2008 Black Stallion Rose:
The 2008 Rose was made with 100% Syrah from fruit from Coombsville and the Oak Knoll District. I visited this winery earlier in the year and was impressed with the range of wines offered and the helpful nature of the staff.
Aromas: White chocolate, strawberries, hint of cherries and lavender.
Palate: White chocolate, a little peach, and a little sweet apple.
Impression: This is a soft, fruity wine which unfolds to reveal hints of spice and warmth.
2007 Orin Swift Red Wine, The Prisoner Napa Valley
Just after I moved to San Francisco a newly made friend appeared at one of my dinner parties with a bottle of The Prisoner. This was a wine which would change my mind about blends completely.
I had never heard of the Orin Swift Winery before and so could have had no idea that the bottle of wine I was about to try would hit very close to home in regards to its producers background, which like mine was in political science. An unusual starting point for a man who would go on to make such an interesting selection of wines but one which opened my eyes further to the random and interesting backgrounds that people have before they immerse themselves in a life of wine.
The 2007 is a wine which has
50% Zinfandel
24% Cabernet Sauvignon
14% Syrah
9% Petite Sirah
2% Charbono
1% Grenache
I am particularly fond of Zinfandel but the high percentage of Cabernet gives this wine a bigger punch which the other grapes soften it on the palate. I will at a later point add my own review of this wine however for now I would like to point you in the direction of Doug Wilder who recently reviewed it and gave it 95. (http://www.wildernapavalley.com/)
This wine has become a favourite of mine for its outstanding taste to price ratio and because it has come to mean far more to me in regards to what it represents.
Before I met my fiance I wasn’t particularly interested in red wines, I enjoyed them but didn’t get excited by them. When we got together my education in red wines continued and now some of my favourite wines are red. This is an American wine given first to me by a man who is now a dear friend and so ties together the past, present and future in one bottle for me.
Review to follow.
‘Haamonii Smooth Shochu’
‘Haamonii (harmony) Smooth Shochu’ was not what I expected at all. As the clear liquid cascaded over the ice cubes I became aware of a slow treacle like flow to the liquid and an almost magical quality to it as it swirled in my glass. My research into Shochu had led me to believe that this would be a heavy spirit with over powering earth and nut notes to its nose however instead I was intrigued by a freshness and and softness of the glass contents.
What really excited me about Haamonii Smooth was it’s versatily when simply added to fresh fruit juices or substituted for vodka. I found it an easy drink to have on the rocks but also enjoyed playing around with it as a replacement to vodka in a few of my favourite cocktails. In the Cosmopolitan it softened the harshness of the acidic cranberry while in the White Russian it helped hold the drink together in a complimentary way.
Aroma - Fresh, cool, alluring - not sour, almost sweet nose. Gives an impression of escapism.
Palate – Haamonii was, as the label described, ‘smooth’ but also had a vitality and freshness that went beyond the expected ‘nuttiness’ or earth qualities I might have imagined it to have. It was lighter then first thought and not in the least over powering like some of its competitors.
Impression – the perfect drink for mixed company. This is drink for friends of all tastes due to the adaptability of Haamonii to be drunk in several different ways without jeopardizing its essential characteristics.
Suggestions for drinking:
- On it’s own – place in the freezer and serve in cocktail glasses for fun.
- On the rocks.
- With water
- Mixed with oolong tea or fruit juice
- Used in cocktails for a softer edge.
Conclusion:
This is a perfect summer drink – throw a bottle in the freezer and look forward to sharing with all company who might come your way.
Review coming soon…
'Salad Seasoning' - By Bellina Estates
Are you ever stuck as to what to add to your salad dressing to give it that little ‘va va voom’, or how best to season your potatoes? Or maybe just what to drop your little bread croutons into? Well, worry no longer I have found the spice combination to take the worry out of the kitchen – produced by Bellina Estates, their ‘Salad Seasoning’ is a little tin of pure spices which as the label recommends can be ‘combined on leaf, potato and pasta salads’ as well as being used for seasoning ‘baked potatoes, chicken and fish’. Of course this is only the tip of an iceberg…
As part of the vigorous testing process we added the seasoning to Yorkshire Pudding mix, seasoned roast potatoes with it and mixed it in with bolognaise pasta. All with successful results.
The ingredients list is basil, garlic, oregano, and ‘other spices’ and it is those other spices which really seem to give this ‘Salad Seasoning’ mix a wonderful combination of flavours that are clearly there but not overwhelming.
If you want to see just how interesting a combination this seasoning is I recommend dipping bread croutons into olive oil and then dusting with ‘Salad Seasoning’ – delicious.
For more information contact:
209-334-5544 voice
209-333-1588 fax
Contact: Jackie Gifford
Bellina Estates
Bellindora Vinegar’s
Sans Liege Wines – Wine maker Curt Schalchlin
I met Curt Schalchlin for the first time at the ‘Rhone Rangers 2009 Tasting Event’ in San Francisco, California. Drawn to his table by the intriguing designs of his wine labels I was greatly enjoyed trying his wines but was really excited about the combination of the striking labels with such a good wine offer.
Coming from a design back ground I wanted to learn more about the story behind these labels and so contacted Curt directly.
The first wine he produced was in 2004, a GSM which was called ‘Trifecta’. He decided that he wanted to combine the product with packaging of equal merit and hired a friend who was a tattoo artist to draw up an image of hands holding
grapes, which were then placed on an oversized bottle, which was then wax-dipped.
He used the same technique for his next vintage, which was the ‘Cotes-du-Coast’, and the ‘Offering’ however became less enchanted with the oversized bottle and wax dip as the year progressed after many industry people complained about opening wax dipped bottles and consumers let him know that the bottle didn’t fit in their cellars. That is when the whole redesign began…
Still wanting to over deliver he moved onto smaller bottles and foils but compensated with eye catching original labels. The foils are half foils and the corks were redesigned to be read underneath the foils. Curt spent a large amount of time researching artists for inspiration and finally found Lynd Ward from the late 1920’s that really impressed and inspired him.
Lynd Ward is considered by many to be the father of graphic art for America. His
work is totally unique. Constructing five different novels all in woodcuts with no
words. Ward was the inspiration behind the ‘Sancha’, ‘The Offering’ and the ‘Cotes du Coast’ labels. These labels were drawn by an
artist named Gene Ploss in New York. The ‘Grenache’ and ‘The Prophetess’ are
actual woodcuts from the German Expressionist movement.
As to the meanings,
The Offering: This wine represents all the vineyards and varietals I work
with in a given vintage and it is what I am giving back, my offering, from
each harvest.
Cotes du Coast: Inspired from Cotes du Rhone, being untraditional rhone
blends from the Central Coast as opposed to the Rhone.
Sancha: Means mistress in Spanish. In the cellar Curt always hears the workers
bragging about their ‘Sancha’s’. I have always found these relationships to
be strange because they are more than just casual flings. The men brag of
the fact that they have a Sancha but also contribute to their households and
it seems from the outside that this is like their second homes without their
children. So the Sancha to me is a real standout blend that also came from
the same lot that I use to make the Cotes du Coast. The label reads “Sancha
or my other white wine.”
Prophetess: ‘The Prophetess’ is another small blend made up of barrels that
were really ‘speaking to him’ around the time of the 2006 bottling. It is made
up of a barrel of an 06 Syrah blend of three vineyards from Santa Barbara,
one 07 Syrah from the Santa Barbara Highlands vineyard and an 07 Mourvedre
barrel from the same vineyard. The Prophetess is so named because it was
bottled during the 06 bottling but contains the next vintage as well,
looking or peaking at the future.
Wines should not need ornate or exciting labels to sell, instead recommend themselves on their own merit. However wine making is an art form and wine labels, which acknowledge this, should not be overlooked. I found Curt’s wines to be exciting, with complex, surprising flavours and indulgent noses which seductively drew the drinker in. However his attention to the design of his wine labels should not be overlooked. Here is a wine maker who does not stop the design process with the wine itself, instead he has combined a ‘package’ of art in both the bottle exterior and the contents of the bottle.
For more information or to order directly:
