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Eco-friendly wines at Fayetteville Wine Society meeting - Printable Version

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- wondersofwine - 10-06-2009

Last night's meeting of the Fayetteville (NC) Wine Society focused on eco-friendly wines. We had flights of three wines from sustainable vineyards, three from organically grown grapes or certified organic wineries, and three from biodynamic producers with some overlap of categories. Because of the grouping by "green qualities" we jumped around from whites to reds and back. Refreshments consisted of a jumbo grilled shrimp, a crab cake and some beef bites and a dessert of chocolate bon bon.

Sustainable viniculture:
2008 Benziger Chardonnay, Carneros (Sonoma Mountain, Glen Ellen, CA) Both sustainable and organic. Fermented in European oak. I liked this. While some found vanillin as evidence of oak treatment, it also revealed some nice clean tropical fruit and may have been a blend of wine from neutral and new oak or some from stainless steel fermentation.

2007 Paraiso Estate Pinot Noir, Santa Lucia Highlands Bright, deep rose color. Raspberry flavor and something else that neither I nor my neighbor to the right could pin down. I ordered one bottle of this at the price of $26+. Not as imposing a wine as some from SLH but very pleasant I thought.

2006 L'ecole No. 41 Merlot, Columbia Valley. As one of the organizers said, a little tight at this young age but showing promise.

Organic:
2005 Domaine Carneros Brut, Carneros, CA
Okay sparkler. Didn't blow me away.

2008 Elizabeth Spencer Sauvignon Blanc, Mendocino, CA
Tasted a bit rich--possibly some oak treatment?

2004 Jeriko Estate Syrah, Mendocino, CA 100% organically grown grapes
Sanel Valley, lower Mendocino Aromas of pepper and mixed berries--same on palate. Some thought the finish was short but I really liked this and ordered two bottles at the bargain price of under $15 per.

Biodynamic producers:
2007 Ferraton Croze-Hermitage Blanc 100% Marsanne I like the Ferraton Croze-Hermitage red wine but this seemed bland.

2007 Maysara Estate Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, OR
I have had PN from this producer once before and was not enamored with it then or now. The one from California won out in this evening's comparison.

2007 Bodega Colome Malbec, Salta, Argentina
The vineyard at over 10,000 feet is the highest vineyard in the world. We were informed that the high altitude results in thicker skinned grapes. Viscous, lots of color. Nice nose and pleasant on the palate. May have Cabernet Sauvignon and Tannat blended with the Malbec. Several attendees put in orders for this wine but I liked the Paraiso PN and the Jeriko Syrah better. (Bodega Colome wines appear to have a tie-in with Hess Collection.)


- andrawes76 - 10-06-2009

WOW thanks for sharing the organic wines piece. These are often harder to locate and pin down because a lot of producers find it to be a pain to market and label themselves sustainable or organic. I'm gonna hunt these down and compare notes.