Thanksgiving Wine Recommendations

As we approach the holidays, all this Pinot Noir has primed my palate for turkey and all the fixings. Pinot Noir is a natural choice for red wine at the Thanksgiving table, and in particular I would recommend these wines that I tried recently in wine class at SF Wine Center:

• Labyrinth Yarra Valley Viggers Vineyard Pinot Noir 2004 – Australia ($20)
• Seresin Marlborough Pinot Noir “Leah” 2009 – New Zealand ($40)
• JK Carriere Shea Vineyard 2005 – Willamette Valley, Oregon ($60)

As for white wines, ever since I worked at Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard in the Finger Lakes region of New York, I've given Riesling and Gewurztraminer prominent seats at the table. I am not alone; recently both Food & Wine and Bon Appetit magazines featured Hermann J. Wiemer in their Thanksgiving issues. The bright fruit flavors and wonderful acidity of these wines compliment traditional Thanksgiving dishes as well as vegetarian fare.  So naturally I highly recommend drinking American this holiday with one of Wiemer's many Rieslings or other white wines, including the newly released Gruner Veltliner, which I haven't tried yet but I fondly remember installing the posts in the vineyard that produced that wine. All of these wines are around $20 or under and available in many states around the country:

• Hermann J. Wiemer Dry Riesling 2013
• Hermann J. Wiemer Gruner Veltliner 2013
• Hermann J. Wiemer Gewurztraminer 2013

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Gift that Keeps on Giving

I keep going back to this wine. At the Wine & Spirits Top 100 Tasting, I did a trade with the reps at Loimer next to the Wiemer booth and got this bottle of Gruner Veltliner. I opened it before Thanksgiving to have with a roast chicken dinner, and it was a very nice wine, the best GruVe I've had. GruVe is usually an herbaceous, citrusy, crisp wine, but the nose and flavors can be muted sometimes. The Loimer is concentrated and has a nice tropical nose with citrus and herbs to boot. Since this wine is in a screwcap bottle, it can keep for a while. I've had a glass here and there for the last 2 weeks and it's good every time, very versatile with a lot of different dishes. I finished off the bottle the other night with some dungeness crabs that I had gotten at the grocery store for dinner (now in season, $6.99/lb!) and it was a perfect pairing!

Wine & Spirits' Grand Tasting

Last month my friend Oskar visited from the Finger Lakes and invited me to join him at the Wine & Spirits Top 100 Tasting, honoring the San Francisco-based magazine's chosen top 100 wineries of the year. Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard was honored for the 3rd year in a row, and I got to accompany Oskar as a representative of the winery. Going to industry tastings is always more fun with 2 people - you can share the responsibility of pouring the wine while having the chance to walk around and taste the other wines.

The best part was the Champagne and oysters section on the veranda of City View at METREON in downtown/SoMa San Francisco - great views and delicious indulgences. I tried Dom Perignon for the first time (it was ok; I've had better for cheaper) and sampled some other great names like Louis Roederer.

In the Riesling family, in addition to Wiemer's 2010 Gewurztraminer and 2009 Late Harvest Riesling, wines that I proudly helped produce, I enjoyed Joh. Jos. Prum's 2009 Mosel Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese (Germany), a similar style to our Late Harvest Riesling, and Loimer's 2009 Kamptal Reserve Langenlois Steinmassl Riesling and 2010 Kamptal Gruner Veltliner (Austria). I love this simple green label:

Again I sampled R. Lopez de Heredia's 1993 Rioja Reserva Vina Tondonia Blanco, the white Rioja I first had at San Francisco Wine Center over the summer; this is such an interesting wine. I also had their 2001 Rioja Reserva Vina Tondonia Tinto, the red version. Delicious Spanish wines.

Other notable reds included Leonetti Cellar's 2008 Walla Walla Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and 2009 Walla Walla Valley Merlot. I've had older Leonetti vintages and they have been divine, so it was nice to try the current releases and see what the wine is like in its youth. I also enjoyed Achaval-Ferrer's 2008 La Consulta Uco Valley Finca Altamira Malbec. I visited this winery during my trip to Mendoza last year but I hadn't tried this single vineyard Malbec.

I had fun bumping into Mary Burnham and Jordan Mackay, wine writers and instructors at SFWC wine school.

And as always, it was great pouring Wiemer to adoring fans from around the country.

Other coverage:
http://www.vinography.com/archives/2011/10/whats_your_best_wine_tasting_t.html

Just in time for Memorial Day - Grilling Wines!

This week at SFWC we hosted a class on Grilling Wines. We purposely left out Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel and Chardonnay so that we were forced to explore other BBQ wines. I love food and wine pairing, so this was really fun and educational. I actually found a Gruner Veltliner that I like - usually I am underwhelmed by this varietal. I discovered an awesome Italian Lagrein that was really enjoyable on its own and with each of the foods we had.

Unfortunately, the software on my Blackberry updated recently and now my camera takes really blurry pictures. They used to be so good! I don't know what happened. So the labels on these wines aren't clear but you can catch the full names on the SFWC blog.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend! Let me know if you do any interesting wine/grill pairings.