Thrill of the hunt

I usually tell you to run out and buy a bottle of this or that or the other thing from your favoritest wine store, and that’s part of the point of this column. I mean, if you can’t actually score the product I’m pitching, what’s the point? It’s kinda like ending a letter with “P.S.: Guess who’s pregnant!” I’ve got you crazy for the details, but you got nothin’ to prove ’em by. You’re thus consigned to the side of the road on the rainiest night of the year, windblown and friendless, left only to ponder the empty possibilities within.

But I wouldn’t do that to most of you. I’d tell you up front that you can’t buy the 2009 Sycamore Lane Chardonnay at the wine shop or the deli. The peeps over at Trinchero Family Estates in St. Helena, Calif., believe in their line so exclusively that they sell it only at food-service outlets like restaurants and wine bars and stuff. That’s a clever marketing ploy, but it also speaks to this one’s rarefied, excellent aromas and tastes. Apple and peach are intensely evident here, and that makes this an outstanding pair with vegetable dishes, lamb and cheese (like a nice Colby or Jack). Trinchero says the secret to this one is its multi-site harvest; it gets its Chard grapes from several big fat growers throughout the state. It works for them, too—Wine Enthusiast magazine named Trinchero the 2009 American winery of the year.

This time, you’re gonna have to work a little harder to find out why.

Once you come across a bar or eatery that sells Sycamore (at about $9 a bottle), you’ll appreciate your labors that much more. The thrill of the hunt, after all, is a thrill only when you’ve secured your quarry. Better that than consignment to the side of the road on the rainiest night of the year, windblown and friendless, left only to ponder the empty possibilities within.