Two new shared bottles we really really like

Sally and I hit the jackpot this weekend with two dinner invitations from friends who share our passion for great wine. We firmly believe that shared bottles are the best bottles and lucky for us, they do too. And, as luck would have it, we discovered an amazing new wine at each dinner.

On Friday, we dined with our friends Gaby and Steve. They have turned us on to a lot of wonderful wineries over the years including Herman Story (see "Herman Story - a winery you need to know"). This time, they shared a bottle of 2007 McPrice Myers Beautiful Earth, which is a GSM blend of 70% Syrah, 24% Grenache, and 6% Mourvedre. It's silky smooth with substantially more body and deeper, darker flavors than you'd expect out of this type of blend.

McPrice Myers runs Barrel 27, which used to be a collaboration between McPrice Myers and Russell From, until From left in 2011 to focus full time on his own label, Herman Story. Yes, the circle of (wine) life is complete.

On Saturday, we visited our friends Karin and Jeff. Like us, they enjoy a wide range of varietals. Lamb shank was on the menu, which pairs well with Pinot Noir or Syrah, so they generously provided both options. One of the wines they served was a 2009 Seufert "Johan Vineyard" Pinot Noir from the Willamette Valley in Oregon. It was an excellent example of Oregon Pinot: good earth tones, bright but subtle fruit characteristics, and light bodied but bold enough to pair very well with food. Needless to say, we were all disappointed when the bottle was finally empty.

This really is the best way to discover great wine - make friends with good, generous people who will share a bottle of their good stuff with you and then try to score a dinner invitation. 

“Drink Yourself Blind” and Discover New Wine

One of my favorite ways to discover new wines is with unique tasting experiences.  It’s a fun way to share wine with friends and try something you may not otherwise.  This week, co-workers were in town and our friends at Bacchus Wine Market & Tasting Room set up a very fun tasting experience for us, “Drink Yourself Blind”. 

For the tasting, we were served 8 mystery wines ~ 4 white, 4 red.  We were provided a list of possible wines.  Of course, they didn’t make it easy, as each list had an extra wine that was not part of the tasting.  We were also provided grape descriptions to help us along.  Here’s the list of our potential wines with actual selections marked with (x):

WHITE:

(x) Le Capitaine Vouvray Chenin Blanc, France

(x) Cavallotto Chardonnay, Italy

(x) J. Rickards Sauvignon Blanc, California

(x) Trefethen Riesling, California

Lagar de Cervera Albarino, Spain

RED:

(x) Medlock Ames Merlot, California

(x) White Hawk Syrah, California

(x) In Situ Cabernet Sauvignon, Chile

J. Rickards Zinfandel, California

(x) Aster Ribera del Duero Tempranillo, Spain

The wines were served one at a time, starting with the whites.  After every taste, we each made a guess and then took the most common answer as our ‘team pick’.  After tasting all the whites, I learned, well… I really suck at this ~ it was hard!  I only got 2 correct.  Our collective team pick scored the same, and we gave mad props to our co-worker who successfully picked three.  I was confident I’d do better with the reds.  Not so much.  I didn’t get any correct (ouch!), and I once again matched our team score.  The best among our group was a total of 4 correct picks. 

I have convinced myself I would do better if the wines were tasted all together and I could compare side by side.  Then again, maybe I just need the practice, and should take it as a sign to share more wine!

Bacchus is holding the "Drink Yourself Blind" event on Friday, Oct 12, 4-8:30pm and Saturday, Oct 13, 2-8:30pm.  Tickets are only $20. If you are in San Diego during this time, I highly recommend it ~ tons of fun!

Sharing a fun wine tasting experience with co-workers at Bacchus Wine Market, downtown San Diego

Herman Story - a winery you need to know

The Share the Bottle ethos is "shared bottles are the best bottles," which happens to be how we discover most of our wine. A friend shares a great bottle of wine with us, we end up visiting the winery to learn more, become hooked, and then tell you about it. One of our favorite wineries that we've discovered this way is Herman Story.

Sharing Herman Story wine with Gaby and SteveA few years ago, our friends Gaby and Steve shared some Herman Story wine with us. They had their own great story to share and wanted to serve the wine that went with it.

Gaby and Steve had recently made a trip to Paso Robles and went out for a day of wine tasting. There were several wineries on their itinerary, but they ended up spending their whole day drinking wine and swapping stories with Russell P. From, Herman Story's owner, winemaker, and sole employee.

Did I mention the wine was outstanding?

Of course we had to go, so we made plans to visit Herman Story when we made a trip to Paso Robles in 2011 (First Impression: Paso Robles Wine Country). 

We had such a great time that managed to take just one picture:

Hank, Herman Story's winery dog

Sally enjoying a bottle of On the Road at Antica TrattoriaWe learned there's a lot to like about this winery beyond the outstanding wines. It starts with Russell, who makes you feel like you are drinking wine with a buddy, albeit one who knows an awful lot about winemaking. When we visited his tasting room, we spent two hours chatting with Russell and his girlfriend, trying different wines and talking about everything from the wine industry to camping.

Everything he sells is the same price (currently $42 per bottle), and he pretty much sells out of whatever he makes. You can join the wine club, but there's a wait list, so getting your hands on a bottle feels like winning a prize. Despite the exclusivity of his wine, his casual approach is refreshing. The last wine club shipment announcement we received contained an offer to have him come to your house and pour wine for your friends as long as you let him crash on your couch.

You can also pretty much guarantee that Herman Story won't be on your local restaurant's wine list. Which, of course, is another great way to start a conversation and perhaps share a bottle.

2008 Epicuro Primitivo Di Manduria

While dining in Dublin, we frequently found ourselves staring at restaurant wine lists where we knew well, hardly anything.  By relying on our own strategies we discovered some fun new wines (check out Cotes Du Rhone and Terra Alta).  One night we were challenged with selecting from a list of Italian wines, and went with strategy #3: Tell Your Server What You Like.  We know Primitivo is genetically extremely similar to zinfandel, and we are big fans of zin.  So, we asked our server for a recommendation. 

She brought us a 2008 Epicuro Primitivo Di Manduria.  The price was quite affordable.  It was an easy drinker, fruit forward with flavors of bright cherry and plum, with notes of vanilla.  There is not a lot of spice and no tannins.  It was a pleasant wine that went well with our meat and cheese plate.    

Rumor has it you can find this wine at Trader Joe’s for under $10.  It’s a good, guilt free, mid-week wine, or an excellent ‘third bottle’!

Versatile find: E. Guigal Cotes Du Rhone

Sally and I recently returned from a vacation to Scotland and Ireland where wine lists were generally limited. Even the few restaurants that had a decent selection carried few, if any, of the California wines that we know so well. We were definitely out of our element when it came to our preferred strategy for choosing wine in a restaurant – sticking with what you know. (See our full list of strategies.)

Sharing a bottle with our friend Darren

We were fortunate to find a few French wines we actually knew while dining in Dublin at La Cave with our friend Darren. Our pick was a 2009 E. Guigal Cotes Du Rhone. This versatile, light-bodied red wine is a blend of 52% Grenache, 45% Syrah, and 3% Mourvedre. It paired well with trout, chicken, and lamb dishes and even made a fan out of Darren, who normally prefers white wine.

It was our first time drinking this wine, but we were still familiar with it in a roundabout sort of way. We’ve previously enjoyed a 2005 E. Guigal Chateauneuf-du-Pape with Sally’s brother and sister-in-law (see Best dinner ever?). Several months later, we purchased a bottle of the Cotes Du Rhone in hopes the quality would match the Chateauneuf-du-Pape, but we hadn’t yet tried it when we found it on the wine list at La Cave. Now, we feel fortunate to have another bottle in our wine rack at home.

This wine is widely distributed in the United States and can be found at San Diego Wine Company, Total Wine, and Specs (no product link available) with an average price of $11.95 per bottle.