Sun Valley Property News: July 2014 issue
Wine is both the conversation and chance meeting of history, science, art and experience. History of our feet on the earth and what shaped the earth itself, the science of taste and viticulture, the artistic viscera that holds it together and makes it beautiful, and the experience of all these things sliding down our throats. It is no wonder that a good bottle of wine can bridge culture gaps, quiet a bickering family to smiles and hugs, and make strangers fast friends. The annual Sun Valley Wine Auction showcases this merging of disciplines and champions an art that not only stands the test of time but has a future that is as exciting as the discovery of a first-growth Bordeaux in your cellar. Fasten your seat belts for a deeper look into some of the innovators and appreciators that make the line-up of vintners at this years’ auction.
Leonetti Cellars
Heritage Meets Innovation
Rose was fourteen when she kissed her mother goodbye and made the long journey to Washington State from her small village in Italy over a century ago. Searching for opportunity in America, her family had arranged for her to meet Francesco, a man eight years her senior, to hopefully marry. The two courted for three years and then married when Rose was seventeen. They made their living toiling over a twenty-acre plot in what is now part of the lush farming metropolis of Walla Walla. They supported and raised six children on the land, but what Frank and Rose could have never anticipated was the legacy that their farm and children would leave behind.
Renowned Leonetti Cellar, internationally sought after, with a waiting list too long to account for, is the product of their youngest daughter Virginia and her husband Earl Figgins’ son, Gary. Wit the help of his great uncles, Gary planted his first commercial vineyard on the original Leonetti plot in 1974, essentially establishing an industry with a few hundred cuttings of Cabernet Sauvignon and Riesling. He drove his first vintages to the back doors of Seattle restaurants, family in tow, and developed his client base slowly, acting more as a neighbor than salesman. With tenacity and an eye towards the future, Gary built the brand of Leonetti to what it is today.
Over 30 years later, Leonetti Cellar is now made up of fourth generation farmers, and second generation winemakers, Chris and Amy Figgins. One thing is clear — this brother and sister team have inherited an important trait (and something to be proud of) from their ancestors: work ethic. When you are passed down a business that is essentially without fault, the effort to continually develop and hone your product is daunting. Amy, marketer and manager of the winery, has dutifully brought Leonetti into the new age of computers, wine equipment, and branding, while Chris, as Director of Winemaking, fine-tunes the process and dreams of exciting ideas. Throughout modernization and the pursuit of perfection, the team at Leonetti also bears in mind the ideal that exists in simplicity and honor of the hard work of their forefathers.
FIGGINS, a relatively new project for the team, is one that marries their missions of creating something new and exciting while at the same time nodding to their family history. A bordeaux blend that is a true single vineyard creation, this wine pays homage to the way farming used to be done, and also showcases a single spot of terroir and winemaking ability. As they describe it, it is ‘a wine of place, inspired by legacy’. Leonetti is a perennial favorite and longtime supporter of Sun Valley Center for the Arts, and lucky diners at the Cleveland Residence Vintner Dinner at the is year’s auction will experience these wines, and one can’t help but wonder if the history and sweat of the generations of Leonetti and Figgins ancestors before them leaves a lingering sensation on the palate.
Leonetti Cellar
1875 Foothills Lane
Walla Walla, WA
509.525.1428
Split Rail Winery
Wanton Fermentation
On the website of Idaho urban winery Split Rail, they refer to themselves as wine drinkers raised on Boone’s Farm and debauchery. But here is the thing: I think they are going to help put Idaho wine on the map. Not only are they creating complex and interesting wines — peppy on the palate for for both new drinkers shy of wine knowledge and those accustomed to throwing out terms like ‘crisp’, ‘acacia’, and ‘jammy’ to a waitress as they stick their noses DEEP in a wine glass — they are also creating wine that is accessible and marketed more like a micro-brewery than a traditional winery. These guys are local, bright, young, and did I say LOCAL? They are sourcing grapes 100% from the Gem State, determined to support Idaho farmers and bring awareness of our amazing terroir to consumers.
Jed Glavin, winemaker and owner, and his wife Laura, have been chasing their dream since bottling their first vintage (2011). Jed’s winemaking style leans him more towards chef than chemist, as he abandons a formulaic approach of grape-type percentages and creates new blends every year, never a vintage identically resembling the previous. With a penchant for out of the ordinary grapes like Mouvedre, Blau Frankish, and Granache, he ones up consumers to new wine experiences approaching blends like a rock star jamming with friends in a garage, never following the rules. Currently , he has a Rosé that sits on oak for a few months, which is not common, and its result is otherworldly, bringing a creaminess and delightful funky smells that makes me war to drink it with ribs. Because when you are breaking the rules, no longer must you enjoy your pork with Pinot, but you can drink a reel blend out of the tap (yes, they make keg wines under a second label Strange Folk) and eat it with Thai food, or enjoy a pink wine with meat! By pouching the boundaries of marketing and doing away with the need to be sophisticated, Split Rail is opening up the amazing experience of wine to a new set of customers, devoid of connoisseurs who make the practice of drinking this glorified grape juice more intimidating than enjoyable.
District 44 in Garden City, Boise, where the new warehouse winery and tasting room of Split Rail sit, has become part co-op, part urban renewal project for the wineries and breweries choosing to call it home. Revitalizing the old auto body shops and concrete warehouses long abandoned, they have banded together to create a fun and unique place to hang out and enjoy some of the best consumer products Idaho has to offer. They share a customer base, equipment, and space, and are now working on mural projects to beautify the exterior. So the next time you are in Boise, check out Split Rail and their neighbors for some beverages, good conversation, and electric vibes of creation and fermentation. This isn’t just wine, folks, this is the revolution.
“We create wine that is spawned from whimsy, driven by the soil you stand upon, and conceptualized from the mindset that we all like what we like, not what we’re told to like. We hope that together we can make wine-drinking part of the common good; a betterment of character. Together we drink, for mankind.” — Jed Glavin
Split Rail Winery
4338 Chindon Blvd, Boise
208.490.0681
Dana Estates
(Not So) Far From Home
You wouldn’t think that a South Korean businessman who didn’t take a sip of wine until his 30’s would later secure a score of 100 from the renowned wine critic Robert Parker. The go-to for wine connoisseurs looking to spend the big bucks, Parker is the all-knowing guide, whose palate can be trusted like the assurance of Grandma’s hugs, and whose annual release of scores the wine community clutches close to their hearts like a backpacker does his passport overseas.
And overseas is where Hi Sang Lee (who did achieve such a feat), owner of Dana Estates, has taken this fervor. After his first sip of the wine mentioned above, taken while skiing in Vermont with friends, Lee was instantly hooked and ran into a problem with his new hobby (or obsession) — how could he take the wine home with him to South Korea? Thinking like a businessman, his solution was to start a wine importing business (Nara Cellar) in his home country, one with a new angle in relation to other similar models that existed there. In a conservative country, where most people did not drink wine, Lee was not only taking on the monumental task of reeducating how and what South Korea drank, but also the task of convincing high-end Napa winemakers that distributing in South Korea was a venture worth the investment. After more than 20 years, he is a self-proclaimed ‘wine evangelist’ who no longer has to knock on doors and convince vintners to give him a chance. His importing company Nara Cellar plays host to a range of Napa luminaries from Bill Harlan to winemaker Phillippe Melka.
As a true pioneer, Hi Sang Lee’s success with Nara Cellar did not mean rest. Instead, it meant further pushing his passion for wine, both personally with his purchase of a Rutherford plot of land in 2005 which would become Dana Estates (Dana is fittingly Sanskrit for ‘generosity’), as well as in his homeland with the construction of Podo Plaza in Seoul, a seven-story food and wine emporium that features wine tasting rooms, wine retail shops, and one of Asia’s largest wine and culinary education centers.
With a foot in each world, Lee’s amazing team, including winemaker Phillipe Melka and Pete Richmond, one of the valley’s most respected vineyard managers, has quickly led Dana to cult status, with its small-lot, single-vineyard releases receiving rave reviews. Meanwhile, the tower in Seoul continues to educate new winos, and Lee plans to release his own Bordeaux blend in his hometown community soon. It is apparent that Hi Sang Lee is not finished, and our eyes, ears, and palates can’t wait to find out what lies on the horizon for his new empire.
Dana Estates
P.O. Box 153, Rutherford, CA
707.963.4365
Aloft
A Mondavi Family Project
In Napa and now globally, the name Mondavi is synonymous with great wine. Yet as a company grows and the portfolio of a large family’s vineyards expands, it can be important to come back together for intimate projects that showcase the family and simplicity. Aloft, its first vintage in 2008, is the product of the forested and complex 21-acre Cold Springs Vineyard, sitting at just above 1,600 feet and boasting diverse terroir with hills and secrets, volcanic ash and mountain lions. Producing several clones of Cabernet Sauvignon, the vineyard has become the heart of family activities, a favorite spot for the three generations of Mondavis to meander, wine glass in hand, and enjoy the quiet seclusion and cool nights offered high above the valley floor. Looking out over the Napa Valley where ‘Grandpa’ Peter Mondavi made his name, this is a venture kept close with friends and family, operating like an old farm, full of laughter and warmth high on the mountaintop, as it is when Loretty Lynn sings “high on the mountaintop, we lived, we loved, and we laughed a lot.”
Aloft Wine
707.548.9651
Failla
Fly Me to Pinot Heaven
Ehren Jordan, winemaker and founder of Failla Wines with his wife Anne-Marie Failla, has the same type of college degree as your local barista: Art History Major with a Minor in Archaeology. “Obvious pre-requisites for a winemaking career,” he jokes. Yet after working countless jobs in the wine industry, and with a little trust, faith and good luck, he fell into a job with celebrated oenologist Jean-Luc Columbo, where he ran up the terraced hillsides and through the old caverns helping create Les Ruchets, Columbo’s own label, and later worked his way up the winemaking ladder, founding Failla Jordan (now just Failla) in 1998.
As you may have guessed, Ehren doesn’t go about doing things in the ‘normal’ way. Not in his education, not in his career path, and definitely not when it comes to his winemaking. In fact, he is on a constant search for new ways to do things, and new ways to extract the best of what nature has to offer. Failla now produces around 12 different Pinot NOirs. A pilot (and owner of a Cessna), Ehren sources fruit from a variety of vineyards like Hirsch, Peay, Kaeffer Ranch, Occidental Ridge, Savoy, and Whistler. To be omnipresent, he flies to save time and get things done. Tast one of his Pinots at the Peters Residence Vintner Dinner.
Failla
3530 Silverado Trail, St. Helena, CA
707.963.0530
Q&A with Vanessa Wong of Peay Vineyards
(full Q&A below, for published version see thumbnails)
SVPN: Is there anything unique about the winemaking process at Peay?
PEAY: We are estate which means we grow our own grapes. In our opinion, the greatest wines in the world are made by estate wineries. The land, the people, and the wines are one and that is evident in their timelessness. They have a singular voice and soul.
SVPN: I always thought winemaking was the perfect intersection of art and science. Do you agree? How so?
PEAY: Well, yes. There is certainly a subjective aesthetic ideal and it is usually better if you have technical proficiency. As a painter it is important to have mastered the basics of form, light, manual application so you can then add your personal insight to the creation. It is the artistry that sets the musician apart from a pure technician or robot. There is no auto tune for wine, haha. But as we well know, you don’t have to be talented, musically and or otherwise, to make it in the music world or the wine world, for that matter. As for winemaking, the vineyard, the vintage and about a hundred other factors put the winemaker in the position of using her experience and ability to guide the wines towards that aesthetic ideal as opposed to building something from scratch. Winemaking is farming so there are elements of plant physiology, soil science and biology we need to understand in order to make intelligent choices to respond to environmental changes vintage to vintage. The science of winemaking is food science with microbiology since it is a living food we are creating, not just a beverage made of precise ingredients. In any event, in the best conditions you do not employ technical tools or alter a wine based on your understanding on a biological level of what is going on. Your role as an artist would be choosing the right site to plant your grapes, farming intelligently to maximize their potential for expressing their essence, and paying close attention to the details of a vintage. You become a medium, perhaps like a photographer. You leave no personal fingerprint but interpret what you have been given; a snapshot of the vineyard in that vintage in a glass of wine.
SVPN: What kind of barrels do you use and why?
PEAY: 100% barrels made in France. We use barrels from 4 or 5 cooperages that are part of the ongoing stable with 2-3 that we are trying out to see how they match certain clones and varieties. It is amazing how the profile of a barrel can bring out – or obscure – a wine. Making wine with one barrel is a little like cooking with one spice. You may like cinnamon, but if it is the only spice in your spice rack, well, your food may be a little simple. We match cooper and toast level to the various clones of the various varieties.
SVPN: Can you tell us a little bit about the varying terroir? And the property looks breathtaking! Can you tell me a little more about it?
PEAY: We are located on a hilltop above a river canyon three miles from the San Andreas fault and four miles from the Pacific Ocean. The vineyard sits on a former inland sea uplifted about 7 million years ago. These ancient marine soils are nutrient poor which is good for high quality grape growing. The 51 acre vineyard covers this hilltop and is surrounded by ancient Redwoods, Les Titans (we named a Syrah Les Titans in their honor). It is quite foggy and ocean breezes blow through every day keeping our temperatures very cold for grape growing. This is important for providing conditions ideal for the style of wines we wish to make; elegant, aromatic, intense, balanced wines that speak of place. It is an absolutely stunning place. Visit the vineyard and you will understand why the wines taste the way they do.
SVPN: Do you love working in wine? (I was an intern for a year once and I do not miss the hours during and directly after harvest, but I do miss the sunrises)
PEAY: I think this goes without saying. I don’t think we’d be doing this if we didn’t love it—it’s too hard. I think lots of people do understand what hard work is but the concept of having no other life during harvest –and unfortunately oftentimes during other parts of the year - is hard for many to grasp.
SVPN: If you could drink any bottle of wine in the world with lunch today, what would it be?
PEAY: Coche Dury. Les Perrieres. 1999! Ha! Kidding. I had it once. Mind blowing chardonnay. Maybe too much for lunch though unless it is one of those multi-course lunches that last all day and end at sunset with a long post prandial stroll through the winding streets of some village. Oh, and someone else is paying. For lunch today? How about a crisp, bright, intentional rose?
SVPN: Do you have a philosophy about drinking your wine or saving it?
PEAY: Buy more wine than you can drink. That way you will be able to age most of your wine until is it in the ideal window for consuming. When that window is depends on who you are and the specific wine but we tend to age our wines to allow for the identity to come through. When young, the characteristics of many wines are readily apparent and on the surface, like young kids, all knees and elbows. As the wine ages the various features coalesce and become a single form, Peay Vineyards Chardonnay, or Vanessa Wong as a person.
Peay Vineyards
207 A N. Cloverdale Blvd #201, Cloverdale, CA
707.894.8720
