Caught in a Blind

A blind tasting is a good way to test your wine drinking palette. When you add the criteria that no bottle surpasses $15, it can make things rather tricky. This is what happened last night at Seattle Uncorked.

David LeClaire is the main dude behind Seattle Uncorked; he knows a thing or two about wine and events. Seattle Uncorked is a social networking and drinking club that has events every few weeks. Great chance to network and drink wine. Business cards aren't required, nor is snootiness. Last night, the blind tasting fee was $10 and we were treated to some good wines (and some not so good) but we also had some good food courtesy of Herban Feast.

Events like this happen all the time, so sign up today to join the fun of Seattle Uncorked. Membership is free if you sign up by the end of the year! Next up is a BC/Okanagan tasting of wines that David personally brought back from Canada. I'm intrigued, as are you, eh?

àMaurice is aMazing.

Earlier this year we went to a Winemaker Dinner at The WAC celebrating the wines of àMaurice. A big reason why we went is because one of us knew the winemaker, Anna Schafer. We had a great time getting to know Anna and tasting her wines created a fondness for àMaurice that most of us carry to this day. So imagine my surprise when I found out they were making a table wine.

Based in Walla Walla, àMaurice is creating some exciting stuff..or as Stephen Tanzer mentioned at Art of the Table "... àMaurice was a surprising and exciting winery.... " Very cool stuff. They make awesome wines, ranging from Malbec to Merlot, Viognier to Chardonnay, and more.

So imagine my surprise this week when I went to the Uptown Metropolitan Market and noticed a white table wine from them called "Pour Me". Table wines are usually a blend of grapes and have a lot of flavor that's pretty front and center. In this case Pour Me is a blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier, and Chardonnay. And Pour Me clocks in at under $15. Sold!

We were excited to try it, because we knew Anna's talent and the quality of vine that àMaurice plays with. When we tasted it, Pour Me exceeded our expectations. A pretty full body with good acidity and evident fruit; this was a really nice wine. And it had a great finish! Creamy and lush: malolactic fermentation perhaps? This is a really fun wine. Definitely as good as some Washington whites at twice it's price.

Another cool thing about Pour Me is that it's a Metropolitan Market exclusive. In other words, once they're sold out, you've missed your chance. You've been properly warned; get yours.

Wining and dining with Stephen Tanzer

Last weekend, my friend Julie invited me to this really cool event a wine dude from Microsoft organized. It was an evening eating and drinking with acclaimed wine writer, Stephen Tanzer. The event was to taste 10 of the best Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah that Washington could produce. I knew I had to attend; how often do opportunities where you can drink great wine and learn a ton happen?

David Hamilton was the guy that organized this event, and it was awesome. It was located at the wonderful Art of the Table restaurant in Wallingford. I could go on and on about how great the food was, but I'll save that for another time, as Chef Dustin Ronspies has some great themes ahead for dinner. I'm looking forward to going back for the Julia Childs' dinner. Chef Dustin is a really cool guy and all the praise Art of the Table is getting is well deserved.

But yes, the wine and Steve. Every summer, Steve visits Washington to do some tastings and check out the pulse of the industry as he preps for his renowned wine articles. He tries a ton of stuff from all sorts of different producers. He wanted to have an event to taste the absolute best that Washington can produce, which brought us to that evening. Five Cabs and five Syrahs. All were excellent and with Steve's expertise, we were able to understand the unique differences of these wines and the future of the Washington wine industry.

In tasting, Steve looks for two main things; aromatic complexity and definition of flavor. I thought this was cool. It's easy to drink wine, but with tasting having a game plan helps out in appreciating wine. He also mentioned some exciting producers that he was surprised by. From Gramercy to Long Shadows, Trust to Va Piano, even our friends at aMaurice, these were all wineries to keep an eye on.

For the Cabernet, my personal favorite was the 2004 Leonetti Cellar Walla Walla Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. This was an utterly brilliant wine that felt like silk on my palette. From the full, lush nose, to the clean and long lasting finish. This was a wine that as Steve mentioned, 'is a classic expression of Walla Walla.' The wine was spicy, slightly acidic thus making it a great food wine. And the soft tannins made it easily drinkable. Here was a cool way that Steve mentioned accounting for tannins; think about them as grains. Are the grains fine? Smooth and elegant? Or are they granular? Chunky and bold? Things to consider.

The Leonetti was excellent. Not surprising as they have always been one of the finest purveyors of Washington Wine. Plus, winemaker Chris Figgins is a supersmart and talented dude.

I was really looking forward to the Syrah tasting. I haven't drank as much Syrah as I used too. For a stretch it was the 'in' grape; much like how it used to be Merlot, now it is Pinot. So there were a ton of Syrah out there, and I slowly started to try other wines. But the Syrah that we drank were all great. Very different from the Syrah that I use to drink (or was I just drinking some inconsistent stuff?). A really cool thing that Steve mentioned is that the best is yet to come for Washington Syrah.

Of the Syrah's we tasted, my personal favorite was the 2006 Betz La Serenne Columbia Valley Syrah. This was an excellent wine. Bob Betz always comes through with great wines and this was no exception. It had a smoky nose with hints of tobacco and meat. It rolls along the palette with a ton of body and finishes with a nice lushness that goes on and on. Couple this with the malolactic fermentation, this was a wine with a ton of mouthfeel. I really did love this wine, it reminded me of late summer. I don't know how to quantify that, but it just felt like late summer, the enjoyment of looking back and the hope of looking forward.

Betz Family Winery is considered one of the best of Washington, and this Syrah proves that. Another cool thing is that Bob Betz has always been supportive of retail, in other words, it shouldn't be too hard to find this wine, he always makes sure to allocate wine to his friends in retail.

Here were the other wines on the menu, all were excellent:

• 2005 Gramercy Cellars Walla Walla Valley Syrah
• 2005 Waters Forgotten Hills Walla Walla Valley Syrah
• 2005 K Vintners Walls Walla Walla Valley Syrah
• 2004 Cayuse Cailloux Vineyard Walla Walla Valley Syrah
• 2005 L'Ecole No. 41 Walla Walla Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
• 2005 Abeja Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
• 2005 Chateau Rollat Edouard de Rollat Walla Walla Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
• 2004 Quilceda Creek Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

So yeah, we had a great time tasting some truly awesome wines. Thanks David for organizing. Thanks Julie for inviting me! And thanks Steve! For dropping the knowledge and teaching us the potential and greatness of Washington wine.

Shock and Awe

If you're hankering for a good wine movie that would be the Chardonnay to Sideways' Pinot, there is a great one on the horizon called Bottle Shock.

Bottle Shock is about the famed Judgment of Paris Tasting of 1976, where Napa Valley wines beat French wines. The results of this tasting shook the wine world. It validated the U.S. as a producer of quality wines and it put the wineries of Stag's Leap Wine Cellars and Chateau Montelena on the map.

Going into the movie we knew more about the Stag's Leap side of things. After getting a private tour of Stag's Leap through a friend, we learned about its history and how their Cask 23 Cabernet Sauvignon was the wine of distinction at the Paris tasting. So knowing more about the red side, we were looking forward to learning about the white wine side of things and Chateau Montelena's Chardonnay.

In June, we went to the Seattle International Film Festival's closing gala for Bottle Shock. It was a grand affair with the red carpet and appearances by Freddy Rodriguez and Bill Pullman. The whole event was great and justly so, the movie was excellent. It was a great story and the characters were wonderful. I highly suggest watching it when it comes around to your local theater.

The movie did a great job with telling the story of Chateau Montelena. Of course there was a bit of Hollywood twists and turns mixed in, but the execution was excellent. And it had Alan Rickman. Always awesome. The movie did a great job of romanticizing California Wine Country and the experience of this tasting. Just a really enjoyable movie.

It comes out August 6 to wide release and will slowly trickle in following weeks. Go see it, you'll have a great time.

Celebrity Roast

I love roast chicken. Love it. What's not to love; rich flavor, moist meat, basically everything you love about chicken is amplified. Great in its simplicity, but like most things that are simple can be incredibly challenging. Cook too long, you get cardboard. Cook too short, hello food poisoning. But that middle point of perfection is one of the best things you'll ever eat. Roast chicken is the star of the show at any dinner.

Some interesting notes on roast chicken:

Le Pichet/Cafe Presse

Listed both as they are sister restaurants, but they are slightly different, mostly in the experience. Le Pichet is whimsical, playful, with an old world energy, while Cafe Presse is energetic, urban, vibrant. The feel at both places pass onto the dining experience. When you order their chicken expect to wait an hour. It's worth it. The chicken will be quartered off for you and you'll get a healthy portion of fries at Cafe Presse and Le Pichet will have some veggies and maybe polenta to accompany it. And for dessert definitely make sure to order the Chocolat Chaud. It's so good it's not even on the menu. Another insider tip from your friend Frank.

Heston Blumenthal Search for Roast Chicken Perfection

In the molecular gastronomy world there are a gaggle of renowned chefs doing their thing. Folks such as Wylie Dufresne, Grant Achatz, Ferran Adria (I'll be writing more about him soon...) and more, Heston Blumenthal is doing his thing at his renowned restaurant, The Fat Duck. What's unique about his roast chicken is that he cooks his for about 4-6 hours at 60 degrees Celsius. You read that right. 60 Celsius (about 140 Fahrenheit) how is this possible you ask? Doesn't the internal temperature of chicken need to be 165? Conventionally speaking, yes. But molecular gastronomy is about breaking walls of food through science and technique. What Chef Blumenthal does is keep the chicken roasting at 60 continuously, as in there isn't waves to the temperature. His ovens pump over those four hours at a steady temp. For our pedestrian ovens, the heat fluctuates and reaches an average that achieves that temperature. Tricky. And yes, I want to try it.

Costco Rotisserie Chicken

The seasoned rotisserie chicken at Costco is unbelievable. And it's only five bucks! It's super flavorful and will yield at least a couple of meals out of it. You can also use the bones and scrap meat to make broth. Another great thing that Costco does with their chicken at the end of the day is make soup and chicken salad. Great way to reuse the meat. The tricky thing with going to Costco is that the trip will easily cost you $100 in the end. This is also known as The Costco Effect. An example; one time we were at Costco to grab water. That's it water. But as we're walking past the butcher counter I mention that people were waiting for the chicken. So that peaked our interest. As we wait for the next round of chicken to be ready we decide to mosey over to the books and DVDs. That wait ended up costing us another $100.

But back to the chicken, since it's rotisserie, it rotates on a spit and self-bastes to stay moist. The chicken is always perfectly cooked and seasoned and will make you want to eat it then and there. When you grab yours, make sure to grab a plastic bag to put it in, careful as it may leak. Also, the trussing they use is a bit tricky to take off when you're ready to eat, so make sure to cut it away and pull it off, the wings are the tricky part.

There you have it; my soliloquy to the glory of roast chicken. Trust me, I could go on even more, but we'll save that for another post.

Oh yeah, wine pairings. Because of it's richness, something with a nice bit of acidity would be great to have with it. For whites, a Chilean Sauvignon Blanc or Washington Riesling would be perfect. And don't exclude reds as the bold flavors of roast chicken could stand up to some reds. French Beaujolais or Oregon Pinot Noir, even Washington Cab would make a great match.

Getting the most from a roast.

This past weekend, a bunch of us went down to Seattle Wine Outlet for their Salmon Roast. This was the second year that it's been going on, but the first for us. And it was awesome.

Richard Kinssies hosted this event at their Interbay location and provided free Copper River salmon off the grill. Elegantly dressed with salt, pepper, garlic, and rosemary; wrapped in foil, it was perfectly cooked off of the grill. And it was free! Top this off with the roasted garlic, wine tastings, cheese, and a fun atmosphere it made for the perfect summertime lunch.

What's great about the Seattle Wine Outlet besides the super cheap prices on wine (seriously, they are awesome) is that they have these really great informal classes (as mentioned in a previous post) and super cool events like this Salmon Roast. Earlier in the year they hosted a pig roast that was equally awesome. They bought a ton of roasted and bbq pork from the finest purveyor of pork in Seattle; Kau Kau. And that was free too!

Keep an eye out for other events at the Seattle Wine Outlet, a great chance to learn about wine at great prices and have some great food with fun people. In fact, why not just sign up for the newsletter?

"The New Castle of the Pope"

Or in other words, "Chateauneuf-du-Pape" (here on out called CdP), one of the finest red wines of the Old World. Last night, I attended a CdP tasting at Richard Kinssies' excellent Seattle Wine Outlet. I haven't had much exposure to this Southern Rhone wine, so I was looking forward to learning as much as I could. Another cool thing about the evening was that I ran into Kris Mikami at the tasting. Kris is one of the folks in the Washington Wine industry that has a pulse on the entire industry. Definitely a mover and shaker. But yeah, I learned a ton from the event and in the spirit of sharing information, I'll summarize the knowledge that was dropping.

The wine. Chateauneuf-du-Pape is unique in that the blend has the potential to reach up to 13 different grapes! Grenache is the dominant grape, with Syrah, Mourvedre, Cinsault and a host of others invited to the shindig. Where the CdP region is located is in the Southeast of France, where the Rhone River drains. The terroir is unique here because there isn't much visible soil, instead there is a top layer of 'galet' or stones that shield the soil and insulate the rootstock. Interesting stuff.

Oh yeah, the name. It was called Chateauneuf du Pape. Because a long, long time ago in a country far, far away, the papal ministry wanted to move the papalcy to France. Pourquoi? Because Pope Clement V was a wine lover. So he moved the church to Avignon and built the new castle to the Pope. And the embossing on CdP bottles? That means it was estate bottled. Flex that trivia sometime. You won't even have to give me credit.

The taste of CdP is unique in that there is no definitive common bond between them, yet you'll know one when you taste one. Some can be fruit forward, evident tannins to wines with strong spice components, tart, tangy tendencies. This huge palette has much to do with the blend of grapes. One thing that is certain is that it must be 50% Grenache by law.

To conclude, Chateaneuf du Pape is an utterly delightful wine that I look forward to drinking more of soon. With some grilled lamb perhaps? Enjoy this delightful wine, now or down the road. It's aging potential is excellent! Cheers to all!