Trione Winery Selections

Yet more wines I was sent a long time ago and am finally now getting around to reviewing. This review will be interesting though, because the Trione Vineyards wines I was sent all came in 50ml bottles. The company tastingroom.com bottled them way back in September 2012 and I am just now getting to taste each one. In total, I was sent six 50ml bottles, each of which is barely good enough for two pours.

Trione is another California winery with an excellent reputation. Their wines were a familiar sight in San Diego and I liked selling them because you always knew that they'd deliver at their price points. It's been nearly a decade though, so I was anxious to taste through the lineup and see if the wines were as I recalled.

As you read through the notes, please bear in mind that these are probably (hopefully) not the current releases from Trione, it's my fault for not getting to them sooner.

2010 Trione Sauvignon Blanc Russian River Valley
The nose shows tart gooseberry and green grass right away, very fresh. Behind that lurk some lime juice and herbaceous qualities. As it opened in my glass, I picked up a flinty minerality that was quite cool. On the palate I can tell that this is softened a little bit by age but it's still got ripping acidity and a linear minerality that I thoroughly enjoy. The fruit seems to be mostly in the background, with touches of grapefruit and papaya showing through. More bracing acidity cleans up the finish beautifully, readying your palate for the next bite. Surprisingly fresh and vibrant, this stuff is almost Muscadet-like. Color me impressed. 14.0% abv. Recommended.

2008 Trione Chardonnay Russian River Valley
It's rare that I get to taste California chardonnay with this much age on it. This one stays traditional, with lots of butter and oak rushing out of the glass. They aren't necessarily overpowering as much as dominating. With some air, I picked up aromas of golden apple, quince, and baking spices. A sip brought plenty of buttercream but a nice hit of acid too. There's enough apple and pear playing around with the vanilla oak and butter to make a really, really nice chardonnay. Acidity dries out the finish in a good way, making me think this needs some grilled sea bass or chicken kabobs. 14.3% abv.

2008 Trione Pinot Noir Russian River Valley
Again, it's rare to taste a RRV pinot with 6+ years of age, so I was looking forward to this one. Initially it's showing age, with notes of dried leather, furniture varnish, red cherry, and old wood. Still, it doesn't smell bad! There's still some acidity on the palate, barely holding together cherries, apple skin, baking spice and white pepper. Still-alive tannin is nicely integrated and I think this would pair well with more delicate meat, salmon and pork. It's not quite my cup of tea but still a really fun wine to taste. 14.2% abv.

2007 Trione Red Wine Alexander Valley
Shows a touch advanced, like it's just settling into some tertiary flavors. Similar to the pinot noir, this has a dusty, leathery element that is pretty interesting. Green herb, cassis, and cocoa powder come through with some swirling. Plenty of barrel spices too, maybe more than necessary. Sipping brings ample black fruit, good acid, and good tannin integration. Mostly cabernet, with merlot, petit verdot, and malbec thrown in. This looks, smells, and acts like a Bordeaux blend that's impeccably crafted. The balance between those advanced aromas and flavors versus the fresher blueberry, boysenberry, and red currant is excellent. If you see a 750ml of this, grab it. 14.5% abv. Highly Recommended.

2007 Trione Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley
Fresher than the red blend, this is still showing plenty of primary fruit. Loads of sweet black cherry and blackcurrant framed by what smells like both French and American oak. That freshness carries over onto the palate too, with more cherries, firm tannin, and plenty of oak. Unfortunately it also gets really hot and sloppy, with perceptible alcohol through the mid-palate and finish. I don't think this is nearly as good as the above red blend. 14.5% abv.

2008 Trione Syrah Russian River Valley
This remained tight despite being open for almost two hours and getting vigorously swirled in my glass. I did manage to tease out notes of black tea, plum, and blackberry preserve. There's a bit of VA present too, which I found distracting. Also, like the cabernet, some alcoholic heat on the nose. On the palate this tastes young-ish, like a wine that is nearly in middle age. That and like it has a bit of brettanomyces. I picked up a distinct medicinal component on the mid-palate and the finish was hollow on the tongue, a big time indicator for brett. Behind the bretty, medicinal note lurked some firm tannins, dusty minerality, and muted fruit. Kind of a bummer because I was really looking forward to tasting this wine. 14.8% abv.

With these wines we batted .500, the sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, and red blend all being worthy of consideration. The other three, pinot noir, cabernet sauvignon, and syrah, had issues which I just can't overlook. Still, Trione clearly makes some very, very good wines and you should feel confident in purchasing (full size!) bottles of the wines I liked. Each promises to be good with food and have the ability to put on a bit of age to boot. I was pleased to find that I still enjoyed Trione after almost a decade of not tasting any of their releases.

The kit from tastingroom.com is really, really cool and gave me just enough wine to do a reasonably proper evaluation. They even include helpful information on how soon to drink the wines and how long they'll (most likely) remain fresh. I think more wineries that send out samples to bloggers might want to look into either this or bottle 375ml's for us, since it wastes far less wine.

These wines were samples for review purposes.

Beau Carufel

California Cabernet's from Chateau Felice, Krutz, Wente, and Rodney Strong.

About a month ago I took part in a tasting of four California cabernet sauvignons withTasteLive and group of fellow wine bloggers. I've been fortunate enough to participate in other TasteLive events, the format being that select bloggers around the country are sent samples to taste and talk about, live. TasteLive's website allows each blogger to log in and appends each tweet with hashtags relevant to the tasting.

For the wineries and PR groups, TasteLive represents a great way to spread each brand across a huge chunk of the wine-drinking, new media-using demographic. It's also a smart way to build background buzz about wines and/or regions that the PR groups are trying to build awareness for. For us bloggers, well, let's face it, we get free wine to taste and talk about..Things we already love doing to begin with.

The event last month was titled "Luscious Hedonisms", and was intended to showcase four different cabernet sauvignon growing regions in California. We were sent these bottles of wine a few weeks before the tasting, then on October 11, we all gathered at our respective homes and swirled, sniffed, and sipped our way through some expensive wine. I think some of us spit too, though I confess to not spitting a couple of the wines. The lowest priced bottling was around $49, the highest coming in close to $75. Those are, of course, suggested retail prices.

Here are the wines:

2007 Chateau Felice La Craie American Celebration: From the Chalk Hill AVA, this is actually a blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and cabernet franc. It's what we here would call a "Meritage", "we" and "here" being totally irrelevant of course. The Chateau Felice is tight upon pulling the cork, but soon reveals aromas of leather, plum, baking chocolate, and herbs. Out of the four wines, I feel it had the most tannic presence, but backed up the firm tannin with gorgeous flavors of cassis, black cherry, baseball glove, and a bit of dusty oak. I rated this wine a B+, it's very, very good and worthy of your cellar. Suggested retail: $50. Alcohol: 14.3%


2007 Krutz Cellars Stagecoach Cabernet Sauvignon: Ok, first off, why the hell would Krutz even want to send a bunch of bloggers a 95 point (W.E.) cabernet sauvignon? It's suggested retail is $75, so the score:price ratio is right (for once). This was by far the best wine of the tasting, and you can find it for $65 at good retailers. The bouquet is all Napa mountain fruit, brimming with cassis, black cherry, herb, dark earth, and hints of vanilla. Despite four years of age (two in bottle) this wine is still a bit tannic which only means it needs more time in your cellar to become even more delicious. Gorgeous plum and blueberry, vanilla cocoa, dry desert herb, and leather all balance out very nicely on the palate. Wonderfully integrated despite it's young age, the Krutz Stagecoach has many years left. I gave this wine an A and STRONG BUY for those who want a cabernet that reminds us why Napa Valley is one of the best places on earth to grow that varietal. 14.8% abv.


2008 Rodney Strong Alexander's Crown Cabernet Sauvignon: Another $75 srp California cabernet sauvignon, this time from Alexander Valley. Wine Spectator rated this a 93 points, so we have another highly rated wine given to a bunch of bloggers. And again, I am somewhat baffled. That said, I'm more than happy to taste and talk about wines with high scores. Unfortunately, I disagree with the 93 point rating, mine is closer to a B+, or 87/88 points. This smelled of ripe blueberries, sweet red cherry, and oak. After a few hours I was able to detect some bits of minerality but they were lost behind the over-extracted fruit flavors which themselves had to contend with massive amounts of vanilla oak. The palate left me feeling much the same, this wine feels big and tastes intense. More of the ripe berry fruit and a big dollop of vanilla oak are battling it out. I think with time this might mellow out and allow the intriguing mineral element to come play but for now, it's just not my thing. PASS recommendation, especially at $75. 15.5% alcohol. (wow!!)


2007 Wente "The Nth Degree" Cabernet Sauvignon: The last wine of the evening was from Wente, a producer I generally avoid because I've always found their wines to be heavily oaked and lacking structure. Their winery is located the same area they get their fruit from, the Livermore Valley AVA. The 2007 The Nth Degree was heavily oaked as usual, but luckily there was also some firm tannin that acted to restrain the vanilla and cocoa flavors of the oak barrels. Like the Rodney Strong, I smelled a lot of vanilla, cocoa powder, ripe berry fruit, and the barest hint of minerality. Across the palate, more of those extracted berry flavors and vanilla oak, framed by the tannin I mentioned before. Luckily the Wente cabernet is also balanced nicely, so those of you who enjoy a California cabernet sauvignon that is made in the style that California is now departing from need not despair! The suggested retail is $60, teetering on the edge of the "overpriced California wine" precipice. I feel the quality is high, but it's too extracted and still too oaked for my palate. B+ and a PASS from me. If you want this style, don't pay $60 a bottle, despite the obvious quality here. 14.3% alcohol.

Tasting four brawny California cabernet's is one thing, but tasting them in a realistic setting means that you need food to accompany the wines! Cabernet and steak go together like Beau and Burgundy, so it was time to cook up three pieces of tri-tip. Becky was in town helping me pack for my move to Oregon, and my buddy Justin came over because he likes free wine and to hang out. Here are some pictures of our meal:

Tri-tip steaks marinated with a spicy Cajun sauce for a few hours, then put into my cast iron skillet to broil in the oven. I could have gone with rib-eye or New York Strip but those are pricier options and these were the perfect size, one for each of us.

Some people wonder why steak or red meat pairs so well with tannic red wines, one of the reasons for this is that tannin binds well with proteins in red meat, creating a nice synergy of texture and flavor. Another reason, the actual taste of good beef, a "meaty" taste, pairs with flavors like herb, earth, and even spicy black fruit.

Here you see the tri-tip steaks fresh out of the oven, ready to be enjoyed with the different cabernet's. When I pair steak with wine, I tend towards reds with firmer tannin levels opposed to fruitier reds like merlot. Cabernet fits that bill perfectly - if you pick correctly. Forgive the rant, but too many California (Napa Valley in particular) cabernet's are so fruity and over-extracted that their flavors completely overwhelm any food you try to pair with them. As a result, I look for cabernet from Washington state, Mendocino and Lake Counties, the Sierra Foothills, and France. That said, the Krutz paired brilliantly, as did the Chateau Felice.

I have to confess, I reduced the mushrooms in the 2007 Krutz Cellars cabernet, which was so good that I knew it would ensure the mushrooms were awesome.

They were, and spooned onto the steaks created a delicious match of flavors. Again sticking with the more tannic reds of the tasting, Chateau Felice and Krutz, earth flavors found in mushrooms are complementary to those wines.

I wish I had the finished meal to show you, plated and all, but I don't. That's a major fail on my part, but I can leave you with this: the meal was damn good.

Cabernet Sauvignon is versatile, it can grow in many places on this planet and the finished wine can run the gamut from austere to overly sweet and tasting of vanilla sawdust. My tastes run towards the former, and lucky for me and those with palates like mine, there is a shift towards more restrained styles going on in California. Each wine we tasted was high quality, of that there is no doubt, unfortunately the latter two were simply over-made wines. They aimed for a flavor profile that is increasingly out of sync with today's wine drinker. Time will tell if in future vintages, Rodney Strong and Wente's top offerings begin to resemble those of producers like Krutz, Round Pond, and Elizabeth Spencer.

The TasteLive event itself was a lot of fun, even if I wasn't able to tweet as much as I'd hoped. Juggling hosting duties, taking notes, and interacting with people on Twitter and TasteLive was a daunting task, one that I need to work on. That said, I want to thank the TasteLive folks and the winery representatives for taking the time to get this all up and get us bloggers the wine, as well as sticking around to answer questions and give us good data on what we were drinking.

These wines were media samples for tasting purposes.

Beau Carufel