Pre-Thanksgiving Dinner with Turkey and Wine

Initially, the plan was to hold a tasting with Eric. But he never responded to the e-mail chains on where we would host it, and oddly no one else wanted to nudge him for answers. Finally, we decided to just have L+M over for wine and a simple home-cooked meal. On the spur of the moment, we asked the Rs over too, when we saw them over scotch on Thursday evening. Moments after, Eric finally responded, apologizing for the radio silence and asking if we could go over to his place instead, because he didn’t want to find a baby sitter. But since we had already invited the Rs, we had to take a raincheck with Eric. Then, at literally the last minute, L+M had to bow out.

But given all the scheduling confusion, the evening turned out beautifully. We decided on impulse to roast some turkey breast and stuffing to go with the wines, and the Rs made a lovely butternut squash soup to complement the Thanksgiving-like meal. For dessert, I baked apple crumble, and Aaron had picked out a generous selection of stinky cheeses and sausages. We spent the evening comfortably sprawled in front of the dining table, drinking a 2009 Capiaux Russian River Valley Pinot Noir, 2008 B.R. Cohn North Coast Silver Label Cabernet Sauvignon, 2003 Bussolla Amaraone Della Valpolicella Classico (which was sweet and smooth but seemed lacking in backbone), and 2009 Dusted Valley Tall Tales Syrah.

2009 Carlisle Sonoma County Syrah, California, USA

My coworker, who shares his wine allocations with me sometimes, told me in the elevator today that the 2009 Carlisle Sonoma County Syrah, California, USA he recommended I buy from KL Wines earlier this year, has appreciated some 5x the price we bought it at! OMG. I bought 5 different bottles then, the cheapest being the Sonoma Syrah for $25 – my coworker just sold it at auction for $125!!!

But we opened the bottle 2 Sundays ago, when Ruoxi and Pakshun were here. Haha. Although to be honest, if I were to guess the price of the bottle blind, I would have put it in the $40 range. First opened, it had a beautiful fruity nose, but tasted somewhat restrained with the tannins. It did open up a lot more as the evening went on and the body rounded out, becoming silky smooth with a long finish.

At least we still have 4 more bottles, albeit from different vineyards and different vintages and different grapes (Syrah and Zinfandel)… and two more arriving in the mail next week.

A Syrah Tasting

At literally the last minute, I managed to get off the waiting list for my company’s monthly wine tasting. Syrah this time!

We’ve been drinking and buying too much Syrah lately (probably as a result of going to Paso Robles and then Seattle) – and not nearly enough Pinot Noir it seems!

Best wine: 2008 Syrah from Goedhart Family Vineyards “Bel’ Villa Vineyard”, Red Mountain, Washington, $29. It was spicy with a strong backbone of tannins.

Best value: 2008 Syrah from Bradgate Stellenbosch, South Africa, $14. Huge perfume, and super inky – almost black. Not as smooth or complex as the slightly musty smelling 2007 Corbieres Chateua Grand Cres, “Cuvee Majeure” from Corbieres France, but a great steal vs. $26.

Was disappointed by the 2008 Syrah Reserva from Tamaya Limiary Valley Chile, which felt limpid with zero structure in comparison. It was too sweet.

Wine Tasting in Woodinville, Washington

We were so excited at the prospect of wine tasting in Washington… but the question was, where would we go? There are 11 different appellations in Washington, and 10 are located east of the Cascades mountain ranges, as far as 3-5 hours of driving from Seattle. Yakima is the closest appellation east of the mountains, but we weren’t familiar with the wines from there, and Walla Walla and Columbia Valley were too far given our schedule.

Thank goodness for Woodinville. The Woodinville wine clusters began with the establishment of Chateau Ste. Michelle in 1976, whose production now dwarves that of all other wineries in Washington. There are over 80 wineries in Woodinville. Some of them are cellar doors with vineyards in the eastern appellations (Puget Sound is the appellation west of the Cascades, and none of the winemakers we spoke with think much of it – for now). Many are small production wineries (~1000 cases) whose owners may hold other full time jobs. Consequently, most of the wineries are only open for tasting on Saturdays, or open by appointment on Sundays (thankfully, that fit neatly into our schedule).

Woodinville is a veritable oasis of excellent wines. There were too many wineries to choose from, so I used the reviews over at Cellar Tracker to help with my research. I came up with a list of 15 wineries to visit; we only managed to hit half on the list, but visited others on the enthusiastic urging of the winemakers we met.

Wineries/Cellar Doors we visited:
1. Tempest Sol
Winemaker Gus White poured for us. We tried all his currently available vintages: 2008 Eos, 2007 Helios, 2010 Viognier, and the 2008 Aglianico (intriguing choice of an Italian varietal), as well as a 2009 Cabernet Franc and 2009 Syrah that were still sitting in the tanks, waiting to be barreled. We enjoyed chatting with Gus, who works full time at Microsoft developing the Kinect, and part time on this “hobby”. He told us he’s been making wine for the past 8 years, and started Tempest Sol a few years ago. His wines are mostly sourced from the Yakima AVA.

Bought – 1x 2008 Eos, 1x 2010 Viognier

2. Cuillin Hills
Winemaker Derek DesVoigne poured for us. He focuses on making Rhone and Bordeaux varietals, and we tried all 6 of his current offerings. His wines are sourced primarily from Stillwater Creek (Columbia Valley), Sagemoor Weinbau (Columbia Valley), and Meek Family Vineyard (Yakima). Of all we tasted, we really liked the 2008 Shackled Syrah and the 2009 Instigator Syrah. The latter had lots of tannins on the mouth, dry but smooth, with a smoky and meaty mouth feel.

Bought – 1x 2008 Shackled, Columbia Valley

3. William Church
We went to William Church on the recommendation of Gus, and what a solid recommendation that was! They make about 3500 cases there, so it’s about 3 times the size of Cuillin Hills and Tempest Sol. Unlike the other two wineries, we were served by volunteers here. We tasted the 2010 Viognier (wonderful bouquet! LOVED IT!), 2008 Bishops Blend (delicious), 2007 Sur La Meh (Beautiful! Totally in love with this one!), 2007 Cabernet Savuignon from Columbia Valley, 2008 Malbec, 2008 Two Spires (nice sweetish finish), and the 2007 Syrah.

It’s a pity, but we didn’t end up buying any from the winery. We were headed to Canada the next day, so we were mindful of not going over our legal limit as to the number of bottles we could bring in or come back across the border with. We thought we would have enough time on the return trip to buy more. Guess there’s always online shipping!

4. Sparkman Cellars
To be honest, my recollection of this winery is somewhat hazy. We were served by a couple girls, one of whom had just started her first day on her job and was thus almost as clueless as we were about the wines. But they were friendly, and we enjoyed their 2008 Wilderness Red Blend, which is a blend of Cab, Syrah, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot. And we learnt that the Red Mountain AVA, whilst the smallest and newest appellation, makes some of the best wines in the state.

Bought – 1x 2008 Wilderness Red Blend

5. Patterson Cellars
There was a party helping to bottle the wines when we visited, which was fun to watch. We tried a bunch of wines, my favorite being the 2007 Woodslake Cabernet Franc. We’d tried a couple prior to Patterson’s and found theirs the most outstanding of the lot: Great representation of Cab Franc with its tobacco and raspberry notes and peppery finish.

One great thing about Patterson – theirs is the best shipping policy we’ve seen to date. $10 shipping charges for any number of bottles you buy!

Bought – 2x 2010 Chardonnay, 1x 2008/2009 Due Ann, 2x 2007 Woodslake Cabernet Franc, 1x 2008 Syrah Sirah

6. Baer Winery
Lisa, one of the owners, poured their tastings of the 2008 Arctos and the 2010 Shard for us. I’d heard of Baer from the Wine Discount Center when they sent out a newsletter featuring Baer’s 2008 Ursa. Funnily enough, she had just returned from Chicago, where she sold the last of her 2008 Ursa to the Wine Discount Center.

Leroy Redford of Flying Dreams makes their wines for them.

7. Flying Dreams
We were pointed to Flying Dreams by Gus of Tempest Sol, who told us that Leroy Redford, the winemaker, used to be a professional ballet dancer before he turned to wine. Leroy poured for us, even though we came knocking minutes before he closed. He sources his wines from a bunch of different vineyards, including Stillwater Creek (Columbia Valley) and Sagemoor Weinbau (Columbia Valley), like Cuillin Hills.

We especially loved his 2009 Syrah, which was especially smooth with explosions of berries and spice in the mouth. We got two bottles which Leroy autographed with a thick golden-tipped felt pen.

Bought – 2x 2009 Syrah

8. Pomum
Because Jeff was so excited about Leroy’s Tempranillo, Leroy pointed us to Pomum, the other winery in the area that focuses on Spanish-styled wines. The owner of Pomum is a Spanish architect. They’re not usually open for tastings on Sundays, but Jeff sent them an email and the sister of the winemaker, Ana, opened the doors for us and treated us to generous pours. It was fun chatting with her, about wine and everything else under the sun. We were there for close to an hour before we realized we had to hurry if we wanted to taste anything else.

Jeff liked their take on Tempranillo with the 2008 Tinto, though I found it to be a little harsh on the tannins. I preferred the 2007 Shya Red Bordeaux blend, which was smooth and lush on the tongue, with a long and sweet finish.

9. Janiuk
The Januik compound is sprawling, compared to the prior wineries we’d visited. The tasting room was elegantly designed, with high ceilings and glass doors that framed the one side while the other side opened to a gallery where visitors could look down into the expansive wine making facility that joined the building. It was packed with people too – not quite as bad as in Napa, but we had to wait for a bit to get a tasting.

While we prefer going to the smaller wineries so we would have a chance to chat with the winemakers themselves and understand more about their unique wine making process, we couldn’t fault the wines at Janiuk’s. The Januik branded wines are sold alongside the Novelty Hill brands, since winemaker Mike Januik makes those wines as well. For $7, we could choose 4 of the Novelty Hill/Januik wines to taste, or for $10, we could taste 4 of their reserve wines. We chose the latter, and were blown away by the 2008 Champoux Cabernet Sauvginon, as well as the 2008 Reserve Red. But the price tags seemed a little too steep, particularly when we factored in the shipping taxes. In the end, I bought 3 bottles on behalf of my boss, but passed for ourselves.

10. Dusted Valley
What a find! We lucked out in the tasting – they’d just had a Stained Tooth Society (the wine club) Syrah tasting the evening before, and had some leftover reserve and library wines to taste. We had such a blast going down the range of Syrah, from the different appellations. It was most interesting to see how the wines from the same year differed from the various appellations. Perhaps it was because we’d just sampled 5 different Syrahs in a row, but the 2008 Wahluke BFM Merlot jumped right out at us. It was such a luscious mouthful of goodness!

Gotta love Dusted Valley’s wine club. Winemaker and co-owner Corey explained that when he’d been looking for wine clubs to join back in the day, he’d been frustrated by the lack of choices offered. Most wine clubs choose your selections for their members, giving them not much of a choice in what wines they want. When Corey and his brother-in-law Chad formed their own wine club, they decided to let members choose what they wanted (which makes it more difficult for the winery to manage inventory). Thus, twice a year, members get a full say in what they want to drink. Which worked out perfectly for us in this case. We picked out a mixed case of primarily Syrah, and 3 bottles of that tasty BFM Merlot, to split with my boss. And, as an initiation gift to the Stained Tooth Society, we were presented with toothbrushes. Hah!

Bought – 1x – 2009 CV STS, 2x 2008 CV Rachis Syr, 3x 2008 Wahluke BFM, 2x 2005 Smasne Syrah, 2x 2006 WW Birch Cre, 2x 2006 CV Reserve Syrah

11. Chateau Ste Michelle
Jeff dubbed it “The Mothership”. It’s a sprawling estate.

12. Goose Ridge
Medium-sized winery… make wines using a small amount of their grapes; the bulk of them they sell to other wineries. Really delicious wines for the price – something must be said for economies of scale!

Bought – 1x Chardonnay, 1x Pinot Gris

Wine Tasting in Paso Robles

Our singular most memorable vineyard experience took place in Paso Robles, although funnily enough, no actual wine tasting was involved.

We were finishing up our wonderful meal at Artisans on Friday evening, when I looked over at the dinner plates of the couple next to us and started salivating to see the enormous and juicy looking scallops that the gentleman was enjoying. So I started up a conversation, and before long, we learnt that they were the neighbors of the B&B we were staying at, and that their 20 acre plot of land included 10 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon, 6 aces of Syrah, and 4 of Merlot. We chatted easily through the rest of their meal, and before we left, were invited for a tour of their vineyard the next morning.

The lovely couple were the Rasmussens, and their vineyard is the Rasmussen Vineyards, currently still a private family owned production. They’re still waiting for a final permit before they can start making and selling wine on the property. In the meantime however, they are bottling the bulk of their wines over at Midnight Cellars, while keeping a few barrels as garage wines.

We were excited at the opportunity for a private tour, and so early next morning, popped over for a visit. While the cellar and future tasting room is located at the bottom of the hill on their property, Larry and Elaine, when they make their weekend trek up to Paso Robles (Larry is still a partner at his architectural firm in Ventura), stay at the top of the hill in a beautiful contemporary glass studio that Larry designed. Next to the studio is a standalone building built into the slopes of the hill. We wound our way down the stairs into the main room, where we entered into an airy room with full length glass windows that open up to the view of the valley below. There was a murphy bed disguised as a cabinet, and a walk-in wine cellar. Larry drew out a bottle of his 2007 Kissed Syrah, a garage blend that his son Niles had made, and gave it to us.

They also brought us down to the cellar and tasting room at the foot of the hill, where they wanted to give us a sampling of the wines still sitting in the barrels. Alas, they couldn’t locate the wine thief. But, they did find a bottle of their 2002 Syrah, their first ever labelled wine, as well as a half bottle of their 2006 late-harvest Syrah garage wine that they had made as sort of an afterthought, from the super ripe grapes left on the vine at the end of the harvesting season. These, they pressed too into our hands.

We’ll have to find a way to thank the Rasmussens for their welcome and generosity when we get back, but it seems that in Paso Robles, such friendly behavior is more the norm than anywhere else. Perhaps it’s because the region is not as developed and commercialized as Napa Valley further up north, but most places we went, the people working the tasting room were delightfully warm, and took the time to chat with us. Back in March, when our friends visited, they had also surrendiptiously bumped into the owner of Denner at a restaurant, and were also invited to stop by the winery for a visit the next day.

A Syrah Tasting

The day had started off as gorgeously cool and sunny. But as we headed up north to Eric and Abby’s for a Syrah blind tasting, a thick blanket of fog suddenly descended upon us. It was so dense that we couldn’t see 10 feet in front of us, and could only make a faint blur of the cars’ tail lights. Lake Michigan, to our right, was completely enveloped in white.

Although Eric had planned for an outdoor tasting in his backyard, the sudden dip in temperature sent us fleeing back indoors. After some chit chat and a chilled glass of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, we wrapped the 4 bottles we had all contributed in aluminum foil and started tasting.

Hehe, I correctly guessed the regions of all the wines! The group favorite of the night was the J.L. Chave Sélection “Offerus” St.-Joseph Rouge from Rhone, with earthy notes and smooth tannins. Our second Rhone bottle was the J.L. Chave Sélection “Mon Coeur”, which blew us away its sheet pungent aroma. It was so strong! I had to check to make sure it wasn’t the stinky cheese I was standing next to. Miguel really liked it though. I would have enjoyed it more if the nose was a little more subtle, because it was so beautifully rounded and soft in the finish.

The third bottle, a Halter Ranch 2008 Syrah that Miguel had brought back from Paso Robles, had an incredibly sweet nose, especially when drank in sequence after the Mon Coeur. It reminded me of the aromas of caramelizing sugar over a candle. Tons of vanilla in the body too…In Mig’s words, it was a “bodacious” wine. I think I would have enjoyed it more had I not just tasted the Offerus and the Mon Coeur.

The final blind tasting bottle of the evening was Eric’s Copain mailing list wine, a 2006 single vineyard wine. In nose, it was most similar to the Offerus, though we easily guessed that it was a New World wine for it’s much fuller body of ripe fruit.

By then, it was probably past 10pm. Everyone had a pleasant buzz going. We ought to have ended the evening here, but nobody protested when Eric busted out another Syrah, a 2006 Dumol Russian River Valley. It was good, and I’d rate it between the Offerus and the Copain.

It was a very delightful way of passing an evening, though I paid for it the next morning; we ended up leaving only when it was half past 12. Still, I’m happy to be doing wine tasting with small groups of friends again.

Wines Galore

Just had the Decoy Zinfandel this week while watching the Met’s streaming of Don Pasquale at AMC.

We’ve a total of 50 bottles in our wine fridges and barrel now, with some doubles, like Bella’s Garden.

Dining at Alinea: An Out of the World Experience

There is no other word for it – we splurged. I guess our one justification for Alinea was that it was a half year’s worth of weekly dinners that we had missed. But it was quite a dinner. We were quite impressed with most of the dishes served up that night: molecular gastronomy is Chinese cuisine gone a step further. Where Chinese cooking is throwing a dozen spices into a single dish to create new tastes, molecular gastronomy is all about deconstructing the individual tastes and having the different sensations on your tastebuds one forkful at a time.

Here’s a sample of our dinner that night, and the attendant wine pairings (we shared a pairing between the both of us, but the waiters – and yes, we had multiple servers attending to our every need – were generous enough to give us multiple ‘splashes’):

Roes, traditional garnishes

Jorgen Lysholm “Linie” Acquavit, Norway

Some kind of sea foam/ fish roe dish. Amazing bursts of flavor in the mouth – at once salty and sweet in the center. I love how the roe just explodes into flavor and juice.

The Acquavit apertif – a Norwegian apertif that is fermented in a sherry cask and sailed around the world and back before bottling. Nice citrus/tangerine nose; minty finish.

 

From Chicago Spring 2009

Cauliflower, five coatings, three gels, cider

Emmerich Knoll Loibner Gruner Veltliner Smaragd “Vinothekfullung’, Wachau 2004

Cauliflower medley bathed in apple soup. Delicious!!! We had bacon cauliflower, cheese, etc. Small cubes that simply melted in our mouths. Quite amazing, the sensation of flavors that played across our tongues. I have a feeling I’m going to exclaim this a lot; this myraid of tastes in every mouthfeel.

The second wine: Nice and sturdy. Kind of earthy. Well balanced with smooth finish. Not sweet or lemony. Clean finish. We really like this one!!!!

From Chicago Spring 2009

Wild Striped Bass, chamomile, shellfish, celery

Michel Chapoutier Crozes-Hermitage ‘Les Meysonniers’ N Rhone 2007
The Hermitage wine: Beautiful nose. I love it. Reminded me a little of a rose, the floral scent. The taste was lemony, sharp and acidic but watered down in the finish. Awesome nose, but eennnhhhh body. Interesting – paired with the sea bass, the nose smelled a little smokier, not so much floral. Jeff thought that the wine tasted better with the food, fuller bodied.

From Chicago Spring 2009

Lobster, popcorn, mango, curry

Chereau-Carre Muscadet \’Comte Leloup de Chasseloir, Ceps Centenaires\’ Loire 2003
2003 muscadet: Muted nose- although Jeff thinks it is similar to an albarino, bright and briny. Nice finish that rounds off. Paired with the next dish – a butter, popcorn and lobster infusion, the wine was awesome. Beautiful rounded finish, with a tinge of sweetness to boot.

Popcorn in melted butter will never taste the same again!!! Jeff and I both agreed that this was our favorite dish so far (the previous dish of sea bass in some kind of tea infusion we thought a little plain).

Pork Belly, iceberg, cucumber, Thai distillation

Abbazia di Novacella Kerner, Valle Isarco, Alto Adige 2007

The Kerner from Italy – a cross between a Riesling and anotherbgrape. If I remember correctly, my favorite wine from dgs adventure wine. Nice nose and body – somewhat spicy nbut still bright.

Thai infused pork belly with lettuce and an amuse bouche of distilled lemongrass, fish sauce, and chili. Delicious!!!!!

From Chicago Spring 2009

Wagyu Beef, powdered A-1, potato, chips

K Syrah “Milbrandt” – Wahluke Slope  2006

K syrah. Jeff’s favorite wine. He loves the aftertaste with the tinge of sweetness. I tried it before the food and thought the nose was nice but the body a little harsh, not smooth enough. Bit withe the waygu beef and potato and a1 sauce, the wine was quite incredible. Everything came together in an explosion of taste. Made the wine a whole lot smoother. On second thought, the wine was also an awesome complement to the food.

From Chicago Spring 2009

Bacon, butterscotch, apple, thyme

Yoghurt, pomegranate, cassia

Bubble gum, long pepper, hisbiscus, creme fraiche

From Chicago Spring 2009

Rhubarb, goat milk, onion, lavender air

Elio Perrone ‘Bigaro’ Piedmont Italy 2008
Mosacato blend wine. Amazing like a moscato but not as sweet. Really nice with the dessert. I know ruoxi and wendy would totally flip out over this wine. Pairs really well with re dessert – goat cheese cake, rhubarb, sweet onion cotton candy. Heavenly!

From Chicago Spring 2009

Chocolate, prune, olive, pine

Olivarres Dulce Monastrell Jumilla Spain 2004
The Jumilla Spain late harvest wine: Kind of like a port, high in alcohol, but naturally fermented. None of the burnt smell of port but concentrated ribena. Goes really really well with the pine ice cream, pine nut soup, olive oil custard and ice cream. Mmmmmmmmm!!!

From Chicago Spring 2009

Sweet Potato, bourbon brown sugar, smoldering cinnamon

Interesting dish, though I was so full by this point I wasn\’t really in the mood for more food. I felt the bourbon was a little too strong on the brown sugar toffee – not that I don’t like my alcohol but it made the sugar taste a little too bitter.

From Chicago Spring 2009

Wine tasting in Santa Ctuz

So the WSJ apparently wrote about Vino Cruz in a February 15 article on wine stores that focus exclusively on regional wines and what a great opportunity it is for people to taste otherwise unavailable wines from tiny wineries.

I sampled five wines at the store today, and really liked two: the Pinot Noir and the Syrah.

2007 Albarino Bonny Doon – fermented in stainless steel; some heavy melon fruit in the nose. More tasty at the start, the finish just kinds of falls off.

2007 Storrs Sauvignon Blanc – French Bordeaux style with some oak aging. Doesn’t taste green and the finish is rounded and soft. I like it.

2005 Clos Tita Pinot Noir Cuvee – tiny winery with a total production if 350 cases. Hot nose, sting strawberries. Some kind of herby/minty flavors near the end. Full bodied wine, soft and rounded finish. I love the mouthfeel.

2006 Alfaro Family Merlot Billy K – only 60 cases of this wine is produced. Very light wine, especially following the Pinot Noir. The nose smelled a little of oak. Didn’t really think much of this one.

2005 Gatos Locos Syrah SCM – vibrant fruit, spicy finish with a hint of white pepper in the finish. Fun wine to drink!

Napa Valley Tasting: Day 3

Back at Bruce’s house, but he, along with the rest of the gang, have left already (he and Peiyun, on Saturday night, and Walter, Jon, and Maria, on Sunday night). Boo. It was a really fun weekend though – we really went all out in wining and dining. I basically haven’t felt hungry since Wednesday (we went to Chez Paneizz on Thursday for dinner, and that was phenomenal too).

We brunched at Alexis’ Baking Company this morning. The food was amazing, with heaping sides of fresh and sweet fruit. Despite my attempt to share and not over stuff myself, I was still very pleasantly bloated by the end. The highlight of the meal though, was the very engaging and informative conversation we had with the lady who shared our table. She’s a winemaker at a tiny family owned winery in Mt Veeder, Yates, and was very generous with sharing her insights on all things wine.

Turnbull
2007 Sauvignon Blanc – grapefruit, guava, melon. Tart finish. I prefer the nose to the body but I like how all the summer fruits are so discernable.

2004 Syrah – intense, very intense fruit. Nice spice in the mouth, some tannins in the mouth but a long lingering finish. Definitely a food wine.

2005 Merlot – bright fruit, a lot lighter in the body and finish. I think I prefer the weight of the syrah. Softer tannins.

2005 Cabernet Sauvignon – super ripe black fruit. Some spice, not too much though. Some toasted oak. Rich tannins, big finish.

St Supery
I didn’t know it initially, but St. Supery is actually one of the largest wineries in the Valley. Their grounds were enormous, and they even had a museum above the tasting room for visitors to learn more about the wine making process. Alas, we weren’t too impressed with the wines themselves.

2007 Sauvignon Blanc – grapefruit in the mouth, some guava too. Interesting, short finish.

2006 Virtu – blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillonc. Like how the semillonc rounds off the wine and lends it some hints of toasty oak.

2007 Oak Free Chardonnay – reminds of apple tart. Very light, tart though. An ok Chardonnay, think zd still has my favorite chardonnay of the trip.

2006 Rose – merlot grape. Very interesting nose; blend of tart strawberry and honey. I get the honey at the finish too.

2002 Merlot – tomato and herb in the nose. Tannins are quite strong, none too subtle I think. Not my favorite.

2003 Cabernet Sauvignon – cherry, again the tannins are at the start. Finish just falls off pretty abruptly.

2004 Elu – meritage blend with 66% cab. Cherry and vanilla in the nose. Tannins right at the front too, short finish.

2006 Moscato – 7% residual sugar. Lychee and tangerine notes and body. Very sweet, could probably enjoy just a glass after dinner.

Frank Family
We were only considering going to two wineries today, but both the lady at brunch and the folks at ZD (Jon returned to pick up a bottle of Gewurtz) pointed Frank Family out to us, so up we went. It was definitely a nice way to end the trip. We had eight glasses of really good wines, including a couple of off-the-shelf special reserve pours.

Blanc de Noir – warm baked bread, yeasty. Some nuts in the nose.

1998 Signature Brut – a lot of bubbles but small fizzy. Nice hazelnut in the body. Superior to Mumm. Maria loves it too. New pour has tighter more concentrated bubbles. I like it a lot!

Rouge – 100% Pinot, one and a half hour in contact with the skins. Blackberry finish. Quite nice.

2006 Chardonnay – 100% from carneros. Jon’s immediate comment: ” like cake!” very nice, floral nose, smooth and rounded body, not tart. I like. Mellow, beautiful at room temperature. Some butterscotch.

2006 Zinfandel – yellow cake, again that sort of smooth untart nose. I like that it’s not in your face, more elegant in that sense. Nice rounded and off sweet finish.

2004 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon – bell pepper, spice, cedar.

2005 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford – fuller, a lot more concentrated, even in the color. A little bit of coffee in the body. Tannins more discernable, could stand to be aged. But I like the focus. Mocha chocolate?

2005 winston hill red wine Bordeaux style ($150) – nice and tight mocha chocolate. More mellow than the prior wine, more elegant. Some plum, and mocha chocolate notes. Very nice. But not as full bodied as the Duckhorn.