Long the source of confusion, Petite Sirah is such a misunderstood grape.  Dark and brooking, dark and delicious.  Yum is what I say!

The love child of Peloursin, a very old, and pretty much dead French varietal, and Syrah, that charming, eclectic Rhône grape, Durif became known as Petite Sirah because of it’s boyish good looks.  Well ok not exactly, but it does sort of look like baby Syrah grapes.

Don’t know much about Petite Sirah?  Lucky for us, Petite Sirah I Love You (PS I Love You) is here to help!  If you’re located in the greater Bay Area or can be here on Friday, February 17th, Dark & Delicious, the annual food and wine pairing focusing on Petite Sirah will take place at Rockwall Winery in Alameda.

Don’t know much about Petite Sirah?  Want to learn more?  Check out the amazing wineries pouring at this event:

Pouring side by side with these wineries, there is also a list of over 35 food purveyors making tidbits to specifically match Petite Sirah’s unique flavor

What others have said about Dark & Delicious:

This is a not to miss event!  Tickets are on sale NOW for $63.  But you, my fabulous readers, have a chance to win a pair!  Just tell me why you love Petite Sirah in the comments below (and for additioanlly entries, don’t forget to use the RaffleCopter Form).  What makes you crave the dark & delcious grape?

See you there!  Happy drinking.

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An on the same day as NZ Wine Day, if you’re in the Santa Rosa area, make sure you stop by the Open House for a new Micro Winery co-op tasting room.  The industrial complex at Coffey Lane currently houses several wineries, and has become a go to destination for urban wine tasting in the North Bay.

Inspiration Vineyards has long been a friend and personal favorite of this blogger, and now, they are located in their own custom crush and tasting room space at 3360 Coffey Lane, Suite E, in Santa Rosa,  Six small wineries will be featured here, and having tasted two of them before, you won’t be sorry.

These wineries don’t have public tasting rooms, so this is a unique opportunity to to TRY & BUY wines from seven uniquely different wineries, each with their own winemaker present to tell you their stories and introduce you to their wines. Experience the small lot, artisinal wines from:

• Colagrossi Wines - offering a white Rhone blend
• Inspiration Vineyards where A little Inspiration makes every day a celebration.
• Little Red Vineyard featuring a REDiculous blend of Cab Sauv and Syrah.
• Premonition Cellars - pinot noir, need I say more?
• Simple Math Cellars - Pi, MC2, 1+2 – it all adds up!
• Two Shepherds - Unique Rhone Wines that Express Their Sense of Place
• Wesley Ashley Wines - Wine with a soul

If you buy your tickets now, they include $15 Wine & Food Credit!  That means you’re really only paying $5 to attend this fun tasting.  Upon check-in at the door, you’ll receive $10 back in wine bucks, redeemable on the day of the event at ALL seven wineries.  Additionally, by registering in advance on Eventbrite, you’ll receive another $5 back in wine & food bucks that you can redeem for either wine or food from Ultra Crepes.

I am a huge man of the micro winery movement, and I hope you will join us for this event.  While you’re in the area, stop by The NPA or head over a few blocks to the Wine Yard!

Advance Tickets are available HERE.  Get them while they last!

Ahh, Wine Blogging Wednesday.  Once upon a time, WBW was a monthly spark for wine bloggers to collective think about a particular topic, and form the gestalt of the blog.

The sum of the many is the one.

Sadly, WBW all but disappeared over the past few years.  Formed in 2004, WBW is having a resurgence thanks to a new committee and new life behind it. I for one, am grateful to have a guided post every month, as I struggle to be inspired and write posts that are both thoughtful, but also interesting to my readers.  This month, as we kick off a new year, January’s theme reminds us to think about what make us start blogging int he first place.  The Corkdork asks us what sparked our interest in wine, but more why we decided we needed to write about it.

For me, I actually have to thank my wine loving friend, and fellow blogger Liza Swift of the Brix Chicks for challenging me to put my money where my mouth was.  There was never one wine, or a specific experience that made me put pen to paper.  I had always been involved int he wine community one way or another.  But Liza, whom I encouraged to blog before I even started my own, asked me why I wasn’t writing when she was.

Good point!  Wine fascinates me.  the fact that it is alive, and forever changing, inspires me.  I have been drinking wine since before I was 21, and I have been entrenched in wine, while maintaining a techie career, for the better part of (*gasp*) 17 years.  I felt compelled to share my favorite wine discoveries with friends via word of mouth, but then in a newsletter.  That newsletter, which was filled with wines that I had consumed and fallen in love with, as well as tips on events that were up and coming in the Bay Area, and stories of my adventures in wine, are what sparked this blog.

Why do I write?  To write puts thoughts on paper - or on the internet – and shares them with your audience, however selective that might be.  To share the joy that I have experienced drives me.  My tastes have changed from zinfandel to pinot, and further more to the complex wines of the Rhone.  Starting out with my so called newsletter, I had the overwhelming feeling that to keep such knowledge to myself would be indulgent and selfish.  Beyond that, writing is cathartic, regardless of whether it’s in a personal journal or in a public format.  This blog, Facebook, and Twitter act as a life coach, therapist and best friend.

Wine is alive.  Wine changes.  Both time and place can turn the same wine in to very different beasts.  What happens when you taste a wine 5 years after the initial release?  Is it better?  Is ti worse?  Is my taste just different?  All of these are true, all of these are not.  Wine also changes in the glass.  What other tangible and consumable object has this much life to it.  It sound like I am quoting Maya from Sideways, but it’s true.  Wine lives, and wine is alive.

What sparked me?   My gateway wine was definitely zin.  Having worked for and with ZAP for over 10 years, I was exposed to over 200 wineries that had a wide variety of zinfandel to offer.  Is it the brambly jammy blackberry from Dry Creek?  Or perhpas the spicy mincemeat raisin from Sierra Foothills?  Dig a little deeper and try the rose petals and somewhat lighter style from Russian River.  I still love zin, and while my everyday tastes have changed somewhat, there is nothing better on a cold rainy night.

Today, my passion is for learning about and discovering pinot.  Why are pinots so fickle?  What are they so different?  How can I possibly love a pinot from Willamette Valley but also love one from the vast and strange Sonoma Coast?  While keeping my love affair with pinot alive, I am ever the explorer.  My latest quest.  Grenache!  Where fort art thou!  One of the essentially Rhone grapes, you can get Grenache for days in the Rhone Valley and also in somewhat rougher, inexpensive Spanish Garnacha.  But what about in the New World?  Where can I find that meaty, spicy, unique in a way that only Grenache can produce, flavor here int he new world?  Apart from a few favorites that I can’t seem to keep in my cellar, I am always on a quest to meet the winemaker who has taken on the bold new world of the Rhone, Spanish, interesting varietal.  Beyond the Grenache, what of the misunderstood, misplaced, lost and lonely Mouvedre/Monastrell/Mataro?

It’s a bold new world out there, and wine is waiting.

Garnet: -A semi precious mineral gemstone, often mistaken for a ruby.

The 2009 Monterey Pinot was a sleeper hit.  As I mentioned, I don’t care for the flavor profiles I often find in Monterey Pinot.  There is an oddness in there, and something that doesn’t sit well with me, in the form of green sticks and odd leaves.  But this example has dusty dried cherries and strawberries, and while it was a bit tight at first, opened up to white pepper with a lot of floral influence.  Again for $15 it’s a crowd pleaser.  Solid B.

The 2010 Carneros Pinot was, as is expected, big and jammy with bright raspberry.  I personally thought it was a little hot, and bold but silky.  Even though it was big and jammy, the body was lighter, which was somewhat surprising for a Carneros wine.  There was a lot of darker fruit hiding in there.  Not my fave.  C+

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.

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It was a cool crisp morning here in Northern California, when I got up entirely too early for a Saturday. After my first 10 cups of coffee, I was somewhat alive, so I packed myself up in to my trusty German wine mobile, and headed up to the Silverado Trail for a 10am breakfast tour of Mumm Napa Valley.

As fate would have it, the roads were clear (mostly) of traffic, save a few particularly slow tourists, and I got to Napa in record time. As we gathered at the gates of Mumm, eagerly hoping they would open the door, the fog just started to back off the valley and we could see the winter vineyards layed out before us.

Finally, at last! The doors openeed and our assorted posse of bloggers was greeted by the Mumm assistant Winemaker Tammy Lotz and self appointed cruise directory Mitch Davis with a morning glass of Deveaux Ranch.

But first, who was Monsieur Deveaux? Mumm Napa was started as a joint venture between G.H. Mumm, the French Champagne House, and Seagram & Sons. As luck would have it, it has changed hands, and now is owned by the same parent company (Pernod Ricard) as G.H. Mumm, so there is a sense of continuity and quality that carries through.

Guy (that’s Gee by the way, not Guy as in Guy Smiley) founded the Napa operation, and he was convinced that the Silverado Trail location would be a perfect balance of foggy, cool nights and hot long days; these conditions are idea for sparkling wine’s dance of acid and ripe fruit. Having a location in the New World also allows Mumm Napa to play beyond the constraints of the rather strict Champagne region bylaws – adding Pinot Gris to the blend for example, and to play with the best wines from the best regions.

So, here we are, on a chilly Saturday morning, glass of rather delectable 2006 Deveaux Ranch in our hands. This sparkler is a perfect representation of Mumm Napa, since it blends 58% Pinot Noir, 28% Chardonnay, 9% Pinot Meunier and 5% Pinot Gris, something that you might see in a Cremant, but never in a Champagne. This is a perfect start to the day with green apple, pear, and tropical flavors with a crisp acidity. For something different, you should RUN out and grab this wine. Yes, you’ll need to go to the winery, but who doesn’t want to sit on the terrace and sip bubbles? ‘Nuff said.  This is a winery exclusive wine, but it’s worth a trip.  It’s what I opened on New Year’s Day and it was simply stunning – well worth the $36.

As we meandered through the production facility, we stopped to try our hands at blending the 2011 Chard & Pinot, to create the different blends that Mumm creates. While they were still base wines, you can easily see how the high acid and low sugar content in the base wine creates a beautiful acid in the finished sparkler. I wouldn’t recommend drinking them however, as still wines, if you value the enamel on your teeth. I liken this exercise to tasting 70 New Zealand sav blancs in an afternoon; after a while your tongue is furry!

Winding our way through a rotating art gallery, next we were served the 2008 Pinot Meunier. While this is a common varietal in Champagne, it is often difficult to find in a domestic sparkler. This delightful wine is only crafted in exceptional vintages and evokes classic Champagne to me, with yeasty toast, and warm bread. This wine is aged 29 months sur lie, which really develop the flavor. If you are looking for something different, check it out! I love a 100% Petite Meunier, and this is a classic offering.  Go for it!  $36

As we gazed at Ansel Adams as well as rotating local artists, we worked our way back to the tasting salon, we were greeted by no less than 8 samples of sparkling wine. Whoo! Now this is what I call a Saturday! Winemaker Ludo Dervin, himself from Champagne entertained us with a pyramid of bubbles. Starting with the least expensive, but in no way inferior, wines of Brut Prestige, Brut Rose, and Cuvee M, we worked up to the Blanc de Blanc and Brut Reserve before the top of the line DVX. But, we were also surprised with a special bottling of the Santana Brut, a special join effort with the musician and, another treat, the Brut Reserve Rose.

While I enjoy the more commonplace offerings (aka found everywhere) of the Brut Prestige, Brut Rose, and Cuvee M, I have to admit they are somewhat boring to my spoiled taste buds. That said, at approximately $15 a bottle here in CA you really can’t beat that price.

More interesting to me were the Blanc de Blanc (made entirely of Chardonnay grapes) and the Brut Reserve for their clean, crisp flavor profile and toasty back notes.

Finally, at the top of the food chain, we tasted the DVX. The DVX isn’t made every year, and the first vintage was 1990.  I used to love this wine, but it wasn’t really hitting the spot for me on this particular day. I remember when I was a young wineaux and a member of the club here at Mumm that this was my favorite, but it was either the weather or the flavor profile that just wans’t working for me today.

Finally, back to taste the Santana.  This one of a kind wine was first created in 1999 as a partnership with the musician and Mumm Napa, with the proceeds going to the Milagro Foundation.  Right!  Drinking for charity is always something on my agenda!  Made with with a pinch more dosage than the Brut Reserve, this wine had wonderful stone fruit, brioche and green apple flavors that I just adored. It’s a splurge, but well worth it in my opinion at $45.

The Brut Reserve Rosé, which is 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay, is also a special wine made with 5% of the Pinot Noir being a super ripe Carneros  component that is blended back in to the base wine.  The result is that you get crisp bright red fruit, but ti’s much drier than the Brut Rosé.  This is a wallet friendly $22 and should absolutely be examined, for…research purposes.

And remember, you can add fizz to a oaky buttery chard, but you’ld have a disgusting fruit punch!  (Thanks to Ludo for this slightly parapharased quote to protect the innocent).  Making sparkling wine is an art form.  You can truly screw it up or you can make magic.

I’ve come to find that I really enjoy a drier style of sparlking these days.  Over the years, as my knowledge has increased, my taste has changed.  A fairly natural progression, I moved from sweet whites and roses to much drier and, I suppose, Austere sytle.  That said, all of these wines are delicious, and you really should teaste them for yourslef.  If you appreciate a slightly sweeter or fruity edge, try the Brut Prestige, Rose, and Cuvee M.  These are alle  excellent values and should be tasted at your own pace.

Thanks to the team at Mumm for entertaining us! You can discover Mumm Napa for yourselves on the Silverado Trail. They are open from 10am every day of the week, with the first tour (no tasting), or the Tour & Tastings starting at 11.  If you prefer, you can relax in one of two tasting areas as well, overlooking the valley just below.

What happens to you when you have leftover wine?  Some of you might be asking “WHAT leftover wine!” – and often that is the case.  But, as many wine blogger friends can attest, we often open more than one bottle a night, and don’t finish one or both.  So what is a thirsty girl to do to save the wine?

There are several preservation systems on the market today.  Until now, I (sadly, not often enough) used the tried and tested VacUVin, which is a sytem of rubber stoppers and a vacuum pump by which you remove all of the air in the bottle of wine.  Usually, wines stored and vacuumed last 3-5 days.  Stick ‘em in the fridge, and you might be lucky to get a week.

Enter the connosiers preservation system, the Private Preserve, where argan gas replaces the oxygen with inert gas.  I’ve never actually tried this preservation method, but I hear it is more effective than the VacUvin.

Recently, a Vintage Cellars of San Marcos, CA contacted me about reviewing something from their webstore.  They sell

a variety of wine storage solutions and accessories, and I said what the heck, I love wine knick knacks.

When I opened the WineKeeper box,the first thing I noticed was how stinking HUGE the canister was.  The Wine Keeper is similar to Private Preserve, where you replace the oxygen in the wine bottle with inert gas; in this case, it is nitrogen, altough wine keeper does indeed also make an argan model.  The nigtrogen canister is roughly the size of a half gallon of milk, wide ans quat.  Attached to this, a small hose goes in the wine bottle.  A splitter at the end attached to a spigot that is attached to the top of the wine bottle with a gasket, making an airtight seal.  Once you open the valve, the gas replaces the air, theortetically preserving the wine.

I Tried the Wine Keeper on a bottle of pinot, but promptly forgot about it.  I left the wine alone for about a week, and then remebered that I should taste it to see where it was going.  Since I knew this bottle of wine was orginally decent, I figured it should keep fairly well in tact, even if it was a tad oxydied.  Unfortunately, when I poured a glass, it was terrible.  It was source, oxydied and off.  Exactly waht you would expect if you elft a botle of wine open for a week.  Sadly, since I had the gas in the bottle, it did not fare any better.
I think I will need to try again side by side witha  VacUVin and the same kind of wine and perhaps not wait a week.

I also think that the optional argan cansiter, which is much smaller, would make this an optin for more people.  The nitrogen cansiter is bulky and difficult to store.  Perhaps if you were a restaurant or had many bottles of wine open (there are optional multiple bottle splitters) this could work, but for one botle – I’ll stick iwth my old school technology.

The sytem is $99 and one nitrogen canister should last for up to 20 bottles.  If not for the price, I would have given it a higher grade.  That said, I do think it’s a valuable tool for people that have many bottles open at once, and is invaluable for restaurants.  My question is, what is the difference between this and a $15 can of Private Preserve, a Nitron, Argan and CO2 blend.  Both of these systems force oxygen out of the bottle and replace it with inert gas.

The classic VacuVin also displaces the oxygen by sucking it out of the bottle creating a…well..vacuum.  For $15, this device comes with 2 stoppers that will last you lifetime.

I have heard that these two types of preservation systems can cause adverse effects to the wine.  While I haven’t personally experienced this, I have also tested the Wine Shield wine preservation discs which are a film of plastic designed to prevent direct air contact with the wine.

Grade after three days: B+
In contrast, a VacuVin-ed bottle, kept in the fridge, has been known to last over 5 days while still being reasonabley fresh.  3 days of VacuVin deserve an A for freshness and flavor. 

Grade after one week:  C-

So if you want to splurge on something that a wineaux might not have, go for it!  Otherwise, I think there are better solutions out there.  Great idea, but over the top for the average wine consumer.

Thank you to Vintage Cellars for sharing this contraption with me!  I would love to get the multi mount, which allows you to split the canister in to three spigots, as I can see this being a very useful device during one of my many live taste events, when multiple bottles are opened and often not immediately consumed.

When I first saw that Marcy Gordon had tagged me in her 7 links project, I was a bit trepedatious.  How would I ever live up to this lofty goal?  how would i pick posts that were meaningful, amusing, and that you wanted to read?  Acccck!
As you may or may not have noticed, this year my blogging has fallen off a cliff and I struggle with both inspiration and motivation to keep on the wagon.  some days are better than others.  So actually, now that I reflect on it more, I’m really fortunate that Marcy tagged me – because it gives me a built in blog post!  Beyond that, I do believe it’s time to pull out my Creative Whack Pack for some new ideas.

Now, back to my 7 Links.  This project asks bloggers to select seven lnks (posts) from blog posts past that exemplify certain categories.  Once i pick my 7 posts, then I get to take 5 bloggers.  Though personally I think I am going to tag 7 bloggers since, well, it’s 7 Links!

And the nominees are –