this heaven gives me migraine

PA is getting CA wine cheap!

Maybe this is only of interest to me, since my formative years were spent in Pennsylvania, the state with probably the dumbest liquor laws in existence. You have to buy all your liquor at state-approved liquor stores (and the Liquor Control Board of the state is responsible for obtaining all the stuff you can buy as a consumer), and they are usually open only during regular business hours (9-5 weekdays, maybe Saturdays, don't even think about wanting to pick up vodka on a Sunday). I spent my teen years in a blue-law, dry county (we had one bar, a liquor store open 9-5 weekdays, a beer distributor, and when the Pizza Hut at the edge of town got its beer license in the eighties that was a big deal).

You can't bring wine in from out of state (even though everyone and their brother makes "booze runs" to Maryland and Delaware), and on the off chance that someone like Stony Hill can (there is a newish law allowing this), you end up paying over 400 dollars for a not-even-300-dollar case:

Case of Stony Hill 2001 Chardonnay:$ 292.00
Shipping to PA:60.00
18% PA Emergency Tax:52.56
6% PA Sales Tax:17.52
PA Per-order Handling Fee:4.50
1% Philadelphia/Pittsburgh only sales tax:2.92
Order Total:429.50

I am not sure what the emergency tax is, and once you do get your order in Stony Hill has to ship it to one of the state approved liquor stores and then you have to go get it, so it certainly isn't a fun process. (God knows if you could get it shipped safely and easily to your house and have a person over 21 years old sign for it before delivery, the country would go to the heathens! I mean, look at us out here in California, land of debauchery and free running wine. The children, they are drunk in the streets here.)

Anyway, there's a new guy, Jonathan Newman, heading up the LCB there, and he is doing his best to get PA some decent wine, and even get it at amazing prices. He asks for/demands prices he wants from the wineries out here in CA and gets them most of the time. He's keeping the wine actually refrigerated and has definitely radical (for the state/government) views of how wine should be kept, handled, and sold. He seems to care!

I didn't see any evidence of this when I was back in the state at Christmas last year-- mostly I saw 20 dollar bottles of Bonny Doon Big House Red and not much else-- but good luck to him. I wasn't in a Premium Collection store, though, I was in a regular old state store (there are two levels and the fancier stores are the ones that get most of the good stuff). I know there are folks in PA who would like some decent wine. And decent prices, better than CA, would be the icing on the cake.

(No, mom, this doesn't mean I am going to move home!)

2003 Radio-Coteau "Savoy"

Region: Anderson Valley, California, US

Composition: 100% Pinot Noir

Background: This is the second vintage of wines from Eric Sussman and winery Radio Coteau, (a phrase meaning "hillside broadcast", or, "word of mouth"). Sussman makes four Pinot Noirs, a Syrah, and a Zinfandel. I had the 2002 Timbervine Syrah last summer, and remember that I learned exactly what the scent of geranium was from it, while enjoying it quite a bit.

Sussman made 440 cases of the Savoy Pinot Noir and they are already sold out, according to the winery website (I know you can still get them here and there, but they are not easy to come by). The names of the wines all reflect those of the growers/vineyards the grapes come from, with the exception of the "Neblina" Pinot Noir blend. Sussman is a deliberate and dedicated winemaker, and this wine is the result of not one, but several passes through the vineyard to obtain grapes at optimal ripeness (not a completely uncommon practice, but still very meticulous and dedicated). He bottles his wines unfined and unfiltered.

Notes: This is a ruby blue-red in the glass, and has a slightly hot nose full of black cherry along with vanilla and cinnamon cookie spice. The vanilla became more prevalent as the wine opened, up, but we didn't get to decant it and I am afraid we did the wine a terrible injustice by drinking it this young in the first place. So we added insult to injury by not decanting it. It is slightly thin-seeming early on in the mouth and the fruit is not fully fleshed out, but it has a lot of spice and even a hint of leather and smoke in it, especially in the finish. It was pleasant enough, but I did not love it, and I think that is probably somewhat to do with the fact that it is still very young (I was warned of this beforehand, so I can only blame myself there). I wouldn't mind revisiting it in a year or two, if I can find a bottle, because I respect Sussman and what he is doing.

Cost: $40-$50

Overall: B

2002 Devil's Lair Chardonnay

Region: Margaret River, Australia

Composition: 100% Chardonnay

Background: I don't often like Chardonnay, although I find that that sentiment is changing now that the super new oaked, 100 percent ML, sur lies aged Chardonnay ("California" Chardonnay) is starting to go by the wayside (that, or I am just finding more Chardonnays I like). Sure, maybe the grape has a kind of blank canvas thing going on with its not very distinctive characteristics, but I really don't want overmanipulated, creamy, buttery (usually rancid to me) Chardonnay. I usually find I like old world Chardonnay better than new, and when I had this at a tasting last summer I was surprised to like it, so I bought some.

Devil's Lair is in the Margaret River area of western Australia, and, around here, I see wines made for their second label, Fifth Leg (named for that little disembodied fifth leg you see on the Devil's Lair label), more than I see the Devil's Lair wines. The winery is named for the nearby Devil's Lair cave, a cave where fossilized remains of Tasmanian Devils have been found, proving that Tasmanian Devils once lived on the Australian mainland.

Notes: This is a very clear and rich golden yellow in the glass, with pale green glints. It has an aroma of peach, pineapple, and toasty hazelnuts, with some softer notes of rocks and straw (especially here on the second night, after it loosened up) underneath. On the palate it has a fair amount of fruit like grapefruit and lemon, and the finish originally had some soft oak spice which is wrapped up in some bright acidity. This second night the acidity is softened and the finish is slightly milkier and creamier, like a lemon custard, and I am enjoying it a lot (the first night the acid in the finish was a little too much for me, although I thought it was bright and tasty, and I am always somewhat surprised when I like creamy or custardy finishes, but if done nicely they are fine). I have been drinking it along with dinner, which was a fava bean, arugula, green onion, and asiago salad and a pizza with asparagus, corn, green onion and goat cheese/mozzarella/parmigiano, and it went especially well with the pizza.

Cost: $18

Overall: B+

Moving on up

Where have I been? Why have I not been posting? Does anyone even care?

Well, besides entertaining out-of-town guests (and drinking a fair amount of wine, for which I have about 5 halfway finished entries I have to finish and post soon), I have been moving my wine into storage. My locker does not look as fancy as that... who is weird enough to keep wine in a rack inside a storage unit? It looks like there should be a little tasting table there, too. So you can hang out in your 53 degree metal cube with your friends, chatting about wine. Craziness. (Now I have hopes of encountering someone doing that, someday.)

Anyway, in order to do this and not be rooting around forever trying to find bottles once they are tossed in storage, I have been creating a database of what I have, and where it is, before putting the wine into the cases and moving the cases into the lovely climate-controlled storage unit. This is the thing I have been avoiding doing for a long time. Databases are a pain!

It is mostly done now, which is a relief. We took the last cases over today, except for some German wines and Champagnes/sparkling wines for which I have to find special cases. And stuff I plan on drinking soon. This all means I have to plan out the wine drinking and plan ahead enough to get my wine out of wine jail before I need it, but since the place is about five blocks from my house, I have hopes I will manage okay. I am more worried about my organizational system --a spreadsheet on my computer and wine in storage means at some point I am going to get over there and go "where is that bottle, again?" and be SOL. I have plans to print and keep a backup of the database in storage, and update it every now and then, but mentioning that is just shouting "I am a dork", isn't it?

Even more randomly, I did check on the vinegar baby a few days ago and it seems to be coming along in a vinegary way. It's very sharp, and a little harsh, but it definitely has the vinegar taste happening, which is good.