June 4th, 2008 by phil
Last Friday at Frisee Restaurant, I cracked open a bottle of 2004 Swanson Oakville Merlot with Courtney Cochran of Hip Tastes.
After an hour of freezing windy tennis, I was ready for some rib sticking action. Frisee has plenty of great options on the menu for sustainable meat lovers. A grass fed filet, a rack of lamb, chutney stuffed pork loin, and a huge filet burger with Point Reyes blue cheese but I ordered the 8oz Buffalo Steak Frites, medium rare. Under the steak, the fries are painted with gravy, and deliciously addictive. Buffalo is a great match for this merlot, the wine acting like a beautiful sauce for the lean red meat.
After years of declining sales, in 2007 merlot had a 6% uptick in sales. Will the Sideways effect take it’s place in the wine history books? With gems like the Swanson Merlot pushing the premium juice envelope, it’s easy to envision a strong regrowth in sales.
My Tasting notes:
The 2004 Swanson Oakville Merlot is silky smooth and lusciously full of spiced chocolate Christmas cake, black cherries, coffee liquor, and black currant. It’s not a huge wine, it’s actually slightly austere at first with a long meandering finish. Quite a personality.
I picked up my bottle from Mark Bright who is selling these gems at cost ( $22) over at Local Kitchen and Wine Shop. A stellar deal on a great wine. Mark has put every wine in the shop on discount, so if you’re looking for a good deal on your next bottle of vino, you know where to look!
May 22nd, 2008 by phil
Only in South Africa would you see this kind of innovative wine pricing strategy. Pieter Walser, owner/winemaker of BlankBottle has released a white blend called “Moment of Silence,” and sent out 20 cases of the wine to customers and asked them to evaluate the wine and pay what they thought it was worth. While the value got up to 90R or $11.75, the average price was around 50R or $6.50. Pieter is now selling “Moment of Silence” for 40R so that the wine delivers the goods. What do you think, is this purely a marketing gimmick or a genuine way to create fair pricing for a new wine?
Here’s a quote from one customer that speaks volumes, “With all that, we decided that if we buy the wine on the market in a retail shop, we will pay R65 a bottle. However (and I hope you don’t feel cheated here), since your motto is to over deliver on quality and want to keep prices affordable, buying from the winemaker direct, we settled on R55.”
I would love to see that happen with some of the California cult cab and pinot producers! Cheers to Pieter and BlankBottle.
Tags: , south africa, wine, Wine Industry
May 8th, 2008 by phil
Last night, Nirvino kicked off May with another Monthly wine tasting event, The Heavy Pour. With 17 wines on tap, the juice flowed with reckless abandon.
In the far corner, folks flocked and you might have overheard more than once “I heart Hartwell!” as Christian and Jona poured their liquid gold. What a gift to have the 06 Sauvignon Blanc and the 04 Reserve Cab.
John Wilkinson, wine grower, wine maker and overall wine empresario was manning the vino pulpit with three magnificent red blends. Preach it brother John, we’re loving it. Next to John, it was hard to miss the charming miss Jamie and miss Michelle pouring Mondavi’s brand new food friendly Solaire Chardonnay and Cab, paired up with some great cheeses. For all the lazy youtube fans like me, check out this short video on Solaire.
Across the room, window to his back, Sewell enthusiastically poured deep with a heavy hand not one, not two, not three but four of his Hatcher wines. What a great Barbera! Holding down the middle of the room were Scotti “The Fisher Man” from Fisher Vineyards pouring an excellent Cab and Chard and Robert from Four Vines who had more than myself saying I’m feeling like a Heretic.
Finally, it was GastronomicDiva, with the big May win for most wine reviews! A 750 of 1999 Dom Perignon. See, writing witty and insightful wine reviews does pay off.
So thanks to Wine Bar and Store for hosting the Nirvino wine hooligans. A special “we can’t thank you enough” thanks to all the incredible wine makers and representatives for pouring heavy and staying late. Thanks to Sarah, Bill and Justin for helping everyone get signed in and excited to drink. And finally thanks to all the loyal Nirvino members for coming out and doing what you do so well, drinking and socializing. Below, you’ll find some pretty pics of yourself courtesy of Bennet Sell-Kline.
May your glass always be Half Full,
Phil, Meli and Christian
Event Photos:
May 5th, 2008 by phil
This past Wednesday, Nirvino kicked off an early celebration of Cinqo de Mayo with a Nirvino House Party celebrating the wines of Spain. Below there are some photos, as you can see everyone had a great time enjoying the wine and food. A big thanks to Brenda for sharing her home and friends with Nirvino.
Here’s a list of the wines we tasted:
NV Pere Ventura Brut Cava
2006 El Hada Viura Rueda Verdejo
2005 Bodegas Castano Hecula Yecla Monastrell
2005 Bodegas Ochoa Garnacha Blend
2005 Bodegas Numanthia-Termes Termes Tempranillo
Tags: , house party, Nirvino, wine
April 4th, 2008 by phil
Wednesday evening, Nirvino kicked off it’s first monthly wine event at Local Kitchen and Wine Merchant. Manolo Frias shared five of his Napa Valley wines from Frias Family Vineyards, the ‘06 Sauvignon Blanc, ‘06 Rose, ‘05 Syrah, ‘05 Cab Blend and the ‘05 Spring Mountain Cab. As people drank the good juice, Local chef Ola Fendert sent out thin crust pizzas, charcuterie plates, and glasses filled with sumptuous white truffle fries for everyone to nosh on. Not a bad way to start a Wednesday night in San Francisco!
Nirvino would like to thank everyone for coming out and adding their charm and beauty to the evening. Also, a big thank you to Mark, Maria, Ola, Carl, Gabrieli and the rest of the staff for making Local feel like a much cooler version of home for an evening. And a special thanks to Manolo for pouring with a heavy hand, staying late, and entertaining everyone who came within arms-length with glass in hand.
Here are some photos from the event:
Your friends from Nirvino,
Christian, Meli and Phil
Tags: Frias Family Vineyards, Local Kitchen and Wine Merchant, Nirvino, Wine Tasting
chef Vincenzo Esposito: I will try it Great thanks!!!! also great wines I was born in Viterbo and that is Wine ...
Camie: This would be an awesome practice to see adopted for California wines. I really dont ...
Sarah: Cool pics! Last night was so much fun!
Sam: Local venue hit the spot! The people were nice and Frias was quite nice. Manolo (Frias ...
Courtney Cochran: Yo Phil - Congrats & will you please add my blog to your blogroll? Nirvino's up on ...