RRV Chardonnay At $18

California wine négociant Cameron Hughes owns no vineyards and has no official winery.  He sniffs out good wine which has already been produced by established makers, then buys it on the down low with an agreement not to reveal the source.  He then sells the wine online through his wine club - he calls it a wineocracy - bringing top-shelf wines to lower-shelf wallets.  Hughes says he keeps prices low by removing the middleman, the distributor and retailer through which store-bought wines must pass.

Lot 718 Chardonnay Russian River Valley 2018

As usual, Hughes is tight-lipped about where this wine was grown and made, except to say that it came from "one of the region's storied estates, with almost a century of family history."  He goes on to praise the region, citing the Russian River Valley's cool ocean breezes and fog, which help the grapes mature well. "Anchored by a rare type of soil formed by an ancient sandstone seabed," he says, "there's just no place quite like it."  Hughes says Lot 718 is a "classic Russian River Valley Chard," only it sells for a mere $18.  Alcohol sits at 13.5% abv.

This Chardonnay is fairly lean, by old California standards.  There is a touch of oak on the nose, but the citrus and stone fruit stay in the spotlight.  The palate shows a bit more oak, but it does not overpower the profile.  Acidity is bright enough to make me order oysters on the half shell for takeout tonight.  The finish is long and vibrant, with pears and tangerine persisting.

Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Blood Of The Vines - Media Darkness

Pairing wine with movies!  See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell.  This week, a look at Media Darkness - what makes news, what makes entertainment and what's the dif?  Brought to you by White Ford Bronco Wine.  Keep your mask on.  It muffles your complaining about having to wear a mask.

Newsmakers aren't always news.  Think about Donald Trump.  He is angered when he feels underappreciated and takes to an early morning Twitter rant to air his grievances.  That is his default state, so is it really news?  Cops use their police cars to chase suspected criminals.  It happens all the time.  Is it really worth live coverage simply because a TV station was able to get a helicopter overhead?  Think about Joe McCarthy.  If the name doesn’t ring a bell, he was a senator - but don’t hold that against him.  He ruined people's lives by making false accusations without offering evidence.  THAT you can hold against him.  TV journalist Edward R. Murrow helped bring him down by doing what TV news should do - put ugliness in the spotlight for all to see.

George Clooney directed, starred in and co-wrote 2005's Good Night and Good Luck.  Those were the words used by Murrow back in the early 1950s to sign off his news broadcast.  If only he had known how much good luck we would someday need in order to have a good night.

The movie shows how politicians use fear as leverage against their opposition.  McCarthy made headlines by doing that in the infamous subcommittee hearings on trumped up charges of communist influence in government.  Just 15 years ago, test audiences reportedly thought Clooney's film depicted McCarthy as too outlandish to be believed.  However, the film used archival footage of the actual raving lunatic.

Murrow warned that if television didn’t embrace its power to inform and educate, it would end up being nothing more than "wires and lights in a box."  In more modern terms, TV could become nothing more than a police chase elevated to the status of  "breaking news." 

Need a drink?  Casamigos tequila shots are in order here.  Clooney co-founded the company before selling it to a conglomerate for a billion bucks.  Keep in mind that the Senate wasn't then, and isn’t now, a "house of friends."

In the 1976 film, Network, Howard Beale is a newscaster who is about to be fired.  He promises to kill himself on the air, but ends up being shot on camera in a terrorist attack planned by the show’s producers to save flagging viewership.  As such, Beale becomes the first person to be murdered "because he had lousy ratings."  Maybe television would be better if the consequences were so severe. 

Beale’s "mad as hell and not going to take it anymore" tagline spawned plenty of semi-humorous mad-as-hell take-offs.  Food: not going to bake it anymore.  Meat: not going to steak it anymore.  Leaves: not going to rake it anymore.  Authenticity: not going to fake it anymore.  Discontinuation: not going to make it anymore.  You get the picture.

A wine for a fallen newscaster?  Easy.  Muscadine wine from Atlanta's Chateau Elan Winery.  I love the way they do without the Frenchified diacritic which so often trips up Muscadine drinkers.  Chateau Elan is where a real-life newscaster took an on-air tumble about eleven years ago while stomping Chambourcin grapes, becoming something of a YouTube celeb in the process.  The catastrophe was apparently enough to put them off that grape altogether.  Besides, nothing says "epic fail" like Muscadine wine.

1957's A Face in the Crowd has Andy Griffith in his film debut.  By then he had become known for the comedy recording, "What It Was Was Football" and the role of folksy Will Stockdale in the Broadway presentation of "No Time for Sergeants."  This was a darker turn.  The character of Lonesome Rhodes was Will Stockdale on cocaine.  It illustrates how a shot of fame, to an egomaniac, is like a shot of bourbon to an alcoholic - it's never enough.  It is an especially worthwhile film today, with stardom coming cheaper by the dozen on the multitude of oxymoronic "reality television" shows. 

In honor of Lonesome Rhodes' heritage, let's get a wine from the Land of Opportunity, Arkansas.  At Circle T Vineyards and Winery, John Trickett did wonderful things with Syrah until shutting down the business a couple of years ago.  So how about a bottle from Chateau Aux Arc?  You at least have to admire the pronunciation pun - and that missing diacritic.  If you can get it, enjoy their Arkansas Cynthiana wine while watching Rhodes' life take the swirling route down.


Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

A Rosé Wine For Summer

The lion on the Hess label represents the winery and its founder Donald Hess.  Hess staked out a claim on Napa's Mount Veeder in the 1970s, when there was still room to move around.  He retired in 2011 and passed the torch to the fifth generation of the family to carry on old traditions and forge new ones.  Dave Guffy is only the second person to lead the winemaking team at Hess.

The 2019 Hess Select rosé was made from 100% Pinot Noir grapes grown in the Hess estate vineyards and in several other California appellations.  The wine was fermented in stainless steel and has an alcohol level of 13.5% abv.  It sells for only $12.

This rosé wine is a shade of salmon that leans more into pink than orange.  The breezy nose gives a lovely show of cherry and strawberry aromas, with a bit of salinity peeking through.  The palate brings plenty of cherry fruit into play with a bracing acidity.  Citrus lingers on the finish.  Pair this with salads and seafood for sure, but if you have a pork chop on the grill, unscrew the cap.

Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Zinfandel, From Lodi

Whenever I get to take a trip - virtually - to Lodi, I jump at the chance.  John Fogerty may have been "stuck in Lodi," but he should have visited a winery or two.  That would have brightened his view of the locale.

Oak Farm Vineyards is my stop on this virtual vacation.  I took part in a July conversation with Oak Farm's co-owner and Director of Winemaking, Dan Panella.  The get-together was held on Zoom, where everything else also seems to be held in these pandemic times.

Panella talked about his family's three-generation farming claim at Oak Farm, which in Lodi is practically newcomer status.  He spoke of his fondness for the Italian and Spanish grape varieties found on his estate and reminisced about his younger days driving a tractor through the cherry and walnut orchards.  He turned the business into the wine arena in 2004.

Oak Farm itself was founded in 1860, with the Panella coming along in the 1930s.  Today, Panella and head winemaker Sierra Zieter manage a diverse portfolio of wines.

Oak Farm Vineyards Tievoli Red Blend 2018

The Oak Farms Red Blend called Tievoli (I Love It spelled backwards) is made from two-thirds Zinfandel grapes, 8% Primitivo, 18% Barbera and 8% Petite Sirah - all grown in Lodi.  The old vine Zin was grown in the Hohenrieder vineyard, while the rest came from Oak Farm's estate vineyards. 

Panella says, "Zinfandel is the backbone of this blend.  It brings the fruitiness to this wine, while the Primitivo adds earthiness, bringing the spices and earth floor notes.  The Barbera adds the acidity backbone and helps brighten the wine and smooth it out.  Petite Sirah strengthens the color and helps with the structure."

The wine was aged eight months in French and American oak before being bottled.  Alcohol strikes 14.5% and the retail sticker is only $22.

This red blend shows a ripe cherry nose abetted by black pepper and a touch of leather.  The palate has an earthy quality, almost savory, but the Zinfandel fruit stands firm.  So do the tannins, and the wine's acidity is bright and fresh.


Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Blood Of The Vines - Still Yet More Movies You 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.  You've probably never heard of these films, but the upside is that watching them alone at home won't require a mask.

According to the one-sheet, in 1965's Nightmare in the Sun, Ursula Andress was old enough to know better but too beautiful to care.  She's cheating on her older husband with the town sheriff, then takes up with a hitchhiker.  It turns out the husband knows better than to kill people, but was too drunk to care.

The soap opera that accompanied the production reads like an early draft of Blake Edwards' S.O.B.  The story goes that Andress's real-life husband, John Derek, agreed to let his wife do a nude scene with Aldo Ray, but reportedly reneged on the deal just before shooting started.  A millionaire put up the money to make the movie, but didn't get a credit.  The millionaire later bought the rough cut, fired the director and put in the excised nude scene.  Oh, and the millionaire didn't cough up the cash anyway.  Ah, the glamour of Hollywood.

Mendocino County's Murder Ridge Winery can provide some great juice for your viewing and imbibing pleasure.  It's in the Mendocino Ridge AVA, where only the mountaintops get AVA status.  The grapes grown below 1,200 feet in elevation won't ripen because the fog keeps things too cool.  No doubt, Ursula Andress could have warmed up the wilderness.

Sound of Noise is a 2010 crime comedy from Sweden.  The story brings to mind the old joke, "What do you call a guy who hangs around with musicians?  A drummer."  In this case, the drummers mastermind the takeover of a city, all for the sake of performance art.  Toss in a tone-deaf policeman and you have the makings of musical mayhem.  Somebody get Allstate on the phone.

If drumming is your madness, you may already know that SP Drummer puts out a blend of Napa Valley Cabernets Sauvignon and Franc which would be a great way to filter out the noise and enjoy the sound.

Zeder continues the international feel of this week's selections.  An Italian horror film from 1983, Zeder is about bringing the dead back to life.  Certain areas are found to be "K-Zones" where death is no longer a problem.  Bury a body there, and voila! - instant zombie.  It's an admirable scientific excursion, but you want to be careful about exactly who gets reanimated. 

Chateau Diana makes a thing called Zombie Zin, which runs about $10 a bottle.  Then there's the Walking Dead Blood Red Blend, complete with Bordeaux varieties and interactive labels.  The licensing for that one jacks up the price to about 20 bucks.


Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Barbera, From Lodi

Whenever I get to take a trip - virtually - to Lodi, I jump at the chance.  John Fogerty may have been "stuck in Lodi," but he should have visited a winery or two.  That would have brightened his view of the locale.

Oak Farm Vineyards is my stop on this virtual vacation.  I took part in a July conversation with Oak Farm's co-owner and Director of Winemaking, Dan Panella.  The get-together was held on Zoom, where everything else also seems to be held in these pandemic times.

Panella talked about his family's three-generation farming claim at Oak Farm, which in Lodi is practically newcomer status.  He spoke of his fondness for the Italian and Spanish grape varieties found on his estate and reminisced about his younger days driving a tractor through the cherry and walnut orchards.  He turned the business into the wine arena in 2004.

Oak Farm itself was founded in 1860, with the Panella coming along in the 1930s.  Today, Panella and head winemaker Sierra Zieter manage a diverse portfolio of wines.

Oak Farm Vineyards Barbera 2017

Panella conveyed the notion that they really like Barbera grapes at Oak Farm.  In this wine, it shows.  The wine is 88% Barbera with 12% Petite Sirah included "for color and structure."  The grapes were sourced from three green, sustainably farmed vineyards in Lodi.  Oak aging over 20 months occurred in barrels made from the wood of France, the U.S. and the Caucasus region south of Russia, 24% of which was new.  Alcohol hits 15% abv and the retail price was $25, until it sold out.

This Italian grape grows dark in Lodi.  The nose gives off black cherry, blackberry, cigar and cedar.  It is a complex and delightful package of aromas.  The palate is also dominated by dark fruit, with plentiful oak effects.  It is a fresh wine, with lively acidity, and the tannins have a bit of bite just after the cork is removed.  Wait a bit and they settle down.


Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Rosé, From Lodi

Whenever I get to take a trip - virtually - to Lodi, I jump at the chance.  John Fogerty may have been "stuck in Lodi," but he should have visited a winery or two.  That would have brightened his view of the locale.

Oak Farm Vineyards is my stop on this virtual vacation.  I took part in a July conversation with Oak Farm's co-owner and Director of Winemaking, Dan Panella.  The get-together was held on Zoom, where everything else also seems to be held in these pandemic times.

Panella talked about his family's three-generation farming claim at Oak Farm, which in Lodi is practically newcomer status.  He spoke of his fondness for the Italian and Spanish grape varieties found on his estate and reminisced about his younger days driving a tractor through the cherry and walnut orchards.  He turned the business into the wine arena in 2004.

Oak Farm itself was founded in 1860, with the Panella family coming along in the 1930s.  Today, Panella and head winemaker Sierra Zieter manage a diverse portfolio of wines.  Oak Farms is in Lodi's Mokelumne River appellation

Oak Farm Vineyards Rosé 2018

The Oak Farm Vineyards Rosé is made from an equal share of estate-grown Sangiovese and Barbera grapes.  It is produced as if it were a white wine, not as the bleed-off by-product of red wine.  Aaron Shinn manages the vineyard and takes suggestions from the winemaker on how best to grow the vines.  The rosé went through stainless steel aging, carries alcohol at 13%  and retails for $26.

The Oak Farm rosé has a lively nose full of cherry and strawberry aromas, with some citrus minerality and a floral note also in the mix.  The palate brings red fruit and tropical notes with a pleasant salinity and a zippy acidity.


Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Blood Of The Vines - R.I.P. Carl Reiner

Pairing wine with movies!  See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell.  We're still cooped up at home, and now we're missing Carl Reiner, too.

Comedy icon Carl Reiner passed away on June 29th at the age of 98 years.  He pulled televised comedy through the '50s and '60s before jumping onto the big screen as an actor, writer and director.  It was fitting that a guy who gave octogenarian George Burns his role of a lifetime in Oh, God, had the favor returned by Steven Soderbergh in Ocean's Eleven when he was 79.  Reiner played the hell out of the role of Saul Bloom in the trilogy.

A newspaper writer friend of mine told me about meeting Carl Reiner in the '70s at a big event at The Summit in Houston.  My friend was in the restroom when Reiner walked in.  The conversation at the lavatory was short, but laced with comedy.  Reiner apparently thought my friend was the restroom attendant and asked him for a towel.  It was one of my friend's prouder brushes with fame.

This week, Trailers From Hell takes a look at Reiner's cinematic side, during breaks from binge-watching The Dick Van Dyke Show.  CBS colorized a couple of the shows from the series, including the "Coast to Coast Big Mouth" episode.

Reiner teamed up with Steve Martin on four films, the first being The Jerk in 1979.  Besides launching Martin's cinematic career, the film also brought to the popular vocabulary the excitedly shouted phrase, "The new phone books are here! The new phone books are here!"  In my circle of friends, that quickly became, "He asked me for a towel! He asked me for a towel!"

Martin's character asks a waiter at a fancy restaurant to forget the 1963 Chateau Latour and bring some fresh wine, "the freshest you’ve got."  He also keeps his Château Lafite Rothschild in a water cooler, with wine glasses in the paper cup dispenser.  We're not dealing with the most sophisticated wine aficionado here, we're dealing with a jerk.  So lets pair a wine that's more affordable than the Lafite, and fresher.

In wine, freshness equals acidity.  The Luli Sauvignon Blanc hails from Monterey County and carries a very zippy acidity with it.  If you're pairing The Jerk with a jerk chicken recipe, you might want to go with a less acidic wine, maybe Tatomer's Vandenberg Riesling from Santa Barbara County.

In 1969's The Comic, Reiner had a hand in writing, producing, acting and directing.  The movie stars Van Dyke as a Keaton-esque movie comedian from the BT era - before talkies.  He spends a lifetime trying to recapture his silent slapstick heyday.  Van Dyke had long wished for such a role and says that he and Reiner were proud of the movie even though it laid an egg at the box office.

If you are exploring alternative drinking hours during the pandemic, and they begin at breakfast, here's an idea.  Reiner appeared in a 1964 print ad for Kahlua, so you might want to grab a bottle and spike your coffee with it.  Serve it alongside a mimosa.  Oh, yeah, and a breakfast.

The Doris Day/James Garner classic, 1963's The Thrill of It All, was written by Reiner smack in the middle of his successful run on TV with Van Dyke.  He also shows up in cameo roles as different characters on a TV show, one of whom causes Day to announce on a live broadcast that she is a pig.  She's wrong, of course.  Day's character is a mid-century modern housewife, who is launched into a new career shilling for Happy Soap in TV commercials.  In today's jargon, she'd probably be a dedicated member of the Mommy Wine culture, with a T-shirt exclaiming that "sippy cups are for Sauvignon Blanc."

Day is the Prosecco of Film, all sweet and bubbly, and you'll be able to find that pairing for cheap.  But, for Happy Soap, a Happy wine would be appropriate.  Happy Canyon Vineyard is in the warm corner of Santa Barbara County, so they specialize in grape varieties from Bordeaux.  Their Piocho Rosé is made from Cabernet Franc, a grape which always makes me happy.  They also do a nice Sauvignon Blanc.


Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Fiano, From Lodi

Whenever I get to take a trip to Lodi, I jump at the chance.  John Fogerty may have been "stuck in Lodi," but he should have visited a winery or two.  That would have brightened his view of the locale.

Oak Farm Vineyards is my stop on this virtual vacation.  I am taking part this week in a conversation with Oak Farm's co-owner and Director of Winemaking, Dan Panella.  The get-together is to be held on Zoom, where everything else also seems to be held in these pandemic times.

Panella talks about his family's three-generation agriculture claim at Oak Farm, which in Lodi is practically newcomer status.  He speaks of his fondness for the Italian and Spanish grape varieties found on his estate and reminisces about his younger days driving a tractor through the cherry and walnut orchards.  He turned the business into the wine arena in 2004.

Oak Farm itself was founded in 1860, with the Panella family coming along in the 1930s.  Today, Panella and head winemaker Sierra Zieter manage a diverse portfolio of wines.

Oak Farm Vineyards Fiano 2019

Fiano isn't a made-up name for a wine.  It's a southern Italian grape variety, grown in Lodi's Mokelumne River AVA, on the Oak Farm estate.  It is originally from Campania and Sicily.  The grapes were picked whole-cluster, then pressed into steel tanks for fermentation, then aged in neutral oak barrels.  Alcohol is reasonable at 13% abv and the price runs $26.

This wine's nose carries some great salinity and minerality, with notes of honeydew and orange peel.  The palate is about as refreshing as a white wine gets, with plenty of citrus - tangerine, lemon and grapefruit.  The acidity is racy enough to challenge any Sauvignon Blanc.  I could down some oysters with this Fiano, or a Maryland crab cake - I've been jonesing for that lately.


Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Mendo Field Blend Rocks

California wine négociant Cameron Hughes owns no vineyards and has no official winery.  He sniffs out good wine which has already been produced by established makers, then buys it on the down low with an agreement not to reveal the source.  He then sells the wine online through his wine club - he calls it a wineocracy - bringing top-shelf wines to lower-shelf wallets.  Hughes says he keeps prices low by removing the middleman, the distributor and retailer through which store-bought wines must pass.

Lot 674 Field Blend Mendocino County 2017

Hughes says the Lot 674 Field Blend was made by a guy who has been producing wine in Mendocino County for more than three decades.  He also insists that winemakers to the south, in Napa and Sonoma, have been goosing their juice with Mendocino wine for years.  Field blends - where the grapes are grown, harvested and vinified together - are usually old-vine wines, and this one is 75% Syrah and 25% Petite Sirah.  Alcohol tips 14.2% abv and the retail sticker reads $13.

This dark wine has a wonderful Rhônish nose - blue and black berries, vanilla highlights, a bit of meat - while the palate is deep and rich with great structure and balance.  Savory features get rough with the fruit after it has been open awhile - a little Rhône treat for those who are patient.  The finish is long and serves as a reminder of a great sip.  It’s kinda hard to believe that it sells for less than 15 bucks. 

Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Blood Of The Vines - Even More Movies You 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. The shut-in can't end until you've seen these films, so get moving.

We find ourselves this week pandemically pondering movies which are so far off the radar, air traffic controllers believe them to be gnats in their peripheral vision, not full-scale blips.  Holiday hits?  Summertime smashes?  Not this time, I'm afraid.  This week is for movie - and wine - nerds.

The 1970 psychological thriller Road to Salina was taken from a novel entitled, "Sur la Route de Salina."  If my high school French still works, I think that translates to, "On the road to Salina," which sounds too much like a Hope/Crosby flick.  The book's author, Maurice Cury, is so invisible in a Google search that he appears to be about one step away from witness protection.

The main character is taken to be a man who has been gone four years.  He gets to have some skinny dipping and hot sex with the woman who is supposed to be his sister, and it's hard to tell which of them likes that scenario better.  Then, things really get weird.  Critics of the day blurbed the movie as ranging from "admirably ambitious" to "perversely compelling."  Now for a wine to match.

Road to Salina was shot in the Canary Islands and if you can find any, the wines from that Spanish isle off the coast of Africa are ambitiously compelling and admirably perverse.  I got to sample a few some years back at a small event in Santa Monica.  The Bermejos Malvasia Seco is a worthy pairing with the strange movie.

Patti Cake$ is only a few years old and already the TFH gurus see it obscure enough to justify inclusion in this grouping.  A rags-to-better-rags story of the struggle to break into the rap world, Cake$ feels familiar over a number of genres.  We've seen movies about how tough it is to navigate into music, acting, comedy, professional sports and certified public accounting, so it's a well-worn shoe by now.

Much like that Hair Club For Men guy, Jay-Z liked Armand de Brignac Champagne so much he bought the company.  Nicky Minaj touts MYX Fusions Moscato, Conjure Cognac belongs to Ludacris and Tupac Shakur liked Cristal Champagne so much that he invented a cocktail made from Crissy and Alizé Gold Passion liqueur.

In 1961's The Last Judgment, an international host of movie stars ramble through a movie they might rather forget.  Much like Pinot Grigio, the film was universally panned at the time of its release.  Today, many come to the defense of director Vittorio De Sica, calling the movie an unheralded masterpiece, a romp prompted by the voice of God.  If you are in the right part of the world, you can judge for yourself on Amazon Prime.  If you are not in the right zone, well, that may be why you've never heard of it.

The film opens with a voice from above booming that everyone has about twelve hours to get their drink on before the end of the world happens.  We then see actors like Jack Palance, Ernest Borgnine, Melina Mercouri and Anouk Aimée playing characters who prepare for the end in different ways. 

World's End Cabernet hails from Napa Valley and will run a wine lover a buck-and-a-half at Total Wine.  Is it an overpriced, over-saturated wine, or an unheralded masterpiece?  Again, you be the judge.


Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Great Zinfandel At Half The Price

California wine négociant Cameron Hughes owns no vineyards and has no official winery.  He sniffs out good wine which has already been produced by established makers, then buys it on the down low with an agreement not to reveal the source.  He then sells the wine online through his wine club - he calls it a wineocracy - bringing top-shelf wines to lower-shelf wallets.  Hughes says he keeps prices low by removing the middleman, the distributor and retailer through which store-bought wines must pass.

Lot 725 Zinfandel Russian River Valley 2018

Hughes says the Lot 725 Zinfandel is sourced from a "pioneering, family-owned estate," one of the oldest in Sonoma County.  The unnamed winemaker has experience in both the Dry Creek and Russian River valleys.  This Zin was aged for more than a year in oak, alcohol hits 15.5% abv and the retail sticker is only $17.  It could easily be much more.

This wine is luscious from the first pour.  Bright red cherries and vanilla notes on the nose show a wonderful balance that is found in good Zinfandel grapes, carefully vinified.  The mouth is full and rich, hefty and zippy at the same time with a beautifully fresh acidity.  I've tasted Zins this good before, but they cost twice as much.

Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Blood Of The Vines - Koo Koo Kaiju

Pairing wine with movies!  See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell.  They are the walrus. 

This week's wine-and-movie pairings focus our pandemic-weary lens on Japanese kaiju films.  Kaiju is a Japanese word meaning "strange beast."  It does not refer to Two Hands Wine and their Sexy Beast Cabernet Sauvignon.  The word describes the genre of monster films which started in the mid-1950s with Godzilla, as well as the creatures themselves.  Godzilla was born from the nuclear fears of the day, only a decade after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  Over the years, numerous kaiju films have depicted the horrors of the nuclear age as monsters either born or unleashed by radiation.

Half Human hails from 1955, although it didn't wash up on American shores until a few years later.  Its Japanese title translates aptly to "Beast-Man Snow-Man."  The story concerns a ski trip gone wrong, thanks to Mr. Half Human himself.  He turns out to be a nice guy after all, but don’t think that stops the search party from chasing him to his death.

This is an opportune moment to think about opening a case of Mistaken Identity Vineyards wines, or at least a bottle.  The vineyard and winery are on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia.  A good stone's throw from the U.S. of A., the locale is separated from Washington state by only an imaginary line in the sea.  Their Abbondante Bianco is a good fit here, since kaiju monsters are generally abbondante themselves - on the large side.

You may also want to consider a sake for Half Human, since sake is often incorrectly called rice wine, when it is actually beer made from rice.  There's a very good Japanese craft beer - Kawaba Sunrise Ale - but its alcohol content is a little lean for a monster movie.

The 1966 epic, Gammera the Invincible, is a re-edited version of a film released in Japan a year earlier.  Apparently the audiences clamored for "more kaiju!"  The Gamera franchise never really caught on in the states - this was the first in the series and the only one released in America.  Perhaps it was the additional "m" added to the monster's name that turned away the crowds.  Or, perhaps I'm over-analyzing it. 

Gamera - er, Gammera - looks like a giant fire-snorting prehistoric turtle, and he can bust up an unsuspecting Japanese city just like Godzilla.  He also has a nifty getaway where he turns into a sort of flying saucer.  There must have been a lot of sake poured during the making of this film.  Gamera is ultimately dispatched to Mars by the scientific community’s Z Plan.  I guess Z Plan was Japan's version of Plan 9. 

You are going to need alcohol for Gammera the Invincible.  There is a home brewer in Florida who makes a double chocolate stout named after Gamera, but his quantities are limited, I'm sure.  However, in Inglewood, California, Tortugo Brewing Company uses a Gameraesque creature in their logo.  They even made a hazy double IPA called Gamera.  I think we have a winner.

Oh no, there goes Tokyo.  Godzilla is the king of kaiju, the beast who inspired the genre.  Blue Oyster Cult paid homage to the biggest G of them all in 1977, with lyrics outlining the monster's rampage, the downed power lines, the shocked commuters, the absolute destruction.  Godzilla wraps up by repeating that "History shows again and again how nature points out the folly of man."  And that, my wine and movie friends, is what kaiju is all about.

In the 1964 classic, Mothra vs Godzilla, the monster is pitted against the insect god.  Mothra gives it a good go while protecting an egg, but cannot overcome the beast's breath.  Have a Mentos, buddy.  Fortunately, two giant larvae burst from the egg as in tag-team wrestling and take charge of driving Godzilla back into the sea.

You'd think it would be easy to find a wine with a pic of Godzilla on the label.  Napa Valley's Adler Fels Winery found out the hard way how many lawyers are working to protect the Godzilla brand.  Nearly two decades ago they had to pour out their Cabzilla over copyright infringement.  Wine writers sometimes refer to high-alcohol wines as Godzillas, so you might try pairing a 15% Zinfandel or a bottle of Port with this movie.  Australian brewer Kaiju Beer reportedly has not yet run into trouble with any attorneys protecting the genre, but look out, Tortugo.


Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Wine Education: "Spencer" For Hire

Two young sisters are promoting their wine tasting business from New York City and Arizona.  The travel is all virtual now, of course, due to the pandemic.  Tours are conducted on Zoom, a firm which has grown exponentially in recognition since we've all been shut in.  Their company, Wine Spencer, is named for their father, grandfather and great-grandfather, all wine lovers, all named Spencer.

The tale of the two sisters is a fairly straightforward one, even ordinary, until you look a little closer.  Shaunna and Shayla Smith are black.  In the wine world, that makes them even more of a minority than in their real lives. 

Hardly a week goes by that I don't find an article on race in wine, from discrimination in the tasting room to the dearth of Black-owned wineries to well-intentioned suppositions on what kind of wines are enjoyed most by people of color.  Black people are noticeably absent from most published pictures of wine tasting groups, even in California.

The Smiths are changing that attitude with an array of virtual wine tours, including one of Black-owned wineries.  Shayla, Wine Spencer's co-founder and Chief Wine-Pairing Officer, says, "Our Black-owned wineries tasting experience is just one way we are trying to offer a new perspective while honoring our own heritage."  She adds that she and Shaunna "wanted to offer something new while staying relevant and addressing what is happening in our society right now."  Shaunna, by the way, is Wine Spencer's co-founder and Chief Wine Taster.  The pair also offer tasting experiences on Wine 101, rosés, bubbles and South African wine.

While trying to make wine tasting less intimidating, the sisters redefine what wine means and give it a contemporary significance, especially among minority communities, diverse ethnicities, and cultures that have not traditionally been catered to within the wine industry.

Shaunna says, "While nothing can replace an in-person face to face experience, we are pivoting during this time to provide fun and inclusive programs for wine lovers of all levels, and backgrounds."  Wine Spencer will also be giving back to their communities by donating a portion of the proceeds from each tasting to causes close to them, like BET and the United Way organizations.


Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Blood Of The Vines - Murder USA

Pairing wine with movies!  See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell.  

This week's Blood of the Vines is a real killer.  "Murder USA" hangs over the trio of classic films which get the wine pairing treatment this time.  Hired henchmen who handle the dirty work for crime bosses - sounds like a job for Syrah.  Isn't that what California winemakers put in their Pinot? 

There could be good money in punching out an enemy - or punching up a Pinot Noir.  I wouldn’t know.  I tap out humorous "observations" just ahead of deadline.  I get paid in popcorn for writing these weekly musings.  Good thing I like popcorn.

The 1958 noir, Murder By Contract, stars Vince Edwards as a man who doesn't care how he makes his money, as long as he saves up for that cute little house over on Easy Street.  Edwards may be better remembered for his early '60s role as TV's Dr. Ben Casey - who earned his scratch by saving lives, not taking them.  Maybe his Ben Casey screen test was the Murder By Contract scene in which he impersonates a doctor.  "Just tell me where it hurts, I'll get back to you in a few years."

In Murder, our killer gets more than bargained for.  The target is a woman.  Hmmm.  Hired killer suddenly plagued by ethics?  He has to draw the line somewhere - doesn't he?  The storm drain shootout is as good a place as any.

Doffing my fedora to the feminine victim, I can't resist a bottle of Lady Wine with this film.  Marketed by the Kentucky winery under the phrase, "Weep no more my lady, welcome to the taste of Louisville," they can ship this sweet, ten-dollar wine to 43 states.  Unfortunately, California is one of them.

In 1995's To Die For, Nicole Kidman isn't the clueless target of murder.  She's the one hiring the job out.  In her world, husbands who stand in the way of wifey's rise to fame don't make it to the second reel.  He wants her to give up her celebrity status as a TV weatherwoman to make babies and wait tables.  Watch it, girlfriend.  The karmic wheel is a bitch when it comes back around.

Deerfield Ranch Winery has a Chardonnay for the occasion - Blonde Ambition.  This Russian River Valley bottling is dedicated to the winemaker's wife.  Had the hubby in To Die For been as thoughtful, he might have made it to the final scene.

Rope is from 1948 - a good year for movies, Buicks and the Cleveland Indians.  It wasn't the best year for Alfred Hitchcock, since the movie sort of flopped.  Rope is now hailed as a taut masterpiece of noir.  Its long scenes give movie nerds a launching pad for discussions that put regular people to sleep.  Sort of like when wine nerds try to tell you about Riesling.

Rope features a "perfect murder" - committed not for money, but as a psychological exercise.  The perfection gets tarnished at a dinner party where the buffet table holds the dead body.  "Oh, no more for me, but that leg was delicious."

Hitchcock had a lavish getaway home in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where he reportedly grew Riesling grapes.  Called Heart O’ the Mountainhttp://www.heartothemountain.com/, it is now a winery.  Their wine can be pricey, but the Chalone Pinot Noir goes for $25.  Tastes pretty good with popcorn, too.


Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Blood Of The Vines - I Want Your Blood!

Pairing wine with movies!  See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell.  It seems we are still safer at home.

As we do every so often with the Trailers From Hell gang, we take a look at vampires.  It's right that someone should, since they can't do it themselves.  Have you ever seen a vampire in a mirror?  Well, there ya go.  Besides, a fang dripping blood is a great way to introduce a red wine pairing.

One of the films with which we are pairing wine this week is the first Iranian vampire western - I'll let that sink in for a moment.  The 2014 classic A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night was made by an Iranian-American woman and shot in the Kern County town of Taft, California.  Taft has a history all its own, which includes a string of previous names including Moron and Siding Number Two.  The town has also provided the backdrop for other films, like Five Easy Pieces, Thelma and Louise and Attack of the 50 Foot Woman.  There were no vampires in those films, though.

Comparisons to Spaghetti Westerns and vampire classics like Nosferatu come easily.  The Girl With No Name wears a chador, basically a Persian cape.  She's a bit of a loner - you get that way when you kill anyone who comes home with you.  She takes no shit from anybody but does not chomp down on a cigar stub, a la Eastwood.  She skateboards.  She has a soft spot for a certain Middle Eastern lug.  She's the vampire with a heart of gold.  What will she drink?  Besides blood?

The lady will have a Shiraz, of course.  Syrah, if you like, but the city of Shiraz may have been the center of Iranian winemaking when there still was such a thing.  Booze was made illegal in Iran in 1979, so their Prohibition has lasted a lot longer than ours did.  Australia's Mollydooker makes a Shiraz called The Boxer, which is also the base wine for their Miss Molly Sparkling Shiraz, if you want some bubbles with your blood.

In 1997's Habit, parallels are drawn between the lives of vampires and drug addicts.  You could laugh it off by calling it The Girl Can't Help It, or She's Gotta Have It, or So I'm Dating a Vampire.  Hot sex isn't so much fun when it's paired with a blood donation.  Speaking of pairing...

The Habit wine company is run by Jeff Fischer out of Santa Barbara County.  He drains the blood from grapes grown in the Santa Ynez Valley and Happy Canyon.  We'll excuse him for the insensitivity of calling his wine club The Fix.  Like the gal in the movie, he just can't help himself.

And now, it's Hammer Time!  1970's Taste the Blood of Dracula was Hammer Films' fifth Drac flick and the fourth to star Christopher Lee as the count himself.  Mixed into the swirling broth of blood-sucking, death and reanimation is some good, old-fashioned revenge animus.  If you could pick on whose bad side to land, it should not be Dracula's.

Pairing a wine with Dracula is fairly simple.  Look to the east, where daylight breaks and drives vampires back into their coffins.  Eastern Europe, specifically Romania and Moldova, has a grape for the ghastly.  Feteasca Neagra is a red grape which Transylvania Wine - you read that right - turns into a blood-red sip branded as Castellum Dracula, unoaked of course.  They also offer spirits along the same lines.


Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

A Rioja Rosé For The Summer Of Separation

Rosé season, if there really is such a thing, is in full swing despite pandemic measures.  Social distancing is designed to help stem the growth of the virus in our communities, and it really puts a wet blanket over a backyard party, or so I hear.  But rosé is made for backyard parties.

I bellow so much about how pink wines are great any time of year that I’m starting to feel like the old rosado codger.  Rosé wines are as good in December as they are in June.  But since it’s June, let’s have a glass on the patio.  Six feet apart.

The Beronia Rioja Rosé was made from 70% Tempranillo grapes and 30% Garnacha.  Previous vintages had sometimes been heavier on the Garnacha.  Alcohol is easy going and so is the retail price - $13.

I pick up a lot of herbal influence along with some terrific strawberry and cherry aromas.  The fruit plays large on the palate, too.  There is a ton of minerality and a hint of pepper in the sip.  Acidity is fresh, nearly ripping, and the finish is all about the red fruit.

Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Blood Of The Vines - Aliens Among Us

Pairing wine with movies!  See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell.  We're still watching movies at home and restaurants were never what they were cracked up to be, anyway.

Aliens in the movies are tricky.   There are those who think they know how to spot them on sight, but they generally end up with a hole burned through them by a death ray at some point in the film.  Huge heads, sinister stares, strange skin coloring - some aliens are easier to spot than a Cabernet at a steakhouse.  But remember The Twilight Zone: they could look just like anybody else living on your street.  Well, except for that third eye they're hiding underneath a jaunty cap. 

The teenagers of America were assaulted in 1957 by Invasion of the Saucer Men.  It was released as half of a twin-bill with I Was A Teenage Werewolf.  Saucer Men likely was shown second, when most of the patrons at the drive-in were either in a snack bar coma or watching the submarine races, as the kids used to say.

Those menacing monsters were easy to spot.  They were half our size with giant brains unprotected by any sort of cranial shell.  How advanced can a civilization be if they don't know that the brain needs to be protected?

Since they came here in a saucer, let's have a wine named after one.  Bonny Doon Vineyard makes wines under the banner of Le Cigare Volant, which is French for Flying Saucer.  The wine is a California version of Grenache, Cinsault and Syrah grapes, aliens themselves in California vineyards.  It's one of my all-time favorite wines, aliens or not.

1981's Galaxy of Terror displays humans as the aliens.  A group of astronauts go galavanting across the universe on a sort of sadomasochistic scavenger hunt.  Their own fears kill them off one by one as Roger Corman's production brings out the sort of stuff that puts butts in the seats: crushed skulls, a murderous severed arm and a rapist worm.  What, no murder hornets?  Ew, the glamour of Hollywood.

There is enough blood in Galaxy of Terror to justify a red wine, and one with a severed arm, to boot.  Australia's Allegiance Wines has it, although the name of the Cabernet Sauvignon apparently refers to a Severed Arms Hotel.  Enjoy your stay!  At only $20, it may be, as Monty Python fans recall, a wine not for drinking but for lying down and avoiding.

1997's Event Horizon has a title that doubles as an actual scientific thing.  Unfortunately, halfway through the wiki my eyes glazed over and I hallucinated that my old physics professor Mr. Tolar was waiting for me to hand in my paper.  Put that in your Doppler effect and start guzzling.

Event Horizon is a space-age rescue story with some warp-speed universe hopping thrown in.  Caldwell Vineyard in Napa Valley offers up their Rocket Science Red Blend for this movie.  Don't fret over the title, just pull the cork and watch the bodies pile up.


Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Austria's Gift To Wine - Grüner Veltliner

Grüner Veltliner (grew-ner velt-LEE-ner) is the most prized grape of Austria.  White wines made from the grape are widely acclaimed for their quality.  Austria is its primary home, although a handful of other eastern European nations grow the grape, too. 

The grapes for Domäne Wachau Grüner Veltliner Federspiel came from the steeply terraced vineyards of the Wachau Valley.  The wine is called Terrassen, which means grapes from small terraced vineyards on either side of the Danube River are blended together.  Federspiel is the middle tier of qualitative classification in the Wachau region, higher than Steinfeder but not as high as Smaragd.

Domäne Wachau's Winery Director Roman Horvath and winemaker Heinz Frischengruber created a food-friendly wine from the stony earth, one that offers fabulous acidity as well as a distinct minerality.  Alcohol hits only 12.5% abv and it sells for about $15, a steal.

This wine's nose features a strong floral element, quickly joined by a peach note which is not quite ripe.  The expected minerals come next, with white pepper, lime and an herbal play following.  The palate shows minerals in high definition with a tart fruit flavor in tow, possibly quince or apricot, either one a bit on the green side.  I have tasted $15 wines that were better, but also ones which were much worse.  A bit more ripeness would benefit this one, but then it might be trying to taste like California instead of Austria.  It's just fine as is for pairing with summer salads.

Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Brilliant Rioja Red Blend Priced Right

La Rioja, in northern Spain, is the oldest Denomination of Origin in the country.  It is also the coldest region in Spain, with an average high temperature of 68 degrees F.  The Ebro River Valley, surrounding mountains, cool climate - the arrow signs all say "Great Wine Region This Way."  Follow the signs.

It was Spanish wine that started my own interest in the broad spectrum of vino.  The juice of Rioja dragged a self-described "beer-only" guy into the wide world of wine after attending a tasting of Spanish wine on a lark.  I think about that tasting every time I have a glass of Rioja.

The Beronia Reserva 2015 is composed of three grapes - 95% Tempranillo, 4% Graciano and 1% Mazuelo.  Aging happened over a minimum of three years, in oak and the bottle.  Alcohol kicks in at 14.5% abv and the wine sells for about $20.

This very dark wine has such a rich nose it's almost enough just to smell it.  Almost.  Aromas of black currant and blueberries are colored up nicely by all the oak.  Clove and tobacco notes are sweet and - incredibly - not overpowering.  The palate is brawny and full of dark fruit.  It's loaded with minerals and acidity and firm tannins - just waiting for an unsuspecting ribeye to come along.

Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter