Castor Membership November 2022: Meet Me in the Middle and Dreamers of Dreams
Sunset on the vineyards of Alberto Oggero, Roero, Piemonte, Italy.
“Meet Me in the Middle”
Alberto Oggero Roero Arneis, Piemonte, Italy 2019
Even folks who don’t know a whole lot about wine will tell you that in the Piemonte region of Northwest Italy, Nebbiolo is king. In fact, the red grape’s esteemed status transcends its regional boundaries to be included in the discussions of the greatest red wines in the world. Even in Piemonte, particularly in the celebrated appellations of Barolo and Barbaresco, Nebbiolo is viewed as a special-occasion wine and priced to match. This leaves other grape varieties out in the cold of the region’s continentally influenced winters; when it comes to white wines, the fate of the varietal is even crueler still, vacillating somewhere between answering the queries “what do we drink when it’s too hot for Barolo?” and “what do we drink while we’re waiting for our Barolo to open up?” This is a story of a man who sought to satisfy two visions via one road: to demystify Nebbiolo and make it more accessible, and to elevate the workhorse white grape of his appellation into something more than an afterthought. The man is Alberto Oggero of Piemonte’s Roero appellation, and the latter grape that Alberto gives his qualitative makeover to is called Arneis.
Hilltop vineyards at Alberto Oggero.
Spread across the northwest bank of the Tanaro river, across from the famed Nebbiolo appellations of Barolo and Barbaresco, the Roero appellation has been founded for some time but was elevated from DOC to DOCG status in 2004. The vineyards here consist of more sand-based soils than their counterparts across the river, making the Nebbiolo offerings somewhat lighter in style and a perfect base for Alberto’s democritization of the grape. When it comes to the white Arneis however, typical examples have historically been tailored to the masses already. Ironically, the freshly-styled, floral quaffing wines that nowadays serve as typical Arneis fare are produced from a grape that as recently as the 1960s was near extinction, with only a few hectares of vines remaining. In the red-wine dominant Piemonte, Arneis vines were most likely ripped out in favor of Nebbiolo, and even the few remaining examples of Arneis were often left merely in single rows that would rim larger plots of Nebbiolo, taking advantage of the Arneis’ fragrant scent to ward off birds and insects in search of the prized red grape. In a story that has become near legend in Piemontese wine, a member of the famed Barolo family winery Vietti named Alfredo Currado almost single-handedly championed the dwindling Arneis variety and worked to cultivate it-his efforts led to bottlings by famed Barolo houses, such as his own Vietti and Bruno Giacosa. Unfortunately, Currado’s resurrection of Arneis has been followed by volume-hungry commercialized wineries as well, and currently there are over 600 hectares (1,500 acres) of Arneis vines planted in Piemonte, the majority of which is of the aforementioned “wet and alcoholic” variety-overtly floral to the point of being pungent, often off-dry, and singularly devoid of, well, singularity. Enter Alberto Oggero: a third-generation member of a winemaking family, Oggero sought to change the expectation level of what Arneis can be, and perhaps more interestingly, what he won’t let it be: namely, the actual name of Arneis.
Arneis and Nebbiolo get a makeover at Alberto Oggero, meeting each other in the middle in terms of ambition.
Notice I didn’t term Alberto as a third-generation winemaker; although both of his grandfathers owned and tended vineyards, neither of his parents followed in their footsteps. It was a young Alberto, who shadowed his grandfather Sandro around his vineyards in the late 1980s/early 1990s, that was later destined to see the Oggero name figure prominently in Piemonte wine once again. A still-teenaged Alberto decided to take over Sandro’s tiny 2-hectare estate upon his passing; by the tender age of 20 he had restored the family cellar and house himself by hand. Imbued with a deep desire to show both Nebbiolo and Arneis in a different light, Alberto built on his grandfather’s interest in non-interventionist winemaking: by his first vintages of Arneis and Nebbiolo, in 2009 and 2011 respectively, Alberto was working organically and using native yeast fermentation. Tirelessly devoted to his family’s property, he was able to reclaim some more old vineyards in the mid-2010s, although his total production is still a scant 1,000-1,200 cases depending on the vintage. As Alberto was able to further his vision of Arneis, a new example of Roero white wine emerged, one that eschewed the overt florality in favor of a deep-rooted sense of place, made possible by the marine sand and sedimentary soil of his family’s property, while retaining Arneis’ fuller-bodied mouthfeel, fall fruits, and hazelnut secondary character. By the 2018 vintage, at the ripe old age of 33, Alberto was ready to proclaim his independence from the commercial style of Arneis, and removed the grape varietal name from his bottles, choosing instead to call the wine Roero Bianco-identifying less with the mass marketed patio wines and more with the Roero region that is his home. Standing at the top of his hilly plots, looking back across Piemonte to the town of Alba in the southeast and Barolo and Barbaresco to the west, Alberto dreams of one day joining them as a calling card for the great wines of Piemonte, the Queen to Nebbiolo’s King. Discovering Alberto’s journey has been a great pleasure for me this year, and I can’t wait to see how he continues to build on his vision of having Nebbiolo and Arneis meet “in the middle”-although, once you taste his wines, it’s obvious that stopping there isn’t part of Alberto’s plan-D.
Alberto Oggero Roero Bianco 2019
Country of Origin: Italy.
Places and People: Alberto Oggero was born in Canale in 1985 and spent his childhood accompanying and then working with his grandfather, Sandro, in his vineyards. Both of Alberto's grandfathers tended their own vineyards but his parents did not follow them into the steep slopes of Piemonte’s Roero region. Alberto was different and returned home to take over Sandro's 2ha of vineyards after he passed away. By the time he was 20 he had restored the family's house and cellar by hand and was ready to begin his life in wine. In 2009 he bottled his first wine, a tiny 500 bottles of Roero Arneis, and followed with his first Roero Nebbiolo in 2011. As the years passed, Alberto was able to reclaim more old vineyards and pursue his ideals of viticulture and oenology. Not a person of easy contentment, Alberto works tirelessly in the vineyards and then in the cellar to make sure that nothing gets in the way of the fruit. He is also a member of RAW Wine, championing organic viticulture and principles of biodynamic winemaking. The grapes for the Roero Bianco are grown on some of the slopes you see pictured above, in three different east and southeast-facing vineyard sites that average about 280 meters of elevation: Le Coste (from the village of Santo Stefano), SS Trinita (Canale), and San Michele (Monteu).
Soil: Marine sand and sedimentary rock.
Grape Varieties: 100% Roero Arneis.
Winemaking: Organic-certified viticulture of the guyot-trained vines culminates with a harvest during the first 10 days of September. The Arneis grapes that make up Oggero’s Roero Bianco are split 50/50 between a whole-cluster fermentation and pressed, destemmed fruit. Fermentation with indigenous yeasts is followed by 3 days of maceration and malolactic fermentation is performed in full.
Aging: Alberto ages his Arneis for one year in a mix of stainless steel tanks, concrete vats, and large Slovenian Oak barrels that are untoasted, leaving the wine gently exposed to some air without imparting any flavor profile. The wine is not fined or filtered prior to bottling.
Flavors and Foods: The Oggero Roero Bianco bears a pale golden straw color and at first sniff is mild, especially if served too cold. As the wine warms (see service note below), however, you are treated to spiced pears, bright yellow apple, and a savory character of rolled oats. Fresh-cut hay and honeycomb along with tilled earth, freshly grated nutmeg, and even a bit of lime juice (think more savory, less sugary European fruit candies) bring complex secondary aromas from the glass. The palate is a perfect equilibrium of juiciness and acidity; I can’t strees enough just how much weightier and more complex the Oggero is compared to other Arneis available on the market. Golden delicious apple, honey, hazelnut, mineral tilled earth, and a strangely welcome lime juice are present on the palate-the Roero Bianco is an excellent fall/winter white wine. A touch of spritz on the texture moves the wine along the taste buds, and there is a warmth and roundness beginning mid-palate that extends to the finish. An excellent wine with northern Italian cuisine (think risotto Milanese with rabbit), the Roero Bianco would also be outstanding with chicken pot pie, porchetta (I’ve been watching Chef’s Table: Pizza, and can’t get the notion of Gabriele Bonci’s sublime Porchetta Pizza and the Oggero out of my head), a board of bloomy rind cheeses and fall fruits, or as a Thanksgiving aperitif.
Service and Cellar: More than any member wine we’ve enjoyed to this point, the Oggero Roero Bianco is literally ANONYMOUS when served too cold-please be sure to bring this wine up to the upper end of white cellar temperature, around 50-52 degrees. You will be rewarded with more of the wine’s secondary elements and the spritzy textural note. The 2019 is in a great place now and will continue to accompany cool weather dishes well for the next 2-3 years.
The middle left section of Riverbench Vineyard in the Santa Maria Valley, Santa Barbara County, California.
“Dreamers of Dreams”
J. Brix “P.M. Daylight” Pinot Meunier, Santa Maria Valley, California 2020
When my parents got married, they chose to honeymoon across the mountain west and southwest of the US, taking in all of the key sites (Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, etc.) from the stately accommodations of my father’s Chevy Nova. When I was 12 and my sister was 5, we started alternating vacation destinations: a beach trip on the East Coast one year, a more ambitious tour of the West the next. Our bi-annual excursions to Colorado, South Dakota, and most especially Wyoming resonated with my parents to the point that when I was finishing my freshman year in college, they took the plunge and moved full-time, going from a rural suburb in Northern Baltimore County that had been their home since my father and grandfather built our house in 1978 to a small town in the Wind River Mountains of less than 10,000 people. I remember my mom and dad first announcing this little relocation to our family and being met with no small amount of skepticism. The increasingly tedious questions of “What are you going to do?” and “Aren’t you going to be lonely not knowing anybody?” were, in my parents’ minds, superfluous to the feelings they had when they were out there-in those beautiful, wide-open spaces, they were at peace, they connected, they belonged. In short, they had a dream that, while perhaps not easily deciphered by others, was crystal-clear in their own hearts. By the time I was headed back to school that fall, my mom had gotten a full-time job offer and they had purchased a house literally on top of a small mountain, where their little town lay sprawled out in front of them and on clear days you could easily make out their neighboring “city”, 25 miles away. 25 years have passed and they’re still out there, albeit in a different house on top of a slightly smaller mountain, but I digress. Without waxing too metaphysically, I am always drawn to (and in truth a little envious of) stories like this, because I truly believe in the power of belief: of having a dream and seeing it so plainly that you simply aren’t burdened by the slightest vestige of doubt. Challenges will undoubtedly present themselves, but this brand of dreamers seems to always be able to rise to the occasion and stay true to their goal by appreciating all of life’s moments, difficult and magical. One of the reasons that I work in wine is that it seems to me to be chock-full of these types of people, who annually face undefeated foes such as Nature and thrive to tell the tale. And so, on my recent deep dive into Southern California’s Santa Barbara County (which also produced last month’s Castor member white wine, the Lieu Dit Chenin Blanc), it was an honor to come across the wines of a couple that bill themselves as “winemakers and dreamers of dreams”-Jody Brix Towe and Emily Towe and their winery, J. Brix.
Winemakers, dreamers-Emily Towe and Jody Brix Towe of J. Brix.
To be fair in this telling of the Towes and their little fairytale slice of the wine world, Jody Brix Towe didn’t quit a job as, say, an insurance salesperson (apologies, insurance salespeople-remember, don’t stop dreaming) and begin his career in wine. A native of San Diego, Jody’s educational background and career experience were in horticulture, which he brings into the vineyards with him each day through his knowledge of plant physiology and experience working with different plants in a diverse array of terroir. His most important asset, however, was having a dreamer’s spirit in his corner, embodied by his wife, fellow San Diegan and graphic designer Emily Towe. After an evening enjoying a bottle of Pinot Noir produced in Santa Barbara County’s Santa Maria Valley, The Towes became fascinated by the area and, rather than simply settling for finding more bottles of Santa Maria Pinot, opted for a more immersive approach, volunteering to be harvest interns that autumn. One dream led to another, and before long Emily and Jody said those three little words that are so important between a couple: “Let’s Make Wine”. Establishing J. Brix in 2012, the Towes parlayed their infectious enthusiasm for winemaking and thirst for knowledge into a business model: the winery would focus on small lots of production from a host of different vineyards and terroirs, ranging from their foundational winemaking home of the Central Coast to their actual home in San Diego County. Production sizes rarely creep over 400 cases and are often much less, like this month’s Castor Red Wine, the “P.M. Daylight”, whose 2020 output was just 120 cases. The story of “P.M. Daylight” belongs to both the vineyard where the grapevines reside, and the fact that Jody and Emily chose to celebrate Santa Maria Valley, known for its Pinot Noir, by crafting a wine from the “other” Pinot: Pinot Meunier.
A side by side of Pinot Meunier and its more famous sibling, Pinot Noir. Note the much tighter cluster with the Meunier.
If ever there was a place for dreamers, Riverbench Vineyard is it-the vines and mountains surrounding them combine to form a site so beautiful that it’s a little silly. Located along the Foxen Canyon Wine Trail, a stretch of Foxen Canyon Road that connects Los Olivos and Santa Maria, the area boasts 14 wineries, including some of Santa Barbara’s most recognizable names: Byron and Cambria in the north, Zaca Mesa, Fess Parker, and Firestone towards the southern end of the trail. Jody and Emily source their Pinot Meunier fruit from the 115 acre Riverbench Vineyard, which is mainly planted to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Sitting astride an ancient riverbed of alluvial soils called the Santa Maria Bench, which has over time provided the riverbed upon which these grapevines have sat since their initial planting in 1973, Riverbench Vineyard is hemmed by mountainous outcroppings and the nearby Asphaltum and Tepusquet Creeks. Both Emily and Jody, along with vineyard owners Riverbench Winery, comment on the spectacular light that dances between slivers of vines and the surrounding hills at the end of the day, which lead the Towes to pay homage and call this limited-production red wine “P.M. Daylight”. And what of that “other” Pinot grape, the lesser-known sibling to Pinot Noir, the Meunier? Perhaps best known to wine fans as a blending grape in France’s Champagne, the tight clusters and higher acidity of Pinot Meunier have traditionally led to its role as a supporting actor in blends, but Pinot Meunier, when handled properly, can shine in its own right as well, producing more citrus and a lighter, earthy character, with unique notes of cigar and wood smoke that give it a great savory trait one might expect in a fuller-bodied wine. A glass of the “P.M. Daylight” seems perfectly suited to the Thanksgiving table, the wine possesses a near dangerous drinkability (the alcohol is 12.8%) and floral aromatics that align Pinot Meunier with traditional Turkey Day pairing grapes like Gamay and Pinot Noir; and yet, the Meunier burns with a curious raspberry and blood orange light all its own. So much so, in fact, that I purchased what was left of the 2020 vintage’s scant 120 case production from its local distributor. From the Towes’ early dreams of owning a winery while journeying into the vineyards each day as volunteers, to the quality of the “P.M. Daylight”, subtly resplendent in the glass, their story comes across as a victory for dreamers everywhere, and the fact that I am privileged to tell it is something I continue to be thankful for-D.
J. Brix “P.M. Daylight” Pinot Meunier, Riverbench Vineyard, Santa Maria Valley 2020
Country of Origin: United States.
Places and People: Jody Brix Towe and Emily Towe are natives to San Diego who, upon enjoying a bottle of Pinot Noir from the Santa Maria Valley, volunteered at a vineyard there as harvest interns. In a very “insert your favorite dreamer here” moment, they parlayed their experience and Jody’s background as a horticulturalist into opening a winery, which since 2012 has specialized in non-intervention winemaking and minute productions of wine sourced from a variety of places, to match their enthusiasm for the varied terroirs of Southern California. The Pinot Meunier grapes of the “P.M. Daylight” come from the Riverbench Vineyard on the Foxen Canyon Wine Trail in Santa Barbara County. The Riverbench Vineyard is host to some of the most intriguing evening light and sunsets in the area, hence the wine’s name.
Soil: As its name suggests, the Riverbench Vineyard is an ancient, dried riverbed full of alluvial soils including clay, silt, sand, gravel, and sandstone.
Grape Varieties: 100% Pinot Meunier.
Winemaking: After a hand-harvest is conducted overnight, with a sorting of the grapes in the vineyard itself, the Pinot Meunier for the J. Brix is destemmed for a primary fermentation with solely native yeasts (14 days). The juice is then pressed into neutral French oak barrels for malolactic fermentation.
Aging: The “P.M. Daylight” is held in those same neutral barrels for 8 months prior to bottling; the wine is not fined or filtered, nor cold-stabilized at all, and sulfur is only added in a miniscule dose prior to bottling for stabilization, the only manipulation of any kind that occurs with this wine.
Flavors and Foods: On sight, the “P.M. Daylight” mirrors the sunsets for which it’s named-a brilliant pastiche of garnet and ruby with salmon pink on the outer rim. The nose is vibrantly floral, with fresh roses and potpourri mixing with scents of raspberry coulis, Santa Rosa plums, and fresh thyme. The palate echoes many of those elements, with raspberries and sweet red cherries being primary fruits. The distinguishing factor of Pinot Meunier, however, is the acidity and citrus, more heightened than its sibling Pinot Noir. There is a distinct element of blood orange and even ruby grapefruit as secondary fruits that, coupled with the fresh acid, make the “P.M. Daylight” a splendid pairing with autumnal cuisine, pairing excellently with roasted ham glazed with orange and using its acidity to refresh even the most unfortunately overcooked Thanksgiving bird. If you have access to a smoker, the “P.M. Daylight” would reward a slow-smoked turkey with its secondary notes of fresh Mediterranean herbs, vanilla bean, and lightly cured meat (think prosciutto, not spiced sausage).
Service and Cellar: The J. Brix “P.M. Daylight” works its magic most when served on the lower spectrum of red wine cellar temperature (56-58 degrees F), which really lets the aforementioned blood orange and varietally-driven spice notes come through. The wine is delightful now and I expect it to remain so for the next 2-3 years; the “P.M. Daylight” is a youthful offering but that stellar acidity will carry its development for a bit longer than a typical young red.