Battling the Breeze at the Monterey County Trade Tasting

May 3, 2024 – When glasses blow over and empty bottles are in peril, you know the breeze is stiff. It was a tale of two cities at the Monterey Trade Tasting last week, at the Carmel Mission Inn: if you were inside, life was fine. Outside, it was a different gale-whipped tale. Guess where the lines were longest?

There’s been a big shift in the attendance at these trade tastings over the 20 years I’ve been going to them. Once the domain of well-dressed white gentlemen with business cards in every pocket, and occasionally a beauty on his arm, it’s now mostly modestly dressed young-to-middle aged Hispanic men and women, representing not only the demographic shift of California, but also demonstrating how vertically integrated the wine and hospitality businesses have become. The people who have always done all the work behind the scenes are still doing the work, but are finally front and center in the foreground. And it was good to see more women of color on the distribution side as well. 

I sincerely enjoyed listening to the banter at the Silvestri table, for example, where Francisco Ramos was pouring an impressive lineup of wines from the Carmel Valley ranch of owners Alan and Sandra Silvestri to distributor reps. Although I was clearly not in on the jokes, it was abundantly clear that they were having a great time. The 2019 Barbera and 2019 Rising Tide Pinot Noir were very nicely done, especially the former, which shows lots of ripe fruit but enough sass to keep it from getting raisin-y. Remember Raisenettes? This wine, thankfully, is not like that. Barbera dumps acid really fast when it finally gets to flavor, and catching it just right is like being in the perfect place for an eclipse. 

While Pierce Ranch no longer participates in these tastings, their fruit was well represented on the table of Miguel Lepe, who, along with Lepe Cellars tasting room manager Tina Roth was pouring a solid range of San Antonio valley-sourced wines under the Lepe Cellars Label. This included a pink hued 2022 Sangiovese rosé from Merit Vineyards that could cut through cheesy chicken or eggplant Parmesan in nanoseconds with its rapier edge. Rated 92 pts by Wine Enthusiast (WE). 

From the Santa Lucia Highlands (SLH), Lepe sourced a 2021 sour cherry laced McIntyre Vineyard Pinot Noir (90 pts WE) and an absolutely spot on 2022 Gamay Noir from Highlands Vineyard (93 pts WE), loaded with fresh blackberry fruit and a distinctive black pepper rim.  

Back to San Antonio Valley we went for the zingy and refreshing 2021 red-fruited style of Zinfandel from Wellong Vineyards (90pts, WE), filled with flavors of its chaparral flanked home, including wild fennel, marjoram and green pepper spice. 

The flora surrounding a vineyard can dramatically influence the resulting wine and the 2021 Lepe Cellars Petit Verdot (91 pts, WE) tattled on the eucalyptus tree with which it shares space in the vineyard. There are no secrets among vines and their vegetative neighbors.  

Clearly, the smooth cocoa-powdered red fruit of the 2021 Lepe Malbec from Panhandle Vineyard, also in San Antonio Valley, hinted that it keeps less effusive and outgoing company. 

I don’t recall seeing Riboli Family at the last trade tasting and Jackson Family Wines was present this year, pouring a pretty broad lineup, among them a Siduri Pinot Noir. It’s probably old news by now, but Lone Oak Vineyard, a prized property of the Hahn Family, was sold to Jackson Family last year. 

Dawn Galante was pouring her 2022 Dawn’s Dream Rosé of Pinot Noir which had far more pigment and stuffing than did the 2023 Holman Ranch Susan’s Saignee of Pinot Noir. Both were made by Greg and Chris Vita for Holman Ranch, demonstrating their ability to serve multiple masters with aplomb and agility. The 2022 Dawn’s Dream SLH Chardonnay was a fun take on the grape with a richer, fruit-forward profile. 

Holman Ranch has certainly gone through some changes, including a complete remodel of the lodging units that are rented out for weddings and events. One thing that hasn’t changed though, is the winemaking team. The 2022 Three Brothers Pinot Noir done in 40% new French oak from clones 115, 828 and Swan, and the 2022 Estate Syrah aged in neutral oak puncheons, both showed off the Vitas’ prodigious talent. 

Another label that has seen much change is Talbott, although tasting room manager Josh Adams was pouring the last of the 2021 wines that former winemaker, David Coventry had made. The 2021 Sleepy Hollow Vineyard Chardonnay is showing plenty of flesh and concentration, with a surfeit of California sunshine-induced tan lines, while the 2021 Sleepy Hollow Pinot Noir fills out its polo shirt and Bermuda’s quite nicely, with just a ripple of muscle and a hint of dessert. A rep came by while I was chatting with Josh and asked if he had any Diamond T. Sadly, that vineyard was sold and Talbott/Gallo is no longer getting that fruit. Winemaker Kamee Knudson decided to make some other fun experiments in lieu of the Diamond T, but you just can’t replace or replicate the terroir of that storied spot.

David Baird of Common Thread was pouring his excellent 2022 lineup, starting with the slickly satisfying Chenin Blanc that manages to avoid any reference to wax, whether associated with poetry or not.  Call me a gal who sees life through rose-colored glasses (that would be me), but that skin contact 2022 Pinot Gris is still the prettiest, most glamorous looking wine in the room. It positively glows like a lava lamp and can accompany anything you’d be tempted to serve with a lighter style Pinot Noir, and yet it’s a white wine whose color is obtained by 3 days of skin contact.  His entire lineup just rocks, and the range of sensations packed into the 2022 Three Strands, a blend of Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Pinot Meunier, has you rattling off descriptors like cranberry soda, cherry pie, raspberry petit fours and strawberry rhubarb galette while you feast on everything from focaccia topped with artichokes and sundried tomato to chicken fricassee. Or, you could just say, Yum. 

Sabrine Rodems, the wizardress winemaker of Scratch and Wrath, has talents as manifest as her boundless energy. She was pouring a sassy Scratch Riesling as bracing as the seacoast chill. Her wines always make you stop and think. 

Rexford was pouring its newly released 2022 Tondré Grapefields SLH Pinot Noir, which was a bowlful of ripe cherries and ready to welcome fruit lovers who think PN from Monterey is too acidic. Nay nay! Tondré is the go-to if you want big mouthful, solidly ripened fruit and a satisfying finish.  

Keith Prader from Shale Canyon was his usual jovial self, and the wines are maturing along with the rest of us. The 2018 Cab Franc still has a nice hint of pine incense and chapparal to keep it interesting. 

Scheid was pouring their 2023 Sauv Blanc which is that classic pina colada profile with a squeeze of sweet lime, as well as their Metz Road wines, which really are so special. The 2021 Chardonnay is deft and peachy with good oak treatment, and the 2021 Metz Road Pinot Noir is solid. 

Russell Joyce had the lineup of the day, with home runs on every single pour of his 2023 Joyce Wines, including the stunning Alpine strawberry and rhubarb-laced rosé of Mourvedre and Grenache, the pineapple-punch and gooseberry packed Sauv Blanc from Griva Vineyard, and the lime-nectarine saltwater taffy Albariño from several vineyards in Arroyo Seco. But it was the lively and quite fruity Vermentino from Cedar Lane Vineyard under the Russell Joyce label that really tripped the wire. 

One of the reps said his wife likes sweet wines, to which Joyce replied that all his wines are dry. Upon tasting the Vermentino, with its white peachy core layered with a punch of citrus and Meyer lemon, the rep broke into a wide smile and said, “Oh, I think she’d really like this!” His companion nodded in agreement: this was different, refreshing and satisfying. While the wine might not have any residual sugar, its flavors are simply luscious. Joyce says that he could not wait to get the 2023s into bottle to capture their sheer vivacity and freshness.

“That really was a perfect vintage: long, cool, great flavor development and great concentration,” he said. “It was absolutely an ideal vintage: the best in years!”