Fail-Safe Ebullience for the Holidays
Posted on by Mark Oldman

With Christmas well-nigh and New Year’s celebrations arriving soon thereafter, I am constantly being hit up to recommend a delicious, interesting red to give as a gift or take to cocktail parties.

cocktail parties wine

The answer is easy: secure a bottle of the Shooting Star Blue Franc 2004, a wine I first encountered six months ago at New York’s well-edited Appellation Wines & Spirits and have since included in several wine seminars.

Like the Governator, this wine is an Austrian in West Coaster’s clothes, being that it is from an Austrian grape (Blaufränkisch) grown in Washington State (where the same grape is known as Lemberger, not to be confused with the stinky, rind-washed cheese, Limberger).

Here is why the Shooting Star Blue Franc hits on all cylinders:

* Gustatory scrumptiousness: its vibrant mix of red-berry fruit, combined with a soft, silky texture, will please any party

* Cocktail-party intrigue: not the usual Cabernet, this red stands out for its unusual grape of origin

* Gentle on the money-clip: clocking in at a reasonable $14

* Captivating label: an old, blue-hued 100-franc note (a “Blue Franc”) making it look like a wine at least twice its price

* Relatively available: in addition to Appellation Wines (www.appellationnyc.com), it can be ordered at New York’s Astor Wines, Michigan’s Bello Vino Marketplace, and California’s Solano Cellars, among other merchants.

Hugging, Chugging, and Banging It Out at the Emmys
Posted on by Mark Oldman
If you’re an Entourage fan, you’ve seen Jeremy’s Piven’s character “hug it out” many times during the HBO show’s run.  At the Emmy Awards this past Sunday, some friends and I witnessed a supremely celebratory Piven chug it out with Möet & Chandon rosé, which was the official bubbly of the annual HBO post-Emmys bash, held at Los Angeles’ massive, tented Pacific Design Center.
emmys
Celebrating his much-deserved Emmy as Best Supporting Actor, the stubbly, sweaty, ascoted Piven held court at a table in front of the venue – pink bubbly flowing like faucet – as industry honcos and starlets buzzed around him like electrons around an atom.  With the volcanic energy we expect from his HBO alter-ego Ari Gold, Piven later jumped up on a platform near the dance floor to join the live percussionists who were playing along to Madonna and Michael Jackson, banging it out on a set of steel drums with the possessed look of a man set aflame by Möet and victory.

Grape nuts should know that post-telecast the Governors Ball — traditionally the first-stop on the Emmys party circuit — saw three wines being poured.  The bubbly was Laurent-Perrier L-P Brut NV, a rich swig with faint apple aromas and lemony lift, while the white was 2004 Beaulieu Vineyard Napa Chardonnay, a classic New World smoothie with pineapple and apple scents and a kiss of cedar wood.  Most compelling was the red: the 2002 Beaulieu George de Latour Private Reserve Cabernet – a ballsy blackberry bomb infused with licorice, earth, and muscular tannins, the kind of hug-it-out bruiser that Ari would pop celebrating the close of Aquaman III.

Winter Rescue via Tormaresca Primitivo
Posted on by Mark Oldman

It’s winter. I’m lying near the Khumbu Icefall on the Nepalese side of the Himalayas, my climbing gear crusted over with blue ice, my body a glacial mass so cold that not even a shiver can issue from my hopeless limbs. All turns to black as I fade deeper…deeper…deeper into my alpine tomb.

winter dog wine

And then, out of the corner of my icy eye, I see them.  A duo of Saint Bernards, yelping and bounding towards me, toting around their necks the ultimate rescue kit: a bottle of rich red wine and a container of steaming pasta with meat sauce.  I am saved…

…Ok, so maybe I’m not on Everest tended to by a pack of connoisseur rescue dogs.  But in the piercing frigidity that has seized New York City, I have discovered an antidote of similar efficacy: Tormaresca Primitivo and Tortellini con Ragu, both of which I wolfed down like a starving rescuee during a recent visit to the East Village’s funky trattoria, Il Bagatto.

NUGGET TO KNOW:

Affordable, aromatic, and always a satisfying choice, Primitivo will light your primal fires with soft, spicy fruit and rich, sun-baked flavors.

prim2Producer: Tormaresca (Puglia, Italy)
Wine: Primitivo Torcicoda
Vintage: 2001
Cost: $19

Blood will rush back to your extremities with this wine’s potent, medium to full bodied embrace.  Big, blackberry fruits join with hints of licorice and cedar, followed by an enduring, velvety finish.  As with so many Italian reds, it shows a slight edge of tannin and acidity, but they are well-integrated and help the wine match beautifully with rich winter fare.

Tormaresca is owned by Antinori, the celebrated Italian producer based in Tuscany.

"Waiter, Chill My Red": A Lesson from Beaujolais Nouveau
Posted on by Mark Oldman

Chill out: While dining out a few nights ago, I ordered a bottle of the 2005 Beaujolais Nouveau, the feel-good elixir released annually every third Thursday in November.

When the bottle was delivered to the table at room temperature, I asked our server to put it on ice for a few minutes.  She eyeballed me as if I asked her to transgress the laws of nature, then shot me a “suit yourself” look and swiped the bottle back.

What my server didn’t know – and many wine lovers never learn — is that light reds like Beaujolais Nouveau carry a chill as jazzily as Aretha Franklin carries a tune.  Not only will time on ice make these wines more refreshing, but they will become less overtly alcoholic, or “hot,” in winespeak.  And because wines like Beaujolais are low in tannin (the main source of bitterness in red wine), you don’t have to worry about the cooler temperature accentuating their sensation of tannin like it would with more richer, more astringent types like Cabernet Sauvignon and Barolo. So versatile are these gentle reds that in Oldman’s Guide I call them the “Very Chillable Crossdressers”: they are like whites masquerading as reds.

NUGGET TO KNOW

Don’t hestiate to ice down your reds a bit if they are light-bodied and spare on tannin.  Qualifying reds include Beaujolais Nouveau (and other types of Beaujolais such as Beaujolais-Villages and Fleurie) as well as light-style renditions of Pinot Noir, Dolcetto, Chinon, and Rioja Crianza.

chill your wineProducer: Georges Duboeuf
Wine: Beaujolais Nouveau
Vintage: 2005
Cost: $9
Track it down: virtually everywhere

This wine is the real zing, with sling-shot hits of raspberries, blueberries, and other exuberant, shirt-staining fruits.  Its abundant (but not excessive) acidity gets your juices revved up for all manner of bistro fare, including onion soup gratinee, coq-au-vent, and boeuf bourguignon.  It also makes a perfect quaffing partner with lobster rolls, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, pulled pork, and other medium-weight dishes that cotton to the wine’s zesty-berry ebullience.

Spooky Sips: Wines for Halloween
Posted on by Mark Oldman

Wondering what to serve at (or bring to) your Halloween party?  Consider these spooky treats:halloween

  • Alexander Valley Sin Zin (California)
  • Bonny Doon Cardinal Zin “Beastly Old Vines”(California)
  • Bonny Doon Le Cigar Volant (“Flying Saucer”) (California)
  • Cockfighter’s Ghost (Australia) Chardonnay or Shiraz   (Australia)
  • Concha y Toro’s Casillero del Diablo “Cellar of the Devil,” various types (Chile)
  • d’Arenberg Dead Arm Shiraz (Australia)
  • Devil’s Lair Chardonnay or Cabernet Sauvignon (Australia)
  • Egervin Egri Bikavér (“Bull’s Blood”) (Hungary)
  • Leitz Dragonstone Riesling (Germany)
  • Trevor Jones Wild Witch Shiraz (Australia)
  • Vampire Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon or Pinot Noir (Romania)

devil4Producer: Devil’s Lair (Australia)
Wine: Chardonnay Margaret River
Vintage: 2003
Cost: $25
Track it down: www.winespecialist.com/159416

This Aussie triumph manages to do what many Chardonnays can’t: straddle a razor’s edge between richness and zest, between oakiness and refreshment. Creamy aromas and flavors of tropical fruit and almonds mingle with essences of pears and lemons.  Its taste, combined with the wine’s bloodcurdling, fossilized Tasmanian Devil label drawing, will chase away the demons of undistinguished Chardonnay.