Creekview Melodious 2009

I think it was while I was drinking wine from Creekview that I realized there are a lot of kinds of wine out there, and while someone might personally enjoy some more than others, they can all be appreciated. The first time I went to Creekview, I tasted a bunch of wines - at least 7 or 8. And I enjoyed every single one of them. I went back again a while later, and even though the wines weren't all the same, I had the same sort of experience. Both times they had a Bordeaux blend that really knocked it out of the park. They're still doing it with Melodious.

As I've mentioned before, a Bordeaux blend is a mix of the traditional varietals of the Bordeaux region in France. The St. Francis wine that I reviewed before was mainly petit verdot and malbec. This one is a little more standard, with more cabernet sauvignon than anything else, but there's no single varietal that dominates. I like that there's at least 10% of each of the 5 grapes. I've heard it said that a Bordeaux blend shouldn't be "just another Cab" and I agree. Blends are great because they can really have a synergy going and let the winemaker express something interesting.

This one has a beautiful nose, it's smoky and oaky and has a lot of black cherry. It fills the mouth really well, no holes anywhere. There's some vanilla and almond and it's nicely tannic. I'm having it with cheese and crackers, and the tanginess of the cheese is bringing out something that tastes a little like toast and jam, but the wine isn't jammy at all. 

Creekview is in St. Martin, on the south end of the Santa Clara Valley. Before Prohibition, the whole valley was a big area for vineyards, but now pretty much the only ones left are around Gilroy. The winery has a beautiful patio area with walkways through the vineyard. They're only open the 3rd weekend of each month, and you're almost guaranteed to meet the winemakers since they operate the winery behind their house.  You can do an afternoon of wine tasting in this area less than an hour's drive from San Jose, and some of the wineries are really top notch. Others in the area that I like are Sarah's, Aver, and Sycamore Creek.

Dawn's Dream Carmel Valley Pinot Noir 2010

The wineries around Carmel Valley and the Santa Lucia Highlands are known for Burgundy-style wines of pinot noir and chardonnay. The tasting list at Dawn's Dream included 5 different pinots. They started out very light and fruity and gradually became more full-bodied and complex. The Carmel Valley 2010 was the 4th of the 5 we tasted that day. They were all very good, but this one really jumped out at us.

It pours a pretty color, not super dark but not as light as you see with some pinots. The nose is strawberries, canteloupe, and roses. The floral note is fairly subtle but adds a nice elegance. The taste is really silky with a long finish especially in the mid-palate. There's a touch of spice and tobacco, and lots of strawberry and some cranberry. It's not a delicate pinot, but it hits all the right notes for me with elegance, the medium body, and the long finish. We had this wine with roasted chicken and it was a nice pairing.

When we went wine tasting in Carmel Valley, there were only a few wineries we had planned to visit in advance. The town is really small, and there are a lot of wineries basically next door to each other all the way down the road. We got a recommendation from one place to go to Joyce, and at Joyce they recommended Dawn's Dream. Both were really nice, and I liked that they had different styles. Joyce had a pinot noir as well (it's got to be on the list for wineries there), but they also had a good Riesling and a good Merlot. Then it was nice to head to Dawn's Dream to see what different kinds of style you can get even within the same varietal. Learning what different winemakers like to do is something I really enjoy about visiting small wineries like these.

Regional Wine Week - South Bay area

October 6-12 is Regional Wine Week, and it seems like a good time to highlight some of what I love so much about the local wineries here in the South Bay area. You may be thinking, "Come on, it's still California, that's not very 'regional.'" Well, I disagree--not that it's California, that's true enough, but it certainly is regional. When I bring up a wine tasting trip with friends, they often think that means driving up to Napa Valley, as if that's the only place worth talking about. Here are a few reasons why wineries in the San Jose vicinity deserve some consideration.

First, they're really close to home! Sure, I can drive 2+ hours to get to Sonoma, Napa, or Paso Robles, but I can drive less than an hour to get great wine from the Santa Cruz Mountains and Santa Clara Valley. There are wineries and tasting rooms in Saratoga, Sunol, San Martin, Los Gatos (among many others) and even downtown San Jose. If you want to get away from it all, there's no shortage of wineries to visit out in the hills at the end of long winding roads where chances are pretty good you won't have mobile service.

Second, there are options for all tastes. You like delicate pinot noir? Try Hallcrest (they have a pinot-only wine club option). Maybe big juicy zinfandels are more up your alley. Satori Cellars has some very nice ones. Perhaps you are interested in something a little different. Check out the pinotage at Loma Prieta or the charbono at Sarah's Vineyard. And let's not forget the whites--the area produces excellent chardonnay, such as those at Cinnabar and Creekview, and MJA has some of the best sauvignon blancs I've ever had.

Third, you don't have to break the bank. It seems like the more well-known a region is, the more they charge for the wine, or even just the tasting experience. There are a ton of South Bay wineries that offer a tasting for $5, which is usually waived with a purchase. And the wines themselves are very reasonable. Some of my local favorites are under $20. I'm also a lot more tempted to join the wine club of a local winery. I can go to pick up my wines in person, so I don't have to pay shipping costs, plus it gives me an excuse to visit on a regular basis.

Fourth, there are some famous names here, and they help lift up the little guys. Ridge is a big winery, no doubt. Their most celebrated vineyard, Monte Bello, is at the top of a hill outside of Cupertino. If you go visit Ridge (and you should, the view is amazing), you have to drive past a couple of smaller ones on the way. Why not stop in for a tasting? Bonny Doon is a well-known name in Santa Cruz. They have a tasting room and restaurant in town that's in the same center as several other wineries. So go check out the famous players, but drop by the small wineries too. They'll be very glad to have you, and you might find a new favorite.

In short, if you live near San Jose, you love wine, you haven't tried any of the local wineries, what are you waiting for? Consider this your engraved invitation.

Seghesio Sonoma County Zinfandel 2011

When we went wine tasting in Sonoma County earlier this year, Seghesio Family Vineyards was a recommendation from some friends. Their tasting room is in Healdsburg. We didn't get there this year, but I noticed that Seghesio zinfandel is available by the glass just about everywhere in Healdsburg and Santa Rosa, and it's not hard to find down here in the South Bay either. About a month ago I noticed this bottle at Costco for $20, so I decided to get it to see what all the fuss is about.

As it turns out, this wine is good if big fruity zins are your thing. For $20, it wasn't much of a risk. The color is dark, but not deep dark. It was promising. The nose is really fruity, full of plums, ripe berries, and vanilla. The taste follows through on all of this - it's a fruit bomb. Very bold and full-bodied, and the flavor coats the tongue. This is a good example of this style. It's not subtle. The fruitiness is in-your-face, but it's not at all unpleasant. It went well with homemade pizza.

I've had a number of California zinfandels, and more often than not, they feature the big fruity notes. I like that, and I think the Seghesio avoids falling into so fruity it's jammy, which is just a little too far for me. Compared to other zins that are very similar, $20 is a really good price. If you see it at Costco, or you're in Healdsburg, give them a try.

Sierra Nevada Beer Camp #94 Black IPA

Black IPA is a trendy sort of beer style. Before a few years ago, they were more experimental and something interesting for brewers to play around with, but with the explosion in popularity of IPAs in particular and craft beer in general, they're becoming something that many breweries offer. I've reviewed a couple of other black IPAs before (Wookey Jack and Back in Black), let's see how this one compares.

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. is best known for their pale ale, which is a great example of the taste of cascade hops. Sierra Nevada pale ale is easy to find, and even at the saddest convenience stores you can often find it beside the Coors Light and Corona. I should do another post one of these days on the standby craft beers. Anyway, Sierra Nevada is still an innovative craft brewery, and the success of their flagship beer allows them to have limited release brews for beer fans to try. Every year they release a handful in the Beer Camp series, mostly on draught, but with some available in 22 oz. bottles. I got this one at Costco, and the label says "Belgian-Style Black IPA".

The beer pours very dark with a big foamy head. The nose is pleasant and fruity. I'd know it was Belgian-style from that alone. There's nothing that screams out IPA or stout to me. First sip - big taste, again, fruity, and not really bitter or roasty at all. At the finish, the hops come through a bit, and it's a little bitter on the tongue at the end. It's very nicely balanced and super drinkable. I wish I had more bottles of it.

How does it compare to the others? Well, I thought Wookey Jack was too hoppy and not anything else. Back in Black is a great beer with a good blend of piney hops and coffee notes. The Beer Camp #94 is something different. It's not really very hoppy, nor is it very roasty. It's more like a Belgian-style strong ale, and I think that's a great style and relatively hard to find (and when you can find it, the bottles are usually expensive). At 7.7% it does have the higher alcohol content of beers these days, but what are you going to do?  I suggest you sit back, pour a glass of this beer, and enjoy.

Cantillon Rose de Gambrinus

My local beer store sometimes holds drawings for the opportunity to buy rare beers. Last week, they had a drawing for the Rose de Gambrinus, a raspberry lambic from Belgium. I like sour beers and lambics, so I thought, why not?  A few days later I got an email that I'd been selected, so I went down to the store to pick it up, and I was a little astounded that it cost $15.99 for a 12 oz. bottle. Of course I went ahead and bought it. I'm used to sour beers costing more than other types, but this is a little ridiculous. I guess it's for the novelty of the thing, and how hard it is to get.

The bottle came both with a cap and a cork. The cork was a little tough to extract. I almost broke the cork while I was pulling it out, but I managed. The beer pours pink and fizzy. It looks more like strawberry soda than beer. It has a super fruity nose, like raspberries, but with a citric note too.

The taste is really tart. Super tart. But in a mouth-watering sort of way. It reminds me of the way a tart lemonade leaves you a little thirsty, so you drink more. Lambic is made by letting the cooled wort (basically, the unfermented beer) stay open in the brewery and ferment from whatever yeast or bacteria happen along. The raspberry flavor is from fruit or syrup that's added to the brew. I didn't actually detect a lot of fruitiness in the taste, but the nose is beautiful.

I'm glad I got a chance to try this. I think this is only the 2rd or 3rd time I've had a true lambic, and it was interesting to get to compare to other types of sour beers that I've tried more recently. It compares very favorably. At $16, it's a little steep to go for again very soon (and I probably wouldn't get the chance anyway, considering how I got this bottle), but it's always worth it to me to try something new. If you want to try a sour beer that's a little cheaper and easier to come by, try Duchesse de Bourgogne. If you ever see a Russian River sour beer in the bottle at the store, definitely buy one.

Campari Cocktails

Even though I haven't blogged much about cocktails, I do enjoy drinking them. I also enjoy reading about cocktails and what's in style at any given time. My tastes have evolved over the years and I've found that keeping an open mind about cocktails has helped me find new things to enjoy. For instance, I used to like apple martinis, and I ordered them pretty frequently. I've still got some apple vodka from those days. But at some point I started finding them too sweet and not at all complex, so I moved on to the dark and stormy and old fashioned, drinks I'd read about and once I finally tried them, found that I liked them quite a lot. Today I'm exploring some cocktails with a bitter component. Bitter is a flavor that people sometimes need to get used to, but there is a whole world of bitter ingredients out there once you're open to trying them.

Campari is a bitter Italian liqueur. It has a bright pink color, so it looks like it should be sweet and syrupy. It is a little syrupy, but there is a bracing bitterness that you don't expect. There are two well-known cocktails where Campari has a starring role - the Americano and the Negroni.

Americano

The American is equal portions Campari and sweet vermouth, topped up with club soda. Today I'm using San Pellegrino. Apparently in the James Bond novels, this was Bond's favorite cocktail before he became a vodka martini man. The cocktail is a very pretty color - pink at the bottom with a nice gradient to clear at the top. There's no nose at all. The first sip I had before stirring, and it just tasted like the San Pellegrino. After stirring, it's different. Bittersweet, like grapefruit juice. Bright and refreshing. It tastes rather sophisticated but it's a simple drink to make with the right ingredients. Most recipes call for a twist or a slice of orange, but I don't have one, so I'm doing without. 

Negroni

The Negroni is equal portions Campari, sweet vermouth, and gin. It should be served with an orange twist but again, I don't have one, so I'll just have to imagine what orange rind would be bringing to the party. It looks like a vodka and cranberry. It doesn't taste like one. The nose is all gin pineyness. Maybe that's because of the gin I'm using, Tanqueray, but I'm not sure. The taste is similar to the Americano, but with the evergreen notes from the gin. It's a stronger drink, and a little sweeter. 

Of the two, I prefer the Americano, and I'd drink it again. I don't really like gin, but I thought I'd give the Negroni a chance. I can see why people like it. It's a very adult sort of beverage. I like that the Americano isn't that strong. It seems like a nice drink when you don't want to get wasted, but you still want to enjoy what you're drinking. It's not like when I have a gin and tonic, which is something I order when I don't really want to drink at all, but I also don't want people constantly bothering me for not having anything. My tastes will continue to evolve, and while I don't know where they are headed, the Negroni is something I will revisit again someday, maybe with a different gin.