Wine News Review

Tag: Pinot Noir

  • Weekend wine list —experts’ picks: From ‘excellent’ fizz to superb Riesling

    Comparing the faves: A survey of recent selections from respected wine experts. Whenever there’s an option, I highlight their more-affordable picks, focusing on possible choices for weekend purchases. Check out their websites for background and other picks:

    2004 Chateau De Cabriac A.O.C. Corbieres, France:
    Natalie MacLean calls it a terrific value, “full-bodied, supple and smooth in texture.” $13.99

    Green Point Vintage Brut 2004 Australia:
    Jancis Robinson says it’s an excellent value, perfect “fizz (for) friends who aren’t champagne snobs.” £12.99

    2005 Bogle Merlot, Calif.:
    Jerry Shriver describes it as a good value, “smooth black cherry flavors, soft texture, not complex but decent varietal character.” About $9

    Firestone Vineyard’s 2006 Central Coast Riesling:
    Edward Deitch calls it a superb buy, with “notes of apricot, white peach, mango and touches of honey and herbs.” $11

    Frey Vineyards 2006 (Mendocino):
    Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher describe it as their best buy (“fresh, real and delightful”) in a great review of inexpensive Pinot Noir, following what they call the Sideways effect. $15.99

    Nothing tempting? Or just not available at the local wine shop?

    Dig into some perennial standbys at SFGate.com’s Top 100 Wines of 2006, the Top 100 of 2006 list (PDF download) from Wine Spectator and the list of 50 Wines You Can Always Trust from Food & Wine.

    Attracted to a bottle that’s advertised in the local paper or sitting on the local wine store shelf?

    Do a little background research with Wine Enthusiast’s free, searchable Wine Buying Guide—either with a specific name or by types and price. For a little extra info, try Robert Parker’s handy Vintage Chart. Or see what the online wine community says about it with the search tools at cork’d, snooth or Wine Log.

    Once you’ve selected the wine, you naturally want to decide what to eat with it. For some savvy guidance, try Natalie MacLean’s Wine & Food Matcher, which boasts a database of 360,000 wine-food pairings.

    Feel free to share your experiences. And of course, enjoy!

     

  • For some camaraderie with that salmon, head to a local wine bar

    Wine is good. Wine with food is even better. And the best place to enjoy both may not be the usual restaurant setting but your local wine bar.

    Case in point: the Idylwood Grill and Wine Bar, tucked away in a suburban Washington, D.C., strip mall that gives a newcomer little hint of the feast that awaits inside.

    Hedi Ben-Abdallah toasts patrons at his Idylwood Grill and Wine Bar. By Denny Gainer
    Hedi Ben-Abdallah toasts patrons at his Idylwood Grill and Wine Bar.
    Photo by Denny Gainer

    A few friends and I recently paid a visit there to sample the wines (the list offers 108 choices, many by the glass) and discovered a gem of a place where fine food, delicious wines and camaraderie embrace. 

    If you have the impression that food might just be an afterthought at an eatery that bills itself as a wine bar, you’ve obviously never tasted Idylwood’s exquisite grilled salmon with hearts of artichoke, gnocchi and pesto sauce.

    Then there’s the atmosphere. A good wine bar is designed to delight the wine-aficionado’s eye as well as the palate. The Idlywood’s warm Mediterranean decor with its ubiquitous wine racks, for example, enhances the pleasure of whatever vintage you’re sipping.

    Most important perhaps is the appreciation you gain for a particular wine when it’s not served by someone whom you think merely read a blurb about it somewhere but instead, like Idlywood partners Hedi Ben-Abdallah and Marco Escudero, can rattle off multiple reasons why they’re recommending it, including the characteristics of soil and climate that impart a special flavor or aroma. As our discussion got more spirited, they even joined in the conversation and tasting, uncorking a couple of their own favorites.

    Which brings me to another point—one other appealing advantage of a wine bar is that it seems to promote highly creative conversations about the wine you’re drinking.

    As it did with the member of our group who described three Pinot Noirs as having the qualities of different types of lovers. To him, a Les Jamelles 2005 from France’s Côte d’Or was a “one night stand” and a Jezebal 2006 from Oregon was “easy to get comfortable with,” but the Argentine Luigi Bosca Reserva 2005 “takes you places” that reveal why one has a lover in the first place.

    For me, either one would have made a yummy complement to the salmon. Whether it was the power of my friend’s suggestion or the wine’s velvety smoothness, my favorite turned out to be the Luigi Bosca, too.

    Another companion, on the other hand, raved about the Les Jamelles’ “complex and elegant” fruit tones and noted that the aromas improved ever so nicely the more it breathed. Then, getting with the program, he added: “Not a woman of mystery—playful.” 

    At a hotel restaurant, by comparison, chances are the discussion would probably have included an appreciative nod to the wine (sadly, picked from a list with far fewer selections) but dwelt mostly on such relatively mundane topics as one’s 401K, some sports team’s woes or the latest home improvement project.

    Thanks to the Web, it’s fairly easy to explore the terroir, so to speak, of wine bars in your area. As a first step, this blog’s custom map provides a user-friendly way to pin down local establishments. Other helpful sources for reviews are Yelp and the wine forum at Chowhound.

    Give a wine bar a try next time you’re in a dining-out mood. Not all wine bars are created equal. But you might get lucky and find a fun-and-festive equivalent of Idylwood in your neighborhood. 

    As for vinothekid, this may be my first wine bar visit blogging for Wine News Review, but it definitely won’t be the last. And how about you? If you’ve found a wine bar you like, share it by posting a comment below.

  • Wine: Win some, lose some

    Out to dinner with some friends, I was paid a high compliment. They allowed me to choose the wine, well aware of the fledgling wine blogger in their midst.

    I, too, was well aware—well aware that this was a tough crowd.

    '06 Loimer Lois Gruner VeltlinerBut I confidentially picked up the wine list, fairly certain that I could find something decent at this upscale seafood restaurant to accompany our selections of soft-shell crab, salmon and halibut.

    My confidence was rewarded when my eyes alighted on none other than an ’06 Loimer “Lois” Gruner Veltliner, Kamptal.

    Alert readers will recall that I wrote about Gruner Veltliners in a previous post—about how the Austrian whites have become the “darlings” of Manhattan’s best restaurants lately, about how they’re like drinking “liquid crystal.”

    So I ordered it, preening, content that my research for this blog was proving useful not just in cyberspace but in a high-stakes real-world setting, too.

    When the chilled bottle arrived, I tasted. Slam dunk! Zesty and incredibly dry, with an earthy mineral touch.

    I turned to the companion on my left and was greeted with a broad smile, as he put down the glass to take out a pen and jot down the name for a future purchase.

    Serenely, I turned to the right.

    “Tinny,” this one said.

    Huh?

    “Tinny,” he repeated.

    This particular friend and I will argue about almost anything, at any time, at the drop of a hat. We sort of enjoy it. But I knew there was no use in trying to convince him otherwise about the wine. What for me was a touch of mineral, for him was tin.

    (Frankly, there was little strategic value in arguing because the friend across from me agreed with him.)

    Duke Ellington once famously said about music: “If it sounds good, it is good.”

    The same could be said about wine—if it tastes good, it is good. And the converse is equally true.

    Or as Jancis Robinson says in her book How to Taste:

    “Despite what some self-styled ‘connoisseurs’ may suggest, there are no rights or wrongs in wine appreciation. Tasting is in its essence a subjective business. There are some bottles which may, on an objective basis, be technically faulty, but which some tasters may find perfectly enjoyable. There are other famous wines that can count on enough admirers always to command a high price—that most quantifiable of wine measurements—yet they may not appeal at all to all wine drinkers. Never feel that you ‘ought’ to like or dislike a wine. The most important aspect of any wine is that you enjoy it.”

    Fortunately, I was given a second chance. This time, deciding on a safe bet, I ordered the Willamette Valley Vineyards 2005 Pinot Noir from Oregon. Smooth and balanced, fruity and dry, like drinking liquid ruby, so to speak.

    I looked around and instantly saw that I was redeemed, that I might even be allowed to order wine again at our next night out.