A few weeks ago I was invited to a dinner with Jillian and David at Chez Kate et Rahul.  As I mentioned in my previous post, it’s been hard for me to quench my thirst for interesting wines lately.  So, in addition to being pleased to be able to see my good friends Kate ‘n’ Rahul and Jillian ‘n’ David, I was pleased to have an excuse to bring a bottle of Chenin Blanc recommended to me by Phil over at MacArthur Beverages (at left):

The Saumur appellation is located in the Loire Valley of France.  The Loire Valley–especially the region of Vouvray and to a lesser extent Montlouis-sur-Loire–is known for its Chenin Blanc.  I think Chenin Blanc is one of the underrated great grapes of the world.***  The best examples of Chenin Blanc have great acidity and taste of honey, almonds, and flowers.  Like Riesling and Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc can be aged to great effect.  I’ve had Chenin Blanc from 1983 and 1989, and when aged these wines take on low, nutty, waxy notes that are just incredible.  Best of all, just like old Rioja blanco, aged Chenin Blanc can be relatively affordable.

Phil, knowing my love of older white wines, sold me on the 2002 Château de Fosse-Sèche Saumur Chenin Blanc.  I was expecting great things but was, unfortunately, underwhelmed.  Rather than having pure honeyed notes, the Fosse-Sèche tasted a bit like stones washed with acid.  The acid was so high as to be bitter.  It did have some of the nutty quality that I love, but it was not part of a cohesive, beautiful whole.  The wine improved with some time, but overall it was disappointing.

Fortunately for me, Kate and Rahul decided to open up two more bottles of wine for dinner.  The first was the 2007 Antoine Arena “Carco” Patrimonio, a Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant selection and featured on the DC Wine Buyers Collective, and the second was the 2006 Gourt de Mautens Rasteau, imported by Ansonia Wines:

The Gourt de Mautens was a special wine.  I had given it to Rahul as a birthday present in 2010, but subject to one condition: that they drink it with me in 2011.  Selfish, I know, but what is wine without good friends, eh?

Thank you to Kate and Rahul for having the discipline to honor this condition!

We opened both wines but drank the Carco first.  The Carco is a Corsican wine from the Patrimonio region, which was the first to receive AOC status, in 1968.  I am not well-versed in Corsican wines, but they are supposed to  be terrific values and feature some unusual varietals.  The Carco was not an unusual varietal–it is made of Sangiovese–but it was a terrific value.****  It had nice light acidity and bright red fruit, sort of like you would imagine a Sangiovese to taste like if it were grown on a Mediterranean island.

By this point I was salivating for the Gourt de Mautens, which is mostly low-yield Grenache and comes from very old vines.  I’ve had a few glasses of this now and then, and I had gotten hooked on its dark, tannic, nearly-Herzogian power.  This bottle did not disappoint.  I had a glass of it and could have no more because it was so concentrated and so intense.

Normally, I prefer wines with greater acidity (like Chenin Blanc, or Sangiovese).  My palate has turned away from high tannin blockbusters (like much Australian Shiraz).  However, once in a while a big tannic wine ceases to be merely big or tannic and becomes something more: an experience, a big, brash woman who takes no quarter.  The Gourt de Mautens is such a wine.

Which did I prefer as between the Carco and the Gourt de Mautens?  Hard question.  I liked both of them equally but for different reasons.  The Carco I could drink forever and drink with food, drink as an aperitif, drink just for the hell of it.  The Gourt de Mautens requires you to gird your loins and steel your palate.  Both, however, are extremely well made, and both serve their own purposes.  Having them together was a good reminder of why I love wine so much.

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* The wines of Bandol are a prime example of wines that, to me, should inspire a little bit of fear.

** Then again, I do enjoy some good gulping wines now and again.  Beaujolais nouveau, chilled down, is a guilty pleasure, as is drinking red box wine with ice cubes as an accompaniment to Italian sausage and pepper sandwiches!

*** Shea from Just Grapes declared a Chenin Blanc from the Loire one of his top 10 wines of 2009.  But my Chenin Blanc love is not universal, and for good reason.  Much of it can be insipid or bleh, as noted by David Fang of La Cave de Fang.

**** The Carco is an example of a vin de soif, or “thirst-quenching wine.”  Very appropriate.  This would also be good chilled down and eaten with things like bruschetta, summer pastas, or grilled fish.

My destination was Santa Barbara, where my former roommate (and current Princeton grad student) Alex would pick me up.  That first day and evening, including a wonderful dinner at Bouchon, will be the subject of Part Two of this series.

I’d like to talk about Stolpman Vineyards, a winery located in the Ballard Canyon area of the Santa Ynez Valley.  If you might recall, my friend Billy had brought a bottle of Stolpman, the excellent 2007 L’Avion, to a tasting at Mission Wines we attended two weeks ago.  Alex had planned a late morning of tasting, so we went to Los Olivos to look around.  You might recall, if you were in Southern California, that the weekend of December 18 was rainy as heck.  This made driving a bit precarious but also had the unexpected benefit of clearing Los Olivos of nearly every other tourist and taster.  Alex and I basically had the town to ourselves.

We started with a light repast at Corner House Coffee, where freshly-brewed Peet’s awaited us and we could play a few rounds of Hive while we dried off.

We walked around Los Olivos, which was absolutely beautiful:

There were a number of tasting rooms, including a few I recognized (e.g. Qupe). But, one of the most attractive tasting rooms was none other than Stolpman Vineyards! I had totally forgotten that the Stolpman tasting room was in Los Olivos. We decided to give it a shot.

There was one other taster in the room when we got there, and over the course of the hour or so we were there only two or so others came in. This was probably not the best day for business, but it was a great day for me and Alex to get personalized attention from one Tom Franklin. He was very liberal with the lineup, which consisted of:

• 2009 Sauvignon Blanc ($22)
• 2008 L’Avion ($38)
• 2009 “La Coppa” Sangiovese (N/A)
• 2007 Estate Sangiovese ($36)
• 2007 La Coppa Syrah (N/A)
• 2008 “Originals” Syrah ($38)
• 2008 “Hilltops” Syrah ($48)
• 2008 Grenache ($34)
• 2008 “La Croce” Sangiovese/Syrah ($66)

I don’t think there was a wine here that I didn’t like.  Obviously, I liked some of them more than others, some much more so.  For instance, the Sauvignon Blanc was clean but fruit-forward, sort of like adding tropical fruit to something you’d find in the Loire.  At $22 a bottle this is a serious contender at your next barbecue.

The ’08 L’Avion is composed of 100% Roussane (as opposed to the ’07 L’Avion, which was 90% Roussane and 10% Viognier).  I found it to be feminine and smooth, with a great Chateauneuf-du-Pape blanc finish.  I personally found the ’07 more voluptuous and fruity–to me, the ’08 seemed more restrained.  According to Tom, the ’08 L’Avion is more typical of the Roussane varietal.

The difference between the Estate and La Coppa bottlings was very interesting.  Stolpman’s La Coppa line is meant for everyday drinking.  They are still good-quality wines, but are great for Tuesday night and will not break the bank.  I actually liked the La Coppa Sanviogese more than the Estate Sangiovese–the La Coppa was lighter, juicier, and had more pronounced acidity.  It was more approachable than the Estate Sangiovese, which was serious, with big notes of dark cherry.  Don’t get me wrong–I could drink the Estate Sangiovese for days, but when I think of Sangiovese (not Chianti Classico or Riserva, mind you, but straight-up Sangiovese) I think of something like the La Coppa.

Similarly, there was a significant difference between Stolpman is especially known for their Syrahs.  I tried three.  The La Coppa Syrah, while billed as the “crowd favorite” on the tasting sheet, was my least favorite of the three.  I found it to be vegetal, herbal–not necessarily bad qualities but ones I found detracted from the fruit.  My favorite was the Originals Syrah, which is picked from Stolpman’s oldest “original” vineyard blocks.  Mouth-filling and luscious.  Graphite, dried fruit.  Dark and sexy.  Excellent.  The Hilltops, made from Syrah “micro-picked from only the ridgelines [of the vineyards], where the thin topsoil and harsh limestone yield less than 1 ton of fruit per acre,” was crazy intense.  It does not overpower like certain Shirazes, but it fills the mouth and shows your palate who is boss.  It is a powerful wine and one that demands to be contemplated and enjoyed over the course of a long, long evening.

Next was the Grenache, which Tom described as a “candy store in a bottle.”  It has low residual sugar but is so fruity that people mistake it for a sweet wine.  This was my least favorite wine of the morning, but it was perhaps the most fun to discuss with Alex and Tom.  I found front notes of plum resolving to a sweet-sour green apple.  Tom said he found cotton candy, and Alex said he tasted Jolly Ranchers.  Again, not my favorite, but certainly a well-made and interesting wine that has a number of adherents.

Rounding out the tasting was the ’08 La Croce, which is composed of co-fermented Sangiovese and Syrah.  Most blends are just that: blends of grapes that were vinified separately.  Co-fermented grapes are vinified together.  This wine was surprisingly refined and, after the Hilltops and Grenache, seemed light.  Beautiful cherry notes and a long finish.

Overall, the Stolpman tasting was an excellent experience.  The tasting room is nicely appointed, the staff is friendly and knowledgeable, and the wines are outstanding.  Not only did I purchase a bottle of the Originals (for myself) and the Grenache (for Alex’s mom) I ended up joining the Stolpman Wine Club and am eagerly awaiting my first shipment in April!

TO BE CONTINUED…

Of course, this being a wine blog, the time was also filled with some excellent wine.

I type this from sunny California. It is literally sunny (yesterday was 77 degrees, today is going to be 80), with uncharacteristically perfect blue skies through which you can see the San Gabriel Mountains. I just flew in from DC on Saturday and have already had some great Chinese food–great Mexican food awaits.

Bookending my flight: Life by Keith Richards, which I highly recommend; two finals, courtesy of law school; clinic work, also courtesy of law school; drinking, courtesy of my nascent alcoholism; and a few bottles of wine had on either side of the continent.

The first bottle I want to write about is the young 2008 Roger Belland “La Fussière” Maranges 1er cru (Ansonia Wines, $22).  This is almost criminally young, but despite that (or because of that…?) it is tantalizingly good.  The nose on this is incredible, just exploding from the glass with strawberry and red fruits.  It has pronounced acidity and not too much tannin, and it is very lean and juicy.  It is a pretty expression of Burgundy, fruit, not funk; berries, not earth.  This is reminiscent of good Beaujolais cru.

Contrast that to this bottle right here:

The 2008 Meiomi “Belle Glos” Pinot Noir (Pearson’s Wine and Spirits, $20ish) is a blend of Pinots from California’s Sonoma, Monterey, and Santa Barbara counties.  I had had it before at Mission Wines in South Pasadena, but that was years ago.  All I remembered was that it was a quality wine but one I didn’t necessarily want to purchase again.  I tried it again at Pearson’s with Heather, and again it was not impressive–except that there was something about it, some Mickey Rourke-like spark that kept me from writing it off.  There was some funk hiding beneath the tired waves of old fruit that made me wonder if this had something else to offer.  I told this all to Larry, the pourer, who said that this bottle had been open since the day before and that he would open a fresh bottle (so nice of him, right?  I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND Pearson’s to anyone with access to Glover Park).  The new bottle: wow!  What a difference!  The tired waves of old fruit were rejuvenated and became supple cascades of ripe plum and jujubes, offset by baking spice and underlined by that funkiness I had tasted in the first bottle.  Substantial body and great tannins to balance the acidity.  Very fragrant nose.

Now, I love me some Burgundies, but sometimes you gotta go back to where you come from.  California, constantly lambasted for being Hollywood-like in its oenophilic expressions, for being too big, too bold, too brash–well, California is a big place.  France and Spain and every other winemaking region have their villains as well.

Yet another France-California face-off: any Châteauneuf-du-Pape blanc versus the 2007 Stolpman “L’Avion” ($30s) brought very kindly by Billy to a Mission Wines tasting I went to yesterday.  From the Santa Ynez Valley it is composed of 90% Roussane and 10% Viognier (though the 2008 vintage is 100% Roussane).  This has a very pretty light straw color but clocks in at a hefty 14.8% ABV.  Nutty but mouth-puckering, with a solid base of mineral and clay.  Floral nose–apparently, it smelled like honeysuckle, though I don’t even know what that means.  Great body and finish.  One of my favorite wines of the past year was the 2007 Paul Autard Châteauneuf-du-Pape blanc; if I had to compare them, I would think that the Autard is a bit more refined and with more minerals, whereas the Stolpman is more voluptuous and fruity.  Both are great, and the Stolpman is a significant bit less expensive.

Before I go, a closing note on another Californian wine I tried.  The 2009 Orin Swift “Abstract” (Mission Wines, $23ish) is a blend of predominantly Grenache, with Syrah and Petit Syrah from Sonoma.  Orin Swift is the maker of the ludicrously popular “The Prisoner”, which is good but a bit too much for my taste.  Not so with the Abstract.  Black fruits, licorice, light-to-medium body.  Definitely drinkable alone but probably also enjoyable with lamb or, I’m thinking some sort of meat-based parpadelle dish.

I do enjoy DC and the East Coast; I do also love French wines.  But sometimes, damn it, it’s good to be home.

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.

Thus, I’ve been able to go to Mission Wines, my favorite local wine spot here in little South Pasadena. I rounded up a crew of the usuals–William, his friend Sam, Chris M. and his gf, Sasha and his gf, and Jack M. from days yore–and we hit up the wine tasting this past Saturday. Manning the bar were the always dependable Dave and Matthew; Kirk from the Rose Bowl committee was there along with a spate of regulars.

The tasting started off with a 2008 Pierre-Marie Chermette “Les Griottes” Beaujolais rosé, made from gamay.  A Beaujolais rosé?  I mean, much Beaujolais is darn close to rosé, anyway.  Nonetheless, this was a nice wine with a vibrant pink color and an austere, slightly coppery taste.  It wasn’t sweet and not overtly fruity.  It was my first Beaujolais rosé, so I was delighted to have it be a positive experience.  

We moved on to a real winner–the 2008 Jorge Ordonez Botani moscatel seco.  Botani is owned and operated by that magnate of Spanish wine, Jorge Ordonez, who also imports the excellent Vinicola Onix blend from Priorat and the intense, brooding Juan Gil.  Although the Botani vineyard usually produces sweet white wines made from the moscatel grape, the wine I tried on Saturday was off-dry, surprisingly viscous with a huge nose of very ripe muscat grapes.  (Have you ever had the Korean drink Sac Sac?  It’s grape juice in a can with whole peeled muscat grapes.  The Botani reminded me of that.)

The next was the Tantara T. Solomon Wellborn pinot noir from Santa Barbara, a multi-vintage pinot that I honestly found uninspiring and a little too… unfocused?  I was glad to move onto the 2007 Bistro Grenache from Epicurean, that Washington-based importer of fine Australian wines.  Apparently they have started to dabble in producing their own wines–so far, so good.  Sourced from vineyards in the McLaren Vale, this is a straightforward wine: dusky color, dusty plum full of umami, overlaid by a cloying sweetness.  I sensed some clove and, I don’t know why or how, some red lipstick–perhaps from the one or two women I’ve kissed in my day?  ;)  Pretty good, with a cool hip label:

We strayed off the tasting menu for a pour of a 2006 Essenza di Negroamaro from Italy.  This was a bit closed at first but opened up gradually in the glass–well-balanced tannins and a cedar box nose.  It sort of reminded me of a fruit rollup, but not in a bad way.

Ah–here was a great one–a truly unique wine.  After having tried it at Lou on Vine, I had been looking everywhere for a bottle of a Lacrima di Morro.  I wrote about it before, so I’ll just quote from my previous post:

Tears of Morro (Morro being the commune of Morro d’Alba in the Italian province of Ancona, which is on the Adriatic coast).

Lacrima di Morro is a wine whose grape (Lacrima di Morro d’Alba) is of an ancient and confusing origin–so ancient and so confusing, in fact, that its precise genealogy may never be determined.

This wine blew me away because it was like no other wine I’ve ever tasted. Sure, there are other wines whose nose may approximate flowers, but the Lacrima di Morro actually SMELLS like violets. It’s unmistakable. It’s incredible. And when you take a sip, those violets morph on your tongue into petals of rose. The aftertaste is evocative of rosewater–Turkish Delights, anyone? Light body, low-to-medium tannins, and medium acidity make for a playful, idiosyncratic wine.

I don’t remember the producer of that previous version, but this one was the 2007 Lacrima di Morro from Quercia Antica Velenosi.  The one I tried last week had the unmistakable violets on the nose, yes, but the first sniff actually reminded me more of fresh blueberry pie than violets.  Oh well, a wonderful wine–though not everyone’s favorite, just to be fair.

I scored a pour of the 2007 Domaine Alary “La Brunote” from Cairanne, France: primarily grenache, this was round with just enough tannins to keep things interesting.  I found it better than the Bistro Grenache from Australia, but at around $24 or so it was also about $10 more expensive.

We finished off with the 2007 Domaine les Grands Bois “Cuvee Gabrielle” Cotes-du-Rhone Villages, the last pour of the official tasting.  This one had pepper and herbs on the nose, a big entry rounding out to a smooth mouthfeel, raisins and the hint of spice.  Very good.

My favorite of the day?  I had a few actually, for different occasions.  The Botani would be a great summer white and probably popular with the ladies.  The Domaine Alary would be a great bottle for a cooler day–maybe in the autumn.  The Lacrima di Morro would edge out both, however, just for sheer idiosyncrasy.  It was extremely satisfying to finally find it; I bought a bottle for my friends to try and bought the last bottle at the store to bring home (my mom and sister loved it, by the way).  

Along with the Lacrima di Morro, I bought a bottle of the 2008 Le Bastide Blanche Bandol rosé and, to celebrate my new Riedel Burgundy glasses, I purchased a bottle of the 2007 Cristom “Mt. Jefferson Cuvee” pinot noir from the Willamette Valley of Oregon.  The Bandol was very VERY austere–dry and permeated with minerals–a pale rust color, and better the second day than the first (especially with some Moroccan-style quail and cous cous!).  The pinot was billed as more in the Burgundy style–it was more like a Burgundy than the pinots that so many Californians love, but still more on the opulent than restrained side.  It was good, but I’d still take the Kermit Lynch selection from Domaine A. Et. P. De Villaine any day.  And, in somewhat of an irony, the Burgundy is cheaper than the Oregon pinot!

Needless to say, I’ve had a lot of great wine lately, and a lot of great people to share it with.

It was strange coming back to a place I did not know, strange sleeping on a couch when I used to be able to sleep on a bed.  I didn’t know the new area very well, passing through South Pasadena only to get from Alhambra to Old Town Pasadena.  And my father had recently been diagnosed with kidney disease, meaning his health was always uncertain.  That apartment on Huntington Drive, new and without the comfort that came from years of familiarity, certainly didn’t feel like home.

Some years have passed.  I graduated from Berkeley, worked for two years at LegalZoom.com, and am in the middle of my second semester at law school in Washington, DC.  Although I started to really like South Pasadena during my two years as a working stiff, it wasn’t until I left California for the far-off Eastern Coast that I truly started to consider South Pasadena home.  We are still living in that small apartment on Huntington; it sounds a bit strange for someone coming from the historical hubbub that was the site of the Inauguration, but I can’t think of anything better than returning to South Pas for good after graduation.

That old adage–”home is where the heart is”–is true.

I often wax poetic or nostalgic about Berkeley, or am reminded of places in New Haven and Hamden or Seoul, but I am most content here.  And, being thus content, my family and I decided to open one of the bottles I purchased the other day from Mission Wines.

Well, let me clarify.  I decided to open one of the bottles, the 2007 Domaine les Grands Bois “Cuvee Maximilien,” a Cotes du Rhone villages from Cairanne, France.  This bottle came highly recommended at Mission Wines and is considered the Domaine’s best bottling.

And rightly so.  It is very intense, a dark inky red wine that coats your mouth and leaves you with no doubt that (1) this is an excellent wine and (2) evocative of the very concept of Cotes du Rhone.

From Robert Parker:

93 points Robert Parker: “A blend of 50% Grenache, 35% Mourvedre, 10% Syrah, and 5% Carignan aged in concrete except for the Mourvedre (which was aged in barrel), the 2007 Cotes du Rhone-Villages Cairanne Cuvee Maximilien is another stunning effort. More blueberry, truffle, tree bark, and sauteed porcini mushrooms intermixed with notes of spring flowers and damp earth soar from the glass of this dark ruby/purple-tinged wine. Fabulous intensity and texture as well as a full-bodied mouthfeel, but no hard edges (despite the fact that approximately one-third of the wine is made from Mourvedre), it exhibits terrific fruit as well as noble sweetness and sucrosite (the wine is totally dry). This big wine should drink well for 7-8 years or longer. This superb estate has fashioned outstanding 2007s, all remarkable wine bargains. They are typical of the fabulous 2007 vintage in the southern Rhone.”

It was great the next day, with softer tannins and more pronounced fruit.  To be honest, this might very well be one of the best Cotes du Rhone wines I’ve ever had.  At $19.99 it seems a bit pricy but is well worth the extra few bucks.

As long as I’m writing about wine, I might as well talk about another good French wine, the 2003 “La Baronne Rouge” from Famille Lignères.  This wine is from the Corbières appellation in the Languedoc-Roussillon region.  It’s only $10.99 but just a wonderful, lighter-bodied red.  It’s soft,with bright berries, but balanced with a hint of the garrigue.  It’s delicious served with a bit of a chill.

It took me a little bit to get over the slightly kitschy pink label, but I’m glad I did.

And it took me a little bit of time to get used to a different place and a different city, but I’m glad I did.  And someday I’ll be back for good.

]]> http://vinicultured.com/2009/03/06/ruminations-on-home/feed/ 3 Joon Song http://vinicultured.com/2009/03/04/from-the-east-coast-to-the-west-the-tres-picos-garnacha-from-borsao/ http://vinicultured.com/2009/03/04/from-the-east-coast-to-the-west-the-tres-picos-garnacha-from-borsao/#comments Thu, 05 Mar 2009 03:13:00 +0000 vinicultured http://vinicultured.com/?p=228 ]]> I am at home, taking a much-needed break from law school.  First semester was a breeze compared to the marathon of mock trial, briefs, classes, and journal competition!

Having lived in DC now since August, I feel like I have a sense of the city.  True, I haven’t really explored too much, but enough to realize a few things.  First, DC is a nice city–to visit.  Second, there are nice restaurants–in the $$$ range.  Third, there are some good cafes–if you’re willing to take the Metro and walk a while.  Fourth, there ARE some good wine shops, though the District of Columbia isn’t exactly the Bay Area.  I am pretty certain that I will be returning to California after law school.

I really do like certain aspects of DC.  I do like the cold weather, for instance, and the snow (although it can be a real pain when you’re trying to walk in slush and frozen ice).  I do like that you can generally get around using public transportation (traffic today in LA brought back some bad memories).  But, after all of this, and despite LA’s problems, LA is still home to me.

The temperature in DC when I left for Dulles was around 20 degrees; when I got to LA the temperature was 59 degrees.  It rained today in LA, a lot in the morning but tapering off in the early afternoon.  It was actually so nice during this respite from the rain that my parents and I decided to stop by the Farmer’s Market on 3rd and Fairfax.  Bob’s Donuts and coffee, a beef shawerma wrap from Moishe’s for me and fish ‘n’ chips and clam chowder for the ‘rents.  Awesome–relaxing and delicious.

Afterwards, I went to Mission Wines to say hello.  And left with six bottles of wine:

• 2007 Francois Chidaine | Touraine, Loire Valley, France | sauvignon blanc | $11.99
• 2007 Pascal Bellier | Cour-Cheverny, France | romorantin | $14.99
• 2007 Borsao “Tres Picos” | Campo de Borja, Spain | garnacha | $14.99 ($16.99 – $18.99 regular)
• 2007 Domaine les Grands Bois “Cuvee Maximilien | Cairanne, Cotes du Rhone villages, France | blend | $19.99
• 2005 Domaine de Piaugier “Sablet” | Cotes du Rhone villages, France | blend | $15.99
• 2007 Atalaya | Almansa, Spain | prim. monastrell, garnacha tintorera | $14.99

Though LA and DC are pretty dissimilar, I was still able to find one of my favorite “DC” wines at Mission Wines: “Tres Picos” from Borsao ($14.99 on sale, $16.99 regular price as compared to $18.99 in many DC locations).  This is 100% garnacha, grown from the Campo de Borja D.O.  Trey from The Wine Specialist recommended it to me and I am certainly glad he did: a powerful, expressive garnacha redolent with dark berries and leather.  I wasn’t really a fan of garnacha/grenache in general because I felt it made too much of a light and inconsequential wine, but man–Tres Picos knocked my socks off and those of the friends who tasted it.

This is my third bottle of Tres Picos–absolutely terrific and well worth the price.  It went really well with roquefort, in case you wanted to have it for a wine tasting.

The Francois Chidaine is hands-down my favorite sauvignon blanc–a must-have, especially for the upcoming spring and a steal at $11.99.  The Cour-Cheverny is also a white wine: the sales associate at Mission Wines raved about it and gave me a pour.  It had a nose like a big unoaked California chardonnay–tropical fruits–but was significantly dry and minerally, with a bit of pepper like a grüner veltliner.  I felt compelled to buy it.

Another wine I feel compelled to write about is one I had in DC: the 2005 Vacqueyras from Domaine La Roubine, a blend of 70% Grenache, 20% Syrah and 10% Mourvedre.  Vacqueyras is a lesser-known appellation in the southern Rhone–sort of a third fiddle to Chateauneuf-du-Pape and Gigondas.  This means, however, that wines from Vacqueyras are available for good prices (the Domaine La Roubine was $25.99).  I had earmarked the bottle to drink with a nice hanger steak I had purchased from Eastern Market.  I meant to cook the steak on Monday right after the journal competition but couldn’t wait that long to try the wine–I opened it and had a little bit late Sunday evening.  Really good, prunes and “stewed cherries” on the nose, pronounced tannins but lighter bodied than I thought it would be, more of an earthy-minerally character to it than fruity.  It was even better the next day with the steak.

Altogether, I’m pretty happy with the wines I’ve been able to try in DC and am looking forward to trying some more in LA.  Mind you–the six bottles aren’t all for me: ostensibly, I bought them for my mom who always tells me how neither my brother nor sister will buy her any wine!

For instance, my last class got out 20 minutes early today.  After coming home from school, I lounged about for a brief and wonderful spell in bed, reading parts of Master and Commander and listening to Van Morrison.  This was at around 2 pm–which would be just past my old lunch hour at LegalZoom.  I got out of bed, studied a bit, tidied up the apartment a bit, and decided to go to Trader Joe’s to restock on some essentials.

There was a very light rain–a sprinkling, actually–and just enough light to cast shadows on the leaves of the trees lining L Street.  I got to Trader Joe’s, selected my items (more polenta-in-a-tube, by the way), and was heading to the checkstand when I saw, out of the corner of my eye, cases of this wine:

It was on sale for $13.99.  Big deal.  That’s actually kind of expensive for Trader Joe’s, I thought.  But there was a sign–oh, those darned signs!–that said this was a special selection, that there were only a few cases (420 bottles total) at this store, that the normal retail was at least $26.00, and that it was 70% grenache, 20% syrah, and 10% mourvedre.  I happen to like combinations of grenache, syrah, and mourvedre–I immediately think cold weather red, which is a good thing in my book.

But I was torn.  It was a Chateauneuf-du-Pape, and man, those Chateauneuf-du-Pape wines are usually like… $50+.  How good could a Chateauneuf that’s on sale at Trader Joe’s in Washington, DC for $13.99 be?

I picked up a bottle and looked at the label more closely.  Cool label, heavy bottle, with a deep punt (indentation at the bottom).  I saw the names “Frédéric & Daniel Brunier” on the lower edge of the label.  For some reason that didn’t come to me till later, the name “Brunier” rang a bell.

I decided: why not?  I hadn’t bought a bottle for a while, and it was only $13.99.

I’m glad I did.

Reading online, this wine got rave reviews.  And then:

WINE ENTHUSIAST
The 79-acre Domaine la Roquete was acquired by the Brunier family of Vieux Telegraphe in 1986. Its modern labeling belies its dense, huge, packed fruit and tannins that suggest classic Chateauneuf-du-Pape. But there are also great perfumes in the wood and herbal characters. Will age over many years.
93 Points
WINE ENTHUSIAST CELLAR SELECTION
– Roger Voss, Wine Enthusiast, December 31, 2005

Vieux Telegraphe?!?  They’re like the kings of Chateauneuf-du-Pape!

I couldn’t wait for my roommate to come home from work (haha, that stiff).  I opened the bottle and poured out a bit in a glass.  Dusky, the color of a reddish-purple plum, yet light.  (Strange.)  I swirled it around and took a sniff.  Mmmm!  I detected prune, anise in the nose.  I took a sip.  Substantial body (this wine is unfiltered).  A little bit closed at first, but prune, licorice/anise, spice.

Then my roommate came home.  The fun thing about my roommate and I is that we wax poetic about the virtues of good wine, not only talking about flavors but holistic sensory and metaphorical sensations.  One of the reasons I started to get more serious about wine was an evening we shared–with a few of our RA friends–over a bottle of L’esprit du Silene.  He pointed out that the Silene was like “a thornbush,” which made perfect sense.

I suppose in a way that evening shaped much of how I view wine, and has informed my taste of what a “comfort wine” or “safety blanket wine” is for me.  Rustic, big, bold, nice tannins, dark fruit.  Unfortunately, the L’esprit du Silene has been sold out from every store in the Bay Area for a few years now, but I think we’ve got a worthy substitute.

The Domaine La Roquète is a substantial, substantial wine.  It doesn’t mess around.  Prune, licorice, spice in the mouth.  The mouthfeel is smooth and dense.  It fills the whole mouth, it “builds a fort,” as my roommate said.  “It’s like oak, like a wood frame,” he continued.  We pondered this observation for a while.  Yes!  It’s like a crate of plums–the crate made from really old wood, the kind that’s white and weathered with age–if the whole crate (plums, crate, and all) had been crushed and made into wine.

The finish, however, is what really distinguishes this wine.  Very VERY long–I had my last sip a few minutes ago and I can still detect the different elements playing on my tongue and the rest of my mouth.  The finish changes–first the primary flavors previously described, then secondary flavors of caramel and cola.

This is a terrific wine.  Now I must go: we’re going to Trader Joe’s and getting six bottles to get us through the winter!

[ UPDATE: We just came back from Trader Joe's--with 9 more bottles.  I also managed to persuade a lady in that section to buy three bottles of it, too.  Hurry up and go to the TJ's on 25th and L--seems like this wine will be gone in a week! ]

I have not had too much wine as of late because of the heat–I focused on Anchor Steam beer, as these were sophisticated, delicious, and refreshing. I couldn’t bring myself to open a bottle of wine–even nice, thirst-quenching varieties like vinho verde and sauvignon blanc. Reds, of course, were out of the question.

Thus I was pleased when the thermostat was turned down a few degrees, especially for my longer than usual Memorial Day weekend (I took this Friday off and get Monday off as well!). On Friday I headed to Mission Wines for a spell to pick up a good cold weather red.

I was surprised: there were a lot more people there on Friday at 4:30 pm than I would have thought. Debbie, Dave, and Chris were there tending bar. There was a chef in whites there, sampling a few wines, along with some neighborhood regulars like Kirk, who kindly gave me a pour of a fantastic Paso Robles syrah from Jada Vineyard. It was named “Jersey Girl”.

From their website:

The 2005 “Jersey Girl”, named for Robyn’s proud roots, is Syrah harvested from the tops of the hills. The tops came in about 10 days earlier than the bottoms with great fruit and acid balance. The fruit was de-stemmed and whole berries were gravity feed to 1.5 ton open top fermenters. Following a five day cold soak the wines underwent a slow 14 day fermentation. Cap management consisted primarily of punch downs with an occasional delistage. The wines were basket pressed to 80% French and 20% Hungarian Oak barrels of which 50% were new. After 16 months in barrel the wines were bottled unfined and unfiltered.

Loads and loads of flavor. A lot of fruit: blueberry and boysenberry. Very full, round, rich, with less chocolate and earth than Australian shiraz. An excellent wine that I can find myself drinking forever. Unfortunately, it was also priced accordingly: about $40+.

I was on a budget ($15.00 or less) so I looked through the Mission Wines bargain section. I was thinking Cotes du Rhone for something more rustic, comfortable, and earthy. My eyes spied the 2005 La Grange de Piaugier from Domaine de Piaugier.

I picked up the bottle and asked Debbie whether it would meet my criteria of “winter red”. She replied that it would be good for cooler, but not cold, weather–exactly what I had in mind. She said it would have nice body and depth, not as powerful as, say, a monastrell, but nicely balanced. At $9.99, it was definitely at the right price point, too.

My brother and I opened up the bottle as soon as I came home. It was a light-to-medium-bodied wine, some good tannin and acid. It had a pronounced herbaceous quality: thyme? rosemary? Some earthiness. There was some fruit and, oddly enough, some red vine on the finish. Very satisfying, but still, something was missing.

Then it came upon me: it was missing a nice piece of meat.

We drove to the Whole Foods, got some nice New York strip steaks. We decided upon green beans and potatoes fried with garlic, thyme, and parsley. The steaks we seasoned only with cracked peppercorn, and cooked on our new cast-iron skillet.

The wine paired beautifully with all the food: smooth, subtle, the herbaceous quality of the wine complementing the thyme in the potatoes and the pepper of the steak.

La Grange de Piaugier is comprised primarily of grenache, with smaller portions of syrah, mourvèdre, cinsault and carignan. The producer also makes a wine called “Sablet” which I would love to try next!

I went down to Chronicle Wine Cellar on the corner of California and Lake.  (I have a Yelp review of this place here.)  I love Chronicle Wine Cellar because it’s so small and unpretentious–it’s on the bottom floor of a rundown apartment building, for God’s sake!  They also offer a very good selection of wines at dirt-cheap prices.

I spent all of $22.47 on three wines: the one I am drinking now is the “Sedna” malbec from Flavio Senetiner.

It’s a malbec from the Mendoza region of Argentina, named after the furthest planet in our solar system.

I had selected a sparkling wine (for the ladies) and a rosé (because of the heat) and wanted to get a smooth-drinking, easy red to round out my trio.  It was either between a shiraz from Australia or this malbec.  Both were at the crazy price of $5.95.

I selected the malbec for the maybe fallacious reason that Argentina wines are generally cheaper as a whole than Australian wines–thus, I had more of a chance of finding a decent, cheap Argentinean wine than a decent, cheap Australian wine.

The verdict?

Great nose: smells spicy and red.  Doesn’t really taste like any other malbec I’ve ever had.  In fact, it reminds me more of a Languedoc wine–something like l’Esprit du Silene with its blend of syrah, grenache, and cinsault–because it seems rustic and earthy.  I can taste the garrigue in this wine, with leather and spice and a slight taste of persimmon.

Granted, there ARE malbec characteristics of cherry and berries–it seemed a bit rounder and softer than anything from the Languedoc, too.

From the Chronicle Wine Cellar website: “Here is our choice for your fruit driven lighter red. Smooth and easy drinking  with some lovely Malbec qualities. David likes it with a bit of a chill , easy to enjoy no matter how you want to serve it. From  Mendoza, Argentina.”

Overall, a great choice and a steal for $5.95.  I will update this post after pairing the wine with tonight’s dinner: marinated kalbi, or Korean barbeque.