One of the most ubiquitous wines of the Perrin family’s is La Vieille Ferme (The Old Farm en français). You might know the wine as the Rooster wine or Chicken wine due to the distinctively illustrated rooster and chicken on the label. The wines are widely distributed and can be found at most wine shops retailing somewhere around $7 – $10. One day last summer it was hot outside with little relief upcoming. I sat down to begin this tasting series with budget friendly rosé.

When shopping for this series’ wines I was surprised not to find the wine on the shelves of the grocer Trader Joes. Instead I found some suspiciously similar looking wines including a rosé under the label La Ferme Julien (these boasting labels with a distinctively illustrated goat!). Though no mention of the Perrin family on the label, the Perrin’s website confirmed these wines are similar or possibly the same wines as La Vieille Ferme. So for fun, I threw this rosé into the mix.

Lastly as a benchmark and because I never pass an opportunity to open a bottle, I added Tablas Creek’s Rosé to the tasting as well.

On to the tasting… I tasted each wine at both 65°F and 52°F. Rosés are often drunk cold but I didn’t want to mask any flaws with the cool temperature. Yet, it would be a real disservice to rosés at this low price point to actually drink them warmer than quite chilled.

2011 La Vieille Ferme Rosé

52°F – The nose showed pretty and bright but indistinct red fruit. The wine’s flavor immediately triggered thoughts of bubble-gum; simplistic, the finish lingered with watermelon candy such as Jolly Rancher. This is a lightweight wine, fairly soft with a touch of pleasant acid through the short finish. It is a one-note wine, but charming and refreshing.

65°F – At the warmer temperature the wine’s bouquet was significantly more elaborate. The wine shows still very clean and elegant but now with a more distinct strawberry character along with floral and slight tobacco notes. In the mouth however, the wine is completely different: much weightier with a distinct acid backbone. The favors are less fresh, more like stewed tart fruit. The finish is clean with only slightly perfumed scents.

2011 La Ferme Julien Rosé

52°F – Remarkably this wine has no nose whatsoever. Vigorous swirling exposes absolutely nothing. On the tongue the wine remains dumb; it’s muted and simply wet. There is a touch of awkward astringency showing the wine to be out of balance yet finishes with a slight hint of the missing fruit. Overall inoffensive yes, but ultimately why bother drinking alcoholic water? I have to believe that this is indeed a different wine than the La Vieille Ferme. I don’t how much bottle variation there might be in this production but the two wines show no resemblance.

65°F – Here the wine shows immediate fruit at the nose. The character is a deep strawberry aroma very similar to the La Vieille Ferme but more singular. Again, the wine is very wet in the mouth with only subtle fruit flavors. It is very lacking and finishes short and forgettable.

2011 Tablas Creek Rosé

52°F – The fruit is fairly muted in the nose with only a subtle gamy note; almost a cheddar cheese like aroma which might be a first for me. In the mouth the wine immediately explodes with great strawberry jam flavors and again gamy undertones. This is a thoughtful rose, layered with a great balance, full mouthfeel while finishing quite clean and leaving the mouth salivating. What the wine lacks in bouquet it makes up for in the mouth.

65°F – Aromas jump out the glass at the warmer temperature. Rich cranberry dominates, overwhelming those gamy notes. The wine tickles the tongue with sharp acid and hot alcohol and gives a long lasting finish. Complex flavors start out as bright fresh candy strawberry and cranberry and give way to heartier cooked fruit. The wine is delicious but would benefit from food to mellow the texture.

These three rosés share in common a prettiness and femininity with the La Vieille Ferme and Tablas Creek being worthy of their price points. The La Ferme Julien proved to be undeserving of any attention. Unsurprisingly the much more expensive and hand crafted Tablas Creek showed what I consider to be the Perrin traits of elegance and intricacy. Structure (from acid) I expect from any Perrin produced wine. Aside from the outlier La Ferme Julien the La Vieille Ferme Rosé and Tablas Creek Rosé both prove food friendly lively wines and certainly Perrin-esq.

The post Perrin Family — La Vieille Ferme Rosé first appeared on Vinum Vita.

Tablas Creek is a winery established in 1989 through a partnership between the Perrin family and Robert Haas (an American wine importer). The partners set out to replicate in California a piece of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Beaucastel’s home in the Rhone Valley. Paso Robles was settled on for its climatic and geological similarities to Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The effort was made complete through the ongoing import of actual vine cuttings from Beaucastel’s vineyards and reproduction of the winemaking techniques that the Perrin’s have perfected in France.

My discovery of this Perrin style of wine lead me to learn more about the Perrin family and their other wines. The Perrin name has a famed history in the southern Rhone Valley of France. The Beaucastel estate of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, purchased in 1909, blossomed during the post-war era, under the leadership of Jacques Perrin (the grandson of the original patriarch). Jacques took considerable risk in going against the prevailing trend in the area by planting significant amounts of Mourvedre, a challenging varietal to grow. Through Tablas Creek, Mourvedre has become my favorite red varietal recently. This decision along with a commitment to natural organic viticulture and the use of traditional methods such as planting much of the vineyard in the freestanding gobelet style laid the foundation of what would become the Perrin family’s winemaking philosophy:

Absolute respect for the soil, a commitment to manual methods and a deep belief that organic viticulture is the only way to express the true essence of the terroir1

In this series of posts I intend to explore several of the Perrin family’s wines. I want to better understand the Perrin style and what I love about it. The Perrin’s make wine under several labels including La Vieille Ferme, Famille Perrin (previously Perrin & Fils) and of course the flagship Chateau de Beaucastel. Through a partnership with Nicolas Jaboulet, the family is making wines of the Northern Rhone under the label Maison Nicolas Perrin.

Springtime is around the corning and we’ll all soon be sipping rosés. Let’s start the tasting with the Perrin’s most basic wine, the La Vieille Ferme Rosé!

Posts in this series:

The post Tasting the Perrin Family Wines first appeared on Vinum Vita.

Surely all wine lovers know the Riedel name ― they call themselves The Wine Glass Company for a reason. We learned that the company makes several hundred different glasses for every wine imaginable plus those dedicated to other drinks, particularly spirits and water. And thus, the meat of the seminar is to convince the audience that glassware does indeed impact the quality of the wine. Specifically, that individual wine varietals benefit when drunk from a varietal specific wine glass. In the end, they succeeded, mostly.

Our host Sylvie Laly, began the session with the basics: the name of the company Riedel (rhymes with needle), the history of the company (traditionally ornamental glass, recent change of focus to wine) and an introduction the company's odd internal motto ‒ ​Money Doesn't Stink. This motto is the explanation given as to why the company is happy to design glassware for obscure wine varietals and over the top decanters; ​Money Doesn't Stink​, i.e. if people are crazy enough to pay for these things, we're happy to make them. This struck me as bizarre as we were all sitting in a seminar which was presumable trying to convince us of the need to buy obscure glassware. But I digress.

Each of the seminar participants were given a set of five O-Series glasses. There was one glass for each of five wine varietal types. Throughout the seminar, Ms. Laly led us through smelling and tasting different wines in the different glasses. For example, we started by appreciating the bouquet and flavor of a local Talley Chardonnay in the the varietal correct Montrachet Chardonnay glass. We then transferred the wine to an empty plastic Joker cup to find that the aroma was completely gone and the flavor nearly so. The wine then went into a Riesling/Sauvignon Blanc glass where we found the wine to be a bit alcoholic and sharp. Back the wine went into the correct glass where its full glory returned.

Wine after wine we followed the process and to the delight of the audience the differences were striking. As for me, I must confess that I have attended the same Riedel glass course a year ago so I was paying extra attention this time. There is no question that the shape of the glass appeared to change the reception of the wine's fragrance and flavor, but the procedure can be misleading. To begin with, we are always introduced to the new wine in the correct glass. Thus our first exposure, when our senses are most sensitive, is associated with the correct glass. As I'm sure many of the readers have experienced, the first glass of wine (or any beverage for that matter) is the most strongly flavored and usually the best. When we did ultimately return the wine to the correct glass Ms. Laly immediately exclaimed that the full scents and flavor had suddenly returned. Well… the scents and flavor did seem to have returned but I must say they were not as vibrant as during the first exposure.

This leads me to confirmation bias. Throughout the tastings, we all knew what was expected. People have a funny tendency to believe what they expect to be true, even when not confirmed by fact or in this case their senses. There is a further tendency for people avoid dissent with a group. As the participants are all oohing and ahhing, those who might be skeptical may succumb to group-think bias. So, it should be no big surprise that a session taught by an employee of the worlds largest specialty wine glass company should result in all being convinced of the magic of the glasses.

After all of that said however, I will confidently say that the shape of the glass does indeed affect the perceived quality of the wine; my biased opinion for what it's worth. The difference may not be as profound as Riedel's representatives suggest, but I believe there is in fact a difference.

This is obvious when considering a completely inappropriate glass, such as one with straight walls or a rim too a large. In those cases the scent of the wine escapes leaving nothing in the glass. It makes sense to match your glass to the wine in a broad way.  However, as you attempt to differentiate the subtleties between dozens of varietal specific glasses, you will quickly find diminishing returns.

For my money I believe there are four essential wine glasses:

The Glass		The Wines
	Burgundy 6416/07	Red Burgundy, Pinot Noir, Champagne, Beaujolais, Delicate Reds
	Bordeaux 6416/0	Red Bordeaux, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Meaty Reds
	Chablis (Chardonnay) 6416/05	Chardonnay, Viognier, Rhone White Blends, Lush Whites
	Sauvignon Blanc 6416/33	Sauvignon Blanc, Grenache Blanc, Alsatian Whites, Sharp Whites

(The above glass references are to Riedel's Vinum series wine glasses, links to Amazon)

Lastly I'll mention two tips we learned to care for your Riedel glassware. When it is said that the glasses are dishwasher safe, keep in mind that the dishwasher should be otherwise empty and should be run with no detergent. And if you do hand-wash (and you should), never, ever, wash your glasses after 10pm — glasses are just more fragile after that time for some reason.

So what do you think?  Is this whole varietal specific glassware thing poppycock?  Prefer to drink out of a tumbler?  Or is there a place for a handful of choice glassware?  And I hate to bring it up, but what do you think of the stemless glasses?  Let us know in the comments!

The post The Riedel Wine Glass Seminar first appeared on Vinum Vita.

Nathan Myhrvold is a fascinating fellow – I've been following his work for sometime now but especially after he wrote a 2400 page, $500 cookbook on food and science called Modernist Cooking: The Art and Science of Cooking.  It is a beautiful book and I highly recommend that you check it out (here's a TED Talk video on the book).

Anyway, back to the article.

​Wine lovers have known for centuries that decanting wine before serving it often improves its flavor …the traditional decanter is a rather pathetic tool to accomplish it.

In the article, Mr. Myhrvold suggests that a kitchen blender is highly effective at aerating wine.  He says "…it almost invariably improves red wines—particularly younger ones, but even a 1982 Château Margaux".  Though no Château Margaux was handy I decided to give it a go anyway; after all, I'm no wine snob, if a blender improves the wine then I'll happily blend away!

I didn't have a blender but I found this handy-dandy little guy on Amazon for $15.  It holds 14oz, just nice for a wine aerator. (Being the instant gratification kind of guy I am, I ended up buying it at Wal-Mart on sale for $9. Shhh!).  So I turned on the camera, popped the cork on a bottle of a Paso Robles' 2007 Stanger Bench Cuvee and blended away.

The result of this little experiment was pretty surprising.  The hyper-decanted wine was clearly very different and that difference was mostly structural.  The wine felt different on the pallet, specifically weightier and softer–you might say lusher.  The wine's tannins were unaffected and the flavor profile didn't show real improvement.  Overall I was pleased with the result and will experiment some more with this.  And if anyone out there has an extra bottle or two of Château Margaux—in the name of science I would be happy to put it to the blend test.

Give this a try and let us know in the comments.  I think wine is heartier than we give it credit for.  Perhaps Frappéd wine is the next big wine geek trend?

The post Hyper-Decanting Wine in a Blender first appeared on Vinum Vita.

The official feature set, according to Home Depot:

• Holds and cools up to 52 bottles of your favorite wines
• Adjustable thermostat helps you select your desired temperature
• Compressor delivers effective cooling
• 4 black sculpted shelves adjust to meet your unique needs
• Interior light illuminates the cooler for your convenience
• Amber glass door for visibility and an elegant look

I ended up returning the first unit I bought. The unit constantly ran and couldn’t get the temperature below 70 degrees.  The second unit I got worked fine.  On both units, the doors were installed crooked but were easy to straighten out simply by loosening a couple of bolts.

I found the overall aesthetics of the cooler quite nice.  The unit measures 20.6 x 32.5 x 22.6 inches.  It does have a cheap feel to the metal but the tinted glass door provides an nice look once installed.  The suggested 52 bottle capacity is a bit of a stretch.  This number of bottles would fit only if all of the bottles are average Bordeaux-style/cylindrical-shaped.  Burgundy/Rhone and Sparkling bottles fit well but prevent you from achieving maximum capacity.  35 bottles or so is a more realistic number.

The cooler has a seven setting temperature control dial and lacks any sort of thermometer.  I highly suggest buying a separate thermometer like this one to determine the internal temperature.  You’ll generally want to shoot for 55°F for red wines and 45-50°F for whites keeping in mind that the top shelves are a bit warmer than the bottom.  I’m storing my reds on top at 55°F and find that the bottom shelf at 50°F is perfect for the whites.  I’m not convinced that the cooler uses a real thermostat.  I find that on hot days the internal temperature of the cooler runs a bit (~5°F) warmer.   The cooler may use a simple duty-cycle system to regulate temperature.

A traditional mini-fridge compressor is responsible for the cooling.  This is not a low-vibration compressor, but vibration does not seem excessive.  This may be an issue if you are considering using this cooler for long-term aging of fine wines.  In my opinion, this level of vibration should not be a concern for storage of five years or less.

The interior light which is installed on the ceiling of the unit is a wimpy 15W incandescent.  With your shelves full, the light is only strong enough to be of use for the top shelf.  I’ve considered installing stick-on battery powered lights in other locations but have yet to find an option that fits well.

Home Depot was unable to provide any sort of owner’s manual or warranty card with the unit.  In fact, it looks as if all of these coolers are “loose” without any box or information at all.  Both Home Depots I visited had the coolers unpackaged on a shelf.  I was able to negotiate a 10% discount on the cooler because there was no box or information.  The sales manager suggested I download the owner’s manual from the internet but a quick search turned up no information for the Vissani brand.  A bit more digging revealed that Vissani is a secondary brand of Magic Chef which markets this same cooler under that label with the model number: MCWC52B.  I called Magic Chef and confirmed that they would honor the warranty of the Vissani units through their support website.  I also received a copy of the owner’s manual which is available for download here: Vissani MCWC52B owner's manual.

I should mention that upon installation it is necessary for the the cooler sit for 2-3 hours before being plugged.  This is especially true if the unit traveled on its side or was tilted for some time.  This waiting period allows the coolant to flow back into the compressor.  I allowed the cooler to come down to temperature before loading any wine into it.  I then added a few bottles at a time over the coarse of a day or so to prevent the compressor from running too long.

An advertisement taped to the front of the cooler I bought showed that the unit was covered under a Limited One-Year Parts & Labor In-Home warranty with a further Limited Five-Year Parts Only warranty on the compressor.  This matches the warranty information in the owner’s manual (see the last page).  Because this is such an inexpensive cooler and the fact that my first unit was DOA, I have a feeling that the warranty may come in handy.  In fact, I opted to purchase an extended two-year replacement warranty from Home Depot.  Because the sale price was under $150, the replacement warranty was only $17.95; regularly $24.95.  I consider this a great deal as it guarantees three years of operation from this unit.

In conclusion I’m very happy with the Vissani MVWC52B 52-bottle cooler.  The only significant downsides are that it is a touch noisy and shelving requires some creative stacking of the bottles.  But overall, the price can’t be beat and the warranty provides peace of mind.  In fact, if I see these coolers on sale again, I may just buy a second!

The post Vissani 52-Bottle Wine Cooler Review first appeared on Vinum Vita.

This is a story of a simple wine – Carlo Rossi Paisano Red Wine.  Now, many of you out there surely have memories of Carlo Rossi wines, good and ill.  These ubiquitous jugs are responsible for many an introduction to wine.  High‑schoolers have been known to liberate a jug or two from either the parent’s cupboard or a local drug store…  These wines often flow freely at college parties – sometimes spiked with further cheap booze…  But as for me, I somehow escaped all of this.  My introduction to Carlo Rossi wine came yesterday.

Now these wines haven’t gone completely unnoticed by me.  Why, of course I’ve seen them on the shelves of many a grocery store.  I’ve read how Monsieur Rossi’s Hearty Burgundy and Chablis retained their French names through grandfather laws.  I’ve even watched Gary Vaynerchuk taste test one (see the end).   But again, I’ve never been inclined to indulge my curiosity until yesterday.

What finally got me was the discovery of the “Paisano” wine.  You see, I’m a big fan of John Steinbeck – for those of you who might not know, his famous novel Tortilla Flat centers around a jolly group of Paisano friends.  These Paisanos (peasants of Spanish/Italian heritage) live simple lives but look forward to nothing more than a jug or two of wine to share among friends.

As for me, I didn’t procure my wine at Torelli's but rather from the local warehouse grocer.  I found the price of $4.98 for a generous 1.5L jug to be quite reasonable, though our friends seemed to do even better at a dollar per gallon.  I didn’t notice any shelf-talkers or Parker scores to guide me so I admit that my purchase was based solely off of the label and my fondness for the Paisano friends.

I decided against decanting the wine.  You see, this is a non-vintage bottling and without knowing its age it’s hard to determine if the wine might be too delicate for aeration!  This also seems to be a proprietary blend as there are no grape varietals listed on the label.  Though the label does assure us that it is a “100% Grape Wine”.  So again, to play it safe, I chose an all-purpose red wine glass; the purist may want to stick with any old Mason jar.

The nose of the wine was deep and fragrant filling the glass with the scent of fresh strawberries in that way that strawberry Jello smells before it fully sets.  The word Grenache immediately jumped into my mind and I’d bet a dollar to doughnuts that my favorite Rhone red is part of this blend.  Also a flash of a 30‑year old memory surfaced – a time when I gulped down what looked like Kool‑Aid in my Mother’s glass.

In the mouth, the wine is fruity and surprisingly light.  The 11.5% alcohol gives the wine almost the weight of grape juice but with a decidedly winey flavor.  The wine reminds me of Sangria – off dry, with pronounced upfront red fruit and a generic plumminess.  The finish is short and sweet (literally).  The flavor profile is quite agreeable though the sweetness makes enjoying the first glass a bit of a chore.  Perhaps the Carlo Rossi Hearty Burgundy is a bit more restrained?

As for disclosure, I should say that this session was clearly not done as a blind tasting.  However, after finishing the jug my vision was quite impaired for a good 2-3 hours.  Be aware, that this wine is a headache in a jug.  But since it is most likely to be consumed along with large quantities of other alcohols, the headache is pretty much inevitable anyway, isn’t it?

Kidding aside, I certainly see the appeal of Carlo Rossi Paisano wine.  It is tasty and cheap and packaged very handsomely.  But more importantly it speaks of what wine used to taste like, perhaps should taste like.  For millennia, wine was simple, fruity and likely sweet.  It is true to the terroir of those expansive flat vineyards baking in California sun.  It is true too to the humble nature and generosity of the Paisano’s who used to drink it.  To all of you reading this that are serious about wine – do yourself a favor, drop a fiver and buy yourself a jug.  Sit on the porch with some friends and raise a glass to what wine once was and what it once meant.

As an aside, I did actually have some excess wine leftover, go figure.  Since I was making pan-grilled chicken breast for dinner, I tried out the Carlo Rossi in a reduction sauce.  The result was surprisingly good so I thought I would share the preparation.  Another tip for left-over wine is to freeze it in ice-cube trays.  Store the cubes in a zip-bag and you have ready-to-go cooking wine. (Also you can put toothpicks in each cube and make little Popsicles – the kids will love them!)

This basic recipe works as a simple pan-sauce with or without wine for nearly any type of pan-grilled meat.  For beef I like to season the sauce with thyme or rosemary.  With chicken or fish, white wine and tarragon or thyme is great.  With pork, either red or white wine can be used and nearly any herb.

A lighter version of the sauce can be prepared with no butter, instead adding small amounts of cornstarch (mixed first with cold water) to thicken the sauce.  For this lighter version, it is not necessary to reduce the sauce as much in step two.

The post Paisano Friends and a Carlo Rossi Jug first appeared on Vinum Vita.

Back in March of 2010 I was fortunate to attend a TEDx conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  One of the speakers, Surech Kuppusamy – an avid high altitude mountaineer, spoke on this topic which made me sit upright then and continues to resonate with me.  He put to words an instinct I always had and a practice I didn’t follow.

What is micro-avoidance?  You know that unwashed cereal bowl that has been sitting on your kitchen counter all day?  Or maybe a paperclip on the floor under your desk?  You might have been annoyed all week by a spot on your car’s windshield left by a bird…  These things could be dealt with easily – it might take 1 second to pick up that paperclip or 1 minute to wash that cereal bowl.  But so often we ignore these things, we avoid them.  They are so insignificant that it is not fair to call it avoidance – let’s call it micro-avoidance.

To be clear, I’m not talking about real procrastination here.  If you’ve been putting off doing your taxes you can’t bang that out in a couple of minutes.  I’m talking about the little things in life that you ignore, look the other way, choose to forget and put off.

Surech felt that a key to success is avoiding micro-avoidance: taking care of these little things as soon as they’re noticed.  By doing this we prevent the piling up of the minutia that overwhelms us.  Our environments and minds remain clutter free.  When applied fully to life we become doers, always accomplishing and we break bad habits that can lead to greater procrastination.

For a long time I recognized little pangs of guilt within me whenever I micro-avoided.  Whenever I passed that cereal bowl or saw that spot on my windshield I could feel a small bit of stress or guilt.  Micro‑guilt let’s say.  Every time I caught a glimpse of that paperclip I felt it.  A pang each time I opened my inbox and saw that e-mail I should send a quick reply to.  A small internal sigh each night looking at the toothpaste splatter on the bathroom mirror.

Imagine throughout the day, little pangs of guilt and stress affecting you.  You’re barely conscious of these things.  You easily ignore them and forget them – but they do affect you.  Again and again, day in and day out.  I firmly believe that these small stress responses add up – they add up to a larger low level stress that permeates your life.  A little higher blood pressure, a little more cortisol flowing through your veins, it can’t be good.  You’re mentally and ever so slightly physically diminished because of a paperclip.

The answer is ever so simple – when you catch yourself micro-avoiding, stop, backtrack and take care of it.  By recognizing when you micro-avoid you can’t help but correct it.  It’s so damned easy and costs nothing.  You will turn into a doer – you will be less stressed and just maybe even happier.

Pick up the paperclip – avoid micro-avoidance!

The post Avoiding Micro-Avoidance first appeared on Vinum Vita.

Syrah is a misunderstood wine, its ubiquity and range of styles (and names) have left plenty confused.  Often, a set of identifying characteristics make a wine easily recognizable and provides a foundation on which to understand the varietal.  For Syrah, big dark fruit flavors and often vague spice make up its foundation.  It’s common to read of leather, tar, olive, violet, espresso and black pepper in reviews of Syrah with a structure described as masculine: big and bold, rich and strong – brooding even.  The trouble is, for most Syrah, nothing more is seen in the glass beyond that big, bold dark fruit.

My difficulty with Syrah stems from the grape’s high potential but lack of consistent delivery.  My first sips of wine were of Australian Shiraz and plenty of value Shiraz crossed my lips while living in Malaysia.  I’ve drunk plenty of California’s Syrah over the years, mostly widely distributed and popular labels.  Together, these experiences left Syrah planted squarely in my mind next to Coca‑Cola – big and delicious but uninteresting.  My palate generally leans toward savory and complex wines – so much of what I’m told suggests that Syrah should fit the bill. 

Clearly I have not been drinking the right Syrahs.  I decided to begin a set of lessons on Syrah to develop an understanding of the grape.  In this first lesson I set out to taste the Syrah’s of Paso Robles.   Tasting room after tasting room with only Syrah in mind, I sipped and spat.  Ultimately I tasted just over 45 wines from the west and east sides of Paso and found remarkable diversity.  Brian Benson’s wines showed off big muscles and big oak whereas John Munch of Le Cuvier always delivers purity in his wine and the Syrah was no exception.  Elsewhere I found some leathery notes and plenty of minerality; I found some smoke and cherry and hallelujah both black and white pepper.  I even found one Syrah blessed with much more than just a touch of Brett.

I was surprised too by the texture of many of the wines I tried.  Most wines managed restraint, alcohol generally felt in check and though predominately full-bodied, the wines were rarely over the top and never jammy.  The acid structure of the west-side wines was particularly surprising; I was not expecting such mouthwateringly juicy red wines complete with full fruit and balanced tannins.  Venteux’s wines epitomized the lively backbone to the point of almost being tart. 

But still most of these wines didn’t transcend the sum of their parts if you will.  Few wines stopped me in my tracks and blew me over with complexity.  The 2008 Halter Ranch Syrah by far had the most going on but alas, it had been spiced with Malbec, Mourvedre and Viognier!  I did love the beguiling white pepper nose that came to me with Derby’s beautifully clean 2006 Syrah.  Barrel 27’s wines were very interesting, offering a lot to think about and especially good values.  Yet, aside from those Syrahs micro-blended with other varietals, I didn’t find much in the way complex layering of flavor and bouquet – there were a lot of one note wonders.

24 Hours with Six Syrahs

In an attempt to map out a spectrum of Paso Robles Syrah, I chose six wines that I felt exemplify particular characteristics of the varietal.  I would live with these wines for a full day to study them and watch them while they developed.

Immediately obvious when tasting through the selected wines were how different they were compared with the tasting room samples.  The beautiful black pepper that I had originally found in Alta Colina’s 2008 Toasted Slope Syrah was not heard from again.  Similarly, the whiffs of white pepper seen in Bianchi’s tasting room sample of their 2006 Syrah were replaced by savory scents of melted butter and sweet butterscotch.  I attribute these differences to the wines being quite young and to most of the tasting room bottles having been open for some time.  I believe that as wines breath significantly, the resulting reactions can produce unpredictable flavors; white pepper today, butterscotch tomorrow.  Of course a whole host of variables may be at play here.

After an hour of decanting, the wines were mostly quite closed still with little primary fruit characteristic yet showing.  I saw some development in the wines after four hours, but the next day after 24 hours+ the wines were showing beautifully.  In no case was there yet a hint of oxidation suggesting that these wines can cellar for at least a few years; indeed the wines seemed to integrate and develop in the time open.

Overall I found the west-side wines to be superior to the east-side in both structure and elegance.  However, in terms of pure flavor and fruit, the warmer east‑side held its own.

Too Warm?

Syrah is known to be versatile, doing generally well in both warm and cool climates.  In Paso Robles the relatively flat and open spaces of the east-side tend to be warmer than the west with its rolling hills and very cool nights.  Those warm days and cool nights tend to give the west-side fruit especially lively acids which allow winemakers tremendous freedom to choose the ripeness level at which to pick (acid usually diminishes significantly when the grapes become very ripe).  

However, even the most restrained of the wines I tried struggled to produce the secondary flavors commonly associated with Syrah.  I’ve started to develop the opinion that Paso Robles is borderline too warm for complex Syrah.  Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon Vineyard, a cool climate Syrah believer, suggests “If you want it [Syrah] to actually have character, it needs to be grown in a very cool climate”.1  It is even suggested that Syrah loses its varietal character when even slightly overripe, leading me to suspect that Paso Robles Syrah may often flirt with this overripeness.2  In Syrah’s homeland of the Rhône Valley, the grape is believed to produce at its best as a varietal wine in the cooler north whereas in the warmer south it tends to be blended with other varietals.  Denner’s winemaker Anthony Yount seems to agree that Paso’s Syrah shouldn’t be compared with those of the cooler climates: “There's a lot of Syrah here [in Paso Robles], and we can make slutty Syrah — it's ripe, people like it.  But when you compare the Syrah we can do here to the Syrah in the northern Rhone, it's not the same”.3

My true love might always be the red Rhone style blends uniting Syrah with Grenache and Mourvedre.  There is no doubt that these Southern Rhone varietals complement each other perfectly and Paso Robles can rival any in the world with her blends.  As for varietal Syrah, I confidently feel that I’ve gained an understanding of the grape, at least within the boundaries of Paso Robles.  I’ve see the purity in flavor that can be produced and the elegance in structure possible.  Syrah certainly deserves to be understood as it can deliver both contemplation and visceral pleasure.

I shall in a future blog post look outside of Paso Robles for Syrah grown in cooler climates.  In particular I would like to try wines from Santa Barbara County, Sonoma Coast, Petaluma Gap, possibly New Zealand, and of course the Northern Rhône.  I would love further suggestions and ideas; be sure to leave a comment below.

The post Understanding Syrah — Paso Robles first appeared on Vinum Vita.

2008 Anakena Carmenere Rapel Valley

“Muted, raspberry, not much else on the nose. A mouthfeel of astringent bitter tannin hiding any fruit. Cannot drink.”

Let me explain.  It is hard to buy, or rather expensive to buy, good wine in Malaysia.  Malaysia has significant sin-taxes imposed on the imports of alcohol.  This along with other import/distribution inefficiencies (cases often go missing when held by customs…) often result in a 200% (3X) or greater markup over U.S. retail wine prices.  At restaurants and wine bars, expect another doubling.  The tropical climate takes its toll on the wines as well.  Pallets of wines sitting on the docks waiting to be warehoused is one problem but even worse are the retail conditions.  Many if not all grocery stores turn off the air conditioning at night letting the wine sit at 85 degrees for 12 hours before being slowly cooled throughout the day.  I felt that about half or so of wines I tried in Malaysia were cooked to some degree.  I can’t tell you the pain I felt paying such extraordinary sums for such average wines only to find them ruined by heat.  So, I learned to seek out the best of the mediocre.

2007 Chateau Pouypardin Montee du Pouypardin Vin de Pays du Gers

“A bit of stinky barnyard, earth and soil on the nose – some leather, quiet fruit.  Nice weight, reasonable tannin, mild acid.  Structure a bit weak overall.  Solid finish, great earth driven wine.”

The wine shops and supermarkets in Malaysia offer a plethora of wines from all major wine regions of the world, sans the United States.  Australia and New Zealand are well represented, due no doubt to proximity; but even South America, South Africa and Europe all have wines widely available.  At the low end of the market it is hard to find interesting and contemplative wines.  Sure enough, nearly all of the “value” new world wines were simplistic, mass produced and terribly boring.  My palate was well beyond these Coca Cola wines.  But what surprised me, altered my palate and change my life were the “rustic” and cheap European wines.

2008 Plaimont Corolle Côtes du Condomois Vin De Pays

“Almost Beaujolais in style – Light floral nose of ripe red berries, very nice.  Great mouthfeel, light and pleasant, a wonderful find.”

I did find a few Australian wines that interested me.  These turned out to be mostly Rhone varietals, especially Grenache and Mourvedre.  I first came across GSM styled blends in Malaysia with Australian wines such as the 2005 Langmeil Three Gardens SGM Barrosa Valley.  Though fruit forward, these blends offered a complexity I’d not previously encountered.  Little did I know then that I would one day become a card carrying Rhone Ranger Sidekick living in Paso Robles, CA.

2005 Torbreck GSM Old Vines Barrosa Valley

“Great lush fruit driven nose, typical fragrant Grenache with deeper groundedness.  Lush, full in the mouth.  Good weight, vanilla, long sweet finish.  Super easy to drink – almost a GSM version of Yellow Tail but better structured and much more interesting.”

I was saved from the woes of terrible wine by a wine bar: That Little Wine Bar.  Out of nowhere, on the island of Penang, That Little Wine Bar opened its doors and brought the wines of Southern France to Malaysia.  The owners who had spent a good amount of time in the Gascony region of France set about importing the wine of their friends.  Bypassing the importers and distribution companies (and their markups) was both a way to differentiate themselves and more importantly, offer their customers the best value.  The wines that were brought in were from areas I had never heard of: Côtes de Gascogne, Saint Mont, Madiran, even Austria.  The varietals too were new to me: Tannat, Pinenc, Colombard, Ugni Blanc, Listan, St. Laurent, Blaufränkisch, Zweigelt…

2008 George Presinger Grauburgunder (Pinot Gris) Heideboden

“Lovely simple pear with a touch of white pepper and a sea minerality on the nose.  Tropical Longan fruit, great structure, juicy acidity, refreshing tingling finish.

As I mentioned, the wines were “rustic” to be sure but well beyond what I thought was possible.  I had always looked at the spectrum of wine character as fruit forward to mineral/earthy.  These new wines that I tried opened up a whole new world.  They pushed the earthiness end of the spectrum into peaty, barnyard, and mushroom.  The complexity that could be found at this far end of the spectrum astounded me.  I had few words and little vocabulary to describe these wines.  Most importantly – I loved them.

2006 Chateau Pouypardin Podio Pardino Condom

“First wine at That Little Wine Bar – Very bizarre wine.  Immediate strong vinegar on the early nose.  Goes away with short time open.  Very intriguing, mellow but interesting.  Earthy barnyard, wet soil, some wet ashtray.  The mouth is exceptionally dry but great weight.  Full mouthfeel, mineral, vegital.  Clean finish.  A little cherry on the tip of the tongue at the finish.  What is this?”

I had started to really understand my palate; complexity, understatement, earthiness and even a touch of the barnyard pleased me.  Finally I was finding myself through experimentation, not through recommendation.  It was my discovery.  Malaysia was an experience of a lifetime.  Going in, I knew a trip like this would change my life.  But I never expected Malaysia to help me find my palate.

The post Malaysia Gave Me My Wine Palate first appeared on Vinum Vita.

I love wine.  I’m passionate about wine, especially the Rhone varietals.  But also Cabs and Zins and even the often disappointing Pinots.  Youthful and sexy, funky and mature, I enjoy them all.   Paso Robles and her wines symbolize my passions in each bottle.  The wines represent what I seek in life.  Her diversity of varietal and style; old guard and up-and-comers give Paso Robles depth like no other American wine region.  Paso Robles offers endless discovery of intellectual and complex wines.  Yet, there is never a shortage here of hedonism – pure joy – to be found in a bottle.  And the best part of the Paso story?  It is just getting started; Paso is a growth story, gaining recognition and attention – 100 point scores and lots of press.  Paso Robles is exciting, the place to be for those who love wine.

My early flirtations with wine started back in Fort Collins, CO at Outback Steakhouse with five friends and a Blooming Onion.  Dean, I remember clearly the night, ordered wine, Black Opal Shiraz.  Surprisingly not awful I thought, certainly, not with a New York Strip and fried love.  A nice introduction to wine; though even with this Aussie flirtation my destiny was Paso Robles.  I used to visit my sister in Atastcadero as often as possible where she taught me the ways of the foodie.  Though not into wine herself, I was in luck, her neighbor Mikel Olsten of Castoro Cellars is a foodie and a wine lover.  I remember flashes of a dinner we all had together at Thai-Rrific in Atascadero.  Mikel brought along a Castoro Muscat Canelli – exotic to my ears.  The memory of the wine is clear; amazing fragrant nose, tropical and gorgeous – and with Thai food!  This Colorado boy was falling in love.  Visiting Mikel’s home exposed me to my first real cellar. Controlled for temperature and humidity, hundreds of bottles, fantastic – I was speechless.  Wine geekdom was clearly in my future, there was no doubt.

Sometime around 2001 I had my first real tour of the Paso Robles wineries… Justin, Meridian, Turley, and of course Castoro.  Big Zinfandels and Cab Sauv were in at the time.  The bigger, the more extracted, the oakier the better – manly wine.  I went home with a case of Meridian and a membership to Castoro’s wine club.  I’ve held onto a couple of the Merdians, a ’99 Merlot and the ’98 Dusi Zin, you know, just because they were my first.  These bottles are unlikely to have held up but they bring a smile to my face when I see them.  Isn’t that what holding on to wine is really about?  I’ve held on too to the Castoro membership.  Though my palate has shifted primarily to the Rhones, my little collection of Castoro wines still provides comfort and serves as baseline for my palate.  I’ve spent much of the last 10 years traveling.  Upon returning home from weeks or months away, a little comfort in a familiar wine is just what you seek.

The people involved in Paso Robles wine are passionate.  The winemakers, proprietors, growers, marketers, tasting room attendants, salesmen of corks and capsules!  You can see it in their eyes when they talk about Paso Robles.  People rhapsodize about the festivals and music in the park.  Pride, like a new mother’s, bursts forth from winemakers upon release of a new vintage.  It is a small community here, or better said perhaps, a large family.  The family breaths together the intoxicating culture of wine – their shared passion uniting them.  Look no further than the barstools of Villa Creek and the winery barbecues.  The camaraderie and pride of the Paso Robles family is evident everywhere.  San Luis Obispo may be the happiest town in America, but someone please inform Oprah that Paso Robles, CA is certainly the most passionate.  I seek to surround myself with the passionate because it is infectious.  To be passionate is to be excited about life – without it is to simply exist.

When the time came to unlock golden handcuffs and walk away from the cubical, where else would I go?  When the time came to truly follow my passions, was there really any decision to be made?  Paso Robles was waiting all along.

The post Why Paso Robles? first appeared on Vinum Vita.