California Wines

Times being what they are or miles being what they are, but that’s an inside joke, we found ourselves in San Francisco, the airport to be specific, with some time to burn. Our only hope was that there would be a wine store in there somewhere; we just knew there had to be; it is American Wine Country for goodness sake! So we set out and soon stumbled over some interesting art. Now there is ‘art’ in JFK, but this was real art and, ready for this?, a map of the terminal with all the art sites identified, including a revolving exhibition area. Happily we set off, figuring if a wine boutique was there we’d find it under a good 1960s painting.

Only two and half hallways later, there it was, Wine Wisdom, Terminal 3, Gate 85, and it is ‘behind’ security; i.e., buy wine and carry on the plane with you! A husband and wife team runs Wine Wisdom and there is a small wine bar with a reasonable selection of wines by the glass. Best of all, they are honest and friendly. We can be, maybe, a difficult consumer, perhaps… so we pulled out the current issue of the Wine Spectator which conveniently enough had a rating of the top 100 wines in the world for 2008. The owner looked at us, waited until we asked which ones he had in stock, and said “none of them.”

Now that is honesty! But maybe it is also that he knows he has a captive audience; it’s not like we are going to go somewhere else for wine. With that we threw ourselves on their mercy. “We need several bottles to take back to France to taste with some serious French wine drinkers; connoisseurs who know particularly well wines of Burgundy.” Naturally this began the 40-Questions game: White or red? Oaky or not? Bordeaux-style blend or single cepage, or varietal? What price range? Etc., etc….

Finally our parameters were set: single cepage, traditional California grapes, no Pinot Noir, not too oaky in the Chardonnay, a mix of white and red, small producers, and priced around $40 per bottle. That decided we began the tour of the boutique, mostly with the wife. She seemed to have a palate closer to ours as we had described it. Again she was very honest and we chatted over several hundred bottles. We were amazed at the prices. It would have been quite easy to have spent several hundred dollars on a bottle. Now that is not unusual for a Grand Cru Classé Bordeaux or a Grand Cru Bourgogne with a bit of age and from certain millésimes, but here we were much less convinced.

We were interested in white wines other than Chardonnay and typical American reds such as Zinfandel and Merlot. In the end, we purchased four wines: a Fumé Blanc, a Chardonnay, a Merlot and a Zinfandel from three different producers. Yes, it is true, initially we did not want a Chardonnay but we are always trying to find one that supports the premise that so many hold true – that California Chardonnays are worth the price – so we bought one we’d never tried.

We learned during this quest that an important aspect of California wines is whether they are ‘estate’ bottled. Another words, are the grapes grown by the winemaker on his or her land. An exception may be a known winemaker who buys grapes from producers he or she knows, much like the négociant system in Bourgogne. However, apparently as in Bourgogne, there are reputable négociants and those that are less so. Just as Olivier Laflaive actually tends the grapes he will later buy from the owner, there are some California winemakers with similar relationships with growers.

Additionally, there seems to be less emphasis on the merit of one particular millésime over another. Perhaps because of the size of the Pacific coast wine region (it would be like characterizing all French wine production by the same scale) and/or perhaps because of the vast number of microclimates within even defined areas, California bottle pricing seems to be based much more specifically on the producer. But frankly, the prices of California wines astound us.

An hour later, wines in hand we headed off for points east. The wines rested in NYC for a month and then travelled on to Paris recently. It is important to remember that, as one of our favorite Bourguignon producers always says, “Le vin est vivant,” wine is a living thing, and it must rest after travel before it is drunk. There are different amounts of repose time dictated by different sources, but the older the wine, the longer it should rest after travel.

Remember also, there is a difference between tasting wine and drinking wine, but either way, what you have in, or put in, your mouth with the wine will affect the way it tastes! As a result, we planned a long dinner of a variety of primarily small plates including a mix of vegetable dishes, a fish dish, a meat dish, and a cheese course.

We had purchased:
Grgigh Hills Estate Fumé Blanc 2006
Trefethen Family Vineyards Estate Chardonnay 2006
Trefethen Family Vineyards Estate Merlot 2005
Rockpile Road Vineyards Estate Zinfandel 2005
Additionally, from another trip to California, we had in the cave a Porter Creek Timberline Ranch Viognier Russian River 2004, and as a gift, a Stags’ Leap Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2005.

Now we had tasted the Porter Creek when we purchased it at the vineyard, and we had drunk a bottle in 2006. Both times it had been pleasant, refreshing and lively in the mouth. Viognier, in our opinion, is a wine drunk young traditionally to appreciate the fruit and the terroir. Four years after bottling we did not know what to expect but imagined this bottle would be the lightest so we served it with hors d’œuvres, particularly with a savory tart of apple, onion and Tomme cheese. It had matured but nicely, exhibiting less fruit but a honeyed, smoky flavor that lingered on the palate complemented by the apple and onion. Porter Creek is a vineyard to visit if you go to Sonoma, but, unfortunately, we don't believe their bottles make it to the East Coast.

Next in the line-up was the Fumé Blanc which we estimated would be lighter than the Chardonnay and was paired with a Christmas Lima Bean Salad. Christmas Beans are a striking red and white variety of a lima bean that we’d bought dried for the color. You can see them here in this Washington Post article; however, we chose to use them in a bean salad recipe from Epicurious with cumin and lemon juice. It is important to avoid vinegar and other acids when pairing foods and wines because the acid will destroy the taste of the wine. We decided that the amount of lemon juice in this recipe was limited enough and the Fumé Blanc young enough to withstand it and the cumin.

Luckily, we were correct. The Fumé Blanc was very fresh and lively in the mouth with a nose of fresh mowed fields. In the finish there was a lingering citrus note. We all appreciated this and would purchase it again willingly.

Following this was the Chardonnay. With it we had planned a room temperature fish dish imagining that it may be fuller and oakier than French Chardonnay. We served poached salmon flaked onto a bed of pureed artichoke hearts with a light tarragon cream couche between the layers. Unfortunately, while the fish was lovely, the wine was not. Again we were disappointed by the cloying sweetness and overly oaky finish that we often describe as “wood chips in the stainless steel tank”. This bottle remained unfinished on the table.

Following on the menu was the Merlot paired with pork roasted with purple potatoes and a winter squash. Again, sadly, this wine did not live up to our expectations. Although not bad, it was not good. The French say, “fad,” or flat and flabby, nothing noticeable. It was red wine, it had hints of fruit but more than that there was not. After the Chardonnay and now the Merlot, we’ve become ‘down’ on the Trefethen Vineyards. Perhaps unfairly, but we will make an effort to avoid their wines in the future.

After the pork and with the cheese course, we opened the Zinfandel. From the nose we were excited. It smelled of the green herbs and green peppers that we expect from a Zinfandel; in the mouth there was the spicy fruit and zing but also a depth and gras or greasiness as the French say, that hangs in the mouth at the end. This was really a pleasure; something we will watch for again and advise you to do also.

Saving what we had hoped would be the biggest for last, we opened the Cabernet Sauvignon. We have drunk this producer’s wine before with pleasure and maybe following that excellent Zinfandel it was steamrolled, but we did not find the structure and breadth we had expected to in a Cabernet. With a little time in a large glass, it opened a bit delivering a richer nose of red fruit and in the mouth it was there was more fruit but little terroir and no tannin at the end. Perhaps it was the year, 2005, or perhaps it was the bottle, but we can find more life in a glass of Bourguignon Pinot Noir. We will, however, not shy from this producer in the future.

To finish off, a friend had brought a bottle of red Côtes de Provence. This region in the south of France, very Mediterranean and known for its heat is also known primarily for its rosé wines, chilled and sipped outside in the hot summer. But this, a red wine from the region, was new for us, Chateau La Font du Broc 2006. Very reasonably priced apparently and for that reason we give it high marks in the price/quality ratio. It was fresh, fruity and very drinkable with a good nose and an expression of ‘grapes in hot fields’ in the mouth. Unfortunately, we don’t think we should look for it in our local US wine shoppe; too bad, as it was probably less than $10 a bottle!

Finished and satisfied, but not too drunk (we were seven at table!), we were pleased to have had the chance to taste these California wines but must say the prices make no sense and on a strict price/quality ratio, we are going to pull a French wine from the cave every time. For less than $40 a bottle, you can too! Just follow the blog, watch for the price list to arrive.

Bottoms up!

Getting Started

Well, it is a new year, the construction site that existed on the terrace has been displaced elsewhere and we can see the snow that is falling in Paris (we’re not mentioning what has completely blocked up London – please, 15 centimeters of snow?? it’s 6 inches and they’ve closed the country. New Yorkers are snickering in their sleeves; imagine what they are doing in places like Buffalo and St. Paul.), but we digress. The point was that it is time to start a new blog. Those of you who love long and twisted stories will need to continue to keep up with Eating & Drinking While Traveling.
The rest of you are here for the wine. It will be mostly a Burgundy story, but we promise to let other regions, not just in France but throughout the world, shine whenever possible. The writings will be subjective, as all blogs must inherently be but you are welcome to comment on our entries and those of your fellow readers. We hope this brings new and welcome information into your world.
The goal is to gather a club around the blog that allows us to participate in startlingly cheaper wine prices in France. Because the American system of controls on the importation and distribution of alcohol and wines is archaic to the point of idiotic (good wine was probably cheaper during Prohibition times), a vast number of people must ‘touch’ your wine before you can pour a glass and we are not even addressing the restaurant business. Eventually, this club, The Insiders’ Wine Club, will be payant, you’ll have to join like any other decent club, and, like other clubs, will offer certain perks and benefits such as:
Access to a regularly changing list of drinkable wine;
Reduced purchase prices on these wines;
Wine tastings and tasting notes;
Discounts on wine dinners in Paris and New York; and
Wine tourism,
among other things.
An important distinction to understand is ‘drinkable wine.’ Drinkable wine is wine that provides us with the sensations expected and imagined by the producer. The three most important are color, smell and taste. It is the belief of this humble blogger that consuming wine before it is buvable, or drinkable, is a waste of wine. While there is some wine, maybe much wine, that should be wasted, we will not be ‘clubbing’ around that sort. To understand wine and how and when it may arrive at the state of buvable, a fair amount of wine must be degusted, tasted, but do not think of that as waste but as entrainment.
That said, be sure to let us know your thoughts and interests for this club. We’ll be back soon to discuss a dinner tasting of California wines.
Until then….

PS: Despite what the American news channels are saying, all the snow in Paris melted hours ago. It is only in London that they are still flailing about in the slush.