Christmas wines

Visiting the in-laws for a week, we expected a large party or two but it looks like it's mostly the four of us most of the time. Nonetheless I brought down nearly 2 cases. Here's what they were and tasting notes if we opened it.

• Mollydooker 2006 Shiraz, The Boxer (WS 90 $20). An intense, rich fruit bomb. Almost jammy with blueberry pie filling, ripe red and black berry. Balanced from beginning to end. Drinking very nicely. Medium finish. No acidity or tannins. My score: 91.
• Montes 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Alpha (WS 88, $16). (On of my favorite wines of 2008). This was the third bottle and as my wife noted, it had an unexpected bell peppery (green) note with less obvious fruit/vanilla. A bit more Bordeaux-esque and thinner than the previous bottles. Balanced and smooth. My score: 89-90.
• Robert Oatley 2006 Chardonnay (WS 90, $13). Vibrant and fresh with citrus and white fruit notes in a zingy (some acidity) body. Reminds me of Sauvignon Blanc in some ways. My score: 89-90.
• Juan Gil 2006 Jumilla ($16). This Monastrell blend is a modern style, with clean, sweet, ripe plum and purple berry with some spice and floral aromas. None of the tobacco, leather or other earthy notes most Spanish wines have. Smooth with a touch of acidity. If it softens a bit, I'd give it another point, but for now it is a 89. My score: 90.
  
• Rossojbleo 2006 Nero d'avola Gulfi (WS 82, $16). Not sure where I got this. I needed some red wine to make a beef gravy so I opened this. Good choice. This was simple and rustic with an off flavor. (I don't believe the quality of a wine you cook with matters too much, despite what a lot of people say.) My score: 80.
  
• Yalumba 2007 Viognier Eden Valley (WS 91, $12). A bit of sweetnss with the refreshing fruit. I wasn't in much of a mood to appreciate it. My score: 87.
  
• Domaine Pichot 2007 Vouvray (WS 87, $14). This is a semi-sweet Chenin Blanc and I pretty much drank the whole bottle over 2 (or was it 3) nights. It had nice white fruit (I'm not good at picking these out) and just went down very smoothly. Yummy. My score: 89.
  
• Chateau St Michelle 2004 Cabernet Indian Wells (WS 88 $14)
• Ercavio 2005 Tempranillo Roble ($8). This was one of many bottles on 12/26 and we didn't finish much of it. I did use it for cooking short ribs 4 nights later and it was still somewhat fresh. My score: 87.
  
• Steate Landt 2006 Pinot Noir Marlborough (WS 91, $22). Red berry, rose petals and a hint of spice. Medium intensity and body for a pinot. Very well balanced. With a bit more complexity and richness this would have been outstanding. I'll let the next bottle age a bit. My score: 90.
  
• Fontafredda 2007 Barbera Briccotondo (WS 90, $10). Gave this away as a gift.
  
• Neyers 2006 Syrah Old Lakeville Road (WS 93, $26). Smooth with nicely ripe almost sweet berry flavors. Some mineral and subdued spice but the real star is the velvety texture and seamless balance. I can see how this scored so well. My score: 90-91.
  
• Clos L'Oratoire 2006 Chateauneuf du Papes (WS 91, $26). Lean with some red fruit. I found a funky moldy mineral smell initially. Not nearly as good as the previous bottle I tried. My score: 83.

At the local Cost Plus, I bought the following wines.

• Columbia Crest 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Horse Heaven Hills ($12) The past year got a 90 so I was excited to find this. This is their 3rd tier from the bottom. Their leves: Two Vines = $6-8, Grand Estates $8-11, which is my perennial favorite and now this H3 $11-17, of which they make roughly 5,000 cases or so of each varietal. I opened one of the two bottles and there was rich, smooth red berry in a medium body. Nice creaminess at the end. I would have some spice. Drinking nicely now. My score: 90.
• Columbia Crest 2007 Chardonnay Horse Heaven Hills ($14). The past two years got 91 WS. Not tried yet.
• Columbia Crest 2006 Chardonnay Grand Estates ($7, WS 90). I was happy to see my favorite chardonnay on sale.
• Fetish 2006 Shiraz The Watcher ($17, WS 91).
  

The following wines remained upopened, that I brought down.

• Small Gully 2002 Shiraz, Robert's Formula (WS 89, $14)
• Santa Rita 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Medalla Real Special Reserve (WS 91, $19)
• Alamos 2007 Malbec Seleccion (WS 91, $13)
• Rosenblum 20005 Zinfandel Lyon's Reserve (WS 88, $45)
• Montes 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Alpha (WS 88, $16).
  
• Chateau Caronne 2005 Ste-GemmeHaut-Médoc (WS 92, $14). Yes, if you believe the WS review, this was the deal of the year. A 2005 Bordeaux for under $15.

The San Luis Obispo Costco has a wide selection of local wines, esp from Paso Robles, which I sampled and will cover in my next posting.

The most unwelcome guest of all

I met Chris, one of the four regular readers of this blog at our company holiday party and because of my past postings, he immediately asked me what I thought of the French Laundry, considered by many critics to be the best restaurant in northern Calif and possibly the West Coast. I said it was good and it was fun but it wasn't great. Chris, a fellow foodie, had also been there and agreed it was nice but not awe inspiring. And we both agreed that it was unlikely we would have been wowed, because expectations were too high.

Expectation. The most unwelcome guest of all. Little good and much unhappiness has come about because it. Countless wonderful meals and wines have been ruined because of it. And it isn't just restricted to food and wine. It is the most general of destroyers. It is widely known the key to happiness is lowered expectations.

And this is so so true when it comes to fine dining, including wine and eating out. How often has a much anticipated, superbly rate meal been spectacular? For me, almost never. How can it? The bar is too high. Unless they give me the Nobel Prize for something after the appetizer, I'm likely be to midly disappointed.

In wine, the worst is an expensive, exalted wine I have kept for years that I only have a single bottle of. It is pretty much a guarantee I'll be grandly disappointed. And I already have the perfect bottle in mind for this bleak occasion. It was the Wine Spectator #1 a bit back and I have exactly one. It's not ready yet, but when it is, oh the let down should be exquisite.

I have abandoned buying more expensive (and hence even more highly rated) bottles largely for this reason . I rarely enjoy them more. How could I, under such pressure? Back in 2005, my happiest score range was 88-89. It indirectly meant the wine was affordable, it was very good and I didn't have any expectation. Back then, a 92+ pointer was death; I never enjoyed these expectation ladened wines.

The keys to banishing expectation? Any of the following will do.

1. Keep the price in reason. Whatever your normal price point is, be it $7, $12, $20 (me), $35 or $80, it's hard to get worked up over a normal bottle. And when the price is reasonable, you can also ...
   
2. Buy more than one bottle of it. Nothing calms expectation like having a second or third bottle. If it is great, there's another, which is of course ruined by the expectation from the first bottle. Of course every so often the last bottle alone is spectacular, but here expectation wasn't the issue.
3. Don't let some high score get to you... This is easy; know little to nothing about the bottle or don't be a score whore. Which I am. And the problem occurs when I try something so highly rated that it is a once a year event, I can't suppress expectation.
   

Now I keep to a steady flow of sub $20 wines with an occasional $28 bottle thrown in. Truly fabulous wines at that. With expectation in check. With global wine quality at an all-time high, 90-91 pointers are my new relaxed zone. And 92 points? It's no longer a huge deal. Though most of the time I'm still mildly disappointed. E.g. I had the 92 point Norton 2006 Privada Mendoza ($20) today. It opened up after an hour and had nice red fruit with spice but it was only a 90 in my book. Which is fine, since I have another bottle. And I'm sure to try some even better wines this holiday season.

Costco and its impressive Q4 wines

In short, Costco carries some outstanding wines at great prices. It feels like many excellent wines are released around now, so there are more great deals than average. An analogy is movies and Oscar release season, in which most of the good films are released in late Q4. I'm certainly stocking up aggressively, against all better judgement.

And surprisingly some of the wines do not have large production. These are often carried at just a few locations and they can run out quickly, e.g. in less than 10 days. I ran into another wine geek at Costco and he indicated that they get their new stock in early in the week so that's the time to check if you're serious.

Selection varies by location, so finding them at your Costco is hit or miss.
As a case in point, there are four local Costcos that I've been to at least twice and one of them has a distinctly superior wine selection (Mountain View). I've found many a low-production wine solely at this location. I also checked out the Burbank Costco and it had an average wine selection, though in two cases (ok, instances) I found a few bottles of "better" older vintages hidden among the new ones. The San Luis Obispo branch in Central California has lots of local wines not found elsewhere as well as the Jim Barry 2005 Shiraz Lodge Hill which I haven't seen at any other wine store. And my sources say the Foster City branch has the Layer Cake 2006 Primitivo, which I haven't seen at any other branch.

The other big attraction is their prices. They are among the lowest you'll see, due to their volume and low overhead. If I see a wine there I want, I buy it as there is unlikely a better price.

Here's what I've found in the last month.

• Yalumba 2007 Viognier, Eden Valley (WS 91, WS #55 in their Top 100, $12 CC). Production was only 1500 cases. And I've bought one of them, effectively.
• Montes 2006 Syrah Alpha (WS 91, $16, CC). This has decent production but their price is great.
• Montes 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Alpha (WS 88, WA 90, $16, CC). Decent production
  
• Neyers 2007 Chardonnay, Carneros (WS 93, $26). Only 5,600 cases.
• Neyers 2007 Syrah Old Lakeville Road (WS 93, $26). Only 1,155 cases.
• Seghesio 2007 Zinfandel Sonoma County (WS 93, $16). A huge production of 68,000 cases but this will go fast given that WS named it their #10 wine of the year.
  
• Three Rings 2006 Shiraz (WS 91, $16). I'm guessing around 10,000 cases.
• Kim Crawford 2008 Sauvignon Blanc (WS 91, Top100, $14). Big production probably in the 50K-100K range.
• Chateau Rieussec 2005 Sauterne (WS 96, $65). Guessing around 10,000 cases.
• Castello di Querceto 2005 Chianti Classico Riserva (WS 90, $18). 9,000 cases. I've decided I'm not that fond of Sangiovese based Chianti Classico, so I'm passing on this.
• Rocca delle Macie 2004 Chianti Classico Riserva (WS 90, $17) 32,000 cases.

Some other nice wines they carried a few months ago included

• Pewsey Vale 2007 Riesling Eden Valley (WS 90, $12) 1,500 cases. I wish I had bought more of this.
• Tiefenbrunner 2007 Pinot Grigio Alto Adige (WS 90, $13) 30,000 cases. Wow, I had no idea the production was so large.
  

Thanksgiving 2008

You've probably read all you can stand about turkey dinners and the attendant side dishes, so I won't repeat that drill. Besides, you come here to read about wine, so here's a Thanksgiving post with as little mention of food as possible.

To summarize, we drove down a case of wine to Los Angeles and fortunately lots of wines tasted wonderful. I wish wine tasted this good more often. I knew we were having prime rib on Thanksgiving... well ok rib eye, but I also knew that most wine is drunk without food on its own typically before the meal. The host likes red and the hostess likes white. I like red, which is what really mattered.

On turkey-day starting before dinner, we had

• Jim Barry 2006 Cabernet, Cover Drive ($16). Flavoful berry with nice acidity. Extremely good initially but my palate fatigued on repeated sips. Given the intensity, this should age through 2011, but drinking nicely now. My score: 89.
• Yalumba 2007 Viognier, Eden Valley (WS 91, #55, $12 CC). A perfect viognier with floral notes, citrus and pear fruit and lots of freshness. A tiny bit of oak creeps in the end. Everybody liked this a lot. My score: 91.
• Montes 2006 Syrah Alpha (WS 91, $16, CC). This is on its way to being my wine of the year. Super strong and complex nose. This bottle was also very flavorful on the palate. Complex dark fruit, smokey holiday spices, tobacco and more. Lean but balanced. Wow. My score: 94.
• Montes 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon, Alpha (WA 90, $16, CC). A modern oaky cabernet, well done. Has obvious cab berry flavors with vanilla and oak. Nicely balanced, smooth and a pleasure to drink. My score: 90-91.
  
• Chateau La Vieille Cure 2000 Bordeaux (WS 88, $16?). A good bordeaux with tobacco, coffee notes. Well balanced and smooth but just a bit underwhelming, as many "elegant" bordeaux are, even with the steak. My score: 89.
• Neyers 2007 Chardonnay, Carneros (WS 93, $26 CC). A big slightly smokey chardonnay with ripe fruit. It had a mix of "complex" flavors, but there was a bit of bitterness, which is typical of this style (Beringer's top of the line is like this). It went down fairly quickly. But not worth the price (yes, I'm poo poo'ing a 93 point wine for under $30). My score: 90.

The next night eating leftovers we had

• Moon Mountain 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon ($16?). This wine has historic significance as we had a cab from the same winery at Bouchon in Las Vegas two years ago and we all thought this was a truly amazing wine. My brother in law said it was the finest wine he had ever had. I remember thinking "Wow.. this is so so good... say 94-95 points". But I've had bottles of Moon Mountain since then, and none have been amazing. This was the best, with good cab flavor and everybody liked it saying it reminded them a bit of that wine. A good cab, smooth and with a bit of richness. My score: 89.
• Concha Y Toro 2007 Carmenere Maipo Valley ($8 TJ). The 2006 was a lovely coffee, toffee wine and I wish I had bought more of it. But the 2007 isn't as nice. Not as flavorful and a dull with occasional hints of the 2006. My score: 87.
• Columbia Crest 2007 Chardonnay Grand Estates ($8 TJ). I wanted to try this new year, as the 2006's are starting to dwindle in the supply chain. Note as fruity or creamy but more spicy and lean. I prefer the 2006 but the 2007 isn't bad. My score: 89.
  

The next night we went to Chinois on Main. I didn't know their corkage, but my brother who made the reservation thought it was $10, which seemed low given that it was $20 a few years ago, but we took 3 bottles. When we got there, we found it was $25, but after a bit of negotiation, we got a bit of a discount. Chinois is a fancy riff on Chinese food, which meant largely seafood, as we had dishes of scallops, calamari salad, cod and a deep fried catfish. Their wine list is not online. Once there, it is a show case wine list. I noticed lots of expensive ($150+) California Cabernets that wouldn't actually go well with much of the food. There was surprisingly little for less than $45 a bottle.

So we went with the wines we brought, which were surprisingly good.

• Dr Loosen 2004 Riesling Spatlese Erdener Treppchen Mosel-Saar-Ruwer (WS 91, $19 WC): I only got a taste as many others wanted to try this. I don't think I distinguish rieslings very well, as they all taste pretty good, but never amazing to me. A bit more restrained than I expected with lots going on. Well balanced with mild sweetness and acidity. My score: 90.
• Meridian 2003 Pinot Noir Santa Barbara Reserve ($9): I'd been saving this cheap pinot much too long. (Cheap pinots are almost never age worthy). But this seemed like an ideal dinner to try this. Very funky and dirty upon opening, I was ready to toss this. But after an hour it had cleaned up leaving an acceptable damp earth with cherry with a tart body. Our wine server liked this. I found it interesting and educational, but I didn't love it. My score: 73 becoming an 87.
• Rosenblum 2002 Syrah England Shaw (WS 93, $26?): The wine of the night. This huge beast had mellowed wonderfully into a smooth, rich wine with equal parts dark berry and coconut with leather and spice and oak. Just seamless. What a wine at its aged peak should taste like. Our wine server loved this, as did I. My score: 94-95.

I have a bottle or two of the Rosenblum 2003 Syrah England-Shaw and I can't wait to try them now.

I also noticed I was drinking wine in warm situations, and things tasted much better.... perhaps at home it is too cold for maximal enjoyment. Maybe it isn't the wine, but it is me who is too cold.