Outta Nowhere! Four Game Changing Wines

This is NOT a post about JEREMY LIN. Isn’t he fun? Asian kid from Harvard? OK. Plays in the NBA? Wha? Has led his crummy Knicks team to 7 consecutive wins? No freakin way. But this is NOT a post about Jeremy Lin just so we can write about unlikely wines that turn out to be stars. Like Tom Waits. Who could have expected he would become a cultural icon. Do they love him in France? The piano has been drinking…

2006 Caparzo Brunello di Montalcino $30: G. gets beat on a price! I guess it happens. Spotted this recently at Costco for $25. Also saw it elsewhere at $35. Will return for a couple more. Hi-tone middle weight wine. Gentlemanly and well bred. A University of California graduate. Garagiste winner. 13.5%

2010 Domaine des Pothiers “Bulles” Cote Roannaise $15: tBoW has a schnupfen in his nelson right now which means considerable time is being spent laying about in bed and what snot. However, having tasted this immediately prior to catching the nuisance cold I can see I am fairly certain this sparkling confection can be sipped therapeutically. Like cherry-strawberry soda pop. Pank too. A unanimous wiener. I think this is from someplace near Beaujolais. It is supposedly Gamay. G. described it as classic Cold Duck…which Gallo invented, was made with apple juice (TRUE!) and was never this good. Hit the bell for another Garagiste winnah winnah! 7.5%

2009 Chateau Branda Puisseguin St. Emilion $25: Medaille d’Or Paris 2011 means this bottle was entered and won the top prize in the regional and very prestigious Parisian food and wine fair. This is something akin to winning a double gold at the San Francisco County Fair only because that fair is the most prestigious by far in California. The Gold Medal winners get the oak leaf stamp. It looks like no more than 1 in 16 out of ~17,000 got a gold. The wine is Merlot that does not taste like a New World version. Solid puncher. Balanced acidity. Would compete with any wine. Les Judges were correct.

2004 Bodegas Etchart Arnaldo B Gran Reserva $42 (on the wine list): We found ourselves in the very decent and established Hollywood Argentine restaurant Gardells. The place looked just like some of the old style places we dined in Buenos Aires. And the food was excellent. With a $30 corkage tBoW wagered he could find a value selection. This was it. Have not seen this since that trip which lets you know how memorable it was. From the Cafayette Valley in the country’s northern corner of Salta. tBoW wants to travel there. We ordered two. 14.5%

Now here is a REAL TREAT. Tom Waits performs The Piano Has Been Drinking on Fernwood Tonight then hits Jerry up for $20. That show was B-R-I-L-L-I-A-N-T. Please watch. I am begging you.