The third week of the Protocol #WineStudio Rosé series features more Sonoma County rosé, this time from Donelan Family Wines in the 2014 Rosé Sonoma County Syrah / Grenache / Pinot Noir ($25, 13.3%). Now, we all enjoy a nice GSM wine, but a GSP? This shall be interesting. 
But first, Donelan winemaker Joe Nielson answered our questions regarding the wine's production. It is made using the Saignee method, where the grapes are loaded into tanks and juice is pulled after short skin contact of 1 hr to 24 hrs. The extracted juice represents 5% to 20% of total volume as it serves a dual purpose of making the red wine, from the remaining juice, more concentrated and allowing for the production of a second wine - a rosé. The exact percentages in the blend is 55% Syrah, 29% Grenache and 16% Pinot Noir, with all juice fermented in neutral oak - similar to fermenting Chardonnay. Nielson believes prefers neutral oak over concrete/stainless steel because "it helps with micro-ox which keeps #rhone wine from stinkin'".
The grapes were harvested across multiple Sonoma County vineyards with the lots interestingly named #babs #direstraits #DavidLeeRoth #Prince #BonJovi - all #terroir driven personality. The one exception to the saignee juice came from the #Prince lot from Bennett Valley, which was lightly pressed. 
- #NapaValley was designated California’s first American Viticultural Area or AVA in 1981.
- #NapaValley has 16 sub- or nested AVAs demonstrating the incredible diversity of our region
- #Napa has a Mediterranean climate, which affects only 2% of the earth’s surface – characterized by sunny, dry summers
- Within #Napa can be found half the world’s soil orders..
- Did you know that only 9% of #NapaValley is planted to grapevines?
- In #Napa we grow more than 3 dozen wine grape varieties – from #albariño to #zinfandel
- #Napa’s warm, dry growing season and morning fog allows grapes to fully ripen & maintain acidity
- Did you know #Napa’s To Kalon Vineyard was planted in 1868 by HW Crabb? To Kalon is Greek for “highest beauty".
- Fun fact about Napa: over 60% of wineries produce less than 5k cases per year.
- Did you know #NapaValley has about 1/6th the planted grapevine acreage of #Bordeaux?
- Once widely planted, today only about 25 hectares/60 acres of Chenin remain
- #SauvBlanc is the fourth most widely-produced wine grape variety in #Napa.
- #Chardonnay is #Napa’s 2nd most widely planted wine grape (behind #cabernet) - 6,900 acres/30,500 tons in 2014.
- Mighty #Cabernet is the king of grapes in #Napa w/ 20,600 acres planted (40% of the total 45k acres planted)
- #Napa’s quality #Cabernet commands the highest average price per ton of all CA winegrapes – $5,500/ton in 2014
- Lots of #petitverdot grown in #Napa (2,900 tons/2014) but very little bottled as a stand-alone variety
As for craft beers, TGI Fridays in center field is your best option, with a range of crafts including several from local Lakefront Brewery. Their IPA rocks and the Riverwest Stein Amber Lager isn't bad. The New Glarus Brewing Spotted Cow Farmhouse Ale is also available at Fridays as well as a beer stand located at first base on the lower level. This stand also sold a few Lakefront products and because of this selection, had the longest lines at the park. Ironically the "craft beer" stand on the third base side sold Miller Lite and Coors Lite. That basically epitomized the craft beer experience at Miller Park.
First, I spent an hour in the Grape and Grain salon hearing Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery and Dan Kopman of Schlafly Brewery describe their respective brewery's ventures combining fermented grain with grape must. I was particularly attracted to Schlafly's two versions of Lazy Ballerina, both made from a barley and wheat mash plus Chambourcin grape must from Chandler Hill Vineyards. The difference between the two was that the grape must in the bottled version (which was the one poured to the SAVOR participants) was inoculated with Saison yeast whereas the second was fermented with wild yeast and bacteria - which the brewery determined was 2 types of Brettanomyces and one type of Lactobacillus. They've retained these cultures for future fermentations. That's a wise decision, since that version of the Lazy Ballerina was fantastic - funky with a little cream. On the Dogfish Head side, Sam poured samples of their 61 (the 60 Minute plus 20% Syrah) and Chateau Jiahu - a fermented beverage made from orange blossom honey, muscat grape juice, barley malt and hawthorn fruit based on pottery residue found in Jiahu China. Both of these are tasty in their own right. 
According to local historical records in 1857 rancher James Kinney was camping in the range of hills in south-central Washington. When he woke up to discover his herd had wandered up a mountainside and into an upland plain where they were munching on succulent bunch grass. “Surely this is Horse Heaven,” Kinney commented. The area has been known as the Horse Heaven Hills ever since.
Columbia Crest has been operating for 25 years and maintains 2,500 out of the 6,040 acres of vines in the AVA. The soil in these vineyards are primarily sandy and silt loam with the vineyard's height ranging from 200 to 1,800 feet. In 2003 Juan Muñoz-Oca joined the Columbia Crest team with a pedigree of working his grandfather's Bodegas Toso winery in Mendoza, Argentina. In 2011 he became winemaker after spending the preceding years enhancing the winery's red wine program.
The final wine was a knockout, the Lamoreaux Landing Wine Cellars 2013 T23 Cabernet Franc ($20, 13%). The grapes were fermented and aged in stainless steel (Tank #23) with no oak treatment. Despite that process, there is plenty going on here, starting with a heavy sour cherry aroma and a cooked or dried cherry flavor. There's also a bit of tobacco and cinnamon with moderate acids. This wine could also be served slightly chilled as a rosé style offering and it apparently ages gracefully. The winery has been able to produce this wine since 2007, but it sells out quickly. I'm getting mine this summer during the 2015 Wine Bloggers Conference. Cheers.
Loudoun County is full of great wine destinations and one popular site has always been Quattro Goomba’s Winery. Following the Corcoran model this month, the operation enhanced their profile by establishing a working brewery onsite: Quattro Goomba's Brewery. The grounds are a great picnicking location with plenty of room for games and blankets. If you forget to pack a picnic, don't worry, the onsite pizzeria (Quattro, the Pizza Shop) makes a tasty pie. On our arrival my son joined a wiffle ball game and afterwards there was ample space for outfield practice. The brewery is located in a barn next to the winery - however the two operations can not mingle. Beer must remain in the brewery and no wine is allowed inside. Silly regulations.The brewery produces small batches of multiple styles, however, these tend to disappear on busy weekends. Thus, there were only three choices on our arrival. In general, these were solid beers, representative of their style.
One difficulty in completing the #VABreweryChallenge is that new breweries continue to open in the Commonwealth. The latest is Vienna's Caboose Brewing Company, which hosted their ribbon cutting ceremony last night (5/21). The brewery is located at Mile Marker 12 on the W&OD Bike Trail, just past the red caboose while heading west. Matt and Jeanine Greer and Tim and Jennifer McLaughlin have been planning for over a year to get the proper permits, licensing, equipment for this hybrid gastro-pub and brewery. The kitchen will follow the "Farm to Table" model sourcing ingredients from local farms and artisans. The establishment will also highlight these local resources and the current menu included rabbit pot pie, grass fed beef cheeseburgers, Maryland crab soup, and Virginia bratwurst. 
Dry Creek Vineyard was the first winery to plant Sauvignon Blanc in the valley, so it was suitable to start the tasting with their 2013 DCV3 Estate Sauvignon Blanc Dry Creek Valley ($25, 14.1%). The winery has 16 acres of the grape planted in this estate vineyard, a small fraction of the 9,000 acres of Sauvignon Blanc that is planted in the valley. However, this small production yields a powerful wine. It starts with a citrus aroma, then a creamy mineral laced middle, and finally nice acids with a subtle spicy finish. The lift from the mid-palette was most impressive. 
Next up was the Gustafson Family Vineyard
2014 Estate Sauvignon Blanc ($22, 14.1%). This wine includes a field
blend of 20% Sauvignon Musque, a Sauvignon Blanc clone with more
aromatic qualities. The floral and white fruit aromas are prevalent. The
Gustafson estate is the highest of the three at 1800 feet consisting of
rocky, red volcanic soil. The wine starts with a white fruit and spicy
aroma, more spice and cream on palette, nice acids on the finish. This
is not your typical Sauvignon Blanc, perhaps the most complex of the
trio. 
Sbragia Family Vineyards 2014 Home Ranch Dry Creek Sauvignon Blanc ($22). Home Ranch is located on the east side of Dry Creek Valley and has been farmed by the Sbragia family for decades. The father\son winemaking team of Ed and Adam Sbragia, with Ed the former winemaker and current consultant at Beringer Vineyards. The Home Ranch vineyard is a cooler site, close to the ocean which attracts the heat. Thus expect higher acidity and this wine finishes with acids galore. It starts with a strong lemon-honeysuckle aroma, followed by a slightly creamy middle. And the tail stays around for an extended period.
Cappadocia is a sub-region within Anatolia that has a continental climate with a large diurnal swing in temperatures, volcanic soils and high elevations (4,000 feet). According to VinoRai, wine making has occurred in Cappadocia for 7,000 years The region specializes in the Emir grape, in fact its the only region in the world where this grape is grown. Emir is an ancient grape having been vinified since the Hittite era (1700 BC). It is pronounced "eh-MEER" and translates to "prince" - most likely because it was once served as table grapes to royalty.
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| theCompass view of Longwood Gardens |
Thus, at the conclusion of our garden visit, we took a beeline to Chaddsford Winery, one of the oldest in Pennsylvania by opening in 1982. Today, the winery is the largest in the Keystone State, producing over 25,000 cases annually. Many of these are festival styled sweet wines to satisfy local tastes, but there are several wines more suitable to drier palettes. One of these is evidently their Blaufränkisch, sadly not on the tasting menu, but a persistent medal winner. Three on the tasting menu that I did enjoy were the Proprietors Reserve White ($15), the Barrel Select Chardonnay ($22), and the Pinot Noir ($25). The first was a rather tasty 50-50 blend of Seyval and Vidal with plenty of acids to compensate for the slight RS. The Chardonnay was my favorite, with a slight creamy middle, accentuated by partial oak treatment. And the Pinot was light bodied with tart cherry flavors and slightly spicy finish. These were solid local wines. 
