Weekly Wine Online

Fello winos... it has been a long time. But we're back, and thank goodness for that!

After a 15 month hiatus in which I've been mired in financial data, I dipped my toe back into the wine world and found myself blissful yet again!

What got me back: a good friend and a chance to pour wine in St. Helena on Saturdays.

What made me want to write: Duckhorn Cabernet Sauvignon 2006, Monitor Ledge Vineyard.

And what a wine it is!

Duckhorn is, in my opinion, one of the classiest wineries in Napa. You can bring your parents and grandparents here, but you can also bring the boyfriend or girlfriend you’re looking to impress. Sitting in the middle of a sauvignon-blanc vineyard, abuted on one side by mountains and the other by the Napa River, it is just hard to beat. And the wines – they’re extraordinary! The one that blew me out of the park this week was Monitor Ledge:

My boyfriend and I opened the Monitor Ledge Cab on dreary Saturday in San Francisco. After a day of fog, he was hankering for a stew; and like usual, I was hankering for some wine. What yielded was a beautiful compromise: he cooked; I poured.

The Monitor Ledge Cab initially smelled like your typical California cab: big blackberry and blueberry on the nose with a hint of cigar and leather. The first taste to me also tasted cigar-like with a powdered sugar quality. But as the wine oozed over my tongue, blackberry jam and cassis flavors emerged. And the longer the wine sat in the glass, the more the powdered sugar sweetness dissipated and real, dark and luscious fruits emerged. I felt like I was bathing in a dark, velvety soup.

And speak of soup, the stew, which was a tomato-based beef stew, brought out the darker qualities of the wine. Since the stew had so much acidity, the sweet fruit and earthy qualities that had been previously overshadowed by blackberry could emerge. Nice coffee and dark chocolates were underneath with just barely a hint of earthiness. Both with and without the food, the wine was excellent. And much to my delight, resulted in absolutely zero headache the next day – the sign of a truly perfect wine!

Wino Rating:

Yumminess: 9/10

Pairing with food: 8/10

Buy it again: 7/10

(It was a little out of my price range for every day... but perhaps for a special occassion)

Unfortunately, I was unable to find any other semi-objective write-ups about Duckhorn’s Monitor Ledge Cabernet Sauvignon. But you can read about the soil and grapes by clicking here or visiting www.duckhorn.com.

For those hankering for a try, you can purchase Duckhorn Monitor Ledge Cabernet Sauvignon at Wine.com by clicking here or at LaMaisonGournmet.com by clicking here.

Enjoy!

Pictures found at www.duckhorn.com

4 glasses: 4 letdowns.

It’s not that they have been horrible – it’s worse. They’ve been mediocre. In our visits to restaurants in San Francisco over the past few weeks, my wine tasting friends and I have been shocked at how boring the wines have been. Last night, after taking a sip of his glass, a friend looked up at me with a raised eyebrow and the expression of someone who has been duped yet again:

“Well,” he sighed. “Should I even say it?”

Uninspired.

Lately, it has seemed almost like restaurants are afraid to take a risk on a wine lest they overhwhelm their patrons. (Granted, we patrons have probably asked for this, since we are often so quick to complain or send something back.) But we are now left only with limpid sauvignon blancs that lack freshness and pizzazz for fear of the grassy blast or cat pee stink they might find were they to try something new; figgy, flat zinfandels lest they take a chance on too much spice or charred wood.

So where does one go to seek inspiration? I go to 2 places: my cellar and SPQR.

My cellar really isn’t a cellar: it is 2 boxes under a table in my hall where I keep my favorites hidden. I have a few precious pinots, a couple of old Bordeaux blends, and a bunch of random gifts of wine that I’m a bit intimidated by truthfully. But I think now just might be the perfect time to pull out those bottles: not only does this wine taste better, but it also mitigates the cost of an evening out. I mean, in these recessionary times, who doesn’t love to save a penny or two? Plus, sharing a treasured bottle really does add a special charm to the evening. Thus wine-hoarders of the world, now is the time to pull out your good stuff. Save yourself from the tepid waters of mediocre wine!

As for those who want to go out for a meal and be assured of a good glass, head to SPQR on Fillmore Street. You can’t make a reservation, and the restaurant is crammed to the gills, but the sommelier, Ehren Jennings, knows what she is doing and won’t lead you astray. On top of that, she’ll introduce you to wines that will send your mind racing as it tries to figure out all the new flavors you are experiencing!

Recently, Ehren recommended to me a wine variety called Pecorino. I knew this name from the delicious Pecorino sheep's milk cheese of Italy, but I had never had such a wine. This golden-hued, slightly viscous wine absolutely surprised me! Though it had a lemony freshness, I felt almost like I could bite into the wine, much I like I would a piece of sponge cake, and sensed the honey-like crystals of honeycomb I love to accompany with sheep’s milk cheese. It matched perfectly with my fried Brussels sprouts, mollifying their bitterness with its tender sweetness.

From the Pecorino, I turned to a Falanghina for the rest of the evening: a light-bodied grassy wine, much like a very mild Sauvignon Blanc / Chardonnay blend. It was perfect with my cream-based gnocchi, adding a freshness to the otherwise heavy dish. I left the restaurant feeling grateful not only for the great meal and good wine, but also for the bravery of the SPQR team for fending off the banal choices most restaurants make and selecting brilliant, risky wines instead. I have yet to find a wine there that I haven’t admired, if not adored, and I will certainly be back again soon for more!

SFGate article about SPQR and its wine list: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/16/CMQHTJOIR.DTL&type=food

Quick update from California:

Those of us in San Francisco woke up to quite a fog this morning, though a fog unlike our normal summer sea mist and instead a thick, yellow soup like one might envision in a desert on a scorching summer day. Except it wasn't hot. It was just yellow and soupy. Turns out the fires of California are getting quite close.

As you've probably heard, there are over 800 fires raging in California currently. The San Francisco Chronicle has a great website, www.sfgate.com, that is keeping up with all the flames in the region. But being a wine lover, I was especially concerned about my friends and the vines up in Napa, Sonoma, Monterey, and other nearby regions.

According to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, the fires are still raging out of control in Napa, Solano & Mendocino counties. However, Mark Fisher of the wine blog, Uncorked, says things aren't as bad as they seem. I sent a few notes up to some friends in wine country, and they said things are okay so far, but that the air is "like pea soup," to quote a friend at Corison Vineyards. Luckily, they said, the vines won't be affected by the smoke. Friends at Spring Mountain Vineyard said they, too, were okay, but that it was hard to see the neighboring mountains.

One of the glories of California wine country is that the ground is so dry that vines are forced to dig deep into the earth for nutrients, resulting in robust wines. In fact, it usually only rains about 6 inches a summer up in Napa. This year, however, lets just hope the marine layer moves in quickly and brings some early rain and moisture with it because wine country, and all of California for that matter, sure could use it.

To learn more about the fires, visit www.sfgate.com, where they've published a helpful map.

The pressure was on for the Wino this weekend! My beloved uncle came to visit and took me on an architecture tour of San Francisco’s modern buildings. We toured the amazing Frank Lloyd Wright building on Maiden Lane, saw the new, beautiful Contemporary Jewish Museum, which just opened last week, and peered up at some of Richard Neutra’s beautiful San Francisco homes, which juxtaposed against the crystal clear sky under which we were lucky enough to be graced were just gorgeous, sparkling modern gems!

After such a grand tour with such a grand guest, I wanted to reciprocate in the best way I knew how – with vino, of course! So up to my roof we went and sipped Provencal rosé as the sun set on San Francisco.

It’s kind of pathetic, I suppose, but whenever I want to impress a family member who is senior to me, I go for French wine. In most cases, I actually think that there’s much greater value to be found in wines from other places (especially those from countries where the currency isn’t so strong). But I took a trip to Burgundy and Provence this past September, so I am always eager to share wines from those region, especially ones I was able to experience in situ. 

To start with, I picked a rose from Provence, just south of Burgundy, because in my opinion, there’s nothing better than a rosé on a sunny day. So up to the roof we went, and, of course, I left the meat cooking too long, forgot the rice, and just cooked a pretty darn mediocre meal. But nothing goes better with a bad meal than a great bottle of wine – and a great bottle we did have! Louis Jadot’s Nuits-Saint-Georges proved to be just as lovely as I expected, with dark, spicy cherries and a bit of black tea on it. I felt like I was sipping down cooked cherry juice mixed in with a tender finish of black mushroom and meat. Just delicious!

Thus, while I still can’t seem to impress with my culinary arts (or lack thereof), thankfully France came to my aid and provided enough of a sidekick to leave my uncle singing poetry and raving about the meal long into the night.

Vive la France! And all the wine that comes with it! Even if it does cost a bit more these days, sometimes a great French wine or two really is worth the splurge. Especially if you can’t cook!

About Louis Jadot's Nuits- Saint- Georges 2005, from the website www.louisjadot.com:

A deeply coloured powerful, fullbodied Nuits-Saint-Georges of intense colour. It develops ripe, robust fruit flavours and nuances of oak in the bouquet. It will accompany red wine sauces, marinated or roasted game, medium tasting cheeses.

Other write-ups about Nuits-Saint-Georges: I'm sad to say I couldn't find any! Thus Bloggers of the world, I recommend you get out and write about this tasty wine!

Where to Buy It:

$40 at Sherry Lehman

$43 at Wine.com for the 2004 

With all this hype about the Sex and the City Movie, and the fact that I can't quite keep  myself from watching the trailer every single day, after which I invevitably start to tear up, I decided this past Thursday, it was time to play catch up with my old friends, Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte, Samantha, and, of course, my darling Pinot.

So onto the floor of the den I went, belly down, lap top up, wine glass by my side. I downloaded four episodes on itunes, and for the next four days, I plan to refresh myself on the last few happenings of series 6.

It was while I was laughing, and enjoying a smashing 2006 single-vineyard pinot noir from Amity Vineyards, that I realized: I am happy. I may not make that much money, I make not have the body of Cindy Crawford, but I am happy: I have my friends, I have my health, I have good reruns of great TV, and I have vino. And for that, I sincerely feel blessed.

Happy tasting to all this Memorial Day Weekend! My your rose sparkle in the sun, your chard shimmer in your glass and, well, that's all I got for now.

signing off - the wino

About the 2006 Amity "Sunnyside" Single-Vineyard Pinot Noir

Color: clear, bright, looks like cherry juice - not very dark and limpid like pinots can be. More like a grenache 

Nose:  red cherries & cedar!

Palate: cranberry, bitter chocolate or charred marshmallow finish, eucalyptus & menthol taste and tingle. Absolutely lovely!

Where to buy: www.amityvineyards.com

Other great write-ups about Amity Vineyards:

RadCru - an article all about Amity 

Wine.Woot.com - a taster's view of the 2006 Pinot Noir, 2006 Pinot Gris, and 2005 Reserve Pinot Noir