Bon Mots and Catch-ups

A few things relating to some previous posts:

NV Frontier Red Lot No. 71
O.K., so I feel a bit, well, vindicated re: my recent praise of Fess Parker Winery's NV Frontier Red Lot No. 71. I called it my "My Wine Holy Grail" for being the best under-$10 per bottle-of-wine I've had recently, and San Francisco Chronicle wine writer W. Blake Gray backed this up by naming this wine one of the top 15 "Bargain Wines" for 2007 (Dec. 28, 2007). Again, I think this wine not only tastes great, but has a great feel. Check it out.



Ring in the New Year
I also have gotten some more info from Rosanne at Studio on Main, who has, among other unique gifts, the rings and pendants made out of vintage silverware (see my post entitled Ring in the New Year). According to Rosanne, the rings and pendants are made by a 70-year-old-plus woman in, of all places, Clatskanie, Oregon. She uses either sterling silver or sterling plate, and every piece is handmade from start to finish. Again, I think the rings in particular are VERY cool (I bought one for myself for Christmas) and worth checking out. You can contact Rosanne at Studio on Main, which is in downtown St. Helena in the Napa Valley.

Cheers!

My Wine Holy Grail

I've been fortunate this year to drink some fabulous wine both at wineries and at different meals. I had some awesome Ghost Horse Vineyards cab sauvignon ($500 per bottle, thank you very much); I'm a huge Nord Vineyards fan (note--they have a new web site coming soon, I promise); and recently I disovered a Napa Valley up-and-comer that I'll talk more about shortly.

I love great wine. However, it's difficult to drink great wine every night with meals. So I'm continually trying and experimenting with what I call "everyday" wines--those in the $8.00 - $15.00 range that can be enjoyed with everything from pizza to hamburgers. It's tough, because after drinking great wine, it's difficult to drink lesser wine.

But now I've found what I consider the "Holy Grail" of everyday wines: Frontier Red from the Fess Parker Winery. Most of you know who Fess Parker was: Daniel Boone! For the past 15 years, he's had a winery down in Santa Maria, in southern California. Anyway, I believe his Frontier Red is the best $9.99 bottle of wine I've ever had. It has a great nose, great flavor, but most of all, it has great FEEL -- it feels good in your mouth. It has character and taste and doesn't feel "transparent", and by that I mean that there's nothing left in your mouth once you swallow. Anyway, if you're in the market for a great everyday wine, I suggest you check out some Frontier Red. Yes, Daniel Boone was a man (theme song, folks), and yes, Fess Parker knows how to make a great $9.99 bottle of wine.

How do you taste a $500 per bottle wine?

Very carefully!

Or at least I did the other day during one of the highlights of my food and wine experiences to date. Not only did I get to taste a wine that's $500 a bottle, I got to hang out with the winemaker. I mean, come on: It doesn't get much better than that!

Here's the story. Todd Anderson has been making fabulous Bordeaux-style wines at Conn Valley Vineyards in the heart of the Napa Valley for more than 20 years. Around 2000, he started a second, ultra- ultra-premium winery: Ghost Horse Vineyards. Ghost Horse wines are made only with 100% Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon fruit from Todd's personal vineyard. As well, he painstakingly handcrafts each release, making extremely small---and extremely exceptional---batches of each vintage. The results? What he calls "head-cracking" wines. Yes, they have the big price tag, but once you figure in the private grape source and the extremely small lots, the wine prices make sense. So, what'd I think? Beyond belief. I'm never had a wine bouquet hit my nostrils with the glass still seven or eight inches from my nose! Not only are the Ghost Horse wines real "fruit bombs", they taste as what I can only describe as "heady"---your head starts to spin, they're so good. Full-flavored, perfectly balanced acid, no heavy tannins--to me the Ghost Horse Cab tasted of deep fruit/cherry/black cherry, with a hint of chocolate. As well, the wines have incredible "weight"--a great mouth feel, fat and full yet with no negative after-tastes.

Todd's also a fun person to hang out with. He readily shares his extensive knowledge about winemaking collected over 20+ years in the business. Hanging out in the cave drinking a $500/bottle of wine... while chatting up the winemaker... in the heart of Napa Valley.... Yes. Yes, yes, and yes.

Tours are extremely limited, but you can get a "taste" of Todd's world at his ultra-cool Ghost Horse web site: http://www.ghosthorseworld.com/