Wining with Beekeeper Zinfandel...

The Goddess of Wine and JD attended the annual release of Beekeeper Cellars Zinfandel, this being the release of the 2012 vintage. Proprietor Ian Blackburn of LearnAboutWine and the new wineLA, teamed up several years ago with old friend and brother in wine, Clay Mauritson, to make the very best Zinfandel possible. Ian thinks of Zinfandel as California's grape, an intrinsic part of the history of winemaking in California, and he brings his passion to fruition.

The event at Josie in Santa Monica featured a vertical tasting of all the Beekeeper vintages, from 2009 to 2012, during which Ian recounted his education in winemaking, vintage by vintage. Four of the five wines we tasted came from the Madrone Spring Vineyard in the appellation known as Rockpile, owned by the Mauritson family, situated at the Northwest edge of Dry Creek Valley. All of the vineyards within the Rockpile AVA range from between 800 – 2000 ft. in elevation. Although Rockpile is located just 13 miles from the coast, Lake Sonoma provides an inversion layer that prevents the heavier fog that typically blankets other Northern California appellations, allowing for longer, more consistent sun exposure. Moisture and daytime temperatures are regulated by coastal breezes, and in many cases, steep slopes and rocky terrain require manual vine management.

Miscellaneous wining...ZAP & Family Winemakers & some random thoughts...

In January, JD and I went north for ZAP - the Zinfandel Advocates & Producers 4-day event. Well, we didn't go for four days, we went for the Grand Tasting. It was immense - over 200 wineries all pouring Zinfandel from all over the world.

Some wineries, like Ian Blackburn's Beekeeper Cellars, poured one wine; others poured anywhere from 3 to 9 wines - all Zins! We were grateful to have been included as media, so that we were able to enter the tasting at 10 a.m., and we still tasted only a fraction of the wines by the time we left at 3:30 p.m. There were writers who reported within 24 - 48 hours that they had tasted hundreds of wines. By my reckoning, we tasted the fruits of around 40 wineries, so maybe we tasted 80 - 100 wines.

It was fascinating to taste the regional differences among all those Zins. I discovered that if I'm going to just sip a Zin, I want Zin from Paso Robles or Lodi, but if I'm going to pair it with food, I want a Zin from Dry Creek. I also realized - well, I knew this already - that I would rather taste fewer wines and have a bit more quality time with the winemakers to get the inside story about their passion and process.

Wining in Napa and Sonoma and Lompoc...Part 1...

Having been invited to witness the wedding of Megan and Rich, JD and I drove up to Napa 7/24, stopping at Harris Ranch for an overpriced lunch and fuel for the car; arrived at the Best Western Inn at the Vines in Napa. Very nice, updated, clean room. Pulled in around 4, cleaned up and rested a bit, then coasted over to Villa Romano for the rehearsal dinner. Megan and Rich love Villa Romano, but the staff were a bit unfocused due to the sudden illness of their boss the night before, so dinner had some interesting hiccups. The guests were mainly family, but there were other folks as well: Dale and Mark, Brian and Stephanie, Rich’s best man Don Williams and his family, and Joe Lobue from WineShop At Home and his wife.