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

2005 l'Uvaggio di Giacomo Vermentino $11: Finally, an opportunity to write about a Jim Moore wine. First, a few words about Jim. He is one of many winemakers who are not media stars. However, he is widely regarded within the winemaking industry as a "go-to" person
when you need something done. Looking for premium juice for sale by a high-profile winery? Call Jim. Need more super-premium French oak barrels? Jim probably knows where they can be had. Want to start a winery from the ground up? Do a custom crush? Fill-in a sudden and unexpected hole on your winemaking team because the winemaker for your long-standing label just went elsewhere? Want to turn around your wine program for your winery that is one of the oldest in the valley? He is the man to see. I am sure there are others like Jim in Napa. He knows them all, too. And what of his wine? Distinctive, meaning his wines share certain qualities regardless of the grape or employer. This Vermentino has all the earmarks of Jim Moore wine. He got the grapes from old old vines in Lodi. My summer reading includes "Blood and Wine", the unofficial story of Gallo wines, and Lodi goes way back in California wine history. Jim knows. Read more about Moore here. His Vermentino is from young Lodi vines, fresh and light, balanced with a subtlety that you do not even think about the alcohol (12.5%!!) or any kind of awkwardness. Perfect summer style. Flavors bring lime, some white grapefruit (Indian River?), citrus rind (pick-a-fruit). Acid supports the overall tart and bright experience. It is available but good luck finding it.

2005 Edward Sellers Grenache Rosé $12: The good dokker paired this Paso effort with the Languedoc wine below. The objective was to compare two fruity wines from the two distinctive regions that we are always yapping about. First sip showed hugely fruity and sweet flavors. I did not like it...at first. The dokker's wife (see photo) was disappointed since she picked it on their last trip top Paso. It is a remarkable achievement that when spouses play bridge or taste wines together there is always something on which we can disagree. Aha! As my palate re-tuned from the more mineral continental roses' I have been quaffing to the fruit bomb side of things I began to find the strawberry flavors more seductive and charming. We killed the bottle with flair. 14.2% alcohol. Nice wine from Edward Sellers. [URL]

2005 Mas de Brassandes Costieres de Nimes $10: Curiously, the good dokker had this rosé from last summer already chilled. He called it a transition wine (evening plans and all). It was also a fruit bomb. And from SW France. Nimes is squarely in the Languedoc which is a region everyone who loves wine should visit at least once. Topographically identical to SoCal with wall-to-wall vineyards and chateaus. The principal grapes are grenache, syrah, mourverdre, and carignane. I have probably already written it but let me do so again (in case I already have). The Languedoc is traditionally the garbage hole of wine. Critics love to tell how the region produces so much ordinary and sub-par wines that in years with an especially large harvest the wine is sold off as fuel. This has changed in some measure over the past decade as French and international winemakers have recognized the conditions are outstanding for producing quality and even better the cost of vineyard land is (was?) extraordinarily attractive. I like to recall our 2001 trip to St. Chinian when it was almost impossible to find a bottle costing more than 10$. And the wine was fine....bring-it-back-in-your-son's-backpack fine.

1997 Rochioli Allen Vineyard Chardonnay (cellar): Controversial wine for me. I have been a wine club member since the early 80s. I have tasted Rochioli through 20 plus vintages. In 2006 I sold off my remaining collection going back to 1996 to a dear friend who was more than happy to take it off my hands. This wine is from the dokker's cellar. It is complex. "Coconut" says dokkerm. "Quince" says I. We agree tropical aromas and flavors emerge over 40 minutes in the glass. Tons of acid. The wine is still young. Dokker says it will not get better. I play my collector trump card and say it will go at least another few years, possibly longer. Playing my collector trump with the dokker is silly since he has tasted through my entire collection. Still looking for a path through his usually invulnerable intellect I suggest this wine captures the problem for me with Rochioli. It is too complex. "Too serious?" he snorts. Yes. I ask Gail (see photo above) what TV game show she would rather, Championship Jeopardy or Deal or No Deal. No contest. Deal gets her vote. Williams Selyem is Deal/No Deal. The look-alike babes march over the grandstand in their short satin dresses with their black leather suitcases and it's all downhill from there. Turn off sound and dig the chicks hamming it up. Rochioli is Championship Jeopardy. Stay sharp. Hit and miss hoping for a category where you actually have some expertise. Fight intellectual exhaustion. Pat yourself on the back 30 minutes later for surviving with some pride intact. "Too many notes" said the King. Rochioli is top of the RRV heap with possibly "the best situated vineyard in North America".

2006 Curran Grenache Blanc ~$20: This is the 3rd vintage of this wine I have tasted...and enjoyed. In each vintage it is a late bloomer. Drink this in the first 6 months of release and you will ask yourself what is all the fuss. Wait 9 months (only another 3 or so, sit down) and you will be very happy. Give it a year and you will be amazed at how much this wine changed. At first it is recessive, withdrawn, almost sullen. Like first seeing Juliette Lewis in Cape Fear. So awkward. When she starts to mature a bit the charms emerge, slowly, gracefully. And after a full year she is all charm, delicate fruit, sparkling flavors, like a kiwi-blueberry-custard fruit tart. Too much to taste in one swallow. Kris Curran is a terrific winemaker (she makes Sea Smoke which is generally opened way too early). This meets the $20 criterion (maybe a little more but worth it) and is age-worthy (if a couple years count). That's Kris on the left and her dear friend Strummy on the right. Curran Wines

Last minute travel to Lake Tahoe. No time to plan the wine program. Will have to rely upon the fetching wench to quench the thirst of masses (including tBoW). She turns in a stellar performance in the wine department and in the boggle pit and makes a very strong case why Navarro Vineyards and Winery of Mendocino belongs in the constellation of Under-the-Radar stars along with Tablas Creek of Paso Robles.

2007 Canayli Vermentino di Gallura $18: Torrontes-like given the oily texture, fruity flavors. Somewhat rich. Slight bitterness. Very good choice for the just-flew-in from-LA arrival wine. 13.5%

2007 Parteaguas La Borde Vieille $50 (?): Refreshing lime with all the acid backbone. A wine made by Hugo d'Costa from Guadaloupe Valley in Baja Mexico. Check out previous tBoW posts on the slowly advancing wine scene in Baja. This wine is made in Guadaloupe at d'Costa's Paralelo or Casa Piedra winery with juice from the winemaker's French vineyards. That's right. He ships the Old World juice to the New World. Not surprisingly, it tastes French. 13.5%

2008 Domaine de Fontsainte Gris de Gris $11: Epic pink Corbieres gumbo yaya blend of 60% Grenache Gris and Grenache Noir; 5% Syrah; 10% Mourvèdre; 15% Carignan; and 10% Cinsault. Red luminescence on a cool summer evening in the world class alpine resort Lake Tahoe. Beautiful color. Firm and masculine. Balanced. Very nice and easily the most heroic wine of this trip and super value. 13%

2005 Tablas Creek Esprit de Beaucastel $30: Best value at $69 on the wine list. Sure there are restaurants all over The City with better wine lists and better values. However, they may not have a better wine in terms of pure vine to vine comps. And it is tough to find a better setting than a table on the dock at Westshore Cafe with a sun setting in ultra slow motion over the lake. The label says honey and peaches. The blend is 70% Rousanne, 25% Grenache Blanc and 5% Picpoul. We taste the flinty, mineral and smoke Grenache Blanc. Peaches come around in a bit which is just fine since we may never leave this setting and just hang in the endless twilight for another couple hours. 14.5%

2007 Cascina Ca Rossa Nebbiolo di Roero Rosato $19: This is pink Piemonte 100% Nebbiolo wine, probably young vines, bottled quickly for equally fresh consumption. A bit flabby without much character or spine. It is plummy with some tannin so maybe plum skins. 13.5%

2007 Navarro Mendocino Pinot Noir $23: The winery's "entry level" bottle. Why do we not own more Navarro wines? Blackberry flavors. New world all the way with the plummy yummy while and not in the overripe style. It has to be the northern climate. You need a case of this wine. From their Summer Sampler. 13.8%

2007 Navarro Navarrouge $14: Now here is an interesting blend of "Mendocino natives": Valdiguié, Syrah, Zinfandel, Carignan, Pinot Noir, Cabernet, Petite Sirah, Grenache, and Cinsaut. This is meant to capture the best ready-to-drink qualities from Southwestern France. Think Languedoc, Montpelier, St. Chinian, Fagueres. Straightforward, no apologies Dago Red. Soft, nice but just enough acid to keep it bright and fruity. Navarro's companion to Tablas Creek's excellent Rhone style Cote de Tablas. Loved it. 13.9%

2007 Navarro Chardonnay $25: The piece de resistance, show stopper, surprise winner. Out of the pack, from nowhere. Having just trashed Chardonnay as pretty much a varietal holding little interest for tBoW along comes this wine we would never pick as California Chardonnay. No oak. No bananas or pineapple/mango/papaya. How about minerals and stone berries [ed. what are stone berries?], creaminess, starwberries, cheescake and, yes, some pineapple. North of Sonoma is a winery making awfully good wines THAT WE LIKE at very fair prices. 13.6%

The sun hangs high every day at the beach. Chairs face the lake so we can watch mountains which never go anywhere. Like us. Boggle skirmishes become battles as the lake laps on the sandy shore of our very tiny, very quiet inlet. The day is endless. The sun never goes down...until it finally fades to orange and pink. Warm breezes become cool relief. We watch the boats tied up on the blue, then blue black, then black lake. Dock lights make it all look like some long summer party.

Turn in and do it again tomorrow. We once spent three weeks in August up here and the third was absolutely timeless.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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