Lunch with Ted Seghesio

I was exceedingly excited about my opportunity to have lunch this week with the current wine-making scion of one of California’s oldest wine families: Ted Seghesio.  Descended from a line of piemonte vintners, the Seghesio’s California holdings were established in 1902, after years of hard work by the original wine-maker, Edoardo Seghesio.  Today, Seghesio occupies a position at the forefront of Sonoma Valley’s wine world.  Seghesio wines can now be found in 43 countries, with a case or two rumoured to have even made it into the oft-neglected hands of the Belarussians.  As if that were not enough, their 2007 Sonoma County Zinfandel was listed at number 10 on Wine Spectator’s 2008 edition of the Top 100 Wines of the World.  It is this most recent success that drove Ted Seghesio away from his wine-making for a trip to the east coast with an eye towards keeping the good press rolling.

Zinfandel is not a grape that receives much attention from wine geeks, excepting those who wish to slam it.  It has become largely synonymous with the American style of wine production and consumption.  For all that they can be fun to drink, (especially given their proclivity towards a high alcohol content) zinfandel-derived wines tend to suggest a John Wayne-like quality in their gait: ponderous and bow-leggedly unbalanced.

The Seghesio zinfandels are all excellent.  The quality of fruit, (some of the family’s vines are well over 100 years old), is exceptional and Ted’s attention to the details of vinifying this most American of grapes is meticulous.  I was particularly fond of the Home Ranch Zinfandel out of Alexander Valley.  The early morning fog off of the Russian River affords a completeness in the fruit’s ripening that many of California’s producers never achieve in their zin.  All of Seghesio’s zins revel in their blackberry-hued richness, and though several of them are perhaps a bit youthful in nature, that is only because their overwhelming popularity demands something of a rushed release.  For the lunch, Mr. Seghesio also brought with him some of his italian varietal bottlings.  Keep yours eyes peeled for his barbera and sangiovese offerings, they should be in the store soon.

The winemaker himself was approachable and forthcoming, though I myself had to overcome his uncannily literal resemblance to my great-uncle Calvin. He also succeeded in affirming my long-running theory that all winemakers love to discuss beer.  I recommend bringing some tongue-searingly hoppy beer with you should you ever visit the Seghesio’s compound in Healdsburg, CA.

None of the Seghesio bottlings are wines to be ignored, but some of them come in at relatively cost-prohibitive pricings.  At $25 the Sonoma County Zin is not the most inexpensive wine out there, but it’s also a pretty great value for a Top 100 wine.  Buy it soon though, it won’t be in stock forever.

J.

Tags: America, American Red, Caliornia Red, Red Wine, Seghesio, Zinfandel
Category: The Wine Blog