Club membership at The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan pays off finely with another perk.  This time with a wine tasting presented by Mike and Jenny Farmer, owners of Paula Kornell Wines and ZFG Wine. 

Hans Kornell arrived in America in 1939 with only a couple of dollars and hitchhiked to California and in 1951 began making sparkling wines in Sonoma County.  By 1951, he had saved enough money to buy the old Larkmead Winery, which was started in 1906.  Paula Kornell is a fourth-generation sparkling wine producer with over thirty years of experience, including time at Eleven Eleven Wines, Vichon and Robert Mondavi.  Last year, after Vintage Wine Estates filed for bankruptcy, Paula Kornell and some thirty-odd wineries were left unprepared and facing the auction block.  Then in November, Paula had new partners with Mike and Jenny Farmer of Calistoga. 

The first wine of the session was Paula Kornell Brut California Sparkling Wine NV.  This sparkling wine was the perfect way to begin the tasting, as it is a California wine and comes from certified sustainable vineyards in the some of the coolest growing regions and are managed by fifth-generation grape growers.  The wine is entirely done using Stainless-Steel and then glass, without the use of any oak.  The wine is made in the classic Methode Champenoise and not by the bulk method.  A blend of eighty percent Chardonnay and twenty percent Pinot Noir.  After the Initial Fermentation the wine was aged for twenty-four months, before disgorgement and then a few more months before being released for retail.  A beautiful golden color with consistent small bubbles offered notes of peaches, apricots and lemon zest along with white florals.  This medium-bodied, well-balanced wine displayed tones of green wines, fresh fruit, racy acidity, a mild toasty mousse and ending with medium-count finish of fruit and florals.  And way too nice for Mimosas.  

We then had their second non-vintage sparkling wine, Paula Kornell Brut Rosé California Sparkling Wine NV.  This is a multi-vintage blend of seventy percent Pinot Noir and thirty percent Chardonnay using the classic Methode Champenoise.  The wine was aged for thirty-eight months on fine lees in the bottle and then an additional several months after the disgorgement.  A pretty salmon-pink colored wine with persistent small bubbles offered notes of strawberry, raspberry and watermelon along with wet stones.  On the palate this medium-bodied, well-balanced wine displayed tones of currants, cranberries, pomegranate seeds and tart cherries followed by lively acidity, a creamy mousse and ending with medium-count finish of fruit, terroir and some toasted hazelnuts.