsewhere, on his own. He's got the look.

Then there is Dave Corey. He reminds me of a young Tom Petty, the rock star, when the Florida panhandle musician's first LP came out in the late 70's. Chuck it all, go for the gold. Make great wine. Respect the vineyard. Corey, with the wide eyed but piercing look makes wine in the same area near Ojai that has spawned Ojai Vineyards, and with his first wine has crafted an initial release that is downright staggering. Made more in a style from the high Languedoc or coastal Roussillion wines of L'Hortus, Aupilhac, Gauby or Parce, with one wine, Corey has caused a buzz amongst winemakers, winery owners and sales reps, all who at the end of the Grand Tasting were seen talking, swirling and swallowing Core's first and only release. Hanging with him, and his wife at the post Hospice du Rhone bar-b-que many of us did more than taste his one wine we drank it. More and more of it. It was one of those wines you just didn't want to stop drinking.

2001 Core Santa Barbara County Red Table Wine Blend 541

A mix of 50 percent Mourvedre, 40 percent Syrah and 10 percent Grenache from the high altitude Barnwood Vineyard near Ojai, this is without a doubt one of the best new wines sampled this year. Possessing perfect balance, great texture and almost gulp-a-second fruit flavors, this wine made with love, passion and attitude is a real winner. Sadly only 250 cases of winemaker David Corey's wine will be released next month, but chances are the knowledgeable buyers of Santa Barbara Wines will be lining up when they go on sale. Perfectly ripe fruit of strawberry, raspberry and cocoa with a sinfully smooth mid palate makes this wine reminiscent of the better wines from Dr. Parce's Domaine de Mas Blanc or Aupilhac's Coteaux du Languedoc or even a well aged Gauby Vieille Vignes.

2001 Ethan Lindquist Arroyo Grande Syrah

Only 250 cases of this wine will be released by the offspring of the famed Bob Lindquist. But what a great wine this is. I first tasted the wine at the San Francisco Rhone Rangers event about a month ago when it was literally just out of the barrel. I loved it then. I love it even more now. Made totally unfiltered and unfined, the smooth blueberry, black cherry, cola wine was made all by Ethan. No intervention by his dad. But candidly, you wouldn't know it. The wine is so much like the Qupes of the mid 80's and nineties that you would think Bob put a barrel away in a time capsule for Ethan to release when he was old enough. He didn't, but Ethan with his first release sure has hit gold.

2001 Villa Creek Paso Robles Avenger

Cris Cherry loves his Rhone blends. So much that he and his wife Joanne just bought a vineyard land south of Paso Robles. While the wine from that vineyard is years away, Cris works with local producers to source fruit to make wines that cross the globe in style ranging from Rhone to Australia to native Central Coast blends.

The debut release of the Avenger (40 percent Syrah, 30 percent Grenache and 30 percent Mourvedre) unveils a very soft, highly toned softy of black raspberry, blackberry, plums and tar. It's very good and is in the style of Le Cigare Volant, Randall Graham's ode to Chateauneuf du Pape of old.

2002 Villa Creek Paso Robles Avenger (Barrel Sample)

Made in more of a Languedoc style reminiscent of Clos Marie or Cazeneuve from Pic St. Loup, the very young, juicy wine is already showing better than the finished 2001. I suspect Cherry has picked up a lot of knowledge since his first wine and has also learned more about the fruit he's sourcing. Loaded with black plums, sweet blueberry, black raspberry and a hint of earth truffle, this wine is already charming and very drinkable. Look for it in early 2004.

2002 Villa Creek Paso Robles James Berry Cuvee (Barrel Sample)

When I first heard James Berry, I thought Jim Barry, one of Australia's better winemaker names. This wine is not too far off from Australian blends of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre, as the 60 percent Grenache, 30 percent Syrah and 10 percent Mourvedre wine has that shoe-polish like veneer, so often present in GSM blends from down under. This wine is earthy from the Mourvedre, but not stinky/bretty. It's dense with a hard outside shell, but a very soft, almost berry fruit orchard center. Loaded with black fruit flavors the wine is the most underdeveloped of the four barrel samples, but at the same time the most complex and seems to be built to evolve more. As it finishes the stone fruit evokes memories of Gigondas wine like those from Haut du Montmirail, as its fruit and chalk like flavors of plums, blackberry and strawberry, with just a hint of limestone resonates across the palate.

2002 Villa Creek Grenache, James Berry Vineyard (Barrel Sample)

This isn't your Randall Graham Clos du Gilroy Beaujolais style Grenache. Much like the 2001 Qupe Grenache made from Tablas Creek clones, the already fruit forward, black raspberry, plum and cherry cola flavored wine wrapped inside a dark purple color is alluring. As the wine opens in the glass it unveils a long and lingering aroma of fresh stone fruit, before one goes for the very last drop to whet the palate one more time.

2002 Villa Creek Mas De Maha (Barrel Sample)

Cris found some Tempranillo grapes up in Hollister, California and wanted to make a Spanish oriented old world style wine to go with his restaurants early California inspired menu. Much more like the new producers in Taragona and the Priorat, Cherry has blended the Tempranillo with Syrah and Mourvedre to bring along an already refreshing, not to highly alcoholic wine that shows great elegance in its early stages of development. Gobs of cherry, sweet cherry flavored tobacco, tar with a cool black plum center, the wine is low too in acidity, and already reminds me of the wines of Gottim Bru and Capcanas.

Cheers,
Andy Abramson

All contents © copyright 1981-2009 by Robin Garr, www.WineLoversPage.com

Cliffwood Organic Works