Trentadue winemaker on what La Storia’s historic North Coast Wine Challenge win means

In the 1950s, Leo Trentadue forged a long-term friendship with Paul Draper of Ridge Vineyards.

Fruit from the Trentadue’s Geyserville estate vineyard has been sold to Ridge Vineyards every year since 1967. In 1974, Trentadue sold Ridge Vineyards what is now known as Monte Bello Winery and Vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA.

Victor Trentadue, Leo and Evelyn’s son, was bit by the wine bug as a teenager. He now owns Four Seasons Vineyard Management, which manages about 800 acres of vineyards for Trentadue, Ridge Vineyards and other Sonoma County wineries.

For Victor, winning the North Coast Wine Challenge is a moment of pride.

“I’ve been doing this since I was 12 and it’s exciting to see our family get some recognition,” he said. “We’re getting a lot of congratulations from people in the industry and that is very rewarding.”

Coming to America

Born in Bulgaria, Miro Tcholakov developed an appreciation for wine during his youth after watching his grandfather grow grapes and make wine.

“Growing up in Europe, I’ve had wine around for as long as I can remember,” said Tcholakov. “I had my first glass at age 6! When I came to the United States, I was shocked to see people put wine on a pedestal and drink just to get drunk. For us, it was considered cool and civilized if you could drink a lot without getting drunk. That was the manly thing to do.”

After graduating college in Bulgaria, Tcholakov came to the United States in 1990 through an agricultural exchange program sponsored by Future Farmers of America. Landing at Dry Creek Vineyard, he worked his way up to assistant winemaker over a period of nine years.

Ready for a new adventure, Tcholakov joined Trentadue Winery as winemaker in 1999. Today, he oversees production of the winery’s Trentadue, La Storia and OPR labels, which total between 16,000 to 18,000 cases per year.

The winning wine

Looking back at the 2021 vintage, Tcholakov said he distinctly remembers “there were no apocalyptic events of any kind.”

“Everything was relatively calm and normal compared to the cataclysmic fires of 2017 and 2019,” said Tcholakov. “Bloom started early, but the remainder of the year was relatively cool. No heat waves, no rains, nothing dramatic.”

With Trentadue’s La Storia Cuvée 32, Tcholakov typically varies the blend from year to year, and in 2021, Brunello clone sangiovese makes up the lion’s share at 47%.

“Sangiovese is actually a very historic variety and predates the Romans to the Etruscan times,” said Tcholakov. “It’s so intensely flavored. And if you close your eyes when the wine is fermenting, the scent is so perfumey and aromatic. You’d never guess it was a red wine.”

While sangiovese is the most widely planted red grape in Italy, montepulciano is the second and makes up 22% of the Cuvee 32 blend.

“Montepulciano is dark and has a lot of blueberry aromas in it. It’s relatively low in tannins but it’s an important part of the sangiovese team,” said Tcholakov. “Then I added 32% merlot, which gave the wine a little bit more weight and structure.”

In the end, Trentadue’s 2021 La Storia Cuvée 32 impressed the judges for its “complexity,” “elegance” and “pure Oppenheimer genius,” to win the North Coast Wine Challenge’s top award of Best of the Best.

“The broad appeal of a winning red wine is all about balance,” said Chris Sawyer, a sommelier and judge at the North Coast Wine Challenge. “The Cuvée 32 is an exciting wine with generous, concentrated flavors that make you think about how great it would be to pair with food. For me, that stood out from all the rest!”

For Ziggy Eschliman, a wine and spirits educator and fellow judge, it was the La Storia Cuvée 32’s “seductive aromas of pomegranate blossoms and juicy plums” that enticed her from the start.

“They bring your palate to a party of black raspberries, dark chocolate-covered blueberries, herbs and leather,” said Eschliman. “The finish is an encore, begging for more!”

At the end of the day, Tcholakov is grateful the judges were open-minded about voting for an Italian-style red blend.

“It shows there are other wines out there and we can appreciate different things,” said Tcholakov. “That’s the most important thing to me.”

You can reach Staff Writer Sarah Doyle at 707-521-5478 or sarah.doyle@pressdemocrat.com. Follow Sarah on Instagram at @whiskymuse.