Two questions: Where do you cellar your wine? And what should I drink from mine?
in the late 1950s, my grandfather built a wine cellar into the hillside of his house, the floor made from water-washed Japanese stones used as ballast in a ship almost a hundred years ago.
He enjoyed his wine, but it didn’t take anything too exotic to please him–he drank chianti by the jug, the more unusual or interesting wines in the cellar supplied by friends. One day I will inventory what’s there and see if any of it is drinkable, much less valuable for more than a conversation or two.
Conveniently for me, my grandfather’s nearly empty wine cellar is less than a mile from my house as the crow flies, right up the hill from where we live near the beach. It’s just far enough away to keep me from ransacking it regularly, and it allows me to forget exactly what’s in there allowing the wine to age well past what it would if it was underneath our house which also maintains cellar like temperatures most of the year.
For this Remy Charest’s Wine Blogging Wednesday, I decided to do syrahs (no surprise to anyone who knows my fondness for them!), and to compare Vino V’s White Hawk syrah with something from Down Under. So yesterday I headed up to the cellar to see what I had stored that would be a worthy competitor to Michael Meagher’s wine. Continue reading →
In this month’s Wine Blogging Wednesday, host Remy Charest the Wine Case challenges us to taste, to discuss, and to blog about not one but two wines: one from the “south” and one from the “north.”
I met Remy at the Wine Bloggers Conference last October when we strolled the vineyards of Quivera with a small group then I sat next to him at lunch. Now I often visit his blog and I follow him on Twitter, so I was happy to find out he was offering this month’s prompt which includes these closing words:
The one restriction is that the wines should be comparable in nature: Bordeaux blends from Bordeaux and Australia, sauvignon blanc from the Loire and from California, cabernet franc from the Niagara and Long Island, riesling from Washington State and Spring Mountain, etc. If you compare a Barossa shiraz with a chablis… well there just isn’t much actual comparing to do, right?
You have until March 18 to find these wines, taste them – and while you’re at it, see how they compare with a same dish. Put your tasting notes up on your blog, put up a link as a comment on this blog, and you’re all set. Heck, if you don’t have a blog, you can just put up a tasting note as a comment here, and I’ll include it in my roundup, on the weekend of the 21st of March – the official beginning of spring.
Cheers to everyone, and thanks a bunch to Lenn Thompson, founder of the WBW, for letting me in on the fun.
How to decide what to drink? A French Rhone wine with a California or Australian style rhone? A coupla GSMs perhaps like Twisted Oak’s with one from AUS? A California favorite like a syrah with an AUS favorite syrah from Grateful Palate? What about a northern California syrah and a southern California one? Hmmn, I’ve been wanting to try Vino V’s Michael Meagher’s Syrah–maybe this is finally the time!
Notice any trends? Bet I’ll be writing about something red for Wednesday!
What is it they say about good intentions? The road is paved with them?
Jeez, I must have a whole freeway system…
Last month I found out that Wine Blogging Weds #51 asked for Baked Goods: what to drink for dessert, specifically madeira…yummy! I enjoy a good glass of dessert wine many evenings, and was thrilled for an excuse to test drive madeira–except I couldn’t find any. I did have on hand a few Australians: Jonesy Port, as always, as well as a 2002 Lillypilly Noble Blend sweet white wine and a 2002 Hazy Blur Baroota Late Picked Shiraz I was itching to try which I picked up from the Grateful Palate.
But Nov 12 came and went in a blur of birthday festivities for my boy and so did Wine Blogging Wednesday #51 leaving me waiting for WBW # 52 : Chilean Value Reds.
Back in college in the 80s, I used to drink a lot of Chilean wines under $5. Gato Negro and Gato Blanco as I recall and a few others from the Maipo valley were the $2 Buck Chucks of the day. This was before everyone and their sister in the US were growing grapes and were making wine.
Finding an interesting Chilean under $20 and drinking it and writing it up by the next WBW, Weds Dec. 10, would be no problem I figured. Well here it is Tuesday Dec 9 and I am still empty handed when it comes to a Chilean Red Under $20.
I started at the best local wine retail outlet, The Ventura Wine Company, and glanced around. Last time I was there but nothing caught my eye (except the Whirling Dervish Sauv Blan once again) so I emailed David of the blog Vinomadic for some suggestions. He’s spent quite a bit of time in Argentina and wants to import some of their smaller, sustainable wines here.
He emailed back a few suggestions including links to Kingston Vineyards and Organic Vintners. Unfortunately, i’d have to drive 30 minutes to get to a store which carries the Kingston and it’s too late to order anything from Organic Vintners.
David and I did check a Ralph’s in Sherman Oaks which offered two wines and we split the cost of the one on sale for $22, forgetting that the WBW is for Chilean Wines UNDER $20. The merlot wasn’t particularly memorable (I don’t even remember what it was!) so I left it behind with David to see how it might develop over time. Earlier David had opened a bottle of Twisted Oak and not much could follow that beautiful GSM which is a steal at $25 a bottle:.
2005 Calaveras County Asterisk Percent Pound Ampersand At Exclamation (Red Blend, Mourvedre Syrah Grenache) Arrrr, the name of this wine is so disgusting that the Scurvy Dogs who provide our web site can’t even print the title… More Details
Yesterday, I desperately searched the shelves of Vons (two more Chilean wines which failed to move me toward the checkout counter although I did pick up a 6 pack of Alaska’s Winter Ale complete with real spruce!! yummy!), I scavenged at my favorite wine store, Big Lots and came up with some interesting wines: a mysterious Tistyra 2000 merlot in a very impressive bottle (hope it tastes as good!), Artisan’s 2005 Napa Cab, and Parson’s Creek Old Vines 1999 zin ($3). Nothing like the steal of the Jamieson Canyon 2002 Napa Cab for $4 which I found for sale on the web for $25. Next I tried Smart and Final; I came home instead with a few bottles from clearance: Chateau Greysac 2001 Medoc for $14, a BV Chard for $14, and two bottles of Bonterra Chard for $8 each.
Lots of interesting wines for under $20 but still no Chilean Red. I am going to try the Ventura Wine Company once more. I might even be making a road trip…
Two questions: Where do you cellar your wine? And what should I drink from mine?
But Nov 12 came and went in a blur of birthday festivities for my boy and so did Wine Blogging Wednesday #51 leaving me waiting for 
bottle of 
wine predator.............. gwendolyn alley 