April 2010 Archives

This is the most highly rated Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon. 94 Parker, 96 Spectator, and well worth those points. It's deep red, highly reflective, with chocolate and coffe on the nose. It's full bodied. The tannins are dusty, fine, well-rounded, and there are subtle dark fruit and dark cocoa tastes. Old world components, rich soil, some spices, just amazing Cabernet. It has a touch of Cab Franc as well. About $75. Tasted April, 2010.

This is Malbec from 100 year old vines, and a French wine maker. It's deep, dark purple, very deep colored. On the nose it's blackberry, cherry, smoke, cigar box, cedar and cassis. The taste has spice, dark fruit, soft, round tannins, with plenty of acid, no apparent alcohol, and a long finish that goes at least 45 seconds. This is a pretty amazing Argentinian Malbec, especially at only about $37 per bottle. Did I mention 100 year old vines? Tasted April, 2010.

Light, cherry color with amazing depth, transparent. On the nose it's tart cherry, Ludens. The taste is tart, sour cherry, and it's subtle front to back, a bit of acidity, then some currant and dried cherry on the back end. It's light to mid-weight for Pinot. About 400 cases made, it's not easy to find. At about $85 there are California and Oregon Pinots I prefer, but this is an excellent Burgundy. Tasted April, 2010.

Straw color, bright, very reflective. No malo, lime zest, green apple, very typical for Chardonnay, but I like Chard's with no malo, and so can't be totally fair to this wine. If you like good Chard, with malo, on a blend of American, French and stainless by a terrific wine maker (Celia Welch), you'll like this well made wine. About $50. Tasted April, 2010.

Marlborough, New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc from a single vineyard, it's bright, sparkling color, viscous on the glass. The nose is floral, with green grass notes. It's mid-weight on the palate, with grapefruit, stone fruit, apricot, bay leaf, and tarragon. It has acidity up front. Would pair well with crab cakes, salmon, ahi tuna, or swordfish. About $25. Tasted April, 2010. Premium NZ wine, well worth the price of admission!

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• 2008 New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc Tasting with Some Cheese - Episode #818 (tv.winelibrary.com)
• What's in a Name? (online.wsj.com)

I've read that 2007 was spectacular across all of Gigondas, and if the other wineries did as well as this one, get out there and buy these wines. The Domaine de Longue Toque is spectacular. Bright, ruby red, transparent to translucent. It's nose has red fruit, brush, some red flowers, and then leather and spices. Medium bodied, great cherry fruit, other red fruit. It's a pretty bold wine, well balanced, plenty of alcohol (14.5%), fruit, and smooth, silky, well-integrated tannins. Long, mouth-watering finish. As it opens the wine has a peppery finish. This wine reminds me of why I love Grenache blends. About $32.

Wine Spectator review: http://www.winespectator.com/wine/detail/source/search/note_id/274131
Wine Advocate review: http://www.erobertparker.com/newSearch/th.aspx?th=133780&id=1
Cellar Tracker: http://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=640153

Fantastic wine tasting tonight at The Wine House in Manlius. Started out with a Prosecco.

Moved into the Matua Sauvignon Blanc 2008 from the Marlborough region of New Zealand (see the map) and then to the Hollywood & Vine 2480 Chardonnay 2006. Switching to reds it was a Burgundian Pinot Noir, the Louis Jadot Chambolle-Musigny "Les Fuees" 2006, which I reviewed last about a year ago. After that we tasted the Swinto Old Vines Malbec 2006 from Mendoza, Argentina.

The last of the night, a phenomenal treat was the Concha y Toro Don Melchor 2005 from Chile, one of the best Cabernets out there, and definitely the best from Chile. The 2005 received a 96 from Wine Spectator and a 94 from Robert Parker and this was a great opportunity to taste this wine.

I'll write up individual reviews for all of the wines over the next few days, but I wanted to get out the kudos to the folks at The Wine House for putting together this exceptional tasting for about a dozen lucky customers. As I said a few entries earlier, the reason I enjoy wine tastings is the opportunity to learn about the wines, the regions, and the stories from friends about the wines they've had before as well as what they're looking forward to trying next. Thanks!

Just a quick post to recommend another two CNY food blogging sites - with a nod to one of them for their props for Dinosaur BBQ in NYC that mentioned the First Lady and daughters picking out this fine gem of a BBQ place. Anyway, recommended blogs, worth a read - Chus on Chow - http://chusonchow.com/ and Pulled into Syracuse at http://pulledintosyracuse.blogspot.com/

As most people know, Syracuse's food scene is not equivalent to NYC, Boston, DC, Philly, or even Albany. That's not to say there aren't some decent finds out there, but you have to work at it a little bit. There are also some great dives, good appetizers, and of course the one, true, amazing standout, Dinosaur BBQ.

Lauren Young, of youngeats.com, does a great job of profiling the places you don't want to miss in Syracuse and the surrounding area. She also travels and writes about the places she find. Her review of the Brickskeller in DC was right on. I think La Tasca's review could have been a bit better - while I agree places in the US don't do justice to tapas like Spain, La Tasca (at least the one in Old Town Alexandria I ate at last weekend) was pretty darn good. Especially the meat plate and cheese plate. The sangria didn't come close to sangria in Spain, but let's be honest, that has as much to do with being in Spain as the taste of the wine! (And I should know, I spent 2 1/2 years in Spain enjoying sangria AND tapas!)

But I digress, essentially I was recommending her food blog because she showcases good finds in Syracuse. And no one else I've seen has ever profiled Chuck's specials.

The Andrew Geoffrey Diamond Mountain is seriously good Cabernet Sauvignon (yeah, it has Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot in it too) that is probably my second favorite Cab ever (Snowden is the first, in part because of the fantastic price to quality of the Snowden). Gloriously black-purple. On the nose black fruit, cassis, blackberry, and then the wood components, nicely present but not overpowering the fruit. Spice, licorice, both there, but again, the dark fruit is too. It's a BIG wine, alcohol at the front, middle and back, but still not overpowering the fruit or tannins. Balanced. Full bodied, luscious wine, nicely round. The taste has the blackberries from the nose, along with dark wild berries. The oak is there. The finish lasts a long time, still dark fruit, still alcoholic, and tannins present. Great Napa Valley Cab, beautifully made, beautiful bottle, great by itself, would compliment the biggest, grilled, black pepper-seasoned NY Strip you could find. Highly recommended, about $75. Tasted April, 2010. As per usual, from The Wine House in Manlius, NY.

Andrew Geoffrey website: http://www.andrewgeoffrey.com/wine.html

Cellar Tracker for this wine: http://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=658876 

Deep red, nose is definitely influenced by the wood - lots of spice box, cedar, and then you get to dark berries. Plush, full bodied, lots of tannins, perhaps could have used more filtering or a decant as the wine had a lot of sediment. The taste had dark fruit, a bit of spice, licorice, and a long finish. It changed rapidly as it opened - more fruit at first, more tannins and earthy components later. I used tannins a lot in this review as they were VERY present, maybe a bit intrusive. Around $40, tasted April, 2010.

CellarTracker reviews at http://www.cellartracker.com//wine.asp?iWine=374067