2014 Oscar Party Wine Winners

Oscar Night is a fun night in our house.  It’s a perfect evening to celebrate what we love… movies and wine!  We’ve hosted this event a number of years (2013 Results, 2012 Results).  Whether it is who takes home the Best Picture award, or which wine is the favorite of the evening, each night brings different surprises.  All wines selected are under $20, and ones we’ve shared or discovered with friends. 

While the food pairings give a good hint to what’s inside the bag, it is always fun watching friends guess the varietals.  This year had a little twist, as they were all blends.  I must say, the surprise for me was how many of our friends came pretty darn close to nailing every single wine!  After tasting all the selections, and before the reveal, votes are cast for the favorite.  This year’s winner…

4^th Place: Gruet Blanc de Noir

We first discovered this wine as part of our “Coast to Coast, Champagne Toast” New Year’s Eve parties.  At these events, we shared sparkling wine from each time zone, welcoming the New Year on each hour (including Hawaii!). It was a tough challenge to find a decent selection from each US time zone, but this one was a winner for the Mountain region.  It has rich and toasty flavors, smooth and refreshing finish, and a great deal. Retails $17.

Food pairing: Ginger-Soy chicken wraps, vegetable spring rolls, parmesan cheese

3^rd Place: 17^th Edition Sokol Blosser Evolution

We discovered this wine while visiting their tasting room.  It is one of my favorite “summer” wines.  Intense tropical fruit notes up front, with a nice crisp, clean finish.  Blended from 9 grapes, this smooth, layered white is an excellent food wine, and is enjoyable all on its own.  Retails $14

Food pairing: Bacon crostini, butternut squash tartlets, baked camembert with roasted garlic onion jam

2^nd Place: 2009 E. Guigal Cotes Du Rhone

We first shared a bottle of this wine with our friend Darren, in Dublin.  It is a versatile, light-bodied red wine blend of 52% Grenache, 45% Syrah, 3% Mourvedre.  It tastes well on its own, even better with food.  It’s a crowd pleaser in flavor and price. Retails $12

Food pairing: Italian sausage pigs in a blanket, port salut cheese

1^st Place: 2010 Wattle Creek Kristine’s Cuvee

This is another one we discovered at the tasting room.  It is a Bordeaux blend of 60% cabernet sauvignon, 14% Petit Verdot, 13% Merlot, 13% Malbec.  Friends enjoyed the aromas and flavors of plum, cherry, and caramel, and lower alcohol and light tannin profile. Retail $20

Food pairing: Balsamic beef sandwiches, aged cheddar cheese

Under $20 Sparkling Wine Picks for Oscar Night

The 86th annual Academy Awards are this Sunday, March 2. For wine lovers, that can only mean one thing - sparkling wine!

Last year, we compiled a list of some of our favorite sparkling wines that sell for under $20.

Life would be boring if we always drank the same wine, so we’ve compiled a new list of tasty under $20 sparklers for 2014.

Roederer Estate Brut

There’s frequently a bottle or two of this sparkler in our house. It’s light and crisp with a subtle pear taste. It was also the favorite wine at our 2012 Oscar Party.   

• $19.99 at BevMo (with Club Bev discount)
• $17.47 at Total Wine
• $19.88 at Specs
• $17.95 at San Diego Wine Company

Chandon Brut Classic

Jeff got to taste Chandon at a tasting event at 3rd Corner in OB. A nice alternative to the Roederer Estate, look for green apple and pear flavors and a crisp finish.

• $17.99 at BevMo
• $12.97 at Total Wine
• $15.15 at Specs

Gruet Blanc de Noirs

Fun fact - this sparkler is made in New Mexico. It’s plenty good - good enough to share with Jeff’s Mom last Mother’s Day. It’s slightly salmon colored from leaving the red Pinot Noir grapes in contact with the skins just a little longer. It has berry and pear notes on the nose with a slightly creamy finish.

• $16.99 at BevMo
• $15.99 at Total Wine
• $14.31 at Specs

What will be in our glass come Oscar night? It’s still a closely guarded secret, but we’ll reveal all next week.

2007 Ferrari-Carano Tresor - A Terrific Steakhouse Wine

There are a few bottles in our modest wine collection we like to call steakhouse wine. These are extra-tasty wines with a little bit of backbone that we hope will pair perfectly with a nice steak.

We recently opened a bottle of 2007 Ferrari-Carano Tresor. Sonoma Valley wine fans are generally familiar with Ferrari-Carano and their excellent wines. Their Fume Blanc is on our Great Wines Under $20 list, but they also produce higher-end wines like this one. Tresor means “treasure” and we’d agree it’s a fitting name.

The wine is labeled as a red wine but could also be considered a Cabernet Sauvignon since more than 75% of the wine consists of that varietal. It’s 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Petit Verdot, 4% Malbec, 4% Merlot, and 2% Cabernet Franc. 

The wine had leather overtones with underlying smells of dark berry on the nose. It was a medium-bodied wine with smooth tannins starting on the front palate and coming on perfectly strong on the finish.  

We enjoyed a bottle at Fleming’s Steakhouse, which makes the best steak in town. The wine was a perfect pair and we savored each sip until the very last drop.

Decimus Pinot Noir – “What You Drink Does Matter”

It’s not often you find a wine that tastes good, and helps a good cause.  A few years ago we received a couple bottles of Decimus wine from my brother, Greg and his wife, Jennifer.  The Chardonnay didn’t stick around for long, but we just recently popped open the 2010 Pinot Noir.  Delicious!

Sourced from grapes in Los Carneros, produced and bottled by Reynolds Family Winery in Napa, this Pinot Noir is a tasty food wine.  It is well balanced, with cranberry and raspberry on the nose.  The flavors continue in taste, with a touch of oak on the finish. 

You’ve heard of turning water in to wine.  Well, Decimus turns wine into water.  They donate 10% of revenue to provide clean drinking water to areas in need, worldwide.  They have partnered with Living Water International, which implements community-based water solutions in developing countries. 

Decimus produces limited quantities, and distributes over half to restaurants.  Look for it on a wine list near you, or purchase directly online.  The Pinot Noir retails for $50. 

Another great wine supporting a great cause is Ehlers, which donates a portion of their proceeds to international cardiovascular research.

Know of other wines which donate proceeds to a cause? 

Two Fantastic Days in Paso Robles Wine Country

This past weekend, we traveled with our friends Dave and Sarah to the Paso Robles Wine Country. It turned out to be two fantastic days of great food, great company, and outstanding wine.

Our first impression of Paso Robles came in 2011 and we liked it so much we returned again on our 2013 California wine trip. Dave and Sarah made their first trip to Paso in 2013 and really enjoyed it too. It’s always fun to share a bottle with them, so we decided to plan a return trip to Paso Robles together.  

Accommodations were at La Bellaserra Hotel & Suites on the strength of two previous visits. They offer a nice level of luxury at decent prices that make this hotel a perfect home base for a Paso Robles wine adventure.

Paso Robles wine is really coming along. They aren’t up to par with Napa or Sonoma in our opinion, but they’re still outstanding in their own right. Here are some of our favorites along with our dining choices.

Day 1

No trip to Paso Robles would be complete without a visit to Herman Story Wines. They’re one of our favorite wineries and one of only two wine clubs we belong to. Winemaker Russell P. From gave us a sneak preview of his spring releases and let us taste barrel samples of the 2012 On the Road Grenache, 2012 JS Syrah, and 2012 Nuts and Bolts Syrah. All three of these wines really wowed us with their full-bodied complexity and velvety texture. 

Enjoying wine at Herman Story

Another fun stop on Day 1 was Paso Underground. It’s a collective tasting room right on the downtown square comprised of four wineries: Aaron, Clos Selene, Edmond August, and Turtle Rock Vineyards.  

We tasted at both Aaron and Clos Selene and were impressed with both. One of the fun aspects of tasting here was winemakers Aaron Jackson (Aaron) and Guillaume Fabre (Clos Selene) were pouring their wines. They were both passionate, interesting, and took time to answer our endless questions. And, both wineries featured outstanding wine.

Dinner that night was at McPhee’s Grill in neighboring Templeton. It had the vibe of an old school steakhouse with friendly service and outstanding food. We all thoroughly enjoyed our meals, which were accompanied by 2011 Herman Story Nuts & Bolts Syrah. 

Day 2

We spent most of the day touring wineries on the west side of the wine region. Some of our favorites included Sextant Wines, Tables Creek Vineyard, and Kenneth Volk Vineyards. You’ll likely see reviews of wine from all three wineries in the coming months since we purchased a few bottles from each. 

Lunch was at Second Press Wine Bar & Eatery, a new restaurant on Paso’s downtown square. We all enjoyed our meals while sitting in the bar and watching the Patriots play the Broncos in the AFC Championship game.

Dinner was at Artisan, a repeat from our last trip to Paso Robles. It’s also on the downtown square and features a tasty bistro menu. I enjoyed a lamb cassoulet which was a real treat. We shared a bottle of 2010 Kenneth Volk Enz Vineyard Zinfandel with our meal.

It took us five hours flat to get to Paso Robles from San Diego. I’m sure we’ll be back before too long.