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+

2000 Mumm Napa DVX...
This premier bottle from Mumm Napa is a serious sparkling wine.  It a 50/50 blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.  Its yeasty aromas lend to it a sugar cookie smell that is enticing and warm.  There is a fresh citrus component that brings this wine into balance, and that lemon zest bite lingers all the way to the end of a SweetTart finish.  This bottle deserves an A, 93 points for my taste.  At $50, it's more of a special occasion kind of wine, perfect for holiday merry-making.

Mumm Napa Brut Rosé (NV)
This is a very balanced Brut rosé, made mainly from Pinot Noir grapes.  Its subtle strawberry/raspberry scent gives it an almost desert-like allure, but it's nice and dry, with frothy bubbles that burst with flavor.  This doesn't have the lasting finish as the high-end DVX, but it is an excellent wine, priced under $20 (I saw it over the weekend at Circle Wine & Liquor for $17.99).  I give this a B+.  It's a great bottle to give as a gift or to kick off any party.

I am a fan of sparkling wine, regardless of the climate or what hors d'oeuvres are being served.  Sparkling wine doesn't need an occasion...it is  an occasion.  This bottle that I just bought at Adega Wine Cellars down in Silver Spring has got me pretty excited.  I'm a glass in, and the aromas and flavors are still evolving.
The wine:  Conde de Subirats, Cava Brut (NV) weighs in at a light 11.5%.  There are green apple and lemon zest scents mingled with a sweaty, baking bread aroma that all together transported me back to when I was 19 in Strasbourg, France during the marché de noel eating madeleines and drinking hot wine composed of white wine and orange juice mixed with mulling spices.
Anyway, minus the spices, this wine is very sugar cookie like, and that first sip starts out creamy.  Then pear and lemon flavors emerge.  Suddenly you pucker and the tartness of a Granny Smith apple takes over your tongue.  And then the smooth, sweet, yellow Skittle finish comes on and doesn't seem to go away.
I like this wine a lot; it gets an A from my palate without a doubt, especially at $15.