LEISURE / FOOD & DRINK / DRINKS
Appellation West: Offering the best in
distinctive California wines
October 14, 2013
6:52 AM MST
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5 photos
One of the Pinot Noirs produced by Melville in the Sta. Rita Hills.
Cori Solomon
The wines of very small boutique wineries are often hard to obtain. The question becomes where to
find these wines. Appellation West makes it easy to discover and purchase many of these difficult to
find wines.
Appellation West covers several distinct areas of California. They have chosen eight appellations to
represent. From the north coast there is Napa, Russian River Valley, Sonoma Valley and Carneros. In
the Central Coast they are Paso Robles, Santa Maria, Santa Ynez and Sta. Rita Hills. The regions are
chosen because of their diversity in styles and varietals. The wines themselves are chosen from
wineries that produce single vineyard and handcrafted wines. Each winemaker and winery is
dedicated to their specific growing region. The wines offered are typically difficult to find unless they
are purchased directly from the winery.
Appellation West, owner, Charlie Herbert choose to source
these appellations because “ I’m obsessed with California
wine and enjoy representing the ultimate California wine
experience. I wanted to create a category format that
parallels the wine trail experience.”
At Appellation West, they believe this gives consumers a
nice sampling of what is available in these specific regions
along with the understanding that exceptional wines come
from these specific areas.
Cori Solomon
While the majority of wine retailers focus on imports from
more than just California, using large wholesalers as their
suppliers, Appellation West chose to represent smaller production wineries. Although this can be
more time consuming, Charlie says, “It is well worth the experience in the end to know our customers
will have a quality selection to choose from.”
Sampling two of the wines that were offered by Appellation West proved that the quality available was
superb and enabled a comparison of two Pinot Noirs from two distinct areas, one being the Melville
2010 Pinot Noir Estate - Sta. Rita Hills and the other Hook & Ladder 2010 Estate Russian River Valley
Pinot Noir.
While the Melville appeared at first to be a bigger Pinot Noir exuding aromas of currants, actually this
well-balanced wine was more of a medium bodied wine displaying a very smooth finish that hinted at
flavors of vanilla. As the wine opened up the flavor of raspberries was quite apparent. This Pinot Noir
has lots of holding power.
The Hook & Ladder was a full-bodied wine with aromas of blueberries and strawberries. One finds
flavors of lavender and some spice. The color was darker and as the Pinot evolved the wine became
fruitier. This wine also could be held, getting even better with time.
Both wineries are located in areas where there is a tremendous amount of coastal fog but the Sta. Rita
Hills has even cooler temperatures because the mountains run east and west allowing the fog to drift
inland more freely. In the Russian River Valley the mountains run north and south creating warmer
temperatures.
The Russian River Valley is a larger AVA and Appellation West prefers to source wines from those
vineyards that are situated along the western side of this AVA where the ocean is more influential on
the terrior and the vineyards themselves.
In addition Appellation West gives the consumer the chance to purchase wines that are more develop
due to age. These are wines that are not currently being sold at the winery today. You can still find
some outstanding 2009 Cabernet Sauvignons from Napa and there are some 2008/2009 vintages
available in several varietals from Paso Robles. Those looking for a more seasoned wine are afforded
a rare opportunity to select more drinkable wines especially if you need something for a special
occasion or dinner party.
Appellation West ships wines to you in Styrene shippers and you receive your wine within three days.
If you are located on the east coast your shipment will be shipped by three-day air service. The cutoff
time for all orders is 2:00 p.m. PST.
Like there namesakes, the appellations that are federal designated areas which are chosen because
of the distinctive soils, climate and elevation, Appellation West is very distinctive in the wines they
select for you as a consumer.
To learn more about Appellation West, the distinctive California wines they represent and to purchase:
Appellation West
877.498.6792
If you would like to follow more of Cori Solomon’s articles, she would love you to subscribe to her
column by clicking the box next to her photo.
Cori Solomon
Brentwood Glen Wine Examiner
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