Posts belonging to Category Grenache Blanc



2014 Gone. Keep Up with the Year in Front of You.

so nice

mi holiday getaway


The year in review is a journalistic tradition; even a must-do. What was memorable about 2014? Who do we remember? What made the strongest impression? Who is writing this slop?

stupaulWEBOur most memorable bricks and mortar wine merchant is Paul Smith at Woodland Hills Wine Co. Smith was definitely the underdog on the LA wine scene when we first encountered him about 30 years ago in his liquor store turned “wine find” off the 118. Who’d-a-thunk a former pro ballplayer (brushback pitcher) and USMC Nam vet would eventually become the go-to guy in LA then the nation for top shelf Burgs and other collectibles. I am still holding out Paul will let tBoW write his memoirs. He hangs a Marine Corp flag out front. Truly one of a kind.

Most memorable virtual wine merchant is Steve Goldun of Eno Fine Wine. He has delivered the best wines we have tasted throughout the year including the 2011 Sylvan Pataille Marsannay Clos du Roy featured below [ed. click two words back if you must learn more right now]. Consistently bringing in the wine we love to own at prices at or below the best market prices… Eno Fine Wine.

Most memorable wine travelers hands down are the bashful Krisses. They are a tag team from one of those generations that nobody from tBoW’s boomer clique can differentiate. Kris A is a budding winemaker, accomplished brewmaster and extreme triathlete. Kris B is the intrepid travel planner who can turn an introductory credit card deal into two round trip tickets to Germany or Spain or Austria. They hear music at decibels only accessed by corks and vines. Kris B frequents Garagiste and other obscure online merchants enabling the more placid tBoW to go in on a few unusual, exceptional deals. See Mont Blanc sparkler below.

soft flabby underbelly

soft flabby underbelly disappoints

What do we have to look forward to in 2015? The HausMaus visits town in June. A robust tasting of Rousanne and Marsanne seems likely. The dollar will continue to drive down prices on our favorite wines from Italy, France and Germany. The organic sustainable biodynamic movement will continue to expand and influence what you are drinking [ed. unless you are a mega collector of trophy wines in which case you are most likely oak addicted].

By the end of 2015 there will still be domestic wine touts claiming their favorite Pinot Noir is “Burgundian.” This is neither possible nor necessary. Domestic Pinot Noir will never share the qualities of Burgundy Pinot. If anything the difference will become more striking. We have staked out our position on domestic Pinot. We prefer Burgundy and of course we mean only the right Burgs [ed. is there a wine more haughty than Burgundy? Get your snob on!]. More Burgundy producers will lose our interest (Camille Giroud) as we simultaneously learn more about who makes the styles we prefer (Roty, Pataille, Clos du Moulin aux Moines). We have moved on from Barolo and Barbaresco and quite possibly any wine with 100% of any grape in the bottle. This leaves us in and around the Valtellina when it comes to Nebbiolo in Italy where the vignerons blend everything. Expect more wines form Sicily. And more champagnes. Should be a grand year, we hope.

extremeWEBOne more 2015 target. There is rumor of a new blog, the Wine Whisperer, where topics will concern the wine trade, interviews with wine folk such as aspiring somms, wine phenomena of any and every sort, and quite likely Bigfoot.

2011 Extreme Spumante Metodo Classico Brut DOC di Cave du Vin Blanc de Morgex et de la Salle ~$23: Sparkling wine for extreme mountain climbers? This IS the Krisses in a bottle. That IS Mont Blanc on the label. Note pick axe and rope at label top. These must be highest vineyards in Europe! But probably not. Reminded tBoW of the sparkling Gewurtz made by Navarro (producer of lightweight domestic Pinot we also prefer!). We liked it. 12%

lassagneWEBNV Lassaigne les Vignes de Montgueux Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs Champagne $35: Purchased from Eno. Step aside Mont Blanc. Like the Warriors vs rest of the league [ed. talking NBA now], Champagne is King. And this bottle is special, Champions league, think Villareal futbol squad, La Liga Primera Division; not Real Madrid not Barcelona, but very competitive. Of course, please keep in mind a sparkling wine from Spain is not Champagne. Neither is a sparkling wine from Napa or anywhere other than Champagne. Does this mean there are sparkling wines as good as the best from Champagne? No. That would be unlikely. This remains useful info despite the end of the holiday.

pataille-marsannay-2011WEB2011 Sylvan Pataille Marsannay Clos du Roy $38 [TAFI]: the most memorable wine even though we opened it two weeks before the end of the year. Bought this at the Burgundy Hoe Down more than a year ago! Took a year to open just enough to get a glimpse of what was inside. So salacious! Unfortunately, finding more of this wine from this vintage will be a bitch. Wine of the year, as those things go.

halter-11WEB2013 Halter Ranch Cotes de Paso Blanc $20: Purchased by LeLg [ed. Le Large in short which the man is NOT] at Hi Time in Costa Mesa, the premium wine store in the OC. A lovely Paso white Rhone blend of mostly Grenache Blanc backed with Picpoul Blanc, Rousanne and Viognier; all estate grown. Read more about Paso the wine region including Halter the 900 acre ranch. This is a label to watch for. Don’t say we are too snobby for domestic wines. Especially not too snobby for Rhone style whites. Buy it. 13.5%

Fada Day, Birthday, Playboy Jazz, July 4th!! Must be SUMMER.

who_yo_fadaWEBSummer just gets started and THEN… it just bombs forward with special days and celebrations. So many corks get pulled it takes concentration to keep up with the luxuriously warm evenings. No wonder Dotoré loses his mind. The water in SoCal is a delicious 70 degrees. Someone said it’s the precursor to an El Niño Winter. Yellow Tail running off Newport Beach and Great Whites are biting… poles and people. So we drink wine and hang with our homies. Here is what we been tasting.

vergano-vermouth-frontCROPWVergano Vermouth Bianco NV 500ML $43: LA Times wine tout SIrene V. wrote a blurb on Vermouths. As usual she’s a day late and a dollar short! The venerable critic covered domestic vermouths. For data more substantive try Goldun’s own prose: “Vermouth is the only fortified and aromatized wine with a precise historical origin. It was first concocted 1786 in Turin by Benedetto Carpano. Since then the Vermouth has become one of the most famous drinks in the world both as aperitif or as an ingredient in cocktails. Its name derives from the German word “Vermuth” which means Absinthe, one of its main components.” Absinthe? If you must have more info try here. A pot store opened behind tBoW’s favorite Mexican food palace. Back to SIrene V. We would bet dinner at Faith & Flower the real Vermouth wiener is this Piemonte effort. Who knew vermouth was an aperitif and not something to avoid in your ultra dry Martini. This Vergano drink brought to us by Eno Fine Wine is just perfect anytime anywhere. Some anise. Some Tonic. What balance. Over cubes. Dangerously delicious. 16%

Rami-09WEBAzienda Agrocola COS Rami 12.5%: Orange wine from Sicily. This is really terrific wine. Southern Italy kicks booty one more time. This would work in Fall as well as Summer. Lovely orange color [ed. Goldun tells why, no? Si.] with delicate spicy flavor, acidic, ripe fruit but NOT citric. More like kiwi-lite. Even better next evening. We panned the COS red last week as too zin-like for tBoW’s palate. This shit is so good we want more. 12%

TC-CT-2011WEB2011 Tablas Creek Cote de Tablas Blanc $24 (Fine Wine House): You MUST decant the reds if you MUST drink them. You should wait! Not one is at full potential even at 10 years. They need 15 or more. However, DO NOT FORGET THE WHITES from this top Paso estate. Creamy and lean at the same time. Light oak (we think). Almost one quarter each Grenache Blanc, Viognier, Rousanne and Marsanne. The contribution from each varietal is distinct and harmonious. The secret is out. Sit on the reds and drink the whites without hesitation or shame. A bravo for the 13.1% alcohol level.

As a great man once said “Keep the party hat on!” That would be Mungo Jerry’s lil’ bra’… the ole BeeDee.

Red Wine with Fish and Other Blasphemies

fried for Burgundy

fried for Burgundy

Wine like all institutions has plenty of shibboleths. Red wine with red meat and white wine with white fish. Pinot with salmon. Natural wine poses an entire new set of strictures that at least make more sense than simply red meat and blanche fish. Ask your doctor. Don’t look back something might be gaining on you. Buy low sell high. It is what it is. Fuzzy wuzzy was a bear. Once upon a time in France Jerry Lewis was a comic genius.

tBoW drank a 2005 red Burgundy with a whole fried red snapper at the Santa Monica restaurant Tar & Roses. And all three were very very good: restaurant, fish and wine. Lettuce cut to the chase. We have tasted some nice wines and learned a couple things about ourself.

tortochet05WEB2005 Domaine Tortochet Gevrey Chambertins 1er Cru Les Champeaux $unk: Complemented the fried fish perfectly. The deep fry removed all the fishy flavors that we associate with snapper. The fish was prepared such that one could pick a biteful cube at a time followed by a tasty sip of French Pinot Noir. The wine was firm at 8 years with restrained – not muted – fruit. Just the way we like it. No tannins to speak of. From the French website we raided: “male, with power, firm tannins, length and lots of structure.” Mais oui! 13%

cornas07WEB2007 Tardieu-Laurent Cornas Coteaux $42: Has the name, the vineyard, the vintage, all the pedigree. Well made wine with good flavors in harmony. Soft and seductive. But… we realized we are not fans of red Rhone grapes. There are exceptions such as the CORE wines from Orcutt which focus on Mourvedre. We have had most memorable Rhone reds but right now, in this long moment, we would not hurry to purchase any red Syrah wines from the Rhone. Blasphemous. 13%

anacapa04WEB2004 Rusack Anacapa Santa Barbara County $TAFI: Rusack is an under-the-radar winery for dimwitted wine snobs like tBoW. We think of Rusack and we think of the Wrigleys of which Mrs. Rusack is a member. Hey. Of course we know there are plenty of scions and high-ons and silly wealthy folks in the wine industry. But Wrigley? As in the oldest baseball park in the USA, chewing gum, the Chicago Cubs, and “26 miles across the sea Santa Catalina is waiting for me.” So we are impressed with the name. Now we are unexpectedly impressed with this wine. You know the situation. Good friend pulls the cork on taboo wine – in this case a Cabernet blend. We pinch our mental nose and take a sip of the Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot meritage. We would guess this blend is Merlot dominant with the soft rich fruit, and the absence of Cabernet Sauvignon chocolate and tannins. “Please sir can we have some more” we asked in our best Oliver voice? Picked up by our host at the historic 2005 Santa Barbara Wine Festival held at Santa Barbara’s El Paseo right around this time nine years ago. More blasphemy! 14%

coreGB10WEB2010 CORE Santa Ynez Valley Grenache Blanc $18: David Corey can’t get any respect. He has been turning top dog wines from well over a decade. He gets the high point reviews. He has a clique of devoted fans who consistently purchase his stuff. Some of the name reviewers visit his Orcutt tasting room and anoint his wines with 90+ points. Yet most wine people in the know [ed. you know who they are?] never heard of this label. This wine was pretty green at first. We applied immediate glass-to-glass aeration. About half a dozen sloshing pours later the fruit was able to collect itself and emerge in a full melon robe of moderate weight. This was lovely. We may have lost our taste for Syrah [ed. you could see it coming] but we remain loyal and hopeful whenever we see white Rhone varietals. If loving New World White Rhone wines is wrong… I don’t wanna be right. Picked up by Largenez at the CORE tasting room on our recent T-day trip. U20 winnah! 14.5%

Going to a hot shot tasting this week. Notes will be taken with the report to follow.

July 4th Poolside Cabernet Blends Mini-Tasting

70s-pool-partyWEBSummertime is party time in Southern California. Each holiday is like a stop on the social road map. The 4th marks the middle of the long hot tour. Anything goes when the sun roars above, the swimming pool beckons and the grill begs for more meat and veggies to roast. Keep the food simple and bring something interesting from your cellar. If you like that recipe then you will probably like the wine list below. (more…)

Saddle Peak Showcase: Martian Ranch & Vineyard

mars_planetWEBSeated under the moosehead with the French doors open to the early evening air we sat in wicker chairs that are never this comfy anywhere else. Our love affair with Saddle Peak Lodge in Calabasas got even steamier this week. Somm Jen Carter presented her first small winery Winemaker Dinner featuring Martian Ranch & Winery of Los Alamos. The invite said the “owner, operator, winemaker and sommelier would be available to educate and entertain.” Two out of four is good enough for us especially when that duo includes Ms. Carter and winemaker Mike Roth. Somm Jen, GM Bobby Caravella and chef Chris Kurek have turned the onetime staid and spotty Saddlepeak Lodge into our favorite dining venue in the city. Saddlepeak has always had the space-based charm with the Water Buffalo and other icons of taxidermy everywhere which fortunately do not count towards the fire department occupancy limit. Now it has tons of personal charm that shows on the scorecard. (more…)