[Music] hello everybody a warm welcome to the wine with jimmy channel i'm your host jimmy smith so uh welcome to a series here for the wset level three this is on california it's split into a multi-part series and we're on part two here on the black grape varieties the all-important production of california being the black varieties now parts one through to four are available as free content five through to nine including the all-important short written question questions and answers uh that i walk you through will only be available on my e-learning portal over at winewithjimmy.com so let's begin with the most prominent variety in california which is cabernet sauvignon so the most widely planted black grape variety in the state and prime sites of this variety can produce extremely expressive wines that can in fact rival the best of anywhere in the world you only have to cast your mind back to may the 24th 1976 when we have the judgment of paris tasting where the best of california was pitched against the best of bordeaux and california goes and wins really cementing the importance of california the u.s but overall new world wines in the global wine appreciation many of the wines that are made from cabernet sauvignon are full-bodied with very concentrated ripe cassis flavors you'll see cassis here which is black currant liqueur and prominent spice characteristics from new oak things like vanilla probably coconut as well i have got black currant there because it's a characteristic which you'll find of course in some californian cabernet serving and certainly those that are made in a more restrained and fresher style with lower alcohols than the big ripe concentrated expressions and there are a nice diversity of styles it's not just a one trick pony style the cabernet sauvignon from california next up would be zinfandel regarded as california's kind of indigenous variety though it is not from california originally uh it actually originally comes from croatia via puglia as primativo this variety is kind of california's signature distinctly different it's made in a range of styles it has a tendency to ripen unevenly bunch by bunch buried by berry which creates a challenge to the grape grower so the issue there is that if you uh do a kind of blanket harvest you're going to have both over-ripe and under-ripe fruit that goes into the mix the over-ripe fruit leads to raising of course and this can lead to concentrated full-bodied red wines the greater levels of sugar lead to greater levels of alcohol and sometimes it's so intense with sugar that you'll find residual sugar left in the wine so sometimes they can be a little bit off dry in style flavors typically are a mixture of red and black fruits dried fruits we've got raisins in that picture sometimes prune uh fig as well and things like licorice can be found too some which are picked on the slightly earlier side with more of a tendency to under-ripe berries can be more herbaceous often a lot of mint often things like tobacco tea leaf things like mint itself sage basil those kind of notes can be quite prominent in those expressions also there's a completely different style made from the same grape there are large volumes of white zinfandel which is normally produced from very early picked grapes these wines are commonly referred to as white zinfandel and you see the label there on the screen they are typically paler in color because they of course are pink they are fruity medium sweet with lower alcohols you'll see this one is in fact 8.5 normally a zinfandel as a red wine will be somewhere around 13 to 15 percent alcohol so knowing that this has been bottled at only about 8.5 probably from under ripe berries the potential alcohol might have been somewhere around 12 percent if it was fully fermented so that means you've got around three to four percent unfermented great must which gives you about sort of you know 20 30 40 50 grams per liter of sugar making it medium medium sweet in style okay um that's a large production next variety is merlot it is widely planted though less favorable than cabernet sauvignon and less stylish certainly not as promised and lorded as cabernet sauvignon in the press it generally makes wines that are more approachable with softer tannins and ripe black fruits blackberry for example the san juan valley in central valley has the largest plantings generally there making simpler inexpensive wines quite similar in their cost to a bordeaux general red but often with a bit more a bit more riper fruit flavor the better quality merlots from some of the cooler sites like monterrey and the north coast regions especially places like napa so some altitude in napa and sonoma which is generally cooler they are deeply colored wines that have this kind of soft luscious full body with a high alcohol and classic varietal notes of plum and blackberry that you see in the picture just there pinot noir of course is grown um and the premium pinot noir will come from the moderate areas the more tempered areas of california which will tend to be affected by the ocean current uh the greatest so places like russian river valley affected by the petuluma gap things like los coneros which uh experiences the cooling effect of the san pablo bay and also places like santa maria valley as well these styles will range quite widely according to the vineyard site microclimate but also the winemaking practices the philosophy of and ethos of the winemaking some are light in color with kind of gamey vegetal notes but to be honest most of them are on the richer side where you'll find ripe red fruits cherries and strawberries and then notes of sweet spice typically from the likes of oak maturation things like vanilla that you see there in the picture and finally we find some syrup now this is going to be the last grape we discussed there are other varieties found out in california but of course we are just covering the major styles in terms of the level three syllabus so sarah there's not much discussed in your syllabus about this uh there are plantings of sarah across the estate so you'll find some in places like sonoma uh you'll find some in napa um there's quite an exciting amount down in the central coast area certainly paso robles for example typically making full-bodied rich styles um licorice pepper is common here the wines are somewhere towards kind of australian but with a little bit more restraint than than some okay so that's the major black grape varieties completed for california please do join me for a slightly shorter video next which is looking at the white grape variety so talking really here about chardonnay and the likes of sauvignon blanc once again if you have any comments questions or concerns please do get in touch and you can do so by commenting on this video below click like and subscribe whilst you are there and if you do find yourself in london in the united kingdom and you are traveling oh blighties rolling green hills and uh you're bracing the gray skies and the drizzle of this fair landscape then come down to the big smoke london city and see me for a class a glass or a bottle i've been jimmy smith ciao for now bye bye