Washington Wine and Cheese

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

A representative from Alexander Valley Winery will be coming in to lead a Cabernet Sauvignon component tasting for us. Alexander Valley is prestigious family-owned winery in northern Sonoma County, California. Most of their production is reds. In addition to their great Cabernet, they produce several Zins (with labels you will love) and a great dry Gewurztraminer (called “New Gewurz”).

The tasting will be broken into two parts. First, we will have a guided tasting of the components of their 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon. Five wines go into the blend–Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec (i.e. all of the Bordeaux varietals). You will have the opportunity to taste each of them, then compare them to the finished Cabernet Sauvignon. We will then have a “palate cleansing” break with the “New Gewurz” (bottles shared between tables) and move on to the 3 Zinfandels. There will be 3 different appellations (California, Alexander Valley, and Dry Creek Valley), so you will have a chance to compare the flavor nuances of the different styles and appellations.

I selected two special cheeses to go with the wines, both of which should pair very well with the red wines. One of them is new to us–Garrotxa from the Catalonian part of Spain. It is an aged goat milk cheese. The other is an old favorite, Gorgonzola Picante from Italy. And Carlos has promised me a very good one!

1. 2005 Estate Cabernet (Alexander Valley) - $25

2. 2006 New Gerwurz - $12

3. 2005 Temptation Zinfandel (California) - $15

4. 2005 Sin Zin (Alexander Valley) -

5. 2005 Zin (Dry Creek Valley) -

Cheeses:

Garrotxa (aged goat from Catalonia)

Gorgonzola Picante (cow’s milk blue cheese from Italy)

Tuesday, September 18! The return of Two Blondes, A Brunette and Five Reds presented by Lori Draheim, Carol Rentz and Jill LaPanna. Our theme for this tasting is Big Bodacious Blends! These are some tasty juice!

The wines we will feature are red blends made up of three or more grape varietals. We will start the tasting with a gold medal winning Bordeaux style red from Dry Creek Valley, next will be a gorgeous Australian MSG with a 90 point rating, then on to an easy-sipping Cal-Italian blend from Sonoma, from there we will have a Bordeaux blend with classic Napa flavors and texture at a great price, and finally, a big nicely proportioned red said to be spicy with a long finish from THE hot brand from Australia right now. You won’t want to miss this variety of red blends that are additionally great values!

1. 2004 Forchini - Beauseirra (Sonoma) - $12.99 - Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Carigane
2. 2005 Rutherglen Estate - The Reunion (Australia) - $14.99 - Mourvedre, Shiraz, Grenache
3. 2004 Ferrari-Carao-Siena (Sonoma) - $21.99 - Sangiovese, Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon
4. 2003 Paoleti - Piccolo Cru (Napa) - $17.99 - Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, Cabernet Franc
5. 2006 Molly Dooker - The Two Left Feet (Australia) - $19.99 - Shiraz, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon

The two cheese that we had were:

1. Provolone Picante - $11.99 - Provolone originally comes from the south of Italy but is nowadays produced in several regions of North Italy.
2. Fromage d’ Affinois- $12.99 - a creamy French cheese that is silky and smooth.

The wines came from multiple locations listed below:

1. Bell’s Wine and Spirit (DC)
2. Total wine and More (multiple locaions)
3. Total wine and More (multiple locaions)
4. Out of Site (VA)
5. Pearsons (DC)

The cheese and bread both came from Calvert Woodley’s.

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.