arrowood syrah

On a trip to the Russian River Valley last summer Keely and I were fortunate enough to make our way to Arrowood winery and taste through a number of excellent wines. Our favorite were the Syrahs and we came home with as many as we could afford, which wasn't much since we ended up buying about 3 cases of RRV wine in just a few days. I saved this bottle for a night when we really wanted to drink an excellent full-bodied, decadent wine. A dinner to celebrate ending the semester seemed good enough to open this wonderful Syrah.

Syrah from California has begun to attract wine fans that appreciate the heady aromatics, voluptuous flavors and its ability to age. Having kept this at home for over a year, moving the wine multiple times from room to room and even to a new home, the year of uneven aging only deepened the characteristics we first appreciated in the tasting room. It's nice to do this, age your wine a bit, since only the 2002 is available now and we are still able to taste an older slightly aged wine instead. It also means you get to look forward to tasting it again over an entire year.

Arrowood has a friendship with Saralee and Richard Kunde, owners of Saralee's Vineyard in the Russian River Valley. Richard and Alis Arrowood have purchased fruit from the Kundes for over ten years and the 2001 Saralee's Vineyard Syrah is one of the excellent products of this collaboration. The grapes for the 2001 Syrah were hand harvested and sorted in the vineyard. After crushing, Arrowood's winemaker notes show that they fermented the fruit in small stainless steel tanks. In a Rôhne tradition, the Syrah was co-fermented with a small amount of Viognier (4%) to intensify its color and enhance the exotic, complex aromas of the wine. It was then barrel aged for 16 months in French oak, and, in keeping with the non-interventionist philosophy of Arrowood, it was neither fined nor filtered. Which means all the sediment is in there giving a full fleshy wine that needs decanting before pouring. The unfiltered process makes this wine great and full but you certainly don't want to drink the sediment. Robert Parker called this wine "a full-bodied, layered, hedonistic as well as intellectual turn-on." I thought so too.

Price: $40-50 (depending on where you find it)

Color: Intense deep purple

Nose: Deep plum and cherry, complex and vibrant, even heady

Taste: Dense ripe fruit of blackened plum, black cherry, chocolate overtones, fleshy but supple tannins, and a note of licorice worked together to produce an intense looking wine, full, silky with a smooth finish. This is fruit-forward Syrah, thick, juicy, balanced and complex. It is distinctive and on the dramatic side. It had excellent structure and depth, and you can imagine the vineyard it comes from given the winemaker's focus on expressing its true varietal character and the terroir of Saralee's Vineyard. Really a brilliant wine. I wish I had more.

cahors malbec

The 2003 French Cahors is pleasant, consistent Malbec from Georges Vigouroux that is hard to beat for $12. The region is an ancient wine region renowned for it's dark black wines in the Southwest of France. It is a blended wine made primarily with Malbec. Wines from this area have rustic, dark, full flavors that are perfect for the coming winter. Imagine drinking this beautiful bottle in front of a wood fire with a dinner of steak and potatoes. That's my approach anyway.

I love this wine. Even though 2003 was an extremely hot vintange in Europe, the heat wave did good things for many wines. In this wine you get deep color, aromas of blackberry and wood. Still young, this is a big wine with an acidic tightness. I've had it before and will again. Aging wouldn't hurt it either.

marti fabra grenache

Marti Fabra Seleccio 2002 is one of the great Spanish reds made with hand selected grapes from old estate vines (50-80 yrs old) in the Carignan area. The soils are poor like you want them to be on weathered shale and Jorge Ordonez and company blend this wine to excellence.

70% Grenache
10% Carignan
10% Tempranillo
5% Syrah
5% Cabernet Sauvignon

Aging for 8 months in Allier French oak barrels in the cellar of the country house doesn't just make for a nice story, the wine shows the care it is given by the Carreras family.

Nose: Big aromas of sweet black cherry, rose perfume, clean with pronounced spiciness

Color: Deep garnet like a dark red lipstick, almost opaque

Taste: Developed smooth velvet mouth, round tannins, light mineral tasting, with burnt cherry fruit on the back of the palette, and medium acid. The French oak comes out in the bright vanilla overtones, good length with a lingering pleasant acid and fruit that reminds you to take another drink.

ch. st. andre chateauneuf-du-pape

My apologies for the harsh flash on this bottle of Chateauneuf-Du-Pape. We picked this up in what at first might seem the most unlikely of places, a deli grocery in Murren, Switzerland. Murren is only accessible by cable car. However, given stone's throw proximity to France it no wonder I was picking up French wines in the grocery to try out. This bottle managed to escape our drinking and made it home to New York where we tested it out for dinner. As far as CDP goes, this was not what I was expecting. But then again, before this $12 bottle, I hadn't had a CDP under $30, so maybe that should tell me something. All I can say is, you get what you pay for, even on the French border. Maybe my impression of overpriced CDP in New York is changing. Maybe they really are worth the high dollar.

swiss wine

My apologies for not posting recently, as the lack of posting definitely does not reflect any lack of wine consumption. Rather, I've been in Switzerland for the last 10 days and spent quite of bit of it diligently tasting Swiss wines in the Southern French speaking regions. In particular, Keely and I were lucky enough to stumble across a once a year wine tasting event in the Vaud canton of Switzerland called the Route Gourmand. It is held in the wine fields of Vevey-Montreaux surrounding Lake Geneva looking across to France. The experience was the most incredible wine tasting event of my life, and I do not write that lightly. I'll explain more in subsequent posts.

I have notes from all the wines I tasted, that is until I couldn't reasonably taste anymore. There will be many details coming in the next week, once I recover from the backlog of work I left myself with this mini working vacation. In the meantime, feast your eyes on the fun and I'll return soon with more Swiss wine tasting notes than you can likely handle.

nepenthe sauvignon blanc

When you are headed over to early drinks on a warm autumn day in New York, or better yet, a hot summer day, and need a great bottle of wine that doesn't cost $30, Nepenthe is your standard. You can depend on this Australian winemaker to deliver quality. This particular 2004 Sauvignon Blanc from the hills of Adelaide has all the goodness those Aussie's pour so well into their wines. This one does not disappoint.

Color: Clear pale lemon

Nose: Steel and wet stone with a light grapefruit perfume

Taste: Pungent grapefruit and lemon juice with hints of apple and pear. The acid is predicatably strong and bubbliness lingers on the tongue.

le belles vignes sancerre and muga rose

My sister and her husband came over for dinner. We were making a wine, cream, and herb clam linguini. I'd left most of our wine in the in-law's cool basement for the summer and still hadn't picked it up yet. So, off to the local wine store. They are pretty nice people down the hill at Rockwood and Perry Wine Merchant. I picked out this Loire Valley Sancerre and a Muga Rose from Rioja.
Pretty standard Sancerre. And by that I mean good. Not the best Sancerre I've ever had but definitely right up there with good whites for a warm evening.

Color: Pale white gold
Nose: Subtle floral notes
Taste: Steely, smooth and silky. Nice lemon fresh acidity but no overpowering citrus flavors. A good clean complement to the dish. I'd drink this 2004 again for $18.99.


I wanted to pick us something that if my sister liked it, she could find nearly everywhere and which is pretty cheap, ~$12. So, a Spanish Rose from Muga it was. Not bad, but then again you don't normally think Spanish when you think Rose. It is a Grenache and Tempranillo based blend. The Muga was drinkable, in that no one protested. But fairly simple overall. For this price, there is probably a cheap out-of-the-way French Rose that will pull off a stronger finish for $12. I'd shop around before picking this one up again. But if you pop into a wine shop in a hurry and want to try something different from the normal Rose round-up, Muga is going to treat you fine.

Color: Muted glowing coral
Nose: Light cherry, also subtle
Taste: Fun ripe red cherry cola bliss without the color. Good, easy to drink with a little bite on the back of the palate and a gentle vanilla from this blend of 60% Grenache, 30% Tempranillo, & 10% Viura. Citrus lingers on the tongue. A very dry rose and overall pleasant.

dom. michel colin-déléger santenay

Sometimes you get a phone call that just makes the day better. Keely and I were trying to decide where we wanted to have dinner to celebrate our first year wedding anniversary. We wanted something nice, naturally, but needed to keep it reasonable. Going through the list of our favorite restaurants was difficult since so many of them came up "too expensive." We'd basically decided on something less than perfect when the in-laws phoned up and said "Happy anniversary, dinner's on us!"

We knew what to do. Call up Barbuto and reserve a table that very instant. Somehow we managed to score a table on the sidewalk at the perfect dinner hour and after a long debate I finally managed to pick out a wine. I was determined to pick a top quality Italian red, but nothing quite fit our food choices. The Barolos were too expensive, as usual. Other Nebbiolos didn't make the cut either. I finally settled on what we really needed. Not Italian, regardless of the pressure to order Italian at an Italian eatery. Instead I found this perfect French Santenay. Not bad to have my first 1er Cru be a Santenay. There's something about the good stuff that makes you savor every drop. I can say this, the Pinot Noir did full justice to the excellent whole fish and lamb, and various sides we ordered.

A few things I didn't know when I ordered: It seems the family entered into viticulture in the 1870's when Emile Colin began cultivating vines. In Chassagne-Montrachet and other villages as well, you can find this incredible expression of Pinot Noir. I've had some but not enough. Obviously, I'm a total fan of quality Russian River and Oregon Pinot Noir, as you can read in past blogs, but when you have a glass of a premier cru Santenay like this one, you know you've reached elegance in wine, not just something good to drink. Thanks for the elegance John and Polly.

lynmar chardonnay

Lynmar Chardonnay Russian River 2004

Color: Unripe banana skin
Nose: Pear and apple abound
Taste: Balanced light acidity with a little bit of alcohol on the back of the palate. Still, silky smooth from front to back. Enjoyable, quaffable. We had to drink this one as soon as we returned from our road trip from Colorado. I let it get too hot in the trunk driving through th esouthern states and it overheated, causing the corked to be pushed up (a tell-tale sign). That may have accounted for the bit of alcohol bite. But still, this was quite drinkable since we opened it within days of the problem. This way I avoided more significant deteriation of the wine. It wasn't as good as it tasted originally at the Lynmar winery, which is too bad since this is the good Chardonnay they make.

rochioli sauvignon blanc

Rochioli Russian River Sauvignon Blanc, Estate Grown 2005

Color: Pale lemon juice
Nose: Citrus through and through
Taste: A citrus bomb, but in a good way. Lemon fresh zing. The excellent full body is a suprise. Not lean like you'd expect with a Sauvignon Blanc. A really nice, thick mouth feel. Nutty warmth in the flavor leaning towards leachy nuts but not overpowering. I've probably overstated it, but it's the citrus that comes through. So fresh and light, makes your mouth water for oysters. I hope we can find more of this great wine, which we brought home from Sonoma on a recent trip. This is definitely one of the best Sauv. Blancs I've had in recent memory and I'm still salivating for another.

Very nice with the pasta and fresh arugula, tomatoes, shallots, and shaved pecorino we enjoyed for dinner.

texas tasting

You have to wonder about wine in Texas. We didn't have the guts or time to stop and take the "free tasting" tour while driving through the top of the Lone Star state. We should have though. The add campaign along the highway ran a series of billboards with catch phrases like "Like France But Without The Attitude" or "Like California But Not As Fruity." It's probably more like New Mexico, but without the class. Priceless billboard reading while driving 85 through no man's land.

ridge zinfandel / road trip

Up front I should apologize for the long time seperating this post and the last. Here we go on my excuses, starting backwards:

I'm preparing a ton of material for my class at Columbia which I begin teaching next week. How did it get here so soon? Also, returning from Colorado after 2 months means cleaning house, and buying new plants since many died, and cleaning the aquarium (last night), and catching up with friends and going out for food and wine in New York (god we missed it), etc. So I'm back and have multiple posts to catch up on. Also, we took a five day road trip from Colorado to New York and did our best to make it last. We first drove from Vail down to Santa Fe instead of making that long straight shot through Kansas to the East Coast. For some reason we thought driving through the south of this country in August was a good idea. ??

To start the trip off right we booked a dinner at arguably one of the best restaurants in Santa Fe, The Pink Adobe (this coming from someone who's never even been to Santa Fe before). After readings reviews, I had no choice but to go for the signature house steak, the Steak Dunigan, served with sauteed mushrooms and of course, green chilis. Naturally, we started with the clam dish. Supposedly voted best appetizer in Santa Fe. I did have a struggle with the wine list, however. It was smaller than I expected, at least for the cheap stuff, and Keely wanted a bolognese spaghetti dish and my meat all meant affordable red. So we began by looking for a Pinot Noir. And cheap Pinot at that because the end of summer and final trip back to NYC also meant the end of the budget. Totally shot. Thank god for a fabulous waitress and no rush. She let us taste from 3 different bottles they had open. I wanted the Shug Pinot from Carneros, which we both know we like. Not knock your socks off Pinot, but good dinner accompaniment. They were out. So next we tried things we didn't know. A local Pinot, the 2002, Cuvee Gilbert Gruet from New Mexico. I like to try local things, and the waitress brought this one out of her own volition. So why not drink a free glass? Local typically means different. And this was different. But not good. Definitely not worth the $44/bottle. Next we went down the list to the Estancia from Monterey and sorry, but I just couldn't do a full bottle of that. I realized it was time to broaden our horizons.

Without asking for a taste, since this bottle was unlikely to be sitting open, I ordered the 2002 Ridge Three Valleys Zinfandel blend from Sonoma. I had overlooked the Ridge on the list because of price, but there's no sense spending $35 for a bad bottle. Might as well up it a bit and enjoy the wine. This red was a blend of Zinfandel, Granache, Petite Sirah, Mourvedre and Carignane. Excellent, excellent, excellent. How does Ridge always do it? The most expensive wine in my collection, and arguably the best, is from Ridge. I'm sitting on it for awhile I think. This blend was expensive at the table, $46, but we figured what the hell. We're here aren't we? You can find it in a store I'm told for $18. Find it and buy it. I'm on the lookout now. Ridge makes Zinfandel that rivals some of the best Cabernets in terms of quality and age-worthiness. My personal opinion is if you find an affordable Ridge anything, buy it and drink it. If you love it, buy more and age them. Then buy more and drink. You see where this is going.

So, the waitress, still impressing me, didn't even bat an eye when I asked for a wine cooler to chill it down a bit since everything in the restaurant was a little warm, the wine included. I love people who like their wine. They love it that you do too, and it makes the whole dinner experience comfortable instead of making me feel like a wine snob (which I don't consider myself to be. A wine lover, yes).

This bottle was smooth and fruity with good spice. I didn't have a pen to take notes, but I can't forget what a great dinner we had and the Ridge Zin did its part. The food also came out right. Keely and I had stoppped in a wine bar, 315, just before our dinner reservations and in comparison we would just go back to The Pink Adobe for drinks given another chance. I'm not sure how dinner was at 315, but the service and wine was strange. The wine bar leaves something to be desired since the wait staff uses it as their work area. Also, they measure the wine out in little cuvees before pouring into your glass. Strange because they don't rinse between pouring different wines (how do they call themselves a wine bar?) and because the wine has more contact with dirty glassware, etc. Also, what kind of impression is that, having your wine measured out for you? It's not a shot. 315 wine bar = Terrible.
In any case, Santa Fe is beautiful and is the first town I've ever seen that wasn't ugly. Ok, villages in Tuscany and parts of Spain also weren't ugly, on the contrary. But in the U.S., this adobe thing is amazing. Blends right into the landscape. I want one. After dinner we went up into the hills to camp. Really a perfect evening. Walk in the old town,

pre-dinner Rose and Chardonnay, Ridge Zin blend and good dinner, then camping under the trees. Next, we drove through Oklahoma and Texas, all across Arkansas, and up through the Blue Ridge mountains to NY. What a strange part of the country and an amazing place to drive through, provided you stop a lot and look at the locals.

serving temperatures

I'm sort of committed to keeping this blog focused on just the tasting of wine. But the key is "sort of." I might occasionally post a few items that I've found helpful for tasting, or economic items about the wine industry, places to drink or buy wine, etc. Today I thought I'd add some temperature recommendations for serving wine that can really bring out the fullest potential of flavor and aroma in whatever wine you are drinking.

The temperature at which a wine is served has a definite impact on its taste. A bottle of wine will cool 2 °C (4 °F) for every ten minutes in the refrigerator, and will warm at about this same rate when removed from the refrigerator and left at room temperature — obviously, the temperature of the room will affect the speed with which the wine warms up. If you need to chill a bottle of wine in a hurry, 35 minutes in the freezer will usually do the trick. Here are some recommended serving temperatures which I grabbed some time ago from somewhere I unfortunately can’t remember. If I find the source, I’ll link to it later.

Specific Wine Types               °F , °C
Vintage Port                      66 , 19
Bordeaux, Shiraz, Syrah           64 , 18
Red Burgundy, Cabernet            63 , 17
Rioja, Pinot Noir                 61 , 16
Chianti, Zinfandel                59 , 15
Tawny/NV Port, Madeira            57 , 14
Beaujolais, Rose                  54 , 12
Viognier, Sauternes               52 , 11
Chardonnay                        48 , 9
Riesling                          47 , 8
Champagne                         45 , 7
Ice Wines                         43 , 6

General Wine Types               °F  ,  °C
Sparkling Wine                 42-54 , 6-10
Rosé Wine                      48-54 , 9-12
White Wine                     48-58 , 9-14
Sherry (Light)                 48-58 , 9-14
Sherry (Dark)                  57-68 , 13-20
Red Wine                       57-68 , 13-20
Fortified Wine                 57-68 , 13-20

dom. de la quilla muscadet

This particular Muscadet actually comes from the village where Muscadet grapes originated. As this is another Robert Kacher import, you can check his fact sheet for more info on the winemaking Vinet brothers and the village. I suppose the most important fact about this wine is that they leave it sur lie for 8 months. This means they leave the wine sitting directly on the grape skins over winter and therefore bottle later than others in the appellation. This allows it time to take more of that tasty acidity and flavor from the skins. This allows time for complexity to develop in the wine and also a slightly different flavor profile. In any case, I loved it.


This wine immediately hits the back of the palette with it’s tartness, while the front of the palette is clean and bright. This would be great with green salads, fruits, and oh yes, oysters. This wine has an excellent salty flavor that really gets the palette salivating for food, and oysters more than anything, at least for me. Right this second I really wish it weren’t summer and we could be eating some Kumamotos at Mary’s Fish Camp. Soon. The oyster eating months are returning (right now they are spawning in warm water, so I wouldn't recommend eating them just yet). We ended up having this bottle with grilled salmon, mostly because I didn’t feel like opening our good bottle of Russian River Chardonnay. We decided to drink this cheaper bottle instead. I’m saving that Chardonnay for the last white to drink in Colorado before we move back to New York. Just a couple weeks left here in the mountains and we have been playing hard.

Tasting notes
Color: Straw colored
Nose: Clean aromatic, citrus and hints of green apple
Taste: Sour green apple with a citrus twist that leads you down the righteous path to bright, clean acid. Some might call it lemon squirt. I haven’t had something this tart since the last time I sucked on a green apple Jolly Rancher. The mouth feel is light bodied and lean. You get salty fruit, minerals, lots of depth and length. Robert Parker gave the 2003 vintage an 89, though for the low price of $12 I’d give it a high score for value.

Most likely this wine, with all the good acidity, could handle a couple years of cellaring, but there’s no real reason to do it. Drink now and buy another bottle for later. The Domaine de la Quilla is available in many stores in the New York area. Or you can always try winefetch.com for locating the cheapest price.

wow oui

Wow Oui is a Savignon Blanc from winemaker Joe Benziger with a hint of Muscat Canelli blended in. This savignon blanc is all Russian River Valley from Imagery Estates but they bring in the muscat from Lake County in California. The quality of this wine is excellent, using free-run juice (the first and best juice that comes out of grapes when they are pressed) that is tank fermented. You pay a bit more because they commission art for every label, which of course factors into the price of the wine.
In the tasting room in Sonoma County just recently in May, Keel and I enjoyed a bunch of different wines from Imagery, but this one stood out as a show-stopper. (This winery also stands out because it is the money bag for wine. Imagery is basically big professional winemakers with a need to make art gallery wine. It's much different from the rest of small label high quality Sonoma wine making we sampled). However, even though my preference is for small producers of local fruit, we weren't disappointed when we uncorked this bottle for a post-sushi dinner glass. It had just finally stopped raining from the afternoon storm we seem to get every day around 5pm here in Vail Valley when we both simultaneously said, "What are we waiting for. Let's drink it." The reward was this beautiful sunset and the cool wet breeze from the mountains after they drank in the rain.


Tasting notes
Color: Off white with a hint of lemon
Nose: Honeysuckle floral bouquet and lichi
Taste: Big fruit! Honey, honey, honey, lichi, and a strong but pleasant pink grapefruit flavor is maintained through the incredibly long finish. Makes you want another bottle.

tres picos garnacha

This bottle from Tres Picos is one of the better values in Spanish red wine. Garnache and Tempranillo regularly battle it out for "top grape" in Spain and this granache is excellent when you consider the bottle only costs ~$10. The fantastics smells jump out of the glass and I'm still suprised at how deep and complex this wine is for the price. This is the third time I've slurped and gurgled a bottle of Tres Picos and I'm still convinced. The wine is made from old-vine granache and you can taste the earth. Also, the bottle is thick and makes a great presentation. Pick this one up for a dinner party and everyone will be impressed.

The importer, Jorge Ordonez, has been in the business since before anyone stateside was drinking Spanish wines. I, for one, am a HUGE lover of Spanish wines, especially after spending New Year's 2004/5 with a friend and his family in Madrid. Lucky for me they are serious wine lovers. The father has a nearly 10,000 bottle cellar in the north part of the country devoted to Spanish wines and personally picks up cases from his wine growing friends. Let's just say the wines he poured that night I've yet to drink their equal in the U.S. In any case, when you aren't drinking a killer Rioja or better yet, my current favorites come from Priorat, then pick up this granache for dinner. We served it with grilled beef tenderloin and corn, but this has body that would go great with grilled chicken. The smoke goes so well with this red wine.
Tasting notes
Color: Deep ruby
Nose: Plum and cherry with floral notes
Taste: Strawberry and cherry with hints of light vanilla and spice. It could develop some leathery characteristics with age. I enjoyed the round supple tannins and natural good acidity. Don't bother aging, just drink it.

d'arricaud white bordeaux

This D'Arricaud had an excellent crisp and steely lemony flavor. An excellent accompaniment to the fried calamari Keel and I treated ourselves to for starters on the night Frites calls Mussel Madness. Frites is a French bistro that sits down on the river in Vail Valley, technically in Edwards. We sat on the patio watching the sun set, trying the variations on the typical mussels plate with this bottle to make it all better. We paid $33 for the bottle, which is about as good as you'll get with the damn standard wine markup. If the meal is good too, who's going to complain? Not me. This is the best local restaurant we've enjoyed so far. An excellent interior atmosphere for Edwards, Colorado, which is not readily apparent from the poor choice of design on the outside. No matter, once inside Frites I'm happy.

naia verdejo

The sunsets off the balcony here are amazing. You don't get that intense color that you might find in the Indiana due to all the topsoil flying around in the atmosphere, or the intense deep pinks and oranges you'll find in New Jersey from all the pollution everyone is breathing in. Nope, here it's just pure atmosphere. When the moon comes over the hills it's like watching a planet rising on the horizon. The sunsets are so pure. Naturally, we can't help celebrating regularly with a bottle of good white. The other night it was this refreshing Spanish Verdejo from Naia.

Tasting notes
Color: Predictable golden, lemony, though richer in color than I expected. Fuller than a savignon blanc in its goldness, though not that creamy gold of a chardonnay.
Nose: Lightly aromatic with hints of peach and pear
Taste: Crisp fresh lemon, lots of green apple, maybe a little cut green grass, some pear overtones on the apple, very acidic.

global warming's wrath on grapes

There is a real threat to grapes in the near future according to a recent scientific study. Below I've copied a news article from Science, one of the top science journals in the world. The gist of the article is that a recent global climate model simulation for the U.S., published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, revealed many wine regions, California especially, at risk of very high temperatures in the near future. This risk was interpreted as a loss of farmland, since above a certain critical value in this study, ~35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit), growing the best high-quality grapes is not possible. Thus, a real threat is on the horizon for quality grape growing in America. If you think this is bad, do you remember the heatwave of 2003 in Europe. If things like that keep up, France and Spain have a lot more to worry about than we do. And all global climate modeling scenarios predict a steady increase in warming.

I asked a question on this subject (whether French wine producers/growers are worried about the coming warming of their regions?) to Bobby Kacher, a famous French wine importer at a sit-down French wine tasting at USQ wines in New York a while back, and he pretty much brushed me off. Which makes me think growers are not looking that far ahead. And maybe they shouldn't bother. What are they really going to do about it?

It takes a long-term perspective to really consider these kinds of issues. Over the next 100 years, there could be quite a shake-up in what is considered to be the best wine regions, as growing conditions undergo dramatic changes. What those changes are likely to be and where the most dramatic change will happen is still anybody's guess. Even climate modelers in the U.S. are only coming up with likelihood scenarios that may or may not be born out. Still, long-term, the predictions look relatively robust and global wine production could be threatened. Will growers just shift to new regions? Will France lose it's hold on the "best wine in the world" title? Another excuse to drink the good stuff now!

copied Science article below:

Global Warming's Wrath on Grapes

By Betsy Mason
ScienceNOW Daily News
10 July 2006

Past its prime? Grapes used to make premium wines may suffer as the world warms.

Add fine Chardonnay to the victims of global warming. A new study indicates that climate change could cause a precipitous decline in the quality of top wines in the United States.
To date, assessments of the effects of global warming on U.S. agriculture in the coming century have suggested mild impacts on many crops, including wine grapes. But these studies have relied on global climate models that don't accurately gauge what will happen on a local scale. Premium wine grapes require a delicate balance of climatic conditions--not too hot, not too cold, and no extreme swings in daily temperature. Digging into the details, a team led by ecological modeler Michael White of Utah State University in Logan and climate scientist Noah Diffenbaugh of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, fired up a climate simulation for the continental U.S.

The simulation revealed local bumps in temperature that were not picked up by the broader climate models. Over the next century, these bumps prove catastrophic for premium grape harvests. When the team looked at regions that typically produce a premium harvest just once or twice every 24 years, for example, a significant bump in the number of days above 35° Celsius slashed the total area for growing the best grapes by a startling 81%. For regions that consistently produce a premium crop every year, the acreage was cut by 60%.

California, which accounts for 90% of the country's wine grape production, was particularly hard hit with just a narrow strip of premium-grape growing territory along the coast remaining by 2071 to 2099. Much of the U.S.'s remaining high-quality acreage shifted northward: the Pacific Northwest and the northeast stand to gain a healthy amount of premium grape-growing property. But don't rush out and buy a vineyard in Washington or New York just yet, the authors warn. Their study only looked at temperature and didn't account for other important factors such as humidity and precipitation, which may continue to be problematic for wine grapes grown in wet northern areas. The team reports its findings online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"The results of this study are more dire than other studies on the impact of climate change on wine grapes," says ecologist Christopher Field of the Carnegie Institution in Stanford, California. "I think there is a growing appreciation of the fact that we experience climate change on a very local scale." Field hopes the study provides some incentive for people to do something about climate change. Wine connoisseurs in particular may want to raise a glass to getting more involved.

end copied article.

venta mazzaron tempranillo

Old vines of Viñas del Cenit Venta Mazzaron Tempranillo
La Tierra de Zamora 2003

For ~$14 you can enjoy a really nice 100% Tempranillo wine from Spain. I first had this wine a year ago when I was getting into Spanish wines. Then I took a case of it up to the wedding (since USQ wines gave me a pretty good deal) and that went down many gullets quite well. This 2003 vintage from Venta Mazzaron was happily drunk with my brother and Keel on Sunday after we returned from an incredible night of camping at Independence Pass, CO. My brother, Josh, was on a 3 day short, but excellent visit from Seattle.

We first started drinking the Viogner and then opened this one up as we started the grill. This did a decent job of cutting through the filet mignon while the corn on the cob did it's level best to hold its own against the structured tannins.

Here's the interesting details on this wine. It is made from old ungrafted vines which are planted on sandy soils with chalk and iron. I think the iron really plays a role in the taste and style of this wine as the mid-palate definitely has a touch of dark game meat to it with loads of cherry and dried currant flavors surrounding it. This wine has had some time in the bottle to smooth out so you should pick up much more red fruits and a touch of vanillin. Super smooth and delicious!

Robert Parker gave it 91 points and had this to say, "A superb discovery by broker Jorge Ordonez, the terrific 2003 Venta Mazzaron is a top-notch value. It offers a deep ruby/purple color as well as a sweet perfume of blackberries, cherries, smoke, licorice, and earth. Medium-bodied and elegant, with wonderful sweetness, plush tannin, and a long, pure finish, it will drink well for 2-3 years."

Tasting notes
Color: Deep garnet, thick though young
Nose: Fruity, dark cherry and black plum flavors
Taste: Chewy medium tannins, moderate dryness, definitely noticing it in the gums, a bit of ground pepper came through the dark cherry plum fruit, with good savory acidity.

Don't pay $20 for this bottle, but you'll get lots of fruit and good balance overall if you find it for $15. Not a whole lot of complexity, but who's complaining for the price. You'd need to spend $25 or so for a nice Rioja to beat this Tempranillo.

grange des rouquette viognier

Bobby Kacher's work with small family owned wineries in France regularly rewards us with excellent values. Because he works exclusively in France, he is a specialist. I can't remember every being disappointed with his wine. He works directly with the winemakers, often bringing them up to speed on modern production techniques, but also focuses on small producers who grow their own grapes and make their own wine. All Kacher wines are made by the farmers with usually very limited production (1-4000 cases). Though this kind of work is admittedly changing the old world style, Kacher stays committed to actually preserving the old world tradition of family grown wines by preserving the old techniques of small family wineries while updating them with modern handling, pruning, etc. He does encourage growers to lower the yields and concentrate the wine, which is no wonder that Robert Parker often points to Kacher as one of the most important French wine importers in the world.

I was at a sit-down wine tasting at Union Square Wines with Kacher last fall and had the good fortune to taste an entire flight of over $100 wines. In his words, "I want you to be able to taste, probably for the first time, what a true Bordeaux and a true Burgundy taste like." Since very few of the tasters could actually afford to buy the wines, the tasting was simply an education in what old world wine from small farmed acres in the heart of France tastes like. It was incredible.

Kacher can come off as a pompous son of a bitch to some, but after he guided me around the store, hand picking an entire case of wine for me, I was pretty well smitten. I can't help it. I like his taste. Our palettes must overlap perfectly because I haven't had a Bobby Kacher wine I didn't like yet. I hope it stays that way. Here's to more Kacher wines in the future.

(The Frenglish on the back of this label is particularly good. You know you are drinking the family wine "since five generations" when they haven't hired anyone to grammar check the English.)

Given what I've just said above, this particular wine was in the end "ok." Nothing incredible, but drinkable on a warm Sunday afternoon as I hoped it would be. I'm glad I brought it out from New York for a toast with my brother, Josh, and Keel.

Tasting notes
Color: Young golden with a bit of lemon
Nose: Crisp, steely pear, sweet green apple
Taste: No real fruit in the mouth except some carmelized apple, dry light stone flavor with good acidity.

As we drank through the bottle prior to starting dinner, I noticed more and more a slightly bitter tongue with no real reward. A bit weak on taste overall. The reason for drinking this bottle was simply to get the pallete ready for the bottle of red we opened up next, and before the steak went on the grill. And for that, it's perfect. The acid gets the saliva moving and made me hungry, as it should. This would be great with oysters on the half shell and a crisp caesar salad. Not my favorite Kacher wine, but it worked just fine to fuel pre-dinner conversation.

pinot days / bordeaux blockbuster

photo from Nature 444:1051 for a book review of Molecular Gastronomy

I know I'm on a Pinot Noir kick and it's unlikely to change since the weather in high altitude Colorado is perfect for drinking pinot. And even though I can't complain about much, I've found something I can complain about. I MISSED PINOT DAYS! Yep, the 2nd annual Pinot Days in San Francisco was last weekend. I take it last year, pre-Sideways super pinot hipness, was low key. This year appears to have been a rucous. Sideways didn't help the price of good pinot either. I can report from my recent trip to Russian River valley that the best pinots are bringing high dollar. It was easy to spend $40-$60 on a vineyard specific tasty bottle of pinot. A more professional wine blog than mine can attest to the pricing first hand from tasting at Pinot Days. My take home message, when you find good pinot that will keep 3-5 years, buy it up. The price is only going keep rising.

My instructor, Philippe (yes, he's French) from a recent class I took at IWC repeatedly discussed the rising American consumption of wine. The U.S. is projected to become the largest global consumer of wine in the next 5 years. That fact not only drives the price up, but opens up the market for more winemakers to get into the business. However, more wine drinkers also means more selective and educated wine drinkers.

Good news: the quality level for high-end wines should go up with more discerning wine drinkers.
Bad news: the price will go up as more consumers are willing to pay.

For cash poor wine lovers like myself, that means I need to buy everytime I find a good deal, and hold onto to as many bottles as I can. It's a great time to be in the wine business. An even better time to be drinking wine.

And since we are talking financials, if you haven't heard already, 2005 is supposedly the best vintage in 60+ years to come out of France. Some say this blockbuster vintage may be the best vintage of all time, given that great vintages in history never had the refined technology that winemakers now use. The 2005 Bordeaux is likely going to fetch all time high prices, making it nearly impossible for someone like me to score a good bottle. I'll have to call it an "investment "and hold onto it as investment property in order to rationalize buying anything. And if I do that, will I have to sell it someday to pay for my kid's (yes, keel is slowly talking me into it) college education?

How to get some of that tasty 2005 Bordeaux that we can drink, and drink, and drink for the next 50 years? Someone give me a clue on this one, pleeeease.

dezio red table wine

I bought this Dezio red table wine from Italy at USQ wines in New York and took it to Block Island, then back to New York, then on the road trip in the blazing hot trunk of our little Jetta for 4 days across the midwest, through Chicago, camping in the Badlands, and finally to Vail, Colorado. Somehow it made it and we finally got to try it out last night. I am pretty sure it's a Sangiovese based wine. I couldn't find much information on it, but it sure tasted like Sangiovese grapes all mashed up and juiced and aged just for my drinking. For all I know it is blended a bit, but I'm not going to worry about it. Tasting it is what I'm most interested in.

We decided on this bottle to drink with our filet mignon and sweet corn on the grill. It held it's own decently against the steak, though it would likely fair better with tomato based pasta dishes, where the weight and acidity would match each other better. However, I never mind a good wine with good food, and this worked out well. The Dezio started to thicken up as it was exposed to more air. We could have decanted this one to speed it along, but I'm too lazy and like to drink a bottle from opening to finish to see how it changes. It's alive after all and changes dramatically with the air. Drinking slowly, we tasted this for over an hour.

"It tastes so Italian," Keely said. I think that's right. Not fruit forward like California reds, but strong in acid like Italian food.

Tasting notes
Color: A deep thick, dense red - nearly purple- but not old enough to have any browning up on the edge. For an Italian red, this one is young at 3 years old.
Nose: Dark red cherry, plum, under-ripe blackberry, and hints of cassis.
Taste: Same as the nose with good strong black pepper coming through. Medium tannins, decent overall structure, though better after it opened up a bit. Good acidity, which is good for moving the flavors around the mouth. Weak on the back of the palette, but the acidity kept the flavors working in the mouth for a bit after swallowing. Round tannins, but you can tell the dryness on your gums, as you should expect with any Sangiovese.

balletto pinot noir

Wow, I love the smell of pinot noir. The nose is so fresh and clean on this 2004 bottling from Balletto. I wasn't that impressed in the tasting room when we tasted through every bottle of Balletto wine available in Sonoma. But this time around - with less drinking to compare it to - the first thing Keely and I said was "this smells good."

Lots of red cherry and not much else. It is a light bodied wine, good acidity, proper alcohol at 13.5% with a light mouth feel. I'd say pretty typical Russian River pinot. When we tasted it at the winery we were comparing with everything else in the valley. When tasting against a pinot from Dutton-Goldfield, the Dutton-Goldfield won hands down. They make their wine fuller bodied with more complex flavors and balance. Elegant. This Balletto was not complex, just good drinking wine. It's a blend from Balletto properties, so not vineyard specific, which also means it's cheaper.

However, sitting out on the deck overlooking Vail valley in Colorado, I'm pefectly happy to drink this bottle. Even at the winery it still comes in under $18. At bottlebarn.com, it was around $13 I think. That's about the right price for this wine. Over all, excellent value and I give it a 3.5/5.0. If you can find it for cheap, get it. Perfect for light fish, like the wild Alaskan halibut we had over couscous with a salsa of olives, capers, arugula, and garlic sauteed in white wine, squeezed lemon juice and olive oil with a dash of red pepper. Top that off with more fresh arugula and you've got yourself a nice dinner to match this pinot (the grilled halibut is also great pan seared).

chateau la blancherie white bordeaux

This one is easy to review. Absolutely terrible!

I was about to pour it down the drain when Keel reminded me that we can cook with it. I guess it has a use after all. It wasn't corked, but had a steely bitter flavor that was unacceptable. I'm not sure if it could have gone "bad" in some other way. Nothing like a rotten cork that I could recognize. I picked it up at Union Square Wines when I was buying whites for the wedding party. This was an extra bottle that somehow escaped the massive consumption we accomplished that weekend. Nearly 8 cases of wine. Luckily, I didn't make the mistake of serving this at the wine and cheese tasting we concocted for ~60 guests. Avoid this crap wine at all costs. A slightly cheaper and better alternative, though nothing fancy, would be the easy to find Chateau Lamothe white bordeaux. Next time I find the need to drink an $8 bottle of white, I'll do it and post the review of the Ch. Lamothe here.

pascal jolivet sancerre

You know the smell you get when the rain first hits those big field stone steps leading up to your aunt's farmhouse in the country (in my case, my Aunt Karen's place in Indiana)? That's what is in the nose on this Sancerre from Pascal Jolivet.

As a Sancerre, this is typical of the 100% Sauvignon Blanc varietal generally cooked up in the Sancerre region of France. I love Sancerre. If you are looking for a white on menu of unknown wines for a seafood dinner out, go with a Sancerre. It's hard to be disappointed with these wines and this particular one hit the spot. After a hot day of hiking in the 10,000 foot hills of Colorado, it went down excellent. When I pulled it out of the fridge it was a bit too chilled. Slightly warmer is better, though not as warm as you might drink a Chardonnay.

Tasting notes
Color: Light lemony yellow, a little watery
Nose: Wet stone, green pear, citrus, and grassy
Taste: Lemony crisp, lingering acidity, light mouth feel, light body. Keel's description included branchy and twiggy.

martinelli pinot noir

This is the first bottle we opened to christen our move to Colorado. Sitting out on the balcony with the setting sun zooming in, it was time for a good bottle of red, and this was it.

Fruit forward is no joke here in this 2004 vintage. A big splash of red cherry comes straight out of the glass. The red cherry effect is abundant in the deep ruby color. A good nose with red fruit strong and perfumy. The amazing thing is the nearly full body in this pinot noir. With other Russian River pinots, body is often lacking. Helen Turley, the winemaker for the Martinelli family, pulled off a strong, full mouth here. The mouth feel is not quite silky (it's pinot after all), but smooth and light, working along the tongue and sides gently, though again with big red fruit. A little french oak is detectable but in balance.

The only dissapointment, which I gather is sort of trademark of Turley's (she's not afraid of doing this with all of her Martinelli wines), is the high alcohol content. It's fully 15.6%, and you can feel the burn in the back of the throat. Frankly, I already know I'm drinking alcohol. I drink wine so I don't have to remember that fact until the bottle is empty. Wine is the art of making drink. No need to let it burn. It's the same reason I really like my 26 yr. old Dallas Dhu Highland single malt scotch instead of a crappy burning 10yr blended whiskey. The harshness of the alcohol has to have time to seap out of the oak casks. If you wait long enough, that scotch turns buttery smooth. Here, the pinot is young, only 2004, and wants to drink young. It's the American way I guess. These bottles sell out within a few months of release, so there's no storage unless you buy enough to store. Which I can't do. So, drink up we must.

This Martinelli Pinot Noir is vineyard specific from the Zio Tony Ranch. It has few tannins, which is to be expected with pinot's thin skins. Balanced acidity works well in the mouth. The sugar, acid, and light tannin all hold their balance well (given the strong fruit punch of the California style), even after 30 minutes of air. A couple years might help this particular wine, but I'm pleased with the flavors and finish nonetheless. I give it a 4.0 out of 5.0, which is a strong rating and would be a 4.5 but for the alcohol. For California pinot, this is some of the best. It's great drinking, no kidding.

after sonoma

After Sonoma we headed out to commune with the redwoods in Humboldt State Park.


A beautiful private backcountry camping spot along a stream was the perfect setting to start the marriage off right. I probably shouldn't mention this either, but making love along the banks of the stream with the sun overhead and a camping pad underneath is something I want to do every summer of my life.

We were only in New York 3 days before heading back out on the road. Just time enough to finish my work at AMNH and pack up. For newcomers, I work at various places. An outdated AMNH biography is here and my current Columbia page is here. On the road means a road trip to Vail, Colorado where Keel and I are spending the summer. We won't be back in New York until mid-August.

sonoma: farmhouse inn

If you haven't afforded a trip to the Farmhouse Inn in Russian River Valley, afford it. The focus is on local raised and farmed food with a penchant for the organic. Quality comes out of the kitchen effortlessly, and the enjoyment factor is high. Very high. Our sommelier helped us pick a vineyard pinot noir from the area that we hadn't been able to taste at a winery because it was sold out. A Lynmar Quail Hill 2002 Pinot Noir if I remember correctly. The additional age gave it a bit more body than you might expect. After a little tuna,

I helped myself to the fabulous bread while waiting on the big steak to come out. Sometimes you need a black angus ribeye to settle all that drinking, I mean tasting, we'd done earlier in the day.

bottle barn

So here's the scoop on the Bottle Barn. They carry international wines and have a decent selection from all around the world. Their California selection however is very good. The most important thing about them is that they have a fixed mark-up of 17%. They get the lowest prices from the wineries, and then mark it up a set amount. If they get a good deal, then so do you. We stopped there to check prices before leaving Sonoma County and found a range from $2 to $12 savings per bottle on wines we'd already purchased. I stopped looking at prices and just started buying to finish filling up some cases to ship to New York. There's a limit to how much I want to know about my overpaying at the wineries. They did carry Porter Creek, Flowers, and Arista, among other great wines. Also, they have good shipping prices. Matt Helman, the director of the store personally packed our wines to ship. It's the down-home friendliness of Matt and his willingness to try to get any wine that will have me picking up the phone to make orders. I can almost guarantee he can beat any New York wine store prices.

sonoma: porter creek

Sonoma is like the farmboy version of Napa. Sure, there are some large estates with fancy architecture, but we only stopped in a couple just on the off chance their high consistency, high production wines (try 40,000 - 200,000 cases) were actually good. A couple were. I'll get to that later.

The Russian River valley is rolling hills surrounding the steady flow of the river. A large opening in the California coastline widens up where the Russian River pours out into the Pacific. This allows the cool evening fog coming off the Pacific to roll in every evening as the sun goes down, covering the grapes with cool moisture throughout the valley. We watched the fog burn off in the mornings as it slowly returned to 85 degrees and full sun. The location, the hot sun and cool evening moisture, is what makes this such a great wine growing region.

Keely and I had a great view of the valley from a 26 acre hill-top farm we stayed at run by Tim and Tony, two very laid back gay farmer dudes who provided us with a braying donkey,

morning rooster crows, and our own little cottage overlooking the valley.

Oh yeah, we had an outdoor hot tub too. We used it to wake up in the morning and smooth out the wrinkles at night. There's just something about making love in the hot bubbly under the stars thats unstoppable. I know you needed to know about that. Did I mention there was a mirror covering both doors of the closet running the whole length of the bed?

Our first stop in wine country and favorite was Porter Creek. The tasting room is a tar paper shack, or the equivalent, in shed form. No air conditioning here. But the pinot was fabulous. I wish we hadn't stopped there first, because by day three of tasting, I had started to forget just how good Porter Creek was. We should have gone back. I've got a bottle or two to remind myself though.

I came to Sonoma for the Pinot, though Keel ended up persuading me to taste and eventually buy other varietals. In any case, Tony (of Tim and Tony) works at Porter Creek and so we had a nice first entry into the local wine scene. Drinking some of the best from a place that only produces a couple thousand cases was the perfect starter. Mike, the guy who poured for us was at the end of his day, or else we might have had better conversation. We were the last ones out. Sometimes its hard to decide whether to buy that strange but good bottle of 100% Carignane. We were still packing up the couple bottles we bought while Mike walked down the gravel lane to change the hanging "open" sign to "closed".

sonoma: lynmar winery and american drinking habits

The Lynmar Winery tasting room is housed in a sort of glorified barn. It's actually pretty fancy, but the architecture I found a bit funny. Keely loved the wines here so we came home with some Chardonnay and Pinot Noir Rose. They were out of Pinot Noir. How can you be out of pinot in Russian River valley? Scroll down to find out.

Anyway, at Lynmar, the estate Chardonnay was 10 times better than the blend, much more character and complexity. It's usually that way, even in an objective tasting. Of course, the estate wines costs more too. I'll try to pull out my tasting notes and wine lists from our tastings to update this blog when we return to New York in August.

Here's the deal on running out of pinot: Americans drink their wine fast. There's very little aging in this country unless you can afford to buy enough volume that you can't possibly drink it all. Only then does some stay in your cellar. Or in my case, in the wine fridge under lock and key. After this trip I have to buy another fridge. What I really need to do is move to the country and build a house with a proper cellar, but that's another story/dream.

In any case, the better the winery, at least in Sonoma and Napa, the faster the wines sell. And the better the wine, say, an estate wine, or vineyard specific wine (for example, Porter Creek Hillside Vineyard Pinot Noir, which they were also out of), the faster it sells. Most good bottlings from reputable small producing wineries sell out in 3-4 months, or so I was regularly told at the wineries. And to prove it, I kept sidling up to the tasting bar only to find out that the 2004 is sold out, sometimes there was a 2003 laying around that I could buy but not taste, and the 2005s aren't expected until August -November.

What this means is, besides the need to buy quickly, if you are coming out to wine country to taste, new wines are typically released around March/April and September/October, depending on the grape. Old wines are sold out. So if you want to taste the good stuff, you'd better come at the right time. Come out around May or November. Otherwise, you may find yourself like I did, even in the first week of June, with spring 2006 releases of a 2004 or 2005 (if white) vintage already sold out.

Naturally, after a certain amount of tasting without spitting (which I was forced to do much more of in the next days) leads to a bit of giddiness.

I found out later shopping at Bottle Barn that the prices we paid were a tad inflated. In some cases by as much as $10/bottle. Never get drunk and then buy wine. You ALWAYS spend too much.