Two years ago I blogged about crashing a wine club event at the Heller Estate Vineyards winery high in the mountains above Carmel Valley.  That was one year after the huge Basin Complex fire burned into Big Sur and north almost to this winery.  The smoke blanked the region for a couple of months and of course the grapes were affected.   At the winery event I pleaded with the winemaker to bottle what we were tasting in the barrel, smoke flavor and all.

We recently visited their tasting room in the Village of Carmel Valley to taste the results.  WOW!  Sure, smoked wine is not as well known as say smoked salmon or cheese, but it is great!  You can still taste Cab but the smoke in their 2008 organic Cachagua Cabernet Sauvignon is up front and exciting.

We enjoyed drinking the whole bottle on our patio on a warm summer day and paired with only light munchies such as sausages.  We would like to buy more and pair it with roasts, salmon, etc. and see what happens.

I’ve heard that most of the other vintners in the area did their best to eliminate the smoke from their local 2008 wines but fortunately Heller decided to see if there is a market for a wine that needs to be explored beyond the frontier of wine tasting.  Last I heard there are only a few cases left.

- jim

The Town of Carmel is known for Bing Crosby, Clint Eastwood, cozy cottage homes, tiny shops, and a beautiful beach next to Monterey Bay. Carmel is well-visited but 11 miles up the Carmel Valley is the Village of Carmel Valley with 9 tasting rooms!

The Heller tasting room in Carmel Valley

Heller Estate is in this nest of tasting rooms and we’ve discussed their Cab Sauv before. This is the winery with the smoked grapes from the huge 2008 wildfire in the Big Sur area and the nearby Ventana Wilderness.

Some of their wine comes from vineyards in the upper Carmel Valley and some from the Salinas Valley / Santa Lucia Highlands on the other side of those huge mountains above the village. This winery is known for their organic wines but not all their wines are organically farmed.

Katya and I just finished a bottle of their 2003 estate Cabernet Franc. Spicy, robust, and dry, just the flavor profile we love. This is one of those wines that is a bit hard to find among hundreds of wineries but at least for us is a real treat. We are waiting for the smoked wines to be bottled later this fall for another treat. It will be interesting to pair those wines with food.

- jim