​I’ve avoided reviewing wineries that are not open to the public, i.e., require making reservations before visiting.  In fact, I’ve only visited two such.  A few days ago, I was taken to one such winery by my intrepid crew of adventurous wine lovers.  I learned that the winery, Castelli Family Vineyards, has a very good reason for requiring reservations, namely, they are in a gated community – without the code for the gate you can’t get to their winery!  So, they are forgiven.  Of course, given what I found there it is I who should be looking for forgiveness….
Castelli Family Vineyards is located in Ramona not far from the intersection of Archie Moore and Highland Valley Road.  As you can see in the pictures below, they have a pretty nice site.  The inside is pretty nice as well.  It being a hot day, we wound up at a long table on the inside.  

​A friend of one of our group lives in the gated community and joined us.  Turns out, she grows grapes on her property, some of which goes to Castelli to make wine – including Viognier grapes already pressed and fermenting in a vat in the tasting room -- see picture below.  Note that this is just the juice fermenting.

​Tasting is $16 for the five wines, the five wines at the top of the list shown below.  I didn’t particularly care for the Chardonnay (noting that I’m more of a red wine fan), but the Sangiovese, Syrah, and Petite Sirah where all quite nice.  Which gets us to the third wine on the list – the estate Pinot Noir.

Pinot Noir grapes are not supposed to grow well in hot climates.  Pinot Noir is a cool climate grape.  So, naturally, I was prepared for the worst.  But my fellow winers insisted that this was a really good wine.  The first thing I noticed about the wine is its color – rather than the light red of most Pinot Noirs it is a dark red, almost purple, much like the Cambria Clone 23 Pinot Noir.  But the winemaker, Nelson Pizzaro, assured me it was not Clone 23.  So, I tasted the wine – and it was quite fruity, more dark cherry than red cherry.  Aha!  I suspected the grapes were quite ripe when picked.  Bingo!
BRIX is a measure of the amount of sugar in the grape juice.  Winemakers look to this measurement as a guide when to pick their grapes.  Most white wines are picked at a BRIX under 24, whereas red wines are 24 and above.  If you multiply the BRIX number by 0.59 you get a good estimate of the alcohol level in the wine made from the grapes.  Nelson told us that he planned on picking the grapes at a BRIX of 24.5.  When they got to that level, he arranged for the picking.  Well, between the time he measured the 24.5 and the picking date the BRIX rose to 27!  Rather than dilute the juice to lower the alcohol level, he went ahead and made the wine.  Good move!  This wine is excellent, maybe the best Pinot Noir produced from grapes grown in Southern California.  Amazingly, the high alcohol content (16% by volume) is hardly noticeable.
Now I planned to have a picture of this wine in a glass so you could see the dark color.  Unfortunately, every time I poured some in a glass it disappeared….
They have a wine club.  It costs $100 to join the club, and you agree to purchase 3 bottles of wine per quarter.  Price discount is 20%, and tasting is free for two people per visit, with another two tastings available for $6 each.  Additional guests get the wine club glass price.
They have a caterer that provides food (pizza, et al.), or you can bring your own.  Also, entertainment!  On September 25th from 6 PM to 9:30 PM they are having a great party, with corn hole, I Love Lucy and grape stomp competitions, dinner and a glass of wine.  Price is $63 per person or $125 per couple.
On a more somber note, they lost most of their 2018 grape crop due to excessive heat.

The price for tasting has gone up, from $18 to $20, but it seems everything else has stayed the same – well, not exactly.  The three best that I mentioned in my last review are still very good – Aglianico, Montepulciano, and, especially, their Syrah.  But we also tasted a very, very nice Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, and – I hate to admit it – Chardonnay!!!  Their Chardonnay is unoaked, dry, but with hints of butter and maybe yeast – well, Doc Ed claimed the yeast.  My palate is not that good – I barely detected the butter.  To me it tasted of pear and maybe melon.  Anyway, if you are a Chardonnay fan worth looking into.
If you are following this discussion, you may also notice that I’ve called out six different varietal wines as being quite nice to very good.  That is very rare.  It can only be achieved by very careful selection of the varieties to grow and a deep understanding of optimum growing conditions, not to mention the breadth of wine-making expertise required.  My thanks to Steve Chapin, Chapin winery owner and wine-maker!  Now, how about planting some Tanat?
Chapin still serves you the wine at the table, and the wines are all reasonably chilled.  I’ve attached some pictures of the winery.  Oh, I should add that they are leading a river cruise up the Duoro River from Portugal into Spain.

​Our expedition began north of the San Diego River basin, forty intrepid explorers and our trusted guide Ignacio.  This would be a perilous journey, but we were buoyed by the lure of the riches to be found in the legendary Guadalupe Valley.  But it would not be an easy journey.  We would have to pass the wall of broken promises, traverse a narrow trail along the edge of the Pacific Ocean, and come uncomfortably close to the dreaded House of the Devil.  OK, so much for the theatrics.
Baja California is the leading wine producing region of Mexico, with around 150 wineries and representing about 75% of the country’s wine output.  It should be noted that a great deal of the grapes grown in the other areas of Mexico are used to make Port, meaning Baja produces most of the dry wines made in the Mexico.  About 90% of their production is sold in Mexico.
The Guadalupe Valley is the northern-most wine growing region in Baja, sitting just east of the port city of Ensenada.  It has seen great growth in the past ten years or so.  I speculate that this growth is due in part to its proximity to Ensenada and the cruise ship industry.  The wineries are close enough to the city for wine tasting excursions.
So now back to our expedition.  Wine tasting was not the focus of our journey, so we only visited two wineries.  While the area is rife with boutique wineries, our party was too large for them to accommodate us.  It turned out to be a case of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.  I already mentioned the Ugly – La Casa del Diablo.  Located on the coast road about half way between Tiajuana and Ensenada, this monstrosity shown below is up for sale.  I’m sure you’ll want to put a bid in right away.

The Good was a winery called Viñedos de la Reina.  The winery is only a few years old, with about 12 acres planted in the Guadalupe Valley.  However, they have another hundred or so acres to the south in the San Vincente Valley.  All of the wines we tasted came from grapes grown in that region.

The first wine they served was a Chardonnay in the Chablis vein, that is to say, unoaked and without that buttery taste we associate with Chardonnay.  The buttery taste, by the way, is attributed a process known as malolactic fermentation.  The normal acid formed in grapes is malic acid, also found in apples, with a pH around 3.3.  Certain bacteria will convert this malic acid to lactic acid, the type found in milk products (such as – you guessed it – butter).  From what I have read this always happens with red wines, suggesting that the bacteria reside on the grape skins.  With white wines, where the juice is separated from the skins before fermentation, it only occurs when the winemaker wants.  Top picture is two perfect strangers with glasses of the Chardonnay.  Yes, perfect strangers -- never seen them before....

ToJust that one white wine, then on to the good, i.e., their red wines.  First red we tasted was their Sangiovese, a very nice wine followed up by a quite nice Malbec.  Then the star of the show appeared in our glasses – Nebbiolo.  Well, it was the star of the wine tasting.  So here’s what happened:
Before the wine tasting we were taken on a tour of their very new facility.  Along the way our guide (and resident Sommelier) Alejandro Acevedo discussed the San Vicente Valley and, of course, the grapes that they grow there – the varieties that we would later taste, as well as Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Tempranillo (ugh!), and Tanat.  After the wine tasting we had dinner at the winery, so naturally we ordered a bottle of Tempranillo… just kidding!  No, we did not order Tempranillo.  We ordered Tanat, and it was really, really good, and then it was gone so we got another bottle….
First picture below is of the tasting patio, followed by a picture of the dining area.

Bottom line, they had some very good red wines, good enough to haul a half of a case back across the border.  The picture below is of their Sommelier carefully picking out the wines that he thought we would like.  Four of these are shown in the next picture.

​As the we head into the holiday weekend, I thought it worth reminding you that wineries in Southern California, especially the boutique ones in San Diego County,  are more than places to go shopping for wine.  The San Diego County winery scene is more about a place to go, our version of the neighborhood bar where everyone knows your name, than the sterile Napa or even Temecula large wineries. 
For example, on Memorial Day this year we met with a great group of friends (there were eighteen of us) for a party at Vineyard Grant James.  Brought our own food and music (see pictures below).  Fun time.

​Then, this past Sunday, I dropped in on Principe di Tricase with a few friends just to pick up wine.  It was pretty hot, so we did not plan on spending too much time there.
Well, sometimes the best laid plans of mice and men aft gang aglay.  Turns out, they had a great band playing – Relic Ruckus – cold Sangria and pizza, so we stayed.  Great afternoon.  Oh, I should mention that we tasted some new white wines – Fiano and Malvasia – that you might not find anywhere else.  Italian wines, of course.
On the food side, the pizza was excellent, and from what I understand they plan to have the same food cart there every weekend, offering not just pizza but other Italian dishes as well.  As for the band, well, as I said, they were great.  They were playing some Bob Dylan tunes when we walked in.  Later they played Honky Tonk Woman and a little ditty about lost shakers of salt.  Pretty broad range, I’d say.  If you want to catch them, they’re playing at Principe di Tricase again on July 18.

This review of Vidon courtesy of Doc Ed:
"Very few wineries are willing to produce clone-specific wines, and I love it when I find one that does. The vineyard has been around approximately 20 years, and changed ownership about five months ago.   (The old winemaker is staying on and providing continuity.)  New owner Dru Allen provided me a big “peek behind the curtain” as he answered all of my questions and provided samples of excellent wine to emphasize his answers.   This was accomplished in a beautiful outdoor setting, with dramatic panoramic views of the region."

​"Vidon wines are 100% estate grown.  They make pure varietals from three clones.  Mirabelle 2016 ($60) was pure Clone 115 and was finished with 30% new French oak.  It was a delightful, fruity wine.  The Pommard 2016 ($60) was a distinctive, bold example of that varietal.  My favorite was Clone 777 2016 ($60) which had a ten day contact with the skins, producing a moderate extraction of color and spicy flavors.  The finish was outstanding.   I understand they also have Clone 95, and there are plans to grow Clone 667.  I can’t wait to taste them!  Vidon also makes a blend of their Three Clones ($50), which was made with no new oak.  It was also enjoyable.  The tasting finished with a surprise.  They grow a Syrah (clone 470)($40) and blend it with a small amount of Viognier,  producing an excellent Cote-Rotie styled wine.  They also produce Chardonnay, but I didn’t try it."

This from Doc Ed:
"Wow, it is a real pleasure to find a winery that understands the mechanics of wine production and also provides a great customer experience.  As I drove up to the property, I saw that the vines were pruned very tightly, suggesting I was about to experience some wines that had intense concentrated flavors.  Before the car was parked, family member Sara greeted and welcomed us.  This looked like the start of a great visit!"

​"Owner Saj, an architect in his former life, clearly pays a lot of attention to detail.  He sipped each wine before it was offered for tasting.  He adjusted and supplemented the tasting menu to answer our various questions.  I learned that his 6.5 acres contain a blend of Pinot Noir clones Wadenswil, Pommard and 777 that are approximately 30 years old.  Unlike many other vineyards, he field blends his grapes which helps mingle the various flavors.  He also has white wine grapes, and shared an excellent Pinot Gris."

​"On the red side of my tasting, I had two Pinot Noirs from the property.  The Estate 2017 ($65) had intense fruity nose, complex mid-mouth flavors, and a surprisingly long finish.  The Reserve 2017 ($75), containing the same grape blend, and was similar but even more satisfying.  Also tasted were several Pinot Noirs sourced from other vineyards, and a Cabernet Sauvignon which were also very pleasant."
Editors note:  They have a two-level wine club.  The low level calls for 12 bottles per year at 15% discount on all wine and complementary tasting for up to 5 guests.  On the high level the bottles per year go to 24, discount to 20%, and guest number goes to 9.

​I am very happy to report that Chuparosa Winery in Ramona has reopened for wine tasting!  I am even happier to report that we spent a very lovely afternoon on their patio tasting their latest offerings! 
We were not alone – most of the tables were filled as it was a perfect day for wine tasting outside, as opposed to the last time I was wine tasting in Ramona where we had to hand on dearly to our glasses with frozen hands to keep the cold wind from blowing wine all over the place.
Chuparosa for those of you new to this site is a boutique winery growing just five grape varieties – Albariño, Zinfandel, Sangiovese (Brunello clone), Malbec, and Cabernet Franc.  The produce varietals from all of these, and combine the Sangiovese, Malbec, and Cabernet Franc into a super-Tuscan blend with the moniker North Block Blend.  More on this later.  As you can see from the tasting menu below, they’ve added Semillon and Chenin Blanc from grapes obtained from another Ramona winery, Kohill.  Not on the menu is a Bordeaux blend also made from Kohill grapes.
I tasted all of their standard Estate wines for about umpteenth time and I am happy to report that these latest vintages are for the most part the best they’ve made.  The wines made from the Kohill grapes were good, but they were up against very stiff competition.  By the way, the wine in the glass is Albariño.

The North Block Blend was particularly noteworthy, which made me suspect that the wine was field blended.  Field blending, as discussed in my earlier blog about Viognier, entails picking and fermenting the different grape varieties together.  According to Chuparosa’s winemaker (and owner) Andy Harris, “Co-fermentation yields significantly different (and better in my opinion) flavor profiles than simply blending wines fermented previously and stored for some time prior to blending.”  Andy points out that he follows the techniques learned from Tuscan winemakers.
My understanding is that many American winemakers take a very different approach to wine blending.  All of the wines are picked, fermented and aged independent of each other.  Now not all barrels are identical, so there will be differences in the wines after aging.  Some of the wines will be very good, and will be bottled with such monikers as “Special Reserve”.  Others will be just good, and will be bottled as pure varietals.  The wine that is not all that good, that is somehow flawed, is saved by correcting the flaws by blending.  Hence, the blending laboratory where the flawed wine is mixed with wine from other varietals until a saleable wine is produced.  Of course, winemakers often skip the barrel screening step and go straight to blending with varieties chosen to overcome weaknesses of the pure varietal wine.
As a final note, we came home with a lot of wine....

From Doc Ed:
​Nebbiolo is an uncommon grape, but several San Diego County vineyards have recently started to grow it.  Worldwide, there are only 15,000 acres (23 square miles) planted, and less than 10% (less than 3 square miles) exist outside of Italy.  The grape naturally produces a large amount of acid, and a very large amount of tannins in the skin and seeds.  You might think that a grape that rare might not have many variations and is easy to describe.  Not true!  This tasty wine has many presentations, mostly due to variations in winemaking techniques including extraction and barrel storage.
 
The two main presentations of Nebbiolo that I would like to focus on are the New World and Old World.  Old World Nebbiolo comes from northern Italy.  The New World grows Nebbiolo in several countries including USA (Southern California), Mexico (Guadalupe Valley), and New Zealand. 
 
Nebbiolo from the New World produces a wine that is light to medium bodied, transparent, full of flavor, and has a variable amount of soft tannin.  The flavors usually are fruit (red fruit dominant, such as strawberry or cherry) with some herbal (rose) aroma.  Nebbiolo has many flavor similarities to Pinot Noir, particularly Pinot from cooler climates such as Oregon or Burgundy, France.  Nebbiolo wine can differ from Pinot Noir by having more acid (crisp flavor, comes from slow ripening of the grape) and more tannin (dry mouth sensation, comes from exposure to grape skin, seeds and oak barrel).  New World Nebbiolo wine commonly is made with limited exposure of the grape juice liquid to the grape skin and seeds (7-10 days typically), in order to control the extraction of tannin into the juice.  New World winemakers may further control tannins by limiting the exposure of the young wine to oak barrels (typically 10-12 months).  The net effect produces a wine that is fruity, has variable amounts of tannin, and has flavors somewhat similar to Pinot Noir.  It is designed to be consumed within a few years of harvest, and is unlikely to have extensive ageing potential.
 
Old World Nebbiolo wine is made in northern Italy, and the best-known region is Barolo.  The Old World style (which includes Barolo, Barbaresco and several other Italian DCOGs) produces a wine that is very different from the New World style.  While the wine will be medium bodied, transparent, and very aromatic like the New World version, the similarities end there.   During fermentation, Old World wines usually have over three weeks of contact with skin and seeds, resulting in maximal extraction of a massive amount of tannins.  In addition, the young wine must then be aged in barrels for at least 18 months which adds even more tannins and other flavors.   Because Old World wine have so much tannin from the extraction and barrel time, it is difficult to drink it unless it is at least 10 years old.  During that lengthy ageing process, the tannins slowly chemically change to produce a totally different taste that includes herbal and earth flavors and a very smooth lubricating glycerol sensation.  The net effect produces a unique wine that needs at least 8-10 years before opening, and many will last 20-30 years or more.
 
Whether you have access to New World or Old World Nebbiolo, the wine’s inherent characteristics of acidity and tannin make it an ideal pairing for roasted meats or high fat cheese.  This is because the proteins in the food will bind with residual wine tannins, reducing the drying sensation in your mouth.  Enjoy your young New World wines, or aged Old World wines, or experiment with those few New World places that are attempting to bridge the gap and produce an age-worthy masterpiece.

The Nebbiolo grape has found its way to Southern California and Baja California’s Guadalupe Valley.  The wines made from this grape are very highly regarded.  Indeed, Italy’s premiere wine is Barolo, “the king of wines, the wine of kings”, made from the Nebbiolo grape.  This grape also makes the highly acclaimed wine Barbaresco.  Yet there are only around 15,000 acres world-wide planted with this grape.  In comparison, world planting of Cabernet Sauvignon exceeds 700,000 acres.  So why aren’t there more Nebbiolo grape vines, and why is the grape being successfully grown in our part of the world?  I set out to find the answers to these questions by going directly to the source.  That’s right – I sought to get the answers by hearing from the grapevines.
The biggest problem I encountered, as might be expected, was how to communicate with the grapevines, or at least get them to tell me something other than the latest gossip.  Fortunately, I had portrayed a California Raisin many years ago for Halloween, and, being essentially a method actor, in preparation for the role I spent a few nights among the vines.  While this was not of much help in my Halloween role, it gave me some insight in how to approach the vines.  Of greatest import, I discovered that the vines do not actually talk.  They spread their gossip by rustling leaves and stems in such a manner as to create music.  For example, if they have info on a younger man fooling around with an older, married woman they will offer up the appropriate tune, i.e., “Mrs. Robinson”.
I began my query by asking these Nebbiolo grapes why they wanted to be to Southern California.  After a bit I could pick out strains from the “West Side Story” song “American”, mixed in with Neil Diamond’s “America”.  OK, not what I was hoping for.  I had to change my approach.
So, I asked them to tell me by song what there is about our area that allows them to grow such very fine grapes, ones that could make a wine competitive with Cabernet Sauvignon.  Well, mentioning Cabernet was a bad mistake, as they then went into a rendering of “Bottle of Wine”.  If you don’t know the song it is about a wino having trouble coming up with the loose change to purchase a very bad bottle of wine.
Then it hit me how to proceed.  They would play a tune relating what makes them like this area.  If I guessed what they were trying to say, they would offer up Neil Diamond’s “Red Red Wine”.  If I was wrong, I would hear “Bottle of Wine”.
The first number they put out was “I Heard if from the Grapevine”.  This really puzzled me.  The song seemed to go on and on, so I began to think they were just mocking me.  Then it hit me -- they were presenting me with the CCR’s long version of the song.  Could they be saying that they like the long Southern California growing season?  “Red Red Wine” was the answer.
Next, I seemed to hear the music to the song “It Never Rains in Southern California”.  So, you like drought, I asked them.  “Bottle of Wine” was the answer – no, they don’t like drought.  I asked for a second clue, and they came back with CCR’s “Born on the Bayou” followed immediately with “Bottle of Wine”.  It took a bit, but if you assume that “Bottle of Wine” is a no, then one can assume that they do not like bayou-type terrain.  And what’s the opposite of swampy land?  Very dry land, of course.  Could it be that the vines don’t like sitting water?  Bingo – and an offering of “Red Red Wine”.
Without asking, they then offered up Johnny Mathis’ song “Misty”.  Nicely done, I might add.  Now San Diego is on the Pacific Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean is pretty cold, even in the summer.  As the climate is also very dry, the temperature on the land drops very rapidly, lowering pressures and pulling damp air in from the ocean.  This damp air results in a mist that settles on the vines.  Nailed it – and my reward was more “Red Red Wine”.
The next tune was pretty straight forward – John Denver’s “Rocky Mountain High”.  The Nebbiolo grape is grown primarily in the mountainous Piedmont region of Italy, i.e., well above sea level.  The inland valleys in Southern California where one finds most of the vineyards are more than 2000 ft above sea level.  I nailed it again!  “Red Red Wine”.
I knew my interview with the vines was over when they went into the California Raisin’s version of “I Heard it through the Grapevine”.  But I came away with great insight into the Nebbiolo vines.  First, they like the long growing season that we have here in Southern California.  Second, they don’t like sitting water.  We have very little rainfall, and our very dry climate evaporates standing water rather quickly, especially when temperatures push up over 100 F, so there is little chance of standing water if the vines are grown on any kind of an incline.  Added to this is the clay-cobble nature of our soil which keeps water from soaking in (and leads to flooding even for relatively mild rains).  Third issue is mist – they like it, and we have it in the inland valleys and even in the mountains.  As for the fourth issue, well, our terrain goes from sea level to around 6,000 ft.
On my way out of the vineyard, the Nebbiolo grapevines suggested that I steer clear of the Tempranillo grape fines with two tunes – “Man of La Mancha” and the theme song from “The Godfather”.  Seems the Tempranillo grapevines are not too thrilled with my bashing them every chance I get.
Anyway, it appears that Nebbiolo grapes have a great future here in Southern California!  Now if I can just find a way to replace all of the Tempranillo vines with Nebbiolo vines….

​Jim and Ed’s Excellent Adventure
We went up to this place up north that rhymes with Dracula which we thought was really cool, and they had this circle we could drive around and after we got bored we found this restaurant (Vineyard Rose) in a winery just near the circle and, like, Ed says that this is an awesome place and that we had both been there and had this great tri-tip sandwich.  No, it wasn’t like you know made from the tips of that thingy the fish guy carries but pieces of steak and caramel onions.  They gave us a wine list so we had some wine with fancy names, you know, Ed going for the Zorro wine cause I guess he likes Zorro, and like I went with one with a really fancy name Toursomething National, only they spelled National with a c not a t.
Now after we ate and as we were in a place called South Coast Winery Resort & Spa but, like, they didn’t have that name on the bottles.  Instead, they had this really excellent name – Wild Horse Peak.  So naturally we looked around for the spa and the wild horses but got lost and hey, wouldn’t you know, finally wound up at the door right next to the door to the restaurant where they do the wine tasting and they took us out on their porch which is really big and we thought we would drink some more wine. Tthey had both the Z wine and the Toursomething wine on a list so we got that and, like, they brought the wine out in this really cool spirally thingy.

​So we tried the wine and I got to try the Z wine and it had this cherry-like taste and then they really liked us and maybe it was because they thought Ed looked like Mr. Carter, some big muckity-muck for the winery so they brought us more wine, like Petite Sirah and Syrah and Cabernet Souvenir.  I think Petite means small in French but the Petite Sirah was the same size as the Syrah.  I liked it better than the Syrah and Ed liked the Syrah better than the small Sirah and Ed is bigger than me so maybe it’s not the size of the wine but the size of the wine drinker???

​I took some cool pictures of the place with all of these awesome medals and lots of neat other stuff.  They had this other room that we couldn’t go in because of the virus but I got an awesome picture.

​They have this really awesome club any dude or dudette can join (if you are over 21) where they pick 3 bottles of wine for you per quarter and you get an awesome 25% off.  And, like the best, most excellent, part is that you can drop by there four time a month and get free wine!!!  They also will let you stay at their hotel for a 15% discount and you can eat at their great restaurant for 10% off.  That guy Carter must be something because they have this other place called “Carter Estate” that they own and club members get to drink there for 50% off.  He even has his name on some of the wines…