The March issue of the Wine Spectator touts 2006 Syrahs and singles out Margerum as "one of California's leading producers"!
Dining and Destinations Magazine, Spring 2009
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From the Wine Spectator - January 2009
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Wine Spectator touts the 2006
M5!
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A beautiful new book by Michele Carbone
That's Margerum wine on the cover and the forward is written by Doug Margerum
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Focusing on winemaking with Doug Margerum
Dennis Schaefer
November 6, 2008
Doug Margerum is one of the most well-known food and wine personalities in town. As the former owner of the Wine Cask restaurant and wine shop, he made many friends as host and raconteur. Since the sale of the restaurant complex, he has concentrated on winemaking under his Margerum Wine Company label as well as consulting for other vineyard and winery owners.
Certainly it wasn't a stretch for him. He has, over the years, tasted thousands of wines, visited great wine regions of the world and worked with Santa Barbara County vintners in crafting special Wine Cask cuvees for the restaurant. Putting together the restaurant's annual futures tasting, he's had many discussions with winemakers in their own cellars.
All these things, and many more that I've left out, have brought Mr. Margerum to this point. His Margerum Wine Company is focusing on Rhone-style red wines and eclectic whites. Some but not all wines are available at The Winehound, The Cheese Shop, Wine Cask, El Rancho Market in Santa Ynez and, in Solvang, Nielsen's Market and Tastes of the Valleys. Smaller bottlings are only available through the Web site, www.margerumwinecompany.com, with a nominal delivery fee. I recently tasted through many current releases and found them to be delicious and food friendly.
• Sauvignon Blanc, Sybarite 2007 ($19): Sybarite, from the Greek city of Sybaris, whose residents were known pleasure seekers, is the name for the most luxurious and, fittingly, pleasurable blend of sauvignon blanc that Mr. Margerum can produce. Indeed, the ripe fruit flavors are the hallmark of this wine but it turns remarkably complex on mid-palate, bright yet at the same time viscous, coating the mouth. Dry and crisp on the back end, it has great flavor persistence.
• Sauvignon Blanc, Vogelzang Vineyard 2007 ($30): While Sybarite shows off the winemaker's blending skills, this wine shows off the terroir of a particular and singular vineyard site. Plenty of bright fruit comes to the fore in this one, like capturing liquid sunlight in a bottle. The pervasive flavor is honeysuckle, though it's really deeper than that, more like honeycomb, mingled with other complex flavor elements. Akin to Brander Vineyard's (where Mr. Margerum once made his wines) Au Naturel bottling in style and substance.
• Pinot Gris, Alisos Vineyard 2007 ($19): Like all of the Margerum wines, this pinot gris is made with food and the dining table in mind. Ripe pear and lemon zest on the nose are followed by flavors of apple, pear and peach, along with an undercurrent of minerality. Great acidity is what makes this wine beg for food, but beyond that it has a great sense of lightness and balance, coupled with a broader sense of flavor depth just lurking under the surface. Frankly, this is perhaps the best pinot gris in California.
• Pinot Gris, Margerum Ranch, Washington State 2007 ($16): No, that's not a misprint. Mr. Margerum has a vineyard property in Washington and the grapes are trucked to the winery here. This one shows a lot of vibrant pear fruit; certainly more overtly fruity and sweet than the Alisos version. Pear, minerals and sea salt seem to be in the mix, resulting in a drink that is sweet and savory at the same time. With its long fermentation and spiny acidity, the wine is more like an Austrian Gruner Veltliner. And that's a beautiful thing.
• M5, Santa Barbara County 2006 ($28): M5 has always been my favorite Margerum wine, concocted from five Rhone varietals: grenache, counoise, mourvedre, cinsault and, of course, syrah. Actually, I often mistakenly call this wine "MC5," after the Detroit-based rock group (MC5 = Motor City 5) of the late 60s, whose rocking debut LP was called "Kick Out the Jams." Well, that's exactly what this wine does: it kicks it and then some, with the same rebellious spirit of MC5. Sweet, ripe fruit, both red and black, combine for a bombastic, high-tempered, full-bodied red wine that, like I said, will kick out the jams and give you immediate flavor gratification.
• Syrah, Uber, Santa Barbara County 2005 ($50): This is an intensified M5, but involving only syrah from the top vineyards Margerum works with; to add a further twist, the various vineyard syrahs are co-fermented. So, as each wave of vineyard picks come into the winery, they get dumped into the already fermenting bins. The result is a long and extended fermentation that extracts a total flavor panorama from the grapes. A wave of dark fruit and spice just washes over your palate, quite intense and concentrated, but still well-structured and balanced. Built to last, put this in the cellar for further flavor evolvement.
• Grenache, Santa Barbara County 2006 ($36): Normally Mr. Margerum does not bottle grenache separately -- it's used in the other blends -- but 2006 seemed like an exceptional year. Folks who love wine that pairs seamlessly with food will "get" this wine immediately. It's not dark, nor super-concentrated; in fact, it's almost Burgundian in nature with bright red fruit that's sweet and delicate with lively acidity. Not your father's grenache, this red wine is sleek and supple. Perfect for the table.
• Syrah, Purisima Mountain Vineyard 2006 ($40): Aromatically this syrah is still a bit tight, but it is showing its beauty with well-tuned flavors. Dark purple and plummy, this is very juicy, fruity and accessible, with some trailing chalk and vanilla as punctuation marks. It has precise focus, which is not at all at odds with its approachability; finely grained tannins and bright acidity help make this syrah a signature statement.
• Syrah, Colson Canyon Vineyard 2006 ($40): As much as the Purisima Mountain syrah is elegant, the Colson Canyon is its muscular counterpoint. Beefy, fruity and peppery on the nose, these aromatics just take flight from the glass. Dark plum fruit, along with bacon fat, shine like a jewel, while secondary flavors of sausage, roast beef and smoked meat bring on more flavor intrigue. The savoriness of the latter obviously suggests the food matchups. But fruit flavors are
at the heart of it and the meatiness brings out different but complementary flavors in this syrah.
