Instead of taking our usual route through the Central Valley back home to LA, we decided to take our time heading back, and stop off and visit friends in Monterey. Lucky for us, our friends were willing to indulge our need for wine tourism, and happened to be members at Morgan. So we went with them to the Morgan tasting room in Carmel.
Morgan Winery (member tasting, wines $13-$58)
'13 Sauvignon Blanc, Lee Family '13 Albariño, '13 "Metallico" Chardonnay, '13 "Highland" Chardonnay, '13 "Twelve Clones" Pinot Noir, '13 Pinot Noir - Gary's Vineyard, '13 Pinot Noir - Tondre Vineyard, '13 "G17 (Syrah/Grenache/Tempranillo), '13 "Double L" Syrah, Lee Family '13 "Rio Tinto"
(Touriga Francesca/Touriga Nacional/Alvarelhao)
The wines of the Monterey area are a mystery to me. I know that there are some large brands from the area, such as Hahn, Estancia and Morgan, but I know that there are many more to explore. Morgan's "Taste Morgan" tasting room is in a high end shopping center, not my idea of a quintessential venue, but clever I admit. The tasting room is long with lots of bar space and lots of seating. The decor was very much the rustic country club fare, as well were the other patrons. We grabbed a set of low chairs around a coffee table. Once we settled in, the tasting room attendant came out and introduced himself, poured the first round, and then would revisit with each subsequent tasting.
I gathered that we got a more expansive tasting, thanks to our friends being members. I found it interesting that there were a variety of sub-labels to the wines that we tried: Morgan proper wines are blends from the whole area, Lee Family are sourced from various wineries in or outside of Monterey, Double L from their home vineyard, and then other vineyard designates such as Gary's, Tondre, etc. I've seen lots of wineries doing some of these types of designations, but it seemed like Morgan did it to the greatest degree that I've seen.
No doubt that I was prejudiced coming in to the tasting room. Given the fact that Morgan is a huge wine producerI expected the wines to be widely appealing. And they definitely were that. But they were also kind of interesting, not amazing and definitely safe, but pleasantly intriguing. The Sauvignon Blanc was a burst of friendly tropical and stone fruit, simple with medium acid throughout. The Albariño was bland, or as I wrote in my notes: "All Cali no Spain." The "Metallico" (aged in stainless steel tanks rather than oak barrels) Chardonnay was enjoyable, but too sticky and too mainstream. The "Highland" Chardonnay was definitely mainstream, though well built. A good gateway drug wine. I enjoyed all of the Pinots. The "Twelve Clones" was quite conventional, but well built and enjoyable. The Gary's Vineyard Pinot was very smooth with mature fruit. The Tondre Vineyard was my favorite. Very pretty, very exciting - lots of acid. The G17 blend was pretty pedestrian - just came off as a bland Syrah, but the Double L Syrah was massively flavorful - blood orange, boysenberries - dense as hell. The Rio Tinto blend was also pretty fun - a big juice pop.
To credit Morgan - they are making broadly appealing wine that is interesting. It's not the sort of stuff that I'd hang my hat on, but at the same time, I respect their game. The prices varied pretty widely - Rio Tinto for $13, the vineyard designate pinots for $58 - so I can see that they are trying to include lots of folks in their pricing scheme, which is smart. I'd prefer to visit a tasting room that isn't in a shopping center, but they obviously know what they are doing.
Experience: C+ / Wines: B
