Price: $14.99 @ Vintage Wine & Spirits imported by Wine Agencies

What They Said:

Per K&L Wines “A lovely wine from a beautiful part of France, the 35-acre Domaine de la Fouquette sits at the heart of the Cotes de Provence appellation. This is an environmentally friendly estate that works without chemicals and hand harvests entirely. The cepage is 65% Grenache and 30% Cinsault. A small amount of the white grape Rolle (5% – aka Vermentino in Italy) is added, elevating the citrus aromatics and acidity.”

What I Think:

I’m still searching for my summer Rose. With none in the house I decided to stop by Vintage Wine & Spirits, one of my local shops here in Mill Valley, and this was their pick. A bit pricey for an every weekend sipper for me but given it was from Provence I was willing to give it a try.

I’d normally call this salmon but it was amazingly pale in color (which I hope I captured in the picture). Loads of delicate strawberry notes on an aromatic nose rolled out the welcome mat. Though the color was light the body was medium. The strawberries were joined by citrus notes early on the palate before they were met with a bracing, refreshing acidity. Mineral notes shined through on a dry crisp finish. A nice bottle for sure but not worthy of splurging on all summer long. Anyone have any Rose recommendations around $10 for me?

Rating: Pricey

You can find full coverage on Cooking with Trader Joe’s (or here on Facebook). As part of this I was introduced to the wonderful cookbook Deana and Wona put together. I’ve flipped through the pages and look forward to sharing some of my favorites with you soon. Anyone that is interested or wants to cook along with me should check out there Cooking with All Things Trader Joe’s cookbook.

I personally wanted to thank Deana for taking the time to do the interview and look forward to collaborating on Trader Joe’s food and wine in the months ahead. If any of you reading here have found me via this interview drop me a line in the comments below and let me know a little bit about yourself. For starters, what is your favorite recipe in Cooking with All Things Trader Joe’s? Next question, what is your favorite wine to pair with that dish? Lastly, are any of your favorites missing in my Trader Joe’s Top 10 Wine List? Can’t wait to hear your answers…

What They Said:

Per wine.com “Captures the pungent, alert character inherent to Sauvignon Blanc. This is a peppy wine with spiky tropical and green-fruit aromas and flavors. It’s a mash up of citrus and nettles, with a controlled, fairly long grapefruit-driven finish. Modest in price, but the real thing.” 89 Points, Best Buy, Wine Enthusiast, March 2009

From Stephen Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar: “Pale straw. Lively aromas of grapefruit, lime, white pepper and herbs. Fresh on the palate too, displaying vibrant citrus and orchard fruit qualities and good mineral snap. Finishes dry and delineated, with the lime element repeating.” (Mar/Apr ‘09)

What I Think:

After sampling the Veramonte Primus as part of the Wines of Chile Online Tasting, and with higher temperatures on the horizon, I was reminded of my love for this one which I have often referred to as the most refreshing wine I have ever had. The color is of pale straw. On the nose you get citrus aromas on top of a mineral base and some floral notes. On the palate you are greeted with loads of fruit on a nice stony backbone that give way to a long, dry, crisp grapefruit and lime finish. This wine is fresh (but not in a mowed grass way like you get from New Zealand) and vibrant throughout. I already grabbed a case, my only warning is this may be too much tang for some so you might want to try a bottle first before you invest further. For those of you who can’t find it or prefer shopping via the internet this one is available via wine.com.

Rating: Bulk Buy

A month plus ago, I was lucky enough to join a group of bloggers for an online tasting event organized by the Wines of Chile. The tasting was the first of its type. Prior to the event an exquisite wooden box arrived containing the eight bottles of wine for the event in addition to stemware, a corkscrew and a spittoon. Talk about getting off on the right foot… With the tasting nearly underway the bloggers logged into a videoconference feed that was split between New York, where Gourmet magazine’s Wine & Spirit consultant Michael Green moderated the event from, and Chile (Santiago), where the eight winemakers had convened. The event was groundbreaking and the bar has been set. The one mistake in hindsight was trying to squeeze eight wines from eight different winemakers into one hour. This made it difficult to keep up with the tasting alone much less keep up with what my fellow bloggers were saying about the wines on twitter, listening to the winemakers speak or think of questions to ask them. So while I did taste some very nice wines I feel like I missed out on an opportunity to further my education by tapping the knowledge of the winemakers at the table. So moving forward, IMHO, we need more time with fewer winemakers so that we can all be more engaged with each other, the winemakers and the wines themselves.

So you may ask, after many moons why am I writing about this now? In a nutshell I wanted to share my take on how I see the wines of Chile. As many of my readers know I am a long time fan and think Chile is a tremendous source of value. My first love was the 2005 Casillero del Diablo Carmenere and I have been a long time Carmenere bandwagon rider. The Veramonte Sauvignon Blanc was my next great discovery and after the Emiliana (and a few others I have had) I am ready to jump on board for the Sauvignon Blanc as well. These aren’t the only two grapes coming out of Chile; other include Cabernet, Merlot, Pinot Noir and Syrah. Their Cabernet’s are easily recognizable by the green pepper aromas you will find present while the Merlot is mostly used in the many Bordeaux blends they put on offer. The Pinot and Syrah are up and coming varietals in the region and remain a bit inconsistent. That said I can see potential for both to evolve into value plays in the future. That said, for those looking to begin to exploring the wines of Chile today Carmenere and Sauvignon Blanc, I think, are the easiest places to find good value.

Oh, I did mention there was wine involved didn’t I? Each is listed below with my quick notes and the suggested retail price (most can be found for less). If you want more background on any of these offerings or are wondering where to track down a bottle for yourself let me know as I have much more information available on each…

• 2008 Emiliana Natura Sauvignon Blanc ($11) – Very aromatic, all the expected crispness but there is something rich and intriguing here as well. Nice mineral on a zingy finish with healthy acid. Another feather in Chile’s Sauvignon Blanc hat, really starting to like their style.

• 2008 Cono Sur Visión Pinot Noir ($15) – Unfortunately this one missed my shipment. Bob Dwyer of The Wellesley Wine Press had this to say: “On the nose, I really liked its strawberries and spice. The finish was big, but not as silky as I’d hope for from Pinot Noir. Overall, I thought it was very good, and at $15 it gives me hope that Chile may be an area for further exploration of value Pinot Noir.”

• 2006 Los Vascos Reserve ($21) – The first of the blends (65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Carmenere, 10% Syrah, 5% Malbec), early on the tannins made the wine appear unbalanced but with time oak, fruit and acid seemed to come into harmony. I wouldn’t buy it again but it might just be me, it was the favorite of some others that participated in the event.

• 2007 Santa Carolina Reserva de Familia Carmenere ($15) – Finally the Carmenere, I heart Carmenere! This one is even bigger than usual. Loaded with fruit and spices but slightly less smoky than I’m accustomed to. A nice, dense effort that is a joy to drink.

• 2007 Errázuriz Single Vineyard Carmenere ($26) – Even better yet, single vineyard Carmenere. Been dying to try one of these and now I know why. This one had beautiful balance while maintaining its usual power. Expensive but fantastic.

• 2007 Undurraga T.H. Syrah (pdf) ($24) – A wine from Limari, my first from this region, this one was smooth and balanced. Maybe to a fault as nothing shined through. I would have preferred more depth.

• 2006 Haras Character Cabernet Sauvignon – Carmenere ($21) – The second of the red blends this one was 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Carmenere, 9% Cabernet Franc, 7% Syrah. I expected green peppers and I got them along with smoke, a bit of tobacco and leather. A nice dry, long finish.

• 2006 Veramonte Primus ($20) – The last of the blends this one was 36% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Syrah, 17% Merlot, 16% Carmenère. On the nose it is brooding with dark fruit aromas and delivers a big dose of the same on the palate. This wine shows a lot of layers and continued to evolve in the mouth until the tannins and acidity can no longer be held in check. You can sense good things on the horizon here. Not sure if this bottle just needs a bit more age or if the vines just need more time in the ground but this is one I will be checking up on again…

A great wine night no doubt! Most important learning of the night? Carmenère is pronounced Car-men-YAIR not Car-men-air-a like I have been saying for the past five years (though I like my artistic interpretation better!). If you want to host a Chilean wine night of your own I’m starting dinner with Emiliana Sauv Blanc, then the Errzuriz Carmenere and finishing with the Veramonte Primus. Thanks again to the Wines of Chile for hosting the event. Here’s to hoping there is another one like it soon…

Price: $12.99 @ K&L Wines

What They Said:

Per K&L Wines “Rocky Top Tennessee may be home sweet home to Lynn Anderson, but Rocky Top in Amador is home to some fine old Zinfandel vines, and that’s good news for all of us! A very shy producing vineyard with soils of volcanic ash and boulders, this site produces old vine Zinfandel of immense proportions. The very floral, vanilla and raspberry jam aromas are very forward and inviting. The flavors match the aromas, with a rich juicy component. The finish is long and velvety-rich.”

What I Think:

For those that say twitter doesn’t sell wine like Steve Heimoff, here is a firm example of where it does. After coming across @sobonwine hearing about their wines my curiosity was piqued. This led me to K&L Wines where I paid for this bottle of Rocky Top with money. Wow a real example of selling something on twitter… Oh, by the way Dell also made a little bit of money via twitter. But I digress, let’s get to the wine.

This wine is 92% Zinfandel, 4% Petite Syrah, 2% Carignane and 2% Barbera. K&L nicely describes the terroir of this wine above. On the nose you are greeted with rich aromas of dark berries and dusty mocha chocolate. On the palate you are greeted with more purple fruits; plums and blackberries, with a slightly tart cherry component that along with the tannins keeps this wine in perfect balance. The finish was long, velvety and delightful. This is the best Zinfandel I have been introduced to in a while and another reminder that I need to get out and visit Amador County (and Lodi too!) soon. There are a ton of interesting wines coming out of the area that are friendly on the pocketbook. This one is a great example of that and I highly recommend it for Zindependence Day. What are you drinking tomorrow?

Rating: Wow!

What They Said:

Per wine.com “Expressive aromatics of lime and lemon with peaches, pears and apricot stone jumping out of the glass and spicy, floral notes in the background. Great balance on the palate, the luscious stone fruit and ginger spices harmonized by savory nuty characters from the Marsanne. Wonderful combination of freshness, complexity and balance between fruit flavour, acid and alcohol.”

What I Think:

I am a long time fan of d’Arnberg; in fact the Stump Jump Red was my first case purchase at Cost Plus World Market ages ago. Having long wanted to try this one a recent episode of wine library tv brought it top of mind and I grabbed a bottle on my recent visit to K&L Wines. Not familiar with Marsanne I learned that it hails from France and is widely planted in the Hermitage AOC. In fact, the Hermit Crab naming of this wine is an ode to these historical ties. Appellation America had a humorous write-up where I learned that Marsanne is most commonly blended and married with Roussanne. From that article this combination with Viognier is described as one of the “few incidents of infidelity forgiven.” One thing Marsanne does share with Viognier is that both are blended in small percentages into red wines. The Marsanne can serve as up to 15% of red blends of the Hermitage and the Viognier with Shiraz in Australia. Now let’s get to the wine…

This one is a blend of 72% Viognier and 28% Marsanne and comes with a long record of accolades. As you can see from the graphic this one consistently rates in the 90’s which is remarkable given the price point. With a grilled shrimp salad on the table we poured the wine in the glass. The nose is a load of fruits and minerals with floral notes interweaved. On the palate it starts with citrus, lemon and lime, before turning to peach and fading to a stony finish. This wine is certainly well made and the acid is very well balanced but to me it seems that one component hasn’t integrated and is disrupting the “flow” of this wine towards the end of the mid-palate. You would think I could identify it but honestly I can’t. I’m thinking it is an oily/kerosene/petroleum like component. Other thoughts were the amount of oak used or a bitter, nut flavor. As I mentioned on twitter; I am surprisingly not a fan. Perhaps it’s Marsanne, I intend to seek out a varietal offering to get some more experience here and see if that might be the issue. The nutty qualities leave me wondering if this could have used some more time in the bottle, could this one improve over the years? Don’t let me opinion sway you here, if you intended to try this I urge you to do so. Then let me know what you think… If you have trouble tracking this one down it is available on wine.com.

Rating: Pricey

• Tasting Weingut St. Urbans-Hof – If there is one winery where I was going to taste everything they had to offer it was Weingut St. Urbans-Hof . And taste I did. One thing I learned while at this event, though I intuitively had an idea, was the low alcohol percentage of Rieslings. The offerings here were between 7.5-9.5%. You may want to check refresh your memory on Riesling classifications and check out the 2008 vintage report before getting to some quick notes tasting notes on their offerings:
  • 2008 Riesling QbA ($13) – sweet on the nose, not as much on the palate. Lemon flavors with a nice mineral component coming through. A typical light and refreshing example from the Mosel.
  • 2008 Ockfener Bockstein Riesling Kabinett ($16) – more floral notes and higher in acidity. You are going to want food for this one.
  • 2008 Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Kabinett ($19) – Much more depth here. Sweeter and more full bodied on the palate this one shows some nice fruit.
  • 2008 Ockfener Bockstein Riesling Spätlese ($25) – surprisingly not much on the nose. Lemony tart with a great mineral background and abundant floral notes, my favorite of the bunch.
  • 2008 Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Spätlese ($30) – Described this one as funky on the nose. The palate doesn’t match. Sweet, savory and juicy with a hint of bubbles.
  • 2007 Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Auslese ($45) – Faint on the nose but rich and full on the palate. Overpowering with taste of honey, nuts and candied golden green apples. Guessing this one would last forever and a day.

• Learning about Silvaner – My first encounter with this grape which is sometimes referred to as the “King Riesling’s Queen”. Silvaner is celebrating its 350th anniversary in Germany this year and was being showcased at the event. These wines traditionally come in a Bocksbeutel , a rounded, flattend brown or green bottle, and were minerally, lemony and high in acid. Glad I was able to experience them but I am not going out to hunt down a bottle anytime soon.

• Comparing an ’07 and a ‘98 Auselese from Weingut Rappenhof – This winery offered a nice array of Riesling, Gewurztraminer and Spätburgunder (see more below) but the opportunity to sample these two Auselese offerings with roughly a decade in between them easily overshadowed the rest. Not often you get to do these comparisons. Here are my notes:
  • 2007 Niersteiner Pettenthal – Full bodied and peachy. Certainly sweet, comes off as syrupy which overpowers some juicy apple flavors that struggle to breakthrough on the palate.
  • 1998 Niersteiner Pettenthal – The age is immediate apparent on the nose with aromas of nut. What was once perhaps syrupy now delivers a carmel flavor on the palate that is accompanied by honey, nuts and apples. Layers of complexity and this one could easily age another decade or three.

• German value wines and Pinot Noir – In talking with Seb from Megawine while sampling some offerings from Dr. ZenZen and Peter Brum he mentioned that most of the wines retailed in the $7-$10 value range. Of course my curiosity was piqued, doubly so given that a Pinot Noir was included in the tasting. This lead me to wonder if Germany, like Chile, may be somewhere to start looking for a deal on some nice Pinots. My tasting here was inconclusive.

• Spätburgunder vs. Pinot Noir: Did you know that Spätburgunder is Pinot Noir? I learned this on my recent tasting trip in Germany. In talking with Claus Burmeister, the CEO and winemaker of Weingueter Heitlinger and Burg Ravensburg, I asked why he had labeled his as Pinot Noir while others chose Spätburgunder. His take was two-fold: 1) Pinot Noir is the universal term and no one outside of Germany has heard of Spätburgunder so 2) if you are making your wines in an international style for an international market you should label it as Pinot. If you are making a wine for the domestic market in the traditional style it makes sense to use Spätburgunder. I thought this was an interesting dilemma that he framed quite succinctly. By the way, I was very impressed by all the wines Claus had on offer, none sweet, all dry and crisp with lemon, lime and mineral notes backed up with varying levels of acidity. To top it off these wines all retail for less than 10€. I know he was seeking an importer, I’m hoping he found one!

As you can tell I learned a lot. This was a great event. Thanks to my friends at RF Binder for the invite. I look forward to attending more of these in the future. On a closing note, just in case anyone thinks that life as an owner of a small winery is living a dream (like me!) you should see the travel schedule these folks had for this event alone. 14 stops, 9 countries and 3 continents. Ouch! Hope they have enough energy to get back to San Francisco next year…

What They Said:

Per Trader Joe’s Fearless Flyer “Blue Fin Pinot Noir, a new addition to the Blue Fin family, is a vibrant, ruby-colored wine with rich, fresh berry and currant flavors and a velvety smooth finish. This wine is priced at the ridiculously low $3.99 a bottle – a perfect example of our favorite equation: quality + price = value.”

What I Think:

The counterpart to the Chardonnay this is a $4 Pinot Noir which violates my sensibilities given the struggles I have finding good Pinots under $10. But given the story line here includes Fred Franzia and Bronco Wine Co. I am intrigued to see if this could be the Two Buck Chuck of the Pinot world. In short, it might be.

My initial impression was not good. My first notes were thin, hot with a hint of fruit notes. Over the next few days the nose revealed some faint strawberry aromas and even showed the slightest hint of varietal characteristics but the heat and tannins remained. Guessing this one includes a lot of stems. That thought got me wondering; what is the minimum percentage required by law to label something as Pinot? Would including the stems make it easier to get to that number? Guessing it can’t get better than this at $4 otherwise Fred would know how. Not worth it to me, I’ll still be dropping a ten spot on the Castle Rock.

And that is how my review would have ended had it not been for so many people defending the Blue Fin both on twitter and in the comments here on the blog. Did I miss something that everyone else is getting? Was my bottle bad? This is only the 2nd time I’ve felt this way. For Exhibit 1a see: Sparkling ,Albero. Next shopping trip I’ll grab another bottle of each and give both a do over. I know Bob Dwyer is working on a review for this wine over on The Wellesley Wine Press but in the mean time here is what he had to say on Cellar Tracker:

“A very simple, straightforward and drinkable wine. Mild strawberry and cherry aromas on the nose. Perhaps limited aromatically. Really tasty on the initial attack (with a surprising amount of flavor), but fades extremely quickly and is gone in a flash (both the finish and the bottle). An intriguing play at $3.99.”

UPDATE: Bob has now posted his full review. For those interested check it our over on The Wellesley Wine Press.

Stay tuned for more on this one…

Rating: Skip It (for now)

Editor’s Note (07-Jul-2009):Updated the post to include a link to The Wellesley Wine Press review.

Wisconsin was the original American home of Agoston Haraszthy, a pioneer, who is sometimes referred to as the “Father of California Viticulture” having introduced more than three hundred varieties of European grapes to the region. Needless to say it didn’t take him long to figure out Wisconsin wasn’t the promised land for winemakers. That said, others would step in to continue his quest and today Bob Wollersheim is recognized by many as the father of the Wisconsin wine industry”. A pioneer as well, Bob began his work in 1972 and experimented 1972 with hundreds of varieties of grapevines to see which would suit the colder climates. Today Wisconsin is home to one AVA (Lake Wisconsin) and some forty wineries. Typically most wineries import grapes (from California, Washington, and New York States) and do the production here in the state. Others mix imported grapes with estate-grown grapes while only a few producers actually make wine entirely from locally grown grapes. I couldn’t find any statistics on how much wine the state is producing but I did keep finding one sentence that appears to be a local favorite. I will use it here to summarize my findings: “The Wisconsin River Valley isn’t the Napa Valley. But it also doesn’t have a shred of snobbery.”

NV Botham Vineyards Riesling

Price: $9.50 @ Friend/Gift

What They Said:

Per Botham Vineyards “Crafted in the Johannesburg style for gentle sweetness, our Riesling is smooth, rich, mouth-filling pleasure. Imagine drinking velvet and you’ll understand the essence of this wine’s deep and beautifully balanced character.”

What I Think:

Botham Vineyards is located 110 miles due west of my hometown Milwaukee or 30 miles from the state capital of Madison. Their story begins around 1990 when Peter Botham, after dabbling with vines in Maryland, decided to return to Wisconsin and begin a winery of his own. The inaugural vintage was a thousand cases (if my conversion from gallons is correct) in 1993 and today they produce roughly 12,000 cases annually. When asked about his winemaking style Peter said he tries to create a regional flavor in his wines by growing 10 percent to 15 percent of his grapes and buying the rest from New York’s Finger Lakes region, which has a similar but slightly more moderate climate. In addition to a passion for wine Peter shares the same for vintage cars. The winery holds an annual Vintage Celebration to merge these two passions with a car show at the winery with the vineyards just at the peak of its growing season. Knowing Wisconsin as I do I can imagine this is a well attended and a huge hit!

So, finally to the juice, what did I think? For starters; semi dry can mean a lot of different things to different people. In this case for me it meant semi sweet, given my preference for Rieslings made in a dry style. This one had floral notes on the nose, a great mouth feel and a unique mineral, flintiness that kept the sweetness in check (just barely). If you want to taste something local or want to explore different regions and/or interpretations of a varietal this one is worth a try. Interesting enough for me I have wanted to explore the wines of the Finger Lakes in New York. Looks like in a roundabout way I got a head start with this one.

Rating: 12th Bottle

What They Said:

Per Jim Neal “The Chariot Gypsy 2007 is a delicious blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah, Zinfandel and Sangiovese from great vineyards in the Napa Valley, and Sonoma, and Monterey Counties. Winemaker Jeff Hunsaker describes the wine like this: “The 2007 ‘Gypsy’ displays a dark garnet color with a clear violet edge. It shows mixed fresh berry aromas — raspberry and strawberry, with hints of white pepper and pastry. Very clean and lively with juicy berry fruit, firm acidity and a touch of smooth tannin. Excellent and versatile food wine particularly well suited for pork chops and poultry”. We think it is the perfect everyday red wine!”

What I Think:

For those that missed the shockwave heard around the Trader Joe’s world the Gypsy is back. After falling in love with the ’05 vintage and completely missing the ’06 I wasn’t going to allow myself to be short changed again. So when it began showing up in the wine aisle in early June I began my aimless search around the bay area for my beloved Gypsy. On my fifth stop, in San Rafael, I finally scored and two cases went into the cart (+1 extra so we didn’t have to open to scan). Whew, what a relief.

Now onto the wine itself. The ’07 is a blend of 37% Cabernet, 33% Zinfandel, 10% Petite Sirah, 10% Syrah and 10% Sangoviese which is quite different than the previous vintages. Curious and hopeful I pour the wine in the glass, what’s the verdict? On the nose I get wet wood and faint floral and spice notes. On the palate it is lively, bright and juicy with loads of fruit. Raspberries that are a tad under ripe add acidity that is balanced by a subtle sweetness. This is followed by nice fruity, peppery, spicy finish. A fruit forward (some may say bomb instead) effort best served with food, you name it pizza, burgers, bbq. Any kind will work. Many recommend giving this one 15-30+ minutes to breathe so open it while cooking. If you’ve never experienced the Chariot Gypsy before this is a delightful $5 super value wine.

Those that have experienced this wine before have a bit more of a conundrum. This effort is much simpler, not complex and lacks the depth of previous vintages. I compared the ’05 to the Rosenblum Heritage Clone Petite Sirah and felt it compared favorably with many $20 bottles. Yes, the label, retailer and price remain the same but given the changes in blend percentage and a new winemaker it is best not to compare this to previous vintages. Take it for what it is; “what you see is what you get” and that would be an easy drinking, summer BBQ wine. Enjoy!

Rating: Buy It (with a caveat, if you like this one treat it as a Bulk Buy as when it is gone, it is gone for good. Wondering if it is available at your local TJ’s? Check here

Editor’s Note (07-Jul-2009): Added a note on letting this one breathe for 15-30 minutes if you don’t initially find it agreeable.