Villa Creek, 2007 Damas Noir, Paso Robles

the girl & the fig has a wine list newcomer that is 100% Mourvèdre.

In the spirit of the great wine producers of the southern Rhone and the bodegas of Rioja and Priorat, blending is what Villa Creek does best. The area’s finest Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre and Tempranillo Vineyards are just a stone’s throw from the west Paso Robles winery where these blends are produced by winemaker/owners Cris and JoAnn Cherry.  Delicious, complex, fruit forward wines that express the climate and terroir of Paso Robles are what Villa Creek is known for.

From the website:

"VILLA CREEK Mourvèdre Paso Robles Damas Noir 2007 Score: 91
Rustic and earthy, with a rich core of graphite, pebble, dried currant and berry flavors. Full-bodied, deep and persistent, gaining a touch of road tar on the finish, where this ends with great traction and chewy tannins. Drink now through 2016. 205 cases made. —J.L."  The Wine Spectator, September 2010

"One of my favorite wineries from Paso Robles is Villa Creek Cellars, which fashions innovative Rhone Ranger blends."   Robert Parker Jr. The Wine Advocate

Villa Creek Cellars recognizes the traditions of the old world while embracing technological advances of the new. Sorting tables are used pre and post destemming to ensure that all wines begin with clean fruit. Whole cluster fermentations add texture and terroir with a nod to tradition. Fermentations are slow and natural. Careful blending insures the creation of complex, well rounded wines. Vines are carefully monitored at the end of the growing season. 

Those with patience are rewarded with cool nights and warm days that allow the grapes to slowly finish the ripening process, complex flavors and textures developing along the way.Villa Creek wines are produced in very limited quantities to maintain a hands on approach, with 3000 cases being the largest vintage to date.

Vintage: 2007

Varietal: Mourvèdre

Elevage: “Barrel fermented in new French 500 liter Puncheons, 100% whole cluster, basket pressed, racked once off gross lees, 18 months maturation.”

Aroma:  “Explosive notes of blackberries, white pepper, nutmeg, salt water, and fennel.”

Body:  “Rich and lush without being fat. Boysenberries, sexy Asian spices, sea salt carmels, new saddle leather, with hints of cured meats and blue violets.  Firm yet integrated tannins that provide a pure long finish.  It will be a pleasure to see this wine evolve over the next 8-10 years.”

Sine Qua Non, 2007 Labels, Central Coast

“Sine Qua Non” is latin for “without which, one cannot.”  It may also be interpreted as an essential element, a prerequisite, or a requirement.  Browsing through the general public's comments about the wine, you come across adjectives and nouns such as “outstanding”, “a masterpiece”, “a superstar”, “amazing” and “explosive”.  It’s no wonder, then, how Manfred Krankl came to name it.

From the Wine Advocate:   “A blend of 89% Syrah, 7% Grenache, and 4% Viognier from four separate vineyards (the estate vineyards – 11 Confessions and Cumulus, and the two vineyards where Krankl purchases fruit – Whitehawk and Bien Nacido), this dense purple-hued offering displays a beautiful bouquet of graphite, spring flowers, blueberries, blackberries, and wood spice. It possesses fabulous fruit, layers of silky tannin, and good acidity – all seamlessly melded into the wine’s structure. Already delicious, it should put on weight and add additional nuances after bottling.”

Ventura County, home of Krankl’s  Sin Qua Non winery, publishes Ventana Monthly, a magazine that in 2007 illuminated Krankl’s rise to wine stardom: “Manfred Krankl’s path to the Westside and winemaking begins in his homeland of Austria, which accounts for his affable accent…he met an American girl in Mikonos, Greece, and after less than a year back in Austria he headed to California and never looked back. .. Krankl and his wife, Elaine, had moved to an unincorporated part of West Ventura—a rural plot at the edge of Lake Casitas—to get away from it all. But he was still driving to L.A. everyday, and that’s how Ventura became home to what would become his celebrated Sine Qua Non Winery. He wanted a place between his new property and L.A. where he could focus on making wine as a hobby. But his friends liked it so much they encouraged him to make wine to sell…So in 1994, he made about 100 cases—it sold out immediately, and somehow Robert Parker of The Wine Advocate got a hold of one. A critic whose approval is priceless in the industry, Parker rated it an amazing 95 points, a number unheard of for first-timers and most lifelong vintners alike. “

Vintage: 2007

Varietal: Syrah

Aroma: Graphite, spring flowers, blueberries, blackberries, and wood spice.

Body:  Fruit, layered with silky tannin, and good acidity, seamlessly melded into the wine's structure.

Skylark Grenache 2007, Mendocino

The winemakers and owners at the Skylark Wine Company are good friends and together have made an exuberant Grenache.  

From the website: “Charlie Sawyer’s Grenache Vineyard sits above Ukiah at just under 1000 feet elevation.  This gently sloping, southwest facing block is 2.64 acres planted to the Tablas Creek clone of Grenache.  This is our first release from Charlie’s vineyard, and we definitely believe we have found our home with Grenache.  

Fermented in small, open top tank with 8% while clusters, it spent sixteen days on the skins with alternating punch downs and pump-overs, then racked to all used French cooperage.”

About the winemakers: “ John Lancaster, co-proprietor of Skylark Wine Company, is a graduate of Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. His passion for wine grew while working in the restaurant industry and brought him to the culinary destination of San Francisco. As the Wine Director of the wildly eclectic Cypress Club, he was recognized by the Wine Spectator for his wine list. For the past eleven years, John has been the Wine Director at the James Beard award winning Boulevard Restaurant. During his tenure at Boulevard, John has traveled extensively throughout the world's wine regions studying wine production. In addition to his professional duties at Boulevard, John is also a professional wine judge and consultant.”

“Robert Perkins, co-proprietor of Skylark Wine Company, is a graduate of Fine Art Painting from the San Francisco Art Institute. His designs are featured on every Skylark Wine label. When Robert is not in his studio in San Francisco, he is pursuing his other creative outlet, wine. With his expertise in the wine industry, Robert has been a wine consultant for several Bay Area restaurants. He has also worked hands-on in production at several small wineries including Nalle, Scherrer and Sean Thackrey.”

Sondra and John have known John Lancaster and Robert Perkins for at least 8 years seeing them off and on at Hospice du Rhone in Paso Robles.

Aroma: Red cherry, kirsch, raspberry, plum.

Palate: juicy, ripe cherry, balanced tannins and structure

Vintage: 2007
Varietal: Grenache
Appellation: Mendocino

Consilience 2007 Grenache Blanc, Santa Barbara

Consilience winery has been making wine since 1997, but was formally founded in 1999. They have been making wines "loosely focused around the typical Rhône varietals" (most of which are sourced from the Fess Parker estate) ever since. Their winemaking philosophy is to create wine with distinct expression of regional characteristics. Brett Escalera is the winemaker from Consilience. He brings experience from his ongoing tenure at Fess Parker Winery where he has been making wine since 1996. His position at Fess Parker's Winery also allows Consilience to source much of its fruit from that estate.


The admirable goals of Consilience wines are straightforward:  "To make the most expressive and reliably high quality wines possible, and to share them with an unsurpassed level of customer service.”  

Winemaker’s Comments: Grenache Blanc is the white berried form of Grenache, and also has its origins in the northeast of Spain where it is found in the blends from the Rioja.

Located in the wine country town of Los Olivos, Consilience winery’s grapes come from the Camp4 Vineyard, known for cool mornings, long warm days, and cool nights; perfect for maximum ripeness for Grenache Blanc, maintaining the necessary acidity. 

The cycle of cool mornings, warm days and return to cool evenings are what make this a prime growing area for the typical Rhone grape varieties. All factors make for a long growing season and maximal flavor development. Barrel fermented in older French and American oak, this Grenache Blanc proudly exhibits well rounded aromatics of caramel apple with that fresh from the orchard scent and crispness on the palate.

Aromas:  fresh green apples, bathed in rich, gooey caramel

Body:  smooth and luscious on the palate
Vintage: 2007
Varietal: Grenache Blanc
Appellation: Santa Barbara
Case Production: 447 cases

About the winemaker: Brett Escalera’s roots in winemaking can be traced back to his grandfathers who were both home winemakers, but his passion was inspired thru courses taught by Dr. Marian Baldy, author of The University Wine Course, while attending California State University, Chico as an undergraduate business major.In 1992 he enrolled as a graduate student at California State University, Fresno where he completed the course requirements for a second major in Enology, a minor in Viticulture, and a Masters of Science in Agricultural Chemistry. His thesis project work was on the trellising, training, and pruning of Chardonnay grapevines in Santa Barbara County to improve yield, fruit composition, and wine quality. 

After a very brief stint in 2005 as the Director of Winemaking for Central Coast Wine Services in Santa Maria, Brett returned to the Fess Parker organization in 2005 as the Head Winemaker for the Parker Station line of wines and more recently as the Director of Winemaking for the Parker Wine Center.