Although my recent lack of posting might indicate that I’m not serious about my resolution, it is more indicative of law school craziness than any lack of discipline.  And, like a patient lover, my wine blog waits for me to return after a few weeks of neglect.

That being said, I’m thrilled to announce that I am branching out in my electronic wine adventures, specifically by contributing articles to the Palate Press.  The Palate Press is an online wine magazine that seeks out and publishes the very best wine writers and writings on the Internet.  I submitted an article idea to them based on an Australian Shiraz tasting I had with a few of my friends, and fortunately they liked it enough to bear through constant edits and revisions.

Speaking of which, writing for online magazine is a very different experience than writing for my blog, or even for my school newspaper.  Regarding the former, I don’t always edit or proofread my work as much as I should before posting; regarding the latter, although my editors are exceptional they are not as fanatical about wine as I am or the editors at the Palate Press are.  The editors at the Palate Press went through my article multiple times and made a number of suggestions and comments, all of which helped the article tremendously.  I am truly grateful for this learning opportunity.

That being said, please click here to read my article.  It’s called “A Little Bit of Class in Australian Shiraz.”  (At the moment, you can also access it on the scrolling marquee on the Palate Press home page!)  Once you’re done reading my article, you should browse through their website–it’s an amazing and interesting resource for wine lovers of all levels.

The article states the following:

For consumers, the year’s bounty is expected to bring more availability and cheaper prices for all types of California wine, particularly premium and ultra-premium wines.

But I don’t see how this is possible.  Premium and ultra-premium wines?  It is an immutable truth of winemaking that lower yields mean better wines.  Fewer grapes mean that a vine will focus its energy on whatever fruit it has, which is why (fine) winemakers everywhere prune, prune, prune like crazy.  This leads to more concentrated, intense grapes, which in turn lead to better wine.

This is what Kermit Lynch had to say about it in his fantastic book, Adventures on the Wine Route:

When his crop yields 40 hectoliters to the hectare (4,000 liters per hectare, or 2,200 bottles per acre), Paul [Tardieu] says he is satisfied.  For a cheap vin de pays it is a drastically minuscule production.  In an abundant year such as 1979, the Meursault vineyards in Burgundy yield twice as much juice per acre and the wine sells for five to six times the price of [Tardieu's].

One of Tardieu’s neighbors got “two hundred thirty . . . .  By making shit wine, he makes six times more money than [Tardieu].”

I wonder what the wine critics will have to say about California’s 2009 vintage.  The Times article continues:

Wineries in the state crushed 3.7 million tons of grapes last year, up about 20% compared with a relatively light 2008, and nearing the record 2005 harvest.

All major varietals showed growth, with chardonnay leading the pack in volume at about 726,000 tons, up 28% from the 2008 harvest. Pinot grigio, at 145,330 tons, boasted the largest percentage increase — up 61% compared with the year before.

California Chardonnay was the whole reason I was turned off by Chardonnay to begin with (it was only Meursault’s charms that changed my mind).  And Pinot Grigio?  Most Pinot Grigio is insipid stuff, anyway (at least in Oregon, where it goes by Pinot Gris).

While I can see how record harvests can bring down the price of wine, it’s harder to see how these harvests will bring down the price of “ultra-premium” Californian wines, and even harder to see how these harvests will raise their quality.  If anything, this will make me wary of the 2009 California vintage in general.

Then again, perhaps the truly great producers stayed true to the formula and pruned, pruned, pruned to keep their crops low.  The 2009s will generally be bigger and more alcoholic, but hopefully not so much so that they will be undrinkable.

School was cancelled these past two days, which means I haven’t been in class since Wednesday evening.  I’m hoping that tomorrow will be cancelled as well, which would mean I would be out of class for TWELVE days (I don’t have classes on Thursdays and Fridays, and this Monday is Presidents Day).  This is basically longer than my Spring Break, which is coming up at the end of February.

As my blog has indicated, I’ve been cooking a lot, eating well, and drinking a lot of great wines.  For instance, yesterday morning started with my making a bachelor’s breakfast skillet consisting of a layer of leftover mashed potatoes, two eggs, shredded cheddar cheese, thyme, and a whole lotta Tabasco sauce:

I had purchased two small 5″ Lodge cast-iron skillets for this very purpose but seldom use them.  I should more often.

Although this was a good introduction to the day, I had bigger ambitions for the evening.  See, my roommate Alex was coming home from Europe yesterday, and I figured I should welcome him back to the US of A with a proper meal of lamb shanks and butternut squash.

But how do I cook lamb shanks?

I’ve had them before, most memorably at my old Berkeley Restaurant, Adagia.  Prior dining experience, however, does not cooking expertise make.  Thus, I looked at a few recipes, here, here, and here, blending them all together and hoping for the best.

The technique?  Braising at low temperature for a long, long time.

Part Two: Marinating the Meat and Prepping the Veggies

I had purchased two lamb shanks at Eastern Market a few weeks ago, and though I’m loathe to do so I had to freeze them.  No matter.  After defrosting for two days, the lamb shanks were ready.  I wasn’t sure about how tender they were going to be because of the freezing, so I played it safe by marinating them in olive oil, pepper, thyme, fennel seeds, and curry powder and cardamom.  In retrospect, I think I’d remove the last three ingredients because they imparted a sort of Eastern/North African flavor I didn’t exactly want.  The shanks marinated in this mixture for four hours in the fridge.

I would need veggies for the stock.  I used diced onions, sliced leeks, and whole garlic cloves as the base.

Part Three: Picking the Wine

The braising recipes I came across all required a few cups of red wine.  But which wine?  I usually use cheap wine for cooking (see Charles Shaw Sauvignon Blanc), but I figured that my roommate and I wouldn’t be able to finish off a whole bottle of wine, anyway.

Hmm.  Not a Beaujolais–Beaujolais is too light and delicate and would get lost in the mix of flavors.  What about a Burgundy?  Yeah, that makes sense: some good, earthy-spicy Burgundy always goes well with lamb.  What about a Chianti?  Hmm, that could work as well.

I settled on the Burgundy.  Notwithstanding the curry and cardamom, I was trying to go for something a bit more French in nature.  The Burgundy in question was the 2007 Domaine Bruno Clavelier Bourgogne, a basic bottling I picked up at MacArthur Beverages for $25.00:

I had liked the basic Bourgogne (the 2005 Domaine René Leclerc Bourgogne) Phil had recommended to me last time, but as they were out of that particular wine he recommended instead the Clavelier.  This one had by far the lightest color I’ve ever seen in a Burgundy–almost a rosé, it was so pale.  The nose was typical Burgundy, but the taste was something else.  I got huge notes of cranberry, both in taste and acidity, whereas Alex got green apple.  Very light bodied, but with good acidity and good tannins.  A bit of spice, though not much.  Not much funkiness or earthiness, either.

This is a pretty good wine–it’s not substantial and not terribly complex, but it’s pleasant and would definitely be a great thirst-quencher come the summertime.

Part Four: Browning the Meat / Making the Braising Fluid / Putting It All in the Oven

I browned the lamb shanks on my large cast-iron skillet for a few minutes on each side (this step is necessary, apparently, if you want the lamb to retain its shape).  Note how the meat is attached continuously to the entire bone; as the shanks cook the meat retracts and gives the shanks the characteristic “dinosaur bone” shape:

Afterwards, I took out the shanks and added the chopped veggies to the pan, browning them in the combination of lamb juices and olive oil.  Then, I added a half-can of tomato paste and cooked the mixture for a while.  Next, I added some vegetable and chicken stock, sliced sweet peppers, and three cups of the Burgundy.  I reduced this before adding the lamb shanks, simmering, then covering the skillet with a lid before putting it into an oven which I had preheated to 350 degrees.

Now, the waiting.

Part Five: The Test

I cooked the lamb for two-and-a-half hours.  During this time I turned the shanks every now and then to ensure they cooked evenly, and they looked pretty damn good.  After the two-and-a-half hours I cut a little chunk from a shank, and it came right off.  Perfect!  Removing the shanks, I first took the vegetable sauce and blended it in a blender.  I poured the resulting puree through a coarse sieve, leaving only a very nice, smooth sauce  behind.  Pouring this back into the skillet, I then added two cans of cannellini beans and simmered that some more.

Here’s the final product:

But here was the rub.  This was 10:30 pm, and Alex was basically asleep.  Further, he told me a few hours into this process that–gasp!  He didn’t quite like lamb!  (Forgive him: he’s a recovering life-long vegetarian.)

So I invited my friend Amy, who lives in the apartment building, to come up and have Alex’s portion and have some Burgundy.  I put it all on a plate, grated some lemon zest on top, and served it.

How was it?  Well, only the bone remained.  It was a success, and one I seek to repeat sometime in the near future.

And of course, eating and drinking.

Added to the bottles thus far consumed during Snowmageddon are the two below:

The one on the left is a Riesling, the 2008 Selbach Riesling Spätlese ($14.99 from MacArthur Beverages).  I opened this for a dinner of mahi-mahi, wild rice, and roasted asparagus.  The mahi-mahi was pre-marinated, courtesy of Trader Joe’s, in a sweet-salty sauce, so I figured that the semi-sweet Spätlese would be a decent match.

According to Phil from MacArthur Beverages, this Riesling is made from grapes harvested from a vineyard in the Saar River Valley.  The vineyard itself is a secret; thus, the grapes are from a good vineyard but might not have been high-enough quality for a top producer’s top wine.  Whatever.  In the hands of a talented winemaker such grapes can gain new life (think of them as, um, halfway kids that end up becoming doctors and lawyers) and become a solid wine.  The Selbach was a very low 8% ABV (NICE!) and had a nose of honey and–strangely–clay.  This was relatively light-bodied, though the residual sugar gave it a hint of viscosity.  Lychee, lychee, lychee.  Very tart finish reminiscent of green apple or quince or some other pome.  I thought that the wine had a very strong entry but spent itself too quickly: the finish didn’t last very long at all.  Altogether not a bad wine–it didn’t end with that plasticine taste that plagues so many other lower-priced whites–and a favorite with the ladies who drank it (thanks, Rebecca, Megan, and Christine for your expert opinions!).

The next wine was awesome!  I have a not-so-secret love affair with Spanish wines and with the wines of R. Lopez de Heredia in particular.  Having had their 1999 “Viña Gravonia” crianza (a white wine made of 100% Viura) and 1999 “Viña Tondonia” reserva (a red made of 75% Tempranillo, 15% Garnacho, and 10% combined Mazuelo and Graciano) not too long ago, I had picked up a bottle of the 2004 “Viña Cubillo” crianza ($24.99/$20.99 on sale), a red made of 65% Tempranillo, 25% Garnacho, and 10% combined Mazuelo and Graciano) at MacArthur.

Being a crianza, the Viña Cubillo was released much earlier than the Viña Tondonia (compare 2004 with 1999–the 1999 Tondonia was released last year while the 2004 Cubillo was released this year); however, it still spent three years in barrel and another three in bottle before being released!

What an excellent wine!  Very light, clear in color, with a tremendous nose of bright berries, it positively exploded with flavor.  Think of a cross between juicy and savory and you get this wine.  Strawberry-rhubarb pie mixed with umeboshi?  Licorice and some herbs, too.  Tart and acidic, but with tannins waiting in the background to give the wine structure.  Lip-smacking wine, and easy, easy drinking.  I found this a more approachable wine than the Viña Tondonia.  One caveat, however: this wine seemed to fade in the glass after about half an hour.  Thus, I would open and drink this bottle straightaway and not keep it overnight.

Here’s what Lopez de Herdia had to say about this vintage of the Viña Cubillo:

Classified by The Regulating Council as excellent this 2004 has become one of the historic wines of Rioja. This harvest was not only good in quality but in quantity both in our own vineyards and in the whole D.O. Rioja.

Do yourself a favor and get a bottle of this wine.  It is excellent and everything a classical Rioja should be!

That being said, I went to Trader Joe’s on Thursday to stock up on foodstuffs.  Unfortunately, everyone and their mothers (literally) had the same idea, and the line wrapped all the way around the inside of the store and down the oils/pastas/nuts/dried fruits aisle.  Yikes!

What was more pleasant for me was going to MacArthur Beverages (as chronicled in a recent post) and then to Ansonia Wines to pick up some wine.  I’ve had the opportunity to have a friend or two over with whom to brave the cold, and we’ve gone through a few bottles of wine.

The first one was the Kermit Lynch CdR, which I’ve described previously as a joyous, joyful wine.  Having finished that bottle (thanks, Christine!), I moved on next to a cru Beaujolais, the 2008 Domaine du Vissoux “Poncié” Fleurie ($21.99).  Owned by Martine and Pierre-Marie Chermette, who are pioneers of sustainable viticulture in the Beaujolais region, this domaine produces a number of terrific wines.  The Poncié was light and aromatic, smelling of violets.  It was full of red fruit–think strawberry or raspberry–but ended with a nice suggestion of minerals and stone.  All-around great light wine, though ultimately not as expressive as other cru Beaujolais I’ve had in the past.

The next wine, which I opened to have with yesterday’s home-cooked dinner of turkey meatloaf, roasted brussels sprouts, and mashed potatoes, was the 2007 Domaine Saint Gayan Côtes du Rhône ($12.99).  Phil from MacArthur Beverages recommended this wine to me as a very good, inexpensive example of CdR.  Man, what a great wine!  Classic Côtes du Rhône nose of berries and herbs, tasting of boysenberry, licorice, and earth, solid acidity with pleasant tannins.  Juicy but also dark.  Very warming.  I would HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend this wine and am strongly considering going back to MacArthur to buy a half-case of this for the next few weeks of cold weather.

The snow is falling outside.  I am listening to some good jazz and drinking the remainder of the Saint Gayan.  Soon I’ll have leftover turkey meat loaf and mashed potatoes.  Snowmageddon ain’t so bad after all.

I just found a bus line–the D6–that takes me from 20th and L Street to MacArthur and V Street.  What’s at MacArthur and V Street?  Only one of the finest wine shops in the DC Metro area: Addy Bassin’s MacArthur Beverages.

You might recall an earlier post where I purchased the bottles for a Spanish wine tasting from MacArthur.  My mission today was to pick up a bottle of the 2001 Penfolds “RWT” Barossa Valley Shiraz for a fancy Australian Shiraz tasting I’m having next week.  However, I ended up, as per usual, lingering for a bit, talking with Phil (an excellent wine steward who remembered that the last time I came in–last semester–I was wearing a suit and had picked up a bottle of the 1999 R. Lopez de Heredia “Viña Gravonia” blanco), and picking up a whole lot more than I came in for.

I was in the mood to pick up nice, simple table wines–nothing too pricey but still offering good quality to price.  Something like the 2008 Vin de Pays du Vaucluse from Domaine de Durban, an $8.99 table red made mostly of Grenache from Kermit Lynch that was just so fun and delicious to drink.

Bingo.

I came home with 11 bottles (10 bottles of wine, one of Scotch); one of those bottles was the 2007 Côtes du Rhône ”Cuvée Sélectionée par Kermit Lynch” (on sale for $10.99).  Having just finished his book, I am even more of a fan of Mr. Lynch.  For instance, he feels points are meaningless because different wines are perfect for different occasions.  It’s a very holistic, very contextual view of wine, one to which I’m trying to adhere.

I couldn’t wait.  I hadn’t eaten all day, and I plus, I was thirsty.  I made myself a bachelor’s lunch of rice topped with turkey chili, cheese, and egg (with a generous cover of Tabasco) and popped open the bottle of CdR.  I poured a good glassful of the wine into one of my new Riedel Syrah glasses (thank you LexisNexis!), swirled it around, and took a sniff.

Very dusky nose.  Some dark fruits coming out.  Intriguing.  Whirl, whirl, whirl.  Sniff again.  Taste.

A bit of a metallic or savory bite on the front palate (not in a bad way).  Good dark fruits in the mid palate, followed by traces of mineral and earth on the finish.  Great acidity, with some decent tannin.  Pleasing body–not too heavy, not too light.  Not too complex but very pleasurable.  This is the sort of wine one should buy by the case and drink daily with lunch.  Perfect in its own way, and a tremendously joyful, joyous wine.

We need more wines like these.  Perhaps if there were more of these we would turn away from Two-Buck Chuck and other hack wines.  Perhaps we wouldn’t be afraid to open up a bottle of wine to go with whatever we’re eating–be it filet mignon or chili on rice.  And we should definitely attempt to drink more wine with lunch–it’s amazing.

All kidding aside, California does have a lot going for it.  This being a wine blog, I will restrict the discussion of California’s awesomeness to wine.  Of course, there’s Napa.  Sonoma.  Paso Robles.  There’s Cabernet.  There’s Pinot.  There’s Chardonnay.  Etc., etc., etc.

But just as overexposure to sun can lead to premature wrinkles and skin cancer, and being in the shadow of Hollywood creates self-aggrandizers, posers, and shallow B-list types, so can the sun lead to huge, overly-ripe wines, and so can being in the shadow of Napa create wines that, in undergoing sugar Botox and oak augmentation, have become caricatures.

Thus, there are so many California Cabs that are as undrinkably oaky, and California Chards that leave nothing to the imagination.  Hence my migration towards the refined, subtle graces of Burgundies.

Thank God for Zinfandels.

Now Zinfandels are not immune to Californiazation.  Witness Turley, whose Zins are huge huge huge, with some of its wines approaching 16% ABV.  Or, go the other way and behold the torrents of White Zinfandel being produced–bland sugar water with all the substance of a waiter/aspiring actor.  Zinfandels are the most Californian of all grapes, composing 10% of all vines planted in the state.  Zin came to the Golden State during the Gold Rush of the late 1840s and early 1850s.  These vines are survivors, many having lived through that vinous nightmare known as Prohibition.  (And though we are quick to dismiss White Zinfandel, it was White Zin’s popularity during the 70s and 80s that saved old vineyards from being ripped out to be replanted with more financially-successful varietals.)  Thus, more than perhaps any other type of varietal in the United States, we see very old Zinfandel vines–60, 80, and even 100+ year-old vines are not uncommon.

Old vines generally produce small yields with grapes that have very concentrated proportions of sugar and flavor vis-a-vis younger vines.  And, at the hand of master winemakers, old-vine Zinfandel can be incredible.

Enter Ridge Vineyards.

Founded in the 1960s by a number of Stanford grads (and later helmed by the great Paul Draper, another Cardinal alum),  Ridge is known for high quality wines, from Chardonnay to their prized and expensive Monte Bello Cabernet.  They also make a full lineup of Zinfandels.

So.  I wanted to host a wine tasting for the Nota Bene, so what could I do?  I’d already done a Spanish and a Burgundy wine tasting last semester.  Heck, why not a Zinfandel tasting?  And why not a Ridge Zinfandel tasting?

I bought up a bottle of nearly every Ridge Zin available in the District (a big shout-out to Schneider’s of Capitol Hill for supplying the majority of those bottles).  The sight was beautiful to behold:

The tasting list was as follows:

• 2005 Ridge “Paso Robles” Zinfandel | 100% Zinfandel | Paso Robles
• 2006 Ridge “East Bench” Zinfandel | 100% Zinfandel | Dry Creek Valley
• 2006 Ridge “Ponzo” Zinfandel | 95% Zinfandel, 5% Petite Sirah | Russian River Valley
• 2005 Ridge “Pagani Ranch” Zinfandel | 96% Zinfandel, 2% Petite Sirah, 1% Alicante Bouschet, 1% Mataro | Sonoma Valley
• 2006 Ridge “Geyserville” Zinfandel | 70% Zinfandel, 18% Carignane, 10% Petite Sirah, 2% Mataro | Alexander Valley
• 2007 Ridge “Geyserville” Zinfandel | 58% Zinfandel, 22% Carignane, 18% Petite Sirah, 2% Mataro | Alexander Valley
• 2007 Ridge “Lytton Springs” Zinfandel | 71% Zinfandel, 22% Petite Sirah, 7% Carignane | Dry Creek Valley

The ten-person panel first tried small pours of the first four wines, then took a food break (people were already getting drunk by this point, what with these Zins clocking in at a pretty significant ABV range in the low 14%s to a high of 15.2%), after which it tried the last three wines.

Good lordy, what good wines.

I had previously tried and liked the 2007 Geyserville and the 2007 Lytton Springs.  I was especially looking forward to the 2007 Geyserville again because it made such an impression on me that last time.  However, the big winner was the first wine: the 2005 Paso Robles.  This wine was a limpid, opaque color, but what it lacked in color it made up for in nose and body.  On the nose were currant and baking spices like cinnamon and clove, some leather.  The taste was undeniably port-like, with a concentration of dried fruit that was balanced with juicy tartness, like a baked apple.  There was also some hints of copper or clay at the end.  The body was characterized by excellent structure and balance, and it had a wonderfully long finish.  This was the consensus favorite of the evening.

In comparison, the next wine–also 100% Zinfandel–was less well-integrated than the first.  The East Bench seemed hotter on the nose and tasted a bit vegetal, with plum and cedar fighting with stem and green olive.  The finish was hollow, and there was a touch of rubber boot as well.  To be fair, this was the first bottling from the East Bench vineyard, so it’s bound to improve.  In fact, I’d like to lay down a few bottles to see how they develop over the years.

In my opinion, the Ponzo was the most feminine of the wines, which makes sense because it’s from the cool, Pinot-dominated Russian River Valley.  I thought it had a smooth, gemlike quality to it, a flavor of cherry and bright berries washing over worn round stones.  This had a very light body and a peppercorn finish.  It was a SUPERB match for aged Dutch goat gouda.

The Pagani Ranch was, if my notes are accurate, “a veritable cornucopia of fruit,” with black cherry predominating.  This was a plush wine with a pleasing finish that was–again, if my notes are accurate–”smooth as f*ck.”  It was a hedonist’s dream paired with dark chocolate-covered almonds.

The 2006 Geyserville was, well, disappointing.  Again, green vines, with a hint of roasted ginkgo nuts (a Korean thing) and a plasticine finish. Much more tannic than the previous wines.  Eh.  But I was expecting more from the ‘07 version, which came next.  Strangely, the ‘07 was not as spicy or peppery as I remembered.  And the 2007 Lytton Springs was undistinguished (though it was great with blue goat cheese).

I am convinced, however, that the 2007 Geyserville and 2007 Lytton Springs were somehow affected by the sheer number of wines (and food) we tried beforehand.  My notes from this particular tasting should not, I hope, dissuade you from seeking out these wines.  I still highly recommend them.

However, I would also STRONGLY recommend the 2005 Paso Robles if you can find it.  I also really liked the 2006 Ponzo and 2005 Pagani Ranch.  (Another wine we didn’t try that evening but I tried later, a half-bottle of the 2006 Lytton Springs, was excellent and reminiscent of the Paso Robles: much of the same port-like qualities.  It was perfect with rum cake.)

So what did we learn?

Vineyards and vintages make a huge difference.  I would love to try different vintages of the Paso Robles.  The Paso Robles is 100% Zin unlike most of the others in the tasting (which are usually “field blends”)–thus, there are fewer factors to confound the tastebuds.

However, the big takeaway for me is that there are some excellent producers in California producing excellent wines.  Ridge Vineyards is definitely at the top of the list, and its wines are as a whole pretty exceptional–yet more reason to love the state!

But of course, there are still other reasons.

My first post is dated December 23, 2007.  2007 was a very tough year for me and innumerable others.  We lost a wonderful friend that June, and this world lost out on an incredibly talented, beautiful, and giving young woman.

The unbelievable grief of her passing–and reflection on her twenty four joyous years here–was a factor in my starting to write this blog.  If one characteristic could define Sabina, it would be her love of life–an intense thirst to experience as much as possible.  She lived life fully and applied herself in her studies and her interpersonal relationships with a vigor that shames and motivates me.

Shame–

Have you ever read Cannery Row by John Steinbeck?  It’s one of my favorite books.  It’s set in Monterey, California, a seaside town that was for years and years home to the canneries and warehouses that Steinbeck made famous.  By now it’s become a tourist destination; it’s also close to some great wineries.  When we were in college I promised Sabina I’d take her there for a weekend trip.  We’d get a hotel–maybe a bed and breakfast.  We’d go around tasting wines.  We’d go walking along the beach.  We’d eat crab.

I never did get to take her there–I didn’t have any money back in college.  If she was disappointed she never let me know.  Instead, we took a day trip up to Napa Valley, where we stopped by V. Sattui Winery in St. Helena.  It wasn’t Monterey, but it was awesome.  And there, where the vines stretched out for miles and miles and the autumnal trees stood in their finery of red and yellow and orange, where I sampled some wines with the love of my young life, I became captivated.

Motivation–

It’s hard to keep up a wine blog, especially in law school.  This is due to two reasons.  First, I’m living on loans, which makes it hard to afford wine (especially the ones I really want… to… try).  Second, I have to study, and alcohol doesn’t mix very well with studying.  But, I’ve found that keeping a wine blog and writing a wine column in my law school’s newspaper are as rewarding as they are challenging.  These commitments keep me searching for new wines and new information.  They make me try and impose my own system of understanding on a field that is equal parts science, art, and magic.  And it seems I am only beginning.

To those of you who I’ve been fortunate to have as companions on this journey: thank you.  Two bloggers stand out (Shea and James) in their unstinting support and commentary, as does one wine shop in California (Mission Wines) and one wine shop in DC (Ansonia Wines).  Thank you to Adagia Restaurant (Michael Barber and Kelly McCartney) in Berkeley for my first clumsy forays into wine and hospitality.  Thank you to my roommate Alex, who inspires discipline in me by training for ever-more-ridiculous marathons.  Thank you to my family for not staging an intervention.  And thank you, Sabina, and thank you, God, for allowing me the joys of this eminently frivolous but entirely necessary endeavor.

To one hundred–and more–posts in the future,

Joon

Come on, you wouldn’t put regular unleaded in a sports car, right?  Yes, yes, I know that that analogy is flawed, but you get the idea.

Such was the question that plagued me when I was bringing over a bottle of the 2007 St. Innocent “Shea Vineyard” Pinot Noir (from the Willamette Valley, Oregon) ($49.00 at Bell Liquor & Wine Shoppe) for a movie night with a friend.  I asked my roommate whether bringing the decanter and some Burgundy glasses would be too much.

“Um… yeah,” he replied, looking at me like I was crazy.  (Then again, this is the guy who recently ran a 50-mile marathon.)  So I decided not to bring the decanter and the wine glasses, even though the Pinot was almost criminally young.  It was with some trepidation, therefore, that I opened the bottle and poured some into wine glasses the hostess provided.

Some wines are good on their own; others are better with food.  With that being said, I can think of no other wine that would be as good with as many different foods as the Shea Vineyard.

The nose itself was decent–nothing too aromatic about it.  Standard Pinot nose, I suppose, nothing bursting forth from the glass.  Berry and a bit of earth.  The wine seemed somewhat closed the first few sips but over the course of the evening it opened up.  It is a generous wine, very full-flavored and with some terrific acidity.  Pepper and a bit of eucalyptus gave way to berries–strawberry or blackberry or both–mixed with earth and leather, then a very tantalizing funk at the finish, like mushroom.  The mouthfeel was superb, with a touch of astringency reminiscent of eating a tangy goat cheese.

With the mushroom funkiness and the tangy/astringent goat cheese mouthfeel this wine would pair extremely well with any number of French breakfast or brunch options.  In fact, aside from certain Cabernet Francs this is probably the BEST wine you could drink with a breakfast, if you’re not fundamentally opposed to drinking wine with breakfast.  I could imagine drinking it with a nice mushroom omelet, with a toasted baguette spread with goat cheese, sides of tomatoes prepared Provençal style, with rosemary and thyme and plenty of garlic and olive oil.  You could save some of the bottle for lunch: spicy Merguez sausage with white beans, tuna niçoise, grilled salmon, rabbit, hanger steak.  This wine would be able to take anything you throw at it.

I would like to try this wine again in a few years.  I would imagine the earthy notes would deepen and predominate, with the fruit fading a bit.  It would be glorious to behold.

Is this a great Pinot?  At this point, no.  It’s not transcendent, but again, few things are when so young.  I do certainly like it better than many other Pinots I’ve tried from the US; it’s much more restrained and refined, with a decent 13.5% ABV.  Even though it is an excellent wine, it seems a little bit pricey.  I would recommend the Elizabeth Spencer “Special Cuvee” from the Central Coast of California, which at $32.99 has a high quality to price ratio.  Or, I would recommend spending a little bit more money and getting a great Burgundy.

Now if only I were already a lawyer.

I was fortunate enough to have spent the past two and a half weeks in Los Angeles with my family and my sister’s Chihuahua, Twinkie:

Aside from food from Lucky Boy, Taco Bell and various Mexican restaurants of varying degrees of authenticity, endless Chinese, and some delicious, delicious omakase-style sushi at Sushi Sasabune courtesy of my brother, I drank a fair amount of wine (though not as much as I had hoped to).  Of particular note was a bottle of champagne I purchased for New Year’s with my family, a delightful Louis Roederer brut that went well with Peking duck.

Obviously, no visit to the homeland is complete without a few stops at my local watering hole, Mission Wines.  Business was booming and people were busy buying bottles of wine to take home or drink right in the store.  On one of these occasions Matthew managed to pull my leg by convincing me that Dave had been fired for some unspeakable act of bad faith, which joke culminated (thankfully) in Dave coming around the bar and pouring people wine as if nothing had happened.

The Saturday before I left my roommate Alex dropped into LA, along with his friend Sam and Sam’s girlfriend Hsiu.  We first had a seafood feast at Seafood Village Restaurant in Monterey Park, had some boba milk tea, and then walked around the Huntington Gardens.  Then we got thirsty and went to Mission Wines for a wine tasting.  It was a good lineup, but the anchor of the day was the 2007 Ridge “Geyserville” Zinfandel.

I’m gaining more of an appreciation of Zinfandel as I drink more wine.  This wonderfully Californian varietal sometimes gets lost behind Cabernet in discussions of the state’s wines, which is a shame.

The Geyserville was generous and full of flavor, yet restrained and only medium-bodied.  It veered away from the jamminess or ostentatious bigness for which many Zinfandels are known.  Blackberries and a nice peppery kick, a great finish.  Overall an excellent Zin and, at anywhere between $30-$38 retail, a terrific bargain.

Intrigued by this Zin, we decided to pick up a bottle of some kind of Zin for dinner.  But which?  Dave very kindly offered us a bottle of Turley for a crazy discounted price of $40, but Alex and I were really digging the Geyserville and not looking for anything too over the top.  Thus, Dave instead recommended the 2007 Ridge “Lytton Springs” Zinfandel, which he said was a step up from Geyserville (at around the same price).

A few notes on these two wines.  Look at the Geyserville label from above.  Although this wine is billed as a Zinfandel, it has only 58% of that varietal in the blend.  (Compare this to 2006’s iteration, which had 70% Zinfandel, 18% Carignane, 10% Petite Sirah, and 2% Mataro).  According to the winemakers:

As we blind-tasted over the ensuing months, Geyserville’s unique character seemed clearest in thirty-nine of the lots. The exceptional quality of carignane and petite sirah argued for their full inclusion; percentages are comparable to the superb 1991 vintage.

The Lytton Springs, on the other hand, consisted of 71% Zinfandel and seemed more “Ziny” in our opinion.  It was also extremely good–very, very smooth, very lush, with nice integration and immense drinkability.  However, it seemed a bit too smooth–it was lacking that pepper, that edge that set apart the Geyserville for us.  Lytton Springs would probably be a good, safe wine that most everyone would like: in fact, it’s a VERY good wine that I hope will not suffer an injustice through my words.  My preference for Geyserville is just that: a personal preference.

Do yourself a favor and pick up a few bottles of Geyserville.  Better yet, pick up a bottle or two of Geyserville and a bottle of Lytton Springs.  Do a side-by-side comparison over a long evening with some friends and talk about the merits of each.  And heck, pretend you’re in California while you’re at it!  (DC-ites: you can pick up a bottle of Geyserville from Trader Joe’s for around $30, but I’m not sure if it’s 2007.)