Happy New Year, everyone!
We've stretched our New Year's celebration over a few days, so follow the feast on Twitter at #NakedVineNewYear...
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Belt Tightening, Celebration & Last Minute Gifts
As we prepare to bid adieu to 2011, we find ourselves in the
last throes of the holiday season. The last two weeks of the year become a
multicolored haze of festive dinners, office parties, and gift exchanges all
wrapped up in a nice pretty bow of the holiday shopping orgy. You can’t really
go wrong this time of year with the Swiss Army knife of presents – a good
bottle of wine.
For most events, an inexpensive bottle (such as most of the
ones we normally discuss around here) will suffice. Anyone who wends the way
through this social maze knows that people are usually looking for something
palatable to quaff so that making small talk becomes more bearable.
That’s not always the case, though. Sometimes you need a
special bottle – something with a little more flavor and complexity for a more
meaningful occasion. As we’ve discussed in this space before, the end of the
year is the best time to snag major bargains for your cellar or gift bag since
wine stores are trying to clear inventory to make room for “next year’s model.”
This opportunity is further amplified by the continued
economic doldrums. The super high end stuff that can cost hundreds – wines like
classified growth Bordeaux, Screaming Eagle cabernet from Napa, rare Barolo and
the like – they’re always going to sell. There will always be collectors who
can afford them. On the other end of the scale, the demand for the $15 and
under bottle increases as wine drinkers are more judicious about discretionary
income. The market slice getting hammered are the wines with “in-between
expensive” price points – say $20-100. Ask almost any wine buyer. These wines
just aren’t moving very well.
Here’s where you can score big if you look closely. There
are “in-between expensive” bottles just sitting out there. If you’ve read those
descriptions on shelves in wine stores, you’ll see many lines like “Drink
between 2005-2011.” Odds that these wines will sell briskly after that window
closes? Small. Wine stores need to clear these puppies off the shelves, so many
of them get offered at enormous discounts. You can also find good values
looking for wines that are from neighboring regions to super-expensive wines,
especially if you’re thinking about French wines. For instance, a wine from a
classified growth chateau may be hundreds of dollars a bottle, but a wine
produced a few hundred yards away from similar grapes can go for a fraction of
that cost.
Feel free to use these ideas as a great way to either score
cool gifts or try some higher-end stuff that you might not have had the
opportunity to crack on your normal travels. Take advantage of this. Go to your
wine store and ask your friendly neighborhood wine guide to show you some
“special occasion” wines that they have on end-of-vintage sale and see what
happens.
Great example – the Sweet Partner in Crime and I got hitched
a couple of years ago on Dec. 10th. As readers of this space know,
we’ve been together awhile. Prior to our actual wedding, we’d used Dec. 18th,
the date of our first date, as our anniversary. So we wouldn’t have to choose,
we deemed these eight days our “Channiversary.” For our celebration this year,
The SPinC went looking for three bottles – one from 2001 (the year we met), one
from 2009 (the year we tied the knot), and another bottle, because things work
better in threes. Here’s what she came up with:
La Croix de Rameaux
2009 Brouilly – The SPinC is a sucker for Burgundy, so that’s what she
asked about first. Burgundy from 2009 would be too young to drink now, but she
was pointed in the direction of Beaujolais (which is, after all, in Burgundy).
2009 is, by all accounts, one of the best years in Beaujolais in history, and
the cru Beaujolais are not only
exceptional – they’re ready to drink right now! (A Beaujolais cru will have the name of its city instead of
“Beaujolais” or “Beaujolais-Villages” on the label.) Many Beaujolais, including
cru, can be a little thin, but not this Brouilly. For
a light red, this had an exceptionally friendly and layered fruit and acid
balance. Lots of full cherry flavors and a smokiness that was more reminiscent
of a Burgundy than a Beaujolais. It was good on its own, but it truly shined as
a charcuterie wine. (Which was good, because we didn’t feel like cooking the
night we opened it.) With the serrano ham (oh yes!), salami, and chorizo we’d
laid out...all delicious. We found it was also especially good with goat
cheese, a usually-challenging pairing. Just a lovely wine to munch with.
Ordinarily $32, we got this one for about $24.
Il
Bosco 2001 Cortona Syrah – Italian syrah? I think I’ve seen some of it
blended into Super Tuscan wines, but I don’t remember it as a single varietal.
Apparently more and more Italian winemakers are giving it a go but, until
recently, these wines were much more a boutique purchase. This was the wine
with the “Drink between” dates I mentioned above. Strike while the iron is
still hot! Goodness, was this some tasty wine. My initial comment was “it
smells more Italian than it tastes.” (Although I didn’t have much of a basis
for comparison with syrah.) The nose is
lovely. Plums, flowers, and smoke. Lots of earthy blackberries and cherries on
the palate with a hint of that underlying Italian chalkiness. There’s also some
smoke that got amplified towards the end as the tannins kicked in, leaving
coffee behind. Wonderfully complex. I’d certainly be interested in trying more
straight syrah from Italy. For dinner, we had salt-crusted roasted leg of lamb.
Heavenly pairing. Cut straight through the lamb’s fattiness, enhancing the rich
flavors. Super. A $80-ish wine that ended up at around $35.
Chateau de Bellevue
2000 Lussac-St. Emilion – I readily admit that I don’t usually get
Bordeaux. It’s just not one of those Old World wines that I generally crave the
way that I do Burgundy or various Italian bottles. Just the same, a nearly
12-year old bottle has an appeal, and I’ve since learned that 2000 in St.
Emilion was a historically good vintage. In retrospect, that little factoid
makes perfect sense. We decided to open this with an attempt at making a
more-or-less true cassoulet. (Mmm…rendered duck fat!) We got to cooking and I
poured the wine into a decanter. Bordeaux are notoriously slow-breathing wines.
After about an hour and a half, we decided to try a glass. Oy! Tannin bomb,
coming in! This wine gave both of us lockjaw. We couldn’t speak. Heavy charcoal
and graphite. We decided that it needed a little more time to open, and we had
an hour or so before the cassoulet came out of the oven. In the interim, I swirled
the hell out of what was left in my glass for awhile, and hooboy -- was I ever
rewarded. The wine started to open beautifully. The nose exploded into herbs
and chocolate covered cherries. The charcoal and graphite powered flavor
mellowed into a much more pleasant balance of cherry and smoke. The finish went
on and on and on. The wine continued to change over the course of the evening,
yielding more and more complex flavors. This was the big deal about
Bordeaux.
With food? Ye gods. While waiting for the cassoulet to finish, we
tried it with some “drunken” goat cheese. Absolutely outstanding. A true “eyes
rolling back in your head” combination…at least until we finally got to the
cassoulet. Heaven. There really aren’t words for how good this pairing was. We
did a version of cassoulet with ham instead of sausage and smoked duck. The
smokiness of the wine complemented the rich duck perfectly, while the tannins
tamed the salt from the ham while cutting through the fat. We lingered over
this meal and the last drops of wine in the decanter for a long, long time,
savoring. Perfect pairings come along rarely – those French know what they’re
doing with wine and casseroles, to be sure. Many 2000’s from St. Emilion
currently run well over $100. This wine from the surrounding region? $30.
So go forth, find bargains, and enjoy your holidays! We’ll
see you in 2012!
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Naked Vine One Hitter -- The Bookmaker
Thanks to the good folks at Balzac, I had the chance to try
the Parlay “Bookmaker” 2009 Red Wine.
Parlay is the “blended wine label” for Ramian Estates winery. Ramian is the fairly
recent creation of Brian Graham, a Bordeaux and Burgundy-schooled winemaker who
now calls Napa home.
Many California red blends are put together to maximize
something –tannin, a certain fruit flavor, et al. Graham says that his French
experience taught him the importance of balance in blending, and he’s tried to
use that framework for this series.
For this particular blend, he’s managed to cobble together a
pretty decent balance for a big, fruity, unquestionably Napa-flavored red. It’s
about 70% cabernet sauvignon with the rest an amalgamation of syrah, petit
sirah, and petit verdot.
First sniff brought along strong vanilla, blackberry, and
mint notes. Lots of dark fruit and pepper on the body. It’s fruity, but
definitely not a fruit bomb. The tannins aren’t particularly heavy, which I
thought was nice, and the peppery finish goes on a good long while. I thought
it was a pretty good quaffer on its own and it’s quite nice with a
chocolate-based dessert. I thought the price point was slightly high at $20,
but it was certainly worth a $15-16 snag. (Graham says that this wine can be
aged for 6-8 years. Since this is the brand spanking new vintage, it might be
more in its wheelhouse in a couple of years.)
The Parlay label also has a Viognier-based white blend
called “Payout.” Raiman makes a single-varietal “reserve” series and a higher
end “J.Garret” series. Brian Graham is also the winemaker for Jack Wines,
another fairly new Napa label. I haven’t had the chance to try those. Bottom
line, a pretty solid wine. I’d be very interested to try it in a couple of
years after the flavors have had a chance to even out a little.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Wine & Dinner of the Month Club -- December 2011
This month’s wine is a nice Italian white that goes well
with seafood and creamy dishes. I had to
make some alterations to the recipe and the dessert wasn’t as big a hit as I
thought it would be, but it all turned out well. Enjoy.
Menu
- Seafood Risotto with Steamed Asparagus
- Green Salad with Grape Tomatoes and Sliced Dates
- Strawberries 'n Cream Minis
Wine
- 2008 Bisci Verdicchio Di Matelica
We didn’t have an appetizer this
month so I started right on the main course.
When I was searching for a pairing for this wine, I kept coming up with
seafood risotto so it seemed a simple enough decision. The only problem is Christine isn’t a huge
seafood fan, so I altered the recipe to only include shrimp, adding extra to
replace the now missing scallops, and exchanged the clam juice with an extra
cup of chicken broth. The risotto was
creamy with a slight briny taste from the shrimp and a subtle yellow color from
the saffron. Risotto can be a side dish,
but is so rich that it also works as a nice main course. The wine was a perfect pairing with nice
acidity that helped cut through the creaminess of the risotto. I steamed some asparagus as a side dish, but let
the asparagus steam a little too long.
It tasted okay but was a little mushy and everyone knows you don’t want
to have a limp spear.
After the main course, I served a
green salad using the last of the lettuce that Christine grew this year in the
local community garden. I garnished that
with grape tomatoes and sliced dates. Then
it was time for dessert. I was looking
for something simple and what could be simpler than Jello (our neighbor
Marlane, a native Minnesotan, would be so proud!) Who doesn’t love Jello? But instead of just Jello, I souped it up
with some white chocolate and condensed milk.
I was able to make it ahead of time and just had to garnish the
individual servings with strawberries before serving. Okay, it was alright, but not great. The texture was a little odd. I think Christine likened it to strawberry
Play-Doh. We finished the dessert, but I
don’t it will be repeated…ever.
Tuesday, December 06, 2011
The Dreaming Tree -- Wines from Dave Matthews
Let’s go drive ‘til
the morning comes,
Watch the sunrise to
fill our souls up.
Drink some wine ‘til
we get drunk…
-Dave Matthews, “Crush”
For the sake of full disclosure, I’ve never been an enormous fan of the Dave Matthews Band.
I’ve always appreciated them, but they’re one of those bands that have always
been on the periphery of my music collection. However, after a friend of mine forwarded me a press release announcing the release of Dave Matthews’ new
“Dreaming Tree” series of wines, I got curious. I sent an email to Megan at
Constellation Wines and lo and behold, there were samples to be had! While I may not
be a fanboy, I’ll give big ups to anyone willing to let me try his wine.
I do, actually, have a tangential connection to Dave
Matthews. Several jobs and a couple of lives ago, I found myself working at the
University of Richmond (VA). I lasted less than a year
there – working in residence life, riding herd over drunken, horny, segregated-sex
college students wasn’t exactly my bag.
from http://www.dreamingtreewines.com |
A small, fragrantly smoky venue in Richmond is probably the
best way to experience the Dave Matthews Band live for the first time. As my
musical tastes expanded, DMB joined a few other bands I liked in my mid-20’s as
bands I’d hear from time to time and go, “Hmm…not bad” and then let it pass
from my attention. Except for “Crash into Me” – which I heard once as a
first-dance wedding song – which is just lyrically creepy if you think about it.
In any case, Dave Matthews’ first experience with winemaking
was a property he bought in Charlottesville, Virginia he wanted to farm. “I
started making wine and that process kind of enlightened me,” said Matthews.
“Through a few different instances I met Steve, and that brought the
possibility of making wine in a place that’s designed for making wine!”
“Steve” is Steve Reeder, head winemaker at Simi winery in
Healdsburg in Sonoma County, the aforementioned well-designed place for wine. “From
the first time I talked to him on the phone,” said Matthews, “I got the sense
that he wanted to do something with me. Not because he thought I was a great
winemaker, but because he was curious. I think that’s pretty bold and also
pretty generous.” Matthews went to Sonoma to discuss life and winemaking with
Reeder, and The Dreaming Tree (named after a song on his “Before These Crowded
Streets” album) sprouted.
“I want to work in collaboration with Dave to make wines
that are approachable, still food friendly, fun wines that are available for
pretty much everyone to drink,” said Reeder. “I like to make wines for people
to drink, not wines to be put in the cellar.” (This is only half true. Simi
makes some cabernets in the $60-$100 range that I wouldn’t classify as
everyday!) Matthews and Reeder collaborate on the composition of the wine in
small batches. Reeder takes care of the heavy lifting in production, since he
has Simi’s ample resources at his disposal.
The Dreaming Tree produces a chardonnay, a cabernet
sauvignon, and a red blend called “Crush,” all from California grapes – a much
better source than Charlottesville, to be sure. The information on their website stresses environmental sustainability in production and bottling, which is a nice plus. All three retail in the
neighborhood of $15. So, how are they? Have a seat crosslegged ‘round the fire and read on:
The Dreaming Tree
2010 Central Coast Chardonnay – Sourced from grapes in Monterey and Santa
Barbara counties, my note after the first sniff was “lemony!” I was pleasantly
surprised with the balanced fruit and oak. There’s definitely a background toastiness
to it, but it’s doesn’t overwhelm the flavor, which is the tendency of many newbie
California winemakers playing with chardonnay for the first time. Solid flavors
of lemons and apples on the palate. The finish is quite gentle with a hint of
citrus and some lingering toasted oak. I thought this was a very pleasant
bottle of white that paired nicely with some broiled salmon filets topped with
sautéed fennel and a light curry sauce. The oak brought out a little more of
the grill smoke flavor, but it was quite pleasant on a cool night.
The Dreaming Tree
2009 “Crush” North Coast Red Blend – The Crush is a 2/1 blend of Merlot and
Zinfandel. While these wines are designed to be “open and drink,” this one
certainly benefitted from a little time in air. At first slug, the flavor was a
little “grapey” without much structure, like a very inexpensive merlot.
However, some time in the glass with a few strong swirls pulled vanilla out of
the nose. Once the wine opens up a bit, it’s got a very full flavor with strong
blackberry and vanilla tastes. I thought it was just a bit too dry for a “quaffing
by itself” wine. As it is, it would likely be good for gnawing on a plate of barbecue
ribs. Unfortunately, that’s not what we had that evening and disappointingly,
it wasn’t all that tasty with evening chocolate. Another recommended pairing
from the website was “Spanish orange and onion salad,” but I have a hard time
envisioning that.
The Dreaming Tree
2009 North Coast Cabernet Sauvignon – Made with grapes largely from Sonoma
County, this was my favorite wine of the three. The nose is full of
blackberries with a little bit of vanilla. When I took a sip, my first thought
was “Bacon?” There’s a smoked meat flavor that I didn’t see coming at all.
After a few days, it hit me where I’d run into that scent before. Dave Matthews
is a native South African, and this smelled as much like a Pinotage (the pride
of the Rainbow Nation) as any Cabernet I’ve tried. That bacony smokiness
mellowed out quite a bit after a few minutes to something a little more
balanced, although as the finish sat, there were still hints of that savory
goodness at the end. Otherwise, lots of dark blackberry and cherry tastes with
a finish that doesn’t start tannically at all, but quickly dries into smoke.
This wine ends up being a mouth-coater of a cabernet. Like most wines with a
South African flavor, this would be right at home next to a big hunk of
something grilled. They recommend rack of lamb or lentil salad, both of which I
could see without too much of a problem.
Matthews claims his wine philosophy is “If it tastes good to
you, then it’s good wine,” which has been one of my standard lines at the tastings
I have led for years. As Reeder so aptly put it, “Great minds
drink alike.”
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