Wine Lethargy

Maybe it's the heat, or the fact that there have been few wines I've tasted this week which have really stood out. Or that I'm just easing back into bloggerdom after the holiday weekend. Whatever the case, for the time being I got nothin' man.

Hopefully, after a day at the office and some time spent at Terroir tomorrow night, I'll be newly energized and ready to roll.

Back in the Saddle

Well, Labor Day has passed by and, though some of the sunnier, warmer days are possibly still ahead of us in northern California, summer's come and gone. Here is a quick run-through of a few wines I've drunk over the past week, and then more in-depth stuff tomorrow and later in the week.

2007 Grange Tiphaine Bel Air Sec Touraine Amboise

60-70 year old Chenin Blanc vines produce the grapes that make this delicious, dry white. Great intensity and minerality.

2006 Goisset St. Bris

A solid sauvignon de st bris, this wine slowly opens up to show broad citrus flavors - think kafir lime - with a touch of herbaceous green notes and intense minerality. Rich, complex, and very Pouilly Fume-like. One to cellar for a few years.

2007 Nathalie & Christian Chossard 'You are so Nice' Cot - Gamay

Here is a most naturally made 'natural wine.' Organic farming, working towards biodynamic, natural fermentation, malolactic which begins and ends naturally, and a minimal amount of sulphur added only immediately prior to bottling. Lots of enticing cot aromas on the nose: violets, barnyard and dusty purple fruits. Not showing a whole lot on the palate, this wine really disappointed, my first Dressner imported Loire wine disappointment. Could just be travel sick, will try another one in a month.

Hip-hop Friday, featuring Ice Cube

What can I say, it's a video Friday kind of day. Sometimes you just want to post music videos, you know? The hot summer weather really gets me in the mood for laid back west coast jams like this one. And yes, today was a good day....

The Pixies - Levitate Me

Critical, popular and fellow artists' (most famously Kurt Cobain's) favorites, I present to you...The Pixies!

A trio of '99 Bdx

As you may recall from a few past posts (here's one), I am a fan of '99 bordeaux. They are soft, full of pure, juicy fruit, higher than usual acidity, and at this point in their development, a complete lack of the blocky, chewy, built for Napa cab and near exclusive red wine drinkers type of structure. These are wines for French comfort food, clarets for drinkers of cooler climate reds, elegant wines to linger over and enjoy with good company in a softly lit den or dining room. That having been said, I tasted these three within 5 minutes of each other, in the comparably sterile surroundings of the K&L tasting room in Redwood City, California, on a near 100 degree day. If I loved 'em this much given these conditions, I can't wait to drink them in Fall in the comfort of my apartment or a local restaurant.

1999 Haut Bailly Pessac-Leognan

Last time I tried this wine, I was really shocked by how dry and chewy the tannins were on the finish: not at all typical for this property or the vintage. Clearly I had tasted an unhappy bottle, as this time the wine was much, much better. Elegant, red fruited wine, with well integrated minerality and acidity. Smooth texture, great balance and just really elegant.

1999 Lynch Bages Pauillac

Young Lynch Bages is typically muscular black currants, with very savory green peppercorn and eucalypt notes playing supporting roles. I haven't had many mature Lynch Bages, though what I have had tastes like softened versions of the above descriptions. Distinctive but not to my taste. I'd have loved to try this wine when it was released, however, as I suspect it would have been quite different, even out of barrel. Terrific perfume, a medley of red and black fruits, coffee liqueur and a touch of damp earth. Very soft, layered and delicate on the palate - is this really Lynch Bages? Quite good.

1999 Pavie-Macquin St. Emilion
Plenty of black truffle, dark cherry, nutmeg and other assorted spice aromas you get with well made, not overdone right bank Bordeaux. Very fresh and bright, focused fruit on the palate, with terrific elegance and length. This was my favorite wine of 25 tasted today, and in the running for my favorite out of maybe 75 or so tasted this week.

On a somewhat related note, I also tasted two high profile 2001 vintage Bordeaux: Leoville-Barton and Cos d'Estournel. The former was agreeable, not world changing but I think fairly well made and surprising in that I actually liked it. The Cos, however was awful. Truly terrible, undrinkable, like nearly any other of their recent wines I have had the misfortune of trying. Jean Guillaume Prats, I believe, is robbing the masses, charging what he does for these unacceptable wines. With the recent change in ownership, I guess that we can look forward to Montelena churning out equally awful wines within the next several years.

Shopping at Corti Brothers: One of the best Italian specialty foods markets is in…Sacramento?

More than a few folks have had to hear me gripe about the lack of high quality Italian food in the Bay Area. Good Neapolitan style pizza? You can probably count your choices on one hand, with a couple fingers to spare. Good Italian restaurants? While I admit I have some more dining exploration to do, based on my few experiences thus far, as well as what I’ve heard from a few people in the know, I’m not too optimistic. Italian specialty deli and specialty shops? Lucca’s can’t be beat for reasonably priced prosciutto and the like, but is not known for a great variety of wines, cheeses or other specialty products.

So when I first heard about the Corti Brothers store from my girlfriend’s parents, who live in Sacramento, I must admit that I harbored a bit of skepticism – all of which quickly disappeared upon first checking out the store’s website (I might add that had I done my homework, Iwould have expected nothing less than the best; I'd have known that Darryl Corti is revered throughout the country for his exhaustive knowledge of all things food and wine). While the array of traditional foodstuffs was impressive, what really caught my attention was Mr. Corti’s write-ups. Explanations were succinct but detailed, the sentences short and simple but presenting the reader with everything you could ever want to know about these traditional, centuries old, treasured products. As an example, check out the description for Consorcio’s canned fishes. I cannot stand tuna fish; it’s a deeply ingrained dislike of mine and I’ll spare you the details. Anyway, even when in Spain where the tuna is much better, I cannot bring myself to order even a tapa of the stuff. However, having read Darryl Corti’s Consorcio tuna write-up, I could not resist purchasing a small tin of the ventrasca tuna this past Sunday, fully expecting it to be every bit as exquisite as he describes. I exercised restraint, limiting my purchases to just several items: straw colored, delicate acacia honey, rich amber hued, slightly bitter chestnut honey, hearty fussili pasta from Puglia, and delicious, flat, rusty brown Sicilian almonds – man were these good. They are so different from any other almonds I’ve ever eaten; they literally tasted of marzipan in whole nut form, with the essence of a maraschino cherry thrown in as well.

Since we had a state fair to head to, I did not have the opportunity to fully explore the shop, just a quick glance through the wines and some of the above mentioned comestibles. I look forward to a return trip when I have more time to think about what I really want to buy. For anyone living in or visiting the Bay area, Corti Brothers is a store you ought to visit, absolutely worth the trek to Sacramento. Just be prepared to keep a running tally of the cost of your purchases, they do quickly add up….

Tondonia Reserva '99 and Bosconia Reserva '00

Both of these wines are light, dilute feeble wines from the most noble of Spanish wine regions, Rioja. Drinkable, but not exciting. And what awful, limpid color! 81 pts for the Tondonia, 83 pts for the Bosconia.

I joke, I joke...so I tasted both of these side by side today and would like to share the experience. Later in the week I will post what will probably be a rather long entry on Lopez de Heredia and a recent visit there, but for now I thought I'd provide a couple of brief tasting notes and something of a teaser for the future LdH post.

Lopez de Heredia makes three reserva level wines: one white, Viña Tondonia Blanco (composed of Viura and Malvasia from the Tondonia vineyard, current release: 1989), Viña Tondonia and Viña Bosconia. Other than vineyard site, the main difference between these two wines is that the former typically has 75% tempranillo, the latter 80%. Aesthetically speaking, the Tondonia is bottled in a bordeaux bottle while Bosconia is in a Burgundy shaped one. Which, judging by my growing yet still relatively limited drinking experience with LdH, is a suggestion that carries over to the actual taste of these wines.

The 2000 Viña Bosconia Reserva has 80% tempranillo, 15% Garnacha, 3% Graciano and 2% Mazuelo (carignane). It shows intense, spicy cherry and strawberry aromas. Amazingly bright and high-toned red fruits on the palate, with a combination of tense, yet rich fruit flavors framed by a suggestion of lightly toasted bread. While 'the 99 Bosconia Reserva was delicious, there seems to be a bit more intensity and flavor lingering underneath the surface of this 2000. Probably won't be at its best for another few years, and should improve for at least 4-5 years beyond that.

As for the 1999 Viña Tondonia Reserva (75% Tempranillo, 15% Garnacha, 5% Graciano, 5% Mazuelo), it seems to be an especially subtle, but classy, bottle. While the requisite darker fruit is present on the nose, the palate is quite a bit less rich than usual. Tangy cherries, cinnamon stick, plum skins and blood oranges represent some of the flavor elements here, with some cocoa powder as well. If Bosconia is typically 'Burgundian,' than I would compare Tondonia to lighter, higher acid clarets or even aged Chinon (of course these wines are original statements all their own and defy comparison; I mention it here just as a frame of reference). One fellow taster noted mushroom aromas, another a sort of old school, mature Napa cab aspect to the palate. While it's tasty now, I probably wouldn't forget about this bottle in a cellar for over 5 years, though who knows? When wine has been slowly aged in older oak and thus exposed to air for as long as this one has, sometimes it can surprise with its ability to hang on to its freshness in the bottle.

While these wines are not inexpensive, nor are they always easily appreciated by the uninitiated (though I've certainly observed some wine newbies enthusiastically enjoy them), I still wholeheartedly maintain that they are amongst the most interesting, food-friendly, and highest quality $35-$45 wines available.