Every once in a while you get to meet someone knowledgeable on something you care about, full of amazing stories and above all…humble. If you are lucky, you get to meet them more than once. That’s my story with Master Sommelier and Certified Wine Educator Michael Jordan. This guy has done a lot in his lifetime, one of them being only one of fifteen people to hold both of these certifications. Not an easy task.
Mr. Jordan is currently Director of Global Key Accounts for Jackson Family Fine Wines and as a result he gets to travel the nation and talk wine. I’ve seen him change hats to speak to groups of people of aficionados , mid knowledge and eccentric collectors. The guy knows how to handle a group of people.
The first time I met him was back in April 2014 when I received an invitation to participate in a Kendall Jackson Wine Dinner at Morton’s Steakhouse in San Juan’s Caribe Hilton Hotel courtesy of Plaza Cellars and a great pal, Fernan Arteaga, Sales Director of KJW for the Caribbean and Latin America. We started the night with a Vintner’s Reserve Chardonnay 2011. Very nice buttery, butterscotch every day kind of wine with a crisp acidity that never disappoints. Usually called a battle wine. It was around this time that Michael introduced himself and we talked about my wine project at the time (prwinenews.com) and I asked him what made him take a job with KJW when he already had so many things going for himself. His response was very proper and political. He said that he would sell a lot of their wines, that price vs quality they are a great buy and that they are a family business and he enjoys that.
After that I asked him about his opinion on the growing tendencies of the east coast wines such as New York and Virginia. I liked his response. He said “These guys have been making wine for a long time. They have been learning slowly but surely to make things better. That the media is starting to discover them now and at the same time that people that never looked in their direction are pay attention to them is only the beginning. The wines were already there. We are the ones getting to them now.“
The food was great and the pairings were really well thought out. With the first course we were served a KJ Grand Reserve Chardonnay 2010. Nothing short of impressive. Citric notes, more structure than the previous one and went great with lobster bisque. Right after we went to the red wine with a Cambria Pinot Noir Julia’s Vineyard 2012. A very silky smooth wine with cherry hints and very short yet noticeable hints of chocolate. I remember writing that I would have stored the wine a little bit more for my taste.
At this point and after going around to talk to certainly more important people, Mr. Jordan came back to our table and we continued our conversations. This time it shifted to talk about female oenologists and how they bring something fresh to this normally male predominated industry. So we talked a bit about Mary Maher, Vineyard Manager at Harlan Estate in Napa California, receiving Napa Valley Grower of the year award (this was back in 2014). He told me that he annually has an event in Hawaii where he invites both chefs and oenologists and he had been planning to do one soley with women experts in their fields. After this we talked about my winesthesia tweets (now a section in this blog) where I associate music with wine and he told me that a while back he had written about the subject but the other way around where he was given a musical piece and he would pair it with a wine. This guy is such an interesting person to talk to.
For the main course we were served two red wines. A KJ Grande Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 and a KJ Grande Reserve Merlot 2010. Both wines had great aroma with the Cabernet having some cooca and berries notes and the Merlot more currant with black cherries. They are not really expensive wines and have the capacity to be stored for a while so they wouldn’t break anybody’s pocket.
One of the most curious notes of the event was listening to Bill Blais, Vice President of Sales and distribution, share with the crowd a few anecdotes of Michael, particularly that his godfather was none other than Frank Sinatra. Talk about an interesting childhood.
It wasn’t until August of 2017 that I would see Michael again. This time at The House in San Juan for a JFW Pacific Coast Pinot Noir Tour. From Oregon to lower California. Once again Fernan Arteaga was there this time with José Figueroa representing Fine Wine Imports, local distributor of some of these wines. I sat in the back, just interested in listening in and take a class with professor Jordan who just like the last time, took control of the room right away. The tour of wine had another thing in common: price accessibility. These are wines that are between $20 and $40 which makes them a perfect target for everyday drinkers.
The tour started with a non red wine. It was a Pinot alright, but it wasn’t Noir…it was Gris. WillaKenzie Estate Pinot Gris 2016 from Willamette Valley. I don’t know why I was surprised. Everyone always puts a white or a sparkling at the beginning of most exercises. I’m not a fan of Pinot Gris so I’m going to leave it at it having great ratings over the years and that it has like a crate of acidity. Right after we tried the WillaKenzie Estate Pinot Noir Gisele 2014. I found it to be a lighthearted wine with few hints of black cherry and a Dr. Feelgood attitude on mouth.
The third wine in the tour was the Gran Moraine Yamhill-Carlton 2014 from Oregon. The bottle had a line right in front that said “Unique terroir
shaped by ancient glaciers”. It was near this point that Mr. Jordan took us into a history/geography/geology class that lasted for close to 5-7 minutes on how the terroir was formed from some asteroid hitting so long ago and erosion taking its toll and creating the different AVA’s we have today. You know a guy is good at what he does when he has people tuned in to a geology lesson on a weeknight while drinking. This was something else. It felt more earthy, subtle but elegant as if it was hiding something. Maybe a couple of years could let us know. Right after was one of my favorite battle pinot noirs. Wild Ridge Sonoma Coast 2012. I’ve talked in this blog before about that wine. This particular night I found it to be quite good. Great pointage across the board with hints of ripe black berries and cocoa, balanced, long finish. Never grow tired of this wine. Which makes it a perfect example of Murphy’s law as I will explain later on.
The fifth pinot noir was The Hartford Court Russian River Valley 2014. This was another one of my favorites of the night. This was a solid wine. Very balanced, smooth in mouth, medium body, berries in palate and a strong finish. Finally…a Hartford I can enjoy without worrying I’m going to get robbed (and I don’t mean in price with another The Hartford wine I literally mean Hartford, CT).
Right after was the Liberated 2013 Central Coast. It was a little too light for me, had a very subtle eucalyptus hint (something I read there is plenty in Monterey, California) but it didn’t had a long finish. Price quality however makes for a good everyday wine when you don’t feel like exploring the 4th dimension of your palate capabilities.
The seventh wine was Siduri Santa Lucia Highlands 2013 and this one was my third favorite of the tour. One of the wines that got me
interested in Santa Lucia. It’s yet another case of Goldilock wine for me. Price, quality, aroma, finish, consistency, enough depth without being a mystery in need of Scooby Doo and the Mistery Machine. Yes all the dark fruits you get in Pinot are there but it had a some cunning spice aromas.
Lastly we closed with a Nielson by Byron Santa Maria Valley 2014. I had some expectations with this wine. Because of it I stumbled into what the Winkler scale is (No. Nothing to do with The Fonze rating wines). This because I knew very little about Santa Maria Valley. The wine perse was good, but after the three I really enjoyed it didn’t impressed me. It had also earthy qualities to it and some cherry aromas. Maybe it wasn’t the best year. I read 2013 was better (then again, 2013 in California was better overall) and even though I’ve established my position with points, in this case, it seems to point (pun intended) in that direction.
After the event was done, I went to say hi to a few of the guys, including Mr. Jordan with no expectation of him to remember me obviously. So I re-introduced
myself. It took him a moment and he made an association to the Morton dinner three years earlier. We talked for a little while and that’s when he told me about the end of Wild Ridge. It was a disappointing moment for it is such a solid wine. After that we talked briefly about the so many brands within Jackson Family Wines and how do they decide who has seniority when it comes to the grapes and access to vineyards.
He also told me he had like two days of verticals and tastings and that previously that day he had one with the more premium wines of JFW for a series of collectors and how nice that was for him because it allowed him to have a different type of conversation.
So I said goodbye and went on my way after another excellent wine presentation thinking two very different thoughts. First that if all Somms where as accessible and knowledgeable as he is, maybe more people would lose their fear of wine. But maybe that’s already happening and I’m just stuck in between generations to see it. Second that we are really lucky in Puerto Rico to have such a vast variety of wines available and for such a small niche, we get some very important industry related visits. I hope that doesn’t change any time soon.
