Summer Wine: Uvaggio Lodi Rosato 2010

This wine was one of those “Oh, look what I forgot I had” moments.  This has been sitting in the rack - er - cellar, for over a year.  It’s about time I break it open before summer slips away.  After all, it’s a rosé.

It’s actually a rosato - Uvaggio calls it that in keeping with the Italian grapes used in it.  It’s a blend of 81% Primitivo, 15% Barbera and 4% Vermentino, which are all grown in Lodi, California.

Uvaggio posts on their website that they make “interesting wines from very interesting Italian grape varieties.”  This pink wine is made in the saignée method, by bleeding juice from red wine production.  This one hits below the dozen marker in alcohol - 11.4% abv. The wine is barrel fermented, but malolactic fermentation is blocked.

Earthiness abounds in this wine.  It’s all over the nose and all over the palate, too.  Sniff past the funk and you are rewarded with a healthy strawberry aroma, with herbal notes.  Flavors almost too rich for rosé come forward as red berries and bright cherries.  The acidity comes sailing in on the finish, and the wine is very pretty - a deep magenta.

Interesting?  It sure is.  Good?  Yep.  Keep this stuff coming and I won’t mind summer hanging around awhile.

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Realizing A Wine Dream: Pennsylvania's O'Donnell Winery

If you've ever thought, "Man, I'd love to own a vineyard and make my own wine," you have something in common with Norbert O'Donnell.  He's the owner and winemaker for O'Donnell Winery in northeast Pennsylvania. They have only been open a few weeks (as of mid-2012) but Norbert and his wife, Jeannie, are running full steam ahead.

Norbert is from the NEPA area, but he was bitten by the wine bug while living in Washington's Columbia Valley.  He grew to love the rich, voluptuous wines made there and found it a disappointment to return to his home state and the thin, sweet wines people seem to like there.  He says he wanted to turn around and go right back to Washington.

What he really did, though, is stay in Berwick, Pennsylvania and try to change the wine scene on his own.  O'Donnell's vineyard is still a year from first harvest, so he is sourcing grapes from Erie, PA for his first effort at a full scale release.  He currently has four wines in production, and made 1,000 liters each - about 110 cases for each wine.  That's quite a step up from the hundred he had been producing for personal use with grapes from California, Washington, Chile and Italy.

O'Donnell Winery is now one of 140 or so wineries in Pennsylvania.  The wine list shows two dry wines - his preference - and two sweet ones - the kind people like to buy in his area.  O'Donnell tells me sweet wines outsell dry by at least three to one in his part of the Keystone State.  He makes a dry Catawba, a Corot Noir, a Geisenheim and a concord.  The Corot Noir grape is a hybrid developed at Cornell University.  It's free of the "hybrid aromas" often found in North American grapes.  Geisenheim is a cross of Riesling and Chancellor grapes.

In his vineyard, O'Donnell watches over plantings of Chamboucin, Cameret (a Gewurztraminer clone) , Riesling and Merlot.  I hope to have a chance to taste his wines soon, and when I do I'll include O'Donnell Winery in the Now And Zin Wine Country series.


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Blood Of The Vines: Robinson Crusoe On Mars

Wine Goes To The Movies

with Now And Zin and Trailers From Hell

The Curiosity rover has begun snooping about for evidence of life on Mars.  I’ll be watching those pictures closely for evidence of wine on Mars.  Paul Mantee’s character in Robinson Crusoe on Mars could have used a little martian vino, be it red or white.

Had Daniel Defoe’s earthbound Crusoe known he would be marooned for 28 years, he might have tried making some wine - if only for sacramental purposes.  The 18th-century Crusoe got religion by reading the Bible while stranded.  Imagine what he could have accomplished, inspired by a couple of issues of Wine Spectator.

Hollywood’s version of the desert island is Mars in the 1964 film billed as “scientifically authentic.”  That must have referred to the Technicolor process, because little else seems to be very realistic.  TFH says the movie does borrow effects from “War of the Worlds” and “Destination Moon,” and the presentation is 1964-moderne, if not exactly ripped from the pages of NASA handbooks.

You have to wonder what kind of space agency decides it’s a good idea to send a manned mission to Mars with a dangerous wild animal on board.  In case you’ve never had a close encounter of the simian kind before - yes, monkeys are wild.  And yes, they are dangerous.  They didn’t have wine on the ship, but that ape looks to me like he’s been sneaking a nip here and there.  Like the original Crusoe, Mantee seems to be stuck with some horrifically inadequate companionship.  At least until Friday, the intergalactic slave, shows up.  Good thing he’s a quick learner when it comes to picking up language from another world.

If you tour the vineyards of the Canary Islands, you may think you’re about to find wine on Mars.  On Lanzarote, they grow their grapes in little lava craters to help protect them from the wind.  On the Greek island of Santorini, they wrap their grapevines into little baskets, for the same purpose.  Both methods produce a weird effect that looks otherworldly - particularly in Lanzarote’s volcanic ash.

Here’s to life on Mars, and wine on Mars, for that matter.  Just like fires in zero atmosphere and monkeys in space suits, it’s “scientifically authentic.”

For that long-awaited sip of wine for Robinson Crusoe on Mars, where else to start but at Martian Vineyard.  They aren’t on Mars, but they are in Los Alamos - which is close.  They’ve been conducting experiments on Albariño, Grenache Blanc and Grenache that have turned out extremely well.  They also captured a Santa Ynez Viognier and have already taught it to speak English.  The prices aren’t in the stratosphere for wines like UFOric, Mothership, Down To Earth and Ground Central: $20 to $25 range.

Domaine Font-Mars - Bordeaux wine from Mars, here on earth.

White Rocket Wines - An experiment by the late Jess Jackson that didn’t exactly lift off.

Red Rover Wines - If you don’t monkey around with any #$@%& Merlot, they also have Barbera and Chardonnay.


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Bonny Doon Contra: A Modern Day Field Blend

Bonny Doon Vineyards of Santa Cruz, California is the workplace of Randall Grahm, The Rhone Ranger.  He's been in front of the pack for so long, people recognize him by the back of his head.  Folks thought Grahm was crazy when he decided Rhone grape varieties were the right thing to do in California.  Now they have to think of other reasons.

His Contra red blend is so named because of its contrarian stance in the face of modern winemaking.  The grapes come primarily from Contra Costa County, and the label calls them, "mostly old-fangled grape varieties from mostly older vineyards."  That's the way Grahm rolls, as he uses his skills to produce wines that reflect the terroir from which they come.  The Carignane grapes used in Contra are said to come from 100-plus year-old vines, mixed with other varieties.

Grahm sees it as a straightforward wine that both looks to the past and the future.  In the past, winemaker intervention was minimal because they didn’t have the technology to intervene.  Tomorrow, Grahm envisions, winemakers will choose a return to those simpler times.

Contra is a blend of 68% Carignane grapes and 38% Syrah.  The Carignane comes from several vineyards.  The Syrah is mainly from Alamo Creek Vineyard in San Luis Obispo, with some from Bien Nacido Vineyard in Santa Maria.  It’s the latter which gets credit from Grahm for the “exceptionally vibrant, peppery/minty, smoked meat note” in the wine.

There’s a caveat, though.  Contra is indicated as an Old Vine Field Blend on the label, which I am excited about.  “Field blend” is the term for the way grapes were grown once upon a time.  Vineyards were planted with different varieties scattered about, with only a "more of this, less of that" attitude from row to row.  These mixed grapes were grown, harvested and vinified together.  Modern winemaking keeps everything separate until the blending, which occurs in the cellar.  The old way had the wine blended, so to speak, out in the field.

Since the different grapes in Contra are from different vineyards, “field blend" is not a completely accurate term.  Considering Grahm's literate nature and his efforts at being transparent in labeling, the wording seemed odd to me.  So I did what people do when they want to check with Grahm.  I tweeted him.  Here are his responses:

“Grapes from multiple vyds in Oakley, Antioch, but each vyd. itself is more or less a field blend. #oldskool”


“The vyds are a mix of carignane, zin and mourvedre. Some blocks are mostly one thing or another.”


“Normally, we will try to keep them separate as their ripening is usually slightly different (within days apart).”


“For Contra, we don't have to be quite as precise in segregating them, and we can also co-ferment.”

So there it is.  A field blend, at least on the Carignane side.

Grahm now publishes the ingredients of his wines right on the label.  Contra's transparency blurb shows grapes, tartaric acid and sulfur dioxide, with indigenous yeast, yeast nutrients and oak chips used in the winemaking process.  As in Bonny Doon's other wines, Contra is sealed with a Stelvin closure, otherwise known as a screwcap.  The alcohol content is 13.7% abv.

Sitting in the glass, Contra is very dark in color.  It's inky in the middle, purple around the edge. A nose of blackberry has a big whiff of alcohol on it until it blows off.  Give it ample decanting time and you'll be fine.  Once the wine airs out, the nose is all dark fruit and tar.  The palate shows more of the same.  Blackberry and black cherry flavors lead the way for a brambly taste that falls in behind the fruit.  The tannins are great, with enough muscle to handle any kind of food, yet not so forceful that drinkability suffers.


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Wine Country Tennessee: Grinder's Switch Winery

Tennessee's wine industry - like that of so many other American states - thrived until Prohibition killed it. Today, a rebirth is underway, with 33 wineries listed by the Tennessee Winegrowers Alliance.  Grape growers in the Volunteer State have turned to French hybrid grapes, since they are resistant to grape diseases common to humid climates.

Grinder's Switch Winery is located in Centerville, southwest of Nashville and a little south of Interstate 40.  The town is more famous as the birthplace of country music great Minnie Pearl, but Joey Chessor is working on making wine as famous in Centerville as "How-DEEE!"

Joey Chessor is the owner and winemaker for Grinder's Switch Winery.  He named the 110-acre estate after a nearby stretch of train track.  He explained to me, "Grinder's Switch is nothing more than a railroad siding on a country road.  Minnie Pearl made Grinder's Switch famous when she was alive, through funny tales about an imaginary town named Grinder's Switch.  Although the switch is about 3 or 4 miles away, we thought it was a neat name and used it for ours.  So we decided to go with the train theme for our estate labels.  Besides, my 5 year old grandson, Jack, LOVES trains."

The labels for Grinder's Switch wines are very retro black and white drawings of train locomotives.  I mentioned to Chessor that I remember a classic rock group named Grinderswitch, too.  He remembers them as well.  "We have couple of albums that were given to us by a customer framed and hanging on the tasting room wall."

Chessor's wines are award-winners, including the prestigious "Wines of the South" competition.  He told me that "2010 was a very long hot summer, so keep that in mind as you taste the reds.  2011 was much better as a growing season.”

Dixiana Tennessee Traminette 2011
The estate grown Traminette is new - it should be released by the time you read this.  There's an easy-drinking 12% abv number on it.  In the glass, it shows a straw color with green highlights.  Aromas of dried apricots and limes highlight the aromatic bouquet.  A very strong minerality also is present on oth the nose and the palate.  That earthy taste is joined by apricots, lime zest and grapefruit.  The acidity is razor sharp - its a powerfully refreshing sip, which demands food.  Raw oysters, calamari and lobster should pair nicely.  $16

Three Eighty Two Tennessee Chambourcin 2010
This red wine is slightly higher on the alcohol scale, although moderate at 13.3% abv.  The grapes are estate grown.  I expected a more translucent appearance from a Chamboucin, but this one is inky black.  The nose is striking - tarry blackberry fruit with vanilla notes and a hint of eucalyptus.  The aromas put me in mind of Cabernet, not Chambourcin.  It's fruit-forward on the palate, with an intriguing minerality riding close behind.  I can taste the oak influence, but it's a welcome addition, not overdone.  The tannic structure is good - toothy, but it doesn't bite.  This wine needs a pork chop or a plate of baby back ribs for full expression, but the pleasure of sipping it is not diminished in the absence of food.  $20.

Zephyr Tennessee Red Blend
This red table wine carries a lightweight 12.2% abv number, even though it's a blend of two grapes one expects to see at higher alcohol levels - Cabernet Sauvignon and Touriga Nacional.  The Portuguese grape is really a surprise - there's little enough of it grown in California, so I didnt expect it from Tennessee.  It's a medium-dark wine with oak aromas plain enough and fruit that puts me in mind of Napa-meets-Port.  This wine really tastes great.  Juicy fruit and mouth-watering acidity is always a good combination.  Again, I'm wishing for a pork chop, but a steak would pair quite well.  The tannins are a little softer than in the Three Eighty two, but they are strong enough to do their work.  $20

If 2010 was an off-year for Tennessee grapes, I can't wait to taste what 2011 has to offer.


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Garagiste Festival 2012 - Artisan Wine In Paso Robles

If you did not attend the inaugural Garagiste Festival in Paso Robles last year, you must make it to Paso wine country in November 2012.  Small wine producers of the Central Coast of California will gather again to pour their wines for a big crowd of appreciative people.  The Garagiste Festival is all about the wines of artisan producers in the broad expanse of the Central Coast AVA.  The event is again to be held at Windfall Farms.

Garagiste is a French term (gar-uh-zhee-stuh) which originated in Bordeaux.  There, it described mavericky small-lot winemakers who didn't care much for following the rules.  These passionate vintners often whipped up their wine in the garage, or whatever space they had available to them.

What was once just a pejorative is now a movement.  Not that California winemakers operate under the burden of the sort of rules found in France, but these folks are considered renegades simply for daring to make their wine their way.

Nearly four dozen wineries which produce less than 1,200 cases per year will once again pour wines that you may not get a chance to taste very often.  Most of these small producers don't have tasting rooms, and their distribution is often spotty, if not non-existent.  It’s a big deal for them to get this sort of exposure.

This years festival has expanded to four days, with events taking place on November 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th.  The Garagiste Grand Tasting event, seminars and after-party will again be held at beautiful Windfall Farms, while specialized events will take place at other Paso Robles venues, including Vines on the Marycrest, The Vintner's Vault and others.
                                         
While the November 10th Grand Tasting event will remain intimate enough for festival-goers to have the opportunity to have true interaction with the winemakers, the festival has doubled capacity for this year's seminars, which were completely sold out last year.  Proceeds from the Garagiste Festival will once again benefit Cal Poly's Wine and Viticulture program.

They must be doing something right, as ABC News has identified the Garagiste Festival as one of their top ten Epicurean vacations for 2012.  Festival co-founders Stewart McLennan and Doug Minnick did a guest shot on The Wine Down, and you can watch that webisode here.

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Blood Of The Vines: Them!

Wine Goes To The Movies

With Now And Zin and Trailers From Hell

When I first saw the classic sci-fi movie, "Them!," I didn't know the meaning of needing a drink.  Today, I do.  It's a wonder this film didn't make me seek out my parents' wine stash years earlier than I eventually did.  Water Is Never Enough.

The trailer blazes the words: Terror - Horror - Excitement - Mystery - THEM!  Never has an acronym so accurately described its subject.  "Them" was the first giant insect movie, and still stands as the best.  TFH guru Joe Dante credits this movie with scaring the preteen crap out of him, and he's not alone.

Not only did "Them" feature giant mutant ants as a necessary byproduct of the nuclear age, it also featured building-mounted bullhorns from which the populace could be warned to stay inside.  We had civil defense sirens where I grew up, but I always wondered what town those bullhorns were in, and what problem they were expecting that prompted their installation.  Giant mutant insects, no doubt.

In the coastal community in which I was raised, giant mutant crabs might have been expected, or something related to the oil industry that ruled my early years.  “We Oil the World,” cried the city dads from every billboard and official vehicle.  “Crabbing, too!”  I always wondered about the wisdom of advertising crabbing as a great tourist attraction in an area known for petroleum refineries.  That was years before people became alarmed at mercury in tuna.  Giant mutant crabs would have been a welcome addition to the seafood buffet in my hometown.  "Djya see thuh size uh them thangs?  And only $10.95!"

Pairing a wine with insects is tricky.  The apps on my iPhone that offer to pair wine with food don't cover pairing with insects - for some reason.  I'm guessing a white wine with a lot of acidity would work well, unless the insects are chocolate covered.  Try a Port, in that case.  Maybe for "Them" we could borrow a page from Monty Python and choose a wine that's good for hand-to-hand combat.

Or we could go to Anthill Farms Winery of Healdsburg.  Their Campbell Ranch Vineyard Pinot Noir is from the Sonoma Coast town of Annapolis (oh, if it had only been ANT-apolis!)  The cool, coastal conditions there are great for growing Pinot Noir grapes, and for keeping away giant mutant ants.

Ant Moore Wine - New Zealand winemaker of Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris and Riesling.  Goes great with ants

A wine ant, the obligatory wine chotzke.

Import A-N-T Wines - This is a wine sales outfit which can’t sell to the public.  Why advertise?  Alcohol laws in the U.S. are certainly intriguing.  The name seems to be more of a stretch than even I usually go to for the wine pairing.

White Ant Wine - Q:  “How many ants does it take to make a bottle of wine?” A: It depends on how much beer you give them.  Believe me, winemakers are laughing their asses off at that one.  And the website: “Connecting buyers with China suppliers?” Is someone having trouble finding Chinese-made products?  May I direct you to … uh … everywhere?

Ant control with wine vinegar - Personally, I’m more fascinated with the idea that grits kill ants.


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Summer Wine: Simi Sauvignon Blanc Sonoma County 2011

Longevity counts in wine.  A winery doesn't operate over 135 years without doing a lot of things right.  Simi Winery first made wine in 1876, and they have been working out of the same Healdsburg cellar since 1890.  Giuseppe Simi came from Tuscany to California's gold rush in 1849, like many other Italian immigrants.  Also like his countrymen who ended up far from home in California, he eventually turned to winemaking.  It was over a quarter century after the goldrush that his brother joined him and the winery was born.

Simi uses primarily Alexander Valley fruit for their Sauvignon Blanc.  It's a blend of 95% Sauvignon Blanc, 3% Semillon and 2% Viognier.  Those other two grapes help add some aromatics and fruitiness, but the real difference maker here is the region where the grapes are grown.  The Alexander Valley is a fairly warm-climate grape growing area.  This means the fruit is riper.  The aromas and flavors are more fruit-oriented than in, say, a Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand.

The Simi Sauvignon Blanc has a very fresh nose and palate - it's a refreshing drink.  The aromas are not too grassy at all - citrus and tropical notes dominate.  It's lush and very fruity, with a decent level of acidity.  The flavor worked well with sashimi and tempura at the Japanese restaurant where I enjoyed it.


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Summer Wine: Andrew Murray Viognier 2011

Viognier is a great choice for a summertime beverage.  I had the pleasure of finally getting around to opening a bottle of Viognier that I purchased on my most recent visit to Los Olivos.  Andrew Murray’s Viognier is great as a summer sipper, but it also carves out a place at the dining table.

It’s a product of the Santa Maria Valley.  The grapes come from a block of Viognier planted especially for Murray.  The cool days and foggy nights which are common at the vineyard help get the grapes ripe without going crazy with the alcohol.

The grapes are whole-cluster pressed and the vinification takes place in stainless steel. The lightly tinted Viognier shows a fruit basket on the nose, with pineapple, mango, apricot and citrus fighting for attention.  Minerals are certainly present, as expected in a wine from the Santa Maria Valley.  The palate really shows the minerals, as well as the wonderful herbal edge attained through the whole - cluster press.  The sweetness of the fruit is tempered by lime zest.  There’s good acidity and a tart, pleasing finish.

I’d suggest that you run out and pick up a bottle, but that’s not possible.  The 2011 yield was limited and only 50 cases were produced - those are now sold out, according to the Andrew Murray website.


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A Wine Day For Albarino

Since August 4th, 2012 has been designated National Albariño Day by TAPAS (Tempranillo Advocates Producers and Amigos Society) I thought I’d dig up some notes on a few noteworthy California Albariños I’ve enjoyed.

White wine from Edna Valley - near the sleepy California town of San Luis Obispo - is a favorite of mine.  The minerality in wines from that area comes through in flinty, chalky fashion.  Tangent Winery is also a favorite of mine in Edna Valley.  Tangent’s Albariño shows a tropical nose with nuts and orange peel on the palate - and tons of minerals.  Winemaker Christian Roguenant  says, “My aim with this wine is to keep to the classic style of traditional Albariño from the Rías Baixas region of Spain, showcasing its vibrant acidity and fresh aromatics.”  Tangent offers a full menu of alternative whites, including their Ecclestone blend, a kitchen sink mix of all their varieties, including Albariño.

Paso Robles’ Lone Madrone Winery makes a white blend called La Mezcla.  Grenache Blanc and Albariño make a wine with great acidity, and the minerals really stand out to help shape a wonderful crispness.  There are plenty of tropical notes on the nose and the palate.  Their recommendation of pairing with oysters, clams or ceviche is completely justified.

Bonny Doon Vineyard’s Randall Grahm makes the Ca’ del Solo Albariño.  Citrus rind, wild herbs and green almond flavors dominate this crisp and refreshing Santa Cruz take on the Spanish grape.

Bokisch Vineyards' Terra Alta Vineyard Albariño is picked early to imitate the style of Albariño found in Galicia, Spain.  Markus Bokisch represents Spanish varieties in Lodi.  That may be a lonely job, but it makes him plenty of amigos.  He recommends trying his Albariño with seafood or anything spicy.

Verdad Winery Santa Ynez Valley Albariño is laden with limes, oranges and minerals.  Louisa Sawyer Lindquist gives it a little oak for complexity.


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Blood Of The Vines: The Howling

Wine Goes To The Movies

With Now And Zin and Trailers From Hell

For the dog days of summer, what could be better than a movie with some canine teeth?  And some claws.  And a loud bark.  And a nice wine for a dog day afternoon.

“The Howling” is a great 1980s werewolf film - there were a few of them back in the day.  This one boasts TFH head guru Joe Dante directing a screenplay by John Sayles - not to mention the likes of Patrick Macnee, Slim Pickens, John Carradine and Kevin McCarthy onscreen.  I’m in.

First of all, save your silver bullets.  Do you know how much ordinary stuff can kill a dog?  Wine is right up there - or any alcoholic beverage.  But how about milk?  That’s bad for Fido, too.  Chocolate, also not so good for Rover.  Nor are avocados, persimmons, eggs, fish, salt, sugar, yeast or macadamia nuts.  It looks like the only thing dogs can safely eat are Bonz.  So why so much trouble killing werewolves?  Can’t we just send them to a buffet?

While swirling my Cru Vin Dogs red blend, I take offense when one of the characters in “The Howling” says, “You’re from Los Angeles. The wildest thing you’ve ever heard is Wolfman Jack.”  Hey, writer, if you think wild sounds don’t happen in Los Angeles, I wish upon you every next door neighbor I’ve ever had.  Have you never been rolled out of bed by dueling garbage trucks at 7:00?  I didn’t think real people worked that early - just people who have to do things like get the news ready for you.

If you’ve never seen a newsperson turn into a werewolf, you’re missing a treat.  Oh, yeah, I’ve been around some newsrooms in my time.  TV, radio, something they used to call “newspapers.”  I’ve seen a few newspersons go off the deep end.  I’ve seen some things I wouldn’t want to see on the big screen - it was horrible enough life-size.

When I tell people about screaming arguments in which a variety of common newsroom items thrown at me ended up stuck in the soundproofing behind me, I hear gasps.  I don’t have the heart to tell them I returned fire with a severely brown coffee cup that put a dent in the paneling and left a mural-sized stain that is still being talked about today.  That was followed up by a left-handed sling of a half-empty pint bottle of Wild Turkey from the photographer’s drawer.  The news is not pretty when you get it.  It’s even uglier before that.

Was I writing about werewolves?  Yes, I suppose I was.  Sometimes I don’t know if I can scream.  Sometimes I don’t know if I can stop screaming.  The news does that to me.  So does Mad Dog 20/20.

Let’s pair a Santa Maria Valley Syrah with “The Howling,”  from Ambullneo Vineyards - not least because it’s called “Howling.”  Also because it’s dark and brooding.

Howl’d you like these?

Mad Dogs and Englishmen - Monastrell from Jumilla, Spain will go great with any movie, actually.

Stone Wolf Winery - Willamette Valley wine watched over by a wolf.  Do we trust him?

Grey Wolf Winery - The werewolves of Paso Robles are not drinking pina coladas.  They’re drinking this.

Werewolf Cabernet Sauvignon - They actually have nine different wines from Transylvania - oh, wait, that’s vampire country.


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Querceto Chianti Classico Riserva 2006

No matter how you slice the mozzarella, Italian food demands Italian wine.  Italian food deserves Italian wine.  There’s no better find than an Italian restaurant where they know how to cook authentic, rustic Italian cuisine and have a good wine list to go with it.

Querceto Chianti Classico Riserva is a good, solid, everyday Italian wine I see for under $20 online, so it's not a one-percenter.  Tuscan Sangiovese, made for food.  Here’s just a quick note about it.

Medium red in the glass, the nose is rustic enough - and aromatic, too.  Earthy plums dominate the aromas.  I find plums on the palate as well, and that wonderful minerality comes through as strongly as the mushroom risotto.  It’s very dry, with toothy tannins to boot, but it still felt quite smooth going down.  As well as it paired with the rice dish, I’d have it with meatballs in a minute - sausage in a second.

Summer Wine: Costaripa RosaMara Chiaretto Lombardia 2011

Rosé is always thought of as a particularly good summertime wine, and it certainly is.  I hate to think, though, of all the people who wait from Labor Day until Memorial Day to drink it.  There’s no better choice than a nice, dry rosé to pair with turkey on Thanksgiving - or with turkey sandwiches the day after.  Keep that in mind.

Since we Northern Hemisphereans are enjoying summer right about now, how about a nice pink wine today?

The Costaripa RosaMara Chiaretto is from Italy’s Lombardy region in the northern part of the country, near Lake Garda.  It’s a lovely rosato that shows a rich pink color in the glass.  That alone is worth the price of admission, $18 per bottle at a wine store in Los Angeles, $12 by the glass where I had it.

Four great Italian grapes make up the blend: 60% Gropello, 30% Marezemino, and 5% each of Sangiovese and Barbera.  The wine sees some French oak aging and derives a wonderfully full mouthfeel from it.  I pick up a field of strawberries and an herbal play on the nose, with the palate showing very nice acidity.  It’s fruity and dry, which is what rosé should be.  There’s an element which seems part floral and part herbal in the flavor profile.  The smell of basil from a nearby pizza really seemed to be made especially for it.

Summer Wine: Corallina Rose Stepping Stone By Cornerstone

Every summer I encounter some really wonderful wines for warm weather.  This year I’m sharing them in a series spotlighting the wines of summer.  Look for them as we taste our way through the dog days.

Napa Valley’s Cornerstone Cellars is better known for their Cabernet than their rosé, but their Stepping Stone line of mid-priced wines designed for “everyday consumption” features a truly memorable rosé.  The Corallina will surprise those folks who don’t think a pink wine brings much to the table.

The wine is a rosé of Syrah, and it’s made specifically as a rosé, not in the saignée method, in which the pink juice is a by-product of a red wine.  The grapes come from Boyd Vineyard in Napa’s Oak Knoll district.  It’s a vineyard dedicated to the growing of grapes specifically for the Corallina rosé. The wine carries a 14.1% alcohol level and is bottled under a cork.

Winemaker Jeff Keene says they pick the grapes early, at a lower sugar level, like they would for a white wine.  Then come the whole-cluster press - three hours skin contact gives the wine the brilliant color.  Stainless steel fermentation is followed by a racking to used French oak barrels.  There, the wine sits on the lees for five months.  Here is Keene’s video on the wine.

Cornerstone Managing Partner Craig Camp supplied me with a sample of the 2011 Corallina, and he says,  "With the 2007 vintage Cornerstone Cellars embarked in a new direction with acidity and balance being our cornerstones, not simple brute power.  Obviously the white wines and, of course, this rosé make it to the market far more quickly than our red wines so in a very real sense these wines give you a preview of the future of all our wines.”  Corallina retails for $20.

The wine shows a rich and deep pink hue in the clear bottle.  I get watermelon and strawberry on the nose, but not just the fruit - stems and all.  That herbal element comes from the whole cluster press.  In the mouth it’s dry and zippy - cranberry and apple burst forth on a river of acidity.  A peppery touch of Syrah shows through, and the wine has more weight than you would expect to find in a rosé.  Cranberry lasts on the finish for a good, long while.  The Corallina is complex and delightful.

Will it pair with salads?  Sure, but winemaker Keene is right.  He advises you break it out when you grill.  It will go great with your summer BBQ plans.


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Blood Of The Vines: From Russia With Love

Wine Goes To The Movies 

With Now And Zin and Trailers From Hell

British secret agent James Bond gave the world its most famous drink order: “A martini - shaken, not stirred.”  Even if you don’t like martinis, it sounds great in Sean Connery’s dulcet tones.  If Bond had been a Russian, he might have asked for “Wodka - leave the bottle.”  But then he would have been working the wrong side of the Cold War street, would have worn a fur hat - and we would have rooted against him.

An American James Bond may have ordered a martini as well, but probably would have asked for it “dirty.”

James Bond hailing from Spain or Italy would certainly have gone for bubbles, but the order might have been badly dubbed.  Cava, por favor.  Prosecco, si prega di.

A French spy?  Champagne, of course.  He's licensed to chill.  Bollinger has been 007's bubble of choice for years, but Dom Perignon was the thing early in the franchise.  1953, s'il vous plait. He finds the '55 Dom useful in hand-to-hand combat - in Dr. No, Bond is ready to clobber the bad doctor with that vintage until a moment of civility overtakes him.

If Bond had been Canadian, he may have tried to pry state secrets from the enemy with a friendly game of Beer Hunter.  Remember James, only one can of the sixer gets shaken.

Germany's answer to the secret agent would no doubt have ordered Riesling - with the help of M's Riesling label decoder ring.

A Japanese Bond would have... been Charlie Chan.  Waiter, sake for number one son.

It doesn't really matter what the drink is, though, as long as 007 can share it with a Bond Girl.  Daniela Bianchi, in "From Russia With Love," fits the role just fine.

TFH guru Brian Trenchard-Smith points out in his commentary that “From Russia With Love” was not only one of John F. Kennedy’s favorite books, it was the last movie he ever saw.  Kennedy screened the James Bond followup to “Dr. No” the night before he left for Dallas.

For this Bond film, we will go for a Cold War favorite - well, a cellar-temperature war favorite.  Russian wine is not easy to come by, but it’s out there.

Grapes have been cultivated for centuries in Russia, but the advent of the modern era of Russian wine was a 19th century Crimean sparkling wine factory.  Much like the US had its Prohibition to stop the growth of a burgeoning wine industry, so Russia had the revolution of 1917.  That’s when the French left the country and took their winemaking know-how with them.  Russia now has only half the vineyard land it had during the 1980s, largely because of former Soviet head-of-state Mikhail Gorbachev’s campaign to stamp out alcoholism.  One might argue that vodka is more to blame for the country's alcoholism problem, and their current leader agrees.

Abrau-Durso is Russia's oldest Champagne house - why do they call it Champagne? - and the Rusky sparkler can be found online for anywhere from $10 to $50 a bottle.  Shaken, Mr. bond?  "Nyet."

Bastille Day In Beverly Hills

If you’re going to celebrate Bastille Day with wine, I suppose it had better be French.  It was quite by chance that I happened to be sitting with a Roussanne before me on the French holiday.  I was in Beverly Hills, and it was a Paso Robles Roussanne, but it still had its roots in the Rhone Valley.  I mentally waved a little tricolour while I sipped.

The Roussanne in question is from Vampire Vineyards.  Their Roussanne provided a nice break from a rather hot afternoon in Beverly Hills.  The Vampire Vineyards tasting room is on Little Santa Monica Boulevard, right across from the Peninsula Hotel.

The nose has notes of tangerine, almond and oak spice.  The oak makes quite a prominent play in this wine.  On the palate, tangerines, peel and all, dominate the flavors.  Some blues on the sound system provided an American twist to the moment.

Later, also quite by chance, I found myself in the bar at the Peninsula.  I figured as long as I was killing time, I might as well have a more internationally suitable wine for the day.

I settled back into the plush couch with a Pascal Jolivet 2010 Sancerre, from the Loire Valley.  Soils of clay, limestone and flint result in a mineral-driven nose of rocks, apples and pears.  The palate is vibrant and fresh. Fruit in the form of golden apples and lemon rind are plain enough, but the minerality is in the driver's seat. The wine is vinified in stainless steel, but picks up complexity during the four to six weeks it sits on its lees.  Sinatra and cool jazz waft from the ceiling while I enjoy my own private Bastille Day.

Summer Wine: Bonny Doon Le Cigare Blanc 2010

When I ran into Bonny Doon Vineyard’s founder and President For Life, Randall Grahm, at the Los Angeles Rhone Rangers tasting event, he seemed baffled at the popularity of his Le Cigare Blanc.  Grahm told me he never thought he’d see a “wellspring of interest in white Rhone grape varieties,” hypothesizing that it may have been connected with the Mayan calendar and the end of the world.  If that’s the case, drink up.  There’s not much time left to enjoy it.

The grapes for this wine - 55% Roussanne and 45% Grenache Blanc - come from Beeswax Vineyard, a biodynamically-farmed plot in the Arroyo Seco AVA in Monterey County.  The Bonny Doon website describes, “Surrounded on three sides by wilderness and shielded from the cool Pacific Coast winds by the Santa Lucia Mountains, Beeswax Vineyard grows complex, concentrated and mineral intensive grapes, produced from deeply rooted vines."

It’s called, on the label, “white wine of the earth,” and the minerality found in it bears that out.  At a breezy 12.7% abv, this wine refreshes, and won’t leave you feeling woozy on the porch.

For the uninitiated, the name is taken from Bonny Doon’s flagship wine, Le Cigare Volant.  It’s a reference to a cigar-shaped flying saucer reportedly seen at one time over the vineyards of Chateauneuf-du-Pape.  The local government feared these aliens would damage the sacred crop, so a decree was issued banning the spaceships.  It must have worked, as I don’t think the Rhone Valley has been bothered by UFOs since then.  As a remembrance, Le Cigare Blanc comes bottled under a screw cap bearing the likeness of an alien.

The wine shows a nice color - a light golden hue - in the glass.  I smell apricots, tropical fruit, citrus and cantaloupe, with a soft vanilla note from the French oak wafting in and out.  On the palate, pears and apricots are joined by a melon rind minerality.  There’s the suggestion of an almond -butter-and-quince sandwich in there, too, with a savory note on the finish, which lingers long and well.

The acidity is fantastic, and makes me want a pork chop, or a nice soft cheese.  In my brief chat with Grahm, he explained the popularity of Le Cigare Blanc by saying, “white Rhone grapes, especially Roussanne, are fabulous food wines.”  We already knew that, and - presumably - so do the aliens.


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Wine Country: West Virginia

West Virginia has fewer than two dozen wineries.  The number eleven kept turning up in my research, but the West Virginia Department of Agriculture lists 19.  They don’t list much more than that about wine or grape growing, though.  The state does, however, boast three American Viticultural Areas.  The Mountain State has a piece of the Kanawha River Valley, Ohio River Valley and Shenandoah Valley AVAs.  

A lot of French hybrids are grown in West Virginia, due to the cold winters, but Riesling is said to be a mainstay in the northeastern part of the state.  In the Potomac Highlands, the shale soil is compared with that of Germany's Mosel Valley.  With about 47,000 gallons of wine produced in 2009, West Virginia comes in ahead of only Oklahoma, Maine and Montana in wine production.

A big thank you goes to my friend - and West Virginia native - Jim Thornton, and his wife Sue, who were kind enough to make it their mission to find these two wines for me on a trip back to Jim’s home state. Without them, there may not have been a West Virginia page for the Wine Country series.

Daniel Vineyards is in Crab Orchard, West Virginia, in the southwestern corner of the state.  The winery and vineyard is located at over 2,500 feet above sea level, so cold-hardy grapes are a must.  Owner and winemaker, Dr. C. Richard Daniel, has experimented with over 114 different grape varieties since his initial plantings in 1990.  Presently he grows 14 varieties:

     Cornell University Hybrids (Cayuga, Chardonel, Traminette)

     French-American Hybrids (Seyval, St. Vincent, Vidal, and Vignoles)

     Native American (Norton)

     Swenson Hybrids (Brianna, Esprit, and Sabrevois)

     University of Minnesota Hybrids (Frontenac, La Crescent, and Marquette)

The doctor says his blackberry and Port-style wines are his best sellers.

Daniel Vineyards West Virginia Red Table Wine 2008

The wine is brick red color and medium dark in the glass.  Light passes through it easily, and it has the look of a delicate Pinot Noir.  The nose is very intense blackberry, lots of earthy minerality. I would guess that this wine is made from Frontenac grapes, but I don't know for sure.

The palate is loaded with true blackberry flavor as well, the kind one gets from eating actual blackberries. There is a fruity sweetness, but an earthy taste is quite prevalent.  Fennel also shows.  The wine is quite dry and has a strong tannic structure.

Acidity is also high, which leads me to believe it will pair well with food.  I'd imagine this to be a great match with sausage, pork or pepperoni roll.  As a matter of fact, I might make the latter my first choice.  Anything type of peppery or spicy meat would likely pair well.

Kirkwood Winery is in Summersville, West Virginia, owned and operated by Rodney Facemire.  Kirkwood is Nicholas County’s first winery, and Facemire makes wine from fruits and vegetables.  There is also a mini-distillery on the premises, the Isaiah Morgan Distillery.

Kirkwood Winery Royal Blush NV

This pink wine actually looks more orange, or salmon, in the glass. It's gorgeous to look at, with an alcohol content of 11% abv.  On the nose, there's a "foxy" character that is often noticed in wines made from North American grapes.  Kirkwood does make a wine from Concord grapes, but I'm told the makeup of the Royal Blush is all Katoba grapes. I have never heard of that one, and I wonder if it might be a synonym for Catawba. The foxy aroma is so overpowering, I can't determine any fruit aromas at all.

On the palate, things change.  There is a very intense flavor of orange peel, and a vegetal/herbal angle I can't quite figure out.  While the nose did not make me want a sip, the taste of the wine is actually very interesting.  Orange candy on the finish takes away the memory of the nose.  

As a "mountain wine" from Appalachia, it has a certain cachet.  I would imagine if one is accustomed to drinking this, it's quite enjoyable.  As for me, if there's a white Zinfandel nearby, I'll take that instead.

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Blood Of The Vines: The Killing

Wine Goes to the Movies

with Now And Zin and Trailers From Hell

Who doesn't like to grab a bottle of wine and take in a day at the track?  Well, I've never done it.  When I lose my shirt gambling on sports, I prefer to do my drinking afterward.  I drown my bad luck with free house wine in the casino while nursing a video poker machine - the second most boring waste of time known to man.  The first, of course, is keno.

I suppose seeing your money disappear in person, rather than on one of a dozen closed circuit screens from various racetracks, has a certain allure.  But in “The Killing,” the Stanley Kubrick classic starring Sterling Hayden, everybody's money disappears when a clown-masked robber rips off the gate.  Okay, so now the whole grandstand wishes they had brought a bottle, instead of just those who put Aunt Martha's farm on the horse that couldn’t get around the first turn.

Horse racing, like winemaking, is one of those things rich people get into when they find they just can't spend their money fast enough in other, more conventional pursuits.  Kentucky may have the thoroughbreds, but California has the wine.

The late Jess Jackson blended the two.  He was not only a California wine legend - owner of Kendall-Jackson and changer of the way wine was made and marketed - he was also a mover and shaker in the thoroughbred horse industry.  So, for “The Killing,” we'll go with his hallmark - K-J Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay.  They make a zillion cases a year and it's always lauded as a reliably good wine from vintage to vintage.  Twelve dollars out of the gate at the supermarket can get you a wine that will feel right at home down the stretch.

Comin' on the rail:

RustRidge Winery Racehorse Red - From the Chiles Valley in the northeastern part of Napa, this wine feels good coming' down the backstretch, and better running through the inside.

Wild Horse Winery and Vineyards - They run wild and free in Paso Robles, with a line called “Unbridled” to prove it.

Darkhorse Wines - A great candidate for an after-race unwind.

Iron Horse Winery - "The drink of optimists," they call their wine.  Well, if you're at the racetrack, that must be you.

The obligatory wine novelty - Am I drawn to this sort of thing because I routinely bet on 20-1 long shots running in the mud?

Santa Ynez Horse and Winery Tour - This actually sounds like fun.  Just make sure your horse uses the spit bucket at the tastings.  See novelty above.

Beaulieu Vineyards Beauzeaux Red Blend - “Come on, clown, sing us a chorus from "Pagliacci!”


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Whole Foods Wine: Summer Twitter Tasting #2

Part two of the Whole Foods Summer Wine Twitter tasting event came on July 12, 2012, right when we needed a little something to keep us cool.  In my part of the world, it was not only warm outside, but unusually humid, too.  An opportunity to taste a few nice chillers was welcome.  For an overview of the event, and the wines, check out the earlier article on Whole Foods’ Top Ten Wines for Summer here.  The notes on Twitter Tasting #1 are here.

This time around, we once again have two white wines and a red.  There is once again a good international feel to them as well.  These summer wines hail from Greece, Australia and Spain.

People tweeted their thoughts on these wines from New England, Columbus, Southern California,  New Jersey, Vancouver, BC and Maui, to name just a few locales.  The participants tweeted about each wine in turn, and many lodged a vote for their favorite near the end of the hour.  As is customary, many Whole Foods Markets from across the U.S. were hosting in-store tastings at the time.  All the tweeting occurred in the hashtag #WFMwine.

One of my favorite tweets came from the global wine team at Whole Foods, @WFMWineGuys: “Peloponnese locals bash their octopi on the rocks to tenderize it, then grill & pair it with this snappy sipper.”  They were referring to the first wine in the lineup, which is said to pair spectacularly with calamari, bashed or otherwise.

Kyklos Moschofilero 2011

This white wine is made by Voyatzis, a winery located in the north-central part of Greece, fairly close to Albania and Macedonia and not all that far from Bulgaria. It is fashioned from 100% Moschofilero grapes, aromatic and spicy with generally good acidity.  On the label, this wine is called a “New Generation Moschofilero,” but since this is my first experience with the grape, it’s possible I don’t know what I’m missing.  The alcohol content is very reasonable - 11% abv - so it shouldn’t weigh us down too much. 

The wine gives a pale color in the glass, with a nose that’s made for a summer day.  Tropical fruit and spicy aromas float over a floral base.  In the mouth, the acidity is immediately noticeable.  Flavors of orange peel, cantaloupe and honeydew come forward, and the acidity lasts right through the finish.  There’s a great sense of minerality here, too.  Whole Foods suggests pairing with seafood - Calamari Pasta specifically - or a Mahón cheese.

Yalumba Christobel’s Eden Valley Riesling 2011

Yalumba Winery was founded in Angaston, South Australia in by Samuel Smith in 1849.  Yes, beer lovers, THAT Samuel Smith.  He apparently tired of brewing and went to Australia to make wine.  Its name is taken from Christobel Hill Smith, who was the hostess at the winery for 50 years.  In her memory, the bird-and-flower label is placed with love.  The wine is a low, low 10.5% abv, so it’s even lighter that the Greek entry. 

The acidity is also a little less thrilling than in the Moschofilero, but it’s still nice.  Pale in the glass, this Riesling gives the greek wine a run for its money in the aromatics department.  The nose is bursting with stone fruit, lemon peel and pineapple notes.  I don’t find an awful lot of minerality, but there is a trace of rocks underneath all that fruit.  The wine is off dry, with a nice touch of sweetness on the palate.  I love it when Rieslings employ a “sweetness meter” on the back label, and this one points to “medium sweet.”

Whole Foods recommends a pairing with apple pie and cheddar cheese, which doesn’t sound bad at all.  They also say Sesame-Peanut Noodles  would be good with it, or Cypress Grove Humboldt Fog cheese.

Pallas Tempranillo  2011

From the sandy, rocky soil of La Mancha comes this Jorge Ordoñez selection.  If you're not well-versed in Spanish wine, find one imported by Ordoñez and you'll find a good one.  La Mancha occupies a large portion of Spain’s central plateau.  Any place with windmills, Manchego cheese and Tempranillo gets a star next to it my travel planner. 

This deep red wine smells of plums and cherries and a bit of rosemary.  The palate is fleshy and ripe with dark fruit, and a dusty, rustic characteristic was the buzz of the Twitter tasting.  Whole Foods says pair this with barbecue, shish kabobs, and Spanish chorizo.  They cite  Spanish chickpeas and chorizo as a good choice. The cheese pairing they recommend is Solé Gran Queso.



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