2002 Rosemount Estate Chardonnay Orange Vineyard

Tonight I had a friend coming by to strategize something for work, and then dinner to think about. I decided to pop this bottle of wine in the fridge and take my chances. It's a Rosemount Estate wine that I've never had (don't drink much of their wine in the normal course of things) which I found tucked into the pallets at Costco some weeks back. And, as you know, I'm not a huge chardonnay fan. Still, most people are, so this was the choice.

Rosemount Estate has a huge presence in the supermarkets of LA, and while some of their wine is fine, I find a lot of it doesn't have gobs of varietal characteristics--my own personal way of wandering through the world of wine. For those of you not familiar with the specific characteristics of different grape varieties, I'd suggest a click over to the Professional Friends of Wine site to see their informative chart. They sort out flavors that are in the grape, versus processing flavors, and it can help you to understand (in part) the mysteries of wine scoring since (like judging dogs at the Westminster Dog Show) the best wine ratings should be based on some kind of standard. This is not objective, but there is still a method in some of the madness. Judging a wine's quality should hinge on some combination of a wine's display of varietal characteristics and local, or terroir, characteristics--or at least that's what I was taught. This is also how people succeed at identifying wines they drink blind--they know the varietal characteristics so well that they can sort out red currant from red raspberry and know whether a wine is a pinot or not.

The grapes for the 2002 Rosemount Estate Chardonnay Orange Vineyard (Costco, $7.99) are grown in a highland vineyard outside of Sydney with volcanic soils and cool-climate growing conditions. When I first opened the bottle, I thought: rut-ro. There was a definite whiff of oak, which is not quite what I expected. The back label revealed that I had apparently blanked out on the fact that the wine was aged in French new oak for a number of months! As the wine warmed up slighlty the strong oak smell blew off and it became more appealing. It is pale gold in color, with a nutty, citrusy aroma. When you taste this wine you are aware first of citrus, then a taste that reminded me of figs, then a nutty edge at the end like cashews. These are all good varietal characteristics of a lightly oaked chardonnay.

This wine was much better with food than solo, and for that I turned to tuna. What to eat in the week leading up to Thanksgiving is always a bit of a puzzle. I find that the mere thought of that turkey and the pounds of leftovers makes me downright reluctant to eat poultry. And, with Mom and Dad coming to town there will be more good food than ever at the house, not to mention more wine consumed, so all in all a good reason to trim some calories whenever you can. So we had a scrumptious grilled tuna with green goddess aioli from the September 2006 issue of Cooking Light magazine. The 2002 Rosemount Chardonnay was excellent with this meal, especially with the green goddess aioli. It was just the right body for the food--medium in weight and texture.

There is a new 2003 vintage of this wine in the stores, as well as the 2002 vintage. I discovered the price on the 2002 has increased substantially from what I paid for it at Costco in most retail stores and online vendors where it is going for between $10 and $15. At either the low price I paid or the higher price it seems to be going for in most stores, chardonnay lovers who like a bit of round oakiness in their wine, this represents very good QPR. Hard to find a chardonnay under $20 that doesn't taste artificial and overblown, but this one delivers citrus and nutty flavors that are in nice balance with each other. Rosemount suggests you could cellar this wine until 2010--maybe a bit optimistic but I do agree that this wine has the potential to hang around and get even more mellow and integrated over the next 2-4 years.

2004 Preston of Dry Creek "L. Preston"

After several days of blistering Indian Summer, it's starting to feel like fall again. I wanted something that fit this transition--robust in spices but grilled, heavy on the vegetables flooding into our local farmer's market, but substantial and rich. I found just what I was looking for in a clipping from the September 2006 Sunset magazine: flank steak with warm Moroccan spices, accompanied by a grilled eggplant and pepper salad. When I read the recipes, I realized that they were actually part of a feature on pairing wine with food. The wine the editors suggested was a syrah, but looking into my wine rack I saw something I thought would work even better: a syrah-based California red blended as a homage to Rhone varietals.

The 2004 Preston of Dry Creek "L. Preston" (Chronicle Wine Cellar, $17.95) is a plush, velvety, Rhone-style blend of syrah, mourvedre, carignane, and cinsault. While US wines tend to use a single varietal, blending reds and whites is a long-standing tradition in Europe. Some of the world's best-known wines are in fact blends, including most red wines from Bordeaux and the Rhone. No matter where blends are made, they often represent excellent value, since blending grapes enables the wine-maker to make the most appealing and rich wine possible with a palate of varietal flavors and aromas.

If you aren't familiar with Preston of Dry Creek, they have a great website that describes the farm and vineyard, and the family's wine making philosophy. Preston of Dry Creek are organic wine makers, and they use what they describe as "minimalist" methods. Keep your eye out for their wines.

I had a glass of wine while I was finishing with dinner, and it was just delicious. Deep raspberry in color with scents of spicy red fruits and dark chocolate made you want to dive in and paddle around. More dark chocolate, red raspberries, blueberries, spice, and black pepper swirled around in the flavors, providing a long, luscious finish that sent you straight back to the glass for another sip, and then another. This wine had fully integrated tannins, but was still robust enough to stand up to the spices I was using. Once we sat down to eat, the wine was just as good with the food as it had been on its own.

This was a classy California Rhone-style blend, that represented very good QPR. Why is such an excellent wine only very good in the QPR department? Simply because most domestic and imported Rhone blends are typically available at a lower price point than this one. Still, I will be buying more!

Sparklers: Wine Blogging Wednesday #28 Announced

Seattle' s own Culinary Fool is hosting next month's Wine Blogging Wednesday. The theme she's picked is "Sparklers," perfect for the upcoming December and January festivities. On December 13, wine bloggers all over the web will pop their corks and post their reactions to all kinds of sparkling wines.

The only sparklers that are off limits are Champagne (Sam over at Becks 'n' Posh did those a few months ago, click here for the informative round-up). Culinary Fool has even asked us to tag our wines as "Party Sparklers" (budget-friendly sparkling wines that you could serve at parties without embarassment!), "Special Sparklers" (sparklers that cost more but are nice for splurges on special occasions), and even "Duds." So there should be lots of good suggestions for those of us looking for guidance on which sparkling wines to pick in the under $20 bracket.

For more details in case you want to participate, check out her full brief. Culinary Fool hopes to post the round-up around December 15 in plenty of time for all those toasts.

Thanksgiving and Wine, Part 2: Some Specific Recommendations

If you haven't already bought your wines for Thanksgiving, you're probably starting to think about it right about now. This is a great week to make some decisions and purchases, because the crowds haven't yet started to build and the shelves are still relatively well-stocked. What follows are some specific, fruit-forward, budget-friendly recommendations of wines that I think would go well with the Big Meal. (vintage image from Caaren Charles)

I've had all of these wines sometime during the past year, and kept tasting notes for them (long before I started blogging here) so I've checked to make sure that those listed are still available.

I broke the recommendations into three categories (whites, reds, and sparkling wines) and indicated a general price range so you can figure out which are best for your budget. The range is based on prices I found on Wine-Searcher. Of course, prices in your area may be different from those indicated here.

Whites:

2004 Hugel et Fils Gentil ($5-$10): A very good gewurztraminer with crisp apple notes and a sweet impression. Pale straw in color, with appealing apple and floral aromas. Will be excellent with a traditional meal, or with a meal where there are spicy side-dishes.

2005 Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc ($10-15): Pale, almost translucent in color, with grass, melon, and grapefuit on the palate. Not as fragrant as some sauvignon blancs, it is still more complex and interesting than most at this price point. Zingy enough to cut through the heavy foods, but not at all acidic.

2004 Voss Sauvignon Blanc ($10-$15): A nice sauvignon blanc, if a bit one dimensional, with predominantly pink grapefruit aromas and palate. This wine has a little bit of herbal freshness, so will go well with meals that use traditional spices (thyme, parsley, sage). Clean and crisp.

2004 Sollner Danubio Gruner Veltliner ($10-$15): For a full tasting note, see my earlier post.

2004 Dry Creek Vineyard Dry Chenin Blanc ($10-$15): Pale straw color, lemony upfront then a sweet undertone that keeps it brisk and fresh. Would be particularly good with spicier sides and smoked turkey.

2003 Rutherford Hill Chardonnay ($15-$20): Pale straw color, with a very faint aroma of lemons and pears. On the palate, citrus and mineral notes with a tiny bit of butter around the edges. Crisp, clean chardonnay with no bitter or oaky flavors to cause problems with all those flavors on the table.

2004 Sineann Pinot Gris ($15-$20): Delicious. Like biting into a golden delicious apple, tart and sweet at the same time. Appley rather than lemony, it's not entirely characteristic of the varietal but it works. No bitter edges, so its easy to pair with a wide range of foods.

Reds:

2002 Georges Duboeuf Fleurie ($10-$15): Extremely good beaujolais wine. Light and fruity red, with raspberries and some depth as a result of the bottle age. Most gamay wines are for drinking straight away, but this one has staying power due to the excellent vintage. Perfect for roasted turkey, dark meat turkey, mushroom dishes, and robust holiday foods.

2004 Castle Rock Pinot Noir Monterey ($10-$15): Richer and more nuanced than most pinots at this price point, this ruby wine had earthy and berry flavors and a good finish that was spicy and drew you back for more.

2005 Mark West Pinot Noir Central Coast ($10-$15): This was a juicy, fruity pinot noir. When you first open it, the aroma can be hot and alcoholic, so open it before the meal and let those aromas blow off. After 20 minutes or so, it will smell like red raspberry with a tiny bit of underlying red currant. Crushed raspberry in color, the wine's palate was silky and raspberry as well. A bit of meatiness in the finish made it linger. Not as spicy and rich as the Castle Rock described above.

2005 Pierre-Marie Chermette Beaujolais ($10-$15): For a full tasting note, see my earlier post.

NV Lazy Creek Vineyards Red Table Wine ($20): 100% pinot noir grapes, blended from a number of vintages to yield a rich and flavorful pinot noir. Loads of red fruit and a little bit of earthy funkiness in the aromas. It's a little less silky than the very best pinots, but an excellent drinking wine to go with a wide variety of foods.

Sparkling Wines:

NV Cavit Lunetta Prosecco ($10-$15): For a full tasting note, see my earlier post. This wine would be good with any course, from hors d'oeuvres through to dessert.

NV Santa Margherita Prosecco Brut ($15-$20): A bright, crisp prosecco. Not at all harsh or bitter, this is appley and lemony. Would be best with hors d'oeuvres or the main course. Surprisingly rich and complex for a prosecco.

NV Domaine Chandon Extra-Dry Riche ($15-$20): For a full tasting note, see my earlier post. Would be best with hors d'oeuvres, dinners that use lots of spice, and dessert as it has a definitely sweet impression on the aromas, even though it drinks dry.

NV Piper-Hiedsieck Brut ($20-$25): Light, lemony, and crisp with medium bead and a bright finish. Best with the main course, since it's a robust champagne.

Happy shopping!

Thanksgiving and Wine, Part 1: Some General Considerations

It's two weeks until Thanksgiving, and we will soon be inundated with hundreds of tips in every magazine, newspaper, and television show from the daily news to the Food Network on what to serve with this all important holiday meal. I can't resist entering the scrum.

All over America, people are being whipped into stiff white peaks of hysteria and anxiety over this one meal. But here's the thing, folks: holidays are supposed to be about comfort, joy, and generosity of spirit--even if this message is sometimes delivered in a way that seems a bit tyrannical and Victorian! (vintage image from Karen's Whimsy)

What follows are my general observations about what works and what doesn't for the big day, drawn together to hopefully induce a sense of calm anticipation rather than frenetic worry. Early next week I'll be back with some specific bottle recommendations pulled from a year's worth of tasting notes, all checked to make sure they are still available for purchase.

So here are the things that I think about before selecting wines for Thanksgiving:

1. Fruit-forward wines are your friend. Our abundant holiday tables are a challenge in wine and food pairing terms, but if you are asking what wine goes with turkey you are asking the wrong question, as Ray Isle explains in his excellent article in Food & Wine this month. This is the most sensible thing I've read yet on Thanksgiving food and wine issues. He points out that turkey goes with pretty much anything--it's the sides you have to worry about. So many conflicting flavors and textures (sweet, salty, tart, gamey, creamy, it goes on and on) means that grass, vegetal, oak, mineral, and spice flavors have to be considered carefully with respect to your menu decisions. And then there's your brother-in-law's jalapeno and cornbread stuffing! The easiest way to steer around these potential pitfalls is to focus on wines that are fruit-forward. Look for tasting notes and/or labels that mention specific fruits at the beginning. When in doubt, go with unoaked sauvignon blanc that is not grassy but citrusy or with a fruit-forward wine made with pinot noir grapes. And, you can always serve one white and one red (see warning below, #3, regarding more than 2 different wines with the main course).

2. Unless you are serving genuine wine enthusiasts, now is not the time to pull out the premier crus. There are a couple of good reasons for this. First, the food is supposed to be the star at this meal, and if you serve your most expensive bottle of wine to Aunt Tilly only to have her coo instead over the pattern the marshmallows have made on the yams the entire evening is likely to devolve into a wine seminar with you lecturing down the table on the finer points of Burgundy. Of course, if you can simply plunk the premier cru down on the table like it's a box wine and let it go, then more power to you (and I'm coming to your house for dinner). Second, many of us will be having 8-12 for dinner, and will want to have multiple bottles on hand for guests. Finding good quality, interesting wine at a reasonable price is all the more important since it is likely to make you, and therefore your guests, feel at ease. No one needs to bankrupt themselves for Thanksgiving wine.

3. Only serve six different wines with the main course if you are having a buffet or have announced that this year Thanksgiving will have a "Tasting Dinner" theme. While it does demand some pre-planning, putting two or three identical bottles of wine down the center of the table screams abundance and plenty to me. If you just pull out 3 miscellaneous whites that have been cluttering up your wine rack for the last few months and hope for the best, there will be unpleasant results as friends and relatives start topping up glasses mixing the German riesling with the Napa chardonnay. If you are having a buffet, however, you can put out what you like, but I recommend pulling all the corks in advance so people can (in true buffet style) browse the offerings and drink what they want rather than settling for the sauvignon blanc because that's the wine that's open. Don't know how much wine to buy for dinner and/or cocktails? That's the Spirit! gives some advice on how much wine you will need per person. And don't be afraid of half-drunk bottles of wine or unopened bottles. Remember, there will be leftovers, it's soup season and wine is great for enriching soups, and you can always keep unopened wine for the next round of holiday parties.

4. High alcohol wines and holidays do not mix. For this reason I don't serve Zinfandels at Thanksgiving (despite the many recommendations for this wine) unless I can find one at well under 14% alc./vol. We should be aware of alcohol levels year round, but I think it is crucial at this time of year. This goes double if you are a generous host (and I know you are) and like to top off glasses and serve wine from the moment people arrive to the instant their feet cross the threshold on the way out the door. This goes triple if your guests are driving home. Read the fine print on your bottles, find the alcohol content on the label, and remember that the higher the alcohol content the trickier it can be to match it with food. Zinfandels are classically fruit-forward wines, but they are also heavy and full-bodied which can overwhelm the turkey (unless its smoked or deep fried), drown the creamed onions, and engulf the mashed potatoes. If you are serving different wines with different courses, try to balance out higher alcohol offerings with moderate and lower alcohol selections. In addition to choosing your wines carefully with respect to alcohol levels, don't forget to have a nice selection of imported non-alcohol beers, fancy bottled waters, and sparkling non-alcoholic ciders on hand for those who choose not to drink.

5. If a guest brings wine to Thanksgiving dinner unexpectedly, you don't have to serve it unless you really want to. I once attended a dinner party where the host burst into tears because, on the heels of several culinary disasters, someone brought wine and then immediately asked for a corkscrew. The host had labored for the best part of two weeks over the shopping, the menu, and the pairings of every course with a different wine. They did not want their guest's favorite merlot inserted into the mix--but they didn't know what to do, and tensions were running high. Remember: it's a gift. All you are required to do is express your thanks. One way to deal with a guest eager to have their wine served is to say brightly that you are going to put this out on the bar to go with the hors d'ouevres. Another tactic involves staring at the label with rapt attention for ten seconds, devouring every detail of the label, and then saying "Wow! I'm going to put this aside for our dinner on Sunday when I can really appreciate it. Thank you so much!" Not much they can say then! If you are a guest and want to take wine to your hosts, then either buy a wine gift bag and put the bottle in it (this means the host knows this is a gift, and not necessarily meant to be served right away) or hand it over unadorned saying something like "here's a bottle of red for you to enjoy once we've all gone home."

Check your menus, paying particular attention to your side dishes. Check your closets, cellars, and wine racks for bottles that are ready to drink--especially look for the unopened bottle of champagne in the back of the fridge--but not over the hill. Figure out how many different wines you want to serve (cocktail hour? with the first course? with the main dishes? with dessert?), and think back over some of the fruit-forward wines you've enjoyed over the last few months. Calculate the number of bottles you need and then forge bravely on to the wine store or the supermarket before the shelves are depleted. Uncertain? Go with citrusy sauvignon blanc and/or berryish pinot noir. Still confused? Check back here for some specific recommendations with tasting notes that might help you decide on which wine you want to serve.

And if you have a particular recommendation for a wine that's worked well for your holiday meals, feel free to leave a comment here.