When the wine doesn't really matter.

Long time. Busy Season. Happy New Year!

Here's when you don't want to be a wine snob...when you go to an amazing house concert and the wine is undistinguished but it does the job. The concert featured jazz singer Annie Sellick. http://www.anniesellick.com/ Her voice is velvet and dark chocolate and makes you think of a classic singer like Peggy Lee. Lounge with Vintage Champagne. She was backed by spot on musicians and when you get the chance for that up-close-and-personal music venue the wine takes a back seat., Having said that...given a choice... her music warrants something silky and decadent. If you can afford it, Torbreck's Run Rig would have been the ticket. Seductive, passionate, downright sexy.

If you catch this post in time she'll be performing with jazz powerhouse Joe Gransden tomorrow night (Jan 18th) at Cafe 290. That's in Sandy Springs. http://www.cafe290atlanta.com/

Racing Toward 2010

Starting around mid-November the hands on the clock seem to speed up. The days are shorter here in the Northern Hemisphere. The requirements for family, society, camaraderie increase. While we would like to retreat and cocoon there is gift-giving to arrange. Fêtes to attend. Wine is obviously the perfect gift. But notch it up and round it out. Pain Vin et Fromage. That is actually the name of a restaurant in Paris. Bread, Wine, Cheese. I first ate there many years ago and enjoyed the Raclette. Grilled cheese accompanied by small boiled potatoes, pickles, pearl onions and slabs of baguette. The perfect repast. A version of the English Ploughman's lunch. Think of this as you plan a gift. A bottle of interesting wine, a loaf of excellent bread and an artisanal cheese. Done.

Some suggestions: A Sancerre Rouge, a Sancerre Blanc, a Crottin de Chavignol, and a baguette. The most intriguing part of this gift array is the Sancerre Rouge. They're not at your local grocery. My current favorite is from Pascal et Nicolas Reverdy, their 2007 Terre de Maimbray. This is Pinot Noir as an ascetic. Austere, pungent mushroom and strawberry which alone requires an extra level of understanding. But when paired with a rich goat cheese such as a Crottin from a nearby hamlet becomes harmonious and right. And with the same cheese a crisp minerally Sancerre blanc is an elegant counterpoint. The baguette is for good measure to round out the meal. Sadly, Nicolas is no longer with us. But Pascal carries on and is crafting lovely wines. Reverdy is a common family name in the area so don't be surprised if you come upon other wines from other Reverdys.


Here's another option: A luxurious Tempranillo from Ribera del Duero, such as Alion from Vega Sicilia, with a chunk of aged Manchego and a container of Membrillo (Spanish quince paste.) And might as well throw in a tin of toasted Marcona almonds. Holiday in a basket. Alion, while not inexpensive, is less purse threatening than Vega Sicilia's premier offering Unico. It is a rich aromatic blast of cherry, tobacco, toasted vanilla bean and espresso. When you put this together with the salty but creamy Manchego, a morsel of sweet Membrillo and a toasty Marcona almond you have a universe of flavors, all in harmony.

You get the idea. Choose a country. Choose a wine and a local cheese. Add a condiment. You've achieved thoughtful gift status.

Happy Holidays. Peace and Wine. And remember: "Wine rejoices the heart of man, and joy is the mother of all virtues." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe...Joy to the World

Wine + Jazz = Heaven

Have you ever thought about matching the wine you're drinking with the music you're listening to? Probably not. This concept came up recently and it's worth consideration. The instigator sent a link to a cover of the captivating tune "Just Like Heaven" by The Cure. The chanteuse is Kat Edmonson. Her styling is unctuous and delicate at the same time. http://www.crushpad.com/katedmonson/taketothesky/justlikeheaven.mp3

If you're kicked back in an armchair listening to this what would you be sipping? Here are a couple of suggestions:

The Velvet Devil by Charles Smith...a smoothly wicked Washington State Merlot, rich black cherry and milk chocolate notes with a peppery finish.

Siduri Russian River Valley Pinot Noir...Blackberry jam and undertones of espresso. Rich and decadent...Pinot on steroids.

What's the point? Our senses include taste, smell, touch, sight, and sound. If you combine jazz and wine you get just about all of them. A sensory cornucopia.

Here's a review of Kat's album "Take to the Sky." http://www.jazzreview.com/cd/review-20784.html

This makes sense. We pair food with wine unquestionably. Why wouldn't we pair our auditory senses as well?

Comments welcome.

Ruminating on the Rhone

Cooler temperatures lead to thoughts of the next rich, spicy red on the horizon. Look to the Rhone Valley of France. Here you'll find bargains and blockbusters. Northern Rhone reds are made entirely of Syrah. Southern Rhone reds are blends, usually including Grenache, Syrah, and possibly several other varieties such as Mourvèdre, Cinsault (san-so), Carignan and Counoise. The familiar designation Côtes-du-Rhone is a good one to look for. Even better are Côtes-du-Rhone Villages, which refer to about 95 sub-regions of the Southern Rhone and reflect more focused wine production. And better still, are the named villages. There are currently 18 of these and the one that has jumped to the head of the line for me is Cairanne.

A recent Rhone tasting featuring over a dozen wines included the captivating Coteaux des Travers Côtes-du-Rhone-Villages Cairanne 2007. The aromas jumped from the glass with intense raspberry and cherry pie filling. The tannins were present yet artfully cloaked by the flavors of strawberry, cinnamon and an intriguing smoky finish. I found myself thinking about this wine long after the day's end.

Today brought the much anticipated Domaine Les Grands Bois Cuvée Maximilien Cairanne 2007. Domaine Les Grands Bois has several wines, including a powerhouse wine from Rasteau, another named village, and their Trois Soeurs, so named for the owners' 3 daughters. These are complex, well-crafted wines that reflect the owners passion and attention to detail. But I wanted to open their Cairanne and be just as captivated as I was by the Coteaux des Travers.

And I was. First there's an aromatic blast of fresh cinnamon stick. Morello cherry jam follows, and then gradually an undercurrent of smoky bacon. That last bit was surprising. Bacon fat is something I associate with Northern Rhone Syrah. And this wine has only a touch of Syrah, 5%. It's a little over half Grenache and about a third Mourvèdre plus only 5% Carignan. The flavors are leathery cassis and lavender, briars and dried cranberries. Robert Parker gives this wine a 93 and describes it as "...sauteed porcini mushrooms intermixed with notes of spring flowers and damp earth..." It's a stellar fall accompaniment to hearty soups, crumbly aged cheeses and crusty bread. Bring on the frost.

Cairanne is currently lobbying for inclusion as one of the Rhone Valley Crus, a more select designation than the Villages label. There are 8 in the Northern Rhone and 7 in the Southern. I wish them well and believe they deserve the elevation. And the Rhone wines are such great values that even if they achieve their goal, the wines will most likely still be very affordable.

Why We Spit - Even When We Don't Want To

If you've ever attended one of those big wine tastings with dump buckets all over the place and people looking like they're standing over their bathroom sinks gargling, you will be able to appreciate the following; When you are tasting more than 4 wines you cannot drink it and not begin to act stupidly! They are called wine tastings for a reason. They are not wine drinkings. You do that afterwards at the nearest wine bar with your buddies. If you don't have a comfortable spit-zone then by all means, drink it! But do not feel compelled to drink all of it and please, please do not ask for more. This is just wine tasting etiquette folks. Having said that...

The photo with this blog is called "The Last of the Cos." There's another that goes with it called "When Spitting is just Wrong." We did a comparison study of important Bordeaux and their "second label" wine. For example, Chateau Leoville-Las Cases, a Second Growth or Deuxieme Cru Bordeaux has a less pricey second label wine called Clos du Marquis. The point was for our speaker to convince us that A: the current ranking of Bordeaux wines is bogus and B: that so-called "second labels" are no reflection of their ranked big-deal siblings. Point A remained under furious debate. Point B didn't work out quite the way he planned either. For the most part the second labels reflected the style and quality of the primary labels. And the star of the show was the 2006 Cos d'Estournel and it's little sibling 2006 Les Pagodes de Cos. These are from the St. Estephe region of Bordeaux, an area usually associated with dense, rustic, tannic Cabernet monsters. But even in spite of their extreme youth, both of these wines were elegant, rich, thoroughly sophisticated gems. Here are the truncated notes while tasting along at a furious clip:

Les Pagodes '06 - Med. ruby, aromas of sweet tea, violets, cherry, spice, flavors of dark chocolate, cassis, black cherries and tobacco. Pervasive tannins.

Cos -06 - Deep ruby, pronounced aromas of plum, cassis, chocolate, flavors of bitter chocolate, espresso, dark cherry, very tannic but with some air should be perfect.

And as I sat staring at that generous pour of Cos I was given...I just couldn't bring myself to pour it all out.

There's Pinot and then there's PINOT

Pinot Noir is possibly the most capricious of grapes. It's difficult to find a really good one at modest prices. And it's inconsistent. Vintage matters. It's a finicky grape. It's hard to grow, delicate, thin-skinned, prone to rot, really something of a drama queen. Oregon and Burgundy (Bourgogne, France) have absolutely aced Pinot. And be prepared to pay for it. California is covering all the bases with affordable, quaffable stuff like Poppy Pinot and ramping it up with silky, rich examples that can damage your wallet.

Tonight's treat is Red Car Trolley from the Sonoma Coast. Have you ever smelled a clove cigarette? That's Red Car. Clove cigarettes and your mama's cherry pie. The tannins are perfectly balanced with the fruit. It is worth lingering. And their website is fun to view. These people are dedicated to pure, balanced Pinot without fining or filtering. Just the grape as Mother Nature intended it to be. Having said that, their production is not huge so don't go to your local vendor and expect to find it. This is when you need to develop a relationship with your local wine store and let them know what you like. I only managed to get my hands on one bottle. If you're in with the in crowd you've got a better chance of getting your hands on the good stuff.

It's All In The Family

If you're bothering to read a wine blog then there's a good chance you've anointed your lips with a wine from the Wagner family at some point. Caymus Cab, Conundrum, Mer Soleil, Belle Glos, these all hale from the same gene pool. A multi-generational passion, this Napa family has walked the walk. Patriarch Chuck is making a rare journey around the country reminding us why their wines are special. His father Charlie and mother Lorna (Belle Glos) bought the original acres back in the forties. It's worth visiting the website and reading the history. This is the American melting pot at its best. www.caymus.com//history.html Best of all, as Chuck talks about his wines and his family it's obvious how important it is to him. He even brought along bunches of grapes from his vineyards, clones 6 and 337. It was every wine nerd's dream seminar. And to close the deal he grows tomatoes worthy of making him an honorary Southerner. Thanks Chuck.

What about the wines? Caymus Cabernet and Cabernet Special Selection are high scoring, sought after, delectable, vibrant Cabernets that flaunt their Napa richness while reining it in with leather, tobacco and cedar like the Old World Cabs. Conundrum is a silky white blend that is sweet and not sweet at the same time. If you look hard enough on their website you can find out what grapes are in the mix. That's your homework. Belle Glos, named after Lorna, is dedicated to elegant Pinot Noir. And the Mer Soleil line is both buttered popcorn Chardonnay and the aptly named Mer Soleil Silver which is unoaked, in fact it's aged in concrete, and is crisply reminiscent of a fine Chablis. Every one of their wines is worthy of your time and hard-earned dollars.