Tonight we got together with a few friends to taste some selections from a new wine club (our friend Gary is the wine buyer). My favorites were two reds from Kaleidos Winery. The 2004 Kaleidos Morpheus is a blend of 67% Syrah, 23% Grenache, 10% Mourvedre. It had a silky mouth feel with flavors of dark chocolate, mocha and black cherry. Robert Parker gave it 90-2 points. With a price of around $28, this one drinks as though it is much pricier. Definitely a good value! They only made 266 cases though – so carpe diem! Or better yet, carpe vinum! The 2005 Kaleidos Oak Rock is a blend of 62% Syrah, 16% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Cabernet Franc, 11% Petit Verdot. Earth, smoke, chocolate, black currants and spicy pepper flavors dominate this dark purple wine. After picking up a few bottles, we then headed over to Los Olivos for dinner at Patrick’s Side Street Café. As always, the “specials” were all enticing. I eventually decided on halibut with wasabi tobiko and saffron rice. WOW! We shared a lovely bottle of the 2006 McPrice Myers L’Ange Rouge Grenache. If you’re into scores, The Wine Spectator gave this wine 91 points. I don’t care about a wine’s scores as much as its taste – I like the spicy, berry flavors and the long, long almost herbal finish. Yum!
Tonight was the Stolpman Industry Open House at the tasting room in Los Olivos. Tom Stolpman was behind the bar pouring barrel samples and Peter Stolpman was pressing the flesh with other industry folks, in his new role as National Sales Director. I saw a number of people from Consilience and Tre Anelli including Jodie Boulet-Daughters (one of the owners), Brett Escalera (winemaker / one of the owners) and Janeen (tasting room manager). I have a confession to make – I am a rabid fan of Stolpman wine –all the red and rosé wines for my wedding were Stolpman. I think that winemaker Sashi Moorman is very, very good at his job. With that disclosure, I have to say that I enjoyed many of the wines at Stolpman including the Hilltops Syrah and the soon-to-be-released Sauvignon Blanc. The Sauvignon Blanc is lovely – totally done in steel, which preserves its wonderful white grapefruit flavors and citrus nose. This is definitely a wine I’ll be pouring at backyard barbeques this summer. Also, the recently released Grenache tastes really good right now; it has evolved in a very positive way since I tasted it a month ago. After tasting through the wines, I walked down the street for an impromptu dinner with Louise (from Brander), Janeen (Tre Anelli) and Joy (Janeen’s sister) at the Los Olivos Café. We shared a few appetizers – spring rolls, mini sliders with horseradish sauce and a fresh green salad. The food from Los Olivos Café is always good – and the wine was wonderful. We shared a bottle of the 2006 Dragonette Sta. Rita Hills Pinot. I’ve been hearing good things about Dragonette and was excited to try out their Pinot. I was not disappointed. Dragonette is a partnership of two brothers, John and Steve Dragonette and their close friend Brandon Sparks-Gillis. The ’06 vintage is only their second – but the wine from this triumvirate doesn’t taste like a new kid on the block. How did they pull off this feat? First and foremost, hard work and a lot of research; plus they sourced fruit from very high quality growers. Case in point, this vintage is made of fruit from the esteemed Gaia (formerly Ashley’s) Vineyard (Fess Parker) and Fiddlestix (Fiddlehead) Vineyard. Then, using tried and true, time consuming methods, they hand harvested, cluster sorted and then destemmed the grapes. You could taste the passion in the end product – it was delicate, with a nose of strawberry, cherries and juniper berries. The finish alluded to dried red fruit like cranberries and Bing cherries. Dragonette only produced 144 cases of this Pinot Noir – so get it while you can!
Jason and I shared a fabulous dinner with friends Nicole, Lolly and Lee tonight in Tempe at House of Tricks. I highly recommend this restaurant / wine bar if you’re in the Tempe/Phoenix Arizona area. Tricks offers a wonderful selection of wines by the glass and bottles from around the world. I tried to order a red blend, but our waiter asked if he could suggest a wine. So, we put ourselves in his hands – Jason and I do this a lot and generally it works beautifully. The waiter feels good that you trust his guidance and you get the benefit of his vast (one hopes) knowledge of the wine list. Oddly enough he returned to the table with a Merlot…I thought that his was a strange choice since we were told him we really liked blends. So, with intervention from our waiter our first bottle was the 2005 Three Doves Merlot. It had nice raspberry flavors and hints of cocoa on the finish, but I have to admit that I tend to enjoy Merlot more when it is a component in a blend as opposed to a stand-alone varietal. With that said, it was light enough to pair with the appetizers: seared fois gras with apple cinnamon chutney, cornbread dust and lavender honey (when fois gras is done right, it is so RIGHT!), vegetarian portabella eggrolls with purple cabbage, daikon radish sprouts, and Mongolian barbeque sauce (sounds like a weird combination, but it was really quite tasty), green chile salmon and shrimp cakes with citrus jicama slaw and smoke yellow pepper remoulade and seafood stuffed poblano pepper with goat cheese, creamy Baja sauce and red pepper coulis. I really loved these last two because they included fabulous spices that are used in local, Southwestern cooking. We decided to order another bottle for our wildly varied entrées (we made the decision without help from our well-intentioned waiter), this time we went with a food-friendly, fruit forward Spanish wine with soft tannins, the 2007 Spanish Granrojo Garnacha. I had an incredibly difficult time making a decision because so many entrées sounded fabulous. I was really torn between the a) lychee marinated duck breast on pineapple rice with shaved vegetable salad, lychee nuts and spring onions with soy honey reduction and the b) “everything spiced” ahi tuna on toasted couscous with avocado tangerine fennel slaw in ginger chile vinaigrette and white miso sabayon. Ultimately, I decided on a pumpkin seed crusted filet mignon with potato masa cake, guajillo chile glaze, haricot verts and roasted poblano aioli. This was so unbelievably good, I passed around tastes to everyone at the table. I loved how the traditional local flavors of the guajillo and poblano chilies were incorporated into the entire meal. WOW! Jason ordered the herb crusted lamb porterhouse with roasted eggplant, garlic whipped Yukon gold potatoes, and star anise au jus. The earthy, savory side dishes complemented the taste of the lamb perfectly. We topped off our dinner with some lovely desserts and some late harvest wines. I am not much of a dessert person (I would rather have a glass of Cognac or Armagnac) but everyone at the table loved the sweet ending to our meal. If you are in the area, definately go check out House of Tricks. You won’t be disappointed!
I haven’t been sick in years, but somehow I’ve managed to come down with bronchitis, strep throat and ear infection simultaneously. Since I cannot even taste food, wine is totally lost on me. In light of this turn of events, I am taking a hiatus until I am feeling better.
Tonight I decided to open up a New World Pinot Noir that tastes like an Old World: the 2002 Calera Mills Vineyard Pinot Noir. Calera’s founder and owner, Josh Jensen, a native Californian, graduated from Yale and then earned his Master’s degree at Oxford. After graduate school he spent a number of years living in France, where he became fluent and French and learned a great deal about Burgundian-style winemaking. He even worked a few harvests including one at the world renowned Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, producer of some of the most expensive Pinot Noir in the world. In the early 1970’s he returned to California and began his search for land rich with limestone. It took a few years, but he eventually found land similar to that of vineyards in France he admired. It is located near Mt. Harlan and is 2200 feet above sea level, unusually high for a vineyard. A hundred years prior, the property was used as a commercial quarry for limestone. Calera (the Spanish word for “limekiln”) is named after an old masonry limekiln which was leftover from the quarry operations. I am embarrassed to admit it, but I was first drawn to his wine by the label. It wasn’t the front label that grabbed me; it was the back label with its plethora of information. It lists: American Viticultural Area (AVA): Mt. Harlan, Mountain Range: Gavilan Mountain, County: San Benito, Region: California’s Central Coast, Predominant geology: Limestone, Average Elevation: 2200 feet above sea level, Vineyard location: 9 miles south of Hollister, 90 miles south of San Francisco, 25 miles inland (east) of Monterey/Carmel, Number of vines: 10,575 (100% Pinot Noir), Vine Spacing: 6′ x 10′, Vines per acre: 726, Exposure of slope: South, Year planted: 1984, Rootstock: Own-rooted (Pinot Noir), 16 year average crop yield: 1.33 tons per acre (20.0 hectolitres of wine per hectare of vineyard), Dates of harvest: September 16 – October 11 2002, Tons harvested: 21, Tons per acre: 1.49, Average ripeness: 24.7% sugar, Fermentation: Native yeasts, Barrel aging: 18 months in 60-gallon French barrels 30% new, Malo-lactic fermentation: 100%, Filtration: none, pH: 3.64, Quantities bottled: 15,492 750ml bottles, 3000 half-bottles, 72 magnums (1.5L), 6 jeroboams (3L) for a total of 1468 full-case equivalents. The wine-geek in me appreciates the fact that Jensen shares all of these facts with us and that somewhere in the midst of the facts about geology, pH and vine spacing is a graceful and elegant Old World style Pinot Noir. Calera’s Pinot Noirs most certainly have not gone unnoticed. Robert Parker says “Calera is one of the most compelling Pinot Noir specialists of not only the New World, but of Planet Earth”. Try it for yourself, see what you think.
Tonight we hosted a vertical wine tasting with friends and fellow wine appreciators Louise (Brander Vineyards), Janeen (Tre Anelli and Consilience), Jim (Tre Anelli and Consilience) and Jennifer (wine lover by marriage). A vertical tasting is one where different years of the same wine, from the same producer are compared. Our vertical consisted of vintages 2001 – 2005 of Eros, a Bordeaux-style blend made by Sunstone. We also had a bonus wine to compare (thank you Louise), a 2002 Brander Bouchet, which is also a Bordeaux-style blend. The vertical format draws attention to differences between vintages, which can be quite dramatic. These can be attributed to many things – including differences in weather, to a change in the levels of fruit thinning, to barrel toast modifications and everything in between. It is helpful to have the winemaker’s release notes for each vintage during the tasting because they’ll often shed light on the factors which helped shaped a particular vintage. Often winemakers will mention the weather, how the grapes fared during the season, conditions of the harvest, the ripeness of the grapes and much more. It is best to start tasting with the youngest wine and end with the oldest wine, that way your palate is more likely to be able to pick up on the complexities in the older vintages. It is also important to give the wines plenty of time to breathe. We found that the 2001 Eros tasted best three hours after it was decanted. After all the Sunstone wine was evaluated, there were two Eros vintages that the tasters preferred over the others, 2001 and 2005. The 2001 was appreciated for its balance of fruit, spice and oak whereas the 2005 stood out with its intense dark berry flavors. The 2005 went especially well with the cheesecake and brownies we had for dessert. When we voted on our favorite single wine of the evening, it was unanimous – the Bordeaux blend from Brander, the 2002 Bouchet won.
Yesterday we packed up the car and headed up to Northern California to visit our friends Melissa and Ron. Today we all spent a beautiful sunny afternoon on the patio at the Moss Beach Distillery. If you happen to be near San Francisco, make sure to stop at the Distillery. The restaurant is perched on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. I’ve never eaten in the restaurant, because I prefer the oceanside patio which has food service (clam chowder, sliders, fish tacos, steamers, calamari etc.), fire pits and cozy wool blankets. Literally, you can curl up with your significant other in a blanket in front of a blazing fire, drink wine (they also have fabulous bloody marys) and watch the sea. It is wonderfully romantic, even for lunch. The patio is dog friendly too! The restaurant, built by Frank Torres in 1927, used to be a very popular speakeasy / restaurant called “Franks’ Place” during Prohibition. It was frequented by silent film stars, writers (mystery writer Dashiell Hammett was a patron and used Frank’s Place as a setting for one of his stories) and politicians from San Francisco. The restaurant’s location, on a cliff overlooking a secluded beach, was the perfect drop off point for illegal whiskey from Canada. The whiskey was brought up from the beach and loaded into trucks for transport to San Francisco. Naturally, Torres made sure that some of the whiskey was brought into Frank’s Place. Torres’ whiskey stash gave him social and political clout enabling him to run a successful, illegal business. Case in point, his speakeasy was never raided. Once Prohibition was repealed in 1933, Frank’s Place remained a popular dining destination. During our visit to the Distillery we were told that there is a resident ghost, called the Blue Lady. I didn’t see any spirits (other than in my bloody mary) but some people have reported (including NBC TV series Unsolved Mysteries) seeing a ghost all dressed in blue.
The weather looked like it was heading from rain to blizzard in Squaw, so we jumped in the car and headed back home (before we got snowed in) to Santa Barbara. We celebrated our arrival with some Ampelos! Jason opened up the Ampelos 2005 Grenache tonight. We’re both giddy about their expressive wines. The Grenache is darker and richer than most with a super long finish. Tonight, we’re pairing our Grenache with – drum roll please … leftover chicken. I figure, a really wonderful bottle of wine makes all the difference to a meal. My in-laws are convinced that my husband and I are hopeless foodies – they tease us incessantly about infusions and reduction sauces – but I’d like the record to show that sometimes we just eat leftovers. =)
It is rainy and cold outside, so we stayed inside in front of the fireplace. In the afternoon, we popped open a bottle of the 2006 Tre Anelli Barbera. This is dark garnet colored wine is a great everyday drinking wine. It goes well with grilled meats and with foods with tomato sauces. Tre Anelli only made about 200 cases of this wine so get it while you can! Tre Anelli wine is only available for sale at the tasting room in Los Olivos, California. If you stop by for a visit, be sure to say hello to Jim and Janeen the tasting room manager.
The serious skiers and snowboarders in the group were on the slopes before 9am. I took the day off to relax and putter around in the kitchen making coq au vin. Before dinner we decided to visit Uncorked again. Doug Hackett from Dogwood Cellars was there for one more night. After waiting for a few minutes a table that was big enough for our group opened up. We sat down and ordered a bottle of 2005 Dogwood Cellars Dry Creek Zinfandel and a cheese plate. We had fun talking and taking turns petting Champ, a very friendly yellow lab. Doug brought over our wine and was kind enough to pose for a couple photos. After we finished up at the wine bar, we headed home to have dinner. The coq au vin is a pretty hearty dish and our friend Alina is on a Syrah kick, so I figured it would be a good night to open a few vineyard designate Syrahs. We opened three Consilience Syrahs, the 2005 Camp Four, 2002 Star Lane Vineyard (a library release) and 2005 Star Lane Vineyard. It is fun to taste different vintages side by side and debate about which one is better. One of the world’s best known wine critics, Robert Parker Jr. gave the 2005 vintage 91 points. I don’t think he rated the 2002 but our unofficial vote at the dinner table resulted in an even split between the two vintages. Personally, I prefer the 2002 Star Lane – it has wonderful flavors of chocolate and coffee.
Wine Nation Underdog 
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