Fossetti Rosso Toscano IGT 2007

It's not very often that I get truly excited about a bottle of wine that retails for $9.99. This Fossetti Rosso Toscano bottled by Mocali in Montalcino is one of those value wines that has me quite fired up. Mocali is better know for the famed Brunello di Montalcino, but this bargain Rosso made primarily with Sangiovese and some Canaiolo outperforms many Brunellos and Chiantis that cost much, much more.

Very dark purple in the glass, the nose is filled with aromas of intense cherry fruit with other dark berry aromas and some very subtle leather. The wine is fruit forward in style and very approachable at a young age. This is a 2007 Rosso that is absolutely ready to drink now. In your mouth you get the same intense cherry flavors and other dark berries that are so pleasant on the bouquet. The body is medium-full with rather mild acidity for a Sangiovese, and the tannins are very smooth. Aside from maybe wanting a little more acidity, this is already a very good wine; however, it is the long finish that really sets it apart from other value wines from Tuscany. This wine just keeps providing pleasure for your taste buds well after you swallow a sip.

As far as value for your money goes, this is about as good as it gets. At $9.99 a bottle, go out and buy a couple cases. This is an absolute steal.

I enjoyed this with some pasta and sausage with red sauce, but this would also pair very well with with grilled meats or a good aged Italian cheese.

Falesco Vitiano 2007 - Umbria

I have to say that I tasted the Falesco Vitiano 2007 with some rather high expectation for a bottle that retails for around $9. The very stingy critic Stephen Tanzer gave this wine a glowing review with a 91 point rating which is just about unheard of for something in this price range. After tasting it, I am not completely in agreement with Mr. Tanzer, but I do think that this wine is a decent value.

This Umbrian Rosso is made from 34% Sangiovese and 33% each of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. In your glass you get intensely dark purple color. The bouquet is dominated by blackberry and cassis with a little bit of leather to it. On the palate you get blackfruit flavors which are primarily cassis with some black cherry, and there is also some earthiness that I found to be just a little bit off . The Sangiovese did contribute some pleasant acidity to the blend. The other flaw I found with this wine was the tannins. They were too chalky and bitter for my taste. I'm a guy that generally likes strong tannins, but in this case they put the wine out of balance, especially on the finish. This Rosso had a finish with some nice length to it, but the chalky, almost astringent tannins overpowered the other flavors which were present but very subtle.

Overall, the Falesco Vitiano is still a good value when you consider the $9 price tag, but it is nowhere near the 91 point score that Stephen Tanzer gave it - probably more in the 85 to 87 range if I had to put a score to it. My recommendation is to really let this decant a long time, at least 3 hours, to let those tannins mellow out a little bit.

As far as food goes, this would pair best with aged Italian cheese like a Parmigiano Reggiano or a Pecorino.

Chateau Mourgues Du Gres Fleur d"Eglantine 2008

Rose wines are the Rodney Dangerfields of American wine tastes and knowledge - they just don't get any respect. In Europe, good roses are seen as fine wines just like reds and whites. In the US, many ignorant wine drinkers (and I don't mean this as a term of insult - they simply don't know better) turn their nose at roses and consider it to be a lesser category of wine. For this, we can thank Bob Trinchero, the man who started the whole concept of White Zinfandel in California.

Trinchero's Sutter Home Winery was trying to make a rose or blush wine in the early 1970's when he had a problem with fermentation one year. His grapes underwent an incomplete fermentation, and the resulting wine was left with quite a bit of sugar from the fruit that never converted into alcohol. His winemaker was ready to dump it all, but Trinchero decided to try bottling and selling it to an American public that for the most part did not drink wine and liked sweeter drinks. This move, which was an insult to good winemaking, worked out pretty well for Mr. Trinchero from a marketing and sales standpoint. Unfortunately for many wine consumers, it gave rose a bad name in the US market.

The truth is that most roses are not sweet, and there are many delicious dry rose wines that are perfect with certain foods and absolutely great when chilled on those hot summer days when red wines just feel a little too warm and heavy.

The Chateau Mourgues du Gres Fleur d'Eglantine 2008 is a great example of a nice, dry rose that makes for some perfect summer drinking. Made with Mourvedre, Grenache, Syrah and Carignan that is only left in contact with its skins for a very short time, this wine is light salmon in color with a quite complex and enjoyable bouquet. You get aromas ranging from strawberry and raspberry to ripe nectarine and a citrus element with some grapefruit. In your mouth you get much of the same with a wonderful combination of fruit flavors balanced by a crisp acidity. The finish is dry and clean with a little bit of length to it. I like this wine all the time, but I love it on a hot summer day. At a price around $13, it is also a very good value. If you like roses, go give this one a try. You won't be disappointed. If your not familiar with good, dry roses, Chateau Mourgues du Gres Fleur d'Eglantine would be a great introduction to this often misunderstood and under appreciated category.

Enjoy this with grilled salmon or swordfish, or pair with a hot sunny day in your yard.

Atalayas de Golban Ribera Del Duero 2005

Atalays de Golban is a wine with a pretty interesting story. The fruit for this very nice Ribera del Duero is sourced from vineyards in and around the village of Atauta in the forgotten eastern edge of the Ribera del Duero region. This area was not highly sought after by growers and winemakers, and in 1999 wine merchant Miguel Sanchez was able to buy up most of the land in this region at rather low prices. The land included many old vine Tinto Fino/Tempranillo plantings that had been neglected for years and just needed some care. The land here is at higher elevation and cooler temperatures than most of Ribera del Duero, which results in a somewhat longer growing season than most of the region. Sanchez first used this fruit for his Dominio de Atauta project and then bought even more land for Atalyas de Golban before prices quickly rose in Atauta due to his early success there.

Sanchez' French winemaker Bertrand Sourdais has come up with some great results in this 2005 offering. Intense purple in color, the wine was aged in 20% new and 80% used French oak. Aromas of blackberry, dark plum and cassis are laced with notes of leather and spice. This 100% Tinto Fino/Tempranillo has a rich, full bodied mouthfeel. Fruit forward in style, dark berries dominate the palate with some mild pepper on the nice finish. Smooth tannins round out the structure.

I had this with an authentic Hungarian pork dish, and it worked pretty well, but ideally this should be paired with grilled red meat, especially lamb, or good dry Spanish cheese like an aged Manchego or Mahon.

At a price right around $20, this wine represents a pretty good value.

Vincent Dureuil-Janthial Rully "La Martelle" 2007

It seems that the more I drink white Burgundy, the more I like it. My wife is still pretty firmly in the California camp for Chardonnay, but tonight's tasting is starting to turn her a little bit too. Personally I still like both, but with certain foods White Burgundy makes a much better pairing than California Chardonnay. Tonight we had grilled swordfish steaks with a lime avocado aioli. The Vincent Dureuil-Janthial Rully "La Martelle" made a very good pairing for this meal.

Rully is a village in the Cote Chalonnaise in Burgundy that is just south of the Cote de Beaune near Montrachet and Meursault. Vincent Dureuil is a young winemaker with a rising star who's family has winemaking roots going back to the 13th century. His 2007 Rully "La Martelle" had a pleasant light straw color in the glass with wonderful aromas of green apple and pear. There was also a subtle hint of vanilla and oak that rounded off the very nice bouquet. On the palate you got more of the same dominated by the fruit much more than the oak. Nice acidity and an excellent, long finish made for a very good wine that paired very well with the swordfish steak and the creamy avocado topping. At at price in the low $20s this was not an outstanding value, but well worth it for a great pairing when you consider the cost of swordfish steaks. An oaky, buttery California Chard just would not have worked with this meal.

Tarragon Roasted Red Potatoes

I consider myself quite lucky to live in a place where I can be in a vibrant downtown area in 20 minutes or out at a farmer's market that is actually on the farm in about 10 minutes. Cooking with fresh, local ingredients is not only very enjoyable, but it also makes for some delicious meals.

Recently on a visit to my nearby farm market, I picked up among many other things some locally grown red potatoes and a sweet onion without any real plan for either. On the way home I decided that I was quite tired of the same old roasted red potatoes with french onion soup mix that seems to be a staple in the kitchen of everyone I know. I searched the internet for some different recipes and was uninspired by my findings, so I decided to make it up as I went along.

I started by chopping 6 medium red potatoes into small pieces - about 1" x 1" x 1/2". I then finely chopped the onion into very small pieces. In keeping with the fresh and local idea, I then went out into my herb garden and went through the choices I had there and decided on some tarragon. I picked enough tarragon so that when finely chopped I had about 2 tbs. I then put all these ingredients into a pyrex baking dish, added 1 1/2 tbs. of olive oil and some salt and pepper and mixed them all together. Finally I cooked the potatoes for 50 minutes at 425 degrees. Once the tarragon started cooking and the aromas filled my kitchen, I knew I was onto something good. The dish was a great accompaniment to a grilled pork tenderloin and fresh summer corn.

So go ahead and get out there to support your local farmers. Buy what's fresh and local and get creative, sometimes its just the inspiration you'll need to get out of the trap of making the same old side dishes all the time. You'll feel good about the fresh, high quality food you'll get, and you can feel good that your supporting local businesses and helping our environment in many ways.

My Visit to Yountville in the Napa Valley

This is my fourth and final post regarding my good fortune in being in the Bay Area for business early this week with some time to visit wineries and tasting rooms in the afternoons. I love when things work out like that!

This posting is focused on three tasting rooms of some smaller wineries that I visited right in the center of Yountville. Jessup Cellars, Girard Winery, and Hope & Grace wines all have tasting rooms located right on Washington St. in Yountville.

The first stop I made was at Jessup Cellars, which has a very nice tasting room with a nice art collection adjacent to it. Jessup’s founder and winemaker is Mark Jessup, who has a background working at Robert Mondavi and Opus One among others. Here I tasted 4 different red wines and a Cabernet Port. The Cabernet Port was served with chocolates, and I must say that the Port and the chocolate made a great pairing to finish my visit there. As far as the other wines, their 2006 Merlot was quite good. It had aromas of blackberry, black raspberry, and cherry with much of the same on the palate. Strong but pleasant tannins and some acid provided a bit of balance. The Jessup 2006 Table for Four was a blend of 65% Cabernet, 15% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Petite Sirah (yes it is indeed Petite Sirah and not Petit Verdot). This wine had a very nice bouquet and flavors of blackberry and cassis. This and all of Jessup’s red wines were interesting in that the color was on the lighter side, but the flavor profile was very much dark blackfruit.

Girard Winery was my next stop in Yountville. Located in walking distance from Jessup, Girard was a very nice tasting room with some unique wines and some excellent wines. Meg and Erin here were excellent hosts. In the interesting category was a blend called 2006 Mixed Blacks which consisted of Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre, and Carignane. All the grapes are mixed throughout the same vineyard in Calistoga and picked at once.

In the excellent category was their 2006 Artistry which is a much more traditional Bordeaux blend consisting of 59% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Cabernet Franc, 13% Petite Verdot, 8% Malbec, and 7% Merlot with fruit sourced from Oakville, Yountville, and St. Helena. On the nose you get aromas of black cherry and cassis with an herbal undertone. The wine has classic purple-red color with a nice full bodied, rich mouthfeel and solid tannins. It is very good now, and I believe it will become even better in a few years. This excellent Cab was a very good value at $40.

My final stop of the day was Hope & Grace wines. Here I was greeted by Tiffani, who was friendly, very knowledgeable and shares my love for Stag’s Leap District Cabernets. The winemaker at Hope & Grace, Charles Hendricks, has a long history of making wine in the valley for wineries like Regusci, Barnett, Bacio Divino, and several others. In 2001, he started making his own wines under the Hope & Grace label, which is named after his two daughters. They are a small production winery with overall production at about 2000 cases. All seven of the wines I tasted here were quite good with a couple standouts. Their 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon and their 2006 Russian River Pinot Noir were both very good, but their 2006 Stag’s Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon was the star here. This Cab, with fruit sourced from the Regusci Ranch, had beautiful deep, blackfruit aromas dominated by ripe black cherry and blackberry. This is one of those Cabs that I could just smell all day long. In your mouth, you get a full bodied Cab with intense fruit flavors and classic Stag’s Leap District tannins. This Cab is just absolutely delicious! Although you could, it would be a shame to enjoy this while it’s young. It should just get even better over the next 5 to 10 years. This was a perfect finish to my afternoon in Rutherford and Yountville.

Well, here I am writing from my home in the Buffalo, NY area already missing some of the wonderful wineries and tasting rooms that I visited. At least I have some wine from each of them that I brought home to enjoy over the next several years. Each time I uncork one, it will be a wonderful reminder of the great little diversion I had this week in beautiful Napa Valley. On those occasions, I will not only have some great wines, but I will also uncork some fond memories.

My Visit to Rutherford in Napa Valley

Tuesday I had the pleasure of visiting some wineries and tasting rooms in Rutherford and Yountville after doing some business for my real job in the Bay Area. For this post I’m going to focus on Rutherford and then I will cover Yountville in a later post.

My first stop in Rutherford was a second visit to the tasting room at Elizabeth Spencer Wines. This is a great, simple little tasting room right on Rutherford Rd. across from the Rutherford Grill and Beaulieu Vineyard. Owned by partners Elizabeth Pressler and Spencer Graham, they are a small winery making very limited amounts of quite a few different wines. On this visit I tried eight different wines and there wasn’t a bad one in the bunch. All the wines were made in a style that had very nice balance and would be very food friendly.

For the whites, they had a nice Sauvignon Blanc that had crisp citrus aromas and flavors without being too fruity. Nice acidity balanced out the fruit in this organically farmed and produced Sauvignon Blanc. I also tasted a 2007 Chardonnay, which was unoaked and very crisp with strong but nice acidity for a Chardonnay.

For red wines I tasted a number of excellent wines. They had a pleasant Merlot and Petite Sirah, but the Cabernets were the standouts. Their 2006 Crossroads Cuvee Cabernet was a wonderful example of a well balanced, food friendly Cabernet. Fruit was sourced from multiple locations in Napa Valley including Rutherford, Oakville, Howell Mountain, Pritchard Hill, and Mt. Veeder. Aromas of blackberry and cassis dominated the nose and you got much of the same on the palate. What was very interesting with this Cabernet is that the fruit was delicious but not overpowering. It had good acidity, decent tannins which should soften with a little time, and great overall structure. The 2006 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon was also excellent. This offering has fruit sourced from a single vineyard near the ridgeline of Howell Mountain in the northeast of Napa Valley. This mountain fruit produced a more fruit forward Cabernet that had great intensely dark fruit flavors of cassis and black plum. It had big tannins to back up the fruit and a wonderful finish where I picked up a hint of cola to go along with the fruit.

I should also note that Mark in the tasting room was friendly and extremely knowledgeable, and largely responsible for mapping out my itinerary for the rest of the day. Finally I will point out that although I did not spend any time in them, they have a nice garden, picnic area and tasting cottage that Mark showed me before I left. I will be sure to spend some time there in my next visit to the Napa Valley. This is a great winery that is a conveniently located and easy stop on just about any Napa Valley itinerary.

My next stop was Frog’s Leap Winery on Conn Creek Road in Rutherford. This was perhaps the most relaxing winery I’ve ever visited. I tasted wine while sitting on a covered porch near a wildflower garden listening to birds chirping and roosters crowing. They poured all four wines at once to taste at your leisure and served a cheese, nut, and fruit plate to go with it. The whole experience changed the gears of my day from run, run, run, to sit back, relax and smell the roses – literally. They did have a nice rose garden , but I must confess I did not actually smell them. I was much more interested in smelling their wines.

The wines and winery at Frog’s Leap are a little bit different than what you typically see or taste. They practice dry, organic, and sustainable farming, and they built the first LEED certified tasting room and administrative center in the industry. They also run their operation on all solar energy. The wines are also a little bit different than the norm in that they are extremely well balanced and much lower alcohol than many other California wines. They even have a Zinfandel that is only 13.4% alcohol.

All the wines I tasted were very good, but the standouts for me were the 2007 Zinfandel and the 2007 Chardonnay. The Zinfandel as I previously stated has a remarkably low alcohol percentage in a time where its no longer unusual to see Zinfandel’s well over 15%. Slightly lighter in color than most Zins, it had sweet cherry aromas with some subtle spice. In your mouth you get a pleasant mouthfeel with none of the syrupy or raisiny qualities that plague so many Zinfandels these days. Flavors of cherry and wild berry along with some spice are balanced by acidity and a bit of earthiness. This is actually a Zin with structure that can be enjoyed with food. Highly recommended!

The 2007 Chardonnay also showed excellent balance and structure. Made with Carneros fruit in 78% new and neutral oak and 22% stainless steel, this was a wonderful Chardonnay. On the nose and the palate you get nice but subtle fruit flavors and a subtle hint of oak, but what really set this apart is the crisp acidity and minerality that it exhibits. This is not your typical oaky and buttery California style Chardonnay. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought I was drinking white Burgundy.

Well that about sums up my visit to Rutherford. Soon I will be posting the details of my visit to some tasting rooms in Yountville. Thanks for reading!

Stag's Leap District Visit Part 2

I'm still pinching myself for having some time to take a couple diversions while travelling to the Bay Area for my real job. This past Sunday I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon in the Stag's Leap District visiting five wineries in total. For some information on the Stag's Leap District in general and on Clos Du Val, Chimney Rock, and Regusci please see my post for Stag's Leap District Visit Part 1. This post is going to focus on the last two wineries I visited - Baldacci and Pine Ridge.

Baldacci Family Vineyards was recommended to me by the folks over at Chimney Rock. They are a relative upstart in the Stag's Leap district, having just released their first wine in 2003. They are small and family owned as the name suggests, and with that you get the attention to quality and detail that often gets overlooked in larger wineries. Their winemaker, Rolando Herrera, has a number of years of experience working for well respected wineries like Paul Hobbs. He also has extensive experience working in the Stag's Leap District as the former Cellar Master at Stag's Leap Wine Cellars. The tasting room staff were friendly and knew their stuff.

The wines at Baldacci were quite good. Two in particular stood out for me. Their 2005 IV Sons Cabernet Sauvignon may just be the best value in the Stag's Leap District. It is 97% Cabernet Sauvignon with the remaining 3% Cabernet Franc. Aged in 40% new French oak, it has very nice blackfruit aromas and flavors with a touch of Bordeaux style earthiness to it. In the mouth you get those silky Stag's Leap District tannins. Although it is not quite at the same level of some of the world class Cabernets I tasted on this afternoon, it is a very strong value at $35.

The 2005 Baldacci Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon was, in a word, lovely! Aged in 70% new French oak for 20 months, it is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. It had beautiful blackfruit aromas dominated by cassis with more of the same on the palate with complex hints of multiple other flavors. Even as a young wine, this has classic Stag's Leap District tannins with a fantastic finish. I know this is hard to believe for those of you are less serious about your wine, but at $65 this wine is also an outstanding value. The Baldacci family is a very welcome addition to the Stag's Leap scene.

My final stop was a winery I was aware of and drove by many times, but had never really paid attention to in the past. After visiting them, I am now regretting that I didn't get to know them sooner. Pine Ridge Winery is making some very nice wines with a pretty extensive library. Chris in their tasting room was knowledgeable and I enjoyed spending time with him and the rest of the staff. They were serious about their wine but a lot of fun to be around. Wines ranged from unique and good to excellent. Their 2006 Onyx was a Malbec Blend consisting of 43% Malbec, 38% Merlot, 10% Tannat, 4% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. Although it wasn't a standout for being one of the best wines there, it was a very unique wine that was a nice change of pace.

Pine Ridge's 2006 Napa Valley Cab was made primarily with fruit from the Oakville and Rutherford AVAs. It had nice purple color to it with aromas of blackberry and blueberry. On the palate you get more of the same with some black cherry. The finish was unique and very long. The Pine Ridge 2005 Stag's Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon was excellent. Consisting of 89% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Petit Verdot, and 5% Malbec it was aged in 75% new French oak barrels. It had a bouquet of blackberry and cassis with some subtle blueberry. The fruit was balanced by decent acidity and classic Stag's Leap District tannins. This was an excellent wine from a winery that I need to pay more attention to going forward.

Well that about does it for my Sunday afternoon in Stag's Leap. Luckily I also had some free time to hit other parts of Napa on Monday and Tuesday afternoons. I will be highlighting those tasstings in other posts later this week.

Stag's Leap District Visit - Part 1

Yesterday I had the fortune of spending a Sunday afternoon in Napa Valley while out in the Bay Area for my real job. I spent about 3 hours total and hit 5 wineries that are all in the Stag’s Leap District in the southeast of Napa Valley. If your not familiar with it, the Stag’s Leap District is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) well known for producing some of the best Cabernet Sauvignon in the world – primarily from fruit grown on or near the hillsides that frame the eastern edge of the valley. The grapes get excellent afternoon sun exposure combined with cool mornings due to the district’s proximity to the San Pablo Bay. This combination of cool nights and mornings and hot afternoons along with some great, rocky, volcanic soil and extensive sun exposure produces some very unique wines.

The Stag’s Leap District AVA gained fame even before they officially became an AVA thanks to the 1976 Judgment of Paris wine tasting that pitted California wines against much more well known French wines in a blind tasting. The top red wine in this tasting was a Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet, and a Clos du Val Cabernet also did well in the competition. Eventually some of the wineries and growers came together to lobby for recognition as a their own AVA, which is no small feat considering that Stag's Leap Wine Cellars and Stag's Leap winery had a longstanding lawsuit going over the Stag's Leap name. They eventually received the AVA designation in 1989. The wineries and growers argued – and I agree with them wholeheartedly – that the terroir in the Stag’s Leap District makes Cabernet Sauvignon grown there unique and different from other Napa Valley Cabernets. I also happen to think it makes them better than any Cabernet Sauvignon in the world.

Stag’s Leap District wines are powerful and gentle all at the same time. Warren Winiarski from Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars referred to these wines as having “an iron fist in a velvet glove.” It sounds crazy, but it is a perfect description of what great wines from the Stag’s Leap District give you. The hot days give you big, beautiful fruit flavor, and the cool nights help maintain decent acidity for balance. The soils and climate somehow deliver tannins that are always present but unbelievable smooth and silky.

Well that’s enough background for now. Let’s get to my visit to the Stag’s Leap District. I hit five wineries and spent 30 to 45 minutes visiting and tasting at each one. Because of my limited time, I chose not to tour any of the wineries but simply to visit their tasting room. The wineries I visited on this trip were Clos Du Val, Chimney Rock Winery, Regusci Winery, Baldacci Family Vineyards, and Pine Ridge Vineyards. On previous visits to the area I have also been to Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, Steltzner Vineyards, and Cliff Lede, which are all very nice in their own right, but not the focus of this posting.

My first stop was Clos du Val which is the southernmost property I visited. Situated on beautiful grounds with very nice landscaping and a charming area for picnics, this winery has been making outstanding Stag’s Leap District Cabs since the early 1970’s. They also participated in the 1976 Judgment of Paris. In a follow up tasting of the exact same wines 10 years later, they were the winner.

At Clos du Val I tasted one Chardonnay and a few different Cabs. Their 1998 Reserve Cabernet was one of two standouts for me. It had aromas of blackberry, cassis, and blueberry with a hint of spice. The tannins were very pleasant and the wine was very well balanced. The 2005 Stag’s Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon from Clos Du Val was even better and less expensive than the Reserve. It had a nice purple-red color in the glass with gorgeous aromas of blackfruit with much of the same on the palate. The tannins were strong but not harsh. With some time this could be a very nice wine.

My visit to Chimney Rock Winery was everything you could ever want in a winery visit. As you pull into the parking lot you get stunned by the beautiful scenery of the Stag’s Leap Palisades right in front of you. The winery building itself is rather simple outside, but very warm and inviting once you step inside. The tasting room staff – especially Tom – were friendly and knowledgeable, and it was a pleasure to spend time with them. The experience was made all the more pleasant by meeting and spending some time in the tasting room with a very nice young couple visiting from Chicago who were also sampling some of the fine wines that Chimney Rock has to offer. Why is it that wineries always have so many nice people visiting and working for them? I guess it’s just an added perk to go with all the great wine.

The wines at Chimney Rock ranged from good and interesting to outstanding. Their 2003 Arete Cabernet and the 2004 Reserve Cabernet were unique in that they had tannins so soft and so smooth that I actually wanted a little more iron fist and a little less velvet glove. Two wines that stood out were the 2005 Ganymede Cabernet and the 2006 Tomahawk Cabernet, although I have to say there basic 2005 Stag’s Leap District Cabernet was also quite good. The Tomahawk may have been the best wine of all the wines I tasted during this visit. It had wonderful aromas of blackberry and cassis with a hint of black cherry and spice. This is a wine I could sit down with and just smell it for an hour before drinking any of it. The bouquet was absolutely gorgeous. On the palate the wine was very fruit forward but with incredible balance. The fruit was the star, but there was an excellent supporting cast of acid and those silky Stag’s Leap District tannins. I can’t believe how good this tasted at such a young age. It should get even better with a little time.

The next stop on my trip was Regusci Winery. Situated right next door to Chimney Rock, this stop was a last second drive-by decision, and I was happy that I made it. The staff here (especially Vickie) were warm, friendly, and informative, and I also met some very nice folks here tasting wine (from the Carolinas I think). This family owned winery has roots that go back to the 1800’s, and the property was acquired by Gaetano Regusci in 1932. He made wines at the time, but also dedicated a lot of land to other crops and livestock. Eventually his descendants put the focus entirely on grapes, and they grew them for other wineries and now for their own.

I tasted a number of different wines here with some surprising standouts for me. I thought they had a very nice 2007 Chardonnay with grapes sourced from the Carneros region in the southern end of Napa and Sonoma counties. I was also surprised by their 2006 Merlot. It had beautiful blackfruit aromas with a subtle lavender undertone, and it had the great velvety mouthfeel that you get with Merlot done right. The blend included about 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, and aside from the velvety mouthfeel, you could almost convince me I was drinking a Cab not a Merlot. Vickie was right to tell me that they have a “kick ass” Merlot. This also tells you a little bit about how fun the atmosphere is in this winery.

Regusci also had an excellent Bordeaux style blend. Their 2006 Patriarch Proprietary Blend had a great bouquet with flavors of blackberry and cherry with nice acidity and classic Stag’s Leap tannins. It was a very enjoyable wine to finish my visit to Regusci.

Well that’s part one of my visit to the Stag’s Leap District. In the next day or two I will write about Baldacci Family Vineyards and Pine Ridge Vineyards. Thanks for reading!

Cambria Julia's Vinyard Pinot Noir 2006

Pinot Noir is certainly not my favorite grape in the wine world. Having said that I must admit that it is a perfect pairing for certain foods. There is nothing like a fine French Burgundy to go with a great Thanksgiving turkey. It may be somewhat unconventional, but I also happen to love Pinot Noir with pizza. Finally, it seems that salmon and Pinot Noir were made for each other. Before reviewing, I should note that Pinot is the one grape where I strongly prefer the Old World style to the new.

Last night, salmon with a maple/mustard glaze was on the menu, so I set out to get some nice Pinot Noir. I had heard great things about the Cambria Julia's vineyard, and it seemed to be a potential value at just under $20. Having tried and enjoyed their Chardonnays in the past, I had high hopes for this Pinot Noir.

In the glass, the color of the wine was a very light brick red. The nose had elements of cherry, spice, Cinnamon, and smoky vanilla. All of these were nice, but it just didn't smell like Pinot Noir. On the palate you get cherry and sour cherry, some acidity and a light body. The wine had decent balance to it. In looking for flaws in this wine, there were no glaring weak points. From a technical standpoint, there was nothing wrong with this Pinot, but for me there just wasn't anything particularly right with the wine. This sounds a little corny, but this wine had no soul. It seems to me that it was made in the winery and not in the vineyard.

Although its sad to say, just under $20 is a very low price for what was supposed to be a good Pinot Noir (93 points from Wine Enthusiast). Unfortunately I feel this was money wasted and would not recommend Cambria Julia's Vineyard Pinot Noir 2006.

Caymus Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

The Caymus Napa Valley Cabernet 2007 is a wine that took a long time to open up, but it was worth the wait.

Intense, dark purple in color, this wine is very full bodied - almost syrupy. It has a very high alcohol content and legs that just keep going. When first tasted after decanting 2 hours, the alcohol was still overwhelming the other flavors. I let this wine sit in glass an additional hour and came back to it at which point is was much more ready for drinking.

On the nose you get intense aromas of blackberry and cassis with underlying scents of licorice and caramel. On the palate you get much more of the same with the blackberry taking center stage. The mouthfeel is ultra rich - almost too rich and a little bit syrupy. The tannins are about as silky smooth as they get. After swallowing you get a very pleasant finish with more than a little bit of length to it. Overall a very nice wine that is wound quite tight at this young age. This needs a little time to mellow out or a lot of time decanting.

At a price tag of about $70, this wine is an OK but definitely not great value. It is quite good, but in this price range you can find better.

Clos De Noi Vinyes Velles Negre Samso 2007 Montsant

Wow - that title is a mouthful isn't it? This old vine wine is made entirely from Samso which is the region of Montsant's local name for the native Spanish Carinena grape. Most of the rest of the world calls it Carignan. Regardless of what you call it, this grape is getting some good results in Spain in the northeastern regions of Montsant and Priorat.

This bottling from Clos de Noi has a dark purple color. On the nose you get a nice bouquet of plum, blackberry, and black cherry with just a touch of earthiness to go along with the fruit. In your mouth you get a smooth pleasant feel to the wine with flavors of blackberry as well as red and black raspberry. All of this leads to a decent but somewhat uninspiring finish. Overall, it is a nice wine.

At a price point in the under $15 range, this Montsant gives you decent value.

From a pairing standpoint you could go in a couple different directions. Pork tenderloin cooked medium rare worked rather nicely for me with this, but I would caution against pairing it with well done pork. I also thinks this would go very nicely with a big, juicy burger or some authentic, fresh chorizo sausage.

Vina Cobos Felino Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

Vina Cobos is a joint venture between American winemaker and consultant Paul Hobbs and his partners in Argentina, Andrea Marchiori and Luis Barraud. Hobbs is much more famous for the Napa Valley winery that bears his name, but Vina Cobos makes some very nice wines that might start to change that a little bit.

This 2007 Felino Cabernet Sauvignon from Mendoza has deep red-purple color with a full body. Aromas of cassis and blackberry dominate with pencil lead and a hint of vanilla and spice. Fruit forward in style, you get flavors of cassis and blackberry jam with very smooth tannins for such a young Cab.

At a price of about $18, this wine gives you a lot of bang for your buck. It compares favorably to a lot of Cabs in the $30 plus price range. Highly recommended!

Like any good Cabernet, this wine pairs very well with grilled steak or other beef dishes. It also goes nicely with aged cheeses.

Intro to Spanish Wine Part 1

Our geographical subject for this month is Spain and the fantastic wine regions spread throughout the country. Spain is setting the world standard for foodies and wine lovers worldwide these days. It is the epicenter of the culinary world, with more Michelin 3 Star rated restaurants than any other country in Europe. It is where top chefs worldwide are going to learn, and it is absolutely the one place on earth where chefs are pushing the envelope to the extreme with results that are pure mad genius. One restaurant even gives you the opportunity to bring in your favorite perfume or flower so that they can make you a dessert that tastes just like it! At the same time, the best chefs are paying careful attention and respect to a culinary heritage and traditional ingredients that have been developed over many centuries.

Along with this great, unique, and boundary pushing cooking, Spain has also undergone a renaissance in winemaking over the last quarter century plus. Whereas most of the many regions in the country were once known for high volume, low quality wine where the national or regional system paid growers purely on volume, it is now a region of multiple, unique regions producing fine, high quality bottlings.

The wines and regions of Spain are many and varied. There are excellent reds, whites, sparklers, and roses or rosados as the natives call them. Although this doesn’t cover everything, the main grapes used in fine winemaking in Spain are Carinena, Garnacha (Grenache), Mencia, Monastrell (Mourvedre), Tempranillo, Albarino, Verdejo, Xarel-lo, Parellada, and Macabeo. To complicate matters, many of these grapes are called different things by different regions. For example, let’s take a look at Tempranillo. Depending on which region you’re in, this could be called Tempranillo, Cencibel, Ull de Llebre, Tinto Fino, Tinto de Toro, or Tinto del Pais. How’s that for confusing?

The good news is that most Spanish wines are bottled under the guidelines of classification laws, which will give you pretty clear guidelines about what you’re drinking and its quality. In the interest of not boring you to tears as you read this, I will not go through the all the details of the classification system, and instead just give you the basics. Vino de Mesa (VdM) is your basic table wine without a place associated with it. Vino del la Tierra (VdlT) is essentially a table wine that comes from a particular region but doesn’t follow that region’s rules as outlined in stricter classifications. Denominacion de Origen (DO) wines are by far the most common ones we will see here in the U.S. This is the most common quality wine indicator among Spanish wines. Each DO is associated with a region (there are approximately 60 regions) and each region has its own “consejo regulador” or control board that sets the rules for wines from that region and can govern everything from type of grape, cultivation, harvesting, ageing, and many other aspects of the winemaking. For the most part it is the DO wines that have transformed the quality of Spanish wine. Finally there are Denominacion de Origen Calificada (DOCa) wines which is an even higher requirement for quality that is only found in two regions – Rioja and Priorat.

For those of you who find all this very foreign and confusing compared to the American or New World system of naming wines after the grape, rest assured that this system works very well. Oenophiles and serious wine drinkers have long known about the concept of terroir. Countries with longstanding traditions of winemaking like France, Italy, and Spain figured out long ago that certain grapes perform best in particular climates and soils. This combination of place and soil are the heart of the concept of terroir. True believers in terroir will tell you that the unique combination of place and soil with a particular grape will make the wine from that terroir unique from any other place it is grown. I was one of many who used to only half believe in this concept. My epiphany moment came during a 2007 visit to the Villany region of southern Hungary where I tasted Cabernet Franc that was absolutely unlike any other Cabernet Franc I had ever tasted. At first I thought it was just that particular winery’s winemaking style, but as I tasted other Cabernet Francs in the region and noticed the same unique qualities, I began to truly understand the concept of terroir. Throughout Spain you will also see the influence of terroir on Spanish wine. Take the wines of Rioja, Ribera del Duero, and Toro, as an example. Although I enjoy Tempranillo based wines from all of these regions, I find that these wines have differences that cannot be explained by winemaking alone. The beauty of classification systems like the Spanish D.O. are that they tell us more than just what grape is used, which is sometimes all we are told with New World wines. The downside is that they require some effort to learn and understand what you get with each region and classification.

There are 60 different DOs (or DOCa in the case of Rioja and Priorat) in Spain. Here I will try to give you some of the basics of what you will get with Spanish red wine only for now in some of the better known as well as up and coming regions. White wine regions will be covered in a future post.

Rioja

Rioja is by far the best known of the Spanish wine regions and was the first to be recognized as a region that makes high quality wines to compete on the worldwide stage. Rioja is certainly best known for Tempranillo, although that is not the only red grape used in some Riojas. Some Riojas have Garnacha as a significant component as well as other grapes in smaller quantities. Rioja also has three distinct sub regions. Rioja Alta in higher elevations in the west is known for very traditional, lighter, old world style wines. Rioja Alavesa is known for producing fuller bodied wine than Rioja Alta that are more fruit forward. Rioja Baja is known more for Garnacha than Tempranillo. There are great wines and great values to be had throughout Rioja, but I will caution that this is the one region in Spain where you will see some not so great wines and values make their way to the U.S.

Ribera del Duero

Ribera del Duero is a wonderful success story for Spanish wine. Located in North Central Spain but further south and west of Rioja in the Region of Old Castile, Ribera del Duero is producing some of the greatest red wines in the world these days. The region surrounds the Duero River which eventually makes its way over to Portugal and the Atlantic. Its unique terroir, which owes to its high altitude and chalky soil with large swings in daytime vs. nighttime temperatures, results in a beautiful expression of the Tinto Fino or Tempranillo grape. Top Ribera del Dueros are recognized worldwide. Estates such as Vega Sicilia command prices well into the hundreds of dollars for a bottle and have earned scores as high as 99 from critics like Robert Parker. The wines themselves are more consistent, powerful, and more fruit forward than what you will typically see from Rioja, but they are not just big fruit bombs. Many Ribera del Dueros have wonderful balance and structure. There are also many other producers who make excellent wine for a good value. Some favorites of mine include Condado de Haza and Atalyas de Golban.

Toro

Toro takes us even further west than Ribera del Duero. Toro is one of the top up and coming regions in Spain. It has not earned the reputation of Rioja or Ribera del Duero yet, but the beauty of its relative anonymity is that there are fantastic values to be had in this region. See my review of the 2006 Bodegas Real Sabor Toro for a fine example. Toro also makes most of their wine using the Tempranillo grape, but in this region it is typically called Tinto de Toro. More similar to Ribera del Duero in style than Rioja, Toro reds are powerful but balanced. This is one of the fastest growing regions in Spain with multiple new wineries being added every year.

Priorat

Priorat, in Catalonia in the northeast, is a region producing some of the greatest wines in Spain and many might argue in the world. Priorat’s unique climate and soils set it apart in the wine world as someplace that can make exclusive, top quality wines. The soils are very rocky schist, and the climate is extremely dry. Grapes are generally grown on hillsides, where numerous old vine plantings exist. This combination makes the grapevines work very hard to produce low yields. This results in intense, concentrated wine from primarily the Garnacha grape but also from Carinena. Wines like Alvara Palacios L’Ermita command over $300 and scores of over 95 points from Stephen Tanzer. There are also some better values comparatively, but due to the reputation it has earned and the harsh growing conditions, this is generally not a great region for lower cost value wines.

Montsant

Montsant just became its own DO in 20001. This is a region that just about wraps around all of Priorat. Like Priorat it has a number of old vine plantings of Garnacha and some Carinena. Some winemakers here are also experimenting with international grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah. Montsant is what I would classify as one of the up and coming regions of Spain. It has not yet developed the reputation or top level collectible wines that its neighbor to the north has, but it has some outstanding wines that can be had for very little money. See my review of of Mas Donis Barrica Montsant for an example of an excellent wine in the under $15 price range.

Jumilla and Yecla

Jumilla and Yecla in the southeast of Spain are two neighboring regions that are very similar in their wines and their recent history. Both had a long history of making cheap bulk wine for very local consumption. Winemaking was dominated by large co-ops that had little care for quality. In the late 1980’s, approximately one hundred years after it hit the rest of Europe, the area was hit by the dreaded phylloxera. Vines and production were both dealt a devastating blow. The silver lining in the story, though, is that this tragedy forced the DO to rethink their approach. For awhile at least they could not count on high yield vines to produce cheap bulk wine. They were almost forced to improve the quality of their product and to make better wine. In the end, this was great for the region and the consumer. These two regions are now producing very good wines for still very inexpensive prices. Bodegas such as Finca Luzon in Jumilla and Castano in Yecla are producing very good wines from the Monastrell (Mourvedre in France) grape with international varieties sometimes added to the blend. See my review of the Bellum Providencia Yecla 2005 for a nice example.

Bierzo

Bierzo is a young, small region that is producing some of the most unique wines in all of Spain. Here, winemakers have been able to get some very interesting results from the Mencia grape. This grape has been grown in Spain for a long time, but in the past it has produced very light and simple wines without very much structure. In Bierzo, some cutting edge winemakers have been able to get great results. The wines are still lighter in body, but they have wonderful aromatics, good fruit flavor, and elegant structure. The best examples will have a lot in common with Burgundian Pinot Noir. This is a region to watch.

Some other regions to watch for red wines are Costers del Segre, Navarra, Calatayud, and Vinos de Madrid. All of these regions have producers that make very good wines, but they are certainly harder to find than the regions I have discussed in more depth. There are also some excellent white and sparkling wines in Spain, but that’s a story for another day.

Spain does not yet have the reputation that France or Italy has, but this is a country with a wide variety of outstanding wines. Whether your looking for that one incredible bottle for a truly special occasion or a great value to buy by the case, Spain has some great choices for you. Go visit your favorite wine store and give some Spanish wine a try.

Box Car Syrah Sonoma Coast 2007

This Box Car Syrah is a very nice expression of what Syrah can do in the right parts of California. At a price point just under $20 it's also a pretty good deal.

Deep purple in color, this Syrah has a great, rich mouthfeel with decent acidity and surprisingly smooth tannins for such a young wine. A bouquet of blackfruit and white pepper has undertones of herb scented lamb. On the palate you get the same fruit and pepper with a nice spice to the finish.

Overall this is a very enjoyable California Syrah and a great example of what Syrah done right can be in the proper regions of California. In fact I think the 2007 Box Car Syrah is quite a bit better than the 2007 Red Car Syrah from the same winery. The fact that its half the price makes this one a no-brainer.

I enjoyed this bottle with a wasabi encrusted seared tuna. Since the tuna was rare it worked very well together, but it could cerainly overpower a tuna steak grilled more well done. It would also be a great pairing with lamb or game.

Gordon Brothers Syrah Columbia Valley 2003

This 2003 Syrah from Gordon Brothers in the Columbia Valley of Washington is a pretty unique Syrah. It has some of the rich mouthfeel, deep color, fruit & pepper that you expect from American Syrah, but it also has some characteristics that could be called Old World.

In your glass, you see the deep, purple-red color that you expect from the more extracted and concentrated style of New World Syrah. It has just a hint of rust or brick that is common with wines that have seen some bottle aging. It is the nose though that makes it quite unique. In addition to the typical blackfruit, pepper, and spice, you get that a little hint of "barnyard" or earthy smell that is so common with Old World French wines. In your mouth you get decent acidity with some nice tannins to balance everything out. The body is full, and in addition to plum, cherry and pepper, you also get a hint of chocolate on the palate.

Overall I think this wine is a decent value for $18, but I would caution that those who feel strongly about either New World Syrah/Shiraz or a great Northern Rhone might find elements in this wine that they won't like.

I enjoyed this unique Syrah with some spicy barbecued ribs. It would probably pair even better with a leg of lamb or some spicy Thai.

Frei Brothers Reserve Russian River Valley Chardonnay 2007

Let me start by saying that I'm pretty rare among wine lovers in that I like both New World and Old World Chardonnay. Many wine drinkers strongly prefer to have lighter bodied, less fruity, and more acidic Chardonnays with a crisp minerality to them - they are the Old World camp who love White Burgundies. Others are fans of oak, oak, oak, some more oak, some fruit and a full body. My wife is firmly in that camp with no plans on leaving. She loves rich, oaky, California Chardonnay. I happen to think both styles can be great when done right and a lot depends on what I want to eat with my Chardonnay if anything. Having said all that, if you are a fan of New World style Chardonnays, you will love the Frei Brothers Reserve Chardonnay from the Russian River Valley AVA of Sonoma County.

The wine is filled with aromas of oak & vanilla with some butterscotch and pear. In your mouth you can instantly feel that this is classic California Chardonnay. Flavors of pear and nectarine are front and center with the vanilla and spice from the toasted oak. The mouthfeel is rich and buttery. There is also a pleasantly surprising acidity to this wine that provides a little more structure than some California Chardonnays that are pure fruit and oak. If you like the rich, oaky California style, then you will love this wine. It is a well done Russian River Valley Chardonnay.

Although there are plenty of people out there who disagree with me, I happen to love New World Chardonnay with marinated grilled chicken or buttery seafood. I also enjoy it on its own. I enjoyed this bottle with some sauteed scallops with lime-butter sauce. Delicious! At under $15/bottle its also a decent value.

Catena Cabernet Sauvignon 2005

Made by Bodega Catena Zapata, famous worldwide for making great Malbec in the Mendoza region in the foothills of the Andes, this Cabernet Sauvignon shows that Mendoza can produce great fruit for wines other than just Malbec. The fruit from this Cabernet is estate grown in high altitude vineyards - ranging from 3100' to 3500' in altitude.

Aromatically, the Catena Cab gives you black fruit, mocha, and spice. Full bodied, with some backbone to it, flavors of black cherry, plum, and blackberries dominate with a much more subtle taste of the mocha, which is much more prominent on the nose. Overall, a very good Cabernet from a producer who made their name with Malbec.

At a price point in the low $20's it is a solid value. Like any good Cabernet, it wants to be served with beef, lamb, or game. Would also go very nicely with aged cheeses.

Peter Paul Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2004

Peter Paul Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 is an excellent Napa Valley Cabernet that can be had for under $20. This intense, delicious wine is made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon grapes that come primarily from famous grower Andy Beckstoffer's Georges III and Melrose vineyards. All the fruit is from either Rutherford or St. Helena.

In your glass, you will see deep purple color. A beautiful bouquet of blackfruit is dominated by blackberry and cassis with much of the same on the palate. This full bodied, classic California Cab is balanced out by smooth, silky tannins.

I should also not that there is actually a Peter Paul who owns this winery, and it is not 2/3 of a sixties folk group. Mr. Paul made his fortune in financial services before getting into the wine business, and today he donates a good portion of the proceeds from his winery to his charitable foundation which focuses on underprivileged children.

So go get a bottle or six of Peter Paul Cabernet. It's a very good Napa Cab for under $20, and some of your money will also make its way to charity. You can't lose with this one!

Serve with grilled steak or venison for a great pairing.

Uccelliera Rosso di Montalcino 2007

This excellent wine comes from the region of Montalcino, which is famous for its high powered and high priced Brunello di Montalcinos. This Rosso from Uccilliera is a fantastic wine that will give many Brunellos a run for their money.

In your glass the wine has a beatiful medium red color. The bouquet is full of rasberry and plum with just a hint of cinnamon. The wine has a medium-full body with a very pleasant acidity and soft tannins. Flavors of red cherry, sour cherry and plum are abundant. This had incredible fruit flavor for a Sangiovese and a smooth, lasting finish.

Overall, the Uccelliera Rosso di Montalcino 2007 is an outstanding wine. It outperforms many Brunellos which are 2 to 3 times the price. It definitely delivers a great value for its $25 price tag. Highly recommended!

Pair with pasta and marinara sauce, Parmigiano Reggiano, cured Italian meats, or veal.

2005 Bellum Providencia Yecla

The 2005 Bellum Providencia Yecla is yet another great value from a relatively unknown region of Spain. The casual wine drinker probably only knows Spain for Rioja which is Spain's most famous wine region or Denominacion de Origen (D.O.). More serious wine drinkers are probably also familiar with Priorat and Ribera del Duero. The best kept secret in the wine world these days is that Spain is loaded with numerous wine regions that produce a very wide variety of different grapes and styles of wine. The tradition of winemaking is long and storied in Spain, and over the past 20 years there has been a real quality revolution throughout most of the country, which has seen many regions move away from cheap, mass produced wines into much higher quality fine wines.

Yecla is one of many regions that is participating in this fantastic change where the focus in no longer on quantity but on quality. The winemakers in this D.O. as well as the neighboring D.O. of Jumilla, have discovered that they can make truly great wines with careful tending of the vines and attention to detail. They have been able to get fantastic results from the Monastrell (called Mourvedre in most other parts of the world) grape either on its own or as the primary grape blended with Garnacha, Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon, or Merlot. This is a big change from the old days in Spain when Monsatrell was for mass produced, lower quality wine or merely a blending grape. The great benefit for you and me is that they are making these very good wines and selling them at a very competitive price. To learn more about Yecla and other Spanish wine regions go to http://www.winesfromspain.com/icex/cda/controller/pageGen/0,3346,1549487_4946338_4944445_1147_2,00.html

The 2005 Bellum Providencia is made from 100% old vine Monastrell. As an interesting aside, the Bellum name and label comes from a prehistoric cave painting in the region depicting a war between two bear clans - the locals call the painting Bellum Ursi (The Battle of the Bear). In the glass you have an intense, dark purple wine with a very nice, full body to it. On the nose you get blackfruit - especially blackberry as well as some blueberry pie. This wine is jam packed with fruit flavor with lots of blackberry, black cherry, and blueberry. Tannins and a touch of spice provide some balance and a pleasing finish. At a price of $15, this wine is a solid value.

Enjoy Bellum Providencia with red meat, chorizo sausage, or BBQ ribs.

Yellow Cherry Tomato Soup w/Avocado

Here's a recipe for a really simple and refreshing soup that is not only good but good for you. I used yellow pear tomatoes for this which are similar to cherry tomatoes but slightly larger and yellow in color. If these are not available you can certainly make this with other cherry tomatoes. I would only recommend against using the much sweeter grape tomatoes. The soup can be served warm or chilled depending on the time of year and your preference.

To make the soup you will need:

3 pints yellow pear tomatoes - cut in half
1 pint red cherry tomatoes - cut in half

1 vidalia onion - chopped

2 avocado - cut into slices

1/2 cup fresh basil

2 tbs olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Start by heating 1 tbs olive oil over medium-high heat and cook the onions for 5 to 10 minutes until soft and just slightly browned. Add the yellow pear tomatoes to the pot and stir. Turn heat down to medium and simmer for 20 minutes. Transfer to a blender or food processor and puree and then chill if desired.

Chop basil and mix with remaining tbs. of olive oil. Pour oil/basil mixture over the pint of halved cherry tomatoes and mix together and salt to taste.

Serve soup in a shallow soup bowl and garnish with 3 or 4 avocado slices on the perimeter of the bowl. Spoon cherry tomatoes with basil oil in a nice line across the bowl and serve.

Makes 4 servings.

I served this with a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, but it would also pair very nicely with Riesling.

Domaine Michel & Joanna Ecard Savingny-Les-Beaune Premier Cru "Les Gravains" 2006

Lets start this one by saying that I was able to buy this wine at a pretty hefty discount. This wine typically retails in the $40-50 range, but my good friends at Georgetown Square Wine & Spirits have some great pricing on this bottle, so I was able to get a bottle (well actually quite a few bottles) for significantly less than that. If you can find a deal and you like Old World Pinot Noir, than this is a very nice wine.

Michel Ecard is the son of Maurice Ecard who has a long tradition of making some of the finest wines in Burgundy. Michel ventured off on his own along with his wife starting with the 2005 vintage, and all indications are that all the years he spent learning under his father have paid off.

The 2006 Domaine Michel & Joanna Ecard Savigny-Les Beaunes Premier Cru is a good Pinot Noir that is firmly rooted in Burgundian terroir and style. It is darker in color and fuller bodied than most Pinot Noirs. The fruit is certainly present and pleasant, but the sour cherry and cranberry flavors are very subtle on the nose and the palate. The fruit is nicely balanced by flavors of spice and a pleasant minerality and earthiness that just says Burgundy.

I happen to think this is a wonderful example of what the Pinot Noir grape can do, but I will caution that lovers of New World Pinot Noir might not like this wine. If you like reds from Burgundy it is definitely worth looking for this somewhat hard to find wine. If you like your Pinots from California and the Willamette Valley, then you can probably live without this one.

Pinot Noir pairs nicely with a number of foods. My personal favorite is a nice turkey dinner, but it also goes very nicely with duck breast, roast pork, and salmon.

Mas Donis Barrica Cellar de Capcanes Montsant 2005 Old Vines

Mas Donis Barrica is another fine example of the great things that are happening with Spanish wine right now. This country has undergone a quality revolution as of late, and they are producing excellent wines that won't empty your wallet. Much like with Spanish cuisine, you will find a great combination of old world tradition with a new world twist.

Montsant is a lesser known Spanish region that is very close to the famed region of Priorat. Among serious wine drinkers, Priorat has a reputation for making some of the finest wines in the world. Montsant is a much newer region which was just recognized as a unique D.O. (Denominacion de Origen) in 2001. To learn more about Monstant - go to http://www.domontsant.com/

Mas Donis Barrica is made from 85% old-vine Garnacha (or just call it Grenache if you're not in Spain) and 15% Syrah. The wine is aged for 9 months in a combination of French and American oak.

In your glass Mas Donis has a deep purple color with aromas of raspberry and plum with a hint of spice. It has a medium-full body with a very pleasant mouth feel. Mas Donis delivers forward fruit, but unlike so many other fruit forward wines in this price range, it doesn't instantly disappear on your palate. It delivers a long lasting, spicy finish to balance out all the fruit. At a price in the $10 - $12 range, this is one to stock up on. Robert Parker gave this 91 points, and this wine absolutely lives up to that kind of praise. Highly recommended!

I love this wine with pork tenderloin grilled medium-rare. It also pairs nicely with Spanish cheeses like Manchego and Campo de Montalban.

Avignonesi Vino Nobile di Montepulciano 2005 DOCG

This is a very good wine from a region of Tuscany that is not quite as well known as some of its famous neighbors. Just about everyone is familiar with Chianti and Chianti Classico, and many are familiar with the region of Montalcino and their esteemed Brunellos. For reasons I can't quite figure out, the region of Montepulciano has neither the familiarity of Chianti among casual wine drinkers nor the status of Brunello di Montalcino among those who are a little more serious about their wine.

Vino Nobile di Montepulciano wines are primarily Prugnolo Gentile, which is a clone of Sangiovese - the main grape in Chianti, Chianti Classico, and Brunello di Montalcino. The DOCG requires that all Vino Nobile must have at least 70% Prugnolo Gentile, and they also allow smaller percentages of Canaiolo Nero and other approved varieties. For those of you who want to know even more about Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, see this link: http://www.vinonobiledimontepulciano.it/vinonobiledimontepulciano.en.php#leuve

This offering from Avignonesi is comprised of primarily Prugnolo Gentile with small amounts of Canaiolo Nero and Mammolino. The color is a medium red with a small hint of rust normally seen in older wines. With a swirl of the glass, you get beautiful black cherry aromas with a mild cinnamon accent, with much of the same on the palate. This is a beautiful expression of Tuscan wine and the Prugnolo/Sangiovese grape.

At a retail price in the mid $20s, you get quality that is similar to many Brunellos which retail for well over $50.

Enjoy this great Tuscan red with roasted meats, grilled game, or a great Parmiagiano Reggiano.

Louis Martini 2007 Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon

Are there any good California Cabernets left on the market for under $20? Many years ago there were tons of them, but sadly today they are very hard to find after the long continuous climb in real estate prices in Napa and Sonoma counties. Over the last few years Louis Martini has been one of very few Cabernets from California that give you great value for your money in the $10 to $15 price range. The 2006 in particular was a standout in the value Cab category.

The 2007 offering from Martini is another very solid effort. It has a nice dark purple color in the glass. On the nose , it has aromas of cassis and black fruit with a hint of vanilla. On the palate it is full bodied and fruit forward. This wine is loaded with fruit - especially cherry and blackberry. This is a very nice, easy drinking, everyday wine, and at roughly $12 a bottle you can't go wrong here. The only weakness I see is that it could have a little bit more tannin and structure like the 2006 Louis Martini had , but at this price you can't expect too much. Overall a great value for the price.

Pair with seared tuna or just plain enjoy on its own.

Fig, Manchego, and Jamon Serrano Tapas

Here's a fun and simple recipe for a great Spanish style tapas or appetizer. This recipe gracefully combines the sweetness of fresh mission figs with serrano ham, a cured spanish ham (some stores will refer to this by its Spanish name - Jamon Serrano). Add in a little manchego cheese to balance out the sweet and salty flavors and you have a simple, tasty treat!

Here's what you will need:

20 mission figs
15 very thin slices of serrano ham
4 oz of manchego cheese

Take the figs and cut off the thin tip, and then slice them in half, lengthwise. Take small pieces of manchego cheese (slightly larger than pea size) and place it on top of each fig. Take the slices of serrano ham and cut it into 3 strips lengthwise and wrap one strip all the way around each fig crosswise. Lay out the ham wrapped figs on a baking sheet or dish and cook for 8 to 10 minutes at 400.

Serve with a nice Spanish red from Rioja, Ribera del Duero, or Toro. See review of the 2006 Bodegas Sabor Real Toro below for a great selection!

Bodegas Sabor Real 2006 Toro

Lets start this one by talking a little bit about Spain and Toro. Right now, Spain has some of the best wine values you will find in the world - wonderful wines from many regions and different grapes with the opportunity to get great quality for your money. Toro is a region that is a bit of a well kept secret. Toro reds are generally made with the same Tempranillo grape used in the better known region of Rioja (in Spain wines are named after the region not the grape), although in Toro the grape is often called Tinto de Toro. The beauty of the Spanish system which names the wine after the region is that the same grape in different regions will actually make wine that is similar but unique from the other regions. I could start a whole dissertation on terroir here, but that's for another day. The beauty of Toro is that it is an up and coming region, which means you will generally get great value for your money with these wines.

Bodegas Sabor Real 2006 Toro is one of the standout values in Toro. On the nose it has an aroma of smoky spice and blackberry. It has a great, full bodied mouthfeel with loads of spice and fruit and it is very nicely balanced. This can be had for as low as $9.99 a bottle, and at that price this is one to buy by the case. This is one of the best bottles I've ever had in the under $10 price range. Parker gave this one 90 points. Highly recommended!

This wine will pair wonderfully with a wide range of foods. It goes great with pork tenderloin or grilled lamb chops, and it is great with an authentic Spanish paella with chorizo sausage. I had it last night with some tapas - figs with manchego cheese wrapped in jamon serrano (cured spanish ham). Both the figs and the wine were delicious.