A welcome winemaker surprise

Yesterday evening after work I tooled on over to the Mountain View BevMo store to pick up a handful of Oregon Pinots for an upcoming tasting I’ll be hosting. As I inspected my bottles at the Will Call desk, the attendant casually mentioned that there would be a Winemaker Tasting in about 10 minutes right there in the store. I didn’t need much further prodding, and therefore asked the attendant to hold my Pinots. (Awright, I know what you’re thinking, you dirty, dirty so ‘n’ so you.)

I ambled on over to the cordoned-off tasting area in the center of the store. And there I met Gary Brink of Page Mill Winery (Livermore Valley), Terry Pershall of Storr’s Winery (City of Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz Mountains), and Michael Martella of Thomas Fogarty Winery (Woodside, Santa Cruz Mountains). While these winemakers poured their wares, which ranged from Zinfandels and Syrahs to a Merlot each and a couple of Bordeax blends, we spoke of such things as winemaking technology, California’s budding expertise at producing wines from lesser-known grape varieties, hard sweaty field work, and a velvet hammer.

Wait – a velvet hammer?

Yup. As if Gary Brink’s as-yet-to-be-released 2004 Merlot wasn’t silky and luxurious enough for my palate (oh, but believe me, it was), along comes Michael Martella, who poured wines from his own label as well as a few of Fogarty’s better examples (e.g., their classic Gewurztraminer). Suffice to say that the 2002 Martella “Hammer” Syrah* is a hands-down winner displaying rich flavor, exceptional velvety mouthfeel, and moderate length. And at $19.99 a bottle, it’s an exceptional value to this winehiker.

I walked away with that velvet hammer tucked under my arm, signed by Mr. Martella himself. I did the same with Terry Pershall’s BXR, a fine Bordeaux blend that, intriguingly, is almost a reverse proportion of the five Bordeaux varietals than one typically encounters, i.e., a high percentage each of Petit Verdot and Cab. Franc, and very little Cab. Sauv. I’m putting this one to bed for a long, long time. ($35.99 per bottle.)

As for Gary Brink’s 2004 Merlot, it isn’t expected to be in stock at Beverages & More for two more weeks. You might want to keep an eye open for this gem, dear reader, despite any claims by any character named Miles (but hey, Miles is just so 2005).

As I turned to leave last evening, the BevMo proprietor, John, perked up my ears when he mentioned tonight’s lineup. At 5:00 tonight until 7:30, Eric Baugher of Ridge Vineyards and Brian Caselden of Woodside Vineyards will be pouring. Also featured will be wines from Mount Eden Vineyards. If you’d like to join me tonight for this $10 tasting – and I think you should if you can – I’ll be at the Mountain View BevMo at 5:00.

*”Martella” is Italian for “hammer” – or, according to freetranslation.com, “it thumps”. Now you know. Or at least you will when you thump down a bottle.

Related posts:

• A nice note from George Troquato, winemaker at Cinnabar
• From trail snack maker to winemaker
• Saturday Scuttlebutt

This entry was posted on Friday, April 6th, 2007 at 1:14 pm and is filed under grape squeezins. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.