Half off Wine Wednesdays?

That's right! A restaurant in Westerly is offering half off any wine, by the bottle or glass, on Wednesday nights. The Up River Cafe allows its patrons to save a dollar or two mid week excluding the months of July, August, and September. This has been a great chance for my wife and I too drink some fabulous wine for less than most liquor stores and wine shops charge. The first night we went we had a 1999 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon for $70!!! That's unheard of! The cheapest I found that bottle online was $155. And yes the wine was terrific, nice aromas with black currant flavors and a touch of black fruits. It even paired well with my Seared Sea Scallops over Thai Black Rice If I had a bottle in my cellar I'd let it sit for another two to three years, but it went down fine at dinner. At our next visit we split two bottles with my in-laws. The first was 1997 Calera Reed Vineyard Pinot Noir from the Central Coast of California. This wine was nothing like the young fruit forward Pinot's that are saturating the market. Its old world style, very earthy, and I tasted some cranberry flavors. It even held up against my spicy Asian Fried Calamari. With entrees we had a bottle of 2002 Duckhorn Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Duckhorn was one of those vineyards I had been dying to taste, and they didn't disappoint. While not as spectacular as the Silver Oak, it was well worth it after the 50% discount. Next time though, I'll try something besides the Braised Medallions of Monkfish with Musselsl (which was outstanding!), and try some heavy red meat at The Up River Cafe. Till next time..."Invariably, a restaurant with a large, pretenious wine list has a large and pretenious staff."--Kevin Barron (I believe he is a British politician)

Fine Blind Wine

Say that one five times fast. Last Tuesday was my first experience with blind tasting wine. A blind tasting is simply tasting with no knowledge of what the wine is. This usually requires a third party to uncork and place the wine in a brown bag for you. I had the pleasure of tasting with my good friend Mike, his roommate Chris, and their friend Andy. They are all students at Johnson and Wales University (Congrats to the graduates!) and participate in this activity every week to hone their wine skills and knowledge. They set it up with a wine store who selects three bottles of wine from various regions and vintages from throughout the world.

Our first wine was a white, and I was immediately in over my head with the notes sheet they gave me. There are so many aspects of the wine I had never considered or never thought of. These include but are not limited to characteristics such as brightness, acidity, and color variation. After my many questions we preceded to discuss the wine at hand. When they mentioned that the greenish tint to it signals a cool climate, I immediately thought New Zealand. And some of the flavors reminded me of Sauvignon Blancs that I have had. Needless to say my guess was a 2004 New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc from the Marlborough appellation. Mike thought it was a Chenin Blanc from the Loire Valley in France, and Chris and Andy both thought it was a Pinot Grigio from two different Italian appellations. Chris and Andy were closest when the wine was unveiled as a Trebbiano from Italy.

The next wine was a perplexing red that I thought was some Spanish blend. Mike felt it was from Australia and was some type of Shiraz/Cabernet blend. I honestly can't remember what Chris and Andy thought it was. We were all shocked to see it was a little known grape from Austria that had made this wine.

The final wine was another red. I immediately picked out the flavor of chocolate and the smoothness of the wine. My initial guess was a California Merlot. If there is one region I am confident in, it is California. But when the other three more experienced gentlemen started talking about Shiraz and Australia, I kept second-guessing myself. Chris immediately told me not to scratch out my first guess and to go with my instinct. So I said 2003 Napa Valley Merlot. The others all were leaning in some direction towards Australia. Needless to say, I was shocked when the bottle turned out to be a 2002 California Merlot. I didn't necessarily felt vindicated, but rather proud of myself. I felt like all my amateur research and effort put into my wine hobby paid off when I was so close to nailing that wine.

Special thanks to Chris and Andy for helping me further my wine knowledge of wine, and putting up with, what they probably felt, were asinine questions. Big thanks also to Mike for the spectacular dinner afterwards at Napa Valley Grille, the ostrich was superb and the wine was stunning. Till next time..."Beer is made by men, wine by God!"--Martin Luther (The religious figure not Civil Rights pioneer)

Oregon Wine: Part 3

On Friday the 21st of April, we started the day with a long trek down I-5 to the Salem area to visit Willamette (Dammit) Valley Vineyards. WVV is, perhaps, the state's largest producer of wine, and probably most recognizable name and label. We were the first to arrive at the tasting room just after 11:00. The tasting room was by far, the most commercialized location we had found in Oregon Wine Country. It reminded me of the rooms in Napa, where selling Polos, T-shirts, and gift takes up more space then the actual tasting bar itself. We actually had to wait around for ten minutes before anyone even came in. Then the employee took another five minutes before he offered us a look at the tasting menu. He must have thought we were there for the t-shirts. The wines were really what we expected. They tasted good, but far from spectacular and unique. The only wine that really stood out to us was their Signature Cuvee Pinot Noir. It had a bold taste to it and seemed to be the most Burgundian styled wine they had. We have also been big fans of their Whole Cluster Pinot Noir. It is fermented in a Beaujolais style. The grapes are left sitting after they have been picked to allow the juice to actually ferment inside the grape skins before being crushed and bottled. If you find this on a wine list at dinner sometime, give it a shot. You'll find it to be very affordable and the best bang for your buck in its price range. One of WVV's best assets is its great hilltop location and beautiful architecture. That alone made the drive seem worth it.

We then drove back North towards Newburg and Dundee for an appointment at Domaine Drouhin. After being stuck in the daily traffic jam on 99W, we were so thankful the tour at Drouhin had waited the extra 10 minutes for us to arrive. Domaine Drouhin's tour and tasting, at twenty dollars a head, turned out to be well worth it. We begin outside looking over their hillside vineyards in the Red Hills of Dundee. The views were spectacular! The brief history of Drouhin is that Robert Drouhin of Maison Joseph Drouhin in Burgundy, lost a wine tasting competition to a wine from Oregon. Robert quickly scouted out locations in the Red Hills and purchased over 200 acres (today 90 acres are planted) of prime hillside land to cultivate. In Burgundy, elevation determine your social status in the wine industry. If your vineyards are low on the hills or the valley floor, your wine is for lack of a better word, crap. If you are to high on the hillside, ditto. You want to be right in the middle, like the grand crus of Burgundy. Domaine Drouhin is located on a such a location, just the right elevation. We then toured Drouhin's gravity flow winery. The wine enters the crush pad on the highest level and only gravity is used to move the wine from the top down through the fermentation tanks, barrel and aging room, and into the bottling room. The belief is that by not using mechanized pumps, you don't stir up and disrupt the natural fermentation and aging of the wine with unnecessary aeration or movement. They also use French Oak Barrels that have been carefully selected from the best forests in France and aged at Maison Joseph Drouhin for up to three years. After the tour we tasted Domaine Drouhin's Oregon offerings against their Maison Joseph Drouhin equivalents from Burgundy. However, equivalent would not be the right word choice, because the Oregon wines simply out-classed the Burgundy wines. First up was the Burgundy Chardonnay against Arthur, the Oregon Chardonnay named after the winemaker's son. Arthur seemed more fresh and lively then its counterpart from France. Next was a good quality Burgundy against the Willamette Valley Pinot Noir. Once again the Oregon was superior, and seemed to be approachable and enjoyable. Last was a high quality Burgundy and Laurene, a reserve Pinot Noir named for the winemaker's first daughter. Laurene was amazing! The earthiness, spiciness, and berry flavors all danced on your tongue in unison. It made the French wine seem boring and flat. We left Domaine Drouhin extremely impressed, and with a lighter wallet.

Look for the next post to focus on a blind-tasting I did with my friend Mike up in Providence. After that will be the dining in Willamette Valley. Till next time..."Oh its flavors, they're just the most haunting and brilliant and thrilling and subtle and...ancient on the planet." Miles discussing Pinot Noir, Sideways

Will re-open on Saturday

I was planning on posting tonight on Oregon Part 3 and my first blind-tasting from Tuesday night. However, due to extenuating circumstances (I was hit in the face with a baseball at little league practice) I won't be posting till I am medically cleared to do so. Hopefully, my staff of medical experts (my wife and myself) will allow me to participate in the strenuous physical activity of blogging by Saturday night. Till then..."ALWAYS WEAR A HELMET WHEN CATCHING!"--John Felty

Oregon Wine: Part Two

On Thursday of our Oregon Wine Extravaganza, we headed to an 11:00 appointment at Patricia Green Cellars. We followed the directions to a winery with no signs or arrows leading the way. They simply told us they were across the street from a farm with two big silos, and that if we wanted fresh eggs to stop there on our way out and ask for Nancy. We rolled up the driveway in our sleek Chevy Trailblazer and quickly realized this would be a totally different experience than any other wine adventure we had taken. Our tasting began with an introduction to Patricia herself, her business partner Jim, and another long-time customer also named Jim. We tasted their splendid Sauvignon Blanc first. It was very citrusy, and smooth. It reminded me of the 2004 St. Supery Sauv Blanc. Next we tasted two bottles of 2004 Pinot to warm up our palates for the test ahead, barrel sampling. Jim and Patty walked us into their barrel room, and we proceeded to taste samples from over a dozen individual barrels. We tasted single vineyards, and different blocks from within those vineyards. It was amazing to taste the differences in wines where the grapes were grown only 100 feet apart. It really gives you the sense of the terrior in the wines. Terrior, say it with a French accent and sound, is word that doesn't translate to English except as the soil and topography of where the grapes grew. Think of it as location, location, location. Some of the Pinot Noir we tasted was rougher and had almost a sharp spiciness to them. Other smooth and supple with a certain silkiness to them. Tasting all those barrels was like a revelation in Terrior! Needless to say, we ordered a case of futures, and I can't wait till they arrive in November.

That afternoon we visited Brickhouse winery. The owner/winemaker Doug, a former CNN correspondent, was unavailable so his neighbor/assistant winemaker Allan gave us the tour and tasting. Over a taste of their mind-blowing Chardonnay, Allan explained the intricacies, or as call them "oddities," of Biodynamic winemaking. Brickhouse is Organic, but also Biodynamic. This means, they plant and fertilize (voo-doo alert!!!) according to the phases of the moon AND the alignment of the planets. They spread these mysterious powders of essence of newt or something at a rate of 2 tablespoons per 30 acres when Venus is in Scorpio and Saturn is in the left quadrant while the moon is in a waxing crescent, or something. Either way, their Dijon and Pommard Clone Pinot Noirs were off the charts! We had to buy a bottle of both, and we are hoping to get our hands on some of the Chardonnay when its bottled and released. I don't mean to sound sarcastic about their philosophies, but when you pack your compost into a cow's horn and bury it for six months before its used because it needs to soak up the earth's shakra's or something, that raises an eyebrow. But as I said, their wines were two of the best all week!

Finally, we stopped at Aramenta Cellars based on Allan's recommendation. They are right down the road from Brickhouse, and literally in little building off of this women's garage. Her and her husband make the wine there from grapes grown on-site as well as some purchased from Washington and other parts of Oregon. We tasted wine with her while her six grandkids trickled in off the school buses. The Pinot Noirs were a major let down after Patricia Green and Brickhouse. If we had tasted them earlier in the day they might have been more well received by our tastebuds. The real gem though, was a bordeaux style blend of mostly Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, called "Tillie" in honor of her grandmother who first settled their land on Ribbon Ridge (more to come on Ribbon Ridge and the new Oregon AVA's next week!). We bought two bottles of Tillie and shared one with Mar and Mark before we left. It was a great Garage wine. And I mean that with no disrespect. Garage wines are a huge market in Bordeaux now and are starting to score highly in the popular publications. I will have a post focusing on Bordeaux and the so-called Garage wines after I finish the book, Noble Rot.

So that was Thursday the 20th of April in Oregon. Next Post will be on Willamette (Dammit) Valley Vineyards, the mass producer of the valley, and Domaine Drouhin! Till next time..."It is not a wine that commands your attention, but rather rewards it."--Dave Guimond

P.S. Thank you to our families for a lovely dinner Sunday at Shelter Harbor Inn in Westerly, RI (The lamb was sumptuous!). We drank the 1998 Argyle Brut Knudsen Vineyard to celebrate the new job, and with appetizers we had the '04 Ferrari-Carano Fume Blanc, and with entrees the 2003 Joseph Phelps Le Mistral. Its a beautiful Rhone style wine made of 57% Syrah, 36% Grenache, 5% Petite Sirah, and 2%Alicante Bouschet. It was silky and smooth with a dazzling finish that caressed your tongue. It seemed to be enjoyed by all and paired well with the lamb, duck, chicken, scrod, and even steak.