Many wineries source grapes from other vineyards and regions. Some don’t even have their own vineyards and produce amazing wines through innovative sourcing. Parsonage grows Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot on its 7-acre estate vineyard. So where does this Carmel Valley winery get its other varietals – or grapes to supplement in the 2016 Soberanes Fire vintage? From Chesebro’s Cedar Lane Vineyard in Arroyo Seco – a great alternative!
From Parsonage Wine: “Parsonage is a boutique, family-run vineyard and winery located in the heart of Carmel Valley. We produce big, bold, red wines at a small scale. We named our wine Parsonage because the Parsonage is where the Parson and his family live. We’d love to meet you on your next Carmel Valley wine tasting and are open Thursdays through Mondays by appointment.”
Inside and Outside the Parsonage Winery, April 2019
I’m presenting three wines which Parsonage sources from the Arroyo Seco AVA: the 2018 Grenache Rosé, the 2016 Grenache-Syrah, and their 2016 Cyrano Red Wine. We tasted these wines with friends as we helped Parsonage test out their reopening operations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Parsonage says they learned a lot from our trial run. 😊
2018 Parsonage Grenache Rosé – Light and Refreshing
From Parsonage Wine: “A perennial warm weather favorite. And a surprise to everyone who thinks they don’t like Rosé! Made with Grenache grapes. Refreshing and dry. We get raspberry and strawberry with back notes of spice and stone fruit. These elements play out on the palate with a delightful fullness and a crisp finish.”
My Review: The grapes for this wine comes from Mark Chesebro’s Cedar Lane vineyard in Arroyo Seco. Very light in color, almost golden. Peach and apricot – a very light and refreshing Rosé. June 2020
The Parsonage Grenache-Syrah has frequently been a favorite. The Parsonage Village Vineyard is quite small yet powerful. They grow no Grenache and, with the Soberanes fire in the summer of 2016, their Syrah also needed to be sourced from another AVA. Fortunately for us, their long-standing relationship with Mark Chesebro’s Cedar Lane Vineyard in Arroyo Seco provided them the capability to produce this vintage from a year that was extremely hard for Carmel Valley wineries. This wine is on their Premium Tasting list – a big wine to start with right off the bat.
This is a classic Southern Rhone wine from Parsonage Wines: “This easy drinker pairs nicely with cheese & crackers. We joke that we should re-name it the “universal donor” even though that isn’t the perfect analogy. But you get the gist of it – this wine seems to be universally loved, no matter what your favorite varietal is. 70 percent Grenache and 30 percent Syrah. Fully dry. Medium-bodied but rich. Notes of black, red and blue fruit with a hint of spice on the finish..”
My Review: Dark fruit and a bit of alcohol on the nose. Black tea, chai, white pepper and cinnamon on the palate. A bit brash, but we liked it. For a medium-bodied wine, it is a big one. Must be that 15% alcohol on top of the fruit. I re-tasted this wine in August and detected no brashness right out of the bottle – it was just a yummy wine. I need to get more of this vintage, if possible!! June 2020 and August 2020
Another Parsonage – this time an everyday wine and a favorite. For a long time, this wine was called “Snosrap” (Parsons spelled backwards). The label was a beautiful Mary Ellen Parsons quilt of Cyrano smelling a glass of wine. A marketing expert suggested they simply call this red blend “Cyrano.” Thus, the current naming of this wine.
From Parsonage Wine: “Our versatile red table wine easily pairs with a variety of different foods. We think it goes especially well with pizza and spaghetti with red sauce. This vintage is full bodied. A blend of 70% Merlot and 30% Syrah. Rich, ripe and voluptous. The Cyrano is one of our best sellers.”
My Review: Slight brownish tint, inky and “Camembert” on the nose. The palate is smooth with bold, intense fruit, with herbal notes. This vintage is particularly delicious. Recommending snapping up some – great wine at a value price.
Once we are on the other side of this fire emergency, you can obtain these wines directly from the winery: They offer flat rate ground shipping for $14.99. Join their wine club for 20% off. You can also visit their tasting room by appointment only in Carmel Valley Village (“the village”) Thursdays through Sundays, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. You can make a reservation from their home page:Parsonage Wine.
We discovered Mercy Vineyards when they opened a tasting room in Carmel Valley Village – they were the very first tasting room as you come into the village. We would often see the Mark Dirickson sitting out front with his lunch and a glass of white wine. All of their wines are from the Arroyo Seco AVA. Why? The dry, cobblestone (“Greenfield Potatoes”) riverbeds of granite and shale and the extreme climate of chilly winds and fog make it an ideal growing area for wine grapes.
The “Greenfield Potatoes” of the Ancient River Channel photo from Mercy Wines website
From Mercy Wines: “Monterey County’s Arroyo Seco AVA is many things: windblown, numbingly cold, fog laden, semi-arid, rock strewn, austerely beautiful. In essence, the perfect grape source for Mercy wines…the wines are sourced from three contiguous vineyards, all located in a specific part of the appellation – The Ancient River Channel…Found along the banks of a now seasonal creek, this unique riverbed corridor features ideal maritime climate with rocky, meager surface soil and hardpan just feet below ground. Low yields, unique soil attributes and meticulous farming combine to produce flavorful and distinct grapes. Grown in such a dramatic setting, the wines truly are at the Mercy of Mother Nature.” (The vineyards are Cedar Lane, Griva and Zabala.)
We were impressed from our first meeting with Mark and winemaker Mike Kohne, who were also running their nascent tasting room. They also were producing a dry Riesling, something not seen much around here. While most of their wines are Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays, they had me at Syrah – my favorite Mercy wines. I featured their 2017 Riesling at my Spring 2019 Washington Wine and Cheese Seminar (WWCS) class, and their 2016 Syrah in my Fall 2019 Northern Virginia AWS seminar. I had planned to presenting their Sauvignon Blanc and the 2016 Syrah at my 2020 Washington Wine and Cheese Seminar, which is on hold indefinitely. My DC friends got to consume those wines! And I have to say we are really enjoying their Pinot Noirs – it took the pandemic for me to realize I might actually like Pinot Noir!
The truly sad news is that Mercy Vineyards is now closed. Their website www.mercywines.com is still operational. We love these guys and are sorry to see them go.
Today I am presenting 7 of their wines – some tasted before I was writing my own tasting notes, some for which there is little-to-no published information. 6 of these were tasted during the Shelter in Place order. If you gotta stay home, drink good wine!
Aspiring to make a dry, old-world style Riesling, Mercy sourced Germanic clones from vines set in extremely rocky, low-yielding topsoil.
FromMercy Wines: “Fermented dry, with just the slightest touch of sweetness added back for texture, this “troken” style Riesling showcases aromas of orchard fruit as nectarine and pear notes mingle with honeysuckle, fennel, pollen and minerals in the bouquet.”
2017 Mercy Sauvignon Blanc Zabala Vineyard, 13.8% ABV, $24
I needed a good white to cook with in April and, since we bought this wine for half price, I didn’t feel too bad cooking with it – and even got to enjoy some with my meal. Just like many Mercy wines, this one is from the Zabala Vineyard – man, that place produces great fruit. I’m going to have to lean on my friends to find out which other wineries buy from Zabala or get to know the grower.
2017 Mercy Sauvignon Blanc Zabala Vineyard
From Mercy Wines: “This Sauvignon Blanc is comprised exclusively of the low-yielding, Musque clone (FPS 27) from vines at the Zabala Vineyard. Set in the Arroyo Seco AVA’s ancient river channel the property’s locale features granitic topsoil arrayed on cobblestone beds. Such meager soil further diminishes yields and in concert with strong winds and dense fog combine to provide an environment ideal for compelling fruit.
“Hand-harvested in early September 2017, the Sauvignon Blanc grapes were crushed into stainless steel for fermentation. Racked to small mueller, steel barrels the wine aged for 6 months until being bottled on April 26, 2018. Innately racy, the straw colored wine features a bouquet with exotic aromas of melon, pineapple and star fruit, as well as lemon blossom, fresh cut hay and mineral characters. Replete with acidity, this aromatic wine has, due to the clone, a nice weight while remaining bright and refreshing.”
In the spirit of creating some isolation fun, Charlie decided we would taste this wine blind – he poured me a glass and made me guess what it was. This was a big red with a spicy bouquet. Zinfandel!Nope. Joullian Retro Rouge? Nope. He confirmed it was a Monterey wine. Then he said that it is not one of my favorites – which jumped me to Pinot Noir! I guessed based on its heft that it must be the Parsonage Hawk Reserve Pinot Noir! Wrong again – close, but no cigar.
On one of our 3 trips to Mercy in February 2020, the tasting room was boasting it had found these 2012 Pinot Noirs from the Arroyo Seco AVA, tucked away at the winery. They let us taste it and we bought a bunch.
2012 Mercy Pinot Noir Zabala Vineyard
This is a full-bodied Pinot Noir, once again a wine hailing from the fabulous Zabala Vineyard. The label describes this wine as follows: “Wind blown, Zabala Vineyard bears the brunt of regional maritime elements. This small-lot Pinot Noir hails from the “South Pointe”, a section of vineyard blocks nearest the seasonal creek. From this rocky locale, Mercy sources “Dijon” clones 115 and 667, as well as a touch of Pommard clone.”
From Mercy Wines: “A barrel selection of nine distinct barrels, this wine showcases the dense, juicy berry-nature of Pinot Noir grown on the Zabala ranch. Aromas of black berries and cherry mingle with notes baking spices, violets and earthy-mineral tones. Richly textured, firm tannins enhance the fruit flavors on the palate and melt away as part of the long finish.”
If I could get my hands on more of this, I would. We had this wine for Sunday night dinner with steak and a flavorful barley risotto. It was a fabulous combo. It is making me re-think my views on Pinot Noir!
2014 Mercy Pinot Noir, Cedar Lane Vineyard, 14.4% ABV, $32(Outbreak Wine #120)
About Cedar Lane Vineyard from Mercy Wines: “Located against and somewhat sheltered by a natural bench, a 40-foot palisade of bedrock along its northern border, this 60-acre vineyard is owned by Mark Chesebro and farmed by Michael Griva. Found at the base of the Santa Lucia Mountains the sand as well as shale and granite cobblestone topsoil are meager with little nutrients, ultimately helping to diminish yields. The vineyard is planted to multiple varietals, including 7 different clones of Pinot Noir of which Mercy Vineyards sources two (“Pommard” clone 4 and clone 667).”
2014 Mercy Pinot Noir, Cedar Lane Vineyard
Wine Enthusiast rated this wine 89 points: “Concentrated lavender and incense aromas make for a woody perfume on the nose of this appellation blend, giving lots of character to the core of cherry syrup. The palate shows the same levels of intense incense and purple flowers, which nearly overpowers the cranberry and pomegranate fruits.” Matt Kettmann October 2017
My Review: Beautiful crystalized cork. This wine has a dark robe, slightly brownish. Musty, blackberry with cedar notes on the nose. A palate of blackberry, cherry and a little leather, giving a slightly bitter finish – perhaps a little raisin. This is a very rich and full-bodied Pinot Noir. I do like my wines made from Cedar Lane grapes! August 2020
My Review: We tasted this wine last after a series of big wines – I did not capture good tasting notes. Very dark in color, this wine has lost some of its fruit and beyond its prime. Nevertheless, it was a terrific wine.
According to their website, “Mercy sources three clones from the Zabala family (clone 7 an Aussie Shiraz clone, and two French ENTAV clones 470 and 877). All get co-fermented in small open top bins and ultimately the wine spent 18 months in French oak barrels (11% new) prior to bottling.”
2012 Mercy Syrah Zabala Vineyard
Wine Enthusiast gave it 93 points with this review: “Ripe and plump blackberries shine through in a showcase of fruit purity, lifted by dried fennel, hot black gravel, peppercorns, toasted sesame and soy. There is tremendous structure and acidity on the sip, with black pepper and black-sesame nuance plus juicy boysenberry character to the midpalate.”
My Review: Almost 4 years later, this wine is drinking beautifully – blackberry and mocha with a touch of spice, full and smooth on the palate. Yum. Tasted March 2020
I presented this wine at the October 2019 Northern Virginia AWS class as a compare and contrast of wines from the same 2016 vintage, different AVAs, to show how the Soberanes Fire affected wines from Carmel Valley but not from the other Monterey County AVAs.
Regarding the 2016 Riverbed Syrah from Mercy Wines: “The progeny of grapevines located in the ancient, dried riverbed corridor of the Arroyo Seco AVA. This wine combines fruit from vines set in meager, nutrient-deficient topsoil which feature cobblestone beds of granite and shale. In addition to the distinct and finite terrain, the riverbed channel location is also is noted for its extreme climate as forceful winds and dense fog persist throughout the growing season. All these factors combine to create a distinct environment that is suited for Rhone varieties.
2016 Mercy Syrah Riverbed – the Last Release and a Great One
“Harvest in late October the grapes were transported to the winery in the early morning. At the winery the fruit was crushed with the ‘must’ racked to small bins for fermentation. Once dry, the wine was pressed off and transferred to neutral (1 and 2 year old) French oak barrels. Ultimately, it was aged 20 months before being bottled. The resulting wine shows aromas of juicy late-summer plum, cherry, lavender, sagebrush and holiday spices.”
My Review: Raspberry, blackberry and cassis on the nose. An explosion of berry and cassis on the palate, and a lingering finish. Smooth and delicious. May 2020
Billowing Smoke from the Carmel Fire Photo Courtesy of Deborah Stern
Over this past week, one fire after the other has sparked in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties, turning our sunny blue skies into a creepy gray and orange. Things are not normal. When the River Fire started burning this past Sunday, my first thought was our Santa Lucia Highland and Monterey AVA grapes all the way down the River Road Wine Trail. Alert after alert about residences being evacuated made this much more concerning and real – lives and homes at stake. When the Carmel Fire down east of Cachagua broke out on Tuesday, my worry turned to all my favorite Cachagua vintners – which I had just talked about in this blog. And to my friends who live in the valley. This fire goes well beyond smoke taint as residents, including our vintner friends, are evacuating and their wineries are being threatened of destruction. And then there is the Bonny Doon Fire up in Santa Cruz, with its evacuees sheltering in my little town and its smoke turning our skies so strange, with our sun at times appearing red. These fire threaten more than a single vintage – they threaten residences – including vintners and their families, entire vineyards, wineries, inventory, and years of production. Let us hope they can be contained.
Carmel Valley Smokey Sunset Photo Courtesy of Deborah Stern
I had planned to take a moment out of regular wine reviews to talk about what happens when things don’t go right. But I wasn’t expecting them to go so devastatingly badly. This is a retrospective of the impact of fire and smoke of what happened to wine production when the Soberanes fire hit Big Sur in 2016. What happened in 2016 will now look like a blip compared to what I expect will be the damage from these August 2020 fires. I only know of one winery which sustained direct fire damage from the 2016 Soberanes Fire.
The 2016 Soberanes Fire started in July from an illegal campfire, before the grapes were fully mature, but it kept going through October, growing to a 90,000-acre fire. The smoke from this fire was intense throughout the region, but only a single Monterey County AVA suffered the smoke damage – Carmel Valley AVA. I became obsessed with learning more about the impact of this fire and what steps my usual wineries took as a result.
First, I had to discover why just Carmel Valley. After much research, I came up with 2 primary reasons. First, the location, with Carmel Valley just north of the fire. Second, the Monterey Bay’s 2-mile deep Submarine Canyon. The winds off the Monterey Bay are stronger in the other AVAs, as it goes swooping down the Salinas Valley all the way down and throughout even the most southern AVAs. Those winds just lightly creep into Carmel Valley.
What did the Carmel Valley wineries do? Many wineries tossed their fruit, some bottled it anyway to capture the unique flavors, some blended smoke tainted juice with juice from another AVA and changed their maturation techniques, some only offer their smokey wine if you inquire about it in the tasting room and refuse to sell it if you haven’t tasted it – know what you are buying, or they instead sourced grapes from one of the other AVAs.
I presented a class for the Northern Virginia American Wine Society last fall and I challenged them to identify what was so different between two 2016 Syrahs – same vintage, different Monterey AVAs: one from Arroyo Seco and one from Carmel Valley. I didn’t tell them about the fire. There were a lot of guesses around the room, but only Chris Pearmund, the owner/vintner of Pearmund Cellars, guessed right: smoke.
The wines aren’t ruined – they are interesting, different. A high-quality smoke tainted wine can still be a very good wine. And sometimes only a discerning palate will figure out it is smoke taint. They are surprised I can detect it on the nose or palate, saying I am especially sensitive to it – but maybe it is simply because I know it is there. Some wines might taste a little like ham hock, while others might leave a stronger aftertaste of smoke or ash. It doesn’t dissipate over time – it will never truly go away. And you might appreciate the wine because it represents a moment in time when things didn’t go right, yet the winery had the guts to produce it anyway.
As an example, we were consumers of the Bernardus Marinus 2008 because it was special. And Parsonage boldly made their 2016 wines – either sourcing fruit differently, blending it, or maturing it in neutral oak. Sometimes when I taste their 2016 Rocco Reserve Syrah, I notice it more – as if you are at a camp fire, roasting S’Mores. Recently, we decanted the Rocco and barely detected any smoke taint at all – just its usual deliciousness. And smoke taint is barely detectible – sometimes not detectible at all – in their 2016 Tanner Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon.
Clever winemaking techniques saved these precious 2016 Parsonage Reserves
My advice is be an educated consumer – know which vintage you are drinking and which AVA your grapes are coming from if you are looking at wines from a region affected by fire. Read the reviews, taste before buying if you can, and figure out for yourself if you like it or not. It is all subjective!
The tasting rooms throughout the valley were just recovering from the lack of 2016 wines to pour to guests. They were just starting to roll out their post-fire wines when they were shut down for COVID and some later reopened on an outdoor tasting/curbside pickup basis only. While there is never a good time for a devastating fire like this, I can’t think of a worse time. I believe everything in Carmel Valley Village and River Road down to Arroyo Seco is shut down right now. Give our vintners some space and let’s hope and pray not everything is destroyed.
Reviews of Parsonage Estate Reserve 2016 Rocco Syrah, 2016 Tanner Cabernet Sauvignon, and 2017 Hawk Pinot Noir
I’m going to take us north from Cachagua to talk about a few wineries we “discovered” with vineyards just south of Carmel Valley Village. I’ll come back to Cachagua in a few posts.
We discovered Parsonage during one of our wine tasting outings to Carmel Valley many years ago. During that time, it seemed every time we came to the valley, there were new wineries and tasting rooms popping up. We were at Joullian Vineyards and asked where else we should taste. The tasting room manager made a call to Parsonage’s winemaker, Frank Melicia, who wanted to ensure we were serious wine buyers before he’d let us come up to the winery. And thusly began a beautiful relationship!
Bill and Mary Parsons planted the seven-acre Parsonage Village Vineyard in June 1998, with their first harvest in 2000. According to Parsonage, the vineyard is planted to 3 ½ acres of Syrah, 2 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon, 1 acre of Merlot and 1/2 acre of Petit Verdot. Starting at a meager 200 cases back in 2000, annual production today is in the 1500-2000 case range. The Parsons were the first to plant Syrah in Carmel Valley and their wines are the reason I am now a big Syrah fan.
Parsonage has made five estate reserve wines: Bixby (Petit Verdot), Dario (Merlot), Hawk (Pinot Noir), Rocco (Syrah), Tanner (Cabernet Sauvignon), and Xandro (Red Blend). Their reserve wines are named for Bill and Mary’s grandchildren. Mary’s exquisite quilts are featured on the labels and in the tasting room (you can view them on their website).
Glicee prints of Mary Parsons’s intricate quilts in their tasting room!
Two of these reviews are of 2016 wines. In the summer of 2016, the Soberanes Fire burned for months south of Carmel Valley. The smoke from that fire affected the grapes in the Carmel Valley AVA. I’ll do a longer piece on the Soberanes Fire in a future blog, as its impact was significant.
Parsonage says this about the 2016 Rocco: “This is our flagship wine and what we’re known for. It’s what our dinner guests ask for when they come to visit. The Rocco is a big red wine to pair with steak or anything grilled or barbecued. We get brambleberry, grilled game, mocha, umami and spice. This wine is delicious now but could be aged for years and years.” 150 cases were produced. All neutral oak was used to mitigate smokiness – brilliant.
My Review: We detected a little tar on the nose with ham hock and charcoal on the palate “in a good way – like S’Mores”. This wine has a lot of fruit – it’s like you are sitting around a campfire with a mouthful of sweetness and tart. The wine seems to work with the smokiness, making it part of its richness, not an offensive aftertaste. In July 2020, we decanted this wine and enjoyed it even more – much smoother and even less ham hock. As my husband says, a Rocco Syrah, even from the Soberanes Fire year, is still one of the most delicious Carmel Valley wines. June/July 2020
I presented this wine at my Fall 2019 Northern Virginia AWS as a compare and contrast of a Carmel Valley 2016 wine with one from another Monterey County AVA. I didn’t tell them about the smoke and I asked them what they tasted different in this wine. There were many guesses before the owner of Pearmund Winery guessed smoke.
According to Parsonage: “This Cabernet Sauvignon is a burly beast of a wine and the fastest selling vintage we’ve ever made. When folks try it, they buy it. The nose is full of dark fruit with hints of barrel toast. The palate is full of blackberry, black cherry, and tobacco leaf. Nicely integrated tannins and a long finish. We aren’t fancy and like to pair it with a burger.” 100% Cabernet Sauvignon.
My Review: Glass-coating rich, this wine had a little sulphur and green olive on the nose, followed by umami flavors of pepperoni dipped in a good marinade. Very robust and delicious Cabernet Sauvignon. Little to no detection of smoke taint, despite the 2016 vintage. June 2020
From Parsonage: “A magnificent expression of the varietal character of Pinot Noir California style. All of the beautiful floral spice found in its elegant sibling (the Estate Pinot) but with black cherry and black raspberry and Darjeeling muscatel notes in a bigger, richer, fuller version with an extra dollop of yum. The Hawk is truly high viscosity Pinot on steroids.” Aged in new oak for ~12 months.
My Review: Very berry on the nose. More structure than the Estate Pinot Noir, yet smoother. Intense berry, black tea and a bit of tobacco on the palate. The Hawk is a delicious Pinot Noir enjoyed and highly regarded even by my Burgundy fanatic relatives. June 2020
You can obtain their wines directly from the winery: They offer flat rate ground shipping for $14.99. Join their wine club for 20% off.
Photo courtesy of Parsonage
Parsonage has moved all tastings outdoors on their genius parklet!
You can also visit their tasting room by appointment only in Carmel Valley Village Thursdays through Monday, 12-5 p.m. You can make a reservation from their home page here.
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