Vintage Parducci : ‘All That Counts Is That the Wine Pleases You, That You Like It’

In Jan. 22, 395 leaders of the wine industry gathered in the Peacock Court of the Mark Hopkins hotel atop Nob Hill in San Francisco to honor John Parducci on his 70th birthday. It was the culmination of a transcontinental tour, with wine-tasting stops in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles arranged by Brown-Forman of Louisville, Ky., Parducci’s national distributor. With 53 vintage harvests on his lifetime dossier, and having been named “California Winemaker of the Year” at the 1987 Los Angeles County Fair, the honoree remained a reluctant participant in the hype and hoopla. “This is not my bag,” he said later at the Beverly Hills press luncheon at Patrick Healy’s new Champagne restaurant.

With the winery count now well beyond the 700 mark, even those that are most celebrated need well-organized publicity campaigns to move product. Despite the growing number of wine-tasting competitions and gold-medal awards, thirsty wine lovers seem to respond with alacrity to press coverage, grateful for reminders, and that makes good cash-register music.

For years I’ve said that Parducci on the label is like sterling on silver, a hallmark of the very best. No matter whether it’s a Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Gewurztraminer, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Petite Sirah or even White Zinfandel--if it’s a Parducci wine, it’s bound to be an enjoyable experience.

Before we began the vertical tasting of Petite Sirah wines at the Beverly Hills luncheon, despite those 53 consecutive harvests, Parducci said: “I’ve not even begun to make the wines I still want to make: the great Cabernet and the great Pinot Noir. Please don’t think you’ve got a Lafite here. These are wines from my vineyards. Most wine writers don’t seem to be content unless they can find a whole orchard of fruit in the bouquet. This is not a fruit basket. I don’t like to beat the grape to death or strip it of everything it has. Don’t ask me about the body, or the bouquet. Technical analysis is worthless. All that counts is that the wine pleases you, that you like it when you taste it.”

The vertical tasting before the luncheon proceeded from an unreleased, American oak-aged 1981, through the current release, a four-years-in-the-bottle Cellarmaster Selection 1980 ($7.50), to the 1979, 1975, 1973, and 1972 selections drawn from the winery library. Parducci allowed that too many “monster Petite Sirahs all but killed the variety, the fruit destroyed by excessive tannin.” Even the much vaunted “Syrah,” of presumed illustrious breed, “became a clunker” because of excessive tannins in vinification. “I’m working on a very drinkable wine, maybe even with some Grenache, so you don’t have to age it forever,” Parducci said. In the 1980 Cellarmaster Selection, there’s already a delightful drinkability, with a beguiling ripe-strawberry taste. The grape is a “berry” after all.

P.S.: Gewurztraminer fans, don’t overlook the newly released 1986 Mendocino County Parducci edition of this grape. It’s absolutely superb and very affordable at $6.99. A triple-medal winner, it is Margarett Parducci’s favorite wine--sweet-edged, refreshing, exotic in its bouquet. Also just released, the 1984 Mendocino Cabernet Sauvignon ($8.49) gracefully complex with Cabernet Franc and Merlot plus five months’ aging in American oak, has an ever-so-slight sandalwood lilt to the bouquet--an engaging claret ready to enjoy right now.