this heaven gives me migraine

Consolation tasting

Well, I showed up at the Peay tasting last night only to find out that it was actually Wednesday night! Nick Peay posted the wrong date elsewhere and I didn't even think to doublecheck it. Duh. Once I got over feeling stupid, I decided to have some wine anyway, since I was there, and the nice guy at the bar gave me tastes of the Peay Chardonnay and Roussanne/Marsanne as a consolation (they didn't have anything else left), which was nice of him.

Cheese fortification seemed necessary, so I walked down to Cowgirl Creamery, found out that yes, indeed, the original cheese shop they had off Fillmore is closed (so sad), picked up some cheese, got some crackers at the bar, and did the possibly slightly weird thing where I sat at the bar by myself all night. I had entertainment, though; I was looking at stuff online and SMSing people and chatting with the people sitting next to me and talking to the guys working the bar. And there is a new Thursday night farmer's markety type thing going on until about 8 on Thursday nights at the Ferry Building... the shops stay open late and there are people with stalls out and it's not really like the real market, but it does mean I can pick stuff (cheese) up after work and not deal with the market crowd.

Anyway, I tasted a handful of wines, liked all of them, was excited to have what might well be the first not-weird South African wine in months (I think the last one I had that wasn't strange was the 2003 Porcupine Ridge Syrah). So not all is lost. And I learned my lesson to always check the date. And to watch out for those wily Peay brothers!

2003 Peay Roussane/Marsanne
(73% roussanne 27% Marsanne)
Sonoma Coast, California, US
Slightly hazy (the wines are unfined and unfiltered) light straw in the glass, this has a slightly reticent (I could have been distracted by some bar smells) nose of light lemon, hazelnut, and plastic. In the mouth it presents cardboard and lemon-apple (nicer than it sounds) flavors, finishing off with a nutty lemon creme brulee and vanilla finish. It has some good acids to balance everything out. Very nice overall, not too much fruit, and the finish, although creamy (the wine goes through 100 percent malolactic fermentation) is restrained and very pretty, not overwhelming.

2003 Peay Chardonnay
Sonoma Coast, California, US
Slightly hazy goldy yellow, darker than the Roussanne/Marsanne. The nose is full of toasty oak, pineapple, and apple. The mouth is all warm browned butter and apples, and the finish is warm spice and cream. It definitely has the CA Chardonnay mentality, but is super-restrained, not overblown, and is almost perfectly balanced. For me, it is flirting with the idea of being too oaked, but everything else pulls it back from that back into the world of the well-balanced.

2003 Domaine du Poujol Vin de Pays l'Herault
(50% Vermentino and 50% Carignane Blanc) I gave this a try because I wanted to try some Vermentino. In the glass it is clear pale almost-straw, almost-neutrally beige. It has a very fruity nose, all nectarine and peach and stone fruit, but is decidedly un-fruity in the mouth. There is spritzy snap up front, followed by a lot of granite, mineral, and slate. The finish kind of of dies off with a faint taste of something I could never quite place, maybe almond.

2003 Boekenhoutskloof "The Chocolate Block"
(Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache, Cinsault, Viognier)
Franschhoek, Western Cape, South Africa
Mark Kent is also responsible for Porcupine Ridge wines, amusingly, so I guess he's someone for me to keep tabs on. This is a deep opaque purple in the glass with ruby edges. The nose, slightly soft, is all smoke and leather, with blackcurrant and feet mixed in. The wine delivers a lot of tarry black fruit and firm tannins, with some slight spice at puckery, dry finish. As it sat out, the black fruit became slightly more pronounced (both on the nose and palate), although there is still a lot of leather to go around.

2002 T-Vines Cabernet Sauvignon
Napa Valley, California, US
Textbook California Cabernet! Inky purple in the glass, this has a blackcurrant nose mixed with earth, rock, and bramble.
Black fruit, slight dust in mouth, and pleasant tannins (not too hard, not too soft, but just right). Nicely done, I think, and not scary. Very approachable.

I ended up buying some of the Peay Roussanne/Marsanne and The Chocolate Block, so I guess those were my two winners of the night.

It's that time of year...

...and the calendar is getting full of wine happenings (and for me, wedding parties). I usually don't talk a lot about local events unless I am really interested in them, but these seem worth mentioning, and I can't tell you much about the rosé I have been drinking (the 2004 Bergerie de l’Hortus Rosé de Saignée) because I didn't take any notes on it (it was tasty, though, and I will take notes next time I have some).

May 26 25 (sorry if you showed up on the 26th; I don't think you did since you would have been drinking sorrowfully with me and you weren't, but Mr. Nick Peay posted the wrong info elsewhere which misled me): Peay at Ferry Plaza Wine Merchants
Peay will be pouring at the Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant this Thursday Wednesday at 5 PM. I understand the following wines will be poured:

2003 Peay Vineyards Viognier, Sonoma Coast Estate (they are sold out of this-- be warned if you like it!)
2003 Peay Vineyards Roussanne/Marsanne, Sonoma Coast Estate
2003 Peay Vineyards Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast Estate (come early to try this, they are sold out and found a few bottles to pour from the library)
2003 Peay Vineyards Pinot noir, Sonoma Coast Estate
2002 Peay Vineyards Syrah, Sonoma Coast Estate

I have not been to a tasting at Ferry Plaza before (I have missed some good tastings, too, it seems!), but I hear they are popular and you might want to get there early. I am going to try to head over, myself. (Not sure about the cost, but it looks like it will be whatever the flight costs.)

June 5: Taste St. Helena
I have a wedding party to go to on June 5, but otherwise I would probably check out the shindig St. Helena Viticultural Society is putting on at the Crocker Estate in St. Helena. They are having thirty wineries who produce wine from grapes grown in the St. Helena appellation pour, and you can see what St. Helena is all about. You can get tickets ($25) and more info on their website.

June 8: Etude Winery at William Cross
Etude Winery will be at William Cross Wine Merchants & Wine Bar from 6-9 PM. I have never been to this place, but might drop by to check out some of the Etude offerings I haven't had a chance to try yet. ($15)

June 24-26: Pinot Days Festival

I can't go to the grand tasting for the first ever Pinot Days Festival up at Fort Mason, since I have another wedding party thing that afternoon, but I am was considering possibly going to the Friday night tasting (looks like it has sold out, oh well). Anyway, there are going to be a lot of good producers pouring wine at the grand tasting and you can go get your Pinot on and count how many times you hear the word "Sideways" mentioned. (Price varies depending on what part of the festival you are attending, so check the site if you want more information. The grand tasting is $35.)

2005 Hospice du Rhône

The weekend before last Matt and I drove down to Paso Robles to attend the 2005 Hospice du Rhône Grand Tasting. It was my first time at HdR, and I didn't decide to go to any of the other events, even though there were a ton of those. I only knew one other person who would be there, and if I had gone to the other events I would have met more people so I would know more people next year, but I was putting my toe in the pool, I guess. I often feel out of place at these things and don't think I have a lot in common with a lot of attendees (besides liking wine), so I skipped the socialization and dragged Matt with me for company.

It's hard to really say much interesting about wine tasting en masse, but I will try. It was hot down in Paso Robles (almost 90 degrees) and we got down early enough to grab a quick lunch and then go over to the tasting which I forgot started at 3 and not 2. So we went to check into our motel (lodgings are tough to come by, even when you book your hotel in Februrary for this, but at least we ended up nearby), and walked back over to where the tasting was. It was interesting watching people coming in with their wine and stuff to set up, and amusing that many of them seemed to be coming in at the last minute (something I also noticed when I worked the auction at Rhône Rangers... we actually had bottles of wine for the auction show up after the auction started). It also gave me a chance to look through the (very impressive) tasting book and decide on a rough plan of action. I always try to do this, and the plan almost always falls apart sometime during the tasting.

Eventually it seemed wise to join the cattle-call line and stand and wait. We got to the front, traded ticket for glass, and were off. First, I decided to hit Saxum and Cayuse. Saxum because everyone raves about them and I have had more than one person wax poetic to me on the wine and tell me to find some (which is hard to do). And Cayuse because I had a feeling I would like the style of wine, being that Christophe Baron has (as he said at the tasting) taught K Vintners' Charles Smith "everything he knows", and I like the terroir-driven style of wine Smith makes. I have been meaning to hunt down some Cayuse, but haven't yet, so this was the perfect opportunity. I also had a feeling those tables would both be mobbed and would run out of wine early on.

We hit Saxum first, and jostled into place at the already-crowded tasting table, to try the Broken Stones. I thought it was well done but too fruity, and was kind of cloying and sweetly spicy, reminiscent of some Zinfandel I have had. Ah well, not for me. On to the Rocket Block, which was the same thing in general. Very fruit-driven. At that point, the table was too crowded, so we passed on the third wine (the Bone Rock), which I sort of regret but I have a feeling that it would have been similar in flavor profile, so onward.

The Cayuse table was crazy, too, and not just because it was starting to get mobbed. Christophe Baron was pouring out huge pours (which was sad, since I was dumping and spitting for the most part), and being generally hilarious, telling people "if you do not like this wine, too bad for you!" and making fun of François Villard, who was setting up at the table with him (I guess he crashed the party late, since he wasn't listed). He was telling people "Do not expect much! His wine, it is just okay! Nothing great!" and generally teasing him. In any case, we tasted all three Cayuse offerings, and the wines were like night and day compared to the Saxum. They were not much about fruit, they were about dirt and rocks and leather and all kinds of strange funk, and were pretty interesting. I ended up liking the 2002 En Cerise a lot.

It did turn out that both Cayuse and Saxum ran out of wine before the end of the tasting. Cayuse poured out I think in an hour, which upset some folks (not bringing enough wine is considered rude, or dumb, or arrogant by some people). I can't say I am surprised he ran out, given the size of the pours (the obvious answer is bring more wine and/or don't pour so much, but honestly, I don't get the idea that Baron cares a whole lot about what other people think). Saxum ran out at a much more respectable time, not too long before the tasting was over.

Anyway, post-Cayuse I got overwhelmed and didn't know what to do. Finally, we just started walking around and hitting the places that either I remembered wanting to check out, or places that seemed interesting because of the label or anything else (not a good way to do things, but I wanted to hit a couple of random places too, places I knew nothing of). We ended up putting away the tasting book because it was pretty, but cumbersome (holding that, and a glass, and a spit cup, and a pen... well, that's pretty impossible). I used my recorder and tried to take notes on what I could (despite technical difficulty, like misfiring the button). We ended up only getting through about 50 wines, and I guess I can only do 20 or so an hour, tops. I should probably stand around less thinking about the wine and just go with a gut "good-bad-eh" reaction, and that would make things quicker, but I like remembering why I liked or disliked a wine.

Overall, everything I had was well-done, even if I didn't personally like it. The fact that I think a lot of Central Coast Syrah is too fruity/extracted became pretty evident during the tasting.

I think the best things I had were:

2002 Cayuse En Cerise
2002 Andrew Rich Syrah
2001 Paul Jaboulet Ainé Crozes-Hermitage Les Jalets
2001 Domaine de Montvac Vacqueyras
2002 Spencer Roloson "Palaterra"
2003 Red Car "The Fight"
Willow Creek Olive Ranch olive oil, especially the orange (we liked this enough to go visit them the next day... they are very cool people making some good olive oil)

Anyway, here are my long and boring notes (the ones I have, at least).

Saxum
2003 "Broken Stones" Syrah (some Mourvedre) Dark, too fruity, cloying sweet spice, like Zin
2003 "Rocket Block" Syrah (Grenache) Fruity, too

Cayuse
2002 "En Cerise" Leather, mineral dirt funk in finish, soft tannins, structure
2002 "Cailloux" Softer than En Cerise, sweeter with more spice, I liked En Cerise better
2002 "En Chamberlin" Wacky superfunk nose, lots of oak and smoke
'If you don't like the wine, too bad for you!'

Domaine François Villard
2000 "Reflet" Saint-Joseph Syrah Tannic, strong finish, drying, licorice in nose, nice but could use a few years

Domaine Clavel
2003 "Le Mas"
2004 Château de Ségriès Tavel rosé slightly hot finish, nice otherwise okay

Miller Wine Works (very plain label with a slight twist)
2002 Syrah Napa Valley Brookside slightly hot nose, black fruit, smells like a Syrah, slight almost iodiney/bandaidey medicinal scent, nicely balanced overall (winemaker worked/works at Robert Biale)

Ridge
2002 Lytton Estate Grenache a big spicy pillow of Grenache, soft tannins that dry but aren't harsh, a lot of spice/pepper

Renard (because I have Le Roman de Renard at home, and to play Compare The Grenache with the Ridge)
2003 Unti Vineyards Dry Creek Grenache much more simple and clean than Ridge, not as much spice and fullness, nice in mouth great acids on finish with a slight bitterness, clean, would be good with food
2001 Santa Rita Hills Syrah a solid Syrah, nothing stands out or is remarkable, but it was nicely balanced and tasty
2002 Peay Vineyards Sonoma Coast also solid, but has a fruitier finish, which I didn't like as much so I preferred the SR

Spencer Roloson (interesting label, and I have heard of it)
2003 Viognier Sueno Vineyard Lodi light floral nose, creme brulee finish, not my thing but pleasant
2002 "Palaterra" (Syrah, Carignane, Valdigue) pretty darn tasty, had all the things I liked in it-- some spice, some astringency, some wood, but balanced and easy to drink. Fun.

Stolpman
2003 "L'Avion" Roussanne/Viognier named because the vineyard is where the airport used to be
(No notes because I was pestering Peter Huncken about Holus Bolus, but it was tasty)
2003 Estate Syrah balanced, but maybe slightly fruity (just a little!) for me
2003? "Hilltop" Syrah cookie finish, and a soliloqu by me about central coast syrahs and why they have this Zinfandel-sweet-spice thing a lot

Foxen
2002 "Cuvée Jeanne Marie" Santa Ynez Valley Syrah/Viognier/Mourvedre fruity, lots of black and red fruit and some fruit funk central coast, what happened?

Andrew Rich (all Columbia Valley)
2003 Roussanne lots of tart apple in mouth nice vanilla/white peppery spice in finish, clean
2002 "Coup d'État" Grenache/Mourvedre/Counoise/2002 Syrah similar to CdE with lots of prickly and not sweet spice in finish, blockbuster in mouth, finish smacks you around a little, not too sweet, which is nice (could maybe rest a few years)
2003 Syrah and Syrah Reserve super bombastic, spice at finish in Reserve is more subdued than Syrah and is not as pointy sparkly bright but is still tannic and has impact

Andrew Murray
2004 Viognier Estate clean floral nose, lots of peaches and nectarine in mouth and finish tastes like it has rs. 2nd mouthful revealed more spice and interest in finish, more acid

Core
2004 Rosé (Cinsault) almost-beery nose, fermented smelling clean and acidic in finish, but odd nose
2003 "Hard Core" Barrel sample syrah cab
2003 "Blend 442" Grenache Syrah Mourvèdre softer than hardcore
Similar flavor profiles, both were ok but didn't blow me away

Stopped to talk with the Crushpad guys and taste some things people made there

Domaine de Montvac
2001 Gigondas nice light spice oak leather well balanced warming delicious, some serious tannins
2001 Vacqueyras More dusty attic on the nose thank above, some licorice in finish, soft tannins

Mas Igneus
2003 Grenache Blanc (Priorat) bitter finish

Casa de la Ermita
2004 Viognier lots of mineral and peach

(Both the above from *Langdon Shiverick Imports- can possibly find us Holus Bolus/Piedra Sassi)

Red Car
2003 "The Fight" Syrah (great label) slight bitter finish that I liked-- should probably check out "All Night Radio" which they were sadly out of (finally a central coast Syrah I like, sigh, probably because of that nice finish)

Provisor Vineyards (nice graphic blackbird label; never heard of them)
2002 Syrah Dry Creek again, slightly bitter finish, but I thought it was all right! Matt not so sure.

Kunin
2002 Santa Barbara County Grenache Syrah blend fruity with sweet spice finish, like the Pape Star t-shirt better, I think (the shirt was pretty awesome and hard to beat)

Miner
2004 Viognier pleasant, nice nose, B, not too fruity on the finish, yay!
2001 Napa Valley Syrah bramble red and black fruit on nose, nice after all the caveman Syrahs (even though I love caveman Syrahs) tasty, very drinkable

Paul Jaboulet Ainé
2001 Crozes-Hermitage "Les Jalets" dark
2001 Hermitage "La Chappelle" sweeter/fruitier than the above, both had a lot of funk to them and a lot of tannin.
2001 Cornas "Les Grands Terrasses" tannic, funky

Justin Winery
2002 Paso Robles Syrah crazy finish that ended, but then kind of came back when you thought it was gone, very interesting
2002 Reserve Syrah not as interesting as the other, no crazy growing finish, but ok

Francois Vandyck
2001 Domaine Saint Antonin "Tradition" very ashy and atticy on nose, not a lot of fruit but decent structure so probably good with food. Lives up to the name

Willow Creek Olive Oil
Orange and meyer lemon olive oils excellent CA blend and Pasolivo fine as well

2001 Celler de Capçanes "Cabrida"

Region: Montsant, Spain

Composition: 100% Grenache

Background: After a hard day of wine tasting at Hospice du Rhône last Saturday, we took a little break and then ended up at Villa Creek for dinner. It seemed like everyone else at the tasting also ended up at Villa Creek, so we ended up eating at the bar. Even though we were very Rhôned-out, we chanced a bottle of wine with our salads and butternut squash enchiladas (which were really good, and I imagine Villa Creek is one of if not the most interesting place to eat in Paso Robles). This bottle won because it wasn't Syrah (I was pretty tired of Syrah at that point, and hadn't actually tasted much Grenache during the day) and it was some fancypants bottle that was part of a lot auctioned off at Hospice earlier and we figured when in Rhône... (har). There were 20 cases made especially for Hospice, which I believe indicates that the wine for those cases was bottled in a special bottle with the HdR logo marked in the glass and then auctioned off, and Villa Creek won the auction. I think we got the last bottle, and they were out of most of their several auction-won wines (and possibly their other wine, considering the festivities had been going on for days at that point, and the HdR crowd loves Villa Creek).

As for the wine itself, the area around Capçanes (right next to Priorat) has been growing wine grapes for a while, since before the phylloxera louse wiped out most of the vines in the 19th century. Few of the vineyards were replanted after that (those that were replanted were mostly Grenache), and some of those vines are still around today, making wine like this.

In 1933, five families making wine in the area formed a co-operative, the Cooperativa de Capçanes, and they now make wine from over 600-plus acres, and bottle it under the Celler de Capçanes label. (And are probably too busy making good wine to make that website anything other than a splash page, but that's okay with me. Just warning you in case you go there looking for info.) They have made improvements to their facility in the last few years, renovating a lot of the rudimentary setup that has been in use since the early 1900s. Back in the 1990's they gained some fame for making a decent kosher wine for the Jewish community in Barcelona, and went on to earn DO Montsant in 2002. This wine is their top of the line Grenache, made from the post-phylloxera-planted 100 year old vines, and is actually a blend of Garnacha del Pais and Garnacha Peluda. The wine spent 16 months in new French oak, and 4,800 bottles were made.

Notes: It was kind of dim in the restaurant, but this is a dark, inky, blue-purple with a pink edge. The nose is all cookies and spices with some sugared leather and crushed granite, and when first opened, I thought the nose was a little soft and closed (this is probably a little young to drink right now, albeit still tasty). It's very refined and elegant, with bright but not overwhelming acids and velvety tannins, and there is a lot of soft spice (but not cloying) throughout... spice like cinnamon and nutmeg. The finsh goes on and on and is all about the rocks-- minerals and more gravel. Some air did it good, and even though we were only able to get through half the bottle that night, it started to expand a little in the hour or two we spent with it. We stuffed it in the car overnight (I didn't want to waste it, and it was cool enough that it was fine and better there than inside with us) and hauled it home in a cooler on ice the next day, since it was hot, and that night it was a little more open and just as delicious, if not more so.

Cost: $60 at the restaurant, which actually seems to be close to the going rate for the stuff (I am finding from about $50 to about $75 online).

Overall: A

WBW10 Announced: White Pinot

The natives, they are rebelling against the red-wine swilling ways of Wine Blogging Wednesday, and thus, Wine Blogging Wednesday 10 is about (gasp!) white wine. It's summertime, so you shouldn't have a hard time getting in the mood.

Alice of My Adventures in the Breadbox is hosting, and has challenged people to drink up a Pinot not-Noir.... Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Pinot Grigio, and, I am guessing, Pinot Meunier and the like, if you can find it (I had a white Pinot Meunier, once). Deadline is Wednesday, June 8!

WBW9 Wrap-up posted

Sam of Becks & Posh has posted the wrap-up of Wine Blogging Wednesday #9.

It looks like a lot of good stuff was had and I look forward to reading all the reviews and picking up some of the wines that got some good reviews. I recently came across a few more bottles of rosé (including some of that Etude) and am looking forward to drinking a lot of rosé this summer. This list will certainly help me along with that!

5-4! Big win for wine industry

I've been away at Hospice du Rhône this weekend (I will have to write something about that, although what can one say about being crammed into a big room with a thousand other people, tasting wine?), but just woke up today to see that in a 5-4 ruling (close!), the Supreme Court ruled to allow interstate wine shipments. Or, more truthfully, they declared individual states' bans on out-of-state wine shipments unconstitutional. This is what I have been hoping and waiting for, and great news for both small wineries that can't get distributors and also people living in states where there is not a lot of good wine to be made/had.

It will be interesting to see how entities like the PA Liquor Control Board handle this stuff. And if the underaged of our nation get drunk on cheap wine shipped to them from out of state and the world all goes to hell. I imagine the battle isn't quite over yet, but this is a big victory.

(And now that I am awake and showered and read the articles again I see the rub is that all direct shipment can be banned outright (not just for out-of-state wineries), and for you poor souls in PA this means business as usual for you, since I don't think you can get wine shipped directly right now anyway. You have to get it sent to your local LCB store and go get it. I am so glad I left PA.)

2004 Robert Sinskey Vin Gris of Pinot Noir

This is the rosé of stress that turned into the rosé of celebration. I had big plans for this WBW, and have five different rosés socked away. I was going to compare and contrast! I was going to drink more than one! And then Helsinki happened. Or didn't happen, really.

As of last Wednesday, I had a trip to Helsinki planned for work the week of the 15th. As of Thursday, nobody was going. As of Friday, no one was sure who was going but somebody was going. As of yesterday, we the involved were going, and I rushed to find a ticket and buy one. As of 5.15 this (Tuesday) afternoon, I was not going and wasn't supposed to. In between all that fun the last few days have been a lot of scrambling and preparation and you name it for this trip.

So I just spent some nerve-wracking time on the phone with Joshua of Expedia (who rocks) and he got everything cancelled and sorted out and once I return the power adapters I picked up, the only money I am out for the trip is for some books and magazines I picked up to read on the plane, things I will happily read anyway. And now I can do the things I wanted to do the weekends before and after without fear of stress or jetlag.

While I was on the phone dealing with this latest crisis I remembered that I needed to drink some rosé for Wine Blogging Wednesday 9, and here we are! I am only doing one, and I decided to get out a bottle of the Robert Sinskey, since everybody is going so nuts for it around these parts. I was hoping it would live up to the Etude Rosé, which I had about two weeks ago, and it was so good I am trying to track some more down.

In any case, I will either have to drink and post about a lot more rosés this summer, or have some sort of rosé party and compare the remaining three or four bottles. In the meantime, I have this.

Region: Carneros, California, US

Composition: 100% Pinot Noir

Background: I don't know much about Robert Sinskey, other than that he was an advertising/photographer guy before he started making wine, because his dad (also named Robert) needed help at the winery. Dad Sinksey founded the winery in the late 1970's after retiring from medicine, but got called back into things because of his creation of an artificial lens for the human eye. Thus he hit up his son (who, it seems, was questioning his career choice) to come work for him, and here we are today. Their winemaker, Jeff Virnig, joined them as assistant winemaker in 1988 and became one of the youngest winemakers in the valley when he took over the reins in 1991.

I do know a little about rosé wines; mainly that there are three ways to make them:

1- You take black grapes, press them, and immediately run off and ferment the resulting juice (which is usually very pale). This makes a vin gris.
2- You take black grapes, press them, and let the juice sit for a few hours (maybe a day or two) with the skins before runoff and fermentation, so that the juice is colored by the skins, but not so much color as you would get for a red wine.
3- You use the saignée method, and dump all of your black grapes into a tank and press them. Once they sit a while, you bleed off some of the juice (hence the name) to make your rosé. And then you can make red wine with the leftovers if you want. This is like #1 above but you get both rosé and red wine out of the deal (and the red wine is usually pretty intense, since you have the same concentration of pips and skins and tannins, but with less juice).

You can also blend red wine and white wine to make rosé, but that is becoming more uncommon and is considered cheesy, especially in Europe, where it is banned outside of Champagne (rosé Champagne is made that way, and it is the exception). And contrary to what a lot of people think about pink wine, most (or at least a lot) of rosé is dry, not sweet and candylike.

Notes: It's slightly too pink to really be salmon, but it is a goregous color. Let's say rosy salmon in the glass, clear as water. It's got a fairly uncomplicated nose of toast and strawberries, with hints of grapefruit and some white flowers like jasmine. On the palate it has a lot more strawberry and cherry, and has a zingy finish that is all lemon and citrus. I thought the finish was slightly bitter and a little too acidic when it was freshly opened, but once it sat out for a little while and softened up, it was more enjoyable (the bitterness never completely went away, though). Or maybe it was the fact that I was off the phone and very relieved. Or the fact that I had a salad with it (mâche and pears with some goat cheese and simple vinaigrette).

Cost: $15

Overall: B

Put a cork in it

I like cork. I mean, screwcaps are sometimes nice, but you can't really beat the cork mystique, if you could call it that. Cork is biodegradable, at least, and we know that in five or ten years our bottles sealed with cork won't have anything screwy (forgive the pun) going on in them, unlike with screwcaps. Screwcaps seem promising but who knows how wine sealed with screwcaps will age?

I don't like TCA. TCA, or trichloroanisole, is what causes that nasty greenish wet basement (we call it "bungalow" around here) or wet cardboard smell that you get in a bottle of wine with cork taint. Cork comes from oak trees (Quercus suber) with very thick bark that grow around Portugal and Spain, and every few years the bark is stripped off and cut into corks (the tree is not killed in the process, and can be harvested again once the bark regrows). Before harvest, it's just tree bark, and bugs crawl around on it and all kinds of exciting biological things go on in and on it. If the right fungi are present (either in the bark when harvested or in the bottling area in the winery), they combine with the chlorine used to sanitize the cork and the closed environment the bottle provides when the wine is bottled and form TCA. The irony here of course being that the process we use to sterilize the corks actually provides fodder for the fungi to make TCA.

So even while half the world is yelling "screwcaps" at the top of its lungs, it's good to know that people are still working on making cork better. There's a new process called Symbios that allows cork producers to cook the corks in an undisclosed solution and eliminate TCA problems. The article there doesn't state how successful the process is, and we won't know that for a while (nor will we know what this chemical the corks are boiled in will do to wine in long-term storage), but it sounds like it will be worth more investigation and trial.

In the "why fix the problem when you can deal with it later" camp, we have the 50-dollar Dream Taste solution, coming straight outta Burgundy with its promise to get the TCA out of your wine through "ionic filtration". That sounds very cheesy and Sharper Image-esque to me, and seems to be limited in its success. The human nose can detect TCA in very very tiny amounts, usually a threshold comparable to being able to taste a sugar cube dissolved in an amount of water equal to a thousand Olympic-sized swimming pools, and that kind of sensitivity is hard to beat with ionic magic. But it still has some promise.

I am more of a fan of "stop it before it happens" solutions as opposed to "do something after it happens" ones so the former makes sense to me more than the latter, but I guess if you have a fancy old bottle of something or other and it is cork-tainted, you definitely want to invest in some Dream Taste.

From Girls, Girls, Girls to Grapes, Grapes, Grapes

Who would have thunk it, but it looks like Vince Neil of Motley Crüe is getting a Cabernet made in his honor. At his request. I had no idea Vince Neil was a wine fan, but in this article he claims to enjoy fine wine, says he just bought a winery in Napa, and alludes to the below, which I guess was just formally announced.

From this article on PR Newswire:

Rock music star Vince Neil, vocalist of Motley Crüe, has just commissioned, not a song, but a big rich Cabernet Sauvignon from Adler Fels Winery for national distribution, according to John Ott, president of the Santa Rosa based winery.

The Cabernet will be named "Vince." Harry Parducci, Adler Fels winemaker, artfully blended seven fine Napa Valley Cabernets for "Vince." Initially 500 cases were produced; the wine has a suggested retail price of $20.

I can't figure out if Neil bought a winery or a vineyard, and why, if he bought a winery (as he claims), he would commission wine from Adler Fels unless that is the winery he bought (and that doesn't seem to be the case), and I am already horrified that I just spent twenty minutes researching this and I have to stop. I can't say I am going to run out and buy any of the wine when it comes out, since I am not a big fan of vanity wines, but it's an amusing thing to note nonetheless.