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Thursday, June 12, 2008
WINNER AND STILL CHAMPIONThe 1988 vintage
was my first experience with the Trimbach Pinot Gris Reserve from Alsace. We were pouring it by the glass in Club XIX at The
Lodge at Pebble Beach and I was flirting with the novel (to me) idea that food and wine should compliment one another. By
the way, the ’88 paired up nicely with Doversole and even better with a sea bass dish. I lost the trail for a few years
but picked it up again with the 1993 bottling and I just took my first look at vintage number twelve (as in a dozen), the
2004 ($21). My approach with each new offering is to test the wine against its food profile and so it was that I assessed
its pork prowess with a simple piece of pan fried center loin cut; bingo. It was no surprise that the wine earned a solid
recommendation with a beef preparation that included mushrooms, spinach and onions served over rice; the Pinot Gris Reserve
is now 16 for 16 with beef and we can add a positive pistachio footnote as well. After an overnighter in the refrigerator
the ’04 proved pretty tasty with crispy chicken seasoned with cumin, sage, and onions. Three prior vintages displayed
a fondness for poultry as well. The wine’s seafood resume over eight harvests ranges from sole, sandabs, sea bass, salmon,
and ahi to lobster, shrimp, crab cakes, and clams cooked in a broth. Nor have six vintages met a veggie they didn’t
like. And you should see the list of happy cheese combos. Is this the most food versatile wine of any color or region of origin
I’ve had the pleasure of putting to the test every year? Damn skippy.
Thu, June 12, 2008 | link
GOING TO PLAN BWhat happened to
plan A? Well, I was originally going to touch on a couple Ridge Zinfandels (coming up) and move on to perhaps some tasty examples
of Pinot Gris beginning with the gorgeous bottlings from Oregon’s King Estate when in walked Lisa with an array of Cline
Cellars wines that included, you guessed it, a couple of noteworthy Zins. I was very enthusiastic about the 2005 Ancient Vine
bottling but my initial gander at the ’06 left me a little flat. Must have been me because on this occasion the roughly
50/50 Contra Costa County (dry farmed 100 year old plus vines)/Lodi blend delivered a fairly lush fruit compote impression
that certainly justified the $16 price-tag. But the star of the sampling was the Big Break Vineyard 2006 Zin vinified from
120 year old Contra Costa vines and simply oozing dark earthy berry flavors, and this was after being opened the day prior;
something of a steal at $26. By the way, someday, after a little food screening, I will hopefully be reporting on a lovely
and awfully well priced ($12) Cline Sonoma Coast Pinot Gris 2007 and creamy Carneros Marsanne (89%)/Roussane (11%) 2006 ($18).
No sooner had I rinsed my glass than in walks Tish with a line-up of Sausal Winery Alexander Valley reds that included a pretty
2006 Sangiovese ($21) produced from 35 year old vines, an irresistible (my highly detailed notes read yum and yes) 2003 Cabernet
Sauvignon ($30 and a moderate 13.6 alcohol!), and a couple of more Zinfandels. The Family Old Vine (51 years) 2004 ($18) somehow
combined great depth of flavor with an underlying sense of elegance while the thick and oh so satisfying Private Reserve 2005
(90 years) ($24), which was aged in French oak, earned a definite buy rating. It isn’t often that every wine presented
by a single producer impresses and represents such value across the board as Sausal did. Oh yes, and don’t let me forget
about the winery that is synonymous with Zinfandel and set us on this path and that would be Ridge Vineyards. It was Katherine
(do I get to consort with a lot of wine ladies or what?) who popped in with four Ridge bottlings on a sunny day in March.
First up was the East Bench 2006 from Dry Creek Valley ($30). I found the wine a bit astringent and a little overly earthy
with insufficient berry to temper the 14.9 alcohol. The ’06 Geyserville (a Zinfandel (70%), Carignan, Petite Sirah,
Mataro blend) tended toward stylish but I couldn’t get behind the $35 tariff. The Lytton West, another “hodgepodge”
of grapes including Zinfandel according to the winery website, was co-fermented with 6% Viognier and tasty enough but $36???
By this time I’m chalking my impressions up to tired taste buds and then came a sip of the Paso Robles 2006, first produced
from Benito Dusi grapes in 1976. Here you have the plush of Paso and mouth-filling sweet plum and berry extract of 80 year
old vines; and only $30 a bottle? Hmm, when push comes to shove it looks like those $50 plus Cabernets are going to have to
eat a little Zinfandel dust!
MORE PINOT PROSEWe recently touted the relative elegance of Pinot Noirs produced
from Tondre Grapefield fruit and that theme definitely continues with the 2005 ($36) from Sonnet Wine Cellars, rather charming
with creamy, sweet red fruit flavors that tempered the 14.5 alcohol. And the soon to be released 2006 is equally yummy if
not a smidge more so. Anthony Craig, founder of Sonnet, also vinifies Pinot Noir under the Tondre label with the same sense
of style that earned my appreciation for both the long gone 2004 and current 2005 ($36) with a clear nod to the former for
its more moderate 13.5 (versus 14.5) alcohol. Staying in the Santa Lucia Highlands, Pellerin knocked out a silky, classy 2006
($38, 14.1) comprised of fruit from four vineyards with Rosella’s accounting for nearly three quarters of the blend.
Jumping over to the Santa Cruz Mountains the Windy Oaks Diane’s Block 2006 ($45, 14.2) conjured up descriptors like
pretty, refined, and rather Burgundian. When I tasted two of the Testarossa 2006 Pinot Noirs crafted by Bill Brousseau I thought
the weight (14.5), dimension, and $64.50 price-tag of the Sleepy Hollow way out of my comfort zone but my reaction to the
Testarossa Palazzio ($40, 14.1), a combination of ten highly regarded vineyards from just about every prestigious California
Pinot appellation, was quite the opposite as the notes included “lovely, looks and feels like Pinot”, a good thing
in my book. Shifting our focus to Santa Maria I found the Ken Volk 2005 ($25, 14.0) also tending to graceful with creamy earthy,
herbal undertones; actually something of a value I’d say. Keller Estate is to be complemented as well for its elegant,
fluid Sonoma Coast 2005 ($45, 14.1). Yes indeed, there are budget be damned California options galore and I haven’t
even touched on New Zealand and Oregon yet...
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
MOVIN’ UP IN THE NEIGHBORHOODOur last column promised to say a little something about some of the more upscale
(read expensive) wines and producers that take up quite a bit of space in my Lil’ Fat Notebooks. These are wines for
special occasions be it a birthday or dinner invitation, you realize that you deserve a break today, you know, when you only
want to send the very best (hey, that has a ring to it). So I sat down to pick and choose and the better part of an hour later
I was still at it. What do you say we talk California Pinot Noir. For starters, I was particularly taken with the most Burgundian
of the line-up, the Calera Mills Vineyard 2005 ($46.50, alcohol 14.0) from the Mt. Harlan appellation of San Benito County.
Both nose and palate were rather refined with a delicious, delicate middle succulence; classy stuff. And I had a rare (for
me) opportunity to compare three single vineyard 2006 bottlings from Morgan Winery. In the past I have leaned toward the Double
L Estate Vineyard planted to 13 clones in 1996 and farmed organically. I found the new release ($62, 14.5 alcohol) fluid and
tasty if a bit simple. The Rosella’s Vineyard came off a touch austere and not up to the same yikes price-tag. Jan wasn’t
pouring the Gary’s Vineyard version but this one is usually my least favorite, not because it isn’t a quality
Pinot but rather because the powerful, extracted style of which just about everyone else is enamored doesn’t fit my
model. That’s where the Tondre Grapefield ($45, 14.4) comes in. The Morgan’06 displayed a lovely touch of elegance
(which can be difficult to appreciate at the price I know) that I am finding common to wines produced from this vineyard by
other wineries as well. More on the Tondre connection and some positive prose on Testarossa and Keller Estate next time.
Wed, April 16, 2008 | link
Saturday, April 5, 2008
THEY SURE KEEP ME HOPPIN’ DON’T THEY – PART 2Our journey outside the box moves from Italy to Argentina and the Martin Fierro
80/20 Chardonnay-Torrontes 2007 or Bivarietal. My notes read bright, fresh, bit of spice, yes. Along with the undeniable food
pairing possibilities came 12.7 alcohol and a $7.50 price-tag; ka-ching. The pairing process got off to a propitious (I like
to throw a big word in every once in a while) start when the wife prepared chicken thighs braised in chicken stock with cumin,
mushrooms, and onions; yummy dish, yummy combo. On day two I was determined to test the wine’s sushi potential so I
stopped by Ocean Deli Sushi which turned out not to be open in spite of a
sign announcing their new Sunday hours. Oh well, not to worry, a quick trip to Trader Joe’s to pick up a Sushi Sampler
should do the trick. I have to remember not to do that again, at least not on Sunday. The Fierro earned recommendations with
three of the sugary California roll concoctions including crab, carrot, and spinach (?) in a kelp wrap, sesame studded rice
with tuna (?) and spinach (?), and something resembling yellowtail??; just so so with what I feel confident was a salmon version.
There was a smidge of wine left in the bottle so on day three I ran it by some deli corned beef (not bad) and a Save Mart
Roast Chicken; another poultry triumph. OK, OK I know some of you feel more comfortable inside the box so I think my next
column will regale (a big word in my book) you with the lowdown on a bunch of pricier Pinot Noirs and maybe a Zin or two.
Stay tuned.
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