Newsletter 41, 2012

Newletter 41, Spring 2012

 Kelp Reviews

What did we do before we could simply Google something? Directions, phone numbers, business profiles, and my personal favorite: those all-important customer reviews. They are lifesavers. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve avoided going to a restaurant after reading one of these professional, non-biased reviews. The best site I’ve come to rely on is a little known consumer review website called Kelp.

Kelp, or Kitschy Evaluations from Lame Patrons, specializes in winery reviews. Its phonetic similarity to seaweed refers to the collection of reviews accumulating within the Internet Sea, similar to the Pacific Trash Vortex. No matter how toxic the review, they just won’t ever decompose—even if you advertise with Kelp! Rumor has it that Kelp will come out with it’s IPO later this year. Can’t wait. Heyooooh!

MU

Check out a few (filtered) Kelp Reviews of Unti:

I had a bad feeling about this place from the get-go. When I asked the owner if he made Sauvignon Blanc, he said “No. Go to the Mall.” I hardly recognized any of the varietal wines offered. Monte-who? Is that the full Monty? Grenache, isn’t that chocolate? It’s a little intimidating when the owner corrects my pronunciation of all of those totally unknown Italian grape names. – E. Richards, San Francisco, Blogger, 2/29/12

We stopped by Unti because they came highly recommended by the other wineries we visited. When I asked about the aging potential of the Grenache, the owner was staring at my Boston Red Sox cap, and replied, “How did you like that last day of the 2011 regular baseball season?” Who goes to a winery to learn about baseball anyway? – J. Stratton, L.A., Live in Chef (Nanny), 3/11/11

 

2008 Benchland Syrah

Pedigree Prevails

Sometimes it’s actually better to be good rather than lucky. Such is the saga of our 2008 Benchland Syrah.
As I have mentioned in the past, the 2008 vintage was one of variable ripeness. A spring frost caused uneven ripening for most every grape variety we grow. Most of our wines were less fruity and showed more tannin because of variable ripening. This was particularly noticeable in our 2008 Barbera and Grenache. However, we were able to avoid the shortcomings of 2008 in our Benchland Syrah for two reasons: The vineyard pedigree and rigorous barrel selection.

Benchland Syrah comes from one of our oldest and most consistent vineyard blocks. We essentially cherry pick the lowest yielding section of this vineyard. In a vintage like 2008, we scrutinize our harvest even more knowing that the vintage is prone to uneven ripening. Then, we go through and select only the best tasting barrels within our 3 batches of Benchland Syrah. Only 9 barrels made the cut, which is why our production of Benchlnad Syrah is down from previous years. By best, we mean the most expressive flavors of the vineyard and better tannin balance. The result is a wine that transcends the limitations of the 2008 vintage, while showing our vineyard personality.

I’d say this 2008 Benchland is a richer version of our 2006 Benchland. While it certainly has the potential for aging, it is already showing well now. We just don’t have much of it.

Only 225 cases produced | $35/bottle      Link To Store

2009 Grenache

Wake of the Flood
I don’t know what it is about odd year vintages. For some reason they translate into excellent growing seasons for our Grenache. 2009 follows suit, but the road was a tad bumpy. The 2009 growing season was similar to 2007; we had a fairly light crop set, though it was a bit cooler. The longer growing season pushed harvest dates for most of our grapes a week or two behind normal, which is a good thing for color, flavor, and tannin structure. Earlier in the year we made a decision to reduce the already limited Grenache crop more than normal in an attempt to gain more concentration and tannin structure. By mid September, we were high-fiving ourselves when we walked through our Grenache blocks. This was going to be the best vintage EVER!

Well, Mother Nature, as she usually does, had a thing or two to say about our euphoria (or as my girlfriend likes to say, I spoke too soon per usual). By mid-October we heard rumblings of an impending rainstorm. In past years, we have dealt with rain by allowing our Grenache to hang in favor of obtaining flavor ripeness. But this rainstorm was predicted to be bigger than most, so we decided to harvest one block of Grenache before the rain to get one batch “in the barn.” Good thing, because we received over 5 inches of rain October 15th and 16th.

One would think we made a nice Grenache blend in 2009, just fewer cases of it—and that is by and large true. However, we actually used a portion of the Grenache that we harvested after the rain because it added more fruit both in aroma and flavor. This might be our fruitiest Grenache to date, which is quite a feat considering the circumstances. Shows you how good this vintage was prior to the deluge.

Most of our Syrah was harvested in perfect condition, so it really adds some depth and complexity. Consider this a worthy successor to one of my favorite Unti wines, the 2007 Grenache, without the long-term aging potential. That said, this wine will show much better than the 2007 did for the first 3 or 4 years in bottle.

Only 595 cases produced  | $28/bottle  Link To Store

2011 Rosé

Keep It Continue
The 2011 Rosé was bottled February 29th and it represents another leap forward for Unti (I’m sorry, I couldn’t help myself).  I know I sound like the boy who cried wolf, but our Rosé continues to show more Bandol-like qualities with each successive vintage.

The unusually cool 2011 growing season had us improvising in late September, knowing that an early October rain was going to jeopardize much of our Grenache and Mourvedre grapes slated for red wine. Let’s see… we can’t seem to make enough Rosé to keep y’all satisfied, and if we wait another 3 weeks for our Grenache and Mourvedre to further ripen we might lose all of the fruit to bunch rot. Voila! Let’s pick those vineyard blocks now at 22-23 degrees brix, which is ideal for making balanced Rosé. What a concept!

Once you try the 2011 Rosé, you’ll agree: it was a grand decision. Harvesting Grenache and Mourvdere at this sugar level means that we made all of our Rosé by crushing and immediately pressing the wine. It results in a more balanced Rosé, with brighter acidity and lower alcohol, and that means more Provençal in style.

For those ardent Unti Rosé fans, who love our dry, food–friendly style, this wine is a Barry Zito fastball centered in the middle of the plate, waiting for you to deposit it in McCovey Cove. Or at the very least to keep a few Rosé bottles chilled on your boat docked in the SF Bay.

Have at it. And while you’re at it, check out our new solely-dedicated-to-rosé-up-and-coming-website: www.UntiRose.com

1,470 cases produced | $22/bottle     Link To Store

2008 Port

LBV from UV
The 2008 vintage provided some challenges, and you know what that means: We made a dessert wine.  Spring frost in 2008 drastically reduced our Barbera and Zinfandel crop. Mid-to-late-August heat pre-maturely accelerated sugar levels and caused widespread shrivel…which is never good for anyone. In order to achieve mature flavors we allowed the grapes to hang, thereby paying the price of having even more dried bunches, making it a tedious exercise to sort prior to crush.

While this laborious process helped us minimize “pruny” flavors in both our Barbera and our Zin, it left us with several macro-bins of dried grapes. Just as we did with dried Grenache bunches in 2004, we decided to once again try our hand at making dessert wine.
For some reason, when Sebastien fortified our Barbera/Zin sweet concoction, the brandy dominated the wine for quite some time. Obviously making sweet wine is not exactly our forté, so we did what comes naturally to us: we procrastinated on bottling and waited to see if the wine improved in barrel. It did, but it took so long that the wine developed some nice mature aromas and flavors making this our version of a “Late Bottled Vintage Port.”

If you are like me, and like the taste of Vintage Port, but don’t like to wait 20-30 years, our 2008 Port is a great option. In fact, at 15.5% alcohol, you can afford to have more than one glass. Come to think of it, our 2008 Port is lower in alcohol than many Dry Creek Zins, but I digress.

Only 200 cases produced | $20/ 500 ml bottle

Link To Store