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

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%.

To cancel or not to cancel my wine club subscriptions? The economic crisis (i.e, we gonna have a lot less disposable $$) means making adjustments all down the line. Including wine...and especially wine clubs

tBoW subscribes to a handful or two of wine clubs including 20 year memberships in the Rochioli and Williams Selyem wine clubs. I sell off these wines because they are simply too damn pricey and having tasted 15 consecutive vintages from 1982 through 1997 I have a very good idea about what each winery aims for and how well they hit their marks (very well).

Fortunately, there are enough folks happy to buy the substantial annual allocations each winery offers me. Which someone else buys. However, if my "beards" have to give up buying the entire lot from either winery I will have arrived at the end of an era because I will drop my spot on those lists faster than a Wall Street downtick. Now there is an economic indicator of gloom and doom...when and if I have to drop these subscriptions because my surrogates are tightening their belts, too.

Then there are the comfy clubs. These wineries have more reasonable price points and/or make especially consistent wines that are worth the $$; in fact they are under-valued. One is quite pricey but I am convinced the wines are so special they are worth owning for consumption and not investment. In fact the idea of wine investment is silly. Until recently investing in pricey bottles was a lone mirage in the Sahara of wine trophies. Of course, one could say that about practically any investment now, from housing to gold to mortgage backed "securities". But wine? The $$ appreciation is rarely there. These are trophies owned by folks who need to impress someone else. The investment angle is just another selling point.

What will happen to our favorite wine clubs? You can be certain cancellations have already begun rolling in. tBoW canceled two and kept two favorites open. Mrs. tBoW loves McKenzie Mueller and tBoW is quite fond of Tablas Creek. So for the time being we make some room in the tightening home budget to support these two fine wineries.

Here is one prediction...expect to see plenty of sales in your quality retail shops. This could signal the rebirth of Trader Joes fine wine selections.

2005 McKenzie Mueller Pinot Noir $32 (wine club): Spine. This is what I think of when I taste this and other McKenzie Mueller Pinot Noir wines. The wine is made from estate grapes in Bob's stylistic preference. And that is with spine. Firm structure, strong tannic backbone, delicious high toned pinot fruit. Something like plum flavors dominate. Smoky and even exotic. He does not filter. 14.2%

2001 Soligamar Reserva $18: Practically perfect in every way that meets tBoW standards. Forward fruit neither overripe or out of whack. Low alcohol (13%), structured nicely, balancing tannins with medium weight body. And under $20. Alta Rioja blend of 75% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacha and 5% Mazuelo grapes from old, low-yielding, high altitude vines. Another Kirkland Nation pick. Bravo. In fact bravissimo! I read a review that mentioned eucalyptus, cedar, dark fruit, traces of spice, juniper berry & leather. Huh? We can go with the dark fruit, spice and very soft leather. Sobaté baby. 13%

....and an oldie but a goodie.....

1991 Grgich Hills Estate Chardonnay: What a treat this was. In the 1970s California chardonnay was once the flagship grape, even moreso than Cabernet Sauvignon. Today most of Napa chardonnay are torn out and replanted to Cab. However, a few producers still grown what once known as the grape best-suited for the California climate. Grgich Hills was always considered a master producer and this particular vintage was considered to be one of the most memorable. The color was golden, just shy of orange. Would that be amber? Sure. The nose was spicy, oily like a great Reisling from the Saar. The flavors brought green apples and almonds to mind. Somewhat weighty feel. The best news is we had a few drinkers so there was plenty to go around. It was very very good. This is not the tropical banana fruit chardonnay that dominated the 80s and 90s and resulted in converting so many Napa vineyards to Cabernet. This is a style that we would like to see more of. Only 17 years old. If we were selling (or writing fro the Wine Spectator) we would call it legendary. Let's just say it is a classic with some time left on it. 13%

We continue with the evening session of a Great Riesling Tasting in 100 degree heat. As you can see laying down a leeching field is critical. If you missed the preceding afternoon session click here.

Icardi Suri Vigin Brachetto NV $19: Time to transition to red. How about a sparkling red from Piemonte? Wow. Absolutely delicious. These light sparkling fruity wines are the joy of summer. Pronounced blueberry flavors with just a hint of pepper in the back. The King decrees Brachetto is a fun wine. Long live the King!! 6.5%

2007 Bugey Mondeuse Maison Angelot $14: The most challenging wine of this tasting. "It hurts my tongue". Terroir-driven wine. "Bacon bits". Palatable to the same two tasters who found redeeming qualities in the Austrian Riesling. Imported by Charles Neal with his typical hallmarks; from off the trodden path, very local, daring. 12%

2006 Menetou-Salon Domaine Philippe Gilbert $24 at K&L: Loire Valley Pinot Noir. Light in color, delicate in flavor. Nicely balanced, a perfect start for the red flight. Imported by Neal Rosenthal who also digs discovery. 12.5%.
2006 Martinelli Bella Vigna Russian River Valley $44: It is official. tBoW and Dotoré are done with rich full and lush domestic Pinot Noir. And that is what this wine is all about. I smell the sweet on the nose. You got a run in your hose. We don't taste no more of those. Nothing wrong with the wine. It is well made and every bit as good as Rochioli and Williams Selyem. We are just dunwiddit. Some tasters cry bias. My liege says 1 mouse. Two peasants grumble. Grumble grumble. 14.7%

2006 Artadi Viñas de Gain ~$30: Spanish showpiece. Middle weight, deep, lush, complex. Nice follow to the Martinelli. Just that much bigger. tBoW lifted the rest from a website. In fact, these words are on a lot of websites. "The 2006 VIñas de Gain is old-vine Tempranillo aged in 40% new French oak for 12-14 months. Deep crimson-colored, it offers an alluring perfume of truffle, pencil lead, vanilla, blackberry, and black cherry jam. Full bodied, the wine is opulent yet elegant. It has enough stuffing to evolve for 4-5 years and should drink well from 2012 to 2025". We can add the vines are 40 years plus from Rioja Alavesa which is the finest Rioja region. Very nice. 12.5%

1997 Domaine de Plaisance Quarts de Chaume $50?: Tasting fraulein EJ requested dessert wine with her fruit and cake. The mark of a great dessert wine is its ability to capture the interest of thoroughly fatigued palates and, in some cases, tasters who have hit the wall. "Looks like beer" - WW. This is a special bottle for several reasons including its ability to drag one more effort from tasters' palates. The Coteaux du Layon is a 1500 year old premier growing region in the Loire; the Chaume is the top region with the Coteaux du Layon; and the Quarts de Chaume is the Gran Cru site within the Chaume. Only dessert wines may be produced from the Quarts. The wine showed coconut, in particular the milky inner lining of the hairy nut. Flavors show candied, walnuts, toasted almond, and Hawaiian haupia. "Traditional syrup" - WW. This wine is the next step up from the Chateau Soucherie Coteaux du Lyon Chaumes tasted only one week ago. Two outstanding Chenin Blanc wines, properly aged and tasting absolutely delightful. Makes one wonder how Bordeaux manages to overshadow the Loire. 12.5%

Any wine tasting is greatly enhanced when there is at least one taster with the encyclopedic knowledge of someone like Steve Goldun, both Wasserman brothers, or the King aka Mouse [ed. Martin Glasser]. As wine snobs we appreciate the "back story" and history of regions, producers and bottles. There are not many folks who can bring it like The King. This was an outstanding tasting that really rang the bell in terms of diversity and excellence.