New wine-associated products make great hostess gifts

The Rose’ drinking season is upon us, and with it, the inevitable spills on white and pastel colored clothes. You know I am a huge fan of Wine Away, and now, Wine Away comes in a handy purse size Wine Away is an amazing red wine stain remover formulated to most red wine stains from carpet and fabric – even some older stains. Wine Away is made from fruit and vegetable extracts, has a fresh citrus scent, and does not contain bleach or phosphates. The new purse size is a handy, attractive package resembling a lighter – open the top, then spray. $6.00 at Sur La Table, http://www.surlatable.com/

Going to a lot of wine tastings over the summer? It is high season for that. At the end of a challenging event, no need to walk away with purplish-colored teeth. Wine Wipes are a quick and easy way to remove red wine stains from your teeth and mouth. They use a proprietary blend of natural ingredients which not only clean red wine off teeth but also neutralize the palate. The small cloth has an orange blossom flavor that does not interfere with the wine tasting experience, and no water or rinsing is necessary after using them. They work, trust me. Available at http://www.winewipes.com/

It’s not uncommon to open a number of bottles of wine during the course of cocktail hour and dinner and dessert. Now there is no need to throw out the glass or two left in the bottle, since you can keep it fresh for a few more days with the use of a good wine topper reclosure cap. I like the ones made by Beltappo; they are thermoplastic and use materials that are FDA food grade approved and food contact acceptable. The toppers are unbreakable, reusable, dishwasher safe and recyclable. They come in packages of 6 colored “T-tops” and fit all major wine and spirits bottles. If you can’t find them locally, call the company at 206 780 0607 or go to the website at http://www.beltappo.com/

To get the last drop out of every wonderful bottle of wine, the Wine Shield is the answer. It’s a disc that is inserted into an open bottle of wine, and it extends the life of wine for up to 5 days by shielding it against oxidation. This shield (disc) is constructed of approved food contact plastic, and will fit 9 out of 10 wine bottle sizes. One it is inserted into the neck of the bottle and falls onto the surface of the wine, it create an air barrier. You can buy it online at http://winehardware.com/; a pack of 6 is $5.99 or 50 for $29.99.

If your wine drinking friends have more than 12 bottles on hand, sometimes it is difficult to keep track of what’s in the wine rack or boxes hither and yon. I personally use the disposable Wine Bottle Tags from Epic Products. These tags go over the neck of the bottle, and you can write the essential information you need: winery, year, varietal and maybe price. Buy them at many wine stores, about $5-6 for a pack of 50 (p.s. you can write on the opposite side too, so essentially you are covered for 100 bottles….) or order from Epic Products at http://www.epicstyle.com/. There are also reusable tags where you wipe off the ink, and those are also available in a gift set includes 20 plastic tags and an erasable pen, $6.95 on the Epic website.

Taking a bottle of chilled white wine to your hostess? Take it in an insulated single bottle carrier. It has a snap flap, carrying handle and pocketed waiters corkscrew. $18.95, from Epic Products.

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© 2010 Barbara Keck

For more information on dining and the wide range of activities around Lake Tahoe, see the online version of The Tahoe Weekly. This article appeared in my column "It's Grape" in June 2010.

Watch for my forthcoming book: "Wineries of the Sierra and Its Foothills". Publication date early Summer 2011, Wine Appreciation Guild Publishing.

Cottonwood features Value Wines, Delicious Food

Cottonwood: Exceptional & Approachable

“The wine and food are far reaching and intensely interesting.”

It’s not often that you hear a wine expert talk about QPR – the Quality/Price Ratio – but Jeff Boyer, wine consultant and wine list developer for Cottonwood Restaurant in Truckee, is not hesitant to use this phrase to describe his philosophy about wine. That’s one of the reasons that the wine list at Cottonwood is so exceptional and approachable for diners. You must experience it for yourself.

Cottonwood’s history is impressive. The website (www. Cottonwoodrestaurant.com) notes that today’s popular restaurant overlooks downtown Truckee “from within one of the nation's oldest ski lodges. At the turn of the century, the land on which Cottonwood stands was owned by one of Truckee's most prominent citizen, Charles F. McGlashan, who purchased it from railroad developer Charles Crocker who is considered by most to be the main proponent of winter recreation in the region.”

Winter or summer, the views are far reaching and intensely interesting. The wine and food equally so!

As you relax into the view, you can enjoy a glass of Albariño -- one of my favorite summer wines – that was presented with a Thai coconut curry soup . The Paco & Lola Albariño from Rias Biaxas, Spain, practically dances on the palate – appropriately so, as the wine is named after famous flamenco dancers! Flavors of pineapple, white flower, lots of tropical notes. A golden color. 12.5% alcohol. $35/bottle.

One of Cottonwood’s signature dishes, Caesar salad, features dressing made to order for each salad. It’s a garlic-lover’s delight, and garlic can present wine pairing challenges. Jeff chose the 2007 Matanzas Creek Sauvignon Blanc, Sonoma County, a “signature wine” in his opinion, and it was perfect with the Caesar. This can be considered an iconic wine; Merry Edwards was the first wine maker at Matanzas Creek. Most of the fruit comes from Bennett Valley, and although it is a very simple wine by itself, it tastes like a party in the mouth alongside the Caesar. 13.5% alcohol. $24/Half-bottle.

Another pairing with the Caesar is the 2008 Longboat Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand. Longboat uses grapes from higher altitude vineyards – not exactly a mountain wine like my Sierra favorites, but still vineyards up to 1,000 feet in this case means that there is a bit more spice, particularly overtones of green bell pepper, in this wine. The grapes are handpicked and selected row by row. The result is a balanced acidity, flavors of grapefruit and then a nice spiciness. 12.5% alcohol. $8/glass, $31/bottle.

The 2007 Pinot Noir from Stoller, Dundee Hills, is testimony to hard work by the winemaker, as 2007 was a difficult year for pinot. Located in the heart of Oregon's Willamette Valley, Stoller’s owners blend vineyard stewardship with environmental sustainability, and this was recognized in 2006 when Stoller became the first LEED® certified winemaking facility in the United States to attain the rare Gold level certification. Their pinot is fruit forward, balanced, and complex. You might smell and taste cinnamon, clove, and assorted red fruits, with a nice oakiness and yet sweetness too. 13.5% alcohol. $38/bottle. Paired with butternut squash ravioli in a sage brown butter sauce with pepitas and baby spinach.

If you believe in saving the best for last, pay attention now! The restaurant’s braised 5-Dot Farms beef shortrib, in red wine and molasses au jus, with white cheddar creamy polenta…oh run, don’t walk! A Chilean red, a French Vine de Pays Grenache blend … The Cottonwood wine list will offer you many great choices, and they will all meet the QPR criteria.

Cottonwood Restaurant is located at 10142 Rue Hilltop (Off Brockway Rd.) in Truckee. Open for dinner at 5:00pm nightly, call (530) 587-5711 for reservations.

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© 2010 Barbara Keck

For more information on dining and the wide range of activities around Lake Tahoe, see the online version of The Tahoe Weekly. This article appeared in my column "It's Grape" in June 2010.

Watch for my forthcoming book: "Wineries of the Sierra and Its Foothills". Publication date early Summer 2011, Wine Appreciation Guild Publishing.

The Rhone Rangers Ride On ... and On

The Rhone, longest river in France, is home to notable vineyards that have produced wonderful wines since pre-Roman times. Considered to be some of the best wines in the world, the Rhone offers a Mediterranean climate and terroir that results in wines that have been described as wild. That perhaps is part of the reason that U.S. winemakers turned their attention to Rhone varietals such as Syrah, Grenache, Cinsault, Mouvedre, Viognier, Roussanne and Marsanne. Also, just maybe, American winemakers got a bit bored with cabernet and chardonnay.

In the 1980s, encouraging results from experimentation with Rhone-style wines led several maverick American winemakers to forge ahead. By 1988, informal meetings to share information began, and in 1997, The Rhone Rangers was established with a core group of 13. Today, nearly 200 wineries belong to The Rhone Rangers, each winery producing at least one Rhone-style wine using a minimum of 75 percent of one or more of the 22 Rhone grape varieties approved in the Cotes-du-Rhone.

Every year in the spring, the Rhone Rangers holds a big tasting at Fort Mason in San Francisco. Of the hundreds of wineries there, I honed in on the ones that are a reasonable drive from Tahoe so you can experience the Rhone wines yourself first-hand.

I’ve written before about the wonderful wines from Sierra Vista Winery in Placerville. One of the original Rhone Rangers, Sierra Vista owner and winemaker John MacCready never disappoints with his wines. His Fleur de Montagne, a red blend using fruit from El Dorado, is a personal favorite. Get it while it lasts at $23 per bottle. Visit http://www.sierravistawinery.com/.

Black Sheep Winery in Murphys, Calif., poured a 2008 Cinsault, Dusty Lane, which won a double-gold award in the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Judging. Cinsaut, an ancient red wine grape, is tolerant of heat and rocky soils. A lovely plum taste with a spice zing of black pepper and perhaps a muskiness like mushroom. 14.5 percent alcohol. Only 200 cases were produced. $20 per bottle, available only at the Black Sheep tasting room in Murphys. Visit http://www.blacksheepwinery.com/. (Photo: Liz and Steve Miller, owners of Black Sheep Winery)

The 2007 Grenache from David Girard Vineyards in Placerville brings a lot of soft flavors like watermelon and cherry to the palate, and then intensifies the taste with deep spices like clove. This is a wine that is versatile with foods. Fruit is sourced in part from their vineyards at 2,400 feet in El Dorado County, and in part from vineyards at 1,300 feet. Only 313 cases produced. 14.7 percent alcohol. $18 by the bottle. Visit http://www.davidgirardvineyards.com/. (Photo: David Girard Vineyard owners)

Holly’s Hill Vineyards is in the Pleasant Valley area of Placerville, just down the road from Sierra Vista. They poured eight Rhone wines (Rhone varietals are their entire focus) and the 2007 Patriarche, a red blend of 63 percent Mourvèdre, 19 percent Syrah, 13 percent Grenache and 5 percent Counoise, is tasty with blackberry, cherry, raspberry and floral highlights. With a nice acidity, it can stand up to a rich meal. 14.4 percent alcohol. $30 per bottle. Visit http://www.hollyshills.com/.

The 2006 Roussanne, Renaissance Vineyard & Winery in Oregon House, Calif., takes us to the tastes of Yuba County fruit. A lovely pale gold in color, the aroma is tropical and herbal. There’s a bit of oakiness on the palate, but taste is strongly tropical with a good minerality. Winemaker Gideon Beinstock notes that this wine will age and transform over many years, possibly 10 to 15, and he suggests pairing it now with shellfish. Only 76 cases were produced. 12.8 percent alcohol. $35 by the bottle. Visit http://www.renaissancewinery.com/. At the same location, Clos Saron Winery prides itself on its limited production Pinot Noir, Syrah and non-traditional blends.

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© 2010 Barbara Keck

For more information on dining and the wide range of activities around Lake Tahoe, see the online version of The Tahoe Weekly. This article appeared in my column "It's Grape" in June 2010.

Watch for my forthcoming book: "Wineries of the Sierra and Its Foothills". Publication date early Summer 2011, Wine Appreciation Guild Publishing.

Crystal Bay Steakhouse delights with its Award Winning Wine List

“Something for Everyone”

Crystal Bay Steakhouse delights with its Award Winning Wine List

From its historic beginning in 1937 as Ta-Neva-Ho, to the massive renovation in 2003, the Crystal Bay casino and related enterprises have been a fixture on State Rd 28 in Crystal Bay, NV for more than 70 years. Steak and Lobster has been a keynote of the cuisine there for many years, but the magnificent wine list of the Crystal Bay Steakhouse is a well kept public secret. You must experience it, and you will be delighted!

Wine Consultant Patty Ruhl is the moving force behind this wonderful list, and she works hand in hand with Food & Beverage Director Harold Peskin, to create a “something for everyone” list that continues to win awards. It’s not all steak and lobster either; the cuisine is wide-ranging in taste and texture, and the wines are chosen to match the chefs’ talents too.

“Food tastes better with wine, and vice-versa,” notes Patty. “We have some very hard to find wines that sell for over $1000 a bottle, and we have many wines in the $15-25 dollar range too. We know that most of our clients will look for a California wine, and our selection is excellent.”

The extensive wine list notes dozens of wines that have been knighted by the Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast or Robert Parker with 90+ point ratings. For some, that makes selection easier, but Patty is always interested in helping you choose a wine that fits your own palate, dinner selection and budget.

We began with a shrimp/bacon appetizer, and Patty paired that with a Ramey 2004 Russian River Chardonnay. Its crisp acidity was nicely noticeable, but it is toasty and butter-scotchy, with lots of ripe fruit flavors such as melon, pear and peach showing through. I liked its full body, and its rich and long finish. 14.5% alcohol.

The Four Graces-Reserve 2007 Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, is another seafood friendly wine. It appeared along with an Alaskan Halibut that was macadamia-nut crusted. A good pairing! This Pinot Noir is a great New World Burgundy with soft tannins, a fruit-forward taste redolent of blackberries and damson plum. French oak contributes a velvety soft mouthfeel. 13.5% alcohol. I like the whimsical name of the wine -- Four Graces is named in honor of the four daughters of founders Steve and Paul Black, who started the winery in 2003 in the Red Hills of Dundee, where they wanted to make consistently outstanding Pinot Noirs representative of this unique terroir. Alexis, Vanessa, Christiana, and Jillian are honored with this wine. Brother Nicholas is recognized on the Reserve as "Keeper of The Four Graces."

Martinelli’s Terra Felice Syrah 2004 is a Russian River beauty. This is a very special wine, made by famed winemaker Helen Turley. One reviewer proclaimed that this wine was “exuberant”, an apt description. It has spice, black pepper, violets and other florals, blackberry, oak , raspberries– wonderfully complex and 14.8% alcohol. Served with a Colorado lamb with shitake mushroom and port wine demiglaze: perfect.

A nice feature of the wine list is a category called “ Pick-A-Grape” . Among the reds, that includes a good list of wines for those who love Sangiovese, Barbera, Grenache, Cab Franc etc. Among the whites, you’ll find Viognier, Rosado, Pinot Gris and Riseling, and many others. It’s a great way to try a new taste sensation and experience grapes with which you might not be familiar.

Wrapping it all up nicely was a Far Niente Dolce 2004 Napa Valley Late Harvest dessert wine. Honey honey honey, I loved it. 14.1% alcohol.

The Crystal Bay Steakhouse is located at 14 State Highway 28, just on at California/Nevada border. Reservations are suggested. 775 833 6333.

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© 2010 Barbara Keck

For more information on dining and the wide range of activities around Lake Tahoe, see the online version of The Tahoe Weekly. This article appeared in my column "It's Grape" in May 2010.

Watch for my forthcoming book: "Wineries of the Sierra and Its Foothills." Publication date early Summer 2011, Wine Appreciation Guild Publishing.

Boxed Wines at Tableside.... oh really?

I love dining in New York City, and exploring new restaurants means exploring wines too. But I was shocked to be served wine from a box at the table. Right out there in the open. Another "what's with that?" reaction from prissy little me.

The restaurant was Hearth, located in the East Village. The wine was a Malbec from Mendoza, specifically the 2008 Yellow and Blue Malbec. And the package, according to the website http://www.ybwines.com/ is eco-friendly. In my opinion it is probably shelf friendly, ship friendly, cost friendly, refrigerator friendly ... but excuse me, I don't think it is tableside friendly.

It's not like Hearth could serve this wine any other way. Okay, they could put it in a carafe. But it's a busy place and I understand that the East Village is edgey and all that. It was just a bit of a shock.

Regardless, it paired well with the main dish in their prix-fixe $35 Cucina Provera menu's main item, which was a grilled house-made pork sausage served with rapini, garlic and cranberry beans. The wine pairing was an additional $15, and featured two other wines ... poured from bottles.

My dining companions were a late 20's financial guy, a late 30's customer service database expert, and an early 40's brilliant computer guy.

I was the only one who flinched at the wine in the box.

Gotta get over that.

What's with the Short Pour? Is a 5 oz glass really standard?

It was bad enough that American Airlines dumped me in Dallas-Fort Worth due to weather delays, and I was in a foul mood anyhow. Then the dining room at the Hyatt Regency DFW made me really annoyed with a 5 ounce pour of wine.

"Of course I want another glass," I said as nicely as I could muster to my waitperson. "And it would be nice if the next glass was a full pour."

My remarks came to the attention of Pascal Castiau, the Assistant Food & Beverage Director. I guess it is not every guest who takes photos of a glass of wine on the table... (Gotta love camera phones, a blogger's good friend!)

The wine was nice enough, at $9 for the glass of 2007 De Loach Pinot Noir, Winemaker's Blend. This must be a special blend sold to the restaurant trade, because I was interested in knowing what it would have cost for a full bottle at a wine shop, but no joy on the internet search.

Pascal said that 5 ounce is their standard pour. I guess that is a bit less than 5 glasses per bottle, but still....

So I pondered this, and then turned on my email (love my new Droid phone) and zipped a message to my friend Bruce Nichols, a wine consultant in Naples FL whose resume includes years as Director of Food and Beverage for a huge international hotel chain. His remarks:

"Interesting... I'm always amazed at the inconsistency of pours. With the array of glassware sizes used, it's hard to say. It used to be they'd use a 6 oz glass and pour it to the rim. You knew what you were getting in terms of the portion, but it didn't allow for swirling the wine, which truly does improve the aromatics and flavor profile by introducing some oxygen, hence the move to larger stemware.

What I often see in hotels, who generally are much more cost control oriented, is providing a large glass and serving the wine in a small carafe = the best of both worlds perhaps."

Nicely, Bruce commiserated on the situation too... whatta guy... "Air travel is deteriorating terribly. It's the only industry that the customer has no recourse whatsoever and it's getting worse. Sadly, little options if you want to visit the world. So, have another "short" glass of wine and enjoy. Hope the wine was good at least!"

It was okay and I got the first flight out the next morning.

The Debate on High Alcohol Wines Rages On

Which came first?

The Debate on High Alcohol Wines Rages On

Over the past year, I’ve reviewed many wines for my column "It's Grape" in the Tahoe Weekly, noting characteristics of look-smell-feel-taste-finish. But I also try to include an item I think is important: alcohol content.

Make no mistake – one glass of a wine that is 15-16% alcohol, and you are done. Better have someone drive you home, and if you serve those wines for dinner parties then make sure your guests are driven home or shown to the guest room for the night.

Good wines do not need to be high alcohol.

In my blog a while back, I had an expert write about high alcohol wines. Bruce Nichols, based in Naples, FL, is a Wine Consultant who provides professional wine cellar management, wine brokering for buyers and sellers, sommelier services, wine education and wine event planning. He is heavily involved in the world-renowned Naples Winter Wine Auction.

I can’t say it better than Bruce does, so here are some verbatim remarks from his newsletter, A Nichols Worth of Wine (http://www.napleswinenews.com/):

“High alcohol levels in wine is a subject that just refuses to go away. I’ve made my position on high-alcohol wines well known. I don’t like them. I find most to be one-dimensional - all fruit, no character. I find many can be overpowering and incompatible with the dining experience. I want to enjoy that second, and occasionally, third glass of wine over the span of a meal without the need for a nap between courses.

There’s also the concern of increased DUI enforcement. Many variables determine BAC (blood alcohol concentrations) currently set at .08%. Even factoring in body weight, gender, time, and food intake, two glasses of wine can push you close to or beyond this legal threshold.

Personal experience has taught me that a two-point swing in a wine from 12.5% to 14.5% can have a significant effect on acuity and I find it makes wines less compatible with food.

Assertions of vintners pushing hang time to the extremes to achieve ultra-ripe fruit just to please the critics' palates, and in turn garner higher ratings, are hotly debated. But I wonder if this isn’t a classic version of the chicken and the egg story? Which came first: the consumer’s taste for sweeter, full throttled flavors that the critics played into, or the consumer as lemming, hanging on to every 90-point score? Aren’t winemakers, for better or worse, simply producing a style the majority of wine drinkers demand?

These hyper-extracted wines come from ultra-ripe fruit with high sugars, which in turn raise the alcohol level. To combat this problem, many wineries resort to “dealcoholization,” literally reducing alcohol from the wine either through reverse osmosis or high-tech filtering. This in turn can require adding back in up to 15% water. The controversy between the purists and practitioners over this approach rages on.

Proponents, many of them winemakers, would argue that climate change has led to riper fruit, requiring adjustments in the winemaking process. The industry is quick to contend that as long as a wine’s components, acidity, tannins and flavors, are all in balance, then the higher alcohol levels are justifiable. To a large degree, this is true, but that does not address the DUI issue, or that these wines tend to overpower many foods. Opponents, a “natural, less-is-better” camp, contend this manipulation robs the wine of its character and structure and the wine’s terroir, or sense of place.

It is you and me, the consumers, who will ultimately shape the future on how much alcohol is in our wines. In the meantime, we consumers do have many options. Check out the mandatory posting of the percentage of alcohol listed on every label before your next wine purchase. There are many wines under 14%, although choices are fewer with California brands than the imports... for now.”

By the way, this writer really likes The Prisoner by Orin Swift… and it zips in at 15+% usually. So don’t expect consistency from me, wine is so individual! But I always have a designated driver…

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© 2010 Barbara Keck

For more information on dining and the wide range of activities around Lake Tahoe, see the online version of The Tahoe Weekly. This article appeared in my column "It's Grape" in May 2010.

Watch for my forthcoming book:"Wineries of the Sierra and Its Foothills."Publication date early Summer 2011, Wine Appreciation Guild Publishing.