USA "1" - FRANCE "1" - ME :-)

RUST IS THE KEY!

2 Absolute perfect bottles of well aged and ready to drink wines. 1994 Chateau Latour - 1994 Mondavi Reserve.

I don't really know how people like Robert Parker do it. Perhaps I should of asked him myself. Now that I think about it, he was probably just mooching some of my wine is all and this is how I really see the process of distinguishing one wine from another. On memory alone. I don't have any sommelier skills. I do have a good ability to retain information from bottles tasted before. Sight and aromas come first while flavors on my palate are last. Throw 3 different varietals of grapes in a glass in front of me and I loose my ability of sight instantly. I would be guessing the varietal. Stick my big Cuban nose into the glass and some memories would come racing back. Taste those 3 varietals and the memories of those thousands of bottles that I have tasted in the past would be in my head to assist me.

Tonight tasting these 2 beautiful bottles was a very special treat. Thank you again Jon for allowing us to make some great wine memories together. I must agree that on sight alone this was the most difficult of the 3 senses to choose. Both wines are blended with Cabernet, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Each wine had that rust characteristic in the glass. I seem to catch it the most as the wine is being poured into the glass. The Mondavi was the first wine that I poured out followed my the Latour. The rust factor is most recognizable as you are pouring the wine and along the edges in the glass. On looks alone Latour carried a bit more of the crimson, rust colors. On the nose again was Mondavi's wine first, and I instantly knew that I was smelling a familiar friend. To me California wines have more intensity of fruit. As they age, the wines loose some of that intensity. I don't believe that I have ever tasted 1994 Mondavi before today. I have had several other vintages and still own one bottle of 1996 30th anniversary and 2 bottles of 2001 vintages. This is a perfect example of a California Mondavi wine. There are no similarities to Opus one here. I also recognized an old friend in the Latour. Cedar, smoke, hints of wood and leather. They are what makes a Bordeaux. The 1994 vintage I have tasted in the past. I am happy that on the nose first I picked correctly because on the palate I was 100% sure.

I said in an earlier post what an honor it is to taste a first growth Bordeaux. It is also a great honor when opening a well aged California Cabernet. The old saying "Patience is a Virtue" is what makes for great wine memory like today.

Both of these fine examples of wine would of benefited from food. I do wonder what a few hours in the decanters might of done to them. They only would of gotten better and possibly harder to pick out.

Oh and as you see there were 2 other wines poured on this day. They were Rhone blends from California and France that I "brown bagged" to see if my friends could pick them out. All 3 of my friends were correct in picking out the California example which was the Morgan's "Cotes du Crow's. I must agree these were 2 completely different wines on the palate. Morgan which is a go to drinking wine for me is very fruit forward while the 2007 Cotes du Ventoux carried the heavier earth notes found in french wine examples. If I were to have tasted these 2 wines blind. On sight they were identical. I would of been guessing. On the nose some similar characteristics come forward on both wines. This is probably because of the similar blends that both wines have which is 55/45 Grenache and Syrah. The only difference being that the French wine has more Grenache while the California example is the other way around. Tasting these wines would of been the key. As all 3 of my friends picked correctly and if I were to have tasted them blind. I too would of picked correctly. Both wines are good examples of drinkable Rhone blends.


So remember to always retain those memories of wines that you have tasted in the past. They will serve you well in future tastings to come as you see in this photo.


Sorry Jon!! I had an advantage!


Cheers!

Goodbye San Francisco

When I think of the thousands of bottles of wine that I have had the privilege to drink. None have been better than the 1982 Chateau Lafite Rothschild paired with the absolute best Roasted Chicken I ever had!

It was July of 2001 and my brother had made the decision to move back to Los Angeles. For anybody in the wine industry, leaving San Francisco to come to LA would be career suicide, but our Mother was dieing of Lou Gehrig's Disease and my brother wanted to spend the remaining months of her life by her side. In 2001, I was still a novice when it came to understanding "WINE" completely. I had made several trips to San Francisco and the wine country before. Plus, I had already began to collect wines for several years under my brother's guidance of buying the best. This trip would turn out to be the last I ever make to San Francisco with my brother. There have been so many great wine memories in this city with my brother like my birthday dinner party where I insisted on eating Seafood Risotto even though I was drinking 1997 Bryant Family Cabernet. Would I love to get that memory back today and eat the right meal with that wine. An absolute YES! Unfortunately, there is no Bryant Family wine left in our collection.

So we come to that warm summer day in 2001. Where my brother Michael this time would insist that I must have Roasted Chicken from Zuni Cafe. The problem was he also wanted to open 1982 Chateau Lafite. By 2001 I had learned what to do and not to do when it comes to opening a nice bottle of wine, but this was Michael's farewell meal and he insisted that we go to his favorite restaurant in San Francisco of all time.

Zuni Cafe is located at 1658 Market St (between 12th St & Page St) which was walking distance from my brothers loft. When we arrived we quickly ordered the Roasted Chicken being that the dish requires 1 hour of cooking time. The dish is cooked in a brick oven and comes with a warm bread salad with red mustard greens, scallions, currants and pine nuts. As shown in the photo above.

We actually started the meal with a cocktail while the wine opened up. Both our thoughts at the time were of sadness for our mother's health and for my brother leaving San Francisco which I still believe is a much better food city then Los Angeles ever will be.

There are just a few words to describe 1982 Chateau Lafite Rothschild. Perfection would be one of them. But I still remember telling my brother as that first sip of wine hit my lips was how much better this wine was than anything I had ever tried before. The wine showed finesse and elegance that I had never seen before in red wine. Plums, Cedar, Liquid Smoke, and Earth are what a remember. Who cares that I had it with Chicken. Yes! it could of benefited from a rack of lamb, but now that I think of it, I would of drank this wine with dessert if I could. It is just that good.

PERFECTION! It has never been duplicated again!

As for the famous Zuni Roasted Chicken. It was the most succulent bird I ever had. The brick oven gave the chicken a beautiful smoky flavor that worked very well with the wine. The skin was a Utopia of crunchy perfection. The salad is a warm mix of crispy, tender and chewy chunks of bread. It had little slivers of garlic and scallions. Just the right amounts of currants and pine nuts with a handful of greens all moistened with vinaigrette and chicken drippings.

Today my mouth still waters when I think of that dish. The greatest white wine I ever tasted was 1992 Louis Latour Corton-Charlemagne. I had that wine twice. Both times with roasted chicken dishes, but on that day in San Francisco having to settle for Lafite at Zuni Cafe will do just fine.

As seen in the first photo at the top of this story. I own Judy Rodger's Zuni Cafe Cookbook. In the book, is the famous recipe. Temptation has always driven me to try and duplicate that dish.

Why mess with one of my most memorable "Wine Moments" of all time.

Cheers!

7 - 1 = GOOD

5 Chardonnays

1 Cabernet

1 Mysterious Bordeaux

It's fun when a bunch of passionate wine geeks get together to taste wines. It is how your wine knowledge and taste buds evolve. I have been looking for a group like this for years. A get together that can broaden my love and passion for this little fruit. Years of tasting wine have only taught me 1 thing. That I have years and years of education to go. So you have to taste wines over and over on a weekly basis. Personal opinions matter even if we disagree. That is half the fun of it. I will thank the "Padres Panel" for taking me under there wing and I look forward to sharing more great wines in the future.

TODAY'S LESSON

Is a simple one! Don't hold onto a wine to long. As we learned from tasting 1996 Kistler it's a bad idea. Sorry Padres Panel, I had to go back just one more time for another sip and dream that it would get better. It didn't! and I cried inside! There is hope though for California Chardonnay and there ageing probabilities. Tasting 1999 Kendal Jackson Great Estates helped the cause. Surprisingly holding its own, this wine had a good amount of both Oak and Butter that I love so much in a good Chardonnay. The wine had a good heavy feeling on the palate and was tasting really good even 2 hours later when my wife got the rest of it. I had to quiz her on the Varietal which she got right. Good Job Honey! I knew that some of my craziness would rub off on you eventually.

We also had the pleasure of tasting 3 more Chardonnays. 2007 Lincourt, 2005 Windbreak, and 2006 Landmark. In the process of tasting all three of these makes me again say how I am not a huge fan of Chardonnay. All three showed different levels of oak and butter and complexity that turn me off to having them with a meal. Relaxing with some friends and having a glass is OK, but pairing the wines with food would make my head spin. If I had to put them in order, it would be Landmark, Windbreak then the Lincourt would be the final results. Landmark had good amounts of balanced fruit, oak and butter that kept me interested in coming back. The Windbreak had to much butter that overwhelmed my senses a bit and the Lincourt just came up short on both oak and butter with heavy concentrations on mineral. If I had tasted this wine blind, I probably would of been fooled into believing it to be a Sauvignon Blanc.

Which leads us into the Red Wines. It is a great treat to have the chance of tasting a "Grand Cru" Bordeaux. With the price of some wines reaching $200 to $500 per bottle these days or more. They are well out of reach for this wino, so getting a chance to be apart of tasting 1989 Chateau Angelus is a great honor. I only have a few bottles of Bordeaux in my collection left. My thoughts are to save them for my most memorable moments yet to come in my life like my 50Th wedding anniversary in 29 years or maybe the birth of my first grandchild a million years from now :-) There is no problem in French wines lasting that long as is the wine presented in front of me today. I was the first person to pour the wine into my glass and the first words out of my mouth were "Look at that color!" My first experience with Bordeaux wines was over a decade ago. I believe that today, I would be able to distinguish the difference from a California to French wine just on the color. French wines will always have that dirty crimson, brick color. And if the wine was poured in BLACK GLASS! No problem, because the french wines carry so much leather, oak, earth and tobacco notes to separate them from California wines. There are but a few California wines that I have tasted that mimic a pure expression of a French Bordeaux. May we continue to try though! The 1989 Angelus was perfectly aged and well balanced. The wine would of benefited from a fat piece of steak or lamb. The characteristics would of been even more significant.

Oh and there was the 1999 BV Georges De Latour that we taste as well. I almost forgot because I am still in a French Coma! Let this wine be a lesson to all serious wine collectors. I tasted an 03 or 04 De Latour a few years back and my thoughts were that it was a great wine but at too high a price. Knowing that Greg bought cases of this wine years ago for around $20.00 per bottles is exactly what any wine geek should do. It is also what this wino has failed to do over the last decade. Buy a lot of 1 wine instead a 2 bottles of 3 or 4 different ones. The wine has developed very nicely with good amounts of fruit coming forward for a 10 year old wine. If I were to taste this wine blind, it probably would of ended up toward the top of the list. Great little treat to taste a solid wine that didn't break the bank with a few years under it's belt.

I have always said that I don't collect wines, but rather that I collect memories of wines that I have shared with friends and family.

I can't wait to make more!

Cheers!

Pinot Masters!

I will always have a big love for Pinot Noir's produced in Central Coast California. Especially the Santa Rita Hills. Pinot has become my second favorite varietal behind Cabernet. Elegance and aromas make this thin skinned grape so much fun to pair with different cuisines or at least making the attempt. As my Pinot collection has grown my Cabernet purchases have not. Maybe the economy is a reason for that. As Pinot typically costs less per bottle. Then again, I would rather believe that in my attempts to create in the kitchen, Pinot is the grape that I find most facinating of all.

Over the last month I have gotten to taste quite a few Pinot's and even a few Burgundies. These 2 that I write about now are perfect examples of what the Santa Rita Hills (ava) is producing on a regular basis. Then again Richard Sanford and his long time winemaker Bruno D'Alfonso are a big reason for that ava.

The first wine a tasted was Alma Rosa's 2004 La Encantada Pinot. This was the inaugural bottle produced by Richard Sanford's new venture Alma Rosa Wines. Richard Sanford came to the Santa Ynez Valley 38 years ago and started Sanford Wines. He was one of the first to recognize the potential of the Santa Rita Hills and the first to plant Pinot there. Differences in business philosophy with Terlato Wine Group led to a separation from his namesake winery Sanford in 2005. This also led to the firing of longtime winemaker Brundo D'Alfonso from Sanford as well.
The first vintage of Alma Rosa were released in 2006. I had the pleasure of visiting Alma Rosa's tasting Room 2 days after they had just opened there doors. Of course Chris Burroughs made famous in the movie Sideways was there in a make shift warehouse pouring the Alma Rosa wines. What I remember tasting that day at Alma Rosa was really familiar to the first time I tasted Sanford wines just 2 years before in 2004. The 2004 La Encantada is a bold, smooth, earthy Pinot Noir with great depth and balance. Richard Sanford's continued love for Santa Rita Hills puts him high on my list of favorite wine producers for this area.

Which leads me to another wine producer who happened to be Richard Sanford's winemaker while at Sanford Wines, Bruno D'Alfonso. Bruno tells the story of literally being told to pack your stuff and leave when Terlato Wine Group took over the Sanford Winery back in 2006. Why he didn't follow Richard Sanford to Alma Rosa is unknown to me, but Bruno also has years of experience producing Santa Rita Hills Pinot's under his belt. He also happens to be married to a pretty famous winemaker herself Kris Curran. I am really looking forward to there joint project under there new umbrella D'alfonso-Curran Wine Group. With the mastermind of 2 great Pinot Winemakers, the sky is the limit for the 2 of them. The 2005 Badge Pinot which is Bruno's second release is elegant, and a very delicate wine with plums, cherries and forest floor on the nose. The wine shows very similar characteristics to the Alma Rosa wine I had. Great ripe fruit with very firm tannins.

Santa Rita Hills is my favorite Pinot producing wine region in the United States, but as I have always said Pinot is still a grape that I must continue to educate myself about.

It is never ending hard work!

Cheers!