WTN: Post Crash Winery and the ABBA of wineries

Tuesday was a holiday, so I schlepped my bicycle over to Sonoma for a little ride and sip. After my chain broke on the hilly road climbing past Ravenswood, I coasted/skateboarded back to downtown Sonoma, where I found a bicycle shop open who fixed me up for $2.98!!! Unfortunately, when the chain broke on the steep hill, I fell over, and I now sport eight square inches of road rash, but...as the kid at the shop said "Who says road biking is not manly"?

Anyway, I decide to do one of my "Tour de Dead End Roads" and after doing this fantastic modest climb up and over Lovell Valley and Wood Valley Roads, I end up at Bartholemew Park Winery. Situated in the eastern foothills near Buena Vista and the old Count H. vineyards, this winery produces surprisingly interesting and "Euro-ish" wines. The 2005 Estate Syrah was very good, with excellent acidity, some balanced black fruit, and a strong note of rhonish-meat and savoryness. Outstanding! Similarly, the 2003 Estate Cabernet is showing very, very fine right now, with excellent acidity, light to moderate mouth feel and weight, good currant fruit, and a lot of interesting funky savory notes going on. This is my second tasting of this wine, with consistent enjoyment. Both wines would rate above 90 on my scale. The winemaker has moved on the Duckhorn, they said (I prefer the Bartholemew Park, at less than half the price, to Duckhorn), so hopefully the house style will not change dramatically.

Alas, not all American wineries are as fine. I did the Michael David (Lodi) tasting last night in Vacaville. The Infinity Viognier was downright strange-some peachy/citrusy notes going on but a weird finish. The Chardonnay was downright vile. Everything wrong with modern California Chardonnay. The 7 Deadly Zins was about what one would expect from a cute pun-oriented marketing driven wine. Plush, polished, produced, utterly characterless-the shop owner described it as over produced and over polished pop music...hence Abba. The Lodi Cab had both a green note and fruit that was so candied I thought I was sucking on a Skittle. The Petit Sirah was the best of an odd lot, smooth and polished but with a weird acidic note on the nose that I normally associate with a wine that has been opened for three days.

Doesn't Hoke's wife work at BP winery?

The 7 Deadly Zins was about what one would expect from a cute pun-oriented marketing driven wine. Plush, polished, produced, utterly characterless-the shop owner described it as over produced and over polished pop music...hence Abba.

Didn't the 7 Deadly Zins start as a co-operative effort of 7 different ZAP members? That's my recollection, at least. How it transitioned into this overly commercial effort (great ABBA analogy) I have no idea, but for the past 4-5 years I've seen it on supermarket shelves here in Indiana, which gives you some idea of how big their production must be (for the record, those same shelves now sport Ravenswood and Seghesio Sonoma bottlings, too -- lo, how the mighty have fallen!)

Mark Lipton

[Jenise]

Brian! Timely TN--on my list of things to get around to is to check into Bartholemew Park wines as we were recently given a gift bottle of that cabernet. I had never heard of the winery before. Your description and endorsement are quite helpful, thanks!

Btw, you mention "the old" Buena Vista--is there still a Buena Vista winery, or just the buildings that used to be?

Michael David-maybe I am just prejudiced agaisnt Lodi wines? They are certainly popular wines, but I just don't like them. Any of them.

The only reason I did the tasting is because I know the distributor rep and he is a good guy.

There is still a Buena Vista Winery. It's owned by a conglomerate and produces, to my limited experience, OK wines. Neat location and setting, though. The wines are certainly better than Michael David. They do sell the Haywood Zinfandel at the tasting room, and I liked that enough to buy a bottle last year.

As for the Bartholemew Park, it's a very small scale, not very "commercial" operation. Beautiful buildings and grounds, and the open space park area is lovely for hiking.

I wonder if the Cab has the tannic structure to be a long term ager? I'm not very experienced with long term aging.

It certainly has the acid, but it is showing secondary development already and I'm not sure about long term cellaring. The winemaker notes suggests five to 15 years....???? I like it now-I think a lot of 2003 Napa Cabs are beginning to show pretty interesting development. Still...it is no fruit bomb and the mouthwatering character of the acids and fruit balance....it would be a nice experiment. If you are in this area and want to do some tastings, pm me!

Your palate is far more discerning than mine, though It takes truly awful wine to bring out the negative superlatives for me (I might rate the Michael Davis Chard 60 points. Bleh.)

Sorry about your bicycle accident Brian, but the $2.98 repair is a bargain. Bartholomew Park might be one for me to visit if I get to Sonoma in 2009 for Pinot on the River.

Sorry about your bicycle accident Brian, but the $2.98 repair is a bargain. Bartholomew Park might be one for me to visit if I get to Sonoma in 2009 for Pinot on the River.

Ah...it just stings a bit.

I like their wines a lot, although I think the average wine drinker might find them "thin" and "not fruity"