Wines and Events in Monterey

Taste the Ocean Influenced Terroir  Driven Bubbly by Caraccioli Cellars

2019 Caraccioli Cellars, Brut Cuvée, Escolle Vineyard Sparkling Wine, Santa Lucia Highlands.

The bright gold, delicately aromatic and shimmering 2019 Caraccioli Brut Cuvée, terroir driven grower producer style Methode Champenoise, sparkler is again almost perfection in the glass, like the previous vintage, with a vivacious and luxurious mousse and a beautifully layered palate. There’s a cascade of Meyer lemon, tangy peach, green apple and crisp pear fruit, along with exceptionally well integrated yeasty richness, mineral, sea shore and hazelnut, along with clove spice, delicate florals and wet stone accents. I help but be completely seduced by this 2018, I can’t remember a California sparkling wine reaching this level of depth, energy and elegance, bravo Scott Caraccioli and team for this amazing release, which by the way saw 58 months on the lees! As mentioned, Caraccioli’s estate Escolle Vineyard, which is set on the Santa Lucia Highlands’ sandy loams and sees a huge cool Pacific Ocean influence, was first planted in 2008, and is named after the historic local legend Honoré Escolle. Caraccioli says he was one of Carmel’s founding fathers, and was very influential in many ways to Monterey the region, as well as operating the main kiln for pottery and clay works in the area and was known to camp on the land where the vineyard lies. The Escolle Vineyard, as noted here, has become one of the most prized vineyards in the region and noted for the quality of the fruit, especially its Chardonnay and Pinot Noir fruit, but serious promise in the Gamay and Syrah vines here is something to watch as well. This 2019 out of Magnum was an exceptional treat and I highly recommend grabbing it in both the 750ml and Magnum formats, you’ll be highly rewarded and glad you did!

Few other wineries, as I’ve mentioned before, have put together such a fine collection of terroir driven wines in such a short time than Caraccioli Cellars, especially their Sparkling wines, which is the main focus of the winery. It all started with the help of the late Michel Salgues, who had worked for famed Champagne house Louis Roderer for most of his career, including the last nineteen years at Roederer Estate in Anderson Valley, where he was the founding winemaker. Scott Caraccioli and his team have quickly gained a solid reputation for his grower producer style bubbly and is now considered one of the best producers in California of Champagne method sparkling wines. Caraccioli follows a very traditional regime from the vines to the bottle, with early picks to long lees aging on these elegant and extra lively wines. Caraccioli first does a light pressing of the cool and fresh juice in small lots, with the winery noting that they do 120 gallons (well below what the law in Champagne mandates: 150-180gl.) at a time. The Cuvée and Rosé see no skin contact and mostly gets some stainless, though some of the lots are fermented in barrique, with all of the primary fermentation(s) being spontaneous, done with ambient yeasts. The Caraccioli Brut Rosé undergoes the same processes and initial blend of 60% Chardonnay and 40% Pinot Noir, as this Brut Cuvée. The difference in the Rosé is that Scott hand picks of a barrel of Pinot Noir still wine to blend into the final Rosé for color, while Brut Cuvée is all naturale. As mentioned in prior reviews, to enhance complexity and depth the young wine is barreled down-post fermentation for a few months, taking as Caraccioli explains, a little rest before blending, though in a few years there is some stainless aged juice and a long élevage in bottle. Like a broken record, I am suggesting you check out the whole line of offerings at Caraccioli as soon as possible, there’s a lot to admire here, not just the sparklers.

($65 Est.) 96 Points -Kerry Winslow, grapelive.com

Visit the Caraccioli Cellars tasting lounge in Carmel by the Sea or online at www.caracciolicellars.com

Swirling Hawk Vineyards - Soaring Above the Bay with their latest Release

2023 Swirling Hawk, Pinot Noir, Reserve, Estate Grown, Monterey County.

The dark ruby hued 2023 Swirling Hawk Reserve Pinot Noir is an exciting and distinctive limited bottling which saw just the heritage clones with 2/3rds Pommard and 1/3rd Swan, which brings out a different character of the vineyard with a more structured mouth feel and a fine delicate earthiness. The firm, ripe and youthful medium bodied palate of this bright Reserve Pinot shows vibrant raspberry, strawberry and currant, as well as a core of black cherry, along with sassafras, vanilla, a hint of truffle, orange tea, chalky stone and floral tones. This wine is opulent in texture, but with some grip and looks to evolve slowly and enjoy extended cellaring. The long growing season here, just about 7 miles from the Carmel Bay, allows for intense flavors and fruit density and we bring in the ripe and healthy grapes into the mid of October and they are careful sorted in the vineyard and on the sorting table. The clusters are full de-stemmed and gently crushed and put into temperature controlled open top stainless fermenters for a two week maceration and primary fermentation using selected cultures. After a small basket pressing the wine is racked to French oak barrels, where it finished malolactic fermentation with about 40% new wood, and rest being neutral wood, and it saw about 10 months of elevage, on the fine lees, without racking, before bottling. There’s also an estate Chardonnay, the Estate Pinot and this special barrel selection Reserve Pinot available now at the Arizini family’s Swirling Hawk, that are now just direct to their mailing list, which is up on their website.

David and Marieke Arizini, as I noted in my review of their ’22 Pinot, founded the Swirling Hawk property and vineyard just a few vintages ago, it is an all new small boutique winery located in the heart of Carmel Valley, just off the Los Laureles Grade and close to the famous Diamond-T Vineyard, and not far from Albatross Ridge and Pelio, in what has become an area known as the Carmel Coast. It’s an area a few miles from the original Carmel Valley AVA and sees much more cooling influence, it is also trying to become an AVA sub region of its own, and different from the deeper end of Carmel Valley in Monterey County. Perched on the hills overlooking Carmel Valley, Swirling Hawk Vineyards, only 7 or 8 miles from Carmel Bay and cool Pacific, captures the elements of nature in every vine. Each day, as inland heat rises, hawks swirl on the thermals that help ripen our Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes. Ocean fog cools the vines at night enhancing their quality. Clay-loam soil and deep shale beds, distinctive to the region, add complexity to our signature style. As mentioned I got turned on to this exciting new label by Frank Melicia, who as mentioned farms and makes the wine here, and who’s wines I’ve long admired, be it from Silvestri, where I love the Barbera, or Parsonage, known for some of Carmel Valley’s deepest reds, including Syrah, Petit Verdot, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, which have long been favorites of mine, so I’m excited to se the evolution here. Frank started here with this 2022 vintage and says there’s great potential and thinks his 2023 will turn some heads when it gets to bottle this fall, and he was right!

-KW, grapelive.com

www.swirlinghawkvineyards.com

The latest vintage Russell Joyce Collection Rodnick Farms Chenin Blanc from the chalky hillsides of Monterey’s Chalone AVA is a beautifully chiseled bone dry version of this Loire Valley grape with mineral toned austere peach, apple and tart citrus fruits, along with wet stone, bitter almond, leafy herbs, delicate white flowers, leesy bread dough, and faint hint of honey. All organic grapes, whole cluster stomped and a natural spontaneous native yeast fermentation led the way here with a cold soak and 24 hour hour settlement before going to barrel. This version, inspired by the drier and racier Saumur, Loire Valley, examples, relies on the limestone soils of Chalone for its terroir character, similar to the old world examples and where Chenin Blanc has been since 1919, and maybe being Monterey’s first plantings of noble varietals post the Mission grapes arrival in the late 1700s. The 1970s saw a huge expansion of Chenin Blanc in California, making it one of the most widely planted white varietals in the state, before the turn to Chardonnay in the 1980s and 1990s. Now Chenin is rising again in the new world, but without grand expectations and extensive plantings, it is gaining support from elite small batch producers, and we love to see it coming back! The Joyce version also saw only neutral French wood and almost no batonage, to keep freshness and transparency, while still having some vinous generosity. While mainly a wine club offering, we have some of this 2024 Chenin available in the tasting room and online at joycewineco.com.

Chenin Blanc, the famous grape of Vouvray, Saumur and Montlouis, also known also as Pineau de la Loire among other names, is a white wine grape variety from the Loire Valley of France where it makes some of France’s most sought after wines like those of Domaine Huet, Chidaine, Joly, Clos Rougeard, Lambert and Guiberteau. Chenin has been in California for a longtime and it was once as popular as Chardonnay if not more so prior to the early 1980s. Recently this grape has made a comeback and is highly regarded by sommeliers and wine geeks with many outstanding examples being made throughout California, below I am highlighting a few that really standout. Its high acidity means it can be used to make everything from sparkling wines to well-balanced dessert wines, although it can produce very bland, neutral wines if the vine’s natural vigor is not controlled. This renewed interest and the rise of Chenin in California looks set to be a thrilling movement, that looks unstoppable as people look to exciting alternative offerings, one just has to look at the success of Albarino, confirms the interest in grapes other than Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. California Chenin Blanc examples are led by a who’s who of stars, like Ted Lemon of Littorai, Pax Mahle, Chris Brockway of Broc Cellars, Justin Willett of Lieu-Dit, Leo Hansen of Leo Steen, Andrew Jones of Field Recordings, Ian Brand, Combe by Raj Parr and Stolpman Vineyards, Tegan Passalacqua of Sandlands, our own Russell Joyce of Joyce Wine Company and Jaimee Motley as well as the classics still made by Casa Nuestra, Chalone and Chappellet.

Visit www.joycewineco.com