The Highs And Lows Of Fun Wine

Most wine lovers feel that wine is a fun hobby, and the fun increases the further one goes on the journey.  Does wine need flavoring beyond that which the grapes accomplish?  No, it does not, unless one is seeking a wine-like beverage that does not necessarily have to be wine.  That is usually where the fun ends.

In my younger days in the radio industry, I worked for an owner who wanted to call the radio station "Class FM."  He said he wanted people to know that the station was classy.  I lobbied against the move, explaining to him that the very second you call yourself classy, the class evaporates.  The same principle is at work with the company which calls itself Fun Wine.

Fun Wine has a line of three flavored wines: Sangria, Strawberry Rose Moscato and Coconut Chardonnay.  They are all billed as low-calorie, low-alcohol and budget-friendly beverages that will help get us through the COVID-19 quarantine with some relaxation.  The wines were launched six years ago as Friends Fun Wine, presumably as an alternative to beer.

Inspired, says the website, "by the hip vibes and sultry breeze of Miami," Fun Wine claims their juice is award-winning, and they even come packaged in a fun, also award-winning, way.  The striking label art was created by New York City artist and designer Miguel Paredes, who also appears to be the public face of the company.

As for the origin of the wine - something given at least a passing interest by wine lovers - the labels say only that the juice was "produced in the European Union," and imported by Friends Beverage Group of Miami.  We all know that there isn’t much wine being made in south Florida, but fun is king even if it is imported from Europe.  Forbes cites Germany as the source of the wine.  All three wines contain a modest 5.5% alcohol by volume and sell for less than $10.

The Sangria's Pretty Good

I usually have sangria heavily iced, and I sampled the Fun Wines version at room temperature.  It was just as fruity as it should be, if not quite as fresh.  It actually reminded me a bit of a Lambrusco, slightly fizzy and earthy with a grapey overlay.  Not complex, but who’s complaining?

The Strawberry Moscato's Not Bad

The Fun Wines Strawberry Rosé Moscato does contain wine made from grapes, but there is a lot of other stuff at work, too.  Grape juice, flavorings, water and sugar are all listed in the ingredients for all three of their varieties.  It's more like a spritzer than a wine.  It's nothing like a beer.  It has a nose resembling that of a wine made from hybrid grapes, earthy, herbal and grapey.  That good start continues on the palate, soft and earthy, fizzy, dry and uncomplicated.  It's perfect for poolside.

The Coconut Chardonnay

This is where Fun Wines stops being fun.  The Fun Wines Coconut Chardonnay smells overpoweringly like piña colada mix and Hawaiian Tropic tanning oil.  It rather tastes like a piña colada, too, only somewhat watered down, like it has been sitting in the poolside sun a bit too long.  There's a fizzy nature to the sip, which no doubt adds to the fun.  I can see this wine being fun for someone who is not too demanding about what they drink.  It's not a beverage for someone who wants a wine.


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Lip Stinging White Wine From Bonny Doon

If you're looking for something a little different, a glance in the direction of Bonny Doon Vineyards is always a good idea.  Bonny Doon's 2019 Picpoul was made entirely from Picpoul grapes, of French origin but grown in California's Arroyo Seco AVA, in the Beeswax Vineyard. 

More closely aligned with France's Languedoc region, the Picpoul Blanc grape has taken root in Monterey and Sonoma counties, as well as in places like Texas, Arizona and Washington state.  The grape's name has been said to mean "lip stinger" in French, a nod to its high acidity.

Winemaker extraordinaire Randall Grahm says, "Beeswax Vineyard produces white grapes with the scent of, well, beeswax."  He says that fruit imparts a "unique savoriness, discernable brininess" to the wine.  Graham calls the Picpoul "super-savory, nay almost waxy/salty, with perhaps a bit more weight than in previous vintages."  He says the 2019 may be his favorite BDV Picpoul to date.  He also notes a floral quality in his recent Picpoul vintages which he feels is often missing in versions from the Old World.  The wine lays back at only 11% abv and retails for $15.  Wendy Cook did the label art, which has a graphic pronouncer for Picpoul.

There is a huge citrus aspect at play on the nose, limes, lemons, oranges, the works.  That floral quality has a lot of competition in the sniff.  The palate offers up a fabulous acidity, with salinity and minerals to join the aforementioned fruit.  This is a serious white wine that can serve as so much more than a sipper with salad.  It's a perfect wine to pair with with crustaceans and mollusks. 


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Blood Of The Vines - More Movies You've Never Heard Of

Pairing wine with movies!  See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell.  What else are you doing while stuck at home?

If you don't like the humor in the 1966 comedy Don't Worry We'll Think of a Title, you don't have enough borscht under your belt.  Morey Amsterdam co-wrote it and starred in it, so you might expect it to be 83 minutes of zingers aimed at Richard Deacon's invisible hairline.  There is a plot, but character names like Charlie Yuckapuck and Crumworth Raines may actually overshadow the storyline. 

It is probably on this list of unheralded movies because trying to find this film's online streaming home is enough to drive a pandemic shut-in to drink.  As long as we're celebrating - or whatever - uncork a bottle from the Catskills.  Tannerville's Hudson--Chatham Winery is a light year up from the old blackberry wines of yesteryear.  They also have a wine made from the hybrid Baco Noir grape.  Morey might have said, "didja hear the one about the vitis vinifera that got crossed with a vitis riparia?"  Okay, so maybe he would have thrown in a bald joke instead.  This juice is a far cry from the old kosher berry wines of the mid-60s Catskills resort era.

And now, a 1972 flick in which Pamela Sue Martin plays a pregnant teen trying to get an abortion.  In To Find a Man, Lloyd Bridges, thankfully, does not tell his daughter, "you picked the wrong week to give up birth control pills."

It's tough to pair a wine with a movie like this.  What goes with teenage sex, pregnancy, abortion and paternal rage?  Recent studies show that a glass of wine here and there probably won't harm an unborn baby, but doctors say "why take the chance?"  If you are screening this film, maybe a Shirley Temple or some other mocktail would be a more correct pairing with your popcorn. 

Future pop star Vicki Sue Robinson plays a bit part in the film, four years before she would score a hit record with Turn the Beat Around.  Maybe a 1970s classic like Mateus Rosé, Cold Duck or Blue Nun would fit, after the kids have gone to bed.

Young Detective Dee is a fairly recent movie for these digital pages.  The Chinese trilogy carries the subtitles Mystery of the Phantom Flame, The Rise of the Sea Dragon and The Four Heavenly Kings.  Dee looks like a pronouncer in the title, since the character’s name is actually Di. 

The sea dragon version of the Young Detective Dee series is set in 660, when the Chinese fleet is attacked by said monster in an effort to poison the royal tea.  Kid makes good and an antidote saves the day, but now we need a wine to drink while we watch this fantasmagorical film.

It doesn't look like South Africa's Newton Johnson produces the Seadragon Pinot Noir anymore, but if you can find a bottle, it's a natural New World Pinot to pair with an Old World battle on the waves.


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Wines That Give Back

During this time of self-isolation and quarantine, there are many stories coming out about how people cope with the "new normal."  Restaurants are dishing out their fare as take-out at the curb to masked drivers who speed back to the safety of their homes.  Gathering with friends at a bar is a memory.  Winery tasting rooms are silent and producers from small to large are trying to stay afloat by going online with their sales efforts.

There is a wine company that strives to give something back to the health care community, the people we all depend on to get us through the pandemic.

Ripe Life Wines has a special going on concerning their line called The Clambake.  For every case of wine purchased (12 bottles), the company will send two complimentary bottles of wine to the customer's  health care worker of choice to thank them for their service.  They are also offering free shipping to everyone.  Ripe Life founder Mary McAuley says the thrust of the special offer is to keep people home and out of the stores to help flatten the COVID-19 curve.

McAuley claims she was inspired to make The Clambake wines after failing to find exactly what she wanted for her friends' annual clambake on the Jersey shore.  So she made the wines herself the next year.  That alone should make her Friend of the Year.  McAuley used Mendocino grapes to fashion an unoaked Chardonnay and a fresh and floral Carignan rosé.  McAuley says both are perfect for clambakes or any type of seafood, whether you are on the shore or landlocked.

The 2017 Clambake Unoaked Chardonnay is labeled as Batch No. 5.  It was made from 100% Chardonnay grapes, grown in Potter Valley, Mendocino - the Paulin Red Post Ranch Vineyard.

This Chardonnay saw no oak while being made, so it's as clean and as bright as you like.  The nose offers a beautiful lemon aroma with a salinity that reminds of an ocean spray.  Lemons, apples and a fantastic acidity are on the palate.  It was made for a clambake, but it will be just as much at home with crabs or lobsters.

The 2017 Clambake Limited Edition Rosé - Batch No. 4 - hails from Mendocino County's Zaina- Sargentini Family Vineyard.  It is made entirely of Carignan grapes taken from old vines that grow in the plot's gravelly loam soil.  No oak treatment was mentioned on the company's website, but they do say that the pink wine goes with lobster claws as well as sweet ears of corn.

This rosé shows off a deep, rich color for a pink shade - it looks almost like bourbon in the glass.  The nose is complex, with vibrant cherry leading the way, some strawberry coming along and a distinct earthy element that is quite enticing.  It smells like it was made for the outdoors.  The palate is generously fruity, with some peppery notes.   Also, there is a racy acidity that calls for the lobsters, crabs, clams, and whatever else you have in the pot.

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Pink Wine From Under The Saint-Tropez Sun

Château Minuty promises their rosé wine contains all the good that's found "under the Saint Tropez sun."  The estate has been in the Matton-Farnet family for 80 years, overlooking the Saint-Tropez peninsula.

The winery says the grapes for 2019 Minuty Prestige Côtes de Provence - Grenache, Cinsault, Tibouren and Syrah - were grown in "a rigorous selection of the best Côtes de Provence vineyards."  Three of those grape varieties are familiar friends, but Tibouren - also known as Rossese di Dolceacqua in Italy's Liguria region - may not be on everyone's radar.  Tibouren has a highly aromatic quality which centers on earthiness.  It is believed to have come from Greece or the Middle East, introduced to France through Marseille or Saint-Tropez.  Alcohol is a restrained 12.5% abv and I see it selling at a lot of places for $18.

This barely-peach-pink wine is loaded with nose - cherries and berries for days with a hint of earth from the south of France.  The palate is also fruity, and juicy to boot.  Easy acidity will pair well with the usual salad and seafood suspects, but it's not exactly a mouthful of pins and needles.  Quite a nice Provençal pinkie, just what we expect.  It will play very nicely under the spring and summer sun wherever you are. 


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Blood Of The Vines: Bela Bela Kill A Fella

Pairing wine with movies!  See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell.  What else are you doing while stuck at home?

Bela Lugosi served as the mad scientist in 1940's The Devil Bat.  His Dr. Carruthers was tetched in the head by a previous bad business decision, an even worse decision than opening a restaurant just as the pandemic hit.  He gets his revenge by developing jumbo-sized bats - the mammals - to attack and kill his perceived enemies.  He also devises a special after shave and trains the bats to go after it.  Then, he manages to get his targets to wear the scent.  Jesus, I'm tired already.  Agatha Christie could have called it The Aqua Velva Murders. 

For pairing with a Bela Lugosi movie, you have to be ready for a Bela Lugosi wine.  His family makes vino and sells it under Bela's name - despite Dracula's insistence that "I don’t drink … wine."  I'll bet he'd go for a blood-red Argentine Malbec, though, with Bela Lugosi's name on the label.

In the 1935 talkie Mark of the Vampire, Lugosi plays another bloodsucker - Count Mora.  After extracting the life from Sir Karell Borotyn, the count wants to go after Borotyn's daughter, a girl who apparently has had to fight off vampires like flies at a picnic.  Maybe it's her perfume?  Pardon my spoiler, but Lugosi's Count Mora turns out to be an actor in a charade.  To no one's surprise, Lugosi is thrilled with the job he turned in and plans to make vampire roles his life's work.  Cue Ed Wood.

A vampire movie calls for Vampire Merlot.  The California wine runs about 15 bucks and comes in a regular bottle, cape not included.

Scared to Death, from 1947, has nothing to do with the prison-doc "Scared Straight." However, after watching the Gothic thriller you probably will have nothing to do with death masks, mental hospitals, medical experiments, Nazis, Bela Lugosi or dwarves, ever again. 

Before you die of fright, crack open a bottle of Nevermore Pinot Noir, from Oregon's Gothic Wines.  Personally, I think of Willamette Valley wine country as a bit sunnier than the word "gothic" connotes.  Is the tasting room at 1313 Mockingbird Lane?  The price tag isn’t very scary - just $24.


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Bonny Doon's Flagship White Wine

Bonny Doon Vineyards' Le Cigare Blanc is the white counterpart to the always awesome Le Cigare Volant red blend, named for the alien spacecraft which was "banned by decree of the village council of Châteauneuf-du-Pape." The flying cigars may not be allowed to land in France, but they land at my place a lot. They are welcome visitors from another appellation far, far away. Well, just a bit north of me, anyway.

Bonny Doon's 2019 Le Cigare Blanc is crafted from California Central Coast grapes - 46% Grenache Blanc, 34% Vermentino and 20% Clairette Blanche.  The fruit came mostly from Arroyo Seco’s Beeswax Vineyard, with a smidge from Creston Ridge Vineyard in Paso Robles.  Randall Grahm says the Vermentino really shines through in this beverage, which he describes as "Delicious, refreshing gulp of wine, perfect with seafood and more delicate fish."

Grahm feels lucky to be able to blend in Clairette Blanche in the cuvée for the first time.  He says it helps contribute additional length to the wine.  Alcohol tips 13.5% abv and it sells for $20.  By the way, the label art is from an 1855 edition of "Bordeaux Chateau," with the spaceship courtesy of Jules Verne, circa 1870.

Le Cigare Blanc's nose carries a whole bunch of tropical fruit with a touch of savory coming from the Beeswax Vineyard grapes, no doubt.  The acidity here is a ripping affair, so seafood is a must.  Lemons burst forth on the palate, with traces of pineapple, grapefruit and mango also showing.  The finish is long and and lanky and leaves the memory of Meyer lemon behind.


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Warre's Fine White Porto

The Symington family calls their Warre's label "the original British Port House."  Pulling grapes from several superb quintas - Cavadinha, Retiro, Telhada - winemaker Charles Symington's family has been at it for five generations.  The company itself was founded in the 1600s.  They recently declared 2017 as a vintage Port year, just like 2016.  It was the first such back-to-back declaration in the 130+ years the Symingtons have been in charge.

I was supplied with a sample of Warre's Fine White Porto, and it should be on your radar.  Where I live, in Southern California, it's never really "Port weather," so I drink Port whenever I like - for instance, during self-isolation due to COVID-19.  This wine is a fantastic example of why Port is such a damn pleasure to drink.

Warre's Fine White Porto

Warre's Fine White is produced from traditional white grape varieties grown in the Douro Valley - Arinto, Códega, Malvasia Fina, Rabigato and Viosinho.  The winery explains that fermentation takes place "off the skins," which they say makes for a more delicate wine.  Aging took place at lodges in Vila Nova de Gaia in a combination of oak casks and stainless steel tanks.  The white also hits 19% abv and sells for about $15.

This white Port carries a golden tint and gorgeous nose of sweet caramel and stone fruit.  The palate is sweet and fruity with almond notes and a ton of acidity.  It makes a great aperitif or dessert, and will be a fine base for a cocktail.  It even pairs well with potato dishes, cheese and guacamole.


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Blood Of The Vines - Son Of Pandemic!

Pairing wine with movies!  See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell.  What else are you doing while stuck at home?

The 2011 thriller Contagion plays like it was ripped from today's headlines.  A respiratory illness spreads rapidly and … pandemic time!  The virus even has a name made up of all caps and a number, MEV-1.  The writer researched the topic with real live scientists, which puts him on at least equal footing with our present federal government.  That's what the scientists are saying, anyway.  Hopefully the film's vaccine will be a precursor for us, before looting and violence erupts over the last multi-pack of Charmin.

For Contagion, let's go to Meniketti Wines of Monterey County for Contagious Chardonnay.  Dave Meniketti is the frontman for the rock group Y&T.  He's also a wine lover and a winemaker.  He is not, at last report, contagious.  He insists that his Chardonnay is.

1964's The Last Man on Earth is set in (cue the theremin) THE FUTURE!  Maybe in 1964 it looked like a long way to 1968.  Today, it's not hard to imagine that our existence in 2024 could be drastically different than it is today.  Pandemics work quickly, I guess.  Vincent Price stars as the supposed sole survivor of a plague which not only killed people, but turned them into vampires.  Uh-oh, break out the rest of that Bela Lugosi wine.

Actually, there is a Walking Dead Wine, made by The Last Wine Company.  It may be more fit for zombies, but their Blood Red Blend is Merlot heavy.  That could stave off vampires by the hundreds or attract them in equal numbers, who knows?  Just in case, the ten months of barrel aging means there is plenty of oak leftover with which to make wooden stakes.

The Masque of the Red Death also comes from 1964 and also features Mr. Price.  It is one of an octet of Roger Corman films based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe.  Poe named the plague The Red Death and described it as a horrible disease that gave its victims sharp pains, dizziness and profuse bleeding from the pores.  That reminds me of the time I got hold of a bad bottle of Chianti.  From what we hear, this coronavirus is no picnic but it appears that The Red Death is more terrifying, hands down.  Perhaps there's a remake possible, The Masque of COVID-19.

There's a wine called Death Metal Red which inexplicably has a unicorn on the label.  The Whole Foods website says it's not in stock at my store "due to high demand."  Right.  Home bartenders may want to mix a Red Death cocktail, which involves Southern Comfort, blackberry brandy, sloe gin and several fruit juices.  Did I have a night of those when I was in college?  Did it cause bleeding from the pores?  Maybe.


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Wines That Give Back

During this time of self-isolation and quarantine, there are many stories coming out about how people cope with the "new normal."  Restaurants are dishing out their fare as take-out at the curb to masked drivers who speed back to the safety of their homes.  Gathering with friends at a bar is a memory.  Winery tasting rooms are silent and producers from small to large are trying to stay afloat by going online with their sales efforts.

One story caught my eye this week, about a wine company that strives to give something back to the health care community, the people we all depend on to get us through the pandemic.

Ripe Life Wines has a special going on concerning their line called The Clambake.  For every case of wine purchased (12 bottles), the company will send two complimentary bottles of wine to the customer's  health care worker of choice to thank them for their service.  They are also offering free shipping to everyone. 

Ripe Life founder Mary McAuley says the thrust of the special offer is to keep people home and out of the stores to help flatten the COVID-19 curve.

McAuley claims she was inspired to make The Clambake wines after failing to find exactly what she wanted for her friends' annual clambake on the Jersey shore.  She did what anyone would do if they had the talent - she made the wines herself the next year.  She used Mendocino grapes to fashion an unoaked Chardonnay and a fresh and floral Carignan rosé.  McAuley says both are perfect for clambakes or any type of seafood, whether you are on the shore or landlocked.

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Spain Rescue's Godello Grape

The Valdeorras region in Galicia was named by the Romans, who mined a lot of gold there.  After they had finished their mining days, they planted grapevines in the area.  The 2017 Pagos del Galir Godello is a full varietal wine made from a reclaimed grape.  Godello was figured to be native to Valdeorras before DNA testing showed its Portuguese roots.  The grape was re-introduced to the region during the 1970s.

The white Godello grape, writes Eric Asimov, has been "rescued" by Spain, particularly the area of Valdeorras, in Galicia - in Spain's northwest corner.  Plantings of the grape have risen markedly in recent years, and its grapefruit-tinged flavor profile and wonderful acidity make it a great wine to pair with food, especially summer salads, seafood or even sweet corn tamales.

This 2018 wine was made in steel tanks, then rested on its lees - spent yeast cells - for five months before bottling.  Alcohol is moderate at 13.5% abv and it sells for $17.

This was my first experience with the Iberian Godello grape.  I expected something quite fruity from this wine, but was surprised to find a nose of lanolin, sage and a savory nuttiness.  The palate is just as intriguing, with savory herbs and a distant grapefruit flavor in the background.

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Blood Of The Vines - Pandemic In The Streets

Pairing wine with movies!  See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell.  What else are you doing while stuck at home?

The COVID-19 pandemic and its associated self-isolation and quarantine measures have given many of us a lot of extra time.  I've been spending my extra time by drinking wine and watching movies.  So, no, my life hasn't changed much.  Grocery shopping has changed.  Who would have believed that when panic hit the streets, the toilet paper would run out before the wine and beer?

In 1950's The Killer That Stalked New York the heavy is not coronavirus, but smallpox.  In true film noir style, the disease is unleashed not through bioterrorism, but through an inept criminal returning from Cuba.  Had Trump been commenting on it at the time, he probably would have called it the Havaner Flu while insisting there was no cause for alarm.  Until polling showed that people were alarmed anyway.

Three Star Brewing in D.C. had a Pandemic Porter on its list, but it's not there now.  Hmm.  Some winemakers feel that putting "smallpox" on a wine label wouldn't hurt sales as much as putting "syrah" on it, but none have put it to the test.  Researchers are saying that compounds in red wine and chocolate may fight the smallpox virus.  It's not official, but what can it hurt?  Get your favorite red and a box of See's for this movie.

In Panic in the Streets, also from 1950, the bad germ is pneumonic plague.  New Orleans is the fictional petri dish here, just as it has been in the real life news of late.  It's too bad that Mardi Gras and physical distancing don't mix.  It's hard to assemble a good collection of cheap trinkets from way over there.

If red wine can kill bacteria tied to lung cancer, which some reports have touted over the past 15 years or so, why fight it?  *pop!*  Of course, there are other reports saying that drinking a bottle of wine is the equivalent of smoking ten cigarettes.  Nothing in there about pneumonic plague, though.

It sounds like we need a doctor in the house.  Dr. Ernst Loosen is known for his amazing Rieslings, not reds.  Still, a bottle of single-vineyard Riesling and a half a pack of Luckys would pair well with any film noir, panic or no panic.

The 1965 sci-fi The Satan Bug brings bio-terror to the front row.  The complicated story line is full of scientific intrigue, double- and triple-crosses, test tubes to end the world and some daredevil helicopter footage.  Who said laboratory work was boring?  Are these guys handling the coronavirus blood tests?  Wash your hands!  Wear a mask!  Get the hell back home and stay there!

Any film which uses devil imagery in its title deserves a pairing with Velvet Devil Merlot from Charles Smith Wines.  It's from Washington state, by the way, one of the early hotspots for COVID-19.


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Rosado - Spanish For Pink Wine

Spanish wine is a thing unto itself, but I suppose one could say that about French wine, German wine, Portuguese wine, Israeli wine, and on and on.  But it seems especially true for Spanish wine.  It was the wine of Spain that originally got me interested in the wine world.

The 2019 Viña Real Rosado is produced by the big Spanish wine company CVNE, which stands for Compañia Vinicola del Norte de España.  The outfit was founded in 1879 in the Rioja town of Haro by two brothers and is still run by their descendants. 

Under the CVNE umbrella, the first Viña Real wines were released in 1920.  The winery says the vineyards run from the mountains of the Sierra de Cantabria down the slope towards the Ebro river basin.  They say "the mountains protect the Rioja Alavesa subregion, where the Atlantic climate is combined with calcareous and clay-based soils."

The 2019 Viña Real Rosado is made from Garnacha, Tempranillo and white Viura grapes grown in Spain's Rioja region.  Alcohol tips only 12.5% abv and the retail price is $14.

The 2019 growing season was reportedly a healthy one in Rioja Alta and Rioja Alavesa.  Rains resulted in less fruit, making the grapes more concentrated and earlier ripening.  The grapes were given several hours of skin contact in stainless steel tanks - enough for the salmon pink color - but they were not pressed. 

The nose carries plenty of ripe, red strawberries with a hefty herbal influence, as if the green stems are included.  On the palate, the fruit elbows the green out of the way, but a lovely, earthy apricot flavor is introduced.  Acidity is good, if not ripping, and the wine’s finish is rather lengthy and very pleasant.

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Monopole: Rioja Blanca Wine

Spanish wine is a thing unto itself, but I suppose one could say that about French wine, German wine, Portuguese wine, Israeli wine, and on and on.  But it seems especially true for Spanish wine.  It was the wine of Spain that originally got me interested in vino - in fact, Viura was one of the grapes that initially caught my attention.

The 2019 Monopole is produced by the big Spanish wine company CVNE, which stands for Compañia Vinicola del Norte de España.  The outfit was founded in 1879 in the Rioja town of Haro by two brothers and is still run by their descendants.  The Monopole name harkens back to a wine they used to make some 40 years ago, one that featured Manzanilla sherry blended with the white Viura grapes and aged in oak casks. 

This wine is not so complex - made fully from Viura grapes, in stainless steel tanks.  The grapes were harvested from mid-September through mid-October, on the heels of a terrible drought.  The region got ample rain over the winter and spring of this vintage.  The packaging is a little unusual for the Rioja region - a tall, slender Rhine-style bottle is used.  Alcohol tips 13% abv and it sells for under $15.

The nose is full of citrus - lemon, lime and bit of orange, a splash of grapefruit - with some excellent minerality and salinity on the other side of the scales.  The palate follows suit, with an acidity level that is nice, but not quite as racy as I expected.  Minerals linger on a finish that serves as a lovely reminder of a beautiful sip of white wine.

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Blood Of The Vines: Crooks And Lawyers

Crooks and lawyers this week on Trailers From Hell.  What's the difference, you may ask?  Lawyers drink better wine.  Let’s see if we can find a good match for this week's featured flicks.

2007's Michael Clayton was nominated for seven Oscars, and it would have been eight had there been a category for Worst Title.  Lawyer Clayton cleans up his clients' messes, referring to himself as a janitor.  He is played by George Clooney, who looks like he knows his way around a wine list but does not look anything like a janitor.  In the wine biz, a lawyer would handle permits, labels, sales and acquisitions - not exactly the stuff of cinematic legend.

Since it takes so much scratch to buy a winery, mostly lawyers and doctors retire to vineyards.  Let's drink to Law Estate Winery of Paso Robles, owned by Don and Susie Law.  Their $77 Audacious Grenache-Cab-Carignan-Syrah blend sounds good for a lawyer.  For the crook, the Rhône rosé.  However, at $33 he might need to have his lawyer buy it for him.

Pierrepoint - The Last Hangman has its own niche.  Neither a lawyer nor a crook, Albert Pierrepoint was Britain's "last hangman" of the title.  It is reported that he actually was not the last to hold that grim job, but why let facts get in the way of a good story?   He no doubt saw plenty of crooks during his decades as executioner.  I wonder how many of them ordered wine with their last meal?
 
Keplinger Hangman's Syrah comes from a Carneros vineyard located next to an old hangman's tree.  Workers there had better keep busy, lest they find themselves just hangin' around.

Let Him Have It is a 1991 Britfilm about a couple of young goofs who try to look tough and end up killing a cop.  Well, that's one way to look tough.  The older of the pair tries to prove his innocence, such as it is, to avoid Ol' Sparky.  Can we hear Bessie Smith doing a few verses of "Send Me to the 'Lectric Chair?"

Christopher Blake Electric Chair wine is 90% Petit Verdot and 10% who cares when the rest is PV.  This wine did solitary in an oak barrel for nearly two years before being imprisoned in 750 ml bottles, only to be set free when uncorked for a screening of this movie.


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Rias Baixas Albariño

Realizing that many people are stuck in self-isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, publicist Gregory+Vine made it possible for wine writers and wine lovers to participate in a virtual happy hour, online with all the social and physical distancing we need.  The event was led by Spanish Wine Scholar Kat Thomas and Rick Fisher, who is also known on Twitter as @thespanishwineguy.  A bottle of Terras Gauda Albariño blend was provided to me so I could take part in the fun.

This wine I tried is from Spain's Rias Baixas region, where Albariño lives.  Specifically, the grapes hail from the O Rosal region within Rias Baixas, spitting distance from the Atlantic Ocean, just north of the Miño River which separates Spain from Portugal.  The 2018 Terras Gauda is a blend of 70% Albariño, 10% Loureira and 20% Caiño Blanco.

Fisher said during the event that the wine regions in the northern part of Spain are called "green Spain" - as opposed, I guess, to "brown Spain."  The land is lush and green up north owing to the large amount of rainfall the area receives.  Thomas chipped in with the info that Rias Baixas and its subregions may be known for Albariño but they also allow red wine grapes, largely Mencia.

O Rosal’s 2018 vintage featured a rainy spring and a hot summer.  The arid conditions dehydrated some of the grapes, making the aromas and flavors inside them more concentrated.  The grapes were taken from the vines in staggered fashion over the month of September.  The wine was fermented in stainless steel tanks, where it rested on the lees for three months before being bottled.  Winemaker Emilio Rodríguez crafted a wine which offers both striking acidity and full ripeness.  Alcohol clocks in at a restrained 12.5% abv  and it retails for $26.

This is a great Rias Baixas wine.  It is complex, with a nose going light on the flowers and heavy on the fruit - lemon and orange mainly.  There is also a touch of lanolin and a hint of apricot.  On the palate, it's fruit up front, with some serious salinity and a very nice acidity that’s as fresh as springtime.


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Wine Country Alaska

When I tell people that wine is made in every US state, the number one response I get is, "Oh, yeah? What about Alaska?"  Yes, Virginia, wine is made in Alaska.

The Now And Zin Wine Country series is creeping ever closer to the goal of tasting wine from all 50 U.S. states.  Wine from Alaska arrived recently to brighten my self-isolated existence.  That makes 46 states now sampled, with only Mississippi, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming remaining elusive.  I understand that OK is on the way.  Fingers crossed.

Alaska's wine production is so limited, the state doesn't even get its own line on the list.  It is lumped in with eight other states as "others" which collectively produce some 0.039% of the wine made in America.

The website says Glacier Bear Winery was founded in 2015 as a companion to the already existing Bear Creek Winery.  Glacier Bear makes wine only from Alaska-grown fruit, like red raspberries, yellow raspberries, blueberries, black currants, strawberries, gooseberries, apples, low bush cranberries, and rhubarb.  They do use Chardonnay grapes in a blend with Rhubarb.  Winemaker Louis Maurer named some of his berry wines after the grapes he set out to emulate - Blu Zin and Mirlo.

The wineries are located in Homer, Alaska, overlooking Kachemak Bay.  It's a 40 mile long arm of Cook Inlet, on the southwest side of the Kenai Peninsula southwest of Anchorage.  Lodging is available on-site, overlooking the bay.  Maurer tells me he knows of only one other winery in Alaska, so I feel incredibly lucky to have received the wines. 

Glacier Bear Winery Black Currant Wine 2016

This medium-hued berry wine brings natural fruit to the table.  It smells of black currant but gets a little more complex with a smokey overlay on the nose.  The palate is basically cassis, only not so dense and sweet, and with less alcohol - only 12.5% abv.  I am thinking of this as the Pinot Noir of berry wines, owing to its light mouthfeel and hint of tartness.  It's fruity, fun and tasty for sure, but many wine drinkers may find $27 a bit steep for those qualities.  I would love to pair this with pork, or even with glazed wild salmon.

Glacier Bear Winery Blueberry Wine 2018 

I had wine made from Florida blueberries once, and it smelled and tasted like full-on blueberry juice, the kind you would have for breakfast.  This one, made from Alaska blueberries, is definitely wine.  It's dry, like the Black Currant, and features a nose that is deep and dark enough, earthy and herbal enough to make a wine lover take notice.  The palate shows fruit, stems and all, not suitable for serving with Eggos in the morning.  I'm thinking this would pair well with game, despite its medium-light weight.  Alcohol tips only 11.5% abv and the wine retails for $25.

Bear Creek Alaskan Port 

This Port-style wine is made from 100% Muscadine grapes, but Maurer says they were not Alaska-grown.  The wholesaler which provided the juice to him could not pinpoint where they were grown.  The Muscadine grape is fairly popular in the humid southeastern states.  This wine hits an alcohol level of 17% abv and sells for $27.


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Blood Of The Vines: Frails, Floozies And Dames

It's time to pair wine with movies again, in conjunction with the movie-mad Trailers From Hell. 

Wife vs. Secretary is a comedy-drama from the 1930s, before they started calling such things "dramedies," and well before people started saying, "they forgot the funny."  I'd say the wife and the secretary are both dames, certainly not frails and probably not floozies.  The salacious trailer asks, tantalizingly, whether Clark Gable would choose wife Myrna Loy or secretary Jean Harlow.  Gable had already done films with Harlow four times and Loy three. "Which one would he choose"... to work with again?  I can safely say that I'VE never had any trouble telling a wife from a secretary.   Of course, I've never had a secretary. 

It's not a case of mistaken identity here, that Gable simply kept his eyes closed and couldn't tell the two apart.  The situation is actually quite a bit tamer than advertised, but when isn't that true? 

This movie can best pair with a wine called The Secretary Bird, from South Africa's Western Cape.  The Merlot is good, unless you've ever heard your secretary - or wife - scream, "I'm not drinking any #$@&%* Merlot!."  In that case, opt for the Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc or rosé.  They're all cheap, but they're no floozies, either. 

Sexless movies?  What do you think, there's a Production Code or something?  That 1934 document put the nix on overt sexuality, like married couples sleeping in the same bed.  While it stifled artsy little semi-nude shots, it did force more emphasis to be placed on double entendres, giving Cary Grant a career.  Baby Face is a pre-Code movie - in fact it is one of the handful of films credited with prompting the Code to be written in the first place.  Starring Barbara Stanwyck - aah, you can stop right there.  A dame's dame, a dude's dame, certainly no frail.  In this film, she's a dame who doesn't mind using what she's got to get what she wants.  In other words, she's a floozie.  With just the turn of a phrase - "Can't we talk this over?"  she floozes her way to the top.  If you're going to flooze, flooze big, I always say.

Wouldn't you know, there's a wine that pairs perfectly with the subject matter.  The Floozie, from Australia's Hugh Hamilton, is a Sangiovese-based rosé.  Sangiovese means you can drink it while watching The Godfather, if you dare to drink a rosé while watching The Godfather.  It's sweet, but not too cheap.

Only women grace the screen in The Women, even though it's "all about men" - so says the one-sheet.  Frails, floozies and dames abound.  There's even a lesbian, maybe, possibly, at least it is hinted at as strongly as the damned Production Code would allow.  Which is not very.

I'm told by a close associate that the one-sheet got it all wrong.  It's not all about men, it's all about the women.  And that's from the greatest dame I know, my wife.  The Women is one of her favorite movies, and if you disparage it she can claw your eyes out with her Jungle Red fingernails.

As long as the sisters are doin' it for themselves, let's get a wine from a state with a girl's name, Georgia.  The Three Sisters Vineyard.  And since we're going all-in on the female thing, how about their Cynthiana wine?  That's also known as the Norton grape, all-American and tasty as hell, killed by Prohibition.  Georgia is not letting it rest in peace.


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Beer From San Diego County

Much as I am amazed at how many great wines come out of Lodi, I find the same fascination with beers from San Diego County.  They're all good.  Some are pretty damn good, like the Mosaic Double IPA from Belching Beaver Brewery in Oceanside. 

I snagged this off the shelf at Whole Foods, almost without looking, after waiting in a short line to enter the store.  I knew others were waiting for me to leave, so I played the good neighbor and forfeited my treasured ten minutes scanning the beer cooler.  I grabbed a colorful label, so sue me.

Mosaic is made with 100% Mosaic hops, which are complex enough to generate many descriptors from tasters.  They definitely give this India Pale Ale a different angle than most IPAs.  Alcohol tips in at 8.8% abv.

The nose on this brew is hoppy, for sure.  It is more floral/herbal than citrus, though.  On the palate, the hops turn in some grapefruit flavors and there's a bit more maltiness than I usually find in an India Pale Ale.  It's a complex enough package that it could be considered a "sipper" rather than a "gulper."  You will want to savor this one, not merely quench your thirst with it.

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Beer From Alaska

I am still waiting to find a wine from Alaska for the Now And Zin Wine Country series - one should be on the way - but in the meantime, a beer from the 49th state has appeared.  The sample was provided to me by the brewery.

Alaskan Brewing Company is unveiling a new limited release series of beers.  Their Hazy Bay Juicy IPA should be in stores in 25 states now, if they haven't been snapped up along with all the toilet paper and hand sanitizer.  The brewery describes their new creation as "a citrusy and tropical fruit explosion of hops and drinkability based on the New England Hazy IPA beer style."  They say the Limited Release series allows them to experiment with new styles and ingredients.

Hazy Bay Juicy IPA is brewed with hops such as Mosaic, Citra and Simcoe and Sultana, which all have juicy, citrus flavors.  The hops are heavily used in the dry-hopped stage with two dry-hopping additions during fermentation.  Alaskan-grown white wheat from the VanderWeele Farms in Palmer, Alaska gets credit for the soft mouthfeel.  Hazy Bay IPA is made from glacier-fed water and features Pale, Victory, Munich, and C-30 malts, brumalt, unmalted oats.  Alcohol tips 6% abv.

The Hazy Bay Juicy IPA pours up amber-orange and - as promised - hazy.  The hops are all there on the nose, piney and citrusy.  The palate is rich and smooth, with a touch of bitterness on the apricot flavor.  The aftertaste is golden and malty.  This is a great beer to keep in mind when the warm months roll in.  It'll go just fine with yard work. 

ABC says they are looking at midsummer 2020 for the release of the new Fireweed Blonde, the next beer in their Limited Release series.  That one will be a little lighter in alcohol.  Another IPA is planned for autumn, Stratasphere, a Strata-hopped IPA.

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