huevos con vino

It’s hard to know what to say about Sofia.  But in the interests of Wine Blogging Wednesday #31, I’ll give it a try.

Sofia is essentially the brainchild of Sofia Coppola, who is the actual child of Francis Ford Coppola.  Sofia Coppola is an ultra-hip socialite with an impressive creative oeuvre if you exclude the acting roles.  The concept behind the Sofia Blanc de Blancs Sparkling Wine is simple: “Part of the plan has been to market Sofia not merely as premium wine without a bottle but as a clubgoers’ drink: ordered by name, easy to hold at a bar and ideal for resort poolsides where glass is a no-no.  Niebaum-Coppola’s intention is to target drinkers of beer or alcopops, those fruity mixes like Smirnoff Ice that have supplanted wine coolers as the choice for sweet-palated drinkers.” (link to original citation)

This marketing concept is brilliant if you think about it.  Selling your brand in alcohol form to clubgoers…sounds very intelligent to me, particularly considering how brand-conscious people under 30 are at this point.  For example, if you are a 28-year-old woman and you aren’t wearing a North Face Diad Jacket in Dynasty Blue with HyVent™ DT 2.5-layer fabric that has a microdot inner waterproof barrier that channels moisture outward and is comfortable next to skin and Magic Seam™ construction that offers weather protection for less weight by using reduced seam allowance and a very narrow seam tape…well, you’re just not in style.  And if you think I made that up, you’re wrong.

I think Sofia challenges the notion of “proper wine” in a way that is refreshing.  My definition of “proper wine” is elitist and in need of revision; “good” wine can come in a bottle, a box, a keg, or a can.  The point is not to compare a $4 canned wine with a $50 bottle of Pinot Noir, but to appreciate the $4 canned wine for what it is: light, fun, and alcoholic.  As Dave Chappelle might say, “It’ll getcha drunk!”

That said, I think there is a social stigma attached to the purchase of a can of wine at an upscale grocery store.  Case in point: I was at Whole Foods when I bought a head of lettuce, some juice, a new toothbrush, and a can of Sofia.  I felt like I was purchasing something slightly illicit, as if I needed to get a “proper” bottle of wine to balance out that little pink can.  Luckily I had my wife with me, so I sort of tried to pass off the purchase as something for her sake.  I made sure to throw a copy of the latest Robb Report onto the pile to boost my masculinity a bit.

But really, all of this embarrassment is silly.  As I said, my definition of “proper wine” is elitist and probably stems from my total lack of familiarity with anything other than bottled wine.  And that is definitely “my bad,” as they say.  But I’m not alone here: As Death Cab For Cutie has said, “Drinking champagne from a paper cup is never quite the same.”  Well, how about drinking sparkling wine from an aluminum can through a plastic straw?

• Aroma: Sort of grape-ish.
• Flavor: Tastes sort of like a sparkling wine cooler, or like sweetened white grape juice and sparkling water.  I can see why young adults who only drink sweet cocktails would like this wine.  “Alcopop” is a perfect description of the flavor.
• General impression: I think I’m getting a headache.

Now, the positives: I think this wine is a terrific gateway into bottled wines, honestly.  When I began drinking beer, I had to acquire a taste for it.  The first beer I ever enjoyed was an apricot wheat beer, which sounds ghastly to me now.  But I was 21 years old and I wanted to fit in, and that fruity stuff helped.  Perhaps Sofia is actually a blessing in disguise for the rest of the wine industry: Is there a better way to get a new generation of reticent, brand-savvy people interested in your products?

Clearly I am not the target market for this wine.  My wife liked it even less than I did.  But I do think the concept of wine in a can is worthy of further investigation; the wine wasn’t bad because it had spoiled or anything.  It is worth noting that this wine blends a bit of Muscat (8% or so) into the Pinot Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc mix, yielding a pungently sweet flavor that makes me think they added sugar and Muscat grape juice.  Ahh well, I did my alternatively-packaged wine tasting duty for the sake of the WBW.  What’s next?

About a month ago this particular bottle of wine fell into my lap, so to speak.  I haven’t had much wine lately, to be honest.  I had some sort of bizarre overnight fever this weekend that, coupled with a persistent woodpecker just behind my bedroom wall, sort of knocked me out for a day or two. 

But after drinking plenty of fluids this past Sunday, I felt ready to give another bottle a try.  And when I looked through my miniature wine fridge, I found this Owen Roe release.

Owen Roe is an interesting winery.  They hand number their vineyard-designated bottles; in this case, I got bottle #3290 of 6756, which equates to 563 cases excluding special format bottlings.  And what did I get, exactly?  A bottle of 2005 Cabernet Franc, the “Rosa Mystica” release, made from four separate blocks of grapes grown mainly in the Yakima Valley region of Eastern Washington State.  The fourth block is located along the Columbia River in Alderdale, which is near Lake Umatilla and about 30 miles east of the wonderfully named Drano Lake.

I love Cabernet Franc, and I feel as if this wine is a bit of a lost art in the US these days.  Yes, it’s true, there are some good American-made Cabernet Franc wines out there, such as the York Creek releases.  But I’m always up for a 100% varietal bottling of an American Cabernet Franc.  I cut my teeth, so to speak, on the slightly more jammy, more blackberry Cabernet Franc wines of Australia, particularly those of Paracombe (one of my favorite wineries).  So how does the Owen Roe stack up?

• Aroma: Smells a lot like violets, warm blueberries, buttered cobbler crust, and alcohol (at first, but the alcohol mellows after a while).  Opens up into a more refined bouquet after some decanting.
• Flavor: Tastes much like the bouquet would suggest - buttered, hot blueberries with violets.  Lots of tannins and alcoholic heat right after opening.  But after about 45 minutes, this wine opens into a rosy, raspberry treat with better structure and more integrated tannins and acid.
• General impression: A good wine, particularly with salty, flavorful food, but is it worth $40+ per bottle?  Probably not.

Overall, the Owen Roe Cabernet Franc is a good wine, but it’s a little expensive for what you get.  For this much money, I would prefer to have a nice Oregon Pinot Noir, I think.  Washington State Cabernet Franc isn’t quite worth it, I’m afraid, although recent trends in Washington wines seem to indicate that $40-$50 is a fair price for a Yakima-area wine.  That scares me a little as Washington has had a reputation for affordable, high quality wines.  Judging by this wine, I think the prices are already climbing a bit too high in some cases.

I have recently discovered that one of my coworkers, whom I highly respect and enjoy working with, is also a tremendous wine lover.  It started as hallway conversations and brief descriptions of recent tastings. 

But now, things have gone to the next level.  I traded a bottle of 2004 Ramian Page One Grenache (which I think this guy will enjoy and which I’m hoping to build some local buzz about anyway) for a bottle of 2000 Chateau Kefraya, which is a Lebanese Cabernet blend that features plenty of Mourvedre and Carignane in addition to some Grenache as well. 

Chateau Kefraya is an interesting winery.  They are located in Lebanon, as I mentioned, in the Bekaa Valley.  As you might know, the Bekaa Valley is not exactly a hotbed of tourism lately, although I believe the wine production has continued unabated at this particular winery.  There’s a good article located here that talks more about this winery and their peculiar situation given the political climate in Lebanon.

I look forward to trying this wine soon.  My coworker claims it has a certain port-style sweetness that is unusual for a Cabernet blend.  He has an excellent palate from what I can tell, so I can’t wait to see how this wine tastes!  He had some at a Lebanese restaurant in Paris recently, and at $16-$20/bottle in the US it’s a lot less expensive on this side of the Atlantic.  Go figure.

“The Bold and the Beautiful.”

That’s what comes to mind when I think about this Petite Sirah.  Lots of upfront flavor, aroma, and juicy goodness without much substance beyond that.  Sort of like dating a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, I would imagine, although that’s unfair to the cheerleaders.

My wife and I went to The Cellar Bistro again tonight for a nice dinner out.  We’re going to have nice dinners out for a few days in a row, actually, as we’re planning on dining with friends on Friday and Saturday night.  I expect wine to play a part on Saturday but possibly not on Friday since our friend is about 8 months pregnant at this point. 

Anyway, tonight at the Cellar I tried a couple of glasses of 2001 Viano Vineyards Petite Sirah.  I believe it was the “Private Selection” variety, which hardly matters since I can’t even tell from their Web site whether they bottle Petite Sirah anymore.

Viano Vineyards is located in Contra Costa County, near San Francisco.  The winery is located in Martinez, CA, notable for its massive refineries and incredibly ugly factories.  Wait, that’s Benicia.  I get confused sometimes since the Benicia-Martinez Bridge connects the two towns across Suisun Bay.

Viano has quite a lengthy history, with some vines dating back to at least the 1920s and possibly some dating to the 1880s.  Nothing looks more exciting in a vineyard than 100-year-old vines all gnarled and stooped over like bonsai cypress trees, but with better-tasting grapes than bonsai cypress trees.  This particular wine is about $12-$15 per bottle, a great deal for a decent Petite Sirah.  Here’s what I thought of this wine:

• Aroma: A cacophony of bursting black and red fruit screaming out of the bottle.  Pleasant but overwhelming and dissonant.
• Flavor: Lots of blackberry juice with a sweet cobbler taste.  Some oak and resin flavors too.  A nice wine, actually, but lacking poise or balance, much like a lovable but uncoordinated gymnast.
• General impression: A lively, festive wine that would be great with pizza and at parties.  Probably would be a crowd-pleaser because it is so juicy and sweet.

So, I guess this wine is a little ambitious overall.  It is good, though, and for the price it’s a good partner for many spicy or acidic Italian dishes.  But I think I prefer the David Bruce Petite Sirah, personally speaking.

I have about half a bottle of the 2004 Le Cadeau Rocheux Pinot Noir left over after tasting it early last week.  I used the WineKeeper “Keeper” to preserve the rest of the wine and it looks like it did a fine job as always.  But tonight, it’s time to finish off this bottle.

I got a nice grill pan last night and I want to make some massive sea scallops again for dinner.  I love cooking scallops, although I am still perfecting the heat level on these bad boys.  I keep overdoing them by about 1 minute, and while they still taste great I could make them better. 

The insane thing about these scallops is their size.  I go to a specific shop within the Pike Place Market to buy my scallops; at almost $20/pound, you had better not mess up when you’re doing the cooking, too.  This specific store within the market (I forget the name) has plenty of different types of seafood on offer, from salmon to lobster tails to halibut cheeks (or ‘butt cheeks’ as my dad calls them).  I love shopping at this store: It’s about 50% circus barker, 25% huckster, and 25% customer service at this place.  It reminds me of shopping anywhere in the electronics district in New York City or London, except I’m buying sea scallops rather than a CD burner.

Each of the scallops that I buy weighs about a quarter of a pound.  These things are nearly fist-sized, and they come from the cold Pacific waters off the Alaska coast.  They’re still quite fresh by the time I buy them, and I find that freshness makes all the difference when you’re shopping for seafood.  This is the reason why I brave the tourists, buskers, and crackwhores in and around the Pike Place Market: I love good seafood.  There is also a terrific bread bakery, an even better cookie bakery, and a great fruit stand along the same stretch of the Market, so the trip is really worthwhile.

I made grilled sea scallops last Tuesday and I discovered that they pair incredibly well with Le Cadeau Rocheux.  I also made fresh green beans and “sweet fiber” bread, which is sort of like pumpernickel in color, wheat bread in texture, and molasses in flavor.  Very good stuff.  Tonight I got some whole wheat sourdough that is much more dry and not sweet in the least, a good thing when paired with the Le Cadeau.

So, if you happen to have any Le Cadeau Rocheux sitting around, I recommend searing some sea scallops on a nice hot grill and pairing them with a glass of the Rocheux.  Darn good stuff.  Lobster might be even better, but I can’t afford it until I learn how to cook it.

POSTSCRIPT: Well, I must say I wish I had more of this Le Cadeau Rocheux.  It’s that good!  It really tastes excellent with grilled scallops; it even tastes good with Meyer lemon juice.  Something about the mild Meyer lemon acidity brings out the deeper red fruit flavors in this wine.  Very nice.  Definitely needs decanting at this point (1.5 hours is good), but it is well worth the wait.