Blood Of The Vines - Crime Spree

Pairing wine with movies!  See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell.  Crime is a hot topic in the movies, but be careful - you don't always know who the criminals are.

Clay Pigeon didn't exactly set 1971 on fire, but if it had, it would have been liable for more serious crimes than artistic ones.  Plus, in the pairing-wine-with-movies biz, it's always touch-and-go when dealing with a film involving substance abuse.  The laughs don't exactly fall out of the balcony.  

This movie starred Tom Stern, who also co-directed with Lane Slate.  You may know Stern as the one-time husband of Samantha Eggar, or he may be on your radar for being what IMDb calls the "Orson Welles of '60s biker movies."  Citizen Knucklehead, anyone?

In Clay Pigeon, Stern was a Vietnam vet who wanted to kick hard drugs.  An admirable pursuit, and one that would be hard enough without CIA goon Telly Savalas leaning on him to help take down drug kingpin Robert Vaughn.  A lot of actors in Clay Pigeon had to master the art of looking like a dead body - a time honored Hollywood skill set.

Savalas was very proud of his Greek heritage, so a Greek wine might be a nice pairing with Clay Pigeon.  Skip the Retsina - that beverage you might sample at a Greek church festival.  It tastes like a pine tree, and not in a good way, if there is a good way to taste like a pine tree.  Try a bottle of Nu Greek Wine of Sonoma.  It is made in Greece and shipped to Sonoma where it is bottled.

1988's The Dead Pool was the fifth and final movie to feature Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry character.  Harry Callahan gets to assert his dislike of criminals and the media in more or less equal measure.  The story centers on a friendly wager over premature celebrity deaths.  The bet becomes an issue for Harry when he becomes one of the celebrities and murder becomes a way to fix the betting line.

Eastwood was once the mayor of Carmel, California, so a Monterey wine would be an appropriate match.  He told interviewers that he preferred to drink Chardonnay, so let's grab one from Bernardus, which has several good Chards in the 30 to 50 dollar range.

Prime Cut was a dark 1972 glimpse of the underbelly of the underworld in the American Midwest.  Director Michael Ritchie - before Bad News Bears - manages to juxtapose the sex trade with slaughterhouses, and it doesn't seem like that much of a reach.  Anyhow, it stars Lee Marvin as mob muscle and Gene Hackman as a miscreant meatpacker.  You had me at Lee Marvin.  And Gene Hackman.

For some reason, the scene that stuck in my seventeen-year-old mind was Marvin looking over Hackman as he tore through a hideous looking plate of food.  "You eat guts," says Marvin.  Hackman replies, with a mouthful of food, "Yeah. I like ‘em."  Then Marvin blocks the plate and says "Talk now, eat later."  The scene leaves me with mixed feelings about sausage.

We will want a wine for Prime Cut which pairs nicely with midwestern beef.  You may opt for a Napa Cab - nothing wrong with that choice if you are afraid to branch out.  I'll go out on a limb for Zinfandel without any prompting.  Beekeeper Zinfandel hails from Sonoma County and will face off against any Cab, anytime.  And, people who wear labcoats to work say red wine is not only good with guts, but also good for your gut health.  Cheers.

Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Going For Broke - Zinfandel-Heavy Red Blend

Paydirt winery's Going For Broke red blend embraces the notion that "risking it all brings about the greatest reward."  This is a Zinfandel-heavy mix with six other grapes involved.  The breakdown looks like this: 81% Zinfandel, 6% Grenache, 4% Petite Sirah, 3% Syrah, 2% Mourvedre, 2% Barbera and 2% Cabernet Sauvignon.

The fruit came largely from Paso Robles' Westside Hills, but contributions were also made by Napa Valley, Alexander Valley, Sonoma Valley, Amador, Lodi and Marin County.  Specific vineyard sites include Gravity Hills, Dusi Vineyard, Hastings Ranch, Paso Ono Vineyard, Terra Bella, Clevenger Ranch, Shadow Canyon, and Alta Colina. 

The interesting label art wraps around the bottle and depicts what seems to be a variety of "going for broke" facial expressions in what is likely a coastal California Gold Rush scene.

Winemaker McPrice Myers says the de-stemmed grapes were fermented in stainless steel and small open-top bins with 20 days of skin contact.  Aging took place over 12 months in mostly neutral French oak barrels.  Alcohol is up there - 15.2% abv - and the retail price is $25.

The medium-dark wine smells of ripe, red fruit dotted with peppery, herbal notes.  There are whiffs of vanilla, cedar and cigars as well.  The palate shows the red berries plainly, along with a tongue-tingling acidity and toothy tannins.  A lengthy decant is useful, if not required, before enjoying.  Pair the wine with the red meat of your choice.

Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Napa Cabernet Sauvignon Brings Sense Of Place

Eight winemakers from different parts of the world recently got together, virtually, to show the diversity of flavor and style that come from unique places, landscapes and, micro-climates. 

The debut webinar, "Unique Regions of the World," featured wines from France's Loire Valley, Germany, Sardinia, Chile, Australia, Portugal and two California regions, Napa Valley and Paso Robles.

The 2017 Black Stallion Cabernet Sauvignon, from Napa Valley's Oak Knoll District, represents its area quite well.  The winery stands on the grounds of the former Silverado Horseman's Center, hence the equine branding.  

Director of Winemaking Ralf Holdenried says, "winemaking begins in the vineyard.  Location, climate, soils, picking decisions are all important factors that determine the quality of our wine."  This wine brings an alcohol level of 15% abv and has a retail price of $60.

This Napa Cab sits dark in the glass, emitting aromas of black cherry, cassis, anise, vanilla and some pencil lead.  It's a remarkably fresh wine, with a racy acidity and very firm tannins.  Dark red fruit on the palate is layered with a savory backbeat which lingers on the lengthy finish.

Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Blood Of The Vines - Speed Crazy

Pairing wine with movies!  See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell.  And watch your speed, unless you want to be breaking news.

2019's Ford v Ferrari is a gearhead's movie.  A speed freak's movie.  A Ford man's movie.  Keep your Chevys in the garage and your Found-On-Road-Dead jokes to yourself while the Shelby Ford GT40 screams down the straightaway like a rocket.  The film is based on the effort of designer Carroll Shelby and driver Ken Miles to rudely knock Ferrari off its throne at Le Mans.  Henry Ford II and Lee Iacocca made it a grudge match to embarrass Enzo Ferrari after he flipped them off in a failed buyout.

The film stars Matt Damon and Christian Bale, which means it was halfway to success from the green flag.  It got quite a lot of attention in the awards season and is a good film for those who like their movies with the sound of pistons and the smell of exhaust, should there be any streaming devices featuring smells as part of the monthly plan.  The racing scenes at Le Mans are thrilling, and you'll be glad you have a nice beverage at your side as your feet instinctively try to work the brakes and gas.

We'll opt here for a wine from Lodi-based Gravelly Ford.  Their red blend features Petite Sirah, Ruby Cabernet and Syrah.  And, for me at least, it conjures up a vision of a hot car throwing up gravel behind it, rear wheels spinning like lathes.

Pit Stop, from 1969, is a little-known but well-admired film about figure-eight racing.  In that sport, the track has an intersection at the center, where a multitude of crashes are promised to the paying customers as the racers cross paths.  The title was the third choice, after The Winner and Winning.  Turns out, by the way, there is no pit stop featured in the movie.

The one-sheet for the film tried to make a lot more hay from a pit stop than there actually was.  "Crash-O-Rama,"  "Raw Guts for Glory," "Flesh Against Steel" - they sound like attempts to whip up some manufactured excitement.  It would hardly seem necessary, in a race where there is a dedicated crash site right in the middle of the track.

It's amazing how many liquor stores are called The Pit Stop, or some variation.  Is there no tip of the hat to the avoidance of drinking and driving?  "I'll just pick up a flask for the high-speed chase that is sure to result on the way home."   Everyone wants to be breaking news anymore.

Adobe Road Winery has a line called The Racing Series.  Owner Kevin Buckler married his passion for racing to his love of wine.  The wines - Redline, Shift, The 24 and Apex - are California-grown.

1975's White Line Fever is not so much speed crazy, just plain crazy.  The film was reportedly green-lighted after the success of the blaxploitation film, Truck Turner.  The studio exec apparently thought Truck Turner was about trucks.  Look, you have access to a screening room - use it.

White Line Fever mixes big rigs with organized crime and throws in a driver who wants to blow the lid off the whole thing.  Sort of a modern-day shoot-em-up western on wheels - big wheels - 18 of 'em.

There is a crazy story from earlier this year about a guy in Turlock, California who flagged down a tanker truck hauling wine, then opened a valve and started guzzling.  That's what I call getting hard up for a drink.  He must have had red wine fever.

For pairing with White Line Fever, let’s look at a wine brand which has a big rig connection.  Mack Trucks makes a big deal about how they haul Bronco Wines from California's Central Valley to a supermarket bottom shelf near you.  They may even drive right through Turlock, California.  Even though the hero in White Line Fever named his truck the Blue Mule, we'll pair the film with Red Truck Pinot Grigio.  Please wipe off the valve after you're done guzzling.

Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Two Incredible German Riesling Wines

Two wonderful Riesling wines have come my way as part of an online virtual tasting event, each of which demonstrate what there is to love about the different styles of Riesling wine.

Many consumers have a difficult time buying Riesling wines, in part because of the labeling of German wines.  American Riesling producers often put a "sweetness meter" on the label, to help show the wine buyer what's in the bottle.  That is a seldom-seen help on German bottlings.

Schloss Johannisberg bills themselves on the label and the website as "the first Riesling wine estate of the world," born from "1200 years of wine culture."  During the 18th century, the grapes were brought back from harvest to the winery late, infected with noble rot.  Surprise … they liked it that way.  They liked it so much, they put up a statue of the tardy grape carrier.  This wine has an extremely low alcohol content of 8% abv.  It retails for $60.

The 2016 Schloss Johannisberg Rheingau Grünlack Spätlese Riesling wine is made from late-harvested grapes, so it is sweet (spätlese.)  However, it is sweet in a different way than a dessert wine is sweet.  There is no layered sugar, no raisiny note.  I get the sweetness of the grapes, but also the minerals which accompany them.  Stone fruit is apparent, as is the smell of a wet driveway, a whiff of ozone and the faint petrol notes that begin to show in Rieslings over time.  This may be one of the best sweet examples of the grape that I have had. 

The 2018 Schloss Johannisberg Silberlack Trocken is Rheingau Riesling done in the dry style (trocken.)  The wine has a higher, but still quite reasonable alcohol content of 12.5% abv.  It retails for $90.

This wine is dry.  Its nose gives minerals, apricot, a bit of lemon and some slate.  On the palate, acidity is fresh and the minerality is up front.  It is a great Riesling to pair with oysters or crab cakes.  

Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Red Blend From Sardinia

Today's wine comes from the Italian isle of Sardinia.  The 2015 Barrua Isola Dei Nuraghi  is made mainly from the Carignano grape (85%) with splashes of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot thrown into the mix.  The grapes were grown on Sardinia's southwest corner, in the Sulcis and Iglesiente regions, the Barrua and Narcao vineyards.  Alcohol is a lofty 15% abv and the wine sells in the $40 range.  It is imported in the U.S. by Kobrand.

Carignano, is known in its native Spain as Carignane, a grape which the winery identifies as being known for its elegant and velvety tannins.  The 2015 vintage was reportedly a good season - there were only a few days of rain in late September which had no effect on the grapes. 

This Sardinian wine is extremely dark and smells of tart, red fruit and a strong herbal accent.  It really has a wonderful nose.  The palate comes on a bit riper, but not much.  The acidity is quite fresh and racy, while the tannins are firm enough, but do not get in the way.  Pair this wine with salami.

Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Blood Of The Vines - Michael Chapman Week

Pairing wine with movies!  See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell.  This week we mourn the loss of cinematographer Michael Chapman, who passed away recently at his Los Angeles home.

If you like the way 1976's Taxi Driver or 1980's Raging Bull looks on the big screen - or on the handheld device you are likely using during the pandemic - you may want to credit Michael Chapman as much as Martin Scorsese for that appearance.  Chapman gave a singular look and feel to those films through his cinematography.  

In Taxi Driver, Travis Bickle's cab becomes an urban spaceship, creeping through the hell of the Big Apple's dark, mean streets.  With its ultra-violence, vigilantism and child prostitution, this was not a good "date night" movie.  In Raging Bull, the stark black-and-white images leap from the screen as if we are thumbing through Life magazine in the 1940s.  Bull was the antidote to what Scorsese felt was the career poison of New York, New York.

I don’t imagine Bickle being a wine drinker, unless Betsy was having one.  He would probably order wine only by color, anyway - red or white.  You talkin' to me, barkeep?  Let's pair the booze with his haircut.  The Mohawk Spirits Distillery of upstate New York makes liqueurs that run the alcohol up to 30%.  That could be enough to warm someone up to a first-date porn film.

For Raging Bull, try Bigardo's Experimental Red Wine.  It not only hails from Spain's Toro region, it has the hand gesture for bull horns on its label.

Chapman also worked with Scorsese on the last hurrah for The Band.  The filming of the 1976 Thanksgiving concert called The Last Waltz was a technical achievement for its day.  The star-studded concert was captured by nine cameras running simultaneously.  Just babysitting them was enough of a job - not to mention making sure they all had film in them.  

There is no wine for The Band in the massive lineup offered by Wines That Rock, but you’ll be in good company for a once-in-a-lifetime rock experience.  Try the Grateful Dead wine, even though Robbie Robertson and his crew were not known as jammers.  

The 1978 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers also had Chapman in the cinematographer's chair.  A remake of the 1956 horror classic, the movie centers on replicants who look like actual people but are without any human emotion.  Think Republican senators, if you need a reference point.  

The San Francisco setting means we can look to Bluxome Street Winery - an urban winery in SOMA which serves up a bit of local history in addition to its Russian River Valley Pinot Noir.

 

Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Israeli Wine: Chardonnay

This week, we are looking into two worthwhile wines made in Israel.  Both are kosher and both are very well made and tasty.

The Segal Wild Fermentation Chardonnay 2019 hails from Galilee, where native yeast was used to ferment it, which chief winemaker Ido Lewinsohn says brings forward "unique aromas and rich flavors."  Alcohol is quite restrained at 12% abv and the wine sells for around $20.  It is kosher.

This Galilee wine offers up some nice Chardonnay notes - Meyer lemon, orange peel, wet rocks, some French oak spice.  The palate follows suit.  The oak is not overdone, it is a welcome part of the flavor profile.  The acidity is fresh, but not zippy.

Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Israeli Wine: Marselan

This week, we are looking into two worthwhile wines made in Israel.  Both are kosher, both are imported by Royal Wine, and both are very well made and tasty.

Tabor Marselan Revadim Vineyard 2016 is made from a grape with which you may not be familiar. - Marselan.  Marselan is a cross between Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache, first bred in France in 1961.  This example from Tabor is a single-vineyard selection, grown in the Judean Hills along the peaks of the Judean Mountains at around 900 feet in elevation.  Alcohol hits 13% abv and it sells for less than $20.

Red fruit dominates the nose - cherries and raspberries, mostly - and it is quite earthy.  The palate is fresh with acidity and bursting with fruit flavor.  There is a touch of oak, but it is not overplayed and it fits well into the wine’s profile.  

Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Blood Of The Vines - African Kings And Queens

Pairing‌ ‌wine‌ ‌with‌ ‌movies!‌  ‌See‌ ‌the‌ ‌trailers‌ ‌and‌ ‌hear‌ ‌the‌ ‌fascinating‌ ‌commentary‌ ‌for‌ ‌these‌ ‌movies‌ ‌and‌ ‌many‌ ‌more‌ ‌at‌ ‌Trailers‌ ‌From‌ ‌Hell.‌  ‌We're pairing wines with films about African kings and queens this week, a royally pleasurable pandemic diversion.

Zulu Dawn was the 1979 prequel to 1964's Zulu.  Zulu Dawn is about the 1879 Battle of Isandlwana, in which some 20,000 Zulu warriors decimated the British military in South Africa.  Incredibly, Zulu was about the Battle of Rorke's Drift, later that same day, in which the British repelled a somewhat smaller attacking force.  That's what you call getting the most from your source material.

Michael Caine appeared in the 1964 film, which was narrated by Richard Burton.  Fifteen years later, the stars came out for Zulu Dawn, with the likes of Peter O'Toole, Burt Lancaster and John Mills starring.  Trouble is, people didn't seem to like the latter movie as much as the earlier one.

A South African wine is what we want to pair with Zulu Dawn, and Zulu,  for that matter.  The nation's notable grape, Pinotage, makes an earthy wine that's blood-red.  Pinotage has taken a lot of criticism through the years for smelling of paint and tasting like rusty nails.  Let's call it an acquired taste.  Spier Pinotage is described in notes befitting a Merlot or Shiraz, and costs 75 South African Rand - about five bucks.

If you'd like to sample some of South Africa's lovely white wines for Zulu, try Man Family Wines Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc or Sauvignon Blanc, probably around $10 each.

The African Queen features Hollywood royalty - Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn, namely.  The 1951 classic won Bogie his only Oscar.  The film is set in German East Africa, in 1914, as Germany and Britain enter into WWI.  Bogart's boat - The African Queen - turns into an action-packed river cruise, charged with getting him and Hepburn in position to attack a German gunboat.  

Hepburn's character dumps Bogart's supply of gin overboard at one point, and we have to dock her for that grievous error.  It is noted that Bogart and director John Huston were the only two cast members who didn't get sick with dysentery.  That's because they reportedly lived on Scotch whisky during the shooting schedule.  L'Chaim.

I'd like to suggest pairing Hendrick's Gin with The African Queen, not merely because the striking apothecary bottle makes it look like medicine.  Hepburn's character is named Rose, and the cucumber and rose notes in Hendrick's are as delicate as Hepburn was tough.

Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Value Bubbles From The Loire Valley

You've heard the phrase Champagne taste for the price of a beer?  What that refers to is a good quality French sparkling wine at a lower-than-Champagne cost.  When sparkling wine is made in the Champagne region, it's called Champagne.  Made elsewhere in France, it's called crèment, and it is where you find bubbly value.

The non-vintage Bouvet Rosé Excellence is a sparkling wine from Bouvet-Ladubay, a Loire Valley producer.  The wine is made completely from Cabernet Franc grapes, keeps alcohol reasonable at 12.5% abv and sells for around $17.  Fermented in steel, this wine gets its second fermentation by the traditional method, in the bottle.  It is imported in the U.S. by the reliable Kobrand Wines.

This salmon-pink Loire crèment is a bottle of pure pleasure.  It has a great fruity nose, with a bit of toast in it.  The palate offers a fabulous swath of cherries, strawberries and a hint of raspberries.  The fruit is all on the ripe side, and the acidity is nothing short of a razor line.  Great sipping, great pairing with just about anything.

Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Paso Cab Makes Be-Leafers

Herzog Wine Cellars is a nine-generation display of passion in the wine industry, starting in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and stretching across an ocean and a continent to California's vineyards.  The family's belief in their Jewish identity and their passion for making quality kosher wines came together in a new land, where everything was possible.

Herzog Variations Be-Leaf Cabernet Sauvignon Paso Robles 2019 is kosher for Passover, made with organically grown grapes grown in the "sunny, warm, rolling hills of Paso Robles," late-harvested for optimal ripeness.  There are no added sulfites in the wine, which has a restrained alcohol content at only 12.5% abv and a retail price of $26.

This kosher Cabernet Sauvignon shows aromas of blackberry, blueberry and boysenberry leading the way, with a light touch of oak and a dollop of that Paso earthiness.  The palate is chalky and fruity, the tannins are toothy and the acidity is racy.  Allow plenty of time for this wine to open up before pouring it - you’ll be glad you did.

Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Blood Of The Vines - Diana Rigg

Pairing‌ ‌wine‌ ‌with‌ ‌movies!‌  ‌See‌ ‌the‌ ‌trailers‌ ‌and‌ ‌hear‌ ‌the‌ ‌fascinating‌ ‌commentary‌ ‌for‌ ‌these‌ ‌movies‌ ‌and‌ ‌many‌ ‌more‌ ‌at‌ ‌Trailers‌ ‌From‌ ‌Hell.‌  ‌This week we are mourning the loss of Diana Rigg, sexy Emma Peel of The Avengers on TV and a part of these three films on the big screen.

1969's On Her Majesty's Secret Service was the sixth installment in the James Bond series, and the first without Sean Connery in the role of 007.  George Lazenby vaulted instantly from starring in TV advertisements for chocolates to being "Bond. James Bond."  Life is good that way to some folks.  

Life was good to Diana Rigg, at least the professional side of it.  She played the Bond girl here.  The character was an Italian countess who became, in the film, Bond's wife - however briefly.  Rigg had reportedly said that she always wanted to appear in an "epic film," and OHMSS was that.  Rigg may have had a somewhat charmed acting life, but she suffered some great personal heartbreak along the way.

I am of the age that Diana Rigg as Emma Peel had a great "M. Appeal" - male appeal - for me as a pre-teen boy.  We won't get into embarrassing specifics here, except to say that I was left with a lifelong search for a woman who could do a little judo hip-flip on me while entering a room.

Rigg reportedly had it in her contract for the BBC series Victoria that she would be served a cold bottle of prosecco as each day’s shooting wrapped.  You can go that way if you like - a $10 bottle of Italian bubbles - or you can lean into the Bond lifestyle and order an expensive Champagne.  While you're leaning, extract a few Benjamins from your wallet.  Bond was no slouch when it came to booze.

The Hospital, from 1971, has Rigg playing opposite George C. Scott as the love interest of a New York doctor at the center of his unraveling world.  She serves as a brightness in the good doctor's otherwise dark existence.  That, despite the lack of cute little judo hip-flips in Paddy Chayefsky's Oscar-winning script.

Bogle Vineyards, in the northern California town of Clarksburg, has made news recently by announcing that they are feeding a thousand medical workers, using local restaurants to do so.  That sounds like as good a reason as any to pair their Old Vine Zinfandel with The Hospital.  The Bogle wines are good, affordable and usually fairly easy to find, even at the supermarket.

In Theater of Blood - or Theatre of Blood in the U.K. - Rigg joined forces with Vincent Price in a 1973 horror film with laughs.  That description somehow sounds better than "a comedy with a lot of murders in it."  Price plays an actor who got shafted by the critics - who thought up that crazy idea? - and Rigg plays his daughter.  People think the actor did a deadly dive into the Thames, and so when the critics start dropping like flies, Rigg's character is the prime suspect.

Theater of Blood was Price's favorite movie, he said, because it gave him the opportunity to do some Shakespeare.  Rigg called it her fave, too, saying it contained some of her best work.

One of the luckless critics in the movie is drowned in a barrel of wine, mimicking a murder from Richard III.  The wine was a malmsey, I do believe.  The Rare Wine Company makes a line of Madeira wines which are astoundingly good, if a little pricey.  Their New York Malmsey is as good a choice as any.

Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

A Declarative Napa Cabernet Sauvignon

The 1849 Wine Company puts as much into their labels as their wine.  Usually, I am turned off to eye-catching labels, my knee-jerk reaction when I am hit with heavy-handed marketing techniques.  I must admit, though, that the 1849 label art is striking.

The wine company describes their fascination with the bottle as drawing "inspiration from the contemporary art movement of the 21st century."  The graphics are provided by Los Angeles street artist Saber, whose work is as political as it is attention-getting.

"But," you might ask, "what of the wine inside?"

I'm glad you asked.  The winery boasts that they pride themselves on "creating California wines of the highest quality and expression," while championing the artistic endeavor.  I have found, after tearing my eyes away from the label and sampling the juice, that they have met their goal.

Declaration, their 2015 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, was blended in St. Helena from "Napa Valley vineyards and surrounding hillsides," although the company does not publish much more information about the wine.  Declaration was aged in barrels made from French, Hungarian and American oak, 30% of which was new while 70% was previously used.  Alcohol checks in at a 14.5% abv and the retail price is $80.

The 2015 Declaration has a gorgeous nose featuring blackberry, cherry, lavender, graphite, vanilla and sweet oak spices.  The palate is a delightful playground of dark berries and that Napa dirt, which doesn't seem all that dirty, really.  It drinks fruity and young, but has firm tannins and plenty of aging potential for the coming years.

Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Chilean Carmenere Wine

A virtual wine tasting event happened online in September 2020, and featured Chile's TerraNoble Wines.  The Zoom get-together featured TerraNoble winemaker Marcelo Garcia and showcased the different styles the winery makes from the Carménère grape.  Wines grown in the Colchagua & Maule Valleys describe the differences between coastal and mountain Carmenere.

Through a translator, Garcia explained that  after 25 years, TerraNoble Carménère has progressed from wines that were typified by green notes, to overripe, to toasted notes, to today's fresh fruit forward style with juicy acidity.  He credited the winery's constant learning about Carménère as having brought the wines to where they are today.

Started in the Maule Valley, the San Clemente estate vineyard was planted in 1994.  Now the vineyards are sustainable and vegan certified.  First up in the tasting were two examples of Carménère grown in the Colchagua Valley, in the warm foothills of the Andes Mountains.

CA 1 Andes Colchagua Valley Carménère 2016

This one was aged for 14 months in 85% used barrels and 15% untoasted foudres.  Alcohol tips 14% abv and the wine retails for $25.

This dark wine offers a nose of black fruit and cassis, painted with cedar, clove and cinnamon.  The very expressive aromas put me in mind of the holidays.  The palate is alive with the dark berry notes and oak spice, and a monstrous set of tannins that need some decant time to soften.  Don’t worry, the wine will still handle any steak you put in front of it.

CA 1 Andes Colchagua Valley Carménère 2017

Aged for 14 months in 80% used barrels and 20% untoasted foudres, this wine touches 14.1% abv and sells for $25.

The notes on the 2016 CA 1 apply here as well.  This is a wild wine, full of aromas and flavors, brimming with tannins, ready to rumble.  

CA 2 Carménère Costa 2017

Grown in the coastal mountain range of Chile's Colchagua Valley, this CA 2 wine demonstrates the coastal version of Carménère.  It was aged for 14 months in 80% used barrels and 20% untoasted foudres.  Alcohol noses up to 14.3% abv and the retail price is $25.

The nose on this version of TerraNoble’s Carménère hits more bright red and blue notes than the two I tried previously.  The palate is a lot calmer, too, although the tannins hold their own.  It's a more user-friendly Carménère, and more fun to drink on its own.

TerraNoble Gran Reserva Carménère 2017

Aging for 12 months in 75% used French oak barrels and 25% untoasted foudres, this wine has alcohol at 14% abv and it sells for $19.

This Carménère shows a world of difference from the others in the TerraNoble line I’ve been trying.  There is a boatload of dark fruit, to be sure, with black cherry getting into the act.  The tannins are more reserved upon pouring while the acidity remains bright and juicy.  It's an excellent example of Chilean Carménère.

TerraNoble Gran Reserva Carignan 2018

This Carignan was made from an old vineyard - planted in 1958 - in a hotter climate, yet still close to the ocean in the Maule Valley.

Aged for 10-12 months, half in concrete eggs called Dolia, half in untoasted foudres, alcohol hits only 13.8% abv and retail is $19.

This inky wine has a slightly medicinal nose, with blackberry and tar notes.  The tannins are forceful to a fault upon opening.  Let it sit awhile and allow them to be less inflamed.  The fruit is fairly forefront, possibly due to the aging of half the wine in concrete eggs.  The savory finish is quite long and satisfying. 

Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Blood Of The Vines - Streets Of Hollywood

Pairing wine with movies!  See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell.  Pull up your mask - up over your nose - and we'll hit the streets of Hollywood for this week's diversion.  And stop making people tell you how to wear a mask!

Fairy tales can come true, they can happen to you, if you keep a flamethrower in your pool house.  Quentin Tarantino's 2019 instant classic, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, takes late '60s Tinseltown and spins a happy ending for one of the saddest stories of the era.

Plenty of Hollywood's streets are featured in the film, with a soundtrack provided by Boss Radio KHJ, pouring forth from car radio speakers.  El Cielo Drive serves as a constant point of reference throughout the movie, and as the natural setting for its climax.

There are plenty of cocktail options included in Once Upon a Time..., if you'd like to drink along at home.  A Bloody Mary at Musso and Frank, margaritas at El Coyote and Casa Vega and homemade whiskey sours are all fine pairings for your screening.

A wine from the Hollywood Hills would be a natural for this film.  Hollywood Classic Vineyard is a tiny plot of Bordeaux grape varieties growing within cork-popping distance of the Hollywood sign.  The wines are not plentiful, and they are rather hard to access anyway, lending some all-important SoCal mystique to the juice.  Speaking of mystique, the owner has gotten plenty of blowback from nearby residents alleging that his development plans make him a bad neighbor.

In 1950's Sunset Boulevard, William Holden's Joe Gillis - and the pool he always wanted - introduce us to a side of Hollywood often hidden from view.  Sheltered and living in delusions of past greatness, Norma Desmond has an employee who keeps her from finding out that her car is more in demand than she.  Gillis takes a ride on the gravy train and ends up a floater.  One of my favorite sideshows here is Jack Webb as a guy at a social gathering.  I'm a longtime admirer of Webb, but it's hard to imagine Joe Friday as a party boy.

Let's get the party started for Sunset Boulevard with a wine from just north of Sunset.  Moraga Bel Air occupies some very pricey Los Angeles real estate, which is reflected in the price of the wine.  Get ready to shell out a couple or three Benjamins for a bottle of the good stuff.  They are ready for their close-up, Mr. DeVille.

And now for something completely Hollywood.  Hollywood Boulevard was made in 1976 on a bet that it would be the cheapest New World Pictures Film ever.  A lot of stock footage was abetted by live action ladies in various states of undress.  Well, that no doubt saved money on wardrobe.  The movie was geared for the drive-in crowd, and maybe it will make a comeback now that the pandemic has somewhat resurrected that arcane platform.

Hollywood Boulevard is a breezy exploitation movie that rocks along toward a climactic scene well above the namesake street, at the Hollywood sign.  You won't need to hit the ATM to find a wine that suits it.

What we are looking for here is cheap, but fun.  Pacific Peak makes a three-dollar Merlot that people swear up and down is just as good as a hundred dollar bottle.  Who am I to argue?  However, I feel that when a Cab costs the same as a Pinot Grigio, there is a little red flag being hoisted.  And lots of stock footage on the way.

Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Chilean Carménère Wine - Coastal and Mountain

A virtual wine tasting event is planned for this week (September, 10, 2020) featuring Chile's TerraNoble Wines.  The Zoom get-together promises to feature TerraNoble winemaker Marcelo Garcia and showcase the different styles the winery makes from the Carménère grape.  Wines grown in the Colchagua & Maule valleys will describe the differences between coastal and mountain Carmenere.

I took the opportunity to get the jump on the event by cracking open a couple of the wines a bit early.  Both are examples of Carménère grown in the Colchagua Valley, in the warm foothills of the Andes Mountains.  Both of these wines sit at 14% alcohol by volume, and both sell for about $25. 

CA 1 Andes Colchagua Valley Carménère 2016

This dark wine offers a nose of black fruit and cassis, painted with cedar, clove and cinnamon.  The very expressive aromas put me in mind of the holidays.  The palate is alive with the dark berry notes and oak spice, and a monstrous set of tannins that need some decant time to soften.  Don't worry, the wine will still handle any steak you put in front of it.

CA 1 Andes Colchagua Valley Carménère 2017

The notes on the 2016 CA 1 apply here as well.  This is a wild wine, full of aromas and flavors, brimming with tannins, ready to rumble.  

Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

A Beautiful Rias Baixas Albariño

The Terra Gaudas wineries were established in 1989, in the Rias Baixas region of O Rosal, in northwest Spain.  They bill themselves as a premium boutique winery, although their output is around a million and a half bottles a year.  They also have winemaking facilities in D.O. Bierzo and in Portugal's Douro area.

Terras Gauda Abadía de San Campio Albariño 2019

The Albariño grapes which make up Abadía de San Campio were selected from vineyards in Goián, a bit east of O Rosal.  They say the Albariño grown in their highest-altitude, less humid, cooler vineyards ripen slower, allowing for "a fresher Albariño of great aromatic intensity, a greater degree of acidity and smoothness on the palate."

Winemaker Emilio Rodríguez Canas did a wonderful job with this wine, which was fermented in steel tanks to an alcohol level of 12.5% abv.  It retails for $24.

This Albariño smells of honeysuckle, Meyer lemon and a hint of apricot.  On the palate, a zippy acidity arises, yet the wine is creamy in the mouth, with wonderful weight.  Citrus and stone fruit flavors are in the forefront, with a nice orange zest note behind.  It is a beautiful Albariño wine, and one of the more pleasant whites wines in my recent memory.

Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

Blood Of The Vines - Island Hopping

Pairing wine with movies!  See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell.  A trio of island-related movies are on the card this week to help you escape the pandemic virtually, if you're not ready to brave an airline flight just yet.

Paradise Lagoon is the name used in the U.S. for the release of the 1957 British-American film, The Admirable Crichton.  The screenplay was based on a play written in the early 20th century by J.M. Barrie, the guy behind Peter Pan.  The main character in the movie is a butler.  He lacks Peter Pan's ability to fly, but he has the added advantage of being able to serve drinks.

The story of Paradise Lagoon centers on a group of upper-crust castaways who try to escape scandal on a yacht and end up shipwrecked.  It's sort of like Gilligan's Island, except all the castaways are like Thurston Howell III and Lovie.  Crichton the butler is the Professor of the bunch, the one who keeps everyone alive.

Cast Away Cellars of Couer d'Alene, Idaho could be a fun place to fish for a wine pairing.  They have a bottle called Ripple Red Cuvée, made from Columbia Valley grapes, for $25.  I hope the "ripple" is a reference to a fish hook hitting the water and not a recall of Gallo's Ripple wine of the 1970s and '80s.  In case you still have a craving for that dollar-a-hollah jug wine, any unopened bottles that are still available are reportedly selling for upwards of $200 each.

In the 1980 Canadian-American film, Tanya's Island, Denise Matthews starred as a woman faced with choosing between her abusive boyfriend and an ape man on an imaginary island.  Not a hard choice - the ape man took out the garbage.  Matthews was credited in this movie as D.D. Winters, but you may remember her better as Vanity, of pop's Vanity 6, and even better from Purple Rain.  She was taken away terribly young when her kidneys gave out about four years ago at the age of 57.

For a wine to pair with this bizarre love triangle, let's look to Western Australia's Snake and Herring for Bizarre Love Triangle, a blend of Pinot Gris, Gewûrztraminer and Riesling.  They also have a Chardonnay named Tough Love and a rosé named Tainted Love, to form a damaged goods trilogy.

Ah, 1941.  Now we're talking.  Horror Island features, among other actors, Leo Carrillo, who has a California state park near Malibu named after him.  What an agent he must have had!  The movie centers on a treasure map with an "X" marking the spot of Morgan's Island, off the Florida coastline.  The gullible guy who bought the rock, and the map, takes some hopeful treasure hunters out there on a cruise.  The excursion is beset by bombs, crossbows, a rogue suit of armor, a phantom, a torture chamber and… shudder… a government agent.  I can't watch.

The critics lightly panned the movie in its initial release for not being scary enough, funny enough or mysterious enough for an adult audience, passing it off as kid stuff.  But let's keep the adults in the room long enough to have a drink with Horror Island.

Calistoga's La Sirena has a Napa Valley blend of seven big red grapes in their Pirate TreasuRed.  They've been making it for ten years now, so people must be finding the buried treasure within it.

Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter

 

 

 

Barceló Has Me Drinking Dominican Rum Again

With no real end in sight to the COVID-19 pandemic, I understand that people are settling in to lifestyle patterns that help them cope with the isolation, inconvenience and lack of activity brought on by the stringent requirements that keep us all safer.  One of those patterns is a less rigorous adherence to cocktail hour - what time it starts and how long it lasts.

It is true that at any given moment it is 5:00 somewhere, and with no Zoom meeting to log onto and appear sober for, that sentiment can be taken fully to heart.

The folks who rep Barceló Dominican Rum are touting the product as a fun and tasty addition to a day of worry about the coronavirus.  The line contains Barcelo Imperial Premium Blend 30 Aniversario, Barcelo Imperial Onyx, Barcelo Imperial, Barcelo Gran Añejo and Barcelo Añejo rums.  The firm provided me with a bottle of the Imperial Onyx to sample.

Barceló Imperial Onyx is a blend of different rums which are aged for ten years in former bourbon barrels with a heavy char grade.  Barceló says that other premium rums are aged in barrels graded at medium-light char.  The rum is filtered through onyx stones, which is believed to impart mysticism.  Barceló is made from the fermented juice of sugar cane, while other Dominican brands favor using molasses. The result, says Barceló, is a smoother and more well-rounded taste that showcases the true characteristics of the cane.  I don't know about the mysticism, but the taste is fabulous.  I see Onyx selling online for just north of $40.

Onyx has a rich nose which is dominated by brown sugar and oak spices, most notably vanilla.  The sip is smooth, indeed, with gorgeous honey notes and a persistent bourbon accent.  I like mine on ice - it is a wonderful sipper - but the recipes below are also worth a try, particularly the negroni.

Ron Barcelo is the third generation of the family business in the Dominican Republic.  Today, Ron Barcelo is the number one exported dark rum in the world, available in more than 70 countries worldwide.  

Cocktails

You can use the following recipes to create home cocktails, like Barcelo's Quarantini, Aged Negroni or the 1930 spritz.

BARCELO’S QUARANTINI

Ingredients:

1.5 oz Ron Barceló Dark Series

1 oz Aloe Vera Juice

½ oz fresh cucumber water

4 slices muddled cucumber

Preparation:

Muddle cucumbers.

Add all ingredients and shake well.

Garnish with cucumber slices or peel.

AGED NEGRONI

Ingredients: 

1 oz Ron Barcelo Imperial 

1 oz Antica Formula 

1 oz Campari 

Preparation: 

Pour all ingredients over ice, stir and garnish with orange peel.

1930 SPRITZ 

1 oz Ron Barcelo Platinum

2 oz Prosecco or sparkling wine

1 oz Pomegranate juice 

Preparation: 

Seve all ingredients in a champagne flute.

Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter