Getting to Know Rioja Wine at Village Vino

We’ve been trying to expand our wine horizons beyond California. 

The blind tasting at our 2014 Oscar party featured only one California wine. Our last two posts featured Spanish wines: a Granacha and a white blend called Auzells.

Yesterday, we met our friend Yolanda at Village Vino to try some Rioja from CVNE. This winery produced the #1 wine on Wine Spectator’s 2013 Top 100 list. That particular wine wasn’t being poured, but we had to check it out nonetheless.

We’re not too familiar with Rioja, but the grapes tell us this region is right up our alley. Red Rioja wines (Rioja tinto) typically feature Tempranillo grapes, which is a versatile grape that pairs well with food. 

Our tasting started with a Viura. This was a very dry white wine with lots of minerality and almost no acidity. It almost reminded us of a French Sauvignon Blanc with even less citrus. You could really taste the limestone soil that the grapes were grown in.

Next up was a Rosado (rosé) made from Tempranillo. We’re slowly discovering that a Rosado doesn’t have to be a nasty, semi-sweet, psuedo-wine. Many, like this one, can be light and refreshing with good flavors for a pre-dinner drink or to enjoy with a light meal.

We then took a tour of several levels of Tempranillo from Crianza to Gran Reserva. These levels are controlled by law in Spain and primarily reflect the different aging processes. (If you want to learn more, check out this excellent Rioja primer from Wine Folly.)

They were all lighter-bodied red wines, but had a nice underlying earthiness to them. We all agreed these would drink much better with food.

Village Vino has some very tasty light bites, so we decided to order a cheese plate and a flatbread pizza. Our tasting was almost finished by the time we realized we wanted food, so we opted to shift regions and share a bottle of Stoller Pinot Noir. Stoller is an excellent example of Oregon Pinot Noir with excellent cherry flavors coupled with that typical Oregon earthiness.

Sally and friend Yolanda enjoying wine at Village Vino

Getting to know Tempranillo

Last weekend, we shared a couple bottles of Artesa 2007 Limited Release Tempranillo with our friends Sarah and Dave. It was a perfect pairing with a grilled flat iron steak, au gratin potatoes, and an arugula and tomato salad. Cherry flavors gave way to hints of clove and earthiness with mild tannins.

The wine was outstanding and went down way too easily.

Two sad, empty bottles of Tempranillo the morning after a great dinner with friends.

Tempranillo is a wonderful, versatile grape. It goes well with a lot of food and is generally reasonably priced. It was even the red wine served at the Service Failure book release party held at Village Vino.

It's also relatively unknown to most casual wine drinkers.  Here’s a quick guide to help you discover the grape on your own. 

Regions

According to Wine Searcher, nearly half of the world’s Tempranillo production comes from Spain, where it is the most popular varietal in Rioja wines. It’s also catching on in other regions such as the US, Australia, and Argentina. The grape does best in places with hot days and cool nights. 

Flavors

Typical fruit flavors include cherry and plum with hints of spice, leather, and tobacco. Tannins are moderate while acidity is high, making this a wine that’s typically better with food than on its own.

Pairings

Steak is definitely high on our list and anything off the grill will go nicely. Check out this wide range of additional suggestions from Wine Folly:

• Lasagna, Pizza and dishes with tomato-based sauces
• Grits, Polenta and dishes with corn as a major ingredient
• Mexican food such as tacos, nachos, burritos and chile rellenos

Give it a try!

If you’d like to give it a try, we recommend Volver Tempranillo. This is an excellent under $20 selection that is widely distributed. Look for it in BevMo, Total Wine, Specs, and many other retail locations.

Sadly, Artesa’s Tempranillo is no more. (If you find a few bottles, please share some!)

Village Vino - great place for a book release party

When Sally and I aren't drinking wine, we try to stay busy with our careers so we can afford to buy more wine! My day job is working as a customer service consultant, and I recently wrote a book called Service Failure to share a lot of my research. Since wine is never far from my mind, I decided to host my book release party at one of my favorite wine bars in San Diego - Village Vino.

Their tag line is "a place for friends to gather, relax, and celebrate," which couldn't be more appropriate for my event. Owner Rita Pirkl and her team were wonderful hosts and really made everyone feel welcome. Many of my guests remarked that they couldn't wait to return to Village Vino and try some more of their great wine.

For the event, Rita picked out a collection of wines from Spain:

• Raventos Mercat Cava, NV (bubbly)
• 2011 Antonio Sanz Verdejo (white)
• 2007 Cillar d Silos Tempranillo (red) 

There are two things I'd like you to remember about this post. First, a wine bar is a great place to throw a party. Second, Village Vino is a wonderful wine bar for any occasion!

New author Jeff Toister celebrating with friends

“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

First impression: Paso Robles Wine Country

Our recent wine trip brought us to several California wine regions for the first time, including Paso Robles. We left Paso Robles with two distinct thoughts.

First, why did it take us so long to visit this awesome wine region? Second, we're going to be in trouble because we want to come back soon. Real soon.

Here are some of the highlights from our three day visit:

Wineries

Wild Horse Winery was our first stop in Paso Robles. They have a wide range of wines but are best known for their Pinot Noir. Their Wild Horse Pinot Noir is distributed outside the winery and is a very good, fruit forward California Pinot. They also make several other outstanding Pinot Noirs under their limited production Unbridled label and their Cheval Sauvage reserve program. Wild Horse is a must stop if you like Pinot Noir, though we tasted some other terrific varietals too. For example, we aren't big Merlot fans but thought their Merlot would be a perfect compliment to a nice steak dinner. 

Barrel tasting at Cypher WineryCypher Winery is worth a visit for their "Barrel Comparison" wine tasting. You drink the same wine directly from two different barrels to experience how barrels can influence the flavor and character of the wine. We tried Malbec, Petite Verdot, Petite Sirah, and Tempranillo. The Petite Sirah was particularly interesting. The wine from one barrel tasted a bit too fruity while the wine from the other barrel was too tannic. However, when a splash from each barrel was blended in our glasses the wine suddenly had terrific balance and character.

It was a fun way to imagine how a winemaker tries to achieve the perfect flavor and balance.

Hank the Herman Story wine dogHerman Story might be our new favorite winery. Winemaker Russell From makes awesome stuff with deep, bold flavors that somehow escape all the messy blasts of alcohol and tannin that often accompany big flavors in wine. He is also very focused with only four wines making up his list of current releases: a Viognier/Roussanne blend, a Granache, and two Syrahs. The wine room is the front portion of a small warehouse in downtown Paso Robles, but the complete lack of pretentiousness is part of the charm. Just be careful - time can move pretty fast when you are chatting with a winemaker who is happy to keep pouring throughout the conversation! 

Other honorable mentions from our visit to Paso Robles include Niner Wine Estate, Anglim Winery, and Tobin James. Better make Tobin James your last visit of the day. Their wine is decent, but they make a lot of stuff and they'll keep pouring as long as you keep drinking. It can get a bit wild out there late in the afternoon!

Dining

Farmstand 46Paso Robles didn't strike us as a haven for foodies, but there were a couple of cool places worth mentioning. We had lunch one day at Farmstand 46 which is in the same complex as Cypher. They are best described as an upscale deli that features a lot of locally sourced food. 

We also had a wonderful dinner at the Enoteca Restaurant and Bar at La Bellasera Hotel and Suites, a hotel restaurant that actually brings in the locals. Tip: Enoteca waives their corkage fee if you bring in a bottle of local wine, so we enjoyed a bottle of Zinfandel that we purchased from Kenneth Volk Vineyards.

Downtown Paso Robles has a cluster of small cafes around their main square. While they don't qualify as gourmet, a small cafe can be the perfect place for lunch or dinner after a long day of wine tasting!

Accomodations

We stayed at La Bellasera Hotel and Suites. All of their rooms are large and very comfortable. The hotel was also located in the center of the Paso Robles Wine Country, so it was easy to get to all of the wineries from there. The only drawback was there weren't many restaurants within walking distance, except for their very nice Enoteca which is on the property. If you don't mind driving to dinner, this hotel is a perfect home base for a visit to Paso Robles.