Monthly Archives: January 2010
Gourmet Underground Detroit's content archives are organized by date and catalog the aggregated content of our Features pages as well as our blog.
A Plug for California Wines
Something is happening.
Generally, I’m not a fan of California wines. Oak, blackberry flavors, designer yeast, viscous textures, high alcohol, and things of that sort are not my preferred drink characteristics. And while there are certainly some wines that break that mold, they still manage to fall short, often for too high a price. Of course, Joseph Swan gave me hope. I rather enjoy those wines.
But nothing could prepare me for the shock I felt when drinking Bonny Doon’s new biodynamic wines. Friend Putnam Weekley handles the beverage duties at El Barzon in Detroit, and with the restaurant’s chef, he put together a 7-course dinner with these new offerings from Randall Graham. The retail prices on these wines ranged from $17 for a sangiovese to a CdP-style blend in the $30 range.
The fantastically good news? They’re really damn good. I’d honestly drink some of these wines with or in lieu of similarly priced European counterparts. With low alcohol, decent acidity, and unmanipulated ripeness, these are food friendly, drinkable wines.
Something is happening. A U.S. state is making delicious natural wine. I’m stunned.
So lift your glass to California. Or at least to Bonny Doon.
A Trip Down Memory Lane
One of the very few red wines that first grabbed me by my nose and dragged me, not exactly kicking and screaming, into the bottle was a 2002 Cuvee Gravel bourgogne rouge from Catherine and Claude Maréchal. A short while later, the same store which fed my Gravel habit had 2004 Chorey-les-Beaune and Pommard from the same producer, and I really fell in love.
I tucked away a far amount of the 2004s, more than I’d remembered, actually, and tonight I went digging.
A few years later, the Chorey is quite nice. The fruit on the nose is more potent than I remembered, ripe with sweet cherries and a bit of stony minerality, but the fruit on the palate is dying a bit. The finish is dry, a bit musty, and still quite tannic. This is still a pretty, enjoyable wine, but I’m drinking the other bottle I found quite soon.
Lagavulin 16
I just started drinking scotch about two or three weeks ago. Started with Talisker 10 and Highland Park 12. Lately I’ve been drinking Lagavulin 16. And I think I’m in love. Grassy, peaty, dried tea leafy, salty love.
