Tasting Notes (June 19): I'm No Miles

It's the most famous line about wine in recent film history, and maybe in all of film history:

"If anyone orders Merlot, I'm leaving. I am not drinking any f---ing Merlot!"

The film, of course, is Sideways, and with these words Miles--the self-loathing writer, Pinot Noir lover, and arbiter of taste for would-be wine snobs across the nation--sounded the death-knell of the Merlot glut of the 90's and issued in the era of Pinot envy. (Though, truth be told, Merlot sales actually went up after the film's release, at least according to the woman in the tasting room at Beaulieu Vineyards.) Nowadays, one can hardly go to a party or a tasting without someone proclaiming, "I'm not a big fan of Cabernet. I like Pinots." True, maybe some of them came by their opinions honestly. But I hear that same sentiment uttered often enough to make me think there are lots of wine drinkers out there who just do what the latest screenwriter or best-selling author tells them to do.

So why should we care? Normally, I wouldn't, but the law of supply and demand says that the more people who want to drink Pinot Noir, the more money wineries, distributors, and merchants can charge for it. That's why you can hardly find a decent--not great, mind you, but decent--bottle of the stuff for under $20. Fortunately for me, and Pinot Noir notwithstanding, I happen to like Cabernet Sauvignon (bane of party goers everywhere, it would seem). I also like Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre, Tempranillo, Sangiovese, Nebbiolo, Malbec, Carmenere, and Pinotage, to name a few of my favorite reds. In fact, the one thing I do come close to wine snobbery about has nothing to do with the price of the bottle, the prestige of the winery, or even the quality of the wine (the evaluation of which is very subjective). Instead, I'm snobbish in my conviction that, if you want to call yourself a wine lover, you should at least try to appreciate a range of colors, bodies, styles, and flavors. Besides, when you don't have a mint to spend on wine, broad-ranging taste is an assett.

Still, I do like a good Pinot. I have to admit, though, that what I consider to be a "good Pinot" doesn't mesh perfectly with popular or critical tastes. I prefer the softer, rounder, more full-bodied style (the Sanford below is a good example) to the more elegant, crisp-almost-to-the-point-of-effervescence style (the Beaux Freres below isn't this way in the extreme, but it does flirt with it). Don't get me wrong--a good Pinot Noir has to have a good backbone of acidity, and the best ones will be infused with seductive, earthy notes. It's just that the austere snap that makes Pinot so exciting for many wine lovers can, for me, be taken too far.

In sum, I will gladly drink "f---ing Merlot," along with all the other varietals I mention above (not to mention the gamut of white wines, all of which can be delicious). And, of course, that includes Pinot Noir. To come at wine from any other direction is, to my mind, to come at it sideways.

Now, the notes:

1. Leroy Bourgone 1999 ($44.99/bottle)
This basic Burgundy has a nice, balanced nose of baked plums, dried leaves, damp earth, and spice and has a light-medium body on the palate. A very earthy core is infused with black cherry, licorice, and spice notes, with fine tannins and a long, peppery finish.

2. Sanford Santa Rita Hills Sanford & Benedict Vineyard 2002 ($49.99/bottle)
The nose is ripe, rich, and plummy, with some woody and sweet tar notes. Medium bodied, with a smooth, silky mouthfeel, this Pinot boasts flavors of dark plum and berry, toast, and new leather, all strung on a taught but not overwhelming rope of acidity. The long finish is pure black tea. Spectator gave this one 87; I'd bump it up 5 points. Excellent.

3. Taz Fiddlestix Vineyard 2005 ($36.99/bottle)
This silky, medium bodied Pinot offers aromas of cherry and raspberry cola and a lightly floral perfumed note. Snappy acidity gives lift to flavors of cola, tea, and smoke. The finish is dark and herbal. Nice.

4. Etude Pinot Noir 2004 ($42.99/bottle)
The nose is pure Old World, dominated by wild mushrooms, minerality, and barnyard notes. Medium bodied, with black cherry and plum fruit, mountains of black soil, and cigarette tobacco on the palate. This is a beautifully sensuous, seductive wine.

5. Hartley-Ostini Hitching Post Highlighner 2005 ($44.99/bottle)
Smooth and medium bodied with sprightly acidity, this Pinot offers aromas of straight cola, peppery spice, and flowers, and flavors of sweet dark berries, tar, cola, and a hint of earth. This is a nice, solid wine.

6. Beaux Freres Ribbon Ridge Vineyard 2006 ($79.99/bottle)
Black cherry, toasted wood, and rich perfumed spice aromas give way to a medium bodied palate. Flavors of sweet cherry, red and black licorice, and spice seem to jump around on your tongue, so kinetic is the acidity. As my introductory comments imply, this is not my ideal style of Pinot. But becuase it has some richness for balance, it is a very good example of that style. If you like your Pinots lively, you will love this one.

Tasting Notes (June 12): La Dolce (e Amaro) Vita

"and so she seems a wondrous thing sent down from heaven to earth"

The great Florentine poet Dante Alighieri wrote these words in the 1300's, and they would seem to be a simple celebration of the divinely beautiful woman who is the subject of the poem. But a closer look reveals a separation, a distance, between the speaker and this ideal woman: by virtue of her divinity, she can never be his. He knows this, of course, but, like many poets of the time, Dante (or, more accurately, his narrative voice) delights in the paradoxically painful pleasure that worshipping her from afar offers. Indeed, it is to Dante, Petrarch, and other inheritors of the Troubadour tradition that we owe the greatest debt for the prevalence of this concept in our own cultural traditions and forms, from Juliet's "parting is such sweet sorrow" to John Cougar Mellencamp's "hurt so good." (Yes, I just implicitly compared JCM to Shakespeare, but I'm on a roll, so I'm going with it.)

So powerful is this idea, in fact, that it's no stretch at all to transfer it from the sight of a beautiful person to the taste of a stunning wine. Great wines, like all great experiences in life, never satisfy completely. It's easy, that is, to toss back a glass or two (or three) of a juicy, inexpensive Shiraz with an equally juicy burger and settle into an evening of fine contentment. But not so with your more stratospheric wines. Maybe they tease one into regret, into thinking that in another year or two they would have offered even more. Maybe their complexity overwhelms the senses, so that the part of you that wants to put the experience into words can never quite catch up with the torrent of flavors and textures rushing over your palate. Or, maybe, they are so hauntingly delicious that as soon as you finish the bottle you begin dreaming about the next one. Whatever the reason, it is this play between pleasure and desire, between satiety and appetite, that makes wine "a wondrous thing sent down from heaven to earth." And, like Italian poets, Italian wines compel us to celebrate this paradox of the human condition: the things we desire the most are the things we can never fully have.

Now, the notes:

1. Gaja Rossj-Bass Chardonnay 2006 ($48.99/bottle)
As utterly beautiful as a couple of the reds in this lineup were, it was this chardonnay that I found myself thinking about in the week following the tasting. Medium-bodied and exquisitely balanced between crispness and richness, this wine offers aromas and flavors of citrus, melon, and gunflint-like minerality, with even a faint nuttiness emerging on the back end. The long finish is deliciously stony. Outstanding.

2. Petra Ebo Val di Cornia 2003 ($19.99/bottle)
This red from the coast of Tuscany has a beautiful nose of black cherry, leather, clove, and dried leaves and flavors of sweet blackberry liqueur, sour cherry, tobacco, and black licorice. Medium-full bodied, with fine, drying tannins on the long, anise-laden finish. Very nice, and a great value at <$20. Drink now through 2013.

3. Monsanto Chianti Riserva 2003 ($24.99/bottle)
This medium-bodied red offers aromas of plum, leather, oak, and spice, and flavors of tart but ripe cherry, plum, leather, and earth. It ends with a long, dark finish. Nice acidity for pairing with a wide variety of foods, from pasta with red sauce to grilled rib eye.

4. Capezzana Ghiaie Della Furba 2000 ($55.99/bottle)
This red has a wonderful nose of grilled plums, tree bark, and sweet woodland flowers. Big, bold flavors of ripe berries, lots of leather, and dusty pepper lead into a long, pancetta-laced finish. Every wine in this lineup has been very nice, and this one is no exception.

5. Ceretto Barolo Prapo 2001 ($87.99/bottle)
In this full-bodied red from the Piedmont, the nose of mixed berries, dark brown sugar, and road tar is buoyed by a bright floral note. On the palate it is both massive and luxuriously silky, with flavors of blackberry, red currant, toasty oak, leather, and spice. Big and tannic--think meat roasted on a spit for an ideal food pairing--this is the liger of wines: a cross flavor-wise between the lion of Chianti and the tiger of Bordeaux, it is bigger and more powerful than both. Outstanding.

6. Il Poggione Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2001 ($99.99/bottle)
The nose on this red is subtle and caramelly, with a distinct animal/barnyard character and a hint of charred wood. The palate offers enticing flavors of ripe black fruits, sweet spiced orange, tobacco, and a hint of dark chocolate. The long finish is dark, bitter, and very sensuous. Very smooth, and very tannic, this wine is drinking well now but needs several years to fully come into its own.