The Grape Crusader

Winery: Cliff Lede Vineyards

Bottling: 2005 Claret

Region: California

Sub-Region: Napa Valley

Estimated Retail Price: $30 – $35

Purchase Details: As much as I hate to recall this, we have this wine because it was a left over bottle from our now-defunct retail shop.  We sold it for $29.95 — a screaming deal!

Tasting Notes: On the nose, cassis, cream and Berol Mirado #2 pencil lead shavings that were really pronounced as the wine really opened up.

In the mouth, even more pencil lead shavings and graphite galore.  Flavors of dried currants, plum, smoke, ripe black cherries, blackberries, mint and rosemary were very pronounced.  Very rich pure flavors.  This was a wine that tasted so much more expensive than the price.

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Winery: Varner Wine

Bottling: 2005 Neely Picnic Block Pinot Noir

Region: California

Sub-Region: Santa Cruz Mountains

Estimated Retail Price: $30 – $40

Purchase Details: Purchased for $30 at R. Field Wine Co. on the island of Oahu

Tasting Notes: This 2005 Neely Picnic Block Pinot Noir was outstanding and thoroughly enjoyable.  Beautiful ruby color in the glass.  Aromas of cola, earth and spice.  In the mouth, flavors of dark cherry cola, more earth and other dark fruits and spice.  Great texture and a firm mouth feel.

The wine definitely had an old world sensibility to it with it’s earthy flavor profile and subdued fruit flavors.  The wine was actually very closed in the first half an hour or so, but really began to open up and evolve as the night went on.  Again the texture was soft, caressing and velvety even though it had an earthy profile that would lead you to believe that the wine would have a harder edge to it.

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Winery: Rosenblum Cellars

Bottling: Vintners Cuvee XXXI Zinfandel

Region: California

Sub-Region: All Over California

Estimated Retail Price: $12

Purchase Details: Purchased by the glass for about $9 (yikes!) at P.F. Chang’s Bistro in Honolulu, HI.

Tasting Notes: On the nose were aromas of both black and red berries and even a slight hint of peach.  The berry aromas were echoed as flavors in the mouth along with some nice baking spices.  The mouth feel was of a medium weight and the tannins were virtually non-existent, making the wine very smooth and easy to sip, gulp and swallow.

Although this zinfandel is not what most people probably expect when they think of today’s modern day jammy zinfandel, it still maintains a flavor profile that is consistent with the varietal of wild berries, spice and lively fruit.  Its nice to taste zinfandels like these that have the quintessential zinfandel flavors, but without the high alcohol and heavy, cloying texture.

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I sometimes tend to look at pinot grigio as a light-uninteresting-mass market-used in cheesy spring party in someone’s backyard lawn kind of wine.  Over the course of time, pinot grigio has become the most popular and widely imported wine into the U.S.  As a society we tend to be influenced easily by media and pop-culture, so I’m not surprised that with the number of print ads and commercials depicting pinot grigio as a “lifestyle” white wine, that pinot grigio has become so popular.

Unfortunately, popularity in certain varietals can sometimes compel producers who are not in it for the craft, to make mass-produced low quality styles just to satisfy a trendy demand and make a quick buck.  Just look at “I’m not drinking no f*@%^ng merlot’s” rise in the 80’s and fall in 2005 as an example of the effect of mass media and pop-culture.

Fortunately Steve Clifton and his Palmina Wines label celebrate Pinot Grigio and see it as more than just a crisp white wine.  We each had a glass of it this past weekend at Vino Italian Tapas & Wine Bar in Honolulu and were blown away by it.

On the nose, various stone fruits, zesty citrus and white flowers.  In the mouth, the intensity and impact of the wine far belied its pale color and delicate aroma.  Mega-intense in weight and alive, zesty and zippy in it’s attack on our palates.  The wine exploded with mouth-watering citrus fruits on the first sip.  White peach and stone fruits on the mid-palate and tropical fruits of mango and ripe pineapple on the finish.  Also on the finish was a hint of smokiness, lemongrass and a bone dry, snappy finish.  This was a complex wine indeed.

Palmina also makes a host of other Italian red and white varietals.  I love all of their wines, but I think their craft really shows in their white wine program.  Try their Malvasia Bianca, Traminer and Tocai Friulano.  They’re wonderful wines.

Palmina Wines

Winery: Samsara

Bottling: 2007 Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir

Region: California

Sub-Region: Santa Barbara, Central Coast of California

Estimated Retail Price: $30

Purchase Details: Purchased by the bottle for approximately $70 on the menu at Alan Wong’s Restaurant on Oahu.

Tasting Notes: Unlike their bevy of single vineyard syrahs and pinots, this Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir is a blend of grapes from different vineyard sources in the area.

In the mouth, I tasted a nice combination of red fruits as well as dark fruits.  The wine had a nice red cherry sweetness on the finish and had a plump, fleshy mid-palate framed by dark fruits.  This wine was masculine and bold in flavor, but still feminine and caressing in texture and mouth feel.

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Winery: Cambiata Winery

Bottling: 2007 Albarino

Region: California

Sub-Region: Monterey

Estimated Retail Price: $24

Purchase Details: Purchased by the glass for $12 at Alan Wong’s Restaurant on Oahu for Mother’s Day.

Tasting Notes: What a pleasure and treat it was to dine at one of Oahu’s finest fine dining establishments, Alan Wong’s Restaurant.  Dining there usually means that a meal filled with fresh seafood is in order.  I’m glad this 2007 Cambiata Albarino was offered by the glass, because I tasted it last year and was very impressed by it.

In the glass the wine possessed beautiful yellow, green straw colors.  Citrus, white stone fruits, racy acidity and a juicy texture were making my palate happy.  Although the wine was weighty and mega-concentrated, the wine never felt heavy or overpowering.

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Winery: Bodegas Muga

Bottling: 2006 Rioja Blanco (Grape Varietal: Viura)

Importer: Jorge Ordonez

Region: Spain

Sub-Region: Rioja

Estimated Retail Price: $12-$14

Purchase Details: Purchased at Tamura’s Fine Wine & Liquors on Oahu for approximately $13 and change.

Tasting Notes: The last white Rioja I had was a Palacios Remondo “Placet” Rioja, and it was good.  It was intense and racy, and I loved it.  I wanted to have that same experience again, but this time with another producer.  Bodegas Muga was my next target.

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Winery: Titus Vineyards

Bottling: 2005 Cabernet Franc

Region: California

Sub-Region: Napa Valley

Estimated Retail Price: $36

Purchase Details: Bought for approximately $70 off of the wine list at Ruth’s Chris steak house.

Tasting Notes: Violets, velvet, flowers and berries delight.  These were the characteristics that really stood out in this wine and are what formed the personality of the 2005 Titus Cabernet Franc.  On the nose the wine had a lightness  and elegance that was reminiscent of smelling a pinot noir, except that it didn’t smell like a pinot.

Violets, lavender, spice and berries on the nose.  In the mouth, more violets, berries and chocolate covered dark cherries.  The wine was no doubt delicious, but more impressive was its velvety smoothness and caressing texture.  It was a very balanced wine that had just the right amount of structure, fruit, tannin and acid.  You could tell that this was a wine that was made with care in the vineyard as well as in the winery.

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“It tastes like sour wood”, is what my friend who sold me this bottle said to describe the taste of this wine.  Its probably the reason why he was unloading it on me too, because who wants to have a wine in their collection whose taste is described as such?  I guess schmoes like me since he approached me about it.  I know he didn’t mean it in a pejorative sense.  The art of wine description just happens to be a really weird field that uses remarks like cat pee and barn yard to describe things we actually should enjoy smelling and swallowing.

I was intrigued by this wine because I’ve only had lagrein once and really liked it, so I was excited to try one from another producer.  The grape is native to Northern Italy in the Trentino-Alto Adige region.  Outside of Trentino, the varietal is relatively obscure, which is why you almost never see it on retail shelves unless it’s a boutique wine shop specializing in the obscure, funky, off-beat stuff.  (Actually, as I write this, I just checked K&L Wines and they carry six Lagrein bottlings.  I guess the variety is making head way on to shelves).

The back label

In the glass, the wine was inky and black, like syrah which is what its related to along with dureza and pinot noir.  The smells were of dark cherries, berries and spice.  On the palate, sour wood.  I’m sure the power if suggestion was in play, but there was definitely a sour balsa wood sort of flavor to it, punctuated with a burst of sour cherries on the finish.  The wine was definitely robust, tannic and full-bodied, but the tart finish gave it sort of an air of lightness.  Very interesting wine.

I forgot to take note of the name of the importer, so I don’t have any other source such as a website to refer you to other than what’s in this review and what you can track down through an internet search.

We normally like to go to our favorite Mediterranean restaurant because of its outdoor seating, lively ambience and liberal corkage policy (read none).  This particular evening though, we were too tired for fun, but were still hankering for some falafel fun madness.  Solution?  Order in and take out; done!

Our standard fare at The Olive Tree Cafe is a plate of briny, acidic, salti-licious Greek caviar, a falafel sandwich, baba ganoush and a house salad with seriously the best vinaigrette in the world.  Smokiness, herbiness and acidity are the  main characteristics of these dishes, hence a wine with a fair amount of acid is needed to balance all this madness out.

The 2007 Trenel Macon-Villages is just what the wine gods ordered.  This wine had everything you’d want and more from a solid white Macon.  Tingling minerality, searing acidity and green apple flavors.  For the bonus round, there was un-characteristic juiciness.  Juiciness is not a typical characteristic that I get from a Macon blanc, but this one had it, giving the wine a much more full and rounded mouthfeel.  This was perfect for our dinner that evening.  The wine and food together were making our palates very happy.

A little more expensive for a Macon-Villages Blanc ($18), but oh so worth it.  The wine is imported by the reclusive Robert Chadderdon, who has an excellent portfolio filled with the likes of producers like Quintarelli and Billecart-Salmon.  Obviously, this is one of his more affordable selections.