Category Archives: wine review

Wine Blogging Weds #65: Wines for Winter! Let it snow! No more rain!

What would you drink with a side of snow? That was this month’s Wine Blogging Wednesday prompt from Wine Girl who suggests that no matter where we live, we “imagine Snow. Snowmen, snow balls, igloos, snow trucks, snow … cold, cold snow. Then I want you to imagine what [wine] that makes you want to drink.” She continues, “With a valid story behind you, there’s no reason you can’t pop open a cognac, a brandy, or even bourbon.”

So as my hometown in southern California is getting battered by a week of wet and wild storms, and after a few days of filling some 30 sand bags and shoveling way too much mud during breaks in the rain, I am hiding out inside to face the monthly Wine Blogging Wednesday question: what to taste and what to drink? And this time complicated by the option of fortified wines and more!

My first thought was my go to evening wintry drink, port, maybe tasting one each from three continents–Portugal (naturally!), Australia (probably Jonesy), and a Kachina port that was in the gift bag at the Wine Bloggers Conference last summer (here’s a review of the Kachina port to indicate why I’m looking for a tasting occasion!)

But then I thought about the lovely madeira and the sherries I tasted with Esteban Calabezas in Portugal at the European Wine Bloggers Conference and realized I would have the perfect excuse to open the Gonzalez Byass Solera 1847 Oloroso Dulce I picked up from a tasting by the distributor, Henry Wine Group. I think I paid around $20 for it; online you can find it from $16-$30.

Then I was given a birthday present, a very special birthday present, and I knew that offered a choice, this beverage would be NUMBER ONE on any snow day. I was ACHING to pour it over fresh powder!

A stone mason, Janine Hegy, is staying with us in order to attend the Stone Foundation Symposium going on in town. On the night of my birthday, she presented me with a small glass of a very dark liquid over ice. The delicate gold laced glass she served it in had been one of my grandmother’s and it’s twice as old as I am. The cold temperature made it difficult to get much in the nose, but once in my mouth, I almost swooned. Amazing–it had the exact essence of a perfectly ripe blackberry picked from deep in the cool shadows of the bush on a hot summer day. With just the right amount of sweetness but not cloying, I could taste the pollen from the flowers, the earth it grew in. Bliss in a glass.

Janine had picked the organic berries from her property where they grow beside her barn and she made the drink herself using her grandmother’s recipe which she gave me to share here: In a one gallon jar place 5 quarts fresh, ripe, clean blackberries with 4 cups sugar and one bottle Korbel Brandy. Janine insists that it MUST be Korbel and only Korbel for the magic to take place. Store for two months in a cool dark place, stirring occasionally. Strain and bottle. Drink plain or over ice for a bit of heaven. A second, slightly less intense batch can be made using the same fruit by adding more Korbel Brandy.

She handed me a very small, very precious bottle holding maybe two jiggers. And I suppose I could taste it again and write about it for Wine Blogging Wednesday #65. But that’s not a fair choice for Wine Blogging Wednesday, eh? Something that rare, that special? Something that you can’t get your hands on unless you sneak into my house in the dead of night?

So I surveyed my options and went for the Sherry: Gonzalez Byass Solera 1847 Oloroso Dulce.

Now what I actually know about sherry would fit on the head of a cork (and yes this bottle is stoppered by a real cork). Esteban Cabeza gave me an abbreviated yet accelerated lesson in sherries, ports and madeiras at the European Wine Bloggers Conference which I was attending along with Jo Diaz thanks to our hosts Enoforum Wines.  I’d been in Portugal just over 24 hours and had had an amazing day and when I got my lesson,  it was getting late into the night. I’d lived a week in the previous 48 hours. I’m ashamed to say that I don’t remember as much as I wish about it all but I can tell you that it invigorated my curiousity about all things fortified! And as I learn, I will share it all here, of course!

Fortunately, the web has a wealth of information about just about everything, including, of course, sherries. According to Wikipedia, “Sherry is produced in a variety of styles, ranging from dry, light versions such as finos to darker and heavier versions known as olorosos, all made from the Palomino grape. Sweet dessert wines are also made, from Pedro Ximenez or Moscatel grapes.” With Esteban, I’d had

  • Manzanilla s straw colored (yellow) variety of fino Sherry, auestere but with a finish that lasted for months I swear
  • Amontillado a little darker, sweeter, less sharp than Manzanilla, easier to savor at first; it is aged under flor then exposed to oxygen

First off, this is not the same kind of sherry that I had it Portugal–this one’s an Oloroso which means ‘scented’ in Spanish and it’s aged oxidatively for a longer time than a fino or amontillado, making it a darker and richer wine and with an alcohol levels between 18-20%, more alcoholic.[10] And it’s made with 75% Palomino and 25% Pedro X.

In the glass, it’s cherry cola colored–like flat cherry cola, brown and kind of blah looking. As I drink some down, it gets more tawny colored and pretty–orange pink sunset colors shifting as I swirl the glass and the dark amber liquid catches the light.  Legs line the glass. When I stick my nose down in it, the color reminds me of a golden tiger eye.

What I’m saying here is what started out as a bland looking beverage on closer inspection has all the variances and depth of a winter sunset.

Hmmn, if I’m not careful I’m going to be picked up by the wine blogging police led by Jeff over at Good Grape for being too over the top! So what does it smell and taste like? I’m wondering that myself. Unlike the other two sherries I tasted with Esteban, this one is clearly sweet. But it doesn’t coat the tongue, it’s not syrupy, there’s some acid that cuts through.

Obviously I am in over my head but I’ll keep flailing away. And pour myself some more.

Ahh, that’s part of it–this one is tooo easy to drink. The other sherries I had in Portugal I just wanted to savor and marvel. This one, as far as sherries go in my very very limited experience, is somewhat simple. Sweet and simple. Here’s an analogy: if your basic sherry is like the  cheapest hollow  chocolate Easter bunny, maybe with some fake almond flavoring,  this would be like one of those Hershey kisses with an almond inside. No, actually more like a walnut.

Backing up now–what does it smell like? One website, The Wine Doctor,  describes it as having “axle grease” on the nose. Maybe I’m using the wrong glasses. What shape of glass am I supposed to be using to taste sherry, I wonder. I’m sure my new Reidel glases from Jo Diaz would do the trick–even if they are for syrah!

But there is something there I’m getting on the nose beyond the baked goods, carmelized sugar, raisins and nuts…Maybe if I had some axle grease handy to compare it with?

And finally, the finish. Sad to say, there isn’t much of one. What I’m longing for is the lingering long finish of those sherries I tasted. (Somewhere in the universe I swear I have notes on what those mythical sherries were!)

Is the  Gonzalez Byass Solera 1847 Oloroso Dulce sherry from Spain worth $20? Yes. I’m glad I bought it and I will enjoy drinking it. Is it what I’m hankering for? This is the third type of three sherries. Maybe I’m just not as big a fan of this style, or maybe this type of sherry at this price point.  But given the limited offerings in my home town, I’m grateful that I have this sherry around during this epic rainstorm here in southern California to keep me warm and cozy. And yes, and little baked too. I think I’ll have another splash of it before bedtime.

Wine Predator Arrives at the European Wine Bloggers Conference in Lisbon!

After 24 hours of travel, last night I arrived in Lisbon where Enoforum Wine’s Delfim Costa picked me up and escorted me to the VIP Hotel nearby –just in time to join in the evening’s festivities of dinner and tasting.

Most of the dishes on the buffet was new for me and I loved everything I tasted. Two kinds of octopus! Beans cooked in bacon or some variation of goodness using the flavor and fat from a pig (mmmn, bacon!)

But the real standouts of the evening were wines from Douro. The first I tasted was one that Delfim wrangled from one of the Douro Boys. It was spectacular and I swear I will find out what it was. Between us, Delfim suspected that it might be the best wine in the room. For me, it offered everything I want in a wine, especially a wine to enjoy with a meal. Keeping in mind that when I tasted it last night I was running on adrenline and no sleep having spent the previous 36 hours traveling! But my palate knows an amazing wine when one crosses it. This wine was complex–rich, full, fruit, yet also delicate notes of rose. I think I could taste a whole bottle of it and still be discovering nuances.

With my desserts, Delfim and I went in search of another red wine and some port. Well, the room was full of partially empty and completely empty bottles, but we found another red from Douro and a port (name to be inserted here soon!). Then we spied a 10 year tawny (name to be inserted here soon!), and the search was over. Delfim poured samples for me and himself as well as  his colleague Luis and Jo Diaz who organized the wine blogging contest from which I won my trip. It was a lovely tawny and I’d been hankering for some tawny for awhile so it was great to have that itch scratched. As the hour grew later, Delfim then Luis excused themselves, leaving Jo and I to talk and enjoy the tawny.

Earlier I’d watched with interest as one of the Douro Boys carried in a case. What treasures might be there? But as Jo and I were engaged in conversation, and happy with  the tawny, we continued as we were instead of joining the boisterous group at the other end of the room.

Fortunately for us, one of the Douro Boys (name to be inserted here!), brought over a white port, a very special old bottle of white port.

I am ruined. I’d never had a white port before (insert picture here!).  Now I’ve had one of the best, followed by a 1983 aged port which the Douro Boy served to us from a decanter to capture the sediments. Doubly ruined. The 1983 was fantastic–almost like Disney’s Fantasia, like a wind that purrs at times and other times pounces. It was like little cat feet dancing on my tongue. And for flavor–how to describe? Funny thing is the first descriptors are anise or licorice. I don’t like that flavor. Yet I loved it here. Jo found it too cold at first and smooth like silk satin. We both warmed ours up a little, and found more texture and more to the nose, which she described as velvet, as red and rich as a monk’s robes.

I brought the remnants of each into my room with me. When I tasted the 1983 again, it was all about SPICE SPICE SPICE! Like I had stuck my nose and my tongue into a spice cabinet! Eventually I narrowed it down to mostly cinnamon with some clove.

Come back to see the pictures, to click some links, and to see the names when I get a chance. In the meantime, here’s my first installment from the European Wine Bloggers Conference at the VIP Hotel in downtown Lisbon, Portugal!!

Greg Norman, Pinot Noir, Angels & those dam Yankees

UnknownTonight, since we don’t have TV, we went to a local Chinese restaurant  for dinner and to watch the Angels lose to the Yankees. My husband had a Firestone on draft. I wanted a glass of wine but the wines by the glass list was pathetic. Not much to choose from by the bottle either.

Yes, it was a really sad wine list and a really sad game for Angels fans. That was the game that ended the season for them. No World Series this year for my son to go to with his dad!

What was even more sad for me was that no one in the restaurant had a key to the display case which showed a few other oddball but interesting wines that weren’t on the list like full bottles of Justin Obtuse for $45 (which this blogger quotes the 2003 as being $75 retail while the winery sells the most recent vintage at $26. I thought I’d found it at the Ventura Wine Company for about $20). If I’m looking for a place to go have a drink and dessert with some friends, $45 for a bottle of port sounds like a great deal when so many places around town sells inferior shots of port for $10.

So, off the very sad list,  I chose a  Greg Norman 2007 Santa Barbara pinot noir to pair with my mu shoo pork. I guess he’s a famous golf guy. My husband the sports fan says that everybody has a wine now, even Tommy Lasorda has a wine. I’m not sure if I’d really want to have a Tommy Lasorda wine but if he wants to itch me a free sample, I’d be happy to catch it. I’ll even pitch him back a review and a photo of him with my son at 18 months and my husband  during their last spring training at Vero Beach.

Hey now there’s a concept waiting to happen–a celebrity wine bar which only serves wines produced by the rich and famous!

Anyway, I thought it a good, easy drinking wine,  not too heavy and not too light, in fact not too remarkable at all except to say that the color was surprisingly dark and that it was a good match for the mu shoo pork and a decent enough value at $27 when the winery retails it at $15. One reviewer said he got purple flowers. I don’t know about purple flowers. I’ve had the bottle open for a few hours now  and getting some interesting funk, some earth.The bottle says plum and black cherry; sure I’ll go along with that. But more powerful to me might be root beer, especially as, hours later, I am nearing the end of the bottle. (Well, actually there’s a generous glass there for tomorrow night!)

I also learned from this reviewer that this bottle made the cover of the September 30 Wine Spectator which is what motivated him to buy it and try it. In that article, Wine Spectator gushes:

Just when you think California Pinot Noir can’t get much better, it does. The variety has made tremendous strides since the beginning of this decade, with hundreds of exciting wines in a range of styles. The most recent releases represent a string of very good to excellent vintages, including 2004, 2005 and, to a lesser extent, 2006. Now comes 2007, offering the greatest assortment of outstanding wines in the 25 years senior editor James Laube has been tasting and writing about Golden State Pinot.

Would I seek it out over other California or New Zealand pinots? Probably not, unless I was hosting some golf geeks, I guess; my good friend Jane might get a kick out of it. Did I enjoy it with my mu shoo pork? Yes, absolutely. It’s pleasant and it’s growing on me. Is it a good value at $15? There are many NZ pinots that I like better for that price point. And I’ve has some amazing California pinots at various tastings at the Wine Bloggers Conference and other events, but I wonder how many of those retail for under $20. One of my favorite pinots is also from Santa Barbara County–from Vino V–but it retails for quite a bit more than this one.

Here’s the review by the Atlanta Wine Guy, the guy who got the purple flowers.

WBC 09: visiting Ridge & other adventures before the conference

In this post “Art PredaBaby Beluga VW Westy at Ridgetor/Wine Predator  Off to the 2009 Wine Bloggers Conference in Sonoma” I describe how I found a way to get into the already full Wine Blogger’s Conference.

From my post “Some winery inspired poetry from Ridge’s blog”.

On my way up to the  Wine Bloggers Conference 2009 in Santa Rosa Sonoma County CA, I stopped at Ridge Winery. Even though Ridge is probably my favorite winery in Caliornia, partly because I got my start there and partly because they make GREAT wine, I haven’t been back since my last day working in the tasting room a million years ago.

It’s changed quite a bit. For one, there is a tasting room, not just a picnic table set up outside. And there are lots more picnic tabl up on the Ridge at Ridge in the Santa Cruz Mountains es, many of them under a shade structure.

The views are the same–spectacular–and so is the wine. Honestly, I’d forgotten how wonderful it feels up there close to the sky, looking out over the fog fingers to the mountains ringing the SF Bay. And the wine, everything I tasted was lovely, full of perfect impressions of pleasure onto my palate.

I was spurred to visit for several reasons, one being that I discovered Ridge’s blog recently–it was started only a few months ago–and I really liked the writing there.

So I was overjoyed when, even though the tasting room is officially only open on weekends, they let me in–and I spent some time tasting wine and talking wine, writing, and blogging with tasting room manager and chief Ridge blogger, Christopher Watkins, who has an MFA in poetry.Ridge tasting area

For his one year anniversary at Ridge, he posted a series of poems about life about there. So, in honor of the Wine Blogger’s Conference, and for this week’s edition of the poetry train, instead of offering some of my poetry, I give you Christopher Watkins, who I will be nominating for a wine blogger award next year. Enjoy.

Crisp autumn morning;
a deer heart’s worth of inno-
cence stirs my soul.

In a clearing, the
new wind reminds me, you can
fall off a mountain.

At the insistence
of the wind, thin mountain brush
fidgets, pointing east.

Birdless, the wind-swept
air; snakeless, the cold, dry soil;
empty, my mouth, of words.

As might a painter’s
palette imitate the sky,
I try the mountain.

The wind, stripping our
revisions away, reveals
the first masterpiece.

Stone greets vine-root, brush
greets breeze, sun greets fog  — Grateful,
I take autumn’s hand.

If terroir is a
sense of place, then my soul is
a moveable wine.

From my post “On the way to WBC 2009”:

Following my nostalgic tasting adventure at Ridge on Thursday–a minerally, bright, balanced food friendly 07 S Cruz Mountains chard, a lively young Dry Creek 07 zin full of black fruit, a 07 Paso Robles zin from 85 year old vines smoother and full of red fruits like cranberry and raspberry, followed by two zin splits: a lively, minty 07 Geyserville zin, and ending with a 06 rich, thick, creamy and yet puckery Lytton  Springs–”Baby Beluga” (that’s the name of my 90 white Westy VW van you see in the Ridge lot) and I continued up 101 to Santa Rosa to help conference organizer Reno Walsh and a few other volunteers stuff 265 True-ly nifty natural fiber wine bags with goodies. I can’t wait to try the Kachina Port with the chocolates from the Sonoma County Winegrape Commission or the Pinot Noir Chocolate cherries from Bouchaine using one of several openers we received while reviewing info on one of several removable drives!)

I was going to have a quiet evening reviewing the materials in my bag and munching on chocolates. But then Joel Vincent, one of the organizers and the man behind the Open Wine Consortium, invited me to join a group for dinner at a restaurant he found using Yelp and Twitter.

Ten of us walked down from the Flamingo Hotel to Monti’s restaurant where, as soon as we were seated, everyone turned over their menus to look at the wine list! Now that’s a first for me, and very fun to hear everyone’s comments. To celebrate Continue reading →

Wine Blogging Weds #62: By Any Other Name–Primitivo? Zinfandel?

Sobon Family Wine Primitivo and Old Vine ZinIt started with some tweet I saw on twitter that caught my attention, some conversation about primitivo, a varietal I’d heard of but only tasted in a barrel sample at Old Creek Road Winery which surprised me because it tasted nothing like its clone, zinfandel. Nothing. Really.

So I joined the conversation and next thing I know @sobonwine is asking if I’d like to try it and if so he needed my address to send me a bottle. Sure thing I say! Send it to my cellar at my mom’s house!

“Oh, I keep forgetting to tell you,” says my mom one day. “There’s some wine here for you. A small box. Sawbawn?”

Now if she’d said primitivo I would have known right away.   But she didn’t because 1) she didn’t open the box and 2) she doesn’t drink wine or give a fig about it so I had to flip through the files in my brain and then I had a suspect: could it be the Sobon primitivo had actually arrived?

Not only was it the Sobon Primitivo, but Robert Sobon also sent me a bottle of their Old Vines Zinfandel from Amador County to try. Did he snoop around my blog and see I was a sucker for old vine zins? One of my favorite zins from when I worked at Ridge was Amador County’s Fiddletown, and of course Sobon produces wines from there–they even have a vineyard right next to the one where Ridge sources their wines.

Plus Robert Sobon sent both wines not knowing that the next Wine Blogging Wednesday prompt from host Dale Cruse would be “A Wine by Any Other Name.” We both got lucky!

Since my dear friend Jane was in town from Long Island and going to be joining us for dinner on Tuesday night, I knew I had not one, but three people to join in and lend their opinions. So last night in the rain, we decided to bring the wine with us to Ferraros, our favorite local Italian restaurant since I suspected the primitivo would pair wonderfully with their flavorful spicy red sauce.

Our server opened the wine for a $10 corkage and although I offered a taste to Betty Ferraro a few times, she passed it up leaving more for us (too bad daughter Sarah wasn’t there–I know she would have loved a sample!)

Admittedly, Ferraro’s doesn’t have the fanciest wine glasses, and the lighting is dim, but once we got over the first shock of alcohol (15%), the wine opened up a little and we all kept saying how good it was, and how much it didn’t taste like zinfandel. It was almost like we were surprised by how good and interesting it was. It went great with our salads with blue cheese dressing, with our garlic bread and then with our entrees: Jane and I had manicotti with meat sauce on special and the Big Monkey had rigoletti with broccoli and a side of red sauce. My husband, who often makes fun of my passion for wine, kept refilling his and our glasses until I had to remove the bottle from the table so I could be sure to have some to compare with the zin!

Sobon Family Wines is a “Green Drink” as Sobon Estate is a family-owned winery with a reputation for producing the best possible wines using low-yield viticulture and minimum intervention wine making techniques; the wines are made with their own sustainably-grown grapes which “reflect the unique Shenandoah Valley terroir, resulting in a richness and intensity rarely seen elsewhere” according to their website.

Practicing sustainability is important to me, but the bottom line is whether a wine is any good or not which we established that yes it was verygood and then the next order of business is: what did it taste like? Jane and I agreed we thought the primitivo was earthy, smoky, musky, rich, heavy; the fruit reminded me almost like black cherry cola, the sweetness of root vegetables like beets. These are not any of the descriptors I remember ever having used for a zin. And it was fabulous with the food.

Then we came home, threw the kids in the bath, and I opened the Old Vines Zin. Now this is a zin and it tastes like a zin. My first reaction was “ahhhh” and then there was floral…old vines, the roses and violets of an older graceful woman, old zin, yes, I thought to myself. Lots of stone fruit, Jane and I agreed, and it was clearly red plum for me, none of that typical brambleness I expect to find in the Dry Creek Valley zins I love. Even though this zin is 14.9% alcohol, close to the primitivo, we didn’t experience the alcohol as much, possibly because our house is cooler than the warm restaurant. We were all amazed that this retails in the $10-15 range.

The color is clearly different as well. The primitivo has more of a golden tone to it than the zin which is more purely pinks. The primitivo isn’t the more rusty hue of an older vintage, but more golden in contrast to the pink of the zin. There’s more depth to the color of the primitivo as well.

Sobon suggest pairing the primitivo wine with lamb, and I’d be tempted to try it with lamb cooked on the grill. I could also see it with mushrooms. Possibly the best pairing would be a pizza with mushrooms and lamb…

Definitely going to have to have this primitivo again and see!

BTW, the Primitivo, which has won two gold medals, retails between $20 and $25, and as I mentioned at the beginning, Robert Sobon was generous enough to send me the bottles so I could try them.

Thanks to Dale Cruse for the great  “Wine Blogging Wednesday” prompt! In a few days, he’ll offer a round up of all the wines reviewed by participants so go check it out!

WBW # 56: Better Late than Later–Herzog’s Fine Kosher Wines on Earth Day

wbw-new1Now that Passover is over, Herzog Winery’s Tasting Room is open again and back in business–and David and I went over there to check it out.

The ten year old facility looks brand new; it’s impressive, state of the art, and well laid out to serve a variety of functions from small, intimate tastings and classes to inside and outside hosted meetings. The public rooms have high ceilings, possibly 30 feet or more, but it’s well sound proofed with inviting lighting and nice appointments throughout–not overly done and decorated but  classy and comfortable.

When we walked in, we were greeted by receptionists at the counter as if we were at a major business–which we were! To the right is the business side of the winery and to the left the eating and drinking side–where we were headed. A self guided tour takes visitors upstairs where fine art hangs and to see the rest of the facility. Guided tours are also available.

The wine store is well stocked with jams, mustard, wine stuff, and lots and lots of wine which they are more than happy to sell. We were surprised by the international wines on display; the tasting room host told us that Herzog is the biggest importer and distributor of Kosher wines in the world. Amazing–we had no idea that the business was so big. They also import and distribute Kosher Cognac and other spirits.

Our host, David, was friendly, personable, and knowledgeable which we appreciated since we had hoped to attend a $10 wine tasting class that night which was sold out. Later when people left the class, they were pleased with what they’d learned and immediately came to the counter to taste more and make some purchases.

Herzog offers two levels of tastings. Suite 1 is $3 and features Baron Herzog label while the $6 flight shows off their reserve label.

We went for the higher end reserve tasting. Overall, the wines were well balanced, with nice clarity and color, reasonable alcohol content, some nice light oak, and they go well with food. Since it was Earth Day, we were also happy to learn that most of the vineyards from which they get their juice use sustainable practices.

We started with Continue reading →

WBW#56 FAIL!

As planned, after Green Drinks in Camarillo (where they served an interesting selection of wines form around the world which doesn’t seem to green to me), my friend Sheila and I went to Herzog to sample their fine Kosher wines.

Where we didn’t find a soul or a car in the parking lot. We did find a small sign int eh window which said they closed early that day, at 5pm and would be closed until Sunday April 19.

I poked around a bit but neglected to turn up anything which looked like fine Kosher wine to me so I guess I’m passing on this one, although next Wednsday the winemaker is holding a special tasting and discussion of Kosher wines which I will take advantage of. Just gotta ask one question: why couldn’t they haev done that tasting BEFORE they closed for passover? Am I missing something that maybe had to do with sunset on the day before?

Maybe I’ll get an exception…we’ll see. Anyway, watch for a post about fine Kosher wine NEXT week sometime!