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The Sake Tasting on Friday created quite a buzz around town and we had 40 people come to taste, so that was a nice crowd. It was a learning experience for many of us and some of us found out that we might even like it! With seven different Sakes to try, there was something for everyone.
By the way, all my close out wines have been slashed in price again. It is time to move them out. My $15 and under rack is now a $10 and under rack. The wines on the back end cap have also been lowered in price, so hurry in for the best deals!
Finally, I have a couple of new wines: The Blue Pirate Pinot Gris is quite nice and this month is retailing at $6.49. The Blue Pirate Pinot Noir is really quite smooth with no funky earthiness, and retails for $11.99. Blue Pirate is from Dundee, Oregon.
Our next tasting is scheduled for August 27. Trium Winery from southern Oregon will be here to pour their wines!
Thank you,
Dennis
Thanks to all who attended the Burgundy Tasting May 7. It was a well-attended tasting, and those wines are now on the shelf.
Evesham Wood has released a Tempranillo, and I had it with dinner last night. This is a very young Tempranillo and would benefit from aerating or decanting, but eventually becomes quite good, especially for $14.
The Raincoast Crisp Crackers are a big hit! We tasted those at the tasting as well; they come in five flavors and pair favorably with wine and cheese. The flavors are Salty Date & Almond, Cranberry & Hazelnut, Original, Fig & Olive, and Rosemary Raisin Pecan. I checked out their website and there are plenty of recipes and ways to use the crackers. A couple that sounded good were to use them in place of crostini in Tomato bruschetta, or with Fresh mozzarella, sun-dried tomato paste and kalamata olive half with a sprinkling of sea salt and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. I am out of the Rosemary Raisin Pecan until my next order. They are a Canadian product distributed through Washington State.
Lemelson’s ‘09 Pinot Gris has been released, and is very good. I have some more coming in on Thursday, but there is still one left in the cooler.
Finally, I received a surprise in the mail last Friday. I received a Bobble head likeness of Chester Osborn, the winemaker at d’Arenberg Winery out of Australia. The distributor for this wine is from Napa, California, and they sent out 100 bobble heads to their top customers, so as far as d’Arenberg in the west is concerned, I guess I made their Top 100 List! I even received a letter from Chester, and I would like to post it for you:
Chester Osborn: “I can honestly say this has taken the art of being different to a whole new level and must admit that this is my first bobble head experience. While my main connection to this project has been to give consent (which I happily provided), I had no idea what a bobble head was! Anyway, this will serve as a reminder that we are deadly serious about the winemaking up until the wine is in the bottle, from then on it should be fun! I’m not sure what’s weirder–to be the bobble head or to want to have the bobble head–I may never understand Americans! What I am sure of is my overwhelming gratitude to you for your strong support of d’Arenberg wines. Your efforts in telling the d’Arenberg story are a big part of our lasting success in the U.S. On behalf of my dad, d’Arry, and I, we offer our thanks to you!”
The next time you are in my shop, you will find the bobble head in the locked wine cabinet. d’Arenberg has the Stump Jump Shiraz, the Top 100 wine that sells for $9.99/bottle.
And to quote Thomas Jefferson, “Good Wine is a Necessity of Life for me!”
New into the wine isle is the inaugural vintage of former NFL Quarterback, Drew Bledsoe’s Walla Walla Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine is made by Chris Figgins, who has worked with his father Gary making Leonetti wines for the last few years. I have tasted the wine and it is very good. Unfortunately, it comes with a high price, $91.49.
I have added several Melrose Vineyard wines to the shelf, and Nora and I especially like the Viognier and the Pinot Gris. We had the Viognier with a Bussman Ham for our Easter dinner. It was a really good match. You will find these wines on the bottom shelf on the Oregon side of the aisle. Melrose Vineyards does not have a winemaker, so Henry Estate makes their white wines for them and Brandborg Winery makes their reds, both using Melrose grapes. This is a common practice for smaller wineries that don’t have a winemaker.
I have also added some Willakenzie Estate wines to the shelf. Willakenzie has been around for quite awhile but their Pinot Noirs are well-known and sell out quickly. I have a few more of their Pinot Noirs coming in next week. Their Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc are good white wines.
On Easter Saturday, we drove to Reustle Prayer Rock Vineyards and tasted their wonderful wines. They are a very small producer, so you won’t see their wines in any retail stores. I think they might have a few wines in one or two shops in Roseburg, but they just don’t make enough for wide distribution. For example, they are releasing a Viognier very soon, and after filling their wine club member’s shipments, they have only 13 cases left. Anyway, here are some tips on how to taste wine is from Reustle Prayer of Rock Vineyards:
- Wine tasting is a sensory experience, so let your senses explore the wine.
- Holding the glass by the stem-to avoid warming up the wine and unsightly fingerprints-look at the color of the wine.
- After observing the color, swirl the wine by the glass in slow, steady circles. This exposes the wine to air and helps to release the wine’s full bouquet.
- Next, sniff the wine. The aroma should be clean and pure and at the same time, complex, emitting scents reminiscent of apples, berries, peaches or other fruits, of spring flowers or fresh, green fields-each aroma is unique.
- Finally, sip the wine and swirl it around in your mouth to enjoy its full flavor. The taste of a well-made, well-balanced wine should carry through the promise of its bouquet.
- There are no absolute rights or wrongs-only what you like or dislike.
- A good wine will have a clean, agreeable, appealing taste with no off-flavors or unaccountable bitterness or flatness. In the same way, the aftertaste, or finish of the wine after you swallow, should be a pleasant, lingering sensation. In short, a good wine gives joy and leaves a pleasurable, satisfying memory.
Finally, we have all heard about the health benefits of drinking wine. Here is an article from Prevention Magazine that Betty Fedje supplied to me, and it is the third time I have heard about the red wine from Sardinia:
There’s increasing evidence that red wine may offer generous health benefits for heart and mind. Studies suggest that drinking moderate amounts daily—one or two 5 ounce servings—may lower heart disease risk by as much as 40%, possibly by boosting levels of good cholesterol and suppressing clot formation. In the Nurses’ Health Study, women who had one drink a day reduced their odds of cognitive decline as they grew older—and their risk was 20% lower than the teetotalers in the group. And the next time you raise a glass to your health, fill it with a wine from southwest France or central Sardinia, where traditional winemaking methods are still used. Red wines from these regions had higher levels of protective polyphenols—up to 10 times more—compared with wines tested from Australia, Greece, Spain, South America, and the U.S., according to a British study.
I currently have two red wines from Sardinia in the wine aisle. They are both Cannonaus, which is what Grenache is called on the island of Sardinia. They are on the shelf that is near the Port section.
Now, what are polyphenols? They are the most abundant antioxidants in the diet. Studies also suggest that they play a strong role in the prevention of degenerative diseases, particularly cardiovascular diseases and cancers.
Here’s to your health,
Dennis
In my last post, I mentioned ML or MLF (Malolactic Fermentation). This is a process in winemaking where tart-tasting malic acid, naturally present in grape must, is converted to softer tasting lactic acid. Malolactic fermentation tends to create a rounder, fuller mouthfeel. It has been said that malic acid tastes of green apples. By contrast, lactic acid is richer and more buttery tasting. Grapes produced in cool regions tend to be high in acidity much of which comes from the contribution of malic acid. MLF is also thought to generally enhance the body and flavor persistence of wine, producing wines of greater palate softness and roundness. Many winemakers also feel that better integration of fruit and oak character can be achieved if MLF occurs during the time the wine is in the barrel.
The chances are that if MLF is not used under controlled conditions, it will happen spontaneously, usually after the wine has been bottled, and that can be disastrous, as the wine will appear to the consumer to still be fermenting (as a result of CO2 being produced). Typically, malolactic fermentation is used only on red wines destined for aging and selected white wines, such as Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris. Winemakers will use a starter culture to induce MLF. They will then bring the temperatures of the wines up, (depending on which culture they use) to over 70°.
Life is too short to drink bad wine!
Dennis
“Don’t always trust what your eyes see! You must also rely on your instincts!” – Ken Wright
Ken Gregg traveled with me to attend the annual Ken Wright Cellars barrel tasting for the trade, Monday, January 25, in Carlton, Oregon, near McMinnville. We tasted four or five of his 2009 Pinot Noirs out of the barrel, and additionally, we tasted four of the 2008 Pinot Noirs from the bottle, as well as a couple of Ken Wright white wines, a Pinot Blanc and a Chardonnay. The 2009 Pinot Noirs were either just now doing their ML (Malolactic Fermentation) or had just gone through ML, so it was difficult to get a real sense of how the Pinots are going to taste when they are released in December of this year, but I am certain they will be good. I will write more about the 2009 vintage in a minute.
Both the Ken Wright Pinot Blanc and the Chardonnay were really good. I will order those and have them in about three weeks.
The people in the wine industry have been telling me for six weeks that the 2008 vintage for Oregon Pinot Noirs is going to receive some great press. Now we are starting to see that press. The newest Wine Spectator has an article about the ’08 Oregon Pinot Noirs. They are calling it a “Dream Vintage!” When wines receive great press like this, you need to buy them when you see them, because in most great wine years, they will sell quickly and the demand will be high. The ‘08’s are just now starting to get released, and will continue to be released through the fall. 2002 was the last great vintage from Oregon, and those wines did sell quickly. They are saying the 2008’s are just as good as and probably a little better than the 2002 vintage. I can tell you that the four ’08 Ken Wright Pinots we tried were excellent, and I can’t wait to start buying some of them. They are in the store now. By the way, in order to make room for the ‘08’s, I have the 2007 vintage reduced in price, so these would be some nice wines to buy and put away for a couple of years.
Ken Wright says that every year something new happens and they have to figure out how to handle it. In 2007, it rained right before harvest. Some winemaker’s rushed to pick the grapes before the rain, and their wines for the most part showed it. The grapes were not as ripe as they should have been, and the wines were lean, green and austere. Many of the producers who produce good Pinot Noirs year in and year out waited the rains out, then picked after the grapes were ripe. The final report card was that the producers that waited were able to pick ripe grapes that had some water in them. However, most of the good producers did make good wine, just not great wine. People in the industry were surprised at the number of good wines that year, and said that Oregon producers are figuring out how to make it work even if Mother Nature throws a few curve balls. Ten years ago, that vintage would have been a disaster for Oregon producers.
In 2008, they had absolutely perfect weather, so the winemakers and grower’s jobs were to stay out of the way, and let Mother Nature do her thing. The results are a great vintage!
In 2009, temperatures reached as high as 107 degrees in late July, which caused the vines to shut down and almost become dormant, slowing the grape’s development. Then some mild rains and mild temperatures started to bring the crop around, but eventually, the grapes turned into what appeared to be overly ripe and almost starting to raisin, although they weren’t quite ripe enough to pick. Ken said the consensus at his winery was to wait a little longer and see if they would ripen, or if they would turn into raisins. This is why he said sometimes you need to rely on your instincts instead of just your eyes. Your eyes were telling you to pick, pick, pick! But he waited. He was afraid the grapes would be too dry and would then give the wine a prune effect, making it taste way too ripe and big, not like a Pinot Noir. When they did pick, and started to crush, he was very happy with the juice and thinks the wines are going to be really good and showed very little of the prune effect. Only time will tell if these wines become really good.
Finally, we joined Kimberly Conyers (She used to be with Eola Hills, but now represents 3 small wineries) for lunch and tried some wines from Youngberg Hill and Trinity Vineyards. The Trinity wines are made for Trinity by Joe Dobbes Jr. (Dobbes Estate Wines). These wines were also good, and I will get some of them in as well. Kimberly will be down in March to do a tasting of these wines.
That should be plenty to think about for this writing. I have several ideas for posts after taking this trip to Ken Wright so see you soon.
Wine Tasting Tomorrow Night, Friday, November 20
Just a reminder that Christie will be here tomorrow night to pour wines from Walla Walla’s Bergevin Lane Winery. They have some really nice reds, a Viognier and a blend of Viognier, Chardonnay and Rousanne called Calico White. Their Calico Red is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Merlot, Zinfandel and Cabernet Franc.
Beaujolais Nouveau
In France, at one past midnight on the third Thursday of each November, from little villages and towns, over a million cases of Beaujolais Nouveau begin their journey through a sleeping France to Paris for immediate shipment to all parts of the world. Banners proclaim the good news: Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrive! “The New Beaujolais has arrived!” The Beaujolais is a tasty red wine made from Gamay grapes produced in the Beaujolais region. French law states that the Beaujolais Nouveau cannot be released any earlier than the third Thursday of November, so every year on this day producers embark on a mad race to get the first bottles on the shelves. The celebrations began as a local phenomenon in the bars and cafes of Beaujolais and Lyon, where pitchers were filled from the grower’s barrels, but nowadays, it’s celebrated around the world.
We have two Beaujolais Nouveaus that just arrived today, the Georges Duboeuf at $9.99/bottle and the Joseph Drouhin at $14.99/bottle.
Wine Spectator’s Top 100 Wines
Because I am an online subscriber, I have already received the Top 100 Wine List from Wine Spectator. I will give you the Top 10 and their status at my store, then I will list other Top 100 Wines that I have in stock here at Tiffany’s:
#1 Columbia Crest 2005 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon – It is totally gone from the winery, distributor, and my shelf.
#2 Numantia-Termes 2005 Toro Termes – I don’t have it.
#3 Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe 2007 Châteauneuf-du-Pape – In stock at my store, but what I have is all there is.
#4 Kosta Browne 2007 Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast – I don’t have it.
#5 Barone Ricasoli 2006 Chianti Classico Castello di Brolio – Distributor doesn’t have it. Nora and I visited this winery in Tuscany in May.
#6 Chappellet 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Signature – Distributor doesn’t have it.
#7 Renato Ratti 2005 Barolo Marcenasco – It should be in my store by the end of the month.
#8 Fontodi 2006 Colli della Toscano Centrale Fladdianello – I don’t have it.
#9 Merry Edwards 2007 Sauvignon Blanc Russian River Valley – Not distributed in Oregon, and the winery is sold out.
#10 Brancaia Toscano Tre – I don’t have.
Other Top 100 Wines that I have in stock or are coming to the store:
#13 Fattoria di Felsina 2006 Toscano Fontalloro – Should be here before Christmas.
#14 Two Hands 2007 Shiraz Barossa Valley Bella’s Garden – In stock.
#24 Penfolds 2005 South Australia St. Henri Shiraz – In stock.
#33 Novelty Hill 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley – In stock.
#47 Orin Swift 2007 The Prisoner Napa Valley – In stock.
#54 Peter Lehman 2006 Shiraz Barossa – In stock.
#60 Spring Valley 2006 Uriah Walla Walla Valley – In stock.
#77 King Estate 2008 Pinot Gris Signature Collection – In stock. This is their regular Pinot Gris.
#78 Gloria Ferrer NV Brut Sonoma County – In stock.
#82 d’Arenberg 2008 Shiraz McLaren Vale The Stump Jump – In stock. This is only $9.99/bottle.
That’s it for the list.
My recommendation for Wines to buy for your Thanksgiving Dinner
Gewurztraminer, Pinot Noir, bubbly, Zinfandel and Gamay Noir are wines that go well with turkey. Of course there are always a few others. Some of my favorites:
- Dowsett Family Gewurztraminer
- Brick House Gamay Noir… written up by Matt Kramer of the Oregonian again this year
- Brick house Les Dijonnaise Pinot Noir
- Evesham Wood pinot Noir, any of them
- Westrey Pinot Noir, any single vineyard one
- Tori Mor Pinot Noir, any of them
- Lemelson Pinot Noir, again any of them
- Ken Wright Pinot Noir, any of them
- Ridge Geyserville Zinfandel
- A nice Italian Prosecco, or German Seco
- Roederer Brut Rosé… written up by Kramer
That’s it for this week. Have a happy Thanksgiving.
Ken Wright 2008s are Here
Arriving today are the 2008 Ken Wright Pinot Noirs. This is earlier than usual; the 2007’s haven’t even been rated by Wine Spectator yet. The Oregon Pinot Noirs (with a few exceptions) are always rated in the Top 100 issue which comes out in late November. I am not going to put the 2008 Ken Wright’s on the shelf until later on, but certainly, if you would want to pick any up earlier, they would be available. I barrel-tasted these ‘08’s this past January and I thought every one was really good. In previous tastings, not every single one I tasted was always good, but somehow, they always seem to come around and taste good later on. Ken only lets us taste about 4 or 5 of them, so I don’t actually get to try them all.
Counting Down the Wine Spectator Top 10
Speaking of the Top 100 issue, Wine Spectator will start counting down the Top 10 on November 18, so #9 will be the 19th, #8 will be the 20th, etc. The Top 100 Issue should follow about the time they get to #1. I think you have to be an online member in order to see the countdown. I can certainly let you know each day or maybe send a couple of emails with 10 thru 6, then 5 thru #1.
German Seco – Cousin of the Italian Proseco
Last Friday we had a great German Wine Tasting with Monica Rauch from Kastle Wines. She is a direct importer and self-distributes her wines. The red wines were much better than I would have ever thought, but I think the most popular one was the Secco Verde, which is Germany’s version of Prosecco, the Italian sparkling wine. Everyone loved the Secco, and I have it back in stock now, and have added the Rosé Secco and the Blanc de Noirs Secco. All these Seccos are $18.59/bottle; when Nora and I traveled to Italy this year, we noticed that the Italians opened a bottle of Prosecco before dinner, and then went to another wine with their dinner. Nora and I thought that was a great idea, so we now will do that occasionally.
Finally, some of the 2007 Oregon Pinot Noirs are becoming short in supply. For instance, the Bruno Pinot Noir is gone and so is the Westrey Justice Pinot Noir, so what I have left on the shelf is all there is.
Quote for the day
“Men are like wine – some turn to vinegar, but the best improve with age.”——-Pope John XXIII
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