This week we’re diving into some of our top finds from May as we close out spring. We’re also starting the first in an ongoing series that will cover the various wine faults that can make your wine tasting experience unideal and how to spot them.

Let’s get into it!

Uncorked

A Tribute to Grace Grenache Blanc

NZ born and raised, Angela Osbourne moved her family to Los Alamos in 2006 specifically to start producing Grenache. All the wines she crafts are single vineyard Grenache and really show off the authenticity of the varietal! This particular bottle a 2021 Grenache Blanc from own-rooted vines in Thompson Vineyard and is whole-cluster pressed.

Nose: jasmine, almond blossom

Palette: stonefruit

Pairs well with: According to Angela, sailboats, but we also think a heavily spiced sea bass would be perfect! Better yet, spiced sea bass on a sailboat 😎

Available at: A Tribute to Grace tasting room in Los Alamos

Samuel Louis Smith Montañita de Oro Pinot Noir

Hailing from Monterey County, Sam Louis Smith is producing incredible wines. The 2020 Montañita de Oro Pinot Noir is sourced from 3 renowned vineyards in the area: The Cortada Alta vineyard, Pelio Vineyard, and Rodnick Vineyard. They are all higher elevation (1,000ft+), cool-climate vineyards, giving this wine it’s distinctive character. Not only does Sam artfully craft wine, he also water paints all the labels you see on his bottles.

Nose: wild strawberries, bay laurel

Palette: light body, cherry, strawberry, earth

Pairs well with: Beef steaks or poultry.

Available at: Satellite Santa Barbara

Lady of the Sunshine California Red Wine

With mottos like “the ultimate goal is to make, what we call, breakfast wines” and “know your farmer,” how could you not love natural winemaker, Gina Giugni? Inspired by a Sicilian blend, this 2022 red is 65% Nero D’Avola and 35% Pinot Noir. The Pinot Noir was sourced from the Edna Valley in SLO, while the Nero D’Avola was sourced from up north in Sonoma at Preston Vineyard.

Nose: minerality, blood orange

Palette: black cherry, salinity

Pairs well with: Szechuan green beans and shiitake mushrooms, BLT

Available at: Midtown Wines in Ventura, Satellite Santa Barbara

Cork Taint

You ever smell or taste a bottle and think, “That’s just not right.”? Trust your gut, because you are probably right. Wine faults can occur from all sorts of things. Some are totally out of your control, like bacterias or crappy corks. Others, like light strike, you can try to prevent.

Perhaps the most well known of wine faults and the second most common, is a cork taint. The real culprit of a corked bottle is TCA (2,4,6-trichloroanisole for all my science friends out there) and is a contaminant formed when chemicals in plants, chlorine, and/or mold come in contact with one another. The estimated number of affected bottles varies depending on who you ask, but Wine Folly say it’s somewhere between 1% and 3%, which is a lot of ruined wine and sad consumers in the grand scheme of things. While TCA is most commonly found in products made of wood, it can surprisingly also be found in bagged baby carrots because they are bleached when they are processed. TCA is harmless, but the odor is pretty undesirable.

So how do you identify cork taint? You may have seen your restaurant waiter open a bottle and immediately sniff the wet side of the cork. They are looking out for that notorious TCA stench. Call it wet dog, dank basement, or soggy cardboard, it is a stank you will not enjoy. Super smellers can detect as low as 1 part per trillion, though for most people it’s probably closer to 5. Regardless, if you smell it do not be afraid to return it. It is more likely than not that the producer would want you to return it and experience their wine the way it was intended to drink.

There’s an urban legend that pouring a bottle of cork tainted wine into a saran wrapped bowl could get rid of the nastiness. Supposedly the PVDC (polyvinylidene chloride) in the plastic wrap would bind with the TCA molecules and after some time you could pour the wine back into the bottle, TCA free. While this is actually true, the vast majority of grocery store cling wrap is no longer made with PVDC. Thankfully, winemakers have developed some tactics to combat cork taint.

Since TCA likes to live in wood, many wineries have eliminated wood in unnecessary places. While winemakers aren’t going to replace their toasty French Oak barrels, wooden pallets are being replaced with plastic and wooden barrel racks are now made of steel. Even the type of adhesive used to seal barrels has been modified in recent years. Beyond ditching the wood, winemakers can keep a clean space without using chlorine to sanitize and buy from reputable cork producers.

Some cork producers have made a “guaranteed TCA-free cork” but it hasn’t been around long enough to know how it will hold up when being cellared for a few years or even decades. Other cork producers will refund the wine producer a percentage of the retail cost of the bottle if they identify TCA in one of their corks. With evaluations of cork taint costing the industry up to $10 billion annually, the arguments for screw caps start to look pretty convincing. Unfortunately, nothing beats the old familiar popping sound of uncorking a bottle. Just make sure it isn’t accompanied by the musty aroma of cork taint!

What’s happening

• Wine Wednesday with Bob Huey: An Ojai community event with Bob Huey of Point de Chene wine shop and Wine Director and Sommelier, Emily Johnston of The Dutchess restaurant. Taste and learn about exciting wines of the season paired with some bites to eat on Wednesday, May 17th at 6 p.m. for $40/ticket.

• LIVE Art and Wine Tour: On Thursday, May 18th at 5:30 p.m. enjoy a wine, food, and live art adventure through downtown Santa Barbara. With over 30 vendors participating across 8 different venues this is guaranteed good time for $90/ticket.

• Paso Wine Fest: A four day celebration of Paso Robles wine featuring 115+ wineries with live music, food, artisan vendors, winemaker dinners, and more. Held at the Paso Robles Event Center from May 18th-May 20th for $120-225/ticket depending on the event chosen.

• Santa Barbara Vintners Behind the Scenes Weekend: So many great events to choose from for this weekend long celebration of Santa Barbara county wine. Explore the AVAs, expand your palette, learn about world class Cabernet, and more. Events take place from May 19-May 21st and range from $85-200/ticket.

• Taste of Santa Barbara x Cherry Bombe: On Saturday, May 20th at 3 p.m., come celebrate the women that make Santa Barbara County’s food and drink scene thrive! Join Cherry Bombe for an afternoon of inspiring discussions, bites, and wine tasting with local female winemakers, chefs, and producers at Mattei’s Tavern in Los Olivos. Tickets are $100 and include a copy of Cherry Bombe magazine.

• Taste of Santa Barbara Wines: For $60/ticket, sample 20+ wineries and 14+ food vendors at El Presidio in Santa Barbara. The event takes place on Sunday, May 21st at 1 p.m. and also includes panel discussions with the winemakers and a special pop-up store filled with local artisan goods.

Cheers!

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