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

It is the worst of times for home prices. They just keep falling. It is the best of times for the best of wines. When wine prices start sinking that is a good thing. Excellent wine values just seem to keep on coming. When we started this blog we thought we were busting new ground. Not exactly. Looks like we were just feeling the pulse of a wine market losing its glitz. Good!
The absurdly priced trophy wines need to clear out. Mondo Vino is correct. Robert Parker is narrow-palated. Storm the Bastille of Bombastic Bordeaux. Beaujolais, Cote du Rhone, Languedoc! Savoie, St. Chinian, Minervois!

Here are some recent tastes while preparing another Molotov for the aristocratic folks over at World of Wine!

2002 East Valley Vineyard Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir $30 then: Kudos to Wades Wines for bringing this one to our attention. Dave Dascomb has a day job at some technology firm in Goleta. When he isn't building GPS (spy) satellites he tends the family vineyard up in Santa Ynez. He makes the wine too. Rustic, simple, deep Santa Rita Hills fruit. This vintage produced 55 cases. Can you buy better wine for $30? Maybe. But can you buy better Pinot Noir from SRH at this price? Not likely. I would buy this one again. 14.2%. Low for those parts.

2004 Perrin & Fils Chateuneuf du Pape Les Sinards $23 (Costco): Grenache from the homestead of the Tablas Creek partners. Softer than Paso juice. Lovely perfumed nose. Doughy. Lip smackin' good. Smooooth. I know it does not sound appealing but I am left with the impression of doggy biscuit on a long finish. I guess that is some dusty earth. Definitely resembles the TC style. 14%

2005 In Extremis Chateau d'Agel $23 (Costco): Minervois wine of Syrah and probably Carignane. Very tasty. Rich red "robe" (color). Black berry nose with spice and pepper. Minervois in the Languedoc is known for more mineral and leaner wines. This is not exactly that. Must have been a hot harvest?
But it ain't Parker either. And I will tell you something else - somebody is buying some really interesting wines for Costco. Like this little gem. I am seeing Rhones, the Sud. I would not be surprised at all to find a Hermitage Blanc soon! Tasting just perfect for the summer that is threatening to break out now here in SoCal. 14.5% alcohol.

And one for the road...
2003 McKenzie-Mueller Malbec $30: As I am getting ready for a trip to Argentina I have decided I need to become at least a bit more familiar with the Malbec varietal. Bob Mueller makes this wine in each vintage. Nice red fruit nose and flavors. Cinnamon, allspice and tarry finish. Reading tells me tar is not unusual in the more extracted style. Not a fruit bomb nut kinda fruity. 14% Cant' wait.

A cool and dreary start to the summer. LA is known for June Gloom (AM coastal fog that works great for early morning tee times) but this is something else. Overcast and slight drizzle for the unofficial start of summer. [ed. that was 7 weeks ago, now in the 90s plus daily] tBoW hosts three couples who are ready and willing to try anything we put in front of them. What more can one ask from a guest?

The tasting choices were like a juke box on Adderal. Bottles flew out of the cellar as fast as we could purge. We covered California pinots, white Bordeaux, a Paso white, and Baroli that must get consumed. As they say in film noir, the usual suspects showed up...and I do mean people and wines.

1996 Cantina Vignaioli Elvio Pertinace Barbaresco Vigneto Marcarini: Tobacco nose and flavors. Cherry puckering fruit, too many tannins for 12 years. Not enough fruit left. Anutha bummah from this selection. I think. 13.5%

1995 Sottimano Curra Vigna Masue Barbaresco: I am fighting with the 1996 vintage in Barolo. When I tasted the vintage in the Clerico cellar with Domenico himself it was magic. The wines were forward, rich and elegant. So many now are tough. The chance to taste this 1995, a "harder" vintage, more than ten years later was welcomed. One of the premium vineyards for this label. Tannic, puckering, needs decanting. Opens up after several hours. Still not very impressive wine. 13%

2000 Castello di Volpaia Chianti Classico: Costco purchase? Parker 90. Was opened last so it did not get much attention that evening. Next evening it was nice enough. You have to like Sangiovese, of which I am not a big fan. Too sweet and rakish. Balanced, sweetish, light to medium weight. Holding up nicely for 8 years old. 13%

2005 Wiliams Selyem Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir: If this were basketball this would be a "make-up call". The Chianti brought by "igottatellya" is all but forgotten whenever he opens his WS stash. Of course, wrestling a glass from him of the nation's finest domestic pinot noir is another matter. This is the first bottle opened from the 2005 and 2006 vintage resting comfortably in the tBoW cellar. So there are many more to come. [ed. cue wicked Dr. Evil laugh] We (the ubiquitous Dotoré) selected carefully, being sure to crack the wine most likely to be ready. This eliminates all the vineyard designated wines. Going through the sealed case and reading every label is a lesson in the marriage of a label with mega-cachet and lesser known Russian River-Sonoma growers. Seeing your vineyard on a Williams-Selyem label brings prestige. We hardly recognized the names. This wine had all the seductive flavors and qualities we associate with WS wines, especially the ones for "early" opening. Vanilla, creamy, forward fruit, some understated smoke. Soft but not flabby. It went quickly. Summer's challenge? Not to plunder the entire two cases. 14.2%

2004 Paul Lato Gold Coast Vineyard Pinot Noir: With the Italian debacle behind us and a strong pinot wind in our sails we headed for the Santa Rita Hills. Paul Lato is one of the finest examples of wines from this region. tBoW put it in a bag and poured on the heels of the Williams Selyem. More tannic but that is no surprise. Restrained at first. More structured than the WS but then this is the flagship. Showing smoke and dark dense pinot fruit. Not an SRH fruit bomb. Excellent. So different than WS and outstanding on its own. It is not Rochioli with all the complications and complexity. It is fine wine. Paul made 70 cases. 14.5% [ed. special credit to Grape-Nutz where I lifted the photo of Paul; an outstanding wine blog for all wines regional; highly recommended reading].

2006 Chateau Martinon Entre-Deux-Mers $10: Recommended by Hi Time Wine Cellar as a go-to summer white. Like white loafers. Reminds me of Jim Moore's l'Uvaggio di Giacomo Vermentino. All the bright acid, lush fruit. Almost oily in weight. Somewhat reminiscent of the Argentine Torrontes wines. Wonderfully good. Here is a nice review on the Entre-Deux-Mer region. Love that alcohol level. 12.5%

2006 Tablas Creek Vermentino: Another excellent white wine from TC. Strong, spiney, good acid. Sharp, lime flavors. Serious, even. But for current drinking. Anytime with anything. Before dinner. 14.5%

2005 Calot Morgon Vieilles Vignes Cuvée Unique: North Berkeley Wine purchase. Pinot pedigree (Morgon borders Burgundy) with Gamay fruit. Unusual. Read the NBW notes on the winemaker. Excellent, fruity but not overtly forward wine. Tannic balance. Will last a year in the cellar. Jump on it.

It is going to be a very good summer.

It is axiomatic to oenophiles that you have to sit on some wines for awhile so the wine can develop in the bottle. I am coming to the conclusion that this is just one more corollary to the magic chef and the hallowed ground marketing themes that have created the Parker/Rolland two headed monster. Wine does age in the bottle. But does it get better? Recent pourings/tasting have concluded otherwise. The 1996 Burgundies flopped like Vlade Divac taking a charge. And here we have some pinot noir bottlings from the fabled Santa Rita Hills that also fell well below high expectations when purchased on release.

To be fair, tBoW must own being swept up willingly in the SRH hype and falling for the bombastic fruit forward styles that came from the region. How times and palates change.

This was a somewhat free-form tasting that began with white wines of curious interest and closed with five "heavy hitters". Be sure to check out very good friend David McMillan's delirious and delicious political content at the end of this post.

2006 Treana Central Coast Mer Soleil Monterey $10: Purchased online at wines.com. 55% Viognier 45% Marsanne. Dotoré asks "what are they aiming for with this wine"? Too much oak, alcohol, everything. More like a California chardonnay than a white Rhone blend. Awful. Whatever they were aiming for it could not have been this wine. 14.5%

2005 Andre Perret St Joseph $40: A Robert Chadderton selection and the first I have found unimpressive. Highly regarded producer. Would like to taste his reds. Foxy flavors make the Marsanne Rousanne blend taste more like a Viognier. Worth $15 but not what tBoW paid. At least the alcohol is a decent level. 13%

1999 Jean Luc Colombo Le Rouet Blanc Hermitage: Online press on this winemaker is appealing; terroir driven, opinionated, non-traditional. However, this wine did not show well. Acidic and lean out of the bottle. Out of balance. "Nun piss" says an irreverent taster who will never be on Chris Matthews. Somewhat madeirized. Parker says "mature". Soiled flavor as in earth. Not a very good wine. [ed. had to go with red label]

2006 Curran Grenache Blanc $26: tBoW is a Curran fan. This 2006 has been reviewed on two other occasions prior. It may be heading over the hill. Fruit presence more pronounced than old world wines squeezing life from our tongues. Marked contrast to the Rhone efforts. But the wine is out of whack. Enough time has passed to come around as these wines seem to need 12 months. We are struck by how generally mediocre are the white wines, despite expectations.

2005 Lamargue Costieries de Nimes $10: At the insistence of our honored guest we opened this delightful bottle from Languedoc. 50% Grenache Blanc, 50% Rousanne in the blend, reasonably balanced, gentle enough to sip gently, low enough alcohol to sip again and again, and easily the best of class on this day. Great value. 13.5%

disappointed and unimpressed with the white Rhones we moved on to the featured showing...Santa Rita Hills pinot noir.

These wines came right out of the tBoW cellars of yours truly and Dotoré where they have been since release.

2002 Ojai Clos Pepe $40: What could be better than pairing the original Santa Barbara/Central Coast winemaker Adam Tolmach with one of the premium new era growers (and winemaker) Wes Hagen of Clos Pepe. The wine is awkward and even a bit vegetal. Truly Adam Tolmach is somewhat of a tortured soul. Take a moment to read his own notes on this wine. I prefer his Syrah wines.

2002 Sea Smoke Southing $50: Rich, dense pinot fruit. Very smoky even though that has nothing to do with the label name. Let's pretend it does. Entry level for the most collectable SRH label. But not the best wine from the region!! 14.3%

2004 Kenneth Crawford Clos Pepe Pinot Noir $40: Thin, acidic, more like a vin ordinaire Syrah from southwest France. Something happened here between the vintage, harvest and vinification. Further evidence that Syrah is the wine to seek from SRH? I'm convinced. [ed. I never noticed how similar are the Sea Smoke and K-C labels.]

2002 Melville Carrie's VIneyard Pinot Noir $60: That is correct sir. We ponied up three Jacksons for this monster wine. It is rich. It is ripe. It is eating the little dog. This wine, alcohol and all, was preferred to the K-C, Sea Smoke and Ojai efforts. Nobody would ever confuse this with an old world pinot noir. But they might confuse it with a zinfandel port from Sonoma. 15.1%

2004 Paul Lato Goldcoast Pinot Noir $30: Elegant, balanced, delicate, smooth, silky, some smoke. Paul gets it right every time. In the vintages tBoW owns he made 75 cases. Why didn't we buy more? That's right, we had a limit. Dumbkopf!! 14.5%

So here is the real question. Given the recent tastings of SRH and Burgundy (avoiding impulse to write French Burgundy), from which region is tBoW likely to pick his next pinot noir wine? Domestic, and in the following order....Williams Selyem and Paul Lato in a dead heat; then select Oregon bottlings, then select SRH bottlings. If we go "old world" we will be looking for recent vintages from less fashionable regions....from Becky Wasserman and North Berkeley Wines.

Still have a taste for satire and a contemporary POV? Try David McMillan's News In Color on youtube. 75 entires and climbing. Here is one of my currents faves. WARNING: this material can be political.

Can the summer go on too long? Izit possible? maybe....yes.....NO!!

I love to watch the weather guys and ladies put the week's forecast up and all I see is 92, 94, 95, 93, 91. And you know what to you have to do. Enjoy it. Like the SRH gangsters above. That is Wes and Uma Hagen and David Corey on the right. David is a ton of fun (so is Wes). Like a mischievous puppy. He was dry-humping like crazy on this summer evening in 2005 only it wasn't the pillow. It was another well known SRH winemaker and she took at least 15 minutes to tell him to cut that out.

2007 Core California Rosé $12: So there I am buying a case at K&L of Moscato d'Asti for the Missus' staff party...and as I am checking out I check out the Rose display. I spot the Core red version and since I have great photos of David Corey I think I should get a bottle. Actually, I remember David Corey's wines are always challenging and usually rewarding. The closer on the sale is the teaser card that says he uses 10 different varietals or ten different sources for this wine. Maybe ten sources because I am fairly certain the blend consists of Dave's favorite grapes - Syrah, Mourvedre, Grenache and Tempranillo. This wine is firm, muscular, sinewy, like a marathon runner or a distance cycler. A lot like Dave. As would be expected not your garden variety delicate pink summer wine. Love it. 14.3%

2007 Tintero Sori' Gramella Moscato d'Asti $10: The K&L purchased Moscati. The idea was to serve this at the MIssus' staff party. At 5% everyone stays in the safety zone and still gets to chill a little. More spine than the Bartenura and almost up to La Morandina (the summer Moscati standard). Excellent wine. Mixed it with some Lodi Vermentino and that was also pretty tasty. 5%

2006 Chateau d'Aqueria Tavel Rosé $12: Costco purchase. "Tavel is acknowledged to be the world's most complex and flavorful rosé wine" says the back label. "Tell it to Bandol" sez tBoWl!! Dry, dried cranberry fruit, very nice...like a Bandol. Dry, even woody. What was it Dotoré said about Bandol? Highest expectations with decent delivery. Think the original iPhone release.

IGTY [ed. I Gotta Tell Ya...bring it on!!!] I think I prefer the fruitier offerings from...California's Central Coast!! Yes, I am talking about Point Concepcion, Anglim and the Languedoc. Given that the new Costco wine buyer has been on such a hot streak this summer I have to say she fouled one off here. 13.5%

[ed. tBoW continues to overheat like Pacino in his seminal film...below]

2003 Clautiere Cabernet Sauvignon $22 wine club: Speaking of the Central Coast, i.e., Paso Robles, this is a pretty decent effort from the uber-fashionable vineyard on the unfashionable East Side. If you like Cabernet Sauvignon unblended. Pencil lead nose yields to a mineral flavor with high tone fruit, smoooooth and plummy. Is it Pauillac? St Estephe? In the Parker/Rolland era? How many folks would be fooled. Can we please stop growing Cabernet Sauvignon in Paso and focus on Rhone blends? Leave the vcabs to Napa. Pinots in Sonoma and points north...far as Oregon. Rhone styles in hot regions like...Paso!! This is a good time to try. 14.5%

And Dog Day Afternoon? His best work, overacting and all. [ed. until Scarface of course] You see the trailer you've seen the movie. Such a New Yawkuh. Pleece. Un-joy.

Sober thinking: The following entry was written several weeks ago as is my practice. I am writing this preamble following the most incredibly miserable week in the stock market in my lifetime. If ever there was a time for wines under $20 it is now. Like every business the wine industry will surely take a beating. We hope our favorite wine makers, importers and retailers will survive the shakeout that is sure to come. And that goes for our readers as well.

Next to corked wines and a busted cellar cooler in August, wines aging past their prime is one of the worst wine scenarios imaginable. Ergo Dotoré must purge his cellar of aging wines. tBoW has a few that also have to go. So we pulled corks over Labor Day and found several reportable selections.

1998 Talisman Carneros Pinot Noir $35 (today!!): Second vintage for a small production house devoted to Pinot Noir. Holding up pretty well for 10 years old but this is why we purge. Fruit is there but on the downslope. Napa vineyards planted to Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are disappearing. Carneros has the best fruit. This is the second vintage (171 cases from this producer. Here is what a Talisman fan said about this wine in 2006 while tasting thru a vertical from 1997. "A nice hint of spiced raisin and licorice in the nose. Full compote of cherries, herbs and leather which picks up steam with air time. Plenty of stuffing left and thoroughly enjoyable. Impressive for a difficult vintage. A Hugh Hefner wine: showing a little age but still perky". Perky? I would be too if I had bowls of Viagra strategically placed throughout my home. Today Talisman bottles from multiple sources. 13%

2001 Longoria Fe Ciega Pinot Noir $: This is one of the venerable Santa Rita Hills labels. John Longoria has nearly exclusive rights to the Fe Ciega (blind faith) vineyard which is one of the oldest (at ten years) planted to Pinot Noir in the SRH AVA. He does sell off to other labels so one sees Fe Ciega vineyard elswhere. tBoW cannot recall tasting any Longoria wines so we pulled this cork with interest. Well-made wines often show best 7 years out. No science there. How about the wine? Can detect the alcohol in the nose though it is not pronounced. Good strong fruit without cherry or barnyard. The taste is distinctive and appealing. Dotoré, who contributed the bottle, says the wine does not taste like pinot noir. What it does taste like is a Maipu Malbec. Pronounced orange tones within rich fruit. The wine is ready tonight. 14.7%

2006 Cote de Nuits Villages Domaine des Tilleuls $30: A North Berkeley Wine Imports selection selected from Philippe Livera Fixin juice. To the knowing burg hound this means declassified Premier Cru. I like the earthiness and the lean sausage sauvage [ed. nyuk nyuk on the weird wine alliteration] . The nose is rustic and fruity with cherries in liqueur, leather and terra firma. Very fragrant. With aeration the red fruit (cherry) and violets appear. Second sips show more fruit and waxiness. xx%

There were a few other wines worth mentioning.

2006 Frederic Magnien Rosé~ $12: Purchased in a mixed case from go-to retailer North Berkeley Wines. Grapefruity, acidic, dry 100% Pinot Noir from a top Burgundian producer whose labels are more likely to read Echezeaux, Pommard, and Vosne Romanee. This is excellent Rosé and I would buy this again.

2004 J. Wilkes Pinot Blanc $18: Purchased in Los Olivos at a 2003 tasting with Jeff Wilkes. This was the only white wine we purchased along with several Pinots that should be opened soon [ed. think Turkey Day]. This wine has nto improved with age. Not that it is over the hill. It was just not a pleasing wine (for tBoW) when we tried it. I prefer Oregon Pinot Blanc. Or Alsatian. Not certain I liked this wine that much at the wine bar which means you-know-who tossed it in with the others. Not in balance. Too ripe. Flavors seem to peel off like paint in a Manhattan apartment. I am confident the Pinot Noir wines will show much better. Here is a nice piece on Jeff Wilkes. 14.1%

2001 Rochioli Estate Chardonnay Rich, still some tannins, Almost thick. Goes well with the sausage. Too sweet on the finish. Some woodiness lingers. I used to love these wines. Then I lost my flavor for them.This wine has some of the reasons [ed. besides changing taste]. Rochioli tries too hard to make great wine. This is their estate blend, not the single vineyard South River. The wine is too rich, too big. It is not a monster like so many others (one thinks immediately of Cakebread) but it is not a pleasure to drink.

2005 Williams Selyem Bucher VIneyard Pinot Noir $70: High tone New World baby. Rich, jammy, raspberries. Very fruity without being out of whack. Williams Selyem sources from enough vineyards to have its own appellation. Too young. Needed the aerator big time. 14.1%

1986 Chateau Canon Premiere Cru $340 today: From the depths of the cellar it came. A 22 year old St Emilion. Memories from a time when we bought the hype and hunted down First and Second and Third and Fourth growth mis-marks. I once grabbed a 1966 Chateau Montrose for $60 around 1983. And it was delicious. This perfectly stored Merlot is wasted on pinot-files or even worse cheapo-philes. Red brick in color. Impressive color and nose. Cedar. Camphor. Spicy. Very very nice right out of the bottle. Nose is more impressive than the first taste. Merlot fruit evident. Cannot be any Cab in here. Not a lean but a sinewy wine. The property is owned buy Chanel which is one of the problems with collectible Bordeaux. An international perfume company owns it. You think they bought it because they love the wine? Here is the other problem. What is being sold is not wine. It is a mirage. I clipped this note from a vertical tasting of Canon that went back 60 vintages. "...every young collector can already consider that in twenty to thirty years, he will drink wines which will reach the quality of the legendary wines of the twenties". Are you kidding me? Who would want that?!?!? What do we drink in the meantime? #&*^%$+*&^!?!$!!! 12.5%