No Wine Over $20-Reviews and the LA Wine Scene

As the Presidential campaign comes to a crushing close we are asked to focus our remaining attention muscles on voting. tBoW urges every reader to follow the same principles in voting that we advocate in selecting wines. People who "buy the label" will vote for the candidate with most seductive TV ads. They will be as disappointed in their candidate as they will in their wines, forced to utter platitudes and faith-based claims that they made a great choice. Folks who read a little will buy a wine for which they have a pretty good idea what will come out of the bottle. They will vote with what's left in their wallets for a balance between quality and value to the consumer. Trust and value and an informed position. Not the "razzle dazzle" Chris Matthews has tattooed on the McCain campaign. [ed. cantcha see Sarah P in this? yoobethca!]

Here are some "blochbustah" wines tBoW has been tasting on the campaign trail.

2007 Rusack Santa Barbara County Rosé $12 (at the winery): Raspberry and peach color. Soft watermelon gummi bear flavors. Made from Syrah and Grenache but you would never know the wine is so delicate and soft. Nice effort. 13.1%

2005 Koehler Syrah Estate $32 (at the winery): Big thick "man's wine". Syrupy and spicy. Hot on the first taste (high alcohol). Blends in with the powerful, brooding fruit. Think Ludwig Von. This has the best and the worst of Santa Rita Hills wines. Blow you away fruit with bowl you over alcohol. 15.1%

2004 Domain de la Chapelle Les Gallieres Chinon $15: Perhaps it was a mistake opening this after the Koehler. The wine could not stand up next to the dark and forebearing Syrah. This is Cabernet Franc however it is harvested not very ripe, somewhat lightweight. Not very much fruit flavors. 13%

2004 Chateau Gaillard Saumur $15: Dirty, flat, uninspired. Because this bottle was purchased from the same wine shop and said wine shop recently lost the clerk who had a sense of what tBoW liked and personally had tasted many of the wines in his shop...it reinforces an important principle of wine shopping. If the Prime Directive is find a shop that carries a nice array of interesting wines, the the Prime Prime Directive is find a sales person in that shop whose palate matches yours. If both conditions can be met then the likelihood of buying two dog wines like these at the same time from the same shop is greatly reduced. 12.5%

2002 Ojai Vogelzang Syrah $33: Unusual nose of garlic salt. Briny and earthy. The Vogelzang planting is in the southeastern corner of the Santa Ynez Valley where it is hot hot hot. The flavors are berry berry full of berry. Smoky, skunky, funky. The wine is well made but not too appealing at this point. Have had this more than a year ago and liked it better. 14.5%

1996 Chapoutier Chateauneuf du Pape Barbe Rac $112 (online today): The ringer, big ticket. A birthday gift to ubiquitous tBoW tasting team leader Dotoré (thank you). A "luxury" cuvee. Classic white pepper all over the nose. Idiosyncratic to some. Elegant to all. Liquer richness and intensity. Seems to be perfectly aged right now. Does not fade quickly. Holds up throughout the meal. Excellent French Syrah. 13.8%

Palate Food & Wine is the one restaurant in Los Angeles where I do not bring my own bottle of wine. Every once in awhile something is so obvious it is stupid. Taking wine to most restaurants is, truthfully, a defensive move. There are very few restaurants that offer interesting wines at reasonable prices. Most restauranteurs consider their wine list an opportunity to extort 300% markups for whatever low-end bottles the local mega-distributor can sell them.

One has a far better choice at Palate where I usually spend more on the wine than the food. But what value and what fun. I prefer to have Steve Goldun, Palate's wine-meister, bring wines by the glass, matched to what has been ordered. This is like giving the bailout to Warren Buffet instead of Henry Paulson. I know Steve's picks will be exceptional, unusual, delightful and inspirational. Did I leave something out?

2005 Domaine Labet Cotes du Jura Flors de Savinin: Where the heck is Jura (see map)? The Savingin grape is related to Traminer and has more cousins than a Nashville songwriter. Read all about it at wikipedia. This wine has some purposeful oxidation that yields hard cheese flavors, doughy, yeast notes (say that 5 times in a row yeastnotes...yeastnotes...) and memories of "mache" (merci to Palate Manager Francois aka le pointeau argent). Flavors bring lemon, citrus, mashed tart apples (not apple sauce). White wines from Spain are often oxidized to bring out this dry and cheesy flavor. It can be off-putting but it worked here. The perfect wine to start with at Palate where I expect to taste wines far from the middle-of -the-road.

2004 Vitatge Vielh de Lapeyre Jurancon Sec: If it is a wine from Gascony it usually means Charles Neal is the importer. His choices are bleeding edge, in the forefront, beyond the vanguard. Here is a great example. Bright citrus fruit. Orange-ish. Think Riesling crossed with Chenin Blanc. Is it really? Steve pours it with the Matsuki 'shrooms and Dungeness crab risotto. Perfecto.

2007 Pierre Chermette Beaujolais $15: This is it. Guaranteed U20 pick for Year 2. Spicy on the nose like glüwein, cinnamon. Big fruity, juicy but not overripe. Just delicious. This is the entry level. How great will the village wines be? Weygandt brings them in. I took some home with me. That is commitment. 12%

2005 Camille Giroud Bourgogne $32: Premium Burgundy producer from exceptionally fine sourced vineyards. This wine described as de-classified Mersault. It is beautiful, simple and straightforward Pinot Noir. Soft, fruity. Pinot plus. More more more. 12.5%

1997 Ca' Togni: I broke my rule and brought this bottle but only because I knew Steve Goldun would like to taste it. After all, a dessert from a top Napa cab-maker is unusual. Philip Togni is one of the premier Napa Cabernet winemakers. This statement is somewhat supercilious since everyone who makes Cabernet in Napa considers him or herself a premium winemaker by virtue of location [ed. and price!]. However, Philip Togni has one of the better stories that makes the hyperbole real. Trained in Bordeaux at a mature age he purchased land on Spring Mountain 2,000 feet above Napa in 1983 and began fulfilling his plan to make great Bordeaux style wine from the best growing region for Cabernet in the world. His wines are toothy, even stiff when young. They require age. When we visited a few years ago he offered this little split of his dessert wine. Sassafras, root beer and strawberries. Rich flavor, lovely balance. Cooked strawberries style. Wish I had another. Paired with the chocolate pudding, like Bonnie and Clyde, they were meant for each other. Perfect finish to a great dining and wine-ing experience.

First word on the week's historic election: be happy that somewhere Redd Foxx is smiling because something truly incredible happened when the blue states won. Hell yeh!!!

[ed. Redd Foxx, for our younger readers, was a trail blazing comic best known for his mid 70s TV show Sanford & Son. Before he hit the bigtime he labored long and hard breaking new ground for taboo humor that opened the gates for later comics from Richard Pryor to Chris Rock. Foxx broke many color barriers in entertainment. He was a loyal friend to many other entertainers of color who rode his coattails into the mainstream business. He was socially progressive (a colleague of Malcom X when he was Little)...and he was hilariously funny. Click on the above link and learn about him]

Scarface loses the election and gazes on our new world of economic chaos and the unavoidable destruction of a false history. tBoW apologizes for his morose mood. While I am happy with our presidential choice and hope his long coattail brings with it sweeping changes in our economy and political culture, I know the road ahead will be very rough.

Well. Let's talk about wines.

2006 Magnien Bourgogne $XX: What's not to like? If you ever want to know the difference between old and new world Pinot Noir here it is. tBoW says this entry level wine is perfect because (1) the price/quality ratio is there, 2) the wine is very nicely made, and (3) it will drink well for a few years. Concentrated dark fruit we seldom see domestically (excepting McKenzie Mueller and other certain Carneros styles). Good spine-firming tannins. I held it four days after which it showed a spiciness. Selected by the team at North Berkeley Wine through their Beaune Wine Club which is one club I kept because they always send wines that have great price/quality ratio, $75 every other month. Delicious. XX%

2005 Anglim Viognier BIen Nacido $~25: Steve Anglim makes two Viogniers one each from Bien Nacido and Fralich vineyards. The Fralich is local to Paso and Bien Nacido is in northern SB County. Purchased this in Paso. Anglim did not have a "visiting" winery then. He had a retail shop in the train station. That was when he did everything from tend vines to bottle to pack cases to hand sell. He may still be doing it! This is a pretty tasty example of Central Coast Viognier. More candy cane than feline. Nice if you like Viognier. The alcohol, which is typically Paso, does not overwhelm. 15.3%

2000 Clos du Val Estate Carneros Pinot Noir ~$30: A guest brought this to dinner. Nice pick. Has the dark Carneros fruit reminiscent of a McKenzie Mueller Pinot Noir. By comparison, Acacia Carneros Pinot Noirs are quite fruity, a style that is not as attractive to tBoW. At 8 years it was showing very nicely. Cinammon and smoke are vineyard characteristics and present here. Clos du Val, started by Bernard Portet, is 35 years old, a real Valley veteran from the 70s boom years. They have 150 acres in Stags Leap and 180 in Carneros. He knew he wanted to make a Napa Cabernet and a Carneros Pinot Noir. Cannot fault his judgment. Clearly the Cab line is more successful. One rarely sees or hears from the PN line. A bit more rustic in style, earthiness not barnyard. Fell apart a bit after 90 minutes. Who knew Clos du Val had vineyard in Southern Napa? 13.8%

When the world seems upside down it makes perfect sense to turn to wines we know and love. We feature a few of these "comfy wines" in this post.

Hot off the press. LA Times covers everything you have been reading for weeks about falling prices on trophy wines, the inevitable rise of New World wines under $10, and the reluctant cancellations of wine club memberships, on tBoW. Click here to read what we already know.

2005 Tablas Creek Grenache Blanc $26: Sweet, with bright acid grapefruit flavors. Released in 2006 this wine is drinking wonderfully, cellared for more than a year. Still has a hint of wood. tBoW taster Tootsie says she's had this before. It's Oroblanco grapfruit. Say what? "In Israel, known as 'Sweetie'. Mid winter Oroblanco produces sweet seedless fruit even in areas of low summer heat. Huge, intensely fragrant flowers and attractive glossy foliage." Read about all kinds of citrus fruits at the Four Winds Grocers website here. I bookmarked it. An omigod 15.3%

2004 Tablas Creek Panoplie $68: [ed. Alert reader points out tBoW missed this price point. This is the release price for TC Wine Club members Serious thanx for the tip.] The TC flagship wine blends 69% Mourvedre with 21% Grenache and 10% Syrah. Like the name it is a "magnificent array" of TC's top red vines. A classic Rhone blend only made in exceptional vintages. Differs from the Esprit de Tablas Creek in two ways: proportions of Grenache and Syrah are reversed and the Esprit includes Counoise. This is big and jammy right now. tBoW team taster the Crackberry Kid distracts himself from his 24/7 mainline to everything anyone needs to know long enough to say "Nouveau Beaujolais". Then he busies himself looking up how many home runs Dick Allen hit in his career. [ed. 351] The wine should age plenty more years. Goes well with thick grilled pork chops and grilled pineapple, onions and red peppers. But it is still not too big or overwhelming. Somehow it seems restrained. Could be the food! 280 cases. 14.6%

Both wines are delicious and encourage the tBoW tasting team that things will get better!!

2004 MacKenzie Mueller Carneros Cabernet Franc $27: Another fine effort. Dark red robe. Cinnamon and spice. Dark chocolate finish. Perfect with steaks. A tad hot at 15.2%

2005 Williams Selyem Flax Vineyard Pinot Noir $54: Beets and smoke on the nose. Rochioli broods while WIlliam Selyem giggles. Cherries and cola (but not cherry cola) flavors. Young enough to show some tannins. 14.4%

Late word from the Crackberry Kid...a panoply is...oh, we already know.

Turn tough times to good times. Purge the cellar. Hold onto cash. As with everything there is risk. Cellar purging has the risk of finding forgotten wines. The last thing we need today is another letdown.

Feces occurs so often that when it does we think in familiar ways, like why we thought the wine would be GOOD. Good pedigree (Alejandro Fernandez), good score (Parker 91), good story (bottled only in the BEST vintages). How did we lose sight? How did we let a good wine go bad? Here is my story.

1996 Alenza ~$60: Once upon a time this was a great tempranillo. Highly touted. Soft and smooth like a...like a...complete that on your own. Blame it on tBoW. He sat on it too long. As I pull the cork I pray this one will tell me the other 2 bottles were corked. Painful truth. The wine is just over the hill. Like a Republican candidate. Dies faster than a vampire born with a stake in its heart or a November World Series. Within minutes it tastes tired, gnarled. Like it just wants to fall into the abyss without notice. [ed. getting a little dark here] The real bad news is I still have 3 bottles. Family holiday gifts!?! 13%

Another equally maudlin story is a one-hit-wonder wine always on the fringe, in the periphery. A notorious loner. Like the Shangrilas (who had a string of hits) said "he's good bad but he's not evil". Tell me mo' tell me mo'....


2003 Melville Verna's Syrah $56: Bought this bad boy at the winery just as tBoW was beginning to fall out of love with Santa Rita Hills wines. Sterno alcohol levels were not yet the baccio dela morte that killed the romance. This is the second bottle tasted in 24 months. Tastes a lot like the first one which is pretty good! Jammy to be sure. Dark dark fruit. Coffee flavor. Distinctive like Melville says. The 100 acre vineyard is not located in Santa Rita Hills proper but rather outside the tine town of Los Alamos (click here for clarifying map), on the way to Santa Maria north and east of Santa Rita Hills. There is plenty of good growing turf outside SRH. We wish other local winemakers would adopt Paul Lato's point of view that the regional fruit is big enough and should actually be toned down! This wine, however, reflects the prevailing POV where bigger is better. Not quite bombastic, the Melville wine would not look out of place under the wing of an Apache Longbow. As we threw down the mother-of-all-over-the-top-wines we wondered what would the Kenneth-Crawford team (aka Kings of Extraction) do with Verna's fruit? You can find out yourself. Their current release includes a $34 Verna's Syrah which is actually good value for the region. The ankle bracelet is extra.

Every motley crew has one decent player. In this group it is a wonderful Italian white wine that Costco carried all summer. [ed. imagine an entire generation only knows Motley Crüe the Hollywood band. Click here if you MUST see the Dr. Feelgood vid]

2007 Falanghina dei Feudi di San Gregorio $10: Coco-nutty and floral nose with key lime flavors. After lying open a few days it tasted nuttier and just as good. Great value. The story: only the "free run" juice goes into the bottle. The varietal is Falanghina. The vineyard has 20 y.o. vines. Viva Italia and viva Kirkland once again. 12.9%

2002 Marques de la Concordia Signa Reserva $16: We will be seeing more of these kinds of wines. Gelsons Market special. A Mrs. tBoW impulse buy. How bad can it be? Well, tBoW is not fond of Tempranillo. I find it to be fairly undistinguished among red wines. Fruity, moderate flavors. Middle to heavy weight. This wine is 100% Tempranillo, aged in the high profile oak program. A bit overripe for my taste. Nice enough but I know there are better wines to be had out there. Like the next one. Aged in new French and American oak. Six years later the oak has given up the fight and the raisiny fruit has won. Worth $8 so at this price it is overripe and overpriced. 13.5%

2001 Marshall Cellars Juliet Peery $10: Now this is the kind of deal we are actually looking for...and expect to see more of. A good wine that went bad because nobody would buy it at the posted price. Don't blame the wine. 1500 cases of this vanity project with a bottle you can heft to the oldies. And so handsome! Wide at the shoulder, tapering down to the punt. Clean label design quietly announces its presence. Recommended release price $55. What do you think Whole Foods had to pay to put this out at $10? Marshall had several hundred cases still in warehouse from a phenomenal vintage and said "get rid of it". Lucky for Whole Foods and lucky for us. To quote
Dotoré the Discoverer "it's the kind of wine you can take to a holiday party and nobody will know you paid $10". Sometimes he is so shallow...but always correct. Because the wine is good. Eight years later the Bordeaux blend still has legs after several days with just a cork in the bottle of steel. Napa floor and Carneros hills fruit with serious tannins that have mellowed but remain present, if less feisty. Great Napa premium flavors with enough Merlot and Cab Franc (24% combined) to keep the Cab in its place. 14.3%