Friday, November 18, 2016

GARAGISTE 6 - PART TWO


           To continue Adam Lazarre's presentation, four wines were poured. Two were large production and the others were his own label. A 2014 Sea Monster Eclectic White blend is "built" for Whole Foods. There were 6,000 cases made, grapes coming mostly from the Santa Ynez AVA and unoaked. Eclectic is an apt description for this $15 bottle that includes Viognier, Riesling, Grenache Blanc, Gewürztraminer and (what the heck) a kiss of Chard. It worked, go figure.
 
A little easier to figure was the other large volume offering. A commonly seen combo in this area, it was an 82% Petite Sirah and 18% Syrah blend. There were 16,000 cases made for a $14 retail and the grape sources were mostly Livermore with some N. Santa Barbara fruit as well. The wine is a 2014 Cycles Gladiator Petite Sirah, Central Coast by label. It sounded like a California appellation might be appropriate in this case since Livermore is an AVA on its own. Both regions provide cool climate versions of the fruit and perhaps I didn't correctly hear his breakdown.
The idea was to compare and contrast mass produced wines from his own label. The costs addressed in the first part of this posting aside, there were a couple of major differences between his small lot wines and the ones above.  The wines were 2014 Lazarre Chardonnay, Santa Maria Valley, of which only 175 cases were produced at a shelf price $22. A more than fair price point for the quality of the wine and considering the tonnage cost of Chard from that region. His focus is on Pinot Noir, which was poured as a 2012 version from the Central Coast appellation. Only 480 cases were made for sale at $36 and sourced from Santa Maria and Santa Lucia Highlands. It was more an old world style in look and on the palate than many of the somewhat massive Pinots seen from Santa Barbara and parts of Monterey County.
His comparison dealt with knowing the vineyard and the fruit, being involved with picking decisions, use of oak, smaller containers for fermentation. And, that the winemaker was personally in touch, on a daily basis, with the progress of the product. Plus the need for work arounds for things as simple as not having a bottle line and the toys while producing a superior product. Yet even the Pinot Noir was at the low end of  Central Coast pricing for the variety.
The second session of the day was called Illegal Blends. The being based on the restrictive laws seen in many growing regions in the world as to what grapes can go into a bottle. The garagistes can play it anyway they want. And that is one reason we get to taste Albarino, Counoise, Tannat at this event.
I would point out that all the wines poured were rated Best of Class or received 91 or more ratings from publications or competitions.
Erick Allen of Ascension Cellars poured 2015 "Silver" Blanc. Made at Cass (Paso Robles) and using SIP certified Chardonnay from Castoro Cellars, Marsanne, Roussanne and Viognier were also in this blend. The Rhone varietals were estate grown and both his wines were 13.9% alcohol. While the wine was light it offered more body on the palate than I expected. There were 465 cases at $36. The second pour was the 2013 "Soul Shaker" of which only 135 cases were made, priced at $66. It is his best selling wine and the fruit is sourced from Cass. It is 73 % Bordeaux blend - 40/20/13% Cab, Merlot and Petit Verdot with the remainder being Syrah. For the Paso area, these types of blends are fairly common, having mixed results as they combine "illegal" wines. It is an interesting experiment that may need some familiarization tasting to those not used to what Syrah can do to the more familiar combination.
Brian Brown of ONX Wines poured 2014 "Mad Crush", a $48 wine with 561 cases being made. There is a bit of something for everyone in this blend of 45% Grenache melded with nearly 1/5th Tempranillo and Malbec and 9% each Mourvedre & Zin. I found it very fruit forward with an evident backbone of tannin that should balance out as it sees more time in the bottle.
 
Steve Lemley from Pulchella Winery showed "The Awakening" 2014, an "unplanned" blend of which 125 cases were produced, priced at $45 and having a 15.7% alcohol level. Very deep in color, the wine is 66% Tannat, 34% Petite Sirah. Another example of a grape that is just gaining a foothold and another that was a standard for many years and fell out of favor for a while, now making a comeback, being used. Only the garagistes are playing on that field and making for one of the most interesting gatherings of the year. Can't wait for #7!
 
 

GARAGISTE 6 - ANOTHER SUCCESS & SPRING EVENTS ALREADY


          The wizards of small lot wines are back in their garages by now but the flavors linger on. Even a trained professional, such as myself, can be overwhelmed (some over served) by the variety of options served at the popular Garagiste Festival. And the word continues to spread. While a more local event when starting six years ago, I spoke with many who'd travelled from San Diego, the Sacramento area and from up north. They had good things to say about the lodging and dining options available in Paso Robles as well as their experience at the event. Many had learned of the Fest from word of mouth and were first timers but many indicated being repeats. And it was a knowledgeable crowd, who expressed being pleased with the ability  to engage the winemakers directly. It made for a nice end of season boost for the local restaurants and hotels too.

If not familiar with this group, there are a variety of things to do aside from the tasting and a mix of ticket options. First off is a Friday dinner and continues through Sunday's passport to some of the participating wineries, generally not open for public tastings. The main event is Saturday, beginning with a pair of seminars if you chose that level of attendance, and that includes lunch and early entry into the tasting. The day ends with a chance to wind down at an after party.

The seminars are a focus for me as they provide fodder for this blog. Much of what I post is information on trends, newly popular varietals, current ideas on winemaking, growth in various wine growing areas. Garagiste types are great for sourcing information on that as they are often on the first wave in such areas. 

First up was Adam Lazarre with, "A Peek Behind the Curtain" presentation. We are from a similar generation in the business and he took me back to my wholesale days with brands he was involved with, such as Jekel, Sonoma-Cutrer and Hahn. He is a brand building winemaker who does large production labels for Bev Mo, Whole Foods etc. and has grown 25,000 case wineries to over 100K. He discussed the differences between that experience and his own miniature production label.

I have discussed some of this in prior writing as I believe bringing people into the wine culture is good for the industry. You don't do that with $65 bottles of Cab, you need a mass market appeal and approachable wines. That is what the big boys (and increasingly women) provide. Adam pointed out the value in economy of scale and its effect on final price when entering the national distribution arena . The top selling (mostly multi label) thirty producers in the country sell 90% of the wine. None do less than 600,000 cases with #1Gallo putting 75M into the market. Over233M cases are made by the six top producers. After that, the double digits fall  off but the next thirteen on the list still are in the millions of cases with the last ten producing merely hundreds of thousands.

Compared to the Garagiste maker, the savings in cost of labels, closures, capsules and bottles is enormous. Often 50% or better in cost variance. And the ability to operate with all the new tech toys that artisan makers have no hope of capitalizing is also an advantage. Thus we get lots of reasonably priced everyday wines that are blended to a house style and dressed up with some back of the curtain techniques from made to order effects of available yeasts, oak alternatives and even powdered lees. This is not the little old winemaker image but it provides a product that allows people to become fans of wine, usually moving up the ladder. And that is good for the wine business.

                                                                                                                        To Be Continued

Never too early to start planning for 2017 events. Early announcements, some including early ticket promo pricing are out from the following events.

Santa Barbara Vintners (sbcountywines.com) will celebrate New Spring Releases Weekend  over April 20-23. Discounts are available for tickets through the end of the year. If you need your wine event fix sooner than that, World of Pinot Noir (worldofpinotnoir.com) also in Santa Barbara, will be held March 3-4. For those who really can't wait, Rhone Rangers to the rescue! The Paso Robles branch (rhonerangers.org) holds a now annual gathering at Broken Earth winery on Sunday March19. Known as the Experience it offers a complete day of panel discussions, lunch, silent auction and grand tasting. Tickets for the entire event or just the tasting portion are available. Full details and tickets are available via the indicated web sites.