Testarossa
Vineyards
Los Gatos, California
www.testarossa.com
408-354-6150
Late
breaking news:
- Testarossa
shines at New York Wine Experience
- New
best ever Wine Spectator ratings for Testarossa
Chardonnays-94pts and 93pts respectively
- 1999
Harvest Update - last vintage of the Millennium shaping up
beautifully!!!
-
1999 Fall Winery Letter - late but still coming
- Hot
Wines Tasting - Wine Spectator New York Wine Experience -
Oct. 23, 1999
HOT
WINES TASTING - WINE SPECTATOR NEW YORK WINE EXPERIENCE - OCTOBER
23, 1999
This
past Saturday Diana proudly represented Testarossa on Wine Spectator's
showcase panel of the Eight Hottest new wineries in California.
Check out http://www.winespectator.com
for their coverage of the event.
Over
1,000 serious wine aficionados crammed the 20,000 square foot
(including a large balcony section) Grand Ball Room of New York
City's Times Square Marriott Marquis Hotel. The panel was hosted
by Wine Spectator Sr. Editor and renowned author James Laube.
The panel was introduced by Bon Appetite's Anthony Dias Blue,
and legendary Australian Winemaker and Author Len Evans.
The panel was lead off by superstar Chardonnay producer Donald
Patz of Patz & Hall Winery who poured his 1997 Carr Vineyard Chardonnay
(95pts, $45). The wine was wonderful but unfortunately the 1997
vintage was the last wine produced from this phylloxera ravaged
vineyard which is currently under going replanting.
Next
up, and the highlight of the panel (as far as we're concerned)
was Diana's introduction of Testarossa Vineyards to the excited
assembly. She gracefully thanked the crowd, her fellow wineries,
our New York Distributor, and James Laube of Wine Spectator. She
next told of the origin of the name Testarossa (i.e. Italian for
redhead, you've heard the story before but they hadn't), how we
got started in the wine business, and the exciting array of Vineyards
that we partner with (Sleepy Hollow, Michaud, Pisoni, Garys' all
in Monterey, and Clos Pepe and Bien Nacido in Santa Barbara County).
She poured our 1997 Bien Nacido Chardonnay which was tasting awesome
Saturday (are we biased?? Maybe a little!! But check out the next
article to see how this wine and our 1996 Reserve Chardonnay were
rated.) She concluded by saying that we still have a long way
to go to achieve the quality potential we believe still lies in
the vineyards we utilize, and again thanking everyone who attended.
It was hard to 1) thank everyone who helped us get to this event,
2) introduce ourselves, our winery, our origins, our vineyards,
and our wines, and 3) wrap things up eloquently all in less than
four minutes. But Diana pulled it off better than anyone else
on the panel. (Some of you who may be asking why Diana was on
the panel instead of Rob who is usually trying to grab the spotlight
whenever he can. The answer is simple. Jim Laube asked if Diana
would be on the panel instead of Rob. His reasons were two fold.
1) Diana was the one he always talked with when calling the winery,
and 2) Wine Spectator has gotten complaints in the past that their
panels are not ethnically or gender diverse (i.e. they seem to
always be made up of a group of middle aged white guys). It was
easy for Diana to agree to James' request as she spends far more
time working on Testarossa than does Rob. Before the panel started
she was full of nervous energy, which wasn't helped much when
she realized that Robert Mondavi himself was sitting front row-center
eagerly tasting the wines from the new mavericks on stage. But
once the lights and cameras were rolling she was a champ (though
it was good she didn't realize that a 30 foot image of her was
being displayed on two Jumbotron screens so the masses could see
her). It was like being at a rock concert but with 15,000 wine
glasses.
We
expect a copy of the video and audio of her presentation from
Wine Spectator in a couple of weeks and will get copies put up
on our web site for your viewing. The afternoon of the event on
Saturday, Wine Spectator already had a complete article written
for their web site with the lead photo being Diana and Donald
Patz on stage. See it at http://www.winespectator.com
Diana
was followed by Joan Flowers from the Sonoma Coast's rising star
winery. Flowers Vineyards & Winery. Joan poured their 1997 Camp
Meeting Ridge Vineyard Moon Select Pinot Noir. Joan and Walt Flowers,
and their Winemaker Greg LaFollette are good friends of us at
Testarossa.
Joan
was followed by the budding Superstar Rhone producer John Alban
who poured his outstanding 1997 Reva Syrah (93pts) from his Edna
Valley Vineyard in San Luis Obispo County. We also count John
and his wife Lorraine as close friends of Testarossa. John has
been very helpful with sharing advice on how to make our Viogniers.
The
second half of the panel was dominated by three Napa Valley Cabernet
Producers, Constant on Diamond Mountain, Miner Family in Oakville,
and David Arthur also in Oakville. The final winery was Howell
Mountain Vineyards pouring their outstanding 1997 Zinfindel.
NEW
BEST EVER WINE SPECTATOR RATINGS FOR
TESTAROSSA CHARDONNAYS
12
hours before Diana was irrevocably set to pour our 1997 Bien Nacido
Vineyard Chardonnay for 1,000+ people at the New York Wine Experience
(see article above) we found out for the first time that this
particular wine just became Testarossa's highest rated wine ever.
Wine Spectator had set out early copies of the November 15, 1999
issue of their magazine which contained the rating for the '97
Bien Nacido and a review of our 1996 Signature Reserve Chardonnay
which received 93pts the second highest rated Chardonnay in this
issue. Complete descriptions of the wines are below:
94pts
Testarossa Chardonnay Santa Maria Valley Bien Nacido Vineyard
1997 $32 Brilliant fruit. Ripe, generous, supple and complex,
with lots of fresh ripe pear, peach, fig, tangerine and spice
nuances. Finishes with a pretty array of toasty oak. Drink now
through 2006. 435 cases made. - J.L.
93pts
Testarossa California George Troquato Signature Reserve 1996
$39. Wonderful, finesse, richness and complexity with layers
of pear, hazelnut, fig, apricot and citrus notes. Full-bodied
and concentrated. Drink now through 2005. 90 cases made. - J.L.
This
makes it 11 for 11 for "Outstanding" 90+ point ratings for
Testarossa Chardonnays that have been reviewed:
1997
Vintage:
94pts
Bien Nacido Vineyard Chardonnay (already 2 puffs from Connoisseurs'
Guide)
91pts
Michaud Vineyard Chardonnay
- tbr
Signature Reserve Chardonnay
- tbr
Santa Maria Vineyard Chardonnay (already 2 puffs from Connoisseurs'
Guide)
- tbr
Sleepy Hollow Vineyard Chardonnay (new for 1997, Diana's
favorite)
- tbr
Chalone Appellation Chardonnay (our best Chalone ever?)
1996
Vintage:
93pts
George Troquato Signature Reserve Chardonnay
93pts
Bien Nacido Vineyard Chardonnay
92pts
Santa Maria Valley Chardonnay
90pts
Chalone Appellation Chardonnay
- tbr*
Michaud Vineyard Chardonnay
1995
Vintage:
92pts
George Troquato Signature Reserve Chardonnay
92pts
Bien Nacido Vineyard Chardonnay
91pts
Chalone Appellation Chardonnay
90+pts
Michaud Vineyard Chardonnay
1994
Vintage:
91pts
Chalone Appellation Chardonnay
- tbr
= to be reviewed
- tbr*
= the 1997 Michaud Vineyard was mistakenly sent to and rated
by Wine Spectator by a former Testarossa employee. The 1996
Vintage Michaud Vineyard Chardonnay was supposed to be sent.
We are still trying to convince Wine Spectator to rate his
outstanding (in our opinion) wine even though it would be
reviewed out of order (i.e. after the 1997 vintage wine
was already reviewed).
1999
HARVEST UPDATE
As
mentioned in previous emails, this harvest, like 1998 started
more than a month late. And like 1998, our October weather has
been dry, warm, and most importantly sunny. The lateness of the
harvest has caused higher than normal acidity in the grapes when
the grapes are at "optimal" sugar levels. Though the grapes were
"ripe" based on sugar analysis our tasting the grapes in the vineyards
showed they need longer hang time. As you know many of the vineyards
we purchase fruit from also sell fruit to other wineries. So far,
in every case, we've been the last winery to pick at a given vineyard,
choosing to "let the grapes hang" tempting fate that the weather
would remain sunny and dry. Letting the grapes hang allows grapes
that are fully developed physiologically, as well as naturally
lowering the high acidity, so that the resulting wines are the
pinnacle of rich ripe flavors. We believe the other wineries who
picked based on sugar alone will have underdeveloped overly acidic
wines. Time will tell if we're right. You will probably see slightly
higher alcohols in the 1999 Testarossa wines. However, the wines
natural acidity and fully developed ripe flavors should beautifully
balance with these slightly higher alcohol wines.
So
far we've picked the following grapes
Michaud
Vineyard Chardonnay, Chalone Appellation, Monterey County - 20
tons - this looks to be the best quality Michaud Vineyard chardonnay
we've received.
Pisoni Vineyard Pinot Noir, Santa Lucia Highlands, Monterey County
- 5+ tons - just tasting these grapes as they came into the winery
gave us goose bumps. The richness of flavor, the complexity, and
the finish. These grapes already tasted like wine and they hadn't
even gone into the fermentors yet. This will definitely be our
best Pisoni to date!!
Garys'
Vineyard Pinot Noir, Santa Lucia Highlands, Monterey County -
6 tons - our first harvest from this new Santa Lucia Highland's
vineyard co-owned by Gary Pisoni and Gary Franscioni. This vineyard
uses the La Tache Pinot Clone from the Pisoni Vineyard.
Franscioni
Vineyard Chardonnay, Santa Lucia Highlands, Monterey County -
3 tons - our first harvest from this new Santa Lucia Highland's
vineyard owned by Gary Pisoni's partner Gary Franscioni.
Bien
Nacido Vineyard Pinot Noir, Santa Maria Valley, Santa Barbara
County - 3 tons - 1999 was a VERY low yielding vintage for this
vineyard (about 65% lower yield than we got from this same block
in 1997). The grapes were in very good shape.
Bien Nacido Vineyard Pinot Blanc - 2 tons - this is a new planting
of true Pinot Blanc at Bien Nacido. Previous Bien Nacido Pinot
Blancs made by other producers were actually made from the Bourogne
de Melone grape varietal, a relative a Muscadet.
Sleepy
Hollow Vineyard Pinot Noir, Santa Lucia Highlands, Monterey County
- 8 tons - This came in VERY ripe and will most likely make our
darkest colored Pinot Noir again. Yields were down all over the
state for Pinot Noir so we received 50% less Pinot Noir from Sleepy
Hollow than we contracted for.
Sleepy
Hollow Vineyard Chardonnay - 15 tons - yields were low in the
Chardonnay as well, but Sam Balderas (Robert Talbott Winemaker/GM),
and Robb Talbott have Testarossa at the top of their "A list"
and told us that we (along with the Robert Talbott winery) got
the best Chardonnay in the 500+ acre Sleepy Hollow Vineyard. After
tasting the juice we agree!!
Still
to be picked:
Bien
Nacido Vineyard Chardonnay- 30 tons - our biggest most important
Vineyard source. The weather looks to be holding but ripening
is slowing as the days get shorter and the vines contemplate going
dormant for the winter. It's still a race but it looks like we'll
be picking later this week (hopefully)
Clos
Pepe Chardonnay, Santa Ynez Valley - 4 tons - our newest
and potentially most exciting new vineyard. The ripening pattern
is similar to Bien Nacido.
Garys' Vineyard Syrah - 8 tons - this is the first Syrah vintage
from this new vineyard. This normally late ripening varietal is
being pushed to its limits this vintage and most likely won't
come
in until early November.
Keep praying for sunshine and warm weather. Your prayers have
helped so far. Please keep it up!!!
FALL
WINERY LETTER AND WINE OFFERINGS - BETTER LATE
THAN NEVER
No,
you haven't been dropped from our mailing list. We're still catching
up from being without a Business Manager all Summer. We've recently
hired (stolen away) Delia Montesinos from Ridge Vineyards where
she ran Ridge's retail sales program, during her seven year tenure
at this Five Star, world renowned, California winery. Delia has
been diligently putting the finishing touches on our Fall Winery
Letter. If you don't receive yours in your mailbox in the next
7-10 days then please send us an email.
For
those interested in ordering our wines immediately, please print
out our online order form at www.testarossa.com and fax it to
us at 408-354-8250.
Thanks
again for all your support of our family winery. Without you we
couldn't be doing what we love doing most, which is striving to
make California's greatest wines!!
Don't
forget to tell a friend about Testarossa.
Lastly,
when dining out please consult the Testarossa web site for a list
of restaurants in your area (or where you traveling to) that carry
Testarossa wines.
Cheers,
Rob & Diana Jensen, Proprietors
Ed Kurtzman, Winemaker
Delia Montesinos, Business Manager
Dawnielle Shouse, Oenolgist
Glenn Kubacki, Cellar Master and Mr. Clean (at least for the
1999 harvest)
Testarossa Vineyards, Los Gatos, California
www.testarossa.com
- wine@testarossa.com
408-354-6150
www.testarossa.com/locator/states/CA_rest.shtml
Restaurants that serve Terstarossa wine.
