And Now For Something Completely Different

2004 Chateau Angelus, St-Emilion, France ($125)

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BAS

at July 14, 2007 in Bordeaux Red. 1 Comment

This is a review from Chateau Petrogasm, my new favorite wine review site. I have to agree with the single anonymous reader who, upon seeing this review, courageously commented: "That's strangely accurate." It really is. But it's also wonderfully thought provoking. Do they mean the tannins hit you like an anvil? That there are iron notes? That it has smooth edges, and some rough edges, too? What does it all mean?

"Wine is art, drinking it should be too!" Or so Andrew Stuart and Benjamin Saltzman, the founding residents of this imaginary chateau, contend. By reviewing a wine through an image, they provide a wine review blog that speaks to people of all languages, that is entirely subjective, and that engages the reader. Stuart, Saltzman, and the four other chateau "residents" also underscore that wine exists in a place that words can't always reach, and that in trying to capture a wine in words we wine reviewers sometimes miss the mark. Whether a picture of white wisteria to accompany a Zind Humbrecht gewurztraminer, conveying the essence of a California syrah with a fat-bellied puppy, or suggesting a black and white graphic is the perfect expression of a 1996 Champagne, this is a wine blog that challenges and delights.

Visiting Chateau Petrogasm has become my preferred morning brain exercise. It beats Sudoku, no question. It gets the old synapses firing better than caffeine. And it's the only wine review site that can put forward a reasonable claim that philosophers from Plato to Wittgenstein (were they still living) would vote for it in the American Wine Blog Awards.

Go. Now. Visit. Have fun. Laugh. Think. It will do you good.

GaryV: from the Big Time to the Small Screen

Set your Tivos, your alarm clocks, and your VCRs. Wine Library TV's Gary Vaynerchuk will be on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on Wednesday, August 1. Gary and Conan will share the stage with Ann Curry and Seth Rogen. If you've not seen Gary, play his recent episode on entry level French burgundies by hitting the button below. Trust me, it's worth it--but don't stick celery up your nose! OK, don't know where the embedded viddler has gone, but click here to watch the video or on the static image above if you are so inclined!

As the story about Gary's star turn on CalWineries points out, one of the reasons Gary is having such a huge impact on the wine world is because of the passion that his fans have for his Wine Library TV format and for the the information he shares with them. Gary is most definitely a Guy Without a Tie in the all-too-often stuffy world of wine, even if he is called a "wine critic" in the Conan O'Brien press release. I think it's safe to say "wine critic" will have an entirely new connotation after Gary's appearance.

Check local listings for showtimes, and once again hats off to Gary. First Time, now TV. Gary, you're bringing non-mainstream wine coverage into the spotlight. I predict a Food Network contract is being drawn up for your consideration at this moment. In my opinion, you are ready for your closeup.

Indian Food and Wine Find

The challenges of pairing pizza and wine are exceeded only by the challenges associated with pairing Indian food with wine. Most people just have beer. For me, though, it has to be vino.

Usually, my go-to wines are riesling and gewurztraminer. They have enough of a sweet impression to handle the heat of the food without amplifying it with tannins, and their aromatic profiles also stand up to all of those spices that waft out of the pots. But I was surprised to discover a Rhone-style white blend could be an equally good partner for Indian food.

The 2003 Treana Mer Soleil is a white blend made with the Rhone varietals viognier and marsanne and it was superb with Indian food ($14.99, Costco; available elsewhere for between $20 and $30). The prelude to the wine was rich and sweet honey and apricot aromas laced with lemon blossom. At this point, I was ready to dive into the wine! Sipping it, my first impression was of satin, as the marsanne gave it a full, heavy feeling in your mouth. Despite the wine's first impressions, it is actually a dry wine with flavors of golden delicious apples and pink grapefruit dipped in honey. Good acidity made for a well structured wine that was refreshing and fresh.There is the merest suggestion of botrytis in the long and luscious finish, although my research did not indicate that botrytis was really present in the wine. Very good QPR.

We had this superb wine with Maya Kaimal's Black Pepper Chicken Curry, which originally appeared in her second cookbook, Savoring the Spice Coast of India and was reprinted in an article in Food and Wine Magazine. We had it with some steamed basmati rice, and I pulled out some leftover corn on the cob to use in a recipe from Sunset magazine for spicy corn and mustard seeds. The curry has coconut milk in it, so the heaviness of the wine and he creaminess of the curry's sauce were well-matched. And the balance of sweetness and acidity in the wine was just right for the rich spiciness of the dishes.

This is the second Rhone white that I thought would pair well with Indian food (the other was a Kris Curran Grenache Blanc). So if you've never been drawn to riesling and gewurztraminer, but want wine that goes with curry, don't be afraid to try another aromatic white. You may make an Indian food and wine find, too.

2007: the Summer of Roses

1967 was the Summer of Love, when Hippie counterculture was born in the streets of San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district. Now, forty years later (ouch!) baby boomers and their younger friends can enjoy the Summer of Roses.

Rose wines are everywhere. In newspaper and magazine columns, piled high in end-cap displays, and on the internet, you can't move without coming into contact with another rose recommendation. Since December I've tasted nearly two dozen roses, and written up reviews here on the site of quite a few. My peak of consumption was in April with Catavino's Virtual Tasting of roses. They've come from the US, France, Spain, and Argentina and have been made of pinot noir, cabernet, grenache, and malbec. Eric Asimov may be the only holdout who is still not wowed by the prospects before him, even though Dr. Vino launched an impressive defense on the pink stuff's behalf.

The 2006 Cameron Hughes Lot 37 Campo de Borja Rose of Garnacha may be the best bottle of rose I've had all summer ($7.99, Costco; $10 from Cameron Hughes). This wine is not a salmon-colored, delicate Tavel-style rose--much as I love them, too. Instead, the deep, rich color of the wine is your first indication that this is a rose wine that most red wine lovers will find appealing. Floral aromas mix with whiffs of pretty raspberry and strawberry. The first taste you get is pure strawberry essence, with a note of watermelon on the finish. There are indeed some streaks of stony minerality running through it, but the overwhelming impression is round, rich, and dry. Made from 100% grenache, it is the perfect BBQ wine and represents excellent QPR.

Grenache, as I mentioned in a previous post, is superb with food grilled on the bbq, and this wine was no exception. I paired it with a recipe that caught my eye in the New York Times for cashew chicken. You make a paste with jalapenos, cashews, herbs, and spices and then smear it over the chicken (I used drumsticks) before popping them on the grill for 20-30 minutes. The wine's crisp berry flavors were the perfect foil for the green spiciness of the jalapeno and the buttery cashews paired nicely with the round, full-bodied feeling of this rose.

As with all Cameron Hughes wines, we don't know who grew the grapes, but we do know that they came from the relatively young Campo de Borja DO. I've bought quite a few Cameron Hughes wines recently, and I've yet to have a single one that has disappointed me or failed to represent excellent QPR. So use his "lot locator" on the website to see if your local Costco stocks this (and other) Cameron Hughes wines, or order some directly. There are two more months of hot weather before us. Get yourself some drums(ticks), a tambourine, and a tie-die shirt and celebrate. If you're going to San Francisco, both the San Jose and Novato Costcos have CH Lot 37, so pick it up on the way in to the city. It's the summer of roses. Cameron Hughes is making it easy for us to really enjoy it.

Vineyards and Sky at Copia

Beginning this Friday a new exhibition of paintings will be on display at Napa Valley's Copia, the American center for wine, food and the arts. Ira Yeager, a long-time resident of the area and one of this country's most prominent modern artists, has drawn together a selection of his works that explore the arresting beauty of the vineyards and sky that he knows so well.

Entitled "Vinetum and Caelum," the works in Yeager's show capture the shifting colors and textures of the vineyard environment. These are not microscopic depictions of grape vines and leaves but bold statements about how the Napa Valley imprints itself on your senses and remains part of your memory long after you've visited the area. Looking at one of Yeager's canvases (such as the one to the right, courtesy of Copia and Ira Yeager) I can feel the warm summer air, and smell the distinctive blend of soil, lavender, grape must, and old barrels that I always associate with Napa. A writer tries to convey the spirit of a place with words, and a winemaker tries to convey it through fermented grape juice. Ira Yeager's preferred medium is paint--and he succeeds in using it to get to the very essence of Napa.

What I find exceptional about Ira's work is the way that each are infused with such feeling and power. This is true whether the painting in question is of a 17th-century wine merchant (as in his label for Heidi Barrett's 2004 Amuse Bouche), a Greek landscape, a Native American profile, a humble barnyard chicken, or a vineyard under autumn skies. Part historian and part alchemist, when Ira paints he manages to transform pigments and canvas into something that lives and breathes.

Ira Yeager is a lively contributor to Napa Valley culture, and has served as the host and featured artist of the popular Napa Valley Mustard Festival. A permanent exhibition of his work is displayed on the walls of Swanson Vineyards' elegant tasting salon. As his friends know, Ira loves fine food and wine, and a dinner party at his house is always something special--marked by good conversation, delicious food, laughter, and generous hospitality. His expansive and creative personality fills every piece that he paints and every moment that he experiences in life provides inspiration for his work. I encourage you to put this exhibition on your list of things to do if you are in Napa between July 27, 2007 and October 21, 2007. A catalogue, with an introductory essay by Peter Selz, will be available if you'd like to take some of Ira's work home with you so that it can transport you back to Napa whenever you need to return.