Wine On My Doorstep Makes Me Smile

I love the John Denver song that went “Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy, Sunshine In my eyes makes me cry….”. I was singing it this week when my doorbell rang and a friendly UPS guy with two boxes in his arms needed a signature for a wine delivery. I just love new wines on my doorstep. It always makes me smile!

The first box held two beautiful white wines from Italy. A bottle of Vesevo Falanghina, and a bottle of Lungarotti Torre Di Giano. The second box held two bottles from the Mossback winery from the Russian River Valley in California. A bottle of Chardonnay, and a bottle of Pinot Noir.

As you well know, we are finally having some heat units in this region, and I’ve been loving the sunshine. However, the thought of drinking red wines hasn’t been really something that I was too excited about. So, when these two boxes of samples from my friends Kylie and Kristen at Calhoun and Company arrived I was enticed to chill the bottles and give them a taste.

First, a little research about the wines, their vintners, and the areas they are grown in. The Italian wines come from two distinct areas known for fantastic white wines. The Vesevo winery is located in Campania. The region of Naples. Volcanic soils from Mount Vesuvius produce a couple of different varietals. One of which is the Falanghina grape. This grape, introduced by the Greeks to the region 2,000 years ago, offers a wonderful rich bouquet and acidity on the palate. The Vesevo Falanghina offered up flavors of melon and spring flowers with a nice minerality. I drank it alone on my deck, but really wanted a piece of seared sea bass to pair it.

Further north is the Region of Umbria. The Lungarotti family has been producing “local” wines for many generations. The Torre di Giano is a blend of Trebbiano and Grechetto to produce a rich and zesty acidity. I had this with some rolled anchovies on cracker bread and started speaking Italian right away it was so good!

The other night after a long day I broke open the Mossback Chardonnay and fell deeply in love. As I mentioned earlier, the Mossback winery is located in California’s Russian River Valley, just north of Santa Rosa.

The Mossback winery is named after the old fashioned term for a farmer. The winery, owned by the Giguiere family has been successfully making and marketing wines for many years. They founded the R.H Phillips brand and Toasted Head.

The 2009 Chardonnay is unoaked, which allows the flavors of fruit to shine through. This Chablis style retains the acidity and also a lot of the green apple, honeysuckle and pear to come to the top. There is a slight creaminess, but not butterscotchy like most Chardonnays.

Last, I enjoyed the 2009 Pinot Noir. Made from 97% Russian River Pinot Grapes and 3% Syrah from Dunnigan Hills. This wine is beautiful, supple, and smooth on the palate. It features full strawberry, and black cherry flavors with a hint of rhubarb and a light spice on the finish. Fantastic!

I know you’re thinking “where can I get these wines”. Well, this is a good hint that these wines will be available on Washington and Oregon store shelves in the near future. I suggest you look for them and give them a swirl.
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Enjoy!

Cooler Weather Means It’s Time To Come Into Port

Have I ever told you how much I enjoy writing this column? Well, I do.

I know that you most regularly hear me complaining about having to be up late nights, or early in the morning to write this article. (Tasting wines at 5a.m. is for professionals only.) The pay is….well…nonexistent. But, other than that, this is pretty cool stuff. Especially when I get fantastic bottles of wine delivered to my door!

Last week the Fed Ex person showed up to my door with a box. One that must be signed by someone over 21 years of age. Immediately, like one of Pavlov’s dogs, I started salivating. As I opened the package, my heart raced. As I looked inside I swooned and cried out in ecstasy! Really! I did. Just ask my horrified wife.

Inside were two bottles of one of my favorite beverages of all time. It was a bottle of Dow’s Trademark Reserve Port, and a bottle of Graham’s 10 Year Tawny Port. I was in heaven!

I’m not sure I ever shared this with you, but the thing that changed me over from a newbie white wine drinker to a skilled and accomplished red wine drinker was a nectar of the gods called Port. I’m serious as a heart attack about this. I LOVE Port!

My friends from Calhoon and Company, the wine marketers with style, had sent me these bottles with the hopes that I would write about them to you. I think they are getting their way. Don’t you?

Dow’s was established in 1798. The company has been family owned for over 200 years. The Symington family operates this esteemed winery still today.

Dow’s Trademark Reserve is the “freshest” of the Dow’s lineup. It offers up nice aromas of mint and other aromatic spices. The blackberry and cocoa flavors are wonderfully rich, with a sweet but dry finish that lingers and leaves you wanting more. This is a great Port for enjoying with dark chocolate and blue cheese. It is also fantastic in cocktails.

Graham’s is probably one of my favorite Port labels of all time. The company makes several labels, but the most distributed in this region are “Six Grapes”, a 10 Year Tawny, and a 20 Year Tawny. The Symington family acquired Grahams in 1970, and have brought the winery to be what it is today.

Aged 10 years in oak casks, the 10 Year Tawny offers up a light red-brown color, with aromas of fruit and rich, buttery caramel. The flavors are incredibly rich, with caramel and soft vanilla accents all the way through. This is my choice for a good cigar port. Paired with a rich Maduro cigar on my deck, I sit and ponder how the other half lives.

I’m not the only one to think that Graham’s 10 year is amazing. Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast have both scored it a hard to reach 92 point score.

Now, about the cool weather. Port can be served chilled, with ice. However, the best time to serve Port is when it cools off outside. There is really not much better to warm your heart on a cool fall evening than a glass of Port.

Dow’s is fairly hard to find around here, however Graham’s is readily available both at fine retail shops and establishments throughout the region. I suggest you buy a bottle, sit back, and…Enjoy.

Flavors Of Monterey Bay Offered By Pietra Santa

Last week was my birthday. Don’t worry if you missed it. I try to miss it every year but it catches up to me no matter where I run.

Anyway, on my birthday I get a package from Fed Ex. I’m thinking somebody in my family was sending money toilet paper, or some other gag gift. Instead, I notice that my friends at Calhoun & Company Wine Communications had sent me a couple of bottles of vino to drink.

When I opened the package the first thing to pop out is a bunch of paint brushes. This got me to thinking I’d been gypped. This was some kind of gag gift after all!

Under the brushes, which were pretty high quality oil painting brushes by the way, I found two bottles and a press kit from Pietra Santa winery in Hollister, California. The note attached to the brushes was a quote from Chagall: “Great art picks up where nature ends”.

It seems that Pietra Santa holds quite a tradition in Monterey Bay in California. The first grapes were planted on the estate back in 1850. Zinfandel vines from 1905 are still actively grown and harvested on the site. The Blackburn family, who now owns the estate has taken the winery back to the fundamentals of tradition and quality winemaking.

Located in Cienega Valley, just 25 miles from Monterey Bay, the estate sits near enough to the coast to get the cool maritime air from in the evenings and just enough heat during the day to ripen the grapes to full maturity. The name Pietra Santa actually means “Sacred Stone”. This name is given for the limestone and granite soil that the grapes grow in on the estate.

First I opened the 2009 Estate Pinot Grigio. Grown on the steep terraced hillsides, the grapes are set to receive sun in the morning and shade in the afternoons. This produces a really long “hang time” on the vines each season, and fruit that is much more able to produce full flavors.

A beautiful golden straw color in the bottle, the wine aromas filled the air as I poured the Pinot Grigio into my waiting glass. Fully stainless steel fermented, the wine is crisp and fresh on the nose with hints of lemon zest. The flavors are citrus, with lemon and grapefruit filling the mouth, followed by minerality, and a gentle acidity that cleanses the palate. I see this wine being a fantastic pairing with oysters or with steamed mussels.

The second bottle was the winery’s 2009 Estate Pinot Noir. Grown in the benchlands on the estate, the grapes are grown at approximately 1100 feet above sea level. I have personally experienced the effect of this climate on Pinot Noir, and find the maritime air to be intoxicating. If it is nearly as good on the grapes as it is on my well being. Let’s just say that this is the “Kobe” treatment for any Pinot Noir grape.

The Pinot Noir lays in the glass with a beautiful Ruby color. A nose of fresh earthiness that I love, is layered by odors of lavender, anise, and wild strawberries. On the tongue, the flavors are rich with strawberry, cherry, raspberry, and licorice. This is a highly complex wine that I enjoyed with parchment roasted salmon and red potatoes.

With a shelf price at just under $20 I would expect to see these wines in our region in the next few months. If they don’t make it here to the east side, definitely look for them when you travel to the west side of Oregon or Washington.

Enjoy!

Casa Silva Offers A Great Taste Of Chile

Some weeks, like last week, I really struggle to come up with a fresh idea or winery to talk about. Other weeks, like this one, I have it given to me. In this case, literally! This week I received a couple of sample bottles from my friend Kylie Garrett of Calhoun & Company Communications.

Calhoun & Co. is a marketing firm that specializes helping good vintners get their wines noticed and consumed. The winery she asked me to consider this time was Chilean wine producer Casa Silva.

Located 90 miles south of Santiago Chile is an area called the Colchagua Valley. Much like Napa Valley in California, the area is located between a mountain range and the Pacific Ocean. It enjoys warm arid days, good drainage, and cool evening breezes. Perfect growing conditions for many different species of grapes.

This is where Emile Bouchon, a French immigrant, decided to settle in 1892, and carefully plant the cuttings that he carefully carried from his old home in Bordeaux. The Bouchon family went on to be one of the top producers of wine grapes in Chile, supplying other winemakers for nearly 100 years.

Emile’s great grandson Mario suggested in 1997 that the family needed to step beyond just being grape growers and become winemakers as well. Their specialty grape is Carmenère, Chile’s trademark wine.

So, with great anticipation I opened my box and dove in to find a bottle each of Sauvignon Blanc and Carmenère.

I cooled and opened the 2009 Sauvignon Blanc first. Sauvignon blanc is a grape variety that grows well in arid climates. Casa Silva carefully hand-sorts their fruit and crushes whole grape bunches. They then ferment the Sauvignon Blanc in 100% stainless steel.

The thing that impressed me most about this wine was the gentleness. The Casa Silva was very delicate and floral on the nose. The taste was slightly tart like gooseberries, with a nice finish of ripe banana and orange blossoms.

I had this wine with butternut squash ravioli and a nice butter cream sauce with roasted red peppers and herbs. The wine was acidic enough to break the creaminess of the dish, and yet was delicate on the palate.

After dinner I sat on my deck and enjoyed the 2008 Carmenère Reserva. The Carmenère was somewhat tight at first and needed to be swirled or decanted in order to open it up for drinking. I prefer to just sit and swirl, which worked quite well for me.

Half of the wine ages in French Oak for 6 months, and the rest remains in stainless steel for the duration of the process. The wine begins on the nose with aromas of dark bing cherries and plums. The fruit opens up in the mouth to include pepper and a hint of cardamom. The finish is warm and long with balanced tannins. I would highly recommend either drinking this with lamb, venison, or other spicy meats. Or, like me, looking out at the sun setting over the Cascade mountain range and a glass in my hand.

There are several negotiations going on for distributors in our region, with hopes to have this wine launched in Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington soon. At suggested retail prices of around $12 per bottle I know you’re going to want to try these wines out.

Enjoy!