Coturri Wine Dinner (aka Wine Torture, or Natural Wine Hell)
Cyprus Bistro, Campbell, California
Tasted Saturday, December 5, 2009 by rjonwine@gmail.com with 1,219 views
Introduction
The happy 10, before drinking any Coturri
Our dear friends J.R. and Renee were impressed by the food on their first visit to Cyprus, a new restaurant in Campell, and noticed they were doing a 7-course wine dinner there the following week, for only $49. Figuring that, even if the wines were mediocre, $49 is a pretty darn good deal for a seven course wine dinner at a good Mediterranean themed restaurant, they invited several of us and, on the same theory, ten of us attended. What we weren't figuring on was really wretched wine, beyond mediocre, most of which was essentially undrinkable. On top of that, the winery representative, Jimmy, didn't really seem to know what he was talking about, and kept comparing (at the beginning of each course) Coturri's pristinely natural winemaking philosophy and practice (grapes from organic vineyards; only indigenous yeasts; nothing added, including no sulfites; and no new oak or filtering) to some industrial swill winemaking strawman, eroding his credibility more with virtually every sentence he spoke. At least the food was quite good, and the company excellent.
None of the ten of us would buy these wines (although Jay had his price--he figured he would take a bottle if they paid him $10 to do so). The clueless representative seemed to think that all other wineries besides Coturri allow all kinds of things to get into their fermentation tanks (including small rodents), and talked about Coturri producing only 5,000 cases a year, versus "20,000 cases a week" or so at other wineries (where except maybe Gallo?). After we asked to try another bottle, when the ethyl acetate level was particularly pronounced in the Sangiovese at our table, and they poured us another glass that wasn't quite as bad, Jimmy explained that Coturri bottles by barrel, leading to barrel variation. His killer comment at the end, though, in telling us about the final Coturri wine, a Primitivo, was that the varietal was "Italian Zinfandel, not like those Zinfandels from France." OMFG.
Jimmy, making it up as he went along:
Flight 1 - Coturri Wines (7 Notes)
If ever there was an argument for sulfites in winemaking, it was this lineup of "natural" wines. If one drank ideas alone, like the idea of complete non-intervention, these might be fine. Unfortunately, without sulfites, these wines are at high risk for oxidation, acetaldehyde, ethyl acetate, and other bacteria. Fortunately, virtually all other wineries use sulfites. Half of the sulfite-free wines at this dinner were so bad they were undrinkable.
Flight 2 - comparison naturally made wine (1 Note)
Toward the end of the meal, one of the servers took pity on those of us he saw regularly dumping out our wines and poured another one of the organic wines the restaurant has on its list. I didn't particularly like this wine, but at least it was drinkable. As a result, it was WOTN.
2006 Coturri Winery Pinot Noir Jewell 79 Points
USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Mountain
Dark cherry red color; big cherry, berry, herbal, acetaldehyde nose; tight, very tart red fruit, tart berry, cranberry palate with acetaldehyde and/or oxidation; short-medium finish
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2002 Coturri Winery Pinot Noir Lost Creek 57 Points
USA, California, North Coast, Yorkville Highlands
Bright medium cherry red color; ethyl acetate, cherry nose; acetone, tart cherry, cranberry, cinnamon palate, but basically undrinkable unless you're into drinking cherry flavored nail polish remover; short-medium finish
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2007 Coturri Winery Carignane Testa Vineyards 80 Points
USA, California, Sonoma County
Nearly opaque very dark red violet color; tart berry, slightly oxidized nose; tart berry, tart plum palate with some oxidation; short-medium finish
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2006 Coturri Winery Sangiovese Freiberg 54 Points
USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Valley
Opaque very dark red violet color; heavy ethyl acetate nose; acetone and raspberry palate; short finish (we complained that this bottle might have been flawed, so were poured out of another, with much the same result, maybe a touch less ethyl acetate, but still not something one would want to drink)
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2005 Coturri Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Testa Vineyards 81 Points
USA, California, North Coast, Mendocino County
Black red violet color; black fruit, berry, herbaceous nose; tart berry, tart plum palate with medium acidity; short finish (I thought this was the least dreadful of the Coturris we tasted at this Coturri dinner, at least it was the most like a real wine, if not particularly good)
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2007 Coturri Winery Charbono Testa Vineyards 50 Points
USA, California, North Coast, Mendocino County
Very dark red violet color; ethyl acetate, baked plum nose, that eventually changes with air to more of a soiled diaper nose; acetone, acetaldehyde, tart red currant palate with medium acidity; short-medium finish
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2007 Coturri Winery Primitivo Testa Vineyards 77 Points
USA, California, North Coast, Mendocino County
Dark garnet red color; tart berry, plum, acetaldehyde nose; murky, acetaldehyde, tart plum, currant, dried currant and disconnected residual sugar palate; medium finish (the Coturri representative explained to us at the tasting that Primitivo was "Italian Zinfandel," and "not like those Zinfandels from France." No, indeed.)
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