The Wine Broad's Board

Santa Barbara Sipping

I know, I know, a post about my Santa Barbara trip is way overdue. One of the best nights of the vacation was a winery dinner organized for me by Sao Anash of Muse Management. Sao originally proposed an intimate dinner with three or four local winemakers, but the resulting event was so much more: 20-plus vintners and their guests busted out their best wines for an evening of eating, socializing and bottle-swapping at Gypsy Canyon Winery near Lompoc, in the Santa Ynez Valley. The dinner was held in the winery's beautifully restored barn, which isn't open to the public. One of the liquid highlights was the Samsara 2005 Melville Vineyard Pinot Noir ($59). Samsara is an artisan label (as in, very small production, handcrafted wines) by Chad Melville, vineyard manager for Melville Winery. Aside from being a really nice guy (and young too: only in his 30s), Chad makes a hell of a tasty wine. The Samsara Pinot has a beautiful raspberry aroma with spicy red berry flavors. Fruity, but not at all overpowering. I also dug the Iris 2005 Grenache ($42), a new wine from Rideau Vineyards in Solvang. It has bright cherry fruit and a touch of spice. Very nice. (By the way, Rideau is a fun place to visit if you're in the area--the tasting room is in a beautiful historic house, with a wrap-around porch for relaxed sipping. They also make a really nice Sangiovese--much more elegant in style than some of the rustic versions I've tasted. (By the way, I've since learned that the wine weighs in at 16.8% alcohol! Yikes! Yes, it amazingly balanced.)

Here's Chad Melville with Nadia Wellisz, of Laetitia, who brought along her fabulous new namesake wine, "Nadia."

One of the best meals of our vacation was a lunch we cooked up in the backyard of our rental house: Grilled salmon BLT, with a nice bottle of local rose. Yum!

I'm on Va-CAY-Shun!

If you're wondering where I've been hiding over the last few days, I'm out exploring the wilds of Santa Barbara. Tonight I'm having dinner with a fantastic array of local winemakers, so I'll have much to report, wine and food-wise, when I return next week. (No, I didn't bring my laptop on my trip. It's a vacation, damnit!) Stay tuned!

Two-Buck Chuck: The Song!

I wish I could say I discovered this musical gem, but I got the link from the blog at A State of Vine (a new documentary about wine). Watch the YouTube video and try not to sing along. (I dare you!)

In my search for more info on the TBC song, I discovered that there's also a band called Two Buck Chuck (not the the same band that sings the YouTube song). Despite all the people who dismiss the wine as crap, the "Chuck" brand seems to be taking on a life of its own that extends beyond the wine itself. Isn't that what all marketers strive for, a la Harley Davidson and Mac?

A Blind Tasting of Charles Shaw 2005 Chardonnay

A lot of wine-y people have expressed skepticism over the gold medals Two-Buck Chuck recently scored at California's State Fair Wine Competition. Come on, they opined, the stuff costs $1.99 a bottle! How could it be deserving of a gold medal? Rather than sit around concocting conspiracy theories ("the contest was rigged, I tell you!"), I decided to do something crazy: open a bottle and taste it. I had to hit two Trader Joe's locations to find one, but I eventually succeeded. Then I set up a blind tasting for my Wines & Vines office-mates that included the medal-winning Charles Shaw Chardonnay, along with three other 2005 Chards: Hacienda, California, $6.99; McWilliams Hanwood Estate, Australia, $9; and MacRostie, Carneros, $22. The mission of our 10-person tasting panel was to sample all four wines, then rank them according to preference.

So what happened? The McWilliams Chardonnay from Australia was our top-rated wine (well-rounded, tropical fruit flavors and not over-oaked), chosen as the best entry by 50% of our staff. In my personal ranking, the MacRostie was #2, followed by Two-Buck Chuck and Hacienda. Two people on the panel chose Two-Buck Chuck as their top wine.

I found the Charles Shaw Chard to be a pretty nice wine: soft, not-at-all oaky (a bonus in my book) and generally inoffensive. I wouldn't say it's a great wine (not enough complexity there), but it's simple, balanced and easy to drink. What more could you ask from a $1.99 wine?

Anyone who pays $24 for a case of the stuff won't be disappointed. Even at $5 per bottle, you'd still feel like you got a pretty good deal.

Wineries to Visit: Preston Vineyards

One of my favorite winery hang-outs is Preston Vineyards in Sonoma's Dry Creek Valley. It's a rustic, low-key sort of place, with picnic tables, bocce courts, an organic garden and plenty of great Rhone-style wines to taste and drink. (On Sundays only, they'll fill a 3 liter jug of red wine for you for the low-low price of $30.) Owner Lou Preston bakes terrific bread at the winery, which is sold in the tasting room along with the estate's organic olive oil. You can even buy veggies from the garden to take home. Check out the winery and read Lou's blog here.

 

In case you're wondering what we brought for our picnic, here's a recipe:

Summer Tomato Tart

6-8 medium tomatoes (try to find ones that are about the same size), sliced about 1/4 inch thick

* 1/4 cup Dijon mustard

* 1/4 to 1/2 cup grated Gruyere cheese

* 1 Tbsp. mixed dried spices (basil, thyme, oregano)

* 1 Tbsp. olive oil

*Refrigerated pie crust dough (I use the Pillsbury dough in the red box, usually found in the dairy section)

* salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350. Roll out dough and shape it in a tart pan. Poke a few holes in the crust with a fork. Pre-bake crust for 5-10 minutes (so crust doesn't get soggy). Take pan out of the oven and let crust cool while you slice up the tomatoes.

Increase oven temp. to 400.

Spread Dijon on the bottom of the crust. Sprinkle on the cheese. Arrange tomato slices (slightly over- lapping, in a single layer) on top of cheese in a circular pattern. (Make it pretty, dammit!) Brush tomatoes with oil and sprinkle on herbs and s&p.

Bake about 20 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and cheese is bubbly. Serve warm or at room temp. Yum!