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

2006 Chateau Barbanau Cote de Provence $12: Dry mineral flavors. Everything I expect from a Provencal rose' which, in my experience, differs in a mineral style compared wines from Languedoc or other SE France regions. These wines are so easily distinguishable from domestic rose' wines because they rarely have the big fruit found in CA wines (of which I am also fond, see Anglim out of Paso Robles). However, the real story here - as I discovered - is the importer, Charles Neal. Get thee forthwithly to charlesnealselections.com and read what these folks at Paul Marcus Importer have to say about how to start and sustain an importing business. The first thing you will find is that Mr. Neal picked the region from which to import based upon where he could buy wines below the silly pricing threshold, aka $20. He also took a liking to wines he could drink everyday and that were regional in style and blend, that is, the region has not yet been Parker-ized. The tasting notes from the Paul Marcus Imports staff that toured with Mr. Neal are fun to read and educational. Compare the Neal notes with those found in the LA Times by the Food section's wine-tasting panel ("hint of lime, nice"). It is the difference between riding down a "technical" slope (fun and slightly dangerous) versus riding in your cul de sac (boring and only when necessary).

2005 Beaujolais Paul Durdilly Cuvee Unique Vielles Vignes "Les Grandes Coasses" $11.50: Ring that bell again!! Another winner from North Berkeley Wines. When I asked the clerk about this wine he said at $11.50 how can you go wrong? Put it in the box! Now I must reply how can he be so right? NB Wines - just call 'em up and order. You cannot lose. Perfectly balanced, rich fruit (perfectly ripe), middle-weight so a bit more heft than expected. I need more. So do you. Drink it right up to Turkey-day and put it on the table. How do they do it in Beaujolais? Great vintage, under-the-radar region. The label reads Red Burgundy Wine which is technically correct but without the trophy-wine pricing. I saw a pitch for a current release Leroy Bourgogne at $35. The pitch was this is cheap for Madame Bizes-Leroy. Well exxccuuuuuse me. Bag 'em and taste 'em blind. You may pick out the pinot but you won't tell me the Madame's wine is 300% better.

The next set was tasted at an Independence Day BBQ.

2006 Traversa Moscato d'Asti $15: Summer is for fresh and refreshing wines and that means rose' and moscati d'asti. We have already said plenty about rose' (not to worry I am confident we will say more) so here are some thoughts about moscati d'asti. They are low alcohol, between 5% and 7%. They are frooooty, think peaches, honeydew, melon. When not made well they are tooo frooooty. But when the winemaker hits the target they are like drinking starlight. They have a slight spritz and you serve them cold. This one had it all. Unremarkable house (Tarversa loyalists forgive my ignorance) with an outstanding product. I pushed this on the ladies as the men hit the 1999 Rochioli in protective seclusion. Fuggedaboudit. The moscato killed. "Please suh, cun I have some moh" they asked in their best Oliver impressions. Hell yeh. Going back for more.

1999 Rochioli East Block (cellar): Smoky nose, smoky flavors, bacon, ritz crackers (the cheese and dough thing). Solid unbroken flavor line like a Roman phalanx. A bit cloudy, dark brick color. Opening up after 15 minutes to lush ripe pinot fruit (neither strawberries or cherries). Rochioli is the class of Russian River wines (along with W/S). Extra special (I guess) since East Block is no more.

1995 Gary Farrell Rochioli Vineyard (cellar): Going against the grain here. This wine was over the hill despite perfect storage conditions. Brick-not-brown color but not much red either. A good wine with fruit fading fast. Ironic since I find his wines to be too fruity for my taste. If you're British born before WWII you love this wine and consider it perfectly aged. I confess I have never been a fan of GF (even though he made my favorite domestic pinot at Rochioli from 1982 to 1986). He gets the best grapes from the best growers and is highly regarded and certainly knows much more about Russian River Valley (RRV) winemaking than myself. However, I have tasted through many vintages of Williams Selyem (W/S) and Rochioli to know they are at the summit of RRV wines. If I see a bottle made by a highly regarded winemaker who has sourced a top grower like Rochioli I want to know how he managed. Somebody told me he (the somebody not GF) had tasted a Brewer-Clifton bottling with Cargassachi pinot grapes. This is like Vlad Guerrero going to the Yankees. You have to see know how it worked out when stars get paired. I am sure this was a better wine to taste 5 years ago. On the other hand, I have to say I have tasted wonderful W/S and Rochioli wines that were 13 years old (and older). They held up better. Of course, 1995 was not exactly a memorable vintage for RRV.

2005 Malm Cellars Sonoma County Pinot Noir $16: Smoky nose and flavors reminiscent of the Rochioli. Fresher, more fruit, balanced nicely. I mixed it 4:1 with the Martinez 1994 Oporto. Now that was very nice. This excellent value for Sonoma pinot. 14.4% alcohol is average for region. The problem is I have stopped chasing pinot noir so I will not chase this Malm down although it merits pursuit. Feces occurs!

2006 Domaine Cassagnoles Reserve Gros Manseng $10: Lean angular fruit; dry and brawny in a middle-weight way. Reminded me of Cung Le who I was watching on UFC fighting, he was pounding a veteran mixed martial arts guy with a 24-3 record. Cung Le is now 4-0. Le was tougher, faster, deceptively bigger with a wicked command of spinning kicks and backhands. This Gros Manseng is deceptively delicious with satisfying lean flavors and a devastating blend of near-tropical fruit. Find it at local fave WHW. Or make plans for a trip to the Gers region ASAP and find out for yourself over two weeks. This is Cathar country rich in history of the Inquisition with burned out castles and outstanding wines.

1994 Martinez Port (cellar): I bought this on futures at a reputable west valley wine shop (not Woodland Hills Wine Co - Paul and Kyle would never do what I am about to tell you). I paid $30/bottle pre-release. Somehow they had gotten Martinez to pour bottle samples a year ahead of release. The very young wine was terrific and I thought this will the last vintage of new release port I will buy in my lifetime. Martinez is a rarely seen brand with a strong reputation (i.e., Broadbent covers it). When I went to pick it up a year later the retailer wanted $32/bottle. This is, of course, a case of bad faith and I have never returned there for anything. I paid the price and took the wines. I looked it up on the web today and see it can be found although pricing is about double unless you order it from Scotland; g'head laddy. This is the first time I have opened a bottle. It has everything I want in a 13 y.o. vintage port. Still has a strong presence of tannins but softly firm like a Savile Row haberdasher's clothes brush. The peppers and hot spices common with young ports (why are you even opening ports before at least a decade passes?) have blended in. Balance is perfect with fruit now forward. Alcohol subdued in the background. I can look forward to bringing this out on any special occasion (July 4th 2008? Labor Day 2007?) and I know I will be pleased.

Folks who love pretty, floral and delicate may not be enchanted by this entry. If you like chintz, peacocks, and the scent of lavender then you should stop reading NOW. This entry is for people who appreciate the phrase "it smelled like a Frenchman's toes"!! which is ripe ripe ripe cheese for gourmands like us.

If you are someone who appreciates the path less traveled, or who ascribes to the maxim "I will try anything twice because I may not like it the first time" then the following may satisfy your hunger for something different.

In wine tasting there often comes a point when one's allegiance switches from cabernet - which along with chardonnay, are the two wines on which most if not all Cali snobs cut (inked?) their teeth - to pinot noir. I am not suggesting that novice wine aficionados inevitably develop a taste for pinot noir (we do). That would acknowledge that pinot noir is capable of complexity that cabernet simply cannot attain (it is with the caveat there is always an exception like the 1982 Mouton Rothschild). Some folks never manage to leave the cabernet camp. I am not suggesting that pinot noir is the summit of wine tasting (having fallen from this summit, like the Beatles' disenchantment with the Maharishi). In fact, it may be that one must pass through the cabernet and the pinot stages in order to find palate freedom. Forget the higher level innuendi. For some, cab and pinot are like Alcatraz - an iconic tour but I wouldn't want to live there.

Once these stages have been completed it is likely even greater pleasure will be experienced when one returns to tasting the world's two most popular fine wine grapes.

Let's talk about the two pinot noir wines I had the other night at Saddlepeak Lodge. They are Burgundies. Some folks like to say French Burgundies but that is redundant isn't it? The good Dottoré is usually quick to point out that someone who has tasted enough premium burgs and California pinots (such as himself) can always pick out the domestic from the international wine. I agree and these two pinot noirs from top level Burgundy vineyards, made by top level winemakers, and bottled by two premium producers prove that point. Nothing from Cali (or anywhere else) tastes like this. It does not get any better on a wine-for-wine basis. Here they are.

1999 Comtes Lafon Volnay-Santenots-Du Milieu: Big fruit, strong tannins, all on the nose. Dark red color with tinge of purple. Big flavor, not massive, not overwhelming by any count. Expertly balanced. Solid fruit core. Luscious, even toned and voluptuous (think Heidi Klum or Gabby Reece). Remained like this for 2 hours. Never changed. The Derek Jeter of red Burgundy.

1990 Comtes de Vogue Chambolle-Musigny: As I was saying about stinky cheese...this wine had a funky nose. Not barnyard. Not le merde. Young Runki San nailed it - truffles. Now I have had truffles on eggs (didn't get it), and on pasta in Italy (umm good). It is difficult to get to know truffles because they are so hard to come by good 'n fresh. And forget tasting them in truffle oil or any other truffle product that can be purchased off the shelf. I once had an all-truffle meal at Valentino's in LA and never got it. I don't eat there anymore. But this 1990 Chambolle was truffles on the nose, truffles in the mouth, truffles all night long. If you can appreciate exotic, slightly dank and stank-eee aromas, and flavors, then you know what we were tasting. Sounds gross? Made us dingy. Like catnip. Color was red brick. Even perimeter. Consistent flavor. The wine will go another decade I would guess. 13.5%. A very unusual wine for Mr. <$20. As memorable and as spectacular as the 1995 Dehlinger Reserve noted in our first entry. Except that wine was definitely barnyard (i.e., poopy).

A word on great wines: One of the most memorable wines I ever tasted was an early 80s La Landonne. I forgot the producer although I could find out by asking the man who brought the wine to the holiday tasting about 15 years ago. I can tell you I instantly made a note to capture La Landonne wines whenever the right conditions prevailed. The aroma and flavor of this wine that was probably 15 years old at the time? Sour buttermilk. Sounds disgusting and I would never drink sour buttermilk; however, in the glass, red and perfect, it was absolutely strange and wonderful.
La Landonne is expensive. After all it is the most famous and revered vineyard in the Cote Rotie. The vines are 100% syrah and the slope is 45°! There are only a couple producers who bottle wines from this vineyard. Sometimes I wonder how collectors who pursue trophy wines would like an aged La Landonne from a great vintage. Any perfectly aged bottle would cost as much as but not more than what one pays for a "must-have" new release Screaming Eagle.

Great wines should be enjoyed with a great meal in a great dining room with terrific service. We made sure all conditions would be met by sharing our wines at Saddlepeak Lodge. Our server was the peripatetic Mike who has his own blog speedmonkey.com. Gary, I mean Mike, was ably assisted by Terry the manager, formerly of the Wolverine Marching Band. Saddlepeak is the finest restaurant in the Conejo-Calabasas micro-region. They are famous for game. They did not disappoint. Thank you guys.

Heavy hitter wines have big names. Sometimes they have long traditions. They are almost always one of the 3 most popular varietals - cab, pinot, chardonnay. Of course, heavy hitter wines, like their counterparts in baseball, do not always get the big hit. Barry Bonds comes to mind. In fact, Barry Bonds is a great metaphor for what often happens when you pop the cork on a heavy hitter wine. It fails to impress. Barry's best years are long gone yet he still plans to play one more year. His name is worth everything...in Frisco. He couldn't interest any other team when he tried free agency a few years back. The owner of the HH wine cannot wait to show off his trophy...but his audience is necessarily limited to other trophy hunters. For the trophy hunter 10 to 20 years is too long to wait for the wine to mature and 50 years is far too long to proclaim the wine's "greatness" (another totally silly standard by which heavy hitters are judged). Sort of like the Babe's home run record. The Babe was good for 50 years then he gets busted three times in 15. Kind of cheapens the whole idea of the "heavy hitter". Why do we need these trophies? Because they ground us, providing a firm foundation from which we can approach the world?

Heavy psyching dude. Wine intelligence sez forget the heavy hitters. Go for singles, doubles, walks. Yeh. Coast in on something straightforward, simple, enjoyable...something that puts a smile on your face. A steady performer that costs less. The decent find is always worth the comparatively small risk, especially once you get better at picking out the best bets. Nothing worse than you and your pals hating the trophy wine you just opened. I recall a 1928 Pichon Lalande purchased from a reputable source. The murky pink-gray color was topped by the dead-mouse nose which was surpassed by the brackish bathwater liquid that could only be tasted by the poor fellow who paid well over $200 for the bottle. Perfect label.

Here are a few decent performers and one very underrated power hitter.

2001 McKenzie-Mueller Napa Valley Pinot Noir ~$40: Bob Mueller make great red wines. His pinot noir may be his best. Or it might be his Malbec or Cab Franc. The pinot is certainly steady. We reported on the 2002 a few weeks back. All Bob's wines are estate grown. This one is also funky on the nose. This is barnyard. The flavors are deep and rich. Not the berry style of pinot (which I also love). This is meaty but not grilled. Sinewy texture. 13.6% alcohol. The Carneros delta (I think of it as delta) has ideal conditions for growing pinot noir. Hot days and cool foggy nights. My power hitter bats clean-up.

1997 Windward Vineyards Pinot Noir ~$25: I subscribed for 6 years on principle. A nice couple intended to make world class Burgundian style pinot noir in Paso Robles. A noble pursuit but I end busting out this wine whenever I BBQ or dip a turkey like the wild Paso birds adjacent. It is all they would produce and it was all estate gown. This is called a monopole in France. Curiously there are only one or two monopoles in Burgundy. I waited for the vines to mature. It made no difference. You cannot grow great pinot noir in Paso. It is just too dang hot. The fruit gets too ripe and the juice is never anything like Burgundy. See Carneros. Now, this does not mean Windward does not make good wine. The 1996 and 1997 are both pretty nice. Sweet nose and flavors. Smells a bit like ripe tomatoes. Evenly balanced. Good weight. Not over-ripe. Just too ripe for pinot. 14.4%. Bats in front of the pitcher.

2003 Sunstone Viognier ~$18: This is a wine I would never buy. And it was not a gift but it was purchased on a trip to Santa Ynez Valley. Sunstone hits pretty attractive price points, makes decent wines from the region, and as a result they get good action in their wine club. This viognier is not terribly ripe which is interesting by itself. It has cool weather plum flavors. It is sufficiently balanced so as not to knock the glass out of your hand. Unremarkable and forgotten quickly. 14%. Pinch hitter when the game is not on the line and I am running out of batters.

None of these wines ruins a summer evening. One can make things transcendent and, like every power hitter, raises the others' level of play.

Not one of the three wines reviewed is under $20. Not my fault. And, as you will learn, I cannot say I regret it.

During these dog days of summer when the temps hit 100 in the LA industrial interior you need a really good reason to drive 50 miles one way just to see some old pals starting a new wine venture. As I passed the Commerce Casino on a stretch of freeway where trucks outnumber automobiles I considered what I was doing here...so far from my pool and bike trails.

I was on my way for lunch with old friend and wine biz veteran Greg Gilooly and his partner Alex Correa. Greg is like the Hoyt Wilhelm of wine, well traveled because he can still throw the drop ball. If Greg is the cagey vet, then Alex is Tom Glavine, the steady winner. Greg has been in every part of the business and more than once in each. Want to know more? Founding partner in the Wine House, arguably LA's biggest wine retailer. They carry everything you would ever want. He owned a distribution company, a wine shipping and storage and another more recent wine retail shop. Now he is back in the storage and shipping business with WineBridge. He graciously invited me to visit the facility in an industrial part of LA most people pass through. Seems like there are two trucks for every car on that stretch of concrete.

After we visited, toured the "airplane hangar" perfectly temp controlled, and talked about trucking strategies, it was off to lunch at ABC Seafood in Monterey Park. For those not from these parts Monterey Park is home to reputedly the finest Chinese restaurants west of Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Like Grampappy Amos used to say ("Luke...") "no brag just fact".

I was pleased to see that Greg's sense of direction was as bad as mine. Neither Alex or I offered advice being content to roam until we ran into the place. DokkerM would call this the way of men or something like that.

There are so many ABC restaurants in LA I have to wonder if the same thing happens in China. This is stupid of course since I cannot read Chinese script and Chinese people will say anything just to laugh at how stupid I am. Dim sum at lunch as one would expect. So good I tried to engineer a "special" birthday brunch for the subsequent Sunday for my daughter's 20th. But she saw through my ploy and we ended up eating pizza.

2005 Sea Smoke Ten: Brooding, serious, medium weight, one of the main the reasons Santa Rita Hills are a hot area for growing and producing pinot noir. There are tea flavors but mostly ripe SRH fruit. Winemaker Kris Curran is one of the important names behind the wine. The Ten is the high end bottling from 10 different clones in the estate vineyard. OK. 14.9% alcohol. Yow. At least it doesn’t burn. I’m probably a wimp in the eyes of SRH winemakers. http://www.seasmokecellars.com/sections/our_wines/tasting_notes.html

2004 Vocoret Chablis Vaillons Premier Cru: When did I lose track of these wines? I used to love Chablis wines. I think I memorized the Grand Cru vineyards. Maybe they got too pricey (likely) and I just burned out on white burgs (not likely). This wine was once sold by Greg G around $15. Today? $XX. It is not in the flinty style often attributed to Chablis. Has lemon nuance, ripeness, neither plump or lean. Was 2004 a ripe vintage? Absolutely lovely. 2005 village wine is $15. The Blanchot will run you $40 (but it is Grand Cru). You can still buy Vocoret at Heritage Wines in Pasadena.

2000 Uvaggio Il Leopardo: The question is whether the wine is tired. It is California Nebbiolo made by Mr. Jim Moore. The wine has sat in my cellar for a week with temp controlled. It is brackish red in the glass. The nose is delicate, suggesting something aged but not retired. The flavor is aged Barolo, lighter, delicate, familiar flavors of rose and tar. Delicate. We start lunch with this wine and finish with it 90 minutes later, still charmed.

All three wines were excellent with the dishes of BBQ pork, broccoli, shrimp and some kind of shellfish dumpling. I selected cubes of bean curd with sesame flecks for desert. It tasted like sesame gelatin and looked like opaque pepper jello. It was terrific. When do we go again boys?

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.

Send my ribeye to the house of detection. I have eaten my last meal in a big deal steak house. Honk if you have had it, too. The place? Mastros. Not the Beverly Hills location but does it really matter? Go to the website and Sinatra is playing and that is part of the problem. The concept of high rollers, rat pack, swingin' down the lane - it seems so silly unless it's Halloween. Ring-a-ding-ding. I do not care if the beef palace is Cut or Flemings or Arnie Mortons or Nick and Steph. [I will reserve a last chance for N&S never having eaten there, not to mention the wife ate there and liked it]. However, having written that, as it were and if you will...these places are smoke and mirrors...and more than I can handle. And I will throw in a "there you go".

Our dear dear dear friends asked us to join them for a birthday meal (probably for the last time now!). We love them and they are always great company so of course we accepted. They did not disappoint. Cannot say the same for the joint and the meal. The problem for me is I just don't get the $500 meal any more. Maybe I would if it involved fresh truffles 36 hours airlifted from a Piedmont field and shaved over my pasta. But, a Kansas City ribeye? BFD. Or Kobe prime? SFW. I cannot digest this stuff anymore. It gives me g-a-s-s. I rolled in the bed all night. Got up twice to just to see if I could evacuate (as we say in the hospital). Fuggedaboudit.

The steaks were cooked perfectly. It is just too damn much. Sides included mashed with lobster chunks. I felt nauseated hearing the waiter roll it off her tongue. Birthday boy hit that pile like Keith Richards found his lost nickel bag. G'head! They should be serving nitroglycerin on the side.

It actually helped when the entrees arrived before the salads. Our host thankfully chided the delivery guys and sent the steaks back to the kitchen. Next thing the matire'd is tableside gushing apologies. With a promise that he would "make it up to us" we relaxed and the wives were able to shelve their embarrassment at my pal's show of masculine restaurant decorum.

By dessert I was in a cholesterol/diabetic fog. I think the coffee was good. The wines were outstanding. Here they are.

2001 Ojai Vineyard Close Pepe Pinot Noir ~$40: We toted this in figuring it was worth the $25 corkage. And how about the new corkage retaliation? I guess these big ticket steak brothels figure they need to squeeze every bit of cash from their customers so they have jacked the corkage fee to discourage folks from bringing their own trophy cab that is too young to drink anyway. This would be less objectionable if a wine list was in place with a selection that complemented a $125/plate. Like the basic fare, the list exchanges imagination for label flash. But I digress. This wine was outstanding. Adam Tolmach is a master winemaker working with fruit from one of the top three vineyards in Santa Rita Hills. More importantly, Wes Hagen the grower (can you guess which is Wes?) and Adam T the winemaker share a stylistic and personality kinship. Adam is somber. Wes is lyrical. Both are serious experts at what they do. This wine will take more age and I would like to have several more bottles even though they will easily break the $20 limit. This wine moves to the "hunt list"; a small and distinct list of wines for which I am always on the hunt. What else is on my hunt list? Ask me another time. Adam extracted lots of fruit from the Clos Pepe tonnage which is his way. The wine has aged enough to show some dried flowers character. Cola and sour milk flavors sounds absolutely disgusting but that is my best description. This comes from very ripe fruit. Only 200 cases. 14.5%. For some fun and to perhaps learn a bit more about Wes and Adam be sure to read Adam's "tasting notes" from his website.

2003 Nicolas Potel Nuits St George $105 (on the list): Delicious wine. It is the "village wine" from Nicolas Potel who is a newcomer in Burgundy (1997). 2003 was an unusually hot vintage. This wine was ripe with lean characteristics of northern Burgundy. It was balanced and tasted like French pinot noir. Cherry and blackberry fruit. Tannic but no barnyard. If you like Nuits St George, which I do, then this wine is very pleasing. Retails is in the $50s so Mr. Larry - birthday boy - picked a value winner.

Our hosts were the best company as always and, along with the wines, the best thing about the dinner!

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

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

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

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!!

Some bewitching and some spooky wines...none that taste like punkin but at least one that belongs in a bag of goodies.

2003 Montefalco Sagrantino ~$40: Deep dark red purple color, thick looking juice, ripe aroma, bacon and chocolate (I know that sounds like chocolate covered bacon which would be awful - nevertheless, the two flavors were present). Then some skunkweed. Taster Richie G who is from Jersey and I (high school South Jersey) both picked it up at the same time. A moment, I know. Hard to imagine how anyone could like this wine from the tantalizing descriptions. But Jackson and Richie G of Giovanni Ristorante liked it just fine. So did I. So where is Perugia? In Umbria which is south of Tuscany and in the middle of Italy. Imagine visiting Umbria instead of Tuscany. Hmm. All the sagrantino you could hope for. Here is where you would be. Not a U20 wine but worth every dollar over the limit. Fenks to the Bruin-loving Mouse for the tout. Live a little! 13.5%.

2004 La Chablisienne ~$17: The other Premier Cru Chablis at Costco (at least this week). The de la Motte reviewed previously was sooo good I had to give this one a whirl. Not up to the other but decent enough. Produced by the largest cooperative of some 300 winemakers in Chablis. Their aim is not to be too fancy pants but rather to make good wines representing the region. They have succeeded. Lighter weight. Yellow straw color. More lean and acidic in flavors. Quince, citrus. Nice enough but I will take the de la Motte.

1996 Frederic Esmonin Ruchottes Chambertin Gran Cru ~$100 today: Eleven year old red
burgundy from a very good year. Cellared at home for 8 years. Took it to local restaurant Toast (sorry - no website) where the fare is improving nicely. Red color. Not browning. Sweet fruit with pointed acidity. Quite nice and femmy. 14%. Held up well throughout meal. We talked about how different Calif pinots are from Burgs...and how we both love Williams Selyem. I was dining with the man who helped me plow through my considerable W/S collection finally cracking the last bottle about 18 months back. I also refer to him as the Scourge of Mastros. He said "Igottatellya I love California pinots but they don't get very good until you shell out $40". He's right. The more expensive ABC and Ojai wines are better. Wes Hagen's best Clos Pepe wines are at the top of his line. This Esmonin is one of a case of Gran and Premier Cru Frederic Esmonin wines I bought from the 95 and 96 vintages. And Igottatellya I have been mildly impressed with every one and let down with more than I expected. I think it's the producer. This is when I started to follow my own advice. If I am buying burgs then I am buying Becky Wasserman. If you care to learn more about the 1996 vintage ten years later in Burgundy here are some very interesting tasting notes made in June 2006 by Ken Wollenberg K&L Burg buyer on the 1996 vintage. There is one note on the Georges Mugneret Ruchottes. Better than the Esmonin Ruchottes. There is an Esmonin Charmes-Chambertin and a Camille Giroud (represented by Wasserman Selections) Chambertin Clos de Beze.
Geography is somewhat of a hobby for the Scourge of Mastros. He read the label which placed Ruchottes Chambertin in the Cotes d'Or but that is all of Burgundy. The Ruchottes vineyard is in the Cote de Nuits which is one of the two principal regions in Burgundy, aka Cotes d'Or. The map above shows the Cote de Nuits. The map below shows the location of the Ruchottes vineyard (#6) in the Chambertin group of Gran and Premier Cru vineyards. Here is a fun site (a wine dictionary!) where you can learn some quick info including how to pronounce roo-show.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fall approaches and the holidays are a'coming.

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.

WRONG!!! The Jints won. The Pats lost. If you love dee-fence you were on the edge of your seat. If you hate the hype (guess who) you kept nodding off (like me). At least the wines were excellent.

2004 Ojai Vineyard Westerly Sauvignon Blanc ~$20 (at 2003 Wine Cask tasting): Grassy, lively acid, pretty well balanced. Complemented the salsa and chips and roasted peppers. 13% alcohol.

1995 Frederic Esmonin Mazy Chambertin $40 way back when: Such a disappointment from what coulda shoulda mighta been. Brown red color. Not a nice nose. Tired flavors. Un-quaffable. Went back twice and it was even closer to le morte. Mazy - or Mazis - is the legendary Gran Cru vineyard. You can keep La Tache and the other DRC slopes. This is the one. Unfortunately, Frederic Esmonin is not the producer. I purchased a mixed case of 1995 and 1996 burgs by Esmonin and a couple other vignerons reviewed in an earlier blog entry. Only the 1996 Esmonin Ruchottes has been memorable [ed. see preceding link]. This was so far over the hill not even Randy Moss could have caught it. It is wines like this that drive me back to Becky Wasserman!

1997 Williams Selyem Riverblock Pinot Noir probably $50 on release, north of $200 today: God bless Dotore' and his bulging wine cave. He bagged this bottle forcing me and the missus to guess. We agreed right away on New World. The smoky nose and flavors were so brawny that I leaned towards a rustic and somewhat silky Carneros pinot, producer unknown. Big Lou nailed it. Is it Williams Selyem? Yes it is. She also called a pretty good game as guest analyst noting that the TV timeout allowed Belichick to thoroughly preview his challenge to Giants having 12 men on the field question during the ridiculously long and endless commercial break. The Cheater challenged and won. Not that it made a difference. Back to the W/S wine. Once again this shows W/S pinot noir wines age wonderfully and rank right at the top. Of course, Riverblock is the best Rochioli grapes W/S gets these days.

...and a couple more in the preceding and following days...

2005 Tablas Creek Bergeron ~$25: It is Rousanne. It is delicious. Middle weight with an orange and lemon peel nose. Fresh and high acid. I guess they do not make it in this style - of the Savoie - that often. I really enjoyed this wine. Please suh can I have summah? 13.5%. Now how hard was that?

2006 Crios de Susana Balbo Malbec $10: Young red wine probably produced by tens of thousands cases. Middle weight. Tastes like Syrah and/or Carignane. I do not know what to expect from Argentine Malbec. I know the Argentine vintners are making moves to export more so they must Parker-ize their wines. Here is an example. The good news is it is not so ripe as to be undrinkable (like a couple of Paso/Napa wines I can think of). 13.5%

MONDO VINO...directed by Jonathan Nossiter, released 2004.
I missed this the first time around and there are numerous posts on the featured "players" and film reviews online. I wrote mine before reading the others. I remember the hubub in the press but never saw the film. I certainly enjoyed it in 2008. Can't say much has changed except the Mondavis, who are portrayed as wine Gods with all the powers of Zeus and company (a role they all seem to relish on camera). They are no longer the Mondavi Winery Mondavis. They are now the former "international imperialists" who "secretly" investigated three Italian wine families, two of whom were the Antinoris and the Frescobaldis, to decide which would be their lucky partner in Luce.

Of course, we all know now that these kinds of theatrical exercises in corporate and personal excess will never be repeated again under this name. Here Tim Mondavi explains away the bad blood that spilled out of the Ornellaia deal and James Suckling avoids claiming creation of the term Super-Tuscan. Stay to the end and an Italian wine merchant tells what he really thinks about wine globalization and all this deep pockets whoop-de-doo.

We also see how the Mondavis found their tipping point in the Languedoc. The project they had proposed to undertake, apparently under the guidance of Michel Rolland, failed fabulously as French democracy prevailed and the rich Americans were sent packing by the new Communist mayor who fulfilled his most important campaign promise...preserving the indigenous wine industry from outside interlopers. Near the end of the film we learn Mondavi friend and consultant Rolland is the new partner with a Bordelaise in a new mega-wine-development in the same area.

Politics plays an odd role in this film on wine. The French director Jonathan Nossiter (who is American born but internationally educated) lets the viewer know that the Antinoris and the Frescobaldis were ardent Fascistas in WWII. The scenes are almost comic as the younger the family member is on camera the stronger the historical truth is acknowledged. The older folks downplay Grandpa's support for the fascists as simply going with the flow. The grandkids leave no doubt the old man loved Mussolini. The director must have thought he hit a vein. He juxtaposes the unfortunately fascist Italian patricians with an unfortunately prejudiced Argentine family (it is the world of wine). Isn't it always just a little creepy when upper class folks living in a "modern" nation feel they have to prove they are not really anti-semitic? The director asks the particular Argentine vigneron about Peron's friendship with Mussolini. He clumsily answers "hey Peron really didn't have any problem with the Jews". While it makes for titillating cinema Nossiter commits a mistake by painting nations and peoples with too broad a brush.

Mondo Vino sets up fairly simply. You have the good guys like Neal Rosenthal who nearly chokes on his pastrami screeching about the Parker-ization of wines globally and the imminent disappearance of terroir. Another good guy is the Languedoc vigneron Aime Guibert of Mas de Daumas Gassac who successfully led the resistance against the Mondavis overwhelming his town.

Then you have the bad guys. Michel Rolland laughs all the way to the bank...day after day. Micro-oxygenation apparently means monetizing bullshit in French. Robert Parker plays the do-gooder bumpkin with roots firmly planted in the radical 60s. He aims to "level the field" and remove wine appreciation from the cold pecuniary grip of the bloodless distributors. The problem is he loves the attention, the awards, as well as rubbing shoulders with, and being one of, the big names in wine. He is a dupe of his own dictatorial (fascistic?) palate. In a poignant scene his very good friend Michel Rolland - who Parker proclaims gets no benefit from their friendship when Parker "objectively" tastes Rolland's wines with Rolland at the table - laughingly (this is one happy dude) talks about how the wine merchants of Pomerol should give Parker his own plaque in the village for all the $$ he has made them.

Neal Rosenthal declares Parker's love for Merlot dictates his palate preferences...along with the rest of the wine world that covets his 90+ points and the mountain of orders that follow. There does seem to have been some film fallout for Mssr. Rolland who has had to "re-organize" as they say in the business world.

Mondo Vino is not Mondo Cane, the legendary international film of my youth. It is more Michael Moore than David Cronenberg. Yes, I am saying that Mondo Cane and its many successors were forerunners of the Cronenberg style.

In real life things are seldom so crisp and clear. The Mondavis are not bad people. Michel Rolland and Robert Parker cannot possibly be this buffoonish (can they?). Michael Mondavi describes the family's flaw as making business decisions based on family emotions. The director definitely captured some very good moments if wine and the business of wine intrigues you. Probably the best moments are conversations between burgundy vigneron Hubert de Montille and his daughter Alix who compete for family leadership as most crusty. Of course, theirs is the only wine I would like to try after watching the film. Read about the Montille estate in a blurb from the Beaune Imports website.

Rosenthal is right. Terroir before "Parker-ization".

Hats off to Nossiter for making a film worth watching.

RENT IT

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

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

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

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

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

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

I 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 v