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

July 4th is a big holiday and this year the 4th is a Wednesday which means no working Thurs and Friday! You want to get your rose' wines and your Moscatos on chill and ready for sipping 'round the pool, spa or bath. If you have never had a sip of Moscato d'Asti please think about it before plunging over the falls. This is a white Italian wine from Piemonte with a slight spritz. The good ones are mind-bendingly easy to swallow...like soda pop. With alcohol around 7% and flavors of peach, honey, lime and mo mo mo you will drink the entire bottle in 30 minutes.

By the way, before we get to the wines, get thee to the North Berkeley website. It is outstanding. I write alot about Kermit Lynch's taste and selections and how terrific is his palate and offerings. However, his website is strictly flapjacks. Not that he needs to be any more fanciful. I just know he could show more about what he likes and does - read his book "Adventures on the Wine Route" and you will get my point. And sign up for the NB email list.

2005 Trenel Chiroubles $15 (Robt. Chadderdon selection): This is the wine that got us started on restricting wine purchases to under $20. The 2005 vintage in Beaujolais was highly touted and has turned out to be pretty darn goot. DokkerM and I have purchased '05s from multiple sources (Kermit, NB, Whole Foods, Woodland Hills Wine Co -WHW, K&L H'wood) and they never disappoint. Sometimes they delight. This is the wine touted to us by Steve at WHW a year ago. It is still great. Medium to light weight. Still showing some tannin. Black cherries, perfectly balanced. A Williams Selyem of Beaujolias. How can you not love it? Need to get more if Paul Smith still has some. Never saw it anywhere else. Also bought the Morgon but have not opened it.

1996 Elio Altare Barolo (from the cellar): Took it to a (Provencal) restaurant. Altare is one of the top producers in Barolo. Another example if you have never tried a Barolo... The 1996 vintage was spectacular. The 1997 got more press which goes to show you should always try to get more info than what is available thru the wine industry. The flavor/nose combo for Barolo is "tar and roses". Great Baroli have that. This did not and it was still great. I have tasted Baroli that do. It did have red cherry flavors, medium weight, great depth of flavor that dawdled on my palate like my wife getting ready to go out. The 1996 vintage is fruity, although less so IMO than the 1997. 1996 has more stuffing. I am sitting on another case or so of mixed labels. Had the 1996 Alessandria a month ago (also wonderful) that let me know the vintage is ready for consumptive intentions. So, you might ask the obvious question...how does it stack up to those '05 Beuajolais? I will defer to you.

2005 Garnacha de Fuego old vines $8: A Jose Ordonez selections wine with cool packaging, fire licking up the label like the intro to a Latin movie about "the romancia". Ordonez is a hot importer. Column forthcoming on hot-shot importers. Unfortunately, this time we had a dud. Cloudy in the glass (not tossed around it's been on my bar for weeks) and jukki in the mouth. Spit it out asparagus and week old pancake mix. I had several bottles this past winter and enjoyed each one. Nothing spectacular but I wouldn't throw it out of my cellar either. For $8 (of bottles stored well) you could do a wedding up right. Bad lot? Most likely. Open one before you buy a case.

2005 St Supery Napa Cabernet $25?: This was the other dinner wine that had to stand up to the Altare Barolo, hardly a fair fight. I had the waiter ice it down and it came out cool. Fruity, cab flavors, without wood and cedar flavors or nose. Tasted very nice. St. Supery is the kind of Napa winery I like to visit but I would never buy wine on premises. They are too widely distributed. I like to visit because their tasting charge is not $40 and their wines are well made. How many cabs are in my cellar? McKenzie-Mueller new releases, and a couple older bottles by Togni.

I gotta go find some Moscatos...

Not one of the three wines reviewed is under $20. Not my fault. And, as you will learn, I cannot say I regret it.

During these dog days of summer when the temps hit 100 in the LA industrial interior you need a really good reason to drive 50 miles one way just to see some old pals starting a new wine venture. As I passed the Commerce Casino on a stretch of freeway where trucks outnumber automobiles I considered what I was doing here...so far from my pool and bike trails.

I was on my way for lunch with old friend and wine biz veteran Greg Gilooly and his partner Alex Correa. Greg is like the Hoyt Wilhelm of wine, well traveled because he can still throw the drop ball. If Greg is the cagey vet, then Alex is Tom Glavine, the steady winner. Greg has been in every part of the business and more than once in each. Want to know more? Founding partner in the Wine House, arguably LA's biggest wine retailer. They carry everything you would ever want. He owned a distribution company, a wine shipping and storage and another more recent wine retail shop. Now he is back in the storage and shipping business with WineBridge. He graciously invited me to visit the facility in an industrial part of LA most people pass through. Seems like there are two trucks for every car on that stretch of concrete.

After we visited, toured the "airplane hangar" perfectly temp controlled, and talked about trucking strategies, it was off to lunch at ABC Seafood in Monterey Park. For those not from these parts Monterey Park is home to reputedly the finest Chinese restaurants west of Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Like Grampappy Amos used to say ("Luke...") "no brag just fact".

I was pleased to see that Greg's sense of direction was as bad as mine. Neither Alex or I offered advice being content to roam until we ran into the place. DokkerM would call this the way of men or something like that.

There are so many ABC restaurants in LA I have to wonder if the same thing happens in China. This is stupid of course since I cannot read Chinese script and Chinese people will say anything just to laugh at how stupid I am. Dim sum at lunch as one would expect. So good I tried to engineer a "special" birthday brunch for the subsequent Sunday for my daughter's 20th. But she saw through my ploy and we ended up eating pizza.

2005 Sea Smoke Ten: Brooding, serious, medium weight, one of the main the reasons Santa Rita Hills are a hot area for growing and producing pinot noir. There are tea flavors but mostly ripe SRH fruit. Winemaker Kris Curran is one of the important names behind the wine. The Ten is the high end bottling from 10 different clones in the estate vineyard. OK. 14.9% alcohol. Yow. At least it doesn’t burn. I’m probably a wimp in the eyes of SRH winemakers. http://www.seasmokecellars.com/sections/our_wines/tasting_notes.html

2004 Vocoret Chablis Vaillons Premier Cru: When did I lose track of these wines? I used to love Chablis wines. I think I memorized the Grand Cru vineyards. Maybe they got too pricey (likely) and I just burned out on white burgs (not likely). This wine was once sold by Greg G around $15. Today? $XX. It is not in the flinty style often attributed to Chablis. Has lemon nuance, ripeness, neither plump or lean. Was 2004 a ripe vintage? Absolutely lovely. 2005 village wine is $15. The Blanchot will run you $40 (but it is Grand Cru). You can still buy Vocoret at Heritage Wines in Pasadena.

2000 Uvaggio Il Leopardo: The question is whether the wine is tired. It is California Nebbiolo made by Mr. Jim Moore. The wine has sat in my cellar for a week with temp controlled. It is brackish red in the glass. The nose is delicate, suggesting something aged but not retired. The flavor is aged Barolo, lighter, delicate, familiar flavors of rose and tar. Delicate. We start lunch with this wine and finish with it 90 minutes later, still charmed.

All three wines were excellent with the dishes of BBQ pork, broccoli, shrimp and some kind of shellfish dumpling. I selected cubes of bean curd with sesame flecks for desert. It tasted like sesame gelatin and looked like opaque pepper jello. It was terrific. When do we go again boys?

Summer is really starting to slip over the horizon. I can feel Fall in the evening air. We have to close the doors at night it is so cold!! Brrrr. It is also football time.The Trojans are rocking (even though we played like plonk against the Huskies) and the other local team has faltered as expected. I posted a pic of the band for the #1 team in the country at the Idaho rout at the end of this entry.

Something nice about the end of summer, post-Labor day, pre-Halloween weeks is that we find ourselves with open weekends. No plans. Relaxing and playing it by ear is nummah wun. A good time to hang out in your 'hood. So naturally I am going to visit my local wine shop, Woodland Hills Wine Company (WHWC). I have been instructed by the Connecticut Mouse that I must get my hands on a bottle of Sagrantino post haste. Mouse has recently returned from Barolo where he stayed at Da Felicin and LOVED every pour and bite. Here is a photo of da man Nino at da place Da Felicin. Somehow in the calculus of wine pals I am now beholden to Mouse to get over to Paul Smith's emporium, WHWC, ASAP. Mouse has already foraged around the website and verified Paul has at least one bottle of the Sagrantino.

WHWC is humming at 2:30 on Saturday. I spot super-sales guy Steve Gulden immediately and present the details of my quest. He finds the bottle and asks me if I would care to sample the 2005 Beaujolais being poured in flight at the wine bar. I have a couple hours until USC kicks off in Lincoln so why not?

WHWC (aka Paul's) just gets better all the time. The sales team has always been fun. Paul sets the ribald tone and the wine flows. The wine flights (fLights not fights) at the bar are always interesting and well considered. Pricing is quite fair. Stemware is top notch. What's not to like? What I love is the 2005 Beaujolais flight. I have tasted some of these wines but not all.

There are 2 Trenel wines - St Amour, Morgon Cote du Py; a Pierre-Marie Chermette Fleurie les Deux Roches; and a Vissoux Morgon. Paul has something special with Trenel. I just do not see them anywhere elses and they are across the board excellent. Brittany is one of the reps pouring the 4 wines and she happily poses with Paul for me then gets her own pal to get a shot with Paul on her own camera. Doesn't Paul look great? I forgot what we talked about. I bought the 4 Beaujolais wines. How could I not?

When I got home Linda M. called and invited us to her home for BBQ and whatever wine I would like to bring. Curious to learn what other wine lovers might think of a 2005 Beaujolais and pull something waiting long enough in the cellar I accepted the invite. Plus I adore Linda. OK. There is the setup for a casual afternoon and evening. Here are the wines.

2006 Mirassou Sauvignon Blanc ~$12: This was open when we arrived. The wine is quite nice. This category of wine (~$10 California wines from high volume wineries that make their stake in supermarkets) is meant for easy pickins. Mirassou competes with Gallo...and thank God it does. This is fine wine for the price. Well made, balanced, nothing challenging here. Easy to drink. It would never spoil a meal and it complements many. I saw the Wine Speculator gave the 2005 an 83 score. While I have never tasted the 2005 version I cannot imagine it was much different. The grapes for this wine come from all over the state so any vintage issues are washed out in the blending. Alcohol is admirably restrained at 13.4% You have to be a real s-n-o-b to rate this wine in the low '80s which is equivalent being tossed to the WS deepest dungeon.

2006 Quincy Domaine Fouassier $15: Now here is what you get for a few bucks more if you shop at WHWC and hit their floor stacks or the back wall as you walk in from the parking lot. This is also sauvignon blanc but instead of the goal being to to smooth out all the wrinkles this wine is all about the idiosyncracies of the region. The wine is aromatic with mild grassy aromas (sauvignon blanc, especially California and New Zealand SBs have profound grassy noses).
The flavors are mineral without beaucoups acid. Anise in the flavor. The wine is very well balanced. 12.5%. When I asked Steve at the counter what he thought of the wine he kept it simple "great wine for the price". Right. Take that Mr. Mouse!

2005 Trenel Chiroubles $16: Second review for this wine this summer. I said I needed to get more. Now I have more. Same fruit bomb ala' France. Among the 2005 Beaujolais this is the seductress. Who needs fruity California wines when we have fruity French wines from this vintage? The resemblance (to fruity Cal wines) is there although the nuances are important. Start with 13% alcohol - low by Cal standards. The black cherry fruit is still there. Dokkerm asks can it age? Will any of these 2005 Beaujolais be drinkable in a couple years? Do I realize how many fruit bombs from Santa Rita Hills he is sitting on? Yes...yes...and yes.

2003 Anglim Syrah French Camp Vineyard $35: Speaking of California fruit bombs, this wine falls in that group but remains captivating. The fruit bomb benchmark for myself and the good Dotore' has to be Kenneth-Crawford wines. When we first tasted these in 2003 it was an epiphany. We realized that the Santa Rita Hills were going to be the next great growing region and the next great set of California winemakers were coming out of SRH. And the winemakers of K-C were two guys to watch. A year later we were in deep reconsideration. The alcohol levels for these wines are...how to put this...high...maybe even excessive...out of control? We have a Melville Pinot that is more than 16%. The better winemakers get so much ripeness and extraction from the fruit that the alcohol is overwhelmed by it. At least upon release. Which leaves us with the nagging question...can wines with all this alcohol last? When the fruit fades will there only be vodka? But I digress. Mr. Steve Anglim makes very good wine and he is not even in SRH. He is in Paso. This wine is big and juicy. It is not thick as the Lone Madrone (which is a cabernet) but it definitely falls in with the K-C crowd. 15.4% alcohol. Glad I bought it. Glad I drank it. Had it with grilled steak. Just like they say you should.

1995 Pelissero Barbaresco Vanotu ~$40/$80: I am sure I paid around $40 but I have found it online closer to $80. This is my cellar wine that I took over to Linda's. Her guy - El Rocco - liked it mucho. I can see he and I will probably be sharing more wines in the future. He has a good palate. I was happy with this wine. The 1995 vintage is a toughie to count on. Same with 1993. When we returned from a Barolo vacation in 1998 I loaded up on 93 and 95 Baroli while I waited for 96 (I have always preferred 96 to 97 in spite of the hype). This wine has classic tar and roses in the nose and in the flavor profile. Baroli are like train travel; they need a little extra time to arrive. This took 15 minutes to open. The first whiff out of the glass complemented the first taste; dusky but not corked, some say "old world" when what they mean is lean and almost astringent. This is because the old world Barolo winemakers (Giacomo Conterno) still use Slovenian oak barrels the size of a scud missile to age the nebbiolo. Look at this photo I took in the cellar of a very famous Barolo wine house. No wonder the flavors can taste old world. But when a Barolo (and I should point out that this wine is from Barbaresco which is adjacent to Barolo and is often considered a younger sibling) comes into its own the wine is like no other. It is truly unique, seductive, fruity and lean, luscious and delicate. Wish I had another. I think the Dotore' needs to prune his Barolo stash. I really hope he doesn't give me a hard time on this rather urgent matter.

Up next...Trojans conquer all who face them. Still not safe to lay the points. Uncle Pete has shown his kind side. Now it's winning time.

Along with great meals, close friends, good cheer and all of that...holidays at the end of the year should include giving to others. Many have their favorite charity and many do not. Please check out my good friend's website www.givr.us and sign up to give something to someone you never knew existed but who you also know can use your help. The site is a networking center that connects those who want to give to those organizations that give to those in need.

Happy Turkey Day!! 386 years and counting of stuffing the bird and ourselves!

Here are a couple of recently tasted wines that probably will not make it to the celebratory dinner table. My list of wines that will are at the bottom.

1997 Dante Rivetti Bricco de Neueis Barbaresco: Not a U20 wine ever. However, it got into my cellar somehow (I am pretty sure it was a K&L purchase). Barbaresco is known for producing premium nebbiolo as in Barolo with the aging potential but without the brute muscularity of Barolo. Barbaresco is "feminine" in style. I always feel like Jeff Garlin when I write this. Feminine versus masculine? In wine? Silly? No...useful. Let's bring up an important question every wine aficionado faces sooner or later. Do you prefer wine older or younger? Masculine or feminine? Luca Brasi tells Marlon Brando "gawdfadda may your first child be a masculine child". Wine goes well with imagery. You will enjoy it more if you embellish it (true for many things). If the development of a wine were plotted on a curve it would look like some kind of parabola. Some wine writers like to refer to a wine as being in some developmental stage like adolescence, young adult, octogenarian, and the like. Once you set a model in your own mind you can begin placing wines as you drink them on that curve or in that stage of life. You might find, as I did, that I prefer a wine in its young maturity, like a 35 to 45 year old person. Still vibrant without the youthful blush. Exceedingly thoughtful and definitely capable of surprise. Muscular or sinewy. Charming without being nostalgic. These are wines before the crest of the curve. They are not yet in the descending plateau of middle age (45-55). We could go on and on, conjuring images of people who we liken to our favorite wines. Send in your thoughts. I definitely do not find wines advancing in age to be very interesting. They require too much support. I would not say this about older people (like myself!) but it is true that aging can bring many more disappointments beyond rescue. So it is for me with wines beyond the crest of the curve. Parabolas, people, gangster movies, find a metaphor and work with it! This 10 year old Barbaresco was browning at the edges with age. Weight is fine. Fruit is good with the pressed roses and minerality. I thought about the 1996 Ruchottes Chambertin recently tasted and considered how similar are these two wines. Both past their prime yet still stitched together like a fine ladies purse from the 19th century. The Barbaresco even had some baked bread on the nose. Otherwise the nebbiolo was like they say, textbook, and Dotore' picked it out right away. Barabrescos do age faster as a rule and they are not the same in depth as Barolos. This wine is more than ready to drink. I really should not wait too much longer...and I will not.

2003 Justin Cabernet Sauvignon ~$25: Bought this at the winery which
means we paid top dollar (>$25). Not my pick so that means you-know-who (she who cannot be resisted) had to have it. I did not find the wine interesting on site and I did not find it interesting with veal chops and mushrooms, lovingly prepared by you-know-who, which is a dinner this wine should complement perfectly. Justin is the premier cabernet grower and producer in Paso. I think Paso is not and never has been (e.g., HR Mountain Ranch) good cab country. Even though Justin does the best job of it (there are other collectible cab blend wines from Paso) and sells a lot of wine and has a very nice winery that should be on your tour...I just am not fond of their products. So bully for me. There are plenty of folks who love Justin wines, think my opinions suck, and I am glad for them. This wine had a tinny high acid flavor and not much of a nose. The fruit had a touch of veggie which is typical of Paso Robles cabernet (and Santa Barabara, too, as long as we are calling out regions where certain grapes just do not flourish). 14.5%

2005 Blaunfrankisch Burgenland $22: Not sure what to make of the producer as it appears to be a cooperative effort among Austrian producers. However, the wine is easy to appreciate. Blueberries, cool weather fruit. Some pepper but not sharp or tart. Nicely made wine. Easily the most fruit forward Austrian red I have tasted. Something like being the most flamboyant CPA. Blaufrankisch is a popular grape for Central Europe wine regions. Perhaps related to Gamay which we like mucho.

2002 Clendenen Family Vineyards Santa Maria Valley Bien Nacido Petite Verdot $24: Bought this at the Wine Cask Santa Barbara Futures Tasting in 2004. Wife picked it out and she made a great choice. Fruity spicy nose. Red berries in flavor. Cranberry and raspberry. Some sharp acid. Robust. Has aged well and will continue to. An unusual bottle but then Jim Clendenen is not exactly shy about trying something different. Only 100 cases so this bottle would be difficult to locate.

Now here is the Best of Wines thanksgiving day wine lineup. I will be toting the following wines north to the home of Uncle Alan and Aunt Betsy in hopes these humble gifts will complement her home cooked turkey and Kirkland lasagna!!

REDS
2004 Cote de Tablas
1997 Dante Rivetti Barbaresco
2000 Parador
something I buy at Kermit Lynch and/or North Berkeley

WHITES
2005 Domaine de la Motte Chablis Premiere Cru Le Vigneau
1990 Prince Poniatowski Aigel Blanc Mouelleux Vouvray
2006 L'Uvaggio di Giacomo Vermentino

DESSERT
last minute decision drawing from a nice batch of California stickies

Holidays at the end of the year are a great time for going into the wine cellar (collection, closet) and picking out stuff you forgot about or have been holding onto for a special occasion. Enter St. Nick (yourself) and the merry elves (your wine tasting pals).

This season I have already busted out four cellar finds.

2003 Clautiere Estate Syrah ~$24/19 (retail/club price): I am in the wine club, happily. However, if it came down to a choice between Clautiere and Tablas Creek... And if the choice was Pipestone or Clautiere... That would be tougher. This wine is very ripe on the nose and in the mouth. Made me think of black cherry cream soda. Not my style but might be yours. If you love a rich and ripe wine that is without overwhelming tannins and moderate alcohol (14.3%) then this is a winner.

2003 Linne Calodo Slacker $50: I am quite fond of the Rhone style blends from Linne Caoldo. I drank this wine recently along with the next wine below. We had it at Brentwood Restaurant on LA's Westside near Barrington Circle (posh baby). I poured a glass of each for the maitre'd. He liked the first one but he loved this one. The blend in this vintage is 68% syrah, 22% grenache and 10% mourverdre. While I think I prefer grenache as the dominant grape in these blends I am proven wrong again with this concoction. I found it online for $39 which is very tempting. Alcohol is 15% which is typical for Paso. The wine is elegant, full bodied, muscular, even muscle-bound. Game-y, almost feral. Syrah dominant blends are often too jammy for me. I prefer meatier flavors in Rhone style wines. Think Punk on I Love New York. Not Buddha who is lean. Even with all the stuffing his wine is in balance. No-wut-im-sayn?

1997 Windward Pinot Noir ~$30: I subscribed to this winery for four or five years (repeating myself here). I have a stash I have worked through. I stopped subscribing because the region is too hot for pinot noir. Sometimes, I do come across a bottle that does not remind me of creamy tomato soup. This vintage has the typical over-ripe fruit without much backbone. However, it is nicely balanced and on this evening was nice to drink with a light pasta meal. 14.4%.

1996 Alessandria Barolo ~$50: I am sitting on a few 1996 Baroli. I was extremely fortunate to taste a bunch of 96 Baroli in the cellar of Domenico Clerico in 2000. What? You say no way? This is truth. Check out the photo! The 1996 vintage was really terrific. However, even though I do love to drop the line about tasting with Domenico Clerico (oops I did it again) I no longer buy Barolo wines. Too expensive and they take a really long time to come around to perfection. These have to be the fussiest wines in the world. When they are perfectly aged they are incomparable. But, hitting the right moment in the wine's life is like trying to catch a hummingbird bare-handed. If you do you may wish you had not. This wine has softened, somewhat. However, there is still a tannic spine. It did not fade over a couple hours. The wine got neither more tannic, i.e., fruit fading, nor did the tar and roses emerge. Please note this is not the regular label which is a vanilla color. This is the label for their single vineyard. So, as often happens with Baroli...and picking market bottoms...you just can't be sure what did take place.

Here is how we tasted the 1996 vintage in Clerico's winery. Could this ever happen again? I diverted two nights and three days of a family tour of Italy to Piemonte. We stayed at Da Felicin which was a great find and has already been described on this blog. We had some tasting plans in advance with Rinaldi and Ciabot Berton. The Rinaldi wines were undrinkable. He uses the mega Slovenian oak barrels and the wines were very backwards. The next day we drove a few kms down the hill from Monforte to Clerico's winery. No introduction. Cold call. Yours truly, the missus and two budding tasters. The winery was modern but nothing fancy. The etched glass doors were the most prominent statement to the Mondavi-wine-lifestyle. It turned out that Clerico is a local resource to many winemakers, especially the new guard, i.e., those winemakers aging their nebbiolo in barriques instead of Slovenian oak barrels or cement vats. He was a local heretic. What a nice guy! He had bottle samples of the 1996 vintage which he poured generously in full bellied stemware. Everyone got a pour including the kids. As we left he handed me a bottle of his new label Arte. The afternoon was grand. The wines were outstanding without exception. I saved my notes. Here they are (a little embarrassing but aw shucks I'm a dweeb).

We ended the afternoon at Ciabo Berton below La Morra. Softer wines. Interesting family story as the brother and sister were aging juice in barriques while Pop continued to age in Slovenian oak barrels. Ah, the family wine business. Everybody has an idea.

Christmas has passed...finally. I have a strongly ambivalent relationship with the year-end holiday. I hate the hype, ruthless and relentless marketing. Wreaths on car grills always make me sneer. But Ray Charles singing about kids...I tear right up. That's right. Big wet eyes. And my kids are adults! I also greatly appreciate my wife and our friends this time of year. That is why we throw a Christmas Day party and invite everyone we know and love.

Another holiday tradition which usually inspires bland disinterest is lists of the past year's greatest whatever [these are similarly disinterested seals on the beach in Jenner] I know what you're thinking...he's going to list his favorite wines from 2007. Why would I do that when I list them for you every week. No, I am going to post some of my favorite photos...and not from this year necessarily. And I am going to post these photos adjacent to the reviewed wines since, for the most part, I was unable to find corresponding labels.

Finally, I expect to taste great wines and unusual wines over the holidays. I bring some and I drink what others bring as well. [Chicago's Fulton Alley was unusually pretty on this night]I really look forward to the holidays for that reason...to enjoy wines with which I am not necessarily familiar with good and new friends. This season did not disappoint.

1996 Cantina Vignaioli Barbaresco Elvio Pertinace Vigneto Castellizzano ~$50: I continue to work through the 1996 and 1997 nebiollos. Forgot where I got this one but if I had to, I would guess K&L. Cherry cola. Ready to go. Delicious. Not the expected tar and roses...and so what? Excellent bottle.

2001 McKenzie-Mueller Pinot Noir ~$30: Believe this came in a mailer for wine club. Opened in a restaurant with following wine below. had this one first. Good idea. Elegant, cherry Carneros pinot. Dining with L&L and they both loved the wine. Absolutely ready, need more. Bob Mueller is one terrific winemaker.

[Regusci winery off the Silverado Trail in Napa] 2002 Point Concepcion Syrah Jalama Cuvee ~$40 in mag): Took the mag to celebrate the birthday of somebody special. Did not disappoint. Already developing in bottle. Showing nicely. Softer, some white pepper (I think we say white pepper when it is not black), syrah dark fruit character. Peter Cargasacchi did a fine job with this wine.

[West Coast Choppers celebrate the holiday their way]

2001 Tobin James James Gang Reserve ~$28: A guest at same party brought this one. I am not a zin drinker. There are a few producers I like - Franus and Nalle. Both make their zins in a claret style. I have never found the big tooth stainers to my liking. This wine is very nice. Has the characteristic prune flavor, like an Amarone. Sweet, with some spine. Has aged well in the bottle. I hit it a few times and not just to be nice! Tobin James is an under-the-radar winemaker from Paso with a strong following.

[Santa did not bring me this Gaja stash]
1997 Pacific Star Petite Syrah: These wines were brought out at Carlitos' holiday party (best one I get invited to attend). Carlos puts out non-Kirkland shrimp (in Carlos' view Costco shrimp are a little tired - agreed) that are plump and firm. A couple hours later out comes the filet side that is simply outrageous. Oh yeah - the wines. If you like under-the-radar then check out Pacific Star. Been around for decades. Mendocino Coast winery sourcing Mendocino County grapes. This is the first petite syrah that I have tasted that has been properly aged. Petite Syrah is a legendary grape in NoCal. It is one of those wines where it helps a lot to know the producer. And it has to age. Well this was pure cherry coal (there is that flavor again). My first one. I see what you mean brutha.

1997 Pacific Star Sirius Red: This wine was 40% Charbono blended with Cabernet, Zinfandel, Charbono and Petite Syrah. Charbono is another one of those field blend Italian farmer grapes that was on the table every night in the Cesare Mondavi and Cesare Gallo households. Classic. This was not cherry cola. It was more like a chianti, sweet-ish, light weight. No tannins. House red that goes with everything. I found a good news piece about Pacific Star that you can read here.

Everyone has or should have a mentor. Whether we know it or not we are all influenced by someone who, in our view, has a profound knowledge about something we would like to be more expert in ourselves. This does not negate the influence of friends and others who also hold sway over our views. What I am saying is that there is someone to whom, when he speaks, we listen a little more closely.

My mentor is Master Gee. He has been around wine for a really really long time. He has been in every crook and cranny of the wine business. He has been affiliated with some of the most notable wine projects in SoCal from retail to wholesale to everything else. He knows everyone. If he does not know you then you do not exist.

He pulled the cork on the single most memorable bottle of wine I ever tasted. The wine was so bizarre and at the same time so exquisite that all my preconceptions about wine were obliterated..an experience that would and should happen again...when I might least expect it...I can only hope.

Master Gee told one of the funniest wine stories I ever heard that same evening. One of the guests at a small tasting in a root cellar was the youngest son of a seminal California grape family. Gee recalled visiting this fellow's uncle every year for a decade in one of the gazillion acres of vineyards the family owned in the Central Valley.

"Your uncle liked to meet in the vineyards. Every other year he arrived in a brand new Cadillac, dust flying off the dirt roads, we could see him coming for miles. My question to you is did he ever drive it anywhere else? Or was that his tractor?"

Gee has presently made a niche in a very low profile and very unglamorous end of the business (not for the first time). I asked him recently did he miss all the hoopla?

"Not at all. I am really done with wine. [Gee leaned back] Look, wine is all about one story. The point is to convince everybody that this beverage can only be produced on this plot of land by this winemaker. I call it the Magic Chef and the Hallowed Ground".

I am listening. Please continue.

But first...an appropriate (and much loved) introduction for a fairy tale.

The Magic Chef is the only person on earth who can prepare chicken just so, with these special ingredients in these secret amounts. The wine is made perfectly because he has the magic touch.

The Hallowed Ground is that very rare spot where the vineyards grow, producing the grapes that the Magic Chef turns into wine. The Hallowed Ground is comprised of terroir that cannot be replicated or replaced. It can be emulated but it can never be exactly copied because the Hallowed Ground only exists right here.

This incredibly delicious and justifiably expensive and highly rated wine, therefore, can only be made by this chef working with grapes from this place.

This is the story driving all wine markets.

Over the holidays I pulled a bottle from a place in our warehouse where everyone dumps their soiled labels, Australian gewurtztraminers, and otherwise forgotten wines. It was a 2004 Chilean Cab Merlot blend. This wine sells out at $8 in 1 day. I took it to a dinner with friends and wine people. The usual array of high end overripe high alcohol reds were opened. This Chilean blend was my favorite. 12% alcohol, easy to drink.

I see from where many of my biases traveling in wine country have arisen. Where do yours come from? Master Gee thought my recent entry on The Best of Wine Importers Part 2 was a scream. "What pompous jackasses!!" Then he told me to see Mondo Vino (I did, click to read review).

We looked at his new fleet of temperature controlled trucks with naugahyde seats. Very nice.

[ed. Hanna Barbera vids including complete Fractured Fairy tales are abundant on youtube]

Here are a few wines recently uncorked...

1996 Pira Barolo Marenca $40: Another bottle from the terrific 1996 vintage. This wine has developed almost perfectly. Any nuance of tar and roses has given way to pure black cherry fruit in a well balanced solution. This wine is drinking very nicely right now. Not sure I would hold it much longer. 14.5%. Best I could find was the 1999 label.

2003 Giessinger Port Cucamonga Valley $26: What you say could this be? And where is the Cucamonga Valley? Who can be interested in the wine before the other mysteries are investigated. About the wine...this is dessert wine made from zinfandel grapes grow somewhere near San Bernardino which is otherwise known for being one of the two major Inland Empire cities. It is hot in San Berdoo (where the Hells Angels began). The wine has a nutty nose and ripe date flavors. I believe there are substantial date crops in the region. The wine is nicely balanced and the whole presentation is fairly subdued. Zin has a tendency to be overwhelming. This is not. Nice pick by Pee Wee, wine novitiate. Alcohol not listed but I would guess it is less than the typical 16% for port wine. Nice. Who is this Giessinger Winery? They could not be more local so we will have to learn more. You know, once upon a time more wine was produced in Southern Cal than the rest of the state. Giessinger, Hells Angels and Pee Wee...three SoCal originals.

Pardon my indulgence here, as we add another zero to Wines Under $20. But man, what a night . . . John Caplan, owner of Grapes Wine in Norwalk, CT., ushered in my 50th birthday with an assortment of wine that defied generosity. He's got a great palate, his store gets wines that others don't, and here we go!

Wine One!
2001 Frederick Magnien Charmes-Chambertin~$150: Actually, this was my sole contribution to the evening. An average vintage grand cru from an above average producer. This was earthy yet soft, with unleashed cherries running from barn to barn. This came from a ridiculous case discount some years back from North Berkeley Wines. [ed. I am dropping all wine clubs - except Tablas Creek - and joining NBW's Club Beaune. Serious.]. There are better burgs, but this showed very well. A fine way to start the proceedings. Two Mice.

Wine Two!!
1998 E. Pira Barolo Cannubi: This is where things started to get silly, in a hurry. In the traditional style, this nebbiolo showed its perfume and elegance in a way that shows Robert Parker is often nuts. One, and I'll argue this til the cows come in, Barolo is NOT the "road tar, stern, leather, tobacco ... massive" wine that RP claims. Maybe the crappy ones, but not this violet-trimmed, spicy pecan pie, eurphoric glass of sap from some exotic tree that hasn't been discovered in a Brazilian forest. It blew me away, but it was not BIG. It was the high school girl that no one noticed until the 10th year reunion. And, RP gives it a '91'. I mean, what does a number even mean? He gives dozens of California chardonnays the same number. It's just nuts. Who would opt for a Neyers Vineyard chard over this? Perhaps the blogmeister's wife (yes, Dotoré, I read your lovely comments). But hey now, this is what Barolo's all about. Of course, you have to try about 10 to get one, and it makes Burg hunting look easy. Two and half MICE. [ed. tour de force review of two BIG problems and one teeny weeny one. RP's ratings are absurd. The 100 point system is more like 12 points - 85 to 97. Barolo is so challenging that it DOES make Burgundy look easy. You DO have to go through 10 to find 1 that is more magical than Siegfried and Roy. OK. Bad metaphor. We all look to Dotoré for leadership in dealing with that itty bitty problem.]

Wine Three!!!
2003 La Cueva del Contador Rioja $75 online: At this point John pointed to his lofty rack and asked in his South African lilt what I wanted. Not ever having tasted a high-end tempranillo, I requested a Rioja and got this . . . words, words, words. OK, here's a try. The first sip was ordinary. I didn't get it. Then, Kaiser Soze [ed. the sneaky chameleon character from Usual Suspects], highly metaphorical! entered the room. The second and subsequent sips filled my senses with an ethereal implosion that said, "You've never had anything like this, and you won't ever again". A wine for the ages. Descriptors don't help, but people talk about the mid-palate and this Rioja hit this landing strip like a cyclone. Three MICE. Only 200 bottles exported to USA, and John, Big Gary My Driver, and I couldn't finish because here came...

Wine Four!!!
2003 Michele Castellani Amarone I Castei~$80 online: OK, this wasn't the best Amarone I've had, but that's only because a few years back John poured me the '97 Quintarelli, which deserves a four-page entry in Wikipedia. But this was pretty special. The Blogmeister says he doesn't favor Amarone, and we're gonna have to remedy this in July. I'd only say this: it is a hard to match with food. I'd pick some hard cheese and call it a day. This is, like all great wines, bursting with a myriad of flavor yet NOT HEAVY. You can taste the winemaker's pride, because he knows no one is making anything else like it outside of Veneto. To freaking die for. Three MICE.

Wine Five!!!!!
2003 Chiaccheri Amarone: Three More Mice. Once you've gone with Amarone, you cannot return to anything else. Your palate would laugh at you. I'm running out of mice, but this was my favorite of the night, a little richer and more chocolaty than the previous bottle, which Big Gary preferred. But he preferred this, too. I wanted to smack myself so I could drink more, but I only managed a glass and half. Spent, spoiled and saturated, we returned home. A night for the ages.

[ed. Well, I am spent. Reading this review was a bit like watching James Brown - hit me!! - try to totter off stage under a sweat soaked cape only to toss it off and rush back to the mike screaming more ecstasy into the crowd. Again and again. The natural response is to wish I was there. Perfectly normal. Just because I have never tasted an Amarone I liked much less loved. Same goes for Tempranillo. In fact I was recently disappointed in a 1996 Alenza - to be reviewed in next week's post - and a 1994 Roda I that should have been ethereal instead of OK and quickly fading. Good news is we get Mouse in a couple weeks. Our plan is forming like a Bush White House memo finding a way to bomb another Middle East country. Secretly, demented, grandiose. If only we can solve that little teensy problem...Happy 50th mister!] Share your all-time greatest wine? I already did in this post from August 2007.

Ladies and Genulmens here he is the Hardest Workin Man in Show Biznisss...that's ten mouses!!!!!!!!!!

A cool and dreary start to the summer. LA is known for June Gloom (AM coastal fog that works great for early morning tee times) but this is something else. Overcast and slight drizzle for the unofficial start of summer. [ed. that was 7 weeks ago, now in the 90s plus daily] tBoW hosts three couples who are ready and willing to try anything we put in front of them. What more can one ask from a guest?

The tasting choices were like a juke box on Adderal. Bottles flew out of the cellar as fast as we could purge. We covered California pinots, white Bordeaux, a Paso white, and Baroli that must get consumed. As they say in film noir, the usual suspects showed up...and I do mean people and wines.

1996 Cantina Vignaioli Elvio Pertinace Barbaresco Vigneto Marcarini: Tobacco nose and flavors. Cherry puckering fruit, too many tannins for 12 years. Not enough fruit left. Anutha bummah from this selection. I think. 13.5%

1995 Sottimano Curra Vigna Masue Barbaresco: I am fighting with the 1996 vintage in Barolo. When I tasted the vintage in the Clerico cellar with Domenico himself it was magic. The wines were forward, rich and elegant. So many now are tough. The chance to taste this 1995, a "harder" vintage, more than ten years later was welcomed. One of the premium vineyards for this label. Tannic, puckering, needs decanting. Opens up after several hours. Still not very impressive wine. 13%

2000 Castello di Volpaia Chianti Classico: Costco purchase? Parker 90. Was opened last so it did not get much attention that evening. Next evening it was nice enough. You have to like Sangiovese, of which I am not a big fan. Too sweet and rakish. Balanced, sweetish, light to medium weight. Holding up nicely for 8 years old. 13%

2005 Wiliams Selyem Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir: If this were basketball this would be a "make-up call". The Chianti brought by "igottatellya" is all but forgotten whenever he opens his WS stash. Of course, wrestling a glass from him of the nation's finest domestic pinot noir is another matter. This is the first bottle opened from the 2005 and 2006 vintage resting comfortably in the tBoW cellar. So there are many more to come. [ed. cue wicked Dr. Evil laugh] We (the ubiquitous Dotoré) selected carefully, being sure to crack the wine most likely to be ready. This eliminates all the vineyard designated wines. Going through the sealed case and reading every label is a lesson in the marriage of a label with mega-cachet and lesser known Russian River-Sonoma growers. Seeing your vineyard on a Williams-Selyem label brings prestige. We hardly recognized the names. This wine had all the seductive flavors and qualities we associate with WS wines, especially the ones for "early" opening. Vanilla, creamy, forward fruit, some understated smoke. Soft but not flabby. It went quickly. Summer's challenge? Not to plunder the entire two cases. 14.2%

2004 Paul Lato Gold Coast Vineyard Pinot Noir: With the Italian debacle behind us and a strong pinot wind in our sails we headed for the Santa Rita Hills. Paul Lato is one of the finest examples of wines from this region. tBoW put it in a bag and poured on the heels of the Williams Selyem. More tannic but that is no surprise. Restrained at first. More structured than the WS but then this is the flagship. Showing smoke and dark dense pinot fruit. Not an SRH fruit bomb. Excellent. So different than WS and outstanding on its own. It is not Rochioli with all the complications and complexity. It is fine wine. Paul made 70 cases. 14.5% [ed. special credit to Grape-Nutz where I lifted the photo of Paul; an outstanding wine blog for all wines regional; highly recommended reading].

2006 Chateau Martinon Entre-Deux-Mers $10: Recommended by Hi Time Wine Cellar as a go-to summer white. Like white loafers. Reminds me of Jim Moore's l'Uvaggio di Giacomo Vermentino. All the bright acid, lush fruit. Almost oily in weight. Somewhat reminiscent of the Argentine Torrontes wines. Wonderfully good. Here is a nice review on the Entre-Deux-Mer region. Love that alcohol level. 12.5%

2006 Tablas Creek Vermentino: Another excellent white wine from TC. Strong, spiney, good acid. Sharp, lime flavors. Serious, even. But for current drinking. Anytime with anything. Before dinner. 14.5%

2005 Calot Morgon Vieilles Vignes Cuvée Unique: North Berkeley Wine purchase. Pinot pedigree (Morgon borders Burgundy) with Gamay fruit. Unusual. Read the NBW notes on the winemaker. Excellent, fruity but not overtly forward wine. Tannic balance. Will last a year in the cellar. Jump on it.

It is going to be a very good summer.