Back to wining...

One of the great joys of my life in wine is that people actually send me wine! And then I get to assess it and write about it. Things being what they are these days, I'm a little behind in my reviews, so here we go:

Al Scheid first saw potential in Monterey County in 1972 when the wine region was in its infancy. What started as a grape growing operation that sold 100% of its production to other wineries evolved into a family business that makes wines under several labels, including Scheid Vineyards, Sunny with a Chance of Flowers, District 7, Ryder Estate, Metz Road, VDR, and Stokes’ Ghost. They also produce many regionally distributed brands for specific clients and distributors.

Tournament of Roses - Drinking Pink!

Gosh, the Goddess of Wine just loves Rosé. Every year I anticipate the new releases from all over the world. I just can't wait to taste 'em! And last night, I got to share some of the tastiest with my intrepid group of wine lovers at the Morro Bay Wine Seller.

Rosé is a lot different from the sweet and insipid pink wines that were available when I first started drinking wine. Today's Rosé is crisp, dry, fruity, and delicious. Our selections were accompanied by fresh-baked goods from #JDBakes, who presented an Austrian-style "milk bread" and a French-style "biscuit rose de Reims" designed to be dipped in the wine. A #tasty evening, indeed!

Wining through the holidays…

It’s that time of year again. The “holidays”. You throw a party, or you go to a party. For a huge meal. It could be a traditional roast turkey, accompanied by stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. Or it could be roast goose or duck, or a Honeybaked ham. Or (shudder) a turducken.

Regardless of what you, your friends and family choose to share, it’s going to be a big meal with a lot of different elements, so you’ll want to choose wines that will enhance and not conflict with the flavors found in your meal. You can play it safe and offer Chardonnay or Pinot Noir with your turkey, but how about trying something different to spice up your feast?

The Goddess of Wine tends to favor wines with good acidity to counter the fatty content of many of the tasty accompaniments to a hopefully moist and well-seasoned turkey. Oh, and I tend to lean more towards red wines, so here are some suggestions, all of which are locally available.

Wineaux of the Goddess - February Edition - Alsace

The Goddess of Wine and her merry band of Wineaux met, as always, on the second Wednesday of the month. Hostess with the Mostess, Xochitl Maiman, put together snacks and dinner designed to go with the wines of the month from the currently French region of Alsace. Tasters included Barbara Barrielle, Debra Bizek, Shawn Shai Halahmy, Rico Mandel, Michelle McCue. All the wines were purchased from K & L Wines in Hollywood.

Some background on Alsace: Almost all Alsatian wine is produced under one of the region's three AOC designations - Alsace, Alsace Grand Cru and Crémant d'Alsace. Unlike most other French wine regions, there is no Vin de pays designation for Alsace. This means that wines that do not qualify for AOC status have to be sold as simple Vin de table de France. This happens in some instances when producers wish to use other grape varieties in their wine, like Domaine Zind-Humbrecht which sells its cuvée Zind, a blend of 65% Chardonnay and 35% Auxerrois.

Wining in Lompoc...with LaMontagne...

Back in September 2013, JD and I were happy to meet LaMontagne Winery owner and winemaker, Kimberly Smith. I wrote a short blurb about her delicious wines, and hoped that we would find ourselves tasting them again soon. We were able to make that happen during a short trip to the Central Coast in December. We headed into the Lompoc Wine Ghetto on a surprisingly warm December day, where Kimberly opened her tasting room exclusively for us!

The first thing you need to know about Kimberly is that she is driven to make things happen. When she wondered why she loved Pinot Noir so much, she went back to college to find out what it was about that grape that made her happy. The class changed her life. That was the night she met winemaker, teacher, writer, activist, and all-around Renaissance man, Wes Hagen of Clos Pepe Estate.

She knew right away that he was the guy who had the answers. She asked him to mentor her, and the next morning she was in the vineyard!

Wineaux of the Goddess - January 2014 Meeting - Bubbles!

Yikes, it's February and I'm just writing up our first Wineaux of the Goddess of 2014! Well, January was quite a month. That's all I'm saying at the moment.

To start off the year, we all brought sparkling wine from all over the world. We tasted in the order of JD pulling the bottles out of the chiller and opening them.

Wine #1 - NV Deligeroy Cremant de Loire, France. Sparkling Cabernet Franc! Who knew? Pale salmon in color with a small, persistent mousse. Yeast and strawberries on the nose, bright green apple on the palate with a slightly bitter, not unpleasant finish. 12.5% alcohol. $14 from K&L.

Wine #2 - 2009 Schramsberg Blanc de Noirs, Calistoga, California. 87% Pinot Noir/13% Chardonnay. Clear, pale gold with small bubbles. Not much on the nose, but yeasty apple, a little oak, and an interesting sour cherry finish. We all liked it with the Delice Bourgogne Brie. I must have been enjoying myself - I didn't write the price or vendor. 13% alcohol.

Wining with Wes Hagen...

Petit Vendome

The Goddess and JD had the opportunity to hang at the Petit Vendome in La Canada last weekend and do some tasting with winemaker and philosopher Wes Hagen of Clos Pepe from the Sta. Rita Hills AVA near the quiet hamlet of Buellton.

The Sta. Rita Hills is one of my current favorite AVAs. Its east/west valleys pulling in cold, foggy air from the Pacific and the seabed soils create the perfect environment for stressed (in a good way) vines to produce small clusters, small berries, and great flavor and texture. The wines tend to be lean and elegant, with relatively low alcohol; they're food-friendly and unlike wines from any other region.

Wining with the Wineaux of the Goddess...Pinot Noir...

Got together for our monthly meeting of Wineaux of the Goddess at Fab's on 3/14 to do a blind tasting of Pinot Noir from all over the world. Turned out to be a very interesting and tasty evening!

Some basic info about Pinot Noir:
Pinot Noir is often described as being a difficult grape, to grow, to deal with in the winery, and to find truly great examples of, but fans are passionate about this variety, as sensually expressed by the dialogue between Miles and Maya in the 2004 movie Sideways. Difficulties plague Pinot Noir at every step, from propagation to its bottle-aging characteristics. Genetically unstable, the parent vine may produce offspring that bear fruit that is nothing like the parent's in the size and shape of the berry or cluster, and will frequently even have different aromas, flavors, and levels of productivity. There are 46 recognized clones (genetic variants) of Pinot Noir in Dijon, France. Experts estimate there are as many as 200 to possibly 1,000 clones of Pinot Noir worldwide. By comparison, Cabernet Sauvignon has only twelve identifiable clones.

Wining at Noir...

Dining room at Noir

JD and I were lucky enough to be able to get tickets to a special winemaker dinner at Noir Food and Wine in Pasadena. By special, I mean special. Richard Sanford, the man behind the Sanford & Benedict vineyard, the original Sanford Winery, the current award-winning Alma Rosa Winery, and the inspiration for a generation of winemakers, was bringing his lovely wines to be paired with dishes created by Pasadena's most celebrated chef, Claud Beltran.

Wining in Solvang...Part 2...

Continuing from my last entry from last week (sorry about the delay), which left our intrepid pair standing at the tasting counter at Richard and Thekla Sanford's Alma Rosa Winery.  As I mentioned before, we were welcomed like long-lost family when I dropped Ian's name, and we got to taste all the wines that would generally be saved for winery members.

Alma Rosa focuses on the wines on which Thekla and Richard Sanford built their reputation - the cool growing varietals best suited to the Sta. Rita Hills AVA.  Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes predominate and form the core of the Alma Rosa Winery & Vineyards product line. 

A WineShop at Home tasting...

Did a WineShop at Home tasting last Saturday. Drove south to Buena Park in Saturday afternoon rush hour traffic using Google Maps instructions. Got a bit lost. The map left out an important left turn. This is the second time Google's done that to me. Not amused.

Got to my hostess's home. She was partially set up, so we worked together. I asked what was the final count for the tasting. She said there would be 8. It got to the hour of the tasting. No one had arrived...sigh...

Now this is not unusual these days. It's odd to me because I was raised to believe that on time was late - you were supposed to be a bit early for an appointment. But these days, the response to the question, "Where is everybody?" is always, "Oh, you know, it's L.A.," as if this excuses the inconsiderateness. This excuse refers to the supposedly laid-back, everyone waiting for a better offer, flakiness of those who live here in SoCal. And it definitely exists. I just think it's not just confined to California these days.

Anyway, eventually guests started to arrive. And arrive. And arrive. We started almost an hour late, and more people arrived. I think the final count - of drinking guests - was 12. There were at least 5 other adults plus several kids (who went into another room).

We went around the table and introduced ourselves. Everybody talked about how much they loved sweet wines. Of course, I didn't have any in the sampler, but we went forward. I didn't have JD with me to pour (he was off running 2 shows at The Eclectic Company), so my hostess did the honors - and very well, I should add.

We tasted the wines:
Lumiere de Vie 2008 Sauvignon Blanc - North Coast (Sonoma) - Brilliant fruit aromas balanced with a gentle grassiness common to Sauvignon Blanc. The flavor is silky smooth and a wonderful complement to the aroma. I really like this SB. $16.00

Sun Fish 2008 Chardonnay - Mendocino - Fresh ripe aromas of apple and peach with hints of citrus and golden raspberry. Medium acidity, fruity flavors and nice round mouth-feel. The finish is fruity and mellow with hints of acidity. No oak, pristine, elegant. $17.50

Talmage T 2008 Chardonnay - Monterey - Lovely apple and fresh green pear with hints of butter and oak in the nose. Smooth and silky mid-palate with just the right amount of acid. The finish is a medium length mix of fruit and acidity. Folks who didn't like the Sun Fish loved this! $17.50

Pied Violet Reserve 2007 Merlot - Aromas of ripe blackberry and cranberry with hints of toasty oak and cinnamon. This wine is layered with complex flavors. There is just a hint of oak under all of that fruit balanced with pleasing spice. The flavors are big and smooth with a long soft-tannin finish. I LOVE this Merlot! Keep it on its side for another 3 years - it will only get better! $19.50

Sun Fish 2008 Pinot Noir - Sonoma Coast - Layers of vanilla, raspberry and earth with delicate hints of leather, licorice and spice. The finish is medium in length with the fruit flavors and acidity up front and a soft tannic undertone. This Pinot was a big surprise to me! I really like it and bought a bunch for myself, because I am my own best customer! $21.00

De Beaumont 2007 Red Meritage - Alexander Valley - The nose is full of plum, vanilla, licorice and sandalwood with hints of clove and cinnamon. The flavors are a balanced with a pleasing medium weight mouth-feel. Long finish, a mix of fruit and smooth tannin. Delicious! $23.00

I was gratified that several folks who said they didn't like dry wines really liked what we poured. They were a really fun group of folks - although several of them literally fled before I could even thank them for attending, let alone talk to them about hosting or buying.

So, it's almost Thanksgiving. Several of these wines would pair exceptionally well with roasted turkey, especially the Sun Fish Pinot Noir. I highly recommend it.

Who wants to host a tasting? Great wines abound!

OK, I'm not firing this customer...yet...

Just to finish up yesterday's rant...

I shot off that sharp rebuke to my upcoming host, and within a short time, received a genuinely nice and apologetic response. She was concerned that her guests were going to be pressured to spend a lot of money so that she would receive lots of hostess gifts.

I thanked her and reassured her that WineShop at Home is not one of those home-party businesses where host rewards depend on guest purchases. And I went thru the Toast the Host program for October, outlining the specific benefits for the Host, regardless of guest purchases. And I mentioned the guest incentives as well. And I told her I'm looking forward to getting to know her over some great wine.

In the meantime, I'm trying to fill my calender for November. The holidays are upon us! There are some great wines at WSAH right now! In this month's wine club, I received the 2008 Sunfish Pinot Noir. I gotta say, I like this wine a lot. It has layers of raspberry and earth on the nose and palate, with licorice and spice on the finish. Silky tannins make it ready to drink right now. We opened it Monday night and paired with cheeses: Dubliner Cheddar, Manchego and Smoked Gouda. A few hazelnut rice crackers helped make it a 'light' snack, and the wine was just beautiful. Didn't finish the bottle, so last night, paired the remainder with marinated chicken breast and baked potato. Yum! For $21, it's a ready-to-drink-right-now Pinot Noir.

So...you wanna book a tasting? I have dates available in November and December.