Blind flight of red, Blind flight of white.

Last week was another exciting meeting of the motley crew of wine retailers, importers, home contractors and others which currently comprise my monthly tasting group. Benjamin selected the wines and did an absolutely killer job bringing some cool stuff. Especially considering the fact that he has kids and is in the middle of escrow, which I imagine keeps him more than a little busy. I thought that I would do things a bit differently with this recap. Wines for each flight will be listed with my personal tasting notes, in reverse order of our group's ranking (worst to first). Then I will reveal the wines with some further commentary.

WHITES

WINE A3
This wine was awful. Cooked, green nose. Not good green. A combo of green and weird tropical notes on the palate. It's gotta be NZ sauv blanc, I was thinking. A consensus last pick.

WINE A2
Very mineral on the nose, with a fairly decent wollop of new oak as well. This reminded me of WINE A1, with more fruit, of a sweeter quality, and a richer mid-palate.

WINE A1
Apple and melon rind on the nose. A whiff of salt peanuts. On the palate the wine is fresh, clean and shows a lot of fruit and balancing acid, with nuanced, balanced oak. Folks were thinking Graves on this, while I was thinking higher quality California SB. Mow that I think of it, Gary called northeastern Italian Sauvignon Blanc.

WINE A4
In addition to being the group pick, this wine was my clear favorite. Clearly it had a bit of bottle age, with a slightly leesy quality adding dimension to the the intense green apple skin aromas. The wine showed citrus zest galore on the incredibly lively palate. Very intense, electric. Acidity, very high. My style of wine. To me, this was clearly good quality Pouilly Fume, from a cooler vintage. I was guessing '04.

Well, you will notice that the probable theme here is Sauvignon Blanc. And the wines were:
A1 - San Michele Appiano Sanct Valentin Sauvignon Blanc Alto Adige 2003
A2 - Didier Dagueneau Pouilly Fume 'Pur Sang' 2003
A3 - Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough 2004
A4 - Didier Dagueneau Pouilly Fume 'Blanc Fume' 2004

2/4, so not a bad personal showing there. But what a call on the Italian SB for Gary - I'd have never guessed that! The '03s were tough to call: so ripe that they appear to be from the new world. That having been said, they are still very fresh and vibrant, though the '03 Pur Sang just is not my type of wine, nor do I think it ever will be.

RED WINES

B1 - After the SB theme, I stuck my nose into this glass and thought that maybe we'd be doing obscure Loire reds. Was this cot? Clearly this was merely a case of thematic suggestion, as the wine was a whole other story on the palate. It tasted of dark cherries - rich, young, spicy fruit. Probably southern French.
B2 - The nose on this seemed brighter and more red fruited than the wine below. Same on the palate, though its clipped finish showed some astringency. A bit hot. OK, now I suspect we're dealing with southern Rhone wines. Cotes du Rhone or chateauneuf du pape.
B4 - This one appeared to be at least 4 years older than the others. More faded, opaque, brick color. Indian spices and cooked cherries on the nose. It was muddled and not fresh on the nose, a little bit more fresh on the palate. At this point it was pretty clear that we were dealing with Chateauneuf du Pape. I nailed the vintage on this guy, but thought that the others were a lot younger - '05s to be exact.
B3 - Here's the super modern cuvee. Flashy, new oak. Jammy black cherries. Extracted. This could basically be from any number of places: Ribera del Duero, Portugal, Bordeaux. Something about the wine in the context of this flight, however that people really enjoyed. I voted it second favorite, in a grouping of wines I did not much like.

B1 - Vieux Telegraphe Chateaneuf du Pape 'La Crau' 2000
B2 - Grand Veneur Chateauneuf du Pape 2000
B3 - Domaine de la Mordoree Chateauneuf du Pape 'Cuvee de la Reine Des Bois'2000
B4 - Domaine Font de Michelle Chateauneuf du Pape 2000

Once the wines were revealed, we discussed how we all thought they were a bit alcoholic, not the kinds of wines we would typically crack open and enjoy. Nonetheless, they showed much better with Benjamin's hearty lamb stew, prepared lovingly with a bottle of chateauneuf du pape.

Can a Bay Area Brother Get some Matzoh???

Most area stores in the Bay Area, from the local neighborhood markets to the likes of Whole Foods, are completely sold out of matzoh. This apparently happened as of Saturday (the day prior to night one of the Passover holiday). What the fuck??!

I'm not the most observant Jew. I am not a regular synagogue goer. Read this blog and the occasional pork reference will surface. Nonetheless, there are certain traditions I uphold, and one of them involves keeping Passover, more or less. No bread, no pasta, no pie, no cake. I don't take it to what I believe are ridiculous extremes due to custom and rabbinical interpretations over the years (i.e., no beer because it has barley, nothing sweetened with fructose, no rice unless you are a sephardic Jew). I generally have matzoh everyday during Passover: with butter; peanut butter; olive oil and zatar; hummus; scrambled eggs; and definitely with tomato paste, melted cheese and a secret blend of seasonings as matzoh pizza.

Who is to blame for the shortage? There are a few theories. I'm not buying into these. Manischevitz ain't the only game in town. Buyers need to plan ahead, do their homework and adjust as necessary. So I will now have to add matzoh to the growing list of foods which the Bay Area is apparently incapable of providing: bagels; deli; pizza; fine dining (and casual) authentic italian. Let me know if I left out anything.

Suffice it to say, I am unlikely to buy Manischevitz products anytime soon, or any Passover products from Whole Foods in the future. From now on, it's Streitz, straight up.

2002 Sky Zinfandel Mt. Veeder

This is the kind of cool California wine that rarely makes an appearance back east, but is fairly readily available here on the west coast. I suppose that I have been on something of a zin posting bender of late, but in both cases I think they both more than merit the individual posts. Sky makes zin the old fashioned way: full of spice, acidity, and yes, even some grippy tannins. In other words there is more to them than a lot of fruit, high alcohol, and simple front-mid palate flavors. This wine smells a touch lactic, but not to the point where it is bothersome. Cherries on the nose, leaning a bit towards the Robitussin side of things, kick things off in an unexpected, italianate, dare I say Piemontese way. The color as well is lighter and reminds me of Nebbiolo. On the palate there is terrific acidity, as I mentioned earlier, and a real sense of tension. Tension in Zinfandel? In this one, yep. It's right up there with Joseph Swan's fanstastic 2002 Sonoma Zin in terms of elegance, brightness, and touching multiple points of the palate.

Sky Vineyards is located 2100 feet up eastern facing vineyards on Mount Veeder. They farm sustainably and by all indications, from folks who I know have visited and from the way the wine tastes, make wine in a decidedly natural, non-interventionist fashion. Owner/winemaker/artist Lore Olds also designs the labels each year. More info here.

THE JUNKYARD BAND - SARDINES

Two things I learned about this:

1.) It was released by Def Jam
2.) Produced by Rick Rubin.

For more JYB flavor, visit this earlier post:

http://oldworldoldschool.blogspot.com/search?q=sardines

A Mag of the 'Doon Cardinal Zin!

We are selling mags of the 2002 Bonny Doon Cardinal Zin for a very reasonable price. I thought I'd buy one and give it a test run; if it were to show well I'd buy some more to have around for unexpected guests, or for times when the 'drink now' pile is lean and I don't want to dip into the cellar.

The wine is sound. A reasonable 13.5% alcohol was promising to see on the label. At first the wine was ok, with some tiny red berry fruits and decent acidity, but a very clipped finish, and not too much expansion on the palate. After an hour or so, though, the wine really improved - more expansive on the mid-palate in particular.

Randall Graham is one of America's more intelligent voices when it comes to the elaboration and enjoyment of wine. While I think that the overall quality of his wines is just ok these days (maybe that's not fair - the last time I tasted through most of his offerings was 2 years ago), he is an important person in the US wine world and has done a lot of good for the business. He has promoted competently made American expressions of classic Rhone style wines and riesling, and packaged them in cool Ralph Steadman designed labels which attract people to them and encourage a consumer to go for one instead of an Echelon Pinot Noir or some such other basura.

Anyhoo, at $8 per mag I think I better buy some more.

Why, at this early stage, I prefer '06 to '05 in the Rhone

Recently I tasted some Languedoc and Rhone valley wines primarily from the '05 and '06 vintages. Based on the few young '06s that I had, I think that I will relate to 2006 and enjoy it more than the 2005 in this neck of the woods. A chart of some key differences (in general, bearing in mind that there are always exceptions):

2005 IN THE RHONE | 2006 IN THE Rhone |
Monolithic, brawny| nuanced, lighter
Dense, chewy | Layered, feathery
Sweet, plodding | Tangy, brisk

So here's a 2006 wine, not from the Rhone, but nearby Languedoc (Pic Saint Loup to be exact) which shows the virtues of the vintage. Beau Thorey Bogus Vin de Table 2006 is biodynamic, delicious, Carignane based wine, with a dash of Black Muscat thrown in for perfume. Its lifted, floral bouquet leads to a fresh, transparent palate with loads of black raspberry flavors, as well as a freshness, vivacity, and elegant palate persistence which I am increasingly associating with wines fermented using the yeasts which grow naturally on the grape skins.

And now for the exception to prove the rule...I just loved the 2005 Lucien Barrod Chateauneuf du Pape. Traditional vinification (namely no de-stemming, elevage in large foudres of used oak) and terrific fruit lead to a bright, lively red fruit/hibiscus oriented wine with an enjoyable, breathable, airy texture. It should age well.

What's for din-ruh? Something to go with rosé.

I have affectionately referred to my favored meal of the day, dinner as 'din-ruh' for many years now. How, or why, this came to pass I cannot quite recall. Nevertheless, 'what's for din-ruh?' is a question that some in my life have come to expect. So when I posed myself this question tonight, I remembered that I have two bottles of 2006 Sancerre rose, both opened last night. My usual short list for foods to go with rosé would go something like this: fresh gazpacho, capellini with fresh (uncooked) tomato sauce, bread, cheeses and cured ham, or if I'm motivated, some fresh, garlicky seafood preparation of some sort. Given that it's way too early for tomato season, there was no good cheese or prosciutto in the fridge, and I was not sufficiently motivated to be creative with seafood, I improvised a poor man's pasta dish, with the scant ingredients available in our refrigerator and larder: De Cecco capellini, Alemany farmer's market mustard greens, lots of garlic, ginger, Frantoia olive oil (a favorite ingredient in the household, worthy of its own nickname - 'Frantoya Jackson'), soy sauce, salt and pepper. Simple fare for the time crunched day laborer. Similarly simple wines to complement the quasi italo-chinese fare:

2006 Gerard Boulay Sancerre Rose
Viewing the front label, I recently discovered that Boulay are 'vignerons de peres en fils depuis 1380.' Translation: Father and son winery since 1380. That's even longer than Chave, I believe. A very delicate light pink color, almost Provencal rose style pink appearance. Very likeable, with excellent purity and length on the palate. Tart red plum flavors, but very broad, elegant and natural tasting, with a bit of a nutty/savory character. Very good.

2006 Franck Millet Sancerre Rose
While it's a darker pink in the glass, the flavors are less intense than the Boulay, and are even fading in the way that a one-year old rosé can fade. Just to confirm the lack of flavor, I swirled around a mouthful that was twice as large as the Boulay I had just had: lack of flavor confirmed. There's still some red curranty fruit there, it's just not that tasty, clearly defined or vibrant. Serve well chilled, throw in some perrier and toss it down.