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 will be in California for five more weeks, after which I will be headed back to DC for a few days, and then eight weeks in beautiful Wilmington, Delaware, known in legal circles as one of the locations of the Court of Chancery (where I’ll be interning) and known in pop culture circles as the nameless setting of Fight Club.  Hopefully during this time there will be wine, wine, and more wine.  If this past week has been any indication, there will be plenty of that this summer!

I have to write a few posts, one of Deep Sea Wines (which was gracious enough to send me two bottles to review), another for a great product known as the Wine Diaper (it’s probably not what you think it is), and yet another for a book by Matthew Frank entitled Barolo.  And, I’ll have to write about a very wonderful evening at Founding Farmers in DC at which a bottle of Riesling figured prominently–that’ll be coming soon.  All of these will take place in good time, but before I do I wanted to “clear the palate,” so to speak, by writing about a few of the wines I’ve had at home.

One of my habits while at home is to buy a few bottles with which to tide over my mom until my next visit.  I had purchased a few bottles during Spring Break, and to my surprise (and pleasure) I found that one of the bottles had not yet been opened.

This bottle was the Candidus from Malm Cellars.  Malm Cellars is a one-person show, helmed by Brendan Malm.  He doesn’t have a winery or vineyard, but he sources fruit from select growers to make his wines.  One such wine, his 2007 Sonoma County Pinot Noir, garnered a great review from the LA Times.  The Candidus, which is made from a bunch of undisclosed white Rhône varietals (but also apparently includes Chardonnay concentrate according to Dave from Mission Wines), is about $16.  It’s intensely aromatic–I’m thinking Viognier or Muscat (though I’m not sure if Muscat is a Rhône varietal)–with an assertive nose of quince and honey.  It’s pear-colored and appears on the viscous side.  Excellent: full of dried apricot and citrus, full bodied yet light, good acidity, very pleasant.

Forget the Pinot Grigio or Pinot Gris for the upcoming summer–this wine is a refresher for those who want more heft.  Think of a blond Christina Hendricks:

Yum.

The Candidus was good even on the second day, but alas, a 750 mL bottle only lasts so long.  My third day at home and there was nothing left to drink!  A trip to Mission Wines was in order.

One of the great things about Mission Wines–at least if you’ve gone there for years like I have, now–is that they always have a few bottles open to try.  Matthew was manning the bar and he poured me a few drinks:

• 2009 Torii Pinot Gris | Willamette Valley, Oregon | notwithstanding my Pinot Gris/Grigio bashing above, this was a wonderful example of the varietal.  Great acidity, lemon curd, flowers, and minerality.  Hits you right in front of the mouth and doesn’t let go.
• 2009 Bella “Special Release” rosé | Sonoma Coast (?), California | made from a blend of Grenache and Syrah, this rosé packed a serious color (almost as dark as a light Burgundy or Beaujolais, as dark as a rosé made from Malbec) and serious flavor: peach, watermelon Jolly Rancher.  Think of this as Domaine Tempier’s um, racier backwater cousin.
• 2007 Louis Jadot Côte de Nuits Villages “Le Vaucrain” | Côte de Nuits, Burgundy, France | a village-level Burgundy, tart but with a nice mouthfeel and a satisfying mid-palate.  Fig, membrillo.  A perfect bistro wine, served chilled with steak tartare on the side, and at the mid-twenties at the perfect price.
• 2004 Bodegas Luzon “Alma de Luzon” | Jumilla, Spain | more on this below.

Upon Matthew’s recommendation I picked up a bottle of the 2007 Weinhof Scheu Spätburgunder from the Pfalz region of Germany ($15.99) and, a day or so later, a bottle of the aforementioned Alma de Luzon.  The Spätburgunder, which is German for Pinot Noir, was fantastic!  Never mind the long, narrow Riesling-type bottle in which it arrives: this is serious red wine.  A light brick color, it is full of tart cranberry and has hints of earth, very light-bodied and excellent chilled.  This is serious value for the money: leave it to the Germans to deliver efficient, precise wine.

The Alma de Luzon is a Jorge Ordoñez selection, so you know it’s good.  The first release, this normally retails for $67 but given the poor economy, its distributors unloaded quite a few cases to Mission where it is going for $27.99 a bottle.  This is an insanely low price for a very good wine.  It’s rare that everyone in my family likes a particular wine: this had something for everyone.  Dark, inky color.  Tobacco and stewed dark fruits on the nose, a hint of graphite.  In the mouth it had prune, blackberry, fig jam, clove.  It reminded me of Madeira, or the 2005 Ridge “Paso Robles” Zinfandel I had a few months ago.

Although this blend of 70% Monastrell, 20% Cabernet, 10% Syrah spends 22 months in oak (60% French, 40% American) and has a very dark, extracted color, it is not a Vaynerchukian “oak monster”: the tannins are there, but they’re silky and well-integrated.  Indeed, the Alma de Luzon’s acidity is more pronounced than its tannins.  Altogether, this is a tremendous value and a crowd-pleaser.  Buy it, drink it with a meal (I’m thinking red meats or molé, even), drink it with dark chocolate-covered blueberries, drink it by itself–whatever you do, be sure to buy it and drink it.

So, I’ve been at home for a week and a day and I’ve been able to try some wonderful wines.  I would recommend all of them.  With selection like this, how can I not love South Pasadena?

Such were the trees on the road on the way to Lexington, North Carolina, whose Barbecue Festival my friend James (of The Eaten Path fame), our friend Nick (of the US Patent and Trademark Office) and I attended this past weekend.

(Thank you to the Lexington BBQ Festival for this poster!)

For those of you who do not know of James by this point, he is one of my good friends from Berkeley who has for the last year called Brooklyn, New York home.  While his more regular contributions to the blogosphere can be seen on The Eaten Path, he also is a huge aficionado of all things barbecued, once spending a few weeks traveling through the Smoky Crescent and eating and observing the best the South had to offer.  It is one of his goals to publish a comprehensive and awesome book on barbecue–a noble goal, indeed.

Thus, when he said there was a barbecue festival in North Carolina I asked if I could go.  I figured I wouldn’t have very many more chances to have a purpose to go to North Carolina, and besides, any reason to get out of DC is reason enough.

James has an excellent post–with pictures!–about our journey, so I won’t try to recreate the wheel.  Suffice it to say that North Carolina BBQ is pork, sometimes cooked over wood, and either sliced or finely chopped, sometimes with the delicious crackling, and served in trays or sandwiches, usually with “red” (BBQ) cole slaw and hush puppies.  The sauce, which arrives sometimes infused in the meat or sometimes on the side, is vinegar-based, unlike the sauce in parts of South Carolina which is predominantly mustard-based.

Some other items of note: we saw a lumberjack contest with three separate events–the chainsaw, the traditional hand-ax, and–get this–the throwing ax!  The throwing ax was crazy.  One of the competitors was an 11-year-old girl.  Seeing her throw that double-bladed ax fifteen or so feet into the center of a banged-up wooden target made me feel sorry for the soldiers of the Union Army.  Another item of note was a series of races involving pigs, Vietnamese potbellied pigs, and billy goats.  Good ole’-fashioned fun if ever I’ve seen it!

(Thanks to James for this picture–note the 11-year-old girl in red and the ax, which you can see at top-center of the picture.)

Keeping with the theme of my blog, however, we did have a few wines, two of which we picked up at the beginning of our journey at a Whole Foods in Virginia:

2008 Borsao Viña Borgia garnacha: I bought a bottle of this for the low price of $6.99 because it has a cool, modern-looking label and is from the man, Jorge Ordoñez, a very well-known and respected importer of Spanish wines.  I’ve had a number of his wines before and they’ve all been great.  This particular one, however, was a wash for me.  It was relatively light and had a LOT of fruit.  I found the tannins to be a bit weak and the acid to be a bit, well, underwhelming.  This wine was unoffensive and still a decent deal for the price.  James and Nick liked it more, calling it “vibrant.”  I think other Ordoñez selections such as the Juan Gil (mourvedre), a powerful and expressive red wine, or the Botani (moscatel seco), a unique and refreshing white, are better examples of his portfolio.

2008 Trapiche malbec: from the Mendoza Valley of Argentina, it clocked in at a price of about $8.00.  James had previously had their pinot noir, which he liked.  This malbec was decent–nothing to write home about, and it didn’t really exude “malbec-ness” to me, but it was drinkable and pretty good with the barbecue from Lexington No. 1 BBQ.  And it was infinitely better than the wine we had opened for that particular meal, a wine that in retrospect showed all the warning signs of a horrible, horrible bottle.

This wine was the 2009 Childress Vineyards Fine Swine Wine, which was 40% syrah blended with cabernet franc and “residual sugar.”  A few things should have alerted me to the possibility that this was going to be bad.  First, the name…?  Granted, it was created specifically for the Lexington Barbecue Festival and for eating with BBQ (this was the second year in a row it was made), but really?  The label boasts a pig stomping grapes in a big wooden vat, which I suppose is another sign.  Also, it’s bottled with “residual sugar,” which isn’t necessarily bad in of itself but is probably going to be bad when the vintage is this year.

(Thanks to The Eaten Path for this great picture!)

James and I each purchased a bottle for $15 from a stand at the festival, where the owner/proprietor of Childress Vineyards, NASCAR driver Richard Childress, was signing bottles.  I was pretty excited–hey, it was a festival!  And hey, I like wine!

Ugh.

I mean, there are probably people who like it.  It did well enough last year that they made it again–500 cases of it–this year.  I’m assuming it probably sold out or is close to sold out.  But it’s just not good wine.  It tastes like jug wine: it’s thin, lacks any semblance of tannin and acid or structure, and is super sweet.  It tastes like Manischewitz, but at least Manischewitz is (1) fuller bodied, so you can fool yourself into thinking it’s almost a dessert wine, and is (2) Kosher.  I would much rather drink Manischewitz, Charles Shaw, or even Franzia.

The winery says it best itself.  Says winemaker Mark Friszolowski: “It’s like sweet tea with a kick.”  A very big, unpleasant kick.

Do not get this wine.  If you should find yourself at the Lexington BBQ Festival, spend the $15 on the delicious North Carolina-style BBQ pork sandwiches, or smoked turkey legs, or deep-fried apple pies, or funnel cakes, or anything else.

That bad wine experience aside, North Carolina was great.  There was so much good food and the trees and countryside were beautiful.  But this is where James and I differ, perhaps.  I like traveling, but at the end of the day, after 1000 miles and countless dirty bathrooms, it is nice to come back and sleep in one’s own bed.  James is still there in North Carolina (Nick and I dropped him off in Raleigh, where he spent a few nights couch surfing) doing more research for his book.  He revels in the journey, in the exploration and the paths–beaten, eaten, and otherwise.

The concrete reason for my trip was to visit two of my former residents (and current friends), Semra and Kana, and their awesome apartment up in the hills on North Side.  There was a sentimental reason, too–namely, that all of my residents and thus the vast majority of the people I knew in Berkeley would be graduating and leaving for the big vast world after college.  

There was a oenological reason, too: I wanted to drink a lot of great wine!

Again, as in my New York post, I’m going to just write down phrases that will hopefully serve to jog my memory when I’m looking back after a few decades.  =)

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Wednesday, May 13
Flight in to Oakland.  BART to Downtown Berkeley and up Euclid, right on Virginia.  Up up up Virginia.  Apartment.  Met up with Kana, went down to get lunch at Poulet. Realized they had only $5.00 corkage. Went to Andronico’s and got two bottles–a bottle of the Domaine E.C. (Emile Cheysson) “Clos les Farges” Chiroubles Beaujolais cru for lunch with our poultry, and a bottle of the 2000 Senorio de P. Pecina Rioja crianza for later.  A huge amount of delicious food at Poulet with a lightly-chilled bottle of the Chirouble (perfect!).  Some of the Rioja later with Kana and Semra at home. Wandering around seeing the sights.  An iced Americano at the Free Speech Movement Cafe. Met up with Stephanie with two of her friends outside the newly-created East Asian American Library on campus.  Fat Slice and La Burrito.  Home, more drinking of the Rioja.

Thursday, May 14
Unsuccessful run at both Gregoire and Vintage Berkeley (they both open at 11 am). Hung out with Aileen. A wonderful subsidized lunch of a pork tenderloin sandwich, fries, glass of Ampelos Rosé of Syrah, and citrus-infused panna cotta at Adagia. An iced Americano at Strada. Shopping with Semra and her awesome roommate Hilary at Andronico’s (for late-night snacks) and Kermit Lynch (for late-night drinking). Some more of the Rioja, which had developed into a very different wine–away from earth but more towards a mushroomy, old-wine sort of taste; not unpleasant but wholly unexpected.

Out to SF. A cappuccino at the SFMOMA cafe. Dinner with Dre at Osha Thai. Back to Berkeley. Back to Andronico’s for more ingredients. Cooked a series of three snacks. First, shrimp ceviche (cooked Bay shrimp with a salsa of tomato, avocado, cilantro, onion, serrano and jalepeno pepper, garlic, salt, and lime juice) and tortilla chips served with the 2008 Denis Jamain Reuilly pinot gris rosé–clean, crisp, and very very light, with just the hint of berries and minerals. Second, garlic shrimp (shrimp cooked in the shell with olive oil, garlic, salt, and crushed red pepper) served with the remainder of the rosé and some of the absolutely gorgeous 2007 Domaine A. Et. P. De Villaine “La Fortune” Cote Chalonnaise Bourgogne. Third, filet mignon rolls (filet mignon sliced thin, half a fingerling potato, a circle of leek, and goat cheese) served with the remainder of the Bourgogne and with some of the brooding, restrained, iron-fist-in-a-silk-glove that is the 2007 Clos la Coutales malbec from Cahors (I had been disappointed with this wine in DC, but I am happy to report that that bottle was a clear aberration). Drunk, drunk, drunk.

Friday, May 15
Hung out for a while at the apartment, then went to Nefeli Caffe for cappuccinos and a pizette with Semra and Hilary. My first time at North Berkeley Wine Imports. Browsing wines to the tune of the great Dark Was The Night album. Picked out some more bottles. Dropped off at Strada. More iced Americano. Dropped off my bags at my new place with Stephanie on Durant. Met with Kana at Strada again for another iced Americano, met a new Phi Delt (my old fraternity) who had been initiated long after I had graduated, found out from him that some Phis were at the Bear’s Lair. Went to Bear’s Lair. Met up with Patrick, Matt, Evan, and some new Phis and Jess B.; ran into my old residents Danny, Alicia, Jessica, and Catherine. Dinner at the I-House with Dana. Wine with Michael, Emma, Jed, Jose (the old Adagia crew) and Atsuko (who was hired long after me). First the 2007 Domaine Diochon Moulin-a-Vent “Vieilles Vignes” cuvee–nice fruit, impressive structure. A unique Ballantine petit verdot that opened up beautifully in the glass courtesy of Jed. Last, the 2005 Bodegas Monte De Reina Tinta de Toro Edicion Limitada from North Berkeley Wine Imports: lush, dark, with full body and nice tannins. Then Brian Martinelli, Teeny, and Chuck showed up; I hitched a ride in Brian’s Le Sabre to the Smokehouse, where I conquered the near-mythical double chili-cheese dog with a side of fries and a Coke (double as in two hot dogs in one bun).

Saturday, May 16
MacArthur BART station to meet up with Ratha. Lake Merritt. A cappuccino and eggs scrambled with lox, cream cheese, and chives at the Lakeshore Cafe. Through the Farmer’s Market. A walk around part of Lake Merritt. Visit to Ratha’s place. BART back to Berkeley. Picked up a whole bunch of books at Pegasus and Pendragon (including first editions of Near the Ocean by Robert Lowell and Praise by Robert Hass). An iced tea (for once) at the Free Speech Movement Cafe with Lauren. Dinner at Angeline’s with Jeff, who is going to the Philippines for his internship. A brief detour on Addison to see Semra one last time at her British friend Ben’s apartment. Some Becks on the roof. No wine all day. Home, and sleep.

Sunday, May 17
Packing for LA. Iced coffee at Peet’s with Stephanie. Brunch at La Note, consisting of a cup of coffee and the omelette de pommes de terre (open-faced potato and caramelized onion omelet) for me and the cote nord (eggs soft-scrambled with goat cheese over French bread) for Steph. Airport. LA.

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This trip was bittersweet, as always, but not for the usual reasons. This trip was bittersweet more for the fact that an era had passed, and that I’d have to stay in SF or Oakland the next time I went up to Berkeley. I certainly had more money during this last trip than I ever had while in college, and I had a great time, but some things can’t be bought and certainly cannot be reproduced: scraping together change for an Americano, grilling cheap frozen hamburger patties on a rickety old deck, holding hands while watching the sun set over the Bay.

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.