I used to champion West Coast wines, calling the Frenchies stuffy, snooty and bo-ring. Now it's all France, all the time. Even though I've come to recognize, reluctantly, that it's just easier to find well made French wines that are interesting and well priced, I still love California and Oregon. But not enough to spend $30 on a cherry-berry-burst Zinfandel or a toothpaste-y Pinot Noir. For Christmas I drank a white Burgundy from St. Aubin, a Brouilly and a ridiculously good 100% gamay from Anjou that was bright, fruity, earthy and hella gamey, dude. Also, organic and biodynamic, and made by Olivier Cousin, a maniacal winemaker who handcrafts amazing stuff.

Tony (above) and Phil Coturri are America's version of Olivier Cousin. For one, they're total hippies - Eric Asimov once quoted someone who described Phil as "second runner up in a Jerry Garcia lookalike contest." Coturri Winery is the kind of place that perfectly blends the free spirit of the West Coast with traditional European winemaking practices. The Coturris have been making wine in California for three generations now, since the pater familias Enrico arrived in San Francisco at the turn of the (20th) century with $10 in his pocket. Go to their website and read the whole history -- I want to talk about the wine.

I drank a bottle of their 2005 Albarello last night and mmmmm child, what an amazing wine. Mostly Zinfandel and Petite Syrah with some other blending grapes thrown in, this wine is the result of a mixed grape vineyard in Sonoma that was planted to produce a full-bodied table wine. The Coturris don't irrigate, they hand prune and they use only naturally occurring yeasts, so the wine really expresses the character of where it was grown. And what did Sonoma taste like in 2005? Fresh raspberry juice, bright tannins and loamy earth. Let it breathe, maybe even decant it (there's LOADS of sediment) and you have a warm California hillside in a glass.

Labels: californian, french, organic/biodynamic, reds, zinfandel

As we roll right in to the thick of all of the holidays the question keeps on coming up ; what should I drink for Thanksgiving? In some worlds being that Thnaksgiving is truly an American holiday (okay I know about the Canadian one but still...) there is a belief that only American wines should be consumed. While I hold to that belief for many reasons; good silky cabernets disguise dried out turkey, rich creamy chardonnays stand up to mashed sweet potatoes, and of course the age old Zinfandel is the way to be. I have been finding that it is actually all about the Italians for me. I am not sure why since I have never actually eaten a turkey in an Italian restaurant or in Italy for that matter but it really seems to work. So in that vein here are a few of my faves for the turkey day:

Chiorri Rose, this one is made for Thanksgiving and what a great reason to drink rose
Squinzano Rosso, big earthy rich and interesting, almost like a sauce in its own right
Terre di Gioai Sauvignon Blanc, lovely lingering flavors of melon and a white that actually just gets better as it warms up.

Maria, Troy and I will be tasting these and other wines in the store on the Wednesday before so stop by. As for Christmas time well that is whole different story.

Labels: american, cabernet, holidays, italian, reds, rosé, sauvignon blanc, whites, wine culture, zinfandel