Guess who's back/Memories of Tuscany

So, after much harassment and procrastination, followed by even more excuses and avoidance, I have decided it is time to re-boot this project and get going again.
So without any fanfare or ballyhoo, we are officially back in business here at Simple and Sublime headquarters.
Having spent a few weeks touring Tuscany and Piedmont back in May(more on this later), and having smuggled a few bottles back in our luggage, Allie and I have been reminiscing and reliving the memories by opening a prized bottle from our honeymoon at random times, with little or no reason. This allows us to have a quiet night at home, enjoy a bottle of wine and basically pretend that we're still in the land of Cinghale con Pappardalle, daily gelato and people who use more hand gestures than me.

Tonight's memory of Tuscany, the 2008 Uccelliera Rosso di Montalcino. Produced from 100% Sangiovese Grosso vines planted since 1988, this 2000 case "little brother" to Andrea Cortonesi's absolutely top shelf (and sadly top dollar)Brunellos is a
big, expressive and rich wine in its own right. Showing bright ripe cherry and spice notes on the nose, the palate is also loaded with cola, pepper and smoked meat notes. The texture is rich, opulent and velvety, with a long rich and tannic finish. Served with a homemade salciccia pizza and a simple spinach salad, perfecto!!
91 pts, and a wish to be back in the land of pasta, pesto and perfectly crafted leather footwear.

Pre-release Halleck Wines with winemaker Rick Davis

With Bryan and Marcie in town at the beginning of the month, it was time for our now annual trip to meet with Rick Davis, winemaker for Halleck, Londer, and Alcina Cellars, as well as owner/winemaker for Calstar Cellars. Rick worked alongside Greg La Follette at both Flowers and Tandem and is making some truly exciting wines at the shared crush facility in Sebastapol. Most of the wines were tasted either from barrel or from tank, and the quality across the board is very, very high. I'll post the rest of the day's tasting in a bit, but here's the Halleck 2006 Pinot Noirs to start with...
Halleck 2006 Pinots:
Halleck "The Farm" Russian River Valley
"The Farm" is a parcel of RRV land that delivers classic deep and dark Russian River fruit. Candied cherry and spice dominate the nose and follow up on the palate with an edge of toast form the thirty or so percent of new french oak. Very expressive and densely loaded. Around $60 retail.
90-92 points
Halleck "Estate" Sonoma Coast
Sultry and seductive nose of cherries and citrus peel with hints of tobacco and spice. On the palate the "Estate" bottling is generously fruited and very spicy, with a whack of pain grille from the 50% new french barrel ageing. Broad and rich with more than enough stuffing to last 5-10 years. Very pleasurable. Retails around $75
91-93 points
Halleck "3 Sons" Russian River Valley
Seven hundred cases or so are produced of the "3 Sons" Cuvee, a blend, predictably, of three parcels in the Russian River Valley; The Farm, Hallberg and Hawk's Roost Vineyards go into the production. Again, right around thirty percent new french barrels add a bit of toast without overwhelming the fruit and spice character. This is seriously extracted pinot fit for steak with mushrooms. Very darkly fruited and exotic with cherry, plum and blackberry, as well as a hint of sandalwood and sauteed mushroom. Retails around $45
89-91 points
Halleck "Hallberg" Russian River Valley
My favorite of the Halleck pinots was the "Hallberg Vineyard". This just seemed to get more open and expressive with every swirl of the glass. Cherry and spice mingle with sweet plum, baking spice and raspberry coulis. Sweet fruit dominates the palate and the rich lavish texture is velvety at least...if there's something more velvety than velvet, please let me know...the finish lasts a minute plus with hints of sweet tobacco and nutmeg.
92-4 points

Supermarket Experimentations Part Deux

This month's experiment...2005 Hess Monterey Syrah:
Sample courtesy of gourmands, connaiseurs, and house guests extraordinaire:
Bryan Coats & Marcie Prince.
There will be more to follow on the exploits of last weekend, but this was a supermarket selection and an outright demand for me to get back on here and get back to this blog (sorry for the absence, I plead work, stress and too much mediocre wine over the last thirty days or so...a streak broken by their arrival). So without further ado, here is the review...
2005 Hess Monterey Syrah: Thirty minutes in decanter to start
Not half bad... not half bad. Pretty decent and drinkable. But not overly varietal. There is a good core of dark cherry and raspberry fruit here, as well as a hint of oaky toast around the edges. It lacks the telltale bacon and spice elements that make syrah so very attractive. Could easily be a heavily extracted pinot or a darkly fruited merlot. As this evolved it lost a bit of lustre on the front end and became a mid muddy. Still well fruited though and not without a simple charm, it did start to develop more secondary aromatics over the course of an hour. Allie's assesment "Fine, but unexciting"; I agree. If this were below the $10 threshold, I'd be a bit more excited, but for $15, I feel I could have had two bottles of yummy cotes-du-rhone or spanish red. $15 at retail.
82 points
cheers
TRC

Preparations

I know I know...
Where have you been?
What have you been doing?
Why haven't you written anything...
no excuses-
I'm on it-
Prepare for the barrage!
TRC

Lamb on the Grill!!! Top Shelf BBQ with friends...

What do lamb, butter, soy sauce, garlic and blue cheese have in common? Nothing, except that when you throw them all on the grill together (after some marinating) it's ridiculously, preposterously good! This dish has been nicknamed "Crack Lamb" and I'm tending to agree. What looked like an insurmountably large leg of lamb for five people was demolished before I had the chance to take a decent picture...

I'll post the recipe below- but the concept is as follows- the leg of lamb is butterflied and marinated in the garlic, soy, red wine (always a good idea in this writer's book) and olive oil, then grilled- then literally slathered with butter and blue cheese mixture and broiled to finish... the lamb was tender, amazingly flavored and melt in your mouth cooked to perfection...with some simply grilled zucchini and broccolini and a quinoa salad...the perfect backyard dinner.

Dinner started with a delightful surprise from our hosts:
2004 Domaine Laurens "Clos des Demoiselles" Cremant de Limoux ($20 +/-) A surprisingly bright, dry and elegant way to start the evening. Crisp and floral with vibrant acidity. A perfect apertif!!! (I'll be finding some of this for the house)
89 points.
Not knowing what to bring to dinner, I fell back on the standard pairing for lamb; Chateauneuf du Pape.
In this case, the always spot-on 1999 Le Vieux Donjon Chateauneuf du Pape. Showed marvelously with layers of bright kirsch and dusty berry fruit, elegantly developed garrigue and spice. Medium bodied and elegant on the palate with bright acidity and well developed tannin and a minute plus finish with hints of cedar and smoke. This was great with the lamb itself, but the blue cheese overpowered it just a bit. $35 at retail (current release is most likely a bit more)
92 points

The hosts also provided two zins for the main course:
The utterly black colored and super extracted 2002 Biale "Black Chicken" Napa Zinfandel...I tend to like softer zins with good acidity, but this might be my favorite zin on planet earth. Helena and Key broke this out after a discussion about zins a few weeks ago (thanks guys). Exuberant and expressive with loads of bombastic fruit and spice. Starting to come together after a few years in bottle, this showed more refinement and elegance than my last tasting. Seamlessly textured and focused on the palate, with broad and rich mouthfeel. Chock full of mixed berry fruit and hints of black pepper, cocoa, toffee and black licorice. It was bordering on perfect with the lamb/bluecheese combo... 94 points
A more subdued, classic style zin was the 1999 Limerick Lane "Collins Vineyard" Russian River Valley Zinfandel. This has developed nicely in the bottle, taking on some claret-like hints of tobacco and cedar on the nose along with softer red fruits. On the palate the wine is starting to develop nicely with velvety textured tannins and great balancing acidity. I was reminded of something almost like a fruitier version of a mature rioja. Much like the Vieux Donjon, this was delightful with the lamb itself, but was slightly overpowered by the intensity of the blue cheese. Current vintage is $26 from the winery.
91 points
After a few nips from their prodigious scotch collection and a hotly contested "battle-of-the-sexes" game of Cranium, we all enjoyed a rather un-athletic, netless version of backyard barbeque badminton (to work off the lamb), that is until yours truly launched the last of the birdie things onto the roof (Key gets points for bravery for retrieving)...
next one's at our place guys- Thanks again...
TRC
P.S. The Recipe for the lamb if anyone wants to duplicate (I highly recommend it...)

"Crack Lamb" courtesy of Helena Chaye and Key Shin
butterflied leg of lamb
Marinade:
garlic (2-3 cloves)
brown sugar (2 tbsp)
olive oil (1/2c)
red wine (1/2 c - I used more)
soy sauce (I use light low sodium) (1/2c - I used slightly less)
2 tsp ginger powder
- marinate for 48 hours
- grill

Cheese mix:
butter (4oz - but I used half of that)
blue cheese (4 oz)
lemon juice (1 lemon)
green onions (4)
- smother with the mix and then put it under broiler for 2-4 minutes until the mixture bubbles
Sante-
TRC

Ken Wright Cellars Pinot Tasting at Wine Spectrum Bar and Shop

It's always fantastic when you get a chance to try some of the best pinots out of Oregon, it's even better when the maestro of Pacific Northwest pinot is there to discuss them with you...
Ken Wright is legendary for his work with both Panther Creek and Domaine Serene before he started his self-named label, where he has taken the concept of site specific pinot noir to a new level, offering eleven single vineyard pinots from all over the state. We had a chance to taste five of the pinots, plus two new wines from his Tyrus Evan line (named for his two sons, this is the label he uses for "non-pinot" wines), a syrah and a claret.
The wines were tremendous as I have come to expect, showing balance and elegance without lacking depth or purity of fruit. I don't think anyone in Oregon is as dialed in as Ken is right now.

1) Ken Wright "Nysa" Dundee Hills Pinot Noir 2005
The brightest and most acidic of the bunch, the Nysa shows super intense sour cherry and blackberry fruit with hints of baking spice and pepper. This begs for roasted duck with some sweetness. Juicy and fun. $55 at retail
90 points

2) Ken Wright "Savoya" Yamhill-Carlton Pinot Noir 2005
The Savoya is the first vineyard actually owned by Ken Wright. Planted in 1999 to 777 and 115 Dijon clones, the Savoya shows loads of richness and intensity for such a young vineyard. Dark fruit and spicy cola tones dominate the nose, and it develops some hints of clove and anise as it begins to open. Lingering finish with hints of cedar and smoke. Very intense and dramatic! Less than 300 cases produced. $55 at retail
91 points

3) Ken Wright "Guadalupe" Yamhill-Carlton Pinot Noir 2005
There are 400 cases of the "Guadalupe" Pinot this year, but really, is there ever enough. The Guadalupe is a great example of Ken's ability to allow the vineyard to make the wine. This wine literally reeks of its place... Black cherry and strawberry on the nose with massive earth and spicy cocoa/coffee tones. Fat and exotic on the palate with a mountain of dusty, earthy dark fruit. $55 at retail
92 points

4) Ken Wright "Carter" Amity-Eola Hills Pinot Noir 2005
My favorite of the bunch, the Carter was unusually open and lively right from the start (this vineyard usually rewards patience...). Still big and earthy with Bright cherry fruit and scents of fresh loam and smoky tobacco. Truly massive on the palate, rich, viscous and intense with a minute long finish with hints of anise, black pepper, coffee and cocoa. Made me want some duck confit... $55 at retail.
93 points

5) Ken Wright "Shea" Yamhill-Carlton Pinot Noir 2005
Powerful, spicy and intense, the Shea vineyard is one of Oregon's best known pinot sites and in the hands of Ken Wright, the potential is truly fulfilled. Exotic and lively on the nose, the aromatics shifted with each swirl of the glass. Shifting from cherry to black and blueberry, and from earth and mushroom to musk and spice. Typically dense and rich on the palate, with loads of fruit and earthy spice on the finish. This will certainly reward patience over the next few years. $55 at retail
91 points
Cheers
TRC

Tandem Winery at Wine Spectrum, Santa Rosa

Tandem Winery Tasting
Greg La Follette is no stranger to those who know great Chard and Pinot. The former winemaker at Flowers and Hartford Court is THE guru for truly burgundian style wines in Sonoma. It's always a treat to taste a lineup of his wines and last tuesday's tasting of new Tandem wines was no exception. La Follette sources fruit from various locations in Sonoma, from Russian River out to the coast. His relationships with growers get him the finest grapes available and allow him to produce some of the best wines in Sonoma county. Greg is a man who speaks with both knowledge and passion when discussing wine, you can tell instantly that he lives to make great wine and with every accolade, his pride in his craft grows.
1) Tandem "Ritchie" Chardonnay, Russian River Valley, 2004
The Ritchie Vineyard is one of Sonoma's most revered for Chardonnay, and Tandem's version does not dissappoint. Mildly toasty with 1/3 new french barrels, the Ritchie chard is all finesse with nary a rough edge in sight. Loads of tropical and stone fruit with hints of caramel, baking spice and citrus. The texture is luxurious and plush with a minute long finish. Around $45 at retail.
93 points
2) Tandem "Sangiacomo" Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast, 2005
When I tasted this last year, I was shocked by it's intense perfume, happily, it was no fluke and it is even more striking now that it has been in bottle for a while. A crazy nose of flowers, spice, and musk gives way to fat and exotic tropical fruits, guava and papaya, as well as super ripe pear and fuji apple. On the palate, the fruit is lavish and expressive, giving more than a mouthful of intense juicy pear. The texture, like the Ritchie, is what got me though. Creamy and broad without being over oaked (also 1/3 new french), the Sangiacomo show's La Follette's mastery of burgundian style Chards. Around $45
92 points

3) Tandem "Sangiacomo" Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast 2004
The aromatics of the Sangiacomo pinot are breathtaking, carrying the musk and spice notes present in the chard to a completely different level. La Follette calls it "Animale et Sauvage" and I'm tempted to agree, adding on sweet tobacco, cola and coffee for good measure. Loaded with ripe, dark berry fruit ranging from cherry to blueberry and a hint of sour cranberry. Fat and viscous on the palate with firm acidity and a minute-plus finish. Tremendous. Around $55 at retail.
93 points
4) Tandem "Silver Pines" Pinot Noir, Sonoma Mountain, 2005
A mere 227 cases of the Silver Pines was produced this year. Which sucks, because this stuff is truly breathtaking. Exotic and enticing with a mess of berry fruit and hints of cocoa and licorice. Less aromatic, but fatter and broader texturally than the Sangiacomo, I couldn't decide which I preferred. The Silver Pines give the impression of a pinot ready to burst from the inside out- juicy and firmly acidic and just plain fun to drink. I'll use the same word...tremendous. Around $55
93 points

Supermarket Experimentations; Part One

Sorry for going all incommunicato on everyone there... I'm back now.
I moved to a new place in downtown Sausalito, closer to the water and the conveniences of town (but too close to Sushi Ran for my fiscal comfort). I'll keep everyone posted on the inevitable housewarming barbeque. As one would expect, the last few weeks have been overly hectic and I've been too busy to keep up with posting, but have no fear...I do have, and will post tasting notes from the past few weeks. I've also decided to start a new segment type thingy. A client of mine was swearing up and down that they buy almost all of their wines at the local Safeway and that I would be surprised by the number of quality wines they have there. I will admit that they do have some very drinkable, though very rarely world class wines there, so I thought about this; what is it like for the average wine drinker (who doesn't spend all his time researching and tasting) who must go into a supermarket and purchase a wine almost at random...
So I'm doing a little experiment, and I encourage my fellow wine geeks/snobs/know-it-alls to participate with me (just post your findings as a comment under this, or a subsequent Supermarket Experimentations post) . The experiment is this. Once per week, I will walk into a local supermarket and without much pondering or conjecture on possible quality based on vintage and region, purchase a wine I know absolutely nothing about...I will then...drink the wine. I mean it. No tasting quickly, making a snap judgement and then moving on to something with more pedigree. I will roll out the red carpet, decanters and Riedels, and see what happens. First test...
Parcel 41 Oakville Merlot 2005
Obtained at: Strawberry Village Safeway
Price: $22
This was a pleasant, if not overwhelming first foray into the supermarket wine selection. Plenty of plush red fruits, and rich merlot mouthfeel. A touch over oaked for my tastes, but not offensively so. The fruit here is plenty ripe with not a hint of greenness, or unbalanced alcohol. Over the course of dinner this opened nicely (but did seem to get more oaky) and grew more aromatically interesting with spicy overtones and a hint of cocoa. 85 points
Overall- not bad for a first go round. I will say that I don't expect all future experiments to be this good...
Cheers
TRC

Que? Syrahs

1) Esca Syrah Napa Valley 2003
As pleasant as any suprise I've had recently is the spicy and intense Esca Syrah. 100% Syrah from Napa, with 21 months in french oak, the Esca displays classic dark berry and cherry flavors, a subtle hint of smoked bacon and spicy pepper and cocoa tones on the nose. On the palate, the texture is plush and dense with loads of ripe black cherry fruit and an intense gripping finish that lasts. This is a relatively new project for Anna (Bryant Family) and Mario (Quixote) Monticelli and it looks like they are off to a great start. Retails just north of $20
91 points

2) Rosenblum Syrah "Base Camp Vineyard" Santa Barbara County 2003
Rosenblum has a tendency of late to make wines that are just a bit too homogeneous for my palate, but that being said, they are hardly ever BAD, so I gave this one a whirl on a whim. While I found it a bit unexciting for its $25 price tag, it was juicy and satisfying in a straightforward manor. All splash with a hefty dose of slick new oak and jammy fruit, it had just the faintest hint of smoked ham on the nose, with a more dominant blast of cola spice and caramel. On the palate this is juicy and ripe, flirting with over ripe. This will be very pleasing to loads of warm climate syrah lovers.
87 points

3) John Anthony Syrah Napa Valley 2004
A darker and more brooding option, this syrah is made by Alison Doran, the former oenologist at Lewis Cellars and she shows some real talent for the varietal. Very spicy with loads of black pepper, cola and darker bacon notes. Very rich and intense on the palate with a mountain of plum, black berry and raspberry fruit. Firmly structured, this warrants some time in a decanter before consumption, or better yet a few years in the cellar...Best from 2008-2012 Retails around $50 and very worth the effort of hunting it down.
93 points

4)Pure Love Wines "Layer Cake" Shiraz Barossa 2005
This is the first vintage for Jason Woodbridge(owner of Napa cult cab producer Hundred Acre)'s new Pure Love Aussie project. These wines (there are a few including the "Layer Cake", as well as "Maverick", Barossa Jack" and "Desert Eagle") are all fantastic. The "Layer Cake" is inky black with a tremendous intensity of dark dark cherry fruit as well as plum and blueberry on the nose. Dense and broad across the palate with subtle hints of eucalyptus and spice, this is a classic Barossa shiraz and is an absolute steal at $17-20 if you like intensely flavored, high alcohol aussie shiraz (you know you do, stop lying...)
92 points

Some thoughts on service, what to expect as a guest...

While I'm the first to speak out on bad service when it rears its ugly head, I wanted to spend a few paragraphs outlining what actually constitutes good and bad restaurant wine service. I posted a bit about this and a few people have asked me to elaborate on what they should expect from wine service when they are out at a restaurant. This is likely to be a bit dry, but informative and I promise some new reviews and more fun topics in the coming week. You see, the problem is that lots of people misunderstand the ritual of wine service and what elements are necessary and which are simply for show. To that end I'll give a (somewhat) brief description of wine service basics.
Stemware.
There is no excuse, in this day and age, for a restaurant with a wine list...any wine list...to not have, at the very base level, acceptable stemware. This does not have to be top shelf, varietal specific Riedel or Spieglau crystal (although it's nice to be certain). Simple stemware with a relatively large bowl suffices and is now available on the cheap from every restaurant supply store and catalog. You should be able to pour six ounces of wine in the bowl and leave it only half full or less, allowing room to swirl. If it is the sort of restaurant that has an extensive wine list containing multiple vintages of first growth bordeaux, you can expect more, but if not, be satisfied with a glass you can swirl without recoloring the tablecloth and your girlfriend's new blouse.
Presentation.
This is where it gets tricky, as all sorts of different types of service get involved, but I'll stick to the basics here.
The server should retrieve the wine in a timely fashion and show you the bottle first, pointing out on the label the five necessary pieces of information; Vintage, Winery, Varietal, Appelation and Vineyard (or Proprietary Name when applicable). This prevents any confusion about which wine was ordered. If you're not sure that the bottle presented is the one you ordered, stop, look at the winelist again to confirm. This can save confusion and money (the wine might be a different vintage than the one you ordered and many times the price), so be thorough.
When you're satisfied that it is indeed the correct bottle, you should gesture to the server to begin opening the bottle. The server should use a waiter's tool with a knife to remove the foil from the bottle, below the lip, not on top of it (shards of foil do not taste good, trust me). The server should not spin the bottle as they do this, they should cut around the stationary bottle to prevent strirring up any sediment that might be resting calmly at the bottom of the bottle.
The server should then remove the cork, again NOT spinning the bottle, keeping the bottle as stationary as possible. There should be no audible "pop" as a bottle of still wine is opened and there is little need for flourish here. Champagne is another matter, but you still should only hear a brief hissing sound.
If the server hands the cork to you, and this is NOT necessary, feel it to ensure that the end which was in the bottle is indeed moist. This will tell you that the wine has been stored properly, on its side, not vertically. You can smell it if you want to, but it's not going to help too much...corks smell like cork.
The server should then pour a small amount into your glass (about one ounce) for you to sample.
This, people, is your moment to shine. At this juncture, it falls on you to ensure that the wine is free from flaws. To put this in the simplest terms, the wine should not smell like wet cardboard (cork taint, or TCA), nailpolish remover (volatile acidity), rotten eggs (sulfur dioxide) or burnt rubber (mercaptan). It should also not smell like vinegar...
If you're pretty sure the wine contains one of these flaws, simply inform the server that this must be an off bottle, and please bring another. If you have any doubts, or don't trust your palate completely, ask the sommelier or manager to sample the wine, this is common practice and certainly nothing to be embarassed about, assuming that you're not making a scene.
If you are satisfied that the wine is showing nicely, gesture to the server to pour around the table. The server should serve the ladies first, then the gentlemen, pouring last to the host, or the person who selected the wine. Now you get to relax, enjoy the wine, eat your steak and try to ignore your in-laws slightly off kilter political leanings...
Oh, one last thing, if you order multiple bottles during the course of a long dinner, this process should be repeated for each and every bottle. Never, I repeat, never allow a server to pour from a new bottle until you have tasted it, even if the wine comes in a screw cap. And yes, it's ok to drink wine that comes in a screw cap, even red wine...but I'll make my arguments for alternative closures at a later date...
Cheers
TRC