Hot Restaurants
The food was fantastic as was the wine list. There were so many interesting wines to choose from that it was difficult to order. All was in place for a great wine evening and the Riedels on the table sparkled in anticipation of delights soon to pass from their lips to ours. The evening started with the sublime Champagne, Pierre Gimmonet, Blanc de blancs 1er Cru, Cuvée Gastronome, 2002, which is creamy, toasty and complex with a finish that just won't quit. It was paired with an assortment of pristine Puget Sound oysters and it was such a magical interplay that it only sharpened our palates for the wine and food yet to come.
The impending arrival of our next courses called for red wine and the Chénas, Vieilles Vignes de 1939, Pascal Aufranc, 2005 arrived at the table and was poured only to be met with tepid enthusiasm. That tepid response was caused by the temperature of the wine, not the wine itself. Once again a restaurant that was flying all the flags of a serious wine restaurant ignored one of the most basic requirement for serving a fine wine. Our Chénas had to be almost 75 degrees. What was an elegant, beautiful wine had been turned into a mushy, cooked hot alcoholic brew. We summoned an ice bucket and actually poured our glasses back into the bottle to try to save what we could of this wine, but, while the buckets chill dramatically improved the wine after ten minutes, putting a natural wine through this kind of roller coaster will not bring out the best in a wine.
Hot restaurants serving hot red wines is a ridiculously common occurrence. They spend and spend on the accoutrements of fine wine, but then ignore one of the basics of wine service: temperature. Proper serving temperature for most red wines is in the 60's, not the 70's, and it's better to error on the side of cooler rather than warmer. I am amazed how many times I've had a sommelier rave about this or that obscure producer only to pour a lukewarm wine into a glass that costs more than the wine. A restaurant that does not make the effort to serve their wines at the proper temperature cannot be considered to have a serious wine program. This also applies to their wine-by-the-glass programs where half-empty bottles languish on the back bar no matter the balmy ambient temperature.
America is the country where we serve red wines too warm and white wines too cold.
What a Loss
With the first of the year approaching and people making all those New Year’s Resolutions, I think this quote, which is from Florida Jim’s signature line at Wine Therapy, is particularly meaningful:
“I went on a rigorous diet that eliminated alcohol, fat and sugar. In two weeks, I lost 14 days.” Tim Maia, Brazilian singer-songwriter.”
Wine That Loves
While living in Italy I always thought that the best value wines I found were the most versatile with food. An excellent dolcetto or montepulciano tasted pretty good with pasta, pizza or or bistecca. It was only 
the most expensive, distinctive wines that wanted or deserved more precise food pairings. After all there is eating and there is fine dining. There are peak culinary experiences and then there is just plain good eating. I’ve found in those good eating circumstances that the wine you choose can be very adaptable as long as it’s a good wine. Good food and good wine, there’s not much more you could want on most nights. Save the perfect matches for Per Se and special occasions, but other than that just enjoy. This is particularly true at the more reasonably priced end of the wine spectrum where the best wines are up-front, fruity and just plain delicious.
However, a new company seems to disagree with my simple pleasures and insist that they have developed a line of $12.99 wines that are so diverse that they have selected and produced individual red wines to go with specifically “pasta with tomato sauce”, “roasted chicken”, “pizza” and “grilled steak”. Frankly, I find it hard to conceive of a $12.99 red wine that I really like that I wouldn’t happily consume with any of these dishes.
Let’s think about what these wines are all about. They don’t own vineyards or a winery so they are out there buying in bulk and coming up with blends. Not that there is anything wrong with that if you make a good everyday wine, but there seems to be a scam going on when they take these bulk wines and try to con the consumer into laying in a supply of the “different” blends so they don’t make the disastrous mistake of having to serve the “pizza” blend with chicken one night because they’d run out of the proper “roasted chicken” blend. Which apparently somehow would ruin your dinner by being an imperfect match.
This is just what the already self-conscious American consumer needs, the feeling that wines selling for 12 bucks need to be precisely matched to just the right food to be enjoyed. On top of this the lone white in the line-up is for “Grilled Salmon”. How confident are we to be in their recommendations if they can’t even get the color of the wine to be served right?
Wine loves food, but to be so picky about it at this price range is silly at best.
The New Prohibition
Wines & Vines - News Headlines - Oregon Shipping Permits Needed
When the Supreme Court seemingly overthrew interstate shipping restrictions for wine a few years ago we all celebrated. However, the cure was worse than the disease in this case. Formerly there may have been only a small group of reciprocal states, but they were easy. If you shipped to them they’d ship to you. That’s all there was too it. Today that system is being thrown by the wayside as state after state foregoes the simplicity of the old reciprocal system and adds layers of taxes and registrations required for out of state wineries to ship to consumers in that state. Now even Oregon has gone down this path.
The fundamental argument here is that large, industrial producers and distributors want to eliminate any competition from small producers in their markets and pay “lawmakers” to create regulations that give them a monopoly in their markets. As only small wine producers and consumers are hurt there seems to be nothing to worry about in state capitals across the nation.
There is no such thing as consumer protection when the government gets involved in wine, It’s only about grabbing tax money.
An Opulent Certification
In the Wizard of Oz, the Scarecrow finally gets his brain by getting a piece of paper he can frame and put on the wall. While the Scarecrow had to prove his intelligence to get his paper, there are other documents that people hang on their walls that prove exactly the opposite. After all, there is that old saying that a fool is born every minute.Now you too can prove to your friends that you are a bonafide wine expert by getting your very own piece of paper to hang on the wall. For a mere $195 you can get certificates ready for framing from The Parker & Zraly Wine Certification Program, which you can check out at this link: Wine Certification Program.
Having to hang such a document on your wall to prove you’re an expert proves something else. Taking that $195 and investing it in a few books and, most importantly, more wine to taste is a far better investment. There is also the reality that these days there is a vast amount of information available online for free. If you really need something to put on the wall, you also can just print one up on your own.
Next time you wander into someone’s office or house and see one of these certificates, the refrain, “If I only had a brain” should come into your head.
Future Tense
It's rare these days when you have to write about a wine in the future tense. Most wines are all they can be upon release with their Rubenesque charms right there for any palate to perceive. These wines don't require the encyclopedic knowledge of a Michael Broadbent to be put into perspective: Brittany Spears can handle the description on her way out of the limo. However, there may be some of you who are old enough remember when it was common to have wines that weren't as charming as they were ever going to be on the first day they hit the market. These were wines that excited you because of the riches you knew awaited you if you nurtured them through grouchy adolescence into majestic maturity.
Such a wine is the 2003 Cappellano Nebiolo d'Alba, a wine that will someday surpass many a Barolo in complexity and intellectual pleasure. This wine is no pleasure to drink now, however, in a decade or so it will bring pleasure hard to put into words in a commentary such as this: meaning that you're going to have to take my word for it. If you ever wondered what nebbiolo is all about this taught, tight and bracingly tannic wine is a good place to start. Cappellano wines teach everyone a lesson about tannin. That is that powerful, mouth-drying young tannins don't have to be green or brutally bitter. Tasting these streamlined, intense tannins teases and taunts you to wait for what only time can bring. While Cappellano Barolo itself is otherworldly and more complex than this wine, the Cappellano Nebiolo (yes they spell it with only one "b" at Cappellano) is an outstanding wine at a fraction of the price. Frankly, it's a far better wine than many wines sporting the name Barolo on their label and price tags. This is a buy as much as you can type of wine.
Another revelation for most drinkers will be the 2005 Cappellano Dolcetto d'Alba Gabutti. No purple glop here, but a real wine that will improve and develop for years. I never understood why so many wine guides refer to dolcetto as the Beaujolais of Italy and tasting this wine will make you wonder what the heck they were drinking. The Cappellano Dolcetto has zesty, bright fresh fruit, but it doesn't stop there like so many dolcetto wines these days. The brilliant fruit is layered with bitter tar, black truffle, rich porcini mushroom flavors and aromas that remind you more of nebbiolo than dolcetto. This is dolcetto at its best and most complex. Don't waste this on pizza, but save it for more elevated fare. I would seriously consider aging this wine for at least two more years. That's my plan with my remaining bottle.
The Cappellano wines are some of the finest examples of pure, classic winemaking coming out of Italy today. They are wines of place and variety that radiate purity of character. This means they are not wines for everyone and that you must age them to realize their greatness. You become part of the process that brings these wines to their finest. It's that personal involvement that adds an extra level of complexity to the enjoyment of such wines. As you carefully age them you become an integral part of the winemaking team and part of the process that makes that bottle extraordinary. There is nothing quite like opening a bottle you have kept for many years. The emotion and experience of opening such a wine can never be replaced by the simple hedonistic pleasures of a wine manufactured to be drunk the day the cork goes into the bottle. While there is nothing wrong with easy wines made to be drunk young, (after all, what would we drink while waiting for our best wines to mature or with cheeseburgers on a Tuesday night?) it's a waste when potentially great wines are emasculated by winemakers in the name of making them ready-to-drink beverages instead of reaching for the heights that could be achieved with bottle age.
As it becomes harder-and-harder to find wines designed to improve with age, producers like Cappellano become more-and-more something to be treasured.
Celine's Kind of Wine
Americans equate quantity with quality. Big plates of food and big voices like Celine Dion fill seats in restaurants and amphitheaters alike. The same proven concept has overwhelmed the wine industry: (big wine x price)+big points=sales. Everything is about power and we no longer can hear or taste the nuanced pleasures of complexity. In music the artistry of Ella Fitzgerald is replaced by the vocal pyrotechnics of Celine Dion, while in wine the layers of Lafarge have been replaced by the variety-free jammy characteristics of Loring. Can Dion sing and Loring make good wine: sure. However, they leave nothing to the imagination or the individual forcing the drinker/listener down the path they have chosen instead of creating art that awakens their spirit and intellect and invites them to become part of the experience. A Loring wine or a Dion song happens to you like a sit-com with a laugh track that tells you when to laugh.
Michael Foley, an outstanding chef in Chicago, once told me that Americans were so used to flavor overloads that they could not understand simple foods. That palates raised on the dozens of flavors of a Big Mac could not understand the subtle beauty of a simply poached fresh salmon. I think he was right and palates and ears accustomed to Whoppers, Dion and Loring lack the ability to experience anything beyond that first wave of flavor or sound.
To be art, the work should involve you and make you think. The same goes for great wine.
Think For Yourself
A big wine tells you what to think, while a more elegant restrained wine forces you to think for yourself. One happens to you, the other involves you; seduces you.
A perfect example of a wine that invites you into such an experience is the 2005 Bourgogne, Vieilles Vignes, Domaine Joseph Voillot. This is a wine that can only be described as vivaciously alive. The drinking of it releases its spirit and that essence flows into you. Is this a great pinot noir? No, but it is a wonderful one and a great value selling for under $30. It is also the perfect entry point for those wondering what all the angst surrounding the crafting of fine pinot noir is all about. Unfortunately all too many consumers are exposed to pinots that taste more like syrah than pinot and after that palate dulling experience can't appreciate the delicate flower that is pinot noir; that characteristic that no other variety can mimic. This is sad both for pinot noir, which is not very good at being big and for syrah, which is very good at it. With confused consumers using pinot noir as a syrah surrogate all too many fine syrah wines are ignored.
The 05 Voillot Bourgogne is a delicate beauty, shy at first, but soon opening its full radiance to you. At a lilting 12.5% alcohol, today's sandblasted palates may not get it, but those whose taste buds still live will discover a myriad of haunting flavors and aromas that linger in a perfect balancing act that expands with every sip. This is what pinot noir is all about.
Old Hippies
I was under the Eiffel Tower drinking some of the best wine I had ever tasted. It had no brand name other than 12%. It was 1974 and I had picked up the jug in the Parisian version of a corner grocery, where the wine was sold by the level of alcohol, not a brand name. I know it didn’t cost very much because I basically had no money. That bottle was my ticket to lunch as my contribution to the myriad communal meals being shared by small groups of traveling hippies like me scattered on the broad green expanse surrounding the tower. It was great, you just showed up with some wine, bread, cheese or salami and joined into a group meal. I still remember those meals with a certain psychedelically enhanced sentimentality.
Recently I was sitting at the bar of a restaurant in Washington D.C. that I had just wandered into as it was close to my hotel, it was late and I was hungry. It turned out to be swankier than I expected and I, still wearing my standard issue Oregon attire, felt quite underdressed. First one gentleman, than another, joined me at the bar. Both were wearing dark suits, white shirts and red ties, which I now believe are the only items stocked by men’s shops in D.C.. I had ordered the excellent 2004 Giacosa Nebbiolo d’Alba, while the other ordered an expensive Super-Tuscan, which to save a few more oak trees, will remain nameless and as boring as almost that entire genre. The other ordered a bottle suggested to him with great Italian accented flair by the chef. At first we were all quiet, but by the second glasses of wine we had become friends and bottles were passed around. One was in the oil business (Cheney must have been busy that night) and the other was, not surprisingly, a lobbyist.We were all a clearly 50+ bunch, so these guys could have been sharing wines with me under the Eiffel Tower some 33 years ago. Not only had the wines we shared gone up a lot in price over the years, but also increased a lot in alcohol. That 12% wine I bought three decades ago had been the top-of-the-line jug wine, but that D.C. evening’s expense account driven meal did not bring a wine under 13.5% to our glasses. Needless to say we were best friends and exchanged cards and hugs as the evening came to a close. You can’t beat a reunion of old hippies.
The chef had recommended the 2001 Braida di Giacomo Bologna Barbera d’Asti ai Suma to my new best friend. This is a wine that combines eccentricity, exoticness, excess, and expensiveness into the perfect wine for Washington D.C. expense accounts. It’s a late-harvest, barrique-aged barbera that instead of a wine flavors, creates kind of a strange, sweet, raisiny grape stew in your mouth. Like Amarone, it may be a great combination with some delicious, stinky, runny cheeses, but the idea of matching this glob of wine with any kind of refined cooking is not very appetizing. Just to give you an idea of how over-the-top this wine is, Parker gave it 94 points, and you know what that means. I’m not saying this is a terrible drink, but it certainly is nothing to match with a meal.
Those few Francs I paid for that simple French wine in 1973 brought me far more pleasure and luck than this big buck Barbera in 2007 as Nixon resigned while I was drinking that little French wine under the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately, even with the increased price of the Bologna ai Suma, it brought no such luck in 2007.
Getting to Know You, Getting to Know All About You
I was beat. Harvest is upon us and I can’t exactly remember the last day off I’ve had. While few things are more exhilarating than harvest, few things are more tiring. The thought of cooking tonight was just too much so I grabbed some pizza on the way home. With it I popped open a bottle of 2005 Rosso Piceno Brunori, Torquis. Now I’m a big Marche fan and love the montepulciano/sangiovese blend of Rosso Piceno, but this wine did not thrill me and I considered opening something else. I guess I was just too tired to get up, but that appears have been a good thing. Indeed it was a good idea I waited for, as I took a sip of my second glass, the wine suddenly changed. What had seemed flabby and uninteresting suddenly transformed itself into a firm, enjoyable wine with good character and backbone. What had changed? It was me. The wine was the same, but a bit of food and wine made me relax after a hectic day and my palate finally woke up enough to appreciate this very nice wine.
So the fault was not with the wine, but with me. You have to take time to get to know a wine and take into account that you may not be at your best. Mario and Giorgio Brunori worked hard to make this wine and I was wrong to judge their work so quickly and at a time I was not at my best. Once again, this reality must make anyone question the validity of the 100 point scale where wines are rated based on rapid fire tastings. Not even a tasting machine like Robert Parker can work at the same level of effectiveness every day and under every condition. This is where the king and I have divergent views on how wines should be evaluated.
Every time you taste a wine you should remember that the faults you find may be more yours than the wine’s.
Drinking Local
Upon my return home, I immediately pulled the cork on a bottle of the Domaine Domaine des Terres Dorées Moulin a Vent 2005 by Jean-Paul Brun. I have written about this wine several times before, but the first sip of this wine after a week of palate busters was an extraordinary experience. This wine was so vibrant, alive and exciting after the ponderous wines of the week before that I was absolutely transfixed by its energy.
Its at moments like this that I realize just how far my own tastes are out of sync with what’s hot in the world of wine today.
One wine did stand out from my week of California drinkin’, the 2002 Iron Horse Vineyards Classic Vintage Brut is a stunning example of California sparkling wine. Rich, racy and toasty with perfect creamy texture on the palate and a long complex finish, this wine is a great pleasure to drink. Iron Horse long ago discovered how to make California sparkling wines that show their own unique personality instead of being poor copies of Champagne. On top of that it’s a great value at $31 a bottle.
What makes the Iron Horse such a interesting wine to drink is that is displayed the richness and ripeness that defines California wine without excess. It is a wine that is naturally rich without giving up its balance. It is a wine that is comfortable in its own skin instead of bursting at the seams like most California wines these days.
Farallon: France or California
I can understand that an Italian or Spanish restaurant may want to feature wines from those countries as part of their ambiance, but a restaurant specializing in fresh local seafood? How can they justify not featuring the wines of their area, which are highly respected.
Anyone who reads this blog knows of my love of the wines of Europe, but I often see this type of reverse snobbism that infers that the wines of Europe are somehow inherently superior. Maybe the wine buyer of Farallon prefers the crisper, dryer style of European wine , as do I, but I don’t believe that such wines cannot be found in California. They may be hard to find, but they can be found.
A California cuisine restaurant in San Francisco featuring local ingredients should not have a better selection of white Burgundy than it does of west coast chardonnay.
Drinking and Tasting
Having just completed the triathalon of pinot noir tastings, Oregon Pinot Camp, the Steamboat winemaker’s conference and the International Pinot Noir Celebration, the contrast between the tastings and the lunches and dinners could not be more clear. During tastings people look for faults and drama, while during meals people look for pleasure.
We have ended up with a system, the 100 point scale, that only measures how wines taste with other wines, while ignoring their primary reason for existence - pleasure at the table. Buying wines selected in this way is a bit like buying a car after sitting in it with0ut ever driving it. When you sit in it you can see all the bells and whistles, but without driving it you can’t really get the feel of it. That’s what our critics offer us, wines ranked without ever really getting a feel for them. Can there be a less pleasant picture of enjoying wine than someone speed tasting dozens of bottles in an attempt to rank them in numerical order?
Anyone that pays even the slightest attention to the wines they drink knows that over the course of a meal fine wines evolve tantalizingly and this evolution is exactly what makes the best wines most exciting. Power, speed tastings to give wines a ranking based on points ignores this most beautiful aspect of enjoying wine. Hiding under a guise of helping the consumer, today’s critics point consumers to wines that are too expensive and not very good with food. What’s that protecting the consumer from?
Automobile writers drive a car for hours or days before reviewing it, while major wine writers may spend mere seconds with a wine. Would you want to buy a car based on the review of a writer that only sat in the car for a few seconds? This is exactly how wine criticism works today.
Dunn Gone Too Far
http://wine.appellationamerica.com/wine-review/447/Winemaker-Randy-Dunn.html
A telling point in all of this is that Dunn notes that his famed Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon has consistently come in between 13.2 and 13.8% alcohol over the years. That’s how far things have swung out of control in just a few years as those levels used to be thought of as big, while today they seem restrained. Dunn’s Cabernet is certainly a substantial wine, but gains its complexity and power though the distinctive character of that vineyard and the fruit grown there instead of using overripe fruit flavors and big alcohol to fool consumers with sweet upfront flavors that masquerade as complexity to inexperienced tasters or palates overwhelmed by tasting too many wines in one session.
Dunn is to be applauded for taking such a public stand on a topic that is sure to displease many of his neighbors. I hope it makes a few winemakers think about this issue of out-of-control alcohol levels before flaming shots of cabernet become the next college fad.
Virtual Corky Paranoia
Now that I am buying quite a bit of wine via the internet, the new issue of virtual corky paranoia has settled in. Now when I get a bad bottle there’s no one to hand the offending bottle back to and the best you can do is call and complain. All to often I have shrugged my shoulders as I poured a bottle down the drain that I have purchased online and just let it go, but this kind of attitude can make things quite expensive. After all, if you buy 6 bottles for $20 and one of them is bad, you just increased your purchase price to $24 a bottle. When you remember you also had to pay shipping on these wines it can soon become a very bad deal to buy online. Considering that the minimum number of corked bottles you’ll get is 5%, not being able to return spoiled bottles purchased online could put a good dent in your wine budget.
Last week a bottle I had purchased from Chambers Street Wines was corked and, after I poured it down the drain, I decided to shoot them off an email to see what would happen. Within the hour I had a return email where they gave me a credit to apply on my next purchase. Now, I know that Chambers Street is no ordinary wine merchant, but what this proves is that it’s well worth your time to seek out a real wine merchant like Chambers Street as they understand the issue and can respond appropriately.
Merchants like Chambers Street are the only proven therapy for corky paranoia.