13
Jan
2015
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Wines of the Week: Jan. 5-11

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Weeknight: I am bound and determined to finally get to New York’s Finger Lakes region this year, and wines such as the Frank2013 Dr. Konstantin Frank Finger Lakes Semi-Dry Riesling ($15) are a big reason why. Lip-smacking fruit and acidity almost assault the palate. This is one of those wines that has a complex nose (white flowers, pear) and ample flavors (peach, green apple) that don’t quite square up, but who cares with such a delicious offering? It belongs on the wine list of every Thai or Vietnamese restaurant in the country, and if the eatery’s playlist included the sweet, crystalline songs of Allison Krauss, all the better.

Occasion: I loves me some cab franc, and one of the best domestic Hearstrenditions I’ve sampled in a loooooong time is the 2010 Hearst Ranch “Lone Tree” Cabernet Franc ($36). It’s got a little more coffee and cocoa than most cab francs, but plenty of the signature green-herb and black-olive thing going on. It’s also perhaps the smoothest iteration, from start to sizable finish, I’ve encountered. Herby roasted chicken or pork provide perfect pairing options, as does a mushroom- and/or olive-laden pizza or pasta. The Neville Brothers‘ combination of earthy, funkified sound and Aaron Neville’s seriously silky vocals are just the ticket for a soundtrack.

11
Jan
2015
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A year of learning dangerously

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I’m pretty sure this would be the latest publication of a “best of 2014” list anywhere if that’s what it actually was. Instead, this fits more neatly into the “lifelong learning” deal that’s one of my favorite aspects of wine. Ergo, here’s what wine taught me about itself in 2014:

• That it’s dunderheaded to dismiss or give up on a region or a varietal. Five years ago, I had absolutely no interest in Soave, thanks to so many bulk botttlings with no character. Or flavor. But the 2013 Tamellini Soave might have been the best $15 white I tasted all year, a thunderbolt of energy and delicious fruit. In the last couple of years, wines from Inama, Ca Rugate, Vincentini Agostino, Suavia and Coffele have washed away the memories of the bland Soaves of the past (and the present; I still get a few factory-produced duds).

Dominus• That Dominus belongs in the pantheon of Napa’s very best wines — and in my cellar. On Boys’ Cab Night, we had three from the 1990s, and each showed ample fruit and more than ample structure (a revelation in the ’97 compared to its vintage mates), all at less than 14 percent alcohol. Viva Christian Moueix!

• That vermouth is now waaaaay more than a cocktail enhancer or supporting actor. The Perucchi Catalonia Vermouth from Spain was a show-stopper during a meal filled with them at San Francisco’s State Bird Provisions.

• That terroir-driven iconoclasts in California continue to make spectacular wines from grapes normally associated almost entirely with Europe. Morgan Twain-Peterson’s Abrente Albarino, Duncan Arnot Meyers’ and Nathan Lee Roberts’ Arnot-Roberts North Coast Trousseau and Gideon Beinstock’s Clos Saron “Out of the Blue” (cinsault!) provided some of my most profound experiences in many a moon.

• That Muscadet vintners have adapted to international tastes without losing their identity. PipiereThe 2012 Domaine de la Pepiere Sevre et Maine Muscadet was uber-vibrant and uber-long, with gorgeous Meyer lemon flavors but the Loire subregion’s signature undergirding of chalky acidity. It joins Chevalier Cotes de Grand Lieu,  Domaine Des Cognettes and Stephane and Vincent Perraud Clisson Muscadets as bottles I will unflinchingly order when they appear on a wine list (unless I’m having braised short ribs, perhaps).

• That Paso Robles is and likely will remain the nexus of great Rhone wines in California. Almighty reds from Saxum (’08 Booker and James Berry Vineyards) and Denner (“Mother of Exiles” and ’”Ditch Digger,” both from 2010) were large and in charge and yummerific, but, like their better forbears in the Rhone, raised as many questions as they provided answers. Speaking of which:

• That the Delfonics were right: La-La means “I love you” when it comes to wine. DelfonicsEvery sip of E. Guigal’s La Mouline, La Landonne and La Turque that salved my trembling palate was different from the last, a scintillatingly sensuous experience.

• That domestic riesling is on the ascent in a big way. From all over the map came stupid-good rieslings: Palisades from New York, Teutonic “The Bridge” from Oregon, Long Shadows from Washington, Smith Madrone from Napa and the Chateau Grand Traverse Old Mission Peninsula “Whole Cluster” from Michigan. They shared vivacity and clean but rich texture, but each was a distinctive gem in its own right.

Which is how all wine should be, and often was for me to make for a wonder-filled 2014.

9
Jan
2015
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Here come da judging gleanings

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People tend to think that judging wine competitions is pure, unadulterated fun. I suggest they try 71 viogniers in 4 hours and give each and every one a fair assessment. But there are of course moments of mirth, or just plain silliness, or actual learning. Among the entertaining and edifying moments at this week’s San Francisco Chronicle competition:

• I got to have dinner with Francis Ford Coppola. Well, he was 50 or so feet away at a banquet-like gathering in his winery’s Coppola 3barrel room. Even though I grew up around country music luminaries and had interviewed great athletes and winemakers over the years, I was oddly star-truck. My friend Mike Dunne, who got to sit closer to Coppola, spoke for me when he told Coppola: “Whenever I’m surfing channels and stumble across a showing of ‘The Godfather,’ I simply stop. Doesn’t matter if it is early on in the film or midway or near the end, I’m captivated. It’s irresistible.”

• Out of about 400 wines tasted over three days, we got a handful that were flawed, with wretched odors of different sorts (I described one to our coordinator as “like a high-school wrestling team’s locker room”). Another was assessed by a fellow judge as a “NIMM,” for “not in my mouth.” But we encountered just one corked wine, a very encouraging sign. And when we got a repour from another bottle of the same wine, it earned a gold medal.

• Other pithy expressions from my mates:  “a tasting room wine,” for something showy and short; “hi ho silver!” for a wine that Oprahgot all silver medals from our threesome; an aroma “like [a certain guy’s] feet,” followed by “no, about two feet higher,” and “imagine someone grabbing an opossum and throwing it in the dryer.”

• This was also the first time I ever heard a fellow judge (or anyone) use “zaftig” to describe a wine. When our volunteers asked what he meant, he said “round and exuberant … like Oprah.” Nailed it.

• Some judging is especially difficult (hello, red blends $15-$24.99, where a $15 carbonic-maceration valdigué-based wine might be followed by a beastly one that clearly has a lot of petite sirah). Blessedly, in our assessments of gold, silver, bronze or no medal, we can add plus or minus. While we joke about whether a “Bronze Minus [B-]” is meaningless, I find myself using them more often than not.

• This was my fourth California competition in the last year, and they have had two things in common: great Olivescamaraderie and Graber olives as a palate cleanser. These are wonderful olives but quite spendy and not distributed in my neck of the tundra. This also was the first competition for me that included celery as a palate cleanser.

• On my panel, the off-dry domestic rieslings showed the best, with almost 30 percent getting gold or double-gold. A nice surprise.

• Finally, in trying to come up with different ways to describe scores of wine, I concocted a word I might use a lot, even though it might not be a real word: “untasty.” Blessedly, it don’t apply to many of our wines.

6
Jan
2015
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Gleanings: 1-6-15

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OK, time to exhale. The holidays are behind us, and it was a Norman Rockwell-worthy spell with family with some Bacchus-worthy gatherings in and out. A few non-gathering gleanings from this stretch:

• I’ve been hoping that the wine-on-tap movement would hit the Twin Cities in a big way, but so far there’s been only a Shedtrickle. Shipping and recycling issues are being addressed, but not quickly enough. Out in California, no such problems are slowing this trend, as evidence by this fabuloso list (at left) from the terrific cafe at the Shed in Healdsburg.

• It seems pretty certain that wine, especially of the rouge ilk, is good for us in moderate doses. I took a pretty thorough look last year, but to that point the actual benefits of the compound called resveratrol were being debated because most tests had used ginormous doses. Well, there is now some very encouraging news from a study using much smaller amounts of resveratrol.

• My favorite new daily time suck is a morning missive from a site called Delancey Place, passing along excerpts from current books. A recent one from Laurel Braitman’s “Animal Madness” contained this snippet from a passage on the proliferation of bears Bearsin what is now Wine Country, starring the namesake of Yountville: “When the trapper George Yount arrived in California in 1831 and settled in Napa Valley, he said that the bears ‘were everywhere — upon the plains, in the valleys and on — the mountains, venturing even within the camping-grounds, so that I have often killed as many as five or six in one day, and it was not unusual to see fifty or sixty within twenty-four hours.’ ”

• In today’s Yountville, the buzz has been about a major heist at the French Laundry. The thieves rightly targeted DRC treasures but also focused on Screaming Eagle cabernet. I’d probably have stuck with Burgundy and the other killer B’s: Bordeaux, Barolo and Barbaresco. The restaurant is closed for kitchen renovations; no word on whether the insurance money will go to that or to purchasing more rare wines. Or whether the insurers paid the going gray-market rate or the Laundry’s gouge-eriffic prices.

 

 

 

5
Jan
2015
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Linkin’ logs: 1-5-15

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The times, they are a-scrollin’. Here are a few recent pluckings from the World Wine Web:

• The always entertaining and edifying Madeline Puckette takes a gander at some wacky wine glasses.

Travaso• Speaking of unusual conveyances made of glass, I’ve been sampling a cool, sleek decanter called the Travaso. Here’s how it works, and it’s quite a show (and a showpiece for your next wine gathering). Oh, and it does the job.

• Many folks think wine and cheese just automatically go together, no questions asked. Of course it’s a lot more complicated than that. Here’s perhaps the best guide I’ve seen on the topic.

• I try my best to avoid hyperbole (or hyper-bowl,” as I heard an announcer say on a cable-access rasslin’ show a couple of decades ago). But this is one fantabulous set of wine cartoons.

• I’ve never tried to “saber” a bottle of bubbles, and I’m not sure this woman has, either. (H/T John Skupny.)

• And finally, here’s one of the weirdest-looking wine cellars any of us will ever see (not sure of the “provenance”):

Weird Wine Cellar

 

 

 

4
Jan
2015
0

Wines of the Week: Dec. 29-Jan. 4

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Weeknight: There’s plenty of good inexpensive Bordeaux out there; the problem is finding it in a sea of 8.000-plus chateaux. LafontI can certainly vouch for the 2011 Lafant-Fourcat ($13), a soft, approachable red with friendly fruit flavors but more than sufficient grip and weight. The plum notes make it clear that merlot is the dominant grape here, and the finish is smooth and just hearty enough. Try it with wintry stews and soups, especially if you’re fortunate enough to know someone who makes cassoulet. The smooth, heartfelt work of Mr. Bill Withers provides fab accompaniment.

 Occasion: Here’s something timely in two ways. Many of us are cash-poor in January, so a splurge Mummwine needs to come in at a good price. And even with the holidays over, it’s still (and always) time for bubbles. The Mumm Napa Cuvee M ($22) is cool, crisp and downright delicious, with nice, subtle touches of sweetness and a racy mid-palate. It’s been a delight the past few months to come across a slew of swell domestic sparklers, and this ranks as one of the best values amongst ’em. Plate up some fried chicken or just some potato chips to dance with this salt-loving/-absorbing beauty. The king of the sultry sax, Ben Webster, is just the ticket for a soundtrack.

3
Jan
2015
0

Seven S’s: A path to better tasting skills

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Here are seven steps involved in tasting wine:

Seeing: Hold the glass up to a white backdrop and check the color — lighter colors generally mean lighter-bodied wines; Seeingwhite wines get darker as they age, while reds get lighter — and clarity (unfiltered wines, which many prefer, will be cloudier).

Swirling: Done properly — or even clumsily, à la yours truly — this aerates the wine, exposing more of it to oxygen to release and amplify the aromas and flavors. (Make sure the glass is no more than one-third full.) This is a good maneuver to practice at home, on a flat surface. It’s pretty much all in the wrist.

Sniffing: Place your nose inside the rim of the glass and smell for three or four seconds. You will catch all manner of aromas (fruits, vegetables, nuts, spices, flowers, minerals, wood, earth, smoke, etc.), which together form a wine’s “bouquet.”

Slurping: You might want to gather some experience before trying this one in public, but by sucking in the wine from outside your front teeth, you can further aerate the wine and bring out secondary flavors.

Sipping: At the very least, you should “chew” on the wine for several seconds so that it reaches Spittingall of your taste buds; saliva also softens the acids in wine.

Swallowing or spitting: If you don’t like a wine, or if you’re trying a boatload of varieties at a tasting, spitting makes a lot of sense. But only by swallowing at least a little bit can you fully experience the final step:

Savoring: A wine’s “finish,” the taste left in the mouth after swallowing, can last as long as a minute, with the “back end” bringing a wave of flavors and aromas up the back of the throat.

A version of this originally appeared in the Star Tribune in 2005.

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3
Jan
2015
0

Developing a taste for wine

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Tasting wine is a lot like golf or chess: You get better at it by doing it. As the astute wine writer Alexis Lichine noted, “I tell people to throw away the vintage charts and invest in a corkscrew. The best way to learn about wine is the drinking.”

Here are some general guidelines for improving your tasting skills:

*Aroma: Absolutely swirl and sniff, and don’t hurry it. There’s a strong relationship between what you smell and what you taste; some say as much as 80 percent. Smell is also the sense with the closest tie to memory; you might detect something from baseball bubble gumyour childhood, like a summer-camp activity or a just-opened pack of baseball cards with bubble gum.

It’s perfectly fine to look for elements, but not always useful, especially since two people can get varying elements from the same wine because our palates all differ. Instead, look for focus, sharpness, distinctiveness, flaws and alcohol.

*Flavors/ripeness: Learn to discern ideal ripeness. Underripe fruit has a “green” aspect — unless it’s bell pepper :o) — or might taste “stemmy.” Overripe fruit can be treacly or cloying, and makes it very hard to discern other aspects of the wine, even the varietal: A fruit-bomb cabernet might taste just like a similar syrah or merlot.

How expressive is the fruit in particular and the wine in general?

*Texture/Weight/Mouthfeel/Structure: Think of a wine’s weight like this: A light-bodied wine is like skim milk; a medium-Creambodied one is like regular milk, and a full-bodied one is like cream.

Look for textural aspects such as acidity, minerality and tannin structure. Minerality is a feeling — of slate or gravel, for example — not a flavor. Acidity at its best is mouth-watering, whereas overly tannic wines leave the palate dry and “pucker.”

Is the wine firm or flabby?

*Balance/focus/harmony: Are the fruit, tannins and acidity/sweetness integrated? Does one of them (or alcohol) dominate? Does the wine “stop” in the mid-palate (what I call a doughnut wine, with a hole in the middle)? Does the wine seem focused or diffuse? Does it have “tension”?

Power*Character: How expressive is the wine? Does it have a sense of place/connectedness or does it seem generic (a la other food)? Does it have “personality”? How much intensity/power/concentration is there?

*Finish: Look here for balance and texture (silky, hearty, layered), plus of course length.

It’s OK if some of these elements are ambiguous. Some of the best wines are mysterious, coy, elusive. As wine savant Hugh Johnson said: “Great wines don’t make statements; they raise questions.”

 

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3
Jan
2015
0

Tasting tips from vintners

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Nobody tastes more wines than the people making it, and some of them have shared with me some tips on how any and all of us can became a better taster:

Kim Stare Wallace, Dry Creek Vineyard: “It’s important to really use the nose in wine tasting. I always recommend that Nosepeople not be embarrassed to stick their own schnoz deep into the glass. This, combined with plentiful swirling to aerate the wine and open up the aromatics, is critical in wine tasting.  Frankly, I think smelling the wine is almost more important than tasting it. If you can train your nose to be discerning, the mouth will follow.”

John Shafer, Shafer Vineyards: “The first thing to look for in the aroma is not necessarily the fruit component, but the sharpness, the focus, how well-defined the wine is.”

David Ramey, Ramey Wine Cellars: “You don’t drink aromas. You don’t drink flavor descriptors. You drink texture. Focusing on aromas is like focusing on the perfume your wife is wearing when you’re making love with her. It’s not the main event, folks. It’s like talking about Bananasbananas: Is it green, is it overripe? Texture, balance, harmony. An over-reliance on aromas doesn’t make sense. Put it in your mouth. It’s tactile rather than a bunch of descriptors.”

Thomas Rivers Brown, Rivers Marie, Outpost: “You look for the general first, then try to dial in the specific over time.”

David Graves, Saintsbury: “Pay attention to the mid-palate. It’s the money part of the palate. The tannins can be closed up early, but they should give something in mid-palate.”

Mimi Casteel Hughes, Bethel Heights:  “Give yourself ample time with any wine you are going to taste. I often find that people who are less familiar with wine tasting won’t spend nearly enough time smelling a wine, or holding it in their mouth.  There are textural, aroma and flavor nuances that simply cannot be perceived without adequate time in those sensory zones.”

Ken Wright, Ken Wright Cellars: “Take advantage of any opportunity you have to taste multiple wines at a time by Blind Tastinggetting a group together. The memory is not reliable when tasting. With this, you’re not trying to remember; you’re seeing the difference. And any opportunity you get, taste blind, which strips away any influences [and] makes the other senses a little more acute. Do it ideally with the same varietal or from the same general area.”

Casteel Hughes: “Seek out people whose palates and wine knowledge you respect. In the beginning, it helps a lot to rely on people who have similar palates; it helps you to understand what it is you like about the wines you gravitate toward. However, I feel like I learn much more when I taste with people who appreciate wines that I have not. Often this leads to new discoveries and adds breadth to your tasting repertoire. Finding people with whom you can enjoy a wine that is out of your usual comfort zone can greatly improve your sensory acuity and overall appreciation of the vast differences there are in wines.”

Andy Cutter, Duxoup Wine Works: “If you wanna have fun doing it, find a wine you really like and learn everything you can about it; figure out what you really love about it. Do that with another wine, every two months. And in two years you’ll know everthing you need to know.”

Savor winesStare Wallace: “It sounds cliché, but the most important thing in improving one’s wine tasting skills is drink more wine! It’s really true, wine is an acquired taste, just like stinky cheese. So, the more one tastes, the more one becomes accustomed to the different nuances, aromatics, flavors, varietal characteristics and regional differences in wine types.”

Casteel Hughes: “Remember that in the end, you are the expert about what you like.  Wine makes life better.  Don’t overthink it. Enjoy it.”

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