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

As an old pal used to tell me "you know doc, it ain't easy". You can't find a wine deal just based on price. You certainly can't trust the labels, especially in the US, if they say reserve or special selection. "Oh look! Here's a reserve Cabernet for $14"! We need help. And we need to help ourselves. Help can be found in a local premium wine store. Not BevMo. Good tequila selection, same-old ordinary wines. Not TJs. Good beer, lousy wines. Of course there are exceptions however time spent buying wine is better spent in a wine shop. And we help ourselves by trying the wines your local wine pro recommends that are from unfamiliar locations. Try a wine with a name you can't pronounce...like from Europe. Fact is, there are a ton of Italian, Spanish and French wines that meet our call to arms criteria. Visit your local wine shop. Make friends with a smart-ass clerk who knows his shit. Here are some examples.

2006 Domaine de Cassagnole Cotes de Gascogne Vin de Pays $8: “You want a value in wine, try this one” said wine-sales-guy extraordinaire Steve at Woodland Hills Wine Co. If you are going to try out this <$20 wine campaign then you have to have a reliable wine maven. Find one and you will spend far more time enjoying gems than tossing out rocks.

And how do I love thee my leetle under-$20 nugget? As I open the bottle I think about everything that is great about this “find”. It’s not only under $20 it is under $10. That little smile passes quickly. Now I appreciate how thrifty is the “foil cap” choice. It isn’t foil at all. It is the flimsiest of plastic. Love that!! My foil cutter burns through it like a magnesium fire. The cork is, of course, composite. Anything else would be out of balance, pretentious, dumb. Out she comes. And the wine? What do you want for $8? Tastes like French sauvignon blanc. We’re not talking pussy foosy or Sancerre. This is Cotes de Gascogne where Charles Neal searches for gems like this. Thank you Charles. Thank you Steve. Serve cold.

2006 Verget de Sud Syrah Rosé ~$15: Southwest France wine. Orange-red color. Mineral tart flavors, refreshing, simple. From North Berkeley Wines.

2006 Verget de Sud Rosé de Cabernet Sauvignon ~$15: Interesting enough to try just because it is a cab. Darker red color within the rose palette. Bone dry to the point that the fruit is buried. Not so refreshing. North Berkeley pick. Sometimes they miss. Their slugging percentage is still close to .800.

2005 Clautiere Rosé de Grenache and Counoise ~$15: Remarkable bright orange color that looked a lot like transmission fluid. The wine is interesting for Paso. Not overripe. Bright acids. Even lean. Refreshing. Wine club shipment.

2006 Mattes Sabran Corbières Rosé “Duc de Narbonne” ~$10: Excellent Southwest France rose. Everything I like in this category. Sort of lean, simple, balanced, refreshing in the warm SoCal summer evening with pals. Woodland HIlls Wine.

Last note - these wines were tasted at a dokkerm dining & wining party. Other wines were presented that are described in the previous entry. However, a current favorite - at ~$15 - the 2005 l'Uvaggio Vermentino was opened and it was quickly quaffed. Big with with the ladies and men in touch with their vermentino side.

Note that the image is not of the Vermentino which features a new style simple and clean label. However, I do want to endorse his Mendocino Arneis because it is the right wine for summer for all the right reasons....including...Italian white wine grape grown in colder region, fresh bright flavors quite similar to Arneis one might buy in the Piedmont region of Italy, lots of acid to balance the fruit makes for the perfect summer meal combo. Great stuff. Now I wish I had some.

Here in the dog days of August we cool off in the evening with an outdoor meal. The wine often includes Rosé or, when the fare commands, a summer red from the Languedoc. These are good reds for summer because they are not terribly bulky or muscular but they do offer something interesting in the way of flavors. The red grapes are typically a blend of grenache, syrah, mourverdre, carignane among others. And since SoCal is so much like SW France the fit seems natural. Best of all the wines meet our watershed criterion - under $20.

2004 Mas Carlot Costieres des Nimes Les Enfants Terribles $12: You can read all about the wines from this 40,000 case producer at their website, but you cannot read about this wine there. You have to buy the bottle or do your library reading in the wine shop - in this case local vendor supreme Woodland Hills Wine Co. Turns out the cuvée is a blend of old-vine Mourverdre and Syrah "Created by the winemaker, her hubby and Mr. Bobby Kacher. Robert Kacher is a primo importer who is a member of the virtual guild of select importers living the dream, traveling through Europe and discovering great wines which they import to the USA. Need an entry soon on this guild, I can tell. I am going to bet the majority grape is Mourverdre. Flavor profile is different from Syrah. Instead of deep fruit there is more bottom. That's right, I said bottom. Like an ample tuchus, think bubble booty. Flavors are more restrained. Plums. Tannins are mild to moderate. Syrah is in the background, kind of shy. Very pleasant with the local chicken shack meal. 14%.

2006 Chateau St. Jean de la Gineste Rosée de la St. Jean $12: A Corbieres rosé also purchased locally at WHWCo. They are doing the job there. Zees leetle wine is delightfully dry and just fruity enough to prevent zee mouse pucker. Great summer evening wine. Even the Renoir-inspired label says relax, enjoy, have some more cheese and cherries. There are so many wineries in the Languedoc region in and around Narbonne, Pezenas, Carcassonne, Beziers, Minerve and St. Chinian just like this one. Soon as the dollar/euro ratio improves I see traveling back there in my future. 13%.

I snapped some photos of the Woodland HIlls Wine crew recently. Here are pics of founder Paul Smith and the store's heart and soul, Joe. Now you know who to say hi to! A couple of teddybears who routinely bring wines for every fan to the store.

The summer is drawing to a close. As we hang onto the last warm evenings now mingled with some cool-ness we rush to determine which have been the greatest Rosés of our Summer 2007 Festival of the Pank. Here are a few candidates recently compared.

2006 Cotes de Provence Chateau du Rouet Cuvee Reserve Tradition $12: Good wine to start the evening. Orange copper color. Dry with strawberries in mouth. Easy drinker without much finish. 60% Grenache 40% syrah. 12.5%.

2005 L’Uvaggio di Giacomo Lodi Il Gufo Babera Rosato $11: Jim Moore’s almost beefy rosé is almost like something else – syrup! It is not thick enough for waffles but it might make a great cosmo! A manly rosé for all manly men (and stout women I suppose). This deep red, near-purple wine goes with BBQ as easily as it goes with a fruit cup. 12.5% alcohol. Bravo Jim!

2006 Nicodemi Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Gerasuolo $13: Another bigger than usual rosé, bright deep red color (without blue tones above), rich dry flavors. My first Tuscan rosé was a hit. Both of these wines deliver a kick in the cajones to the pink wine naysayers who complain about rosé simplicity. From North Berkeley Wines. 12.5%.

Time out for an observation (bitch-pitch). “Serious” wine drinkers who complain that rosé cannot be taken “seriously” because it is too simple ("not serious") cannot be serious themselves can they? To them I say…what about the legions of over-oaked and over-ripe cabs and chardonnays considered serious? Are these wines not simple in their own stupidly complicated, out of whack (i.e., unbalanced) ways? Puhleeeze. Think Rubiks' Cube and "Rube Goldberg". The Rube Goldberg machine takes something simple and makes it ridiculously complicated. "Serious" wines? Rubik's Cube takes something simple (block of colors) and makes it quite complicated. That is serious simplicity. Simple and serious are rarely antonyms.

2005 Verget de Sud Rosé de Syrah $15: A second appearance this summer and if it is up to me this wine will make a 3rd and 4th. Here is what my wife said as she sipped in the spa. “What I like about this wine is that it is dry and still has the hint of strawberries but not sweet”. And I always agree with my wife. In the salmon pink color camp. North Berkeley Wines. Lovely. 12.5%.

You may have noticed that "value" in wine is getting quite a bit of attention. A recent LA Times article expounded on the merits of various domestic and international wines which they considered to be good values, i.e., the U20 wines (under 20 bucks) we favor. The Wall Street Journal also recently (Sept 7) featured values in pinot noir.

We could not agree more with this reasonable fascination. We recognize trophy wines have their place as trophies that can play a very helpful role when entertaining and seeking to impress clients or anyone else whose favor is worth culling. I am being perfectly serious. However, we also know when it comes to enjoying wine for nothing other than the sheer pleasure of drinking and talking about wine...it's a great big world. Bully!

Here are four wines we tasted recently that cover the range from bargain to trophy.

2002 Ethan Santa Ynez Valley Syrah Purisima Mountain Vineyard $25: This was purchased in 2003 on futures at the Wine Cask Santa Barbara tasting. We do not go
anymore as the event dipped in quality and range of wines offered. It is actually an interesting story of how the leverage shifted from the Wine Cask to the winemakers. As the winemakers and their respective labels received more and more attention the winemakers began bringing fewer wines to the tasting where the cost of entry to them included a mandatory 25% discount (which encouraged attendance). The only way to get many of the top wines is to buy them through the winery mail list at full retail or with a nominal discount. Makes sense, no?

Ethan Lindquist is the son of Bob Lindquist, founder of and winemaker at Qupe. This bottle may be Ethan's first release of Purisima Mountain Vineyard. It was delicious. Profound bittersweet chocolate (65% cacao) flavors. Dustiness initially (soft tannins) faded within 15 minutes. Never faded throughout our meal. There was a companion tasting article in the LA Times that covered a couple other Purisima Mountain releases from SRH winemakers. This vineyard is regarded as one of the area's best. 14.5% alcohol which is typical for SRH. Ethan kept it balanced without pumping up ripeness. I doubt pricing for Ethan wines still begin with a 2!

2005 Clautiere Estate Viognier Paso Robles $20: I am not a big fan of viognier from any region domestic and abroad. The grape just does not thrill me. I have had the "legendary" and very expensive Chateau Grillet young and aged. Nnhh. This wine was nice enough. Came with the Clautiere club order. I like Clautiere wines. Great price points. Well made. I prefer their red blends which are traditional Rhone style. I really like that. But even Tablas Creek (California's best winery) makes duds. I would still recommend joining the Clautiere maillist (along with Tablas Creek), especially if you like costume parties and the bacchanalian debauchery.

2005 Trenel Moulin A Vent Tirage Limite $23: These are numbered bottles which means they are limited production. It is the fabled 2005 Beaujolais vintage. How much longer will we be able to find these wines in our local (and favorite mail order) stores? This is a cut above the ordinary 2005 wines from Beaujolais. More tannic backbone with just as much of the ripe Gamay fruit. This wine will keep for several years. In flavors it is closer to Barolo than Burgundy (its northern neighbor). A lean and sinewy wine (think marathon runner) that likewise does not give out.

1997 Louis Latour Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru: Long term cellar dweller that I finally busted out for a special guest. This is highly sought wine for burg hounds. 1997 was a difficult vintage in Burgundy with intermittent rain. This means some grapes did not ripen enough. French chardonnay blows away California across the price range but especially at the high end. This wine has character and flavors that cause us to prefer French to domestic chardonnay wines, however, the vintage did leave a mixed impression. Stones and minerals in the nose and initial flavors. A bit later jasmine emerged as the wine opened. Ten years is a good time to wait for white burgundy especially a Grand Cru. Because of the vintage problems with ripeness I wold say this was a good time to open this bottle. Served with halibut and a tomato salsa that worked well. Here are notes from the domaine.

There was a time decades ago when I shopped at Trader Joes for wine.
I still have the bottles of Dunn Howell cabernets with the $14 stickers and oportos for $15 purchased off the shelf at TJs. Today TJs is a top seller of Toobuckupchuck. As a rule I eschew wines sold in supermarkets. And I support my local wine retailer who does an outstanding job bringing in and putting out super values along with all the trophy wines any "collector" soaked in aftershave could ask for.

For the record, the Dunn Howell cabernets age very very well. Along with Philip Togni wines these are two Napa wines that represent far superior value than the current Speculator touts. Given the choice of spending hundreds for a new release Shry-ing Raptor or a perfectly aged Philip Togni 1990 Cabernet or a 1982 Dunn Howell...no brainer. Two are proven.

Like many good Murrkins I shop at Costco.
I am a big buyer (at least in spirit) of all things Kirkland. I even bought a bottle of Kirkland burgundy once (best left unreviewed). Costco established its wine cred by featuring BigTickit wines especially First Growth Bordeaux. However, recently I have found the occasional excellent value of unusual wines I would not expect to see in the Kirkland chain. I tasted two recently and they are reviewed here. So if you love Costco and have a double-executive-wholesale-maxi-rebate-triple-gold membership then you will want to keep your car keys in hand because you will almost certainly be racing out your driveway before you finish reading. And...as always...please...buy Kirkland responsibly.

2004 Brancaia Tre $15: Bought this at Costco. Also saw it on the web at The Wine Club which is a major discounter so somebody dumped a bunch on the market. Goodie for us because this is very nice wine. Blend is 80% Sangiovese, 10% each Merlot and Cabernet. Brancaia is a highly regarded Italian label. This is their low end, I mean introductory, wine. Soft nose would probably have been more interesting in a larger wine glass. No mistaking the taste. Sangio and cab immediately recognizable. Very little tannins.Excellent and probably best drinking right now. Had it with shrimp linguine in red sauce at local Ital dining emporium Giovanni (aka Richie's). Great wine with a terrific meal. Richie sprays the ball off the tee but he hits it down the middle in his kitchen. Finish is ripe, some prunes but not like an Amarone. I am looking for more now. 13.5%.

2005 Domaine de la Motte Premier Cru Chablis Vauligneau $15:
A friend who likes to surprise me pulled this one out at a home dinner he hosted. While he served several very nice wines, this one stood out. Classic Chablis nose of stones, oak, flint. Green flavors of a youthful wine. Lotsa lime flavors. Strong acidic sharpness that was refreshing. Nicely balanced. Nutmeg emerging. This wine got better in the glass over an hour. I was at Costco the next day and bought half a case. Great value. 13%.

White Knight Clarksburg Viognier $10: Now here is an interesting wine. The Large put this one on the table recently and I gotta say it was great to see how this jazz historian/musician has answered the call "no wines over $20". Dammit. Here is the website link to Don Sebastiani and Sons who apparently make the wine. Before I describe my impressions of the wine I have to point out that Santa Clara U is obviously the choice among California winemakers for providing a college education. All three Sebastiani sons attended as did at least one if not two Mondavis (Michael and the girl). Who knew. Viognier is not the next big grape for me (grenache and mourverdre are). Too many California winemakers treat it like chardonnay with the heavy oak and the ripe fruit. Not here. This is lean and balanced. I will bet steel fermented. I did not get the tropical flavors in the online tasting notes. But I did get the "stone fruit". At this price it is worth hunting down if you want to try a different style of viognier. Love the screw top. 13.5%.

So where is Clarksburg? Sacramento Delta. This is good news. Last visit to Napa/Sonoma the wife and I "discovered" a region more like Paso than Napa or Sonoma while technically in Napa. Carneros. Please visit Carneros next time you are traveling to Napa. I am going to bet Clarksburg is very similar in rustic nature and the absence of monster chateaus and $40 tasting rooms. Check out the Clarksburg Wine Growers Association and learn more.

2004 Tablas Creek Cotes de Tablas $13.40: This is my choice for Wine of the Year. I could change my mind since there are still a couple of months left in 2007. However, when it comes to value and quality this wine is very hard to top.The price is for a case. But why not buy the case? You will easily work through it. You do have to be a wine club member to get this price but you know where I stand there. And let me get this out of the way. Thanks for the Tablas Creek Blog post about this blog. OK. That looks like I am just a pimp for TC. I just think this winery is doing a great job on as many fronts as I can imagine. Solar powered energy. Organic methods. By-the-book nursery of original French vinifera for all the great and lesser known (in some cases unknown) varietals from the Rhone region. And this wine? I think I have reviewed it before. Nose is still a bit smoky and seductive. Flavors are pure grenache (64%) and syrah (16%) fruit. Tannins have settled down. Balance is perfect. This wine is still young. 14.8% which is high but it is Paso and I do not taste the alcohol. Website says two more years. Sure. If I have any left after Turkey Day because this is definitely on my Thanksgiving wine list. Works with lasagna...that's right...from Costco!!

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.

Sea glass is ocean borne detritus. Pieces of broken bottles wash onto beaches after years (decades?) tumbling around on the ocean floor. Low tide is the time to look. Pieces wash up everywhere. Many LA beaches are fine targets. We have so much trash and so many boaters. Some artists and craftspeople make sea glass jewelry. Seaside towns usually have a sea glass jeweler. When I visit Paso I like to stay in Cambria for this reason. The idea of sea glass is probably cooler than the stuff itself. Something found that was not even lost but tossed or kicked away can be romantic. Something without any value, even a pollutant, that can be valued if convention is set aside, can at least inspire curiosity.

Here are three wines that share some of these qualities. A couple are waiting to be found. At least one has been lost to what is conventional. I would be surprised (even disappointed) if any was rated above 90 points.

2006 Bugey Maison Angelot Gamay $9: A Charles Neal selection. This is the Boogie wine. From the cheap plastic "foil cap" to the half-size plastic cork, this wine is everything great about the importer and the kind of wine every wine drinker should put in the rotation. Call it "plain folk wine", people's wine" or "farmer's wine". It is wine the way wine was made before wine became a lifestyle. First taste is off-putting the wine is so rustic. Where is the polish of oak and soft malolactic? Fresh cherry and tomato (but not cherry tomato) flavors. Naive, fresh but not youthful. The second glass shows what is going on here. Nothing fancy. Just delicious. I have to get that Best of Wine Importers Part 2 post up.

2002 Pipestone Rhone Style Red $U20: There is no confusing what Jeff Pipestone is trying to do here; 40% syrah, 30% grenache noir, and 30% mourverdre. This is his Rhone blend. Tastes pretty good. Rich fruit flavors. "Co-fermented", now isn't that interesting! Tastes more fresh than 5 years old. Dark cherry fruit. Not noticeably tannic. Nice effort. This is the American Pastoral because the Pipestone team (Jeff and Florence) live in the most idyllic setting on the Paso Westside. If you have a chance you should visit.

2002 Boyer-Martenot Mersault "Le Pre de Manche" $25: Barrel-selected by North Berkeley Imports. Citrus, orange-like, even peachy flavors. Just enough oak to make it interesting. Very good acid spine. Very nice wine. North Berkeley, like Kermit Lynch, has a wonderful selection of their own blends form Burgundy producers who, I guess, find the practice worthwhile. Hard to imagine Rolls Royce collaborating with a team of Russian engineers who want to produce their own RR vehicle.

2002 Etude Carneros Pinot Noir $40 (at the right online store):
How good was this wine? Had it with a friend over dinner. He likes wine well enough to know what he likes but not enough to know what he is drinking. All wine-o-files have pals fitting this profile. He loved it from the first sniff to the last drop. This is the latest event in my developing pursuit to become more familiar with Carneros pinots. Not sure how this got in my cellar so I guess I am lucky it was there. This bottle will still take age. Smoky slightly briny character. Very nicely balanced. Great pinot fruit more cherry than otherwsie but the smoke - in balance- was strongest note for me. Medium weight. Lovely. Etude has an especially elegant label that is reminiscent of Leroy.

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 teh 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.

I have declared (or as we used to say in shrink-talk "I own") my pretentiously snobby preference for SF dining with it's vastly superior wine lists and the wonderful way that wait staff manage to be "laid back" (dood) while at the same time attentive to a fault. This does not mean LA does not have restaurants worth the $$ and the time (recently Brentwood Grill gave fine dine). First you must purge the idea that "fine dining" can be found in the ubiquitous steak houses where the fat in the Cut is exceeded by the fat in the check. I mentioned Lou in an earlier entry which is more about wine than food. Then there is Campanile.

Here is a great LA dining establishment with a decades-long track record to justify the reputation.
The wine list is what can be expected from a fine LA restaurant with a top-notch sommelier. The wine list is comprehensive covering m-a-n-y regions. And it has value wines. Most importantly, you can get the sensibility in the selections. In a word, quality comes first. Jay Perrin is the man; think the love child of Michael Caine and Angela Lansbury. Charming, wine smart to a fault, engaging and peripatetic. Our waiter was even tempered with Ichabod Crane's looks and Hannibal Lecter's savois faire. He was also charming. It's LA. Everyone is in the business in some way.

The restaurant was two-thirds full on Saturday night peak hours. Writers' strike hanging heavy over deal makers' hunting grounds. We drank one supreme Rhone followed by a very nice California Rhone-style wine. Like Campanile, both are well-established "brands" receiving widening consideration from wine drinkers in LA. Here is what we drank.

1998 Rostaing Cote Rotie La Landonne (>U20, way over): Our hosts' first encounter with this wine. To put it on a scale more readily grasped I described it as Mouton of the Rhone. Status always comes first in LA. And the wine held up flavor-wise. Truthfully, I finished my two glasses before the wine opened. It was that stupefyingly good. I cannot even describe the flavors. The weight was medium bodied, the nose aromatic (spice? earth? what???). The color was not very brick-ish. If you must read about this wine (I think you should) then click here and read what Robert Parker had to say about this wine in a 2006 vertical tasting of Rostaing Cote Rotie wines. Thank goodness I have a couple more bottles left. If a ton of dough suddenly fell in my lap and I could buy any wine it would be La Landonne. Not a top end burgundy, red or white. La Landonne.

2004 Tablas Creek Esprit de Beaucastel $65 on the list: We guzzled the Rostaing so fast a second wine was called for. My criteria for selecting off the wine list were quickly met: the wine will be decent; the price does not exceed 100% markup; if it is a blend, it is not silly (e.g., zin with syrah). Tablas Creek is my favorite domestic winery in terms of excellence in winemaking across the board. I may favor other wineries for certain products but TC is the current Lou Gehrig of wineries. The Esprit red is their top Rhone blend, their supreme "mark". The wine was probably released around $40. It did not disappoint. Still young with high toned fruit, acid, soft if firm tannins. Lovely nose. Did very well with the entrees (two sliced prime ribs - 10 oz, lamb chops and a reasonably sized New York steak).

Take heed Mastros! Campanile is to LA dining what TC is to California Rhone houses. Best in breed, sensible all round, engaging, smart. Most importantly, sleep that night was undisturbed. In a few words Rhone blows away Bordeaux, and Campanile blows away Mastros.

Whatever happened to Oasis?

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%.

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

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

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

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

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

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

[West Coast Choppers celebrate the holiday their way]

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

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

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

Palates differ...kind of like opinions. WRONG. Differences of opinions are never beyond examination. And like opinions, palates change. One's wine palate evolves over time as experience with wine broadens. One of the great things about wine is that there are so many wines to choose from. So many regions to get to know. This is one reason why it is a shame to follow ratings. Better you find a reviewer whose taste is a good match for your own. This match will change over time but it beats picking the 94 pointer believing the bottle holds 94 points.

When I first met Joe a few years ago he was into the big trophy wines. Times have changed and he is now a strong follower of Paso wines. Me too! But our palates could not be further apart.

Joe is an avid supporter of anything he stands behind or loves. This makes him a great guy to have on your team...or to be on his team. However, in wine we learn to follow our own path.

Joe likes wines that are chewy and jammy and knockyersoxoff. Sounds like big cabs. I like femmy, middle to light weight with more delicacy or even a crude presentation long as it is well-meant (like the Charles Neal Bugey Gamay covered a while back). So when Joe started pulling corks I had to take it slow and easy. That is correct. I did not say no to any wine he poured.

Fortunately, I did bring a new aerator product called the Vinturi. This was test-the-device night. Very effective for taming some of the monsters that stalked Joe's table.

2002 Alban Tithings ~$70: Grenache and Syrah blend from John Alban, one of the original Rhone Rangers. It is big, ripe, jammy, new world. There is chocolate and charcoal in the mid-palate and finish. Dense wine. Supposed to ape Chateauneuf? Alban makes "normal" Rhone blends. No tricks. We like that...with exceptions, of course. Normally I would link you to Alban's vwebsite...except it is just one page with a generic Alban label!

1997 Cafaro Cabernet Sauvignon $100+ today: This is a collectors label affordable to the masses. I guess that is good. The wine is nicely balanced. It is soft but not flabby. Very nice Napa cab. We aerated just to see. Shoe polish nose emerges. This is not bad for me. Much more dark fruit in smell and taste post-aeration. Now here is the funny part. In the company of some very big wines this was the lightweight!! I am posting the Cafaro label even though I do not for a moment believe there is a wine drinker out there who has not seen it or is not familiar with the distinctively simple and appealing label.

2003 L'Aventure Estate Cuvee $85 sold out: A blend of 66% Cab Sauvignon, 28% Syrah and 6% Petite Verdot. Ohmigod. Smoky tannic. Dark dark dark flavors. Real dark. Aerated it. Kept thinking of the croc guy. Syrah nose and flavors emerge. Actually dominate the cab. Cocoa bar. 75% cacao bittersweet. Not dirty yet. The cab fruit is there. The Syrah supports it after awhile. Jammy and chewy like chocolate beef jerky dipped in BBQ sauce. I am no longer able to drink wines like this.

Here is a great article on L'Aventure from Grape Nutz which is a terrific wine blog I often consult.

I am now plotting wine payback for Joe. This summer I will get him over to the house with Dotoré and Mouse where we will have our best shot at overpowering him with middle and light weight wines. We will make him drink some of Mouse's white Rhones along with my 2005/2006 Beaujolais crus. We will do our best to tame the Joe, settle him down, give him time to think about the Magic Chef and Hallowed Ground. He will probably hate our wines. He can scour my cellar for big Cabs or inky Syrahs and he may find one or two. That's when we hit him with the French peen-yoh nwarr. Joe does love Rosés so we will be able to bring him back from the brink of the unfamiliar because summer time is Rosé time (along with Moscato d'Asti and BBQ). Beautiful. You see, with sincere wine folks there is always a happy medium (domestically speaking). [ed. Joe kindly agrees to pose with love-child of Sir Laurence Olivier and Shelley Winters on New Years Eve.]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I am listening. Please continue.

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

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

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

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

This is the story driving all wine markets.

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

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

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

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

Here are a few wines recently uncorked...

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

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

I really should tease the reader before getting to the Russian wine...but what the hey. The first wine is from the Republic of Georgia which is an ancient land with tremendous pride. I am posting the flag in case someone should get the wrong impression.

Kindzmarauli Kahketi Region NV$16: The wine was a gift from an associate(Georgian NOT Russian of course) who wanted to impress with a wine from the motherland. "I guarantee you have never had this wine". I did find it on the web as Georgian Royal Collection Kindzmarauli, naturally semi-sweet wine, 100% Saperavi varietal, from the Kindzmarauli microzone of the Kvareli area in the Kakheti region, Republic of Georgia. It has a distinguishable varietal bouquet, intense aroma, harmonious and velvety flavor". It is from an historical wine growing region in Georgia's Tusheti mountains and it is semi-sweet. 11% alcohol which is always commendable. The important point is that the sugar content of the wine is not enhanced. Is it late-harvested like a Primitivo? Dried on straw mats in the Tushetian sun like an Amarone ? A wikipedia entry claims Georgia is the "birthplace of wine" and the oldest wine producing region in Europe. Hold that correcting thought...Georgian wine apparently has neolithic roots (~7,000 years). We tasted this wine in granite goblets served with braised Mastodon. The missus did a nice job on the hairy relative of the elephant, a little tough from the retreating glaciers. The wine gave semi-sweet cheer to a generally hostile environment as we huddled around a fire shielded in a Kodiak bear's jawbone. Not a terribly long finish in a terribly long night. Yzumitelno!!

2004 Chinon Les Chiens-Chiens $15: Bought at K&L Wine Merchant. Cabernet Franc from the best known region in France for this grape. These wines stand in sharp contrast to California Cabernet Franc which is the source for my cab franc wine knowledge. The most famous cab franc is Bordeaux's Cheval Blanc which Miles downs with a burger in Sideways. [ed. Link goes to Miles dissing a Paso Robles cab franc!]. The vintage was 1961 which furthers the inside joke to wine snobs. Chinon is in the Loire Valley southwest of Paris (see map link below). I am learning these Old World Chinon wines are quite different than New World versions. California Cab Franc wines often a clear bittersweet chocolate flavor like 65% cacao bar. Chinon wines are more like 90% bittersweet. Almost dirty, earthy, dry. The fruit is there but needs time to emerge. I will not open these wines (I have a few in the cellar) until June. With BBQ skirt steak. Expect to be tasting more Chinons in 2008. 13.5%

2005 Chateau Champ des Soeurs Fitou Bel Amant $15: I have not run out of wines to review. Yes, this wine was reviewed in September. Six months later it still rocks. Now I have the labels. A Becky Wasserman Selection which is always a good place to begin. 60% Grenache then Syrah then Mourvedre. Yummm-meeee. Wonderful balance. On the flavor spectrum think of the Fitou as the mid point between jammy Cal wines and dry Chinon wines. We liked this one a lot and will return to get more.

2002 Beaune Vignes-Franches Premier Cru Domaine Chateau de Chorey~$35: Wasn't this special? Premier Cru vineyard outside the town of Beaune. Chateau de Chorey is a top producer. This is Red Burgundy at its price/quality best. Delicate nose. Cherry and game-y flavors. Light to middle in eight. All tannins resolved and gone. Showing very nicely for 5 years. Just perfect with the glazed plum chicken. 13.5%. Not a U20 but a very worthwhile O20 that defines wine intelligence. Excellent wine.