Bottle Jack Wines: Sipping & Skyping

As you may know Moldova influenced a lot of my wine tasting and I can often be seen on the wine trails with some of my friends from Moldova, well Americans I met there like Dan, Debbie, Megan & Scott. See we were all bound together in a crazy family commonly known as "the Peace Corps."  Family can be hard to avoid, leave or permanently ignore in general. Add that to living in a place where bathing is weekly and indoor plumbing is rare that familial bond fuses.  We look out for each other and stick together as much as we might  frustrate each other from time to time.

One of my friends from those Peace Corps days, John, took his introductory knowledge of house wine making from Moldova back to California, expanded his education more formally and began making Bottle Jack Wines. His first batch of wine from 2008 was bottled in 2011 and includes 3 varietals: Firenze, Zinfandel & Syrah. Since us regular Virginia wine tasters are in DC and John and his wife Katharine (yet another Moldova alum) are out in Santa Cruz we ordered his wines and requested a Skype date to have him walk us through his varietals.

Bottle Jack, photo by Debbie

We started with the Firenze, an 86% Sangiovese blend with 10% Petite Sirah & 4% Zinfandel. This was a very smooth wine aged in French Oak, as we learned Sangiovese tends to be acidic which cleanses the palate  and why it is so good with pasta. Dan, who spent a year in Italy, gave it two thumbs up.  Next we were on to the Zinfandel, I was a bit of  a skeptic when it came to the Zin, but I was pleasantly surprised by its peppery taste. This was Megan's favorite as she enjoyed the tart kick it had, also French Oak aged. Last, but not least was the Syrah, which may have been the over all favorite. It was aged in new American Oak which really brought out a wonderful vanilla nose and taste. We concluded that it would be great with a steak, but you could also enjoy it on its own.

What is "Bottle Jack?"

All of these wines are bold, distinct reds, which is what I really like.  Much bolder than a lot of the reds we try at young Virginia wineries, but since John is a relatively new winemaker I was really curious as to how he achieved such distinct flavors. Was it the age of the vines? Is it the California climate? Is it the type of barrels used? After asking John some follow-up questions and browsing through my Virginia notes I came to the conclusion that it is all of the above. Virginia (typically) gets a true winter and is humid in the summer. California and more specifically Santa Cruz where the Zin & Syrah are from have rocky, sandier soils that drain well from their slopes. The Firenze which comes from Gilroy which isn't too far from Santa Cruz has a similar mild, climate. The vines producing Bottle Jack grapes are probably a couple years older than those at younger Virginia wineries. In addition to enjoying a glass, learning something new by asking these types of questions is just another reason why I enjoy the wine tasting journey.

Not only are Bottle Jack wines quality wines, they are also sustainable; the wine is bottled in reused bottles from Wine Bottle Renew, the labels are tree-free made from a blend of bamboo, cotton & bagasse, plus they don't use foil capsules which all adds up to a lot of natural resource savings. The Zin & Syrah are fairly close to being organic as well, the only exception is an occasional sulfur spraying they do to keep mold at bay.

We all enjoyed the wines so much and catching up with John & Katharine, we're getting ready to place another order. If you like reds and decide to give Bottle Jack a try, you won't be disappointed!

David Bruce: October 2010

Silly me, I skipped right over a California tasting in October of 2010! The sole purpose of that trip was to run the Nike Women's Marathon (pun intended), so the wine tasting memory fell almost to the wayside. As you may know I was prepping for my second marathon, but life happens and I had to switch to the half. What a run, not a PR, but not my worst either. The views of San Fran were breathtaking and I'm glad I ran that brutally hilly course, although I doubt I'll do it again. I'll probably avoid future women's races unless bringing a new runner into the fold. I'm definitely not on my way to Boston, but I like to keep my pace up and it was impossible with so many walkers and ladies who I'm sure didn't start in the proper corrals. It was like dodging tourists on the metro escalators!  Perhaps I should start planning for another full or maybe I'll just start looking into a tri; that is if I can overcome my fear of biking in the city.

Oh wine, right! Well I was lucky enough to spend the better part of 4 or 5 days in San Fran with Karena, my original running buddy from our '07 TNT days. She has a fab spot on Russian Hill and it was so accessible to everything, phenomenal! Such a great hostess too! After the expo, finding my name on the Nike Town wall, race day and a leisurely weekend Karena had to go back to work and I meet up with some Cougs. First up, a catch up lunch with the Dobels-Trisha, Andy and their little one, who is quite tall, Micheal. It had been ages since I saw them! Wait first I met up with Christina, for beers, but I don't remember which day that was, too many fun people that weekend.

Next up was an afternoon with Ainslie; I was already down near San Jose for lunch with the Dobels so I met Ainslie at the park and we headed out on the winding hills of Santa Cruz to David Bruce Winery.  My experience was different from most the VA wineries. It was much more industrial looking, very beautiful but built as a business rather than a home and the standard tasting was only 4 or 5 wines instead of 7-8. The tasting was also very professional, very much to the point, not much leisurely conversation with who ever poured for us. We had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Bruce and his wines-primarily Pinot Noir-were quite enjoyable. I think I was trying to up my game and threw in some tasting words like "tannins" or something which worked to our advantage and got us some extra sips of the reserve wines. After coming down out of the mountains we went back to San Fran for some crabs on the warf. Oh the buttery goodness! I was dying for some Old Bay, but nobody even knew what that was, not even the chef! Crazy!

Caught running', I miss eucalyptus trees! 

Yes, I ran for my bling that came in a little blue box

Oh right, here is David Bruce

Ironstone Vineyards: November 2007

Off to Cali for Thanksgiving 2007 (but not before a quick trip to Costa Rica with Jill)! Thanksgiving 2007 hosted by the Matter side of the fam and also Aunt Sue's 5-0 celebration. Me from DC, my immediate fam from Boise, the Grandparents from Reno-ish and Aunt Sue from Seattle all converged in Groveland aka Yosemite at my Uncle Don, Aunt Karine and their plethora of children's mountain home for an uncomfortable family reunion-cause when are family reunions comfortable?  Seriously.  We've got the right wing, religion hopping folks who think I'm a nut & a half (or maybe just the Antichrist) because I believe in climate change,  some closet liberals who just giggle and go with the conservative flow, the home-schooled bunch who love their organics & raw milk, oppose modern medicine & somehow adore Palin all at the same time, throw in a couple of alkies for good measure and you've got a roarin' good time!

Well as previously mentioned wine can often make an awkward situation comfortable, some may disagree, but since I picked up that bit of knowledge as a terrified college freshman at a school where I knew not a soul, I fall back on that one...perhaps a bit to frequently.  Off we went to wander around some cute country towns, peek in art shops, "oooh" an "ahhh" nic-nacs & ice cream parlors. After a full day of wandering cobblestone streets we ended up at Ironstone Vineyards. It was a breath taking view & a bit of a history museum on the gold rush inside with huge piece of gold on display as well as jewelry for purchase.  I think there was a full floor of artifacts, jewelery & history and then downstairs there was the tasting room. We all left with bottles, making the rest of the week a bit less grating on one's nerves and I even ended up with a bottle back here in DC. A bottle that I did not open until April 2011! Hey, I was saving it for a special occasion ok?! The only problem was is that it was a Viognier not a Cab Sav or Merlot, so as you can guess it tasted a bit like skunky fruit. Ew. Its still in my fridge, waiting to be used for cooking, but I'm also afraid it could mess with my cooking. Live & learn right?

GOLD!
(Forgive the blurriness)

Chris, Jenny, Jodie, Mom, me & Joe
We all do actually like each other, most of the time!

Goofin' with the sibs