Howell Mountain: menthol and mint

Rudy Zuidema, winemaker at White Cottage winery on Howell Mountain

When someone says "Howell Mountain," everyone gets this serious look on their face: a combination of awe and nostalgia all at once.  Perhaps they are remembering a very fine old bottle of Dunn Vineyards or they are reminiscing on the smell.... that smell of strong menthol permeating from the glass.  

Rudy Zuidema pulled out bottle after bottle and lined them up on the bar.  The name "White Cottage" seemed kind of innocuous, like a name selected for WalMart brand, designed to appeal to 35-50 year old women.  Rudy was beaming at me from in front of the bar and I remembered how much I hated the idea of myself slowly descending into wine-snobbery and elitism.  Oh what the hell, let's try this liquid!

Little did I know, White Cottage winery is not a branded wine, it's the name of a small family winery on non-other-than-my-favorite-napa-ava Howell Mountain!  I am such a dick!  White Cottage has a line of wines all made from mostly Howell Mountain fruit from their vineyards.  The more amazing part about these wines, is that they are only around $30-45, which is astonishing because Howell Mountain commands some of the highest prices per ton of grapes (as high as $6000/ton vs $1300/ton for napa valley, as a generalized comparison, sorry).

Rudy's wines are a gestalt of Howell Mountain, they have all the aromas and flavors that one would note about that particular growing area.  I will keep looking out for them, because I believe Rudy is going to make better stuff as he keeps making wine.

White Cottage also is trying to take a not-too-serious approach to their wine.  They offer a stand-up red blend with sangiovese, zinfandel and syrah and offer it in a 1L jug.  It's great: I want it for dinner and a mid-morning snack.

oh noes!  We spilled the good sh*t!

Justin: a business man and a party wine

We are very lucky to meet the men & women behind the labels.

West Street Wine Bar sits in Reno, Nevada which is about as far as winemakers from California will drive without making it such a major affair.  And since Reno gets the same benefits as Las Vegas but is a much smaller community wine servers like myself reap the benefits.  Of course the business of wine is extremely personal so it exudes all people involved to break bread and drink wine together, turns out, this is exactly why I love it so much.  

Justin wines are typically big and fruit forward, and despite slight vintage differences, consistency with these bold characteristics always come through.  This makes Justin a perfect party pleaser wine, from his introductory priced cabernet to his serious and complex blends: Isosceles and Justification.  When I met Justin himself, I was not expecting to meet a tall, dark, slightly reserved man who clearly knows the business end of wine.  Justin utilizes his brain power to push his brand, hiring smart people to make the product and spending his time marketing.  Smart.  

He has a restaurant on site, a winemaker, a master sommelier and a master chef.  He surrounds his winery with the best of the business and then he goes out to meet people like me to hear from my mouth how I feel about the wines: His new 2007 vintage cab is more fruity than the 2006 but still has everything you would look for in Justin wines.  Buy it.

Unfortunately, I can already see wine snobs poo-pooing the entrepreneurialism at use here.  There is a lot of ideology when you get "deeper into wine" that the winemaker is someone who slaves away making wines, making very little money, but enough to survive on their passion.  That isn't fair, this same kind of hate for "sell outs" is prevalent in the music industry, art business and any business based on objective creativity.  I believe that if you are passionate and talented you should have just enough potential to make money like a mutual fund broker and not be hated for it.  Go Justin.  Go Madeline!

end rant.