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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