Wine Friday - Sept 5th '08

One of the very cool things about working where I do is that there are lots of people with interests similar to ours around. Wine is one of those common interests, and for some time now, on an unfortunately irregular schedule (note to self: need to do something about that) we get together in someone's office and open a bottle or three.

I mentioned in my last post my fascination with wines made with the fruit of the DuBrul vineyard to which I was was introduced by a colleague whose family owns the vineyard. Well, last night, said colleague brought a couple of estate bottled wines for the group to enjoy.

The first was the the 2006 Côte Bonneville Chardonnay, which really tasted like what the tasting note says -- it was bright, with notes of pineapple and just a touch of oak with a finish -- oh, the finish! -- that lingered like a lover's goodnight kiss on the doorstep...

The second was one I've had a number of times before - the one that's got me on my DuBrul kick, the Côte Bonneville Carriage House. Very dark, very deep and another lovely long finish. I want more of this.

In contrast, we finished with something we're not likely to ever have again, largely because we're not ever likely to see it again. This was a bottle with a tattered label; a bottle with some personal history for some of our friends. As we opened it, we didn't know if it was going to be a great experience, or whether it was going to be like the moment on "Frasier" when they opened a bottle they'd been saving for years only to find it was better used for paint remover.

Well, fortunately, the 1982 Chateau Plagnac Medoc didn't disappoint. An aged brown color - and a bottle full of sediment - the wine was quite pleasant for something 25+ years old that appeared in the "Caveat Emptor" section of wine auctions nearly 10 years ago.

As time went on, the wine opened up nicely in the glass - I think this one had a chance at greatness if we had been able to give it some more time in a decanter. I think it would be interesting to try some more recent vintages of this one and see.

Tonight's wine - Lone Canary Bird House Red

One of my colleagues at work is fortunate (?!) enough to have been born into a family that now owns one of the premier vineyards in the state -- along with a top notch winery. Thanks to him, we've become acquainted with them -- and know that whenever we see a wine made from their grapes, there's a good chance it's going to be good. After all, in order to make great wine, you've got to start with great grapes.

The vineyard in question is DeBrul vineyard -- and although tonight's wine wasn't completely sourced from there, since it's a weekday, after all, my quest for a DeBrul wine led me to tonight's bottle.

I was looking for the 2004 DeBrul Vineyard Reserve from Lone Canary Winery (http://www.lonecanary.com/techsheets/04DuBrul.pdf), which a mutual friend had discovered. It's an award winning blend of Merlot & Cabernet Sauvingon made & bottled by Lone Canary, which is clear on the other side of the state in Spokane. My quest led me to Malt & Vine (www.maltandvine.com <http://www.maltandvine.com/> ) here in Redmond, which has a wide selection of Lone Canary wines, including a couple of bottles of the DeBrul, which I bought.

I also found, in their "under $20" rack, a bottle of the Lone Canary "Bird House Red", an American style blend of Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Sangiovese. These days, I like pretty much anything with Syrah & Sangiovese in it (and this one is 16% sourced from DeBrul...), and so I decided to pick this up to have with dinner. I wasn't disappointed -- a nice nose with hints of berry and chocolate, with a spicy/smoky finish that I've come to love. It went along really well with the Braised Pork Belly I had waiting in the fridge (I finished the belly with a nice sear before serving, so maybe it was a Seared Braised Pork Belly?).

Anyway, I went looking for one DeBrul sourced weekend wine -- and found an outstanding table wine too.

Bottle Shock!

We went to see Bottle Shock on Friday at the Big Picture in Redmond.

Bottle Shock is a dramatization of the events surrounding what is probably the one of the most significant events that ever happened for wines made outside of France, since it marks the point at which the world starting taking American, and eventually many other countries' wines, seriously.

The event, for those who aren't aware, was a blind side by side tasting of French and Californian wines staged by a British wine shop (and school) owner (played by Alan Rickman) in France. In an effort to expand his business outside of just French wines, he traveled Napa Valley, selecting and bringing back a selection of Californian wines to put up against the best that France had to offer.

To make a long story short, the French wine snob...err... experts chose the wines that they were certain were the French ones (since no non-French wine could, of course, be worthy of drinking). When all was said and done, though, the top wines in both the white and red categories were from California.

The world of wine has never been the same since. The movie, which got 3 1/2 stars from Roger Ebert, does a great job of connecting with the viewer -- go see it!

When we were there, the Big Picture was serving glasses of the current vintage of the winning wines, but we thought the $25/glass for the Stags Leap Artemis Cabernet was a bit too pricey - especially since it goes for about $55/bottle in wine shops.

One gripe -- it would've been nice if they had mentioned Washington at the end of the movie when they plugged New Zealand and other places. I mean, after all, Washington is #2 in premium wine production...