THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 2, 1995 TAG: 9506290102
SECTION: FLAVOR PAGE: F2 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: HUMBLE STEWARD
SOURCE: JIM RAPER
LENGTH: Long : 104 lines
ELI PARKER barnstormed through Hampton Roads the other day, promoting the wines his family makes in California's Santa Barbara County.
Dozens of winemakers do the same thing every year. They visit for a day or two, attend a wine dinner or conduct a seminar, and hope that their personal pitch will boost the sales of their wines.
But Parker, is a young, good-looking bear of a man with a gentle manner. He's also the son of the actor Fess Parker and he looks enough like his father to turn heads and conjure an image of Daniel Boone in a coonskin hat.
Fess Parker established his winery a little more than a decade ago on the southern coast about 100 miles above Los Angeles. Its sales and reputation have grown steadily, if not spectacularly, and with recent vineyard acquisitions and equipment upgrades the quality of the wines seems destined to shoot higher.
Eli Parker has been the winemaker for two years and he works closely with consulting winemaker Jed Steele, who formerly worked for Kendall-Jackson and now has his own winery, Steele, in northern California.
Santa Barbara County is home to wineries such as Au Bon Climat, Byron, Qupe, Sanford and Zaca Mesa. Chardonnay and pinot noir are the star performers in this growing area, which stays much cooler than Los Angeles because of persistent sea fog.
The Fess Parker 1993 Chardonnay Santa Barbara County ($16) is food-friendly wine with a crisp finish. But it also has the butter and vanilla and tropical fruit notes to make it a pleasing mouthful. The Fess Parker 1993 Pinot Noir Santa Barbara County ($16) impresses me, as well, as a wine to drink with food. Many West Coast pinots are so lushly fruity that they clash with beef. But the Parker pinot has subtle cherry and wild mushroom flavors that remind me of one of the leaner reds from the Cote de Beaune. It would mate well with a rare slice of prime rib.
The Fess Parker 1993 Merlot Santa Barbara ($16) is touted in the winery's literature as the wine that ``will change the perception held by some that Santa Barbara County cannot produce good merlot. . . . '' This a good merlot, considering its home county, but not so pleasant as the chardonnay and pinot.
A surprising volume leader for the winery is its Johannisberg Riesling. Who would suspect that a high quality riesling would come from southern California? The 1994 vintage ($10), which is made from Santa Barbara fruit, has the peachy nose and delicate off-dry taste that have pumped annual sales of this wine from initial production of 1,000 cases to 8,000 cases.
Eli Parker said that the riesling was a concession to his mother, who was not enthusiastic at first about the family getting into the winemaking business. ``But she was a big fan of riesling and to get her on board we promised to make it. People thought we were nuts, but it made Mom happy and we sure have sold a lot of it.'' LENGTHY LIST
I had lunch with Eli Parker and his tour guide, Debi Atkins of Broudy-Kantor Co. wine distributors, at Aldo's Ristorante on Laskin Road in Virginia Beach.
This gave me the opportunity to look over the restaurant's freshly updated wine list and I was delighted by what I saw.
The list is well organized, has all the basic information a diner needs to make a selection, and offers a thoughtfully chosen 130 wines.
Most of the wines are categorized by the grapes from which they were made. There is also a category for sparkling wines and another for large (3- to 6-liter) bottles. In addition, 16 wines are offered in half-bottles.
All of the wines on the list are properly identified, with appellations and vintages.
Among the exceptional collection of chardonnays are the Furlan 1993 Friuli ($18) and Gaja 1990 Rossj-Bass Piedmonte ($60), both of which are from Italy. There are a few white Burgundies, including the Latour 1992 Batard-Montrachet Bienvenues ($140).
But the depth of the chardonnay list is due to the California entries. There are not many restaurants on the East Coast that offer three bottlings from Kistler ($38 to $47), plus others from Chalone, Guenoc, Matanzas Creek, Long, Talbott and Sanford ($27 to $53).
A satisfactory group of other white wines, including the Ca De Meo 1993 Gavi di Gavi Piedmonte ($22), Fontana Candida 1993 Frascati ($16) and Preston 1992 Viognier Dry Creek Valley ($27) round out the first section. There's something democratic about a list that offers both a Frascati and a Gaja Rossj-Bass.
Among the reds are a fine assortment of Italian imports to go with the restaurant's fare. Probably the entry most appealing is the Biondi-Santi 1985 Brunello di Montalcino ($98), but a more reasonable choice would be the very tasty Nozzole 1990 Chianti Riserva ($27). There are also two 1985 Barolos from Valentino, the ``D'La Roul'' ($59) and ``Vigna Big'' Riserva ($69).
The cabernets sauvignon category is the longest on the list and stretches from the fruity Gallo Sonoma 1992 ($16) to Chateau Mouton-Rothschild 1990 Pauillac ($139). In between are some pretty impressive wines. To note a few: Girard 1991 Napa ($23) and the 1991 vintages of Dominus ($75), Opus One ($79), Dunn Howell Mountain ($79) and Caymus Special Selection ($125).
More affordable, but very good selections for most meats or red-sauced Italian dishes would be the Havens 1992 Merlot Napa ($27), Rosemount 1993 Shiraz Hunter Valley ($19) or Ravenswood 1992 Zinfandel Dry Creek Sonoma County ($23).
Aldo's wine list is a winner. MEMO: The Humble Steward is a biweekly feature of Sunday Flavor. Send
questions or comments to: The Humble Steward, Sunday Flavor, The
Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star, 150 W. Brambleton Ave., Norfolk,
Va. 23510. If possible, give complete label information when naming
wines, and list the vintage year. Please include your name and phone
number. by CNB