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.

Bordeaux Step 2: Familiar Grapes, Old World Style

As I said in my earlier post on Bordeaux, if you are going to devote a chunk of your budget and storage space to Bordeaux wines, you have to know if you like them. Because the taste of Bordeaux wine changes from vintage to vintage and appellation to appellation, you also need to know that in general you like the grape varietals that go into making most Bordeaux wines.

Bordeaux wines are blended wines that are made from cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and cabernet franc (if red), and sauvignon blanc and semillon (if white). But there is often a huge difference between California and other New World expressions of these varietals, and those from the Old World. Though the varietals are familiar to us, they behave very differently when they are planted in different soils--distinctions that are known as terroir. When I was starting out I found Andrea Immer's (now Andrea Immer Robinson's) Great Wine Made Simple absolutely indispensable when trying to understand how these and other grapes behaved in different regions. Much of the information below is drawn from her "flavor maps." If you don't have this book on your wine reference shelf, you really should! And you can also check out Gary Vaynerchuk's discussion of this topic over at Wine Library TV.

After years of reading and tasting, I now think of these Old World/New World varietal flavor differences like a Venn-diagram, with a core of common flavors, flanked by expressions that come from terroir. Here's one of mine, with very low production values (I never could color in the lines). But you get the point. Below is a slightly more polished chart of Old World and New World characteristics for the varietals used in Bordeaux wines, with the common characteristics for each made bold.

	Merlot	Cabernet Sauvignon	Sauvignon Blanc	Semillon
Old World	Plum, vanilla- oak, roasted coffee, wet gravel, cocoa powder, pen ink	Blackcurrant, cassis, wet leaves, wet gravel, spice, vanilla, mocha, pencil lead	Grassy, herbaceous, vanilla	Honey, fig
New World	Jammy plum, blackberry, blueberry; prominent oak	Jammy blackberry, blackcurrant, cassis; sweet and spicy oak; mint or eucalyptus	Citrus, melon, peach, vanilla	Honey

So think hard about whether you would like the Old World expressions of these varietal flavors BEFORE you start madly buying Bordeaux. And, be sure that you eat the kind of hearty fare that will support the red wines, and enjoy sipping dessert wines, too.

Next week I'll be posting about the most challenging aspect of Bordeaux for most of us: storage. Stay tuned for shots of my closet, and some advice gathered from the experts.

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.

Buying into Burgundy

One of my wine resolutions for 2007 was to get to know Burgundian wines, as well as Spanish wines. I've started on the Spanish front, and a little trip to the Chronicle Wine Cellar has helped set the stage for my foray into Burgundy.

Chronicle Wine Cellar recently acquired some 1998 and 2000 Burgundies, including a range of wines produced by Vincent Girardin, a well-known winemaker, for the European market under the Baron de la Charriere label. Quoting Alan Meadows of Burghound: "Some of these wines are also sold through European Cellars under the Baron de la Charriere label and they are identical to those sold under the Vineyard Brands label, Vincent Girardin." (Since 2003, all Girardin wines have been exclusively labeled Girardin.) As a relative Burgundian newbie, I'm trusting the experts on this one, and feel like I've been able to get some wine produced by an excellent winemaker for a reasonable cost.

To stick to the Good Wines Under $20 brief, I purchased red Burgundies from several appellations (map from Terroir-France), all made by Girardin, all from the 2000 vintage, all sold under the Baron de la Charriere label, and all under $30. It seemed like a good plan to limit the variables in an attempt to figure out appellations on this round, and worry about vintages and producers later.

The wines I added to my cellar are:

2000 Baron de la Charrière Corton-Renardes ($24.95)
2000 Baron de la Charrière Nuits St. Georges Les Damodes 1er Cru ($22.95)
2000 Baron de la Charrière Volnay Les Santenots ($19.95)
2000 Baron de la Charrière Vosne-Romanee Les Suchots 1er Cru ($29.95)

I bought a few bottles of the Volnay and the Corton-Renardes, and am looking forward to tasting them in the upcoming weeks. When I went to Chronicle Wine Cellar at the end of the week, there were still quite a few bottles of the Baron de la Charriere wines left, so if you're in the LA area and are on the lookout for some excellent values from Burgundy, you may want to head over there to see what's on offer.

WBW #29: Biodynamic Roundup Begins!

Believe it or not, our intrepid hosts for WBW #29, Jack and Joanne at Fork and Bottle, have already begun posting the roundup of tastings at their website.

I am really looking forward to reading this month's roundup, since there are so many skeptics (good thing) and because my informal check on posts yesterday indicated that people were talking about intensity of flavors, mineral notes, and herbs in many of their posts.

A big thanks to Jack and Joanne for their efforts, and to all the bloggers who contributed to this month's event. No word yet on WBW #30, but when it's up I'll be sure to post a copy of it here.