La Crema Wine Tasting at Wine Watch

"Drinking is like pouring smiles on your brain."

Chris Hardwick

At one time Pinot Noir was thought to be the world's most finicky grape varietal and that it would only grow in a few places where it could turn out a world class wine.  Today, we can find excellent examples of the Pinot Noir varietal from all over the wine world; Germany, Austria, Australia, Argentina, Chile, Tasmania, New Zealand, South Africa, California, Oregon and of course the mother land for this varietal Burgundy, France.
La Crema winery has been known for their Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from California for quite some time now and recently the Jackson family bought into the Willamette valley in a big way making them the largest vineyard owner in this prestigious Pinot Noir designation. 

Wine Watch will showcase the release of the first wines from La Crème featuring different regions of the Willamette Valley Thursday night with the Brand ambassador from the winery Marita Esteva.

You are not seeing triple we have three events next Thursday night!!  We are doing our best to keep our Wine Drinking people busy in Pompano Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Hallandale Beach this evening!!

La Crema Tasting at Wine Watch
with Special Guest Marita Esteva, Brand Ambassador for La Crema Winery
Thursday, May 26th
7pm

La Crema Single Vineyard Wines from Oregon

La Crema Eola-Amity Hills Chardonnay 2012
Price:$37.75        Sale $33.22          Case $386

Fruit was sourced from the Roserock and Rocky Hill, medium-high elevation vineyards with shallow, well-drained soil. The result is an ideal expression of this very special slice of the Willamette Valley — structured, graceful, rich and balanced. 

2012 was an outstanding vintage to begin winemaking in Oregon. The weather was
perfect for ripening, the berries were pristine and the rains abated during harvest, allowing for picking based solely on fruit quality. The fruit was harvested on October 10th and 11th — hand-picking during the night and cool days followed by gentle, whole-cluster pressing

La Crema  Eola-Amity Hills Pinot Noir 2012
Price: $47.25       Sale $41.58          Case $482

Fruit was sourced from the Roserock and Rocky Hill, medium-high elevation vineyards with shallow, well-drained soil. The result is an ideal expression of this very special slice of the Willamette Valley — structured, graceful, rich and balanced.

La Crema Dundee Hills Pinot Noir 2012
Price: $47.25       Sale $41.58          Case $482

Fruit was sourced from the Vista Hills Estate, a vineyard known for deep, well-drained volcanic soil. The result is an ideal expression of this special slice of the Willamette Valley — earthy, artistic, elegant and sincere.

La Crema Ribbon Ridge Pinot Noir 2012
Price: $47.25       Sale $41.58          Case $482

La Crema Yamhill-Carlton Pinot Noir 2012
 Price: $56.25      Sale $49.50          Case $574

La Crema Los Carneros Chardonnay 2013
List $33.00           Sale $29.04          Case $337

The nose is clover, nutmeg, lemon zest and vanilla. Flavors of pear, Mandarin orange, custard, and minerality. Full-bodied and balanced, plush and silky.

La Crema Anderson Valley Pinot Noir 2013
List $48.00           Sale $42.24          Case $490

Classic notes of Anderson Valley blueberry and violet framed by baking spice and conifer. On the palate, additions of brambly fruit, espresso, vanilla and black tea.

La Crema Arroyo Seco Pinot Noir 2013
List $39.00           Sale $34.32          Case $398

The nose is rich with Damson plum, chai spice black licorice. Palate offers dark, cherry cocoa powder, and earthy notes. It is a supple and elegant Pinot Noir with all the hallmarks of the Arroyo Seco appellation.

La Crema Carneros Pinot Noir 2013
List $39.00           Sale $34.32          Case $398

Sweet spice, ripe cherry, dark chocolate, and coffee in the nose. Plum and tobacco flavors with subtle layers of toasty oak. Richly textured with soft tannins and a spicy finish.

Menu
Shrimp Shumai with black Vinegar
Pork spring rolls with Peach Apple Chutney
Panko Crusted Chicken Bites with honey mustard dipping Sauce

This is a walk around tasting and the fee for this event is $35 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.

A bit about La Crema Winery

La Crema is a winery with a checkered past.  Once known as La Crema Viñera, the winery was founded in 1979 by a group of wine lovers headed by winemaker Rod Berglund with intentions of producing only Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays from some of California's most prestigious vineyards.  The winery occupied cramped quarters in an industrial park in Petaluma - its goals were much loftier than its origins.  The very first release - a 1979 Chardonnay from the Ventana Vineyards - was a stunner, as were several other wines produced under the auspices of La Crema Viñera.  The winery quickly attained a cult following among cognoscenti seeking out the best in California.  However, as good as some of the early wines were, others were disappointing.  Some of La Crema's wines languished on the retail shelves, and the winery went belly-up in 1984.  The winery was rescued from bankruptcy by Jason Korman, an East Coast importer of fine wines.  Korman led a group of investors who purchased the winery and immediately began the rebuilding job.  Under the new management team things began to turn around rather quickly.  At the 1986 American Wine Competition, the 1984 La Crema Chardonnay received one of two Platinum medals.  Over the course of the next few vintages, La Crema expanded its production from 7,000 cases to a high in 1989 of 80,000 cases, including almost 22,000 cases of Pinot Noir.  By 1992 La Crema was a household name known for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir as well as its highly popular Crême De Tête table wines.  However, the rapid expansion under Korman led to the need for new capital.

In early 1993, La Crema was purchased by the owner and founder of Kendall-Jackson, Jess Jackson.  Jackson has orchestrated what we consider to be the most important success story in the modern era of California wine. It all began in 1983 with Kendall-Jackson Vineyards, a tiny winery operating from Lake County (north of Napa).  In the space of a decade the winery grew from a modest 25,000 case production to over 1,500,000 cases (a decade later in 1993 the winery was still growing at an amazing 20% annually). Not content with the success of one operation, in 1986 Jackson launched a new venture, Cambria Vineyards, which relied on fruit from Santa Barbara's famous Tepusquet Vineyard.  When that vineyard went on the block, Jackson dueled with two Napa mega wineries, Beringer and Robert Mondavi. Jackson made the best offer and wrestled the Tepusquet Vineyard from them.  In the space of seven years Cambria has established itself as one of Santa Barbara's best producers of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

The next Jackson acquisition became Stonestreet in 1990.  The winery, named after Jackson's father, Jess Stonestreet Jackson, occupies the site of the former Stephen Zellerbach estate in southern Alexander Valley, several miles east of Healdsburg.  By 1995 Stonestreet was one of the hottest brands in the U.S. market.  Next Jackson purchased the old Edmeades Winery in Mendocino, revitalized it, and renamed it Edmeades Estate.  The first wines (a 1991 Chardonnay and a 1990 Zinfandel) were released in August of 1992.  In early 1993 Jackson purchased La Crema and later moved the winery to the impressive new facilities of the former Domaine Laurier in Forestville.  In 1994 Jackson launched another label, called Camelot.  This Central Coast winery debuted with some very impressive value wines (particularly Chardonnay and Pinot Noir) at a price point slightly below the excellent Kendall-Jackson "Vintner's Reserve" line of wines.  Jackson recruited the former winemaker at De Loach, Randy Ullom; and Ullom crafted an excellent 1994 Camelot Chardonnay, our pick for "Best Buy Chardonnay of 1995" in The Wine News.  Camelot also has produced an excellent 1993 Pinot Noir. According to statistics compiled by The California Grapevine, the '93 Camelot Pinot Noir won more medals in 1995 wine competitions than any other Pinot produced in California.  In the fall of 1994, Jackson purchased Napa's Robert Pepi Winery, known for its excellent Sauvignon Blancs and Sangiovese.  Pepi wines released under Jackson's auspices have been even better than their predecessors.

Not content with success in California, Jess Jackson has moved to the international arena.  He acquired and is retrofitting a substantial vineyard in Italy's famed Tuscany district - the wines will be released under the estate names of Villa Arceno and Cantico della Croisa.  In 1993 Jackson began an ambitious winery project in Chile with the help of Camelot winemaker Randy Ullom.  The wines under the Vina Calina label were released in the fall of 1995 at a very ambitious price of $20/bottle.  In order to get more fruit sources for his burgeoning wine empire, the "Jackson Express" purchased Sonoma's 7000 acre Gauer Ranch in late spring of 1995.