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!

Needless to say, I am pretty content right now.  Washington, DC is a great town, and I find myself enjoying law school much more than college.  One of the reasons for that is there are some good people here, and fun things to do.  Like drink.  And cook.  And drink and cook I did for three consecutive days.

Wednesday

My friend Adrian invited a few people over (all guys, regrettably) on Sunday for beef stew and poetry.  I brought over my “house red”–a bottle of Nero d’Avila from Trader Joe’s (retail: $4.99)–and we discussed Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If” over steaming bowls of stew and sips of wine.  To repay the favor, I invited Adrian and two of our friends to my place on Wednesday for a meal of roast lamb, honey-rosemary potatoes, and roasted garlic asparagus.

The meal turned out okay–I don’t have a meat thermometer, and I think the recipe short-changed the time required to cook the lamb.  It was pretty rare when I started carving it, but the problem was solved by quickly pan-frying the slices over high heat.

With the lamb I served a 2005 Cahors Chateau du Cèdre Héritage ($12.99); afterwards, for dessert (along with Alisa’s wonderful little vanilla pudding tarts) we had a 2006 Baron K’ riesling kabinett from the Rhine ($19.99).

I am in love with the “black wine” of Cahors.  They must contain at least 70% malbec, which is very unusual given that malbec is a minor grape in the rest of France (see: Bordeaux).  This varietal has been transplanted to the New World with HUGE success, so much so that many people immediately associate malbec with Argentina, for instance.  The Old World and New World styles are very different, however: New World malbecs tend to be denser, bolder, smoother, with more dramatic notes of chocolate and earth.  Old World styles are more refined, more restrained–in my opinion a bit more “leather-dampness-earth” than “sunny-earth”; definitely a rainy-weather red.  The Cèdre Héritage did not disappoint.  It went extremely well with the lamb.

The riesling had a bit of sweetness to it and a high level of acidity.  It wasn’t the best I’ve had, however, because it was a bit too insubstantial for my taste.  Pairing the riesling with the tarts wasn’t the best idea, either, as the sweetness of the pudding clashed a bit with the riesling.  Oh well.  Writing more of the first legal memorandum of my law school career afterwards was fun.

Thursday

I got it in my mind to cook Hungarian paprika chicken for dinner for a certain lady.  Hungarian paprika chicken’s three main components are chicken, LOTS of paprika, and sour cream.  I didn’t know exactly which wine to pair with this dish–I first thought of Jean-Luc Matha’s marcillac, which is made from a little-known local varietal called mansois.  The marcillac had very pronounced notes of paprika and pepper, which would have made it an excellent match.  I DID manage to find a marcillac from the Wine Specialist, but I decided to go with a South African pinotage (a cross between pinot noir and cinsault) from Indaba.

The Indaba… well, was very acidic at first, very spicy.  It later opened up and mellowed out and became a pretty enjoyable wine… but it’s definitely a food wine in my book.  It also got me really, really hungover for some reason!

Friday

Bell Liquor and Wine Shoppe was having a FREE champagne tasting.  Six of us decided to make reservations and go to the event.  We all dressed up fancy and walked en masse to the store, where we went to the upstairs tasting room.  They were serving eight champagnes–four from Piper Heidsieck and four from Charles Heidsieck.

The first four were an extra-dry, brut, rosé, and “cuvee supreme.”  All were mostly chardonnay, with smaller parts of pinot noir and pinot meunier.  The rosé had some reserve pinot noir wine blended in later during the fermentation process.  Of the four, the consensus favorite was the extra-dry, which, despite being extra-dry had a pleasant sensation of sweetness, probably from the citrus fruit on the palate.  It had an aroma of nuts and vanilla, and had nice body and a crisp, clean finish.

The last four were the expensive bottles.  The 1999 Charles Heidsieck rosé was MUCH more enjoyable than the previous one, probably because it was aged much longer and was fermented directly from whole pinot noir grapes with their skins.  It was also like… $80.

We got the chance to drink the “Champagne Charlie” brut from 1985…  What a fantastic champagne!  Members of my party described its nose as rubber or cheese–normally pejorative terms, I know, but fitting and perfectly appropriate in this context.  It had that nutty, slightly-oxidized character of old white wines.  Interesting and delicious–though, at about $180 I won’t be buying it anytime soon!

A few of us got bottles of the extra-dry ($33.99) to save for special occasions.  End of the semester, maybe?

I took a few days off of work just to chill out and get my second wind, so to speak, before heading off to law school in July.  Thursday and Friday were spent with the family doing nothing in particular, so Saturday afternoon was ripe for something fun: Mission Wines with the co-workers was in order.

The official lineup for the day was:

 
The first, the 2006 Josef Leitz Drachenstein (Dragonstone) riesling was billed as a delicious, decently-priced riesling from the Rheingau region of Germany.  The Rheingau isn’t as famous as the Mosel, but it is home to the highest proportion of riesling vines in Germany.  It was a full, fat riesling, with lower but still substantial acidity and a fair bit of sweetness.  Overall, a fair-drinking riesling that, around $12-$15, is a safe bet for summer fare, Thai, or lovin’.

I was really looking forward to the 1996 R. Lopez de Heredia Vina Gravonia, which is a traditional-style white rioja made of 100% viura. 

Viura is a Spanish grape that apparently has a nose of flowers and the taste of green apples and nuts.  It also is best consumed young in most cases, as the grape is supposed to lose its nose and taste rather easily.  This fact makes the Vina Gravonia that much more unusual: it is deliberately stored by the winemaker for years until it is “ready”.  This prolonged aging in oak barrels sets Lopez de Heredia apart from many other Spanish wineries and, in fact, from many other winemakers period.

Unfortunately, I could not taste the magic of this wine.  The nose, indeed, was like a bouquet, and the taste was tart, with heavy hints of green apple.  However, there also seemed an acetic taste of banana, and a bit too much oak.  A bit too much acidity.  In fact, I likened the end taste to licking a AA battery (you’ve never done that?  My friend, you’ve never lived!) Overall, it was a disappointment, despite its renowned pedigree.

I think that the Vina Gravonia destroyed my taste buds and ruined the next two wines–they had a really bitter aftertaste that I would never expect to find in a Bordeaux or any red wine, for instance.

The last wine on the official tasting list was the 2005 Ridge Lytton Springs zinfandel, which is composed to 77% zin, 17% petite syrah, and 6% carignane.  It was strong enough to withstand the devastation of the Vina Gravonia, with firm tannins and nice structure.  Berries and cherry, maybe some licorice.  Jonathan detected a hint of menthol on the nose, which I sensed as well.  I was very pleased with this wine: it lived up to its prominent name.

Then, true to fashion, Dave poured two bonus tastes: the 2006 Cavallotto Dolcetto d’Alba from the Piedmont in Italy, and the 2006 Anthill Farm “Peters Vineyard” pinot noir.  The Dolcetto was very nice–smooth, a bit tannic.  Nice blueberry, a bit gamey–it threw a fair amount of sediment in my glass (though mine was the last glass poured).  The Anthill Farm was very, very light: almost clear, with the classic taste of cherry.  Very focused for such a clear-looking wine!

After the tastings, we had two bottles of wine on our own: the 2005 Ch. W. Bernhard Hackenheimer Kirchberg Scheurebe Spätlese and the 2005 Pago Florentino Tinto. 

The first was an utterly entrancing riesling from the Rheinhessen region of Germany.  Peaches, nectar–a gorgeous honeyed texture evocative of waves of silk.  Autumnal, evocative of the first golden falling leaves and the cold.  At around $22-$25, an excellent value for the pure hedonism of the wine.

The Pago Florentino, from the La Mancha appellation of Spain, is made of 100% tinto fino (tempranillo).  Overall, inky, with pronounced tannins.  Classic tempranillo–good price for a good example of this varietal for around $20.

We weren’t done, though.  We shared two 750 mL bottles of beer: the Delirium Tremens, which is a Belgian strong pale ale produced by Huyghe Brewery in Belgium.  It clocks in at a pretty strong 8.5% ABV.  It was a clear, golden color, light and pleasant.  It was like Hoegaarden but hoppier.

It was pleasant, but no match for Unibroue’s La Terrible (profiled two posts ago): this dark, 10.5% ABV monster destroyed any lingering bitterness from the wines and also destroyed the rest of my sobriety.  Delicious, delicious, and almost the last beer save a comped taste of Craftsman Brewery’s Biere de Mars (Beer of March).  Mission Wines has three of Craftsman’s beers on rotation at the bar.  I’ve previously had quite a few of their beers, including the memorable Cabernale from the holiday season.

The Biere de Mars was good–interesting, and good.  Strong licorice taste, hoppy.  Medium color, and high level of acidity.  Very refreshing. 

Now I leave you with some pictures of my coworkers and I: I’m the Asian guy in the blue “whale” shirt.  Enjoy!

But in reality, isn’t that what much of the fun of wine is all about?

Sitting around a table at night with one of two of your friends, a bottle or two of newly-purchased wine.  The first is–say, the 2006 estate riesling from Robert Eymael, which is a gorgeous amber or straw color, sweet, with a honeyed mouthfeel.  It’s nice to take turns describing the wine in terms wine critics would be proud of, nice to know that for a little bit of money one can feel part of the social and cultural elite.

Because that’s a huge reason for why someone would start to have an interest in wine.  People who choose to take an active interest in anything–poetry, sports, cars, food, photography, music–start to delve deeper into their subject, to examine all the details and nuances of the Red Sox or William Carlos Williams (one point for someone who can name the very superficial link between those two!).

Yet wine transcends mere hobby.  It’s a lifestyle–more than that, it’s a statement of a lifestyle.  It’s very possible to drink wine casually with dinner or during social gatherings.  But why not… water… or soda…?  Or malt liquor, for that matter? 

To get a nice buzz is a good reason.  But come on.  Anyone who’s ever tried to impress a date would know that a glass of good wine is more showy than a glass of Mr. Pibb (which is delicious).  A glass of wine says something.  A glass of soda does not.

There is the 100-point scale of Robert Parker.  There is the “Do You Know What You Like?” metric developed by Best Cellars (try it–it’s great!).  There is the rather unorthodox method of Wine X Magazine of comparing wines to songs, or ideas like “a deep French kiss in a phone booth–nice depth, great mouth feel, a little woody, a bit tight.”  Then there is the Song family method of “good” and “bad” wine.

There are so many wines out there, so many different regions and winemakers and varietals and cuvees and blends–it’s impossible to learn about wine without relying on categorizations.  So have fun–feel classy–write tasting notes–get a little bit snobby.  Give wines a score, assign them an idea, or split them into the good and the bad.  It’s why you picked up that bottle before showing up to a fancy dinner party, right?

UPDATE: My friend Laszlo just as I published this post sent me this link for an article from The Wall Street Journal that talks about wine snobbery!  Give it a read!