The Presidio's Golden Gate Club is the venue for "Taste of Mendocino," a trade/press event showcasing the top wines of Mendocino County paired with regional cuisine. Unfortunately, the today is totally obscured.

We take the long way to get a “Taste of Mendocino,” through the Golden Gate Club at the Presidio near San Francisco

I’m sitting in the lounge of what was the Officer’s Club of the Presidio, a former U.S. Army post decommissioned in 1994 after having served three nations as a strategic military garrison protecting the entrance to San Francisco Bay, centuries before the first gigantic concrete caissons were poured for the Golden Gate Bridge. One wall has been cut away to expose the original adobe construction, later encased in brick and finally restored in 1934 as part of a New Deal public works project.

This is one of just two San Francisco structures surviving from the Spanish colonial period dating to 1776, and it was constructed with the help of Native Americans. I’m sitting in this truly historic space accidentally, having stumbled across it looking for a dry, warm spot to work until the “Taste of Mendocino” opens a few hours from now at 1 p.m. in the Golden Gate Club, the former enlisted man’s club of the Presidio.

This event is sponsored by the Mendocino Winegrape and Wine Commission, an organization representing the 84 wineries and nearly 350 vineyards of California’s far northern appellation. An old friend from my Chicago days, Dave Batt, is the new president of the organization, and I’m here to shoot some video that may end up on his website. Dave likes my “Vintage Highway” concept, so I’m putting together a piece on the tasting, which is limited to trade and media. If you aren’t a retail wine buyer or a wine writer, you won’t make it through the front door.

Chris Tandoc, webmaster for Carpe Vino—my wine shop, wine bar and restaurant in Old Town Auburn—drove up with me yesterday afternoon. We experimented shooting video in my truck in an attempt to perfect “Moosecam,” video footage that someday will be credited to my one-year-old Italian greyhound. I’ll be taking my pup along with me on future Vintage Highway forays into wine country, and he will have a non-speaking role as “camera jockey”.

We could have easily driven up this morning in plenty of time for the tasting, but I’m determined to stick with the Vintage Highway concept of pulling my Airstream to a venue and then staying overnight to really get a sense of the place. I’m done with hit-and-run visits; I’m willing to spend the extra time it takes to see and hear and taste.

And we did all of that last night. This is a confusing place to navigate, with a tangle of lanes that connect former military warehouses and administration buildings to rows of latter-day officers billets and enlisted barracks. We eventually located the Presidio Social Club, the lone fine dining spot on the post. . .and it was packed on a Monday might. I brought along a bottle of ’07 The Terraces Zinfandel which we consumed at the marble-surfaced bar, matching it with simple comfort food.

We passed the evening in a parking lot overlooking the Golden Gate Club, a very quiet hideaway principally because it is adjacent to the San Francisco National Cemetery, the final resting place for some 34,000 war casualties and veterans. We pulled up after dark, and when I stepped out of the truck, row after undulating row of white crosses covered a hillside.

It didn’t take long before we received our anticipated “official” welcome from the Presidio Police, an employee of the federal government since this tip of the peninsula is independent of the city and county of San Francisco. As soon as I turned on lights in the trailer, we attracted the patrol car we observed parked above us near the Presidio’s Main Post Chapel. I explained our mission and the officer cheerfully permitted us to stay. Though the propane furnace is the only non-functioning appliance on the trailer, my silver cocoon was quite warm and comfortable.

In just a couple of hours we’ll be tasting our way through some of Mendocino’s finest offerings from wineries such as Handley Cellars, Londer Vineyards, Goldeneye, McNab Ridge, Meyer Family Cellars and Roederer Estate. Mendo is a huge AVA, with wineries concentrated principally in the Andersen Valley along twisty Rte. 128 and all along Hwy. 101 through Hopland and Ukiah. Some 16,000 acres of vines are planted in 12 sub-appellations. You really do need a program to keep everything straight.

Check back on Wednesday for my post about the Mendo tasting. . .we’ll have our first video post up soon.

One Final Note:

I received the eamil below while sitting at the bar in the Presidio Social Club. . .nice:

Hello there! I love all things Airstream and saw you tonight on 101 driving into San Francisco. I took a picture of your Airstream and will send it to you if you would like it! (I had to prove to the boyfriend “I really saw an Airstream in SF!!) It was a beautiful sight and gave me a big smile during my commute home! All the best~ Barbara
PS: I will look forward to checking out your blog

One of the main reasons for launching Vintage Highway is to discover new wines to bring into Carpe Vino. In reality, much of the wine retail shops offer is introduced to their buyers through wholesalers: both giant distributors and smaller brokers. The potential for dealing winery direct is limited, though we are fortunate in California to be so close to the source of great juice.

The main drawback with this system is that wine reps are showing their customers the same stuff at the same time. And, in many instances, distributors saddle their staffs with quotas to sell specific wines, instantly creating markets for products they decide to push.

At Carpe Vino, we’ve always sought to differentiate our stock from others, especially the big box stores and huge wine retailers. . .and even the grocery stores which carry huge inventories that we just can’t match. Our strategy has always been to locate small production wines—hard to find, great wines at great prices—as a means of distinguishing our brand in the marketplace.

And to the extent we are able, we do seek to create relationships directly with producers, often resulting in access to “winery-only” vintages. That’s our sweet spot.

So, on my tour of Amador County, I had the specific objective of finding new wines to bring back for the racks at Carpe Vino. And, based on the region’s expertise in zinfandel, I imagined that is where my search would center.

The more I tasted, however, it became clear that my survey would focus on barbera, the Italian variety that actually ranks as one of my favorites. I appreciate barbera for many reasons—its greatest attribute being the fact that it can be enjoyed with just about any cuisine. It presents great flavors, bright fruit and when vinted with skill, perfect acid balance.

The basis for Amador County’s reputation for producing fine wines is firmly established in big reds. But in recent years, barbera has emerged as the flagship wine of the AVA, cemented by two “best red wine” golden bear winners over the past three years in California State Fair competition—Jeff Runquist in 2009 and Jay Wilderotter in 2007.

Since I relinquished the head buying responsibility at Carpe Vino several years ago to my son, Drew, I brought six barberas back with me for his evaluation. I made the corporate decision, however, that we would add Renwood’s Barbera after I consumed the sample bottle in my Airstream during my Amador stay. It is beautiful stuff and a California State Fair gold medal winner to boot.

Then I had a thought. . .why not invite some of our best customers and friends for a tasting, and get their insights?

Let the People Decide

So, we convened a panel of 13 tasters in the wine mine at Carpe Vino, and it was a blast. Chef Alexander put together platters of simple palate cleansers and we set up tables and stems in the Wine Mine. Invited guests were:

–Cesare DiLorenzo, owner of La Fornaretta, a fabulous Sicilian restaurant in Newcastle, CA. Cesare is a great friend, a true Italian, and an expert in the wines of his native country. He is unafraid to express his opinions, something I truly appreciate.

–Paul Burns, an owner of Ophir Winery in Newcastle, CA. Paul started as a home winemaker and was eventually seduced into launching a bonded winery. Practiced in Rhone wines, Paul truly enjoys wines other than his own.

–Ron Hart, a partner  in Old Town Properties, which owns the Carpe Vino real estate. He has been a friend of the Moffats since the very beginning and he built one of the coolest wine caves in our part of the world. He understands and appreciates fine wine—especially pinot noir—and, best of all, he loves to share his prized bottles with friends.

–Janice Dreyer and Stacey Zeigler, a mother-daughter team who visit us every Friday afternoon—without fail. Janice brought us our first bottle of Bouchon Chardonnay, and, at last count, we’ve sold about 700 cases of the stuff!

–Bruce Cosgrove, Auburn Chamber of Commerce CEO and stalwart fan of Carpe Vino. . .no matter what.

–Great customers all:  Mike Martin, Scott and Carol Davis and Ellen Macinnes (also my beloved).

–Staff. . .Gary, Drew and Chef Alexander.

The Wines

The tasting was blind; six bottles in numbered paper bags. Even I was clueless about the contents of individual bags.

The line-up consisted of: 2006 Borjòn (Amador), 2007 Cooper (Estate), 2008 Drytown Cellars (Shenandoah Valley), 2008 “R” Runquist (Cooper Vineyards), 2006 Stonehouse (Shenandoah Valley) and 2007 Wilderotter (Amador).

Instructions were simple. Tasters were asked to evaluate the wines and rank them 1 through 6, with 1 being the best wine of the flight. They were encouraged to note any impressions.

While we discussed the wines after each pour, there was limited “selling”, where tasters promoted individual wines. The tasting took about an hour because everyone was having a great time, or at least that was my observation.

After everyone filled out their evaluation sheets, I removed the bags from the bottles to reveal the identity of each. The big surprise of the tasting was the Stonehouse Barbera, which was a brand unfamiliar to everyone in the room. The thing was, though, people either ranked it #1 or panned it. People either loved it or really didn’t care for it.

The results for the top three wines were very close: The Runquist Barbera was first, with 33 points; Stonehouse scored 38 and Cooper was so close with 39. . .a push in my opinion. Here’s what the people said about the top wines:

Cooper Barbera

Runquist:  Complex, well rounded flavor and mouth feel; great color, nose, a palate pleaser; toasty oak and vanilla; blackberry, smoke, cherry. . .nice middle range, good tannins, crisp aftertaste; velvety fruit; smooth.

Stonehouse: Darkest, bing cherry; complex aromas; fruitiest and smooth; nice bouquet, nice color, very earthy; deepest, densest color, wonderful food wine; loved it!

Cooper: Crisp acid, strawberry, earth; good structure; well balanced, ripe berry; nice nose, fruit forward; lots of berries, good nose, spicy sharp. . .nice; full flavor, bright fruit; lots of fruit, good finish.

The tasters have spoken, and soon we’ll be offering all of these wines for sale at Carpe Vino. Also, we hope to convene future panels to evaluate wines discovered on the Vintage Highway.

One thing that surprised me about the tasting was that the Drytown Cellars Barbera, best of class at the 2010 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, did not finish among the top three wines.  I’ve requested another sample bottle, and we’ll give it another try.  It just goes to show, that on any given Sunday. . .