Merlot Archives | Crushed Grape Chronicles

L’Ecole No. 41 2017 Merlot with Dinner and a Unique Dessert

Oct 27, 2020

October is Merlot Month. It’s also the month of our wedding anniversary here at Crushed Grape Chronicles. 23 years ago, Michael and I tied the knot at Mount Charleston. I don’t know that we realized then, that Vegas would be our home for so long. We now live close enough to have a view of the Mountain.

Merlot has always been one of Michael’s favorite wines, and quite honestly we don’t drink it often enough. #MerlotMe has given us an opportunity to dive back into this variety that too often is overlooked.

The bottle we will open today is from L’Ecole No. 41 in Walla Walla Washington.

The wine in this post was provided as a media sample. No other compensation was received and all opinions are my own

L’Ecole No. 41

This 3rd generation winery is actually just outside of Walla Walla in Frenchtown. It is named for the French Canadians who settled in the Valley in the early 1800’s and began the wine making tradition in the region.

The schoolhouse bell – The L’Ecole No 41 Schoolhouse – photo courtesy L’Ecole No. 41

The L’Ecole No 41 Schoolhouse – photo courtesy L’Ecole No. 41

Marty & Megan Clubb of L’Ecole No. 41 – photo courtesy of L’Ecole No. 41

The tasting room for L’Ecole 41 is in the restored Lowden School that was built here in 1915. The name “L’Ecole No. 41” comes from the French word for school, the 41 for the school district, and is an ode to the early wine pioneers of the area.

Marty and Megan Clubb run the winery, now, but it was Megan’s parents Jean & Baker Ferguson who founded the winery in 1983 as their retirement project. At the time it was just the third winery in Walla Walla. In 1989 Marty and Megan came to take the helm and grow the winery. Today their children Rebecca and Riley work at the winery as the 3^rd generation in this family business.

L’Ecole No. 41 Merlot – Columbia Valley

While this is called a Merlot, it is much more in the style of a Right Bank Bordeaux wine. It is 81% Merlot. In the US (and much of the world), to call a wine by a variety name it must be 75% of that grape. So, this is a Merlot by those standards. It also includes other typical Bordeaux grapes in small quantities with 14% Cabernet Franc and then just drops of Malbec and Petit Verdot.

L'Ecole No. 41 Columbia Valley AVA Vineyard Map - Courtesy of L'Ecole No. 41

This wine is a “Columbia Valley” wine with fruit from Estate Seven Hills Vineyard and Pepper Bridge in the Walla Walla Valley, Winebau and Stone Tree which are north in the Wahluke Slope AVA, Bacchus & Dionysus Vineyards which are in the larger Columbia Valley AVA north of the Tri-Cities area and then 2 vineyards in the Yakima Valley AVA: Candy Mountain, which has just become its own AVA, Klipsun in the Red Mountain AVA. So as you can see, this covers a wide area in the Greater Columbia Valley AVA.

The Details:

81% Merlot, 14% Cabernet Franc, 3% Malbec, 2% Petit Verdot
Columbia Valley (from these Vineyards” Estate Seven Hills, Bacchus & Dionysus, Candy Mountain, Klipsun, Weinbau, Pepper Bridge and Stone Tree)
Hand-harvested
Racked into small oak barrels – 30% new
Four rackings over 18 months
14.5% abv
4,870 cases produced
SRP $25

L'Ecole No 41 Merlot 2017 from Washington's Columbia Valley bottle shot with green — L'Ecole No 41 Merlot 2017 from Washington's Columbia Valley

Tasting Notes from Winery

“Layered with complex aromas of black cherry, rose petal, baking spices and cocoa. Full bodied with a seamless finish with fine-grained tannins.”

So now…what to pair?

It’s Saturday as I write this and a cold front is coming in. The temperature has dropped and layers of clouds cover parts of the valley. It’s a day to stay in and nest. A simple but delicious lunch of Carne Asada soft tacos is in order, that will pair with this wine, then later, we will try an ambitious dessert and see how it pairs.

Carne Asada & Bleu Cheese soft tacos.

Perhaps these are more wrap than a taco. We took the easy way on this and picked up some pre-marinated Carne Asada from Trader Joes. This cooks on high for 2 to 3 minutes per side (we like our steak on the rare side), on the grill pan on the stove. It rests for 5 minutes, while we warm the tortilla’s one at a time in the rod iron skillet.
Slice the meat thinly across the grain and build your soft taco. We served our bean and rice on the side, but certainly, you could add those and make this a burrito if you wanted. Meat, crumbled bleu cheese, arugula, sliced avocado, and corn relish (also Trader Joe’s, guess you know where I shop).

Carne Asada and bleu cheese soft tacos with arugula, avocado and corn relish

L’Ecole No 41 Columbia Valley 2017 Merlot with Carne Asada soft tacos

Now to dessert. We just got an ice cream maker. You would think, that I would start with vanilla and hone my skills. Nope. I dove right in and made a bleu cheese ice cream. Couldn’t help it! My dessert ties in some of the notes from the wineries tasting, we will see how it goes. The idea is to taste and see how these flavors pair. Forget the food shows where you have to scoop it all into one bite, this is flavor and taste experimentation.

Here’s what I plated:

Honey
Ground pistachios
Balsamic reduction
Shaved dark chocolate
Rehydrated cherries
Fresh plum
Ground nutmeg
Dried rose petals
Fresh mint
Bleu cheese ice cream

Bleu Cheese Ice Cream

Ingredients

1 quart Half & Half
1 tbs of black peppercorns
5 oz of Bleu cheese
3/4 cup of sugar
1 tbs lemon juice

Heat the half & half with the peppercorns until hot
Strain the peppercorns out
Put 2/3rds of the bleu cheese in a bowl
Pour the hot milk over and stir until smooth
Add the sugar and lemon juice and stir until dissolved
Chill overnight, or at least 4 hours
Add the remaining 1/3 of the bleu cheese and stir lightly (you want the chunks)
Put in an ice cream maker and churn as directed

I found that my ice cream maker suggested 15 minutes, but that was too soft to make Quenelles, so I put some on a cookie sheet and stuck it in the freezer for 20 minutes. You could also put it in a container and freeze it for about 2 hours (I was hungry and in a hurry).

Make the Quenelles of ice cream with 2 spoons. (or go ahead and use an ice cream scoop if you want!)

You can plate with whatever other flavors float your boat! I chose notes that would pair with my specific wine, but you do you!

So how did the pairings go?

The Carne Asada soft tacos were good with the Merlot. The spices might have kicked up the heat on my palate a little, but the avocado cooled things down and the bleu cheese was just the right kick!

With dessert? You remember we were laying out a tasting plate to experiment. The plum and nutmeg melded and melted away. The cherries, the balsamic, the chocolate? Yeah, all were good together and with the Merlot. The pistachios added texture, but not a lot of flavor. The rosepetals? They were pretty, just not tasty. And the ice cream? Yeah, I’d do that again. It is tasty. Keep in mind we just did a single Quenelle with all the other bits to mix in. I would NOT do a bowl with 3 scoops of this!

I had been worried about the sweetness of the ice cream with the wine and didn’t find that to be a problem. The savory funk of the bleu cheese balanced out the sweetness and I enjoyed this with the wine.

It is Merlot Month so we’ve written done a few other tastings and pairings as we joined in the celebration with #MerlotMe and the writers at #WinePW!

Merlot from elegant to badass. Time to #MerlotMe with #WinePW
- (in this one you will find all the links to the other pieces by all my colleagues at #WinePW)
Merlot from 2 big-name companies, that are worth finding for different reasons.
Celebrating Merlot month with a Selby Merlot from Sonoma County

You can also visit #MerlotMe for lots of great pairing ideas as well as specials and events with wineries!

As always be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to keep up to date on all of our posts.

Robin Bell Renken I have always loved people’s stories. I spent a career in Theatre helping to tell stories, as a Stage Manager. Daily enabling artists to freely and safely tell stories through their art. Then I fell in love with wine. There are so many details, so many nuances, not just in the glass, but in the vineyard, the region and the people. As I met winemakers and vineyard owners and even the people in the tasting room excited to pour me a glass and tell me the story of this wine, I knew these were stories I wanted to share. I completed my study and became a Certified Specialist of Wine and continue learning daily as I meet and interview people in this industry.

Robin Renken is a wine writer and Certified Specialist of Wine. She and her husband Michael travel to wine regions interviewing vineyard owners and winemakers and learning the stories behind the glass.

When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.

Merlot from 2 big-name companies, that are worth finding for different reasons

Oct 21, 2020

It’s October and it’s Merlot Month. In conjunction with #MerlotMe, we received 7 samples of Merlot from California and Washington. We featured Merlots from Peju & LaZarre with our “Merlot from elegant to badass”, and we did a feature on Susie Selby and paired her Selby 2018 Merlot in “Celebrating Merlot Month with a Selby Merlot from Sonoma County.”

The wines in this article were received as samples, no other compensation was received, and all opinions are my own.

We have two more wines to tell you about today. These come from some BIG names; Bonterra and Rutherford Hill, who are owned by even bigger companies.

The big names

Concha y Toro

Bonterra is the Organic Biodynamic brand under Fetzer, which was bought in 2011 by the Chilean Wine company Concha y Toro. I’m sure you have seen Bonterra, at Costco, at Whole Foods, at Trader Joe’s, and lots of other spots. Concha y Toro is one of the 10 largest wine companies in the world and the largest exporter from Latin America.

Terlato

Rutherford Hill is owned by the Terlato Family, who purchased the property in 1996. The Terlato Wine Group is the parent company. They market…
“…more than 20 percent of wines over $20 and one out of 10 bottles of wine over $14 sold in America. “
Terlato Wines International

This wine family dynasty lost its Patriarch this summer. Tony Terlato, started out working in his dad’s retail store and became one of this country’s top importers and producers. His loss was felt across the industry.

So that’s what I mean by big names. Let’s get a little more into the stories and the wines.

Bonterra Organic Vineyards

If you have watched the Wine Enthusiast Media series “It Starts with Wine” on Amazon, you might have seen an episode on Joseph Brinkley the Bonterra Director of Organic & Biodynamic Vineyards. The company focuses on Organic and Biodynamic wines and works with their growers to use regenerative practices.

You know that these growing practices mean a lot to me. One of their mottos at Bonterra is “Soil is Everything”

” Bonterra vineyards have been farmed organically since 1987, long before organic products were widely available in America. The inspiration for farming this way was simple: organic grapes produce the purest expressions of the varietals and land on which they are farmed. At Bonterra, we have a deep respect for the environment. Organic farming and regenerative practices enrich the biodiversity in our vineyards year after year.”
Bonterra – Our Commitments

The wines are reasonable, if you need to pick up an under $20 bottle of wine, but want it to be good for the planet, this is a go-to!

Bonterra 2018 Merlot

I will admit that I could not find production numbers on this wine and it is listed as a “California” Wine, so we don’t get to see exactly what vineyards this wine came from. They tell us that it is a blend of Mendocino County, Paso Robles, and Lake County Merlot. Let’s put that into perspective. Mendocino County sits North of Sonoma, with Lake County just east of it. Paso is almost 6 hours south in San Luis Obispo county.

The details:

Organically grown grapes
100% Merlot
13.9% abv
0.2 gram residual sugar
Destemmed and pressed
fermented in stainless steel tanks
Malolactic fermentation to soften the mouthfeel
Aged 18 months in a mix of French & American Oak, 50% new
SRP $16

The wine had notes of black plum, black cherry and then notes of dark baked fruits with spice. On my palate there were more sweet fruit notes of sweet black cherry and spice.

Pairing with Pulled pork & Bleu cheese nachos

Pulled porke nachos with purple cabbage — Pulled pork nachos with purple cabbage

Pulled pork nachos with blue cheese and purple cabbage, sweet corn relish and harvest veggie salsa — Pulled pork nachos with purple cabbage

This was a casual night and we made pulled pork nachos that we dressed up with purple cabbage, corn salsa, bleu cheese, and a harvest salsa from Trader Joe’s with Pumpkin, apples, and butternut squash. This pairing worked great. This is a nice wine, but not one that needed alot of my attention. It melded nicely with the nachos, picking up on the blue cheese floral notes and the savory/sweet pulled pork.

Rutherford Hill Winery

For the Terlato Family “Quality is a Way of Life”. They have been in the wine industry since 1955 and when they purchased Rutherford Hill in 1996 they began sourcing Merlot from small high-quality vineyards in the Napa Valley. These Rutherford Hill wines are made in smaller lots and often limited quantities and yes, they are more expensive, typically $30 and up.

Rutherford Hill 2017 Atlas Peak Merlot

This wine is made from grapes in the Atlas Peak AVA in the Napa Valley. If you look at the valley, this AVA is in the East climbing up the Vaca Mountains. These are steep slopes with vineyards at 1500 feet above the valley floor.

The details:

311 Cases produced
100% Merlot
15.5% abv
SRP $60

This wine was dark in the glass and had a nose that melded black currant and sweet tobacco with notes of anise, cloves, and other mulling spices with a bit of cocoa. The nose was intoxicating. In my mouth there was medium acid that let me know it was going to pair well with food, I got chocolate and black fruits with spices and sturdy but fine tannins and then a long finish.

Pairing with bleu cheese, nuts, chocolate and lasagna

Rutherford Hill 2017 Atlas Peak Merlot with cheese plate

Rutherford Hill 2017 Atlas Peak Merlot with lasagna — Rutherford Hill 2017 Atlas Peak Merlot with cheese plate

This was tasty, but it was big, so I whipped out a cheese plate with bleu cheese, almonds, pistachios, honey, dark chocolate, and some chocolate covered dried cherries. It went well with everything except the chocolate covered cherries. Perhaps it was the lower quality chocolate that it didn’t like.

Later, we curled up with some lasagna to relax and enjoy this bottle. It was a celebration, we had been out that day on the first day of voting in Nevada to cast our votes. Phew! We deserved a little pamper time.

So what is the wrap up here?

You can find so many great Merlots out there, from big companies to small, in all price ranges, from single-vineyard to blends from multiple regions in a range of alcohol levels and with a range of flavors to pair with a wide range of foods. There is something for everyone. So jump on the #MerlotMe wagon and celebrate with us!

As always be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to keep up to date on all of our posts.

Robin Renken CSW (photo credit RuBen Permel)

When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.

Celebrating Merlot month with a Selby Merlot from sonoma County

Oct 14, 2020

Selby Winery – 100% owned and operated by Susan Selby.

Susie Selby Winemaker and Owner of Selby Winery – Photo Courtesy Selby Winery

Susie founded Selby Winery with her father Dr. David K. Selby in 1994. Her father was a world-renowned spine surgeon who traveled internationally and spent quite a bit of time in Europe where he fell in love with these old-world wines.

When they started the winery in 1994, Susie was working at another winery where she had worked her way up from cellar rat to assistant winemaker. Her father lived in Dallas and would fly in to taste through the wines with Susie.

In 1997 Dr. David K. Selby, after a life as a Vietnam war hero, and a marble sculptor in addition to moving along spinal research worldwide passed away unexpectedly. Susie took the reins, becoming 100% owner, operator, and winemaker.

Her’s is the oldest tasting room in downtown Healdsburg located just off the square. It’s a place you can’t miss if you are walking through Healdsburg, typically bustling and busy with the beautiful Wisteria over the entrance.

2018 Selby Merlot

As part of the #MerlotMe celebration with the #WinePW crew, Susie sent me a #sample of her 2018 Merlot. No other compensation was recieved, and all opinions are my own.

The wine she sent us is labeled Merlot from Sonoma County. Yes, that’s a pretty large area, and you must remember that in California, varietal labeling (calling it Merlot) just means that 75% of the grapes included must be of that grape. So let’s dig a little deeper. This wine is 94% Orsi Vineyard Merlot in Dry Creek Valley and 6% Sweetwater Springs Vineyard Cabernet Franc, from the Russian River Valley.

Orsi Family Vineyard

So let’s focus on the Merlot. Orsi Family Vineyard practices sustainable methods, working to increase biodiversity to protect the land for people and wildlife. They use cover crops and grasses to attract native insects. Chickens and sheep may wander the vineyard, doing a little natural pest and weed management.

They use deficit irrigation here (like in Washington), which gives you more intense flavors a the roots keep digging deeper to find water.

Here is a geeky bit that I loved from their website

“Sustainable winegrowing practices also address water conservation issues. We use deficit farming irrigation, limited water supply forces the roots to search deeper down into the soil for water. Spending additional energy growing the roots slows down the robustness of the vine growth, resulting in less foliage. Since the chloroplasts in the leaves create the sugar, the sugar levels are decreased, allowing the flavors to keep developing. This results in more intense flavors and colors of the grapes, expressing more of the characteristics of the vineyard, all to producing high-quality wine. We work to maintain beneficial water levels for our vineyards through the use of cover crops and recycled grapes skins, stems, and seeds leftover from pressing (must), which helps provide nutrients and conserve soil moisture.”
From the Orsi Family Vineyards Website

The details:

94% Orsi Vineyard Merlot, Dry Creek Valley; 6% Sweetwater Springs Vineyard Cabernet Franc, Russian River Valley
Extended Maceration for 6 weeks.
30% new French and American oak for 14 months
14.7% abv
1600 cases produced
SRP $24.00 (for sale at $21.60 on their site)

Susie suggests this will cellar for up to a decade. The style is meant to be rich, opulent, and velvety. Susie’s tasting note list dark cherry nutmeg and clove with lingering chocolate on the finish. That sounds like dessert, right?

As I was searching the site, I found a piece from 2017 that Susie had written for her blog on the site called “Susie’s Journal”. This piece was called Merlot and Olives. In it she speaks of Merlot and what make it different in flavor from Cabernet Sauvignon. She offers a suggestion to pull out the fruit in a Merlot.

To appreciate the beautiful fruit of the Merlot, eat a green olive and take a sip of the wine. The olive becomes unified with the vegetive qualities in the wine and allows the palate to focus on dark cherry and pomegranate fruit.
Susie Selby from Susie’s Journal, August 29, 2017

Selby 2018 Merlot and snacks to pair — Olives and Selby Merlot

This I couldn’t resist, so a put together a small plate of green olives, some of which were stuffed with bleu cheese, a few crackers and some walnuts to do a test! Indeed! This curbed the green notes and pulled the fruit-forward in a delicious way. I also pulled out some dark chocolate and cherry preserve, I mean, her tasting notes sounded so amazing, I wanted to see how the pairing would be. If I had a never-ending supply of dark chocolate, cherry preserves, and this Merlot, I would be a happy woman.

Mind you, I did all this, without Michael. I would need to feed him too, and share some of this bottle. He doesn’t eat olives.

We’d been discussing the range of pairing opportunities with Merlot and I had a Sun Basket meal waiting to be prepared that I figured we would test with this. This dish included albacore tuna steaks, which had me a little worried. This is not as heavy as say, ahi tuna. In the package I could see how light it was, without any of that deep red color that you get from ahi. None the less, this was dinner and I forged on.

This was a dish with lots of different elements and it wasn’t until I had it assembled that I realize that this was a play on a Salade Nicoise! Mixed greens in a sherry vinaigrette topped with green beans, olives, roasted sweet potato slices, dill, soft cooked egg halves, and the albacore which was seared with a crust of crushed cumin and coriander seed.

Seared tuna salad, an updated Salade Nicoise if you will

So how was the pairing? It went very well in multiple ways, the olives, pulling those vegetal notes as well as the green beans, the spices on the tuna really sang with the Merlot and the wine did not overpower the seared albacore. It played very nicely, elevating the food.

I reached out to Susie, who was kind enough to share a couple of photos for this piece. She also filled me in a bit on the vineyards the fruit for this wine came from.

Regarding the Merlot, it is the Orsi Vineyard … It’s a beautiful hillside vineyard in Dry Creek Valley that is terraced and they are very small producers. All of their farming is sustainable and that does pertain to the Merlot vineyard. In regard to the Cabernet Franc, I buy the fruit from Cecil DeLoach in Russian River Valley off of Los Amigos Road and it is very typical of cool climate Cabernet Franc in that is rich and fruit-driven; certainly not vegetal.
Susie Selby, Winemaker/Owner Selby Winery 10/8/20

The Selby Winery Tasting Room in Healdsburg California - photo courtesy Selby Winery — The Selby Winery Tasting Room in Healdsburg California – photo courtesy Selby Winery

Selby Tasting room covered in Wisteria — The Selby Winery Tasting Room in Healdsburg California – photo courtesy Selby Winery

I look forward to an opportunity to travel again and visit them in Healdsburg, which is really such a lovely town. I look forward to getting back out to the entire area to support the wineries. In the meantime, you can join me in searching out wines from the region in your local shops, or head online and order direct. Susie has a special right now to celebrate Merlot Month! Hop on her site and order a bottle or two! Support a small winery and enjoy some delicious wine.

More on Merlot

Are you craving Merlot? Here is a bit more on this fabulous grape that we have written. 24 writers with the Wine Pairing Weekend group just wrote pieces on this grape and pairings to go with it to celebrate #MerlotMe you can find those at the end of my piece Merlot from Elegant to Badass. Jeff has been hosting this online #MerlotMe celebration for 6 years his invitation piece #MerlotMe 6 with the Wine Pairing Weekend Crew, will give you links to all the pieces written over the past 6 years. So there is plenty of information on Merlot Pairings to enjoy!

As always be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to keep up to date on all of our posts.

When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.

Merlot from elegant to badass. Time to #MerlotMe with #WinePW

Oct 9, 2020

#MerlotMe…while this is my first year participating in this event with the writers at #WinePW, it is the sixth year for this event, where writer’s partner with Merlot producers to celebrate Merlot Month.

The official celebration day is Saturday, October 10^th. You will see pieces roll out the day before, and we will all gather that morning at 8 am Pacific time on Twitter under hashtags #MerlotMe & #WinePW. We will discuss Merlot and all the wonderful things you can pair with it. Jeff Burrows of Food Wine Click leads us on this journey into the variety, you can read his invitation post here.

#MerlotMe Selections to celebrate Merlot Month

I received 5 Media #Samples, from producers in Washington, Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino, and Paso Robles. We will start out with 2 in this post and promise to share more with you about the other 3 later this month. I recieved these bottles as samples, but received no other compensation and the opinions shared here, are my own.

I have always been a Right Bank girl. When it comes to Bordeaux, the right bank Merlot driven wines have always been more appealing than their left bank Cabernet Sauvignon driven counterparts. Perhaps, it’s just my love-hate relationship with Cab Sav. I don’t want to have to wait so long for it to be ready to drink, and I don’t want to spend that much! Or, perhaps I just like the way it tastes more. It’s approachable and nuanced, I don’t care what Miles says.

As this was my first year participating, I was surprised at the range of samples I received. They included L’Ecole 41 2017 Columbia Valley Merlot, Selby 2018 Merlot from Sonoma County, Bonterra 2018 California Merlot, Peju 2016 Merlot from Napa Valley, and LaZarre 2017 Merlot from Paso Robles.

UPDATE* We took this shot and then yesterday 2 more wines arrived from Rutherford Hill, the 2017 Atlas Peak Merlot and the 2019 Rosé of Merlot.

We begin with two wines that, while both are Merlot, are decidedly different. This is the wonderful thing about wine. It can remain attuned to its variety, in this case, Merlot, but through where and how it is grown, winemaking techniques, as well as vintages, it can exude its own personality.

My title says from “elegant to badass”. You will find this difference in the wines, but also in the personality of the two wineries. Both were delicious, but in quite different ways.

The Wineries

Peju Province, Napa Valley

Tony Peju was born near the Caspian Sea. That sounds so romantic, doesn’t it? The Caspian Sea is of course close to the region where we believe wine grapes first evolved. So perhaps wine was in his blood from an early age. He traveled Europe and in 1960 found himself in LA. Here, he and his wife Herta, built a thriving nursery and florist business.

This love of growing things led them to purchase 30 acres in Rutherford, where they could farm, and Tony decided he wanted to grow wine grapes and learn to make wine. A degree at UC Davis and some Garagiste winemaking led them to build a winery in 1991. This winery grew, along with its gardens. Today the 50-foot tower is a landmark in the Valley.

The property sits in Rutherford, east of the St. Helena Highway. The drive is lined with sycamore trees, the gardens are whimsical and transport you to another world. There are sculptures, manicured gardens, a creek, and fountains.

Peju Tower – Courtesy of PEJU Province Winery, Rutherford

Map of Peju Vineyards - courtesy Peju Province — Peju Tower – Courtesy of PEJU Province Winery, Rutherford

They have 5 vineyards: the HB Estate Vineyard at the winery in Rutherford, two in the Pope Valley, Persephone and Tess, Wappo Vineyard in Calistoga, and one in Oak Knoll. This allows them to have estate fruit in 4 different Napa Valley sub AVAs.

They have been lucky in that they were safe from the recent fires. It’s not been easy in Napa this year. I spoke with Christine Lilienthal at the winery. She said they felt very fortunate.

“The fires came too close for comfort in Calistoga and evened brushed up against several rows of vines. We don’t know what the full results will be but we do encourage wine lovers to show their support for all of Napa Valley Wineries… the best way to do that is purchase Napa Valley wines or visit us in person. Covid regulations and the fires have impacted our small, hard-working community and we appreciate all the support. Also, we are donating 10% of all online wine sales in October to support Fire Relief and our community.”
Christine Lilienthal, Director of Marketing Peju Province Winery

They do have another property in Carneros called Calmére, where they focus on Pinot Noir and Viognier.

LaZarre

LaZarre Wines is the wine love child of Adam and Angie LaZarre and is meant to showcase Central Coast fruit. The two are co-winemakers, both with long careers in the industry. They do have a bit of a “Rockstar” vibe. The photo above is for an event that they typically do annually called “Metal & Merlot”. This year, I guess you just need to grab a bottle of their Merlot and crank up the Metal at your house!

Adam worked with Hahn, Villa San-Juliette, and helped to create Rex-Goliath & Cycles-Gladiator labels. Angie has worked in wine from hospitality to hands on work. She is the “boots on the ground”, “get this wine to the people” force at this winery in addition to spending time out in the vineyards, checking and tasting the grapes to see if they are ready. (Check that our on their IG page).

“We invite you to experience the wine we love to drink. After all, wine is a gift from God and should be enjoyed responsibly, or at least naked…”
Adam LaZarre, winemaker (from their site)

The Wines!

2016 Peju Merlot and 2017 LaZarre Merlot

The Elegant – Peju 2016 Merlot – Napa Valley

This wine is sourced from the Estate vineyard in Rutherford and the Persephone vineyard which is located on the east side of Howell Mountain in the Pope Valley. They practice sustainable farming, and the Rutherford property is Certified Organic. They are working to certify all their vineyards in the next few years. They also have a solar array covering over 10,000 square feet of the winery’s roof.

The details:

95% Merlot, 5% Cab Sav
They describe the 2016 season as “near-perfect”
17 months in French & American Oak (40% new)
4,857 cases produced
15% abv
SRP $48

The Badass – LaZarre 2017 Merlot – Paso Robles

This wine is from the Casa Grande Vineyard in the Adelaida District. They note that this vineyard is on Vineyard Road almost as far as where it meets Adelaida Road. The Merlot is grown on a south-facing slope in this cool-climate vineyard. This is an area I love in Paso. The trees and winding roads make for a heavenly drive.

The details:

100% Merlot
18 months is 60% New French oak, the rest in American Oak
160 cases produced
14% abv
SRP $48

What to eat with these?

Before we go into our thoughts on the wine, let’s tell you what we paired them with.

Red meat is a given for this, and we did steaks in garlic and Worcestershire. That’s pretty simple, buy we kicked it up with our sides doing a medley of sautéed carrots and potato swirls with parmesan. The kicker was dessert…

Steak in garlic and worchestshire, sauteed carrots and parmesan potato swirls

The potatoes were the time-consuming part of the meal; boil, cool, rice, add delicious stuff, pipe into swirls, freeze then bake! Whew! But they were delicious.

Now to dessert which was heaven…. Molten chocolate cake with raspberry mousse!

The chocolate cake? Okay, this felt like a cheat, but man it works well. I did a chocolate mug cake in the microwave. You can find the recipe here. We did this once before, the problem is, it’s too big for one person to eat. It’s just too rich. So, we share. It’s perfect for two.

The Raspberry Mousse was a bit more time and work, gelatin, water, raspberries, sugar, and crème. There is some soaking and boiling and mixing and whipping and folding and chilling. But it’s all worth it. This is lovely and not too sweet, which contrasts beautifully with the rich sweet chocolate cake.

I spooned the warm chocolate mug cake into 2 very fancy dessert glasses (Thanks RuBen!) then topped with the raspberry mousse, fresh raspberries, and mint. This was heaven.

We also did a Day 2 pairing. These are big wines and we could not polish them off in one evening. That was actually perfect though, we could taste these again a second time after they had time to open up. This time we paired them with a steak stir fry with bok choy and peppers.

How did the wines do?

The Peju

Immediately I noticed the color in the glass, more red tones, and lighter than the LaZarre. Upon dipping my nose in the glass I smelled red fruits like currant or plum and spice. It opened to licorice, white pepper, and a bit of 5-spice. In my mouth, there were tannins, medium in strength but rough in my mouth, like rubbing suede where the grain is not always in the same direction. I felt a lift of alcohol on the back of my palate, that was not unpleasant.

This was 15% abv, I expected it to blow me away and come off hot, but it did not. It was balanced and elegant with good acid. My final impression was “prim, forthright and elegant”. It was beautiful with the food, elevating the steak. It was a stunner with dessert.

The LaZarre

The nose was detailed and nuanced, I got multiple spices, light tobacco, and tea leaf with a background of light cocoa and cherries. It opened to cherry cola with bits of cool eucalyptus. In my mouth, this was fuller and came off as sweeter, still dry, but with sweet fruit notes. This is concentrated with fine smooth tannins. Decidedly flashier, it has that Rockstar edge but toned down, this is the songwriter in the group, not the frontman. It is big, but there is depth and nuance here.

This is a wine that demands attention and didn’t want to share as much with the food. However, the second day with the stir fry, this wine sang. I don’t know if it was the peppers or the onions or the seasonings, or if it had just opened up to a happy spot, but it came out on top with this second pairing.

#MerlotMe on #WinePW

We are just getting started! We have 5 more wines we intend to share with you over the remainder of the month! It’s Merlot Month people! What’s in your glass?

In the meantime…take a gander at the pieces written by my colleagues at #WinePW and plan to join us Saturday morning on Twitter!

Andrea at The Quirky Cork shares “Three Turkish Merlots”
Camilla at Culinary Adventures with Camilla shares “Merlot: A Varietal That Plays Well with Others”
Cindy at Grape Experiences shares “Sip Merlot with Vegetarian Favorites”
Deanna at Asian Test Kitchen shares “Fall Vegan Menu Paired with 2016 Napa Merlots”
David at Cooking Chat shares “Merlot Food Pairing: Tips and Favorites”
Gwendolyn at Wine Predator shares “Meatloaf and #MerlotMe with Sonoma’s Selby and Columbia Valley’s L’Ecole No. 41”
Jane at Always Ravenous shares “Merlot Pairing: Baked Pasta with Sausage Ragù”
Jeff at Food Wine Click! shares “A Tale of Two Merlots at the Grill”
Jill at L’Occasion shares “What’s So Special About Merlot?”
Jennifer at Vino Travels shares “Fall is Here! Warm up with a Merlot and Pot Roast Pairing”
Lauren at The Swirling Dervish shares “October is #MerlotMe Month: Here’s What I’ve Been Sipping”
Linda at My Full Wine Glass shares “Kicking off #MerlotMe in the Pacific time zone”
Liz at What’s in that Bottle? shares “Make Room for Merlot!”
Lori at Exploring the Wine Glass shares “Leaves on the Ground and #MerlotMe in my Glass”
Lynn at Savor the Harvest shares “Next Gen Merlot From Where It All Started”
Martin at Enofylz shares “A Meatless #MerlotMe Redux”
Nicole at Somms Table shares “5 #MerlotMe Nights”
Payal at Keep the Peas shares “Kicking Off Autumn With #Merlotme”
Pinny at Chinese Wine & Food Pairings shares “#MerlotMe with Markham and L’Ecole No. 41 Merlots and Army Ramen”
Rupal at Syrah Queen shares “#MerlotMe – Best Food Pairings For Merlot”
Susannah at Avvinare shares “Brazilian Merlot Is Always Welcome At My Table”
Terri at Our Good Life shares “Merlot Me with Noodless Lasagne”
Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm shares “Woohoooooooo….It is #MerlotMe month”

As always be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to keep up to date on all of our posts.

When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.

Bordeaux Bubbles? #Winophiles

Mar 20, 2020

Bordeaux… You think rich red wines, Cabernet or Merlot based. Or perhaps you think of Sauternes, those luscious sweet wines from southwest Bordeaux. But when you think of Bordeaux, do you think of bubbles? Probably not.

It’s not easy to find crémant de Bordeaux in the US. I checked local wine shops, to no avail and then searched online. After going through 8 sites, I found 3 crémant de Bordeaux wines on one of the larger sites. I snapped up 2 bottles and noticed when I went back to jot down the details on the wines, that I had purchased the last bottle they had available of one of these wines. (Okay…I did find one by the glass at a local restaurant. More on that later.)

So why am I talking about them, if they are so hard to find? Well, like with anything, supply is often dictated by demand. So let’s increase the demand. Go ask for a crémant de Bordeaux! Let’s get a few more available in the marketplace!

These are delicious sparkling wines made in the traditional method that are a fraction of the price of Champagne!

Crémant

The word “crémant” means “creamy” and refers to the fine bubbles in these wines. (Notice that fine stream of bubbles coming up from the bottom of this glass).

There are some rules for using the term “Crémant”. (Crémants.com)

must be within the protected designation of origin (PDO)
grapes must be picked by hand
they must age for at least 12 months
they are made in the méthod traditionelle (Traditional/Classic Method)
limit of 100 liters for 150 kilos of grapes pressed
maximum sulfur dioxide content not over 150mg/l
sugar content is less than 50g/l

Crémant de Bordeaux is one of eight french Crémants.

These are classified by region and include:

Crémant de Loire
Crémant d’Alsace
Crémant de Bourgogne
Crémant de Die
Crémant de Limoux
Crémant de Jura
Crémant de Savoie
Crémant de Bordeaux

***Side note….there is also Crémant de Luxembourg, which is from Luxembourg outside of France. It’s the only place outside of France where the term “crémant” can legally be used. (Wine Folly – All about Crémant Wine)

Crémant de Bordeaux

While sparkling wines have been made in Bordeaux since the 1800’s, the appellation was not official until 1990! While production has been typically pretty low, it’s currently increasing, especially the rosé. Two of the 3 wines I found were rosé. This is probably to be expected in this region. Crémant de Bordeaux is actually one of the largest appellations in France in regards to geographical area with more than 500 different vineyards. (Bordeaux-Magazine-US/The-Ultimate-Guide-to-Cremant-de-Bordeaux)

As of 2018 crémant de Bordeaux was selling 6.4 million bottles each year. The overall Bordeaux AOC encompasses 111,400 hectares, 910 of these hectares are designated for Crémant. Most of these wines are sold on the French market, with just 20% headed to export markets. (Crémants.com)

Grape varieties for crémant de Bordeaux

So the other great thing about crémant is that you get to taste sparkling wine from varieties other than the Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier of Champagne. These wines are made from the grapes of the region and for Bordeaux that means…

Red grape varieties for crémant de Bordeaux rosé

Merlot
Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Franc
Malbec
Petit Verdot
Carménère

White grape varieties for crémant de Bordeaux Blanc

Savignon Blanc
Sémillon
Muscadelle

Primarily, as expected, with rosé you see Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon used for these wine with smaller amounts of the other grapes sometimes. Typically these are Cabernet Sauvignon dominant. For the white sparklings, again, the primary white grapes of the region and they are Sémillon dominant. Keep in mind that rosé just indicates skin contact for color, I had a white crémant that had Cabernet Franc as part of the blend. It was not allowed extended skin contact so it imparted no color to the wine.

On to the Wines

Amelia Brut Rosé

Remember when I mentioned that I found a crémant de bordeaux by the glass locally? Well this was the one. I had already ordered the wines online, when a friend and I had dinner at True Food Kitchen. They offer 3 sparkling wines on their menu and one was the Amelia Brut Rosé. The bartender was kind enough to let me do a bottle shot.

Amelia Crémant de Bordeaux Brut Rosé
Coupe of Amelia Crémant de Bordeaux

Winemaker notes

85% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc
12.5% abv
fermented over 3 weeks in cool temperatures
aged sur lie 2 months before bottling
rested another 18 months en tirage
SRP $23.99

They served this in a coupe and the bubbles were really hard to see, but the wine did feel effervescent on my tongue. When we served this at home, I noticed the same thing. It is aromatic with red and black fruit notes.

Calvet Crémant de Bordeaux Brut 2016

Winemaker notes

70% Sémillon, 30% Cabernet Franc
fermented at low temps
2nd fermentation 9 months
11.5% abv
$16.99 SRP

Made by Calvet

The grapes for this particular wine hail from the Entré-Deux-Mers region of Bordeaux. Entré-Deux-Mers means, “between two seas” which indicates it’s location between the Garonne & Dordogne rivers in the central part of Bordeaux. (You can see this on the map above.)

Sémillon is the main grape used in the sweet white wines of Sauternes. It’s also one of the major varieties from the Hunter Valley in Australia, where we were able to taste quite a few dry sémillons. This variety ages very well developing nutty flavors.

Pairings

Suggested pairings for the Amelia rosé included “flavorful cheeses, fresh seafood or meats, like duck, chicken and pork, with flavorful, fruit-based sauces”. The Calvet…well, it was tougher to find information, but I found mention of serving it on it’s own or with dessert.

Crémant de Bordeaux snack pairing with berries and cheese crisps.

After a small snack of raspberries, black berries and cheese crisps, I settled on surf and turf for dinner! We did a simple salad with crab and then bacon wrapped filets that I topped with a berry sauce. (Blackberries, raspberries, rosemary, sage, red wine, salt, pepper and worcestershire sauce). We finished off the meal pairing with apple turnovers. (Yellow fruit? That’s all I could come up with).

Crémant de Bordeaux pairings, crab salad and bacon wrapped filet with berry sauce

The Calvet went well with the crab salad, the Amelia Brut Rosé was heaven with the steak. The berry notes pulled to the front with the berry sauce and the fat in the bacon was balance beautifully by the acid in the wine. You know, bubbles, they are just really wonderful. They are joyful and they clean your palate making each bite as delicious as the first. I was sad when my steak was gone.

Calvet Crémant de Bordeaux with apple turnovers

The Calvet went beautifully with the dessert, nicely playing off the sweet softness of the apples.

More on crémant de Bordeaux

While I was only able to find these two crémants, I do have a friend in Bordeaux who wrote a piece on one of the larger producers in the region. Les Cordeliers where they have been producing sparkling wines for over 120 years. It’s well worth the read and has some stunning photos.

Jennifer has tons of great insider information on the Bordeaux Region that you can find on her site Bordeaux Travel Guide.

The French #Winophiles

Of course the reason we are discussing crémant de Bordeaux is because it is the French #Winophiles topic for March! (Thanks Guys for an excuse to drink Crémant!) You can join us on Saturday March 21st at 8 am PST on Twitter, following #Winophiles to join the conversation and hear about all the Crémants we all tasted! Then for more info…check out all the pieces below!

Cam at Culinary Adventure with Camilla shares Definitively Bordeaux: Cannelés + Crémant without the Champagne Price Tag #Winophiles
Linda at My Full Wine Glass enjoys Date night during a pandemic with Crémant de Bordeaux (#Winophiles)
Lynn at Savor the Harvest introduces Crémant de Bordeaux, Sparkling wine from the land of big reds #Winophiles and showcases Making Biodynamic Crémant in Bordeaux #Winophiles
Jeff at Wine Food Click! recaps A Stroll Around Saint Emilion with a Visit to Les Cordeliers #Winophiles
Cindy at Grape Experiences says Welcome Spring with Amelia Crémant de Bordeaux Rosé and Raspberry Clafoutis #Winophiles
Terri at Our Good Life serves Warm brie, cool bubbles #Winophiles
Gwendolyn at Wine Predator tells Clink Different with Cremant: Bordeaux’s Sparkling Wine Paired with Crab Cakes, Squash Fritters, and the Daughters of Dada #Winophiles
Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm serves Wilted Spring Greens Soup with Amelia Brut Rose #Winophiles
Susannah at Avvinare enjoys Cremant de Bordeaux, An Unexpected Pleasure – #Winophiles.com
Pinny at Chinese Food and Wine Pairings Drinks Cool Malesan Crémant de Bordeaux and Eats Chinese Hotpot #Winophiles

As always be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to keep up to date on all of our posts.

When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.

“Take a trip up Happy Canyon”

Mar 27, 2014

Westerly Vineyard Courtesy of SB Vintners

Westerly Vineyard
Photo Courtesy of SB Vintners

“Take a trip up Happy Canyon” Yep, that’s how Happy Canyon got it’s name. It was the place to sneak off to find a simple alcoholic beverage during Prohibition to “get Happy”, and the name stuck.

This AVA was established in 2009 and is the fourth to be established in Santa Barbara County. It is on the eastern edge of the Santa Barbara region and being the furthest inland and warmest (average summer temps in the low nineties) it lends itself to Bordeaux varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Petit Verdot and Syrah.

The soil here has a high mineral level and is loam and clay loam. The lack of nutrients in the soil creates smaller vines with lower yields.

Happy Canyon AVA

The AVA itself covers 23,941 acres and includes 6 major vineyards: Crown Point, Dascomb, Dierberg & Star Lane Vineyards, Grassini Family Vineyards, Happy Canyon Vineyard and Westerly. This is the easternmost part of the Santa Ynez Valley and sits Northwest of Lake Cachuma.

The first planting was done in 1996 with the first vintage here in 2001. The fruit here is limited but produce complexity and depth. You get natural acidity as well as ripe fruit flavors creating balance.

So the alcoholic beverages from Happy Canyon are no longer simple as they were in the day when it got it’s name. Now you will find complex and expressive wines. Feel free to take a drive through the beautiful area and see the vineyards, but unfortunately, you will not find any tasting rooms here. Never fear! Many of these wineries have tasting rooms conveniently located in downtown Santa Barbara, Solvang or Sta. Rita Hills.

Grassini Tasting Room, Photo Courtesy of Grassini Family

You can find Grassini Family Vineyards beautiful tasting room in Downtown Santa Barbara. Dascomb has a tasting room in Solvang. Star Lane has it’s vineyards in Happy Canyon. It’s sister Vineyard is Dierberg and you can taste Star Lane wines at their tasting room on their Sta. Rita Hills property on Drum Canyon Road.

As to the rest? Well…the Grand Tasting at the Santa Barbara Vintners Spring Weekend will have them all available for tasting! Or you can spoil yourself and plan to attend the Grassini Family Dinner Event with 6 wineries including Grassini, Sea Smoke, Margerum, Dierberg Estate, Kaena, Fiddlehead and Andrew Murray.

Grassini Family Vineyard Courtesy of Grassini Family

Grassini Family Vineyard, Photo Courtesy of Grassini Family

They have an incredible event planned for after the Grand Tasting on Saturday night with Dinner lakeside under the oaks out on their Happy Canyon Vineyard. They will have passed hors d’oeuvres and a four-course meal and of course, wine!

Find out all the details about the Vintner’s weekend at http://www.sbvintnersweekend.com

Grassini Family Vineyard Pond Courtesy of Grassini Family

Grassini Family Vineyard Pond, Photo Courtesy of Grassini Family

Or visit Santa Barbara Vintners for information on things happening year round in Santa Barbara’s Wine Country.

The varied and amazing wines and wineries of Santa Barbara County

Mar 22, 2014

It’s no secret, I’m in love with the Santa Barbara County Wine Region. It is laid back with an incredible range of variety. “Sideways” got it right. This is the best up and coming wine area in our country. Up and coming actually seems a little silly, the wineries and winemakers here have quite a history. There are giants of winemaking here including: Richard Sanford, Jim Clenedenen, Bob Linquist, Richard Longoria & Bill Wathen. And the list of amazing winemakers continues to grow and the wines they are producing are varied and amazing.

Clos Pepe in the Santa Rita Hills

Santa Barbara lies in a unique area that separated from the plates along the coast. Over the past twelve million years this little section shifted and created a Transverse valley. This means that the valley here runs east west as opposed to north south like all the other valleys on our coast. The transverse valley and the microclimates within it lead to a place where you can grow an amazing variety of grapes in a relatively small area. On the western edge the valley is cool and is perfect for growing Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. As you move east the valley warms by a degree a mile! This makes the middle section perfect for Rhone varieties like Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre and Roussanne and as you continue to the east side where Happy Canyon lies you have enough heat to support those Bordeaux varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Malbec and Sauvignon Blanc.

So if you are a wine geek like me…this is a great place. But if you are not a wine geek and want to avoid the intimidation of wine talk and just enjoy a glass…well this is the right place too.

So…make your first stop in the Funk Zone near the beach in Santa Barbara on the Urban Wine trail. Stop into one of the many great tasting rooms there. Maybe hit Municipal Winemakers first and soak up some of the funky atmosphere. Sit down at the picnic table and enjoy a glass of rose.

AVA Santa Barbara Elkpen Mural

Then if you are feeling like learning a little about where these wines come from head up the street to AVA Santa Barbara. Here you can taste wines from all the different regions in Santa Barbara County. The entire wall over the tasting bar is a huge chalk mural by Elkpen that shows the regions soils, microclimates and topography. The wines, by Seth Kunin of Kunin Wines are lovely and deliberately varied to feature the microclimates in this incredible area.

If you head further North into downtown, you will find Grassini, Au Bon Climat & Margerum to choose between for a tasting.

Bistro Dining and Sunset Tasting at Deep Sea

Head back through the downtown shopping district and stop at Pierre Lafond Wine Bistro for lunch. Then take a stroll on the beach and finally enjoy a nice glass of wine at Conway Family Wines – Deep Sea Tasting room on the Santa Barbara Pier while you enjoy the sunset.

Saarloos & Sons & Cupcakes

Oh, but my friend, you are just getting started in Santa Barbara County. Tomorrow drive into Solvang, the adorable little Danish town and get some aebleskivers for breakfast at the Solvang Restaurant. You can then stroll this town and taste at several tasting rooms that you can walk to, or drive a little further into Los Olivos where you will find over 35 tasting rooms to choose from! And…I would be remiss if I didn’t mention a great place to dine at Side’s Hardware & Shoes. Don’t miss Saarloos and Sons for a pairing with cupcakes from Enjoy Cupcakes.

Carhartt Patio Tasting Area

They are there Thursday thru Sunday from 11-5 (or until they run out of cupcakes, so go early!) and one of my favorite tasting rooms, the tiniest one on the planet is across the street from Saarloos and Sons at Carhartt. Carhartt stays open an hour later than the others and this often becomes quite the gathering spot on the beautiful but tiny back patio.

Are you overwhelmed yet? There is more…I highly recommend Terrravant Winery Restaurant in Buellton for dinner and pairings. They have an Enomatic wine dispensing system set up so you can try small tastes of many of the amazing local wines. And the now World Famous Hitching Post II is also here in Buellton, made famous by the movie “Sideways”.

Avante Tapas & Wine Bar Front Entrance

Tomorrow morning you have more wine country to explore! There are amazing wineries outside of Los Olivos in the Santa Ynez Valley like Buttonwood Farms & Beckman. Or travel up to Santa Maria through Foxen Canyon and enjoy the morning Vandenberg Fog. Stop at Zaca Mesa and try their Rhones. This place has been around a while and popped out some pretty amazing winemakers! Further up the road, you can’t miss stopping at “The Shack” at Foxen.

Zaca Mesa Patio with the oversized chess set

And…then there is the Sta. Rita Hills. If you love Pinot or good Chard you want to drive through here. Make an appointment and stop by Clos Pepe. Wes Hagen has more vineyard and wine knowledge than you can imagine and a tasting with him is amazing! Just past Clos Pepe is Hilliard Bruce. John and Christine have an incredibly beautiful landscaped property and their vineyard management is state of the art.

Clos Pepe and Hilliard Bruce

Keep driving down 246 to Lompoc and top into the Wine Ghetto. Filled with small wineries working out of an industrial park you will find Flying Goat Cellars, Fiddlehead & Palmina as well as a host of others. Check the hours though, because they are often just open on weekends for tastings. Further into Lompoc you will find Brewer-Clifton, which again brought out my geeky side as we talked about stem inclusion and how they thin the vines to ripen the stems!

Lompac Wine Ghetto

Have I covered it all? Not even close. There is so much exploring I look forward to going back to do. But…if you are short on time…The Grand Tasting at the Santa Barbara Vintners Spring Weekend will have all of these great wineries and winemakers in one place on April 12^th.

Or at anytime for information visit Santa Barbara Vintners

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Sculpterra Wine & Art – Roaming the sculpture garden

Aug 22, 2013

Sculpterra is located on the East side of Paso off of Linne Road. This unique winery greets you with a magnificent sculpture garden. Surrounded by gorgeous iron fencing by master black smith Robert C. Bentley the garden itself is filled with the beautiful sculpture work of John Jagger.

Dr. Warren Frankel bought this property back in the 1980’s and moved his family there in 1990. Paul his son is the winemaker, a graduate of Cal Poly in Viticulture and Enology. Paul is more than just the winemaker, he also manages the vineyards, deals with fruit and juice sales and occasionally can be found pouring in the tasting room.

As we were here on a Saturday, the winery was busy and had an accordion player playing live in the tasting room. In addition to making their own wines, they also sell bulk fruit and juice to small independent winemakers. They do a wide variety of wines here, including Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier, Chardonnay, Grenache, Pinot Noir, Primitivo, Mourvedre, Merlot, Syrah, Petite Sirah, Cabernet Franc, Zinfandel and Cabernet Sauvignon.

The wines are lovely and it is a wonderful place to come grab a glass of wine and wander the sculpture garden for a little art fix.

Enjoy a virtual stroll through their amazing sculpture gardens…you’ll have to provide your own wine, I recommend a rose.

Wiens Reflection Vertical, wine tasting and pairings

Aug 13, 2013

Wine is terrific, and when you pair it with food you can take it to another level. Learning how to taste, decant and pair can be an exciting adventure.

The journey today is with a Vertical of three vintages of Wiens Reflections red blend. There are differences because of the actual blends (they use different varieties of grapes each year), differences because of the climate in each year and then differences because obviously the older vintages have aged longer! We taste the wines right out of the bottle and then decanted and watch as the flavors evolve. Then we pair them with meats cheeses and other foods and the flavors change again, enhanced (or not) by contrasting or complimentary flavors in the food. It’s an exciting journey, join us and then try a tasting of your own! See original Post.

Reflection Tasting in Vertical from Wiens Family Cellars

May 1, 2013

Wiens Family Cellars was having a Vertical tasting of their Reflections red blends and we couldn’t go…so we put together a vertical of our own. We had the 2008, 2010 and the 2011. These are of course blends, so they are all a little different, so this a little different from a typical vertical. Typically you would have a single variety of grape or a fairly set blend that you would be comparing from year to year. You would get the differences in the climate and season that affect each year’s harvest. You would also be able to see how the wine ages. We were able to do those things, but the field for comparison was a bit more wide open. Let me take a minute to give you the breakdown on these three vintages.

2008 Reflection is 30% Sangiovese, 28% Barbera, 28% Merlot, 14% Petit Verdot with Alcohol 15.1 and Residual sugar .6%
2010 Reflection is 63% Sangiovese, 14% Cabernet, 14% Syrah, 9% Zinfandel with 14.5 Alcohol and .5 % residual sugar.
2011 Reflection is 42% Sangiovese, 20% Merlot, 14% Zinfandel, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Primitivo, 2% Montepulciano, 2% Cabernet Franc, 2% Dolcetto with 12.5 Alcohol! and .2 residual sugar

So as you can see this blend is Sangiovese based, but that’s about where the similarities end. This makes for a brilliantly exciting tasting! At the winery they are doing “Reflections of the Decades” and they are tasting 6 of these wines, 2006-2011. We somehow can’t find the 2009 so I must have already enjoyed it! At the winery they are doing a decade theme starting with the 60’s for the 2006. I perused their pairings and then went back to the suggestions with the wines. We picked up some Spanish meats and cheeses (yes I know, I could have picked up Italian!). We did a tasting upon opening and then let them breathe for a bit and tasted each with the meats and cheeses. For the pairings we went a little out of order and cooked them for each course. I know it sounds tough, but…we have Trader Joes. So here’s the run down for the pairings:

2010 Reflection with a goat cheese and basil pizza, to which we added a little sage and thyme.
2008 Reflection with Eggplant Parmesan
2011 Reflection with meat lasagna and a spinach salad.

Then we had chocolate cake for dessert and tasted it with all 3.

We found that the wines opened up quite a bit over the course of the evening. I had e-mailed the winery to ask decanting recommendations. Bob was kind enough to get back to me and suggested decanting the 2010 and 2011 straight down into a decanter on the counter top to add as much oxygen as possible. For the 2008 he suggested carefully pouring it down the side of a tilted decanter to give it some space to gently open up. Thanks Bob! Unfortunately, I do not yet own a nice decanter. So…we took the advice the best that we could. We opened up the 2008 and gently poured into glasses and let it air. The other two we got the aerator out and poured them through to add oxygen. On to the tasting!

Lumiere – a truly beautiful small winery

Apr 10, 2013

Continuing on with our Wine country adventures, About a year ago a co-worker came back from a trip to Temecula Wine Country and told me that they had tasted at Lumiere Winery.

Lumiere Banner

The friend he was traveling with knew the winemaker. I, being a Temecula wine junkie, researched the winery to find that they are very small, family run and the tasting room is only open on weekends. Our last trip allowed us to be in Temecula on a Friday, so we took a chance and drove up to the tasting room, which is on the North side of Calle Contento Road. There is a banner for Lumiere posted at the end of their drive. It’s a beautiful drive up to the ridge that the tasting room and winery sit on. The tasting room is a beautifully renovated 3-car garage.

Lumiere View from Tasting room

It has windows on both sides looking out onto the vineyards. We didn’t see anyone and stepped around outside to see the view outback, when a back door opened and a woman asked if we needed some help. This woman is the owner, Martha Kleiner. She and her husband bought the vineyard in 1987 from the Barlin Family who planted Sauvignon Blanc here in 1980. Her son Andrew grew up coming out to the vineyard every weekend and is now the winemaker. He and his mother run the entire place.

They are doing landscaping and putting in a small deli so people can grab something to eat on the weekends.

The tasting room view as you stand at the bar is through the eucalyptus trees and out onto the vineyard. It’s really peaceful and beautiful. They have picnic tables on the patio, so it’s perfect for bringing a picnic and buying a bottle of wine.

Lumiere Cork Art on Wall

The tasting room itself it beautiful with clean lines and beautiful woods and a lovely piece of cork art created by a local artist, that they submitted in the cork competition for the annual WOW (World of Wine) weekend.

Lumiere Winery Patio

We began wine tasting and Martha told us a little about the vineyard and the plans they have for it. Being small, growth is slow. As she told us about purchasing and working the vineyards back in the early 80’s I mentioned that I had just picked up a book on Temecula wine country. She remembered writing and essay and giving pictures to the author. Michael ran out to the car and brought the book back in for her to see. At the time they started the vineyard, the valley was much smaller in a community sense and everyone knew everyone. She knows Vincent and Audrey Cirluzo as well as Bud and Maurice Van Roekel. They were all starting out at the same time. Soooo much history here. It was truly an honor to speak with her.

The wines are unique. They have a Sparkling Sauvignon Blanc as well as a late harvest Sav Blanc. Their “Bail out Blanc” was made in 2007 and has 1% residual sugar. We also tasted their 2006 Merlot. In making this wine they did punch downs by hand then it was 2 years in the barrel. This is free run juice; the skins and seeds are not pressed. They use barrels with French and American oak staves. Their 2006 “Romantic Fantasy” is 90% Merlot and 10% Cab Franc. It is hard pressed with the skins and seeds. Their 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon is done in new American 70 Gallon Barrels. It was the top choice in a blind tasting at a local vineyard meeting.

The 2006 Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc was picked at 27 Brix and has 4.5% residual sugar. It was fermented in steel at 29 degrees for 6 months and it has a lovely brightness. The “Voulez Vous” their sparkling Sav Blanc has a nice tartness.

This is really a wonderful peaceful stop. If you are in Temecula on a wine travel weekend, don’t miss it. And tell Martha that we say hello!

Oak Mountain Wine, Music and a view

Mar 15, 2013

Oak Mountain Winery sits high on the North side of the De Portola Wine Trail with great views of Oak Mountain. You can’t miss the entrance with it’s buckboard wagon emblazoned with the winery name. This winery houses both Oak Mountain and Temecula Hill Wineries. Temecula hills is way down De Portola and does not have a tasting room.

Oak Mountain patio Ent

Every weekend they have live music in their Pavilion next to the tasting room.

Oak Mountain patio

Oak Mountain pizza

We stopped by and the Pavilion was busy and enticed us in with the sign out front advertising gourmet pizza inside.

There was a duo playing and lots of 8 top round tables filling the space. The band was at the front corner, backed by the great view. We headed straight for the pizza which was made to order. They also had a table set up with jewelry and crafts for sale. Michael took a seat and I went to the tasting bar at the back. The line was long and they had wines by the glass and wine margaritas in addition to the tastings. All the wines here were reasonably priced. We tasted through the 2011 Muscat, 2011 Zinfandel Blanc Noir, 2011 Savignon Blanc, 2008 Grenache Noir, 2009 Merlot, 2009 Tempranillo and a Durif. We enjoyed our pizza, the music and the view.

In addition to their weekend music they have monthly events that include cooking classes or blending classes.

Pictures

Oak Mountain patio Ent

Oak Mountain pizza

Oak Mountain path

Oak Mountain Merlot

Oak Mountain patio

Merlot

L’Ecole No. 41

L’Ecole No. 41 Merlot – Columbia Valley

So now…what to pair?

Bleu Cheese Ice Cream

So how did the pairings go?

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The big names

Concha y Toro

Terlato

Bonterra Organic Vineyards

Bonterra 2018 Merlot

The details:

Pairing with Pulled pork & Bleu cheese nachos

Rutherford Hill Winery

Rutherford Hill 2017 Atlas Peak Merlot

The details:

Pairing with bleu cheese, nuts, chocolate and lasagna

So what is the wrap up here?

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2018 Selby Merlot

Orsi Family Vineyard

More on Merlot

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The Wineries

Peju Province, Napa Valley

LaZarre

The Wines!

The Elegant – Peju 2016 Merlot – Napa Valley

The details:

The Badass – LaZarre 2017 Merlot – Paso Robles

The details:

What to eat with these?

How did the wines do?

The Peju

The LaZarre

#MerlotMe on #WinePW

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Crémant

Crémant de Bordeaux

Grape varieties for crémant de Bordeaux

Red grape varieties for crémant de Bordeaux rosé

White grape varieties for crémant de Bordeaux Blanc

On to the Wines

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Winemaker notes

Calvet Crémant de Bordeaux Brut 2016

Winemaker notes

Pairings

More on crémant de Bordeaux

The French #Winophiles

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