Vanabout 2019 Day 14 & 15: Willamette Valley

Time for more wine tasting.

This time, except for the great De Ponte, I looked for wineries that had something else to offer other than my beloved Pinot Noir. For my efforts I was 1 for 2. Brooks Winery had some very nice and aromatic whites with a very special nod to their Gewürztraminer. I seriously wish I had bought more than just a half a case. Also, their tasting room was pretty hoppin’. Most of the tasting rooms in the WV are pretty small and quiet, but not Brooks.

Elk Cove on the other hand.  Well, their wines were ok. And the road to their winery was rather rough on Stevie Ray. So I wasn’t in the greatest mood going into this tasting.  But, especially compared to Brooks, the whites were just ok – better than average but not great.  They did have a beautiful estate, though.

And whenever I’m in McMinnville, I have to have the schnitzel at the Golden Valley Brewpub. It is one of the best schnitzel I can get in the US and also the 4th and not final schitz of the trip.

Firsts

• Visits to Brooks and Elk Cove
• Tank dump of the trip.  And boy do I have a story about that.

California Wine Trip Part 2: Carmel

California Wine Trip 2018: Pismo, Paso and Pinnacles

I took literally a trillion pictures in California, so it’s been a daunting task to go through them.  The first set is of Pismo Beach, Paso Robles and Pinnacles National Park (Thanks Obama).

Bay Area 2016

Wine of the Week: Panilonco Carménère

One of the first grape varietals I “discovered” while legitimizing my wine consumption through sommelier training, was Carménère*.  It was one of the bottles I got in my monthly Club W shipment and I was having steak.  So I needed a red.  I was immediately struck by the strong by aroma of bell pepper. Wait, no it was jalapeño pepper.  Regardless of the pepper, it was big and bold and paired great with the steak.  And since then Carménère has been my secret budget red with steak.

I wrote “discovered” because it was at one time a widely planted grape  in the Mèdoc area of Bordeaux .  It found its way down in Chile where it was thought to be Merlot until they did some gene sequencing and found it was really the long lost Bordeaux grape, Carménère

So for my second wine for Wine of the Week I wanted to introduce this varietal to my dedicated readers**.  So I pulled a $5 bottle off the shelf of my neighborhood Trader Joe’s and here’s what I found.

• Appearance – clear dark purple, almost like Welches
• Nose – clean dark fruit, dark cherries and raspberries, but with some rotted fruit.  Just a hint of oak and green pepper.
• Palate – lowish tannins, not much acid, low flavor in general. Notes of black cheery and a tiny bit of chocolate.

Overall, not very good.  If I was forced to describe it, I would say it tasted like a generic red wine you would drink at a bar that doesn’t really server wine.

$5 was probable too cheap for any wine in the US, even at TJ’s.  I’ll try one again later in the $9 price point.

Eat it with a burger if you must.  Don’t waste a steak on this one.

Oh and if anyone wants a free box of wine, let me know.   I can give four away from Club W.  But, to be honest, I’ve only had a handful from them that were any good.

C-

 

 

*Yes, I’m going to stick with the pretentious accent marks.

** That’s for the fan to decide.

Wine of the Week: Alain Suisse Brut Nature Champagne

It’s been a year now since my hard work and dedication* earned me a Level II from the International Sommelier Guild.  So, in an effort to share my knowledge and as an excuse to try more wine, I’ve decided to start a weekly** feature in which I try a wine I’ve never had before or a wine of particular importance to me.

That is the case of this week’s wine, Alain Suisse Brut Nature Champagne.

The good news is we’re starting of with a really good example of this style of Champagne.  The bad news is you can’t drink it in the US***.

• Appearance – clear light amber with an abundance of effervescence
• Nose – apple, a bit of peach, toffee
• Palate – bone dry, lots of acid,  mild sour apple with a hint of caramel

I don’t want to come off sounding like a wine douche*****, but this wine is exquisitely balanced.  While bone dry and extremely acidic, it never comes off as painful to drink like those “champagnes” they use in your mimosas for Sunday brunch.  I dare you to try to drink those without orange juice.

Immensely drinkable, light  and refreshing.  The perfect Champagne to drink after mowing the lawn on a hot summer day.  What?!?!?  Seriously, after mowing the lawn would you rather drink the Champagne of Beers or the Champagne of Champagne??  Ok, then.

A

 

* Translation – I drank a cubic decameter of wine.

** As with all weekly features on The Summer of Steve, expect this to be the last episode.

*** Unless you’re a close friend of mine and I still have a bottle****

**** I do

***** Too late

 

Prowein 2016

I came to Düsseldorf to taste some wine, and that I did.  I didn’t realize I would be tasting wine from 6 of the 7 continents*.  That I would taste wine from Bulgaria (good), Moldova (ok), Kosovo (terrible, but please don’t tell them, I hear they have a temper).

We started out strong (it really could only go downhill from here) with some Port.  Yes that 50 year old port on the left did make into my face.

I thought it was sweet someone named a wine after my old schnauzer.

I learned here that there is such a thing as too much Amarone

Funny people at the convention.

I guess I liked this.  But then I generally do like this type of wine.

This guy is telling us  about the 40 year old Champagne we’re about to taste.

That’s mine in the foreground.  Too bad you can’t smell or taste it.

Bulgarian wines.

Hungarian wines.

The many wine glasses of Riedel.

Walkabout 2015 Day 5: Willamette Valley and Beyond

Time to leave Seattle and start heading towards the High Sierras.  First stop is Bend OR with a detour for wine tasting in the WV.  I may have purchased a case and a half.

Wha????

TWIB Notes

Well it wouldn’t be a Summer of Steve weekly feature without it first missing several weeks in a row.  I’ve finally taken a break from drinking to sit down and update my progress in destroying most hepatic function.

Obviously much booze was consumed in Seattle.  I had my fill of Manny’s Pale Ale and several nice beers from Maritime Brewery.  Their Pilsner was particularly good.  Cocktails were also on the menu.  The highlights included a Dark and Stormy at Pie Bar* and The Southpaw at Zig Zag Café.  And if you’re looking for the dive-iest of dive bars,  we’ll there’s Bernard’s. You can have a cheap, inexpensive $2.50 well and wash that down with an Irish Car Bomb.

 

Wine School Update

You are now reading the blog of someone who has passed Wine FUNdamentals Level I.  I only scored 98.3 our of 100.  I guess that’s ok.  It’s one to Level II.  Sadly, while in Vermont this weekend, I’ll be missing the best class of the whole course, the one that goes over both Burgundy and Bordeaux.

Wine of the Week:  2013 The Dreaming Tree Chardonnay

This is what wine school has done to me.  I’m drinking Chardonnay.  Actually on a recent trip to Total Wine, I picked a bunch of varieties I would not normally purchase.  This was one of them.  I promise next week I’ll go back to Two Buck Chuck.

Appearance: Clear medium intensity yellow** with a clear rim.

Nose: Clean, with lots of sour apple and pear with a hint of vanilla from the oak bleeding through.  Pure aroma.

Palate: Dry with a medium high amount of acidity.  Medium alcohol and body with a similarly medium finish.  The sour apple is still there on the tongue, but the pear has been replaced with a bit of oak.  There’s also a strange soapy flavor.

I liked their Pinot Noir and thought I would give their Chardonnay a try.  It’s not terrible and probably does a good job representing a midlevel lightly oaked California Chardonnay, but that’s just not something I’m going to go out of my way for.  And at the mid $20s there are bound to be better options, I’m sure.  I’ll keep looking.

 

 

* Pie Bar may be my favorite place on earth now.

** I would call it vitamin piss yellow

TWIB Notes

This week I began my long journey in becoming a sommelier. Let’s face it, this computer stuff is just a fad and won’t last much longer.  So to prepare for my future career in wine, I spend seven hours every Sunday at El Centro, where I learn about wine, observer its characteristics, smell it, taste it and then do what for the first several decades of my drinking life would seem unthinkable – I spit out good wine.  The first week we tasted 11 wines.  I would likely have passed out on the train home had I not spit.

As part of that journey, I want to share my growing knowledge about wine with my readers* by chronically the high and  low lights of my week of drinking in what I’ll call: This Week In Booze**.  It’s all a part of my plan to bring the fun back in being a functional alcoholic.

The first set of five wines we tasted had a Beaujolais that made us all wonder what all the fuss is about.  The best wine of the group was, not surprisingly, a Barolo. Regrettably I didn’t write down or Vivino the label. I’ll be sure to do better moving forward.

The second round of tastings focused on Chardonnays and Sauvignon Blancs.  The only highlight was a Rombauer Chardonnay that was oaky and buttery*** like a great California Chardonnay should be.  I’m not a fan of the grape, but this was a very tasty wine.

So armed with a wealth of knowledge about the grape, I have decided to share with you each week my tasting notes for the Two Buck Chuck varietal of the week.  This week I tasted **** Trader Joe’s Charles Shaw Blend Sauvignon Blanc.

Appearance: Clear, light intensity, very light straw color and almost clear around the rim.

Nose: Clean, low intensity, all aroma, citrus, sour apple with a slight bit of cat piss.

Palate: Dry, low acid, no tannins, citrusy with sour apple.  Not much body.  Not much length.

Conclusion: Well, for $3 what do you want?  This is drinkable like Coors Light is drinkable.  If your goal is not to experience flavor while getting your buzz on, I can’t think of a more economical way to do it than this wine.

---

*Yes, I know I don’t really have any readers.  But, as with the rest of my life, it’s fun to pretend others are participating.

**With apologies to the Late Great Mel Allen

***From malolactic fermentation.  Knowledge dropped.

****On my own, not in the class, we have some standards in the class.

Walkabout 2013 Day 10: Faenza

I may have found my new favorite place on Earth.  The food and wine here are amazing and amazingly cheap. Wines I could easily see paying $30-40 a bottle for are selling here for 8-10 €. 

Wineries Visited

• Spinetta – fabulous wines. (5 bottles bought)
• Ancarani – they were ok, nothing special.
• Leone Conti – also very good (3 bottles bought)

 

Walkabout 2013 Day 10 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

The Summer of Steve, Now with Wine

I’m taking a break from taking a break from blogging in order to inform my many, many readers, that they can now buy wine through Amazon. Even if you live in the 18th Amendment's favorite state – Texas, you can still purchase many fine wines through Amazon, including this fine Pinot Noir from Hood River OR.