Bottles of Red, bottles of white, perhaps a champagne instead tonight?

I was curious about my consumption last year. I do know that I consumed a healthy share of wine, but was curious as to the breakdown. So I decided to go through my purchases and find out. Now I have not broken wines down by country or region, but rather by type: red, white, rosé or champagne/sparkling/sherry (I grouped these two together). I also did not account for what gets consumed immediately versus what I am cellaring.

Anyhow, here are the numbers:

WHITE- 104 bottles (41%)
RED - 91 bottles (36%)
CHAMP/SP/SHERRY - 42 (17%)
ROSE - 17 (7%)

That would make for a total of 254 botles, or about 21 cases. An average of 1 case, 9 bottles per month. Now that's for a household of three (though I do tend to take the lead in quantities drunk per month)and does not account for what went in the cellar (maybe about 15% of all bottles purchased?)

I was surprised by the healthy showing for champagne, sparkling wine and sherry. Also by the fact that white and red wine finished relatively close.

Might break things down a bit further in an update on this post.

Older wines drunk in the past week, with an emphasis on '79

Alright, enough with the birthday and New Year stuff, it's time to catch up on some good old-fashioned tasting notes. Some wines I drank over the past week:

2000 Tarlant La Vigne d'Antan Chardonnay non-graffe

As you might surmise from the title, this comes from a single vineyard of ungrafted chardonnay. There is the trademark Tarlant austere chalkiness, with the extra intensity and focus of a blanc des blancs. I have a sneaking suspicion that this bottle was slightly corked. Not enough for me to detect on the nose, but the wine was not nearly as expressive as I had anticipated. The finish also seemed a bit clipped. Something of a let-down, but I am all the more curious to try another bottle. Does blanc de blancs from ungrafted chardonnay really show an entirely different set of flavors then just a good quality, grower blanc de blancs?

1988 Domaine Mussy Beaune 'Montremenots' 1er Cru

Due to the provenance of this bottle, which from what I had heard was particularly pristine, as well as the fact that the back label said the wine was selected by American Burgundy legend Becky Wasserman, I figured that this would be a well calculated Burgundy risk. Well, unfortunately, the wine only struck one note, a flat middle C on an untuned, neglected upright piano. The development was very poor: minimal bouquet, no interesting secondary/tertiary flavors, just some slightly warm red fruit. Not maderized, but possibly heat damaged? Who knows, I have no experience with the producer, nor wines from the Cotes de Beaune in the '88 vintage. I find it fitting that this and the Tarlant were drunk on New Year's Eve, a holiday known to disappoint those who do not set their expectations a bit lower.

1979 Mount Eden Vineyards Pinot Noir Santa Cruz Mountains

Could it be...another disappointment? '79 was a warm vintage in California, and you really note it here. The acidity is lower than usual for SCM pinot noir. Very woody nose and palate. Redwood (redwood barrels were commonplace in California winemaking until they eventually fell out of favor) type woody. The foresty dark fruit was hanging on for dear life, really drying out. Though the wine did improve slightly in the glass, it was not enough to entice me to try a second bottle should I come across one. Drunk with a similarly lackluster meal at one of my neighborhood's more popular eateries, The Liberty Cafe.

1979 Charles Krug Hearty Burgundy Napa Valley

Peter Mondavi's (the feuding brother you hear about when you tour the Robert Mondavi Winery) Charles Krug label actually made some decent wine in the '70s. And I had a sneaking suspicion that this would be holding up fairly well. After all, the wine is hearty! I have no idea of the varietal breakdown here, but I would guess cab, zin, gamay, merlot, and others. My hopes were confirmed, this wine tasted terrific. We enjoyed it last night with some split pea soup, salad, bread and garrotxa cheese. It tastes incredibly fresh, with very pure, darker berry and black cherry fruits. Excellent balance of fruit and acidity, with tannins that are completely resolved. It reminded me of a simpler, slightly plumper good quality cru beaujolais. Not bad for $5 in the closeout bin.

1979 Niepoort Colheita

I'm not a big port person. It's got to be really special to grab my attention, and unfortunately this was not a really special bottle. I do like a good colheita, especially a white colheita (rare, but you might occasionally see one from Krohn). Colheita ports, or port from lesser vintages which are aged in barrel as opposed to bottle (as are vintage ports), can be a rare treat, combining the bright fruit of vintage ports and the oxidative, dried fruit and nut notes of tawny ports. This Niepoort showed more of the former, but in a fairly simple, straightforward manner. Another advantage of colheitas, though, is that they can be opened and enjoyed over a period of several months, so I have plenty of time to see if this wine eventually wins me over.

Year One of my Fourth Decade

I turned 30 yesterday. The big 3-0.

Thanks for all the voicemail and facebook birthday wishes.

Gonna keep this short, as I'm really enjoying the Billy Joel playlist I just created in seeqpod, particularly the live stuff from '76! Billy Joel sure was hungry.

After I get my fill of Sunday Billy Joel, it's off to work hooking up the Mbox 2 Pro and Command 8. 2009 is the year of home recording!

'08 Re-cap, courtesy of Madd Skillz

Well, I had written a very personal summary of my 2008 (a particularly good year for me), scheduled to post it this morning and for some inexplicable reason it disappeared. So rather than re-construct it, I will simply say that I feel fortunate to have had even a decent year in 2008, let alone a really good one. I'm looking forward to what should be a challenging, important, exciting year indeed for all of us in 20009. Personally, the time might well be ripe to unveil at least one new project outside of this blog. Stay tuned.

I hope that everyone reading this has a happy, healthy, successful New Year. 2009 should be a challenging year, but here's to finding some opportunities and learning (re-learning?) what is really important in the midst of some tough times ahead.

Here's the traditional yearly recap of events, with a decidely hip-hop segment of the music industry perspective, courtesy of one of the best freestyle rappers of all time, Madd Skillz.

Tasty oatmeal recipe

I have always enjoyed a well prepared bowl of oatmeal, especially in the peak of oatmeal eating season (December-March) and recently have concocted a delicious new way of preparing this nutritious breakfast. This will serve 2, or one very hungry person.

Begin by chopping a small handful of almonds, removing the pits from a dozen dried dates, and retrieving your honey of choice. Add 1 c. of your favorite brand of rolled, steel cut, or other type of processed oats (I use what ever they've got in the bulk bin at Rainbow) to a medium saucepan. Add 1 3/4 c water and a pinch of salt. Cook over medium heat, actively stirring so that the oatmeal does not stick. This should take 4-5 minutes. Pour into two separate bowls. In each, add half of your chopped almonds and dates, as well as a drizzle of honey to taste. Pour your choice of whole, 2%, skim or soy milk on top, and stir to evenly distribute all of the ingredients. Finish with a sprinkling of fleur de sel. If you're not into the fancy salts, any other type of edible salt you have on hand should do.

I do love my oatmeal in the morning. As Wilfred used to say, eating oatmeal is 'the right thing to do, and the tasty way to do it.'

These fine folks want you to come out to Joe's Birthday Espectacular at Terroir: Saturday January 10th

Here's the promised birthday bash announcement. Anyone who reads this, who plans on being in or around San Francisco the evening of January 10th and would like to check it out, feel free to do so. We'll get going around 8pm and likely hang out at Guillhaume, Luc and Dagan's bar/shop until they close it up.

Should be one for the ages.

Here is the Terroir website for the uninitiated.

See you there!

TOP 5 MATURE WINES OF 2008

Before I get into this list business, I'd like to present something of a preview announcement. I will be celebrating my upcoming 30th birthday at Terroir, and would like to invite any Bay Area readers, or those who find themselves in the Bay Area, to attend. Need to consider a date. Though since my actual birth date is fast approaching, it will probably be within 10 or so days. At least one of the wines on the list below will probably be in attendance as well. It should be fun.

Without further ado, here is a significantly shorter annotated list than last year's of my favorite mature wines of 2008. No ranking order this year. Compared to 2007, I do appear to be drinking less luxuriously, or at least fewer wines of repute and prestige. Maybe it's the times - it does seem as though I am finally learning how to better live within my means. I also seem to be a little better focused on building a cellar, buying younger, less pricey wines from more value oriented regions, as opposed to shelling out more for the occasional splurge of mature bottles from Burgundy, Bordeaux or Germany. There are some similarities to last year's list, though. Lopez de Heredia makes another appearance (as I suspect it will continue to for as long as I do these lists). California, or rather, OLD SCHOOL California, is well represented. Finally, with one exception, each of these wines was enjoyed, contemplated (over an extended period of time, at least two hours, but often times longer) and eventually posted on this website. If you click on any of these wines, it will link to the original post.

1979 Santa Cruz Mountain vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon (1.5l)

1981 Lopez de Heredia Vina Bosconia Gran Reserva

1984 Laurel Glen Estate Cabernet (1.5l)

1985 Philipe Rossignol Haute Cotes de Nuit Villages

1985 Champagne Renee Collard Reserve Millesime