Pollux Membership March 2023: Checking the Map and Dry October
The Happy Canyon region of Santa Barbara County; the area was given its own separate AVA in 2009.
“Checking the Map”
Margerum Wine Company “D” Sauvignon Blanc, Happy Canyon of Santa Barbara, California 2021
My wife (and, to be fair, most of my other family and friends) loves to make fun of me for my “grizzled old man” love of geography and the corresponding weather patterns of a given location. From being the last person standing during middle school “Geography Bees” to fretting and fussing over why the rainfall predicted to arrive at 11am is two hours late, I have definitely shoved all of my “lame dad” chips across the Pass Line of maps, and all of the meteorological and anthropological traits that come with them. Last fall, I was lucky enough to host Santa Barbara wine pioneer Doug Margerum in my office; he was visiting the DC/NOVA market and I, being fresh off a deep dive into his home territory that included features on Chenin Blanc and Pinot Meunier grown by Doug’s neighbors and colleagues, was only too happy to taste the latest vintages from his lineup and, as is my wont, to pepper him with questions about the varied terrains and microclimates of Santa Barbara. Mr. Margerum took my geekdom in stride, answering my assuredly tiresome questions with aplomb and indulging my rather impossible expectation that I grasp this region as well as someone who walks them on a daily basis, and who throughout his long career has helped make Santa Barbara what it is in terms of wine.
. Towards the end of the conversation, as we tasted through all of his newest arrivals, Doug remarked that the Santa Barbara County Wine Trail had just made a beautiful new topographic rendering of the entire county; would I like him to send me one? Ever the kind man, Doug ignored my salivating over his offer and agreed to get in contact with the mapmakers and make the connection. As he parted to continue visiting other clients, I was honest with Doug that, having just done two other features on wines from Santa Barbara, I might have a membership mutiny on my hands if I was to show up with yet another wine from this gorgeous appellation so soon. So, I waited and let my fascination with Santa Barbara simmer, and fortuitously enough, not only was I able to feature a Margerum Wine Company bottling this month, but it ended up being one of their rarest wines, made as an homage to a winemaker who featured prominently in my formative years as a sommelier.
Margerum Wine Company owner Doug Margerum.
One of the biggest pitfalls that sommeliers can step into is becoming reliant on a few of their favorite things, er, wines. Once you’ve had success selling a few wines on your winelist, it can be tricky at times not to keep going back to the well, particularly on a busy restaurant floor where pairing suggestions and a wine’s specific storyline must be brought forth from your cerebral recesses in a flash. If you aren’t careful, your product mix report at the end of the week will reveal a very narrow scope of wines going out the door, which doesn’t bode well for either your inventory or your purchasing, as you’ll have to be buying more of your “crutch” bottlings whilst wiping the dust off of the couple hundred other selections on your winelist, now in danger of becoming archival relics rather than a living, breathing wine program. I will not admit to any immunity from this affliction, particularly as a young sommelier being tasked with a James Beard Award-winning wine program, and upon my arrival in Washington 15 years ago, I confess that one of my “go-to” recommendations were the stunning wines of Loire Valley maverick Didier Dagueneau. Seen as a renegade for taking his flinty, racy Sauvignon Blancs and both fermenting and aging them in barrel, I took quickly to both the image of this wild-haired, earthy rockstar of a winemaker and the deliciousness and rarity of his offerings (we had Dagueneau’s “Buisson Renard”, “Pur Sang”, and “Silex” all on the list), quickly seeing to the depletion of our preciously cultivated stocks and drawing the good-natured ire of my friend and mentor, Citronelle’s Chef Sommelier Mark Slater (“Davey, sell something else!!”). Sadly, in the fall of my first year at the restaurant, tragic news came from France: Didier Dagueneau had passed away when a plane he was piloting crashed near Cognac; we had lost one of the true visionaries in the world of wine at that time. Thankfully, Didier’s children had grown up walking the vineyards with their father, and Louis-Benjamin Dagueneau has both inhabited and emerged from his late father’s shadow, keeping the domaine’s standards at the highest level, with the wines remaining some of the most sought-after in all of France.
Last month, when I approached my friend Chris Campbell, president of Metro Cellars and local distributor for Doug Margerum’s eponymous wine company, I was intent on making good on my promise to feature Doug’s wines, but I also was looking for something superlative and special, that GWC Pollux members wouldn’t see everywhere. “What about the D?”, Chris asked. “You have the D?” was my excited reply; Margerum’s “D” Sauvignon Blanc is so named in honor of Didier Dagueneau and, with a total production of just 247 cases, is something of a wine unicorn-you see it and then it’s gone. I jumped at the chance of showing this wine to you all, and to revel in Doug Margerum’s exploration of, as he puts it, “what can be achieved with barrel fermentation of great quality Sauvignon Blanc.” To understand best how Margerum makes their magic with the “D”, I gave in to my geekdom and checked the map.
My happy place-poring over wine maps like this.
Happy Canyon is, indeed, a pleasant-looking place; a cutout between the mountains and forest that lie to the north and east and the more temperately influenced appellations to the west (Santa Ynez, Sana Maria), the appellation was first separated from the generic Santa Barbara County AVA in 2009, and makes its mark with a distinctly noticeable lack of rain and high-mineral, low-nutrient soils that give white wines in particular the kind of storm and stress necessary to obtain complex, heady flavor profiles. The “D” is produced from the McGinley vineyard in the center of the appellation, vines owned by the Grassini family on their estate to the south, and a small dollop from the area’s namesake Happy Canyon vineyard. The extremely long hangtime that the climate allows for lets the Sauvignon Blanc ripen past the typical grapefruit pithe and lemongrass notes of many California examples and start towards characteristics that speak of both Old World and New: the mineral drive and juicy texture of the best of the Loire, the tropicality of higher-quality New Zealand.
From there, Doug and his team have made the “D” a passion project, commissioning specially-designed 265 liter “Cigar” pipe barriques from famed French cooper Ermitage; these barrels were developed specifically for the “D” and are uniquely elongated for added contact with the fine lees (spent yeasts left over from the fermentation process). Vinified and aged in barrel for the entirety of its time in the cellar, the “D” is nurtured in a mix of new, 1 year, and 2 year barrels to add complexity, and the combination of leaving the wine a tad reductive at first and the employment of battonage (stirring of the lees present in the barrels) gives the Sauvignon Blanc both approachability and staying power-Margerum is a firm believer that this wine will age for 10-20 years, and upon tasting, one is hard-pressed to deny either his forecast or his commitment in emulating/paying tribute to a singular character in the wine world. With hindsight in my mind and “D” in my glass, I am grateful to Doug for his time, and glad that I asked all those geeky questions-D.
Margerum Wine Company “D” Sauvignon Blanc, Happy Canyon of Santa Barbara, California 2021
Country of Origin: United States
Places and People: Margerum Wine Company is the brainchild of Doug Margerum, whose history in Santa Barbara County encompasses the last 4 decades of the area’s evolution into a premier winegrowing region. Doug’s career arc includes being the sommelier and owner of a Wine Spectator Grand Award-winning restaurant in Santa Barbara called Wine Cask (1981-2007) and working in retail sales, as a consultant to other wineries, and the winemaker of his own Margerum and Barden labels. Doug sources the fruit for the “D” Sauvignon Blanc (his own estate is planted exclusively to Rhone varieties) from three single vineyards in the Happy Canyon AVA: McGinley, Grassini, and Happy Canyon Vineyard. Made in homage to famed Loire Valley Sauvignon Blanc maverick Didier Dagueneau, total production of the 2021 “D” was just 247 cases and GWC is proud to bring Pollux Members the last remaining bottles of the 2021 vintage available in DC/VA.
Soil: High-mineral, low-nutrient soils that are very poor all around (McGinley Vineyard, on which half of the blend is based, features shale and black rock with a very small amount of topsoil), forcing the grapevines to focus all their energies on maturing their fruit rather than producing leaves, leading to more complexity and flavor.
Grape Varieties: 100% Sauvignon Blanc.
Winemaking: After an early harvest to preserve acidity content in the Sauvignon Blanc grapes, Margerum lets the grapes have some skin contact during maceration and ferments them in specially-selected 265 Liter Ermitage “Cigar” pipe-shaped barrels that are used exclusively for the “D”, which are elongated and allow for added lees contact to enrich the mouthfeel.
Aging: The “D” is then aged in the same barrels for 8 months with lees stirring employed. The barrels are a mix of new, first year, and two-year-old ages, allowing for a gentler presence of oak-derived characteristics in the finished wine.
Flavors and Foods: For a wine that pays homage to Didier Dagueneau and his exploits in Pouilly-Fume, the “D” for me evokes more the character of the town/appellation on the western side of the Loire River, Sancerre. In the glass, the “D” has a very pale, watery rim with flecks of green on the edges, and when brought to your nose, an immediate (and appealing) hint of honey comes forth-not the first smell typically associated with Sauvignon Blanc and an early tell that you have a complex wine on your hands. Other scents are orange and acacia blossoms, fresh lime, sweet grains/oats, and gooseberries. Margerum describes the “D” with that oft-used term for CA Sauv Blanc, “grassy”-I actually disagree, and enjoy the wine all the better for it. The honeycomb (bright, not oxidized in any way) continues on the palate with the sweet grains-so intriguing for Sauvignon to have these feature at the onset of the wine! The second half of the palate moves to more typical kiwi and key lime, along with a very healthy dose of gooseberry-this flavor is a dead-on match for finding fresh gooseberries at the farmer’s market in-season, and this combination of great tropical fruit and a real lack of any “green” or underripe notes whatsoever is what in my mind equates the “D” with the best of Sancerre, as opposed to other California or New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. This mid-palate and back-end complexity is left behind on a mild, racy finish that leaves you both clamoring for another sip and convinced of the “D”’s capacity to age very well. Fish tacos, roasted halibut with cherry tomatoes and fresh herbs, and bright, clean goat’s milk cheeses all came immediately to mind as I tasted.
Service and Cellar: The “D” 2021 is best served at the upper end of the white wine temperature spectrum, around 52 degrees F. I love how the acidity comes forth at this temperature, and also I found that if overchilled some light diacetyl notes (the “butter popcorn” flavor that can come from barrel aging) become more noticeable. A decant of this complex wine is surprisingly welcome, and I think the cool spring/mild summer that contributed to the long growing season Margerum enjoyed in the 2021 vintage has the “D” poised to age well (at least the next 6-8 years easily).
The vineyards of Roccolo Grassi in Valpolicella.
“Dry October”
Roccolo Grassi Valpolicella Superiore, Veneto, Italy 2016
As someone who draws so much from the world of wine (passion, enthusiasm, a living), the concept of Dry January is…tricky for me. Don’t worry, this will NOT be some gripe-laden rant from a buzzed-out wino who just wants everyone to be perpetually intoxicated; I don’t and have never viewed alcohol in general and certainly wine specifically in that fashion. Despite any reduction in my business, I believe very strongly that both the holiday season and the time immediately after it constitute a great annual opportunity for self-reflection and evaluation, which will inevitably for some lead to resolutions centered on wellness and self-improvement. And it is certainly true for many (my household included) that the holidays are marked by enough celebration and warmth that movement of the needle back to center is indeed necessary. So, having said all of that, why does Dry January make me uneasy? I think the answer lies not in the sentiment but in the evangelism of said; in what seems to be a growing trend regarding the manner of our self-expression in this society, I have seen people who I know to be rather vice-worthy in other arenas of their lives become downright Puritanical in their denouncement of all things fermented, and rather than show their joy and exhibit positive energy over having found increased physical, mental, or spiritual happiness in a direction that works for them, their impassioned cries for sobriety seem…judgmental-even, perhaps, laced with a bit of arrogance or superiority?
Let me be clear: I know what I do, the type of business I’m in, and the risks associated with it. And there are times (usually days, not months, for me-sorry Mom) where I abstain from having a glass of wine because, as with all things, there are times where life calls for moderation. I am really grateful to have the support of my members and clients over the past year since I’ve started GWC, because working to find great wines and sharing them, whether via website sales or showing them off at events, has brought me back to a great place-the true appreciation of wine, not as a commercialized commodity, not as a thoughtless means to alter one’s state of coherence, but as a real, tangible testament to things that I love: tradition, geography, and history; the joy of being outdoors, physical labor, families, good conversation, and the excitement of discovery. Well-made wine is all of these things to me and so much more, and I continue to be driven to taste and learn everything the producers and grapevines have to teach me. To sum up, whether you drink zero glasses for the rest of your days or three bottles with two friends tonight, do you, do it with love and positivity, and do it with as much energy as you can muster.
And now, in the worst segway in the history of writing, I bring you the original Dry January-the practice of apassimento in the Italian appellation of Valpolicella.
Grapes being slightly dried in the apassimento style.
Some say the Romans had a sweet tooth; others that the need for wines to have higher alcohol and sugar content was necessitated by the need to stand up to the vagaries of travel in ancient times. Whatever the core reason, we know that drying freshly harvested red grapes purposefully on the vine or on straw mats has been happening for so long that the name for the process, apassimento (from the Italian verb appassire, literally “to wilt” or “to wane”) has been used for millenia. The apassimento process often led to increasing the alcohol content in the ultra-concentrated, raisinated grapes until it killed off the yeasts, fermenting the sugars and leaving residual sweetness in the wines-this style of wine, called Recioto from the Latin raceus, or “grapes left to dry”, was the traditional example of apassimento, and has been an Italian answer to the fortified wines of France and Portugal for centuries. As so often happens in wine, the recioto wines mutated in Italy’s northeastern Veneto region by happy accident into something more; apocryphal evidence concludes that at some point a barrel of Recioto wine was left unattended, and that the yeasts somehow managed to keep working until the wine was fermented to complete dryness, thus creating one of the most famous red wines in the world, Amarone. Amarone is utterly distinctive in the annals of red wine-high alcohol and high tannin levels because of the dried, concentrated, skin-heavy nature of the grapes, but without the residual sugar left to show for it. Producers of Amarone have become legendary names in wine: Masi, Bertani, Dal Forno, Quintarelli, and others have perfected this process into just what the name implies-big wines of substantial fruit character that nevertheless have a decidedly savory, bitter Amaro-like quality to them. Harvested in early to mid-October, the drying process for Amarone grapes typically extends all the way into the new year-a literal Dry (or more accurately, Dried) January.
What then, about Valpolicella red wines that don’t employ the Amarone process? Regular Valpolicella red wines, fresh and full of soft red fruit from the native grape varieties such as Corvina and Rondinella, have long offered the counterpoint to the bulky, warm Amarone style, but it can be difficult to ascertain when buying a bottle labeled Valpolicella Rosso (or the more qualitatively-driven Valpolicella Superiore) just exactly what kind of wine you will be drinking; the region’s laws allow for a substantial amount of wiggle room in the use of dried grapes, and often producers will use dropped fruit from their Amarone plots or declassified grapes from these same vineyards to bottle their standard Valpolicella (they are also afforded the opportunity to use leftover must from making Amarone to kick-start another fermentation in a vat of existing red, a process that leads to yet another style from the area, called Ripasso, “to pass back over”, but wines made this way will usually carry the Ripasso designation on the labels, and so I gratefully digress), so it’s a vinous crapshoot as to whether your Valpolicella tastes bright and fresh or whether it resembles some sort of Amarone knock-off. I am grateful, then, to have tried and enjoyed the wines of the Sartori family at Roccolo Grassi, whose vineyard philosophy makes this whole ball of confusion quite clear, and delicious to boot.
Groundcover between the rows of the Roccolo Grassi vineyard, 3/4 of which is dedicated to the production of Valpolicella Superiore.
Castor Members were treated to some of Roccolo Grassi’s single vineyard Soave “Broia” in February, not that the term “single vineyard” has quite the same sense of cache at the estate, as every wine they make is single vineyard, and there is no declassifying or use of generic fruit to contribute to a house blend or regional bottling. This dedication to truly site-specific, bottle-specific clarity is most welcome in an area with all of the methodic possibilities described above, and also in matters of taste: the Valpolicella Superiore 2016 that I tried comes from the Roccolo Grassi vineyard that names the winery itself. Here, they have specific sections that go to Amarone (only about a quarter of the plot), with the rest being used in the production of Valpolicella Superiore red (a still-small run of just under 2,100 cases annually). Coming from 25+ year-old vines, the brother and sister team of Marco and Francesca Sartori craft their Valpolicella from Corvina, the small clone Corvinone, Rondinella, and Croatina, employing a 50/50 mix of fresh and dried grapes. The key here, however, is that their subplot within the vineyard dedicated to Amarone is kept apart from the remaining juice, so that the drying time on the grapes going into the Valpolicella is just 20 days after their harvest in the first week of October. This adds some structural heft and a delightful acidity to the 2016 VS without sacrificing any of the beautiful red fruit from the freshly pressed grapes, which manifests itself in waves of unctuous dark cherries, pomegranate, and grenadine.
As an artisanal minded family that brings us small-production, single-plot wines of distinction and character, I am excited to share with you the Sartori’s celebration of “Dry October” here in March. Suffice to say, when it comes to health and wellness, I am a staunch advocate of moderation, and when it comes to working hard to find great wines and share them with you, I am a staunch advocate of excess-D.
Roccolo Grassi Valpolicella Superiore 2016
Country of Origin: Italy.
Places and People: Marco and Francesca Sartori took over Roccolo Grassi from their father in 1986. The estate is named after their vineyard of Amarone and consists solely of single vineyard bottlings-there are no declassified grapes or subsidiary cuvees or labels to speak of. The siblings transitioned their family winery to organic farming and temperature-controlled winemaking, and today the estate produces just 4,500 cases of wine across all of their labels combined. Their Valpolicella Superiore comes from the namesake Roccolo Grassi vineyard, a 12 hectare plot at 200-250 meter elevation and southeast exposure, consisting of 8 hectares of vines used for the Valpolicella Superiore and 4 for Amarone and Recioto production.
Soil: A mix of volcanic and basalt rock.
Grape Varieties: A blend of local Veneto varieties: 60% Corvina, 15% Corvinone, 20% Rondinella, 5% Croatina. To make the Valpolicella Superiore, the Sartori’s use 50% freshly harvested grapes, with the other half receiving some ripasso treatment, being slightly dried for a period of 20 days. This process reduces the pulp in the grapes, both concentrating the sugars and giving a slightly higher ratio of skin to juice, resulting in brighter fruit notes and a higher acidity as well.
Winemaking: Harvested in the first week of October, the Valpolicella Superiore is fermented and macerated for a little over two weeks in stainless steel tanks; pumping over of the juice is performed daily. After the base fermentation, the wine is moved to a mix of 225 Liter French oak barrels and larger 15-22 hectoliter casks for the malolactic (secondary) fermentation.
Aging: The Roccolo Grassi remains in this same combination of barriques and larger casks for 20 months. The wine is then bottled and left to rest for a further 10 months prior to release.
Flavors and Foods: I love the approach that Roccolo Grassi takes to its Valpolicella Superiore-this wine has some of the freshest fruit you’ll find in this appellation, and the drying of the grapes for 20 days makes for more complex wine but sans the oxidative, soy-type element that some Valpolicella possess. A predominantly red fruit driven wine, the Grassi shows dark cherries and raspberry confit on the attack. There are soft secondary notes of earthy, wet rock from the basalt and volcanic soil, along with spice notes from the French oak (grated nutmeg, cardamom seed, clove) that thankfully remain in the background-the tannin from the barrel aging is already integrating nicely, with a pleasant, medium finish that doesn’t dry out as it fades. The fresh, engaging 2016 would pair very well with chicken dishes, particularly dark meat. I think the acidity and tannin relationship, being much more measured here than in other Valpolicella’s, merits some seafood consideration: grilled sardines, pasta puttanesca with anchovies and squid, or pasta al tonno are all somewhat out of the box ideas that nevertheless will seem obvious once you’ve tasted the wine.
Service and Cellar: At 6 years in the bottle, the 2016 Roccolo Grassi is drinking very well but has the capacity to cellar at least until it reaches its 10-year anniversary. Despite its short drying program for the straw mat grapes, the Valpolicella Superiore’s alcohol content is still strong at 14.5%, so serving at red cellar temperature (58-62 degrees F) is ideal to make sure the wine’s warmth isn’t accentuated needlessly. A decanting of at least 30 minutes helps the power of this wine resolve itself for maximum pleasure.