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

Like many middle-aged empty-nesters we faced a typical Saturday night choice: watch another boring division series baseball game or enjoy a dinner prepared by Jackie d'Occitan with wines selected by her shadowy husband Michael du Nawlins. Not even close.

Michael was decanting the 1983 Grahams Port (definitely not U20) when wife and I arrived well ahead of the other guests (the Scourge of Mastros and his wife Letty). Naturally I poured a small taste of the Grahams immediately seeking a reference point when I hit this again much later. Spectacular. Rich nuttiness. Cherry and mentholatum not unlike cough syrup. Loooonnnnngggg finish. Next taste in three hours with cigars. Michael bought this from his local wine retailer, Liquid Wine & Spirtis in Chatsworth CA. Excellent wine store where one can always find something unexpected, unusual and often spectacular. Here are some notes from a tasting of the 1983 oporto vintage. Very nice!

Cheese, olives and crackers was accompanied by the 2005 Cargasacchi Pinot Noir (also not U20). Mike pours it blind. Oh my goodness. Exotic spice in the nose. Not cab. Not pinot. Not syrah. What is it? Mrs tBoW says allspice aromas. First taste reminds me of fruit cakes at Christmas. Cinnamon, gluwein, lipstick. Wildly exotic wine from Peter Cargasacchi a wildy exotic winemaker from Santa Rita Hills. Tannins emerge after 20 minutes. This will go awhile. I believe Michael bought this on subscription from Caragsacchi through Peter's Point Concepcion Point Concepcion wine label. For me this was the most remarkable and memorable wine of the evening. Truly exotic.

Dinner time. Michael serves the NV Veuve Clicquot. $34 at Costco. The orange label. Toasty citric. A bit harsh. Orange fruit flavors. Michael suggests tangerine. OK. Goes nicely with Jackie's platter of duck fois gras, peppercorn pork pate, beets, and carrot shavers.

Jackie serves poached salmon and spinach gratin for the main course. It is perfectly prepared. Delicate. Nice to not get beef again. Love that. Thank you M&J. Michael serves the 2005 Domaine de la Motte Premier Cru Chablis Vauligneau. This is covered in a preceding report. Costco purchase and the hands-down U20 value for this evening and many others to come.

Jackie serves creme brulee' for dessert. Since I am waxing on Rieslings Michael pulls another surprise wine out. I have had it before but do not recognize it until I spot the bottle lurking behind him. The nose is rich and oily riesling. Pomegranate, grapefruit, very ripe. Oops. That gives it away. The nose is too ripe for the color. It is the 2004 Rideau Riesling from Santa Ynez. The flavors of peppermint and pear are nice but they do not fulfill the promise of the aromas. He has dropped his subscription even though they do have a new winemaker. The pedigree is there so they could and should get better. Worth a re-visit.

Michael decides if I will not drink the riesling then he will put the 2005 Inniskillin Cabernet Franc in front of me. I am just at my limit for more rich food so I pass on the dessert and the riesling (given the choice it would be Jackie's dessert). But I do taste the Inniskillin.This is a wine I would never buy simply because it is too widely marketed, too corporate (I am such a snob about being snobby). I figure if I see it in an airport duty free store... So I must at least try it. I am surprised and pleased with the low level alcohol at 10.5%. This is rhubarb pie in a glass. Strawberries, chambord, strawberry jam. Everyone plays along thinking of flavors. This is the hardest thing for shy wine drinkers to do. But it so simple if you just un-dam your memory pool. This is nice wine. Costco? I do not ask. But if the Kirklanders offer it a really great price...it was awfully good.

The evening closes upstairs with cigars on the patio with the fireplace going - I know, a dream home and it is. We return to the 1983 Grahams. It is still delicious and worth another small glass.

Fall approaches and the holidays are a'coming.

1994 Leroy Pommard Les Vignots about $200): Fuggedabout da price. First some catty background. Madame Lalou Bize-Leroy was drummed out of DRC, Burgundy's most coveted house. She focused on her own label Leroy with ferocity. That's it for the gossip. This link is much more informative. You can also read about the 1994 vintage in Burgundy here.. All this reading suggests the vintage was not that great but that great producers made great wine despite the climatic challenges. Reading also suggests Leroy has re-released many older wines of late making wines like this one available when they would otherwise not be available at all. As the fellow who introduced Dotore' and I to Burgundy said when we asked the price for the bottle of heavenly exotic flavors he had just poured "it's not a question of price, it's a question of availability". As for this wine...it was very interesting and wonderful. The difference between Tia Maria and Kahlua is the caramel in Tia Maria. This wine has that Tia Maria quality. The longer it was in the glass the more the caramel flavors emerged. Color shows aging. Nose was profound right at the start. No barnyard. Lean, sinewy. Attractive for a middle-aged gal just like the proprietress. I'm a chauvinist! I gottatellya it was harder finding a photo of the Madame than Adam Tolmach and that was near impossible.

1998 Franz Hirtzberger Smaragd Hochrain Riesling $18: "The hills are alive..." This is the Wachau Valley in Austria, close to Vienna. It is the most famous wine growing region in the Sudetenland. You may have read how I love Austrian and German Rieslings. This wine was an example of why. It is spectacular. Ripe green apples on the nose and in the mouth. Beautiful golden color. Weighty in the mouth. Clean and crisp. Like Irish Spring!! My wife, my daughter PeeWee and I tasted it. Even PeeWee's boyfriend had to sniff it. I think PeeWee finished it off. This is 10 year old Austrian Riesling at its finest. Hirtzberger is a top line producer and this is a great effort. Look at the family ferchrissake. Adieu! Adieu! To yu and yu and yu-u! 13.5%. Wish I had some right now. Check out their website. Even if you don't read German. Better yet, let's all go there next Spring.

1999 Ojai VIneyard Chardonnay Clos Pepe $27: This wine was a s#225B60 at this price. Got it at Wades Wines which is a local emporium for domestic wines. He also has some very nice champagnes (single vineyard) but he is primarily renowned for his California selection...which is outstanding and very fairly priced. Igottatellya (dontcha know people who talk like dis?) this wine is 8 years old and there is a ton of oak on it. Color is golden. Nose it subdued. The wine is not balanced but it is not out of whack either. Just oaky. The chard fruit is there. No California tropical flavors. More mineral. Clos Pepe and Cargassachi are two of the best vineyards in Santa Rita Hills and Adam Tolmach is a grand master of central coast wines. So this wine should be in perfect balance, right? Fortunately, Adam is very detailed and forthcoming about his wines and explains why it may not be. His own tasting notes are here. It is worth the effort to peruse Adam's website. I would say he is more candid on his website than in person. Here are his thoughts on winemaking. "I like to think I am the master of my own destiny. I have my vision of the ideal wine, and I know what to do to help insure I get the desired result. You obviously need great vineyards, low yields, and delicate handling of the wine in the winery". See my recent review of his 2001 Clos Pepe Pinot Noir. That wine was delightful. What happened with this 1999 chardonnay? I cannot say...but...unlike the 2001 Pinot Noir this wine does not make the hunt list.

tBoW webmeister Dr. D posts these thoughts on a recent research publication that has received a bit of press. Several reviews follow that further investigate these findings.

"Perceived added value" is a term used in marketing that describes how a consumer might look at oh, say a bottle of shampoo with two free ounces for the same price as the smaller sized bottle.

You get more for the same price, thus there is the perception of added value or better bang for your dirty-hair buck. In this case, the perception of added value is actually true, you get two more ounces of product for free. However in many product categories, the added value is only perception, nothing tangible. When it comes to the price of wine, it is often about perception, not a tangible value. This is the essential reason for our "No Wine Over $20" call to arms.

A recent study performed by the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the California Institute of Technology, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows how the perception of wine enjoyment actually arises from a different part of the brain than where tastes are registered.

In this study, participants were given two wines to sample. One was a high priced wine and the other was a low priced wine. At least that was what the participants were told. In reality, the two beverages were identical. It's kind of like a reverse placebo. Instead of giving two different pills that masquerade as the same medicine, we have two identical wines that are being presented as different vintages. Brilliant.

As any marketer could predict, the perception of the more expensive wine received higher marks for "enjoyment" than the cheaper wine. This is a classic example of "perceived added value" and one reason you can find two products in a grocery store that list identical ingredients (with presumably identical quality) but have two very different prices that no doubt resonates with their packaging. Perceptions are hugely important in how we make our purchase choices.

To put this more simply, the default setting in our brains is that if something is more expensive, it must be better. Obviously, this is a glitch in the human psyche that is easily exploited by marketers.

Interestingly, the study also tracked which part of the brain was effected by the expensive wine. Expectations of quality triggered activity in the medial orbitofrontal cortex, the part of the brain that registers pleasure. This happens even though the part of our brain that interprets taste is not affected. Amazing, but not surprising.

I think that what we need is a pill to stimulate that part of the brain that registers pleasure. The only problem is that it would have to be very expensive .

-Dr. Dionysus.

...if you read this blog then your palate is probably inverted...in other words you value quality in fairly priced wines and find most high-priced bottles simply high-priced...so here are the relevant wine reviews...and a couple ideas about operationalizing the quality/price or VALUE ratio

2006 Jest White $0.99: Could this be the ultimate perceived wine value? At a recent party I attended I found myself sitting next to a fellow wine geek named Cam. We talked some wine poop and he poured me the wine he brought. WhadoIthink? Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, what else? Colombard he suggested. Nose is nice enough. Fruity and a little dry. Decent acid. He tells me the story. He bought it months ago for $10 at The Wine House (West LA emporium), liked it, but decided once was enough. Then he saw it at the 99 Cent Store for $11.88 a case. "Would you buy it for 99 cents"? No. I wouldn't. I would rather pay $15 for the Robert Chadderdon Selection below. Here is what I found about Jest White on the Chowhound website.

"The Jest White site says it is a blend of Viognier, Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, Symphony, Pinot Gris, Riesling, Muscat and Gewurztraminer but as the site says ...Jest White is neither too dry nor too sweet. Jest as it is neither too heavy nor too light, nope, Jest White is Jest right. It went well with this cream cheese/fig appetizer I put together. Listen, I have NO wine creds other than I just can't stand cheap white wine. I will drink boxed red ... there is very little red I won't drink, but white has to be drinkable. I thought this was more than just drinkable and is a worthy match for any $10 white out there."

2004 Chateau du Sueil Graves Blanc $15: This Robert Chadderdon Selection represents what I would call great value. I know I am wrong in the eyes of others. But they shop at TJs (I covered the decline of Trader Joes in my October 25 07 entry). In fact Cam pointed me to the Quaffability blog where TJ wines are reviewed saving lots of wasted $$ for folks who buy wine there (unless they stick to twoupchuck). I covered this in an earlier post on how Costco has replaced Trade Joes as the go-to value wine retailer for the masses (snobby eh?). When I praise Costco I do so with tongue in cheek. One can buy good wines at very good value in Costco. They are just not interesting wines. This Sauvignon Blanc is perfect in many ways. It is balanced and has bright acid (lights up the mouth). Flavors are lemon peel, sour orange. Alcohol is 12.5%. I do not hesitate to push the Lincoln and Grant over at the cash register. Is this 15 times better? It is probably 50 times better.

One idea for measuring VALUE...

Quaffability is a wine review website that uses a sensible wine scoring system. The ubiquitous 100 point system is moronic with no real scale properties. If you never have a score less than 85 then you really have a 15 point scale. And if nobody cares about wine rated below 90 then the scale is really only 10 points. This is Dr. D's point and one of the long grieved problems with Wine Spectator, Parker and other touts using the 100 point scale. Think about it. Explain the difference between 92 and 93 points. Isn't this all about perception? It looks stupid to rate wine as 6 or 7 on a 10 point scale. Imagine a 1 score. Ratings in the 90s are perceived as more desirable.

John G is the Quaffability taster and I have to guess the man behind the MUCH MORE SENSIBLE rating system (let's call it the Qscore). Here is how JG 'splains it.

"The ratings are on a percentage of value scale tuned to reflect the Cost-Price-Ratio of the wines, with 100% as the minimum acceptable score. So a $6.00 wine that tastes like a $6.00 wine, earns a 100%, while a $6.00 wine that tastes like a $12.00 wine gets a 200%."

Cost-Price-Ratio scale? I would describe this as the Cost-Value-Ratio or the Price-Value-Ratio or even the Taste-Cost-Ratio. The $0.99 Jest White wine tastes like a $5 wine to me so its Qscore is 500%. Now we see the problem with this scale. It is not well suited for really really cheap wines. A $5 wine is already cheap. But a $1 wine is ridiculously cheap!! The $$ difference is small enough to be irrelevant. In this case, the perception of a 500% value grossly exceeds the quality value.

The white Graves costs $15. It tastes to me like a $25 wine. Its Qscore would be 167%.

One more wine...

1997 George Breuer Rudesheim Schlossberg: This wine was dumb for a long time. It started to come around in the past year. This is a legendary winery. Riesling is my favorite wine in the world. They age wonderfully. And nothing else tastes like Riesling from Germany. While I favor Mosel wines I have tasted wines from other regions in Germany such as Nahe and Rheingau that are delightful. This 10 year old Reisling is yellowing although there is still a touch of green present. The nose has petrol (which is characteristic of Riesling although with great Mosels it seems to disappear) and baked bread. The flavors are exotic. Lime, soda crackers, arugula (bitterness) and a creaminess that is fighting to be released. It is almost gaseous. Who left the stove on?!?! I love it. Small production of 300+ cases. Classic.

And the Qscore? I like to drink young Rieslings but I love to drink properly aged Rieslings. I prefer Ausleses. I really do not have a taste any more for the super sweet BAs and outrageously sweet TBAs. I would love to have my 1983 selections back. I am sure they still defy gravity (like the photo above of Berg Schlossberg vineyards hanging over the Rhine) and to me might as well be priceless.

Ed.: Mouse is a serious wine maven. He reports in from a recent run through Manhattan where he found some great and not so great white wines that in turn prompted several thoughts on white wines in general.

First, let's just get this out of the way. Burgundy represents the zenith of white wine. Riesling in its various forms may have a few delegates, but they would represent John Edwards in a summer convention. And maybe one renegade Viognier supporter. But the white burgs would win by a voice of affirmation. Deafening. Perhaps later we can go into Cote de Beaune in more detail, but for now, let's move on to the wines.

[ed. un moment my leetle rodent! Here is an excellent link to the winedoctor where he discusses Burgundy and Chablis!!]. . .Furthermore, I have posted a redundant map of France's wine regions in case anyone wonders where Burgundy sits.]

2000 Vincent Prunier Premier Cru St Aubin $15: Recently my man Mike at New England Beverage Mart in Orange, CT, alerted me to a $15 St. Aubin, an 2000 premier cru from La Chateniere from Vincent Prunier. Never had the vineyard, never heard of the producer. But for $15? A case later, it remains a deal of deals. All of the burg essentials are there - oatmeal, hazelnut, ripe pear and length, length, length. A close-out, of course, and comparable to ANY $40 bottle one would find. Two Strong Mice.

2006 Stadlmann Zierfandler $15: Now to the germanics. First, the $15 liquid glue from an Austrian producer named Stadlmann. Purchased in Manhattan at a lovely little store called Nancy's Wines on Columbus Ave. They specialize in wines others don't sell. Four German spatburgunders (pinot noir), for example. They recommended a BYOB Chinese restaurant and a varietal called zierfandler that was news to me. It should have stayed that way. For a Frederick Wildman import, coupled with Nancy's enthusiasm, I expected more. The food was spicy and we still didn't finish the bottle. This experience convinced me that Austria's brilliance rests on its Riesling. You can have the dry pepper Gruner.

2002 Weingut Prinz von Hessen Johannisberger Klaus Riesling Kabinett $8: But, ah, to the fairytale Rheingau to cap off this discussion. An $8 close-out from Weingut Prinz von Hessen: 2002 Johannisberger Klaus Riesling Kabinett. Well, tasted more like an auslese to me. Rich, minerally, sweet candied apples and a lovely viscous streak in the glass. Bottle for bottle, does anyone producer more consistently good wine than the peace loving 21st century Germans? 1.5 mice [ed. This winery is a member of Der Grosse Ring, the long-standing if somewhat mysterious mark of excellence in German wines]

I am done with (red) Burgundy. Just like Barolo. It was bound to happen. No more fussing, hoping, expecting great but getting yecch.

The Mouse-man tasting was held at Palate in Glendale. Great food and service. Too bad the two 1996 Burgundies could not come close to measuring up. Let's get to it.

2006 Schafer-Frohlich Riesling Spatlese Nahe $26: Halb-trocken from the Nahe. What is a halb-trocken? "Invented by the Germans when they realized the world did not like their wine style". It means drier than one would have expected from traditional wine making. And this bottle is perfectly balanced, crispy like an ice-ee with caramel notes. Simply delicious. The job was to waken the palates of the tasters and that was accomplished.

2007 Bandol Blanc La Bastide Blanche $20: Last minute fill-in for a white Rhone that did not show well. Composed of Clairette, Bourboulenc and Ugni Blanc. Smoky, uncomplicated, good pick to go with lightly sauteed squid as we waited for fois gras and the next wine.

1983 Chateau d'Yquem Sauternes ~$500 online: The king of wines for the guest of honor. Petrol on the nose. Smell the alcohol which is listed as 11% to 14%. First time I noticed that. Dried apricots keep emerging stronger and stronger as the wine opens over the entire tasting. A monster wine. A finish so long we had to drink copious red wines to wash it out. Having it as the third wine may have been a sequencing error. Just too big. King says it is "leaking out my mouth". Thick, viscous with a core I could only describe as atomic. "A baby" said sommelier Steve Goldun. "This s why I have to be an attorney so I can buy cases of this wine" says son of tBoW. Wine of the evening by a long shot.

1996 Geantet-Pansiot Charmes Chambertin Grand Cru ~$150: Pee Yooo!! Now that is the goux de merde also known as barnyard. As tBoW has noted before French pinots can be stank-eee! The fruit is there but having trouble finding its way out of the lavatory. "Ripe diaper" says one taster. Brick red color, beets when it starts to lose the poo and show itself. Intense, dark. It never comes around. I saw a note online that says it needs 3 hours to open. Where was that guy? A doctor's office? In line at DMV? This and the next wine close the book on red burgundy for me.

1996 Fourrier Gevrey Chambertin Premier Cru Clos St Jacques ~$150: The unofficial Gran Cru of Gevrey. "The perfect facing SE slope" says SG as he launches into an expert topographical delineation of the hill and its vineyards including the ideally situated Clos St Jacques. [ed. read more about Clos St Jacques here] Shoe polish on the nose. Could use some shoe polish to scrape the shit right off my shoes. Another poopster deluxe. Tight. Fruit is there but having trouble making it over the vineyard wall surrounding this precious acreage. Is it on the decline? 13.5%

These two burgs did not show well. They were open at least three hours and never came around. Various tasters online noted 3 to 5 hours required to reveal their magic. Call me impatient. I am done with aging red burgundy. Of course this position was roundly pooh-poohed (appropriately I suppose); tBoW was subjected to torrents of abuse when he declared Williams Selyem produced more consistent wines. I asked the sommelier to name the best domestic pinot producer and he immediately replied...that's right, W-S. Tidbits from the table included 1996 is a tough and tight vintage; in the 90s favorite vintages are 1993 and 1999; and a preference noted for Nuits St George over Chambertin wines.

2001 Tardieu-Laurent Cornas Coteaux $40: Shut yo mouf tasty. Yummy. BBQ and bricquets backed with plenty of fruit. More new world than old but still enough old world not to be confused for a Paso Robles effort. 13%

1998 Rostaing La Landonne ~$200: A great wine in an off vintage proving the point about quality winemakers being robust to less than ideal weather conditions. White pepper on the nose. Knitted together nicely (i.e., balanced wine). Winemaker is known for low acid wines. Pleasing in every way. Tanzer writes "deceptively accessible". Showing so much better than the burgs. Probably best of the rest after d'Yquem. Reviewed on this bog in December 2007.

2001 Arnaldo Caprai Sagrantino de Montefalco $50: Umbrian powerhouse made from grapes only grown in the region...except for a few grown in Washington state!! Mouse tout and a good one as per usual. tBoW detects brownies in the flavor profile. Baked, doughy, dark chocolate, cranberries. Only a wine with this kind of size and power could cap a tasting with this lineup. 14%

Retrospectively...Rhone wines never looked better than going head to head with Burgundy. Dotoré thought there were too many wines and too much variety. Perhaps. While these were not U20 wines they helped make the point once again that price and quality do not necessarily go hand in hand [ed. talkin' tBoW mainfesto here]. Baroli and (red) Burgs go to the sidelines. Beaujolais and Rhones step forward.

Consensus held the 1983 d'Yquem stole the show to the surprise of absolutely nobody. After that opinions varied as to the next best wine from the La Landonne to the Cornas to the Nahe Riesling. Steve G opened the 2005 White Dog Syrah from Santa Ynez Larner vineyard which produces some of the highest quality grapes in that region. Too bad the tBoW tasting team was dog meat by this time and thirsting for water and needing to wait a bissel before embarking on the ride home. Which we did.

The Missus told tBoW she has had it with the pedestrian wines we have been putting in front of her lately. She gets the concept there are decent wines to be had for under $20. She appreciates the thrill of the hunt for these wines, AND ALL THAT. However, after all the tasting fun is completed during hors d'ouvres she wants tBoW to know when the main course arrives she expects a glass of good wine to accompany.

Fortunately, tBoW did not have to bear this assault alone. The perceptive and fearless Dotoré was present to get to the bottom of things. It turns out she has grown increasingly less fond of the choices placed in front of her the past year. The Missus misses a fruit forward, rich California wine, preferably a pinot noir. Dotoré concludes "there is no question these southwestern France wines are an acquired taste and radically different from California products. However, there is also no question if you are looking for value wines today do not waste your time with California".

tBoW says he'll handle the wine, the Missus will get her fruity reds, but we really should let an authority weigh in on domestic differences and mending fences.

Onto the wines with help from friends and other innocent bystanders.

2006 Mâcon-Villages Vendanges Manuelles Auvige $15: Robert Chadderdon selection. How quickly we forget! Reviewed in Jan 08. Loved it then. Love it now. White Burgundy that is special not only because it meets the U20 criterion but because it is so dang tasty. Lean with some butter, mostly Chardonnay fruit, apple fruit. Meant to be drunk young. Been drinking this most of the summer. May I say it blows away domestic efforts with Chardonnay? Youbetcha. Has not failed yet. 13%

2005 Domaine Gauby Les Calcinaires $22: The perfect wine for returning to the world after hanging on for dear life with a dreaded summer cold. Rousillon village wine with just the right spice and cherries to remind me that I had been living on cough syrup the previous 3 nights. We all know how the palate goes on the fritz in the face of running snot and throat-like-rasping-tool...non-stop. OK. Enough whining and back to the wine-ing!! "Although initially the wines were tannic and extracted, Gauby has moved towards a more balanced elegant style in recent years, and the wines are much better for it." Credit the Wine Doctor who is always worth reading. Get the rest of his enlightening Gauby review here. Predominantly Grenache which is a grape I favor especially when made like this. I should have known; another brilliant Peter Weygandt Selection. A very civilized 13% alcohol level (unattainable if you are making wine in SoCal).

L'Oustal Blanc K6 $16: Winemaker Claude Fonquerle from MInervois. 100% 100 year old Carignane vines. In poker that could be the Minervois nut nut. Fruity for French wine however perhaps not so much for an inspired Southwestern France vintner looking for some New World love. Another Peter Weygandt Selection. I am thrilled that I can publish a photo from Minerovis which is an ancient Cathar stronghold where 200 locals were burnt at the stake in the 13th century following a long and religiously righteous siege. And what goes on with Minervois wines? Let Peter Weygandt's website tell that story. And this wine in particular? Can you say 2/3 in concrete vats. That is why they call it Old World. Cannot argue with the delicious results at phenomenal value. 13.5%

A few brief words about the Cathars. Some refer to the decades-long assault on Southwestern residents of the culturally distinct and independent land known as the Oc as the 4th Crusade; the only crusade fought on European soil. Led northern French nobility, in particular Simon de Montfort, under the auspices of the Papacy soldiers dedicated 120 days (a quatraine) to seeking out and destroying enemies of the Papal state, banished from Rome at that time.

The times roughly coincided with the fatal attack on the Knights Templar and, like in that dark-of-night blitzkrieg, the aim was to grab whatever wealth and title could be had with a ruthless and merciless military maneuver under the blessing of a besieged religious institution (that would be the Catholic Church). [ed. twilight on the plaza in Carcasonne]

The Cathars were doomed precisely because they were a very popular religious sect whose leaders eschewed the fine clothing and crusty rings favored by local Catholic priests. [ed. In today's mondo vino is it unfair to characterize terroir driven winemakers as the Cathars, the all-homogenizing Pope as Michel Rolland, and Parker as swordsman Simon de Montfort?] Cathar priests wore simple unadorned robes and sandals and walked throughout the region preaching simple life, sexual abstinence (I never said they were perfect, although the holiest Cathars were known as Perfects), healthy nutritious diets, and living a life devoted to joining the heavenly Father after death. They also believed the earth was actually hell and the Pope and all his minions were devils.

They were harmless as a military threat however they were the very definition of sedition and it was their intention to undermine the Holy Roman Church. The Church referred to them as Albigensians because the city of Albi was an open - and defiant - Cathar religious center. Of course, one of the most quoted lines was uttered by th Inquisitor Abbott Arnaud when ordering the wholesale slaughter of 20,000 Beziers inhabitants: "kill them all, God will know his own". [ed. Beziers cathedral above]

Here is a video pitch for a book I have not read that covers (romanticizes?) the era. Romanticizing the Cathars is easily done since the events that occurred frequently appear in culture (films, books) without really linking one and all. For example, Dan Brown's books in some if not large part derive directly from Templar and Cathar history and beliefs.

2006 Romano Dogliotti La Caudrina Moscato d'Asti $17: Another super wine to serve first on a summer evening wherever you are. Fizzy, even frothy in the glass. Not too sweet. Good acid, balanced, excellent. At the end of the night looking back we liked it as much as any other wine poured. 5.5%

2007 Domaine de Rieux Cotes de Gascogne $10: Vin de Pays from Gascony by P. Grassa. Lovely, steely, green melon flavors. Minerals. Refreshing. Screw top says drink me every day. 10%

1997 Josef Friedrich Oppenheimer Krötenbrunnen Auslese: Cellar purging yields this forgotten item. The ghosts of fruits that once were here, now faded. I did find a 2001 review that raved. Still, quality Riesling is present with some petrol, elder flower and linden flavors. If you are curious here is an excellent description of all the terms on the label. Here is a photo of the village where Josef Friedrich calls home. Kinda steep. 9%

2005 Michel Sarrazin Mercurey: Imported by North Berkeley Wine. Dried out, light tannins, bitter. Not a tasty wine. May be the wine that pushed the Missus over the top. Even Kobe misses pay ups [ed. news to me.]. 13%

2003 Terres de Truffes Cave TerraVentoux $12: The Cotes du Ventoux is a Rhone appellation known for black truffles. This wine is made by Bruno Clement who is a leading harvester in the region and owns the most prominent regional restaurant for cooking with truffles. Sounds good to tBoW! 60% Grenache, 40% Syrah can be a heavenly blend. This is a very nice wine with some stuffing and plenty of forward fruit. Grenache blended with Syrah can show a creamy texture and flavors in the right hands. The Missus was able to enjoy it once she evacuated her festering opinions. Thanks to Vin de Pays Wines in Long Beach CA for posting the excellent write-up on Bruno Clement. 13.5%

Postscript to the lovely Missus...the 2003 TerraVentoux is why we hunt. Wonderful wine, made locally in the cooperative winery, tasting like something the vintner imagined. And $12. Can't beat that with a hockey stick.

1997 Williams Selyem Allen Vineyard Pinot Noir: As Dotoré purges his cellar tBoW benefits. We opened his 1997 Richioli Riverblock at the last Super Bowl. Loved it. Fact is the wines from WS are best enjoyed in their youth. In my experience the Allen is among the slowest WS wines to come around. At 11 years this bottle is not spry but it still has some hops. Maybe not as spectacular as the Rochioli Riverblock but nothing to sniff at. Perfectly balanced. Showing some red brick color in the bowl. The first impression is how delicate. Like a dragonfly showing wonder and light. We can smell and taste the figs. "As good as California pinot gets" declares Dotoré [ed. obviously he is coming around to you position that WS trumps Rochioli in sheer pleasure which was originally noted by IGTY]. Yes, it is more fruit forward than Burgundies. Aren't all Calif Pinot Noirs? But only Williams Selyem has the candy. 13.8%

2005 Williams Selyem VIsta Verde San Benito County Pinot Noir: Contributed by IGTY. Unusual source prompts discussion about from how many vineyards WS sources their fruit. Where is San Benito County? Hollister, which you fellow Angelenos know is where they grow garlic and asparagus. This is inland farm country on the hottest stretch of the 101 freeway. Nevertheless, against all odds the wine is pretty nice. Has a deeper color than the Allen, but then it is 8 years younger. Rich, more dense flavor, and still delicate consistent with the WS style. 13.9%

2006 Siduri Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir $24: The odd bottle from a highly reputable Pinot Noir specialist vintner. "37% Sonatera Vineyard, 31.5% Terra de Promissio, and 31.5% Hirsch Vineyard" which sounds like pretty good pedigree. Very different form the Williams Selyem wines. Earthy. Like a Gevrey is to a Volnay. Almost (but not quite) rustic. Liked it. Did well in this group. Very nice. 14.1%

2006 Paul Lato Larner Vineyard Syrah $60: Opened it first which was probably a mistake. Should have let it air out. Needed the time. Very intense and focused. Too big too soon. "Hot" with high alcohol. This needs to be aerated. It is a pricey wine but then when you fall in love... you do crazy things! Paul Lato wines are the only ones I am willing to buy from the region. I hasten to point out that Paul makes his Pinot Noir from Santa Maria which is like being on the Eastside of the 101 in Paso. He is now being sought as a winemaker by the premium growers in Santa Rita Hills. I do not blame him for charing premium. He makes so little and his winemaking style is absolutely right when it comes to working with SRH fruit. "The fruit is so muscular it does not need more muscle. I try to give it some grace and intelligence". Hell yeh. 80 cases. 15%

2005 Abbaye de Tholomies $14: Purchased at K&L Hollywood. Grenache based from the Languedoc. The village of Minerve and its historical tragedies at the hands of the Papal armies are documented in another post [ed. with photos of the "island" village]. This wine shows the hot and arid country surrounding Minerve. Highlands, up-river. Hardy country where head cut Grenache and Mourvedre grows well. The "story" is that the winery and vineyards were purchased in 1980s by a surgeon obsessed with quality. Dark red color. Sweet high toned fruit with plenty of backbone acid. The mIssus would call it thin. Call it sinewy, muscular like a dancer (not a gymnast or a diver). [ed. tBoW concedes a lone Olympic reference] Good hot dry fruit. We have happily witnessed the resurgence of Languedoc wines in the past decade. Now will this make me forget Tablas Creek or Gauby? No. But for $14 I can forget a lot of overpriced cabs and red burgs. 13.5%

1995 Weinlaubenhof Alois Kracher Grande Cuvée TBA #12~$80: Not a U20 but a wine probably worth the splurge if you like sweeties. Fantastically delightful and delicious dessert Riesling blend from Kracher. At 13 years there is plenty of time to enjoy this wine. We had it with a cheese plate that matched very well. ..and coffee. Topped off another great meal at Palate. Sommelier Steve Goldun says this vintage is the last of Kracher's more acidic Kracher sticky styles. Apricots, apples, just enough acid to keep it firm. Most amazing...only 12%

It has been 20 years since tBoW visited Portland and the Willamette Valley in 1993. We made two day trips into the Valley touring McMinnville and the Dundee Hills. Here is a map of the AVAs in the valley. Link here to the Willamette Valley Wineries website.

We visited about ten wineries including Domaine Drouhin, Rex Hill VIneyards, Torii Mor Winery, Brickhouse Vineyards, and Lange Winery.

Drouhin was impressive on both winery construction choices and wines. The winery is set on a hillside to enable gravity flow at each step in the winemaking process. The female winemaker is a family member who, we were told, would not be permitted to act as director of winemaking in Burgundy. The Drouhin wines were pricey.

The setting at Brickhouse was magical. Doug Tunnell, the proprietor and winemaker is an early biodynamic farmer. His vineyards were remarkably cluttered with plenty of weeds and flowers between the rows. We went to Oregon to taste and buy Pinot Noir. At Brickhouse we bought Chardonnay. Even then tBoW was losing his taste for New World Chard, but the palate does not lie. The Brickhouse chard - his premium Cuveé de Tonneliere - was thick and oily without the tropical scents and flavors common to California versions. In fact, it was Burgundian. [ed. "Burgundian" is the highest Pinot praise possible].

When tasting wines the setting can significantly enhance and confuse the experience. And at Brickhouse the sun lowering on the horizon surely influenced our decision making. [ed. special thanks to Jean Yates of Avalon Wine Company in Corvallis for the photo]. Our purchases were gone within 5 years and each bottle, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, was memorably good. The Torii Mor products were ripe in the New World style. And Rex Hill seemed too large a facility to make interesting wine...at least those were the conclusions in 1995.

The fact is I rarely drink Oregon Pinot Noir. Or perhaps I do not drink enough Oregon Pinot Noir!Pricing is too often an issue. Another producer with attractive pricing is Evesham Wood in the southern end of the valley. Their wines seem to be more firm, even stiff like a Calvinist preacher. However, after popping the Lange Winery magnum purchased on that trip I am ready to get re-acquainted with Oregon Pinot Noir.

1993 Lange Willamette Valley Pinot Noir $70 (in 1995): Purchased at the winery. The wines seemed very well made. The magnum may have been sitting on the tasting room shelf for a year. The sommelier at Josies in Santa Monica pulled a cork that had done its job. The bottom was crusted black leaving a ring 10 cm high on the perimeter. Stored in the tBoW temp controlled cellar since 1995, the tight stained cork promised the wine was at least preserved decently. The color was dark brick red. The nose showed beets at first. There was the tiniest bit of volatile acidity for about 5 minutes. With 20 minutes air the wine began to open. The fruit was perfectly balanced. The beets converted to cherries with plums. The weight was light, delicate, balanced. This was truly exquisite. The fact this was 15 years old testified to what can happen in Oregon. The only issue is price point. The 2006 version is $22. That is a very good price. Winemakers Don and Wendy Lange also have single vineyards at $60 which would have to be very good to get tBoW to break the U20 prime directive. [ed. Dotoré recollects a Lange Reserve was top wine in a 1999 Pinot Noir tasting prompting a new Oregon hunt-a-thon]

This wine experience - busting open a 15 year old Pinot Noir that is outstanding in every way - is especially compelling given the recent belly flop by the two 1996 red Burgundies that anchored the King's Tasting. The only caveat is whether the fruit that went into this bottling may now be going into the current single vineyards. tBoW did contact Don Lange asking what might be expected of the 1993 vintage in mag. Lange said he had not had it in a couple years but that 1993 was an outstanding vintage. Well, congratulations to the Langes. This was rare and beautiful wine. The kicker? 12.5%

2000 Domaine de Bonserine Cote Rotie Les Moutonnes $50: Syrah wine from the Rhone. Rich and not showing any age. Juicy but no extracted. Quite fruity. Purchased at new Wine Cask in town. Matching it up to 2001 Croze Hermitage reviewed in the August 30 post. Another winner. Nice work from the buyer at the Cask. 13%

2001 Salomon Undhof Kremser Koegl Riesling Reserve $40: Steve Goldun of Palate Food & Wine [ed. LA's best and most wonderful restaurant for wine lovers] poured the Austrian Riesling and stopped the show at our table. Given he had been bombing us with glasses, each something new, sometime familiar, this wine stood out like Obama at a Florida bingo tournament. It followed a Vouvray sparkler from Huguet, A Cabernet Rose from Saumur, and a recent vintage Chablis. Deep golden and afresh apricot nose with plenty of acid. It was outrageously interesting and delicious. One of those wines you know as soon as you taste it that you must try it again. Terry Theise Selection. 13%

2007 Vinho Verde Adamado $10: Produced by the Adega Cooperativa de Ponte de Lima of Portugal. This is the prototypical Latino summer white wine. Limoncello, lemonade, bright, acidic. THis is delicious wine but not for the faint of heart. If you mostly know white wine as buttery Chardonnay with tropical flavors then you will be shocked when you first sip this margarita mix. I tasted and bought it at Palate in Glendale. It is widely available around town. 10%

2006 Rex HIll Willamette Valley Pinot Noir $20: Ain't it great being humbled? tBoW pans Rex Hill for making too much wine to possibly produce anything decent and here it comes. Greg St Clair of K&L [ed. Greg told tBoW to stay at Da Felicin in Monforte d'Alba so ree-speck snap] said this was an honest everyday PN from Oregon, otherwise Oregon wines are not really in the personal rotation. The price is perfect and the wine is...worth another go round. Has that very nice blend of cherry fruit and soft smoke. No barnyard but plenty good Pinot muscle to take it out of the candy store. Very good. My apologies to Rex Hill and congrats on keeping the alcohol down!! 13.5%

2006 Sineann Oregon Pinot Noir $24: Cherry cola, blueberries, pretty ripe. Oregon shows Santa Rita Hills they have not cornered the market on overripe Pinot Noir. tBoW prefers a more restrained and high tone style but this does not exactly taste bad. With all the rich fruit you might consider this the poor man's Williams Selyem. 14.6%

Lets' get something straight. The idea that the quality of a wine increases in lock step with its price is specious. It should be obvious to readers of this blog that there are plenty of good to very good to downright ridiculously good wines that cost less than $20. We cover a few (of course) on this post. However, the suggestion that the cost of a bottle of wine is a necessary and sufficient condition denoting quality is.....what is the word.....S-T-O-O-P-I-D.

Better criteria include region, i.e., where the grapes are grown; grower, who is the farmer and what are his preferences in wine growing practices; winemaker, what is his portfolio; and finally price, are we being asked to pay for advertising, vanity and a private jet. And if you can't dig the detail then you can take the shortcut and simply buy the importer.

[ed moment: Slate magazine's wine editor Michael Steinberger posted a recent article on this very same idea of "wine shopping shorthand" first proposed in tBoW in Oct 07 and Jan 08.]

Robert Mondavi was the greatest wine salesman ever. He created the "wine lifestyle" market which prompted a steady rise in prices without regard to quality or the other criteria listed above. Enter the new frugality. And new criteria for gearing down without losing quality and pleasure, courtesy of tBoW.

2006 Vinsobres Domaine Jaume "Altitude 420" $13: Purchased at K&L wines in Hollywood. Classic Rhone blend that tBoW loves; 60% Grenache, 40% Syrah, 30 year old vines. Gunflint nose (some would say pencil lead), blueberry flavors. Lots of spine (or grip if you are manual). The point is it has backbone, strength, goes past front palate. Typical pepper. Terrific wine. Outstanding value. 13.5%

2007 Doña Paula Estate Malbec $18: tBoW took the wine guy's word at the local Whole Foods and bought this bottle. The kid was on a roll after touting tBoW on the successful Nanni family of wines. Of course, those U10 wines make this look like high end juice. If I was buying wedding wine I would go with the Nanni Tannat for the red and the Nanni Torrontes for the white. But, if I was going to a summer BBQ (plenty of those coming up) with folks I did not know I would bring the Doña Paula. If it was in arm's reach. Here is what you get. Caramelo (not quite Carmelo Anthony), cherry flavors, classic Mendoza Malbec. A winner among the lumpen proletariat. 14%

2002 J Wilkes Pinot Noir Block Q Santa Barbara County $34 (we got a holiday deal): The expanded tBoW tasting team visited Santa Rita Hills in 2004 over Turkey Day. Jeff Wilkes offered to meet us at a Los Olivos tasting room where he poured and chatted for an hour. He told us his story how he went from marketer (18 years!!) for the 800 acre Bien Nacido vineyard to becoming a winemaker. It happens. Makes you wonder if he figured this ain't so tough and I know where are the best plots in the vineyard anyway so why not just buy the juice and put out my own label. We tasted his Pinot Gris and several of his Pinot Noir "block" wines. Intensity on the nose with citric scents. Not quite Pinot. Flavors are equally intense. Focused. Brambleberry and blackberry up front and parsley on the finish. The wine is exotic, delightful, intriguing and delicious. After 7 years it is showing beautifully. Bag it we are taking it home. Nice job J. Wilkes. Note the production was tiny at 215 cases. Worth searching out. Pricier now. 14%

1998 Bert Simon Weingut Herrenberg Serrig Würtzberg Riesling Kabinett $18: Picked this up at Palate after sommelier Steve Goldun poured it with our crab salad. Impressive. How many wines can work with any salad? tBoW has a weakness for the Mosel region. Even though this particular wine is from the Saar tributary, it is still a Mosel. German Rieslings from the Mosel are arguably the greatest wines in the world. The statement seems more than a bissel silly since how can anything be the best in the world? I realize the argument is fun to have...the best car, the best beach, the best Cabernet wine. If you said Mosel produces the best Rieslings in the world tBoW would enthusiastically explore the point. This wine is a perfect reason why. A ten year old Kabinett from a lower profile producer (pronounced See-moan as in Nina) that shows spectacularly. While German Rieslings are recognized as wines that can age beautifully - improving with every decade especially in the case of Auslese from the best vintages - Kabinett wines are for earliest consumption. They go 5 not 10 years. But this one has and it is special. The nose is dried flowers. There is a ferric quality that recalls rust. The color is somewhat rusty and perhaps the flavors are so suggestive they conjure unexpected memories. The slight petrol nose one associates with Saar wines (see Zilliken) is there although muted. The wine is perfectly balanced. At its peak right now. Somewhere between Washington and carb apples. Outstanding. 8.25%

Here are a couple of sites to brush on German Riesling wines. This quick and dirty overview is on the Wine Doctor's blog. Rudi Weist, the importer of this bottle, has many features on his website including this recondite slideshow. And finally, a blog that discusses Bert Simon and this wine (among others). If you read one make it this one.

WEEKEND UPDATE ON UPCOMING TOPANGA CANYON ART STUDIOS TOUR: tBoW travels through Topanga Canyon often. Once a year the Topanga cooperative art gallery hosts a tour of local artists who live in the canyon. This is hands-down the best one day summer activity for people who want to know more about the venerable, charming and mysterious canyon. If you want to see how and where Topanga artists live then you must buy a ticket at the gallery and spend Saturday and/or Sunday June 13 & 14 driving around Topanga. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

What better way to follow a top shelf wine tasting than by driving out to the wineries that could not get into the PIWF (Portland Indie Wine Fest) just because they produce more than 3000 cases. The 45 minute ride into the northern end of Willamette Valley is dreamy even in the rain. We made a right turn up the hill from Dundee on our way to our first stop, Lange Winery. Our expectations were pretty high given we had busted open the 1993 Lange Willamette Valley in magnum this past August and were blown away by how well the wine showed 15 years later.

Lange Winery is near the apex of the Dundee Hills. The view to the Northeast is majestic. The tasting room and winery are not as humble as the Ayres facility (pictured above and reviewed below) nevertheless Lange is still a pretty basic operation. Generally speaking, the Oregon wineries do not suffer California vanities. The same cannot be said for wine pricing beginning with the $10 per person tasting fee. We split two.

2007 Lange Three Hills Cuveé $40: Perfumed nose, cherry flavors. Ripe for the vintage even though the alcohol is in check. Fruit forward and ripe seems to be the contemporary style for Lange. 13.3%

2006 Lange Estate Pinot Noir $60: Racy, acidic, more fruity, smoke on the palate, herbaceous nose. 13.9%

2006 Lange Freedom Hill Pinot Noir $60: Perfumed nose, creamy flavors, lighter acid. Plenty of stuffing, rich and robust. 13.9%

We left with everything we arrived with. Prices unjustified by the juice and our value-insistent sensibilities.

We took the shortcut road over the hill to the main drag leading downhill to highway 240 and Ribbon Ridge. We could wait no longer to hit the mother lode.

First stop...Bergström Wines. The doctor patriarch started this winery which is a family business employing 6 family members and kin. Josh is the Burgundy-educated son, winemaker and vineyard manager. Josh is turning out some very nice wines. But they will cost you dearly.

2007 Dr. Bergström Riesling $28: The reference to the Bernkastel Doctor vineyard, for some folks the greatest vineyard in Germany's Mosel, was not lost on tBoW, a mosel-a-phile. There is Deutsche character in this wine with its whiff of petrol and racy acidity. Kabinett ripeness with Spätlese richness. It is nice but it is not Mosel. And I think I prefer the Couere de Terre "Alsatian". 12.5%

2006 Bergström Willamette Valley Pinot Noir $30: The entry level bottle is not estate. Sourced from young vines the wine is rich with some veggie quality in the mouth. 14.5%

2007 Bergström Cumberland Reserve Pinot Noir $45: A blend of estate and sourced juice. Lots of ash, tannic, dark. Middleweight body with heavyweight flavors. Really delicious. 13.9%

2007 Bergström de Lancellotti Estate Pinot Noir $75: All estate juice. Gingerbread, baking spices on the nose and in the mouth. Fruity. More ripe than Cumberland. 13.9%

We left the humble tasting room with one bottle. It was not a tough call but it was one we would have liked to not make. The winery has everything going for it except for one thing. We decided against the $30 Willamette Valley (400 cases!) because we liked the et Fille Kalita better (at $34) and the Dewey Kelley Ribbon Ridge just as well (at $22). We loved the Cumberland (5500 cases, $65) and the de Lancellotti (455 cases, $75) but we felt we had to cut our losses given the $20 tasting fee. This is a winery we would love to love. Respect for the vineyards is everywhere, the site is lovely, the wines are spectacular. Emily poured. She was smart and informative about the region. In the end even though we really liked what the winemaker is doing we could not get past the hubris in the pricing policy [ed. or the Doctor reference].

Up the road, around the corner near the hilltop is Ayres Vineyards (see photo at top). The winery is beneath the main house on the property where Don and Carol McClure get to enjoy Oregon wine country sunsets. [ed. Carol pictured with fawning visitor]. Daughter Kathleen and hubby winemaker Brad McLeroy live in the older home on the property. A long drive through vineyards brings us to the split level home and winery where Mama Carol greeted us.

Ayres is another family winery whose winemaker, in this case the son-in-law, boasts Burgundian training. Brad learned from Matt McKinley and Veronique Drouhin of Domaine Drouhin in Oregon. History moment...Maison Joseph Drouhin effectively put this region on the wine map when the leading Burgundy wine negociant selected Dundee Hills to build its new world winery. First vintage for Domaine Drouhin was 1988 (first for Maison Joseph Drouhin was 1880). When tBoW visited in 1993 Ms. Drouhin told us tradition would have stood in the way of her becoming principal winemaker in Burgundy. Not so in Oregon. By choosing to build in Dundee Drouhin upped the stakes and the price by anointing Oregon Pinot Noir as Burgundian. Here is what one of the local Domain Drouhin spinoffs is doing on his own.

2007 Ayres Willamette Valley Pinot Noir $24: The entry level blend is perfect for getting to know the winery. Forest floor and mushrooms in a rounded blend. What we are looking for in fairly priced Oregon Pinot Noir.

2007 Ayres Piper Pinot Noir $34: Knocked us out. Take the Willamette Valley blend and pump it up 300%. Same forest floor funk, mushrooms and spice. In the mouth it is exotic, medium weight, balanced perfectly, friendly and so easy to swallow. This is Pinot Noir the way we love it. 13.5%

2007 Ayres Pioneer Pinot Noir $35: Another stunning wine that contrast beautifully with the Piper. The wine is lovely enough to purchase for enjoyment on its own. It is more high-toned, elegant, bold, structured from the nose to the palate. These wines are all the evidence one needs about what can be done with Oregon's "troubled" 2007 vintage. 13.5%

Last stop was Carlton, the western most village in the Newberg-Dundee-Lafayette-Carlton quadrangle. The rain started as we pulled into the no-stop-light town center. Scott Paul, our target, was right there in a converted stone and wood creamery. We could have been in Beaune.

Scott Paul proprietor Scott Wright poured the wines on this rainy afternoon so we pretty much had him to ourselves. "I have been a Burgundy geek all my life. My father collected Burgundies and other wines so there was always good wine on the table". He explained he had left a marketing career in Hollywood to manage the Domain Drouhin business. When he left that gig he started his own winery and import business. He imports approximately 18 Burgundy winemakers. For his own brand he exclusively uses screw caps and he may have influenced some of his Burgundy vignerons. BRAVO!! We might have tasted his wines at the Portland Indie Wine Festial except his production is 3500 cases which exceeds the 3000 case limit. The import/producer business strategy ensures multiple revenue streams with one caveat. He has to pour his wines next to some of the best Burgundies going. He poured a sample of Burgundies first.

2007 Benjamin Leroux Bourgogne Blanc $24: Chardonnay from a Burgundy village blend under his label. Wine is lean and tart. Never confuse this for New World juice. You do have to like Chardonnay. 13%

2007 Benjamin Leroux Savigny les Beaune $35: Wines from Savigny les Beaune are commonly referred to as "good value Burgundy". Lean, earthy, tart. You have to like Chardonnay. 13%

2007 Benjamin Leroux Volnay $65: This is French Pinot Noir. More spicy and intense. High tone. It turns out Leroux trained winemaker David Croix at Camille Giroud. 13%

2007 Hospices de Beaune Cuvee Maison Drouhin for Scott Paul $50: This is THE wine. Big wow factor. The best value on the table. Scott Paul bought the barrel at the Hospices de Beaune tasting. As the buyer Scott Wright gets to choose who will make the wine and bottle it. The wine is restrained and powerful, beefy with cherry flavors. This is Burgundy. And at this price it is a bargain. There is always one wine you wish you had picked up. Here it was.

2006 Scott Paul Le Paulee Pinot Noir $30: The price is right but the wine is handicapped coming after the Burgs. The fruit is forward per the 2006 vintage. tBoW tastes mint, sasparilla. Scott thinks I am nuts. 13.9%

2007 Scott Paul Audrey $65: From the fifth oldest (1970) Pinot Noir plantings in the region; the Marsh vineyard atop Ribbon Ridge. This is soft and seductive wine. It is concentrated with cola flavors. It is very very nice. At this price point the obvious question is Bergström Cumberland or Scott Paul Audrey? And the answer is Hospices de Beaune!! 13.1%

It rained the entire drive back to Portland and the Hotel deLuxe [ed. highest recommendation for price/quality ratio]. The two missus snoozed in the back. Dotoré cat napped while tBoW tasted Pinot Noir the entire ride. Now that is a l-o-n-g finish. Dined that evening at Le Pigeon in Portland, another strong Murray the K tout. Staff performed exceptionally well. Strongly recommended. We ordered another Patty Green.

2007 Patricia Green Estate Old Vine Pinot Noir $34: Tight, lean, more of that funky but elegant (romantic? sublime?) forest floor. Good acid. But tight. We did the right thing and decanted.

To summarize...tBoW will keep his eye on Ribbon Ridge. This relatively new AVA (2005) is home to important vineyards and wineries emerging as leaders in high quality Pinot Noir. Most plantings are fairly young, i.e., less than 10 years. However, the region is proven with notable older plantings that have produced premium juice for decades. There still exists enough naivete and joy in winemaking to place the experience of touring and tasting a long way from the Napa-Sonoma limo/winetrain trip. Tasting rooms with the over-the-top pricing are unfortunate and ill-advised. At least apply the tasting fee to purchases over $100. Of course, the best experience is still discovering something new in the basement/winery at no cost.

The first half of the 2009 has been lush with Pinot Noir and Burgundy from the Camille-Giroud tasting at Palate Food + Wine in February to the Oregon wine tour in May. Faith in Pinot Noir has been firmly re-established. While there are no U20 wines to be had there are truly special wines that are very good value for the Pinot-phile.

Portland is a nice place to visit with the river and the Pearl District in the old town. Compact, quaint, served by an ultra-convenient light rail. Next year's NBA champs work here. But if you like to drink great Pinot Noir, dine at inventive and casual restaurants, shop for new and out of print books at Powell's and sample chocolatiers like Sahagun Chocolate Shop or Alma Chocolate then this is a GREAT place to get lost in.

Summer afternoon tastings that morph into evening wine campaigns is what the hottest season is all about. Strategy, tactics and logistical controls are so very important especially when conditions are harsh as in really really H-O-T. And when the tasting theme, suggested by the regent Mouse is Riesling served cold, temperature management is vital. As the outside thermometer burns through 100 degrees the glasses get warm just sitting around. The treatment? Cold conditioning for stemware which means rinse the glass in ice water before each new pour. Wine buckets no more than a quick reach away replenished with ice throughout the day. But what about the taster? Keep a swimming pool nearby, wear trunks or a discrete one-piece and dip every 30 minutes. Throw a towel over the chair and return to the table. Assemble a crack team with the inevitable hangers-on. Tactics include having the requisite plonk for the lumpen. To summarize...keep cool and moist, stratify wine selections, and ensure the tasting cadre are kept refreshed.

This tasting proved to be especially interesting.

2004 Ca' D'Gal Moscato d'Asti Vigna Vecchia ~$15: Peaches and apples, yummy, apple pie, crusty flan flavors. Really really nice especially for 5 years old. And it's a U20. 6.5%

1989 Milz Laurentiushof Trittenheimer Felsenkopf Riesling Auslese ~$80: First older wine. Riesling tastes great young but can be quite extraordinary with as many as 20 years on it. According to Rudi Wiest the 1989 vintage for Milz was "a near great harvest for quality. Best wines of the 80s". But what about 1983? [ed. coming, patience please] Color of a certain dehydrated bodily fluid. Flavors like Galliano. Still some green fruit. Baked goods, did somebody say Pfeffernüsse? [ed. fetching madchen at top and tBoW tasting vet EJ]. 30 minutes later...petrol and anise nose and salty licorice flavors. They don't make' em like this anymore with teetotaler alcohol level of 8%.

1998 Frtiz Herzberger Hochrain Riesling Spitz/Donau Wachau Smaragd ~$40: This bottle wins most-words-on-the-label prize. The wine is from a premium Austrian producer. Smaragd means it is at the Spätlese level of German Riesling wines. Unfortunately, it is over the hill. Long gone. Pretty dried out. Severe although even in its sunset years it has some appeal to the more disciplined tasters. Jawohl!! 10%

1979 Eitelsbacher Karthauserhofberg Auslese $55: An historical producer from Roman times coveted through the Napoleonic era. All the pedigree a German Riesling house could want. This 30 year old Mosel Auslese is very well balanced, with nose of bees wax, aged honey flavors. Very delicate. Not a crowd pleaser; more favored by some than others. Perhaps it was the age.Think Lauren Bacall in her 80s. Another low alcohol throwback at 8.5%

2006 Plantagenet Great Southern Riesling $11: Break away to a Riesling from the Land Down Under. Wild Willy notes the BBQ overshadows any aromas. Switch to oral sensory devices. Dry dry dry. Zesty, acidic, lean, lemon lime flavors. Clean. "Button down collar" says WW. Good value says tBoW. 12%

1992 Geheimrat J. Wegeler Erben Rudesheimer Berg Schlossberg Riesling $45: Splits the tasters. Licorice and anise on the nose and in the mouth. Cooked apples, light weight, petrol presence. It ain't Mosel. Big ticket for controversial wine. 9%

2001 August Kesseler Rheingau Berg Schlossberger ~$30: Great wine from a great vintage and a great winemaker. Perfectly balanced. "This is what Riesling should taste like" says one taster. All the acid, all the fruit. Just right. Shows what regions other than Mosel can produce. Wine of the day [ed. but not the evening!!]. 9%

next post...flight of red wines...and an incredible dessert capper...

[ed. The King is back. Inspired by the recent Riesling tasting at Casa tBoW Mr. Mouse has a renewed commitment as per reporting duties on this blog with the usual wisecracks and Rodent Rating System. Since he only tastes regal wines - of minor and major regencies - this is to our benefit. This field report describes a Mosel Riesling, two Burgs and another off-the-map sweetie.

Last night I let my brother-in-law snatch three bottles from my cellah, and he didn't pull any punches. Good for him. Good for us. What, with the elegant feast in the background and a surprise dessert wine, made for a memorable evening.

1998 Merkelbach Urzig Wurzgarten Riesling Spatlese $18 (on release): Wow, 11 years on, this has the potential to outlast Joan Rivers. The famous "spicegarten" slope produces, along with Wehlen's Sonnenuhr, Mosel's most coveted offerings. Purchased on release in New Jersey for about $18, this was racier than Vanessa Williams before her pageant days. It zinged the roof of the mouth with cinnamon and fresh applie pie. Not as sweet as one expected, almost Kabinettish. Vibrant. Brash. Ready for the Dance wine. 9%. I just wish it had a tad more Walter Payton. 1.5 mice.


Lamarche 1999 Vosne-Romanne Les Suchots $40 then: Steve Goldun and I concur that 1993 and 1999 were the best years of a decade that reaffirmed Burgundy's status as The Region of Regions. While the '93s are more complex, they are also more elusive. The '99s are more consistent. This classic is peaking. Plums and grape leaf. And, yes, oriental spice. The nose was surprisingly weak considering the yum factor. Paid $40 on release from The Burgundy Wine Company in NYC. Two Happy Mice.

Ch. de la Tour 1999 Clos de Vougeot VV $50: Purchased this year via store reduction sale. This is the wine that makes us metaphorical crack heads. A rich earthy bouquet, quite structured, black cherries, a deep colored pinot - I swear I got Morrocan eggplant somewhere in that first glass. But it was the last glass, 2 hours after the bottle was uncorked, that showed the slope's magic. Should I have waited five more years? Perhaps. The bottle will be tasting great when Sasha and Melia are in college. But no regrets. A superb bottle. 2.5 ecstatic mice.

1999 Ch. Des Eyssards Cuvée Flavie Elevé en fût de chêne 2005 Saussignac $15?: The Southwest of France produces a bajillion dessert wines that never make the transatlantic crossing. We picked this up in Dordogne in 2003. Saussignac is part of the Bergerac AC that produces plonky Bordeaux blends and marvelous sweet stuff. I'll let the Blogmeister research the cepage, but methinks we had muscadelle, semllion and/or sauvignon blanc. [ed. I apologize my liege but finding a road map to a Romanian CIA prison would be easier]. A burnt orange sensation sang beautifully with sheep cheese from Maine. I think we paid $15 for the 500 ml bottle. The color was a sublime orange copper. Lovely. 1.5 mice.

They played Rebel Rebel on Monday Night Football as the broadcast went to a break.Came back from break with Bawwitdabaw. Too late to get tBoW interested in MNF again. Better than Bocephus...now if Kid Rock handled the intro...

2004 Emery Athiri Rhodos Amoryano $16: An El Vino purchase proposed by tBoW so don't hang this on the proprietor..necessarily. Blame it on a dream. If one was traveling to Turkey and planned to visit Rhodes sometime in the future one would like to know if there is any decent wine in that region of the world. After all the Knights Templar were French and the French are wine and even though the Templars did make vows of chastity and all that everyone knows they worshiped the skull of St. John the Baptist. Which is the reason why the King of France rounded them all up or as many as he could on Friday the 13th and threw them in prison.

Now if that won't make you thirst for a decent bottle of red on the road to meet Prester John I don't know what will. Well if we were meeting with the elusive Prester John we would sure like to share something impressive with him and this bottle of indigenous red from Rhodes wold not cut it. Not much of a nose or flavor. Fairly dry. Maybe it should be opened young since it is a 2004. Internet says Amoryano is an ancient varietal that has been cultivated on Mt. Attaviros since ancient times." Turns out there is quite a bit of wine production in the Aegean. The Emery portfolio include numerous other selections so tBoW is encouraged. 12%

2008 Touraine Premiere Vendange Henry Marionnet $16: Talk about inspired obsession, this wine does not use sulfites as a preservative. Keep it refrigerated at all times until ready to pop the cork. No yeasts added. 100% natural fermentation. The way wine was made in ancient times. Aromas like Cabernet Franc or Grenache but it is hand picked Gamay. No chaptalizaiton or nuthin'. A bold wine with bold flavors for Gamay and plenty of character. Brawny and seductive. Impressive. Opens with time to breathe. Remarkable and delicious. U20 wine with archeological value. 12.5%

2006 Weiser-Kunstler Enkircher Ellergrub Riesling Kabinett $21: A Bill Mayer Age of Riesling selection. Sweet especially for Kabinett. The Rielsing naive have tough time with this wine as one does not "get it" right off the bat. This will be a keeper. Mosel that needs time in the bottle. An El Vino pick and I shall return for another two or three. 8.5%

2007 Dominique Piron Beaujolais-Villages Domaine de la Chanaise $15: Beaune Imports which is one of those importers one can rely upon to make a good choice. This wine is a bit tough for a village wine. Lean, twiggy, not so fruity, and it did not open after a day on the shelf. Would not buy this bottle again but I would be willing to try one of the Cru wines. 12.5%

Me I want a hoola hoop! The holidays are coming and going in a blur this year (thankfully). 2009 has been tortuous for most of us given the ubiquitous economic "recovery". Tanks Gott the recession is over according to Bernanke and Supreme Blowhard Larry Kudlow!! This does not mean we cannot enjoy being with friends and family while we resist the urge to purchase items that demonstrate our supreme affection for members of both groups [ed. how tender]. However, rest assured the occasion for gathering is always going to be enhanced if the host pours some decent wines. We certainly found this to be the case in the Christmas week and will probably find the same truth to hold for the New Year. The usual gatherings at Casa tBoW featured most of the blog blowhards and they were clamoring for wine wine and more wine. Please excuse the fuzz tones on photos. Here is what got pulled. We hope your holiday party was equally filled with family, good friends, the Singing Chipmunks, and, if not good value, at least good wines.

2005 Nuits St George Aux Saint Julien Earl Daniel Bocquenet $50: If you want to buy a mixed case of wines from one source then you cannot do much better than North Berkeley Imports and Wines Shop in Berkeley CA. Like Kermit Lynch down the street they work with particular French producers so the consumer gets to try wines that can be referred to as under the radar. Here is one. Dark and brooding color for Pinot Noir. Separates Nuits St George from the Beaune. Delicious fruit. A little tight at first. Plums and cocoa. Pencil lead up front from the tannins. Tried again two hours later and the next day when the wine had finally opened fully. Think rustic style with elegant fruit. Nothing tastes like this! Dotoré says a "hand crafted wine." Absolutely. 13%

2004 Saxum Broken Stones $50: Dotoré rightfully cannot understand why I buy this wine. Like the coccyx is a vestige from our simian origins so buying ridiculously overpriced wines at absurdly high alcohol levels the remainder of a former "wine collector". I guess I can't help myself. 75% juicy, dense Syrah, 22% thick Grenache, and a smidgen of Mourvedre. We turned to the aerator which made a huge difference in readiness. Without aeration this brooding monster was like a young Shaq in the lane. Imposing, unrelenting and rejecting! Once mellowed by instant aging the wine showed its complexity. The nose is spicy, mineral, with green olives as well. In the mouth there are black olives, cocoa and rum toffee flavors. No heat form high alcohol. This is Paso wine at its best. The new world definition of complex. Despite the big fruit and high alcohol the wine shows restraint and control, excellent balance of flavors that offset the alcohol, a sure hand at work. 15.6%

2007 Pierre Chermette Beaujolais $15: From Peter Wegandt of Weygandt-Metzler Imports. Peter has a great lineup and this is a star within his Milky Way. This is precisely the kind of wine tBoW favors. As we have said so many times in the past what is not to like? Weighty fresh fruit flavors, balanced perfectly, satisfying from the first sip to the last. U20 perfection. Read about the producer at the W-M website. 12%

2005 Tablas Creek Tannat $42: Traditional grape form Languedoc region. TC has an acre planted. Very dark color. A bit hot on the first taste which is the alcohol showing. Acid balanced by sweet fruit. Some mintiness. Smoky, gamey, leathery. Can go quite a few years. Very nice wine made for big holiday meals. 14.8%

2006 Domaine Saint Andre de Figuiere Vielles Vignes $16: Getting figgy wid it. 75% Vermentino and 25% Semillon. From the producer that made last summer's best Rosé. The kind of non-traditional blend they can make in Languedoc. A wonderful wine. Fig flavors and nose. Soft acids. Exquisitely drinkable. 13%

2007 Vom Rotem Schotter OTT Riesling $36: Austrian Riesling picked up at El Vino Wines in Venice. Artisan wine. Plenty of bright lively acid really sets this one off. Balanced, fresh, lotsa lime and flinty flavors. The young folks who usually drink tequila love it; they did not ask for salt. 12.5%

2001 Salomon Undhof Kremser Koegl Riesling Reserve $30: The contrasting Riesling. Also Austrian, softer acids, older vintage. A single vineyard wine with strong reputation from a region with 600 years winemaking tradition! Oily texture with stuffing. Muted nose. Prefer the younger style! This could use more fruit. It is most likely we should have opened this on its own instead of the party setting. 13%

The photo above and below are the same 30 foot "tree" constructed of shopping carts. I am told this is an annual installation. You can check it out in Venice on Main Street behind Peetes Coffee. Afterward, you can taste wines at El Vino on Abbot Kinney!

The NFL playoffs is a good mark for looking back on the holiday season. Like the San Fernando Valley from the Top of Topanga after a big wind, the holiday wine landscape is suddenly brilliantly clear. Landmarks stand out so much better once the air clears. So much wine flows during the Christmas-New Year there just is not enough room to cover it all in one post. Here is the first of two.

2005 Fitou Bel Armant Chateau Champ des Souers $15: Toffee nose. Have covered this twice before on this blog. And we still like it! Very appealing flavors, soft, vanilla, fruity juice. Balanced. A Becky Wasserman import, a U20 wine, and one of her personal faves. Here is hoping we see more recent vintages. 13.5%

2004 Tablas Creek Esprit de Beaucastel $39: This cork got pulled during the tBoW Xmas Affair. To the winemaker's credit the well-wined crowd immediately slowed their conversations and took notice. Nice! Hardy wine. Agrarian?? Sophisticated and showing very nicely at such a youthful age. Kudos to Jason Haas. This series is destined to be the house mark. 14.5%

2003 Chateau Redortier Gigondas $19: After the more innocent party-goers had guzzled another glass of delicious juice our guest posed the $100 question "how do you know what to buy?" This is a compliment and the clearest recognition we are pouring nice wines that represent great value. The answer is "buy the importer like this one who is Robert Chadderdon". This is Syrah dark and with a dirty nose. We reject the bret option because there is also pepper and the fruit in the mouth is pure. As the wine opens the dirty nose blows off and the deep dark Syrah flavors get richer and deeper. Excellent wine. 14%

[ed. lacking label images we turn to pro football images and analogies]

2008 Cortese Frizzante Dell Alto Monferrato Terredicino $13: Don't you just love it when a guest brings an unexpectedly wonderful wine? This is Miles Austin of Italian white wines, completely surprising and far exceeding expectations. Not really spectacular but so dependable he could become your go-to-wine. Let's not get carried away. Biletnikoff he ain't but he does a pretty good impression. The wine is stone dry, bone dry and fizzy. Flinty like a musket barrel. It is very refreshing and the price is so good the guest very thoughtfully brought an extra bottle! 12%

2004 August Kesseler Rudesheimer Berg Roseneck Riesling Spatlese $40: The best wide receivers can turn a game around in one play. This wine, like Randy Moss, is highly touted, has an oily feel and telltale petrol nose. There was much talk about Randy stinking up the Patriots with his pouty aroma around mid-season. He turned up at season's end only to disappear in the Big Game. This Riesling has apricot flavors but not too sweet nor high acid. The same bottle was brought to a different party where it also showed well. But has the showy and much admired wine, like Moss, started its inevitable downward slide? 10.5%

2007 Domaine de L'Ancienne Mercerie Faugères $17: Imported by Peter Weygandt which is always a good signal. Dark, brooding chocolate flavors. Mostly Syrah, medium weight, exactly what we like from the Languedoc region at this price point. 15%

Next week conference championships and a chance for Dotoré to get some playoff pool redemption and start the March to find his Mojo.