Since the completion of the local harvest last year, I’ve been hearing whispers that the 2009 vintage has the potential to be one of best ever. Mother nature was fully cooperative, offering up very warm day time temperatures, even at the vineyard elevation (often 4500-5000 feet) but sufficiently cooled nights. Rainfall was well below the norm, essentially eliminating moisture related disease, and allowing the vintners to tailor irrigation to their specifications. The only fly in the ointment was a late season hail storm or two in the Sonoita region which may have reduced a crop a little. So with the grapes in the barrels and tanks and a few whites actually ready for bottling, I was curious to discover how the wines are developing. For some answers, I spoke with Kent Callaghan (www.callaghanvineyards.com) and Sam Pillsbury (www.pillsburywine.com) about the wine’s progress and had the opportunity to taste some barrel samples from Kent as well. The result……….so far so good, perhaps even excellent.
My wife, Rosalee, and I headed down to Kent’s vineyard last weekend to taste samples from twelve barrels. I’ll detail these in the next column but suffice it to say that there was not an overly tannic, brut wine in the bunch. I was suitably impressed that most of the wines have already developed a distinct personality and identity that range from light and delightful with defining acidity to the more structured and muscular. Kent shared with us that while he used to believe it was imperative to extract from the grape skins until there was no more, he has shifted his approach, balancing the fruit, tannins and acidity with greater precision. From his samples, I believe that he’s succeeding. We’ll have a video of our conversation with him as well over the next month so look for that on the Video segment.
Meanwhile, I headed up to Phoenix this week to video Sam Pillsbury and ask him about his perspective on the’09 vintage. He echoed Kent’s sentiment that the vintage appears to be stellar. Whereas some vintages yield varietals that can be marginal, challenging the vintner with difficult decisions, Sam said that there is not a weak wine in the bunch. Every sample, reds and whites, appear to have success imprinted upon them. They are just getting ready to bottle a white or two.
This potential success comes at an opportune time, following on the heels of a Wine Spectator online article in late January profiling the local industry in a positive light and highlighting several of Sam’s wines. While our industry is very young, it’s clear that the climb along the quality curve is accelerating, led by a few vintners at the forefront. For a perspective on the history of Arizona wines, you can read the article here.
Finally, in what could be a very telling event, the top local vintner wines will be pitted against both domestic and international varietals late this spring. The wines, of course, will be blinded to the tasters which will include some very prominent experts. Stay tuned to the Wine Inquirer as we’ll bring you up to date as the details emerge.
Have you tried any Arizona wines? You can take our easy poll on the Home Page and let the reader know. If you’ve not yet sampled the state’s wines, would you feel differently if our local wines bested some of their competitors in the upcoming competition?
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[...] the region’s wines have received highly favorable reviews over the last few years. And with the outstanding ’09 growing season either in the barrel or in the bottle, I foresee some very nice wines on the [...]