2002 Bressler Cabernet Sauvignon – USA, California, Napa Valley, St. Helena (3/23/2011)

Wow. This wine is firing on all cylinders right now. Dark and rich with waves of mouthfilling dark fruit flavors that coat the mouth and last for almost a minute. Creamy mocha, or even hot chocolate. Hint of mint on the nose. Smokey. Big, but balanced. This wine is showing its very best right now. Drink over next 3 years. (94 points)

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The Bressler was the perfect partner to take to dinner at Asena Restaurant in Alameda.  This was our first visit — but hopefully not our last — to this small restaurant specializing in Mediterranean cuisine.  The flavors of Italy, North Africa, and Turkey are all presented in delicious style.  Service, mostly by the owner himself, was friendly and warm but sometimes seemed a bit disorganized even though the restaurant was far from full during most of our meal.  I think he (the owner) may have been doing a bit too much schmoozing with all the guests at the expense of following up on drink orders, leveling a table that had a disconcerting wobble, and generally orchestrating the dining experience.  This is not a big gig in our book: we’d probably prefer this homey approach over cold efficiency.  The food was mostly wonderful with highlights including crispy breaded artichoke hearts with lime aioli ($6.95), house-made humus and flatbread with linguiça ($7.25), and paella with chicken, linguica, Mediterranean mussels, prawns, leeks, saffron, and rice ($19.95).  Members of our party also raved about the shrimp special though I didn’t catch the details on that one.  The “miss” on the menu was grilled lamb tenderloin with mint-burgundy demi glace ($20.95).  The lamb was tasty enough and cooked to the right temperature but two of us really had our hearts set on the mint in this recipe — loving that flavor with lamb — but alas, the mint was subtle to the point of non-existence.  For dessert, the blood orange cheesecake, chocolate pot de creme, and tiramisu were all wonderful.  Corkage was a very fair $12.

Admittedly not wine related, but this video gave me a little chuckle today…

That’s right… we’ve finally released the 2008 Butterdragon Cab. And with it, comes the debut of our online store. During this release period, we’re donating $1 from every bottle sold to Japanese earthquake/tsunami relief efforts.

If you have not received your email release letter, it means we either don’t have a working email address on file OR you never signed up for our mailing list.  Either way, that can be fixed.

On March 17th before going over to a birthday party for our neighbor Patty Day:

(I kid you not, her parents were real comedians)

2005 Brogan Cellars Pinot Noir My Father’s Vineyard – USA, California, North Coast, Anderson Valley (3/17/2011) I don’t have any green beer for St Patrick’s Day so a wine with an Irish sounding name will have to do. Flat color, light bodied with cola, spruce, green tomato. Needs time. (88 points)

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The town of Napa’s very first sister city (1973) was Iwanuma, Japan… only 36 miles south of Sendai.  This link takes you to a photo of the tsunami hitting Iwanuma.

Massive tsunami hits Iwanuma – – Macleans.ca.

• 2001 Peter Michael Les Pavots – USA, California, Sonoma County, Knights Valley (3/13/2011)
  Sweet, full, mouthfeel, with berry, cassis, and milk chocolate flavors. Still really big and primary. I was checking in on 01’s and if this is any indication, it still isn’t time. By now, I was expecting a little more complexity from a wine that used to have such a promising future. Hold it a few more years and then drink before 2018. (89 points)

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I don’t know their wines (though I hear they’re good) but this is a nicely produced video by Auteur Wines.

Gary Lipp of Coho Wines was at a neighboring table at the Pouring for Passover benefit for Bay Area Midrasha this past weekend.  I had the pleasure of trying his 2008 Coho Stanley Ranch Pinot Noir.  This delicious cool weather Pinot had a “just right” level of delicate fruit and impeccably balanced acidity: one of the best wines I’ve had out of the Carneros region in a long time.

• 2007 Charles Krug Winery (Peter Mondavi Family) Cabernet Sauvignon – USA, California, Napa Valley, Yountville (2/20/2011)Brooding, cherry liqueur, wood smoke. Medium tannins are a little rough around the edges. Nice enough, but overpriced at more than 3 times retail at the River Horse Cafe in Park City, Utah. River Horse is a great restaurant but I would be more impressed with their Wine Spectator wine list award if the list was fairly priced. This wine is worth $20, not >$60. (87 points)

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Geeze, when I fly all I get to see are safety demos. Pretty cool video shot from a plane last week: