The Tasting Panel magazine

August 2015

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august 2015  /  the tasting panel  /  85 BANFI'S CRU ARTISAN WINEMAKERS VISIT LOS ANGELES FOR A WINE SPEED TASTING by Jessie Birschbach, Sommelier at Spago Beverly Hills / photos by Dustin Downing A handful or two of Southern California's brightest sommeliers gathered in the aptly sun-drenched, dap- per bar in Cecconi's of West Hollywood. Their mission? To blind taste 18 wines in 40 minutes, after which nine different proprietors and winemakers would each have ten minutes to reveal their own two wines participating in this challenge. Although THE TASTING PANEL tipped off our intrepid somms to let them know that most of these wines had something to do with Italy, what they didn't know is that these were Cru Artisan wines, luxury portfolio selections from Italian powerhouse importer and producer Banfi Vintners, and that these wines would be revealed by the winemakers themselves, who were in Southern California as part of our Cru Artisan College tasting and seminar series. After the tasting and the reveal, we gathered each somm's tasting notes, which appear in coming pages; we're profiling each wine- maker's unique personality and perspective on winemaking with one common thread throughout: a sense of place. THE PURIST: NICOLAS QUILLE Pacific Rim 2010 Riesling, Solstice Vineyard, Yakima Valley, Washington and Pacific Rim 2009 Ice Wine Riesling, Selenium Vineyard When it comes to Riesling, Pacific Rim is one of the biggest swingers out of Washington, established in 1992 by eccentric winemaker Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon Vineyards, who later handed the torch of vinification to Nicolas Quille in 2006. Quille has had some big, probably haute couture– looking shoes to fill, with access to several single-vineyard sites throughout the Columbia Valley—Washington's largest appellation, spanning 11 million acres. Since then, Quille has produced a near ocean of invigorating Columbia Valley Riesling. In fact, Pacific Rim is the third- largest producer of Riesling in Washington, and in Washington, Riesling is queen. When we asked him if he was fond of any other varietals, Quille mentioned grapes like Chenin Blanc, adding, "anything crisp, sharp, unoaked and no malolactic [fermenta- tion] is kind of in my wheelhouse." Quille's curriculum vitae—born in Lyon, France, from a family that's been in the wine industry for three generations, and studying in places like Burgundy and Champagne— seems to make his modest claim all the more modest: the purity of fruit was quite obvious, especially with the Pacific Rim 2010 Riesling, handpicked from the old vines of Solstice Vineyard, growing on a mere 18 inches of loess that express the basalt bedrock the vines have had since 1980 to reach. The juice is fermented with native yeasts and aged up to 12 months on lees. The second wine Quille revealed was the Pacific Rim 2009 Ice Wine Riesling from the Selenium Vineyard, boasting a similar soil composition to Solstice, but this Riesling is picked frozen on the vines, resulting in a higher concentrated ice wine. Thankfully, the acid held up to the density—a result of the fermentation stopping at a remaining 195 grams/liter of residual sugar, which is lower than the 220 grams/liter ice wine average. In this example too, Quille allows the fruit to speak for itself. The Somms Speak Pacific Rim 2010 Riesling, Solstice Vineyard, Yakima Valley, Washington Limestone basil nose with grassy notes and white grapefruit. Dry country herbs with slight salinity; spicy. —Meridith May Aromatic with marzipan and lemon curd. Floral, yellow apple, nutty. Palate mirrors nose; nutty, bitter. —Phillip Dunn Pacific Rim 2009 "Snow Angels" Selenium Vineyard Riesling Ice Wine Aromas of honeysuckle, granite, beeswax and wet stone. Apricot, very clean with simple sweetness. Really pleasant. —Jenna Webster Sweet candied orange, lemon and lime. Fresh, rip with white peach, dried apricot, honeysuckle; baby powder, toasted flour and crushed stone. —Catherine Morel Nicolas Quille is winemaker at Pacific Rim in Yakima Valley, WA.

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