Malibu Wines

The weather was glorious this past weekend. I spent Sunday morning and afternoon in the Malibu / Santa Monica Mountains with my wife and daughter attending a company picnic at a huge ranch. As we drove near the ranch’s entrance, I noticed trellises of grape vines strewn about the surrounding hills. I asked some of the ranch employees about the vineyards and the possible existence of a winery nearby. Apparently, not farther than a quarter of a mile from the ranch’s entrance is a wine tasting room. So I made it a mission to visit the tasting room after the picnic.

(View of the Malibu / Santa Monica Mountains and one of the vineyards)

Malibu is better known for its beautiful beaches and as the coastal neighborhood where the rich and famous live. It is, however, not exactly well known (yet) as a wine growing region. Perhaps Malibu has a cult status among some wine enthusiasts, although I’m not sure. I think it was a few years ago that someone told me about the vineyards there. It wasn’t until last summer, though, that I tasted a Malibu wine for the first time when a friend brought a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon to a picnic. I can’t remember the label or the vintage, but I thought it was drinking decently. So only by coincidence that today I found the opportunity to taste the wines made from grapes grown locally.

The tasting room that I visited is run by a company called Malibu Family Wines, which owns about 65 acres of the surrounding vineyards. It's useful to note that Malibu Family Wines is not a winery, but rather a company that owns vineyards. They employ a third party or parties to make their wines and they also buy some grapes from others. As far as I got from Kevin, the knowledgeable and friendly wine steward, they have two labels under which they bottle their wines: Saddle Rock and Semler. The Semler label is used for wines made with locally grown grapes. And the Saddle Rock collection, very strangely, are wines that are made with grapes grown in the California Central Coast region.

(The very busy tasting bar @ Malibu Family Wines)

I said “very strangely” because Saddle Rock – Malibu is itself a legally designated American Viticultural Area (AVA) within which the tasting room is located (or nearby). Central Coast, on the other hand, is an area encompassing the mid-section of California, spanning from Santa Cruz County on the north-end and going south until it reaches the Santa Barbara County. Monterey Bay, Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo, Santa Ynez Valley and other AVA's in between fall within the “Central Coast” region as well. The label, therefore, is rather deceiving, don’t you think? It’s as if they are trying to build the reputation of Saddle Rock - Malibu AVA by using the more well-established quality of Central Coast grapes.

In fairness, though, the Saddle Rock – Malibu AVA was only established in 2006, so if the Saddle Rock brand was established before the AVA was, it would be a rather costly business decision to re-brand their products. But still, couldn't they just switch to use the Semler brand for the Central Californian wines and use the Saddle Rock brand for the -- you guessed it -- Saddle Rock - Malibu wines? In any case, the vines in Saddle-Rock Malibu AVA are relatively young. I was told that their oldest vines were planted in 1996, and their first vintage was 2001.

Interested only in the wines made from grapes harvested in and around Malibu, Kevin poured for me a flight of the Semler label. The tasting fee was $12. Included in the flight were the 2004 Merlot ($24), 2002 Merlot ($?), 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon ($27), 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon ($?), and the 2002 Syrah ($24). As a bonus (maybe because I was asking too many questions), Kevin also poured for me the 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve ($75), which is their first “reserve” (read: more expensive) bottling that had received some aging in 100% brand-spanking-new French oak barrels.

My humble verdict on the Semler wines: not bad…the 2004 Merlot had some good tannins and depth (rather chewy…reminded me of a red zinfandel), while the 2002 Merlot has mellowed out considerably and with lots of nice red fruits on the nose. The 2004 Cab (non-reserve) has plenty of oak and tannins still, and the 2002 Cab Sav was predictably softer, fruitier and almost floral. Kevin said it’s drinking very “French”, St. Estephe to be exact, but I thought it lacked the commonly found cedar note and it’s not as dry as most Bordeaux I’ve had. The Syrah is blended with a Bordeaux variety (I can’t remember if Kevin said Cabernet Sauvignon or Petite Verdot). Anyways, I liked the Syrah the least.

And the 2004 Cabernet Reserve…it has too much oak! It’s a “muscle wine.” Everything else that the wine possesses was drowned in the oak. It sure is meant to be laid down for a few years, but I am not sure if such an overly oaky wine will ever age gracefully. I thought this was a clichéd effort at making an expensive bottling with brand new oaks à la Opus One.

(The picnic area and my daughter posing in front of an olde automobile on the grounds of the Malibu Family Wines)

Overall, though, the Semler line is just alright. The wines should make a nice accompaniment at an outdoor picnic or with everyday casual meal. The prices, relative to their quality and the available alternatives, were a bit much. Maybe it’s expensive because they come from Malibu.

(I ended up going home with a Semler 2004 Merlot and a 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon)

Part V: After the Pasadena Pu'er Event

This is an entry long overdue. Many things happened after the June 16th Pasadena Pu'er event until Mr. Chen Chi-Tong left Los Angeles on June 20th. I had a great time with the entire Wu Shing team (Mr. Liang, his wife, Chen Zhi-Tong, and Aaron Fisher), Guang, Mary and Bob Heiss (authors of the upcoming The Story of Tea: A Cultural History and Drinking Guide), and the LA Tea Group. I'll summarize this post with short narratives and some photographs that I snapped during the time.

^ The morning after the Event and a long dinner party, we dimsummed in Chinatown. Mary and Robert Heiss joined us. After the dimsum brunch, we visited the famous Huntington Library in San Marino for some Afternoon Tea. I had a most pleasant and eye-opening conversation about olive oils with the Heisses. They are the quintessential experts in everything olive (and other gourmet foods too). What true gourmands they are! (The Heisses are the proprietors of Cooks Shop Here, a culinary shop in Northampton, Massachusetts).

^ After a sumptuous late dinner at a Greek fusion restaurant, Danica, Helen, Chen Zhi-Tong and I went to Danica's home for some tea (Mr. Liang and his wife retired to their hotel room). The tea session stretched until 4am in the morning! We brewed the stash that Chen Zhi-Tong brought along from Taiwan: 1930's sheng, 1950's sheng, 1960's sheng, and many recent vintages of his own Chen Guang He Tang Yiwu Chawang (2002 - 2007). Chen was most generous for leaving behind his Yiwu Chawang teas for the LA Tea Group.

^ After that late night / early morning tea party, we headed home for a few hours of sleep. Then, we drove to the beautiful Santa Barbara County wine country. There are basically 2 wine trails that we could choose from: Foxen and Santa Ynez. We trailed the latter by car, stopping at wineries along the way. The picture above is from our visit to the Zaca Mesa winery, where we sampled the wines in a very spacious tasting room.

^ We also visited the Fess Parker Winery (featured in the Sideways movie). After a flight of wine in the tasting room, Chen and I relaxed in the patio where he offered me a stub of his Montecristo No. 5 Cuban cigar. We had a nice conversation in broken English (him) and broken Chinese (me) about tea, wine, the Pasadena Event and future potential event in the United States. He was impressed by the people he met in Pasadena and by the great turnout. While Chen and I conversed, the others sat or napped in the field of green grass next to the vines. All in all, it was a very relaxing day with a perfect weather to boot.

^ Fast forward to Wednesday, June 20th. On Chen's last day before he left for Taipei, a few of us members of the LA Tea Group took him to a Californian BBQ ribs restaurant (Mr. Cecil's CA Ribs on Pico Boulevard) for one of the best and authentic Americano red-meat dishes. Will and I brought 4 bottles of excellent red zinfandel to down the meat and fat with. Though we managed to finish a lot of perfectly bbq-ed ribs, corn bread and hush puppies, the six of us were prudent enough to only consume 3 bottles of zin (most of us drove separately that day). Then at 11pm we said our goodbye's with Mr. Chen before I drove him to the LAX airport.

To be continued - Part VI: Tasting the 2007 5th International Pu'er Appreciation Memorial cake...

Ongoing and Upcoming Online Tasting Events

Ongoing Winexiles wine tasting: Tonight! 2003 or 2004 E. Guigal Crozes-Hermitage wine from the Rhone Valley, France. (as mentioned in my March 8 post). Post away your tasting notes in this thread.

Upcoming T Ching tea tasting: T Ching will be hosting the 2nd online tea tasting. The theme is going to be 2 rare Japanese sencha -- Tenbu and Tenbu Fuka. Those who participated or expressed interest in the previous Darjeeling oolong tasting will receive the sencha samples automatically, unless you inform Michelle that you would like to opt out. New interested participants will be sent the teas on a first come first serve basis due to limited supply. Exact tasting date is to be announced. CLICK HERE for more detail.

If you are unsure whether you submitted your name for the previous tasting, do email Michelle Rabin your contact information.

Monthly Wine Tasting @ Winexiles

Did you know that members of Winexiles hold monthly online wine tasting? The next one up is scheduled for March 22, 2007. Libbyg will be hosting the event and, as host, he has chosen the 2003 and/or 2004 E. Guigal Crozes-Hermitage for this cyber tasting (around $15 - 22 per bottle, depending where you are).

Click on the wine label for more information and discussion.

Winexiles online tasting is a great way to learn about wines from different regions of the world. The forum also allows you to compare notes and glimpse insight from those who are in-the-know about the particular wine being tasted.

What you need to do is simply get the wine, drink it with your family/friends (or by yourself, if you prefer), and log on to Winexiles to share opinion with others.

Members of Winexiles also occasionally meet to dine & wine together at various locations in the United States. In New York City, ŌTTŌ is one of many favorite meeting places. Bodega Tejas, a Texan grape grower who sells his crop to wineries in Texas, regularly invites fellow members to his ranch for some great wine experience and, of course, fabulous home-made foods!

Hope you can join us on March 22nd.

Edit 3/13/07: The tasting date has been moved from March 21st to 22nd.