Domaine du Vieux Lazeret 2007 and 2008

It has been quite a while since I updated this blog, for which I apologize. It certainly was not because I have not been drinking any wine! And so I return with this post about two very lovely, but quite different, Châteauneuf-du-Pape from the same house.

I brought these wines out of my cellar, er closet to an annual dinner hosted by my friends Curt and Tim. For Christmas evening Tim prepared a cassoulet, an excellent meal to pair with a Châteauneuf-du-Pape. I selected the 2007 and 2008 by Domaine du Vieux Lazeret because as I was updating my inventory, I learned that these bottles had fallen into the "drink now" category. Because my wine cellar is a closet, I cannot keep wines for the full length of what the recommended cellaring time may be. Needless to say, I was a bit alarmed and worried these wines might have gone bad, and that would be unfortunate.

Happily, we all were quite pleased to discover that the 2007 might have had some more time left (sadly, it was the last bottle in my closet), while the 2008 was perfect (I do have one more of the 2008). Despite coming from the same house, each wine was quite different.

The 2007 had a delightful herbal and earthy bouquet blooming out from the steely garnet color as we decanted. This wine had plenty of leg on the glass, as well as firm tannin that suggested that despite the "drink now" warning this wine might have endured another year in my closet. There was a delicious sour cherry note mixed with some chocolate and cinnamon. Wine Spectator was a bit stingy rating this an 89, but I rate it with a 9 using my scale at the left.

The 2008 was a different animal right from the first pour. Rather than a sharp garnet, this was a ruby red, and the nose was lush with blackberry. The spice notes were still there and some delicious cocoa at the finish, but the tannin was softer. This wine was definitely ready and drunk at the right time. Wine Spectator rated this one an 88, which I'm inclined to agree with. While the wine was delicious, it was pretty narrow and lacked that characteristic bigness so commonly associated with Southern Rhône reds. I will also rate this with a 9 using my scale. And given the fact this wine was definitely ready, the other bottle in my closet will not be there for long.

Boxing Day 2012

When you've been holding a wine for 30 years, you can expect some variation from bottle to bottle within the same vintage. That was our experience for this year's Boxing Day dinner at Philander Hall in Dixon, IL.

Oh please don't ask me where is Dixon. Suffice it to say that my friend Curt has a "cellar" there that still has a fine collection of Bordeaux from the 1980s. While my wine cellar is a closet - and I mean that literally - Curt's wine cellar is a crawl space at Philander Hall, his home/art center in Dixon. The temperature in his crawl space is a fairly consistent low 60s, so temperature fluctuations aren't an issue for him like they are with my closet. But he does face problems from time to time with humidity variances. That was evident when we opened the two 1982 St. Julien he brought out for dinner, as the corks fell apart in both bottles.

But I am getting ahead.

We enjoyed two classic wines on Boxing Day that I must say performed exceptionally well given some of the tasting notes I've reviewed on the web.

It was a fabulous dinner that began a sumptuous lobster pot pie served with a reduced cream and white wine sauce. This was paired with the 1993 Clos Windsbuhl Tokay Pinot Gris from Domaine Zind Humbrecht. It was a deliciously creamy wine that paired excellently with the lobster pot pie, and I think we might have been exceptionally lucky with it. Some tasting notes described this wine as being "over the hill" and "tired." Not ours, however; it was succulent with delicious and juicy fruit.

The next course was a salad of mixed greens with seared duck breast, Roquefort, and some pomegranate seeds.

Selected to go with the main course was the 1982 Chateâu Gruaud Larose, which was paired with quail stuffed with foie gras and morel mushrooms, with a side of polenta made with shaved black perigord truffles; all presented in a Madeira sauce. We had two bottles of the Chateâu Gruaud and while they were both 1982s, each was distinctly different.

The first bottle has a definite blackberry nose, but that was gone in minutes to be replaced with more earthy scents of leather and anise. Its color was a brick red, almost prune-ish. The wine had a light mineral quality and a finish that lingered on and on and on.

The second bottle had much more fruit and its nose more floral; it was altogether a different character with different color as well, a deep garnet, almost ruby red. Even with the more fruit, the second bottle still had that delicate essence of a wine cellared for 30 years. And the tasting notes on the web suggest this wine can still be held for another 20 years! However, I do think the first bottle was caught just in time.

I will score both of these wines with a 9 using my scale at the left.

Vale do Bomfim 2008

I'm feeling just a bit embarrassed because I haven't written about this delicious wine. Not only was it delicious (notice the verb tense), I paid just $10 for it!

This Douro from the House of Dow, the 2008 Vale do Bomfim, is among the most delicious $10-bottle of wines I've ever had. Full-bodied with lush fruit, but with a tannic structure and mineral quality to let's you know this is a wine with deep character.

This was very versatile. It went well with pasta, with roast pork, and with seared tuna. It was just delicious! And I'm a bit saddened that I drank the three bottles I picked up. Wine Spectator categorized this wine as a "drink now," but the producer notes on the back that while it's good right now - nay, great! - it will "continue to improve further in bottle." Hmm, for how long I wonder?

I know if I see any more of these I will pick up as many as I can. And I think you should too.

I rate this a 9.5 using my scale at the left.

Try something new when dining out

Dining at a new restaurant, one you've never visited before, is not just a great opportunity to try something new when it comes to food. It's also an excellent opportunity to experience new wine. Maybe it's a varietal you've never tried before, or perhaps a region; regardless, dining out is a great time to try something new in wine.

My brother and niece were visiting this weekend and as we were disuccsing dining opportunities, my brother suggested lamb. Well, I said, there's a Greek resatuarant about two blocks aways that's always busy and I've always wanted to try.

It was settled; we went to Melantios Greek Char House. In addition to the sumptuous menu, the Greek wine choices by the glass were plentiful, and I was determined to try one.

One of the specials that night was a lamb shank slow cooked and then roasted to deliciousness. I knew I wanted a Greek wine but I really had no clue what to order, so I let the server steer me. And his recommendation was really delicious.

It was the Ktima Tselepos Cabernet/Merlot blend from 2007. The blend is 70/30, producing a rich wine that is sumptuous and a bit fruit-forward, but retains the stern structure and dryness of a Cabernet Sauvignon. It wasn't a cheap pour at $14 per glass, but it was an excellent match for the lamb shank. I'll be curious to see how much it fetches retail for a bottle.

Often when we dine out, particularly when we are trying out a new place, we can slip into a mode of safety when reading a wine list. We can have a tendancy to look for something familiar, whether it be a particular brand or varietal. But if you can resist that tendancy toward safety, you can find some great wines, new styles, and new regions that you might not otherwise experience but for visiting that restaurant.

Got any great wine stories to share of when you let yourself be steered toward the unfamiliar on a wine list? Please share in the comments! I'd love to read them.

Despite Two Left Feet, this wine can dance

My friends Nate and Steve recently had me over for dinner at their new Chicago condominium in Edgewater, a fabulous place just a block away from Lake Michigan. I offered to bring a wine, but wanted to know ahead of time what they were preparing so I could select an appropriate bottle from my cellar, er, closet.

I had several bottles ripe for drinking, but each were quite different in character. And when they said grilled skirt steak, my choice was easy.

Ah yes, there was that bottle of Mollydooker that had been lying in my closet for about 3 years, which translates to about 6 to 7 years cellaring time given the fact my closet has been known to hit temperature extremes that make grown men weep in terror. Not temperatures high enough, mind you, to completely cook a bottle. But over time, and a very short time it can be, wines kept in a closet can age more quickly and become over the hill before you know it.

I have largely been blessed with success, with only one wine so far going over the hill on me (and thank goodness I drank two good bottles of that before opening the third a year later). A closet can be an excellent option for wine storage when you don't have the space or the money for a wine refrigerator (and besides, the key to buying the right wine refrigerator is not the brand of the refrigerator, but the brand of the cooling unit it uses). If you have a closet where you can avoid wide fluctuations in temperature, particularly at the high end, you can safely store wine there for several years at a time. I currently have some wines in my closet that have been there for 7 years.

The skirt steak was sans marinade, so I chose the 2007 Mollydooker Two Left Feet, a blend made with Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot. The history of Mollydooker is pretty interesting and worth reading. This was a big wine with strong fruit as one would expect from an Aussie Shiraz, but it was not a fruit bomb. It was smooth and velvety, with a texture and flavorful hint of butterscotch. And when the skirt steak was sprinkled with just a bit of truffle-flavored salt, it was a delicious match.

While I probably could have held this bottle for a bit longer, there probably wasn't a whole lot left to go. The tannins were very soft, but still detectable. When I bought the wine, Wine Spectator rated it an 88, but Robert Parker gave it a 93. It certainly was in the realm of deliciousness when served with that skirt steak and a side of roasted red pepper.

I give it a 9 using my scale at the left.

Nebbiolo grown in Arizona?

I hadn’t visited the former ghost town of Jerome, Ariz., for 30 years, so I was anxious to return to see what had happened to this arty enclave clinging to the side of a mountain determined to slide into oblivion. When last I visited, the hippie and art crowd were just beginning to squat, turning old, crumbling buildings into new shows, restaurants and even apartments and condos. I in no way expected to find so many wine tasting shops when I returned, and one I visited had some very interesting wines produced from grapes grown in Arizona.

Yes, in Arizona, and among them was a rosé crafted from Nebbiolo grown in the hills north of Wilcox, Ariz., which is in the southeast corner of the state. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Caduceus Cellars & Merkin Vineyards Tasting Room in Jerome offers a wide variety of wines and tasting flights, including some that match cheese and other appetizers with their wines. The $10 flight I tried included four wines: a white, a rosé, and two reds.

The first wine was called Dos Ladrones, a 2010 vintage made with Malvasia Bianca and Chardonnay grown in Arizona. It had a bright, fragrant nose, but was a bit creamy on the first taste. Happily this creaminess disappeared on the finish, which was fresh and had just the right combination of orchard fruit and citrus. There seemed to be a little bit of herb and maybe even some white pepper? It was a very nice start.

Then came the wine that intrigued me the most: a rosé made from Nebbiolo, but not just any Nebbiolo, but Nebbiolo grown in Arizona! What was this? To me, Nebbiolo is a truly noble grape used to craft outstanding Barolo. And like Pinot Noir, Nebbiolo can be a delicate and finicky grape. Certainly, I was familiar with the beautifully elegant and even muscular Barolos, but a rosé?

Called Lei Li Rosé, this 2010 vintage had an almost amber pink color. The nose was fresh with lovely but so ephemeral fruit that had just a bit of zing to it. Tasting, this wine was very delicate, the flavors very subtle but really quite good followed by a lingering finish. Seriously, the flavors were so delicate that I could see someone easily missing them. This was a wine that demanded your attention, but was a delight to drink. So delicate, I wondered how to pair it with cheese. They had an answer for me at the shop, but unfortunately I can’t remember the name of the cheese; it was a creamy French cheese with a mild flavor unless you got piece next to the rind.

calvinwazoo

Number 3 was a 2009 vintage blend of Syrah and Malvasia Bianca, also grown in Arizona, called Primer Paso. It had a very oaky nose, so overpowering that I couldn’t smell any fruit no matter how I swirled and sniffed. The oak was so strong it was almost like sniffing a cedar box. It was juicy, not jammy, on the taste, but there was nothing left for the finish. Not my favorite at all, but surprisingly it was the favorite wine of one of the pourers in the shop.

The final wine was made with grapes from California, a 2008 vintage blend of Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon. Called Nagual de la Naga, I half expected something robust and even muscular, not just because it was the last wine in the flight, but also because one of the pourers described it as a “super Tuscan” style wine. Powerful it was not, but it was a nice wine. There was a light nose of cherry and cassis with a bit of herb and earth; very rustic. It was juicy and bright, the Cabernet nicely tempered, I thought, by the Sangiovese. It had nice tannin as well, suggesting that it might cellar for a few more years.

So there you have it. Even in a town like Jerome, Ariz., you can find wine tasting rooms with interesting offerings and even some surprises, like that Nebbiolo rosé.

Cupcake Red Velvet 2009

This was a complex wine, but I don’t necessarily mean that in a good way. I had this at a party recently; I was intrigued because I had heard about it – I thought. Turns out that it wasn’t the Red Velvet that I had heard about, but the 2008 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, which Wine Spectator rates with a 90.

I don’t think WS will rate this one with a 90.

First of all, the name should have been a hint as to what I was about to taste. The nose was dense and lush with a blast of jammy fruit. The taste was very fruit-forward, almost sickeningly sweet, but there was something else there that was both intriguing and beguiling. It was odd. There was licorice and definitely chocolate, both on the palate and the nose.

The wine smoothed out a bit and became almost tolerable. It did have a velvety texture and the chocolate was intense. And then it hit me – this wine tasted just like a slice of red velvet cake with all its decadent richness and almost bloating body. The fruit was so intense: blueberry and blackberry jam on buttery biscuits. There’s enough intrigue to keep you drinking, but at the end of the day, the cloying sweetness was too much and the wine becomes intolerable.

This is a California blended wine of Zinfandel, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. It retails for about $12. I was surprised by some of the generous reviews that it received from others. As for me, I will only give this wine a 3.5 using my scale at the left. It’s drinkable, but I would never buy a bottle nor recommend it.

Delightful complexity

I return to my favorite region in France with a Côtes du Rhône that is decently prices at $13. The 2009 Cuveé les Trois Soeurs from Domaine les Grands Bois is a satisfying red with complexity and the fine mineral quality that I’ve come to admire with Rhône wines. Despite the fact my tasting notes match up pretty well with Robert Parker’s, I think he was a bit too generous to rate this wine at 90 points.

What struck me first as I poured the wine was the deep purple color, rich and dark like blackberry. On the nose there was faint vanilla, a subtle boysenberry backed by a denseness that always almost like a barrier to something else beyond. There were earthy notes, and a hint of leather, like tack.

Upon tasting, the firm tannins didn’t overpower the mineral quality or the subtle white chocolate. The fruit was faint, but discernable, served on a slate plate with an herbal dusting that reminded me of gentle spice: white pepper, cinnamon and savory herbs like light sage and thyme.

At $13, this wine certainly drank like a higher priced Cuveé, but as I mentioned, it wasn’t quite a 90-pointer in my mind. It went well with a simple pasta dish served with spicy Italian sausage. For the price, I will likely pick this one up again.

I rate it 8.5 using my scale at the left.

Skullduggery

I’m not one to buy wine based on the label alone, but recently I purchased an Australian red called Skulls. Besides the interesting name, the bottle label was very intriguing. It’s an ink drawing of someone ensnared by some vines between two trees, but when you look again, you see a large skull. At $17 and with a Parker rating of 91, I thought what the heck. I bought two.

It was a few weeks before I tasted it. The 2007 Skulls is from R Wines of Southeast Australia. It’s a blend of 60 percent Grenache and 40 percent Mataro, a grape I hadn’t heard of. However, I learned it’s another name for Mourvèdre. Mataro is a city on the Spanish coast in the region of Catalonia northeast of Barcelona. I didn’t know this about the wine at the time, but in the past I have enjoyed Spanish Grenache blends. They have a richness of fruit that isn’t too jammy sustained with firm tannins. Like a good Tempranillo, they get better the longer they are left open, particularly the blends from Jumilla. I have had some wines from this region that I opened the day before I want to drink them they are sometimes wound that tight.

I also learned that this wine has some cellar potential, with Parker suggesting it will be good through 2015. That, to me, is an outstanding find for $17. And the tasting proved it.

I served it with a pork tenderloin very simply oven roasted with some squash and asparagus. It showed an interesting nose that combined forest scents with cherry, and the taste was laced with a delicious hint of cinnamon that gave the cherry a bracing zing on the palette. There is a mushroom quality as well that matches the forest scents. It looks quite delicate, having a transparent garnet color much like a Burgundy or delicate Pinot from Oregon. The tannins disappear as well, leaving a delicate and delightful wine that went exceptionally well with the pork. We’ll see how the next one tastes after I’ve left it in my closet for a while.

I rate this with a 9 according to my scale at the left.

An outstanding bargain in stores now

There is nothing more exciting than finding an extraordinary wine for a really cheap price. And friends, there’s an outstanding bargain out there right now on the store shelves. If you ever see any bottles of Vineyard 10 Red Wine 2007, a Two Vines blend from Columbia Crest, grab them. In a Jewell near where I live, I found this gem on the bottom shelf selling for $5.99. I grabbed a bunch. So should you.

Wine Spectator rates this blend with an 88 score, but it drinks better than that to me. Made with Syrah, Cabernet Franc, Sangiovese, Grenache and Mourvedre, it’s not a big wine, but it’s smooth and very drinkable. It has a nose like a much higher priced wine, and a silky finish with soft tannins. The blend is very similar to French Rhones, which are my favorites. This is probably why I like this blend so much. It’s fruit-forward, but it’s not like opening a jar of jam.

Normal retail is suggested at $8, so to find this at $6 was great. As the label suggest, it goes well with pasta. But this is easy to drink I think it would go with many things, and is just fine to sip on its own. Do yourself a favor and look for this one. This may be a bottom-shelf wine, but it tastes more like a mid-shelf wine.

On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the absolute best, I give this one an 8.5.