At an elevation of about 5000 feet, with temperatures well exceeding the predicted 72 degrees a record crowd turned out for the third annual Pine Mountain Wine Festival. redwinebuzz.com was there to watch, taste end explore.
For three years now, wine enthusiasts and the curious have been coming to Pine Mountain Village in the heart of a private mountain community 40 mile east of Santa Barbara. Located in the San Emigdio Mountain Range in the Los Padres National Forest in Kern County, this small town center hosted the Wine Festival.
Kurt Graves, the chief organizer of the festival told us: “We had 1500 people in the Village by 1:30 p.m.” This was a spirited but well-behaved crowd of wine seekers who cheered at the increasingly more frequent sound of shattering wine glasses. Undaunted by the sun and temperatures in the low 80s, the crowd visited 25 tables presenting wine as well as tables selling hot food and representing dining establishments. The tables lined the village’s main street (roughly the length of a football field and a half) from end to end. The Bakersfield-based quartet Fat Daddy Blues Band kept the atmosphere lively by delivering consistent sets of blues and rock.
There
were numerous stars of the festival – entire presentations from wineries
as well as individual wines. Wineries presenting collections which most
caught our attention with their wine collections were: McKeon-Phillips,
Clautiere, Royal Oak and Jan Kris. There were also a number of
individual wines which stood out and deserve distinction. This is not to
say that the remainder of the wines offered by each of the respective
wineries was ordinary or sub-par. These wines were very memorable in and
of themselves. Royal Oaks Winery, with a reputation for great Sauvignon
Blanc poured their oak-aged whites. The EOS Late Harvest Moscato was
delicious with floral notes followed by pear and honey. Barnwood
Vineyards’ 2004 Tempranillo offered flavors of berries and chocolate
with a good, spicy body. The 2004 Cambria Estate Pinot Noir (Santa Maria
Valley) was nicely spicy with floral notes. Brucher Winery
presented a multi vintage pinot noir with nice fruity notes.
The festival’s organizers prepared well. There were ample portable restrooms and sinks and never a shortage of water. The festival is not just a forum for wines. A portion of the proceeds benefits the Frankie Smith Viniculture/Viticulture and Culinary Scholarship for area students. Speaking after the event, Kurt Graves (who managed the “Wine Seller” in Houston in the early 1980s - one of the first wine bars in the country) tells us: "We recognize that kids from our area are most likely to choose basic agricultural or trade careers. We’re hoping to influence some better students into considering a “lifestyle” education." Because of the record turnout, preparation on the part of participating wineries was essentially. Among the best prepared tables were those from Cottonwood Canyon, Rancho Sisquoc, JanKris, McKeon-Phillips and Clautiere.
Tested
by heat, sun and overwhelming demand, pourers worked hard to keep their
cool in the face of dwindling supplies of wine and literature. Some
wineries anticipated the volume better than others. Visitors mingled and
shared opinions. Word of mouth bolstered popularity of a number of
wineries. There were large groups of people around a number of booths,
including the Cottonwood Canyon table, as visitors to the festival
shared their opinions and word of mouth about favorites spread.
According to Rhonda Rantz, the Tasting Room Manager at
Cottonwood Canyon Vineyard & Winery, this year’s event saw them
pouring 30 bottles of their 2001 Estate Chardonnay, 2000 Estate Pinot
Noir and 1997 Merlot. They kept pouring until 15 minutes before the end
of the festival. “We poured 12 bottles each of Chardonnay and Pinot and
6 bottles of Merlot. We could have poured 2 more bottles of Chardonnay
and 1 more bottle of Pinot if I had it, but I only took 1 case each.”
Asked if they had enough winery information and literature, Rhonda says:
“Yes, when I ran out of one thing, they took something else, nobody left
empty handed.” This level of preparation paid off for Cottonwood: “We
received a new club member, and people started coming by the booth by
recommendation by others at the festival.”
One winery to have its supplies tested by the demand towards the end of the event was Consilience. We spoke to Brett Escalera, wine maker and co-owner of Consilience who poured at the event and has been doing so since the event first started. “I’ve never poured this much wine at this event before” he said estimating the turnout to be about 20%-25% greater the 1200 in 2005. “Many wineries did not anticipate this increase over last year and around 1:30 they started running out. We received a deluge of people who wanted wine”. Consilience brought a cash box and conducted sales as the day went by, which affected their supply. “At the end of the day I had only one bottle left”, said Brett. Asked about the attendees, he felt they ran the gamut in sophistication. According to him, most of the attendees were locals or vacationers in the area. “I enjoy that these people come to taste the wine for the sake of enjoyment and not to discuss, debate or pontificate about wine. It’s refreshing”. Consilience is a boutique-scale producer, sourcing their grapes from various Santa Barbara County vineyards. They focus on Rhone varietals (their Rodney Schull Vineyard Syrah is very good), but also make excellent Pinot Noirs. Next month, we will review their 2004 Ashley’s Vineyard Pinot Noir.
Clautiere Winery came prepared with plenty of wine and memorabilia, a refrigerated truck and an ABC license. “We did about of $2700 in sales. It’s hard to gage the success of an event unless you do sales” said Claudine Blackwell, co-owner of the winery. What really caught our eye and drew us to their table were their T-shirts with a drag queen theme. We spoke to Claudine after the festival. “We’ve been coming to the festival since it began and we love coming because you don’t just pour wine but you can talk to people about what you have to offer. When they come to your table and ask: ‘Do you have any sweet wine?’ we say: “No, but here is something you might enjoy.’ And you can guide them towards wines they may not have tried”. Talking about the origins of Clautiere’s unusual flavor, she told us: “My husband and I transitioned from restaurant development in Los Angeles to wine making in Paso Robles. We were introduced to the drag queen scene by an interior decorator friend of ours. We bought these amazing wigs as show pieces for out LA home. When we moved to Paso, we started taking them to bars and people loved them. We put them in the tasting room and the collection grew to over 50. People come in to taste wine and put on these wigs and it’s very liberating. There is a lot of shouting and flirting going on. People keep coming back and bringing their friends.” Initially having made wine under the guidance of experienced wine makers, they have been making wines autonomously since 2000. Claudine says they “make wine for people who want to entertain and be entertained while drinking wine”. The winery regularly holds themed events like the Bachanalian Festival, coming up this August 26th. Their strength is Syrah and their offerings have received numerous accolades and, recently, a gold medal at the San Francisco Chronicle Blind Tasting.
Also present was
Byron Winery with its wines being poured by staff affiliated with
the festival. Among the offerings on the table were bottles of their
excellent 2003 Santa Maria Valley Pinot Noir (which is among
this month’s reviewed wines) and the 2002 Io: a
Rhone-style blend (95% Syrah, 4% Mourvedre and 1% Grenache) with dark
berry aromas that carry through to the palate and a spicy finish. We did
not see their Bien Nacido Vineyard or Nielsen Vineyard wines on the
table. The recently released 2004 Santa
Maria Valley Pinot Noir was also not poured (review in next month’s
issue). Lori Anderson, Visitor Programs Manager at Byron, told us that
their staff has been very busy and was committed to other events and was
unable to pour at Pine Mountain.
She went on to say
Byron did not know with certainty what kind of turnout to expect this
year but remains committed to supporting the festival in the future.
Regarding the selection of wines poured, Lori says: “When pouring for a
larger event such as a wine festival, Byron will opt to offer their base
tier wines to a mainstream crowd”. But Byron base tier wines are not
“bottom of the barrel” wines. Byron has been a formidable name in the
Santa Maria Valley with their Pinots produced from some of the oldest
commercial vineyards in the area. They make consistent stand out wines.
Their Santa Maria Valley Pinot Noirs are plush, aromatic and very
expressive of the region’s characteristics.
We
were drawn to the
McKeon-Philips table by the sight of
John Thomas drawing wine from a small
barrel with the help of a siphon. He and Bailey McKeon-Phillips
represented McKeon-Phillips with great energy and approachability. They
were enthusiastic and engaging. But they did not have to rely on their
charms and presentation alone to hold people’s attention. Their wines
were great! “We knew our small barrel of 2004 Bailey's Private Reserve
Cabernet Sauvignon would wow the crowd and have everyone coming back for
seconds. It was so popular in fact that it was drained completely by the
thirsty crowd. “, says John. They were also very well prepared; having
more than sufficient wine and literature for the number of people who
turned out for the festival. The small barrel and siphon were a great
way to draw attention to their 2004 Bailey's Private Reserve Cabernet
Sauvignon, their flagship wine (to be released around February of 2007).
Futures of this wine were being offered at the table at very attractive
prices. McKeon-Phillips has been present at the festival for several
years now. “Everyone working on the festival did an excellent job and it
was a great turnout. We were swamped the whole time but we expected
that. To prepare we brought seven different wines and plenty of each.
The crowd was amazing and we were pleased to hear nothing but positive
feedback the entire day. We're absolutely looking forward to coming back
next year!” Speaking about the crowd, Bailey P. McKeon-Phillips said:
“They were mostly casual drinkers, but there were some people there who
knew what they were talking about”.
For those more detail-oriented, McKeon-Philips sources most of its fruit
form the Lucas & Lewellen Vineyards. The Bailey’s Private Reserve
Cabernet comes from these vineyards.
Another standout was JanKris Winery from Paso Robles. Mark Gendron, the owner and sole pourer said of the festival: “Its very well organized and the volunteers are incredibly friendly and helpful. The patrons are intelligent, interested and very polite, not something you find at every tasting. They are not just there to drink but to actually explore for good new wines and good deals. I took orders for a lot of wine and got some wine club members signed up for our new Heritage Wine club which will be featuring some Italian wines we are partnering on“. Mark was very informative and handled pouring for the crowd all by himself. We found their 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Paso Robles to be an excellent wine, displaying the classic fruit blend expected for this varietal and potential to age for 5 or more years. JanKris produces a number of wonderful blends such as the 2003 Crossfire (an appropriately named blend of 50% Cabernet, 25% Merlot and 25% Syrah mixing the fruit and chocolate of the two Bordeaux varietals and the pepper and plum of Syrah), the 2004 Picaro (a blend of 50% Zinfandel, 25% Merlot and 25% Cabernet Sauvignon which takes another approach to matching fruit of Bordeaux varietals with spice and body of Zinfandel) and the Grand-Tuscan styled Riatta (50% Sangiovese, 25% Zinfandel and 25% Merlot leading to a marriage of lush fruit and fuller, spicier body).
One of the oldest wineries in Santa Maria Valley – Rancho Sisquoc - was present with an ample supply of wines at their well-staffed table. Their stars included the 2005 Sylvaner Santa Barbara County (which they are the only winery in the area to produce) and their Sangiovese Santa Barbara County. The Sylvaner is a blend with 25% Riesling. It has bright, crisp honeydew and pear flavors with a spicy note. Their 2003 Sangiovese has ballsy, dark-hued berry flavors with full body, spice and backbone to age.
As the Festival ended and the crowd dwindled, escaping the afternoon heat, we sat down at the Sage and Cinnamon restaurant, just off the main street, to their prepared Wine Festival menu. Discussion naturally centered on the event. We agreed that the event will continue growing as the word spreads. As suggested by a number of pourers, in future years, the organizers of the festival should keep wineries aware of advance ticket sales to guide their preparation. This will ensure ample supply for all. Wineries will also benefit from securing ABC licenses which will allow them to sell their wines to visitors. As for those wishing they would have come, have no fear. The festival will return next year. Our advice is to come prepared for the weather and prepared to taste some great Central Coast wines!
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-
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-
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