Showing posts with label learn about wine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label learn about wine. Show all posts

Friday, February 3, 2012

STARS of Santa Barbara Wine Tasting

Learn About Wine is the one responsible for many great wine events and tastings in LA throughout the year, including the recent STARS of Santa Barbara held at The Peninsula Hotel. Ian Blackburn of LAW had gathered quite the lineup for the event (from Santa Barbara area and beyond). There was too much to taste without spitting - but I have a hard time spitting good wine...

It was impossible for me to try everything due street parking time limit and my liver, but here are some highlights, from old favorites to new discoveries. Being a new wine making region, you can find diverse varietals and styles from Santa Barbara wines.

Palmina from the Lompoc "Wine Ghetto" produces some white of the Italian varieties, including Arneis, Tocai Friulano, and Malvasia Bianca. For the quality, they are quite inexpensive at $12-18 per bottle.

Friday, September 10, 2010

A Graceful Gathering: La Fenetre Wine Tasting with Chef Neal Fraser

La Fenêtre Wines was started by former sommelier Joshua Klapper, who had previously worked as Wine Director at David Myers' Sona and earned it the Wine Spectator Grand Award (we're all very sorry to see Sona shuttered). With Burgundy wines as his inspiration, Klapper strives to make food friendly wines that are affordable.

In celebration of their fifth vintage, La Fenêtre held a tasting of all their 2008 releases (and some more) at LearnAboutWine's Loft218.
We were greeted with a glass of the 2008 Santa Barbara County Rosé (their anniversary Rosé)
... while LearnAboutWine's Ian Blackburn plays DJ for the day.

The wines were accompanied by small bites prepared by Chef Neal Fraser of Grace and BLD Restaurant.

The first couple bites accompanied the rose and the white wines:
Chilean Shellfish Ceviche (left)

Crab Salad, lemon vinaigrette, mint:

We tasted a lot of wine (thank goodness for the spit bucket). Since I'm no wine connoisseur and your taste preferences may differ from mine, I'll direct you instead to their official tasting notes here. We started with four Chardonnays:

  • 2008 À Côté, Santa Barbara County ($25). Crisp and clean, this was a very smooth wine with only a slight acidity at the end. It paired very well with the caviar blini as it brought the flavors together and balanced the caviar.
Salmon Tartare, chive blini, American caviar

  • 2008 La Fenêtre, Los Alamos (Santa Barbara County). More acidic than the previous. I had this with the Bay Scallops, peas, aged goat cheese, risotto - a great dish and its creaminess cuts the acidity of the wine nicely.
  • 2008 La Fenêtre, Sierra Madre (Santa Maria Valley). Sweeter than the Los Alamos.
  • 2008 La Fenêtre, Bien Nacido (Santa Maria Valley)

We also had the chance to taste the 2004 Bien Nacido Chardonnay (his first vintage). This was easily my favorite Chardonnay of the night: smooth but with much more depth. The new releases should be heading this way too in a few years and it will be well worth the wait.

Moving on to the reds and the red meat dishes, we began with a tasting of the Pinot Noirs:

  • 2008 À Côté, Central Coast ($25). Smooth and subtle, light fruit flavors.
  • 2008 La Fenêtre, Los Alamos ($36)
  • 2008 La Fenêtre, Sierra Madre ($49). This had more body than the previous two.
  • 2008 La Fenêtre, Le Bon Climat ($54). My favorite of the pinot noirs. Smoother, less acidic than the others. The body is still pretty light, naturally, as it's a pinot.

Squab Crostini, liver mousse, rare breast, confit leg, crostini

Grilled NY Steak, farro, red wine gelee
The red wine gelee was a great complement.
  • 2007 La Fenêtre, Alisos ($35). Heavier-bodied than the pinot noir, naturally. A bit tannic.
  • 2008 La Fenêtre, Sierra Madre ($35). Lighter bodied and more tannic than the 2007 Alisos.
  • 2006 Tête Brûlée, Mt Veeder ($60). This is the only wine he makes with a partner (and his only Napa wine).

We also got to taste the Timeless Palate Wines 2004 Syrah, another of Josh's first releases.
The syrah was smooth and surprisingly fruity when compared to the newer releases. It was the fruitiest of his wines yet.

You can now order La Fenêtre wines online and if you order by September 30, get 15% off with code: FALL2010LF.

Full Disclosure: I attended this event as a guest of Joshua Klapper of La Fenêtre Wines. FYI though I did end up buying two bottles of wine for myself so you can see that I liked it!

Monday, May 24, 2010

How Merlot Takes Revenge

After going wine tasting in the Santa Ynez Valley, I finally sat down and watched Sideways, the movie that propelled central valley Pinot Noir to fame and unjustly gave a bad rap to Merlot. Do you like Bordeaux? Do you know that Merlot is one of the primary grapes that go into Bordeaux?

Finally, Merlot producers and other wine professionals decided things have to turn around. Well, there's only one way to do that, I suppose: let consumers try high quality Merlot.
Ian Blackburn of Learn About Wine organized a Merlot-centric wine event humorously called Revenge of the Merlot.

The event was held at the Elevate Lounge. While the main event was at night, I was invited to attend the "trade tasting" during the afternoon. Twenty nine wineries/importers were in attendance showcasing their wines, totaling more than fifty wines.

Despite its bad reputation in the movie, Merlot is the third most planted grape variety in the world with 640,000 acres to its name. The name Merlot came from the Occitan word meaning "young blackbird."

I was fortunate enough to attend the panel tasting, thanks to LAW & SauceLA's press invitation.
The seven wines we tasted were from:
1. 2006 Merlot, Gundlach Bundschu, Sonoma (~$30). Presented by Jeff Bundschu.
This wine had a sharp smell, but a fruity taste, medium body, and actually goes down pretty smoothly.
2. 2005 (Merlot w/ 15% Cab-Franc), Newton, Napa Valley. Presented by their winemaker, Chris Millard.
Mellower and earthier aroma than #1 but was actually more tannic. Richer and fruity, and the sharp tannins don't really linger.
3. 2006 Merlot from Carneros Valley, Silverado, Napa Valley (~$30). Presented by Russ Weiss.
Bold and darker flavors with a little herbal notes.
4. 2005 Oakville Merlot, Swanson, Napa Valley ($36). Presented by their winemaker, Chris Phelps.
5. 2007 Montes Alpha, Chile ($24). Presented by Alex Guarachi, President of TGIC Imports.
6. Cakebread Cellars, Napa Valley. Presented by Christopher Huber, VP of the Sales dept.
7. 2006 Jackson Park Merlot, Matanzas Creek, Sonoma ($49). Presented by their PR person, Joe Cicero.
Fruity, distinct spice, bright, with nice and light tannin. I enjoyed this.
Winemakers, owners, and other experts from each winery served as a panel and introduced their respective wines as discussion was led by Ian.

Oh, the panel also mentioned a new documentary about Merlot coming up, called Merlove.
(OK, cheeky title, but I'll watch it anyway).


One of the highlights for me was trying Twomey, a sister winery of Silver Oak. The main reason for my excitement was because I've tried to go to their tasting locations both in Calistoga and Healdsburg - both times on a Sunday, when they are both closed.
Twomey's Merlot is made using an old (19th century) and now rare technique called soutirage traditionnel, where the wine is never pumped.


I didn't taste all the wines available that day (I hadn't been spitting consistently) ...
Organic Cellar spotlighted a Prosecco Merlot, a refreshingly crisp sparkly. This was a nice change from all the red wines abound.

Another interesting booth is the TGIC Importers.
They had a variety of Merlots from Argentina, Chile, and more. He told me to first try the Pascual Toso 2007 Merlot from Argentina as it was to be the "most surprising," he said.
The Pascual Toso was surprisingly rich: fruity and had bright flavors. An easy wine to drink. Not a complex wine, to be sure, but if I'm looking for something in this price range (~$10) it's definitely a bottle I would consider getting. The Santa Ema Reserve Merlot from Maipo Valley, Chile was mellower, deep, and smooth.

There are certainly a lot of great Merlots around the world. Miles from Sideways may not drink any "f***ing Merlot" but he was so whiny throughout the movie anyway ... are you really going to listen to him?

Gourmet Pigs   © 2008. Template Recipes by Emporium Digital

TOP