2009 Pinot Days Seminar Producer Spotlight: Ed Kurtzman and his wines
Fort Mason, San Francisco, California
Tasted Wednesday, June 24, 2009 by rjonwine@gmail.com with 980 views
Introduction
This was a retrospective of Pinots made by one of my favorite California winemakers, Ed Kurtzman. Ed is currently winemaker for August West, in which he is a partner; Freeman; Roar; and his own label, Sandler Wine Co. He has previously made wine for Bernardus, Chalone, Fort Ross and Testarossa.
He's a versatile winemaker: I love the light, Burgundy-inspired touch he brings to the Pinots he's making for Freeman, as well as the more robust, fruit forward but not over the top Pinots he's making for Roar. I've also had the pleasure of attending a few tastings with him. The first time was when he joined our weekly tasting group in Palo Alto, where we were blindtasting a horizontal of 8 Santa Lucia Highlands Pinots. He managed not only to pick out his own wine, but also to accurately identify every Pinot in the lineup! He has one of the best palates I've encountered, and has a highly trained nose for all forms of wine faults.
In this tasting, I thought the '05 Freeman Keefer Ranch was phenomenal. It's been good when I've had it in the past, but it was really showing it's stuff at this tasting. I also loved the Roars and the '07 August Wests.
At the end of the seminar, Ed gave us a Pinot trivia contest with 10 questions, some of them pretty darn tough. Rusty Gaffney--the Prince of Pinot--who had introduced Ed at the beginning of the seminar, took first place in the trivia contest, and I somehow eked out the 2nd place. My very welcome prize was a magnum of the '07 August West Rosella's. Definitely the icing on a most enjoyable tasting seminar cake.
Flight 1 - Freeman and Sandler (4 Notes)
Ken and Akiko Freeman launched Freeman launched in 2001, sourcing grapes from the Russian River Valley and Sonoma Coast. They planted a 4-acre estate vineyard in 2007. Production is about 4,000 cases a year, and includes a Chardonnay. Ed told us that Keefer was one of his favorite vineyards to work with.
Sandler Wine Co. is Ed's personal label, founded in 2003. He makes small lots (less than 150 cases) of Pinot, Syrah and Zinfandel, and the occasional Cab.
Flight 2 - 2007 Roars (4 Notes)
Roar is owned by Gary and Rosella Franscioni. The Roar Pinot, Syrah and Chardonnay are produced from grapes from Pisoni, Garys' and Rosella's vineyards. Adam Lee was winemaker prior to the '07 vintage.
Flight 3 - August West Graham Family vertical (4 Notes)
August West is a partnership formed in 2002 between Gary Franscioni, Howard Graham and Ed. The name is from the Grateful Dead song "Wharfrat," in which August West is down and out and drinks a lot of "Burgundy." They produce two Pinots, with grapes from Rosella's Vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands and the Graham Vineyard in the Russian River.
Graham Family Vineyard is a very young vineyard, planted in 2002, to Dijon clones 667, 777, 828, along with Swan and Calera
Flight 4 - August West Rosella's vertical (4 Notes)
Rosella's 50 acres were planted between 1996 and 2003.
2005 Freeman Pinot Noir Keefer Ranch 95 Points
USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley
Medium cherry red color with pale meniscus; lovely, bright, sous bois, tart strawberry, Burgundian nose; tasty, tart strawberry, tart cherry, mineral and sous bois palate with great balance, very impressive; medium finish
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2006 Freeman Pinot Noir Keefer Ranch 92 Points
USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley
Medium cherry red color with pale meniscus; tart strawberry, rhubarb, sous bois and roses nose; tart strawberry, rhubarb and red fruit palate with grip; medium-plus finish
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2004 Sandler Wine Company Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands 88 Points
USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands
Medium dark strawberry red color with pale meniscus; orange, clementine nose with a touch of VA; baked cherry, persimmon, berry palate, mature tasting; medium-plus finish (Adam Lee originally made this wine for Roar, but took 4 barrels out of the final blend. Ed Kurtzman bought them for Sandler and aged them for another 10 mos. in barrel.)
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2007 Sandler Wine Company Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands 89 Points
USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands
Medium cherry red color with pale meniscus; tight strawberry nose; tight, ripe cherry and red fruit palate; medium-plus finish
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