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I keep bumping into the guy. First in the Bordeaux section, a couple of minutes later we?re both cruising through the Sauvignon Blancs of New Zealand. I head for Piedmont, and there he is ? again. We smile at each other over Cognac, one of those ?okay, this is either too weird or too funny? sort of smiles. But it?s not till we simultaneously hit Spain that we actually strike up a conversation.
Clearly, this man has a fairly upscale taste in wines. Not that I was actually checking out his purchases? much. I guess I just ?happened? to notice some of the bottles. Since he obviously likes all the same wine regions Frank and I do, I wanted to see if he chose anything we hadn?t tried. Not much under $40 will find its way to his table. So when I see him piling bottles of $9.95 Castillo de Monseran Garnacha from Spain into the now groaning basket, I can?t help myself ? I have to ask.
?One of the best deals going,? he tells me. Then he actually winks at me ? it?s a cute wink too. ?Just don?t tell too many people about it ? all the more for us.? A good natured laugh and he?s gone. What the heck, at the price, if it?s awful, I figure it will pour down the drain more easily than some of the pricier stuff that?s been know to suffer the same fate. I snag a bottle.
A couple of days later I?ve got a spicy chicken stir fry on the go, a quiet evening with just my book ahead, and uh-oh ? no Riesling to go with dinner. In fact, there?s nothing that seems to go with the food. I manage to catch Frank just before he goes into his meeting. ?Am I absolutely crazy or do you think the Garnacha might work??
Initially Frank?s not impressed, but after some deliberation, we decide it will probably be a more or less acceptable though not stellar pairing. With 12.5% alcohol, it?s at least not going to totally burn out the taste buds when it hits the chili spices on the chicken. I cross my fingers, open the bottle, and hope for the best. The kitchen sink is within arms reach.
The initial nose is surprising. Exotic spices ? cloves, allspice, cinnamon. There?s a whisper of anise and leather too, kind of like John Wayne strolling through the kitchen chewing on a licorice Twist. Later coffee and cocoa appear introducing a not unpleasant grittiness like riding through the desert.
And it worked with the chicken too ? as expected, not stellar, but not half bad. There was a complementary nature to the spices and just enough of fruitiness in the meat?s marinade to work with the wine. Alas, Tenderland Meats on Granville Island where I buy it aren?t parting with the secrets of all the seasonings they use, but they did confirm there?s allspice, cilantro, and sweet green chili peppers. I?m betting there might be a hint of papaya in there somewhere too.
Hopefully, one day I?ll run into the gentleman with the cute wink. I?d like to tell him he was right, this wine is a steal of a deal. And I wonder if he knows it also goes fabulously well with the chocolate Hedgehog from Purdy?s Chocolates that I had after dinner ? that pairing is almost stellar. Sorry, Frank, I guess it slipped my mind to tell you about the Hedgehog.
The Wine: Castillo de Monseran Garnacha 2006 ($9.95) - if you find their website, please let us know because we couldn't The Food: Chicken Chili Stir Fry from Tenderland Meats The Chocolate: Hedgehogs from Purdy?s Chocolates The Scoop: One of the best under $10 values going
With the huge popularity gain for wine in the past five years, one could wonder if a recession in the wine industry is looming.
Much depends on factors in the grand scheme of things. The once-booming housing industry created much wealth for a lot of Americans, but a recent downturn in home sales has created a large-scale semi-panic in the mortgage and banking industry. The stock markets have been shaken by the idea that mortgage companies are virtually disappearing overnight. This has put into question the stability of the biggest banks, and what their exposure to these smaller (defunct) companies has been.
The wine industry is based much on excess wealth. Wine is seen by many, not as an essential, but as a luxury item that would be cut out of a budget if tough times arose. A recent look at distribution and retail inventory levels showed a large glut, sometimes in excess of 200 days worth of stock.
The ever-popular Pinot Noir seems to be immune to this kind of chatter, however. Spurned to new heights of acceptance by the movie Sideways, the "heartbreak grape" seems to be an indespensible red... a must for any cellar or pantry. The next couple of years will be crucial to the industry at the retail and restaurant level.
Hello All—I’ve taken a little break here, at least somewhat. We hosted our annual harvest party at Hilltop Ranch this past Saturday. The weather was wonderful, the band—“The Furry Chaps”—a fun, local bluegrass band kept us all entertained; all in all, quite good fun. We brought in the last load of grapes on October 10—a mix of Bordeaux varietals (Cabernet Franc, Petite Verdot, Malbec, Merlot) from Lockwood Oaks. I kept the Malbec separate for a possible small bottling next year, but all the others are a “field blend” in one of our bigger tanks and all of it is just now coming into the homestretch—in other words finishing primary fermentation. We have drained and pressed a few tanks of Pinot so far—as soon as I’m done with this entry, I will drain a tank—but will dedicate ourselves more to that task next week…...
Winemaker’s Dinner: Friday, November 7 at 7pm.
Yes, We’ve made a Port (all of 25 cases). I’ve had so many people ask for one, and I have played around with different varietals (traditional port varietals are difficult to come by here in Monterey—as they should be) and came up with this. I got the brandy for the fortification part of it from Germain-Robin up in Redwood Valley. Personally I do not like or drink sweet wines, and admit I had a difficult time separating my personal and professional judgements on this one, so this is neither as sweet nor as alcoholic as a traditional port. I have poured it at a few events recently and people seem to really like it—even those like myself who don’t like sweet wines. So, I’m getting a label created for it and it will go on sale in our tasting room sometime mid-November.
The secret is out: there?s always something to celebrate in British Columbia, particularly in the regions famed for their wine and food: Vancouver, Whistler, the Okanagan Valley and Vancouver Island. Eat, drink and be merry at ten of the most...
The collapse of part of McLaren Vale's Wirra Wirra winery last week was widely reported - but not widely seen. The visual is far more dramatic than the telling. This is a substantial winery in the middle of vintage - or it was in the middle of vintage.
As I write I'm sipping a glass of Californian red - a Robert Mondavi Woodbridge Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 to be precise.
It's fairly typical of the type of Californian wine readily available in the UK. Following the WineDudes request for some foreign thoughts on Californian wine the Woodbridge is 'research'. Not sure if the Wine Dude is going to utilise my barely coherant scribbles in a post or (update - he has) not but the crux of the article was that, while we can get hold of American wines in the UK most are the large brands (such as Gallo and this Mondavi) and the small quantities of boutique wines that many American wine bloggers rave about are never seen over here.
I hesitate to mention the ubiquitous Gallo in the same paragraph as Mondavi for both the Cabernet and this similar but slightly spicier Shiraz are very drinkable examples which offer more than a modicum of interest, something those massed Gallo brands never will.
Review0.3 Wine Tasting Note: Robert Mondavi Woodbridge Shiraz, 2006, California Stockists: Threshers and most supermarkets Price: £7.20 [More on Adegga / Snooth] Very similar in style to the Cabernet - sweetish full fruit, soft but evident tannins combine to make a highly drinkable fruity style of red. Broad flavours enveloping the blueberry/blackberry spectrum, not complicated but enhanced by some varietal spice. Not sure where Jancis Robinson gets the "very pinched and ungenerous" idea from as the wine appears fleshy, broad, lightly spiced and very drinkable. Alcohol 135%.
Aiming for a modicum of seasonal eating a dish of acorn squash with a tomato and cream minced lamb stuffing was paired with this red, the sweetness of the fruit playing nicely with the inherant sweetness of the squash and the stuffing. The softness held enough in the acidity and tannin stakes to counter the creamy richness.
Andrew BarrowScribblings Rating - 88/100 [3.5 out of 5]
If you're not a subscriber to The Wine Front you don't get to see the reviews that are added to the site on most days. In the past seven days the following wines have been reviewed in the Subscriber Only section of this website.
Sainsburys Taste the Difference Sancerre 2004 £8.54 has a round, fruity, open nose with a touch of minerality and a clean freshness. The good, underlying fruit with its tantalising honeycomb edges was somewhat hidden by the very high acidity on the palate. So I thought perhaps what it needed was some cheese to round it out...
First up Organic Wensleydale. This crumbly white is more texture than flavour but did fill out the wine and brought forward the fruit -peachy aromatics. The lightness of the almost cottage cheese texture really complemented the delicacy of the wine. There was a hint of a salty tang too.
Then Woolsery, http://www.woolserycheese.co.uk , this is a medium hard goat's cheese from Dorset and is so tasty. It was the best in combination with the wine too. The slightly salty creaminess perfectly cut the acidity of the wine down to size. The cheese had a decent level of acidity to it as well. It was grassy and had a goaty note but was not overly pungent. Great stuff.
Next up Vintage Gouda, the label didn't give a year or age though - perhaps this is cheese parlance that someone can enlightenment me about? This had a wonderful flavour, nutty, earthy, hay aromas, very fruity in fact. It is a dense and creamy cheese which cancelled out the acidity in the wine altogether and made it seem almost flabby! Not quite right together.
Finally Doux de Montagne, very like a Spanish Manchego with its subtle flavour and rubbery texture. It tasted slightly soured too but in a good way. The wine overwhelmed this cheese though and it had very little impact when tasted together.
It's been a wetter and milder than normal November, which perhaps accounts for the large number of snails in my garden. I've ceased my campaign of chemical warfare and decided coexistence and photography is the best approach. . .
If you need to educate yourself on the finer qualities of our fermented friend, check out this Wine Guide Video. You will discover all you need to know about foreign wine.
Speaking of "Fermented Friends", don't say I didn't warn you!
Te Whare Ra ( "Tee Faree Ra" is supposed to mean house in the Sun in Maori)is based in Marlborough New Zealand. This is on the south Island in the town of Renwick which is host to quite a few wineries including Cloudy Bay, Montana etc...
Established in 1979, this small boutique winery probably has some of the oldest vines in the area. In 2003, the husband and wife team of Jason & Anna Flowerday took the helm and have significantly upgraded various aspects of the winery. Although offering a Pinot Noir, IMHO they are a white wine producer with offerings mainly from Sauvignon Blanc, Reisling, Gerwurztraminer and Chardonnay. It's their aromatic wines which to me show their stuff here. Current size of the vineyards ~9 hectares with many coming from the older vines planted in 1979 ( almost 30 years ago) - I was told the Gerwurztraminer. Fruit is basically hand sorted and picked - now we are talking.
Cutting to the chase, my favorite wines from their lineup would be the "Toru" bottling and their Gerwurztraminer.
The "Toru" is a blend of several aromatic grape varietals consiting of Riesling, Gerwurztraminer and Pinot Gris. While tasting this wine, images of a picnic & grilled seafood keep popping up - probably my mind telling me that's where I should be with this. 89 points The 2007 Gerwurztraminer to me is a standout here. The concentration and flavor in here just screams of old vines and low yields. The typical Lychee notes were present although not overpowering, minerals, hints of sweetness from the fruit with 22g/l of residual sugar - nice finish ( the wine was still going strong after being opened more than 24 hours). The best thing to compare this to would be an Alsatian Gewurtz VT. 92+ points
Although I spend a reasonable amount of time (how much is reasonable?) thinking about which wine to enjoy with a meal, quite often I'll find that even if it's not perfect it is still entirely serviceable and rather than wail hysterically while tipping the bottle down my throat, I can enjoy both food and wine while making a mental note to try something else next time.
But then, when you most want to find just the thing to do justice to the efforts of the chef, you go and make an absolute clanger. Of course it is also about doing justice to the effort that has gone into the production of the wine so showing it off in the most flattering company is desirous in absolute propotion to the amount of effort it is to procure a bottle and how lovingly you cherish it.
I haven't gone too far out of my way to scout out the perfect steak to show off my £5.49 Argentinian Cabernet Sauvignon. Although they would be more laidback company than some, more intricate, menus.
Had the most wonderful meal a couple of nights ago courtesy of a former Masterchef contestant. We kicked off the evening with some Champagne Drappier Brut Carte d'Or NV. A very biscuity nose with a fresh, light and clean apple palate with a broad, creamy bottom layer with an enthusiatic but not overwhelming mousse and very decent length.
The first course was mushroom ravioli in a wild mushroom (girasol) broth in which the woodland flavours sang out in operatic fashion. We matched that with a Louis Latour, Domaine de Valmoissine Pinot Noir 2002 from Provence. Very light crimson this was correct and tasty. Already quite evolved but still lots of fruit, just not the concentration I'd hoped for. Made a great pairing with the mushrooms though and the lightness and acidity in the wine lifted the earthy tones and richness of the ravioli.
The fabulously elaborate meal continued with roast duck cooked in red wine with cherry sauce. For the duck I had brought along a Feytit Clinet 2000 from Pomerol having enjoyed right bank Bordeaux with duck on many previous occasions. Here though the intensity and sweetness of the cherries and the reduction glaze reduced this otherwise rather lovely wine to thin, metallic, short nastiness. Really very sad!
We tried opening an Eldridge Blue Chip Shiraz 2003 from Clare Valley in South Australia, which alone was sweet, unctuous and jammy but this too couldn't take on the cherries.
Which came first - the cherry or the Feytit Clinet? They both lost that night. Tant pis...learn from mistakes. Next time before rummaging through the cellar, I'll ask for an exact breakdown of the recipes from my host - NO, not really! This is just for fun.
I think this is rather important and pleasing news for the South African wine industry.
"The government has rejected an application from a South African-born scientist and his business partners to sell genetically modified yeast to local wine producers, saying it cannot risk jeopardizing the industry?s access to key European markets."
The modified yeasts may have made the winemaking process easier and perhaps resulted in more consistently good wine - but I applaud the decision and believe we should strive for more organic solutions and less preservatives in both wine and all that we consume on a day to day basis .
What do you think? Are you pro genetically modified yeasts in wine?
The average wine consumer has no idea what it means for a wine to be organic. And when it comes to Biodynamic wines, most wine drinkers have never even heard of them. But that doesn't matter, because an increasing number of the most sought-after, expensive wines in the world are biodynamically produced, which means that biodynamics is one of the most significant modern trends in global winemaking.
The only problem (for those who care) is that biodynamic winemaking involves a maddening, paradoxical mixture of scientifically sound farming practices and utterly ridiculous new-age mysticism. If you want to know just how kooky it can get, you might be interested in a recent feature on biodynamic wine in SF Weekly, which dives into detail on the cow skulls stuffed with oak bark left in a hole; the red deer bladders filled with yarrow flowers buried in compost piles; the proscriptions to burn insects in the vineyards only during certain proper planetary alignment; and the claims that the moon should determine when you put your wine into new barrels.
Of course, if you actually believe in biodynamics, you now hate my guts along with Joe Eskenazi, the author of the aforementioned article which is entitled Voodoo on the Vine.
Joe's angle on biodynamic winemaking will draw criticism for focusing only on the strangest parts of an elaborate farming and winemaking methodology. His (and my) detractors would be justified in complaining at the sensationalism of a few practices, and a few predilections of the methods inventor, while many, even most biodynamic winemaking principles are the same as good old organic farming.
But that is precisely the problem. Most biodynamic farming principles make sense because they are the same as scientifically grounded organic farming (e.g. don't use pesticides; let the sheep take care of the weeds and fertilize the soil; etc.). But then the whole system is undermined by the use of, and rationalization for, special preparations and actions that are not only bizarre in their conception, but explained by the worst kind of pseudo-scientific quasi-religious gobbledygook that you could possible imagine.
You can't imagine how angry this makes me. You see, I love biodynamic wine. Some of my favorite wines in the world; some of the best wines I have ever tasted in my life; some of the wineries that seem to consistently make some of the highest quality wines I have ever experienced are produced biodynamically, and I don't believe this is a coincidence.
This is what Joe Eskenazi did not include in his article, perhaps because he's not fully immersed in the world of wine. While he rightfully points out, with the appropriate level of cynicism, the fact that some wine producers are moving to make biodynamic wine because they think it will sell better, there are many more producers who have been making wine biodynamically for years, even decades without ever telling anyone about it, least of all the people who buy their wine. These winemakers are some of the smartest, most talented folks in the wine industry. The only reason they would possibly be producing wine biodynamically (which Eskenazi's article points out is much more labor, time, and cost intensive than any other farming method) must be that they believe they make better wine that way.
There are two types of people in the world. Those who believe that while science is not perfect, it is the most powerful interpretation that we have found of the world around us, and those who believe that there are better explanations for what we observe in the natural world than science can provide. I am very much a member of the first group. There's a lot we don't know about the world yet, and there are a lot of really interesting interpretations about how things work, but the scientific method produces the most reliable interpretations of what is real and what is true that I know of. I (and pretty much everyone in a first world nation, whether they know it or not) trust my life to that fact nearly every moment of every single day.
And that belief I hold is precisely the source of my unending frustration with biodynamic wine. I think it's good stuff. But I know it's not good for the reasons that the people who make it, and the people who tell them how to make it, say it is. The claims of the philosophy that underlies biodynamic wine growing, and the specific explanations for various prescriptions of the farming and winemaking process are just plain wrong. They can be proved wrong, in some cases simply with a calculator, but in all cases by rigorous scientific enquiry.
Which is why I keep hoping that someone will come up with Biodynamics Lite™: a kinder, gentler form of biodynamic winemaking that throws out all the bullshit, and sticks to the things that science tells us will actually work.
I plan on continuing to drink more and more biodynamic wine, and encourage everyone who loves wine to do so as well. I just hope there is a day when I don't have to roll my eyes a little every time I see the word on a wine label, or bite my fist as a winemaker proudly tells me that the reason I love his wine is due to the fact that he completely avoided the dueling vortices when he mixed his preparation of ground up quartz crystals.
by Martin Field The chief boffin in our R&D department is about to patent a design for an electronic menu. Basically, the E-menu (as she likes to call it) is designed to increase efficiency of ordering, to provide detailed information to diners, to minimise the unwanted attention of pushy waiters and sommeliers and thereby to reduce the number of floor staff. There are obvious cost savings related to this latter aim. The wi-fi menu can be permanently installed in dining tables, one at each setting or, as a less expensive alternative, can take the form of a menu folder to be handed out to individual guests.
This really tickles my funny bone. Deidre Woollard (luxist.com) writes:
We may all be cutting back, but at the the White House dinner Friday night for foreign leaders to discuss the global financial crisis, the meal was anything but spare.
The menu for around 24 global leaders gathered in the White House State Dining Room included, according to the AP, fruitwood-smoked quail? with quince gastrique; quinoa risotto?; thyme?-roasted rack of lamb?; tomato?, fennel? and eggplant? fondue?; a salad? course of endive?, baked Brie and walnuts?; and a pear torte. What's raising some eyebrows though is one of the wine selections, the Shafer Cabernet Hillside Select 2003, which runs for around $300 a bottle, if you can find it. This wine was served with the main course will more modest wines such as the Landmark Chardonnay Damaris Reserve? 2006 (around $40 a bottle, served with the appetizer) and the Chandon Étoile Rosé? sparkling wine? (about $30 a bottle, served with dessert) rounded out the rest of the meal.
The President pays for his own groceries in the White House but state dinners such as this one are paid for with taxpayer dollars. It is perhaps some comfort in this case? that at least two of those attending: President Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy are said to be teetotalers. Others in attendance included Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd; Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper; Chinese President Hu Jintao; German Chancellor Angela Merkel; and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Posted by 1 October 31: We 1 yesterday, just a few hours ahead of a rainstorm in the Paso Robles area. We'd originally scheduled the pick for today, but once we saw the forecast change, we moved the pick up one day. I'm really glad we did! When we got back to the winery on Thursday, we decided to wait to process the fruit on Friday.
I saw this morning on Franco Ziliani's site that Gianni Brunelli died on Saturday. Brunelli, 61, made superb Brunellos that were really Brunello -- never jammy, never inky-purple, always beautifully structured and pure in their expression of Sangiovese. Proof of the pudding: they age well and do not fall apart after 8 or 10 years.Brunelli also founded the excellent Osteria Le Logge, a restaurant located not far from the Campo del Palio in Siena. I've...
This is a premium Montenegrin red wine made from the indigenous Vranac grape. The Reserve is produced from particulary good years, in small quantities, aged in barrels for several years. It is also aged in bottles for one year before being released to the market.
This is a dry wine, with a pleasant fruity nose. However, the impressions are far lower than it’s price. If you want to experience the Vranac variety the Montenegrin way, go for a regular Planta?e Vranac or their Vranac Pro Corde. They are much cheaper and the experience is almost the same.
Wines of the Vranac variety are produced throughout the region, apart from Montenegro, you can find them in Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia and Herzegovina.
Tecnorati
This is a premium Montenegrin red wine made from the indigenous Vranac grape. The Reserve is produced from particulary good years, in small quantities, aged in barrels for several years. It is also aged in bottles for one year before being released to the market.