Central Coast week at d547: Palmina Wine
Okay, so we’re extending Central Coast week just a little bit, since we didn’t post as frequently as we would have liked last week.
Palmina is a winery started by Steve Clifton, of Brewer-Clifton fame, several years back. Its focus is primarily on Italian varieties, and given our current reading for the Wine Book Club, Vino Italiano, it was interesting for us to have the chance to taste what Italian grapes do when grown in California terroir. The tasting room itself is in Lompoc, in what’s referred to as the Wine Ghetto, a set of industrial complexes that house notable wineries such as Loring, Fiddlehead (which has a tasting room just around the corner from Palmina’s) and Sea Smoke, to name a few.
From the corrugated steel exterior, one wouldn’t guess that the tasting room would be so, well, so downright cozy inside! It is a great atmosphere, intimate and unintimidating, in which to taste wine. Also, given its location off the typical tourist’s winery-hopping route, it’s generally pretty laid back and quiet. If you’ve found Palmina, you’re probably there for all the right reasons.
On an aside, we planned to meet Amy of West Coast Wine Country Adventures at Palmina, on a sort of blind date for bloggers, and after an awkward period of confusion (no thanks to Twitter) and shyness, we figured out who the other was and had a lovely time all sitting around the communal table, tasting wine and talking in general about the area. Thanks to Amy, we had a great meal at American Flatbread in Los Alamos that evening, but that’s another post for another time. Here, we’re just going to go through the wines we tasted at Palmina.
2006 Palmina Arneis, Honea Vineyard
Certainly pleasant enough for a white, and not anything like Chardonnay that the region is known for. This straw-toned wine reminded us somewhat of Viognier, albeit subdued in terms of the honey and floral notes. The acidity is there but in a moderate way. We think with food this would have a chance to shine. On its own, it didn’t do much for us and seemed a bit steep at $26.00 a bottle. Decent but not for us.
2006 Palmina Dolcetto, Santa Barbara County
The color on this was a beautiful ruby, not too deep or opaque, but translucent and shimmering. The fruit on the nose was 100% red in character, with strawberries, cherries and a hint of raspberry to top things off. In the mouth it seemed very true to Italian iterations of Dolcetto that we’ve had lately, with one distinct advantage for American palates: there was the sourness of the raspberry, but without some of the bitterness that often accompanies Italian wines. This is a smooth wine ready to be sipped gulped down. Looking for a classic Pizza wine? Here you go. At $20 a bottle, this is a huge winner. Very good to excellent.
2005 Palmina Undici, 100% Sangiovese, 11 Oaks Vineyard
We’ve attended a couple of trade tastings recently which have focused on the 2003 Brunellos. While 2003 is not considered the stellar year that 2001 was, or 2004 is said to be for Italian Sangiovese Grosso, it is meant to be fairly typical and traditional in style, and deemed good enough (unlike 2002) for wineries to age and bottle their wines as Brunellos rather than to declassify them. Suffice it to say, the Undici really stood up incredibly well to the 2003 Brunellos, and is a ready-to-drink wine. The aromas have red fruit but layers of blackberry and black cherry as well. Flavors are layered, with some smoke and earth coming into play, and a tad bit of licorice. The tannin levels are there and show this can age, but they’re not unpleasant or mouth drying. You’d be hard-pressed to find a quality Rosso di Montalcino at this price point (Brunello would be impossible). $36.00 a bottle and worth it. Only 444 cases produced. Very good to excellent.
2004 Palmina Nebbiolo, Stolpman Vineyard
Sashi Moorman of Stolpman has been focused on Rhone varieties of late, and this means that the Nebbiolo he used to play with has to find a home elsewhere. Lucky for all of us that Steve Clifton got access to this fantastic fruit. This is all black fruit, all the time. It has some herbaciousness to it, mushrooms mostly, but as with the Dolectto (and the Sangiovese, too), it has a softness in its youth that distinguishes it from its Piedmont counterparts. The structure is definitely here, but there’s a laid back surfer-dude quality to this serious wine that is purely California. Only 390 cases produced. $40 a bottle. Very good.
2004 TriTono Malbec, Mendoza, Argentina
This is the first vinatge of a joint project between Steve Clifton, Joe Bastianich and Argentine vintner Matias Mayol. Produced in Mendoza, the Tritono comes from a growing season that saw some challenges, but which ultimately yielded small quantities of premium fruit. The wine was distinct from the Palmina wines in its color which was deep inky purple, and nearly opaque. The aromas were dominated by smoke and tinder box, and on the palate there was rich black fruit (stewed plums) and a lot of tannin. This is a big boy, the biggest of the bunch, and the flavors just lingered for ages and left a pleasant spicy aftertaste in our mouths. This wine is one to decant for a couple of hours at least, or one to lay down for a while. $40. Very good.
2005 Palmina Santitá, Larner Vineyard, 100% Malvasia Bianco
We were told by the tasting room staff that Steve Clifton likes to fill up a large glass of this decadent dessert wine, and sop it up with almond biscotti. This was loaded with honey and had a viscous texture. We’re not that schooled in dessert wines so that’s about all we jotted down in our notes. At $50 per 375ml bottle, this one’s a bit dear for our wallets these days. Decent stuff, but not for us.
Our pick: 2006 Palmina Dolcetto, Santa Barbara County
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get your wine on
2005 Amavi Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon, Walla Walla
We’re always looking for reasonably priced Cabs, and while this is creeping up there in price, $28 is still more than reasonable for what you get. Concentration of black fruit, some peppery spice, a hint of structure and layers of complexity. While labeled a Cab, this is more a blend, with Cab coming in at 76% and Merlot, Syrah and Malbec making up the balance. I want some Walla Walla
2006 Curran Gewurztraminer, Santa Ynez Valley
We got the chance to try the Curran Gewurztraminer at a winemaker dinner we attended in February, with Kris Curran and Bruno d’Alphonso. We’ve been bugging our sales rep for this wine ever since, and are thrilled that Curran has finally released a tiny amount to retailers. Yay! A perfect wine for the summer.Get some Gewurz for $29.99
2003 Rocca Family Cabernet Sauvignon, Yountville
We heard that Gary V. reviewed the 2004 yesterday and loved it. We loved that wine too, but we jumped at the chance to get the 2003 which we feel is nearly as good, since it’s a bargain at under $50 a bottle. Stellar juice from Celia Masyczek, the winemaker of Scarecrow, for a fraction of the price.2003 Rocca, please!
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freshly pressed
Interview with Wannabe Wino (aka Sonadora…aka Megan):
As we often do when we have a new bloggerpack to shill, we’ve interviewed the blogger in question. Without further ado, the blogger known as Wannabe Wino — our questions are in bold, her answers are not:
When and why did you first decide to plunge into the crazy world of wine blogging? How do you fit it into your work day?
I really hated my first job. At some point in my 8 months of working there, well, really within the first 2 months, I literally reached the very last page of the internet. I swear it exists. Also, because they had eliminated my position at work prior to me even officially arriving, they literally had nothing for me to do, no one talked to me, it was pretty much my own living hell. So the blog was born of sheer and utter boredom and the realization, after reading every last thing about wine on the internet, that no one was talking about the wines I was drinking. You seem to have incredible endurance as well as devotion when it comes to wine drinking (and blogging, of course!). Do you and Matt really open a bottle nearly every night? Who chooses what to drink of the two of you?
We take the ocassional hiatus, but on an average week 5-7 bottles get opened in our house. This week we’re on a hiatus, but it’s almost Friday. We take turns picking what to drink, but generally ask the other one if they would prefer a red or white or base it on what we’re eating for dinner.
I’m finding more trouble fitting blogging into my day-to-day life recently. I carpool to work with Matt and his hours have increased again as of late, limiting my non-content-filtered internet hours even more. I usually write my posts fresh every morning and post them right then. I try to devote time on Saturdays to routine maintainence and such. The hardest thing for me is interacting with other blogs since they are blocked at work, and I’m literally awake for all of 2 hours when we get home.
Also, do you think about what you’re eating first, and pair that with wine, or what you’re drinking first, and then pair that with food? What’s your favorite food and wine pairing of late?
90% of the time I pick the food first. We work fairly long hours, so I tend to only be able to get to the store once a week. Meals are planned on a weekly basis, usually based off what’s on sale and what looks fresh when I get to the store. At the moment I’m really digging Sauvignon Blanc with parmesan baked tilapia.
Besides Cali wines, which you seem to love (and we love you for that), have you discovered any part of the world or wine region that you’re becoming as interested in or excited about? Or are you a California girl now and forever?
I always like a wide variety of wines from lots of different places, but California wines hold a special place in my heart, having been my first real introduction to how great wine can be. Some other perennial favorites are Sauvignon Blancs from New Zealand, Chile, and South Africa, and last winter Italian reds were calling my name. I expect Italy will start to play a bigger roll in my wine drinking in the future.
What’s the worst bottle of wine you’ve ever had? Best?
Yellow Tail Riesling was by far the worst “wine” I’ve ever had. The stuff tasted like melted plastic flowers doused in chemicals. It was foul. The best? Now that’s a toughie. I’ve had so many great wines and I just can’t choose one.
Any wine travel planned for the coming year? If you could go anywhere in the wine world, where would it be?
Well, I hope to be able to go to the Wine Blogger Conference in Sonoma this fall…other than that, we’ll probably take our annual trek to CA around Easter. No international travel for the time begin, the dollar sucks. And, as usual, we like to go out to the local VA vineyards on the weekends.
Interview with Wannabe Wino (aka Sonadora…aka Megan)
Price Check: 2005 Protocolo Tinto and 2006 Bodegas Borsao Campo de Borja Red
Coming Soon: The Great Whatsit!
wine jargon
Frizzante
From Wikipedia: Frizzante is an Italian wine term term for semi-sparkling wine (as opposed to Spumante, which is generally used for fully sparkling wines). Frizzante wines generally owe their bubbles to a partial secondary fermentation in tank. You might notice a light fizz or tingly sensation on the tongue with a Frizzante wine, compared to the more carbonated sensation that more fully sparkling wines yield.
Scorekage
Okay, so we made up this word yesterday after a great restaurant experience. We brought a bottle of wine with us, expecting to pay a corkage fee. But the restaurant either forgot to charge us the $15, or decided to be nice to us. We scored! Hence, “scorekage” has entered our lexicon. This can also refer to BYO friendly restaurants that don’t charge for corkage under any circumstances.
grapewise
domaine547 In the News: Los Angeles Business Journal
We’re thrilled to be mentioned in this week’s Los Angeles Business Journal! Check us out either on the LABJ site, or click for the excerpt after the bump.
Blogs to check out: Noble Pig
We’re suckers for food sites with great photography. But there’s a lot more going on at Noble Pig, which is why we read it religiously these days. In addition to great recipes with the aforementioned photographs, the site boasts wine tasting notes (with a shopping list handy via the sidebar), and observational pieces about everyday life outside of the culinary.
domaine547 In the News: Los Angeles Business Journal
Blogs to check out: Noble Pig
Hello Wine blog from Amy Christine
February 18th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
I have a bottle of the 2005 Dolcetto and 2005 Barbera which I have not tasted yet. Based on your notes, I do look forward to tasting them soon.
February 19th, 2008 at 11:32 am
Hi Jill, Glad we got to meet up. My notes look like they concur with yours. I’m glad you enjoyed Flatbread!
February 23rd, 2008 at 8:09 pm
Met Steve here in Walla Walla a couple years ago. Great guy! And I love the Dolcetto and Undici. Seriously wish there was an easier way to get a broader wine selection here in “wine country” — I’m working on it!
Although Palmina wines aren’t for everyone, I really admire what Steve and his wife, Chrystal, are doing, their vision for the winery, and their commitment to that vision despite some industry scoffing. In some ways I am reminded of Tim Sampson of Yellow Hawk Cellar here in Walla Walla (exclusively Italian reds).