Author Archives: Maurice

  1. It’s a Family Wine Affair

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     family wine affair 2

    In the old world, wine is a family affair.  Wineries and vineyards are passed down through the generations from mothers and fathers to their children.  They grow up and pass it on to their children.  They adhere to old family traditions.  Many times the children have to wait years til they are let in on the family secrets.  In all actuality they may be doing the same thing that their neighbors are doing; but regardless, it is their “family secret”.

    We see family owned and operated vineyards and wineries in the new world, but the vast majority of them are owned by companies or other entrepreneurs looking for financial gains.  There are still a few new world  family gems out there.  We don’t have to go far, look in our backyard we have a family who bleeds wine.  Meet the Broomells and the Stehleons.  Two farming families united by marriage.

    Sounds like the beginning of a story tale.   I think of it as a modern Romeo and Juliet without the Shakespearean tragedy.  It is more like an after school family special.  This tale did not start “…long long ago, in a land far away…” It started less then 10 years ago, just down the street with two families.  The Broomells, who owned ranches in Calistoga and Valley Center and the Stehlys who are in agriculture management with a farm in Valley Center.

    The grandparents, Gary and Sheila Broomell had three children, Debbie, Bruce and Don. Gary and Sheila owned a vast amount of land dedicated to ranches. When their children came of age, they too went into the family business.  Debbie had two sons, Chris and Mike Broomell.  Chris decided to go and study horticulture in Santa Barbara. He took interest in wine and spent some time working harvests in Santa Barbara and in Adelaide Australia with his uncle.  When he returned, he convinced his grandparents to go into the wine business.  After all, they were a farming family with plenty of land where they could plant grapes. Hence, the start of Triple B Ranches.  Bruce, Don and Debbie invested in the winery and today Debbie oversees the day-to-day activities.  Chris is the winemaker and his brother Mike helps in the cellar when not teaching at the local high school.

    The Stehly family was also a farming family.  Al, the eldest son of seven, bought his father’s land and helped manage other peoples avocado groves and orange groves.  His brothers Jerome and Nohl bought the rest of the property and run Stehly farms.  Al and his wife Lisa had a daughter named Alysha.  Alysha went to school at UC Davis where she studied viticulture. It just turned out that Chris and Alysha knew each other in high school.  One day they met at a Unified Wine Grower Convention. Their mutual interest in wine brought the two families together when they decided to marry. Both studied oenology and when they returned to San Diego convinced their parents to plant grapes.  Al already had some experience managing vineyards, after it was so different from growing other fruits.  While managing a Pinot Noir vineyard in Rancho Santa Fé, Chris convinced Al that they can make their own wine. A short time later, Chris began Vesper Vineyards with Pinot Noir being his first wine. Al and his wife Lisa decide to plant more vineyards on their property and began Stehleon Vineyards.  Stehleon produced their first vintage in 2010 with Alysha has the head winemaker.

    Today Chris Broomell and Alysha Stehly share an urban winery and tasting room in Escondido where Chris produces Vesper vineyards, Alysha and Al produce Stehleon Vineyards.  The space is shared with several others such as J Brix and winemaker Duncan Williams.  The best part of the story is that Triple B Ranches, Vesper and Stehleon produce wines from grapes grown in each other’s family’s vineyards, and all of it is San Diego fruit.  There are many SD wineries, but the majority of them buy fruit from places like Sonoma and Santa Barbara.  These family wineries are keeping it real, growing their own fruit and producing wines homegrown in San Diego.   It is unfortunate that we do not see more wineries using local fruit, because growing conditions are excellent for many grape varieties.  Hopefully this family wine affair catches on and other wineries begin to focus on locally grown fruit.

    Come and spend a Sunday lunch with Triple B Ranches, Vesper Vineyards and Stehleon at Indigo Grill.  We will be pairing Chef Deborah Scott’s menu with local wines in an intimate setting.  Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to have a family wine affair.  Call 619-234-6802 to make reservations.

    IGHomegrown (6)

  2. Born to be Wild, Wines of South Africa

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    South African Wine

    I am very  lucky man.  I have traveled many parts of the world for work and pleasure.  There remains one place on my bucket list, South Africa.  Most people associate South Africa with Apartheid and if they think of wine, they think Pinotage.  Those are probably two things that I wouldn’t want to remembered for, especially Apartheid.  Pinotage I could live with.  Other people don’t even know that South Africa is a prominent wine growing region.  They merely assume that once you leave the dangerous city of Johannesburg you reach the desolate bush filled with charging rhinos and roaring lions.  What most don’t realize is that South Africa is one of the most unique and forward thinking wine regions in the world.

    In order to understand the wines of South Africa we have to look back at its history.  Back in the 15th century, the Dutch East India Company had spread its massive sphere of influence throughout Africa, the Middle east and Asia. It took the English and Dutch merchants into uncharted regions.  With them they brought their traditions and customs, one of those being wine production.   60 years before California had any grapes planted, South Africa already had its first vines cultivated.  By the 1680’s South Africa received a flood of French Protestants, the Huguenots, who were fleeing persecution.  These French settlers improved the wine growing techniques. As time passed on, South African wines became well-known among the French and English nobility.  Toward the end of  the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century a new set of immigrants arrived in South Africa, the Austrians and Germans.  They brought their own farming techniques.  Of course, they had to get used to the difference in climate, but they sought out specific areas for specific grape vines.

    Under the rule of Apartheid which lasted from 1948-1994, wine production saw a huge decline.  We can say that South Africa has a long history of making wine, but it is not until recent years that we have seen an explosion.  Since 2003  the wine exports have doubled, however we have not seen and will not see a flood in the market.  The reason for this is that the wines of South Africa are based on quality and not quantity.  The climate is a Mediterranean climate influenced by the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans.  Its temperature is ideal for grape production with cool nights and warm days.  The soils of South Africa are some of the oldest soils in the world with very poor nutrients, which stress the vines and produce better wines.

    I have tasted many different styles of South African wines.  There are the more traditional styles from Stellenbosch and Constantia where they grow Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Pinotage.  Then there are those more extreme regions like the Swartland and Robertson growing the same varieties and experimenting with other varieties such as Cinsault, Tinto Baroca, Grenache and Syrah.   As you can see, there is much diversity in the types of wines that can be produced in South Africa. But, for some reason people still associate South Africa with Pinotage.  Pinotage is a wine many sommeliers despise yet intrigues the consumer.  It is a grape bred by crossing Pinot Noir with Cinsault in the 1920’s.  The purpose was to bring the power of Cinsault into Pinot Noir, which as we have come to learn, is a hard grape to grow.  Unfortunately, there was a lot of bad Pinotage in the market and people began to associate the wine with aromas of band-aid and antiseptic.  Sommeliers dropped it from wine lists and consumers bought it because it was affordable.

    The general consumer buys wine based on price.  Pinotage fit the budget.  However, the wines of South Africa fall into a different niche from those high production wines of South America and Australia.  South African wines fall into the higher price tier.  Napa wines are expensive because of the demand.  Bordeaux wines are expensive because of the pedigree.  South African wines see an increase in cost due to the virtue of farming.  They are not as expensive as Napa & Bordeaux, but they are not inexpensive like Argentine Malbec and Australian Shiraz.

    Here is why.  All wine regions have organic, sustainable and/or biodynamic wineries and/or growers.  However, South Africa as a region embodies sustainability.  Take Napa for instance a producer who farms organically, yet his next door neighbor uses pesticides.  The spray eventually blows into the organic farmer’s vines, so they are not really organic.  In South Africa the region believes in Hannuwa.   A term from the San People, the indigenous people of South Africa, meaning:

    “gathering of good fortune through living in sustainable harmony with our natural environment.”

    This is not only related to the way South Africans approach the vines, but also sustainability for their workers.  The land, the vine its and people are all one.  This mantra is the basis of all farming, wine making and business decisions in South Africa.  The wines are a result of farmers understanding the vines, keeping harmony with the ecosystem, maintaining healthy workers and producing wines of high quality.  It is much more expensive and difficult to make wines with all this in mind.  They cannot cut corners.  The wines end up costing a bit more than other new world imports, but they meet this unique niche of old world and new world wines.  They have the craftsmanship and elegance of old world wines along with the power and fruit forwardness of new world wines.  I would rather spend my money on a wine whose price is a result of actual techniques and not one’s name.

    If you are interested in taking a walk on the wild side, join me on May 9th at Island Prime Restaurant where I will be discussing and tasting the wines of South Africa with wine maker Sebastian Beaumont of Beaumont Wines from the Bot River in South Africa and master sommelier candidate, Chris Lavin from Broadbent wines, world-famous importers of high quality wines.  We will taste 10 different wines from different regions within South Africa.  Hors d’oeuvres will be available and all the wines will be on special below retail pricing.  To buy your tickets click the link below.

    Buy Tickets

     

    Wines of South Africa

  3. How Can I Learn About Wine?

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    learn about wine

    This is an article I wrote for Escondido Magazine.

    “How can I learn about wine?” Is a question I always get asked.   Many people think the approach to learning about wine is the same approach we use to learn math, social studies or science, meaning we read a book and/or attend a lecture.  I wish it were that easy.  It took me many years to learn about wine, and I am still learning.  Sure, I read books and attended lectures but most of my learning comes from practicing, or should I say drinking.   The problem arise when people aren’t willing to practice.  They might drink wine regularly, but that is not practicing.  Many people put limits on what they drink.  “I only drink red wines” or “I don’t like Riesling because it is sweet”.  I hear these comments all the time. As the Japanese Zen master would say, “their teacup is full”.  I don’t have much hope for them, practicing means getting out of your comfort zone and experimenting.  If someone really wants to learn about wine, he/she needs to have an open mind and an open palate.   You can read all the books in the world, but if you don’t try the wines you read about, you will never understand them.

    My best advice is “DRINK FRENCH WINE”.  In order to really get a grasp on wine, one must learn French wines.  Most of the varietals we use around the world originated in France.  French wines are the framework of what wines should be like.  They have strict regulations which limit winemakers and help keep the grapes’ integrity, allowing the wines to show “terroir”.

    Where does we turn once we  begin to expose our palates to unique wines?  Luckily, living in San Diego we have many opportunities to advance our wine skills.  The real learning begins with tasting, holding the bottle in your hands and reading the label.  The supported learning comes in the form of classes, seminars and tests.  Each person has his/her own goal or purpose why they’d like to increase their wine knowledge. Here are some of my recommendation for the many types of oenophiles.

    wine trade

    The Trade

    Those in the trade or looking to join the trade whether it be wine sales, wine production or the restaurant business have several outlets.  There arecourses through the WSET, CSW and Court of Master Sommelier which are especially meant for the trade.  Some of these course might be several weeks long and others are independent learning with supported seminars and tests.  Each of these will give students the certifications they need to build their resumes.

    student

    The Perpetual Student

    What if you are a traditional learner and the college format works best for you?  No need to go to UC Davis, San Diego has some great options.  If planting a vineyard in your back yard or making wine is your interest, Mira Costa College offers a wine and viticulture technology class.  If you are the casual drinker who wants to learn more about your life long hobby, San Diego State University offers the Business of Wine through the Extended Studies Program.  This program covers almost everything from regions of the world, marketing wine, distribution of wine and offers a study abroad program.  You can pay me a visit and take my class, the California Wine Intensive course, I will teaching it again this November.

    on the go

    Always on the go

    Now, for those of you that do not have time and would like to learn at your leisure there are a few programs and books I recommend. First of all, the “Wine Bible” by Karen McNeil is a must in your library.  It is comprehensive and easy to read.  If you’d rather learn online, The Gallo Academy offers an online course which is excellent and covers everything you need to know.  My friend Kirstin Fox, at the Fox School of Wine offers an excellent online course helpful in getting you started.

    socialite

    The Socialite

    If you are social and like to learn with your friends, look for special events many restaurants offer.  I have a wine club, Prime Cru which holds events around the county where we learn about Chilean wine, Blind Tasting, Food and Wine pairing and much more.  There aren’t any membership fees and you can sign up at www.cohnrestaurants.com/vintana.  The next Prime Cru class will be South African wines with winemaker Sebastian Beaumont and Master Sommelier Candidate, Chris Lavin. Stay in the loop by joining the club.  There are other restaurants and wine bars that offer wine classes after work.  It might be a good idea to look for one and get the office together for an educational happy hour.  I have been toying with th eidea at 100 Wines, we’ll see what comes of it.

    No more excuses.  You can learn about wine anytime.  Remember, do not over think wine, but share it and enjoy it.  Take whatever path suits you best and have learning.  The fun is in learning, knowing is boring.

  4. Celebrating 100 Years with Centennial Wine

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    Centennial red

    In 2013 I got together with Bailey Winery in Temecula to make a wine that would commemorate the centennial anniversary of Balboa Park.  Balboa Park is the pride and joy of San Diego.  The park was built in 1915 for the Panama-California Exposition.  Prior to its creation, Balboa Park was known as City Park.  Kate Sessions was instrumental in the planting its many gardens and trees.  When the city decided to host the Panama-California Exposition, they chose a Spanish-colonial design to honor of Vascos Nunez de Balboa, the Spanish explore who first spotted the Pacific Ocean on his way to Panama.  The park now houses the world-famous San Diego Zoo, the Museum of Man, The Natural History Museum, the Reuben H. Fleet Center, the Old Globe Theater and a slew of other fantastic museums and shops.  The main restaurant is the Prado which is part of the House of Hospitality.  The House of Hospitality is well-known for putting on some of the most beautiful weddings in San Diego.

    When it came time to bottle another wine to commemorate the 100 year anniversary I decided to reach out to a San Diego vintner.  Bailey is fantastic and has a rich history in Temecula, but it is technically in Riverside county. This time I wanted to keep it local.  San Diego has a long and unfortunately, forgotten history of wine production.  I thought it would only make sense that we honor the prestige of Balboa PArk with a wine from one of the San Diego wineries who produces some of the highest quality wines, Fallbrook Winery.

    Many San Diego vintners buy grapes from other parts of California to make their wines.  Many years ago, when Fallbrook Winery’s vines were maturing, they made wine from Sonoma and other regions.  Today they are focusing on estate fruit.  Ira Gourvitz, owner of Fallbrook Winery has been a leader in promoting San Diego wines.  He runs one of the more successful wineries in San Diego.  You can find his wines on restaurant wine lists and in specialty wine shops.  Being that the San Diego wine market is very finicky, this is a true testament to the quality of his wine.

    Prado team

    When deciding what to do for the Centennial wine round two, I looked for help from the management team at the Prado Restaurant.  I headed up to the winery to meet Ira and winemaker, Vernon Kindred and brought the Prado managers Cynthia Peterson, Mark Robertson, Tyler Chupp, Patty Urtado, Kaylla McAdams and Amanda Boies to make a wine that would be worthy of Centennial stature.  After hours of  tasting barrel samples from the 2012 vintage, we came upon the perfect blend.  We decided to make a Bordeaux style blend made of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot.  The wine turned out great!

    Juicy wine with aromas and flavors of blackberry, Cassis and plum.  There are notes of chocolate and toasted oak which give it richness. Like many wines in San Diego, there is mouth-watering acidity that gives if a lift in the finish.

    The wine is now available at the Prado.  It is on the wine list for $40/bottle and $10/glass.  If you would like to take it home, they sell it at retail for $20.15.  Stop in and try a bit of history.

     

  5. Wines with Soul: The Future of Baja Wines

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    Baja Wines

    The first wine grape growing region in the America’s was Mexico.  The first vines planted were in the Parras Valley around the 1500’s for brandy production.  Grapes arrived in Baja California sometime in the 1600’s. They made their eventual move into Alta California in 1769 by way of the missionaries.  This means that Mexico has had a long history of making wine.  Then why is it that their wines are not well-known?  Why do we not see them in our restaurants and bottle shops?  Could it be that they are on Mexican time?

    In the 1980’s Chilean wines made a big hit in the USA.  In the late 90’s Argentinian wines started to make their way to the US and today are on every wine list.  Uruguay is barely entering the market, but so far has made more head way than Mexico.  Brazil? Well, not yet. About 4-5 years ago, there was a company called Baja Wines which started to bring Baja wines into the US.  They had a very strange business model.  Instead of importing wines and setting up a partnership with a distributor, they decided to go direct to consumer through internet sales.  If one was selling knitted sweaters or other crafts that might be the way to go.  However, it does not work like this in the wine business.

    Wine needs to be sampled, tasted and shared with the buyer.  The buyer sets the price for wine.  They will not buy wines that do not fit within the price of their quality.  When Baja Wines came into the market they had everything priced at retail prices starting at over $25 a bottle.  Many wines were in the $50 range. I don’t know about you, but I won’t pay $50 for a bottle of wine if I am not familiar, never tasted or never heard of it.  Obviously, putting photos on a website and charging $50 a bottle was not a viable business plan.

    Since then Baja Wines has gone out of business, but there have been other companies importing Baja wines into the US.  I have tasted the wines from four different distribution companies.  Before I start to give you my opinion, I want to give you a quick look at what is happening there.

    The wine regions of Ensenada are divided into different valleys such as Ojos Negros, San Vicente, Santo Tomas, San Antonio de las Minas and the Guadalupe Valley.  Artisan wineries, creameries, farms and restaurants line the valley.  It is a true farm to table region where some restaurants have their own garden and livestock.  The valley has seen some dramatic growth in the last several years.

     Guadalupe Valley

    The person most responsible for this incredible growth is enologist, Hugo D’Acosta winemaker for Casa Piedras.  Hugo studied winemaking in Montpellier, France.  He worked his first vintage in 1982 in St. Emillon.  He returned to Mexico with his eyes on Baja California.  There he was inspired by the wines of Monte Xanic.  He worked with Santo Tomas and eventually started his own project, Casa Piedras.  But what makes Hugo the Robert Mondavi of Baja was his school.  He started “la Escuelita” a winemaking school where he passes his knowledge onto other winemakers in the region.  In recent years, we have seen much more influence from outside winemakers.  This influence will eventually lead to rising the quality of wines in this prosperous region.

    My Two Sense

    I believe that Baja Wines will eventually make a huge presence in the US wine market.  The big obstacle is figuring out a competitive price for the wines.  Many winemakers are selling their wines at retail to the distributor and wholesale markets.  Since their production is small, it is difficult to come up with competitive prices that rival the wines of other regions of the same or better quality.  They need to put the money into marketing, which eventually will pay back later.  This is an investment many winemakers are not able to make.  They are trying to make a living from their current production, but to enter a new market they need to make the sacrifices.

    Another obstacle they face is that their terroir is so unique.  Many might be wondering why that is an obstacle. Let me explain.  The region is hot and sandy.  Many believe that this is the reason the wines tend to taste salty.  Although this may attribute to the salinity, the believe is that poor winemaking and not understanding the terroir is the reason.  I have spoken to winemakers and tasted wines from the region that are not salty.  The salinity can be toned down through proper wine growing and  winemaking techniques.

    Some winemakers are also hell-bent on producing single varieties.  They see the California model and want to mimic it.  I have tasted 100% Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Nebbiolo.  I believe this sort of approach is harmful to their growth.  The reason being, if a consumer wants to buy Chenin Blanc, they have a history of Chenin Blancs that has typicity.  Chenin Blanc usually shows flavors of honey, orange oil, wet wool with razor acidity.  The Chenin Blanc from Baja is nothing like that.  It might have some of those aromas but the structure is big and opulent.  The wines are not bad, in fact for fat wines they are actaully pretty good, but as a Chenin Blanc, they taste nothing of the sort.  It would be better if they labeled the wine “Baja Blanc”  and not Chenin Blanc.  This way they would not have to meet the expectations people have come to expect for Chenin Blanc.  This is also true of many other single varieties in Baja.

    vena cava

    Enough of my constructive criticism.  The wines I have tasted recently have been very good.  These wines have been blends.  And I believe that blends are the future for Baja wines.  They are creating blends that cannot be mimicked elsewhere.  For example, they blend Nebbiolo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache and Tempranillo.  The French could not do this, they don’t produce Nebbiolo.  The Italians would not attempt this because their prized king of grapes Nebbiolo would never be blended with Cab.  Plus, the Nebbiolo in Baja is dark, inky, tannic and much fruitier than that of Piedmont. In the USA we might see this attempt, but our Cab tastes completely different from Baja’s.  Since their wines do not meet the standard typicity, they can make ridiculous blends that are absolutely delicious.  We once thought California was the wild west of wine, but Baja is the new wild frontier.

    I look forward to see what new styles of wine Baja will begin to produce.  Their wines taste very different from the traditional old world and different from their neighbors in California.  People are always looking for something unique, and Baja has it.

    If you would like to learn more about Baja wines, I will be hosting a Baja and Napa wine symposium and tasting at Sea 180 on March 14th.  There will be 8 winemakers from Baja California and 12 Mexican winemakers from Napa Valley discussing the wines of the two regions.  This will be the first time these winemakers meet and taste each other’s wines.  I am attempting to unify Mexican winemakers from both sides of the border so that they can share their ideas which eventually will benefit us, the consumers with better wines.  The wines of these winemakers have soul.  They are worlds apart from the over produced homogenized wines that fill our stores and restaurants.

    On Sunday March 15th, Indigo Grill will host a brunch featuring 3 winemakers from Baja and 3 winemakers form Napa. You can make reservations by calling Indigo Grill at 619-234-6802.

    Buy Tickets

    Sea180 Mexi wine

    Indigo Baj Brunch