Yes indeed, my efforts to wine my way to Washington have paid off well!
Not only did I win a scholarship to attend this year’s Wine Blogger’s Conference in Walla Walla Washington, but I also blogged my way through more than a dozen or so Washington Wines that are easily available in California to win a spot on the WBC-or-Bust Bus! And be able to taste some not-so-available wines and make you jealous! OK, just enough so you’ll track some of these amazing wines down for yourself! Or maybe you’ll find that you’ll just have to travel to Washington too!
So what’s in store for me next month? Here are some of the highlights: Continue reading →
This month’s Wine Blogging Wednesday, hosted by The Passionate Foodie, asks us to sniff out some “dog strangler” wine aka mourvedre. So, for the 69th editionWine Blogging Wednesday that’s what I did.
Actually I began my search for wines with mourvedre nearly two years ago when I first tasted a 2001 rbj theologicum which blends 50% of the mourvedre sinner with 50% of the saintly grenache.
I thought I’d died and gone to heaven and hell all at once.
Instead, I was on a search to find a wine I could barely pronounce, and which I could barely find. Fortuantely for me, the grateful Palate Warehouse used to be located only a few miles away and they would periodically open their doors and let us in.
And that’s how I discovered a straight mourvedre–a rbj 2002 Mataro which I opened on a camping trip in the heart of the Sierras.
So when I discovered this month’s Wine Blogging Wednesday featured possibly my favorite varietal, and certainly one that makes my favorite blends shine, I howled with delight.
And then howled some more–what wine to choose? Or more precisely, whose?
An obvious choice would be Twisted Oak. Their mourvedre with the macabre red skull emblazened across the bottle is stunningly good. And they do my favorite blend mourvedre, grenache and syrah aka “Potty Mouth” that I love–especially the 2003 which is still available in their library.
Another obvious choice is Randall Grahm’s Bonny Doon. It seems he recovered rhone varietals like grenache and mourvedre from obscurity in California. And his Cigar Volant is always noteworthy.
So after much agonizing and howling at the crescent moon, I went for a winery I discovered in December and which maybe I can help you discover too (although they have thousands of facebook fans so obviously some people know them already!)
The wine with more than 50% mourvedre that I chose for this edition of Wine Blogging Wednesday comes from Core Winery, run by Dave and Becky Corey, with financial backing and support from many family members.
And it’s Hard Core. Seriously Hard Core. A 2005 Hard Core made up of 60% mourvedre, 25% grenache, and 15% cabernet sauvignon.
Only 665 cases of this wine was produced, and it’s all gone except for what might be in people’s cellars–and a handful of splits which I found at the winery when we went by the other day.
We went to the Core winery as part of a wedding anniversary extravaganza (ok we went to Sycamore Hot Springs, Go Westy, Los Olivos for lunch and tasting at Carhartts and Carina) that started with dinner on our anniversary where I brought in a bottle of the 2006 Hard Core. While I prefer my syrah with mourvedre and grenache, my husband definitely prefers his syrah with a backbone of cab to it. Continue reading →
The Passionate Foodie Pronounces the theme for the next Wine Blogging Wednesday as “Animal Cruelty”.
That’s right, for the 69th editionWine Blogging Wednesday we will be drinking and writing about wines made with the “dog-strangler” grape aka Mourvedre, Monastrell or Mataro (or possibly 30 other names!).
I didn’t know until I read his post that “in southern France, this grape is sometimes known as Estrangle-Chien (which translates as “dog strangler”), because of its big tannins.”
I do know that no matter what you or he might call this grape, I call it one of my favorites. And that everyone that I have talked to about it calls it monstrously hard to grow because of a few perculiarities to the varietal and that it ripens so late. Continue reading →
Yes, L’Ecole No 41 does ring a bell in fact! A school bell too!
Last summer, in July 2009, I attended my second Wine Bloggers Conference in Santa Rosa California. During our last session, organizers announced that the third conference would be held in Walla Walla Washington the following June.
To introduce us to Washington wines and inspire us to commit to attending, we had on our tables the very memorable and beautifully bottled Chateau Ste Michelle Eroica riesling, delicious and refreshing and summertime perfect, not too sweet and with plenty of acid to make it food friendly. I took an extra bottle home where it was a HUGE hit at our house with friends and my husband was truly wowed.
We also had on our tables a bottle of L’Ecole No 41 merlot (available for $25 from the winery) which was equally memorable with its playful school house label and soft, gentle flavors of cherry and berry, nicely balanced and structured with tannins and oak. It was my first Washington merlot and I remember being surprised at how much I liked it. I brought an open bottle home from the conference and shared it with friends. So many seem to turn their noses up at merlot these days but I insisted they try it and we were all pleasantly rewarded. Yes, a few snooty California eyebrows were raised!
If we Californians knew more about Washington merlot, we wouldn’t be so surprised at how good it is. Continue reading →
I definitely have a Rhonely Heart: I love love love Rhone style wines and blends, especially the reds. An AUS 2001 RBJ theologicum blend of grenache and mataro turned me on and I’ve never turned back.
But it was my 6 year old son who first noticed the post card for this year’s Hospice du Rhone on the counter at the Ventura Wine Company a few weeks ago.
Not only is the postcard eye catching with its play on The Lonely Hearts Club Band, but he’s a HUGE Beatles fan. Continue reading →
I just was NOT feeling inspired to fix dinner. What to have? What’s easy? I just didn’t want to think about it.
Because lately I’ve been focused on tasting and writing about Washington varietals, I decided choose an inexpensive red blend from Washington that I found at the Ventura Wine Company for $6 and let the wine do the talking and tell me what to fix for our dinner.
The wine is a Vineyard 10 Red Wine from Columbia Crest and designated “Two Hands.” It has a traditional Bordeaux shaped bottle but I didn’t want to be influenced by what the bottle told me–I wanted the wine to suggest what I should have for dinner.
And the wine spoke loud and clear: it said “spaghetti and meatballs! pasta and red sauce!” It said “order a pizza! take it easy!” and I said “oh, yes, right away!” Continue reading →
There was a nice healthy glass of 2008 Hogue Columbia Valley chardonnay leftover from Saturday night’s fried turkey dinner, so Sunday night I split the glass with my husband to enjoy with our artichokes, salad, and grilled wild salmon dinner. (Yes, the steamed artichoke with olive oil mayo was great with the oaked chardonnay!) A short glass each I knew would not be enough wine so before dinner I scavenged through the various bottles of Washington wine I’ve been collecting taste and discuss here for the WBC-or-Bust contest and
wine predator.............. gwendolyn alley 