Barton Albarino 2011

We went to Paso Robles for wine tasting the first time two years ago. We had heard some really good things about the wine, but also that the wineries were a lot of fun to visit and lot like how Napa Valley used to be. I've never actually been wine tasting in Napa (!!) but from what I've been told, it's not necessarily a good time anymore. The roads are congested with buses and limos and drivers of questionable blood alcohol levels, the tasting rooms are crowded, and the tasting fees are high. Again, just what I've heard. Paso Robles wasn't like that at all. We had a pleasant experience at every winery we went to.

One of them, Grey Wolf Cellars aka Barton Family Wines, was a recommendation by some dear friends, and it was a great one. We liked it so much that when we returned to Paso in December, we went back to try it again. They have some of the best white wines in Paso that I've tried. This bottle was the 100% Edna Valley Albarino. The color is very pale yellow, and the nose is of green apples, watermelon, and lemon blossoms. The taste is apples, tropical fruit, and a touch of sour candy. It was sweeter than I remembered. It was also a little hot from alcohol - a whopping 14.6%, which is huge for a white wine.

It made a perfect drink for Memorial Day afternoon with some grilled chicken. I prefer white wine a little on the sweeter side, so this was one I really enjoyed. Also, it's completely unoaked which I like because I think too much oak in white wine can be overwhelming. We only had one bottle, but we've still got a bottle of Roumours, a marsanne/rousanne blend, which I look forward to opening sometime this summer. I'm sure we'll get back down there this year to stock up on more.

Other wineries in Paso Robles that I recommend:

• Ranchita Canyon - one of my favorites anywhere
• Still Waters - great wine, nice people, beautiful view
• Tobin James - a little commercial, but they have something for everyone, and they're fun
• Dunning - long drive to get there, but the wine is worth it
• Graveyard - quirky wines, lovely people

St. Francis Anthem Meritage 2008

Last year I had a university alumni event in Sonoma, and as we were headed home, we drove past St. Francis Winery. I have a friend who had been there before and really enjoyed it, so I stopped to check it out. The only wine of theirs I'd had before was Old Vine Zinfandel, which is pretty easy to find in stores and restaurants, and it's a safe bet when you want something inexpensive. The wines at the winery were generally a lot more expensive, but they were really good, too.

My favorite of the bunch was this 2008 Meritage.  Meritage is a Northern California name for Bordeaux-style blend, which means it is made with some or all of the traditional red wines of Bordeaux: cabernet sauvignon, merlot, malbec, petit verdot, cabernet franc. Bordeaux blends are usually heavy on the cabernet sauvignon, but this one is primarily petit verdot and malbec. It's a very big wine, and it tastes like a very serious wine, but it's really good. Not cheap either, I think it was about $60.

The color is very dark, almost inky (that's Mario Puzo's favorite word to describe wine in The Godfather, inky). I'd hate to spill it. The nose promises big things, with strong notes of leather, tobacco, oak, and really ripe fruit. The taste really fills the mouth. It's big in the back and the flavor lingers. It's very spicy and has all the flavors the nose indicated. There's even a little chocolate flavor. It all comes together in a nice way. It totally overwhelmed the pork chops we had for dinner.

This isn't an easy drinking wine; it's one to linger over. It was interesting to see how the flavor changed after the bottle was opened. After an hour, the chocolate flavor was a little more pronounced, and the spiciness had backed off. The next time I'm in Sonoma (which, as it happens, is next weekend), I may have to go back and see what else St. Francis has.

Anderson Valley Brother David's Double Ale

Back in the day, I didn't care for beer. I thought it was all too bitter and not the least bit refreshing. I think it was Belgian-style beer that helped me change my mind. I've got a friend from Montreal who is a big fan of Unibroue which makes some of the best Belgian beers outside of Belgium. Several times we drank these big, strong ales that come in all colors and flavors, which helped me to get a better understanding of the variety of beer.

The day I went to BevMo for the Double Jack I also bought a bottle of Brother David's Double, from Anderson Valley Brewing Co. This brewery is in Boonville, CA, a couple hours' drive north of San Francisco. I haven't been there, but I'd love to make a little road trip and visit one day. I've tried a few of their beers before and enjoyed them. They don't specialize in Belgian beer, and I was interested to see what this one was like. The 22oz bottle was $7.39.

Turns out, it's a pretty tasty ale. It pours brown with amber highlights. Not much head. On the nose, I got citrus and banana, and it reminded me of a wheat beer. The taste is sweet from malt, and a little tangy. It doesn't taste like a wheat beer, but there's a understated spice that's similar. Cloves, maybe. It's easy to drink, which you've got to watch out for when it's a 9% beer.

It's not quite as good as some of the offerings from Unibroue, but it was plenty tasty. There was also a triple ale, and that would be a fun one to try as well.

Domaine des Braves Régnié Beaujolais 2010

Almost everything I know about wine I learned from California wine. After all, I live here, and almost all of the wineries I've ever visited have been here. My friends who are also into wine drink mostly the local stuff. Not that there's anything wrong with that, California is a world-class wine producer. Other places just do things a little differently. France, for example. For many people, when they think wine, they automatically think French wine. It's like the mother country for oenophiles.

Last night I decided to try something a little different for me, a French red wine from Beaujolais, a Régnié 2010. If you're like me and mostly familiar with California wine, the name takes a little unpacking. The name of the winery is Domaine des Braves. Régnié is a village and the name of the Cru, of which there are 10 and they make up the highest category of Beaujolais, the name of the overall region. 2010 is the vintage, and Régnié is meant to be drunk within a few years of production. All Beaujolais reds are made using the gamay grape, which is related to pinot noir and to which it has a lot of similarities.

It has a nice bright red color. The nose needed a minute to open up after I poured the glass, but then I started getting some fruit like cherry and blackberry. The taste is pretty fruit-forward. Cherry, plum, and a tartness that lingers on the back of the tongue. It's very much back of the palate, and the front drops off immediately. It's a fairly light-bodied wine, but it has some backbone to it.  I made some chicken risotto and roasted broccoli for dinner, and it matched up very nicely. It seemed to mesh really well with black pepper.

I got the bottle for $15.99 at a wine store. I asked for a Cru Beaujolais, and they had this one, and a Moulin-à-Vent (another Cru) for a few dollars more. He recommended this one (the Régnié) if I was planning on opening it the same day, which I was. I think he was pleased that I asked for this type of wine. He asked me why I was interested, and I said I was just exploring new things, and that I like Burgundy (French pinot noir) so I figured I would like this. And I did.

Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout vs. Homebrew

Someone I know at work mentioned a while ago that he was into homebrewing. I told him I'd love to try his beer, and he said ok, but I had to promise to give him my honest opinion of it.  Last week he gave me 3 bottles each of amber ale and oatmeal stout. Over the weekend, I decided to try the stout, but I wanted to have a solid comparison for it, so I bought a bottle of Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout. It's one of the most popular Oatmeal Stouts at BeerAdvocate.

I poured a few ounces of each into tasting glasses. The color is very similar in both beers, dark with a reddish tinge where the light hits it. The Samuel Smith looks a little more opaque, but not much. It definitely has more of a head and as you can see in the picture, it was still there a couple of minutes later. The homebrew has very little head and it completely dissipated within a minute.

I tried the Samuel Smith first. The smell is just like what you expect in a stout: rich coffee and promise of a deep roast taste, which is what I got. Smooth, creamy, coffee. It's pretty dry. I can't tell the oatmeal has added much sweetness if at all, but it's contributed to the smoothness.

Next the homebrew. I was a little surprised that there is no stout nose at all, just a sort of mild beer-y smell.  The taste is more surprising. If I didn't see the beer and know from the brewer, I'm not sure I'd know it was supposed to be a stout. No coffee, chocolate, or deep roasted flavors at all. It tastes more like a Belgian beer. It does have a nice mouthfeel. Not sure what happened to the oatmeal or the stout though. It's a little bitter on the finish. Maybe that's the stout coming through a little bit?  It tastes very, very different from the Samuel Smith.

I taped labels to the bottom of the glasses, so I could mix them around and do a blind tasting, but the difference in the head made it obvious from looking at them. I closed my eyes and switched the glasses around a few times, but it was still really clear which one was which. I'll tell my homebrewing friend that he might want to consider telling people it's a dark Belgian style, rather than a stout.

Kona Koko Brown

I have a weakness for all things Hawaiian. I've been to Hawaii several times and it's one of my favorite places. I love the beaches, the lush tropical landscape, the craggy hills of Kauai and the enormous mountains of Maui and the Big Island... there's just so much to enjoy. They also have some pretty good beer.

Koko Brown is the spring seasonal from Kona Brewing Co.  There are some others you can get year-round like Longboard Lager, but this one I've seen in stores from March-June. Since it's a brown ale, it's got some sweetness from the malt, but it's got even more sweetness from toasted coconut that they add to it to give it some special Hawaiian flavor. It reminds me of Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar. They're both sweet, creamy, and nutty. I like to enjoy each sip, and one bottle is usually plenty. I've had this 6-pack for about a month, and I have to be in the mood for it to open one. Liquid Aloha, they say.

If you ever watch Hawaii 5-0 you'll see people drinking Kona beer all the time, usually Longboard. I don't know if it's a paid promotion or if they're just using a local product. It's not really in your face, but the labels are distinctive. Poor Maui Brewing Co. gets no love (but I like Kona better too).

Kona Brewing has brewpubs on the Big Island and Oahu, and if you're ever in the neighborhood, go visit. The pizza and sandwiches are good, and they have a big selection of beer on tap that they don't bottle. In Kona the place is away from the ocean in a warehouse area, but in Hawaii Kai (east of Honolulu) it's right by the harbor with some nice views.

Firestone Walker Double Jack

Because this blog is about drinking, not just drinking wine, I thought it was time to turn to something a little different, so tonight I've got a 22 oz. bottle of Double Jack, a double IPA from Firestone Walker in Paso Robles. I got it at BevMo for $7.69.

You guys. This beer is seriously delicious. I was talking with a friend the other day about our favorite IPAs (Brew Free or Die, Blind Pig, Lagunitas, Racer 5...), and she said this one is hers. I've been to the brewery before and I may have tried it as part of a sampler, I don't recall, but my beer palate has expanded considerably since then at any rate. A couple of years ago I wouldn't have been able to get past the hops here, but now, I think it's great.

There's about a half inch of foam that mostly dissipated by the time I actually took a sip. The nose is the usual piney IPA with floral notes and something citrusy in there that's hard to put my finger on. But the taste, oh, the taste. That citrus comes out with big grapefruit notes, the pine is well integrated, lots of bitterness from the hops, and then a little maltiness in the background. It's not sweet at all, but it's very smooth. 

It goes down ridiculously easy which is kind of dangerous at 9.5% alcohol. Often when I drink a beer that strong, the first sip makes me think "Whoa Nellie!" but not this one. It just makes me think "MOAR!" Is it my favorite IPA?  I'm not sure. I'd have to taste them side by side to really say, but this is very good stuff. This is probably the best double IPA I've had.

2 hours later.....

Drink this beer while it's still cold. At room temperature the balance is off a bit, it has lost some richness in the mouth-feel, and you can taste the alcohol more. Note to self: drink faster.

Savannah-Chanelle Central Coast Pinot Noir 2009

A few years ago, I spent an afternoon wine tasting in Saratoga and Cupertino, and I remember going to Savannah-Chanelle and trying their wine. After you've been wine tasting a few times, you start to sort them into 3 groups: the ones you loved and can't wait to go back to, the ones you hated and will warn your friends about, and the ones that just weren't particularly memorable. This one was the third kind. I think we bought a bottle or two, but I don't remember anything about them.

Last night I had dinner with a friend, and he had a bottle of their Central Coast Pinot Noir from 2009 that he bought a few weeks ago on a tasting afternoon of his own. I was glad to revisit and see if it was more memorable this time.

It pours on the dark side for a pinot. The nose was full of ripe berries and leather. After a couple of swirls it was very pleasant. The wine started out very delicate on the tongue, just about what you expect from the varietal, but then it brightened into a bigger taste of sweet strawberries and tart cherries. There was a little almond at the end. It wasn't a big wine, but it wasn't super soft either, just nicely in between.

We had garlicky lamb burgers for dinner, and it was a little too much for the wine. I think it would go better with something less strongly flavored. Fortunately we drank most of it before got to the food. Bottles are about $26 at Savannah-Chanelle, so cheaper than a lot of pinot noirs and a pretty good deal if you want one that's medium-bodied and easy drinking like this one. It's still not particularly memorable but it's perfectly drinkable.

Organic Wine Works Bountiful Blush 2010

Organic wine is not always my cup of tea. It's not hard to find wine made with organically-grown grapes, and I think that's a fine thing. But organic wine itself is different and sometimes not so good. Happily that's not the case at all with Bountiful Blush. This bottle was the 2010 vintage, and it's a rosé made of cabernet sauvignon. The bottle notes that it is vegan.

This is a very easy drinking rosé, which is usually what I want from one. It's on the sweet side, but not too sweet, and it went pretty well with pineapple chicken pizza. It's also just a perfect warm afternoon wine.

It costs about $12 at Hallcrest Vineyards in Felton, CA.  This winery sells wine under both the Organic Wine Works label and the Hallcrest label, and if you in the area, it is a great place to stop and taste some wine.