Concert in the park enjoying PCH, a few blocks from PCH.

This Thursday evening like all Thursday evenings during the summer was spent in a local park listening to the Long Beach Municipal Band play while we enjoyed a picnic dinner with friends.  The wine of choice this evening was Pacific Coast Highway ("PCH") Pinot Grigio,which is fitting since I live only a block away from the real PCH which inspires this line of wines.  

PCH 2009 Pinot Grigio 

PCH is the big brother if you will to the I Heart California ("IHC") that I reviewed over the weekend and the mid price point wine in the new California wine collection F&E debuted this year.  At $8 this wine is more expensive than its little brother IHC but a much better wine overall.   Like IHC, PCH as you can tell from the name, is a California wine.  The clarity and nose are similar to the IHC though I really get a more subtle smell of the wine during the swirl of the PCH.  The real difference comes into play during the taste, its almost like biting into a summer peach; crisp but sweet. The PCH Pinot is a more complex, and complete wine, I enjoyed the extra layer of flavors that present but not overwhelming, kind of like the dixieland jazz that was wafting through the park this evening...    

The view from our picnic.

Its summer right now I encourage you all to go to local events like a concert in the park and get as many friends and neighbors to attend as well; nothings ever promised to us tomorrow today.   We all tell ourselves to seize the day which I did today.  Listening to music with several hundred neighbors, a picnic with friends, and enjoying a good affordable wine means that today was not a wasted summer afternoon. 

I hope you all enjoy every day of summer.  Cheers!

I Love CA and family reunions.

A while back the F&E rolled out a selection of California wines, due to the old blog and my being acquainted with one of the F&E people I got invited along for the tasting party.  At the tasting party I really enjoyed some of the higher end wines [which I will cover later] but felt that the I Heart California line ("IHC") was more of an afterthought.  I didn't care for the Chardonnay but the Cab was serviceable.  Carmen and I had fun that night and we even ran in to an old UC San Diego Classmate Annette Holland who runs a F&E food blog.  

Up to this weekend I had not thought a lot about the IHC but I was heading out to see my Japanese side of the family the annual Kumamoto Summer Picnic, and per the stereotype they don't tend to drink much.   My aunt said they had everything covered but I hate only bringing my teeth to a party.  At $4 per bottle I could afford to make a mistake so I picked up a couple of bottles of IHC Pinot Grigio to beat the summer heat and a IHC Cab for later.    

I think my prejudice towards Chardonnay skewed my view of this line.  I popped the cork and between my cousins and I was out of the first bottle within minutes.   

I was surprised how much everyone really enjoyed the IHC Pinot but going through the old Copia tasting checklist I found my opinion change quite a bit.  

I had a set of picnic glasses and a waiter's corkscrew to work with so this is about as basic a wine experience as you are going to get.  The appearance on the pour is light and clear, as a good Pinot Gris would be.  The nose on this Pinot Gris is simple and lightly citrus.  The taste is clean, refreshing and fruity almost like a summer peach.  The aftertaste unlike other lower price point wine is smooth without the bitterness of say a two buck chuck.  By the way the Miyamura team won the soccer competition and the water balloon toss winning a beach ball and a bag of rice if you were wondering.  

I drank the Cab with some peppered tri tip  tonight.that I put in the slow cooker before work.  The Cab is as smooth as I remember it, the taste is simple and dark berry accented table wine which is wonderful  for a weekday meal with the family.  All in all not bad for $4 and a heck of a lot better drinkability wise than the closest competition.  

Cheers!

Summer Beer Lagunitas Little Sumpin'

I know this is technically a wine blog but this is the time of the year in Long Beach where we enjoy the Long Beach Municipal band on the summer evenings in July.  Man cannot just live by red wine and Scotch alone.  Occasionally there is pizza and beer especially on concert nights in the park.  I picked up a 6 pack of Lagunitas Little Sumpin' at the Signal Hill F&E on the way home and was not disappointed.    

I've been drinking a bunch of Pyramid Heff lately as well as Blue Moon and have been generally steering away from ales and stouts this summer.  Today's beer was a fun wheaty-ish ale that was great for a lazy evening in the park.  

On first blush out of the bottle Little Sumpin' is wonderfully aromatic and pours a wonderful thick head.  The taste was crisp and refreshing.  The finish was rich with a hops blast at the end.  Even with the rich flavors there was a lightness to it that is perfect for outdoor activities like chasing the kiddos. All in all just what I was looking for at the end of a long day at the office and return trip on the 405.

The only drawback is when I offered a bottle to my buddy Luke, who was not sure about getting a little sumpin' sumpin' from a dude...  I guess that is South Dakota humor.  That said it did not take too much arm twisting to get him to join me for a bottle.  $8 for a six pack of good craft beer is a great price for a fun beer of this quality.  

Cheers, and get out there and enjoy summer!

Matuco Malbec

Typically I avoid anything from Argentina it usually is overly boastful with little substance explaining its cheating ways by explaining the situation being a result of divine intervention.  [Ask your friends that follow world cup soccer if necessary.]  At long last however I finally have found a reason to give Argentina a chance, this Matuco Malbec.  

I was recently reading "The Rembrandt Affair," a spy novel by Daniel Silva.  Part of the story took the protagonist to the Mendoza region of Argentina to investigate the theft of a long lost Rembrandt masterpiece.  It had a wonderful side story describing the Malbec produced by the grief stricken son of a war criminal who was haunted by the sins of his father.

Soon after I finished "The Rembrandt Affair," I found this Malbec at F&E and being $9 I gave it a try to pair with a pre-seasoned tri-tip roast.  

On first glance in the glass it is an intense ruby color that is very visually appealing.  The nose is intense and appealing.  The Mantuco Malbec is a full bodied wine, and a little heavy on the tannin straight out of the bottle.  I poured myself a glass before I went out to the grill and was initially disappointed.  When I came in  after the tri-tip was done the tannin mellowed appreciably, so Carmen and I enjoyed the remainder of the bottle.  The flavor after some airing is very fruity with a deep berry tone which is just the way I like it.  

If you give this Malbec a little time to breath you will be pleasantly surprised by this fun and intense wine.  Growing up with a bunch of British expats overseas though I still am sore even all these years later about that "Hand of God" play, but if Argentine wineries continue making wine like this we can let bygones be bygones!  

Cheers.

Wine 103: Keeping Track in the Field

One of the great frustrations of finding wines that we enjoy is the stark contrast of the almost universally poor quality of most wine sold in restaurants.  Quickly glancing over a wine list in an unfamiliar restaurant is usually a recipe for disappointment because if my favorite wines are not listed I am typically flying blind and picking countries and regions by reputation not actual knowledge of the wineries themselves.

A co-worker recommended the Wine Notes free app which he got for his Android based phone.  At first I though he was being overly bourgeois on this.  After thinking about it for awhile using a smart phone app makes tons of sense. After all I was beginning to keep a list of my favorites  in the notes section of my IPhone anyway.

Wine, and to a greater extent drinking in general is supposed to be about having fun. Part of having fun is finding and drinking something you already put in the effort to discover.  Nothing is more frustrating than spending your hard earned money on something that is substandard.  So anything that helps in the effort of getting you what you like and want is a good thing.   The fact that the app is free is just icing on the cake.

This app should not dissuade you from trying new wines though, because half of the fun is in the discovery.  Kind of like the first time I drank coconut rum, I like neither flavor independently yet together they were heavenly.  My buddy seems to like this app, I will have to see if they have a version for the IPhone as well and will report back.  

If you have a droid you can get the app here:

http://www.appbrain.com/app/wine-notes-free/com.sh0rtshift.wineNotesFREE

Quick Update

Another cache of Chateau Coucy has been located.  I spoke with the F&E wine buyer who I met through Carmen's Mom's Club.  He confirmed that a quantity of 80 bottles has been moved from a San Gabriel Valley area store and moved to the Manhattan Beach flagship store. The remaining stock is still at $9.99.

I'm as excited now as my old buddy Cheston is in this photo.  I will be there tomorrow with my wine tote bag, if you get there first save me a couple of bottles.

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Update 7/12/11

The stock has now sold out.  I promise to update if I find more.  Maybe I will hit the IE this weekend during Carmageddon.  I picked up a French sav blanc as a consolation prize  that I will review tomorrow.

Theme Parties (Spanish)

Last year Carmen got involved with her local Long Beach Moms Club.  We ended up getting along with several members and decided it would be a great opportunity to revive one of Carmen's favorite activities; the theme party.   Over the years we have thrown Greek, Mexican, Italian, Hawaiian, and many others.  My college buddy Edgar made a Spanish tortilla during one of his dinner parties, we liked the presentation so much we decided to try a Spanish tapas party.  Since all of us have kiddos now it gave all the adults a chance to get together and enjoy adult conversation.  

To pair with the tapas, we chose a F&E wine, Castillo Rioja, a Spanish Rioja (red) which paired well with the dinner that night.  The Rioja is predominantly Tempranillo and has a well aged deep fruity taste.  I think the bold taste stood up well to the tapas pairings, and would pair well with some medium spicy Mexican staples like  enchiladas as well.  At the $9 price point I feel that I get a good bang for my buck and I continue to enjoy this wine.

Wine 102 Continuing the Journey

Since college and for years after, my drinks of choice were spirits instead of wine and beer.  I enjoy drinking especially in a festive setting.  Carmen and I usually drank vodka based drinks, as they tended to complement the themed parties we used to throw.  All that changed in late 2007 when we found out Carmen and I were expecting our first child.  Carmen stopped drinking spirits and I felt bad drinking our usual without her.

I needed a more socially acceptable drink that we could both share, in small (quantities of course); which is why we began to drink more wine.  Remembering our earlier Copia experience we set out to the nearby Trader Joe's to find something to entertain with.

We had some hits and misses in those early days since we tended to only purchase wines in the $5-8 range for ourselves and $10-14 range if we were expecting guests.

Our good friends from college, tasting a California Syrah.  

Our first wines tended to be Californian since we live in California.  So a typical wine selection for us in the early days were Cabernets, Merlots, Pinot noirs and Syrahs.  Carmen began gaining a taste for sweet white wines, I'll touch on her favorites later.   Most importantly even with our lifestyle change, we were doing our best to transition into our new lives and entertain, this time with wine.
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In case you missed it, Chateau Coucy

The first wine that I wanted to highlight is either out of stock in your stores or soon will be.  If you happen to have a store near you that has a large supply please let me know so I can visit it.  I cleaned out Signal Hill, East Long Beach and Walnut already.

Chateau Coucy was a special purchase of French wine made by FnE and its parent company that came in about two months ago.  It is a quality 2008 French Bordeaux with tasty berry aromas and flavors that was sadly the victim of the worldwide credit crunch.  Apparently in France, letters of credit are not as easily accessible as they are in the US.  French wineries maintain inventory as capital and if needed sell them off to raise funds.  This little number and half a case of its friends ended up at my home.  Originally priced at $20.00 it has now been reduced to $9.99 to clear space for the next batch of products.

If you see this bottle, buy it!  You are getting a great tasting and smooth French Bordeaux which should closer to a  $30-40 price point for $9.99.  Better yet email me first and then only buy one bottle... I am getting a little low.

Wine 101 (Pre Kiddos) @ Copia of Napa

Back in June of 2007 Carmen had a conference up in Berkeley, CA and I was off from my Adjunct Professor job for the summer, so I went with her.  After the last day of the conference we had time for a quick trip to Napa before our flight out the next afternoon but could only visit one winery.  After some research we decided to visit the Copia in Napa Valley.  It was a great concept a museum/winery dedicated to food and wine.  It also  had a wonderful restaurant attached to it called "Julia's Kitchen."

The food and presentation were top notch and Carmen was quite pleased with our lunch there. 

Copia  had tours, rotating exhibits and classes.  Carmen and I only had till the afternoon before we flew home so we signed up for the first class available.  Luckily for us we Wine Tasting 101 was available.

The instructor lets call her, "Jane" was a no nonsense young woman in her early twenties from a small Napa wine growing family who was working at Copia to increase her general wine knowledge and marketing savvy.

Carmen and I were ushered into a wonderfully appointed room, she had serious wines, a serious slide show, serious wine glasses divided into sections for different wines and only us as students for that class.  

Unfortunately for Jane, my sense of humor just like my palate had not yet matured.  Jane did her best to  instruct Carmen and I on the basics of observing the appearance of the wine, smelling the aroma in glass, tasting and experiencing the sensations in mount and finally paying attention to appreciate the aftertaste (finish).  In return Jane had to endure endless jokes about; "the wine looking like wine," "smelling like grapes," "tasting like grapes," and "still tasting like grapes..."  Jane showed great patience that day.

All joking aside, (apologies to Jane) I learned a great deal about my wine preferences that morning.  I prefer red wine over white.  I prefer sweet over dry.  I also typically prefer medium bodied to full bodied wines.  Sadly I recently read that Copia had closed.

If I ever bump into Jane again or if you happen to remember Carmen or I and are reading this blog, we apologize and promise to be better next time...  And can we start with a flight of red wine?

Support the Troops

There are times that Sales and Marketing is spot on, and there are times they completely whiff. This product got the secondary treatment.  I saw these wines on promotion when I was picking up some last minute burgers and buns for Independence Day.  $1 from each sale goes to Azalea Charities, a charity dedicated to assisting wounded US and UK veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. http://www.azaleacharities.org/

I don't know why this wine and the cause it supports was given such short shrift by marketing.  If you see it in the stores buy a bottle or two to support this great cause, at $6 why not buy two?

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Update 7/12/11
Just saw this in the discount bin.  Now $4 on closeout.

A Start

We all have to start a blog somewhere, so here we go.  Full disclosure, I am not a wine lover, though I have learned to appreciate it well enough.  There is a fair bit of pretentiousness that I think that we could all do without.  My feeling is that wine and to a greater extent all food and drink is meant to be enjoyed joyfully and passionately;  preferably with friends and family.  

Carmen and I eloped while we were in law school, we had no money, were in debt up to our eyeballs and Carmen was going crazy trying to plan the expected huge wedding.  The huge wedding was just not in our budget, and we did not want to saddle Carmen's family with the costs of a wedding so we eloped.  People were disappointed that we robbed them of a party but looking back at this picture from a small reception that my dad threw for us; I understand that it was not just a party but the sharing of the moment and the meal that was memorable.  I can't remember if the wine that Carmen and I toasted with in this picture was sweet California sparkling wine or a dry French champagne, let alone what it might have cost.  The point is that those details don't matter, we had a wonderful moment with friends and family, and that is the way I want to remember it.

That brings me to an argument that I had with an friend recently on the proper way to enjoy wine.  He has decanters, aerators, a cacophony of glasses in various shapes and sizes as well as a stocked wine cabinet.  He feels the compulsion to create such a perfect experience that I can't help but feel that it gets in the way of actually enjoying the wine.  My feeling is simply this; if you find a wine you like, drink it and share it with a friend in the process.  I have been getting most of my wine from Fresh and Easy lately so I am planning to sharing my experiences with my current favorites and try some new ones as well. Since I tend to go several times a week to the F&E, I will also pass along any sales info I stumble upon.

So is anyone thirsty?