2005 Domaine De La Chanteleuserie Bourgueil Red Loire

     So, back in 2006 and 2007, I had the pleasure of spending 15 months or so in the lovely country of Iraq.  What to do. . . what to do?  Well, thanks to Kermit Lynch's monthly newsletters, I read about the great 2005 vintage for cabernet franc in the Loire.  Alas, with tax free income, free time, and near-beer, I bought some wine and had it shipped to Olivia in Louisville for future consumption.  Having fallen in love with Loire reds, I decided that six or seven cases would do the trick.
     Fast forward to 2011.  I am down to about four cases of this Loire red from 2005.  Its a mix of Catherine Breton, Charles Jouguet, and this lovely Bourgueil.  However, I don't know how long this stuff will last.  I have had some problems with the Breton.  All three of these wines are unfiltered and extremely natural.  That means sediment!  I love sediment.  To me, finding purple gunk in the bottom of my glass is a good sign that nobody's monkeyed with it too much.
     So, as I work through my Loires, I can't promise a review of every one.  However, it seemed appropriate since I haven't reviewed it yet.  This one is drinking quite well.  It has nice minerality, some beefiness, and a nice long finish.  The summation of these qualities is a lovely wine that seems perfect as the temps are starting to cool.  I'm not sure how Loire reds would taste in the summer.  Probably just fine, but right now they're hitting the spot and I've got plenty of them.  So, bottoms up!

Battle of the $9 Granacha(e)s

     I didn't get around to this post until today, but I've had both of these wines with dinner over the past week.  Nothing says reality like going from a weekend of high-end, well-aged Bordeaux to $9 bottles from 2008 and 2009.  Alas, I am a man of the people and I drink as the people drink.  Give me jugs of fresh table wine and peasant bread.  Wait. . . I don't eat bread.  But I'll take the wine.  That reminds me of last summer in Provence.  There was something magical about drinking cool rose from a jug.  This was table wine, served on a terrace and I couldn't have been any more content.  So, back to my granacha(e)s.

     Why the parentheses?  In Spain the spelling is granacha and in France its granache.  Same grape though.  For those that don't know, granache is the key grape in the Southern Rhone and I am obsessive about the Rhone in general.  Lest we forget my first case of wine: Cote Rotie (the burnt hill).  Anyways, one of these bottles was from the well respected Southern Rhone producer Andre Brunel.  I've had some of Andre's higher end wines and I'll be frank.  This one lacked anything remarkable.  For $9, it wasn't a bad deal, but it just didn't have much of anything going on.  It was flat with no rusticity.  I wouldn't say I'm disappointed because it was definitely drinkable, but as compared with the Spanish granacha from Castillo de Monjardin, it was pathetic.  The Castillo had a nice level of spice and leather and a good bit of that granacha rusticity that I so love.  This wine could easily sell in the $13 or $14 price point and still be a good value.  However, at $9 it was great!  So, if you must choose between these two, I'd go with the Spaniard.  However, don't let this dissuade you from Andre Brunel because I've had great bottles from his other selections.

2003 Undurraga Founder's Collection:
     We had this Cabernet Sauvignon on Friday evening with dinner.  I have found a lot of top notch Chilean Cabs to be too fruit forward in the California mold, but this one had mellowed quite a bit since '03 and was really drinking well.  It was juicy, but had the right amount of balance and complexity to not blow you away out of the starting blocks.  Penny said she brought this one back from Chile, so I'm not sure you'll have any luck finding it in the States.  Yet another reason why we need more Chilean wines to make it over here.  We are missing out on good stuff like this!

2005 Travaglini Gattinara:
     This was one of our warm-up wines to the Bordeaux.  Not a bad warm-up wine!  It was my first foray into the Gattinara DOCG located way up north on the Italian boot.  It was 100% Nebbiolo and I found it to be delectable.  This is a super-dry red, but it has a lot of finesse and finish.  It wasn't forward, which I was worried about, but it had enough early punch to let you know it had some muscles underneath the funny shaped bottle.  My probably know the least about Italian wine, so this was a good motivation to get to know more.  It was delicious!

2008 Pascual Toso Reserva:
     Another of our warm-up fleet, this was a delicious Malbec from the Barrancas region of Mendoza, Argentina.  This was a great display of the versatility of Malbec from everyday drinker to serious Sunday night dinner wine.  This one could have held up to dinner just fine (along with the Gattinara).  Robert Parker gave it 89 points for all of you ratings snobs.  Its hard for me to reflect on this one after being blown away by the Bordeaux, but I remember it being good.

1996 Chateau Grand-Puy-Lacoste:
This was our dinner wine which Penny's boyfriend Paul brought over.  I already liked him, but this sealed the deal.  We paired it with several salads, grilled beef tenderloin with black truffle butter, Sally's famous meatballs, and some other sides.  I am certain that this was one of the top 5 wines I've ever tasted.  I'm not sure what it was like a year ago or what it will be like a year from now, but right now, this wine is a perfect symphony.  I haven't the patience or money to buy Bordeaux futures and put them aside for 15 years, but now it is evident why others do.  The completeness of this wine is what really made it sing.  Tannins, acidity, balance, finish, and any other thing you could want were all in perfect harmony.  I fear I may have caught the Bordeaux bug with this one!

Bernard Baudry 2009 Chinon "Les Grezeaux"

 
     Ah, Cabernet Franc!  I became a fan of Loire reds back in 2004 or so while I was home from West Point for Christmas or Thanksgiving.  My friend Beth's father introduced me to Loire reds, Adventures on the Wine Route by Kermit Lynch, and a love for fine, natural vino.  Its strange how chance encounters with people throughout your life lead you to important personal discoveries.  I am sure that I would have found wine eventually, but Mr. Fadeley piqued an interest for me that will probably continue until I die.
     Back to the matter at hand.  I recently picked up a mixed case from Addy Bassin's Macarthur's Beverage over in Georgetown.  I'm not sure who this Addy fellow is, but he runs a mighty fine wine shop that I plan on patronizing as long as I'm here.  One of the folks recommended this one in honor of Joe Dressner, a fine importer, who died recently.  I'm working through several cases of 2005 Loire red from various Kermit Lynch folks, so I didn't really plan on a $27 Chinon, but I'm glad I did.  This wine represents what a great Cab Franc from Loire can do.  It has nuance and complexity and a little bit of leathery beefiness in the background just to let you know that its from good stock.  For me, Loire reds are quintessential autumn wines and this one is no exception.  I highly recommend it!

St. Michaels Crab and Steak House

     Today Olivia and I really took advantage of the Columbus Day holiday.  We woke up early and drove over to the Eastern Shore of Maryland.  By 9:45 or so we were rolling on lovely back roads.  The route took us from Easton down to Oxford, across the Oxford-Bellevue Ferry, up the neck to St. Michaels, and back to Easton.  Honestly, we couldn't have asked for a better day.  Temperatures were in the upper-70s and a light breeze whipped around just enough to let you know the the seasons are changing.
     We arrived in St. Michaels at about the 25 mile mark of what would be a 36 mile ride.  We asked a nice lady working on her boat where the best waterfront restaurant is.  She pointed us to St. Michaels Crab and Steak House.
     The plan was to meet Roger and John for lunch there.  We arrived a little early and Olivia was in one of those pregnancy-induced hunger crazes which hath no mercy on a poor soon-to-be father.  So, we went ahead and ordered.  To start, we had the crab balls.  It is essentially their crab cake broken into four balls.  This is crab country, so we had to order a crab cake.  It was wonderful.  There may have been a bit of breading on the outside which is against my paleo diet, but if it was there it was so light that it was unnoticeable.  In the meantime, I downed a local beer which was fine but unmemorable and then I ordered their veggie-infused margarita.  I'm not actually sure what that means, but it was delicious.  However, I am convinced that you could serve motor oil in an Old Bay Seasoning rimmed glass and it would still be good.
     For lunch, we both had the tomato stuffed with crab salad.  The crab salad was excellent and the serving was big enough that I barely touched the tomato.  The cole slaw was fantastic as well.  Olivia then finished off with a completely un-paleo serving of key lime pie.
     Roger and John made it in part of the way through our meal.  They split 1.5 lbs of jumbo shrimp (more Old Bay) and a slice of key lime pie.  All in all, I think everyone was very pleased.  We had a blast hanging out with Roger and John and hope to have them over for dinner soon.
     On a side note, if you ever have a chance to visit any of these quaint towns on the Eastern Shore, I highly recommend them.  They have an idyllic, Americana feel which makes you sure that no matter what, everything will turn out just fine!

Restaurant Brabo

     This evening we were joined by our fellow renaissance people:  Julia and Tony.  Tony and I went to West Point together and endured many long, cold New England bicycle rides together on the Army Cycling Team.  Nowadays, we opt for more leisurely riding and more decadent dining.  We will certainly share many more fine meals with this duo as we explore the culinary treats that the D.C. area has to offer.
     Olivia and I arrived a little early, so I enjoyed a Gin Blossom cocktail while Olivia had a virgin cocktail (ah, the pains of bearing a child).  Tony and Julia arrived shortly thereafter as I was finishing up the Gin Blossom.  It was a light apertif of Plymouth Gin (a personal favorite), St. Germain, and grapefruit juice.  Because I try to consume a paleolithic diet, this sort of cocktail is perfect with almost zero carbs.  In fact, it was so good that Julia, fresh off a stressful week with fun times ahead in Nigeria, opted to start with one as well.  Tony went with a cabernet blend and I wasn't far behind.
     To start with, Olivia and I split an arugula and frisee salad.  The most memorable thing about this salad was the peppercorns.  They were coarsely ground, but they must have been prepared in a certain fashion because they stole the show.  Tony and Julia had the same salad and also had some seared foie gras.  Julia licked the plate, so I think it was good.
     For entrees, Julia and I had the braised pork shank.  Tony had a steak with frites and Olivia had moules frites.  I can speak for the pork shank and the moules.  They were incredible.  The pork shank was braised for twelve hours arrived atop a bit of cabbage.  I don't remember the cabbage because the pork was so good.  The moules were great too.  With moules I tend to give them a thumbs up or a thumbs down.  There's really no in between.  These were thumbs up.
     For dessert, Olivia ordered creme brulee while I opted for a 10 year Fladgate tawny and Tony and Julia split a '93 somethingorother.  Discussion ensued about the distinctions between tawny and ruby and we were probably all wrong.  More research is in order.  Tony is still search google for the answer.
     All in all, this was a great evening and a great dinner.  Brabo is not inexpensive, but the service and preparation were top notch.  If you are looking for someplace nice in the Alexandria area, definitely give Brabo a chance.  We haven't tried the Tasting Room or Butcher's Block, but will at some point in the future.  As always, dining with great people accentuates the meal.  So, try Brabo (with good friends if you can)!

2010 Domaine "La Garrigue" Cotes Du Rhone

Almost 2009.

When I hear the word "garrigue" a Pavlovian response ensues.  Garrigue refers to the Rhone scrubland which is a mixture of scrubs, herbs, lavender, and goodness.  Olivia and I rode our bikes through fields of garrigue last summer and the fragrance of thyme, lavander, and rosemary still lives with me to this day.  This wine reminds me so much of our time in the Rhone last summer.  It has that lovely rusticity that only sun-baked Granache can provide.  This bottle survived two nights.  The first night we threw together a peanut shrimp curry and the second night we braised boneless shortribs in a sofrito, vegetable broth.  This wine held up to both wonderfully and I can't recommend it enough.