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.

Drinking Wine Before Its Time

Sometimes, you just gotta do it. You get a bottle of wine, you're dying to try it, you know it's probably too young to show itself at its best--so you open it anyway. We all drink wine before its time. What is important is to be able to drink it for what it is--a young wine--and to figure out what it will become if you give it some time to develop.

The 2005 Twisted Oak Syrah-Viognier ($24, directly from the winery) was just such a wine. I love syrah-viognier blends, with their spicy richness serving as a foil to delicate, often ethereal aromas of white flowers. I was dying to try it, and since I had two bottles on hand I decided to commit infanticide and drink one of them now. I couldn't wait.

What was it like? A teenager--all awkward angles and stuff that doesn't quite hang together. Yet. But who would want to be judged now on their 8th grade report card? So I kept careful track of its development as I drank it over the course of several days. I became convinced that in another 12-24 months this is going to be a bombshell of a wine.

The first night, I was struck by its dark, inky plum color and its huge nose of brambly berries and spice. Flavors of berries and pepper dominated, with just a bit of a lift in the mid-palate (that part of the wine's taste that comes when it rolls through the middle of your mouth). Nice, but it hinted at so much potential I didn't want to walk away from it yet. So I recorked it without any preservative, and left it on the counter overnight.

The next night, when I pulled the cork I found that the wine was already really opening up and developing as it got some more air. The viognier was much more prominent on the second night, with aromas of gardenia and jasmine dominant, rather than berries and spice. These syrah aspects were there, too, but the impression you had now was one of a spring garden, not a berry patch. The berries had become more distinctively huckleberry at the core, with the spice really coming through as you headed towards the finish line. Very good QPR, with its layers of fruit, flowers, and spice.

I liked this wine both nights, but the way that it bloomed in just 24 hours convinced me that it has great potential for short-term cellaring over the next 1-3 years. If you can't wait and have to open a bottle now, try decanting it or at least uncork it a few hours before you want to drink it. Like all teenagers, this deserves some time to grow out of its youthful exuberance and into a well-rounded and complex wine.

Ghosts of WBWs Past: a Biodynamic Wine from the Languedoc-Roussillon

It's been a while since two of my favorite WBW themes: biodynamic wines (hosted by Jack and Joanne at Fork and Bottle) and value wines from Languedoc- Roussillon (hosted by Dr. Weingolb). Months later, I still find myself on the lookout for biodynamic and Languedoc-Roussillon bottlings, which is the true sign of a successful WBW, in my opinion. Other bloggers sometimes call these the "ghosts of WBWs past," because they, too, find themselves going back and reading the roundups and following up on some of the great reviews and finds that fellow bloggers bring out in the open. Just in time for Halloween I had one of these ghostly WBW experiences.

The 2003 Domaine Olivier Pithon Cotes du Roussillon Villages "Saturne" managed to cover two WBW themes in one bottle, since it's a biodynamic wine from the Cotes du Roussillon ($19.50, Red Carpet Wine Shop; available from other merchants for between $20 and $30). Like many wines from the south of France, this Pithon bottling was made from a blend of grenache, carignan, and syrah and had a deep, inky purple color. Either because it was made biodynamically or because it was from the Languedoc-Roussillon, I didn't find it was as aromatic as a Rhone wine made with these varietals. Still, there was loads of plummy fruit and some anise on the palate with a decided streak of minerality. This is what I associate most with biodynamic wines: a long mineral note that extends from the aromas through the last drops in the glass and beyond. Good QPR, especially for the price that I paid for it, though I would have liked it to have a little more balance between the fruit and the mineral notes.

If you are not living in LA (where it was 92 yesterday) then you may be thinking about stews, and this wine would be a good match with beef stew, or a roast chicken that sat in the oven just long enough to warm and perfume your house.

This wine has been positively reviewed recently by the LA Times, where it was included in a list of chic and affordable wines. Domaine Olivier Pithon has an excellent website, where you can learn more about their biodynamic farming practices and their line of wines, so I encourage you to head over there to learn more if you are interested.

Winery Watch: Navarro Vineyards

An ongoing series of Friday posts highlighting California family wineries. You might not be familiar with all of these vineyards and winemakers--yet--but they produce wines that speak with the voices of this state's people, places, and history. They are worth seeking out. These posts will be longer than most posts on the blog, but I hope you will find them perfect for leisurely weekend reading and internet browsing. To read previous posts in the series, click here.

Tucked into the hills just off Highway 128 in Mendocino County is a winery that produces cult wines for the common person. Navarro Vineyards is something of a cult favorite among people like you and me--folks who like fine wine, who appreciate when wine reflects the place where the grapes are grown and the varieties that go into it, and who don't want to spend an absolute fortune to drink it. Thanks to Ted Bennett and his partner in life and work, Deborah Cahn, it's been possible for ordinary people to drink extraordinary wine ever since they started Navarro Vineyards in 1974.

When Ted and Deborah began working the land and planting their vineyards, vineyards were few and far between in the Anderson Valley. They took over a former sheep ranch, and planted unfashionable varieties for the time, such as pinot noir, gewurztraminer, pinot gris, chardonnay, muscat blanc, and riesling. If this makes you think "Alsace," there is a reason. Ted and Deborah love the wines of that region, and they are perfectly suited to the Anderson Valley's soil and climate. Critics agree. The wines are regularly praised by Dan Berger, who frequently includes specific bottlings in the recommendations he makes for exciting and high value wines in Tom Stevenson's annual Wine Report (ps., the new edition is just released, so you may want to pick up the 2008 Wine Report now).

Today Navarro Vineyards is still a family affair, with Ted and Deborah working alongside their children Aaron and Sarah. If you are lucky enough to visit, you will feel like family too as you are welcomed into the friendly tasting room, given complimentary tours and pours, and lead over the hills, past the llamas, and into the rooms where the huge oak casks hold the wine until its ready to be bottled and sold to consumers like you and me. This is a working farm, run by people who love the land and live as lightly as possible on it, using cover crops and sheep to enrich the soil instead of chemical fertilizers. (photo of Ted, Deborah, Aaron, and Sarah, along with their beloved dachshund, from Navarro Vineyards)

Navarro Vineyards devotees are usually members of the Pre-Release Club, which delivers a personal stash of Navarro wines to you each June and December at 10-33% discounts. The friends I visited the vineyard with late this summer are members of the club, and were able to pick up some of their wines while they were there. They were even kind enough to share a bottle of Navarro's special pinot noir, the Deep-End Blend, with me over dinner after our day out in the Anderson Valley.

Below you will find my tasting notes for the wines I tasted recently at the vineyard. Prices indicated here are the suggested retail prices at the winery; as always the price you pay may be higher or lower at your local merchant. Clicking on a wine's name takes you either to a list of merchants who stock the wine, or to Navarro's online store where you can order what you want and have them shipped directly to you as long as your state allows it. Navarro wines can be hard to find in retail stores, because Ted and Deborah prefer to keep their prices low, cut out the middle-men and middle-women, and sell directly to their customers. With wine this good, and prices this reasonable, who can argue with their plan?

2005 Navarro Vineyards Pinot Noir ($18) I promised you I would tell you when I found a really good pinot noir under $20. I found it, and I'm telling you, this is excellent QPR. Rose aromas and juicy black cherry fruit usher you into the equally juice cherry flavors. There is medium toast on the mid-palate and a good balance already for a young wine between fruit, spice, and acidity. Not as complex as the Methode a l'Ancienne pinot noir, but a great deal for the price.

2004 Navarro Vineyards Pinot Noir "Méthode à l'Ancienne" ($25-$35) Really impressed with this year's bottling. I tasted nuts and earth, along with mushroomy and truffley notes, that accent the core of bright acidity and cherry fruit. I think it will age very, very nicely. Excellent QPR.

2005 Navarro Vineyards Navarrouge ($12) Eight red varietals, including syrah, cabernet, pinot noir, and carignan go into this excellent QPR wine that should be a leading contender for your house red. Cherry blossom aromas, black cherry flavors with a fair amount of oak in the midpalate, but it's interesting and flavorful. I suspect it will be even better in 4-8 months. This is one to buy by the case and just have on hand for when friends drop by at the holidays.

2006 Navarro Vineyards Edelzwicker ($12). A lovely wine for the money, made from riesling, gewurztraminer, and pinot gris grapes. Enticing flower aromas, with a palate of litchi and lime. Our favorite wine to have with Thanksgiving leftovers, or for any holiday lunch, don't be surprised when this turns up on my holiday wine picks this year. Excellent QPR.

2005 Navarro Vineyards Muscat Estate Bottled Dry (around $18 if you can find it). This is a wild, wild wine with pure orange blossom aromas and a searingly crisp and dry lemony palate and finish. Very clean wine, and schizophrenic in a good way--or at least a way that works! Perfect for sushi with wasabi. Very good QPR.

2004 Navarro Vineyards Syrah ($22) Huckleberry and cranberry dominate the fruity notes in this syrah. Good acidity, but I would prefer to taste more spice. I think this wine will continue to develop, though. Good QPR.

2005 Navarro Vineyards Pinot Noir Deep End Blend (price N/A). This wine has a lot of potential and is already drinking beautifully. High-toned cherry and cinnamon on first opening, with a dark ruby color. As it opens up notes of cedar, cocoa powder, and blackberry enter into the palate and aromas. Continued to develop and gain complexity as we drained the bottle. Wait a year and check again, but I think this one will age well and develop in interesting ways. This will be expensive if you can get it (as in more than $40), but it is an awfully complex pinot and good QPR.

2003 Navarro Vineyards Riesling ($18-$19). Very good dry riesling with apple and apricot fruit and a little tropical fruit lift in the midpalate. This resembles a German kabinett, but lacks the mineral dimension to make it outstanding. Good QPR.

2006 Navarro Vineyards Pinot Noir Deep End Blend (Barrel sample; not yet released). Beautiful color and pinot texture on this wine, with rich cherry flavors and nice cedary notes underneath with some earth, mushroom, and thyme. Lots of acidity now, giving the wine the structure that promises great things to come. Will be more than $40 if you can get it, but in time it is likely to be worth every penny. Good QPR.

Navarro Vineyards has a great website, with detailed information on every wine that they make. They also answer their email, so if you have a question or want to check to see if they have any bottles of that dry muscat hanging around, don't hesitate to drop them a line or give them a call. If you are a Navarro fan, feel free to leave notes about your own favorites in the comments below.

NV/MV: Nothing Wrong With That!

When you see NV (non vintage) on a wine bottle, what does it say to you? Does is say, "run away, this is a not very good wine?" Do you find yourself going past NV bottlings in wine stores in search of something with a vintage on it, even if you know nothing about vintages and aren't even sure that vintages matter in under $10 California syrah or chardonnay? Have you ever bought an NV wine that wasn't a sparkler?

It is my opinion, wine lovers, that there is absolutely nothing wrong with NV wines. I've had NV sparklers, reds, and whites. I don't recall that I've ever had a bottle that wasn't good to drink and awfully good value for the money. But NV wines still carry something of a stigma about them. To combat this prejudice, some vineyards are now labeling their formerly NV wines as "MV" wines--multiple vintage--to make the case that what you are drinking is actually a blend of juice made from grapes picked during different harvests. If you are already drinking blended varietals, why not blended vintages?

Now it is true that many NV or MV wines do not have the distinctive character that sets apart their vintage-designated siblings. Climate and growing conditions alter the quality and quantity of every harvest, and one of the things I love about drinking wine is that each vintage can differ from those that have preceded it. That's one of the reasons wine buffs love vertical tastings. But if you're looking for a good, everyday wine don't neglect the NV or MV bottles you might stumble across in the wine shops.

During the past year I've had more than 30 NV or MV wines, many of them sparkling wines from the US, France, and Italy. But I've also had some good still wines like the NV Sharpe Hill Vineyard Ballet of Angels, and the NV Saint-Cosme Little James's Basket Press. My most recent foray into NV still wines came about with the help of domaine547, who gave me a bottle of the NV Ojai Vineyards Ojai Red to try. ($19.99, domaine547) Ojai Vineyards make some superb syrah and pinot noir, which is outside of my normal, everyday wine price range so I was excited to be able to taste their much more affordable NV bottling. It was a very good mystery blend that clearly is based on syrah grapes. I thought it might contain some pinot noir, given its blueberry aromas, but domaine547 is sticking to the syrah theory! It's color was dark ruby, almost purple, and in addition to blueberries I smelled plums and rose petals. Tasting the wine, I detected blackberries and blueberries, freshly cracked pepper, and just a touch of cedar. The wine wrapped things up with a brambly finish of berries, herbs, and more cedar. This was a complex wine, and it took a while for it to open up and really shine, but when it did it was so enjoyable, and represented very good QPR.

So next time you see a NV or MV wine, don't just pass it by. Give it a try.

First of the Turkey Leftover Wines

This post originally had a different title: Last Rose of the Summer. I had to laugh when I saw exactly this headline on Wannabe Wino's recent post. Apparently, we wine bloggers are often on the same page, and drinking the same wines! I changed mine a bit to compensate, but the point remains the same: these are the final days when it will feel summery to sit outside and drink rose. Like wearing white after Labor Day, drinking rose in October can sometimes feel a little sad.

So why the title for this post? I wanted to remind you that even if you've sworn off rose as a summer wine, don't underestimate its value in November when you are looking for something to go with leftover turkey in the aftermath of Thanksgiving. You won't be able to find very many bottles of rose on the shelf then. Might as well pick up a few bottles of this wine now, because it would be great with a turkey sandwich, oozing with cranberry sauce and a lick of mayo.

Of course, here in LA it IS still summer, and rose is a pretty attractive drinking option. domaine547 gave me a bottle of the 2006 Domaine de l'Hortus Bergerie l'Hortus Rose Saignee to sample, and it was a perfect wine for these last days of summer, just as it will be perfect in a few months with your turkey sandwiches. Its deep rose color is striking, and an indication of how this wine was made. Roses made from the saignee process are really bi-products of red wine. After a brief contact between the skins and juice, some of the juice is bled out of the vats and this is saignee rose. The rest of the wine in the vat then goes on to produce a big, tannic red wine and the rose wine is bottled separately. In this case the red wine became a Rhone-style blend of grenache, syrah, and mourvedre--which helps to explain the rich and robust nature of this rose.

The 2006 Domaine de l'Hortus Bergerie l'Hortus comes from the Languedoc, and it smells like a southern French summer, with aromas of soft strawberry and wet stone that reminded me of a strawberry patch after a summer rain. These inviting aromas lead into a flavorful mixture of cranberry and strawberry fruit, with a nice contrasting note of mineral and stone on the finish. I often find American roses too fruity, and French Tavel roses too minerally--but this wine achieved a perfect balance between fruit and mineral notes. This rose was nice and dry, with good acidity at its core. It was, I felt, much better balanced than the 2005 Chateau d'Aqueria I had recently, which received many rave print reviews, but has had a much more lukewarm reception among consumers on CellarTracker. This wine costs less, too. You can buy yours from domaine547 for just $12.99. Excellent QPR, for a full-bodied French rose, in my opinion.

If you're drinking this wine now, it would be great with grilled tuna, fried chicken, or poached salmon. Or whip up a bunch of pesto with lots of parsley and walnuts, cook up some cheese tortellini, and toss them together to serve with this wine if you've already consigned your BBQ to the garage. But don't forget: this is a great turkey wine, too.

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.

Winery Watch: Anglim Winery

An ongoing series of Friday posts highlighting California family wineries. You might not be familiar with all of these vineyards and winemakers--yet--but they produce wines that speak with the voices of this state's people, places, and history. They are worth seeking out. These posts will be longer than most posts on the blog, but I hope you will find them perfect for leisurely weekend reading and internet browsing. To read previous posts in the series, click here.

It all began years ago on Father's Day.

Steffanie Anglim and her daughter gave Steve Anglim a home wine-making kit to celebrate the day. Pretty soon Steve took over the garage for his wine hobby, and started attending classes at the famed wine school UC Davis. Now his "wine-making kit" is much bigger--read: as big as a winery--just proving that you never know when, where, or how a life-long passion will get sparked and your inner talents will get released. (photo of Steve Anglim at work courtesy of Anglim Winery)

Since 2002, wine-making has been a family affair at Anglim, with all hands pitching in to craft distinctive, vineyard- designate wines and blends made with the best fruit that they can source from their viticultural partners in Paso Robles and Santa Barbara County. (picture of the Anglim Crew courtesy of Anglim Winery). Today, they produce around 3000 cases a year and specialize in Rhone varietals. In their wines, the Anglims try to achieve the perfect balance between the varietal essences of the fruit, the added character provided by the barrel, acidity, and freshness--and they succeed. They've opened up a tasting room in the old Paso Robles train depot, so if you're planning a trip out there you should definitely make a stop and check out their wines.

So where do they get their fruit? From lots of vineyard producers you've heard of (Bien Nacido, Cass, Fralich, and French Camp ring any bells?). With these grapes, it is no wonder the Anglims are able to produce such a high quality product. They get their pinot noir from Kathy Joseph's Fiddlestix Vineyard, their viognier from Bien Nacido, and their roussanne and marsanne from Harry Fralich, for instance. And if you're interested in seeing some of Anglims' grapes grow, you can stay at Starr Ranch on the west side of Paso Robles, where the Anglims get some of their cabernet sauvignon, grenache, and syrah grapes. (vineyard photo courtesy of Anglim Winery)

Here are my impressions of the Anglim wines I tasted at the 2007 Rhone Rangers Tasting. Prices indicated are the suggested retail prices at the winery; as always the price you pay may be higher or lower. Clicking on a wine's name takes you either to a list of merchants who stock the wine, including Anglim itself which maintains an online store which you can reach directly by clicking here. If you become a fan of Anglim wines you may want to consider joining their Winemaker's Club, which will ensure that you get quarterly shipments of 3 or 6 bottles as you prefer. Their wines are popular, and they do sell out of them, so joining the club is your best defense against seeing the dreadful word "unavailable."

2006 Anglim Rosé ($15) I just loved this excellent QPR, salmon-colored wine. Made from grenache, syrah, mourvedre, and viognier grown in Paso Robles, it is full of rich floral aromas from the viognier. Then the wine turns rich and complex with raspberry and strawberry flavors that have a real depth thanks to that mourvedre. An outstanding example of a US dry rose, this is the rose I'd buy a case of and have on hand for all your summer BBQ and picnic needs. Save one for Thanksgiving, too, since this is sure to appear on my list of wines that would go great with turkey. (PS: I'm not the only one who thinks this wine is great. Check out Ken's Wine Guide for a comparably enthusiastic review.) Excellent QPR.

2005 Anglim Roussanne ($22). Another beautiful wine from Paso Robles fruit, here fresh orchard pears and apples dominate the flavors and aromas. This wine tastes like spring, and is less heavy than most wines made with this varietal. An excellent food wine. Excellent QPR.

2003 Anglim Syrah Fralich Vineyard ($20) This chewy, beefy syrah had interesting grilled herb aromas and flavors that accented the blackberry and raspberry fruits. A very nice value, and excellent QPR.

2004 Anglim Viognier Fralich Vineyard ($22) Nice, fresh honeydew aromas accented with floral notes are the lead in to this wine that has loads of fresh-picked, juicy honeydew flavors. Great for summertime. Very good QPR.

2005 Anglim Viognier Bien Nacido Vineyard ($24). Winner of a silver medal at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, the Santa Barbara fruit used in this Viognier give it a riper, rounder flavor profile than the Fralich Vineyard bottling. Appealing honeydew aromas and flavors predominate, accented with flowers. Very good QPR.

2004 Anglim Grenache ($24) I really liked the abundant blackberry, coffee and spice aromas and flavors of this wine. Aromatic on the front end, rich on the back, this is very appealing and more complex than many wines made with this varietal. Very good QPR.

2003 Anglim Syrah Best Barrel Blend ($40). This wine is still too young to judge it fairly, with its balance between acidity and fruit not fully developed, but there are already lovely chocolate notes underneath rich red fruit and spice. Give it time, and it should be excellent, and make for a good special occasion wine for a grand dinner, or for a candlelit meal for two syrah lovers. Good QPR.

If you got a wine-making kit for Father's Day, you may want to clear out the garage and start looking for some viticulture and enology courses now. Steve Anglim was bitten by the wine-making bug. You could be, too. Or, you could just do what I do and buy Anglim wines whenever and wherever you see them!

The Joys of an Easy Drinking Red

Red wines can be demanding drinking partners, with their high alcohol levels, robust flavor profiles, and dizzying array of rich fruit flavors, not to mention the veritable spice cabinet that can emerge due to oak fermentation and bottle aging. It's one of the reasons that red wines are so popular.

But sometimes you want a red that is a little more easy to drink. In the wine biz, these wines are often called "approachable" because they exhibit rich fruit flavors that are comforting and draw you into the bottle. I had one of these approachable red blends from a superb Santa Barbara producer named Core Wine. Core is the brainchild of Dave and Becky Corey, who believe that "the core of every wine begins in the vineyard."

The 2004 Core 163 ($12.99/375ml, Mission Wines; 750ml under $25 at many other merchants) is an outstanding, non-demanding red blend. It has a grenache base, which makes for lovely aromas of flowers and red berries. Sipping the wine reveals more of these flavors, and as the wine opens up in the glass there are notes of rich, milky chocolate with hints of herbs and cinnamon. Just 620 cases of this wine were made.

The 2004 Core 163 blend is just plain yummy, and represents very good QPR with its abundant grenache varietal profile complemented with the aromas and flavors of syrah and mourvedre. Serve it with something simple and flavorful, like this great Korean barbeque pork accompanied by steamed rice or noodles (the leftovers make great sandwiches the next day).

Winery Watch: Red Head Ranch

This is the fourth in a series of posts highlighting California family wineries. You might not be familiar with them--yet--but they produce wines that speak with the voices of this state's people, places, and history. They are worth seeking out. These posts will be longer than most posts on the blog, but I hope you will find them perfect for leisurely weekend reading and internet browsing. Have fun! To read previous posts in the series, click here.

Gentlemen may prefer blondes (though I've never been absolutely convinced about that).

But grapevines adore redheads. Or at least they adore this redhead, Marilyn Ashkin. (photo courtesy of Red Head Ranch)

I know this because I've tasted some of the wines from the Red Head Ranch portfolio, and they are astonishing. It's rare to taste wine and still be able, weeks afterwards, to remember what struck you so forcefully about one producer's wines. But I can remember exactly what blew me away about Red Head Ranch wines at the Family Winemakers Tasting in March: they have elegance, silky texture, powerful flavors, and balance. Think Rita Hayworth. Can you see her in your mind? OK, Red Head Ranch makes Rita Hayworth wines.

When I met Marilyn, she was standing proudly behind her lineup of wines, with her son at her side. She had a quiet dignity that I think is linked to the enormous respect that she has for the wine she makes, and the people who make it with her. At the tasting, she was the first to give credit to her consulting winemaker, Steve Glossner, for his skill. And on the website, the members of the Red Head Ranch family are highlighted, and their individual contributions noted, from her husband Peter (the CEO or "Chief Equipment Officer), to business partner Leon Chen, manager Darrel Heirendt, supervisor Rodrigo Lamas, and vineyard workers Leopoldo H. Mendez and Leopoldo Mendez, Jr. This is truly a modern family winery--in the very best sense.

Peter and Marilyn bought the Red Head Ranch in Paso Robles 1997, becoming custodians of historic vineyard properties that date back to the 1880s. One of Marilyn's passions is the care and feeding of "Grandma," one of the vines that remains from those first plantings which she tended and brought back to flourishing life. Since then, the Ashkins have been able to purchase the Beckwith Vineyard in 2001, and to partner with Leon Chen at the Old Bailey Vineyard.

Red Head Ranch's wine making philosophy is apparent from the moment you visit their home page. They think the essential ingredients of their wine are: passion, quality, perseverance, excellence, community, family, sharing, history, and fun. What a great way to express what you do, and what you think is important. And it's a philosophy that I can embrace with enthusiasm. They seem to practice what they preach, too. Never have I seen such happy faces in a vineyard photo album--even during the hard but rewarding work of harvest and crush. (photo courtesy of Red Head Ranch)

On to the wines. The 2004s I tasted, and which are reviewed below, are Red Head Ranch's third bottlings. Currently, Red Head ranch is selling these wines in multiples of 3 bottles through their online store. Clicking on any of the wine names below will take you to the appropriate page in their store, where you can learn more. Red Head Ranch also has a wine club, which would enable you to get a half-case sampler every six months at a reduced, members-only price. Of course, if you want to try their wines you can also heckle your local store to carry them--I'm lobbying my local shops, I assure you!

2004 Red Head Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon ($29). I loved this wine--and at the price it represented excellent QPR. 75% Cabernet Sauvignon grapes are blended with 25% Petit Verdot to produce a rich, full-bodied wine. Abundant aromas and flavors of cassis and coffee are accompanied by a distinctive note of pencil shavings that is more common to fine Bordeaux than New World wines. Unfiltered, this is an outstanding old-world style cabernet blend.

2004 Red Head Ranch R3 ($24). An intriguing blend of three varietals: Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Malbec. The amazing thing is, you can taste all three! This is a blend with brains--not a single blurred or mushy note mars it. Red fruit aromas turn into a cascade of plum, cassis, and smoke. Excellent QPR for this easy drinking red, which is again marked by a lovely silkiness of texture.

2004 Red Head Ranch Pinot Noir ($28). No, I did not type Pinot Noir by mistake. Paso Robles Pinot? A relative rarity, but Red Head Ranch proves it can be done! Pinot Noir is a showcase varietal for Red Head Ranch's ability to make silky, elegant, and balanced wine. Here the flavor profile is dominated by cherries, with notes of mushroom, earth, roast coffee and cocoa to keep the wine interesting. Excellent QPR on this complex pinot charmer.

2004 Red Head Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon Old Bailey Vineyard ($40). This outstanding young cabernet is made entirely of Paso Robles fruit from the Old Bailey Vineyard, where the varietal is Leon Chen's passion. That passion shows in this wine, with its bright red fruit aromas and flavors accented by cocoa and dark chocolate notes. This is still a young wine, and needs some time to settle down and show to its full potential. I suspect this will grow into a signature wine for the Ranch, one that has great balance with that distinctive RHR silkiness and finesse. Only 150 cases were made of this very good QPR cab, that would certainly qualify as a special occasion wine.

Red Head Ranch also bottles Zinfandel (both Late Harvest and regular), Chenin Blanc, and Petit Verdot. I didn't taste these wines, but if you have please leave a note and let us know. Meanwhile, remember that gentlemen may prefer blondes, and perhaps even marry brunettes, but if you want to be where the grapevines are, stick to Red Heads.

Next Week: Vinum Cellars

Catavino Virtual Rose Tasting #1: the US Entry

Here are my first tasting notes for the Catavino Virtual Rose Tasting. First a big thanks to Gabriella, Adrienne, and Ryan for a great event, which I'll be continuing to contribute to over the next 11 days as I open two more bottles of Rose. In case you don't remember what this event is all about, just click on the link above to find out more. Next up: a French rose, followed by a Spanish rose (my first) and a summary of what I've discovered about these wines after popping the corks on three bottles.

Additional thanks to Ryan, who inspired me to think of a way to review a wine that isn't the standard color/aroma/palate. I decided to pioneer the "tag-cloud wine review," accompanied by an evocative picture that I think conveys the feeling of this wine. Let me know what you think--and if you can figure it out! I'm not sure this works, but it will be interesting to get your feedback. And if you hate it don't worry: it was pretty hard to do so the rest of my reviews will be as they have been!

LA TASTING ALERT: This just in. If you are in LA and want to try some interesting roses, Colorado Wine Company in Eagle Rock is having a rose tasting on Saturday, April 21st from 4-6 pm. The cost is $15/person, which includes 5 wines and gourmet cheeses from Auntie Em's Markeplace. Wines to be poured include roses from Spain, Argentina, Oregon, and California--so you will be perfectly situated to contribute to the virtual tasting forum! Colorado Wine asks you to kindly RSVP to info@cowineco.com or (323) 478-1985 if you plan on attending.

Without further ado, the review:

2005 Bonny Doon Vineyards Vin Gris de Cigare ($10.99, Beverages and More)

aromas bright chilled cinsault copper dry fruity grenache grenache blanc mourvedre quaffer red/white blend refreshing rhubarb rocks roussanne salmon-colored seared tuna with cilantro pesto pasta primavera strawberry summer syrah
very good QPR viognier watermelon

Winery Watch: Four Vines Winery

This is the second in a series of posts highlighting California family wineries. You might not be familiar with them--yet--but they produce wines that speak with the voices of this state's people, places, and history. They are worth seeking out. These posts will be longer than most posts on the blog, but I hope you will find them perfect for leisurely weekend reading and internet browsing. Have fun! To read the first post in the series, click here.

Families today come in all shapes and sizes. They can include your children, your partner's children, friends from college, former neighbors who moved in when they lost their job and never left because they turned out to be great gardeners or cooks and therefore were far too useful to evict, cousins, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. They clump up in one spot over holidays, and stretch out in complicated diasporas that span the globe the rest of the time. They are kept together with passion, email, text-messages, and all-inclusive long-distance phone plans. Sometimes, they even include grapevines and pirates. (photo of Christian "the Pirate" Tietje courtesy of Four Vines Winery and FutureWorks)

I discovered one of these thoroughly modern families at the Family Winemakers of California tasting: the Four Vines Winery family of Paso Robles, Amador County, and Sonoma. The family started with Christian Tietje, a wandering chef who came to San Francisco from Boston in 1990, and fell in love with old vine Zin. In 1994, the family grew from Christian and Zin to include Susan Mahler (aka Sam), a pilot and earth scientist, who quickly fell for Christian, his Zin, and the backbreaking and absorbing work of tending vineyards. They moved to Paso Robles, started Four Vines Winery, and focused on making appellation-specific Zins and--at a time when this was a complete heresy--unoaked chardonnay. As the business grew, they needed help, and help came in 2004 in the form of Christian's childhood friend Bill Grant, who managed the finances and marketing for the burgeoning enterprise. Today the family includes tasting room wine pushers, crush slaves, cellar masters, keepers of wine, growers, pirates, bikers, and self-appointed "ZinBitches." Not to mention a growing mob of satisfied consumers and fans. (photo of Bill, Sam, and Christian with their grape-children courtesy of Four Vines and FutureWorks).

Together, the Four Vines family wanted to introduce some fun into wine, and to blow the cobwebs off what (especially in the 1990s!) was becoming an all too stultifying and stuffy wine culture. They gave their wines names like "the Biker," "Maverick," and "the Heretic." They started holding Zinfandel Festivals with pirate themes long before Johnny Depp had even thought of donning an eye patch. They were among the first to appreciate the sensory pleasures that came from making Zin from grapes that came from old vines. And they loved seeing how Amador fruit differed from fruit sourced in Paso Robles, or Napa, or Sonoma.

There is an old expression--"the genius of the place"--that was used in the 18th century to describe the spirit that inhabited a particular spot. Architects and landscape gardeners were supposed to try to capture the genius of the place in whatever work they did. The Four Vines family seems to have applied this concept to their winemaking, and the results are stunning. They produce rich, complex wines that have an intriguing silkiness on the palate. Every zin has a different cascade of flavors and aromas that evolve from your first sniff and sip. And the other wines that they make are truly memorable examples of the varietals that go into the bottle.

What follows are my brief tasting impressions of their line of wines. You are going to be hearing a lot about them in the upcoming months, based on coverage the winery has already received this year from Wine & Spirits and Wine Spectator. Buy the wine now if you want it, because the 2004s are nearly sold out. Or, save yourself the aggravation and join their wine club, thereby insuring that you will get your required stash of new Four Vines wines as they are released. The first 2005 reds will be released in late May, so circle this date on your calendar and check their website so you aren't disappointed because, yes, they, too, are going to sell out. After that, piracy will be your only option.

Prices below are those suggested by the vineyard. Click on the name of any wine to be directed to merchants in your area or online who might be offering the wine at higher or lower price points.

2005 Four Vines Chardonnay Naked Chardonnay ($14) This excellent unoaked chardonnay, made with Santa Barbara County grapes, has striking butterscotch and soft pear aromas that are followed up with fresh pear and citrus flavors. Juicy, easy to pair with food, and excellent QPR.

2004 Four Vines Zinfandel Old Vines. ($18) I doubt that you could fine a better Zinfandel at this price. It has a superb balance of fruit, spice, and acidity with warm aromas and flavors of blackberry, clove, and pepper. This wine will improve further with a little time in the bottle. Excellent QPR.

2004 Four Vines Zinfandel Biker ($20) This rough young zin from Pas Robles should settle down and shed some of its acidic tannins with a bit more time in the bottle. Its blackberry and pepper flavors and aromas are struggling a bit to come forward now, but all the structure and potential are there so give it some more time and it will be superb. 15% alc/vol. Excellent QPR.

2004 Four Vines Zinfandel Maverick ($20) Soft blackberry-toned fruit from Amador County, with 14. 9% alc/vol. I found a very good balance of fruit and spice, and lots of complexity as the two wove together. Excellent QPR.

2004 Four Vines Petite Sirah Heretic ($30) Absolutely stunning petite sirah. Cocoa and cassis aromas and flavors, with a smooth and silky cassis palate with notes of fresh picked blackberries. Seek this one out. It's fantastic. Very good QPR.

2004 Four Vines Syrah Bailey Vineyard($30) An impressive syrah with beautiful, jammy plum and cassis notes. Warm spices complement the fruits and add complexity. Very good QPR.

2004 Four Vines Anarchy($30) This nouveau Rhone-style blend made with Paso Robles fruit has an infusion of zin that you can really taste. Made with syrah, zin, and mourvedre. Jammy red and black fruits, nice spice. Good texture and mouthfeel. Good QPR.

2004 Four Vines Peasant($30) Another wine made with Paso Robles fruit, this intriguing red blend is dominated by syrah and mourvedre. Soft and smooth blackberry fruits, touched with vanilla and cracked pepper. Good QPR.

These are wines that are full of the genius of the place, and the genius of the people who make them. You won't be disappointed with their wines, and you may find yourself behaving like a pirate and starting your own treasure chest of Four Vines wines.

Next Week: Brutocao Cellar and Vineyards

Party Wines

We had a party last night--the kind with about 80 people and lots of standing around talking, eating and of course drinking wine. Finding good wines to serve at parties is always a bit of a challenge, because you need to find a wine that is affordable, that suits a wide variety of palates, and that doesn't require food to be at its best.

I set a strict under $10 limit for party wines, and usually head over to a wine superstore like Beverages and More to make my selections. For most parties I stick pretty much to pinot noirs from New Zealand and Sauvignon Blancs from California or New Zealand. This time, though, I went a bit mad and decided to get chardonnay and sauvignon blanc for the white wines, and two red blends because I just couldn't find an affordable pinot. But I did find four wines that promised to have good QPR or very good QPR.

I ended up with the 2004 Falesco Vitiano ($9.99, Beverages and More; even less elsewhere, like Wine Library). Made from equal parts of sangiovese, cabernet sauvignon, and merlot it has received high marks from critics, but mixed reviews from consumers. Still, I thought it would appeal to folks who loved cabernet, but be a little softer and less in need of food to drink well. I was right, and people were drinking this down with great enthusiasm. I didn't get a chance to drink a proper glass and think about it, but will post a full review in the upcoming weeks.

My other red choice was the 2005 Rosenblum Chateau La Paws Cote du Bone Rhone ($9.99, Beverages and More), a red blend of 98% Syrah mixed with touches of petite sirah and zinfandel. I love syrahs--so drinkable, so lush tasting. From my brief encounter with this wine last night it was very juicy and fruit forward. A bit simple but very quaffable, which is what you are looking for in a party wine. I think this would be excellent with bistro fare, like burgers, rotisserie chicken, and French onion soup as well as your Friday night pizza.

For the whites, I picked up the latest release of the 2006 Pomelo by Mason Cellars ($9.99, Beverages and More). I reviewed the 2005 Pomelo in November, and this wine was consistent with its grapefruity flavors and aromas. Definitely a hit, and its Stelvin screw-top closure made it a great wine for a party. The other white was definitely most popular among the dedicated oaky chardonnay lovers. The 2004 Buehler Chardonnay Russian River Valley ($9.99, Beverages and More), was bright gold in color, with aromas of smoke, pears, and apples. There were proncounced oaky flavors, tempered slightly by ripe pear and a barely discernible rocky taste, which was more apparent when the wine was cool. As it warmed, however, the oak took over. It was my least favorite wine, but it was a big hit among the Chard Brigade.

Parties are a wine challenge, but it is possible to serve some good wines like these without breaking the bank. What do you serve at your parties, and how do you figure out what types of wine to buy? Leave your comments and suggestion since I still think I could do a better job finding wines that are more interesting and get people talking about the wine, and not just drinking it.

A Heroic Wrap-Up of an Epic WBW #30

In case you don't know yet, Tim Elliot's pipes burst right over his wine cellar which required some hasty use of saws and soldering irons, resulting in not only a hole in his cellar ceiling, but a smoldering rafter fire.

Despite this (face it, it would have been enough to send most of us straight into the wine cellar for vino!), he managed to pull together a wrap-up for last week's Wine Blogging Wednesday on New World Syrah that boasted the largest turnout in WBW history.

Head on over to Winecast for links to all 50 (not a typo) reviews of 70 (not a typo) wines ranging from $10 to $80, including:

38 Syrah
30 Shiraz
1 Grenache/Syrah
1 Mourvedre

From the following regions:

3 Argentina
27 Australia
25 California
1 Canada
5 Chile
1 New Zealand
3 South Africa
5 Washington State

I think that all these great write-ups from fellow wine lovers and bloggers will keep us rolling in shiraz and syrah for the foreseeable future. Thanks to Tim at Winecast, our fearless leader who bravely continued despite utter mayhem at home, and to all those who participated by sending in their notes. As soon as the theme for WBW #31 is posted, I'll be sure to announce it here.

Wine Blogging Wednesday #30: the 2005 Hocus Pocus Syrah

Tim Elliott from Winecast is the host for the 30th edition of the monthly wine-blogging event Wine Blogging Wednesday, started by new dad Lenn Thompson from Lenndevours. This month Tim's brief was to find a new world Syrah/Shiraz, or a blend that contained at least 51% of its juice from that varietal.

I decided to try a new wine this month, and was pleased to find a wine from a pair of new winemakers in the Santa Ynez AVA: Black Sheep Finds. The 2005 Hocus Pocus Syrah is their very first wine. 600 cases were made, and it is available through many LA area retailers. Who are these Black Sheep? They are the duo of Peter Hunken (of Stolpman Vineyards, Piedrasassi and Holus Bolus) and Amy Christine (Sommelier of AOC restaurant and rep for Veritas Imports in Los Angeles), and their intention from the start was to make a wine that their friends would find delicious and affordable.

The 2005 Hocus Pocus Syrah ($17.99, Mission Wines) is a supple, almost silky syrah with very good QPR that will appeal to pinot noir lovers. It is dark, dark violet in color and has abundant herbal aromas: thyme, anise, lavender. When you drink this smooth wine, you get loads of blueberry and blackberry fruit touched with a little bit of sweet wood and some mineral and herbal notes. Not as peppery or as dusty as many syrahs, it is also not overly oaky since it spends only 10 months in the barrel--20% in new oak, 80% in used oak. The resulting wine is not small, at 14.9% alc/vol but it is nicely in balance and easy to drink. Grapes for this syrah were sourced from the Santa Rita Hills and Santa Ynez AVAs, so it is a Santa Barbara County wine all the way.

We had the syrah with a Moroccan Lamb Tagine that combined aromatic spices with tomato and lamb cubes. After the lamb went through an interesting braising and browning method, it was cooked for an hour in the sauce before it topped off some fluffy couscous. The Hocus Pocus Syrah's smooth, silky flavors were a nice counterpoint to the cinnamon and cumin in the stew. It would be equally good with burgers, pizza, grilled meats, or other beef, chicken, or lamb stews that might be favorites in your house.

I'm looking forward to watching to see what Black Sheep Finds comes up with next, and checking out their new releases. They will have a Cabernet Sauvignon coming out this spring, and after tasting this yummy Syrah, I'll be eagerly anticipating tasting it. Meanwhile, you can get the 2005 Hocus Pocus Syrah from K&L Wines, the Woodland Hills Wine Company, and Wally's in LA.

Big Night In: the NV Dover Canyon Renegade Red

Need something to do this Friday night? Rent (or re-rent) Big Night Out, the wonderful movie about two brothers and their adventures with an Italian restaurant, start cooking some Italian food, and pop the cork on this rich, complex, spicy, and oh-so-easy to drink red blend. It cries out for pizza, pasta with red sauce, grilled meats, or any of the other dishes for which Italy is famous.

The NV Dover Canyon Renegade Red ($10.99, Colorado Wine Company; $10 direct from Dover Canyon) is a delicious example of a zinfandel-based blend with excellent QPR. It's made from a combination of zinfandel, sangiovese, barbera, and syrah, which gives it a distinctively Italian sensibility. This is a domestic red blend that gets it right, and that is priced right, too!

Jammy raspberry and blackberry aromas are accompanied by whiffs of black pepper and cinnamon. Tastes of rich red fruits, spice, cedar, and pepper follow, with hints of blueberry and roasted meats as you swallow. There's not much of a lingering aftertaste, but who cares! This wine is so approachable and easy to drink you don't need a lingering finish to get you to take another sip. At this price, I would definitely buy more and its softness, medium body, and low tannins would make it a great wine for a party since it is one of those reds that doesn't require food to be at its best.

Dover Canyon is a deliberately small winery in the Paso Robles AVA. Winemaker Dan Panico and his partner, Mary Baker, supervise the making and marketing of these wines and their careful management of the grapes and the winemaking is evident in this bottling. Mary also keeps a wonderful blog that gives those who drink their wine an insight into the place, people, and pets of Dover Canyon. Visit their site, explore their wines, and see if you can't get some Renegade Red for your next pizza, pasta, or movie fest.

Wine Blogging Wednesday #30 Announced

Join host Tim Elliott from Winecast for the next edition of Wine Blogging Wednesday on February 7, 2007. On that day, bloggers throughout the world will be sampling New World Shiraz/Syrah and writing up their reviews.

I've developed something of a serious Syrah addiction over the past few months as I find that the prices are very reasonable, the quality is high, the taste is delicious, and they are easy to pair with a wide variety of foods. Just a few days ago I posted a review of a Chilean Syrah (and a great mac and cheese recipe from John at Brim to the Dregs, in case you missed it!), so I'll have to hit the cellar and stores again to find another likely contender.

Full details, with Tim's guidelines and instructions for how to get your information to him before the roundup, can be reached by clicking on the highlighted text. Don't have a blog? No problem, you can just email Tim your tasting note and he'll post them in the roundup. After a few months of intriguing and challenging WBWs, it's a nice to have a change of pace and return to a simple varietal assignment. See you all back here on February 7, if not before.

Cold Weather Comfort Food and Wine

Baby, it's cold outside--even in LA, land of palm trees and annuals that behave like perennials. I needed some cold weather comfort food and wine, and remembered that I had a recipe tip from John at Brim to the Dregs for his girlfriend's favorite Mac and Cheese. Utter bliss--and absolutely transcendental with a rich syrah. So I preheated the oven, put water on to boil for the mac and started cubing the cheddar and Colby cheeses.

While cooking, I popped the cork on a 2003 Montes Alpha Syrah Apalta Vineyard ($15.99, Beverages and More). I bought it last spring, but this wine is still available at retailers according to WineZap--and in a few cases it actually costs less than I paid for it, too! This was an outstanding Chilean syrah from the New World made in an Old World, French style. It had a deep ruby color and powerful aromas of black pepper, currants, and a touch of fresh green bell pepper. With each sip you tasted blackfruits (blackberry, blackcurrant), more pepper, and a bit of chewy, meaty flavor that was reminiscent of a Rhone red such as Chateauneuf du Pape. These flavors persisted with lingering peppery, spicy, and clove flavors. There was a lot of complexity in this wine given the price, and I found myself wishing that I had bought more last spring.

Words cannot fully express the wonderfulness of the Mac and Cheese that accompanied this wine. After making a simple white sauce (I made mine with milk rather than 1/2 and 1/2) , you add Dijon mustard, a pinch of nutmeg, a pinch of cayenne, and half of the cubed cheese. This melts into the sauce, making it thick and flavorful. Combining cooked pasta (I used cavatappi) and the remaining chunks of cheese with the sauce produces the gooey-est, yummy-est Mac and Cheese I've ever had. Topped with some panko bread crumbs and popped in the oven, it made the perfect comfort food main dish I was looking for. We paired it with a tossed green salad and (of course) the syrah, which was a perfect counterpoint to the cheese, nutmeg, and Dijon mustard flavors in the Mac and Cheese.

Montes Alpha have released a 2004 version of this wine, and from the notes on CellarTracker it seems to be drinking as well as the 2003. If you are looking for a complex, interesting red wine to pair with your winter foods, the Montes Alpha Syrah would be an excellent QPR choice.

Andrew Murray Tasting Room, Los Olivos

After we finished over at Bridlewood, we took the short trip along Rt. 154 to the charming town of Los Olivos, where there is a string of tasting rooms extending down Grand Street. (you can click on this map to enlarge the view, and you will see all the tasting rooms listed). Boutiques, galleries, restaurants, and other shops fill the streets of this small town.

We wanted to taste some Andrew Murray wines, and since their vineyards on Zaca Station Rd. are closed to the public, our goal in Los Olivos was to stop into the tasting room pictured here. On the way we picked up sandwiches at the branch of Panino just off Grand in the heart of town.

Andrew Murray is a UC Davis graduate who has received all kinds of press for his distinctive wines. He plants only Rhone varietals in his own vineyards, though he does also serve as wine maker for his neighbors at Oak Savanna. Murray is devoted to syrah in particular, and crafts his wines with the philosophy that good wines are made in the vineyard, and the winemaker "merely takes care of them" in the cellar. This is a winemaker who specializes in small production wines, and although you can sometimes find his Tous les Jours Syrah in shops, most of these wines are sold directly through the winery or in the tasting room. The Andrew Murray wines website is full of information, so I encourage you to take a look.

In the tasting room, you received 10 pours (9 Andrew Murray wines, and 1 Oak Savanna wine) for $10, and got to keep the Andrew Murray glass. Contrary to the tasting room website, it is not a Riedel "O" series glass, but at least it doesn't have a rounded edge! The wines poured for us included:

2005 Viognier, Santa Ynez Valley ($25): Aromatic with flowers, pineapple, and citrus, which come through as you sip the wine, too. Crisp, clean-tasting, and complex. 550 cases made. Good QPR.

2004 Enchante ($22): A blend of two white Rhone varietals (Roussanne and Marsanne). Rich tasting with melon and oak aromas and flavors. More full-bodied than the Viognier, and a nice change from chardonnay for lovers of that varietal. 800 cases produced. Good QPR.

2004 Oak Savanna Vineyards Chardonnay Rancho La Zaca ($30): An exceptional chardonnay, with pronounced pear aromas and flavors with a bit of citrus and a real streak of minerals. Bright acidity is kept in check with a little bit of oak. Round, complex, delicious. 350 cases produced. Very good QPR.

2004 Esperance ($22): Murray's red blend intended to translate Chateauneuf du Pape to the soils of Santa Ynez. Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvedre are blended into a wine with black cherry, blueberry, cinnamon, and black pepper aromas and flavors. Delicious, and will be more delicious in a few years. 850 cases produced. Good QPR.

2004 Grenache Central Coast ($28): Murray only bottles his Grenache by itself if the vintage is of sufficient quality, and the 2004 lived up to his standards. Raspberry, cranberry, and currant aromas and flavors. Unusually soft and drinkable for a 100% grenache wine, only 300 cases were produced. Good QPR.

2004 Syrah Estate Santa Ynez Valley ($25): Made only with Syrah grown on the hillsides of the Santa Ynez appellation, this wine is full of cherry flavors and aromas with an interesting note of black tar. Oak is used, which makes it nice and smooth, but the bright acidity keeps it interesting. Perfectly drinkable now, or cellar it if you can wait. 1100 cases produced. Good QPR.

2004 Syrah Roasted Slope Vineyard ($34): This is a big, interesting wine made from Syrah and Viognier grapes that are interplanted in the same hillside vineyard (just like in the Cote Rotie in France). The grapes are picked and fermented together. Black cherry, plums, and a hint of strawberry in the aromas and the palate. Would benefit from 2-10 years in the cellar to help round out all its edges, but I have no doubt in time it will be spectacular. 800 cases produced. Good QPR.

2004 Syrah Westerly Vineyard ($36): Made from grapes from the eastern part of the Santa Ynez AVA. This produces Syrah with higher alcohol and lower acidity due to ripeness and less marine influence. This monster wine had 15.4% alc./vol. and didn't even taste alcoholic. Flavors and aromas were typical of the varietal, with blackberry and spice notes. 284 cases produced. Good QPR.

2005 Viognier Late Harvest ($20/375 ml): A yummy dessert wine, with peach jam and honeysuckle aromas and flavors. On the back end you got a bit of apricot. Not as sweet as most late harvest viogniers, it would be excellent chilled and served on its own as a dessert, or with fruit-based desserts. Very good QPR.

I was really impressed with all the wines I tasted, and for Rhone lovers Murray is a name to watch. Murray does have a wine club, and given how few cases are made of these wines it is appealing to think of receiving them on a regular, reliable basis. The prices are a bit steep for me, but I did leave with a bottle of the Chardonnay, the Esperance, and the Late Harvest Viognier because they were so darn good.

Bridlewood Winery

Bridlewood Winery was our first stop in Santa Barbara. Located in the Santa Ynez Valley AVA, Bridlewood specializes in Rhone varietals such as viognier, rousanne, marsanne, and syrah. Located on a beautiful spot, the winery used to be a horse farm, and still has horses roaming around in the back.

When we arrived we headed into the tasting room, which had lots and lots of Bridlewood gear--t-shirts, tote bags, baseball hats, it went on and on--and some snack foods in case you wanted to buy a bottle and go out to the terrace for a picnic.

We decided to go straight for the tasting, which was $7 for four pours (and the rolled-edge, Bridlewood etched glass was yours to keep). This tasting had the fewest pours, and the middle price of the three. Could it be all the merchandising that drives up the prices?? And do people really want all these glasses? I'd rather have a cheaper tasting and no glass!

We began the tasting with the 2005 Bridlewood Winery Viognier Reserve Central Coast ($24). 10,000 cases of this wine were made, and I felt it was the best wine of the tasting. I did find bottles at significantly lower prices on Wine-Tracker. This was a slightly sweet, aromatic viognier with citrus and flower aromas and a peachy palate. It would be excellent with curries and rich fish dishes. Good QPR.

The next wine poured was the 2004 Bridlewood Winery Arabesque ($24), Bridlewood's red Rhone-style blend made of Grenache, Mourvedre, Cinsault, Syrah, and Viognier. Light cherry in color, with spicy box aromas, there were cherry flavors and a bitter tobacco flavor on the palate. This wine just didn't hang together for me, and I wasn't at all sure that ageing the wine would help. Poor QPR, given the low prices of most Rhone blends from the Rhone. 970 cases produced.

Next up: the 2005 Bridlewood Winery Syrah Reserve ($22) Predominantly (93%) syrah grapes, blended with a bit of grenache, Roussanne, and Cinsault. This was a big wine, with blackberry, plum, and spicy cedar aromas. In your mouth, you got a smooth, extracted taste of blackberry jam. Unlike the Arabesque, I felt this would continue to improve during a few years of cellaring. Good QPR.

Finally, we had the 2003 Bridlewood Winery Syrah Blue Roan ($30). Faint blueberry and flowery aromas were accompanied by a definite whif of sweet, round oak. There were flavors of cassis and blueberry, with some soft tannins. Very round. Drinkable now, this wine should also improve steadily in the cellar for another 2-3 years. 554 cases produced. Good QPR.

I didn't feel any of these wines were special enough to warrant the prices, but my dad found a bargain: bottles of the 2001 Reserve Syrah for just $9. I wished they had poured some of their gewurztraminer, or one of their late harvest viogniers or syrah ports to round out the tasting a bit. Still, we were glad that we went and tasted these small-production wines that we would not in all likelihood see in the stores.