Monday, January 18, 2010

Awesomeness in Wine 2010, Inaugural tasting!

Way back in 2009, my good buddy Brian and I had an idea to gather a small group of wine lovers together and taste interesting wines. Mainly we'd get people from our work whom we knew liked wine and were interested in tasting and learning. Because of various scheduling constraints, the tasting date slipped into this year finally settling on last Thursday, January 14th. We were able to get the date set and the relevant parties invited, the wines and the food. The chosen varietal was Pinot Noir, because it's popular, accessible and easy to find. Some of the constraints Brian and I came up with related to price and region. We wanted everyone coming to supply a bottle that was over $15 and from California. Beyond that, we were open to anything.

All in all, only five Pinots were tasted, somewhat disappointing because I was hoping for six or seven varieties. However, all of them were interesting and worthy of the tasting. Here's the list:



1. Joseph Swan Cuvee de Trois Russian River Valley 2007
2. Lorca Santa Maria Valley 2002
3. Talbott Logan Santa Lucia Highlands 2007
4. Robert Stemmler Nugent Vineyard Russian River Valley 2006
5. Costa de Oro Santa Barbara County 2008


All of them were purchased for less than $20, and at San Diego Wine Co. and Trader Joe's. As I type up this little report I realized I really need to do more tastings with wineries that I actually interact with, so along with my "taste more chardonnay" promise of a few weeks ago, I'll add this one. Hopefully I can find some that are in my price range.

But back on topic, here are some tasting notes about each of the wines we tried. They were opened roughly one hour before tasting began but not decanted and not tasted blind. However, only Brian and myself were aware of the prices paid. I'll also note that only Brian and myself had any kind of professional wine background.

1. Joseph Swan Cuvee de Trois Russian River Valley 2007
Definitely one of the top two wines of the night. The nose had elements of herbs, raspberry and a hint of earth, like a forest floor. Some of the flavors we found were beautiful notes of strawberry, rose petal, ripe red cherry and hints of dried cranberries. There was the barest taste of vanilla oak across the palate, giving a bit of lush character. We also felt it was very much in the traditionally elegant style of the Russian River Valley, with that wonderful acidity good Pinots should have. Overall an absolutely wonderful Pinot.

2. Lorca Santa Maria Valley 2002
The oldest of the bunch also exhibited the most faded flavors. Perhaps in 2006 or 2007 it was livelier and more drinkable. This time we tasted notes of cedar, vanilla, cherry, spices and plum. It smelled soft, like oak and a warm strawberry tart but again there was that muted quality that dimished the wine. That being said, I felt that even if it had been at it's peak, it was too oaky and perhaps had some Syrah in it. I wasn't too thrilled with it but it was a valuable tasting experience.

3. Talbott Logan Santa Lucia Highlands 2007
I had really high hopes for this one, as I think the Santa Lucia Highlands produce some stellar Pinots (when they aren't overly oaked and infused with Syrah!). It didn't really live up to my hopes, being somewhat muted and lacking the acidity I like to see. Great flavors of black cherry, raspberry and herbs, but it was a bit unbalanced and I actually felt it might have been too soft, lacking that certain "wow" factor, where your palate kicks your brain and wakes you up. To me that shows I've found something special and it just wasn't there.

4. Robert Stemmler Nugent Vineyard Russian River Valley 2006
This was my top pick of the tasting, I felt it was bright, lively, and well balanced. Lots of cherry/raspberry, some strawberry and spice along with a cool earthy streak. The flavors were in proportion, always a sign of a great wine. On the nose we got whiffs of spice, cedar, vanilla and dark chocolate. Truly a tasty and well rounded Pinot. Others also felt this was the top wine of the night, I actually went back and bought a few more bottles to save for grilling season. Should pair well with some fresh salmon from the barbeque.

5. Costa de Oro Santa Barbara County 2008
Last but not least, this was a very tasty wine that I think got overshadowed by the splendid Joseph Swan and Robert Stemmler wines. Santa Barbara can produce some deliciously rich Pinots, full of ripe strawberry and black cherry, and when the acidity is allowed to focus the flavors on your palate instead of using oak to mute everything, the results can be very tasty. This was no exception, it had a good amount of fruit but the acidity kept it in check. It wasn't really my favorite because it just didn't have the "wow" factor of the two top picks but for about $15 it was a wine I'd have been really pleased.

The question is, should I rate these wines or not? My system is pretty rudimentary but I truly hope it conveys a sense of my preferences and what I look for, so I'll give it a shot. Here's the list of wines again with the ratings in bold.
1. Joseph Swan Cuvee de Trois Russian River Valley 2007 A
2. Lorca Santa Maria Valley 2002 C
3. Talbott Logan Santa Lucia Highlands 2007 B-
4. Robert Stemmler Nugent Vineyard Russian River Valley 2006 A
5. Costa de Oro Santa Barbara County 2008 B

To sum up another really long blog post, I will say that I had a blast doing this, it inspired me to try some other things with tastings and encouraged me to keep tasting wines and writing about them. Conveying to you what and why I liked a wine has become something I thorougly enjoy doing. This was definitely not a scientific tasting, just a fun group of people who wanted to try some wine. Perhaps we'll get more technical and organized in the future but if we don't, it's not necessarily a bad thing. Thank you as always for taking the time to read my work and please leave comments if you desire, I welcome them all. If you're so inclined, follow me on twitter, I'm @UCBeau. Talk to you soon!

Beau Carufel

Thursday, January 7, 2010

First Review of 2010, a Barbaresco!

Happy New Year! I hope it isn't too late to say that. It's been a week, hopefully your resolutions are doing well. Mine are plodding along. Sadly, I've currently run out of white wines, as of the time of this entry, which will necessitate a trip to the local shop to pick some up. Over the past few months I've become increasingly intrigued by Chardonnay because it can come in so many different forms. Right now I'm thinking I'll try to buy a couple of examples from California, France, Italy, Australia and maybe Washington. That should hopefully make for some interesting reading over the next few blogs I write.To give a little information to you all, I'm going to try to find some buttery Chards, some oaked and un-oaked, some acidic examples and maybe some of the fruitier styles. Since it's all coming out of pocket, expect nothing to be over 25$ a bottle. Sorry, you won't see me reviewing Cakebread or Kongsgaard here (unless someone sends me them). I'm going to throw in some of the more widely available wines out there in an effort to perhaps broaden my appeal as a budding writer but also more importantly, to help anyone who reads my blog find the wine's I'm writing about. That's a topic for a whole blog entry though, so stay tuned.

Today is different though, today is another red. It's the 2005 La Loggia Barbaresco, costs about 13$ at your local Trader Joe's. Barbaresco is up in Piedmonte, northwestern Italy. The terrain is hilly and it's a bit cooler than down south towards Tuscany. In this area and as well as in Barolo, the primary grape is Nebbiolo. I've often heard of Barbarescos being called "baby Barolos" since they seem to be made in a more accessible style, meaning you can drink them earlier than with a Barolo. Incidentally I've read and heard it mentioned that Barolo shouldn't be opened until it's at least 15-20 years old. If only we all could afford to do that! Anyways this is perhaps an "entry level" Barbaresco, as they can go past 500$ a bottle if you buy the stuff from Gaja. Let's see how it did when paired with a classic American dinner.

2005 La Loggia Barbaresco
(img from cellartracker.com)

I opened this bottle about an hour before I tasted it, and poured it 30 minutes before. Upon my first sniff, I smelled raisins and sour cherries, with some spice like a nutmeg or something. It was either that or cloves and I'm leaning towards cloves. Since I love Italian wines, this excited me and got me to expect something fun and interesting on the palate. With each passing minute you could see that more flavors were coming out, so I felt like it was going to be a good bottle. I should also note the color was a nice inky purple, it looked serious and tasty! Almost like a petit syrah (or is it sirah?). Time for the taste, excitement was building up since the nose was so interesting. That first sip was adequate, not exactly what I expected but maybe a second sip would be better because two is better than one, right? Yes, my logic is flawless, I know. On the second sip, I tasted some notes of blackberry, tobacco, cedar and dark chocolate. The tannins were firm, definitely noticeable but also had a nice silky quality. Here's where things started to unravel though. Each flavor presented itself in a blocky, un-integrated way. They didn't seem to flow together seamlessly or create a structure in the wine. At first, there was the blackberry and sour cherry, then a dollop of the spices, cloves I suspect. Right after that was an earthy, dusty element before the tannins kicked in. Now the dark chocolate and tobacco that I got faint tastes of were in there somewhere but they didn't really have much definition.There was no tapestry of flavors and not once did I feel like the wine was complex. Unfortunately that isn't what I was looking for in a Barbaresco.

Summarizing what I rambled on about in the paragraphs above, the wine was decent enough for 13$ but nothing stellar. I think for an entry-level Barbaresco it's tasty, but it definitely won't blow your mind. I paired the wine with a burger and fries, which seemed to work out very well. My score for the wine is a B-, because it's good enough to get you into Barbarescoes but is lacking integration and that is something I always look for in a wine. If you buy this, you'll probably like it and won't feel like you wasted your money, but perhaps will want more from it after finishing a glass or two. On the nose, it promises a lot but doesn't quite deliver on the palate, that disconnect just doesn't work for me.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, if you want to follow me on twitter I'm @UCBeau. Over the next few blogs I may veer away from reviewing wine, there will be some beers and some non-wine related stuff but stick with me, we're going to have fun! Here's to a great 2010 full of delicious food and wine, friends, families, travel and a Jets victory on Saturday!

Beau Carufel