St. Supery Virtú 2008

On our first visit to the St. Supery Vineyard during our honeymoon in 2003, we were impressed with their white wines, particularly their Sauvignon Blanc.

On our return late last year, we wasted little time in signing up for their wine club. For about $45 every 2 months we receive 2 bottles of their white Estate wines, medium expensive for us. We received the St. Supery Virtú 2008 in December and got around to trying it with baked Red Snapper with Sweet Potatoes. Those that know us may remember how much Lynda and I have enjoyed St. Hallet Poacher's Blend (Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Riesling), so it was with great expectation that we sat down to taste the Virtú. The 2008 Virtú is a blend of Semillon (57%) and Sauvignon Blanc (43%), and whereas the wine was well made with a good body, initially we thought that the Sauvignon Blanc was inhibited by the Semillon, but after awhile the wine opened up and delivered a complex and creamy finish. Although enjoyable, we didn't think this vintage stood up to Poacher's Blend, so we won't buy any more, however, we'll probably try next year's vintage to see if there's any improvement.

Here's what St. Supery themselves say about the wine. "This Virtú has a rich and luscious style with aromas of peach and ripe cantaloupe. Flavors of peaches and nectarines are completely filled out with a subtle mineral quality. This is a great bottle of wine!"

Whilst doing research for this post, I came across a tasting performed by a group going under the moniker "Wine and Beer of Washington State" who sampled Virtú last July, they don't say which vintage, but I suspect it was the much proclaimed 2006 (52% Sauvignon Blanc, 48% Semillon). Anyway, here's what they said:

"The Virtu is a Sauvignon Blanc – Semillion (sic) blend and it caused the most debate by far at the table. Ed went hmm when he first smelled this wine followed by “wow” after sipping. He tweeted about it knocking his socks off. Then the debates began and continued through out the evening. We debated the Sauvignon Blanc vs the Virtu over aroma, flavors and pairing. A big aspect of the debate revolved how the wine changed over time in the glass and off the ice. The nose on this wine can be subtle when well chilled, but becomes complex with layers of stone fruit,watermelon and cedar per Ed. The St Supery Virtu is bright with balance fruit then evolves into this lovely creamy finish. This is a rich wine that pairs well with rich foods. We savored this wine with the Coconut Curry Soup from St Supery and Oysters ala Ed. Everyone really enjoyed the Virtu with the modified Oysters Rockefeller and those oysters were slurped up in a hurry! With the soup, I prefered (sic) the more complex Virtu over the more straight forward Sauvignon Blanc but it was the Virtu and oyster pairing that made me sigh and smile. Both the Virtu and the oysters had these complex layers of flavor and aromas but the pairing worked because none of those layers overpowered the other. The Virtu was a wine we kept going back to. It wasn’t a favorite for everyone, but it Virtu had dedicated and vocal fans at the table and across the country."

The NAPA Wine Train

Back in 2003 on our honeymoon in California, while Lynda and I were enjoying a picnic at the V Sattui winery in Napa Valley, we were excited to hear, and then see "The Wine Train" pass by. The Wine Train is a tourist attraction that meanders from Napa to St Helena. There are many different packages to be had, but the basic one costs about $50 per person for a 3 to 4 hour experience, for which money you get a 3 hour train ride through the Napa Valley, food and wine extra. We made up our minds that we would do that sometime; no driving, some of the best wines in the world, good food, what's there not to like?

Well it seems that POTUS has pledged $54M of his "Stimulus Package" to The Wine Train. Why GovUSA would spend $54M of the taxpayer's money to prop up this private tourist extravaganza is difficult to comprehend, but it gets murkier that that. The contract was not tendered, but instead offered to Suulutaaq Inc. of Anchorage Alaska, a company founded by Alaska natives enjoying access to federal contracts. The new CEO of Suulutaq is Samuel Boyle, previously with South Carolina dot-com Sailnet, now bankrupt. In addition Suulutaaq employs very few Alaska Natives and has sub-contracted much of the job to Peter Kiewit for about $28M, and keeping about $20M for itself for doing not very much actually.

As Pajama Media says at Zombie » Wine Train Stimulus Scam Gets Even Uglier With No-Bid Set-Aside Swindle;

So, basically, a white wheeler-dealer got himself appointed CEO of a shell company that’s legally classified as an “Alaska Native corporation,” then, using this unique privileged status, finagled a no-bid contract to get $54 million in taxpayer funds for a construction job — and then used a small portion of that money to hire subcontractors to do the actual work, while pocketing the rest as pure profit.

What should we do? By being US and Californian taxpayers, we've already paid our share of The Wine Train, should we now fork out extra hard-earned cash to make a trip? What do you think?

Old Thumper in the USA

My apologies.

I know it's been a long time since I blogged on 'Truffles', but there have been other calls on my time. I also know that The Hogget has an updated wine list, the result of much arduous work Vicki, Tom and I put in at the annual Bibendum wine tasting earlier in the year! But that will have to wait for another post, because however much I love wine, my first love (in the alcoholic beverage sense of course) was beer, and it's beer we'll be concentrating on today.

I miss 'The Hogget', I miss especially those laconic, halcyon spring and autumn lunchtimes drinking a pint or two of Ringwood Best with the regulars. Now owned by Marstons Brewery, Ringwood was founded in 1978 by the pioneering Peter Austin, widely regarded as a founding father of the British micro-brewing industry, and inventor of the Brick Kettle brew system featuring traditional open-top fermentation (with patented Ringwood yeast). But what I hadn't appreciated, up until Monday night that is, was that at least one of Ringwood's ales is brewed and sold in the US!

So, what's this about Monday night I hear you asking.

Lynda and I had driven across the San Mateo bridge to meet a colleague of hers at his hotel in Redwood City, home to the mighty Oracle Corporation on Redwood Shores. Lynda had done some research on Zagat, and we hit upon the 'Old Port Lobster Shack' for dinner. Outside, the Shack looks like any other US small town retail outlet, but inside, well, you could believe you were in any small seaside town beach cafe. We ordered chowder, lobster and blackened salmon and a bottle of Viognier (from the Clautiere winery in Paso Robles), and settled down to eat, drink and discuss matters of import. It was while discussing Cisco's use of the Oracle Project system, who has the most conference calls, and the daring 'shag, marry, jump of a cliff' game, that I espied an outsize version of an Old Thumper pump clip on the wall. I went over to the waitress who kindly poured me a sample. It's a keg beer, and came with a nice, tight, northern head, and slipped down in a creamy, malty, smokey gulp. Ahhhh! Some research on t'Interweb thingy led me to Alan Pugsley who, having worked at Ringwood in the early days, and being mentored by Peter Austin, crossed the Atlantic and eventually set up his own Shipyard Brewery in Portland, Maine, where he brews Old Thumper under license, and yes, using the aforementioned Brick Kettle brew system. He brews other beers of course, but Old Thumper is a the one closest to a British, or perhaps I should say, Scottish beer, and is available across the Northern American continent. Hooray I say!

I also say 'Hooray' for another Scottish beer, although this is brewed for the American market, but brewed, I believe, in its home town of Dunbar. I speak of course, of Belhaven and in particular Belhaven Scottish Ale.

You see, my local, The Hopyard in Pleasanton, has been serving Belhaven Scottish Ale since at least 1997, and I must say, a most beautiful glass it is. Exhibiting the same creamy, smoky and malty taste as Old Thumper. But, and here's the best, it's only 2 miles from our apartment! For the more curious readers, here are the tasting notes from the Beer Me! website when Belhaven Scottish Ale made its first appearance in Pleasanton.

Date: September 4, 1997 (#2168)

Package: draught

Place: The HopYard, Pleasanton CA

Score: 20 points

Overall Impression
Copper-brown, clear, nice head. Smoky-earthy aroma. Smooth, sweet, lots of smoke. Finishes sweet and smoky. The prototypical Scottish Ale.

So although keg does reign supreme in the US, you can avail yourselves of most types of beer and ale in the American colonies, and only the most fussy and inward-looking of individuals will turn their nose up at the choice.

Until next time, Cheers!

Is Coke worse for you than alcohol?

This article from The Telegraph is interesting from several viewpoints:

1) We all know that alcohol can cause damage to liver, but fizzy drinks?

We found people who drink more than two cans of Coke a day have increased their chances for a fatty liver, and if left untreated their chances for heart disease and cirrhosis of the liver also increase...

The testers were in Israel, and Coke was the fizzy drink they tested.

2) Fructose does the damage.

The ingredient in fizzy drinks causing the damage is fructose, which is highly absorbable in the liver. It does not affect insulin production and goes straight to the liver where it is converted to fat.

That's probably true, but in the UK, Coke is made with sucrose not fructode, in fact about 6 spoonfuls of sugar goe into every can, so is Coke harmful to the liver in the UK? Probably not as much as in the US or Israel.

3) An curiously, in the US, Coca Cola make a special blend of Coke for the Jewish folk at Passover, and guess what? Yep, no fructose, they use sugar instead.

It really pays to check your facts these days, seems you can't trust anybody. Thank God for the web thingy.

Bye for now!

Pete, tasting wine in California so you don't have to.

Are English wines good enough?

I wouldn't get too excited yet, but experts are saying that due to global warming, by the end of the century, the Sussex Downs could enjoy the same climate as the Medoc in Bordeaux. This is causing increased enthusiasm among English winemakers in Sussex, who are now planting grapes that make up champagne (chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier) just 80 miles north of the Champagne region, on similar chalk soils.

Now, England's 416 winegrowers produce just three million bottles, compared to France's eight billion, so there's a long way to go. But according to winemaker Stephen Skelton MW the industry is expanding fast, with a 50 per cent increase in plantings over the last 20 years.

So, if we do grow many more grapes, will people buy the wines? In this year's two biggest wine competitions, the International Wine Challenge and Decanter Wine Awards, English wines scooped 24 medals – and two top prizes went to Cornish and Kent bubbles.

The award-winning Cornish bubbles comes from Camel Valley near Bodmin moor – from a vineyard set up by ex-RAF-pilot Bob Lindo in 1989. His winemaking son Sam Lindo is wowing critics.

So what do English wines taste like? Well, they're vividly acidic and aromatic with crunchy apple, grapefruit, elderflower cordial flavours and a distinct hedgerow herbaceousness.

Alongside fizz, aromatic whites show most potential – particularly Martin Fowke's wines from Three Choirs in Gloucestershire. Rosés are improving, but reds are limited. One of the biggest snags is the price, and just in case you're asking, that's the biggest reason that we at 'The Hogget' can't get hold of the wines from our suppliers. Do remember our 2 house fizzes though, at £15.30 a bottle you can't get better!

Cheers!
Pete in sunny California.

Alabama gets all sticky about a bike

We all know that prudes abound, and none more so than in local councils and government, in fact anywhere that 'the righteous' hold sway. In the USA, one story has caught the imagination of bloggers and main stream media alike. It's the story of a century-old logo for a French bicycle company (well, we all know about those bohemian Frenchies don't we?).

I'll let Jordan Mackay take up the story:

There's been much kerfuffle over a wine label. Evidently the Alabama state Beverage Control Board has banned the wine label of Cycles Gladiator, a bargain Cabernet Sauvignon from Monterey County. The label, named for an 1881 bicycle company, uses a belle-epoque-style advertising print that shows a nude nymph soaring along with a bike. This was evidently too hot for Alabamans, their government decided, so the label got the heave-ho. The wine is available in California in all its voluptuous glory for only $10. And, I'll have you know, it's quite a good wine for the money. And I'm sure all the sales in Alabama were not worth as much as the free publicity its getting from this story.

Of course, California winemakers would not be surprised at this feat of censorship. Talk to enough of them and you'll hear plenty of stories of the rigors of our own state's label approval board. And its not all just about nudity. In a famous case, Ralph Steadman's drawing of a wine-spattered clergyman for Bonny Doon's Cardinal Zin was banned in Ohio. Likewise, a nipple-depicting bottle of Australian Semillon was banned in 2001. And, famously, Chateau Mouton Rothschild, one of the most important producers in france, changed a label with a Balthus nude on it because of protests from Napa prudes. Mouton released the wine in the US, but with a conspicuously blank label.

Now, we should know better than to be shocked about Alabama's state legislature. After all, it was just 2 months ago that it approved beer over 6% alcohol. Prior to that, it was impossible to get good Belgian beer and, well, many American craft brews. What's really shocking, though, is that the wines of Domaine Gangloff in France make it into this country at all. All the labels featured stylized paintings of full-frontals by the winemaker's brother and yet are somehow approved. Check out this photo of "La Sereine Noire"--a fabulous Cote Rotie, by the way--to see what I mean. Where's the pubic outcry over this?

Here's the label:

How rude!

Sauvignon Blanc - Superstar

"Sauvignon blanc is the perfect wine,'' says John Ash, a California wine country chef and cookbook author. "Every food is improved by a squeeze of lemon. And that's what this lively wine brings to the table.''

Sauvignon blanc is now the superstar grape, Why? No matter from where the wine emanates, SB quality is at an all time high. Most SB winemakers have figured out how to allow the wine's bright, refreshing acidity, savoury flavour and whistle-clean finish to shine through. And that's the key to its amazing compatibility with foods such as oysters, fusion cuisine, Thai curry, chicken, pork, salads, goat's cheese, tomatoes, and fish of all types, served almost in any style. The one choice on a restaurant wine list most likely to make a food match, Sauvignon blanc is The Hogget's must have wine.

Fortunately we have two excellent bottles, or three if you include the St Hallett Poachers Blend, a blend of SB, Chenin Blanc & Semillon.

• I've spoken of our house white before, but our St Etalon, produced by La Croix based near the ancient city of Carcasonne in the Langeudoc region of Southern France, is a steal at £12.30 a bottle, and exhibits all the qualities mentioned above. If you haven't tried it yet, do so soon, I'm sure it will become one your favourites, it certainly is one of mine.
• At the other end of the price scale, our Villa Maria Private Bin SB at £21.80, with that extra tartness on the palate and agression on the nose, is all a New Zealand SB should be. You'll probably want to keep this for those special occasions, and why not?, it won't disappoint even the most discerning palate.
• And don't forget my favourite of the three, the St Hallet Poachers Blend from the famous Barossa Valley in South Australia. Priced in between at £16.70 a bottle, and giving off not only citrus but also melon, pineapple and passionfruit flavours, this one will repay being drunk on its own or as an aperitif.

Here in Califonia's Livermore Valley, we have at least 15 wineries making excellent Sauvignon blanc wines. Rest assured that Lynda and I are planning to taste many of them over the coming months!

Until next week, Cheers!

Pete Russell, The Hogget's International Wine Sleuth.