Smoke and Mirrors for Anderson Valley

In a recent Wall Street Journal article, the entire 2008 vintage of Anderson Valley grapes was pretty much panned as the title, "Sipping These Wines Is Like Smoking And Drinking at the Same Time" indicates. It's not clear if the article started out to be a piece of sensationalist journalism about the 2008 fires that swept through Northern California, (including Anderson Valley as well as Sonoma and Napa) however, no mention is made of any other affected wine growing region.  The article is unjustly skewed toward the negative that Mary Elke's comment, "I'm proud of the wine I ended up producing," is quite lost in the hubbub. Five winegrowers were interviewed. What about the rest of the 2008 wines from Anderson Valley? Did the whites and rosés suffer as well?

There are 26 wineries and 25 winegrowers listed as members of the Anderson Valley Winegrowers Association.  Each one represents a community of people whose livelihoods are already at the mercy of nature. Farming of any sort is one continuous gamble year after year. Rather than bulk dump their grapes, I have nothing but admiration for those winemakers, who had everything to lose, but instead, chose to take the risk and to make their wines to the best of their abilities. In my book, those are the real winemakers we should celebrate. I'm very curious to know if the reporter, Ben Worthen, tasted the 2008 wines, or at the very least, if he conducted a comprehensive tasting of the wines made by his interviewees.

You may ask yourself, "WHY is she going on and on and on about the 2008 Anderson Valley vintage?" Because. I recently blind tasted over twenty-five of the 2008 vintage and only two! of them showed any detectable smoke taint. Some were a little stripped from filtering and reverse osmosis than others, but being that pinot noir IS a medium bodied red wine, I thought they were all well within their varietal characteristics. In fact, there were quite a few that showed extremely well -- with the typically powerful palate profiles from their region. I was pleasantly surprised. And then, I started thinking....heeeeey! I have to say, I'm bothered by all the misleading bad press that Anderson Valley has been shouldering. (What ABOUT those fires in Napa and Sonoma?) I'm MORE than disappointed that a notable news source, the caliber of the Wall Street Journal, would be so irresponsible as to publish such a poorly researched, one sided article. The slow death of newspapers is not reason enough for this trespass.

The annual Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival is coming up on May 14-16. I'm throwing down the gauntlet to  all of you Pinot Noir lovers to come check out the wines for yourselves before you mistakenly write off the entire vintage. Come support the winemakers whose work you've enjoyed for years, and prepare to be pleasantly surprised.

Smoke Gets in Your ...

Wine.

There's a lot of buzz and concern about smoke taint in wines throughout California from last summer's fires. Like so many wine growing regions in Northern California, our little Anderson Valley was not spared.

I expect the nature and intensity of taint will vary wildly depending on the varietal, its amount of skin contact time, and exposure to smoke. As we start to see those wines being poured in tasting rooms, I will be just as curious as the next tire kicker to taste them. I've heard discussions about tasting notes range from "yeah, it's smoky" to "comparable to licking an ashtray".

I tasted an Anderson Valley pinot noir last night with smoke taint and I was happily surprised that the bouquet was not as offensive as I expected. Unmistakeable smokiness but in a hickory smoked bacon fat kind of way. And being a Burgundian style fan, bacon fat and some stinkiness is a good thing. However, further examination of the underlying notes did display an unpleasant charred wood and brush quality. Upon my initial tasting, I also thought it was not as horrible as I expected. There were some nuances from the charcuterie end of things but then there were also smoke flavors from the non-food spectrum as well as an element of petroleum, and, I noticed as I drove home that there was a lingering taste of burnt brush in my mouth.

Of course, depending on the severity of taint and what each winery does to minimize the taint (rafting, fining, blending, reverse osmosis, etc.) some wines may not be salvageable. I hope that many wines will be salvaged. Ever the optimist and mad scientist at heart, I find myself thinking of possible flavor pals to pair with the wines. I know how to boost inherent fruit, earth and spice qualities, how to raise or lower the perceived sweetness and acidity, and how to focus or neutralize flavors in untainted wines, but can I use those food and wine pairing principles to "fix" smoke tainted wines?

I will look for an opportunity to try....