GENUINE RISK MERLOT 2007

A holiday gathering of friends found me back at Little Dom's in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles.  It's a cozy little spot with good food and a wine list which features a lot of labels I don't run across every day.  Their selection of wines, for me, is enough of a reason to drop in occasionally.  The food is an added bonus.

We were still getting our Christmas weather in L.A. - a little chilly.  The sunbathing warmth that always occurs in time for the Rose Bowl had not yet arrived.  Coat racks at the end of each booth - mere decoration for most of the year - were actually in full use this evening.  It made me feel for a minute like it really was winter.

Genuine Risk is produced by Black Sheep Finds, the Lompoc-based wine project of the husband and wife team of Peter Hunken and Amy Christine.  You may be familiar with their fabulous line of Holus Bolus Syrah and Pinot Noir.

The Genuine Risk '07 Merlot is actually a Bordeaux-style blend of 49% Merlot, 36% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Cabernet Franc and 4% Petit Verdot.  All the grapes hail from a single vineyard in Ballard Canyon, in the Santa Ynez Valley portion of the beautiful Santa Barbara County wine country.  It sells for $14 by the glass at Little Dom's - around $23 per bottle retail.

The wine is dark in color and sports a nose which is dense and dark as well.  Tons of blackberry and blueberry aromas just about knocked me over, with a trace of herbal and olive notes adding complexity.  It's a brawny quaff, with a good tannic grip.  The fruit is right up front on the palate and a slightly smoky bramble accent really sets it off.  I think I had a pizza with it, but it was just something to pick at.  The wine really stole the show.

Only 250 cases of Genuine Risk were produced, and Hunken tells me they have now moved into their '08 vintage, which blends the same grape varieties but in a more Cabernet-heavy fashion.

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HOLUS BOLUS SYRAH OCTOBRIST, SANTA YNEZ VALLEY 2006

A wine's sense of place is its most important characteristic.  It's called terroir - the way the grapes, the soil, the climate and the winemaking all come together to create something much bigger than the individual pieces of the puzzle.

A sense of place is also important when tasting a wine.  A wine sampled in the hurried and sometimes chaotic atmosphere of a big tasting event may not fare as well as when it is sampled in a more relaxed and personal manner.

That note was gently brought home to me during lunch with Denise on Valentine's Day.  Almost by chance, we lunched at Bouchon in Beverly Hills, but not actually in the Bistro.  We had our Valentine lunch at Bar Bouchon, downstairs from the restaurant.  A few tables scattered along the beautiful courtyard in the bright, warm sunshine of February in Southern California called to us strongly, and we took a seat.

The wine I enjoyed was the '06 Holus Bolus Syrah Octobrist, a Santa Ynez Valley product of Black Sheep Finds , a winery located in a nondescript warehouse facility in Lompoc.  Peter Hunken - formerly winemaker at Stolpman Vineyards - heads up the collective which includes his wife, Amy Christine.  This Syrah is one of the most intense and delicious wines I've had recently.  Would it have been so good in a one-ounce sample, swirled, savored and spit at an event with other tasters crowding in at my elbow?  Maybe the taste would have been there, but the experience would have been missing.

The setting was perfect.  Valentine's Day lunch with my wife, bright sunshine warming us on a day that was just barely cool, and the food of the Thomas Keller eatery would have been enough to write home about.  But a big tip of the pork-pie hat should go to Bouchon's Beverly Hills sommelier, Alex Weil, for including the Holus Bolus on his list.  Kudos also go to Hunken for making the wine in the first place.

Inky black, this 100% Syrah has a nose that is dark, dark and darker still.  Dark blackberry and cassis fruit are joined by aromas of roasting meat, smoke, cedar and tar.  The taste is full of blackberries, spices and a Slim Jim component that both amuses and thrills me.  My BBQ sandwich of braised Hobbs Shore pork shoulder, cabbage and Fuji apple coleslaw paired perfectly with the Syrah.  The wine costs $13 by the glass at Bouchon.