Sorry, The Wine Spies doesn't support Internet Explorer anymore. Please use a newer browser to continue browsing our wine collections.
What We Say 2006 Pinot Noir, Russian River Estate
FREE SHIPPING ALERT!:
Subscribe to our Daily Dispatch (above) and you’ll always know what our Top Secret coupon code of the day is. Every day we issue a new members-only code that entitles you to Free Ground Shipping and, sometimes, even added discounts!
SUPERIOR WINE ALERT!:
Today’s wine deserves special recognition as a great wine with a fantastic QPR – delivering a great drinking experience – beyond its price
Mission Codename: Circa 1896
Operative: Agent Red
Objective: Return to Foppiano and secure their newest Pinot Noir for our Operatives
Mission Status: Accomplished!
Current Winery: Foppiano Vineyards
Wine Subject: 2006 Pinot Noir
Winemaker: Natalie West
Backgrounder: Since our first visit to Foppiano Vineyards earlier this year, our Operatives have been clamoring for another fantastic Foppiano wine – specifically, their stellar Pinot Noir. Agent Red was dispatched, once again, and he returned with a tidy supply for their Pinot, just in time for your holiday gatherings! Read Agent Red’s tasting notes and mission report below
Wine Spies Tasting Profile:
Look – Ruby red to garnet with great clarity and sparkling purple edges, with a tight surface and thin, tightly-spaced legs
Smell – Deep and warm aromatics of fresh cherry and raspberry, backed up by dark mixed fruits, with subtle gunpowder and hints of creamy vanilla honey, soft spice of nutmeg and clove, plus earth and the softest hint of dried meats
Feel – Soft, light and dry at first, then slightly mouthcoating and the medium tannins appear
Taste – Rich and dark, with concentrated flavors of cherry, raspberry, mocha, clove, pepper, cinnamon and zest with a complex minerality
Finish – Long and lush with flavors that change from one to another as they tail off slowly
Conclusion – Another impressive Foppiano wine that reinforces the winery’s position as one of the premier Sonoma County wineries. Crisp, dry and bright, this wine drinks slightly more Burgundian than Californian, in that its character is more earthy than fruity. That’s not to say that there is not greet fruit present here – there is, and it is delicious. If you are looking for a wine that will pair with even more complicated foods – such as Asian cuisine – this is one to consider. At a recent meeting of the spies, we enjoyed this wine with a crunchy-crust pizza made with Gorgonzola, sun dried tomato, fresh basil and thinly sliced tri-tip steak! This dish, with its big flavors might tend to overpower a more delicate wine, but this wine shone through beautifully. I hope that you enjoy this wine as much as we here at Wine Spies H.Q. did.
Mission Recap:
What follows, for your benefit, is a retransmission of our initial mission report, in which Agent Red describes how difficult it was to infiltrate Foppiano Vineyards:
Sometimes penetrating a winery can be extremely difficult. This cab be particularly frustrating when the winery in question is holding on to some fantastic goods.
In extreme cases, we have had to resort to rather dastardly tactics. Such was the case with Foppiano Vineyards, where we had to place our own sleeper within the organization. Compound the difficulty with the fact that this sleeper didn’t even know he was our creation. He had no idea that he was even working for us.
In order to pull off this remarkable feat of subterfuge, I called upon one of my best assets, wine industry veteran Agent Smith. You’ll recall from previous missions that Smith has worked in the most parts of the biz.
I expressed to Smith the frustration over my lack of success with Foppiano. Immediately, he hatched a plan! Weeks later he directed an asset of his own to interview for a newly created position at Foppiano. How this senior position came into existence I did not ask, but the asset – codename: Afterburner – was hired on the spot.
From there, it was just a simple matter of waiting while Afterburner got up to speed in his new position at the winery. Once he found his legs, Agent Smith put in a call and I had my meeting! A few days later and I had secured today’s incredible Foppiano wine.
Wine Spies Vineyard Check:
The location of the Foppiano Winery and Vineyards can be seen in this satellite photo.
What the Winery Says
Foppiano Vineyards
More than 100 years after its founding, Foppiano Vineyards continues to do what it did at its outset: create outstanding red wines with genuine varietal character on its 200-acre Russian River Valley estate. This tradition is the foundation of and the future for the Foppiano family’s commitment to their second century of excellence.
About This Wine:
The 2006 Estate Russian River Pinot Noir has upfront floral aromas of fresh cherry and raspberry. A hint of leather and smoke mid-bouquet with an elegant finish of vanilla cream and essence of honey. Palate follows nose with more rich red fruit flavors. Full of cherry cobbler and raspberry jam with an added suggestion of sweet spices; nutmeg and clove. Mellow toasty oak in the long and fruity finish with trailing white pepper.
Serve with: Pair with grilled lamb chops basted in a sesame garlic honey glaze, serve over sweet potato mashers and a side of steamed green beans.
About The Winery:
More than 100 years after its founding, Foppiano Vineyards continues to do what it did at its outset: create outstanding red wines with genuine varietal character on its 200-acre Russian River Valley estate. This tradition is the foundation of and the future for the Foppiano family’s commitment to their second century of excellence.
Foppiano Vineyards was founded in 1896 by Giovanni Foppiano, a native of Genoa, Italy. Giovanni emigrated from Italy to San Francisco in 1864, walking across the isthmus of Panama en route. He hoped to find his riches in the gold fields of California. It was Giovanni who founded Foppiano Vineyards after moving to Healdsburg, California when his search for gold proved to be unrewarding. He purchased a working winery called “Riverside Farm” on the same land where today’s Foppiano Vineyards still stands and operates.
Giovanni was joined in his winemaking pursuits by his son, Louis A. Foppiano. Together they worked the vineyards and developed a market for their wines among the local Italian families and in San Francisco’s Italian North Beach District. Over the years, the founding Foppiano and his son began to deviate from their common vision on how the winery should be managed. In 1910, Louis A. purchased the family winery from his father. The father and son did not speak to each other again until just before the founder’s death.
For the next eight years, Louis A., along with his wife Mathilda, built Foppiano Vineyards into one of the area’s most prosperous wineries, and the Foppiano name became among the most prominent in Healdsburg. Among the varieties planted on the estate was Petite Sirah, a grape which produced hearty, rich, deep reds; the kind of wine Foppiano Vineyards’ customers demanded. Other varieties were planted, but at the time the wines were not identified by the variety in the bottle. It was simply Foppiano’s renowned wines which customers desired.
Go East, Young Grape! – The demand for wine dried up in 1919, when the Volstead Act and Prohibition went into effect. Louis A. kept the family business going by farming prunes, apples, and pears for the local market. Louis A. continued to grow wine grapes and took part in the wine grape boom. The Volstead Act allowed individuals to make 200 gallons of their own homemade wine. The result was tremendous numbers of refrigerated rail cars heading east loaded with grapes. The price of grapes increased, which helped to keep Foppiano Vineyards in business.
The Creek in front of the Foppiano Estate ran red in 1926 when federal Agents forced thousands of gallons to be dumped.
Louis. A. died in 1924, leaving his winery and vineyards to his first son, Louis J., who was born in 1910. It was Louis J. who saw the effects of Prohibition up close when, in 1926, federal agents “raided” the Foppiano Estate. Agents forced the family to open the tank valves, and watched as over 100,000 gallons of the 1918 vintage flowed down the creek in front of the winery. The result was a run on the winery. People came from miles around with cups, mugs, and jars and drank from the creek running red with wine.
New Start – With the end of Prohibition in 1933, Louis J. proposed to start up winery operations immediately. He was lucky that he still had a working winery; many others who had been making wine prior to Prohibition lost everything. What Foppiano Vineyards did not have were distribution and marketing networks. So at the young age of 23, Louis J. found himself making trips to New York to sell his wine and find marketing agents.
In 1937, a new winery was built on the site of the old winery. With the new facility, Foppiano Vineyards became one of the first Sonoma County wineries to bottle its own wines. When World War II cut off the import of wine supplies from France, Louis J. found himself in a boom market for California wines. By 1941, Foppiano Vineyards was sending six rail cars a week to the east coast filled with wine, and increased its production to over 800,000 gallons of wine annually.
The early 1940s were important years for both the Foppiano family and the wine industry. The regulation of the industry which came with Repeal led California wineries to create The Wine Institute, a trade organization established to deal with industry and political matters. Louis. J joined the Institute in its second year, serving as a Director for 45 years. Inspired by the Wine Institute, Louis J. went on to help found the Sonoma County Wine Growers Association in 1946, along with 14 other wineries.
Foppiano Vineyards expanded in 1945 when Louis J. purchased the Sotoyome Vineyard, which adjoined the Foppiano Estate. The family was further expanded the next year when Louis J. married. Louis J. and Della Foppiano celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 1996.
From Jugs to Bottles – The 1940s and 1950s were a profitable era for Foppiano Vineyards. Their jug wines were well known throughout California and in many states across the nation. As the industry began to undergo a change in the 1960s, Louis J. embraced the change.
By the mid 1960s, jug wines became very competitively priced, making it difficult for the lower yielding coastal vineyards such as Foppiano to compete with the central California valley vineyards. In the Central Valley, more tons of grapes per acre could be produced. This situation led Louis J. to remove the remaining fruit trees on his estate, along with some vines. He planted varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, and others. Only the old Petite Sirah, Louis J.’s favorite, stayed in the ground during the replanting. Stainless steel tanks, oak barrels and tanks and new equipment were purchased in order to move into the “premium” wine business.
Generations – After the winery transformation, the fourth generation of Foppiano’s began to work in the family business. Louis J.‘s sons, Louis M. and Rod, began to take over winemaking and marketing responsibilities. Later, Louis J.’s daughter, Susan, would take over the growing hospitality side of the business. When Rod Foppiano died in 1984, Louis M. took over all day-to-day operations of the winery, although this father continued to arrive at the winery every morning. Bill Regan, Rod’s assistant, was offered the position of Winemaker in 1985.
The 1970s through the 2000s has been a period of growth for Foppiano Vineyards on a number of fronts. Two brands were added: Riverside Vineyards, for the production of North Coast “fighting varietals,” and Fox Mountain, for the production of super premium white wines. Of the three, the Foppiano Vineyards brand remains the best known and most admired by the industry and consumers. Petite Sirah, the family’s favorite wine, has become the winery’s signature wine, and is known nationwide as one of the country’s top Petites year-in and year-out. Export sales have grown significantly in this era with 15% of all wines now produced sold overseas and in Canada. Finally, the coincidence is not lost on anybody that in 1996, on the 100th anniversary of the estate’s founding, the family decided to produce only red wines under the Foppiano Vineyards label – the same circumstance that existed in 1896.
The 100-year history of Foppiano Vineyards confirms that through the strength of the family and a commitment to quality, tradition can be maintained and can thrive.
Technical Analysis:
Appellation: Russian River Estate
Varietal Content: 100% Pinot Noir
Barrel Aging: 9 months in French and American Oak
Case Production: 3100 bottled in December 2007
Alcohol: 14.5%
Titratable Acidity: 0.6g/100ml
pH: 3.7
Release Date: Winter 2008
