The SOMM Journal

February / March 2017

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90 { THE SOMM JOURNAL } FEBRUARY/MARCH 2017 Our final Somm Camp stop was for a fabulous vineyard lunch and tasting at Retzlaff Vineyards & Estate Winery, a CCOF-certified organic growth established in 1977 by Robert and Gloria Taylor. Their son, Operations Manager Aaron Taylor, told us, "When we started, we were one of just five wineries in Livermore Valley." As a grape supplier and (since 1985) winery, the Taylors' estate has been very much a part of Livermore Valley's "new wave." Jose Hernandez, Retzlaff 's Vineyard Manager for the past 17 years, laughingly told us, "We grow rocks instead of grapes," while walking us over the deep, chunky grav - elly beds between rows of 30-plus-year-old Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. This, we discovered, was exactly what Livermore Valley's 19th-century grape pioneers were talking about when citing Bordeaux's Graves commune as a particular inspiration. Retzlaff 's Cabernet Sauvignon block was grafted over in 1979 from own-rooted Trousseau Gris, aka Chauché Gris or Grey Riesling, which played a historic role (with Chenin Blanc) in one of California's most popular wines of the past, the fabled Wente Brothers "Le Blanc de Blancs." The Retzlaff 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon may fall on the lush, rounded, ripe, almost jammy fruit spectrum of the varietal, but is also marked by remarkable and compelling sensations of sweet kitchen herbs (rosemary/thyme). Perhaps even more interesting was the Retzlaff 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Rosé—orangey pink, crisply dry, and fra - grant with sagebrush tinged strawberry. Explained Hernandez, "We shoot for ripe, jammy fruit expression through aggres- sive leaf removal before veraison—the exposure to sunlight gives us unbelievable consistency of berry size, while minimizing rot issues." In a similar vein as the Cabernet Sauvignon, the round and densely textured Retzlaff 2010 Livermore Valley Merlot combines ripe red cherry with pungent sweet herbs more akin to pennyroyal, while the equally distinctive, well-rounded Retzlaff 2014 Chardonnay shines with perfumes of white peach and rising bread dough. Greg Bierwirth Paul Martin's American Grill (Roseville, CA) Jerry Garbus Manhattan Beach Post (Manhattan Beach, CA) Chuck Herrold Ponsaty's (Rancho Santa Fe, CA) Matt Dulle Single Thread Farm-Restaurant (Healdsburg, CA) Jamie Harding Cavallo Point, The Lodge at the Golden Gate (Sausalito, CA) Rafael Hernandez Jr. The Winery Restaurant & Wine Bar (Newport Beach, CA) The Livermore Valley SOMM Camp Sommeliers Marie Mertz Todo un Poco (Elk Grove, CA) Retzlaff Vineyard Manager Jose Hernandez explains Livermore Valley's similarity to Bordeaux's Graves commune. "Ripe, jammy fruit expression" from Retzlaff Vineyards. Aaron Taylor, Operations Manager at Retzlaff.

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