The Wine Closet Blog

So Rob and I have this tradition of winding down the weekend with dinner at the Beach every Sunday night after Winter is over.  This season, we’ve started going to Saturday nights too.  We have this spot right along the Ventura Hwy that’s not frequented so we usually have the place to ourselves.  We load up the Westy with the dogs, our cooler with all our dinner fixings and of course, wine.  Now what’s interesting about these outings is we keep to the bare minimum, nothing fancy except usually we eat and drink well - something we’re determined to never give up.  Although we don’t drink out of nice wine glasses and we eat off plastic plates, some of our meals have consisted of littleneck clams on the grill drizzled with butter and garlic and chunky sourdough, spicy grilled sausages with polenta and last night we had tri-tip tacos. The catch is that everything has to be able to go on our little Smoky Joe grill - layering works pretty good if you don’t need direct heat on things such as bread and tortillas.

Same goes for the wine, not on the grill mind you, but no skimping here either - except we drink out of coffee cups.  Last night we invited our friend Jerry to come along and he brought a bottle of Gelfand Red Table wine which is a blend of Petite Sirah, Syrah and Zinfandel. Very dark and inky and flat out huge - lots of fruit up front with flavors of green and black pepper.  We then proceeded on to the gem of the evening, the ‘05 Shelter Cabernet Sauvignon from the Headwater vineyard in Napa Valley.  I think I’ve told the story of this wine in a previous blog so I won’t go into it again here.  This wine has had some good bottle time and has really developed into a smooth, rounded wine.  I get flavors of dark chocolate, coffee and a smoky quality  - like pipe smoke.  Overall a delicious wine with the tri-tip.

I think we’re probably going to the beach again tonight.  We’ll be grilling up some gourment burgers with red onion and mushrooms on ciabatta rolls.  I think it’s a Zinfandel night - maybe a Ridge from Lytton Springs.

Linda

Mark Johnson hosted a phenomenal tasting last week where we went head-to-head with Pinots from the North (Sonoma County) vs. Pinots from the South (Santa Rita Hills & Santa Maria).  We tasted 15 wines in all - all heavy hitters with the trio of Seasmoke butting up against the trio of Kosta Browne.  The big disappointments of the night were indeed the Seasmoke 2005 and 2006 TEN, both of which scored low on my score sheet coming in at 6.0 and 5.5 out of 10 respectively.  Tasting notes used descriptive words such as zingy, high alcohol on the nose, tight and tannic - probably young.  The third Seasmoke Vineyard addition was the Foxen ‘05 with a higher score of 7.0 - it boasted a big fruity nose that followed through on the palate, a bit tart and high alcohol.

The big winners of the night — which was no big surprise to me — were all three of the Kosta Browne wines.  Following are my notes:

#1 Both scoring 9 points and tying for first place were KB ‘05 Kanzler with a great nose of ripe cherries and a nicely rounded flavor profile including an exotic spice mixture, sweet red cherries and a perfect amount of acidity - I loved this wine.  The 2nd, but also scoring 9 points out of 10 was the KB ‘05 Miran Vineyard which permeated a high alcohol nose which was very well integrated once tasted - a very complex wine with great fruit flavors and slight tannins on the finish which leads to believe this one will only get better with a little more time in the bottle.

Snagging the #2 position was the KB ‘05 from Keefer Ranch scoring 8.8 out of 10.  This is a solid wine that encompasses all the characteristics a good Pinot should have and well balanced between fruit and acidity - an all around good wine.

I scored the ‘05 Dierberg from Steven’s Vineyard 8.9 on the first round, but then shot it back down to 6.0 after a revisit.  My notes for round #1 - bright ruby red color, very floral nose, like a Grenache. A very big wine with layers of dark fruit and firm tannins on the long finish.  Not very Pinot like, but I like it!  The 2nd tasting just lost most of the big fruit flavors and seemed mediocre.  To be fair though, this was re-tasted after we made it through all the wines and each one had been decanted for at least an hour.  Wine Spectator gave this one 79 points and says: Pungent herbaceous and smoky, tarry, woody flavors make this a mixed bag. Lacks fruit and varietal character. 168 cases made. –JL  Very INTERESTING.

Next in my top 5 lineup is the Papapietro Perry ’04 from the Mukaida Vineyard on the Sonoma Coast.  This wine scored a big 95 points from Wine Spectator - I gave it 8.7 saying it displays nice cherry and plum fruit flavors and aromas, quite concentrated and nicely balanced.  Wine Spectator has much more to say about this wine:  Amazing depth, purity of flavor, concentration and complexity. From the enticing aromas of black cherry, wild berry, blueberry and plum to their expansive mouthfeel, this is a wonderful Pinot that combines elegance with grace and persistence. Drink now through 2010. 195 cases made. –JL

There was a 4th Kosta Browne tossed in by Kent for good measure which I scored 7.9 points.  It was the ‘05 vintage from Amber Ridge which was a bit more tightly wound than the others, some alcohol on the nose and a slight bitterness on the mid-palate that wasn’t a bad bitter.  Still a big wine with some tannins on the finish.  I truly wish I could get KB wines as I don’t believe I’ve ever had one I didn’t enjoy. 

The new addition to our group was Charles Clark who brought a wine I hadn’t heard of before from Gary Farrell ‘05 from Rochioli Vineyard - this wine was probably the most true to its varietal in the Burgundian style, lighter bodied and elegantly made.  A perfect food wine most of us truly enjoyed.

Overall, we didn’t have a bad wine in the bunch, although I wasn’t too keen on the Alesia ‘04 from Sonoma - I scored this one the lowest at 4.0 points because to me, it resembled burning rubber which Steve called Brett.  Others actually liked this, not for me.

Mark threw in a bonus wine at the end of the evening which I thought was going to be past its prime since it was a 2000 vintage, but surprisingly enough, this one from Kistler (Sonoma Coast) had a great nose as well as that great cherry cola flavor I love in Pinot.  It was barely showing age whatsoever.  A great wine.

That’s it for me.

Linda

The day after New Years we did a little wine tasting up in Amador Valley (east of Sacramento).  Our first stop was Convergence. Oh, just before turning into the driveway here we spotted a bald eagle sitting in the trees.  Very cool.  We were greeted by River the dog and winemaker Stephen Concannon poured for us.  We liked pretty much every wine we tried here as evident by the case of wine we left with (and I had planned on keeping the credit card safe in my pocket all day…)  It’s a very cozy tasting room and it sounds like Stephen and Jamie put on some pretty cool wine tasting parties. www.convergencevineyards.com.  I wish I lived closer.  I’ll give description on their wines when we enjoy them at home.  Stephen suggested we head over to Bray Vineyards. So we did.  Another fun tasting room.  Their trademark is a man drinking a bottle of wine while driving a tractor, doing a pop-a-wheelie.  We left with another case, including a bottle of Barbera Rosato, which is kind of like a white zin (don’t be scared) but better…cooler .  Third we stopped at C.G. DiArie.  It was really busy here.  And we tasted a ton (maybe 10-11) of their wines, including 6 barrel tastings.  We didn’t buy anything here but the atmosphere was fun for the Italian designed/decorated room we were in.  After stopping for some lunch at InCahoots we headed back out to Nine Gables.  Not much to say about them.  I don’t think they thought we’d buy any wine…so…we didn’t.  With time winding down we stopped at Runquist Vineyards. 

Jeff Runquist went to UC Davis pre-med.  Two weeks in he decided that wasn’t for him and ended up working in a winery.  Long story short he ended up making wine.  How do we know this?  Because Pops told us.  Pops poured us the wine with his special “rinsing of each glass with the new wine so it coated all sides so we can appreciate the bouquet more” technique.  While this takes a while, and uses more wine then the winemaker may appreciate, it allowed us to ask lots of questions.  We came away with a case of wine here too.  Which is why I started this blog…  Last night we opened a 2006 R Petite Sirah.  As with most Petite Sirahs, it has an intense dark purple color. It’s blackberry, boysenberry, rasberry…just good. It is very well balanced and easy to drink on it’s own.  At $26 we probably should’ve bought another bottle(s).  www.jeffrunquistwines.com Their tasting room looks fairly new, huge wine bar with lots of room for lots of people and Pearl the dog.  They also served us bread and cheese with our tasting.

More on the other wines we bought as we drink them.  I didn’t take notes during our tastings but was overall really impressed with Amador Valley.  The tastings were all free.  The wines all had lots of flavor.  And the wines in general were reasonable in price.  I hope everyone drank a lot of good wine over the holidays and drinks even better wine in 2009!

Cathy

I wanted to share these great wine notes with you from a friend who is a wine enthusiast and is also in the wine and food industry.  Following is his response when asked the question if he’s tried any good wines over the last week or two.  Enjoy!  Linda

As for a few neat wines I have tried recently - Here’s a quick list off the top of my head  - That my wife, family, and friends and I have enjoyed.  We’ve been going through the cellar and found a few of these gems….
 

• 2004 L’Avneture Optimus is drinking beautifully - glad I waited 2 years from release to start drinking them!
• 2003 & 04 Simi Landslide - One of the best “value” Cab I have had in a while & a real sleeper that’s under $30 - again glad I waited to open them!
• 2005 Bogle Phantom - The new release is the most approachable vintage of this paticular wine I have had in the last 6 vintages.  I usually recommend you wait 6 months to let this wine settle and integrate… Maybe less Petite Sirah in the blend has done the trick?  It still one of the best under $20 wines you can open & with the P.S, OV Zin, and OV Mouvedre in the blend I think it has something for everyone to enjoy…
• 2005 Merkin Chupacabra red wine - A very small production red wine blend that’s from the winery owned/made by Maynard James Keenan (Founder of the Alt Rock Group Tool).  A lush beautiful blend at around $30 (See Pete at Liquid).  The winery is in AZ but they buy Bordeaux juice from Napa and Sonoma.  Next year I am told they will be releasing estate wines made in AZ using Spanish and Portuguese Varietals.  The Chupacabra and other wines he makes from contract fruit is a real pleaser and gaining a semi cult status among wine geeks.  His other releases are also something special but they price out at $75 to $100 a bottle.
• 2001 Shea Willamette Valley Pinot Noir… Huge fruit great color still has years to go to enjoy. I thought I might have waited to long on this one but I was so wrong!!! 
• 2005 Boutari Moschofilero - A REAL surprise! A greek white wine.  Slightly floral with notes of honeysuckle and apricots but not as overpowering as a Viognier…  Great value too at under $15
• 2005 Barrel 27 and Mac Price Myers Viogniers -  Big Lush Decedent Viogniers.  Rich with with a touch of spice and acidity
• 2005 & 06 Barrel 27 Head Honcho - Far better then the value priced Barrel 27 Syrah and worth the $25-30 price
• 2005 & 06 Tait Ballbuster - It never fails to impress over the last 4 vintages - Under $22
• 2000 & 01 Banfi Brunello Di Montalcino - Great Brunellos and a great intro to this wine if you have people that have never tried a quality Brunello…. The 01 is far richer and more complex 
• 2006 Seasmoke Southing - Some what disappointed …  Seems a little flat not the pop I have come to expect from previous Seasmoke wines… Still it is SEASMOKE
• 2003 & 4 Mitolo GAM Shiraz (Australia) - I cannot believe I did not get more of this wine.  Beautiful lush blackberry fruit with a finish that goes on and on like port (without the sweetness).  It’s $50 well spent (Woodland Hills Wine).  Drinking well 3 years after we bought them
• 2002 & 05 D’Arnberg Deadarm Shirazs - More great shirazs at a good price (for high end Aussie Shiraz).  I like to think it’s like getting The Grange at 1/4 the price ($65) 
• 2003 Paolo Bea Montefalco Rosso - 100% Sagrantino red wine from Umbria. Normally this wine is a little too rustic and/or tannic for lush California Cab and Syrah drinkers but this vintage was exceptionally loaded with rich fruit.  One of the few years this wine made by this producer can be enjoyed by itself or with rich powerful food.   Brunello lovers will be all over this wine a chicey wine to surprise people with - One draw back is the $85 or $90 price (Woodland Hills Wine)
• 2005 & 06 Layer Cake Shiraz, Primativo and Malbec - Ok these guys at 100 Acre Winery have it dialed in with their second label!   The Shiraz is like 90% the Boxer and priced like 2 vintages ago (all are under $20).  The Primativo is earthy but rich fruit like a Zin from Amador County, and the Malbec gives Vino Cabos Crocodillio (Paul Hobbs) a run for the money at a better price.

 
So - I hope that gives you some wines to ponder and chew on… I have more if I check through my cellar -
Let me know what you think or if you would like some more finds!

My best friend, Donna Atkins and I decided to have an impromptu Holiday dinner at my house this past Saturday night.  I picked up some fresh halibut, cruised the farmers market in downtown Ventura and she brought the wine.

Donna asked what wine she should bring and I told her just bring a bunch and we’d select them as we wanted them.  She brought a Biale Black Chicken, Sextant Zinfandel, Herman Story Nuts & Bolts and a Jada Jack of Hearts.  All big boy wines with probably the Sextant being the lightest of them all.

The dinner I planned was kale wrapped halibut in parchment with a butter, lemon and herb mixture, grilled asparagus with olive oil, salt and pepper, and a Mediterranean couscous with kalamata olives and roasted tomatoes.

We started out with the Jada Jack of Hearts as we picked this up during our wine tasting excursion in Paso Robles over Thanksgiving, and found it to be a perfect start, big, ripe and juicy fruits with a nice backbone.  This is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Verdot and Merlot.  Sounds dry I know, but not in the least - much fruitier then you’d expect, plus you don’t find many Cab blends (or even Cabs for that matter) in Paso Robles where they’re all about their Rhone’s.  Excellent blend of dark fruits just bursting out.  Yummy.

Next, we decanted the Biale Black Chicken - one of our favorite Zinfandels from the Napa Valley.  A very elegantly styled wine, not your over-the-top and in-your-face Zin like Turley, but nicely balanced blue and black berry fruits, refined tannins and a smokiness quality we all thoroughly enjoyed.

Okay, so now we’ve already downed two of the four bottles (there was three of us) and dinner was just about to be served so we popped the cork on the Sextant as we knew the Nuts & Bolts would totally overpower the food.  Wow, I was quite surprised by the sweet fruit in this one.  Definitely drinks easily and paired very nicely with dinner.  The halibut was cooked to perfection with just a hint of red pepper flakes in the herb mixture really brought out the sweetness in the wine.  The kale wrapped around the fish gave it a slight earthy flavor and made for a beautiful presentation.  The couscous was a lovely redish color from the roasted tomatoes which also gave it sweet and tangy flavors along with the saltiness of the olives - great combo with the fish.  Kudos to the chefs…oh yeah, that was me and Donna :-)  I love it when a meal turns out just as you hoped it would.

So now we’re 3 bottles down and definitely feeling the effects of 3 hours of drinking - time to break out the games and that last bottle of vino!  We cracked open the Herman Story Nuts & Bolts and a game of Rummikub - a combination between Rummi and dominoes I think.  Anyway, it’s a thinking game, but we needed the stimulation at this time of the night.  The wine seemed less bold than I recalled, but this could have been due to our tastebuds not up to par at this point.  Allowing it to sit and open up a bit really made all the difference.  The wine just blossomed with dark berry fruit and tons of spice - whew, and with a whopping 16.1% alcohol, probably not the best wine to finish with, but it was so darn tasty we just couldn’t help ourselves.

It’s now midnight, time for bed!  What a great night.

Linda

Because it was such a beautiful 80 degree Santa Barbara day today we decided to open a bottle of white wine.  I selected the Flying Goat 2006 Pinot Gris (Santa Maria Valley).  I’m not sure where I got it.  I think maybe Keri gave it to us. Bouquet of apricot, nutty caramel and pear.  Very smooth and not too sweet. Easy to drink by itself. Definitely would purchase it in the future.

This is my new favorite Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre blend.  Terrific harmony in this fabulous full-bodied wine.  Love the flavors and aromas of dark fruit perfectly balanced with hints of cocoa and spice.  This wine has enough backbone to lay down for awhile plus, it has the staying power to hold up for a couple days after opening - not too many wines can tout that!  Just great all around and well worth the $36

Linda

hello all-i got a bottle of the broc cellars syrah (2005) from my Wino club shipment.  The bouquet isn’t very big but the taste is great.   Bouquet has a touch of alcohol to it, a little bit smoky, peppery with some black cherry.  The taste is better than that.  It has a little bit of bite in your mouth but a very smooth finish.  That blackcherry with slight tannins sets off the finish.  Probably even better with food.
Happy Birthday Linda!
Cathy and Beth

Has anyone else tried this wine?  PALM Cellars Zinfandel 2004 (Karen’s).  I think it’s $30/bottle.  Tried it tonight with some pesto chicken and broccoli.  Thought a strong zin would be a good match for the pesto.  Anyway, PALM definitely has a strong nose.  We decanted it, I thought it was very syrupy and had an alcohol taste to it.  So we decided to put it through the Vinturi.  It helped. Kinda lessoned the strong raisin like taste.  Lift the bottle to the light and there is residue coating the inside of the bottle.  Has this happened to you? The sediments cover the decanter and glasses (yes, they’re empty now).  It’s not a bad wine…we drank the whole bottle..then again I’m a Gaucho.

Ok my wine tasting notes: strong alcohol nose, fruity, syrupy flavor. Lots of grape.  Fruity finish.  Not horrible but probably wouldn’t buy it if someone gave me $30.

Cathy

Tonight I actually made dinner: chicken artichoke roulette.  That’s what I’m calling it anyway.  Saltiness of the artichokes with some garlic and a tiny bit of parmasean.  I have to say it turned out pretty good, if I say so myself.  Of course we didn’t have any vegetables in the house so we basically had chicken and bread for dinner.  But this isn’t a chicken and bread blog…with my chicken roulette we had our last bottle of Carvalho’s Boat Shed Red.  If you red read one of my previous blogs you’ll know that we got this from Mrs. Carvalho herself (and in two weeks is the big grape stomp at the Sugar Mill…fireman…if you live near Sac look into it.)  So tonight, with this garlic-y dish the Boat Shed Red goes perfectly.  It’s a blend, not too bold, easy to drink and has a really nice finish.  We decide we need more.  It retails for 19.95 so it’s a good deal.  It also won bronze medal at the 2008 California State Fair.
This is how they describe it (if you don’t trust my garlic intoxiated tastebuds): This wine is a stunning, robust wine offering black cherry with notes of cracked white pepper and cedar. It has a powerful mouth feel with raspberry, blackberry & bing cherry flavors that linger through the finish.

 Signing off… enjoy a bottle of wine (or two!) this weekend.

Cathy