The low (12%) ALC tempts
me to enjoy for a longer
time/volume than I normally
would at one sitting.
Lest you disremember…
Buelton is one of the
points in the MAGIC triangle
or trapezoid that is
located in Santa Barbara
and it should be
no surprise that an excellent
Gamay Noir comes from this
area since the grape of note
heretofore for me is Pinot Noir.
…one is left drooling
and pining for an Oregon offering.
This note ends abruptly because
I was totally distracted by
the wine AND OTHER THINGS.
I just wish I could remember
to try this one again.
Let me see…
Sommelier: If I were you, I
would try this SoCal Gamay Noir.
OTWN: But you ain’t me.
Sommelier: You should try it
no matter who I am.
OTWN: What if you’re not really
a Sommelier?
Sommelier: Look, just try this
GN. It’s freaking good.
OTWN: It’s not French.
Sommelier: It’s better than
French.
OTWN: That doesn’t make sense.
Sommelier: I’m a wine expert dude,
not a logician.
OTWN: Prove it.
At least I got the French
part right and half the
barrels were “older”.
If you watch the video,
you will see where some of
the grapes come from an
inland/warmer area and
“contribute” to the
richer/fuller/darker
nature of the wine.
That manifests as “pruney”
on my tongue.
Pruney may have a negative
connotation but that is
not the intent here.
The intent is to contrast
the flavor of a fresh plum
with a dried one.
I don’t know that saying
“dried cherry” brings the
same idea to mind.
PN can get pruney.
If they get “too pruney”
then I have a hard time
enjoying the wine.
To avoid pruney, I look
for growing areas that
have lower amounts of
sunshine and/or colder temps.
Don’t let those PN grapes
grow TOO well or get TOO ripe,
or you’ll get prune juice.
This wine is just fine.
Instead of dancing cherries,
we have mellow cherries
laying on the beach,
tanning under a late spring sun.
That’s hard for ME to resist.
Another plus for this wine is the tannins.
(The baggage of oak is tannins
and each can/should be detected
and evaluated separately.)
The producer calls the tannins
soft and velvety.
Whatever.
Tannins are like metal files.
Some are raspy and some are
fine toothed, but I would never
call a metal file soft and velvety
unless I had been an
ex-marketing director for Mel Torme.
Sooooo…
The tannins are fine enough
to allow you to enjoy the wine
SLOWLY without causing more than
short term damage to you tongue,
vocal chords, and esophagus.
OOPS. Where’s my marketing director?
He’s laid out on the beach with an empty
bottle of JG SB PN marked “1/12”.
Quick, somebody grab the key
to his wine locker.
Day Two…
This is another one that
seems a bit more jammy/syrupy
on the second day.
The second best thing about drinking
a bottle of wine over two days
is that on the second day you have
“proper expectations” and can enjoy
it EVEN MORE than you did on the first
day.
This wine stays on my FAVs list,
primarily because it increases the
range of lushness that I enjoy in
a PN to the MORE side.
I like to be caressed by a PN,
not bludgeoned to death.
Desensitization is the approach
I’m taking to “a fuller enjoyment
of wine”, but at this point it
doesn’t take much to send me
scurrying back to rosé.
I can hold my ground with this one
and gird up my loins for something
even MORE challenging.
If you are keeping score,
you will note that there are
no words beginning with “acid”
herein. Yet.
Oops.
I have this “vague idea” that
acidity is THE THING that allows
me to enjoy PN above all other
RED wines.
This wine HAS PLENTY. Not offending,
not excessive, just lots of it and
that keeps the “lushness” at bay.
I’m so cloud-enveloped at this point
that only Rammy can help.
Sound familiar?
Erst wenn die Wolken schlafen gehen
Kann man uns am Himmel sehen
I’m not done yet…
A stroll into the weeds reveals
that this wine has a bit of
“greenness” to it which COULD BE
described as “leafy”.
Not surprising if those “inland”
grapes have anything to say about it.
It took me a long time to pick this
up so it is both “not noticeable”
and “not distracting” depending upon
your “sensitivity”.
The last few sips were fun because
they held the greatest concentration
of “flavor” that the oak had to offer.
The drooling started yesterday when Theresa
told me that the egg salad was done.
I just finished making the finger sandwiches
and my stomach is growling.
I decided to dust off the Riedel white wine
glass for this one. I’m waiting for the glass
to chill.
First sip…
This is the driest and most austere R that I
have ever had.
First bite…
This might not be PERFECT, but it will do.
The egg salad wins the flavor battle, but the
wine wins the beauty contest and leads the
cheering squad.
It’s really hard not to shovel and gulp.
Give me an “A”, Apple of my Eye.
Give me a little “h”, honey.
Give me another “h”, honey.
…
What’s that spell?
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
Brunch is over and now I get to enjoy
a bit more of the wine without all that
“flavor distraction”.
Boiled eggs CAN BE real stinkers.
Maybe deviled ham WOULD BE better. That’s
easy enough to figure out.
“As The Grape Ripens”…
In this episode, our wine slush contemplates
which food might be best to have for a “wine
brunch” so he can keep having experimental brunches
until he can’t contemplate anymore.
Biscuits and Gravy
Liver and Onions
Gizzards, Gonads, and Geodes
…
The follow-on sips reveal a wine with subtle
flavors of honeycomb and softer, less citrusy
fruit than I’m used to in R. Not quite
pear, but getting there.
And there’s an “earthy” quality that I can’t
yet pin down.
Or maybe something “stemmy”.
No. It’s minerals. “Clean Slate”.
Now I can match the taste and smell. Very nice.
Judge: You have been accused of mixing food
and drink in “an unseemly fashion”. How do you
plead?
Wine Slush: Aggressively.
J: The court finds you guilty of violating
Wine Enjoyment Ordinance #337. You must pay $500
OR do “corrective” community service. Which
do you chose?
WS: Community service. What is it?
Court Order:
Prepare the palate.
Eat the sandwiches.
Clear the palate.
WS: What kind of sandwiches?
J: Court adjourned, it’s time to obey WEO #1.
Day Two…
I “preparing my palate” this morning.
The subtle things are becoming more evident, but
I need more time to prepare. For what, I don’t
know.
I actually got the impression of Semillon. How
can that be? Please tell me I don’t have MORE
brain damage.
How many times is Riesling mentioned in this article?
It’s not that this wine IS LIKE Semillon, it just
REMINDS ME of Semillon.
Now I’m back in Graves/Bordeaux and drooling again.
I want a dry Semillon that reminds me of Riesling.
So there.
OR, I’ll take a Sauternes and just shut up until I can
pay to play again.
For THIS WINE, I started out with earthy/stemmy and wound up
with minerally.
But the earthiness is still there. Maybe it’s grassiness like
the linked article suggests. If it’s good for the goose…
I’m having a MUCH BETTER DAY with this wine without the
“confusion of food”.
And I finally got the wine COLD ENOUGH. The extra chill
is sharpening the acidity and I can now see the stairway
to heaven.
Please read ALL of the comments and then answer the following
question.
What “musically significant thing” happens at exactly 4:19
in this “particular video”?
I keep looking at the neck of the wine bottle which is
exposed above the wine bib to see it the spelling has been
changed to “Sturm”.
Alas, it is static and I’m forced to investigate Stirm’s web
page.
Hmmm.
For a minute there I got a little “geographically confused”,
but after figuring out that the “Kick-on” vineyard was near
Santa Barbara I felt a little better.
As you know, I consider the Solvang/Los Olivos/Santa Ynez
“triangle” to be oenologically endowed by GOD, so when I
connected this wine to Los Alamos, I was “relieved”.
Maybe I need to add Los Alamos and Buelton to create a
parallelogram of sorts.
And the verdict is…
The bottle is empty and the wine will be sorely missed.
But school is still in session…
Campo de Borja/Calatayud/Cariñena is another “triangle”
that haunts me.
Someday I will have a wine from from this area that is
“light and elegant”. I can wait…
Option Trader's Wine Notes 