Although cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir, merlot, and zinfandel remain the most popular red wine grapes in California, if you’re like me, you crave something different now and then. Here are a few of the most interesting ones – mostly Rhône varieties, with a couple of Bordeaux and one Spanish – I’ve tasted over the past several months. The wines are listed in order of preference within each category but all are recommended.
Syrah, also known as Shiraz in Australia, is one of the noblest grapes of the Rhône Valley, and the most widely planted Rhône variety in the state. Syrah is most closely associated with the Northern Rhône appellations of Hermitage and Côte-Rotie, where it produces wines of phenomenal elegance and longevity.
2015 Bootleg “Prequel” ($35) Bootleg is a label associated with Jackson Family Wines and made with Sonoma County fruit, including fifteen percent petite sirah. This is a luscious wine with supple tannins and a velvety, lingering finish. It is exuberant, bold, with concentrated fruit, yet drinks with a sense of richness and opulence.
2017 Beckmen Clone #1 ($52) The Beckman family has been crafting exceptional wines in Santa Barbara County since 1994. Their Purisma Mountain Vineyard, planted to mostly Rhône varieties, along with chardonnay and sauvignon blanc, is Demeter Certified biodynamic. This wine is one of the only Syrahs centered solely on Clone #1. It reflects the clone’s distinct savory profile of dark fruit with chocolate notes to compliment the variety’s red berry and peppery character.
2016 Sosie “Vivio Vineyard” ($38) Located in Bennett Valley near the Petaluma Gap that funnels cooling Pacific air inland, this young Sonoma winery has produced a wine that reflects those conditions with bright red fruit and refreshing acidity, bold flavors and tannic finish.
2016 Cuvaison “Diablo” ($45) Referring to the Diablo clay soil where this independent, family-owned winery, a pioneer of the Carneros region since 1969, grows the syrah in its estate vineyard, this wine is plump and fruit driven, with meaty and peppery notes.
Grenache is believed to have originated in Spain, where it is known as garnacha. It is now the most widely planted grape in the southern Rhône Valley (and especially renowned in Châteauneuf-du-Pape) and the second most widely planted grape worldwide. It is most often blended, such as with syrah and mourvèdre in France and Australia and with tempranillo in Rioja.
2017 Beckmen Purisima Mountain ($50) This wine exhibits bright red fruits, baking spices and a silky texture.
2018 Breaking Bread Redwood Valley ($24) A new project by the winemaker of Kokomo Winery, Erik Miller, the defining characteristic is whole-cluster fermentation (carbonic maceration). Miller also uses all native yeast for spontaneous fermentation, all native bacteria for malolactic fermentation, and adds no sulphur throughout fermentation. This produces a fresh, lighter style but is still structured and quite tasty, with candied red berries.
Mourvèdre also is native to Spain, where it is known as Monastrell. Its wine typically is more structured and fuller bodied than Grenache but less concentrated than Sryah. It is the most important grape of the Provençalwine region of Bandol.
2016 Tablas Creek “Esprit de Tablas” ($60) Tablas Creek is the result of decades of collaboration among two of the wine community’s leading families: the Perrin family, proprietors of Château de Beaucastel and the Haas family of Vineyard Brands importers. In 1989, they purchased a 120-acre parcel twelve miles from the Pacific Ocean in what is now the Adelaida District in Paso Robles and released their first wine in 1997. With mourvedre as its backbone supplemented with syrah, grenache and counoise, this is structured but sleek and rich, quite spicy, with deep berry fruit, earthy, and meaty accents.
2016 J. Lohr “Gesture” ($30) Gesture is a line of wines generally available only to J. Lohr wine club members and tasting room visitors. Now, the winery is making these limited production wines available on their website. From a vineyard in the highly sought after Adelaida district of Paso Robles, this shows nice blackberry with mint and oak. It is firm and rich, with hints of pencil shavings.
The petite sirah grape originated in southern France when a scientist crossed the syrah and peloursin grapes in 1880. Introduced in California shortly thereafter, it has been a popular blending grape ever since.
2016 Concannon Livermore Valley ($20) From a family that has been making wine since 1883 and that lays claim to producing the first varietal Petite Sirah in 1961, this is typically intense but with well managed tannins, sweet berries, and baking spices.
2017 Mettler Estate ($25) From a family that has been growing grapes in California’s Lodi appellation for over 100 years and has become leaders in organically and sustainably grown viticulture. The wine is husky but drinks smoothly with a lot of flavor.
In addition to these Rhône-style wines, I enjoyed two fine Cabernet Franc-based wines. Cabernet Franc originated in the Basque region of Southwestern France. Often used as a blending grape, most notably in Bordeaux, it also is prized for its signature savory character, including a distinctive tobacco and bell pepper notes. It is the dominant red grape of Chinon in the Loire Valley and often is a significant portion of the blends in St. Emilion.
2016 Chappellet Napa Valley ($85) The Chappellet family has been producing highly prized wines since 1967 from their perch on Pritchard Hill overlooking the eastern Napa Valley. Renowned for their Cabernet Sauvignon, this wine arguably is equally impressive. With small amounts of cabernet sauvignon, malbec and petit verdot added, it is richly perfumed, silky, yet well structured and delivers a complex of ripe, concentrated red fruits, forest, and savory spices.
2016 Ehler’s Estate Napa Valley ($65) Ehlers Estate is a winery and organic vineyard in Napa’s St. Helena sub-appellation that dates to 1886. All proceeds from the sale of its wines are returned to the LeDucq Foundation to support cardiovascular research. This wine is balanced with finesse but firm tannins; luscious fruit finishes nicely fresh.