Vintners’ Holiday, November 12-13, 2003

Each year, the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park presents a series of educational wine seminars called the Vintners’ Holiday.

The Vintners’ Holiday takes place during the months of November and December. Each series includes four educational seminars presented by various winemakers. Each seminar series culminates with a food and wine pairing dinner at the famous Ahwahnee restaurant. What a fantastic way to learn about wine in one of the most beautiful settings in the entire world!

Wine writer and judge Mike Stepanovich had the honors of moderating Session II, the seminar series we attended. Rick Boyer, winemaker at Jekel Vineyards in Monterey, California, presented the first seminar. Rick explained Jekel's philosophy of organic farming and the positive effects it has on winemaking. We tasted four wines, a Riesling, Syrah, Malbec, and a blend called Sanctuary. The Jekel Riesling is an excellent dry Riesling made in the Alsace tradition. This wine is a terrific bargain, and we have listed this wine in our section, “Wine Values & Bargains.” The Sanctuary wine is also quite delicious and is a blend of the five Bordeaux varietals, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, and Malbec.

The second seminar featured Cathy Corison, owner and winemaker of Corison Winery in Napa. Cathy provided us with a great opportunity by pouring a vertical tasting of her famous Cabernet. We tasted a 1990, 1995, 1998, and the 2000. We tasted the wines blind and then had to try to line up the wines by their vintage year. This was a great opportunity to understand how the aging process of wine affects its aromas and flavors. We liked the 1995 the best.

Gary Eberle, owner and winemaker at Eberle Winery in Paso Robles, gave us an informative session on the Paso Robles wine region as well as describing how he became the first vintner in California to plant Syrah grapes. We tasted all Rhone varietals, a Viognier, a Syrah Rose, and compared two Syrahs from different vineyards. The Steinbeck Syrah was our favorite among the four, although all were very tasty.

Mike Sullivan, winemaker at Hartford Family Winery, presented our final seminar. We tasted and compared four single-vineyard Pinot Noirs. All were delicious but one stood out among the rest, the Arrendell Vineyard Pinot Noir. This Pinot Noir is made from a small vineyard in the Green Valley AVA in the Russian River Region of Sonoma County. Mike explained the nuances of growing and making wine from this finicky grape. It requires much care in the vineyard before it can be made into a great wine.

The seminar series ended with the food and wine pairing dinner at the Ahwahnee restaurant. It was absolutely excellent and a wonderful way to learn how to choose the correct wine with your food. We started with the Jekel Riesling paired with steamed scallops. This was followed by a crispy skinned onaga (snapper) and caviar paired with a delicious Chardonnay from Hartford Family wines. We then enjoyed the Eberle Steinbeck Syrah with a Thai pork spring roll. Finally, we were served a delicious Kobe steak that was a perfect match with the Corison 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon.

This event was very informative and enjoyable. We highly recommend it. You can find out more about the Vintners’