My Favorite Grower Champagne (So Far)

I'm starting to get bitten by the grower champagne bug.

As a devoted drinker of NV Veuve Clicquot in the yellow label--which I enjoy partly because I'm never disappointed--I always get exactly what I expect when I pop the cork. While this kind of familiarity, like your favorite chair, is very comforting, it is not precisely exciting.

Drinking grower champagne is different. I'm finding that they are a pleasant surprise, and offer something unlike what I've grown to expect and love from familiar standbys like Veuve Clicquot.

My most recent foray into grower champagne came from Comte Audoin de Dampierre, which is based in Chenay. They've been making Champagne there for almost seven centuries, and produce over 200,000 bottles a year. For their top bottling, the Cuvee Prestige, this house still uses a hand made string ficelage, which was the traditional way to make sure the cork didn't pop out of the bottle because of all the pressure. The ficelage is the point of origin for the wire basket that most sparkling wine has wrapped around the cork today.

The NV Comte Audoin de Dampierre Grande Cuvee Brut was a terrific champagne for the money, and definitely represented excellent QPR in a grower champagne. ($25.95, Chronicle Wine Cellar; expect to pay between $19 and $36 online or at a retailer near you). Made from a blend of 30% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Noir, and 10% Pinot Meunier, this was a sparkling wine that somehow managed to be both creamy and light. The wine was bright pale straw in color, and had lots of bubbles accompanied by a frothy mousse. I smelled faint aromas of bread dough and toasted brioche, which were warm and mouth-watering. When I sipped the wine I enjoyed the flavors of cream, lemon, and apples, especially with the toasted almond edge that these flavors took on after the wine slid down your throat.

This would be a perfect bottle to open when you want something special but don't want to break the bank. It's widely available, too, so keep your eyes peeled for it in your favorite wine store.

Hot Pink Fizz for Your Next Pizza

This wine is hot pink. Don't believe me? I took a picture of it against the white backdrop of my GE dryer just to prove it.

You might ask yourself, "what is the point of hot pink fizz?" It's a good question. This is not a delicate rose, or a shell-pink sparkler, or anything subtle, profound, or even particularly memorable.

This is a "Whazzat?" wine. "What the hell is that stuff?" is most likely to be the question your guests and loved ones ask when you pour it. You can tell them that it is a gently fizzy frizzante wine from around Venice made from a grape that few have heard of called Raboso. I know, I know. Your cousin Marge doesn't care about that stuff, but it is the right answer. Raboso is a tannic monster with deeply-colored skins which helps to explain why it is so violently pink. It also explains why this wine has some serious grip to it, for all its foofy fizziness.

The NV Incanto Frizzante Rose is one of those wines that you have to have a lot of wine confidence to drink in front of other people. It's hot pink color, aromas of cherry, and tiny bubbles will be enough to make friends think you've lost your mind. But trust me, you haven't--especially if you are drinking a well-chilled bottle while eating a spicy pepperoni pizza on the deck on a warm, early summer Friday evening.

It has all the tannins of a dry red, the refreshing quality of a sparkler, and the crispness that you want on a warm day. There is a dry aftertaste, which just confirms this is no candy wine. But the combination of dryness, bubbles, and tannins makes it the ideal partner for pizza with spicy toppings, appetizer plates loaded with salumi, olives, and cheese, or just plain sipping on a warm afternoon.

You can get this unusual wine at Trader Joe's for around $5.99. At that price this is very good QPR, and it will set you back far less than the pizza or the gas required to pick the pizza up. These days, who can ask for anything more?

Learning About Grower Champagne

One of my 2008 resolutions was to get to know a bit more about Champagne, and specifically grower Champagne--the kind of bubbly that is made by growers rather than big Champagne houses such as Veuve Clicquot and Moet & Chandon. If you are interested in grower Champagne, the De Long Wine Moment has a terrific article that will explain the difference between the big brands and the small producers, as well as give you an overview of how Champagne is made.

The Agraparts are a family of growers who have been cultivating the grapes, making the wine, and bottling their own Champagne since 1894. When the second winemaker in the family, August, died in 1996 at the age of 96, he attributed his long life to drinking a bottle of Champagne a day. Today the fourth generation is doing just what their predecessors did, and all of the grapes produced on the domaine go into their own Champagne.

The Champagne region is an area of small villages where Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Meunier are grown. The grapes for this wine come from vineyards in seven different villages (hence the name "Les 7 Crus"): Avize, Oger, Oiry, Cramant, Avenay Val d'Or, Bergeres-les- Vertus, and Mardeuil. Each of these areas is known for particular characteristics, and the blending of grapes from each helps to make the wine complex and distinctive. Avize, for example, is known for the delicacy of its Chardonnay, while Cramant is known for producing wines with fabulous aromas and a caramel taste.

The NV Agrapart & Fils Les 7 Crus Brut Blanc de Blancs was a very good QPR example to start my adventures into grower Champagne. ($34.99, domaine547--but the new bottle has gone up a bit in price to $37.99). Made from 100% Chardonnay, the wine was pale straw in color, with lots of mousse or froth and abundant bead or bubbles when it is first opened. The aromas of warm brioche just out of the oven, fresh lemon zest, and apple welcome you into the glass, where your first sips reveal an open, almost lacy, texture. It was at this moment that I felt I could taste the grapes from Avize and Cramant. The yeasty, bready aromas become more concentrated in the flavors, where the apple turns towards tarter Granny Smith. I did get a slightly caramel, nutty edge to the aftertaste, as well. This wine had great complexity for a Champagne at this price point, and I found it far less assertive and lemony than most of the house style Champagnes I've been able to afford. That complexity may come from the fact that the Agraparts age their Champagne on the lees in the bottle for three years prior to disgorging, which takes place 2 months before the bottles are shipped.

I would definitely buy more of this Champagne, and keep it on hand for special occasions. Those special occasions would include days like today, i.e. Fridays. Yes, you're worth the splurge (especially if you filed taxes this week!)

If you have any other suggestions of grower Champagnes for me to try, please let me know in the comments section. I've got a lot to learn.

Tickled Pink

Cremant d'Alsace--where have you been all my life?

I know I'm supposed to be learning about grower champagnes this year, but I can't resist an affordable bottle of bubbles. I was in a small grocery store on the upper Sonoma/lower Mendocino Coast and they had a bottle of NV Domaine Allimant-Laugner Brut Rose for $21.69. Brut--Rose--Sparkling
--just over $20. What's not to like? Wine comes to this grocery store up a long, winding road and that kind of driving costs money. You will find it in a store online or near you for between $17 and $20. If you do, you should buy it.

Cremant d'Alsace is an appellation in the Alsace region of France. Pinot Blanc and Pinot Noir are often used to make Cremant d'Alsace, and while the region's sparkling wine may not be as well known as that from Champagne or Burgundy, wine has been made here for a very long time.

Take this wine, for example. Domaine Allimant-Laugner is a family-owned and operated business. The Allimant family have been involved in the wine business since 1724, when they settled in Alsace near Orschwiller. Today, Hubert Laugner makes wines based on his belief that what he does is both an art and a vocation. His wine-making philosophy includes observation, patience, and the pursuit of beauty.

The result is this beautiful, drinkable, and affordable wine. The first reaction you will have to it is, "it's actually pink!" Not fuchsia, not salmon, not copper, it's shell pink--soft and delicate, with some coppery glints around the edges. When I held it up to the light I saw a very active medium bead or bubble, which is always a good sign in my book. The aromas were strawberry, with some mineral notes just around the edges. 100% Pinot Noir grapes go into the wine, which accounted for these aromas, and the same strawberry and mineral combination was also present in the flavors. The finish was reasonably long, and the mineral notes became pleasantly chalky. I didn't detect much yeastiness in this dry wine, but instead the overall impression was one of cleanness and brightness. Domaine Allimant-Laugner is made in the Champagne method, so it will suit traditionalists down to the ground. Excellent QPR.

This is one of those wines that you would be tickled pink to have on hand when the occasion calls for toasts. Personally, I'm buying every bottle left in the store before I leave for LA today. If you have a wedding in your future, or know somebody who does, I would highly recommend this wine for the celebrations. And if not, buy some for yourself.

Sparkling Wine from Campania

Alessandro de Conciliis likens making wine to playing jazz. The analogy is a good one. Both take specific elements, put them into new combinations, mix the old with the new, and improvise when necessary to make things sing.

Based in Campania, de Conciliis makes a number of great wines, but I wanted to taste his sparkling wine because of the shared Roman heritage that this Italian region has with the French region of Champagne. When I think Italian sparkling wine I think Prosecco, but I'm learning that there's a whole world of choices out there in Italy if you like bubbles.

The 2005 Viticoltori De Conciliis Selim sparkling wine is just one example. ($19.99, K & L Wines; available elsewhere for between $15 and $20) Named after the jazz musician Miles Davis, it's made from 70% Fiano (variety #97 in my Wine Century Club) and 30% Aglianico grape varieties--the first native to the region, the second brought to Campania in ancient times by the Greeks. This was a good QPR sparkler, with a pronounced yeasty aroma. Citrus and nuts played a duet in the flavors, and the wine was active in your mouth with its abundant small bubbles/bead. This wine was better with food, given its yeasty aromas, and it went especially well with appetizers--especially those that involve bread like thin grissini, or nuts (I loved this with a handful of cashews).

It was a treat to try this interesting Italian sparkling wine, and confirmed my suspicion that Italian whites are going to play a significant role in my top wine discoveries this year.

Ooh La La! Affordable French Champagne

I'm off to a late start with my project to drink more French champagne this year. It was one of my New Year's Wine Resolutions, but Italian wine and weird varieties have definitely taken center stage here at GWU$20.

Finally I managed to make bubbles my top priority, and went around the shops looking for something that wasn't a big name on sale, or my trusty (but not creative) Veuve Clicquot with the orangey-yellow label. I took some advice from the folks at Chronicle Wine Cellar, and picked up a bottle of NV Beaumont des Crayeres Brut Grande Reserve ($26.95, Chronicle Wine Cellar; available elsewhere for under $30).

Beaumont des Crayeres is actually a cooperative venture that winemakers in the Champagne region began in 1955. More than 240 "partner-members" provide grapes for the wines, often grown on very small family plots near Epernay. This combination of small plots and a single, larger house style was intriguing to me because it seemed to me (based on my very limited knowledge, to be sure) that Beaumont des Crayeres is halfway between the big Champagne houses and the smaller houses where a single grower is able to put out a very small amount of limited production wine.

The combination yields very good results, if my bottle of Grande Reserve is representative. Made from 60% Pinor Meunier, 25% Chardonnay, and 15% Pinot Noir, this was an excellent QPR Champagne for under $30. It had, as I hope the picture shows, a very dynamic small bead that filled the glass with vapor trails of bubbles. It was pale straw in color--much paler than you would expect--and had shy aromas of biscuit and citrus that you slowly emerged from the glass as it became a bit warmer. The flavors were full of bread dough, lemon, and a bit of stone. the overall impression of the wine was one of clean freshness, and every sip made you head straight back to the glass (and the bottle for more).

This wine was a definite rebuy, and if I had the space I'd buy a case and keep it on hand for a whole year's worth of impromptu celebrations. After this success, I think you can count on seeing some more Champagne reviews shortly.

That's Amore--Italian Style

It's Valentine's Day on Thursday, and if you are still looking for something to pop open with the one you love, one of Italy's largest winemakers, Zonin, has an idea for you.

They've just come out with a new line of wines called "Primo Amore" designed with the younger, just-starting-out oenophile in mind. All of the bottles have bright graphic labels, and they also have screw caps. They are also priced for the budget-minded, at just $6.99-$7.99 suggested retail.

So far there are four bottlings under the "Primo Amore" label, and I'm going to focus today on the white and red that Zonin sent me to sample named for the famous star-crossed lovers: the NV Zonin Primo Amore Romeo and the NV Zonin Primo Amore Juliet. Just like young love, these wines are slightly sweet, fun, and fizzy. They are also low-alcohol, which makes them a perfect option for sipping before or after dinner with some appetizers or some chocolate, and one of them will even go with your main course.

The NV Zonin Primo Amore Juliet is a fresh and crisp wine made up a blend of Garganega and Moscato grapes. With lots of small bubbles and a low, 7.5% alcohol level, this would be a great pre-dinner sipper. Where it would really shine, however, it as a dessert wine. There were nice aromas of apples and flowers that drew you into the glass. Flavors of pear, apple, and peach kept this wine from becoming too sweet. Think of this as a perfect partner to fruit-based desserts, simple biscuits, or on its own. At under $8, this is a very good QPR choice for Valentine's Day, or any day.

The NV Zonin Primo Amore Romeo is made from a blend of Merlot and Malvasia Nero. It is just barely off-dry--not a wine for dessert, in my opinion. Indeed, the label suggests chilling it and having it with pizza or pasta. Pepperoni pizza is made for this wine (I tried it out with sausage pizza, and it was excellent), and it would go equally well with a big Italian sandwich or sub, or spicy antipasti with lots of salami. It is the color of cranberries, and is also effervescent with lots of fine bubbles. There is very little aroma to this wine (unlike the Juliet), and flavors of plum and cherry that are simple and eminently quaffable. For the price, this is another very good QPR wine to keep on hand for pizza night, or to have for parties this spring with big platters of antipasti when the weather gets warm.

Because we all -- ahem -- procrastinate, Zonin also set up a site where you can send the one you love an email with a snippet of classic poetry. The selections include not only Shakespeare and Yeats, but also more modern contributions from Elvis and Oscar Hammerstein. The emails come with a nice heart graphic made out of roses and a simple calligraphic script in red and black.

So now there's no excuse. Send the one you love a little note, buy some flowers, and get some light, sparkling wine. Happy Valentine's Day!

Grape Variety #92: Pineau d'Aunis

It's pink. It has bubbles. It's under $15. It's Pineau d'Aunis.

It's what?

Pineau d'Aunis is a red grape variety that is native to the Loire. Popular in the late medieval period among those who could afford it, Pineau d'Aunis is relatively obscure today. With spicy flavors inflected with what some call piney and others graphite notes. The grape can also make a sparkling wine, which is even harder to find than the still reds made with this variety. In my hunt for the seldom-sipped to fill out my Wine Century, this was definitely a grape on my "must taste" list.

Vincent Girault, the winemaker at the biodynamic and organic Chateau Gaillard, makes just such a wine, and when I had the chance to buy it from Garagiste back in June, I jumped at the chance. Doktor Weingolb has had a Cab Franc made my this maker, and Girault also makes two sparklers, a NV Brut and this NV Rose Brut. I've had both, and definitely prefer the rose. As usual with the biodynamic wines I've tasted, I found that this wine had a nice mineral twang as you swallowed the wine.

The NV Chateau Gaillard Cuvee Charlette Voyant was a dry rose sparkler with very good QPR. (Garagiste, $11.84; unable to find this one online at any merchant). The wine had aromas of those tiny little European wild strawberries which are always a bit tart. Accompanying the strawberries in the flavors was a pleasant creamy note and a bit of stone in the finish. When you poured the wine there was lots of frothy mousse/foam, and a relatively large bubble or bead. Still, it was a great sipper, especially for early spring, and a definite conversation piece.

I know lots of folks are looking for sparklers for next week's celebrations, so if you are on the hunt for a wine to share with your loved one on Valentine's Day, ask your favorite merchant if they stock a sparkling wine from the Loire. You may not be able to find a biodynamic Pineau d'Aunis based sparkling wine, but you still may find something with great QPR.

A Perfect, Pink Dessert Wine: 2007 Innocent Bystander Pink Moscato

Dessert wines come in all shapes, sizes, colors, intensities, and prices. From thick, aromatic vintage ports to half-bottles of Sauternes with their honeyed sweetness, to fizzy moscatos, there's something for everybody. This year I'm going to make it a point to try some new dessert wines, because they are so often the perfect thing to top off a weeknight meal or a special dinner.

My first find for the year is the 2007 Innocent Bystander Muscat ($9.99/375ml, domaine547). What a great dessert wine, with its beautiful pink color and aromas of juicy peach and strawberry. You pop the crown cap on this little bottle, and everything about the experience is light, summery, refreshing, and fun. The flavors keep up this playful spirit, continuing with the peach and strawberry but adding some clementine to add some zing and freshness. This is a dessert wine that retains its crispness, and is not too sweet. For $9.99 this is a perfect wine to share with someone you love in the evening, or drink over several nights by yourself. I used a champagne stopper to seal in the bubbles and it remained pleasant to drink over the course of three evenings. Excellent QPR, with its great balance between sweetness and crispness and its fruity flavors.

You don't really need to eat anything with this wine, since it's going to satisfy all your post-dinner urges for something sweet and indulgent. But if you must, have it with a dark chocolate dessert, or with something very simple like madeleines, shortbread, or a bowl of berries.

How Does Catavino Spell December? CAVA

Ryan and Gabriella at Catavino have made Spain's famous sparkler, cava, their theme for this December. They will be posting regularly about what is usually a great bargain in sparklers, and are looking for feedback and input from readers about their cava experiences.

It seemed like the right moment for me to have a glass of cava and to formally thank Ryan and Gabriella for all they've done in 2007 to help me get to know Spanish wines. I'm not sure where I'd be if I hadn't had Catavino's excellent information and coverage to help me through! With their help I've been able to make good on my New Year's Resolution to get to know Spanish wine a bit better.

So I popped a cork on the 2004 Juve y Camps Cava Reserva de la Familia Brut Natura and toasted Catavino the other night. ($16.99, Mission Wine). This cost a bit more than most of the cavas I've purchased in the past, and I was interested in seeing if a more expensive wine would deliver more. There were aromas of toast and bitter almond, which were also discernible in the flavors. There were characteristic citrus notes, as well, but they took a back seat to the nutty, toasty-ness of this wine. There were lots of medium-sized bubbles, some frothy mousse when the wine was poured, and crisp aftertaste. This wine was reasonably complex, but in the end I wasn't sure it was really worth the extra money. Still, it was good QPR and would certainly hold its own with a bargain champagne or US domestic sparkler. (PS. The label is for the 2001 vintage but we did have the 2004).

Join in the fun this month over at Catavino, and buy a few bottles of this Spanish sparkler to get you through the holidays. And thanks again to Ryan and Gabriella for all their help, excellent writing, and advice in 2007.

Holiday Food and Wine Strategy #3: Takeout

Holidays are full of traditions. Eggnog. Mistletoe. Dreidels. Latkes. Takeout.

Takeout is a tradition that goes back at least as far as ancient Rome. But during the holidays, there is no happier tradition in my opinion. To fully enjoy it, it's imperative that you stock up on specific kinds of wine and have them in the cabinet and waiting for your next needy moment. In my house, we don't like to spend more on the takeout wine than on the takeout itself--despite Dean & Deluca's latest and best efforts to get me to spend $395 on six bottles of wine because "nobody drinks fancy wine every day." Well, I think we can do a lot better than that, don't you? For far less than $395, here are some wines that go great with your takeout, and will leave you lots left of dosh left over for holiday shopping.

Riesling--This is what you need for incendiary takeout, such as hot Thai curries, vindaloo, and raging Szechuan cuisine. Go for something dry or off-dry for best results. There are lots made in the US and Australia that are not terribly expensive, or you can splurge slightly and get a bona fide German riesling kabinett like the 2005 Max Ferd. Richter Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett($16.95, Chronicle Wine Cellar; available elsewhere for between $15 and 27) It had full aromas of peach, peach blossom, and apple with a silky texture and flavors of apple, citrus, peach, and flowers that were distinctly off-dry.

Viognier--This is what you need for everything Asian that is not searingly hot, or spicy little chicken wings. If you like noodle bowls, pad thai, and mu shu, this is the wine to have on hand. Try the 2005 Domaine de Gournier Viognier, a producer recommended to me by Dr. Weingolb. (I got this as a sample from domaine547, and you can get it there for just $10.99). It was drier than most domestic viognier, with subdued citrus and apple aromas, and a predominantly apple palate.

Red Blends--These are vital for your pizza delivery nights, or for coming home to after driving through In-N-Out Burger. Blending several red varieties helps to keep the wine soft, affordable, and relatively inexpensive. There are lots of earlier reviews for red blends on the site, but we just enjoyed the 2004 Peterson "Zero Manipulation" red blend and highly recommend it for your house red this holiday season. ($12.49, WineQ) It is a carignane-based blend with additions of zinfandel and mourvedre, and it tastes a bit like an Italian red. High-toned red fruits (cranberry, pomegranate) are present in both the aromas and flavors. A bit of black raspberry is in there, too, if you reach for it. Nice acidity, not too much tannin--in short, a great food wine.

Lightly Oaked Chardonnay--Good with any bucket of fried chicken, or the rotisserie chickens from the supermarket, a lightly oaked chardonnay imparts enough richness to stand up to the bird, whether fried or roasted. One that we liked recently was the 2005 Egret Chardonnay. ($14.99, WineQ) This wine had rich aromas of vanilla and pear, with touches of white flowers. There were flavors of creme fraiche, apple, and pear with a touch of Mandarin orange at the very end. This was a creamy, slightly oaky chardonnay that paired well with food.

Sparklers--With everything else, from subs to salads, why not open an inexpensive sparkling wine? We had the NV Zonin Prosecco the other week, and it was a terrific bargain. ($5.99, Trader Joe's; between $5 and $9 from other merchants). This was the color of pale toast, and had aromas of lemon, bread dough, and apple. Lemon and white grapefruit dominate the flavors and produce a very light, refreshing wine that is great value.

Remember, this is supposed to be the season of joy. Put that cookbook down and get some takeout. There's plenty of time to make fricasee and beef daube later. After the packages are wrapped.

Add Some Sparkle to Your Life

Are you feeling a bit besieged? Is your to-do list longer than the combined total length of all your limbs? Does your boss keep giving you "just one more thing" to do before you leave work today?

You need to add some sparkle to your life. And if you feel like I do, this is not the time to go for the cheapest thing you can find. As life heats up and we move towards the holidays, why not take some time out for you and the one you love and buy a nice bottle of sparkling wine, put your feet up, and take a few moments to relax and recoup?

I have two contenders for you that are widely available and won't require much hunting. If you are feeling stressed out, the last thing you need to do is spend time in the car searching out a less familiar sparkling wine. I'm usually a big advocate of lesser known varietals and makers, but sometimes you just want to pick up the sparkler with the milk and head home. Here in Southern California, both of these wines are available in supermarkets and Trader Joe's. They are well-made, widely distributed, and nice to drink.

The 2003 Domaine Carneros Brut is a vintage sparkler that is priced lower than many non-vintage sparklers. ($19.99, Beverages and More; available from many merchants for just under $20) The age on this wine makes it more toasty and biscuity than the NV sparklers you may drink more often. I found this wine full of mineral notes, especially stone, in both the aroma and in the flavors. The flavors were a nice blend of citrus, biscuit, and stone which made it an interesting sparkler for the price, and excellent QPR.

If you would like to buy a real French champagne without breaking the bank, the NV Moet and Chandon White Star is a good QPR sparkling wine that is available everywhere. ($30.99, Trader Joe's; available from nearly everybody for around this price) The color reminded me of underdone toast, and it had lots of fine mousse. I found the medium size of the bubbles a bit larger than my preference, but its aromas of hazelnut and toasted bread made up for that. The flavors were nutty, toasty, and had just a hint of pear underneath. This champagne is just a bit shy of true brut, so it wasn't searingly dry. This would be perfect with some crackers and cheese, and just as good on its own.

Give yourself a chance to relax and reconnect with your nearest and dearest in the next few weeks. Pretty soon, it's all going to be a blur of friends, family, and festivity. Add some sparkle to your life now, and you'll get through the holidays with no trouble.

Tasting Room: Anderson Valley Sparklers

Last month a few friends and I drove through the old redwoods on Highway 128 in Mendocino County, and visited two tasting rooms that specialized in sparkling wine. It was a beautiful day, and we had a terrific time with our hosts at the wineries. (image from Roederer Estate)

It was also an educational day, because at Roederer Estate we were able to taste two sparkling multi-vintage wines bottled at the same time in two different formats: 750mls and magnums. Just a few days ago, Dr. Vino reported that a student asked whether the size of the bottle effected the wine inside. He wrote to Terry Thiese, the well-known importer of champagne, to see what he thought--and the answer was yes, it does make a difference! As you will see from the notes below, that was certainly our experience, too.

Enjoy, and here's hoping that you have something to celebrate soon that will cause you to bring out some bubbly. I've arranged them from excellent QPR to poor QPR, rather than alphabetically.

M.V. Roederer Estate Brut (750ml from $15-$26; magnums from $39) Tasted in 750 ml and magnum bottles on same day. The 750ml bottle was very lively in the mouth, with aromas and flavors of yellow delicious apples, hazelnut, and toast. As with all Roederer sparklers we tasted, it had a creamy mousse and a fine bead. The magnum tasted very different due to longer time on the lees according to our tasting room staff, and the larger bottle size. It was much creamier and toastier, a very rich version of the brut in the smaller bottle with all the same flavor notes magnified and deepened. Excellent QPR, no matter what the size. But if you can get your hands on the magnum, it is a super wine, at a super price.

M.V. Roederer Estate Extra Dry($22) I really liked this wine with its soft character. Aromas of brown sugar preceded a mouthful of toffee apple. Typical Roederer delicacy of bead and a nicely creamy mousse. Unquestionably very good QPR.

1997 Roederer Estate L'Ermitage Brut (750ml around $42; contact winery for more information, magnums available for around $89) Tasted in the magnum format. Just lovely--perhaps the best domestic sparkler I've ever had. Hay, apple, lemon, biscuit and mineral aromas and flavors. Super complexity with a tiny bead, creamy mousse, and a long lingering finish. Not cheap, but very French in style and substance. Undeniably pricey, but I felt like it was worth it. Very good QPR.

2000 Roederer Estate L'Ermitage Brut ($36-$40) A terrific sparkler made with complexity and finesse. Aromas of hay lead to a palate of creamy lemon, mineral and apple. Very nicely balanced, with small bead and creamy mousse. Pricey, but it delivers. I preferred the 1997, however. Very good QPR.

M.V. Scharffenberger Crémant (around $20) I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of this wine. Yeasty nose with peach and citrus notes gives way to a dry, peachy palate. Would be very good with food. Good QPR.

M.V. Scharffenberger "Extra Dry" ($20) A little more weight and complexity than the Brut, with 1% more residual sugar and the same blend (60% pinot, 40% chardonnay fruit). This would be a super appetizer or toasting wine, that would stand up well to sipping and having with a variety of foods. Not sweet by any means, so this is not a dessert wine. Good QPR

M.V. Scharffenberger Brut ($13-$22) Decent domestic sparkler, and worth the money if you want something simple and can get it for around $15—but I wouldn’t pay more than that for it. Aromas are more attractive than the palate, with red fruit and citrus. Vanilla cream notes enter into the flavors and I felt washed it out a bit. Short finish. Good QPR.

M.V. Roederer Estate Brut Rosé ($21-$30) 60% Pinot and 40% chard make up this very pale salmon wine--so pale it is almost transclucent. Muted and delicate flavors of citrus and toast. I felt like there was something missing here, and had I spent more than $20 on this I would have been disappointed. Poor QPR.

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.

Tasting Room: Toad Hollow Vineyards

Today marks the start of a new Friday feature called Tasting Room. A complement to Friday's Winery Watches, these posts will include reports of current releases from a particular winery. In some cases they will be the current releases of a winery I've written a Winery Watch profile on in the past. Sometimes, they will cover wines made by negociants or folks who draw from a variety of vineyards all over California and the world. In other cases, I will have had the opportunity to taste a complete line-up of the wines and just want to get brief reviews out to you as quickly as possible. Enjoy!

If you find yourself in or near the town of Healdsburg, be sure to visit the friendly tasting room of Toad Hollow Vineyards. Toad Hollow was started by Todd Williams and Rodney Strong, two men with a passion for making world class wines at affordable prices. The wines that I tasted when I visited certainly lived up to that mandate. I've already reviewed a Toad Hollow wine for WBW #36, a delicious unoaked chardonnay. Today I want to share my other tasting notes from that visit. To find these Toad Hollow wines at a retailer near you, click on their interactive map for distributor and retailer contacts.

2004 Toad Hollow Cabernet Sauvignon Concinnity (purchased at the tasting room for around $17; no other merchant information available). A new world red blend made in an old world style. Rich red fruits lie underneath green herbal and pepper notes. Contains cabernet sauvignon, petite sirah, syrah, and cabernet franc. Limited production. Very drinkable. Will appeal to those who like a more restrained and less extracted cab, but find Bordeaux TOO green. Nicely balanced, nice finish. Good QPR.

2005 Toad Hollow Pinot Noir Goldie's Vines ($20 at the tasting room; under $25 at other merchants) Extremely good pinot noir made from Russian River Valley fruit. Abundant, bright red raspberry fruit is balanced out with toasted oak. There are dusty tannins and earthy notes to add to the complexity. Very good QPR.

2004 Toad Hollow Merlot Reserve Richard McDowell Vineyard ($18 at the tasting room; under $20 through other merchants) I loved this beautifully made merlot from Russian River Valley fruit. It is rich, robust, and fruity with a core of currant, clove, and caramel aromas and flavors. Accented by vanilla and toast, this wine will please any big red wine drinker. Not a wimpy merlot by any means. Excellent QPR.

N.V. Toad Hollow Erik's the Red (between $10 and $15 from most merchants) Paso Robles grapes go into this surprisingly good blend of 18 grapes. Priced perfectly to accompany your pizza, it is a smooth drinker, with nice acidity, and not at all mushy. Cab Franc provides interesting herbal aromas, zinfandel lends its blackberry fruit to the mix, and petite sirah's richness and body lend lushness to the blend. At the same time there is a definite softness to the wine (probably from its pinot noir, grenache, and dolcetto grapes) as well. Great house red candidate. Excellent QPR.

N.V. Toad Hollow Limoux Risqué (under $15) . Made with French grapes, this light and delicate sparkler is sweet and meant to go with dessert. This is a cake wine, with only 6% alc/vol and a nice balance of acidity to counteract the sweetness. Light lemon aromas and flavors, with lots of honeysuckle impression. Try it with coconut cake, angel food cake with berries. Very good QPR.

It is a sad, sad task for me to add to this post the news that one of Toad Hollow's founders, Todd Williams, passed away in Santa Rosa on August 14, 2007. Todd Williams was a great believer that everyone deserved to drink good wine, even those on a budget. He was also a believer in giving back to this community. Donations can be made in his memory to the Boys and Girls Club of Healdsburg, and to the Norma and Evert Person Heart Institute at the Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. He will be missed.

Unoaked Bubbles: Moscato

This week we've been celebrating the 3rd anniversary of the wine blogosphere's most popular event, Wine Blogging Wednesday. The theme for this month's tasting was unoaked chardonnay, and I decided to feature unoaked wines all week. First up was an unoaked pinot noir, then an unoaked chardonnay. But what celebration would be complete without a little sparkle?

Most sparkling wine undergo some time in the barrel, but there's one sparkler that never seems to get wooded, and that's sparkling moscato. This is not a big, complex, bubbly wine. Nor is it a dry wine. But if you are looking for something off-dry and slightly sparkling, moscato can be a very good choice. Made from the muscat canelli or moscato bianco varietal, the most famous are made in the region surrounding Asti, but I tried a local moscato made in Mendocino County, and it had very good QPR.

The 2006 Enotria Moscato (available from merchants for between $12 and $15) is made by the Graziano Family of winemakers. The wine is a pale, watery gold in color and as with most well-made moscatos, the first thing that hits you are the aromas of flowers and citrus fruit. The flavors of peach and lemon accent these wonderful aromatics which fill your head with every sip and transport you to summer, no matter what time of year. This wine is off-dry, but a strong core of acidity kept it in good balance. Its slight effervescence was not as fizzy as Italian versions of this wine that I've had. With only 10% alcohol by volume it can serve as a stand-alone sipper or as a dessert wine. I can't honestly think of a good food option, with the possible exception of peach cobbler. It would be fantastic with that. I just drank it on its own, and enjoyed every mildly intoxicating sip.

In addition to its low alcohol, a moscato like this is perfect for summertime drinking because it benefits from having a good chill. If you are sweating in the summer heat, try to find a bottle of this refreshing wine, pop it in the fridge for an hour, and then sit outside in the evening and sip a glass. Instant coolness.

Happy Birthday, Wine Blogging Wednesday. Here's to a great 4th year, and many more years to come.

Fancy Dinner for 6? The $44 Cameron Hughes Wine Solution

June is all about big celebrations: graduation, Father's Day, weddings. What this means for many of us is that we are hosting, and attending, more than our usual share of fancy dinners. This month, lots of us are trying to figure out how to stretch our food and wine budgets to accommodate special meals with grandparents, visiting relatives, dads, grads, brides, grooms, and in-laws. (photo by Ian Britton of FreeFoto.com)

What you need is a little help from Cameron Hughes and your local Costco. With them on your side, you can serve each guest 3 glasses of wine (one sparkling, one white, and one red) for $44--total. Yes, these will be normal size glasses, not a huge beaker full of wine like the picture to the right. If you want to serve your guests more generous pours, buy two bottles of each. At $88 dollars for 6 bottles, it's a steal. I received these bottles as samples from the winery, but I would (and did ) happily pay retail for them after I went through the samples. This was my first Cameron Hughes experience. Trust me, it won't be my last.

People can get a bit sniffy about Cameron Hughes wine, and make comparisons between them and Trader Joe's "Two Buck Chuck." I've had both. There is no comparison. These are wines with much more complexity and finesse. The reason? Like a European negociant, Hughes buys his grapes in lots from top-notch growers who have a surplus, and then in most cases he bottles wines made just from that lot to preserve their unique characteristics and distinctive flavors. Sometimes the production totals are relatively small--a few hundred cases--so you have to move quickly to get your stash before they're sold out. To bring them to you at the best possible price, Hughes makes his wines available directly from the winery or from Costco, cutting out the markups that typically go to distributors. And, Cameron Hughes is the first US winery to be carbon neutral, so his wine is good and good for the environment, too.

Here's how to have your own fancy sit-down dinner and serve three excellent QPR wines that taste like they set you back $100 but will cost only $44.

Before dinner, serve your guests the NV Cameron Hughes Lot 25 ($21). Packaged in a classy bottle with platinum wrappings, it's labeled NV for technical reasons having to do with dosage, even though the vast majority of this wine came from grapes picked in 1998. The wine's age gives it wonderful richness of color and and a biscuity taste, as well as a refined texture from its tiny bubbles. Flavors of apple and a round nuttiness made this a hair shy of brut, in my opinion, but this was perfect for me since I like a sparkling wine that has some soft edges to it. Made from equal parts of chardonnay and pinot noir grapes picked in the Carneros AVA, this is a nice step up if you're used to drinking the standard non-vintage $20 sparklers. And it's good with cheese, guacamole, shrimp cocktail--a very versatile food wine.

Try serving a first course of asparagus spears wrapped in prosciutto, or a leafy green salad with sherry vinaigrette and warm goat cheese rounds. The 2006 Cameron Hughes Lot 26 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc ($11; $8.99 at my local Costco) would be a perfect partner for either of these dishes. I like sauvignon blancs fermented in stainless steel like this one, and I really love the relatively low 12.8% alc./vol. It was a textbook example of a Marlborough sauvignon blanc, with a pale, translucent color and tangy aromas of cut grass and citrus rind. The flavors are predominantly white grapefruit with a bit of lemon, but the grass notes are reintroduced in the juicy finish. This makes it a perfect summer sipper and for about $9 a bottle, it is no wonder that every time I go to the local Costco there are fewer and fewer cases to be had.

For the main event, many of us will head straight for the beef. Steaks, roasts, and London Broils are favorites at fancy dinners. Of course, this kind of main course demands a rich and complex wine, like the 2005 Cameron Hughes Lot 29 Lake County Meritage ($11; $8.99 at my local Costco). Poured into a decanter and tasted blind, most drinkers would think it was a young cru bourgeois from Bordeaux. Made in a restrained Old World style, the blend contains cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and cabernet franc. This wine had abundant tannins, but it drank very well after 30 minutes in the decanter, and even better later. It was dark plum in color, with aromas of pencil lead, herbs, blackberry, and currant. As the wine bloomed, there were flavors of eucalyptus, more herbs, plum, and blackberry. I suspect this will age into a beauty. Sadly, Lot 29 is already sold out at the winery, but it may be available to you locally--there are still a few cases at my Costco in the LA area, and I ran out yesterday and bought 3 more bottles to stick in the cellar. If you can't find it, you might want to snap up one of their other new releases, like the 2005 Cameron Hughes Lot 34 Rutherford Cabernet ($14; $11.99 at my local Costco and now also cooling its heels in my cellar).

All three wines represented excellent QPR, with their textbook varietal characteristics, yummy flavor profiles, and low cost. These wines tasted special, and sitting back and sipping a distinctive 9-year-old sparkling wine with my guests that retails for around $20 makes me happy. And if you're reading this blog, it will probably make you happy, too. We are the people for whom Cameron Hughes makes wines: consumers who know enough to know they don't want oak chip tea bags in their chardonnay, but don't necessarily want to pay $30 or more for a bottle to drink with dinner.

If you missed your chance to get Lot 29, be sure that you don't miss any future releases by signing up for their email newsletters. I seem never to be in my Costco when the Cameron Hughes Wines arrive--and they do go quickly--but the newsletters tell you specifically which Costcos are receiving which wines, and they let you know those that are available on the website for you non-Costco types. I've got a few more bottles to share with you over the next few weeks (including a Chardonnay and a Syrah-Mourvedre blend), so stay tuned for more Cameron Hughes reviews.

Closure Issues

So it's about 100 degrees outside, and you put a bottle of lovely French Sancerre in the fridge so that when you get home you can sit with a cool glass of white wine, letting the condensation drip down onto your hot little fingers and putting the cares of the day behind you.

Then the corkscrew slips into the cork and you realize you have a problem. The cork is spongy. This is not a good sign. You manage to get it out and there is the distinctive whiff of wet dog and old wet newspapers. This is also not a good sign. You taste it and it tastes of wildlife and old, wet newspapers.

You've just had closure issues. Everyone in California has issues, or so they say in New York. But when a bottle of wine is not sealed properly, all kinds of nastiness creeps into what would otherwise be your after work treat.

There is nothing like closure issues to make the most steadfast, cork-loving, traditionalist take a dramatic left turn towards the land of screw-tops, glass stoppers, synthetic corks, and crown caps. So I quickly stuck a bottle of champagne into the fridge, determined not to be foiled by another corked bottle of wine (at least not tonight).

It was the 2000 Domaine Chandon Etoile Brut ($27.99, Beverages and More), which was capped with a crown-style bottle cap like those you would find on beer. This was a first for me. Though gussied up with a ribbon, this closure simply does not scream romance. But it did mean that I could open up my sparkler without worrying that it was going to smell of wildlife. Tainted wine, it turns out, is even less romantic than a crown-cap.

The 2000 Domaine Chandon Etoile Brut has very good QPR. Pouring the wine into the glass I was struck by its bright gilt color, its abundant fine froth and its tiny, tiny bead. This is just what I like in a sparkling wine. Aromas of mineral, toast, yeast, and apple were inviting and promising, and the wine delivered on that promise in the flavors department with pear, apple, warm bread, and stone. This represents some of the flavor complexity one would expect to find in an imported French champagne, but seldom get in a domestic I found it had a surprisingly long finish for a brut wine. This is Chandon's premier bottling, and some of the complexity is the result of the 5 years of ageing this wine gets in the bottle on the yeast.

While this sparkler was more expensive than those I normally drink, and you did not get the familiar popping the cork ritual, I would definitely buy more of this wine. And I will be looking for the brut's pink sibling, too. Would you buy sparkling wine under a beer cap--I mean crown cap? After this experience, I would. With screw-caps now adorning Burgundy bottles, can Champagne be far behind?

Sunday Brunch with Chinese Style

Sundays in LA often involve a trip to your favorite dim sum restaurant for a brunch of steamed pork buns, dumplings, and other Chinese delicacies. But the lines can be epic, and the noise significant, especially if you head out to one of the big restaurants in Monterey Park.

So our friend Mae taught me how to make dumplings and in my opinion this was better than waiting in a long line and then eating out. The process itself is very soothing, and conducive to sitting around the table, chatting and sipping wine, while the dumplings get filled and pleated up. And then--you get to eat them!

Brunch--even Chinese brunch--still requires bubbly wine as far as I'm concerned. But a champagne or brut sparkling wine wouldn't work. With our dumplings we had the 2006 Fetish Wines Moscato "Field of Dreams" from the Barossa Valley ($16.00, Malibu Wines; available from other merchants for under $15). Fetish Wines is a proprietary brand of Joshua Tree Imports, who also make Razor's Edge Wines. The wine was made for Fetish by the well-known Australian winemaker Wayne Dutschke from grapes grown on his Barossa Valley estate. I selected it in part because it was a warm afternoon, in part because moscato goes well with Asian food, and in part because its low alcohol (just 8% alc./vol.) was not going to get in the way of our pleating technique (see below). This good QPR wine was simple, fresh, and very sweet--kind of like drinking fizzy lemonade for grownups. It was a tad one-dimensional, with lemon blossom aromas, a sweet lemon palate, and a slightly bitter lemon pith edge to the finish. Still, it was refreshing and and if you are looking for a very lemony low-alcohol wine this would be a good choice. Plus, drinking it makes you feel a bit naughty, like you've spiked the punch at the prom.

If you don't live near a good dim sum restaurant, or just want to have your own dumpling stash in the freezer, here is the recipe that we followed. The results are fantastic!

Mae's Dumplings
1 package of dumpling wrappers (tip: look for the ones made closest to where you live)
1 pound ground pork or chicken
1 small head of Napa or Taiwan cabbage, cut into big chunks
1 bunch scallions or Chinese Chives, chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 inch piece of ginger, minced
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
2-3 Tbs soy sauce, or more to taste
1-2 Tbs corn starch
Bowl of water
sheet pan lined with wax or parchment paper
soy and vinegar for dipping sauce

1. Using the shredder attachment or the steel blade of a food processor, shred or pulse cabbage chunks in small batches until fairly fine. With each batch, remove the shredded cabbage and, using your hands, squeeze out all the moisture that you can. You will be surprised at how much water comes out! Put in the bowl of a mixer, or a large bowl.

2. Combine shredded cabbage with ground meat, scallions/chives, egg, ginger, garlic and soy sauce using a mixer on low speed (less messy) or using your hands (more authentic). Using chopstick or wooden spoon, add cornstarch as needed to absorb any additional moisture in the filling.

3. Take a dumpling wrapper and hold it in the palm of your left hand if you are right-handed, your right hand if your are left-handed. Moisten all around the edge of the wrapper with your finger dipped in water. Put a heaping spoonful of dumpling filling in the center. Bring the wrapper together in the center, and pinch. Then, pleat the back side of the dumpling wrapper against the smooth front side, pinching it slightly as necessary to get the pleats to stick. Curve the dumpling slightly when you are done, and sit the dumpling on the tray on its base so that the pleats sit up like a fin.

4. At this point you have several options.

You can take your tray and stick it in the freezer for about 6 hours, then take it out and make up bags of dumplings for later use. Frozen dumplings take slightly longer to cook, of course, but there's no need to thaw them first.

Or you can eat them right then and there. There are three ways to cook dumplings.

You can cook your dumplings in gently boiling water. They will float to the top of the water when cooked.

You can steam your dumplings over gently boiling water using a steamer insert or bamboo racks for about 3-5 minutes until the wrapper is cooked and slightly transclucent.

Or, you can pan fry them in a bit of oil in a skillet that has a lid. Place the flat, bottom of the dumpling in the hot oil. After 2-3 minutes, when a nice brown crust has developed, add a bit of water, clamp the lid on, and steam the dumplings for 3-4 minutes. Then take the lid off and continue to cook until nearly all the water has evaporated. (this was the method I used in the picture above)

Serve your dumplings with a bowl of dipping sauce made of soy sauce and vinegar (balsamic, chinese black vinegar, rice vinegar, or cider vinegar are best here), mixed to your taste.

Brunch and Bubbles: the NV Schramsberg Mirabelle Brut

I adore Sunday brunches. Especially in LA, when it is the only time of the week you can set a time for a meal and actually have people from all over the city reach your house on time. That's because late Sunday morning is the only time of the week when the traffic jams occur outside dim sum restaurants and not on the freeways.

Mostly, though, I love brunches because time seems to move more slowly during the hours of 11 and 3 on Sundays. The light seems more golden. The flowers smell sweeter. And friends who make you laugh under most circumstances can make you hilarious for no good reason at all.

When I think brunch, I nearly always think "bubbles" right after. Sparkling wines, with their bright acidity and low alcohol, are perfect sippers for this occasion. And they can be cut with a variety of fruit juices and purees--raspberry, peach, orange, pink grapefruit--if you want to prolong the pleasure and cut the alcohol even further. But of course you don't want to pull out a vintage French champagne at a casual, friendly brunch. Save that for the big celebrations.

Instead, opt for a budget-friendly California sparkler, like the NV Schramsberg Mirabelle Brut ($14.99, Trader Joe's). Schramsberg was founded in 1862 by Jacob Schram, a German immigrant with a viticultural background. The winery fell into disuse and dereliction, and was rescued by Jack and Jamie Davies in 1965 who saw the enormous potential in the vineyard site and the caves that peppered the hillside. Their son, Hugh, now runs the place and makes a full line of sparkling wines. The Mirabelle Brut is made from a blend of chardonnay and pinot noir grapes from Napa, Sonoma, and Mendocino. The juice is divided, some is aged, and then they are blended from many vintages until they achieve the Schramsberg house style.

The NV Schramsberg Mirabelle Brut was a very good QPR sparkler with a great deal of complexity for the price. It had a pale, buffed straw color and a nice, biscuity aroma that mixed with some hints of lemon. Citrusy, nutty, and toasty flavors enhanced the warmth of the afternoon, the soft spring air, and the companionship of good friends. It managed to be soft and refreshing, with its acidity and toast kept in nice balance and a soft, smooth bead/bubble adding to the pleasure that this wine gave.

We had the wine with an egg tart made with carmelized red onions, goat cheese, and pancetta from a great cookbook called California Home Cooking that makes the most of the local produce and foods from the great state of CA. Written by Michele Anna Jordan, author of the popular Cook's Tour of Sonoma, the recipe I used is not online, but some of her other wonderful recipes are and can be found by clicking here. With it we had a trio of salads pulled from Jamie Oliver and the Barefoot Contessa including smashed tomatoes and olives, pea and pesto, and a grilled zucchini salad with mint and basil. The meal tasted like a spring Sunday, and was the perfect companion to the sparkling wine.

If you haven't thrown a brunch lately, pick an upcoming Sunday, get some friends together, buy a few bottles of affordable bubbly, and settle in for a wonderful and relaxing afternoon. And don't forget to toast spring while you're at it.