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

Independence Day produces the usual parties, BBQs and libations. July 4th is not necessarily a wine event like, for example, Thanksgiving. Burgers, dogs and potato salad call for robust reds so tBoW expects to see plenty of Cabernets while hoping to encounter some Rhone style wines as well. And if someone should pop the cork on some frothy fruity high acid white wines, well, that makes blowing off fireworks even better. Here is what we tasted over the holiday.

2007 Moulin de Gassac Guilhem $10: Brought here by Beaune Imports which is an importer to put on the radar. This wine fooled me. It is a traditional regional blend from Mas de Gassac, a Languedoc house notable for its cab wines. This tastes like Cabernet Franc but is a classic southwest France blend of Grenache (the Cab Franc masque), Syrah, Carignagne and CInsault. Somewhat sweet for an old world wine, mild flavors and light weight, almost minty or citric as in orange. Which suggests an Argentine Malbec from Maipu. But make no mistake this is not New World style. 2007 is a lighter vintage. The region is ~3000 feet in l'Herault which is rugged country. Nice U20 value wine. 12.5%

NV Michel Dervin Champagne $26: Acquired from K&L. A blend of 80% Meunier and 20% Pinot Noir. Citric, lemon like, good acid. Very nice. Bright and fresh the way we like it. 13%

2004 Massa Pertichetta Croatina $25: This bottle comes with pedigree and some buzz as an insider's wine. Local vendor WHWCo sold out of 13 cases in a couple days to "Euros". It is high alcohol with the ripe and rich flavors that must accompany high ethanol wines. Zin-like in flavor from the obscure and once nearly extinct Croatina grape (thus the buzz). Tastes Tuscan but it is actually from a lesser known region north of Piemonte. Not our style but a nice wine nonetheless. 14.5%

2007 P2 Pinot Noir Brousseau Vineyard $22: Low production wine made by newcomer under supervision from Brian Loring in Santa Rita Hills. He makes a red, green and blue label signifying different vineyards. This is Chalone AVA which is Monterey. Smoky nose, whiff of bricquets. Hits the upper register and when it opens up it tastes like Pinot Noir. This is lean by Santa Rita Hills PN (while the juice is not SRH the style definitely is) but fat by 2007 Oregon standards. Not the tBoW style but at a slightly more than U20 price it will please many. 14%

1999 Williams Selyem Rochioli River Block ~$100 online: Bologna on the nose, sweet and silky in the mouth. Long finish. Delicate.

2005 Williams Selyem Weir VIneyard $56 (on release): Sweet sweet and sweet, deep tomato red color. Vineyard in Mendocino. It appears these guys have to go further and further to find juice to meet the demand. Am I mistaken here? I think I am losing my flavor for WS wines. Maybe it is the summer season. 14%

2007 Cameron Hughes Los Carneros Pinot Noir Lot 10 $14: Interesting story; these guys are effectively negociants in the tradition of Jadot and xxxxx, buying small lot juice, bottling it under their line(s) and releasing them to market. Light but smoky nose and flavors. Nice enough wine. Easy to take the price. 8000 cases. 14.5%

Due to circumstances beyond our control we spent some time recently in Hawaii. tBoW's Island wine bruddah Kealia Poke (KP) filed this special report.

Hey aloha and here are some tips for where you can find wine in da islands. First, you never know where you are going to run into a Leroy 1986 Mazis Chambertin [ed. online price ~$200]. I sit down for a homey Chinese meal at Little Village in Honolulu's Chinatown near Hotel Street and dis guy next to me pulls that very bottle outta his canvas wine tote along with crystal stemware. No kiddin. Lucky me I know da label and he is so impressed he pours me not one but two tastes. Maybe becuz I pointed out 86 was off vintage but even in off vintage Leroy Mazis is going to be ono. Still fruity although past da crest but not slamming me into da reef. You never know bra'. Wow. And da food is incredible at Little VIllage plus dey get own parking lot.

If you traveling to Kauai you may think you got to ship your own bottles over for $175 a case. And maybe I would have agreed dis decision 2 years ago. But no more. The most beautiful island has at least two wine shops where the vinpire can pretty much satisfy wine craving beyond Clos du Bois. In Lihue you get Wine Garden which carries a decent domestic and international selection at fair prices. Ask for Colette. They also carry Kauai-grown cigars rolled in Honduras. If you further north like Princeville or Hanalei you should check out Kilauea Town Market & Deli. Rosie and Stan have assembled a very impressive assortment of California and old world labels. KP was stoked to see the Vermentino and Rose' from l'Uvaggio di Giacomo at $14. Hey, good price anywhere. And great wine too.

So save your bucks to play da Prince golf course or take da trip down Na Pali coast. One more ting - if you like Hawaiian coffee but tink only choice Kona den you should try Wailua coffee from Daga Hawaii. Al roasts and Dan packs. But you gotta pay Noreen. Dis stuff ono grinds and dey ship to you. Aloha buggas!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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