California's Sonoma County is an area that is blessed with an almost perfect grape-growing climate: cool morning fog, evening breezes off of the sea and warm daytime temperatures. This microclimate proves ideal for growing chardonnay and syrah grapes, as well as the very climate sensitive cabernet sauvignon and merlot. It also is one of the few areas outside of France where annual vintage dates are extremely important.
In most of the Californian vineyards, the vintage year is not terribly important unless the area was hit with unusual weather conditions such as too much rain, not enough rain, heat, cold or other natural occurrences. In most instances, these areas are blessed with a fairly even and predictable climate and will produce grapes that are perfect for decent table wines.
It is in the area of premium wines that vintage dates prove important.
Pinot noir vines are extremely sensitive to even slight changes in growing conditions. If it is too wet in the spring, you get a limited production of tiny grapes. If it is too hot in the summer, the grapes develop too much sugar and a much lowered level of fruit acid. If it is too warm and/or wet in the fall, all sort of fungus infections develop. If there are too many cloudy days, the sugar in the grapes recedes into the stems. Any or all of these problems will have a dramatic effect on the final product, which is the reason for vintage dating.
Just in passing, 2010 and 2011 were very good vintage years in Sonoma County's Russian River and Dry Creek regions.
Frei Brothers Reserve 2011 Russian River Valley Chardonnay ($20) The Russian River District is famous for some of the finest chardonnay wines coming out of California.
Big is the best term to describe this very fine wine. At a time when chardonnay wines are becoming commonplace and mundane, the Frei Brothers Reserve 2011 Russian River Valley Chardonnay is a refreshing view of an old standard.
This wine displays an up-front and quite obvious full-fruit aroma stressing citrus, pineapple, pear and springtime flowers. These aromas carry over to the flavor, where they mingle with tropical fruit and green apple. There is also a spicy, toasty under flavor that has just a slight hint of oak and vanilla.
This is a very friendly and enjoyable wine and a beautiful example of a quality Russian River Valley chardonnay in a perfect vintage year.
Frei Brothers 2010 Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel ($14)The grapes for the Frei Brothers 2010 Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel were carefully sought for specific characteristics the winemakers were looking for.
This is a wine exhibiting the fruit flavors and aromas of raspberries and cherries with the famed signature dusty flavor of the Dry Creek Valley in the background, which mingles with oak.
While this zinfandel is a great accompaniment to almost any meat dish, it is also definitely the king of the backyard barbecue, where it can beautifully accompany anything that comes off the grill.
Frei Brothers Reserve 2011 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir ($30)When it comes to pinot noir wines, we are known to be mean, sarcastic and curmudgeonly. Having experienced the very best of the best of the variety, it is hard to warm up to the mediocre. Not only did we warm up to this wine, it actually impressed us.
The first thing that caught our attention was the color, which is much darker than most California pinot noirs. Next, we found the aroma and the flavor to be extremely complex and multilayered. The aroma is an ever changing display of black cherry, blackberry and plum with leather, coffee and clove in the background. The flavor is just as expansive and explosive as is the aroma and concentrates on plum, blackberry and boysenberry with oak in the background.
This is a grand wine, in both meanings of the term; it is big and regal.
Nixa resident Bennet Bodenstein is a wine columnist and helps manage ArticlesOnWine.com with his wife, Sheila. He can be reached at frojhe@suddenlink.net.
