On May 7, the Wine Media Guild will break new ground with a unique tasting — Charbono. It is highly unlikely that you have ever had this wine in a comparative tasting. The wine is produced only in California by about fourteen wineries. There are fewer than 90 acres of the grape under cultivation. Many of the wines are not available beyond CA. The Slow Food movement recently voted Charbono varietal wine in to its “Ark of Taste,” renewing interest in this historic grape. I know most of the 14 current producers, and all 14 have already promised or sent their wines (including Turley). Some are sending older wines.
Our speaker is Paul Smith, the owner and winemaker at OnTheEdge winery in St. Helena. We also will be joined by Sally Ottoson, owner and winemaker at Pacific Star Winery in Fort Bragg and Gregg Smith, son of John Smith, owner and winemaker at Oakstone Winery in Fair Play, CA.
Charbono was at the height of its popularity in the 1960s, when Inglenook produced a lot of it and there was a Charbono Society in San Francisco that held annual black-tie dinners. Its flavor is unique, but one producer described it as having a “soft leathery acid-tannin profile like a Syrah and forward berry fruit like a Zinfandel. The intense nose is full of ripe, ‘purple’ fruit aromas, perfumed blueberry, black cherry and smoky vanilla. The palate is dry with balanced acidity, full body and plush ripe tannins. Overt flavors of black cherry, thyme, white pepper, blackberry and tar burst on the taste buds.” Or, as Randall Grahm once said: “Charbono reminds me of The Wild Child, a feral creature brought back to civilization. One is always aware that this grape is somehow quite different.” –Pat Savoie
And member Robert Simonson posted his thoughts from the Petite Sirah lunch in April on his blog, Off the Presses. FYI Robert also had a recent article on Kosher wines in Saveur.
