Discovery Program
Confluence Vineyard in Anderson Valley
is the heart of Goldeneye Winery’s Pinot Noir.
Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Discovery Tasting
by Thom Elkjer, Regional Editor
"Overall wine quality was the highest I have ever seen in large-scale tastings from this AVA."
~ Thom Elkjer
A Dual Signature of the Appellation:
Anderson Valley Pinot Noirs now tend to come in one of two distinct styles:
The “classic” Anderson Valley style is very well proportioned, delivering fresh red berry flavors accented with white pepper and occasional hints of cedar, a firm yet feminine structure with moderate oak influence, and a long finish.
The “new” California style is gaining popularity as well; it emphasizes intense dark berry flavors, high extract of color and tannins, and overt oak influences accented with baking spice and dark herbs such as anise.
Both style camps are represented in the valley’s most exemplary wines, which harmonize ripe berries, judicious oak and lively acidity into a seamless whole.
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
December 14, 2005 -- The Boonville Hotel, Boonville, California -- These Proceedings begin with a brief description of the protocol used to assemble the panels, gather the wines and run the tasting.
The Protocol: an objective and transparent process of evaluation
The first step was assembling two panels. The Discovery Panel generally consists of winemakers resident in or working primarily in the pertinent appellation, because these are the people best able to evaluate the wines of the region from a technical, sensory and historical perspective. The Discovery Panel presents its results to a Confirmation Panel, which is generally made up of growers, writers, and sommeliers. The Confirmation Panel’s role is to ensure that the results of the Discovery Tasting truly reflect the wines tasted, and that those results are both meaningful and useful for people in the wider world.
The second step was gathering the wines. For every appellation discovery tasting, your Regional Correspondent strives to assemble as many wines from one appellation, one variety and one vintage as possible. In this case the AVA was Anderson Valley, the grape variety was Pinot Noir, and the vintage was 2003. The goal here is to eliminate other variables in order to answer two simple questions: (1) what is the signature of ‘X’ appellation in ‘Y’ vintage?; and (2) which bottlings exemplify that signature? All producers are invited to provide samples that qualify. Bottlings not acquired in this manner are purchased at retail to the extent possible.
The third step is tasting the wines. I gather all the wines before the tasting; cellar them at the same temperature; move them to the tasting venue immediately before they are opened; and have them poured in a pattern that ensures that all the wines enjoy similar time in the glass before tasting. The tasting order of the wines is set using a random number generator. Other than the appellation, varietal, and vintage of the wines, the tasting is blind for all the panelists and moderators.
The Discovery Panel and Confirmation Panel are seated at separate tables (in this case, in different chambers of the dining room of the Boonville Hotel). The two panels operate in parallel, without reference to or communication with each other except at the end of the preliminary tasting. I moderate the Discovery Panel, but do not vote in its deliberations. For the Anderson Valley Pinot Noir tasting, I engaged journalist Heather Irwin (Edible Sonoma, The Bohemian, WineCountry.com) to moderate the Confirmation Panel, which also came to its conclusions without her vote. The main role of the moderators is to focus the discussion on commonalities of the appellation rather than individualities of the wines.
The wines are tasted in as few flights as possible. For Anderson Valley Pinot Noir, this meant two flights of 19 wines. After independent judgments are made, the panels come together to engage in a group discussion about their impressions of the wines tasted. The discussion, moderated and recorded by your correspondent, leads to a group consensus on what are the signature characteristics of the appellation and then by majority vote (4/5) the individual wines which best reflect these characteristics are designated “Appellation Signature” wines.
At the conclusion of the tasting and discussions, each panelist left their 9-page tasting form with me to analyze their data and transcribe into this Record of Proceedings.
The Wines: a thorough representation of the appellation & vintage
To truly discover what the wines of an appellation can tell you about that appellation, the ideal situation is to get all the wines of the appellation together at the same time, under the same conditions. The last time I conducted such a tasting for Anderson Valley Pinot Noir, in 2002, I turned up evidence of nearly 30 bottlings bearing the appellation on the label, and acquired 24 of them for the tasting.
At the time of the AppellationAmerica Discovery Tasting on December 14th, 2005, I was able to identify 43 regular annual bottlings of Anderson Valley Pinot Noir. Our tasting included 38 of these, or nearly 90% of the relevant wines. All but four were from the 2003 vintage; three were from 2002 and one was from 2001. These latter bottlings were included primarily to represent vineyard sites that would otherwise have been excluded. Many wineries asked if they might offer their more plentiful 2004s or more mature 2002s, but in the end they elected to support the tasting philosophy.
A Curious Pattern of Non-Participation
As expected, the great majority of wines in the tasting were enthusiastically provided by the wineries. It is interesting to note, however, that a very small number of producers refused to provide samples. More interesting is to speculate as to why these producers declined the invitation to participate in a landmark tasting with the intent of promoting the Anderson Valley for the benefit of all stakeholders.
Taken as a group, two connecting threads are immediately apparent.
First, these producers all follow the same business model. They operate in custom-crush facilities or urban industrial spaces; purchase grapes from respected appellations and often designate vineyards on their labels; and produce intense, extracted wines that win high scores from the same pool of influential critics. Second, none of these producers wanted their 2003 wines compared to the rest of the wines from the appellation. It seems unlikely that these two unanimous positions are unrelated.
For the record, one such producer stated that there was “no real benefit” in supporting the tasting because they could already sell all their wine. It is curious, however, that attempts to acquire samples from the Anderson Valley growers who supply these winemakers with the fruit for their vineyard-designated bottlings yielded the same results: no wine. Worth noting is that these growers were unanimous in understanding the point of the tasting and its potential to benefit their region (and by extension, their own business). In other words, they wanted to support the tasting, but felt constrained by the will of their winemakers.
In the end, using other resources, I was able to acquire and include wines from half of this non forthcoming group, the others succeeded in keeping their wines out.
Given that a small group producers with the same business model took what amounted to the same approach to the Discovery Tasting, the question arises: Is there some discovery that they all might have reason to want to prevent? Certainly there is a point of view within the wine industry that some custom-crush artisans intentionally make wines to garner high scores from influential critics, using cellar techniques that can more or less completely overwhelm any sense of place or vintage. On the other hand, there are also plenty of wineries firmly ensconced in their appellations that pursue this same strategy.
It is also possible, of course, that your Regional Correspondent simply failed to effectively explain the whole point of doing Appellation Discovery tastings in the first place. In any case, everyone is invited to express his or her own point of view in the Anderson Valley Roundtable.
Discovery Tasting Analysis
The Discovery Panel was unanimous in noting that the Pinot Noirs of Anderson Valley now come in two distinct styles. Elizabeth Grant-Douglas (La Crema) described them organoleptically as “the floral, spicy red fruit pole; and the jammy, extracted black fruit pole.” The Confirmation Panel was also unanimous in this finding, describing the styles as “feminine” and “masculine.” Winemaker Bob Klindt (Claudia Springs, Harmonique) got nods of agreement from both Panels when he put the two styles into an industry framework, describing them as the “historic Anderson Valley style” and the “new California style.” Roughly two-thirds of the wines fell into the first group; the remaining third fell into the second group.
The vintage was not notably extreme in the view of both winemakers and growers. Several recalled heat spikes past mid-season and cool evenings during harvest, but none described any major influence of the vintage on the fruit quality. In other words, the 2003 vintage itself appears to have been representative for Anderson Valley.
Overall wine quality was the highest I have ever seen in large-scale tastings from this AVA. Even the very few odd-structured or heavily oaked wines showed poise and personality -- something the rural, isolated Anderson Valley did not always manage. Alcohol levels were moderate, oak was in balance, and fruit flavors remained fresh well into the finish of nearly all the wines.
The vintners on the Discovery Panel and Confirmation Panel evinced a measure of surprise at these discoveries. Winemaker Milla Handley (Handley Cellars) said that she had expected more “winemaker influence” but found consistency in the flavors even when the ripeness and weights of individual wines varied. Grower Mary Elke (Elke/Donnelly Creek Vineyard) noted the high number of “nuanced wines with great texture and mouthfeel.” Winemaker Zach Rasmuson (Goldeneye), who was prepared for a certain percentage of “poor wines,” noted instead a body of wines of “consistent quality and [sense of] place.”
The Confirmation Panel offered a couple of additional perspectives, based on interactions with Pinot Noir’s newest legion of fans. Consumers lacking an historical context for Pinot Noir -- which means no familiarity with red Burgundy before 1995 -- are looking for size and intensity from a grape that was once known for finesse and elegance. “These people want to be blown away,” said retail/restaurant wine-seller Mark Bowery, and “some of these wines don’t develop the way you would expect from the first sip.” But winemakers catering to this appetite, said valley tasting-room veteran Pat Daniels (Navarro), “are not giving Pinot Noir the respect she deserves.”
The Discovery Panel acknowledged these points. Handley noted that in general the wines offered a sweet, juicy entry point but could become warm and astringent on the finish. “Give ‘em a few years,” said winemaker Tex Sawyer (Scharffenberger Cellars), and both ends of the equation will adjust toward equilibrium.
The red-fruit style referred to above delivered fresh cherry, raspberry, plum, strawberry and cranberry flavors. The ripeness level was uniformly good, the colors garnet to dark ruby, and the mid-palate accented with white pepper and occasional hints of cedar. Their oak influence was moderate and in balance with the fruit, and the finish was generally described as long, lingering, or evolving. Overall, the chief hallmark of this style was a sense of proportion. The wines were ripe, but not over-ripe; dark, but not over-extracted; framed in oak, but not paneled with it, and allowed to express their fruit at length, from the aromas through the aftertaste. Some panelists hypothesized that these wines were made with older clones, particularly including Martini.
The black-fruit style referred to above delivered intense and ripe blackberry and blueberry flavors, high extract of color and tannins, and strong oak influences ranging from vanilla (tending toward caramel) to toast (tending toward char). Some carried cedar, baking spice (clove, allspice, nutmeg), black licorice, anise and even camphor flavors. At their best, these wines were “hedonistic” (Grant-Douglas). Others were “Syrah wannabes” (Bowery). Several Discovery Panelists conjectured that the wines in this style were grown with Dijon clones. [These modern genetic cousins of older Pinot Noir strains were developed in France late in the last century, to give Pinot Noir more color and tannin. The proximate cause appears to have been the world’s growing taste for darker, more tannic reds made from Syrah, Cabernet, Zinfandel and other grapes popular in the U.S., Australia, and South America.]
Even the wines in the second style, however, displayed good balance and integration. “A lot of people in the valley have pulled back on the toast,” Sawyer said. “The big wines still have the extract in balance with the oak,” Rasmuson said. “That’s a good sign.” The Discovery Panel made almost no reference to alcohol levels, and a post-tasting survey suggested why. There were more wines below 14% (nine) than there were above 14.5%. (eight), and only one member of this latter group touched 15.0%. The remainder -- 21 of 38 wines, or more than half of the total -- fell between 14.0 and 14.5%, which most winemakers I talk to now consider a moderate range for super-premium California reds.
There was some discussion of the acidity in the wines, with the Discovery Panel split (some wishing for more acid, others finding it to be in balance). In the general discussion, it emerged that the more extracted, jammy wines were responsible for the low-acid perception while the redder-fruited wines accounted for the sense of balance.
"Appellation Signature" Wines
While the overall quality level of the wines was very high, the Discovery Panel reached a majority consensus (4/5) on six wines it felt carried an Appellation Signature for Anderson Valley Pinot Noir in 2003. (For the record, two of these were produced at wineries represented by a Discovery Panelist, but in neither case did the Panelist in question nominate his or her own wine for “Appellation Signature” distinction.) The Confirmation Panel nominated an additional wine and argued convincingly that it bridged regional and vintage-specific characteristics. (For the record, this wine turned out to have been made by a member of the Discovery Panel.) The resulting seven Appellation Signature wines are listed below alphabetically rather than in any order of preference.
Anderson Valley Pinot Noirs now tend to come in one of two distinct styles:
Both style camps are represented in the valley’s most exemplary wines, which harmonize ripe berries, judicious oak and lively acidity into a seamless whole.
December 14, 2005 -- The Boonville Hotel, Boonville, California -- These Proceedings begin with a brief description of the protocol used to assemble the panels, gather the wines and run the tasting.
The Protocol: an objective and transparent process of evaluation
The first step was assembling two panels. The Discovery Panel generally consists of winemakers resident in or working primarily in the pertinent appellation, because these are the people best able to evaluate the wines of the region from a technical, sensory and historical perspective. The Discovery Panel presents its results to a Confirmation Panel, which is generally made up of growers, writers, and sommeliers. The Confirmation Panel’s role is to ensure that the results of the Discovery Tasting truly reflect the wines tasted, and that those results are both meaningful and useful for people in the wider world.
The second step was gathering the wines. For every appellation discovery tasting, your Regional Correspondent strives to assemble as many wines from one appellation, one variety and one vintage as possible. In this case the AVA was Anderson Valley, the grape variety was Pinot Noir, and the vintage was 2003. The goal here is to eliminate other variables in order to answer two simple questions: (1) what is the signature of ‘X’ appellation in ‘Y’ vintage?; and (2) which bottlings exemplify that signature? All producers are invited to provide samples that qualify. Bottlings not acquired in this manner are purchased at retail to the extent possible.
The third step is tasting the wines. I gather all the wines before the tasting; cellar them at the same temperature; move them to the tasting venue immediately before they are opened; and have them poured in a pattern that ensures that all the wines enjoy similar time in the glass before tasting. The tasting order of the wines is set using a random number generator. Other than the appellation, varietal, and vintage of the wines, the tasting is blind for all the panelists and moderators.
The Discovery Panel and Confirmation Panel are seated at separate tables (in this case, in different chambers of the dining room of the Boonville Hotel). The two panels operate in parallel, without reference to or communication with each other except at the end of the preliminary tasting. I moderate the Discovery Panel, but do not vote in its deliberations. For the Anderson Valley Pinot Noir tasting, I engaged journalist Heather Irwin (Edible Sonoma, The Bohemian, WineCountry.com) to moderate the Confirmation Panel, which also came to its conclusions without her vote. The main role of the moderators is to focus the discussion on commonalities of the appellation rather than individualities of the wines.
The wines are tasted in as few flights as possible. For Anderson Valley Pinot Noir, this meant two flights of 19 wines. After independent judgments are made, the panels come together to engage in a group discussion about their impressions of the wines tasted. The discussion, moderated and recorded by your correspondent, leads to a group consensus on what are the signature characteristics of the appellation and then by majority vote (4/5) the individual wines which best reflect these characteristics are designated “Appellation Signature” wines.
At the conclusion of the tasting and discussions, each panelist left their 9-page tasting form with me to analyze their data and transcribe into this Record of Proceedings.
The Wines: a thorough representation of the appellation & vintage
To truly discover what the wines of an appellation can tell you about that appellation, the ideal situation is to get all the wines of the appellation together at the same time, under the same conditions. The last time I conducted such a tasting for Anderson Valley Pinot Noir, in 2002, I turned up evidence of nearly 30 bottlings bearing the appellation on the label, and acquired 24 of them for the tasting.
At the time of the AppellationAmerica Discovery Tasting on December 14th, 2005, I was able to identify 43 regular annual bottlings of Anderson Valley Pinot Noir. Our tasting included 38 of these, or nearly 90% of the relevant wines. All but four were from the 2003 vintage; three were from 2002 and one was from 2001. These latter bottlings were included primarily to represent vineyard sites that would otherwise have been excluded. Many wineries asked if they might offer their more plentiful 2004s or more mature 2002s, but in the end they elected to support the tasting philosophy.
A Curious Pattern of Non-Participation
As expected, the great majority of wines in the tasting were enthusiastically provided by the wineries. It is interesting to note, however, that a very small number of producers refused to provide samples. More interesting is to speculate as to why these producers declined the invitation to participate in a landmark tasting with the intent of promoting the Anderson Valley for the benefit of all stakeholders.
Taken as a group, two connecting threads are immediately apparent.
First, these producers all follow the same business model. They operate in custom-crush facilities or urban industrial spaces; purchase grapes from respected appellations and often designate vineyards on their labels; and produce intense, extracted wines that win high scores from the same pool of influential critics. Second, none of these producers wanted their 2003 wines compared to the rest of the wines from the appellation. It seems unlikely that these two unanimous positions are unrelated.
For the record, one such producer stated that there was “no real benefit” in supporting the tasting because they could already sell all their wine. It is curious, however, that attempts to acquire samples from the Anderson Valley growers who supply these winemakers with the fruit for their vineyard-designated bottlings yielded the same results: no wine. Worth noting is that these growers were unanimous in understanding the point of the tasting and its potential to benefit their region (and by extension, their own business). In other words, they wanted to support the tasting, but felt constrained by the will of their winemakers.
In the end, using other resources, I was able to acquire and include wines from half of this non forthcoming group, the others succeeded in keeping their wines out.
Given that a small group producers with the same business model took what amounted to the same approach to the Discovery Tasting, the question arises: Is there some discovery that they all might have reason to want to prevent? Certainly there is a point of view within the wine industry that some custom-crush artisans intentionally make wines to garner high scores from influential critics, using cellar techniques that can more or less completely overwhelm any sense of place or vintage. On the other hand, there are also plenty of wineries firmly ensconced in their appellations that pursue this same strategy.
It is also possible, of course, that your Regional Correspondent simply failed to effectively explain the whole point of doing Appellation Discovery tastings in the first place. In any case, everyone is invited to express his or her own point of view in the Anderson Valley Roundtable.
Discovery Tasting Analysis
The Discovery Panel was unanimous in noting that the Pinot Noirs of Anderson Valley now come in two distinct styles. Elizabeth Grant-Douglas (La Crema) described them organoleptically as “the floral, spicy red fruit pole; and the jammy, extracted black fruit pole.” The Confirmation Panel was also unanimous in this finding, describing the styles as “feminine” and “masculine.” Winemaker Bob Klindt (Claudia Springs, Harmonique) got nods of agreement from both Panels when he put the two styles into an industry framework, describing them as the “historic Anderson Valley style” and the “new California style.” Roughly two-thirds of the wines fell into the first group; the remaining third fell into the second group.
The vintage was not notably extreme in the view of both winemakers and growers. Several recalled heat spikes past mid-season and cool evenings during harvest, but none described any major influence of the vintage on the fruit quality. In other words, the 2003 vintage itself appears to have been representative for Anderson Valley.
Overall wine quality was the highest I have ever seen in large-scale tastings from this AVA. Even the very few odd-structured or heavily oaked wines showed poise and personality -- something the rural, isolated Anderson Valley did not always manage. Alcohol levels were moderate, oak was in balance, and fruit flavors remained fresh well into the finish of nearly all the wines.
The vintners on the Discovery Panel and Confirmation Panel evinced a measure of surprise at these discoveries. Winemaker Milla Handley (Handley Cellars) said that she had expected more “winemaker influence” but found consistency in the flavors even when the ripeness and weights of individual wines varied. Grower Mary Elke (Elke/Donnelly Creek Vineyard) noted the high number of “nuanced wines with great texture and mouthfeel.” Winemaker Zach Rasmuson (Goldeneye), who was prepared for a certain percentage of “poor wines,” noted instead a body of wines of “consistent quality and [sense of] place.”
The Confirmation Panel offered a couple of additional perspectives, based on interactions with Pinot Noir’s newest legion of fans. Consumers lacking an historical context for Pinot Noir -- which means no familiarity with red Burgundy before 1995 -- are looking for size and intensity from a grape that was once known for finesse and elegance. “These people want to be blown away,” said retail/restaurant wine-seller Mark Bowery, and “some of these wines don’t develop the way you would expect from the first sip.” But winemakers catering to this appetite, said valley tasting-room veteran Pat Daniels (Navarro), “are not giving Pinot Noir the respect she deserves.”
The Discovery Panel acknowledged these points. Handley noted that in general the wines offered a sweet, juicy entry point but could become warm and astringent on the finish. “Give ‘em a few years,” said winemaker Tex Sawyer (Scharffenberger Cellars), and both ends of the equation will adjust toward equilibrium.
The red-fruit style referred to above delivered fresh cherry, raspberry, plum, strawberry and cranberry flavors. The ripeness level was uniformly good, the colors garnet to dark ruby, and the mid-palate accented with white pepper and occasional hints of cedar. Their oak influence was moderate and in balance with the fruit, and the finish was generally described as long, lingering, or evolving. Overall, the chief hallmark of this style was a sense of proportion. The wines were ripe, but not over-ripe; dark, but not over-extracted; framed in oak, but not paneled with it, and allowed to express their fruit at length, from the aromas through the aftertaste. Some panelists hypothesized that these wines were made with older clones, particularly including Martini.
The black-fruit style referred to above delivered intense and ripe blackberry and blueberry flavors, high extract of color and tannins, and strong oak influences ranging from vanilla (tending toward caramel) to toast (tending toward char). Some carried cedar, baking spice (clove, allspice, nutmeg), black licorice, anise and even camphor flavors. At their best, these wines were “hedonistic” (Grant-Douglas). Others were “Syrah wannabes” (Bowery). Several Discovery Panelists conjectured that the wines in this style were grown with Dijon clones. [These modern genetic cousins of older Pinot Noir strains were developed in France late in the last century, to give Pinot Noir more color and tannin. The proximate cause appears to have been the world’s growing taste for darker, more tannic reds made from Syrah, Cabernet, Zinfandel and other grapes popular in the U.S., Australia, and South America.]
Even the wines in the second style, however, displayed good balance and integration. “A lot of people in the valley have pulled back on the toast,” Sawyer said. “The big wines still have the extract in balance with the oak,” Rasmuson said. “That’s a good sign.” The Discovery Panel made almost no reference to alcohol levels, and a post-tasting survey suggested why. There were more wines below 14% (nine) than there were above 14.5%. (eight), and only one member of this latter group touched 15.0%. The remainder -- 21 of 38 wines, or more than half of the total -- fell between 14.0 and 14.5%, which most winemakers I talk to now consider a moderate range for super-premium California reds.
There was some discussion of the acidity in the wines, with the Discovery Panel split (some wishing for more acid, others finding it to be in balance). In the general discussion, it emerged that the more extracted, jammy wines were responsible for the low-acid perception while the redder-fruited wines accounted for the sense of balance.
"Appellation Signature" Wines
While the overall quality level of the wines was very high, the Discovery Panel reached a majority consensus (4/5) on six wines it felt carried an Appellation Signature for Anderson Valley Pinot Noir in 2003. (For the record, two of these were produced at wineries represented by a Discovery Panelist, but in neither case did the Panelist in question nominate his or her own wine for “Appellation Signature” distinction.) The Confirmation Panel nominated an additional wine and argued convincingly that it bridged regional and vintage-specific characteristics. (For the record, this wine turned out to have been made by a member of the Discovery Panel.) The resulting seven Appellation Signature wines are listed below alphabetically rather than in any order of preference.
- Harmonique
Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley “Delicacé”, 2003
A complex, complete wine that made the most of its dark red fruit by layering in dark spices and assertive oak and bringing the ripe, fresh fruit back into the finish to round out the palate experience. - La Crema
Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley, 2003
This wine was considered representative for its complex mix of plum, rhubarb, spice and savory flavors, its fine structure and balance, and the mirror images in its sweetly elegant entry and finish. - Littorai
Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley ~ Savoy Vineyard, 2003
The adjectives flowed like wine for this “floral,” “plush,” “intense,” “sweet,” “lovely,” “perfect,” concoction of plums, cherries, cranberry, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, and more. Also praised for its balance and elegance. - Londer Vineyards
Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley, 2003
This was one of the few wines that successfully bridged the polarity of the tasting as a whole, offering a mix of red and black berries and cherries, bright acidity, good size and weight, and a finish that brought all the wine’s good features into vibrant harmony. - Migration
Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley, 2003
One of the more complete wines in the tasting, if not the biggest, with cherry, plum and strawberry flavors, a touch of Burgundy-like earth, deft structure and balance, and enough grip on the palate to lend a seriousness to the sweetness of the red fruit. - Roessler Cellars
Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley ~ Savoy Vineyard, 2003
The sweetest wine that was found to possess an appellation signature, emphasizing very ripe cherry flavors and sweet oak influence balanced by abundant tannins. - Williams Selyem
Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley ~ Ferrington Vineyard, 2003
Another successful “bridge” wine, with the red fruit, vanilla oak, lively acidity and balance of the main group of wines and the intense, brooding seriousness of the black-fruited wines. Age-worthy.
