At last year’s Heart’s Delight Wine Auction, friend and fellow wine enthusiast @IanInVirginia won a dinner for 4 at DC’s Tabard Inn.  He graciously invited me and my wife to join them but it took almost a year for two sets of busy parents to coordinate schedules.  Ian is a heck of a guy.  He has thrown some killer parties; always opening as many of his best bottles as we could “responsibly” consume.   Given he was picking up the check for this dinner, I looked forward to bringing some vino. 

Even with a good idea of what Ian likes to drink the choice was tough.  Would one bottle be enough for four people?  What if it’s corked?  Would two bottles be too much?  Is Ian’s wife as big a fan of old-world wine as he is?  Lots to consider, and none of these questions get answered until showtime.  I made a decision, then I changed my mind, and then I changed my mind again, and then one more time less than 2 minutes before leaving the house for the Tabard Inn.

I decided on two bottles.  At a dinner a few years back, Ian brought a ’95 Ch. Clerc-Milon that was totally awesome.  I had a magnum of the ’05 and thought it might be fun to try the next generation.  Since the sample menu on the Tabard Inn website showed a good amount of Italian fare, my other choice was a ’97 Tignanello that had been burning a hole in my wine rack.  Immediately I was nervous the Tig would be past its prime.

We met at the restaurant and all was good.  Ian was feeling conservative because he would have infant duty that night, so we decided to put the magnum under the table and started the meal with a bottle of rosé Champgne instead.  The somm brought a decanter for the Tig, opened her up and poured four glasses.  At the same time I noticed it was getting really hot in the room so I took my jacket off.  The moment of truth, I took a whiff and a sip of the Tig.  According to Wine Spectator, this wine offers focused aromas of blackberries, wood and very ripe fruit.  It is full-bodied, with loads of velvety tannins and a long, long finish, best after 2003.  These notes were not what I was getting.  I felt my stomach drop as I inhaled aromas of wet-dog and brine.  In the mouth was a wine that was all tangled up and confused.  “WTF?” I thought to myself.

I dejectedly swirled my glass at warp speed before sampling it again.  “Please open up.  Please open up. Please open up,” I prayed as Ian reached for his glass to take a look.  “How is it?” He asked before lifting the glass to his nose.  “Might need a few minutes…I’m getting something a little off.”  It was all I could say as I contemplated exhuming the Bordeaux from its resting place beneath the table.  Would my fears play out or would this Tuscan make a super comeback before our steaks came out?  The apps had yet to arrive and while we were munching bread, joking and sipping bubbly, I was enduring a wine anxiety attack. 

As soon as our server placed my first course of tempura-fried sweetbreads in front of me I took another sample.  The nose had changed.  I moved the liquid around to different parts of my mouth.  Front to back, side to side.  I detected notes of…Progress?  It gave me a slight feeling of relief.  The Tig had about another 20 minutes until entrees came to figure itself out.  Maybe it was the Champagne, but fear started to give way to hope.  Ian finally took a sip and expressed satisfaction.

I felt like Bacchus was toying with me.  He knew I was nervous and took advantage just to see me sweat.  By the time the rib-eyes arrived the wine was revving its engines.  The steaks were tender and succulent, and a wonderful pair to this wine that continued to build layers and layers of muscular structure as we ate.  I am normally a gulper, but a little bit of this wine  went a long way and tiny sips offered bursts of spice, tobacco, chocolate and berry.  Aromas of vanilla and mint were prevalent and ushered in loads of soft tannins.  It was on.

Few people are immune to wine anxiety.  I’ve been a student of the game for over a decade now; why do I still get incredibly worked up over something that is supposed to be relaxing and enjoyable?  Just as I felt I was in the clear as we polished off the wine with the last few bites of steak, Ian laughed as he asked me, “Didn’t you promise to save a taste for the sommelier?”

Trevor’s enthusiasm for this wine is revealed in the following comments:  ”Clos Rougeard is arguably amongst the top domaines in the Loire.  The domaine is run by brothers Charly and Nady Focault who have been running Clos Rougeard since 1969, but it has been in the family for many generations previous.  The Saumur Champigny is their entry level bottling (they also produce 2 single vineyards, Le Poyeux and Le Bourg, as well as 1 white, Brézé). All of their wines are created in an extremely artisanal and traditional in the best sense.  No herbicides or artificial fertilizers have ever been used.  Vineyards are ploughed and grapes are still tread by foot.  These are wine created with love and care.

“The basic Saumur Champigny is often my go to wine for a customer looking for a beautifully crafted wine.  It pairs wonderfully with our menu, yet it is unique and costing a fraction of a comprable Burgundy or Bordeaux.  The 2002, having a bit of bottle age is drinking beautifully right now.  The wines are known for their ability to age quite gracefully for decades.

“The 2002 Saumur opens up with bacon, earth and mushrooms on the nose and gives way to currants, cherries and casssis as the wine opens up;  a sexy and intriguing wine.  It is an elegant wine with well intigrated tannins and enough acid to keep everything in balance…By itself beautiful, but with food, absolutely amazing.

“Maybe it is my knowledge of the Focault brothers and their history, or all the times I’ve shared these wines with friends as well as guests, but, whenever I open a bottle of Clos Rougeard I am fillled with a sense of romance and passion, as if every bottle is a singular work of art.  The Focault brothers are truly master craftsmen, and at the end of the night I am always a little mournful that there is one less bottle in our cellar.”

Depending on the vintage, this wine will set you back between $40-$100.

“But my two days of celebrations of Ridge’s half-century in California last week left me with, if anything, even more admiration for this distinctive producer of claret-style wines (and some increasingly impressive Chardonnay) and I have just published a set of tasting notes on many Ridge vintages on my Purple Pages.

“Here is a wine I think is a terrific price, especially in the US, where so many retailers are discounting like crazy, and one that is not too difficult to find at all.

“It is hardly original to claim that Ridge’s top Bordeaux blend Monte Bello is the equivalent of a first growth. The rerun of the Judgment of Paris established that. But Ridge Santa Cruz Mountains Estate 2006 is the equivalent of a particularly good first-growth second wine, except that it is, conveniently, much more forward than any 2006 first-growth second wine I know in Bordeaux. We also tasted the Santa Cruz Mountains 2007 last week. This is a very fine wine but is still pretty tight while the 2006 is almost ready to drink, tasting like a super-ripe, super-polished top-quality red Bordeaux. I gave it 17.5 points out of 20 (super-generous for me) and thought it would drink beautifully throughout the decade to come. This is very sophisticated wine by any measure.

“Thanks to Ridge’s blessedly explicit and apposite labels, I can tell you that this wine is 13.7% alcohol and is made up of 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 42% Merlot and 2% the Petit Verdot that was planted way back at CEO Paul Draper’s instigation. After painstaking blind tasting and re-tasting of over 30 lots of wine made from old, some very old, vines high above the Pacific and Silicon Valley, the Ridge team decide what goes into the grand vin, Monte Bello. Most of the remaining lots, varying between 40 and 60% of the total, makes up this blend labeled simply Santa Cruz Mountains Estate.”

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Jancis Robinson

On the 7th day...

Sunday evening normally ushers in two emotions.  One is the anxiety around waking up on Monday morning to face the week’s unkonwns.  The other is tension from whether a glasses of wine (or two) will clarify or cloud the judgment I need on Monday morning.

If you decide that Sunday night is one of the best nights of the week to crack open a bottle, regardless of the cuisine or company, you’re not alone.  I found myself facing multiple reasons to stay up past my bedtime last Sunday:  Celtics, Oscars and wife with a stomach bug.  I consulted Cor.kz for the wine in my basement that I could admit to drinking alone.   Despite being an off year, I wanted to save the ’97 Pontet Canet for a friend who is a fan of the property.   The next 4 on the list I had opened recently, so my choice was a Napa blend I had recently acquired from auction at a respectable discount.

The 2001 Merryvale Profile had appropriate color transparency and aromas of red fruit, cedar and chalk, which conjured memories of sailing an approach to the pacific northwest after a long year at sea.  Were I tasting blind, the first impression shortly after opening would have had me guessing 2005 vintage or later.  Fresh and fleshy with spongy tannins, the Bordeaux blend from St. Helena offered a hint of evergreen, olive, flint and other minerals.  At the end of the bottle the structure had softened a bit, and I was left wishing I had decanted for an hour.  This was one of a number of Napa reds I’ve had from the 2001 vintage that are running on all cylinders right now.

Though I woke up 20 minutes late the next morning, I was able to reflect on a great bottle while on my ride to the office.

While most Americans know Spain’s famous Rioja region, they can expect to increasingly find high quality–and often valued priced–wines from Navarra. This region lies in the north of Spain between Rioja and the border of France not too far from the Bordeaux wine region. Bordeaux has influenced winemaking in this this region, particularly starting in 1880s. At that time Bordeaux winemakers took their skills to Spain to escape the outbreak of phylloxera, an insect that nearly destroyed Europe’s wine industry until it was finally brought under control. Both Rioja and Navarra benefited as French winemakers shared some of the best winemaking expertise in the world at the time.

Like Bordeaux, these regions often blend various grapes (Bordeaux always blends) to make their wines, except in Spanish winemakers use native varieties that give their wines a unique character and style. Key among these grapes is Tempranillo, a grape that can produce soft, fruity and relatively light reds to big bold, oaked and aged reds. This grape is often blended with the Spanish Garnacha, which is the same grape as Grenache used to make southern Rhone Wines in France. Garnacha–which tends to be light, spicy, and high in alcohol–adds wonderful spice and fruit elements. It is also used to make dry and off dry (slightly sweet) rose wines, several lovely examples of which were available at the event. In addition, Navarra is also making blends that include more well known international/Bordeaux varietals like Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and other grapes, often blended together or with Tempranillo.

At the event were wines produced by Bodegas Campos de Enanzo, the largest winery in Navarra. They produce a host of valued-priced, high-quality wines. A personal favorite was their incredible value wine: the unoaked Tempranillo, which retails for just $9.99. Even with the absence of oak, this is an unusually rich wine that is soft, fruity and a bit savory. Another treat is the 2004 Tempranillo-Cabernet Sauvignon, Crianza, which retails for just $14.99. According to Winesearcher you can find Enanzo wines in New York, but the Weekly Wine Pick learned at the tasting that the winery has just located a D.C. distributor. Look for these wines on store shelves and on wine lists soon in D.C.!

One table down the row was the Castillo Monjardin, which offered a number of lovey wines at great prices. Their Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot Crianza, 2005 (which also includes some Tempranillo) is a fantastic buy with retail prices around $12. Aged in French and American oak, this wine was grown in an excellent vintage year and offers soft and fruity notes. The Wine Advocate rates it an 89, and gives equally high ratings to their Tempranillo and a blend called Dejo as well as to their other wines. These wines surely are well-made. Keep an eye out for them at your local retail shops.

Located in Australia’s Barossa Valley, the Colonial Estates winery is owned by British winemaker Jonathan Malthus, who established himself at his winery in Bordeaux in the 1990s. At that time, Maltus was dubbed a member of the “garage movement”—one of a number of winemakers in Saint Emillion making smaller-scale, modern style wines on relatively modest budgets compared to those of the Cru Classé estates in the area. At that time, he purchased then-run-down Saint Emillion’s Château Teyssier, which is modernized and restored, making great wines that embody both old and new world style. He has taken this success to the Colonial Estate vineyard in Australia as well as to his Napa Valley vineyard called World’s End.

Émigré prices range from $50 to more than $80 a bottle (the 2005 starts at $65 a bottle and other vintages at $49.00) on Winesearcher. If you are lucky enough to live near a Total Wine, you can pick one up for $50, which is a very good deal for this wine.

The wine for this pairing is Château Côte Montpezat 2000 from Côtes de Castillon in Bordeaux, which Cavanaugh featured at a recent tasting in Wegmans. For $14.99, at Wegmans, this wine is a “great value for a stellar vintage that is drinking very well,” Cavanaugh points out. Specifically, it offers “dark fruits, ripe cherry and chocolate flavors, silky smooth tannins and just a hint of mint on the finish.” The 2000 blend includes 70% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc, and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. Cavenaugh enjoyed it with Irish cheddar, another great match.

Adventure wine specializes in wine marketing/public relations and private, educational wine tasting events. As the owner and founder of this company, Cavanaugh’s credentials include certifications from the Windows on the World Wine Academy in New York, The Wine and Spirits Education Trust of London (WSET), The Court of Master Sommeliers, and Le Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux. Cavanaugh’s background also includes serving as former Director of Beverage and Sommelier for Ritz Carlton Hotels in New York City and Palm Beach, Fla.

Other wine pros apparently agree with Cavanaugh recommendation of this wine. Gary Vaynerchuk rates it 91-92, noting that it “rocked our socks” when he a colleague tried it. It was on sale at Wine Library for $18.98, but is now sold out. The Wine Spectator rates it 86, noting: “Pretty aromas and flavors of blackberries and spices. Medium-bodied, with firm tannins and a medium finish. Better than from barrel. Best after 2005.”

Gary Vaynerchuk is the Director of Operations at WineLibrary in Springfield, NJ.  One of the most popular personalities in the wine industry, his exciting and informative Wine Library TV Webisodes attract more than 80, 000 viewers daily.  His new book on social media and business, Crush It, is on sale now.

The  Sommelier Society is America’s oldest wine education organization and offers resources for consumers and industry professionals.  In addition to her work as an educator, Ms. Frederick consults for numerous importers in the northeast and works with hospitality establishments to optimize their wine programs.

You can find this wine at many retailers on Wine-Searcher.

You can hear more comments and watch Michael pair this red with dry-rubbed and grilled chicken on his website, windycitywineguy.com. A Chicago sommelier, Michael Bottigliero consults on wine lists and provides seminars and tastings for groups and events of all sizes. Michael possesses certifications from the International Sommelier Guild and the Court of Master Sommeliers, and manages the wine program at the Eno Wine Room at Chicago ‘s Intercontinental Hotel.

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