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The Las Vegas Grand Tour was rockin' on Saturday night. The ballroom of the 1 was packed, and everybody was having a lot of fun. As much as I love 1, Vegas really has the buzz when it comes to the Spec's Grand Tour. So many pretty girls in addition to the excellent wines.
Once again, I’m pleased to say that this little blog has been chosen as a finalist in the Winery Blog category of the 2008 American Wine Blog Awards. Steady, here’s the sales pitch: if you like what you’ve read here; if you have learned or laughed or even just shaken your head in utter disbelief because of this blog; if you can admit to your friends and colleagues that you do read this blog, then would you vote for it? And while you’re at it, would you ask those same friends and colleagues to vote, too??:) Take a look at the other deserving finalists in this category (many of which are my own faves), and in the other categories as well. There’s great stuff happening in the wine blog world—this is your chance to check it out!! Voting starts March 21 & ends March 28. Click here to vote.
Big, mouthfilling, smooth and satisfying describe the Quattro Mani Montepulciano 2006.
This easy-to-drink Italian starts off with dark berry, leather and smoke on the nose. The dark berries continue on the palate and are joined by dried cherries and a little more smokiness.
This robust, full-bodied wine is enjoyable by itself, and its smoky component would make it a good match for burgers, barbecue and grilled meats. Its price is a very reasonable $10 per bottle.
Mussels on the half shell are as exotic and flavorful as they are inexpensive.
(serves 6)
6 basil leaves 2 T fresh thyme, remove and discard stems before measuring 2 T fresh tarragon, remove and discard stems before measuring 3 garlic cloves, minced 1 shallot(s), minced 3 lemons, 1 * zested, 1 /2*juiced, 1 - 1/2* cut into wedges and reserved for garnish 1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley sprigs, remove and discard stems before measuring 1/2 t celery salt 1/4 t freshly ground black pepper 3 T butter at room temperature 1 lb. cultured blue mussels, rinsed, and debearded with a quick tug
1. . Mix all ingredients except the butter and mussels in a small food processor or blender or dice finely and mix by hand in a small bowl.
2. . If using a processor or blender add the butter. Otherwise, add the butter to the mixture in the bowl and blend thoroughly with a spoon.
3. . Place a vegetable steamer in a large pot and add 1 inch of water Bring water to a boil. Add the mussels, cover and steam for approximately 40 to 60 seconds, or just long enough for the shells to open (this is the sole object of the exercise). Remove opened shells and continue steaming any closed shells for I minute. Discard any mussels that have not opened by this time.
4. . Allow the mussels to cool. Remove the top shell.
5. . Set the mussels on a baking sheet (facing up) and spoon 1/4 teaspoon of the butter/herb mixture over each.
6. . Place the pan under the broiler on the level closest to the element or flame. Broil for about 2-1/2 minutes, or until butter is melted and the mussels just begin to brown.
7. . Serve on the half shell.
le secret. .Do not oversteam or overbroil mussels.
the adventure club . .Add a few droplets of Pernod (a licorice-flavored liqueur) to each mussel just before cooking.
garnish . .Lemon wedges.
suggested accompaniment . .A martini.
alternatives . .i) Butter may be replaced with an equal amount of olive oil. ii) This recipe also works with oysters, but you will have to pray for a pearl in order to finance the difference in price.
notes . .Buy the mussels from a reputable fishmonger on the day of the dinner. Select only mussels that are closed. ii) Keep mussels refrigerated. iii) Mussels are best washed and cleaned just before using. They begin to dry out once the beard is removed. iv) Don't worry if you are missing any one of the herbs. v) If you open a mussel and it looks questionable, give it the smell test.
guest assignment . .Mussel debearder.
hints for advance prep . .The butter mixture may be prepared days in advance and refrigerated or frozen.
cooking apparatus . .A baking sheet, a large pot, and a vegetable steamer.
serving apparatus . .A large serving plate, a plate for the empty shells and cocktail napkins.
Those couple of days immediately preceding a weekend can be utterly tedious.Given my work situation, I get to appreciate the more exciting wines in my cellar during weekends.In the spirit of warding off the midweek gloom, I reached for a bottle of a value-priced southern Rhône red that I had picked up a year or two ago?the 2004 Domaine Le Colombier Vacqueyras Vieilles Vignes.Although I wanted to try it back then, I knew the wait would be well worth it in terms of tempering a wine that would have seemed rough at first encounter.The result?An exciting, intelligent-value Vacqueyras that was complex and nuanced enough to enjoy by itself.
Nestled to the south of Gigondas and Beaumes de Venise, Domaine Le Colombier?s Vacqueyras (2200 cases) is crafted by Jean-louis Mourre.The chalky, clay soils in the area host Mourre?s 50-year old (on average) vines, the oldest of which has its origins from a 1902 planting.The blend of Grenache Noir (80%) and Mourvèdre (20%) retains a concentrated fruit and sweet spice-driven character given a five-week maceration period and no oak exposure.Though I enjoyed the soft tannins and nuanced, rustic character now, it should continue to evolve well for a few more years.
Visual/Aromatic Profile:The nose features pronounced dark fruit, herbes de Provence, sweet spice and earth.
Texture and Finish:Outstanding balance considering the price point.The sweet dark fruit flavors are nicely countered by refreshing medium-high berry acidity.Soft tannins provide a velvety mouthfeel for this medium-generous bodied southern Rhône red.The lovely dark fruit unfolds and gives way to warm earth and inviting sweet spice (black licorice) on the lengthy finish.
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 ...
More gewurtz. The good news is that this is an excellent wine. The bad news is that it is sold out. I thought I would review it anyway because it is worth reviewing and you might spot it on a restaurant list somewhere or other. This is barrel femented in old French oak and left on lees for an extended period. All very interesting and artisanal.
Aromas of lychee, ginger marmalade, musk and roses. On the palate a lighter more delicate style with flavours of ruby red grapefruit, peach, lychee, ginger and spice. Distinctly dry chalky texture. Not a big fat impact wine like many but rather more subtle, spicy and lean. Finishes with spicy grapefruit flavours. A food style with style.
The Boscaini family have been the owners of the Masi Winery in the Veneto region of Italy for six generations, and specialize in the production of Amarones and Reciotos. In 1964, Masi rediscovered and refined the technique of double fermentation using semi-dried grapes, essentially updating the style of Amarone by using new vinification techniques. Their Amarones are now considered ‘new world’ in style, and indeed, Masi has even established vineyards in Argentina, using the same vinification processes with the Malbec grape.
Join us as we talk with Sandro about the unique method of apassimento, a process of drying the grapes for over 3-months, and hear why Masi isn’t making your father’s Amarone any more.
It?s been a very busy week, but after my nice catching up session with Google Reader, here are some treasures worth noting from the RSS pileup:
1)Catavino?sRioja Report and EWBC 2008:Gabriella and Ryan over at Catavino have made a labor of love?an ambitious sort of compendium that is all things Rioja.From regional gastronomy to what else? Los vinos!You can find maps, profiles of wineries, beautiful photography and even a comprehensive explanation of Rioja labeling practices.I also found their buying guide particularly valuable and look forward to bringing it along on some shopping trips in the near future.This kind of stuff is a privilege to be able to look at when you consider other ?regional reports? published by people with a sense of entitlement to wine travel and $60+ annual subscription fees.Ryan and Gabriella are accountable for their material, actively and genuinely elicit and value readers? opinions, suggestions and evince passion for this stuff, so go ahead and bookmark them.
3)Remember Mr. Show?s Worthington Law applied to wine?Looks like the research findings from that CalTech/Stanford study published earlier in the year have been further validated.Working Paper No, 16, published by the American Association of Wine Economists details a new study in which people generally preferred less expensive wines, unless told by researchers of course, that a wine was particularly expensive.
4) If you read Spanish and want to stay up on the latest happenings in the Mendoza wine industry, you may want to bookmark El Blog de Vinos de Argentina.I have been reading their blog for some time now and have found it more and more valuable in terms of getting an inside track on what they?re thinking in Mendoza.As an Argentine, I?ve become a bit tired of receiving my Argentine wine industry news solely from the perspective of English-language consumer magazines.In the Argentine wine-sense, I?m approaching the sort of frustration many over here are feeling with news sources like CNN and FOX?it?s unfortunately limited for my needs.I may not be alone in wanting something like this?I really feel that things would get interesting if insiders from many wine regions only generally covered by shiny-cover magazines began communicating their perspectives directly to readers in a couple of other languages.
5) I would like to issue a preliminary warning before checking out this final note...it is cringe-inducing. I caught this on an Argentine website related to wine news. You'll click on the link and notice the article is written in Spanish, but that won't deter you from making the appropriate inference...Madonna will be contracting some local producer to lovingly craft her own label of Malbec. My comments? Oh hell no. Truthfully though, the nausea actually set in when I read that the label will reportedly be named after "Evita." Whether you are a foreigner and think Evita was a great person or an Argentine who may have the courage to speak up and express a more balanced perspective for the legacy of this famous political figure, one thing's for sure, Madonna could have chosen ANY OTHER variety cultivated in ANY OTHER country. Why us, oh God why us?
Feb 21st-Mar 14th 2005, Vancouver Wine Tasting and Education Hosted by best selling authors! This course is taught by the Best Selling Authors of the book A Modern Guide To Wine: HAVE A GLASS.
Yarra Valley, Victoria, Australia. Chardonnay. 13%. Screwcap. Approx $A28
Dripping with acidity and brimming with flavour, this is an excellent chardonnay. Smokey, promising and scented with grilled pineapple, nuts and a hint of something wild. It evokes nectarine and almond meal but the main sensation is a shocking juiciness and a terrific focus and purity.
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.
I was just talking with a friend from Chicago about Alpana Singh.
At 26, she was named the youngest female master sommelier. Now, at 29, she's director of wine and spirits for Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises. Smart girl. And she champions the women-and-wine cause. I like that.
And there she is in today's Chicago Sun Times offering us a little taste of her wine savvy. I'm fond of this one in particular: Many good wines are meant to be drunk young. "Otherwise, while you're patiently waiting for 'Mr. Right,' you may inadvertently be letting 'Mr. Right Now' get away."
I'll throw in my own girly wisdom: Wine and shoes have a lot in common. You have the $300 Stuart Weitzmans stashed away in a cloth bag in an air-tight box in the back of your closet. And then there's the everyday, comfy-as-hell boots you throw on without a second thought, but can't imagine living without. Those dress-up wines you've got buried in your cellar, they're nice, but it's the week-night, lasagna-and-garlic-bread bottle that gets you through the week.
I've tried to be good this week, I really have. Sober-sided comments. Touristic pictures of great Italian locales. No foul-mouthed drunken rants. Bonhomie and good will toward all. No silly business. Christ, it's killing me. Forget my consuming jealousy of bloggers who get invited to write in serious wine journals for money (imagine! it happens!). Forget, like totally forget, writing a book about the nectar of Bacchus. So, to quote the great American poet, "Let's go crazy / Let's go nuts!" To set the scene: I was reading my favourite...
Today, we're tasting another good wine to serve for all of those summer patio parties-the Little Black Dress Pinot Grigio. Little Black Dress Wines were introduced by Brown-Forman in 2006, the 80th anniversary of the Coco Chanel's little black dress. The collection includes a Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, and Merlot. Although marketed toward women, these wines are versatile and enjoyable for any wine lover.
The Pinot Grigio is a straw-colored wine, made of 84 percent Pinot Grigio grapes, 10 percent Chardonnay, and just a hint of Muscat and Vigonier. The wine is light and crisp with hints of green apples, pears, and peaches. The Muscat lends a spicy touch and the Viognier a fruity floral note.
Little Black Dress wines are available throughout the United States and Canada. The Pinot Grigio retails for $9.99.
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Barry Schuler may know a thing or two about running multi-billion dollar technology companies, but what he really wants to talk about, given the chance, is food and wine. The former CEO of AOL, Schuler often gets credited along with Steve Case (who preceded Schuler as CEO) for the company's success in the late Nineties. But while his colleagues and most of America's top technology executives were returning home at the end of their long days to comfortable suburbs near major metropolitan areas, at the end of the week Schuler was making his way back to Napa, California. Schuler may have been one of the country's top technology executives, but now he spends as much time thinking about wine as he does anything else.
Schuler says that he can remember wanting to live in Napa as early as the age of 18. In addition to dabbling in photography and filmmaking as a teenager, he says, "I was really into cooking. And drinking." His obsession with food and wine, led him to the altar of Alice Waters' restaurant Chez Panisse, which he visited for the first time in 1974 on the pretense of considering a graduate degree at UC Berkeley. Instead of attending his interviews and exploring the campus, however, Schuler dined at Chez Panisse, and drove to Napa, where he spent days wandering around in a daze. "It was like mecca," he says, "like I was hit by a lighting bolt. It truly was amazing. I decided then and there that I had to figure out how to live [in Napa] someday."
By his own account, Schuler spent the next 15 years "chasing French wine" and working out the math that would get him back to the Napa valley. While he wasn't in his own kitchen dreaming of his future Napa estate, Schuler was busy making a name for himself in the emerging world of digital interactive media. He founded an early advertising agency to serve the emerging home and business computing market, then ran one of the first successful Macintosh software companies, and finally ended up founding an interactive design agency called Medior, with several colleagues, including Tracy Goldman, who is now his wife.
Schuler finally moved to Napa in 1989, settling closer to the town of Napa than to the centers of culinary and wine activity farther up the valley, because he was attracted to the change he saw underway in and around the city of Napa. "It was a train wreck in those days," says Schuler, but he saw something of a diamond in the rough in the scrabbly area to the east and north of town known as Coombsville. When he finally decided he wanted a bit of land on which he might one day plant some grapes, "mostly just to sell, I was thinking," he says, "I started looking in Coombsville." Good lots were not immediately forthcoming, so Schuler would spend several years poking around the area until in 1998, when someone told him that a 35 acre parcel was due to be sold in the area, and that he might want to take a look at it.
After rounding the shoulder of the hill and seeing the view of a green cow pasture roll out from underneath the mossy shade of oaks all the way to the San Francisco Bay in the distance, Schuler purchased the property on the spot, thinking he'd figure out whether it could grow grapes later.
What Schuler ended up with is an interesting geologic and climatologic anomaly in the region. The hilltop of ash and clay soil is layered thinly on a deep base of round river stones, and sits up higher than most surrounding points in the traditionally cooler region of Napa. This makes the property a little island of heat that misses much of the fog influence that creeps up from neighboring Carneros and the wind patterns that sweep through the rest of the region, which is a pending AVA (American Viticultural Area) under the name Tulocay.
With the help of vineyard consultant Michael Wolf, close friends Bill and Dawnine Dyer, (of Dyer Vineyards) and friend Tony Soter (of Etude Wines) set about carefully establishing their 22 acre vineyard, still with the idea that they'd sell the grapes, and perhaps make just a tiny bit of wine for themselves. After some struggles, the vineyard began yielding grapes in 2003, and by the time the 2004 grapes were going into bottle, it was clear that the fruit was on track to being exceptional. The folks who had purchased the initial lots of grapes were clamoring for more, and new requests were constantly being made.
"At that point," says Schuler, "we couldn't resist." Barry and Tracy enlisted the Dyers to make them 40 cases of wine from the 2004 harvest, and asked them to become the official winemaking team for their first commercial release in 2005. For the name of their project they selected a rephrasing of Medior, the company that had brought them together, and arguably made possible the fulfillment of Barry's teenage dreams. For their label they chose the silhouette of the solitary, ancient oak tree that anchors the center of their vineyards.
Most of Meteor Vineyard's grapes are still sold to select wineries around the valley, but the family holds back enough fruit to make about 700 cases of their estate Cabernet, and about 90 cases of their Special Family Reserve, which represents the best barrels from each vintage.
TASTING NOTES: 2004 Meteor Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Coombsville/Tulocay, Napa Medium to dark garnet in color, this wine has a perky nose of nutty, cherry aromas that are tinged with hints of tobacco and anise. In the mouth its initial impression is of brightness and good acidity, with earthier flavors of tobacco, leather, cherry, and a hint of "stemmy" green wood that doesn't keep the wine from being tasty. Score: around 9. This wine is not commercially available.
2005 Meteor Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Coombsville/Tulocay, Napa Medium to dark garnet in the glass, this wine bursts from the glass with bright cherry and chocolate aromas that are followed rapidly with sweet tobacco and vanilla scents. In the mouth it is silky, even sexy, on the tongue, with a nice weight to it. The wine is juicy, with acidity that might even be slightly too sharp in comparison to the rest of the beautiful lush cherry and cedar fruits that mingle with pipe tobacco to finish with great length and satisfaction. I would expect this wine to smooth out in the next year or so in the bottle, and continue to improve for several more. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $225.
2005 Meteor Vineyard "Special Family Reserve" Cabernet Sauvignon, Coombsville/Tulocay, Napa Medium to dark garnet in color, this wine smells of tobacco, earth, and cocoa powder. In the mouth it displays a deeper earthy quality than the label's primary release. Nicely balanced flavors of cherry and wet earth, with hints of blue fruit, sit poised on the tongue, nicely balanced for a finish that feels like a leisurely backstroke in a placid pool, as the wine slinks and slips down the palate. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $300.
The 2005 vintage will be available for purchase starting at some point in the next couple of months. Interested parties can sign up for the winery's mailing list on their web site.
I also had the opportunity to taste several clonal selections from different blocks of the vineyard, vintage 2007, that will soon be blended. These samples displayed a broad range of deep, complex fruit that are showing their first incarnations in the wines above. The clone 7 cabernet fruit was classically Cabernet Sauvignon -- cherry with hints of stem tannins. The Clone 4 fruit was deep and earthy, with notes of slate and graphite aromas and spicy flavors of espresso and orange rind. Finally the clone 337 was an impressive, powerful luge-run of cherry fruit that nearly knocked my socks off. There are clearly many good things to come from Meteor.
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.
Fri Feb 25th, 2005, Los Angeles Cocktail Cuisine - The Art of Appetizers Fri – 2/25/05 7:00pm-10:00pm Take your cocktail parties to a cosmopolitan level of food style and presentation!
A magnificent Malbec! It picked up a trophy at the inaugural Wines of Argentina Awards held in Mendoza in 2007, having wowed the international panel of judges - included among them wine expert Jancis Robinson, who gave it an impressive 17 out of 20. This mulberry and spice-flavoured red wine was made by Herve Fabre, who was originally involved in the Bordeaux wine trade, before he and his wife fell in love with Argentina and moved there to establish a boutique winery. Herve's experience in producing top quality wines shines through in this tremendously rich, silky-smooth wine. Ripe blackberry and bramble aromas merge seamlessly with spicy oak and vanilla flavours. Full bodied, yet seriously smooth and warming. This 89 Parker point wine is sure to survive for many years to come. Definitely a wine to enjoy with fine food ... try it with rare roast beef or a juicy steak.
"Wonderfully succulent, rich berry fruit with hints of spice box." (Parker). A must-have wine from this superb estate, once provider of the second wine of Cos d'Estournel. "Blackberries ... herbs ... hints of spices." (Wine Spectator)
Tecnorati
Big, mouthfilling, smooth and satisfying describe the Quattro Mani Montepulciano 2006. 
More gewurtz. The good news is that this is an excellent wine. The bad news is that it is sold out. I thought I would review it anyway because it is worth reviewing and you might spot it on a restaurant list somewhere or other. This is barrel femented in old French oak and left on lees for an extended period. All very interesting and artisanal.
