varietals

A long winter’s night…ZAP WINNERS ANNONCED

It’s that time of year again, where you curl up in front of your fake Amish fire (no wood burning here please, it’s Spare the Air!), open a big juicy zin, a good book, and your new furry slippers. It’s cold here these days, and the damp chill of the morning fog makes it feel more like London than San Francisco. That’s not all bad however, as it’s days like this that make me cook up a big pot of bean soup and open some of my deliciously California Zinfandel.

One of the most unique American wines, Zinfandel has a long history in California. From Italian field blends during the gold rush to the new gold rush of wine, zinfandel has a solid palace in history. There are so many different flavor profiles you can find, from raisiny ripe Paso Robles to spicy & racy Sierra Foothills, to brambly blackberry punch of Dry Creek. What better way to taste them than at the 2012 Zinfandel Festival!

January 26-28, 2012 join thousands of Zinfandel aficionados in San Francisco for the 21st Annual Zinfandel Festival. This year marks a departure from the past festivals, with both a venue change and event revamping. I am excited to see how these changes impact the festival. In 2012, the festival will be help for the first time in the Concourse Exhibition Center, an urban venue south of Market Street in San Francisco. While this can present a logistical nightmare, my hope is that it will encourage more taxis and bus travel than auto travel – which has resulted in some less than stellar behavior in years past.

But back tot he event! Thursday ZAP kicks off with Epicuria, formerly known as Good Eats & Zin. This has long been my favorite event, with it’s smaller crowd and delicious food pairings. At this gourmet extravaganza, you can discover the diversity of zinfandel, as it is paried with a huge variety of sweet & savory food sfrom some of the best restaurants in California.

Friday afternoon, Flights continues it’s journey with Forums of Flavor. At this exclusive seminar-style tasting you will discover themed flights of Zinfandels and interact with Zinfandel experts. Aimed at the true wine aficionado with an aptitude toward learning more, Flights offers in-depth insight into the Zinfandel varietal and provides the opportunity to experience the true character of the legend.

(more…)

No shrinking violet

Nov 7th, 2011

by winebratsf.

1 comment

I have a love hate relationship with New Zealand wines. Sometimes I love them, sometimes I hate them. There really is no in between there for me.

Some of the pinots are too earthy and full of dirt and sod. Some of the sav blancs are enamel stripping gooseberry piss that I can’t swallow.

Luckily, there is a sweet spot in the middle, where this wine falls neatly. The first whiff brings out method and wintergreen, and the first sip is a bright raspberry crush.

Aged in 100% new French oak barriques, the larger barrels allow for less immediate contact to the barrel, which gives it just a kiss and not a smack of oak flavors. There is a touch of baking spice on the back end that rounds it out nicely.

For $15, this is a great budget wine, and if you’re looking for a pinot, is a good option for the under $20 crowd. It falls a bit flat at the end however, so I wouldn’t race out to buy it, but I would pick it up if I were going to a party.

Happy sipping!

This wine was provided as a PR sample. And yes, I have to say that, the feds make me!

A Whole lot of great wine!

Jun 8th, 2011

by winebratsf.

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It’s that time of year! well almostl. Here, it’s been chilly and rainy. Not that San Francisco summer fog rain, but RAIN rain. Such a bummer. I think finally, however the sun has come out! Morning fog is the norm in July, but I’ll take it – the sun usually peeps out around 11am or so.

Elsewhere in the Universe, there actually IS summer! So when Whole Foods approached me and asked me if I’d like to taste their six featured summer sippers, I said HELL YEAH! not only are these affordable wines, but they are available at whole Foods – a national chain of gourmet, organic, and otherwise excellent food. No, I don’t normally shop at Whole Paycheck (mostly because while I adore tomatoes that taste like … tomatoes, I don’t have a $500 week food budget), I do buy some things there are a regular basis, and have been known to purchase some of the wine selected by store staff.

Whole Foods does an excellent job at picking diverse wines, in all price ranges. I have had a lot of success trying new wines that were staff selections.

Tonight, we are having turkey burgers, so I opened the 2010 Perrin Nature Côtes du Rhône. I love Rhone; the flavor profiles of the south of France are just delicious. This is a delcious wine with lots of dark fruit, meaty notes, with lots of blackberries and dark earth. It has a ton of character and complexity in every sip without being overly heavy. It’s a country wine, but elegantly so. While it’s a baby, you can enjoy this now, or age it for a bit. It will come together nicely. I would not recommend leaving this wine open for more than a few hours howeve,r as it can loose it’s interesting notes and become flat.

This wine is a SCREAMING deal for a BBQ and those summer parties at about $12-15 and is available at Whole Foods stores. EXTREME VALUE ALERT! Run out RIGHT NOW and buy this! I know I will be buying more, even though I have enough wine to keep every one of my friends and family very happy in the next apocalypse.

Please tune in to Twitter for a live tasting of more summer values from Whole Foods, tomorrow – June 9th – at 5pm PDT. Follow us using the hashtag #WFMWine Follow @WholeFoods for the latest updates!

Gris, Grigio, Good Grief!

Jun 3rd, 2011

by winebratsf.

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So Summer hasn’t quite arrived here in San Francisco, but I decided that I needed a little white wine. I know I know, you’re thinking “Bratty! What have you done!” Those of you who have followed my antics over the years probably realize that I have an abnormal appreciation (er obsession with all things pinot (noir), so today I decided to stick with the pinot theme and taste some Pinot Grigio. I mean Gris.

Normally, I run away and scream in horror when I see the words pinot and grigio together as they evoke a certain…Real Housewives of Nowhere bad $5 wine swilling horror. But, I’m happy to say that two wines from the Robert Oatley family are actually a lovely departure from the cheap Italian varietal. Yes, I know there is good Pinot Grigio, but it’s just attacked and tortured by the bad.

So, starting with the 2009 Tic Tok Pinot Grigio, which retails for anywhere from $10-13, I found a light tropical touch on the nose, lemon and mango in the body, and a light refreshing texture. The edge of baking spice rounds it out nicely. There was a lot of grapefruit, lychee and nectarine fruit flavors and it had a nice weight without being heavy. It’s a lovely summer white, though not a terribly complex wine, but at $10 average, it’s a great summer sipper for patio parties and BBQs.

After the Tik Tock, the 2009 Robert Oatley Pinot Gris, Adelaide Hills is a deeper golden hue, as it sits on the skins for longer to give depth of flavor and color. This wine is richer than the Tic Tok and has pear and spice notes. It’s a great sipper to replace your chardonnay!

Robert Oatley has been making wine in Australia for over 40 years, and the family has been around since convict days. Pretty good for a prisoner, no?

I love a good pinot gris, especially as the weather heats up. I challenge you to go out and find a great pinot gris to bring to you next party!

Thanks to Robert Oatley for providing me with this slurpalicious whites!

Feast on THIS!

Apr 13th, 2011

by winebratsf.

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I first found out about Cana’s Feast Winery when touring around the WIllamette Valley last fall. I didn’t pay it much attention, as we drove by on our way to a Pinot Pit Stop, primarily because they made other wines that weren’t on my hit list. Bu also because I was overwhelmed with other deliciousness. I finally woke up when my friend and fellow wine blogger started working there. Well! Fortunately for me, Tamara was able to send me samples as part of her marketing job, and I received a bottle of the 2008 Meredith Mitchell Pinot Noir.

I wasn’t very happy with this wine at first, because it was very woody, and suffered from a bitter quinine aftertaste that just didn’t sit right with me for an Oregon Pinot. There was some burnt sugar and earth, and it was overwhelmed with dusty baking spice. Where was the fruit? Where was the PINOT in this Pinot?

Well, far be it for me to throw away wine. It’s just not in my making to dump Pinot! So I left it, for about an hour, corked but not completely closed. When I came back to it, it was beginning to wake up but there really wasn’t any THERE there if you know what I mean. Oh well. Fortunately, the next night, since I already had two open bottles of Pinot, both from Willamette, I was able to re-taste it. What a different a day makes! Now, I tasted bright cherries, pomegranate, cranberry. There was my red fruit! There was my acid! It really opened up nicely, and turned in to a wine that I very much enjoyed. The lesson here is DECANT DECANT DECANT! It needs some serious air to show her true colors. I’d also cellar this for at LEAST 2 years to get the full benefit.

Which brings up an interesting point. When I was poking around in September, I really didn’t like the 08 Pinots coming out of Willamette. They were just too ripe, too big, too Russian River, bordering on Sta Rita Hills. Gasp! Shock! Horror! That wasn’t what Oregon was supposed to be! WHere was my Burgundy? Where was my restrained style and light body? I was sadly disappointed. That said, here were are 6 months later; I’ve been tasting several of the 08s, as they are the current release for the most part. My my my what a little bottle age will do! They are improving, slowly but surely. I think 2008 might not be such a bad year after all…

This bottle of Oregon Crack was supplied by my dealer at Cana’s Fest. Thanks guys!

I’ve been Vintaed!

Feb 16th, 2011

by winebratsf.

7 comments

Remember Wine Blogging Wednesday?

The one day a month where we all gathered our collective consciousness and blogged about the same topic? Well the same theme anyway. Well it’s BACK! And I’m pleased to be participating because it’s a really great way to give me a shove in the right direction in my blogging efforts. With my day job, life, travels, and wine stuff taking over and an alarming rate, it’s nice to have a topic that I don’t have to come up with.

Gabriella Opaz of Catavino, who was with me in Porto

This month, Catavino’s Ryan & Gabriella encourage us to blog about Spanish wines. Fresh off the big ole jet airline from a trip to Iberia, where I spent some wonderful time with Gabriella, I am able to supply oodles of info on this topic! Specifically, Catavino is asking us to look at Spanish wines we’ve never tried before, or something unusual for the area. Since I recently blogged about Miguel Merino, my new favorite place in Rioja, I thought I’d use this opportunity to write about my new friends at Vintae.

is mixing it up in Spain, and starting a wine revolution of sorts. They are a young company which focuses on 6 specific regions in Spain, but in a different way. Vintae represents innovation and change in a wine region that has been very rigid in its ways, much like France, for years. The avant-garde marketing and approach have shaken up the industry in Spain, and spawned the Spanish Guerrilla wine movement!

In Spain, wine suffers from a bit of a bad reputation. There is some of a connotation that is is an old man’s drink, or an object ot mix with 7-up or other such items. Although, when we were out in Logroño doing a tapas bar crawl, plenty of young folks were drinking wine – but it appears that might be a bit of the exception. Since I have no real experience with the Spanish wine industry, you will need to take this with a grain of salt.

The company started with 5 wines, made in La Rioja, from grapes that are non-traditional to the region. Given that the wine laws in Europe are much stricter and somewhat archaic by western standards, they had a bit of a time introducing these wines to the market. They were, in fact, the first winery that was allowed to produce these varietals in La Rioja, and are guerrillas in the wine business here – stirring up the old ways of thinking, and trying to make wine fun. This is why their new brand is called "Spanish Guerilla". Kinda catchy don’t you think?

On this day, we visited the two different Vintae production facilities, starting wtih the white wine facility, Castillo de Maetierra, where the illustrious Spanish White Guerrilla wines are made. Castillo de Maetierra is the only winery in La Rioja which specializes in making white wines. The Castillo has been an upstart, focuses on unusual (for Rioja) wines such as Muscat and Malvasia, and introducing Spain to foreign varieties such as Chardonnay and Gewurztraminer. Currently, Castillo de Maetierra works with eight different white varietals, including Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Gewurztraminer or Viognier. Because these are so unusual in the area, the branding became the “Spanish White Guerrilla”. Each of the fun labels makes a play on a character from the region – so the Gewertz has beer wench, the Sav Blanc looks a Little bit like Fidel Castro, etc.

Carmelo, our smiling host!

Because there really is a sense of terroir and micro climates in Rioja, the production facilities are separate and distinct to maintain this. The white wines produced here are so delicate and fickle, that anything more than 30 minutes from field to crushpad would destroy some of the characteristics that make them unique, which is what the winemakers want to avoid. This is somewhat difficult to grasp as a New World wino since we so often see grapes trucked long distances to production facilities. That said, it makes total sense – treat the wine like your first born child, and she will treat you like the king of the world.

The white wines are made here at Castillo de Maetierra, where approximately 500,000 bottles are produced. YOW! Just a little bit of wine there folks. Our hosts, Ana of Vintae and Carmelo Santos, the winemaker, showed us around and gave us a peek at the 2010 barrel samples as well as the current 2009 releases. The Castillo is located in southern Rioja, where it is a high desert – think Reno folks, and it can get up to 35c in the summer. That’s about 110! Phew. Hot. Because of this, they harvest in August at night. This is crucial for the whites because the whites can begin fermentation spontaneously in that heat.

I must admit, I did a poor job at taking notes of what I was tasting, but you really want to know more about the story right? Suffice it to say, they were surprising and delicious, and even though it was FREEZING cold outsidede, they were highly enjoyable. The Guerrilla wines, coming in at about 5 Euro, are an absolute STEAL for budget minded quaffers.

Happy reading, and you should be able to find these wines near you soon!

Pinot – how do I love thee, let me count the ways!

Feb 15th, 2011

by winebratsf.

1 comment

It’s Valentine’s Day today, and that means, roses, chocolate, and – yes! Pinot Noir! What better way to say I love you than to share the heartbreak grape with your sweetie.

Personally, Pinot Noir is the wine that excites me the most, because of its mystery, and allure. There are so many different styles and flavors in a Pinot Noir, and it’s a world in your glass!@

Do you want to learn MORE about Pinot Noir?

On Saturday, February 26th, 300 lucky Pinotphiles will be able to attend the Pinot NOir Summit in San Francisco. If you are thinking about attending, and you should be, I have a secret deal for you just because you actually read my blog. This deal is SO amazing, SO huge, SO fabulous, that you just can’t pass it up!

Because it’s so amazing, i can only offer this deal to two of my readers – well really it’s four – because here’s the deal..

You can get 2 tickets to the ALL DAY SUMMIT for the price of one! That’s a $250 value for $125.

Now, I know that seems like a lot of money to spend on wine, but look at what you get:

A full day of Pinot Noir! Starting with a blind tasting of the top rated juice from a long and arduous process (yeah well I was a judge, such hard work), test your buds against pros, panels, and pinotphiles. Vote for your faves! We will find out what women liked, what men liked, and what the judges liked at the end of the day.

You also get your choice of two Pinot Noir workshops. This year we have:

Session One
New World Pinot Noir
A Question of Style
Discovering New Stars

Session Two

Oak and Pinot Noir…Getting it Just Right

Pinot Noir, the Most Versatile Wine on the Planet

Winemaking 101

But wait! You thought I was done? Nope. You ALSO get a Sparkling Wine Reception, to see how Pinot Noir behaves under pressure.

And then, the GRAND finale – the 9th Annual Pinot Noir Shootout Grand Awards Tasting with top Pinot Noir winemakers showcasing their wines. Includes a pinot-friendly selection of light hors d’oeuvres.

SO if you want to take advantage of this deal, post a comment here and let me know WHY you really want to go and should get this half of deal. HURRY though! I only have two to offer and I know it’ll be popular!
I can’t wait to hear your comments!

Putting the pieces together

Dec 21st, 2010

by winebratsf.

5 comments

Brick by brick, Stone by stone.
That’s how you build a castle, and also a successful winery.

Tonight, the weather is crisp, and the rain has cleared up. Butternut squash soup is cooking and I’m sipping on Cornerstone Cellars’ sister label Stepping Stone 2009 Syrah from Napa Valley. I’m a huge syrah fan, and this is a great pick for budget minded wineaux. It’s a great example of the grape, and rivals syrahs that retail for $35-40 easily.

The earthy plums and blue/black fruit come out in this rich bold wine, perfect for winter sipping. It’s bold and velvety smooth, with hints of black pepper and licorice. I really love this wine, and for $20 you simply can’t wrong. MUST BUY

With the soup that was bubbling away, we had a touch of Creme Fraiche and bacon. I think I might be able to eat an ENTIRE bucket of Creme Fraiche but that’s another story.

Please, go out and buy some Stepping Stone today! My faves are the Cab Franc and the Syrah, so get both. You can’t go wrong!

All day, all night it’s…

Nov 4th, 2010

by winebratsf.

4 comments

Mary Ann, Marsanne! Down by the seaside with a drink in her hand…all the little wine bloggers love Mary Ann!

Here in the Bay Area, we’re experiencing an odd sort of Summer in Winter. The Giants won the series, and it was 76 in San Francisco on November 2nd. This summer weather has be drinking more white wines again, so I thought it would be a great time to finsih this post from earlier this year.

Marsanne is one of my favorite white wines these days. While I do occasionally like a Chardonnay, it has be a particular style, so I tend to lean towards alternative white wines, or more steely, less oaked Chardonnay (think some delicious Pouilly-Fuissé). Marsanne is one of the 22 Rhône grapes, and is most often blended with another beauty – Rousanne. It’s increasing popularity in the U.S. makes me smile!

This great example comes from one of my favorite small wineries in northern Calfiornia, Olson Ogden, who make limited production wines that really suit my style. I am a particular fan of the syrah, though I am almost through the case I had squirreled away last year.

This Marsanne tasted of marzipan, lemon, grapefruit and orange pith – you know, that slight bitterness from the white part (though not in a bad way). I also found loads of pear, and creamy stone fruit complimented with a nicely balanced acidity and a touch of honeysuckle on the nose. The 17 months in stainless steel and 28% new French oak give it a nice touch of oak without overpowering it. It’s creamy and rich but not an oak monster.

It’s a bit pricy for an everyday white at $35, but this is a MUST BUY if you like whites and wantt o venture out of the Chard / Sav Blanc superhighway. But don’t just take MY word for it! My friends at NectarWine, WinePost and NorCal wine also enjoyed this wine immensely. Give it a try, and for those winter lovers, this wine goes amazingly well with all things butternut as well as a nicely herb rubbed roasted chicken.

Happy drinking!

THis wine was graciously provided by Olson Ogden. Probably because I keep gusying about thier syrah. BUt who cares! IT’s good!

Where the cougars dare…

Sep 20th, 2010

by winebratsf.

4 comments

Recently, I’ve been struggling with finding good tidbits to write about and feel a little bit like a slacker on my blog. After visiting Oregon wine country however, my friend mentioned a story about how oakay buttery $10 chardonnay is Cougar Juice (apologies in advance to you cougars out there, but I am a card carrying member of the ABC – KJC club. Go figure THAT one out). You know, the type that the older ladies on the prowl for their gardener’s younger companions drink by the gallon at the Ruby Tuesday’s bar.

Well that got me thinking, since I was in McMinnville Oregon, heart of the Willamette Valley, if Panther Creek Cellars could qualify as Couger Juice, and if for that matter, I qualified as a couger. Happily, since I am neither a cradle robber nor does Willamette Pinot Noir resemble the strange phenomenon of the yellow snow Cougar Chard, I can report that there are some very big cats in the Willamette Valley that are NOT hunting for Ashton Kutcher.

Panther Creek has been making that famous Oregon Bob Cat Juice, Pinot Noir, since 1986. Purchasing grapes from all over the Willammete Valley AVA, their goal is to make wines that express the personality of the vintage and vineyard as purely as possible. Each wine is different and is encouraged to show it’s terroir.
The winery is located in an old power plant near the old grange building and railroad station in McMinnville. The re-purposing of these historical buildings to make world class wine is something that makes the story more interesting, and this particular building previously housed three large diesel generators that provided power McMinnville before the advent of cleaner power sources.

First up, I tasted the Bob Cat Juice, also known as 2008 Elton Vineyard Chardonnay. While this was a rich chard, it was unoaked and very refreshing on a warm late summer day. The notes of lemon curd, fresh citrus, and light chalky citrus rind also showed granny smith apples and a hint of cream on the finish. Even though I’m not normally a chardonnay girl, there are occasions like this where I hide my ABC card and chug down the white.

Starting in with the Pinot Noirs, we begin to focus on the single vineyard designates, which showcase a particular sub appellation in the valley. The first, 2007 Verde Pinot Noir, is a blend of three sustainably farmed vineyards, showcasing the variety of techniques that different sustainably farmed vineyard properties can produce. The Momtazi Vineyard is biodynamic, the Elton Vineyard is LIVE Certified (more on that in a minute) and the Temperance Hill Vineyard is organic. It is a classically Oregon wine in my opinion, with a silky texture, earthy forest floor and cinnamon spiced cloves, pepper, and mushrooms. I got the impresion that I was drinking wine soaked in mulling spices, which left my mouth coated after the wine was long gone. For $35 retail, this is a great wine to explore the terrior and is a MUST BUY.

Now, back to LIVE certified. You may remeber that we discovered LIVE in July at the wine Bloggers Conference. LIVE stands for Low Input Viticulture and Enolgy. It’s a non profit that provides education and

certification for wineries using international standards of sustainable viticulture and wine production, and bases it’s certification on several factors from fertilizer use to salmon safe farming. For me, while it’s yet another organization that shows how sustainable farming practices are increasing in the wine business, the detailed entries on the checklist balance the need to responsible monoculture with the need to run an effective wine business. I encourage you to investigate the checklist yourself, to see juts how difficult it must be to be a LIVE certified winery or vineyard, and how committed these businesses are to running a balanced consumer business.

Next up, the entry level Pinot, 2007 Winemakers Cuvee Blend is the workforce of the winery. This fighting pinot retails for about $25 and exposes pather Creek and the willammette to a wider audience. It’s a blend of Lazy River, Benderic and Freedom Hill Vineyards and has a light and delicate color with a bright red fruit and cherry nose. There is a sweet finish on the nose, but the palate is all black cherry, dark black spice notes, and tons of red fruit like Hood Strawberries. Just to be clear, these are not the big watery strawberries that the rest of us make do with during most of the summer months. These are these amazing, juicy, potent little berries that ANY good Oregonian will gladly show off. I also tasted pomegranate, and raspberries with a touch of cream. It was a lovely wine, TRY it if you find it around.

A winery only exclive, the 2007 Vista Hills Pinot Noir is a deeper color but still refined and light. It has flavors of birght cranberry and reminds me of a much more Burgundian style, which is what I typically think of as Oregon. There was an intense flavor of forest floor and mushrooms, with black tea tannins. It was a bit tight, but might open up beautifully if I had some time to decant this. At $40, I would TRY it if i saw it on a list or for less in the retail market, but there are others I’d try first.
Ahhh here we come to one of my favorite vineyards in The Willamette. The 2007 Shea Vineyads Pinot Noir is a bold bright cherry bomb, black cherry and cedar. There were several root beer, cola, and sassafrass notes with a lot of cinnaomn bark and floral notes. Rose petals stood out with the black raspberries and white pepper followed by bakaing spice, and nutmeg. I really loved this wine, and though it was a rich pinot for Oregon, the depth of spice and earthy notes opened up and developed as we sipped on the glass. Those Hood Strawberries came out to play again, and the bright acidify just lingered and left my tongue dancing. This would be a great wine to age, and I think in 3-5 years it will only be more amazing. It retails for $40, but I’d buy this in a heart beat. This is a MUST BUY.

The 2006 20th Anniversary Pinot Noir is a celebratory blend where the winemaker picked their favorite barrels and blended the final wine, which aged in barrel for 6 additional months. The big dark ruby colors and bold black cherry notes also complimented blackberry flavors. It had a lovely aroma of rose petals and jasmine. It’s a special wine and is worth a SPLURGE.

I really enjoyed my visit to Panther Creek, and it has become a new favorite of mine in Oregon. I look forward to visiting again, and bringing some of the treats home! Make sure you stop by the old power station if you are in town.

Happy Drinking! More Oregon to come…