Wine Nation Underdog

After a long day of skiing, Jason, Shannon and I headed over to Uncorked – a great little wine bar at the base of the slopes owned by a woman named Kali. Winemaker Doug Hackett was there pouring wines from his two labels, Three Families and Dogwood Cellars. Doug’s Three Families brand is great for simple everyday drinking whereas his Dogwood Cellars wine is more complex. Doug says Dogwood is “his baby”. Before we started the tasting, our friend André showed up unexpectedly. He said, “I’ve learned over the years that I want to be wherever Shannon is”. Shannon is known for his ability to find fun things to do, like wine tasting. Clearly he is a good friend to have!  First, we tried the 2007 Three Families Chardonnay- the only white that Doug makes. This bright wine is completely unoaked and has wonderful mineral characteristics. I think it would be a perfect glass to have before a meal. Next up was the 2005 Three Families Merlot. This wine spent 22 months in neutral French oak – it was fruit forward with a slight sour cherry finish. Doug poured us his 2004 Three Families Cabernet Sauvignon next. This is a simple wine, but it is so by design. I tend to like more complex Cabs, so this wine didn’t really zing me. With that said, this Cab is exactly what it was meant to be – a very approachable wine for Doug’s less formal, Three Families brand.

We moved on to the Dogwood Cellars wines. We tasted the 2003 and 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon. Both have the complexity and depth I appreciate in Cabs. Both vintages contain some Merlot. (The 2003 has 13% and the 2004 has 20%.) The 2003 has less fruit on the palate and hints of cedar and anise. The 2004 has firm tannins with cherry, cedar and white pepper on the palate. It is very drinkable now but Doug says it can be cellared for up to 10 years. The 2005 Dogwood Dry Creek Zinfandel was next. With 6% Syrah and 20 months in oak (50% new, 50% neutral) this is a really showy wine with flavors of chocolate and cinnamon. Doug surprised us with a barrel sample that wasn’t on the list, his 2007 Dogwood Dry Creek Zinfandel. Dense with flavors of cinnamon, allspice, rhubarb and white pepper, this wine is a Zin lover’s Zinfandel. Doug let us know that he sold a number of cases as futures. There are only 10 barrels of this wine, so place your order now! Since we enjoyed the barrel sample so much, Doug brought over a few more surprises for us. He poured us a barrel sample of his 2007 Dogwood Mendocino County Zinfandel – which tastes similar to the Dry Creek Zin but with more kick and spice. I would love to have this wine with gumbo. We all really enjoyed the wines from Dogwood Cellars, especially the Zinfandels. I’ll find out when the two Zins that we barrel tasted are scheduled to be released and post that information here.

When we got back to the house, we opened a few bottles to have with dinner – the 2005 Consilience Hampton Family Syrah (a new release) and one of my current favorites, the 2003 Ethan Syrah (bottle number 1341 out of 3575). I specifically brought this one for our friends André and Alina to try. André’s family has been in the wine business for many years and as you might guess, his palate is quite astute. I was especially interested in hearing his thoughts on the Ethan Syrah. It is made by second generation winemaker, Ethan Lindquist. His father is Robert Lindquist of Qupé, an award winning Santa Barbara county winery well known for its spicy and complex Syrahs. Clearly the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.  Another late evening enjoying wine, great food and friends – now THIS is my kind of vacation!

Anne, Andre & Alina

Jason and I packed up the car today to head up to Squaw for a week of skiing with friends from from Santa Barbara and New York. We stopped in Paso Robles for lunch at Artisan. This is one of my favorite restaurants – great locally sourced food, an awesome wine list and a relaxed, casual atmosphere complete with cool photography by Ross Halfin. While checking out the menu, I ordered a flight of three Paso Robles wines for us to share – this is the equivalent of about one glass of wine. (I didn’t want us to get tired on the road.) We had the 2004 Chateau Margene Cabernet Sauvignon, which was a beautiful garnet color. On the palate, we tasted currant, raspberry and cedar. Next up was the 2006 RN Estate Cuvée des Trois Cepages. This is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. It had soft tannins and made a wonderful transition over my entire palate. The Cabernet Franc dominated the long finish. It went really well with the portabella, sundried tomato and pesto panini and the seafood chowder we ordered. The third wine of our flight was the 2005 Booker Remnant, which is a blend of Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petite Verdot. This is a deep purple colored wine, with flavors of white pepper spice, cedar and a hint of mint. I am on the Booker allocation list, so I hope to be able to taste this one again in a few years?  Perhaps Booker will do a library release?  After our fabulous Artisan lunch we got back in the car and finished the drive to Squaw. We arrived just before dinner; perfect timing to open up a few bottles. First we finished off the 2006 Stolpman Grenache that we opened yesterday evening. It tasted much better today than it did yesterday. I think it just needed some time to open up. I also opened a 2006 Tre Anelli Sangiovese – fruity and very food friendly.  If you’re a fan of Italian and Spanish varietals, I highly recommend visiting the Tre Anelli tasting room.  Tre Anelli makes so few cases, that they sell all their wine from the tasting room.  Next up was the 2003 Mandolina Toccata. This is a blend (45% Sangiovese, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Cabernet Franc, 15% Freisa and 10% Merlot) that had a wonderful richness on the palate.   Mandolina’s tasting room is located in Solvang and is also worth a visit!

My husband Jason is obsessed with grenache – ask him, he won’t deny it.  In light of this, we’ve acquired lots of grenache.  One of our recent purchases is the 2006 Paredon Grenache This medium bodied wine has firm tannins and a nose of baking spices.  The flavors of berries were complemented by a lovely peppery finish. It went remarkably well with dal (a spicy Indian dish with lentils) and the chicken tikka masala!

We went wine tasting a few times last year with our friends Mike and Sandra.  On one of the tasting excursions we all bought a library release the 2001 Lions Peak Proprietor’s Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon.  Mike emailed me the other day to let me know that he and Sandra opened their bottle it was drinking really well.  I wanted to be able to compare notes with him, so Jason and I opened up our bottle tonight.  Mike was right!  The fruit used to make this wine was grown in Paso Robles.  The Cabernet Sauvignon fruit from Paso tends to yield a wine that is soft on the palate but rich with chocolate and berry flavors.  I love Napa Cabernets (especially the 1999 Nickel & Nickel Rock Cairn Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon we drank about a month ago, WOW!), but quite frankly, I lack patience.    Paso Cabs cost less than their Napa cousins and best of all, they are ready to drink far sooner!  So while you’re waiting for your Napa Cabs to bottle age for eight to ten years, you can choose from great Cabs from Paso.  Case in point, at the 2008 California State Fair, the Calcareous 2005 Cabernet was named ‘Best Cabernet Sauvignon in California’.  This wasn’t an isolated Paso win, either.  Out of 1700 entries from wineries in California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Australia and New Zealand, Paso Robles won all three Best in Class awards for Cabernet.  Trust me, if you’ll be visiting the Santa Barbara area, be sure to give yourself a weekend to taste Paso Robles’ wonderful Zinfandels, Petite Sirahs, Syrahs AND Cabs!

Neither Jason nor I were able to get dinner reservations anywhere tonight – it is Valentine’s Day and we both didn’t plan far enough ahead. We headed downtown to Elements to see if we could get one of the tables in the bar. Fortunately we lucked out and were able to get a table by the window– so we had a view of the Santa Barbara courthouse. We got married in the clock tower of the courthouse and then we had dinner at Elements, so it is extra fun that we are celebrating Valentine’s Day here. We ordered wine to drink while we were deciding what to order. I had the 2007 Chien Edelzwicker (my favorite white blend of 2008) and Jason ordered a glass of Prosecco. For our first course we had two salads, one was prosciutto and citrus on a bed of watercress and the other was a squid salad on mixed greens. For my entrée, I chose a swordfish fillet with mole and fingerling potatoes and kale. It was, hands down, the best mole sauce I have ever had. If you haven’t tried mole yet, you should go to Elements. It is an intriguing blend of chocolate (bitter, not sweet), cinnamon, chili peppers (usually ancho, pasilla, mulato, chipotle), nuts or seeds, garlic, and onions. It seems that there is no single way to make mole, it is very open to interpretation and experimentation. This mole tasted rich and had a slow, mellow burn with a very slight tang. It was so perfectly balanced – richness and spice dancing in my mouth! During dinner I had a glass of Tercero blend of Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre. It was the second glass that I ordered…the first one I am sad to report wasn’t good so I ordered a different wine. Life is too short to drink wine you don’t like. It was a 2006 Syrah from Barrel 27 and it smelled like sherry and wet cardboard. On the palate it didn’t taste bad per se, but it sure didn’t taste good either. It was a new wine at Elements, so the waitstaff couldn’t tell me if this was just an aberrant bottle. I generally like the wines from Barrel 27, so I am inclined to believe that it was just an “off” bottle. Jason ordered the 2005 Beckman Syrah. I am consistently pleased with the wines from Beckman, especially the Syrah and Grenache. Expressive and lush, they are sheer pleasure to drink! We had a chocolate ganache dessert, reminisced some more about our sunny afternoon wedding years ago and then headed home. At home we opened a Paso Robles blend of 55% Syrah, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Cabernet Franc and 9% Zinfandel. It was the 2004 RN Estate Cuvée des Artistes. I loved the flavor combination of blackberry, spice, licorice and white pepper. There are some really amazing wines coming out of the Paso Robles area. We went wine tasting there last year in September and were surprised at how many wonderful wineries we found. We’ll be going again this year at least once or twice, in search of more great wine.  Drop me a note if you have any favorites in Paso!

Jason and I didn’t drink wine tonight, because we had an important martial arts (Hapkido) test. We tested and passed!  We’re up to the orange belt with a black stripe.  We have a few years before we’ll have any chance of getting our black belts, but it is a fun journey.   We kickbox too – which is great exercise especially when combined with Hapkido.  Its a good thing too, because I eat and drink with gusto!

We came home today after spending a few days in Los Angeles at a trade show. Boy it is great to be back home in Santa Barbara! To celebrate, we opened a local wine, the 2004 Curran Black Oak Vineyard Syrah Reserve, made by Kris Curran. She is responsible for some award winning wines at Cambria and most notably Sea Smoke Cellars. With the Curran brand, she focuses on a handful of varietals including Grenache Blanc, Sangiovese, Syrah, Tempranillo. Her single vineyard Syrahs are really interesting to taste side by side because Kris focuses on trying to bring out the character of the varietal as well as unique characteristics imparted by the vineyard. You can drink the same vintage, the same varietal, with the only difference being that the fruit was grown a mile or so apart at a different vineyard and taste remarkable differences.

We celebrated my father-in-law’s birthday tonight with a special dinner at our place. While prepping the dinner Jason and I opened a chilled Scott Cellars 2005 Pinot Gris which we shared with our guests when they arrived. Scott Cellars is a tiny winery – they produce only about 900 cases a year. I met the winemaker, Peter Scott Fraser, when we were both pouring wine at a charity event. I traded him a bottle of Consilience Santa Barbara County Petite Sirah for one of his Scott Cellars J Cuvee (a lovely fruity blend of Zinfandel and Syrah, named after his wife) which I fell in love with after one taste. Alas, I digress. The Pinot Gris is not subtle nor delicate, it is balanced with a crisp richness that I enjoy in white wine. Dinner was salmon with a lemon dill sauce and roasted root vegetables (pearl onions, garlic, parsnips, potatoes, beets) with a lovely Alma Rosa 2005 Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir (90 points from Wine Spectator). The owners of Alma Rosa, Richard and Thekla Sanford, are friends with my in-laws, so we thought it might be fun to drink Alma Rosa wine tonight. The Pinot, with its subtle floral aroma and deep cherry and earthy flavors, went really well with the fish. I also made a “three hole chocolate cake”, using a recipe from my Mom. Since this cake doesn’t call for any perishable ingredients (like milk or eggs), my Mom would bake it whenever the roads were closed (we were snowed in often during the winter and couldn’t get to the supermarket). Here is the recipe in case you are jonesing for chocolate cake.

3 Hole Chocolate Cake
1.5 C flour
1 C sugar
3 TB cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
6 TB salad oil
1 TB cider vinegar
1 TB vanilla extract
1 C cold water

1. Sift the first 5 ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, salt) together into a large bowl
2. Make three holes (depressions) in the sifted ingredients
3. Pour salad oil into hole #1
4. Pour cider vinegar into hole #2
5. Pour vanilla extract into hole #3
6. Pour 1 C of water over all
7. Mix it all together with a spoon or wire whisk until very smooth
8. Pour into an 8″x8″ pan
9. Bake at 350F degrees for 30-35 minutes

Sometimes when the cake was still a little warm from the oven, Mom would put a simple glaze on it. With that said, the cake is great without the glaze. Here is the recipe for the glaze:
1 C powdered sugar
1 TB butter
1.5 TB cocoa
A few drops of vanilla extract
Milk (add just enough to make the glaze spreadable)
Mix the glaze ingredients together and then spread over the cake. Enjoy!