An American Pinot with a Recession Price Tag: Darcie Kent Rava Blackjack Vineyard 2011 Pinot Noir

Inexpensive Pinot Noir is the unicorn of the wine world - it would be really awesome, but they just don't exist.

At least they typically aren't worth drinking. So I was quite excited when I recently sat in on a Pinot Noir class taught by a Master of Wine candidate at my favorite local wine shop (Tim's Wine Market for any local Central Floridians) and saw a $13 Single Vineyard Pinot Noir listed on the syllabus.

So why is Pinot Noir so consistently more expensive then other varietals. Only about 50-60% see oak and the Sideways movie wasn't that good was it? So why the price hike?

Well what else? It comes back to economics just like your teacher said it would. Pinot Noir is a fickle grape that naturally constrains supply. In addition to perpetual low yields, Pinot Noir's thin skins (which give it that lighter red color) are more susceptible to disease and mold in the vineyard.

On the demand side, Pinot Noir is delicious!

Those thin skins mean that Pinot Noir picks up more of the "flavor of the place" or terrior such as soil, climate, winds, culture, etc. This is why you find wine nerds typically specify their Pinot preferences - and when it comes to the queen of grapes, I'm a California girl myself.

So there you have it: Pinot Economics 101 - happy Prof. Carvell!?!

Darcie Kent's 2011 Rava Blackjack Vineyard Pinot Noir showcased a fairly condensed candied red fruit nose; however, on the palate this wine is completely dry. Special K's dried red strawberries make another appearance along with cherries, wet round stones, floral and cardamom. That last tasting note tells us this wine did see some oak aging, and is personally what I enjoy about California Pinots.

So get this wine while you can - because for all we know, this myth of the wine world is heading back into our dreams for a while....

Cue the Music... "Those Summer.... WHITES" - 2011 Sur Lie Muscadet

If I learned anything from watching Grease, its that a cute little blond girl should fall in love come summer, get hot and steamy under the dock at the beach, and then sing about it to the world with some nasal background vocals.

Well...I think I found my summer love in a 2011 Sue Lie Muscadet from Loire.

Sure, its not tall, dark and handsome....and no mother, it didn't grow up going to church... and yes, perhaps starting a romantic fling with something this young may be viewed by some as questionable behavior, but really... who can stop true love?

We met over dinner at a friends house on a hot early summer night and I was instantly captivated by its charming bouquet of nectarine, citrius, and white lillys countered with a dry sensability. Always the gracious companion, it showcased our meal of seafood splendidly while never loosing sight of its individuality.

As it opened up, I learned more about Muscadet's heritage hailing from the western ends of the Loire Valley near the city of Nantes in France. One of the few French pure breads, Muscadet is made from 100% Melon de Bourgogne, but freinds just call it "Melon". I could see why it loved seafood so much as growing up close to the Atlantic ocean, Muscadet gained a crisp quality of subtle salinity combined with a touch of limestone acidity acting as a backbone to its delicate fruit notes.

Oh if only I could find a boy so refined!!

In all seriousness, Muscadet is truely the perfect summer companion as it pairs equally well with seafood & screened-in porches. Spefically, Muscadet is known as the ideal paring for raw oysters and other shellfish due to that slight saline quality whose fruit notes act as a lighter liquified version of the popular tropical mango style "salsa" that is topping fish entrees in restaurants everywhere. 

What separates Muscadet from its "crisp dry white" companions, is an added layer of flavor stemming from the "Sur Lie" process. Sur Lie translates in wine terms to "on the lyees," which then translates in normal terms to "sits on dead yeast cells for an noted amount of time"  While this may sound unappealing, this process raises the level of yeast and bread notes (which is why it is commonly completed in Champagne) while of course, simultaneously raising the price tag as well.

So you can see now why I instantly fell head over heals when this delicate charmer rang in at only $13 dollars a bottle.

Hmm... maybe its good that I haven't found a boy this cheap :)

It's Not a Bottle! It's Not a Box! It's Mer Soleil Silver Unoaked Chardonnay!!!

Today was one of those days. The kind of day that the only thing that keeps you sane is the hope of a glass of wine come 5pm.

....And unless you have a crazy cool cellar - this kind of day also requires quick pit stop by your local grocery store or corner liquor shop...depending on your state of residence of course ;)

So there you are, perusing the wine aisle and among the bottles of frogs & kangaroos, little penguins & generic American chateaus, stands a strange looking bottle made of .. cement?

Yes, that would be Mer Soleil Silver, an unoaked Chardonnay from the Santa Lucia Highlands AVA in Monterrey County California! The bottle tells the story of how this wine was made - in cement silos.

Well, I guess this would be a good a time as any to review the different types of fermentation and aging containers that can be used in wine making:

1. Oak - There are two main types of oak used for fermentation & aging of wines: American & French. American lends more pure fresh cut wood notes and French, those frequent flavors of vanilla. Wood is also porous, so it can draw out some impurities in the wine.
2. Stainless Steel - This glorified container doesn't give anything to the wine. Its a relatively non-porous surface that really just holds a wine to "do its thang". It also is very easy to control the temperature of the fermentation process etc. due to the thermoconductivity of this material
3. Glass - Yes! You use a glass to hold wine when you drink it? so why not use it when you make the stuff?! Glass is not used much any more as it results in the roughly the same as stainless steel, but is harder by which to control the fermentation temperature. Plus, whoever thought    glass + alcohol = good idea   clearly never when to a frat party.
4. Cement - This is a mix between wood and stainless steel. It gives small hints of additional minerality and because it is also a porous substance, it can take away some impurities; but not as many as wood. 

   

   Mer Soleil's cement tanks

Mer Soleil Silver is my go to grocery wine grab. Not only is it widely available, but also widely appealing, with a strong under currant of minerality, and citrus zest like lemon & grapefruit. You can definitely taste the AVA in this wine (unusual for an aisle 6 pick) in that the slow ripening provided by the fog of Monterray bay lends notes of green pineapple & young nectarine.

Another reason why this wine is particularly fitting to be found in a grocery store is it is the perfect addition ingrediant. Any recipe that calls for white wine can absolutely be filled with this bottle.

For me? I splashed in the pan for my shrimp linguine with asparagus & a poached egg on top.

Hey? Who said a bad day had to end in bad dinner???

The Story of Two Buck Chuck

Well, over the past couple weeks we have been desperately trying to find wines under $5 that are worthy of pouring down our throats instead of pouring down the sink, and inevidtably we have landed at... 2 Buck Chuck.

Now, I could continue here with a breakdown of my tasting notes on the whites & reds; but I would honestly rather just dive into the much more interesting story behind the fabled 2 Buck Chuck, so I will insert my mother's notes on the Sauvingnon Blanc I recieved via email instead:

" Light straw color, not a leg to stand on*.

Hint of apricot/pear on the nose but it is brief

but if you can taste it your good as it is very brief-over before you even swallow

short sharp finish and the whole time you are thinking this is wine because I am drinking it in a glass with a stem."

 

hahaha. I love my Mama...

 

....Now onto the Ledgend of Charles Shaw...

 

Charles and his lovely wife, who for the sake of this fable will be called Sue, owned a beautiful vinyard in California and enjoyed the wonderful winery lifestyle together for many years and in so doing made a rather large fortune. However, their beautiful happy rich days were numbered and eventually the pair filed for divorce. Both Sue & Charles wanted to maintain ownership of their beloved winery; however when the divorce dust settled Charles came out with the win, only with one annoying little caveat - he had to split the profits fo the winery with his now ex-wife.

 

Charles, an apparently spiteful man, decided he had made enough in his married tenor to live happily for the remainder of this life, and made the fateful choice in which we all now benefit - he decided to sell the wine at cost.

 

Yes, thats right - no profits for him, no profits for her, and cheap wine for the rest of us :) 

 

Unfortunately, this is no longer the case as when the winery was sold in 1990 to Bronco Wine Company when the Shaw Estate went belly up (wonder why that was...) and profits once again entered the picture.

 

But the reputation for great wine for a great price remains - just don't get the Sauvingnon Blanc. right Mama??

 

 

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*Note: Legs hardly ever signify quality, but we will dive deeper into that another day.

What a few dollars more will get you - Vin de Pays Loire Valley Chenin Blanc

In our last post, we explored what $4.50 will get you in California Chenin Blanc. The answer - a sweet yet palatable wine perfect for pleasing a large gathering of people with unknown wine preferences. But as I wandered the local Walmart of wine stores looking for 5 dollar finds, I kept asking myself, "I wonder how much farther a couple more dollars get will get me?"

In fact, I would put money that this is probably the most (internally) asked question of customers while in any wine shop!

Never to rebuke a personally proposed challenge, I decided to conduct a completely subjective, only semi-scientific experiment, as sitting right above my Beringer was a $8 dollar bottle of Chenin Blanc all the way from its hometown of Loire Valley France.

The largest difference between these two cousins was apparent right way - the sugar level. The Loire Chenin was almost completely dry where as our Beringer buddy was definitely leaning towards dessert.

On the nose, this wine showcased similarities of both tree and tropical fruit - unspecific, but that should be expected in an under $10 selection. Minerality was also present, another difference forming between our new & old world counterparts. On the palate, these wine makers both extracted notes of pineapple, yellow apples, nectarine, and Asian pear. What was most noticeable is that this wine had more ripe fruit flavors even though this wine didn't have that backbone of sugar. This ripe fruit aspect was definitely where those $3 extra dollars cashed in.

Now, as I am an analyst in my day job, so lets break this down in a table:

Overall, while this wine was solid, drinkable, I actually would put it at equals with the $3 Double Dog Chardonnay. So, I guess that's our answer - No, a little extra money doesn't equal a little extra flavor.

Guess the journey continues...

Good Wines Under $5 Part 2: Beringer Chenin Blanc

Well, there I guess there are 2 ways to save money as a young sommelier: 1) Drink $5 wines (seriously harder then one might think) 2) Just don't drink at all!

I wish I could be saying that my hiatus was due to the latter - but alas, it is due to the very small representation of quality wines in the former catagory. However, I did just find one recently that was worthy of my blogging love - Beringer Chenin Blanc.

Now, I will attest that I, as a young 20's professional, do squarely put myself in the camp of enoying those things "hipster" as in local, small batch what's-it - and would typically snuff large established labels for the sheer sake of snuffing large established labels, but alas - in this tiny lake of drinkable $5 wines, there is just not room for such snuffery.

I felt a "value" Chenin Blanc had promise as this grape tends to be a reliable light chrisp wine with fruit and floral notes - always stainless steel (which cuts down on costs) and in my opinion, kind of hard to mess up. The Beringer Chenin Blanc showed a platium pale clear color as expected along with tropical fruit skins ( in a kind of way like you just can't quite get to the fruit but you know its there) and crisp yellow apples on the nose. The palate displayed pineapple, ripe apple, peach & white apricot. While the floral notes that I so appreciate in French Chenin's was definately absent - overall, solid choice for $4.50.

The one reason why this wine cannot gain the terminal velocity required to escape the cheap wine segment was its decision to leave a small amount of residual sugar in the wine lending to an off-dry style. Done so to appeal to "entry" wine drinkers, it diminished what refreshing crispness I have come to love in Chenin Blanc.

Why recommend this wine then you say? Well, I do so with context. This wine is a great choice when throwing a large party, where as a host, one must appeal to a broad spectrum of tastes while not shelling out hundreds. It had enough sugar to satiate the sweet wine drinker, while not too much (as in an entry Riesling or worse Moscato would) to offend the established vino fan.

Does it deserve a raving review? Nah. But serve its purpose - you bet. Because do you really want to serve your crem-de-la-crem Vouvray to the random neighbor who stopped by your barbeque?

Yeah, I didn't think so either ;)

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* HELPFUL HINT: As mentioned in an earlier blog: "How would one buying this wine off the super market shelf know that it had residual sugar in it?" Again, I point you towards the alcohol content which is legally required to be posted on all wines sold in the USA. This Chenin has 11.5% & for the most part, any wine from any somewhat warm region (i.e. Alsace, Germany, & NY's Fingerlakes excluded) should gain a minimum of 12% from almost any varietal. Any less and you know some sugar remains.

$3.99 Chardonnary? Go Ahead...I Double Dog Dare You...

If anything is indicative of your twenties, its the use of your smart phone in practically everything you do. If there is anything else that is completely indicative of your twenties, its the fact that you live on a budget.

So guess what happens when you suddenly lose your $800 iPhone 4S at a bar & don't have insurance on it?

You drink $5 dollar wines for the next month... or more...

May I introduce to you my under $5 drink of the night: Double Dog Dare Chardonnay.

This wine actually surprised me with a candid drinkability. What poured from the simple yet fun bottle was not what I had (quite biasedly) expected, that in being a wood chip oaky California Chard, but rather a clear pale straw colored wine showcasing fruit & floral notes. (Note: oak influence in white wines will leave you with a golden or deep lemon color).

On a side note: People commonly ask me "What differentiates a cheap wine vs. an expensive wine?" Answer: if the wine maker is pricing their product correctly, it is the complexity of the wine - or how many different notes, aromas, and tastes you can pull out of your glass. So you can imagine my surprise when I looked down at my notes after tasting this $5 wine and saw a small paragraph forming!

This wine, although seemingly simple with up-front notes of yellow apple & unripe nectarine, actually had several nuanced auxiliary aromas like honey suckle, white marble, & unripe pineapple (aka the green outside parts). It also featured a little bit of honey, which makes me think the winemaker has left an undetectable bit of sugar in the wine to help balance the body (This happens in more wines then you think).

Oh... and those are just my notes on the bouquet.

On the palate this wine was dry (mostly) with appropriate acid. Lemon juice along with the white middle fruit of a Red Delicious apple featured heavily here with some white grapefruit sticking around in the finish.

Sounds too good to be true right?

Well.... I would be lying if I didn't tell you it kinda is. What puts this wine back in the under $10 dollar range was a slightly more pronounced bitter flavor on the finish (from that unripe pineapple & grapefruit) as well as what could be deemed a slightly out of balance amount of alcohol at 12.5%given the fruit flavors noted above - making this wine tricky to pair with food. Also, while this wine had a finish (rare in the $5 wine market), it was short, lasting about 3 seconds.

Tasting blind, I would have put this wine in the $7-9 dollar category, making it budgetary steal at....only $3.99.

Given my typical $15 budget, this wine put me a whopping 1.5% closer to my new iPhone goal.

....Looks like we will be enjoying this category for a while ;)