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Uncorked

In a wine marathon, pinot leads the pack

By CHRIS SHERMAN
Published April 27, 2005

The Wineman, unlike the Ironman competition, is not truly grueling. But Tampa Bay's four-day, 40-mile wine marathon is a beautiful trail where competitors are tended by "aid stations" stocked with chestnut purees, pork belly, rose petal sorbet, and for the weak, bottled water.

I was lucky to survive both the Florida Winefest at the Ritz-Carlton in Sarasota and Bern's Winefest in Tampa. For wine lovers as well as merchants and sponsors, that's victory enough.

The winner was known before the starting gun: fleet, sleek pinot noir, a native of Burgundy and now hailing from Hollywood's Sideways and other corners of the West Coast.

Close behind was a pack of Rhone blends, cabernet franc and other new entrants cheered on by the young and adventurous, who are often bored with veteran cabernets. The cabs put in good showings nonetheless, especially the 2001 Napa crop.

Gourmets, gourmands and general swells would gather at fine tables around Sarasota in the evening, but the pros started early at the annual trade tasting, which drew more than 800 restaurateurs and retailers to sample new vintages and labels.

Among top-dollar standouts were rich, smoky shirazes from Darioush, a Napa winery founded by a proud native of Iran's ancient wine city, and a rich pinot noir from Taz, a new microbrand from Beringer. Among fine cabs, Amizetta's are juicy and plummy but the intriguing reds were L'Aventure's deep, dark blends of cabernet and syrah from Paso Robles and Conn Creek's reds that are long on cabernet franc. (Todd Anderson echoed Sideways' Miles on merlot, "the most boring grape to work with.")

The fun started with delicious bargains in less stuffy grapes, often at $10 or less a bottle. Zinfandel specialist Renwoods brought a barbera that was as friendly as any in Italy's Piemonte. Hahn's cabernet franc is richness you can afford. If you haven't met petite sirah, Peachy Canyon and Concannon are happy introductions to a wine both robust and easy.

BEST NEW TASTE : SolaRosa, unabashed pink sangiovese.

In whites, Rhone flavors offered refreshment and fun for less than $15. A round rousanne from Truchard, peachy viogniers from Columbia Crest and Eberle's delightful muscat canelli.

The Florida Winefest's grand tasting brought out the gilded and tanned, but I opted for the slower pace of seminars.

The first, no surprise, was on pinot noir, but with the assurance of Donald Patz that "there will be no frontal nudity." But his Patz & Hall pinots, and those of Flowers Vineyards on the far Sonoma Coast and Adelaida Cellars in Paso Robles, aren't laugh-getters.

They're pricey and rare, so rare there weren't enough for us to taste them all. But Flowers' Andreen-Gale spices cherries with clove and nutmeg and Adelaida's 2003 is mighty rich.

The other gave a chance for Washington's Chateau Ste. Michelle to show off six wines on Top 100 lists in the last year. Crisp Riesling produced with Dr. Loosen of Germany and rich Columbia Crest 2001 reserve cabernet backed the brag.

While Sarasota headed toward its finish line I took Saturday as a bit of a bye and stayed in Tampa to get my wind.

I had a wine-free breakfast with Carolyn Wente, of the pioneer California family winery that began when the best vineyards were in Livermore Valley not Napa.

Lunch, featuring the boutique vegetables of Lee Jones at the Chef's Garden and lessons by Bern's chef Jeannie Pierola, could not go without wine. Here were organic pinots, blanc and noir, of Robert Sinskey in the Carneros region of Napa, which the winery said were favorites of Sideways star Paul Giamatti.

Could be. Sinskey's dry strawberry pinot rose brightened wilted dandelion greens, and the sleek 2000 pinot noir enriched sweet baby beets and silky slow-cooked salmon. Crisped pork belly with a perfumed puree of turnips and bananas, however, called for a richer blend of merlot and cab franc. Pinot is not all.

I could coast the final stretch at Bern's in the air-conditioned shade of white tents. Sunday's grand tasting had many of the Sarasota wines and a hundred more, plus an all-out effort by Bern's and SideBern's sous chefs and kitchen crews, including a new breadbasket of rustic stuff and a groaning board of salamis and pates made in-house.

Bern's had the highest obstacle course of grand wines including Merryvale Profile, Beringer Private Reserve and Georges De Latour, but I can't hurdle $50-plus wines in ordinary life. If I did, I'd aim just above it for Philipp Togni's 2002 Tanbark Hill, so rich a cabernet that it's hard to call it a second label or Cain's three-grape Concept. Oh, and put the Penfolds' 707 Reserve cabernet on my Christmas list.

Yet fine treasures for less kept me going; crisp, minerally riesling from Zillikin in Germany and Wynns in Australia, and a floral tocai from northern Italy.

BEST NON-PINOT TASTE: Mettler 2001 petite sirah, blackberry jam you can drink.

Still the race was to the pinot, a 2001 Volnay for the Burgundians, Domaine Serene from Oregon. In the middle of the pack and price range was a host of fruity wines led by an earthy 2000 Steele, a slippery 2003 from Foley and a charming, easy Chehalem.

BEST BUDGET PINOT: At $15, the 2002 Rutz Sonoma is the cheapest trip.

With all that pinot, this race ended with a bowl of cherries, not gruel.

-- Chris Sherman can be reached at 727 893-8585 or sherman@sptimes.com

[Last modified April 26, 2005, 12:21:04]