2006 Terry Hoage "The Hedge" Syrah

My wife has never been a fan of high octane Paso Robles Syrah so with her out of town for the weekend, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to open my last bottle of 2006 Terry Hoage The Hedge Syrah, Paso Robles. The Hedge is, like most of Terry's wines, named after something from his days as an All-American/All-Pro/Super Bowl Champion football player. In this case, The Hedge refers to the English privet hedge that famously surrounds the field at the University of Georgia's Sanford Stadium. Terry was an All-American defensive back in his junior and senior seasons. Perhaps you've heard the expression "Between the Hedges?" Same hedge.

Back to the wine. This has calmed down considerably since the last time I tasted this a few years ago. There was no heat whatsoever from the stated 15.5% alcohol and the tannins, once ferocious, were in perfect balance with the rest of the package. The nose and palate were packed with explosive blackberry, black pepper and roasted coffee notes as a Paso Robles Syrah should be. Somehow, I think my wife would've actually enjoyed this one. But it'll be gone by tonight so she'll never know what she missed. I seem to recall this bottle being about $40 at the winery when we purchased it back in the spring of 2009.

Sadly, this was the penultimate bottle from the 5 cases we brought back with us. The only wine left in the cellar from that trip is a bottle of 2005 Adelaida Cellars Viking Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. Guess it's time to plan another trip.

And just in case you're wondering, dinner was a delicious homemade BBQ chicken pizza made with BBQ sauce, leftover roasted chicken, shaved red onion and a generous sprinkling of chopped cilantro. A great pairing, if I must say so myself!

2008 J.R. Storey Petite Sirah Port

I didn't grow up a fan of cranberry relish as a kid since my mom's idea of cranberries at Thanksgiving involved opening a can and scooping it into a bowl. Sometimes she didn't even bother disguising the corrugation from the tin can. Then about 15 years ago my wife ran across a simple recipe for fresh cranberry relish incorporating port wine and orange zest. Now we make an improvised version of this every Thanksgiving.

I love port. All kinds of port. I love the "real" stuff from Oporto as well as late-harvest dessert style reds from California, Australia and virtually everywhere else. But my wife doesn't care for it and I don't have very many friends who do, either. So I rarely drink the stuff. Sad, because I'm sitting on about 2 cases of vintage ports from the legendary 1994 and pretty damn good 1997 vintages in the cellar. Good thing they have a near indefinite shelf life. But I digress.

After sacrificing a cup to the cranberries, the rest of the bottle of 2008 J.R. Storey Siebe Vineyard Petite Sirah Dessert Wine, Solano County was all mine. As expected, the color is a deep purplish hue that stains the glass as it slowly drips down the bowl. Fabulous notes of crushed raspberry, Grenadine and red licorice explode from the glass. On the palate, the spicy, black pepper notes so common to Petite Sirah come out as well as a chalky, mouth-filling texture. Finishes with just a hint of green. Goes down way too smoothly for something with 18% alcohol!

This is a very well-made domestic port-style wine that retails for approximately $30 for a really cute, squatty 500ml bottle. This wine was a sample from J.R. Storey Winery which, if you've been following this blog, you will know we are considering distributing in Kansas through Amphora Distribution. As I said, I really like this wine. I think it would be great with a whole range of chocolate desserts as well as blue cheese. But in my experience, ports and dessert wines in general are a tough sell in this market. Time will tell if we commit to half a palate or so of this.

2009 Idle Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon

Yesterday was my 43rd birthday and I quietly celebrated around the house by doing some work on the chicken coop and putting some deer corn out in the woods by the blind. Deer season starts November 28th and I want to be ready! Took in the inaugural Formula 1 race in Austin, TX on SPEED. When this race was announced a year or so ago, I initially had plans to attend, but the expense just didn't make sense what with starting the new business and all. So I settled for watching it and the hilarious weekly clusterf*ck known as the Kansas City Chiefs on TV.

For dinner, I went with one of my old stand-by's - grilled flank steak. I also braised the last of our (frozen) brussels sprouts from the garden with white wine, shallots and bacon. For the wine, I chose a sample that arrived last week from Sonoma's Idle Cellars. This is a very small winery that we hope to be bringing to Kansas City in the very near future. Last week, the winemaker sent me a bottle of their Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah and Chardonnay. The 2009 Idle Cellars Los Chamizal Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Sonoma Valley shows off a beautiful, opaque ruby color. The nose starts off with loads of sweet raspberry and Provencal herb and eventually reveals layers of cigar box and roasted coffee. The palate is a bit more austere than the nose would lead one to believe with its sweet-tart raspberry and dusty notes. Quite acidic. The tannins only kick in after a solid hour of air. Hides the 15.5% alcohol quite well. Long, herbaceous finish. Should retail for about $25. A blend of 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Cabernet Franc and 6% Merlot. I really enjoyed this wine for its lean, lithe style and the acidity made it absolutely delicious with my signature garlicky/herbaceous/vinegary chimichurri sauce.

2008 J. R. Storey Grenache

2008 J. R. Storey Herder Vineyard Grenache, Paso Robles - Advanced color shows a considerable amount of bricking. But I've found this to be pretty consistent with Storey's style. He obviously isn't a winemaker whose primary concern is color extraction. On the nose, very pleasant red fruit aromas that run the gauntlet from strawberry to cherry to raspberry along with a very nice touch of saddle leather. The leathery note follows through on the soft, fruit- and vanilla-tinged palate. A whopping 15.7% alcohol may be a turn-off to some, but the wine really handles it quite well. Tannins and acidity are nicely-balanced and demure; lurking in the shadows. Despite the high alcohol, I think this would be lovely with spicy food. Drink sooner rather than later. About $20. John Ross Storey continues to show a deft hand in turning out Syrah, Grenache and Rhone-style blends from Paso Robles that are in no way over-ripe or over-extracted.

Disclaimer: This wine was received as a free sample from J.R. Storey Winery and I am (very seriously) considering representing this wine in Kansas.

2009 Chateau Brandard, Saint-Emillion

Wow. Has it really been a month since I posted a note here? Yikes! I haven't been drinking a whole lot of wine lately and the wines I've had have been rather pedestrian wines that I've already blogged about one numerous occasions. The lone exception was the delicious (but not anywhere near ready yet) 2009 Dunning Vineyards Meritage, Paso Robles. But since I was playing cards with the wife and kids while drinking it, I didn't bother to take any notes.

What have I been doing besides drinking wine? I've been quite busy putting the finishing touches on the distributorship. We've been given our liquor license by the State of Kansas and we're just waiting on final approval from the BATFE now. We have the warehouse all set up with second hand office furniture and we're wired with our phone and internet connections. As soon as we get that letter from the feds, we can start ordering wine and filling up that warehouse! I also found out that the girlfriend of one of my wife's elementary school friends owns a wine import company based out of Chicago that specializes in Spanish wines. I'm eagerly awaiting to see her portfolio and maybe acquire some samples.

And we've been busy around the farm as well. I've spent a few peaceful, yet unsuccessful days in the blind hunting turkey in the back yard. I'm hoping to serve wild turkey for Thanksgiving this year. I'm also feeding the deer and checking the trail cam getting ready for deer season in December. There's a really nice 10-point buck running around in the woods that I haven't seen until recently. Today we spent the morning in the garden pulling out roots and covering the raised beds with our all-natural mulch of chicken poop, pine shavings and vegetable scraps. No pesticides or fertilizers are used in our garden!

Anyway. Back to tonight's wine. The 2009 Chateau Brandard Bel Air Lussac Saint-Emilion is one of the last wines I got from my former employer before quitting my retail job. I believe it was one of our "Wine of the Month" offerings back in September. It has a nice cranberry color indicative of a Merlot-dominated blend. the nose is somewhat Rhone-ish with sweet raspberry, tobacco, black pepper and a good whiff of poopy diaper. On the palate, the green tobacco and earthy/barnyard/poop flavors really come to the forefront. Sadly, no hint of that raspberry that is so pretty in the nose. The acidity is ferocious and the tannins moderate. Overall, the green tobacco and barnyard notes are just too much for my California-centric palate to take. I see where someone calling himself the Wine Advocate just gave this 92 points on the strength of its "foie gras, meat and berry notes." Sorry, but I just don't get any of that. Trust me, as much as I love foie gras, I dearly wish I could find some in this bottle, but alas, I shall remain disappointed. IIRC, this retails for about $15 but I wouldn't dare pay that for another bottle.

That being said, the wine played rather nicely with tonight's dinner. The fantastically-marbled tri-tip was grilled to perfection and served with arugula oil. The earthy, peppery, green tobacco notes of the wine went really well with the earthy, peppery arugula. I would say the old rule of thumb about European wines being "food wines" definitely applies here as the wine is borderline undrinkable on its own.