I’ve virtually given up buying Cabs that I can actually afford, finding most of them to be thin, acidic, and not much on flavor or finish. Because I do like Cabs though, I will splurge on rare occasion and buy one like the Silver Oak Cab, Alexander Valley, California. ($54!) I have just such a bottle residing in the stash. It’s waiting to help me celebrate my 50th birthday. (Not imminent, thank you.) But I’ve tasted that one and convinced myself that the indulgence is justified.

So, I’m very grateful to my friend, Janice, who, without really knowing what I liked, took the time at her somewhat local wine store, Compass Wines in Anacortes, Washington, asked a lot of questions, and picked out Three Thieves "The Show" 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon, California yellow label ($11-$13) and gave it (and two other bottles of wine) to me for my birthday last year. The wine, made from grapes sourced from Monterey County, is mostly Cabernet Sauvignon, with smaller percentages of Merlot, Cab Franc, Petite Sirah and Petit Verdot blended in as well.

This is a very nice, affordable Cab! It has earthy, blackberry, bramble, and cedar aromas with blackberry, spice, and coffee flavors. A little tight at first, it opens nicely. Medium bodied with a nice finish, this is delightfully drinkable.

As for Ira, his thoughts were that this wine certainly wasn’t any nastier than the wine we had last week (the absolutely delicious 2005 Zenato Valpolicella Superiore Ripassa). His one other comment was that he thought he’d like the wine better if it were cold like his Sangria. Yikes! That rubber tree plant just got a lot heavier.

Grapefruit Juice and Chocolate

I’ve decided to drop the 20 lbs that have been plaguing me for the last 8 years or so and for that effort I’m willing to temporarily limit my standard glass of wine with dinner to two nights each week. Of course, this puts forth a terrible dilemma. Since I’m the only one currently drinking any wine worth drinking in this house, it means that I either have to try and keep a bottle of wine over two weeks—not happening. Or I have to dump the remaining 3 glasses of each bottle down the drain—also not happening. Because, my husband, Ira, is one terrific guy, he offered to help by drinking my wine with me and finish the bottle.

Now for those of you who know Ira, you are well aware of his lack of appreciation for wine. He drinks his one glass of Carlo Rossi Sangria each night for dinner for “medicinal purposes” only. So not only is this offer beyond HUGE, it also opens the door for opportunity. I’ve always said that if Ira liked any wine worth drinking, he’d probably develop a terrific palate. The man is amazing at detecting aromas and flavors…mostly the ones he dislikes, but nevertheless… if I could just get him over the hump that all non-jug wine is nasty (and let’s face it, he doesn’t have much good to say about the jug wine either), then maybe, just maybe, he might actually find some real wines that he likes or at the very least tolerates enough to appreciate. And if “appreciate” is a little far-fetched then perhaps he would learn just enough to be able to talk wine with me on occasion.

So, we started tonight with the Magnificent Wine Company’s House Wine, 2006, Columbia Valley. This is one of Wine Spectators favorite value wines and for good reason. For $9 this is a gem! I had Ira swirl and sniff. After some coaxing (me) and complaining (him), he was able to pick up a roasted coffee bean aroma and he got that the wine was dry (a taste he despises). Further prompting got nothing more than an acerbic comment that the wine tasted like alum, but hey… it was a start. (And no, the wine doesn’t taste like alum…more like peppery blueberries with some tobacco.) Later that evening, striking a thoughtful pose, Ira said, “I can sum up what most red wines taste like to me—grapefruit juice and chocolate. And that’s not a great combination.”

Yes, I realize that in this effort I maybe the ant who tried to move the rubber tree plant, but hey… in the end that ant did move the rubber tree plant—and I’m the eternal optimist.

2005 Desert Wind RUAH

At the time of this writing, it’s 12 degrees outside with 9 inches of snow on the ground and another storm predicted for tonight and tomorrow that could dump up to another 9 inches. We sure could use a desert wind right now. But I’ll settle for Desert Wind Vineyard’s 2005 RUAH, (Columbia Valley, Wahluke Slope) $18 — a perfect, cozy, delicious wine for a cold winter’s day…or any day.

This is the kind of Bordeaux-style wine I just love and that Washington State does so well. The 2005 scored 90 points with Wine Spectator and past vintages have consistently scored in the 90s. Made up of 15% Cab Franc, 40% Cab Sauvignon, and 45% Merlot, it has old-world aromas of blackberries, cedar, leather, and earth. Well-balanced flavors of blackberry, earth, and toasty oak with a hint of licorice and nutmeg on the velvety finish transported me to the French countryside and gave me a tiny holiday from all the snow. (Yes, wine sometimes transports me to different locales, which is great because I hate to travel.) This is a dry, elegant wine that pairs well with grilled or roasted meat or tomato-based sauces, and I bet it would kill with goat or sheep cheeses.

I have my very good friends, Yvonne and Doug, to thank for this gem. They always amaze me with their ability to pick out wines they know I’ll fall head over heels for. Thanks you two!

2007 Clean Slate Riesling

I haven’t had much practice navigating the labels of German Rieslings. I tend to look at the labels stating Trocken (bone-dry), Halbtrocken (half-dry), Kabinett (wine made from grapes that are harvested at normal harvest times and are usually light and low in alcohol), Spatlese (grapes harvested later than those in a Kabinett, having a fuller, riper taste–read, sweet), Auslese (sweeter), and Beerenauslese (sweetest), and my eyes cross. I tell myself I’ll delve into German Rieslings later but “not today.” Maybe it was the lack of the confusing jargon that made me snap up a bottle of Clean Slate Riesling (Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer). For $8.99 it was certainly worth the gamble.

Well, the gamble paid off! Put this in the column of favorite Rieslings. Beautiful floral aromas with stone fruits, apple and mineral delicately float out of the glass while lush nectarine, pear, slate, and citrus flavors hit your palate. This wine is off dry (I’d guess halbtrocken—although it doesn’t say that on the label) with a beautiful silky texture, balanced acidity, and clean, mineral finish. Pairs wonderfully with food, easy to drink. Delightful.

Of course, now that I’ve taken the time to look all this terminology up and bring it to you, I’ll probably be able to work my way through the labels.

I think I’ve mentioned this before but it’s gooood to have wine-loving friends who like to share their favorite wines with me. Our friend Kit, who lives down in Richland, WA in the heart of our State’s wine country, brought a bottle of Cowan Vineyards Cabernet Franc Estate 2004 (Yakima Valley, WA) when he and his wife, Janet came up for Thanksgiving this year. Kit is a huge fan of Washington state wines and rightly so.

Nose the wine just a bit and it screams Cab Franc with strawberry, cherries, briar, and a hint of barnyard earthiness on the nose. It has juicy strawberry and cherry flavors with a bit bramble, oak and earth. This is a nice introduction to Cab Franc And while it lacks the depth and body of some the heavier hitters, at $18 a bottle (Sorry Kit and Janet. It’s impossible to blog about wine without mentioning the price), it’s also half the price.

The Climber

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted. Between mourning the death of my father, John, and celebrating the birth of my granddaughter, Misha, blogging about wine took a back seat to just about everything. I was simply too preoccupied and overwhelmed to put words on paper. (Or on the computer screen.) But I’m back and the wine that launched me into the driver’s seat again was a fairly random selection during a visit to Bottle Barn in late August. I say “fairly” random because Dan, Misha’s dad, pulled Clif Family Winery’s “The Climber” 2004 North Coast Red Wine from the shelf and said he’d heard good things about it. And yes, these are the same folks behind CLIF BAR® and LUNA®, which in some macabre way, only made the selection more intriguing. I mean who’d have thought that the makers of power bars could do a decent wine?

I can honestly say right here and now that this is the best $12 bottle of wine I’ve ever had. It even rivals wines I’ve had at twice the cost. A blend of 59% Zinfandel, 20% Syrah, 9% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Merlot, and 6% Petite Sirah, this wine is deep red/purple in color with aromas of cherries, vanilla, nutmeg and oak. The flavors are well-balanced cherry/raspberry, spice and just a hint of oak. This deliciously easy-to-drink wine has good body and jammy finish. And, even though its main grape is Zinfandel, it isn’t over the top in its alcohol content.

So while I’ve toasted the passing of my Dad and the arrival of Misha many times before. I’d like to hold up a glass of The Climber in honor of two people that have impacted my life in incalculable ways:

Dad…Misha…here’s to you! I love you both more than words can say.

It's French So How Bad Can It Be? Pretty Bad!

About a month ago, my friends, Lisa and Jason, joined me for what was supposed to be a Red Burgundy wine tasting. I had a difficult time finding any Red Burgundy (let alone an affordable one) at my regular wine haunts, so I went to a little specialty shop that carries a small but interesting selection of European and Middle Eastern wines. The only Burgundy I could see on the shelf was a low-ender—LaForet. I’ve had it before and it was only mildly okay so I sure didn’t want to bring it to a tasting.

Although the shop owner wasn’t there, the wine distributor was there taking inventory. So I asked her if there were any other red burgundies lurking about. She pulled a Louis Latour Valmoissine Pinot Noir 2006 ($12) off the shelf. The label didn’t say Burgundy and the appellation wasn’t familiar. I told her that I was bringing the wine to a tasting and that it had to be a Burgundy. She was emphatic in her assurance that the Latour was, in fact, a Burgundy. Although skeptical, I bought it in an act of desperation. But, I should have listened to my inner wine geek because when I got home and looked up the appellation, I discovered it was from Provence, which is no where near Burgundy. I was ready to bring the bottle back and complain profusely. Lisa, however, decided that it might be fun to compare a Burgundy with another French Pinot so I decided to listen to my inner Buddha (who resides near the inner geek) and live with it. As it turned out, Lisa and Jason didn’t have an easy time finding an affordable Burgundy either, but they had scored a 2005 Domaine Mongeard Bourgogne for $24 and the tasting was on.

The night of the tasting was one of the first truly warm and beautiful evenings of the season here in Bellingham so we held the tasting out on my patio among the roses, trees, and hostas. We each had two glasses, one for each wine. We poured. We swirled. We nosed. We tasted. We chatted about their Tai Chi weekend. Swirled. Nosed. Tasted. We chatted about politics. Poured. Swirled. Nosed. Tasted. We ate very nice cheese. As the swirling and nosing increased and tasting decreased, we realized we had been avoiding discussing the wine at all. It took us forever to talk about it and when we did, we were as unenthusiastic about this wine as we had been about a previous tasting when we did Barbera.

We thought that perhaps the Mongeard needed to open more but once it opened it completely fell apart. It did have recognizable Burgundy aromas and flavors, a little silkiness, and some finish but that was about it. It was, however, a much better wine than the Latour which was thin, slightly acidic, and tasted of strawberries that needed a healthy dose of sugar to make them palatable. I’ve had had $5 wines that were better than this. (Stay tuned for my upcoming blog on that one.)

While the wine itself was a huge disappointment, the company was great, the weather was beautiful and the cheese was wonderful. We haven’t given up on Burgundies either. We just have to learn to be more selective. Perhaps the most important thing I learned from this tasting is to trust my inner wine geek and not let someone talk me into something that feels wrong.