November 3rd at Solano Cellars
5-8pm (last call 7:45)
*No reservations necessary
No one paints with broader strokes than a wine drinker dunking on the state of California wines: "They're too ripe, hammered by oak, expressionless personality vacuums marketed and sold by tech executives." Are those sweeping generalizations true? Of course not, though a generation of drinkers scarred by the Rombauers and Silver Oaks of the world can be forgiven for their cynicism. Ultimately, the question is this: In a state marked by diverse microclimates and wide-ranging terroir, how were producers making wines so completely devoid of personality and sense of place for so many years?
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It's a question that Matt Licklider asked often, one that spawned a "6-year conversation" that ultimately prompted the founding of Lioco in 2005, where he would aim to strip wines of artifice and cellar manipulation, allowing them to be entirely reflective of their origins. Pinot Noir and Chardonnay would be the focus, but unlike other producers with a similar ethos, Licklider never endeavored to make "Burgundian-style" wine; he set out to make California wine, from some of the most vaunted sites in the state.
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On Friday, we'll have Matt (and our friend Marlene Raderman!) at the bar showcasing the very best of these minimalist wines—Chardonnay from a low-yielding, rugged vineyard in the far reaches of the Russian River; Valdiguie from a historic Prohibition-era vineyard in Redwood Valley; single Pinot Noirs from the iconic Kiser vineyard, an extremely cool site in the far northwestern corner of Anderson Valley’s “Deep End,” and from the marine soils of the Saveria vineyard, just 4.5 miles from the coast in the Santa Cruz Mountains. (We might even have a library pour from one of the greatest old-vine Chardonnay sites in Northern California, one that has sadly since been ripped out.) Lioco is a love letter to California, one that's well deserved and long overdue.
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Flight of 6 wines for $30 ($20 for club members)
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*No reservations necessary