Page 41 - Staff Tastings

As wine professionals, we are often asked for the perfect wine and food pairing. Sometimes this is very easy and at other times, not so much. Depends on the time of year, what it is you're eating, who you're with and the setting, etc?  And as often as we can intellectually create food and wine pairings that work well, sometimes it just happens too. For instance, just last week, a colleague of mine and I were at a large wine tasting in NYC. There were over 800 people in attendance and wines from all over the world were poured. Reds, whites, and bubbles from every wine-making continent - and high-quality producers and wines from each region. There was quite an eclectic and delicious array of food available as well, including what came to be our favorite of the evening? the mac & cheese bar.

This wasn't just macaroni and cheese. This was really creamy, homemade, luxuriant macaroni and cheese, with gourmet sides to add to it, like bacon, bread crumbs, and lobster. We found

The  (94 RP/$64.99) is truly a classic Barolo?.big and beautiful!

Made of Nebbiolo grapes from Piedmont, this delicious wine offers all the classics of Barolo, including extraordinary floral scents (roses) and raspberry fruit. There is a hint of spice at the finish. It's a very well balanced wine, and if you're looking for elegance, here it is. It's still young for a Barolo, but should drink for about another 10 years.

This bottle brings it all together - a great wine, amazing producer and an all star vintage that follows the great 2006 vintage. Antonio Galloni of The Wine Advocate had this to say: "The 2007 Baroli are some of the most viscerally thrilling young wines I have ever tasted. The wines are radiant, intensely perfumed and totally

Chateau Rauzan Segla of the Margaux appellation has had a quite a history and continues to make history as they climb to the top of the Bordeaux "Super Seconds" ranks.

Vintage
The 1995 vintage represents a very special time in Rauzan Segla history. One year prior, the Chateau was purchased by the wealthy Chanel group, with general management landing in the competent hands of John Kolasa and David Orr (both of Chateau Latour!). With first-growth knowledge and a clear idea of what Rauzan could be, the two managers fueled a complete renovation that would bring Rauzan to be the staple Margaux Chateau that we know today.

The first and most obvious change was the return to the original spelling to Rauzan Segla (from Rausan). More important, additions of the team included cutting the production in half to focus on quality, implementing 100% manual harvesting, and purchasing new state of the art equipment - most importantly,

When I first started working at Sokolin, there was a buzz in the air about a specific wine.  This wine was inexpensive, secretive, and from what I heard, delicious.  In fact, the first bottle of wine I ever received from Sokolin was this wine.  I am sure you all know where I am going with this?Waterstone!  This was the 2005 vintage, and I saw email after email and maybe more important, order after order from our customers.  

What was this juice all about, I wondered.  I was about to get a crash course from the makers themselves.  It was about 8 months after I started working when Brent Shortridge (winemaker of Waterstone) came to our tasting room to do a vertical and to introduce the 2007 vintage.  I was about to understand the reason for the love of this wine.

I had to get in on the action. I started to amass a collection of this "" bottle of wine for $19.95/bottle.  First, it was a few bottles which turned into

Michel Gassier is definitely on a crazy hot streak with all of the wines he produces in partnership with importer, Eric Solomon, and the Southern Rhone's viticultural aficionado, Philippe Cambie.  He's the same guy that's the driving force behind numerous beautiful Chateauneuf Du Pape wines that everyone loves, such as Clos Saint Jean, Donjon, and Prefert.  Obviously, he also has a very apt hand with his white wines as evidenced by his 2011 Nostre Pais Blanc.

This great find, which incidentally only costs $17.99, is a blend of organically grown, old vine Grenache Blanc (90%), Viognier (5%) and Roussanne (5%), fermented in stainless steel and aged on the lees for 6 months.  "I know some readers will find it hard to believe, but the 2011 Nostre Pais Blanc's aromas and rich, honeyed, full-bodied texture reminded me of the famous white Chateauneuf du Pape made by Chateau Beaucastel, which sells for three or more times the price." 

One of my all time favorite California wineries is , which also happens to be one of the oldest estates in California. It dates back to 1882 when it was purchased by a San Francisco entrepreneur by the name of Alfred Tubbs. He heard Napa Valley was the best place to grow grapes in California, so he purchased 254 acres of rugged land, just two miles north of Calistoga at the base of Mount Saint Helena. The winery got its name from a contracted form of Mount Saint Helena, and it is the seventh largest in the Napa Valley. 

It traded ownership over the years and eventually would be purchased by Lee and Helen Paschich in 1968. They brought in a partner, who at the time was a southern California lawyer by the name of Jim Barrett. Under Jim's leadership, the vineyard

I recently made a roasted chicken with roasted vegetables?carrots, potatoes, onion, garlic, Brussels sprouts, and turnips, made very simple with olive oil, salt and pepper. All delicious in these winter months. I am also a big fan of white Burgundy for this time of year, so out came a great bottle of 2006 Chablis from William Fevre, one of the best producers in Chablis. With seven years on it now, I thought this would be an ideal time to drink it. Boy, was I right! 

The was absolutely delightful and what a great complement to the roasted vegetables and chicken. This Chablis had a nice salinity and citrus note that cut through the richness of the meal. At the same time, luscious aromas and flavors of white peach, yellow plum and honeyed apple came across with an impeccable balance of acidity. This wine is drinking perfectly right now, as I suppose most of the 2006s should be. I highly recommend pulling one from your cellar, or you can still get some here.

Chenin Blanc is a white grape that can be found in most New World countries, but whose ancestral home is the Loire Valley of France. It is in the Middle Loire that Chenin truly shows its versatility, producing magical dessert wines, sparkling wine, and table wines, both demi-sec (off-dry/semi-sweet) and sec (dry). Some of the greatest examples of these table wines come from Vouvray and neighboring Montlouis right across the Loire River, and one of the finest producers of these wines is Francois Chidaine.
 
Montlouis was actually part of Vouvray until 1938, and though both have similar soil compositions, Montlouis is believed to contain a higher percentage of sand and considered less prestigious. However, a vigneron that properly understands this terroir should arguably be able to produce an excellent example