ALMA SOL WINERY – SMALL PRODUCER GETTING BETTER AND BETTER

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Dorianne and I returned to Alma Sol Winery’s tasting room the other night with three other couples. Alma Sol Winery (Link) is owned and operated by the husband and wife team of John Shaw and Lisa Cuevas Shaw.

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The heading of the tasting list at Alma Sol Tasting Room in Thousand Oak, CA

John Shaw, who serves as winemaker for the couple – really a two-person operation, from the vineyard to the tasting room – met us at the door. Lisa Cuevas Shaw was inside with a bottle of wine in her hand. We began the evening’s tasting, which John had selected from his list of Bordeaux-influenced wines.

“It’s a cool evening,” he said, “so it’s all reds and all full-bodied wines.”

The wines he poured were indeed, red and were generally fuller bodied wines as well. The exception was the first wine, a 2010 Cuevas Cabernet Sauvignon, which was very elegant and a fruit-forward wine. After that, the wines had more of a mineral presence and varied as to the fruit presence. I won’t go into detail, because these wines are produced in such small quantities that they are very unlikely to show up outside of the tasting room. You can obtain some of them at the website (link above).

We first met John and Lisa at the Paso Robles Garagiste Festival a couple of years ago. They told us that they would be opening a tasting room in Thousand Oaks – our neck of the woods – very soon. The location is shared with Sunland Vintage Winery (Link), whose mostly Italian varieties we plan to return to sample soon. Alma Sol, using mostly grapes from the Cuevas Vineyard in Paso Robles and other fruit sourced from Paso and as far north as Napa Valley. In fact, we tasted a blend of five Napa Bordeaux-style grapes in the tasting – it was made in a middle ground between the French and California styles –  fruity and elegant, but higher in alcohol.

We finished the tasting with their dessert wine: 2012 Almazan Dessert Wine, Paso Robles ($34.00)

From their website: This Portuguese Port-style wine uses both Tempranillo and Touriga Nacional grapes from the east side of Paso Robles.  The beautiful nose is made up of cherries and cranberries and follows through with a very fruit forward, elegant mouth feel. The finish is long with a touch of fortified wine that lightly warms your mouth. This wine pairs great with your favorite dessert, Dark chocolate raspberry truffles, or a cigar (if you like them, of course).

Production: 70 cases   

We bought a bottle. Very nice!

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It is really nice to see more tasting rooms open in the Thousand Oaks area. Alma Sol is a great addition to the local line up – I look forward to seeing how John and Lisa continue to develop as winemakers.

A 2001 RANCHO SISQUOC CABERNET SAUVIGNON.

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Dorianne and I opened a 2001 Rancho Sisquoc Cabernet Sauvignon(LINK) last night – a bottle that we got at the winery (LINK) in about 2006. The wine had been stored in our small wine refrigerator. We are thinning out our cellar in anticipation of moving (that will be covered in other posts) and having no fixed address for some time, so the Rancho Sisquoc was opened.

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The first thing I noticed was that the cork was completely dried out – the extraction process took a while and a couple of implements, and most of the cork came out in tiny pieces. This, I thought, does not bode well. I had really made a mess on the counter top – most of the cork was dust. Finally, I got to the bottom of the cork, and those pieces fell into the wine (of course).

The first sniff of the bottle was promising, so I poured a bit through a screen in my Vinturi Wine Aerator (LINK), which caught most of the cork bits.

Well, the wine was wonderful – rich, dark purple in color, with nice fruit (dark cherry mostly) on the nose and palate, and just a touch of minerality and leather. The wine was well-balanced and drank beautifully. There was enough integrity to that devastated cork to keep things in good shape in the bottle, for which we are very grateful. We had the wine with a snack dinner of chevre, smoked salmon, prosciutto, and crackers. Life is good!

BIRTHDAY DINNER AT A RESTAURANT – SOME INTERESTING WINE EXPERIENCES

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Words in BOLD BROWN are links.

Last night, we celebrated Richard Clark’s birthday – Richard is the winemaker of the Conejo Valley Wine Co-op, which I have blogged about in the past. So six of us went  to Cafe 14 in Agoura Hills, CA, a restaurant known for good food and good wine.

Richard brought a bottle of Clos Pepe Pinot Noir 2012, a very nice wine made by one of the better craftsmen in Santa Barbara County, Wes Hagen. The wine did not disappoint, as Wes’ wines never do. His Pinots are rich, made in the Burgundian style, with some creep toward the fuller California style in recent years.

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The 2012 Clos Pepe Estate Pinot Noir and the 2012 Rombauer Zinfandel

Next, we ordered a bottle of 2012 Rombauer Zinfandel. The last Rombauer Zin I had was the 2010. Rombauer makes big wines and is probably best known for their Chardonnay, which is a classic rich, buttery version of that varietal. I also am a fan of their Merlot, which is often a bargain in restaurants.

This Zinfandel was a surprise – very rich, almost syrupy, with strong overtones of caramel and vanilla. Everyone at the table agreed that it was too sweet for dinner. Oh, and it weighed in at 15.9% alcohol. The heat of the alcohol came through, even with all the sweetness. I was surprised because I remembered the 2010 Zin as being more restrained. We set it aside to save to have with dessert.

So on to a third bottle, a 2008 Chateau la Caminadi La Commandery Malbec from Cahors, France.

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The 2008 Chateau la Caminadi La Commandery Malbec

The Malbec was a perfect compliment to the dinner. Dry with hints of dark fruit, it balanced well, even though a couple of our party were having fish. Not a great wine, but a very drinkable wine.

The food at Cafe 14 is very good. The service tonight was a bit slow – hard to tell exactly why. The wine was delivered to the table after a delay because, apparently, only the bar tender can go to the wine storage area to get wine and the bar was busy (?), a questionable policy. As a result, the waiter ended up taking the $20 corkage fee for the Clos Pepe off of the bill to apologize for the slow wine service.

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Bouillabaisse at Cafe 14
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The amazing Braised Short Ribs

Dessert was a caramel pot-au-feu with creme fraische – so rich that we could only eat a bite or two each – but delicious. The Rombauer Zinfandel was a good accompaniment to this rich dessert.

So Happy Birthday, Richard!

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BURGUNDY AND BORDEAUX IN THE AFTERNOON

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NOTE: Bold words in BROWN are links.

Good friends Steven and Diane Brabant came over the other day for some New Years’ libation. And they brought everything with them! Fine wines, Prosciutto, melon and olives. We added some goat cheese and crackers to the mix.

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The first wine, a 2006 Domaine/Maison Vincent Girardin Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru, Le Cailleret, bright golden. a touch of smoky oak, grapefruit, nut oil, chalk dust on the nose; medium plus body is rich, supple, densely fruit laden of buttery pears, with concentrated lemon mineral substrate. Traces of minerality. Very nice!

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Next, came a 2001 Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste Paulliac Red Bordeaux Blend, dried fruit and minerals on the nose, the wine was a bit flat but not unpleasant. Possibly needs more time in the bottle? Not the best, but not really disappointing.

Mixing a White Burgundy and a Red Bordeaux may seem a bit strange, but both wines went well with the afternoon snacks that we shared. It is always nice when people stop by with wine and food, especially of this caliber! Thanks, Steven and Diane!

NOTE: I will be joining them and about 50 others on the Annual Center for Spiritual Living Westlake Village Wine Tour on Feb. 7th – we will visit several Santa Barbara County wineries. Look for a blog post about our adventures!

THE PLEASURES OF WINE – EVERYONE CAN ENJOY IT

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As a new year begins, I have been browsing Twitter and some wine blogs and seeing, for the most part, the results of New Years Eve celebrations – pictures of very nice labels, people having fun, even features about opulent wine cellars. Wine is definitely a catalyst for good time and a good lifestyle, isn’t it?

That being said, I have to admit that I am somewhat put off by the displays of opulence. I guess I fall somewhere between those drinking old Chateau Margeaux  and those drinking Yellow Tail. (Full disclosure – I stayed in and did not imbibe last night – a case of food poisoning.) I disparage neither end of the spectrum, for they represent parts of a very wide spectrum of wine enjoyment. Now, I have had both Chateau Margeaux and Yellow Tail, and I hope to have the former again; and I am pretty sure that I will have the latter again. This is more about what wine enjoyment can be and how it is often portrayed in the wine media.

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The emphasis of much of the wine media, including the Twitterverse, is that true wine enjoyment only happens at the high end – by those with better palates, more money, and greater access than most of us will ever enjoy. I know that this is true of many aspects of life – cars, houses, etc. – but with wine, it is, I think, a bit more universal. This deprives many of the true enjoyment that a more modest degree of the three items mentioned above – quality of palate, financial assets, and access to great wines and the places where they are made and consumed – can bring.

I do not wish to disparage the high end of the wine world, but I do want to celebrate the other aspects more than we do. I want to let people, especially young people new to wine, know that a visit to the tasting rooms of Paso Robles or Santa Ynez can be as much or more fun than a visit to the Chateaus of Bordeaux. For one example, you will likely taste wines that are ready to drink in Paso or Santa Ynez, whereas the Bordeauxs that you will taste in Chateaus will mostly be years away from their peak. Also, the people pouring your wines in Paso will be much more accessible and patient with the newcomer than most of the equivalent people in Bordeaux, or in many of the other “premium” places.

I want people new to wine to know that there are many, many AMAZING wines that cost less than $25, and that most of the wines that cost under $50 are really good. That there is a significant drop off in quality to value ratios when you get above $50 per bottle. I want them to know that pairing a wine with a pizza can bring as much pleasure as pairing one with caviar; that screw caps are a better sealing device than corks for wines not meant to age for a long time (and even that is debatable).

Personally, I want everyone who is interested in wine to enjoy their interest without feeling that they are “missing something” due to some lack of knowledge or money or access. I realize that this is probably an impossible desire, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t pursue it. I want this blog and my wine-related activities to speak to people who love wines in all kinds of ways.

During 2015, I will be traveling to Europe and to South America and will blog about wine experiences at all levels. I will be starting to offer wine travel experiences, first in France – Bordeaux and Paris – in two formats – for those who know wine well and for those who want to learn about wine. Later, tours to Burgundy and Lyon and possibly to other world locations will be initiated. The idea is to enjoy travel and to experience the joy of a wine related lifestyle at whatever level works for you.

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Wine is for anyone who wants to enjoy it and we need to keep a broad perspective for the industry, and it’s customers, to thrive. I look forward to exploring more of the world of wine and to sharing it with as many people as want to partake of its many great experiences.

A VERY PLEASANT MERLOT WITH GOOD PIZZA

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NOTE- Links are in BLUE.

Dorianne and I had dinner at NAPA TAVERN  in Westlake Village, CA, last night. It is a good restaurant with mostly Italian food, but no pastas – lots of grilled meats, fish, tapas, pizza, etc., in a fairly upscale setting.

The wine list is good, but not extensive. I would say it is well-chosen, although with the name NAPA TAVERN, one might expect a larger list.

We were each ordering a pizza – Margarita for me and Veggies and Goat Cheese for her – so we thought a lighter red would do the trick. We ordered the 2012 TOAD HOLLOW MERLOT, a single vineyard wine from the Russian River Valley the second least-expensive Merlot on the list at $43.

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The wine was fruit-forward with a very nice nose and a very pleasant feel on the palate. Dorianne, of the amazing palate, liked the wine very much and declared that it was 14.5% alcohol, which was verified on the bottle.

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By the way, you can get this wine via AMAZON.COM (LINK)!

So a nice wine with some very good pizza in a restaurant with a very good atmosphere – I’ll call that a good evening!

TAPAS AND SPANISH WINES

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Dorianne and I went to a tapas dinner prepared lovingly by our friend Mary Stec. Attendance was based on bids at a charity auction and there were four couples plus our daughter, Grace, who is home from Boston University for the holidays.

Mary being Mary, there were a true plethora of dishes – about a dozen or so, from charcuterie featuring Iberico Jamon and goat and sheep cheeses, to marinated octopus, to, well, it goes on and on. The wines were varied – here is a photo of some of them:

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The line up of Spanish Reds and one Argentinian Malbec. Whites included Albarino and the sparking Cava at the right side of this line.

Here is the charcuterie plate:

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Oh, and some bread. And mussels and chicken and sausage and . . .

The wines ranged from very good to not so good. Spanish wines tend to be priced low compared to other European wines, but there is not a widespread familiarity and knowledge with most of them. In our sampling (I did not get the list, sorry!), the two best wines retailed in the low $20 range. Those at $10 or less were all disappointing to one degree or another. We did not open the Malbec.