Lafond Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir 2007

Driving is something which lost its charm for me a long time ago.  I don't know about where you live, but in Los Angeles driving the surface streets generally means going slowly from one red light to the next.  It's not a whole lot better on the freeways, but at least the freeways can take you to a place that's special.  I know US Highway 101 can.  That's how we get to the Santa Barbara County wine country.

On my most recent trip there, one of my stops was Lafond Winery.  I enjoyed my short visit there so much, I had to bring some of it back home with me for a time when I really needed a little reminder of wine country.  With so much driving this week, it's time.

Lafond's Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir comes from those beautiful rolling hills dotted with vineyards.  Its purple  hue is so dark I can barely see through it.  There's currant on the nose, some spices and a fine earthiness, too.  But the big feature is a floral component that is gorgeous.  On the palate I find big dark fruit, tons of earth and a little tobacco.

The wine runs a little hot upon opening, and for half an hour after that, too.  Decant, or at least give it some time to breathe.  Its alcohol number is 14.5% abv.  2,800 cases of this wine were produced.  I bought it myself at the tasting room discount of $24.  It was worth the drive.

Terrabianca Campaccio Toscana 2005

After a trip to the Santa Monica Farmers Market, we stopped in to a restaurant familiar to us from its fantastic Larchmont Village location.  La Bottega Marino in West Los Angeles also serves great Italian cooking.  If you're worried about authenticity, don't.  Their chef is from Naples.  My spaghetti Bolognese was so good that my wife - of Italian heritage - was tasting it from my plate.  Her meatball sandwich met with her approval and mine.  She took home half of it and I was the beneficiary of it later in the day.

The only complaint I have is that their by-the-glass wine list is a bit skimpy.  As a matter of fact, the Piemonte Barbera I ordered was out of stock.  The waiter offered me a Tuscan blend at the same price - nine dollars - and I gladly accepted. 

Terrabianca Campaccio is a Tuscan blend of 70% Sangiovese and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon.  The winery is in the heart of Italy's Chianti Classico region, and the 12 clones of the two varieties were produced 40% in that region and 60% in Maremma. 

Some soapy looking bubbles around the edge of the glass after pouring dissapated quickly.  The wine has a dark purple color waith an earthy blackberry scent and a trace of pencil lead.  The structure is quite nice.  Its dark, earthy aroma is borne out on the palate, too.  The fruit presents itself strongly in this brooding, full-bodied drink. 

The Terrabianca paired very well with the bolognese, as if it had been made for it.  Oh, I suppose it probably was.  Great food and great wine are enough to make me want a return visit to La Bottega Marino.  Throw in some of that Billie Holiday they were playing during our lunch, and that return visit could be a reality by the time you read this.

Bogle Petite Sirah 2007

Don't you love it when you go to restaurant that had found itself  "off the list" for one reason or another, and find that it's back "on the list"?  That happened with Tart on Fairfax.  I don't remember why we stopped going there, but one night it was convenient and - lo and behold - there was a parking space right in front!  That was the clincher.  In we went, and right away the Bogle Petite Sirah jumped off the wine list at me.  It's a good wine, a very good one.  I'd had it before and was impressed with not only the aroma and taste but the price, too.  It seems like it was in the $10 per bottle range.  Here at Tart, $9 per glass.

The nose is full of cherry cola, with a lot of plum and blackberry in there.  You find that on the palate as well - tons of jammy dark fruit with a bit of an earthy taint that just hints of its presence.  It's darkly lush and quite intense.  I had the blackened tuna burgers appetizer and it went quite well with the seared tuna, hitting the nail on the head both with the charred exterior and the extremely rare interior.

Variety:  Petite Sirah
Appellation:  California
Vineyard:  Clarksburg and Lodi
Vintage:  2007
Alcohol Level:  13.5%
Price:  $9/glass
Acquisition disclaimer:  Purchased by the author

Summerland Pinot Noir Santa Barbara County 2007

A recent Saturday took us to not one, but two movies.  We're not talking Netflix here, either.  These were bona fide, real live, sit-in-the-theater movie shows.  The Square was a bit of a disappointment.  Some Aussies took the Coen Brothers' Blood Simple and threw it in with some "movie helper."  They came up with a product that had plenty of the Coens' quirkiness but little of their inventiveness.  We saw it at one of the single-screen artifacts of Hollywood's past that dot Westwood Village, so it was worth a lot in the "experience" category.  Next, to Hollywood for some film noir at The Egyptian.  Broderick Crawford and Richard Conte in New York Confidential was the offering of the night.  We were very troubled that the audience laughed at some extremely inappropriate moments during the film.  It figured that a full house, which turned out to see a 1955 noir that hadn't been viewed since shortly after its release, would be somewhat reverent.  The misplaced laughs and hoots might have been more suitable at a midnight movie.  It's too bad they were allowed to ruin the event.  One of the actresses who appeared in the movie was present in the audience, as was Richard Conte's son.  I wonder what they thought of the crowd's reaction?

Aah, there.  I feel better now.  Let's go have an apres-noir snack at the venerable Musso & Frank Grill on Hollywood Boulevard.

Musso & Frank has a menu that runs the gamut from the extremely affordable to the ridiculously expensive, with not too much in between.  The wine list tells the same story, running from Beringer to Opus One.  By the glass, their selections are varied enough to suit a number of tastes and not terribly expensive.  At $14, the Summerland Pinot Noir is one of the more expensive by-the-glass choices at Musso & Frank.

The nose on this Pinot has a rather lovely floral component.  I smell violets and some really ripe and lucsious plums.  The aromas don't give fair warning of what to expect on the palate, though.  A bit of darkness surrounds the flowers, but the brambly, earthy, meaty taste really comes as a surprise.  A very pleasant one.

Two Spanish Wines at Luna Park

We met a couple of friends at Luna Park on La Brea recently - great for the food and wine, not so great for conversation - and amid the pounding of the dance floor music I spied an interesting note on their small list of daily "Blue Plate Specials."  Two Spanish wines - unidentified red and white -  for $6 per glass.  That seemed too special to let it pass by, so I had one of each.

The Spanish Quarter is the producer of the white.  It's a delightful blend of 60% Chardonnay and 40% Albariño from the Costers del Segre region in Catalonia.  The Albariño, I expect in a Spanish wine, but the Chardonnay is a surprise.

The wine is a rich golden color in the glass, but the deeply chilled wine bears a nose that is a bit closed.  That disappoints me, as I love the wonderfully aromatic aromas of Albariño.  The taste is laden with minerals, with a clean and crisp edge to the tart peachiness.  It's quite a nice white, with a good acidity to lift it above the level of a mere sipper.  It paired nicely with veggie risotto.

The red wine is a Syrah - they call this "Shiraz" - from Opera Prima, a winery located in La Mancha.  There's a lot of blackberry on the nose along with the scent of meat.  It's quite an earthy aroma.  On the palate, Opera Prima also shows an earthy, beefy edge to the fruit with peppery notes.  It drinks like a much more expensive wine.  I'll keep them in mind.  As for the picture, I'm sorry I neglected to take a photo before consuming the wine.  As you can see, I enjoyed it.

The kicker is that Luna Park had a special of half off the entire bill that night!  So these two $6 wines actually only cost $3 each.  I love a good wine bargain, and I got two of them on this trip.  It eased the headache produced by the loud music in the restaurant.

Doppio Passo Primitivo Salento 2007

All too often, I think of Italian red wines as lightweight party favors.  Tasty, maybe even interesting, but ultimately with not enough guts to handle anything tougher than a slice of lasagna.  I know, I know, that's a completely unjustified attitude.  But it's just a knee-jerk reaction.  I regularly buy Italian reds because I know how delicious they can be.  And I know that some of them have the stuff to fit in even on tables that aren't covered by red and white checkered cloths.

Doppio Passo Primitivo is such a wine.  This Primitivo is very dark – one can barely see through it when it's held up to the light.  The nose of black cherry or cherry cola also shows a lot of the earth.  The mouthfeel is medium-full and the palate is alive with a very rich and earthy taste – currants and cherries mostly.  It strikes me as the dark side of Zinfandel.  Not too surprising since Zinfandel and Primitivo grapes are international cousins of a sort.  The best part is there's no need for decanting.  This wine is as smooth as silk right out of the bottle!

Doppio Passo Primitivo Salento 2007 

Varietal:  100% Primitivo
Appelation:  Italy > Puglia > Salento

Vintage:  2007 

Alcohol Level:  13.5%
Price:  $18
Acquisition disclaimer:  I bought this wine.

Chateau Montelena Zinfandel 2006

(Disclaimer: The wine reviewed here was bought at full price by the author during a visit to the winery.)

The Bottle: The front label features a drawing of the castle facade of the storied Chateau Montelena, the winery made famous in the 1976 Judgment of Paris. It was made even more famous in the movie about that event, Bottle Shock. While it was their Chardonnay that galled the Gauls in America's bicentennial year, I am writing today of their Zinfandel 2006. I also purchased a bottle of their Chardonnay during my visit to the Calistoga winery. I will cover that wine at a later date. This Zinfandel is 14.4% abv and cost $30 at the winery. It's an estate wine, grown, produced and bottled on the beautiful grounds of the winery. I was told in the tasting room that it's a 50/50 blend of Zinfandel and Primitivo, Zin's Italian relative.

The Nose: This is an extremely fragrant wine. Ruby red in color and not fully opaque, there are smells of currants and blackberries on the prominent nose along with an earthiness and a slight floral note.

The Taste: It tastes full and rich. Cherry is the highlight, but there is a darkness to it. It's a beautiful and menacing taste at once. The tannins are almost silky in this well-balanced wine. Finish is lengthy and just as delicious as the drink itself.

Tasting Notes: Red Car Wines

It's been about ten days since I went to the tasting of Red Car Wines at the Wine House in West Los Angeles. I suppose I've been a little bit busy, but I want to post my thoughts on these very nice wines before the memory becomes any more distant.

Carrol Kemp and Richard Crowell, co-owners of Red Car, were pouring their wines for a rather sizable number of tasters. Kemp, by the way, is owner/winemaker. The winery is located in Santa Maria, while they do business out of Culver City. Five wines were featured. From what I picked up by eavesdropping on tasters, it appeared the wines received a mostly favorable review.

Trolley Pinot Noir 2007 - Deep purple with a lavender nose; black pepper and leather come through very nicely. Good acidity and a full mouthfeel.

The Aphorist Pinot Noir 2007 - A fruitier nose than the first wine; very mellow taste full of berries and earth. Sonoma Coast grapes.

Heaven & Earth Pinot Noir 2007 - Sonoma Coast fruit again. The nose seemed very obscured to me. The palate featured soft leather and violets.

Tomorrowland Syrah 2007 - Sourced from Sonoma County, this one had a pleasantly odd nose; really earthy and musky flavors and aromas.

The Fight Syrah 2006 - Central Coast grapes; inky color and a blasting fruit sensation on the nose. The flavors are dark and a bit acidic, but it works very well. Coffee and leather, dark flavors.