EAST COAST PALATE

Friday evening, the week comes to a close, seven wines from some of California's finest facilities await at Georgetown's gourmet grocer, Dean & Deluca.  This is what I call work.  It is a delicious, palate-pleasing experience, a chance to taste some of the high-end part of my portfolio.  With the help of Emmie, Graham, Dan, and of course the kitchen staff at the store, we all enjoyed a few hours of luxurious relaxation...
The wine: 
1.  Roederer Estate Brut;  This bottle of bubbly does a tremendous job emulating a veritable champagne.  It's a blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grown in the Anderson Valley.  Its nose is remeniscent of macaroons fresh out of the oven.  Its acidity is crisp, playing nicely against the toasty, yeast aromas.  A-

2.  Grgich Hills Estate 2007 Fumé Blanc;  A 100% Napa Valley Sauvignon blanc with about 6 months of sur lîes aging, which means that the yeasts that turned the juice to wine are present, settled down at the bottom of the barrel, dead but not done.  Every few weeks the winemakers will perform a batonnage, in which the wine in the barrel is stirred with a stick, allowing the yeast hulls on the bottom to swirl up into suspension, releasing subtle flavors.  All this is done in neutral barrels (usually these have been used in four or five vintages and now won't impart heavy oak flavor to the wine).  The end result is a crisp, lemony wine with a bit more body than a typical Sauvignon blanc.  A-

3.  Grgich Hills Estate 2006 Chardonnay;  Normally I avoid oaky California Chardonnay, but this has an impressive balace.  The creaminess is cut with a zesty acidity, and the fruit aromas of apricot, pear, and apple make the buttery woodsy scent less offensive.  If your a fan of toasty, oaked-out Chard, this wine will make you very happy.  The bottom line is that it is very well made.  B+

This is a wine that smells like nectar from honeysuckle blossoms poured over candied apples.  It smells like marmelaide zested with lemon peel.  It smells sweet and sticky, yet it isn't full of flabby, syrupy mediocrity like so many Rieslings that have a fair amount of residual sugar left in them.  There is a pop of acidity that balances the body of this wine, and even some effervescence that tingles your tongue and releases pear, apricot, and green apple flavors. 
If you are the type of wine drinker that avoids Riesling on account of sweetness, do not give up on this wine before you try it.  If you like Gewurtztraminer or Moscato, then go find a bottle of this harvest-select treat right away.  I give this bottle a B+ and recommend it highly as its price tag will be just over $10 in most stores.
Pairing this wine might lead your ideas toward desert, which would be delicous (I'm thinking peach cobbler, apple tart, vanilla ice cream, whatever...), but try this wine with a salad:  baby spinach or mesclun greens, slices of ripe pear or apple (or both), toasted almonds and crumbles of salty gorgonzola... finish it all with a honey vinagrette and this duo will be an experience you'll never forget.

      Yesterday I finished running around the city and was ready to unwind while I waited for a couple friends who were meeting me in Georgetown.  I happened onto a bar called Bodega, with dark black and red décor that was 2 parts sultry to 1 part soothing.  In the mood for tapas I ordered some overpriced tomato-bread with manchego cheese (you toast bread, rub it with garlic and then with a half a tomato, letting the juice and pulp of the fruit soak into the bread...top with olive oil, salt, and cheese, and voilá).  I also indulged in one of my all time favorites: bacon-wrapped dates that are breaded, seasoned, and fried. 
      I bypassed the wine menu and went right for the coctails and this concoction jumped out at me.  A caipirinha, for those who haven't yet tasted this pleasure, consists of Cachaça (a sugar cane based alcohol), sugar, and muddled limes.  This redition was a blueberry twist on the original, but honestly I prefer the original.  This is a drink that I love because of the acidity.  It is a grown-up's, 80-proof, Sourpatch Kid Slurpee.  The blueberrys are too soft and, now I sound like a cocktail snob, they clog the straw.  Whatever, it was refreshing and good. 
      If you make caipirinhas from time to time, try throwing in a wedge of grapefruit with the lime when you muddle them.  The end result is a Greyhound-esque dose of refreshment.

As a fan of both Tom Robbins' writing and the timeless tradition which is Beer, I was happy to spend a few hours over the weekend reading the latest book by señor Robbins.  Saturday afternoon I managed to sip away the time while reading the first half of the 120-page story that is a self-proclaimed children's book for adults (or vice versa).  My first drink was a North Coast Brewery "Brother Thelonious," a full-bodied, dark dubbel fashioned in the Belgian style, but hailing from the West Coast.  It was tasty, in deed, and chased down with a smooth belly-warming mouthful of Jameson Irish whisky.
This was all at the Quarry House down in Silver Spring, a place that always offers refuge from the rain, and plenty of suds and strong drink to quench your thirst. 
I finished the book on Sunday morning over coffee and a crossword puzzle.  The tale relates a young 5-year-old girl's introduction to beer, her travels with the beer fairy, and the ever-present philosophical lessons that can be extrapolated from a kid's book about booze. 
In short, I loved this book... Almost as much as I loved the 2004 Muga Gran Reserva after it had been decanted for an hour and a half.  This is a quick read, and if you have kids, maybe a fun, if not exploratory venture out of the realm of normal bedtime stories.  Go buy a sixpack of North Coast brewery's finest.  Support your local bookstore.  This is a great way to spend a few hours of your life.

A tasty inexpensive blend from Spain's Jumilla region... It's earthy with deep fruit and leather aromas.  It has a strong finish and would go perfectly with Mediterranean cuisine, and a YouTube journey through the history of flamenco.  My friend Kristen shared this with me, and I saw it later at Metro Liquor near Adam's Morgan for about $10.  The MCS stands for Monastrell, Cabernet, and Syrah - the three varietals that make up this wine's composition.  I am finding more and more value  out of the south of Spain, and it's nice to have discovered this José Pastor selection wine.  Solid B score: 86-87 points.