Show Me What Ya Workin Wit

It's Friday! It's also September. This combination will find me not on my patio with a bottle of vino, but under the lights at some high school football field in Orange County. Tonight's stop: Anaheim.

Let's hear from you guys tonight. Use the comment box, tell me what you're drinking, and give it a grade. Bonus points if you include a pic.

Enjoy the long weekend, cheers!

Your Moment of Zin.

Under the influence of  loyal readers, Jared expressing his love for Folie a Deux, and Tom claiming he was "going back to Zins" (and Pinots), I ended up with 4 bottles of Zinfandel in my little wine fridge. Such problems. I managed to get through them all the past 2 weeks for your enjoyment.


Zin #1:

Folie a Deux 2008 Zinfandel ($13.99)

This was the first of the four that I tried. As I wrote earlier, I agree with the Total Wine guy who called it "Safe." This seems like the type of wine you could find at a restaurant and order by the glass for $8 and be happy. There's nothing not to like, but there's also a little lacking in the creativity department. Maybe I was influenced by its popularity and the Total Wine guy's comment. I'd like to revisit this.

Grade: B / Beth's Grade: B+


Zin #2:

Sobon Estate 2009 Old Vine Zinfandel ($11.99)


Zin #2 would've had Randy Jackson yelping about "A hot one tonight, America!" This was awesome.  From the first sip, BAM, blasted with a balanced barrage of berry: raspberry, strawberry, blackberry, boysenberry  (ok, I don't know what boysenberries taste like), and no, I'm not confusing this bottle with my Jamba Juice go-to, "Banana Berry."

I almost destroyed this wine by pairing it with pulled pork that I had drenched in sweet & spicy BBQ sauce. Horrible pairing. But before dinner, then after dinner, and into the evening, it was "lights out."

So much fruit up front and so smooth on the finish. For $12? Highway robbery.

Grade: A- / Beth's Grade: A


Zin #3:

Courtney Benham, 2008, Zinfandel ($11.99)


Thankfully for Benham's sake, we didn't drink much of her wine Saturday night after a couple of  cocktails at Brooke Becker's 5th birthday party. Maybe it was the beer or perhaps vodka lemonades that left me unimpressed as I used this as a chaser for a Trader Joe's frozen pizza.

I gave it a second run tonight (Monday) at dinner, and it was much better. We had cheese ravioli with baked cauliflower, sage, and olive oil. A very mild dinner, and it went well with it. As Beth put it, a lot of "peppery cherry." It was a little more bold and slightly less smooth than the other 3 Zins, but still worth the price.

Grade: B- / Beth's Grade: B



Zin #4:

Montoya 2009 Old Vine Zinfandel ($9.99)


I cracked this tonight as well for a side-by-side comparison to the Courtney Benham. This was really good.  I thought it was a more cherry than berry, but every bit as smooth as the Sobon. For under $10, this was very impressive.


Grade: B+ / Beth: A-


To recap, we (ok, I) went 4 for 4, and I, too am going back to Zins. Chianti may be dead to me.
The rankings:
1. Sobon
2. Montoya
3. Folie a Deux
4. Courtney Benham

All In On Chianti

The Lineup: 

I think I was hoping to have an eye-opening experience and my world of eating Italian food would never be the same. Turns out, I like my old world Italian food just fine the way it was. At Total Wine, with the in-laws soon to be out,  I decided to dabble in a few "nicer" Chiantis. I don't think I'd ever paid more than $8 for a bottle, so perhaps I was missing out on something?

Viticcio 2008 Chianti Classico ($19.99)
Wine Spectator rating: 91 Points


We cracked this a few nights ago to go along with Marie's Veal Scallopini. Prior to dinner I found it to be big, bold and tart. It did settle down a bit, and was better with food, but the tartness was there throughout. Maybe a bottle like this needed to sit in a cellar for a few years? Either way, I wasn't too impressed with the wine. The food was awesome though.

Grade: C- / Beth's Grade: C / Joe Cacia's Grade: B+ "for sure."

Viticcio 2006 Chianti Classico Riserva ($23.99)
Wine Spectator rating: 93 Points


Tonight's bottle was 2 years older, 2 points higher, $4 more and a "Riserva." I had really high hopes when I bought it, but those expectations were tempered after the let down of the '08 bottle. This bottle was to enhance Marie's Chicken Cacciatore. Again, Marie's cooking stole the show and the wine was less than stellar.  This was slightly smoother, and a little less tart than the '08, but really nothing to write home about. Maybe I shouldn't have tried 2 wines from the same winemaker? Nonetheless, I think I'm done with Chianti for the time being.

Grade: C / Beth's Grade: C+ / Joe Cacia's Grade: B+

The Godfatha. And Godmotha.

The best part of our evening in Carlsbad with the Jansen's is not that I'm not out of commission hung over today. That's the second best thing. The best was us asking them and them accepting to be the Godparents of Keira June. Remember, you heard it here first. Again, the 2nd best thing is that I feel fine today, which rarely happens after a Carlsbad evening. Third best thing was the food (apps and main course), followed by the wine.

Let's dissect the 4th best thing of Saturday night, shall we?

(If anyone knows how to get these 2 pictures side-by-side, please let me know. K, Thx.)

Tom's such a good host, we had these 2 bottles side-by-side, complete with printed tasting notes for a blind tasting. He also rolled out 3 appetizers to go with it: cheese, tuna tar-tar, and margarita pizza.

AIX 2007 Red Blend from Washington ($28.99)


Robert Parker 92 points


This was a blend of 61% Syrah, 34% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Mourvedre and 1% Cinsault.

Without a doubt, the better of the 2 appetizer wines. It had a nice nose. A lot of flavor, at times maybe too much and a really long finish. It changed quite a bit from the time we opened it until it was gone. We all liked it best with the pizza.

Overall, a very interesting and different wine. I don't think it's worth the $29 price tag though.

Grade: B- / Beth's Grade: B+

The other bottle in the side-by-side blind tasting:                                                                                         

Ludovicus 2009 Red Blend from Spain                                                                                  Wine Advocate rating: 88 points                                                                                           sorry about the weird formatting!                                                                                                                This is a blend of 35% Grenache , 30% Temperanillo, 25% Syrah and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon.                                                                         

I was hopeful this wine would deliver. I thought it had a similar blend to Purple Tooth award winner Papa Luna. I've also had some luck with Grenache as of late. This bottle never really came through. I thought it had a great earthy, cherry nose. It had a lot of peppery flavors going on but finished really dry. It changed with each food we tried with it, but again, never got great. 

Grade: C / Beth's Grade: Doesn't remember

Dr. Heidemanns Bergweiler 2009 Riesling Spatlese ($32.99)

Wine Spectator rating: 95 Points

Warning! Rieslings in all price ranges are sweet!

Ok, Tom told me he wanted to pair white wine with spicy Indian food. I knew I wanted to get a Riesling to balance the spice with a sweeter wine. I also knew that Tom and Meg weren't big fans of the sweet stuff. So I found this at Total Wine with a 95 point tag hanging on it. I've never seen a wine rated that high. Yes $33 was more than I planned on spending, but I decided if there ever was a time to go big on a Riesling, the time was now. Tom and Meg are special people.

I've been fortunate enough a few times to have had Dom Perignon without paying for it. Despite it being over $80 more than what I would pay for Champagne, it still tastes like Champagne. Good, clean and crisp, but still Champagne. The thing that separates Dom from other Champagnes to me is that it sort of disappears. Poof. Gone. 

This was really crisp, really clean, really light. The $8-10 bottles I usually get seem more syrupy than this. And like Dom, it disappeared. Poof. Gone. I loved that. Meg thought it reminded her of "flat pop." I won't tell Dr. Heidemanns Bergwiler that. Tom, Meg and Beth all thought it was too sweet, but I thought it paired really well with the spicy food.  

In the end though, it's still Riesling. The best I've ever had, but still Riesling.

Grade: A / Beth's Grade: B+

The Safety Dance

Folie a Deux 2008 Zinfandel ($13.99)


My buddy Jarred (the guy who called a few days ago from the grocery store sending me into Thursday's tizzy) has been saying for a while that Menage A Trois is his cheap go-to bottle. Then Thursday night I get a text from him saying that this bottle, Folie a Deux, from the same winemaker, is making a push for he and his wife's favorite wine. I'm interested, but skeptical. I have snobby, grocery store thoughts racing through my head.

Friday I stopped by Total Wine on my way home from work.  Two days ago at Stater Brother's I was looking for 1 bottle to stand out. Now, I'm on the Zin aisle with over 100 bottles calling my name. I'm feeling good. I found the Folie a Deux just as a staff member walks up to see if I need help. I asked for his 2 cents and he said, "We sell a lot of it," then added, "it's a safe pick." Not sure what to make of "safe."

A few hours later, we opened the bottle. Nothing like fresh wine with dinner!

Even before reading the back label, I noted cherry on the nose. The first sip did not impress. It burned going down (like Tamarack) and stung my nose a little bit. I'm not sure what that was all about though because it only happened on that initial sip. Maybe something I had eaten earlier? Anyway, after that sip, I found it to be really pleasant. Very nice fruit flavor. Not quite as much of peppery pop as I'd prefer in a Zin, but it was very kind, with a super smooth finish.

Thinking back on the Total Wine guy's "safe" comment, I think I get it and agree. It would be hard not to like this bottle.


Grade: B / Beth's Grade: B+

Jack Handy Hijacked My Keyboard

I had an eye opening conversation with one of my one's of readers last night. While standing in the wine section of his local grocery store in Texas, he decided to use his "Human App," and called me for a quick suggestion on what to buy. Nothing eye opening yet, I know. Hang with me a second. After finishing our short conversation, to which I was of no help, I realized a few things:

1. The few people that read this blog do so because:
a. they know me and are being supportive
b. they like the way that I write
c. I signed them up to receive blog post e-mails without their consent
d. they may possibly get an opinion  on wine that they can apply while purchasing.
Probably not so much on the last one. I'm making very little connection to my audience. I decided I was going to make an effort to connect by stopping by Stater Brothers on my way home today for a few popular, easy to find bottles that all 8 of you could find and throw my opinion around. But that led me to...

2. I don't like to buy wine from the grocery store. Even though I'm here in California, which I've learned typically has a much bigger wine selection than other states, said selection usually sucks.  

Ever go to the Kwik E Mart for beer to take to someone's house, stare through the glass, realize their only interesting choice is Bud Light Lime and walk out with a 12 pack of something you're not too happy about? I feel like wine sections of grocery stores are similar, we're just not as familiar with the brands. For example, did you know Gallo sells wines under 18 different labels? Thanks to Wikipedia, we all do now.

I know very little about the food & beverage industry, so my take on it could be way off, but here goes. I feel like for a wine maker to get his/her product shelf space in a major grocery store chain, they need to make a lot of wine, spend a lot of money on marketing, and the stars must align. Works for some, 40% of wine sold in the U.S. is out of a grocery store. I tried Stater Brothers wine section today with the best of intentions. What I saw was cheesy labels on the bottom: Barefoot, Dancing Bull, Smoking Loon, Gnarly Head. Trendy/clubby labels in the middle: One Hope, SKN, 337 (am I in Vegas?). Fancy cursive font/chateau labels on top. No write ups, nothing helpful, just a shot in the dark based on a label and a price tag.

My point of all of this is that I feel much more confident with my purchases and more satisfied with what I've consumed since I got away from buying wine from the same place I buy yogurt and tooth paste. A big wine store may have the feel of being more expensive, the option to buy more expensive bottles is there, but I've found once you move on from the yellow "Bonus Buy" tags of the grocery store, it's not much of price difference, if any at all. Rather than picking up a bottle or 3 with the groceries, which, I admit, is very convenient, I now make one trip to the wine store and get a case (at least), which usually comes with a 10% discount. My success rate on quality wines has gone way up.

I now pay more attention to things like where and when the wine was made, and how it was rated, than the catchy label slapped on the bottle by someone from Gallo. This led me to...

3. Last year I somehow got on the topic of "salsa" with my students. I asked how many of their families make their own and all but 2 kids raised their hand. They looked at me in shock when I told them I buy it. They looked at me in disgust when I told them I buy Pace. Last night I concluded, they were/are salsa snobs. They cared way too much about quality and knew that what the grocery store offered wasn't good enough.

I don't have a wine cellar. I don't collect bottles. I don't have enough money to always buy what I really want. But, if they're salsa snobs, I most definitely am a wine snob.

That's enough thought for one night,

Cheers!

France on a curve

Chateau De Nages ($12.99) Red Rhone Wine
Wine Enthusiast rating: 90 points (I think)


Maybe you've noticed, I've been on a bit of an international gem quest kick. The past few months, I had some success with bottles from Spain, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand to name a few. One place that I just can't seem to wrap my head around is France. They make so much wine there. It all seems to be highly rated. Pick up a Wine Spectator and half the magazine seems to be dedicated to the country. What am I missing? Do I need to take out a small loan to get a really enjoyable bottle from there? Do we grade them on a curve? And why do I keep trying things from there when I've never been super happy with anything I've bought?

This was a blend of Granache and Syrah, two grapes that I like. I know it was rated, pretty sure a 90, but don't hold me to that. I admit, it wasn't bad. It wasn't offensive. I just didn't think there was anything special about it. It was a little bland initially, got a bit better with dinner, but always seemed a little dry, which the bottle described as a "long finish with soft tannins."

Can anybody steer me in the right French direction or should I just be steered away from that section?

Grade: C