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.

A Night in The Veranda Room, Casa del Mar Hotel

What a great way to take the edge off the workweek. Denise and I met Mark and his friend Marina at the Casa del Mar Hotel in Santa Monica.  It was in the Veranda Room, my new favorite bar.  The beautiful ocean views faded to black with nightfall, but sax player Plas Johnson and band kept it ively.

I enjoyed the William Fevre Chablis along with a killer cheese plate.  the Chablis was loaded with minerals and a great lemon zest flavor.  Lovely acidity made the match with the cheese just about perfect.  A great start to a great evening.

Later Mark joined me in a Boxcar Syrah, from the Red Car Wine Company.  What doesn't go into their high-end Syrah, goes here.  It has a great sense of earth about it, and a good nose full of blueberry jam.  Peppery notes highlight the satisfying finish.  I met Carroll Kemp, the owner of  Red Car Wine Company, at a tasting in West Los Angeles a while back.  He's a great guy who makes some great wine. 

Fess Parker Syrah 2006

Santa Barbara winemekers seem to have a way with Syrah.  And Santa Barbara wine lovers are proud of that.  I attended a wine tasting event in Santa Barbara last year and had a conversation with a lovely grandmother out for a little vino in the sunshine.  I told her about my website, and she seemed genuinely offended at the name, Now and Zin.  "Why not Syrah?" she asked with a fair amount of incredulity showing.  So, just for her, we'll call this site "Yes, Syrah, That's My Bottle" today.  Just this once.

One of the many fine wineries in Santa Barbara County is Fess Parker.  The actor who played Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone made quite a name for himself in other fields, too.  Real estate, for one - check out how much of the coastline has his name on it in Santa Barbara.  Wine for another.  His winery has not only some of the most beautiful grounds on the Foxen Canyon Wine Trail, but some of best wines, too.

In a brownish Syrah bottle, Fess Parker's 2006 vintage is a stout drink at 15.5% abv.  There is little else on the labels except for a small blurb thanking me for buying the wine and a brief description of the flavors I'm likely to encounter while drinking it.  Oh yes, and a tiny little coonskin cap.

There is a strong nose of currant, some black cherry (or maybe even wild cherry cough drops) and a good deal of spiciness.  Lots of alcohol is apparent, too.  The wine really should be decanted for an hour or so.  I waited thirty minutes after nearly getting a buzz on the first sip.  It wasn't long enough.  Although the wine had tamed a bit by the third night it was open, I still caught a significant alcohol aroma.   Despite the strength of the wine, the flavor really delivered.  The peppery spices are abundant and the fruit was not a bit bashful.  Blackberry and currant are what stand out for me.  It tasted very nice when just a bit of it was taken with a bite of baked ziti.  A mouthful might have overwhelmed the delicate marinara sauce and mozzarella.  I would think a steak charbroiled over a rosemary grill would be more in line with what this wine wants as a partner.

Variety:  100% Syrah
Appellation:  California > Central Coast > Santa Barbara County
Vineyard:  84% Camp Four, 16% Rodney's Vineyard
Vintage:  2006
Alcohol level:  15.5% abv
Price:  $25
Acquisition disclaimer:  Purchased by the author

Concha y Toro Casillero del Diablo Reserve Carmenere

Chile has been in my thoughts.  First, there is the massive earthquake on February 26, 2010.  Here's wishing the best for those affected by the disaster.  Second, a dear friend of ours, David Stanley, has been traveling in South America.  As soon as we heard about the quake, Denise and I thought of him.  We had just read his journal accounts of the great time he has been having  while living in Santiago for a couple of months, and of an ice-walking trip to Patagonia.  His travel blog makes for a wonderful read, by the way.

Anyway, a quick call to his mother confirmed that he was already safely in Buenos Aires.  Whew.  Relief turned to more consternation, though, as we thought about all the wonderful friends he had made in Chile.  We hope they are alright.  Also, as I tried to link up the Concha y Toro website, I was informed that the link appeared to be broken, or that the server was down.  I understand from a post on the Dr. Vino blog that a lot of damage has been incurred in the Rapel area.  Our thoughts are with the people of Chile.

Inspired, I dug around a bit and found some notes I had made about a bottle of Chilean Carmenere by Concha y Toro.  This is probably from about a year or so ago.

"From the "Cellar of the Devil", eh?  Well, the Casillero del Diablo is supposedly where Don Melchor de Concha y Toro kept his best wines stashed 100 years ago.  This wine is from the Rapel Valley, south of Santiago, and on the label the winemaker promises "chocolate, coffee and spice combined with raspberries and blackberries."  It sports a 13.5% abv number and it pours up dark and inky in the glass.

"The nose features Very dark fruit, and a promise of some intense minerals.  It's a powerful aroma of blackberries and maybe some licorice. Very nice.

"Let it sit about 10 minutes after pouring.  This is a very intense wine, full of spices - clove, a little cinnamon, pepper - and a strong sense of the earth.  Not a meek or mild wine, this Carmenere is brash and sinister.  Good tannins and ripe fruit are prominent with the cholcolately flavors underneath.  I don't really get the coffee that was promised, but that's okay.  There's enough here to prevent me from complaining.  It does go great with a piece of chocolate and it complemented a dish of blackened bar-b-q beans very nicely.  I would imagine it goes well with any sort of meat, particularly game."

Rosenblum Cellars California Zinfandel Vintner's Cuvee XXXI

This is a wine with a long name.  People with attention deficit disorder may lose interest in it before they finish reading the label.  But it's well worth investigating.  Rosenblum Cellars does some pretty wonderful things with the Zinfandel grape.  It's no surprise that winemaker Kent Rosenblum is known to many as "The King of Zin."

This blend of Zinfandels hails from 15 different California growing regions and over 80 different vineyards (!) from Sonoma to Napa to Lodi to Lake County to Paso Robles, wherever the four winds blow.  Its time in oak was split: 40% French oak barrels, 60% American wood.

It's a very dark wine, a purple ink color I can barely see through.  On the nose, the fruit comes first.  Blackberry and raspberry figure huge in the aroma scheme, and then a vanilla note comes through, with a peppery trace around it.  The palate shows extreme fruitiness, with a really nice cherry cola effect.  The medium body sits comfortably on my tongue and a good acidity means "food friendly," as if there were any doubt about it.  The finish lingers nicely.  The tannins are firm - it's a dry wine - but, surprisingly, the wine is quite smooth considering the elevated alcohol level.  The smoothness increased noticeably after the wine had been in the glass for about twenty minutes.

Rosenblum's Zinfandel Vintner's Cuvee XXXI is a great $12 wine.  So much the better that I picked it up for $9 at Wally's tent sale.

Winemaker:  Kent Rosenblum

Variety:  Zinfandel

Appellation:  California

Vineyard:  numerous

Vintage:  NV

Alcohol Level:  14.6%

Price:  $12

Acquisition disclaimer: Purchased by the author

"They Got This Recession On" Wines, Part 11

Chariot Gypsy 2008

I was all set to knock off the cheap wine bit for a while and give this series a rest.  But as Denise and I strolled into Trader Joe's my eye was grabbed by a stack of unfamiliar wine bottles.  I inspected the new material and found Cab, Petite Sirah, Zin and Sangiovese involved.  My favorite suspects.  A five dollar sticker meant that even if it turned out to be horrible, it would be no big loss.

Perish the thought.  Chariot Gypsy is a very nice wine.  Yes, it's an everyday wine.  That doesn't mean it can't be good every day.

First, it pours up as a deep, inky purple.  I can barely see through it.  There's raspberry on the nose along with some bright cherry and a smokey element.  The palate features tons of fruit - blackberries and blueberries - in a rather dark but accessible fruitiness that is right up front.  Fruit bomb?  Yes, thank you.  But there's enough going on to make it an interesting explosion.

The wine has a nice acidity, but it's not overdone. Firm tannins provide plenty of backbone for food pairing.  It tasted great with chicken sausages with onions.

Chariot Gypsy is available exclusively though Trader Joe's.

Winemaker:  Jeff Hunsaker of Jim Neal Wines

Variety:  Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah, Zinfandel, Sangiovese

Appellation:  California

Vineyard:  various in Napa, Sonoma, and Monterey counties

Vintage:  2008

Alcohol Level:  13.5%

Price:  $5

Acquisition disclaimer:  Purchased by the author

"They Got This Recession On" Wines, Part 10

Shale Ridge Syrah 2005

If you're going to try and bust a recession, you might as well bring out the big guns.  A $4 bottle of wine would be a huge gun in a war on recessionary wine prices - if it's good.  This label belongs to Lockwood Vineyard in San Lucas, in Monterey County.  The name comes from the shale found in their soil, no doubt.  The grapes are all estate grown, as is Lockwood's custom.  I'm swirling right now.  Let's taste.

The wine sits in the glass a fairly deep shade of red, but it is not opaque.  There is quite a bit of heat on the nose, but also quite a bit of blackberry and currant.  Pepper arises on the palate, and the spice seems a bit much until after a half hour or so when the tannins have settled.  The dark fruit tastes good in the mouth and lingers a bit on the finish.  I didn't really expect a revelatory experience for $4, and I wouldn't say I had one while drinking this wine.  I did, however, find it to be very flavorful and aromatic, with a complexity that grew as time passed.  After an hour or so in the glass, I was actually quite pleased with it.  I did not try it with food, but something tells me it would pair well with a pork chop or a hamburger.

Variety:  100% Syrah

Appellation:  California > Central Coast > Monterey

Vineyard:  Lockwood Vineyard

Vintage: 2005

Alcohol Level:  13.5%

Price:  $4 on sale

Acquisition disclaimer:  Purchased on sale by the author

Explain the meaning of the title of this piece?

A Couple of Nero d'Avola Wines

I have been drinking quite a few Italian wines lately, not because they are necessarily my preference, but because my wife, Denise, really loves them. Don't get me wrong - I really love me some good ol' Italian varietals. I just prefer exploring the wines of California more than any other area.

I hate to drink alone, however, and if the wife has an Italian wine open, that's okay by me.

It's possible the reason she's so drawn to Italian wines is because it's in her blood. Her family tree has roots in Sicily. And she does seem more drawn to Sicilian wine than the other regions of Italy. Whatever the reason, when we can enjoy a glass of wine together, it's a good thing.

I can compare two wines made from Sicily's most important red wine grape, Nero d'Avola. From the southern town of Avola, this grape was long used primarily as a blending grape. Since the 1980s, though, it has stood very well on its own. The characteristics a Nero d'Avola shows are somewhat akin to those of a new world Syrah, so this would seem to be a nice varietal for a California wine guy like me.

First, a bottle from home, then a restaurant selection.

Ruggero di Tasso Archeo Nero d'Avola 2007 - True to its reputation, I found Syrah-like pepper on the nose and palate with ripe berries in the forefront. A vegetal note also came into play that I found intriguing. The texture is smooth, but the medium mouthfeel left me wanting something a little more substantial. There's a decent amount of acidity and it would probably fare well with a nice pasta dish or some Italian sausage. The finish is not too dramatic. It's serviceable enough, and I think it usually sells for under $10, so expectations shouldn't be too high.

The restaurant selection came at Il Buco on Robertson in Beverly Hills, a favorite of ours. The wine was Cataldo Nero d'Avola 2006. If the Tasso didn't quite satisfy my new world taste, the Cataldo certainly didn't. A big, fruity nose with blackberries, plum and pepper came off as perfumy - even my wife wrinkled her nose a bit. There was a vegetal note on the back end in this wine as well, but it served more as a curiosity than anything else.

The wine had good color, but unfortunately I found the taste not so much "medium" as "thin and watery." It was not my style, although its fruitiness and freshness would no doubt be attractive to some. It was a very lightweight entry.

Neither of these wines held too much interest for me. They were both drinkable - the Tasso more than the Cataldo - but ultimately I like a little more body in a wine.