Can Woman Live By Wine Alone?

One of the impediments to blogging in the past few weeks was simply this: I had become a bit tired of wine. There were nights I felt like if I drank another "basic red" I was going to scream. I dipped into my tiny cellar, looking for wines that might inspire and turn this trend around, but had no luck. Everything I tasted seemed a bit blah and predictable.

I turned to water. I developed quite an addiction to Honest Tea (and have a growing collection of the lids printed with inspirational sayings to prove it). Then, reminded of happy, relaxing times in England that were accompanied by drinking hard cider, I turned to fermented, alcoholic apple juice.

That did it. My palate and mood lifted.

Aspall Organic Draft Cider ($6.99 for 500ml, Whole Foods) is, in my opinion, the alcoholic non-grape beverage for wine lovers. It has a rich, fermented taste that is not as overwhelmingly earthy and pungent as some ciders in the market, a nice fizziness that makes it good with many of the same foods that go well with sparkling wine, and leaves your mouth full of the crisp taste of English apples. It is also relatively low in alcohol compared to most table wines at 6.8% alc/vol. And for the price, it's certainly excellent QPR.

If you want to try something new, get yourself some Aspall Cider and make this delicious pork stew to accompany it. It's full of apples, parsnips, and pearl onions (confession: I used the frozen kind because life is too short to peel pearl onions), with some sage, shallot, and mustard for zing and lots of hard cider enriching the sauce. This is a one-pot, all-inclusive meal that is comforting and rich without being heavy. It simmers on the stove for hours, too, which makes it perfect for entertaining or just filling your house with the fragrance of autumn on a cold winter day. Of course, if hard cider is just a no-go zone for you, this recipe would be equally nice with an appley, unoaked Chardonnay, a dry Riesling or Gewurztraminer, or a light red from the Beaujolais.

Don't eat pork? Try Aspall's Cider with a Welsh Rarebit, perhaps sliding some apples under the cheese sauce before you broil it.

Wine Blogging Wednesday #43: Comfort Wine

Wine Blogging Wednesday for March 2008 is all about comfort. New dad Joel Vincent, who not only dreamed up the Open Wine Consortium but posts to his own Wine Life Today Blog, clearly knows how to find comfort in the chaos. With all that exciting stuff going on, he still hosted WBW. Pretty impressive.

Joel asked us to drink and write about a wine that made us feel relaxed, comfortable, and happy at the end of the day. In essence, he wanted to hear about our go-to comfort wine--the bottle we reached for knowing it was going to deliver.

For me, the choice was easy, and it won't come as a surprise to regular readers: the wine has to be from Chateauneuf-du-Pape. For me, drinking wine from this region is like sipping time, and time is something that I don't have enough of these days. It's historic, and old-fashioned, but fruit-forward and ready to drink young as well as with some age on it. It's made with grenache, which is aromatic, but usually has some syrah in it as well to add some heft to the wine. It's everything I ever want from a wine in term of fruit, acidity, complexity, and green/floral notes. When I feel bad and want to feel good, I open Chateauneuf-du-Pape.

So when we got news over the Twitter wires last week that Joel's new daughter, Alexa, had been born, I popped open a bottle of Chateauneuf-du-Pape in her honor. A little bit before WBW, I admit, but I thought Joel would forgive me in this case.

I bought the 2001 Clos de l'Oratoire des Papes Chauteuneuf du Pape a year ago from Whole Foods, on sale for $21.99. Right now, you can find it for around $30. While this wine did make me feel my normal, Chateauneuf-du-Pape sense of comforted, and represented good QPR, I think you can do better for around $30, although for just over $20 this was good QPR. The wine was rustic, with simple plum and spice aromas and flavors. A bit of black olive and bacon fat were detected upon on first opening, but those aromas dissipated quickly as it got some air. Then, the fruit came forward, and the wine tasted mostly of plums and cherries. After a day on the counter, preserved with some of that gas in a can, it had turned into a Grenache fest with lots of sweet fruit and very little spice.

If you have a bottle of Chateauneuf-du-Pape and want to experience even more comfort, try pairing it with this Mediterranean-style chicken and bean stew. The warm, herbal flavors were a perfect counterpoint to the spice and fruit, and the tiny bit of heat from a dried chili pepper that cooked in the stew helped to pick out the peppery notes in the wine.

Thanks to Lenndevours, for dreaming up this event, and thanks to Joel for hosting and sharing the joy of his new daughter with us in the blogosphere. Alexa has lots of virtual aunties and uncles to count on from the wine blogging world--and she better look me up when she's checking out colleges! See you back here for the WBW #44 announcement from host Gary Vaynerchuk and the roundup of all this month's posts.

Wine Blogging Wednesday #37: Going Native with Indigenous Grapes

It's time once again for Wine Blogging Wednesday, the online virtual tasting event started more than three years ago by Lenn Thompson of Lenndevours. This month our host is Tyler Colman, better known in the blogosphere as Dr. Vino. He set the theme of indigenous grapes for WBW #37, and asked us all to find a wine that was made with grapes indigenous to its place of production. He also asked us to steer clear of the big grape varietals--sauvignon blanc, cabernet--if we could. That left me with choices from the Loire, the Languedoc-Roussillon region, and from Spain. Or England, which is where I'm writing to you from at the moment, but it turns out England doesn't have a native grape--or not one that I could find.

The wine I chose was from Spain, and is a classic bargain sparkler. The NV Cristalino Cava Brut is made from not one, not two, but three indigenous grapes: macabeo, xarel'lo, and parellada. (Whole Foods, $8.99; available practically everywhere else for between $3 and $8). All three varietals produce acidic, citrusy juice that is blended to produce Spanish sparkling wine.

As budget sparklers go, I was impressed with the very good QPR that this wine had. Interesting aromas of bread dough and lemon give way to a citrusy palate with an edge of buttered toast. While this was not as complex as a vintage French champagne or US sparkling wine, it had much more complexity than many of the proseccos that are available at this price point. As a result, it would be a great bubbly for making mimosas at brunch, but it was good on its own with food, as well. I would definitely buy it again. And again!

Thanks to Dr. Vino for hosting such a great event, one that had me hitting the reference books to find out where grapes came from and which wines they made. When the roundup is posted I will, as always let you know, as well as giving you a heads-up on the theme for October's WBW #38.

Catavino June Virtual Tasting: Wines from Bierzo

This month, Catavino's Virtual Tasting focused on a region rather than a varietal and after some searching I managed to find a wine that fit their brief to try something from the Bierzo DO. For someone like me who likes wine adventures, this was a great assignment. First, I didn't know where Bierzo was. Second, once I found it the list of indigenous grapes planted there took my breath away, since I had only had one or two.

Bierzo is in the northwesterly part of Spain (Ryan and Gabriella have posted a great map, if you're still unsure of precise locale), and is home to 48 wineries. It used to be an area known for its mining industry, but with the mountains protecting the viticultural areas from some of the most severe weather coming off the Atlantic Ocean, Bierzo has become a growing and increasingly popular wine region.

I wanted to try a Bierzo white, but had a hard time finding one, so I ended up with a red made from the indigenous mencia grape: the 2004 Pucho Bierzo ($15.99, Whole Foods; between $9 and $14 from many merchants). I bought this on impulse, with no advice or advance research, and in retrospect I have not been happy with a single Whole Foods purchase I've bought in this fashion. This was no exception. It was a red wine with old school style, with a rich plummy color and the fruit taking a decidedly back seat to the acidity and minerality. As the wine warmed up, it was possible to taste plummy fruit, accented with smoke and spice. The finish was fairly short, and not even the smoke and spice lingered. Though I've never had a mencia wine before, I felt like it was in the same varietal ballpark as cabernet franc (with its acidity and minerality) and sangiovese (with its acidity and plummy fruit flavor). For the price I paid at Whole Foods, I would have to say this represented poor QPR, but had I spend $8.99 for it at K&L I probably would have said good QPR. Still, it was sad to have my first ever poor QPR Spanish wine--the country has had a perfect track record so far!

I'm going to do some more research among the postings in Catavino's forum and see if I can find more examples of Bierzo wine. I'd certainly like to give mencia another shot, and would love to try a white from the area if I can get my hands on it. Until then, I'm off to rummage in the wine storage to find a Spanish wine for WBW #35.

Flying My Freak Flag

If you think there is something inherently freaky about blending red and white grape varietals, you may want to think again. They've been doing just that for a long time in such chi-chi appellations as the Cote-Rotie in the Rhone. There, red wines can include up to 20% of a white varietal, viognier. The white grape lends its wonderful aromatics to the red, giving it a soft and somewhat mysterious aroma and a smoothness on the palate that can be extremely appealing. In the Cote-Rotie, the red and white varietals are grown together in what is known as a "field blend," then picked and co-fermented at the same time.

Cote-Rotie reds are so perfumed and so popular that the technique was bound to spread, and today winemakers from Australia to California are blending white and red grapes. Sometimes they co-ferment; sometimes they simply white and reds that have been fermented separately. Recently, I had a co-fermented blend of syrah and viognier from the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France: the 2003 Le Freak Shiraz-Viognier ($13.99, Whole Foods; available from other merchants for between $11 and $13). Here the blend contains 85% syrah and 15% viognier. This blend was not as aromatic as most I've tried previously, and what aromas there were represented an odd combination of artificial flower and tar aromas. These were never very strong, and underneath there were flavors of blackberry, leather, and spice. This made for a chewy, rich syrah that (had I tasted it blind) I would never have pegged as a syrah-viognier blend. As a result, I reluctantly had to conclude it represented poor QPR, even though it was perfectly drinkable as a syrah.

So does this mean I'm taking down my freak flag and giving up on red/white blends? Not on your life. One of my favorite wines of all time is the Black Chook, an Australian blend of shiraz and viognier that I simply adore. And I have a bottle of D'Arenberg's Laughing Magpie, another Aussie shiraz-viognier blend. Rumor has it that one of my favorite domestic wineries will be producing a small bottle run of just such a blend later this year, too. I'll tell you right now, I'll run you over if you get in my way to score some of that! Maybe this wine was past its prime, since Andrew at Spittoon in the UK was drinking the 2006 vintage just this spring. At any rate, my freak flag is still flying, and I'll still be on the lookout for good syrah-shiraz/viognier blends.

Mini March Madness

Hey, it's college basketball tournament season. What, you didn't know? Have you been living under a rock?

If you haven't been living under a rock, you may have been invited to one, two, three, four or more parties to watch games. This always leaves me with lots of half-drunk bottles of wine sitting around that I open up on Thursday and then can't finish for days and days while we go scream at television sets with friends. Sure, there are lots of preservation strategies out there, but some of the best involve pouring your undrunk wine into smaller, 375ml bottles and then blanketing them with inert gas or pumping out the oxygen. The smaller bottles enhance the preservation action of these other strategies, since smaller bottles leave less opportunity for air to creep in there and begin to turn the flavors.

So March is as good a time as any to find out if your local wine merchants stock these mini, 375ml bottles. And while you're at it, you may as well look for wines that you actually want to drink. Typically, the 375s are tucked into some out of the way place and often the selection is not very extensive. But it's worth asking your shop owner if they have any in the back, since sometimes the wines aren't even displayed. I've found some very nice options here in LA at Whole Foods, at Mission Wines in South Pasadena, and at Chronicle Wine Cellar in Pasadena. They've included older French cabernets, Dry Creek wines, young California grenache blends, a cabernet franc from the Loire, and a nice tempranillo from Bodegas Arzuaga. (photographed here to enhance their height, in case basketball scouts are reading this...)

375s are also perfect if you are facing a week of white wine dinners and are gasping for a glass of red, or have a sudden burger hunger that must be slaked with a cabernet for accompaniment. I should also say that this size bottle is great for trying out a producer or varietal that you aren't familiar with. It allows you to be adventurous with less risk of being stuck with 3/4 of a bottle you don't particularly like.

Finding good 1/2 bottles is always an opportunistic business--buy them when you see them, because you may not see them again. Having a few nice minis on hand is always a good thing, even when it's not tournament time.

Wine Blogging Wednesday #31: A Juice Box for Grownups

I wasn't sure I could fulfill this month's WBW assignment. After years of mocking Franzia boxed wine drinkers--sometimes, I am ashamed to admit, to their face--I was completely perplexed by Box Wine's theme of "non-traditional packaging." Not only was there the whole boxed wine thing to wrap my brain around, there was also the fact that it would take my household approximately 10 days to drink a typical box of wine (they hold 3 bottles!) and if it sucked--well, you see my point. So little time, so much good wine. I nervously scanned shelves for an option, watched the days fly by, and kept reminding myself that WBW is supposed to be about getting you out of your wine ruts, and making your wine knowledge grow. No matter how much I told myself this, though, I still could not manage to stick any boxed, jugged, TetraPak-ed or TetraBrik-ed wine in my shopping cart.

Cruising around Whole Foods, I saw the answer to my dilemma in an acid green little four-pack of grown-up juice boxes containing the 2005 Three Thieves Pinot Grigio Bandit ($10.99 for a 4-pack of 250ml TetraPaks, Whole Foods). The Three Thieves call them "bandit bullets," but they include a port for a straw (not included, but I stuck one in to show you) and as far as I'm concerned they're juice boxes!

If you want to learn more about the Three Thieves brand check out the interview that The Cork Board, a great new blog featuring Napa wines, conducted with Three Thieves' Charles Bieler. They asked him five questions about wine, and it's a fun exchange that sheds light on why three friends and fellow-wine makers decided to start the brand and experiment with new wine packaging. While you're there, take time to browse around the site--it's a good one.

So, how was it? Well, nifty as the juice box experience was--and it was fun to sit under an umbrella sipping wine through a straw from a green box--the wine itself was better when poured out into the glass. Not being able to see--or more importantly smell--the wine hampered my initial efforts to figure out the wine. And sniffing wine through a straw is not good. Not. Good. At. All. If you drink this through the straw expect slightly bitter lemon and apple flavors. If you put it in a glass, expect to see a wine that's pale straw in color. Expect, too, to detect slight aromas of lemon rind and white pithiness that will support characteristic pinot grigio flavors of lemons and apples. There was a slightly tart, pithy edge to the finish. This was certainly not the worst pinot grigio I've ever had, and at $2.75 per juice box, or under $8 for the equivalent of a 750ml bottle, it represented good QPR.

Wine in a juice box demands something as quirky and unfussy as it is for a dinner accompaniment. We had satay-inspired chicken burgers with peanut sauce from Cooking Light--burgers with a twist, just like this is pinot grigio with a twist. With it we had a refreshing Thai cucumber salad (really a very light pickle that doesn't require canning) and some fries. And since it was 90 degrees out, we ate outside. Perfect for wine in a box!

Thanks to Box Wines for the most challenging Wine Blogging Wednesday ever--at least for me. Biodynamic wines were a doddle compared to box wines, but as with most WBW experiences I am glad to have had the opportunity to think outside the box--or inside the box, in this case.

A Soft Landing in Spain: the 2003 Tarantas Tempranillo-Cabernet Crianza

Determined not to fall completely off the wagon with respect to my New Year's wine resolutions, tonight I opened up my first bottle of Spanish wine: the 2003 Tarantas Crianza ($8.99, Whole Foods). Made from 70% Tempranillo (which Tim Elliott predicted would become the hot red in 2007) and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, this was a nice, soft entry into Spanish wines for a relative beginner. (image from their importer, Natural Merchants)

Made in the Utiel Requena DOC of Valencia, a region distinguished by very cold winter temperatures, followed by hot summers., all the grapes in this wine were sourced from 25+-year-old vines that are farmed organically. Bright garnet in color, the wine delivers a lot of flavor for the price, with the cab providing some extra acidity to balance out the typical fatness of the tempranillo. (fatness here being winespeak for low-acid wines, not big or alcoholic wines) At last, a red blend that makes sense! Hurray!

Even with the blending, I was able to discern the aromas of herbs and berries characteristic of Tempranillo. These aromas were echoed in the flavors, along with some black currant notes from the Cabernet. Like all wines labeled "crianza," the Tarantas Tempranillo-Cabernet was aged for at least 6 months, in this case in new American oak, so that contributed aroma and flavor notes of sweet wood. The whole package was wrapped up in a pleasant, slightly silky texture. It represents very good QPR, and as it was featured in the Whole Foods Top Holiday Wines List it should be widely available through those stores.

I'm still a neophyte with Spanish wine and food pairings, so I played it safe with a grilled steak accompanied by chimichurri sauce and a huge, deconstructed Caesar salad with torn romaine, parmesan crisps, shaved parmesan, lots of cracked pepper, and dressing just drizzled on top. The herbs in the sauce really accentuated the herbal flavors of the Tempranillo, while the grilled steak was an ideal partner to both of the red varietals in this blend. I suspect that the wine would be equally good with food that had an acidic tomato component.

Attention Whole Foods Shoppers

Catching up on my podcasts this morning, I came across a Whole Foods Top Holiday Wine Selections List. There are lots of "top" lists this time of year, but since this one is linked to a specific retail outlet, it should make for less frenzied searching and more simple purchasing.

With so many Whole Foods stores not only in LA but throughout the country, I thought I would put up links to both the podcast and the article on their website. (This is my first experience linking to a podcast, so let me know if I've messed it up). As always, if you are looking for a specific bottle on their list, it saves you lots of traffic agonies if you call ahead and make sure it's actually in your local branch.

There are 12 wines on the list, including a sparkling wine and what they call a "cellar selection." There are some interesting choices on there at many price points, including a tasty organic Tarantas Tempranillo-Cabernet blend.

Whole Foods includes cheese pairing tips on the list, as well. Happy shopping!

NV Krohn Tawny Port

Port. Like most wines, the very name evokes images and associations, whether it's champagne with its clinking glasses and popping corks, or cabernet sauvignon which immediately makes me think of steak, a house full of guests, and long conversations. For me, port conjures up leather armchairs, crackling fires, the Masterpiece Theatre theme, slippers, and pipe smoke. It is, in many ways, the quintessential winter wine, to be sipped after a hard day of holiday shopping when you're surveying the damage/loot and trying to take a moment out of the hubbub to enjoy the season.

It can be hard to find good port at a reasonable price. The finest vintage ports require years of cellaring before they reach their full potential and unless you are in the habit of buying them and laying them down for later, you are paying the wine makers and merchants for the cost of storage each and every time you buy a bottle of 20- or 40-year old port. Instead, you can buy the NV Krohn Tawny Port ($11.99, Whole Foods).

This excellent QPR port comes from the 19th century firm of Wiese and Krohn, which was established in Portugal by two Norwegians in 1865. Located in the Douro, Wiese and Krohn employ both traditional wine-making methods and modern technologies to produce their port. Like most makers of port, Wiese and Krohn make vintage port (made from grapes harvested in a single year to mature in the bottle), late-bottled vintage (LBV) ports (which are aged in casks for 6-7 years to accelerate the age process and then bottled) and non-vintage (NV) ports (ports made from a blend of grapes from different vintages and either aged in wood or in the bottle). Some of the finest ports in the world are the Krohn Colheita reserve ports, which earn rapturous tasting notes from appreciative drinkers. Today, the company sends 90% of its wine to Europe, with the US representing a smaller share.

As if the vintage, LBV, and NV labels on ports aren't confusing enough you can buy ruby, tawny, or even white port. Ruby ports are, as the name suggests, ruby in color. They are young ports that have been aged primarily in stainless steel and in the bottle to keep them fruity and vibrant. Tawny ports are port wines that have been aged in casks. This turns their ruby color into a dark amber and makes their flavors nuttier and more oxidized. Some tawny ports, however, are simply mixtures of ruby and white ports that are aged for 4-6 years. They are half-way between ruby and traditional tawny ports in color and flavor. White ports are often served on ice, like a cocktail.

Still confused? Check out Into Wine's excellent overview of this wine's history, bottling conventions, and restrictions.

Though there isn't a lot of information on the NV Krohn Tawny Port on the label or on the web, as best as I can tell from looking at it and drinking it, this is a tawny port that is made from a blend of ruby and white ports, and it has seen some time (ca. 4-5 years) in casks to give it a rich, round taste. This wine is still bright ruby in color, with pronounced aromas of raisin and some spice. As you sip it (preferably in front of a crackling fire) you taste more raisins, plums, and a hint of cinnamon. I found this NV Tawny more complex than most NV ports at this price, and it didn't have the cloying sweetness of some non-vintage ruby ports. It's nothing like an old, vintage port, but it is delicious and easy to drink--and a great value for the price.

Port makes an excellent dessert wine if you are serving fruit and cheese. One of my favorite desserts of all time is a slice of Huntsman Cheese, with its mixture of creamy Double Gloucester and pungent Stilton cheeses in gold and white layers like a cake, a handful of Carr's wholemeal crackers, sliced apple, and a glass of port. Even without the fire, it's the recipe for a perfect, relaxing winter's evening.