NV G.H. Mumm & Cie Champagne Carte Classique Extra Dry

When my sisters and I were born my grandparents bought each of us a bottle of Champagne that we were supposed to save and open at our weddings. Unfortunately my parents weren't too wine savvy at that time and lacked a decent place to store any of these bottles so they were left in the kitchen pantry, which didn't end too well. I know of at least two times when my parents were forced to secretly replace a ruined bottle, before finally deciding it wasn't really worth the hassle. My oldest sister, Alicia, and I somehow still had intact bottles, and luckily my middle sister, Teresa, grew up to be more of a beer drinker so it didn't seem to bother her. I don’t remember if Alicia opened hers at her wedding (open bar and I was still drinking liquor back then… it’s a rather hazy memory altogether), but mine is the only one left.

Since I’m rather ambivalent about marriage, not to mention way too young (or too old according to some of my relatives), I've decided waiting for a wedding that might never happen is just plain silly. So I've decided that my bottle of G.H. Mumm Carte Classique Extra Dry is getting opened tonight after work. Chances are it’s not even good, but even a terrible bottle of wine can be good material for a post. Hurrah for late-night experiments that probably won't end well! 

Later that night...

I opened the would-be wedding Champagne after getting home tonight and was pleasantly surprised to find it wasn't horribly spoiled. Had this been the original bottle my grandparents bought when I was born it probably would have been a much less pleasant experience. Of course you never know, maybe after being stored in a kitchen pantry for 27 years it would have had lovely notes of breakfast cereal, uncooked pasta and almost every cooking spice you can think of.

This bottle was perfect after a less than stellar week. It’s hard to tell from the picture, but it’s a really lovely deep golden color. On the nose it has baked peach and red apple with yeasty characteristics. Smooth and medium-bodied with flavors of baked pear, dried apricot and orange zest which are quickly taken over by hints of clove, toasted almond and honeysuckle. The honeysuckle notes lead flavors of rich honey that coats the mouth before being balanced out by crisp acidity.

I really didn't expect much from bottle, so actually enjoying it has been a pleasant surprise. Even so I doubt this family tradition will be carried on. I plan on starting a nice collection of birth year and age-worthy wines for my niece so she can be a classy drunk when she reaches the legal drinking age (20 years from now). I don’t think she’ll be missing out too much if I don’t include a NV champagne that’s been kept in rather questionable conditions for 20-plus years. 

Vigilance Petite Sirah 2011

Petite Sirah (aka: Durif) was one of the first red varietals I really and truly enjoyed. Michael David’s Petite Petit was probably the first wine that opened my eyes to Petite Sirah (and yes, I bought it because I thought the label was utterly adorable). It was definitely one of the better wines tucked away in the rather pathetic excuse for a wine room at the liquor store where I was working at the time. I wish I could say that after that I fell head over heels for the complexity, uniqueness and blah blah blah that this wine displayed, but sadly no (it would’ve been such a good excuse for what followed). I definitely enjoyed the majority of wines I had from that varietal afterwards, but my overall obsession with it didn’t start until after an adorable toy Australian Shepherd came into my life.

I’d originally wanted to name her Rogue after my favorite X-Men character, but Sarah Palin’s book (‘Going Rogue’) had just come out so after hastily scrambling to come up with a new name, I settled on Petite Sirah. At the time I had no idea that she was a toy so it wasn’t until later that I realized how fitting a name it was. She is the world to me and despite sometimes feeling like a pretentious (but clever!) bastard whenever I have to explain or pronounce her name for people, I still love it. I have a Petite Sirah who is literally petite… it is ridiculous how happy that makes me.

Vigilance is from the Red Hills AVA located at the base of Mount Konocti in California. It is 100% Petite Sirah with a vibrant ruby color and aromas of blackberry, vanilla and cedar. Medium-bodied and smooth on the palate with fruit flavors of dark cherry, blueberry and plum nicely balanced with notes of vanilla, clove and white pepper. Finishes with some slightly earthy notes and low tannins, definitely had more finesse than I’ve come to expect from California Petite Sirah.

PS is a grape that I enjoy rather immensely and love introducing to people for the first time. Vigilance is one of the more unique wines I've had of this varietal and it’s one I highly recommend. It is available at Whole Foods Market Vineyard in San Antonio.

Martian Ranch Grenache Blanc 2012

I really enjoy living vicariously through my friends, especially when they vacation in California wine country, a trip I simply cannot afford to make right now. One of my friends, Kye, managed to make it out to Santa Barbara a couple of months ago and since he absolutely adores me (and I laid a major guilt trip on him), he brought me back some rather awesome souvenirs. I’m sure it’s no surprise that ‘Sideways’ is a film that’s very near and dear to both our hearts, so my favorite present was the napkin he snagged after eating at The Hitching Post:

Of course the wines Kye brought back were fantastic as well, especially the Martian Ranch Grenache Blanc:

Martian Ranch is located in Los Alamos California, owned and run by Nan Helgeland, who is dedicated to making Rhone varietal wines with little manipulation. She is also the wife of writer/producer Brian Helgeland (‘L.A. Confidential’ is right up there with ‘Sideways’ for both of us) and while that association may have been why Kye chose to stop at Martian, Nan and her wines are the reasons he fell head over heels for it. After tasting a few of the wines brought back from there I can totally understand why. If I’d gotten to try them while surrounded by the beautiful scenery in which they were created, I’d be enthralled too.

I’d been listening to Kye rave about Martian Ranch for at least a week so when their Grenache Blanc was one of the three wines he brought me back it wasn’t too hard to decide what to open first. I’ve never found this varietal to be overly complex, but this wine created elegance out of simplicity. Tropical fruits, citrus and almonds on the nose, with bright pineapple, lemon peel, passion fruit and lemongrass flavors coming through on the palate. Crisp acidity and subtle minerality led to a refreshing, yet short finish that made me wish I had more than one bottle of it.

Endless Crush Rosé 2013

Finally got my act back together (meaning I stopped being lazy and procrastinating) and am ready to introduce you to the wonders of rosé!

Earlier this year I had the good fortune to meet Kathleen Inman, the owner and winemaker of Inman Family Wines in Russian River Valley, while she was in San Antonio. Getting to meet and chat with friendly, passionate winemakers is one of the things I love most about my job. So combining those invariably interesting conversations with really great wines makes me a very happy little girl. I had heard that Inman’s natural and environmentally responsible winemaking style produced well-balanced, terroir-driven wines so it was awesome getting to taste that for myself. We sampled the Russian River Valley Chardonnay, Endless Crush Rosé, Russian River Valley Pinot Noir, Olivet Lane Vineyard Pinot Noir and Thorn Ridge Vineyard Pinot Noir. They were excellent: the Chardonnay was crisp and bright, the Pinot Noirs were simply elegant with subtle, unique differences in each, but it was the Endless Crush Rosé that I fell head over heels for.

This exceptional wine is made predominately from organically grown Pinot Noir from their Olivet Grange Vineyard in Russian River Valley. An “intentional” rosé (rather than one made with the run-off juices from red wines, the saignée method), first made in ‘04 to celebrate her and her husband’s 20^th anniversary.  It is a delicious dry wine with red cherry, strawberry and floral notes on the nose, followed by refreshing strawberry, orange zest and watermelon flavors balanced by crisp acidity, hints of honeysuckle and spice that linger pleasantly on the finish.

Endless Crush is one of the most elegant and unique rosés I’ve ever tasted, I am thrilled that we finally have it in our wine set. It’s especially perfect for these ridiculously hot days we’ve had in Texas lately. Plus it has a pretty label! That way if you wind up not liking the wine (which is highly unlikely), you’ll have a pretty empty bottle… so no matter what you win! That is, assuming I’m not the only weirdo who keeps empty wine bottles to use as home decorations. Anyways! You should start walking at a very brisk pace to find this wine at Whole Foods Quarry in San Antonio.

Wine Five #1

About a month ago John and I randomly decided that making a video series where we drink and talk about wine (but mostly drink) would be ridiculous amounts of fun. That is how the first (and hopefully not last!) Wine Five came into creation. 

For the record we made this around 2am after several glasses of wine. The original cut was much longer and a ton more ridiculous.

Stand-in post

Last summer was when I was very much obsessed with rosés, that was pretty much all I drank. This was before they were cool too, so go me for being ahead of the curve for once (I know, I'm such a hipster). This summer I've been more interested in random, hard-to-find-in-San-Antonio varietals (like Roussanne and Grenache Blanc) and don't honestly think I've bought more than two or three bottles of rosé. So I find it slightly interesting that two of the hands down, most outstanding wines I've had in the past six months have both been rosés. 

I plan on doing posts on both wines in the very near future, this is really just a stand-in to make up for the fact that I've been too lazy to write anything of substance lately. Plus my partner-in-crime finally got one of these gorgeous wines in our store this week (Inman Family's Endless Crush Rosé, $23.99 at Whole Foods Quarry in San Antonio, TX!) so I'm incredibly excited about that. I promise something better post-wise in the very near future!

Kurt Darting Dürkheimer Spielberg Scheurebe Spätlese 2010

My parents are amazing and I know that I am damn lucky to have them. My father is awesome, I got both my dry sense of humor and cynicism (though he’s not too thrilled about that) from him and I am beyond grateful for both those traits. My mother is the kindest, most wonderful woman, who always wants to see the best in everyone. They balance each other out so perfectly and also drive each other crazy at times. I have never doubted that they love each other and my sisters and I (and all the dogs I might have kinda guilted them into getting) very much. If it weren't for them I might have never discovered how utterly fascinating and beautiful wine is.

For my 21^st birthday they had gotten me a bottle of Now and Zen Wasabi White (mainly because my mother loved the label... another habit I picked up from her), but forgot to bring it with them when they drove up to Dallas to see me, so my mother insisted on visiting several different liquor/wine stores in an attempt to find another bottle of it. We didn't find it and I honestly couldn't tell you what they wound up getting me instead to make up for it, but I remember being really amazed by how much they knew about wine, since it was something they'd only started getting into after I left home. What really sealed the deal though was a weekend visit I made probably a few months after that. They’d recently gotten really into New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and one of the last nights I was there we thought it'd be fun to do a blind-tasting of sorts with three different bottles of that varietal. Basically we put all three in paper bags then tasted each one and scored them somehow (the details are a bit fuzzy), not perfect, but still a lot of fun. The wines were Kim Crawford, Drylands (which I'm pretty sure was the winner overall) and a third I can’t recall. The details aren't really all that important... the point is that after that weekend I started to fall madly in love with wine all thanks to my parents.

Since then I've become way more of a wine geek than either of them and I’m sure that my slightly ridiculous passion for wine perplexes them at times, but they have been nothing but supportive anyways. Of course it pays off for them as well since I've introduced them to some rather awesome wines. Of those one of their favorites so far was Kurt Darting Dürkheimer Spielberg Scheurebe Spätlese from Pfalz, Germany.

I have Kye (my friend and fellow wine buyer at Whole Foods), to thank for introducing me to this wine (and for the picture above) and he has Terry Theise to thank for introducing him to Scheurebe. I’m really glad that he stumbled upon this beautiful wine after reading Theise’s book “Reading Between the Vines” and I’m really lucky that he was awesome enough to share that experience with me. Just to give a brief background on this little known varietal: Scheurebe (or Sämling 88) is a crossing of Riesling and an unknown grape (originally thought to be Sylvaner, but DNA analysis ruled that out in the ‘90s). Primarily grown in Austria and Germany it is highly aromatic and, like Riesling, the wines made from it can range from very sweet to bone dry.

The Darting Scheurebe was beyond gorgeous, I still list in as one of the top ten white wines I've ever had. After that first bottle I kept gushing about it to my parents and wound up buying another bottle of it to drink with them so they could experience it as well ($19.99 at Twin Liquors, though I don't believe they carry it anymore). Normally I’d do my best to describe Scheurebe, and I could go into detail about the pink grapefruit, orange zest and honeysuckle flavors but I just feel like Terry Theise does such a better job of explaining this varietal than I could ever do, so I’ll just leave you with his words:

“I don’t drink Riesling all the time, though I’d hardly mind doing so. Still, there are occasions when something more pagan is called for, and that’s when I summon my guiltiest of wine pleasures: Scheurebe.

"Scheurebe (shoy-ray-beh), often shortened to ‘Scheu,’ is Riesling just after it read the Kama Sutra. Put another way, Scheu is what Riesling would be if Riesling were a transvestite. If Riesling expresses all that is Noble and Good, Scheu offers all that is Dirty and Fun. It is Riesling’s evil, horny twin.”

-Terry Theise, "Reading Between the Vines"

Menguante Garnacha Blanca 2009

I don’t have a whole ton of friends, but the ones I do have are as close (if not closer than) family to me. I have no problem with that, I prefer having few close friends, who I can count on no matter what, to having several fair-weather ones I can’t rely on. Of course most of these friends are spread out all over this state (and Louisiana) at the moment, not surprising considering how badly we all wanted out of this city after High School... I'm just the only one so far to return. That just means I appreciate the times they get suckered into coming back to SA all the more and the last time it happened I celebrated by picking up Menguante Garnacha Blanca 2009 from Specs (totally blanking on the price, but will fix that shortly).

I’m not really sure why Grenache Blanc intrigues me so much (in blends or as 100% varietals), but I’m not complaining, it usually works out well for me. So far Spain and South Africa have impressed me the most with their wines made with Grenache Blanc, but a lot of that is due to the fact that you don’t see this varietal so often elsewhere.

This one was ripe with flavors of baked pear, orange peel, dried apricot and lemon zest. There was a bit of oiliness that reminded of the one (and only) Condrieu I’ve ever had. This was balanced out with crisp acidity and bright floral notes that led to a creamy, honey-butterish finish. Really glad I took a chance with this wine and even happier that I got to share it with good people (especially since those seem hard to find these days).

Barranc dels Closos Blanc 2010

I hope most people have experienced the thrill of glancing at their phone and seeing a call/text from a certain person that just makes them grin like an idiot. It’s a nice feeling, one that makes you feel warm and fuzzy (and sometimes just a slight bit apprehensive since you’re not sure what it will bring), but no matter what, just seeing that call (or text) always makes you smile. That is the same feeling I get whenever I’m adventurous in my wine buying and it pays off. At least that is the best way to describe the feeling that envelopes me when I take that first sip and find utter beauty.

Of course that doesn't happen all the time, I have regretted taking on new wines before... which is probably why I cherish the ones that don’t let me down so very much. Tonight’s wine is one of them: Mas Igneus Barranc dels Closos Blanc 2010, a white wine from Priorat, Spain. (Found at Specs, but since they were discontinuing it and I bought the last couple bottles on the shelf, I honestly could not tell you where to find it anymore in SA… but if you do stumble upon it please let me know!)

The 2010 vintage is a blend of 50% Garnatxa Blanca, 30% Macabeu, 17% Pedro Ximenez and 3% Muscat. The muted intensity and dried fruit aromas masked a very complex and lovely palate. Lemon zest, orange peel, white peach and a hint of coconut were in the forefront, followed by notes of toasted almonds, beeswax, honey and wet limestone. It was reminiscent of sherry with the nutty, floral flavors but it didn’t have the same intensity. I loved it, thought it was super gorgeous. Definitely a wine I’d be happy to see on my call log anytime.

Dashe Les Enfants Terribles Zinfandel 2011, Heart Arrow Ranch

I hate reality TV, it is awful and I think that it’s a shining example of how awful this world can be. I actually avoid my parents' place on certain nights because I know I’ll be subjected to that sort of crap if I’m there. The times that I can’t avoid it though I bring wine and Dashe Les Enfants Terribles Zinfandel is what I had this past Monday when I knew the Bachelorette was unavoidable and it was perfect for the occasion. I hadn’t had a Zinfandel in quite some time and this one made me regret that. It also made me rethink my meh-ness towards wine from California.

From the back label:

“Our Les Enfants Terribles (“the Wild Children”) series of wines are made from vineyards that we feel can make distinctive, terrior-driven wines. Fermented on native yeasts, with minimal oak influence and low levels of sulfites, these wines show beautiful fruit undisturbed by unnecessary processing. The essence of the vineyard shines through the resulting wine. This rebel has a cause – we hope you’ll like it.”

It was a really subtle wine for its type, just 13.5% which is pretty restrained for a Californian Zinfandel. I haven’t had many old world Zins, but this wine reminded me more of the few that I’ve had than any of the Californian ones. I’m not trying to bash California here, I do enjoy many wines from there (and all over North America), I just don’t think that they exhibit the same balance and finesse that old world wines do (I could really go off on a tangent there, but I’m going to stop myself because that’s not what this post is about).  There was a distinct earthiness along with the wild strawberry, baked raspberry and dried lavender notes. A hint of spice and round tannins led to a long-ish finish, overall it was really gorgeous.

Frank Cornelissen Contadino 10

A year ago I really didn’t care for Italian wines... a year ago I was also a complete idiot. I’m still an idiot, but at least now I’m an idiot who’s learned to appreciate and (mostly) love the wines of Italy. That was mainly thanks to an amazing friend who made it next to impossible to drink with him without being able to appreciate Italy. Kye opened my eyes to a world of possibilities that I’d never considered and without him I would have never gotten to try some of the most unique wines I’ve ever had the good fortune to come across. Some of the best wines I had in the last year were with him and most of those were Italian, Sicilian more often than not. One Sicilian wine in particular I feel like I’ve been waiting forever to try was Frank Cornelissen’s Contadino 10, a bottle he picked up in Austin ($30) a while back.

The main reason I love Kye is he is one of the only people I’ve ever met who finds wine to be as cool as I do (“Did he say ‘Cool’?”... chances are only my dad will laugh at that reference). Wine is awesome, in so many ridiculous ways and cool really is the best way I can describe it sometimes, it’s got liquor and beer beat as far as I’m concerned. I’d just assumed I was a crazy person, ridiculously obsessed with wine in a way that no one else understood, but he made me realize that it wasn’t just me, there were others, just as utterly insane as I was.

Anyways! Frank Cornelissen’s wines go a long way in embodying that “coolness” that I love about wine. If I poured the Contadino 10 for my parents or friends they’d probably make polite noises and then find a reason to open something else and there is nothing wrong with that. His wines are not for everyone, they are for people who are looking to experience every dusty, dirty nook and cranny of winemaking.

 

From the website: “Our farming philosophy is based on our acceptance of the fact that man will never be able to understand nature's full complexity and interactions. We therefore choose to concentrate on observing and learning the movements of Mother Earth in her various energetic and cosmic passages and prefer to follow her indications as to what to do, instead of deciding ourselves. Consequently this has taken us to avoiding all possible interventions on the land we cultivate, including any treatments, whether chemical, organic, or biodynamic, as these are all a mere reflection of the inability of man to accept nature as she is and will be. “

The wine was cloudy to put it mildy, cloudier than anything else I’d ever had. It was beautiful though, tasted of red fruit, rocks and earth. Such earth! This is what I imagined the ancient Greeks drank, wines imbued with the very essence of the world they inhabited. This was a living wine, that is the BEST way I can describe it and I’m sorry I can do no better than that but that is what it was. I was blown away, it was in no way pretty, I would not suggest it for the faint of heart or amateur wine-lovers, it was made to be appreciated by those who really, truly love wine and I was beyond happy to get to try it. Truly wonderful.