Arête Wines

Noble Storm Wines

As is most often the case in my life just as I was beginning to lose faith I was given a little glimpse to what is peeking out over the horizon. Two and a half years ago I met a young, up and coming vintner from South Africa. Ernst Storm was working for Firestone Vineyards and Winery at the time, but told me about a project he and his wife were working on called Noble Storm. They wanted to work with the most prized vineyards in the area and attempt to craft minimal intervention wines with grapes that were picked for balance seeking to portray the fullest expression of each vineyard. I remember being very excited about their project and instantly took a liking to this starry eyed couple.

I moved away from the Santa Ynez Valley not long after that and unfortunately lost touch with Ernst. You can imagine my excitement when he contacted me at the restaurant a couple weeks ago. He had been talking to another vintner I had recently met with and thought it would be a good idea to get together and taste his wines. Of course I had no objections.

Longoria 2000 Bien Nacido Pinot Noir

Washington Square Park is one of my favorite spots in New York. Located in the heart of Greenwich Village it has long been a haven for poets, painters, musicians, and even dancers. Strolling through on a lazy saturday afternoon you are likely to find various artists diligently pursuing the perfection of their craft. I love the artistic community and wish there were more places with the same attitude of shared creativity.

Music, Food, Wine, Literature, Art, God, and Family are the passions in my life and while I enjoy them all at different times and in different ways they are all intrinsically interconnected and I often enjoy more than one, if not all, of them together. It is no wonder to me that after enjoying an impromptu jazz session in Washington Square Park, I would wander into a random wine shop and stumble upon this Longoria 2000 Bien Nacido Pinot Noir from the Santa Maria Valley.

Chanin Wine Co.

I know your probably tired of reading about me at this point so I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to start talking about what really matters. Part of what I hope to accomplish with this blog and future web site is to present to you the winemakers who are doing things the right way. Following the path forged by Kermit Lynch, Joe Dressner, Alice Feiring, Terry Theise and others I am searching for wines that posses what I call Arete. Over the course of the last 18 months in preparation to launch this blog I have had the pleasure of talking with many winemakers in the area, searching for those who are allowing the land to speak through their wines.

I talked a little about "fake wines" in my first post Sink or Swim, but did not go into much detail. Also known as frakenwines or spoofulated wines, these are wines that have been technologically altered or have been added to in someway or are simply just too excessive.

I am a purist and I do not want to drink a wine that has been altered or added to in any way. Nor do I want to drink a wine that is so over-ripe, over-exctracted, and over-oaked that it taste like grape juice spiked with vodka garnished with an oak chip. It is impossible to get a true sense of the land and the people, terrior if you will, from wines which are being tampered with and are overblown. In my opinion we as a wine drinking community are allowing the soul of wine to be robbed by supporting these people. Let us take a stand against this adulteration and vow to only drink wines being made the right way.