Night of Wine (and) Destruction

Last night I hosted a BYOB tasting party and I'm still cleaning up the mess. The original turnout was only 6 folk, 5 of whom brought reds. We had an interesting variety, and happily I correctly picked out mine and guessed 2 of the 4 others, which isn't so bad. The surprise of the night was Korbel winning with a Cabernet which doesn't sparkle. The 5 reds are below:

2006 Domaine Robert Perroud Cote de Broilly Vieille Vignes ~ $23: a decent cru Beaujolais, but disappointing for the price, scored the lowest of the reds. Improved with some time in glass. (my wine) 86 points

2005 Jacobs Creek Shiraz Cabernet South Australia ~$8: Eric brought this in hopes to prove the Aussie's can still pump out stellar values, and it wasn't far off. Lacked elegance. I guessed new world Bordeaux variety - couldn't pick one out. 87 points

2004 Martino Old Vine Malbec Mendoza ~ $15: I've never had a wine that smelled so much like cherry cola as this one. Nice but not a lot else going on. Guessed new world Syrah... ouch! 91 points

2005 Korbel Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma Coast ~ $15: very nice wine with a meaty edge and some signature Cab green pepper (I like a little of this even though some call it a fault). Guessed California Cabernet :) 92 points

2006 Tamarack Cellars Pinot Noir Willamette Valley ~ $22?? This is an interesting wine being made in Walla Walla with Oregon fruit. Obviously new world Pinot and a decent one at that. Nothing blowing me away though. 88 points



One of the more interesting things that occurred was a glass being broken from overly aggressive pouring. Not just any break though, it left a nice hole right in the side. Perhaps this will be inspiration for a new tasting glass which will make me famous.

Value? What is Value?

Prices for most goods are consistent with quality, but there are exceptions, and wine is a major one. Of course quality varies depending on who's drinking it and then there's the price paid for prestige. There's also prestige based upon the price paid.

Being a former engineering student I decided to devise a formula with the variables of price and score on the 100 point system to come up with a good indicator of the value of the wine. There are a few hurdles in this, for a 100 point $40 wine shouldn't be equal value to a 25 point $10 wine, obviously, so simple division is clearly out. After some playing around I've come up with the formula:

Value = Sqrt(((Rating-70)^2)/Sqrt(price))

One can see from this that any wine with a rating of 70 (any wine below 70 must have 70 substituted for the actual score) has no value, and these wines in general are not worth passing through lips unless the goal is to become drunk on little money. After 10 ratings in my database thus far the high is 11.35 (Poet's Leap), and the low is, well, 0. Looking over the ratings it seems any wine with a value over 10 is a screaming go out and buy right now, and a value of 8 to 10 is a calm go out and buy. 6 to 8 is decent and below 6 is probably not worth buying. Second so far is the Mariflor Pinot Noir at 9.67.

So there it is, now to work on rating more wines...

Pinot Noir & Patagonia

What is it with Pinot Noir? It's the most overrated and most overpriced grape on the market, but every once in a while one is actually pretty tasty. I'd yet to find an enjoyable Pinot for under $20 until tonight, and it came from an unlikely source. While shopping at the discount grocery store I noticed a Pinot from Patagonia and one from Mendoza for $7 and $12 respectively. I bought both and opened them up with some mango and chocolate.

2007 Bodega del Fin del Mundo Pinot Noir Reserva Patagonia -$7: kind of a funky yet slightly offputting nose of cranberries and something weird (I know what it is but I hate to regergitate it). Tastes like a pinot, smells like one, nothing special. 83 points.

2005 Miraflor Pinot Noir Mendoza -$12: Smells very oaky but not really in a bad way. Nothing off putting at all about it; pretty solid but not all that exiting. Good value for a Pinot these days (thanks, Sideways!). 88 points.

I know the latter of these two wines and potentially both of them were "made" by consulting wine maker Michel Rolland. Interesting considering I associate him with Cabernet and Merlot, although plenty of that is made by del Fin del Mundo too. I plan on trying those for $7 as well. The Patagonia region is brand new and from what I know about it I'm very interested in what will happen there in the next decade. I'm glad the local discount grocery store carries a few.

Road Trip: H3

I'll keep this short - I drove the 70 miles or so to Columbia Crest Winery near Paterson, WA today. It's located in the Horse Heaven Hills AVA and their place is huge... as it should be for the largest winery in the state. The barrel room was enormous, the picture below shows only a portion of what we were allowed to see, which is apparently the "small" barrel room. The photo also doesn't show the depth of barrels stacked 6 high.


The tasting was good, I tried a few wines which are only available to purchase at the winery - a 2004 Viognier and a 2003 Zinfandel. I bought the zin for a BBQ on Sunday, and there were only 6 bottles of it remaining. $15 retail, but industry discount is always nice. The facility is definitely worth a stop if one happens to be driving between Portland and Walla Walla.

From there I dissected the Horse Heaven Hills north-south-wise on 221, and the name is a misnomer -- it's actually quite flat. A quick stop in Red Mountain at Terra Blanca finished off the adventure. The staff was very welcoming at both places; it's always nice to get the VIP treatment. The wine industry might be a tough way to make large amounts of Benjamins, but there are plenty of perks.

The view from Terra Blanca's tasting room

Windmills of the stateline wind project just east of the bend in the Columbia

Wino Wednesday: Walla Walla Village

In an effort to provide more consistency to this blog, I've decided to share my experiences which occur most Wednesday's from 5-7. The local wine bar in town hosts a winery which usually pours a generous tasting of 3 wines for a $5 fee. Tonight's winery was Walla Walla Village, and they were sampling 4 wines.

This is why tastings should always be blind if the wine is being evaluated, but I'm going to do my best to not be biased favorably for the locals. It isn't like anyone really follows my ratings anyways. The 4 wines are below, after a thought on Horse Heaven Hills.

Horse Heaven Hills is a relatively new appelation (2005) in the great state of Washington. It comprises a chunk of land between the tri-cities and the columbia river, and it's also the closest other appelation to the Walla Walla Valley (besides the Columbia Valley, which also occupies the space in between the two). Some well known vineyard lie in this area, such as Champoux, Canoe Ridge, and Alder Ridge. The list goes on, and many vineyards are planted on south facing slopes overlooking the river.

The funny thing about the appelation is it's in the middle of nowhere so while there's a large amount of vineyard area there are very few wineries. Columbia Crest lies near the town of Paterson just north of the Columbia, and if I'm not mistaken this is where Chateau Ste Michelle produces their reds. The area is very dry, like most of Eastern Washington, and it definitely produces some stellar fruit besides having a cool name. The one downfall which seems to occur is that the fruit can produce highly tannic and chalky wine, so this has to be kept under control by winemakers to suit the style preferred by the public. In a way this excites me that Washington can produce more "old world styled" wines, but the "new world" wines can be so delicious that we're probably better off sticking to what we do best and letting old world cabs stay in the Medoc.

2006 Walla Walla Village Riesling Horse Heaven Hills ~$16 - 82 points: A decent, quite "drinkable" Riesling. The nose is nice but not that exciting, mostly apple and tropical fruit, with maybe a hint of nice Riesling petroleum, but I'm not sure I'd have thought that if I wasn't looking for it. It's too sweet though - I don't know whether it's 2.8% RS would work better with spicey foods or dessert; probably either. Better than Bud Light by a long shot.

2005 Walla Walla Village Merlot Horse Heaven Hills Aldercreek Vineyard ~ $24 - wtf? points: I can't give this wine a numerical rating because I'm not sure if my bottle was up to snuff. If it was normal the rating still holds, but there was a moment where I thought the bottle was corked (if it was it was below my sensory level). It seemed rather muted, with not much going on besides some sour cranberry and a chalky high tannin finish.

2005 Walla Walla Village Cabernet Franc Horse Heaven Hills Aldercreek Vineyard ~$25 - 85.341 points: this wine probably has the best fruit of the bunch, but the oak overpowers it a little. Nice but oaky nose with vanilla and candy-like red fruit. The acid is high, I don't have the numbers but a little less would have been a good thing. Would probably be great with lighter red meats, though.

2005 Walla Walla Village Bordello Red Horse Heaven Hills Aldercreek Vineyard ~$28 - 85.35 points: It's a close call which of the final two wines was better. This one overall is the more polished, wine, but the Cab Franc had a better nose, and I dig the nose. Certainly a decent wine which would probably also show much better at a dinner table. Again very chalky tannins. 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Franc.

Washington Riesling Showdown

The aftermath of another normal Monday. 10 wines tasted, 7 of which are dessert wines. The weaknesses in my wine drinking abilities are certainly California and dessert wines. Luckily after class I hosted a halibut dinner with a couple brown-bagged Rieslings - the super duo of Washington State.

There were 5 tasters in all, (myself included) 4 of which are wine students. The battle involved my contribution - the 2007 Chateau Ste Michelle Eroica Riesling (A collaboration with German Dr. Loosen which is arguably Washington's most highly regarded Riesling), and it's competition was no less stellar - the 2008 Long Shadows Poet's Leap Riesling (designed by German winemaker Armin Diel), graciously provided by a fellow student.

For dinner I cooked up some halibut with a black bean salsa, based off of this recipe. The consensus between the wines was pretty clear, and the Poet's Leap took home the gold.

The Eroica is a very good Riesling, and in fact both of these wines are excellent and with reasonable prices in the low $20's range. (maybe that's pricey for US Riesling) The problem with the Eroica that I had is its 2.15% residual sugar, which is just a tad too high. The acid just doesn't balance it out perfectly like the Poet's Leap.

The pH of the Eroica is actually lower, at 3.00 vs 3.08, but the RS on the Poet's Leap is 1.43%, a much happier level in my opinion. Besides the acid and sugar balance, the Poet's Leap has a more interesting nose filled with the common floral scent found in Riesling, along with a hint of a salt lick covered with fresh herbs. The finish is almost like biting into a clove. The Eroica actually smells dryer, but smells can be deceiving. The Eroica also has a minerally nose, but this one leaning towards a macaroni and cheese dish without much else going on besides a whiff of goat petting zoo food. Overall the Poet's Leap is simply the more interesting, complex, and balanced wine. It's great with halibut as well.

In my revitalization of this blog I've decided to invent my own scoring system. The rating will be quantitative but the scale is infinitely large. In general I'll stick roughly to the 100 point system used by the likes of the evil empire, but some wines will score below 0 and others above 100. The price will factor in. My inaugural ratings are below.

2007 Chateau Ste Michelle and Dr Loosen Eroica Riesling ~$19 - 88 points - good wine but overpriced, there are likely $12 Rieslings which can compete equally, especially in Washington (which produces the country's best Rieslings, although New York is close).

2008 Long Shadows Poet's Leap Riesling ~$20 - 94 points - excellent Riesling, great balance and great with lightly spicey foods or fish. $20 seems to be the going rate and it's well worth the Jackson.