The Wine Guys: Surgeon builds a great winery

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By Tom Marquardt and Patrick Darr | Wednesday, April 23, 2008 2:18 PM CDT | () comments

The Thomas Fogarty Winery is a throwback to another era. Not many small- to medium-size wineries produce wines — using eight different grape varieties — like Thomas Fogarty, and do it successfully.

Nor have many long-lived wineries employed the same winemaker, such as Michael Martella, for 27 years. Owner Dr. Thomas Fogarty is an eminently successful vascular surgeon, a professor of surgery at Stanford University and an inventor/businessman. Among Dr. Fogarty’s 63 inventions are the balloon catheter as well as an entire line of vascular clips and clamps.

Fogarty farms two distinct estate vineyards, both in the Santa Cruz Mountains American Viticultural Area, or AVA. They sit atop the range that parallels the chilly Pacific Ocean to the west and overlook Palo Alto and San Jose to the east. The 25-acre Skyline Estate is a cool climate site that is best suited to pinot noir and chardonnay. While the 14-acre Gist Ranch Estate site is still in the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA despite being 17 miles south, it is a much warmer site than the Skyline vineyard. This vineyard is more amenable to Bordeaux varieties such as cabernet sauvignon, merlot and cabernet franc. Both of these estate vineyards are divided into micro-vineyards of 0.25 to 5.25 acres in size, and some are bottled and labeled with the micro-vineyard designation.

We recently met with Michael Martella to taste some of Fogarty’s wines.

Here are our favorites:

• Thomas Fogarty Gewurztraminer Monterey 2006 ($18). Made from purchased fruit, this wine astounded us. Intense floral nose of roses and violets. In the mouth, lovely rich, ripe, fruit with some lychee and pleasant floral flavors. A wonderful example of a California-styled gewurz.

• Thomas Fogarty Merlot Santa Cruz Mountains 2004 ($37). Small production of only 350 cases. Nice cherry charcoal and a little light oak in the nose. Balanced acidity and tannins with black raspberry and cherry flavors in an elegant oak frame.

• Thomas Fogarty Lexington Meritage Santa Cruz Mountains 2004 ($50). A very nice Bordeaux-style wine made from 60 percent merlot, 33 percent cabernet sauvignon and 6 percent cabernet franc. Named for the Lexington Reservoir below the vineyard, this wine exhibits a wonderful nose of cassis, plums and a hint of herbs. Medium-bodied in style with ripe fruit flavors and a good acid structure to accompany food. Michael says this could easily age seven to 10 years. Only 450 cases made.

• Thomas Fogarty Cabernet Sauvignon Santa Cruz Mountains Raines Vineyard 2004 ($55). A black cherry, coffee and hint of mint in the nose. Bold in the mouth so that it perfectly matched a grilled steak. Cherry, plum, flavors with good acidity and mild tannins. Can age at least 10 years. Only a microscopic 153 cases made.

MAZZOCCO

Mazzocco Sonoma Winery showed up on our radar screen a couple of years ago as a interesting producer of single-vineyard zinfandels that showed signs of real potential. We tasted the current crop of 2005 releases and were extremely impressed with their recently released bottlings. It is a zinfandel producer worth seeking out for those of you who value hand-crafted unique zins that reflect their terroir.

Located in the rolling hills of Sonoma County between Dry Creek and Alexander Valley, this winery also produces cabernet sauvignon, merlot and chardonnay — but it has made its well-deserved national reputation with zinfandel.

Here are three new releases that we recommend. All of these full-bodied, yet balanced, zinfandels would be a terrific match to grilled beef. Only about 500 cases each of these wines were produced:

• Mazzocco Sonoma Zinfandel West Dry Creek Vineyard Dry Creek Valley 2005 ($40). Nose and mouth-filling flavors of pure, ripe blueberry and black raspberry, and lead pencil with a nice element of cedar in the finish.

• Mazzocco Sonoma Zinfandel Maple Dry Creek Valley 2005 ($36). The grapes for this wine were dry-farmed, which has created an intense, yet balanced, wine. Cherry, ripe strawberry nose with deep black cherry flavors and in a lead pencil frame. Delicious!

• Mazzocco Sonoma Zinfandel Pony Vineyard Dry Creek Valley 2005 ($29). The Pony vineyard is named for the dozens of miniature horses that live near the vineyard. Nice black raspberry nose with delicious cherry and black raspberry flavors that makes for a really nice, drinkable package. Big and satisfying. Highly recommended.