Washington Wine and Cheese

Washington Wine and Cheese Seminar - March 18, 2008
Presented by - John F Croston III

Wine Shelf Price

1. 2006 – White Hall Vineyards - (UnWined) - (VA)- $15.99
2. 2004 – Ballast Stone - (Bell’s Wine) - (AUS) - $15.99
3. 2005 – Petite Petit – Michael David - (Bell’s Wine) - (CA) - $22.99
4. 2006 – Yard Dog – Red Heads Studio - (UnWined) - (AUS) - $10.99
5. 2005 – Deen De Bortoli – Vat 4 - (UnWined) - (AUS) - $10.99

Cheese (Calvert Woodley) Shelf Price

1. Tomme de Savore - $16.98/lb
2. Bella Colina Provolone Picante - $10.99/lb

Wines - Pearsons

1. 2005 - Chateau Belle-Garde - $19
2. NV - Hop Kiln Big Red Prorietary Blend - $15
3. 2004 - Artesa Cabernet Sauvignon - $29
4. 2005 - Prunotto Monpertome - $29
5. 2004 - Kunde Estate cabernet Sauvignon - $24

Cheese - Calvert Woodley

1. Blue Cabrales - $16.49/lb
2. Chistou - $17.98/lb

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)

bo·da·cious (adj.) : remarkable; outstanding.

October 2nd, bring the 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 Part II. This is a continuation of Part I which was a big hit…and these wines promise to be even more bodacious! I know; I tasted them all.

The wines to be featured are red blends made up of three or more grape varietals. Needless to say extensive “research” has gone into the selection of these wines. We will start with a serious Rhone Ranger blend from Santa Cruz, then enjoy a Chateauneuf du Pape with outstanding character, next we will taste a haunting, fruit forward
blend from California followed by a bright, focused GSM from Australia, our final wine is a complex blend that will evolve beautifully once set free from the confines of the bottle!

1. 2001 Le Cigare Volant (California) - $39.99
2. 2003 Pierre Usseglio & Fils Chateaneuf do Pape (France) - $29.99
3. 2004 Phantom Bogle (California) - $14.99
4. 2003 Rosemount GSM (Australia) - $33.99
5. 2005 Orin Swift - The Prisoner (Napa, California) - $32.99

Cheeses

1. Ariana Goat Gouda - $14.99
2. Monteboissie Morbiere - $9.99

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.