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Introducing "Savage Juliet" and more fun stuff!
Tasting notes, old time history, great recipes and more!!!
As those of you that have been with us a while are aware, we do much homage to our heritage and remembrances of those people that prepared the way for us...
"Savage Juliet" and "The Smart Set" join the Dain Wines offerings for 2005.
Savage Juliet
She was the captain and center for her high school basketball team. When she and my grandfather married, she wanted a woman minister to perform the ceremony. She was a teacher of literature to her students and a pioneer of organic agriculture and biodynamic farming (I found pamphlets of Pfeiffer's early work in her library). Today these accomplishments would be commendable; in 1932 they were ground breaking. When Zelda Loeta Estes Smith passed on a few years ago, my family eventually got to the task of cleaning out the relics of the ancestral home of my grandparents. In the attic, my daughters and I found a stack of hat boxes filled with hats from a past era (she loved hats!). Bringing back very early memories for me, as I recall seeing Loeta (she hated the name Zelda) wearing some of these years ago. On the boxes, the name "Savage Juliet" figured proudly. A women's clothing store from the 20's and 30's, "Savage Juliet" was a favorite of my grandmothers. Very stylish and classic, it fits her that she would chose hats and clothing from this now long forgotten and long since past art deco clothing store. But stylish and classic fit Loeta. Now and then, my daughters try on some of these hats. Gotta love that! Savage Juliet is also the name of an alternative country band these days, also very fitting don't you think?
Savage Juliet is the result of our efforts with a long time favorite vineyard site, Hein Vineyard, in the Anderson Valley, Mendocino County. We are fortunate and grateful to be able to work with this fruit and I am confident you will find this wine to be a proud representative of this most worthy appellation.
The Smart Set
Knowing W. Ramey Smith it is only fitting he would marry the girl that was captain of the basketball team. A man with healthy respect for things literary, Ramey would be fond of a reference to H. L. Mencken and The Smart Set. Faults of Mencken aside, he was a stern and solid intellect with little patience for foolish thought. My grandfather would stand firm for that. While outwardly strong and perhaps even stubborn, Ramey was a kind and generous person as well. When the great depression hit in 1929, his college career was ended. This was a source of much frustration and depression for Ramey. He swore that every one in his family would be able to get an education or he would know why! All of his grandsons are grateful for that. I am especially grateful for the trip Ramey and Loeta gave me to the New York World's Fair in 1964. Just a shy boy from Missouri (Clash quote alert), it was a revelation for me. Don't we all benefit from broadened horizons? Outwardly stern, privately gentle, I remember long walks to check on the cattle (my grandparents raised cattle in the Ozarks) and my grandfather would sing old Celtic songs with no name I know of. When I mention this to others, they seem amazed that Ramey ever sang, at all. I guess I am the only one that knows his songs. I often walk our path and hear them still.
The Smart Set hails from Santa Barbara and the White Hawk Vineyard. A well known terroir with very sandy soil, White Hawk Vineyard has no shortage of fans, including us! Somewhat stern in youth, this wine will sing with the mellowing of some age.
This past weekend I was able to taste through our barrels of 2005 vino. My notes are below for the wines specifically but first I have a few comments on the vintage in general that I hope will be useful for you, gentle reader.
As you may recall, 2005 began with a cool wet spring and the net effect on some areas ranged from slightly lower yields to significant shatter and greatly reduced yields. 2005 was not marked by the heat spikes of 2004 and a relatively cool dry September resulted in good ripeness and natural acidity without extremely high sugar levels. Vineyards affected only slightly by shatter produced moderate to good yields and extremely good looking fruit. Some areas, particularly the extreme western Sonoma Coast were adversely affected by the shatter and yields were extremely curtailed. In the case of vineyards used by Dain Wines, we were very fortunate to have good but not high yields and benefited from what has been called by some, a potentially great vintage for California pinot noir. After the wine of 2003 and 2004, it is kind of hard to tell these are actually alcoholic beverages, I mean that in a good way!
Yeah, yeah, blah, blah, blah. Every vintage is great in California, where are your notes?
OK... the pinot:
American Beauty, Amber Ridge Darien Vineyard Russian River Valley
Medium ruby, earthy nose with spice and red fruit, flavors of bing cherry, cranberry and pomegranate with cinnamon and the slightest hint of cola and Jolly Rancher Cherry on the finish. Red fruits are the order of the day, very typical RRV profile with cool vintage elegance.
Dandy, Brosseau Vineyard, Chalone
Dark ruby, with a meaty, bacon nose and hint of animal fur, this wine is showing earthy notes and darker fruit than the American Beauty. The 2005 Dandy is a structured wine with cherry, clove, talc and limestone minerality showing a long finish and ripe fine grain tannins.
Rebel, Rancho Ontiveros Vineyard, Santa Maria Valley
Medium to dark ruby color, with air this wine reveals dark spice and Darjeeling tea notes. On the palate, ripe red and black cherry, raspberry, blackberry and red plum flavors are supported by nice fresh acidity. Some mocha vanillin and hint of cola, yes djarling darling!
Savage Juliet, Hein Vineyard, Anderson Valley
Medium ruby garnet colors, showing a floral nose with tangy cherry and raspberry flavors, talc, tear salt and autumn rain. Hint of blood orange, refreshing cut and lift to the fruit are added from the bright acidity.
Our syrah offerings:
Sojourn, Las Madres Vineyard, Carneros, Napa Valley
Dark purple, olives, olives, olives on the nose; think Cornas. Beef and blood and blackberry on the palate with hints of white pepper make this wine loads of fun in my ever so biased opinion.
The Smart Set, White Hawk Vineyard, Santa Barbara
Blackberry and meaty notes, earth and bright fresh acidity frame the silky but structured palate. This will be a cellar item for a time, time and half a time.
For more notes on our wines from Pinot Days, feel free to follow these links to the thoughts of others that tasted our wine.
What to eat???
Well this newsletter comes with another great Salmon recipe provided by one of our very own mailing list members. Lou Briccant as he is known on the wine bulletin boards, where he uses his powers for good, not evil. Joe Hevey as he is known to his family and friends in real life, where he no doubt uses his great recipes for good deeds!! Thanks Joe!! I have tried this Herb de Provence Salmon and it is absolutely great!!
Download Recipe
One more item before I bid adieu for now...
Be on the look out in our next newsletter for another market research questionnaire. It will be much like last year for those of you that have been with us a while and for those of you recently joining us, be aware we like to poll our members for advise on what constitutes good service! Of course, like last year, we have a random drawing for free wine and Dain T-shirts. This year there will be more chances to win. YES, more chances to win(e) for submitting your survey results. As in free wine and a Rebel shirt!
Until then, all the best and...
Health, grace and peace,
Dain
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