Pahrump Valley Winery, Pahrump Nevada
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our_daily_vinoA few weekends ago, the Dear Husband (DH) and our friends Rob and Drea paid a visit to Nevada's oldest winery, Pahrump Valley Winery, founded in 1990. (As an aside, one of the peculiarities of Nevada State Law is that while grapes can be grown in any county, only counties with less than 100,000 people can have wineries.)
For many years, PVW was something of a big joke. The first vines planted around the winery? Destroyed in 1993 when a herd of wild Mustangs trampled them. (The vines were replanted, but mostly just kept for decoration. They weren't actually harvested until 2005, but more about that below the cut.) The wine? Made 100% with grapes and juice imported from California? Eh, at best and bleargh! at the worst.
In 2003 as part of helping out a family member with a real estate deal, the current owners, Bill and Gretchen Loken (who had zero previous winemaking experience) took over and discovered that they liked running the winery and making wine. So much so that they bought it outright in 2005.
And Gretchen turned out to be pretty damn good at making wine, but more about that below the cut.
Gretchen likes to joke that PVW is "The best California Winery in Nevada."
Dry Whites
2007 Chardonnay (Lodi) -- Pale gold, grapefruit, green apples, with a softly toasty finish. (DH bought a bottle.)
Dry Reds
2006 Pinot Noir (Willamette Valley) -- Pale red, light body, floral nose. Very tart, almost sour. Cherry and strawberry flavors. (This was the wine I liked the least.)
2006 Merlot (Napa) -- Rich ruby color, blackberry and currant nose, that classic middle "green" note, and a long, velvety, dark chocolately finish. (We got a bottle of this wine to go with lunch.)
2005 Cabernet Sauvignon (Monterey) -- Nice dark ruby, a smoky note on the nose and then it tasted like dry raspberry cider with some currants coming in on the back end. Not rough or unpleasantly bitter at all. I've never had a Cab taste so fruity or so very much like raspberries. (I bought a bottle.)
2005 Syrah (Paso Robles) -- I got to taste this at UNLVino and was really happy to see that PVW had bottles of it still in stock. Dark, a very fragrant nose, full of the classic blue-black flavors, smooth and lush, and the finish wasn't peppery, but tasted like mocha.
Off dry to Sweet
2008 Riesling (Bishop, CA) -- Woot! Grapes grown on the east side of the Sierra in the (rain) shadow of the "Fourteeners" of the High Sierra. Pale gold, floral nose, and it's a semi-sweet mouth full of peaches and oranges, with a very long green apple finish.
2008 Symphony -- Palest gold. Nose of honeysuckle and jasmine. A light, sweet wine that's an alternative to Moscato. Less honeyed than a Moscato, it tastes like honeysuckle and peaches, not apricots. (I bought a bottle of this home and served it with a cheesecake.)
Desert Blush -- The sweetest wine they have. A light pink in the glass. Sweet fruity nose. Sweet strawberries, peaches, nectarines. (Too sweet for my palate unless served as a lite bodied dessert wine.)
Burgundy -- Off-dry. The nose is grapey. The color is medium red. The taste is sweet-tart cherries, the body is Pinot Noir light, and it's best served slightly chilled. It's aged in steel, but there are just enough tannins to give a backbone so it's not cloying.
Fortified
Creme Sherry -- The grape varietal is mostly palomino and it's aged 4 years in the barrel. Buttery walnuts, a brandy note, and a long toasty finish. Intensely sweet. (Best served over some vanilla icecream, IMHO.)
-----
The previously decorative vines out in front of the winery are actually Zinfandel, and in 2005, they were harvested and made into the first commercial red wine grown from Nevada grapes. And, having been lucky enough to have tasted a glass at UNLVino, it was some damn good wine. But don't just take my word for it.
It won a gold medal as the best red at the Pacific Rim wine competition.
In fact, since the Lokens have taken over, they've been racking up the medals with their wines.
PVW is really a boutique operation: you're looking at almost all of the wine. Since the Lokens have taken over, they've started aging wines in oak. The barrels are a mixture of French and American oak.
This is Gretchen with the one bottling machine they have.
The Lokens are expanding the vineyards:
I think these are Zin or Syrah grapes. The climate being so hot and sunny in NV, they plant the rows only 5 feet apart so that the vines can shade each other.
This year's Zinfandel crop, already on the vine. In addition to planting the vines closer, they also want them to have somewhat bushy tops so the heat of the summer sun doesn't turn them into raisins on the vine.
For many years, PVW was something of a big joke. The first vines planted around the winery? Destroyed in 1993 when a herd of wild Mustangs trampled them. (The vines were replanted, but mostly just kept for decoration. They weren't actually harvested until 2005, but more about that below the cut.) The wine? Made 100% with grapes and juice imported from California? Eh, at best and bleargh! at the worst.
In 2003 as part of helping out a family member with a real estate deal, the current owners, Bill and Gretchen Loken (who had zero previous winemaking experience) took over and discovered that they liked running the winery and making wine. So much so that they bought it outright in 2005.
And Gretchen turned out to be pretty damn good at making wine, but more about that below the cut.
Gretchen likes to joke that PVW is "The best California Winery in Nevada."
Dry Whites
2007 Chardonnay (Lodi) -- Pale gold, grapefruit, green apples, with a softly toasty finish. (DH bought a bottle.)
Dry Reds
2006 Pinot Noir (Willamette Valley) -- Pale red, light body, floral nose. Very tart, almost sour. Cherry and strawberry flavors. (This was the wine I liked the least.)
2006 Merlot (Napa) -- Rich ruby color, blackberry and currant nose, that classic middle "green" note, and a long, velvety, dark chocolately finish. (We got a bottle of this wine to go with lunch.)
2005 Cabernet Sauvignon (Monterey) -- Nice dark ruby, a smoky note on the nose and then it tasted like dry raspberry cider with some currants coming in on the back end. Not rough or unpleasantly bitter at all. I've never had a Cab taste so fruity or so very much like raspberries. (I bought a bottle.)
2005 Syrah (Paso Robles) -- I got to taste this at UNLVino and was really happy to see that PVW had bottles of it still in stock. Dark, a very fragrant nose, full of the classic blue-black flavors, smooth and lush, and the finish wasn't peppery, but tasted like mocha.
Off dry to Sweet
2008 Riesling (Bishop, CA) -- Woot! Grapes grown on the east side of the Sierra in the (rain) shadow of the "Fourteeners" of the High Sierra. Pale gold, floral nose, and it's a semi-sweet mouth full of peaches and oranges, with a very long green apple finish.
2008 Symphony -- Palest gold. Nose of honeysuckle and jasmine. A light, sweet wine that's an alternative to Moscato. Less honeyed than a Moscato, it tastes like honeysuckle and peaches, not apricots. (I bought a bottle of this home and served it with a cheesecake.)
Desert Blush -- The sweetest wine they have. A light pink in the glass. Sweet fruity nose. Sweet strawberries, peaches, nectarines. (Too sweet for my palate unless served as a lite bodied dessert wine.)
Burgundy -- Off-dry. The nose is grapey. The color is medium red. The taste is sweet-tart cherries, the body is Pinot Noir light, and it's best served slightly chilled. It's aged in steel, but there are just enough tannins to give a backbone so it's not cloying.
Fortified
Creme Sherry -- The grape varietal is mostly palomino and it's aged 4 years in the barrel. Buttery walnuts, a brandy note, and a long toasty finish. Intensely sweet. (Best served over some vanilla icecream, IMHO.)
-----
The previously decorative vines out in front of the winery are actually Zinfandel, and in 2005, they were harvested and made into the first commercial red wine grown from Nevada grapes. And, having been lucky enough to have tasted a glass at UNLVino, it was some damn good wine. But don't just take my word for it.
It won a gold medal as the best red at the Pacific Rim wine competition.
In fact, since the Lokens have taken over, they've been racking up the medals with their wines.
PVW is really a boutique operation: you're looking at almost all of the wine. Since the Lokens have taken over, they've started aging wines in oak. The barrels are a mixture of French and American oak.
This is Gretchen with the one bottling machine they have.
The Lokens are expanding the vineyards:
I think these are Zin or Syrah grapes. The climate being so hot and sunny in NV, they plant the rows only 5 feet apart so that the vines can shade each other.
This year's Zinfandel crop, already on the vine. In addition to planting the vines closer, they also want them to have somewhat bushy tops so the heat of the summer sun doesn't turn them into raisins on the vine.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-12 06:43 pm (UTC)