Oyster Season

If you're thinking of diving into some raw oysters in the next month or so, take a peek at this article for wine pairings. It breaks down pairings by regional origin of the oysters and explains why each match works. Pretty neat. Note, the article only offers white wine pairings, the traditional choice for oysters. For speculation on potential red wine pairings, give this NYT article a read.

Happy shucking!

Legon 2007 Roble

"Where did it go?" - Emmett

This bottle had been sitting on my shelf since July. Over the summer, I started going to wine tasting at Zola downtown after work. They'd usually sample 5 or 6 wines and there was always an incredible spread of complimentary cheese and crackers. We're talking smoked gouda, goat cheese, various hard cheeses - it was awesome and often a makeshift dinner. When I tried this red, I was enraptured. It was one of the weirdest tasting experiences I'd ever had. Over the past few months, I'd started to wonder if my tastebuds had imagined the whole thing. Finally, after finishing Fall finals, I decided to open it up and revisit my curiosity.

100% Temparanillo from Ribera del Duero, Spain, it was aged for 6 months in American, French, and Hungarian Oak. As you know by now, different oaks create different qualities in wine. I've never seen something aged in Hungarian oak, so I did a little research. Though regarded as similar, when compared with French oak, Hungarian oak adds "more nutmeg, clove, and sweet oriental spice." Maybe you haven't heard much about Hungarian oak; that's because for about half of the 20th century, the forests and industry were state-run and most of the oak barrels that were made went to European winemakers. It seems like you'll be seeing more of Hungarian oak, though, because the forests are full of trees, so to speak. As the result of massive chopping by the British a few hundred years ago (for shipbuilding during war), Hungary enacted laws requiring sustainable forest management - which, I guess, means they have to plant more than they chop. Coupled with recently increasing privatization of forest ownership, the Hungarian cooperage (barrel-making) industry is redeveloping and expanding to North American markets.

So, the funny thing about this wine is the finish. It just ... disappears. It starts out smelling a little fruity and rich. Medium-bodied and relatively mild tasting, the Roble is a little softer than most Temperanillos I've tasted. But just as the wine settles on your tongue and you start to grasp the flavors, it's gone. So weird. There is just a touch of tannin left, so you know you didn't dream the last 3 seconds, but everything else is gone. So you have to take another sip and try again. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. To me, this was a pretty neat thing, and it made the wine light, fun, and easy to drink. But I'm not sure this lack of finish is technically a good thing in the wine world. I guess it depends what you're looking for, but as a precursor to a night out dancing, I liked that I didn't get bogged down in the details of this red.

Saintsbury 2005 Carneros Pinot Noir

No time for a full post, but I had an awesome Pinot Noir last week that I'll forget about it if I don't write it down. Somehow it was dark and complex while still light and drinkable. I'm sure it had something to do with the age, and I think this winemaker keeps the wine in the barrels for quite a while (judging by the fact that they are just selling the 2007 vintage now). You can buy their wine online! (http://saintsbury.com/index.html)

Parker Station 2009 Pinot Noir

Thursday night I hit up Clyde's happy hour with some of my favorite people from the Mint this summer. It's always trouble when Allison, Danae and I get together; somehow the wine bottles empty at an alarming rate and hilarity follows. This night was no exception, and the pictured bottle was actually our second bottle of Parker Station. We were all unclear as to whether we actually ordered another bottle, but the bartender, who was young and flirting with Danae, came and sat down with us, this bottle in hand. Allison (pictured left) was pleased with the choice, because Parker is her soon-to-be last name come March 25.

Parker Station wines are the economic line from Fess Parker, a family owned and operated estate in Santa Barbara County. Fess Parker is the actor who played Davie Crockett and Daniel Boone - he started the winery with his son, Eli, in 1989. Eli now runs things as President, but the whole family is involved. Parker Station grapes are sourced from something like 5 area vineyards to keep prices down, so the quality is obviously not the same as something under the Fess Parker label, estate grown and bottled.

Clyde's menu listed this as a light-bodied red, but the label tells you that it's medium-to-full bodied. I'm inclined to agree with Clyde's on this one. This was a typical light and fruity Pinot Noir - no surprises, which I guess is good? Recently, I've been a bit bummed out by the Pinots I've tried. They are starting to all taste the same, "the same" being kind of foofy and simple. This one for instance, had a lot of cherry and not much else. These Pinot Noirs are easy to drink, but leave me wanting something with more character and heart.

This bottle costs around $12 retail, $28 at Clyde's, which is a surprisingly modest markup. Sidenote: Clyde's has a pretty extensive bottle menu, with the vast majority in the $22 - $38 range. We had no problem finding 3 different bottles to try without leaving the $20s.

Acrobat 2008 Pinot Noir

Wednesday was Peter's 28th, so I invited him over for cake and an awkward/inspiring rendition of Happy Birthday, complete with candles and video footage. When I was in Austin visiting Meg and Mon this summer, I tried an incredible chocolate cake that Mon's boyfriend's mom made for her. Ever since, I've been looking for an excuse to try making it, and this was the perfect opportunity. I tweaked her recipe a smidge - hers called for a layer of amaretto buttercream, and I used creme de menthe instead. To accompany the cake, I went with a Pinot Noir - a birthday gift from the lovely Gregor just a few weeks ago.

Acrobat is a more approachable line of wines from King Estate in western Oregon. The King Estate is devoted to organic and sustainable farming, not only for its grapes, but also for the produce it uses in the Restaurant on premises. One of the ways King Estate manages pests naturally is with a relatively large raptor (including owls!) population. The estate has actually formed a partnership with a local raptor sanctuary, which releases recently rehabilitated birds on the estate. It's a great place for them to thrive, because all the crops are organic, the landscape is diverse, and there are several birdhouses in place around the grounds. Pretty cool.

King Estate only grows Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, and Chardonnay, so I imagine they are skilled at crafting those particular varietals. The 2008 Pinot Noir was aged for 8 months in French oak - a pretty complicated mix of barrels. 17% were new oak, 19% one-year, 33% two-year, and 31% three-year. Does that even add up to 100? Anyway, the wine spec sheet said something about "cooperage", followed by some funny sounding names. I looked it up, and cooperage just refers to the brand of the barrels used for aging. This is a pretty big deal, considering that the quality of the oak essentially shapes the characteristics of the wine. There are a bunch of factors to think about in selecting wood that goes into barrels, like porousness, grain tightness, etc., so cooperage is a bit of an art, it seems.

The wine was a unanimous hit. It was incredibly light - in the glass and on the tongue. It was fruity like a typical Pinot Noir, but so delicate that it reminded me a little of those flavored waters that supposedly have no sugar, artificial chemicals, or calories but miraculously taste like some fruit. Peter was actually enthusiastic about this red, which means it definitely didn't taste like fish or mayonnaise. It went well with the cake, because it was easy to drink and didn't lay claim to my taste buds as soon as it touched my tongue. Instead, it slipped through my mouth quickly, and I had to spend a few sips just getting it to stay in place long enough to think about. In the end, it left a lovely impression and left everyone wanting a little more. Thanks to Gregor for the wonderful birthday gift; I'm so glad I got to share it with someone else on his birthday!

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.