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.

Holy cow, it’s mid May already

What I’ve been up to:
Lots of wine – started wine tasting early on Friday afternoon, at the company’s monthly tasting. This time around, we sampled wines from the Loire Valley. Not bad, but nothing that jumped out at me and said, BUY! Which is good, considering that we now have over 80 bottles stocked up at home. Wish I had a wine cellar… then I can really start collecting in earnest. Anyway, in the evening, we headed over to the Rs for a tasting of Zinfandel. Jeff and I brought along 2 bottles of Carlisle that I had snapped online (they were amazing btw, not in your-face-sweet, but restrained, and smoky). It’s hard to find Carlisle in stores, and it was thanks to Miles’s tasting that we tried it before. Miles and Sue brought a bottle of Primitivo, the sister grape to Zinfandel, from Italy. The Rs popped open two other bottles of Zin, a Ridge (always trustworthy with its bombastic fruit and ultra smooth tannins), and a Grigch since Grigch, the winemaker hails from Croatia, thought to be the birthplace of Zinfandel. We rounded off the evening with a bottle of Sergio Prosecco, which, on the one hand, woke up our tastebuds a little, but on the other, sent us nearly over the edge.

Leaving the Rs at past 3 in the am, we stumbled into bed, and stayed there for the next 11 hours. Urgh. All those grand plans to drive up to Michigan to hike and camp, or to Devil’s Lake for some hiking fizzled into nothingness. We barely had enough energy to rehydrate with some hot and soupy pho. In the evening, L+M managed to persuade us up to their place to test out their new teppanyaki. Had to drag ourselves over, on stomachs not fully digested from the pho. But once there, the company and conversation energized us, though we wisely abstained from more wine, or whiskey.

Sunday was completely washed out. Well it continued to rain outside, but plans to get in some climbing fell on the wayside. While Jeff napped intermittently throughout the day, I lounged on the couch, half watching and listening to opera while reading my latest Navy Seal book (I’ve been cramming up reading on military books ever since the company fortuitously engaged Marcus Luttrell, a Navy Seal, to come speak, just weeks before Seal Team Six closed in on Osama).

What I haven’t been up to:
Exercising. Bleah. I need to motivate myself and get in more cardio workout. You’d think reading about the Seals’ insane training is motivation enough. But it’s so much more fun exercising vicariously no? Hopefully the weather turns nice finally, so I run out of rainy day excuses, and go on bike rides and hikes.

What I’m looking forward to:
Getting out the next two weekends, first to Kentucky to climb, then to Boundary Waters in Minnesota for my 3-day canoeing trip.

A Zin Tasting

From 2010 Dec El Circo Cheapo (and a couple pics from Miles' Zin Tasting)

Props to Miles for organizing the Zinfandel tasting at his place last night. We had a blast – 5 types of Zinfandel (4 from Stateside and a comparison Rhone bottle), loads of finger food, and even a raffle! Haha I won myself a Shake Weight!

Anyway, favorite wine of the evening: Carlisle Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel. We had two bottles of that, compared to three of everything else, and everyone couldn’t help but keep returning to it. Amazing punch of blackcurrant goodness that just went on and on and on in your mouth. Crazy smooth too. The Cosentino Cigarzin came in second; best value for the night. I liked the Orin Swift’s Saldo too, but it had a slight tinge of bitterness at the end if I had it without food. With slices of hard mozzarella though, it went down like a dream.

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.

Lyric and the Met: Tragedy and Comedy, Back to Back

We’re in the thick of opera season. Yesterday, we caught the live performance of Verdi’s The Masked Ball at the Lyric. It’s got to be one of my favorite operas. I love the plot, the music, and the arias. We had an absolutely stellar cast: Stephanie Blythe as Ulrica; Sondra Radvanovsky as Amelia; Frank Lopardo as Gustavus; Mark Delavan as Renato; and Kathleen Kim as Oscar. It was almost heart wrenching to hear the duets between Gustavus and Amelia, and later between Renato and Amelia.

WSJ’s review of The Masked Ball:

“Un Ballo in Maschera” (1859) is middle-period Verdi, full of great tunes and even some character development. Lyric Opera delivered the tunes, but director Renata Scotto’s production was prosaic in the extreme. Verdi and his librettist Antonio Somma originally set the opera in Sweden, inspired by the 1792 assassination of King Gustavus III at a masked ball, but the Italian censors, nervous about an actual royal murder, forced its relocation to colonial Boston. Modern productions come in both settings. Lyric’s was in Sweden, though the baritone is still referred to as Renato and the fortuneteller as Ulrica, since “Count Anckarström” and “Mme. Arvidson” are tough names to sing in Italian. In any case, the generic, uncredited sets (from the San Francisco Opera) didn’t add much local color, though John Conklin’s brocade frock coats for Gustavus’s courtiers offered hints.

Ms. Scotto, a famous soprano in her day, appears to feel that an opera director’s job is to stay out of the way of the singers. The chorus lined up in a V-shape around the set and the singers stood and delivered. When she did try something fancy, it backfired—Gustavus (Frank Loprado), shot by his best friend, Renato (Mark Delavan), was dying, cradled by Oscar (Kathleen Kim), his adoring page, but he kept trying to get up to sing more perorations, and was finally heaved into a throne to expire. This drew laughs from the audience.

Fortunately, Lyric fielded an admirable quintet of Verdi singers. Mr. Lopardo brought a penetrating, flexible tenor to Gustavus, the playful king who mistakenly and fatally assumes that everyone adores him. Sondra Radvanovsky’s metallic but well-disciplined soprano fervently expressed the anguish of Amelia, Renato’s wife, who loves Gustavus but refuses to give in to her feelings. As Renato, baritone Mark Delavan sounded pinched and dry at first, but opened up in the stentorian moments of his Act III aria when he expressed his fury at Gustavus, whom he thinks has seduced his wife. (Nothing actually happened, just a lot of mutual yearning, but Renato doesn’t know that.) Mezzo Stephanie Blythe brought a nuanced richness to Ulrica, who predicts Gustavus’s murder at the hand of a friend. Ms. Kim was brightly perky as the page Oscar, who doesn’t realize what the stakes are. Asher Fisch’s conducting grew progressively more interesting, catching the sweep of the Verdian melodies in the big lyrical moments and helping the singers carry the show.

Tonight, we tried to catch the Metropolitan Opera’s encore streaming of Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, starring soprano Anna Netrebko, tenor Matthew Polenzani, baritone Mariusz Kwiecien and bass-baritone John Del Carlo. Tried, being the operative word, because the terrible storm overhead in New York created havoc on the satellites. The opera kept cutting out, and finally, right before the final garden scene, management apologized and said they couldn’t continue the streaming. We did get free tickets to the next streaming, but I was very disappointed. Anna’s portrayal of Norina was gut-bustlingly funny; and frankly so was John’s Don Pasquale. The plot was the complete opposite of Verdi’s Masked Ball – nobody died, and the mood stayed exceedingly light-hearted from start to finish (well, I didn’t catch the finale, but I can bet it’ll be a laugh). I’ve got to catch the finale sometime… and not just any other production, but I really want to see how this cast dishes it out at the end!

And oh, to accompany the brilliant comedy, we broke out a bottle of the Duckhorn Decoy Zinfandel 2008. I drank it from a small glass (didn’t want to risk bringing our huge crystal glass to the theatre hehe), and so couldn’t really get a good sniff of the nose, but it tasted of strawberry jam with a hint of spice.

Jeff Wines: A Sweet Zin on a Snowy Spring Evening

For the past three years in a row, we have gone out to ski in April. This year, it was back to Colorado. Thanks to TL, we had discount coupons for a couple ski resorts, which can make for substantial savings.

We skied Copper Mountain today. Unlike past years, the snow was a little thin. In fact, some patches were downright icy. I slid a couple times because I couldn’t catch edge in time. But it was also snowing in drifts on and off in the afternoon too, and even now, there continues to be snow showers, so we may see some excellent conditions tomorrow.

In search of food in the evening, we turned to the trusty Yelp iPhone app, which directed us to a nondescript cafe around the corner. It had garnered rave reviews, and digging into our dishes of creamy mushroom soup, tender aged beef fillet and tempura udon, it was not to see why. Even more gratifying, was the restaurant’s incredible wine list. It’s pretty modest, maybe 15 bottles in total, but the wines all looked interesting. Even better the mark up was almost neglible! We could order a bottle of Prisoner for just $48, which otherwise retails for $36.

We were tempted to get that, but didn’t want to dehydrate ourselves too much in this thin air (currently 9,000 feet above sea level). Instead, we opted for a half bottle of the Rombauer Zinfandel 2006 from Napa Valley. Very tasty. . In Jeff’s words:

“Very big fruity nose, sweet taste, hints of raspberry, black currants, blueberries. A very nice finish leaves a bit of sweetness on the tongue. A robust medium body wine that can pair with steak or scallops.”

Zinfandelic

It was a dreary Monday night. Boring day at work (as usual); it was rainy. I needed a pick me up. And not some safe but incredibly and insipidly boring Australian wine like say, a Jacob’s Creek Merlot 2007 (which I had with dinner the night before). I was hankering for something livelier, more exciting. Something that I could sip and enjoy while dinner was still being cooked.

So I pulled out the bottle of Zinfandelic Amador County 2005 that I had bought from the airport’s duty free shop. Nice and zany label; perfect.

Excellent choice really. Great to drink on its own; not too hot, just nice and light enough on the tongue. As I breathed in the nose of raspberry and spice, I could feel my mood lifting somewhat.

A Tasting at the Wine Gallery

Andrew sent out an email to the DGS listhost, informing us of a free wine tasting of Australian and New Zealand Wines at the Wine Gallery Saturday. I was intrigued by the vast quantity of wines available for tasting – 76!!! – and curious to visit an unexplored wine shop. A little odd though, that nobody else on the 60 strong listhost wanted to join me. No matter, Wellian and I had been trying to meet up for the longest time now, so I invited him over for the afternoon. Hehe, he isn’t that big a drinker (tried prolly a third of what I tasted), but it was fun to catch up and chat nonetheless.

Elderton Command Shiraz 2005, Australia – Hehe, when I first arrived, I was a little overwhelmed by the packed tables of closely stacked bottles of wines available for tasting (76 different wines in all), and thus tried to get a handle on my confusion by going for the label that I knew. The Elderton. Could I have this please? I asked the guy, pointing at the unopened bottle of the Elderton Command. Would you want to try the Elderton Friends bottle instead, he asked, lifting the opened bottle of Friends. I demurred, since I had tasted it before (at Seven Ate Nine with Tanya and Paul). Smiling slightly as he opened the Command, he said, woah, you’ve gunned straight for the most expensive bottle in the room. Oops. Hehe.

Oh but it was good. We really shouldn’t have started on that bottle. Almost everything after couldn’t compare. It had a beautiful inky color, with a nose that smelled almost as dense as it looked, of concentrated raisins. Super smooth in the mouthfeel with a finish that lingered on and on. Totally loved it!

The Wine Advocate writes of the wine (97 points):

Elderton’s flagship is the single vineyard Command Shiraz, a wine with serious aging potential, and one with which all other South Australia Shiraz must be compared. The opaque purple/black 2005 Command Shiraz was aged in French and American oak puncheons (500-liter barrels). It offers up a sexy/kinky bouquet of wood smoke, lavender, leather, game, mineral, black raspberry, and blueberry pie. Voluptuous on the palate, complex, and dense, it demands a decade of cellaring after which it should offer hedonists much pleasure through 2035.”

Stephen Tanzer writes of the wine (94 points):
Inky ruby color. Vibrant raspberry, cherry-vanilla and coconut aromas are complemented by candied licorice and smoky minerals. Pliant, palate-coating red and dark berry preserve flavors are perked up by Asian spices and smoky minerals. Pretty exotic but not over the top, with gentle tannins adding shape and focus to the long, sweet finish. This is downright sexy today.

D’arenberg the Laughing Magpie Shiraz Viognier 2007, Australia – Unfortunately for this wine, we tasted it right on the heels of the Command. It tasted hot, with a tinge of metal in the mouth, and wasn’t as satisfyingly smooth or full bodied. A decent wine on its on to be sure nonetheless.

Elderton Ode to Lorraine CSM 2005, Australia – I think I’m a fan of Elderton wines; would be awesome if I could visit their vineyard if I do manage to go to Barossa in September. This one was delicious, with a nose so strongly reminiscent of Ribena that even Wellian agreed. Hehe. It also reminded me somewhat of a Maderia, with a sun burnt quality. Heh it was rated the top 16 wine of 2008. The American Singaporean (AS, we’ll call him. That’s the correct terminology for a migrated American?? Heh) standing next to us couldn’t help remarking over and over when he was tasting this wine, oh my god, this wine would do me in, it’s so damn strong. Indeed, it was, a heavy, powerful wine. He thought it would be too heavy to go with steak, I reckoned it would be a perfect after-dinner/dessert wine.

Stella Bella Tempranillo 2005, Australia – The AS wasn’t a fan of the powerful wines, it turned out. Singapore’s too hot, he said, and recommended his favorite tasting of the day, the Tempranillo (more often a Spanish wine). It was much lighter, smoother. Actually, kind of a milder version of the CSM, which I found way more fun.

Green Point Pinot Noir 2007, Australia – My best value tasting of the day, hands down. The AS was similarly enthusiastic about it as well. This light colored – almost pink – Pinot Noir was more old world style, with a huge earthy nose of truffles. Beautiful nose, and deliciously meaty body and finish. I need to stock up on this; only I’m not sure if the usual fare we eat at home would pair well with this.

Cape Mentelle Zinfandel 2006, Australia – Wellian liked this one, nice and smooth.

St Hallet Old Block Shiraz 2005, Australia – Another recommendation of the AS. Nice big nose, very full bodied wine, but not nearly as sweet as the command or the CSM.

Jacob Creek Johann Shiraz Cabernet 2001, Australia – It was smooth, not bad, but for its price (~S$126) somewhat unexciting.

Fox Creek Shiraz Grenache 2007, Australia – Not bad, quite smooth.

Mitchelton Crescent Shiraz Mourvedre Grenache 2004, Australia – Rhone style, not too bad, but otherwise unmemorable – don’t have notes on it.

Green Point Sparkling Rose NV, Australia – After the exciting Pinot Noir from the same vineyard, I was thoroughly disappointed by this. It was insipid, without a nose, and without a body and finish. Basically your kind of wafer thin model wihout any curves whatsoever. The bubbles were huge and clumsy too. Hmm, actually, I just glanced through my journal, and I have tasted another Green Point before, a Viognier from our Yarra Valley DGS Tasting. I wasn’t impressed by the Viognier then too. But I really like their Pinot.

Sileni Estate Circle Semillon 2004, New Zealand – Lemony, limestone, nice refreshing weight in the mouthfeel

Montana Pinot Noir 2007, New Zealand – Not too bad, but I much prefer the Green Point Pinot Noir in terms of aromas, smoothness, and finish. This one seemed a shadow of the Green Point.

D’arenberg The Dead Arm Shiraz 2006, Australia – It had a meaty nose, which stood it apart from the other Shiraz I had that day, but apart from that, I can’t remember too much about it

Jeff Wines: Wine for Climbers

Our definition of a really fun weekend: climbing and lounging outdoors, surrounded by beautiful and intriguing cliffs, and bathed in a gentle breeze even as the sun warms our skin. And in the evening, hanging out in a rustic cabin, stuffing our faces full of baked rice and pizza, washed down with bottles of wine.

Which is why Jeff’s recent find of the Clif Family Winery (yes, the maker of Clif and Luna bars) Climber series wines would be the perfect companions on such a weekend. How better to get into the mood than with a wine by a family of winemakers who understands (or at the very least, know how to market) wine for people who enjoy the outdoors as much as the next glass of wine?

2004 Climber Red, Clif Bar Family Winery

A blend of 5 different varietals, it is a robust red with a dark ruby color and a big nose of dark berries and black currant. There is a hint of spiciness, with a smooth body and a great finish. A good standby table wine.

Gnarly Head Old Vine Zinfandel

My aunt looked at the glass of wine I proferred, commenting, wah such a big glass.

Of course, I said, proudly, this is a Riedl glass, and there’s a world of difference in the aroma of the wine in this glass versus a normal water glass.Prove it, she said. So I grabbed a small glass off the counter, and poured a little wine into it, before handing it to her expectantly.

She proceeded to stick her nose into two glasses, alternating without a word for maybe about 10 seconds, before exclaiming, oh my gosh! There really is a difference!

I peered at her suspiciously over my own raised glass, but her reaction was genuine. And when my dad walked in a moment later, she excitedly pushed the glasses towards him, saying in wonderment, I never thought there would be such a distinct difference in the smell!

On a related note, I am really pleased with the Gnarly Head Old Vine Zinfandel from Lodi, California, that I opened at dinner tonight. So pleased, that I’m toying with the idea of buying a case from NTUC as my de facto table wine. It’s a decent price, just under S$30, with just the right amount of tanins and spice, and a lingering, sweet chocolatey aftertaste.