Summer is apparently in full-swing, as many people seem to be enjoying
the crisp, slightly sweet muscat. Personally, I get excited when the
shift to summer sweets, like muscat, from drier white wines takes
place. The food pairings with muscat are seasonal, fresh and offer many
possibilities. Right now, we are loving it with fresh East Coast
pan-fried soft-shell crabs and open-faced raviolis of squash, goat
cheese, fresh garden greens and pancetta.
Tonight I opened a bottle of Ca' del Solo Muscat, Monterey County, from
the Bonny Doon Winery out in Santa Cruz, Calif. You may know of Randall
Graham and his line of Big House wines. Equal parts agent provocateur
and thesaurus freak, and educated in plant science at the University of
California at Davis, Graham even has an asteroid named after him: the
Rhone-ranger. It's a title earned while trying to grow the fickle
Californian pinot noir, but realizing that Rhone-varietal grapes like
marsanne, rousanne and syrah, and other "ugly duckling" grapes like
muscat and riesling actually were his raison d'etre. He left his
vineyard behind in the hills around Bonny Doon, just north of Santa
Cruz in 1994, the same year he was named "Wine and Spirits Professional
of the Year," and acquired the Ca' Del Solo vineyard near Soledad in
Monterey County. Here he began to perform his wizardry with plants and
soils to produce European-style Californian wines.
All the while he was also busy buying grapes from as many as 40
contracted vineyards to produce his Big House White, Pink and Red
wines, each containing as many as 10, often Mediterranean, varietals.
Through these wines he became known for wild, witty and satirical
labels. The Big House really is the "Big House," a prison near Soledad.
His play on Chateaunuef-du-Pape, "Le Cigare Volant," shows a shadowy
spacecraft on the label, complete with a magical tractor-beam. The
French called UFOs "flying cigars," and apparently a law was passed in
Chateaunuef du Pape in the '40s that said flying cigars could not land
for they would break the vines! He also features zinfandel-spewing
priests and has rewritten Dante's "Divine Comedy" in his irreverent
wine speak. It is very Kafka-esque and wildly illustrated with devils,
giant many-armed insects clutching wine goblets and old farmers eerily
sucking on tubes of wine.
During the Big House rush, Graham went public and toured in support of
his love for the screwcap. His winery was converting to only these
novel closures as a response to cork taint and ruined juice. He has
since backed off a bit on this stance, as we all see how screw tops
work in the long run, but still uses no corks.
He has also changed his life's focus as he sold the Big House line to
one of the world's largest beverage distributors in 2007. In successive
vintages, the Bonny Doon Winery reduced its case production from
450,000 to just 35,000.
In the wake of the downsizing, Graham is now able to focus all of his
efforts on his Ca' del Solo vineyard and - after it received
official certification in the spring of 2007 - biodynamic winemaking.
Organic and beyond, this practice looks to the stars, the moon and to
explosive microbial soil dynamics. Graham likens biodynamic winemaking
to the concept of terroir, where a site can reveal all of its
individual, magic qualities. Producing wines that are fresh and
expansive, Graham aims to create higher levels of sophistication in
this new winemaking era. Well known Master Sommelier Andrea Immer
Robinson has named these wines as among her favorites and notes that
the biodynamic practices may well be responsible, as he is making wine
better than ever.
True to that, the 2007 Muscat won the bronze at the first International
Green Wine Competition held in Santa Rosa in May. I am a big fan of
this wine. Two years ago, just after crush, I snuck in the back door at
the venerable winery while munching on pastries from Kelly's French
Bakery next door. I found some familiar faces and soon my face was in
the muscat tank. The 2007 does not disappoint. The nose is ridiculously
beautiful, reeking of muskmelon and jasmine petals. It is nice and
sweet, full of melon flavors, stony, salty, bright and clean - one of
cleanest sweet wines I have ever tasted. It has a fast lead and a
wonderful finish. It will electrify most summer dishes, especially
Asian cuisine and good ol' fried foods.
Randall Graham is on an astral plane. Find a bottle of his muscat this
Fourth of July and go for a ride with him. Cheers! Remember, wine
reveals truth.
P.S. Next Tuesday Ella will be hosting a winemaker's dinner with the
fabled Russian Hill Winery of the Russian River Valley in California,
producers of stylish and elegant chardonnay and pinot noir. Lots of
courses and pairings. Fun to be had. E-mail me for details.
Drew Stofflet is the sommelier for Ella, in Carbondale. Correspond with him at aspendrew@hotmail.com.
