Wow. 430 light years. And this weekend, in less than 43.0 minutes (at light speed, that is just under 480 million miles), we drove to Albireo.
In a car.
Albireo Vineyards, that is. And the wines are out of this world!
You see, we ran into our friend Daniel way back in January, and he told us about this winery, very small, owned by an astrophysicist named Nels. Think about it. Astronomy and Physics. Really science oriented. This is an important detail. Nels' partner is a retired NASA person, Christine, who was a research scientist in the orbital debris program. You know, the little stuff floating around in space that will kill you. This is an important detail also.
It was somewhere out of Shingletown, on the way to the Manton wineries, and every time we drove the road we looked for it, but no luck. I had an email address, however, and after a couple emails we finally were able to set up a visit. I have to tell you it was worth the effort and the wait.
So we got hold of a skeptical Steve and Kathy, and set off on Sunday to sample the wines. Near Manton we pulled off onto a dirt road, wound our way back, and ended up at a beautiful, two story redwood house on the side of the hill, with a commanding view of Lassen Peak, the park, and the Manton Valley. But... no vineyard in sight, and is there a tasting room?
"Goddamn," says I, "I hope they don't import their grapes from like Napa or somewhere and just crush them here."
Christine came out to greet us, and as we turned the corner of the house the five acre vineyard opened up right in front of us, below in an open meadow; Inskip Hill in the distance and the Manton Valley just below. Beautiful. We stood around outside in the chill air, admiring the view and talking before heading right into the basement of their house to find a wine cellar. There was a little table set just for us, four bottles of wine opened and ready to taste. We were surrounded by barrels, cases and glass carboys full of deep purple wine.
The skeptics in us were quickly becoming silenced, and we put the final cork in their annoying little mouths when we tasted the first wine.
First we tasted the Binary Barbera (two clones, two vintages of Barbera... binary... clever) which was the lightest of the four wines and was just delicious. Smooth, nice lingering taste, I thought it would be a good table wine for appetizers or a light meal.
We moved on the the 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon which I was really anticipating since I love cabernets. I was not disappointed. I think it was here that I noticed that the wines, while full bodied and rich tasting, seemed really clean and fresh as well.
The biggest surprise was the third wine we tasted: the 2010 Malbec. I was pretty blown away right when Nels started pouring it: a thick stream of the darkest purple-red, looking almost solid, connecting to the glass. The taste was rich, deep, dark and really coated your tongue and lingered. Maybe that is the "mouth feel" or "chewy" part of wine people talk about? I don't know, but the smell alone conjured up all sorts of memories of places we had traveled, and the taste brought lots of foods to mind. Nels suggested that he thought it was excellent with lamb, which got me to thinking about the local area, deer, hunting, venison... More about that later. This might be the perfect fall wine. Concentrated taste and deep color.
The tasting was wrapped up with the 2010 Petit Verdot. This too was an excellent wine, rich red and deep, satisfying taste. Of all their wines, they feel this one will store best.
General notes and comments about the winery and what we learned:
Nels and Christine do it all, from planting to netting for birds, picking to pruning, crushing and blending, bottling through hosting. So it is truly a small, family run, intimate winery and you can taste it in the wines. They use all natural ingredients, including the wild yeast from the vineyard. The wines are all unfiltered and unfined, and have heavy sediment in the bottle. Because of this they use a broad shouldered bottle so you can catch the sediment. I believe these things all have an impact on the rich tastes we experienced. Interesting enough, all the wines have a rather high alcohol content: 14.2% up to a high of 15.7% on the Malbec. Yet there is none of the harshness or (sometimes) loss of flavor sometimes associated with higher alcohol percentages.
Since they are a small operation, only 9 cases (Petit Verdot) to a maximum of 11 cases (Cabernet) were produced, and this is partly why I thought the price per bottle was reasonable. They should store well as they use long corks. We did not taste the 2011 Petit Verdot which Nels feels is even better tasting, or the Objet Trouvé which is their Bordeaux blend. Earlier I commented about Nels' scientific orientation, and Christine's attention to the very small, but highly damaging details. Really, when you think about the care they take to blend, keep the winery clean, and use of some scientific but different methods in their wine making, it all makes sense and comes together in a wonderful way.
Steve and Kathy picked up a bottle of each of the wines we sampled, while I doubled up on the Petit Verdot (one to drink now, one to rack for five years), and got the Cabernet and Malbec. Prices were in line at $27 a bottle (10% case discount).
We headed back to our house for part deux of the adventure: pairing some foods with the wines.
Gail had just returned from Oregon, where she picked up a quarter wheel of my favorite Rogue Creamery "Rogue River Blue" Cheese. The cheese is described on the website as "This unique artisan blue cheese reflects a deep connection to the land and artisanship. Taking a cue from centuries-old Basque and Provencal techniques (which featured brandy-soaked chestnut leaves), these rounds are lovingly hand-wrapped in local Carpenter Hill Vineyard Syrah leaves that have been macerated in Clear Creek Pear Brandy. Rogue River blue is made during the autumnal equinox and before the winter solstice from Brown Swiss and Holstein cow’s milk, certified sustainable by Food Alliance. The cows graze in 1250 foot elevation pastures bordering Rogue River, where they eat a variety of pasture and native grasses, hop clover, wild herbs, Himalayan blackberries and wild flowers, supplemented with grass hay, alfalfa and grain off the ranch."
To tell the truth, all this sounds a little heady to me. All I know is this: since I first had this blue cheese, I have not liked any other.
Meanwhile, I spent the day before making home made venison ravioli, roasting garlic (which was now soaking in a container of Jack Daniel's Gentleman Jack) and caramelizing onions (four slow hours).
I had a bottle of 2003 Asbill Cabernet (press) sitting out in anticipation of our meal, but we put that away in favor of the wines we had just purchased. This turned out to be an excellent move!
We decided to try the Petit Verdot with some bruschetta: blue cheese and garlic, blue cheese with walnut and honey, caramelized onion, and traditional tomato basil oil and cheese. The blue cheese bruschettas were an especially amazing combo with the wine.
But the real kicker was picking up on the Malbec and "gamey" lamb idea first suggested by Nels. The Malbec totally worked with the bacon, sauteed mushroom, and venison stuffed raviolis in aurora sauce. This was a real hit, especially with Kathy who doesn't even really like venison at all.
Thus, all skepticism fell away, a warm glow fell over us all, and as we walked our friends out to their car we looked quickly up at the stars to try to find Albireo. Alas, none of us are astronomers, so we had to be satisfied with the yellow and blue logo on the bottles instead.
So, I think I have a new favorite local winery. I really love Algers, in Manton, especially his "Lusty Red" table wine and the great food parties. Dakaro has become a favorite, and they have such a great variety, are willing to experiment, and what is better than a day sitting on the porch eating and drinking? Bertagna, near Chico has those really rich, red Italian wines I love, a beautiful setting and is close to the Sierra Nevada Brewery. Of course New Clairvaux is always steady, reliable, and located in a monastery, so the whole feel of the experience is heavenly.
But Albireo... I don't know. They were really great, really different; personable and really tasty wines.
The good news is that the only way to figure this out is by doing side - by - side tastings.
The better news is that I asked around, and I found someone who will volunteer to try it.
The best news of all is that someone is...
Me!