28 August 2006

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.

25 August 2006

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.

24 August 2006

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.

23 August 2006

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.

22 August 2006

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.

02 August 2006

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