this heaven gives me migraine

2004 Kalyra Sauvignon Blanc

Region: California, US

Composition: 100% Sauvignon Blanc

Background: I haven't been drinking much worthy of discussion recently. Partly because I haven't been drinking much, and partly because the drinking I have been doing has been out of desperation. I have had a headache for the last two weeks, see. And when you have a headache, you often don't feel like drinking (or cooking, or reading, or sleeping, or doing anything fun). It's pretty draining, having this headache for so long.

So I have been taking a lot of painkillers, seeing my doctor, taking Vicodin on occasion, and drinking only sometimes when I feel a little okay or get desperate for a break from the headache. I got this bottle out a few days ago after a bottle of the 2003 Cakebread Sauvignon Blanc (I stupidly have no notes for that, but I liked it better than this, and the finish was a little creamier and smoother). It was a hot night and I wanted more zippy clean wine, and given that I had at least half a headache and couldn't commit to a bottle of wine without thinking it might sit for days and go bad before I finished it, I figured I would open something cheap, at least.

Kalyra is located down in the Santa Ynez Valley of California, and most of the grapes they use are from Santa Barbara County. The label is the brainchild of one Michael Brown, who makes wines under the Kalyra label as well as wines made from Australian grapes, which he bottles under the M. Brown label.

(Other than their own website, there isn't a lot of info on Kalyra out there in the world, but I would be remiss by not mentioning that you can see the tasting room in Sideways... it's the one Sandra Oh's character works in.)

Notes: This is pale straw in the glass with chartreuse glints, and has a typical Sauvignon Blanc-y herbaceous green nose with some apple and nectarine, with vanilla undertones. It's mostly tart green apple on the palate, and has some herbal spice in the finish, and a lingering green apple flavor, once you get over that bitter bump. It's a simple Sauvignon Blanc, and fine for hot weather, although not overly remarkable. I did finish the bottle, eventually, so that says something (I have two open and probably bad at this point bottles lying around that I never got around to finishing, and that usually means I didn't like something about them).

Cost: $8 (from Trader Joe's here in SF-- it looks like it is normally about $10-$14)

Overall: B

Tasting room etiquette

As I was standing in the Robert Sinskey tasting room the other weekend, watching the tasting room people dealing with some weird stuff, such as a woman coming in from the patio, cupping her hands around a bowl of roasted almonds that were sitting on the bar, and asking (in a voice one would normally reserve for five-year-olds) "is it okay if I take these nuts outside?" I realized that people, they just don't know what to do with themselves in tasting rooms. I see all manner of strange behavior, which is true just about everywhere I go, but tasting rooms seem to engender a type of behavior that you don't see anywhere else.

Of course, one has to tailor behavior to situation. A tasting room like the one I experienced recently at Duckhorn was very different than the one I experienced at Robert Sinskey. Some tasting rooms seem to cater to the lowest common denominator and have sighingly (or greedily) embraced the limos packed with tipsy bridal-shower attendees and carloads of people cruising around Napa looking for a cheap (when you think about it, not even very cheap) buzz. At these tasting rooms, it is not as essential to be interested in the wines because they are mostly looking to get you in and out as fast as they can (hopefully getting you out with several bottles of wine) and often you can't find anyone to ask if you do have questions. Your interest will mostly be wasted. However, err on the side of interest and seriousness until you can be sure that the winery doesn't care.

However, when people who are used to the get-in-get-out show up for the frat party in smaller tasting rooms, disaster ensues. If you are one of those people (and I am sure you are not), you will not see it, but the tasting room staff are certainly rolling their eyes at you behind your back and will be talking about what an idiot you were once you leave. Remember, just because they are nice to you doesn't mean you are not being an idiot.

With this in mind, I have created a very simple list of things to do (and to avoid) to not be the idiot in the tasting room. Yes, they seem obvious, but it still seems many people can't figure this stuff out

How not to be a doofus when tasting wine:

- Do your research. Unless you are doing a spur-of-the-moment thing and are not particular about where you end up, it helps to check out any wineries you want to visit. Some wineries require advance notice if you have a larger party; some only have tastings by appointment. Don't let any of this scare you or make you think the winery is snobby, just give them a call. They are just trying to be prepared, and are usually very accomodating once you talk to them. If you are in a limousine for some reason, know that certain wineries cannot accommodate limos because of location or size.

- If there are signs on the way into the winery/tasting room asking you to please drive under 10 MPH because there are pets/animals/children around the winery or vineyards, this applies to you. Yes, even if you have a red/fast/expensive car.

- Be polite. Don't give attitude to the people giving you tastes, and don't treat them like idiots or slaves. Just because they are pouring the wine for you doesn't mean you are better than they are. A lot of them know more than you do about wine.

- Be interested; ask questions. Show that you are interested in the wine, and that you are not just looking to get a buzz. I think this alone will set you apart a little bit. No questions are dumb, so ask away. In a good tasting room, the staff will be happy to talk about the wine. Tasting room staff try to read people when they come in, so if you are with a group and would rather talk to them, the guy behind the bar will usually stay out of your way for the most part, if he thinks you want him to.

- Don't be afraid of the spit bucket. Especially if you are driving, the spit bucket is your friend. Use it to dump wine out of your glass you don't want to drink, and feel free to use it as an actual spit bucket. It isn't offensive to spit or dump the wine once you have tasted it, even though a lot of people find it intimidating. You can practice spitting at home in the shower, or into the sink, with water, if you want to.

- Use your Inside Voice at all times. No screaming or shrieking is necessary, unless maybe there is an earthquake, and I am not sure about that, even. In general, remember that the tasting room is not a bar at Happy Hour.

- If the bar is crowded, nothing bad will happen if you get your taste and retreat to a less crowded part of the room to discuss/taste it, or if you walk around and look at things.

- If you don't like something, you don't need to announce it loudly to the entire tasting room. I mean, you can, but really, it's unnecessary and won't make you any friends. You don't have to like everything and you don't need to pretend to, but don't be obnoxious.

- The food at the tasting table isn't your lunch, it's to help you clear your palate or give you an idea of how a wine goes with food. Don't abuse it.

- If you have a picnic or lunch outside a winery, don't drink wine from a different winery with your picnic.

- Don't dump or shake your glass out on the floor, unless you are outside (or, I should add, unless you are sure it is okay to do so. And even then, don't shower someone with your wine dregs, and yes, I have seen it happen). I see this more at tastings than I do at wineries, but either way, it's just weird.

- Don't get wasted. Nobody finds it as amusing as you do.

- Don't roll into the tasting room five minutes before they close-- that's not enough time to taste anything.

Anyway, I am sure I missed some good rules, and I haven't stated the obvious like "don't steal the bottles off the bar" or "don't loudly break up with your girlfriend in the tasting room", but you get the idea. Again, it's mostly just common sense!

2005 Pink Out!

Yesterday RAP held the first annual Pink Out! rosé tasting at Butterfly, a restaurant up at Pier 30 here in SF. I have been a little obsessed with rosé and was interested in trying a slew of them, since man can only consume so much wine bottle by bottle. And I recently missed not one but two rosé tastings and wanted to make up for that.

It was pretty obvious it was the first tasting this particular group had put on, and they have a few things to get sorted out before the next one. The venue was a little small (it was crowded at the trade tasting and I know the public tasting sold out... I can't imagine how packed that was), but I think that has been a problem at about 80 percent of the tastings I have been to recently. The spit bucket situation was dire enough that I felt completely justified in my habit of carrying my own personal spit cup (an old travel coffee mug) at tastings. There were some tables lacking buckets completely, and some tables had cocktail shakers in place of actual buckets. As you can imagine, these things were hard to hit when spitting; I saw a lot of people struggling with that. The buckets also got scarily full before someone thought to empty them, which was at least an hour, maybe an hour and a half into the event.

The crowd leaned more towards the marketing types/trade and for some reason there were a lot of groups of 4-5 people who seemed to be there to get loaded or stand around chatting (I am not sure who these people were; I got the idea that they knew someone who knew someone who got them in). At one point I was delighted and horrified to overhear one man telling another man something along these lines:

"Rosé is great because it has a little residual sugar in it, it tastes really good, Southern women love it, and you can get it out of your clothes easily if you spill it... so if you want to market a wine to people after Memorial Day, what with the white clothes and everything, it's ROSÉ!"

I fully expect to see some rosé in the future marketed to women solely on the fact that, unlike pesky Nebbiolo or Syrah, it's easy to get out of those white capris if you spill it. Which is, of course, what women are looking for in wine, isn't it?

The wines themselves were all over the map, quality-wise (and temperature-wise; they ranged from teeth-freezingly chilled to lackadaisically room-temperature). I was personally a little surprised at the amount of candylike fruitiness in many of the wines, but I guess my taste in rosé tends to run to the European. I am not usually looking for a particular style, but tend to like the drier and more mineral styles. I am not opposed to some fruit, but the finish still needs to be high-acid to even it out. I don't like a ton of wood, normally, and I don't like the spritz of CO2 in a rosé, although I like it fine in some whites. And as you can see by some of the wines that I liked, these rules are made to be broken.

Anyway, here is what I tasted and my general notes on each wine. There were a lot of wines that I could drink in the right situation, but they did not wow me at the tasting. Maybe I am too hard on wines at tastings; I know the more I think about a wine the more critical I get, so I have to take that into consideration, but that's what tastings are for, right? Why drink so-so wine when you can choose good wine? In any case, I mentally clumped the wines into a few categories... wine I liked, wine that I could drink but didn't love or hate, wine that I didn't like, and problematic wine. All things considered, it was great to have a chance to taste all these wines, and I look forward to the next Pink Out!

*The Good:

2004 L'Uvaggio di Giacomo Il Gufo Barbera interesting nose, not floral or candy or fruit, slightly earthy/bloody, I like it because I like Barbera and it has a nice snap, starts out very snappy (at my snappy limit) but then evens out, very candy pink in the glass which makes you think it will be way fruitier than it is

2004 Perbacco Rosé (Pinot Noir, Petite Sirah) interesting nose, has a lot of Pinot qualities, slightly medicinal, slightly leathery, some prickly spice on finish from Petite Sirah, a little bit big for a rosé but also kinda good, definitely one of the more unusual wines... am I looking for a Pinot Noir at this point?

2004 Marques de Carçeres Rosé nice acids on the finish, a little bit of earth and rock, nice fruit that is not overwhelming

2004 Domaine de Nizas Rosé from Languedoc soft, placid, feminine but austere

2004 Sanford Pinot Noir Vin Gris pale salmon, soft raspberry cherry strawberry nose, floral, elegant, nice

2003 Château Potelle Riviera (60% Syrah, 40% Zinfandel) very girly, a lot of cherry and raspberry, for a girly wine it was alright, even if slightly on the fruity side-- was I was losing my resolve against fruitiness this late in the game? (they were in the home stretch for me)

2003 Château La Rouviere Rosé AC Bandol (Mourvèdre, Cinsault, Grenache) very woody/tobacco-ey in the finish, rocky, not a lot of fruit

2004 Château Routas "Rouviere" Rosé (40% Grenache, 30% Syrah, 20% Cinsault) Syrah sees a little ML, so it is softer-- very soft, plain yet elegant like French rosés are, nice acids on finish

2004 Tablas Creek Rosé (62% Mourvèdre, 28% Grenache, 10% Counoise) very pleasant, has a lot of fruit flavor but that is saved by the acid finish which is very good

2004 Iron Horse Rosé of Pinot Noir I like it better than the Sangiovese, it is not overwhelmingly fruity, very soft and round

2003 Ventana Rosato (90% Grenache, 10% Syrah) all about raspberry in nose, lots of green brambly dark raspberry in the mouth, kind of interesting and I like it, although that surprises me, and it isn't particularly rosé-like

2004 Mas de Cadenet Rosé (40% Grenache, 30% Cinsault, 30% Syrah) Côte de Provence, rocky, mineral, nice resistance on the palate

2004 Maitres Vignerons de Saint Tropez Château de Pampelonne Rosé (50% Grenache, 40% Cinsault, 10% Tibouren) softer and rounder than the Cadenet which I had just had, but also more acidic

2004 Château Marouine Rosé (Cinsault, Mourvèdre, Carignane, maybe some Syrah) lots of mineral and rock, very hard and maybe a little too hard, but okay (I had this at dinner the night before the tasting and was eh on it until I had it with food when it was much better, and I liked it a lot more at the tasting)

*Didn't Make Me Go Yay [sic] or Nay, Really (Wine Purgatory!):

2003 Alderbrook Dry Creek Valley Rosé (Zinfandel, Carignane, Syrah) fruity finish, slightly medicinal

2004 Amador Foothill Rosé of Sangiovese prickly and earthy, not a lot of fruit, possibly too acidic (and I like acidic), but nice

2004 Bonny Doon DEWN Sangiovese Rosé slightly herbal/piney at finish, slightly too acidic

Chateau d'Aqueria Rosé Tavel (50% Grenache, 20% Clairette, 15% Cinsault, 10% Mourvedre, 5% Bourboulenc) light, pleasant enough but not blowing me away

2004 Château du Rouet Cuvée Reservée lots of raspberry strawberry and soapy in the mouth, but I think raspberry can be soapy on my palate and that is what I am getting

2004 Chimney Rock Rosé of Cabernet Franc dark red, slightly fruity (not as much as the Alderbrook, which I had right before it) but kind of dull

2004 Goats do Roam Rosé I liked this a lot more than I expected given that 1- it is from S. Africa 2- It has Pinotage in it and 3- I did not like the GdR red I recently had, slightly animal/gamey on nose but not too much, and the finish is intense

2004 Herzog Wine Cellars Zin Gris Special Reserve wacky, smells like full-grown Zin in the glass, hot fruit funk and bramble, blackberry, and tastes like regular Zinfandel minus some tannin, you might not know this was a rosé if you didn't see it, interesting

Jean Luc Colombo Cote Bleue Rosé (40% Syrah, 40% Mourvèdre, 20% Counoise)

2003 Kuleto Rosato very pale in the glass, a slight earthy nose, not enough acid, too fruity, but other than the too-fruity low acid finish, was interesting

2004 Mantra Bliss Rosé (Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel) slight peppery bite at finish, some rigidity, starts out smooth and ends up jaggedy

2004 Niebaum-Coppola Sofia Rosé of Pinot Noir a very girly soapy (raspberry) nose, not cloying but not remarkable

2004 Ruby Wine Company Rosé (Cabernet Franc, etc) alright, a fair amount of fruit

2004 Rutherford Hill Rosé of Merlot candy pink in glass, slightly cloying

2004 Saintsbury Vin Gris (Pinot Noir) seemed a little lost to me, like it didn't know what it was or where it was going, very vague

2004 Scherrer Vin Gris (Zinfandel, Pinot Noir) on the first taste I liked it, because it had a growing, burning acidity on the finish that expanded in the mouth, but on the second sip I was not so sure and didn't like the aftertaste/feeling

2004 SoloRosa California Rosé (50% Merlot, 50% Sangiovese) meh, not bad but not overly interesting

2004 Toad Hollow Eye of the Toad Pinot Noir Rosé slightly clean/soapy, cherry candy, but not sweet... almost a little too much on the bitter side

2004 Verdad Rosé (95% Grenache, 5% Tempranillo) Tempranillo shows in the finish with a woody rustic toasty thing, slightly interesting, but unusual

2004 Vinavera Rosé (87% Syrah, 13% Grenache) very pink in the glass, well-balanced, the kind of rosé you could get out at a party and everyone would dig it, user-friendly

*Made Me Go Huh:

2004 Bonny Doon Vin Gris de Cigare I really don't like the finish, it's lingering medicinal fruit, iodiney, very strange

2004 Carol Shelton Rendezvous Rosé mmm, lifesavers

NV Domaine Chandon Etoile Rosé (Pinot Noir, Chardonnay) overwhelming mousse and the nose is reminiscent of ecologically correct household cleanser

2004 Fife Redhead Rosé of Carignane what's that CO2 doing in my Carignane? It's a little too snappy for me with the CO2 that tingles the tongue

2004 Fleming Jenkins San Francisco Bay Syrah Rosé who knew Peggy Fleming had a winery? she does, and had a signed photo on the table, wow, somebody put C02 AND sugar in my Syrah! definitely not my thing

2004 Folie à Deux Ménage à Trois Rosé (Merlot, Syrah, Gerwurztraminer) lots of Gewurz in the nose, very spicy and floral, way too candylike with sweet fruit on the palate, not enough acid

2004 Gargiulo Rosato di Sangiovese not much on nose, soapy raspberry-cherry coughdrop in the mouth

2004 Iron Horse Rosato di Sangiovese too fruity and sweet, finish might be dry but you could fool me

NV Korbel Brut Rosé (Pinot Noir, Chenin Blanc) very fruity, raspberry-ey

2004 La Veille Ferme Rosé (Cinsault, Syrah, etc) cough syrup on finish

2003 Meeker Pink Elephant a little too much fruity-sweety-spice

2004 McDowell Valley Vineyards Grenache Rosé not much on the nose, tastes like water with some diluted candy in it

2003 Michel Schlumberger Rosé of Pinot Noir pale pink, odd nose of camphor, slightly medicinal

2004 Miner Rosato don't like the nose, the nose had a lot of funk like unwashed laundry, but was okay in the mouth

2004 Montevina Nebbiolo Rosato slightly too much on finish, rather like some Nebbiolo can be... raisiny, maybe some RS?

2004 Pedroncelli Zinfandel Rosé again, somebody put their CO2 in my rosé and that doesn't make it taste any better

2003 Peju Province (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, French Colombard) smells a little foxy with a lot of overpowering fruit and not much acid

2004 Rutherford Hill Rosé of Merlot candy pink in glass, slightly cloying

2004 Toad Hollow Eyes of the Toad Reserve Pinot Noir Rosé way too much oak for a rosé, the nose is overwhelmingly oaky and odd

2004 Unti Vineyards Grenache Rose (75% Grenache, 25% Mourvèdre) snappy upfront with a yeasty/beery finish in the rear

2004 Unti Syrah Rosé they made this Syrah bleed off to put with the Grenache but didn't like it so they bottled it up and just figured whatever, and it definitely lacks character, very subdued

*Problematic:

2004 Van Ruiten Family Rosé of Cab-Shiraz very sulphurous/cauliflower/cabbage/onion nose, it smelled very unpleasant and I didn't want to put it in my mouth-- I did so against my better judgement, but I think there is a mercaptan fault (at least in the bottle I had) because this wine was not clean: DNPIM

A (very long) tale of two tasting rooms

Last weekend, post WSET test, we hit some tasting rooms since we were in the right area for it. We don't go to Napa a lot, and have been using the WSET as impetus to hit some wineries in the area. We only got to visit two since the test wasn't over until almost noon and we ended up having a pretty leisurely lunch at Bouchon, but it was interesting since the tasting rooms were as different as night and day.

First was Robert Sinskey, mostly because I got interested in the winery after having the rosé. It looked promising, as we were driving up; a little showy but not tacky, it had that standard CA wood and beam architecture that a lot of wineries employ going on. We parked and on the way in stopped to look at the raised vegetable/herb gardens and koi pond (the fish were very hopeful that we had some food for them). Inside was cool and dim and there was a glass wall that showcased the winery and tanks behind it nicely. We were met by Toby, who was behind the counter pouring and who (we later found out) owns a place in Sonoma called Nona's Eastside Market (near the corner of 8th and Napa) that carries gourmet food and something like 300 bottles of wine, all under $30.

Anyway, we set up for the tasting, and poked around the tasting room a little bit. There is a kitchen at the back end with a wood-burning fireplace, and a lot of chalkboards above the glass wall/doors leading to the winemaking area that announce the specials. We tasted six wines, and I didn't take any true notes since I was mostly trying to have fun, but I will rehash my general impressions here. We tasted the standard set of wines, but Toby gave us some extras since I joined the wine club (you can refuse any shipment you want, so it's a lot less restrictive than other clubs, and you get wines you won't find anywhere else, such as single-vineyard Pinot Noirs) and we were talking somewhat intelligently about the wine.

We started with the 2004 Los Carneros Pinot Blanc, a very simple and light but pleasant wine, and that was followed by the 2003 Three Amigos Vineyard Chardonnay, which I am sad to say is the last of its kind, since they are not making it any more and the 2003 is the last of the line. It has an unusual nose for a Chardonnay, I remember thinking it had a soapy, clean scent on top of the standard apple and vanilla, and it was really pretty. The wine sees no malolactic fermentation other than what might occur naturally, and it was really bursting with fruit and nut flavors, with a very nice finish.

When Toby brought out the Pinot Noir, he delivered it with a small bite of a vegetable and carmelized onion tart. Robert Sinskey's wife is a chef, and at the winery they try to impress the wine-food connection by offering real food with the wine. The tasting bar is scattered with bowls of crostini-style crackers and rosemary and sea salt roasted almonds, and they deliver small bites of food with selected wines, which is great since you can see how the wine would go with food.

The 2002 Los Carneros of Napa Valley Pinot Noir was an austere wine with a heavily fruited nose of strawberry/raspberry, but in the mouth it had not as much fruit as one would expect. It's not showy, more of an austere Pinot, but solid and a very nice wine. It went really well with the tart, which I suspected would be the case. A wine like this is meant for food!

After that was the 2001 Los Carneros of Napa Valley Merlot, which exhibited standard Merlot flavors of plum/blueberry and dried thyme. It was somewhat tannic and puckering at the finish, but I didn't mind that too much. If you do, and have a bottle around, give it another year or two.

The 1999 Napa Valley Vineyard Reserve (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc), followed by an opened magnum of the 1997 that was lying around followed. The 1999 was still young and a little rough around the edges, but the 1997 was really close to beautiful (rich, expressive, slightly minty but not overwhelmingly so) as far as I was concerned and I have hopes for the 1999.

Finally, we finished with the 2001 Los Carneros of Napa Valley Zinskey Late, which we had with a black pepper and red berry galette type thing, a bite we didn't get to try with the Reserves since we were yapping too much. But it went well, and the Zinskey was like the essence of Zinfandel: intense, spicy, not overly sweet, but extracted.

We walked out with the Pinot Noir, the Chardonnay, and the 1999 Reserve, since I have high hopes for it. I am a little sad I didn't get the Zinskey Late, but given that I am only abusing and not drinking the dessert wines I own, I can't allow myself to get more right now.

On the way out, we went out the back door to look at the hillside vines, and ran into a man whose name I didn't get (sadly), and he told us a little bit about how harvest is going. I asked about the freak rains and how they had affected the grapes, and he said that they mostly only caused the grapes to be slightly deformed, since the rains were around flowering, but that they didn't have a big problem with coulure (when the flowers don't get pollinated, usually from wet/cold weather). They will probably cut off some of the fruit post-veraison (when the grapes start to ripen) in a green harvest to improve the fruit that is there. This shouldn't be a problem since he said they have a good harvest in the works and will get a lot of fruit whether or not they prune. I also found out that they hand-harvest their grapes and keep owl and raptor boxes out in the fields (we saw some of those) and that you can estimate the the number of raptors in the boxes by the number of gopher feet left on the ground outside them. They are presently organic are practicing biodynamic growing and I think they are going to be certified biodynamic soon.

We also walked around to the front of the property to admire the fairly large plot of lavender, and I got to stand under a tree and become enveloped in a soft but overwhelming hum of bees... there were so many bees in the branches doing their bee thing it was amazing.

We had lunch, and then went to Duckhorn on a whim, because it was there and because Matt especially likes the Decoy. Duckhorn was totally different... the estate was a large house that reminded me of grand Southern homes, with shutters and a wrap around porch. That was all well and good, and the cat in the vineyards was very dusty and charming, but things got bad when we went inside. This place is a grist mill for wine tasters. Upon entering you are greeted by a man at a cash register, and that gives you an indication of things to come. I guess this is because Duckhorn gets inundated with people and had to streamline the process, but it was still kind of weird to walk in and be greeted by a cash register. We were led to a table in the cavernous tasting room, and five glasses were put on the table.

Cards were placed at each of the glasses with wine information (grapes/oak/harvest) on them. This is the one thing I thought was nice, although the cards were very expensively done on heavy cardstock with full color to look like each of the actual wine labels on the front and the information on the back and I thought this was a little overkill.

We soon found out the reason for the cards, though. Our pourer (who looked too young to legally drink, to me) shambled over and poured the tastes while mumbling about each of the wines in zombielike monotone that indicates "I memorized this, please do not ask me anything because you will make me lose my place and I won't be able to answer your questions anyway". He shambled off after we said thanks, possibly managing eye contact for a split second, leaving us with our cards and wine.

The wines were all okay, I thought. Nothing overly interesting, nothing exciting, mostly safe. They are the kind of wines you could give to your mother and she would be fine with them. They are innocuous. If the wines had been kickass, I would have forgiven Duckhorn a little bit.

We started off with the 2004 Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc, which was fine although didn't have much of any characteristic to speak of. Vaguely grassy and green and fresh, a little full and round, pleasant enough but kind of boring and for the price you could get two bottles of a good NZ Sauvignon Blanc. Then came the 2004 Napa Valley Merlot, which was probably my favorite of the bunch (and I say that with defintely muted enthusiasm). It was a very easy-drinking wine, full of plum and black cherry and some herbs. The next two Merlots (the 2002 Three Palms Vineyards and the 2002 Estate Napa Valley) were similar in profile but definitely tighter and not meant for consumption right now. They had more tannin and backbone and probably need a few years to loosen up a little bit, because the tannins were a little overwhelming. We finished with the oh-so-punny 2002 Paraduxx, a Zinfandel-heavy Zin/Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot blend that was slightly jammy and sweet.

We didn't like any of the bottles enough to buy one, but I thought I would pick up a bottle of the Migration Pinot Noir while I was there, since I wanted to check it out some more after having it and liking it okay after a tasting (we ended up drinking it after we got home and I decided it was a little much the first night but was okay the second night). Since our mumbly pourer was holding up the bar at that point and eye contact was but a dream, I went up and asked for a bottle from a girl who looked to be about fifteen.

Now, I'd had the Migration Pinot Noir and the Decoy before and found them to be interesting enough at the time, so this was all a disappointment. And on the way home, we wondered and discussed how the environment will affect how you like a wine. Would we have liked the Duckhorn wines better if they had been presented to us in an environment more like that at Robert Sinskey? And how would the Sinskey wines fare in an amusement park setup like Duckhorn?

2004 Rosé de Calon

Region: St. Estèphe, Bordeaux, France

Composition: Either 100% Cabernet Sauvignon or approximately 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc, depending who you believe (I would tend to believe the latter)

Background: Château Calon-Ségur is in St. Estèphe, and just happens to be the northernmost Cru Classé (3ème Cru) in the Haut-Médoc region of Bordeaux. It sits at the heart of what used to be the Calon estate, an estate that once took up most of the St. Estèphe commune. In the early 1700s Nicolas-Alexandre, Marquis de Ségur, became owner of Calon (and Lafite and Latour and Mouton, for that matter) when his father died. He supposedly once said "I make wine at Lafite and Latour but my heart is at Calon" and because of that, the Calon-Ségur wines have a heart on the label (except for this rosé which has no heart for some reason; maybe they thought pink+heart=too much, or perhaps it got lesser treatment since it is a humble rosé and maybe a newcomer to the Calon-Ségur lineup).

The sprawling Calon estate has been chopped up into smaller parcels over time, spawning such other estates as Phelan-Ségur. Madame Denise Gasqueton now owns the existing 123 acres and makes about 20,000 cases of wine a year from the land. She took over in 1995 after her husband Philippe died (this is not a usual occurrence, from what I understand; most wives are unprepared or uninterested and sell instead of continuing the business), first surprising people with her determination and shrewd business sense, and then releasing a 1995 vintage that kicked ass and took names. She's continued to make a lot of solid wines that are not ridiculously priced like a lot of Left Bank wines.

Wines from St. Estèphe can be very intense, rough, and tannic due to the clay and granite soils and usually need a good amount of cellaring to come into their own, so this rosé is your chance to get a Calon-Ségur that you will be able to drink before the next decade!

Notes: This is a chameleon pink... it looks deep pink in the glass, from far away, almost strawberry, but when you tilt the glass it turns pale and becomes a much lighter dusky rose. The nose is forthcoming, offering cranberry and strawberry, and in the mouth it is very dry and full of steely strawberry, the steeliness something the nose hints at but doesn't let you know for sure. It's very intense, acidic, and dry, and a good example of what a rosé can (should) be. I think I want some more, and I can't wait to have it with our yellow cherry tomatoes, garlic, romano beans, and basil over some pasta because it is very hot and I can't bear to cook anything else.

The acid on this is high... I don't mind it on the palate but I have noticed that I feel certain high-acid wines in my chest (similar to the way you feel alcohol warming you, but it is not as pleasant) and I can't drink a lot of it all at once, or I have to be careful to temper it with food. This is one of those wines for me, which is sad because I would like to sit around and drink it all day.

Cost: $12

Overall: A-

Watch out, Two Buck Chuck...

...your forefathers are not gone, or forgotten.

It requires registration (you can use Bugmenot) but the Sacramento Bee has a good article today about forgotten wines of yesteryear that are still hanging around. Thanks to Beth for tipping me off, since I am not always up on my Sac Bee reading.

I actually spent a good bit of time Googling Boone's Farm a while back, wondering what happened to it, since I drank my share in college (ugh, I know). I couldn't find much info, but then the other day when I was in our corner liquor store picking up Diet Coke, I saw some, and it looks like Boone's is now in the mixer business (there was only one bottle of wine there, but a whole array of frighteningly-colored mixers).

WBW12 Announced: Drink local

Holy crap, this Wine Blogging Wednesday is going to be a hard one. This time around, for the one year anniversary of WBW (hosted by founder Lenn), we have to drink local. Like, REALLY LOCAL. We have to find the winery closest to our house and drink a wine from there, and no cheating. I don't even know if I know what the winery closest to my house is (I have a guess that it will be one of two places, but have to investigate), but I have to figure it out by August 10 and report back here.

This is a good one, and I will be very interested to read the reports!

The WSET is over

I survived the test. It was oddly okay once it started, even though I got a cold chill when they sat the wine for the blind tasting out on the table in four unmarked bottles. The blind tasting was first, and not difficult since the wine wasn't anything tricky like unoaked Chardonnay or a crazy blend, then the multiple choice, which was both easier and harder than I expected, since there were questions all over the board. Some were easy, some I had to consider, and one or two I had no idea and guessed (I hate when they ask questions that are not brought up as important points in the book, but are mentioned as sidenotes to sidenotes that you have to infer on top of that).

My MO on these things is to go through the questions, answer them, and circle the ones I am not totally sure about on the exam question paper. Then I go back over everything to check answers and focus on the ones on which I am uncertain. In one case I went back and changed a right answer to a wrong one, which is silly, but in at least two others I thought about the answers and changed them to the correct ones. I know from looking things up post the test I got three wrong, and figure I missed a couple of others besides those, so as far as that goes I am in the same boat as the last test.

The final section was the short-answer and I was actually terrified of this and remember putting my head down on the table before we opened the books. I was imagining all sorts of horrible scenarios, and now that I think about it, one of them was actually on the test, but it was okay. There were no questions that made me feel lost or desperate, and other than spacing on the fact that Sekt is tank-produced, I think I did fine. Unless I totally mis-read and misunderstood some questions on styles of sweet wines, which I started worrying about when I woke up at 4 AM this morning.

The only annoyance was that there was a very noisy sigher there, sitting one person away from me. He sighed with pain or frustration the entire test, and in between during breaks he was letting out the kinds of very loud attention-getting yawns people like him emit. He was either having a very difficult time with some of the questions, suffering from intestinal pain, or a drama queen.

Walking out of Copia post-test was fantastic. I had such a sense of relief, yet was frantically thumbing through my books and notes to check a few things. It was a goregous day up in Napa yesterday, though, and we went to Robert Sinskey (great), Bouchon for lunch (where it redeemed itself somewhat for what was one of the worst dining experiences I have ever had at the one in Las Vegas), the Napa Valley Olive Oil Manufactory since I needed some more olive oil and like theirs (and it is not all tourist trappy and expensive like some other olive oil places in Napa), and then Duckhorn, which was mostly unpleasant atmosphere-wise (and the wines were not very interesting, either) except for their cute cat that was trying to catch bees in the vineyards. I am going to write something in more detail about the tasting room visits later, since they were like night and day, but right now I am glad my life can go back to normal, at least until I decide I need to start the Diploma course.

(Of course, now I am thinking I completely blew the blind tasting and am being cocky and will pay for that, because I am thinking too much about it. I just wrote to find out what it was since I was done with the paper before the exam time was over, and we were told to email if we wanted to know.)

WBW11 roundup posted

I am off to take the WSET test and impress the world with my knowledge of Cream versus Pale Cream Sherry, but wanted to mention that Beau posted the roundup of WBW11 for all to see. Looks like people had a wide variety of wines, still, sparkling, very sweet, just a little sweet... you name it!

War of the worlds, Napa-style

Fred Franzia is back (I know, again,) and has a bottle of Four Buck Chuck from Napa in tow. He recently released this four-dollar bottle under his Napa Creek label, and claims it can hold its own with other Napa wines in a blind tasting. I have to say, this really makes me want to do a blind tasting with the stuff. I get the idea that he is mostly doing this to prove his point or thumb his nose at the Napa vintners, but it will be interesting to see how this wine fares, and I wonder how it tastes in comparison with Two Buck Chuck (which, admittedly, is inconsistent, since the grapes are sourced from various places). I also wonder how it tastes compared to the fuel that the French are making with their excess wine.

I mean, don't get me wrong... I think Napa is oven overhyped and ridiculous and too much like Las Vegas in a lot of ways (I am going up there tomorrow and trying to find interesting and not ridiculous and horrible-in-that-fake-riches-way places to go taste, and it's not easy), but I think Franzia is just as silly with his fake "I am doing this for The People" schtick.