We have a wine club membership with A Taste of Monterey, it is their “Private Reserve Club” and we went with the gusto.  The idea is that with this classification we would be getting some wines that we definitely won’t see here in Michigan, because the production quantities would be so low that it would preclude shipping nationwide.

The first wine out of the carton was Pianetta Winery and Vineyard “Tuscan Nights” Monterey 2021, it is John Pianetta’s homage to “Super Tuscan” wines and his Italian heritage.  Pianetta Vineyards was started in 1995, when John Pianetta bought a ninety-five-acre ranch and developed it into seventy-acre vineyard.  His family’s background was in the fresh market produce in California going back to the 1920’s.  At one time they even had a small family vineyard in Lodi. The vineyard is in the Southern part of Monterey County in a small valley called “Indian Valley.” The vineyard was basically planted with Cabernet Sauvignon and fifteen acres for Syrah. Originally, they sold their crops to other wineries and in 2002 they had their first vintage of three-hundred-seventy cases of estate wine.  It is now a family business as his daughter Caitlin has joined her father and they now produce about 2500 to 3500 cases of wine annually and only in red wines. They have started sourcing wines from other vineyards and doing single variety wines.  They also produce a “JUG” wine each year as an homage to their Italian heritage.  This wine is sourced from both the Pianetta Estate Vineyard and the White Hawk Vineyard of Santa Barbara.  It is a blend of seventy-two percent Cabernet Sauvignon, twenty-three percent Sangiovese and five percent Petite Sirah.  The wine was aged for twenty-two months in oak and it has an aging potential of six to eight years; with a production of one-hundred-seventy-four cases. The wine is described as having notes of cherry, raspberry, and pomegranate with secondary traces of anise and graphite.  On the palate, tones of the fruit, and warm toast blended with mild tannins.

The second bottle out of the case was Comanche Cellars Syrah Tondre Grapefield Santa Lucia Highlands 2021.  Michael Simons, in his own words started as a love affair and turned it into a passion for producing small lots of very handcrafted wines from neighboring vineyards.  The winery is now up to a production of eighteen-hundred-cases of wine.  Comanche was the name of the horse, he used to ride when he was ten years old.  Now, he laments that he hardly has time to ride a bicycle.  But he enjoyed his time with Comanche that much, that he has his name and shoes on every bottle of wine.  In 1997 the Tondre Grapefield was planted, originally at six-and- a-half acres and now is one-hundred-four acres, located in the center of the Santa Lucia Highlands and is planted with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and a limited amount of Syrah and Riesling.  The wine is described as inky-purple in the glass with notes of exotic spices, blueberry, and vanilla bean.  On the palate the wine is described as the fruit being wrapped in a velvet cloak with bold tannins and a satisfying finish.

The third wine is a bottle of Bernardus Winery Single Vineyard Chardonnay Soberanes Vineyard Santa Lucia Highlands 2021.    Bernardus Winery and Vineyards was founded by Ben Marinus Pon about twenty-five years ago with the intention of creating premier wines in the Carmel Valley.  His intent was to produce single vineyard designated wines and a Bordeaux blended wine.  Bernardus has three estate vineyards: Marinus planted with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec; Featherbow planted with Petit Verdot and Cabernet Sauvignon; and Ingrid’s Vineyard planted with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.  All fifty-four acres of estate vineyards are in the Carmel Valley AVA.  To compliment the estate vineyards Bernardus also has contracts with vineyards the Arroyo Seco, Santa Lucia Highlands, and others in the Monterey County. I am sorry to say, that Mr. Pon passed away in September of 2019 and his vision will be continued by Robert van der Wallen the current owner, who also understand the passion that Mr. Pon had for his winery.  As a non-wine note, they have recently opened Bernardus Golf in Holland, and it will be the host for the Dutch KLM open.  The wine is pure Chardonnay fermented and aged in the Burgundian tradition.  The fruit is hand-harvested with gentle whole-cluster pressing, barrel fermented using select yeasts.  The wine also undergoes a complete Malolactic Fermentation with hand stirring every two weeks.  The wine is aged for about seven months in French Oak, of which a third is new and just over three-hundred cases were produced.  The wine is described as having notes of white fruits, white florals, and hints of vanilla.  On the palate there are intense tones of ripe peach and yellow cherry, accented by subtle baking spices with a long-count finish.