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Dan Berger and Rick Davis.
Rick Davis, winemaker and owner Cal Star Cellars, joins Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger on California Wine Country. This is Rick’s first time on CWC although we have taked about his wines before.
Dan Berger says that Rick is not personally well-known because he does not promote himself. He is too busy in the winery. Rick tells his story of starting in the industry on the east coast in 1988 before coming to California in 1992. He became cellarmaster and assistant winemaker at Flower, then in 1997 he worked three vintages on the central coast. He started his own brand in 2001 with 160 cases of Zinfandel.
Flowers began as a project under the auspices of Greg La Follette and it became one of the most important brands in Sonoma County history. Dan says that the Cal Star wines are some of the best wines that nobody has ever heard about.
The Cal Star Lineup
Cal Star makes a Sauvignon Blanc, a Chardonnay, a red and a rosé from Pinot Meunier, six different Pinot Noirs (three vineyard designates and three and three AVA blends) and two Zinfandels. He only does 1200 cases per year total volume, and he works with 11 different SKUs. Dan says its virtue is that this is how to keep track of all the different vineyards.
The Sauvignon Blanc has a lot of varietal character, in Dan’s opinion. He also gets varietal character from his Lodi Zinfandels. Rick is not interested in what he calls “cocktail wine” or what Dan calls a “sipping wine.” Rick got interested in wine because he likes to cook and wanted to make wine that would match the food he cooks. That sounds like the way to end up making wines that Dan Berger will like.
Then they taste a 2023 Rosé of Pinot Meunier which Dan says is has strong cherry flavors. His account in Georgia called it a “porch pounder that will go with food.” This rosé is made direct to press, not by the bleeding-off process. Dan agrees that this method makes better Rosés.
The red Pinot Meunier is next. It is rarely made as a red wine because it is already light in color. It’s just darker than a Rosé, but it is a red. Rick describes it as Cru Beujolais without the funk factor.