BLUE JEANS TO BLACK TIE AUCTION, The Gift Center, San Francisco, California – January 29, 1999: Billed as a tasting, dinner and auction to raise funds for continuing research at ZAP's Heritage Vineyard (a collection of Zinfandel clones from many different growing regions across California). It's a venture with UC Davis to preserve and propagate old vine Zinfandel clones from the grand old Zinfandel vineyards. I wasn’t particularly happy that I’d been coerced into bringing semi-dorky clothing to wear to this gala event only to see califusa wearing old blue jeans, old loafers (without socks) and a nice shirt that wasn’t ironed OR tucked in. I was in a new pair of Nikes, but c’mon, I’m supposed to be a hip dude!
The Festival site is a large open air Cabaret/Auditorium with a spacious main floor and three balconies overlooking from three sides. Most tables were situated on the first level, but there were several on the second level as well. In addition, there were pouring stations representing about 50 wineries, in most cases manned by the winemakers themselves, situated around the perimeter of the 2nd and 3rd levels, allowing the participants intimate access to the likes of Joel Peterson, Nils Venge and Paul Draper. Whatsmore, most were pouring samples from previous vintages, rather than the new ‘97’s. Soon after arriving, Madame and I went in search of our table, and were delighted to find that we would be seated with Mr. Venge and Mary Pisor from Saddleback. We’re big fans of their Cabs, Zins and Sangiovese, and still have vivid memories of our first meeting with them last July, so here was an opportunity to get reacquainted with two very fine people, and enjoy some knockout wines as well.
We had 45 minutes to kill before the festivities began, so we wandered the various levels, looking at the auction lots (the Saddleback looked very enticing, but we waited too long, and it was gone), chatting with winemakers and tasting various wines. Our first stop was (surprise!) at the Ridge station, where Mr. Draper and Donn Riesen (Ridge VP/Sales) were pouring the ’92 Lytton Estate ATP and the ’94 Alegria ATP Zins, both of which are very tasty. When I expressed pleasure at tasting these again, Paul said that he’d asked Ridge's Retail Sales Manager, Delia Montesinos, what was drinking well and these were what she dropped into the cases, adding that he wanted people to get an idea of what was offered in the Advanced Tasting Program. We had a nice chat, made room for others, and continued walking down the line.
The Saddleback station was right around the corner, and Nils greeted us with glasses of his wonderful ’96 Zinfandel. We were enjoying the wine and pleasant conversation, when we noticed a murmur making its way through the crowd. "Oh-oh, here comes Russell," Madame observed. Picture a man of about 6’5" weighing in at around 225 lbs., wearing a purple velvet toga cut well above the knees, and you can imagine why heads turned wherever Russell Bevan aka Bacchus and his life partner/fiancé Victoria wandered during the evening. This was our first meeting with Russell and Victoria, though we’d had numerous conversations with him via email, telephone and the wine boards. We knew what to expect with regard to the toga, but it was still quite a sight.
They greeted us warmly, and gratefully accepted pours from Mr. Venge, with whom they’re on very good terms. After a few minutes of getting to know each other, we once again moved on, knowing that, like Long (and boring) Tom Hill and our new friends from Day-twah, our paths would cross again and again over the next couple of days. We made a stop at the Biale station, where we finally met Robert. I’d spoken with him once on the phone last summer regarding an allocation of his wines that Russell and Victoria had generously shared with Madame and me, so this was another first meeting. As he poured us glasses of his ’94 Aldo’s Vineyard Zinfandel (which is absolutely delicious), I congratulated him on the fact that not only did Wine Spectator finally get around to reviewing his ’96 Zins, they had very favorable things to say about them, as well. He explained that Biale’s policy is not to send samples for review, since they’d prefer ensuring their customers be adequately supplied, so WS had had to purchase the bottles sampled wherever they could. From there, we moved on to the Dashe Cellars station, where Anne Dashe was pouring the delicious ’96 Dashe Zinfandel. Her husband Mike (a former assistant winemaker at Ridge) joined a few minutes later, and we repeated our compliment paid to Anne on the excellent quality of their wine.
We found our way back to the Saddleback table, and there I spied a gentleman with a David Coffaro tag on his coat, and took an educated guess, asking if he was Brendon Eliason, the assistant winemaker. He replied to the affirmative, and was quite delighted when I introduced Madame and myself as Gangsters of Pour. He was very complimentary regarding the Gang site, and we had an interesting conversation about Coffaro’s determination to hold the line on wine pricing, and the sad fact that so many California wineries seem to be going crazy with skyrocketing prices.
We were about to make our way back to our table for dinner and the festivities, when Russell and Victoria came up grumbling about being seated at the Gallo table. Nils had just finished closing down his pouring station, so we took advantage of a perfect photo op with him and Bacchus. However, just as I was about to shoot the picture, Russel lifted Venge clean off of his feet. Now, Nils Venge is a fairly big himself, so this show of berserker strength was something of a shock, and the first of many indications that there was a wildman in our midst! Seated as we were on the 2nd level, we took in almost none of the program presented onstage. I honestly don’t remember hearing a word of Guest Speaker Dr. Carole Meredith’s talk, though we certainly did take note of Auctioneer Bruce Kaiser’s effect on the crowd, as cheers and applause would erupt from time to time. But then, we were seated with Nils and Mary, along with six other lucky wine lovers, so we really didn’t miss a thing. Nils was pouring three wines, his ’96 Venge Scout’s Honor Zinfandel (named for a faithful, but sadly departed, Yellow Labrador Retriever companion of yore), the ’96 Saddleback Napa Zinfandel and a ’97 Saddleback Late Harvest Zinfandel, weighing in at 7% Residual Sugar and 15.3% alcohol. Venge called the ’97 LH "my Millenium Designate," with its projected release date of late 1999, and confessed that it was the result of a stuck fermentation. This inky garnet is dense and concentrated, showing toasty oak and sweet black raspberry/black cherry flavors and aromas, and I found it to be wonderful, even at this early stage in its development. My notes read, "You could pour this on your pancakes!" Dinner was delightful, and the company was grand. I took advantage of sitting next to Nils and discussed the wines we tasted, as well as asking his opinions on some that we didn’t. (He admitted, "I like Geyserville…" and left it at that when I asked him about Mr. Ridge.)
One of the really fun aspects of this event is that after dinner, winemakers (and some "regular" folks as well) make the rounds trading tastes with each other. At one point, Joel Peterson showed up, wondering if he could barter for some of the ’97 Saddleback LH. Nils was more than accommodating, since Mr. Peterson was offering some of his 1978 Ravenswood El Dorado Zinfandel, which proved to be absolutely lovely. A dark garnet that’s still not showing much rust, this exhibits major cedar on the nose, which follows through on the palate, along with notes of leather/plum/prune/raspberry/dried cherry and ends with a long finish that lingers and lingers and lingers. The wine is absolutely remarkable, especially in light of the "fact" that Zinfandel doesn’t age well. Shortly after that, Bacchus came up looking for a trade, holding two bottles that were obscured with dinner napkins.
Finally, after a great dinner, fabulous wine and much frivolity, our little corner of the festivities broke up, as we bid our Saddleback friends and the others adieu. The Director and I returned to the 1st level, where we rejoined califusa and the late arriving 9-Ball, who were seated with Joel Peterson. Along the way, we renewed acquaintances with Duane Dappen of D-Cubed Cellars, whom we’d met last July. We finally got to witness some of the auction, and Bruce Kaiser’s charisma was infectious and undeniable. We took advantage of a few more photo opportunities before leaving, not at all disappointed that we hadn’t made any purchases. It was more than enough to have been able to taste some wonderful wines, speak with some of the finest winemakers in California, and quite simply, have a rockin’ good time!
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