Seashells by the Seashore

Summer by the sea can make even the most die-hard red meat eater turn to creatures that swim and crawl on the ocean floor when it comes time to have dinner. I'm no exception to the rule. Just smelling the salt air makes me want shrimp, scallops, lobster (not that there's much of that on the Sonoma coast), and crab.

If you've got a seafood dinner in your future, you may want to look for a bottle of the very good QPR 2005 Teruzzi & Puthod Terre di Tufi ($16.99, domaine547). This wine contains a subtle and intriguing blend of chardonnay, malvasia, vernaccia, and vermentino which produces a soft, medium-boded white just perfect for the delicate flavors of shellfish. While it does see a short time in barriques (4-5 months), there is no pronounced oakiness to get between you and your food. I liked the aromas of apple and hay that introduced me to the wine, and then the lean mineral and lemon-inflected flavors that followed. Seafood can be rich, but heavy wines completely overwhelm them. This wine is round without being heavy, fresh without being tart, and the blend of grapes works very well together. At 13% alc/vol, it is also a wine that can be enjoyed down to the last drops in the glass.

We had this wine with an absolutely fantastic dish of seared scallops and lemon orzo. The buttery scallops fit perfectly with the round, fresh flavor profile of the wine. The orzo--cooked in broth and lemon juice to infuse the pasta with flavor while making a clinging sauce--helped to pick out and emphasize the lemon notes in the wine.

Teruzzi & Puthod is located in the beautiful Tuscan hilltop town of San Gimignano, and the grapes from this wine came from area vineyards. We may be more familiar with Tuscan reds in this country, but this wine will definitely make me seek out the region's white wines as well.

The 5 Best Wine Blogs

In the Fall 2007 25th Anniversary Special Edition of Wine & Spirits magazine, the blogosphere's own Tyler Colman selected the "5 Best Wine Blogs" that you're probably not reading.

What a surprise and an honor to be included on his list! My copy of the magazine seems to be coming by pony express to the remote Sonoma Coast, so in case you are wondering who else is on the list here are some links. You will, however, want to read all about Tyler's reasoning behind his selections and to do that you need to go out and buy the magazine if you're not already a subscriber. He also included an amusing yet extremely accurate rundown of why (and why not) to blog.

So here are the 5 Best Wine Blogs, in alpha order:

Brooklyn Guy's Food and Wine Blog
Good Wine Under $20
PinotBlogger
Tasting Room
Wine Terroirs

Congratulations to all of those highlighted in the article! Click on over, sign up for their blog feeds (if you're not signed up already!), and get to know some new wine writers in order to gain fresh perspectives on the world of wine.

Coming on the heels of the wine and technology conference in Napa, and Tom Wark's survey results at Fermentation, the coverage of the blogosphere by one of this country's best known and respected wine publications confirms the important place occupied by the internet in the wine market as well as the important role that bloggers can play in supporting and sustaining wine culture in this country and beyond. That Wine & Spirits chose one of the blogosphere's best and brightest to write the piece is equally important, in my mind. It shows that they recognize the blogosphere as its own area of expertise, with its own set of practices and customs. Who better to write about blogs than a blogger?

Many thanks to all my subscribers, my regular readers, and my new visitors for surfing over here to check out GWU$20. Thanks to all of you, I'm having a fantastic time drinking wine and writing about it, and I look forward to many more years of the same. Tonight, I'll be raising a glass to all the wine bloggers and our wine blog readers. Salut.

Another Pizza Wine: Negroamaro

I adore pizza. Takeout, home-made, eat in a restaurant-- anything but frozen, although I have been known to weaken and chuck an American Flatbread pizza into the oven in moments of desperation, and they're pretty good, too.

As any wine-lover knows, contrary to legend and rumour, finding a good wine to go with pizza can be a bit of a challenge. Tangy sauce, lots of cheese, and a multitude of possible toppings complicate the issue. I don't like super-jammy wines with my pizza, since they seem to clash with the acidity of the tomato sauce, but a green cabernet isn't quite the thing, either. Sangiovese is my usual default option, but they can be expensive since Chianti is such a well known wine region. So when you find a good red wine to go with your pizza--heaven. That's why I'm always on the lookout for new varietals that might yield plausible wines for pizza and don't cost a fortune.

My recent varietal discovery is negroamaro. Native to southern Italy, negroamaro produces dark red wines that are known for their earthiness and rusticity. (Curious about rusticity? See the conversation about "rustic wine" over at Dr. Vino). I prefer a slightly rustic, spicy wine with my pie to a jammy, fruity wine so when I saw the 2002 La Corte Negroamaro from Puglia in a box of bin ends at an independent grocery store up here on the coast for $15.99, I grabbed it. Turns out the price was a steal. If you want to get some of this wine, Adel's in San Francisco has it, but you will pay close to $30. For the price I paid, this was an excellent QPR red pizza wine. It was a deep purpley-red in color, with aromas of black tea leaves, tobacco, and plum. Flavors of plum filled your mouth from the first sips, then there were notes of herbs and toast and the tannic grip and flavor of tea to carry you through to the herbal-tobacco finish. I found that this wine was surprisingly complex and sophisticated for a varietal known for making rustic wines. And it was smooth and easy to drink too, without being jammy.

It was excellent with a homemade pizza made by my dad, that was loaded with pepperoni, mushrooms, and onions. The wine brought out the herbs in the sauce, the tobacco and tea notes paired well with the earthiness of the mushrooms and onions, and the smoothness was an excellent companion to the gooey mozzarella cheese.

As this was my first bottle of wine made with negroamaro I'm not sure if it was typical, but it sure was good. I'd be interested to hear from Italian wine fans about their experiences with the grape. This is a varietal I'm going to keep my eye out for in the stores and continue to explore in the coming months--if I can find some more wines to try.

Best Value Pinots

Pinot Noir is a wine that people feel passionate about. And it's not all because of Sideways. These silky, elegant reds are so easy to pair with food, and so flavorful, that it's hard to imagine not being drawn to them. I was certainly drawn to the 2005 Eric Kent Stiling Vineyard Pinot Noir (pictured left). So much so that I immediately joined the wine club!

Regular readers of the blog will know that I recently attended Pinot Days in San Francisco. There I was able to taste a wide range of superb pinot noirs from all around the world. The pinot noirs I tasted ranged from $18 to nearly $60. As I mentioned in my Pinot Days Post Mortem, I therefore fear that the day of the high-quality under $20 pinot noir are over.

There are many reasons for this. Pinot Noir is fashionable, so that drives the price. But let's put that aside. Pinot Noir is a picky, fickle grape. It demands a lot of time and attention. The very best are cultivated in cool climate areas with difficult growing conditions and tricky harvests. These areas are also remote, with all kind of zoning and development restrictions. And to make distinctive pinot noirs--the kind that I'm recommending here--growers often use low-yielding vines. Scarcity + fashion = expensive. Doesn't matter if its houses, clothes, or cars. It's going to cost you.

But all is not lost. The good news is that there are excellent--and I do mean excellent--pinot noirs that cost between $18 and $40. Based on my tastings at Pinot Days and at the Family Winemakers Event in Pasadena in March, I drew together an alphabetized list of the best value pinot noirs that I tasted. In doing so I found a handful of producers that I felt made good pinots across the pricing spectrum. If you investigate them, you will find they also produce smaller-production, more expensive wines than those here. They are also excellent. But what impressed me was that I found minor differences in flavor and quality between their higher- and lower-priced bottlings. That's why I think these wines deliver so much bang for the buck: they are being made by skilled winemakers, using some of the best fruit out there.

Because of the length of the list, I've kept the notes brief, and hotlinked each wine to Wine-Searcher where you can look to see which merchants sell the wine you're looking for. The price range indicates the prices that I found on Wine-Searcher, not the suggested retail price at the winery.

2005 Ancien Pinot Noir Mink, Carneros ($34-$38) Raspberry all the way--aromas, flavors, finish. Sweet fruit, nice acidity. Very good QPR.

2005 Ancien Pinot Noir Fiddlestix, Santa Rita Hills ($36) Floral and fruity aromas give way to flavors of black raspberry, violet, and cream. My favorite wine from this maker at the tasting. Excellent QPR.

2005 Anne Amie Cuvee A, Willamette Valley ($18-$25) Fine entry-level pinot with black raspberry and toast aromas and flavors. Sour cherry note on finish adds interest. Very good QPR.

2005 Dutton-Goldfield Pinot Noir Dutton Ranch, Russian River Valley ($26-$32) Silky wine with blackberry, black cherry, and raspberry flavors. Floral aromas add a nice approachability to the wine. Very good QPR.

2005 Eric Kent Wine Cellars Pinot Noir Stiling, Russian River Valley. ($33-$45) Best pinot noir of the entire tasting. Absolutely outstanding in every way. Meaty with luscious berries and lovely acidity. Loads of creamy blackberry fruit and spice give it complexity. This wine is sold out at the vineyard, so I've included notes for EK wines that are not yet released. If you want them, get on the mailing list now! I could find only one merchant currently stocking it. Run if you live in LA. Excellent QPR.

2006 Eric Kent Wine Cellars Pinot Noir Stiling, Russian River Valley (NYR) Barrel sample. Black cherry, great creaminess, nice acidity. It's another extraordinary wine. No price yet, so no QPR, but this was almost as good now as its older sister from the 2005 vintage.

2006 Eric Kent Wine Cellars Pinot Noir Windsor Oaks, Russian River Valley (NYR) Barrel sample. Gorgeous acidity, but the wine is still so young it is hard to gauge what it will become. Ripe cherry, flowers--has lots of potential.

2004 Fort Ross Pinot Noir Fort Ross Vineyard ($29-$45) I liked this wine, which had real complexity in a restrained package. Black cherry and raspberry aromas, with a gorgeous note of rose petals. Smooth texture, and the aromas are echoed on the palate. Excellent QPR.

2003 Fort Ross Vineyard Pinot Noir Symposium, Sonoma Coast ($27-$32) Pinotage is added to the pinot noir in this bottling. Black cherry flavors and aromas predominate with some cedar notes. Excellent QPR.

2004 Hamel Pinot Noir Campbell Ranch, Sonoma Coast ($25) Earth and truffles with cherry and black raspberry flavors. Drinking well now, but I'd wait another 9-18 months before opening. Excellent QPR. (The 2005 is just as good, but I didn't find any online sources for the wine).

2005 Handley Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley ($18-$30) Abundant cherry, raspberry, and blackberry fruits in a cascade of flavors that are accented with a very intriguing caramel note. Very nicely done, and distinctive. Best value of the tasting. Excellent QPR. If you can get this for $18, it's a steal. Do it.

2005 J Vineyards and Winery Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley ($23-$35) Easy drinking pinot noir with raspberry, blackberry, grilled meat, and spice aromas/flavors. (88 pts.)

2005 Lost Canyon Pinot Noir Saralee's Vineyard, Russian River Valley ($35) Elegant smoke, cherry, black raspberry, and herb aromas and flowers. Lushest and roundest of the Lost Canyon 05 pinots I tasted. Excellent QPR.

2005 Lost Canyon Pinot Noir Las Brisas Vineyard, Carneros ($35) Spiciest of the Lost Canyon 05s I tasted. Spice, smoke, and bright red raspberry and sour cherry fruit. Very nice. Excellent QPR.

2004 Red Head Ranch Pinot Noir ($28). A silky, elegant, and balanced wine. Cherries, with notes of mushroom, earth, roast coffee and cocoa to keep the wine interesting. Excellent QPR.

2005 Row Eleven Pinot Noir, Santa Maria Valley ($28-$31) Nice value on this very good pinot noir. Rich black cherry and smoke flavors and aromas. Very good QPR.

2005 Row Eleven Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley ($36) Very nicely done. Bright cherry aromas and flavors, with added notes of roses and violets on the nose. Subtle smoke and char notes. Nice balance. Very good QPR.

To close, I wanted to remind everybody that the whole idea behind Good Wine Under $20 is that good wine doesn't have to be prohibitively expensive. But for those of us who love pinot noir, the rising prices (and the rising quality) are going to put a crimp in budgets. So how will I strategize to make sure there is money to buy one of these beauties occasionally? By drinking a wide variety of high quality, good value wines from around the world--and pocketing the savings to buy pinot. If you drink well and sensibly all the time, you can make the odd splurge purchase. For me that means budgeting my wine dollars in such a way to take advantage of all the great values coming out of California, Spain, and France so that I can afford my beloved pinot. And when I find a good pinot under $20, I will certainly tell you! And if you've found one, let us know in the comments section below.

Picture This: Personalized Wine Bottles

If you're looking for a special gift to celebrate a birthday, anniversary, wedding, or other momentous occasion, look no further. Picture My Wine will generate a customized wine label, complete with the uploaded photo of your choice. I've looked at other personalized wine bottle offerings before and either the wine was terrible, the labels were cheesy, or you had to order a case. Not so with Picture My Wine.

Picture My Wine offers a selection of wines from either the Healdsburg Wine Company or Brutocao's cost-conscious Bliss bottlings. For me, the Bliss Merlot (winner of a double-gold medal from the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition) is a no-brainer at $15 and you don't have to order a case or a 1/2 case to get your personalized bottle. Even single bottle orders are filled, making them great gifts for someone special. But imagine giving someone with a new house six bottles of "house wine" in personalized bottles? Pretty nice gift.

I had a little trouble getting the interface to work for the merlot label with the images on my computer. But I did generate a snazzy, classy label using a medieval image and the "Vertical Black" Label option. Most folks use personal photos, because they're buying for birthdays, weddings, or anniversaries, but nearly any image will do. (make sure you're using an image properly and not infringing on copyright, ok?)

All it takes is a nice image and a little forethought to get your wine in time. Orders ship three days after they are placed, and it takes a further 3-7 days to receive the wine depending on where you live and whether you pay for express shipping.