A Guy, a Girl, and a Bottle

Episode 16 – Hallcrest Vineyards & Organic Wine Works
December 18, 2005

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Hallcrest Vineyards (www.hallcrestvineyards.com) – is about 28.5 miles from central San Jose. Allow at least 40 minutes to get there. The winery is just up the hill from the town of Felton.

Established in 1941 with the intent to prove that the Santa Cruz Mountains were the ideal soils and climate for producing premium California varietal wines, Hallcrest Vineyards has a long running history of producing fine wine from the Santa Cruz Mountains. Today, like in 1941, Hallcrest is a small family owned operation that takes pride in producing original wines with a taste of the Santa Cruz Mountains. In addition to Hallcrest wines, the tasting room also serves their Organic Wine Works wines (http://members.cruzio.com/~owwwine/). Sulfites are not added to the Organic Wine Works wines. Sulfites act as a preservative slowing down the oxidation process creating a longer shelf life.

00:00 Intro
02:37 History
08:26 Conversation with Owner and Winemaker John Schumacher
13:17 2004 Organic Wine Works Chardonnay
18:37 2002 Hallcrest Chardonnay from Santa Cruz Mountains
25:43 Label Design Discussion
28:40 2003 Organic Wine Works Zinfandel “Big and Bold” from Mendicino County
31:48 2004 Organic Wine Works Surfin Syrah
38:51 What to Do With Michael Song by the Candy Butchers (www.candybutchers.com)

The wines that we sample are:

2004 Organic Wine Works Chardonnay from Mendicino County, $ 13.95 400-500 Cases Produced
Winemaker’s Notes: This California style Chardonnay has a fresh fruit nose with hints of oak and a dry finish. The crisp, but nutty finish, pairs nicely with a Sunday brunch and lite seafood.
Guy & Girl Notes: It is a nice wine. It doesn’t linger long on the pallet.

2002 Hallcrest Chardonnay from Santa Cruz Mountains, $ 19.95 6,500 bottles produced
Winemaker’s Notes: This is our second vintage from this estate. Aged in French oak barrells. This wine is complex with full fruits and delicately balanced mellow textures in the mouth.
Guy & Girl Notes: Lori liked this wine. Joe isn’t a huge Chardonnay fan, but did like it. This wine had hints of butterscotch and of citrus. It explodes with tropical fruits and has a long and smooth finish.

2003 Organic Wine Works Zinfandel Big and Bold from Mendicino County $18.00
Winemaker’s Notes: This wine is dry farmed with head trained vines. This Zin shows big tannins and ripe, brambally fruit. The tannins are well knit and lie evenly across the pallet. IT has full flavors of plums and cherries yet it is delicate. It finishes off with a velvety spice that lingers.
Guy & Girl Notes: Lori really liked this wine. Joe likes it as well. This was his pick of the day. It had a smooth mouth feel. It is very, very berry with lots of fruit tones. It has deep, dark cherry with a little pepper on the finish. Nice flavorful wine.

2004 Organic Wine Works Surfin Syrah $15.95
Winemaker’s Notes: Dry earth tones give way to a soft and smooth finish. Try this wine with red sauces or pizza.
Guy & Girl Notes: A really nice, well structured wine. With a hint of licorice on the nose with plum and full berry flavors. It finishes long and smooth. Tannins are very velvelty. The bouquet is very nice. This was Lori’s pick of the day. She purchased a bottle for a friend who is sensitive to sulfites.

Our Podsafe Music Network Artist this week is the Candy Butchers, and the song is “What to Do with Michael”

Hallcrest Vineyards and the Organic Wine Works can be found at:
379 Felton Empire Road
Felton, CA 95018
Google Map
tel: 831-335-4441

Tasting Room open daily noon- 5pm and by appointment.

Drop us a line at guyandgirl@gmail.com!!!

Cheers!
-A Guy & a Girl

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Geez – Is it December already? Where does the time go? It seems like just last week we were particpating in our very first Wine Blogging Wednesday(WBW#15 – Graciously hosted by none other than Fatemeh of Gastronomie)
Now Derrick at An Obsession with Food is hosting Wine Blogging Wednesday #16 and the theme this time is: Judge a Bottle By Its Cover. While everyone is busy window shopping for gifts for loved ones, us Wine Bloggers and Podcasters from all over the Globe are window shopping for the best LABEL on a bottle of wine we can find.

What perfect timing! We just wrapped up Episode 14 of A Guy, a Girl and a Bottle over at Bonny Doon, and they have some of the most interesting labels we have ever seen. Lori chose the Il Circo (Erbaluce) label for it’s fanciful design and carefree circus attitude. Although a fun label, the wine is a bit exotic and we had to do a little research on the varietal as this is the first time we had run across this in our travels.

Erbaluce – One of the oldest white vines of Piedmont, Erbaluce’s origins remain unclear, but it is thought to be native to the damp, pre-Alpine valleys north of Torino. Still widely planted in Piedmont, it has remained primarily confined to that region. The variety takes its name from the color of its berries approaching harvest (“erba/alba” = dawn; “luce” = light), which in the autumn sunlight are a luminous copper-pink shade. The medium sized, five-lobed leaves are bright green in color and the elongated, conical bunches support spherical, waxy, amber-yellow berries of medium size. – Source http://www.kobrandwine.com/grape_library/pages/erbaluce.html

Joe chose the more controversial Ralph Steadman as the artist for the Bonny Doon Cardinal Zin. Can you believe those folks in Ohio once banned this bottle as – in their opinion – it committed a zin by depicting a religious figure on a bottle of wine? (Even we can’t make this stuff up! – check it out over here. Ralph Steadman is also known for his work with Hunter S Thompson, and has even written several books about wine ‘Grapes of Ralph’ and ‘Untrodden Grapes’. (http://www.ralphsteadman.com)

Check out our labels and all the other entries over at the Flickr group with a tag of WBW16. Thanks to Derrick for choosing another great theme for Wine Blogging Wednesday! See you next month!

Joe & Lori