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Connie O'Hara. Clayton's College Paru en 1948 aux éditions de l?Alma (seul un Bernard Joubert pourrait nous en dire plus sur cet éditeur?), Clayton?s College est devenu un petit livre cul-te de cette période. Plusieurs fois réédité (Régine Deforges, puis en poche), ce livre érotique ne casse pas des briques mais se laisse lire. Je ne révèle rien en disant que derrière le pseudonyme de Connie O?Hara se cache le romancier et dramaturge belge José-André Lacour. Dans la vallée de la Morave, Clayton?s College s?est vidé à cause
Going against the better advice of my high school English and sex education teachers, this story starts with the climax. For anyone involved in wine, the three months from the end of August until the end of November are both the most exciting and the most frightening of the year. These three months dictate the final say in whether you happily learn that your wines will be served at the White House or whether you become the largest vinegar producer in your neighborhood. These are months of 60- to 80-hour work weeks (and many times more) that on one hand require complete control of the environment around you and on the other hand require you to give in completely to the whims of nature. These are months where all thoughts of family and friends dim in an ever growing purple haze as your sleep deprived mind attempts to reconcile the hundreds or thousands of details that'll make or break the next year of your life. This is Crush.
More specifically this is my accounting of Crush for David Coffaro Vineyards and Winery. This vineyard/winery is owned and operated by (take a big guess here) David Coffaro and I'm his assistant winemaker (i.e. only employee). This is the inside scoop of what we have to do in order to put a prime bottle of vino on your table. David Coffaro Vineyard and Winery consists of 20 acres of grapes that Dave planted in 1979 and a winery building that he's been operating since 1994. We make wines that are big and red; zinfandel, petite sirah, carignane, an "Estate Cuvee" (a blend of the previous grapes plus cabernet sauvignon) and a "Neighbors Cuvee" (our only non-estate wine whose blend changes from year to year). Like a sandblaster to Tammy Faye Baker's face, I hope to strip away the layers of overglamorized marketing rhetoric and highlight the best advice I ever got about becoming a winemaker -- "Don't do it!"
The excitement of crush takes place on two separate but intertwined stages that seem to spin and twist in independent motion. The first of these stages is the vineyard. The 20 acres of vines we grow is minuscule by industry standards (There are certainly vineyards that are smaller but we are definitely of the side of pretty-darn-tiny). The first job we have in the vineyard is to wait for the grapes to turn from a rather pretty translucent pink color into an intense dark purple/black color. This process is called veraison. Once the color changes we're in the picking ballpark and ready to play the game. The second step is doing a large amount of grape sampling from each block of vines. It's amazing how grapes will vary from one small block to another, even if they're only 10-100 feet away. For about a month before the actual harvest, my job is to pick a representative sampling of all the grapes we grow and monitor them for sugar content. In general we're looking for a level of 24 to 25 percent sugar, which we measure as 24 to 25 degrees Brix.
The Brix reading is only the second stage however. Knowing the sugar level lets you know the technical ripeness of the grapes but not their actual flavors. Somewhere in the early to mid-twenties (sugar level), grapes go through an incredible change of flavors that ultimately add to the complexity of flavors in the finished wine. This change can only be determined by tasting the grapes themselves. So during the final week before harvest Dave and I walk through every block and randomly snack on grapes to make sure they have the flavors we want. If the sugars are perfect but the flavors aren't there then we simply wait until they develop before picking. Once they do, Whamo!, it's time to wake up really damn early and pick some grapes!
Harvesting grapes is a demanding and sticky job. The grapes are about 25 percent sugar and as the workers dump their picking tubs into the half-tons bins, grape juice splashes everywhere. It's well worth the effort, however, because I get to drive a really cool tractor. Once the half-ton bins are full they are driven to the winery and weighed. From there they're taken, by forklift, into the winery and the grapes are put through a machine called a crusher/destemmer. Now, agricultural machine manufacturers are not very creative when it comes to naming their equipment. When I say we dump the grapes into a crusher/destemmer you can be well assured that the machine will probably crush (lightly) the grapes and destem then, doing very little if anything else. We then pump the destemmed/crushed grapes (a.k.a. "must") into a one-ton bin (again, no big guess on how much it holds). The must is then inoculated with yeast and the transformation into wine begins. [As a side note I should mention that this is specifically the process for making red wine. White wine is processed in a similar but distinctly different manner. I'll get into the whites later.]
The addition of yeast is technically a winemaking choice and not a requirement. Native yeasts, which accumulated on the grape skins in the vineyard, will naturally transform the grapes into wine. But most winemakers don't trust these native yeast strains for the same reason you don't let your crazy cousin Leroy baby-sit your kids -- you just don't know what might happen and, even though the results might be fine, it's just not worth taking the chance. Yeast contribute four things to the winemaking process: heat, alcohol carbon dioxide (CO2) and sulfites. The heat and alcohol produced make it possible to adequately extract the flavors and characteristics from the grape skins (almost all of the character and all of the color of red wine comes from the skins being broken down). Alcohol acts as a solvent that extracts organic compounds in the grape skins and the heat aids in and speeds up the chemical reaction involved in fermentation.
The CO2 has a separate and interesting effect on the fermenting grape skins. As the CO2 is released by the yeast cells it catches in the grape skins and causes them to float to the surface of the fermentation bins. This forms a solid layer of covering the top of the bins like ice on a lake. This layer is called the "cap" and can get so thick in larger tanks that a full-grown person can walk across it without falling through. The cap, however, presents a small problem. Since most of red wine's character comes from the skins, having them separate from the juice during fermentation can be bad. This small problem is solved by either "punching down" or "pumping over" your bins or tanks. Punching down involves taking a stick-like device (a 2x4, garden hoe, etc.) and breaking up the cap while at the same time mixing it with the juice. Pumping over involves hooking up a pump to the bottom of the tank and pumping the juice over the top of the cap. These actions insure that the grape skins have enough opportunity to breakdown into the wine.
We monitor the fermenting bins at Coffaro constantly and record the residual sugar levels and temperatures at least once a day. When our measurements show that there's one percent sugar or less left in the wine we prepare the press. We use what's called a bladder Press (For $200, what item is inside this press?). The bladder press is a long cylinder made up of a perforated screen. We pump the fermented juice and skins into the press and rotate it while inflating the internal bladder. This is such an efficient form of pressing that when we remove the grape skins -- the squeeze-dried skins is now called pomace -- they are dry, warm and flaky. They serve no real further purpose and are dumped back into the vineyard as fertilizer.
The pressed wine is pumped from the press into a selection of barrels that we've pre-chosen dependent on the wine varietal and individual character it exhibits. At Coffaro we use six to 10 different cooperages, with barrels ranging from American, French and Hungarian oak. However, this doesn't mean we make "oaky" wine. Barrels serve two general purposes; the first is storage and aging; the second is imparting flavor. Barrels only contribute oak flavors to wine for the first two-to-three years of their life, then, after that, are considered "neutral." As storage containers they can be used for decades with the proper care. So, although all of our wines are barrel aged, we only use 20-25 percent new oak to contribute delicate oak flavors. (This percentage varies from winery to winery. Some use as much as 100 percent new oak, some don't use any depending on the varietals grown and the style of wine preferred by the winemaker.
Once the wine is in the barrel we inoculate it with a malo-lactic starter. All red wines and most whites go through a process called malo-lactic fermentation (ML). ML is a bacterial process that changes the malic acid that's naturally found in wine (it's the same acid that makes green apples taste tart) and changes it into lactic acid (the same acid found in milk). This process makes reds more chemically stable, and for white wines it adds flavor (i.e. that "buttery" flavor in most chardonnays). Now that this is done both the wine and the winemakers get a chance to take a short break and recuperate before it's time to start the whole process over again.
Next time we'll learn why they call cellar workers "rats."
Check out Brendan's "Harvest Diary -- A week in the life of Crush at David Coffaro Winery" at http://www.coffaro.com.
One of my accounts handed me this wine review, written up by a former employee. "She wasn't all there..." they noted, and went on to say she'd find reviews online and cut and paste without actually reading them. This little gem was up for quite a while until horrified customers noted that they wouldn't buy the wine because the description was so off-putting. I, however, find it to be brilliant and would love to partake in the Ecstatic Singing Mantra whenever it transpires. So I searched for wine reviews of Jest Red online, and apparently, most of this review appeared on A Little Vino Would Be Keeno. Which is clearly now my favorite site. Ever.
"Blended from seven noble grape varietals, the nose is deeply perfumed with wild dewberries, Himalayan breeding musk, and horehound candy, while the flavors, so titillating they may only be disclosed in the Ecstatic Singing Mantra. Pair with beef, pork, pasta with red sauce, cheese or chocolate, or go wild and have it with pizza, burgers or even burritos!"
I'm not quite sure which is the best part of that - is it the Himalayan breeding musk or the pairings? It's sublime on so many levels.
[04/18/2006, 07:22]
Russia it prevents wine entrance of Chile and Argentina.
To date 24 containers of Argentina and Chile wait for Russia authorization for enter that country.
The new measures implemented by Russia that originated the wine rejection of Moldavia and Georgia, also makes difficult now the import from Chile and Argentina.
The new Russian exigencies imply analyses related to the chemical elements they have not been using for many years.
In Argentina these measures were described as more tariff. This country evaluates its losses in the sum of u$s 150 per day for each container. The cost of the stopped wine would be of u$s 60 thousands.
It’s been awhile since we really blogged. You know the original blog post, a wrap up of the blogger’s life and ideas that pop in their heads. Usually we write in a more educational manner trying our best to educate. Today is different. This weekend we had a perfect storm of visitors. Our old roommates from the good old days when we lived in Madrid were in town for the long weekend, which inevitably meant lots of fun foods and some unexpected card games of Liar. A wonderful weekend, as well as an opportunity throw down on a few meals since I had such an attentive audience. First night, it was port brined pork loin (that’s a mouthfull), followed by Country chicken paired with roasted purple potatoes and green beans with walnuts and cured ham the following night. Both meals deserved pictures and descriptions, but alas, the food disappeared before I had a chance. For those of you with a grill and some gumption, however, here’s how to cook the the Pork(everyone’s favorite)!
Combine in a large pot, or bucket, the following: 1 x3lb-5lb piece of whole pork loin, 1 bottle cheap Port wine(ruby), a few cloves, a few sticks of cinnamon, 2 bay leafs, a cup and a half of rock salt, a cup of sugar and half a nutmeg nut chopped coarsely. Cover the meat with cold water and let sit for approximately 8 hours.
When the meat has finished brining, get a very hot two stage fire going in your grill. Remove the pork from the brine and dry throughly. Quickly blacken the pork on the hot side of the grill, turning it so that the entire piece is all nice and charred. Then move the pork to the other side of the grill and place a lid on the grill. It should take about 30 minutes to cook, though it depends on your grill. Just keep an eye on it! When it’s done, let it rest for at least 10 minutes before cutting into thick chops. Enjoy!
Let me know if you try it out!
Saturday, we woke late, and Gabriella and I headed to a meeting with a small port producer who is looking to explore the world of Web2.0. Had a nice lunch filled with great conversation and plates of grilled sardines and shrimp along the sea. After several hours of excited banter back and forth, we’re already excited to visit their property in the middle of the Douro valley!
Saying our goodbyes, we then wandered our way along the coast filled with pale German and British bathers in the for the weekend, and into the center of the city to meet up with both our friends and my sister and brother-in-law visiting who were visiting from out of town. Our goal was to meander through the streets and enjoy a range of Tapas, which we succeeded in tackling rather quickly. The first place we stopped at had some of the finest “Bombas” drenched in a slightly spicy white sauce. Bombas are slightly spicy potato filled croquettes with bits of meat inside a crispy, fried bread shell. YuM!
Our second stop was a disappointment, though the food was quite good. We ended up in a place where the owner became too big of an influence on the ambiance, hovering around us, making awkward jokes just to fit in. That’s always tough, especially when you’d rather focus on your company than the waiter. How do you tell him to bugger off and just feed us some good food? The restaurant, Mam i Teca, wasn’t all bad, as the food was pretty good, but it may not be worth your while. Too small, uncomfortable seats and pushy service doesn’t really make up for a decent meal.
We did have fun though, and I had some nice pics result from the evening. Oh, and one new piece of information on my quest for Iberian Beer! I have a place to review. La Cerveceria located in the Gothic quarter is a serious beer joint that goes out of their way to bring good beer to Spain. I will be doing a full review shortly, but I just wanted to let everyone who was feeling badly for me know that I now have a Titan IPA, a Snakedog IPA, and a new Beligum that beer claiming to the be the Hoppiest beer of the them all! We’ll see!
98-100 points Parker: "The 2003 Ermitage Le Meal blanc may be the finest dry white I have ever tasted. Providing a prodigious tasting experience, it is filled with honeyed citrus, an unctuous stoniness to the fruit character, amazing body, and abundant freshness, precision, and length (the finish lasts nearly 90 seconds). A legend in the making, it is an incredible effort."
This merry band of merchants, flying the flag for small, artisanal wineries with distinctive, regional wines came to Fulham last week to give both press and public a chance to see what they have to offer.
The lower and upper ends of the wine market are well served by supermarkets and the "establishment" but there is increasing demand for wine between these extremes. The best value for quality of wines with integrity and interest. These merchants are really passionate about their lists and usually have personal relationships built up with the producers so they have fairly extensive knowledge of the vineyards, wineries and vintages.
Some of the listings are inevitably idiosyncratic and not all the wines will be to everyone's taste but these are dedicated people who will help you find treasures you will come back for again and again.
Jim Monks from Decanter Wines is a private collector who started by bringing in pallets for his own cellar, his approach is unashamedly personal (all the wines are aged in his cellar until he feels they are ready to drink and only then offered to the public) and any commercial success is second to his goal of providing himself with the kind of wine he wants to drink. Luckily, his taste seems to be shared and his wines show very well.
Also showing was Nick Dobson a self-proclaimed "niche player" with some outstanding and unusual wines from Switzerland, Austria and Germany. With these countries slowly garnering a following for their wines it is worth knowing where to track down some great examples.
Also well-represented were Amordivino, Italian importers; The Big Red Wine Company showing mainly the Southern Rhone on this occasion; Abbe Arrous whose "Cyrcée, Collioure 2002" was the outstanding wine of the day for me; and Leon Stolarski with a wonderfully diverse selection of regional French wine.
The full list of tasting notes will be put up on this site but have a look at their website and sign up to their free monthly newsletter asdw.org.uk it is always going to be worth finding something a little bit different and a little bit special.
If you?re interested in designing your own custom wine cellar there are a number of options available to you. The best news is that there are wine cellar designs for everyone from the avid do-it-yourselfer to the complete woodworking novice.
There are modular wine racks that are available in different grains and finishes, with the least expensive generally being a wood such as pine. Most modular wine rack dealers will offer other materials such as red cedar or finished wood as well. Of course you can always save some money and finish the wood yourself if you desire a particular type of finish or color for your wine cellar racks.
There are many wine racking companies that offer crown molding and skirting pieces so that you can easily combine different styles of wine cellar racking materials and types. This approach can yield some very unique custom wine cellar designs.
There are built in glass racks that are made to fit snugly within a rack system. A good place for one of these individual units would be above the table top piece mentioned above. This would add to the ambience as well as functionality of your custom modular wine racking system.
If you want something a little different than the traditional wood wine cellar racks, there are attractive metal trellis rack pieces that are very economical, yet stylish. These tend to look classier than the wood modular wine racking pieces, especially for placement in bar areas that will be viewed by visitors.
If you would like to add a table area to your wine cellar while increasing the storage capacity of your cellar at the same time, a wine bin table may be the best addition to your modular racking system. There are taller, wine tasting tables that hold just over 100 bottles or about 180 bottles of wine, and there are shorter wine rack tables that hold more than 200 wine bottles in case bins.
There are many online dealers and manufacturers of wine cellar racking pieces that also offer custom computer design services to help you achieve the exact wine cellar layout that you have in mine. With many of these professional services you can then have the plans sent to you and decide if you will build them yourself or have someone else build them for you.
With all of the wine cellar design options available to you, there are many ways to accomplish the perfect wine cellar design for you and your situation. There are many wine enthusiasts online communities and the like where you can find others interested in the same things that you are and maybe gain some other ideas about wine cellars and the design aspect of creating your own wine cellar.
A visit to Beaucastel isn't complete without trying some so off to the tasting room....
2006 - Beaucastel Blanc. The Roussane grape is dominant with 80% (small percentage of 60 year old vines) and another 20% comprised of Grenache Blanc (10-40 year old vines). Honey, flowers, good acidity and a minerality. Good to serve on the cool side i.e. 10-12 centrigrade.
2006 - Beaucastal Blanc Vielle Vignes Again made of Roussane but this time 100% pure and straight up. The vines are old (I'm told 78 years). Production is absolutely miniscule at 6000 bottles per annum ( sorry now 5999 for '06). With the Roussane variety I am told you either drink it within 5 years of the vintage of 10 years later. The 5-10 year period is supposed to be a funky phase where the wine shouts down and appears oxidised. Strangely enough I have not it during this phase but have had ones over 10 years - you will be nicely surprised. The RVV belies it's age in comparison to Beaucastel Blanc - you can tell the age of the vines in the wine! If the regular version is a child then the RVV is a middle-age adult - more complex, more depth, more layers, more of everything. If you do have both and then go back to the regular version - you will find it lacking and "shallow". I would not be afraid to serve this warmer than the regular Beaucastel Blanc say 13-15 degrees.
2005 Beaucastel Comprised of 13 grape varieties. The various grapes bring their unique characteristics to the table and balance one another out. Mourvedre for it's tannic structure and ageing potential, Grenache for the warmth and texture as well as others. The CdP true to its roots. Given the various varieties and their maturation profiles that each variety would come forward at different times during the ageing process. You can try one young (i.e. within 5 years) but it won't reach a sense of harmony without 10 years of age - this is my own personal view of course. Right now too young but good raw materials should be fantastic.
1998 Beaucastel Here we are starting to get serious. IMHO still not quite there in terms of harmony but getting there and should do it within 5 years? Depth, breadth, fantastic stuff.
1986 Beaucastel IMHO has reached the stage of harmony. Leather, animal, dried fruits it's all there. Not a stellar vintage but drinking well and probably at it's peak.
* Note with food - Try something hearty almost rustic. The typical cuisine is Provencal - so olive oils, thyme, basil, tomatoes. Perhaps even Tuscan food may work ....?
More banging on from me about how we should look to the independent merchant for the more interesting wines - small producers, interesting flavours, unknown grapes etc etc but such purchases do not have to be the idiosyncratic, often you just need something decent and mainstream but still retaining that small producer mentality...
Wine Tasting Note: Château Les Tonnelles, 2004, Fronsac, France. Available from Bordeaux-Undiscovered [more] for £7.99 (normally £11.99). Very French (for which read Bordeaux) in style and structure - the aroma has a lovely fruity edge that needs a little teasing (swirl/decant) to really reveal itself - don't forget that aroma offers so much to the overall enjoyment of wine - is that blackcurrant, blackberry, leaves, undergrowth?
The Bordeaux Undiscovered website states that this 'drinks well on it's own' but I disagree - it's a classic French food wine - unless you enjoy hearty tannins - and in that regard is highly recommended with a simple roasted game bird. In this case it is stuffed with herby sausage and served with a potato-parsley-garlic mash and a broad bean puree (the latter left over from the Pappardelle with Broad Beans and Rocket dish).
The wine is 100% Merlot. Alcohol 13.5%. Scribblings Rating - 90/100 [3.75 out of 5]
by Martin Field Cascade Green ? up to $18 the six-pack of 330ml bottles * According to the label, this full-strength (4.5%) lager is 100 per cent carbon neutral, preservative free and low carbohydrate. It has pleasant hoppy spicy aromatics. The palate is medium-weighted and very smooth in texture. Flavours are malty sweet and the finish without bitterness. Banrock Station Ecomate Colombard Chardonnay 2007 - 1 Litre Tetra Pak ? up to $10 * * Light lemony nose. Fresh easy drinking style with faint oak, off-dry finish and mild acidity.
One of our readers, Emily, asked a good question about 1, and I'm glad she did. I'm going to offer an extended reply, since this subject comes up periodically "Many people accuse you of only liking very young 'over blown,' very tannic styles of wines.
That's the combination Sweet WillYum's owner and baker Sue Kershner suggests for a quiet evening. Personally, I think Uncle Eric's Granola Biscotti would go just as well with a mellow wine. What would you pair with Will's Chocolate Chip Cookies? Or Chocolate Peppermint Dr. Patti's? Visit www.SweetWillYums.com today to order your ...
This $10 sparkling wine from Vouvray France is really very nice! Made from Chenin Blanc, it is pale straw in color with a lemony melon bouquet that is understated. It is somewhat thin on flavor but is crisply made and refreshing.
Somewhat non-descript but I tell you this is a "best buy" sparkler and worth seeking out! I'll buy more if given the chance. Raise a glass!
Over May 13th, 14th and 15th 2007, thirty wine writers, sommeliers, and industry professionals from across Canada and the U.S. met in Windsor, Ontario to judge the 27th annual All Canadian Wine Championships. More than 850 wines were submitted from...
I've been a member of this group for awhile, but haven't posted much. I've ended up doing my senior project for a possible internet wine recommendation service, and would appreciate it if you could take the survey. It's not personally identifable, and it should be pretty quick to take.
It's official. Millennials are a major force in wine. Why we needed a study to tell us this, I'm not sure. We millennials are hip, sophisticated and reliably swayed by marketing. Sigh. At least we have the good sense to like wine.
Quotable: "Connoisseur, n. A specialist who knows everything about something and nothing about anything else." - Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
Caberiffic: Delectus 2001 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Stanton Vineyard Oakville ($50). Tobacco, mushroom, black cherry, plum. Decant, my friends, decant.
Splurge worthy: Philip Togni Vineyard 2003 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (online prices vary widely, between $80 and $150). Blackberry, dusty chocolate, plum, great acid on the back end.
Mon Feb 21st, 2005, London Who has not heard of Michelin star chef Nico Ladenis? Now retired, he has left his restaurants, including his famous Incognico, reminiscent of a Parisian brasserie, in the capable hands of his dauther and his hand-picked chefs.
Tasted by Mrbuzz. Nice dark garnet color. Wonderful nose of leather, cedar, dried currants/cherry, dusty earth spice, wet mulling spice. I can already tell this is going to be outstanding.......and, it is! Still young and alive in the mouth....similar flavors as the nose, slight sour dry finish. Still powerful in structure, great aged leather and spices....well rounded...drinks of Napa Valley, in the day. 1991 is my favorite Ca Cab Vintage of all time...this wine might just be my favorite Mondavi of all time....Cheers to Robert Mondavi...rip. (95 pts.) - Tasted 5/16/2008. [FIND IT!]
Have an amazing evening and above all - drink some great wine and champagne!
2008 promises to be an exciting year for The Cru so stay tuned!
To begin with I will be releasing a new look Cru in the next two weeks - it's going to a lot easy to navigate around and hopefully it will make finding your favourite South African wine that much easier and more enjoyable!
Until then have a great evening and enjoy the chosen Pouza!
Yes, that was basically the point of this quick weekend post.Over the past week I made the best attempt I could at finding all six single-variety wines that the South African producers released, and have only achieved partial success (3/6).Though not so entirely happy with one of the whites (sadly the only one I could track down), I return to the reds to find a very interesting Shiraz.
A small clarification about how I view value wines though.Obviously, the MAN Shiraz is no Crozes-Hermitages, but that simply isn?t the objective with a value selection recommendation.It doesn?t make it better than say, a Northern Rhône Syrah that usually sells for more.Value selections like this one are unusually interesting for the price point.That shortsighted all-or-nothing approach people have the tendency to apply to so many things in life seems absurdly inappropriate even with wine.I thought about that today when I read the latest post over at The Pour, which somewhat deals with a new book on wine reminiscent of that 20/20 segment from 2005 which relegates the value of art and art criticism (good parallel with wine) to that of upper-brow contempt for the masses.How many certifiable idiots have you overheard in a hotel lobby asking trite questions that more or less resemble ?which one?s the best, Flemish art or Florentine art?The inanity of an exchange like this swiftly reveals the poverty of knowledge, or perhaps more crucial to the matter, lack of genuine appreciation which the participants must have for art.
As someone who seriously studies literature and has a couple of degrees to back that up, I have always cringed at those book club type questions where two writers from completely different perspectives and time periods are given the old CNN Crossfire treatment, ?George Sand or Danielle Steele??On a whole, more people would likely prefer Steele, who no doubt is an accomplished writer; her work could thus be considered better, right?No, no and no.As with artists or writers, let?s please leave wine out of that sort of thing.
At any rate, this Coastal Region Shiraz is all about straightforward flavors and food-accompanying functionality.I thought it a bit complex for the price point, with nice plum, berry, spice and smoke.Balance wasn?t too far off, with medium acidity, high body, medium-high tannin and solid fruit which stood up to the vegetal and spice flavors for three days after opening.An added bonus, considering most sub-$10 reds, was that the oak presence was never overwhelming.I?ll certainly consider the MAN Syrah and Pinotage again when looking for value-priced accompaniments to grilled meats and those ostrich burgers I have come to enjoy recently.
Sun Feb 20th, 2005, Forest Grove Sunday Brunch served at The Vineyard House, the renovated historic mansion at Montinore Estate, featuring seasonal menu paired with Montinore wines.
98-100 points Parker: "The 2003 Ermitage Le Meal blanc may be the finest dry white I have ever tasted. Providing a prodigious tasting experience, it is filled with honeyed citrus, an unctuous stoniness to the fruit character, amazing body, and abundant freshness, precision, and length (the finish lasts nearly 90 seconds). A legend in the making, it is an incredible effort."
While often referred to as a single "place" when it comes to wine, Napa is hardly a single monolithic growing region. Each of its 14 established AVAs (American Viticultural Areas) lays claim to a separate identity, characterized by geology, microclimate, and different histories of production.
The Oakville AVA has one of the most storied of such histories. It is home to the famed To Kalon Vineyard, purchased by H.W. Crabb in 1868, shortly after the installation of a railroad stop made the tiny village of Oakville spring to life. In 1876 Crabb's neighbor John Benson bottled his inaugural vintage of Far Niente wine just down the road.
By the year 1880 the Oakville area had 430 acres under production, and these would nearly triple to more than 1000 acres in the next 10 years and continue to grow until Prohibition turned off the spigot in the 1920's.
In 1965 Heitz Vineyards made the first vintage of Martha's Vineyard Cabernet, a wine that Robert Mondavi probably tasted around about the time he established his own winery a year later. Over the next thirty years, Oakville would gradually become home to some of the best wines on the planet. Acre for acre, the Oakville appellation may be the heaviest hitting single wine region in the western hemisphere. It is home to many of the highest scoring and highest priced wines in America, including Harlan Estate, Screaming Eagle, and Dalla Valle, to name just a few.
Oakville is ground zero for Napa Cabernet, and with good reason. Year over year it produces some of the most tremendous wines in the valley. It's hard to say that one particular area of Napa truly produces the best Cabernet, but it's also hard to find someplace that has more claim to that title than the Oakville AVA.
Last week the Oakville Winegrowers Association put on its annual Taste of Oakville event, which gives members of the wine trade and the press an opportunity to sample wines from its members. This meant an opportunity to taste through a lot of excellent 2004 and 2005 Cabernets (as well as a few other reds and a few random whites), most of which I enjoyed greatly. There were a few wines at the tasting which I didn't get a chance to taste, as they had run out of wine by the time I got there, but the list below represents all but a few of the wines poured. The tasting took place on the upper level catwalks of the Robert Mondavi Winery surrounding their large oak fermentation tanks, which you can see in the photo.
WHITE WINES 2006 Flora Springs Winery & Vineyards Soliloquy White Blend. Score: 9. Cost: $25 2006 Cosentino Signature Winery Oakville Chardonnay. Score: 9. Cost: $30 2005 Kelham Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc. Score: 9. Cost: $30 2006 Oakville Ranch Chardonnay. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $48 2007 Swanson Rosato. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $18 2004 Teaderman Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $28 2007 Saddleback Cellars Pinot Blanc. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $24 2006 Robert Mondavi Winery Fume Blanc Reserve, "To Kalon Vineyard." Score: between 8 and 8.5. Cost:$20
Now that we've gotten those out of the way, let's move on to the main event, shall we?
Tecnorati
Wine Tasting Note: Château Les Tonnelles, 2004, Fronsac, France.
