Italian Wine: Walch Pinot Bianco

Denise and I celebrated our fifteenth wedding anniversary the way like to celebrate - a nice meal in a nice place featuring the things we like best.  It doesn’t always mean expensive, and it hardly ever means fancy - we like our dining and our food to be simple and delicious.

We get a craving for cheese every now and then, and one of our favorite places for a fantastic cheese plate is Cube.  Cheese and more are on the menu - they are feeding the current frenzy for fried chicken in L.A. - and they have a wine selection that has never failed to exceed expectations without putting undue stress on the bank account.  They specialize in Italian wines, as suggested by the “What’s up D.O.C.?” sign above their La Brea Avenue location.  We love supporting Cube and we would be terribly disappointed if it suddenly were not there.

A mess of cheese and meats from all over the world were ordered to be brought on the slate platter, and an extremely nice Pinot Bianco from Italy’s Alto Adige region got my attention.  Wines from this part of northern Italy always get my attention.

Elena Walch took over the wine estates of the family into which she married - kind of makes it sound like a coup, doesn’t it?  Well, if the family isn’t happy with the job she has done, I don’t know what’s wrong with them.  She has instituted sustainability measures at her vineyards which encompass biology, society and economics - which she calls the “triangle of sustainability.”

The Elena Walch Kastelaz Pinot Bianco is a single vineyard wine - the Kastelaz vineyard - that sells for around $20 online, making the $10 by-the-glass price seems downright courteous.Two-thirds of the wine is fermented in stainless steel tanks, while a third is treated to new French oak, and aged there for five months after fermentation.

The color of this wine is simply stunning - a beautiful, golden tint with copper and green highlights throughout.  A wonderfully savory aspect is apparent on both the nose and palate.  Aromas of smoke and minerals join the smell of apples while the flavors of savory nuts and wet rocks are lifted by a fantastic acidity.  It worked with all the cheeses on the platter, but it took on a transcendent quality with the Swiss cheese from Hoch-Ybrig.


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Blood Of The Vines: Psycho

Wine Goes to the Movies with Now And Zin and Trailers From Hell

Putting the blood in Blood Of The Vines, we’ll take a look at Alfred Hitchcock’s "Psycho."  That’s not red wine swirling down the shower drain.  This movie made so many people afraid to take a shower that stocks probably soared for underarm deodorant.

Brutal murders are nothing in movies these days, but the graphic nature of the one in Psycho was groundbreaking, even though we never actually see the violence.  Plus, killing off one of the stars 30 minutes into a film was simply not done.  I would imagine it’s still a no-no.  Both these elements made Psycho an unusual film for its time.

Janet Leigh is the unlucky victim, who probably should have had a glass of wine before stepping into the shower, since she’s not getting one now.  Just goes to show - life’s too short to not drink wine.  Anthony Perkins cut his creepy-teeth here.

By the way, Hitchcock reportedly used chocolate sauce for the blood swirling down the drain.  It’s a black and white movie, and he felt in B&W, chocolate looks like blood.  It actually looks more like blood than blood does.  I’m sure Hitch would not have approved of using red wine in the scene.  He didn’t like to see wine go down the drain.

The famed director drank a whole bottle of wine at lunch every day, according to John Landis.  Personally, I’d like a lunch like that even if it’s only every now and then.

The wine for Psycho could easily be French - Hitchcock would approve - but let’s get a little more personal with it.  Heart O’ The Mountain Estates in the Santa Cruz mountains was once owned by Alfred Hitchcock.  The property started as a Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard in 1881.  Hitchcock planted Riesling there.  After his ownership, the property was used as a horse pasture.  The current owners have been growing Pinot Noir for about ten years.  They have eleven different Pinots, ranging in price from $48 to $85 per bottle.

You’d be psycho not to try these:

Simi Winery - This Healdsburg property is said to have been one of Hitch’s favorites.

Sangria - Sure, why not? A fruity melange of citrus peels and the remainder of last night’s wine sounds great for “Psycho.”  Besides, it means “bleeding” in Spanish.

Premeditated Murder Barleywine - It’s actually a strong beer, but it pours up “bloody, ruby crimson” in the glass.  Pair with chocolate?

Cellarmasters “Psycho” ad - A nice turn on the oft-imitated scene, this time performed in the kitchen sink.

Wine bottle shower scene - Well, now it really is wine going down the drain.

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New Zealand Sparkling Wine Challenges Big Bubbles

While seeking out this tasting event, I was hijacked into another wine event at the same hotel, held at the same time.  It was a stroke of luck to encounter two wine tasting events for the effort of one.  Also luckily, I made it from the restaurant up to the pool area at the Sunset Marquis to sample Kim Crawford Fizz, a méthode traditionelle sparkling wine produced in New Zealand's Malborough region.

The wine was poured blind alongside four other notable bottles of bubbly (Veuve Cliquot, Taittinger, Gosset and Schramsberg.).  Blind tasting not being one of my strong suits, I'll skip the gruesome details of how my investigation fizzed out and concentrate on the attributes of what turned out to be wine number three.

Kim Crawford Fizz Méthod Traditionelle is part of their Small Parcels range.  The sparkling wine is produced in the same way Champagne is made - méthode champenoise - but the folks from the Champagne region have successfully restricted use of that term only to wines produced in Champagne.  So, elsewhere, it is known as the traditional method.

The wine is named after Felicity Nelson, Kim Crawford's winery host (pictured).  Her effervescent personality gave her the nickname "Fizz," and it's now on the label.

The winery's website describes the sourcing of the 60% Chardonnay and 40% Pinot Noir grapes and how they display themselves in the wine.  "Chardonnay from the Castle Cliffs Vineyard in Marlborough's cool Awatere Valley provides elegance, minerality, and pure citrus flavors. The Brooklands and Hay Vineyards - in the heavy clay soils of Marlborough's Southern Valleys - provide depth, structure, and complexity for our Pinot Noir."

Bubbles are medium-sized and they dissipate quickly.  The nose shows a toasty grapefruit, apple  and tangerine aroma.  The mouthfeel is dry and full, and the fruit is embedded in a yeasty framework with a long finish. It's a clean and refreshing quaff.


Images by Allison Levine

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Savory White Wine Of France, California And Oregon

Serendipity is a beautiful thing.  I stumbled upon one wine event on the way to another that was being held in the same hotel at the same time.  The event featured wines represented by the Estates Group, a division of Southern California wine distributor Young's Market Company.  Here are some quick notes on some very fine - mostly savory - wines.

Dominique Lafon Wines

Dominique Lafon is considered a pioneer in Burgundy and one of France's finest winemakers.  He oversees his own properties and is the consulting winemaker for America's Evening Land Vineyards as well.  Lafon took over his family’s estate in 1987 and raised a few eyebrows as he moved away from traditional farming methods involving chemicals.  He improved the quality of the fruit and proved his critics were wrong when they said his wines would never amount to anything.  His bottlings - particularly the premier cru wines - command a hefty price.  My thanks to the hosts for allowing me to step in and sample.

Bourgogne Blanc 2010
Smoky nose with tropical fruit.  Savory grapefruit edge on the palate, but not tart.  Gentle acidity.

Bourgogne Blanc 2011
Light nose, savory flavors of melon, cantaloupe.  Gentle acidity.

Meursault 2011
Lightly smoky nose , savory pear on the palate.

Meursault Les Narvaux 2011
Smoke, pear juice aromas, savory flavors of pear and white peach.

Puligny Montrachet, Premier Crus Champ Gain 2011
Nice, savory melon and pear.

Volnay Villages 2011
Delicate nose of strawberry and roses.  Bright cherry and strawberry on the palate.

Beaune Epenottes Premier Cru 2011
Beautiful acidity.  Nose of dusty strawberry, palate showing beautiful cherries and roses.

Volnay Les Lurets 2011
Lovely, delicate nose, bright fruit palate.

Evening Land Vineyards

Always seeking great vineyard sites, Evening Land started with Occidental Vineyard in Sonoma Coast, moved north to Seven Springs Vineyard in Oregon's Willamette Valley, then to Burgundy.Producing wines in California, Oregon and Burgundy presents some logistical hoop-jumping as well as some neccessary duplication of efforts.  Winemakers Isabel Meunièr and Cristophe Vial oversee the Evening Land wines in America and France, respectively.  Dominique Lafon consults.  The company’s Central Coast California offerings will be going by the wayside as their American arm shifts its focus to the Sonoma Coast.

Au Château de Bligny Pouilly-Fuissé 2011  $28
Malolactic fermentation, 35% of the wine spent eight months in french oak, the remainder rested in a tank.  Tropical fruit on the nose, with a mouthful of minerals, tangerine peel and lemon. Brilliant acidity

Chardonnay Eola-Amity Hills, Seven Springs Vineyard 2011  $65
Whole cluster pressed, and the herbal element comes through.  Aged eleven months in oak, another five months in steel tanks.  The Eola-Amity Hills AVA is located within Oregon's Willamette Valley.  Smoky oak on the nose, savory fruit on the palate.

Chardonnay, Edna Valley 2011  $25
Single vineyard, two miles from the Pacific Ocean at 900-foot elevation.  Barrel fermentation in French oak, whole cluster pressed.  Smoky minerals with a savory, tart palate.

Au Château de Bligny Bourgogne Rouge 2011  $25
Least expensive of the Evening Land French wines.  Half is aged in French oak for ten months, the rest in stainless steel.  Aromas of roses, light cherry flavors.

Pinot Noir, Eola-Amity Hills 2011  $50
Aged 16 months in French Oak.  Funky nose, cherry and strawberry on the palate.

Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, Occidental Vineyard 2011  $120
A real terroir wine.  12-14 months in French oak, a miniscule amount made.  Smoky funk dots the nose, while the palate shows delicate flavors of  cherry and plum.

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Bonny Doon Vineyards Old Telegram 2010

I had never received a telegram before.  I’ve seen them in the movies a lot, and they usually carry bad news, so I don’t feel I’ve been shortchanged.  I have heard them referenced in the great Kinky Friedman country classic “Western Union Wire,” which is likely the only country song about a telegram.

“It said, ‘from Billy’ at the bottom, ‘to baby’ at the top.

Western Union wire please help me. Stop.

Western Union wire don't leave me. Stop.”

The label on the bottle of Old Telegram - received as a sample - will stand as the only telegram I have ever received, and it will do nicely.  With STOP at the end of each truncated sentence and a little Friedmanesque wordplay thrown in - “I can’t STOP” - it makes for an amusing read while you are letting the wine breathe.  That is the purpose of a wine label, right?  The small, less entertaining print reveals an alcohol content of 14.5% abv.  Retail is $45.

Bonny Doon Vineyards Old Telegram is winemaker Randall Grahm’s love letter to the great wine of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Vieux Télégraphe.  Like the Rhône classic, it is produced from grapes which the label identifies as Mataro, an alias under which thick-skinned, late-ripening Mourvèdre sometimes goes.

Grahm states that the grapes for the varietal wine are taken from "two exceptionally old, dry-farmed, head-trained Mourvèdre vineyards - Enea (75%) in warmish Antioch and Enz (25%) in the coolish Cienega Valley of San Benito County."  He says the 2010 Telegram has lots of heft, but is riper than the typical release.  It is mostly reserved for DEWN wine club members, but he says a few cases will drift into “wholesale commerce.”

One of the telegram lines on the label promises a “wildly aromatic” experience, and it is.  The nose of this dark red wine shows pepper, tobacco, anise and some beef jerky amid the riot of dark fruit.  After a sniff, the heft is expected.  With a sip, it is delivered.  The wine has great acidity and firm tannic structure.  The fruit does come on strong - big, dark shades of black plums and blackberries.  There is a rather large licorice play, too, and some some tarry meat figures in - especially on the finish.  A singing telegram.

Pair it with as much beef as you like, but I think it would be wonderful with some duck, grilled chicken or even roasted potatoes and veggies.


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A New Zealand Sparkling Wine Goes Head-To-Head With The Big Names

While seeking out this tasting event, I was hijacked into another wine event at the same hotel, held at the same time.   It was a stroke of luck to encounter two good wine tasting events for the effort of one.  Also luckily, I made it from the restaurant up to the pool area at the Sunset Marquis to sample Kim Crawford Fizz, a Méthode Traditionelle sparkling wine produced in New Zealand's Malborough region.

The wine was poured blind alongside four other notable bottles of bubbly (Veuve Cliquot, Taittinger, Gosset and Schramsberg.).  Blind tasting not being one of my strong suits, I'll skip the gruesome details of how my investigation fizzed out and concentrate on the attributes of what turned out to be wine number three.

Kim Crawford Fizz Method Traditionelle is part of their Small Parcels range.  The sparkling wine is produced in the same way Champagne is made - méthode champenoise - but the folks from the Champagne region have successfully restricted use of that term only to wines produced in Champagne. So, elsewhere, it is known as the traditional method.

The wine is named after Felicity Nelson, Kim Crawford's winery host (pictured).  Her effervescent personality gave her the nickname "Fizz," and it's now on the label.

The winery's website describes the sourcing of the 60% Chardonnay and 40% Pinot Noir grapes and how they display themselves in the wine. "Chardonnay from the Castle Cliffs Vineyard in Marlborough's cool Awatere Valley provides elegance, minerality, and pure citrus flavors. The Brooklands and Hay Vineyards - in the heavy clay soils of Marlborough's Southern Valleys - provide depth, structure, and complexity for our Pinot Noir."

Bubbles are medium-sized and they dissipate quickly. The nose shows a toasty grapefruit, apple and tangerine aroma. The mouthfeel is dry and full, and the fruit is embedded in a yeasty framework with a long finish. It's a clean and refreshing quaff.


Images by Allison Levine

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Aromatic White Wines Of The Finger Lakes: Gewürztraminer

There are not many American wine regions that make me jealous that I don't live there, but New York's Finger Lakes region does.  I would love to be close enough to those long lakes gouged out by glaciers to visit every weekend - or every day, for that matter.  I live in Southern California, so I have no complaints - the Santa Barbara County wine country is my spiritual home.  Even so, I sometimes think I would trade my "sunny and 78" for scraping snow off my windshield - if the Finger Lakes were held in the balance.

The cool climate of this area means the wines generally have an acidity level that is best described in superlatives.  The fruit is sometimes overshadowed by the minerals, but that's OK with me.  the wines of the Finger Lakes are overall superior products, even though they are made just south of Lake Ontario.  If you are shopping around for great wines to place on the Thanksgiving table, the Finger Lakes region is a good place to start.

Billed as "North AmerIca's premier cool-climate winegrowing region," the winemakers of the Finger Lakes produce wines which are fresh, crisp, refreshing, relatively low in alcohol and given to having minerality to burn.

I was invited to join the Finger Lakes Wine Alliance Virtual Tasting series when aromatic white wines were the subject of the day.  White wines - particularly Rieslings - are the area's forte, and this selection featured a half dozen wines that showed off some of the other white grape varieties that succeed wildly in the Finger Lakes.  The wines were provided to me for promotional purposes.  You can check out the Twitter feed of comments that transpired during the event here.  Watch the event as it appeared on USTREAM here.

We will cover the three Gewürztraminers today, and in a later post, the Gruner Veltliner, Pinot Gris and Chardonnay.

Villa Bellangelo Finger Lakes Gewürztraminer 2012

Gentle warm breezes off Seneca Lake lengthen the growing season at Villa Bellangelo in Dundee, NY.  Winemaker Ian Barry is in his 17th vintage with the winery.  He says he got the 2012 Gewürztraminer a little riper than he did in the previous year.  This wine is all stainless steel, but they plan to produce Gewürztraminer  the same way they make Riesling beginning in 2013, with neutral oak barrels and stirring on the lees.

The 2012 Bellangelo Gewürztraminer is sourced from nearby Gibson Vineyard (91%) and Morris Vineyard (9%). 325 cases were made.  Alcohol is low at 12.9% and residual sugar nearly nonexistent, at only 1%.  It hits the "medium dry" mark on the sweetness scale and is bottled under a natural cork.

The wine shows a nice yellow-gold tint and gives a beautiful nose of flowers, pears and apricots.  On the palate, tangerines are laced with pear juice by persistent mineral notes.  The really fruity flavor has the citrus is in the forefront.  Nice acidity begs for food and a beautiful finish of citrus is marked with minerals.  One taster in the virtual event picked up an oily character, so it's fairly full in the mouth.

Barry suggests pairing it with green curry, spinach Alfredo pizza and, of course, your Thanksgiving feast.


Keuka Springs Vineyards Finger Lakes Gewürztraminer 2012

August Diemel makes the wine for Keuka Springs Vineyards, located in Penn Yan, NY, on the east side of Keuka Lake.  Their ten acres of grapes are home for nine white wine varieties.  Diemel thinks Riesling is the lead actor in the Finger Lakes, but cites Gewürztraminer as the big supporting player.  He says his Gewürztraminer is more like Chardonnay than Riesling, with Riesling's aromatics and the textural qualities of Chardonnay."

He had to harvest early to maintain the acidity in balance with the sugar.  "Our cool climate helps Gewürztraminer maintain its aromatics."  The grapes he used are not estate fruit, and as a Keuka Lake proponent, he refused to comment on the source.

The Keuka Springs Gewürztraminer is sweet, with 8% residual sugar and a moderate 13% abv.  It is bottled under a natural cork with a retail price of $22.  Diemel's suggested pairings for the Keuka Springs Gewürztraminer are grilled shrimp, asparagus or Thai food.  He also likes it as an aperitif.

The nose on the Keuka Springs Gewürztraminer is highly aromatic, showing dried apricots, honey and a whole floral arrangement.  The sweet palate is loaded with white nectarines,pears and a touch of tropical fruit.  Acidity is pretty good, even though the mouthfeel overall is nice and creamy.


Knapp Winery and Vineyard Finger Lakes Dry Gewürztraminer 2012

Sunset Hill Vineyard, where the Knapp Gewürztraminer is grown, is on the west side of Cayuga Lake in Romulus, NY.  It opened for business in 1984 and 32 of their 46 estate acres of grapevines are white wine grapes.  They also manage another vineyard to the north with another 14 acres of white wine grapes.  Winemaker Steve DiFrancesco has 33 harvests to his name, and he works closely with vineyard manager Chris King.

The Knapp Gewürztraminer is just off dry on the sweetness scale typically used to identify the relative sweetness of Rieslings, but it is just as worthwhile in this case.  An alcohol content of 12.5% makes it easy to drink, and the 2.2 residual sugar adds a nice festive touch.  56 cases were produced and it retails for $15.  It comes bottled under a synthetic cork.

With light straw coloring and a beautiful floral and lime nose, the wine shows flavors of pears, sweet satsuma and a little bit of spice.  It's very fruity with a nice and dry mouthfeel.  Good, crisp acidity makes it very fresh.  The finish is memorable, full of citrus and minerality.


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Rebel Wine: Bonny Doon Vineyards Contra 2011

2011 is the third vintage of Contra, an "old-vine field blend" of primarily Carignane, Mourvèdre and Zinfandel.  Bonny Doon's Randall Grahm writes that the grapes come from "the sandy, head-trained, dry-farmed vineyards of Oakley and Antioch in the Sacramento Delta of Contra Costa County."  This vintage is, as Grahm says, "a happy medium between the mineral-driven '09 and the riper '10."

The wine's name suggests not only the county in which the grapes were grown, but the Nicaraguan opposition forces funded by the US government.  I don't think Bonny Doon is being subsidized by the feds, but now that I'm thinking of it, Grahm's Twitter communication seemed to drop off after the guvmint shutdown.  For all I know, Carignane, Mourvèdre and Zinfandel could be code names for three old rebels still hiding out in the fields.  The couch-in-the-vineyard imagery on the wine's label suggests that one could get comfortable amongst those gnarly old vines, or at least in the presence of their fruit.

Grahm calls Contra one of the "straightforward and frank wines of yester- and future-year."  When I came across that nugget on the label it didn't sound the least bit unusual, possibly because of the spaceship hovering near the words.  I don't know what the future holds, but I sure get a sense of the past in this wine.

Contra is, specifically, 56% Carignane, 28% Mourvèdre, 9% Grenache, 6% Syrah and 1% Zinfandel.  Grahm calls it a "contrarian blend of old-fangled grape varieties from mostly older vineyards."  The varietal makeup certainly harkens back to California's gold rush era and the field blends of that day.  Although field blends are referenced here, it's not a true field blend, since the grapes were vinified separately.  2,256 cases were made, and it retails for an affordable $16.  Alcohol sits at a very respectable 13.5% abv.

Inky purple, Contra displays a dark and brooding nose full of currant, anise and all the dark fruit that's lying around.  It's wonderfully pungent and even a tad funky - I guess that's how they roll in the Contra Costa.  Sipping it shows a distinct mineral note running right through the middle of the blackberry, cassis and black licorice flavors.  Acidity is great, tannins are round and the wine goes down very smoothly with notes of cinnamon and allspice.  The finish is extraordinary - and extraordinarily long.

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Stepping Stone By Cornerstone Napa Valley Cabernet Franc 2010

Napa-based Cornerstone Cellars has a very good line of wines with "everyday" price points, the kind that allow the average wine lover to enjoy it whenever, not just on top-shelf special occasions.  The Stepping Stone line is produced each vintage from grapes grown in different vineyards - the better to keep the price affordable.  While the $35 retail isn't exactly destined for the bargain bin, the quality of the wine is definitely what you might call a bargain, or, more accurately, a value.  The 2010 Cabernet Franc joins their Cabernet Sauvignon at the top of the Stepping Stone price list.

Cornerstone partner Craig Camp writes, "Franc-ly speaking cabernet franc is a pain in the butt.  Hard to grow and tough to ripen just right.  Underripe gives you veggie stew and too ripe gives you concentrate of Welch's.  So why are we spending so much time on cabernet franc?"  He answers, "The truth of the matter is when you get cabernet franc just right it is nothing short of incredible. It is worth the effort."

Camp explains that Cabernet Franc grapes ripen late, and they like cooler sites which allow for lengthy ripening.  If the site is too hot, the sugar is too high; too cool and it's not sweet enough.  These Cabernet Franc grapes were harvested in early-to-mid October 2010.

In this effort, winemaker Jeff Keene works with fruit from Napa Valley's cooler southern AVA's like Carneros, Oak Knoll and Coombsville as well as cooler micro-climates in Oakville and St. Helena.
The wine is composed of 92% Cabernet Franc from Talcott Vineyard in St. Helena and Truchard Vineyard in Carneros along with 8% Merlot from Stewart Ranch Vineyard in Carneros.  Camp says the Merlot is used for "lift," a "brightness in aromatics and flavors."  It spent 18 months in French oak, half of which is new.  Alcohol kicks in at 14.6% abv.

The Stepping Stone Cabernet Franc has a deep, rich ruby tint and a dark nose of plummy fruit with an herbal, forest floor component and hint of black olives.  The fruit is just short of ripe, with a greenness that is simply delicious.  Great acidity and nice, firm tannins frame the succulent flavors in an experience I expect at much more than this wine's sticker price.


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Cimarone Gran Premio 2009

The warm east end of Santa Barbara County's Santa Ynez Valley - the Happy Canyon of Santa Barbara AVA - is recognized as a great place for growing Bordeaux grape varieties.  Cimarone Wines has a patch of an Italian variety there, of which they are fairly proud.

Cimarone's Gran Premio is made from 100% estate-grown Sangiovese grapes, a blend of two clones from Three Creek Vineyard in Happy Canyon.  I wrote here about the 2008 Gran Premio.

Like the '08, the 2009 vintage is vinified in barrique open top wood fermenters.  It hits 14.5% abv in alcohol and retails for $30.  195 cases were produced, each bottle numbered.  The '09 strikes me as much more fruit-driven than the previous vintage.  Cimarone advises that some age will definitely do good things to this wine.

Gran Premio is named to invoke the wild raciness of Italian Formula One drivers.  Doug Margerum was the winemaker, although Andrew Murray has stepped into that role at Cimarone.

Aromas of fresh plums and cherries jump from the glass carrying a little alcohol and a bit of tar.  Some tobacco and spice creep in, too, but it's really more about the fruit.  Speaking of, the palate is fruit forward.  That means ripe fruit forward.  It's a bushel basket of blackberry, plum, strawberry and cherry all mixed together.  A hint of smoky, tarry clove leads the charge of the spice brigade.

It may not be very Italian, but it's not meant to be.  The Cimarone Sangiovese grapes, like the Bordeaux varieties grown in Happy Canyon, wear their California hearts on their rolled-up Chambray sleeves.  Pair it with a Bolognese pasta if you like, but it will go just as well with steaks, chix and chops - as the sign on the steakhouse door used to say.



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Bonny Doon Muscat Vin de Glacière 2005

Besides being one of the all-around champion Rhone Rangers, Bonny Doon Vineyards’ president-for-life Randall Grahm dabbles in other grapes, too.  If Old McDonald had a vineyard, it would feature a Bordeaux here, a Spanish variety there, here a Rhone, there a Rhone, etc.  It would even feature some nice California Muscat.

I ran across this one, at large for several years among my belongings.  The Bonny Doon Muscat Vin de Glacière 2005 actually sports 98% Muscat Canelli, with a dash each of Muscat Giallo and Viognier.  The dessert wine only hits 11.5% abv, but the residual sugar is stratospheric at 17.2%.

Ice wine is typically produced, where nature allows, by harvesting frozen grapes and pressing them.  Frozen sugar melts faster than plain, ol’ ice, so you get those high RS levels needed for a dessert wine.

This VdG is produced from post-harvest grapes, but California wine makers need some help in the freezing department, as Grahm explains.  “Because we live in temperate California, we have to cheat a little when it comes to making ‘ice wine.’  …In as much as coastal California winters do not offer [a frozen] climate, we inter the grapes in a Castroville commercial freezer for a month of deep freeze.”  After that, the long pressing process begins, leading to a long fermentation.  Grahm says the fermentation for this wine went on for seven weeks before he felt the alcohol and sugar were in balance.

The wine looks almost like bourbon - just a tad lighter in color and intensity; copper rather than brown.  The nose is raisiny, with a good whiff of alcohol despite the low content.  A very good acidity exists on the palate, with flavors of apricot and apple meeting the loveliness of sugar.  Some orange peel and a caramel note are a true delight.  Fairly viscous, the wine leaves a trail along the sides of the glass.  A little brown sugar on the finish wraps up this holiday gift nicely.

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Santa Barbara Wine Country: Dierberg And Star Lane Vineyards

Santa Barbara County offers so many great areas for exploring wine, but I am drawn over and over to Highway 246 west of Buellton.  My most recent stop at the Dierberg/Star Lane tasting room revealed some outdoor tables which indicate they are expecting plenty of visitors.  That's not surprising, considering the quality of the wines they make.

Dierberg is in the Sta. Rita Hills AVA, while the Star Lane vineyards are in Happy Canyon of Santa Barbara, in the eastern part of the Santa Ynez Valley.  They pour both at the tasting room.  is it worth a visit?  The last time I was here, there was a gentleman tasting with me who was in Los Angeles for a seminar.  He bailed on his final meetings to drive up for a swig and buy a few cases.  The tasting cost $10

Star Lane Sauvignon Blanc Happy Canyon 2011  $22
Estate grown grapes, a grassy nose with tropical fruit and oranges.  Fresh, vibrant palate with tropical fruit and a great acidity level, belied by the very mellow mouthfeel.  Fermented 100% in steel, on the lees.  Excellent.

Dierberg Chardonnay Santa Maria Valley  $32
Estate grownfruit, oak fermented - 1/3 Hungarian, 2/3 French, 1/3 new - on the lees.  The nose shows smoky pears, while palate deals with similar fruit in a creamy context.

Dierberg Drum Canyon Pinot Noir, Santa Rita Hills 2010  $44
Estate grown and locked away for 16 months in new French oak.  The nose of red fruit and smoky coffee notes lead to a nice, light palate of spice and raspberry - not too tart, not too sweet.  Not an over-the-top California Pinot - the alcohol is a restrained 13% abv.  Excellent.

Dierberg Pinot Noir Santa Maria Valley 2009  $44
My server called this estate grown wine the "James Bond of Pinot - elegant and complicated."  The nose displays spicy dark fruit, while raspberry and strawberry appear on the palate. Great acidity.  A little more alcohol, but still light on its feet and dancing.

Star Lane Cabernet Sauvignon Happy Canyon 2008  $44
Estate grown, 18 months in oak, four years bottle aged.  Really interesting nose of spicy tobacco and incense.   Easy drinking Cab, with lots of spices and a great finish.

Star Lane Estate, Happy Canyon 2007  $44
All six of the varieties they produce in Happy Canyon are used in this wine.  54% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Cabernet Franc, 7% Merlot, 7% Syrah, 2% Petit Verdot and 1% Malbec.  The nose is full of big red fruit, with huge fruit and floral perfume on the palate.  Great acidity.

Star Lane Astral 2006  $80
A extra poured by my server, this top-shelf wine is made from 52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Cabernet Franc and 19% Petit Verdot.  It has the nose of a dessert wine, showing dried grapes. Nice spices and beautiful fruit on the palate. Very smooth.


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Craft Beer From Milwaukee: Lakefront ESB Ale

Man does not live by wine alone - just ask a winemaker.  They'll tell you how important beer is.  Today, a bit about a craft beer from a town known more for its big breweries, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  Lakefront Brewery proudly declares that their suds are "Brewed in Milwaukee for people who like beer."

A recent visit to Real Food Daily in Los Angeles put us in the belly of the organic beast.  Denise introduced me to the place years ago with the caveat, "Great food, just stay away from the bread products."  She is a person who knows her bread, so I took her word for it.  Everything else we have had there has been great - organic, healthy, vegetarian and tasty - even if seitan sounds more like something that wouldn't play with the Sunday School crowd.  Try the lentil pâté - it's to die for.

In keeping with the healthy surroundings, I scanned the organic wine list first, but was drawn to an organic beer, the Lakefront ESB Ale.  It cost $6 in a 12-ounce mug.

Lakefront bills this brew as "the country's oldest certified organic beer," made with organic malted barley and organic bravo hops.  It's a British-style ale - extra special bitter - and hits 5.8% abv on the alcohol meter.The beer pours up with a beautiful copper color and a light frothy head.  The nose is mainly citrus, owing to the hops, while the palate shows a great nutty character and has the bitter finish its initials promise.  Unlike organic bread, this organic beer fit the food perfectly and would serve very well on a shady porch after mowing the lawn or gardening.


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Bonny Doon Vineyard Querry Cider 2011

The Tasting Panel magazine says Heineken is betting on a revival of cider, with their Strongbow brand.  Bonny Doon Vineyards' Randall Grahm is apparently doing the same, with his Querry cider.

Querry is 58% Bartlett and Seckel pears, 33% apples (Pink Pearl, Macintosh, Pippin and crab apples) and 9% pineapple quince, along with some other unnamed quince.  Throw in some malic acid and sulfur dioxide and the Bonny Doon “tell-all ingredients” label is complete.This 2011 vintage clocks in with a beer-like alcohol content of 6.9% abv and retails for $14.  1,924 cases were made.

Grahm says he queried himself, “What might a blend of pear, apple and quince taste like naturally fermented (with indigenous yeast) ?”  Querry is the culmination of his quest to answer that question.  He thinks it's the “pungent, heady, dusky perfume of pear and earthy apple” that makes this quaff, but I like the quince in it.

Bone dry, the cider is naturally fermented with a second fermentation, as in sparkling wines.  It looks like apple juice with bubbles.  They dissipate quickly, leaving a huge nose of the aforementioned fruit.  For its small percentage, the quince makes a big play.

The palate is marked by a huge level of acidity.  Pears and apples show strongly in a beverage that drinks like a beer mixed with a fruity sparkling wine.  It is completely refreshing, and I wish I'd had some when I was mowing the lawn.  I wish I had a lawn, too, but let’s not quarrel.  Querry is festive, for sure.  If you like your sparklers on the fruity side, this would be a great choice.  Pair it with a cheese plate, serve it over the holidays, but don’t keep your guests in a quandary - display the bottle as a conversation starter.

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Troublemaker Non-Vintage Red

Some winemakers see trouble when they produce a non-vintage wine.  Vintage, after all, is a prime factor to which wine lovers look when determining the quality of a wine.  Perhaps more important in wines from French regions than in those from California's warmer locales, the vintage has become blurred in Hope Family Wines' Troublemaker red blend produced in Paso Robles.

The winery's website calls Troublemaker "a blend crafted from multiple varietals and vintages. The majority of wine comes from 2011 vintage, with a remaining portion coming from 2010.  By using a multi-vintage approach, winemaker Austin Hope allows the wine to show uncanny complexity in its youth, yet rich and fruit-forward characteristics that make it ready upon release."

The blend is 50% Syrah, 20% Grenache, 10% Mourvèdre, 10% Zinfandel and 10 % Petite Sirah, from California's expansive Central Coast appellation.  The wine kicks 14.5% on the alcohol meter and retails for $20.  I was provided a sample from a publicist.

The grapes involved bring forth the attributes for which they are known.  Troublemaker is a very dark-colored wine, with an extremely fragrant nose of black currant, blueberry, vanilla spice and cinnamon.  There is quite a show of Syrah, Zinfandel, Mourvèdre and Petite Syrah.  On the palate, a rich and ripe fruit display shows dark fruit in the form of plums and blackberries. Spicy with the nice acidity one would expect in a Grenache, and with firm tannins, the wine is smooth enough to provide enjoyment as a sipper while maintaining good structure to allow for pairing with some meaty dishes.

If you are looking for a nice, affordable red to put on the holiday table, this Troublemaker won't cause any trouble in that setting.


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Bonny Doon Syrah, Edna Valley, Jespersen Vineyard 2010

As the "original Rhône Ranger" in California, one might expect Bonny Doon Vineyards' Randall Grahm to present a Syrah that is something more than acceptable.  With his Jespersen Vineyard release, he keeps his streak of extraordinary Syrahs intact.

Jespersen Vineyard is a fairly new vineyard located close to the coast in the Edna Valley region of San Luis Obispo County.  Edna Valley is one of my favorite mineral-laden wine regions in California, and I know Grahm appreciates minerality in wine, wherever it comes from.

On the label, Grahm waxes jazzy poetic about the "coolth" of Jespersen Vineyard and of Edna Valley as a whole.  He likes the cool climate grapes there and the depth of the wines made from them.  He feels his 2010 Jespersen Vineyard Syrah shows the brilliance of cool climate grapes.

483 cases were made with a per-bottle price tag of $40, although the wine was produced primarily for the Bonny Doon wine club, DEWN.  Alcohol comes in as moderate at 12.7% abv.

The color of this Syrah is deep and dark.  The nose beckons from across the table - vast blueberry, blackberry and plum with an aroma at once minty and tarry draped over the fruit basket.  Big, dark fruit dominates the palate with a eucalyptus note often found in cool-climate Syrah.  The wine shows remarkable acidity, another touchstone for Grahm's wines.

Pair this one with anything meaty, beefy or gamy and you should be pleased.  Sip it and ruminate on it, and you will find pleasure in that, too.


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Wine Country Pennsylvania: Lakeview Cellars

For a state with as much winemaking heritage as you will find in Pennsylvania, they lag far behind most states in embracing laws favorable to wine consumers.  Things appear to be shifting there, but the movement is slow.  

While tasting wine from all parts of the US for the Now And Zin Wine Country series, I have had the opportunity to sample Pennsylvania wine several times.  Some has been good, while some has been merely tolerable.  The samples from Lakeview Cellars definitely fall into the "good" category.

Lakeview Cellars is a boutique Pennsylvania winery located just south of I-90 in the town of Northeast, PA, which is actually in northwest PA.  The directional aspect of the town's name describes its situation within Erie County.  The winery offers visitors some great views of Lake Erie and a pond shaped like a wine bottle - in addition to their wines, of course.  Owner and winemaker Sam Best sent two bottles of his very popular Shipwreck Series, a red and a white, for me to sample.

2011 Shipwreck Red

This Lake Erie red blend uses five grape varieties: Baco Noir, Cabernet Franc, Chambourcin, Cabernet Sauvignon and Noiret.  Cabernets Franc and Sauvignon you know.  The other three grapes are hybrids found mainly in the American northeast.  Baco Noir is a cross of the French vitis vinifera grape Folle Blanche and an unknown variety of vitis riparia indigenous to North America.  Chambourcin and Noiret are also hybrid grapes.

Best says, "The wine is finished with 1% residual sugar, and exhibits nice fruit forward and finishes with some oak tones."  Sure enough, it's a dry wine at 12.4% abv, fermented and aged in Pennsylvania white oak.  It sells for $17, when they have some to sell.  This vintage ran out in September this year, nine months after its release.

Medium-dark ruby in the glass, the nose is complex, with black plum and blackberry, a little cinnamon and allspice, cigar tobacco and even a bit of leather.  The sip reveals a beautiful, peppery raspberry delight.  It's a little bit Pinot, a little bit rock'n'roll.  The Baco Noir and Chambourcin grapes seem to shine the brightest.

Shipwreck White

Best says he aimed for crisp and semi sweet with the Shipwreck White.  He hit the mark well.  Notes of melon and citrus come through an earthy nose, while similar fruit adorns the palate.  It strikes me as having just a hint of sweetness, a little odd for a wine with 3.5% residual sugar.  Best explains, "We blended this wine to have a nice balance of fruits and acid and finish with a honeydew melon taste.  The wine was finished with 3.5% residual sugar, but because of the acid, it doesn’t come across as sweet."  

This blend of Riesling, Vignoles, Cayuga and Vidal retails for $14 and barely tips the alcohol meter at 12% abv.

The earthiness on the noise is amazing.  The way the minerals, sugar and acidity merge is equally stunning.  It goes great with almonds and a cheese plate, but it makes a great sipper, too.


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Santa Barbara Wine Country: Babcock Winery And Vineyards

One of the nice things about having an L.A. screenwriter as a friend is the fact that they can often drop whatever they happen to not be doing and run off to wine country for the day.  Denise and I picked up Guido and we hit the freeway for Santa Barbara County.

We had hit Los Olivos hard the last couple of visits, so we opted for a change of pace in the Sta. Rita Hills.  At Babcock Winery, we had the Royale Tasting Flight for ten bucks.

Bryan Babcock makes wine from the grapes grown on the property his father bought in the 1970s.  It was just supposed to be a hobby, but the younger Babcock left his path of higher education to make it a career.
He is not only still making wine, he’s changing the way it’s made.  Babcock has come up with a new way of trellising his vines which has lowered his farming costs.  He also has developed a clone of Pinot Noir.  You can read about both of those developments in Santa Barbara’s Independent.

The Babcock tasting room is part wine bar, part accessory shop.  The big barn door and concrete floor give the feel of a garage.  Tables and merchandise are scattered along the way to the back, where the bar is located.

Identity Crisis Syrah 2011  $12

This interesting blend of 85% Santa Ynez Valley Syrah from Estelle Vineyard, 14.5% Cabernet Sauvignon from the same place and a smidge of Pinot Gris from the Sta. Rita Hills estate.  It’s an unusual blend for a white wine - rather a rosé or blush, actually - white Syrah? - but much more complex than those terms might indicate.  The nose shows herbal strawberry while the palate has a great acidity level and mineral profile.  The wine goes through full malolactic fermentation, which gives it such a creamy feel that I asked about the oak treatment.  There is none, though - 100% steel.  There’s no maceration at all, either, which accounts for the hint of color.

Chardonnay Santa Barbara County 2011  $25

This easy-drinking, easy-priced Chardonnay is labeled as SBC, although the grapes come from two vineyards in SBC - Babcock estate and Radian - and one in the Santa Lucia Highlands in Monterey County.  The wine is 100% stainless steel.  Again, however, I was tricked.  I felt sure I got some oak on the nose and a touch on the palate.  All the butter and vanilla that join the pears and apples make it hard to believe there’s no oak.  Again, we have full malolactic fermentation to thank.  The wine has a great weight.

Sauvignon Blanc 2012  $25

This wine is made of 100% homegrown estate grapes.  There is a touch of grassiness, but it’s the lime zest and pear that steal the show.  The palate is clean and full of citrus, with an easy acidity.  No oak here, and no malolactic fermentation, either.  Babcock says he picked the grapes very ripe to avoid herbaceousness - which accounts for the alcohol level of 14.8% abv.  The wine is very fresh and has an old world feel to it.

Red Table Wine  $9

This surprisingly good bargain wine is a non-vintage blend of “eight or nine varieties,” according to my server.  There’s a very nice funk to the nose, with a mouthful of cherry and red currant.  Really nice acidity, too.

Pinot Noir Santa Barbara County 2011  $25

It is Pinot Noir for which the Sta. Rita Hills are known, and this Pinot is all SRH - 67% from The Yard and 33% estate fruit.  The wine sees 16 months in neutral French oak, with an oak “tea bag” used during fermentation.  A nice floral nose leads to ripe berries and cherries on the palate.

Cabernet Sauvignon Classic Rock 2010  $16

The rock referenced in the name isn’t music.  The moniker is inspired by the brilliantly colored stones found in the vineyards of the Santa Ynez Valley.  From that region’s Estelle Vineyard come the grapes for this 100% Cabernet Sauvignon.  The nose is really funky, almost oddly so, and bright red fruit mingles with an oaky note on the palate.


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White Wine - Because There Is Always A Warm Beach Somewhere

Recently we wrote about some South African wines, and now - before the Northern Hemisphere sun grows too faint to warm us, let's try the beach house Sauvignon Blanc.  It is actually a blend of 85% Sauvignon Blanc and 15% Semillon grapes from South Africa's Western Cape, clocking in at 12% abv and retailing for $10.

Made by Douglas Green, one of South Africa's largest independent wine producers, the beach house has a presence in 80 countries and is imported in the US by Pacific Highway Wines and Spirits.  It is labeled as "perfect for sitting out in the sun, on the porch or even better... on the beach."  Even if the season in your hemisphere does not cooperate, it's perfectly fine to enjoy this wine indoors.

Pale straw yellow in the glass, the wine's nose is full of bright citrus and minerals.  There is hardly a blade of grass to be found.  On the palate, grapefruit, Mandarin orange and lime peel dominate in a fruity and easy-to-drink setting that also includes a fairly strident acidity.  There is just a hint of that South African terroir - it is really a refreshing and fruit-forward wine.

Pair it with grilled calamari - the more charred the better, salads and Feta cheese.  It's even good with sausage and peppers.

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Texas Tempranillo: Llano Estacado Winery

We have visited this west Texas winery in the Now And Zin Wine Country series before.

Recapping for those who don't like clicking into the past, Texas played a big role in helping the Europeans recover from the 19th-century phylloxera epidemic.  Horticulturist Thomas Munson used rootstock from wild Texas Mustang grapevines to give French grape growers a way to rebound.  The French government honored him for his effort.  Too bad the French couldn't have helped us out on that Prohibition thing, which killed off the wine biz in Texas and most other states.

Llano Estacado Winery, in Lubbock, Texas, is one of the first modern day Texas wineries to pop up some forty years after Prohibition was repealed.  It’s located in the Texas High Plains AVA, one of eight American Viticultural Areas under the Lone Star.

In the eighties, President Reagan served Llano Estacado wine at the White House.  In the nineties, they served their wine to Queen Elizabeth when she visited Texas.  In 2005, Llano Estacado was served at President Bush's Inaugural Ball.  They must be doing something right.

Created from select small batches of wine, the 2011 Llano Estacado Cellar Reserve Tempranillo shows alcohol at just 12.5% abv and represents the Texas High Plains AVA very well.  The blend features Tempranillo grapes from Newsom Vineyard in Plains, TX and Reddy Vineyard in Brownfield.  There is some Merlot in there, too, also from Newsom.  It retails for $20.  I was provided a sample for review.

The wine is very dark - nearly see-through - and the bouquet is as fragrant as can be.  Blackberries and blueberries hold their own amid a nose full of tobacco, nutmeg and white pepper.  As I have found with Texas Tempranillo before, it smells like Rioja to me.  The palate is spicy, too, and has a farmers market full of dark fruit playing into a minty note that borders on eucalyptus.  Some very bright acidity rounds out a sip that can be described as very enjoyable.  The tannins are extremely smooth, but pairing with beef is perfectly alright.  It's good with goat cheese, too.

I don't think Llano Estacado markets the wine like this, but I think it would be great during the holiday season.  I always like a wine with a strong profile of spices for the holidays.  Of course, you don't have to wait.

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