Another Smörgåsbord of Wine Porn

In no particular order:



I found a bunch of this 2000 Rosemount Hill of Gold Shiraz in a local wine store. I'm not sure what the current release is, but this one is a few years old. If you have this wine, drink now. It will not be getting any better. It is brown around the edges and incredibly pungent. It is a decent wine, if you're feeling adventurous. I picked this up a few months ago for $20.



Next we have the 2004 Matthews Claret. A great Washington wine, good for all occasions. I enjoyed it quite a bit.



I have nothing good to say about the 2004 BV Napa Valley Merlot, so I will say nothing.



The 2004 PlumpJack St. Helena Cuvee Cabernet Sauvignon is a great wine. Very different from the more recent PlumpJack vintages, but the oak has mellowed quite a bit and the flavors are much more integrated than when it was young. A great wine, but a bit on the expensive side at $50.



The 2005 Scabi, in addition to having one of the most visually appealing wine labels in my collection, is also a great drop! I've only found it through Garagiste the one time I got it, but I would recommend it to anyone if you can find it.



Last but not least in anyway is the 2006 Justin Savant, their Cab/Syrah blend. It's a great wine, but not as spectacular as I had hoped. Only available through their wine club (or the right local Bay area store, as I found), this wine is about $50. And because Justin always has lots of useful information on the back label, the back of the bottle:

2005 Baer Ursa

This was a gift, and I quite enjoyed it. You'll probably enjoy it to. A great little find from Washington state.

Dinner with The Family

Sara's Aunt, Uncle and Cousin were in the area and they stopped in Palo Alto to visit us for a day. They were kind enough to take us to dinner. That, combined with Sara's Uncle's love of wine and extensive wine knowledge inspired me to pull out a bottle that I expected he (a) had never heard of and (b) would love.



The 2004 Mith is a stunning wine, one of the best Washington wines I have ever had. Sara described it as "like drinking candy." I'm sure that will evoke different images for different people, but it is not inaccurate. The wine has no hint of alcohol in the taste but has plenty of beautiful yet subtle fruit.

Of course, since we went to an Italian restaurant, Sara's Uncle also wanted to try one of the wines off their list. He chose a 2004 Amarone.



I'm not an expert on Amarone, in fact, this was only the second one I have ever had, but I enjoyed it. It was sort of a brownish color, compared to the vivid purple of the Mith. It has a very unique taste, not unlike a nutty-raisiny taste. It was a bit hot, but went nicely with the food. I couldn't finish my glass though, because I had too much to drink and too much rich food by that point.

Party Wine

A few weeks ago we had a sort of house-warming party. Sara BBQ'd some ribs, made some other dishes, and invited my new coworkers over for dinner. I ducked into the closet and came out with the following.



The 2004 Chester-Kidder, a merlot. A good merlot, but not really my style of wine. It's smooth and drinkable, but does not have the nice fruity flavor I tend to go for.

The 2005 Portteus Zinfandel, of which I can not say enough good things. Have you joined their wine club yet? Why not?! This is a Washington Zin that puts a lot of California wines in their place. Think of it as Turley that you can actually get a hold of. Though I hear the 2006 is a very different sort of Zin. I am looking forward to trying it.

The 2002 Moulin-St. Georges, my stand-by Bordeaux. I got a lot of this vintage from Garagiste at a ridiculously low price. I love to pull it out for guests.

The 2006 Mark Ryan The Dissident. There are two things I believe to be true about Mark Ryan. One, he is a great wine maker. Two, his wines are over-priced. This particular bottle was a gift, so the second theorem is rendered moot. The wine is billed as a "red table wine," which is about right. It was a decent enough drinker, though honestly I think I only had a small taste of it. It was a bright and fruity wine. If you like Mark Ryan's other wines, this one will please you. Though I think for the price, you can do better.



I will end this post with a picture of the awesome coconut cakes that Sara made, and a promise of more posts to follow soon.

2005 Cougar Crest Cabernet Franc

There is nothing like sipping a well made, Washington grown, Cabernet Franc outside on the deck of a not-quite-completed house overlooking the Puget Sound. This 2005 Cougar Crest Cabernet Franc came courtesy of Sara's uncle Chris.



The 2005 did not have as much vanilla as the 2004, which is either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on who you ask. I like the vanilla flavor that certain oak barrels will impart. Chris though it had a bit too much oak influence. Either way, we both agreed this was a nice wine to drink. If you like other Washington wines, you will like this one.

Wine Spectator gave this 93pts, and I think that is pretty fair. This pushed the price up a bit into the low to mid $30 range, but everything seems to be getting more expensive. The wine is very fruit-forward and smooth. My personal feeling is that Cougar Crest is one of the better Washington wineries and their entire line bears tasting, but I always seem to like the Cab Franc the best.

birthday smorgasbord

The day of the event we had a pretty good line-up, as you can see for yourself:



Some quick notes on each:

The 2001 Betz Pere de Famille Cabernet Sauvignon is probably the star of this bunch. This is a great wine with fruit and veggie notes, acidity and tannins that are a bit rough but are well structured to create a great drinking wine.

The 2002 Red Diamond Shiraz is very similar to the 2001 which I already reviewed. This is still the best wine I have found for under $10.

Second place goes to the 2005 Portteus Zinfandel, which I can never get enough of.

I do not think we got around to opening the Vina Robles cab.

I am not a huge fan of 2006 the ghost of 413 syrah. The name is clever, and the wine is drinkable enough. But if you are looking for value syrah, you can do a lot better than this for $15. Look to Australia.

Still more wines from the Seattle trip to come. Stay tuned.

2005 Cor Cellars Momentum

A cozy blend of cab, syrah and cab franc from my favorite wine producing region: Washington.



The 2005 Cor Cellars Momentum is pretty good. It is one of the best $15 drinkers I have found to date. The wine maker was trained in Tuscany but seems to be doing his best work in Washington. It is a very dark wine, but without the heavy, full bodied taste you expect from the color. It is an agile wine, light on its feet but brooding. It tasted like dark fruit with the classic sort of spice and mineral that seems to be the hallmark of the region.

2004 Mith

For Sara's birthday, we went to Rosso and Bianco for dinner and I brought along a bottle of the 2004 Mith. The Mith was an extremely limited (less than 100 cases made) and incredibly difficult to get Longshadows wine. I tried very hard to get more, but I was only able to scrape up three when it was released.

The Mith is made by Tom Glase (previously a wine maker at L'Ecole). Now I've never been all that impressed by L'Ecole's cheaper offerings, and I've always thought their higher-end offerings were over priced (meaning I'm just not enough into their style of wines to pay that much for them--YMMV).

However, the Mith is easily the best Longshadows wine I have tasted to date.

The Mith is made using only the highest quality Eastern Washington grapes and it is made in old French Oak, meaning the oak can't cover any defects in the wine. This is a well made wine, pure and simple. It was a smooth, velvety, lucious wine that evoked all the best flavors of California and Washington. I'd pay more for this than the Silver Oak I discussed yesterday. It was just an amazing wine.

Searching the internet shows there is a 2005 Mith about. I've probably missed out, but if you can find some, get it. Even if you don't want it, I'll buy it from you. :)

2005 Cor Cellars Momentum

Another entry from Washington, this time Horse Heaven Hills. And another Cab/Syrah blend. Only this time, it is a value wine which I picked up for $17. The 2005 Cor Cellars Momentum hits the sweet spot. It is a great, earthy, full bodied drinkin' wine at a reasonable price. It is a screw-cap, which means you can close it up and put it in the fridge easily to drink over a few days. I give it 3.5 out of 5.0.

Short digression: I am in favor of screw caps for the vary reason I mention above. Sometimes I like to have a glass by myself and don't want to have to finish the whole bottle. I like being able to throw it back in the fridge and not worry about pumping or where did I put the damn cork. It will also free up more cork for higher end wines. When I open an expensive wine, I like the way pulling a cork makes it feel like something special. I realize wine is to be drunk, not worshipped, but I enjoy some ritualization.

2004 Chester-Kidder Columbia Valley Red Wine

The Longshadows wines really are some of the best you can get from Washington. They are also, in my opinion, generally over priced. However, they are less overpriced then their Napa brethren. So if you can afford them, buy them; they do not disappoint. Many are also collectables, so get them while you can.

For my father-in-law's birthday, we opened the 2004 Chester-Kidder. It's a $50 wine. It is a well-made and reasonably complex Bordeaux blend with the addition of syrah into the mix as well. It is not some ridiculous tannin-bomb--it is well balanced with good acidity and supple tannins. It is not a fruit-bomb either--in fact, I give it a few marks off for not having much of a flavor at all. This wine seems much more European in its make than most Washington and California wines. It was a deep purple, but the kind that you can see right through. Medium-bodied they call it. It had a fairly good finish and was pleasant enough to drink. However, I would not consider it a showcase wine. This is a food wine. Drink it by itself and you will not remember it much. Drink it with the right food, and I think it will be spectacular. Furthermore, I am going to let it sit in the bottle for another year before opening one again. There is so much going on with the blend, I hope another year will give it a chance to find itself.

2003 Cayuse Bionic Frog

Let me just say this now: jumpin' Jehoshaphat, what a wine!

In celebration of Sara's Father's birthday, Sara's Uncle was kind enough to open this bottle for us. Someday, maybe I will get an allocation of this wine from Cayuse (I did make their list for 2008 futures, but all I got was En Chamberlin). Until then, I'll take it where I can get it. This wine was really insane. Here is what Wine Spectator said:

Has amazing density, a wine of immense depth, wrapping silky tannins around plum, mineral, blackberry, prune and meat flavors, hinting at dark chocolate and walnut as the finish rolls on and on. Drink now through 2015. 208 cases made.

Also, it's a Syrah. I didn't quite catch all those flavors, nor could I really describe what I was tasting with the standard wine-taster's arsenal of words. I do agree, however, that this is a wine of "amazing density" and "immense depth." The initial taste smacks you in the face, but it mellows out very quickly into a barrage of different flavors and the finish just goes on and on and on. Not a wine for the casual drinker--this is a wine to be appreciated and marveled at.

2005 Des Voigne Solea

For Thanksgiving I pulled out the 2005 Des Voigne Solea because I just couldn't wait any longer. Having drank The Duke recently, it was on my mind. I tasted it back in June and this was my favorite of the line.

In related news I bought the last of the Oregano Salami that Salumi had when I was there last Wednesday. Literally the last one they had. They're not making it anymore (though DeLaurenti may have some still).

I mention the Salami because it was a great pairing for this wine. The hints of Green Pepper were still there, but more mellow than I remember at the tasting. The wine was very enjoyable. The flavors have all really come together and I have new found respect for Des Voigne. I liked this one better than The Duke. It's a Cab / Merlot / Cab Franc blend for $28 that I can really get behind. I would buy more of this. They say it got 90pts from some magazine or other. I'd give it four out of five stars on the Jeffamascale.

By the way, this is my 100th post. If you're wondering what to get me for this milestone, all I ask for is that you share my blog with a friend or two.

Wine Tasting, Saturday Nov 3rd

Nabil at Seattle Wine Co. is doing a tasting of Northwest Wines on Saturday. The lineup looks pretty good:

2005 K Vintners The Creator
2006 Syncline Subduction Red
2005 Zanzibar Sandra
2006 Sineann Oregon Pinot Noir
2006 Daedalus Willamette Valley Pinot Noir
2005 Ransom Gewurztraminer

I'm looking forward to tasting the new vintages of The Creator, Sandra and the Sineann Pinot. All three have been amazing in past vintages.

It's a free tasting and I think its from 2pm to 5pm, but I might be off a little. Show up around 3pm. I'll see you there.

2005 Des Voigne Cellars The Duke

Des Voigne Cellars is a relatively unknown boutique winery new on the scene here in Washington. The Duke is sold out, but the others of the 2005 vintage are still available. I'd recommend them if you're looking for interesting new wines that you can afford. I mean, California wineries have just lost their mind with pricing (the average price for a California Cab is now $80 bottle).

I bought this bottle from the tasting at Nabil's shop. I liked the Duke very much at the tasting in June, so I thought I'd open it up and see how it's doing. I'm going to say it needs a bit more time. It was a hot wine. It's only 14.5%, but it is big and spicy and it burns. It's an odd blend of Zin, Cab, Cab Franc and Merlot which gives it a very berrilicious flavor, but it's still a titan. I drank it with some spicy pork ribs that Sara made and it stood up just fine. In fact, it looked me in the eye and said, "You think that's spicy? That ain't spicy."

This is a wine that can't make up its mind. Is it a Bordeaux Blend? Is it a Zinfandel? It's both... ?! It is not got that mineral taste that makes Turley so interesting. And it is not a smooth, sexy, opulent wine. It is really its own experience. And surely a food wine.

If you got some of this, sit on it. I think it'll mellow a bit more.

Lake Chelan Winery Stormy Mountain Red NV

I've been to Lake Chelan once. A group of guys I went to college with and their current wives and girlfriends and I rented a cabin on Lake Chelan for a long Fourth of July weekend. It was very beautiful. The lake, however, was freezing cold as melted snow is its principle source of water. It was fun, but I got bored after the first two or three days. I can only beat everyone at chess so many times before it gets old for everyone involved.

There are lots of apple orchards. It is a good climate for that. I question how good the climate is for growing grapes. So it was with a very skeptical mindset that I opened this bottle. There's something I find a bit off-putting about non-vintage wines in general--like they're cheating.

Anyway, this wine of unknown composition was a clear, purply color. This added to my trepidation, since I generally distrust wines I can see through. Maybe it was a Pinot? Maybe a badly made Syrah? I may never know or care enough to find out.

The wine itself was surprisingly not bad. It was thin, no body to speak of, but it was smooth and had a decent enough flavor and smell. One could drink it. I'd cook with it. If I had to rate it, I'd give it two stars. It's better than the average Pinot Noir I've had.

2004 CR Sandidge Syrah

I don't know how much it costs because I didn't buy it (I just got to drink some). But I suspect that CR Sandidge is one of the more underrated Washington wines for it's price. The 2004 Syrah was a great wine, good to drink on its own before dinner and drink now without decanting. It's a dark, cool purple color and has great flavor and body. It's a bit earthy, very smooth, more like a Coonawarra Shiraz than a Washington Syrah. In fact, it reminded me a bit of the Bin 128. Anyway, it was good, I'd recommend it, and maybe have some cheese with it.

2004 Chateau Ste Michelle Cold Creek Cabernet Sauvignon

The 2004 was not much different than the 2003. See my review of the 2003. It was slightly more oaky, but just because it was slightly younger.

2003 Chateau Ste Michelle Cold Creek Cabernet Sauvignon

Cheateau Ste Michelle is a staple of Washington restaurants and grocery stores. They're probably the first winery most people think of when they think of Washington State. Like most big wineries, they have a range of wines. Their cheapest wines are in the $10 range, and they're drinkable. But if you just take a step up to their Single Vineyard wines, such as the Cold Creek Cabernet, the quality jumps quite a bit.

Generally you can pick up the Cold Creek in grocery stores for about $22. I've always had a soft spot for this wine. I generally keep a few bottles from every vintage on hand. It's a great drinking wine, and I'd put it head-to-head with a lot of $30 and $40 California wines.

So the other night, on a whim, I opened the 2003 Chateau Ste Michelle Cold Creek Cabernet Sauvignon to see how it was doing. It's done. Drink it now. It's probably at its peak. It was smooth, a little velvety, a little earthy and a little oaky. Mellow tannins, nothing bad going on. Nothing spectacular, but eminently drinkable. All you readers out there spending less than $9 on cheap Australian Shiraz should give this a whirl. Go on... splurge.

The Fourth of July

We spent the Fourth in Edmonds with Sara's family. We had two great red wines.

The first is one I brought, the 2003 Worthy Sophie's Cuvee. This is a Bordeaux-style blend from Napa. This is a well-made blend in the California tradition. The wine had plenty of body and good tasting fruit. It wasn't a huge wine, but it wasn't without it's complexities either. You could smell the wine from a good six feet away after opening the bottle and it was quite nice in the glass. This was a $40 wine that got marked down to $20 which is when I bought it from Garagiste. Apparently it got a few bad reviews... but I don't see why. From the texture to the smell, this is everything you could want in a new-world style wine.

The second wine was the 2003 Cayuse Camaspelo, which is another Cabernet Sauvignon blend. It's just a great wine. Good bits of Oak and the distinct taste of Washington soil. It was a medium bodied wine with nice dark color. This is the lowest scoring of the Cayuse wines, but if I could find enough bottles I would drink it every night.

2005 Des Voigne Cellars

Friday I had the pleasure of tasting the complete 2005 line of wines from Des Voigne. It was a fun tasting too; the wine maker was a very enthusiastic and knowledgable guy. Des Voigne itself is a small, boutique winery based in Woodinville, WA and using grapes from Yakima and Walla Walla. Here are my notes:

2005 Sauvignon Blanc - Red Mountin Grapes, 13.2%. It was a smooth, easy drinking wine with just a hint of Butter. I'm not really into Sauv Blanc, so lets move on.

2005 San Remo - 100% Sangiovese, 14.5%, it had hints of vanilla and really struck me as a big, bold wine.

2005 The Duke - 14.5%, an eclectic mix of Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cab Franc, this wine was a bit spicy and very different from your average Zin. I liked it very much.

2005 The Emcee - Merlot with 4% cab, 14.5%. My notes say: "Well made, some burn." Enough said.

2005 Solea - 14.3%, this is the Cab blend with Melot and Cab Franc. It had definite notes of Cassis and Green Peppers, which I think is a pretty bold move for a Cab. I liked this one best of all.

Overall, this was an excellent line of wines. The price point of mid to high twenty dollar range might scare off some consumers, but if you can afford it and are interested in some truely unique Washington wines, go pick some up.