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Tre Anelli tasting room in Los Olivos (photo credit: Michael Wilsker pixillusion.com)
Tonight is the official debut of Tre Anelli’s two new releases, the 2007 Centellinare (a Super Tuscan style red blend of Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah and Zinfandel) and the 2007 Lagrein (a little known varietal that deserves its time in the spotlight). For more details on these wines, please see this earlier post. Wine club members gathered in the tasting room to try out these new wines. Winemaker Brett Escalera was there mingling and answering lots of questions about wine. Great wine tastes even better with fabulous food and guests were treated to an array of tasty foods from Louise’s Kitchen Table including Carolina-style pork sliders (tender slow-cooked pork shoulder, tangy secret sauce served on dinner roll sized buns with a hint of sweetness – these were soooo good), crab shooters (crab avocado, and tiny heirloom tomatoes served in shot glasses – colorful, tasty and fun to eat), assorted cheeses, salami, and hummus (flavorful and rich with tahini and garlic). What a wonderful evening – great wine, fabulous food and friends to share it with!
We invited some friends, Shannon and Norene, over for dinner tonight. Since it was a weeknight, we didn’t have all day to cook – so we used some of our tried and true, easy and fast recipes! We started with a really colorful and fast raw ahi tuna appetizer. Simply finely dice sushi-grade ahi tuna and then mix it with a little bit of sesame oil, fresh scallions and sesame seeds. Serve it with rice crackers. My husband and I have this as a light dinner with a green salad on summer nights when it is too hot to cook. If you want to make this dish into something with a more formal presentation (as we did for our guests tonight) then simply add a few more steps. Thinly slice shallots into half rings and lightly flour and fry until crispy, and then set them aside. Next chop an avocado into small cubes. Get a small bowl with high sides (we used a ramekin that was about 2.5 inches across) and lightly oil it with sesame oil. Then spoon in a layer of avocado followed by a layer of ahi – gently press it all into place and then flip the bowl over onto a plate and gently tap until the fish/avocado comes out in pretty dome shape. Garnish with the fried shallots and serve with rice crackers. This was lovely with the 2007 Ampelos Rosé of Syrah (my current favorite rosé). Another easy and fast appetizer that we served was blanched asparagus (thin spears work best) with goat cheese and prosciutto. Blanch the asparagus and then pat it dry. Then lay out slice of prosciutto and spread some softened goat cheese on it. Lay a piece of asparagus on top the prosciutto and roll it all up. This tasted really good with the lightly oaked 2005 Domaine Alfred Estate Chardonnay that Norene brought.
2005 Domaine Alfred Chardonnay
Dinner was grilled swordfish steaks in a puttanesca sauce with roasted root vegetables. All the fish we served tonight was from Kanaloa – a great source for fresh fish here in Santa Barbara. Here is the recipe for the tangy, spicy puttanesca sauce (it is great on pasta too):
¼ cup olive oil
3 cloves garlic
5 anchovy fillets
2 tablespoons capers (drained)
1 can crushed tomatoes (14.5 ounces)
20 Greek (kalamata) olives (in a pinch I’ve substituted green Spanish olives)
6-8 fresh basil leaves
¼ teaspoon dried oregano
Using medium heat, sauté garlic in olive oil for a couple minutes. Next add the chopped anchovies, capers, tomatoes, chopped olives, oregano and cook until the flavors meld – about 10 to 15 minutes. If your sauce seems too thin, turn up the heat for a few minutes and allow the liquid from the canned tomatoes to cook off. Add salt and pepper to taste. Buon Appetito!
Prosecco -Italian Sparkling wine
The Sundowner winds are blowing warm, dry air tonight. With a warm night like this, it seems apropos to take a break and enjoy a glass of cool sparkling wine. Tonight Jason and I popped open a bottle of Prosecco. Prosecco (Italian sparkling wine) is festive and refreshing. Plus it is an easy to find and economical alternative to its pricier EU cousin, Champagne. In fact, our local Trader Joe’s has a nice Prosecco for under $10.00. Do your part for America’s Economic Stimulus Plan – go buy some Prosecco. Arrivederci!
Jason and I visited Omaha, Nebraska a few times in the past few years for business. Just before our first trip, a friend (an Omaha native) recommended that we visit a part of the city called the “Old Market”. The Old Market is a lively area rich with art studios, restaurants, wine bars and loft apartments. Back in the mid 1960’s, the Mercer family, owners of many disused warehouses decided to revive the area by turning creating an district of shops, art studios, and restaurants. This brought a lively and creative community to the area – and the Old Market was born. Each year we look forward to visiting the Old Market and eating at La Buvette a Mercer-owned restaurant and wine store– which looks and feels like a Parisian café complete with the chalkboard menu. With well priced wines from around the world and an ever-changing menu of seasonal foods, La Buvette is a happening spot all day and well into the night. My idea of a perfect day in Omaha’s Old Market would be lunch at La Buvette at an outside table. I’d choose a bottle of wine and then linger over my lunch – savoring every bite. Then I’d head over to Jackson Street Booksellers and spend some time browsing through the amazing selection amassed by Amanda, the proprietor. Then in the evening, I’d make sure to go to The Boiler Room restaurant.
The Boiler Room
I did just that on a recent trip to Omaha. Thankfully, I made a reservation because all the tables were full when we arrived. The space is literally a former boiler room (hence the name) with raw brick walls and an industrial feel. The walls are decorated with large photographs that have been modified to look like paintings. Chef Paul Kulik, cooked in Europe for many years and also did a stint at the renowned Avec in Chicago. After years abroad, Kulik an Omaha native, wanted to bring his culinary skills home to the Old Market and open his own restaurant. I can attest to the fact that Kulik’s dream is a diner’s delight! His staff is very attentive – but not overbearing – how refreshing! The Boiler Room even has its own Master Sommelier (one of only about 120 in North America), Jesse Becker. We enlisted Becker’s help in choosing a Prosecco that would pair well with our appetizers. Our first course started with luscious celeriac potage with verjus and sorrel. We also had a plate that combined lamb bacon, a poached egg, braised rhubarb, and parsley salad topped with crème fraiche. I cannot even express how wonderful this was, the tastes and different textures made eating pure joy! The entrees were just as impressive. My tender veal shoulder with cippolini onions and creamy risotto was beautifully presented and tasted wonderful! We also tried the short rib steak served with rapini – also delightful. Becker chose a luscious Châteauneuf Du Pape a 2001 La Crau de Ma Mére (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre blend – with red berry and white pepper flavors) for our entrees. Becker’s wine choice was spot on – and so was EVERYTHING about the Boiler Room. Go there – it is SO worth a trip to Omaha!
Star Lane Astral Cabernet Sauvignon
Tonight we headed out to the Star Lane / Dierberg Vineyard industry open house / one year tasting room anniversary celebration. The folks at Star Lane / Dierberg really went all out with a beautiful spread of food and wine. Jason got a glass of Sauvignon Blanc and then headed to the oyster bar. After that we sampled the lamb pops – which were wonderful with the Syrah. The quail was very popular too, although I didn’t get a chance to try it as I was deep in conversation with Janeen (from Tre Anelli) and Louise (from Brander) about our recent Sangiovese tasting. I did manage to taste the Star Lane Cabernet Sauvignon and the Star Lane Astral reserve Cabernet Sauvignon with dark chocolate – wow! Over the course of the evening, I ran into many familiar faces: Peter Stolpman and Carol from Stolpman, Rebecca and Peter Work from Ampelos, Chelsea, Angela, Stu, Peggy from Consilience and Tre Anelli, Chris from Alma Rosa and Mo from Foxen. I left with a few bottles of Syrah, some of the Santa Ynez Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and a couple of the Star Lane Astral Cabernet Sauvignon. I thank the great people over at Star Lane and Dierberg for such an enjoyable evening!
Bonny Doon 2003 Le Cigare Volant
We opened a 2003 Bonny Doon Le Cigare Volant which is a Chateauneuf Du Pape style blend of Mourvedre, Syrah, Grenache and Cinsault. I got this bottle signed by the eccentric winemaker Randall Grahm at a wine event a few years ago. Grahm is a really, really interesting character. With his grey hair pulled back into a ponytail, and wearing John Lennon style glasses, he kind of reminds me of the Egon character from the movie Ghostbusters. Educated at UC Santa Cruz (my alma mater) and UC Davis, Grahm peppers his sentences with words like “preternatural” and “quixotic”. He is a wine making philosopher and something of a prankster to boot. Case in point, after years of problematic corks, a fed up Grahm staged a mock funeral for cork complete with a eulogy delivered by celebrated wine critic Jancis Robinson. That is a much longer story for another time, but suffice it to say that Grahm is a uniquely entertaining fellow. After sharing some of Grahm’s finest, Jason and I headed out to try out a new restaurant called Blush. Located in beautiful Santa Barbara, Blush has a prominent spot on State Street. To start we tried the beet carpaccio with blue cheese and endive and arugula salad with Meyer lemon vinaigrette. We also shared the duck confit tart with carmelized onion, and Purple Haze goat cheese. Both of these were very good. Jason ordered the leek crusted pork chop with apple, bacon and blue cheese potato rosti and sautéed rainbow chard and green peppercorn sauce. This tasted good and was perfectly cooked. I had the herb-glazed halibut with potatoes and fava beans with a horseradish butter sauce. The halibut had a wonderful texture and went well with the sauce. Although the food was good, I felt the prices were a little high for a restaurant with a large, prominently displayed television (I had no idea it was even basketball season until eating at Blush). My feeling on this is that a restaurant cannot be “upscale” or charge “upscale” prices if there is a television visible from the main dining area. If I had my way, there would be NO televisions visible from restaurant dining rooms – if you MUST watch television while you eat, go to a sports bar. Nothing really grabbed me on the wine by the glass list so I ordered a gimlet (done properly with freshly squeezed lime juice). Jason tried out one of the specialty cocktails which was Hangar 1 Buddha’s Hand vodka with grapefruit juice and a spicy pepper. This was well balanced – the spice of the pepper did not overpower the grapefruit this cocktail. Later on I ordered an old fashioned, which tasted good, but was served in a martini glass – not an old fashioned glass. One real problem with the space is that it is quite loud and echos. The night we were there it was also quite cold with the doors open. Overall, the service was fine – but we did wait quite a while before anyone took our appetizer order and they do need to work out some kinks at the bar. The prices seemed aligned with the quality of the food and drinks – but NOT with the atmosphere which is more bar-like with the television and the echos; appetizers, entrées and three cocktails was $120. This is a difficult time to start a restaurant – but they have a good location. Hopefully they’ll make it.
My wine tasting group got together tonight for a special Sangiovese tasting dinner! We heard a rumor that Stolpman wasn’t going to be selling as much of their Sangiovese grape harvest in the future. Inspired by this rumor, we decided to dig through our wine cellars to come up with bottles of Sangiovese made from Stolpman grapes. Tonight’s Sangioveses are 2007 Scott Cellars, 2005 Stolpman, 2005 Santa Barbara Winery, 2002 Di Bruno, 2002 Vita Nova. We opened up all the reds while we had a glass of the 2007 Brander Au Naturel Sauvignon Blanc (crisp with flavors of white grapefruit and stonefruit) that Louise brought. We started tasting the reds and decided that the youngest wine 2007 Scott Cellars Sangiovese was the perfect pizza wine – easy drinking, fruit forward and balanced. The 2005 Stolpman Sangiovese opened up beautifully and paired well with our Italian style dinner (hearty homemade pasta sauce with meat, cheesy garlic bread and a big green salad with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing). The 2005 Santa Barbara Winery had flavors of bright red fruit and nice aromatics. Next up were the 2002’s. The 2002 Vita Nova was a bit past its prime – as most of the fruit flavors had been lost over the years. At the far opposite end of the spectrum, the 2002 Di Bruno with its balance of cherry fruit, smoke, spice and oak was unanimously voted the best Sangiovese of the evening. A big thank you to winemaker Bruno D’Alfonso for this beautiful wine!
13 Year Vertical of Qupé Bien Nacido Hillside Estate Syrah (photo credit: Michael Wilsker pixillusion.com)
Jason and some friends and I are heading out to Au Bon Climat / Qupé for their annual open house event. We were fortunate enough to be able to have a special vertical tasting of 13 years (2007-1995) of Qupé Bien Nacido Hillside Estate Syrah with winemaker / owner Robert Lindquist. I’m a longtime fan of Lindquist’s award-winning Syrahs and so I was really looking forward to this once in a lifetime tasting opportunity. We exceeded the speed limit (more times than I’d care to admit) in order to arrive at the winery by 10am. After traveling for over an hour, we got out of the air conditioned car into a surprisingly warm (80+ degree) morning. Then we walked into the winery and eventually gathered in a cordoned off area of the chilly and dimly lit Qupé barrel room.
Qupé winemaker / owner Robert Lindquist (photo credit: Michael Wilsker pixillusion.com)
Lindquist was already there with all the Bien Nacido Hillside Estate Syrahs displayed on a table. He handed each of us glasses and an information sheet detailing each vintage’s harvest dates, brix, pH, total acidity, % alcohol, yield per acre, and number of cases produced. We started with the youngest one (a 2007 barrel sample) and moved vintage by vintage to the oldest. First Lindquist spoke about “Z block” which is a custom 5 acre block of vines in Bien Nacido vineyard in the Santa Maria Valley. It is located about 16 miles from the Pacific Ocean and was originally planted for Qupé in 1992. It is on a southwest facing slope about 850 feet above sea level. Lindquist went on to describe the soil which is a “combination of volcanic clay and Monterey shale with significant substrata of sandstone and limestone”. Finally, the knowledge I gained from my college geology class came in handy. As we tasted each vintage, Lindquist described the challenges presented during the growing season year, from too much wind during fruit set in 2007 to a cold, wet spring (which delays flowering and reduces yields) in 1998 due to El Niño. To my palate, a few years really stood out as shining examples of Syrah – 2002 (great balance of spice and fruit), 1998 (Lindquist’s favorite) and 1999 (wonderful complexity including notes of chocolate).
Taking notes at the Qupé 13 year vertical tasting (photo credit: Michael Wilsker pixillusion.com)
After the vertical tasting, we stayed around for the open house activities which included wines from Qupé, Au Bon Climat, Verdad, Ici/La-Bas, Vita Nova, Il Podere dell’Olivos, Clendenen Family Vineyards, Makor and Barham Mendelsohn. With over 70 wines on the list available for tasting (not including the 13 I’d already sampled earlier in the morning) I decided it was best to take a few minutes to zero in on the ones that were new to me: 2005 Il Podere Dell’Olivos Teroldego (deep garnet color, fruity – very food friendly), 2001 Clendenen Family Nebbiolo (florals, earth and spice), 2005 Clendenen Family Syrah/Viognier (florals, white pepper, earth and dark purple fruit), 2002 Vita Nova Stolpman Vineyard Sangiovese (bright red fruit, very food friendly), 2001 Vita Nova Reservatum (a red blend with spicy, red currant and dark berry flavors). I tasted a few other wines here and there, but the ones mentioned above actually came home with me. After getting the wine loaded into the car, we headed out to the next event which was held at a new cooperative winemaking facility called Terravant.
Syrah fan and Bob Lindquist (photo credit: Michael Wilsker pixillusion.com)
Along the way we realized that we were going to be driving right by Foxen…so we unanimously voted to stop by. (In case you are wondering, “yes” we have a designated driver.) We headed over to the bar to taste the whites first. A dynamic and knowledgeable young woman named Mo was behind the bar – expertly leading us through the 2007 Foxen Viognier (Vogelzang Vineyard, nose of honeysuckle and flavors of tropical fruit) and the 2007 Chardonnay (Tinaquaic Vineyard, dry farmed, bouquet of citrus fruit with green apple, vibrant acidity and mineral notes). Wine Enthusiast awarded this wine 94 points. Unfortunately there were only made 500 cases produced, so it is going fast. I cannot recall the last time I purchased a bottle of Chardonnay – but the Tinaquaic was just too good to pass up! As we chatted with fellow tasters, a couple next to us commented that although it was their first visit to Foxen, they felt as though they’d been there before. This experience of déjà vu is quite common – ever since Foxen was featured in the movie Sideways. We also tasted a few reds beginning with the 2007 Pinot Noir (Bien Nacido Vineyard and Julia’s Vineyard, strawberry and cherries). We tasted the 2006 Zinfandel (Lockshaw Vineyard, Paso Robles) and the 2006 Syrah (Williamson-Doré Vineyard, rich with flavors of black cherry, blackberry, smoke and white pepper). I had to take home some of the Syrah too! We talked with Allison the tasting room manager who boxed up our wine purchases and then we jumped back in the car to head to Terravant.
Inside the Terravant facility (photo credit Michael Wilsker pixillusion.com)
A few minutes later, we arrived at the Terravant Wine Center. First we tasted a few wines including the latest offering from Chien, the 2008 Edelzwicker (an Alsatian-style white blend of Pinot Blanc, Riesling and Gewurztraminer). Then we took a tour of this 40,000 square foot wine center. This state-of-the-art facility was created in order to provide vintners with the equipment and laboratory necessary to control the quality from grape to bottle (not to mention executive offices and a large conference area where events can be held). There were enormous insulated tanks with digital temperature displays, peristaltic pumps, open and closed top fermenters, cold stabilization and bottling equipment and much, much more. Even the barrel room was high tech with automated relative humidity and temperature control and RFID tracking. While everything was really impressive – lots of shiny chrome, automated thingamajigs that beep- it just seemed a little too industrial to me. Maybe I am just a hopeless romantic, but to me wine is a wonderful marriage of art AND science – not just science. I can think of a number of accidents that resulted in beautiful wine. Case in point is the 2006 Ojai Vineyard Santa Maria Valley Chardonnay – an accidental dessert wine – only two barrels were produced. A small section of the Chardonnay grapes at the Solomon Hills Vineyard became infected with a fungus called botrytis cinerea (the so called “noble rot”). Infected grapes shrivel up like raisins – thus concentrating the flavor. I was fortunate enough to acquire one of the few bottles of this special wine. Friends and I shared it with rich, creamy cheeses, nuts and dried fruits. This wine itself was reminiscent of the great wines of Sauternes with a rich honeyed character. Truly a happy accident!
We shared a fabulous evening with friends at our home for dinner. Mikey and Sandra brought a great bottle to share: 2004 Clos du Val Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. This deep garnet colored wine with flavors of dark berries, baking spices and a hint of vanilla was a real treat! Clos du Val’s 1972 Cabernet Sauvignon was one of the California wines in the infamous Judgment of Paris tasting which took place in 1976. At this blind tasting event French wine critics judged California Cabernet Sauvignons and French Bordeaux. They also rated California Chardonnays versus French Burgundies. In each category the California wineries trounced their French competition – all the while the critics made comments about their favorite wines thinking that they were French. The critics were surprised – and so was the wine world. This tasting is credited with putting California wine on the map. There is a really enthralling book about this tasting – and about some of the winemakers in California in the 1970’s called Judgment of Paris: California vs. France and the Historic 1976 Paris Tasting That Revolutionized Wine
The heat of the day gave way to a temperate evening – just perfect for the Tre Anelli & Consilience Paella and Empanada party! Tre Anelli’s Verdehlo (an especially flavorful and food friendly white) was THE wine to drink while eating authentic paella and empanadas. My mouth was so happy…could it get any better than this? Then I went next door to Consilience for a glass of their mind-blowing, inky, explode-in-your-mouth Petite Sirah. Oh my god, I love this wine. Since there isn’t a damn thing about this wine that is “petite”, maybe it should be called Ginormous Sirah?
Tom Daughters, Anne and Jason Burns (photo credit: Michael Wilsker pixillusion.com)
Consilience / Tre Anelli Paella & Empanada Party (photo credit: Michael Wilsker pixillusion.com)
Wine Nation Underdog 
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