California Wine tasting 2010 in The Hague

Traditionally at tastings of this type a mixed bag of wines on offer: per importer wines ranging from everyday wines to prestigious names of the region.
Although the number of importers was held to a modest level of twenty, three hours of tasting time are barely enough to properly pay attention to every wine shown. Therefore a selection of impressions.

At the Verbunt table a 2002 Atalon Merlot from Napa that had aged rather beautifully. A 2008 La Crema Pinot Noir from Sonoma Coast was pleasantly fruity and displayed sensible use of oak, something that doesn't generally happen in New World pinot noir. Among the Hartford wines a nicely restrained 2005 Court Four Hearts Vineyards Chardonnay from Russian River that showed very good integration and still bags of life ahead.

Lemongrass were showing a wine that I recall - from times long past - as the first ever Oregon pinot noir tasted: Sokol Blosser. The 2007 Dundee Hills was a medium body but well stuffed wine with a both characteristic and attractive green note that I also tend to associate with Chileans from Casablanca.

Ruben van Dam of Hosman Vins had done an excellent job, having brought a couple of genuine California classics. From the illustrous Chateau Montelena a lesser known yet not less racy 2007 Potter Valley Riesling from coastal Mendocino. Next to that of course some of their flagship wines, of which the 1998 Estate Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon really stood out for me: wonderfully integrated, elegant and St.Julien-ish in a Napa kind of way. A wine that furthermore reminded me how well vintages like 1998, initially thumbed down as weak, can actually age. Another wine of interest was 2007 Terre Rouge Rousanne from the Sierra Foothills. I have long avoided white 'Rhone rangers' in particular for their stunning alcohol levels and use of wooding, but this rousanne demonstrated we may be witnessing a change of style in these wines as well. Obviously still a mouthful of rich textured wine, but here we had a balancing acidity that kept this wine on track in a pleasantly drinkable way

At Fourcroy I only had time for two chardonnays from Beringer. The 2006 Clear Lake seemed to be heading past apogee, but the 2006 Private Reserve from Napa was 'alive and kicking'. A classic Napa chardonnay: rich without being over the top, with nice silky texture. Pity however that serious Napa is so often very seriously priced, a fact that was similarly seen in the Darioush chardonnays on De Louw & Verschuur's table: chique, concentrated and made to impress, but with a price tag that puts these wines in direct competition with stuff from France that does have a little more to offer in terms of complexity. I passed the Mondavi-wines on table at Oud Reuchlin & Boelen, but only beause I had tasted through their range fairly recently, and time was limited.
The E&J Gallo on table at Walraven Sax left me underwhelmed, sometimes seriously so. A 2006 Dancing Bull Sauvignon Blanc shown here was quite simply over the hill. Showing a wine like that for tasting rather appears to question the capacity of palates visiting their table, I thought.

I was pleasantly surprised by a nice range of wines from Wente Vineyards, a winery from the San Francisco Bay Area I had not heard of. Their were shown by Patrick van Egmond of Figee Wine Import. All single varietal wines,made as they should be made: good value for money and straightforward, honest wines without too much pretense and wooding. Beautiful and classic CA pinot noir was found in a glass of 2008 Garnet Pinot Noir from Carneros and Saintsbury, tasted at the Bart table. And this was only the lower ranking of more. Another classic, well integrated yet pricy white Graves pendant was for taste at Les Vins Skalli: the VIRTU Meritage white 2006. Depending on the vintage, this has 15-25% Sémillon in the blend. At Résidence a classic range of Schug-wines that I already knew and skipped to save time, unfortunately. Not skipped was 2006 McCrea Vineyard Sonoma Mountain Chardonnay from Kistler. Meanwhile everyone in Holland knows this California classic in chardonnay, but it deserves mentioning here that Residence founder Nico McGough already had this stuff for sale as far back as 1984 - when a young student at his first job assignment named me ran into them. The 2006 McCrea was very nice, by the way. Splendidly silky and creamy in a multi-facetted way, a term that also came to mind when sniffing this wine over some five minutes time. For me, the 2006 seemed at apogee and I tend more and more towards drinking Kistler wines at a maximum of four years of age. A dinner experience last year with older Kistler vintages in restaurant De Leest brought quite a bit of disappointment.

Another positive experience was the Groupe LFE table. Here, Antoon Frijters and Elizabeth Rice of DFV Wines were presenting wines with enthusiasm, and many of them I tasted with pleasure. Nice and original wines were found in a range of white varietal wines from Monterey Valley and Loredona: juicy and tasty Pinot Grigio, attractively wood-free and fruity Viognier and a nice and simple off dry Riesling in 'Kabinett-style'. Joy in the glass .From Rice's portfolio another good wine: 2008 Irony Napa Chardonnay. Driven by the quality of the white I was then drawn to their red, but was less impressed there. The 2007 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon displayed some drying wood tannins for me, although Elizabeth Rice disagreed with me here. Another real beauty however was a 2007 Brazin (B)Old Vine Zinfandel from 70 year old vines in Lodi. Sensible use of oak here, and vinfied in a restrained style, leaving room for the wine's nice old vines complexity to shine in transparancy and not be overwhelmed by port-like and overripe notes that often steer me away from this grape.

Unfortunately, the Wine Companions was often so busy that I never found a moment of peace to taste through a few of their wines. This was regrettable in particular because Phelps Insignia was on the table there, one of my favourites from California. Well, that leaves a little something on the wish-list for next year.
The last table I have notes from was the first I visited. When I was shaking hands with Madam Ambassador and told her I owned a dotcom business in wine, I was swiftly escorted by her to table 18, where I had the pleasure of meeing her daughter Alyssa Rapp from Bottlenotes. At this table some pleasant, uncomplicated Spring Mountain Vineyards Napa Sauvignon Blanc ('08) and a Napa Rosé ('09) from mainly Merlot. The 2005 Elivette from this estate was a wine with more ambition ($100 ex cellars), a meritage blend of mainly Cabernet Sauvignon and small percentages of Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Merlot. The wine seemed in a rather closed stage of development, needing five minutes and a retaste before showing a little more of what was to come. In a richly oaked style. A beauty in the garage style was 2007 Cru Cabernet Sauvignon from Vineyard 29, also from Napa, with a beautifully silky texture and nicely concentrated yet elegant fruit that would not be pushed away by the wood notes still present in the aftertaste.