Schramsberg: Getting bubbly with it

While wine drinkers have been going merlot-loco in recent years, some of California`s top sparkling wine producers have quietly made the leap from pretty good to world class.

"Historically, California hasn`t really competed at the level of French Champagne," admits Mike Reynolds, winemaker of Napa Valley`s venerable sparkling wine house, Schramsberg. "But in the last five years, this has really changed. We have stepped it up."

And he`s got the numbers to prove it. In 19 blind tastings around the country with wine writers and wine-trade members from San Francisco to Sarasota, Reynolds has put Schramsberg`s top bottling, the $75 J. Schram, up against the big boys: Dom Perignon, Roederer Cristal, Veuve Clicquot`s Grande Dame, etc. The results? A near tie for first place, with $200-plus Cristal edging out the J. Schram, and La Grande Dame a somewhat distant third.

While blind tasting results are inherently artificial - slowly sip one of these bottles with a loved one and your vote might change - the undeniable fact is that the best American sparkling wines now deserve consideration alongside the best that Champagne can offer. Where the top Californians, like Roederer Estate, Iron Horse and Schramsberg are concerned, the choice of French vs. American bubbly is now more a matter of taste than of quality.

The oldest of the American trio, Schramsberg, is the most recent to join the elite - to my taste, anyway. It was founded back in 1965 by Jack and Jamie Davies, who took over the site of a long-dormant 1862 winery and home with the then-radical notion of producing a new world champagne in the manner of Champagne (capital "C" Champagne here means the great sparkling wine from the Champagne region of France).

This meant that the Davies had to do a lot of decision-making and groundbreaking, all at once. True Champagne is not a carbonated wine. It is a painstakingly arrived-at drink whose essence is a secondary fermentation in the bottle (that`s where those bubbles come from) and fine wine grapes: chardonnay, pinot noir and, in Champagne, pinot meunier. The Davies discovered that it was going to be a struggle right from square one.

"We looked around," says elegant, articulate Jamie Davies of their early days, "and realized that there was hardly any chardonnay to be had anywhere. There was more pinot noir, but it was pretty bad. Nobody then understood about where you had to plant to get the best from these grapes."

Where you had to plant was in cooler sites, which meant not necessarily around their winery in upper Napa Valley. But it took years for most vineyardists to realize that chardonnay and pinot noir - for still wine or sparkling wine - would only express their finest perfumes and flavors in such marginal growing areas.

Still, Schramsberg was committed to quality and, over the years, made some very good wines. Its place in the forefront of American producers is testified to by the winery`s walls of presidential photos, from Nixon on, commemorating state dinners where Schramsberg was the toasting wine.

But to some wine lovers, including me, Schramsberg fell short of a full measure of success. While I have always been delighted to drink a bottle if one was opened, the Davies` policy of pricing their wines (currently $28-$75) in the same range as non-vintage Champagnes always forced an unflattering comparison: Schramsberg`s wines were tasty, but simply lacked the intensity, elegance and long-lingering appeal of favorite Champagnes like Bollinger and Pol Roger.

And newer California competitors had come onto the scene - like Sonoma`s Iron Horse and Anderson Valley`s Roederer Estate (the U.S. operation of Champagne Louis Roederer). These wineries were getting grapes from cool vineyard sites that put something new into American bottles: sparkling wines that combined power with delicacy and palate-refreshing acidity. Roederer Estate, in particular, has taken American sparklers to a level of quality and distinctiveness that puts many Champagnes in the shade.

Meanwhile, at Schramsberg, the changes being implemented by the Davies and winemaker Reynolds threatened to derail in the face of tragedy, when Jack Davies died in 1998. There was much speculation that the family would simply sell at the top of the market and walk away. Instead, the winery seems to have emerged with a new determination.

In particular, Schramsberg has broken out of its Napa Valley fetters.

"We`re looking at Northern California the way the Champenoise look at Champagne," says Reynolds, "trying to find vineyards that will give us specific characteristics that we can use in our blend."

In other words, more spices for the spice rack. As a result, Schramsberg is now pulling grapes from cool sites in the Anderson Valley, Sonoma, and Marin counties - anywhere that they can find the quality they want.

In the winery, they have made a commitment to using a relatively high percentage of barrel-aged wines (up to 40 percent in the J. Schram), something that`s still done in a few quality minded Champagne houses, but that is much less common (and more painstaking) than fermenting in temperature-controlled stainless steel.

"We want to be to California what Bollinger and Krug are to France," says Reynolds, naming two houses venerated by lovers of rich, toasty styles of Champagne. And, like those houses, Schramsberg has begun to make a greater use of older reserve wines (they are allowed 5 percent in vintage dated bottles) to give their top bottlings an added nuance.

The results so far are impressive, and the best is yet to come as the wines incorporating Schramsberg`s new vineyard sources begin to reach the marketplace over the next several years. In the meantime, four Schramsberg sparklers to look for:

Schramsberg 1997 Blanc de Blancs ($28) - An all-chardonnay wine with a rich aroma of tropical fruit and roasted nuts and a broad, soft texture. (Very Good)

Schramsberg 1996 Brut Rose ($28) - This is a pale, salmon-colored beauty, dry in style, but with a lively, juicy-berry character. Its special appeal is that it`s flavorful and mouth-filling without a sense of heaviness. (Excellent)

Schramsberg 1993 Reserve ($43) - A mirror image of the blend of the J. Schram (below), this rich, toasty wine is 80 percent pinot noir, 20 percent chardonnay, and it`s a layered, sophisticated sparkler that is compulsively easy to sip. It would benefit from a little more liveliness, what the French call "nervosity," but there`s plenty else to enjoy. (Excellent)

Schramsberg 1993 "J. Schram" ($75) - Named for the itinerant German barber who founded the original winery here in 1862 (and befriended, among others, author Robert Louis Stevenson), this is a chardonnay-based wine (with 20 percent pinot noir) that receives 40-percent barrel fermentation in its base wines and extended bottle aging. It is a lovely combination of broad-textured richness and finer, delicate nuances. An aromatic beauty with a streak of crispness to give it backbone and focus. (Excellent)PICK OF THE WEEK:

Joseph Phelps 1997 "Vin du Mistral Pastiche" (white) ($10). Want a new summer white? Try this semi-Rhone-style blend that knits together flavors of tropical fruit, citrus, cream and the exotic, hard-to-describe character of the viognier grape.

Richard Nalley`s wine articles appear in Men`s Journal, Food & Wine and Departures. He is the winner of the 1997 James Beard Foundation Award for Magazine Wine Writing. Please send your wine questions to Wine Talk, c/o Copley News Service, P.O. Box 120190, San Diego, CA 92112-0190. Questions regarding individual bottles or collection appraisals cannot be answered.Visit Copley News Service at www.copleynews.com.(c) Copley News Service WINE TALK

Schramsberg: Getting bubbly with it

By Richard Nalley

Copley News Service

While wine drinkers have been going merlot-loco in recent years, some of California`s top sparkling wine producers have quietly made the leap from pretty good to world class.

"Historically, California hasn`t really competed at the level of French Champagne," admits Mike Reynolds, winemaker of Napa Valley`s venerable sparkling wine house, Schramsberg. "But in the last five years, this has really changed. We have stepped it up."

And he`s got the numbers to prove it. In 19 blind tastings around the country with wine writers and wine-trade members from San Francisco to Sarasota, Reynolds has put Schramsberg`s top bottling, the $75 J. Schram, up against the big boys: Dom Perignon, Roederer Cristal, Veuve Clicquot`s Grande Dame, etc. The results? A near tie for first place, with $200-plus Cristal edging out the J. Schram, and La Grande Dame a somewhat distant third.

While blind tasting results are inherently artificial - slowly sip one of these bottles with a loved one and your vote might change - the undeniable fact is that the best American sparkling wines now deserve consideration alongside the best that Champagne can offer. Where the top Californians, like Roederer Estate, Iron Horse and Schramsberg are concerned, the choice of French vs. American bubbly is now more a matter of taste than of quality.

The oldest of the American trio, Schramsberg, is the most recent to join the elite - to my taste, anyway. It was founded back in 1965 by Jack and Jamie Davies, who took over the site of a long-dormant 1862 winery and home with the then-radical notion of producing a new world champagne in the manner of Champagne (capital "C" Champagne here means the great sparkling wine from the Champagne region of France).

This meant that the Davies had to do a lot of decision-making and groundbreaking, all at once. True Champagne is not a carbonated wine. It is a painstakingly arrived-at drink whose essence is a secondary fermentation in the bottle (that`s where those bubbles come from) and fine wine grapes: chardonnay, pinot noir and, in Champagne, pinot meunier. The Davies discovered that it was going to be a struggle right from square one.

"We looked around," says elegant, articulate Jamie Davies of their early days, "and realized that there was hardly any chardonnay to be had anywhere. There was more pinot noir, but it was pretty bad. Nobody then understood about where you had to plant to get the best from these grapes."

Where you had to plant was in cooler sites, which meant not necessarily around their winery in upper Napa Valley. But it took years for most vineyardists to realize that chardonnay and pinot noir - for still wine or sparkling wine - would only express their finest perfumes and flavors in such marginal growing areas.

Still, Schramsberg was committed to quality and, over the years, made some very good wines. Its place in the forefront of American producers is testified to by the winery`s walls of presidential photos, from Nixon on, commemorating state dinners where Schramsberg was the toasting wine.

But to some wine lovers, including me, Schramsberg fell short of a full measure of success. While I have always been delighted to drink a bottle if one was opened, the Davies` policy of pricing their wines (currently $28-$75) in the same range as non-vintage Champagnes always forced an unflattering comparison: Schramsberg`s wines were tasty, but simply lacked the intensity, elegance and long-lingering appeal of favorite Champagnes like Bollinger and Pol Roger.

And newer California competitors had come onto the scene - like Sonoma`s Iron Horse and Anderson Valley`s Roederer Estate (the U.S. operation of Champagne Louis Roederer). These wineries were getting grapes from cool vineyard sites that put something new into American bottles: sparkling wines that combined power with delicacy and palate-refreshing acidity. Roederer Estate, in particular, has taken American sparklers to a level of quality and distinctiveness that puts many Champagnes in the shade.

Meanwhile, at Schramsberg, the changes being implemented by the Davies and winemaker Reynolds threatened to derail in the face of tragedy, when Jack Davies died in 1998. There was much speculation that the family would simply sell at the top of the market and walk away. Instead, the winery seems to have emerged with a new determination.

In particular, Schramsberg has broken out of its Napa Valley fetters.

"We`re looking at Northern California the way the Champenoise look at Champagne," says Reynolds, "trying to find vineyards that will give us specific characteristics that we can use in our blend."

In other words, more spices for the spice rack. As a result, Schramsberg is now pulling grapes from cool sites in the Anderson Valley, Sonoma, and Marin counties - anywhere that they can find the quality they want.

In the winery, they have made a commitment to using a relatively high percentage of barrel-aged wines (up to 40 percent in the J. Schram), something that`s still done in a few quality minded Champagne houses, but that is much less common (and more painstaking) than fermenting in temperature-controlled stainless steel.

"We want to be to California what Bollinger and Krug are to France," says Reynolds, naming two houses venerated by lovers of rich, toasty styles of Champagne. And, like those houses, Schramsberg has begun to make a greater use of older reserve wines (they are allowed 5 percent in vintage dated bottles) to give their top bottlings an added nuance.

The results so far are impressive, and the best is yet to come as the wines incorporating Schramsberg`s new vineyard sources begin to reach the marketplace over the next several years. In the meantime, four Schramsberg sparklers to look for:

Schramsberg 1997 Blanc de Blancs ($28) - An all-chardonnay wine with a rich aroma of tropical fruit and roasted nuts and a broad, soft texture. (Very Good)

Schramsberg 1996 Brut Rose ($28) - This is a pale, salmon-colored beauty, dry in style, but with a lively, juicy-berry character. Its special appeal is that it`s flavorful and mouth-filling without a sense of heaviness. (Excellent)

Schramsberg 1993 Reserve ($43) - A mirror image of the blend of the J. Schram (below), this rich, toasty wine is 80 percent pinot noir, 20 percent chardonnay, and it`s a layered, sophisticated sparkler that is compulsively easy to sip. It would benefit from a little more liveliness, what the French call "nervosity," but there`s plenty else to enjoy. (Excellent)

Schramsberg 1993 "J. Schram" ($75) - Named for the itinerant German barber who founded the original winery here in 1862 (and befriended, among others, author Robert Louis Stevenson), this is a chardonnay-based wine (with 20 percent pinot noir) that receives 40-percent barrel fermentation in its base wines and extended bottle aging. It is a lovely combination of broad-textured richness and finer, delicate nuances. An aromatic beauty with a streak of crispness to give it backbone and focus. (Excellent)

Richard Nalley`s wine articles appear in Men`s Journal, Food & Wine and Departures. He is the winner of the 1997 James Beard Foundation Award for Magazine Wine Writing. Please send your wine questions to Wine Talk, c/o Copley News Service, P.O. Box 120190, San Diego, CA 92112-0190. Questions regarding individual bottles or collection appraisals cannot be answered.Visit Copley News Service at www.copleynews.com.(c) Copley News Service

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Author: Richard Nalley