Australia's Clare Valley: Not Just for Riesling Anymore

Australia's Clare Valley is best known in the US for producing flavorful, elegant rieslings. North of Adelaide and west of the Barossa Valley, the Clare Valley has warm days, yet produces wines that are reminiscent of those grown in cooler climate areas of Europe. Though riesling is the most heavily planted grape in the area, the Clare Valley does take advantage of the climate to grow other grape varietals as well, such as shiraz and cabernet. Because the region is only beginning to be known for its reds, Clare Valley red wines can represent excellent values, especially when you compare them to their cousins over in the Barossa Valley.

2003 Kilikanoon Cabernet Sauvignon Block's Road is an example of just how good a red wine from the Clare Valley can be. (Chronicle Wine Cellar, $19.95; available from other merchants for under $30). Last year I bought a bottle of this wine, and pulled it out when I peeked into my wine cellar/windowseat this summer. This wine is still relatively young, and could last another 2-3 years in the bottle under good conditions, but it is already drinking well. It is a smooth wine, with well-integrated tannins and fully developed flavors of cassis, herb, and black pepper. There are some richly smoky notes on the finish, which adds some nice complexity to this opulent, lush wine. Despite its decided cassis flavors, this is not simply a fruit bomb--there is a good acidic structure at the core of this wine, which is why it is aging so nicely. This is a lot of cabernet for under $20, and represents very good QPR.

To go with this wine think of something flavorful and meaty. We had orzo tossed with mint pesto, fresh tomatoes, feta cheese, grilled artichokes, and topped with grilled patties made out of a combination of lamb and sweet Italian sausage that had been removed from its casing. This minty lamb and sausage orzo was just delicious with the cabernet, since the minty pesto and vegetables combined nicely with the herbal notes in the wine and the smoky edge picked up the char on the artichokes and the meat patties.

This wine was a great reminder for me that sometimes it's not the varietal that sets the price. Cabernet can be expensive, especially when it comes from a region like Napa Valley or Bordeaux known for the grape. But if you look for cabernet grown in a region known for something else, you could be in for a bargain and a treat.

WBW #36: Naked Chardonnay Roundup

Lenn Thompson of LENNDEVOURS has just posted the roundup of naked, unoaked chardonnays from the August Wine Blogging Wednesday. Despite celebrating the 3rd anniversary of his own blogging event with a back injury, he still managed to pull together an impressive list of posts from around the blogosphere.

Thirty-two bloggers participated in the event (drats, I'd hoped for a symbolic 36) and many tasted more than one wine, so there's lots of good information hot-linked for you if you are a chardonnay lover. Folks tasted wines from New Zealand, Australia, the US, Spain, and France. I was particularly interested in the wide range of French wines reviewed. And there were some great wines from New York and Virginia, just going to show that US chardonnay isn't just from California!

See you back here on September 12 when we go native with Dr. Vino for Wine Blogging Wednesday #37. Meanwhile, thanks to Lenn for his inspired leadership and for going the extra mile to get this roundup posted.

Wine Blogging Wednesday #37: Go Native

Wine Blogging Wednesday enters its fourth year by going native.

Dr. Vino set the theme for the September online tasting, and he wants us to pick a region and drink a wine made from a grape indigenous to that region. And don't think this means you can't drink a US wine--the US is the native land of quite a few varietals. He's posted some resources to help you discover what grapes are native to your area--or an area of wine that you know well, or want to get to know better--so click over there to check them out if you don't have something in mind already.

Sometime between now and September 12, pick your region, find your native varietal, and drink a native wine from that region. Then blog all about it on Wednesday, September 12 and . If you don't have a blog, no worries. Just head over to the Wine Blogging Wednesday site and enter your tasting note there in the forum.

Lenn Thompson, the host of WBW #36, injured his back and hasn't been able to sit down at the computer long enough to gather together the round-up of posts for the August tasting. When he does, I'll be sure to let you know.

Welcome to My Windowseat

Wine storage is always a problem, as any dedicated oenophile knows. Know matter how small your collection, or how big your house, there never seems to be enough space to stash all of your wines in cool, dark comfort until you're ready to drink them.

In previous posts on cellaring wine I mentioned that I have a passive cellar in the north-east facing windowseat of a house on the Sonoma Coast. I had a wine-loving friend to lunch one July and he came into my chilly house tucked into the redwoods and said, "Ideal cellar conditions." I emptied out a windowseat, and refilled it with empty wine boxes, styrofoam wine silos, and six-bottle carriers from winery visits. Then I filled up all the holes with wine. It's not elegant, as the picture shows, but it works.

This summer, I've had a chance to pull some wine out of that windowseat and drink it and every bottle has been in perfect condition. I have been reminded that I really, really like older cabernet. Not old, but older. Like the 2001 Three Saints Cabernet Sauvignon from Santa Barbara County. I can't find a single bottle of this wine anywhere, and I was sorry I had only one bottle. I bought it last year as a bin end for $12.50, tucked it away and forgot about it. Nine or ten months later, it is a testament to how beneficial even short-term cellaring can be, if the conditions are right.

When I opened it I discovered that it was a beautiful example of a California cabernet. It had a dark, inky purple color to it and aromas of blackberry, plum, espresso--and cedar, the unmistakable smell to my nose of a cabernet with bottle age. A cascade of blackberry, grilled herb, and dark chocolate were a prelude to the lingering aftertaste that was accented by cinnamon and spice. It was drinking pretty well for a wine that it still within its recommended drinking range, and while it may keep improving for another year or two I was glad that I had it in its "middle age."

A Perfect Pairing

I pair wine with food all the time, and am usually happy when the food and wine don't clash, or when the wine picks up a few elements in the food (or vice versa) that make for interesting flavor compatibilities or contrasts. But sometimes you find a pairing so perfect that you are just blown away by the synergy created between the food and the wine. I just found a pairing so perfect that I'm still trying to figure out what happened a few days later.

The pairing started with a bin end that I picked up in my small coastal town's independent grocery store. It was on a massive reduction, so I decided to try it. The 2004 Block 13 Sauvignon Blanc is a non-estate label from the legendary Gundlach Bundschu winery. ($8.99 in a bin end here on the coast; available from other merchants for between $14 and $20) It was unlike any other sauvignon blanc I've had, with aromas of key lime pie, ginger, and mandarin orange. Hmmm. What could I make that would go wit that? The flavors on the palate continued to develop along spicy, tropical lines with citrus fruits, a distinctive note of ginger, and juicy passionfruit. Despite all the tropical elements of the wine, it was very fresh and zingy. For under $10 this was a sauvignon blanc with excellent QPR (and even for $14-20 this would be a very good QPR choice). Still, the flavor and aroma profile of the wine was going to make it a challenge to find a recipe to go with it. Or so I thought.

I needed to find something light and zesty, with tropical fruit and spice. Surfing through myrecipes.com, I found the perfect dish in a salmon and "forbidden rice" salad with loads of ginger and lime, and big chunks of mango. As soon as I read the ingredients I knew that this would work with the wine, but I had no idea that it would achieve pairing perfection. It did. And it was healthy, low-calorie, and good for you. Who could ask for more?

Pairing wines is always a trial and error process, and it takes experience and quite a bit of luck to get it right. Have you had a perfect pairing lately? If so, let us know what it was in the comments.