Having a four year old daughter has its virtues in many ways. One is that you get to meet the parents of other 4 year olds and this is how we found Michall and Jeannine Pendleton. Owners of Pendleton Estate Vineyards & Winery, located in the hills of northern Alexander Valley, Mike is crafting outstanding wines. Mike’s care and passion seems to reach from each and every grape as it comes off the vine to the appreciation of the finished wine as it is enjoyed from the glass. His wines are really well balanced, drinkable now, full of fruit and complex. If you have plans to be traveling along the 128 in route to Mendocino County, be sure to give Mike a call for a tasting of some of the best handcrafted small-lot wines from Sonoma County.

Okay, sorry to punish you with yet another Zinfandel pun, but it’s not often that I get to open three wines on the same night—at the same time… so … you know … forgive my zins.

Tonight we played a little game I call “Wine Taster Shout-out” where everybody at the table takes a mouthful of the same wine, swishes it around, swallows, and then has to quickly state the first flavor, or flavors, that come to mind. The three Zinfandels that we popped were the 2005 St. Amant (Old Vine), the 2005 Martin (Old Vine), and the 2006 MoniClaire. The participants were my mom, dad, wife and best friend.

And without further ado, here are our shout-outs:

ST. AMANT

“Vanilla!”
“Black cherry.”
“Caramel!”
“Chocolate!”
“Tobacco.”
“Grape Jolly Rancher.”
“A giant pomegranate seed, squeezed into my mouth.”

MARTIN

“Boom!” (John Madden impersonation)
“Immediately bigger-tasting.”
“Prunes or raisins?”
“Dried fruit.”
“Complex.”
“Spicier finish.”
“Peppery.”
“Port-like. Would that be portly?”

MONICLAIRE

“Anis. You know, like Anisette!”
“Not as spicy as the last one.”
“Exotic!”
“Black liquorish.”
“Cocoa.”
“More, please!”

OUTCOME:

All the wines were amazing, but the crowd favorite ended up being the St. Amant, which seemed to have a juicier flavor and a smoother finish. I personally appreciated the complexities of the Martin and MoniClaire because they seemed to give a wider range of flavors—the MoniClaire actually caused everyone to pause for several introspective minutes of before coming up with their descriptors. If a wine makes you soul-search, it’s definitely doing its job!