Wine Tasting, Vineyards, in France

Frenchtown Farms, Oregon House (California)

Aaron & Cara Mockrish

Oregon House, California Sierra Foothills
Aaron and Cara Mockrish who now run Frenchtown Farms are of a new generation of winemakers who spend most of their attention and care in the vineyard. They're passionate about the vineyard and the farming, Aaron says that they want to do it all by themselves because they love it, and if he begins to have to manage people for the vineyard work and do some saleswork, he'll lose the fun and excitement of his job. Both of them had been managing a farm in the area before getting in contact with wine in 2014. At the time they were living 30 minutes from here, growing vegetables and raising sheep, and ended up growing vines too although they had no experience in that part of agriculture or with winemaking. One friend brought them one day a bottle of Clos Saron which he told them was made nearby and this was an awakening experience, that such a wine of this quality was made right here in Oregon House, it shifted something in them, Cara says... That's how they came in contact with Gideon Beinstock (the winemaker behind this wine) who has an extensive experience in the region for both viticulture and winemaking. This region is the North Yuba AVA in central California north of Sacramento, a tiny wine region where natural winemaking and organic viticulture thrives. Aaron is from New York and Cara from Connecticut, But Cara's grandmother grew up in Placerville 2 hours from here and she came over here quite a few times, it's funny, she says, that her grandmother moved to connecticut to get married and she (Cara) did it samely but the other way around, moving here in Oregon House to get married (this took place shortly after our visit).

Aaron and Cara have a lot of friends in the restaurant industry, they were interested in wine but lacked the experience, so they began working with Gideon to learn, which led them unexpectedly to have the opportunity to harvest the fruit next door at Renaissance, where a large surface of vineyard was sitting idle with no one getting the fruit. In 2016 they moved closer to Renaissance to a place named Frenchtown on the outskirts of Oregon House (itself a very small place) where they lived in a large house and worked with a partner. They didn't follow a formal training at a wine school, all they learned was from working with Gideon. They also learn from their friend Dani Rozman (La Onda) who makes wines not far from here and has also a good experience

Lo-Fi Wines, Buellton (California)

Mike Roth pouring

Buellton, California
Here is a small winery in the Santa Barbara County,
Lo-Fi, it makes its wine from purchased grapes in a cooperative-style facility housing some 8 boutique wineries under its roof on the outskirts of Buellton, on US 101 in the Santa Ynez Valley. Mike Roth and associate Craig Winchester are making wines naturally using wild yeast and little or no sulfites, with the aim to make easy-drinking wines. I found the square grey building with ease, and we skipped inside where it was enjoyingly cool and the light more bearable. Inside was Mike Roth who greated us warmly, Mike was listed in 2015 by John Bonné of the San Francisco Chronicle in the 10 young winemakers to watch.

I asked Mike, who is born in New Jersey, about how he ended up making wine, he says he initially wanted to be a chef, a cook, since he was interested by food as a kid already. Family pressure (father as often) pushed him to the university but after college he went back to the restaurants, this was around 1995/96 in North Carolina and through food he discovered wine, which made him move eventually to California. Now Mike even has a vineyard of his own in Los Alamos where they opended recently a tasting room and he buys grapes from Coquelicot while also making their wine. It's more contracted acreage than grape purchase and he can dictate the farming, and anyway he controls their farming in general because he makes their wine too. Mike Roth and Craig winchester (they know each other since they were teenagers) make wine under the Lo-Fi label since 2012, before that Mike was making wine for other people.

Peter Martin Ray vineyards (California)

Frédéric Ballario in the vineyard

Saratoga, Santa Cruz Mountains, California
Here in California it's pretty common to have the growers on one side and the winery/winemaker on the other side as because or land price it's easier for wineries to buy fruit to growers. The issue with this type of relation is often that wineries aren't controlling the farming and get fruit that is grown with productivity and volume in mind, not quality. Here is Peter Martin Ray Vineyards [not to mistake with the Martin Ray Winery which is a conventional winery], a grower which is sought-after for its demanding vineyard management and excellent location in this part of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The parcels are located at the top of a hill next to the one with the historic Montebello-Ridge vineyards, and thanks to the farming, the altitude and terroir they grow beautiful grapes for a short list of wineries - Welcome to the uncharted vineyards of California... The grapes of Peter Martin Ray Vineyards are purchased by wineries like Ceritas and also Arnot-Roberts, which says it all by itself, and also by young winemakers like Jaimee Motley and the two guys behind Birichino Wines. I discovered this grower thanks to Frédéric Ballario who previously worked for AmByth, another exceptionnal domaine in that regard for its dry farming and non-interventionist winemaking in the very dry region south of Paso Robles (he now works for this little-known grower).

You know that what makes the quality of a wine is basically the grapes and vineyard behind it, it's now obvious for everyone that you can't make good wine with improperly-managed vines and at the opposite, you almost can't but make good wine if the balance is there in the vineyard side. What is fully understandable for artisan winemakers is a problem for commercial-minded wineries where volume is considered as an imperative in their business. For the same price they'd rather buy high-yield, irrigated fruit to growers and do afterwards all sort of corrections in the cellar to get something their oenologist deem drinkable. It is encouraging to see both in the Old World and the New World that more and more rebels shrug off this mainstream approach and get back to the fundamentals of winemaking : the grapes.

Visit at Nicolas Renard (Loire)

Nicolas Renard with Alex Bernardo

Amboise, Touraine (Loire)
This was an impromptu visit at the cellar of Nicolas Renard, we didn't know if the elusive cult vigneron was there on a saturday but as Alex Bernardo was visiting me in my Loire retreat for the weekend we gave it a try and drove over there. you know from my story about Nicolas that he's having his own surface here in the Loir-et-Cher and very hopeful on the recovery of his large parcel in the middle of the woods. Alex Bernardo at Vineyard Gate in San Francisco is the only one (along with Mrs Yasuko Goda for Japan) to got to export his wines and for the American wine lovers (shipment soon on its way) who knew Nicolas from his years at Lemaire Fournier that is a rare priviledge. I'm not overdoing it because Alex has a banner on my site but he was indeed a precursor more than once, he was the first to sell Clos Roche Blanche on the West Coast back in 1999 and at the time it was a hard sell, people in the region weren't aware of CBR wines, he also discovered Jolly Ferriol for the California wine lovers.

Vincent Bergeron, Montlouis (Loire)

Vincent Bergeron with wife and son

Montlouis-sur-Loire, Loire
You may remember my story/profile on Frantz Saumon, the Montlouis producer, this was here a few months ago in this very house and as planned, Frantz moved since most of his winery elsewhere near his wife's own and Vincent Bergeron moved in. This was a beautiful ride from the Cher valley to Montlouis on another sunny day, this time I didn't come across the wild goat that wanders around wherever it wants in and out of the property, but before I left I could spot it briefly in the distance, a goat with a character of its own, indeed...

You already know the place (hasn't changed since Frantz Saumon left), it's so quiet at the end of this dirt road in Husseau, the lower part of Montlouis close to the mighty Loire, and the cellar/chai sits conveniently on the back of the house under the hill. Living right next the workplace has certainly its drawbacks like when you tend to be there even in the middle of private time but with this environment the advantages stand out, especially when you raise kids.

Wine News (72)

Great Cabernet Sauvignon

My sister had brought me this bottle which she found in Lyon or a trip in the Rhone and we waited to open the bottle, it happened to be a very enjoyable wine. It's vinifies naturally on wild yeast, is (and feels) unfiltered. The Domaine Le Mazelet which I didn't know is located in Ardèche and managed by a Dutch and a Brit (Kim Nasmyth & Ronald Van Breemen) from what I found out on the Web. These outsiders are again making a terrific job, and with a label like this one I was almost sure I'd like the wine. I'm looking forward to trying more of their wines. Feels harmonious and well balanced, with a juicy mouth sporting a moderate 13% alcohol.

Open Doors at Christian Venier (Loire)

The courtyard at the wine farm

Candé-sur-Beuvron, Loire
It's been years I wanted to go at the yearly open doors of Christian Venier, it's not that far from where I stay on weekends in the Loire and Noëlla Morantin who had first told me about it said it was a friendly small-size event not to miss. Better late than never I went there this year, and thanks to Emily Dilling, the Californian expat who is making craft beer in Touraine, because I met her on the saturday market in Saint-Aignan and she told me (or reminded me, I should have known) that it was this very weekend...

Christian Venier's open doors is actually a small tasting event with a bunch of fellow winemakers, it takes place in the courtyard of the lovely family wine farm which sits near a samely-lovely village (pictured on left) a handful kilometers south of Blois, actually in a separate hamlet in the outskirts of Candé, named Madon. This village sits at a very close distance from other artisan vignerons, people like the Puzelat brothers, Hervé Villemade, Claude Courtois. I reached the area on my motorbike from the Cher valley, the smell on the side roads was gorgeous with all the acacias blooming and bending under the weight of all these white flowers (see picture on right). I love the beignets de fleurs d'acacia and by the way Emily has a recipe for that, and next year I swear I take the time to go pick flowers and make some. Anywhere you drive there are plenty of acacias, I guess all you have to do is choose a small road with little traffic to be sure your flowers are clean.

A visit at Julien Pineau, Touraine (Loire)

Julien, Juliette Pineau with baby girl

Mareuil-su-Cher, Touraine (Loire)
I visited Julien Pineau the other day in their new home as he and Juliette were busy preparing horsetail tea for a later spraying. He and Juliette have moved on since they took over half of Clos Roche Blanche vineyards surface some 3 years ago. They lived in a couple of different rentals until they found out about this old farm that was for sale in the village. They had the living quarters nicely renovated by and architect friend who did a good job and moved in at the end of last year with their baby girl. there's lots of grassy land around, I'm sure there'll be a colorful vegetable garden one of these days, what a beautiful surrounding for their baby to grow in....

When I arrived here on my motorbike almost straight from Paris, Julien, Juliette and Paul Gillet were fixing the mobile gas stove on which they'd heat the water for the herb tea intended for the vineyard. Julien used to prepare these concoctions at Paul Gillet's Les Maisons Brûlées (like here for the 501) but it was time for him to do them at home now that he was beginning to have a home and soon a facility of his own. THe issue when i arrived was with Paul Gillet (who was there to give a hand) to get the narrow hose get into the somehow larger tip on the gas-stove side. I brought my own engineering experience, like using a previously-heated spear-like metal piece to soften and enlarge the hose, add to that a bit of soapy water and it's done. Certainly not square job but artisan vignerons work with whatever means they have at reach and you can make miracles with old tools.

Mettler winery (Israel)

Heinz Mettler checking the apex of his Petit Verdot

Agur, Israel
This visit was very interesting on many regards, it helped me understand how the winemaking wave has grown deep in the country, here is a very small operation with maybe 2000 bottles yearly altogether all sold locally including to occasional busloads of domestic visitors who kind of want to experience a wine tour deep in the country. The Mettler Winery is located in Agur also at mid distance between Jerusalem and Ashkelon, in a moshav backed to a relatively large forest, maybe 7 kilometers from the green line. This is a mom-and-pop operation, actually set next to the owners' home with a leafy garden around and the parcels very close.

Heinz Mettler came in the wine trade very late, in 2014. His life story is interesting, he came originally from Switzerland, landing here in Israel in 1975, by accident he says, at a time he was living a travel life; he's not Jewish but he liked the place and stayed in the country with his girlfriend, finding work thanks to his engineering skills (compressors & electric motors) in the Sinai region which was then still under Israeli control. When the Sinai was given over to Egypt he moved west in different places until he decided to look for a quiet house in the back country. He had always been a passionate biker, rinding successively a Triumph Bonneville, a Motoguzzi and a BMW (occasionally going through a couple of accidents) and while touring around the area of Agur which is a biker's paradise with its winding roads, he knew that was the place. Finding a house is not always easy in Israel, Heinz had found a couple of ones in the north of Israel but hadn't managed to finalize the deal with the issue of multiple owners when the sale involves inheritance issues. Here in this moshav he found a house with lots of renovation work to do but a great garden around if also with lots of work to do in it to bring it back to its old glory.

Sphera winery (Israel)

Doron Rav Hon in his facility

Givat Yeshayahu, Jerusalem hills
This is yet another interesting winery that has appeared fairly recently on the Israeli wine scene, Sphera, which makes wines from a 3,5-hectare vineyard surface. The facility is located in moshav Givat Yeshayahu that was originally created in 1958 by Hungarian immigrants, this is in the Jerusalem area (mid-distance between Jerusalem and Ashkelon, south of Beit Shemesh) and its particularity is that it only makes white wines. Zeev, my knowledgeable informant for the wine scene here is a fan of their wines and suggested a visit, that was a very good idea.

Doron wasn't into wine initially he studied communication, got his degree but after 2 years he felt it was not a job for him and at that time he was working also in the restaurant and catering business and it was an opportunity for him to become familiar with wine, especially that since he was young he was gifted for everything related to aromas and tastes, so at one point he decided it was not enough to serve the wines , he wanted to have his try at making some himself. He then applied for studying at a wine school in France, sending applications to the ones of Montpellier, Beaune and Bordeaux, was accepted to all and after a trip with his wife to choose among the 3 regions and towns, Beaune & Burgundy appeared as being the evident choice. So that's where he studied his BTS Viti Oeno from 2000 to 2002, working for his training time at Domaine Jacques Prieur in Meursault. Then back in Israel he worked as a winemaker for 10 years for Ella Valley Vineyards very close from here, after which he decided to be brave enough to starting his own winery, Sphera.