Category Archives: review

Wine Blogging Weds #67: Some Red Wines for the White Wine Lover

For the March rendition of Wine Blogging Wednesday, host Joe Roberts, @1WineDude, prompts us to find a red wine for the white wine drinker. Immediately, my mind went to an Australian sparkling shiraz, like Paringa: fun, bubbly, inexpensive, yet tasty. But no, Joe says which STILL red wine would you choose.

Since I am competing in the WBC-or-Bust campaign to get one of 12 spots on the bus to travel around Washington wine regions before and after this year’s Wine Bloggers conference in Walla Walla, a Washington red seemed an obvious choice. And since the following day is a Washington merlot Twitter tasting, the varietal and the region seemed clear-cut–I could get more bang from my buck!

Since there isn’t a lot to choose from around here, I asked the Wine Guy at Trader Joes, (who also blogs) which wine he would recommend. He suggested the 2007 Red Diamond which he felt was an excellent choice of a red wine for a white wine drinker. Bonus, it’s a Washington merlot AND a great value he said.

So I knew a Red Diamond merlot would be one wine I’d be tasting. But what else, I wondered.

Which got me wondering about the prompt itself: who is this mythical white wine drinker? What white wines do they like? Why don’t they drink red wines?

In real life, given this challenge, I would base my recommendation on what I knew or learned about the person. Then, I would base my decision on what was the occasion and what food was being served.

What food screams red wine to me? What food really elevates the experience of the wine–and vice versa? Which food demands red wine? STEAK!

I immediately imagined the scenario of the red wine drinker and the white wine drinker at a steak house trying to agree on a bottle of wine and settling on wines by the glass. If that mythical white wine drinker sticks to his or her white wine allegiance, he or she is missing out.

What else to try for this challenge was determined by the generosity of Shane Gelinas of the Gelinas Wine Group. Yesterday I had the good fortune of attending an industry tasting of Gelinas wines as well as wines from the Truman Wine Company. When the tasting was over, I asked Shane if I could take some wine home with me–especially wines that I didn’t get a chance to taste (because I spend too much time talking with winemakers!!). He told me to take what interested me that was open so I picked up two reds (a Folkway Cab which I hadn’t had a chance to taste and was VERY anxious to, a 2006 Latria Spanish grenache carinene blend, a 2007 Groundwork grenache I adored, and I was offered two whites which I had tasted and liked a lot.

Now that I had for wines for WBW#67,  the question was: what should I pair them with for dinner?

No surprise here: I picked up a ribeye steak for myself, and a chicken breast for my spouse which we prepared with pesto and oyster mushrooms, plus mushroom risotto and green salad on the side. (He’s recovering from a traumatic bicycle accident where he broke his C2; only yesterday was he permitted by his doctor to take his neck brace off. His “chew” muscles are still getting strong enough for a steak, even a tender rib-eye!).

First off,  we (my friend Dave, my husband and myself) tasted the 2007 Red Diamond Merlot, under $10 out the door from Trader Joe’s. We didn’t like the nose when I first opened the bottle–a little strange and funky with an alcoholic chaser. In the glass, the color was nice with some depth. There was a surprising richness to the wine, almost syrah like, with plum and cherry, but no cola. It had a bright, clean finish, and for how much fruit character it showed, it was also nicely balanced.

This Red Diamond merlot wine would be a great choice for a white wine drinker. And if he or she didn’t like it, you’re not out a lot of money. We were very happy with this wine at this price.

Second up, we dove into a 2006 Latria Montsant red blend of 50% Garnacha and 50% Carinena. According to the bottle, Montsant is a region of northeast Spain in the province of Catalonia and these grapes are from a high elevation vineyard, about 1500′.

We really really liked this wine but agreed it would not be a go to wine for the typical American white wine drinker.

It was really pretty in the glass, and an overhwlming nose that made me want to swoon! David described it as “truffley.” The balance between fruit and spice and acids and tannins makes this a great wine for tapas or a meal of just about anything. However, we suspected that the minerality and tannins would put off most white wine drinkers–unless they like super minerally whites! This would be a good choice for a white wine drinker who prefers wines in a more European style while others would turn up their noses. We were surprised and impressed by its nice long finish. Great wine for only $12 at B & L; usually it’s around $15 which is still a marvelous value.

Third in line, we poured the Groundwork 2007 Grenache from Sans Liege. Jane and I loved this wine at Tuesday’s tasting and I loved it again today. It was excellent with my steak as well as my husband’s pesto mushroom chicken. It was beautiful all around–in the nose, the mouth, the soul. We all three loved this wine. The alcohol is a stunning 15.3%  but because it was so well balanced (and not at 70 degree room temp but about 60) it didn’t taste hot. It was very complex with floral, fruit and earth flavors including cherry, truffle, and caramel as well as spice; somewhat like a carnation.

It danced on our tongues–our enthusiasm alone would convince a white wine drinker to give it a whirl across the dance floor of a palate.

I assume this is not a cheap date but wow, is it great! This wine would make a grenache believer out of just about anyone.

DING DING DING! I just heard from Curt, winemaker at Groundwork that this wine retails for only $19! This is a screaming deal! FInd some, buy some, serve it to a white wine drinker and tell me how it goes! (Or just enjoy it yourself!)

Fourth and finally, we experienced Folkway’s Black Ridge Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. This is an absolutely beautiful wine in every way imaginable.

How could a white wine drinker not fall in love this wine–and with the person who shares it? As David put it, “You don’t need a Ph.D to figure out and enjoy this rom-com of a cabernet.”

Not to say that this wouldn’t satisfy a more sophisticated red wine drinker because it certainly would! With plenty of blackberry and cherry fruit lively acids bringing it into balance, and a long savory finish, this cabernet is a steal at $36. It was supple, satisfying, pleasing–euphoria in a glass, and a knockout with my steak.

At the tasting, I talked at length with one of the brothers, Lino Bozzano, who is producing this wine and I look forward to visiting their winery and writing more about them! BUt for now, this post is clocking in at over 1200 words so that, my friends, brings this month’s Wine Blogging Wednesday to a triumphant close: three winners for the white one drinker, and four winners for red wine drinkers!

Chateau Ste Michelle 2005 Columbia Valley Merlot takes the prize

I bet you’re dying to know what I drank the other night with my New York Strip steak–which wine took the prize so to speak. Let me give you a hint:

Day 2 Itinerary: Food & Wine Pairing at Ste. Michelle–The first stop of the day will take place at Chateau Ste. Michelle, Washington’s original Chateau and founding winery. Following a guided tour, our guest bloggers will enjoy an informative food and wine pairing experience.

Yes, you guessed it, I went with the wine selection from Washington State to add to my collection of posts about Washington State wines to compete in the WBC-or-Bust contest. And like I said in the previous post, it’s the one Washington State merlot the grocery store had–a 2005 Chateau St. Michelle. Makes sense for my first WA wine to write about it the first stop on the bus, yes? Maybe this will be a trend–or a direction on where to go with this series of posts!

The 2005 Chateau St. Michelle merlot is soft, supple, smooth and easy to drink; in fact I drank most of the bottle last night save one large glass to enjoy today as I write this post! The alcohol is a reasonable 13.5 so it didn’t knock off my socks (or any other clothing items!)

The color of the merlot is a deep concentrated plummy red while the nose is cherry and cola with some berry, plum, and licorice: typical, not surprising. It’s got lots of nice friendly fruit flavor, mostly cherry and other dark fruits; again, to be expected. At first I thought it too flabby, lacking structure, but the wine grew on me and it nicely complemented my steak with stilton crumbled on top. It did NOT go with the leftover potatoes from Wednesdays corned beef (ohh, but with the black and tan I enjoyed on Wednesday they were scrumptiously delectably matched!)

According to the Chateau St. Michelle website, food styles that match well with Merlot include

Mild to Intensely Flavored: Grilled salmon, roasted lamb, wild game, and balsamic or tomato-based sauces work well with the jammy flavors of Merlot.

Chinese: Merlot has a softer taste that lends itself to the flavors of Chinese food. Peking duck, mu shu pork, braised soy pork.

I can totally see this pairing nicely with the plum sauce and flavors in mu shu whether it be chicken, pork, duck, tofu or beef! They of course suggest one of their cabs to go with the steak!

The following day I had it with some crackers and cheeses included aged gouda and an aged goat cheese gouda. The merlot paired well with both and was a terrific way to celebrate what my grandma Gwenn called “Wine-Thirty.”

Overall, while merlot isn’t my favorite varietal, I’m not one to turn up my nose just because it’s merlot; I’m willing to give it a go and I’ve had some good ones. This 2005 Chateau St. Michelle is a great value on sale at $10. Bring it to a party and everyone will enjoy it. It’s a terrific, mild, juicy red wine for the white wine drinker.

Now to find another Washington Merlot to taste by Thursday! And guess what we’ll be having for dinner? That’s right–I’m going for Chinese take-out of Mu shu pork!

(This post clocks in at over 550 words–nearly 4 posts for the price of wine! Ummn, one! I’m thinking instead of number of posts, the contest should go with number of words!)

What wine pairs with snow? Wine Blogging Wednesday #65 Announced!

What do you drink with a side of snow?

This month’s Wine Blogging Wednesday’s host Wine Girl asks:

“Even if you’re in warm sunny Florida or Los Angeles,” writes Wine Girl in her announcement of WBW #65, ” I want you to look out your window and imagine Snow. Snowmen, snow balls, igloos, snow trucks, snow … cold, cold snow. Then I want you to imagine what that makes you want to drink. Do you want to curl up in front of your fireplace with a port? Maybe you want to pull out a cabernet sauvignon or a big juicy zin and then put on your snowsuit. Are you a glutton for punishment and you’re pulling out a chilled riesling before heading out to build a snowman? Are you inspired by vintners who are braving frigid temperatures to make icewine? In this particular instance, I’ll even allow you to branch a little away from wine if you want. With a valid story behind you, there’s no reason you can’t pop open a cognac, a brandy, or even bourbon. Imaginary “bonus points” for anyone with a wonderful Snow Day story of their youth, a great photo of snow and wine, or even a Snowman and wine!”

This prompt is  too cool for school if you ask me! I just wish I’d known LAST weekend when we broke into two different bottles of port and we could have tried a third I brought to snowy Flagstaff. Fortunately, we’re heading to the snow again this weekend to celebrate my birthday–now certainly with some fortified wines! I’d love to find an excellent madeira or sherry which is really tough around here, but I will likely do some ports–maybe one each from three continents–Europe, Australia and here:  I have a tempting Kachina port that was in the gift bag at the Wine Bloggers Conference last summer.

Want to take part in WBW 65: Snow Day? It takes place Weds. Jan 20. Send links to wbw65@wine-girl.net.

Wine Blogging Wednesday: Put a twist into your holiday! Or celebrate a twisted holiday?

The Wine Blogging Wednesday prompt for December comes from Twisted Oak Winery’s El Jefe–

who naturally adds a twist to it. The point, he says of this WBW, is to come up with your own holiday pairings, and to have fun:

Pick any winter holiday or observance EXCEPT Hanukkah, Christmas Day, Kwanzaa, or New Years Day or Eve, and choose a wine to celebrate it! For purposes of this WBW, the holiday date chosen must be between December 7, 2009 and January 7, 2010. You may also pair a food with your chosen holiday and wine, but that is optional. Here’s the complete Wine Blogging Wednesday #64 prompt on El Jefe’s blog.
So my holiday was a Winter Solstice Santacon which we celebrated on Sunday December 20 with a pre-Santacon brunch serving a BBQ ham. I wanted to serve a sparkling shiraz but it was easier for me to conjure up 25 men, women, and children in Santa suits on bikes than a sparkling shiraz at any price point. I did have a “Biker” zin that seemed appropriate, a Poema cava and a friend promised to bring some sparkling wine and orange juice. So I left it up to the potluck gods to see what came: a bottle of Zonin Proseco which we opened as well as the Poema Cava which ended up on the ride with us.

But what I was curious about, what I wanted to open but didn’t, was the Four Vines 2007 zinfandel “biker” from Paso Robles. Not only was the wine appropriately named for a Santacon Bike Ride, but I was curious how it would go with ham, and just plain curious about it. I’m a huge fan of zinfandel in general, and I love what Eberle does with the varietal so much that I was a member there for a while. (In fact, I have a bottle of 1999 Eberle zin I just found in the cellar; I imagine I need to drink it up soon!)

And there was the fact that Wine Spectator had talked about this wine back in February and tempted me, then in December it showed up on the WS 2009 Top 100 list and my local wine shop had it–so I bought a bottle.

So on Tuesday night, with Wine Blogging Wednesday looming, and only a Zonin Proseco and a Poema cava to brag about in my Santacon post, I broke open the bottle to enjoy with the last bit of Santacon ham, and to imagine how it might have been on Sunday with the Santacon.

Now, we don’t usually drink $20 wines on a week night. In fact, on our budget we don’t often drink $20 wines. But I knew this wine was not going to last long at The Ventura Wine Store and I’d just got an email saying they’d received a few more bottles. I wanted to go for it and buy a few more but figured I’d best taste this one first, you know, to be sure…

Well it was FABULOUS! From my first tentative swirl, sniff, and sip, I was telling the Big Monkey, wow, this stuff is really good! Lots of nice zinfandel character and color: a nice deep cherry red,  nicely balanced, some dusty blackberry charm, some cedar, a wonderfully long finish.

Best–it was AMAZING with the ham. The spice and fruit in the zin brought out the spice –especially the clove and sweet smoky flavors in the BBQ ham. It tasted decided different with this wine that it had before. And what an great difference. When they talk about the chemistry of wine and food interacting on your palate, it’s easy to roll your eyes. The Big Monkey didn’t plan to have any wine at all; we thought he’d have some on Weds or Thurs when he’d be off the next day.

But on my insistence, he tasted it. And loved it, even though he’s more of a cab or cab/syrah kind of guy. He liked it so much that when I ran off to hear Dottie Grossman and Michael Vlatkovixh perform with my pal Jeff Kaiser sitting in, he drank up most of the bottle that we’d intended to save!

This well-balanced baby had plenty of structure and tannin to put down for awhile (but how long?) so I left it with the cap on to see how it would hold up. The last half glass on Friday night indicated  that by Saturday night it would be  a bit too flat and blah.

So really, the bottom line is, this wine hits the spot. It really does. It’s absolutely wonderful for a holiday dinner dominated by ham (New Year’s anyone?) and it’s forgiving for most sides.

Halloween Poem, Video, Wine: Scary Smelly Skeleton Pirates on a River of Skulls!

Last year I led some writing workshops in my son’s class. His group wrote a poem, “I am a Scary Smelly Skeleton Pirate” which my son and I turned into this YouTube video. Here’s the text to the poem and here’s two more Halloween oriented poems from that workshop.2halloween07

And here we are as un muy pequeno calavero with Art Predator aka Ms Frizzle of the Magic School Bus fame.

River of Skulls: the perfect wine for Halloween & Dia de los Muertos & more

Twisted Oak's "River of Skulls"Yep, Twisted Oak’s River of Skulls: This is the wine you need for Halloween, Dia de los Muertos, and maybe for all the sinners on your list: Twisted Oak’s River of Skulls, a mourverde with a little syrah thrown in.
from Twisted Oak in Calaveras County CA

This is a special creature, this wine. Sorry to say that unless you have a trip planned to Calaveras county, you’re out of luck. You can get on the list now for next year! Sign up here.

While my favorite blend on Earth has to be GSM (grenache/syrah/mourvedre), seeking out a mourvedre– “the sinner” in all its wild gamey glory–seems perfect for this time of year. And for my money, I’m going for Twisted Oaks “River of Skulls” which conveniently arrived a few weeks ago in my “Twisted Few” allotment!

I had the amazing opportunity to taste this wine at last year’s Wine Blogging Conference 2008 and it wowed the socks off of me. (OK, I admit, I’m a sucker for mourvedre!) This year, El Jefe aka Jeff Stai served it up during the live blogging portion of the 2009 Wine Bloggers conference. This wine not only wowed us bloggers but in recent competition and tastings, it’s done well: they just got wordfrom Twisted Oak in Calaveras County CA from Wine Enthusiast magazine that the 2006 Spaniard will receive a score of 92 points, and the 2007 River of Skulls will receive a 90 point score, in their December issue. Congrats to Jeff and crew!

For more poetry, jump on the TRAIN! For more about wine, head over to Wine Predator! That’s where I plan to aggregate my wine posts and where I will post first from the European Wine Bloggers Conference and from the Enoforum Tour of the Alentejo region of Portugal. (Oh, you didn’t hear about that? You didn’t hear my joyous noise? Go here to learn more.)

There is some ghostly formatting going on here–just attribute it to the hi-jinx of los calaveras!

Wine Blogging Weds #61: At the source & drinking the juice–a visit to Old Creek Ranch Winery

WBWlogo Thanks to Wine Blogging Wednesday founder and this month’s host Lenn Thompson of the blog Lenndevours: The New York Cork Report who prompts us this month to visit a winery–to taste and blog about a wine after visiting the source with bonus points for actually tasting with the winemaker.  Here’s the complete story on his blog.

Where should I go? Well, it wasn’t much of a question as I had limited time available. While I am fortunate to have Sideways wine country practiOld Creek Road Winery open 909cally in my backyard, I simply contacted Michael Meagher, winemaker at Old Creek Ranch Winery, which is about 15 minutes away from my home near the beach and Michael invited me over last Friday for when his first load of grapes arrive–viognier!Winemaker MM at OCRW with 2009 Viognier

To hint at what kind of experience I had: I came home happily covered in grape juice, tasted the delish grenache blanc about to be bottled with the winemaker, and brought home the recently bottled but not yet released and not even labeled yet 2008 viognier!!

A little background: Old Creek Ranch Winery, established in 1981, is up Highway 33 on the Old Creek Ranch between the towns of Ojai and Ventura, California on a historic winery site. On the left is a picture of what remains of that winery; in the foreground is the native food plant, narrow-leaf milkweed, for monarch butterfly larva. historic winery now monarch butterfly preserve

According to the Old Creek Ranch  website:

The Ranch is part of a Spanish 22,000 acre land grant awarded to Don Fernando Tico, dating back to the early history of California. In the late 1800’s Antonio Riva of northern Italy purchased the ranch. He was a chef in Paris, London and later in San Francisco. He built a winery on the ranch at that time.

Wines were made without electricity and utilized gravity as a means to move the wine in the processing. Riva produced wine until about 1942, including the prohibition years. Wine purchasers would leave an order and money on the clothesline and would return later to pickup a jug of red wine left at the base of an oak tree.Old Creek Road ends at the winery

My first experience with Old Creek Ranch Winery Continue reading →

Wine Blogging Wednesday #58: wine & music symbiotics

A month or so ago I went copper river salmon to a tasting at Paradise Pantry in downtown Ventura where Vino V winemaker Michael Meagher showed off his chardonnay, his Confundido blend, his pinot noir, and his syrah. I knew the syrah and even used it for the Wine Blogging Wednesday North vs South Challenge, so I was excited to experience the others. At a rushed tasting that night (we had a documentary on loons we’d planned to catch that night and we were on bikes), I loved the chardonnay because it was NOT overwhelmed by oak, and I was super impressed by the pinot which means a lot because I’m not always impressed by California pinots. I knew when it was wild salmon season, I wanted to pair it.love copper river salmon with Red Rex

Fast forward to Copper River salmon season, those fleeting, magical few weeks in early June which I wish would last for months, but this year may even be shorter than the typical Memorial Day weekend to Father’s Day or sometimes July 4th weekend. The Copper River salmon season lasts as long as the allotment, and this year the allotment is so small that Von’s won’t even commit to having it one day to the next; when they have it, it’s $29.99 a pound unless you’re a Vons Club member which means it ranges in price from $8.99-15.99. Right now it’s $12.99. Typically we prepare it simply: some olive oil, salt and pepper, a squirt of fresh lemon then cook it on the outdoor grill.

Vino V pinot 2005 smSo when I learned that Gonzo Gastronomy’s Wine Blogging Wednesday #58 Prompt “Now I’m waiting for Wednesday, waiting for Wednesday…” was to do a tasting under different musical influences, I thought: FUN! Then I thought: Gotta get some of the Vino V pinot and taste it with some Copper River salmon and then sit around and listen to music! (This is how I broke the news to the Big Monkey–you be my dj and I’ll be your dancer and we’ll both do the drinking! You can imagine this suggestion was greeted with enthusiasm!)

Just to make it more interesting, and because I’ve become quite fond of NZ pinot noirs following the Wine Blogger’s Conference last October, I opened a bottle of Babich 2004 Lone Tree which I found on clearance for $8 at Vons. It typically retails between $15 and $20. babich pinot 2004 sm

The Vino V has super limited distribution but since they’re local, I was able to pick up a bottle that night from winemaker Michael Meagher who was hosting a winemaker dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Brooks.  It typicaly retails between $40 and $45 but for members of their email club, it’s 10% less or on special at $35 which is what I bought it for.

While we were preparing our dinner, we of course opened the wines and snacked a little on some simple wheat and flax organic crackers from Trader Joes. The Babich was room temperature rather than cellar temperature like the Vino V, which was especially important to the Vino V since it is 14.5% while the Babich is 13.5%.

At first there were many characteristics that we really liked about the Babich, and we liked it even more after we chilled it down a bit: it has a nice, earthy character, a generous nose, and surprising depth and complexity with notes of eucalyptus and truffle. We liked it with our simply prepared salmon, brown rice, fresh squash, and stuffed portabello dinner. But as the meal and the evening progressed, it seemed to grow harsh, and flat while the Vino V flourished. It was significantly more flavorful and complex–flat out more enjoyable, begging us to refill our glasses. It had plenty of flavor and character for our meal yet didn’t overwhelm the salmon either. The wine comes across balanced and has a lovely finish.

cooked copper river salmon

The next stage was to fullfill the legacy of the prompt: to taste the wine with various musical offerings and see how that changes the experience of the wine, enhancing or degrading it.

Honestly, it’s hard for me to imagine a wine such as this as ever being distasteful. But we did find that our experience of the wine changed depending on the music. Our musical choices ranged from Bruce Springsteen to Frank Sinatra to a spoken word piece of mine with music I arranged:

The bottom line on this prompt is that we really enjoyed selecting music from our hard drive, clicking play and then tasting the wine and talking about it and the music. This is one experiment we will do again!

Here are some really rough notes of the Vino V pinto noir with various musical pairings as well as the original prompt: Continue reading →