Savage Grace

On my last trip to Washington in March, I visited many of the state's AVAs and tasted many great wines, with the further good fortune of meeting the makers of those wines. One winemaker in particular stood out, for his wines seemed both typical and atypical of Washington. The wines of Savage Grace have astonishingly high acidity - a characteristic I associate with the cool nights of Washington - but their fruit profile is much more restrained and reserved than much of the other wine I've tasted from the state. In March, I tasted his Sauvignon Blanc - which has an acidity I've rarely tasted outside the Loire Valley - Chardonnay, and Cabernet Franc - the latter two wines being among the highlights of the trip. So when last weekend I returned to Seattle to visit my good friend Matt Hemeyer of @drinkaddition, I made sure that I visited winemaker Michael Savage in his tasting room in Woodinville.

Woodinville

With hazy smoke drifting from Washington's forest fires on a warm Saturday afternoon, the atmosphere was warm and oppressive. I was also slightly hungover, the clanging in my head augmented by an outdoor pub-punk-metal band playing a block away from Woodinville's tasting rooms. These rooms are on an industrial estate, with dozens and dozens of sandwich boards pointing hopefully from the car park to a series of anonymous units. In the car park, there was a tour bus and a limousine, out of which staggered a high-heeled bachelorette party, as if they'd taken a very bad wrong turn from Napa. We wandered through the estate looking for a sandwich board to point us in the right direction, until we finally found Savage Grace, the estate's very last tasting room.

the tasting room experience

I really wasn't expecting to find Michael Savage, quiet and diffident, in the middle of an industrial estate visited by tour buses and bachelorette parties. Even though he's at the end of the estate, one of each came in while we were there, and he dealt with them nervously but efficiently. The tasting room is small, an industrial unit very tastefully converted into an intimate, stylish area.

Woodinville serves as a base for many wineries who source their grapes from distant, desolate eastern Washington. Like many other industrial tasting rooms, the wine is made on site, a tiny 'cellar' right next to the tasting experience. Michael took us into the cellar to show us the Sauvignon Blanc that had just been picked two days previously. He was ready to pour cultivated yeast into the tank - he described how he had experimented with native yeasts for Sauvignon Blanc and believed it made an inferior wine - and gave my friend Matt the opportunity to do it for himself. We all await with baited breath to see how the 2015 Sauvignon turns out: Michael thinks it will be bottled in February.

Michael Savage

Nervous, shy, and awkward, Michael Savage is not dissimilar to a quieter Woody Allen. Every question is received with a long pause as he considers the several different answers he could give. The answer he eventually decides to share is not likely to be the one expected, and it can take a while to follow his train of thought. Each answer takes a certain direction, however: his very particular take on how he thinks wine should be made and how he makes it.

Acidity is absolutely important. He picks his grapes earlier than anyone else does in the same vineyard, resulting not only in high acidity but wines with a very subtle, less fruity nature. He also chooses vineyards and growing regions that are cool, particularly Columbia Gorge, a wet AVA that straddles Washington and Oregon. The wines are generally released very young, giving the wines a raw just out of the barrel feel. This gives consumers the rare chance to taste quality, young wine near the beginning of its life. Although Michael is only into his fifth vintage with Savage Grace, the acidity and complexity of the wines offer definite ageing potential. Michael says he doesn't care when people drink his wines, though, just as long as they drink them.

the wines

just-picked Sauvignon Blanc

Having tasted eleven of his wines over the weekend, I just want to highlight some of my favourites.

Grüner Veltliner 2014 ($20)

Grüner Veltliner is a late-ripening grape with naturally high acidity (the grapes were picked in early and then late October), not always suited to the warmer climates of the US. Like many of the Savage Grace wines, the grapes come from Columbia Gorge's Underwood vineyard, the cool climate allowing a slow ripening of the grapes. This Grüner has typically floral and spicy notes of jasmine, ginger, and white pepper, with lightly tropical fruits. ✪✪✪✪✪

Chardonnay 2013 ($30)

I have written about this wine before, and I still think it's an exceptional example of a cool-climate Chardonnay not often found in the US. It's again from Columbia Gorge, though from Celilo vineyard, considered one of Washington's finest for Chardonnay. Grapes picked from the higher part of the vineyard give the wine its bracing acidity and are aged in tank, while those from the lower part are picked earlier, are aged in neutral barrel, and lend the wine its lightly spicy, cinnamon, and lime flavours. ✪✪✪✪✪✪

Cabernet Franc 2014 ($26)

Another wine I have written about before, and the one that I think is truly outstanding. To taste a red wine this young yet complex is very rare, with firm tannins, red fruits, and green, padrone pepper, rhubarb aromas. Michael told me that he accidentally aged a couple of the bottles in the warm back of his car for a couple of months. On opening the bottles, the wines tasted just as good but as if they were a year older, convincing him that this Cabernet Franc has great ageing potential. I suggested he should make a Madeira out of the grape in the future. ✪✪✪✪✪✪

Cabernet Sauvignon 2014

From Red Willow vineyard - one of Washington's greatest - this Cabernet has only just been bottled. It may seem a surprise that Michael should be making wine from a grape as bold as Cabernet, but the wine is quite different from most. Despite being so young, there are gamey, animal aromas, with intense black fruits and gripping but not dominant tannins. This is a restrained, yet intense Cabernet Sauvignon that's difficult to classify - its experimental nature is emphasised further as it's made from a new clone planted in the vineyard. ✪✪✪✪✪

Riesling 2013

The Seattle Times named this Riesling as the best Washington white of the year, and it's sadly already sold out. Michael described the wine as having a magical quality that he couldn't define. The grapes hung longer than they normally do, but still had a higher than usual acidity which is able to balance the residual sugar in the wine (29g/L). There's a wonderful complexity, with smoke, petrol, mineral aromas, together with lemon, lime, and orange blossom, given further depth by a honeyed sweetness. Once again, the grapes are from Underwood vineyard, where late ripening can cause issues: the terraces are so steep that the seventy-something vineyard owner can't access them on his tractor come wet November. He even once overturned the tractor trying to do so. Even Michael Savage's search for perfectionism falls short of asking the grower to do that again. ✪✪✪✪✪✪

Summer Drinking

Last weekend, the sun beat down on Napa and Sonoma, hitting highs of nearly 40 degrees. Temperatures are normally in the low 30s, cooling down at night to pleasantly moderate temperatures (which is why the two counties are such good grape-growing areas), but when it's that warm the heat stays, making the nights very uncomfortable. There have been a few, brief heat spikes like this over the summer, which is one of the factors (including the lack of rain) that has made 2015 such an awkward vintage.

the different stages of Zinfandel all on one bunch

In many parts of Napa and Sonoma, the harvest of the white grapes has already begun, with the black grapes not far behind. The stress the vines have been under this year is likely to make the quality of the 2015 vintage good, but production is going to be relatively low - which is a good thing after some bumper vintages.

Aside from the effect of the hot weather on the grapes, another pressing question arises. What to drink? I need wine that's refreshing but complex enough for food, beer that's light and summery but not bland, or a cocktail that's not too intense and hot. Here are a few of the things I've been drinking to combat the hotter days.

Deschutes Fresh Squeezed IPA (6.4%; $9.99 for a 6-pack)

new label on the left, old on the right: same great beer

Not surprisingly, the warm weather has seen me drinking beer more often, particularly IPAs. American IPAs are much hoppier and drier than their malty British equivalents, which makes them perfectly refreshing for this warm weather. From San Diego to Seattle, the West Coast has a host of options to choose from, of which Oregon's Deschutes is a great example.

The first time I tried this beer was two years ago in Portland, on a rainy September evening. As delicious as it tasted then, it takes on another level in the summer sun. Most beers are made using dry hops, which give beer that recognisably dry, bitter taste. For the Fresh Squeezed, Deschutes also use fresh hops, which provide green, herbaceous aromas - almost the beer equivalent of a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. To add to this green freshness are pungent citrus, grapefruit aromas that come from the Citra and Mosaic hops, all together creating a lively, refreshing IPA.

El Maestro Sierra Fino ($15.99)

It will come as no surprise to regular readers of this blog that I recommend a sherry for some summer supping. A fino - or its close equivalent, manzanilla - is an ideal counter to the heat: light, pale, and dry, but with enough complexity and weight to be satisfying on the finish. Finding good sherry in Napa is not the easiest of tasks, but El Maestro Sierra are a producer widely enough available. Their fino has a nice nutty salinity to it, with lightly baked apples and a woody backbone from four years in old American oak barrels. It's wonderfully refreshing, yet subtly sophisticated, a drink to sip on the porch while watching the world slowly go by.

Dirty Dick's Downfall

This is my own take on a variation of the classic Negroni. It's 60ml gin (in this case, Sipsmith's London Dry Gin), 15ml dry vermouth, and 15ml Punt e Mes (which I use instead of Campari), with a lemon twist. That's a lot of dry, bitter flavours, but that's what I like to drink in the summer - drinks that are too sweet, no matter how high the acidity, can feel a bit too weighty. It also provides an always welcome opportunity to toast the fall of Richard Nixon, referred to in the drink's name.

Tascante Ghiaia Nera 2012 ($20)

 

The obvious and common thing to do in the summer is to drink white wine, but somehow the tannins and fruits of red wine are what I often turn to in the evening. Maybe all the times I've visited the south of France, Italy, and Spain, where red wine dominates despite the climate, have led me to associate drinking tannic, drying red wines with hot weather. I drank this Sicilian wine (made from the high-quality grape Nerello Mascalese grown on the slopes of Mt. Etna) last weekend as the evening very slowly cooled, together with a delicious pizza. The high acidity makes the wine extremely refreshing, while the integrated tannins and red fruits paired perfectly with the pizza's sauces, cheese, and meats.

The key to any drink that works in the summer is having an almost bitter dryness, together with a refreshingly high acidity. That acidity and complexity is also necessary when pairing with food - and we need to eat in this heat too. The temperature of the drink is, to some extent, less important - if you're stuffing ice into a cider to cool you down, you may as well be drinking apple juice.

A Ridge Pilgrimage

Since moving to California, I've made lots of new discoveries but just as excitingly I've visited wineries I'd grown to love back in the UK, especially Tablas Creek in Paso Robles and Au Bon Climat in Santa Barbara. This week I finally made it to another iconic California winery, Ridge. Based south of San Francisco, Ridge are most famous for their Monte Bello - one of the world's greatest Cabernet Sauvignon blends - but also make wines rich in California heritage from old Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, and Carignan vines (just to emphasise their attachment to California's history, Ridge continue to spell it Carignane).

pilgrimage

Visiting Ridge's property near Cupertino/San José really felt like a pilgrimage. The winery is at the top of a steep mountain, reached by a long, narrow road full of hairpin bends that takes twenty minutes to drive up. Wild, isolated, and nearly 900m high, rattlesnakes slide through the grass, vines work the hard, rocky soil, and the views of Silicon Valley reveal a different side of California's culture.

history

The Monte Bello property dates back to 1882, but its modern history started in 1959 when three Stanford graduates made wine from Cabernet Sauvignon vines planted in the 1940s - still the basis of the Monte Bello Cabernet. They were joined by another Stanford graduate, Paul Draper, as winemaker in 1968, whose winemaking philosophy involved as little interference as possible. As well as Cabernet Sauvignon, since the 1960s Ridge have made Zinfandel planted on the property in the 1890s as well as more old-vine Zinfandel from Geyserville and Lytton Springs north in Sonoma County.

The 1971 Monte Bello Cabernet was one of the California wines featured in the 1976 Judgment of Paris, the American wine that organiser Steven Spurrier thought most likely to win. Although it did not do so, the more professional 2006 reenactment of the tasting featuring the same wines saw the wine unanimously come top.

zinfandel

I love Ridge's range of Zinfandels - probably the best in California - most of them single-vineyard wines from old vines. They represent an older side of California far removed from the modern style of winemaking that has emerged, particularly in Napa. Ridge call their winemaking "pre-industrial," making wines that have as little chemical or technological influence as possible, as they would have been made in the nineteenth century. This is certainly reflected in the Zinfandels; there is a raw, rustic quality to the wines, with fruits ripe but wild, tasting like they have just been picked off the ground. The tannins are dry and gripping, rather than overripe, giving the wines a structure not always found in other juicy, alcoholic Zins. And each Ridge Zinfandel is quite different, representative of the climate and soils of the vineyard. To add further to the individual character, the Zinfandels are most often a blend, changing each year, using other historic grapes such as Carignan, Petite Sirah, and Mataro (an old California and Australian name for Mourvèdre) to structure the fruity tendencies of Zinfandel.

wines tasted

2013 Estate Chardonnay ($50)

Although Ridge are known for their red wines, they also make a small amount of Chardonnay. For the estate wine, the grapes are grown lower down the hillside. The wine goes through full malolactic fermentation and is aged in oak (most of it used and American) and is aged on its lees, giving the wine rich, full flavours of butter, yoghurt, and dill, but there's a pleasing floral elegance to the wine as well as integrated ripe apple, lemon, and pineapple fruits. ✪✪✪✪

2007 Monte Bello Chardonnay ($85)

In exceptional years, Chardonnay is made from the Monte Bello vineyard (otherwise the grapes go into the Estate Chardonnay). This was a magnificent, mature wine, its slightly oxidised sherry aromas gradually subsiding as the wine opened up. The wine still had a rich, full creaminess to it, but with a nutty maturity added to the floral aromas. ✪✪✪✪✪✪

2013 Geyserville ($38)

As Zinfandel should be, this wine is aged in American oak (20% new) and is a blend of several different grapes just like the wines of the nineteenth century would have been: 73% Zinfandel, 17% Carignan, 9% Petite Sirah, and that all-important 1% Mataro. All the grapes come from old vines on the same three vineyards planted on a 30ha site. Dusty, dry, chewy tannins give a defining structure to the fruity black plums, cherries, and berries. ✪✪✪✪✪

2012 Merlot ($50)

Serious Merlot is becoming all too rare in California, so it was pleasing to taste this wine. The cool vineyards on the mountain lend the wine firm, gripping tannins, rather than the ripe, lush tannins often associated with Merlot. Beyond the tannins, there are ripe blackberries and blackcurrants, and subtle floral, herbal aromas. ✪✪✪✪✪

2012 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon ($50)

This is one of my favourite, good-value Cabernets (good value by California standards). Equivalent to a Bordeaux second wine, the grapes still come from the hillside vineyards, not quite good enough for the Monte Bello - which still means pretty damn good. The 2012 is still young, with the tannins a little too aggressive and drying. It needs at least another five years, when the tannins will have softened and integrated with the intense black fruits and floral aromas. ✪✪✪✪✪

2011 Monte Bello ($165)

The cooler 2011 vintage makes this more approachable than young Monte Bello often is. The tannins are a little softer, allowing a more immediate appreciation of the floral, herbal aromas on the nose and the balanced black fruits on the palate. The Monte Bello (the 2011 is 88% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc) is one of California's most distinctive high-end wines. Aged in American oak, with a tender alcohol level of 12.8%, nothing quite compares to the delicate yet substantial, complex layers of flavours that the high-elevation vineyard produces. ✪✪✪✪✪✪✪

All this may seem like unthinking, gushing praise for the winery. After all, that's why one embarks on a pilgrimage: to give worship. Not all of Ridge's wines are without fault (while I was visiting, I had to explain why I didn't like the Buchignani Carignane that much) and I think they make a few too many Zinfandels (16). However, the overall standard of Ridge's wines are exceptional and the commitment to land and quality beyond reproach. Their best Zinfandels (particularly the Lytton Springs) are the finest California has to offer and the Monte Bello is one of the three greatest American Cabernets I have tasted. On top of a mountain overlooking the madding modernity of Silicon Valley and far, far from Napa, there is nowhere quite like Ridge.