Leojami Wines, 2008 Arroyo Seco Viognier, Monterey County

Leojami Wines is a family-owned micro-winery in Carmel Valley, California.  

Benjamin and Nadine Spencer focus on making food-friendly wines and have bottled a 2008 viognier that deliciously compliments several foods including seafood, pork, chicken, cheese and salads.  For this wine, Leojami sources all fruit from organic and sustainable Cedar Lane Vineyard in Monterey County. It is not put through Malolactic Fermentation. 

From their website:

“We work with the best wine grape growers in Monterey County.  The vineyard sites and grape varieties are selected based on a series of quality issues including weather, soils, aspect, vineyard practices and variety.  Because of this focus, we are able to make a truly unique single variety and single vineyard wines.”

“Our viognier is dry, fruity, and full-bodied.  The grapes are hand-picked and whole-cluster pressed.  The juice is fermented in stainless steel and neutral French oak.  The wine undergoes battonage (lees stirring) for six months.  The wine is racked and filtered and bottled.  Each vintage is released in very small quantities.”

Aroma:  Floral, papaya, lemon, orange flower.
On the palate: crisp with a creamy citrus and a long finish
Body:  Full
Alcohol: 13.8%
Ageing:  Sur Lie, 8 months Neutral Oak
Vintage:  2008
Varietal:  Viognier                          
Appellation: Arroyo Seco, Monterey County

Loxton, 2006 Archer Vineyards, Russian River Valley

The Archer vineyard is a great site located in the rolling hills of Russian River, just south of Healdsburg.  A wine for richer dishes or the cellar.  The Loxton wines are made to showcase the varietal and vineyard site in which the grapes are grown. The vineyard is gently sloped for optimal sun exposure in this cool climate. Chris Loxton seeks to make wines of balance; the goal being to have fruit driven wines of complexity and depth of character without being heavy or unbalanced. The approach is deliberately low tech and non-interventionist in the belief that the ultimate wine character is determined in the vineyard for each given year, and that manipulation of the wine tends to decrease its given uniqueness.

"Chris founded Loxton Cellars in 1996 to specialize in the limited production of ultra-premium Syrah wines. Being Australian by birth, a country where the dominant red wine grape is Syrah (or Shiraz as Australians would say) and with both my father and grandfather growing Syrah, along with other Rhone varieties, Syrah was a natural focus. With California becoming an adopted home, it was a natural extension to also produce limited quantities of California’s “native” grape, Zinfandel. Indeed, both are favorite wines to drink."

Winemaking philosophy from the website and with Chris Loxton’s own words: “The Loxton wines are made to showcase the varietal and vineyard site in which the grapes are grown. I seek to make wines of balance; the goal being to have fruit driven wines of complexity and depth of character without being heavy or unbalanced. The approach is deliberately low tech and non-interventionist in the belief that the ultimate wine character is determined in the vineyard for each given year, and that manipulation of the wine tends to decrease its given uniqueness.

Strict attention is given in the vineyard, with vineyard location being of prime importance and the ability to work with the grower and have input on grape quality also being a factor. I work closely with each of the vineyard owners to obtain the highest possible grape quality and then work towards ensuring that from vineyard to bottle, the wine will reflect the very best of these individual vineyard sites. It is also important to pick at optimum ripeness, neither under- nor over- ripe.

Winemaking is directed towards extracting, then protecting, those characters that make the wine unique (includes gentle handling of grapes and wine, neither fining nor filtering where possible) without overcoming them with the winemaker’s choices (excessive extraction and oak).”

Varietal: Syrah

Vintage: 2006

Aroma: A floral aspect reminiscent of violets.

Body:  This wine shows uncommon richness and concentration, excellent soft tannins.

Cases produced: 198