Dinner with Friends

Last night we had dinner over at the home of some friends. Our kids are classmates and they love hanging out! I always ask what we can bring, but the answer is usually wine! Knowing we were going to have John's home-made pasta sauce, I decided to bring a bottle of the 2006 Mount Aukum En Fuego to enjoy before dinner and the Van der Vijver Estate 2006 Sangiovese Brunello de Sierra Foothills to enjoy with dinner! What a pair of great wines!

The En Fuego is a fantastic Rhone blend of Grenache 40%, Syrah 32%, Mourvedre 22%, and Petite Sirah 6%. This makes for a fantastic, complex and smooth wine. We enjoyed it with some hearty puff pastry filled with a rich ham and cheese mixture.

The Van der Vijver Estate 2006 Sangiovese Brunello de Sierra Foothills is an awesome pasta wine! Robert has crafted this wine to be like the famed Brunello of Italy, and it definitely was the crowd favorite! John has prepared a rich, hearty meat sauce full of flavor and the wine paired so well! Sangiovese is the grape that the great chiantis are made from , but this wine was not full of tannin, and the acidity really balanced the rich meat sauce nicely! This is a wine you will want to have around for those fall spaghetti dinners!

Perry Creek 2005 El Dorado Primitivo

Have you ever been in the mood for a red wine, but did not want a big red like a Cabernet Sauvignon or a Syrah, but also did not want something light and complex like a Pinot Noir? Well I am in one of those moods. I have a nice CAO cigar calling my name, and it is about 75 degrees outside with a big bright moon asking for some company. I did a quick once through my small wine cellar and nothing caught my eye at first, then I almost reached for a Zinfandel, but I was not in the mood for the spice either, it might conflict with the cigar. Then I saw it, almost at the bottom of my little wine rack - a bottle of Perry Creek 2005 Primitivo.

From what I remembered, I really liked this wine. So out came the cork. I cut the end off of my CAO and put it in my mouth as I poured the first splash of Primitivo into my glass. I wish my wife was still up, but now that she is teaching, she is wiped out when she gets home, so I'll have to enjoy this bottle by myself! I have to tell you how amazing the nose of this wine is. I get bright red fruit, and some butter toffee and vanilla, which must have come from the time in the barrel. The color is about the same as a Zinfandel, ruby red, but not so deep you can't see through it. I take a sip and instantly remember why I loved this wine. It is slightly fruity, but the buttery smoothness comes through in a well balanced, slightly tart way. It is not a high tannin wine, and it has enough acidity to be able to pair well with something rich and fatty! Now I am wishing I had a slab of prime rib I could devour with a glass of this wine! Oh well, I think my cigar will do just fine.

One note about Primitivo. Depending on who you talk to, it is either exactly the same DNA as Zinfandel, or it is a cousin. It is very similar, but this Primitivo lacks the spicy and jammy character of the Zinfandel. To me it is a more refined wine, and of course that could be due to the wine maker's stylistic approach to this Primitivo. The major difference is that foods are not normally easy to pair with a spicy, jammy zinfandel, but this Perry Creek 2005 Primitivo could easily pair with meats or pastas. You cannot get this wine anywhere except the tasting room, which just happens to have a great Picnic area, so bring some food if you visit!

One final note about Perry Creek. It changed owners a couple of years back, and there is a new wine making team. If you have not visited Perry Creek in a few years, you are really missing some exciting wines. They are not just about Zinman anymore, although he can still be found dancing on the shelves at the winery!

Cheers!

A Nice Day and Van Der Vijver 2000 Chardonnay!

This was a great day in the Sierra Foothills. I had a chance to spend a few moments with my good friend Kevin Brown at Breaker Glass in Placerville. He just returned from a 59 mile backpack trip with the Boy Scouts! He was craving a nice cigar so I made time to oblige! This afternoon, my wife and kids and I went swimming at a friends house who lives in El Dorado Hills. She is a good friend of my wife and so gracious, we all had a blast. She has only lived here about 4 or 5 years, but she said something that I hear all the time, from people who have lived here much longer. We were talking about wine, (shocker!) and I my wife mentioned that I write for a few publications and the Fair Play Winery Association. She had no idea where Fair Play was!!! She knew where the Amador wineries are, and of course she had been to Napa many times, but she had no idea of the bounty of wineries we have here in the foothills. Naturally, the question I am most frequently asked after a person finds out about the El Dorado County wine scene is "Well, are they any good?"

So, the sun is setting, the kids are watching Star Wars Return of the Jedi and I am beginning to catch up on this new blog space. (I use to have about 50 posts here before the switch!) I felt compelled to open a Fair Play wine since our dear friend had never heard of it before. Now, she is not here to enjoy it, actually, no one is besides me, but what a treat! I am drinking my last bottle of Van Der Vijver Estate, 2000 El Dorado Chardonnay! Wow, Robert hit a home run with this one. I know he sold out of this vintage a couple of years ago, but he does tend to age his wines for quite a while before he releases them. He is an old world style winemaker, and his wines do very well in the bottle when kept for a while. The oak is mellow, and the buttery rich flavor really seems refreshing on this warm evening! Usually, I like an un-oaked chardonnay on such a warm day, but this wine seems perfect right now! Too bad I don't have a big ol' slab of salmon grilling over some wood chips because it would sure taste pretty nice right now! Too bad I don't have a friend to share this wine with too, because the profile is legendary!! I saw my friend Robert Van Der Vijver yesterday, which was a treat, since it has been a while. Life keeps us very busy! So I'll raise a glass to his artistry and toast him with this wine! Salud!

Back to my rant! I cannot believe how many people I come across that live here in Cameron Park, where I live, and in El Dorado Hills and Folsom who only know of a few El Dorado Wineries. They go to Boeger, Lava Cap and Madrona. Now I love all those wineries, and they do get a lion's share of visitors to the county, but they are far from the whole story here, and there is a lot more to taste in the foothills. That is a major challenge to our wineries, how to get the word out. Sure, millions of dollars of advertising would do the trick, but the majority of these wineries are small, artisan and family owned and operated. Many you will find the winemaker pouring the wine in the tasting room! Of course winning medals helps too. Kudos to Perry Creek for their Best Of California and Double Gold for the 2005 El Dorado Petite Syrah!

Come on people, take the 45 minute drive from El Dorado Hills out to Pleasant Valley Road to taste some of the best Rhone wines in California! Miraflores, Holly's Hill and Narrow Gate await you! Hop on up to Coloma to see another Rhone master at David Girard Vineyards! They're scarcely 30 minutes from here! Venture down to Fair Play and see the NEW Perry Creek with their award winning wines, say hello to the wooden shoe wearing Robert Van Der Vijver at Van Der Vijver Estate for me, or visit dkcellars and taste the prestigious 2008 Herbert Award winning Zinfandel. Yeah, I only mention 3 wineries at a time for a reason. That is the max you should visit in a day, otherwise, you are not out to taste, your out to get wasted! Besides, your pallete is done by three wineries and all this good stuff will start to taste the same!

OK, now I can enjoy my 8 year old chardonnay and feel like I have accomplished something! Wow, wish you were here to drink this with me!

Cheers!