Value Wine: De Loach Pinot Noir 2009
Heritage Reserve $15-

So 2009 seems to be a solid year for both cool weather and hot weather wines in California. A fresher, younger year than 2007 apparently.

Without denigrating this wine, let it be known that this is not a huge, complicated Pinot. It is a simple wine, but balanced, and believe it or not rates only half a point lower than bottles of wine 10 times the price.

Lots of berry on the nose. Very fresh, strawberry, red cherry and candied raspberry on the palate. Just a hint of oak comes through, showing a touch of vanilla midpalate. The finish is clean and devoid of any tannic structure, making this more of a fish/chicken Pinot than a wine for heartier fare. Drink now. 87 points.

Library Wines Part 9: Cru Bourgeois

Chateau Monbrison 2003
Margaux, Bordeaux

In the world of French wine, there are few regions that exemplify the popular sentiments of wine drinkers as fluently as Bordeaux.

Many people have heard of Lafite and Mouton, known as Classed Growths, with good reason. There are few places in the world that can create wines of such depth, longevity and complexity with such consistency. Their price reflects this fact, as wealthy enthusiasts have driven the price for these wines into the stratosphere. $1000 easy, per bottle.

Due to this, few American wine drinkers dare to even try to get to know Bordeaux.
It’s no mystery, we generally like our wine fruity and unchallenging, and we like our wine now. We don’t like to wait, as evidenced by the rarity of good Cali Cab from before 2007. We have a tendency to drink wine too soon, gulping down overtly tannic wines in a couple hours, never letting the wine evolve in the decanter long enough. In addition we open them too soon, and as a consequence, we seldom taste a wine when it offers its best expression.

Bordelaise wines can be very unforgiving to the impatient. They can come across with an earthy pungency, a structural depth, and a tannic backbone bitter and chewy.
However if one is patient, and has a decent cellar, the tannins soften and integrate. The acidity, rather than astringent, serves as a binder and balancing agent for the fruit and the earth.
The earthiness goes from a mouth full of gravel into a subtle nuance enrobed in a velvet raiment of fruit.
This is why people spend thousands on a bottle and then set it gingerly in their cellar to gather dust for a couple decades.

That is how you treat a Classed Growth. The wines mentioned above are called First Growths. The Grand Cru Classe, first established by Napoleon III in 1855 for the World Fair, set down a measure of wine quality that has remained mostly unchanged to this day. However it isn’t carved in stone despite its venerable history. You have your First Growths, Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth. Sometimes a Second will be as good or better than a First. Sometimes a Fifth will rival its more noble neighbors. Whatever the case may be these wines are made with quality by producers steeped in the viticultural heritage of their terroir and benefit from patience.

Below the Classed Growths you have Cru Bourgeois. Producers who didn’t make the cut back in 1855, but still making wine worthy of the Bourgeois. Generally better to be drunk sooner than their venerated superiors, these wines nevertheless offer the deep flavors of Bourdeaux at a substantially reduced price ($30-$100 lol).

Ch. Monbrison is just such a wine. Made in Margaux, the home of Ch. Margaux a First Growth, this wine offers a similar earthy structure as its neighbor.

On the nose offering hints of black currant surrounded by gravel and savory herbs. Very structural and possibly declining after 9 years in bottle. The attack is thoroughly earthy, with a combination of dry and wet earth (read: Stone and Clay) and a delightful presence of vegetal underbrush. There is some fruit left but I recommend drinking soon. By and large showing the structure of Margaux but lacking the lush fruit that demarcates the Classed Growths. Solid 88 points for structure, 87 points for what is absent.

Audelssa Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2007
Sonoma Valley

Let’s talk allocations. This is an issue that comes up a lot more than I’d like it to. A customer will inquire about a wine they had at a tony restaurant downtown and all I can say is that they will have great difficulty finding it.

Some wineries only produce a few thousand cases of wine each year. As a consequence their entire crop is spoken for and getting a taste of these wines is a rare luxury.

Audelssa produces about 3000 cases every year so this was a lucky find.

Lush black fruit, ripe blackberry and cherry, cocoa and baking spices round out midpalate, and the finish is a bit tannic but lengthy. 91 points.

Kendall-Jackson
Summation ‘09
Red Blend

“Gimme a bottle of Red!”

Sometimes what you need is a nice little red wine. A little fruity perhaps, and if you’re lucky a touch of structure.

Really the best wines in the world are blends. Bordeaux is all about blending, so is the Northern Rhone. In fact many wines from California, labeled as “Cabernet Sauvignon” or “Zinfandel” can contain up to 25% other grapes.

The blend offers the best of all its grapes while dispensing with (or obfuscating) the weaknesses each varietal might have.

So your merlot is too fruity?Add some Cab. Your Syrah is too tannic? Add some Zin. The value of a blend comes in when you need a wine for a meal but you want everybody to be happy with their pairing.

Kendall-Jackson is a solid producer. Huge, corporate, and quality conscious. Their wines usually fall within the sub$20 range and offer a consistency only possible when you own thousands of acres of vineyard.

Summation breaks with convention and is a blend that would be scoffed at in Europe. There’s Cab, Merlot, Zin, Syrah, and Petite Sirah in this wine. I say breaks with convention because there are few places in France that blend Bordeaux grapes with Rhone grapes, and no place where Zinfandel and Petit Sirah are used.

This would be considered a fruit bomb by most old world palates, but in California it’s what we do best. Big fruity wine.

Lots of fresh berries in the nose. A bit of alcohol heat. Fresh raspberry and black cherry on the palate. Just a touch of tannins and a little dose of vanilla from judicious oak application in the finish. Solid.
Simple and well-balanced. A good foil for late night Southern California comfort food. 87 points.

The Grey Pinot

Cooralook Pinot Gris 2008
Mornington Peninsula

Most people generally prefer red wine for pairing with meals. Often the reds have a juicier fruit profile and a tannic structure that combines well with hearty food flavors. One thing that most people overlook is the acidity of the wine, or absence thereof. White wines generally have better acidity than reds, and it is this feature that makes or breaks it as a good pairing. Think lemon juice on sea bass and you’ll understand the capacity white wines have to complete a meal. This wine is Pinot Gris, or as it is known in Italy, Pinot Grigio. Pinot Gris (Grey) is a relative of Pinot Noir (Black) and has an even lighter cousin Pinot Blanc (White). In its best expressions, it can produce a fragrant white wine of subtlety that, like Pinot Noir is very versatile for food pairings. The best examples come from Northern Italy, Alsace in eastern France, parts of California and Oregon, and apparently Australia. Light flavors is what it calls for to bring out its nuances, seafood, light cream sauces, and poultry. Our meal was a simple flatbread pizza margherita, and while perhaps the tomato sauce was not ideal, the wine showed well. The fruit was citrusy, mainly lime, with hints of white peach showing through. A delightful zing midpalate followed by a faint floral minerality in the short, clean finish. Very good. 89 points.

Marriage Party Part 2: Orin Swift’s Experiment in Maury

Orin Swift Others 2009
Vin de Pays
Cötes du Catálanes

As a gift to my Brother Dave and his new wife Ari, I decided to bust out a bottle of Orin Swift “Others”. It is the second bottling of winemaker Dave Phinney’s Maury property in the south of France (the top bottling, D-66 is about $40). He sold his Prisoner label to finance his purchase of vineyards in Maury simply because he believes so fiercely in its potential. Prisoner is a huge seller, and at $35+ a bottle in undoubtedly making a fortune for its new owners.

The wines of Orin Swift are very fruit driven, but contain an opulence and complexity that hints at something more subtle and refined. Generally full bodied, these wines benefit greatly from patience, and command it at such prices. Perhaps Others is exceptional among Swift wines in that it is less than $20, this particular bottle was $17, and sadly is generally sold out within days of arrival. Keep your eyes peeled.

Also sadly within 30 minutes of opening, this bottle was dry and all its powerful contents hurtling through the blood streams of my friends and family.

Later I read that it demands a 5 hour decanting process before really showing its colors. Curses! I should be more patient but alas it was still delicious.

The fruit was a bit closed. Showing dark blackberry and cooked black cherry flavors. A savory, toasted midpalate evoked bacon fat and led into a velvety tannic finish. The wine is delightful, but perhaps more serious than Phinney’s pop-and-pour California creations. I highly recommend a long decant with the Maury wines, and perhaps a re evaluation of the Prisoner, Saldo, Palermo, and Abstract.

Composed principally of Grenache.

88-90 points. A great wine.

Let’s talk Montepulciano

Corte alla Flora
Rosso di Montepulciano 2008

In my business, people come up to me all the time asking, “What do you have in a nice Montepulciano?”
Reveling in their perfect pronunciation: Mawn-te-puul-chi-awno. While I applaud proper use of Italian names I wish they’d inquire about this wine when the girl they’re trying to impress isn’t around.

In these cases my first question in response causes some embarrassment.
“Do you mean wines made in Montepulciano or wines made of the grape, Montepulciano?”
I never want to cause my clients any trouble, they pay my bills, after all. However I also want them to get exactly the wine they want.

You see, this story exemplifies the major issue with understanding Italian wine. The Italian wine world is very complex, and it often seems deliberately confusing.
Case in point: They do not grow the grape Montepulciano in the region surrounding the city of Montepulciano. No, they grow Sangiovese, the principle grape of Chianti. They grow the Montepulciano grape around the city of Abbruzo.

After you’ve seen enough labels, it becomes easy to remember the difference, but most people asking for either wine haven’t had that opportunity.

Here’s a handy reference:

Rosso di Montepulciano
Vino Nobile di Montepulciano

Are generally Sangiovese grown in Montepulciano
(Vino Nobile and Rosso are the wine, “di” or “of” the town Montepulciano)

Whereas

Montepulciano di Abbruzo

Are Montepulciano grapes grown in Abbruzo
(Montepulciano is the wine, “di” or “of” the town Abbruzo)

Anyway usually the customer is looking for the Abbruzo wine. They make lots of it, and while there are some truly fine examples, most is fruity and nondescript.

Tonight’s wine, however, is the Sangiovese from Montepulciano. The finest examples or “Vino Nobile” rival Chianti Classico and Brunello for the title of Best Expression of Sangiovese.
This is merely Rosso di, however for a light meal of pasta and pizza it is perfect. Too big a wine and it overshadows the food.

Red berries and heat on the nose. Fresh aromas of fruit and herbs on second blush. Floral perfume and hints of tobacco. Red cherry and raspberry on the palate, hints of earthy vegetal acidity midpalate, leading into a light tannic finish. Medium-minus length.
A good value at $11

87 points realistically, good balance.

Marriage Party Part 1: Tete d’Cuvee

Perrier-Jouët Fleur de Champagne 1995

As with many origin stories from Champagne, this one springs from a love affair.
Between a Frenchman and Dutch Lady in this particular case. It’s a cliche to say that Champagne is perfect for celebrating love, but perhaps some of that stems from the history in those vineyards and the romances that spawned them.

Pierre Nicholas-Marie Perrier and his wife Adelé Jouët (together pronounced Pair-ee-ay-Joo-et) founded their Champagne house in the heart of the Epérnay region in 1811. Their success was founded in their appreciation of certain fine vineyard sites, and in 1837 their first shipment to America landed in New York.

As with most other Champagne Marqúes (brands) Perrier-Jouët produces a top-of-the-line bottling called the Tete d’Cuvee. Moët-Chandon has Dom Perignon, Veuve Cliquot has Le Grand Dame, Louis Roederer has Cristal, and Perrier-Jouët has Belle Époque or as it is called stateside, Fleur de Champagne.

These are vintage wines, and as a service to the public, the Champagne houses reserve them a number of years after bottling before releasing them for sale. The sad truth is that like most truly fine wine, Champagne is generally consumed before it can evolve into its best expression.

My brother, however, learned early on in his love of wine, just how important time is as an ingredient of great wine. He had saved this bottle for perhaps too long, but my experience with him has taught me just how durable a wine can be in the right hands.

Unlike opening a fresh bottle, a well-aged vintage bubbly barely has enough pressure to launch the cork. No exception here, however the wine still retained a frizzante effervescence.

The aromas and palate were subtle and exquisite, and contained within an unearthly complexity.

Crisp and buttery on the nose. Fresh peaches and lime, pineapple, toasted coconut, freshly cut sourdough bread mid palate almost creamy, a crisp mineral zing on the finish. A lingering pleasant finish to say the least. It takes a huge amount of willpower not to quaff this wine, but the rational mind wants to ponder it. So torn between urges. This wine is a 93-94 but likely declining as of publication. Please drink up.

2010 Bodegas Maximo
Edición Limitada
Tempranillo
Tierra de Castilla

This was a Whole Foods purchase, I want to say around $15.

The best thing about Spanish wine is the high level of quality that can be had at reasonable prices.

Maybe it was $11, whatever the case may be Spain has a LOT of vineyard acreage.
Something like 3 million acres, and much of it is planted with grapes that have been selected over the years to thrive in Spain’s harsh sunny plateau. The vines are planted sparsely and many are very, very old. This leads to grapes with lots of flavor and a resulting wine that is rich in color and complexity. Which isn’t to say that all the wine in Spain is amazing, but the odds of getting a good value are greater than from other European wine regions.

Tempranillo is the Spanish Fine Wine workhorse grape. It factors heavily in two of Spain’s finest products:
Rioja and Ribera Del Duero.
Some examples fetching hundreds of dollars a bottle, these two regions produce what is arguably Spain’s best challenge to the grand wine regions of France and Italy. However very good examples of Rioja and RDD can be had for $30 so don’t let me put you off.

This particular wine is quite good. Medium bodied and clean. The nose favors fruit and some hints of barrel. Cherries and smoke. The palate is somewhat lush, with a hint of heat on the mid palate. Black and red cherry with some faint acidity. The finish is a bit lacking but has a nice barbecue smokiness that pairs well with our pasta and flatbread pizzas.

I rated this wine 89pts. on CellarTracker but after further reflection I think 87 is a fair assessment. Good quality for the price. Spain delivers again.

Vinim Koz El Dorado Blend 2007

We bought this at Whole Foods on a lark. Not a bad price at $11, and I wanted to taste one of the hearty reds that come from the Sierra Foothills. Composed principally of Syrah and Petite Sirah, this wine was sure to be full bodied.

Ripe red cherry and baked raspberry tort. A bit hot on the nose and palate with some notes of black fruit underlying the alcohol. Relatively low acidity and a somewhat cooked, jammy flavor marks the midpalate. The finish has a hint of toasty and smokey oak. In this case we did not give it a chance to open up and made quick work of it at dinner. A wine of this depth, particularly at this price, requires patience for its flavors to unfold.