Got $30-$40 to waste? Buy some Oregon Pinot.

OK, sometimes subtlelty is not my greatest strength. Allow me to enlarge on the headline above.

My tasting group met last week to taste six brown bagged wines. Only one of us, Jeffrey Porter of Drink Eat Love fame, knew what the wines were as he organized the tasting. Though I knew these were all wines made from Pinot Noir, I did not posit a successful guess as to what region they were from. With two exceptions, they tasted very alcoholic, overoaked, and sweet. So I came to the conclusion that we were tasting CA Pinot Noir. To be more precise I posited that they were all from Santa Barbara county. The tasting was very educational, or rather, an affirmation of what I suspected of most Oregon PN: they are over-priced, increasingly unbalanced, undrinkable wines. Nonetheless, there were a few winners, and I am glad that Jeff picked Oregon PN as a theme since I have not been as up on current releases as I should be.

MY 2 FAVORITES OF THE EVENING:

Brandborg Pinot Noir Umpqua Valley 2005
Maybe this was an '06? I don't remember. Mixed small berry red fruits and dark fruits on the nose lead to a fresh, fruity palate that is plenty forward and refreshing. As this was the first wine we tasted, and did not know the theme, I was thinking '05 Bourgogne Rouge or Marsannay. It was a clear favorite for me, and a re-affirmation because my favorite Oregon PN I drank last year was a bottle of Shady Grove Pinot Noir (vintage '02?), also from Umpqua Valley. At roughly $20 a pop for both of these wines, I'll have to seek out more wines from Umpqua. They're doing it right.

Stoller Pinot Noir 'Dundee Hills' 2004
While obviously heavier and a bit clumsier than the wine above, there was still some semblance of balance. Plum, spice and very new world PN on the nose, leading to a slightly woody, spicy dark fruited palate. This was the wine that made me think of guessing Santa Barbara PN. Not bad.

THE BUBBLE WINE
Chehalem Pinot Noir 'Ridgecrest' 2005
Charred embers and muddled dark fruit on the nose. Equally unfocused initially on the palate, the wine opened up a bit and became more drinkable, if in an 'I'll finish my glass if this is what I'm being served' kind of way.

THE OTHERS

The other four wines were just not doing it for me. Too oaky, alcoholic, jammy, sweet, etc, etc. I wouldn't pay $10 for them, let alone $30-$40. Here are the other wines Sineann Pinot Noir 'Shindler Vineyard 2006', Methuen Pinot Noir 2005, Raptor Ridge Pinot Noir Williamette Valley 2006.

Thankfully the evening was bookended by some refreshing Greek whites, the best of which was an '06 Santorini that I had never seen before which was terrific. I did not jot down the name and, even for a Greek wine, its amount of letters and syllables posed a formidable challenge to the memory. There was a crisp, earthy cava from i Raventos and a delicious Cremant de Jura from Berthet-Bondet.

Scmitt-Wagner Longuicher Maximiner Herrenberg Riesling Kabinett 1992er

Yes, this a wine of many 'ers.

I'm excited that Terry Theise seems to be selling more library releases these days. Schmitt-Wagner's wines are distinctive. They of the creamy flavors, satin texture and otherwise ungrafted vine goodness. This wine is aging extremely well. Petrolly on the nose at first, with some orange blossom and chamomile notes showing after some air, this '92 Kabinett seems to be aging very, very slowly. How so much flavor, intensity and length is packed into a Kabinett with a mere 7,5% alcohol is beyond me. It's magic - German riesling magic. This is simply terrific, far from mature, super tasty 15 year old Mosel Kabinett.

A Tribe Called Quest - Verses From The Abstract

See below for the OWOS re–mix of the chorus. ATCQ was one of the most natural, infectious and perfect pop musical collaborations of all times.

Verses from the Wine Blogger

[Set to the 'Verses from the Abstract' beat (see above)]

If you're looking for real wine in Californa, then ummmm...

Steve Edmunds is in the house
Patrick Campbell is in the house
My man Jeff Emery, he's in the house
Lazy Creek they in the house
Clos Saron is in the house
Joseph Swann is in the house
Wells Guthrie is in the house
And can't forget that Palmina is in the house

Might hit you with another chorus at some point. These are all folks who make good, honest wine.

The new hardcore

On my post about mags of French country wine at a recent holiday party I attended, I had thought that the white in question was a Chenin from Anjou, when it was in fact a sauvignon gris from Touraine, produced by Xavier Frissant. Thanks for the correction, ombudsman.

In other news, I have have missed the past couple days in blogolandia due to the onset of holiday parties and, last night, checking out some amazing live music courtesy of Melt-Banana. They played one of the most awesome series of 6 uninterrupted songs I have ever heard. Each song averaged about 6.2 seconds. Opening act XBXRX was a tight, highly rockin' outfit as well, even without their bass player. Stage presence a bit spastic, but the high polish of their music and moves made up for it. If you check out either of these links, keep in mind that for both bands it's all about the live performance. Maybe some people can listen to stuff like this, Lightning Bolt etc on their ipods, home hi-fi or whatever, but I'm not one of those people.

More on wine tomorrow.

Our pizza's sort of the boss.

I'm withholding all modesty here and would like to declare the pizza that my roommate Nattles and I made as top-notch. With a few more efforts I think it will be safe to say that our pizza will be tops in the Bay Area - imnsho it's already top 3.

Whereas our first efforts last week were respectable, the crust was not as consistent, lacking a bit in flavor, and the appearance of the pizza was not the greatest. This week the difference was initially proofing the dough for 6+ hours in the fridge, as opposed to an hour at room temp. Both weeks we punched down the dough and then proofed again for another 30 minutes. Here are last night's pies:

Fresh mozz, chopped garlic, watercress
Olive oil, parmeggiano reggiano, cremini mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, roasted garlic and fennel, crispy potato, dried chopped thai pepper, capers, parsley
parmiggiano reggiano, feta, creminis, chopped thai peppers, parsley (super thin crust)
Mozz, mushroom, sun-dried tomatoes
parmeggiano reggiano, sun-dried tomato, a few leftover scraps of creminis

The wine accompaniment was a delicious bottle of 1998 Cronin Zin/Mourvedre. Bright spicy, tangy central coastal California wine which will probably go strong for at least another 3 years. It is easily the most enjoyable $10 red I have ever drunk.

That's a cool shop Wednesdsay pt.II - Lucca Ravioli Company

Real authentic Italian food in San Francisco, be it a deli, pizzeria, or restaurant, is sometimes tough to find. Fortunately, Lucca is around to transport even the most critical Italian food loving New Yorker back to the City. The selection of imported canned and jarred goods is quite good, as is the selection of basic Italian cheeses — sweet and spicy gorgonzola, fresh mozzarella, parmeggiano-reggiano, ricotta, and others. The real star here, though, is the selection of cured meats such as coppa, salumetti and prosciutto di san daniele. Though I hear the fresh made pastas and sauces are supposed to be very tasty as well.

What I love about Lucca Ravioli Company almost as much as the quality of their basic Italian staples is the old school feel of the place. You go in, take a number from the ticket dispenser, and wait for a gentleman donning a white paper hat to help you out. When you are ready to settle up, you hand over your credit card or cash and someone will go to the behoemoth sized, gilded, early 1920's (?) era cash register to complete the sale. The whole experience is old school to the bone marrow. Lucca is conveniently located at the corner of 22nd and Valencia in la Mission. It has played a pivotal role in providing ingredients for another newly minted Wednesday tradition: Pizza wednesdays. Yep - we are cooking up some pretty killer Neapolitan style pies here at home. More on that tomorrow.

Buona notte.