What I Tasted on My Spring Break - SPEC's Liquors

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Due to some of the same strange market dynamics that allow for sub-$10 Napa Cabernet, we currently have great deals on two great Beringer Cabernets: the outstanding 1999 Beringer Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon and the Excellent 2001 Beringer Knights Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. BERINGER Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, 1999 $58.99 btl $353.94 case 6x750ml This is an elegant, medium-weight, well-balanced, beautifully perfumed Cabernet featuring lovely dark berry and cherry fruit with complexity from tobacco and cedar. Succulent and delicious with a lovely feel in the mouth, the wine is complete and perfectly integrated; everything fits. Deep, flavorful, and absolutely alive through the long perfumed finish, it is quite elegant and even ethereal. For me at least, it pushes all the right buttons. Outstanding. Bear’s Score: 96+ points. BERINGER Cabernet Sauvignon, Knights Valley, 2000 $13.99 btl $167.88 case 12x750ml 100 percent Cabernet Sauvignon from Knights Valley, this well-balanced, medium-weight red shows red and black cherry and dark berry fruit with dusty oak and sweet spice notes and hints of potpourri, tobacco, and cedar. The texture and feel are dusty dry. The dry finish lingers with oak dust and sweet berry perfume to the end. Excellent. Bear's Score: 91 points. 96+ points While sipping our bubbly we were shown around the winery. I don’t think I could ever see too many wine vats, crusher destemmer machines or barrels. The atmosphere of a winery with that musky smell is one of the things that can transport you to a different level. It evokes a romance between the earth, the fruit and the wine, and you find yourself somehow involved with the whole process. It’s very mystical. After the tour, Joy came up to each of us with two baskets filled with corks. The women drew from one basket, and the men drew a cork from the second basket. The corks had numbers written on them. We didn’t know what this was for until we went to the tables that had been set up for lunch. At each place, there was another cork with a number on it. To find our seats we had to match the numbers. It was really an ingenious way to seat people. Each table had bottles of wine, opened and ready for us. Iron Horse Cuvee R, a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier was my favorite. Perhaps it was the dedication to Forrest’s mother on the back label that drew me on Mother’s Day. by Lindy Rydman Sonoma California doing what we like best: enjoying food and wine. The day was simply beautiful with a light, cool breeze. We, and a group of wine retailers from around the country were the guests of Joy Sterling and Forrest Tancer, the owners and wine maker for Iron Horse Vineyards. We were met with a glass of Iron Horse Brut, a light, crisp sparkling wine that went down easily in the spring sun... Iron Horse Brut Sparkling 1998 750 ml $22.29 Iron Horse Cuvee R 2001 750 ml $17.33 Iron Horse Chardonnay 2000 750 ml $19.75 Iron Horse Estate Bottled Pinot Noir 2000 750 ml $24.31 Or perhaps it was the delicious taste that did it. It was light and clean with a smooth finish that went especially well with our salad of fresh fava beans lightly dressed with olive oil and Parmesan cheese. The Cuvee R would be great for a party wine because it’s equally good with or without food. The Iron Horse Chardonnay was our second choice of white wines. This Chardonnay is rich and luscious, but fresh enough to go with a salad. Again, this wine is easy to drink and would be good with a variety of foods. Grilled Kobe beef with boiled potatoes and arugula dressed with truffle oil and garlic followed the salad course. The Iron Horse Estate Bottled Pinot Noir was perfect with it. Deep purple in color with a satiny finish, you could smell black cherries and exotic spices. It’s a truly elegant wine without being “fussy” or too highfalutin'. We whiled away the afternoon enjoying the company of our hosts. It was a glorious day.
713-526-8787 By Charles M. Bear Dalton Do your reds have a fever Do your whites have the chills I've said it before and I'll say it again: wine tastes better when it is served at the right temperature. So what's the right temperature It is NOT room temperature for reds and refrigerator temperature for whites. At typical Houston summer room temperatures (75-78°), red wines feel warm and the alcohol dominates the aromatics. At typical refrigerator temperature (34- 38°), white wines (and rose and Champagne) are too cold to release much in the way of aroma and flavor. Red wines should always be served at cellar temperature (55-60°). At 60°, the fruit aromas are able to show their best and the alcohol is muted. The wines both taste better and feel better in the mouth. This is particularly important with today's higher alcohol, riper-style red wines. It is much better to serve reds a little bit too cool rather than any bit too warm. They will gradually (or in Houston in the summer maybe not so gradually) warm up in "room temperature" surroundings. By the same token, white wines should be removed from the refrigerator and allowed to warm up a bit so that they are in the 45-48° range when they are served. That ten degrees makes all the difference in the world as to the flavors and aromatics of a white wine and how the wine feels in the mouth. I can think of no wine I'd ever intentionally serve colder than 45°. A rich, full-bodied Chardonnay from California or Burgundy might even be better served as warm as 55° (the minimum temperature for serving red wines). Knowing the right temperature and serving the wines at the right temperature are two different things. So how do you get the wines to the right temperature The best way is to have temperature controlled wine storage. It doesn't have to be a wine room or closet or even an armoir-sized unit. There are 24 and 30 bottle units available that are smaller than a dishwasher. Once you get used to having one of these and serving your wines at the right temperature, you'll wonder how you ever made it without one. If temperature controlled storage is not practical for you, there are other ways. Cool reds off quickly by decanting them into a glass carafe you keep in the freezer. The frozen carafe will quickly cool the wine which can then be poured from the carafe into glasses. It is a good idea to keep a plastic bag over the open end of the carafe with a rubber band to keep it sealed to keep any "off" aromas from accumulating in the carafe. Also, plastic ice cubes added to a glass of already poured too-warm red will get things back in order without diluting the wine. Unfortunately, refrigerator temperature whites just take a while to warm up. One piece of good news is that they do warm up faster in the glass than they do in the bottle. If they get too warm too soon, just add a couple of the aforementioned plastic ice cubes and you are set. If you follow this advice, your wines will taste better and be more refreshing. You'll be drinking better and enjoying your wine more without spending any more money. BECKMEN Cuvee Le Bec, Santa Ynez 2002 $12.92 bottle $143.91 case 12x750ml A very Chateauneuf-like blend of 46% Grenache. 23% Mourvedre, 22% Syrah, and 9% Counoise, this is a lovely, succulent red that splits the difference between the southern Rhone and Aussie GSM wines. It offers fine grapey mixed berry fruit accented with mixed black and white pepper, spice, and a bit of earthy terroir charater. It is wellintegrated enough to be hard to describe but it is very easy to drink. Lovely wine. Excellent. Bear's Score: 92 points. IRONSTONE Xpression, California 2003 $5.77 bottle $64.25 case 12x750ml It doesn't matter whether you treat this as a dark, rich rose or a light-weight chillable red. <strong>What</strong> you get is a fresh, refreshing light-weight, semi-dry wine offering good cherry, cranberry, and strawberry fruit with notes of earth and black pepper and just enough residual sugar to make it very refreshing and allow it to accompany spicy foods. I think of it as a fairly serious semi-dry rose. Keep an open mind and serve it with spicy gumbo or jambalaya, spicy fried chicken, or outdoor dining that requires a cool or even cold "red" wine. Surprisingly delicious. Very Good. Bear's Score: 86+ points.
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What I Tasted on My Spring Break - SPEC's Liquors

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