Month Vacation

Hey, just so you know, I haven't died. I'm still here, it's just that life has gotten a little crazy and my blog has suffered. The first thing that has been absorbing my time is that the little winery that I'm partial owner of released it's first Napa Valley Cabernet. Please check it out a www.primenapa.com. The second thing is that trying to juggle a part time job, and a kid is not as easy as it looks. Especially when things for your part time job keep popping up on your days off. Not that I'm complaining. I think I'll just be happier when the nanny is here full time so my son doesn't get attention neglected.

And finally my best friend got married a couple of weeks ago. That means we have some wine to talk about. I think the star of the night, other than the bride of course, was the 1999 Nickel and Nickel Cabernet Sauvignon from the Tench Vineyard. The wine has aged beautifully and it's probably at it peak right about now. Maybe another couple of years would be okay, but I don't see any point in waiting. I would give it a A, A. I think when I purchased it the price was $55, but nowadays the current vintage is $85, so the value score is kind of misleading. It had some beautiful dark fruits like blackberry and plum, with a hint of earthiness and a pleasant balance of bottle bouquet. It was very similar to the 1997 Arrowood I wrote about in another post. These two producers seem to understand California Cabernet even as everyone else is trending towards higher alcohol or adding sugar to their wine.

Don't wait three years to drink CA Viogner

I learned an interesting lesson last night. Don't age California Viogner. I didn't really do that on purpose, it just so happened that I thought my Tablas Creek Cotes de Tablas Blanc was a 2005 instead of a 2003. Let's just say that when Viogner goes over the hill, it's not a pretty sight (or aroma). It kind of reminded me of really bad watered down bourbon, not that I have tasted really bad watered down bourbon before.

I would say under normal circumstances the Cotes de Tablas Blanc is a very solid wine. Each year I have tasted it has stayed consistently around the B+, A-, because for $22 there aren't too many more California White wines that have the complexity at that price. I guess though that the varietal blend of Viogner, Roussane and Marsanne lacks acidic structure for aging. I hope I don't have any more magnificent gems in my cellar rotting away.

Where is the Instruction Manual?!!!!

Since the SF Giants are so terrible, I thought I would move from reality to virtual reality and play the new baseball game that my wife bought me for my birthday. But it turns out that virtual reality is just as frustrating as real life, and I spent most of my afternoon swinging my Wii remote wildly through the air with no positive results. The real kicker is that MLB 2K8 has a three page instruction manual even though the game is more complex than filing your taxes.

What the heck does this have to do with wine? I'm not sure but I think it has something to do with playing video games drunk. Which is also related to the whole family coming over this weekend and me living it up. Because there is only one good restaurant in Tracy (which I think I have mentioned a million times), my wife had a redo of the dinner party we threw about a month ago. So now I have a whole new slew of wines to talk about. For now however I only have time to talk about one wine:

And that wine is the Domaine Robert Chevillon 2005 Bourgogne Passetoutgrain ($23). I would give it a B+, A-, and if this is any indicator of a typical 2005 from Burgundy, I think it's time to start doing donuts on the neighbors lawn (only if they don't drink Burgundy of course). The wine had an incredibly intense aroma of dark cherries, raspberries and strawberry, the last one probably related to it's composition of some Gamay blended in with Pinot Noir. It's dark hue would fool most people into thinking it was Syrah, but the acidity definitely suggested Pinot. Either way it was a very unique wine experience to have those two varietals blended together on purpose and I would suggest drinking it with a hearty meal, not salad like I had suggested to my wife. I'm definitely going to fail the wine pairing section of the WSET Diploma.

New Job in Wine

So there have been a lot of changes since my last post. I figured since so many people are reading the blog, I would explain those changes here so I don't have to do it over and over again. On June 1st I will no longer be a stay at home dad :(. The good news is that I found the perfect job, so even though finances have sent me back to work, at least I will be happy about it. The other great news is that the job will directly apply to this Blog.

How is that you say? Well I'm going to go manage a new retail wine shop in Danville, California, so I will be tasting a significant amount of wine. No longer will you have to read about me rating the same old producers from the same old places. I will give you more updates as the shop is about to open.

As far as wine goes, the daycare search has gotten in the way. However at the Bachelor party we did some wine damage at dinner and I will gladly rate one of the best California wines I think I have ever tasted courteous of Big T (he always brings the good stuff). It was the Arrowood 1997 Cabernet Sauvignon, and as I mentioned before it should get an A, A+. At time of purchase I think it was a measly $40. A lot of 1997s went right over the hill not long after they were released, but good vintners that kept the acidity balanced on their wines have been rewarded with some stunning bottle bouquet. That is definitely what happened with the Arrowood. The fine tannins were still noticeable (just barely) and drinking the wine was so pleasurable I almost forgot about the 22 ounces of steak in front of me. The impressively complex aroma consisted of a collection of black fruits, toasted oak, a hint of leather with caramel, and cigar box on the taste. This wine is what California Cabernet Sauvignon should strive to be. No one is ever going to get tired of drinking this wine.

Kim Crawford

April 27th? That was my last post? I'm a real slacker. Well I had to plan my best friend's bachelor party so wine consumption took a back seat. In fact it took a back seat to Gin Fizzes, Jack and Cokes and a whole lot of Fat Tire. Luckily I drove most of the weekend otherwise I might need a liver transplant right about now.

Tonight my wife and I spent the evening watching the Democratic Primary and drinking Kim Crawford 2006 Central Otago Pinot Noir. At first I was a little disappointed with the wine, but then after Obama looked like he was going close the gap in Indiana, the wine really opened up. It has a beautiful red cherry, crushed rose petal, and raspberry pie nose. The one fault of the wine is that it may be too acidic in the palate. But I think if I had actually aged it that acidity would be an asset. Overall I would give it a A-, A-, but I couldn't find the price so I think it may be $40. Either way it's pretty complex at around that price.

California Barbera - blah, blah, blah

So if you are ever going to have a kid, don't be a night person. Even though I'm exhausted because my son woke up at 6:00 a.m. ever day this past week, I can't fall asleep. Therefore you get a rare weekend post from the Vigilante because my wine blog often makes me drowsy.

The only wine topic I have to write about is the 2005 Montevina Terra 'd Orro Reserve Barbera that I had with my home made spaghetti sauce last night. I would give it a B, B- ($18). The wine was actually pretty good if you drank it in a vacuum (which I would imagine would be hard to do without the air and all). What I mean is that if you ignored the fact that the wine was supposed to be Barbera, the higher than average alcohol, the lower than normal acidity and the over the top toasted oak might not bother you. The real problem was that I had opened it because I wanted something to go with tomato sauce and Barbera is one of the few red wines that pairs well with red sauced Italian dishes due to it's high acidity and low tannin ratio.

Well after about a half a glass it was clear that the food/wine combo was a bust so I did the unthinkable and cracked open a Bud Light. What did you expect me to do? Drink water. My wife and I still drank the Barbera after dinner while watching There Will Be Blood, which is probably the real reason I can't sleep tonight. Bowling pins scare me.

Friday Night SB

I think it's becoming tradition to drink Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc on Friday nights in the Mann Family. It's been a long time since I've had a bad New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc (yes even the Havens would receive a B-). But I think tonight my run has come to an end. Really it's just a classic mistake of trying to do too much with something that is already fine.

I'm refering to the label on the right which is the 2006 Cairnbrae Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough New Zealand. I'm going to give it a C, C- ($13). Now I know I'm not being nice, but this wine was rather hard to drink due to the residual sugar left in the wine. It's one of those wines where you buy it because it tasted good at a tasting, but then once you starting drinking it, the wine's no longer enjoyable. The balance is also way off on the nose with the tropical fruit flavors dominating the aromas, almost to a point of over saturation. I tried drinking it with dinner, but of course it over powered my Chili's Hamburger. Remember, I live on the edge of the Central Valley so that's our nicest restaurant.

I've really been shooting blanks lately with my wine selection so I think I'm going to get desperate and open something nice tomorrow night. Wish me luck because the way things are going, it will probably be corked.

Umm Okay

Okay, So I apologize for a week hiatus from posting. My wife says I apologize too much, but what the hey, I'm a nice guy. Anyway, the stomach flu spread through our house like a plague and got everyone, so I haven't had any wine in about a week. In fact, tonight was the first time I've consumed more than a glass since the dinner party.

And unfortunately that wine was Martin Codax Tempranillo 2006 with the big "ERGO" words printed on the bottle. This wine had hints of tempranillo, but overall it tasted like a processed bottle of over-oaked, uninspired Spanish bulk wine. I would give it a C, B-, simply because it was only $12. I guess it's still better than most of the California wines around that price point.

Just as a note, I'm posting this twice, once on vinovigilante.blogspot.com and once on www.vinovigilante.com. Why do this? Well I've had a request to make comments on the blog but I couldn't do that on Go Daddy. But then of course some people don't care about what other people have to say, so I'll still post the blog on my website :).

Dinner Party Repercussions

So on Saturday my wife decided that we were going to throw an epic dinner party since it is hard to go out somewhere nice in the Central Valley. And of course if she didn't become and MBA finance genius, she could have easily gone to culinary school, the meal turned out great. I got a little crazy and opened and extra bottle of wine, so it turned out to be 7 bottles for six people. Here is a run down of the wine we tasted:

2001 Poniatowski Vouvray Sec Clos Baudoin - B+, B+
2006 Hanna Sauvignon Blanc - B+, A-
Charles Heidseck Brut Reserve NV - A-, B+
2000 Heresztyn Gevry-Chambertin - A-, A-
2001 Pride Merlot - A, A
1990 Poniatowski Vouvray Moulleux Clos Baudoin - A-, A
1997 Silver Oak Alexander Valley - B-, C

So the wine of the night was a close call between the 1990 Vouvray and the Pride Merlot, but I think the Pride won (right James). It just kept on getting bigger and bigger as the wine opened up. It's too bad I was sloshed, otherwise I could have stayed up all night and just smelled that wine.