I think that over the last couple of years, everyone has jumped on board with the whole Zinfandel (the red variety) with Thanksgiving idea. Zinfandel works well because it is quite jammy and juicy with some spiciness which is a nice compliment to the dry turkey. I do not care how proud your mom, grandmother or wife is of her bird, turkey is a dry meat. Also, the vast array of flavors in the meal itself seem to match up well with this wine. The only exception is cranberry sauce... I am not sure if any red can stand up to this beast. That is where the white such as gewurztraminer or Riesling comes into play. I am also quite convinced that grenache has a place on the Thanksgiving table even more so then the traditional pinot noir. Whether it is a garnacha from Spain or a southern Rhone red made predominately of grenache, I feel that the spice and richness of these wines would be an excellent compliment. That being said, here are just a few suggestions to help make your shopping just a little easier.
ZINFANDEL...
2008 Seghesio Sonoma County Zinfandel... 21.99
This baby lives up to all the hype of zin. Rich and jammy with notes of dark raspberry, anise and black pepper. This gem is hedonistic but certainly not over-the-top. I haven't seen the Wine Spectator's Top 100 for 2009, but there is a good chance this one is in there so get it while you can. (As of this article, I saw the Top 100 and did not see the Seghesio... could have missed it. #1 wine is not even available on the market...Why do they do that?)
2006 Klinkerbrick Old Vines Lodi Zinfandel... 16.99
Now this is an incredible deal in zinfandel. You do have to decant this one, but once it opens up watch out. This zin is intense with vibrant blackberry, dark cherry and some chocolate tones. There is actually some acid to this puppy and it will be a perfect match for food. The key is to let it open up because at first blush it is a tad tight. The best bang for the buck I have found in awhile.
PINOT NOIR...
2008 Montoya Monterey County Pinot Noir... 11.99
A lot of people love to have Pinot Noir with Thanksgiving. The light pinots are a nice compliment since they are not overbearing. Certainly a contradiction in approaches when you compare it to zinfandel. That is why I like this pinot. A little juicier then most pinot noirs, yet it shows all the proper elements. Ripe strawberry and raspberry notes come through nicely on silky smooth tannins yet this pinot is not ripe.... just has that nice riper feel on the palate. This is new world pinot for sure, and very well done. A winner, winner for turkey dinner.
OTHER RED...
2008 J Lohr Wildflower. Valdiguie... 7.99
I am really jazzed about this wine. I have always liked it, but this vintage rocks! A few years ago they called this Gamay Beaujolais. The FDA stepped in and told producers that they could no longer use this made up name and had to call it by it’s varietal... Zap! Valdiguie! This wine took me back to the days when my mom made plum butter. I have asked around and no one seems to know what I am talking about. My mother made something like plum jam with spice in it like cinnamon, nutmeg and ... well you get the picture. This wine fills your palate with crushed black plums and warm spices. The tannins are very smooth but there. The finish on this wine is pleasant and decently long. This wine is going to be on my table for Thanksgiving and I am very curious to see the reaction of my guests... I believe it will be one of their favorites.
WHITES...
2007 Highway 14 Columbia Valley White... 9.99
This is a blend of pinot gris, chardonnay and viognier and is surprisingly rich and viscous especially considering this silly price. I thought this would be a nice addition to Thanksgiving.. a little stretch to the wild side. Smokey elements on the nose with hints of honied peaches and white flowers..(Imagine that with a stuffing filled with wild mushrooms and oysters. Wow!) Nice weight on the palate with notes of pitted fruits and anise leading into a finish of toasty pears and hints of after dinner mints. I am drooling on my keyboard as I write this out. All the elements of this wine match up nicely with many of the dishes served during the Thanksgiving meal. Don’t let the ugly label fool you, this is great wine at a super good price.
2008 Clean Slate Riesling Mosel-Saar-Ruwer Germany... 9.99
In most cases it is hard to go wrong with Riesling, especially when you buy one from Washington State. It is a little different story when you go into other regions. Sometimes you can get one with heavy petroleum notes that may be off-putting to many people. A lot of times it reminds me of brand new rubber boots. Your Thanksgiving meal is not a time to take chances like this. Clean Slate is quite simply a perfect Riesling if you want to satisfy everyone at the meal. Very clean and fresh on the palate with the perfect balance of sweetness and acidity. Notes of peaches come through nicely on an intense balanced palate followed by hints of minerality. This wine lingers on the palate for some time. Riesling seems to be the no-brainer wine for Thanksgiving. But make sure you have a red around for those “I don’t drink white wine” folks.
2007 Lucien Albrecht Gewurztraminer Alsace France... 16.99
Like the folks who will only drink pinot noir with Thanksgiving, the folks who drink white prefer gewurztraminer. That being said, how many of you have tried a gewurz from Alsace? I am sure that there are a few of you who have, but let’s admit it. It is real easy to walk over to the Washington gewurztraminer section and pick out a decent one for around seven bucks and problem solved. Right? I am here to tell you that with all the effort you put into this fabulous meal, why not bump up the level of quality you put into the purchase of your wine? This gewurztraminer from Lucien Albrecht will blow you out of the water! This one jumps out the glass, smacks you in the face and says “ Hey, look at me”! Very intense on the palate with loads of nutty flavors along with tropical and pitted fruit notes that coat your palate and linger on and on. The balance of fruit and acidity (yes, I said acidity) is amazing leaving your mouth clean and refreshed in the end. I cannot remember the last time I got this excited about a gewurztraminer but as I dive into this region of producers, I am sure it will not be the last. This wine will compliment every aspect of the meal, and even though it is a star onto itself it will gladly sit back and let the meal take the stage.
Well, there you go along with just one little side note on reds. I am thinking that grenache based reds from the Rhone valley in France might be the next zinfandel or pinot noir for Thanksgiving. These wines can be light like a pinot or a little heavier like a zin depending on the wine making style and producer. I am going to play around with this at my dinner table going with a Gigondas, Vinsobres Cotes-Du-Rhone Villages or a red from Rasteau. I will let you know my thoughts on this afterward.
Have a great Thanksgiving with your family and if you have any experiences you would like to share, post them on Stan’s Wine Group www.facebook.com.
You and I are taking the “Snob” out of wine. Stan
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Thursday, November 19
WINNER, WINNER, TURKEY DINNER! A FEW SUGGESTIONS FOR THANKSGIVING...
by
Brazenly Lucid
on Thu 19 Nov 2009 07:43 AM PST
Tuesday, November 17
HOLIDAY TASTING #1 ... A HUGE SUCCESS!!
by
Brazenly Lucid
on Tue 17 Nov 2009 05:18 PM PST
It was an awesome night at the Mullis Center Thursday, November 12. Holiday Tasting #1 focused on wines that would compliment the traditional and non-traditional Thanksgiving meal as well as giving everyone a chance to come and taste wines from all over the globe. Yes, wines from Chile, Argentina, South Africa and France. I wasn’t sure how the turn-out would be since we had such good success with the Ten Under Ten in October. I have a great crowd of savvy wine folks so there was nothing to worry about. It was a huge crowd and everyone said they had a great time and loved the wines that we chose to highlight. It was definitely a wine tasting in which we focused on mostly "Old World" style wines with just a couple from Argentina that showed a "New World" edge. As is typical with most of these events, the wine that was most popular was a surprise to me! That is what I love about wine and it is something that I preach from the rooftops... wine is an individual sport. If you like it, it is good wine and it doesn’t matter what I say, what Robert Parker Jr. says or what the Wine Spectator says. I would like to thank Pete Stephenson from Noble Wines for all his help picking out the wines and setting up for the event. I would also like to thank Michael Brown from Vineyard Brands which is the importer that handles all these great wines, for coming up and helping out. Also, a shout out to David Osler, Pete’s boss for taking the time to come up and help out to the bitter end. One more thing, my condolences to Dick Grout. He missed the ferry by 3 minutes trying to get back to the island to be a part of the tasting. This tasting was perfect for him and he knew it! Sorry Dick! I gave him a bottle from the tasting but I know that he would have rather been there. Here are the wines that were tasted and my thoughts on them. 2008 Dona Paula Los Cardos Sauvignon Blanc... There was great acid on this baby which is what I am looking for in a good sauv. blanc. This is what makes New Zealand whites so popular. This wine was bright in the mouth with notes of pine and grapefruit that were quite vibrant. The finish was quite pleasing with notes of lemon and hints of pine. This is a perfect wine for shellfish for around nine bucks, it is a steal! 89 points 2008 Perrin & Fils Cotes-Du-Rhone blanc.. It had been awhile since I had tried this wine. I love CDR blanc and this one did not let me down. Very nice bouquet of honey and lemon with hints of apricot and peach. It had excellent weight in the mouth with hints of toast, melon, roasted nuts and lemon. It had a nice dryness to it making it an excellent match with food. The finish was not spectacular but adequate. Not bad for nine bucks. 87 points 2007 Kesseler "R" Riesling Qba... When it comes to riesling, Germany has the corner on some of the best in the world. This is the lower tier level of riesling for them, but that certainly does not mean that they are lower tier in quality. It would take pages and pages to explain the riesling hierarchy of Germany. Suffice to say, most riesling from Germany is worth giving a try. This juice had that nose that is so typical of riesling... it reminded me of new rubber boots with a splash of papaya. Sweet on the palate, but well balanced with a nice dry edge in the middle. Papaya and mango came through nicely on this riesling with just slight hints of new rubber. I liked this baby and believe it would be a perfect wine for Thanksgiving. (If you want to take a nice step up, go with their Estate Qba) 89 points. 2007 Perrin & Fils Reserve Cotes-Du-Rhone... Robert Parker Jr. called the 2007 vintage in souther Rhone, the vintage of his lifetime. That is a big statement coming from someone of such stature in the wine world. With just a couple of exceptions, all of the wines I have tasted from this vintage have been above average. This simple Cotes-Du-Rhone showed just how good even the lower priced wines from this area can be. Toasty blackberry cobbler on the nose with some nice warm spices. Just smelling it brought me back to my grandmothers kitchen. Fresh on the palate with nice cherry, blackberry and cassis notes with just a slight tannic grip and a fairly long finish. This wine could even improve with just a couple of years in the cellar. Not bad for a wine that is around ten bucks. 89 points 2007 Perrin & Fils Cotes-Du-Rhone Villages Reserve.. I have featured this at the store for some time now and I have felt it was a steal for what you get for only twelve bucks. Robert Parker gave it 89 points and described it as a dense structured wine. It has changed a bit since he tasted it. It is certainly elegant and well made showing ripe blackberry, strawberry and rose pedal notes. This baby leans towards the weight of a heavier pinot noir. It does have that characteristic spicy black pepper on the back of the palate that you expect from a southern Rhone wine. This my friends would be a super good match with turkey dinner. 89 points 2007 Perrin & Fils Vinsobres Cotes-Du-Rhone Villages ... This was my personal favorite at the wine tasting and nobody ordered any of it. I love it! The wine world is all about individual taste and this proves it. That is not to say that I would recommend this wine to all of my customers. The price is a little higher then the rest, and it is a French wine. Not all of my fellow wine Geeks like to spend a load on a French wine... what can I say. This wine showed incredible depth. Loads of dark berry notes integrated with some nice wood tones that held on into a warm pleasing finish. I felt that the qpr on this was excellent , and if any of you change your mind, come look me up. I just received an e-mail today (Tuesday) that this wine made it into the "Top 100" wines for 2009 in the Wine Spectator. By the way, next to the Burgundy this was the most expensive on the list. 94 points 2006 Girardin Bourgogne Rouge cuvee St. Vincnet... The top dollar wine on the list. This wine like a lot of Burgundies, had a load of barnyard on the nose. Very poopy. The palate of course was quite different with dark raspberry and ripe strawberry tones mixed with some crushed rock notes. This pinot had a lot of minerality to it and a little frizzante on the palate which was a surprise to me, Not my favorite Burgundy but it had a reasonable price tag, and a few of the folks were drawn to the earthy quality of this wine. I believe this wine would match up well with a stuffing that had wild mushrooms and oysters in it. This combination may be like going to heaven and back. ( I could use another analogy but it would not be appropriate to this blog). 86 points 2007 Los Cardos Syrah, Argentina... This was an amazing little syrah for the price. It had everything you would expect, smokey nose with dark berries. Good balance on the palate showing plum, and boysenberry notes backed by hints of smoke and a credible finish. This wine is only about nine bucks a bottle and is an over-achiever for sure. This made it in the top three of most popular wines at the tasting. 88 points 2007 Los Cardos Malbec, Argentina... Another very popular wine at the tasting, this wine was true to the Malbec varietal. I got a really fresh nose with some candied swizzler elements. The palate was very pleasing with some concord grape notes along with brambleberry and currant tones. The wine was simple yet very pleasing. For only nine bucks everyday it is a real crowd pleaser and one that I am sure you could serve to your company and they would be quite happy. As far as turkey goes, I am not sure if this would be the wine. This would be a nice "Hey, welcome to our house and enjoy a glass of wine." wine. 86 points 2008 Los Cardos Cabernet Carmenere, Argentina... This wine did not stand out in the crowd, although there was nothing fundamentally wrong with it. It had a nice herbaceous quality to it with fresh tones of blackberry and anise. This would be a great everyday table red and although I at first thought it might be a good turkey wine, I found it to be just a little to tight to be qualified. This is a great beef wine, certainly a great match for stew or lamb. 87 points 2007 Dona Paula Malbec, Argentina... This was the #1 favorite out of all the wines served according to the comments and orders. I’ll have to say that this came as quite a surprise to me. I was not as enthralled with this wine as the rest. One of you came up to me and mentioned that this could be a wine that would improve with age. I believe that he was right. If you choose to drink this wine now, I would suggest that you decant it for about an hour before consuming. In a couple of years, this wine will juice out and become very nice... Good suggestion Jack! This malbec was somewhat restrained with notes of blackberry and plum on the palate. The tannins were somewhat chalky and soft leading into a fairly short but pleasing finish. 86 points Goats-Du-Roam Villages, South Africa... I have not tried this in awhile so it was nice to get reacquainted with it. Very earthy on the nose with just a hint of barnyard but certainly not unpleasant. The palate had hints of dark plum and spice notes with a somewhat thin finish. This is a wine for someone who likes old world style without paying a lot of money for it. A very nice attempt at approaching a Rhone style blend. 86 points Wares Warrior Port... I’ll say this again and again, it is hard to go wrong with a port or any other dessert wine for that matter. It is true, that some are better then others, and this fell in the better category. Very intense sweetness with that characteristic ripe currant quality from beginning to end. There were not any flaws in this port that I could detect and a lot of the tasters agreed. For less then twenty bucks, I believe this is a good investment for entertaining holiday guests or simply to have around for an aperitif. 89 points There you go, and I wish to apologize for missing some of the vintages, I seemed to have left them off of my tasting notes. They are the current vantages that are available on the market at this time. I look forward to next month, December 10 for Holiday Tasting #2 which will focus on wines for the holidays in December. Thanks again to all of you who came to the November tasting and I hope to see you at the next one. Also, keep an eye out for my picks for Thanksgiving. Stan
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