2010 Esprit de Pavie Bordeaux

What a chilly day!  I woke up this morning and it was 0 degrees outside, and despite working and shoveling snow and going to the gym, I'm happy to be home in the warmth with a nice glass of wine.  Tonight's wine was a gift from an old boss, who shares similar tastes in wine with me, the 2010 Esprit de Pavie Bordeaux.  Now this is a real Bordeaux as I had to exercise my high school French to read the label, which the easiest part to read was that this wine contains mainly Merlot (65%) along with Cabernet Franc (20%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (15%), so this is clearly a right bank Bordeaux.  So let's see how this one tastes!

The wine is a deep, inky indigo with bright ruby along the edges as you'd expect from a Merlot dominant blend.  The nose is not so much a classic Bordeaux, but chock full of leather, light floral notes, blackberry and some lovely mineral notes.  The taste is somewhat subdued fruit up front, with some cherry and plum with a hint of mint that transition to some earthy notes of dusty limestone, iron and a classic hint of barnyard at the end.  The tannins are robust, providing for a wonderfully smooth and very dry finish that lasts a minute or more.

Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 8.5, as it's a wonderfully drinking Bordeaux from a very strong vintage.  This wine would pair well with classic steaks and chops, but would also do well with aged cheeses and Mediterranean fare.  Tonight I am taking a bit of a departure and enjoying this wine with some seared sea scallops, couscous and some haricots verts almondine.  Cheers!

2008 Chateau Moulin de la Rose Saint-Julien

Happy Wine Wednesday!  I just got back from the gym and I thought, it's been a while since I've opened a nice Bordeaux, so why not tonight?  Alas, a bottle I found in a hidden corner of the cellar, the 2008 Chateau Moulin de la Rose Saint-Julien, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (62%), Merlot (28%), Cabernet Franc (5%) and Petit Verdot (5%), all from one of the northernmost regions of the left bank of the Grionde.  So let's see what this one has to offer!

The wine is a beautiful deep ruby color in the glass, just as you'd expect from a Cabernet heavy blend.  The nose is classic Bordeaux, with aromas of leather, blackberry, rose petals and just a hint of barnyard.  The taste is somewhat surprising, with a rush of tart cherry up front that transitions to some lovely notes of dusty limestone and green grass midpalate.  The finish is just classic Bordeaux that takes me back the the three weeks I worked in Paris in 1995 when I learned to truly appreciate red Bordeaux wine, wonderfully structured tannins that provide for an incredibly smooth, dry finish.

This wine would be perfect with a variety of wonderful beef dishes, but tonight I am going classic and enjoying this wine with a rare grilled prime ribcap steak garnished with a sprig of fresh rosemary, haricots verts almondine and a baked pomme de terre with buerre, creme fraiche and chives, as the wine just plays so well against the richness of the steak and earthiness of the rosemary, cheers!

2013 King Estate Oregon Pinot Noir

Happy Hump Day!  I just got back from the gym and now I've popped a pizza in the oven, so what wine to open?  How about a nice Oregon Pinot?  In this case it's a bottle that my friends brought last weekend and left for me (along with a water bottle and a sparkly hair apparatus), the 2013 King Estate Oregon Pinot Noir, so let's see how it is!

The wine is a bit lighter in color, with bright ruby color, classic Pinot.  The nose presents aromas of green grass, tar and that classic Pinot twang (which can best be described as a combination of tart cherry, burnt toast and barnyard).  The taste is pretty nice for a Pinot (and you know I'm not the biggest Pinot fan), with a rush of tart cherry, currant and some pepper spice that transition to some notes of tobacco and a hint of vanilla midpalate.  The finish is very nice, with a reprise of tart fruit on a long, smooth and dry finish, that seems to linger a bit.

Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 8, as it's a nice example of the varietal, but not spectacular,  This wine would pair well with a variety of dishes, from salmon to dungeness crab, to a classic pot roast.  But tonight, I'm enjoying this wine with a thin crust pizza with spicy sausage and caramelized onions, as the tart fruit in the wine is a perfect foil to the richness of the pizza.  Cheers!

1997 L'Ecole No. 41 Columbia Valley Merlot

Well, it's the first Saturday of September, which of course means that it's "Cellar Saturday" that magical time where I raid the recesses of my cellar to open a nice, mature bottle of wine.  Tonight I've raided the cellar for a bottle that I just bought on my recent vacation to Walla Walla, the 1997 L'Ecole No. 41 Columbia Valley Merlot, a blend of Merlot (85%), Cabernet Franc (11%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (4%), which I've decanted about an hour ago.

The color is a nice even purple with some amber around the edges and very nice clarity.  The nose presents a wonderful Bordeaux-esque combination of ripe plum, blackberry and leather, over a good bit of funk, with just a hint of mint and dried herbs.  The taste is just fantastic, with still bright fruit notes of plum and blackberry that burst forth at the outset, transitioning effortlessly to some wonderful mineral notes of basalt and earthy notes of peat and barnyard midpalate.  The finish is just divine, with some hints of sweet fruit as a reprise, while the mellow, yet still remarkably structured tannins provide a framework for the lush, smooth and exceptionally dry finish.  This is a lovely wine that has aged as well as any right bank Bordeaux.

Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 9, I'm not sure if this wine has reached it's prime, but I can't imagine it getting much better than what I'm tasting right now!  Tonight I am enjoying this wine with a monster, 2" thick Angus New York Strip, with some grilled leeks and asparagus.  This wine is just perfect with a big steak, but it would also pair well with hearty pasta, or some nice beef stew, or almost anything you can imagine cooking on an Autumn afternoon (even though it's technically still summer!).  What a fabulous wine for this first Saturday of college football, cheers!

1998 I Balzini Super Tuscan Blend

Here we are, the first Saturday of October, which of course means it's Cellar Saturday!  And thank goodness for that, since over the past 24 hours it seems like we've gone from summer right into the depths of fall!  It was about 75 and rainy with a lot of humidity, and right now it's 43 and raining, heading to a low of 37 tonight!  Perfect weather for a hearty super Tuscan blend of Sangiovese (50%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (50%)!  This bottle was a part of a vertical that I bought from Wines Till Sold Out that included the 1997 (you can see my review of this one here), 1998, 1999 and 2001.

I opened this bottle a few hours ago and let it breathe a bit rather than decanting.  The wine is a lovely deep ruby color in the glass.  The nose is somewhat rustic, with some aromas of barnyard, leather and cedar intermingled with some ripe berry and plum notes.  The taste is quite nice, with some lovely mint and fruit, blackberry, cherry and raisin, up front that transitions to some iron, mineral and spice notes midpalate.  The finish is rather subdued, with mellow tannins supporting a smooth, very dry finish.

Overall I would rate this wine a solid 7.5, as it just doesn't seem as nice as the '97.  Tonight I am enjoying this one with a wonderful grilled New York strip on a bed of baby kale with an aged white balsamic, a baked potato and some steamed green beans, a perfect fall dinner, with some big flavors that play very nicely with a more mature wine like this one.  Cheers!

2011 Sueno Tempranillo

Do you know what day it is? Oh yeah!  It's hump day!  Time to open up a new bottle of wine and celebrate getting through to the downward slope of the work week (even though the next two days are going to be crazy busy for me).  So tonight I've opened up a bottle of our Office Wine Club's June selection, the 2011 Sueno Tempranillo!  You know how much I appreciate the quality and value of Spanish wines for everyday drinking, so hopefully this one will be true to form as it's 100% Tempranillo from the Ribera del Jucar.

The wine is a little darker than I might have expected, with a deep ruby color throughout that brightens along the edges.  The nose is classic Tempranillo with lots of dark ripe fruit, blackberry, plum and cassis intermingled with some dark chocolate and dried flower notes, that transitions to just a hint of black pepper and spice.  Despite the dark fruit nose, the taste is very light, with some lovely berry notes on the outset that transitions to some rustic flavors of anise, dusty limestone and barnyard.  The tannins are somewhat soft but very well integrated giving a nice structure to the wine and supporting a smooth, dry finish.

Overall I would rate this wine a solid 7.5 as it does what most Spanish wines do, pair well with a variety of dishes at a value price - I bought this one from Wines Till Sold Out for just $11!  And tonight I am enjoying it with a classic mid-week dinner of pizza, a perfect pairing as the rustic flavors just mesh so nicely with the spicy sauce and pepperoni.  Cheers!

2001 L'Ecole No. 41 Columbia Valley Merlot

Hooray!  It's March, which means that Spring is right around the corner, right?  Well it doesn't feel like it today at least, but at least we have two other things to celebrate on this first day of March, one it's Cellar Saturday, which means I get to go deep into my cellar and open a wine that's been waiting years for its chance to shine.  The second thing to celebrate is that it's March, which is Washington Wine Month!  That means all the wines I will profile this month will be from the great state of Washington, my favorite wine region!  And tonight's treat is the 2001 L'Ecole No. 41 Columbia Valley Merlot, a wine that's been in my cellar since one of my very early trips to Walla Walla back in 2003 or 2004.

I opened this bottle about an hour ago to let it get used to this wintry air, so hopefully it's opened up a bit.  The color is a nice ruby with a hint of opacity at the center, but not the usual tinge of brown that you sometimes see on a wine more than a decade old.  The nose is fantastic, with a blast of tart cherry, rich oak, green grass, Asian spice and a hint of mint that is very reminiscent of a great mature Bordeaux.  The taste is somewhat fruit forward, with nice blackberries and plum up front that transitions gradually to mint and green grass midpalate.  The finish is quite nice, with some classic Bordeaux "funk" of barnyard and oak, with some still vibrant tannins supporting a long, smooth and exceptionally dry finish.

Overall I would rate this wine a solid 9, it's just such a pleasure to drink that if it wasn't 12 degrees outside I would be sipping this wine all evening on my deck!  But instead I'm indoors, enjoying this wine with a nice chopped Asian salad with wasabi ginger dressing and some stuffed red and yellow peppers that I made using my mom's recipe with a mild twist of incorporating some Italian sausage into the ground beef and rice stuffing.  Such a nice pairing with the fruit and rustic flavors of the wine against the spice of wasabi and richness of the tomato sauce over the stuffed peppers.  Delicious!

2005 Rio Bom Douro Colheita

Tonight I've decided to try some new things, from the food I'm making for dinner to the wine I've decided to open!  I've seldom had the chance to enjoy a wine from Portugal, but tonight I've opened a bottle of 2005 Rio Bom Douro Colheita, a recent purchase from the Wines Till Sold Out cheapskate event.

The wine is a very nice ruby color in the glass, about the same color as a nice Spanish wine, like a Tempranillo.  The nose is very interesting, with a lot of bright fruit at first, blackberries, plum, black cherry, but as it opens up, it displays more rustic and earthy notes, forest floor and a classic barnyard.  The taste is fruit forward with some notes of cherry cola and some cocoa powder, which transitions to some fresh herbs, tarragon and green tea midpalate.  The finish is quite nice, with rather mild tannins supporting a rather abrupt finish.

Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 7.5, as it's a solid wine that could complement a variety of dishes and it was a good value at around $14.  Tonight I am enjoying this wine with a wonderful dinner of fresh rainbow trout stuffed with oranges and fresh thyme along with some pesto linguine and steamed asparagus.  The earthy notes and fruit flavors of the wine really strike a nice note with the richness of the trout, but I could see this going very well with a variety of dishes from grilled steak to a nice braised beef stew.  Cheers!

2009 Chateau Guillou Montagne Saint-Emilion

So tonight I've decided to go on a bit of a culinary adventure, what with it being the start of the weekend and all.  In any case I've decided to try my hand at a bit of French cooking, and what better to go with French food than a nice French wine?  So tonight I've opened a bottle of the 2009 Chateau Guillou Montagne Saint-Emilion, from a great Bordeaux vintage.

The wine is a lovely ruby color in the glass with great clarity. The nose is very nice with a bit of ripe fruit, pomegranate, ripe plum, and a good bit of barnyard around a base of oak and smoke. The taste is very interesting with a bit of sweet cherry and a hint of cotton candy up front that effortlessly transitions to some oak, leather and dusty limestone mid palate. The finish is quite nice with a bit of pepper and lovely tannins supporting a long, dry finish. 

Overall I would rate this wine a solid 8 as it's a great example of the wine and the vintage that I found at a value price of just $18!  Tonight I'm enjoying this with some Moules Marinieres, a delicious dish of mussels in a white wine sauce seasoned with shallots, tarragon and thyme, along with some wonderful croutons to maximize your enjoyment of the sauce!  So warm and delicious for such a bitter cold evening!

2007 Labastide Dauzac Margaux

It's sunny and rather warm and humid here today, so it just struck me that this seems like a Margaux sort of afternoon, so I've decided to open a bottle of 2007 Labastide Dauzac Margaux to enjoy.  Now this is a rather young Margaux, though it does modestly exceed my minumum 5-year age requirement to even try a Margaux so we shall see how this goes!  The wine is a classic blend of Merlot (59%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (41%) which should provide some nice structure and backbone to this wine.

When I first opened this wine I was really thirsty, so I couldn't resist trying a bit and the Bordeaux "funk" that is so often present with great wines from the region was quite present, but if you are not a fan of the funk it subsides with a bit of breathing. Now it's been a couple hours, and the color is a generous ruby and the nose is a lovely combination of oak, earthy gravel, and a hint of hard cheese (perhaps the last gasp of funk!).  The taste is a lovely combination of subtle fruit flavors up front, with some blueberry and floral notes that transitions effortlessly to some earthy notes of forest floor (barnyard anyone?) and gravelly notes.  The finish is just pure Bordeaux, with an exceptionally smooth and dry finish that seems to last several minutes.

Overall, I would rate this one a solid 9, as it's a great example of Margaux that's drinking well now, but could easily improve over the next two decades!  I was trying my best to figure out where I got this wine, and then I remembered it was from a tasting we did at Bar Divani in Grand Rapids, and I liked it there and bought a couple bottles for $38, which isn't a steal, but certainly for a good Margaux it's not a bad price!  Tonight I am pairing it with some tacos (come on, who else do you know that would pair Margaux with tacos?), though these are made with some smoked chorizo, roasted poblano peppers and some machego cheese, very simple, but the flavor combinations really bring out the beauty of this wine!  Salut!

2005 Clos du Val Napa Valley Merlot

It's a lazy Sunday afternoon, and I just got back from the gym, so it's time to do a load of laundry and relax with a glass of wine.  Seems like a Merlot sort of day, so why not open a bottle of 2005 Clos du Val Napa Valley Merlot?  This one is a little more than your average Merlot, as it's a blend of Merlot (83%), Cabernet Franc (11%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (6%), so it's really more of a Bordeaux style blend, and from the nose, it's certainly reminiscent of many quality blends from Bordeaux.

The nose on this wine is very interesting, with some black fruit aromas up front, blackberries, plum, and a good bit of spice, all wrapped in some wonderful earthy aromas (for my friends who like that "barnyard" quality, this one has it in spades!).  The taste has some lovely fruit up front that effortlessly transitions to dried herbs, anise and a bit of oak, the nicely structured tannins lend great support to a long, smooth and earthy finish.  This wine is remarkable, in that despite it's label, it just takes me back to Paris, sipping a nice Margaux at a sidewalk cafe on Avenue Kleber, where we stayed in 1995.

Overall, I would rate this one a solid 9, especially given that I found it for a bargain price of only $17!  I'm just sorry I only picked up one bottle!  This afternoon, I am enjoying this wine with a small snack of olives and some grilled veggies as I think of what to make for dinner this evening.  It would pair very nicely with a grilled steak, or some wonderful game or even some wonderfully seasoned cedar planked salmon.  Salut!

2009 Reininger Walla Walla Malbec

Well, this one is a bit off the beaten path for me, as most who know me realize that I am just not a huge Malbec fan, as often these wines are just too rustic for my taste.  But the kind folks at Reininger were kind enough to send me two bottles of the 2009 Malbec for my wine club selection, so I figured I should at least try them right?

The wine was a deep garnet, edging toward purple in the glass.  The nose was quite rustic, almost woodsy, you know, that somewhat barnyard type aroma that some wines seem prone to, but this one wasn't as woodsy as some I've tried.  The taste however was a dramatic step in the right direction, with lovely tastes of dried fruit, some wonderful floral notes and a hint of leather.  The tannins were somewhat subdued, however the finish was still quite dry.

Overall I would rate this wine a solid 8, mainly because it's a Malbec, and even though I thought this wine was fine, it did not convert me to a fan.  We had this wine with some wonderful Lucques olives from the Languedoc region of France and some Manchego cheese from Spain, and the spice of the cheese and richness of the olives really complemented the earthiness of this wine.  Cheers!

2001 Burgess Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Tonight I am just in the mood for a nice glass of Cabernet, forget the pairings and all the rest, I just want to relax!  So I've decided to open a bottle of 2001 Burgess Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, after all how can you go wrong with a Cab that's had over a decade to mature?  Now to be fair, this is somewhat of a delayed vertical tasting since I had a bottle of the 2000 Burgess Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon at the beginning of December, so let's see how the younger stacks up.

The wine has a deep violet color, with a good bit of opacity, and a brighter ruby along the edges.  The nose is an interesting combination of leather, ripe plum bordering on prune, mint and an earthy, barnyard sort of smell.  The taste is very fruit forward, with a burst of ripe cherries and blackberries that settle into some cedar and Asian spices midpalate.  The tannins are very supple, giving this wine a round mouthfeel, and providing for a long, structured finish.

Overall, I would rate this one a solid 8, it's not quite as nice as I remember its older sibling, but still a heck of a nice Cabernet after a dozen years.  Tonight I am pairing this wine with some instant Indian food of all things!  I bought a package of Bombay potatoes from the World Market a few weeks ago, so I figured I doctor those up with a little more spice and some fresh veggies, and put it over some steamed basmati rice, for a quick, east dinner on a night I really don't feel like cooking!

2007 Salinas Monastrell

Tonight I've returned to Spain for a wine selection to go with my dinner, so I've landed on the 2007 Salinas Monastrell, from the Alicante region of Spain.  Now for those of you unfamiliar, Monastrell is more commonly known by its French name, Mourvedre, the third component of the ever popular "GSM" blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre.  It's somewhat unusual to find bottles of Mourvedre, but Spain has made it a much more popular option under the Monastrell moniker.

This wine is an inky purple toward the center of the glass, that bleeds to a lovely garnet around the edges.  The nose is a nice blend of tart cherry, leather and some earthy notes of forest floor, or as some of my friends would say, a bit of a barnyard smell.  The taste is very interesting, with some notes of tart cherry up front, quickly followed by a lovely combination of oak, truffle and dried herbs.  The finish is quite tannic, but it's also fairly long, making this a rather pleasant sipping wine.

Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 7, not only because I find it pleasant, but it was also a super value!  I bought this one on clearance at my local wine merchant, G.B. Russo's for only $3.50, so how could I complain?  Tonight I am pairing this with a rather interesting dinner of Swai fillet baked with butter, lemon and fresh dill, a baked potato and some steamed broccoli, and the somewhat tannic nature of this wine really amplifies the acidity of the lemon and aromatics of the dill.  You wouldn't think it would work, but it really does!

2006 Féraud-Brunel Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Tonight, to celebrate the coming of 2013 and the U.S. going over the "fiscal cliff," I decided to put my wine selection for the evening to a vote of my Facebook friends, and they didn't let me down, choosing the 2006 Féraud-Brunel Châteauneuf-du-Pape, a wonderful GSM blend to end my 2012 and welcome the new year!  Now since I gave everyone until 8:00 pm to vote, I just opened this bottle and have had no time to decant, so I've poured this glass through my aerating pourer for better effect, but it's probably advisable to let this wine breathe a bit if you have time.

The wine in the glass is a deep garnet color, about what you'd expect from a nice CdP.   The nose is very mellow, almost surprisingly so, with hints of lovely fruit, black currant, blueberry, some interesting spice notes intermingled with rose petals and the faintest bit of barnyard.  The taste is just sublime, with lovely ripe fruits bursting forth on the tongue, blueberry, ripe plum and a hint of boysenberry, transforming into some lovely jammy notes midpalate balanced with some earthy minerality.  The tannins play well creating a long, smooth finish, with lovely flavors or dark chocolate and gravel.  For a rather young wine, this one really is drinking quite well right now!

Overall, I would rate this one a solid 8.5, it's a very nice example of a Châteauneuf-du-Pape that I found at a local supermarket for under $30 about a year ago.  Unfortunately it's 8:30 pm on New Year's Eve, so I'm just enjoying this wine seulement ce soir, but it would pair quite nicely with a variety of spicy dishes, or grilled meats, but I could also see it going very well with a broad array of seafood.  If you can find a bottle, I would highly recommend it!  Bon Année!