Mo's Wine & Spirits

Describing the aromas, taste and character of a wine can be a scary thing – feelings from inadequacy to pomposity may tongue-tie you. But we are just making it too hard. Describing what you like, or don’t like, about a wine doesn’t need to be a poem, it doesn’t need use soaring language and complex terminology to get it.  We are all individuals with our reference points and experience in tow, and we all bring something different to the tasting table.

Yes there are those with really advanced tasting abilities, able to identify very subtle aromas and tastes,  but that level of expertise is not needed to enjoy wine.  Lance Armstrong won 6 Tour de France bike races, but most folks can still ride a bike well enough to enjoy themselves…tasting a wine is more about how it makes you feel, the warm images that comes to mind. As a taster with your own taste buds, willing to give it a go, no wine description is ever wrong.

Once you gain tasting experience, you start to feel comfortable with terminology and typical wine terms. You should know some basics of course, but you don’t need to rely on common terms as the basis of your notes. Put the wine in another context that you are comfortable with, like art, movies - even automobiles:  that “ripe, juicy fruit-forward, high alcohol Zinfandel” may represent a “Jazzy Bright Red 12 cylinder Jaguar, built for speed”. And the “supple, well balanced and sturdy Merlot” might say “sensible, reliable, powder-blue Toyota Camary”.

And don’t forget your own experience in every day life - wine tasters borrow vocabulary from everyday fruits, flowers, spices, nuts, trees, cooking aromas, types of wood. If the group you taste with is less experienced than you, then work to find common ground to make yourself clear. Just as it is difficult to describe a color to someone who has never seen colors, it is also difficult to describe a wine to someone who doesn’t know wine well.  It’s all about communication and sharing.

Often, as in life itself, success comes with experience, and what a great way to gain it!

 What goes around comes around. Back in 1882 Alfred Tubbs  bought 254 acres of land at the base of Mt. Helena in California, two miles north of Calistoga. Tubbs brought over a French winemaker to make his wines. The 1889 Paris World’s Fair tasted wine from the the  christened Chateau Montelena vineyard. The Barrett family has  owned Chateau Montelena since 1972. They are in the process of selling the vineyard to the Reybier family. The Reybiers are the owners of a second growth Bordeaux, Cos d’Estournel.Their winemaker is Dominique Arangoti. Chateau Montelena will start over again. Another French winemaker giving her direction.

The Judgement of Paris tasting  was a shock to the cultured world. France was confident her wine would stand tall above what the Americans were offering.  Sure, OK, California was making wine in the 70’s, but it was simply to pass the time. That’s what the French thought of us. You can bet a few heads snapped when the Chateau Montelena Chardonnay won over the French White Burgundies that were the cream of their  crop.  Oh well, Mike Grgich knew what he was doing back in the day. Grgich was the wine maker for Montelena. There has been some sort of feud going on about who made the winning white wine, Jim Barrett or Mike Grgich.  Two movies soon to be released will show the public what REALLY happened at this famous tasting.The wine drinkers can choose the superhero winemaker! I can’t wait to see them!

The sale of Chateau Montelena is another notable day for American wine history. Little by little the family names that I saw on my first ventures into the packies and wine shops are calling quits.  The name may remain, but will the heart?  Acquisitions, mergers and even death do not stop the bottles being filled. The commitment to quality and top notch wine making at Chateau Montelena was the pair of aces that won the Judgement of Paris. Montelena will always have that fact to keep under her Chateau no matter who owns her. I’ll sit this one out and watch the game while the bevy of old and new players ante up to run the new Chateau Montelena.

                                           Cheers, Sharon

Just like in the movies, there are true “Classics” in the wine world.  Champagne certainly fits the bill with it’s magic bubbles and charming character. But, while classic movies are not all shot in Hollywood, all Champagne does need to come from the champagne region of France.  No matter how good the sparkling wines of California, Australia or Chili are, there is only one place that produces Champagne, and that is about 80 miles east of Paris. Bottom line - Champagne is a ‘sparkling wine’, but every sparkling wine is not ‘Champagne’.

The name ‘Champagne’ is legally protected in many countries in Europe and elsewhere in the world, and according to these stringent laws, no sparkling wine can be  labeled as Champagne unless it is produced in Champagne, and under strict regulations. So the French have a monopoly on Champagne, but not on Sparkling wine.

However, there are several excellent Sparkling wines from other countries that are very good! There’s Cava from Spain, and Spumante and Prosecco from Italy both with long and distinguished traditions.  And let’s not forget all the great Sparklers from California, some of them produced by the same French Houses that produce Champagne in France. They are not the original “classic” but they are quite good.

It’s a similar story with Port, another “Classic”. True Port comes only from the Douro Valley in Portugal. The Douro Valley is known the world over for Port, a fortified wine with great character and complexity – and a high alcohol content. Port (like Champagne) only declares a vintage in the best years.

Many port-style wines are produced around the world – including many right here in the United States -but they should not be called “Port”.  These fortified wines are produced in a similar style as Port, even aged for many years like Port.  Vintage Port may be the one wine that requires the longest cellar aging – generally 5-10 years minimum.  Although Port-like fortified wines are not technically ‘Port’, they display many aromatic and flavorful elements of this powerful wine.  Some say that they do not completely capture the balance of complexity of authentic Port, but there are many excellent examples of fortified wines widely produced in Australia, South Africa, as well as Napa and Sonoma Valleys.

Are those Sangria stains on the top of my head? The United States officially tasted Sangria at the 1964 Worlds Fair in Queens, NY, at the Spanish World Exhibit. I was a young attendee at the Fair.  Recently my Mom gave me a small sunhat she had saved from our trip.The hat has my name embroidered on the brim. It also has some suspicious looking could be Sangria stains on the top of my little hat head. Hmm.

Sangria history states that the wine punch would be made with a base of red wine. Sangria comes from the Spanish word Sangre meaning blood. The 1700’s saw Europeans drinking a lot of Claret or Bordeaux as we know her. To the Claret, Brandy would be added. Sangria was born. There is also the story of a Rioja and Brandy and some fruit and they lived happily ever after. Sangria is one of those non recipe recipes. A few guidelines and away you go. Wine, a sweetener and carbonation seem to be the basics.

My neighbors elected yours truly to concoct a “good” batch of Sangria. When  the question of red or white arose they nodded. I have seen Sangria made with everything from high end Cabernet to Carlo Rossi jugs. I was hoping with some planning Spikey’s Sangria Supreme.  I have road tested the recipes a couple times since July 4th weekend. Here’s what worked for me.

• 2bottles 750ml Spanish red wine-Guelbenzu Red-50% Merlot blend
• 8oz French Brandy VSOP-Raynal
• 6oz Peach Liqueur Mathilde-NOT peach schnapps
• 10oz Triple Sec-use Cointreau if you feel decadent

I used a gallon container.  I added Simply Orange juice with pulp and Pom Pomegranate juice, leaving enough room to put in a lot of cut up fruit. 1 of each fruit went into the mix-Orange Apple, Nectarine, Plum, Peach, Lemon, Lime, as well as a handful of Strawberries and my favorite, white Cherries.

The white or Sangria Blanco is just as easy. The changes are the wine and the juice. You can add seltzer or club soda to either recipe just before serving for a little lift and sparkle.

•  2bottles 750ml Spanish white-Martin Codax Albarino
• use same Brandy, Liquor and Triple Sec

Instead of orange juice I used organic limeade. Add pomegranate juice  for flavor and color. Same fruit as red recipe.

 The trick to a great Sangria is letting it set up, or marinate overnight. Letting the flavors intermingle and meld into one another made all the difference. My tasting panel was very pleased with their decision to refrain from quaffing the newly made Sangria down in its infancy. Now that the Sangria is ready to drink, it can be stored in the fridge for at least 4 or 5 days without going over. Be sure to use a spoon and serve some of the fruit that drops to the bottom of the container. It gets to be quite tasty. A tall glass full of ice cold Sangria in the summer sun can be quite refreshing. You can put your personal stamp on any BBQ with a pitcher of Sangria.

Who needs all those malt beverages when you can make your own Sangria right at home and you know the recipe.  If I look for organic wine , fruit and the right juice, just think of  the possibilities! I might be on my way to creating a neighborhood summer health drink! Full of antioxidants! I’ll have to be honest and say it’s only Sangria, but it’s Spikey’s Sangria. Come on over, bring your sunhat, have a glass or two!

                                        Cheers, Sharon

Its summer time and the backyard cook out season is in full swagger with so many options to pairing great wines with great BBQ. Don’t be afraid or nervous - wine and the backyard BBQ make a perfect pair. There are indeed many great tastes to explore: flavorful marinades, sweet and spicy sauces, stunning chutneys - the whole spectrum lies before you with the blending of BBQ and Wine. And you should try both tangy and refreshing whites as well as robust and deep reds with BBQ - both have a place on the deck. Grilled salmon and a Zippy Riesling? Roasted Pork Loin and a deep and rich Syrah? Burgers and inviting Beaujolais? There are options that you can explore all summer long.

What should you pair with your BBQ THIS weekend? What marinades can you improve with the addition of a good wine? Half the fun is planning the food; the spice rubs - the smoke, the marinades….the other half of the fun is selecting the wine pairings for the cookout. Don’t get stuck in the “Whites for Seafood and Reds for Beef” deal; you don’t need to be limited with that passé notion. A great example of this would be a beautifully prepared salmon grilled to perfection which would be perfect with a light and crisp Sauvignon Blanc or a bold Sangiovese…challenge your flavors spectrum. Try opposing as well as complimentary flavors - Summer BBQ tells us to LIVE!

Look at pairings that bring a new element to our BBQ and your entire grill experience. Try wines that are more fruit forward and full bodied, like Zinfandels, Sangiovese, Pinot Gris and Shiraz as well as lighter selections like the Beaujolais, un-oaked Chardonnay, or a medium Gewürztraminer. And don’t worry about costs; you can keep these wines in the $12 to $20.00 category. There are many BBQ Lovers sites out there for you to get recipes and wine pairings, try Saucy Joes or www.wineintro.com.

It doesn’t get much better than this. Summer is here and the wine is flowin’. Many people come into the store ready for a change. They are tired of sipping the same old Chardonnay , Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio when the temperature is unrelenting. I usually have some wonderful white wine treasures for them to take home and try. One of them is the Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc Viognier blend.

Pine Ridge makes some serious wines. They own a  total of 220 acres of workable vineyards in the areas of Stags Leap, Oakville Howell Mtn, Rutherford  and Caneros. Stacy Clark graduated UC Davis in 1983 with a degree in fermentation science. 1988 she was appointed wine maker for Pine Ridge.  Clark worked alongside owner Gary Andrus from 1988 until 2001 when he retired. . Clark uses the  wines to express the “terroir” of the vineyards. Pine Ridge currently makes 3 different Cabernets , 2 Chardonnays, 2 Merlots, 2 Malbecs 1 Bordeaux Blend…and the Chenin Blanc Viognier Blend!

The Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc Viongier is a classy, sassy , let’s go to a BBQ, have some sushi, comesitbythepool withme kind of wine. Both grapes are sourced , 80% of the Chenin comes from vineyards located in Clarksburg. The 20% Viognier comes from Lodi. Pine Ridge was the first winery in California to blend the two grapes together. The moment of harvest is crucial to the creation of the blend. Green or unripe flavors would take away from the little more than a whisper of  sweetness that makes the wine so charismatic. Think white peaches, a citrus twist, light mandarin, apricots and  honeysuckle followed with a clean, refresing finish. The acidity and mild sweetness play well together. The low alcohol  (12.5%)  makes this a super summer quaffer.   The response has been positive for our  Pine Ridge blend. She has been invited and re- invited to many outings, and the summer has just begun! This little beauty is always a remembered guest! 

                                            Cheers, Sharon

Watch out –DANGER on the label! That clever wine label might just induce you to buy that mediocre bottle of wine! Ok, admit it, how many of us have said “what a cool label-I just have to get that bottle!”  Succumbing to this phenomenon is easy. Yes, it is a cute label, but what about the quality of the wine? Or does that even matter?

Great wine label art has a lot of history behind it. Wine labels can be specifically tied to the producer, the winery, the specific vineyard it comes from, or even a person who inspired it.  But there is the also the other side of the spectrum, where  the artwork and the wine names themselves, are primarily clever word games with cute and cuddly animals, designed to ensnare you. Just like a book, you can’t judge a wine by its cover!

“Artist Series” labels are released every year – and they are all harking back to one of the great wine producers of Bordeaux, in the mid 20th century. Of course the wine is Chateau Mouton-Rothschild, and its famous art labels, gracing this First Growth’s bottling since the end of World War Two. The war was hard on the wine growing producers of France, and perhaps especially so for the great houses of Bordeaux.  After the war finished in 1945, Baron Philippe de Rothschild, proprietor of Château Mouton-Rothschild, had an inspired idea: He commissioned a piece of art to grace the label of the 1945 vintage of Mouton Rothschild, celebrating victory of the Allies over the Axis forces, and the survival of the great wineries of France.

Since then the Mouton label has featured art by the greatest artists of the 20th century, to compliment some of the greatest wines of the 20th century. For those of us who do not collect the fine art of Mouton-Rothschild on a regular basis however, we may just have to settle for cute and cuddly animals or rock stars to choose from for Wine Art Labels.

Three Saints Wines. The label shows  a trio dressed in very colorful garb, halos over their heads.  Cabernet, Merlot and Pinot Noir and Chardonnay  are offered as selections. Why am I halo over heels for Three Saints? I’ll be glad to tell you about them!

The Three Saints represent the area where vineyards are that  Dierbergs  own in Santa Maria, Santa Rita , Santa Ynez  in Santa Barbara County, California. Jim and Mary Dierberg have been busy in Santa Maria Valley with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay since 1996.  In 2004 they bought land in Santa Rita Hills for Pinot Noir. Both vineyards are called Dierberg.  Star Lane Vineyard was purchased in 1996. The warm Santa Ynez Valley is a great place to grow the Rhone and Bordeaux varietals to round out the portfolio.

Nick de Luca is the winemaker for Dierberg and Three Saints. He drove a forklift at Cline Cellars since he had no formal wine training and he was fresh out of college. When the press broke down Nick was the only one who could read the manual printed in Italian. His studies in Spain and Italy paid off in spades. He became cellar master. He went on to work for some of the big vines in the world of wine including William Selyem, Highfield(New Zealand) and Byington until he took his job with the Dierbergs in 2004. David Ramey is on record as being the consulting winemaker. Paul Hobbs has consulted as well.

The Three Saints Wines present extremly well. I happen to be partial to the Cabernet and the Pinot Noir. You will know you are “drinking Dierberg”. They are the baby label of the Dierberg Family Wines. Three Saints Wines are crafted with attention to detail, careful fruit selection and a whole lotta love. Not bad for a second label.

                                      Cheers, Sharon