Dave McIntyre's WineLine

Weather Plays Games with the 2010 Harvest

This year's strange weather is playing some real mind games on vintners as they begin the 2010 harvest. Here in the Eastern U.S., harvest is earlier than ever after an exceptionally hot and dry weather helped ripen grapes - or at least spike sugar levels - faster than anyone could have imagined. Out West, a cooler-than-usual summer has delayed harvest, raising fears that the autumn rains will begin before the grapes are off the vine.

Here is my early harvest update in Wednesday's Washington Post along with my monthly list of Recession Buster recommendations. This month features some boxed wines, perfect for your end-of-summer cookouts.

Now, we have Hurricane Earl, a Category 4 storm, bearing down on the East Coast. If forecasts hold, it should not have a great effect on Virginia or Maryland, but it could deliver a lot of wind and rain to Long Island at an inopportune time. Stay tuned ....

Kathy Morgan - Master Sommelier

Kathryn Morgan became a Master Sommelier last week. This honor, distinction, achievement caps several years of effort in which she sought the highest rank of her profession. She is now the first M.S. in the Washington, D.C., area, though hopefully not the last, as we have a talented group vying for the same honor. She is also only the 16th woman in North America to crack the ranks of this British-led organization.

That's very elite company.

I've known Kathy for several years. A few years ago, I participated briefly in a group of somms that met at her apartment each Sunday morning, amid hangovers and anecdotes of troublesome customers from the past week, to taste several wines and quiz each other as if they were taking the Master Sommelier exams. For a civilian like myself, it was an eye-opening exercise. (Note to anyone studying for an MS: Don't forget to mention whether the wine is red or white - take nothing for granted!) When I took a turn choosing the wines, it was fun and enlightening to watch these professionals as they tried to figure out the curve balls I was tossing their way. Kathy took a big swing at one of these, and while she may not have knocked it out of the park, she came close. It was a Jackson Triggs Chardonnay from the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia. The somms were all over the map in trying to figure this one out, but Kathy zeroed in on a cool-climate chardonnay from the New World, with moderate use of new oak. No, she didn't pinpoint Okanagan Valley, but give her time ...

Here's a link to the Court of Master Sommeliers press release.

Way to go, Kathy!

This photo, provided by Michael Birchenall of Foodservice Monthly, shows Kathy and me judging at the 2009 Atlantic Seaboard Wine Competition. And no, I was not trying to peek at her notes. At least, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it!

Chablis: The Ultimate in Unoaked Chardonnay

I consider myself part of the Anything But Chardonnay crowd - at least, until I taste one I really love. Lately I've tasted several from Chablis that make me think of converting to the Chardonnay side of the aisle. These are traditional, unoaked Chablis. I know, some of the rarest and most famous wines from this region are lavishly oaked. As one distributor quipped, "I prefer unoaked Chablis, but I'll never turn down a bottle of Raveneau."

Here's my take on Chablis, in today's Washington Post. 

Cheers!

Chardonnay - Yes, Chardonnay! - for Summer ...

In the summer heat, we often say ixnay to the chardonnay, preferring lighter, more acidic white wines. But we shouldn't reject chardonnay altogether. This week and next, in my Washington Post wine columns, I recommend some terrific chardonnays for summer dining. The key? They are unoaked, with great acidity and moderate alcohol levels.

Click here for my column this week on the value-driven chardonnays of Macon, in the southern end of Burgundy. Next week - Chablis in the north.

Storm Diary, The Second Chapter

Thursday, August 12, 2010

This latest storm hit at 7 am, with a fury that I had only seen once before: seven years ago when my house nearly burned down after a lightning strike. I watched out the kitchen window as wind and rain circled our patio and thunder and lightning rolled and crashed around us. After about 20 minutes, the storm seemed to lessen, and I tried to calm my daughter by saying the worst was over. But it wasn't. The second phase was stronger, more virulent than the first. The wind created waves in our swimming pool, sloshing water over the edge. I can't really remember when the power went out, only thinking that I wasn't surprised. In all, the storm lasted 50 minutes, unusually long. There were no loud crashes on our house, no leaks in the roof. But when it subsided and I looked out the kitchen window, I saw a tree a few houses down the hill cleaved in two. To the left, the large oak in our neighbor's yard that my wife always feared would someday fall on us was also a casualty - but it fallen away from us, onto another neighbor's deck.

This was the third time in as many weeks that destructive storms struck the Washington area. Last week, while we were in Charlottesville, a freak storm hit Old Town Alexandria. This time, there were reports of motorists being rescued from flood waters along Rock Creek in the District and Sligo Creek in Silver Spring. Local radio and newspaper reports featured an apartment building in Gaithersburg that was sliced in two by a large oak, miraculously with no one hurt.

There was little or no coverage of our neighborhood. But as I grabbed my camera and walked around our little enclave of Burnt Mills, I felt as though I was in a war zone. Hundreds of trees had been split or felled by the strong winds. A house around the corner on Oakwood Drive was crushed by an uprooted oak, another damaged by a fallen fir. Utility poles were snapped in two, chunks of asphalt were torn from the streets, and up at the elementary school, so many trees were decapitated that it looked as though a giant had ripped a hole in the woods. These trees were splayed across Colesville Road, the only way to get out of our neighborhood, closing it in both directions for hours. There was no way I would get to work this day.

As I walked around, I took photos of every broken tree I saw, even though they all began to look alike after awhile. I was amazed that more houses weren't damaged, and that, when all was told, apparently no one in our neighborhood was hurt. It was as if God was angry, but not vengeful.

Friday, August 13

Shaving and dressing without light is almost routine now after the first storm kept us out of power for four days. The damage this time seems more intense, so we think it may take longer to restore electricity, but the damage is more localized than two weeks ago when the entire county was devastated, so maybe there is hope. Colesville Road was open, so I could get to work, and when I came home there were crews from Toledo Edison in our neighborhood untangling downed wires and replacing fallen poles and transformers. A PEPCO damage survey crew drove by. Yet when we returned from dinner at a friend's house, the neighborhood was still dark, and the thrum of generators drowned out the crickets and cicadas. My wife swears never to stock the freezer again. Our daughter wonders why we can't just buy a generator like all the noisy neighbors.

Saturday, August 14 

Walking around the neighborhood this morning, the progress in cleaning up is evident. Trees have been chainsawed into sections, damaged homes covered with blue tarp like bandages over boo boos. I traded anecdotes with a neighbor I had never met, who told me one of the storm's victims was a 400-year old oak tree that was one of the oldest in Maryland. I had walked by that tree hundreds of times since moving to this neighborhood without realizing its history or significance.

The Toledo Edison crews arrived at 8:30. The crew captain told me our lights should go on "Before we leave here tonight."

Indeed, the power tripped on just before 3 pm. Only 56 hours this time. Given the destruction around us, we feel lucky. The neighbor's oak will have to go; the half that leans toward our house is now precariously supported by less than half a trunk.

Although our power was back on, we still went to my mother-in-law's for dinner. I'm tasting Chablis this week, so I pulled four bottles from the warm fridge. They tasted wonderful. Note to self: Chill Chablis really well, then leave in a turned-off refrigerator for 56 hours to attain the perfect temperature.

 

The Wine Industry Loses a Champion in Washington

 The wine industry has lost an important voice in Washington. After 16 years in the nation's capital, Bill Nelson is leaving WineAmerica, the only trade group that represents the entire U.S. wine industry. Nelson, who has been the group's president since 2005, has fought the good fight for direct shipping, federal support for viticulture research, and other important issues that have helped the industry grow so dramatically over the past two decades.

Now, Nelson is a victim of the economic recession, as membership in WineAmerica has slipped and wineries feeling the pinch have cut back on paying their membership dues. With HR 5034 now before Congress and the well-financed wholesalers always looking for opportunities to turn back gains on direct shipping, this is an unfortunate time for the industry to downsize its champion.

Nelson looks back on his tenure in Washington in my column in today's Washington Post 

Randall Grahm Tinkers With the Vin Gris ...

Randall Grahm is a restless soul, who seems incapable of settling down and just being contented with what he's accomplished. Which is probably good news for fans of his Bonny Doon wines, for he is always looking for something new, some way to improve. But of course, if we love his wines, there's always the danger he'll get bored and change a favorite out from under us.

That happened with his 2009 Bonny Doon Vin Gris de Cigare, his popular rose that year after year has been one of my favorite pink wines from California. The 2009 is much paler than usual, and Randall explained why when I met him at a recent Rhone Rangers tasting in Washington DC. It's also his first Demeter-certified Biodynamic pink wine.

Oh, but don't despair - the new Vin Gris de Cigare is terriffic. Different from what you might expect if you've been a fan of previous vintages, but terrific. Taste for yourself!

And for good measure, here's a link to my interview with Randall Grahm under a streetlight on a dark sidestreet near Dupont Circle last September, when he furtively came to town hawking his new book, Been Doon So Long. Of course, the book since won a James Beard Award, so he doesn't need to be furtive about it anymore.

More from Oz Clarke

When I wrote about my tasting party with Oz Clarke, the gregarious and hilarious British wine writer, several readers chastised me for not revealing Oz's reactions to the individual wines. So he was kind enough to send me some tasting notes of his favorites. Keep in mind that we tasted probably 30 or so wines that evening ranging up and down the East Coast of the US, but centered on the Mid-Atlantic region. Here are the ones that stuck in Oz's mind:

NASSAU VALLEY VINEYARDS (DELAWARE) CHARDONNAY  2006 AND CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2007

These Delaware wines were new to me. I really liked the lean, stoney fruit, even a little leafy in the red, and the restrained alcohol. I’d countenance a very light hand with the oak, but this is a promising newcomer.

BLACK ANKLE VINEYARDS VIOGNIER 2009 AND LEAF-STONE SYRAH 2008 (MARYLAND)

With a name like that, you just know I’m going to love the wines, though my fantasy about the exact turn of the black ankle may not be entirely based on fact. These are restrained, reserved styles from Frederick County in Maryland and good examples of Maryland’s late but youthful charge on the Eastern wine scene. Or should I say, re-charge; I have fond memories of Byrd Chardonnays from the 1980s.

MICHAEL SHAPS PETIT VERDOT 2005 (VIRGINIA)

Virginia just loves to play hard ball. Most wine regions steer well clear of Petit Verdot – too tricky to ripen, too tannic, can’t pronounce the name, blah, blah. But good ’ole Virginia thinks – hey. Warmish climate, humid, rain in the fall – Petit Verdot, thick skin to avoid rot, needs the heat. We can do that – and they do.  Lovely dark fruit, pleasant tannic grip, a smudge of oak. Welcome to your New World home, P-V.

HORTON VINEYARDS RKATSITELI RESERVE 2008 (VIRGINIA)

Now. Is that R silent? Some people call it Rekatsiteli, the Finger Lakes boys call it Arkatsiteli – but that R, – that P in Russian – isn’t it silent before a consonant? I learnt a bit of Russian – admittedly from a book published in the 1930s when presumably most decent Russian linguists had been incarcerated – so that I could sing Mussorgsky better. I then realised that Mussorgsky isn’t one of those guys you can sing better unless you’re born in deepest Siberia with a throat as wide as a 100-year-old pine tree trunk, so I sort of lost interest. But I still think the R/P question is silent before a consonant. I’m going to pronounce it Katsiteli. And Horton, God bless the fact that they’ve probably planted a row or two of every vine variety known to man – produce a really classic, full, apple puree example only matched in the East by Frank’s Finger Lakes classic that I tasted a few days later. 

SHINDIG 2009 (FINGER LAKES, NEW YORK)

For those toffee-noses who don’t believe the hybrids can do dick shit (sorry, ed - Note from Dave: That's OK, this is the Internet!) this mean, lean, chewy, apple skin and shimmering green flesh tongue scourer is 80% Vidal with a dash of Riesling to pull it towards the legit. side of the blanket.

BOXWOOD WINERY “BOXWOOD” 2007, (VIRGINIA) 

Well, some Virginian had to take on the twin Shibboleths of St-Emilion garagiste and Napa Titan. It’s pretty good if that’s your thing – and Virginia is sort of equidistant, so it should be good. (Note from Dave: Boxwood does two red blends: Topiary, which is modeled after St. Emilion - half merlot, half cabernet franc - and Boxwood, which follows a Left Bank recipe based on cabernet sauvignon, merlot and petit verdot. We tasted the Boxwood, because that’s the one I had on hand, but Oz can be forgiven for mixing them up slightly given the sheer number of wines we tasted that night. Besides, we probably talked about the Topiary and how that is the most popular of the two.)

BILTMORE RESERVE CHARDONNAY 2008, (NORTH CAROLINA)

I’ve been looking at photos of that damned railroad pile for so long, and at last I taste the wine. Intair-es-ting. Here come de Judge. (Note from Dave: I don’t understand this. But the wine was pretty good!)

  

Wine vs. Beer Smackdown!

Wine lovers can spend hours debating wine-food pairings (just one reason we are so boring to our children), and there are certain meals we dismiss as "beer food." These are usually spicy or cheap, and casual - in other words, unsophisticated foods.

But beer is becoming increasingly refined, and matching beer with food can be as subtle and complex as wine. This point was driven home last weekend at a Wine vs. Beer Smackdown staged by the Neighborhood Restaurant Group at the Columbia Firehouse in Old Town Alexandria.

Wine director Juliana Santos and beer sommelier Greg Santos each selected pairings for six dishes, and about 80 guests sweltering in an upstairs loft at the restaurant were asked to compare how each beverage fared. As a wine lover, I was naturally biased towards Santos's interesting selections, which included some small-production wines offered by top-notch importers such as Terry Theise and Jonas Gustafsson. But beer had the advantage of the unexpected.

"Beer makers are really starting to act like winemakers, and that is resulting in beers that are fascinating to pair with food," Engert said. "They are regressing to pre-industrial techniques, before stainless steel cleaned everything up for nice simple beers ideal for drinking with wings." those borrowed techniques include barrel aging reserve beers, he said.

Here are my quick notes from the smack down as I pushed my way through the eager crowds at each table.

1. Tomato, watermelon, and sheep's milk feta, paired with Bodegas O'Ventosela "Vina Leirina" 2008 from Rueda, Spain, and 1809 Professor Fritz Briem & Bayerische Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephan, Bavaria, Germany. The beer here had an unfair advantage, in that Engert mixed it with a splash or raspberry syrup that matched beautifully with the watermelon. The wine tasted thin and acidic in comparison. Advantage, BEER.

2. Tuna Tartare tacos, paired with Gobelsburg Riesling, 2009, Kamptal, Austria, and Hennepin Brewery Ommegang, New York. The beer picked up nicely on the fennel and apple in the tartare, while the Riesling jazzed with the citrusy dressing.  DRAW.

3. Maryland Shoat Porchetta, with Belle Pente 2008 Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, Oregon, and Schlafly Bière de Garde, Saint Louis Brewery and Schlafly Tap Room, Missouri. Pork and Pinot - a divine combo, and this biodynamic wine shined with the shoat and its stuffing. The beer actually reminded me of my home brew experiments from 15 years ago. Advantage, WINE.

4. Dry aged roast beef and buttermilk blue cheese, with Conceito Tinto, 2007,  Douro, Portugal, and Oerbier, Brouwerij de Dolle, Belgium. The beer's richness, at 9% alcohol, matched well with the cheese, and won my wife's vote. I preferred the wine for how it reflected the flavors of the beef. DRAW.

5. Charcuterie, with Cavoletto Dolcetto d'Alba "Vigna Scot" 2007, Piemonte, Italy, and Aecht Schlenkerla Märzen, Brauesrei Heller-Trum, Upper Franconia, Germany. The beer was smoked, which made it taste to me like a burnt-down house. The Dolcetto, on the other hand, may be God's own pairing with salami. Advantage, WINE.

6. Pecan Joy Candy Bars, with Domaine du Mas Blanc, 2007 Banyuls, France, and Coton, The Bruery, California. This dessert was so good that the matching became incredibly fun. The beer matched the richness of the gussied up candy bar, making me want more, while the wine melded seemlessly with the fruitier aspects of the coconut and the chocolate, signalling that the meal was over. Since I finished mine with the beer, I had to have another dessert. That one, I finished with the wine. DRAW.

So I guess I give a slight advantage to the wine in this contest, which given my bias may be expected. But I would gladly place my beverage selection in the hands of either Santos or Engert after enjoying the thoughtful and challenging selections for this wine-beer smack down.

Now, where was Bobby Flay?

Storm Diary

I'm catching my breath after last week's ordeal. Here's my tappings, gentle tappings, on my keyboard.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

I am sitting in the dark on a Sunday evening with no power, no television, no air conditioning, NO INTERNET, and no refrigeration for white wine or rosé. I can't tweet my sweaty status or update my Facebook page. Somewhere in the darkness, my dog is noisily licking his paws - electricity or no, he must keep his toilet. My 10- year old daughter is camped on the family room floor, making an adventure of necessity with a flashlight and a magazine. My wife has given up and gone to bed. The fierce storms that ripped through the DC area this afternoon left hundreds of thousands without electricity, killed at least two people, and damaged homes and cars throughout the region. Without warning, we were plunged back in time forty years to an era without electricity, when we opened windows despite the heat and humidity. It is small comfort now that the temperature has fallen into the nineties. I can hear the generator from the office building a block away thrumming over the sing song of summer cicadas and the wail of sirens responding to distant emergencies. The neighbor's dogs are barking at Armegeddon. In times like these, I am grateful for my family and friends, and content to drink water.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Day Two. Or Night Two, rather, without power. Crews are presumably still working hard to restore the grid, but from what I was able to see today as I drove to and from work, they have a heroic job ahead of them. Aside from the obvious carnage - a house up the street clobbered by a split oak tree, my mother-in-law's car pierced by a fallen branch - there is the not so obvious damage: trees broken but not quite fallen, their heavy branches weighing down power lines that could easily ignite when the juice is restored. I'm still very thankful that our only real cost will be some ruined food in the freezer. But much of it was in the freezer because we didn't really want to eat it anyway. Now, however, I'm beginning to chafe for the wine on the basement that is gradually getting warmer. The weather is too hot for red wines, and we can't chill the whites or rosés. I'm grateful that this is the weightiest of my worries.

Tuesday, July 27

Still no power at our house, though some people in our neighborhood have had theirs restored. We ate this evening at my mother-in-law's house in Wheaton. She never lost power, but it was only late today that a crew from Philadelphia came by to lift her sagging power cable off her car and from over the street. Her bumper has a nasty hole in it, the fender is popped off, the trunk dented and scratched, but the car is still driveable. The offending branches are now sawed into neat chunks, their twigs and leaves scattered across the lawn and driveway. A block away, two streets are without power. One of them is blocked by a massive oak tree that fell across the street; police tape keeps the curious away from the downed power lines until the crews arrive.

As we ate sausages and pizza that Lily had rescued from our freezer, I kept hearing Ma's air conditioning cycling on and off, but I didn't feel any relief from it. "She has it set at 80 degrees," my wife explained. That's the same temperature as our powerless house, though at least the fans move the air around a bit. Still, it makes it easier for me to decline Ma's offer to stay over tonight. Eating here, at least we were able to enjoy some cold wine. (This is a wine blog, after all.) Macon, good summer chardonnay. But I can't motivate myself to write much about about it. In the grand scheme of things, it's just wine after all.

We came home as darkness fell, with just enough time to run through the house looking for where we left our flashlights this morning. There's still hot water for our showers. But I can't get used to this. I reflexively pull the string on the light in my closet and flick the switch whenever I enter the bathroom or go down to the basement to look at the wine as it slowly cooks.

The basement is still the coolest part of the house, but barely. I pulled out a bottle of Carneros Pinot noir, an unsolicited sample, to sip as I write this. It is candied and rich, not my favorite style, but I can see why people might like it. It has sweet strawberry jam flavors and goes well with mint toothpaste. Part of me really wants to check Twitter to see if there is any more ruckus about local wine in locavore restaurants. But the rest of me just wants to go to bed.

Wednesday, July 28

Dinner out was a treat, as I was able to brag on my "hardship" about being without power. But it really is getting tiring. Driving home tonight and arriving to a dark neighborhood was depresssing. But crews were setting out traffic cones to block off two lanes of Route 29 as I came up, so there is hope.

3:34 am, Thursday, July 29

Lily and I sat up bolt upright as the power came back on. Suddenly we heard our own air conditioner rather than someone else's generator. We rushed throughout the house closing windows and turning off lights. Then we went back to bed and pulled the covers up, confident that life was returning to normal.

Note to self: Chill some Champagne.