Members’ Corner
Welcome to the Spring 2023 Wine Club shipment!
Welcome to Members’ Corner. Here you’ll find inspiration to accompany each wine club shipment.
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Message from the winemaker…
Dear friends,
Spring has taken a long time to come to California, and around the country this year! It’s turning out to be a long, slow warm up. I’ve actually noticed it in the winery cellar too.
Much like nature around us, in the cellar at Baxter Winery, the wines are left to their own slow schedule. They’re not being rushed to market, but instead they’re allowed to gradually build their structure and body along the aging process.
As part of that process some white wines and most red wines go through what we call in the business ‘secondary fermentation’. Though technically not a fermentation at all, this is an acid-conversion where the more powerful Malic acid transforms into softer Lactic acid.
The wines in our barrel cellar normally begin this ‘secondary fermentation’ under their own steam by now. However, this year, due to the long cold winter, they are still sitting dormant. They are, as I put it, “over-wintering”, waiting for the big warm up to help begin their secondary fermentation.
Most wineries will add malolactic bacteria to the barrels to induce this process earlier. It is the usual ‘modern’ way, it achieves earlier stability in the wines, and early maturity (with the benefit that the wines are ready to go to market earlier). At Baxter I prefer to keep our methods completely natural and let the wines dictate when they start and finish using only the naturally occurring bacteria found in the winery. This is the way I learned to do it in Burgundy during my internship there many years ago. In this way, the seasonality of the vintage continues during the aging process in the winery - not just in the vineyard during the growing season.
You could say we want the wines to go through their adolescence before we release them. Presented not as angsty teenagers rushed out of the house, but as young adults ready to seize the world. Our wines are released when they’re truly ready and possess a complexity and elegance that personifies Baxter.
Enjoy them in the same way they’re made. Sip slowly and breath deep!
By the way, even though I baby my wines in the winery, I promise I don’t play classical music to them ;) . It’s actually more of a Regge vibe….my favorite song of the moment is pretty apt to this subject, so I want to mention it. Check it out: Gregory Issacs, ‘Slow down the pace.’
Phillip.
Phillip Baxter, Owner / Winemaker.
spring 2023 Wines:
Club 6 members receive: 2 of the 2019 Oppenlander Pinot, 2 of the 2019 Valenti Pinot, 1 of the 2018 Black Label and 1 of the 2017 Langley Pinot.
Club 12 members will receive double.
2019 Oppenlander Vineyard Pinot Noir, Mendocino
90 Points from Wine Enthusiast.
Here’s one to love…and to hold. Although it’s drinking wonderfully now, our advice is to cellar this a bit longer if you can contain yourself. No judgement if you can’t ;) just decant and allow it extra time to breathe at room temperature.
It is always a pleasure to share our flagship Pinot Noir with our club members. The 2019 Oppenlander has a delicious strawberry profile as well as lots of floral rose tones typical of Pinot Noir. The mid-palate melds from cranberry into juicy blackberry, with bramble and black tea undertones. Elegant throughout, the opulent mouthfeel leads into a long lingering fresh strawberry finish.
There is something extra special about this vineyard, which we use to produce our flagship wine. - The vines are planted on their own roots, rather than having been grafted (as is usual) onto rootstock. Phillip believes the absence of a graft-seam is the secret to this well-rounded, complex wine. The theory is that the vines are able to uptake nutrients more seamlessly and thus produce an even more luscious and balanced wine.
When to drink: Drinks well now, but ideally best from 2026.
2019 Valenti Vineyard Pinot Noir, Mendocino Ridge
95 Points & Cellar Selection from Wine Enthusiast.
Citing Jim Gordon of the Wine Enthusiast Magazine:
Both powerful and ethereal, this elegant, smoky, sour-cherry-imbued wine fills the palate with tangy, spicy flavors wrapped in grippy tannins and buoyed by nervy acidity. Aged only in neutral French barrels, it shows the classic tea and forest-floor aromas and dark plum and black-cherry flavors that expand with time in the glass.
Best through 2030. Cellar Selection. Reviewer: J Gordon.
Another lovely review for our home-ridge vineyard, just 3 minutes drive from Baxter winery. Valenti vineyard sits high on a ridge top, 6 miles from the ocean and above the fog line. It benefits from a surprising and unique microclimate. In the daytime it experiences cool ocean breezes which temper the afternoon heat and lead to restrained, elegant profile that is so desirable in a cool climate, coastal pinot. Conversely, at night it experiences a warm temperature inversion: the warm air from the Anderson Valley rises up to the ridge tops. It can actually be 20 degrees warmer at Valenti vineyard than in the valley on a summer’s night!! It really brought the different microclimates into focus one harvest when we drove back from a late party in the valley wrapped in our jackets, only to peel them off ten minutes later as we got to the top of the ridge. This night time warmth keeps the ripening process going despite it’s coastal location and produces added flavor complexity in the finished wine.
2018 Anderson Valley Pinot Noir ‘Black Label’
For this Anderson Valley Pinot Noir, winemaker Phillip Baxter makes carefully considered barrel selections to craft a wine displaying the amazing diversity of the Anderson Valley microappellations.
Made using 6 different Clones, from 5 different vineyards, our “black label” is a vibrant, spicy and elegant Pinot Noir.
The nose is focused and floral with scents of cranberry, violets and allspice. On the palate flavors of pomegranate, plum, blackberry and raspberry combine with elements of exotic spice resulting in a smooth rich mouthfeel. The lingering finish is alive with the memory of ripe fruits while the wines’ mineral core leaves the palate fresh and poised for the next sip.
It is made using the same traditional hand-crafted methods as our single vineyard pinots, but offers excellent value and has graced the wine lists at top San Francisco restaurants.
When to drink: Enjoy now, weekdays, weekends, your go-to.
2017 Langley Vineyard Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley
It’s always fun to hold back a little of some wines so we can revisit them with members as the wine ages. Even if you have a couple of bottles of Langley in the cellar (they will go strong for years to come), pull this one now for a perfectly-aged experience.
When I’m being geeky, my favorite way to describe this wine is ‘clean lines, laser-beam fruit focus’ and ‘a velvety finish’: the former describing it’s angular minerality when it’s young; and the latter describing the way Langley Pinot softens as it ages. While the bottle breathes over the course of a meal, notice how the wine’s food-friendly acid-structure and bright fruit flavors soften and then meld into a beautiful velvety finish.
This wine is produced from a California heritage clone of Pinot Noir. The 3-acres of vines, located just North-West of Boonville, were originally planted in 1982 for sparkling production. Thanks to this, the resulting still Pinot Noir possesses a beautiful brightness & vibrancy along with multi-faceted warm tones on the mid-palate that round out the feel of the wine. This Pinot displays a complex flavor profile featuring summer berries and spice underneath a mineral front palate. A long finish adds nicely to the weight of the wine. 2017 was a nice vintage with the resulting wines expressing wonderful florals and many layers of flavor.
Our spring 2023 recipe…
‘Barrel-stave’ BBQ Salmon
With our 2019 Oppenlander vineyard Pinot noir
After a hard and cold winter, you deserve a break, and this recipe is simple personified! What can be more mouthwatering than a perfectly cooked salmon that is delicate enough to compliment the elegant flavors of pinot noir, but meaty enough to satisfy? If you haven’t cooked on a cedar plank before, the premise is that it allows the salmon to cook whilst being somewhat shielded from the direct heat. It’s almost more of a steaming effect leading to a moist and tender salmon fillet every time. At the home winery, we used some decommissioned French oak barrel staves for our version. That’s where this recipe get’s it’s name! The grill pictured above is a prized project of winemaker Phillip’s: an open flame grill made from stainless steel grape de-stemming equipment. He’s always creating fun ways to relax at the end of a harvest day, and cooking on an open flame is one of them!
We like to serve our salmon with a radicchio, butter lettuce and parmesan salad alongside Phillip’s mom’s pilaf recipe which I include below too.
Plank soaking time: 2+ hours in water
Prep time: 20 mins
Cooking Time: pilaf takes 25 mins, salmon just 20.
Ingredients for the salmon (serves 2):
1 Cedar plank (can be purchased at some supermarkets, or online)
2 skin-on salmon fillets
Oregano (fresh or dried)
1 Meyer lemons
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Ingredients for the Pilaf (serves 2):
1 onion
1 cup rice
2 cups water
1 teaspoon bouillon per cup of water
Salt at the end (go easy, the bouillon already lends plenty of flavor, taste it at the end once cooked and adjust it then)
Cracked black pepper
Butter
Olive oil
Method for the Salmon:
1) Soak the planks in water in a high sided baking sheet for 2.5 hours to prevent them burning during grilling.
2) Meanwhile, prepare the salmon by sprinkling with salt & pepper, dried or fresh oregano, a drizzle of olive oil and topping each with two to three thin slices of Meyer lemon. Keep refrigerated.
3) Pre-heat the grill to medium high for 5 minutes. Place 2 salmon filets on each cedar plank and place on the hot grill. Cover and cook for 12-20 minutes. Cooking time will depend on the size of cut you have, but begin checking at 12 mins. Cook until the salmons is cooked through and flakes with a fork.
4) Remove from the grill and serve right off the plank.
Method for the pilaf:
1) Chop onion, saute in butter and a little olive oil until opaque.
2) Add rice, saute until just turns color
3) Add water and bouillon, mix well.
4) Bring to boil
5) Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 25 mins.
Enjoying your wines and want to restock?
For members re-ordering any mixed six pack of wines prior to the Spring shipment we will apply complimentary ground shipping. Simply visit the store and note ‘Reorder’ in the customer comments box. Log into your account to view member pricing.
here’s to the 2023 warm up!
Phillip & Claire Baxter.