A Nose Knows?

On our relatively recent trip to the Tri-Cities and Walla Walla Region of Washington, one of our stops brought us to the Fidelitas winery. This winery is located in the Red Mountains, nestled near Kiona and not too far from Terra Blanca in Benton City, Washington.

One of the wines we tasted was the 2005 Cabernet Savingnon. I liked this wine enough to purchase it and recently opened the bottle during my weekly Sunday tradition. I love the nose on this wine - it is a rich and full bodied. You can smell the oak and an almost romantic way. There was a rich deep hue to this wine, which peaked my interest. In inhaling this wine, I was looking forward to a wonderful taste on my palate.

But oh how badly I would be let down.

Despite a wonderful oak filled noise that gave you a picture as to what the fermentation process might have been like, I was disappointed to find the taste very tart and unappealing. I am aware that it takes a while for the palate to appreciate everything that a wine has to offer, but the only possible thought that went through my mind was that maybe I had a not so good bottle (which perplexed me given the nose). The very first sip was incredibly bitter, sour almost. While the subsequent tastes and glasses (yes, I finished the bottle with the help of a colleague who felt so-so about the wine), eased up on the bitterness, it just didn't get much better.

I found it hard to believe that a wine that could have such a rich nose be so less than desirable. Let me say this - I am more than willing to give this wine another chance (I firmly believe in 2nd chances for wines), but until I acquire another bottle, this will be what I have to go on. I encourage you all to get a bottle for yourself, it could have just been my palate.

Until next time...

When in Rome...or Anchorage...or Dallas

For the past two weeks, I’ve been traveling for work – the job that pays me, that is, giving me the resources to enjoy my prolific wine hobby. The first half of the journey took me to Anchorage, Alaska followed by a 5-day jaunt to Dallas, Texas. When I travel, I’m a huge proponent of the “when in Rome…” philosophy. Unfortunately for me, neither “when in Alaska…” or “when in Texas…” experiences involve great wine. Nonetheless, I have some great culinary experiences to highlight for you in lieu of a wine review.

When it comes to beverage selection in Alaska, craft brewing is the name of the game. The first place I enjoyed some excellent beer was Moose’s Tooth Pizza in Anchorage. With a broad selection of standards brewed in house and the best pizza in Anchorage, there was a line out the door both times I went. Price = moderate. For great seafood, Simon and Seaforts was the next stop in the dinner journey. Their wine list was mostly Californian, but their mojitos are to die for. I had a delicious (albeit a bit undercooked) cedar plank salmon, but the real winner here was dessert. When I saw ice cream sandwiches listed on the menu, it seemed a bit simplistic. The product was far from that – house-made cherry brandy ice cream sandwiched between 2 chocolate-chipotle brownies. I’d go back just for that. Price = expensive. The final stop was the Glacier Brewhouse where I had fresh-caught halibut with some wonderful beer. An Oktoberfest lager aged for a year in Jim Beam bourbon barrels hit the spot with salad, followed by an Imperial Blonde – both brewed on the property. Price = expensive.

By time I hit Dallas, I was tired of traveling and also disappointed to find uninspired wine selections at most of the restaurants I went to AND bad beer. Yep, we’re talking a city with a penchant for Bud Light. By Thursday, 8 days into the trip, I decided it was time to treat myself and I did what any red-blooded American would do in Texas – find some good steak. Located in Addison, a city with the highest per-capita restaurant to resident ratio, Chamberlain’s Steak and Chop House was the winner. It was hands-down an outstanding experience from the moment I walked through the doors. As I was dining solo, sometimes service can be lacking or the experience awkward – not the case here. My server was always there at the right times, with a friendly demeanor and great recommendations. I started off with bread and a hazelnut encrusted goat cheese salad paired with Chateau St. Michelle Riesling, followed with the main course: a 22-ounce prime bone-in ribeye steak, prepared perfectly, complimented with sea scallops and grilled asparagus with hollandaise sauce. Paired with Chateau St. Jean Cabernet Sauvignon, the meal was nearly orgasmic. I wasn’t going to do dessert, but the staff knew it was my first time in and offered a complimentary glass of port (King Estate), so I said why not. With the port I had a crème brulee with fresh berries. At the end of the meal I literally waddled back to my hotel and fell asleep, satiated by fabulous food, great service, and adequate wine. Price = very expensive.

So – if you ever find yourself in Anchorage or Dallas, I hope you know have some ideas about how to best enjoy the food and drink like the locals do. Oh yea, there are moose in Alaska and cowboys in Texas. Yee haw!

A foray into the world of beer...

For some time now my good friend Rick from the [BW] Beer Blog has been introducing me to the world of speciality beer -- all the while I have been introducing him to the world of good wine. We were commenting the other day how complementary the two pursuits have been for us, although the journey into wine is certainly more financially disadvantageous for him than beer is to me. Nonetheless, I digress.

As I have experienced more and better beer, I am starting to identify and appreciate a lot of the nuance present among the hops and barley. It really is an industry, like the world of wine, with it's own vocabulary, food pairings, deliciousness, and passion in the creation and consumption process. This weekend I got to try Deschutes Brewery's The Abyss. This imperial stout, aged in French oak, pinot noir, and bourbon barrels , has immense depth with its rich and complex flavors. Notes of coffee, chocolate, molasses and licorice pull you into the abyss, and the 9-ish percent alcohol makes it a fun ride.

I'll leave the intellectual analysis to the beer experts, but I will say that I really enjoyed this brew and my realiziation of the correlations between beer and wine is certainly an exciting one that I will explore further.

Doing A Great Wine Justice

I have hesitated writing and publishing this post because I have wanted to make sure that I did it justice. I doubt I am alone in being one who may struggle with conveying the great work of the wine makers and others who have been involved in us (The Oregon Wine Blog contributors) having a great experience to the readers.

Josh wrote that some of us went to the Tri-Cities and Walla Walla area a couple of weeks ago. One of the wineries we visited was Terra Blanca. Terra Blanca is located in the Red Mountain region of South Central Washington, just west of the Tri-Cities in Benton City, Washington. This was not my first time at Terra Blanca, but this visit allowed me to really see the scenery and beauty that the summer held in the Red Mountain area - my previous visit having been in the winter, I can now easily contrast the two seasons here.

We arrived at Terra Blanca with it being our last stop in a day full of tasting in the Tri-Cities area. It was a very picturesque summer day with a the sun shining brightly and only a few clouds in the sky. We walked under the terrace, draped in various types of foliage, toward the main building, and behind us we could see Red Mountain for which the region is famous for. The Terra Blanca website has a little bit of history which can be found here.

Upon entering the building, which is constructed in a way that makes you think of a Medieval buildings- with large wooden doors and large stones - you come into a large hall with high ceilings, and plenty of space. The tasting bar is located just opposite the door. We had arrived not long before they would be closed and the employees were setting up for a wedding rehearsal. Rachel was the server who gave us our samplings, chatted with us, and to our surprise, offered to give us a quick tour of the facility.

The tour began with a ride down a very nondescript elevator to the basement. When the door opened we stepped into a large warehouse type area with the temperature several tens of degrees cooler than it was outside and even upstairs in the main area. I recall there being a few barrels, but nothing to the extent of what our eyes would soon behold. Not far from the elevator were two more large wooden doors - adding to the Medieval atmosphere. When Rachel opened the doors, the only thought that comes to mind is the scene in Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the original one with Gene Wilder), where the door opens and the children see the great candy room. For those of us from The Oregon Wine Blog who were at Terra Blanca that day, we saw a series of corridors, some long and some short, that were stacked several barrels high, full of wine. It was cool (temperature-wise), clean, and a bit aromatic with all of the wine there at various stages of the fermenting/aging process in either lighter wood barrels and dark wood barrels. To know we were able to see something that might not be very common for others to see gives you a little bit of excitement. As a person who constantly wants to know how things work and come to be, that mini-tour was amazing.

While my description might seem a little anti-climactic, you have to understand that there was a lot of excitement about this for us. Here we were, in the cellar, a true real wine cellar. Wine cellars like those you imagine existed in Elizabethan England or during the reign of the Hapsburgs in the Holy Roman Empire or on the Iberian Peninsula. The ambiance, the setting, the intentionality of the owners for to you feel like you are NOT in modern times, that is what got me, and made it that much more of an unbelievable experience for me. It was really quite the site to behold, and for me was second only to the Hanford tour we had taken the previous day.

We tired quite a few wines at Terra Blanca, between the five of us, everything on the tasting menu. One of the best wines we tasted was the 2003 Onyx. This wine is an amazing blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, Petit Verdot, and Cabernet Franc. The Terra Blanca website describes the Onyx as, "Raspberry, cherry, and blackberry with notes of violets that explode from the glass and mingle with hints of cedar and toasted oak on the nose. Smooth, lush flavors of blackberry, black cherry, and cassis wrap around a core of full, yet soft, structured tannins. Cedar notes with light touches of spice fold into lingering dark plum, black cherry and berry flavors bounded by dark chocolate on the vibrant, elegant finish."

I bought a couple of bottles, sharing one with the members of the Wine Blog at our dinner in Walla Walla, and bringing the other two home to Salem with me. I opened one with a old student of mine just before the beginning of the school year, and that evening, I introduced Ryan to the greatness that was Onyx. When poured, we took note of the deep plum, red, grape color that appears to be a trademark of this blend. I told Ryan how to sniff the wine and get a good sense of the things that were on the nose - the oak and cedar mixed with the spices and a hint of the chocolate noticeable only with taking a deep sniff of the wine. I told Ryan about how to he should observe the way the wine coats the glass in nice even streams when the wine is swirled.

Like all wines, one taste is rarely enough to get a full sense of what it has to offer, really just preparing the palate for what is to come, and Onyx is no different. With the first couple of sips, the flavor and "tartness" are on the front of the tongue. As you get into it, you will notice that you get a rich burst of flavor that lingers lightly as you swallow and Onyx gently soothes your throat. The spices are present, as well as a very light fruit taste at the end that is only very lightly present - you may miss it if you don't realize it might be there.

This blend is one that I recommend to everyone, you cannot go wrong. It is one that you can enjoy with a great dinner as we did in Walla Walla, or one that can be sipped on its own, as I did with my former student. I only hope that I have been able to capture the best of this experience to at least intrigue you all into looking to secure your own bottle of Onyx.

As just a side note, I know I speak for all of us here at the Oregon Wine Blog when I say an incredible Thank You to Rachel for showing us around Terra Blanca.

Until next time.