Inner Wine/WINE DESIGNS

The first chardonnay that offered me a taste to remember was this bejeweled beauty, one of Jess Jackson’s first chardonnays. This is a portrait of his 1983 Vintner’s Reserve, at two years. It showed a consistency and depth of microscopic design seen only in chardonnays that underwent malolactic fermentation. Everywhere I looked on the microscopic terrain, this pattern was evident.

A consistency in quality was also born out in the KJ chardonnays themselves. When traveling to teach in the backwaters of the US of A, I could usually find a KJ char on the menu to order. I knew it would be pleasurable to drink and I could afford it.

Jess Jackson’s first wine was released in 1983 – 1982 Kendall-Jackson Vintner’s Reserve Chardonnay. His intent was to make the best chardonnay in the United States and to popularize the idea of varietal wines. His 1983 Chardonnay won the first platinum award ever presented by the American Wine competition.

Take a look at this wine expression, what does it look like to you? A sea creature, a pile of crystals, snowflakes? A jewel, was the great Andre Tschelitcheff’s interpretation. Chardonnay is a more feminine wine (in mouth and microscopic design) when it undergoes malolactic fermentation. The KJ chardonnays undergo secondary malolactic fermentation, Grgich’s chardonnays do not. Is that reflected in their wine portraits?

Something to ruminate on with the next sip of wine – is it possible that the microscopic constellation of wine molecules offer telltale clues to its personality or character?

Cheers! BTW, all wine portraits on this blog and website are available as limited edition giclee reproductions.

My latest 'wine gig' was to photograph two special chardonnays from Grgich Hills Cellars including their very first, the 1977 chardonnay. Naturally I taste everything.

Though the 1977 didn't have the vibrancy of younger wines, nor did it have any nose left, it still held its chardonnay structure intact. You knew you were sipping a chardonnay.

What a delightful surprise to see its exquisite inner views.

This was the oldest chardonnay I've ever tasted (or photographed). Would you expect California chardonnays to last 30 years, what about white Burgundies? What of the chardonnay character lasts?

Well I was able to get a small sample of the 2002 BV Georges de Latour -

Just imagine a grown woman going around with tiny test tubes....Got Wine?

Emmy wines. THE EMMYS

This 2002 BV will be opened at the Governor's Ball for the Emmy's. Of course, my compadre A. Zabayoni thought this wine should be looked at.....

And what did I see? Some of the same slender structures as in older BV GLT... what does that mean? Who knows except - none of those structures were in the delicious 2002 Sterling Coastal Coast Merlot.

I don't know how delicious the 2002 BV was since I only got a 'thimble full' - the amount needed to photograph. .

How does this help you learn about or enjoy wine? It gives a picture for an experience. A picture is worth a thousand words.

When I first started drinking wine I never understood the descriptions on the label - briary, leather, tar, bold, seductive..... When the first winemaker I worked with, Theo Rosenbrand, said a portrait looked like his wine tasted, the idea blinked on - maybe the images would help me as visual symbols of my experience even if I couldn't name it. I'm better now but not much....

Wines often seem like characters so let me introduce you to "Sir Blanc."

"Sir Blanc" represents a sleek, lively and crisp sauvignon blanc and may even be dancing on its toes. This particular sauvignon blanc from Sterling Vineyards was a favorite of winemaker Theo Rosenbrand. Last week I tasted another Sterling sauvignon blanc, the 2004 Central Coast and it was not only light and stealth, its fruity flavor and floral fragrance delighted me and made me want to dance. Not easy these days with a cast on my right foot.

I prefer red wines but the character of a cool sauvignon blanc on a hot evening is cause for celebrating all the complexities that wine offers us.

If you were going to name the grape King, which varietal?

I think of Cabernet as King - and in the Napa Valley the first king was Georges de Latour. This is a portrait of the 1977 BV Georges de Latour enjoyed when it was 6 years old.

Of course, Georges was not a grape, he inaugurated Rutherford and then Oakville, as the place to plant cabernet grapes in 1900.... He began the famous Beaulieu Vineyards, hired Andre Tchelistcheff to turn grapes into fine wine...and Napa, California and of course, the US of Appellation became famous for its excellent cabernet. When Georges died his wife named the primo cab of that year BV Private Reserve Georges de Latour. BV

Since I enjoy wine through flavor and its microscopic imprints - when I tasted that 1977 BV GLT, it tasted big, brawny, a bit hard on my still young palatte. In my early wine drinking days after Mateus and Lancers, Chateau LaSalle I discovered merlot. Sterling merlot was the first red wine I could enjoy - way back when I was a novice taster. I still am, only been doing it longer. Cabs were too harsh for me, and I hadn't learned the trick of how salty food can cut back the harshness. Nonetheless, the microscopic impression of BV Cab pointed out to me its primary style via microstructure. Now I love the nuances in a mature cab.

When you sip a wine, do you ever think of it in terms of gender?

Would you consider a voluptuous full-bodied pinot noir "feminine" or a bold, aggressive cabernet sauvignon "masculine?" Which of these two wine portraits portrays a soft wine?

I often think of gender in wine because of my sensory experiences and also from years of microscopic explorations of wine's innner structures.

Some wines, seen through the microscope show only rounded soft "feminine" forms, others are primarily angular and sharp. And of course, some wines have a balance of 'inner designs.'

My website SondraBarrett.comoffers information, images and products that show you this inner side of wine. Check out your visual favorites and see if your mind and mouth agree.