The Desert WIne Guy - A Day Trip To Iron Gate Winery In Cedar City Utah

Iron Gate Winery

   I am not sure how many of my readers live in or near the Southern Utah area in but I have a little winery to tell you about. The name of this winery is I.G (Iron Gate) Winery (http://igwinery.com/) and it is without question worth a visit. The winery is located in Cedar City and is about 2 hours North of Las Vegas. If you were ever in the market to explore a "Boutique Winery" you would do well to start here, the IG Winery is a classic example of that terminology. The winery grows no grapes of their own and when I was there that day I learned that the Winemaker/General Partner Doug McCombs and the Winery Manager Tony Dinges had just recently came back from the Napa Valley where they purchased quality grapes for their wine production. The winery is actually located in a residential neighborhood as well and as you drive down the street you might pass it by if not for the flag outside. There is a Bed & Breakfast out in front and the Winery is located in the back there is a small amount of parking there or simply park in front. To me this makes the winery appear really laid back (which it is anyway) since it takes away the hustle and bustle and feel of a commercial operation. A couple of block away is the main street in Cedar City if you want shopping however.

Tony Dinges - Winery Manager

Iron Gate Winery Tasting Room

   The day I was there I had the privilege of meeting Doug and his friend Todd Thompson as they were in the tasting room and off to the side creating blends of wine on one of the tasting tables. I have never experienced the process of blending and I had these wild fantasies of just how a blend is created. The truth is that the wine makers become mad Scientists with beakers of all sizes in their work area. One table held these beakers and the other held numerous wine glasses which were placed on a solid White paper as they compared the color of the different blends to see which one was most appealing. It was really cool to see just how casual Doug and Todd were at this blending process. It was simply two friends with obviously superior wine knowledge sitting at a table and trying different combinations of varietals and amounts of the different varietals to see which blend not only tasted great but also had the Bouquet and the visual appearance they desired.  Check out the pictures to see what I mean. Why I thought there might be more to the process I am not exactly sure. I guess I got caught up in the wine mystique. I would be remiss if I didn't tell you guys that Doug and Todd were both extremely friendly and willing to talk with me about what they were doing as well as wine and the industry in general. One other interesting item to point out is that Doug actually lives in Las Vegas and grows his own wine grapes here as I do. Doug also told me that it seems that the wine he has made with the grapes he has grown in Vegas seem to produce a very "cardboard" tasting wine. That to me was interesting as well because up until that point I had yet to talk to anyone who had made wine from grapes grown in Las Vegas. Tony who is the Winery Manager was very efficient in his job although honestly I feel that he could be a little more personable, he seemed as if he was all

Tools For Creating A Fantastic Blend

business and very little play which is a put off. There was one table outside that required his attention and I in no way was (or am) saying that because I am The Desert Wine Guy that I require nor did I demand his undevoted attention , I would NEVER do that I am not all that important. I am just a legend in my own mind :)

Inspecting Color Of Blends

    As I previously said the winery is very small since it truly is a Boutique winery. When you walk into the building you immediately face the tasting counter. To the right of the tasting counter is a small area where you can purchase T-Shirts, hats and cups with the IG Winery logo on them. To the left there are a few tables to enjoy your wines tasting at and the backdrop of these tables is the actually cellar where the wooden barrels of aging wine are separated only by a couple of plate glass windows. I found this very interesting and actually amazing that such a small operation could make such wonderful wines. I ended up purchasing three bottles of the 2013 Syrah, Madera at $25 a bottle. I also tasted the Cabernet Sauvignon and let me tell you it had a bouquet that I have never experienced in a wine before. Talking to Doug I learned that the bouquet of his wines is very important since it is part of the wine experience. This is amazingly evident in all of his wines. The one wine that I did not care for is the Tempranillo which is unlike the Spanish expression of the varietal in that it lacked any pepper. If you are a true fan of the mentioned Spanish expression of the wine than I would not suggest it.

Winemaker Doug McCombs Helps Create His Masterpiece

   The winery also has what looks like a nice Bed & Breakfast right on the property and surrounding the property is an awesome display of plants and flowers that are native to the area. These are not the Desert flowers that those of you familiar with the area might expect, these are real Green plants with real big and colorful flowers. The Bed & Breakfast also has a great Apple Tree for shade in the Summer and in the Winter it produces the BEST tasting apples as well. This leads me to the only drawback that I experienced at the winery BUT it is not the winery s fault, it is the state of Utah's fault. There was recently a bill passed that anyone under the age of 21 cannot SEE wine poured. Yep, you read that right, they can't SEE wine poured. Therefore because the winery is so small no one under 21 is allowed in. Mrs. desert Wine Girl and the kids were nice enough to lay on the grass under the Apple Tree and enjoy the weather which that day was great.
   In closing I would absolutely recommend  a visit to the Iron Gate Winery in Cedar City Utah. If you are lucky you may even run into Doug.

                                                                                                              

Doug & Todd Discussing The Final Blend

                                                                                                                    The Desert Wine Guy

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The Desert Wine Guy - 2014 Honig Sauvignon Blanc - Summertime Here I Come

2014 Honig Sauvignon Blanc

   I hope that everyone had a great & safe Memorial Day and remembered what the holiday is really about and that is the servicemen who gave their lives for this great country. Today I want to discuss a wonderful Sauvignon Blanc that I did a tasting on the other day. I will tell you early on in this review that this wine received a very respectable wine rating on The Desert Wine Guy. Today's wine review is of the 2014 Honig Sauvignon blanc (http://www.honigwine.com/sauvignon-blanc) from the Napa Valley in California. First the basics concerning this wine. This wine has an Alcohol level that sits at 13.5% and is a blend of 95.2% Sauvignon Blanc, 3.9% Semillion and 0.9% Muscat. Our review wine is barrel aged in 10% Neutral Oak which is Oak that does not impart any flavor into the wine. Neutral wood barrels also tend to soften wine as well. It seems that after the first year of use, a barrel loses much of its flavoring ability. After three years, it is considered a neutral barrel. The wine is also aged in 90% Stainless Steel tanks as well.  The sugary notes of both the Semillion and the Muscat varietals will crop up a little later in the review so watch out for it. Let's start off as usual with a little bit about the winery and vineyards that makeup this wine.

Honig Winery

   The Honig (which means Honey) family of Michael, Stephanie and their four children and their three Dogs own a 68 Acre Vineyard in Rutherford in 1964 was originally set up originally by Louis Honig the family's Grandfather, to sell their grapes to local winery's. At the time Louis owned an advertising agency for local Vineyards. It wasn't until 1981 that they first tried to make their own wine which happened to be a Sauvignon Blanc as a tribute to Louis. In 1984 Michael Honig became the manager of the winery and in 1989 the family produced their first Cabernet Sauvignon. The winery very quickly grew from 500 cases to 40,000 cases of mostly Sauvignon Blanc & Reserve Sauvignon Blanc. The winery which prides itself in being organic claims to not use any chemicals in the production of their wine. The wine maker currently for the Cabernet as well as the Sauvignon Blanc is Kristin Belair and as you will see at least for the Sauvignon Blanc varietal does a fantastic job as you will now see. By the way Kristin’s wines have appeared in Wine Spectator’s Top 100 list.

Winemaker Kristin Belair

   To start off here this wine is sealed with a Cork and not some Wine Cooler type screw cap, that is an immediate show of at the very least an attempt to display class and respect for the wine in my book at least as far as initial appearance goes.  On the nose we are looking at a Sauvignon Blanc that has notes of Peach, Lemongrass and Jasmine. Great Bouquet for a great Spring or Summer day at the pool or outdoors. In the glass we are talking about a wine that displays an almost clear liquid with a ever so slight tinge of Gold.  On the pallatte is a wine that will stand out in anyone's picnic basket or on anyone's picnic table as well as the best of wine cellars. There is one small issue with this otherwise great wine that I have to tell you about and if you don't pay attention to my warning here you will think that your wine somehow went bad or that I am crazy. When you very first open and taste this wine you will notice the very dominating, sweet notes of the Semillion & Muscat varietals. The wine will taste and I noted in a video as well on my wine Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/DesertWineGuy/)  like some very sweet, Green Thompson Seedless Grapes (along with the sugar note) that you buy at the grocery store, I know that when I first tasted it I thought "what are they kidding, I spent $15 for some cheap Thunderbird type white wine?  I was disappointed as I was originally actually pretty excited to be doing a tasting of this wine. The Grocery store (Smiths/Kroger's) I got the wine from says that this wine is a "Smiths Exclusive". The wine is also from Rutherford California as well. As a regular guy who loves wine these things intrigued me and I figured why not. Well here we go folks onto the heart of this review to see what happened to this wine. As I previously said this wine opened up with  a really weird note, the note of Green,

Honig Welcome Plaque

Thompson Seedless grapes. When I first tasted that I thought "into the garbage this wine is going" but instead of giving up and wasting a bottle of wine right away, I thought let me do a little reading and come back to it. After about 20 minutes the note did finally disappear and other notes came out. One note was peach that coated my tongue nicely and was bright and lively. A wonderful citrus note of lemongrass that in it's own way contributes to an earthiness in the wine presents itself almost immediately. We are talking about a very tropical wine here folks. I did notice an ever so slight carbonation in the glass although it was not picked up in my mouth which is a good thing. There was an acidity/minerality as expected in this varietal at the back of the Palette on the finish and I really enjoyed it. At this point of the tasting I am rather intrigued at how that green grape, sugary note just simply disappeared and never came back but that is fine since it is unwanted anyway. There is a slight sugary note here that you will notice but one that is only slight and nothing to dominate this wine in any way. The stone minerality is rather refreshing and all I could think about was my pool and being outside as I drank it. lemongrass and peach set this wine off. When you throw in a note of Passion Fruit as well, the wine is really set off in a truly bright

Honig Vineyard

fashion and offsets the minerality / acidity notes that otherwise would be perhaps a little dominating.

Michael Honig

   So let's see what we have here in this $15 bottle of Sauvignon Blanc. What we certainly have here is a great Spring / Summer white that is sure to more than please the Sauvignon Blanc drinker in you as well as your friends. One one hand if you want a Picnic wine you have found the perfect wine. On the other hand we also have what can definitely be taken as a serious wine as well. Give the wine a chance to open up (half an hour) and to get rid of the green grape sweetness and allow the different notes to come through. The Lemongrass note here that the wine displays for the Palette is super nice and softens the what would be harsher notes of acidity to the point that there are no harsh notes at all only a super luxurious Sauvignon Blanc for you to enjoy. Jasmine here is also refreshing and brings a lighter note to the wine as well. This past Memorial day weekend I had a little wine tasting which consisted of this wine as well as the 2014 Chateau Ste Michelle Riesling and the 2013 Dominican Oaks Chardonnay. The Dominican Oaks was very sweet but that will be for another review. The wine that did stand out however is the Honig which was a big hit in the Sun and at the pool.

Honig cabernet Sauvignon Grapes

   On the Desert Wine Guy Rating Scale I give this wine 92 points.

                                                                                                                  The Desert Wine Guy

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