Summer wines. Here are the results of the June 19 wine club. Thanks to Jeff and Joan for hosting and Steph and Becky for the wine.
     1) "Jaws." 2000 Bonny Doon Ca' del Solo Moscato del Solo Frizzante, Monterey Co. $14 at Martin Wine Cellar. Average 16.3; range 15-18. This sweet(!) low-alcohol(!) bubbly was the last wine of the evening and, by acclamation, the winner. We sort of assigned high numbers to it later, just to make it official. The Webmaster vaguely remembers some discussion of litchi but didn't record anything else anyone said about it. Bonny Doon's quirky Web site describes it thusly: "The presence of the o.m. (deep breath, we're doing aromatherapy here) offers a lilting fragrance of mandarin, which, coupled with the more classic jasmine, litchi, cardamom and pineapple qualities of the muscat canelli, provide a most heady form of nose-candy."
     2) "Private." 2001 "La Reine Blanche" Sancerre Blanc, Jean Reverdy et Fils, Sancerre, Loire. $18 at Martin Wine Cellar. Average 14.1; range 13-16. Strong contrast between the floral nose and taut lemon-grapefruit-banana taste.
     3) "Lagoon." 1998 Sierra Cantabria Cuvée Especial, San Vicente de la Sondierra, D.O.C. Rioja. $14 at Martin Wine Cellar. Average 13.6; range 7-16. Porty and full of cherries, with a hint of nutmeg. Jeff, who gave it the 7 (by far the lowest score), thought it tasted like "cherry bounce," a cheap homemade cherry drink.
     4) "Bingo." 1999 Côte de Beaune, Faiveley, Burgundy. $15 at Martin Wine Cellar. Average 13.5; range 12-14. Peppery, earthy, shroomy, woody with hints of licorice and kerosene. Definite tongue pucker. The bottom line is that you'd want to have this with something juicy or gamy, because it doesn't present much fruit of its own. This wine would go perfectly with the duck confit entree (which comes with dried blueberries and some kind of crepe) at Food Studio in Atlanta. Barring that field trip, try it with heavy hors d'oeuvres.
     5) "Ruby." 2000 Bonny Doon Viognier, California (Paso Robles and Suisun Valley). $17 at Martin Wine Cellar. Average 12.4; range 11-13. An unpretentious food wine with hints of lemon, apricot, peach, nectarine. Very light on the tongue. Ends with green apples. Medium-bodied: "It wasn't air, but it wasn't a big oak tree."
     6) "Eternity." 2001 Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand. $23 at Wine Seller. Average 11.2, range 8-12. This perennial critical favorite had a rough ride in our group. Most of us liked the grapefruit nose and thought it tasted much like it smelled, with added hints of vanilla, pear and honey. "It might get kind of cloying." "It's off balance." "I don't want to drink this wine again."
     7) "Birdcage." 2000 Willamette Valley Vineyards Whole Cluster Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, Oregon. $16 at Martin Wine Cellar. Average 9.9; range 8-11. Maybe the storage room wasn't air-conditioned, or maybe this flat, inert wine sat in a hot car for too long. The best thing anyone said was that it was "inoffensive," "fine but not distinct." Others thought it tasted like Passover or church wine. (Pick your denomination.) One person thought the basic flavor resembled that of a wine well past its prime, but accompanied by tannins that had yet to soften in any way. Some of us wondered whether "whole cluster" meant that they threw twigs, leaves, bark and dirt in with the grapes.
     8) "Talented." 1999 Chalk Hill Estate-Bottled Sauvignon Blanc, Sonoma County. $19 at Martin wine Cellar. Average 7.1; range 2-11. This chardonnay-style sauvignon blanc was tolerable with Joan's tasty, spicy fried green tomatoes, but on its own we hated it, almost to a person. It fairly screamed of fake oak and wood chips. People thought it smelled like mold, wet wood and rancid butter and tasted like fungus and "ick." What's interesting is that the folks at Wine Spectator loved them some Chalk Hill Sauvignon Blanc, for largely the same reason we hated it: "with loads of vanilla and mocha from toasty oak that fold into pear, brown butter and stewed peach flavors." To us, it just seemed like a disgraceful attempt to make the wine into something it wasn't.
     Incidentally, the fake names all refer to beach movies: "Jaws," "Saving Private Ryan," "Beach Blanket Bingo," "The Blue Lagoon," "Ruby in Paradise," "From Here to Eternity," "The Birdcage," "The Talented Mr. Ripley."
 :: posted by Dante Ramos at 8:07 PM
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Aureole menu As promised, here is the menu that I had at Aureole in Las Vegas, a restaurant in the Mandalay Bay casino that supposedly has one of the best wine lists in the country. The restaurant features a four-story glass wine tower, and women known as “wine angels” strap on harnesses and travel up the tower to pull out wines – it’s all quite a spectacle.
Instead of a wine list, they have a “wine ebook,” a small computer that they bring to your table. Even though we knew we were going to order the tasting menu with wine, I played with the ebook for over 45 minutes. I think the highest priced item was a Chateau Y’quem dating to the early 1900s for more than $3,500, but they had quite a number of Turleys, expensive Australian shirazes and an unusual number of Austrian wines. When he saw my interest, the sommelier came over to talk with us. He was a nice guy in his late 30s who definitely was passionate about talking about wine without intimidating anyone. (Oh – and the tasting menu with wines was $150 per person – nice that we had someone else paying for it!)
1. Cured Salmon Gravlax with Horseradish Cream
Roederer Estate Anderson Valley NV sparkling wine.
This champagne was excellent, dry and crisp, with a green note to it. It’s on sale at Martins for $17.99 – get some. I think this will be my lower end champagne of choice.
2. Chilled Saffron Poached Sea Scallops
2000 “Theo Minges” Pfolz Riesling, Germany
This riesling was a revelation (meaning, I actually liked it). No where near as sweet as most rieslings, it tasted more like a sauvignon blanc with just a hint of sugar. I’m going to go look for this one in stores. The sommelier said he chose this wine contrast its sweetness with the saltiness of the scallops, and they did work nicely together.
3. Oven Roadasted halibut over baby spinach
2000 Chateau Campuget Cuvee Prestige Viognier, France
Nothing too remarkable about this wine. In fact, I don’t think I finished it (keep in mind that these were not tastings, but FULL glasses of wine with each course).
4. Roasted Guinea Hen with saute Foie Gras
1999 Weingut Pockl Zweigelt, Austria
This was a light red wine, kinda like a cross between a Gamay and a Cab Franc. I was excited to try it because I hadn’t tried many Austrian wines before, but my sense on this one was, eh. Not outstanding.
5. Carmelized Veal medallion with porcini risotto
2000 Dolcetto d’Alba Sauchone, ItalyNice and smooth, went well with the veal (although I wondered whether an earthy French red would have gone better with the mushrooms). I am a Dolcetto fan, but never know what to buy…I’d look for this one.
6. Cheese course
(no wine served, but since we had remnants of several glasses left, we didn’t miss it)
7. Flourless chocolate cake with cherry ice cream
Petit fours and chocolates
Lindeman’s Kriek, Cherry Beer, Belgium
Omigod, I loved this – it was fizzy and cherry and not too heavy. Beer with dessert – who would have thunk? But it was fabulous with the cake and ice cream. I liked this so much that I finished Steve’s glass.

 :: posted by Chris Gray at 5:09 PM
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