Many of these growers represent years of relationships – community building that has run the gamut from mentoring sons who start their own labels with their family’s fruit to promoting the growers to other winemakers. Some of these relationships go back over a dozen years and we hope to keep this record of close relationships up for many years more. Tandem does not grow its own fruit, but relies on the families listed on our vineyard designate labels to produce the quality that goes into every drop of Tandem wines. Ritchie Vineyard: What can be said about the success of Kent Ritchie, other than that we were there before he was famous! Picking days there are like watching a who’s who lineup of top-level Chardonnay producers. In 2003 the tannins were a bit trickier, with the cooler weather and later season. Kent graciously consented to let us hang our share of fruit out there longer than anyone else, braving the threat of rain to let those last hard elements of the skins soften up to perfection. The 2003 was the most richly-textured Ritchie we’d yet made over these many years we’ve been working with his fruit, at least until the 2004 vintage came along. With its warm disposition accelerating harvest in this vineyard located in the very heart of the Russian River Valley, all three clones (Robert Young, a Curtis selection and a Musque derivative) ripened within 10 days of each other. The result was a uniform richness that increased texture even further. This is a fitting tribute to one of the oldest Chardonnay vineyards in Sonoma County and one of her greatest growers, Kent Ritchie. Porter-Bass Vineyard: Biodynamics has now become quite popular, but in the far west of the Russian River Appellation in the cool, steep hills near Guerneville, one normally sees this applied to easier crops to grow in the cold and damp, such as Redwoods and sheep. Continuing their biodynamic farming, the Porter-Bass family also continues to amaze. The 2003 Chardonnay was almost identical in flavor profile to the 1997 vintage, when Greg made these grapes into the most highly rated Chardonnay of the year from Wine & Spirits (95 rating), a 93 rating from The Wine Spectator and were chosen as “Artisan Winery of the Year”, anchored by Sue and Dirck’s tireless and responsible work with the soil. The Rued (musque) clone, at the top of the vineyard and basket-pressed the old-fashioned way instead of membrane pressed, is always absolutely right-on with its combination of floral notes and feral, attitudinal in-your-face aromas. The Wente clone provides the backbone and structure on the mouth, with deep peach tones to add to the cacophony of aromas. The heat of 2004 tended to not affect this far-flung vineyard, with flavors and timing of picking continuing along in a blessedly orderly manner! Sangiacomo Vineyards: These folks are salt-of-the-earth, hard-working farmers who consistently deliver some of the most wild flavors in their grapes, which are grown in both Carneros Sonoma and in the “true” (and cold) Sonoma Coast near Petaluma. 2003’s coolness really accentuated those wild, feral tones. We did see a shift in 2004 in the Roberts Road vineyard in the Petaluma Gap at the western base of Sonoma Mountain in terms of vine growth habit – early vigor was much more present. We thought that there should be more than ½ ton per acre for 2004, but not so! For each year thus far, the tiny yields in both Chardonnay and Pinot noir have resulted in the most consistently concentrated fruit we have seen. Balanced pruning each winter will be a key in maintaining that intensity yet maybe, dare we say it, getting perhaps a whole ton to the acre! Keefer Ranch: Marcy and Craig were steady as usual in 2004. What always delights us is that Marcy and Craig are not into farming by formula, but by being keen students of their vines and really working hard to time their viti techniques so that shoot tips really do stop growing early. We watch a lot of their neighbor farmers hedge way too early each year, causing lateral growth and delaying or depressing tannin maturation. Not so with the Keefer ranch; Marcy plays the waiting game brilliantly and delivers fruit that is what we have always come to expect as Keefer qu ality. The Mariafeld clone, with its very op en cluster architecture and relatively thick skin, in 2004 was particularly challenging, as it didn’t want to stop growing. Marcy was very patient, stayed the course and pulled off some of the best fruit yet. We released the 2004 in June. It follows a very successful year in 2003, which also used some of the Dijon clones (115, 667 and 777) as well as the UCD-4 Pommard clone, providing us with complexity and structure not possible in most vineyards with fewer selections with which to paint… Van der Kamp Vineyard: This is the highest vineyard on Sonoma Mountain, with a North-facing aspect overlooking the town of Kenwood. Also the site of some of the oldest Pinot noir grapevines in Sonoma County, this panoramically dramatic vineyard’s rocky red volcanic clay soils and exposed environs are planted to a fabulous mix of old, unknown clones and the latest state-of-the-art Dijon clones, included the coveted and still quite rare Dijon 828. Martin, Ulysses, Dixie, and their terroir are together a great team. Martin has been at this game for a long time now, as a winemaker as well. Every year their vineyard gets better and better. Last year was no exception, with possibly the best canopy light environment we’ve yet seen. Ulysses’ early work on leaf and overall canopy management paid off handsomely with perhaps the darkest yet most refined tannin structure we’ve yet seen in their berries. It is translating well into the wines of 2004 which will be a fitting effort following the distinctive 2003 vintage. Silver Pines Vineyards: Norm and Carol Silverman are a new addition to the Tandem team. Introduced to us through a mutual friend, the Silverman’s were looking for a home for their first-crop Pinot noir. Planted close to the Van der Kamp vineyard on Sonoma Mountain, when Greg went up for a look, the result was a relationship that has provided Tandem not only with some great grapes, but some wonderful new friends. Though our lot of Pinot noir from 2003 was too small to bottle separately, the 2004 version gave us enough fruit to bottle 200 cases. We see a promising future for this vineyard, which will include a tasty Sauvignon Blanc, Syrah and Vin Gris under the Silverman’s’ own label, Silver Pines. You will be able to see their website at www.silverpinesvineyards.com. The 2004 wine benefited from the insights we gained from working with the Van der Kamp fruit. With a ripe, warm year, tannins ripened perfectly as opposed to much of the fruit that is valley-grown. In this mountain locale, we were able to achieve flavors and texture that, quite frankly, surprised and delighted us in their smoothness and almost confectionary tones, particularly from the Pommard clone, which we consider the veritable “switch hitter” of the Pinot Clonal world. The Mariafeld Clonal selection, with its open clusters and thick, sturdy skins, helped to provide the backbone and framework on which to array the deep, rich flavors that we hope to see in the coming years from this well-tended plot overlooking Bennett Valley. Hellenthal: Gard has been for many years helping his next-door neighbor David Hirsch plant and care for vines. He helped Greg put in a large portion of the new vineyard at Flowers. After helping so many people for so long, we are pleased to present our vinous version of what Gard has been doing for is own vineyard. The high coastal mountain ridges of the Hellenthal Vineyard are the perfect place to extract balanced tannins and dark berry flavors, but not-so-perfect for growing a lot of crop. The marine environ, combined with the venerable, intense but shy-yielding Mount Eden clone , provide barely over 1 ton per acre in this wind-swept location. The coastal texture and its power are evident in the wine from the ripe year 2004, yielding up wine that cannot easily be mistaken for anything less than the voice of the ridges of the Fort Ross area. Gabrielli Vineyard: Sam Gabrielli was a true viticultural pioneer in the Redwood Valley of Mendocino County, and we are reaping the benefits. The berries are generally on the small side, with open cluster architecture due to difficulty in flowering. His difficulties were our opportunities for concentration and color in the wine. This opportunity was enhanced in 2003 with the long, cool fall – so cool, in fact, that at the end of October we were still at only around 24 degrees Brix (% sugar). Sam kept his vines very healthy, with lots of green, photosynthetically active vines, metabolizing steadily along until November 3rd and 4th. We had been on the verge of picking for several days, when Mother Nature told us decisively that it was time to take action: first it rained. Then, two nights in a row brought frosts deep enough to shut down the vines. But not deep enough to damage the fruit, which we finished picking on the 5th of November. The tannins were still high-tone (as Sangiovese is wont to be), and so we pressed off at exactly half-way through fermentation, and soooo slowly finished primary in all-used barrels. We applied battonage to the gross lees, watching the tannins soften as the intense Sangiovese fruit characters remained intact. Aldine Zinfandel: The story has been well-chronicled as to how this gravelly Talmage benchland ( Russian River bench in Mendocino County) old-vine vineyard has moved from a high-volume producer of White Zin in 1996 to its standout performances of today. Retired veterinarian “Big Daddy” Don Aldine and his wife Jo had, due to economic necessity, converted the Dry Creek clone vines to produce high-volume cheaply. On looking at the vineyard in 1997, Greg saw the potential for a return to the vineyard’s nobler past. Greg and Don set about to prune the vines back to balance and rework the overall canopy for a replay of the high quality of which these plants were capable. That potential has been fulfilled in Tandem’s Peloton and now in our first vineyard-designated bottling in 2004, a vintage that proved perfect for the sun-loving old vines and the rocky soil which was able to capture but not abuse what nature gives to this Mendocino original.
|