Liquid Farm Tasting

Most people would never think about wine in terms of a personal journey of either the wine drinker or the producer and why would they? Many of the widely available wines commonly found in grocery and liquor stores are the product of large commercial businesses and are designed to satisfy the broadest cross-section of consumers. I never thought about it until I really began to explore wine and what unfolded was the revelation of a large community of dedicated small production winemakers creating wines they love and hope others that share a mutual passion appreciate their efforts. This is one such story.

I wrote this story for Wineberserkers and you can read it over here with pictures.
A Passion for Chardonnay

Nikki and Jeff Nelson are the owners of Liquid Farm and through Wine Berserkers we struck up a conversation because I found their wine very enjoyable and the personal motivation to be a producer intriguing. After learning we were organizing a tasting with fellow Wine Berserkers Nikki graciously offered to participate and bring her full complement of wines for the group to taste. Here’s insight into their journey in their own words.

We seek to support local viticulture and honor our palates' love for old world wines that have naturally high acidity and are not masked by many of the modern day manipulations.

To do so, we selfishly decided to make what we most love to drink: Chardonnay that is earth and mineral driven from cool climates with little or no new oak. To achieve these qualities we were drawn to one of the coolest of all California AVA's, Sta. Rita Hills. Located in Santa Barbara County, it is home to some of the most Chardonnay-suited, unique, ancient soils in North America.

• 2001 Mumm Napa DVX Rosé

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Faint peach color. There's a light brioche and toasted oak aromas. Does this bubbly see new oak? Fine, gentle bubbles wrapped with a small zip of acid. Fruit is very muted, lingering in the background.
  Finish is a bonus as it hangs around.

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• 2012 Henriot Champagne Brut Souverain

  France, Champagne

  Jeff brought this as a mystery wine and quite the treat. This is the base still wine used to create the champagne, just no bubbles since it hasn't seen the final dosage which is the step and puts the "bubbles in bubbly".
  
  Light pear color. Nose is very gentle fruit but the palate comes on strong with lime, rind, and crispy acidity. Fantastic.

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• 2012 Liquid Farm Mourvèdre Rosé Vogelzang Vineyard

  USA, California, Central Coast, Happy Canyon of Santa Barbara

  Super light peach color. Honey scent is pouring out of the glass after it's poured. More honey on the palate with a dusty foundation. Fruit is running in third place here. Medium finish and good acid.

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• 2013 Liquid Farm Mourvèdre Rosé Vogelzang Vineyard

  USA, California, Central Coast, Happy Canyon of Santa Barbara

  Barrel sample and not the final blend as this is pure mourvedre at this point. In fact, still cloudy, but excellent components of acid, minerals, and a sauvignon blanc like flavors. Should be exciting to taste the final assembly.

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• 2012 Liquid Farm Chardonnay White Hill

  USA, California, Central Coast, Sta. Rita Hills

  Light yellow color. Aromas of very clean pear and red apple. Medium level if acidity with a good cut. Again, the fruit flavors are very clean. Medium plus finishing with a crisp snap. Slightly more fruit forward than the '11 but still maintains the angular attribute. Very nice.

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• 2011 Liquid Farm Chardonnay Golden Slope

  USA, California, Central Coast, Sta. Rita Hills

  Big, expressive tree fruit nose. Slightly more color than the white hill and less than the four, must be the difference in the level of new oak. Medium weight and silky mouthfeel. There wet stone leading into a medium plus finish. There's also an added level of complexity. This is right in Chris' wheelhouse, she went back for more.

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• 2011 Liquid Farm Chardonnay Four

  USA, California, Central Coast, Sta. Rita Hills

  Completely understand why people go bonkers for this wine. This is the heavyweight champ of the lineup based on its weight, glycerin mouthfeel, and intense richness and complexity. More cinnamon baked apple and lime versus the leaner razor sharp white hill.

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• 2013 Liquid Farm Chardonnay Bien Bien

  USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Maria Valley

  This is a barrel sample of the single vineyard from 40 year old vines and I'm not sure if this will be bottle as such or blended into the white hill, golden slope, and four. Damn good on its own right now. Strong grapefruit flavor and obviously lip smacking acid. I have the remains of this bottle and it's being paired with mussels swimming in a buttery broth. Heaven.

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• 2010 Liquid Farm Chardonnay Golden Slope

  USA, California, Central Coast, Sta. Rita Hills

  Light yellow color. Aromas blasting out of the glass screams huge complexity. Flavors of honey, sweet tree fruit, maybe some residual sugar, spice, apple, and clove. Crazy finish with taste buds firing on all cylinders. This is the prefect holiday dinner wine. It smells like the holidays. Not much of this floating around, in fact, winery owners said they're buying this up on the open market for their personal cellar. How great is that! If you see Nikki on winebid then you'll know.

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• 2013 Liquid Farm Chardonnay Random Blend

  USA, California, Central Coast, Sta. Rita Hills

  This must have just finished fermentation in the last week? Liquid Farm team brought this first blend barrel sample of SRH vineyards for fun. The bottle label was masking tape with "13 SRH Random blend" scribbled across it. Probably nothing like what the final blend will be but it's the first step in the process and art of wine making. Quite cloudy, as expected without fining yet, looks like fresh squeezed lemonade. Abundant citrus, lime rind, and very sharp mouthfeel. Will this see stainless, mostly neutral oak, or new oak? Is its ultimate destiny white hill, golden slope, or four?
  
  This is why winemakers are artist. We'll just have to wait and see!

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• 1992 Foxen Pinot Noir Santa Maria Valley

  USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Maria Valley

  Double blind. I guessed an older Grenache and possibly southern rhone. Buzz. Color gave away the age as it had faded, cloudy, and kicking off a little chunky sediment. Nose was red berry which rolled right over into the palate a leather note and light spice. The fruit tasted very candied, even at this age which gave me pause as to whether this really was old world. Nice treat by FMIII as Foxen Pinot was one of the first wines to began expanding my interest in wine.

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• 2002 Sanford Pinot Noir Sanford & Benedict Vineyard

  USA, California, Central Coast, Sta. Rita Hills

  Double blind. GuessEd Pinot noir but completely lost after that. Spice notes could have led me to SRH but I failed. Still quite opaque, dark crimson. Muted berry nose. Red berry and crushed rock followed by a spicy undercurrent. Medium finish. The mineral aspect was intriguing.

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• 2008 Rhys Pinot Noir Family Farm Vineyard

  USA, California, San Francisco Bay, San Mateo County

  Double blind. Medium garnet color. I'm getting strawberry nose which immediately floats "2011 Cali PN" to the top of my list. Strawberry and light cherry flavors with excellent balance. Hint of suede through a medium finish. This wine doesn't need food, pop it and let it be the main course. Not surprised when Rhys was revealed.

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• 2007 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

  Dark plum color. Nose shows spice and dark berry. Dark blackberry and dark cherry flavors, fruit driven and a touch sweet. Medium finish with toasted oak note. Easy to see why this is a crowd pleaser but it needs a little acid to balance the fruit.

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• 2009 Lucia Syrah Susan's Hill

  USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands

  Super dark color, mortor oil in the lightly lit room. I'm pulling lots of black olive and stems from the nose. Palate is like a petite sirah with berry, firm tannins, and with pepper and smoked jerky. Medium plus finish and more jerky at the end. Big fun wine.

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• 2009 Pierre Gonon Saint-Joseph

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Saint-Joseph

  Crimson color and nice clarity as it sparkles in the candle light. More tapenade and mineral aromas than anything else. There's a beautiful chalk and blackberry flavor with the chalk effecting the mouthfeel with almost a grittiness. Long finish. Super wine.

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• 2005 Pax Syrah Castelli-Knight Ranch

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley

  Great syrah. Extremely dark color. Nose shows a Carmel liquor type aroma. The stems show on this backed with slightly edgy tannins. Long finish is a lingering mouthfeel.

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• 2008 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir Russian River Valley

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley

  Dark cherry color with a Carmel look to the edges. Lots of toasty raspberry aromas and a silky mouthfeel surrounding a spicy oak flavor. Medium plus finish.

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• 2009 A Tribute to Grace Wine Company Grenache Santa Barbara Highlands Vineyard

  USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Barbara County

  Good clarity on this wine. I guess Grenache and there is some whole cluster in there, I'm betting. Its a gentle wine even with the stem presence. Impressive finish in length.

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• 2006 Stags' Leap Winery Petite Sirah Ne Cede Malis Flawed

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Stags Leap District

  Mild TCA taint. Wet newspaper nose. Dumped it into a decanter with plastic wrap for a couple of hours then bottle up. Should be salvageable, we'll see.

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• 2008 Carlisle Petite Sirah Yorkville Highlands

  USA, California, North Coast, Yorkville Highlands

  Getting towards the end of the night so the notes are becoming shorter and less informative. Typically dark PS with a black licorice, dark berry fruit, chalk, and gritty tannins. Medium plus finish. Wish I had more...

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• 2003 Royal Tokaji Wine Co. Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos

  Hungary, Tokaji

  Wow, has this put on some color. Incredibly dark Carmel color heading towards dark brown. Sweet apricot flavor with syrupy mouthfeel. I love this wine.

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