Going up, not Sideways

This week coming up I will be going in person to Santa Ynez Valley (now you get the Sideways movie reference) and also Paso Robles. Hopefully my trip will go better then theirs.

Santa Ynez is famous for its Pinot Noir. It sounds unusual for wineries to even be making Pinot Noir in such a southern latitude because the grape requires the coldest of all Vitis Vinifera (all types of grape that are good for making wine) varietals. It sounds even weirder that that it be one of the best regions in the world for it. The reason they are is the area is kept cool by ocean breezes because it's so close to the ocean. It does get warm also which exposing the the grapes to a perfect range of temperatures resulting in fully ripe grapes with excellent complexity.

We will then be headed north to Paso Robles. It's also odd to be traveling north to try Cabernet Sauvignon which enjoys the opposite warmer end of the spectrum from Pinot Noir. This area is guarded by the mountains insulating it from coastal winds. It's also still much farther south then Napa Valley who's famous for their Cabernet but the wineries we will be going to will definitely equal and even surpass many famous Napa Valley producers. Currently the area is most famous for its
Rhone varietals which mainly consist of Grenache, Syrah, and Mouvedre. What sets this area apart is its minerally soil which helps impart mineral/stone characteristics. I'll let yet y'all know how they a related this week!

Why Super Tuscans are so super

Super Tuscans are the most recent type of wine developed. They also happen to be my favorite type of wine. If you look at France and Burgundy, they have been consistent wines for over a thousand years. Most areas in Italy such as Chianti and Barolo have been around for about an equal amount of time. Super Tuscans were "invented" in 1971. Sassicaia is usually referred to as the first Super Tuscan. Some say it was Tignanello which is owned by the largest family of wine producers in Italy. Personally most of the evidence points to Sassicaia with Tignanello being an extremely close second and they are the parents of this wine genre. 

How did it happen? Most wine producing countries in Europe have developed strict rules and regulations to ensure high wine quality and make it easy for consumers to identify and become familiar with types of wine. This has been greatly beneficial for these countries and for many wine producers and the system works. Champagne is recognized world wide as well as Barolo and so on. The reason is because a consumer can look at a bottle and have an idea of what it will taste like. This confidence the consumer has for this purchase makes the wines much more marketable. Currently in Italy it goes Vino di Tavola (table wine), IGT(a recent addition because of the issues related to Super Tuscans), DOC, DOCG (going from lowest to highest). The problem with this system is; say you love the terroir in Chianti but you think that Cabernet would be better suited for it. In Chianti, in order to be a classified wine (wine of labeled high quality by the government) it must be at least 80% Sangiovese along with many other rules. So if you want to make Cabernet Sauvignon in Chianti, of course they can't stop you, but the government has no choice but to label it as table wine (the lowest quality) even though it could be the best wine ever. 

So that's actually basically what happened. Sassicaia did grow Cabernet Sauvignon in the Tuscany region near Chianti and it was the best wine ever. It was so noticeably exceptional that it quickly became the most expensive wine in all of Italy. Italy was of course pretty embarrassed that the most expensive wine the country is considered table wine so they had to make a new classification specifically for this and new emerging wines riding in Sassicaia and Tinganello's coat tails. These two powerhouses have remained at the top of the game since Super Tuscans conception and for good reason. 

Kenzo Estate and their excellent Asatsuyu

I had the fantastic opportunity to taste the Kenzo Estate's 2014 Asatsuyu, which is the name of their Sauvignon Banc. A guest was much more interested in scoring with his two dates than finishing his $200 bottle of wine. Yes, this guy had two ladies, and was not so subtle in his admission of hoping to score with both of them. I guess if you can afford Kenzo Estate, you can get two ladies. Lesson  learned. Any who, there was nearly a half bottle left which I enjoyed with my co-workers while I told them about about why this wine was so great. Most of my co-workers are unfortunately not really that interested in wine, but quickly became much more interested when they were so surprised by how much they enjoyed this particular wine.

Before I talk about the wine itself, I'll tell you what I told them. Not only is it a delicious wine from a well known producer, but it is overall just a cool wine. Being into video games myself, I appreciate that the owner is the creator of Capcom, and he's not one to just buy it and put his name on it. He extremely careful picked out his land as well as hired the best of the best to make his one the best wine humanly possible. The whole operation was guided by him to being a spare-no-expense type of deal. The only factor he cared about was making the best wine. Spend they did too, the winemakers he hired suggested removing 6 ft of top soil over the whole vineyard (about 4,000 acres). I don't know much something like that costs, but it was probably a lot, more like A LOT A LOT.

For a spare-no-expense type of winery, the prices are fairly reasonable. $200 (restaurant price) for a Sauvignon Blanc is pretty pricey, but it's also pretty delicious. Definitely one of the top Sauvignons Blancs in the United States. What is so great about it? It is a perfect example of classic Sauvignon Blanc, it has all the key markers lemongrass, green apple, lemon and lime zest, medium plus acidity. Super smooth and easy drinking. And although it has all the typical notes, what makes it truly stand out is how powerful and complex the flavors are, but how easy drinking it is at the same time. Super smooth, its the type of wine that a wine aficionado would deeply appreciate, but someone drinking wine for the first time would also completely love it. Highly recommended if you're a Sauvignon Blanc fan and can afford it. I give it 96 pts (I'm pretending to be Robert Parker).