Washington Wine and Cheese

It was my intention to put together a very nice Malbec tasting for this Tuesday evening. I, along with a few friends, went to Pearson’s and asked Michael for his recommendations. We started with a wonderful Malbec which was medium bodied, nice fruit, good balance, etc. All agreed it was a good start to completing a good Malbec tasting.

Then a funny thing happened. Perhaps it was something someone in the background said. Perhaps it was an unexpected astronomical alignment. Whatever the reason, the next wine that we tasted wasn’t a Malbec. Michael opened a blend that was wonderful. Everyone agreed that this had to be in the tasting. Before I could ask if Malbec was one of the grapes in the blend, Michael had opened another amazing wine. This one was clearly not a Malbec, but the reactions of others made it
clear that I couldn’t pass this wine up.

By the end of the evening, I had picked out 5 beautiful reds and only 1 was a Malbec. I thought to myself, “What happened? I wanted to do a Malbec tasting and I only have 1 in the lineup.” No sooner had I completed that thought, I hear Michael say “You really have to try this before you leave.” And thus, the Malbec was replaced.

Join us this Tuesday evening for “The Malbec Tasting That Almost Was…” We will be having 5 wonderful reds, among them a beautiful grenache, a big and bold Rhone, and a bordeaux-style blend that are sure to please. If the crowd as Pearson’s that evening was any indication, these wines will be sure to please.

1. 2005 Bogle Petite Sirah - California $15
2. 2004 Mestezaje - Spain $16
3. 2005 Las Rocas - Garancha Spain $17
4. 2002 Furque Syrah Roble 2002 - Argentina
5. 2003 Grandy Vacqueyras - France

Cheeses:

1. Horlick’s Farm Cheddar - $12.99
2. Belletoile - $11.98

Just got back from a great Christmas party at a friend of mines from wine class. The food was great after he had been cooking and baking off and on for like the last week. There was shrimp, baked salmon cakes with a dill sauce, cheese, bread, chips and dip, Finnish meatballs (similar to Swedish meatball but they have cheese in them), and enough cookies and desserts for a small army. I like the ginger cookies and always have.

Now we can get into some of the great wine that I remember having. We started the evening off with a 3 liter of Malbec and I do not remeber the vintage or country, it was really nice and drinkable. Next I went to the 2005 Turley Dogtown Zinfandel, which was really good, just as most Turleys are. The Turleys can come from a great number of indiviual wineries or plots of land in Napa valley. The next wine I had was the 2005 von Strasser Cabernet Franc really nice wine that tasted wonderful. After that I went to the 2005 von Strasser Cabernet Sauvignon which was just as good as the Cabernet Franc. We never got the 2005 von Strasser Monhoff Vineyard Zinfandel a lot of people had drank other wines in the main room. I was pacing myslef for the evening.

I then took a short break and had a bit of water to help hydrate and had a few desserts. After a lot of people left someone put a set of reindeer antlers with a bell on the hosts head. He made some smart comment about is was to bad no one had a camera to take his picture. That was not to say to a person like myself who happened to have his small digital camera in his pocket. Which I queitly turned on my camera in my pocket and then took his picture. Then a bit later they thought the antlers would look good on me so there they went on my bald head. I ended up taking a self portrait to make life easier. After looking at the photo a few people said it made my eye brows stand out. At some point someone else ended up with one clip on earing that had Christmas bells on there ear. I will be nice and not post that picture and it was not even of me.

After the majority of the people left the host and one other person went looking for one last wine. They pulled things out ofhis wine cellar and then put them back mostly because a lot of them I believe they said were still to young. They picked a syrah or a petit syrah (?). They tooked out a zinfandel that I did not know. They then pulled out an 2002 A Rafanelli Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley), which I informed them was probably my third favorite zinfandel producers in the whole world. My other two favorite zinfandel producers would be Rusden Winery (Barossa) and Turley Wine Cellars, with A. Rafanelli winery a very close third. After that statement it became one of our final chooses. After talking to a few of the real wine people left we ended up witht 2002 A. Rafanelli. Great wine to end the evening on, while watching the host load the dishwasher, since he wanted no help. Once he got to the wine glasses the final two people myslef included helped dry and put the glasses away.

If I have missed anything or have something wrong, please a comment and I will update this post with more facts or things I missed.

I’m finishing up gathering the last two wines for my class this Tuesday (11/27/2007). The theme I have come up with is one that I have thought about for a long time. The theme is “wines from places you might not have ever been”.

No, it’s not going to be a berry wine from Hawaii or some obscure grape from a third world country. These wines are some of my favorites of all time. I’m even going to be pulling about three bottles of one wine out of my own cellar just so I can have enough to share it with everyone, since I could not find anymore around town.

We will be having a wonderful Rhone style wine that I found on a great deal with the help of another member of class. We were out and about on one of my days off and found this wine.

Another of the wines is something that I found by asking two people at the wine store (store owner and a friend that works there). I said, “If you could recommend one red wine around $20 what would it be?” They both said separately the same wine. I tried it and then bought a case for class.

More to come once I have finished picking up my last wine, which is going to be a white.

1. 1995 and 1997 Vignobles Biresbarre Vouvray Dem-Sec (UnWined) - $19.99
2. 1999 Marco Maci’s - Corte Barocca Salento IGT Primitivio (A. Litteri’s) $3.99
3. 2002 Plan Pegau (Mills Wine) - $9.00
4. 2005 Paoletti Vineyards - Piccolo Cru (Bell’s) - $19.99
5. 2002 Rusden Grenache Christines (Wide World of Wines) - $44.99

Cheeses (Rick’s Wine and Gourmet)

1. Varcherin (Swiss Washed Rhine) - $12.99
2. Grafton Cheddar (Aged 2 yr) - $10.99

FINALLY!!!! The time has come when we can all gather and taste wonderful wines. I hope our little intermission has allowed you to relax, travel,spend time with family and friends, and taste some fabulous Vino. In August I traveled to Sonoma and Napa Valley to taste some amazing wine. I was able to venture to places such as Ferrari-Currano, Duck Horn, Chimney Rock and Caymus, as well as some other big name wineries. What I found was that I liked the smaller wineries just as well. After tasting 210 wines in 5 days, I have narrowed the field to five outstanding wines that are sure to please! We will indulge in wines that epresent the Napa and Sonoma region and its popular appellations. We will start the evening with a Pinot Noir from the Carneros region. The second wine will be an enormous merlot from Oakville, followed by a Zinfandel from the Stag’s Leap district. The next wine will be a limited release Cabernet Franc, and we will finish the evening with a Bordeaux blend from Pritchard Hill. I can’t wait to share these “Little Gems from California”.

1. Artesa Pinot Noir 2005 - $22.99 The essence of strawberry that bobbed and weaved and hit you like a jab of a featherweight. Improved dramatically to the welterweight division on the nose and the second and third rounds. Finish fell short without a TKO with the fighters ready for the next round.
2. Alterra Merlot 2005 - $19.99 Soft and perky on the nose and palate. Give me more give me more.
3. Courntey Benham Zinfandel 2002 - $16.99 Corked.
4. Edgewood Cabernet Franc, 2000 - $16.99 Amazing for a 2000 - why did I leave my British girlfriend that year. Great concentration with leather and tobacco notes - just a little possessive. Kind of like a hookah.
5. Chapellet Cuvee, 2004 - $ 24.99 Best in show but not a bull terrier, nicely integrated with a lushness in th mouth. Overall, a nine out of ten.

The two cheese that we had were:

1. Belletoile - Triple Cream (cow’s milk) Brie - $11.99 -
2. Defen Wa (spelling please)- did not write down price since cheese changed from that on list.

All the wine came from our good friend Mike Fraiser at Total Wine and More. The cheese and bread both came from Calvert Woodley’s.