The Corkdork - Wine and Food Musing

Wine Blogging Wednesday #73 "Spark" Round-up

Thanks for all who participated in Wine Blogging Wednesday #73 this month. We had a pretty small but empassioned turnout on my theme, "Spark". The intent was to bring our readers back to the time we decided we needed to blog about wine, and write about a wine that inspired you. Most of us are juggling the exponential rise in wine data running past our eyes and ears --pouring in from Twitter, Facebook and traditional media, while trying to find the time to blog. I hope this did spark people's writing fuse and get us all back writing! 

Roddy at Sentir le Bouchon (Smell the Cork) wrote about a wild one!

Bob at 2001 Bottles took the opportunity to recount some of his favorite wine moments that keep him going, including an '82 Grange!

Tim at Winecast was taken in by Mike Grgitch's Zinfandel. Hooked. 

Gwendolyn at Wine Predator got Sparked by one of our own, blogger and vintner, Jeff Stai at Twisted Oak. 

Mike at Undertaking Wine was grabbed by an aromatic Gewürztraminer.  

 David at Cooking Chat was also sparked by Zinfandel. His choice for WBW was a wonder!

 Colin at Grape Fan went back. Way back. To the rosé that started it all.

Chrissie at Awaken Your Senses found the one spot in Argentina that did it. 

My Entry at the Corkdork (below) rekindled my love for Zinfandel.  

Lisa at The Wine Muse hit the theme right on the head. She shows that wine passion can be sparked by a good affordable quaff. It may even keep the passion going on another front!

Let's all keep those Wednesdays free to blog once a month, shall we?

 

Wine Blogging Wednesday 73 "Spark"

What was the spark that inspired me to start the Corkdork Blog? 

I come from a wine obsessed family. My late father amassed a small, but high quality cellar starting back in 1978 and so began the family tradition of wine talk at the table. For us, a special meal needed something special to drink, and even after having a modest cellar going, my father was always able to pull out something appropriate to rise to the occasion.

Once I was out on my own, I usually found I had Champagne tastes on a beer budget, and good wine was hard to find in my neighborhood in Brooklyn, where after pressing your nose to the window, squinting to read labels, the local wine merchant passed the bottle to you through bullet-proof glass. But then I moved to San Francisco. Here I gave myself a $3.00 a bottle limit and at that time, I was able to get crazy treasures for 3 bucks --Stag's Leap Petite Syrah and Ch. St. Jean Chardonnay, for instance.

I could find, by trail and error, something decent to go with dinner, but when I went out and faced a huge wine list, I found I could only fall back on the familiar or the splurge wines I knew growing up. Then I attended my first big tasting, ZAP, the annual mega-Zinfandel festival. It was 1997 and they were pouring the 1995 vintage for the most part, and barrel pours of the 1996s. This was the first time I had an opportunity to taste a single varietal, treated in a staggering array of ways, with distinct profiles of the classic regions. Every wine from every neighborhood seemed a little different and I found an affordable way to start collecting, learning about the mysteries of terroir, and training my palate. I could stray away from the "3-Rs" (Ridge, Ravenswood, and Rosenblum) and find little producers that created something different, something that smacked of thier little patch of the earth. 

And I made friends. I found I could make fast friends with winemakers. I was thrilled to have other people to share my wine talk with, other than my family. A bonus for my table-talk-fatigued spouse as well. My brother, my friends and I, would share our favorite finds from ZAP and share them by email and sync them to our first-gen Palm Pilots so we had our lists when we went shopping. 

Fast-forward to 2005 and the rise of the blogosphere. When I saw that you didn't need to have a Masters of Wine to write about wine, it dawned on me that a blog could be my special place to remember the bottles I love, the dishes I want to share, and a public place to put my favorites from big tastings like ZAP. 

So, tonight, I pulled out a nice little Zin. 

2006 Ottimino Zinfandel, Rancho Bello Vineyard

The Rancho Bello Vineyard is just north of the Green Valley AVA, which is near Sebastapol and Occidental. There, the grapes are both  ripened by sun and stressed from lack of water - a good combination for Zinfandel. On nose, it has tinges of nutmeg and cinnamon spices with boysenberry/blackberry fruits that rise from the glass, like a beautiful black fruit cobbler. It's a full-bodied wine and has all the ripeness of a Russian River Valley Zinfandel, without being stewed or prune-y. Winemaker William Knuttel has a great touch with Zin, which can be a crazy uneven ripening beast --so much so that Ottimino is devoted exclusively to Zinfandel. This wine is a steal and offers a clean, classic Zin experience for under $30 a bottle. Recommended. 

Wine Blogging Wednesday 73 Approaching! Wednesday, January 18, 2012 "Spark"

Hi all, 

Just a reminder to pass on to the wine blog community that I am hosting WBW 73 this Wednesday. "Spark" is our theme to rekindle your interest in Wine Blogging Wednesday. Re-taste the kind of wine that sparked your desire to write about wine and share it on Wednesday, January 18th. I'll be hosting and doing the round-up. Post on your blog and send me your permalink by either email me (thecorkdork - symbol here - gmail - period - com) or post the link as a comment on Wednesday. Looking forward to it! I have my wine picked out...I hope you do to. See you then. 

Announcing Wine Blogging Wednesday 73 "Spark"

It's for January and it's called "Spark". And it's being hosted by the Corkdork blog. 

Because the number of participants has been declining and the blogosphere is so crowded with other things commanding our attention, it's time to go back to what Sparked your interest in wine blogging in the first place. There was a wine you couldn't get out of your head and couldn't wait to share with the world, there was a grape that you started obsessing over, there were family times where a good bottle would be pulled...something there made you say to yourself that you wanted to blog about wine. And 6 years ago, when we started the first collaborative online tasting group, Wine Blogging Wednesdays, something captured your attention. I know you've grown and your wine knowledge has expanded, but it's time to revisit the kind of wines that sparked your desire to blog, retaste, and share. 

January's challenge, "Spark", is to re-visit the wine that first turned you on to the infinite wonder of the world of wine. Write about it and post on January 18th. I will host and do the round-up. Please pass on the word and keep WBW going!

 

Wine Blogging Wednesdays #49: A Toast to the End of the Bush Era

Dhonig at 2 Days per Bottle has proposed an interesting theme this month. Usually, we wine blogger-types are not known for showing a lot of political leanings one way or another, but this is a theme that will drag that out of a lot of us. It's kind of like the carpool I participate in here in the East Bay. I pick up strangers in the morning and take them to San Francisco and we have an unwritten rule: no politics. (I'm really looking forward to reading the round-up).

The proposition is to describe what we will drink if Obama wins and what we will drink if Bush wins.

The Obama Win

For my Obama wine, I am going to find and drink the best Champagne I have had in the last year, The Pommery Cuvée Louise 1989. I was very fortunate to have this in magnum earlier in the summer and it was a thrilling wine. This wine is poised, elegant, almost stately. The nose is sophisticated, with a hint of the wisdom of age. The bubbles are energetic but restrained. It is a serious wine, but just playful enough. Champagne is celebratory and spirited, a hopeful drink when you know things are going your way.

The McCain Win

If McCain wins, my choice is the 1792 Ridgemont Reserve Barrel Select Kentucky Bourbon. A lot of it. Hell, it's American. The 1792 has had 8 years in the barrel but hasn't really absorbed too much of the goodness of the barrels. It seems pretty deep at first, but the aftertaste is pretty transparent. It's at first sweet-talkin', like McCain appearing so hip on the Jon Stewart show. Then it kinda burns going down and lingers in your stomach.

Deep down it definitely has a Southern attitude and after a bunch of it, makes you kinda numb. Too much is really going to make your head hurt.  This is a good stiff drink when you need to brace yourself for 4 years of more of the dregs the last 8 years have brought us.

Wine Blogging Wednesday #48: Back to Your Roots

I thought I would try a slightly different tack on this nostalgic theme, one of discovery --the one that ultimately led me to write about wine. I grew up around wine and had some tasty things in my late teens and early twenties but the one thing that got me into both collecting and tasting in a more serious fashion was Zinfandel. So I opened a known winner tonight from a top Zin house, Acorn.

My first ZAP tasting was in 1997, when the super-ripe 1995's were being poured and the light but heady 1996s were being poured from barrel. I started to understand one particular varietal in more depth, each zin-heavy region as distinct, and the wide variation in one year to the next. What an eye-opener.

And Zinfandels were affordable. At that time, you could buy a serious bottle of Zin for around $20.00 and a not-so-serious one for around $10. It was a perfect starter . I remember the wine of the event was made by Scheutz-Oles and was around $17 --an unbelievable deal. You can still find the occasional bottle of it for around $20 to $25.

It was that year that I was also introduced to Acorn, which I still feel is one of the top Zinfandels in the top region of Russian River. And, subsequently, I was struck by another wonder-of-the-world, the grower/winemaker. When I met Betsy and Bill Nachbaur, I was blown away by their combination of passion, artistry, science, and love for what they do. And I was hooked.

Though my passions have turned now more toward the Rhone, White Burgundies, and the world of Pinot, I still maintain a good supply of Zinfandel and get great pleasure from a a bottle in perfect shape.

The 2004 Acorn Heritage Vines Alegria Vineyards Russian River Valley Zinfandel is drinking absolutely perfectly now. The nose is spicy and brambly and touches of cocoa powder with huge blackberry flavors and firm tannins. It still has plenty of life in it. The old vineyard that these grapes come from has a wide variety of field blend grapes besides Zinfandel; Carignane, Trousseau, Sangiovese, Petit Bouschet, Negrette, Syrah, Muscat Noir, Cinsaut, & Grenache. Zinfandel dominates, at nearly 80% so it still has lots of Zin charm, but the old-vine field blend makes for a very complex and long-lived wine.

WBW #46 White Rhône Varietals: Domaine La Bastide Roussanne 2006

This has to be a quick post, I'm afraid. It seems this one caught me a little off guard. When I saw Dr. Debs' post earlier today, my heart sank and I realized I hadn't realized the date. The good thing is that I love Rhône wines and always have a few whites around, as well as a few American bottles made with white Rhône  grapes. I particularly like Roussanne, especially once the weather starts to get warm. Something about a grape that really has to be picked ripe, similar to Viognier, that still packs a nice bit of pucker appeals to me.

I rushed home after work and started rummaging through my cellar and couldn't find the Picpoul blanc I really wanted to try tonight, but did put my hands on this extremely well-priced offering from the Languedoc. I'm pretty sure this one came from Paul Marcus Wines in Rockridge, which always has a large selection of white Rhônes at very good prices for summer drinking.

The Domaine La Bastide Rousanne 2006 from Guilem Durand is 100% Roussanne from vineyards that average 15 years old in the typical sandstone pebbles of Southern France. After cold fermentation, it stayed on the lees for four months with weekly stirring, then filtered and bottled.

The color is  a pale yellow with a nice green tint. On the nose I get fresh melon, citrus, flowers, and Camomile tea. There is a typical oily character to the mouth-feel and it really has a nice bit of acid on it. Of course, since this is such ripe wine and had a lot of tartrates at end left in the bottle, I do have a suspicion that it received a healthy  dose of acidification. None the less, at around $14.00 a bottle, it is really a steal and recommended for a nice night.

Wine Blogging Wednesday #45 Old World Riesling

An excellent theme for this month's WBW, Old World Riesling, from one of the grand poobahs of the WBW, our own Tim Elliot from the Winecast. Thanks for hosting, Tim!

Riesling is a grape of the ancients, dating back to Roman times, but why has its universal appeal continued? I imagine what it must have been like to sit at a fine table five hundred years ago and why riesling was so attractive. I suspect the high-toned floral component and spice aromas,  along with a sweet muskiness,  must have been welcome amongst the other less savory smells that must have all around in those days. The onslaught of too-ripe meats and too-ripe people must have been pretty overwhelming, so a fragrant white wine would have been a fine thing to bury ones nose in to get away from it all.

Another miracle within the Riesling vine is the ability to grow in the harshest of winter climates. Riesling is grown in most northerly region that fine wine grapes can grow, which fosters great acidity. All the best grapes are grown on a south facing slope to suck in every last ray of sunshine. Terry Theise describes the slopes of Domprobst as impossibly steep. In fact, some vineyards are so steep they need small monorail trams to help workers move grapes down the hillside to the sorting table.

Picking German Wine

I'm the first to admit that picking a great German wine is pretty daunting. For me, I find the vineyard names difficult to memorize and like a lot of fine wines, the devils and the angels are in the details --in those vineyard names. A lot of producers make thousands of bottles of their lesser table wines and only a few hundred cases of their special small vineyard designates. To make matters worse, even the most famous of German vineyards, Piesporter and Bernkastel for instance, were synonymous with both greatness and cheap plonk for many years, especially the wines exported to the U.S. so it was only those in the know who were the dependable producers.  Fortunately, quality has improved greatly in the export market and we're now able to get even more spectacular wines from Germany.

If you're new to German wines, I recommend highly the section in the Karen MacNeil's Wine Bible on all things German. According to Karen MacNeil, the new stars of Germany include: Müller-Catoir, Fritz Haag, Willi Schafer, Lingenfelder, Gunderloch, Karlsmühle, and Dönnhoff. Certainly don't overlook Dr. Loosen, Egon Müller, Joh. Jos. Prüm, and Selbach-Oster.

On to Tasting Notes: 2006 Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Kabinett Riesling

Extravagant nose with lots of earthy honey, challah/brioche, orange blossom and a touch of petrol. Perhaps a bit of green mint. The quivering acidity makes your tongue come alive and then it's soothed by the off-dry luscious coating. This is a wine that you can drink all night, and at 8.5 % alcohol, you might as well. Absolutely recommended. I immediately bought more of this, and the Auslese #14 after tasting this.

How to Read This German Wine Label:

1. Region: In this case the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer

2. Producer: In this case, one of the best producers in the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer

3. Year: 2006 was a difficult year for weather in Mosel, but in the hands of a good producer, results were excellent

4. Vineyard designation: In this case, the Graacher Domprobst is the main vineyard holdings of Willi Schaefer estate.

5. Sweetness level: Kabinett is the next to driest level of sweetness, so expect off-dry but not sweet.

6. Grape: Riesling
7. QmP designation showing this is a "quality wine with special attributes."

8. Alcohol: in this case, 8.5% which is 50% of the strength of that Paso zinfandel, and the equivelant of 2 strong Belgian beers.

Wine Blogging Wednesday #44: French Cabernet Franc

Once again, it's Wine Blogging Wednesday and this month's host needs little introduction for anyone that has followed the wine blog and vlog scene of the last couple of years, Gary Vayerchuk. His reviews are sometimes sweet, sometimes salty, usually peppery, and always entertaining. The theme for the month? Cab Franc from France, which to me says Loire Valley, specifically Chinon.

I'm hoping that I picked one that is a little less well known, at least for those of us who shop at Kermit Lynch, who always has a good supply of the Charles Jouget Chinons.  Instead of a Jouget, I picked a wine from another maverick winemaker, Bernard Baudry. Those of you in the trade that live in Chicago or New York can meet him on April 14 (Chicago) and April 15 (NYC). Check here for details.

Chinon Les Grézeaux 2004, Bernard Baudry

This is made from the oldest planted parcel of his three wines, with 50 year old vines on average. It spends 1 year in oak that is is 3-5 years old for a dose of that old wood funk. Tasting notes:

This wine exhibits the classic character of Loire Cab Franc - warts and all. By this I mean that many Loire reds suffer from a wild weediness that when consumed on its own distracts from the flavor of the fruit. What every bistro owner in Paris knows though, is that when consumed with food, especially something like classic Steak Frites with lots of pepper, the general herbaceousness can compliment fat and spice.

The first thing that hits your nose is smoke, sweet old oak, wet stones, and maybe a little wet sock. With an hour or so in the glass, these give way to more pepper, mushroom and forest floor.

On the tongue, it's got plenty of acid and a very Old World kind of dried fruit flavor. It tastes more mature than its 4 years and has little in the way of the fresh fruit of say, a Spring Mountain AVA Cab Franc from Napa or even a Cab Franc from Bordeaux. It's really its own beast, so open it expecting something light in body, lifted with herbs, and plenty of tannins.

WBW#43: Comfort Wines: Olson Ogden Syrah 2005

Wine Blogging Wednesday #44 Comfort Wines

This month's theme, thanks to Joel at Wine Life Today, has been surprisingly thought provoking. For the last week, I've been wondering what makes a wine comforting. Is it a wine you want to  sink your nose in after a bad day? Or a wine that sparks with nostalgia? Is it fatty and plump like a mature merlot, or is it to be lean and leggy, like a great Loire white?

Ultimately, I decided that for me, a wine that is pure comfort should be that reliable bottle that you can count on to be consistently great each time you open it. It should be round and complete with the edges artfully sanded off. Certainly, it should be a wine you are always proud to serve. And, of course, it should be just plain delicious.

As I picked though my cellar looking for something to fill the bill, I had two immediate thoughts. My first reaction was to grab a great mature zinfandel. I had a 2000 Tin Barn Jensen Vineyards in my hands. Good zinfandel was the first thing I started to collect, the first wines I bought futures in, and despite my wandering eonophilic eye --tempted by the fruit of other grapes, I still maintain a large supply of excellent zins.

But alas, WBW is a weeknight event and the thought of having leftover Tin Barn made me shudder. So I grabbed something else that fit the bill perfectly. Sonoma County Syrah.

2005 Olson Ogden Syrah, Sonoma

Tim Olson makes a quintessential American Syrah. In this case American is a euphemism for tastefully oaked. Though I do occasionally look downunder for a bit of Shiraz, most of the non-American syrah I drink is French, and the vast majority of the French syrah I drink is made in giant wood or cement foudres and rarely touches oak. The lack of oak, especially Southern Rhônes, yields the angularity I often seek out for the spark of interest, not necessarily pure comfort.

On the nose, there is a bramble character to it, --both the berry and a bit of stem, along with a controlled whiff of toasted vanilla from the 17% new French Oak treatment. The mouth feel is round with just the right balance between fruit and acid, so it avoids flabbiness.   148 cases made. Around $25.00 US.

Find this wine, buy it, drink it, and be comforted by it.

As an aside, I was thrilled to read in their new blog that they have moved their operations back to Sebastapol, near my friend Fred Scherrer's winery.