CURRAN GRENACHE BLANC AT AKASHA

People have different reasons to explain their particular attraction to one restaurant or another.  A special dish or a favorite waiter might bring you back to a certain restaurant repeatedly.  As you might guess, I find myself returning over and over to eateries which have nice wine lists.  Akasha, in the Los Angeles suburb of Culver City, is one of those places.

The wines on their blackboard have pleased me each time I've had one, and they feature quite a few wines of California's Central Coast, particularly the Santa Barbara area.

Lunchtime fish tacos - sea bass instead of the usual mahi mahi - fit perfectly with a wine from the Santa Ynez Valley, the Curran Grenache Blanc 2009, from winemaker Kris Curran.

Showing a lovely golden-yellow hue in the glass, the Curran's nose is accented by cantaloupe and flowers, with some wet rocks to show the minerals.  It tastes a bit of those minerals, too, but offers mainly a tropical guava flavor.  The acidity doesn't seem to be too strong until the finish, where it really kicks in.  The wine has very good weight and a full mouthfeel.  Despite the minerality, the mid-palate is smooth and almost creamy feeling.

That smooth nature plays very well with the somewhat picante guacamole which topped the fish.  The acidity shows up right when you need it, at the end.

THE PARING WHITE 2008

A recent dinner at the Capital Grille, in the Beverly Center in Los Angeles, provided me with my first look at the restaurant operating from the space the old Hard Rock Cafe once occupied.  More than once during the evening I heard the comment, "Boy, it sure doesn't look like the Hard Rock, does it?"  No, it doesn't.  This place features a lot of "steakhouse browns" and dark red leather upholstery in the booths.  It also features some outstanding food and a very nice wine list.  Master Sommelier George Miliotes has done a nice job.

There were some issues at the maitre d' stand resulting in a rather long wait, but we were offered something to drink during the delay.  Once we were seated, the service was stellar.

I like to see plenty of local options on a wine list, and there were a few here.  I went with a wine I had only sampled at a tasting event a couple of years ago.  The Paring White comes from the folks who brought you the Napa cult brand Screaming Eagle.  The Santa Ynez winery Jonata is their Central Coast high-end producer, and The Paring is a second label featuring wines which are much more moderately priced.  The white blend sells for $13 by the glass at The Capital Grille.

Winemaker Matt Dees oversees both labels.  Dees has a degree in soil science from the University of Vermont, so it's no surprise to find that he feels great wines are made in the vineyard.

Dees honed his winemaking chops in Napa Valley and New Zealand, and his specialty is wine made from Bordeaux grape varieties.  The Paring's estate vineyard is in Ballard Canyon, in the Santa Ynez Valley.

The Paring White 2008 is a blend of 55% Sauvignon Blanc, 28% Sémillon and 17% Viognier.  The 2007 vintage had only Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon in its makeup, and the addition of Viognier makes a difference.  The wine is made utilizing equal parts new French oak, neutral French oak and stainless steel, and is bottled unfined.  375 cases were produced.

Our server advised that it was a good choice to pair with my lobster bisque - which is incredible - and she was right.  She told me many of her customers find it's a bit like Conundrum, also offered by the glass, but not as sweet.

The Paring's nose shows only a slight touch of the Sauvignon Blanc's grassiness and a good whiff of the Viognier's floral aspect.  I also smelled fresh pears and nectarines.  Tropical flavors come first on the palate with a lovely herbal/floral quality.  It has a pale green tint in the glass and feels medium-to-full in the mouth.  There's a great acidity - razor sharp - which makes it pair very well with the bisque and also with Denise's salmon, a bite or two of which I sneaked from her plate.  Pear juice on the finish leaves a beautiful memory of the wine's taste.

WINE CUPCAKES

A company in Santa Barbara, California is offering a tour that involves two tasty and popular treats mashed up into one.  SBAdventureCo.com is promoting a wine and cupcakes tour.

The stops at wineries in Santa Barbara wine country would be enough to get most people on the shuttle van, but when you throw in a cupcake tasting, there aren't too many who could resist.

The day-long tour includes lunch at a Santa Ynez Valley winery, wine tastings and cupcake tastings.  The cupcakes are actually billed as the star of this show, and are produced by a wine country company called Enjoy Cupcakes, which serves the sweet treats out of a restored vintage travel trailer.

The company's wine-infused cupcakes include favorites like Pomegranate Mango Chardonnay, Citrus Sauvignon Blanc and Chocolate Blackberry Syrah.

The wine and cupcake tour is $125 per person, with a discount for groups of six or more.

BECKMEN CUVEE LE BEC 2008 SANTA YNEZ VALLEY

If you're looking for a big, heavy-hitting Central Coast Rhone varietal blend - and that's one thing I'm always on the lookout for - Beckmen Vineyards' Cuvée Le Bec easily fills those shoes.  This wine, like all of Beckmen’s wines, is estate grown, produced and bottled.  The Los Olivos-based winery offers this blend as one of its flagship wines.

I bought the Cuvée Le Bec in a wine store for $16.  It's a mixture of 51% Grenache, 27% Syrah, 16% Mourvédre and 6% Counoise.  The alcohol level is in the 14-plus range, and it's not shy about showing its teeth.

The nose carries quite a bit of heat even after an hour in the glass.  It took about two and a half hours to lose most of the alcohol overlay, but even then it was still a noticeable trait.  Luscious cherry liqueur candy aromas do come through the haze.

The taste is vibrantly fruity, with candied cherry and blueberry mixed together.  The fruit makes quite a strong play, but so does the alcohol.  The heat is still a dominant factor after nearly three hours in the glass.  There is an earthy streak of minerals which is particularly apparent on the finish.

Three hours after pouring - yes, I waited it out - the alcohol buzz is almost all gone and you’re left with a very brambly and dark fruit bomb.  Not an entirely unpleasant situation to be in, it’s just too bad it took three hours the get there.  Decant, wait and enjoy.

KALYRA ORANGE MUSCAT 2006

Dessert wines get a bad rap from "serious" wine drinkers.  Those who like a dry red's tannins puckering their lips into a fish face simply don't think the sweet side brings much to the table.  That's OK.  To each, his or her own.  Most of the wine I drink is dry, and the dryer the better.  But I pulled a bottle of Orange Muscat from the rack the other night and it reminded me just how nice a good dessert wine can be.

Kalyra Winery, up Highway 154 in the pastoral Santa Ynez Valley northwest of Santa Barbara, makes great dessert wines.  They make some pretty good dry wines, too, but it was their dessert wines Denise and I fell in love with first.  Their Orange Muscat is one we have had through several vintages.  This 2006 has been in the wine rack for some time now, drawing attention to the shameful neglect I have shown the sweet nectar.

The grapes for this wine were sourced from Madeira, California.  Fortified to a 15% abv number, this viscous liquid is a rich, golden color and so thick and heavy it almost tries to stay in the glass.

On the nose are flowers, honey and apricot candy.  The palate shows even more honey, more apricots and some orange peel notes that play off the sweetness beautifully.

Kalyra makes a really lovely dessert, to be sure.  It can carry it's own weight, though, with a nice acidity that makes it pair well with cakes, tarts and the occasional pistachio ice cream.

QUPE SYRAH CENTRAL COAST 2007

Sometimes I wonder where this stuff comes from.  I pulled a bottle out of the rack the other day, only to find it was a half-bottle.  Where did I get that?  I don't buy half bottles - at least I thought I didn't.  Oh, yeah, it's coming back to me.  I bought a couple of half-bottles to take to the Hollywood Bowl, but my bowling excursions have been nonexistent since then.  Let's drink it here in the comfort of my own home.

This Syrah is actually 98% Syrah and 2% Grenache.  About a third of the grapes come from the Santa Ynez Valley, about a third from Santa Barbara County and another third from Paso Robles.  The Santa Maria Valley and Edna Valley are minor players in the mix.  In all, according to the Qupé website, 17 vineyards from five AVAs were tapped to get the grapes for this wine.

Robert Lindquist's half winery – the facilities and staff are shared between Qupé and Au Bon Climat – is located on the famous Bien Nacido Vineyard in Santa Maria. It's a rustic area, and rustic is the feeling I get from drinking this Syrah.

Medium dark red in color with deep purple around the edge, it looks like it means business.  The nose carries a little heat right after opening, but shows spicy, dark berries and leather otherwise.  Violets and blackberries populate the palate.

After nearly an hour, it's still a bit hot.  It's still nice and spicy, too.  The alcohol takes about an hour and a half to ease its grip, leaving the taste extremely leathery and dry.  The fruit takes a backseat, allowing the earthy tones to ride shotgun.

At 13.5% abv, it was surprising to find so much alcohol present upon opening it, but by the second night, there were no heat issues at all.

RIDEAU VINEYARD CREOLE BBQ FOR JULY 4TH 2010

If you are casting about for a good old, down home food, wine and music event for the Independence Day weekend, I'd suggest you take a trip to Solvang for anannual summer BBQ .  Saturday July 3rd, 2010 is the date and the party will run from 11:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.  The Rideau Vineyard tasting room is at 1562 Alamo Pintado Road in Solvang, right in the heart of the beautiful Santa Ynez Valley.  Their phone number is 805.688.0717.

If you are not familiar with Rideau Vineyard , it was founded in 1997 by New Orleans native Iris Rideau.  She dedicated her vineyard to Rhone grape varieties in part because they are well suited to the terroir.  She also feels they go well with her beloved Creole cuisine.

Speaking of food, the menu for this shindig will feature BBQ chicken and ribs, red beans and rice with Andouille sausage, green salad, pecan cornbread and - a staple of any summertime get-together in the south - big, juicy watermelons.  The music will be in the jazz/blues vein from Lenny Kerley.

All this and southern hospitality, too, will cost $50, $40 for Rideau wine club members.  The price includes a wine tasting and a glass of wine of your choice.  If you are from the south and miss this kind of summer treat, it comes highly recommended.  If you are from some other geographical locale, this event will show you why people miss the south when they move away.

By the way, the Rideau wines are superb and the tasting room is as close to New Orleans decor as you are likely to find in the Central Coast.

Kalyra Black Muscat 2005

There are certain places in the wine world to which I seem drawn back over and over.  The Santa Ynez Valley is one of those places.  Its rolling terrain, sprawling vineyards and bounteous farm land beckon me each time good fortune takes me there.  Denise and I have stopped so many times at fruit stands there for unbelievably delicious strawberries and blueberries.  We've even stopped at a winery or two.  Insert smiling emoticon here.

Kalyra Winery is one of those places in the Santa Ynez Valley from which I can't seem to stay away.  They offer a full line of wines, but I am very partial to their dessert wines. Kalyra's 375ml bottle is adorned by label art which I think of as Australian Surfer Hieroglyphics. The surf motif is in full effect at their winery tasting room in the Santa Ynez Valley as well as at their more recently opened tasting room on Santa Barbara's Urban Wine Trail.

The Kalyra Black Muscat looks rather like a rosé when in the glass. The nose is aromatic and rich. There are notes of licorice candy and candied fruit flavors in there too. The wine tastes somewhat like a port, maybe a young one. It's a very nice and sweet berry flavor that makes a fine dessert on its own, or drizzled over ice cream. It could accompany an aged cheese fairly well, too. It's not as strong as a "real" port, but at 15% abv, it's not weak, either.

Winemaker:  Mike Brown
Variety:  Muscat
Appellation:  California > Central Coast > Santa Ynez Valley
Vintage:  2005 
Alcohol Level:  15%
Price: $15
Acquisition disclaimer:  Purchased by the author at the winery

Tasting Notes: Rideau Vineyard Riesling 2007

The Bottle: The slender bottle would suggest either Mosel or Alsace, but it's clear glass. If they're breaking the rules, it must be California. Rideau is in the Santa Ynez Valley, Solvang is the official address, although it seems to be closer to Los Olivos. This Riesling is labeled as La Presa Vineyard and cost $22 at the tasting room. The ABV is 12.1%.

The Nose: I get a nose full of flowers from this wine, a wonderful aromatic scent that I would say is honeysuckle, but might well be some other fresh and fragrant flower scent.

The Taste: It's a fairly sweet wine, as you might guess by the ABV. The flavors are honey and apricots, to my palate. Not a lot of acidity, so I didn't even try to pair it with food. I simply enjoyed it, sipping it on the deck after the wife and I came home from a hard days' labor through a half hour drive up Laurel Canyon Boulevard. It may be a sipper, but it's a good sipper. Good sippers are underrated, in my book. The price tag was a bit high for this type of wine. You could pick up a very nice Riesling easily for under $15 most anywhere. But it did serve to remind me of a very nice trip to the Santa Ynez Valley, and a very nice stop at a fun little tasting room.

Tasting Room Notes: Summerland Winery

Why had we never gotten off the 101 freeway in Summerland before? Maybe it's because when we pass that way we're usually headed for either Santa Barbara or the Santa Ynez Valley, and it seems we should just press on and get where we're going. Maybe it's because we never knew there was a really great little highway grocery there. Maybe it's because we never knew about the Summerland Winery.

Well, this time we were headed for Pismo Beach, so it was actually perfectly positioned as a stopping place. We needed to pick up a few things at a market of some sort. The Summerland Winery just happened to be there, in the right place at the right time.

The tasting room is in a tidy little building in the seaside community of Summerland, between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. There's a bay window upstairs and a flag adorns the front, flapping in the cool ocean breeze. I had imagined it would look more like a boutique and less like a tasting room inside, but I was wrong. Ample bar space beckoned, so I picked up a tasting menu and got started.

I had just sampled Summerland's wares at the Ojai Wine Festival a week earlier - my pourer recognized me - so I knew there were good wines here. The tasting fee is $8, $12 to keep the glass.

Sauvignon Blanc, Santa Barbara County, 2007 - A pungent aroma leads to tropical flavors and grapefruit. The acidity is quite nice, so I would guess it's a good wine to have with food. It's very crisp and refreshing, so you could just sip it if you like.

Pinot Gris, Santa Barbara County, 2008 - More tropical flavors, and a nice clean finish.

Chardonnay, Rancho Santa Rosa, 2007 - 10 months in oak left its mark on this one. It's very oaky, although with a clean taste and finish.

Pinot Noir, Santa Barbara County, 2007 - Brilliant aromas and flavors in this one - black cherry and clove all over the place. This is not subdued - it's a very lively Pinot Noir.

Grenache, Paso Robles, 2006 - This medium-bodied Grenache surprised me. It tasted a lot spicier than I expected. Fairly nice, but I can think of several other Grenaches I like better.

Cabernet Sauvignon, Paso Robles, 2006 - The black currant profile is very strong here. French oak for 14 months gives a nice effect, but the wood is rather restrained.

Orange Muscat, Santa Barbara County 2008 - This dessert wine isn't sappy, it's nice and crisp in fact. The sweetness is there, it simply isn't overdone.

Mandolina Classico Toccata 2004

The Bottle: The second label from Lucas & Lewellen, Mandolina specializes in Italian varietals. This Santa Barbara County red is 45% Sangiovese, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Cabernet Franc, 15% Freisa and 10% Merlot. It's made in Super-Tuscan style. Each component is aged 19 months in French oak before blending. The abv is 13.9%.

The Nose: I get a fruit-driven earthiness. There are berries there of all kinds, it seems. They are accompanied by earth aromas, a leathery sense and a vague aroma of meat strikes me.

The Taste: The Sangiovese is driving this train, obviously. It's one of my favorite varietals, but quite often I find it leaves the mouth less than full. Not this one. It's a big, juicy, meaty mouthful that is really irresistible. Very dark and earthy tones mingle with the blueberry and cherry flavors in a great way. Try it with the usual Italian fare, or just enjoy it on its own.

Mosby La Seduzione 2004

The Bottle:

Beautiful artwork is what strikes me on first glance. The Mosby wines are famous for their beautifully illustrated labels by Robert Scherer. This brown/green tinted bottle contains La Seduzione, 2004 French Camp Vineyard California red wine. It's a Lagrein, which we find on the back label is an Italian varietal found largely near Bolzano. Fortunately, there's also Lagrein growing in the French Camp, near San Luis Obispo. Also fortunately, Bill Mosby found them and procured them to make some wine from them.

The Nose:

Rich and forceful, the aromas leap from the glass. There's a fair whiff of alcohol, but not so much that it can obscure the black cherry, blackberry, licorice and leather. I believe my tasting notes from the winery may have indicated a "forest floor with blackberries tromped into the soil," or some such silliness. These are very dark, but fruity aromas.

The Taste:

Flavors of black cherry soda and big, dark plums dominate the palate for me. There are notes of cocoa and spices in there. It's a big, big taste. I would not recommend pairing this with anything too tame or sedate. This is a powerful wine that calls out for brash food to match it.

Panky Santa Ynez Valley Rose 2008

The Bottle: A clear Rhone-style bottle reveals the salmon color that seems tinged with gold in the light. It's quite impressive visually. The Happy Canyon pink consists of 38% Syrah, 36% Cinsaut and 26% Grenache. I could not find an alcohol content number on the label, but I would not guess it was much over 13.5%. The label is rather plain, save for the name. "Panky" is printed in mixed-font "ransom note" style. I was told this wine was produced by Fontes and Phillips, but the label shows that it is bottled by the "Kerr E. Nation Wine Company - Buellton, CA." To find it, you may have to "axe" around.

The Nose: A very fruity sniff awaits you in this wine, especially if it's not overly chilled. Grapefruit and apricot lead the way, but there seems to be a lot at work in the aroma department. Very interesting.

The Taste: Not extremely dry, but certainly not on the sweet end of the spectrum. There is a buttery texture on the tongue, but not overplayed. I find a creaminess that's almost trying to hide. Vanilla notes contradict an orange peel tartness. I thought it was a complicated wine the first time I tried it, and I still think so. It's got a very good acidity and goes well with salads, fish...probably an omelet, too. This wine is a little difficult to find, but it's worth the trouble. Here is an email address. The rest is up to you. http://www.sbcountywines.com/wineries/pages/fontes.html