SUMMERY WINE ON A SUMMERY DAY

Recently, my wife had a hair appointment in Beverly Hills, followed immediately by a girlfriend lunch, also in Beverly Hills.  I dropped her off and ran a few errands, but still had a lot of time to kill in Beverly Hills.  I turned to the wine.

I had been meaning to explore few wine-oriented places in the Hills of Beverly for quite some time, and this sunny Saturday afternoon seemed perfectly suited to the occasion.

It was around noon - okay, it was 11:32 - when I walked into Enoteca Drago on Cañon Drive.  There are, maybe, a dozen Italian restaurants in Beverly Hills.  About 11 of them are owned and operated by the Drago family.  That’s alright by me, as I always have wonderful food and a thoughtful wine list at a Drago restaurant.

Enoteca is even more focused on wine than the other family locations, since it is a wine bar.  The menu offers 11 different flights of wine in the $15 - $20 range, while single glasses are in the $9 - $23 neighborhood.  The wine list has lots of variety, including late harvest selections, Ports and Grappa choices, too.  There’s also a complete menu of Italian fare to pair with the wines.

I chose a flight of three medium-bodied, semi-aromatic white wines for $17.  Included in the flight were the following wines, with my tasting notes:

Greco di Tufo, Terradora DiPaolo, Campania 2010 -
Richest color of the trio. Apricot and ocean on the nose, golden apples with a hint of honey on the palate.  Minerals abound, great finish.  Greco is an Italian grape, thought to be of Greek origin.

Sauvignon Blanc, Joel Gott, Napa Valley 2010
Palest of the three, almost clear.  Grassy and fruity notes make up the nose, with melon and herbal notes present. Peach and apple cobbler flavors are on the palate.  The cobbler is a complete surprise, but it works.

Gavi, Villa Sparina,  Piemonte 2010
Medium straw in color the light nose is very hard to pick up.  What is that lovely taste?  It seems like cantaloupe or honeydew.  There’s a lot of minerality, too.  Wine from Gavi area of Piemonte is made exclusively of the Cortese grape.

I ordered the calamari alla griglia with this flight.  All three wines pair well with the calamari, the Gavi matches it the best.  The Joel Gott Sauvignon Blanc went best with the rapini.  By the way, when grilled calamari is offered, it should always have the grill marks on it.  It does at Enoteca Drago.

After checking in with the wife and friend at Cafe Roma (oddly enough, not a Drago restaurant) I was invited to go away a while longer, as the chatting got out of hand.

Just up the street is Il Pastaio.  Yes, it’s another Drago restaurant.  This place looked really busy and festive at 1:00 or so Saturday.  As I approached, a guy in a big, white Cadillac pulled up, with Italian music blaring at festival volume from his car stereo.  As he made the corner, with the window down, he looked over at the sidewalk lunchers and led with his finger to the music.

The mobile maestro was obviously enjoying the moment to share his passion, and I overheard a guest comment, “Wow, that’s real.”  Indeed.  I stepped inside and took a seat at the bar.

I only examined the wine list for rosé, as that’s what I really wanted.  The Chiaretto Provenza is $10.50 by the glass.

Made with Groppello, Marzemino, Sangiovese and Barbera grapes, the wine hails from the area near Lake Garda in the northern part of Italy.  The winery, Azienda Agricola Provenza, is located in the Lombardy region.  Lake Garda has a special microclimate in which palm, olive and lemon trees thrive practically at the foot of the Alps.

The wine is a nice, rich, salmon color and the ice cold status at which it’s served makes it a little hard to discern too much on the nose.  The palate shows bright cherry and strawberry fruit with a hint of raspberry tartness.  The wine is dry and crisp - very refreshing.  The finish is good, and minerals are the last thing remembered after the sip is gone.

STEPPING STONE BY CORNERSTONE ROSE 2010

We have tasted and written about the Stepping Stone Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc Cuvée Musqué from Napa Valley's Cornerstone Cellars.  Both are great wines for warm weather sipping.  The winery also provided their rosé for our perusal.

Winemaker Jeff Keene did a fine job on the two under-$20-whites we tried, and his efforts with the pink produced similar results.

The Stepping Stone Corallina Rosé is made of Napa Valley Syrah, carries a very moderate 13.9% abv number and retails for $18.  Cornerstone says the name "Corallina" is Italian for "coral," which is a pretty fair description of the color of this wine.

A beautiful nose of strawberry fruit and Pez candy sails along on an herbal undercurrent.  There's no cloying sweetness here, not even close.  It's bone dry with a zing of acidity right off the bat.  The slightest trace of white pepper gives way to a beautiful layer of cherry and strawberry flavors overlayed with minerals.  This wine will be welcome on the deck all summer, and on the lunch table any time of year.



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SOUTH COAST WINERY GROUP THERAPY RECAP

One of Temecula’s showcase wineries - South Coast Winery - held their second live-streamed Group Therapy session of 2011 on May 25th.  Interested parties watched the live video stream and tweeted with one another - and the world - about the wines they were tasting.

The event is designed to coincide with their wine club shipments, so you can expect another Group Therapy session sometime in August.  Tasters were able to order ahead of time the package of wines being featured so they could taste and tweet along with everyone else.  Now And Zin was provided with complimentary samples for review.

With one event like this already under their belts, the group at South Coast Winery seemed pretty relaxed in their comfy chairs in front of a cozy fireplace.  South Coast Owner Jim Carter and winemakers Jon McPherson and Javier Flores held the fireside chat in a living room setting with the logs burning behind them.  Carter used the homey setting to announce that the South Coast wines will soon be distributed nationally.

The participants on the viewing end had a nice time, too.  In addition to those tasting in person, there were wine lovers chatting on the winery’s website and on Twitter about the four wines in the tasting group.  I caught several comments indicating pleasant surprise at the quality of the wines as well as at least one complaining of overly ripe fruit.  That’s a matter for debate; while the flavors were admittedly big, I didn’t feel it was something unexpected from grapes grown in Southern California.

Here are the wines which were tasted in the most recent Group Therapy session:

South Coast Winery Sauvignon Blanc Musqué Clone 2009 
Temecula Valley Carter Estate Vineyard
This extremely aromatic wine is made entirely of the Musqué clone of Sauvignon Blanc.  That’s a cross between Sauvignon Blanc and Muscat.  This clone allows the florality of Muscat to soften the acute grassiness of Sauvignon Blanc.  The Carter Estate Vineyard, from which the grapes come, is now seven years old.  The wine has an amazingly low alcohol level of 12.2% abv.

Light in color and beautifully aromatic, the wine has generous notes of fresh cut grass and a driveway after a brief rain.  The mouthfeel comes on strong, too.  There’s a striking acidity, with flavors of lemon peel and minerals.

South Coast Winery Brut 2007 
Temecula Valley Sparkling Wine
70% Chardonnay and 30% Pinot Noir, this sparkler shows off its main grape.  Most of the fermentation was in stainless steel, while only 12% of the blend was fermented in new French oak.  Closed cuve secondary fermentation with 11 months on the lees finished this methode champenoise offering.  The alcohol level is 13% abv.

Despite the limited exposure to oak, there's a very aromatic nose with huge yeasty notes.  Flavors of apples and citrus dominate the palate, and there is quite a bit of acidity.  It's a very fizzy wine, but when the bubbles die down it takes on the feel of a dry still wine with a touch of yeastiness.  Several tasters were pining for some sushi to pair with it.

South Coast Winery Tempranillo Rosé 2010 
Temecula Valley Carter Estate Vineyard
This Temecula Tempranillo is a beautiful light magenta color.  The nose is, once again, aromatic.  Strawberries are met with a touch of funk, while herbal berry aromas also come into play.  The wine offers a zippy acidity, and the strawberry and cherry flavors are enormous!

South Coast Winery Syrah 2005 
Temecula Valley Rolling Hills Estate Vineyard
This Syrah was fermented in stainless steel and aged 14 months in French/American hybrid barrels.  The 14.3% abv alcohol level makes itself known on the nose, which is all spices, vanilla and clove layering over the blackberry and cassis fruit.  Definitely not a cool climate Syrah, there's a ton of very ripe and juicy aromas with lots of spice and a touch of tar.
The palate shows intense fruit with big spice flavors as well.  There's a lot of influence from the oak at first and it runs a bit hot, so let it sit a while or decant before serving.  The wine shows a great meatiness after it opens up a bit.  Three days after opening the nose is incredible.  Tar, leather, meat and sage all play with an admirable complexity.


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STEPPING STONE BY CORNERSTONE SAUVIGNON BLANC CUVEÉ MUSQUÉ 2010

Yesterday we tasted the Stepping Stone Napa Valley Riesling.  Napa Valley's Cornerstone Cellars also provided Now And Zin with the Sauvignon Blanc from their affordable Stepping Stone line.  It's a Musqué clone, it's a great summertime wine and it retails for $18.

This racy white wine is made from a clone of Sauvignon Blanc called Cuveé Musqué, a highly aromatic version of Sauvignon Blanc crossed with the Muscat grape.

Stepping Stone's Musqué has an alcohol level of 13.5% abv.  It's very pale in the glass, a very clean appearance with almost no color at all.

The nose is quite aromatic, musqué, if you will.  The aromas of grassiness are most pronounced, but they stop short of some of the cruder descriptions people tend to use for Sauvignon Blanc at its most expressive.  A strong citrus scent is also present, grapefruit to my nose.

The palate is full of minerals - wet rocks - and a bracing acidity that is most refreshing.  There’s a citrus streak a mile wide, bountiful with limes and grapefruit.  A zestiness on the finish leaves a crisp, clean feeling and the traces of minerals persist a long while.

We still have the Stepping Stone dry rosé to try, which we will do next week on Now And Zin.


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STEPPING STONE BY CORNERSTONE NAPA VALLEY RIESLING 2010

Napa Valley’s Cornerstone Cellars is known for their high-end Cabernet Sauvignon wines.  These are wines mainly destined for the cellar, to be aged and enjoyed at some future date.  We all want a wine to drink right now, though - with dinner tonight - and to that end, Cornerstone produces a line of everyday wines, made and priced to be enjoyed as soon you get them home.  They carry the Stepping Stone label.

Cornerstone was kind enough to provide me with three of their Stepping Stone wines for review, two whites and a rosé.  The trio retail for $18 each.  Stepping Stone also offers a Syrah, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon.  Today we'll find out about the Stepping Stone Napa Valley Riesling.

Winemaker Jeff Keene has done a great job with this Riesling, made the Alsatian style.  The wine carries an alcohol level of 13.5% abv and has a pale, straw color.

The Stepping Stone Riesling's nose is simply beautiful.  Soft aromas of flowers and honeydew are met with an equally soft sense of minerals for a bouquet with all the sharp edges removed.  So gentle are the aromas I was somewhat surprised to find that the wine is fermented and aged completely in stainless steel.  Despite the label designation, the grapes actually come from the cool-climate Carneros AVA.

The palate shows lovely citrus flavors - lime and some orange zest - and a fine minerality that rides on an acidity which would be just fine with a piece of fish, crackers and a soft cheese or even a handful of walnuts.  It's a dry, crisp expression of Riesling and the finish is of medium length and really lets the acidity shine.

We'll cover the Stepping Stone Sauvignon Blanc Cuvée Musqué and their dry rosé  tomorrow and next week on Now And Zin.


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VERDAD ROSE, SAWYER LINDQUIST VINEYARD, EDNA VALLEY 2009

During the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, all the blogosphere and Twitterverse was abuzz with what kind of wine to pair with the big feast.  My intentions were to get a little bit adventurous and open a Rhone blend or a Tempranillo.  As I was shopping, though, I was once again lured by Edna Valley.  This year's turkeyfest was abetted by a Grenache rosé.

Verdad Winery and Vineyard is the labor of love of Louisa Sawyer Lindquist.  She happens to be the wife of Qupe's Bob Lindquist, and happens to have some pretty substantial winemaking ability of her own.

Verdad means "truth" in Spanish, and the truth is: I could hardly have made a better choice for the Thanksgiving wine - if I do say so myself.  Lindquist's fascination with and love of Spanish grape varieties comes to fruition in California's Central Coast - Edna Valley, to be exact.

The Grenache grapes for Verdad rosé - Tablas Creek clone - are grown in two vineyards in Edna Valley, the Sawyer Lindquist Vineyard and the Ibarra-Young Vineyard.  The former is farmed biodynamically while the latter is organic.  The grapes are grown specifically for rosé, and early picking results in a lower alcohol content - only 12.1% abv.  Stainless steel fermentation gives the wine a pure fruit profile.

First of all, the wine is a beautiful salmon color.  The nose is fabulous, showing strawberry and an herbal component.  A faint cherry-candy aroma adds a festive note.  On the palate, it's lip-smacking good.  Strawberry, cherry and raspberry come together like a riot in the orchard.  It feels so full and round in the mouth, and delivers a nice zing of lime on the finish.  The cherry flavor seems to hang around the longest.  The acidity is not razor-sharp, but it's healthy enough to carry turkey and stuffing crisply.  I found that out the easy way - at the dinner table.

LA VIEILLE FERME, RECOLTE 2009

Dry rosés are a favorite around the Now And Zin household, and we recently tried a 2009 version of one we liked in the 2008 vintage.

The earlier vintage of La Vieille Ferme, Récolte 2008, was from Côtes du Ventoux, produced by Jean Pierre Perrin of Chateau de Beaucastel fame.   The wine is a blend of 50% Cinsault, 40% Grenache and 10% Syrah.  It shows a good strawberry red color in the glass which is quite reminiscent of a Spanish rosado.  Strawberries on the nose lead to a full mouth which is also dominated by strawberry, raspberry and some great earthy notes.  It's a dry rose – not bone dry, but it pairs very well with Thai food.

Récolte 2009 utilizes the same grape varieties, but I don’t know if the percentages are the same.  My guess is they are, because I didn’t find anything really different to note in the newer version.  It shows the same deep hue, the same intense strawberry characteristics and the same good acidity.  Instead of Thai food this time around, I had it with a pair of cheeses.  It paired with the Reblechon triple cream Brie better than the stronger Mahon reserva.

For a bargain basement six dollars, it would be hard to do better.

DEEP SEA SEA FLOWER DRY ROSE 2008

A nice, balmy evening - somewhat the rarity in the Los Angeles neighborhood called Laurel Canyon - lured the Now And Zin family out onto the deck for an after-work wine.  We knocked off the remainder of a white blend, then cracked open the Deep Sea "Sea Flower" Dry Rosé.
This Central Coast pink is produced by Conway Vineyards of Santa Maria, CA.  The Rancho Arroyo grapes - 67% Syrah, 33% Grenache - yield a deep pink color and a nose of strawbery gummy bears and roses.  On the palate are tons of strawberry and raspberry in a very jammy concentration.  There's a mouthful of acidity, too. That means you can expect good results when serving this wine with food.  There were only 372 cases produced.  If you can't find it there is a new vintage just released.  I tasted the 2009 Sea Flower recently and found it to be just as tasty and mouth-watering as the '08.

Ed.- I didn’t get a bottle shot while we were enjoying it, and the image shown is all I found the next day.

ELIZABETH ROSE ROSE 2009 AT IL FORNO CALDO

A beautiful sunny lunch in Beverly Hills always puts me in the mood for a rosé.  Such was the case at Il Forno Caldo, a favorite lunch spot for the wife and me.  I can't remember which salad I ordered, but I won't soon forget the wine.

Elizabeth Rose rosé is a beautiful Napa Valley pink made from organically grown grapes in Yountville and Oakville, CA.  93% Syrah, 5% Cinsault and 2% Grenache are blended to create a rosé that's complex and delightful.  Its alcohol level is 13% and it cost $9 per glass.

Deep strawberry pink in color, this wine is absolutely gorgeous to look at.  The nose is very big, with watermelon Jolly Rancher in the forefront with a raspberry note.  There's a green, vegetal aroma in there, too, maybe bell pepper.  The taste is exceptional.  Dry and fruity, there's a truckload of strawberry and cherry flavors that are as fresh as the garden.  The acidity is crisp and the finish is completely satisfying.

BODEGAS SALENTEIN FINCA EL PORTILLO MALBEC ROSE 2008 AT MALBEC

It's always a pleasure to discover a fantastic restaurant, particularly one with a great wine list.  Mrs. Now And Zin and I are putting Malbec Argentinean Bistro on our go-to list.

This Toluca Lake restaurant, just a stone's throw from Burbank, has one of the most authentic wine lists I've seen.  An Italian Sauvignon Blanc and Veuve Clicquot were the only non-Argentine entries I spotted on the list, which offers about fifty wines - a dozen or so by the glass, none of which costs more than $10 per glass.

Mrs. Now And Zin, also known as Denise Fondo, has a more complete description of the food at I Cook The World.  She does a much better job than I do when describing food.  For now, suffice it to say we fell in love with the place.

As for the wine, it felt like a rosé day, so I chose the Finca El Portillo Malbec Rose.  It's a 100% Malbec wine which is stainless steel fermented and brings 14% abv to the table.  The grapes are estate-farmed in Mendoza's Uco Valley.  It cost $7.50 per glass.

The color is great - a rich, ruby red that's very appealing in the glass.  Fresh aromas of cherries and strawberries growing in the garden dominate the nose, while the palate offers flavors - just as fresh - of watermelon and strawberry.  The mouthfeel is of medium weight and very clean.  There's a sense of citrus on the finish which left me with the memory of a spring day.  Oh, and it's bone-dry.  It was great with the grilled chicken and the skirt steak.

LONE MADRONE PASO ROBLES

I have sampled the wines of Lone Madrone at several tasting events around Southern California, but have never had the pleasure of a visit to their tasting room.  The Paso Robles AVA currently sports over 200 wineries - 219, according to the Lone Madrone tasting room - so I hope you’ll excuse me for not having stopped in yet.  My friends Anthony and Meri did stop in on a recent visit to Paso, and they brought me a wealth of information I thought I would pass along to you.  They found the wines as mesmerizing as I did, and I think I can safely say they appreciated my recommendation.

Neil Collins is the winemaker for Lone Madrone, and he has been making wines in the area for about 20 years.  He came up with the unusual name after seeing a single Madrone tree on a hilltop overlooking the York Mountain Vineyard.

The current tasting room has been open since 2006 and features not only their wines, but many artisinal items from local artists and points farther away, like Columbia and Africa.  Wood furniture, glass,  jewelry and clay pottery compete with the wines for a visitor’s attention.  It’s said to be a great place for a picnic, too.

The tasting room menu I was given is graced with a quote from Mark Twain:

“There are no standards of taste in wine, cigars, poetry, prose, etc.  Each man’s own taste is the standard, and a majority vote cannot decide for him or in any slightest degree affect the supremacy of his own standard.”

Here are the wines that were being poured at the Lone Madrone tasting room the day my friends were there:

La Mezcla 2008 - This white blend is Grenache Blanc and Albarino.  There are plenty of tropical notes on the nose and the palate.  I have tasted this one, and their recommendation of pairing with oysters, clams or ceviche is completely justified.

Points West White 2007 - A golden color, a honeydew bouquet and minerals aplenty make this Roussanne a delight.

Rosé 2009 - The notes say the nose is lush with strawberries, cranberries and cherries.

The Will 2007 - Cherry and cassis on the nose lead to a full mouthfeel.  This dark and inky blend of Grenache Noir, Petite Sirah and Zinfandel has a full complement of tannins to work with.  They say it will stain your teeth.  I say you won’t care.

Old Hat 2006 - Zinfandel and Petite Sirah meet in this battle royal, and they both win.  Spice, vanilla and tobacco on the nose, with fruit and spice on the palate.

Barfandel 2007 - This was not on the menu that day, but they poured it anyway, then packaged a bottle that my friends took home.  Zin, Petite Sirah and Barbera combine here for a complex nose they say features candy apple, blackberry, strawberry, white pepper, cardamom and smoke.  They advise you enjoy it with anything grilled or glazed.

The Lone Madrone tasting costs $10 and includes the Riedel glass.

NINER WINE ESTATES WITH WINEMAKER AMANDA CRAMER

Amanda Cramer was a math teacher before becoming an extraordinary winemaker.  “One particular group of students drove me to drink,” she says.  That statement may have been a vehicle for hyperbole at the time, but if those mathematical underachievers had anything to do with putting Cramer on her present career path, we owe them our thanks.

I had lunch with Amanda Cramer recently.  Well, I and eleven other wine-writer types did.  She’s the winemaker at Niner Wine Estatesin Paso Robles.  The lunch and tasting - at West Hollywood’s Sunset Marquis - showcased seven of the wines Cramer has made for the Paso producer since signing on with them in 2004.  Praise has been heaped upon her by a variety of award-giving interests.  Just this year she won two gold medals for her wines and grabbed the winemaker of the year award at the 2010 San Francisco International Wine Competition.  There, she was up against over 3,000 other wineries, so those kudos are anything but “gimmes.”

Wine Fever

Cramer was bitten by the wine bug at Cornell University.  “I filled out a semester of math and science studies with an elective class: Introduction to Wine and Spirits,” she explains.  “It was a 15-week class that provided basics on grape growing and winemaking plus lots of tasting labs so we could get hands-on experience with wine regions around the world.”  That was all it took to get her interest, even though she pursued her teaching path and got a job in which the chalk was in her hand, not the soil.  Then, along came those disinterested students, pointing the way to her exit from teaching.

In the wine industry, Cramer has worked and learned at Far Niente Winery, Chimney Rock, and Heidi Barrett’s Paradigm in Napa Valley, D'Arenberg in McLaren Valley in South Australia and Casa Lapostolle in Santa Cruz, Chile.  Of her viticulture knowledge, Cramer modestly says, "I know enough to know what I don't know, and I know who does know, so I can call them if I need to.  I don't emulate anybody," she insists - but her love for Carmenere stems from her days in Chile

When she was given the opportunity to help create a winery from the ground up, it was too much to pass up.  The new facilities which she has at her disposal allow Niner to make wines on-site now, rather than trucking their grapes to a crush facility.  That means they can pick grapes at night, and they have time to double sort - sorting both the clusters and the individual grapes.  “Double sorting gets every last stem out of the grapes," says Cramer.  "I like to press ‘sweet’  - without any stems - so the vegetal notes are minimized and the fruit is the main thing."

The newly-opened Hospitality Center at Niner Wines looks like a stone barn, but inside it contains a cutting edge wine tasting facility complete with a demonstration kitchen to be used by visiting chefs.

Her Philosophy

Cramer believes quality wines begin in the vineyard, but they definitely don't end there.  When tweaking is called for, she's an able and willing tweaker.  "We don’t grow grapes, we grow wine bottles.  My goal is balanced tannins, so it's an approachable wine,” she says, adding that her red wines are “nicely aged and built to last."

“With oak, overall we use 75% French, 15%-20% Hungarian and the rest American.  Hungarian is basically the same as French oak, and I can get Hungarian for sooo much less.  Our Italian varieties get new oak and a little less time in the barrel than, say, Merlot.  Our Merlot spends 16-18 months in oak.  One-third of it is new, one-third is once-used and one-third is twice-used.”

The Vineyards

All of Cramer’s wines are estate wines, with the grapes coming, so far, exclusively from Niner’s Bootjack Ranch Vineyard east of Paso Robles.  That vineyard is dominated by Bordeaux varieties.  “It’s got a Cab focus, but the Carmenere is great,” she says.  The only white grape from Bootjack Ranch is Sauvignon Blanc, so that’s the only white wine on Niner’s menu at present.  “That will change when the grapes in our Heart Hill Vineyard start to come in.  We hope to have a Heart Hill flagship wine, and that will be a blend of Rhone varieties.  That vineyard was named for a stand of oak trees that have grown in the shape of a heart.  It’s west of the Paso AVA, about 12 miles from the ocean.  It has a longer, cooler growing season.  2010 will be our first vintage from Heart Hill.”

One of the big attractions for Cramer is the location itself.  The Paso Robles AVA is one of the gems of California’s Central Coast.  It’s said to be the fastest growing wine region in the Golden State, and now boasts over 200 wineries.  Warm days, cool nights and diverse soils which feature limestone, shale and sandy loam all give Paso Robles’ wines a unique character and present the opportunity for many different varieties to be grown.

The Wines

Here are the wines Amanda Cramer poured at the luncheon, along with my notes on them.   All the wines utilize fruit from Bootjack Ranch Vineyard.

Rosato 2008 - It’s a deep red strawberry color with a beautiful cherry nose.  The wine has a fresh and vibrant character with great acidity.  It’s really delicious and mouth watering.  The juice spends about three days on the skins, so the color is darker than in previous vintages.  "Maybe a little too dark," says Cramer.  I disagree, it’s a lovely, rich color.  The grapes are 75% Sangiovese and 25% Barbera.  With an alcohol content of 14.5%, it’s as dry as a bone.

Sauvignon Blanc 2008 - There is a grassy nose with tons of tropical notes.  A mix of steel and neutral oak in the winemaking process adds a lot of character.  I taste citrus - lime and grapefruit.  It’s 14.1% abv with a bracing acidity - quite refreshing and food-friendly.  This is all Sauvignon Blanc, since it’s the only white grape Niner has made wine from - so far.  Cramer explains, “Heart Hill has Grenache Blanc that will be ready this year.  The Marsanne and Roussanne were just planted in 2010.”

Sangiovese 2007 - The Niner family traveled in italy and fell in love with Italian grapes.  They tried Nebbilo, but Cramer says "it didn't work out."  Their Barbera vines developed viruses and had to be yanked out.  “That hurt,” says Cramer.  “Barbera is a part of our Rosato.  The block was replanted to Barbera, so that’ll be okay.”   The Sangiovese shows spicy cherry, black cherry and licorice on the nose, with cherries and dark berries on the palate.  It’s quite dry and full in the mouth.  It’s a blend of 97% Sangiovese and 3% Cabernet Sauvignon.  The 14.9% alcohol content does not detract from the aromas or the taste.

Merlot 2007 - This Merlot is nice and dry, too, with smoke on the nose and mouth puckering tannins.  It tastes fruity and dry with a graphite edge.  Cramer says, "We weren't sure about the Merlot, but we blended it with cab and it blossomed in the bottle.”  86% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc.  It’s got the lowest alcohol level of all their wines, at 13.8%.

Syrah 2006 - There is a big, blackberry and blueberry nose with hints of chocolate!  The taste is fruity and dry, at 14.5% abv.  There’s a splash (2%) of Petite Sirah in this blend, with big tannins once again.  “We like to start with 100% Syrah and go from there until it’s right,” says Cramer.  “I've got three different lots of Syrah at Bootjack Ranch, so even at 100%, it’s still a blend to me."

Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 - There is some Merlot in this big Cab.  Spices and fruit on the nose with a lovely floral streak lead to blackberry, cassis and some graphite on the palate.
It’s a 14.3% alcohol level.

Fog Catcher 2005 - This big red blend is 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Cabernet Franc and 10% Merlot.  The nose shows plenty of dark fruit, with red fruit, minerals, pencil point and smoke on the palate.  It’s dry and dark.  Future vintages of this blend should include as many as six Bordeaux varieties, according to Cramer.  The wine sits at 14.1% abv.

A NIGHT OUT ON MELROSE AVENUE

The Los Angeles restaurant, Bulan Thai Vegetarian Kitchen, was the starting point for quite an enjoyable night of friends, food and wine.  Tricia and Rob met us at Bulan, where we ate fantastic appetizers until we were stuffed – and until it got so loud that we were literally shouting at each other to be heard over the racket!  The ladies strolled down the street to Frankie's to stake out some spots at the bar, while Rob and I took care of the food bill.  At Frankie's, we laughed and enjoyed the company of our bartender, Adam, who contributed wine facts, baseball stats and music to our evening.  Some guy named Craig drifted in and out of the scene fairly quickly, and that was probably for the best.  He didn't realize the ladies were spoken for.

At Bulan, we brought our own – a rosé and a sparkler which are both French – and at Frankie's I sampled a few reds from their by-the-glass list to finish the evening.

The rosé is La Vieille Ferme, Recolte 2008.  I had previously enjoyed their white wine.  This pink - from Côtes du Ventoux - is produced by Jean Pierre Perrin – of Chateau de Beaucastel fame - and stands at 13% abv.  The wine is a blend of 50% Cinsault, 40% Grenache and 10% Syrah.  It shows a good strawberry red color in the glass which is quite reminiscent of a Spanish rosado.  Strawberries on the nose lead to a full mouth which is also dominated by strawberry, raspberry and some great earthy notes.  It's a dry rose – not bone dry, but it pairs very well with Thai food.

We also had Parigot Cremant de Bourgogne at the table.  The 100% Pinot Noir bubbly has a lovely, earthy nose and notes of toast and berries.  It's very bubbly and lightly hued in a soft pink.  The fruity taste and effervescence make it quite refreshing and palate-cleansing.

At Frankie's, Adam the bartender provided me with a memorable Chianti and a few samples of some less-than-memorable reds.  He also got an assist for taking part in a time-honored bar tradition: the sports dispute.  Rob and I were wondering who was the first baseball player to earn $100,000.  Adam hit the cell phone and informed us it was Joe DiMaggio.  That's only partially correct.  Joltin' Joe was the first American Leaguer to get a six-figure salary, in 1950.  Hank Greenberg hit that mark in 1947, though, with the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League.  The wines Adam had to offer were a mixed bag, too.

The Piccini Tuscany Chianti 2008 was a delight, showing a nose of violets and minerals.  It's extremely smooth with good tannins and strong finish.  The blend is 95% Sangiovese and 5% Ciliegiolo.  Big cherry notes and a nice smokiness that lingers on the finish really make this wine stand out.  They call this DOCG wine “Chianti Orange,” and it is a considerable source of pride for Tenute Piccini.  Winemaker Antonella Conti gets a big thumbs up from me for producing this fantastic wine.

The Kenwood Vineyard wines Adam poured were not as impressive.  Their Zinfandel – blended with 8% Petite Sirah – has a black cherry streak a mile wide and a ton of spice flavors.  I found it be a bit fake tasting and overdone, though.  The Kenwood Cabernet Sauvignon has small amounts of Merlot, Petit Verdot and Malbec in the blend.  Pencil shavings on the nose with currants and plums on the palate were nice to find, but they couldn't lift the wine up above average. 

SALADES DE PROVENCE - AGAIN

It was a short week for Denise and me, but a tough one nonetheless.  Our Friday night came on Thursday, and we opted to go for what we have come to know as a reliable, feel-good destination.  Los Angeles French bistro Salades de Provence is our go-to spot when we just want it to be good without the drama.

We discovered on this evening that Denise has quite a palate for wine.  She ordered the rosé she likes – the Côtes de Provence Cuvée du Golfe de St. Tropez Rosé – and immediately she noticed it was paler in color than the wine she usually orders there.  She tasted it and noticed it was even smoother and had a better acidity than her fave.

We called the waiter over and inquired as to whether it was, in fact, the same wine or not.  As it turns out, it was – and it was not.

The wine was still the Cuvee du Golfe, but it was a different vintage.  The waiter told us he could not get the more recent vintage from his distributor and had instead ordered the 2007.  Denise liked it better than the other, so all worked out well.  Particularly well in the pairing of the rosé with her mushroom soup – still a meal in itself – and the salad with lamb.

My wine was the Les Tours Chardonnay 2007.  It's an estate-bottled Vin de Pays d'Oc that goes for $8 per glass at the restaurant.  The wine is served a bit too cold, which obscures the nose and makes it difficult for me to discern too much there.  It has a creamy mouthfeel with just enough acidity.  Pears and a hint of vanilla make up the simple, but delicious, palate.  I paired this with a chicken Caesar salad, which worked out nicely.

OJAI VINEYARDS ROSE 2007

We'll keep the summertime wines rolling with a look back at a rosé I had a couple of summers ago and enjoyed immensely, the Ojai Vineyards Rosé 2007.

This pink comes in a clear bottle that really shows off the beautiful salmon-colored contents.  The diamond-shaped label shows it to be a California Table Wine at 14% abv.  It's a blend of Grenache, Mourvèrdre, a touch of Syrah and Sauvignon Blanc.

A floral sense dominates the nose, with notes of cranberry and strawberry.  On the palate, bone dry!  That's always a pleasure.  How disappointing is it to taste a rosé and find it to be a pretty little candy bar?  Not this one.  It sooo wants some food.  This wine would be great with the usual pairings of salad and fish, but I think it would also pair well with heavier fare, like pork chops.  I had mine with some crackers and extra sharp cheddar, and it scored.

Run by Adam Tolmach and his wife, Helen for more than a quarter century,  Ojai Vineyards is probably best known for their Syrah.  Adam writes on the website, "In the old days we used to make it dark, soft, and full to the point that it could have been confused with a Pinot Noir.  The wine was a meal in itself.  But I have turned away from that style; I now prefer rosés light and zippy-so much easier to slurp with lunch on an unbearably hot day."  The '07 sure fit the bill.  I understand their '08 rosé contained Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre, while the '09 sports Roll Ranch Syrah with a spot of Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc.

If you have found it difficult getting your hands on a variety of Ojai Vineyards wines, you should note that the Tolmachs plan to open a tasting room - for the first time - with a target date of July 15th.  The tasting room will be in the historic firehouse at 109 South Montgomery Street in Ojai.  Sounds like a jaunt to Ojai may have just popped up on the summer calendar.

RIVERBENCH PINOT NOIR ROSE 2009

With the weather unseasonably cool in Southern California recently, it seems almost a shame to crack open a nice Central Coast rosé.  Part of me feels I should wait until a warm, sunny day when I can lounge about on the deck and soak up the Laurel Canyon quiet.  Another part of me feels that if I open the rosé, summer will come.  Of course, someone on the east coast may have tried that, and look what happened.  Triple digits.  I'm throwing caution to the cool ocean breeze and opening a rosé from the Santa Maria Valley.

Opening the Riverbench  '09 Pinot Noir Rosé is a little more difficult that opening most wines.  They have sealed the top of the bottle with a beautiful, pink wax enclosure.  Inside the clear bottle they have placed the beautiful, pink wine.  It's a rich-looking pink - not quite red, but not pastel, either.   This pink wine is produced in the saignée method, in which the juice is bled off from the skins. It's all stainless steel and rather full-bodied for a rosé.  It's 13.8% abv.

The Pinot Noir grapes for this wine come from the Riverbench Vineyard.  The nose is lovely, with cherries and rose petals.  A slight earthiness shows up on the palate, but the fruit does not hide.  Fun flavors of strawberry, cherry, raspberry and citrus abound.  The bracing acidity may take you by surprise.  The wine is nice and dry, and it finishes that way - for a long time, the way it should.

COPPOLA SOFIA ROSÉ 2009

One of the great warm weather lunches in Los Angeles is found at Fabrocini Beverly Glen restaurant. I'll bet a good many of their dishes are wonderful, although I'll probably never find out since all I ever order there is the calamari and scungilli salad. I don't see this on many menus, so if you know of another restaurant that does this dish, I'd love to know about it. Please feel free to leave a comment alerting me to where else I can find it.

Celebrating the summer day even further, I ordered a rosé to go along with the salad. The Coppola Sofia rosé is of Pinot Noir grapes which are sourced from the Sonoma Coast appellation. The 11.5% alcohol content is nice for lunchtime. Fabrocini has it for $10 by the glass.

Sofia pours to the glass as a deep salmon color, a very dark pink. This is due to the 48 hours of color extraction before the juice is separated from the grape skins. The nose is floral and fruity but was obscured by the cold serving temperature. There is a taste of melon on the palate, along with hints of cranberry, strawberry, cherry and even a shimmering glimpse of a childhood taste memory from my soda-drinking days - Big Red. Please understand this is not a predominant factor, and it actually is quite pleasant.

The wine is bright and fresh tasting, with acidity perfect for my seafood salad. The finish lingers just this side of dry, and it's a smooth, easy drinking quaff. It paired very well with the food, and set off the lemon I squeezed over the plate. It was a darn good summertime lunch treat!

MELIPAL ROSÉ OF MALBEC 2009

Dinner with a couple of good friends at Il Forno Caldo in Beverly Hills brought that ugly bias against rosé into the light of the waning day. She said we could get a bottle and share and he agreed, quickly passing the wine book to me in honor of my interest in wine. When I mentioned that I was interested in the Malbec rosé, he didn't quite let go of the menu, pulling it back while explaining that they were red wine people. Oh well, drink what you like and like what you drink, I say. They ordered red by the glass while I sampled the pink one from Argentina.

A Mendoza rosé of Malbec, the Bodega Melipal  is nine dollars. It shows a deep, rich red color - but not deep enough to pass for a red wine. The restaurant serves it at cellar temperature, not completely refrigerated, so the fruity aromas of cherry and raspberry are easily accessible. The taste is very fresh with a bright acidity and a nice, dry finish.

It has a medium-full mouthfeel and is silky on the palate, with flavors of cherry and a hint of lemon zest I found pleasing and rather unusual. The freshness of both the nose and palate is delightful, even somewhat surprising. I didn't feel it was a terribly good match with my chopped salad, but it fit well with the tomato sauce on the eggplant appetizer. 

DEEP CANYON CELLARS ROSÉ 2006

Deep Canyon Cellars  is a house label sold by Los Angeles wine shop Wally's.  According to Wally's website , "the group who produces it for us also makes one of the most expensive wines in the world, but that's all we can reveal!"  Very coy.  They do reveal that Au Bon Climat produces their Chaparral Chardonnay, so it's hard to dispute the quality of the name behind the label, whatever it is.  The grapes are from Santa Barbara County and, if memory serves, the price tag was about $12 for this rose.  It's made from Sangiovese.  I had this wine a couple of summers back, and it was delicious.

The nose shows a lot of fruit coming out of the glass, strawberry mostly.  I also detect a bit of a raspberry note.  The mouthfeel is a little heavier than most rosés.  If you don't mind that, and I certainly don't, you have a very refreshing drink that sips almost like a red with good acidity and a nice finish.  It's better chilled than not, so I would think it's well suited to summertime quaffing.  I find it gains a bit of complexity after it's been open a few days.

CÔTES DE PROVENCE CUVÉE DU GOLFE DE ST. TROPEZ ROSÉ 2009

Another visit to Salades de Provence , an amazing French bistro on La Cienega at Holloway in Los Angeles, brought another satifying dinner that left Denise and me marvelling at how food so simple can be so very, very good.

Quiche addict that I am, I had the zucchini, tomato and feta pie, while Denise had a mushroom soup so big and hearty it made the delicate tomato and mozzarella crepe seem like overkill.

The big news for me concerned the wine, of course. The restaurant has replaced the rosé formerly on their menu  with another pinkie from Provence.

Cuvée du Golfe de St. Tropez is a Côtes de Provence offering which blends Grenache, Cinsault and Syrah into a rich, salmon-colored treat. The aromatics - constricted by the cold temperature at which it was served - were buried too deeply for me to figure out. The wonderful muted tastes of raspberry and strawberry, however, could not be hidden away. It's a dry wine, with a very bright acidity, made for food.

In fact, all the French wines on the list at Salades de Provence seem made for the food served there. Maybe it's the other way around. Whichever way it works, it works. Again and again I find the wine there goes hand in hand with the food.