SoWal Wine Festival Sandestin

SoWal (South Walton Beaches) Food & Wine Festival - Sandestin (FL)

Once again we attended the SoWal (South Walton Beaches) Food and Wine Festival - a four-day extravaganza with winemakers, distillers, and mixologists alongside culinary bites by South Walton’s best chefs. More than seventy booths/tables poured over six hundred different labels. 

This was the 39th year for the festival, held again at the Grand Boulevard Center in Sandestin. Once again the festival events spanned four evenings/afternoons of wine, craft brews and distilled spirits with accompanying culinary treats.

Of course, in addition to the food and wine tasting tents on the streets and common areas of Grand Boulevard was the grand Charity Auction in the main tent. 

There was also live music by Nashville Singer Songwriters provided by the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association, featuring Aaron Barker, Bridgette Tatum, Clint Daniels, and Dylan Altman, 

Proceeds from the gala South Walton Beaches Wine & Food Festival weekend support Destin Charity Wine Auction Foundation, benefiting children in need in Northwest Florida.

To take it all in, capture all three days of the wine festival, Friday through Sunday via the VIP access ticket that includes Bitters, Brews & Bartenders, VIP Tasting, and both Saturday & Sunday Grand Tastings. This ticket excludes Winemakers & Shakers, which is held Thursday evening at Chan’s Wine World Wine Bar in Destin. 

Our Pour Boys wine group came to town and attended the entire weekend event two years ago, featured in these pages in this blogpost - Pour Boys gather for SoWal Wine Festival.

This year’s event seemed to have fewer wine producers as a percentage of booths of wines, beers and distilled spirits, as we focused on the wines served by producers, winemakers, distributors or retail representatives. Perhaps it’s because we missed the VIP tasting on the Friday night. 

There was also a tent featuring food specialities, paired with the featured wines… 

This year there was a special focus on wineries from Oregon’s Willamette Valley Wineries Association with a dedicated tent of a dozen producers pouring over sixty wines.

Being primarily Bordeaux varietal enthusiasts, we found several favorite producers and select labels, although they were a small fraction of the overall event participants. 

Some of the highlights of the producers met and their wines tasted .. and my WOTN (Wine of the Night) candidates … 

Fisher Vineyards featured a vintage selection of their Sonoma County Fisher Coach Insignia Cabernet Sauvignon 2016, a label we know well and hold in our cellar going back more than two decades. This is the label that pays homage to the family legacy of the Fisher Coach manufacturing company that was a major supplier to General Motors automobiles. 

 

Titus Vineyards poured Titus Napa Valley Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2023 was served by the producer winemaker Eric Titus. I always appreciate the effort expanded by these folks given the vast number of events per year and the demands on their time running the business, and producing the product over and above marketing and evangelism. 

 

Often, producer’s will pour special offerings typically only available through them directly, at the winery, or through their on-line club offerings. Here is a selection from Whitehall Lane, Napa Valley, and one such label which we acquired to compare with a couple of their exclusive labels that we discovered and acquired at the winery during a visit - Whitehall Lane Cellars Winery Visit and Tasting. It was fun meeting Ashley Lehr of Whitehall Lane Vineyards, St Helena, who is based in Naples and serves a common acquaintance Wine Director friend down there. 

Two labels we missed, perhaps because they weren’t showcased to the general audience, but would’ve been key selections had we known, from producers and labels we know well,  were discovered in the retail pavilion after the event -  

Caymus Special Select from Napa Valley and Tignanello, the original super Tuscan, from two legendary producers - both labels that we hold, but have not tasted from the most recent 2023 vintage being featured.  Perhaps these were served during the VIP tasting which we missed.  

A surprise producer and label represented, due to the rare appearance of Rhône valley selections was from a favorite producer, whose labels we hold several vintages dating back several decades - Chateau Beaurenard of Chateauneuf-du-Pape. This was served by distributor Wilson Daniels. 

This prompted us to serve a rare vintage selection of their flagship label, from our son’s birth year vintage, at a family dinner, the following weekend back at home.

Chateau Boisrenard Chateauneuf-du-Pape 1990 

The selections featured large global/national brands, as well as smaller boutique individual and family producers. 

One of our favorite labels that we hold in our cellar dating back two decades, the legendary …

Domaine Serene pouring their flagship Willamette Valley Evenstad Reserve 2023. 

It’s easy to get overwhelmed and lost in all the producers and the vast number of labels being poured, in many case five or six by a single producer, so its important to focus, and be selective in what you’re tasting. It’s more than anyone can really take in in one day, lest succumb to ‘pallete fatigue’. To do it justice requires two or three days, and preparation and planning, if you’re so inclined. 

And of course the complimentary food specialties … 

Great fun for any enthusiast … or casual fan …. for an afternoon, or a weekend! 

SoWal Festival Guide …

@unwindwine 

@SoWalWINE 

@TitusVyds 

@SereneWine 

@ChansWineWorld 

@caymuscab 

@Whitehalllane

Fisher Vineyards and Lewis Cellars Masons Cabernet

With the family gathered for our family matriarch's funeral, Linda served an extensive dinner paired with a flight of select wines from our cellar including this Napa Cabernet based Bordeaux Blend served in large format magnum and a favorite producer Cabernet. 

Fisher Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Coach Insignia 2000

Fisher Vineyards was founded in 1973 when Fred and Juelle Fisher bought 100 acres in the Mayacamas Mountains in Sonoma County. They later added 57 acres on the Silverado Trail in Napa Valley. Both had backgrounds in business -- Fred with General Motors and Juelle was an investment analyst -- before starting the winery. 

Today the winery is still owned and operated by the Fisher family, which includes three adult children who are part of the management team. The estate's first successes were with Chardonnay, then turning to crafting Cabernet Sauvignon from purchased grapes. Now the estate includes many acres of Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards, as well as Chardonnay and Merlot. The Fisher brand features several estate bottled signature Cabernet Sauvignons including this flagship Coach Insignia and two select vineyard designated cabs from Lamb Vineyard and Wedding Vineyard.  

Coach Insignia honors the Fisher family's heritage and tradition of craftsmanship from their legacy as one of the legendary automobile businesses of the 20th century with 'Body by Fisher' in General Motors automobiles followed by Fisher Vineyards' wines of the 21st century

The Coach Insignia Cabernet is a blend of grapes from three geographically diverse vineyards: the estate vineyards on the Silverado Trail in the Napa Valley, Stagecoach vineyards above Oakville and Feingold vineyard on Sonoma Mountain. 

The Coach Insignia Cabernet Sauvignon is comprised of the finest selected lots of Bordeaux varietals from the Estate vineyards including those near Calistoga nestled at the foot up against the Palisades mountain range. There, the vines grow on an alluvial fan that slopes gently west, following Simmons Creek to the Napa River. The Estate’s well drained soils are remarkably consistent, comprised primarily of cobblestones and loam.

It is a blend of classic Bordeaux varietals with predominant Cabernet Sauvignon accented by Merlot and Cabernet Franc. These varietals and diverse vineyards offer Fisher the option to craft exceptional red wine that has become an insignia for Fisher Vineyards.  

At twenty years of age this is still holding its own and just showing minor signs of diminution from aging indicating it is starting to decline from its apex and moving to the next phase of its profile and drinking window.

Classic California in Bordeaux style. Dark garnet colored, a bit tight and firm  blackberry fruits with notes of black tea, flinty mineral and leather with crisp acidity on a moderate tannin lingering finish. 

RM 89 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=29484

https://www.fishervineyards.com/

Lewis Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Mason's 2012 

For the family dinner, we continued with a family favorite brand, Lewis Cellars which we have featured often in these pages. The portfolio consists of three labels named after the Lewis grandsons including Alec, who shares the name with our son, hence, Alec's Blend is a one of our favorite collectables. This label, a Napa Valley Cabernet is named after their grandson Mason. Alec and Viv visited Lewis Cellars on their honeymoon last month so it was fitting to include this in our intimate family dinner. We visited Lewis during our Napa Wine Experience 2017 and wrote about it in these pages here.

We selected this wine to pair and compare with the Fisher Coach Insignia. 

This was awarded 91 points by Wine Spectator and Connoisseurs Guide

Connoisseurs Guide warned us of the firmness and tight structure of this wine, which resembled the profile of the Fisher Insignia. It suggested holding the wine for six to ten years. At eight years we're within their suggested drinking window, and likely drinking this at its apex. 

Connoisseurs' Guide wrote in December of 2014 about this wine: "Subtlety may not be its strong suit, and there is no question but that this bottling flirts with excess, but it is so deep, so rich and so solidly fruited that its exuberant ripeness and back-palate heat are easily forgiven as mere misdemeanors. Make no mistake, this is a big wine of great amplitude and substance, as those of its maker tend to be, and, yet for all of its largesse, it is fairly tight and well-structured and never gives in to glyceriny fatness. It is sufficiently tough as to warn off drinking anytime soon, and it is best laid away for six to ten years." 

I found this lighter and softer than expected or indicated by the review, and more approachable in that regard than the Fisher, never-the-less, very similar in style and profile. 

Dark garnet colored, black berry fruits with note of cedar, wood and toasted oak with hint of mocha on the tight firm tannin laced finish. 

RM 90 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1889083

https://www.lewiscellars.com/us/

 

Rosewood Grill and UNITY Red Blend

Rosewood Grill and UNITY Red Blend

For a business dinner with colleagues on the road, we dined at Rosewood Grill in Hudson, OH. With our grilled beef steak entrees we ordered Fisher Vineyards 'UNITY' Napa/Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon from their Wine Spectator Award winning wine list.

The Fisher Family have been growing and producing wines in both Napa Valley and Sonoma County since 1973.

UNITY is the brand associated with the second generation of the Fisher Family working together - Fisher founders Fred and Juelle Fisher, and the second generation that includes three siblings Whitney, Robert and Cameron.

The first generation Fisher Vineyards embodies single vineyard sourced wines, made unique by their particular, singular environmental conditions including soil and climate - elements when combined known as terrior.

In contrast, UNITY wines are produced from fruit chosen from multiple sites, estates or appellations, blended together in a tapestry where hopefully the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

This 2013 UNITY Cabernet Sauvignon is a blend of fruit sourced 75% from Napa Valley and 25% from Sonoma County from sites in Calistoga, Northern Napa Valley Floor, the Mayacamas Mountains, Eastern Sonoma County, Napa Valley Atlas Peak, and the Vacas Mountains of Eastern Napa.

They blend consists of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Malbec, 7% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Petite Verdot.

It appears the complexity of the blend of this wine will require more aging time to come together. At this early stage it is still disjointed and awkward with some funky non-fruit musty wet wood barnyard tones punctuated by notes of creosote and hints of cedar and earthy leather offsetting the fruit flavors, before starting to burn off after about an hour to reveal black berry fruits and anise - too young or too little decanting preparation time in a restaurant dinner setting.

RM 86 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2029815

http://www.fishervineyards.com/unitywine/

http://rosewoodgrill.com/hudson/Default.aspx

Beef Steak Dinner Wine Flight - Napa, Sonoma, Bordeaux Cabernet Sauvignon Blends

Beef Steak Dinner Wine Flight - Napa, Sonoma, Bordeaux Cabernet Sauvignon Blends

A flight of Cabernet Sauvignon blend wines from Napa, Sonoma and Bordeaux taken to festive holiday dinner at neighbors' Mark and Shirley's. They served David Burke’s Chicago Primehouse aged prime beef  Black Angus steaks. The restaurant dry-ages its hand-picked meats in a Himalayan salt-tiled aging room on their premises at Rush and Ontario Streets in Chicago.

All their steaks are from a prize winning Black Angus senior herd that sires the highly coveted USDA-quality grade beef. Our dinner featured 55 day aged Rib-eye, prime filet, and New York Strip steaks purchased at the Chicago Prime steak house, accompanied by basil mashed potatoes and butternut squash ravioli with roasted sun-dried tomatoes (shown above).

The wines:
 

Chateau St Jean Cinq Cepages Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon 1997 - Cinq Cepages means 'five flavors' ala a Bordeaux style meritage blend - medium bodied, soft black raspberry, red currants and kirsch flavors highlighted by a layer of tea and hint of caramel and touch of spice on a moderate light short polished tannin finish.

RM 90 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2205

Fisher Vineyards Coach House Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon 1999 - Meritage blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot from the Cameron Vineyard above the Napa Valley Silverado Trail and Cabernet Sauvignon from Stagecoach Vineyards above Oakville, and Merlot from Feingold Vineyard just over the hill to the west in Sonoma. Medium to full bodied with black raspberry, black berry, coffee and kirsch flavors highlighted by a layer of leather, tea and hint of caramel, mocha and touch of spice on a moderate tannin finish. Similar to the Cinq Cepages above but tighter with possessing the leather tone.

RM 89 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=18076

Château Pontet-Canet Grand Cru Classe' Pauillac Bordeaux 1997 - A mini-horizontal vintage selection to compare the 1997 Cinq Cepages and Bordeaix against a 1999 Napa Cabernet blend. The Pontet-Canet exhibited medium-full bodied - big floral bouquet with flavors of violets, earthy leather, layer of of black cherry and black berry accented by tea, tobacco box and black currants and cedar on a moderate tannin finish.

RM 88 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=26493

Caymus Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 -
Medium bodied, sweet red berry and currant fruits with layers of milk chocolate, anise, oak and tar on a smooth silky lingering finish.

RM 90 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=678191

Chateau St Jean Alexander Valley Belle Terre Vineyard Select Late Harvest Johannisburg Riesling 1998

This desert wine accompanied hand made dark chocolate truffles rolled in crushed almonds and pecans.

Rick's Tasting Journal - Fisher Vineyards UNITY Napa/Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

Rick's Tasting Journal - Fisher Vineyards UNITY Napa/Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

Continuing exploration of Mayacamas Mountain cabernet sauvignon, the Fisher Vineyards UNITY is a Bordeaux blend sourced 60% from Napa and 40% from Sonoma.

I discovered this wine, available by the glass at Capital Grille in Washington DC - a nice accompaniment to steak dinner.

This wine is dark inky in color, medium to full bodied - it exhibits flavors of blackberry, black raspberry and black currant with tones of cola, anise, spice and a hint of floral, with moderately firm by dusty tannins on the moderate, soft finish. RM 90 points.

The UNITY blend is 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc, and 3% Malbec.