Chalk Hill 2000 Merlot

It turns out people don't eat as much cheese as you'd expect. In preparation for by birthday party, I bought out the city's supply of cheese - jarlsberg, blue, camembert, chevre, smoked gouda, aged gouda, sharp cheddar, grafton, and of course, Natalie's bohemoth brie. Unfortunately, a large portion of this went untouched - I guess people are afraid of getting fat or something. Last night it was my turn to cook dinner, and considering half the fridge is currently dominated by cheese, it seemed like a good idea to use some. I invited Peter over, and since he's a big smoked gouda fan, I substituted that for parmesan in my usual risotto recipe, plus a little red bell pepper and spinach. I also stuffed some baby portobellos with homemade sun-dried tomato cream cheese, wrapped them in marinated steak, and grilled them on the Foreman.

Peter brought over a Merlot that supposedly had been sitting in his apartment for a while. Before dinner, he quizzed me on the flavors while reading the wine specs online. Miraculously, I got a few right, but it was probably luck and a little bull shit, (as Peter would say ALL wine tasting is). This is a pretty neat wine - estate grown and bottled on just 1200 acres, "Chalk Hill," in Sonoma County. The label even lists the then-proprietors of the estate, Fred and Peggy Furth. Fred is (was?) a pilot and founded the estate in 1972, which includes a farm, equestrian center, restaurant, culinary gardens, swimming and fishing ponds, and a home. The current proprietor, William Foley II, added the Chalk Hill estate to his expanding portfolio in August of this year. For some reason, this makes me sad. I wonder what happened to Fred and Peggy.

I couldn't find anything about the 2000 vintage in particular, but more recent vintages are actually a blend of 80% Merlot and 20% Malbec. The winery waits until the grape softens slightly before picking, which results in softer tannins.

This wine was slightly more burnt brown than maroon, with lots of sediment from age in the bottom of the bottle. It was on the thinner side, medium-bodied and drinkable. When I first tried to identify a smell for Peter's quiz, all I could pin down was mulch. This translated into a kind of cedar flavor and almost no fruit. This confused me; I never drink Merlot, but I've always heard it's one of the fruitier reds. Now knowing that it probably had 20% Malbec (also typically fruity), I have no idea what was going on with this wine. Eventually, I picked out a few fruits: plum, black something, and a hint of the acid and tartness of cranberry. But honestly the whole thing was way more earth than fruit - it reminded Caitlin of a Cab, and I agree. Luckily, Cab is my favorite varietal, so it worked out well. It finished "persistently" with firm but not overbearing tannins, and the bottle was gone before we knew it. I think this Merlot would go well with a lot of things and was great on its own; it has definite personality but doesn't hog the spotlight. It made me want to give Merlot another shot.

(photo note: my new moleskin wine journal! this was, appropriately, the first entry.)

26 years, 25 friends, 15 bottles

I turned 26 on Saturday. To celebrate, I hosted a wine tasting party for my friends. We sampled 15 wines - 3 each of Sauv Blanc, Chard, Pinot Noir, Cab, and Syrah. All were from California, and I set out paired cheeses for each varietal. It was a blind tasting in that no one knew the prices; within each varietal, there were a low, middle, and high-end bottle. Natalie blessed the party with a massive baked brie, Caitlin made bacon-wrapped dates and chocolate biscotti, and Brittany contributed some fantastic olives. I whipped up a little sun-dried tomato dip and picked up some foie gras and chocolate macadamias for nibbling.

People were mostly surprised by the whites. I think a lot of people (myself included until recently) have pegged white wine as foofy or super sweet or just not as good as red. And on top of the general stigma against whites, Chardonnay carries an additional shackle of shame. One thing that pleased me about the tasting was that several people discovered a white they never knew existed (like the unoaked chardonnay), or just realized that white doesn't always equate to the Riesling your lush auntie Martha buys by the case.

The reds were all rather good, but people were a little more wrapped up in the conversation than the wine by that point in the evening. Below, I've highlighted the bottles that received the best reviews.

The wine list:

Sauvignon Blanc

HALL 2008 Napa Valley

Vintjs 2009 Napa Valley

Markham 2008 Napa Valley - this bottle was the first to go

Chardonnay

Poet’s Row 2009 Sonoma County (Unoaked)

SIMI 2008 Sonoma County

RAMEY 2008 Sonoma Coast - no surprise at $40 a bottle

Pinot Noir

Blue Fin 2009 - a few people hated it, but the rest were amazed at the $4 price tag

LAETITIA 2008 Arroyo Grande Valley - smooth and enjoyable

MacMurray 2008 Central Coast

Cabernet Sauvignon

LIBERTY SCHOOL 2007 Paso Robles

Alexander & Fitch 2009 Alexander Valley

HIDDEN RIDGE 2005 Sonoma County - I personally enjoyed this one

Syrah

Barrel 27 2005 Syrah Head Honcho - though you couldn't taste the bacon fat

Alexander Valley Vineyards 2007 Alexander Valley

Quail's Creek 2008

Special thanks to Peter for taking me to get all the wine and cheese, Emmett for contributing the Barrel 27 Syrah, Caitlin and Natalie for cooking, and everyone else for their various showings of birthday love.

Name That Wine

http://www.winespectator.com/namethatwine

A "fun" wine knowledge "game."

An Interesting Glossary

WSJ has put together a moderately informative glossary of commonly used the terms, places, and people of wine culture. A few that were news to me:

Botrytis Cinerea. “Noble rot” fungus responsible for making some great dessert wines in Sauternes and elsewhere by shriveling grapes and concentrating juice.

Disgorge. Process in Champagne in which the sediment is popped out of the bottle before the final cork is inserted.

Gewurztraminer. Peppery white wine that’s a specialty of the Alsace region of France. (I totally thought this was a strictly German varietal)

Meritage. Name for red and white blends in the U.S. made from classic Bordeaux varieties. Rhymes with heritage. (I've been pronouncing it incorrectly?)

Sur Lie. Allowing a white wine to sit on its dead yeast for a while, often giving it extra complexity and mouthfeel.

Check out the whole gloss here.

Also, let me apologize for sleeping on the job. I promise more reviews soon.

Egervin 2005 Bull's Blood

Friday Josh and I hit up the Baltimore Aquarium, compliments of one of my besties from my summer internship, Allison. Her fiance works for the aquarium and hooked us up with free tickets. After we'd explored the sea animals (jellyfish twice), we did happy hour with Allison and her fiance, then headed to dinner at a cute little Eastern European restaurant called Ze Mean Bean. Allison's fiance said we HAD to get the Bull's Blood; mostly because of the $16 price tag but also because it was pretty good. The restaurant was super quaint, and there was a singer playing his acoustic guitar on a mini stage. You wouldn't think this could be a recipe for disaster, but it nearly was.

Egri Bikaver is a famous Hungarian wine that got its name from the historical lore of the 1500's, when the Turks invaded Eger. In a classic David vs. Goliath fashion, 2000 soldiers of Eger defeated 150,000 Turk invaders, effectively thwarting the Ottomon empire's conquest of Western Europe. The victory is attributed to the Hungarians drinking plenty of red wine for sustenance, which spilled onto their clothes and armor. A rumor started among the Turk soldiers that the Hungarians were drinking actual bulls' blood for strength, and the Turks were demoralized into defeat. Now, the wine is still made in the tradition of that time, to honor the history. There are eleven different varietals that can be in Bull's Blood (by regulation), so long as there are at least three and none make up more than 50% of the mix. Bull's Blood is classically cheap and a little rough, so the bottle usually includes directions to let the wine breathe for an hour before drinking and serve at 60 degrees.

I honestly can't say much about this wine, other than that it was drinkable. Josh and I made mental notes that were subsequently erased by naty bo. I do remember that it was on the drier side, but not too harsh. It wasn't too interesting or complex, but it also didn't taste obviously cheap. Allison recommended we try perogies for an appetizer, and the Bull's blood paired really well with those.

There might have been something to that legend about Bull's Blood fueling some sort of war winning rage. When Josh and I sat down at the restaurant, we noticed immediately that the singer was using a microphone. Considering the size of the restaurant, it was complete overkill and as we worked out way through the Bull's Blood, Josh got more and more annoyed. He started with comments at normal volume, and by the end of the bottle, he was literally yelling insults at the singer about how loud and awful he was. Thank goodness we managed to finish the bottle before anyone asked us to leave. Blame it on the wine?

Fonterutoli 2004 Chianti Classico

That's Missy in the background. She is one of Natalie's cats, and she generally wants to be part of whatever is going on. Tonight Caitlin pulled this Chianti Classico off the shelf to bring to dinner. Natalie made us gnocchi from scratch, and I cooked up a little red chard for color (chard is my current vegetable of choice, if you hadn't noticed). We cooked, drank, and girl-talked til we realized it was 10 pm and we are old.

I'm not sure this wine falls under the "humble" category at $25, but it is definitely worth a review. It came from the Mazzei estate, which makes six other labels, all either Chianti Classico or Tuscany appellations. I actually never realized this, but Chianti is just the name of a region of Tuscany; Chianti Classico is a 100-square-mile sub-region of Chianti. Even within the Chianti Classico region, however, climates and soil can vary greatly, so one wine might be quite distinct from the next. To be classified as Chianti, a wine must contain at least 80% Sangiovese grapes and Chianti Classico must be aged more than 7 months in oak. Other sub-regions of Chianti have various respective regulations under Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG), the Italian export quality control regulations.

The Fonterutoli is 90% Sangiovese, 5% Malvasia Nera, and 5% Merlot. It is aged for 12 months in French oak barrels, half of which are new (infusing stronger oak into the wine). All of the grapes at the Mazzei wineries are hand-picked, and only 200,000 bottles of this particular vintage were released. The Mazzei estate also produces grappa (grape brandy), olive oil, and lavender-based cosmetics.

I loved this Chianti Classico. It was wonderfully delicate and almost invisible on first impression. It left no traces of fruit, or anything really, on the front of my tongue. At the end of each sip, there was a small kick on the back of my tongue, but not much. This Chianti had no bitter bite or rough tannins. It was easy to drink, but definitely not boring. I felt a little like I was chasing it around my mouth, trying to figure out its story to no avail. Eventually, I stopped trying to define it and and just enjoyed. A little more punch emerged when paired with the food, but the little gnocchi were so yummy, I didn't care to analyze the wine anymore.

Cono Sur Bicycle 2008 Viognier

I spent the past week in Austin, Texas with Meg and Monica. The second night in town, we decided to cook dinner and go out dancing on 6th Street. Meg cooked up some chicken in a wine sauce, Mon made mac and cheese, and I sauteed some rainbow chard. Mon and I picked up this Viognier for $7.99 at the flagship Whole Foods while Meg was at work that day.

I was really excited to find this, because in DC I rarely see Viognier under $15. The Cono Sur wineries are spread throughout Chile and produce just about every varietal you can think of. They are particularly devoted to organic and sustainable agriculture, taking measures like using lightweight bottles to reduce CO2 created by glass production. Hence the environmentally friendly bicycle on the label. This Viognier is grown in Colchuaga Valley and aged between two to ten months in stainless steel.

Viognier is probably my favorite white wine. Although it's been getting more popular recently, generally Viognier is a rarer varietal. This is probably because it's relatively hard to grow; something about the grape attracts the powdery mildew fungus, fruit yield is low, and the wine can be ruined if it's not harvested at just the right time. There are two different kinds of Viognier - old and new world. I'm not sure which is which or what the difference is, though. Virginia actually grows a bit of Viognier, which I would drink more of if it weren't so expensive.

The Cono Sur was pretty good. It tasted fruity up front, like pineapples and sweet green grapes, but a bit acidic on the way down. One of the best things about Viognier is that it has all the thick fruit and roundness of a sweet white wine without the heavy syrup (like you would get from a Riesling or Gewurtztraminer). This one was a little too tart at the finish, but it was still yummy. The girls both gave their stamp of approval, too. Meg used a bit in the chicken dish she made, which turned out really well. I might buy it again, but only because it'd be hard to find another Viognier at that price.