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%.

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.

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.

I have begun to think of my cellar as a bunker. Members of the tBoW tasting team seem to share this view. The Act of Purging is as essential as other necessary functions that keep a storage center clean. We don't want "impacted" cellars. Here is what the Venice tBoW tasting team came up with recently at a hosted dinner on a balmy winter Saturday night in LA.

NV Moet & Chandon White Star $30: Who buys this wine? I am guessing I had my last bottle of White Star more than 20 years ago. Probably longer but who's counting? I might have been counting if I remembered the marque wine of Moet as having distinct lemon and pear flavors backed with a clear and firm spine. Rich and a bit sweet. Is it worth $30? Probably because I am hard pressed to think of another $30 champagne that would produce something supposed to be consistent this consistently (that is what a marque wine is supposed to do). Check out the smarmy corporate marketing video here. Who made this? Hammer Studios? tBoW liked the wine and encourages you to lower your snob quotient and accept any pours you may be offered this holiday season. Widely available at Kirkland Nation (aka Costco).

2005 Tablas Creek Roussanne $24: They make this wine in two styles. This is the "traditional, i.e., French" one. A bit smoky, aged in oak. Firm with pear and melon fruit flavors. Actually restrained and needing time to open a bit. Only 600 cases. 14.3 %

2006 Arnaud Gaujal Picpoul de Pinet $13: Value wine from the value region of Southwest France. We do not need a recession to recognize there are wines from the Languedoc that are and have been great finds for years. Delightful bright and fresh. You cannot go wrong with this wine. Serve it with salad and it holds up to any dressing I can think of [ed. the white wine acid test]. I know this will read wrong BUT the nose and flavor reminded me of shaving cream. A bit soapy but that is the dryness. Well balanced. Nothing out of sort. A tBoW bargain and I would buy it if I saw it. 13%

2000 Ch Petit-Figeac St-Emilion Grand Cru $40: Here is (one of) the problem(s) with Bordeaux. You can't tell the all-stars from the journeymen. Case in point. Chateau Figeac is a big hitter. Highly collectible (if you collect Bordeaux). And a St Emilion which is at southern end of the Girond and mostly if not all Merlot. But there are only about another dozen OTHER wines with the name Figeac. There is Franc Figeac, Yon Figeac...enough to confuse the Figeac family not to mention the unsuspecting consumer. This particular Figeac wine is from the 2000 vintage that actually delivered on the century wine hyperbole. Everybody buy now! The wine was tasty. Needed time to open up but then that is pretty standard with Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot-Cab Franc blends from Bordeaux. Drink enough of them and you will pine for the good old easy going big and blowsy Napa versions. You have to like Cabernet a lot to buy these wines. And you have to like the French style which means sit and wait 10 years or an hour. 13%

1998 Ch Blanzac Cotes de Castillon $20: Another uncelebrated (at least outside France and England) region near Bordeaux. This is another problem with Bordeaux wines. Wine collectors who wish to impress ASAP with their wine knowledge can easily "master" the First Growth wines of Bordeaux. There are only five. Too bad the 1st growths are so pricey because what good is newfound knowledge without opening the stuff you are touting? Of course, as in most of France (as well as Spain and Italy not to mention Austria and Germany), there is plenty of very good wine in the less heralded corners of the region. Mastery in the petit regions of Bordeaux, however, is another matter. Like studying for the LSAT. tBoW and Dotoré long ago realized if one is going to study wine then one may as well study the OTHER region of France with equally difficult lessons and infinitely greater rewards. That would be Burgundy. This nice Merlot was tight upon opening even at 10 years and even though from the unglamorous Cotes de Castillon. So chances are it was well made. It never had a chance to open because our host sucked it down like a sandworm hunting spice. He said he liked it. Urp. 13%

The dinner was Cassoulet which is a typical dish in the Languedoc. The red wines typical of Languedoc are Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre. tBoW taster Tootsie usually does it up pretty good.

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%

This weekend June 13 & 14 consider doing the Topanga Canyon Artists' Studio Tour. It is tBoW's favorite summer event. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Topanga home you would never see except for this tour pictured below.

As we roll into summer you may enjoy a runup in invites to dine al fresco with friends and acquaintance. tBoW encourages using such occasions to raid the hosts' wine cellar. Why be just polite when you can also be rapacious? [ed. Mungo Jerry signals the official arrival of another LA SUMMER]

The scene is a Memorial Day last minute dinner at the home of good friends. The offer is to pull anything you like from the cellar. We came up with a Bordeaux and a Ribbon Ridge Pinot Noir. Not bad!

2002 La Tour Haut Brion $50 online: A holiday gift from someone in the same business as our host. Meant to impress. At 7 years old it is still young and showing tannins with plenty of Cabernet Franc fruit. The wine is very nice and since we rarely drink Bordeaux wines this is certainly a treat. Goes perfectly with the grilled steaks. It is impossible to write about Bordeaux wines without giving some background. The region is almost universally the introductory wine experience for wine snob novitiates. Bordeaux wines have the right features for newbies: "unquestioned" pedigree, comparatively few labels, prestige pricing, and decent wine. In some cases snobs-in-training start with California. What is interesting is how many wine-os never move past Cabernet Sauvignon thereby becoming faux snobs. For the record, LA Tour Haut Brion is the "second" label for La Mission Haut Brion. This means the wine is made from young vines (figure under 10 and probably closer to 5 years) and is not permitted in the premium batch. For an absolutely classic and haughty article on the Haut Brion wine scene click here.

2006 Aramenta Reserve Pinot Noir $43: Aramenta is the adjoining property and neighbor to Ayres, lauded in the recent Oregon Pinot Noir reviews. tBoW has had Aramenta in the past and enjoyed even though he found it too sweet to purchase it was not so sweet he would turn it down. This is from the ripe 2006 vintage. It is dark red but still not so dark to be mistaken for something other than Pinot Noir or Gamay. Sweet, burnt brown sugar. Kinda big. Would like to try this again in a year's time.

2006 H Pinot Noir $20: We did not get to pick this wine. It was offered as an example of the expanding ocean of "high end" wines now reduced and hitting the consumer market like bugs on the Interstate. Formerly $50 he picked up this H Pinot Noir for $20. The story is "right" with 198 cases and "hand-harvested" Sonoma fruit. Of course, good value requires two components: price and quality. The alcohol is way too high for this Sonoma wine produced and bottled in Paso Robles. The fruit that is there cannot fight its way past the ethanol curtain. Not to be confused with Oregon's Hamacher H wine from Willamette Valley. Or Macy's bedding line with the same logo. 15.55%

2007 Domaine du Vissoux Pierre-Marie Chermette Fleurie Poncié $20: This is the first Cru Beaujolais tasted from this vintage. tBoW flipped over the village Beaujolias from the same producer in the tBoW review last August. The contrast is striking. The cru wine is more intense overwhelming any of he other components such as alcohol and tannins. It is big and fruity. Word to Dotoré: While this Beuaj is very nice now tBoW looks forward to trying it again in a year. Reminds me of the 2006 Jean Paul Thévenet Morgon "Vieilles Vignes" that showed so much better one year later. $13%

The host made up for the BBQ-lighter Pinot Noir with a Canadian sweetie available at BevMo.

2006 Jackson-Triggs Proprietors Reserve Vidal Icewine $16: Out comes a specially packaged tube of Canadian late harvest something. Shows bright acid with ripe apricot and mango flavors. Very nice and refreshing. The region is Niagra and the grape is a 1930 hybird known as Vidal Blanc, named after the bio-engineer who crossed Ugni Blanc with Rayon d'Or to get a cold weather high sugar varietal. The bottle at 187.5 ml is the tiniest ever seen outside an airplane. A very good U20 dessert wine. 10.5%

As though there were no red wines for hot days and warm nights summertime is allegedly for fresh white wines and sparkling fruity wines like Moscato d'Asti. NOT. There are beefy and manly pinks and there are also Pinot Noir and Beaujolais that work in the 80s at 8:00. Sometimes you even find a 21 year old memory on your table in front of you. Here are several of da kine.

2007 M. Chapoutier Belleruche Cotes du Rhone $14: tBoW does not see pink wine from this mainline Rhone producer so we had to give it a try. Mostly Grenache and Syrah. Alcohol in the nose and mouth (level is a bit high for pink) but plenty of fruit. Reminds me of the 2006 St Andre. 13.5%

2006 Trenel Beaujolais $11: tBoW reviewed this almost a year and half ago so old habits must run deep. It is still a winner. An import from the mysterious Robert Chadderdon. Delicious Gamay fruit in excellent balance. Not showing much age 16 months down the line. Quite tasty. Serve with a slight chill. Works with all kinds of summer meals from burgers to pasta salad. Also excellent value. 12.5%

Giacomo Bologna Brachetto d'Acqui "Braida" $25: Looks like a Piemonte label because it is another one of those fizzy summer red sparklers from Barolo land. We got to know the style at the recent 100x summer tasting. This one is a bit more sophisticated than the Icardi which is not to say it is nay better, especially for another $8. Nevertheless, it is delightful. Strawberry pop with a bit more kick from the flavors, not the alcohol which is perfectly light beer level. Buy it instead of the $17 Icardi? Not likely but no regrets. 5.5%

Chateau Saint Pierre Cotes de Provence Tradition $14: tBoW recalls buying Freddie Cannon's Palisades Park when he thought it was Johnny Horton's Battle of New Orleans. Same serendipitous confusion here. Thought this was another St something from Provence. Wonderfully lean Rosé with plenty of melon flavor and just enough spine to make it serious. Good value for a very light salmon color fine wine. Like Palisades Park; not a mistake at all. 13%

1988 Leoville Las Cases $33 (on release): Dotoré pulled this Super Second Bordeaux from the recesses of his cellar. There are 5 first growth in Bordeaux, none from St Julie. Leoville Las Cases is the premier wine from that district. 21 years old and fresh as a daisy. Has the distinct Bordeaux pencil lead nose and dried cranberry flavors. Red brick color heavy on the red. Perfectly stored and in outstanding condition. The tBoW team realizes Cabernet Sauvignon is the lone varietal that can span continents in style and recognition. Not that Napa can produce a Cabernet Sauvignon exactly like this one BUT at least the chracteristics are distinctly similar. Wonderful wine. A midsummer treat on a Sunday evening outdoors. "11% to 13%" (per the label- how quaint)