I don’t even know where to begin…  Last night was our long awaited Cheese Tuesday at L’Espalier.  The L’Espalier website describes the evening as follows:  ”Cheese Tuesday combines wine and cheese in a casual night featuring a three course dinner with paired wines, followed by a grand cheese tasting and musical entertainment.”  Casual night, some food to snack on, a few wine tastings, sounds great!  Friends, it was so much more than great.  After an amazing gourmet 3-course dinner with superb wine pairings (I’ll get into the dinner later), the Fromager, Louis Risoli, rolled out two big tables covered in wheels of delicious cheese.  Now, the room was packed, there must have been at least 40-50 people in there.  We though, “Cool!  We can circulate, nibble on a couple of the cheeses, try some dessert wine, call it a day!”  Oh no.  The tables of cheese were just for display during the grand cheese tasting and lecture.  Tasting of 11 different cheeses.  An entire plate of 11 cheeses to try – PER PERSON.

The lecture was amazing and went through the cheeses in order of intensity, starting with the curd (fresh curd made at home by Mr. Risoli himself!) and ending with the blue.   At the top of our list were the 5 year aged Gouda, the Burgundian Epoisses, and the Oregon Caveman Blue.   We were even provided with a chart on the cheesemaking process which I found very interesting.  Little Miss Muffet would have LOVED it, lots about curds and whey…  I have included a full list of the cheeses below.  They were paired with a delightful dessert wine from Sauternes (Bordeaux), a 2001 Chateau Lahonade-Peyraguey.  Great acidity, lovely notes of peach, apricot and burnt orange, a really perfect pairing that was not too sweet for the mild cheeses but not too delicate for the bolder ones.  This event may become dangerously addictive…

L’Espalier Cheese 101 – April 12, 2011

The How’s, Why’s and What’s and Yummy Yums of Cheese

1. Fresh curd, cow, homemade
2. Mount Vikos Feta, sheep and goat, Greece
3. Pave Sauvage, goat and herbs, Perigord, France
4. Hartwell, cow, Ploughgate Creamery, Albany, VT
5. Epoisses, cow, Burgundy, France
6. Pecorino Ginepro, sheep, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
7. Fiscalini Cloth Bandaged Cheddar, cow, Modesto, CA
8. Tarentaise, cow, Spring Brook Farm, Reading, VT
9. Gouda, aged 5 years, cow, Holland
10. Bayley Hazen Blue, cow, Jasper Hill Farm, Greensboro, VT
11. Caveman Blue, cow, Rouge River Creamery, Central Point, OR

Hello all!  So I know I’ve blogged about 181 Merlot before, but apparently I’ve never blogged about it’s dear cousin 337 Cabernet Sauvignon!  Well, they just released their 2008 vintage and let me tell you – YUM.  The vines they use for 337 are clones of Bordeaux vines and they have taken remarkably well to the terroir of Lodi, California.  Dark berry flavors with balanced acidity and tannins, this is a great Cab.  We paired it with grilled veggies and an aged cheddar with cranberry pepper jelly and felt it held up superbly to the strong flavors.  But it is absolutely smooth enough to drink without a food pairing as well!  We grabbed this bottle as part of a 2 for $20 deal (another Monique suggestion, I love that woman).  Highly recommended!

(photo credit 337 Wine)

When you were younger, I bet you knew all 7 Wonders of the Ancient World, right?  Or you could recite the Greek alphabet?  Something like that?  And you were SO excited when you stood up in front of the class and rattled the list off without one single mistake, weren’t you?  Bet most of you couldn’t do it now without hoping on Wikipedia though.  We seem to loose information when we don’t prioritize it, really such a shame but who has the time or mental capacity for things that in our professional life would be considered irrelevant?  Well, when I was studying for my Sommelier Exam I was the only one in my prep class who got (and spelled) all 5 Premier Gran Cru houses correct on our Bordeaux quiz.  It was a big freaking deal.  I was so proud.  The other day I tried to recall the names of the wine greats and only got as far as three.  I got to four a few hours later, totally one of those moments when I should have been focusing on something else yet randomly yelled out, “Latour!” to no one in particular.  I was crushed.  I mean come on, I was a bit peeved when I got stuck at the Pyramids, Colossus of Rhodes and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, but I consider wine to be much more relevant in my life than some massive statue of Zeus that may or may not have even existed in the first place!  So without any further ado, here are the Five Premier Gran Cru (or First Growths) of Bordeaux, in case you were wondering…

1. Chateaux Margot (Médoc)
2. Chateaux Lafite Rothschild (Pauillac)
3. Chateaux Latour(Pauillac)
4. Chateaux Mouton Rothschild – the one I totally forgot, and it’s so close to Lafite, the one PGC I have actually consumed! (Pauillac)
5. Chateaux Haut-Brion (Pessac-Leognan)

Now, you will notice that these are all left-bank Bordeaux appellations.  I guess the French just feel that Cab-heavy blends make for a finer wine!  Some feel that the well-known right-bank wine house, Chateaux Petrus (Pomerol) should be considered among the top wines from the region, but these 5 are the only official Premeir Gran Crus.  Why is this important?  Well, for starters, it means these wine houses can charge a HECK of a lot more for their wine than anyone else on the block.  Worth it?  Well, yes and no.  As I said, I have actually tried a bottle of 1996 Chateaux Lafite Rothschild when I was in the wine biz in Las Vegas, and it was pretty stellar.  Would I have paid the $1,000+ out of pocket for the wine?  If I was ridiculously wealthy, sure!  Otherwise no.  It is one of those conundrums I feel I will never really figure out – but I am glad that I passed that quiz with flying colors  :)

(photo via)

Ugh, is it really only Thursday?  How is it possible that this week already feels so much longer if I haven’t even had to work my first full Friday since May?  Ok, I’ll shut up about that before people start to hate me…  Anyway, next up in our night of tasting fun – another Merlot from California!  What, it’s a big state and it’s easy to find California Merlots!  I’m not being lazy, I’m just trying to make it easier for you to find the wines I’m blogging about!  So here we go…

The Wine:  181 Merlot, 2007

The Region: Lodi, California

The Results: Great, solid Merlot.  This is a perfect variteal wine, the plush tannins you like with the black cherry flavor you love.  A great spice on the finish, this is the sort of bottle you get when you want what you expect from a classic Merlot.  The winery calls this a “Bordeaux style” Merlot as the soil makeup in the vineyard that produces this wine is similar to that of the right bank of Bordeaux.  I would say they are spot on.  Pair this wine with any bold dish like grilled meats or hearty sauces and stews.  And for $10.99 a bottle, you’ve got to love the price!  So sad, I can’t believe that tomorrow I’ll wrap up our little Merlot adventure!  Well, at least I have a fantastic wedding to attend this weekend at the Boston Public Library with (almost) all of my old college roommates!  Always good to have something fabulous to look forward to  :)  On that note, please start brainstorming and let me know what you think I should focus on next at MoreThanMerlot!  I’d love to take on another little project like “Six Ways to Sideways – The Merlot Project” (HA!  Said it again!)  Your feedback would be much appreciated!  Hasta manana…

(photo credit: 337wine.com)

Ok, down to business!  So this past weekend, as you probably know since I’ve talked about it incessantly, my lovely sister and brother in law came to town for my cousin’s wedding.  Since my parents were at the rehearsal dinner Friday night, I kidnapped my sister and BIL for a little wine tasting action.  To finish off “Six Ways to Sideways – The Merlot Project,” I selected three different bottles of Merlot from around the world.  I looked up some notes online to clue me in to the strength of each wine so that I could order them from softest to most potent, as I feel this is important when tasting multiple wines in a row.  Luckily, my ordering was right on!  So here we go with the first selection:

The Wine:  ”Encore” Merlot by Christian Moueix, 2005.

The Region:  Bordeaux, right bank (Right bank = mostly Merlot, left bank = mostly Cab)

The Results:  This bottle ran us a bit more than usual at $13.99, but it  it was important to me that we incorporated 100% varietal wines from different areas so we could compare and contrast.  And let me tell you, this wine was well worth it!  The few extra years of aging definitely show in the soft fruit and super smooth texture of this wine.   Bright cherry and subtile vanilla with soft tannins, a perfect sipping wine for a summer evening on the terrace.  The wine did not pack too much of a punch overall, so I would not pair it with stronger dishes like a normal Merlot.  This would be great for a mild brie cheese plate, a salad course, or with simple chicken or pork dishes.  I guess I would really pair this wine more as a light Pinot Noir than a Merlot.  So if you’re a big Pinot person looking for something different, you should check this wine out for sure!  How did this rank against the other wines of the evening?  Sorry, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow  :)

PS – You will also have to wait until tomorrow for some pictures, as I tried uploading this morning and the program timed out  :(  My sister looked beautiful, I swear!

Happy Monday, my dears!  I hope you had a relaxing weekend.  I attended quite a celebration this weekend, my grandmother’s 89th birthday!  What can I say, we have good genes in my family  :)  To celebrate, grandma requested Chinese food for dinner.  She insists that it’s one of the only genres of food that she can still taste and fully enjoy, but many other foods have long lost their appeal due to waining taste buds.  This really made me stop and think about food, life, and enjoying yourself in the moment.  I know we all beat ourselves up for indulging in the occasional pasta alfredo or hot fudge sundae, but don’t you think we should be enjoying these simple pleasures while we can?  Now, if you’ve read any of my wine reviews you know that for the most part I stick to bottles in the $10 range, but I feel like every once and a while I should save up and indulge in some fantastic, once in a lifetime bottle, even if it means going a week with no wine at all.  What do you think, is it worth it?  I’ll admit it- when I lived in Vegas I had a bottle of 1998 Lafite Rothschild that retailed at just over $1,200.  Was it amazing?  Yes.  Was it THAT different from perhaps a $50 bottle of another Bordeaux?  Slightly – but not enough for me to feel that I would ever spend that much on a bottle of wine again.  (Not that I actually paid for the wine myself, gotta use my big brown eyes to my advantage every once and a while…  Oh snap, I went there!).  So my question to you is this – If it was once in a lifetime, what is the most you would ever spend on a bottle of your dream wine?  Like actually pay out of your own pocket, take out of your savings, remove from your kid’s college fund, go against your mortgage spend.  $500?  $5,000?  Am I nuts for even partaking in the consumption of a $1,200 bottle of wine?  Please tell me I’m not completely crazy here…

Bordeaux is probably the most well-know wine producing region in France behind Champagne. It is located on the southwest coast of France along the banks of the Gironde river. The river is very important in Bordeaux. You will often hear people refer to a Bordeaux being either “left bank” or “right bank.” This refers to where the grapes were grown for the production of a particular wine. Now, as I mentioned earlier the principal red varietals in Bordeaux wines are Merlot (50%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (26%). Due to sun exposure, terroir and other viticultural influences the left bank of Bordeaux generally produces wine that is heavier on Cabernet whereas the right bank produces wine that is heavier on Merlot. Why do you need to know this? When you find a Bordeaux wine in a store you will rarely see the word “Bordeaux” anywhere on the bottle. You will instead find the name of the appellation or chateau. An appellation is a targeted geographical area within a wine region that further distinguishes wines from one another. There are over 50 appellations in Bordeaux alone. SO – To know which Bordeaux wine you are going to like, you should be able to recognize the major appellations in the region. Here is a little cheat-sheet, when you see the following on a wine lable you are likely buying the following:

Mostly Cabernet with some Merlot:
Medoc/Haut Medoc
Sainte Estephe
Paulliac
Saint Julien
Graves
Margaux
Pessac-Leognan

Mostly Merlot with some Cabernet:
Pomerol
Saint Emillion
Cadillac

Blend of any Bordeaux varietals:
Bordeaux AOC

Bordeaux AOC is a general label that distinguishes a wine that is produced from grapes all grown in the Bordeaux region, but of a blend of grapes from various appellations. These wines will be less expensive. Major wine houses will sell off excess grapes to wine makers who will in turn blend the grapes to produce a wine. Because these wine makers do not need to own the land to grow the grapes their production cost is much lower. Also, because the grapes are not from a specific appellation or vineyard they are not considered to be as refined, and thus, they cannot sell the wines for as much money. This is a good starter wine to try if you have never had a Bordeaux and want to try one out!

I get a lot of questions about France, so here are some notes to help you get started on understanding French wines…  France consists of a multitude of wine regions. Although every region is significant in French wine history and culture, I am only going to focus on the six regions that produce the majority of the French wines one can find in the typical wine store. These regions, put into alphabetical order so that no one can accuse me of favoritism, are: Alsace, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, the Loire Valley, and the Rhone Valley. Now, each region has specific varietals that are allowed in the production of wine. This regulation of varietals is actually quite useful for our purposes, as once you identify a particular region that produces a wine you enjoy, you will find that other wines from that region will be relatively consistent. Please, don’t tell that to a French winemaker as they insist that the soil (or “terroir“) from two adjacent square meter blocks of land yields vastly different final products.

An important concept in wine is understanding the difference between country, region and varietal. Country is easy – Spain, Italy, France, Argentina, US, and so on. Region gets a little more specific. For example, the Rioja region is in Spain, the Bordeaux region is in France. Varietal is usually where people start getting confused. Varietal is just a fancy word for grape. When you refer to a varietal, you are talking about which grape is used in the production of a particular wine. Tempranillo is the principal varietal used in the Rioja region, and Cabernet Sauvignon & Merlot are the principal red varietals used in the Bordeaux region. Once you know the varietals you enjoy and which regions produce wine with those varietals, you will have the ability to choose and be 99% sure that you are going to enjoy your selection.  Since going through each wine producing region one by one would take forever, I will add region reviews along with varietal profiles so you can learn about both!