A Birthday Drink

This weekend saw my 28th birthday; goddamn it’s getting to close to 30. So I had family a friend up for a night on the tiles and Sunday lunch. I’m not a big birthday fan but as my birthday is close to my little sister’s I let her have the spot light while I wallow in self pity. You can always guarantee that once a year your family always tries to buy a birthday gift and has difficulty, for me its simple really a bottle of wine of something very expensive. Last year I got wine and true to form my mother had another go at buying me another bottle of red. With her knowledge of me loving the Napa Valley and having visited there last year, when she saw this little gem on the self of the local bargain booze she thought she was on to a winner. Hmmm im sure there will be merlot in there somewhere but have my reservations about its appellation, she did however buy a lovely single malt for when the cold sets in. On another plus side I did get some vouchers for a favourite little wine shop in my home town, I think a visit to Leek in a couple weeks is in order.

Building bridges

Those that have read my blog for a while will know that my relationship with my father have been more than rocky over the past 8 years but more recently the last two have been a complete break down. As we started to drift apart more and more it’s been harder and harder to fix the gap that has kept us apart. People who know us both say that I’m very much like my father and just as stubborn, i have the same mannerisms and similar interest and skills as if those were past down in the blood.

I was 10 when i first took a drink of my fathers red wine and from that point i was hooked, interested in why someone would drink this stuff that sucked all the moisture out of my mouth. I had a taste when ever i could sneak it. Then when i was a little older around 17 my father shared a bottle of wine with me and this would be regular event when i went to stay with him on odd weekends. Most fathers and sons share their first pint when they turn 18 and for many years i was gutted that my father never took me the pub and bought me my first pint but looking back he did one better him introduced me to wine, red wine.

A couple of weeks ago my father and his partner came to visit for the first time since i left university and more importantly since i moved in and made a home with tenbellies. This was a big deal and i admit i wanted to cancel but by then end of the night i was glad and relieved we did it. We all shared a meal and then partook in our ritual, only for the first time it was my wine in our home and what made it even more special was the wine i chose. At this point i want to thank Vinogirl and Vinomaker for producing an excellent wine, the Claret was bottled on my visit Napa last year. This not only created excellent conversation but bought back great memories of a summer in Napa and in my eyes helped build bridges.

Stags Leap Wine Cellars

Last night i got the usual thirst for a glass of wine but the only problem being i had nothing for a mid week drink. When i say this i mean nothing to special, i have three bottles of wine in the cupboard two of which are priceless and therefore saved for a special occasion. The other one is a bottle of Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Artemis Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley) 2005, which i purchased in Napa and at a retail price of £30 and so i didn't want to pop the cork. For half an hour or so i walked form the living room to the kitchen each time looking at this bottle, should i or shouldn't i until finally Tenbellies got annoyed at my irritation and in the words of Withnail demanded i had some booze. So i popped the cork and sat back for what would be a memorable experience.

Artemis is a blend of Cab grapes from the FAY and SLV vineyards in the Napa Valley, despite this, the quality of wine is very good although i believe not as good as the Cask 23. There is a aroma of caramel that lingers around the rim of the glass, but more importantly it reminds me of Napa so i loved it already.

The colour is dark and inky but still young, it basically jumped into my mouth forcing me to drink it. The mouth feel was like silk and coated the whole mouth the tannins were pleasant and not harsh. With a nice earthy taste with the hint of spice, the finish was long with a topping of vanilla. I loved the wine from the get go, as soon as i could smell the wine it won me over and was well worth the opening. I brought this wine from Napa and for those several glasses it took me back at the fraction of the cost. This is why i love wine, Juice just quenches your thirst where wine creates memories. Ill definitely be heading over to Stags Leap the next time I'm in the Valley.

Sweet Sweet Taste

This weekend to celebrate the fantastic news of a new addition, thud and I popped a bottle of the 2004 Cab Franc Chateau Liles. The excitement just of the thought of opening this excellent drink was almost at boiling point. The depression that had over shadowed many a glass the past month was lifted as thud poured. The first flavour to fill the air was Vanilla, but this was strong and sweet this was not just the oak. The taste came full and fast, as soon as the sweetness subsided the alcohol kicked in this was not the norm for this fine bottle as it warmed inside. I had tried the 2005 and 2006, they were great wines but this was more like a port. Needless to say that this was not undrinkable by any means Thud and i certainly devoured the bottle of this most unexpected sweet sweet taste. It surprises me how complex the making of wine can be and somewhere along the line something was different, too much water? frost? or over ripe fruit? ether way it made great conversation, home and over the water.

Tears of the sun

Late last week i decided it was time to open a bottle of wine, id been holding back since getting back from the US but the consistent rain had driven me to the bottle. I had opened a bottle of Robert Mondavi Cab that i had brought back from Napa and as soon as i popped the cork i started to well up. The nose as it hit the glass took me straight back to the decking and the sight of the mountains of the valley. Could it be that the bottle was pure sunshine because it felt like that and as i swished it around my buds the flavour filled my entire mouth teasing me with images of acres of vines, grapes being dropped and the tiny little berries that i had filled up on over the summer.

This was the hardest bottle to drink because every taste made me long for the sun and the valley and as i poured the last drop into my glass a few days later, i looked out of the window to see the great British rain and cried.

Chateau Liles

After a nice tasting session at Arger Martucci it was back to the school of wine at Chateau Liles, next on the agenda was bottling. It was time to Bottle the 2006 Vintage so it was all hands on deck for what was a busy day. Vinomaker had been preparing over the past couple of days to ensure it was all organised and while me and tenbellies were in Vegas he and Vinogirl had been confirming the Blends they would be making on the day, with a little help from Thud of course. Along with the Cab Franc and Merlot, there would be a Claret. This process was very serious and took time a patience until Vinomaker and vinogirl were completely happy with the end result.

We arrived early to Napa that morning picking up some pastries to get the party started, Thud and I had done some monkey work sorting out the bottles the day before and now we just needed to move a few barrels to make more space. We started with the Claret, vinomaker was confirming the precise amount of each Varietal again to make sure it was right, just like a recipe but i had a feeling this was a little more complex than your average sponge cake. Then we started to fill the vats, and wow what a smell. some people say that they can never understand the aroma of wine or understand the complexities of different smells and flavours, well i found that this was the cure. The aroma was amplified in a word and the whole room was the glass, the best part was that i was going to be working in this for the rest of the day. Heaven. It was interesting to see see the wines change as each varietal was added and the aroma became more complex and exciting there is so much more to wine than i ever thought and its sucked me in more and more.

The day moved fast with people coming and going helping a little and some helping a lot, unpacking bottles, gassing, filling, corking, boxing and labelling. I didn't count the bottles or the boxes and the time moved quickly until the final bottle had been corked and the days last barrel emptied. Seeing the final process has started a growing interest in making the wine, the day before i had talked with vinomaker in a lesson about how to know when its time to harvest, tasting the berry and inspecting it inside and out and then going through the picking and pressing. Every time i visited Napa on my trip i had learned more and feed my passion for this tiny fruit. We Ended the day with of course a few bottles of wine, and Vinomaker opening a bottle Merlot he had been saving just for curiosity. Talking about wine, drinking and making wine in the birth place of new age wine is indeed the only way to do it and yet no pompous up tight wine snobs in sight but just people who loved to chat and drink the stuff. I love it.

Life's too short to drink Chardonnay

This would be my first visit to a vineyard, Arger Martucci is a small family winery in the small town of St Helena, Napa Valley. Thud, Vinogirl and I would be having a tasting session and what a beautiful setting it was.

We sat around a table shaded slightly next to a swimming pool, the vineyard was not what i expected but Thud had said that he wanted me to see a small Vineyard before we went to a more commercial big scale winery. Arger Martucci was set up by two friends and their wives who still run it today. They produce several wines, Chardonnay, Viognier, Syrah, Pinot Nior, Cab, Cab Franc, a couple of Blends and a Rose. We sampled 4 wines, although Vinogirl point blank refused to sample the Chardonnay, "Life's to short to drink Chardonnay" were her exact words. I hate to say it but she was right as this wine did not impress at all. There seems to be this love hate feeling toward Chardonnay and on this occasion there was no love lost here.

On the table was the obvious spit bowl and true to my words i would not be spitting, even though i really wanted to rid my mouth of the Chardonnay bit the bullet and took it like a man tipping the rest of my glass away. The Syrah did nothing for excitement and was rather feeble in the mouth however the Pinot Nior had a lasting finish and had more body. When it came to the Cab my only thoughts were how nice the chocolate was, yes chocolate it seemed to be more of a focus when given the sample the excitement of tasting the Cab with a block of Dark Chocolate. Im a fan of Chocolate and Red but i came to Napa to taste wine, if i wanted to eat chocolate id have gone to Cadbury's world!!

The overall experience was great, very personal and a great start to experience a working vineyard. The winery was preparing for harvest as you could see staff cleaning the equipment close by. With a relaxing atmosphere there was a hint of excitement in the air as you could sense that wine making was about to begin in a few weeks time.

The school of Wine

This weekend we visited Napa Valley and a remarkable place it is. Driving into the valley you soon get the idea that this surely is wine makers territory, with vines coming right down to the road side you can reach right out and grab a bunch. I had looked at a map showing the vineyards in the valley and could not believe that so many names could be producing wine in a valley 30 miles long and at most 5 miles wide. Each acre filled with the most cared after nurtured vines you could possible imagine producing thousands to millions of dollars worth of grapes.

We made it up to Vinogirl, who was wrestling with a very large Caterpillar problem with her TOMATOES of all things. She stood facing the house in front a very small tomato patch while behind her was rows of vines, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Grigio, Orange Muscat and the vino dogs. We had literally been there a couple of minutes and i was thrown into my first class, Vines one o one. I had no idea the process of growing a vine or the complexities of nurturing a new vine to its surrogate root. The time, effort and patience that goes into producing the grape only makes the wine taste better, this was something i was later to find out in a tasting session. I had some understanding of the weather and the effect it has on the vines but i did not realise how temperamental it could be, Napa had experienced a frost earlier in the year which was very uncommon and this had slowed the growing and in some cases killed off the fruit. This was not the kind of frost that we get back in England, but the kind that comes and goes in the space of an hour or so and damages the fruit for the rest of the year. We talked about the different varietals and the vines, the positions in relation to the sun and the location and the types of dirt, when to drop and how far to trim back even the identification of leaf to grape. Then as it started to getter even hotter we headed to the cellar.

The picture above is of Vinogirl and i tasting one of the wines i shall be helping to bottle in a couple of weeks. The small cellar held alot of wine and was where Vinomaker would experiment and refine his wine. Its was becoming apparent that Vinogirl was more of the growing nurturing type while Vinomaker more the science and refining type. I took part in tasting a few different wines from the barrels, not all from their vineyard and even a very nice port which tenbellies said she liked, i think im on my way to converting her. Beyond the cellar was their own stash and quite a stash it was, so many bottles and so little time, i think i would need to retire now to experience so many wines. Later i chatted with Vinomaker and it came even more clear how little i knew about wine and yet i was quickly learning and absorbing everything they exposed me too, my first test came when Vinomaker gave me my first glass of wine in Napa and asked me to identify it. I'm sure it was to see what i knew or how well my taste buds worked and i can say now that i failed miserably, however it was a very nice glass of wine and standing on the decking with the most amazing view is without doubt the best classroom anyone could have.

The next day we had organised a blind tasting the very first that i had done and to mix things up i had brought some wines from the UK. The Pepperwod Grove Zin, Dona Paula Cab Franc, Pinot Nior from Oregon, and a god awful Tesco homebrand Zin (Thud asked me to bring this one). There was some excitement mostly by me but some from Vinogirl as i sensed she rather enjoyed the partaking of tasting many wines. There were seven wines altogether, Vinomaker had started the BBQ and the steaks were at the ready. Thud had made some very nice Blackberry sorbet for afterwards and Mrs OTW started to bring out the wines. Marking the wines on Varietal, Aroma, Taste, Defects, Finish and Alcohol, year and would we buy it. such alot to think about and i was struggling with the aroma and taste, and remember i had supplied four of these wines the least i could do is identify them. Nope not a chance, this was hard and the first three i struggled but as we continued i got the feel and wrote what i thought and with help they pointed me in the right way. At least i found the bad wine. As we finished we sat and revealed the wines with some very big surprises, Vinomaker brought more wine to the table which helped comparing wines alot easier and we drank and talked more about the wines. The food, the wine, the company and the venue made for the most memorable experience and a fantastic weekend in Napa Valley, and in the words of Vinogirl a good time was had by all.

California Tasting

Oooops!! i have kind of neglected my page here the last month or so, apologies but i have good news! Yes tomorrow we go to the US for a few weeks and ill be in California where I'm sure i will be tasting plenty of different home grown wines, giving loads to write if I'm not to pissed.

Ill be up in Napa Valley meeting Vinogirl with Thud and Family OTW, i have been looking forward to this since we booked the tickets as I'm sure to experience some great wine and be educated by some professional wine drinkers, woooowhooo.

So ill try to keep up with the writing and let you in on some of the things i'm learning and more importantly drinking.

The Challenge

family recently returned from the great wine making Napa Valley and brought me back a special bottle of red which i have not opened yet. while talking on tuesday evening my friend J noticed id bought a bottle of Gallo Zinfandel (im currently drinking my way through this at the moment, great bottle), this sparked a conversation into what was a good bottle of zinfandel and i had to say the Gallo as it was the only one i could think of at the time. J went on to say that his sister (a serious wine enthusiast, she made my very special bottle of red) from Napa is always on the look out for a great zinfandel and with myself and my partner planning on going out there this summer it presented a challenge to me.
so im now on the hunt for a great Zin can i find one in th UK that is accessible from the high street or will i have to wait and find one in the cooler hills of California.
although im already a fan of the Gallo im sure that this will not excite my soon to be friend in Napa so i really think that a lot of thought is needed for this task.
so whats the specification? well the Zinfandel needs to be dark and thick in color almost black with a deep berry taste hints of pepper. ideally the wine needs to be served between fridge and room temperature and possibly from california or its native italy, there could be some wines from greece too but we will see what i find along the way.