Something Sinister This Way Comes

Last week we tried to watch Sweeney Todd on DVD. I say tried because our attempt lasted only about 7 minutes before we gave up. However, we did have the perfect wine with the movie--the 2005 Owen Roe Sinister Hand ($23.99, Mission Wines; available online for between $22 and $29)

The label shows the left hand of Irish hero Owen Roe O'Neill. Legend has it that when sailing around the coast of Ireland, a band of warriors agreed that whoever landed first could claim the land for his own. Owen Roe O'Neill cut off his own left hand, threw it on to the land, and swam ashore to claim the land as his own.

If you can think of a wine more appropriate for drinking with Sweeney Todd, let me know!

Despite the macabre story, the 2005 Sinister Hand was a lot of wine for the money and very good QPR. It is a Rhone-style red made from Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre, and Counoise. There were beautiful aromas typical of the dominant variety in this red blend (Grenache) including berries and herbs. There was also a smokiness to the aromas, which carried through into the flavors along with even more juicy berry. There was a long, lingering aftertaste and a smooth and plush feeling to the wine that made it seem luxuriant and rich. This was a very enjoyable wine, and a wine that was definitely worth the few dollars over $20 that it cost.

We had our Sinister Hand with BBQ ribs and a big salad. The smokiness of the ribs highlighted the nicely smoky flavors and aromas in the wine, and the sweetly spicy Grenache was a nice partner to the BBQ sauce.

If you're looking for a good wine to go with BBQed foods this summer, remember that Grenache is a perfect wine for grilled foods and that many Rhone-style blends have a healthy dose of Grenache in them. Pick up some Grenache, get yourself some ribs, pick another movie (!) and enjoy.

How Does Catavino Spell December? CAVA

Ryan and Gabriella at Catavino have made Spain's famous sparkler, cava, their theme for this December. They will be posting regularly about what is usually a great bargain in sparklers, and are looking for feedback and input from readers about their cava experiences.

It seemed like the right moment for me to have a glass of cava and to formally thank Ryan and Gabriella for all they've done in 2007 to help me get to know Spanish wines. I'm not sure where I'd be if I hadn't had Catavino's excellent information and coverage to help me through! With their help I've been able to make good on my New Year's Resolution to get to know Spanish wine a bit better.

So I popped a cork on the 2004 Juve y Camps Cava Reserva de la Familia Brut Natura and toasted Catavino the other night. ($16.99, Mission Wine). This cost a bit more than most of the cavas I've purchased in the past, and I was interested in seeing if a more expensive wine would deliver more. There were aromas of toast and bitter almond, which were also discernible in the flavors. There were characteristic citrus notes, as well, but they took a back seat to the nutty, toasty-ness of this wine. There were lots of medium-sized bubbles, some frothy mousse when the wine was poured, and crisp aftertaste. This wine was reasonably complex, but in the end I wasn't sure it was really worth the extra money. Still, it was good QPR and would certainly hold its own with a bargain champagne or US domestic sparkler. (PS. The label is for the 2001 vintage but we did have the 2004).

Join in the fun this month over at Catavino, and buy a few bottles of this Spanish sparkler to get you through the holidays. And thanks again to Ryan and Gabriella for all their help, excellent writing, and advice in 2007.

Wine Blogging Wednesday #38: Portuguese Wine

It's that time again: Wine Blogging Wednesday. Today, bloggers all over the world will be telling us what they tasted when they uncorked bottles of Portuguese table wines. Ryan and Gabriella at Catavino cooked up the theme for WBW #38, and asked us to look for Portuguese wines that were not the fortified port wines most of us associate with the region. Portugal makes beautiful table wines, too, and they challenged us to look beyond the popular Douro region, and beyond the familiar Mateus and vinhho verde to look for something new and different to taste our palate.

I succeeded in steering clear of the Mateus, and the vinho verde, but I did end up with a pick from the Douro. It turned out to be oddly challenging to find a Portuguese wine in LA, and the best selections were often in chain shops, like Beverages & More. But I did find a bottle--a white, no less--at a local store and it impressed me enough to wonder why more merchants don't stock wines from this region. If they are anything like this one, they are good, affordable food wines. My pick for WBW #38 was the 2005 Adriano Ramos Pinto, a white wine made by an old wine house that specialized in port founded in 1880 by the man whose full name is on this wine: Adriano Ramos Pinto. ($10.99, Mission Wines; available from other merchants for between $10 and $13).

The wine is blended from three varieties of grape: Viozinho (60%), a low-yielding white variety used in white port; another low-yielding white variety, Rabigato (30%); and Arinto (10%), a white variety that brings acidity to the mix and is used in making vinho verde. I've never tasted anything made with any of these grapes, so I wasn't sure what I was in for. Turns out that this white blend resembled an aromatic, bone-dry riesling or a medium-bodied, barely oaked sauvignon blanc. There were soft aromas of grapefruit, citrus pith, and a whiff of petrol when you first opened it--just like a riesling. These appealing smells led into the flavor palate, where clean grapefruit and mineral notes met up at the back of your throat with a whiff more petrol. At 12.5% alc/vol. it was a very pleasant food wine, all the more so because it was very lightly oaked. The wine was aged for only six months, with 80% of the juice spending its time in steel vats, and 20% of the juice spending its time in new French oak. Given its low price, and its interesting mix of aromatics and dry flavors, I thought this wine represented very good QPR.

This wine would be an excellent pairing with not-terribly-spicy Indian or Asian food, richer fish dishes, light chickendishes, and salads. We had it with Indian-spiced Bombay Sliders, mini chicken burgers with lots of aromatic spices and herbs in them. These were popped onto dinner rolls, topped with some curried mayonnaise, and some sliced veggies. We had oven-fries made with sweet potatoes along side. The wine really went well with this range of flavors and ingredients, and would have been a particularly good option for those who don't like the sweet impression that rieslings (even dry rieslings) give.

While finding the wine was a challenge, I'm glad I did locate a Portuguese table wine--and a white, no less. I'm going to keep looking for wines from this region, and try to learn some more about the grape varieties. This wine was a real surprise, and I think I'm missing a lot of interesting wine. Thanks to Ryan and Gabriella for the great theme, and as always thanks to Lenn Thompson of Lenndevours for dreaming the event up more than three years ago. I'll post the link to the roundup when it is available, as well as a link to November's theme.

This Week's Wine Shopping Finds

After months on the Sonoma Coast, and then the start of classes, and then a trip to England, it's been a while since I hit the road and checked in with my local wine shops. The challenges of locating Portuguese wine in LA for WBW#38 gave me the perfect excuse to run around the Pasadena area. Unfortunately, I found absolutely no Portuguese wine to buy. Fortunately, I found lots of other good stuff!

My first stop was Colorado Wine Company, where they had some nice Spanish bottles of wine, and some great looking French wine, but no Portuguese wine other than a verdejo and I want to try to get bonus points this month! I could have bought one of every bottle of their French regional wines, but instead heard the voice of Joe from Joe's Wine Blog nudging me towards the gamay, which I haven't had for a while! I left the store with a nice bottle of gamay from the Loire, the 2005 Domaine de la Charmoise Gamay Touraine ($13.99). I've never had a gamay from these region, and am looking forward tot he experience.

Next, I stopped at Mission Wines in South Pasadena. No Portuguese wine there, either, except for a white that wasn't inspiring. I did, however, notice that they have a nice selection of Four Vines wines available, along with offerings from Sean Thackrey and Core so if you are in the mood for some more expensive treats, I highly recommend checking out Mission Wine. Added bonus: this Saturday from 12-4 they are having a wine tasting (just $5 with any wine purchase) that includes some nice Spanish and Spanish influenced offerings, like the 2006 Core C3 Tempranillo and the 2006 Onix Priorat Classico. Both of these wines retail for under $20, and you get to taste them first! I had the Core C3 at the Family Winemakers, and it was dynamite.

Last, but not least, I had a little buying binge at Chronicle Wine Cellar behind the Pie and Burger. With lots of exotic grapes dancing through my head after WBW #37, I found a 2005 Durigutti Bonarda ($7.95) from Argentina and a 2005 Domaine des Cassagnoles Vin de Pays Cotes de Gascogne ($6.95) that has ugni blanc in it which I've never had. I also couldn't resist a 2005 Domaine de la Frutiere Muscadet Cuvee M ($8.95), a 2002 Maxwell Four Roads shiraz-grenache-viognier blend ($14.95), and a cute 500ml bottle of the 2003 Enkidu Petite Sirah from the Napa Valley ($11.95).

Hopefully this will inspire all the LA area readers out there to go and visit a wine shop or two this weekend and get your own bottles of these interesting, affordable wines.

BBQ Wine for the Last Days of Summer

The so-called "dog days of summer" ended on August 11, marking the astronomical turning point of the summer season and our tilt towards fall. The last best BBQ weather is upon us, and even if you can BBQ year round as we can in California, somehow food from the grill always tastes better in summer. I don't know how much they BBQ in France's Languedoc, but I found a perfect wine from that region to go with your grilled foods.

The 2003 Chateau de Caraguilhes is a fun, old-fashioned grenache-based blend with a little bit of syrah, carignan, and mourvedre in the mix. ($10.99, Mission Wine) It's a bit rustic and rough around the edges, with all kinds of warm herbal and brushy notes up front in the aromas. These mouth-watering summer smells are followed by ripe, blackberry fruit and a lingering aftertaste of dusty and grilled herbs. The ripe fruitiness underneath comes through at the very end, keeping the wine balanced and making it utterly perfect for BBQ. This robust wine is unfiltered, so expect it to throw a little sediment, or expect to decant it if this bothers you. I thought this wine represented excellent QPR at just a hair over $10, as it was richer and more complex than many reds at this price-point. And it's organic, to boot.

As for foods to pair with it, it would be as good with simple grilled chicken as it would be with BBQ ribs slathered with a spicy tomato sauce, burgers, hot dogs--you name it.

Chateau de Caraguilhes is a historic wine chateau located in the Corbieres district of the Languedoc-Roussillon wine region in southern France. The tradition of grape-growing and wine-making extends back to Cistercian monks in the 12th century. The chateau was a pioneer of organic agriculture, and the vines have been farmed without chemicals or pesticides since 1958, a tradition that continues today in this certified organic winery.

I tried a white from the Languedoc for WBW #33, and did not like it as much as I had expected to given the reds I've tasted and enjoyed. But this wine didn't disappoint, and confirmed my sense that if you like robust reds, you should keep your eyes out for wines from the Languedoc-Roussillon.

The Loire's Answer to Summer

Summertime. Even if living isn't easy, it sometimes seems easier with the long summer twilights, cooking outside, and lots of entertaining. Even finding summer wines can be easy, as long as you remember that they, too, should reflect the season. But sometimes a "simple summer sipper" is not what you're looking for. You want a wine that fits summer's easy-going mood, but has a little more brains than a quaffer. That's when I reach for a white wine from the Vouvray appellation of France's Loire Valley.

Vouvray wines are produced from 100% chenin blanc grapes, the marvelously versatile white varietal that can make dazzling dry, off-dry, and sweet wines in both sparkling and still varieties. The varietal seems especially able to soak up the influence of the soils and earth in which it was grown. In the Loire, most of these soils are full of limestone and minerals, which imparts a nice, stony edge to the grapes that are grown there. This stony, mineral-inflected profile of a good Vouvray is what makes for a refreshing summer white with brains.

I recently had a dry vouvray that had excellent QPR and was a terrific summer white: the 2005 Champalou Vouvray ($14.99, Mission Wines; available from many merchants for between $10 and $17). I've had this wine twice, and it impressed me each time with its aromas of lemon blossom and minerals and its summery straw color. It is intensely aromatic, but even more flavorful, with pure lemon essence, herbal, and stone notes. I found this wine was perfectly situated on the cusp between dry and off-dry, so it would be perfect for Indian food or other highly flavorful or spicy food. Try it with some tandoori shrimp skewers done up on the grill with a mint and cilantro pesto dipping sauce for a perfectly easy, and perfectly delicious, summer meal.

Catherine and Didier Champalou's wine-making efforts are profiled over at the Wine Doctor if you would like to find out more about them. They make some excellent value Vouvrays, and are a producer to keep your eye out for if you are looking for a reliably good producer.

Drinking at the Abbot's Table

Owen Roe O'Neill was an Irish hero who fought against Oliver Cromwell's English army in the 17th century. This heroic figure inspired Jerry Owen and David O'Reilly, the partners who bring us Owen Roe and O'Reilly wines.

Owen Roe is based in the Willamette Valley of Oregon and they make stunning wines, especially red wines, under the Owen Roe, O'Reilly's, and Sharecropper's labels. The Abbot's Table red blend is their most popular bottling. Falling in the middle of the Owen Roe/O'Reilly's price spectrum, it combines a good price point with a lush, complex flavor profile. I tend to pick up a bottle on release and drink them a year later, and of course I love the woodcut label.

Recently I opened up the 2004 Owen Roe Abbot's Table ($26.99, Mission Wines; available at many merchants for $20-$30) It was a very nice red blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (44%), Syrah, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Zinfandel, Grenache, Malbec, Pinot Noir, and Counoise. It had a deep, rich, plummy color. When you opened the bottle, you were struck by aromas of cedar, plum, blackberry, and earth all of which developed as the wine opened up and softened. All of these notes were detectable in your first sips of the wine, with intriguing minty and herbal notes added in and a distinctly peppery finish. Even though I waited a year it was as till a tad bit disjointed, with the flavors not quite hanging together fully yet, but it was still plush and easy to drink as long as you gave it some air in a decanter or glass. But if you've still got a bottle, I'd wait another 6-9 months before opening it with some warm winter stew or a roast. Even though this was scrumptious, there are many red blends out there that drink well for less money, so I gave this good QPR.

The 2005 Abbot's Table has also been released, and CellarTracker drinkers seem to like this vintage just as much as the last, so if you can't find the 2004, you might want to pick the later bottling up instead. I already have, and its going to sit just where it is for another year before I open it up and taste it. See you next year at the Abbot's Table.

Spicy Whites

Do you like spicy wines? If so, you're probably thinking of zinfandel, with its cracked pepper notes, or syrah, with its clove and licorice flavors. But whites can be spicy, too, especially the perfumed white varietal gewurztraminer.

Like riesling, gewurztraminer can be made in a variety of styles from off-dry to dry, depending on the climate in which it is grown and the maker who crafts it into a wine. These days, there are a lot of gewurztraminers out there that are so floral and fruity that their spiciness can take a back seat. Unlike most young rieslings, however, gewurztraminer is a relatively full-bodied white with a satiny, sometimes oily texture in your mouth like a roussanne or a marsanne. And it has loads of perfume, like viognier. So if you like the flavor profiles of riesling, the floral aromas of viognier, and the heavy mouthfeel of marsanne and roussanne, you will probably like gewurztraminer.

Recently I had the 2005 Sineann Resonance Vineyard Gewurztraminer ($19.99, Mission Wines; available from other merchants for under $20), and it was full of perfumed, spicy gewurztraminer character. Sineann wines are made by Peter Rosback, who purchases grapes from a variety of growers in Oregon, including Kevin and Carla Chambers who farm the Resonance Vineyard in the Yamhill-Carlton District AVA. The Chambers employ biodynamic viticultural practices to infuse the grapes with greater terroir, and to minimize the use of pesticides and other chemicals. Little gewurztraminer is grown in the US, which makes it hard to find a good domestic bottling for under $15, though over $15 you have more options. This gewurztraminer was made in the dry style, with appealing aromas of apple blossoms, peach, and litchi. Sipping this wine the flowers disappear, but the peach and litchi remain and along comes a warm spiciness. The spiciness carries over through the extended finish. I thought this was an outstanding example of the varietal, and excellent QPR.

I like to pair a spicy gewurztraminer like this with something equally flavorful, especially if it is Asian or Indian. With the 2005 Sineann Resonance Vineyards bottle we had a wonderful salmon fillet coated with crushed wasabi peas and lime zest. Served with stir-fried cabbage and snap peas, and accompanied by a mound of steamed jasmine rice, these foods complemented the fruity, spicy wine.

Add some spice to your life. Try a gewurztraminer.

Grenache and the Grill

Summer reds can be something of a challenge. The rich, tannic wines that you loved in February can be overpowering and taste bitter in the heat of summer. Of course, most folks like Zinfandel if they are slathering lots of spicy, tomatoey BBQ sauce onto their meats and veggies. But what if you are doing something more simple on the grill--like some lemon-herb chicken, some chicken apple sausages, or some lamb kebabs with veggies?

What you might prefer when you fire up the grill for these summer foods is a Grenache. The Grenache varietal is often used as a blending grape because its sweet, almost floral, blackberry fruit profile brings some much needed softness to more tannic grapes. On its own, however, the perfumed aromas and round fruit flavors are appealing in their own right, and never more so when prepared with some smoky, grilled food.

A good example of an affordable wine with very good QPR made exclusively with Grenache grapes is the NV Saint-Cosme Vin de Table Français Little James' Basket Press ($14.99, Mission Wines; available for $10-$12 from other merchants). Made from 100% Grenache grapes from the Rhone and the Languedoc-Roussillon region, it was inky purple in color, and had aromas of licorice and blackberry that were echoed in the flavors once this wine was poured and sipped. A dry, almost dusty and mineral-inflected finish added notes of herbs and even more licorice. Made by Louis Barruol of Chateau de St Cosme fame, this wine is not fined or filtered so expect a bit of sediment even with this young wine. This wine is also a good reminder that we don't have to be afraid of all non-vintage reds. Here the grapes were selected from several vintages in order to make a wine that was neither too fleshy, nor too dusty. I would recommend serving this and other 100% Grenache wines at cellar temperature, or even slightly below, for a refreshing summer sipper.

What's your favorite summer red? Leave a comment and let us know.

The Joys of an Easy Drinking Red

Red wines can be demanding drinking partners, with their high alcohol levels, robust flavor profiles, and dizzying array of rich fruit flavors, not to mention the veritable spice cabinet that can emerge due to oak fermentation and bottle aging. It's one of the reasons that red wines are so popular.

But sometimes you want a red that is a little more easy to drink. In the wine biz, these wines are often called "approachable" because they exhibit rich fruit flavors that are comforting and draw you into the bottle. I had one of these approachable red blends from a superb Santa Barbara producer named Core Wine. Core is the brainchild of Dave and Becky Corey, who believe that "the core of every wine begins in the vineyard."

The 2004 Core 163 ($12.99/375ml, Mission Wines; 750ml under $25 at many other merchants) is an outstanding, non-demanding red blend. It has a grenache base, which makes for lovely aromas of flowers and red berries. Sipping the wine reveals more of these flavors, and as the wine opens up in the glass there are notes of rich, milky chocolate with hints of herbs and cinnamon. Just 620 cases of this wine were made.

The 2004 Core 163 blend is just plain yummy, and represents very good QPR with its abundant grenache varietal profile complemented with the aromas and flavors of syrah and mourvedre. Serve it with something simple and flavorful, like this great Korean barbeque pork accompanied by steamed rice or noodles (the leftovers make great sandwiches the next day).

Mini March Madness

Hey, it's college basketball tournament season. What, you didn't know? Have you been living under a rock?

If you haven't been living under a rock, you may have been invited to one, two, three, four or more parties to watch games. This always leaves me with lots of half-drunk bottles of wine sitting around that I open up on Thursday and then can't finish for days and days while we go scream at television sets with friends. Sure, there are lots of preservation strategies out there, but some of the best involve pouring your undrunk wine into smaller, 375ml bottles and then blanketing them with inert gas or pumping out the oxygen. The smaller bottles enhance the preservation action of these other strategies, since smaller bottles leave less opportunity for air to creep in there and begin to turn the flavors.

So March is as good a time as any to find out if your local wine merchants stock these mini, 375ml bottles. And while you're at it, you may as well look for wines that you actually want to drink. Typically, the 375s are tucked into some out of the way place and often the selection is not very extensive. But it's worth asking your shop owner if they have any in the back, since sometimes the wines aren't even displayed. I've found some very nice options here in LA at Whole Foods, at Mission Wines in South Pasadena, and at Chronicle Wine Cellar in Pasadena. They've included older French cabernets, Dry Creek wines, young California grenache blends, a cabernet franc from the Loire, and a nice tempranillo from Bodegas Arzuaga. (photographed here to enhance their height, in case basketball scouts are reading this...)

375s are also perfect if you are facing a week of white wine dinners and are gasping for a glass of red, or have a sudden burger hunger that must be slaked with a cabernet for accompaniment. I should also say that this size bottle is great for trying out a producer or varietal that you aren't familiar with. It allows you to be adventurous with less risk of being stuck with 3/4 of a bottle you don't particularly like.

Finding good 1/2 bottles is always an opportunistic business--buy them when you see them, because you may not see them again. Having a few nice minis on hand is always a good thing, even when it's not tournament time.

Some Weekend Wine Tastings To Check Out

There's a lot of wine being tasted this weekend in LA, and I wanted to highlight some good options for you if you want to take advantage of the warming temperatures and sample some wines. It's so much more fun than going to a movie, so round up some friends and head on out to one of the following. And treat your designated driver to dinner afterwards!

Things kick off tonight, March 9, at Colorado Wine Company in Eagle Rock with their wine and cheese tasting that runs from 5:30-8:30. For $15 a person, you get five generous pours as well as a selection of cheeses from Auntie Em's marketplace. You need to RSVP for this event by contacting them at info@cowineco.com or by calling (323) 478-1985. On pour are: the 2005 Alouette Middleridge Ranch Vineyard Chardonnay, an unoaked beauty from Mendocino; the NV Ballet of Angels White from Connecticut; the Morgan Cotes du Crow from Monterey; Etims Old Vines Grenache from Spain; and the 2005 Santa Cruz Grenache. If you are tied up on Friday, they also have a tasting (no RSVP required) on Sunday from 1-4. They haven't posted this weeks selections yet, but you can check back on Saturday.

Mission Wine's Saturday Tasting in South Pasadena from 12-5 on Saturday is featuring three red blends along with two luscious whites. They are sampling the following 5 wines: 2005 Apremont Vieilles Vignes, a citrusy white from the Savoie; 2005 Blackjack Chardonnay "21"; 2005 Ludovicus, a red blend from Spain; 2005 Malm Cellars Cross Blend, another red blend; and the 2004 Aphillanthes Trois Cepages. As always, Mission Wine's tasting is $10 for 5 generous pours, or just $5 with the purchase of any bottle of wine from their diverse, and carefully selected, stock. Things will be hopping by 2 pm, and this tasting is always friendly, informal, and lively.

In LA the Wine Hotel, one of Los Angeles premier wine storage facilities, is holding their weekly Saturday casual tasting from 4-6. For $20 sample 5 wines and hors d'oeuvres. Reservations are a must for this--don't just show up, they always sell out--but it's a great venue, and while you're there you can check out their roster of wine classes, too. Call 323-937-9463 for reservations and further information.


Saturday evening, if you are still upright, Mel and Rose's Wine Room is kicking off a three-tastings series on Italian wines between 4 and 7 pm. They begin with Northern Italian wines, and if you attend all three in the series, and have your "passport" stamped, you receive a free bottle of Italian wine at the final tasting. It's $12, and no reservation is required.

Enjoy, and drive safely!

Wine Blogging Wednesday #30: the 2005 Hocus Pocus Syrah

Tim Elliott from Winecast is the host for the 30th edition of the monthly wine-blogging event Wine Blogging Wednesday, started by new dad Lenn Thompson from Lenndevours. This month Tim's brief was to find a new world Syrah/Shiraz, or a blend that contained at least 51% of its juice from that varietal.

I decided to try a new wine this month, and was pleased to find a wine from a pair of new winemakers in the Santa Ynez AVA: Black Sheep Finds. The 2005 Hocus Pocus Syrah is their very first wine. 600 cases were made, and it is available through many LA area retailers. Who are these Black Sheep? They are the duo of Peter Hunken (of Stolpman Vineyards, Piedrasassi and Holus Bolus) and Amy Christine (Sommelier of AOC restaurant and rep for Veritas Imports in Los Angeles), and their intention from the start was to make a wine that their friends would find delicious and affordable.

The 2005 Hocus Pocus Syrah ($17.99, Mission Wines) is a supple, almost silky syrah with very good QPR that will appeal to pinot noir lovers. It is dark, dark violet in color and has abundant herbal aromas: thyme, anise, lavender. When you drink this smooth wine, you get loads of blueberry and blackberry fruit touched with a little bit of sweet wood and some mineral and herbal notes. Not as peppery or as dusty as many syrahs, it is also not overly oaky since it spends only 10 months in the barrel--20% in new oak, 80% in used oak. The resulting wine is not small, at 14.9% alc/vol but it is nicely in balance and easy to drink. Grapes for this syrah were sourced from the Santa Rita Hills and Santa Ynez AVAs, so it is a Santa Barbara County wine all the way.

We had the syrah with a Moroccan Lamb Tagine that combined aromatic spices with tomato and lamb cubes. After the lamb went through an interesting braising and browning method, it was cooked for an hour in the sauce before it topped off some fluffy couscous. The Hocus Pocus Syrah's smooth, silky flavors were a nice counterpoint to the cinnamon and cumin in the stew. It would be equally good with burgers, pizza, grilled meats, or other beef, chicken, or lamb stews that might be favorites in your house.

I'm looking forward to watching to see what Black Sheep Finds comes up with next, and checking out their new releases. They will have a Cabernet Sauvignon coming out this spring, and after tasting this yummy Syrah, I'll be eagerly anticipating tasting it. Meanwhile, you can get the 2005 Hocus Pocus Syrah from K&L Wines, the Woodland Hills Wine Company, and Wally's in LA.

New Mexico Sparkles

Gruet Winery is located near Truth or Consequence and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Yes, New Mexico. Back from London, and impressed with the geographical range of wines in their supermarkets, I decided to pop the cork on a wine from a region in the US I've never had before. Moldavian wine is no doubt grand, but how about New Mexico?

I learned from Appellation America that the first grapes planted in the US were in fact planted in New Mexico, way back in 1639 by Fray Gracia de Zuniga. Floods of the Rio Grande between 1880 and 1900 destroyed much of the 3,000+ acres of grapes that had been cultivated over more than two centuries, and it was only in the 1970s that the area started coming back into its own as a grape producing region.

I was impressed with this very good QPR sparkler from grapes grown 4300 ft. above sea level in the dry air and sandy soil of the region. The NV Gruet Blanc de Noirs ($8.99/375ml, Mission Wines) was pale copper in color. Though it had small bubbles (aka bead) it had lots of froth (aka mousse). There were nutty and apple aromas at first, and as you drank you tasted hazelnuts, apple, and even a touch of berry. This was a nice example of a brut blanc de noirs, that was not harsh and that had much more complexity than many at this price point. We had this with a simple chicken and shrimp stir fry with brown rice, and it nicely picked up the nuttiness of the rice.

There is a lot of the Gruet available throughout the country, according to Wine-Zap, and in many places the 750ml bottles are under $15. The little splits like the one I had are also good to have on hand for pouring a glass or two when you don't want to make a commitment to a whole bottle of bubbly. One of my New Year's wine resolutions was to drink more sparkling wine, and opening this bottle was proof that this is going to be one resolution that's easy and fun to keep!

Weekend Wine Tasting at Mission Wines

Mission Wines is doing it right. I had a great time at their weekly Saturday tasting. For just $10 you get five generous pours of a well-selected array of wines. And if you buy wine that day, the cost goes down to $5. Talk about excellent QPR! Saturday tastings run from 1 pm to 7 pm.

When I walked in shortly after 2, it was standing room only. There are only 6 stools at the bar--this is a small shop that prizes service and selection, not a wine warehouse--but this wasn't stopping people from ordering up flights, tucking themselves around the tasting bar's corner to talk to Dave (who was manning the operation), or drifting through the stores with their glasses looking at the wine. Mission Wines has a great atmosphere during its tastings. It's a neighborhood hangout where both regulars and newcomers of all levels of expertise from novices through serious collectors come to talk and drink wine.

On offer yesterday for the tasting were four wines under $20, and one under $30. While I do enjoy wine tastings that include sips of wine that are way out of my budget as a way to increase my knowledge this was great in a different way since theoretically everything I sipped I could conceivably purchase. The selection of wines was outstanding: 2 old world wines (a grenache and a gruner veltliner) and 3 new world wines (sauvignon blanc, pinot noir, and malbec).

Here were the wines and my brief tasting notes for them:

2005 Tobiano Sauvignon Blanc ($11.99): This Chilean sauvignon blanc exhibited textbook flavors of gooseberry and granny smith apples. No oak was used, allowing the fresh fruit flavors to come through. Excellent QPR.

2005 Wienenger Gruner Veltliner "Leicht and Trocken" ($15.99): Pale, almost translucent in color with vaguely citrus aromas and a hint of both greenness and spice. On the palate, it was mostly citrusy, and I couldn't detect any of the pepper or lentil varietal characteristics for which this wine is known. A neutral wine, at the price I felt it represented good QPR.

2005 Bodegas y Vinedos del Jalon Calatayud Vina Alarba Old Vines Grenache ($8.99): An appealing, bright garnet wine with aromas of black fruit and spice. On the palate you did get a bit of the characteristic grenache dustiness and smoke, with less fruit than the aromas would suggest. A great example of an old world, old vine varietal I thought this wine had very good QPR.

2005 Sineann Pinot Noir Oregon ($29.99): I was excited to taste this wine, but found it a bit disappointing. This was a wine that smelled better than it tasted, with interesting forest and fruit aromas. Once sipped, I felt it didn't really hang together and there was an undertaste I couldn't identify. This may well be a wine that is too young to be drunk right now, but I don't have any experience with Sineann pinot noirs--if a reader does, please let us know if this is likely to settle down because the aromas were very promising. At the price, and as it is drinking now, I felt this wine represented good QPR.

2003 Alto Cedro Malbec ($16.99): A very dark, plummy wine with whiffs of peppery spice tucked into the fruit. There was an interesting dried herbal note--black tea? tobacco?--that made it an interesting wine to drink. It would be great with grilled meat. For the price, this was a very good QPR wine.

Before I left I purchased a bottle of the 2005 Tobiano Sauvignon Blanc, which I felt represented the best QPR. All wines are available through Mission Wines, and the grenache and pinot noir look like they are widely available throughout the country. I know I'll be back to sample more great wines and to enjoy the welcoming atmosphere.

Saturday Wine Shopping--On the Oregon Trail at Mission Wines

Today I had a very specific wine goal in mind: buy the 2005 Owen Roe Abbot's Table to stick in the closet next to the 2004 Owen Roe Abbot's Table before it is sold out. Mission Wines in South Pasadena has a great selection of wonderful bottlings, including a wide range of Oregon wines so I headed over to South Pas to see what I could see.

The place was hopping with standing room only at the tasting bar and three very knowledgeable and helpful clerks on the floor. I'm writing up my tasting notes in a separate post, which will be out later today or tomorrow. This is a small, neighborhood wine store with the added amenity of a tasting bar (serving both wine and Craftsman beer on draft) and it has a warm and welcoming atmosphere. Chris Meeske, the owner and manager, has been sommelier at Charlie Trotter's, Patina, and the Highland's Inn, so he knows what he is talking about as do his assistants Chris and David. But they aren't hoverers--they let you browse the aisles and are there to answer questions if need be.

On to the wines. They have a wide range of bottles in the $10-$75 range, all carefully selected. You will find Flowers pinots, Owen Roe wines, Sineann wines, Core, Kilikanoon, and other favorites like Black Chook sparkling shiraz. You will also find excellent selections from France, Italy, and Spain. They have a clearly marked section of wines under $10 that included today selections from nearly every major wine region of the globe. So there's no excuse to be drinking the same old wine for budgetary reasons any more!

As I said I was on the hunt for Oregon wines, and did indeed pick up the 2005 Owen Roe Abbot's Table ($26.99), a spectacular red blend that I like to put away for future holidays. I also got a bottle of the 2005 Sineann Gewurztraminer Resonance Vineyard ($19.99). I've had their pinot gris and really enjoyed it, so wanted to try out this white. And, inspired by Tom Wark's breathtaking photos of Bucklin Ranch, I picked up another bottle of the best gewurztraminer I've ever had, the 2004 Bucklin Gewurztraminer Compagni Portis Vineyard ($17.99). It was hard to do, but I selected just one of Tom's photos to include here, but I urge you to click on his name to check out the rest as well as his other blog posts on Fermentation. I also bought a great wine from the tasting, which I'll write about there.

Mission Wines has a small selection of wine accessories, like Riedel stemware (bought a Vinum Extreme ice wine glass for WBW #27 because I was feeling ridiculously splurgey), Screwpull openers, Vacu-Vin kits, and the all-important WineAway. They have an online ordering system at their website, as well as a newsletter that you can subscribe to. We all go to the wine super-stores sometimes, but a trip to Mission Wines reminds you of what you're missing: a first-class shopping experience, with knowledgeable staff, and a selection of wines made by people who are passionate about the grape.