April 2005

April 30

So I recork it and leave it in the frig and after three days open it has turned into chocolate and cherries, plums and soft dusty spice. It’s absolutely delicious and round. But the fact that it has opened up so quickly (okay, I know three days may not strike you as quick, but compared to some wines, it is) makes me think that this is not a long term wine.

Is that a problem? Not for me. But there are some who argue that Janus should be built of sterner stuff and should age for longer periods.

I don’t agree. I’ve never understood why a wine must age a long time to be considered great. There’s where both the Parker bashers and perhaps even Parker may have missed the point.

April 29

Pesquera Janus 1995 is a difficult wine to judge. I’ve had it a number of times and it always promises far more than it delivers. I’m not saying it’s not a great wine, but it’s not showy and it’s even very powerful. Despite those observations, it’s a wine with a lot going on; it’s just that the goings-on are rather quiet. Think of a hushed conversation in a library. These complaints don’t adhere, because wines don’t have to have the subtlety of a football cheer to be considered good.

That’s the New World way – wines that scream, “Look at me! Look at me!” This doesn’t. But it still seems to be withholding a lot.

April 28

Opening night at the Monterey Wine Festival. I’m a bad boy. I hole up by the Oregon tables and hassle my friend Steve Doerner. Randall Grahm is tasting spirits with Ainsley Coale and I want to hang out with them too. The Hanger One vodkas are delicious and Ainsley and Jorg have justly been heralded for these remarkable flavors.

I continue to believe that the vodka itself is decent but nothing special. But the flavors?? Oh...ma...god.

April 27

I’m getting ahead of myself but at one of the Monterey Wine Festival seminars I’m struck by the obvious revelation that my friend Mary Ewing-Mulligan is a good egg. I’m not sure where that stupid phrase comes from, but she is a good egg. She treats people with genuine respect. She’s always asking, always trying to learn more, and not afraid to ask. Far too many of us won’t, because we don’t want anyone to know that we’re not sure. A good egg. I guess that’s the same as a mensch.

April 26

Today, things seem to have improved. I’m tearing through a lot of (unnamed) American jug wines and, while I won’t say I found anything great, the overall quality has definitely improved. But midway through my tasting I go into tartaric acid overload.

Okay, there is no such thing as tartaric acid overload. But sometimes excessive tartaric acid makes my teeth ring and a few of these wines do too. It's tinnutis of the mouth.

April 25

Has America finally figured out how to make good cheap wine? Possibly, Oak chips are helping. Typically the many inexpensive wines of California were dull at best. But the Aussies threw down the gauntlet a couple of decades and spanked America for the poor quality of its cheap wines.

April 24

Tried some Quivis for the first time, a Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah blend from Texas. My complaint about Texas reds is all about the tannin. Tannin needs heat, and Texas has that, but it needs time even more than heat. Texas doesn’t have that. It ripens grapes fast, too fast to routinely ripen the tannins.

So, that is how I evaluate Texas (and many California) red wines. And the Quivis doesn’t equivocate in this matter; it acquits itself very well. I won’t quibble, but I’ll quit.

April 23

But if you want show, check out the 1998 Piper Heidseck Brut Millesime. The nose is drama, sheer drama, with nuts, yeast, toast, baked brioche, ripe pear and lemon zest. The mouth is very clean, despite the drama of the aromas and finish and it has very good length.

But this is flamboyant Champagne. It’s flamboyant, like a midnight showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Okay, maybe you won’t have drag queens singing along...

April 22

A new Champagne producer (well, new to me) showed me a very pretty series of bubblies. Paul Georg Champagnes all seem to exhibit great balance but have a good deal of showiness too.

The topper is the “Lady M”, a 1998 vintage bottling. The brioche/yeast characters and the fruit seem to be in a horse race. This is skillfully made, very layered and has this wonderful dichotomy between its fat, fat mouth and its elegance and length.

April 21

I was on Steve Kraske’s radio show, but calling in from a payphone in Denver airport (you don’t use a cellphone on air if you can help it) and a caller had a question. The engineer switched to take the call and I’m gone.

That’s the second time that’s happened to me on this show. Steve’s show is great; he’s a fantastic interviewer. But they never do this to anybody else. Is it me? Do I need to stay out of airports? (yes)

April 20

Domaine Carneros La Reve 1998 is the best yet. Pretty, yeasty biscuit-laden nose. Its California origins are only slightly on view; there is a preponderance of fruit ( California style) but also lots of autolytic notes of nut and bread. The end is too fat to be Champagne but it is wonderfully balanced. I like this wine more each time I taste it.

April 19

Sockeye Merlot 2002 from Columbia Valley is another in what seems to be an unending series of new labels from Washington State. I mean, what is this, Australia?

Nice soft wine, lots of red fruits, a touch of earth and dust, pleasant curranty notes on top of red plums. The spice from oak barrels is present but well-behaved. As $16 American Merlots go, this is pretty good. It’s a fair value. But how many such can the market absorb?

April 18

There are grapes that you wonder if you could ever really love. And with (eventually, I hope) all of them, it’s simply a matter of time. Traminette. I’ve had many nice Traminettes but I can’t say I ever enjoyed a glass of one like the Castel Grisch 2004 made along Seneca Lake.

Maybe it’s because it was the right temperature (it was cold). Cold like beer. Rich like beer. Or more like sake in its cleanliness and focus. That muscaty floral nose of one of its relatives, Gewurztraminer, is present but is better behaved than usual.

April 17

But I had a cigar a few weeks later in Corning with my friend Chip Cassidy. He brought along some Gloria Cubanas, of Miami origin, and we had a very pleasant smoke around some Yuengling Black and Tans and a series of wine bottles. And some Champagne. Don’t worry, we had help.

April 16

We drop by a Chicago bar called the Matchbox. It’s a matchbox, as in small. Very small. It’s built on a cinder box angle and the last few bar seats have to be vacated before someone can visit a bathroom.

There is a large glass display case of cigar boxes hanging from the wall behind the bar. It’s full. I no longer smoke any but the occasional cigar, but that old sagging case is a beautiful site loaded with good smokes.

I didn’t buy any or smoke any. I’m just looking.

April 15

Ted opens a Megas Oenos (70% Aghiorgitiko and 30% Cabernet) 1997. It’s aged. It’s missing color and freshness. But the middle of the wine is cherry compote, red cherry compote. We watch it alter its face for the next hour. Early on, it’s well built and composed; then it goes all alien.

The wine’s character alternates between over the hill with dried out chocolate covered prunes (that’s only a brief note) and chocolate covered cherries with cranberry hints. Fading but admirable. Like an old movie star.

April 14

In Chicago Ted Diamantis and I are popping a 2001 Skouras Moschofilero and Ted is apologizing that Moschofilero doesn’t age. So this will be an intellectual tasting only.

It’s a nice wine. There’s the floral note of the grape, lots of fruit, little of the awkward weight that this red grape gives in its white wine form. It has a little almond/peppermint notes at the end that reveal that it’s cracking up. In a nice way.

I think about Italian white wines. This has more weight than many of those varieties, at least after they lose their fruitiness.

April 13

One of my favorite new bands of the last couple of years played the other night in Lawrence. The Fiery Furnaces’ live show was, as advertised, completely unlike the albums. The first song was an hour and ten minutes long and it was one long medley of their songs, none of which were played even remotely as they are on the album. Then the brother and sister team did two new songs, one of which was great, something about avoiding marriage, the sister singing about each of her new relatives one at a time with the verse seeming to culminate in the observation that each in-law "wants to spill my blood", or so ran the chorus. Then the encore was a three song set straight off the albums. Pretty funny...

April 12

Kuenstler Kiedricher Graefenberg Spatlese 2002. I have no business drinking it. None at all. Yes, it’s completely delicious and, okay, it’s explosively flavorful, and you bet, it’s a remarkable complex for such a young one.

But that’s the point. I shouldn’t be drinking it yet. But I can’t help myself. Sadly, I will soon, at least at this rate, drink it all.

April 11

And in a vintage such as 2003, the Pinot Gris can be over the top. Some of the Grand Crus will be just that – too much. The cheap versions – well, the cheap seats have never looked so good. Try a Pinot Gris 2003 from any of your favorite producers – Trimbach, Hugel, Sparr, Beyer, Schlumberger, Ostertag, Weinbach, oh, you know all the names, don’t you?

April 10

Alsace never really suffers from hot years like 2003. It simply becomes more Zind Hunbrecht-like. Is that good? I’m not sure, but the lesser wines can be completely tasty. Pierre Sparr and Leon Beyer’s 2004 Pinot Blancs make me eat my words, when I have so often said that Pinot Blanc is never really rich. These are.

April 9

We have a couple of sakes, both of which are clearly special. The first is Shimeharizuru Ginjo, a relatively dry sake with sweet apple and melon and a touch of banana. The balance is very pretty and makes for a very easy drink. It’s the best foil for most of our dishes.

I’m more anxious to taste the Kurosawa Daiginjo, which is sweeter and more complex. There are no simple banana notes to this one, but a subtle chocolate note that my dinner companions don’t buy into. It’s rich, they agree, but chocolate?

April 8

More Phoenix notes and yet another dinner at SeeSaw. This is no complaint; I love that restaurant and the others that Peter K. has put together around Cowboy Ciao in old town Scottsdale. Rather, this dinner is about sake and non-traditional flavors in chiefly traditional Japanese dishes.

Foie gras is over-seared here. Marinated flounder doesn’t simply sit atop a lightly oiled plate with some seared garlic chips; it floats in a boat of oil, broth and garlic. We soak up some of it with delicious bread.

But the black cod is perfect. And the hamachi dish has succulent yellowfin with mild grapefruit segments and avocado slices. It’s gorgeous.

April 7

The Pine & Post Shiraz is a very competitively priced (around eight dollars). The wine is pleasant, somewhat plump, somewhat carrying Shiraz/Syrah character, and hinting at its Washington State origins, with a dusty, gritty edge of tannin, but not too much personality to be out of its price category. It’s short, a bit leafy and a very fair value.

April 6

And then there’s Shiraz. From where, you say? From everywhere, every flipping country is making a Shiraz. The newest entries in my tasting case are from Folonari (Italian) and Pine & Post (from Washington). The Folonari I have yet to taste but it will likely be a bit fatter and friendlier than many similarly priced Italian reds. I hope it isn’t completely devoid of Italianate character and structure.

April 5

But as dismal as things look for Languedoc/Roussillon, my tasting of the 2003 and 2004 Loire Valley Sauvignon Blancs is a different sort of embarrassment. These wines are delicious and ripe but still correct and balanced.

Yes, they’re not particularly classic, but I don’t care. I love drinking them.

April 4

But for southern France to deal with such a short season as 2003, similar thinking should have applied. I will admit; I don’t know why no one seems to have dealt with the tannins. But, judging from these wines, no one dealt with them.

It’s a shame that southern France has had such trouble in 2003; worst of all, it has happened on the heels of the disasters of 2002.

April 3

In truth, many of the 2004’s seem just as brutally hard. But this diatribe is focused upon the ‘03’s. After tasting about sixty of them, I take a break, a day long break, to recuperate. I return to find the wines just as tannic as I left them.

California’s heat tends to proffer wines of high alcohol; as well, the tannins are often not afforded sufficient time to ripen, and many Californian reds are gritty and astringent. Californians have managed to ameliorate those characteristics.

April 2

Starting my large scale tastings for United Airlines and one of the more annoying selections are those Languedoc/Roussillon wines that hail from the 2003 vintage. Not only are the alcohols too high, but the tannins are ferocious. It’s as though the traditional challenges of California red wine are visited upon southern France, and no one has any idea what to do.

April 1

My friend Matt Citriglia commented to me recently that Washington State wines commonly have too much volatile acidity. I was taken aback and thought to myself, okay, a few of them do, Spring Valley Vineyards especially, but I don’t see it as a common problem.

Right on cue, a couple of days later, I open this Pavin & Riley bottling. I waited till the next day to finish it off, in hopes that I was just too sensitive on one particular day.

My conclusion? The wine is perfectly fine, just like Spring Valley wines are pretty. But I don’t, that is, I personally don’t like this much volatile acidity in a wine.