I hope you had a happy Thanksgiving.
And now that the niceties are out of the way, we can get down to the serious business of fun and frolic during the holiday season.
I was filling out a questionnaire the other day, sent by a wine p.r. person to wine writers, and she asked, "What aspect(s) of wine do you most enjoy covering?"
The immediate response is, "Drinking it!" but that was a little too simple, even if truthful.
"Drinking it in the company of a winemaker," was next. I've known many winemakers over the years, and have had outstanding experiences. Whether we're drinking their wine or someone else's, I learn something. More important, I enjoy the conversation. Most winemakers love their work and are proud of what they do, but are not pretentious about it. After all, most begin as growers (i.e., farmers) or lab rats (i.e., chemists or biologists).
Greg Harrington came from a different direction. A New Yorker, and a graduate of the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University, he came to winemaking from wine-selling. He was a Master Sommelier and director of wine programs for Emeril Lagasse in New Orleans and Las Vegas, then became wine director for the Spago restaurants.
He was neither a farmer nor a chemist, but he knew wine, what it should taste like and look like. He tasted some Washington State wines from the Walla Walla area, and he and his wife, Pam, left the Big Apple and crossed the continent in search of the little grape. They founded Gramercy Cellars (a little nod to Gramercy Park, a lovely, peaceful enclave in Manhattan) and started making wine with a touch of the Rhone.
We sat at the bar at Robust recently, tasting a little sparkling wine from another maker, and talking of this and that, primarily about wine. Greg was in town to display some of his wines–two Syrahs, a Tempranillo, a Cabernet Sauvignon–and perhaps to sell a few, too. His love of big wines, and talent for creating them, was on display in his voice and in the bottle, and his affection for the quieter, lower-key lifestyle of southeastern Washington.
"I've probably tasted more wines than I can count," he said, "from great bottles from great vineyards and vintages to stuff I could barely swallow, but when I tasted some of these, I felt at home. The wines from Walla Walla all are from old vines; we never got phylloxera up where we are; maybe that has something to do with it. But they have a richness, and a clean flavor, that I knew I wanted to try making them."
Greg brought a double-handful of wines to try, many from Wines of Substance, a creation in a partnership with Jason Huntley and Jamie Brown of Waters Winery in Walla Walla. The wines have delightful labels, designed in bold black and white to look like symbols from the table of elements, so that Sy equals Syrah and Pg is Pinot Gris. The wines range in price from $16 to $21.50 and are fine values. The '09 Riesling, for example, showed a touch of sugar, enough to make it a fine companion to Asian cuisine (see more Rieslings, below) and a pleasing aperitif.
Like his Gramercy wines, Harrington is strong on the grapes that grow along France's Rhone River, like Roussanne, Grenache, Viognier, Syrah, Cabernet Franc, even the rare Counoise. By the way, Roussanne and Viognier are white grapes, the others red, the Counoise dark enough to be almost black.
He had two 2008 versions of Syrah from the Columbia River Valley, one very good, the other just short of great, both at about $45 a bottle. The good one was 100 percent Syrah, dark and rich, with a touch of leather and tobacco and a warm, smooth finish that lasted much longer than expected. But the other, dubbed Lagniappe Syrah, just blew me away. "Lagniappe" is a tribute to Harrington's years in New Orleans, where a "lagniappe" is a bonus, like a couple of extra oysters on your platter. Harrington's "lagniappe" is the effect of 7 percent Viognier blended with the Syrah. The wine seems brighter in the nose and on the palate, the flavors of berries sharper. It was a superb drinking experience.
The '08 Tempranillo ($44) was another winner, its round, dark richness making it a glorious accompaniment to some dark chocolate. And an '07 Cabernet Sauvignon ($44) also was terrific, among the best Washington Cabs I've tasted.
And speaking of Walla Walla, I must dip into a couple of moments from long, long ago. When I was a boy, in the 1930s, a comedian named Danny Kaye sang a novelty song called "Triplets," by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz, about three identical siblings who hated one another, but in one of the nonsense lyrics, Kaye sang, "Every summer we go away to Baden, Baden, Baden; every winter we come back home to Walla, Walla, Walla." I laughed, learned all the lyrics. Some 25 years later, in 1953, here came a wonderful movie, "The Band Wagon," with Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Oscar Levant, Jack Buchanan and Nanette Fabray. Lots of great song and dance, and then, Astaire, Buchanan and Fabray, sitting in high chairs and wearing identical toddler outfits, sang "Triplets."
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RUN AMUCK WITH RIESLINGS: Besides the Wines of Substance Riesling mentioned above, I sampled, a pair of tasty, inexpensive samples recently in a discussion and some tastings with Asian food. As noted above, the slight sweetness and crisp minerality of the Riesling grape is excellent with spicy Indian, Thai or Chinese cooking. The touch of sweetness rounds off the spicy tang of chiles or lemon grass; a swallow of the wine emphasizes, and yet controls the flavor from the ingredients.
J. Lohr Bay Mist White Riesling from Monterey County (2009, $10) has excellent balance, the sweetness arriving on the late palate, and good mineral qualities, with grapefruit flavors and hints of citrus in the aroma.
Clos du Bois California Riesling (2009, $12), in an jinteresting contrast to the Lohr, hits with the sweetness early, balanced by some citrus and melon, then slides nicely into good balance, like a child adjusting his position on a teeter-totter. Quite tasty, with a nice finish.
—Joe