Wine, Etc.: Ghost Pines winemaker looks to 'more exuberant fruit'

The Gallo family of wines is enormous and literally spans the globe. Gone are the days when the Gallo name was synonymous with the inexpensive jug wines that graced many family dinner tables in the 1950s, '60s, and '70s. Today E&J Gallo Winery produces or imports and distributes wines from most of the major wine producing regions in the world. Domestically Gallo produces wine under many labels including MacMurray Ranch, William Hill Estate, Mirassou, Louis M. Martini as well as others.

We recently met with winemaker Michael Eddy of Ghost Pines, owned by Louis M. Martini Winery, to taste and talk about their line of wines. Michael has an extensive background in winemaking, including stays at Trefethen, Beaulieu and Rodney Strong, as well as having a food science/oenology degree from UC Davis, and has been with Gallo since 2005. Ghost Pines has access to the Gallo family of vineyards and allows Eddy to source grapes from many California appellations to craft his wines. He described his goal in sourcing grapes and making wine is to look for "more exuberant fruit," and to "think of oak as an undertone, as opposed to an overtone." We especially liked the merlot and cabernet sauvignon.

Below are our comments: Ghost Pines Merlot 2008 ($20) . The blend includes 3 percent petite sirah, 2 percent cabernet sauvignon, 1 percent petite verdot and other red grape varieties. It is 90 percent Sonoma County and 10 percent Napa County. A pretty berry nose, with bright cherry fruit in the mouth, in a delightful medium-bodied package. This wine really opened up in the glass over an hour, so it probably could benefit from at least a year in the bottle, although it is certainly pleasurable now.

Ghost Pines Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 ($23). Blended with the cabernet is 13 percent merlot, 4 percent petite verdot, 1 percent petite sirah and cabernet franc. Sourced from 68 percent Napa County and 32 percent Sonoma County grapes. Big ripe black cherry fruit nose with the taste of cherries and chocolate in the mouth. Soft tannins make this classic California cabernet sauvignon ready to drink now. Our favorite of the tasting.

In our continuing quest to respond to our readers' requests to find modest bargain-priced wines, we recently met with David Georges, winemaker for the recently introduced flipflop wines. This is another entry in the market for Underdog Wine Merchants, producers of other bargain-priced wines Cupcake Vineyards and Big House Wines. These wines are priced at about $7 per 750ml and pretty much meet Georges' goal of "maintaining the integrity of the varietal character.

Rodney Strong Vineyards - Changing the world one bulb at a time ...

Earth Day was April 22nd, 2011, and leading up to it was a wine blogger tasting of Rodney Strong Vineyards wines . The idea behind the tasting, besides trying four of their wines, was to learn about the earth friendly initiatives Rodney Strong Vineyards have been participating in. As part of their Rodney Strong Vineyards Green Light program, which I’ll talk a bit about below, the folks at Rodney Strong Vineyards provided each of with with a CFL blub to start our own earth friendly initiatives. Oh, and the wine was pretty good too.

Rodney D. Strong founded the winery in 1959 as the 13th bonded Sonoma County winery. The Klein family, a fourth generation California agricultural family, are the current private owners. The family has implemented some environmentally friendly initiatives, such as installing a solar electric system on the top of their barrel warehouse in 2003. The system generates enough energy to power 800 homes, and their dependence on the power grid decreased by 35%. Additionally, they have installed a lighting system that uses motion sensors and energy efficient light fixtures to reduce energy use, minimizing heat output, and optimize light quality. They also own the distinction of becoming Sonoma County’s first carbon neutral winery in 2009.

While the environmentally friendly projects are exciting, we were equally excited to taste the wines. The wine tasting was a mix of two white and two red wines. First up was the Rodney Strong 2009 Charlotte’s Home Sauvignon Blanc. With a retail price of $13.50, this crisp white is all estate fruit, from a vineyard planted in 1971 in honor of Rodney Strong’s wife, Charlotte. This white wine, as well as the chardonnay I will talk about next, needed time to open up. I’m finding more white wines lately that need to sit and breathe, or aerate, to really express their nuances. Initially the wine was very grassy and green on both the nose and palate. However, after 15 minutes of opening in the glass, the nose was still a bit grassy, but tropical and grapefruit notes began to show. The palate of of the Rodney Strong Sauvignon Blanc is crisp and light, with grapefruit and a touch of herbaceous or grassy note.  About 10% of the wine sees French oak when fermented, with malolactic fermentation giving it a rounder, more full mouth feel. The remainder of the wine is fermented in stainless steel tanks with no malolactic fermentation, retaining it’s crisp taste. An interesting wine, especially if you don’t want a fruit salad in your glass.

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