A Rosé From Rioja

The Vivanco dream began, says their website, 100 years ago when Pedro Vivanco González started a four-generation - and counting - business. Today Santiago Vivanco leads the business side and and Rafael Vivanco Sáenz makes the wine. The winery is where it has always been, in the La Rioja Alta town of Briones.

This beautiful rosé wine is made from sustainably-farmed estate grapes, 80% Tempranillo and 20% Garnacha.  The wine is produced in the Sangrado method, which means the juice was captured free-run from the grapes.  The 2016 vintage was a hot one in Briones, with high temperature readings every day and very little rain.  This led to a harvest of concentrated grapes.  The wine has an alcohol level of 13.5% abv and retails for about $15.  The label indicates that the bottle design was inspired by one that's on display at the Vivanco Museum of the Culture of Wine.

The Vivanco Tempranillo Garnacha Rosé Rioja 2016 has a lovely rosado color, a deep and rich pink.  The nose is big and bright, full of beautiful red fruit - cherries, strawberries, raspberries - just as fresh as can be.  A hint of herbs drifts over but can't diminish the ripeness.  The palate is just as fruity, and the mouthfeel is zippy and tingly.  The acidity is refreshing and ready for a tuna salad or even something off the grill.


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French Things

A Great Oregon Pinot Noir

This winery is named for the Oregon Trail, which rewarded 19th century explorers with the fertile land of the Willamette Valley.  The valley was under 400 feet of water a much earlier point in history, with volcanic soil and marine deposits carried to it over time.  The winery promises ripe fruit and minimal intervention in the cellar with their Pinot Noir.

The 2016 Oregon Trail Wine Company Pinot Noir carries alcohol at 13.2% abv and sells for about $20, pretty reasonable for a good Pinot - very reasonable for a great one.  You'll hear the word "Burgundian" tossed about a bit when Oregon Pinot Noir is talked about, and this wine is a good example of why.

The wine is medium dark in the glass with a gorgeous nose of smoky, red fruit.  Bright cherries have the shade of earth thrown over them with an overlay of sage. In the mouth, tannins are firm and acidity is great and the palate is ripe and a bit savory.  It's a bold wine, but the brawn is kept in check.  At no time did I think I might possibly be drinking a Syrah.  It's a middleweight, right where Pinot ought to be.

There's wine from all 50 states.

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Serious Sauv Blanc From Monterey County

The Arroyo Seco AVA is centered around Monterey County's Arroyo Seco River, a seasonal waterway that brings rain and snowmelt from the Santa Lucia Mountains to the Salinas River.  Commercial grape growing started there in 1961 and has grown to some 7,000 acres under vine.  The region is about 40 miles away from the deep waters of Monterey Bay and parts of it get direct exposure to the Pacific Ocean through the Salinas Valley. 

The 2016 MuirWood Sauvignon Blanc grapes were grown in their Suter Vineyard estate plot in the Arroyo Seco Canyon.  They are the Musqué clone of the variety, and as such offer more aromatics, typically with a lean to fruit, away from the vegetal aspect for which the grape is known.  Surprises abound, though.

The wine hits 13.9% abv on the alcohol meter and sells for about $15.

The nose this wine offers is unlike any I've experienced with Sauvignon Blanc, even of the Musqué variety.  There are apple notes and flower aromas, but an overriding smokiness - muskiness? - lends a savory effect.  The acidity is zippy but not mind-blowing, and the weight is medium full, like a Chardonnay.  It's an extremely satisfying drink, and one of the more impressive of the variety that I've tasted.  Sauvignon Blanc generally means spring to me, but this would be great next to a Thanksgiving ham.


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Minerals In Wine

Pink Wine In A Moose Can

Randall Grahm's Bonny Doon Vineyard is a serious wine company.  He's a serious winemaker who makes serious wines.  His sense of humor, though, is not that of a dour, soulless number cruncher.  I get the feeling he's had to do a lot more of that kind of work in his career than he'd like, but he doesn’t let it bring him doon.

Grahm is now making a pink, fizzy wine that comes in a can, La Bulle-Moose de Cigare.  He describes the Bulle-Moose as "pretty darn similar to our Vin Gris de Cigare, apart from the fact that it has been carbonated and put up in cans with a slightly goofy label."  It does look goofy, but the wine inside is seriously good.

The press material for this wine includes a reworked version of the "UFOs in the vineyards" tale that was embraced by Grahm years ago for his line of Cigare wines.  It's also on the can.  Grahm admits that his canned, fizzy pink wine is a bit of a stretch for him -- he’s used to much more serious "vins de terroir."  He says it's his tip of the hat to the realized fact that he's going to need some millennials hoisting his creations if the lights are to stay on at "chez doon."

Six Central Coast grape varieties made their way into these stylish cans, 57% Grenache, 18% Grenache Blanc, 9% Mourvèdre, 6% Roussanne, 5% Carignane and 5% Cinsault.  That’s quite a Rhônish roundup.  It was fermented in stainless steel, on the lees, stirred quite a bit and carbonated before bottling, er - canning.  Alcohol is light enough for a picnic or outdoor festival at 13% abv and the wine retails for $8 a can, which contains a half bottle.

The wine -- from a can -- pours up frothy, retreating quickly to a nice frizzante status.  The nose is beautiful and worthy of a picnic.  Bright, fresh strawberry and cherry aromas dominate, with a touch of sage and earth.  The flavors are ripe and sweet, with an earthy touch befitting a good rosé.  Acidity is perfect, great for food pairing as well as sipping.  The winemaker suggests you serve it very cold, and that will make it a great summertime wine. 

Grahm puts tongue in cheek to recommend La Bulle-Moose de Cigare be paired with moossaka, moozarella crostini, moosseline de poisson, tarte au pamplemoose and chocolate moose. 


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Cheap Vs Expensive Wine

Sonoma Cabernet

A virtual wine tasting event was staged recently for Smith Story Wine Cellars.  "Virtual tasting" is when a bunch of wine writers/tasters get together on social media and spend an hour or so letting technology link us with great people and wines.  There are far worse ways to spend an hour.

This BrandLive event was put on by Charles Communications and can be viewed in retrospect here.

2015 Pickberry Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 

The winery says 2015 was an exceptional vintage for the Sonoma Mountain fruit.  "The 2015 drought played a role.  The high temperatures in August and early September accelerated maturity and picking times resulting in lively acidity, moderate to low alcohol and intense aromatics."

The wine was aged in neutral Bordeaux barrels for 21 months and it hits 14.2% abv.  The retail price is $60, and it's that special.  Only 300 cases were made.  Virtual tasters liked the tart fruit and spiciness of this one.  They also complimented its nose of roses, licorice, black pepper and eucalyptus.

This Cab is very dark and offers up a beautiful nose of cassis, vanilla and sweet oak.  There's a very slight herbal tinge and suggestion of smoke.  The palate shows blackberry, blueberry and a bit of bramble.  The tannins are quite firm and will no doubt mature in years to come.  As it is, it's a wonderful wine that's ready for a grilled steak or portobello mushroom.


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Washington Chardonnay

From Washington's Columbia Valley, the 2015 Pacific Crest Centennial Trail Chardonnay is named after the 2600-mile route that crosses some excellent wine regions as it winds its way across the western U.S.  The Chardonnay grapes for this wine grow in sandy loam on vines planted in 1981.

2015 was a warm Washington vintage, with riper fruit resulting from the sunshine.  Winemaker Linda Trotta fermented the juice in steel and oak, and the barrels got an extra four months work aging the wine.

The alcohol hits 13.2% abv and the wine sells for $17, very reasonable considering the quality.

The wine sits pale yellow-green in the glass and smells of tropical fruit with quite a buttery overlay.  The oak treatment rests in that place that's maybe a skosh too much, but a lot of people like it there.  What saves the day is the ripeness of the fruit and the raciness of the acidity.  Both come in heaping helpings.  Papaya, guava, banana and pineapple all take a turn on the taste buds.  The mouthfeel is full and the finish takes a long time.


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Do You Prefer A Hard-To-Pronounce Wine?

From the vaults, about six years back.

Cornerstone's Howell Mountain Cabernet

The wines of Cornerstone Cellars have been around for nearly three decades, and the company has seen its share of change through the years.  One thing that appears to have stayed the same is their commitment to crafting excellent Cabernet Sauvignon wines in Napa Valley.  The recently added winemakers in Yountville, Charles Thomas and Kari Auringer, are guiding the good ship Cabernet now at Cornerstone.  Thomas has a 30 year track record in the Napa Valley, and Auringer is in her second go-round with the winery.

They only made a hundred cases of this $100 wine, and it proved to be very popular.  The website says the 2014 Howell Mountain Cab "sold out quickly at the winery."  Unavailable for the moment, Cornerstone says a "limited vertical release of 2013, 2014 and 2015 will be available in November 2018."  Get in line.  Alcohol hits 14.6% abv.

This wine is medium dark, dark at its core.  Aromas of rich blackberries and cassis come blasting forward, with tobacco, smoke and anise in tow.  There's a hint of something herbal - possibly eucalyptus? - poking through lightly.  A medium heft in the mouth is joined by firm tannins and a racy acidity.  It has a really clean palate, with dark berry and plum flavors not trod on too heavily by oak.


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Coffee Wine

Wine Trio From Southeast Texas

Texas wine is becoming more and more noteworthy all the time, but the vineyards are largely in the drier expanses of the central and western parts of the state.  The climate in Southeast Texas, from whence yours truly came, is not hospitable for growing wine grapes.  However, Bruno and George Winery in Sour Lake, Texas steadfastly keeps the wine lights burning in that part of the Lone Star State.

Shawn Bruno is a very outgoing former actor and former football star at the high school I attended a few years before him.  The school is now just a memory, a victim of consolidation, but it was named after a well-known wine lover, Thomas Jefferson.  Bruno makes wines from fruit other than grapes, mostly.  I received a trio of his wines from my family this year as a birthday gift.

Padrino Moscato
This wine is dedicated to patriarch Roy Bruno, winemaker Shawn's dad.  It clocks low alcohol at 9% abv and sits pleasingly pale in the glass.  The nose comes with an earthy bouquet and a side of white flowers, while the palate is mildly sweet with very little acidity.  It's more of a sipper than food friendly, but it’s a nice sipper.  I'd be tempted to call it a white Muscadine, only less earthy.

Candlelight Strawberry Wine
A pretty, pink blush, this one is easy on alcohol - 12% abv - and long on the fruit from which it is made.  Expect an earthy note to carry the sweetness along.  It also features more flavor than acidity, making it useful for cooling off during the long, hot, Southeast Texas summers.

Yellow Jacket Raspberry Wine
Named for the old TJ mascot, this wine has the red tint of a deep rosato, and a musky raspberry nose.  The palate is just as earthy.  A little bit of acidity plays in, but don't expect it to carry a rib eye. Again, easy alcohol at 12% abv.

New Orleans Drinking

In search of classic New Orleans cocktails on a recent trip to the Crescent City, I happened into the beautiful Roosevelt Hotel Sazerac Bar.  Expansive and done up in as much art deco as they could get their hands on, the bar is worthy of being included on a visitor's itinerary.

Having already had a Sazerac at another French Quarter watering hole, I decided to go with what the bar describes as a New Orleans classic on its own, the Ramos Gin Fizz.  Sweet and frothy with egg whites,  the making of the drink allows the bartender to put on quite a show, shaking heavily and dripping the concoction into a tall glass from on high.  The term "don't try this at home" does not apply, but you’ll likely need to bolster your bar first.

All ingredients except the soda - gin, lemon juice, lime juice, egg white, sugar, cream and orange flower water - are poured into a mixing glass and shaken with no ice for two minutes.  Then, ice is added and shaken hard for another minute.  Think of it as an aerobics session for lushes.  Then, strain it into a Collins glass and top with soda.  Easy, right?

They say it's the orange flower water and the egg whites that turn a regular gin fizz on its head and make it an entirely new beverage.  The cocktail was reportedly created by Henry C. Ramos in 1888 at his Imperial Cabinet Saloon on Gravier Street.  Back in the day it's said to have taken 12 minutes to make one, so a whole crew of 20 or more bartenders had to be on duty during peak hours just to shake it.

The Roosevelt made the drink popular, and former Governor Huey P. Long liked it so much, they say he brought one of the hotel's bartenders to New York to teach another hotel's staff how to make it.  Then the governor could enjoy it when was doing business in the Big Apple.  The Roosevelt Hotel owns the trademark to the name, Ramos Gin Fizz.

Punch offers a scaled-down two-minute version of the Ramos Gin Fizz, if you're in a hurry to get your fizz on.


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Wine With Food

An "encore presentation" from about 6 years back.

Bayou Brew

In Arnaudville, Louisiana, Bayou Teche Brewing has a raft of different beers, some with catchy names like Cinco de Bayou and Swamp Thing.  The website says that their LA 31 Bierre Pale Ale is designed to go with "red beans and rice. Chicken and sausage jambalaya. Boiled crawfish, crawfish bisque and crawfish étouffée."  Pretty much everything Cajun and Creole, in other words.

They talk about the beer combining "Belgian-style malts and an ample blend of East Kent Golding and Mosaic hops. It's a bronze-colored pour with a biscuit malt center, fruity, earthy, and citrusy hop flavors and a gentle bitterness."

LA 31 Biere Pale Ale is named after state highway 31, which meanders nearly 55 miles between New Iberia and Opelousas in the swamps of southern Louisiana east of Lafayette.

The beer has a medium weight and is kinda bitter, offering a good dose of hops balanced with barley.  It's a good food beer and went perfectly well with a pizza from Domenica on Baronne Street in the New Orleans' Roosevelt Hotel.


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Wine With Movies: "All The King's Men"

From the Blood of the Vines series of movie and wine pairings I did about 6 years ago with TrailersFromHell.com.  Fun stuff.  It fits well with this week's Louisiana theme.

Louisiana Wine

As the list of American wines I've sampled has grown larger, those remaining to be tried have proven to be hard to corral.  Louisiana is one of the states that has been quite elusive due to a dearth of wineries and shipping restrictions.  However, I managed to find Louisiana wine on a recent trip to New Orleans.  But, just barely.

With only a small handful of wineries in the state, some using California grapes or other types of fruit from Florida, it's a bit difficult to find true Louisiana wines.  I had hoped to try a Blanc du Bois wine, made from a grape that does well in Louisiana's hot, humid climate, but it stayed out of reach.  The state is included in the Mississippi Delta AVA, but most of the grapes grown in that region are Muscadine.

My chance to sample didn't come from Brennan’s restaurant, where they make a sauce from a Landry Vineyards blueberry wine.  They wouldn't pour that wine and couldn't tell me that it was made from Louisiana-grown berries, so it's likely that it wasn't.  Landry does make an array of wines using Louisiana-grown Blanc du Bois grapes.

My break came at NOLA Tropical Winery, a tasting room in the mall at the end of the New Orleans Riverwalk.  I was told their extensive line of fruit wines are made with out-of-state berries and such, but they do carry some genuine Louisiana-grown grape wines, as well as Louisiana wines made from Muscadine grapes and a Port-style fig wine.  They offer free tastings, by the way.

That's actually a really nice Port-style wine from Pontchartrain Vineyards.  It's made from figs that I was told are grown in-state.  It smells good and Port-ly and tastes, well, figgy.   A nice finish lasts a good while. Tasty and fun.

The two wines made from Louisiana Muscadine grapes are better than that type that I’ve had before. They come from Amato's Winery in the town of Independence, a bit north of NOLA.  Still earthy quaffs, they have a little less of that foxiness found in some North American grapes.  I don't care for the flavor on Muscadine, but the wines are well made.  Muscadine vines are resistant to the diseases of humidity, which makes them useful in the south.  They are wines I would recommend only to the adventurous, or those who are familiar with the style.

I was told that even their fruit wines are made with berries sourced out-of-state.  They do, however, have some wines made by Pontchartrain Vineyards.


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The Earth Of Spain, With Bubbles

Vilarnau is a cava House located outside Barcelona.  I understand they date back to the 1940s, although their parent company goes back much further.  Manuel María González Ángel founded his sherry winery in 1835, then joined up with his English agent Robert Blake Byass.  Gonzalez Byass continues today under the descendents of Señor González.  They sell a large variety of wines, like the cavas of Vilarnau.  The wines are crafted by winemakers Damià Deàs and Eva Plazas.

This bottling is the winery's Trencadis Edition.  "Trencadis" is a style of mosaic art that utilizes small fragments of glassware.  You see the style emulated in the wrapper that covers the bottle, the avant-garde design of Antoni Gaudi

This delightful Vilarnau Brut Reserva non-vintage cava is made from  50% Macabeo grapes, 35% Parellada and 15% Xarel-lo.  Wine Enthusiast says you can say "zuh-REL-o" and not embarrass yourself too much.  The trio of Spanish grapes are typically used to make the sparkling treat.  The bubbly is aged from 15 months to two years in the bottle.  Alcohol tips in at a low, low 11.5% abv and it sells for $15.

The bubbles disappear quickly, but they're a blast for the short time they hang around.  Once they go away, the yeasty nose comes on strong and brings tons of citrus and minerals with it.  The mouth is full and dry, with earth and Meyer lemon to flavor the palate.  There are minerals aplenty.  Yeast and dirt linger on the finish for a long time.

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Booze Study Compromised?

Sicilian Nero D'Avola Wine

From the hillsides around Marsala comes a wine that makes me think of a California Pinot Noir, only, you know, Italian.  The Villa Pozzi Nero d'Avola is sold under a corporate umbrella - Deutsch Family - but made by a guy with wine for blood.

Wine goes back a ways in Sicily, about 1500 years.  Wine also runs in the Pozzi family.  Owner and winemaker Daniele Pozzi runs it back to his great-grandfather Angelo, and his grandfather Fausto, and his dad Val. 

Nero d'Avola is a grape variety that’s indigenous to Siciliy. It's known as "the king of Sicilian grapes," in fact.  Pozzi hails the 2016 vintage as a great one, with near-perfect growing conditions that produced what he calls his best-ever Nero d'Avola.  The deep color in this wine comes after a full 15 days of contact with the skins.  The rich flavor is all thanks to the Nero d'Avola grapes - the wine is finished in stainless steel, not oak, so the fruit is given full expression.  The wine hits a reasonable 13% abv and, incredibly, sells online for under ten bucks.

This wine is dark in color and smells of black fruit, earth and tar.  There's a tartness on the palate that is more reminiscent of Pinot Noir, but with the weight of Syrah.  Blackberries, plums and pepper are in the forefront, with the tart darkness lingering after the sip.  The tannins are easy-going.


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Mexican Master Of Wine

Big Sur Gin, Big Flavor Martini

Stirred, not shaken.  As so often happens in the movies, James Bond got it wrong when he directed bartenders to shake his martini.  That tends to bruise the gin, aerating it too much and giving it a more biting flavor.  There are a lot of scientific details, but I just took their word for it.

San Diego County's Calwise Spirits Company says their Big Sur Gin is distilled from grapes and wild native herbs.  The label brags that you can "taste Big Sur without licking plants," which is probably a good thing on both counts.  The spirit is crafted using juniper, sage, bay, fennel, elderberry, yerba santa, lavender, lemon, so there's a lot of good stuff in that bottle from Spring Valley.  The gin comes at 80 proof and sells at Whole Foods for around 30 bucks.  Calwise also makes two rums, spiced and blonde.

Dolin Vermouth de Chambéry is dry, not sweet, made from a wine base with plants, alpine herbs and spices included.  For a martini, they suggest equal parts Dolin Dry and gin. Yeah, right.  I make mine at a three to one ratio.

I like a dirty martini, which means a bit of olive juice tossed into the mix before stirring.  I’m currently using Dirty Sue, a twice-filtered brine.  I'm also using a dash of Peychaud's bitters.  It hails from New Orleans, so I'm all set to make a sazerac if I want.

Together, Big Sur Gin and Dolin make a distinctly aromatic martini.  Pine notes and citrus on the nose, and a bit of a kick on the palate.  The juniper comes on stronger than in most gins and the herbal element is huge with fennel.  It's an outdoorsy flavor.  Spicy may be a good word for it.  This gin does not try to hide its attributes.  It definitely makes a martini on which a wine lover can ruminate.


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Sparkling Wine Science

Grounded Wine Company Steady State Red

Napa Valley winemaker Josh Phelps grew up literally among the vines.  He was raised in the wine business and surprised no one when he excelled at it as his own career.

Phelps' Grounded Wine Company, he notes, is "grounded in heritage, grounded in soil, grounded in simplicity."  The winery's mission is to "create wines that evoke a sense of place."  After all, that's what wine is all about.  Phelps says his wine system is in "steady state" and can be expected to continue that way into the future.

The Steady State Red Wine Napa Valley 2015 is a Bordeaux-style blend made with 73% Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, 8% Malbec, 7% Cabernet Franc, 6% Merlot and 6% Petit Verdot.  Alcohol hits a predictable 14.5% abv  and the wine sells for $65.

Steady State is very dark and smells that way.  Black berries, currant, anise and a trace of tar on the nose paint it, black.  The palate is fruity but serious, with a savory stripe cutting through the middle just barely on the tart side.  Acidity is bright and the tannins are moderate, so it's drinkable as well as pairable.


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Three Wine Lies

Spumante Surprise

If you are anything like me - God help ya - you may be a tad surprised to hear the name Santa Margherita and not hear Pinot Grigio immediately afterward.  I was not so surprised to find the Italian winery making other wine styles.  Their Chianti is on the shelf at the supermarket, too.  There's a marketing push behind the company's sparkling rosé, as I was supplied with a sample.  So, you might expect to see it in the wine aisle soon, too. 

Santa Margherita's vineyards originated eight decades ago in the Veneto region.  Now they also raise grapes in Alto Adige and Tuscany. 

Santa Margherita Vino Spumante Rosé

The Santa Margherita Vino Spumante Rosé hits only 11.5% abv and sells for around 20 bucks.  It's an interesting rosé, because it's not made by limiting the skin contact to get pink.  It's made by blending white grapes with white.  The mix is 55% Chardonnay and 40% Glera grapes with a 5% splash of Malbec.  The grapes came from a hilly area of Treviso and an Eastern area in Veneto - the far northwestern corner of Italy.

This wine has frothy bubbles that disappear in an instant.  The nose comes on like a basket of cherries and strawberries, with a strong earthy streak through the middle of it.  It's dry on the palate with a tingly fruit presence and a nice acidity that will pair well with food.  The earthiness lingers on the finish.  If you drink Prosecco for your bubbly fun, you should try this lovely pink sparkler.


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Fresh And Grassy: NZ Sauvignon Blanc

Wines often seem to be named after someone, or something, and here's another one,  The Catalina Sounds Sauvignon Blanc is the namesake of the WWII warbird PBY-5A Catalina amphibious flying boat.  There's reportedly only one left in the Southern Hemisphere, and there's a group dedicated to its preservation.  This wine draws attention to it as well.

The 2016 vintage, sourced from Marlborough's southern valleys, is winemaker Peter Jackson's attempt to make a wine that shows the best of the sites from which it comes.

It’s 100% Marlborough, with about 50% of the grapes taken from the winery's own Sound of White Vineyard in the Waihopai Valley.  The balance came from other well-loved grower blocks in Fairhall, Rapaura and Spring Creek.

Vinified in steel, the Catalina Sounds SauvBlanc hits only 13% abv and it sells online for about 14 bucks.

This is an amazingly fresh wine, with enough grassy aromas to qualify as a bona fide New Zealand SauvBlanc and set it apart from those of California or the Loire Valley.  In addition to the herbal notes, there's a boatload of citrus and wet rocks.  In the mouth, the acidity zips, but doesn't rip.  Lemons, orange zest, and a bit of lime combine for a mineral-laden trip down Sauvignon Lane.  The wine goes down easily, but offers enough acidity to make it food friendly.

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Swirling Wine

Lodi Old Vine Zinfandel

Old vines are appreciated the most in Zinfandel vineyards.  California's heritage grape has been growing nonstop in Lodi for more than a century, and the older the vines are, the more character the wine has. It's what makes Zinfandel a popular favorite in the Golden State.  Besides, how you gonna keep 'em drinking Merlot once they've had a taste of old vine Zin?

A recent virtual tasting of old vine Zinfandel wines from the Lodi region featured three people who are delightfully nerdy (watch) and incredibly passionate about their Zinfandel.  The online session was held on National Zinfandel Day and led by Stuart Spencer, of St. Amant Winery and the Lodi Winegrape Association.  He was joined by Kyle Lerner of Harney Lane Winery and Kevin Phillips of Michael-David Vineyards.  They focus on Zinfandel with a love not just of the grapes and the wine, but of the character and history of the vineyards and those who planted them so long ago.

The vines for the Fields Family Old Vine Zin are from the 1920s and '40s eras, and are overseen by the Leon Perlegos family in the Stampede Vineyard, Clements Hills AVA.  Winemaker Ryan Sherman says, "We don't shoot for any specific percent level, it is what it is from year-to-year.  Welcome to the prettier side of Zin." 

The wine was aged in neutral oak barrels, unfined and unfiltered, and went through native fermentation under the Lodi protocol.  Only 100 cases were made at 14.3% abv and it sells for $28, a great price for a wine of this quality. 

The 2014 Fields Family Old Vine Zinfandel is a medium-dark wine with a nose that knocks me over.  There’s black fruit, there's tar, there’s savory smoke and licorice.  Quite complex.  The medium mouthfeel carries a lovely acidity and firm tannins.  Flavors of ripe cherry and raspberry jump out in a fruit-forward expression that welcomes more savory notes of leather and cigars later in the sip.  It might be a little light for pairing with the heaviest beef, but I'd love it with a strip steak and fries.


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Rich Folks' Wine

A Good Night For Port

"It’s a good night for Port," my wife said.  The brutal Southern California winter had its teeth in us, with the overnight low expected to drop UNDER 60 DEGREES.  God help us, we have Port and will hopefully wake up tomorrow.  "Port weather" really doesn't happen in Los Angeles, so you have to jump in there when you get the slightest chance.

Charles Dickens let Ebeneezer Scrooge's nephew Fred describe Port to Bob Cratchit: "It's wine, Bob.  A cheery, warming, goodly wine.  A wine that'll race through your veins with little torches.  It's port, Bob.  The fifth essence of the Christmas spirit."

Quinta de la Rosa has been in the Bergqvist family since 1906, but they were Port shippers well before that.  The vineyards cover 55 hectares of the slopes above the Douro River, and winemaker Jorge Moreira works with grapes that have been foot trodden.

Of the many different styles of Port, ruby is the cheapest and most plentiful.  After fermentation, it is stored in concrete or stainless steel tanks, and usually blended from different years to match the house style.  Ruby is between two and five years old.  The folks at La Rosa say their Ports "tend to be slightly drier than the norm and are made from A class grapes."

The de la Rosa Ruby Reserve Lote No. 601 is dark ruby in color and smells of currant, laden with savory notes of leather and smoke.  It's a complex nose for what it considered the least complex Port.  Savory touches flourish on the palate, too.  However, the fruit flavors are bold and forward, while the acidity rips and the tannins exert their will, with little torches. 


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Sonoma Cab Meets Greece

Georgós Zanganas founded Nu Greek Wines of Sonoma after moving to the U.S. and having trouble finding the Greek wines he left behind.  He noticed that California wines gave him a headache, while his Greek faves never did.  His solution is in this bottle.  Zanangas imports bulk wine from Greece to Sonoma County, where a blend is put together at Deerfield Ranch Winery in Kenwood under the direction of winemaker Robert Rex. 

Zanangas says it's a pretty nifty trick to make wine this way.  "It comes by boat in 1,000-liter and 24,000-liter bladders from Greece," he says.  "Once the wine is harvested in Greece, we get it into a stable form (so it does not get spoiled during its 45-day voyage from the ancient port of Piraeus in Athens,) to Oakland and then by truck to the winery in Sonoma."

"We blend and age our red wines in Sonoma," he continues.  "Once they are bottled, we wait four to six months before we release them to market.  We bottle the white and rosé right away, which is 100% wine from our Greek vineyards."

The publicity team claims the Georgós wines are healthier because of the lower alcohol, sulfites and histamines.  Those qualities are said to eliminate the headache often caused by wine.  They also promise softer tannins and high antioxidants.

Georgós Ithaka Penelope’s Spell Cabernet Sauvignon 2014

The wine was named after the ancient Greek isle of Ithaka, ruled by Odysseus.  Pretty brainy stuff, there, referencing Homer's "The Odyssey" and all.

They say on the website that the grapes are hand-picked and triple hand sorted.  Oak treatment is done in 35% new oak - 55% from France, 20% from Hungary and 25% from Pennsylvania forests.  Alcohol checks in at 13.5% abv and it sells for $31.  The "Greek-style Cab" is made with Cabernet Sauvignon grapes from both Sonoma County and Greece.

This wine is quite dark both in view and on the nose.  That nose, oh boy.  It's much more rustic than Cabs usually are, with deep roots in tar, leather, earth and smoke.  Truly incredible.  The palate shows rustic notes, too, and is likely the Greek grapes making themselves heard.  Deep, dark fruit reminds me of a Sangiovese crossed with a Cab.  The acidity is youthful, while the tannins are smooth. Pair it with lamb and be happy.


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Instant Wine

South African Bubbles

Since the 1960s, Simonsig has been producing wine from South Africa's Stellenbosch region. 
This one, Kaapse Vonkel Brut Rosé, was intended for sampling by Valentine's Day.  Well, bubbles are still a good idea no matter what time of year it is.  Bubbles every day for the rest of 2018!  Go for it.

This South African bubbly hits the Pinot trifecta: 63% Pinot Noir, 35% Pinotage and 2% Pinot Meunier.  Pinotage is South Africa's leading red wine grape. According to Wikipedia, it was bred there in 1925 by by Abraham Izak Perold.  It's a cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsaut, which was known as "Hermitage" in South Africa back then.  The sparkler is made in the méthode cap classique, which is basically how Champagne is made in France, with bottle fermentation.

Winemaker Johan Malan says 2015 was a warm vintage in which the grapes were picked about two weeks ahead of schedule.  Alcohol is a low 12.1% abv and it sells online for about $25.

The wine bubbles up vigorously, but the festive nature disappears quickly.  The nose is earthy, but fairly muted in that respect and in that of the red fruit.  Palate-wise, the wine disappoints a bit.  It does have a tasty, savory flavor and a nice shot of acidity, but I wanted a little more fruit expression.  Maybe I should stop complaining and just enjoy what is a thoroughly drinkable, but slightly underwhelming bubbly.

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Wine Vs Almonds