Salon Selections

I'm happy to report that the Sunday Salon benefit for the Rape Crisis and Abuse Center of Hamilton County went extremely well, in my estimation. We had a good crowd, delicious appetizers whipped up by hosts Jan and David Lazarus, and some lively lighthearted conversation. It was my first such event as a speaker, and I'm happy with the way that it unfolded.

I've had a couple of requests to post a list of the wines we featured at the tasting. So, without further ado:

• Mumm Napa Brut Prestige ($13-16)
• Kenwood 2006 Sauvignon Blanc ($11-14)
• Excelsior 2006 Chardonnay ($7-10)
• Chateau St. Michelle 2006 Columbia Valley Riesling ($7-11)
• Belle Vallée 2006 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir ($20-24)
• Francis Coppola 2006 Rosso Shiraz ($9-12)
• Kinkead Ridge 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon ($17-20)
• Beni di Batasiolo 2005 Moscato d'Asti ($11-14)
  

Thanks again to everyone who made the event possible. I'm honored to have been able to help out. All the best!

The Naked Vine Goes Public

I’m honored and humbled to be asked to lead one of the Sunday Salons in Cincinnati. The Salons are fundraisers for the Rape Crisis and Abuse Center of Hamilton County. Tickets for the event are $65, and you’ll get to hear me ramble on in person about affordable wine. (As a friend pointed out, the ticket will be about the same price as the six wines I’ll be showing…)

If you’re in the area, come on out and say hello. It’s going to be a really nice event. The Salon will be hosted by David and Jan Lazarus. David, whose oenological knowledge knows few bounds, gave great assistance in selecting the wines for the event, while his wife Jan is a top-notch professional cook. She will be doing specific food pairings for each course. Delicious.

Also, you may have noticed that we’ve picked up another print home for the Vine. The Valley Planet in Huntsville, Alabama, is the latest to join the Benefactor Vineyard. Welcome to Jill and her crew in “Rocket City.”

Build a Better Burger

Fall is in the air. Grills across the country fire up for tailgates, cookouts (They're not "barbecues" -- "barbecue" is a noun, not a verb, people.), and any other reason you can think of to put victuals over flame.

Thanks to Harlan Weikle at Rick's Place, I've been asked to provide some commentary for Trinchero/Sutter Home's annual Build a Better Burger contest. This nationwide gathering of recipes is down to ten finalists -- five in the "beef" division, and five in the "alternative" division. The finals are Saturday, and if you want to see a liveblogging of a burger competition, they'll be doing that on their website.

I'll be posting thoughts after the contest is over -- and as I try each of those recipes. You can see the finalists' recipes here. My early handicapping leans towards the Argentinean Burger with Chimichurri Sauce (which just screams for a Malbec) and the Little Italy Sausage Burger (Zinfandel for me, please).

Got favorite burger recipes to share? Have at it...

UPDATE: The results are in! I was dead on with the Little Italy Sausage Burger, but the grand prize went to the Sweet Hot Thai Burger. With this one, I'm of several minds. Dry rose or an extra dry sparkling wine would work well here. Gewurztraminer's also a possibility. As much as I love red wine with burgers, I would have a hard time here -- the tannins would clash. You'd have to go with a non-tannic red, and they'd probably get run over by the flavors. I'd like to try this with the Monsoon Valley Shiraz Harlan mentioned in his post. Wonder if we can get Thai wine around here...

So, we're all set for the next grilling session. Enjoy!

The New York Times is horning in on my action...

The New York Times' wine writer, Eric Asimov, has penned an article, "Happiness for $10 or Less." Sheesh. You'd think that a writer for the Grey Lady wouldn't need to bother trying to upstage my little blog...

In all seriousness -- I enjoy Asimov's wine writing. He's one of the few unpretentious ones out there in a major publication.

He did posted the question for comment, "What's the best bottle of wine you've had for under $10?" So, I'll follow suit...all you folks out in NakedVineLand -- what's the best bottle you've had in that price range?

Make Wine Not War

A bit behind on putting this up -- Vine reader James Armstrong (the "Strange Man for a Strange World" on my blogroll) forwarded this op-ed from the New York Times. You think wine's not a serious business here in the States? In France, they're setting off IED's over frustration towards the government's strict production laws, the "wine lake," and exporting difficulties. Have a read -- it's fascinating, albeit very sad, stuff.



Changing LINKS

The Vine turns One

Happy birthday to me!

One year ago today, the Naked Vine was born.

One hundred twenty-some odd tasting notes, a couple of vacations, and only moderate liver damage later -- and the Vine is still going strong.

A few well-deserved kudos:

• To the Sweet Partner in Crime -- the best partner and editor I could ever dream of.
• To Scott -- for the quote that led to this madness.
• To Dave -- for the pints that led to "Sommelier for the Common Man."
• To Renee and Brian from Vintner Select -- my mentors in this little project.
• To The Wizard of Covington -- for all sorts of moral support.
• To folks like Mark Morford, Bill Simmons, Digby, and Al Featherston -- for helping me find a voice.
• To the Benefactors -- The Dayton City Paper, Planet Weekly, Whatzup, and YES! Weekly -- for giving me the chance to expand beyond the blog.

And most of all, to all of you who read regularly or just stop by occasionally -- wherever you are, I hope you've found something here to your liking.

Cheers, L'Chaim, Slainte, Prost, and on and on...to another year and another harvest. Thanks to all.

Time for a party!

Krall's Thrall

One of the great guilty pleasure sites on the Intertubes is The Smoking Gun. The Wizard of Covington ("The Width of a Circle") passed along the recent TSG feature on Diana Krall.

Tour riders are great. The demands that touring bands have for their venues can be from the ridiculous to the sublime. Krall provides a list of some seventy-some odd wines deemed "acceptable" for her dressing room spread. Pretentious wine snob?

Heck no! She's practically a Vine reader. (Who knows...maybe she is...) A quick glance down the page reveals about half of the wines listed fall squarely in our acceptable range. Sure, there are some $40+ critters on there, but heck -- I've reviewed a bunch of them.

And I'm happy to work my way down the list and provide her with copious tasting notes if she can hook me up for drinks with her hubby, Declan McManus.

The Naked Vine...delivered!

If you look to the right of the page, you'll see that I've started a mailing list. I'll be sending alerts for postings of new wines, other various announcements, and an occasional surprise or two. Simply fill in your email address to subscribe.

Rest assured -- no selling of addresses or other such unpleasantries. Spam bad, bad, bad.

Ernest Gallo: 1909-2007

Seems only fitting for a site focused on inexpensive wine to post a postmortem for Ernest Gallo, Lord of Lambrusco.

I'll hold off for now on *cough* tastings *cough* of Gallo. If there's one thing this project taught me -- you don't need to sacrifice taste for cost. That said, Gallo arguably did more to make wine an American household commodity than anyone in recent history. For that, we are grateful.

We at the Naked Vine raise our jugs of "Chablis" and "Burgundy" in salute.

Masters of Our Domain

The Vine now has its own address. As you can see above (if the forwarding is working now)...we're now at: http://www.thenakedvine.net

I feel all official now.