Sammy Hagar: Uncorked

Former Van Halen front man Sammy Hagar’s passion for tequila is easily noted. As founder of Cabo Wabo tequila, Hagar helps make the libation, but his tastes extend beyond Mexico’s borders and into the realm of fine wine. Introduced to wine in the 70’s with a 1927 Martinez Port, and a sauternes pulled from a wine cellar made of grass clippings the Red Rocker has since amassed a cellar of over 10,000 wines.

Q: What was your first experience with fine wine?

A: It was an awesome, awesome experience. My son had a preschool teacher from England, who had moved back there when I was touring in 1976. She heard I was there and invited me to dinner. Her husband’s wine cellar was out in the back of their garden, in an old shed, where he piled the lawn clippings. He stored his wine in the clippings and knew where everything was. He’d reach in there and say ‘I’ll find this bloody sauterne,’ and he’d pull out a bottle and sure enough he’d have a sauternes. We had if for desert and it was mind blowing. When I came back to California I went up to Mondavi and bought a case of 1973 Reserve Cabernet and started my wine collection.

Q: Do you consider yourself a collector or a drinker?

A: Oh a drinker, I wouldn’t collect for anything. I have never sold a bottle of wine in life. As serious as I am about wine, because I really am, I do like the fun side of it.

Q: Is it fun making tequila?

A: Hell yeah man, it’s the coolest thing I’ve ever done.

Q: Have you thought about making wine?

A: Yeah, but I wouldn’t ever want to do anything that’s inferior. Winemaking has come to a fine science. Tequila is not a fine science. It’s simple.

Q: Do you like to pair food with tequila?

A: I like tequila with steaming hot appetizers. You can’t drink much more than margarita or straight tequila with really hot chili peppers. When the heat just wipes your palate out, which I love, you can’t drink wine with that.

Q: What did you drink last night?

A: I had a 2001 Sangiovese; I brought it back from Italy when I was over there last year. It was awesome with dinner. We had Tuscan fried chicken, which is something I just discovered. You take a couple big sprigs of rosemary, you take a handful of thyme a couple bay leaves, a whole clove of garlic and you put it all in peanut oil. You cook that chicken up for about twenty minutes until it’s crispy and just killin’. It was slammin’ with that Chianti. I hit it so hard that I was bragging the whole night and ruined dinner for the rest of my family.

Q: What do you drink for special celebrations?

A: I celebrate every night in my own way. I have a wonderful wine cellar; it’s stocked with everything. I pull out great bottles of wine nightly--Romanee-Conti, you just can’t beat any of them. Anything that comes out of that region is so special and it may not be worth the price difference, but there is a difference. Montrachets are great but I’m more of a Batard-Montrachet kind of guy. For holidays, I open a really great old ‘45 or ‘27 Port and have it on the table ready for those cold nights.

Q: You go straight for the Grand Crus, don’t you?

A: Once you’ve had them, what are you going to do, go backwards? Now if I couldn’t afford them I’d drink only California chardonnays because they’re big and rich and full of flavor.

Your Sommelier at Bacar

Haley Guild has done what many say they will but few ever do; she has traveled the world, a woman alone. Backpacking around Europe, with only herself to depend on, she nurtured a growing love of the unknown and constantly pushed herself. Being a sommelier at Bacar challenges her too. Haley says she welcomes working with the extensive wine list.

“ I love the list. We inherited a legacy from Debbie Zacharias and have big shoes to fill,” but it is her casual presence on the floor that engages her clientele. When it comes down to it Haley is as humble as they come. For her, selling wine is not about her ego, “it’s about giving people what they want.” However, there is a dichotomy to what she says, for Haley is passionate about esoteric wines. Using her background in the obscure and unknown she tantalizes her patrons’ palates, but first she must convince them to let her.

“I always try to be myself and give people recommendations based on what I would want to drink,” she says.

Haley’s career path is not one of happenstance. A Bay Area native, she left Northern California to study hospitality and tourism management at San Diego State. After graduation she flew to England for another six months of education at culinary school before donning a backpack and living the low budget venture of a traveler. Upon returning to the United States Haley came back to her roots and took up at A Côté, in Oakland, where wines from outlying regions and arcane varietals take center stage. As a manager she developed her palate and a deep appreciation for the lesser-known wine regions of Europe. Ask her what her favorite region is and her response is Jura, a cool climate area sandwiched between northern Burgundy and Switzerland, and though the answer may be recondite her reasoning is not.

Haley has only ever wanted to work in the hospitality industry, and as such she gravitates toward food friendly wines. The nutty whites of Jura, with their searing acidity, are an exciting compliment to myriad dishes.

It’s easy to see that Haley is passionate about wine. She works the floor at Bacar so that her clientele will grow to appreciate the exotic as she does. For her wine is an experience, an adventure, and one she strives to introduce to every palate.

Txacolina!

The long kept secret of Spain's basque country is, at last, on the market for your consuming pleasure. But what on earth is Txacolina?


"The Basque Country’s fresh, white wine, called txakoli on home ground and chacolí elsewhere in Spain , is produced in the region’s three provinces. The DO, which encompasses the growing area in the province of Guipuzcoa (Gipuzkoa), is called Getariako Txakolina in Basque, the north- eastern most part of Spain. Established in 1990 there are less than 300 hectares under vine . The vineyards are situated between 10 and 100 meters above sea level and many overlook the atlantic. The soil consists of a light, sandy topsoil and an alluvial clay subsoil. There are around twenty wineries in the DO. The small growing area and the wines growing local popularity provides little surplus to send abroad.


1. Brief description of the grape’s physical properties (color, size, skin):

The bunches are small and compact and the berries small, round and golden in color. The must produces a pale yellow wine, with aromas of citrus fruit, ripe fruit, herbs and flowers. It is the grape used to make txakoli wine

2. Brief description of the vine’s growing properties (relative times of flowering and ripeness, susceptibility to mold disease, relative vigor):


Two indigenous varieties, Hondarrabi Zuri, which makes up 95% of the vines and Hondarrabi Beltza, which represents the remaining 5%, are trained on trellises and arbors to produce the grapes used to make Txakoli de Getaria.

The grapes are harvested in early autumn, the result of careful planning to guarantee the exact balance of sugar and acidity, followed by a painstaking production process whereby the grape skins are previously removed, followed by a gentle pressing before fermentation. How on earth do you suppose they remove the skins????


3. Brief description of the grape’s origin (physical and genetic) and history.

Hondarrabi zuri is a white variety of Vitis vinifera that is native of the Basque Country, Spain.
Hondarrabi beltza is a red variety of Vitis vinifera that is native of the Basque Country, Spain.



4. In what region(s) is the grape prominent?

Basque, Spain


5. In what wines will the grape be found?

Txacolina

6. What characteristics does the grape contribute to the finished wine?

Txakoli is a young, fruity white wine. It has a medium alcohol content and a slight, characteristic acidity. This is a wine with a clearly differentiated character. It should be served chilled . As a result of the fermentation process, this wine is slightly sparkling, producing a tingle on the palate and a full range of aromas.

It is the ideal accompaniment for salted anchovies and tuna in oil,

Txomin: Txacolina

Txomin :

"In the southeast corner of the Bay of Biscay at the border with France, lies the region of Txakoli, (chock-oh-lee). The region is divided between Guetaria, along the coast, and farther inland Vizcaya. The wines of Guetaria (the smallest Denominación de Origen in all of Spain) are crisp and bright, those of Vizcaya richer and higher in alcohol."

This wine is made from both red and white grapes picked when malic acids are still high and made in a production method that imparts a delicate petillance — or slight spritz. It is essentially the same as a ‘green wine’ (vinho verde) in Portugal.

Locally, txacoli is poured an inch or so at a time into characteristic flat-bottomed tumblers and then drunk before it loses its sparkling edge.


ABOUT THE PRODUCER: "Coming from the smallest appellation in Spain, today 85 hectares (124 acres), the Chueca family has made Txomin Etxaniz the benchmark wine of the appellation. Until twenty years ago, good chacolí could only be found in the farmsteads (caseríos) where it was traditionally made.

WINE PROFILE: Lots of green apple, lemon, lime and kiwi . Tart, very crisp with good minnerality and acidity.