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…

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!

And now I might very well be older than they were at the time.

(My torts professor summed it up quite nicely when he quipped, “It’s a strange feeling when both the president-elect AND the chief justice are younger than you are.”)

Now that I’m a quarter century old, I feel as if I should be an adult.  I certainly feel adult-like at certain moments–for instance, when I cook dinner, or when I go to the Ritz-Carlton for drinks (that one time!)–but sometimes feel as if I’m a child playing grownup. I think many of my peers feel the same way.

All that aside, it IS nice to get together and do grownup stuff–like hold wine tastings.  My roommate and I decided to throw a wine tasting; I decided also to throw a wine tasting before that wine tasting to get the feel of things.

I’ll spare you (and myself) the details of the parties.  The first coincided with the arrival of Margie’s friend Ruth from Michigan and Alisa’s friend Kami from Arizona.  The second coincided with Margie’s birthday.  All in all, fortuitous timing.

This was the first wine tasting event I hosted, so I was anxious to do it right.  To that extent, I went to the Wine Specialist and talked to J.C. (their Spanish wine buyer) for over an hour, picking out wines.  The combined wines over both tastings were:

• 2007 | Visión “Cono Sur” | Sauvignon Blanc | Casablanca Valley, Chile
• 2007 | Verget du Sud | Chardonnay | Vin de Pays du Vaucluse, France
• 2007 | Mulderbosch | Chenin Blanc | Stellenbosch, South Africa
• 2006 | André Lorentz | Riesling | Alsace, France
• 2007 | Jean Descombes | cru Beaujolais | Morgon, Beaujolais, France
• 2007 | Maipe “Rosé of Malbec” | Malbec | Mendoza, Argentina
• 2006 | Domiciano de Barrancas “Cosecha Nocturna” | Malbec | Mendoza, Argentina
• 2007 | Oracle of the Stars | Pinotage | Western Cape, South Africa
• 2007 | Thorn-Clarke “Shotfire” | Shiraz | Barossa Valley, Australia
• 2007 | Cueva de las Manos “Bonarda Old Vine Reserve” | Bonarda | Mendoza, Argentina

I bought a few repeats, as well.

There was also a Chilean cabernet sauvignon that I wasn’t intending to serve (and so didn’t write down) but ended up serving after the first tasting; we also went through a few other bottles from my own “collection” and from others.

The theme for both tastings was “1.5 Generation Wines: Between the Old and New Worlds.”  Many of the varietals–sauvignon blanc, syrah/shiraz, and malbec, especially–have had great success after being transplanted to different parts of the world.

The first tasting was a bit more improvised–I didn’t have any food to go along with the tasting, but we more than made up for that by drinking a lot of wine.  The second tasting was more planned–Alex and I made appetizers such as pork sausage fried with apples and cider, lox with chevre and green garlic on melba toast, roasted Hungarian peppers with Greek goat cheese on sliced baguette, hummus, dark chocolate drops with raspberry, etc.  Daphne brought some spicy tuna rolls and vegetable rolls, as well.  Delicious.

I won’t comment on all the wines, but only the notable ones.

The Visión “Cono Sur” is an excellent sauvignon blanc–midway between the Old World (minerals, concentrated) and the New World (lush, grassy) styles, this was a real crowd pleaser.  The Maipe “Rosé of Malbec” was an intense blood red, almost as dark as the Beaujolais or a pinot noir.  It had a bit of a rubber boot nose, but this gave way to some nice berry fruit that ended on dried notes of raisin.  The Oracle of the Stars pinotage was a favorite–smoky, nice acid–and a steal at $7.99.  It’s definitely a wine I’d keep around for dinner or easy drinking.

Jordan and Margie donated a bottle of 2005 Bodegas Arrocal tempranillo from the Ribera del Duero region of Spain.  We poured it in a decanter and swished it around.  I happen to love tempranillo from Ribera del Duero (Tinto Pesquera, anyone?)–they’re intense and dark, with earth and tobacco.  “This is going to be evocative of a dry, dusty riverbed,” I announced drunkenly as I poured out tastes from the decanter.  Yup.  It WAS like a dry, dusty riverbed.

Overall, I really enjoyed the process of hosting a wine tasting, and people seemed to like it.  Then again, who wouldn’t like to pretend they’re adults and get drunk off of good wine?

My dad and brother, on the other hand, are crab aficionados. My dad especially loves the green glands and other assorted guts underneath the top shell. He often mixes rice in the top shell of a crab once the legs and other assorted pieces of meat are gone.

I came across this recipe from “The Minimalist” of The New York Times for pasta with soft-shell crabs:

(Thanks to the Times for this picture!)

It was surprisingly simple and easy to make. The hardest part was going to Bristol Farms and shelling out (pun fully intended) $24.99 per pound for the soft-shell crabs. Four crabs basically equaled one pound. Yikes!

At home, I heated the olive oil and, instead of using the three or four cloves of garlic as called for in the recipe, used the Korean equivalent: eight cloves. I cooked the slivered garlic gently in the olive oil and added about a tablespoon of crushed dried red pepper (again, a Korean adaptation!); when the garlic was cooked but not browned I added the four beautiful little soft-shell crabs. I covered the lid on the pot then put some water on for boiling the pasta, which I chose to be linguini.

I ended up adding the parsley and one diced Roma tomato for color. I didn’t add any salt (my family has a tendency towards high blood pressure!) but the crabs themselves had a bit of salt in them from living in the ocean. After about 15-20 minutes of cooking, the crabs were a brownish-red in color, and their aroma was heartbreaking. Their juices had run out and emulsified with the olive oil and garlic. Beautiful.

Overall, the whole process–with prep time–took about 30-35 minutes. I served the pasta with a sliced baguette and, to drink, the Touraine sauvignon blanc from François Chidaine. It was crisp, bracing, with nice acidity and subtle minerality but with a surprising burst of melon and citrus fruit that ended with a bit of straw or grass. It was very, very good with the pasta, which was infused with the rich, full taste of the sea and the gentle bite of cooked garlic. Overall, a wonderful pairing.

But who could have imagined that every sip was imparting more than just terroir?

Given everything else that is wrong with the world, it is perhaps unsurprising to learn about the presence of pesticides and other chemicals in wine. Recently, Pesticide Action Network Europe (PAN Europe) reported a study in which 35 out of 40 bottles of European wine were found to have pesticides–four different pesticides on average but as much as ten in one particularly unfortunate bottle. One of the six organic wines tested also contained trace pesticide residues.

Then again, lest we get too alarmed, it should be noted that a sample set of 40 wines is NOT very large at all. This study from 1999 suggests that no to very little pesticide residue could be found in wine after the vinification, fining, and filtering processes.

(The PAN Europe website does provide citations, so one can do more detailed research if one is so inclined.)

Regardless of whether pesticides are present in many wines–and if present are in concentrations that are harmful to humans–there have always been winemakers that have adhered to natural, “organic” methods of growing grapes. Then again, there are those growers who subscribe to biodynamic farming, where “the farm is viewed as a self-sustaining, self-regulating eco-system.”

Eric Asimov of the New York Times wrote a thought-provoking article on organic and biodynamic wines and the stigma they face. From the article:

“That’s the stigma left over from 15 or 20 years ago, when wines were marketed as organic and weren’t very good,” said Gregory Dal Piaz, the director of customer development for Astor Wines & Spirits in NoHo. “I don’t think it’s the best way to market wine. You market wine because it’s good.”

Recently, there has been a slow, small, but noticeable shift in consumer tendencies towards wines that marketed as organic:

“When I first opened three years back, people did not ask about the wines the same way they asked about the food,” she [Francine Stephens, proprietor of Fanny's Pizzeria in Brooklyn] said. “It’s definitely changed in the last year. People seem to have made the leap that it’s an agricultural product, which is a big leap, I guess.”

I for one was never really a big fan of organic wines. Early experiences left me with thinking that organic wine was the alcoholic equivalent of Tofurky: a tasteless, New Age, inferior substitute for the real thing. Then I tried wines like the Clairette de Die from Jean-Claude Raspail and the offerings of François Chidaine.

The Clairette de Die is an intoxicating sparkling wine from the Clairette de Die AOC of France made from the muscat blanc à petits grains and clairette grapes. It is sweet, fizzy, and refreshing. It doesn’t taste cheap or saccharine, however–it has a clean sweetness that lends itself well to Thai or, say, to the upcoming hot spring and summer days.

I’ve written many times in the past of François Chidaine. He works in plots of land along the Loire River, primarily in the Montlouis (pronounced “Moh-louie”) but also in the Vouvray (“voo-vray”) appellations.

I love this. He writes: “Wine is born from the vine, not from artificial skills of re-creation in the winery. It is sufficient to start modestly by working the soil.”

To that extent, he doesn’t use chemical fertilizers or pesticides. Rather, he uses goats to eat weeds and keep pests at bay. (They make excellent Easter dinner, so I’ve read.)

I’ve written about his chenin blancs, so I want to end this post with a few notes on his outstanding Touraine sauvignon blanc (retail: $11.99). It is straightforward: extremely bright, pleasantly mouth-puckering, high acidity. Less of a herbal character and more of a citrus character–grapefruit, something tart. A little bit of mineral. Not too tangy, very gentle. Reminded me of another great white, the Pie Franco Rueda verdejo from Blanco Nieva.

As long as I can continue finding delicious, satisfying organic and biodynamic wines, I should be able to drink without having to worry too much about my liver, immune system, or easily-worried Korean parents!

WHERE TO FIND IN SoCAL | You can find the sauvignon blanc at Mission Wines in South Pasadena or Monsieur Marcel at the Los Angeles Farmer’s Market.

I was joined by my college bud Jonathan Lewis, who seems to split his time evenly between Berkeley and Los Angeles. The plan was to visit Silverlake Wine, where I was to pick up four bottles of the Ampelos Rosé of Syrah for myself and some co-workers. I also wanted to visit Intelligentsia Coffee, a Chicago institution that had just recently headed west.

I had some time to kill beforehand, so I decided to take a trip down the 134 to Colorado Wine Company in Los Feliz first. Specifically, I wanted to pick up a bottle of “The Third Bottle” red from GustavoThrace. I paid my $9.99 + tax for the bottle and headed up the 2 to Silver Lake for my rendezvous.

This was the first time I ever visited Silverlake Wine. I was very impressed. The store is large and very well-laid out. The workers there are courteous, funny, and very helpful. There seems to be a steady flow of customers, and many of them have questions about wine pairings that the attendants seem to nail right away. They also have wine tastings, including one I just missed featuring Maynard Keenan, lead singer of Tool and A Perfect Circle. Apparently Maynard is a huge wine buff and has his own vineyard, where he makes his own wine!

I was a bit early, so while waiting I had a bottle of the White Rascal Belgian white ale from Avery Brewing Company:

It’s fuller than that other famous Belgian white ale, Hoegaarden, but has the same light, refreshing taste punctuated by orange zest and spice. Also, it was only $1.75 a bottle at Silverlake Wine, which makes for some good drinkin’.

Jonathan showed up and we got a bottle of the 2006 Martín Códax albariño. Albariño, for those of you who haven’t tried this delicious wine, is perhaps the most famous white wine from Spain. It hails from Rías Baixas, an estuary of the Galicia region of Spain.

I love albariño because it is crisp and acidic like a sauvignon blanc but is generally fuller bodied. It is tart and fresh. There are bright citrus and pear notes and a seaside minerality. Albariños are great with seafood–shellfish, white fish, squid.

Morgadio makes a good albariño, and I’ve had albariños from other producers. It seems that you can’t find a truly bad albariño. The Martín Códax was no different. It was a decent wine and reasonably priced at $11.99. It was lighter bodied than the Morgadio and had a more pronounced tartness that I found a bit distracting. I could imagine it would be better paired with food than as an aperitif.

Jon and I couldn’t finish the bottle right then (as neither of us had anything to eat!), so we decided to visit a place he had passed by on his way to Silverlake. Coincidentally, the place happened to be the newly-opened LA MILL Coffee boutique, which I had wanted to visit as well.

LA MILL is an Alhambra, CA coffee merchant that had for years provided gourmet coffees in bulk to consumers. The Silver Lake location was its first venture into an actual sit-down cafe/restaurant.

Great place–very well decorated, faux-leather chairs, huge numbers of hipsters (some wearing sunglasses indoors, most others wearing at least one article of clothing from American Apparel). They have not one but TWO Clover coffee machines that make one cup each at a time. Jon had a vanilla latte and I had a cup of coffee: the coffee was good–very, very smooth, very light–but also like… $2.50. We also got a free orange cappuccino (apparently, they add orange zest to the foam or something!) because the baristas had made extra.

I had soft-scrambled eggs with dungeness crab, scallion, and tomato with four halves of brioche. I think there were like… two, maybe three eggs, tops. This was $12.00. I also had a glass of iced coffee with plenty of half and half and Splenda. The cream was served in a beaker, which was a nice touch. The iced coffee was strangely… flat… not as good as that of Buster’s in South Pasadena.

After “lunch” we went back to Silverlake Wine, finished the albariño, and split a White Rascal. Then, we went to Intelligentsia Coffee in two cars (yeah–true L.A. carpool fashion).

Or tried to. We got lost trying to find Sunset Boulevard but, after ten minutes or so of driving, managed to get back on track. This turned out to be a fortuitous development.

After he had parked and was walking down a hill to get to the cafe, Jon was approached by some guy who asked to use his cell phone because he was mugged by two dudes with a gun! This was like… one block from Intelligentsia! This man was telling Jon his story when some other guy came down from an apartment and was like, “Yeah, man, I totally saw you get mugged! Do you need a witness or something?”

At first, Jon thought this was one of those tag-team deals, but it turned out to be legit. Jon let the guy use his phone to call 911 then joined me at Intelligentsia for a cup of joe. I can only imagine that had we not gotten lost, Jon might have needed a new wallet! Close call, right?

At any rate, Intelligentsia also uses the Clover coffee machines. Cups of coffee were anywhere from $2.50 – $4.00. Again, a lot of hipsters. Really nice ambience, with covered outdoor and street side seating.

Silver Lake is a cool place: a strange mix of rich and poor, Latino and white and Asian, shabby and chic. It’s where you can get a $4.00 cup of coffee and, on the way back to your car, get mugged by two armed thugs. I’d give it… 91 points. Complex, with a gritty mouthfeel. Notes of chocolate and vanilla, cinnamon. And it can quite possibly get you messed up.

It’s a bit sobering to chip in five or ten bucks each for a $20 or $30 bottle of wine–nothing to shake a stick at–and watch as silver-haired gentlemen wearing well-worn L.L. Bean vests and Eddie Bauer sweaters carry out cases (CASES!) of $50 wine to their idling sports cars.

That’s why I love going to wine tastings. For $10 I can try five different wines. Nothing’s worse than spending good money on a vaunted bottle of wine and finding that it’s terrible. (I guess the same goes for first dates, eh?)

The five wines at the tasting today were:

• Juve y Camps Brut Rosé | Sparkling Pinot Noir (Sant Sadurini D’Anoia, Spain)
• Breggo Ferrington Vineyard | Sauvignon Blanc (Anderson Valley, California)
• Luzon | Monastrel/Syrah (Jumilla, Spain)
• Chateau Puygueraud Cotes de Francs | Merlot/Cabernet Franc/Malbec (Bordeaux, France)
• Graves | Syrah (Paso Robles, California)

The Juve y Camps cava was wonderful. It had a cherry bouquet and a taste that reminded me of cherry soda–minus the sweetness. There was a lively bit of acidity with a dry fruit finish. I wrote a previous post about rosé sparkling wine in which I talked about the merits of the Korbel Brut Rosé–I would far recommend the Juve y Camps version.

The sauvignon blanc was good. I’ve stated often that I’m not the biggest fan of white wines but I’ve lately been exposed to some very decent ones. This sauvignon blanc, according to the pourers, was more like a sancerre (think austere, smooth) than a California wine (think big, oaky, sometimes a bit rough). The Breggo was very smooth, had a light body, and good minerality. The only fruit I could detect was a hint of melon. There was only a little bit of oak, suggesting aging in neutral oak barrels. Unfortunately, its relative merits would not warrant my shelling out $24.99 for it.

The Luzon was a strange wine. My three companions agreed. Strange nose whose components I couldn’t really make out. My first sip elicited an “ugh” from me–the wine hit my mouth awkwardly. It was like a Stravinsky composition or something. As for the taste–I could only make out prune. Not such a good wine… maybe the monastrell (mourvedre in French) was too young… young monastrell tends to be gamey.

The Chateau Puygueraud was decent (especially after the Luzon!), very well-balanced, a well-crafted wine.  The best thing about this one was that it had a very, very long finish–one or two minutes.

The Graves syrah was the crowd favorite in the red category.  Lighter body than most of the other syrahs I’ve had, though full of the characteristic chocolate and plum.  This wine was utterly smooth and easy to drink.  Pretty good wine, though at $36.99 a bottle I think I’ll stick with the Cimicky Trumps or the Shotfire Ridge shiraz.

We ended up splitting a bottle of the Juve y Camps after the tasting, then getting a taco each at La Fiesta Grande across the street.  Eddie, Jonathan, and I then went to Fair Oaks Cigars and watched part of the Patriots – Giants game while puffing away on stogies.

Hedonistic fools as we are, Jonathan and I then went to Lucky Boy and split a coke and a large order of chili cheese fries.  Good end to a good night.

No matter. Drink alone and you’re an alcoholic. Drink with someone else, even to the point of utter disregard for personal safety, and you’re just being sociable.

Alex was home for the holidays and decided to take the Amtrak down to Burbank, where I picked him up. We headed promptly to the Los Angeles Farmers Market on Fairfax, where we lunched magnificently at Moishe’s–he had the falafel plate while I had chicken shawerma. Afterwards, we went to Monsieur Marcel for a post-meal glass of wine. As we fully intended on drinking much more during the course of the day we decided to start with whites.

Alex had a glass of the Ile La Forge 2005 viognier and I had a glass of the Domaine de la Fruitie 2004 muscadet, made from the melon de Bourgogne grape.

The viognier was fruity–it tasted a bit like lychee, with just a hint of sweetness. The muscadet, on the other hand, did not appear to have any fruit at all. Another reviewer noted melon, lemongrass, and green apple aromas. On the palate the muscadet had a very strong mineral character, which may be from the vines being planted on “granite, mica, and schist.”

The muscadet seemed closest to a riesling in both our estimations. It was leaner than the viognier.

Neither wine made much of an impression on either me or Alex, and left us yearning for a nice red.

We headed next to the Colorado Wine Company in Eagle Rock. I had read good reviews of the place and was anxious to check it out. Inside, there were little cafe tables and stools, funky lighting, and a display jam-packed with wines that lay on racks parallel to the wall. I recognized some of the wines, including a Curran Syrah I’ve had my eye on for a while (they make an EXCELLENT grenache blanc; there are apparently less than 100 acres of this grape planted in California).

The back of the store has a lounge area that combines Asian, IKEA, and 70s elements–pretty cool look. Alex and I both had a glass of some Chilean cabernet that at first seemed closed off and then seemed to die and give up the ghost. It seemed more like a pinot noir than a cab, and to be truthful it seemed a bit baked. Luckily, we were ready to drink anything, and the proprietor was very generous in her pours. On the way out Alex spied a Bavarian brew (Schönromer Pils) he had never before encountered and, intrigued, we picked up two bottles.

Then off to Mission Wines, by far my favorite wine establishment in the area. As it was Sunday there were not too many people sitting at the bar–there were two older women in the corner drinking white wine. Alex and I started with a bottle of the tried and true Cimicky Trumps Grenache/Shiraz. It did not disappoint. We then had the Schönromer Pils, which was a very pale, very crisp beer. It reminded me of Japanese beer in that it was 100% crisp and 100% refreshing.

We followed that beer with more beer from Craftsman Brewing Company, a local concern that puts out some very drinkable beers. I had the cabernale (an ale mixed with some proportion of cabernet sauvignon!) and Alex had the holiday ale. The holiday ale was hoppy as heck, while the cabernale tasted almost like a kriek (sour cherry) lambic.

(The others at the bar warned me about the cabernale–they said it was unusual. It was, indeed unusual, but not unpleasant: I have had far worse in my time as a “fratboy”, including flings with a concoction dubbed a “geer”–half gin, half beer.)

We then split (in two glasses, mind you) a tasting of the 2006 Cheverny from Domaine du Salvard. I haven’t met a sauvignon blanc that I’ve liked, but this one was incredible. It was fresh, clean, and had a very piercing, bright acidity. There were citrus undertones to it, too–gorgeous wine.

I was glad that we had a wonderful white. I am much more into red wines than I am into whites, but that just means I demand more from whites. As Alex pointed out, whites seems to have a narrower range of flavor profiles, mouthfeels, etc., than red.

The Cheverny retailed at Mission Wines for $14.99, though I’ve seen it online for a few dollars less. It’s from Kermit Lynch, so you know it’s gotta be good!

Alex and I finished the day with a nice dinner at Bistro de la Gare in South Pasadena. But too much of a good thing can be bad: let’s just say there’s a particular trash can in South Pasadena that will forever hold a soft spot in my heart!

STANDOUT WINE: 2006 Domaine du Salvard Cheverny. A great value from Kermit Lynch, refreshing and crisp. The best sauvignon blanc I have ever had.