by Fredric Koeppel
The Commercial Appeal One if by land and by twos they filed into the ark, and if you're lucky, you get three wishes. So by ones and twos and threes, we look at groups of mainly California wines today, more reds than white. Some are gratifyingly cheap.
This trio of wines from Bogle Vineyards in Yolo County, west of Sacramento, represents fantastic value; they carry California designations:
- The Bogle Sauvignon Blanc 1998 delicately renders grass, hay and dill elements through soft peach-melon-citrus scents and flavors, drifting to mango and caraway; it's dry, crisp, chalky and really tasty. About $9.
- The Bogle Chardonnay 1998, is a lip-smacking little gem, simple and direct yet bursting with delicious pineapple-grapefruit flavors. About $11.
- And the very drinkable Bogle Petite Syrah 1998 is wild and exotic and filled with ripe, roasted, smoky boysenberry, cranberry, blueberry and melon fruit that hint at wet dog, leather and lavender. About $11.
Firesteed, a negociant based in Seattle, has released its first white wine, the Firesteed Pinot Gris 1999, Oregon. A negociant - the word is French - is a merchant who specializes in buying grapes or a finished wine from a vineyard or winery and bottling the product under his own label; the practice is particularly prevalent in Burgundy.
Firesteed's Pinot Gris 1999 is delightful. Pure lemon-lime fruit touched with dried herbs, almond blossom and limestone nestles in a surprisingly weighty, almost lush texture. It's a lot of wine for the price. Firesteed also has a Barbera d'Asti 1997 from Piedmont. What a marvelously pure expression of blueberry-cranberry-plum in sight, smell and taste this wine is, and what a vibrant weaving of leather and violets and vanilla cream it offers. Both wines Worth a Search at about $10.
Boy, you can smell the Chateau Potelle Old Vines Zinfandel 1997, Amador County, a foot away from the glass. A breeze of minerals, smoke, cassis and cranberry and dried herbs sweeps along, followed by flavors of cassis and plums set into a structure of immense weight and gravity, but polished and luscious. Excellent. About $16, a Great Price.
Another Old Vines Zinfandel is the Dry Creek Vineyards 1998, Sonoma County, a succulent, smoldering, dense and chewy wine that features minerals and lavender, concentrated black currant and raspberry fruit and an almost stubborn strain of tannin that lends seriousness to the delicious flavors. Give it two or three years. Excellent. About $18.50.
Another combination of vivid fruit and serious structure is the Dry Creek Merlot 1998, Sonoma County, whose beguiling bouquet of dried herbs, cedar, cigar box, smoke and bright berry fruit gives way to very dense substance and a slightly astringent finish. It needs three or four years. Very good+. About $21.
Look to Washington's Columbia Valley for these excellent white wines.
- Precise balance and integration are hallmarks of the crystalline Chateau Ste. Michelle Horse Heaven Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 1998, a fresh, snappy wine that's crisp but leans to lushness, that's fairly restrained yet offers hints of dill and fennel and celery with fig-citrus-mango flavors and a leafy edge. About $14, a Great Price.
- The Chateau Ste. Michelle Canoe Ridge Estate Vineyard Chardonay 1998 is exceptionally clean, pure and elegant; its spareness and steely qualities are softened by pineapple-grapefruit flavors and a deft touch of spicy oak. It gains dimension and substance in the glass. About $19.
- Of the Turnbull Merlot 1997 and Cabernet Sauvignon 1997, both with Oakville-Napa Valley designations, the merlot is actually more solid and reticent than the cabernet. The merlot offers fragrance of smoke, potpourri and roasted cassis and black cherry, but its polished and chewy structure, dense with forest and underbrush, is the dominating factor. It needs three to six years. The cabernet is pretty darned lovely, on the other hand. It possesses dignified weight and presence, but it's incredibly smooth, ripe and drinkable and thoroughly classic in proportion. Still, it requires two to five years. Both excellent. Both about $25.
- The entrancing Burgess Merlot 1998, Napa Valley, is drenched with pure, vibrant berry scents touched with mint and eucalyptus, thyme, smoke and creamy oak; it's a big one, dense and weighty and resonant, ripe with delicious black currant and raspberry flavors, but forest and underbrush elements, dictating three to five years aging, come up. Excellent. About $30.
- The Burgess Cabernet Sauvignon 1997, Napa Valley, juxtaposes a pungent and seductive bouquet with polished and grainy oak and tannin that emphasize structure in the mouth. Still, it hints at generosity that promises elegance in four to seven years. Excellent. About $35.
(E-mail koeppel@gomemphis.com or write The Commercial Appeal, PO Box 134, Memphis, TN 38101.)
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