this heaven gives me migraine

Spanish wine

This tasting happened February 18, 2005 at K&L. I was eager to go since I told someone I would find him a good, light (read: traditional) Tempranillo and every time I picked up a bottle, it ended up being a big, black-fruit, Parker-styled beast of a wine, and not at all what I wanted. I started thinking that I had been imagining lighter Tempranillo styles but finally came across an Izadi Rioja that I thought was exactly what I wanted, even though I figured I would check out this tasting as well. Funnily, the Izadi was included in the tasting and it was, of the 13 wines tasted, my favorite, still. So the tasting was maybe pointless but it was a fascinating tasting nonetheless, and I realized a few things:

1- I mentally categorize red wines into "black" or "red" based on general fruit profile and overall flavors (in this case I was looking for a red and not a black. Only two of the wines we tasted (well, three) counted as red to me, so it is good one of them worked out.
2- Tempranillo, at least what we tasted, is a lot darker than I remember (I am guessing my memory really sucks).
3- I don't like it when Cabernet Sauvignon gets into my Tempranillo. Well, sometimes.
4- 2001 was a better year for Spain than 2003.

It got crowded as it always does these days, and you have to juggle around and taste and write your notes on your clipboard (or on the counter, if you get there early like me and can stake out a good spot). Like Italian wines, Spanish wines really need food, so tasting them this way isn't ideal, because a cracker every now and then isn't really real food. Life is hard, sometimes, isn't it?

2004 Bodegas Y Vinedos Luna Beberide Mencia, Bierzo - 100% Mencia - ($13) From the area of Spain directly north of Portugal. The Mencia grape is possibly related to Cabernet Franc. Dark purple with a soapy, violet, blackberry jam nose, it is strong and tannic in the mouth. There is black fruit and some rocky minerality there but it wasn't very exciting and I wasn't thrilled by it, although I realize it had the misfortune of being the first wine tasted and that wine is always at a disadvantage. Also, it definitely needed food. 7.

2001 Viña Izadi Crianza, Rioja (Alavesa) - 90% Tempranillo, 5% Mazuelo, 5% Graciano - ($15) Light burgundy in the glass and with a goregous nose of cherries, it plies you with a lot of sour cherry in the mouth and finishes with a very slight cough drop/cardamom flavor. It has a rough, warm finish... not tannic, but nicely astringent, probably a result of the 14 months it spent in American oak. 9.

2001 Bodegas Y Vinedos Pujanza, Rioja (Alavesa) - 100% Tempranillo - ($25) Darker burgundy than the Izadi, I found it was hard to get much off the nose...some lead and tobacco with some cherry down underneath somewhere. There is black fruit but not much of it, and the finish is all leather and tannins. 7.5

2003 Artadi Viñas de Gaín, Rioja (Alavesa) - 100% Tempranillo - ($22) Blackish purple in the glass, really dark. A wacky almost floral nose that has a strange element of hazelnut in it (I am thinking, since to me it smelled like nuts and plastic, and I mean that in a nice way). It has a lot of fruit up front and an oaky softly tannic finish with lingering plum and cherry. It's a very feminine wine and very pretty. 8.

2004 El Quintanal, Ribera del Duero - 100% Tempranillo - ($11) First bottle had a must problem of some sort where it tasted and smelled musty. We got out a second one to check, and indeed, it was much cleaner. It's dark purple with a nose of thyme and herbs and is very black cherry-like and placid in the mouth, with a burst of herb, oak, and fruit at the finish. The nose is what I think of as shiny and hard... it's not rough and warm but has very precise smells in it. It's a savory-type wine, and for the price it is very nice. 8.

2001 Arzuaga Crianza, Ribera del Duero - 100% Tempranillo - ($26) Brownish-purple and with a nose full of tons of black fruit, along with leaf litter and tobacco. Loads of black plummy fruit in the mouth and some tobacco and oak on the finish. Very pleasant. 8.

2003 Finca Luzón Altos de Luzón, Jumilla - 50% Monastrell, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Tempranillo - ($14) Burgundy-black, smells like a Cab to me... lots of mocha and blackberry and currant. Has a nice spicy peppery finish, but feels heavy and dull after the previous wines. 7.

2003 Pago Florentino, La Mancha - 100% Tempranillo - ($17) Made by the Arzaga people. All about black fruit. Dark in the glass, dark in the mouth. Has a nice astringency. I really liked the first taste, but the second proved to be cloying and I wasn't so sure. Had a little too much jam in it for me... kind of Australian in sensibility. 7.5.

2003 Celler de Cantonella Cervoles Tinto, Costers del Segre - 41% Tempranillo, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Grenache, 11% Merlot - ($25) This is the second of the "red" wines, and is medium burgundy in the glass. This one is all cough syrup all the time. It's pleasant enough, though, since the slightly-medicinal sour cherry thing works for me. It also has a slight bitterness on the finish that lingers. The Cabernet isn't as noticeable here. 8.

2003 Vetus, Toro - 100% Tempranillo, maybe - ($20) Made by the Izadi people, and sports a pretty spiffy minimal label. Dark, black, with a lot of rough tannins and could probably sit around for a while to good effect. In the same rough, warm style as the Izadi. 8.5

2004 Bodegas Quinta de la Quietud "Corral de Campanas", Toro - 100% Tinto de Toro, maybe - ($22) From the former owners of Château Cheval Blanc. Dark purple and with a lot of oaky tinderbox and hope chest smells in the nose along with some mocha and cherry. Lots of big, extracted fruit descending to a prickly acid finish. A huge wine. 8.

2001 Quinta de la Quietud Muestra, Toro - 100% Tinto de Toro, maybe - ($35) Reddish black, dark. Smells like an attic filled with old papers. Lots of very ripe brambly blackberry and raspberry in the mouth. Very pretty and elegant overall. 8.5.

1996 Arzuaga Gran Reserva, Ribera del Duero - 100% Tempranillo, maybe - ($125) This was a bonus bottle opened up because everyone in the store wanted to try it. Very brown/brick red and showing that it has some age on it. Not much fruit left at this point, mostly toasty wood, tobacco, and spice in the mouth. The finish is languid and super smooth, and I really liked the finish, since I am all about the finish when it comes to wine. 9.

Tasting quote of the day:

Kirk (hosting the tasting) to me, when I didn't appreciate the Cabernet in the Finca Luzón: "Cabernet in the glass is like having your mother-in-law in your house... you don't have to see her to know she's there."

I ended up going home with the Izadi Rioja and the Vetus, even though I will probably pick up the El Quintanal at some point and possibly a couple of the others.

Have wine, will travel... hopefully

So I have to get my just-big-enough-to-be-an-issue (around 20 cases) wine collection from here to DC later this year. And because the gods hate me, it looks like we are going to be moving in June or thereabouts, not earlier. So I have to figure out how to get my wine across the country, because the way I was going to do it (yeah, yeah, I know, putting it in a truck with everything else we own is bad news but we are buying and remodeling a house and moving a lot of stuff and I am about to be P-O-O-R) is probably is a really bad idea given the heat. I was willing to risk the wine-with-everything-else move if the weather was cool, but in the heat, no way. So now I am looking at my options and hoping they don't break the bank.

So far I have these:

- Adventures in Wine. They are a complete unknown, but might be able to help. The guys at K&L told me that Marco (who used to work at K&L before he moved back East) used them when he moved. I have to give them a call and see if they offer anything (I am not sure if Marco used them for storage and that got him the ability to use them for moving, too).

- Western Carriers. Good: Probably cheaper than some other options, and they can store the wine on the other end if I need it. Bad: Your wine is in a truck for a while and even if the truck is air conditioned, certain wine forums have me leery of that since they convinced me that the driver is going to be a layabout who turns the truck off to nap and gamble in Las Vegas for hours on end while the wine cooks. I know this is not likely.

- Wine By Air International. Good: Ships by air, so it is fast. They come and pack your stuff into insulated carriers. Bad: Probably most expensive, and planes crash and all (I know, also not likely).

- I could leave it here in storage for a while and somehow come back and get it, but that seems like a bad idea and is not really dealing with the problem, just putting off dealing with it for a while.

I was looking into wine storage in DC, and well. Not a lot of options there. There is one place located "conveniently" north of Georgetown, which makes a big assumption about the people who own wine that is to be stored, but they are only open six days a week and they have plywood panels on the wine storage, something that just seems sketchy to me. They can store single cases, though, which is interesting. I think I can set up something in the basement that will be fine, but just in case I find out the basement goes to 85 in the summer (not out of the question in DC) it is good to know one's options.

If my wine and I make it to my next birthday intact, I am opening the best thing I can find and not feeling guilty about it at all.

Anyone here ever moved wine? What did you do? How did you do it? Why can't I collect thimbles or silver spoons with the states on them?

Champagne!

I have been slackerly in the ways of winetasting lately and, while I have certainly been drinking here and there, I haven't been thinking about it much, and have been writing about it even less. The other day I spotted a bottle at the wine shop and I was pretty sure I remembered not liking it much, but alas, I did not make notes on it, so that information will be lost forever. And right there I decided to get back on the horse, or the wagon, or whatever it is that dumped me.

I also haven't been to a proper Saturday K&L tasting in forever, so I recently started up again. What could be better to start up with than Champagne? I don't think anything. We tasted ten of them, and I went home with two. And then went out and bought a very expensive suit for a wedding, but I can't blame that on the Champagne.

We tasted a lot of NV Champagne, which often people shun since it isn't vintage, but, as you can see from my notes below, NV Champagne has to come from some place in time, and sometimes it is actually a single vintage even if it isn't labelled as such (since a vintage year was not declared). And some of them were very good. I could go into a long boring discussion about the declaration of vintages in Champagne and how that controls supply and demand, etc etc, but even I don't want to hear myself talk about that. And I really have nothing against blending. Blending can be your friend.

I will point out that we tasted these with potato chips and crackers, and the chips were quite tasty although not as good as french fries. Naysayers hush right now... Champagne and french fries is the best pairing ever. The salty greasy starchy fries are cut beautifully by the acid and bubbles of Champagne. Don't knock it until you try it.

I rated on a ten point scale because I felt like it.

N/V Leclerc Briant "La Croisette" single vineyard Brut, Epernay ($30) Chardonnay from the 2000 and 2001 vintages. Unusual, usually he does red fruit based Champagnes, and Epernay is more town than vineyards. Pale straw. A sharp nose of lemon and cream. Sharp and acidic, with lemon zest, apples, and rocks. 7.

N/V Franck Bonville Brut Selection Blanc de Blancs, Avize ($24) Blend of 1997, 1998, and 1999 Chardonnay. Pale straw. Delicate white floral nose with yeasty biscuit undertones. Creamier and less acidic than the Leclerc, and in the mouth it is nutty, yeasty, biscuity, with a peach finish. 8.5.

N/V Launois "Cuvée Reserve", Mesnil/Oger ($26) Chardonnay, 90% from 2000 vintage, 10% from 1998. Again, pale straw. Trademark fine bubbles, with a kind of odd flinty beery nose. The mousse is sharp and acidic and we are back to green apples and lemon, although the finish is all apricot (with that slight dull bitterness apricot has). 7.5.

N/V Franck Bonville Cuvée Les Belles Voyes, Oger ($60) All 1997 vintage Chardonnay. Darker straw than the previous, this has a heady, feminine nose of peaches and flowers. It's a little big and blowsy in the mouth, with a lot of stone fruit, and it is so fruit-rich it tastes overripe to me. It was better with a potato chip, although it is not my thing. 7.

N/V Tarlant Brut Zero, Oeuilly ($27) 1998, 1999, 2000 vintages. 1/3 each Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier. Medium straw. Sharp but pleasant nose of minerals, some sweet apple and lily that starts to smell like baby asprin/orange cremesicle after it sits out a while. Not sharp or acidic, the finish is dry as expected (since it gets no dosage), but seems a little blunt and dull to me. Nice with the chips, though. 8.

1996 Leclerc Briant Cuvée Divine Brut, Epernay ($40) 50% Chardonnay, 50% Pinot Noir, 10-plus years old. People are crazy for this... the shop got it in a few days before the tasting and it was already sold out (they will have it again in a month or two). Medium yellow/straw. A sharp, prickly nose. Placid lemon-scone in the mouth, very elegant and pretty. The finish backs off gently and lingeringly. Beery but nice, I felt slightly let down by the finish. 8.5/9.

N/V Marguet-Bonnerave Brut Rose, Brouillet ($26) 70% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Noir. 60% from the 2000 vintage, 40% from 1998/1999. I have had this before and liked it. You won't see any more for a year and a half, so get it now while you can. The guy who makes it under the label had his brother die. His mother, who owned most of the stock, went kind of crazy and sold the vineyards to some big conglomerate (I forget which one). The rest of the family tried to sue to stop her but lost. So now the winemaker is left with a name and no grapes. He is regrouping and supposedly the grapes he is getting are better than what he had been getting, even, and in about two years he will release under the name Bonnerave. Salmon-pink in the glass. A goregous nose that defines why I love rosé Champagne... full of what I think of as rough strawberries. It's got some toast in the mouth, but is bursting with berries and is very very pretty. 9.

NV Ariston Brut Rosé, Brouillet ($29) 50% Pinot Noir, 50% Pinot Meunier, all from the 1999 vintage. Pale pink. Less rough strawberry than the Marguet-Bonnerave, and more of a clear fruit nose, with a tiny grassy note. Sharper acids with more clear fruit on the tongue, with a cherry flavor bordering on cough drop/cardamom. Pleasant enough, but not as good as the previous. 8.5

N/V René Collard Brut Carte d'Or, Reuil ($40) 100% Pinot Meunier from the 1992 vintage. Dark yellow. A fantastic earthy nose of mushrooms, dirt, manure, truffles (when aged, Pinot Meunier does that). Reminds me of the nose some Barberas have. Very smooth and mushroomy in the mouth... no fruit. Has a finish that borders on sherry-like but not too much so and if you aspirate it, you can taste the earthy flavors you can smell in the nose. (We had a bottle of this a few days later and it does best with a little air.) 9.

1985 René Collard Cuvée Reservée Millesime, Reuil ($60) 90% Pinot Meunier, 10% Chardonnay. Darkest yellow yet. Couldn't place the nose right away, but it is nutty and dry-smelling, like paper. Very austere and sherry-like. Interesting enough but a little too old for me, I think, and I liked the Carte d'Or better. 8.

So my favorites and the two bottles I bought (and in one case, bought again) were the René Collard Brut Carte d'Or and the N/V Marguet-Bonnerave. They are as different as night and day, really, but I loved them both for what they did and did well.

Tasting quote of the day:

Scott (hosting the tasting) to group of gay men, explaining the tasting order: "The first four are all Chardonnay based... you always start with white fruit."

Man in group: "Well, I'm here!"

2003 Boekenhoutskloof "The Chocolate Block"

Notes: I talked about this wine once before, briefly, but had the chance to have a bottle with dinner when we were just back in DC for a while. This wine is one of Mark Kent's babies, and as far as I am concerned he is The Man for South African wine. Boekenhoutskloof is his main label, but he also makes wine under second label Porcupine Ridge (even though I understand that Porcupine Ridge actually makes up the bulk of production).

I have to admit, I originally thought Mark Kent was The Man because I thought this wine involved the strange and disturbing Pinotage, and I thought anyone who could make Pinotage taste this good was a genius. Alas, the wine contains no Pinotage: just 44% Syrah, 21% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Grenache Noir, 12% Cinsault, and 6% Viognier, so consider it Rhone-ish with some Cabernet tossed in there. But I still give Kent points for making a clean wine that doesn't have that intense super-gamey-liquid-smoke-and-dirt core that a lot of South African reds have. Well, a lot of South African reds I have encountered, at least. Only 81 cases were made, so I guess I should get on it if I want to find some more.

We had this with dinner (a simple pasta dish and garlic bread) and it was generally a crowd-pleaser-- not too strange in any way, and very user-friendly. It greets you with a cherry-raspberry-barky nose that has a floral overlay thanks to the Viognier. The Syrah adds some iodine and earth in the nose for interest. In the mouth, Cabernet is at the forefront, with a blackberry-currant flavor and instant tannin/dryness. Then a sharper leatheriness takes over and the whole thing wraps up a meaty finish with some peppery spice. Finally, it leaves you with (true to its name, or perhaps I was influenced by the name) with the lingering flavor of mocha. The wine isn't exactly high-acid but has a nice gum-tingling tannic astringency in the finish that makes up for it. It is also interesting since you can almost pick out the components and tell which grape is responsible for each one, yet all the components are blended into one harmonious wine. This is very much in the spirit of Southern Rhone.

Cost: $25

Overall: A-/B+