Message in a Bottle
Cain, VIVI Economics, Ordinary Burgundy, Cali Viogner
If one is invited to taste wine with Stephen Ranger, one does one best to accept the invitation. Before he set up the boutique importing agency Ranger Wine in 2020, Ranger the person was known in wine circles for organizing Canada’s fine wine auctions and consulting to serious collectors. His agency brings in a small number of serious wines from a small number of serious regions.
Last month, to showcase an allotment from Cain Vineyards and Winery in the Napa Valley, Ranger also brought in Chris Howell, Cain’s winemaker. I met Howell on weekday afternoon at a drop by tasting Ranger arranged, and got there early enough to taste through four vintages of the Cain Five blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot: 2006, 2009, 2016 and 2017.
I also tasted the Cain Cuvée NV15 which is officially a non-vintage blend of wines made in 2014 and 2015. The Cuvée leans more on Merlot and is made for “drinkability”, showing more red fruit than the black fruit driven the Cain Five.
Howell has been making wine at Cain for more than 30 years. An amateur winemaker from Seattle, his father-in-law encouraged him to study the craft in France. There he apprenticed at Mouton-Rothchild working through the year of its famous 1982 vintage.
In between sips of Howell’s very delicious wines, he mostly spoke about terroir. He showed me maps of the Cain vineyard, which is peaked on a ridge and contoured, so different sites are exposed to different amounts of sunlight at different times of day. Howell has spent decades learning the intricacies of each micro-site, studying which is optimized for which of the five varieties he blends into the wines.
Howell also explained that the wines I was tasting were from vines that would never produce again. Cain burnt down in the great Glass Fire of 2020. They have replanted and are releasing wine again after a pause of a few years.
I didn’t take notes while I tasted, so what I scribbled down afterwards is a general impression: “lovely, elegant, subtle wines.” This could also be a description of Howell whose understated manner belies a powerful core of a vision to make complex, wines of terroir. Howell says he doesn’t like “numbers”, by which he means the high scores that flashy fruit bombs vie for.
I am increasingly attracted to the idea of wine as a message in a bottle. A communication of not just the land from where it came but also the people who made it. Howell articulates a sophisticated, gastronomic idea of California wines, and it's there in the glass to be received.
The 2017 Cain Five and non-vintage Cain Cuvée NV15 are available in Ontario via Ranger Wine at here: https://www.rangerwine.com/our-wines-price-list.
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VIVI ECONOMICS
After a hiatus of a few years, I’m making videos again. Once I have a few, I plan to incorporate a few into a regular Wino Podcast feature. I’ve started by checking in with Jens Peter Barynin, who runs and is the Chief Economist at VIVI Economics. VIVI publishes reports on the wine industry and tracks everything from supply to demand to pricing. In this segment, we discuss falling demand for wine and the reasons behind it.
NEW WRITING AT THE HUB
I wrote about why the best way to try wine, especially with its maker is at the table at The Hub in On The Matter of Wine Tastings the week before last. If you’re reading after 7 AM on December 14, then my latest piece which is Sort of a Gift Guide should be up to. You can always check what I’ve posted at The Hub on my author page.
Please help me keep MJWJ online and posting frequently by taking out a paid subscription. To get into the holiday season, I am offering readers a chance to subscribe for 20% off of the regular price… forever. Click on the button below to find out more.
Or give the wino gift that keeps on giving and treat your friends and family to MJWJ…
WINE RECOMMENDATIONS
Cline North Coast Viogner 2023
Price: $19.95
Channel: LCBO Vintages
Producer: Cline Family Cellars
Country: United States
Region: California
Appellation: North Coast
Grapes: Viogner
Alcohol by Volume: 14.5%
Sugar Content: 6 grams per litre
This white wine is a bit of a monster, but it’s a friendly one and it delivers a much needed dose of California sunshine for under $20, which is becoming rare and is likely to become even rarer as the loonie continues to slide.
The LCBO website says the Cline Viogner clocks in at 13% alcohol by volume, but the label says it’s 14.5%. I’m inclined to believe the label, since lower ABV is more on trend. On the other hand, the LCBO is proud to independently test all the wines they sell, so I don’t know. On the palate, the wine is in balance and not particularly hot.
The wine is also showing six grams of sugar per litre, which I take as residual. I generally don’t like to go over four, and prefer two or lower, but again this Viogner is in balance not particularly sweet.
What the Cline Viogner definitely is is fruity. There is big apricot fruit followed up by that ambigous term “tropical fruits”, which in this case I put as guava and mango. There is also tell tale Viogner white flower aromatics wafting up before and after the sunshine fruit attack. This is a fun wine, if you like this sort of thing.
The weather went cold this week, and a glass of this wine sipped while making dinner warmed the soul. If one were to take a second glass at the table, then it would pair nicely with a roast filet of salmon, or Tuscan bean soup.
https://www.lcbo.com/en/cline-viognier-2018-128421
Buissonnier Côte Chalonnaise Pinot Noir
Price: $23.95
Channel: LCBO Vintages
Producer: Vignerons de Buxy
Country: France
Region: Burgundy
Appellation: Bourgogne Côte Chalonnaise AOC
Grapes: Pinot Noir
Alcohol by Volume: 13%
Sugar Content: 3 grams per litre
The Vignerons de Buxy co-operative is part of a great good news story in Burgundy. As prices for domaine and negociant wines soar, the co-operatives, which have thoroughly modernized and hired top talent, offer an affordable taste of the region. This Pinot Noir from the Côte Chalonnaise near Mercurey, south of Beaune, is a classic take on the grapoe and region for under $25.
Cranberry dominates, with other red fruits like sour cherry. The wine is uncomplicated, straight forward and refreshing. It wants food, but it’s versatile and not fussed about what it pairs with from fish or poultry to red meat. In France one drinks the local wine with whatever one cooks, so when we tried a glass with a plate of l’Amatriciana pasta, it felt sophisticated and thoroughly contintental.
https://www.lcbo.com/en/vignerons-de-buxy-buissonnier-cote-chalonnaise-pinot-noir-28284
