Domestic Favorites From AmByth, Dragonette, Bow & Arrow; A Visit From Scholium Project's Abe Schoener!
12/12/13 -
(Sunrise Over Vogelzang Vineyard, Happy Canyon AVA. (Photo courtesy of Dragonette Cellars.))
The season for obligatory merriment is here, providing a variety of excuses to open delicious wines and share them with others! The domestic shelves are presently full of party-friendly and gift-worthy bottles, ranging from the experimental to the classic. Our California offers tend to be dominated by favorite winemakers from the north of the state. Today, in addition to some fine new arrivals from Salinia, Forlorn Hope, Enfield, Matthiasson, and Scholium Project, we are excited to represent the southern reaches of the vast Central Coast region with two excellent producers: AmByth Estate in Paso Robles and Dragonette Cellars in Santa Barbara County.
AmByth Estate was founded in 2004, when Phillip and Mary Hart planted 15 acres of 10 different grape varieties near the town of Templeton on Linne Calodo, the special limestone and clay soils of the region. AmByth is the word for "forever" in Welsh and an apt reference to the Harts' motivation to farm organically and biodynamically, and to eschew irrigation in their vineyards (as well as sulphur or additives of any kind in the cellar). The decision to dry farm is somewhat radical in hot, dry regions like Paso Robles and AmByth's yields are predictably low — they are lucky if they achieve one ton of fruit per acre. (Average yields in Paso Robles are 2.5 – 6 tons per acre.) Consequently, there is not a lot of wine to sell. We are pleased to have the densely-flavored but incredibly fresh 2011 Red Table Wine as well as a few bottles of herbal, shimmering 2010 Counoise, both from AmByth Estate fruit.
John and Steve Dragonette and Brandon Sparks-Gillis, the talented founders of Dragonette Cellars, are making truly subtle and intriguing translations of Santa Barbara County's cool climate vineyards and terroirs. They meticulously select, farm, and harvest plots of vines in interesting regions like Happy Canyon, a young AVA in the Santa Ynez Valley that boasts iron-rich serpentinite soils, and in the cool, windy Santa Rita Hills, where grapes ripen slowly and flavors unfold with fascinating layers of spice, herbs, and musk. Dragonette offers new and memorable expressions of familiar varieties like Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, and Grenache. The Happy Canyon Sauvignon Blanc achieves a delicious balance of ripe, succulent tropical notes with surprisingly bold acidity and mineral tone; the Santa Barbara Grenache is subtle, salty, and frankly outstanding — the kind of wine that makes you wonder what else you're missing from the region.
Oregon wines are figuring prominently in holiday drinking this year. Loire-o-phile winemakers Scott and Dana Frank of Portland's Bow & Arrow provide the season's best party wines with light, zesty, and pleasurable cuvèes from Pinot Noir, Gamay, and Melon de Bourgogne. (They even make a Gamay Nouveau!) Acid fiends and minimalists may rejoice at the return of Teutonic's risky renditions of Pinot Blanc, Pinot Noir, and Gewürztraminer, while value hunters should nab a few bottles of Lundeen Pinot Noir.
Lastly, we would like to invite you to a special tasting with Abe Schoener, who is one of the most innovative and informative figures in American wine. Abe will be in the store tonight (Thursday, December 12th) from 5 - 6:30pm, pouring excellent new arrivals from his Napa-based Scholium Project and from Red Hook Winery in Brooklyn. We encourage you to come with questions (and prepare to leave with more). Happy drinking! AR
