For all of my talk about not digging big-ass wines, I sure do seem to end up talking about a lot of “good” big-ass wines.

Take this past Christmas, for example.

We host some of my wife’s family every third Christmas or so, as part of a rotation that has us visiting them in Florida and Washington on the other years. It’s a special time for me, because Mrs. Dudette has a great extended family, full of genuinely nice people who are kind enough to put up with me over the course of several days (primarily because they want to spend time with my daughter, I suspect… but I’m quite happy to settle for the delusion that they also enjoy my company). And when we host Christmas, Mrs. Dudette cooks a gourmet meat-and-potatoes feast in honor of her late grandmother, who succumbed to Alzheimer’s quite a few years ago but in her heyday apparently made a mean roast dinner.

The slow-roasted meat naturally gets me thinking about a big red, and for some reason, despite reservations, I find myself continually reaching for Mondavi Reserve wines for this holiday dinner thang. I mean, if Christmas dinner isn’t when you’re supposed to open up wines like these, then well the hell are you supposed to pop those corks?

I use the term “despite reservations” because, truth be told (don’t you hate that phrase, by the way? I mean, it’s not like I’ve been lying to you for years and am only now getting aroud to making statements with any veracity… ok, whatever…) I am always afraid that the Mondavi Reserve wines are going to burn me…

As I’ve written before in the context of pairing these wines with Christmas dinner, the problem is not that big-ass wines like the Robert Mondavi Winery Reserve Cabs are being made. The problem is that too many big-ass wines like the Mondavi Reserve Cabs are being made that probably shouldn’t be made.

But even so, the RMW Reserve has gotten a bit big even for its own over-sized britches in recent vintages, and in my view had hit dried-prune, high-octane levels that signaled the end of their being worth the relatively exorbitant, well-over-$100 price tag (the 2006 displayed particular largesse in its largeness). When the heat of those wines is really on, and when it’s enough to all-but-overshadow that killer To Kalon vineyard fruitiness… well, that’s not a recipe for success, folks.

But…

Generally, I was quite pleasantly surprised at the RMW wine samples that I decided to crack open for the meat-and-potatoes holiday meal, once again proving my anxiety to be a useless waste of (what many might consider a not-considerable amount of) mental energy…

2008 Robert Mondavi Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve (Napa Valley)
Price: $135
Rating: A-

Just barely making the Cab label designation at 85% (rounded out by nearly equal parts Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot for the remainder). Winemaking director Genevieve Janssens and crew are back on track with the 2008 Reserve Cab. Bottom line is that they’re sitting on fruit (from To Kalon and elsewhere in the Oakville Bench) that’s as good as it gets in the Valley, so we should expect the wine to be very, very good. And it is.

This is fine wine luxury for the Starbucks enthusiast – the more you like your mocha, the more you will probably dig this Reserve. The dark berry fruits are as deeply black as the anti-soul of Christmas Consumerism, but the tannins are silky and supple – enough so that the 15.5% abv didn’t seem like a hindrance. For my money, I loved what the wine was trying to tell me long after it calmed down in the glass, which is that it also had olive, sage and tea leaf aromas to share (and to spare).

2007 Robert Mondavi Winery Chardonnay Reserve (Napa Valley)
Price: $40
Rating: B+

Certainly the most reserved of the RMW Reserves I’ve had in several years. And it feels so odd to type that, given this wine got the full-on malolactic, barrel-fermented, sur lie aging treatment. But then, this big Chardonnay is everything that’s good about big Chardonnay – supple, luxurious, trying to compete with crème brulee for your attention, but all the while maintaining a sense of Chardonnay’s humbler crisp apple flavors, acidic backbone, and lemony goodness. I liked it enough at the price point to consider trying to find a second bottle to see how it might develop given 4 or 5 more years. Chablis it’s not, but if you were buying a bottle of RMW Chard expecting it to be Chablis-like then you need your head examined.

2007 Robert Mondavi Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville District (Oakville)
Price: $45
Rating: B+

This wine isn’t part of the RMW Reserve lineup, but gets the “honorable mention” nod from my Christmas day tasting (which included several other wines not paired with our holiday dinner). Lush, plush, silky, deep and velvety as your favorite pillow; several layers of splendid black fruits, along with real depth and hints of spices (courtesy of 4% Cab Franc, and over a year of barrel aging)… this really is how Oakville Cab ought to be, people: round in your mouth, warming to the soul, and unabashedly concentrated and fruity.  Please note that I did not say that all Cab should be unabashedly concentrated and fruity; we are talking about Valley floor Cab, here. Anyway, I set this bottle out for our guests, I blinked, and it was gone…

Cheers!

Copyright © 2011. Originally at Holiday Reservations (Putting Mondavi Reserves Under The Christmas Dinner Grindstone) from 1WineDude.com - for personal, non-commercial use only. Cheers!

…wine from “someplace else.”

On the hook for giving a wine geek a holiday gift this season? Here’s some advice for ya.

Skip the books.

Skip the gimmicky wine gizmos that take up way more kitchen drawer space than they’re worth in actually, tired-and-true utility (trust me on this one, I get samples of all of that sh*z and most of it isn’t worth the amount of air molecules it displaces in your home).

Skip all of it.

You really want to make an impression on your wine lover’s holiday season? Then don’t give him/her/it something that they’ll probably never actually use. Give ‘em something that they’ll drink, and will remember for a long time to come.

Give them something truly different: give ‘em wine from an off-the-well-trodden-path wine region…

The secret spice in this soup is the simple fact that no wine lover has tried it all. No way. Not by a long shot. I don’t care how much wine he/she/it happens to have in the wine cellar, you’re beloved wine geek has NOT tried vino from every wine-producing region in the world. Not yet, anyway.

And so, you have, for most intents an purposes, a near-infinite number of choices from which to draw for your splendid holiday surprise. Don’t even try to lie to me and tell me that the wine geek on your list has already had juice from…

• Baja California, Mexico
• Arizona
• Missouri (yes, really)
• San Juan, Argentina (here’s a great example)
• Tasmania
• Santorini, Greece (more on that lovely place can be found here in the archives)
• etc., etc., etc.

Need more inspiration? How about this – go local: any wine being made practically in your hometown? Grab a bottle and gift that shiz. And if you must buy a wine book, try something like Every Wine Tells A Story along with a bottle or two of some of the more off-the-wall recommendations offered by the wine geeks profiled therein. That’ll keep your wine geek busy after the jingle bell rings have long since subsided.

The point here is not that the wine you give has to be particularly great (though many of the above areas certainly are producing good stuff) – the point is that the wine just has to be different. It’s point is that you’re giving that wine geek what she/he probably wants most for the holidays: a mind- and palate-altering experience, another step along  their personal journey of wine discovery.

Chances are pretty good that over 80% of the hundreds of bottles in your wine geek’s [cue Darth Vader voice] “impressive…most-impressive!” wine cellar hail from less than 20 wine-producing areas. In fact, I will bet you a copy of my eBook and a wine soiree (ok, so not all of the gadgets suck… I admit it…) that previous sentence is spot-on, Nostradamus-level  accurate.

So be daring. Be different. Be remembered.

Don’t give ‘em more stuff – give ‘em a learning experience!

Cheers – and have a safe and awesome holiday season, peoples!

Copyright © 2011. Originally at And The Ultimate Holiday Gift For The Wine Lover On Your List Is… from 1WineDude.com - for personal, non-commercial use only. Cheers!

You know that feeling you get in undergrad where you have a term paper with about two days before it’s due and you haven’t started it yet but you have to do it? The same feeling that marked the advent of the first day of school after Sumer vacation, or harkens the impending ring of the Monday-morning alarm after a night of overdoing it while watching Sunday Night Football?

I have that feeling.

Because I need to do the annual Thanksgiving holiday wine pairing article.

It’s my belief that the standard holiday wine pairing article is hackneyed and has, for most intents and purposes, jumped the shark. Why? Because no wine critic or educator knows your personal taste preferences nor do they know the ingredients of your Aunt’s famous casserole, which, after all, is only famous within your family and her glee club. So you’re far, far, far better served by going to a wine shop that you trust, telling the folks there what you like (here’s some help on figuring that out) and what food your serving, and getting their recommendations.

Your personal preferences always trump all, but at holiday time we’re rarely buying just for ourselves – and there are indeed some food & wine matchups that do not, in fact, match up. So while I could never give you exact holiday wine recommendations (at least, not without an exact holiday food match to go with it!), I can provide two general pieces of advice that might serve you well in narrowing down your selections…

And so, my turkey-lovin’ friends, here they are:

1) When in doubt, go high acid.

Acidity is your friend when you don’t know what you’re going to eat, or when (as is the case in my family’s Turkey Day gatherings, the variety of food options and their preparations is so great that no one wine has a prayer in hell of matching with everything. As I’ve noted on these virtual pages before, Acidity will almost always do right by your food – it’s the kind of friend that loans food its power tools, buys it two rounds and never asks for a return favor. For whites, options abound, but I’ve had success (as much as can be had at holiday meals, anyway) with my personal fave: Riesling (but then, that might just be because it’s my personal fave!). For less-sweet (and less acidic) white options try Gavi or Soave from Italy.  For reds, I love me some Cru Beaujolais because they are so versatile while still being compelling (please, please, please stay away from the bad Beaujolais Nouveau, okay?).  Bubbles can work, too, because most of them are very high in acid.

2) Roasting? Go big – VERY big.

Slow-cookin’ that turkey for several hours basting in herbs and the deliciousness of its own juices? Then there is pretty much no wine big enough to eclipse the bird. Yes, I know it’s basically white meat, but that doesn’t matter. Slow-roasting turkey or chicken imbues so much flavor and hefty mouthfeel to that white meat that you’d be hard-pressed to find a wine that it can’t stand up to, including heavyweights like Barolo and Amarone. Now, there’s zero guarantee that those enormous red wines will play nice with any of the other foods you’re serving that aren’t slow-roasted meat and potatoes, so your mileage will vary (considerably).

For an added bonus, head on over to The Passionate Foodie and check out Richard Auffrey’s sake and sherry recommendations (you’re family will never see that one coming!).  As always, your holiday wine pairing reco’s are encouraged, so comment as you deem fit!

Cheers – and have a safe & happy Turkey Day, peoples!

Copyright © 2011. Originally at The Dreaded Thanksgiving Holiday Wine Pairing Article, Part CCXXII from 1WineDude.com - for personal, non-commercial use only. Cheers!

End of discussion.

Seriously.

Look, no wine really goes all that well with processed candy anyway.

So why not do what a lot of people in my ‘hood do: grab a bottle or two of decent white vino, several beers, and convert one of your kids’ pull carts into a mobile drinks cooler and turn the whole thing into a mobile party (this is assuming you aren’t driving that mobile party to/from anywhere, and are able to walk the entire distance – so it’s a tactic best used for chauffeuring toddlers through their local neighborhood Halloween adventures).  Kids get their Halloween thrills, you get your block-party quota in, and everybody wins!

Also, and you’re probably not going to do this but just in case, don’t buy a crappy wine or a wine you probably won’t like just because it has a Werewolf on the label or something.

You’ve got a week to go in planning your Halloween party, people, don’t screw it up with bad juice dressed up in a seasonal costume by a bunch of marketing folks – because that would be a really scary way to toast the Hallow’s Eve festivities!

Cheers!

Copyright © 2011. Originally at The Perfect Wine To Pair With Halloween Is… from 1WineDude.com - for personal, non-commercial use only. Cheers!

BUT… I like to help people when it comes to wine, and I kept getting twitter DMs and Facebook messages asking me the equivalent of “any good wine recommendations for a picnic this weekend?” in a  run-up to the Memorial Day weekend.  And so now that it’s officially too late to do anything about Memorial Day because lots of wine shops might be closed anyway for the holiday, I’ll be a stinker and share what I’ve been Facebook-ing and DM-tweet-ing with a number of people already.

For those sick of hearing about these types of recommendations: sorry, you’ve been outvoted by Inbox (for those sick of Seals & Croft: sorry, I’ve no real advice to help out with that, except maybe drinking a glass of wine and smoking one of those… funny cigarettes….).  But before you send me angry emails (most especially in relation to my slightly-irreverent take on the dulcet, laidback tones of Seals & Croft), please note that Memorial Day wine recommendations aren’t any different from any other Summer holiday recommendations – we’re basically talking hot-weather, picnic-&-BBQ wines here, and so what I’m gonna tell you will hold true for any Summertime holiday party wine action that you’ll be facing as the mercury is rising…

As is typically the case when I do this sort of thing, there are no specific wines in the list – you’re smart and brave and groovy and dare-I-say-it downright attractive enough to experiment based on some general guidelines, people.  This list, of course, is to be used only when you find yourself in a pinch, or find yourself deciding that you’d like to try (or would like to force someone else at a party to try) something new, or find your local wine shop out of stock when it comes to what you personally prefer to drink in the Summertime.  All of thesehave examples that are of good quality and can be found under $15 without too much difficulty (but I’m not saying you shouldn’t whip out the $100 Cab in the 90F heat of a Summer picnic if that’s your thing… okay, well, I am saying that actually):

Whites

• Gavi – Italy’s go-to picnic wine for when you’re finally sick of Est! Est! Est! and realize that it’s actually not all that great in most cases. Not as “there” as Riesling, but more “there” than Muscadet, Gavi’s lemon-&-lime liveliness is refreshing, food-friendly, and gulpable while seeming more sophisticated than the alternative of guzzling hard lemonade.  Anyway, it’s what I reach for when the thermometer starts to creep above 85F.
• Torrontes – Argentina’s next big thing, or probably actually it’s current big thing.  Explosively fruity, and yeah it’s a  little grapey sometimes but it’s also got good body (like some Chardonnay in the same price range) without being flabby (unlike a lot Chardonnay in the same price range).

Rosé

• Tavel – Of course one could list dozens of viable options here, but I feel like France’s southern Rhône rosé star has been outshone by flashier rosés made from just about every red grape under the sun, like Malbec.  And while plenty of Sangiovese rosé do rock the Kasbah, I have the feeling Tavel is do for a rebound, because it’s probably still the source of the best Grenache-based rosés for the money.

Reds

• Beaujolais-Villages – They don’t suck like many Beaujolais nouveau wines, but they aren’t as awesome as the Beaujolais Crus, either.  But there are some sweet spots to be had in the middle, and in Beaujolais-Villages you get the fun, fruity, able-to-take-a-stint-in-the-ice-cooler drinkability of Gamay with a hint of slightly more serious and certainly more food-friendliness of the Crus.  Added bonus: they also don’t often come in bottles painted entirely in purple.
• Zinfandel – This is the all-American (in more ways than one) BBQ wine: fruit that is almost sweetly jammy to go with meat that is cooked in BBQ sauces that are almost sweetly jammy.  While it doesn’t take too well to being out in the sun very long, it has the added benefit of being a bit higher in alcohol and so if you’re finding yourself nearing your personal threshold of your abilities to cope with family and/or coworkers during a BBQ this Summer, this wine will dull the pain faster than any of the others on the list.

Cheers – and have a safe one!

Copyright © 2011. Originally at Summer (Breeze) Wines, Because You Made Me Do It from 1WineDude.com - for personal, non-commercial use only. Cheers!