Last month I got as close to heaven as any oenophile has ever been. I’m not much of a camper, but when Matt Levy, public relations and marketing manager, invited me to attend Camp Schramsberg, a three-day sparkling wine seminar at Schramsberg Vineyards in Calistoga, I jumped at the chance. Schramsberg Vineyards has been producing sparkling wine since 1965 when they became the first U.S. producer to use Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes in the méthode champenoise (where a secondary fermentation occurs while the wine is in the bottle – thus producing bubbles). These sparkling wines are so good that in 1972, the Blanc de Blancs was served at the historic “Toast to Peace” in Beijing, between President Richard Nixon and Premier Zhou Enlai. To this day, Schramsberg’s wines are still being served in the White House.
Hugh Davies, president and head winemaker of Schramsberg Vineyards, welcomed a group of 30 “campers” from as far away as New York, Chicago, Colorado, Texas and Nevada. The seminar began with a candlelight dinner in one of the wine caves where candelabras flickered in the dark and somewhat humid cave. As attentive wait staff served and poured, we enjoyed a selection of carefully selected wines with our gourmet dinner.
We boarded a bus early the next morning for a hands-on pruning demonstration in one of the vineyards located in the Carneros region. I learned that anyone can prune a vine, but it is truly an art form to prune for quality.
The afternoon was spent at the winery where we evaluated base wines that would later be blended into a finished, sparkling wine. After a luncheon at Meadowood Resort, enologist and chef Holly Peterson led us through a workshop where we sampled savory and sweet tidbits of food with several sparkling wines to identify those foods that brought out the best flavors of the wine. Most of us agreed that lemon was not complimentary to the wines and that desserts should be less sweet than the wine it is paired with. Toasted almonds, smoked salmon and prosciutto brought out the best flavors in the wine.
We learned that it is not necessary to swirl sparkling wine as with still wine because the bubbles of the sparkling wine will bring the aroma to the top. And a tall flute is best for showing off the streams of bubbles as they make their way to the surface.
But the most surprising thing I learned was that with proper storage, fine sparkling wines can age beautifully for years, taking on caramelized, stone fruit flavors.
The last day of the seminar took us through a tour of the wine caves where masses of lichen hung eerily from the caves’ ceilings. We experienced another hands-on demonstration of “riddling” – the process of twisting and jostling the inverted bottles so that the fermented yeast cells fall to the neck of the bottle – to be later disgorged before the final capping.
Before the seminar was over, we learned how to saber open a sparkling wine bottle with an antique sword. I left my new friends at Camp Schramsberg with my head in the clouds – and realized I was one lucky and very happy camper.
If making a trip to Schramsberg, just a few miles away is Castello di Amorosa, a replica of a medieval castle, created and built by Dario Sattui (V. Sattui Winery) over a 14-year period and completed in 2007. Jim Sullivan, vice president, public relations and marketing, took me on a tour of the 121,000-square-foot castle, which includes a moat, drawbridge, defensive towers, interior courtyard, torture chamber, chapel, knights’ chamber and a great dining hall. I sampled three of the wines: the 2012 Pinot Grigio, with its bright, juicy flavors; the 2009 Sangiovese Napa Valley, which is well balanced between its acidity and ripe cranberry and pomegranate flavors; and the 2008 La Castellana, a Tuscan blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Sangiovese. It’s delicious with notes of spicy black pepper and black cherry. This destination winery is great fun for the whole family.
