They say you don´t step in the same river twice. Well, I almost did. It was back a while ago when a gentleman came to our shop in London to buy the Golden Coro wines. Back then a colleague of mine was serving him and talking with great joy and passion about the wine. “You know the Golden Family just lives around the corner….we didn’t know by that time that it was the owner or rather the overhead Joe Golden himself smiling and listening to the story he knew just so well. “Yes, Hi I’m Joe Golden…” You can imagine the rest. Now a few years later the almost the same happens to me, just one Coro left a gentleman takes it and I start to talk about it, how great the wines is… he smiles, I say: “wait a second are you Mr. Golden, Joe Golden”. I did it almost myself too …

It was here that Joe Golden invited me to visit his estate and was telling quite a few exiting stories about the Zinfandel grape and their biodynamic approach. You like to talk with Joe Golden, as he always has some interesting story to tell, knowledge to share, his passion and experience drags you into the world of wine. And you haven’t even tasted his wine yet… 

The Golden Vineyards have grapes in two different properties. In Hopland 9 ha at the Fairbairn Ranch, planted on a north western slope with Syrah vines and farmed according to the biodynamic methods. The soil here is mainly sandy loam average yield is around 6 tonnes per hectare. The Syrah prefers the warmth, its easily prone to rot and needs good exposure to get the breeze.

While on the other, main property on the Heart Arrow Ranch, Joe and Julie have the other red varieties planted Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Sirah, Zinfandel and we might see some (other) Italian varieties coming in the future as well.

Americans love abbreviations, Zinfandel became in many cases simply Zin. Would love to hear the abbreviation of Primitivo or Plavac Mali? Okay the later might be not entirely Zinfandel at all, but something rather close to Primitivo (which is the same as Zin) originates from the Adria, Croatia. And despite Arnold (“the Governator”) denied flagship status for the grape it´s still is a vital part for Californian wine industry, I believe California can do great things with all the grapes regardless if French, Italian or Croatian in origin. It’s the people who create the idea by using something. The creation of White Zinfandel was such a thing, and while amongst serious wine lovers you probably never find an odd White Zin bottle you still find plenty of people who enjoy a blush, sweet pink wine. Some people say it actually saved Zinfandel being uprooted during the period when every one in America wanted to have Chardonnay and Cabernet. Nevertheless I shall focus on big serious red wines, and such a Zinfandel in a blend you find in the Coro wines of the Golden Vineyards.

The Coro Mendocino is a collaborative mission to create wines which stand out and ambassadors of Mendocino County. The varietals all named on the label and while alcohol, pH, Tartaric acidity and several other things are regulated it will also undergo several blind tastings. Zinfandel must be the dominant grape variety and others can be added but not exceed Zin in the blend are Syrah, Petite Sirah, Carignane, Sangiovese, Grenache, Dolcetto, Charbono, Barbera. Not more then 10% could be any other vitis vinifera added to the blend.

The story of Zinfandel is going quite a bit back. It must have been George Gibbs a nurseryman from the Long Islands who bought it in 1820 to the East Coast from Vienna. Did some one mix up the labels of Zierfandler (Cirfandli in Hungarian, meant for white wine production)?
Any way, Joe was telling me it got popular in California during the gold rush when those people were making the most money who actually sold the shuffles. To wait for the full ripeness of Zinfandel you can end up with very high alcohols in the wine and Dennis Patton chief wine maker for the Coro wine was telling there is no problem for native yeast to complete fermentation in such high levels of alcohol. Very surprising for me, I always thought wild yeast must struggle when it comes to 14%, 15% ABV. But definitely die over 15% ABV, no such thing, or at least does not have to happen. And here we go back to how you farm your vines plays a major role. Julie and Joe believe in the biodynamic approach, live in harmony with mother nature, respect your environment, the soil and surroundings. Starting with Rudolf Steinners philosophy and ending with the wine in the bottle what was done according this approach. Julie is very much an ambassador of organic farming and tries to pursuit everyone who is open for it. It makes all sense not to harm your nature, by adding chemicals (e.g. fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides) into the soil, you simply destroying the potential quality of your fruit. There is a word which people tend to forget: “sustainability”. I included Julie´s list into a spread sheet and added it below as a picture, she tries to apply the tightest of rules when it comes to biodynamic approach.
Joe took us on a ride with the little tractor (fuelled with bio diesel) around the Heart Arrow Ranch. I reckon we could call it almost an ancient place as the Indians who were native to the area lived in the area. Beside grapes Joe and Julie have sheep’s and cattle and even small ponds with fish inside. Joe was telling me the fences around the pond are vital, otherwise the cattle might take a bath and we don´t want this to happen. I had to smile, while I was imagine just this picture to be actually happening. The sheeps are good, play part of the biodynamic system (natural fertilizer, get rid off unwanted vegetation) but they also tend to like the leaves or the grapes too once ripe, Joe pointing out. So we had to teach them a little lesson, he says by actually teaching them to eat the right things, only. Once they learned it they do remember it and pass it on to their children too. So here is the thing let’s say you allow to eat the sheep a grape leaf and add after this a small dose of lithium chloride which creates a sort of tummy problem, the sheep will remember being sick after eating from the leaves and will not try it to do it again and passes this information on to the children as well. Now, Joe was trying to do achieve this in a more “natural way” and he did succeed with some science help from outside by finding similar “medicine” in the nature.

Joe by the way speaks a very good German, he used to work in Bonn in Germany. And that’s were he also met his wife, Julie. His passion for wine started back in school, he setup a wine club at Stanford and constantly visited the wine regions of California. He loves food as well and is serious about it, probably the same way as he is about wine. Visiting some of the best restaurants including El Buli, he draw easily the “gastro-map” of Healdsburg including his favourite choices of restaurants, recommendations like the Cyprus. He found out rather by accident that back then his girlfriend Julie had actually a vineyard in Mendocino County. Match in heaven you could say in all instances, with Julie´s legacy to continue farming the family vineyards and Joe´s passion with wine it would be clear that only the best fruit could be harvested.

The biodynamic approach came just later, it was done rather secretly, as Julie´s father wouldn’t be too keen on big changes. But the work was completed and today Julie is one of the ambassadors of biodynamic and organic growing not just in Mendocino but also in California. While Dennis Patton is in charge with the wine making business, Jerry Yates is the quiet vineyard manager and is more then keen to work with organic material, sustainable. You can tell meeting Jerry in the first second, he loves nature and is the happiest person when he can be outside in mother nature. He was telling me with the actually biodynamic approach you get all the good things in the grapes and even you got the wild yeast which then can work easily under such conditions (high alcohol) achieving complete fermentation with no residual sugar and having perfect balance in the finishing wine. The term, “native” means its biodynamic farming and wild yeast in action, I was to taste some of these “fellows”, they only add SO2 to it. Zinfandel likes the warm places yet to retain more freshness the cooler areas above the fog line are good in Mendocino. There are a lot of exciting things when it comes to grow vine in Mendocino. Beside elevation there is the fault line and changing pattern as Joe was pointing out. Mendocino county as big as Switzerland but has only 70 wineries. Luckily more and more people recognize the high quality potential of the region. Thanks to growers like Joe and Julie as well, for whom no effort seems big enough and no way long enough to spread the message.

End of August we tasted a few wines with Joe and Julie, Dennis Patton (thanks for him sharing also the smoke tainted wines), Bob Marr (wine maker Marr Cellars), Jerry Yates (vineyard manager), Eric Cohen (Shoe Shine Wine) and a few others…

Tasting notes added (see the link) and being able to taste a lot of wine I shall highlight the most interesting wines (like the native ones) and the ones which stood out very much in my point of view.
It was definitely a great experience to taste, listen and get informed in such a wonderful surrounding. I must very much thank Julie and Joe and hope to return to their estate. And if Joe considers to take on the Master of Wine studies (we he could easily do) I wish him great success, it would be great to taste some wines together or even travel together on some of the MW seminars, trips.

Address:

http://www.goldenvineyards.com/cms/

Tasting notes

Tasting at the Golden Vineyards a selection of the most interesting wines (there were a lot of good wines, despite being 2007 and 2008 vintages and being young they’re promising).

I liked Eric´s wine because of the incredible juiciness and powerful attitude (hard match to any other food then a huge steak), to taste wild yeast (native) is always exciting and looking forward to taste more wine from Mendocino, it’s electrifying.

29/05/09 Tasted at the Golden Estate, Mendocino County

Syrah Mendocino Wine, Golden 2007
Deep ruby colour with very young skills on the nose. Floral, anis, mint, eucalyptus and a blossom like character. Lovely acidity, red fruit, plum and very deep, despite so young it’s dense. Fairly high pH 4,3 and TA around 6,9.

Mendo Farm Syrah 2007
Deep ruby colour, dense nose with a lot of vibrant black fruit. Great density, mulberry and bramble fruit. Good acidity, superb and good vibration on the palate too. Fruit plenty and very juicy, ripe. Plenty of wood yet good balance. “Barrel exchanges oxygen and enhances fruit and purity”.

Bernstein –native- Syrah 2007
Extended fermentation. Spice and floral on the nose, cinnamon, clove. Lots of tannin, very ripe yet also powerful, sweet fruit on the palate. Blackberry, mulberry, currant fruit very chunky and hefty.

Casme 220 Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 native
Full Biodynamic approach. Round and herbal notes with black currant notes. Good density, yet very pretty indeed. Dense and fantastic silky but nevertheless powerful too, hint of wood helps nicely.

Shoe Shine Cabernet Sauvignon 2007
Liquorice, full of black fruit. It’s an explosion of fruit, rich and dense, candy. Fiery, peppery, black fruit and incredible ripe, high drive, full side, massive wine, 25 brix.

Shoe Shine Petit Sirah 2007
Red fruit on the nose, very delicate with a subtle note of cherry and light spice. Ripe fruit, good tannins, sweet spice and ripe, some black fruit, pretty and friendly wine despite it has certain weight.

Smith Anderson Mendo Wine Company 2007
Charming weight with a green pepper, black fruit combination, light herbeceousness yet ripe. Good vibration to it.

Golden Mendo Wine Company Cabernet Sauvignon 2008
Chunky red fruit with spice and some sweetness on the nose. Ripe fruit, no doubt it has weight and authority. Divine. Full yet a bit high on the alcohol, full tannin for sure, powerful wine, complex fruit yet dominant Cabernet.

Mendo Lot A Cabernet Sauvignon 2008
Black fruit and very bold wine, complex, blueberry, bramble fruit, whiff of minty leaf. Round and relaxed wine with good balance, yet very powerful and ripe black fruit very juicy. Dark chocolate and tobacco notes, the 100% new oak sticking out heavy on the finish, bitter-sweet combo.

Golden 2008 Mendo Cabernet Sauvignon (different picking time)
Blueberry and forest air coming thru the wine. Gorgeous nose, bright with a great black fruit base. Full tannins, ripe but a bit hard and plenty of it a moment, will settle with time, jam packed.

Golden Petite Sirah Mondo 2008
Black fruit with a tick of spice, juicy and tannins round and dense. Spicy and herbal finish, cinnamon, nutmeg, mulberry and a whiff of savoury notes. Very good indeed.

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