May Wine Club
Wine Club, May 2023
Domaine du Pégau, Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Réservée 2020
Archery Summit, Dundee Hills Pinot Noir 2021
WINES
2020 Domaine du Pégau, Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Réservée, France
2021 Archery Summit, Dundee Hills Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, Oregon
DOMAINE DU PEGAU
2020 Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Cuvée Réservée
Grenache (80%) / Syrah (6%) / Mourvèdre (4%) / Other (10%)
Of all the world’s fine wines, my longest obsession has been with this of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Powerful, spicy, elegant, and decadent, these wines are among the most captivating in the world. While living in New York in 2002, the wines from this spectacular region were the very first I purchased for my own collection, and were the wines on the table at my first dates with my future wife.
The AOC of Châteauneuf-du-Pape is a small area in France’s Southern Rhône Valley, and was the first French AOC established in 1936. The region is one of the most unique and historic in the world. Located just north of the Papal city of Avignon, the region’s name translates to ‘New Castle of the Pope’. In the 13th Century, the papacy moved briefly from the Vatican to Avignon, and the wines from ‘just north’ were favorites of the bishops. Today, this region covers just 10 square miles with around 7,500 acres of vines owned by just over 300 producers. Compare this with Napa Valley’s 45,000 acres of vines and you see how small and special this little area is! The wines of Châteauneuf-du-Pape are primarily blends of Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre, but there are actually 18 different grape varieties that are permitted for use in the region’s wines. Grenache is a dark skinned grape known for high alcohol content, and aromas of ripe red berries, plums, spices, herbs, white pepper, and leather. Syrah produces more purple-colored juice and offers black and blue fruits with notes of black pepper and chocolate. Mourvèdre, often used in smaller percentages, is another late-ripening and high-alcohol grape that adds blackberry aromas along with high tannins. The most common other grapes include Cinsault and Counoise, as well as the white grapes Grenache Blanc and Roussanne. The grapes are grown most often in so-called ‘bush vines’ where each plant acts like an individual tree with no trellising. Grapes are harvested by hand, and usually a mix of destemmed and whole-cluster fruit is used for fermentation. Aging takes place in a range of vessels from cement tanks, to small barriques, to traditional large barrels. The final blending is different from producer-to-producers and ranges from 100% Grenache in the case of the legendary Château Rayas, to blends of 3-4 grapes, to the blend of all 13 traditional varietals as is found in Château Beaucastel.
The most unique aspect of Châteauneuf-du-Pape is its legendary terroir. The soil here is a blend of dry sands, limestone and clay, and the famous galets stones—large rounded stones that cover entire vineyards with an iron-rich clay subsoil. These soils help to hold heat and moisture to allow the late-ripening varietals here to fully ripen, and force the vines to dig deep to reach the nutrient-rich sub-layers and water reserves that provide the incredible structure and minerality in the wines.
Domaine du Pegau is one of the most important producers in the region and is today operated by Laurence Féraud, the daughter of the estate’s founder. They make three distinct Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines: the classic Cuvée Réservée, aged in the traditional manner with large oak barrels and 2 years aging, a special Cuvée Laurence with 4 years aging, and their collectible cult-wine Cuvée da Capo that can cost over $1,000 per bottle and has only been produced 8 times. They also make of Côtes-du-Rhône wines and some Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc. The estate is humble, and on my visit to CdP in 2011, we stumbled upon their cellar in the town of Châteauneuf which was essentially a garage on a side street. We strolled in for a tasting with a man smoking a cigarette and wearing a white tank top and were blown away at the quality of every wine—from the €4 vin de table to the Cuvée Laurence. This has been one of my favorite wine in the world ever since and I am thrilled to offer it to you!
This wine is from the tremendous 2020 vintage and features a blend of mostly Grenache (80%), with Syrah (6%), Mourvèdre (4%), and then 10% of the wine coming from the other minor grapes of CdP. The wine is whole-cluster fermented and then aged in large used foudres. A stunning Châteauneuf with tremendous power and spice, and rich, ripe red fruit and herbal notes.
Serve at 62º-65ºF
Can drink now, but will be best starting in 2025. Will be at its peak 2030-2040 and likely can be held all the way to 2050!
Food pairings: This is a big, spicy, and high alcohol wine so fatty foods are great, as is anything with a hint of grill smoke. Leaner meats when seasoned well with spicy herbs like oregano and rosemary or the full complement of herbs-de-provence. Rich stews like Boeuf Bourguignon work wonderfully as well. Big, slightly pungent cheeses also work wonderfully. The complexity of the wine requires depth and complexity in the food.
ARCHERY SUMMIT
2021 Dundee Hills Pinot Noir
100% Pinot Noir
I am very excited to offer that I will be the only place in Kansas that will carry Archery Summit for at least the next 4-6 months! I have worked very hard with the winery and the Kansas wholesaler to get the wines registered here, and have been given the entirety of the state’s small allocation for the time being, meaning just a few cases of this wine will likely be available, and I am thrilled to share these bottles with my club members!
Archery Summit has been among my favorite Oregon producers for nearly two decades. Not only do they make some the most objectively delicious and special pinot in the Willamette Valley, but they were one of the first wineries in Oregon that I visited many years ago. I have had opportunities to enjoy their wines on many occasions, including bottles with more than 20 years of age, and have found them to always be exciting and energizing wines. They have a certain depth and magic that sometimes is better felt than described! They remain one of three wineries that I personally belong to their wine club.
Archery Summit is located just outside of the town of Dundee in the heart of the Willamette Valley. The property rises up above the valley with a beautiful collection of vineyards with different aspect and elevations, both surrounding the Archery Summit estate and in the prestigious Arcus vineyard in the Eastern part of Dundee Hills AVA. The most dominant soil type in the Dundee Hills is the classic volcanic Jory soil. This soil is rich in iron and clay and has a deep reddish color. It gives Dundee Hills Pinots fantastic spice, beautiful cherry notes, and lots of minerality. The second soil we find is a sandy sedimentary soil that adds power and structure. The texture is like talcum-powder and it tends to be very dry, forcing vines to go very deep for nutrients and water. Wines from sedimentary areas tend to be more austere and can take a bit of extra aging or time to open up. Making wines like the Dundee Hills Pinot with a blend of both of these soil types gives us the best of both worlds.
The vineyard management and winemaking at Archery Summit is top-tier. The vineyards are truly spectacular in their beauty and are all farmed sustainably with LIVE (Low Input Viticulture & Enology) certification. In the cellar, the Dundee Hills Pinot is fermented in a mix of stainless steel, cement, and open-top tanks. 15% of the fruit is whole-clusters. Fermentation starts after a 4-5 day cold soak which helps to extract additional polyphenols and gives the wine its beautiful color and expressive mouthfeel. During fermentation, the wine is pumped over twice a day for the first half and then a combination of pumping over and pushing down of the cap is used to continue extracting color and tannin from the grapes and encouraging phenolic expression. The wine is pressed and aged for about 8 months in mostly used barrels, and then is racked and filtered, and finally bottled.
2021 was a magical vintage in the Willamette Vally and was much needed following the Oregon fires of 2020 that eliminated almost the entire Pinot Noir production. The 2021 vintage was marked by abnormally hot weather, including days reaching as high as 116ºF in parts of the area. The heat helped intensify the ripening of the grapes, and the vines were able to source fantastic water deep underground to survive. Because of the heat and dryness, ripening was early and harvest was a bit earlier. In addition, this limited yields focusing energy into the best bunches. What resulted were wines with fantastic ripeness that were buoyed by cold nights in September that preserved the essential acidity for great Pinot Noir.
The Archery Summit Dundee Hills Pinot is a standout and features a gorgeous nose with bright maraschino cherry notes mingled with cardamum, cocoa, and blossoms. On the palate, the fruit is ripe and elegant, with excellent acidity and a tannins that are fully integrated into every drop. The hallmark minerality and spice of the Jory soil lingers in the mouth on the finish, resulting in an almost perfect expression of Oregon Pinot Noir. This wine was recently awarded 97 points from Decanter and was one of 50 wines worldwide to be named Best in Show at the Decanter World Wine Awards. This is a wine of pure pleasure that can be drunk now, or held for 10 years.
Serve at 58º-62º F
Drinking beautifully now. Will continue developing for 10 years.
Food Pairing: Soft cheeses, wild duck, roast pork or chicken, sous-vide tenderloin steaks, salmon in red wine sauce, chocolate-covered cherries.
April Wine Club
Wine Club, April 2023
Schlosskellerei Gobelsburg, ‘Cistercian’ Rosé, Austria, 2022
Piedrasassi, Sta. Rita Hills Syrah, Santa Barbara Co., CA, 2019
Andrew Will, ‘Ciel du Cheval’, Red Mountain, Washington
WINES
2022 Schlosskellerei Gobelsburg, ‘Cistercian’ Rosé, Austria
2019 Piedrasassi, Sta. Rita Hills Syrah, Santa Barbara County, California
2017 Andrew Will, ‘Ciel du Cheval’, Red Mountain, Washington
SCHLOSSKELLEREI GOBELSBURG
2022 ‘Cistercian’ Rosé, Austria
Zweigelt, St. Laurent, Pinot Noir
As the weather warms, sometimes nothing is better than I crisp and refreshing rosé. And when the rosé is as delicious and elegant as this one from Austria, everyone will be happy! Schloss Gobelsburg is one of the oldest wineries in Austria, dating back to the 12th Century! The estate has been both privately owned and held by the Cistercian order of monks at various times throughout its history. The Cistercians started in the Burgundy region of France and spread their agricultural work throughout Europe. Their work in agriculture, and in particular in winemaking and brewing, laid the groundwork for some of the most important wines and regions of the modern age. The Gobelsburg estate makes a few different lines of wines. The ‘Schloss Gobelsburg’ wines are the estates premium bottlings, and are all single vineyard explorations of some of Austria’s finest terroirs. The ‘Schlosskellerei Gobelsburg’ wines are the estates classics. The labels picture the castle and church, and the wines represented include both native varietal wines, such as Grüner Veltliner, as well as lovely blends of native red grapes and Pinot Noir, which was brought to Austria in the 20th Century.
This rosé is a blend of two native Austrian grapes, Zweigelt and St. Laurent, along with Pinot Noir. These grapes all grow along the Danube river in areas that are too cool to ripen these red grapes fully. This allows the estate to focus on making a very high-quality rosé exclusively from these grapes, rather than simply ‘bleeding off the juice’ and concentrating what remains for bigger reds. The wine is light pink in color and possesses fantastic crispness and acidity. Aromas of peaches, melon, tart raspberries, and flowers dance along with zippy acidity. Absolute drinking pleasure.
Serve cold to chilled: 40º-48º
Drink now
Food pairings: Lovely by itself on a warm afternoon or with a light summer salad, fresh vegetables, or soft cheeses. Don’t be afraid or ashamed to put an ice cube in it by the pool!
PIEDRASASSI
2019 Sta. Rita Hills Syrah, Santa Barbara County, California
100% Syrah
Syrah is presently undergoing a revolution in California. For years, some of the most dense, powerful, and ripe wines coming from the state where made with Syrah grapes, left to ripen under the warm California sun. A new generation of winemakers is looking backwards and eastwards, trying to create an American version of Syrah that speaks a closer language to the Syrahs made in places like St. Joseph and Hermitage in the Northern Rhône Valley. One of these winemakers is Sashi Moorman, who, along with Raj Parr and Pax Mahle, is quickly becoming one of the most respected and sought-after winemakers and consultants in the United States. Sashi’s wines are always nothing short of beautiful. In the case of this wine, he is working with the Piedrasassi family who happen to own vineyards in some of the most important parcels of land in California’s Central Coast. In Santa Barbara County, the Santa Rita Hills have become a kind of ‘Goldilocks zone’ for the production of primarily Pinot Noir and Chardonnay that can be truly breathtaking. The addition of Syrah to this region has been absolutely incredible. The Sta. Rita Hills is a small AVA that sits in an East-West valley just a few miles inland from the Pacific Ocean. This is unique as most of California’s wine regions lie in North-South valleys (Napa Valley being the most famous). The geological effect of this is that the cool breezes from the Pacific get sucked in and race across the valley, swirling and bouncing off the mountains and hills on each side. This breeze is essential in cooling down the berries as they bask in glorious sunlight of the area. In addition, the soil of the Sta. Rita Hills is one of the most unique and special on earth. The area is home to the highest density of Diatomaceous earth on the planet. This white sedimentary rock is very high in silica, and helps give the wines of this region, whether Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, or Syrah, an absolutely singular minerality. Diatomaceous earth is very special in that it retains water very well and once it reaches a point of saturation, the water is able to pass through. This is very important in drought-ridden California, and the rock helps to limit how much irrigation is needed, while preserving the nutrients and ‘struggle’ required for excellent winemaking. This is the same rock used to make the trendy bathmats today!
The sorongon family owned the estate, and has been most noted for their artisanal breads using heritage grains. With a production of just 188 cases, this special wine comes from two organic vineyards in Sta. Rita Hills. These two vineyards are both at nearly 2,000ft. above sea level, and located on opposite sides of the valley–one faces north while the other is extremely high and facing south-east. Fermentation is 70% whole-clusters, and fermentation is on indigenous yeast. The wine is aged 18 months in neutral French oak. The wine has an absolutely alluring aroma of smoky flavors with berries meat, olives, and bacon fat all mingling alongside tannins that are both gritty and integrated. A long finish. The wine is immediate and appreciable right away but will continue aging beautifully for a decade. I love the heart in this wine, and am excited to share it with you.
Serve at 58º-62º F
Drinking beautifully now. Will continue developing for 5-10 years.
Food Pairing: Get out the smoker! Any smoked meats, burgers, grilled food. Rich cheeses. Cured meats and sausages.
Andrew Will
2017 ‘Ciel du Cheval’, Red Mountain, Washington
Merlot (50%) / Cabernet Franc (50%)
Washington’s reputation as a wine-growing center in the United States continues to grow almost exponentially. This vast area of largely high desert vineyard areas produces some of the most exceptional big red wines in the country—and with exceptional value! Among the most important and impressive producers in the entire state is Andrew Will Winery. Founded in 1989, Andrew Will has been at the forefront of the Washington wine scene. They source their fruit from some of the absolute finest vineyard sites in the Red Mountain, Yakima, and Horse Heaven Hills AVAs—all sub-AVAs for the larger Columbia Valley. From these pristine sites, they make some of the most sublime Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc based wines in the entire county.
The ‘Ciel du Cheval’ vineyard covers just over 100 acres with multiple producers owning vines. The vineyard itself is made up of deposits of gravel and large stones with significant amounts of calcium carbonate. These properties help give the wines from this vineyard a fantastic amount of richness, depth, and earthiness. This wine is often considered a New World version of Bordeaux’s Château Cheval Blanc—the Right Bank legend made up of Merlot and Cabernet Franc. The 2017 vintage is equal parts Merlot and Cabernet Franc, and is tremendously complex and a wine built for immediate enjoyment as well as long cellaring. Notes of ripe plums, blackberries, and currants, meld with red flowers, pencil lead, tobacco, and wet earth. Supported by strong but soft tannins and a long finish. The wine changes with each minute of air it breathes in. While distinct and never a ‘replica’ of Bordeaux, this wine is, for me, what I long for in big American reds.
Serve at 60ºF.
Drink: Drink now but will continue improving and evolving for up to 20 years!
Food pairings: Any grilled meat, roasted lamb with cherry sauce, smoked duck, bacon-wrapped scallops, fig compote. Just drink it!
