Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:01 Hello, enthusiasts and welcome to the very first episode of wine and the bottle where we will pick a winery from around the world and discuss the people, places and factors that led to the creation of that particular wine at that particular winery. So our first up is soda rock winery based out of Healdsburg, California. It's in the Sonoma area, specifically Alexander valley. So these two wines that I have here, I have two wines that we can compare and get a little bit broader of a perspective on what the quality and style of the wine is like. These are both Cabernet Sauvignon. One is from 2015. One is from 2016 and they're both different Cubase. One is the mercantile and the other is least spur. So a little bit of background about soda rock winery. The first dated bonded winery tracks all the way back to 1880 on that particular property.
Speaker 0 00:01:09 Before that it was the Alexander valley general store and post office and Alexander valley school. And those particular businesses track back all the way to 1869 in 1904. Thomas Meeks purchased the property and updated it to be fully state of the art for 1904 making. And he continued to produce wine on that property all the way through prohibition. Once prohibition hit kind of gave up, he decided it wasn't going to be profitable anymore. So he sold it to two gentlemen named Ferreri and Ferraro, fantastic Italian names, Italian immigrants, and their families owned and operated that property all the way through 1973. And they survived prohibition by growing and selling grapes instead of making wine. But after that, after prohibition, they continued to make wine. And then from 1973 to the mid eighties, the property was owned by Charlie Tonka. And then he decided I'm going to buy a new winery and start production there and left the old property in disarray until the year 2000.
Speaker 0 00:02:21 When the current owners can and Diane Wilson purchased what is now soda rock winery. And it was called soda rock winery off and on before. Um, but that was the name that stuck for and Diane and they wanted to restore it to its former glory. So the original stone facade from when it was Alexander valley general store is still there as well as they've, uh, added on a couple of buildings and production facilities, as well as this beautiful giant boar statue. Now in 2019, California was struck with some severe wildfires and unfortunately, so to rocks, historic buildings for the most part were destroyed. And all that was left standing of the original soda rock winery was that brick facade, an antique barn in the back of the property and the giant boar statue since 2019, the Wilson family has rebuilt and are in process of rebuilding.
Speaker 0 00:03:25 And they've started doing tastings out in their barn, as well as at their downtown tasting room. Now, these two wines were produced before the fires, and there is a story about how I acquired these two bottles of wine. Shortly after the fires were put out, my father was traveling north is we're based out of Napa county. He was going up to Mendocino county and happened to drive through Alexander valley, right past the ruins of soda rock winery. And he saw the sandwich board sign outside that said tastings this way, pointed up the long, long drive to that antique barn in the back. And my dad's not a wine guy, but he wanted to support the business because obviously it had been destroyed and set them back in all of their plans. So he drove up the drive and he went into the barn and said, I'm not here for any tasting, but I would like to purchase Casey or wine.
Speaker 0 00:04:22 And he did. And in the last two years, we have either given it away or I have consumed most of the wine. And these are the last two bottles. So let's talk a little bit about how this is a Sonoma winery, but it's Cabernet Sauvignon. So Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon tends to be a little bit more subtle and less Jamey than Napa Cabernet Sauvignon. Healdsburg is in the Northern part of Sonoma, which is a little bit more inland and protected from direct Pacific coast influence. So it is a little bit warmer and it has Olivia'll and volcanic soils, which the Cabernet varieties, both Cabernet, Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc really enjoy. So you'll find a lot of Cabernet Sauvignon and Alexander valley. And it's really good. Um, for example, this 2015 mercantile is probably not 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, neither of these are. And I couldn't find any information about the 2015 mixture about the blend, but the current vintage, the 2018 does have 23% low. So it's very likely that there is some sort of percentage of Marlow in this wine. The 2016 spur hill Cabernet, the current vintage has 3% petite for dough. So while I couldn't find any information about the 2016 vintage, it's very likely that this blend also has a small percentage of for dough. So
Speaker 0 00:06:01 Now that we've talked about the winery, let's go ahead and get a feel for what the style of the wine is like. So we will start with the 2015 mercantile. So deep Ruby color smells kind of hot. You do definitely smell the alcohol, but you got some breadfruit and some black fruit. I actually get a lot of red fruit out of this, like cranberry cherry raspberry, but then there's also like a little hint of leather and Blackberry red plum. And it's almost floral. Like there's just enough to where I would probably in a tasting note, right? Floral right violence Body A little bit Prunier on the palette. I do get a little bit more stewed fruit, tertiary notes, some of that bottle age coming through And vanilla, a really nice, not overpowering vanilla, but it Compliments the fruit really well. A little bit of earth, Just a hint of smoke, maybe a hint of tobacco sweet tobacco. And it has a nice medium finish and medium acidity And high tannins. So bold red fruits, a little bit of black fruit, little bit of tertiary. Well, this is drinking really well right now, But definitely has seen some Oak. Okay. So this is the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon spur hill.
Speaker 0 00:08:27 So this one, I am expecting it to be more structured, especially if it has some protein in it, Probably more black fruits and jamming us. Let's find out Right off the back, black, current Black plum, a little bit of red plum, A little bit of floral, but not nearly as prevalent as the mercantile, But it's probably about the same intensity. And it's definitely also a deep Ruby. It's a little lighter on the palate. I would say this is also medium plus body, But it has a little bit more of a softer tannins to it, softer tannins, Which makes me think that it was probably de stemmed or it was a riper vintage. I'm not particularly familiar with 2015 and 2016 in Sonoma. I knew in Napa 2015 was a really good year in 2016 was okay here. Um, I, which do I prefer? That's a great question. I like them both. So you can tell that the style of these wines are highly structured, high tannins, medium acid, uh, fruit forward emphasis on sort of red fruit, Berry fruit, um, black currant specifically for the spur hill. Um, not as much in the mercantile, which is very typical of Cabernet Sauvignon to have a black currant feel. These are not jammy wines, although they are high alcohol wines, but they're highly enjoyable wines. I would probably pair these with
Speaker 0 00:10:44 Tri tip or ribeye, maybe not barbecue cause the sweetness and the barbecue would kind of take away the subtle sweetness, the perceived sweetness of these wines. They are dry wines. I really appreciate the wines coming out of soda rock. And I think they have a really interesting story, especially these two particular bottles and they're definitely worth a visit. If you ever find yourself in Healdsburg, stopped by their barn, stopped by the downtown tasting room and check them out. So in conclusion to our first episode, cheers,
