Wine Experiences … In The Airport
You can look at it as a sequel to previous post about Vino Volo. Yes, I’m talking again about Vino Volo, which continues to deliver great wine experience on the go.
What I really like about Vino Volo is the fact that wine selection is always changing. Different locations offer different wine selections, which are changing throughout a year – what can be better for the wine experiences seeker?
In addition to being able to try a number of different wines at a reasonable price (I’m specifically referring to the price of wine flights – most of the individual bottles are overpriced, unfortunately), there are other positive elements of overall experience at Vino Volo. One of them is a very good service. Beyond just being nice and pleasant, Vino Volo’s staff knows quite a bit about the wines they are serving, and they also can handle challenges quite well. One of the wines in the Northwest Stars flight we had at San Antonio airport was spoiled – it was borderline corked and lacked all the fruit. When I mentioned that that to our waitress, the wine was replaced, no questions asked. This doesn’t always work that good, based on my own and fellow bloggers experience.
Another thing which I like is that fact that Vino Volo is always trying to go local when possible. When you are in Portland, Oregon airport, you should expect to find few tasting flights dedicated to Pacific Northwest wines. When in Virginia, I was very glad to find a flight of Virginia wines – all of this definitely adds up to unique experience.
Let me tell you about the wines I tried during my last two visits to Vino Volo in San Antonio, Texas and Dulles airport in Virgina.
We tried two flights at the San Antonio airport. First was Northwest Stars, which included three reds. 2009 Cummins Road Pinot Noir, Yamhill-Carlton district, Oregon ($39 at Vino Volo, $19.95 on internet) had too much fruit for me. 2008 Mibrandt Vineyards Traditions Merlot, Columbia Valley, Washington ($25 at Vino Volo, $14.99 at the winery) was very nice, with good balance, but needed a bit more body to be appreciated fully (might be young, though). Last in the flight was 2006 Powers Parellel 46 Meritage, Columbia Valley, Washington ($43 at Vino Volo, not easy to find but about $27 on Internet). This was the wine which was spoiled and replaced. It is a classic Bordeaux wine, with characteristic green notes – definitely needs more time, but this was a very good wine.
Next one was a flight of whites (I know, going in reverse) called Bright Whites. 2009 Colome Valle Calchaqui Torrontes, Argentina, was very nice, blight and flavorful. 2007 Efeste Sauvignon Blanc, Columbia Valley, Washington ($29 at Vino Volo, about $16 on wine-searcher) was the most unusual wine in the tasting – it had a very pronounced “rubber” on the nose, and lemongrass on the palate, and it was very nice overall (once you overcome the initial rubber sensation). Lastly, 2009 Racines de la Terre Chardonnay Pays d’Oc, France was very nice, with good balance of fruit and acidity, very approachable. I would say that the last two are worth seeking.
Now let me tell you about two tasting flights in Washington Dulles Airport.
First was the flight of Rose wines (very appropriate – summer is coming!). All three were very interesting, with #2 being my favorite. First was 2009 Vidal-Fleury Cote-du-Rhone, France – blend of Carignan and Syrah. This wine was a too fruity with limited body expression. Next one was Conde de Subritas Brut Rose NV, Spain – most unusual wine in the tasting (and the best). This sparkling wine had a lot of vegetable and pungent flavors – I definitely would like to try it with the salad. Last one was 2009 Avondale Estate Rose from South Africa, which tasted practically like a red wine ( it is made out of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes). I have a suspicion that if I would have this wine in a blind tasting, I would fail miserably to identify it as a rose – may be I should try it one day, just for fun.
Last one was a flight of local Virginia wines, which I was glad to find on the list and was looking forward to trying. First wine was 2008 Annefield Vineyards Arrowhead Viognier – this wine was lacking fruit and had oak which was not integrated. After tasting Viognier at Chrysalis Vineyards last year (you can read the story here), which was outstanding, I was really looking forward to trying this wine, but apparently it didn’t work out. The next wine was 2009 Old House Vineyards Estate Vidal Blanc, which was simply too sweet for my taste. And last one, 2008 Pearmund Cellars Ameritage, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, was simply classic Bordeaux, with all the necessary traits – acidity, fruit, tannins. I put drinkability of this wine at 8-, but at $29/bottle I would expect more from the wine.
This concludes the story of airport wine tastings. Yes, the airports are still a hassle – but Vino Volo makes traveling experience a lot more palatable and even something to look forward to. If you are at the airport, remember – you can have fun on the go!
Long Overdue–Notes From Michal Skurnik Wine Tasting
Yes, this post is long overdue, as I hinted that it’s coming a while back. Better late than never, right? Here it is.
Let’s say you are in a wine store. Bottles, bottles are everywhere. Sometimes you know exactly what you want. Sometimes you don’t – and this is when it becomes challenging. How do you know if that bottle of wine is any good? Price is really not an indicator of quality. You can’t try the wine ( at least in the majority of cases). Yes, you can ask for the advice – then it really depends what store you are at (some of the store advice should be avoided at all costs). So, what do you do? Of course, using your iPhone is always an option, but this is not where I’m going right now. One possible solution is to look at the back label, which all the wines in the US have to have. Look for the name of the importer. And if it says “Michael Skurnik” or “Kermit Lynch”, you should smile, because you just learned that chances this bottle of wine is good just increased dramatically.
Why you are asking? Michael Skurnik Wines is so-called “importer” (they are also a wholesaler, but this information is typically not advertised on the label). It means that Michael Skurnik Wines company (MSW) works with thousands and thousands of wineries and other wine merchants all over the world to find the wines which will pass through their rigorous selection process and will be represented by Michael Skurnik Wines.
The wines chosen to be carried in the portfolio might not be all your favorite – but they all will be quality well-made wines. It means that MSW folks are doing all the hard work of selecting the best wines for you, and all you need to do is to enjoy the fruits of labor.
Few times a year wine importers and wholesalers organize special wine tasting events to present their portfolio to the trade. I was lucky to attend Michael Skurnik Wines Spring Grand Tasting, and I would like to share some of my personal highlights.
First and foremost, my personal “Best of tasting” is Peter Michael wines. Four 2009 Chardonnays were presented in the tasting (“Mon Plaisir”, “La Carriere”, “Belle Cote” and “Ma Belle-Fille”) – tremendous, all four are the best Chardonnays I ever tasted. Finesse and absolute balance – vanilla, toasted oak and butter all being present, but in absolute harmony with bright acidity, fruit and silky smooth tannins. I would put drinkability for all four at 9+. Just so you know, these are the cult wines, which affects the pricing and availability. These wines are available only through the mailing list or through select merchants – you might be able to find them at Wades Wines and Benchmark Wine Company.
The next highlight was an amazing line of Barolos. A mix of 2005, 2006, 2007 Barolos from Azella, Manzone, Renato Corino, Marengo, Altare, Clerico, Cavalotto – one was better than another, all beautiful and powerful wines. Anyone of the names I mentioned is worth seeking.
While the Barolos were great, they had a group of contenders, which were literally as good. Wines of Aldo Rainoldi come from the area in Lombardy region called Valtellina. These wines are produced from the same grape as all Barolos – Nebbiolo, with all the vineyards located at the very high altitude of 600+ meters (1800+ feet). I tried four different Aldo Rainoldi wines – 2007 Sassella, 2005 Crespino, 2006 Inferno Reserva and 2007 Sfursat Classico – all were truly outstanding and very comparable with great Barolos, but at the half price as the least.
In addition to all the wines in the tasting (about 700), there were some stronger spirits as well. One of the surprises was Calvados I tried. Calvados is a brandy which is made out of apples in the Calvados region of Normandy in France. Typically, I can drink it, but it is not something I would be seeking out. However, two of the Calvados presented at the tasting – Camut Calvados 6 years old and Camut Calvados Reserve 12 years old were simply incredible. Soft, smooth, elegant, great aroma of fresh apples, very delicate balance. They will not be easy to find, but I would highly recommend you will make an effort. You can try your luck at D&M, and believe me, you will not be disappointed.
That’s all, folks. There were many many more great wines, but you got to stop somewhere, right? Until the next time – cheers!
Pleasant Surprises: Petit Verdot From Spain?!
You might be as surprised as I was, walking into my local wine store (Cost Less Wines and Liquors, of course) an finding Petit Verdot from Jumilla region in Spain! Let me explain the “surprise” element. Petit Verdot is very rarely used as a single grape to produce a wine. To be more precise, it is primarily is blending grape, used in Bordeaux wines to fortify the structure. It is typically added in the 10% or less quantities. I have to note that in the past 5-10 years, the grape became more popular for single grape bottling, especially in the New World, places like Australia, Chile and United States. Actually, Petit Verdot from Jamesport vineyard on Long Island I tried last year was amazing ( you can read the post here), but it was equally priced at $100 per bottle. But again, this is new world, and Spain is really not in the New World when it comes to wine (fine, may be it is, depending on the region – but this should be a subject for another post).
T
hen comes another part of the surprise – Petit Verdot is really not a typical grape for Jumilla region. Typically, wines from Jumilla are made out of grape called Monastrell. A lot of Monastrell wines ( inexpensive, needless to say) have a grapey taste to them and many of them don’t belong to the group of “my favorites”. Of course, there are wines like El Nido by Bodegas El Nido (blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Mourvedre, 97 rating by Robert Parker), which are totally different, but even those are rare for the area. Still, 100% Petit Verdot?
Please meet 2007 Nudo, Single Vineyard Petit Verdot from Jumilla DO, Spain. It is 100% Petit Verdot, aged for 6 month in French oak. Very balanced, beautiful fruit expression complemented by the notes of tobacco and hint of leather. It is not as concentrated as that Jamesport Petit Verdot was, but still very nice and pleasant wine to drink. At $12.99 – it is your great winning every day wine, hands down. Drinkability: 8-
Pleasant surprises are the best – as the wine world delivers better and better wines, be on a lookout for more great unusual wines from unusual places. Cheers!
Defend Your Wine Consumer Rights – Stop HR1161!
Your freedom as a wine consumer to buy the wine where you want at the price you want is threatened again with the HR1161 bill introduced in the congress. This bill is pushed by the wine and beer wholesalers who are afraid to become redundant in the world where it is easy to get the wine directly from the wineries. This undermines the whole idea of free trade and free market economy, and this bill must be stopped. Join the Stop HR1161 Facebook group, or contact your representative (one possible way to do it is here) and protect your rights as wine consumer!
Value Wines Project: Finishing On The High Note
Value Wines – it was a fun project. Of course the subject of value wines is endless – there are many blogs fully dedicated to the value wines. However, for me it was a project – here is group of wines, all wines are under $12, let’s see how this group will fare.
I believe the results of this project are in line with the general notion of great improvement in the quality of wines across all regions in the world (I’m sure you read about it in many places). Only one wine out of 15 was really not drinkable, couple of wines were at the border of decency, but majority was quite drinkable with few wines being simply excellent (don’t forget – we are talking about value wines under $12, not first growth Bordeaux).
I’m glad to say that the last wine I tried in the project was one of those excellent wines. 2005 Telha d’Ouro Vinho Regional Estremadura ($6.99), blend of two Portuguese noble grapes – 50% Touriga Nacional and 50% Touriga Franca. The wine exhibited blackberries and soft plum on the nose. More ripe plums on the palate together with tobacco and hint of pepper. Tannins were hiding at the beginning ( wine had to breathe for about 30 minutes), then opened very powerfully (may be even over-powering). Presence of good 
acidity makes this wine nicely balanced. It also shows long finish. All in all, excellent wine and deserves drinkability rating of 8.
I also want to mention that I really love back labels on the Portuguese wines. A lot of wines sold in us have a government warning on the back label, plus sometimes a note explaining how much love went into that particular bottle of wine. Sometimes you can find useful information, but this rather an exception than a norm. When it comes to Portuguese wines, they practically always have a great back label which provides a lot of useful and interesting information, such as grape composition, type of soil, how the wine was fermented, suggested serving temperature and so on ( you can see for yourself). Don’t know about you, but this is type of information I’m typically interested in.
That’s all for this project. I will be glad to see your comments regarding your own value wine experiences, and I wish you all lots of good wine discoveries. Cheers!
100, Reflections and Updates
Anyone wants to guess what 100 means? There was a Russian anecdote with two popular characters, who happened to drive an airplane without knowing anything about flying, so one of them asks another very assertively: “Instruments?”. “Seventeen”, comes a reply. “What seventeen?” asks the first. “But what instruments”?
Don’t know if that was funny, but I will tell you about 100 – a bit later. Let me start from the reflections part. Technically, I was ready to start this blog about three years ago. This is when I got the domain name and created talkavino blog on WordPress. I guess I was mentally not ready, as it took me about two years to create the first post, at the end of March of 2010. I was not fully ready even then, as this blog really started at the end of July of last year. I think I learned a lot during 8 month the blog is actually active. Did I develop my own style? I hope yes, but I can’t tell. I like some posts more that the others, but through all of them I was simply trying to be myself and write as I want to.
Why is all this self-analysis border line digging? Very simple. 100 is the number of posts in the blog – actually, the post you are reading is hundred and first. And as we touched on the numbers, let me give some more useless statistics. Why useless? Because there is not that much to deduce from those numbers. Why do this then? Because, I guess, playing with numbers makes you feel good. So starting from beginning, in 8 month this blog is actively running, it contains 100 posts, which in turn contain 311 pictures. The blog received about 4800 views, has 16 subscribers over e-mail and WordPress (this doesn’t count people who read it through Facebook), has 26 categories and about 400 tags. There were more than 140 wines covered in this blog, and 72 new grapes were added to the grape quest.
Enough with statistics. Again, I’m not trying to extract any deep meaning here – these are just the numbers. As for the updates – I’m starting to contribute to Art Of Life Magazine, writing weekly blog posts on various wine-related subjects. I will, of course, let you know when the new posts are available.
That’s all, folks – I gave you numbers, reflections and updates. I’m quite happy with the way this blog is shaping up, except one thing – I want your feedback and I want dialog. Please…
Story Of A Beets Salad
I have to admit – I’m very impartial to the beets salad. Not any beets salad, but Roasted Beets salad. I can’t tell you why. May be it has something to do with the name – “roasted”… “beets”… “salad”. May be my body simply lacking the nutrients which can be found in the roasted beets, and sends the subliminal message”you want this…”. Don’t know. But every time I see a roasted beets salad on the menu in a restaurant, there is a very good chance I will order it.
Interestingly enough, while at home we make many dishes out of beets (beets is one of the staples of the Russian cuisine I’m accustomed to), recipes for those dishes call for beets to be boiled. At the same time, I believe roasting of the beets keeps flavor and sweetness locked in and concentrates it, where in case of boiling it gets all diluted. Roasting also preserves the color – just look at the picture if you want proof.
So for the first time ever, I decided to make a roasted beets salad with goat cheese, grapefruit, baby arugula and pistachio nuts. Before I get to the details, I would like to mention the source of my inspiration for this dish – it was appetizer called “Study of Beets” which I had at the Pinot Café in Los Angeles – you can the story here. That “study of beets” gave me an idea for combination of the ingredients.
Talking about ingredients, for this salad you would need:
- 4 large beets
- 1 large grapefruit
- 3 ounces (or less) of goat cheese
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- pinch of sea salt
- half a cup of pistachio nuts
- about half a cup of baby arugula or any similar greens. Note that baby arugula here is not the main ingredient, it works almost like a spice with its mild bitterness, and you can even skip it if you want.
Start from roasting beets at 400F for about an hour or until tender. When roasting the beets, you can play with flavor. I put beets in foil with addition of liquid smoke (don’t wrap it tight, or they will boil) – as a result, beets had nice hint of smokiness. Once ready, let beets to cool off, then peel and slice – size of slices is entirely up to you.
Put sliced beets in the bowl, sprinkle (very sparingly!) with sea salt (I recommend sea salt as it also adds textural sensation) and add a tablespoon of olive oil. Add goat cheese (break it up in little pieces by hand). Add completely peeled grapefruit, also broken in pieces, and then baby arugula. Reserve few pistachios, crumble the rest and add it to the salad. Mix everything gently together, put in the bowl and garnish with reserved pistachios. Serve and enjoy!
What about the wine, you’re asking? Of course there should be wine. I didn’t have a chance to test the exact combination, nevertheless I would suggest that good Sauvignon Blanc would work well here. Lets narrow down that “good Sauvignon Blanc” – I would actually suggest 2009 Hyde Vineyards Selene Sauvignon Blanc from Carneros to pair with this dish.
To tell you the truth, I love New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, Sancerre (classic Sauvignon Blanc wine from France) and Chilean Sauvignon Blanc. However, 9 times out of 10 I would avoid California Sauvignon Blanc – lots of them are high-alcohol soulless concoctions. Now, this Selene Sauvignon Blanc – WOW! Probably the best California Sauvignon Blanc and one of the best I ever had from any region.
Grassiness, acidity, fruit – all comes together in a very balanced package with nice finish. Beautiful wine (Drinkability: 8+). I have no doubts this wine would work very well with the beets salad, and I will prove it to myself next time – or wait for you to tell me.
Daily Glass: Value Wines Project – Portugal, Italy and Oregon
Here is another Value Wines project update. We had French, Portuguese and Italian wines covered in the project. Today’s update is bringing in a new region – Oregon.
So far I would say that the outcome of the project is very encouraging – a lot of good, very drinkable wines from all regions mentioned above, all priced very well. The wine from Oregon, 2009 Primarius Pinot Noir, however, I would have to call the biggest surprise of the project. Why so? It is not surprising that we can find good and inexpensive wines coming from Portugal, for instance – wine region is grossly ignored and underrated ( this is changing, though), so the winemakers have to price their wines accordingly. Oregon wines, on another side, are well known worldwide as a source of the Pinot Noirs, rivaling those of Burgundy – and so far my experience with any Oregon Pinot Noir under $15 had been largely negative (wimpy and diluted wines).
All in all, Primarius Pinot Noir ($11.99) was very good wine – smokiness and finesse of the classic Pinot Noir, layered and restrained fruit and very good balance – I think this is a great wine for the price (and even in general). I will put Drinkability at 7+.
Next wine comes from Italy – 2009 Tedeschi Valpolicella Classico ($10.98), and it has both good and bad sides. For the bad side – the wine never came together in a glass. It tasted as all the taste elements – fruitiness, acidity, tannins and alcohol were pulling in the different directions. The wine is drinkable, but not really enjoyable – by itself. I would guess this is a food wine – paired together with some homemade marinara sauce over fresh pasta, it should taste ( and fare) quite differently. For now, I will put Drinkability at 6+. For the good side, I’m adding 3 new grapes with this wine – Rossignola, Negrara and Dindarella, so the total count increases to 312.
Three more wines from Portugal – 2009 Caves Vale do Rodo, Douro DOC ($6.98), 2003 Primavera Douro DOC Reserva ($6.98) and 2007 Monte Da Cal Vinho Regional Alentejano ($6.47). All three are very nice and simple wines, easy to drink and pleasant – and great value for the money. I will put Drinkability at 7 for all three.
This concludes Value Wines project update for today. Few more wines are left to try in the current batch – as usual, the report will be coming soon.
And Here Is The Answer
Here is an answer to the “what is it” question from the last post (and congratulations to Marc):
Pretty, isn’t it? And here is the whole “still life” – right before it was sliced and transformed into a beautiful sausages and peppers medley:
Do You Know What Is This?
Sometimes, you take a picture, just because you have a gut feeling “it is interesting”. Of course things look differently on the small camera screen and big computer screen – and when you see the picture in the full size, you understand what was “interesting”… and sometimes you just sigh. But then it is the matter of prospective…
I played this once before in this blog, and I want to try this again. Same as before, I still don’t have the prize – except that I will tell you what is actually shown on that picture. Here we go:
So, what is this?
Last Bottle Sign Up ($10 credit)
Talk-A-Vino 