duane@anasazi.UUCP (Duane Morse) (10/16/85)
I've just returned from vacationing in the California wine country (Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino, and Lake counties), and I have some notes for wine lovers. Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc. I'd never heard of this before, but a few wineries are selling Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc (usually half bottles) this year. It appears that unusually warm weather a couple of years ago forced wineries to spend extra time harvesting their reds, so their Sauvignon Blanc became "late harvest". It tastes similar to late harvest Riesling. Late Harvest Gewurztraminer. There's very little late harvest Riesling, but there's quite a bit of late harvest Gewurztraminer. Tastes fine. Dry Muscat Canelli. Pat Paulson has started at trend toward dry Muscat wines (less than 2% residual sugar). It has the expected bouquet but it doesn't taste like a dessert wine. Side note: it seems that sweet muscat wines from California may become scarce -- two wineries in Napa valley told me that they will discontinue their muscat wines after the 1985 vintage. White Zinfandel. More and more wineries are selling white Zinfandel, but they usually leave the skins on for a day so "white" Zinfandel ends up looking like a rose. At one winery I was told that the marketing division requested the rose color. Pinot Blanc. A number of wineries are selling Pinot Blanc. The only way I had tasted the grape before this trip was in champagne; the wine was pretty good. Tasting in general. October seems to be an excellent month to visit wineries in California. Most of the tourists are gone (except on weekends) but the weather is still nice. Where to go. If you've never visited the Russian River region of Sonoma County, you should. The region is prettier than Napa Valley, and there are lots of fine wineries. -- Duane Morse ...!noao!terak!anasazi!duane (602) 870-3330