A visit to Chouinard Winery, Palomares Rd, 10 Feb 2008, by Bruce Shore

Westward from the Livermore Valley, with its sprawling residences and
commerce — and its more than 40 wineries — lies a little-visited
narrow canyon cut over geologic eons by Palomares Creek, and nowadays
accessed — preferably in a Porsche Targa with top removed — by
Palomares Road.

 

A few of the vines that surround the winery and tasting room. Behind
are the western hills of Palomares canyon, seen against the afternoon
sun.

The steep canyon is punctuated by some very fine new
mansions, as well as some older less pretentious domiciles where
unused objects are left to mature in yards or where the occasional
horse finds nourishment and exercise. Very definitely a backroad
destination, reached either from the south, through the pastoral
scenes surrounding Sunol and Niles Canyon,  or from the busy 580
freeway to the north.

The winery is in this former barn, dating from the 1920s. The tasting
room is on the second floor.  To the right is a small creek, next to
which are oak-shaded picnic tables for enjoyment of balmy weather.

There one can find, amidst sheltering oaks next to a small noisily
running stream, one of the oldest of the beautique wineries bearing
the Livermore Appellation: Chouinard Winery.

 

Co-founder Caroline  Chouinard holds a bottle of their “California
Champagne”, vinted from nearby grapevines under the guidance of son
Damian, the winemaker.

This really is a family
winery: Caroline and George Chouinard originated the enterprise with
their first plantings in 1978 (at that time there were only 8
Livermore wineries, down from the 60 that existed prior to
Prohibition), and they offered their first wines in 1985. 

 

George Chouinard makes nibbles of dark chocolate to accompany their
white dessert wines or ports.

Visitors
will find both of them welcoming visitors to their small but charming
tasting room each weekend.

The other member of the family firm is their son Damian, who serves
as winemaker. He learned his trade at Fresno State University, where
the “hands on” approach to winemaking, facilitated by University
vineyards and a functioning winery, contrasts with the “other” source
of enologists at UC Davis.  Damian spent an apprenticeship in the
Champagne region of France, where he gained a lasting appreciation
for those sparkling wines that has translated into an ongoing
offering of Chardonnay sparkling wines (popularly referred to as
California Champagnes.)

The space for vineyards is very limited in the narrow canyon, but the
Chouinards have some 5 acres of vines in two vineyards; some of these
abut the small parking lot and surround the winery building, formerly
a barn, on whose second floor is the tasting room. One tends to think
of vineyards as requiring a good deal of sunshine, and at first
glance the Palomares Canyon would not seem to suit this crop. That
impression is demonstrably wrong, for some of the best Chardonnay
comes from those vines. Terraces hold Cabernet grapes. All their
grapes are said to be hand picked; their annual output is typically
less than 4000 cases, in lots that seldom exceed 600 gallons — what
would be called “reserve” wines elsewhere.

The walls of the small tasting room are almost fully occupied by
innumerable ribbons associated with the many prizes their wines have
won over the years.  A few of son Damian’s framed landscape
photographs are on display. Caroline Chouinard, behind the small
counter, soon made my wife and me feel like old friends enjoying a
congenial evening together, as she spoke of their wines and their
enterprise.

Roger Kardinal accompanies his vocals on guitar, in a corner of the
tasting room. He performs every second Sunday of the month.

Our visit coincided with the monthly presence (each second Sunday of
a month) of guitarist Roger Kardinal, who is usually busy at Fine
Fretted Friends in Livermore; his wife was assisting with the pouring
behind the counter. At times in the summer there are live concerts on
the premises. Because the parking is so limited, there is a per-car
charge.

Available for tasting were a sparkling Chardonnay, 3 white wines, 6
red wines, 3 white dessert wines and 2 ports, priced from $13 to $21.
Their popular Granny Smith Apple Wine was sold out, as was their
Chouinard Red.

Their “California Champagne” comes mostly from  nearby vines; though
we are not usually drinkers of sparkling wine, my wife was so pleased
with this wine that we got two bottles, hoping to entertain guests
with this as a preprandial treat some evening.

Their Chardonnay comes from the Livermore vineyards of Sblend
Sblendaria and was another winner, as was their Chenin Blanc from
Monterey; I could see why this won the “best of show” award in San
Francisco.

Several of their red wines come from Lodi vineyards. That region has,
in recent years, become more conscious of their potential for
providing varietal wines, rather than the undistinguished “jug wines”
that for so many years made Lodi somewhat of a joke amongst those who
sought wines. Based on what I tasted at Chouinard  — an Alicante
Bouschet and and Old Vine Zinfandel (from century old vines), the
Lodi region does as well as any place in our fair state at producing
excellent wines.  Incidentally, I was told that the name Alicante
Bouschet, though not so well known nowadays as Cabernet Sauvignon,
was, in the early days of the California wine industry the major
variety throughout the Bay Area; it seems to be making a comeback.

Chouinards offers two Petite Sirahs, one from Mendocino and the other
from what has become the San Francisco Appellation, of counties that
border the SF bay. These were two additional favorites with us; I
expect our bottle of SF Petite Sirah will improve even the most
mundane of our suppers; we shall not have them residing for long in
our wine storage.

They have three very nice white dessert wines:  a white Riesling from
Monterey,  a very fine Orange Muscat from Paso Robles, and an unusual
ice-wine style Viognier (winner of 4 gold medals) from Lodi.

 

A bottle of their prize-winning Viognier “ice wine”. The label
portrays a stylized version of the nearby terrain.

Although
it is not possible to duplicate in California the weather that allows
the late harvest of an ice wine in Germany or British Columbia, the
winemaker has managed to duplicate artificially the chill of the
grapes, and the result is a very nice treat to accompany a dessert.

On hand in the tasting room during our visit where large slabs of
white and dark chocolate, being broken into manageable chunks by
George Chouinard, a nice accompaniment to the dessert wines or to
their two ports: an Old Zinfandel (from Lodi) and a Cabernet from
Paso Robles.

Carolyn and George Chouinard offering me their hospitality.

Our afternoon passed all to quickly, but my wife and I retain very
nice memories, reinforced by my snapshots, of a genuinely welcoming
visit, gained by a scenic backroad drive, enhanced by some of the
most agreeable wines I have tasted.