The Silk Road of Wine

Wine Review: Johann Donabaum Setzberg Riesling Smaragd 2005

This beautiful wine came courtesy of the good folks at Winemonger, with whom we've recently become acquainted (and who will be the subject of a future post, given their excellent site and focus on hard-to-find Austrian wines).

Being a big fan of dry Rieslings, and even semi-dry ones, I was eager to try this effort from Donabaum.  He's an up-and-comer on the Austrian wine scene and certainly has the whiff of prodigy about him:

At 26 years old, Johann Donabaum has taken over the reins as the cellarmaster of the relatively small 9 acre family winery in Spitz, whose total production each year is 2,100 cases (85% white, 10% red, 5% sweet)

He might seem terribly young to us here in America, but what you need to understand is that Johann has been in training for this his entire life. Training which included a stint working and learning from F X Pichler, perhaps the most famous vintner from the mighty Wachau region.

Further, Wine Spectator called Johann one of the three vintners leading the way in the famous Wachau region, and no less an authority than Jancis Robinson has also chimed in about his talents: One of the most impressive for quality - and without a doubt for value - was Johann Donabaum of the eponymous family winery of Spitz at the coolest, western end of the Wachau, Austria’s great dry white wine region….This is a name to watch.

After all that, the wine did not disappoint.  Lots of mineral aromas and citrus notes came together in the glass; I expected the wine to be sweeter for some reason but it was exactly the right level of dryness and acidity to pair with the simple ling cod preparation we served it with. 

The tasting notes say it could be cellared until 2019 but I don't know how it would last in the house for that long ... Finally, if scores matter to you, Wine Spectator gave it a 92 and Wine Enthusiast a 91.  Highly recommended!

Sake review: Harushika "Tokimeki" sparkling sake

This was a remarkable find at the excellent one-star Michelin restaurant, Bushi-Tei, which bills itself as "French California fusion with a touch of Japanese accent" (and quite an accent it is, since the restaurant dates back to 1863 in SF's Japantown and the old wood used in the dining room was carefully     removed during the demolition of Nagano, Japan).  Our waitress did a nice job pairing the chef's omakase menu with wines from the list, and sensing our interest in adventurous wine-food pairings, she suggested the  Harushika "Tokimeki" sparkling sake with the fruit sorbet dessert.

It was my first experience with a sparkling sake, and it was quite pleasant -- in some ways, the first few sips reminded me of a refreshingly low-alcohol version of Squirt soda.  We came to learn that this sake is a nigori, which means unlike other sakes it is not filtered and still contains small rice particles which lend it a somewhat opaque, milky color.  Our waitress said it reminded her faintly of a Moscato d’Asti with some fruity and sweet flavors, but nicely balanced with good acidity.

Overall, a very refreshing sake that pairs naturally with fresh fruit but could serve quite capably as an aperitif due to its low alcohol (6-7%) and soft bubbles.  Highly recommended, if you can find it!

Introducing my sister blog, Tole's Take!

I'm happy to announce the launch of my sister blog, Tole's Take, which is more of a general-interest and Internet-focused blog.  The first few postings on Rules for Startups and Sure Signs You Are Not An Entrepreneur should give you a feel for the balance of the subject matter.

Add it to your RSS reader and look forward to your comments!

A Contrarian View of Merlot, part III

Continuing my kick about merlot that I started in earlier posts part I and part II, according to the indispensable book The Wine Lover's Companion by Ron and Sharon Herbst:

In French, the word Merlot means "young blackbird," probably alluding to the grape's beautiful dark-blue color.

Probably a little extra blackbird 'residuals' (stop me if I lose you with the technical terms) produces Chateau Petrus, one of the world's most expensive red wines which is normally 100% merlot (with a little cab franc for good measure).  Consider that next time someone tries to beat you down with the over-used "Sideways" quote ...

A Contrarian View of Merlot, part II

I'm on a kick here about merlot, as you can see from my last post.  The much-maligned grape has once again drawn the focus of Eric Asimov of the NY Times, only this time he goes into much greater detail about the root causes of merlot's sliding popularity (and what can be done about it).

How did merlot get so popular?  Blame "60 Minutes":

Twenty years ago merlot was a relatively minor grape in California. A few pioneers, like Duckhorn and Newton, had made some good wines, and merlot was gaining some popularity, but white wine was ascendant in the 1980's. It wasn't until 1991, and the famous "60 Minutes" broadcast of the "French paradox," that red wine began to take off in the United States.

As Oz Clarke points out in his book "Encyclopedia of Grapes" (Harcourt, 2001), the weakness of merlot — that it most often produced a mild, inoffensive wine — suddenly became its strength as it appealed to a large new audience for red wine that wasn't ready for more challenging examples. By 2004 more than 50,000 acres of merlot were planted in California, up from about 3,000 in 1986.

What's wrong with merlot today, particularly California merlot?  Two reasons -- too much is grown in the wrong terroir and, in a twist from what you'd expect, it is the labeling laws of California (rather than the normally more staid and traditional France) that do not provide enough flexibility to winemakers looking to produce the best merlot-based blended wine:

About 20,000 acres are industrially farmed in the hot Central Valley, the equivalent of all the merlot planted in Napa, Sonoma and Washington State combined. And that Central Valley merlot accounts for about 75 percent of the merlot wine produced in the United States. If you are ever possessed at a bar to say, "I'll just have a merlot," this is most likely what you will get. ...

But good merlot has other obstacles, not the least of which are California laws that require wines that carry the name of a grape to be made of 75 percent of that grape at minimum.

Consumers often express shock at this, having expected wines like merlot or cabernet sauvignon to be 100 percent merlot or cabernet. But in France, Bordeaux varietals like merlot and cabernet are almost always blended, and seldom does merlot meet that 75 percent threshold. For every Pomerol like Pétrus, which is 95 percent merlot, you have great wines like Lafleur (50 percent merlot) and Vieux-Château-Certan (60 percent merlot).

Regardless of whether a wine would be better with less than 75 percent merlot, California winemakers, if they want to call their wine merlot, are handcuffed by the law. Swanson's merlot, by the way, consists of 90 percent merlot and 10 percent syrah, a combination not legal in Bordeaux, although unscrupulous winemakers have been known to break the rules.

So, take a good hard look at the label and the region before throwing that prized merlot out with the bathwater.  It might just be mis-labeled ...

Think Pink (Rose, that is) for Summertime Entertaining

Rose is a wine that is finally gaining the respect it rightfully deserves in this country.  A dry, crisp, higher-acid rose is the ideal partner for summer entertaining, especially if you like to have guests over and offer a series of small plates, tapas-style.  Rose surmounts the problem of different levels of meat, seasoning, spiciness, etc., since its acidity pairs well with all sorts of dishes.  Equally important as the weather heats up is that rose's acidity refreshes your palate, especially while standing in the sun working the barbeque grill -- try that with a big California cab once and you'll know what I am talking about!

In this vein, the SF Chronicle's wine selections this week feature their favorite imported roses, and , although not technically rose, Eric Asimov posts about blaufränkisch from Austria and Germany.  The other night we had a 2005 Cotes de Provence Rose Commanderie de Peyrassol (with an amazing history stretching back to the Knights Templar and the Crusades in case you are interested in true terroir!) which is made from a blend of syrah, grenache, cinsault and a local, ancient grape tibouren.  We matched it with a pair of bruschettas from the excellent wine-pairing cookbook The Perfect Match, and the rose's acidity worked equally well with the flavors of both the traditional tuna-cannellini and the nouveau spicy avocado versions.  Highly recommended.

Poll: what is the best way to taste a wine vertical?

I went to a great vertical tasting recently and will post about it shortly.  It brought up a very interesting question -- what is the optimal way to taste a vertical?  Do you drink the oldest first, figuring your palate would be blown out by the younger, more tannic wines?  Or, as so often happens, your palate is not truly "warmed up" until the 2d or 3d wine you are tasting so the 1st one gets short shrift.  Is there another way to taste a vertical, e.g., to warm up your palate by pre-tasting a type of food or drink that will prepare your senses so you hit the first wine in full stride?

With this in mind, we present the first-ever Silk Road of Wine blog poll (results to follow):

A Contrarian View of Merlot

Eric Asimov, wine writer for the New York Times, has a very insightful and informative blog called The Pour.  This week he tackles one of my major peeves, notably that Merlot, despite the heights of grandeur it can attain in various terroir throughout the world including France (Pomerol), Italy (Tuscany) and California, is continually derided as being inferior wine.  Certainly the derision inflicted by Sideways (and the subsequent elevation of Pinot Noir to ethereal heights) played no small part in this, but Eric also properly notes that winemakers haven't always done themselves a lot of favors when it comes to working with the grape:

But the wines illustrate this significant difference: In Pomerol, the Certan de May vineyard is planted in its proportion because that is what winemakers determined over time made the best wine from that particular piece of land. In California, many producers grow merlot, cabernet, syrah and other grapes, often from adjacent plots, and then they bottle them separately so they can have a complete line of products. They may blend in something with the merlot, but the final blend has to include at least 75 percent merlot, or they can’t legally call it merlot. The Certain de May, you see, could not be called merlot in California.

Custom, consumer expectation and marketing pressures all feed into California producers wanting to make the best merlot possible, or the best cabernet sauvignon. Imagine if all they had to worry about was making the best wine possible? Then merlot wouldn’t need a defense.

Amen to that last part.  Merlot is not a standalone grape, and the old world producers figured this out long ago; witness the fact that Merlot is by far the most widely-planted grape in the entire Bordeaux region, a region that began to optimize its varietals based on terroir 2,000 years ago under the Romans ... 

While we are on the subject of merlot, one of the best ones I've had recently was a 2000 Louis M. Martini Merlot Cuvee (Ghost Pines Vineyard, Chiles Valley), a gift from our friend Marty.  The wine itself was so tannic as to be nearly undrinkable at first, but after a couple hours' aeration it paired wonderfully with a tomato and anchovy-based tuna sauce for pasta -- the tannins and fruit balanced quite well with the saltiness and zing of the sauce. 

From a value perspective, Merlot being out of favor has led to some great bargains at the wine shop.  Skip the grape if you'd like, but that just leaves more for me ...

23rd Annual International Beer Festival SF review

Recently a small group of us went to the International Beer Festival San Francisco which was held at Fort Mason.  Since we'd been there before, and especially since our intrepid guide Alex (aka, Brew Magellan) was adamant that we study the layout in advance in order to navigate the shoals of the hundreds of different brewers and arrive at the proper ports of call, we employed a targeted "surgical strike" approach to the affair rather than the typical start-at-the-first booth-and-work-your-way-back approach that most folks adopt.  We were thirsty too, but we are discriminating as well ...

The standouts from the festival:

• Anything made by Unibroue, based in Quebec but with strong Belgian ties.  Best of their best was La Fin du Monde (a Trappist-style triple fermentation golden ale) and Blanche de Chambly (a Belgian-style white ale). 
• Duvel, the classic Belgian golden ale.  It's a classic for a reason.
• Leffe, another Belgian Abbey-style ale (yes, it seems that there is a trend here).  At least we settled one disagreement with Eamonn as to the pronunciation (hint, it's the French "lef" not the Flemish "leffay").
• Brewery Ommegang; in a blind taste-test you would never guess that this was an American  (not Belgian) producer.  Their Rare Vos, Ommegang and Hennepin were all excellent, and increasingly available in specialty markets and even Whole Foods.

Just like MJ: I'm back

Yes, I've been away from the blog for a while but for good reason -- in the last few months I left Yahoo after 5 great years and started an Internet company (nothing to do with wine) with a couple friends.  Getting the company off the ground has literally taken every waking minute for the past several months, so even though I was still drinking the good juice there was no time left to blog. 

That said, just like MJ: I'm back (sans a short-lived stint in the minor leagues ...).