Long-Awaited Cork Dorks Report

Due to five days without internet the report on last week’s Cork Dorks United event is largely overdue. Tonight I remedy this situation.

In continuing with the tradition, Cork Dorks of 2010 which do not involve a free dinner remain very poorly attended. For this reason, CDU meetings are now open to all readers of the blog who can establish a physical presence in Walla Walla on the appropriate night. Last Sunday a few of us enjoyed three white wines of great diversity. We should get mad tax breaks from this one.

1st Place: 2009 Evan Lewandowski Tocai Friulano & Arneis

I suppose this requires some explaining. On my Sonoma trip I stopped into a place called Quivira, and it just so happened that the assistant winemaker had spent some time in Walla Walla. He sent me home with a couple of bottles of his own wine — a 50/50 blend of Friulano and Arneis grown in what I want to say is Mendocino County, but don’t quote me on that. This wine was so interesting and mystical that it managed to beat out… well… two other white wines. It’s unfined, unfiltered, full malo-lactic, early-picked goodness, and I’m ok with that.

2nd Place: 2007 Woodward Canyon Chardonnay

This wine definitely suffered from Walla Wallan ABC tendencies. Despite being a Chardonnay the wine is quite acceptable, and I had to give it the nod over Eric’s Wisconsin wine even if I really tried to like that better. This wine is voluptuous, unctuous, decadent, and slutty. It deserves some respect for being a very nice wine, but its style is not something any members of the tasting panel are accepting of.

3rd Place: 2008 Wollersheim “Prairie Fume” Seyval Blanc

First of all, I must respect the witty “Prairie Fume” title given to this wine. It’s humorously far removed from a Pouilly-Fume, and I have to wonder how many consumers of this wine understand the reference. My bet is on fewer than those who actually spent money to see Dumb and Dumberer in theaters. There are a few problems with the wine. The first is that after some online research I have discovered that the grapes were grown in New York. The second is that the wine is just finished too sweet, but maybe that caters to the Midwest palate (no offense, Indiana). Regardless, it’s still better than Muscadine sparkling wine being sold as American Champagne in North Carolina, and it was a pretty solid accompaniment to Scott’s spicy chicken curry. I finally returned his Tupperware, too.

The next Cork Dorks United has yet to be conceived due to the Terroirists Birthday Bash which will be held on April 17. Good wines and better beer is sure to be involved.

A Taste of the South

After reading that title one might think, “I don’t want to read a blog post about hush puppies”. I love hush puppies, but this is about wines from the true south – the Southern Hemisphere. One of the best Cork Dorks United thus far occurred this past Sunday, and some of us are still shaking our heads. Others might still be hungover.

1st Place: 2005 Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon

This wine is known as the best Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile, and that was not proven incorrect. I’m not sure it quite warrants the 96 point speculator score, but it’s a monster of a wine that I would put in my mouth any day. Probably worth the $65 price tag too.

The line up

2nd Place: 2007 Rainbow’s End Estate Shiraz

This Shiraz is from Stellenbosch, South Africa. This wine actually received as many first place votes as the Don Melchor, but it lost out by a single point. Eric and Mike both voted this in first, and it’s because they’re pyros. This wine smells like fire with Fruity Pebbles atop it. I guessed Aussie Shiraz, Eric guessed South Africa. Together, we nailed it.

3rd Place: 2006 Gimenez Mendez Premium Tannat

This wine is from Uruguay, and it’s also the high point of my blind tasting career. Despite the fact that previously the only varietal Tannat wine to pass through my lips was from Georgia (the state), and I’ve never had a wine from Uruguay, I managed to nail this one. There were two giveaways: the first was the wine’s very high tannins, which is a characteristic of Tannat, and the second is that Jeff brought it. Only Jeff would bring a Uruguayan Tannat to the table. This wine is delicious even if it could age another 20 years, and it only lost by two points to the pricier and much more highly regarded Don Melchor.

4th Place: 2007 Erales Mendoza Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet is not the first grape that comes to mind when I think of the Southern Hemisphere. Actually, it’s the fourth grape that comes to mind. Despite that, three of the six wines tonight were cabs, and this one lies clearly in the middle road between the other two. Aromas of overripe fruit led me to guess Argentina Malbec, but I’ll take half correct.

5th Place: 2008 Secreto Carmenere

Chile provided the best wine of the night as well as the two losers. These two wines lost by a long shot, with this one sneaking out a 5th place finish by a nose. Aromas of funk, rubber, crayon, and just downright Carmenere hit my nostrils. Upon entering the mouth, the wine is decent, but upon swallowing the flavor totally disappears – quite the opposite of what was so compelling about the Don Melchor.

6th Place: 2007 Los Vascos Cabernet Sauvignon

This wine has some connection to the Rothschild family as its selling point. So does Mouton Cadet, and I’m not going to go there. I’ve never tried playdough, but I think if playdough were a beverage this is what it would smell and taste like. Perhaps that’s appealing to some kids out there in the blogosphere, but I’m not one of those. I believe the actual name of this wine is 2007 Barons de Rothschild Cabernet Sauvignon Le Dix de Los Vascos. Long name, short results.

The next Cork Dorks will meet on March 28 where white wines will be consumed, analyzed, and later regurgitated.

Hermitage and Reese’s: a match made in heaven?

As Three Dog Night proclaimed in 1969, one is the loneliest number. That is the number of wines which were consumed during tonight’s Cork Dorks United. Perhaps this demonstrates, if nothing else, the disrespect for which winos hold for drinking red wine with chocolate. It might be the saddest experience that you’ll ever know, but that didn’t keep me from trying to make it work. I even flew a bottle of wine from Lausanne, Switzerland to Walla Walla for tonight’s tasting. Too bad only Mike and I were able to taste it.

1st Place: 2001 Cave de Tain Hermitage

Hermitage and fire, two of the finer things in life

I wasn’t expecting greatness out of this wine, and it didn’t deliver greatness. After a couple hours the nose started to take on some nice dark fruit and pepper aromas, but this might be due to the fact that I added some jelly and a spice mix to my glass. The wine is just so much different than I’m used to. My mind is saying yes, but my palate is saying no. It’s thin, much more acidic than any Syrah to be found in this neck of the woods, and it’s also somewhat bitter. The Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups I chose to pair with the wine didn’t do much good, although they didn’t do much harm either.

Last Place: 2001 Cave de Tain Hermitage

Since Mike is my house mate he had no choice but to show up for Cork Dorks, and after we tried the wine we both agreed it begged for some real food. With some tortellini and tomato-garlic-onion sauce the wine improved greatly. This experience helps confirm that Port (and some California Zinfandels, which might as well be Port) is probably the only good wine and chocolate pairing. I was hoping that a bevy of different wine and chocolate pairings would help to further the case (or shoot it down), but the trial shall live on.

In case anyone was wondering, Hermitage is an appellation of France’s Northern Rhone Valley. The only red grape permitted is Syrah. White Hermitage is Marsanne and Rousanne. The appellation is a single south-facing hillside overlooking the Rhone River and the town of Tain l’Hermitage. There are about 345 acres of grapes planted – thus one reason these wines can be quite pricey. For comparison, there are about 43,000 acres planted in Napa Valley.

Despite a weak showing, Cork Dorks United lives on. The next meeting will be on March 14 and feature a collection of Southern Hemisphere reds. Perhaps we will have two wines to taste in this one, but two can be as bad as one. It’s the loneliest number since the number one.

If it pleases and sparkles, sunshine

Sparkling wine is always a fun time, and tonight was not an exception. It made some of us slap the bass and others eat the pizza. All in all, my wine came in last, but no tears have been shed yet. Check out the reviews below:

1st place: 2007 Chateau Guadrelle Vouvray Brut
Descriptors included: dustbuster, mandarin orange, and lychee. Eric is elated that the top two wines came from the Loire Valley tonight, and he says this has a finish of, “granny smith apple”. I think Jolly Ranchers. Tasty.

2nd place: A. Simoneau Touraine Brut 100% Chenin Blanc
Yet another Chenin Blanc from the Loire showing strongly. Marshmellows, bacon, beach, and gummy bears. Despite the outlandish and moderately snobbish tasting notes, this wine is solid and could hold its own against… well… other wines. A finish of flowers lingers flowingly through Floridian flamingos.

3rd place: Graham Beck Brut 53% Chardonnay 47% Pinot Noir
South African goodness. Stinky shoes, graham crackers (coincidence? I think not), and more green apple Jolly Ranchers. We eat that shit up. Solid.

4th place: Mountain Dome Brut
This wine sparked some debate. The only Washington entry of the night, this was tasted last week in Wines of the World class which three of the night’s tasters are in. They claim large variation, with aromas ranging from meatballs to soccer balls. Any sort of ball, and it’s probably spot on. Oh, and it’s yeasty.

5th place: 2007 Vida Organica Chardonnay Mendoza
Argentina comes through, finishing the night how they started the 20th century: in last. I like this wine, and I feel horrible that it was not loved by my peeps tonight. Actually all of the wines were solid, but this may have been the shakiest of them all. Yeast, French toast, and Heather’s vegan grandmother hit the nose. Woot.

The next Cork Dorks United is on March 7 and will feature the infamous wine and chocolate pairings.

Corks, Lasagna, and Dorks

Wow. Cork Dorks United might have finally outgrown itself. The Washington Cabernet tasting of two weeks ago had five people. Well, the Italian tasting last night had 500% more than that. Because we knew ahead of time that the event was going to be overwhelmingly popular we split the wine into two groups. Seven wines were blind tasted at the beginning and the rest were simply opened and consumed with dinner.

Ranking about 20 wines would have been a difficult task anyways, and with the chaos that occurred about 16 hours ago I already am having a hard time remembering the seven wines which are ranked. Here’s our best attempt at the feat.

1st Place – 2006 Reverdito Langhe Nebbiolo

This was the third wine tasted, and while tannic it has a nice fruit forward attack of the killer plums. It’s also a great value at about $18.

2nd Place – 2003 Del Fari Colli Orientali Schioppettino

I can’t guarantee that I copied down that name correctly. This is a very obscure variety from Northern Italy (Friuli) and was a very interesting drinking experience. Mike wrote “fig wrapped in prosciutto”, which is curious considering he doesn’t eat pork.

3rd Place – 2005 Cantina del Pino Barberesco

The tasting’s other Nebbiolo also scored high. The difference is this one costs at least twice as much as the winning wine. Barberesco is a great but small region, and therefore can demand some high prices. Mushrooms

4th Place – 2007 Villa de Greggiano Bandinello Toscana IGT

This supertuscan was actually not supposed to be allowed in the tasting. Thankfully it didn’t win, otherwise some heads were gonna roll. Tisk.

5th Place – 2008 La Quercia Montepulciano d’Abruzzo

My favorite value region in Italy had a decent showing with this simple but pleasing wine. Nice Cherry Garcia flavors supported by a Chunky Monkey structure.

6th Place – 2007 Aquila d’Oro Chianti

This wine is somewhat stinky both literally and figuratively.

7th Place – 2007 Campagnia di Ermes Cesanese di Olevani Romano

The most disappointing wine of the night by far. Massive amounts of volatile acidity pretty much ruined it. Bummer.

Apologies for the short notes this time around. The next Cork Dorks is on February 21 and will feature a host of wines with dissolved carbon dioxide. We’re saving the planet from global warming.