Then, others are… well… not what I would have ever anticipated for a wine blog.  “Wisdom teeth coffee” has come up–presumably for my entry on how getting my wisdom teeth pulled temporarily ended my wine drinking career.  “LegalZoom sucks” has come up 24 times since I started my blog–and I can assure you quite readily that LegalZoom does not, in fact, suck.  A morbid series of phrases deals with how to throw a party for a dying person–which is somehow derived from my post on the psychology of a dying party (as in a party that is winding down, not a party for… well… dying).

But perhaps one of the most enjoyable series of phrases shows how the Internet is truly being used: the second most popular search phrase on my site is “French women,” the fifth is “women smoking,” and somewhere lower on the list is “French women smoking.”  My post isn’t really about drinking per se but is about the relatively recent ban on smoking in France.  (Look out for the nasty comment comparing me to a Southern slaveowner!)

In a similar way, a few weeks ago I was at The Wine Specialist in DC to literally purchase only a pack of Fever Tree club soda (which is delicious and the best, purest, softest club soda you will ever drink or mix with).  That was it.  I was resolved to purchasing only this small little item and getting the f out of there.  We know how this story ends.  I end up buying some alcohol.

I have a defense!  This defense stems from the same impulse that led hundreds of visitors to my site–the same love of French women, those beautiful, usually cultured beings with sexy accents, who until recently smoked at streetside Parisian cafes and are currently drinking slightly more clear distilled liquors like vodka at the expense of their native wine.  This particular French woman was a sales manager at Vignobles & Signatures, a import/export company based out of Alexandria, VA.

She was wearing a sassy-yet-down-to-business outfit and pouring tastes of Champagne Drappier, which I had not heard of until that moment.  The tasting was free, so I figured what the hell.  Besides, it was being poured not by some hairy overweight Virginian dude but a very attractive woman of Western European extraction.

So I tried the champagne.  The first, a blanc de blanc, was decent–good but rather ordinary.  The third, their non-vintage “Val Des Demoiselles” rosé, was very, very good–rich, smooth, with a clear taste of red berries.  There was a pretty good mouthfeel and mouthful of bubbles, but… but… by that time I had fallen in love.

With the sales manager?  No, though that would have made me feel all bubbly.  Rather, as in Goldilocks, the middle one was juuuuuust right.

The middle one was the Champagne Drappier “Cart d’Or” brut, which was a blend of primarily pinot noir with some chardonnay and a bit of pinot meunier.  This was just so… wow.  The initial intake was like drinking pure bubbles–and these bubbles were extremely concentrated and tiny.  An explosion of flavor–just rich and buttery from the chard but not overly so, round and full, pear and honey and notes of yeast.  Oh God, gorgeous, and much better than Veuve Clicquot–less of a metallic, sticky finish, for one.  For about $38-$40, it’s a comparable price as well.

The lesson here?  Keep doing what you’re doing, because sometimes you might find something you weren’t expecting but will completely blow your mind (like my blog).

For one, I’m living in a nice, comfortable apartment with great food.  I have a wonderful family that I appreciate more as I get older; great friends.  I am going to a good law school with outstanding professors and classes.  I have nothing to complain about, and I am going to try to be more appreciative of the incredible opportunities I’ve been given.

To kick off the new year, my roommate and I hosted a champagne and sparkling wine tasting, the details of which will be coming out in the upcoming Nota Bene (GW Law student newspaper); I will write up my blog observations on that evening a bit later.  Suffice it to say that the big winner in the tasting were a beautiful sparkler from France, the Charles de Fere Blanc de Blanc Reserve Brut ($12.99)–was, as I described it, “the group’s favorite, with a nose of hazelnut and toast, a light, almost ethereal mouthfeel, and notes of apple and pear.”

But I have to lay rest some unfinished deeds from the previous year, too.  I went to Mission Wines five times over break (1.33 times per week I was at home), during which I merely stopped by twice for bottles, attended a weekend tasting with some LegalZoom friends, drank some excellent wines with my high school friends, and visited with my roommate from DC, Alex.  Managed to catch up with people like Dave, Debbie, and Kirk; from high school, saw Billy–whom I haven’t seen for two years–Brian R.–who moved to Japan after Berkeley and had not been seen this side of the Pacific for quite a few years–Brian H.–UCLA film student extraordinaire–and Jen–soon to be lawyer extraordinaire.

Some notable wines were a 2005 Caymus Cabernet (approx. $70-$80), courtesy of Billy (whoa!)–intense, really really BIG–Robert Parker big–California big; vanilla and tobacco and earth throwing off crazy fireworks in the mouth.  Kirk let me try some of some fantastic zinfandel, and on another day Dave was kind enough to pour for us a bottle of the same, a 2006 Hartford Family Winery Zinfandel from the Russian River Valley (approx. $30)–spicy and full, one of the best zins I’ve ever had.

Alex and I shared a bottle of Casanova di Neri Rosso di Montalcino (approx. $25), from the Southern Tuscany–90% sangiovese and 10% colorino, pronounced acidity that wasn’t overbearing and actually well-balanced, cherry, a bit of spice.  An excellent food wine but also nice by itself, slightly chilled.  I managed to find and buy a bottle of this in DC at the Wine Specialist and got a $5 discount ($24 instead of $29) and am looking forward to drinking it with a nice meal.

And finally, a really wonderful wine from the Languedoc: the 2006 “Les Garrigues” from Domaine Clavel (approx. $12-$14)–everything you would ever want from a wine from the South of France: definitely a cold weather wine, with medium body, dark fruits, nice tannins, and a taste of–you guessed it–the garrigue.

All in all, I had some wonderful wines.  Oh, and before I forget, another wine I had here in DC at the end of the champagne tasting: the 2006 Domaine Joulin Saumur Champigny Rouge ($17.99).  A cabernet franc, it definitely was better than the “Cuvee de la Cure” from Charles Joguet (importer: Kermit Lynch) ($26), I felt–very smooth, very light.  It smelled like gamay and tasted a bit like strawberries, but there was a streak of minerality that separated it from a beaujolais.  Excellent, and a crowd-pleaser.

The wines I had at the end of last year and the start of this year have been very, very good indeed, and more importantly, I was able to share those wines with friends and family.  I have much to be thankful for and much to look forward to in 2009.

But with what wine could I seek respite?

I am a big lover of reds–during warmer weather I am apt to go for lighter reds, such as beaujolais, or, lacking anything suitable, to mix one- or two-day-old red wine with good Korean cider (such as Chilsung Cider, which is cleaner and lighter than, say, Sprite, with a pleasant touch of strawberry). This 60-40 blend of red wine and cider, served over ice, is delicious and a great way to beat the heat and dispose of wine that is past its prime.

I didn’t have any old red wine on hand: I was fresh out, in fact, and looking for something quick, cheap, and refreshing. A long, tapered green bottle caught my eye: the 2007 vinho verde branco adamado from the Adega Cooperativa de Ponte de Lima (whew!).

This vinho verde is a mix of different white varietals, including the obscure loureiro, trajadura, and pederna grapes. This vinho verde is great: very light body with high acidity, mouth-puckering tartness approximating green apples and citrus, low to medium sweetness, and a pleasant effervescence caused by the addition of carbon dioxide before bottling. (Thanks to tvinoronquillo at www.cellertracker.com for this picture!)

I couldn’t really think of any specific food to try and match this wine with: the vague term “picnic” came to mind, as did the words “sun”, “beach”, “girls in summer clothing”, “public drunkenness”, and “fun”. It’s a fun wine, fun to drink, easygoing, surely a popular choice for any spring or summer gathering that requires something a bit more “adult” than soda. At $9.99, it’s ALMOST the same price as soda (you know… gourmet sodas).

The wine closest to vinho verde in my mind is txakolina, the delightful fizzy white wine from the Basque region of Spain. The vinho verde from Adega Cooperativa de Ponte de Lima, however, is sweeter and juicier–the txakolina I’ve had is leaner, drier, and has a bit more of a mineral edge.

Some interesting information about vinho verde: it literally means “green wine” and is meant to be consumed very young–so soon, in fact, that most producers don’t even bother with vintage dates. I had considered vinho verde to be exclusively a white wine, but in fact a large percentage of vinho verde produced and consumed in Portugal is red.

Your homework assignment: buy a bottle of vinho verde and drink it up! Extra credit–find a bottle of RED vinho verde and let me know what you think!

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.

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.

There are different categories of champagne based on the amount of residual sugar:

(Thanks, Wikipedia!)

When I do drink champagne I like drinking brut. I typically am not a big fan of sweet wines or sweet foods in general (except for the homemade Hostess Cupcakes from Heirloom Bakery in South Pasadena). Brut has just a bit of sweetness to keep things interesting.

Champagne is excellent with cavier, apparently–I’ve never had that particular combination. It is delicious with Thai, and really, really good with sushi. An austere, dry champagne is a great foil for the smooth, cool texture and buttery, sharp taste of sushi. Rieslings and albariños are also good for this purpose.

I love the Brut Yellow Label from Veuve Clicquot. It is nicely crisp and, importantly for me, has a full body:

Prosecco and moscato d’asti are excellent alternatives to champagne–both being sparkling wines from Italy. Prosecco is decidedly more like champagne in its fullness and level of carbonation. Moscato d’asti is sweet, lighter, but offers a nice effervescent kick: it’s a good choice for dessert.

[ Update: I posted a question about the BEST champagne for New Year's on Yelp--here's what twenty Yelpers had to say. ]

But then a rapping on the door! I drag myself out from under my duvet and open it to reveal my resident L. and her friend A.

You know how sometimes you look at an attractive person and you’re like, “Sure, they’re pretty, but whatever”? And sometimes you look at an attractive person and you’re like, “My God I must holler at them.” (In my thoughts, I sound like a white suburban kid trying to be a gansta’.)

This girl, A., was in the latter category. Pretty face, big dark eyes framed with dark lashes, supple red mouth, all framed by “long dim hair” (a point for anyone who can identify that literary allusion). I was drawn to her lips, her eyes, her hips… her hips were womanly, curved and full of life.

The night developed well. For some reason I was feeling especially bold–I looked at her and into those eyes. She blushed, looked down, but always looked back up to meet my gaze.

She also could hold her drink. Luckily, I was a bad RA (or good RA, depending on your point of view) and had a bit of alcohol on hand for any occasion. I had Grey Goose with which to make vodka tonics; I had Jack Daniels to warm the soul and embolden the heart; and I had a bottle of Korbel Brut Rose champagne (or sparkling wine, to be exact, since it’s not from the Champagne region of France):

I don’t remember why I had this on hand. I think I had had it before and figured it was good to have–one of the few cases of my exhibiting some foresight!

This was the clincher. Valentine’s Day, some sparkling rosé. Candles burning. “Astral Weeks” by Van Morrison playing in the background. A. had a ring on her right hand, which I examined with my fingers. Then I brought her hand to my lips, my lips to her lips…

The Korbel brut rosé (pinot noir and chenin blanc) is very fresh and drinks relatively well, though it is not something I would want more than a glass of. It’s brut so it’s not noticeably sweet–there’s a bit of strawberry in it, and of course it’s pink, which gives the impression of sweetness. I can’t say it’s my favorite sparkler (Veuve Clicquot would take that distinction) but it’s definitely a huge step up from Cook’s, and an affordable college luxury.

And, when combined with vodka, Jack Daniels, candles, music, and Valentine’s Day, it’s pretty darn great!

(NOTE: We were both perfectly in control of our senses. And we both consented. Consent is awesome!)