Archive for the ‘Grenache’ Category

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What’s Up Lunch?: The Take & Bake Pizza Chronicles

February 20, 2012

Greetings all!

Readers of this blog may be familiar with a series of postings we’ve run over the past couple of years; our “What’s Up Lunch?” series, in which we document unique luncheon pairings with our wines. Well, I’m not sure this qualifies as a “unique” pairing, per se, but it certainly occurred at lunch, and it definitely involved our wines. And I’ll argue for the singularity of the event by virtue of the constraint …

Constraint? Of course! We can’t just sit around and eat pizza all day! But what we CAN do, is a taste test with four different Take & Bake pizzas!

So that’s what we did; four pizzas, two wines, two tasters.

The tasters? Myself, and my colleague Sam Howles-Banerji; one time harvest intern cum cellar rat, long-time tasting room staffer, and now, full-time member of the Monte Bello Hospitality Team.

The wines? 2005 Ridge Vineyards Grenache, and 2009 Ridge Vineyards Lytton Springs.

And the pizzas?

 
The challenge? Determine which was the best pairing of wine and pizza.
 
 
Round I commences, with the Whole Foods offering; the decision? Grenache by a nose. The thin crust is appealing, but chewier than expected, and while the sauce does a nice reconciliation of sweet and tart, the cheese lacks flavor, and comes off a tad oily accordingly. That said, as far as the pairing goes, the spice of the grenache plays off the oil well, and the sauce’s balance of sweet and tart matches the architecture of the wine quite decently. A good, if not great pairing, with the wine, in the end, just seeming slightly too big for the pizza. Comparatively though, the pizza just swallows the back half of the Lytton’s finish, so, as noted, the Grenache gets the nod with this one.
 
 
Round II commences, with the Uncie Ro’s (Santa Cruz’s own!); the decision? Our Estate Cabernet! I know, I know, that wasn’t supposed to be part of the tasting, but we just KNEW it would be perfect after tasting this pizza. The crust is a lovely, chewy, thin NY style, and while it’s a bit shy on cheese, the herbs (particularly the parsley) are perfect, and they just cry out for cool climate cabernet. Thus, the 2008 Ridge Vineyards Estate Cabernet. That said, still not a perfect pairing. A pretty great one, but not PERFECT.
 
 
Round III commences, with the Annie’s offering. BAM! Unquestionably, this is one of the very best take & bakes we’ve ever had. I was worried at first, because it has a very, shall we say, “puffy” crust, and I usually don’t like a puffy crust. But the voluminous explosion of sauce and cheese on the palate is just exquisite; piquant and sweet, herbal and cheesy, just totally excellent. That said, and sadly, not a great pairing for any of the wines we were tasting. The grenache was the best option of the three, but the two, at best, co-existed; there was no real magic.
 
 
So the final round commenced, with the Vicolo. This is a corn crust offering, so it was kind of odd-man-out in the group, but it tasted quite good. The crust was both sweet and granular, the cheeses were present without being overtly fatty or oily, and the addition of sun-dried tomatoes is genius for adding a bit of tang. And the wines? Not so great a pairing with the Lytton Springs; it certainly gave definition to the palate movement, and showed the wine as a full journey, but it sort of thinned the fruit out a bit, and gave too much attention to the structure. But with the Grenache? KILLER! Totally magical, the total greater than the sum of its parts, the mojo third flavor; perfection as a pairing.
 
So, what’s up, lunch?
 
Best overall Take & Bake Pizza goes to the Annie’s offering, though we would certainly prefer less puff to the crust. Runner-up goes to the Uncie Ro’s, which really was delicious, and we loved both the herbs and the “local” factor, but it was just a tad too shy on cheese to sweep the award.
 
Best overall pairing goes to the 2005 Ridge Vineyards Grenache and the Vicolo Quattro Formaggio; while we liked (but didn’t love) the pizza on its own, the two together just absolutely came alive. Runner-up goes to the Uncie Ro’s with the  Estate Cabernet.
 
What’s up, lunch?

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Posted in Cabernet Sauvignon, Food & Wine Pairing, Grenache, Lytton Springs, Santa Cruz Mountains Estate, Tasting Flights, Tasting Notes, Varietals & Blends, Wine & Food Pairing | 1 Comment »

In Praise Of A First Friday Past: Oh, What A Time We Had!

January 7, 2012

It’s 2012 now.

Twelve months, twelve First Fridays.

One done, eleven to go.

It was a beautiful evening on the mountain …

And First Friday was nearly afoot …

The nibbles were nigh …

Including my 2006 Lytton Estate Grenache-infused Marinated Mushrooms and Mixed Olive Tapenade …

And the line-up …

…of wine …

… was ready.

All we needed, was you.

And then suddenly, there you were!

And we were very, very happy to see you!

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Posted in Events & Photographs, Food & Wine Pairing, Grenache, Monte Bello, Special Offerings, Tasting Flights, Tasting Rooms, Varietals & Blends, Wine & Food Pairing, Wine Clubs | 2 Comments »

Doin’ A Lil’ Home Cookin’ For First Friday!

January 6, 2012

New Year’s Resolutions. Yeah, I know.

But this is a good one.

This year, I resolve to always make at least one dish myself to serve at our First Friday events.

For this evening, our January First Friday, I am in fact preparing two dishes. Simple, straightforward, fantastic with wine, and delicious.

Marinated Mushrooms, and Mixed Olive Tapenade.

As of right now, the Marinated Mushrooms are not in fact confirmed. They may in fact become a tapenade as well, depending on how I feel about the texture when I taste them again just before the event starts. But for the time being, I am going with Marinated Mushrooms.

Getting Ready To Marinate The Mushrooms

The ingredients are pretty basic. A mix of white-button and crimini mushrooms, a heavy wrist’s worth of olive oil, dried basil and dried oregano, sea salt, red bell pepper, garlic, and the secret ingredient: 2006 Lytton Estate Grenache!
 

Marinating Mushrooms

 
Why the 2006 Lytton Estate Grenache? Well, partly it just tastes delicious, and pairs really well with these ingredients.
 

Slicin' Peppers ...

 
But also, it’s our new January ATP release, and as such it will be the featured wine that we pour tonight. So I thought it would quite groovy to serve dishes that were made with the wine we’ll be tasting!
 

Marinated Mushrooms!

Continuing on, I will now go on record as saying that Olive Tapenade is one of my very favorite things to eat, ever. Particularly on a slice of Watsonville Sourdough from Sumano’s Bakery. And particularly with a glass of Ridge wine.
 

Oooh, garlic!

 
My ingredients for this dish are also pretty straightforward, and not entirely dissimilar from the dish above.
 

Bless You, My Cuisinart ...

 
Green and black olives, dried oregano and dried basil, olive oil, sea salt, capers, and yes, 2006 Lytton Estate Grenache!
 

Olive Tapenade!

 
To be perfectly honest, I don’t cook many dishes that don’t have garlic, sea salt, herbs, and olive oil. Mexican, Indian, Italian, Mediterranean, whatever, they’re still going to have my core in there. And wine. Of course wine. One for the dish, one for the chef. One for the dish, two for the chef …
 
 

Posted in Events & Photographs, Food & Wine Pairing, Grenache, Special Offerings, Varietals & Blends, Wine & Food Pairing, Wine Clubs | 9 Comments »

It Begins, A New Year Of ATP Releases!

January 5, 2012

With a new year comes a new calendar of wine releases, which is to say, this is a flat-out EXCITING time to be alive at Ridge Vineyards! I LOVE January!

And so, without further ado, how’s about we take a looksee at the new 2006 Ridge Vineyards Lytton Estate Grenache? It’s the new January ATP release, so no time like the present to taste things out!

I’m going to take a slightly different tack with the tasting notes for this offering. As it’s a wine that lends itself very well to structural analysis, I’d like to use it as an opportunity to flesh out one of my favorite concepts; the idea of “architecture” as it relates to wine.

The idea is simple; the “structure” of a wine is the beams and girders of its formation, and if one is to analyze a wine via its architecture, one needs to identify and analyze its architectural components. This is not dissimilar from poetry scansion. To “scan” a poem is essentially to isolate, identify, and analyze its architectural components; its rhyme, its meter, its forms, its patterns, as a way forward towards understanding the total poem. Iambic? Trochaic? Anapestic? Dactylic? ABABAB? AABBCC? Spenserian or Shakespearean? Villanelle or Terza Rima?

To “scan” a wine is essentially to do the same, to identify and analyze its architectural components — fruit, acid, tannin, herb/spice, alcohol — in the service of eventually understanding the wine in all its aesthetic totality.

That said, and as with a poem, scansion can only ever tell you a portion of the story. Beams and girders may a building make, but ’tis magic, love and soul that makes a home. So, in addition to offering a “scan” of the 2006 Lytton Estate Grenache, I’m also going to offer a culinary metaphor, in the hopes of conjuring some of the visceral and intangible mojo that lives within the imagined soul-core of any and every good wine. (Not a culinary pairing, mind you, but a metaphor, though the dish below would certainly taste quite fine with this wine!). That is to say, I am going to posit a dish that, for me, metaphorically evokes the taste of this wine.  Will that get us to the soul-core? Of course not; at the end of the day,  you must taste. There is no substitute. You too must hold Aladdin’s lamp, and wish to stay. And don’t let anyone take your lamp away.

So …

Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, here we go! (Cue random Cat In The Hat reference!)

2006 Ridge Vineyards Lytton Estate Grenache

Fruit: Blackberry, Pluot, Pomegranate, Wild Mountain Blueberry …

Acid: Mild, Reserved, Erudite, Refined …

Tannin: Ultra-Powdery; Powdered Sugar & Talc …

Herb/Spice: Cigar tobacco, Black Pepper, Nutmeg, Chicory, Coffee Grounds …

Alcohol: Benign & Integrated, No Heat …

Metaphorical Culinary Summation: Powdered sugar-dusted chocolate zucchini cake drizzled with blackberry gastrique, served with mission figs and chipotle powder-dusted chocolate-covered hazelnuts, followed by a strong and bitter espresso, and a mild, hand-rolled cigar.

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Posted in Food & Wine Pairing, Grenache, Lytton, Lytton Springs, Tasting Notes, Varietals & Blends, Wine Clubs | 4 Comments »

Ridge Vineyards 2007 Lytton Estate Syrah/Grenache

December 5, 2011

Syrah: Dark, brooding, imposing. A certain sexy menace. Spicy yet controlled, saucy yet serious. A somber, shadowy figure; footsteps echoing in the alley, a hint of violence simmering just below the surface. A sensual phantom.

Grenache: Exotic, percolating, exuberant. Tough as nails yet fragile as lace. A brightly colored mural, celebrating the desires of the heart, the passions of the body. Musical, buoyant, predatorily delighting. A lascivious pirate.

Blended in equal measure, 50% to 50%. One of my favorite wines that we release. The Lytton Estate Syrah/Grenache.

The 2007 vintage was bottled on November 20th, 2009. The very same day that a very famous Italian mountaineer by name of Lino Lacadelli passed away. Lacadellli was from a region in Italy called Veneto. Which happens to be where Asiago comes from.

So, I am going to get some Asiago on my way home, and I’m going to eat some while I drink a glass of the 2007 Lytton Estate Syrah/Grenache.

Because Syrah and Grenache go together like rama lama lama lama lama ding de ding de dong.

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Posted in Food & Wine Pairing, Grenache, Lytton Springs, Syrah, Tasting Notes, Varietals & Blends | Leave a Comment »

September 23rd is Grenache Day!

September 22, 2011

One of the world’s more fascinating varietals is getting its day tomorrow: Grenache! Memorably spice-laden, and a key ingredient in everything from the legendary Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines to a wide array of delicious rosé offerings, I can’t think of a better grape to celebrate.

We first discovered Grenache in our own vineyards in a rather unlikely fashion; by accident! When harvesting the eastern hills of our Lytton Springs estate back in 1972, we were quite suprised to learn that one of the hills –planted in 1902– was dominated by Grenache! From this wonderful interplanted lot (it is a Grenache-dominant field blend interplanted with small amounts of zinfandel and petite sirah) came the first Ridge Grenache offering; a 1992 Ridge Vineyards Grenache/Zinfandel. With our acquisition of the western part of the estate, we inherited a second older-vine field-blended block of Grenache, planted in 1963, plus a pure-Grenache block planted in 1991. From these vines comes a wonderful Grenache that we’re currently featuring in our tasting room, the 2005 Ridge Vineyards Grenache, which I wrote about on this blog here, and here. (And just in case you want to see a pirate skeleton drinking a bottle of Ridge Grenache, you can click here.)

Anyhow, back to #GrenacheDay, which is tomorrow, September 23rd. As with other celebrations of this kind, a world of Grenache lovers will be celebrating this fine varietal across the globe, relying primarily on social media to share their appreciations. Want to join in the fun? Simply use the following “hashtag” — #GrenacheDay– anytime you post to your favorite social media platform, and you’re instantly in on the action. And even if you’re not on Twitter yourself, you can still watch the Tweet stream by going here: http://twitter.com/#!/search/%23grenacheday.

Grenache is an extremely groovy grape; it has soul, and it’s just a bit magical and dangerous. If it was a novel, it would be something from Gabriel Garcia Marquez or Louis de Bernières ; if it was a song, it would be sung by Cesaria Evora, or played by Miles Davis. If it was a poem it would be one from Neruda or Rilke, and if a painting, Pisarro, or maybe Lucien Freud. And if you skip ahead to the end of my socio-geometric proof, you’ll see that people who love Grenache are also cool, as are they magical, and  just a bit dangerous.

Ok, I can’t resist. Here’s the pirate …

For those of you in the Bay Area, Ridge Vineyards will be pouring at a very special Grenache Day — oh wait, #GrenacheDay! — tasting tomorrow, alongside a fine cadre of viticultural heavyweights including the good folks at Quivira. I believe that, while the event is officially sold out, you can still get waitlisted by going to the event site, which can be found here.

So,what are you going to be doing tomorrow? Me? To borrow (and butcher!) a line from AC/DC, I’ll be Givin’ The Dog A Rhone …

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Posted in Events & Photographs, Grenache, Rhone varietals, Social Media, Varietals & Blends | 3 Comments »

#RRSF Grand Tasting!

March 27, 2011

Do you plan to attend the Rhone Rangers San Francisco Grand Tasting today? If so, please make sure to visit the Ridge Vineyards table, we’ve got a tremendous roster of wines to share with you! Here is the line-up:

2009 BUCHIGNANI RANCH CARIGNANE (pre-release!)

100% Carignane

“The 2009 is our eleventh vintage from this small vineyard in the hills north of Dry Creek Valley. Planted in the thirties, forties, and fifties, it has been meticulously cared for by Dino Buchignani, a role now filled by his son Stan. Full of pure fruit and elegant structure, this old-vine carignane is enjoyable now, and will be at its best over the next four to five years.” John Olney (8/10)

 

2005 LYTTON ESTATE GRENACHE

88% Grenache, 6% Zinfandel, 6% Petite Sirah

“The two oldest parcels, planted in 1902 and 1963, are the heart of this wine. They are field blends of grenache, with minor amounts of zinfandel and petite sirah. Pure grenache from the two younger parcels contributes finesse and definition, and eighteen months in oak has integrated fruit and tannin, accentuating the wine’s exotic spice. This excellent grenache will be at its best over the next five years.” Eric Baugher (3/07)

2006 LYTTON ESTATE SYRAH/GRENACHE

50% Syrah, 50% Grenache

“Syrah’s deep flavors and firm structure complement the bright fruit, spice, and lively acidity of grenache. After twenty months in air-dried american oak barrels, the wine’s elements have integrated beautifully. Approachable now, it promises to continue developing over the next six to eight years.” Eric Baugher (8/08)

2006 LYTTON ESTATE SYRAH (pre-release!)

92% Syrah, 8% Viognier

“Viognier and syrah co-fermented on their natural yeasts in seven small tanks; we pressed early to avoid excessive tannins. Full-bodied and solidly structured, this fine syrah will develop further with ten to twelve years in bottle.” Eric Baugher (9/08)

2009 LYTTON ESTATE PETITE SIRAH (our first national-release Petit Sirah!)

100% Petite Sirah

“This hundred-percent varietal is our first national release Petite Sirah that shows the structure, balance, and complexity that can be achieved when soil and varietal are perfectly matched. It will soften and evolve over the next ten years.” John Olney (11/10)

If you require some additional information about the event, please click here. And if you attend, PLEASE send us thought, perceptions, comments, tasting notes, photos, we want it all! And mainly, enjoy!

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Posted in Carignane, Events & Photographs, Food & Wine Pairing, Grenache, Petite Sirah, Rhone varietals, Special Offerings, Syrah, Tasting Flights, Varietals & Blends | Leave a Comment »

The 2005 Lytton Estate Grenache Is Landing On Runway #Delicious!

January 7, 2011

You can meet your arriving parties at Decanter #1, in the Riedel Terminal, and thank you for flying Air Grenache …

For those of you continuing on with your tasting, please see an agent for directions to the Royal Typewriter …

Yes, pulling out ol’ faithful to pen some tasting notes …

Assuming you can read that, you’ll note that I tasted this wine with a rather fine food pairing; whole wheat rotelle with a broccoli, mushroom, and spicy Italian Sausage red sauce …

 

 Delicious!

 For those of you who might be curious, I found it interesting to read the notes above in comparison with notes I penned some two+ weeks back; should you wish to do the same, you can find those previous notes here.

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Posted in Food & Wine Pairing, Grenache, Tasting Notes, Varietals & Blends | Leave a Comment »

The 2011 ATP Line-Up!

January 6, 2011

I very recently had the opportunity to sit down to a tasting with winemakers Paul Draper and Eric Baugher, President Mark Vernon, and DTC Director Ryan Moore, to review the 2011 crop of ATP releases, and let me tell you, hand over heart, this is as exciting a line-up as we’ve ever proposed releasing! I am telling you, I am thrilled with these wines, and I know you’re going to be as well …

The first of these to be released is the new 2005 Lytton Estate Grenache; here are my notes from the tasting:

Dark and rich hues in the glass, cranberry highlights … Strong and deep notes of everything from fudge brownies and cocoa powder to black olives, candied plums, and blood orange on the nose … smoothly coating tannins on the palate, quintessially Grenachian, with medium-to-light acidity … resolving well as regards overall integration, and showing a nicely unique and dusky minerality with hints of crushed rock and just-post-rainfall-sidewalk … overall, and by comparison, a less exotically swashbuckling spice profile than the 2004 rendition, but also more harmonically pure, registering more depth, and a lower-tone, earthier darkness … a great wine for the colder months, and showing very well right now.

If you’re a member of our ATP Wine Club,  you should be receiving this quite soon, unless you happen to be an RSVP’d First Friday attendee, in which you case you can taste it tomorrow!

And if you’re not yet a member, well, we just better figure out a way to get you to taste this, cuz I think you’ll be converted!

One last item, just in case you’re interested; here are winemaker Eric Baugher’s notes from the tasting; good luck deciphering!

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Posted in Grenache, Varietals & Blends, Wine Clubs | Leave a Comment »

Wine Bloggers Tasting: The Acrostic Anagram Sessions!

December 29, 2010

Greetings all!

So, we’ve just very recently hosted the final Wine Bloggers Tasting of 2010 here at Monte Bello, and as always, it proved to be a delicious, and deliciously entertaining session. Many, many thanks to the bloggers who attended!

Wine Bloggers Tasting #4

With every one of these happenings, one of my tasks is to assemble the roster of wines that we’ll be tasting, and I always try and do this to a theme.

-For Session #1, we tasted exactly the same wines that Robert Parker had just reviewed, to see how the collective Blogger Palate matched up (I included a barrel sample of the ’08 Monte Bello, a five-vintage vertical of post-2000 Monte Bellos, plus the 1996 Monte Bello!) …

-For Session #2, we tasted all limited-production/winery-only Rhone varietal offerings …

-For Session #3 (held at Lytton Springs), we tasted a 10-vintage vertical of Lytton Springs …

So what to do for Session #4? Why, an Acrostic Anagram, of course!

Meaning, I poured an 11-wine flight with no discernible theme. I then explained to the bloggers that each wine’s label contributed one letter (just from the BIG letters, not every bit of fine print text!) to the puzzle. If they could guess the letters, and then get the letters in the right order, they’d find the secret phrase that gave us our theme! Because I poured the wines in the “proper” order for tasting, and not in the order of the letters, it was not only an acrostic, but an acrostic anagram!

Perhaps needless to say, when I explained my plan to a fellow Ridge staffer, I was called “a dork.”

Anyhow, care to play along? Here are the wines I selected, in the order poured:

Buchignani Ranch Carignane

East Bench

Lytton Estate Zinfandel/Primitivo

Geyserville

Nervo

Grenache

Independence School

Old School

Lytton West Syrah

Ridge Monte Bello

Geyserville Essence

Solved it yet? Ok, here’s a hint; as you’ll see below, I’ve bolded the relevant letter from each wine:

Buchignani Ranch Carignane

East Bench

Lytton Estate Zinfandel/Primitivo

Geyserville

Nervo

Grenache

Independence School

Old School

Lytton West Syrah

Ridge Monte Bello

Geyserville Essence

Got it now? No, not BELGNG IOWRE! You have to rearrange the letters! Got it now?

WINE BLOGGER

I am happy to report that Fred Swan, of the very great NorCalWine.com, was the first to successfully blurt out the correct answer. Congratulations Fred!

And lastly, a special thank you to Allan Bree, of the very great GangOfPour.com, for bringing the extraordinary trio of mystery wines we were all so fortunate to taste: 1993, 1994, and 1997 Ridge Vineyards Pagani Ranch Alicante Bouschet! How were they tasting? I think all involved agreed that “pretty” was by far and away the most appropriate descriptor, though I might add delicious, elegant, beautiful, extraordinary, enticing, and vibrant as well! Cheers Allan, that was such a treat!

Alicante Bouschet!

To close, a heartfelt thank you to Ridge Vineyards, all our participating wine bloggers, and everyone out there devotedly writing quality wine blogs; I feel very honored to be a part of both Ridge, and the wine blogger community, and 2010 was an extraordinary year for me in that regard, and for that, I thank you all! I am also very happy to report that we’ll be continuing this event is 2011, so cheers to the coming New Year!

Oh, one more thing, two other posts about this event have already gone up, you can find them here:

RJonWine

WineBookGirl

Enjoy!

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Posted in Bordeaux varietals, Cabernet Sauvignon, Carignane, Events & Photographs, Geyserville, Grenache, Lytton Springs, Monte Bello, Press Reviews, Rhone varietals, Social Media, Syrah, Tasting Flights, Tasting Notes, Varietals & Blends, Viticultural Salmagundi, Wine Blogs, Wine Tales, Zinfandel | 1 Comment »

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