The past few weeks I have experienced an onslaught of tastings. Some of the wines have been good, some have been horrible but since last Tuesday the game stepped up to a new level with one wine flooring me.
If you have never heard of the grape Samso, don't worry I just learned about it too! Samso (there is an accent above the "o" going to the right but I cannot for the life of me figure out how to add the symbol) is Catalan for Carinena (aka Carignan) and is grown all over Spain but in Montsant and Priorato you will finds some amazing examples of this varietal. Clos de Noi, Samso Montsant 2007 rocked me and I urge everyone to seek this wine out. I have not been able to find an image of the label, but when I do I will re-post this entry with the label.
I've attended a number of bridal showers in my life, but when I was invited to a hosted lunch at the esteemed French Laundry I knew this one was going to be a bit different. Jeff and I dined at the Laundry a few years ago for dinner and the experience was incredibly impactful. It was one of my very first fine dining experiences and I remember being blown away by both the quality of food and the level of service. I also have memories of being the most full I have ever been (still, to this day!)
I have tasted a lot of wine in the past week, but I'm short on some vital info for my normal Monday Night Wines segment....so here are some pictures from my stay at Los Vascos in Chile.
This was me trying to be "artsy" with the camera. We were enjoying two vintages (04' & 05') of the Grand Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon and the 2004 "Lex Dix"...all were quite tasty.
The above furry creature is the infamous Mackerel Monster of San Francisco. He is rarely seen in the wild, but this weekend while at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, he was caught on camera. During this feeding frenzy he was eating the Scad mackerel, which is listed as a "best choice" by Seafood Watch. The Mackrel Monter may be frightening, but at least his prey are sustainable.
Are you paying attention to who imports the wine you are buying? Well, it is time to start learning your importers. Why is this important? First, once you find a wine you like or a style of wine you like it will enable you to explore more wines. Most importers have a philosophy of selecting and style of wine that creates a common thread throughout their portfolio. There are always exceptions, just like a band that you enjoy will put out a few albums you dig and one that is not crappy...it does not mean that the band sucks but that you personally don't like that particular album. Same thing goes with importers. Over the next few weeks I will highlight a group of importers that I believe you should know. Due to the morass of wine that graces retail shelves and restaurant lists it is important to know what you and who you like. Here is a short list of importers that bring in some of the most beautiful and well made wines to the United States.
This weekend I began to study for the Master Sommelier exam of February 2010. It is a long hard haul so I decided this past weekend would be a good time to get a jump on studying (studying means blind tasting a ton of wine). It is impossible to blind taste yourself so I have to recruit Shauna to rummage through the boxes of wine in the basement or invite over a cork dork. This week it was a cork dork and we happened upon a wine that both made us sit up in our seats: Storrs Winery, Pinot Noir, Santa Crus Mountains 2006.
In last night's post I wrote about the frustration of finding high quality/high value wines from the USA. In addition to the never ending search for good wines at a good price I have been frustrated by the bombastic and over-the-top nature of the highly rated and/or coveted domestic wines. Stalwarts like Au Bon Climat, Calera Wine Company, Diamond Creek Vineyards, Corison Winery, and a select group of other have always stayed the course, railing against point seeking wines and staying true to their idea of what wine should be. It was to my immense pleasure to read this week's "The Pour" by Eric Asimov of the New York Times that chagne is comming. In his article Mr. Asimov describes the "conversion" of winemakers to produce wines, especially Pinot Noir producers, of subtly, elegance, and beauty. Welles Gutherie of Copain Winery is a full convert and his statement that, "It got to point where I didn't want the wine to be fatter than the food...," brought such a smile to my face that I almost cried with joy. So thank you to Mr. Asimov for this article and to all those out there that think Pinot Noir should be black, inky, and full of oak take heed...the truth will set you free. So sing to the roof tops that a return to making wine as it should be made is making a come back! Hallelujah, Halleujah, Hallelujah!
Searching for wine is one of the most enjoyable parts of my job, but not always the most tasty. The process of searching for a few wines can take me weeks and many flights of very mediocre wine (I recognize that my day of tasting nasty wine is not a bad thing but there is only so much crap wine I can take in one sitting). I am currently on the hunt for high quality and high value wines made in the United States. You may have noticed that I rarely write about domestic wines. It is not that I do not enjoy them, it is that too many of them are over-priced or not as high in quality/value as their imported rivals. Until today it has been difficult to find domestic wines under $20 per bottle that satisfied me as much as a $15 or $10 wine from Argentina, Italy or Spain. I am extremely excited to report that I have found a group of wines that are all from the good ol' USA, taste great and won't cost you (or I) the rest of your savings. At my second meeting of the day (11:00 AM wine tastings!) I was presented the wines of the Magnanimus Wine Group and am excited to report that these are some of the best domestic wines I have tried in a long while.
To say we had a good time at Osteria Mozza would be an understatement, Joel and I took Friday night by the horns and rode it all the way into Saturday morning. We arrived at Mozza a tad before our reservations and were greeted by the host and told that they were running behind (it did not look like a recession at this place). We were politely told that we would have to wait before our table was ready. This small inconvenience lead to a conversation with a member of LA's paparazzi stories of Paris Hilton, Lindsey Lohan, Keanu Reeves and many others.
As I wait for Super Shuttle to whisk me away to San Francisco International Airport for a short trip to L.A., I wanted to write a prelude to my dinner tonight. My best friend Joel and I will be dining at Osteria Mozza and I have been anticipating this for quite some time. Osteria Mozza is a partnership between world-famous chef Mario Batali and a culinary giant Nancy Silverton.
Each chef has cultivated their own dining "empires" on opposite coasts and joined forces two years ago to open Mozza Pizzeria and Osteria Mozza. There is always a fine line when dining at a celebrity chef's restaurants but from what I have been told, I'm in for a treat. Shauna, Joel and I enjoyed a good meal at the Pizzeria in July of 2007 and if that experience is translated and upgraded a notch, tonight's dinner will be a good time for all.
