December 2004

December 31

Tasting through a range of Champagnes did little to discourage me in my constant, haranguing criticism of Champagne’s current output. I tasted an unmentionable number of dull, characterless Champagnes. Is it too much to ask for some autolysis, for crying out loud? Some toast, some biscuit, some brioche, hell, I’d take a note of fresh yeast and be grateful.

There were so few to remark about among those wines I opened tonight that I have nearly nothing to report. Only one wine, Pol Roger Rose 1996, got my tongue hard. That was Champagne.

December 30

And then my friends say, okay, cut the crap, which one are you going to buy?

And then I have to tell them the truth. I have no idea which wines to buy. I mean, some Champagnes in the market today, wines that I didn’t like last year, taste pretty darn good. Some of my old favorites taste like they’re about a week old right now.

I’m beginning to think that the Champagne business is like the book business, don’t expect anyone to tell you the truth.

There is so much inconsistency in most of the famous and unknown houses in Champagne, it’s hard to assess what’s really happening. Think about the well-known wine writers. Who among them, other than Tom Stevenson, is willing to undertake a real and honest appraisal of their releases? Most either write panegyrics or eschew the risky matter of Champagne reviews altogether.

December 29

And they say, you said you’d name some names, so what are they? And I say, oh, gosh, I love Domaine Chandon and Roederer Estate and Gloria Ferrar from California but there are many others worth drinking from there.

And in Champagne I always buy Louis Roederer, Moet et Chandon Brut or vintage, Duval Leroy, Billecart Salmon, Charles Heidseck, Pol Roger and many, many others, it really depends upon the price and what’s in your market blah blah blah...

December 28

People who really have too much time on their hands then ask me for some brand recommendations. I mean, let’s have some names here. So here’s where I get a little uncomfortable and have to say, well, it depends upon your market, I don’t the deals that are happening in, say, New York or San Francisco or Chicago or wherever you’re calling from, so I can’t really say. But I will admit that there are some names I start by looking for.

But it would really depend upon the prices in your market and what’s around. And you really should have a relationship with a retailer who knows and respects your taste and is willing to cater to that, not simply to trot out the same old reviews, because those reviews may not be accurate for what’s in the market blah blah blah...

December 27

But if they have room for more than twelve words, I’ll then go into my passionate claim that Champagne is different, all that chalky soil and the climate, blah blah blah...

And if you’re going to try Champagne someday, then why not this New Year’s Eve? It’s a special wine and there are so many great ones at all price levels. Don’t feel that you have to buy an expensive one, blah blah blah...

December 26

So it’s the week before New Year’s Eve and I’m getting calls from friends, colleagues and part-time reporters as to my choice of sparkling wine on New Year’s Eve. If I don’t know them well, I give them my usual line of, “there’s so many good ones, great sparkling wines are made everywhere, try anything at any price range, but TRY something for chrissakes.”

And don’t overlook Italian prosecco (if it’s very fresh) or Moscato d’Asti or California bubbly or even Washington State. Try anything, blah blah blah...

December 25

Merry Christmas! I worked at tasting wines and writing some of these notes, but it wasn’t a bad thing. I love tasting wine and making notes. I just don’t like typing them. So they’re not here...

Merry Christmas!

December 24

J.J. Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Gold Kapsule Auslese 1997 is something I could gladly suffer through Christmas Day consuming. I guess I could do that but I have so many other wines I need to taste.

It’s far more advanced than I would have suspected. Is that a stage? I confess I don’t know. I’m perplexed. The earth is no longer sunk inside the wine; it’s spilling out in piles of honey, honeysuckle and wax, It’s screaming Wehlener Sonnenuhr already and most J.J. Prum wines are not meant to do that this early. Especially not with the GKA’s. These are supposed to be twenty year wines.

Maybe the vintage is proceeding faster than expected. Maybe it’s the bottle. Maybe I don’t care – it’s delicious.

December 23

Lungarotti Rubesco 2000 – something’s up with this bottle. The cork is soaked through. The wine has a touch of the metallic to it, a very warm cooked red cherry character throughout. Some black plums. Blueberry skins with a note of meat. That last note does NOT mean I think that this had some Brettanomyces in it. Okay, maybe a little, but that’s okay.

The piece that seems missing is the middle. It drops off very quickly and then there are some flavors of red and black cherries with floral notes, cinnamon and nuts.

It’s correct but lacks a cohesive end. It also seems slightly cooked and that’s not like Lungarotti, whose wines are usually impeccably balanced. Must be the bottle.

December 22

Peter Lehmann Clancy’s 2002 is comprised of 54% Shiraz, 29% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc. It’s also a classic bargain from the Barossa and a more interesting wine than many from the Barossa – I mean, at least it’s a blend. It’s not too hot, it’s only a little minty, hell, it’s hardly a Barossa wine at all!

Okay, maybe I’m being a little cynical. The holidays can do that to you.

But I have no hesitation in complaining about the Barossa’s monolithic intensity, a trait one could associate most often with California Cabernet.

So in being blended of several grapes together, the wine shouldn’t be thought of as something lesser, but as something more. A little more structure, a little more flavor and a little balance. And it’s less than twenty bucks.

December 21

The Joliesse was a nice Champagne but reminded me of a friend of mine who is an ideologue about Champagne. He asserts that any sweet Champagne is sweet to cover up its flaws and the chances of a semi-sweet Champagne having good character and sur-lees flavors are slim and none. And none.

We also tried an Inniskillin Vidal Blanc Ice wine 2003. It was a liquid version of the panforte – apricot, peach, lemons, flowers, orange candies and flaming orange zest. The floral character of Vidal took over a bit at the finish, but this was ooey, gooey fun.

December 20

My friends Mary and Charlene have made some panforte that is a little sticky but delicious. Sticky, you say, who cares? Well, panforte should be a little firmer than this was.

We tried a few different wines with it. The J.J. Prum 1997 GKA (see December 24) simply didn’t need the panforte.

The G.H. Mumm Joliesse (it’s their Demi-Sec Champagne) was shockingly good with panforte. The dessert and the wine turned each other into pear and green apple candies, pieces of cooked peach. Whodathunk?

December 19

No question about this tasting though, the wine of the night was the Margaux 1988, courtesy of my friend J.K. Cedar, violets, black currants, black plums and even raisins. Raisins? It must be overripe. Not at all.

The mouth was sweet and round, even youthful, Cabernet with lots of French oak, pure Bordeaux with tannins a whit too hard.

Hours later, it added complexity to the glass and got friendlier, like someone talkative had joined the party. Or was that only in my drowsy brain? Was that me talking or just the wine?

December 18

One of the fun wines of our tasting was the Fairview Jakkalsfontein Shiraz 2002. I liked it in South Africa and I liked it even better tonight. Layers of black plum, black cherry, some caramel or nuttiness emerging in a very compact, solidly built wine.

It sat well next to the Geyser Peak Cabernet Sauvignon 1999 Vallarga Vineyard. The rest at the party didn’t seem as engaged in this wine as I was, it too was solid but showed the powerful fruit only California can brandish. It was extremely youthful and further proof of two things. People don’t get how good Geyser Peak wines can be.

And people don’t see how great the 1999 vintage can be as well.

December 17

Oh, I know, you’re wondering how I can resist Grange ’88 for a few hours in my glass. Well, we had lots of other wines too.

One of them had me completely befuddled. The Catena Zapata Angelica Malbec 1997 seemed lightly corked upon opening. Corked wines usually get worse with airing. This didn’t.

But it never really perked up either. Oh, sure, it had buckets of blue fruits, and showed cassis and cinnamon as it sat in the glass, but I believe that something was missing from the wine, probably from TCA. I hate corks – I was really pumped about this bottle, that is, before I opened it.

December 16

Penfolds Grange 1988 is drinking very nicely but the tannins still stick out too much. The use of added tannins is something lots of people talk about, and some maintain that Grange is the product of that kind of tweaking in the winery.

Adding tannins can stabilize color and provide greater structure. This wine doesn’t lack for either. Fat and chocolately, someone probably thought it needed some support hose.

The mouth was coconut-laden American oak, though it had an Italianate, cooked cherry character showing at times. It started off very dry with chunky tannins.

After a few hours in the glass, it wasn’t loosening up. Toffee and mushrooms were peeking out.

December 15

Stag’s Leap Merlot 2001 Reserve has richness, it has warmth (maybe too much of that) and it has texture. It’s missing something, and that’s hard to be specific about. I mean, it’s a nice wine but it’s boring. It’s not boring, as in, “you don’t like Merlot, so you think this is boring!” No, I like Merlot. Sometimes, I love Merlot. And I feel guilty kvetching about this wine, when it’s a good wine.

But the herbal and leaf side of Merlot steps out a little bit too much for me, at least in comparison to the complexity (or lack thereof) of the fruit. The fruit is straight-forward and powerfully cherry, but not much else happens. This is a wine in need of some blending. Or not.

I can imagine it up against lots of other American merlots and this is better than those because of that real texture.

December 14

The Smith Woodhouse 1986 Colheita is as warm and rich as a fruitcake, as luscious as a chocolate bar and as earthy as a mouthful of walnuts and almonds. That’s what time in a barrel can achieve. Bottled this year, those eighteen years in barrel have allowed the character of rancio to creep into the wine. It’s an odd word but describes that fruitcake and nut character and, at its best, adds complexity and length to a wine. Here, with this bottle, it does that.

December 13

Smith Woodhouse 1986 Colheita Tawny Port is no vintage Port, despite the vintage date. It’s a Colheita, a Port that has lived its entire life in a barrel and, when bottled, is ready to drink. Typically, vintage Ports need years, if not decades to mature.

Colheitas are often, in my opinion, vastly overrated tawnies that happen to come from a sexy vintage and have little else to recommend them.

Great Colheitas are few and far between. This 1986 is pretty close to great. It has all the character of a great twenty year old tawny. Twenty year old tawny is a classic style, if not the classic tawny style.

There are layers of fruits, nuts and sweets in the nose and mouth, but the overall effect is that of an off-dry wine.

December 12

Galena’s St. Croix is a fruit bomb, created out of either carbonic maceration, whole cluster fermentation or both. The raspberry juices powering through the wine might make it seem simple and one-dimensional. Maybe it is. But I love the dusky, red plum note that carries the finish.

Regardless of whether you consider the wine multi-dimensional or as simple as a red flag, it’s a very successful wine and proof that Galena is a real leader with these sorts of grapes.

December 11

Galena also grows a St. Croix, a grape devised by a group in Minnesota led by the great Elmer Swenson. Elmer is a Minnesota grower who, since the 1930’s, has been playing with grapevine hybridization. He has created scores of useful commercial grapes and is a hero to many growers in this cold part of the US and Canada.

St. Croix an be persnickety. It can certainly show its hybrid side; the side that gets all vegetal and herbal and smells like a dog’s coat of fur. That’s when we trot out the dreaded and silly “foxy” descriptor.

December 10

But I was lucky enough to finally taste some wines from the most heralded winery in Illinois, Galena Cellars. Yes, yes, I know, heralded for what, you ask? Wine. Their Traminette is just as vibrant, just as clean, and probably a little more refined, though some might say, less compelling.

I was definitely pleased with Galena’s Frontenac Port 2003. Frontenac is a grape a lot of wineries in the upper Midwest are planting. It seems to carry Syrah or even Zinfandel-like intensity, but has a firm note of acidity and survives the winters in this part of the country. Syrah generally doesn’t survive a Minnesota winter.

December 9

You could argue that Anapamu’s achievement is greater in that there are far more great white wines made from vinifera than non-vinifera. You’re probably right; but Alto's is still quite an achievement, especially for a young operation in an unknown region in the middle of the country.

I won’t quibble with the judges. But I also liked the Goose Watch Diamond, as well as Arbor Hill’s Traminette from New York. Either Traminette showed the flashy, floral character of the grape, derived as it is from one of its parents, Gewurztraminer.

December 8

The Jeff Cup winners for the non-vinifera white wine were Goose Watch’s Diamond (it’s a native American white grape, we think) and the Alto Vineyards Traminette. Alto Vineyards is a sleeper winery from the southern part of Illinois, and I was just as surprised as you must be reading this to find out about their wines.

Last year, their Chambourcin bested the field against some pretty wonderful Nortons to win the Jefferson Cup for non-vinifera red wine. This year, they won the white wine cup, and only two other wineries have ever won two Jefferson Cups: Anapamu in California and Stone Hill in Missouri.

December 7

Another minor surprise was a bottle of Produttori di Barbaresco 2000. The nose was a little farther along than I might have thought. My friend Bob Bath and I both mistook it for something from the 1998 vintage.

I have always been an ardent fan of Produttori. This bottle doesn’t make me question that; it just makes me eager to taste another to see if this is an anomaly.

December 6

I’m enjoying a bottle of Guigal Crozes Hermitge 2000, though there’s a significant chunk of Brett (leather and the like) floating around in my glass, it seems to highlight and not diminish the smoky fruit character of coolish climate Syrah. It’s not fantastic (rarely would anyone make that claim for Crozes) but it’s awfully fun to drink.

December 5

The Bethel Heights has a hardness to it that suggests some use of stems. This hardness is not unpleasant; quite the opposite, it adds gravitas to the wine. So many wine drinkers seem to complain that Oregon Pinot Noir is too fruity and simple. Well, this ain’t.

December 4

I’m in Birmingham, Alabama, to teach a Master Sommelier Introductory class. We had some really pretty wines to taste: among them the Chateau de Trignon Gigondas 2001 and the Bethel Heights Pinot Noir 2002 Willamette.

The Gigondas is still in a great place; the fruit is bright and blueberry-ish, lots of racy strawberry and black pepper notes. This is snappy Grenache, tangy and succulent.

December 3

Columbia’s Cellarmaster’s Selection Riesling 2003 from Columbia Valley wins the Jefferson Cup for white vinifera. It’s not great like German Riesling is great. Instead of piercing or even racy acidity, it’s hedonistically full and friendly. I was surprised that it bested the New York State Rieslings.

But at least on this day, at this tasting, I would have to agree with the judges that it was the most pleasing of a group of very pleasing Rieslings.

December 2

The McDowell Grenache Rose 2003 won the rose cup. In years past we haven’t always awarded a Jefferson Cup for rose. This Grenache was bright and vibrant and strawberry flavored and finishing with black pepper. Exactly what a Grenache Rose could be.

My only regret is that I can’t seem to talk Joe Hart into sending his fantastic Grenache Rose from Collins Ranch in the Temecula area. It’s always spectacular rose, even if some of you think that’s an oxymoron.

December 1

I had a moment to slurp some Domaine Carneros La Reve Blanc de Blanc 1998. It remains a first-rate bubbly, regardless of its California richness. Am I suggesting that richness is bad? Well, I think sparkling wine is all about balance and California struggles to suppress its natural giddy fruitiness so that yeast and perhaps even some earth can shine through.