Sicilian Value

So tonight, I randomly grabbed off our wine rack a 2005 Colosi red wine from Sicily. I bought it a while back from LA Wine Co for $7. 100% Nero d'Avola grapes. Pretty darned good juice, especially for the price. A little musty on the nose - not sure if that's the right term, but it's all I could think of. Medium bodied, straight forward, cherry, red fruit, nice acidity, solid tannin, balanced. The musty scent on the nose also makes a brief appearance on the finish. Definitely a solid food wine. Great value.

2003 LBV - part 1 of 3

So, we drink a little port almost every night and it's my favorite thing in the whole wide world, but for some reason I've never blogged about it. So it deserves a special 3 part in-depth series! And there is good reason why, but first a little information...

Here's the basics: true port is fortified wine (grape spirit is added to wine during fermentation) from the Duoro Valley of Portugal. They have very specific categories of port. A governing body in Portugal decides which years are good enough to create quality wines, which are called a declared vintage. Recent declared vintages are 2007, 2003, 2000, 1997, 1994, 1992, 1991, 1985 etc. Vintage ports are considered to be the best quality and get the highest prices. They are not meant to be drunk when released but many years later. One practice is to give a gift of vintage port to a child when born so when they turn 21, they can drink an awesome wine. A Late Bottle Vintage port (or L.B.V.) is port from the same year as vintage port but is meant to be drunk upon release. To be a LBV, the port is aged for 4-6 years in the cask (unlike vintage port which spends a maximum of 2 1/2 years in cask) which basically speeds up the maturation process.

Still reading? OK, so I bought three different 2003 LBV's. The first is a 2003 Taylor Fladgate L.B.V. $22 at the Wine House. Taylor Fladgate is one of the older and more well respected port houses. Some LBV's need to filtered (if it has a real cork, you have to filter it) and some don't (it has a stopper you can pull out with your hand.) This is a pull-out cork, so no filtering.

It's very yummy stuff. Lots of dark cherry and dark fruit flavors. A bit fruitier, more floral and sweeter than I expected. Not bad, just surprising. Great structure. Although I'm partial to aged tawny ports (that is a whole different lesson), I really am liking the 2003 LBV's so far. Part 2 coming next week.

Goodbye Havens

So, this evening we are trying a 2006 Havens Hudson Vineyard Syrah, for the first, and probably, last time. Not because it's bad, but because Havens no longer exists. They went out of business and sold off all their stock this past summer. As a result, many places, like the Wine House, bought up a ton of the inventory and are selling it at ridiculous prices. I think this was originally about $45, but Wine House was selling it for $18.

Well, it certainly is pretty good juice. Big and a bit sharp at first, we had to decant it to let it open up and soften a bit. Once it settled, it was darn good. Great syrah-y flavors, fairly complex, big red fruit, lots of pepper - reminds me of smoky BBQ. However, just a bit sharp in the finish, even a few hours after decanting. Not a totally bad thing, just evident. If you have the chance, grab some and check it out before it is all gone.

Shining Wine

This evening I grilled a marinated skirt steak and wanted a big wine that would hold up to it. So I selected a 2005 Shining Hill Columbia Valley Red Wine. $30 at LA Wine Co.

This is basically the 2nd label of Col Solare, the joint venture between Chateau St. Michelle of Washington and Marchesi Antinori of Tuscany. Col Solare is a wonderful wine, but priced a bit high for us (about $50), so we've only had it once. It is made the same as Col Solare, but basically using the 2nd tier grapes. As I understand it, they intend to release this vintage a year before the Col Solare is released. This first vintage, however, was released at the same time as the 2005.

Very bold wine. Made of 58% Merlot, 23% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Syrah, 3% Petit Verdot. Big stuff, kind of crushed my palate at first, but great balance. Big medium to dark fruit, a little bit of spice and cedar notes on the nose and at the end. Long finish, nice complexity.

Really good stuff - some decanting may have helped to soften it a bit. Have to have it again!

Sinning with Sinskey

Toooooonight! A 2007 Robert Sinskey Pinot Noir Los Carneros. $34 at the Wine House. Crazy guess, but I bet the fruit comes from Carneros, the cool area of southern Napa great for growing Pinot Noir. Can't recall where we discovered Robert Sinskey Pinot Noir, but we have had it before and felt we needed to try it again.

To me, a wonderful balance of the flavors of "New World" Pinot Noir with the restraint of "Old World" Pinot Noir. Will not be confused with some of the bolder Oregon pinots. If you like big, bold, knock out wines, this is not for you. A nice balance of bright cherry and raspberry, spice and earthy flavors, none of them overdone. Silky mouth feel. Just a pleasure to drink. Not uber complex, but a lovely wine.

Mo Salinas, Mo Betta

This evening, a 2006 Bodegas Salinas Mo Monastrell. $11 at LA Wine Company. A big wine which, at first, I thought was simple, but actually has some nice complexity. A mix of flavors: cherry, black pepper, licorice, blueberry and significant tannin. According to a little research, this wine is mostly Monastrell (which accounts for the tannin) as well as some Tintorera Garnacha (also known as Alicante) and some Cabernet Sauvignon. A solid wine, and probably a good example of this style from Spain for a good price, but not my favorite flavor profile.

126? No. 127? No. 128? YES!

This evening we consumed a 2006 Penfolds Bin 128 Coonawarra Shiraz. Penfolds makes a wide array of wines, with prices ranging from $8 to $300. Overall, they consistently make pretty dang good wine and are always rated well.

Way back in our early days of wine drinking, we discovered Bin 389, which at the time was $20 - now it's closer to $30. So, we've tried others, including this for about $18 at the Wine House.

100% Shiraz from lovely cool weather Coonawarra, Australia. Very solid wine. Not much to complain about. Lots of ripe medium and dark fruit berry flavors, a decent amount of oak, nice structure. Decanting may help soften it a bit. Simply good Shiraz!

Once Upon a Wine

Really nice wine tonight. A 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley. Being lazy, but this is worth reading... from the LA Times...

"This Cabernet from Once Wines, which makes private-label wines for some of the country's top restaurants, is part of their Sommelier Series. In 2007, Daniel Johnnes, wine director for Daniel Boulud's restaurants, challenged the sommeliers in town for his annual "La Paulée de New York" tasting to blend a perfect, food-friendly Cabernet. This is the wine that scored highest with the judges: a master sommelier and two of the biggest names in Burgundy. Young, but accessible, it's velvety and bright, the fruit tightly woven into the structure. Barely kissed with oak, it is a blend of Cabernet with 18% Cab Franc and a wee bit of Petit Verdot (barely 4%)."

Yup. And the kicker is the Wine House has it for $15 - everywhere else I'm finding it lists it as an excellent wine when priced at $25-30. So, $15 is an insane price. I think we will buy more!

Fetish for Wine!

A new wine tonight... 2006 Fetish - The Watcher! Exotic, right? It has a nifty label and comes from Australia, the Barossa Valley to be exact. I've been a little suspect of the wines that come from Australia that have seemed to have spent more time on clever labels and names than on wine. But happily, this one happily contradicts that suspicion. And it comes from wine maker Rolf Binder (and Joshua Tree Imports) who has a reputation for making good wines.

This is Shiraz with great medium/dark berry flavors, cherry, black plums and sweet spices. A little tobacco. Good news is it doesn't finish as a palate whomper, as many of the Aussie reds do. Nice even, long finish. Very structured.

Rachel found this at Cost Plus for about $14, but it goes for much more at other wine shops, up to $23. Please drink and enjoy!

What Happened?

Yeah, I kinda stopped blogging for a while. Not sure why, but I guess I don't have the "write every day" gene. Sorry. My bad. The good news is I never stopped drinking. Hope you have been drinking lots of wine, too. Let me know if you had anything good.

Had a pretty dang tasty wine tonight, Seghesio 2005 Home Ranch Zinfandel. Many of you have probably heard of or had the normal Seghesio Zinfandel. It runs about $16-22 and is very good - I think it made Wine Spectator's top 10 last year and you can find it in many grocery stores. This is one of their prestige wines, runs about $30, I think. Super good Zin. Tastes like Zin should... big, powerful, but not a palate-whomping super fruit bomb like many of the popular Zins. Great quality fruit, very complex. 15.3% alcohol - tasted slightly alcoholic, but more like 14%. Super yummy for $30. If you can find it, grab some. Think I got this at The Wine House, but they carry it at K&L Wines too.

Rachel and I actually visited the Seghesio winery up in Healdsburg, CA in 2008. Very nice winery and they make a bunch of wines you rarely see. They weren't pouring this one, but fortunately I had tried it several years ago as part of a wine course.

Hope to be blogging again soon!

Alazan take 2

So, for my loyal followers, you may recall that my very first blog post was about a Chilean Pinot Noir called Alazan. And I didn't think it was very good.

Shortly after posting that, I was contacted by Courtney Kingston of Kingston Family Vineyards who makes Alazan. She asked if I'd give it another shot. Sure, why not, especially since they graciously offered to send another bottle. Only difference was that it was a 2007, not a 2006 as before. But they swore that it's really good stuff, and they actually supply Cono Sur, the best cheap pinot of all time ($8-11 per bottle) with some of their fruit.

Again, as a reminder, the 2006 was $25 and comes from Casablanca Valley in Chile. MSRP of the 2007 was $30, so probably the same price retail.

Well, this went MUCH better. As they suggested, I decanted it for about 4 hours; in their own tasting notes they say this wine is tight. A great smokey, intense nose. Taste had nice fruit, but not overwhelming, good length, a well constructed solid wine. None of the watery, thin character of the 2006 bottle. I'm hoping/guessing we had a bad bottle of the 2006, even though there were no obvious flaws. Weird.

So, thanks Courtney. You indeed make some very tasty pinot noir. Yay!

Post number 50!

When I get to post number 51, you can look back fondly and say you knew me way back in the day. Would have blogged sooner, but we've drunk nothing new lately.

Well, get ready for another biased blog. Tonight we drank a 2006 Hocus Pocus Pinot Noir, made by my friend Amy Christine and her man Peter ($25 at K&L Wines). Although I think they make their wines in the Santa Ynez area, they sourced the grapes from the Seven Springs vineyard in Willamette Valley, Oregon, one of our favorite areas for pinot noir, and a great vineyard.

This is good stuff, although it threw me at first. Initially it had a bit of a sweetness I didn't care for, mixed with some interesting smokiness. After letting it open up a bit and drinking it with dinner, it was quite nice. We paired it with marinated Ahi and some sauteed squash and red bell peppers. Pretty mellow stuff, very drinkable and low alcohol (12.5%). Nice effort.

Even More Washington Syrah

Tonight! From the Red Mountain area of Washington, a 2006 Efeste Ceidleigh Syrah. $25 at LA Wine Co, and $30-32 elsewhere. First of all, "Ceidleigh" is pronounced Kay-Lee. Second of all, 54% of the fruit in this is sourced from the Ciel du Cheval vineyard, which generally produces damn good stuff. And Wine Spectator (aka "wine speculator") gave this 93 points. If you care.

Very few wines I experimentally buy from LA Wine Co. disappoint, and this is no exception. Big, bold and tasty, however I thought a bit alcoholic. (At 15.2%, no shock there.) Quite a bit of spice, very juicy, and even a bit of a candied quality. Overall pretty dang good. Nice length. I'd like to see how this develops in about 5 years. Don't think I'd say 93 points, but good none the less.

Priorat, better than it sounds

So Priorat is a region in Spain that really has helped in Spain's resurgence into quality wines. It was a forgotten wine growing region that was rediscovered as recently as the early 90's (I hope I recall that correctly.) And, boy, am I happy they planted there. Very consistent wine out of that area. The wines shipped to the US are generally in the $35-80 range, so to find one for $17 was an exciting and rare thing. And this one once again proved why Priorat is a wonderful area for wine producing.

This was a 2006 Viticultors del Priorat Vega Escal ($17 at LA Wine Company). Blend of 60% Carignan, 30% Grenache, 10% Syrah - blends are normal for wines from Priorat. Really good stuff - lots of oomf, but not overwhelming. Nice darker fruit, with a nice amount of blueberry, which is common for Priorat wines. Very nice length and complexity.

We will definitely buy some more - really liked this stuff. If you can find it, grab it.

Tamarack Syrah

For our Saturday evening wine, to pair with our ribs, we opened a 2002 Tamarack Cellars Columbia Valley Syrah, $22 at K&L Wines.

We LOVED the "Firehouse Red" blend they have (see previous blogs) and have basically made it our house wine. So, we figured this was worth a try.

And it was pretty good... nicely balanced... bold, but not overwhelming... paired with the ribs well... overall very nice. Great flavors and seemed to open up over time. Only complaints were that it didn't have a lot of length and wasn't super complex. Also, it didn't help Rachel's back, which is causing her much pain.

But Tamarack continues to impress. Yay Washington State wines!

Genuine Tasty

This evening we imbibed a 2005 Genuine Risk Cabernet Sauvignon. On sale for $18 at K&L Wines. I like the label lots. For full disclosure, this is made by my friend Amy Christine and her man Peter Hunken. But I will compliment it none-the-less. They also make a Syrah we like called Hocus Pocus.

Really nice Cabernet Sauvignon, and not at all typical of some of the other Santa Barbara wines I've had. Very balanced and low key. Still had some nice oomph, but not overwhelming. Went well with our steak, but drank well on it's own too. It was a little alcohol-y when I opened it, but settled down quickly.

Very nice. We have happy tongues and bellies now.

Another White!

First of all, it turns out Tony Franklin was the bass player on the first album by the awesome heavy metal band "Blue Murder." I totally got that wrong this evening.

Well it is rare that we both love a white wine, but this one is wonderful... and inexpensive. A 2007 Burgans Albarino, $11 at LA Wine Company, and I think widely available. Easy drinking, refreshing, wonderful acidity. From Rias Baixas, Spain. It is made in a town famous for seafood and this wine is made to pair seamlessly with it. It certainly would, but we drank it on it's own and it was quite nice on a hot July day.

Go buy this. Drink it. Tell me I'm wrong. Like I was about Tony Franklin.

Hello Again, Hello

No, I'm not a Lionel Ritchie Fan. I was just saying hi.

Tonight, in this corner, with a total capacity of 750ml, is the 2006 Penley Estate Phoenix Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon. We drank this with a marinated tri-tip (thanks for inspiring us Sandy!) $15 at K&L Wines.

I've found many of the lower priced Aussie cabs and shirazes (anyone know the plural of shiraz?) are overdone and have residual sugar. This had none of that. A lovely wine - all of the great cab character and none of that "fakeness." Not the most complex stuff, but very good and easy to drink. The 15% alcohol was apparent on the nose, but not on the palate.

For those that care, this gets solid 90's by several major reviewers. Very much recommend you try it.

Sorry for the delay in blogging - you deserve better. I will make no promise that I will improve, but I will try. So there.

Are you Hungary...?

Mmmmm Tokaji.  Good lord, this stuff is good.  For those unfamiliar with Tokaji, it is a sweet white desert wine made in Tokaj, Hungary.  This stuff comes in variations of sweetness as indicated by the number of puttonyos - this one has 5.  I'm sure I will mess this up, but basically a puttonyo is a basket of concentrated rotting grapes (they use the Furmint grape to make this).  First they make base wine out of the Furmint grape - then they add a puttonyo of sweet, rotting grapes to a set amount of base wine - the more puttonyos, the sweeter it is - the scale is basically 1-6, 6 is highest.  The result is a wonderfully sweet and acidic wine with incredible honey flavors.

Since good tokaji is usually fairly expensive (this was $30 for a half bottle from Wine Library in New Jersey), I've only had maybe 6 different brands, all in the 5-6 puttonyos range - this one is outstanding - a 2001 Hetszolo.  Simply an excellent example of tokaji.  Balanced, loads of honey, not sickeningly sweet (which was the problem with the last one I bought) - just wonderful.  You must try this once in your life.

Just found this on the K&L Wines website, where they also sell it for $30 a bottle...With a stunning 120 g/l of residual sugar (minimum), this original dessert wine was made according to tradition, harvesting only starts after 28th October, and may last until the first snows, so as to allow the botrytis cinerea (noble rot) to develop and to obtain the maximum concentration of grape must. When the grape must concentration is sufficient, the grapes with noble rot are separately harvested. The Aszú grapes are manually harvested one by one, and maceration takes place with the grape must. Next fermentation takes place in barrels for one and a half to two months. The white wine is then aged for three years in oak barrels stored in underground cellars at constant temperature (12° to 13° C) and humidity. This long ageing process gives the wine its complex and inimitable bouquet.

2006 ZD Pinot Noir

Sorry for the lazy blog title - they can't all be gold.

Tonight, we downed a lovely bottle of ZD Pinot Noir.  We actually visited ZD about 5 years ago while up in Napa.  We loved their cabernet sauvignon; even bought a bottle even though it was in the $40 range (a fortune for us back then.)  The pinot is listed as from Carneros, one of the better Pinot growing areas in California.

This is a very good pinot noir, especially at $27 from Lincoln Fine Wines.  Doing a quick web search, the price ranges from $22 (outrageously low! I'll have to check into budgetbottle.com) to $49.  Huge range.  Excellent quality, certainly worth the money.  Great fruit, great balance, nice acidity.  Really solid.  If you can find this - try it.  You will like it.  Just damn good California Pinot Noir.