Riesling vs Bonarda?

Fellow Americans or Earthlings, I welcome you to this battle of two cheap wines. In the north we have the Chateau St. Michelle 2006 Dry Riesling from Columbia Valley (also known as anywhere grapes will grow in Washington. No offense Puget Sound, but hybrids don't count. Ouch. That's going to get me in trouble.) And in the south is the 2005 Amaicha Bonarda hailing from Mendoza, Argentina. (Has anyone had a wine from Argentina that wasn't from Mendoza? It's the Argentinian version of Columbia Valley.)

These wines will be fighting over frozen pizza, only it's frozen pizza which has been sufficiently unfrozen. The Bonarda takes the first punch, bringing loads of... horse sweat and some pepper to the nostrils. It's a pretty weak punch that's nearly below the belt. The Riesling is obviously unfazed, and it counter-attacks with a heavy dose of... exactly what a Riesling normally smells like. There's no lack of fruitiness in this guy, he screams Pina Colada with a green apple slice and the Bonarda is suddenly looking dazed.

With a bite of the pizza the Bonarda finds new legs. Suddenly some fruit is coming out of the closet. The Bonarda weighs in at 200 lbs, while the Riesling packs a meager 129 lbs. Down to the last drop they trade jabs, through 6 slices without a clear winner. The judges debate, and in the end the crowd throws beer bottles (and a few wine bottles) into the ring: it's a draw.

It's clear that the pizza was an advantage to the Bonarda here, but the Riesling refused to let it's overall superiority be outdone by the homefield advantage. Of course many people are a sucker for a good dry Riesling, which is the best white wine in the world (don't tell California), and he was clearly the crowd favorite. The Bonarda has only been known in the USA for a short time, and many people have yet to hear of him. Perhaps in the future he will be able to chip away at Malbec's Argentinian import dominance. Clearly his harsh behavior and aftertaste turn many Americans off, and with good reason. But for $5 the show was a steal, and those who paid $6 to sit in the Riesling section were also happy about their purchases.

All this battle has amounted to is shiny happy people holding hands, and 3/4 of a bottle of Riesling for me to finish tomorrow. (The Bonarda was already half gone) If in the future I'm ever looking for a nice cheap wine to satisfy my liver, I might turn again to the Safeway down the street for some Chateau St Michelle Dry Riesling (the Bonarda was a 4 hour drive).






















Dueling wines (I hope I don't have to say which is which (and who is who...))

Harvest is Here

Aujourd'hui (today) I was able to go to Tertulia Cellars with my photography class. Rather than bore you with endless ramblings about Chardonnay, I'll just put up some pictures

The winery in HDR with a little funkiness (such as the same person 4 times).























This is actually the college vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, but I figured I had to include at least one grape shot and the vineyards at Tertulia are still too young.

















Yes, that is wine. Merlot, in fact, during a pumpover.






















Winemaker.

Everyone Listen Up!

Oscar Meyer, Victoria's Secret, Abercrombie and Fitch. One of these is great, but they're all figments of the American system. It doesn't end there, and since this is a wine blog, wine is what I will blog. The point is America is a brand name country up the wahzoo, and it sucks.

Before people in California sometime in the 2oth century decided to label wines by the varietal wine was labeled by region. French wine still is for the most part, but this too is starting to change to cater to Americans who don't know that red Burgundies are Pinot Noir. This doesn't really matter, but what does is that soo many people in the US of A choose wine based on the varietal; and this, now this, has got to stop.

As I'm writing this I'm listening to Styx's Mr. Roboto and drinking a 2006 Canoe Ridge Chardonnay (surprise, surprise!). The bottle was free because it had sediment floating in it and my co-workers didn't want to pour it for samples. I took the hit and brought it home. The point of all this is this: Chardonnay is probably the biggest example of a varietal becoming a brand name or buzz word for the the American public. I don't know the data on this but I'm sure it's the top-selling white wine in the home land. It's as if people know what they're getting with Chardonnay and they know they like it so it takes out all the risk, when it couldn't be further from the truth.

I can't think of another varietal which varies so greatly in style from winery to winery. I have a suspicion that the bottle I'm currently consuming is slightly "corked" because I normally like this wine, but I'm not feeling it right now (in a literal sense). The '06 Canoe happens to be aged in French oak, 10% of which is new, which is nice when I feel like drinking some wood chips with my grape juice. On the contrary, Chardonnays from Burgundy often never see oak, and thus end up fruitier and crisper, while many Chardonnays from California resemble eggnog more so than wine*.

Chronic Chardonnay or Cabernet drinkers listen up: there is plenty of good wine available these days. It's much more interesting, fun, and educational to drink a Torrentes from Argentina rather than another Santa Barbara Chard. Better yet, drink a white that isn't a single varietal, such as a Bordeaux. Tomorrow I might go downtown to Vintage to chillax, and I might just say, "Bartender, a Chardonnay please", as if it's just grape juice, and as if I wasn't a wine snob, just to see how the other half lives.

*Wine nerd notes:

1.Chardonnay is weird. I'm not sure who started this whole trend, but many California Chardonnays are like red wines in disguise. The reason is many winemakers allow the juice to undergo malolactic fermentation, something which I still don't completely understand and will be addressing again in the future. This process lowers the acidity, which is desirable in red wines, but like many wine snobs, in white wines I'm addicted to the acid. This is what makes New York Riesling good and California Chardonnay... less than desirable.

Life's a Drag

On Monday I went to a few wineries to taste the fruits of their labor (or the fermented fruit juice of their labor). This is normal, and many people partake in such an activity at some point in their meaningless existences. What isn't all that normal is going potato tasting. I didn't go potato tasting, but, I did go chocolate tasting.

Tucked away in a house of the main highway in Milton-Freewater, Oregon is Petits Noirs (small blacks?); home of the best chocolate I've ever had. (the truffle I paid $3 for in Zurich rivals it though). I walked away with a 6-pack of truffles for $14, and the pack included a violet, espresso, rosemary, whiskey and hazelnut, and toasted anise truffle, as well as one I can't remember the name of. The highlight though was the pudding which was the richest, darkest chocolate pudding I've ever had with a very interesting spicey aftertaste.

Enough about chocolate though; life in this sleepy town in Eastern Washington is pretty nifty at times. This weekend at work we're packing up wine club shipments, and as a bonus for the extra work I was able to take home two Reserve Cabernet Sauvignons, a Reserve Merlot, and the newly released 2006 late harvest Chardonnay/Riesling.

This late harvest wine is actually a true ice wine, picked by many of my co-workers in December at 22 degrees (Fahrenheit). It's called a "Sauternes* style" wine, but the freezing temperatures concentrated the sugars rather than noble rot. I've yet to taste a Sauternes, so I can't compare the two, but I do have one sitting around waiting to be comsumed. What I do know, is that I really like this new dessert wine. I swear if someone gave it to me while blindfolded I'd think it was a screwdriver, and not the tool. The $22 price tag for a 375 ml bottle is steep for a wine, but it's a bargain for an ice wine.

All-in-all, I took home $142 worth of wine that I have no intentions on drinking any time soon. I'll probably bring one bottle of the reserve cab to Florida this winter, and I'll drink the others in 2010 or so. With the abundance of wine I suddenly find myself owning, I'll be amazed if I get to it that early.

Just another sucky day here in Walla squared, and tomorrow doesn't look good either.

Wine nerd notes:

1. Sauternes is a region of Bordeaux. They make some of the world's best known dessert wines. The grapes are left to rot with Botrytis (noble rot), which concentrates the juice. There's plenty of sugar left over after fermentation to make all the moms across America happy, and they are joined by wine snobs world wide. The grapes are primarily Semillon with some Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle - the same grapes as dry white Bordeaux, only more Semillon heavy than Sauvignon Blanc heavy.

Jet City Tuesday

Dictionary.com can be useful. I typed in "alcoholic" to see if I was one, and instead of a definition I got links to help. Perhaps the definition of an alcoholic is one who looks up the word in the dictionary. In any case, I do know that I am addicted to wine to the point that I'll drive 4 and a half hours to buy it.

Yesterday was the last day that I won't be working or going to class until Thanksgiving, so I figured I should make use of it. At about 9:00 I hopped in my car and headed west. The only stop on the way was Sagelands Vineyard, which I get the employee discount at. I didn't buy anything though, my mission wasn't Washington wine, I get plenty of that.

My first purchase was 12 bottles at Esquin in downtown Seattle, within walking distance of the Mariners' and Seahawks' stadiums. Now I do sound like an alcoholic, but all of these were purchased for the tasting group which I am a part of. Among the items were 3 Bordeauxs, a couple Argentinian Malbecs, a Cahors (French Malbec), a French Viognier, Australian Shiraz and Petit Verdot, and some Merlots from Chile. I could have spent 4 weeks there, but I was in an hour parking spot.

Seattle is a dream city. I can't think of a more stunning place, but the catch is it was sunny on this particular day. In fact, to the north it was clear enough that I could easily see the snowy peak of Mount Baker, but at the same time closer and much taller Rainier was nowhere to be found. Despite the reputation of the rainy city (it's been rainy one out of six days I've been there), I might have to live there at some point in my life.

To make a long story short, I also bought a case of wine at Trader Joe's in Issaquah on the way back. This one is purely for my pleasure, and despite it being $92 it will save me the $70 in gas over the next few months. The jewels of my purchases include a Vouvray*, a white Bordeaux*, and a 2001 Brunello di Montalcino*. The latter was $22, which is scary cheap, and I'll be posting a review of that in the next... 2 years.

With this comes a conclusion: although I don't consider myself an alcoholic (perhaps one sign is that I'm drinking a 2004 Canoe Ridge Reserve Merlot as I type), the rest of the world does. So in trying to define an alcoholic I could say it's one who becomes intoxicated at least 4 nights a week (because if I said 3 I'd be doomed); or maybe it's one who relies on alcohol for happiness (but without it I'd be screwed). After much thought I've come up with this:

Alcoholic (al-kuh-hall-ik) noun : 1.One who's life depends on alcoholic beverages, and especially one who blogs about experiences revolving around it.
2. Steven Washuta

Wine nerd notes:

1. Vouvray is from a certain area of the Loire Valley in France, and it's 100% Chenin Blanc.
2. White Bordeaux is always a blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, and sometimes some Muscadelle.
3. Brunello di Montalcino is one of Italy's most famous wines. It's 100% Sangiovese (San-gee-oh-vase-ee) and barrel aged.. for a long time. The one I bought happens to be 4 years (which is 20 in wine-years)

Another Day, Another Hangover

Despite my best efforts I awoke this morning with a headache. The blame falls solely on the shoulders of "The Green", where at some point last night beer was consumed. Of course this sounds like blasphemy coming from a self-proclaimed wine expert, but when one works in the wine industry one must take an occasional wine break.

Prior to walking to The Green I consumed a half bottle of 1994 Canoe Ridge Chardonnay, while a fellow Enology student finished off the other half. The wine was served at a White House dinner in 1995, and 13 years later it has the color, smell, and taste of apple juice. That was the beginning, and the end result was a headache and no appetite. Today was the last Saturday I'll have off for the foreseeable future, and I wasted my time watching college football games go all wrong.

Sitting here now watching USC vs Ohio State, I can't help but think that the majority of the 94,000 in attendance don't give a crap about football, but are merely there for the afterparty. Despite this fact I pride myself in knowing that for a split second in July of 2007 I was the closest other human to Pete Carroll in terms of location. Maybe he'll have a hangover tomorrow.