La Fenêtre À Côté Cabernet Sauvignon 2008

One of the treasures I picked up at a recent Wally's tent sale is a Santa Barbara County Cabernet from La Fenêtre.  À Côté is a delicious wine, 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from the Santa Barbara Highlands.  The grapes grow above the fog line, where the Cab gets ridiculous in Santa Barbara County.

Sommelier-turned-winemaker Joshua Klapper did some fine work getting this in a bottle.  The fruit is wonderful, nicely abetted by its time in french oak. 

The nose is all about smokey, leathery, dark fruit up front.  A bit of barnyard appeared to my senses on the second night it was open, but it smoothed out before I had a chance to second-sniff it.  A leathery quality shrouds the fruit on the palate, to my delight.  I taste blackberry and currant strongly.  On the third night, graphite really made its presence known.  Over the span of three nights during which I enjoyed À Côté, I'd say it drank good, then better, then wow.

Winemaker:  Joshua Klapper

Variety:  100% Cabernet Sauvignon

Appellation:  California > Central Coast > Santa Barbara County

Vineyard:  Santa Barbara Highlands Vineyard

Vintage:  2008

Alcohol Level:  14.1% abv

Price:  $24

Acquisition disclaimer:  Purchased by the author

"They Got This Recession On" Wines, Part 6

Hopefully 2010 will bring us all much better financial positions.  That's where my heart is, but my head tells me not to start buying really expensive wines for the cellar just yet.  In fact, if it's getting darker just before your dawn, here's a pair of wines you could probably afford after just a few hours of hustling change.

Sutter Home Winery has a line of wines available at 7-11 stores - in the cooler - which are small but cheap.  The 187 ml pours come in plastic bottles with a screw cap.  They cost just under two bucks each with tax and CRV included.  If you have trouble with the metric system, 187 ml comes out to about 1/4 of a standard wine bottle.  That's either a generous restaurant pour or a stingy one at the Fuller household.

Sutter Home is a Napa Valley producer whose labels you must have seen at the supermarket.  They are one of those wineries which still produce a White Zinfandel.  This small-format line also includes a Chardonnay, a Pinot Grigio, a Merlot and a Cabernet.  We'll concern ourselves with the White Zin and the Merlot.

Sutter Home White Zinfandel 2008

This much-maligned wine offers a pinkish orange color, like a light salmon.  It looks rather nice in the glass.  There is raspberry and strawberry on the nose, which isn't too sweet smelling.  The palate does show some friendliness, but the cloying sweetness White Zin is infamous for is not present.  In fact, I would describe it as off-dry.  The 9.5% abv made me expect a much sweeter wine, but the grapes were harvested fairly early, sparing us from a sugar bomb.

The nose is probably more interesting than the palate, but not by much.  The wine's acidity is a tiny bit challenged, but it actually goes fairly well with a turkey sandwich.

I hesitate to offer up any categorical slams on White Zin.  If it weren't for its great popularity during the 1980s, many old Zinfandel vines in California might have been uprooted in favor of some more profitable grape.  As a big fan of  "old-vine Zinfandel, " I am personally glad so many people drank White Zin a few decades ago.  I hoist a glass of it from time to time as a salute to those who knew not what cause they served.

Sutter Home's White Zinfandel is a very uncomplicated wine.  It's not a bad wine, it's just not a very interesting one.  It'll do in a recession, though.

Sutter Home Winery Merlot 2008

I'll go ahead and tell you now, I was not expecting a whole lot from this wine.  I got a lot more than my two dollar's worth from it, though.

The Merlot pours up a fairly dark ruby color in the glass.  Perfumy scents of blackberry, blueberry and some cherry cola are not shy about leaping from the glass.  The taste shows a really smokey black cherry quality.  It's quite smooth, even immediately upon opening the bottle.  The wine does have an interesting flavor profile and really feels full in the mouth. It's actually quite satisfying.  I'd be surprised to see someone identify this correctly in a blind tasting.

The tannins are good and the finish is dry and lingering.  If I had only $2 to my name and absolutely had to have a nice glass of wine, Sutter Home Merlot would do just fine.  In fact, I just may keep it on the "buy" list once this recession is over!

"They Got This Recession On" Wines, Part 4

Fess Parker Frontier Red Lot 91 is the latest in a series of non-vintage wines from Fess Parker's respected Santa Barbara County winery.  Their website lists the wine at $12, but it sells at some places for $10, and I got a bottle from Los Angeles Wine Company for $8.

The wine is a blend of six Rhone varietals, and it really drinks like an actual Rhone Valley wine rather than a California facsimile.  The nose features blackberry and spices in a very dark setting.  An herbal quality seems to come through a layer of smoke.  On the palate, Frontier Red has a dark edge as well, with plenty of smoky fruit and a licorice component adding to the dark flavors.  I picked up a bit of graphite, too.  Frontier Red drank better each of the three nights it was open.

It's got a medium-mouthfeel, which is rather surprising considering the grapes involved.  I thought of it at first as "thin," but later I felt that might be a bit harsh, since the taste is so good.  I do prefer a bigger feel on my palate, though.  I would recommend giving it some time to settle down, either sitting in the glass or by decanting.

My wife used some of it in a spaghetti sauce she made, and the result was fabulous.  Naturally, the wine paired extremely well with that sauce.

Winemaker:  Fess Parker
Varietal:  56% Syrah, 20% Grenache, 13% Carignane, 5% Sangiovese, 5% Cinsault & 1% Mourvedre 
Appelation:  California > Santa Barbara County
Vineyard:  Camp Four Vineyard (Santa Ynez Valley); Starlane Vineyard (Santa Barbara County); Rodney's Vineyard (Santa Ynez Valley)
Vintage:  NV
Alcohol Level:  15.5%
Price:  $8 (list $12)
Acquisition disclaimer:  I paid for this wine, on sale.

Menage a Trois 2007

I love autumn.  I live in Southern California, so that's not exactly the same sentiment you get when someone from, say, Vermont claims to like autumn.  They get a real autumn in Vermont, complete with changing colors and the onset of cold weather.  Here in Southern California we get fire season.


I actually like the low humidity a lot - as long as it doesn't mean raging brush fires - and when that first cool snap finally comes, I wish there were some brightly colored fallen leaves to run through.  The closest we get to that is a palm frond or two blown down in the gusty winds.  As I write this it's a chilly 57 degrees outside!  (Pause for laughter from everywhere else.)


One way I can celebrate autumn - even without the foliage - is with a nice red wine.  I'm so drawn to whites and roses all summer that my shift into reds serves as my foliage change.  You'll be seeing a lot more reds in this space in the coming months.  If they all taste as good as this one, I'll consider Autumn 2009 a success.


Despite the French monicker, Menage a Trois is a California blend of Zinfandel, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.  The wine pours up a very deep red.  It has quite a fragrant nose, due partially to the grapes and partially to the French and American oak used in the barrels.  The dark fruit comes across strong and rich as I sniff it, and there's a trace of smokiness.  They say the Zin is for jamminess, the Merlot is for mellow and the Cabernet is for backbone.  That's pretty much the way it comes across on the palate.  Fruit is huge - blackberries mostly - and there is some smoke flavor along with a trace of pencil lead.  A spicy, peppery taste also comes forth.  It's a little bit rough at first, but let it sit a half hour or so and it should be nice and mellow.  It's priced quite well, $10 at Cost Plus World Market.  At 13.5% abv, the alcohol doesn't knock you over like some Zins do these days.


Winemaker:  Folie A Deux Winery

Varietal:  Zinfandel, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon

Appelation:  California > Napa Valley

Vintage:  2007

Alcohol Level:  13.5%

Price:  $10

Acquisition disclaimer:  This wine was purchased by the author; $10