a great time was had by all

Last night we hosted a tasting of Kinkead Ridge white wines (two verticals including four years of Riesling and four years of Viogner Rousanne) and for those who are partial to reds, I also opened 2004 Rochioli pinot noir, 2005 Emeritus pinot noir, 1996 Chateau St Michelle meritage, 2005 Bergevin Lane Calico red and 2001 Thomas Clay Counoise from Santa Barbara. For more on the wonderful Kinkead ridge wines check out www.kinkeadridgewinery.typepad.com , I think they were all fantastic and show the potential Kinkead Ridge wines, but I am going to talk about the reds tasted. First the Rochioli, my wife and I have visited this winery and tasted there entry level wines, they were good while not exceptional. This wine however was fantastic and points to the importance of time in the bottle. This bottle had gotten some bottle aging which made it rich and full bodied with dried cherry notes, just a stunner. Next the Emeritus, this is a new project from the former owner of Sonoma Cutrer winery, that though know for their chardonnays, produces a pinot noir, so exclusive that it is allocated to the club members. The point is that the producers of Emeritus were responsible for a highly sought after pinot, thus the interest in this wine. That said, I think the 05 will benefit from some more time in the bottle. To be continued.

A neat revelation

A couple of nights ago my wife and I decided to finish off a bottle of Chateau Rieussec Sauternes 2003. We had opened this bottle almost a month before and kept it in our refrigerator sealed with a vacuvin. When we intially opened this wine it was bright and unsophisticated. I was somewhat disappointed because it did not exhibit any of the traits I look for in a sauterne. It was not lush! Now to the second go round. Boy did this wine change with time and oxygenation. It was now rich and full bodied. There was a fantastic carmel flavor up front and noted of butterscotch on the finish. This wine had become better than I could have expected. This exemplifies one of my credos for wine. That being :If you do not like a wine initially give it time, go back to it 24 hours later, it will probably be better, but if not you are no worse off. Often times wines just need to open up, particularly younger wines, so do not give up.

Good wine bad experience

This weekend we opened a bottle of 2001 Provenance Merlot. This is a wine that I have like for quiet some time. We visited the winery a couple of years ago when traveling in Napa Valley. I presented my business card expecting to be able to taste the full range of their wines for free( as a trade courtesy), which is customary and had been followed at every other winery we visited, only to be told I could try four wines for free, but would have to pay for the premium wines. I paid, but was put off by this poor treatment. This needless to say has colored my view of these wines since, even though I still think of them as superior wines I do not recommend them because of this event. Any way back to our Merlot, which not withstanding the above mentioned event, we thoroughly enjoyed, it was a rich wine with plum and black raspberry flavors laced throughout the lingering finish. This wine had held up beautifully and as I have commented before would easily rival a great many Cabernets on the market. Try it for yourself, form your own opinion. Just be a ware that there are other producers with comparable wines that have employees that know how to treat people who might be in a position to sell their products.

An old friend

This weekend my wife and I went down to Vevay Indiana to spend a few nights at the Ogle Haus Best Western on the river. We had brought our own wine (of course) and on the first night we opened a bottle of Seghesio Old Vines Zinfandel. This is one of their lower production Zin's and Seghesio is our all time favorite Zin producer. We had not had any Seghesio in a while and we were blown away by this bottle which had big fruit and alcohol, yet was very reserved and sophisticated. It was a real mouth full, with red cherry and strawberry notes. The alcohol level is high, but well integrated and does not mar the wine. The bottle we opened was a 2004 and thus had some bottle age, yet was still bright and lively, not what you would expect from a four year old Zin. If you like Big wines and Big Zins treat yourselves to one of Seghesio's limited production wines. They retail in the mid thirties, but are worth it for that special occasion

Another Great Washington State Merlot

This past weekend my wife and I travelled to Chicago to celebrate her birthday and attend the Taste of Chicago. We took a bottle of Barnard & Griffin Merlot from the Columbia valley with us to enjoy in our room. I had not tried this producer before and we were both really impressed. This is an opulent and rich bottle of wine. It has notes of plum and black raspberry as well as satisfying smokiness. It made for a great interlude to the food fest that awaited us in Washington park. We tried over 30 food items over the course of three meals and had a ball. Chicago does it right, each booth featured a dish that was available in a taste portion for approximately $2.75 to $3.50. These portions were not skimpy, yet generally were not so much that you could only have a couple before getting filled up.
We also made a pilgrimage to our favorite tasting room in the world, The Tasting Room/Randolph Wine Cellars and enjoyed several wine flights and some appetizers. I tried a really good Napa Merlot from a winery called Bayfog (retail 17.99) and we had a great Brut Rose from Spain called Llopart which was creamy and very good (retail $19.99). It was great weekend away. I would recommend Taste of Chicago for those foodies looking for a road trip next year.

Aussie Blast

Last night I finally got around to trying Molly Dooker "The Violinist" which is Verdelho grape grown in Australia and produced by Sparky and Sarah Marquis. This wine packs a punch at 15% alcohol, but it is not hot. You just have to watch yourself! It reminds me a little of a good Alsatian Gruener Veltliner with lots of peach and other stone fruits and good minerality. This wine has a stelvin screw cap and thus benefited from some air time like so many other screw cap wines I have tried recently. After some air it mellows to a rich full wine which paired well with the chicken in cream sauce we paired with it. Molly Dooker wines sell out quickly because of the Marquis mystique and the points and press that they attract, but if you can find this this fall when they are released it is worth it.
Finally a note about Sparky and Sarah. They used to be the Marquis in the Marquis Phillips wines, This was a partnership between importer Dan Phillips and Sparky and Sarah that flourished for many years until they had a falling out in 2004 and split. Sparky and Sarah went to court to stop Dan from using the Marquis Phillips label and they lost, so the label can be still found, with Chris Ringland as the new winemaker. He and Dan have set up a company called "R wines" and are releasing quite a few wines under this brand. They are also very good. Almost all of the "R" wines and the Molly Dooker wines are extremely high in alcohol, generally over 14.5%. This should not interfere with ones enjoyment of the wines after the alcohol blows off a little, but as mentioned above, be careful they pack a punch and will get you snockered quickly.

Big Wine Small Price

Last night we had dinner at a friends house and they shared a Barbera from their favorite winery. The winery is a small winery in Amador county called Macchia. These wines do not make it out of California except through their wine club. They are priced from the mid teens to the upper twenties. They specialize in Italian varietals, but also produce a nice Zinfandel. But back to last night. The Barbera we had was their "Infamous" Amador county Cooper Ranch 2006. This wine had loads of fruit black raspberry and rich plum. It sang in the glass and complemented the steaks wonderfully. This is a great wine at a great price. Macchia will ship to Ohio and they have several wine clubs, even with shipping they are still great wines for the money. The web site is www.macchiawines.com.