Archives for August, 2006
2003 Frick C2 (B)
C2 isn’t a score (grade, rating, whatever), it’s the name of the wine (”C squared”). Frick is a small, hard to find winery in Geyserville, California. We initially drove past the tasting room because it looks like someone’s very small home. The room feels like someone’s workshop or studio — there was a shaggy dog hanging out, artwork and trinkets all over the place, serious jazz music playing and an empty tasting counter. Bill Frick eventually wandered in and poured for us some lovely wines. He won’t ship wines in the summer - a sign of an master/artisan winemaker who cares too much about his creations to let them be ill-treated.
C2 is a carignane/cinsault blend. It’s a light, smooth wine with a nice blend of mild, earthy cranberry and raspberry. Tastes wonderful before dinner with rosemary crostini and when washing down a rare steak the juices of the wine and blood mingle politely. Let’s call it old world style: a balanced, layered, acidic and food-friendly treat. $18.
Related link: GayWineCountry.com Frick review
Thank the Goddesses for Hangovers
Oh my aching head. And throat. And eyes. And the roots of my hair. I swear to every goddess I can think of I’ll never drink again. Thankfully, my brain is fuzzy and I can’t think of a single goddess by name ’cause I’m gonna need some hair ‘o’ the dog later. Curing a hangover is easy: buckets of water and a handful of vitamin I* before passing out — I mean sleeping. More water every time I get up to pee (not applicable to those under the age of 40). Upon rising, more water, another handful of I*, a tall cup of coffee and some food as soon as it’s possible. Some people say greasy eggs and bacon, others fruit, especially berries, I say whatever you can swallow without puking. Keep drinking fluids throughout the day. Sleep late and take many naps. Exercise can help, especially if you can summon enough energy to do something fierce like a Bikram Yoga class (90 minutes of challenging postures in a room heated to 105 degrees) but that’s hard to do with a migraine. If I can do a class, I’m usually cured but it’s too easy to talk myself out of it when I’m feeling so pathetically small. Because that is the overhwelming sensation of a hangover — one of smallness and insignificance. Humility and embarassment. I’ve gotten pretty good at avoiding committing outrageously embarassing acts of idiocy when drunk but I still always end up feeling mortified afterwards as if the very act of being drunk (and having too much fun) is a shameful act. But the truth is, in spite of the fact that I never want to feel this way again, I will return, willfully, consciously, to this place of uncomfortable reflection. There’s a clarity that comes with a hangover — an ability to view one’s life and actions critically and, if not objectively, at least with a sobering perspective about one’s place in ther world. One of the great things about putting ones faults under the microscope is the opportunity it affords one to know thyself and it is through this knowing that one can choose how to grow and evolve.
Cheers.
* (ibuprofen)
…another day in paradise… 2004 Wild Horse Central Coast Viognier (C+)
Some nights I get off work between 9:00 and 9:30 pm and so not wanting to take time to prepare a meal I stop off at a local eatery (named “Eats,” appropriately enough) and grab a quick, easy and cheap (about six and a half bucks) meal to-go. The choices are limited and I usually get either the lemon pepper chicken or the turkey meatloaf. The sides are decent enough in a diner-quality way and and as often as not I get get lima beans, collard greens and corn bread (sometimes substituting broccoli, green beans or sweet potato). The meatloaf, covered in a tomato sauce, usually merits a red wine and the lemon pepper chicken a white. Tonight was chicken and so I had to choose between the two wines in the fridge: 2005 Vinum Cellars C-N-W (Chard-No-Way) Chenin Blanc, or 2004 Wild Horse Central Coast Viognier. Being slightly afraid to try the Vinum I opted for the Wild Horse and I am satisfied. Viognier seems like a good match for lemon pepper chicken. In some instances of food/wine pairing, opposites attract, such as a sweet wine to wash down a very hot, spicy dish, but in others, such as this case, the simliarity of the wine and food make for a comfortable and easy fit. The chicken has equal elements of tart acidity (lemon), succulent sweetness (the skin and fat) and mild spice (black pepper) and the viognier has very similar elements of acidity, fruit and spice — well balanced with noticeable yet subtle aspects of each.
No big revelation or insight here — just another simple, decent meal with a lovely wine to mark the end of…
rose-fucking-ay
There are some great comments to the Gawker Media post entitled, Rose: The Sunday Styles Aftermath. I didn’t see the NY Times article the post is referring to but it talks about the resurgence in popularity (and hipness, I suppose) of rose wines. My favorite comment was the one from Mo but I also chuckled at the vomit references by HipsterPit. Do yourself a favor and don’t look for the article that puts HipsterPits’ in context.
Wine Magazines on the Web
In a previous post I mentioned the Wine & Spirits Best of… issue and then went on to say their web site sucks. It does but I enjoyed reading the issue so much on my flight to the Cape I wanted to come back and mention that. I’m skeptical about “best of…” lists but in this case they kept much of it light and silly. The design and layout of the issue was attractive and easy to read and most of the content was accessible, amusing and/or informative. I especially enjoyed the articles about “Border Radicals” Ales Kristancic and Josko Gravner. It’s a great issue and I recommend picking up a copy if you don’t subscribe.
I also just learned about another magazine, Wine News. I hadn’t seen it before and only learned about it ’cause another blog mentioned it (sorry, but I forget who). I haven’t seen an actual magazine yet and I haven’t even read their online content but what makes them worthy of mention is that they have posted a large assortment of complete articles from what looks like all of their past issues. There are weeks worth of reading available and I will delve deeper when I have some leisure time. It looks promising and if the content and writing appeal to me I’ll subscribe.
Boring Wine on Cape Cod
I’ve been on the Cape for the weekend and the grape juice pickin’ was slim. I couldn’t post anything ’cause my iBook battery died and finding power outlets is harder than finding free wifi so I left it home. I was there for a fast and furious weekend visiting family in Falmouth but we took a brief diversionary tour through p-town (Provincetown) for one night. We stayed at the Boatslip and gin seemed like a better choice for the obligatory Sunday sfternoon Tea Dance. For the rest of the trip the wines found and swallowed were overall passable but not worthy of mention. There’s actually a winery in Falmouth on Sandwich Road but our schedule didn’t allow time to visit.
Anyway, this is just to explain why I’ve been quiet. I’m home now and trying hard not to guzzle my blonk!
W&S Best Of Issue
Wine & Spirits has published a Best Of Special Issue for Fall, 2006. and they included a short list of Best Websites. The only blog that gets any mention is The Red Wine Haiku Review which is a worthy mention but it’s a shame that they can’t bring themselves to acknowledge some of the other great wine blogs, such as Fermentations or Vinography.
They also fail to list any of the larger comprehensive wine reference sites like Appellation America, Wine Lover’s Page, Wikipedia: Wine or Wine Pros. The two general wine reference sites they do include are JancisRobinson.com and Tom Cannavan’s wine-pages, the first of which charges $119 per year for the bulk of it’s content and the latter of which is based in the UK (hence, any regional content is likely to be of no interest to US’uns).
I decided to subscribe based on a discussion thread on the wine forum, Harrington’s West Coast Wine Net in which someone seeking recommendations for a wine magazine was overwhelming told that it was the best wine magazine available. By a coincidence, I’m sure, that same site was listed as the Best Web Wine Forum (and no, there weren’t any honorable mentions).
Could it be that they feel threatened by anything that remotely could be considered competition given that their web site sucks? I like W&S for their editorial content and it is well designed — they publish a great magazine but they obviously haven’t figured out the value of the world wide web.