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

With a double bar/t mitzvah in Palo Alto (Papa Ricolini vogues Tevya at reception) we saw the opportunity to extend a few days and hit Napa as long as we were so near. A trip to Napa is always mixed for me...at least at the outset. Visiting with good friends is a plus. But given the pure wine-country choice I would prefer to visit almost anywhere else like Paso Robles or even better Walla Walla.

Napa is silly. Take the tasting rooms...please. [apologetic link to Henny Youngman insult machine] In Napa they have tasting galleries. U20 wines? Not in Napa no way no how. It costs at least $20 just to taste wines in the galleries. The Del Dotto Gallery demands $40 and they keep the glass. And they are hardly the exception. If you plan on tasting at Del Dotto, Stags Leap and Opus in the same day bring a couple hundies...for the privilege of sipping and spitting in a bucket. The way I get around the over-the-top silliness of Napa is to make sure I visit Carneros first. Which means a visit with McKenzie-Mueller.

Fall paints brilliant colors which are wonderful to look at in the wine country light. I did not get a single picture but I do keep the memories of blazing orange, scarlet and brown vineyards.

Karen McKenzie greeted us and we got right to tasting. All prices reflect M-M Wine Club 25% discount. She poured wine on their tasting table...in the same warehouse (OK, very large garage) where they make and store the wine. Bought every wine reviewed.

2006 McKenzie-Mueller Sauvignon Blanc ~$18: She said this wine came from vines that they had tried to convert ("t-budded") to red varietals. Some the vines produced SB anyway! So they bottled a very small amount of very fresh, minerally and not at all grassy SB. Like a Sancerre.

2005 McKenzie-Mueller Clan Rose ~$14: 63% cab franc makes for a brawny pinky.

2004 McKenzie-Mueller Pinot Noir $~$26: Deep almost caramel nose. Deep red robe. Fruit forward, elegant. The thing about Bob's pinot is that you would not mistake it for Sonoma, Napa or Santa Rita. He gets the Carneros smoke and slightly briny fruit far better than other Carneros producers. Outstanding. Biggest purchase.

2002 McKenzie-Mueller Merlot ~$26: Bob makes the best and the best value merlot. Five years in bottle and completely fresh. Another deep wine with seductive aromas of blackest cherry. Spectacular.

2003 McKenzie-Mueller Cabernet Franc ~$26: Of the three reds we bought this was the least spectacular. Which is like saying Lana Turner was not quite Marilyn Monroe. Or James Coburn was not quite Clint Eastwood. More narrow flavor profile and still kicking it good. We purchased.

The McKenzie-Mueller presentation never disappoints. I need more of these wines!

On the way to Napa we spent an overnight in The City. I will not bore you with my appraisal of all the ways SF is so much cooler than LA. The restaurants with their intelligent wine lists is one reason. Here is what we tasted at SPQR, the new A16 installment in Pacific Heights on Fillmore. You can order a 3 ounce taste, a 6 ounce glass or a 375 ml carafe of any of the 32 wines on the list. Is there one LA restaurant that has even considered this policy? Lou (Dottore' suggestion) may be the closest LA has to this enlightened of a wine policy. I am showing the price on the wine list which you have to figure is a 100% markup from what you might pay retail.

First the white wines...

2004 Emmanuele Scammarca 'Murgo' Nerello Mascalese Brut, Sicilia $49: Toasty nose. Tiny bead. Dry flavor, pinot fruit, good acid and citric flavors in balance. Terrific.

2006 Ferrando 'La Torrazza' Erbaluce di Caluso, Piemonte $32: Neal Rosenthal selection. Creamy, oak on nose and in flavors. Vanilla and mineral going on. Find it, buy it. Has to be excellent value.

2006 Scagliola 'Casot dan Vian ' Chardonnay, Piemonte $37: Pale color. Sweet and salty flavors. Stick to Arneis.

2005 Di Giovanna 'G&K" Grillo, Sicilia $40: Resembles sauvignon blanc con grass.

And two reds...

2006 Castello di Luzzano 'Carlino Bonardo, Oltrepo' Pavese, Lombardia $36: Perfumed fruity nose. Flavor is cooked fruit like in a pie. A bit green. OK, not great.

2004 Di Giovanna Nero d'Avola, Sicila $34: Earthy nose, almost veggie, burnt charcoal-like. Sounds awful huh? Tasted great! Perfect BBQ wine. Even has BBQ tastes, rich and smoky. I would hunt this one down.

SPQR was a great stop. Dropped in at the Elite Cafe up the street before heading to Firefly in Noe Valley for a quiet dinner. We'll dine at Elite next time up.

Sunday night we dined at Uva in Napa. Great local spot. Food was excellent. Service unpretentious. Carlos brought wines.

1999 Clarendon Hills Shiraz Moritz Vineyard ~$128 online: This is the first Aussie shiraz I have actually enjoyed. Excellent balance, lush fruit. Ready to drink. Like a Carneros merlot crossed with Russian River pinot. Was worth the wait. Hmm. Could there be others this good?

2003 Donatella Cinelli Colombini Cenerentola Orcia ~$50: Tuscan blend of 65% Sangiovese and 35% Foglia Tonda (a once-cast-aside grape she is resurrecting) tastes more like Sicilian style than Tuscan. And no cab so it tastes nothing like a super Tuscan. Or her highly regarded Brunello. Have had this before also from Litos' cellar. Tannic, like-able, good cherry flavor. But tannic. Keeper. Stylized label represents...Italian woman with 3 names? Cerentola translates to Cinderella. Her press suggests she is kinda cool.

Monday we awakened to a gorgeous Napa day. By this time Carlitos and Alice are in tow. There is no sense getting in the way of the irresistible force that is Carlos. We headed directly to Sterling Winery. I know what you are thinking...Sterling? The winery with the tram ride? I will tell you we spent three hours there being served by Sigrid in the VIP Room tasting the best wines Sterling has to offer. And they were excellent. Among the big Napa/Sonoma producers - Mondavi, Beringer, Simi, Kendall-Jackson, BV - I favor Sterling. Now that Sterling is owned by Diageo they no longer produce a Winery Lake chardonnay. Acacia (another Diageo property) produces the Winery Lake since Acacia is the "single vineyard" property in the minds of Diageo marketers. Having just finished reading the Mondavi book (read review here) I understand the importance of positioning product up and down the price ladder. And Acacia in a word? Unimpressive.

But Sterling...and Sigrid...what a great afternoon. Retail prices at the winery listed. Enterprising folks (such as Carlitos) can do better.

1998 Sterling Cabernet Reserve $100: Wow. And I am not a cab fan. And 1998 is an "off vintage" for Napa. Extended rains in Spring delayed bud break all over the valley. But this wine was special. Tobacco, cedar in nose and flavors. Velvet smooth, all integrated, black cherry fruit. Not listed for sale.

2001 Sterling Reserve Merlot $75: Not listed. Vanilla flavors. Sweet. Too much for my taste.

2004 Sterling Three Palms Merlot $65: Tannic, chocolate/coca flavors. Doughy nose. Dark red color. Needs time. 14.2%

2001 Sterling Three Palms Merlot $60: Spicy, mint nose. Lusty wine, mocha flavors, beautiful. 13.5%. Winnah. Pay the front line! A great contrast to the McKenzie-Mueller style. Not listed for sale.

2004 Sterling Vineyards Reserve $45: Bordeaux blend sourced throughout Napa Valley (i.e., Diageo properties). Earthy, cab/merlot/petit verdot. Everything I find boring in Napa cabs.

2001 Sterling Red Carpet Reserve $100: Not listed for sale. Bordeaux blend bottled for the Academy's Oscar party. Nose is integrated. Balanced flavors, shoe polish flavors I associate with Bordeaux blends that are mostly cab and merlot. The pitch is make your friends who watch the Oscars with you feel special. I would rather watch Dog the Bounty Hunter than the Oscar show. Actually I would rather watch Beth. Now she is in perfect balance.

2003 Sterling Diamond Mountain Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon $65: No sooner do I open my big mouth about boring cabs then I fall in love with this fabulous wine. Mint nose, intense mountain fruit, lush package all round. This wine would be tempting at full retail. At the price we paid it is a very good buy. 13.5%

Diageo seems to have improved things at Sterling. The marketers have not run roughshod over the winemakers. There are only a few mega-players like Diageo and, together, they own an important proportion of the valley. But don't ask me. Ask the staff who all seem very happy and were exceptionally helpful and courteous. Sterling Winery - worth the visit.

And then there were three more wines...

Monday night we dined at Redd in Yountville. This is high-ticket fancy-pants joint. Even though it is major frous-frous I must compliment the staff on their top-of-the-line service. We were a difficult party arriving 30 minutes early and asking to be seated if something opened up. It did. They offered but we were not quite ready. When we did get to our table we were unhappy with it so back to the bar we went. They set us up in a better location in a few minutes. Unashamed, we lobbied hard to open a bottle we had brought that was also on their list. A no-no. However, the maitre'd Adam graciously assented.

The Redd decor is elegantly spare with a backlit mirror along the rear wall. Even our waiter Misty was spare. I wish I had her photo. Thin, pale. The wait staff uniform is black shirt, pants and tie. A black and white houndstooth full length apron provides contrast. Misty - who was exceptionally competent - completed the look with jet black hair, pale pale skin, round black earrings and no lipstick. How perfect is that? Prices not posted since they are ridiculously over-the-top.

1999 Roederer Cristal: We actually had this at the hotel before heading out. Golden color. Small bead. Lemon flavors. Not toasty at all. Clean and rich.

2004 Opus One: I think Opus is better since going on its own sans Mondavi. The 04 is round, balanced with lots of merlot. That is a good idea. The website is a total pain.

2000 Joseph Phelps Insignia: Insignia has always been an idiosyncratic wine. Mesmerizing; like watching "a snail crawl across a razor's edge". I go back to 1985 with it. Minty to a fault. Showing characteristic mint flavor. Narrow band of flavors. angular. Intense and focused. This 7 year old wine is quite muscular. Think Tommy "Hit Man" Hearns. It will knock you out.

Until next time.

It's Christmas Eve as I write this. The Godfather is on, everyone is chillin'. Tomorrow is the big party. Tamales, honey-baked ham. Mama's lasagna and many U20 wines from Dar-dee's cellar and those of our guests. So I want to get these notes down in advance since there will be many more tomorrow...I hope. We opened these wines over the past week, some with company and some on our own. All in all, a very nice group...of wines.

How about this 2007 photo of a Piemontese La Morra vineyard? My cousin's 12 year old son took it. Think he will learn to enjoy wine? I think so.

2004 Chateau Graville-Lacoste ~$16: This is why you have to love Kermit Lynch. He brings in wines like this one that are top flight and low price. Graves is my preferred Bordeaux region. The wines are "gravelly" which, to me, means more stony, dry, mineral-like. Read a review on how this wine reflects Graves here. The price/quality ratio is outstanding. Delightfully citric, lemon peel, some grassiness. Perfect acid balance. Dry, firm. 12% alcohol excuse me. A wine that knows what it is (semillon!).

2004 Page Springs Cellars El Serrano California Red Wine ~$30 in Arizona: Just off the main road to Sedona one will find the Page Spring Cellars winery that is devoted to Southern Rhone style wines. Now this is an interesting venture. They have planted estate Rhone grapes that will produce quality juice around 2010 (one can and does harvest at five years but it really takes 7 years minimum to produce decent juice). In the meantime they source Mourverdre, Syrah and more from Paso and eastern Monterey vineyards, some with 50 to 80 year old vines. This bottle includes Mourvedre, Syrah and "a touch" of Cabernet Pfeffer. The website is excellent and the winemaker is clearly a man of vision. Read about the intriguing Dos Cabezas (now Arizona) vineyard. Reminds me of Dave Corey's Alta Mesa property. The wine was light to medium weight, rusty red color. Nose is delicate with spice. Flavors are balanced, soft, seductive with the syrah in front. 14.7%. This winery is worth watching. Have I found a new wine club?

2002 MacKenzie-Mueller Merlot ~$30 (at the winery): Perfectly balanced to the point that it seems so simple. Why isn't every wine this easy to swallow and enjoy? Tasted this same evening with the Reynolds mega-cab. I consider this a question of Springsteen versus Bob Seger. One guy is an iconic genius loved by rock critics and millions of fans across the nation. The other guy just writes simple straightforward classic songs that rock. One guy belongs in an arena with thousands of fans flicking their Bics. The other guy (also named Bob) plays arenas but works best in a smaller venue with fans who love the music before the man. Who knows better? Who do you love? This merlot is simply excellent. Yikes 15%!

2002 Reynolds Family Stags Leap District Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon ~$60 (at the winery): The Reynolds winery is located just outside Napa on the Silverado Trail. These guys make classic outstanding extracted Napa cab. Lovely and distinctive label of crushed heavy-weight tissue paper with an embossed sprig. Instant visual appeal. My son tells me this is a popular among attorneys for a holiday gift that demonstrates the gifter knows a thing or two about under-the-radar Napa cabs.< Which is something like preferring an Ulysses-Nardin timepiece over a Concord. Both are over-the-top silly and priced beyond defensibility. I'll take a Bell & Ross or U-boat when it comes to interesting and exciting wrist wear. This wine is like so many other extracted cabs, with some herbaceousness (herbocity?) I associate with elevated hilltop or hillside vineyards. It will surely be a hit among the cab crowd and will accomplish the objective of demonstrating what it means to be on the ascent when it comes to the Napa clique. 14.7%

The next two wines are from the Rioja Alta which is in northern Spain on the way to Navarra and the French border. Basque country is north of Alta Rioja by which I mean to say this is not the Spain you might expect. This is premium wine country where Tempranillo is king. This is not Ibiza or Mallorca. Not Valencia or Granada. This is premium centuries-old Spanish wine country. I have toured by car and would return in uno minuto Nueva Jorca. Here is an informative and well-written history of the region.

1994 Roda I Reserva: This is a 20 year old Spanish winery from the Rioja Alta. The winery is big boutique in tone, producing 7500 cases in 1994; 83% Tempranillo and 17% Garnacha (Grenache). This vintage is lovely and at 13 years age it has matured nicely. Tannins are folded in, fruit is fleshy but firm. The overarching tasting notes for Roda I from the Bodegas Roda website describe "The deep, dark, black fruit is almost always dominated by plum aromas together with mineral and chocolate notes, balsamic flavours...: I do taste balsamic and the mineral qualities in this vintage. Of the two vintages this is preferred. But, yaknowhat? I would not buy this wine again. Read what someone else thinks about the winery here. 13.5%

1996 Roda I Reserva: I finally get to write about an important topic in wine making and tasting...brettanomyces. This wine has a level of brett that is noticeable in the nose and taste. What is it? You can read about what is brett is in the wikipedia reference above. However, what does it taste like? The flavor is thickening And for me the sensory anchor is shoe polish. Good old fashioned Kiwi black shoe polish. The flavor is distinctive something like 70% plus cacao. Dense, heavy, narrow in bandwidth. Not at all complex. I opened both wines to taste side by side. Three days later I ended pouring both into the same glass. Definitely helped the 1996. 13.5%.

The tBoW tasting team returned to Carneros for the post-Thanksgiving-day wine sojourn. It's a family tradition, y'know. This year it was me, the missus and Aunt Betsy with the naughty clogs. The regional choice was Livermore or Carneros. Much as I would like to visit another California wine region...with McKenzie-Mueller (M-M) beckoning the choice was easier than a Trojan win over the Bruins.

The wines reviewed below were purchased in Berkeley at North Berkeley Wines (NBW), Kermit Lynch or in Carneros. North Berkeley Wine offers a strong selection of Verget wines. Verget is a negociant who buys juice and produces only white Burgundy wines. Quality is high and pricing is very fair. Classic NBW selection. If I am going to visit the Bay Area then I am going to visit Kermit and NB wine merchants. They are covered plenty on this blog as they are in this post. However, I am not going to review M-M since I did a few weeks past. I will say once more that Bob and Karen M-M are expert hosts, and Bob makes absolutely wonderful wines. Do not overlook Carneros next time in Napa. We tasted on Wednesday before Thanksgiving Day, T-Day, and the day after.

Another family tradition is making sure everyone at the turrkey table learns how to taste and enjoy wine. So the tasting can become a descriptive free-for-all which is reflected in some of the notes.

The good news is every wine (except the Adastra) is a U20.

2004 Verget Saint Bris $U20: Recommended by John at NBW. Sauvignon blanc from Burgundy! On the nose we get oak and green apple. On the tongue and in the mouth sour kiwi lime and lemon. Some green bean and cucumber. You taste the coolness. On the finish I thought of the tennis-ball sized rough skinned crab apples I ate as a kid. Here is a link to a wine/travel blog that covers St Bris. Recommended surfing.

2004 Verget Bourgogne "Grand Elevage" $U20: Green gold color. Sold as "de-classified Mersault" which is always a good pitch when dealing with the Duke and Dauphin. We never ask the obvious question - why was it de-classified? Is the war over? Did somebody important die? Was a handful of radical vintners granted amnesty? While we pondered these question we waited for the wine to open up. As might be expected from a young premium white burg this took hours. The first sniff and taste was oaky, soapy, tannic, even musty. Aunty B mentioned cow pie and she would know (Michigander farm girl). A couple hours later when the tasters were also a bit more friendly they suggested sandalwood, currant berry blossom and scented candle. 13%. NBW

2003 Domaine Vacheron Sancerre $U20: Another sauvignon blanc. Green gold color (even though it has enough years to turn yellow). Nose is lime, mineral, acid, bright. Flavors are sweet and fruity apple. Honeysuckle and hydrangia. Flavors are green, earthy, oak. Distinctive taste with waxy cheese and peach stone.

2004 Vincent Dureil-Janthial Bourgogne Passetoutgrains $U20: Are you ready for a red gamay pinot noir blend? Dave Corey of Core Wines (a Santa Barbara/Paso Rhone guy) always got a chuckle from me when he described pinot as a nice blending grape. Well, Mr. Corey must have known that Passetoutgrains is a traditional field blend in Burgundy of the two grapes. So now we know it too. Raspberry flambe' and smoky chocolate on the nose. The gamay is quite noticeable. Liked it plenty. My choice with the bird. NBW.

2005 Chateau du Trignon Cotes du Rhone $U20: This was excellent red village Rhone. Color is purple. Nose is sweet, doughy, dusty, with pepper. Tannic, strawberry-kiwi jam. The strawberry-kiwi is there in the mouth. Medium weight, slight tannins. Grenache fruit prevails. Turns to granny apple cider after a couple hours. Bold effort and terrific wine. 14%. Kermit.

Here is an article that describes this particular wine as well as asks the question why are there not more wines like this one made in California. Good question.

After visiting at M-M we walked across the street and said hello to the vineyard manager at Adastra. A retired physician and family run this tiny 1500 case operation in wine country. Blippin hot winemaker Pam Starr is the highly touted "soil translator" (read her October 07 interview here). We tasted five wines and purchased two. The style is high-tone rustic. Well-made wines that are balanced but show minimum handling. If you can visit you should. I have posted a couple of photos FYI.

Adastra 2006 Syrah $56: Syrah production in Carneros is small so we were quite interested in tasting this one. This is the winery price, of course, which is 100% retail. But at ~150 cases where would one find it anyway? Very fruity reminiscent of Santa Rita Hills with more lean fruit. Cold weather fruit. Not plump. 16% alcohol! When I mentioned our host said we would not have known without looking. He was right. 100 cases.

2005 Pinot Reserve Proximus $36: Ripe style, rustic, not melded. Tannins floating like particles. Just a visual, not actually. All good components. 200 cases. 14.5%.

The Adastra wines need to lay down awhile. These are the kinds of bottles I pull from the cellar in five years. I know I will be pleasantly surprised recalling the 40 minutes memorably spent there. And I bet I will say this is pretty good.

A bonus wine...I discovered this in my cellar and have been opening and enjoying it the past month.

2002 Beckmen Cuvee le Bec ~$14: Current release is the 2005. The blend is classic Rhone style. In this vintage it is almost half Grenache, one quarter Mourverdre and one-fifth Syrah and 10% Counoise. The 2005 blend is 52% Grenache, 34% Syrah, 8% Mourvedre, and 5% Counoise. I prefer Grenache and Mourverdre to Syrah so the blend suits me fine. I find California syrah to be ripe and fruity. Domestic grenache seems more restrained and earthy without sacrificing fruit. Mourverdre provides the bold meat flavors I like in Rhone wines. This blend after 5 years in the bottle and three in my cellar is quite presentable. Soft, tannins have blended in. More fruit than pepper and earth. The wine is perfect for any evening and almost any meal. By the way, this blend is featured in that SF Chronicle article (above) as proof that a good tasting well-priced Rhone blend can be made in California.

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.

We visited the Gaudalupe Valley in Northern Baja Mexico. Drive south from Tijuana til you get about10 km north of Ensenada and make a hard left. When you get to San Antonia de las MInas (another 15 km) you are there.

We survived the tourist warnings about getting caught in the crossfire of narco gun battles or being kidnapped by marauding gangsters. We did not even see Chupacabra.

There are much better sites that present this region than I can, such as this one at cliff.com. The Guadalupe Valley is Mexico's wine region. It is rustic. One paved highway traverses the east-west valley. Make a left or right and you are driving on dirt. The valley is not at any significant elevation although it is bordered north and south with peaks that look like 1,000 feet.

The valley width is probably 10 miles. Length is 20 miles. It is R-U-S-T-I-C. No Ferrari Carrano or Coppola gift shops. That said, there are two monster wine facilities: Casa Pedro Domecq (Presidente Brandy) and LA Cetto. Each produces more than 1 million cases of mostly plonk annually. LA Cetto is a popular family destination. We bought the olive oil.

If you like isolation and quiet you will love the Villa del Valle; a handsome estate with 6 guest bedrooms. Call it a B&B but it really is more elegant. You get there riding a road ruddier than Russel Crowe's face. This is mountain bike country for the cruisin' set. Fire roads, hills, aerobic workout. Followed by the late afternoon wine hour.

No phones. No newspapers. No TV. Wireless so one is not completely out of touch. Bring books, an MP3 player and a camera. Or just hang out an enjoy the hilltop views across the valley. An island of cultured civility in a rural rustic valley. And Phil is building a very nice and representative selection of local wines of which his are among the best.

But is it a true wine destination? Maybe not quite yet. Do not let that put you off. There are ~40 wineries. New planting from one year ago says something is growing. We tasted wines from four vignerons trying to make something happen. You decide.

Liceaga: New roadside facility. Conventional aspirations. Known for their Merlot. Met Steve Dryden in the tasting room. He was dropping off the Baja Times with a couple of his columns. He moved here five years ago from Paso. Sees it coming. Wines are unremarkable. Of the majority group trying to grow Bordeaux varietals in a Rhoneisima region. They did have a grappa!

Vinisterra Winery: Nice couple runs this facility off the main road. A bit hard to find but what else we gonna do? We found them. New brick facility. Plans for a tasting room. Producing 4,000 cases with a goal of 6,000. Good plan. They have three lines that include a Grenache Rose, a Cab-Merlot blend and a Tempranillo. And they have a Syrah-Mourvdre blend. They are the Rhone Rangers al Sur. All young vines so they source alot from the two valleys to the older-planted south (San Vicente and San Tomas). Patti and Abelardo are going in a more interesting direction in terms of valley wines. We buy the high-priced bottle ($45!!) just to see what it tastes like. tBoW thinks the price point is all wrong but we liked the place and the idea of making their high-end line Rhone-style mucho. Good luck and think about the pricing.

Vena Cava: Our hosts at Villa del Valle have planted a couple acres on a southwest facing hillside. In the meantime he bought grapes from a local vigneron cherry picking exactly what he wants. We tasted three Vena Cava wines and liked them all. He sells them from the wine list. His second vintage from mature vines. All priced around $20 at the villa. Now doesn't that make sense?!? Terroir-driven.

2007 Chardonnay: Tastes more like a Chenin Blanc. No obvious oak and plenty of ripe fruit. Very nice. Mineral flavors enhance the wine.

2007 Sauvignon Blanc: Lemon lime nose and flavors. No grassiness or grapefruit. How refreshing. Unctuous. VIscous. Unfiltered so it has some dust in the bowl. Delightful. Think juicy Loire wine.

2006 Cabernet Sauvignon: Citrus quality (like Argentina). Mid weight. Slightly sweet. Soft tannins. No tobacco or leather flavors thank you. No big oak thank you. Akin to the Tres Mujeres Cabernet. These three wines seem terroir-driven. Not trying to be something else from some other place.

Tres Mujeres: "Go up this road" says the missus. She has spied a hilltop winery (Rancho Mogrocito) that looks promising but when we get to the entrance the chain link fence is locked and the sign says (in English) by appointment only. So we continue a few hundred more yards until we arrive at a house with a ceramic hand pointing to an "artisan winery". The dozing hounds do not budge. It is wineries like this one that make Guadalupe Valley special.

Three women make wine at the home site of Ivette Vaillard. She is a pot thrower (the ceramicist who made the directional hand) and an accomplished artist. Not sure what the other two ladies do but they all love wine and so, like their neighbors, they make wine. She slips out of her apron and guides us to the entry to the wine cellar. In the tiny cave we tasted the ladies' three wines.

2006 Grenache $20: A blend of Zinfandel, Carignane and mostly Grenache. I was surprised to learn zinfandel was growing in the valley. "Our neighbors gave us our first cuttings. We did not what they were until a few years ago". Middle weight body. Fruity, not over-ripe. The Carignane gives sweetness. Zin is also there with a familiar prune flavor. A modern day "field blend" that she makes work. Gentle, warm, restrained like our hostess. Charming, unassuming, sweet. A woman's strength. This is her seventh vintage.

2006 Merlot $20: Caramel flavors found in the Vinisterra Merlot not showing here. Once again, not a knockout wine but a wine that seems to reflect the salt and mineral qualities of the soil. A wine I love? No. An effort I love? Absolutely.

2006 Cabernet Sauvignon $20: Expecting the worst from a Cabernet grown in salty soil in a hot and dry region. BUT...we are surprised. Here is a cab that seems to represent Guadalupe Valley terroir. It does not taste like every other cab trying to taste like Napa or Bordeaux. In fact, I will bet if I put this in front of a snob pod they will be unable to not only peg it as Cabernet but to identify the grape at all.

These wines are only available at the winery which makes only 800 cases. Tres Mujeres is about making wine under tough circumstances. This is marathon winemaking. The soil and the heat are not even the greatest challenges. Check this out.

Ivette and her two fellow vignerons make wine about 100 steps uphill from the home on a make-shift cement pad with a trellis that they will cover during harvest and fermentation. She used to make the wines on the back porch. Their wines are only available at the winery. "Is there a white wine" I ask recovering my senses from trying to fathom the effort and love required to get it all done. "Oh yes. We make a Sauvignon Blanc but only enough to drink at home". Why? "You know it is too much work making white wine with temperature control. Always bringing more ice up the hill". I hear you sister.

We loved visiting with Ivette. She could not have been more accommodating and humble. We will return and we will visit once more.

We bought a bottle of each wine. Wish I had bought more. The Merlot and the Cab have labels. Ivette used a silver sharpie to inscribe her bottle with the "label". I am still grinning.

You read it here second!!! Guest blogger Dotoré touches down in Paso Robles, one of California's premium and under-appreciated regions. He tastes. He knoshes. He leaves. He reviews a couple wines by name along with some nice places to eat when driving through the area. I don't think he will be stopping there again. He also shares some of his most private thoughts on how to maintain a healthy marriage. All in all a very strong post!

Mrs. Dotoré and I spent last weekend in to the Central Coast. The trip crystallized my thoughts about the region, in general, and, specifically, the wines grown there.

First, for those expecting specific wine reviews in this missive, there will be few. In fact, let's get them out of the way early.

2006 Sancerre Terroirs, Domaine Sylvain Bailly (Beaune Imports/Woodland Hills Wine Co., $18): Everything you'd want from a young Sancerre. Lean, floral, balanced. Seamlessly integrated with food. A David Russell recommendation. [ed. David Russell was standing in for Steve Goldun now both are MIA. So it is with the wine biznuss.]


2001 Pinot Noir,West Block, Rochioli (Bought from winery directly, approx. $65 at the time). Blueberry, hints of anise, velvet, masculine, went as well with Gail's steak as my herb-crusted halibut. A great bottle of wine.

Notice nary a Central Coast wine mentioned. Why? Because they aren't worth mentioning.

[ed. tBoW has been sitting on this post for well over a month as he has instead chosen to rave like a lunatic about Argentina wines. In the meantime tBoW has been scooped by a May 5 LA Times Op Ed piece [click here for your own hard copy] confirming everything Dotoré claims to be true. Both are companions to a January 2008 LA Times article [linked here] in which Adam Tolmach echoes the same theme then reveals he cannot drink his own overblown wines!!]

Drove up to Avila Beach on Friday and stopped in Los Olivos for lunch. Found a great place that is not to be missed--The Sidestreet Cafe. Very ambitious chef who aspires to have his restaurant be the opposite of that fussy little place on the Main Street (you know the one...Miles got drunk there and called his ex). Hearts of Romaine dipped in warm olive oil with balsamic/bleu dressing--sounds awful, but tasted delicious--and an order of sublime Paella split between us. Mrs. D. had a glass of local Sauv Blanc, D. had a local Pinot. Don't ask what they were, because I can't remember and it doesn't matter.

Dinner in Pismo at the Cracked Crab. A bucket of crab, shrimp, lobster, sausage, potatoes (how do you spell that anyways, Dan Quayle?) and corn on the cob is dumped on the table along with implements of mass destruction and you go to town. All was fresh, delicious, and the Sancerre not only tied everything together, but I gladly paid the $10 corkage as opposed to the $30 price for a local $8 white.

Next day drove to Paso. Visited Edward Sellars tasting room in town and bought the obligatory bottles of Grenaché Rose to make the missus happy. 15% alcohol. 2% residual sugar. Yecch! (Any man out there that hasn't bought a stupid bottle of wine for his wife just to avoid the argument hasn't traveled with his wife to a winery. Just ask our Editor how many bottles of overoaked, overpriced and utterly useless Chard he has bought for his wife over the years.) [ed. shrugs weakly and sighs at the nakedness of this truth] Again, had a great lunch. An absolute must meal is Artisan. Wife had shrimp/pasta (how girly!), and I had home-made corned beef, Gruyere, and pickled cabbage on grilled rye (how manly!). No wine...just couldn't bring myself to do it.

The lovely Kendall (is that a wine name, or what!) at Ed Sellars referred us to L'Aventure to taste wines that she was certain fit my sensibilities. Boy, was she wrong. Talk about overpriced, overextracted, over-alcoholic, undrinkable wines (at least as those of us with U20 taste believe). Most telling statement from the pourer: "Hey. It's 100 degrees in the day and 50 at night. This is the way the wines are going to be." Drove up to two other tasting rooms, looked at the lists and left without tasting. Went to the tasting room around the corner from the hotel, tasted only one of eight wines (horrible Pinot Grigio--just what the world needs!), and gave up on Central Coast wines entirely.

Had the Rochioli that night in San Luis Obispo. Restaurant very good, not great. "Something Blue".

So here's my point: I maintain that it is IMPOSSIBLE to make world-class wines in the Paso Robles area. Climate just won't allow it. Unlike Oregon, Sonoma, Napa, or even Santa Barbara County, where the differences in expression of the grapes, be they Cab, Pinot, of Chard, are STYLISTIC, there is enough latitude for the winemaker to craft his wine and create his/her vision.

I don't believe this is true with the current Central Coast wines. If it is impossible to create wines that are not approaching 15% alcohol (or, most often, above), and then have to sell them for $30, $40, $75, who needs them? They will, in my opinion, ALWAYS pale in comparison to their brethren grown in the indigenous soils of France, Italy, or Spain, where they have flourished for centuries. And, by the way, sell for half of what you'd pay for Central Coast wines.

Bottom line...Paso is a nice place to stop for lunch, without wine, on the way to anyplace else that grows wine.

[ed. would it be trite to say touche' my freng?]

Here is a wine Dotoré would like because it has qualities not found in Paso wines HOWEVER it is more than a shade away from other wines from this region he and I have enjoyed in the past.

BEWARE STEPFORD WINES!! (this ain't one but forewarned is forearmed).

2005 Vietti Barbera d'Asti Tre Vigne $15: Lush, fruity, much more so than Barberas of recent memory, at least years in a dog's life and, after all, don't most wine snobs bear more than a casual resemblance to a lazy pooch? Vietti has always been a kind of forward looking winery from the Piedmont. And Baroli have definitely moved in the direction towards fruit-forward and away from Slovenian oak styles tighter and more monstrous than the Bush White House (in the good Rove years). What happened to the local vin du pays Barberas? Gone with the Dolcettos to a place where people want fruit forward and food friendly. It ain't Parker but it is kind of close. At $12/bottle I am sure you won't mind if I help myself to another pour. 13.5%

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.

One of LA's most impressive wine cellars is behind this door.

Dinner with Carlitos and Alice means plowing through the finest classic Cabernet Sauvignon wines produced in Napa. You should know by now that tBoW is not a cab fan. As a good friend and winemaker once put it...Cabernet - a terrific blending grape.

On its own I find Cabernet Sauvignon to be too damn big. I recognize Napa makes what are probably the world's best Cabernet wines (so sorry Bordeaux) BUT...I said BUT these are wines for either trophy hunters at worst and/or people with steel plated palates at best. There are few blended Cabernet wines that I find appealing. tBoW found the Argentina blends of Malbec and Cabernet were the least interesting from that region, preferring Malbec and Merlot or even Syrah. In California styles, the most appealing Napa red wines are less than half Cabernet and preferably that quantity is closer to 30%.

No matter. When Carlitos opens his wine cellar, people of the Cabernet persuasion sit up and take notice. Even I am impressed with the depth of his stash.

He selected four wines for dinner at local Italian dining room Giorgios in Rolling Hills Estates. We could choose from a 1996 Beringer Private Reserve, 1998 MacKenzie Mueller, 2000 Phelps Insignia and 2004 Opus. The choice was not easy. The Insignia is closest to the blend I would have preferred but the millennium vintage is notoriously "off". The MacKenzie Mueller is a tBoW house favorite but 1998 is another vintage less than stellar. I will say I would bet the Phelps and the MM would be fine wines despite the weak reputation vintages.

We settled on the Beringer and the Opus. Like Indiana Jones ...we ...chose ...wisely.

1996 Beringer Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon~$150: Big berry fruit right off the first pour. In the nose, on the tongue. Berry berry berry. Blackberries. Delicious. Pour some on your pancakes. Still tannic. Thought we might not need to decant but we did. A monster albeit a 12 year old one. Rich, straightforward. Half and half estate mountain fruit and valley floor. By the end of the meal - after a couple hours - it was kind of simple. I did appreciate the somewhat lighter alcohol. 13.4%

People do make a fuss over Napa wines. Here are some worthwhile tasting notes from a 20 year vertical of Beringer Private that took place in 2001.

2004 Opus One $175: The 2004 is a blend of 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot, 2% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Malbec. Supposedly this 25th vintage is the best Opus ever (like they don't say that every other vintage). This is perhaps the most widely held "collector's" wine. It has everything needed to be such. Pedigree of Bordeaux First Growth (yes, Baron Philipe had to wheedle his way inside the top 5) and Napa marketing genius. Oakville floor Cabernet blended with Mouton juice in Napa. With 20,000 cases produced there is just enough to sell out 6-packs at approximately $1,000 each to an audience waiting to show one off. font color="olive">[ed. snot nosed ingrate snob how was the wine dammit?]. The wine was outstanding. An absolutely stunning "robe", i.e., it was really pretty to look at. Balanced. Muted nose but intense flavors; also creamy. High toned say the notes. We did decant. Merlot shows off up front. Then the cab moves in and takes over. Cherries, red berries, some coffee. Much more elegant than the Beringer. Bruce Lee versus Chuck Norris. Kung Fu vs. Karate. A balled fist, or what was once referred to as an iron fist in a velvet glove. Iron fist in a velvet glove....medieval isn't it? 14.1%

Carlos has cases, not bottles, of these wines. His selection is focused on classic Napa Cabernets...Beaulieu Georges de la Tour, Sterling Reserves, Grgich, Montelena. Selection goes back to the 90s for all and into the 80s for some. Cases, not bottles. Now, about that Phelps Insignia....

Later that same week...

2006 Domaine Fouassier Quincy $14: This is Sauvignon Blanc from France's Loire Valley. Tastes nothing like California SB. No way no how. None of the grassy aromas and flavors. Clean super clean. Fresh. Kind of stoney but really not. Hey! I covered this wine in October 2007. Liked it then and like it now. How can you go wrong? Very fair price for a very straightforward wine that is very easy to enjoy. This was the second Quincy this week. Ordered the other off the list at Geoffreys in Malibu. Lovely setting but I know better beach views on the coast. A restaurant resting on its laurels for d-e-c-a-d-e-s. The online wine list (yes I tried to look up the Quincy) was from Autumn 2007. IGTY even the idea of an Autumn wine list irks me which makes me a hypocrite since I endorse the notion that wines are seasonal and being able to bring a wine matched to the season signals wine smarts. For tourists and the brain-dead only. 12.5%

2003 D Cubed Napa Valley Zinfandel $25: Overripe Napa juice AND it is a zin. Prunes meet figs. Rich, unctuous. Overripe. Tastes like zin. Not a fan with Franus Brandlin Zin the lone exception [ed. and you haven't tasted one of his wines in a decade]. Where does one begin with commenting on this wine? The words Napa Valley on the label are worth a 100% price bump. Doesn't make the wine any better. Just more expensive. The good news is the vintner kept the price below $30. Zin is not a terribly versatile grape. It seems winemakers have only two choices: rich and jammy or rich and overbearing. Franus manages a claret style that was nimble, light to medium weight and down-weighted the jammy prunes. And the final comment? 15.2%

2007 Root:1 $9: Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon purchased at Costco. Deep red robe. Pretty. Sweet black cherry flavors. Reminiscent of some Argentine Malbecs in the richness and simple approach of a satisfying drink. Has a story. Ungrafted Cab vines not grafted to phyloxera resistant root stock; "original European stock". Parker 90 points. Of course with flavors this forward and robust. Slight volatile acidity that is not quite a spritz but is tingly on the tongue. Nicely balanced, pepper mocha. Everyone liked it especially at the price. Alcohol level not outrageous at 14%.

Dotoré reached deep into his double double cooler (wider and deeper) and came up with some real beauties for celebrating the holidays. Your humble blog-host reports on the premium treats along with a couple other not-so-shabby year-ending tastes.

2002 Domaine Huet Vouvray Petillant $27: Robust sparkling wine, lemon rind, simultaneously green and ripe. Every bit as wonderful as when we first "discovered" this producer and this wine in particular at Palate. A Robert Chadderdon selection. Chenin Blanc. 12%

1996 Frederic Esmonin Griottes Chambertin $100: Thin and undernourished like a fashion model in Vogue; an appropos metaphor since with Burgundy and Grand Cru vineyards like Griottes it is all about what is on the label. What happened to these wines in this vintage? 30 minutes later the wine opened up a bit and showed an exotic nose with black cherry and black berries. Too little too late. 13.8%

1996 Armand Rousseau Ruchottes Chambertin Grand Cru Monopole $130: Lean, showing its age. More structured than the Esmonin, soft with yam flavors. Red brown robe (like the Esmonin) indicates age past its prime. Flavor is more full than the Griottes. Suits the potatoes. Better of the two wines. 13%

CAVEAT EMPTOR: ON at least three occasions in 2008 we found disappointment with 1996 Burgundies from top producers considered among the region's finest. The vintage was simply less than stellar.

1997 Rochioli West Block Pinot Noir $250: Bourbon nose. Great contrast to the two 1996 Burgs. Towering, lean, tannic, deep pinot fruit. Burnt sugar cane, hedonistic. Full exudatum nose. Ripe and lush. Velvety, rich, exotic. Showing its age. Sour mash whiskey on the nose. "The perfect glass of wine" or just too ripe? Certainly one of the most widely collectible! 13.5%

The year-ending bottles included the last of a mixed case of 1983 Sauternes along with a fresh and lively California Pinot Noir.

2006 Nettare Carneros Pinot Noir $20: Carneros wine featured at the Napa Valley Wine Exchange in San Francisco. NVWE specializes in small production outfits and this fits at 112 cases produced. Sweet candied fruit, some smoke as we would expect from Carneros. A bit rough around the edges and still worth the price. 14.2%

1983 Chateau d'Arche $200: The end of a collection that saw the last 2 opened over the past holiday season. This was perfectly ready as was the Sigalas Rabaud. Honeycomb flavors which is to say there was waxiness and a raw essence quality to the wine. Extremely rich and concentrated. Another spectacular example of an outstanding vintage. The online price for the d'Arche is almost 10 times the Sigalas Rabaud. While the d'Arche is superior and more spectacular it is not so by a factor of ten. The readiness of these two wines contrasts with the relative youthfulness of the 1983 d'Yquem. This was an excellent investment and a strategy tBoW would recommend to any young wine drinker looking to put wines down that can be enjoyed in their glory at 20 years age. 12.5%

The Holidays are over. Everyone breathe a big sigh. Eleven months before the intense commercialization begins again. Dotoré already senses the approach of a long summer. The best thing about the Holidays for a wine aficionado is the chance to taste stuff that would otherwise go unnoticed, even avoided. There are always surprises. Here were a few of the last we encountered.

2002 Elevage Stags Leap District Napa Valley Red Wine $70: Why why why? Another Meritage with rich Napa fruit that is not quite in balance and is priced way beyond its relative quality. There used to be a modest if unnecessary 9-hole golf course on this property now planted to modest if unnecessary vinifera. This is the winery's Bordeaux blend, something once known as a Meritage - is that term still in use? tBoW opened this alongside three 2005/2006 Beaujolais wines, a 2006 Gigondas and a 2005 Argentine Malbec; each around $20, light to medium weight, internally harmonious and at peace with the food. These other bottles were drained by red-wine-crazed VINpires [ed. VINpires - © that] and the Chimney Rock was shoulder-full four hours later. 14%

1983 Sigalas Rabaud Sauternes $16 in 1985 and about $80 online today: This is why you should come to this wine blog; to read about a rare and extra special late harvest French wine like this one. Note the original price tag on the bottle. Very few wine drinkers consumed sweet wines in the mid-80s and the same holds true today. This wine is stupendous. Incredibly rich, definitely liqueur-like in its intensity. Rich ripe peaches drenched in honey. Pooh Bear would flip out. Golden brassy color. Thick. Spectacular. The wine is absolutely perfect right now. You can be sure there are not many wines that can go 25 years and hold it together like this. Naturally we must compare it to the 1983 Y'Quem opened over Labor Day. The Y'Quem was still young. This wine is ready. Otherwise, these wines are equally wonderful in what they present. Testimony to a truly special vintage. 13.5%

Thoughtful recess: Why is it more wine drinkers do not enjoy dessert wines? This is perennial question ignores the principles of price/quality relationship. The two wines above illustrate the good fortune for those who know better. The Sauternes is from one of the top vintages in the past quarter century. The Napa blend is from an ordinary vintage. There must be about 100 times as many Napa cabs available like the one reviewed as there are quality Sauternes, Barsacs or Cadillacs. Read this enlightening piece from a fellow blogger that articulates the differences. In the matter of Chimney Rock vs. almost any old Sauternes, the Napa blend wine is difficult to distinguish according to most criteria while the other is distinguished simply in terms of limited availability. The same is true for Port. The exception within dessert wines as a class is Auslese level Rieslings considered by some to be the choice when you-can-only-take-one bottle-with-you. You do need a crowd to finish a 750ml bottle of French sweet wine but tBoW can only think of a very few with whom he might share his 1983 Maximin Grünhaus Riesling Auslese. 14.5%

2006 Alma Rosa Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir $29: Richard Sanford rises like the phoenix with his new Santa Rita Hills winery. This is a modest effort, fruity and straightforward, cherry flavors. As notable as the wine are the screw cap and the low alcohol. 13.9%

2006 Nagy 2 Garey Ranch Santa Maria Valley Pinot Noir $30: Winemaker form Byron Vineyards. Husband and wife tram from Byron and Bonacorsi, respectively. Low production, interesting wine worth a plunge. Masculine style, dark color, dense liquid. Somewhat feral, slightly rugged and sinewy. High toned fruit, plums, dark fruit. Quick finish. Finally a good pick from the new local store! Nice. 14.5%

2004 Cargasacchi Pinot Noir ~$40: This is the first Cargasacchi 2004 Pinot Noir tasted and his first release. Peter C is a grower whose grapes are highly coveted by California's foremost Pinot Noir winemakers. He does not appear to release the wine to critics for scores. Good. Peter's wines under the Point Concepcion label are fairly forward while remaining distinctive. Mrs. tBoW once described the nose on a young PC Syrah as reminiscent of her hair salon. Hold that yech. It was not bad. Just funky. The eponymous label is more serious. tBoW tasted and reviewed the 2005 version in a former post. The 2004 is stylish, almost elegant. Formal. Structured. Moderate smokiness, strong dark fruit. Bacon fat and tannic. Seductive and masculine. If Point Concepcion expresses Peter's playful and quirky side then the Cargasacchi label is all about his very serious and intensely focused persona. He will probably be upset I did not use the label image from his website. Glad I am holding several more bottles. If you would like to sample Peter's wit click here. 13.7%

Allimant-Laugner Cremant D'Alsace Rosé $16: Steal of the holidays. Fresh, sweet. Pink and brass color. Cherry fruit, pomegranate too (acidity). Tart. Loving this. tBoW made the commitment to half a case. Found it at Palate Wine shop although K&L also has it (for a couple bucks more!!). 12.5%

2001 Cap de Faugeres Cotes-de-Castillon $20: Picked this one up at the new Wine Cask "outlet" in our neighborhood [ed. parent is in Santa Barbara]. The Wine Cask was never about its international selection. However, there seems to be a move afoot to enter the U20 market. The buyer has yet to impress with the U20 selections. Internet notes for this wine describe a dense, dark wine when released in 2002. Tanzer reviewed it and liked it kind of. Scored it 85-ish which is kind of OK. Six years later it remains a serviceable drink. Nothing great. Here is what tBoW thinks of as he sips this wine. How many richer, fruitier Napa wines are there (it is a cab blend) that are no more memorable and pricier. Two for two for the locals. 13.5%

Just because the economy is in the tank does not mean we cannot enjoy fine wine. Huddling with pals amidst the economic collapse can prove a good tonic. You just have to know how to balance the U20s with the O50s. Here is our plan for finding a way to balance U20 selections with O50 [ed. over $50] indulgences. Purge your cellar and scour the sales bins at local high end retailers for the O50s. Hit the Kirkland bins for the U20s. Pressure your wine pal into playing the piano (no please OK). Now you can create some spice and verve for a special event like Valentines Day at the home of a dear pals. We had our own little V Day massacre with IGTY's [ed. igottatellya] Williams Selyem collection showing how it all gets done.

Presto NV Prosecco Brut $10: Nothing special here however a sparkler is a good place to begin an evening. This is dry, not fruity like I would expect from Prosecco. If you were buying a sparkler for a party of 100 this would be a great selection. Picked up at Whole Foods. 11%

2007 Louis Jadot Macon Villages $12: I liked this wine. Another bargain U20. Stone fruit (as they say) meaning the fruit is not way ripe. Reminds me of fruit pits in your jugo. In a good way. Dry. Easy quaffer. Quick finisher. What's not to like?

Root:1 Sauvignon Blanc $8: A Kirkland Nation wine presented in a brown bag. Yup. We tasted it blind which was fun. Picked it out as Sauv Blanc immediately. That was easy. Grassy style. Of course that also threw us to California which we amended to New World [ed. cheaters]. It is the Chilean juice from ungrafted vinifera root stock that is all over Costco. The Cab is all the rage and this was pretty good too. This wine has stuffing meaning it is a bit weighty in viscosity. Bitter in the mid palate like a wheat grass drink you get at the spa. Lemon grass too. Another great buy and I guess we can all say tough times demand smart U20 buying! I prefer the Ugni-Colombard reviewed elsewhere but this works also for 75% the cost.

2001 Rochioli Estate Chardonnay~ $70: Rich rich rich. Closed at first. Continued to open for more than an hour. Toasty and buttery on the nose and in the mouth. Technicolor flavors and lush. Dotoré detects a note of tropical fruit and claims it is papaya. Yes. This is the Estate bottle not one of the vineyard designated wines. Like its brother Estate Pinot Noir it is a consistently well-made wine that you can always count on...if you are willing to pay. Of course, next to the vineyard wines these are cheap. Wine of the evening. 14.2%

2005 Linne Calado Contrarian $40: 64% Rousanne and 36% Viognier. Smoky, dry. I can taste the Viognier and I do not like Viognier. This was a better wine for me a few years ago but now I am displeased. I also wonder - and here is my beef with Linne Calodo and others - if this is a common blend in the Rhone or SW France? I think not. Tell me I am wrong. Matt Trevanian, who is a winemaker of well deserved and considerable reputation, likes to blend Zinfandel with Cabernet and Syrah and other grapes that are non-traditional and IMHO do not work very well together. Chalk it up to my problem but I was disappointed. I expected more having fond memories of at least two earlier bottles.

2006 Williams Selyem Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir $70: Yummy. Onto the Williams Selyem wines. I would hope the next time this winery sells it goes to Sees Candies. They are that yummy. This has some smoke. Color is kind of dark although each of the next three wines from WS are actually kind of light for California wines. Of course, that is not precautionary for WS Pinot Noir. It is a good sign. This wine is...delicious. Showing forward fruit and softness than the other two which have their own charms.

2006 Williams Selyem Sonoma County Pinot Noir $70: A bigger. More full in flavors and pronounced nose. Also forward and kind of simple. These are the entry level WS wines meant for early consumption.

2006 Williams Selyem Central Coast Pinot Noir $70: The most distinctive of the set. Pronounced cola and sasparilla flavors. A bit more acidic but not volatile in the least. tBoW's personal fave in the set. What a great host, eh?!?!

2001 Beaulieu Vineyard Napa Valley Syrah Signet Collection $15: As happens at most tastings somebody has to tap the host to pour something for which he feigns reluctance. Call it the old "I can't open that it was gift" ploy. That was this bottle. Sooprise sooprise!! The wine was quite tasty. 2001 was a terrific vintage and even though Diageo owns BV with the same effect of Chrysler buying Mercedes Benz or Ford taking over Jaguar this was a decent bottle of wine. Warm, soft, rich, bit of mint chocolate. After a little time it shows some Napa valley floor, redwood flavors. Good luck trying to figure what vineyard(s) where. 13.5%

Best finish of the evening was Dotore' showing off his new chops on the keyboard. Nice.

Jim Morrison sang "Strange days have found us. Strange days have tracked us down. They're going to destroy our casual joys<. Can we use his gravesite as metaphor for the 2008/9 economic collapse? His fevered fans have trashed his grave like our fevered wall streeters trashed...you get the point. I hope we all listen to his moody lyrics and act with the anger he showed singing. Troubled rock stars are a cliché today. We can only hope boom-to-bust traders, AIG executives and hedge fund managers will become tired clichés tomorrow. I can foresee a new era of celebreality shows that replace the Bad Girls Club; maybe Broke Brokers and Bad Bankers, or TARP Traders; re-enact the hey-day of unbounded greed and self-interest. Thursdays at 9:00 on the WB. Strange days have come!!
Yeh!!

tBoW reports on wines from yesterday and today, encountering mysterious memories along the way.

2005 Domaine Labet Cote de Jura Flor de Savinin $27: Purchased at Palate wine shop. Let's not mince any words. This is a strange wine. tBoW has actually reviewed it before. [ed. recently too] It is so unusual it can only be likened to a Patti Smith song you have to hear at least once more to make sure you did not get it. It is plenty acidic but not volatile. The flavors are dry lemon. Oh? You have never enjoyed dried lemon in your Omega Trek mix? Flavors are bright, woody. Izit oxidized? We thought so before. We are not sure how we feel about it this time except that it is not offensive and it is interesting. I would not say it is an Amy Winehouse of a wine because its picture isn't everywhere you turn...but it is STRANGE.

2007 Barrel 27 "High on the Hog" French Camp Vineyard, Paso Robles White Wine $20: Barrel 27 is a small production, sourced-wine project from the Central Coast. This Rhone-style white is a blend of 54% Viognier with the balance Roussanne and Marsanne. All the fruit is from Paso Robles' French Camp Vineyard. An oily texture, full bodied, balances the foxy Viognier and more sour Marsanne/Rousanne fruit. Good to know interesting wines are still coming out of Paso. tBoW would buy it. 15.1%

2000 Wellington Cabernet Sauvignon Vineyard "that time forgot" $n/a: When tBoW was still buying bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon in the 1980s he "discovered" Wellington VIneyards in Sonoma. All they do is make a small amount of superior quality Sonoma wines which they sell at bargain rates - for Sonoma and Napa, anyway. The story helped hook tBoW on the wine club. A doctor purchased an old Italian farmer's small acreage vineyards blessed with old varietals scattered throughout the flat acreage. The farmer always sold off the fruit holding back a small batch for his own "red" commonly referred to as a field blend. This was a nice way of saying he had no idea what vines where planted where on the site. The MD, being a scientist, DNA-identified each and every plant on the property. His son became the winemaker and they began to blend the most interesting bottles using the now known locations of old old vines on the property and properly labeled the contents. They also planted new vines and bottled the same old Chardonnay and Cabernet. The most intriguing bottling from Welly-Welly was the Noir de Noirs Old Vines which blended four varieties from the estate and their neighbor, the more famous Pagani Ranch, including Alicante Bouschet, Lenoir, Grand Noir and Petite Bouschet. The stuff was big and hearty without being overwhelmingly acidic or ripe. It was just thick and warm, like a Pendleton blanket. This estate Cabernet Sauvignon is soft and tasty at 9 years old. It is fruity more like a Mendoza Malbec than a Sonoma Cab.

If you love Cabernet Sauvignon from California's premium winegrowing regions for this varietal (Napa and Sonoma) you really should look at Wellington Vineyards. Great wines at great value. Please note the label posted is from a current release and not the 2000 bottle reviewed.

Kings Ridge Pinot Noir $18: Nice light ruby red color more like Burgundy than an Oregon Pinot Noir. Willamette Valley floor juice sourced form multiple vineyards. Has Oregon smoke, some acid, on the beety side of the flavor spectrum for Pinot Noir. Kings Ridge is a somewhat new project worth checking into once again. tBoW has a wine trip set for Portland in May so maybe we will encounter the Kings Ridge crew? 13.11%

[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.

Who knew Argentina has a Promotion Centre in Los Angeles. Consul Adjunto Jose Cafiero sent out invitations to the right people who showed up on a lovely early fall late afternoon to check. Sr. Cafiero promoted six Mendoza wineries that would love to be represented in Los Angeles. All they need is an importer and/or distributor.

tBoW documented a March 2008 Argentina trip that left a powerful impression of the wonderful and abundant wines, the perfect growing conditions, and the excellent values. We may not have mentioned how gorgeous is the country and the people. Argentina has a preponderance of spectacular scenery and easy-to-look-at citizens. Today's post is peppered with handsome Argentines pouring their wines. Even their feet are attractive.

The tasting was set in the back yard of the Consul residence. Nothing fancy. Six wineries looking for partners. If there is a downside to Argentine wines it is the difficulty finding them. Distribution in the USA is at best sporadic which was the point of this exercise. A tasting like this is a great way to make a match.

Karma Wine Group showed five wines. The "story" is how a Tibetan guardian priest fled with the Dahli Lama and eventually settled in Mendoza where he started making wine. His wines were being poured by Gary Parker, the owner of San Diego's excellent WineSellar and Brasserie, a ground-breaking restaurant and wine store celebrating 21 years in business. Gary's once unique concept is now widely copied. These wines were all under $20 making Karma the best price to quality ratio table at the tasting. There were other wines we preferred but no other table with this consistency at the U20 price level.

2009 Karma Sauvignon Blanc $10: Fruity, slight grassiness. Fruity with a bubble gum aroma and flavor. Slightly tannic. Good wine at a great price. 13%

2009 Karma Chardonnay $12: 100% Steel fermented. No aging in oak. Good fruit. Perfect restaurant $5-pour-by-the-glass-wine.13.2%

2008 Karma Torrontes $13: Bright fruit. Clean flavors. Best in the flight. From Salta region where great Torrontes comes from. 13%

2006 Karma Cabernet Sauvignon Premium Reserve $18: Cherries on the nose. Gets 6 months French oak. Medium weight. Slightly vegetal that gives character. A U20 winner. 14%

2007 Karma Malbec Gran Reserva Old VInes: Did not get the price. Very nice middle weight wine. Good stuffing. Citric flavors characteristic of Maipu vines. Went back for it. 14%

Bodega Viniterra showed the typical lineup of entry, middle and top level reds. But they also showed a couple of unique bottles; 15 bottles in all! Grapes from Mendoza's premium Lujan de Cuyo region located at 3,400 foot elevations. The commitment to premium winemaking is evident.

2008 Viniterra Pinot Grigio $11: Delightful wine with a minty powder puff nose. Sweet but not too much so. Soft body, fragrant nose. U20 value wine. 14%

2008 Viniterra Viognier $15: No foxy flavors we dislike in the varietal. Like Malbec, another example of how the region or country changes the profile of a particular varietal. Nice enough. 14%

2008 Viniterra Chardonnay $15: Pour it by the glass in your restaurant. Cannot go wrong. 13.5%

NV Viniterra Sparkling Extra Brut Champenoise Method $22: 980% Pinot Noir and 20% Chardonnay. Very pale salmon. Yeasty nose. Mucho mousse. doughy flavors, dry. Very nice and low alcohol. 12.5%

2008 Terra Sparkling Malbec: Think of sparkling Buguey or Lambrusco. Only this is much nicer. Red color and a solid spritz. This wine could make it here. Not your fruity summer pink sparkler. A butch sparkling red. Very nice effort. 12.5%

2007 Viniterra Pinot Noir $16: Your basic New World fruity forward, middle weight Pinot Noir. If you like California Pinot then you will be very happy with this wine especially since you are going to pay half to a third of the normal California Pinot Noir price. Forward fruit with lots of cherry flavors. Mrs. tBoW liked it just fine thank you. 14%

2006 Viniterra Select Carmenere $18: tBoW missed the memo on the history of the Carmenere grape...you know - wiped out by phyloxera in Europe mid-19th century memo to be discovered in Chile in the 20th where it is used as the basic blending grape in red wines. That one. Highly perfumed nose. Tastes Italian with plenty acid and lean fruit, especially for Argentina. Violets in a glass. Kind of sweet like a ripe Sangiovese. 14%

2006 Viniterra Select Malbec $18: Fruity with plenty of stuffing. Middle weight and muscular. 12 months in French and American oak. Balanced and rich. Very tasty and excellent U20 value. Can they really sell it at this price? 14%

These are two of the best wineries presenting. Karma with its narrow range and Viniterra with everything under the sun represent the variety and range of wines available in Argentina. We present the other two that impressed in the next post.

Being an SC football fan is a lot like loving Barolo and Burgundy. You hope every year will bring a championship banner but it just cannot be. Just like with Burgundy, we never really understand why every bottle labeled Chambertin is not championship quality. And, like USC football, there is always a year that just does not measure up to the highest expectations of the only team in this cow town that has a chance of realizing high expectations. Like 1995 in the Cotes de Beaune and Piemonte...nnhhh. Those Toe-jams just about broke Mrs. tBoW's Cardinal & Gold spirit!

Thank goodness there is always The Bird. Thanksgiving approaches and we have to start thinking about wines to serve. Let's be honest. I'm talkin' Dotoré honest. The tension is between serving the lumpen good wine while simultaneously matching a wine to the demands of an over-the-top meal. It's like wine calculus! This day of celebration demands some great wines. We have the time to enjoy but we cannot throw pearls before turkeys. Or can we? [ed. how 'bout Ducks or Huskies]. It is the season of giving. Pour a decent Pinot Noir - Willamette or Cotes de Nuits - then follow it with an older Barolo.

With the meal wine hardly matters. Many guests' palates are already impaired by plonkification [ed. consuming too many wines purchased at the supermarket]. They will be unable to discern between a Franciscan Cabernet and the 2008 Touraine. Make sure there are plenty bottles of Cabernet and Zinfandel on the table. Hoard the Beaujolais, Cahors and Rhone wines. Hut hut.

And do not forget dessert...wines. We begin with a couple of special dessert wines recently tasted.

1978 Ridge Zinfandel Late Harvest High Residual Sugar: Paso Robles fruit. 10.5 residual sugar referred to as Essence. I suppose the equivalent of a German TBA. Soon as I sipped it a vision of cups of sugar being poured into a pitcher of citric ade popped into my head. The sugar was tactile. Balance was perfect and complemented the cooling late summer early fall evening. 16%

1988 Lamborn Family Vineyards Autumnal Harvest Howell Mountain Zinfandel: One of the old time Napa cult wines...from the 70s. The winery specializes in Zinfandel and Cabernet. The history of winemakers includes Randy Dunn and Heidi Barrett (currently). They make 900 cases. This particular wine showed firm acidic, caramel flavors. It smoothed out with some time. Ripe prune flavors at the finish. The tasters generally preferred the Ridge. 17%

Here are several recently tasted dinner wines.

2008 Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough $14: Refreshing, restrained grassiness so true to the varietal and not overwhelmingly grassy the way many New Zealand SBs can taste. Good fruit. Tasty. Unlike the older dessert wines above this U20 prize can still be found around town. Try K&L. 14%

2006 St Cosme Gigondas $35: Another wine that can actually be located in your local wine store! This Rhone blend features Syrah, Grenache and Cinsault. You get all the thick dark fruit and smoky flavors you can ask for. It is NOT like an 07 monster wine from the Rhone. Compared to those blockbusters this is almost tame. It is nicely balanced and still powerful. Not at all rustic so expect a smooth delivery. Also at K&L. 14.1%

Argentina is U20 nirvana!! This post continues our report on the Argentina wineries tasting hosted by the Argentine Promotion Center in Los Angeles. All six wineries that showed were very good. However, four stood out as especially fine.

La Garde Winery presents itself as the old guard of Mendoza wineries...which it is [ed. pictured below]. They claim and aim to represent the long established tradition of fine winemaking in Argentina where terroir comes first. The winery was founded by a Spanish family in 1897 and sold to an Italian family in 1977. One distinguishing characteristic is the comparatively low production which is limited to 60,000 cases annually; small by Argentine standards. Their vineyards feature any old vine plantings located in the premium regions of Lujan de Cuyo and Tupungato Valley. Pride of ownership and old guard values are openly promoted. Worth seeking out.

2008 LaGarde Viognier $14: Rightly proud as the first winery to cultivate this varietal. Like the Viniterra version this is not foxy. Has glue-like nose. With lots of fruit, young and rich. 14.8%

2009 LaGarde Sauvignon Blanc $10: Grassy nose but not overwhelming. Fruit outweighs grass on the palate which is always good.

2008 Altas Cumbres Malbec $10: The entry level Malbec. Dividing the wines into entry level and above is very common. The purpose is to distinguish young vines from older, and reserve wines from premium. See? That is the problem. Grade levels imply less versus more, good versus not as good. But in marketing like children's birthday parties we cannot have lesser or not as good wines like we cannot have one kid getting all the gifts. But we digress. This is fruity stuff with plenty of body and at this price it is a U20 bargain. 14%

2007 LaGarde Cabernet Sauvignon $15: There are many many Cabernets like this one in Napa. Only they cost 400% more. Fruity, rich, heavy weight. 14%

2008 LaGarde Malbec $15: There are NOT ANY Malbecs like this in Napa. Rich, focused, liqeuer flavors. Tons of chocolate and cranberry. Your basic Turkey killer wine. Both wines are in the Reserva line, one step above entry level Altas Cumbres. 14%

2007 LaGarde Malbec DOC $20: In the US the label says Special Selection. This is the Major Drummond single vineyard of 100 year old vines, although the fellow pouring confided they blend it with 50 year old vines. It was exceptional. If the price is right [ed. $20 ain't right enough?] then we should split a case. 14%

2006 Henry No. 1 $50: The big ticket blend of 50% Malbec, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 15% Syrah. The blend can vary year to year. Juan Roby is the winemaker who selects and blends the best fruit production from the five vineyards in each vintage. This is very much like a Bordeaux blend, although quite young right now. Forward and rich style of a St. Julien. Not tBoW's style, preferring the single vineyard Malbec. 14%

These are the guys from Bodegas Lontué whose wines we tasted, liked, but did not review. Their wines are from Santa Rosa which is about 60 km south of Mendoza; a hotter region at sea level. Very good value wines.

Bodega Mi Terruño is a family owned winery with holdings in Mendoza's Maipu, Lujan de Cuyo and Uco Valley regions. Style is very similar to Bodega Viniterra; tiny production - only 8,000 cases here - and commitment to quality. Both presented a full array covering the spectrum of white and red wines and a couple of unexpected ringers. Happily, both bodegas make excellent wine.

2009 Mi Terruño Torrontes $11: Mealy, high tone, structured. Nicest Torrontes here. From Santa Rose vines. Would seek this one out. Good acid. Very good effort. An absolute steal at this price. 13.9%

2007 Mi Terruño Malbec Rosé $10: What a nice surprise. Grapefruit flavors, good acid. 13%

2008 Mi Terruño Reserve Malbec $16: Fruity, mild tannins. The notorious entry level wine. Very good. 13.5%

2008 Mi Terruño Malbec Limited Reserva $22: Half Cabernet Sauvignon from Uco Valley. Lush, lovely, middle weight. $14.2%

2007 Mi Terruño Mayacaba $50: The old vines bottle blends juice from the finest Perdriel vineyards in Lujan de Cuyo. 100% Malbec. Chewy, tannic, Rich. Primo. I could not justify spending $50 but if I did I would buy this before the LaGarde Henry blend. Female winemaker. 14.5%

After the tasting the tBoW team dined at Marino Restaurant in Hollywood. A first time for tBoW and crew. Old style Hollywood with up to date cooking and a classic old style Hollywood wine list; six pages of fairly priced Italian selections followed by three pages of first and second growth Bordeaux going back to the 70s for "da playahs". Highly recommended.