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

You may have noticed that for a wine blog touting wines under $20 we review many wines more than $20. In fact, we do not post the prices of the over $20 along with the under $20 probably seeking to attain a "sensational" balance only understood by folks with mild ADD.

Here are 2 wines with costs posted, both currently available.

2003 Morgon Vielles Vignes Kermit Lynch Selection (Guy Breton) $16: It's a Beaujolais from an OK vintage. The 2005 vintage gets the press - justifiably - and we have been loading up on those wines as they appear in the bins of our fave retailers (see links to your left and order online). This bottle was touted by a Kermit Lynch floor clerk in Berkeley. It is obviously something left over, on the shelf a little long-ish, for which the clerk will be rewarded having moved a bottle or two ("nice job Jason"). In many other stores this would tick me off. But in Kermit it turns out OK because he has integrity and a great palate. This is a lot selection by Kermit from one of his preferred vintners (Breton) and bottled with the most non-descript label. You have to read carefully to figure out it is a KL selection. What is that? Humility? Probably. The wine is not humble. It is very nice. Spice on the nose, cranberries in the mouth. I need more for Thanksgiving! Lightweight, almost thin. Let's say reedy. But it fills out enough with a little air to provide just enough body to make Nicole Richie envious.

2006 Anglim Rose' $14: Steve Anglim is one of my favorite Paso vintners. Sources everything. I bought this because the 2005 was so enchanting with its dusty salmon color and delicate flavor with just enough acid. I am telling you it was like a petal. The 2006 was getting closed out at the local cheese shop so I scooped the half dozen. Well, it is not the 2005. This wine is almost hot pink in color. And the nose is profoundly bright with minerals (that would be a gentle touch with acid). Black cherry flavors dominate. There is strawberry too. 14.3% alcohol. Blend is 38% grenache, 33% syrah, 15% mourverdre, and 14% viognier. How French! Steve Anglim makes terrrific wine and this one is priced in my hit-away zone.

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

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

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

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

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

My dear Cuban amigo and muy talented artist Iggy-tones writes: "Lately I've been traveling up to Shell Beach in the Central Coast because I currently have for sale a two bedroom house that I own. The house is a block and a half from the shore. The whole area of the Central Coast is growing grapes. Do you have some recommendation of interesting wines and wineries to visit on one of my trips there?"

Toss a 70 mph pitch down the middle to Barry Bonds and he couldn't hit it as far as I can unload on this topic. Paso Robles is my favorite California wine country tour. I love to visit. Consider this. Paso was the up and coming wine region in the state until Sideways. Miles puked in the Fess Parker tasting room (it was the Fess Parker winery wasn't it?) and everyone forgot about Paso. Like the 101 just ended in the Santa Rita HIlls AVA. Why oh why do I love Paso? Because it has been somewhat forgotten, cut off at the knees by Santa Barbara. Paso got all the way to the altar and the bride (all us consumers) took off. But the wine did not change in Paso Robles. The changeover that has been taking place in Paso ever since Tablas Creek arrived has continued without interruption. I am talking about dumping the cab and chard and replanting with syrah, grenache, mourverdre, grenache blanc, rousanne, marsanne and every other southern France cutting the folks at Tablas Creek could bring into the country legally with full papers and full quarantine. No mongrels in the Tablas Creek nursery. They are the modern Library of Alexandria for Southern France vinifera.

Tablas Creek is the tip of the iceberg. There are dozens of wineries with production facilities, tasting rooms, storage..the whole mushpucha. Consider Justin who still makes a very popular and Napa-priced cabernet named Isoceles. Then there is Pipestone which is a 10 acre site planted, owned and operated by a wonderful couple who abandoned careers in environmental law and biochemistry to live in the middle of nowhere and learn how to make wine and live peaceably with the cougars. Justin, TC and Pipestone are part of the Far Out Wineries contingent. They are located at the greatest distance from Paso Robles. Well worth the ride for the terrain, the wines and the hospitality. This ain't Napa. Or Santa Barbara/Solvang.

And how about Clautiere? They made lingerie before turning their attention to wine. If wine can be sexy then it will be a Clautiere wine. Their parties sure look like a lot of fun. Clautiere is located on the unfashionable East Side of the 101. Where the Westside has rolling hills and deep pockets of microclimate bounty the unfashionable Eastside has low hills and hot dry dusty roads...with some very old Italian farmer fields (another kind of bounty). Clautiere makes very good wine at very attractive price points. Finally, the best indicator that Paso is still developing as a region of repute, the sourcing wineries (e.g., those wineries without walls) are growing in number...like Anglim of whom I have written before.

I have not hit every one of the Far Out Wineries. I have to mention Saxum and Linne Calodo, two notable wineries who are not Far Out even if their wines are pretty heavy dude. I will also mention another highly reputed winery L'Aventure however I have not tasted their wines. Sadly, few of these wineries produce much wine under $20. Tablas Creek, Clautiere and Pipestone are exceptions. Of course, I am a wine club member with each.

Paso has not stopped being the next big thing for want of its own very funny movie. It is well worth a visit. They have their wine festivals. Summer is blistering hot. We like to stay in Cambria and drive up to Paso for the day returning to the cool ocean air for the evening.

2005 Tablas Creek Cotes de Tablas Blanc ~$15: This is my third vintage of this wine. As with the red (named just Cotes de Tablas) the wine is ready to drink right away. Nose is summer melon. Flavors are fresh, light fruit, well balanced. 75% viognier and rousanne. A small does of Grenache Blanc adds a little backbone. The sweet-ish viognier fruit really stands out making this a wonderful summer evening wine with a meal of salmon. Hey- that's what we had!

2005 Tablas Creek Esprit de Beaucastel Blanc $9 in split: I bought this from Jim Ruxin. More on Jim later. Best kept wine secret in LA and beyond. Grenache Blanc dominant so the smoke is in your face but not quite like standing over my BBQ. 70% Rousanne and 25% GB. A young wine that needs at least a year. Even in the split. Serious wine.

The Tablas Creek Wine Club is the best deal I know. They make great wines without exception. They discount generously to club members. And the pedigree is peerless. This is the best of southern France in California.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Along with great meals, close friends, good cheer and all of that...holidays at the end of the year should include giving to others. Many have their favorite charity and many do not. Please check out my good friend's website www.givr.us and sign up to give something to someone you never knew existed but who you also know can use your help. The site is a networking center that connects those who want to give to those organizations that give to those in need.

Happy Turkey Day!! 386 years and counting of stuffing the bird and ourselves!

Here are a couple of recently tasted wines that probably will not make it to the celebratory dinner table. My list of wines that will are at the bottom.

1997 Dante Rivetti Bricco de Neueis Barbaresco: Not a U20 wine ever. However, it got into my cellar somehow (I am pretty sure it was a K&L purchase). Barbaresco is known for producing premium nebbiolo as in Barolo with the aging potential but without the brute muscularity of Barolo. Barbaresco is "feminine" in style. I always feel like Jeff Garlin when I write this. Feminine versus masculine? In wine? Silly? No...useful. Let's bring up an important question every wine aficionado faces sooner or later. Do you prefer wine older or younger? Masculine or feminine? Luca Brasi tells Marlon Brando "gawdfadda may your first child be a masculine child". Wine goes well with imagery. You will enjoy it more if you embellish it (true for many things). If the development of a wine were plotted on a curve it would look like some kind of parabola. Some wine writers like to refer to a wine as being in some developmental stage like adolescence, young adult, octogenarian, and the like. Once you set a model in your own mind you can begin placing wines as you drink them on that curve or in that stage of life. You might find, as I did, that I prefer a wine in its young maturity, like a 35 to 45 year old person. Still vibrant without the youthful blush. Exceedingly thoughtful and definitely capable of surprise. Muscular or sinewy. Charming without being nostalgic. These are wines before the crest of the curve. They are not yet in the descending plateau of middle age (45-55). We could go on and on, conjuring images of people who we liken to our favorite wines. Send in your thoughts. I definitely do not find wines advancing in age to be very interesting. They require too much support. I would not say this about older people (like myself!) but it is true that aging can bring many more disappointments beyond rescue. So it is for me with wines beyond the crest of the curve. Parabolas, people, gangster movies, find a metaphor and work with it! This 10 year old Barbaresco was browning at the edges with age. Weight is fine. Fruit is good with the pressed roses and minerality. I thought about the 1996 Ruchottes Chambertin recently tasted and considered how similar are these two wines. Both past their prime yet still stitched together like a fine ladies purse from the 19th century. The Barbaresco even had some baked bread on the nose. Otherwise the nebbiolo was like they say, textbook, and Dotore' picked it out right away. Barabrescos do age faster as a rule and they are not the same in depth as Barolos. This wine is more than ready to drink. I really should not wait too much longer...and I will not.

2003 Justin Cabernet Sauvignon ~$25: Bought this at the winery which
means we paid top dollar (>$25). Not my pick so that means you-know-who (she who cannot be resisted) had to have it. I did not find the wine interesting on site and I did not find it interesting with veal chops and mushrooms, lovingly prepared by you-know-who, which is a dinner this wine should complement perfectly. Justin is the premier cabernet grower and producer in Paso. I think Paso is not and never has been (e.g., HR Mountain Ranch) good cab country. Even though Justin does the best job of it (there are other collectible cab blend wines from Paso) and sells a lot of wine and has a very nice winery that should be on your tour...I just am not fond of their products. So bully for me. There are plenty of folks who love Justin wines, think my opinions suck, and I am glad for them. This wine had a tinny high acid flavor and not much of a nose. The fruit had a touch of veggie which is typical of Paso Robles cabernet (and Santa Barabara, too, as long as we are calling out regions where certain grapes just do not flourish). 14.5%

2005 Blaunfrankisch Burgenland $22: Not sure what to make of the producer as it appears to be a cooperative effort among Austrian producers. However, the wine is easy to appreciate. Blueberries, cool weather fruit. Some pepper but not sharp or tart. Nicely made wine. Easily the most fruit forward Austrian red I have tasted. Something like being the most flamboyant CPA. Blaufrankisch is a popular grape for Central Europe wine regions. Perhaps related to Gamay which we like mucho.

2002 Clendenen Family Vineyards Santa Maria Valley Bien Nacido Petite Verdot $24: Bought this at the Wine Cask Santa Barbara Futures Tasting in 2004. Wife picked it out and she made a great choice. Fruity spicy nose. Red berries in flavor. Cranberry and raspberry. Some sharp acid. Robust. Has aged well and will continue to. An unusual bottle but then Jim Clendenen is not exactly shy about trying something different. Only 100 cases so this bottle would be difficult to locate.

Now here is the Best of Wines thanksgiving day wine lineup. I will be toting the following wines north to the home of Uncle Alan and Aunt Betsy in hopes these humble gifts will complement her home cooked turkey and Kirkland lasagna!!

REDS
2004 Cote de Tablas
1997 Dante Rivetti Barbaresco
2000 Parador
something I buy at Kermit Lynch and/or North Berkeley

WHITES
2005 Domaine de la Motte Chablis Premiere Cru Le Vigneau
1990 Prince Poniatowski Aigel Blanc Mouelleux Vouvray
2006 L'Uvaggio di Giacomo Vermentino

DESSERT
last minute decision drawing from a nice batch of California stickies

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Whatever happened to Oasis?

Holidays at the end of the year are a great time for going into the wine cellar (collection, closet) and picking out stuff you forgot about or have been holding onto for a special occasion. Enter St. Nick (yourself) and the merry elves (your wine tasting pals).

This season I have already busted out four cellar finds.

2003 Clautiere Estate Syrah ~$24/19 (retail/club price): I am in the wine club, happily. However, if it came down to a choice between Clautiere and Tablas Creek... And if the choice was Pipestone or Clautiere... That would be tougher. This wine is very ripe on the nose and in the mouth. Made me think of black cherry cream soda. Not my style but might be yours. If you love a rich and ripe wine that is without overwhelming tannins and moderate alcohol (14.3%) then this is a winner.

2003 Linne Calodo Slacker $50: I am quite fond of the Rhone style blends from Linne Caoldo. I drank this wine recently along with the next wine below. We had it at Brentwood Restaurant on LA's Westside near Barrington Circle (posh baby). I poured a glass of each for the maitre'd. He liked the first one but he loved this one. The blend in this vintage is 68% syrah, 22% grenache and 10% mourverdre. While I think I prefer grenache as the dominant grape in these blends I am proven wrong again with this concoction. I found it online for $39 which is very tempting. Alcohol is 15% which is typical for Paso. The wine is elegant, full bodied, muscular, even muscle-bound. Game-y, almost feral. Syrah dominant blends are often too jammy for me. I prefer meatier flavors in Rhone style wines. Think Punk on I Love New York. Not Buddha who is lean. Even with all the stuffing his wine is in balance. No-wut-im-sayn?

1997 Windward Pinot Noir ~$30: I subscribed to this winery for four or five years (repeating myself here). I have a stash I have worked through. I stopped subscribing because the region is too hot for pinot noir. Sometimes, I do come across a bottle that does not remind me of creamy tomato soup. This vintage has the typical over-ripe fruit without much backbone. However, it is nicely balanced and on this evening was nice to drink with a light pasta meal. 14.4%.

1996 Alessandria Barolo ~$50: I am sitting on a few 1996 Baroli. I was extremely fortunate to taste a bunch of 96 Baroli in the cellar of Domenico Clerico in 2000. What? You say no way? This is truth. Check out the photo! The 1996 vintage was really terrific. However, even though I do love to drop the line about tasting with Domenico Clerico (oops I did it again) I no longer buy Barolo wines. Too expensive and they take a really long time to come around to perfection. These have to be the fussiest wines in the world. When they are perfectly aged they are incomparable. But, hitting the right moment in the wine's life is like trying to catch a hummingbird bare-handed. If you do you may wish you had not. This wine has softened, somewhat. However, there is still a tannic spine. It did not fade over a couple hours. The wine got neither more tannic, i.e., fruit fading, nor did the tar and roses emerge. Please note this is not the regular label which is a vanilla color. This is the label for their single vineyard. So, as often happens with Baroli...and picking market bottoms...you just can't be sure what did take place.

Here is how we tasted the 1996 vintage in Clerico's winery. Could this ever happen again? I diverted two nights and three days of a family tour of Italy to Piemonte. We stayed at Da Felicin which was a great find and has already been described on this blog. We had some tasting plans in advance with Rinaldi and Ciabot Berton. The Rinaldi wines were undrinkable. He uses the mega Slovenian oak barrels and the wines were very backwards. The next day we drove a few kms down the hill from Monforte to Clerico's winery. No introduction. Cold call. Yours truly, the missus and two budding tasters. The winery was modern but nothing fancy. The etched glass doors were the most prominent statement to the Mondavi-wine-lifestyle. It turned out that Clerico is a local resource to many winemakers, especially the new guard, i.e., those winemakers aging their nebbiolo in barriques instead of Slovenian oak barrels or cement vats. He was a local heretic. What a nice guy! He had bottle samples of the 1996 vintage which he poured generously in full bellied stemware. Everyone got a pour including the kids. As we left he handed me a bottle of his new label Arte. The afternoon was grand. The wines were outstanding without exception. I saved my notes. Here they are (a little embarrassing but aw shucks I'm a dweeb).

We ended the afternoon at Ciabo Berton below La Morra. Softer wines. Interesting family story as the brother and sister were aging juice in barriques while Pop continued to age in Slovenian oak barrels. Ah, the family wine business. Everybody has an idea.

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%.

It is OK to stop eating now. And let me tell you the ladies who hosted the New Years Eve party (Tootsie) and the New Years Day party (Lettie) made it impossible to slow the cascade down my gullet. Prime rib and lasagna were followed by a torrent of extra special wines.

We can all go back to drinking excellent everyday U20 wines. The 2007 Christmas/Hannukah/New Years/Wedding Anniversary holidays are CLOSED. USC is the best football team in the nation and will open the 2008 rankings in the top 3. And we open at home against Ohio State. Now back to work!

These 2007 holidays came to a resounding close. New Years Eve with the Sinkowskis and New Years Day at the See-Glits, being awful damn friendly with new friends and old friends. We watched Uncle Pete and his Trojan Heroes obeying the Two Rose Bowl Laws: [1] It will be a beautiful SoCal day (the kind of day folks back east call "sun-splashed"); and [2] the Big Ten will lose.

The most interesting thing about the also-ran Illini was learning about the banishment (I mean retirement) of their beloved mascot (I mean symbol). There are at least half a dozen websites devoted to the controversial Chief Illiniwek.

The other important news about the Illini is they were the only team to beat OSU in 2007 which was enough to land them in the Rose Bowl for the inevitable thrashing. Wish it would have been the Buckeyes...soon enough my pretties.

If you think it might be interesting to read how Chicago sportswriter Steve Rosenbloom saw the game then click here. With a 49-17 USC victory in the books I can tell you now 2008 will bring another football championship to University Park...behind Mark Sanchez & Mitch Mustain, Stafon Johnson & Joe McKnight, and a defense that could be better than the #2 defense in the nation in 2007.

Here is a bucket of bottles that helped bring in the New Year.

2006 Marques de Caro Cherubino Valsangiacomo $11: 90% Mersequera, 10% Muscat. Alto Turia is the region. Mountainous region west of Valencia. Wine Expo is the local vendor. A moment to describe the Wine Expo where Robert Rogness roosts playing the vinous Lothario; think Orson Welles as Citizen Kane in a wine shop. Bombastic, impatient, ultimately charming and quite persuasive. His newsletter says he has the best selection of Ital wines and champagnes in the Southland...and maybe he does. Like Granpappy Amos might say "no brag just fack". If there is one caution it is that Rogness' tastes are wide ranging and on occasion mine do not match his...despite his enthusiasm. His newsletter is a hoot and fun to read. My brother-in-law shops there and always brings something direct from Robert's stacks. This is Spanish Blanco. First opened wine is always under added pressure to be good. It is. Quince and citrus then pear flavors in the middle and on the finish. Cannot top the U20 price. Good job Don Pharaoh.

2001 Ciu CIu Esperanto $30: Another Wine Expo selection. Could not uncover a millibyte of data on the web. It is a blend of Montepulciano and Cabernet Sauvignon. That's right, Montepulciano is a grape. Mixed with cab means Super-Tuscan intentions. Nice nose and flavors. Delicate with tannins present. Middle to light weight with some earth. Good fruit. Pronounced choo-choo. I liked it because it was so gentle. By the way, Esperanto is an international language created in the 1870s as a second language that would promote internationalism over nationalism. I wonder if "W" ever heard of it?

2002 Paul Lato Duende Gold Coast Vineyard Pinot Noir $25: Purchased at the 2004 Wine Cask Santa Barbara Futures Tasting. One of two wines that stood out for myself and Dotore' at this tasting and the next two (then we stopped going). Paul Lato is the winemaker who produces all of 75 cases annually. That Paul Lato will end up making thousands of cases each year for somebody is a done deal. It will happen. This first vintage is beautiful. It tastes like Pinot Noir fruit. The key flavor is sweet beets. Not veggie. Not cherry although it gets close. But sweet red beets. If that sounds ridiculous then you will have to figure this one out on your own. Here is a thought. Paul Lato captures pure Pinot Noir fruit in his wine. Smoke on the nose. Some in the taste. He has to work with Santa Rita HIlls high alcohol coming in at 14.3%. Which is low. One of the best in region. He kicks booty. His wines rock. He makes wine like Guns 'N Roses work over Paradise City!!! And we discovered him all..by..ourselves (and a couple hundred others).

Schramsberg Mirabelle NV: Venerable Napa sparkler. My first taste of this. Kind of lean, even weedy and soapy but not off-putting. More acidic with a reflux backwash. Sounds just super. WE did not hate it but it did not get a second pour from me.
Canard-Duchene Brut ~$35: This got a couple pours. Tangy orange fruit. Mandarin. Ripe. Really nice. Available in LA County at Wine House (West LA), Wine Country (Long Beach/Signal Hill), Heritage Wine (Pasadena).

2005 Foxen Sea Smoke Pinot Noir ~$45: Bought at the 2006 Wine Cask SB Futures Tasting. Sea Smoke is a coveted Santa Rita HIlls vineyard that is also one of the most coveted labels from the new Pinnacle of Pinot Noir. A big near jammy wine. 14.5% alcohol typical of the region. Says Dotoré "I no longer have a taste for these big wines". Me too. However, if you have the taste then this one is pretty well balanced and you will find it quite appealing.

2005 Pipestone Viognier $25: Shipped under Wine Club. Fruity and fairly forward. Not too much oak (7 months in barrel). 250 cases. Does not have the foxiness I sometimes find off-putting and that, I believe, comes from new oak. Guests preferred this to the Chalone PN (which I think says something about the Pipestone wine). Much more character here and a very nice wine. 14.5%.

2006 Domaine Colette Régnié Beaujolais $13: The first find of the new year. A WH/SG selection. Fruity, cherries, not jammy (!!), special. This is a Beaujolais cru with which I am not familiar. A Charles Neal Selection so there are excellent notes on the wine and the Regnie region. I will be visiting local wine whop Woodland Hills Wine Company to pick half a case. Thinking how nice this will be with Spring lamb being from a biblical shepherd family and all.

Here is one final biblical shot of Rey Maualuga making memories for the Illini quarterback and fans. Click here to see the photo of Rey Maualuga and local fan taken in August.

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

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

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

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

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

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

[West Coast Choppers celebrate the holiday their way]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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