We had fun shooting this one. The natural thought on Valentines day is to come up with a wine that you can sip by the fireplace with your valentine, perhaps while enjoying something sweet. That in mind, we chose a couple of desert wines that fit the bill: We opened a little bottle of Late Harvest ‘Arroyo Seco’ Viognier from our friends at Salamandre Wine Cellars in Santa Cruz as well as the ‘Charisma’ dessert wine from Tobin James in Paso Robles. Both were sweet and paired nicely with everything I had laid out in my impromptu Valentine’s Day spread: a Starbucks chocolate bar, Almond Roca, stinky cheese, sweet cheese, walnuts, two kinds of apples and a little pear. I particularly enjoyed the Viognier; I enjoy it as a refreshing, floral aperitif wine when it’s NOT late-harvest, and it turns out it makes an exquisite dessert wine… loads of honey… and it’s pretty cool to look at too- I had a nice golden hue emanating from my chilled glass.

In addition to the sticky wines, I popped a couple of bottles o’ bubbly open which also paired nicely with my V-day plate. I enjoy a glass of pink bubbles, and I’ve been loving every Cremant de Bourgogne that’s been poured into my glass, so I chose a bottle of Louis Bouillot Cremant de Bourgogne Rosé “Perle d’Aurore” for this Valentine’s extravaganza. Just because, I added a second sparkling bottle, this one from the Loire: the De Chanceny Cremant de Loire Rosé. Oh and by the way, both of these sparklers were fresh & tasty and neither topped the $14 mark.

Let’s be honest… you can open whatever you like on V-day. Hell, go crazy and open up a bottle of Peppermint Schnapps if you like, I won’t judge you. If you’re looking for a good read on pairing wine with a variety of desserts, check out this great article at TheNibble.com. While you’re at it, they’ve got one on pairing wine with chocolate.

Again, please watch the webisode for all the play-by-play. By the way, if you like that shiny heart-shaped bottle holder pictured at the beginning of the post, you can pick one up for your very own at www.ocupationgifts.com.

…yea. I was surprised too… I mean, I’ve had my share of Malbec, but hadn’t come across a Sparkling Wine from Argentina. Until now…

The 2008 Tapiz Extra Brut Sparkling Wine from Mendoza is a blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and I opened it with an impromptu Tamale lunch last weekend (tamales? at my house? I know, it’s a shocker).

This is a tasty glass o’ bubbles: bright, fresh, and fruity. The nose has a gentle, floral nose of sweet apples and a spritz of lemon. On the palate, pears, apples and that citrus zest are wrapped in a steady trickle of little bubbles. The folks at Tapiz produce it in the traditional method and age it for fourteen months on the lees. I’m told this is the first vintage of sparkling wine for Bodega Tapiz and in my humble opinion, they did quite well and for the nice price of $19.99.

This weekend featured a 24 hour getaway for the little lady and I… A quick drive down to Huntington Beach for some R&R at the Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort.

No time was wasted; a cup of coffee and an overnight bag in the back of the car and off we went.  We arranged for an early check-in before noon. The plan was to move as little as possible, but the pangs of hunger beckoned so we walked 70 paces to the elevator, took it down to the first floor, took another 70 paces into the restaurant and grabbed a table.

Moments later, the waiter brought me a tasty looking duck salad and a half bottle of 2005 Schramsberg Blanc de Blancs sparkling wine.

The duck salad was good. Crispy coated, moist, flavorful duck on a bed of spring lettuces with a very mild citrus dressing.

And the Schramsberg was just what the doctor ordered. The nose had sweet, creamy aromas of pears and citrus, and those flavors continued on the palate along with apples and pineapples. It was crisp and dry with a balanced acidity and scattered streams of tiny bubbles. It was a great pairing with the crispy duck, though I could see this wine working with chicken or seafood dishes or all by itself before dinner.

It was a great way to kickoff my 24-hour beach retreat. After I finished my lunch, I pulled the bottle out of the ice bucket for glass #2 while I gazed out towards the water.

Dinner was even better, but I’ll talk about that tomorrow in Part Two…

I’m not sure if it sounds more like an ice-cream sundae or a Vegas casino, but in this case it’s a cocktail made with a black currant desert wine or liqueur with a healthy splash of bubbly. Could be interesting…

My friend Sam from New York had sent me the dessert wine from one of her favorite upstate New York wineries, so I thought I’d give it a whirl. I figured the cocktail might even be an option that my wife would enjoy.

Clinton Vineyards is located in the Hudson Valley, midway between New York City and Albany. It’s a 15 acre property run by Phyllis and Ben Feder, and they specialize in producing white wine and champagnes, made in the classic French methode champenoise.

I’m not always big on dessert wines, but Sam loves it so I was looking forward to tasting it.

The Clinton Vineyards’ Cassis wine is made from black currants, and you can’t help but smell the strong aromas of currants as you pour it.  There are also smoky notes of blackberry and brandy on the nose.  The palate makes you pucker up a bit.. it’s tart and full of wild berries.  A fine after dinner or dessert choice, and definitely a unique one.  I actually enjoyed it.   I’m told that its the only black currant wine made in the United States to win gold medals and “Best of Class” at the Los Angeles International Wine Competition.

Now that I had tasted the wine on it’s own, I decided to get a little crazy and try the Kir Royal.

I poured about a third of a glass of the Cassis, and then gently poured the remainder of the glass with some inexpensive Spanish bubbly, the Canals & Nubiola Cava Brut.   This is a simple, pleasant sparkling wine: clean and crisp with subtle, tart citrus flavors.

Mixed together, the two made a fine, refreshing summer cocktail; tasted sort of like a wild cherry soda.  It was a good way to cool off (it’s been hot in LA this week), and even my wife enjoyed it.

On Monday March 9th, while most of us were starting our work week, twelve of the world’s wine experts also went to ‘work’.  Their ‘job’ that day was to taste  some champagne.

Renowned champagne house Perrier-Jouet hosted the tasting at their cellar in Epernay, France (the capitol of Champagne), in celebration of the release of their inaugural vintage of the 21st century, the Perrier-Jouet 2002.

Cellar master Herve Deschamps uncorked 20 different vintages from their collection:  2002, 1996, 1995, 1985, 1982, 1976, 1975, 1971, 1964, 1959, 1955, 1952, 1928, 1911, 1906, 1892, 1874, 1858, 1846 and… the Perrier-Jouet 1825, the oldest vintage champagne still in existence (it’s officially listed in the Guiness Book of World Records).

It’s can’t even imagine what it must have been like to essentially taste the history of Perrier-Jouet, and to then taste the oldest bottle in the world.

And how did that bottle taste?  British wine-writer John Stimpfig said “The wine was heavily oxidised, with a sherry-like character. However I did taste notes of truffles, caramel and mushrooms.  Most of the bubbles had disappeared, although there was a slight spritz left.”

“But Serena Sutcliffe, the head of Sotheby’s international wine department, who helped organize the tasting event, described the wine as “addictive” with a complex flavour of figs and even a “slight nose of the sea”.”

Guests included Stimpfig, Sutcliffe, world-renowned champagne expert Richard Juhlin from Sweden; France’s famous wine critic: Michel Bettane; Roger Voss from Wine Enthusiast and other wine experts from China, Japan, Italy and Finland.

Several of the tasters felt the 1825 tasted better than many of the newer bottles.  After the last drop was drunk, only two bottles remain of the oldest vintage in existence.

Something to think about next time you go to your work…

You can read more at the Perrier-Jouet website or at BBC NEWS online.  The photos posted here are care of the BBC website as well.

I had a nice dinner on Valentine’s Day, but I’ll blog about that later… First, I wanted to mention the great bottle of bubbly we had for our Valentine’s apértif…

As I’ve mentioned here on the blog, my wife doesn’t like wine. She occasionally will drink a glass of sparkling wine (or mix it with some juice), so for valentine’s I rolled the dice and picked up a bottle that I hope she would enjoy.

As it turns out, she liked it, as did I. It was very unassuming, light and refreshing with just a hint of fruit and sweetness.

Where did this bottle come from you ask? I picked it up at the wine store I answer smartly. But before that, it came from Italy.

The Soligo Prosecco VSAQ is inexpensive; under $15. Like I said, it’s light and fresh- a creamy froth with the tiniest of bubbles. The subtle fruit is expressed in sweet notes of peach, a hint of almond and banana. Light and easy-drinking.

And my wife’s approval is most important to me. We had a lovely valentine’s evening. I’ll be picking up some more of this prosecco for sure….

Happy New Year everyone! I hope all enjoyed a safe and entertaining evening, and I trust your bubbles were as satisfying as mine…

After much debate concerning my sparkling choices, I decided to go with the Soter, a name I’ve gotten to trust since my Thanksgiving bottle of lovely Oregon Pinot Noir. Soter’s sparkling wine was the PERFECT end to a lovely New Years Eve that included quite a dinner and a great bottle of Cabernet, but I’ll blog about that later.

The cork popped from the 2003 Brut Rosé Beacon Hill Vineyard without incident (no one was hit in the nose and no overflow issues…). Upon pouring it into the glasses, the wine was a sight to behold- a beautiful pink color with streams of tiny, elegant bubbles flowing up the glass. The essence of berries filled my nostrils and when it hit my tongue, well, all I can say is strawberry cream. It was DELICIOUS. The nice finish allowed me to savor and it faded just in time for my next sip.

This wine is made with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, and was fermented in a mixture of new oak, neutral oak, and steel barrels. After being in the casks for 6 months and blending and bottling, this wine spent 4 years on the yeast before it was disgorged (sediment and yeast removed) in March, 2007. According to Soter, “…Every Soter sparkling wine is vintage-dated, vineyard-designated, and disgorgement-dated. The disgorgement date is very important to us, because we feel that the consumer has a right to know how long the wine has been aged on the yeast and how long it has been corked. Very few producers anywhere adhere to this practice.”

I enjoyed my lovely Oregonian nectar as the skies of Los Angeles filled with lights and sounds of New Years revelers setting off a plethora of illegal fireworks. As the bottle emptied, the celebration subsided, and the quiet of the night settled in as I dozed off into 2009…