Amy Peay wearing currentVintage

The “Sultans of Sonoma Coast”.  That is the name Denis Toner coined for the all-star panel of vintners Ehren Jordan (Failla), David (Hirsch) and Andy (Peay).  I’m not sure how they felt about it, but it still makes me smile every time I think of it.  I attended the seminar on Friday of the Nantucket Wine Festival and was not disappointed.  To hear David Hirsch, Father of the “true” Sonoma Coast, so to speak, was impressive; what was he thinking, farming grapes way up there way back when?  All three chardonnays showed amazingly well, but the nuanced Peay 07 Estate Chardonnay was the favorite at my table.  This type of wine festival event makes the festival, in my opinion.  Comparing and contrasting flights of wines from similar grapes and soils is so interesting!  Discerning what part Mother Nature played vs what took place and in the cellar to produce such distinctive wines from such similar base ingredients—that’s exciting stuff to me!

A half hour later, Andy Peay migrated over to currentVintage for a store tasting.  I am sentimental about Peay wines because Andy Peay was our first in store tasting at currentVintage. It was during the 2008 NWF and it was the first week we were open. He was/is so cool and really seemed to get my store.  I am also a great admirer of the wines—they are elegant, sophisticated and quite feminine.  I understood this better after meeting the winemaker, Vanessa Wong at a Peay dinner at Cyrus in Healdsburg this past winter.  She is tiny and lovely, yet projects the strength and composure of her years of experience.  Those years, by the way, include being the winemaker at Peter Michael.  Vanessa is married to Nick Peay, Andy’s brother, who is in charge of the vineyard.  Serious talent, serious wines.
Anyway, the tasting was a huge success.  Old fans turned up and new ones were made. Eric Munson of Dancing Bear Cellars stopped by for a signed bottle—I love how winemakers support each other, at least at our festival.  Andy and Ehren Jordan came to the cV Sinskey tasting the day before—how cool is that?