The new indie film, “Bottle Shock” has been described as a sort of “Breaking Away,” but with wine. It purports to tell the behind-the-scenes story of the judgement of Paris, the 1976 wine tasting in which California wines surpassed French wines for the first time. But not everyone is amused by the film’s portrayal of these historic events.

I saw the film a few weeks ago at a special screening at San Francisco’s Sundance Kabuki theatre, with one of the film’s producers taking questions afterward. I must say I quite enjoyed it. Though a bit ham-fisted at times, like any good “sports pic,” and a little heavy on the “magic of wine” speeches, I thought it very entertaining. I realized, of course, that it was a highly fictionalized account of the true story behind the Judgement of Paris.

The Judgement, you’ll recall, was a blind tasting organized Steven Spurrier, a British wine merchant, in 1976.  In the competiition, French judges tasted blind top-quality Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon wines from both France and California. Shockingly, the Americans won the day with the Napa Valley’s Stag Leap Cellars’ ‘73 Cab and Chateau Montelena’s ‘73 Chard each taking a first. The film centers around Chateau Montelena and its Chardnonnay entry and the relationship of then-Montelena-owner Jim Barret and his son, Bo.

It’s that concentration on the Barrets that has many more than a little miffed. A big part of the reason is that Chateau Montelena’s cellar master, Mike Grgich, who actually made the winning Chard, was all but written out of the picture. Grgich, a Croation immigrant who escaped Communism to come to America in the 1950s and later came to the Napa Valley to learn the craft of wine-making, was recently honored at special dinner celebrating his 50 years of wine making in the Napa Valley. According to an article in the Napa Valley Register, he had no kind words for the film’s creators:

Grgich, who made the winning wine for Chateau Montelena in Calistoga, only made a passing reference to the recently released film “Bottle Shock,” a film based on the Paris tasting, which, rather bizarrely, omits Grgich…

“If you have seen it,” Grgich remarked mildly, “you will notice I am not in it.”

In a private conversation, Grgich said he had been sent a copy of the “Bottles Shock” script but he could not sign off on it, he said, “because I couldn’t find anything honest in it.”

He also noted it was not the first time a controversy had arisen over credit for the winning chardonnay. In 2006, he said, when Copia, the American Center for Food, Wine and the Arts in Napa, hosted a 30-year re-enactment of the Paris tasting, he was invited and then “uninvited.” He was given to understand that the owner of Chateau Montelena, lawyer turned vintner Jim Barrett, objected to his participation.

Taber, the only journalist who attended the 1976 tasting, was considerably more scathing in his remarks about “Bottle Shock.” Taber spoke during the dinner. At his first mention of the film another guest booed and Taber said, “I agree.”

Like many, the author questioned the judgment that left Grgich out of “Bottle Shock.”

“It’s unfortunate,” he said, “because it’s a version of reality that’s not true. The movie, unfortunately, does not tell the truth about what happened at the Paris tasting.”

He had recently seen the film, he said, “and I think I saw Mike’s beret twice.”

“The film, he said, “committed two sins against the truth, the sin of commission and the sin of omission … I can’t think of any other word that describes what went on in that movie.”

Taber said the characterization of Steven Spurrier, the British wine merchant who organized the tasting, was entirely off the mark and reduced the man to a stereotype. As for Grgich, Taber said, “the movie doesn’t talk about the guy who made the wine. The man who made the wine that put Napa on the map is not in the movie.

“I know it’s Hollywood,” he said, “but a true artist doesn’t rape reality.”

“Mike’s is a wonderful story,” Taber said. “It really is the American dream and there aren’t many as rich as Mike’s. The Paris tasting was important and Mike played a major role, and it wouldn’t have happened if Mike hadn’t got off that Greyhound bus.”

Recently, the San Francisco Chronicle offered a handy a cheat sheet on truths and falsehoods in the film.

Recommendation: See the film; it’s fun. But take it with a pinch of salt — or maybe a glass of Montelena Chard — and don’t take it too seriously.

2006 7 Deadly Zins Old Vine Zinfandel ($17)
Ratings: ♠ ♠ ♠

Usually, I don’t much care for wines with cutesy names. In fact, if your wine carries a twee little name on its label, chances are I’m going to subtract at least a half-spade from its final score. There are, however, exceptions. South Africa’s “Goats do Roam” is too clever a pun not to enjoy. And Bonny Doon’s “Vin de Cigare de Volant” has always given me the giggles (points to you if you get the obscure French joke there) though less so its “Cardinal Zin” (nyuck, nyuck).

So along comes — you might have already guessed it — 7 Deadly Zins (2006) from Michael and David Phillips of Lodi Vineyards. Yeah, not very clever. But, as the kids are saying these days, “Whatevs.” The fact is, the wine is good. And, I have to admit, I also have soft spot for the little Central Valley burg of Lodi, where my father came up and where he used to cruise the main drag with his buddies a la “Amercian Graffitti” in the 1950s.

Anyway, Michael and David — whose family has been tilling soil in the area since the 1860s — blended wines from seven different vineyards, mostly old vine Zin with a little Petit Verdot and Petite Syrah thrown in for dash. The resulting wine is hot (14.5% alcohol), fruity without feeling sweet and slightly oaky, having been aged in California oak barrels. 7 Deadly’s nose is a spicy one, though the first flavors on the palate are decidedly fruit, predominantly blueberry and raspberry. The feel in the mouth is warm and silky and the finish has a pinch of ligering oak, though not too much.

Overall it’s a nice for a casual meal, as it is a fairly simple, straightfoward kind of wine. It should go well with your blander, heartier meat dishes, like prime rib or pot roast. Oh, and for dessert with chocolate.

Reflections of a Wine Merchant
By Neal I. Rosenthal
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
(US$24)
By Steven Martinovich

With all that it takes to be knowledgeable about wine, the average person can perhaps be forgiven when their eyes begin to glaze over on talk of obscure plots of European land, varieties of grape or proper fermentation methods. Most want to simply enjoy the stuff without a lecture on how a humble farmer, whose methods haven’t changed much in decades or centuries, produced the vintage they are drinking.

Neal I. Rosenthal isn’t that man, though perhaps that’s not a surprise since he operates Rosenthal Wine Merchant Ltd., an elite importer of European wines to the United States. His memoir of his days in the trade, Reflections of a Wine Merchant, illustrates his belief that wine isn’t just to be enjoyed, its origins also to be obsessed over. It’s not enough to know about wine, a true aficionado judges a wine by the very soil it’s grown in – soil that can change characteristics from one foot to the next.

Devoting an early chapter to this, Rosenthal writes that the expression of soil in the final product is called terroir – how “the combination of soil, climate, grape type, and, perhaps, human history” are responsible for a wine’s characteristics. “It also reveals the truth about wine and anchors us to a respect for the natural world that is fundamental to our well-being. The most satisfying of wines reveal their characteristics slurp by slurp as they speak of their origins and their traditions. The best of wines always proudly tell you from where they come.”

From there Rosenthal moves onto his humble beginnings in the wide trade. Fleeing a failing corporate law practice in 1978, he takes over his parents’ small liquor store in the Upper East of Manhattan. The store boasted few wines and Rosenthal’s knowledge about the subject was limited. Determined to improve both, he threw himself into the wine world and soon found himself visiting French vineyards in search of the best wines.

“No one ever taught me how to taste wine, nor did I learn from someone else what is good and bad. I brought my own talents, developed my own standards, and jumped into the fray. I had no business plan; instinct was my guide. I naively believed that allegiance to quality would carry the day, and I trusted my own taste. I have always said that if I couldn’t sell the wine I was purchasing, at least I would be happy to drink it,” he writes.

Much of that education took place in the vineyards of France and Italy as Rosenthal spent countless hours meeting growers in then obscure villages looking for undiscovered treasures, back when this was still possible. Mostly eschewing technical details, he instead relates the personal story of these encounters, how each side gently tested each other on their knowledge and commitment to the craft. Rather than turn his book into a journalistic exercise, Rosenthal instead focuses on bringing his story to life for the reader – attempting to capture the moment.

Reflections of a Wine Merchant sometimes seems like a case of score settling for Rosenthal. He has little love for wine critics who he accuses of facile commentary thanks to grading systems that have gained popularity over essays. He has few kind words for the big operations which import wine into the United States which don’t take the care that smaller businesses – like Rosenthal’s – do. Several chapters are dedicated to wine growers who have disappointed him in past dealings – one is described as “ugly, with horse-like features and legs as thick as a country table” – and although he does it as gently as possible he does excoriate them for their actions. Nor does he care much for wines made anywhere but France, Italy and perhaps Germany.

It would be difficult to come away from Reflections of a Wine Merchant believing that Rosenthal was the typical wine snob who measures their knowledge in the prices they pay for a bottle of wine – though it’s clear if unspoken that the wines he imports fetch a dear retail price.

It is clear that Rosenthal’s commitment to his terroir philosophy informs all the choices he makes and it’s obvious he makes few concessions in the pursuit of the best wine – even if he defines that as only his beloved French and Italian wines. Just as clear is the fact that Rosenthal has a gift for bringing his chosen profession to life the same way a farmer grows his grapes; with much love.

Steven Martinovich is a freelance writer in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada and is editor of Enter Stage Right.

2006 Chateau Ste. Michelle Riesling Eroica, Columbia Valley ($19)

Rating: ♠ ♠ ♠ 1/2
 
When it comes to user-friendliness, one would have to go mighty far to equal the Riesling grape. It can be graceful, racy and superb with all manner of foods that would leave lesser whites panting and bloated; properly treated it even makes for a stellar dessert wine.
 
This is not to say that one can pick spectacular bottles blindly, but even downmarket cousins can exhibit some of the familial charm and allure, much like, say, a supermodel’s kid sister. Sure, these “gateway” Rieslings can sprint a mite too happily towards the grapefruity-limey end of the spectrum and wind up skidding to a bit of bitterness, but properly paired (grilled poultry, say) all is well. Not bad for the $8-$10 these invariably cost.
 
Washington State is generally considered the epicenter of U.S. Riesling output, both in volume and quality. One risks a charge of chauvinism, but all else being equal, I prefer our stuff to the French (i.e. Alsatian) or German which, to my mind, is a shade too flinty and minerally. Regardless where your geographical proclivities take you in your purchasing, the idea is to find one that is bracing in its acidity yet neatly balanced by a whisper of sweetness. This is the sort of general skeleton that makes nice with salty-ish and sort-of rich foods better than anything else my palate has yet sampled.
 
However, the Board of Trustees at Vinapedia U. is not here to bring you placidly towards “well.” We aim for the glorious, monumental and the ridiculously excellent…as cheaply as possible. OK, that last bit is exclusively mine, but you get the idea.
 
Chateau Ste. Michelle is one of the big names in Washington State Riesling. Their entry-level bottlings are uniformly good and reliable and you could do infinitely worse if you had to select a white wine with no other information available to you. Where things get extra-interesting is when you start wafting your way upmarket. Keep a weather eye for their Indian Wells Creek and Cold Creek variants as well as today’s spotlight bottling, the Eroica from the Columbia Valley.
 
It has a lovely, light color, with a very gentle scent of peach and nectarines, as well as a — and I’m not crazy here — a minty-slate sort of thing. On the palate, you will get a dry (but not too dry) and very round freshness with wonderfully intense flavors of peachy minerality and mildly citrusy acidity. The finish is plenty rich and persistent, with a hint of lingering minerality. Think of summery foods, trying to avoid anything charred by the grill, such as assorted tartare of fish, ceviche, whatever scallopine permutation is your favorite and sauteed shellfish.

An interesting piece on the story of hooch comes to us by way of Arts & Letters Daily — my intellectual savior — and New York Magazine in the form a review of the new book, Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol, by Iain Gately. Although the reviewer didn’t much care for the book’s style, he nevertheless lauded it for being chock full on obscure information — which if you’re anything like me is the whole reason you buy books at all.

The fun facts include:

• Egyptian wine connoisseurs rated their varietals using the word nfr, meaning good. A wine could be rated from one to three  nfr’s: “nfr nfr nfr.” We don’t anticipate trading in our system of spades for nfr’s, but it may one day come in handy, perhaps in the afterlife.
• The Greeks drank wine mixed with water, spices, and honey — and drank it constantly. No wonder Alexander came to rule the known world.
• The Aztecs drank fermented tree sap, but the legal drinking age was 52 — except on one day every four years when they would celebrate New Years, and everyone, including little children, were compelled to get drunk.
• The Anglo-Saxon word for drunk is beordruncen.
• Although Muslims banned alcohol, Arabs nevertheless gave it its name: al-koh’l.
• A single phylloxera bug can produce 25.6 billion descendants within eight months.
• Elizabethan England had a pub for every 187 people. Sadly, by 2004, the country was down to one for every 529.
• The Mayflower was actually “a claret ship from the Bordeaux wine trade.”

2007 Guenoc Sauvignon Blanc
Rating: ♠ ♠ ♠ 1/2

I’ll admit to not having the most refined palate in the world. While I like wine for its own sake, one of the things I love most about it is its rich history, which is why so many pages on this site are devoted to it. Some of my favorite wines, therefore, also come with a good back-story. In fact, a good tale on a fine wine is worth an extra 1/2 spade.

So I was excited when a rep sent me a sample bottle of the 2007 Guenoc Sauvignon Blanc. What’s its back-story? The Guenoc Valley and AVA lies north of the Napa Valley in Lake County, not far from picturesque Clear Lake, the largest fresh water lake in California. The area is known for its delicious Sauvignon Blancs, as well as for Cabs and Zins. None other than Lillie Langtry owned the vineyard between 1888 and 1906.

Fans of social, theatrical and royal history will remember Langtry, (aka, Emilie Charlotte Le Breton) as the notorious gilded age demimondaine and actress. Her lovers included Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), Prince Louis of Battenberg (father of Mountbatten, last Viceroy of India) and the American multimillionaire industrialist, Freddie Gebhard, who bought her her own luxurious Pullman railroad car, the “Lalee.” Her portrait was painted by, among many lesser lights, Sir John Everett Millais, Sir Edward Poynter, Sir Edward Burne-Jones. Next to Sarah Bernhardt’s, Langtry’s image was probably the most recognized in the world at the time.

History records that Langtry arrived in St. Helena via the “Lalee,” and then staegcoached the rest of the way over Mt. St. Helena and into Lake County. According to the winery’s website, Langtry began making wines and had 51 tons of grapes crushed in her first pressing. With the help of her winemaker, a Frenchman named Henri Descelles, Langtry produced a wine which she proclaimed to be the “greatest claret in the country.”  The wine was bottled and sold imprinted with an image of her famous profile.

Langtry sold the property in 1906 and, hankering after her native England and the Isle of Jersey, where she was born, sailed back to Europe. She married Hugo de Bathe, 19 years her junior, and became Lady de Bathe. When Langtry sold the property, pre-Prohibition California wine-making was at its height, and California wines were sought after and prized, winning many medals in European capitals. A slow regression took place as the new century matured, with many wine-growers going for quantity over quality. Then Prohibition ruined much of what was left.

Luckily for us, Langtry’s vineyard somehow survived and, according to the winery’s website, when the current owners bought the property in the early 1960s, “a Syrah, Petit Verdot and white grape vines of mysterious origin were found on the hillside vineyard site after at least half a century of neglect.” The new owners then set about to follow in Langtry’s footsteps to produce the “greatest claret in the country,” and became the first vineyard in the U.S. to plant the five major Bordeaux varietals. I haven’t tried their “Langtry Red,” so I can’t say whether they have succeeded, but that will change soon.

For some years, the vineyard sold wines under the “Guenoc” label, which sported Langtry’s Greecian profile. Recently, however, they’ve changed their name to “Langtry Estate & Vineyards,” and now sell wines under that label. Though Guenoc is gone, Langtry’s face remains on the bottles*

But what of the wine? I took the bottle with me up to a cabin near Ukiah, not far from Clear Lake and the Langtry estate, where I was to spend part of my long Independence Day weekend with friends. Among these was Steve Waters, a long-time friend as well as a long-time rep for the inimitable Kermit Lynch, one of the top purveyors of imported French wines in the United States. (Yeah, talk about a tough crowd.)

We opened the 2007 Guenoc SB and were immediately struck by its freshness — not that it seemed immature, just fresh – as in refreshing. Of the nose, my roommate, Alicia, who always manages to come up with the most florid descriptors, proclaimed, “steely lavender.” I can’t argue with that: the nose was a brisk and cooling, with a touch of the floral. Others said, “hay bails,” “pear” “kiwi” and “star fruit.” Can’t argue with that either. I like a SB with a lot of grass to it, and I thought this could use a tad more. But I quibble.

The 2007 Guenoc SB is a fine daytime wine that would so well with light, refreshing meals, salad, nuts or cheese. And it has one hell of a back-story.

*You can still by Guenoc SB and other wines under the Guenoc label until the stocks run out.

2006 Altos Las Hormigas Malbec Mendoza
Rating: ♠ ♠ ♠ 1/2

Had the opportunity this past weekend to hole up at an Argentine wine cellar, doing some very judicious swirl and sip maneuvers. Up until now, I have been very excited-in-concept about Malbec. It seems that all of the grapes that go into the old Bordeaux “claret” take on a life of their own when liberated from from ensemble work. For us, the first breakout star was Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa. Then came Merlot. In Chile it has been Carmenère, and Malbec, is making itself at home in Argentina.
 
Down Argentine way, some Malbecs skew to the Beaujolais manqué, being a light and fruity quaff, a go-with-anything party in a bottle. And that’s fine. Some, possibly brooding over the decline of Argentina since Perón (it used to be the 2nd most affluent nation per capita in the Western hemisphere), are dark and dense. And that’s also fine.

Me being Goldilocks, I like Malbec to be “just right” with a red fruit freshness and some black fruit depth and finally some toasty aspects with decent (but not obnoxious) tannin support. The good news is that Argentines being Argentines, the whole International Style o’ Wine doesn’t hold much sway. (If my Argentine friends are anything to go by, Argentina is waiting for the the rest of the world to start making wines in the Argentine style.)

Also particularly good news is that since Argentines eat eleventy zillion calories’ worth of grilled beef every day, their wines are made pretty specifically to couple up with this bovine paradigm. Well-marbled beef grilled over a live fire is a cinch to knock the scratch off many a tannic fortress. The nice thing about these is that while, yes, there is some tannin there and also some oak (especially if it’s manifested as a “toastiness”), there is also really good acid present in a lovely balance. The latter two are key factors.
 
Many unfortunates who only skim these reports read things such as the above and begin howling. “I thought you hated wines that…” and the like. We hate wines that are clumsy, inelegant and oafish.This is because we, at Vinapedia Tower, are fully aware that wine is meant to go with something. (By this I mean “something beyond a gigapoint review from Big Wine Magazine.”) In order to harmonize with certain foods, a wine must have certain criteria present in a certain balance. Not rocket science, this. Argentine winemakers are to be commended for realizing that if some oak is good, then more oak is not necessarily better, and probably isn’t. Ditto tannins.
 
The other nice thing about Argentine Malbec is that prices are generally oscillating between “excellent value” and “larceny.” Schlepping through those available in the USA you’d have a bit of a job ahead of you to find many over $40. The other other nice thing about Malbec from Argentina is that it can age quite nicely. Most — even most of the ones I’d suggest — aren’t made for a real-l-l-ly long haul, but they definitely will mature wonderfully over the next 5-10 years.

Oh, one last thing. Malbec really likes aeration. A lot of the time “let the wine breathe” is just part of the oenophile dog-and-pony show, but in the case of malbec, there is an element of truth to it. Besides, it costs nothing.
 
Of the Goldilocks style of Malbec, I want you to give laserlike focus to the 2006 Altos Las Hormigas Malbec Mendoza. It has a bright, purple/ruby color. The bouquet is of blackberry/raspberry, cocoa/coffee, with a strong support of toasty, oaky spice and — we’re not crazy — leather, and an intriguing vanilla-coconut thing. Fresh, lush and delicate and sweet but not even remotely “sticky-sweet.” The fresh fruit aspect of this wine is what really sets it apart…highlighting the lovely, dense, texture and a long, firm finish with a tannic edge.

Pair this with wood-grilled steaks (especially something especially rich, like skirt steak) or black and blue lamb chops and pretend to be gaucho on the Pampas. At $11 a bottle, you’ll save enough to swing the airfare soon enough, even if you buy extras to lay down for the next 4 to 5 years.

—J.M. Garcia III 

2005 Solaire Chardonnay

Rating: ♠ ♠ ♠ 1/2 

2005 Solaire Cabernet Sauvignon 

Rating: ♠ ♠  1/2 (Now), ♠ ♠ ♠ - ♠  (Later)

“Sunshine” wasn’t the first word that came to mind when we dipped into Robert Mondavi’s 2005 Solaire Chardonnay and 2005 Solaire Cabernet Sauvignon, but it quickly became the consensus. These samples had come in the mail a few days before, and we — my roommates and I — had chosen to taste them together over a dinner of heirloom tomato and mozzarella di buffula salad followed by a pasta bolognese.

We started with the white, of course, letting the bottle sit out of the fridge for a while so that it wouldn’t be too cold, and letting it breathe a few minutes. The Solaire Chard comes from Mondavi’s Bianchi Bench vineyards, on the southeast-facing slopes of the Santa Lucia Highlands, above the Salinas Valley. It’s a nice spot for Chardonnay, as it gets the classic cool morning sea-breeze and the hot afternoon sun.

The Solaire has potent nose for a white, with notes of hazelnut, pineapple and apple blossom. Holding it up to the light, you can see a slight greenish cast in the clear, bright yellow reflections. It offered a full, big feel in the mouth yet seemed a bit more austere than many of your typical oaky-buttery California Chards. With medium tannins but pretty high acidity, you can really feel the heat — it leaves a lingering tart at the back of the palate — although it becomes more lush as it opens up in the glass. 

“It’s like driving down the Highway 99 when all the orchards are in peak bloom,” said my room-mate, Alicia.

We gave it three spades for flavor but four spades for aroma, leaving the 2005 Solaire Chard with a more-than-respectable average of 3 1/2 spades.  

“Feel the heat…” is a phrase that could well describe the Solaire 2005 Cabernet Sauvingon in its current state. That heat started right away in the nose, with a spicy, cayenne pepper aroma with hints of almonds, cocoa and stone fruits, like Italian plum.

While the Chard comes from the Santa Lucia Highlands, the Cab gets its grapes from the Paso Robles area, which experiences a much wider range of temperatures during the growing season (50F in the evenings, often over 100F during summer days), with a little bit of San Lucas, in Monterey County, mixed in — although the 2005 summer was comparitively mild.

Never mind. This wine is all about the heat. It’s up front flavors are tart and chocolaty, but with a lot of fruit  — “If jam was hot and dry,” my roommate, Dave, noted.

“It numbs my lips like a fireball candy,” said Alicia.

The spice of our pasta bolonese was not optimal against the spice in the wine. At present the 2005 would probably go better with a blander but meat-rich meal, like prime rib. What it really complimented was our dessert of Charles chocolate with crisp rice.

This is a great buy-now, enjoy-later wine, as it could probably use another year or two in the bottle to smooth out its rough ages and mellow its hot-hot heat and spice. It should only improve with age.

2006 Erbaluce di Caluso, Favaro le Chiusure  

Rating: ♠ ♠ 1/2 

2005 Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru, Domaine Forey Pere & Fils  

Rating: ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠

Wine merchants Ted (who I have known since Model Rocket Club in Jr. High School) and Kristen Talley own Terra Firma Wine Company, based in Oakland California. Last week we went to dinner together at the the trendy new eatery, Flora, in Oakland’s’ revitalized downtown district.

Tucked in an old tile-faced art deco building, Flora is perhaps one of the most poorly named new restaurants. You’d think a place called “Flora” would specialize in, well, flora — as in vegetables, No so. Flora’s menu, which bills itself as Mexican-influenced, is pretty much all meat, all the time. But then, what is meat, after all, but condensed vegetables? Anyway, “Fauna” would be a better name. I started with a venison appetizer and then moved on to a super tender New York strip. It was excellent.

 We started with a white, purchased from Flora: a 2006 Erbaluce di Caluso, Favaro le Chiusure. Erbaluce hails from Piverone, in the far Northwest of Italy, near the Serra Mountain. According to Vinobravo, the Favaro family grows its 100 percent Erbaluce grapes on just 30 acres. 

The first thing to hit me was the wine’s pineapple-like nose and its almost surprising, effervescent quality on my tongue. It was almost like a sip of pineapple Pop Rocks. (Do they even make Pop Rocks, anymore?) It reminded me of an Arneis. Unfortunately the wine was over-chilled, giving it, at first, a rather “steely” quality that didn’t sit so well with the its nascent bubbliciousness. (Get with it, Flora.) After a while, though, it warmed and opened up a bit and offered a bit of macadamia on the finish. All-in-all quite nice.

 Next up, Ted brought out one of his imports, a 2005 Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru from Domaine Forey Pere & Fils. This Burgundy, (100 percent Pinot Noir) hails from the Côte de Nuits, the northern part of the Côte d’Or (the Côte de Beaune being to the south). Domaine Forey Pere & Fils small, 9 1/2 hectare vineyards, which has been turning out superb wines since 1840, is on the southern slope of the hills — which Ted tells me is considered “the manly side” — between the too-rich bottom soil and too-sparse top soil, and where it has exposure to the morning and midday sun.

 This wine, also known as “Les St. Georges,” offers up an earthy, young nose with a hint of peppery spice. It is robust, grittily tannic — almost explosively tannic at first, in fact — though with a fairly easy balance once it opens up a bit. You can really taste the marble on which it is grown. Even so, this wine, while pretty darn good now, could probably use a year or two more in the bottle, and should age well for years to come.

Definitely one to buy now and savor later. 

Quivira 2005 Zinfandel ($20) 

Rating: ♠ ♠ ♠ 1/2

I remember my first trip to Quivira Winery, in Sonoma County’s Dry Creek Valley, sometime in the mid-1990s. It was my first real, extensive wine-tasting trip. It was a warm, sunny afternoon in the springtime. I remember the modest, rust colored barn surrounded by flowers. “Quivira,” I thought. “That’s a funny name.”

Inside we learned it was a name from Spanish conquistador legend, referring to a land they called Quivira Regnum, where the people were said to eat from plates of gold. This rich land the Spaniards never found (though had they the presence of mind to look down while exploring the Sierra foothills, history may have been very different.) 16th century Spanish maps, not exactly noted for pinpoint accuracy, place Quivira Regnum to the north of Baja, between about modern-day Santa Barbara and San Francisco.

That night, loaded up with the tasty wines of Quivira, I had a dream. In it, a people who looked sort of like a cross between Pueblo Indians and Spanish Californios lived in a valley called Quivira, where they rode horses, tended cattle, cultured vines and fought duels. I remember it vividly and in rare moments of reverie still make up little stories about the land and people of Olde Quivira.

So, anyway…  I was dining out at the Cliff House last week with a friend and saw the 2005 Quivira Zinfandel in the wine card. I hadn’t had any of Quivira’s wines in quite some time. I was not disappointed. I mean, how easy is it usually to find a wine that goes just as well with your hangar steak as it does with your companion’s fish and chips. 

No matter. The Quivira Zin defeated this risky pairing with perfect aplomb. Blended with about 10 percent Petite Syrah and Zins from older, valley floor vineyard and younger ones up top, this sassy little number offers soft tones of dark cherry, blackberry and chocolate. Quivira is lighter and softer than most of your thicker, raisiny Zins from, say, Amador County. This may be an effect of the Petite Syrah blend but, whatever the case, it worked in our meal’s favor, even without the gold plates.

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