May’s club wines…

We’re offering an old world / new world comparison again. This time it’s two Syrahs and yet there are some similarities beyond the characteristics of the varietal itself, similarities in style even though they are from different terroirs, different sides of the ocean, and different methodology. Both are basically fruit forward and a mouthful once air does its thing:

First up is Gilbert Cellars 2006 Syrah from their Wahluke Slope Doc Stewart Vineyard. Typical of what one would expect of a Washington Syrah: dark purple color, big dark blackberry and cherry fruit and finishing notes of cinnamon, vanilla, and coffee (oak). There was a mellowness about this wine that I found interesting, as many West Coast Syrahs as of late have seemed to be a little less subtle… actually pushy.

Next is a Languedoc/Roussillon  Guilhelm Durand 2006 Syrah. This all steel barrel fermented wine has a typical Southern Rhone funk of barnyard and must right out of the bottle before the air really grabs hold and it explodes with black cherry. There is also a nice layer of black olive and a nice bite of black pepper which goes real well with a Rib Eye if you happen to have one handy.

A little limited, as the distributor says they should have good supply of this wine well into June, we are offering the Foris 2002 Fly-Over Red. Does any one feel we may be approaching the end of quirky names and labels? Probably not. Evidently the vineyard or winery is near a no fly or no land zone or something (okay, I made that up). But the ’2002′ is not a typo. This unfiltered Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc blend is immediately full, silky, and lush with an evident presence of toasty oak… and it is quite low on the pocket punishment at $11 a bottle. I can’t imagine what meat dish this wouldn’t go with and actually I think most will just like it by itself.

The Famega 2008 Vino Verde and its spritz-like fizz is supposedly a flaw and the Portuguese usually ship this version out of the country because they don’t prefer the wine to do that . I have yet to research that information and actually don’t mind the shipments of rejected juice if that is what it is, finding the sparkle a nice touch for a hot day that may or may not show up this year. Very grape-fruity. Verde meaning ‘green’, and in this case not in color but in age as the grapes aren’t ripe when picked. This is a nice outside on the deck aperitif wine… something the Portuguese are good at enjoying in sidewalk cafes’.

I have already raved about the Waldschutz Zweigelt from Austria concerning price and portability and taste.  Delightful in a low expectation way, it is 100% Zweigelt. Light, bright, and food friendly, zippy,  young cherry / strawberry characteristics, under $11 per liter (that’s a regular bottle and a half) price point. The great thing about this unassuming red?  …it tastes as good in a paper cup as it does a crystal glass so it makes for a great picnic wine.

…and finally, the two wines with emphasis on terroir

The Martin Cendoya 2003 Reserva Rioja is pure Northern Spanish delight.  It has an intense and resistant nose with sweet nuances of dark ripe cherries, vanilla and a slight sense of the earth in which it grew. On the palate the rich ripe fruits are  linked with the oak to create a harmony of full, intense and persistent flavors. A wine that you could enjoy today and in the next 20 years… 80% Tempranillo, 5% Mazuelo, and 15% of Graciano (very old vines) make this wine very special. Graciano is a difficult vine to grow and it gives Rioja wines extra aging potential and a structured feeling in the mouth. Lamb!

The Cabanon 2004 Cuoredivino La Botte 18 is one of our best Italian Rossos for the buck. Cabernet Sauvignon (85%), Bonarda (15%), this wine shows an intense ruby red color. The nose reveals intense, clean, pleasing and refined aromas that start with hints of plum, black cherry and blackberry followed by aromas of blueberry, licorice, cyclamen and vanilla. It is slightly slightly tannic  however well balanced by alcohol, body, and acidity (it is Italian). Serve with broiled or roasted meat and barbecue or stew with mushrooms.

 

of closeouts and what’s the point…

It has been hinted we do closeouts. The distribution / importer side of the biz is so fluid in the State of Washington. We deal with potentially 24 vendors (consistently eight) and the wine just seems to move from one to another so frequently and fast that, at least in a retail environment, it seems that closing out a particular wine or supplier is not all that finite. Where it once was, it reappears elsewhere very quickly. A new agreement was made before the old was broken. It will return if it was formally in the shop, being worthy of being there in the first place, so more than likely worthy of being there again later. The price doesn’t change much. It’s  like banks just moving money around and not really producing anything. How else should we say this? The juice flows on.

 

of Le Meal…

…and particularly this Ferraton Pere et Fils 1999 Ermitage of which we have just discovered another bottle hiding on the lower shelf. This makes me a very happy wine miser. It’s about $90 bucks so I’m not thinking I’ll be selling this too quickly as we wait for economic recovery to lead us back into a higher priced acquisition bliss and that timing may just come around 2010, coinciding with the later stages of the cellaring recommendation. I’d say this juice will be prime by then and worth quite a bit more. There were only 385 cases produced so I’m wondering just who still might have this on the shelf. I’m least impressed with the ‘Spewtator’ 94 points as I am with how the wine forced a spontaneous memory, its still lingering impression, how good that bottle tasted last year (ironically almost to the date) at the Bistro San Martin in Arlington with Martin’s lamb and duck. It required a significant amount of decanting and could have really used a significant amount more, but we were impatient even though we had two other not so worthy bottles going.

It’s one of those wines you don’t want to sip because you can’t get your nose out of the glass. Then you don’t want to swallow because you don’t want it to ever leave the palate. And then when done, not wanting to exhale for fear of losing the finish. Tasting notes gone, I haven’t a clue what it tasted like. I just remember how good it was; the caressing imprint. The official line card states:

Beautiful. Thick and ripe, showing great balance between loads of sweet tannins, geogeous concentrated black and red berries, rose petal aromas, subtle and sweet oak. On the finish, it kicks in with cedar, lemon, and structure.

Okay, I’m good with that. I’ll take their word for it… until I become a little impatient for that economic turnaround and decide to get reacquainted.

 

of pork, morels, weaponry, and Sangiovese…

When it comes to spotting early morels that are just sprouting, barely nudging their heads above the leaves and other post winter debris in the forest, I admit I’m as blind as a bat. While others were bagging 2 to 3 pounds of earthly goodies, I was lagging with about 1/2 pound here or there… if that. Luckily I’m with people who have little problem sharing the wealth. I did however find the most deformed morel deemed circumcised by those present and that was it for my contribution… other than a really inexpensive Spanish Granacha that went with the chicken salad.

I noticed upon boarding the caravan that was soon to head into the foothills that a couple of shrooners were comparing fire arms, holstered with extra ammo clips and hinting about getting in some target shooting if the mushrooms failed to cooperate. On the way up highway 20, some things came t mind:

Hunting morels obviously requires weaponry. I wondered how far a morel needed to be led. They must move fast. They must scare easily yet no one wore camouflage. So they must be blind or at least very near sighted.  There was no talk of hiding our scent, so they must be olfactory challenged. We didn’t plan to tread lightly—figuring to thrash and bumble about as usual, so they must have yet to develop hearing. But we were ready to shoot them anyway… just in case.

Some copious amounts of fresh bear scat was found. It was decided the guns on hand would only really piss a bear off… so we quickly moved on, determined to plug a morel instead.

There were a lot of shroons bagged and they were prepared as earthy as they were plucked, topped over pork loin, and sided with snow peas. The Yellow Hawk Sangiovese hit the spot as any Sangio does with shroons. There was noticable frivolity throughout the evening. There was a brief mention of a legally sawed off shotgun.

R

 

Twittering

New and impoved updates coming to you now via the Twitter Factor.  Is this a good thing?  We’ll see.

 

sight-seeing red…

The tulips, as in previous near years past, are late and as usual—stubborn. Coaxing and prying doesn’t seem to work though an un-accidental greenhouse effect at some nurseries will help to at least show the tourists that flowers beyond daffodils will soon exist. We’re not sure what the future holds for the festival as the producers have dwindled down to two, yet we still have rich dark delta earth here in the valley and as long as we have willing participants to plant the seed, we’ll have a sprouting of some kind.

Last year we sent people off with a suggestion and a paper cup to find a good spot above a field full of explosive color and enjoy a simple sip of wine with some cheese and olive bread. It was the Yellow Hawk Red Barn Red table wine in the liter  beer bottle with the fake ceramic cork and wire assembly. We found the wine delightful in a low expectation way. It was 90% Sangiovese and 10% Lemberger (Blaufrankisch). It was light, bright, and food friendly and zippy. This year the bottle has shrunk back to the 750ml size and to tell the truth… it was the bottle that sold.

So this year, our new favorite peasant, picnic, hiking wine is a liter of Austrian Zweigelt that has much of the young cherry / strawberry characteristics of the Red Barn Red and an under $11 per liter price point. The great thing about this unassuming red?  …it tastes as good in a paper cup as it does a crystal glass. I’ll have some in tow with the gang when searching the foothills for morels this weekend…

 

of marbled grain fed earth, black pepper, pomegranate chickpeas, and asparagus…

…and not necessarily in that order.

I love it when terra firma is given the opportunity to crawl all over the palate, savory earthen notes and tones denoting gritty porous ashen hues—a sence of place; where granulation and texture is something that occurr over time with respect to frequency and resistance and not prepackaged for swift and EBIDA compliant distribution… usually.  About two months ago we where exposed to an unoaked Syrah from what I thought was Northern Rhone, but upon recent investigation (this morning) found it is from Languedoc-Roussillon which explains the enormous gouging of the purse (not)… under $13 a bottle. The Vin de Pays d’Hauterive designator should have given it away had I been paying attention when it was chosen for last night’s fare. I was staring at the contrasted asparagus green draped over the steak trying not to do a face plant.

Since the peak and only opportunity of enjoyment with this wine was last night and with mostly a mouthful of barbequed pepper rubbed bovine in rare form, I needed to get some extra opinions. Some of the tasting notes off the net are very interesting, my favorite being :

“Barnyard and canned black olives on pizza, smoke at tail end. Smoother and slightly metallic on the palate, but very balanced. Tastes older than it is, with significant strawberry plum.”

Looks like I’m experimenting with this one today all day because I only got the cow butt with a little black olive. I remember a mustiness and a darker subdued black currant, and black pepper spice. A heavyiness in the mouth grew thick over time but with most pairings of this sort, the wine was fine beyond sublime and far gone before its time. A Peter Weygandt selection, I rarley question the value to performance ratios even prior to tasting. This wine will be on the shelf and stuffed into the wine club next month if quantities in the importer’s bins are available…

 

may we suggest… the prospect st cafe…

This is possibly, at least for the immediate moment and probably for many moments to come, the best restaurant north of the Snohomish County line. Any and all potentials south of that mark can be debated civilized or uncivilized as population density does matter. We enjoyed an incredible evening of culinary delights of the fresh and delicate and the company of one of our favorite importers, Basi and Jennifer Rodriguez of Casa Ventura Imports. Lots of wine business stuff discussed, but that is what we do.

The food was prepared extremely fresh and was rich enough to sate without the bloat that accompanies many piled on presentations. There was no need for a Styrofoam container at the end of the meal. It was the first time I can remember not having a red wine when dining out and in this situation, the whites worked their magic on the grilled salmon, pork, and  three styles (the tartar being the favorite) of Ahi dishes. The Castelo de Medina Verdejo was as usual a great starter and though I was a little apprehensive choosing a La Roche Macon Burgundy with all the tropical accents in the food, it turned out to be a really good compliment. Win some, win some.

As a result of the sufficient oiling brought on by the usual suspects, there are talks in progress for aquiring access to suckling pig prepared to its full Spanish potential by those who really know how to do that. The logistics will be tricky, the the price will be a stretch, and the guest list for that one will be extremely short. As I continue to research this, it has occurred to me that the unavailability of this pint-size porker for purchase on the west coast versus the ease of availability on the east coast is almost to the point of being of conspiracy qualification…

 

of sore backs, herbs with rock and clay, curried Easter eggs, coffee cake, Italian effervescence, Pinot Gris (Grigio) and corn dogs…

I get little breaks from the shop now and then and they are supposedly ones that I am to exploit to continue honing my wordsmithing: finish the book, and play with the human predicament in verse and prose all continually sent out to the all knowing and supreme jurors of publication. But for now and weather continuing to permit, I’ve decided instead to tackle an unused area of interest off the deck for planting herbs and vegetables that don’t require an elongated exposure to daily sun. There were creepy vines to remove, the kind that are so thick that when slamming down upon them with a 5lb Maddox: well, it bounced. The people that built our house were greatly gifted in abode assemblage but had a thing for minuscule amounts of top soil covering mostly rock and clay… not too Maddox proof but daunting. But after 2 days of unaccustomed digging and chopping and transporting, the framing in with railroad ties and split leveling in a tiered kind of way is complete. The hands, back, neck, arms, and legs are sufficiently wasted but with copious amounts of ibuprofen… it feels great. What does this have to do with wine? We are starting the process of tossing together potentials for special dinner events for our  members… food and wine pairings outside the the wine bar/restaurant realm where intimacy and specialty are elevated beyond the norm, where homemade guest chef flare mixes with the wine we find suitable for our shelves and available for purchase at a much less than restaurant pricing. There are lessons to be revisited on the home and hearth arena concerning family, friends, and frivolity. For those interested in sneaky anonymous snitching via State agency, please feel rest assured that all legalities are being researched and will be adhered to.

Easter Sunday we were treated to a brunch of intensively and meticulously home made prepared delights mostly centered around curried eggs and the sauce that was viscously(?) draped across accoutrements of asparagus, potatoes, and just about everything else on the table, chased with a sour cream coffee cake, blackberry pie, and Prosecco. I really suggest visiting:

http://www.foodonthebrain.wordpress.com

for all the specifics. Try not to read it in a public place as there is a significant drool factor to be considered (if that is a concern).

This Saturday and Sunday while supplies last, we will be pouring Pinot Gris and maybe some other whites that go incredibly well with Tulip Festival Street Fair corn dogs (the ones that are made on site) We are encouraging people to grab one or two and head back to our shop for a proper melding of things that supposedly do not belong together and might even be considered sacrilegious. This has become somewhat of a ritual since we discovered the combination accidentally 3 years ago when hunger overtook our normal sensibilities concerning vendor food. It was a good thing. Glasses are provided…

 

it’s the fault in sharing a 2003 Martin Cendoya reserva Rioja…

spontaneous this blissful pulling at fragments, mind shrapnel dispersed throughout the air, these primal pixies plucking a loose goose down in the midst of an unexpected updraft and all the while as resonant harmonies emanate from passionate souls concerning pinot gris chased corn dogs and cormorant totems, sweet queens–saviors of dilapidated downtowns, the longest intentional distance between two points: a rioja that drapes across the tongue like a satin sheet in search of eloquence amongst all the flannel and gortex, a sprite bitter ale… stories to be topped with curried eggs, vindaloo hatchings denoting resurrected renewal cooled with roman effervescence… where’s the sacrilege in that? …and later, a slab of glazed easter ham in hand whilst standing ankle deep in the warmth of a precautionary wake…