"STAR STRUCK???" PERHAPS!!!

2005 La Cancion de Jonata - Pinot Noir

Finally I got to drink SCREAMING EAGLE~~~

Oopps sorry~ It's only another project from the Guy that owns Screaming Eagle~

I first heard about this winery back in 2008 when I was celebrating my 40th birthday in April. Perhaps it was the Robert Parker sighting that allowed me to hear about this up and coming new winery owned and operated by the 2 gentleman that purchased Screaming Eagle back in 2006. News around the Grapevine now states that one of the gentleman has left the Screaming Eagle and Jonata project to pursue other wine ventures.. Oh well~

A show of Power?

A flexing of Muscles?

or perhaps 2 guys with way to much money? That just wanted to own the hardest wine to purchase from California EVER~

Either way the "Wine Geek" in me couldn't help to put his name on there mailing list to see if first; I could even get some of the wine and second; see just how good it is. Yes~ I was able to get my hands on the wine. as for ladder;; To Be Determined~

Opening this bottle for myself and 4 of my more knowledgeable Pinot Noir friends was exactly how I wanted it to happen. I wanted to get the reaction of others as to the quality of this wine. The La Cancion de Jonata Pinot is a good wine. A solid wine~ There are so many great producers of Pinot Noir in the Central Coast. Sea Smoke being my favorite, with Paul Lato, Clos Pepe, Alma Rosa, ETC, ETC.

This is a very very green project for this new up and coming winery.. Meaning that they have a lot to learn and or a lot of years of ageing before any really really great comes of this project. The wine had very very heavy tannins on the palate, which tells me that it needs a few more years in the bottle. Beautiful aromas of forest floor very similar to Richard Sanford's Alma Rosa Pinot's. Very nice bouquets of flowers on the nose as well that are so indigenous to a good Pinot Noir.

I wanna not like it; maybe because you hear so many stories about rich people that buy up land or buy up wineries and then think they know what they are doing... They can afford the best wine makers that money can buy for sure. Andy Erickson from Screaming Eagle also makes and consults for several other great wineries. Winemaker Mike Dees of Jonata started his career at Craggy Range in New Zealand. A Pinot Noir that I blogged about a few months back.

Overall the experience that myself and my wine friends had was very positive for the Jonata wine. I will have the chance to taste this and other wines in the near future and perhaps when the economy picks up. Buy a few bottles.

Like any True "Wine Geek" I look forward to it...

Give them a Try!~~

Cheers~~

A ghost from the past

2007 Paul Lato "Duende" Pinot Noir

2007 Sea Smoke "Gratis" Chardonnay

1 - 40 year old cooking pot!

When I think of all the times I sat there and watched my grandmother then my mother cooking rice in that old aluminum pot. I can't help but think that my career choice should of been in the Culinary field and not the Printing industry. As I have gotten older my love for spending an entire day in my kitchen prepping and cooking a meal for my friends and family brings a form of peace and calm to my soul. Even now as I sit here typing this story emotions flow threw me of the many family parties and functions I attended as a boy. So as I have gotten older my love and desire has grown to wanting to feed my family a big home cooked meal 2 or three times a week. I have talked before on how it is so difficult getting myself to cook Cuban food though. My families recipes taken with them as they have passed away. In the last couple of years my desire has grown though for resurrecting those family recipes. So that I can eventually pass them on to my children.

This 40 year old pot is a start! It was tucked away for the last 8 years in my father's garage. He actually thought that he had given it away to his neighbor after my mother had died 7 years ago. In a conversation one day we were having he mentioned to me that he had put away a bunch of pans and dishes in the garage. My father is getting older and a bit more forgetful so I figured one day I would attempt to search for it. Yesterday! buried in the back of a cabinet in the garage was that old oxidized aluminum pot and it's lid. I spent the majority of the morning trying to clean it and remove the rust. The pan was mainly used to cook rice, but I do recall both my mother and grandmother making some of my families Cuban staple dishes like picadillo and ropa vieja in it as well. For me there was really only one recipe I wanted to use this pan for.

Last month my father and son made a visit to New York to watch a couple of baseball games in the new Yankee stadium. We went out to dinner before there flight to my favorite Cuban restaurant, Cuban Bistro in Alhambra, California. http://www.cubanbistro.com/ After that meal I decided to email the owners of the restaurant and tell them how much I appreciate the many great meals I have had at there restaurant and if it was possible to have them give me there recipe for Rice Morros y Christianos. A good Morros y Christianos dish is what I hold a true Cuban restaurant accountable for its authenticity. When it's made perfect, as it is at Cuban Bistro, I have flashbacks of my grandmother cooking this dish. Cuban Bistro replied to my email with a thank you and the recipe. My first attempt at making the dish using there recipe was not a complete success. The rice came out a bit mushy, but the seasoning was correct. So this was the reason for searching and finding that old pot. To bring back the cooking vessel that my family used and see if the recipe would be better the second time around.

Dinner last night was a complete success!!! I served Pork Tenderloin marinated in Mojo and Cantaloupe with a pistachio crust. My famous Avocado Salad and the now PERFECT! Morros y Christianos Rice. The wines were a complete success as well. Paul Lato's "duende" Pinot Noir paired well with the pork dish. The wine is a bit young but had beautiful cranberry flavors. The Chardonnay "Gratis" from Sea Smoke which is a list members item only was a perfect blend of honeysuckle, oak and butter. A great example of Central coast Chardonnay.

But the real star of the night was that old pot! It worked its magic and brought back a moment in time so cherished from my childhood that I couldn't help myself from swelling up with emotions as I ate the dish.

Keep your families cooking history close to your heart.
They will serve you well in your old age.

Cheers!

"Smoking Guns"

First and foremost:

I am happy that all of my La Cañada wine friends

were not majorly affected by the fires.

My prayers go out to those people who were.

Oh my! This is probably why Zinfandel ranks low on my list of grape varietals. Waking up this morning was not easy as the high levels of alcohol in these wines definitely made that hard to do. I am still having flash backs of raspberry, blackberry, jam, smoke, pepper, wood and tobacco. Overall it was a very interesting wine tasting as so many different styles of Zinfandel's were represented.

I pat myself on the back for suggesting the theme.

Thirteen Zinfandel's plus one bad ass Cabernet. Prices ranging from $45.00 to $7.00 per bottle. Every area in California was represented including a winemaker himself pouring his own wine. A clear winner emerged. Rosenblum 2003 "Rockpile" at $23.00 per bottle. This wine was my clear winner as well. It had the right amounts of blackberry, raspberry fruit that were not overwhelming with small hints of wood, pepper and spice to balance the wine out perfectly. A great price at $23.00 per bottle. Good Job Greg! 2 out of the 3 tastings with the winner is pretty darn good.

My props go out to our homemade wine as well. Although Tom Pietzman gave the lowest score of all the tasters to his own wine at 72 points. I gave his Pietzman Family Zinfandel 92 points which was my second highest total of the night. This is what makes tasting wines blind so much fun. The Pietzman Zinfandel again had good combinations of fruit with a balance of spice which made it very drinkable. At a cost of $7.00 per bottle to produce this wine, I only wish more Zinfandel's hovered in this price range. I would probably drink a whole lot more of them.

I also pat myself on the back for understanding the losing wine. I can not give it to my good friend Jon with his 20 year old Caymus zinfandel. That just isn't fair! The real losing wine which was a mess of tree bark and tobacco gone mad that even after 2 hours of decanting as a friend of mine suggested that I do, didn't help the wine at all. Yep that is right! I brought the losing wine again. Outpost-Howell mountain. I am just happy that almost everybody also caught on to how flawed this wine is. I recognized the wine right away in the line up, because I still can't get that wine out of my head from the very first time I tasted it 2 years ago. Time warp back 15 years and I bet Caymus fairs much better against Outpost.

So let us never EVER do this again!!! 13 high octane, smoky, fruit forward Zinfandel's make you yell and laugh a bit louder than usual. They also give you a headache that only large amounts of Aspirin can cure. The varietal should only be consumed with large amounts of food. BBQ beef brisket would be my preference!

Till our next meeting!

Cheers!

PS
I think I am becoming a Mark Herold groupie as well Jon. That was one bad ass Cabernet.