2007 La Sirena Moscato Azul – USA, California, Napa Valley (3/16/2010)
So the other day I get a phone call from Heidi Barrett. Yes, that Heidi Barrett. Isn’t the superstar winemaker life glamorous? They get to call absent-minded customers. She was calling me because there was a case of wine that I had bought at a tasting in June 2008 that I never picked up. Heidi was especially concerned because in this case were several bottles of her 2007 La Sirena Moscato Azul… a wonderful wine but crafted to be enjoyed in its first year or two. I swung by Revana (where she also makes the wine) and picked it up yesterday. This was the first bottle from that batch. Aromas of peach jump from the glass but the flavors have faded to more of a lychee and lemon juice. It’s not bad, but could have been so much better. Drink them “yesterday.” Not rated because I was a doofus and forgot that I had wine to pick up from La Sirena.

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Oh Solano mio… just a few miles away, but the I580/80 curve and traffic through Berkeley can make you seem so far. However, just for sheer number and variety of great (and really good) restaurants, Solano Avenue, stretching across North Berkeley and Albany, is one of the best dining destinations in the East Bay. There are many places that are worth the trip.
Rivoli Restaurant is one of Solano’s shining stars. Three of us had never tried Rivoli and it had been years since the fourth had been there but excellent fare is the norm. Rivoli has been in The Chron’s Top 100 Restaurants of the Bay Area since 1996. Chef Wendy Brucker’s menu changes every few weeks and it just switched over. Wouldn’t you know it, right before I could refer to the online menu to write this post? But trust me, the girls said the vegetarian entree they ordered was delicious, calling it “the best vegetarian entree that they ever had.” We boys, stereotypically ordered steak, flank steak that is, and it was excellent as well. My goat cheese souffle with truffle oil appetizer was like music in the mouth. Service was attentive and professional. The very small dining room looks out over a cute “secret” garden and despite the room’s size, you can still hear your conversation partner without them having to yell.
Corkage at Rivoli is $20 per bottle. We brought:
2006 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir Amber Ridge Vineyard – USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley (3/19/2010)
Excellent rich, mouthfilling cherry, vanilla cream, and brown sugar flavors. Primary, but tasty, with everything in wonderful balance during a relatively short window. (89 pts.)
2004 Hartley-Ostini Hitching Post Pinot Noir Cargasacchi Vineyard – USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Rita Hills – Sta. Rita Hills (3/19/2010)
Quite interesting that if guessing blind, I would have identified this wine as the Russian River and the Kosta Browne as the Santa Rita Hills. There was significantly more ripeness and roundness in the KB. Both wines share similar fruit flavors (at times it would have been tough to tell them apart) but where the KB heads in a mouth-filling, candied direction, the HP Cargasacchi has more green herb and anise undertones — flavors I tend to associate more with Old World or Oregon Pinot Noir. (88 pts.)
Preference between these two wines would come down to preference of style instead of a “rating” though I would have to say on this night, the Kosta Brown was just a tad more enjoyable. However, it is worth noting that both of these wines were pretty much dead by the end of the night after being exposed to air for two plus hours. Drink up. They are not for aging.
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2005 Stefania Cabernet Sauvignon Uvas Creek Vineyard – USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Clara Valley (3/5/2010)
I really like this wine. Besides the fact that I think it represents one of the best values in California Cab, it never fails to provide an excellent experience. This was my 7th bottle. Cherries with whipped cream, touch of vanilla, and brown sugar. With some air, pine and a hint of black olive emerge. Rich, mouthcoating, sweet mouthfeel with an extremely long finish. Tannins are supple, but I’d recommend waiting a couple more years for maximum pleasure.

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2005 Cakebread Cellars Zinfandel – USA, California, North Coast, Red Hills Lake County (3/2/2010)
Agree with some other tasters… sort of boozy taste with alcohol out of balance with what would otherwise be a fairly laid back, nicely styled Zin. Too bad. Blackberry jelly and fig newtons. Plenty of life left. (83 pts.)

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Answer: Cru Beaujolais, the highest rating of Beaujolais wines. According to Wikipedia, this term refers to wines produced within one of 10 designated areas within Beaujolais. Forgive me if you already knew this. I didn’t, but I’m learning. I’ve never held Beaujolais in high regard. Beaujolais, to me, referred to the insipid Beaujolais Nouveau that for some strange reason attracts buyers each year solely because it is the first wine of the year.
I’m told that the gamay grape and Beaujolais have more to offer so I ‘ve started shopping for wines in anticipation of the WineBerserkers.com Wine Exploration Week 3/21-28/2010: BEAUJOLAIS. I may not know much about Cru-Boo and other Bojos yet, but I’ve already started to sprech the lingo.

2003 Egelhoff Cabernet Sauvignon – USA, California, Napa Valley (3/4/2010)
Jubilant nose of raspberries and flowers. Flavors of red berries, maraschino cherries, cedar box, and thyme. Tannins are a bit course. I expect that they will smooth out a bit over the next 2 years but then drink up as this wine is not a long term ager. Very good wine and outstanding effort considering the tough vintage. Could eek out another point if those tannins resolve. (87 pts.)

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2004 Bodega Asenjo & Manso Ribera del Duero Silvanus – Spain, Castilla y León, Ribera del Duero (2/13/2010)
Fruit and earth aromas explode from the glass. Extremely rich and sweet mouthfeel: dried cherries, ripe plums, bacon, cranberry(?), freshly-plowed wet earth. Liberal use of toasty oak but not off-putting in this package. Balanced. Just a touch of rustic character links a modern wine making style with simple vino tinto roots. Unfortunately wine-searcher doesn’t show any availability because this one would tempt me. About $60 from a pricey restaurant wine list but I’d say it would be worth that retail. Excellent with a wonderful future. 92+ (92 pts.)

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2007 Green & Red Vineyards Zinfandel Chiles Canyon – USA, California, Napa Valley (2/15/2010)
This wine would have never been on my radar screen but I was about to pick another Zin from a restaurant wine list and the waiter recommended this one instead. He said it was drinking fantastically right now. He was right. Round sweet cherry with some wood smoke, bacon fat, a dash of pepper, and cloves. A fleshy, mouth filling wine without being heavy. Very understated for a Zin and excellent complement to the varied dishes around the table. About 50 bucks on the 350 Main (Park City) wine list seems like a deal. (90 pts.)

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I just finished a week trying some Loire Valley wines with fellow members of the wine board WineBerserkers.com. This was a virtual tasting. Board members around the country tried their Loire Valley wines during a one week period and wrote about them online.

If you want to increase your odds of buying wines that you will enjoy, get to know your local retailer and let them get to know you. Once he knows your tastes and budget, he should be able to help you navigate your options. If not, find another retailer. I didn’t know much about Loire Valley wines and had to go shopping to be able to participate in the tasting. On the recommendation of a staff member at Paul Marcus Wines (Oakland), I bought a Cab Franc (my 83 points), a “dry” Chenin Blanc (flawed), a Sauvignon Blanc (my 78 pts), and a sparkling wine — a very generalized sampling of the wines of the Loire. I’d never shopped at Paul Marcus so as a result, the staffer, who wanted to be helpful, didn’t know me and was just guessing on what I might like. Unfortunately, his guesses didn’t pan out.

Here is the third tasting note:
2007 Domaine Deletang Montlouis-sur-Loire Sec Les Batisses – France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Montlouis-sur-Loire (2/25/2010) Lemon furniture polish and watermelon bubblegum. Also a bit maderized. I originally panned this wine with a below average score but have thought more about that oxidation. Perhaps a damaged bottle. NR (flawed)
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To say the Loire wines did not immediately sweep me off my feet would be an understatement. However, since they are relatively inexpensive, we can afford another date. I’ll need to retry the Cab Franc (2004 Clos Rougeard (Foucault) Saumur-Champigny) as apparently I didn’t give it enough air and it needed more cellar time. I was also expecting a bigger wine with more robust flavors. Apparently that was a false expectation. It would have been helpful if that salesman had made some serving recommendations along with the wine recommendations.
While Loire Valley wines are, in my opinion, under-the-radar of the general U.S. wine drinking public, they are popular and considered distinctive and a good value by wine enthusiasts. I won’t write them off as I am apparently missing something with this very limited exploration. As with any new wine region, the advice is to keep drinking. I still have to try that sparkler. I’ve got my fingers crossed.