2003 Ca'Viola Dolcetto d'Alba Barturot

It's Halloween and the ghosties and ghoulies will be out soon, so I came home early to make some soup to slurp between the rings at the doorbell and to bring some warmth to what it turning out to be a rather chilly and grey day. Perfect for trick-or-treaters, less so for the rest of us.

I thought the wine to go with my hearty Nigella Lawson minestrone might be this 2003 Ca'Viola Dolcetto D'Alba Barturot ($24.69, Costco). This is slightly above my normal price cut-off, but I do love dolcetto, which translates roughly from the Italian as "little sweet one." A grown-up treat then, or so I tell myself, and far better for me than diving into the bowl of candy set aside for the ghosties and ghoulies.

The Columbia Wine Guy over on Brim to the Dregs is working his way alphabetically through wine (great idea!) and he hit "D" just the other day and gave some great information on dolcetto, as well as a more budget-friendly recommendation than mine is tonight.

My minestrone recipe comes from Nigella Lawson's How to Eat (recipe not online). I should note here that this is not a tomato-based minestrone, but instead a pale, golden version with lots of vegetables and a special, not-to-be-omitted ingredient: a parmesan cheese rind. I tried to take a picture of my soup in the kettle (clearly a lot to be learned about this), to show both the color and (in the upper left) the rind bobbing around in the soup. The parmesan rind gives it a little kick of salinity, and a richness of flavor that is indefinable, but distinctive. On Ms. Lawson's advice, no parmesan rinds are thrown out in my house: they are all bagged up popped into the freezer to stick in soups, stews, and pasta sauces. (PS: You discard the rind before you serve the soup. It gets gummy. You are forewarned.)

On to the 2003 Ca'Viola Dolcetto d'Alba Barturot. Ca'Viola is in the Piedmonte region of Italy, and the oenologist, Giuseppe Caviola, has been dubbed the "King of Dolcetto" and received the 2002 Gambero Rosso Winemaker of the Year. This wine was made of 100% dolcetto d'alba grapes aged in stainless steel for 10-12 months. For those who have not tasted a red wine that has not had any oak aging, this is your chance.

The first impression you get of this wine is purple--the color of dark aubergines. Once you pick it up and take a good look at it you see it is really a true ruby red with lovely bluish tones to it. I found this wine needed a fair bit of time to settle down and open up. When it was first opened and poured it smelled very alcoholic (14.5% alch./vol.). Even after it's been in the glass a while the aromas are spicy rather than fruity. This is confirmed on the palate, which is predominantly spicy with an undertone of red fruit. Lots of acidity and a tinge of minerality at the end of each sip. It was much better with the food than as a stand alone wine.

I felt this wine needed a bit more fruit to balance out all those intriguing spice and mineral flavors, and that for the price this represented good QPR. If you are looking for a low-tannin, high-acid red with little oak influence that would go well with pasta with red sauces, it is for sale at many merchants throughout the US, and typically retails for under $30.

Now I'm a Believer: the 2004 O'Reilly's Chardonnay

I am the first to admit that I am not a huge chardonnay fan. I find many of them overblown, over-marketed, over-priced, and over-hyped--not to mention overly buttery and toasty. They can be so difficult to pair with food, and yet all over America people drink them by preference. Though not a card-carrying member of the ABC (Anything But Chardonnay) club, I do sometimes look askance at friends who enthuse over their latest boutique chardonnay find. Tonight I joined the ranks and chilled down a 2004 O'Reilly's Chardonnay ($12.95, Chronicle Wine Cellar). This just might be the bottle that makes me a chardonnay believer.

O'Reilly's is the budget-friendly line from one of my favorite Oregon winemaker's, Owen Roe. They proudly list the O'Reilly's wines before their better known Owen Roe bottlings and celebrate their great value--which I would certainly agree with. I love their higher-end bottlings (especially the Bordeaux-style blend Abbot's Table which usually is available somewhere between $20-$30). They focus on quality and I must say I've never had a disappointing bottle of wine made by them or by their neighbors at Sineann.

The 2004 O'Reilly's is typical of all Owen Roe bottlings, in that they strive to achieve good varietal character and not monkey about too much in the processing of the grapes. For chardonnay, the varietal characteristics without processing should be fruits: apple, pear, citrus, pineapple, guava. It's processing that adds the oak, toast, vanilla, butter, cream and coconut--and in the wrong hands this can be a total disaster, with artificial oak and vanillin flavors the result. This wine, however, was made using early-ripening Dijon clones and 2/3 of the fruit was aged in stainless steel (to preserve the varietal characteristics), 1/3 in 3-4 year old American and French oak barrels (to add some interesting richness and depth to the wine).

I had a glass while I was roasting some potatoes in the oven, grilling some salmon to top off with some Scandinavian dill-mustard sauce from the Joy of Cooking, and sauteeing some snap peas in lots of cracked pepper and a smidge of butter. It was pale straw in color, with some apple and citrus aromas. The taste was citrusy and smooth, with a nice long finish of vanilla and hints of tropical fruit like pineapple. At the very end of each sip you got just a bit of toast--nothing overwhelming or daunting. I kept reaching for the glass, over and over, amazed that such an inexpensive wine could have so many flavor dimensions.

The wine was excellent with the fish, stood up to the mustard, and complemented the roast potates and buttery peas. This was a food-friendly chardonnay, with textbook chardonnay characteristics and excellent QPR. It would be just as good with roast or fried chicken, caesar salad, or crabcakes. Available at many on-line retailers on both coasts, it is a great example of a quality Oregon chardonnay and is well worth seeking out.

Saturday Wine Shopping--Friday edition

We needed parmesan cheese and sponges--what an excuse to go to Costco! No one in their right mind would go to a Costco on a Saturday if they could possibly avoid it, so I set out today. Because the local Alhambra warehouse has an uninspiring wine section, I decided to go to the hipper nearby demographic of Los Feliz and check out their warehouse's selection. Final assessment: it was better, but probably not worth the trip. I was clearly spoiled by 7 years of shopping at Costcos in Sonoma and Napa.

Even so, I came home with a great buy on white burgundy, inspired by Brooklynguy's recent wine tasting event experience: the 2002 La Chablisienne 1er Cru Grand Cuvee ($16.99) which is just becoming drinkable. I'm going to hold on to it for a while, though, just to remind myself that you have to buy wine like this whenever and wherever you find it. When it peaks in 5 years it will be very expensive if you can get your hands on it at all. I also purchased another bottle of the 2004 Bodega Norton Malbec Reserva ($12.99), another great buy on a great value red. I took a flyer on the 2003 Ferrari-Carano Siena ($16.69), a Sangiovese blend from the Alexander Valley. Don't know this wine, although I love Ferrari-Carano's Fume Blanc which has been an excellent wine for the money over the past few vintages. I've never had one of their reds, and with fall coming (slowly to be sure in LA) there is certain to be pasta in my future.

Perhaps the best bargains of all, however, came not in wine but in wine accessories and books. I picked up the new edition of Jancis Robinson's The Oxford Companion to Wine ($39.99). This is a huge encyclopedia of wine lore, nicely presented and surprisingly easy to read for a reference work. I will have to do a better review of it in an upcoming post, but Costco shoppers might want to be on the alert for it at their local branch as this is a pretty hefty savings off the retail. I also picked up some of those neoprene bottle holders by Built NY, which were tucked back next to the endpacks in the wine section. Good for toting wine to picnics because they both insulate and protect (the stuff is wetsuit material), they came in sets of 2/2 bottle and 3/1 bottle for $16.99 a set. Lots of folks are getting these at the holidays given the price!

Indian Food and Wine

Last night I cooked Keralan food from South India using Maya Kaimal's excellent Curried Favors. I wasn't able to find any of the recipes I used online, but if you want to check out Maya's accessible approach to Indian food, you can go to the Rachael Ray magazine website (she's everywhere!) and see her recipe for curried chicken. We had lots of fun with our belated Diwali festival (missed it by a few days!), eating shrimp thiyal and cabbage thoren with some eggplant curry and lamb korma.

But the menu did pose problems for someone like me who prefers wine to beer. I know that beer is supposedly best. I was told this by the guys at Chronicle Wine Cellar, who tried to persuade me not to buy wine that day. But I think gewurztraminer and rieslings do work well with curries, so I asked the Chronicle Wine staff for a recommendation and they suggested I try either the 2003 Chateau d'Orschwihr Gewurztraminer Bollenberg ($14.95) or the NV Cavit Prosecco Lunetta ($7.95). I bought both, to try out a little experiment.

We opened both before dinner, and I had sips of both before eating. I was extremely impressed by the NV Cavit Prosecco Lunetta, which I think had excellent QPR. It was fresh and round on the palate, and the nicely bubbling glass was pleasantly refreshing. It was toasty and a bit yeasty, with I found a nice counterpoint to the typical lemony essence of prosecco. Sometimes a prosecco at this price point can be a bit harsh and acidic, but not this one. With the food it stood up to the strong flavors without overwhelming them, and while I've never had a sparkling wine with Indian food after this I have to say that prosecco was a great recommendation. I wouldn't necessarily pull out your finest French vintage champagne, but the prosecco was very good indeed. This Lunetta would be an excellent holiday pour, good with a variety of foods and extremely affordable. Striking label, too. Thanksgiving?

On to the 2003 Chateau d'Orschwihr Gewurztraminer Bollenberg, which I rank as having good QPR. (here's a label shot from an earlier vintage--but the label looks the same). I'm not as familiar with Alsatian Gewurztraminer, which is less dry than new world bottlings. It was deep and golden in the glass, and had really interesting honey, peach, and apricot aromas. The first sip, without food, was over the top and sweet. This is definitely an off-dry wine. With the food however, espeically the highly seasoned cabbage and some spicy chutneys, this wine was very nice. But I did feel that it may be overwhelming the food, rather than complementing it. I found it interesting that the CWCellar staff felt that riesling was too lean and wouldn't stand up to the food as well as the gewurztraminer.

So the jury is still out on Indian food and wine. I have yet to feel like I know the wine to go to--never mind the maker--when I'm thinking of cooking up a Keralan feast like this. Any readers with suggestions or recommendations, please leave a comment.

2004 Sollner Gruner Veltliner Danubio

It's hot in LA, and we're back to eating burgers and salads. Dragged home from the library and popped a 2004 Sollner Guner Veltliner Danubio ($9.95, Chronicle Wine Cellar) into the fridge while I made up some of Rachael Ray's chicken cacciatore burgers (not the one on the web--the one in 365 No Repeats that actually has a proper bun and sauteed portabella mushrooms) and of course a Jamie Oliver salad. People get sniffy about Rachael Ray, just like they do about Beverages & More, but she's the only woman in my kitchen almost as much as I am. Mind you, I can't stand watching her on tv, but I like the cookbooks.

As the burgers were grilling and the peppers and mushrooms were sauteeing, I opened up the GV. I wasn't expecting much because I had this at someone's house after I bought my bottle and didn't think much of it. Mine tonight was nicely chilled down, and it was paired with food that had an edge of sweetness and earthiness to it and it was very good.

Gruner Veltliner has an interesting varietal flavor profile: stones, minerals, grapefruit, white pepper, and lentils. How's that for a wine? If you haven't tasted it before, it tastes like a super lean riesling, with no impression of sweetness. It is experiencing quite a surge of interest at the moment, with wine writers like Jancis Robinson extolling its virtues and versatility.

This GV, from Weingut Sollner on the Danube, is made at a certified biodynamic vineyard. What are biodynamics, you ask? I thought it was a super organic designation, and then I went to the Oz Farm dinner this summer outside Point Arena and discovered it was something else entirely. Based on the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, biodynamic wine production (as far as this historian can tell) is based on medieval and early modern farming techniques. Wineanorak has a good article on the topic. It's very much a "plant this wine at the full moon" philosophy. NPR did a great show on the topic, and urged caution before we turn up our collective scientific noses at it. At Oz, they think it makes a difference and they're the farmers, so they should know.

The 2004 Sollner GV Danubio was as pale as water in the glass, with a slight golden tint. Lots of citrus in the aromas and some on the palate. But mostly the taste was indeed stony, with a hint of musty lentilness and a bright peppery spark if you really dug for it. Some GV's just stun you with the way the flavors keep unfolding--rocks, fruit, herbs, lentils, spice--and this was not quite that fine. Still, I give this very good QPR for its price. It is available online at some east coast merchants, as are different vintages designations for Sollner.

Last but not least, this is my first Thanksgiving wine recommendation. Because it goes best with food with a touch of earthy sweetness, it would be great with turkey, cranberry sauce, and any mushroom dishes. At this price, you can get a few extra bottles and put it away for the leftovers, too.