No Wine Over $20-Reviews and the LA Wine Scene

tBoW loves to visit San Francisco. Even with the worst parking in the nation and the most ridiculous public policies imaginable (force more commuters to take BART by photographing license plates of downtown's daily commuters and sending them a bill) the City has endless charms and simply the finest wine-ing and dine-ing east of New York City with Chicago a close second.

A recent trip to Baghdad by the Bay yielded enough cool surprises - two great restaurants with mega-fab wine lists; a legendary wine snob; and new discoveries at old sites; to ensure many happy returns.

Top dining experience was with the folks at Perbacco Ristorante + Bar in the Financial District downtown. The recommendation came from a helpful clerk at The Jug Shop on Van Ness who asked if I liked Italian wines. Sure. tBoW touring tip: if you want to dine at the coolest joints in town just ask in the local wine store. Most of the time the helpful person (and fellow wine fiend) even makes the reservation for me! We arrived on time to be sufficiently concerned by (a) the crowd spilling out the door and (b) the $10 valet fee. The difference between great and trendy is often slim. Like many SF dining rooms Perbacco is long and narrow. The hostess directed us to the packed bar at the entrance. We ordered a wine flight from the list. This is how they do it in SF. Choose from 3 flights of 3 ounce pours. We went with mixed Ital over the all-Piemonte and Cal-Ital selections. You can also order by a 6 oz. glass, quarter and half liter or a full bottle. I present the retail price (Internet) and the half liter ticket. Right about now you should be shaking your head wondering WHY WINE BY FLIGHT OR IN CARAFE IS NOT AN LA ROUTINE. I know I wonder why. More on that later.

NV Adami Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Bosco di Giga Brut $17 retail / $11 for 6 oz glass: Fresh and bright with a moderately full taste of pears and leaches. Had to pry it out of Mrs. tBoW's hand. Great price point and a U20. 11% Hello Summer 2009.

2006 Marco Porello Camestri' Roero Arneis $13 / $30: The go-to everyday white wine of Piemonte. Typical firm acid backbone with medium weight fruit and some minerality filling out the flavors. Serious but far from grim.

2006 Marramiero Dama Montepulciano d'Abruzzo $15 / $25: Light to medium weight. Strong red color. Perfumed nose. Excellent selection that fits with the white selections and worked with the cheese plate. 13.5%

The hostess arrived to offer the first booth next to the door. We liked our wines and the cheese so we opted to wait for a table in the back. 10 minutes later we were seated and ordered our second wine flight with advice from manager/sommelier Marco Aponte. Splendid young man who recommended the Ital-Cal and tossed in a white Nebbiolo because tBoW has never tasted [ed. or heard of, take my word for it] a white Nebbiolo.

2007 Chiavennasca Conti Sertolo Salis Lombardia $21 / $33: Chiavennasca is Nebbiolo from Lombardy. Conti Sertolo Salis is one of a few producers in the region. As a white wine it is less interesting than the idea. Almost a leathery oxidized flavor. Apparently recently featured in a TV show (Dirty Sexy Money). So what! We have other wonderful wines in concept and vinous accomplishment in front of us. In the red version this is known as Valtellina, harvested extra ripe like an Amarone.

2007 Malvira' Langhe Favorita $11 / 30: K&L featured this wine that not surprisingly sold out. Favorita is related to Vermentino, a grape of which tBoW is a BIG FAN. Has the same qualities of bright fruit with plenty of acid, peaches and lime which probably sounds awful but works when balanced. Like here. Strong lingering finish.

2006 Peter Paul Russian River Valley Chardonnay $21 / $45 per bottle on the list: Maybe it was the place but here was another outstanding wine that would not be expected being a California Chard. tBoW has the usual Calif Chard reservations...too much oak...too many tropical fruit flavors...way too pricey. Whoa Nellie. Pure Chardonnay fruit, floral scents. Good acid. Not overdone, extracted or any of the grievous sins committed by most California Chardonnay producers. I still would not buy it even though it is almost a U20. Instead I would get some of those Italian wines (excepting the white Neb). 14.2%

2006 La Crotta di Vegneron Vallée d' Aoste Gamay $14 / $30: Just when you thought you could not be more tickled and entertained by a wine list and wine/wait staff font color="#225B60">here comes another doozy; Gamay from Italy's ski country. Since Gamay wines from Beaujolais have been the tBoW house favorite in 2006/2007 we had to taste what Italian Gamay might have to show. Familiar plummy fruit, perhaps a bit more smoke. Light to medium weight. Fairly simple if well made. Does not fade. 13.5%

The meal at Perbacco was the finest in recent memory. Everything and everyone was fan-tas-tick. We asked Marco to recommend a spot for the next night and he suggested Delfina. Of course, he ensured a reservation in our name.

Before tBoW reviews Delfina (it was superb) the tale of the Napa Valley Winery Exchange must be told. The closet-sized shop was adjacent to our hotel so I had to stop in where I met Don Gillette who fuses Captain Kangaroo and Michael Broadbent. Don is the finest wine snob I have met in a while...and I do mean that as high praise. He has a blog and works the front counter of the shop which I will bet does a bang up mail order business with exclusively wine snobs. I thought I might get a sense of his "common snob" knowledge so I asked if he knew Marshall Cellars was sellng for $10 in LA Whole Foods. No he did not but he quickly quoted the release price ($35) and dropped the names of the owner and winemaker. I countered with the case production and the match was ON!! Had he ever tasted the Heitz port? Some time ago. It was nice. Feeling momentum building I followed with the Bouchaine Late Harvest Chardonnay. Tough grape to harvest late he parried and he was certainly correct there and suddenly I hit a sand bar. He seized the moment and tested my "SoCal knowledge" asking about Santa Rita Pinots (turns out the devil worked there 15 years). I turned to the recent tasting wherein the 2002 Ojai Clos Pepe was matched with a Belle Pente small vineyard and the Price Family effort from Russian River. I could not recall the BP vineyard as I noticed several Price Family offerings on the shelf behind him. I could see his brain swell with information. Or maybe that was mine from fever. He rattled off the most recent winemakers who were getting juice from Wes Hagen and suggested one (which one? which?) that would be the humdinger release in 2008. He finished me with a few comments about the Mount Carmel vineyard where the Sanford owner originally sourced his grapes and I limply admitted I did not know it. How could I not? I do not recall seeing the vineyard on any label. Isn't the Mount Carmel Vineyard in Napa or Monterey? Nope, one of the oldest vineyards in SRH said Don. Let me show you on the map. I drew small solace the vineyard had been left off the map. He graciously offered to show me the best Pinot Noir in his opinion from SRH and the state. Did I know Chasseur? Shut out again. Andruw Jones crossed my mind. Overcome by shame yet content knowing I had been topped by an old dog, a complete wine geek with that crusty San Francisco insouciance, I accepted the offer to become informed. He brought out a bottle of Chasseur . I do not recall the vineyard. I held it in my hands. How much? $54...but this bottle has someone's name on it. Deciding not to bolt with the bottle I suggested the name might be his own. No. It belonged to a customer on his Great Pinot Noirs club list. This is the wine snob's coup de grace, the matador's final thrust of the sword to the bull's neck severing the spinal cord. Great pinot noir is never a matter of price but...altogether now...A MATTER OF AVAILABILITY. Chasseur. Now informed I immediately graduated to obsession. Bitten. Infected. Fortunately, I did find a Russian River Valley bottle the next day. I bought it and cracked it.

2007 Chasseur Sonoma County $30: Picked this up at a hole-in-the-wall liquor store in the East Bay - Jacksons in Lafayette- where Mrs. tBoW's brother-in-law lives. Must be the entry level wine; not listed on the website. Cherry and strawberry on the nose and in the mouth. Light to medium weight. Same fruity aromas. No problem picking out this nose. A bit sweet for my taste but it will please many. Very well balanced. Nice but I will take the Belle Pente. 14.1%

To sum, Don Gillette knows American Pinot Noir. His shop offers a Pinot Noir Wine Club that delivers half a case quarterly of domestic for about $250. If you love American Pinot Noir I am confident you cannot go wrong. Or you could read his blog!

Delfina Restaurant is in the Mission at 18th and Guererro about four blocks from where Mr. and Mrs. tBoW used to live a very long time ago. About 20 tables with the open kitchen and smart informed wait staff. Our excellent waiter (a woman but when dining is serious as in Hollywood with serious actors one does not qualify gender by referring to the actress or the waitress) knew all we needed to know about the wine. The list favors Italian. Refreshing moment about the meaning of Italian in SF versus LA. In LA Italian means steak house or pasta emporium with big ticket Baroli and Tuscan wines. In SF it means risotto, pork chops, mushrooms, well-priced Chiantis fromTuscany, Barberas and a couple Baroli from Piedmont but nary an Orenllaia or Sassicaia.

2006 Renzo Marinai Chianti Classico $26: Spectator highly-scored wine lives up to the hype. More than 90% Sangiovese. Excellent balance without being integrated. Strange as the fruit and acid flavors are only dating and not yet married. Grapes may not be aware they have been vinified. Cherry flavors, good acid spine. Unexpectedly nice. A case in which we trusted the waiter and she came through like a pro. 13.5%

2006 Tiefenbrunner Sudtirol "Castel Turmhof" Lagrein $18: Lagrein is a Northern Italian grape which our waiter pitched as Syrah-like. Lean, full flavored with medium weight. I ask myself shouldn't Tempranillo taste this good? I preferred the Chianti but this everyone else loved this bottle. Good forward fruit for such a Northern climate in the Alto Adige. Another ski country wine. 13%

Our waiter recommended an Alamo Square wine bar named Uva Enoteca and a wine shop called Biondivino off of Polk. I can tell by looking at the websites next trip for sure.

The LA Times Wine Critic recently described the best LA has to offer in restaurants with strong wine programs. tBoW will checking out Pinxt with Dotore' in tow. We already know Palate (top of a short pile) AOC and Lou. We expect this handful to be excellent. We just wish there were more of them!!

News Flash - before you get started tBoW wishes to acknowledge the first two newsworthy events for the new year in thebestofwines world. The January issues of Gourmet and Los Angeles magazines each feature a tBoW fave. Gourmet covers all things consumable that are Italian. They make a point of including a photo and kind words about the efforts of Napa's most under-rated winemaker Jim Moore and his l'Uvaggio di Giacomo label to produce memorable California wines from Italian varietals. The Jan 09 issue of Los Angeles magazine picks tBoW hero Palate Food + Wine as the #1 restaurant in LA. LA mag gave Palate a curiously arms-length review in August 08 as though withholding final judgment. Glad to read the reviewer made up his mind. [ed. we knew it soon as we walked through the doors in June] Unlike Los Angeles mag, Gourmet does not post open links to its content so you will have to pick up a copy.

Between Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year the adaptable wine taster has an opportunity that comes once a year. That is to taste a wide range of wines you might normally never encounter. Already tBoW has had his glass filled with Moet White Star, a Zinfandel and a late harvest Chardonnay. How bizarre how bizarre.

2004 David Coffaro Price Family Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel $20: This is the perfect example of a wine I would never taste if it was not for the holidays. tBoW never drinks Zinfandel by choice [ed. he ain't crazy about Viognier either]. This is a ripe Dry Creek Valley wine that is typical of what is generally regarded as the finest region in the state for growing and producing Zin. Ripe Zin often has prune or raisin flavors like we find here. There is nothing wrong with the wine. I am just not a fan of the varietal (with a couple exceptions like Franus and ). Nalle both made in a Claret style) This wine is high in alcohol which is not unusual for the varietal and the region. 15%

2005 Bouchaine Bouche d'Or Carneros Chardonnay $30 at the winery: One does not often see a late harvest wine made from Chardonnay grapes. This is a Mrs. tBoW selection purchased at the winery. She picked a gooder. The wine is lively with firm acidity. The flavors show apricot, honey...and Fuji Apple. Very long finish. Young tBoW sommelier-in-training Senor X grappled with the flavor, not satisfied with the apricot call. He returned 10 minutes later (the finish is that long) to proclaim that Fuji Apple is exactly what we were tasting in the slight bitterness like one gets from the apple pulp. tBow kvelled noticeably. By the way, Bouchaine is the oldest winery in Carneros but changes are afoot. The former winemaker at Acacia Michael Richmond joined the team in 2007 and they are being distributed by a division under Southern Wines so they should get more exposure. If you are a Kendall Jackson fan you might want to check out Bouchaine as a superior product in essentially the same category. The wines seem to have improved. 11%

Heitz Cellar Ink Grade Port NV $30 (split): Yet another unusual bottle not found among tBoW selections. This blend of 8 traditional Porto varietals from as many as 6 recent vintages is personal project of Joe Heitz; he of Martha's Vineyard fame [ed. the original big-ticket award-winning highly-collectible Napa Cab]. Deep black ruby color. Rich honey flavors which seems unusual for a red port. Beautifully balanced. Not at all cloying or candy-ish. An excellent wine at a very good price point that is worth pursuing. 18.5%

2007 Vinos Sin-ley "Valleclaro" Prieto Picudo Rosado Valle de Benavente$11: A hot summer ticket in 2008. This delightful light cherry red wine from Spain got a big Parker rating and was noticed by Tanzer. The fruit is like pear rind [ed. you have to imagine this]. A dry bite on the finish because the wine itself is a bit hot for Rosé at 13.5%.

2005 Kaiken Ultra Malbec $16.50: Covered this winery from South America in an April 08 tBoW blog post following Argentina trip in Spring 2007. The "trick" is they blend Argentine and Chilean juice. OK. The wine is very good. I do wonder if they drive the juice over the Andes pass. Mendoza is just over the border. The "ordinary" blend is very good. This is extra thick and extra rich without being over-stuffed. Thick fruity flavors. Almost like a liqueur. Very dark color. This is among the best in a class of richly sweet and thick wines from South America that maintain balance. The price is excellent given the high quality. Costco pick. 14%

I have begun to think of my cellar as a bunker. Members of the tBoW tasting team seem to share this view. The Act of Purging is as essential as other necessary functions that keep a storage center clean. We don't want "impacted" cellars. Here is what the Venice tBoW tasting team came up with recently at a hosted dinner on a balmy winter Saturday night in LA.

NV Moet & Chandon White Star $30: Who buys this wine? I am guessing I had my last bottle of White Star more than 20 years ago. Probably longer but who's counting? I might have been counting if I remembered the marque wine of Moet as having distinct lemon and pear flavors backed with a clear and firm spine. Rich and a bit sweet. Is it worth $30? Probably because I am hard pressed to think of another $30 champagne that would produce something supposed to be consistent this consistently (that is what a marque wine is supposed to do). Check out the smarmy corporate marketing video here. Who made this? Hammer Studios? tBoW liked the wine and encourages you to lower your snob quotient and accept any pours you may be offered this holiday season. Widely available at Kirkland Nation (aka Costco).

2005 Tablas Creek Roussanne $24: They make this wine in two styles. This is the "traditional, i.e., French" one. A bit smoky, aged in oak. Firm with pear and melon fruit flavors. Actually restrained and needing time to open a bit. Only 600 cases. 14.3 %

2006 Arnaud Gaujal Picpoul de Pinet $13: Value wine from the value region of Southwest France. We do not need a recession to recognize there are wines from the Languedoc that are and have been great finds for years. Delightful bright and fresh. You cannot go wrong with this wine. Serve it with salad and it holds up to any dressing I can think of [ed. the white wine acid test]. I know this will read wrong BUT the nose and flavor reminded me of shaving cream. A bit soapy but that is the dryness. Well balanced. Nothing out of sort. A tBoW bargain and I would buy it if I saw it. 13%

2000 Ch Petit-Figeac St-Emilion Grand Cru $40: Here is (one of) the problem(s) with Bordeaux. You can't tell the all-stars from the journeymen. Case in point. Chateau Figeac is a big hitter. Highly collectible (if you collect Bordeaux). And a St Emilion which is at southern end of the Girond and mostly if not all Merlot. But there are only about another dozen OTHER wines with the name Figeac. There is Franc Figeac, Yon Figeac...enough to confuse the Figeac family not to mention the unsuspecting consumer. This particular Figeac wine is from the 2000 vintage that actually delivered on the century wine hyperbole. Everybody buy now! The wine was tasty. Needed time to open up but then that is pretty standard with Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot-Cab Franc blends from Bordeaux. Drink enough of them and you will pine for the good old easy going big and blowsy Napa versions. You have to like Cabernet a lot to buy these wines. And you have to like the French style which means sit and wait 10 years or an hour. 13%

1998 Ch Blanzac Cotes de Castillon $20: Another uncelebrated (at least outside France and England) region near Bordeaux. This is another problem with Bordeaux wines. Wine collectors who wish to impress ASAP with their wine knowledge can easily "master" the First Growth wines of Bordeaux. There are only five. Too bad the 1st growths are so pricey because what good is newfound knowledge without opening the stuff you are touting? Of course, as in most of France (as well as Spain and Italy not to mention Austria and Germany), there is plenty of very good wine in the less heralded corners of the region. Mastery in the petit regions of Bordeaux, however, is another matter. Like studying for the LSAT. tBoW and Dotoré long ago realized if one is going to study wine then one may as well study the OTHER region of France with equally difficult lessons and infinitely greater rewards. That would be Burgundy. This nice Merlot was tight upon opening even at 10 years and even though from the unglamorous Cotes de Castillon. So chances are it was well made. It never had a chance to open because our host sucked it down like a sandworm hunting spice. He said he liked it. Urp. 13%

The dinner was Cassoulet which is a typical dish in the Languedoc. The red wines typical of Languedoc are Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre. tBoW taster Tootsie usually does it up pretty good.