Garrett Estate Cellars 2008 Chardonnay

To celebrate spring's tentative arrival in Western Colorado, we thawed a gorgeous piece of Alaskan salmon (courtesy of our neighbor's Alaskan fishing trip), marinated it in olive oil, white wine and herbs and grilled it on a wood plank. On the rare occasions that I can persuade my family to eat fish, it's time to dig around in the cellar for a nice white wine.
A couple of weeks ago a friend brought us a bottle of Garrett Estate Cellars 2008 Chardonnay. Garrett Cellars is a new winery in Olathe, Co. We haven't had the chance to visit them yet, but I look forward to tasting more of their wines. According to their website, they have 35 acres of grapes and are just now starting to release some of their 2008 and 2009 vintages.
Anyone that knows me or visits our tasting room is probably aware of my aversion to most Chardonnays, especially when heavily oaked. It's one of those prejudices that I'm working hard to overcome, particularly in light of the fact that our first wine release was a 2008 Colorado Chardonnay. I rejoice that most wine makers in Colorado that are producing Chardonnay are not using a lot of oak, so I'm overcoming my dislike a bottle at a time.
Very pale in color, the Garrett 2008 Chardonnay starts off with a strong whiff of green apple. On the palate, green apple predominates, with a trace of gooseberry and pineapple. The finish lingers with a trace of sweetness. The winemaker in me wonders if this wine went through malolactic fermentation and how it would taste if exposed to a little oak at some point in fermentation. The malolactic process might have mellowed out the strong green apple flavor and let some of the more delicate tropical fruit flavors shine through. Green apple aside, this is a very pleasant wine and great effort from a new winery. It made a nice change from drinking our Chard all the time. Thanks to John and Maryann for bringing us this bottle.
I would rate this wine 3 1/2 stars, but keep in mind my Chardonnay prejudice and don't let it stop you from trying it!

A treat from Jack Rabbit Hill

It's Friday and I hurt my back. It simply hurts to stand up, so I've been hiding in my office doing bookwork all day. Now, it's 4:30 and I convinced myself that a glass of wine would relax my muscles. Owning a winery means that there are always a few bottles of great local wine open in the tasting room at any given time, even in the slow season. In the name of productivity, I'd thought I'd drink and blog at the same time.
I've been wanting to write about Jack Rabbit Hill's 2008 Pinot M&N for some time. Jack Rabbit Hill Winery is owned and operated by Lance and Anna Hanson. Their winery is located on Redlands Mesa west of Hotchkiss, CO in a beautiful, if somewhat difficult to locate spot. They have recently converted most of their 20 acres of vineyards and wine production from organic to Demeter-certified Biodynamic. As Anna explained to me, Biodynamic is "super" organic in terms of growing and in wine making means not adding any additional yeasts or other vintners "helpers" during the fermentation process.
I fell hard for this wine the first time I tasted it. It is composed of 52% Pinot Noir & 48% Pinot Meunier. (Pinot Meunier is the varietal most champagne is made from.) The color is very light, almost like a Rose, but the flavor is all red. The nose and the initial tastes are raspberry, sour cherry and red currant. No oak, low in tannins and acidity, I like to think that the wild yeast harnessed by Anna has done extraordinary things with these grapes. The finish is deceptively mild but lingers with fruit on the palate. It pairs beautifully with milder cheeses, pork dishes, chicken and risotto.
I give this lovely, graceful local wine 4 out of 5 stars.

A Disappointment from Durango

Last week, my mom and I drove to Durango, CO where my son, Charlie is a sociology major at Fort Lewis College. We attended a play that the Fort Lewis Sociology Club presented called " Marx in Soho", a one man play written by Howard Zinn. Very enjoyable, it was a great performance and an extraordinary play.
Despite having a population of only 25000, Durango has a lot of eclectic dining and shopping choices and gave us an opportunity to have a "big city" experience here on the Western slope. It's chock full of coffee bars, wine shops, funky stores and great restaurants and of course, set in a gorgeous valley.
During our 24 hours in town, we had to hit all my favorite stops, including The Wine Merchant, located alongside Nature's Oasis (one of the best independent natural food stores anywhere). At the Wine Merchant I purchased a bottle of Guy Drew Vineyards 2007 Petit Verdot, which I remembered as being excellent at a tasting last year. To my horror, it had gone up to over $30.00 a bottle, one of the most expensive Colorado wines I have ever purchased! Feeling guilty, I picked up a 3 liter box of "Pinot Evil" a non-vintage Pinot Noir from Hungary for about $16.00.
When we got home, we opened the 'Pinot Evil", all I can say is: cute name, bad wine. Thin, sour with little nose to recommend it and a bitter finish, I have since spent my time looking at the box, trying to figure out what to do 3 liters of sour wine. Maybe mulled wine or I'll throw it in the vinegar jar....
In conclusion, don't waste your time, money or taste buds on "Pinot Evil". Although, it's better than Carlo Rossi or that ilk. I'd give it 1 1/2 stars out of five.

Snoqualmie 2007 Merlot

After a rough week, working six days in a row at the store, I needed a decent bottle of wine for our Saturday night. We were having buffalo tacos, it’s always a challenge to pair wine to Mexican flavors. I didn’t want a white wine or beer, which would probably have been more appropriate. As I walked through the aisles of our local wine shop, I felt inspired to buy a bottle of Snoqualmie 2007 Naked Merlot. I first tried this wine when our local Wine Club had a get together featuring Organic and Biodynamic wines. I bought it for that and then ended up not going and drinking it with my mom during a football game. We both enjoyed it. It is a nice, pleasant Merlot, not oaky, full of fresh fruit, cherry and berry flavors. I’m always all about the raspberry flavors.

Joy Anderson, Snoqualmie Vineyard’s winemaker, says her philosophy with the “Naked” series is to let the characteristics of the grape varietal shine through and she has definitely accomplished that with this vintage! At $10.00 a bottle, it is very drinkable and a bargain for an organic wine.

I’d give this wine four stars out of five. By the way, the March 2010 issue of Wine Enthusiast rated this wine: 87 points / Best Buy.

The search for a decent box wine

Last week we sold out of our Liliputian Winery 2006 "Fat Head Red" (a meritage of cabernet franc, merlot & pinot) and we haven't bottled our 2008 Zoe's Merlot yet. This leaves me with no relatively inexpensive reds to drink. What a dilemma! So began my search for an everyday red that is inexpensive and drinkable. This is probably an easier task for someone that lives in a major metropolitan are, as opposed to rural Western Colorado, like we do. My search last week started a TRI-R Liquors in Hotchkiss, CO owned by Tod Sabetke, a very knowledgeable wine drinker. He suggested that I try Badger Mountain's Pure Red, an organic red blend from Washington state with no added sulphites. I'm not usually a fan of organic wine (although there are notable exceptions!), despite owning a natural food store as well as a boutique winery. Let's face it, a lot of organic wine tastes like Gallo burgundy, dirty socks or worse. I'm also not usually a fan of most box wines, although they are improving in quality. However, based on Tod's recommendation I headed out of the store with a box of Pure Red. It cost me around $20.00. So the first thing I do when I get home is pull out my corkscrew, oops! As I struggled to open the box, all of our cats came to see what was going on, but they were unimpressed with the nose once I got it open and poured (tapped??) a glass. I was very pleasantly surprised with what I tasted! Pure red is very fruit forward, lots of raspberry and tart cherry, no oak, not a lot of nose or finish but heck, it came out of a box and cost the equivalent of $5.00 a bottle! I can't wait to pour it into an empty shiner and have our West Elk Winemakers Group taste it at our meeting next week. Should I confess it's out of a box?

Badger Mountain Pure Red: I would rate this wine 3 1/2 stars out of five. Not bad for a box wine.