A Duo of Domestic Roses in the Desert

My folks are in town this week. I took a little break from the madness of Los Angeles to brave the madness of Coachella and it's wake in Palm Desert. The weather is amazingly comfortable this weekend and having a seat in the shade couldn't be more wonderful. Our room wasn't quite ready when I pulled up at the JW Marriott, so I popped the cork on some rose as I sat in the front seat of the car (parked, of course), listening to Keane and enjoying the fresh air with the windows down.

I couldn't wait to try the first vintage of Liquid Farm's Rose 2011. It's a Bandol-inspired, crisp and refreshing rose that I don't think I'll be able to keep my hands off of this summer. A mere 100 case production of Mourvedre from the Vogelzang vineyard in the recently announced Happy Canyon of Santa Barbara AVA, it is everything one could want. At a meager 12.5% alcohol, it sports under ripe strawberry, pomegranate, orange rind, crisp acidity, a sensed meaty aroma mixed with fresh Gardenia, and Fleur de Sel which adds a fascinating savory character. Once we got in the room, I broke out some cheeses and prosciutto. This rose was smokin' with the food! Especially the prosciutto! The salinity of the wine with the cured meat was astounding. You'll likely never see this wine on the market, but if you contact the winery, you might eek a couple of bottles out of them. It's worth it.

Another favorite from years past is the Soliste "Soleil Rouge" 2011, a rose of Pinot Noir from Sonoma Coast. His Pinots are awesome and the one vintage of Syrah he has produced thus far is profound, but his roses are also very special. This vintage is beautifully ripe and friendly with peach skin and red fruit aromatics. On the palate, ripe strawberry, cherry and apricot come through with green apple skin. It's beautifully crisp, but a lot rounder and more crowd-friendly than the Liquid Farm. The food draws out the citrus tones and kills the fruit that is so endearing a,bout this wine. I prefer this wine if I'm not eating. The Liquid Farm fares better with some fats and salt.

I love the rose season. Here's to hoping that the market demands some rose wines this year. I'm very excited to introduce some people to these two fascinating new wines.

The Holy Sh%t Moment

A random Thursday at the restaurant produced some very exciting wines. And, more importantly, one of those elusive moments that every sommelier seeks: a wine that grabs you by the shoulders and makes you take notice. Working a full dining room doesn't always offer the opportunity to take detailed notes, but I reserved a few minutes at the end of the evening to intellectualize and marinate in these wines.


Having just brought some of the 2009 Ramonet "Le Montrachet" on to the wine list, I was very excited to have the opportunity to taste the 2001 Ramonet "Le Montrachet". On the nose, it exudes lemongrass and ginger making me crave some coconut milk soup. Also, lots of toasty oak and minerality. The Asian flair continues on to the palate with crisp lemon, baked apples and creme brulee. The oak dominates in the finish, almost to a fault. Although, diving in for another sip makes it all better... I found this to be more interesting than profound, but it was holding up well and would certainly not scoff at it.

A side-by-side of Forey "Gaudichots" Vosne-Romanee from 2004 and 2005 was also interesting. The premier cru Gaudichots vineyard is sometimes called "baby La Tache" as it is directly next door and, in part, owned by DRC. With a miniscule production of about 1500 bottles a year, it's nearly as hard to get your hands on as La Tache. The 2004, a vintage which I find is showing better now than '05, was overrun on the nose with scorched cedarand smokey tobacco. Black cherry also figures in, but masked by the wood. On the palate, a stronger fruit presence including blackberry, black cherry, iron, more cigar box and dark chocolate on the finish. A little out of balance overall, but nice for an average vintage. The 2005 was a bit closed in on the nose, which seems typical of the vintage these days. On the palate, much darker fruits than the '04 with black cherry, blackberry, very strong iron and mineral components. Much deeper, much darker and more animalistic with strong soy and mushroom broth tones. Both of these wines are in need of some more time in the bottle.

Another side-by-side of Burgundy brought the Cathiard "Romanee-St.-Vivant" 2003 which I found to suffer from the overblown character of the vintage. Floral and slightly volatile aromas that one taster noted as cheese. I thought it was rather offputting, personally. Better on the palate, the rich (almost jammy) red fruits came across as rather baked. An almost new world-y character, I was underwhelmed. But before you think I'm just a snob about the 2003 vintage, I must sing the praises of the Liger-Belair "La Romanee" 2003. Liger-Belair, richly steeped in the history of great Burgundy, has been out of public consciousness for a long while, but with their monopole of "La Romanee" is coming back with a vengeance. Even in 2003, this seamlessly balanced wine effuses mushroom, cedar and red fruit aromas that hinder you from sipping because you can't bear to stop smelling them. The balance on the palate is every bit as amazing: Ripe (but controlled) cherry and strawberry jam, pomegranate, and earthen tones that add complexity to a plush, hedonistic, but still typical Burgundy-style. There is also a savory character; dare I use the word umami? I wouldn't call this wildly complex, but I would be incredibly happy to drink this all night.







And finally, the moment I spoke of at the start of this rant:









For years I have tasted Screaming Eagle on someone else's dime and, even having not committed any money to experiencing it, always wondered why people pay the price for it. On this night, it was thanks to the 1995 Screaming Eagle that I have tasted the best California Cabernet Sauvignon I have ever had the pleasure to taste (to date). I have heard it said that Screamers are the Pauillac of California, but this is the only occasion on which I felt it lived up to the comparison. Aromas of graphite, cedar, cigar box, black cherry and currant are all deftly intertwined. They are dark and light at the same time, and dusted with the faintest hint of crushed sage. On the palate, it is rich, but not weighty or thick. Bordeaux earthen characteristics that are often missed in New World Cabernet. This is right in its window but no where near falling off. A perfect balance of fruit, earth, wood and acidity which feed each other in a reciprocal "give and take". The finish is long and driven by the refreshing acidity.

I often tell the staff that I am bored by California Caberent. That all it really does is show varying degrees of ripe fruit and oak with no minerality or earth to speak of. Basically a matter of how ripe and oaky do you want it? On this day, I stand completely corrected and humbled at the hands of Heidi Barrett, who I have always claimed to be a fan of, but never been a collecter of her wines personally. If anyone wants to part with any '95 Screamer at its release price, give me a call...

The Beer Cellar: Second Dip

Well, I just couldn't resist checking in on another of the hibernating guinea pigs after the "Redemption" taste test. So, I thought I might check in on how the Russian River "Damnation" was coming along after a year in cold freeze.




"Damnation" has never been my favorite beer from Russian River, but I do enjoy it. It's a Golden Ale, with a heftier body than "Redemption", but a similar flavor profile. Not unlike Duvel (or Tripel-style Belgians), this fresh bottle I am tasting (from Batch 72) is very precocious on the nose: floral yeasty character dominating some citrus character. On the palate, fairly astringent with the same flavors with a soft, underyling sweetness.

Our one-year aged "Damnation" (labeled as Batch 62) was showing beautiful round aromas on the nose: lemon, tangerine, lime rind and spice in lovely balance. Caramelized wheat/barley notes, toast and a perfumed white floral note are also intriguing. Almost sweet on the palate, with the citrus taking on a slight candied character, the viscosity clings in a way that drives a long balanced finish. The hops and overall character of the beer are completely integrated. The caramel note is even stronger on the palate as well. This beer has definitely benefited from age.
A deeper sense of harmony has been achieved.

The brewery claims that this beer will last up to three years in the cellar. I can't imagine how another year or two is going to make this any better, but I would definitely make a case for tucking some of these away to be enjoyed after settling down. I'm going to throw a box or two into my offsite wine storage to enjoy next year, for sure!

The Beer Cellar: First Dip

It has officially been a year since I started the beer cellar. You can go back to last February and check out the blog when this whole effort began. The original plan was to taste aged versions of beer against their current release counterparts to determine if beer-aging was, in fact, beneficial. I've heard arguments from both sides. Naturally, I just had to find out for myself! And with no real "aged beer" outlets to frequent, one just has to age them personally.

One of the beers I cellared is the Russian River 'Redemption', of which I am a big fan. A Blonde Ale produced in 375ml cork-finished bottle. According to the side of the bottle, Russian River Brewery says it will hold up for one year in the cellar. I had intended for this beer to be my thermometer on how the aging would show for some of the longer-term beers. With only a year of age, I wasn't really expecting a wildly different showing , but I was certainly chomping at the bit to find out!

The Aged 'Batch 009' Redemption showed soft lemon and floral notes with a pronounced yeasty/bread aroma. Prevalent hoppiness with very mellow fruit/citrus characteristics. A notably creamy mouthfeel. Savory components stand out and, despite its strong hop flavor, nicely balanced. Kara, on the other hand, felt that, in comparison to the fresh version, this beer just tasted old and tired.

The Fresh 'Batch 011' Redemption, to Kara's point, was much more vibrant with crisp lemon flavor and a much fresher hop flavor (leaning into that marijuana smell). The citrus flavors were much racier and the "taco shell" savoriness that I always note in Russian River beer was back. The creamy mousse-like mouthfeel was also still present, but with the prickly texture of youth.

I agree with Kara's point that the aged 'Redemption' shows tired. But it's the same case with aged Champagne: if what you like is the freshness and the bubbles, then you're never going to like old Champagne. I found the aging of this particular beer interesting, but unnecessary. It's certainly not worth the effort to rotate a stockpile of cases of 'Redemption' for a year.

On the other hand, Kara made a pot of chicken chili on this particular evening. I actually thought the aged 'Redemption' was a better pairing with the meal. The vibrant lemon character of the fresh batch didn't meld as well. The mellow style of the aged batch was a better fit and I was actually quite glad to have it.

Am I still excited about the future of this endeavor? I must say, I have higher hopes about the results of the higher-alcohol Barleywine styles now than the Golden Ales. I'm not going to get off the ride, though. My game plan is laid out and I intend to see it through. Next stop: Russian River 'Damnation' and Sour Ales. See you there soon!

A Wine Lunch in Bel-Air

There are a lot of impressive cellars in Bel-Air. Deep with age and rife with amazing producers that command insane amounts of money these days, but were purchased for modest amounts on their release. For example, last night I had the opportunity to open and taste 1966 Latour, 1970 Leoville Las Case, 1979 Haut Brion, 1982 Vieux Chateau Certan, and a 1980 Corton Charlemagne. And these were all from different tables!

We often have special events in our private dining room. On this particular day, we hosted a wine lunch for ten gentlemen. Flights of four wines per course were provided by a designated guest. I actually liked this approach as it afforded one the opportunity to showcase a theme or a producer from their cellar. Both cases were provided in this tasting.

We started with the St. Chamant 'Blanc de Blanc' Champagne NV from magnum. Aromas of freshly baked bread and lemon, nice minerality on the palate with baked apple and Granny Smith apple combined, a crisp mouthfeel and a ripe, fruit-filled finish driven by refreshing acidity. This was a lovely Champagne, great aperitif wine and drinking beautifully.

For the first flight, we poured a selection of Chablis from various producers and vineyards, paired with out Kampachi Crudo. The William Fevre 'Fourchaume' 2005 was good, but lacking real character. It had a reserved nose of chalk and an austere presence on the palate with some mushroominess, but all the fruit showed on the finish. Also - slightly bitter with perhaps too heavy an oak presence, especially noted on the finish. On the other hand, the Dampte 'Fourchaume' 2008 was spectacular! Very minerally aromas that had some mustiness. On the palate, lots of citrus, stone, earth, mushroom. Little to no oak presence at all. Super-long and elegant finish. This hit all the marks for me. Pie dough, chalk, apple and citrus - awesome! To follow, the Long-Depaquit 'Moutonne' 2005 by Albert Bichot was fine: green apple, lemon pith and juice - very fruit driven with nice acidity, but little earth to speak of. Some chalkiness as well, and well-integrated oak. The very disappointing Dampte 'Bougros' 2010 was a tragic follow-up to their 'Fourchaume'. California Chardonnay-like aromas and overblown oak. Hard to dig out the fruit under all this oak. Tastes like a well-made Sonoma Chard, but nothing like a Chablis. This was tragic...

Moving into the reds, we began with no less than a flight of Grand Cru red Burgundy from the 2001 vintage. 2001 was a mediocre vintage, at best, but these wines were showing beautifully. The Mongeard-Mugneret 'Clos Vougeot' 2001 had beautifully perfumed aromatics. Its core of cherry and mushroom supported an overlay of tart pomegranete and cranberry swirled with iron and a hint of campfire smoke. A noticably long finish on this as well. From the same producer, the Mongeard-Mugneret 'Grands Echezaux' 2001 was rife with mineral and earth notes: Must, tomato leaf, iron, beef, blood, sage all laying on a frame of cranberry and blackberry with hints of pepper. Supremely earth-driven and structured still. Next, the Nicolas Potel 'Romanee St. Vivant' 2001 was a disappointment after the previous two wines. The Mongeard-Mugneret Grand Crus showed such character and precision in addition to expressing what that producer had chosen to say about the vineyard site. The Potel was wishy-washy in this flight showing very little character or focus at all. At best, it was an attempt to be crowd-pleasing that ultimately resulted in a middle-of-the-road and uninteresting showing. Additionally, the oak seemed a little dominant.

And then I met the Meo-Camuzet 'Richebourg' 2001... One often speaks about those moments when Burgundy is so good that it stops you in your tracks and you realize what everyone is chasing. This was one of those moments. An exquisite example of balance, with undulating layers of seamless fruit and earth. Meat, perfectly ripe red fruits, steel, forest floor, pepper - all harmonious and elegantly intertwined. My last word from my tasting notes: "Wow". If you can find this wine, at around $700 you may think twice. I would make an argument that it is worth every penny and an experience not to be missed.

How does one follow these two flights? Move into one of California's Grand Crus and showcase a vertical of Phelps 'Insignia', of course! I poured a broken vertical of the 1980, 1990, 1992 and 1997 from Magnum. The 1980 'Insignia' was showing beautifully and in the "old style", with lots of spices, anise and some musty earth, but still holding blackberry and currant fruit. I found this even more youthful than anticipated with its present acidity and a strong spicy finish. The 1990 'Insignia' shows the signs of the modern-style, with lots of oak spice and ripe black fruits. Some leather added an interesting layer and the tannins were still strong, but with lovely acidity to keep it vibrant. Blind, I would not guess this to be as old as 21 years. The 1992 'Insignia' was not showing its best. The oak came across as sweeter and more pronounced and dominated some musty red fruit. With herbal, dusty character and too acidic on the palate, the wine comes across as austere and the fruit may potentially be falling out of this vintage. I've had varying degrees of surprise and disappointment with the 1997 'Insignia', but I was intrigued to taste it from magnum again. This was one of my better experiences with this vintage in recent years: Ripe black fruits layered with baking spices, some herbaceousness, and fig paste. The fruits are very ripe with black cherry, blackberry and currant. One of the better showings for the '97 which I still hold is sketchy and may not hold up in the long run.

The final flight was a collection of aged Malbecs. I took notes on these, but they were merely fodder to get drunk on after the previous wines, as far as I'm concerned. The highlight was a Bodegas Norton 'Finca Perdriel' 2001 that at least showed some Malbec character without being over-the-top (like a Rolland 'Yacochuya' 2001 that hosted 16% alcohol). I have nothing against Malbec, but this flight, that also included the Val de Flores 2002 and Alta Vista 'Alto' 2003 did nothing for me.

To wrap up the lunch, I poured some 1977 Warre's. 1977 is my birth vintage and I'm always excited to check in on the one style of wine I can still expect to show well from this year. The Warre's was showing exceptionally Cognac-like aromas of stewed cherry, orange rind, brown sugar and peach skin. A lip-smacking sweet attack on the palate with a red fruit core that turns Cognac-like again and expresses lovely layers of complexity. Nice stuff.

These kinds of days are the reason one does this job!

Drouhin Puligny Montrachet 2009

When we inherited all the wine back, our determination was to pour some of the items we had in quantity by the glass. Just to bring down our inventory a bit. This afforded some diners to try some really amazing wines at stellar prices. Single-vineyard Merry Edwards Pinot Noir, Palmaz Cabernet 2001, Lewis Reserve Cabernet 2003, Ramey 'Hyde Vineyard' Chardonnay, Arnaud Ente 'Clos des Ambres' Meursault, and many more. In some cases, we were practically giving these things away.

We've passed that period and are now settling on the wines we'd like to use for some time. One of these wines is the 2009 Joseph Drouhin 'Puligny Montrachet'. We had a supply of the 2005 in our cellar and decided to use it. The response was very positive so I decided to move forward into the current vintage. Drouhin is a big producer, but the wines are solid and seem to hit all the marks.

This Puligny is no exception. Very classic fruits - apples, pears and crisp lemon. The minerality is played way down, but it's in there. The oak has presence, but not out of balance at all. In my personal opinion, it's very "middle-of-the-road", but also a really delicious by the glass option. I'd certainly take it over any of the domestic wines and it works amazingly with our Dover Sole.

I hope to see you for a glass of Puligny on your next visit!

Building a Cellar

When the hotel shut down two years ago for the remodel, the powers-that-be made the decision to send all of the wines to an offsite storage. A service came in, boxed everything up and hauled it all away for a two-year hibernation. The sommelier who oversaw its departure would not be back and the new guy (yours truly) would see it all for the first time when it returned. Sound scary? It was...

The main storage for the hotel is an underground wine tunnel. It was originally a horse stable back in the day, but now houses some of the finest wines in the world. From white horses to Cheval Blancs... Not a bad trade! A series of stairs mark the entrance, making dollies and hand trucks near impossible to use. So everything goes in by hand pretty much - case by case.

And on this particular day - 1300 cases were returning to their home.

We were completely prepared to receive the 14,000 bottles of wine. We'd re-installed the racks, built a brand new shelving system and laid out a game plan to get it all put away. On a bright and beautiful Saturday, the truck pulled up and the team began the unloading process. I quickly snapped a photo of the first case of wine being returned.



As the guys were unloading the truck, we began opening the boxes. Up to this point, we'd been looking at an inventory sheet that listed these wines by label and quantity: Merry Edwards Pinot Noir-24 bottles, Pahlmeyer Chardonnay-32 bottles. To our horror, we discovered that the wines in each case were a complete mix and match. Each of the cases had a hodge-podge of wines in no particular order. This was turning out to be a more challenging project than expected...







The corporate beverage director and I turned to one another: "We're going to need more hands..."






As the cases continued to roll in and pile up, we continued to open boxes and assign bins. It wasn't long before we were buried in the tunnel behind a wall of wine. And getting each box put away was taking longer than anticipated. With eight to ten distinct wines in a given box, it required that many trips to each bin to put them away. That is, as opposed to taking twelve bottles to one bin and just putting them away. It was severely slow going.

We worked from 8am to 10pm for seven days straight. And this was just getting the wines into their basic organization. But after all the busted fingers, paper cuts, pulled muscles and sore limbs, we eventually got there. The wines were back in their safe little home under the rooms that have hosted the celebrity elite.


Tragically, not everything that came back was a Cheval Blanc. Sure - we have our share of '59 Margaux, '90 DRC Romanee-Conti and a healthy vertical of Petrus. But we also discovered 2004 Beringer White Zinfandel, 15-year old Sauvignon Blancs and
brown-hued Chardonnays. All-in-all, we separated out around 150 cases of wines that were potentially past their prime and undrinkable. Tim and I spent an afternoon in the tunnel just popping corks and tasting through the possible candidates for saving to see what we could salvage.

"It's moments like this that I wish people could see what I do for a living," I said to him as we were spitting wine on to the tunnel floor and pouring bottle after bottle down the drain.

We salvaged a little from that day. The 1991 Ferrari Carano "Tresor" was holding up fairly well - better than I expected. A 1995 Paoletti Sangiovese was a surprise. However, it was overshadowed by the pain of discarding cases upon cases of Domaine Ott and Tempier Roses. We poured out bottles of white from our neighboring winery in Bel-Air, Moraga, that had not held up. Moscatos, Champagnes, Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs past their primes, as well as some tragically oxidized white Burgundies. It was a painful process.

But the result was a wine list we could be proud of! We continually get comments on how great the list looks and how impressed people are with it. And this is just the beginning. We haven't even more than scratched the surface of where it's going. But it's a start!