AWS 50th Anniversary

Well, that was my 6th successive AWS National Conference.

Biggest ever, with 750 attendees, presumably because of combination of location's (Poconos Mountain, PA) proximity to membership core and the 50th anniversary.

Again, so many excellent sessions, so much excellent wine to taste and to drink, and so many sessions one wanted to go to but ran alongside the one attended.

Four standouts for me were

-Pessac-Leognan - red wines of this Bordeaux appellation presented by the superb Paul Wagner with wines courtesy Union des Grand Crus de Bordeaux

-A Sideways Trip through Santa Barbara - this was so much fun, and so well done, presented by three members of East Las Vegas Valley AWS Chapter, 8 wines tasted along with matching clips from the Sideways movie and videos of the winemakers.

-Lodi Native - presented by Stuart Spencer of Lodi Wine Commission and winemaker at St Amant Winery. Showing Zinfandels from six wineries made from old vineyards with natural fermentation and no additive including no new oak, acid or water designed to show expression of vineyards. Using uniform Lodi Native labels. Also some commercial versions made from same vineyards and wineries in comparison.

-Chateau Phelan Segur - presentation by the cellar master on the effect of different age & type of barrels illustrated by barrel samples of the 2015 vintage followed by the final blend.

phelan-segur-bin.jpg

Now in Sanibel Island, Florida for some warmth after cold of Ontario, New York (snow in Cheektowaga) and Pennsylvania.

Sounds like a good time! Do you recall the vintage of the Lodi Native wines?

(I purchased a sampler of the six wines from the 2013 vintage a while ago and still have a couple remaining, but have enjoyed them so far, finding only one to be too big and boozy for my taste. My favorite has been the one produced by McCay Cellars -- in fact, I think I still prefer that one to any of the half-case of regular McCay wines I also got for comparative purposes.)

Aargh. I thought I posted a reply, and its not here.

The Lodi Native tasting was all 2015, the six-pack wines plus two commercial versions.

The 2014 six-pack was available from April 2017, so I assume the 2015 vintage pack will be released in April 2018. Only available from Lodi Visitor Centre.

6 wines, all interesting and if I could, I'd buy a pack without hesitation. Of the six my least favourite was the Machia 'Rous Vineyard' (planted in 1909 on St George rootstock) only because of its porty finish after a bright blueberry start.

The Lodi Native 6 each cost $35: of the two St Amant 'Marians Vineyard' (planted 1901 on own roots) I preferred the commercial version, which had been picked two weeks later, had only a quarter undergoing natural ferment as not only was $11 cheaper but I got a little funkiness on the Lodi Native bottling.

But I'd love to give each of them a proper showing accompanying dinner.

Winesearcher doesn't list St Amant in the UK unfortunately

Thanks, Peter! I'll watch for these in Spring.