Fetzer Vineyards

I recently spent a day at Fetzer's Valley Oaks Farm in Mendocino County with celebrated chef John Ash. He joined Fetzer in 1990 as the winery's culinary director and has gained national prominence as a food and wine educator. Ash is a big proponent of using exquisite ingredients as simply as possible - in essence he says, "you gently put them together and let them do their magic." According to Ash, "Too many of today's chefs treat food with a heavy hand and try to put their personality or mark on the food. The chef is not the star, the food is. The chef's role is like being the stage manager of a play - help the stars get to their marks but don't interfere!" One of Ash's main roles at Fetzer is assessing ingredients and matching them to company wines. The resulting information appears on Fetzer labels and in winery presentations worldwide. For example, when serving the full-bodied, peppery Fetzer zinfandel, Ash suggests starting with a dish that is medium- to full-bodied. The acidity of the dish should be medium-high to match the wine. For this example, his preferred cooking methods would be braising, grilling or smoking. Plenty of base ingredients would be good choices: lamb, veal, beef, pork, chicken, sausage, duck or game hens. The key to the match is what Ash calls the "bridge ingredients." Those include tomatoes, mushrooms, olives, garlic, mint, rosemary and oregano. "It's the bridge ingredients that connect the food and wine through their interaction in flavour, body, intensity or basic taste," he says. If cheese is to be involved with the zin, he suggests it be parmesan, smoked gouda, dry jack, cheddar, buffalo or mozzarella. Fetzer wines have long been sold in B.C. Here's a look at some of the current offerings, along with some food pairing ideas courtesy of chef John Ash. The Echo Ridge Fumé Blanc is made with a mix of sauvignon fruit from Mendocino, Yolo, Lodi, Monterey, Lake County and Paso Robles regions, all fermented in stainless steel. The nose is a mix of smoky, mineral/grapefruit aromas, while its bell pepper and canned grapefruit flavours alternate between sweet and sour before finishing a bit skinny. (Serve with goat cheese, clams, game hens, cilantro.) The Sundial Chardonnay, named for the family's first vineyard, is all chardonnay, more than half of it coastal fruit picked in Monterey, Mendocino and Santa Barbara counties. It's elegant and creamy for the price, with citrus flavours built into its underlying theme of honey and ripe apple. (Ash suggests trying it with swiss cheese, lobster, duck or ginger.) Valley Oaks is Fetzer's flagship brand - the label's first zinfandel was released in 1968. The '99 version offers spicy blackberry fruit aromas and similar peppery, red fruit flavours. The wine spends 11 months in new and used oak to soften up, and it gets a splash of petite sirah to bolster its colour and structure. (Suggested food pairings are smoked gouda, squab, lamb and oregano.) The Barrel Select 1997 Zinfandel is a real treat. Leather, vanilla and oak aromas mark the nose of this round, warm red that's packed with blackberry jam and licorice fruit flavours. Rich and ready to drink, it has fine length and a persistent peppery fruit finish. (Serve with goat cheese, chicken, sausages, or dishes tinged with bay leaves.) The Valley Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon mixes earthy prune and blackberry aromas with flavours of tar, spice and menthol. It's soft, round and spicy, with a touch of oak. A solid red for the dinner table. (Camembert, pork and rosemary would all pair well with it.) Finally, the Barrel Select Cabernet Sauvignon is created from what winemaker John White calls a compilation of his "greatest vineyards." The '97 blends 40 per cent Napa fruit, 50 per cent Sonoma and 10 per cent Mendocino. I love its big, juicy fruit style, and the rich black-currant flavours. Good value at $19.95. (Gorgonzola cheese, duck, beef and basil would all be good matches.) Weekend Wine Tasting: Fetzer Vineyards, California Wine 2000 Echo Ridge Fumé Blanc Price $14.95 Stock No. 255448 Score 13.5/20 Remarks Smoky mineral/grapefruit flavours. Wine 2000 Sundial Chardonnay Price $15.95 Stock No. 291674 Score 14.5/20 Remarks Elegant, apple/honey fruit; well balanced. Wine Valley Oaks 1999 Zinfandel Price $15.95 Stock No. 234617 Score 14.5/20 Remarks Peppery red fruit and vanilla. Wine Barrel Select 1997 Zinfandel, Mendocino County Price $20.45 Stock No. 303636 Score 16/20 Remarks Ripe blackberry jam and licorice. Wine Valley Oaks 1998 Cabernet Sauvignon Price $16.95 Stock No. 336974 Score 14.5/20 Remarks Menthol/tarry cool fruit red. Wine Barrel Select 1997 Cabernet Sauvignon, North Coast Price $19.95 Stock No. 349746 Score 17/20 Remarks Delicious classic ripe black currants.