Ste. Michelle Wine Estates at Gordon’s Featuring Antinori

On October 14th 2008 I attended another tasting/class at Gordon’s which featured some wines from Ste. Michelle Wine Estates; specifically, some from their Antinori portfolio of wines.  Ste. Michelle Wine Estates acquired the rights to sell Antinori wines approximately 2.5 years ago.  Interestingly enough, I had just watched a 60 Minutes piece on Antinori 2 days previous to the class.  The CBS site shows the segment here.  So I was naturally pretty curious about their wines.  Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, based in the Columbia Valley, Washington, represents, owns, or distributes wines from at least 18 different labels including of course Chateau Ste. Michelle.

In this class, National Wine Educator George Foote chose to highlight 7 wines from Antinori.  Generally, the wines tasted in the class are on offer at Gordon’s, and this was no exception.  However, no Guado Al Tasso nor Tignanello at the tasting; they are still on my ‘wish list’ from Antinori.  The 60 Minutes piece on Antinori stated that the winery has been owned by one family since its inception in 1385 from its home base in Tuscany.

My favorites from the tasting include one white wine and one red.  The 2007 Antinori Santa Christina Campogrande Ovieto is an affordable, refreshing white wine made from some unusual grapes: 40% Procanico, 40% Grechetto, 15% Verdello, and 5% Drupeggio & Malvasia.  It is from the Orvieto Classico DOC in Puglia.  I found this floral, fresh, fruit-forward, with a nice zingy acidity that always make me happy.  My favorite red of the evening had to be the 2004 Antinori Marchese Chianti Classico Riserva from the Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG in Tuscany.  This is 90% Sangiovese and 10% Cabernet.  I found this to be intensely fruity and spicy, yet balanced and smooth Chianti.  A real ‘double bubble’ wine – delicious now, but could be aged for 10 years or more.

Mike Magee of Belle Vallée Cellars at Gordon’s

On September 8th 2008 I had the pleasure of attending a tasting of 7 of the wines of Belle Vallée Cellars of Corvallis, Oregon (in the Willamette Valley appellation) with one of its founders, Mike Magee, in the very agreeable Fine Wine & Culinary Center at Gordon’s in Waltham, MA.

Belle Vallée Cellars is a smallish winery founded in 2002 specializing in Pinot Noir which grows famously well in the Willamette Valley.  Chief winemaker is Joe Wright, former winemaker at Willamette Valley Vineyards.  Mr. Magee is a self-described former beer maker with a large family (7 children) whose glassmaker wife designs the beautiful and colorful labels on the wine bottles.

Mr. Magee stated that Belle Vallée Cellars sources fruit from 16 vineyards in the area with pinot noir as the primary grape; fruit is handled gently, hand-sorted, and the aim of the wine making is to not ‘get in the way’ of the fruit.  All wines are blends from various combinations of fruit from the 16 vineyards.  In farming, they have at various points used irrigation, but not always; they like to plant more vines and have fewer grapes per vine, which is “unlike the CA model.”

On hand to taste were as follows: 2007 Whole Cluster Pinot Noir, 2007 Willamette Pinot Noir, 2006 Reserve Willamette Pinot Noir, 2005 Grand Cuvee, 2005 Southern Oregon Red, 2003 Rogue Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, 2004 Port of Pinot Noir.  My notes (some pretty abbreviated) are as follows:

2007 Whole Cluster Pinot Noir – Their entry level pinot, all stainless steel, sees no oak, easy-drinker, quaffable, quite light in color and body, entire grape plant (seeds, stems, skins) used to provide structure, dusty tannins, rosé like, BBQ wine, serve chilled

2007 Willamette Pinot Noir – Produce about 8000 cases/year, most popular wine they sell, grapes from 8 vineyards, in Wine Spectator top 100 list in 2006.  Nose of rubber bands cherries, and earth, lots of acidity, cinnamon, butterscotch, and vanilla on palate. *my favorite*

2006 Reserve Willamette Pinot Noir – Produce about 1000 cases/year, earthy, dark fruits, intense

2005 Grand Cuvee – Produce about 350 cases/year, extracted, a bit hot, very earthy nose of forest floor, well-made

2005 Southern Oregon Red – Disagreeable nose

2003 Rogue Valley Cabernet Sauvignon – No notes

2004 Port of Pinot Noir – One of very few ports made from pinot noir in the world.  Only 6 barrels produced a year.  The nose smells of cough syrup and plastic, but sweet and rich and complex on the palate.  Quite a special aperitif (or digestif).

My cudos again to Gordon’s for another infomative and delicious wine class.  Attendees also receive special discounts on all wines tasted, which is also awesome.

Bin Ends Wine 4th Twitter Taste Live: Steele Wines

The 4th Twitter Taste Live event created and hosted by Bin Ends Wine of Braintree, MA takes place this evening, October 23rd 2008, and will feature some of the wines of Steele Wines of Lake County, CA.  Jed Steele, the owner and winemaker at Steele Wines, will be at the Bin Ends store in person along with many wine enthusiasts for the live event.  People like me will taste along at home and we will all use the social networking tool Twitter to post our thoughts, questions, and tasting notes about the wines using the hash tag #ttl in all our posts.

Since I last wrote about Twitter Taste Live, the folks at Bin Ends have created a wonderful feature-packed web site.  There is a central window on the main page which polls Twitter for all posts with the hash tag #ttl.  Also there are places for personal pages, photos, videos, email, and a conversation forum.  I say, well done, Bin Ends!

I am looking forward to tasting the wines of Steele Wines.  Reading the Making Our Wines page on their web site, I’m intrigued with Steele Wines non-interventionalist approach to winemaking and the fact they source fruit from as close to next door to as far away as Washington (paraphrasing) all in the quest to make quality wines at affordable prices.  I’m all for that!

If you are into wine tasting and social networking, why not sign up on the Twitter Taste Live web site and join in the fun?  And don’t forget to tell them I sent you.

And… HAPPY 18th BIRTHDAY to the grooviest chick around, my beautiful & talented daughter Katie (yes of course I’m biased but she really is of course).

L’Atalante – Movie Review

L’Atalante is a beautiful little French film from 1934 directed by Jean Vigo, who was dying of tuberculosis at age 29 while creating this film, and indeed directed some scenes from a stretcher. Such a pity this talented director had to be alive and at his creative peak during a time before the invention of antibiotics! So sad.

This is a simple and poignant tale of a young couple, Jean and Juliette, who marry and move onto the barge ‘L’Atalante’ where the groom is Captain. Also on board are the colorful first mate Pere Jules and a cabin-boy. I have to say I was underwhelmed with the first few minutes of the film which were sort of a bit slap sticky, but soon enough I was engrossed in the tale of what happens when 2 not entirely similar people try to make a marriage work. The arguments – the painful separations – the returns to closeness.  There is some really beautiful camera work by cinematographer Boris Kaufman who went on to DP On The Waterfront, 12 Angry Men, Splendor In The Grass, and other celebrated Hollywood films.  (I am a total sucker for beautiful photography).  Also some great songs by Maurice Jaubert reinforce and tie together emotional elements.

Actually Roger Ebert has this film in his “Great Films” list and has written just a wonderfully insightful review here.  But don’t read the review until after you’ve seen the film – Ebert always gives away just about every plot detail.

Grade: A+ all the way, poignant and beautiful

Blackboard Jungle – Movie Review

Last night I watched for the first time the American film classic Blackboard Jungle starring Glenn Ford, Sidney Poiter, Vic Morrow, Anne Francis, and Richard Kiley. This is the story of a determined and resilient new high school teacher thrown into a den of wolves – actually a bunch of secondary school miscreants determined to make life hell for the new English teacher. Sidney Poiter plays a student and seems too old and/or mature for the role. Anne Francis plays the supportive wife and is forced to recite some terrifically anachronistic supportive wife shtick. I was most impressed with Vic Morrow’s performance as the toughest of the junior hoods, and completely wowed by the similarities between his acting and performances I’ve seen from daughter Jennifer Jason-Leigh. I mean, it’s uncanny! On a personal note, Glenn Ford is the spitting image of my ex-bf R. F. and certainly brought back some memories for me.

Grade: B+ for Glenn Ford’s and Vic Morrow’s excellent performances, with points off for dialogue and plot anachronisms, but added points for making me think about biological determinism

Léon the Professional – Movie Review

Léon the Professional is currently rated at #37 in the IMDB top rated movies list, and I have just gotten around to seeing it (what kind of film buff am I?). Directed by Frenchman Luc Besson, it’s thematically presages his famous lady-assassin film La Femme Nikita (although made after that film). Natalie Portman, in her first starring role, is at 12 the most self-assured pre-pubescent actress in the history of film making. She is formidable. She plays an orphan who latches onto Leon the Professional (hitman) (played by Spanish-French actor Jean Reno) out of desperation. The pair develop a touching relationship – there are not many films where a father/daughter relationship is so beautifully developed. Both leads are fantastic, and Gary Oldman adds manic drug-addled crazy gusto goodness as a crooked DEA cop.

Grade: A for great acting, beautiful film making, and an unconventional love story

Film Review – In The Realms of the Unreal

This is a fascinating documentary about reclusive artist Henry Darger who produced some of the most arresting and original American outsider/folk art of the 20th century. Probably not many people have heard of him… I know I hadn’t. Darger walked a fine line between madness and manic genius, but there is little question of his talent. To understand his art, one must understand his life, and the film seeks to make that link. The filmmaker is clearly enchanted by the work. I won’t reveal too much, but this film is a must-see for art appreciators.

Grade: A, for pure charm, and for championing the cause of a great under appreciated artist

300: Film Review

I finally got around to seeing 300. This of course is the tale of 300 brave Spartans (and a few allies) who took on a giant Persian army in Greece ca. 450 B.C. O.K, the movie is a home-erotic beef fest, but I don’t have a problem with that. The film actually takes as its visual inspiration Frank Miller’s comic book telling of the tale. I enjoyed it so much more than the last film based on Miller’s work, “Sin City”, which I honestly thought was an execrable piece of filth. I super enjoyed seeing Gerard Butler running around mostly semi-naked in this film. And sincerely he was a terrific King Leonidas. I’m sure the real King Xerxes was not a 9-foot tall ambisexual having a snit, but one can’t question artistic license.

Grade: B+ for stunning CGI visuals and boffo male pulchritudinousness

A Performance of Macbeth: Film Review

This was filmed in 1979 as a recreation of a successful theatrical production by the Royal Shakespeare Company ca. 1976-1977. It stars (Sir) Ian McKellen and (Dame) Judi Dench as the Macbeths. McKellen looks shockingly youthful for those used to seeing him as Gandalf in the Rings franchise. Check this out:

This production has virtually no props and relies on Shakespeare’s words as delivered by the thespians. McKellen is brilliant, the supporting cast is too. Dench is good, especially in the sleepwalking scene… perhaps too maternal and nice-seeming to be the diabolical Lady M. This is a truly minimalist production. I loved it.

Grade: A for brilliant performances all-around

The Black Dahlia – Film Review

“The Black Dahlia” is film director Brian De Palma’s interpretation of James Ellroy’s book of the same name. The story is partly based on the facts of the case – Elizabeth Short’s horrific murder in one of the seedier sections of LA in 1947. The resolution is from Ellroy’s imagination. Ellroy was partially inspired and motivated to tell Elizabeth Short’s story because of the murder of his own mother when he was a boy … Ellroy’s “My Dark Places” is a non-fictional account for his search for her murderer(s). I’ve read this and it’s riveting with a hard-boiled novelist kind of approach.

Back to the movie… despite being generally panned by the critics and in imdb user reviews, I found the film watchable and interesting. The principals are all solid and believable. The problem here is De Palma’s rather flat, detached, and sepia-toned visuals. Also… one goes to see a De Palma movie expecting some ridiculously stylish and over-the-top visuals & plot elements (see “Dressed to Kill”, “Scarface”, “Body Double”)… but the approach here is rather plodding, staid, and as I said, detached.

I grade the movie B for achieving basic competence and holding my attention for 2 hours.