A Mediocre Merlot

Years ago, the first wine your Two Wine Nuts bought in quantity was a 1990 Clos du Bois Merlot. That Merlot was the first wine we liked enough to stock up on, so we splurged and bought six bottles. Being rather new to wine, six bottles was quite a commitment. Unfortunately, we had very little knowledge about properly storing wine, so we made several vital mistakes:

▼ First, we stored the wine in a room that got a lot of sun. Wine likes darkness.

▼ Second, we stored the wine in a room whose temperature fluctuated. Wines like consistent coolness (we now have a wine fridge that we keep at 52 degrees).

▼ And third, we stored the wine in a rack that sat on the floor. We vacuumed the floor often enough, there was quite a lot of vibration under the wine. Wine likes to be still.

Sadly, we only enjoyed two of those bottles. By the time we found a third special occasion calling for our coveted Merlot, the wine was ruined. It was a sudden lesson in the importance of storing wine properly. If you don't have a cave or a wine cellar or a wine fridge, the best place to house your wine is often something like a dark, quiet closet. Refrigerators are too cold, and garages often fluctuate in temperature too much.

We were reminded of our first bulk purchase when we spotted a bottle of 2004 Clos du Bois Merlot while shopping at Beverages and More on a recent trip to California. On sale for just $8.99 (regularly priced at $9.99), we decided to see how this "historical" wine has held up. Sadly, it really hasn't. Or our tastes have changed measurably over the past 15 years, which is very likely.

We shared this Merlot over dinner with a couple new to wine. As your Two Wine Nuts were smelling mild hints of raisin and heavy fruit, the wife of the couple had one of the best wine descriptions ever. She said, "This smells like Communion." There you have it.

Although the Clos du Bois Merlot opened up its plummy flavor a bit as the meal progressed, it was mostly thin in the mouth and had quite a bit of tannins, reflected by the astringent puckery feeling. So, overall we were not all that impressed with this wine. We would not recommend it, even at the consumer-friendly price of being less than ten bucks. There are much better Merlots out there. Have some fun finding them and skip Clos du Bois's version.

A white pizza wine

While flipping through the Sunday supplements last weekend, one of your Wine Nuts came across an ad for the newest wine marketing ploy by Cost Plus World Market. Seemingly interested in joining the Trader’s Joe bandwagon of store-specific wine offerings, World Market is now touting three varietals creatively named as fun twists on said varietals. Being dedicated wine tasters – and suckers for a good marketing scheme – we dutifully purchased the three offerings and will review them as we sample them. Tonight our dinner suggested a nice Chardonnay was in order so we opened up our newly acquired bottle of 2006 Chard-on-yeah!. Here’s what we found.

In short, this wine is a great example of a white pizza wine. By that we mean an affordable, drinkable, unassuming, inexpensive wine to enjoy everyday. No special occasion needed. Typically, since pizza has tomato sauce, our favorite pizza wines are red wines. Tonight we found the white equivalent.

The label defines Chard-on-yeah! as “…an expression of joy upon discovering the pleasures of unoaked Chardonnay!” Since your Two Wine Nuts are not big fans of traditionally oaked, buttery California Chardonnays, we were hopeful that we’d find lots of crisp fruitiness in this unoaked version. And upon sniffing, that’s exactly what we found. But upon tasting, we were left sort of wanting more. While it definitely lacked the heavy butter and oak we tend to steer away from, this 2006 Chardonnay from Monterey County was largely flat and limp. It had some hints of fruit but mostly this wine was unobtrusive and inoffensive. It showed a bit more interest when paired with our pesto chicken, but mostly it was just a casual easy wine that didn’t get in the way nor distract from the conversation or the meal.

Would we buy it again? Probably. At $9.99, it’s a good wine to keep on hand for casual meals that call for a white wine. But we’re unlikely to bring it out when we have company or when we want a good example of a nice, fruity, complex, unoaked Chardonnay. Certainly worth a try but keep your expectations in check.

Thank goodness for Internet shopping

Over the years, we have discovered a few of what we consider simply awesome winery finds. One favorite – St. Amant Winery in Lodi, CA – was discovered on a wine tasting trip. The tasting room hidden in an industrial complex belied the fantastic Italian-style wines we found inside.

Another big find was River Run Vintners near Aromas, CA (north of Monterey). We discovered River Run at a Rhone Wine Festival in San Francisco several years ago and quickly became huge fans. Typical with small wineries, River Run wines are hard to find outside its local Monterey Bay area. In fact, the wines are not all that easy to find there, either! The winery is open just 6 days per year and by appointment otherwise. Fortunately, their wines are available via their website.

When we first met the winemaker, he was standing by himself behind his table at the festival. We sampled his wine, nearly fell over in surprise, and gushed how wonderful his creations were. We asked him a number of questions, including price and availability. Way back then, when he was undiscovered, he was charging a ridiculously low $10 per bottle. We honestly – and stupidly – told him he could charge at least double, perhaps triple that. Today, according to the website, he was listening. Any bottle across the board will set you back $29. Is it still worth it? Is it still a find? We opened a bottle of a 2000 River Run Malbec the other night to find out.

The verdict: Yep, it’s still good and it’s still a find. And while we really wish it were cheaper, we will still buy a few $29 bottles now and then.

As mentioned in a previous post, Malbec is most recognized as a French blending grape, added to red wines to give texture and color. Some folks, though, like River Run, have been experimenting by letting this grape stand on its own. The River Run version was simply tasty. It was just a good, solid wine. It was deep dark purple and had a lightly earthy plum flavor. It went great with our Canadian bacon pizza, although we could have successfully paired it with any number of more elegant dishes. It also had an average alcohol content of 13% which left it feeling refreshing and sippable instead of heavy and headache-inducing. All in all, we are still big fans and are kicking ourselves by being too honest that day at the festival.

A fantastic Cabernet Franc

Our closest wine country of any real note is Oregon's Willamette Valley. We've had a chance to discover some big, well-known wineries (Erath) in the area as well as some small, boutique-y wineries. One of our favorite stops during a Willamette Valley wine festival a few years ago was an industrial barn shared by two small producers. Both turned out excellent wines and we walked away with numerous bottles from each. A few nights ago, we dug into our stash and opened a bottle of 2004 Dalla Vina Cabernet Franc. Oh, my.

Cabernet Franc is a red Bordeaux grape which is typically used as a blending grape. Winemakers often add it to their red varietals in order to impart acidity and aroma. However, more and more, winemakers are pulling out Cabernet Franc to stand on its own. This happened with Merlot a number of years ago. And it's just starting to happen with another grape called Malbec.

(As a side note, by law, a wine needs to contain only 75% of a grape to be called that type of wine. So, it is not uncommon for a Cabernet Sauvignon to also contain a little Cabernet Franc or Merlot or any number of other grape varietals and still be legally called a Cabernet Sauvignon.)

Cabernet Franc grapes are considered a genetic forefather of Cabernet Sauvignon. In fact, recent DNA research revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon is actually a cross between Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc. Your Two Wine Nuts think that's a pretty cool piece of wine trivia.

Cabernet Franc wines are thought to be lighter and fruitier than Cabernet Sauvignons, and that's just what we found with the 2004 Dalla Vina.

The Dalla Vina was a beautiful deep dark purple. Its aroma of dark rich berries was very similar to that of a Cabernet Sauvignon. It felt full and velvety in the mouth, something wine folks ingeniously call "mouthfeel." Overall, the Dalla Vina tasted just a touch lighter than a Cabernet Sauvignon but easily stood on its own.

While tasty to sip, we were totally blown away by this wine when we paired it with some food. We had the Cabernet Franc with a flat iron steak marinated in a huckleberry sauce. When paired with the steak, the wine suddenly came alive and burst with fruit. This is one of the things that can be such fun about wine: food can make a huge impact. One of your Wine Nuts is much better than the other at food and wine pairing. Surprisingly, this pairing was made totally by luck by the other Wine Nut. Jackpot!

Sadly, according to their website, the 2004 Dalla Vina Cabernet Franc is sold out. Judging from their other offerings, we probably paid $20-$25 for this bottle. If so, it was well priced and worth it. Keep an eye out for Cabernet Franc wines if you are wine tasting. If you are interested in buying one, visit a wine shop and ask for a recommendation. Don't be shy about saying you've never tried one; that always gets wine folks excited and eager to help.

For more info about Cabernet Franc, click here. For info about Dalla Vina, check out their website.

The best commercial wine in the county

There are all of three commercial wineries in southwest Washington’s Clark County. None of them have particularly good wine but they are fun to visit nonetheless.

A few nights ago we opened a bottle of 2002 English Estate Pinot Noir (Gravel Mine Vineyard) and deemed it the best commercial wine in Clark County (we know several home winemakers who make better stuff).

An interesting aspect of the English Estate winey is that a gravel mine is indeed right next door. According to the wine's back label:

Grapes love gravel. This porous soil forces the vines’ roots deeper to find water and nutrients, enhancing the flavor and character of the fruit.

We’ve heard the same about rocky, volcanic soil. This is what we are pinning our hopes on for our own grapevines.

As for English Estate’s Pinot Noir, we first noticed that it was a bit darker than is typical of Pinot Noirs. Not a bad sign; just something noteworthy. It had a nice light, berry smell but we could also smell the alcohol (listed as 13% on the label; not especially high). As for its taste, well, we pondered this for a good long while. It was honestly a bit difficult to come up with any descriptions. It wasn’t a bad wine by any means. It just was not memorable and there really was not much to it. And yes, since this is the best commercial wine in the county, you can imagine our thoughts about the other two wineries’ offerings! Again, fun to visit, but no need to leave room in the trunk for purchases.

This wine is likely only available at the winery (or its website) and in Clark County wine stores. The website lists this wine at $22.95. We could not have possibly paid that much for it when we bought it a few years ago. This is a $10-$12 bottle at best.

An overpriced French wine a la Costco

A number of years ago, your Two Wine Nuts read a book written by guy totally into French wines (Kermit Lynch’s “Adventures on the Wine Route”). It was a great introduction to the seduction of French wines but honestly, it didn’t make buying French wines any less mystifying. However, one thing we did learn was that Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines are generally considered very good.

A brief explanation about Châteauneuf-du-Pape. In Europe, wines are named for the area or region that the wine is made in, as opposed to the American tradition of naming a wine for the grape the wine is made from (Burgundy – a place – versus Chardonnay – a grape). There is an area in southern France called Châteauneuf. Long ago, before Vatican City, Popes lived in a town called Avignon, in the Châteauneuf area. This area produced wine, some especially for the Pope. Eventually, the wine became known as Châteauneuf-du-Pape – Châteauneuf wine for the Pope. Referring to our last post (July 12), Châteauneuf-du-Pape is also considered a Rhône style wine since Châteauneuf is in the Rhône region of France.

This is why your Two Wine Nuts focus more on American wines. SO much easier to understand the history and labeling!

We bring this all up because a few days ago while shopping in Costco, we spotted a Costco branded Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine for $19.99 and were too curious not to buy it. Specifically, it was a 2005 Kirkland Signature Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvee de Nalys. We opened it tonight to enjoy with some grilled pork chops. Bottom line: not worth the 20 bucks.

This red wine had just the slightest hint of brown color, sort of a maroon red instead of a purple red. The aroma (or nose) was very definitely strawberry jam. One Wine Nut also picked up a grape smell. With so much fruitiness in the nose, we weren’t sure what to expect from the taste. True to Rhône form, the flavor was much more earthy than fruity. Actually, the most distinct flavor was tannins. Tannin is a component of plants. Red wine gets its red color from being in contact with the skins of the grapes. The skins, as well as the seeds and stems, have tannin in them. So, red wine very typically has tannin in it. Another way to get tannin in wine is via the oak barrels. Either way, the tell-tale sign of tannin is a puckery, astringent feeling in the mouth upon sipping a wine. This Kirkland Châteauneuf-du-Pape had lots of tannin because our mouths felt like we had sucked on a cotton ball soaked in facial toner (you gals out there know what this is). It’s not as bad as it sounds, but as a sipping wine, this one needed food. When we paired the wine with our pork chops, fruit suddenly appeared. However, it didn’t last very long. The wine did get increasingly easy to drink over the course of the meal, but this was largely due to the moderately high 14.7% alcohol content.

All in all, this Costco offering was interesting to taste but not at all worth the $19.99. If you are interested in trying a Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine, we instead recommend visiting your local wine shop and asking for recommendations. A good one will definitely be worth $20; this one wasn’t.

A Tasty Rhône Varietal

One of our best finds recently was Tom, the Wine Steward at a local grocery store. He’s a retired wine guy who has great love and passion for the collection he’s assembled in the corner of a nearby QFC. You just never know where you are going to find great wines and great knowledge.

On Tom’s recommendation, we bought a bottle of a 2005 Syncline Mourvedre. We had had Mourvedres before but knew nothing about Syncline. It turns out Syncline is a winery in eastern Washington state, an area increasingly known for growing great warm-weather grapes such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, and Chardonnay.

Mourvedre is a type of red grape grown most popularly in the Rhône region of France. Because it originates from this area, it is called a “Rhône style” wine or a “Rhône varietal." Other Rhône varietals include Grenache, Syrah, and Carignan among the reds, and Viognier, Marsanne, and Roussanne among the whites. Unlike in the United States where wine is named by its grape, wines in France are referred to by the area in which the grapes are grown. So, you might drink a Burgundy, a Bordeaux, a Châteauneuf-du-Pape, or a Côte-Rôtie…all places in France that make wine. It would be like saying “I think a Napa would go well with this steak.” Or “What Willamette Valleys do you have?” Honestly, reading a French wine label can be rather confusing since it’s often hard to figure out what the grape is versus the region versus the maker. We’re still learning how to do this. When we get better at it, we’ll add a post.

In the meantime, the state-side Syncline Mourvedre was quite lovely and almost too easy to drink. It was deep, dark purple in color and had a subtle yet earthy nose. Rhône style wines, if one were to make a huge generalization, are typically much more earthy and mineraly and less fruity and flowery. The Syncline followed suit, although its taste was much less pronounced than other Mourvedres we have had. The first time we tried a Mourvedre, we were stunned that it smelled like a two-mile-away skunk – and this was a GOOD thing! That first Mourvedre also tasted sort of barnyard-y and soil-y – again, surprisingly good things. To compare to better known wines, the Syncline Mourvedre was stronger than a Merlot. And it had the weight and body of a Cabernet Sauvignon without the typical dark fruitiness of a Cab. We had lasagna with the Syncline and it went quite nicely.

We have no idea how easy it would be to find the 2005 Syncline Mourvedre outside the local QFC or the winery itself. According to their website, Syncline distributes to “select wine stores” in a number of states. At $19.99, the 2005 Mourvedre was perhaps a touch over-priced. We would have been more excited at about $15. Nevertheless, we are likely to include Syncline on a future wine trip to Eastern Washington. And, if you have never tried a Mourvedre and find one in a local wine store or World Market, we would encourage you to give it a try. You just might be surprised how nice a barnyard can taste!

For more info about Rhône varietals, check out Rhône Rangers.