Mostly French Wine Tasting

The first tasting of the year was at One Market Restaurant in San Francisco.
The lineup was mostly French, and some Spanish wines.

There was a special guest for the new year!
She was cute and well-mannered (the tasting was held outside the restaurant).

We started with Champagne.
There were two of them I really liked.

Leguillet  Romelot. They are grower/producer.

There were fresh fruits and bubbles were soft and delicate.
Their Blanc de Noirs uses 73% Pinot Meunier.

Fluteau. They too are grower/producer.

Blanc de Noirs, Reserve (80% Pinot Noir, 20% Chardonnay), and Symbiose (50% Pinot Noir 50% Chardonnay) was especially good.
It was fresh and had a hint of medicinal herb.

And some of still wines I liked.

Domaine Bastide Jourdan from Rhone Valley.
Family-run organic winery.
The founder's grandson was there to represent the winery.
I have a weak spot for these sincere family-run business where young generation are proud of their predecessors.

Besides that, wine was good by itself.
Reds had red fruit, flower, and herb. Friendly.
Tweet Night Blanc made from Viognier had good sweetness.





Chateau Lapinesse Sauternes 2014 from Bordeaux.

Sweet but not sticky sweet. Decent.

Domaine Le Bout du Monde Beaune "En Lulune" Clos de la Fontaine 2014
Lemon, peach, flower. Brie cheese and mushroom.
Domaine Le Bout du Monde Saint Romain "Le Combe Bazin" 2014
Herb and salt caramel.

Vegalfaro from Valencia, Spain.
Their vineyards are in a area with thousands of years of wine making history.

Rebel-lia Chardonnay was refreshing and rich at the same time.

Maybe the most memorable wine of this tasting was from Le Jardin d'Edouard, Loire Valley.

Chateau-Thebaud was made from Melon de Bourgogne.
Melon de Bourgogne is high yielding and cold hardy grape which was adopted from Burgundy when many of the vines in Loire were killed during severe winter about 300 years ago.
Refreshing citrus fruit and good length.
Very approachable and drinkable.
With good quality and the affordable price, it is a master piece every day table wine.

I can't post everything here, but most of the wines presented this day were good quality but affordable wines.
Unfortunately, many of them were not imported to U.S. or can be found only at certain places.
I like these wines which are maybe not very complex but decent and enjoyable.
Hope to see at least some of them at stores here sometime soon.

Chateau Belgrave Haut Medoc 2000

JC wanted to do Boudeaux Night.
(Or he came up with a reason to open a bottle)
He cooked Duck and opened Bordeaux wine and gave me as blind.

The wine had medium ruby color.
It had aromas of currant, cherry, ceder, pencil and tobacco.
Medium plus acidity and medium tannin which was fine.
It was soft and had red fruit.
I thought it was from right bank (Merlot).

The answer was Chateau Belgrave Haut Medoc 2000, the Fifth Growth from Haut Medoc.

So the main variety was Cabernet Sauvignon.
It was good wine but fruits were beginning to fade.
I would say to drink now, do not hold any longer.

It was very good with Duck.
We still had some leftover Napa Cab from the day before so tried with them too, but those wines and Duck didn't work well at all.
They were all Cabernet Sauvignon. Why?
JC said that probably the acidity was the key (Chateau Belgrave had higher acid).
Even just one element makes big difference. Interesting.

Napa Cab × 2

JC brought home two Napa Cabernet Sauvignon.

Futo Oakville 2006 and Dana Rutherford Napa Valley 2005

Futo comes with cool label.
The wine had black fruits, purple flower and herbs like dill or eucalyptus.
Smokiness and oak flavor. Good structure.
I'd never heard of this winery before but it was a good wine.

Dana's label is cute.
Its aromas were of ripe or over-ripe red fruit, caramel and vanilla.
JC had this wine when it was younger and said this would taste much much better after 10 years of ageing.

Both had high alcohol. Dana had 14.4% abv, and Futo had 15.3%! but didn't feel that alcoholic.
I guess the wine was well balanced.

Dana had more fruit and easier to drink, but Futo had more dimensions.

Wine bar High Treason

One day in San Francisco, we didn't know where to go for dinner, so we decided to have a glass of wine while we figure it out.

Wine bar High Treason is on Clement street.
There are so many eateries around there so the location was perfect to search for good restaurants.

It was Monday and inside was calm and quiet. Usually it gets more lively.
There is a private room upstairs and you can reserve it for a party.

I chose Etna Rosso and JC had Muscadet.
Their wine list wasn't huge, but had quite interesting selections.
Just reading the list was fun. And wine itself was good, of course.

We enjoyed them, maybe too much. When we left the bar, it was too late and all the restaurants were closed...

Charmes de Kirwan Margaux 2010

Second wines are the wines made from grapes which are not qualified for their principal wine.
These grapes are usually from young vines, or simply not good enough to be used for Grand Vin because of whatever reasons.
Some people say that some of the second wines are not good enough for the price, even if they are cheaper than their Grand Vin. However, for people who can't afford to buy Grand Vin from big chateau (me!), this is a welcoming addition.

This idea of second wines was first born in Bordeaux in 18th century. Now you see them everywhere.

Charmes de Kirwan Margaux 2010

This is a second wine of Chateau Kirwan, Margaux Third Growth.

Deep ruby color.
There were abundant pink and red colors like cherry, plum, currant or roses.
Some freshness of liquorice and mint, too.
Spices from oak were well integrated.

Very fruity and drinkable.
I don't know so much about Bordeaux, so I was surprised to taste wine like this, which was far from my stereotype image of Bordeaux wine.

Good when it was opened, even better second and third day.

Drinking in a Wine Shop

Jack London Square in Oakland is the area where you can enjoy many kinds of restaurants and ocean view.
We weren't planning to dine here this day, but just walking around this area was relaxing.

There were high-end restaurants, small bar whose floor was leaning toward the back (some kind of damage to the foundation, I heard), and a bowling alley/beer garden called Plank.

This place had not only bowling alley, but also bocce and kids playground.
Everybody can enjoy the games, or grab a glass of beer and enjoy watching people playing.

When we were walking toward the car, we saw a wine shop and decided to check out.
The shop is called MINIMO.

They focus on sustainably made wines from small producers.

The shop is clean and bright.
Wines are clearly organized so that you can find what you are looking for easily.
They don't have overwhelming numbers of selections, but if you don't have a specific bottle in your mind, it's easy to choose what to drink this way.

There are tables and bar counter and you can open and drink if you buy a bottle (or two) of wine here.
They said that this place could get quite busy weekday evenings.

It sounded fun, so we bought a bottle and opened it at the bar.
This is the wine we chose: Domaine de Grisy Bourgogne Cotes d'Auxerre Chardonnay 2015

Cotes d'Auxerre is an AC near Chablis, so I expected this to have high, sharp acid, but this wine's acid was very soft.
It was like sweet white flower. Fruity and creamy, and very drinkable.
$17 is a good deal, I think.

JC said that this would be good with simple flavor seafood like Sashimi.
We brought the rest of the wine back home and tried it with salty pate.
It made the wine taste very alcoholic.
Then had very mild, almost bland Swiss cheese. Wine tasted much better with it.
I can see this wine would go very good with Sashimi. Maybe Sea Bream...?

Weingut Friedrich Becker Spatburgunder 2009

Weingut Friedrich Becker Spatburgunder 2009

This is the first German Pinot Noir I'd ever tasted.

It was about 5 years ago at German Wine tasting.

I expected that it would be acidic and fruity, but this one had very rich butterscotch character.

Five years later, the wine totally changed.

There were still butterscotch and fruit, but stronger impression of meatiness and smokiness.

I thought the smokiness was from wood, but JC said this was from the soil (limestone).

very good with meat sauce

This wine might be hard to grasp at first: I was confused because it was very "different." 

However, as I dug into this wine, I slowly developed the fondness.

Judging from the fruit, I doubted if this wine should be aged longer, but JC said it could be and wanted to open another bottle 5 years from now.

These decisions are hard to make for me.

Next day I tasted the wine and it was softer. 

I wonder how it will taste 5 years later.

Nabe and Pinot Noir

Nabe is Japanese Hot Pot.
Variety of vegetables, fish and/or meat cooked in a pot of soup.
We serve ourselves from the same pot.
This dish will warm you up, so it's usually considered to be winter dish.

We had Chicken Nabe for one cold rainy day.

JC chose wine for this Nabe.
He thought that white wine would be too easy, so selected red wine.
Adrian Fog Savoy Vineyard Anderson Valley Pinot Noir 2007

Red fruits with high acid. Fruity, juicy wine.
It was good, especially with Syungiku (chrysanthemum, a little bitter).
Good wine but unfortunately it deteriorated quickly.

As for the Nabe, you can make Rice Porridge with the left over soup, or you can throw noodle in it for quick lunch.
This may not sound sophisticated, but sure is delicious.

Men's Tailoring (or something like that)

Finally! I finished making JC's suits!























I started to make the jacket last spring.
This was my first time to try men's tailoring and I had only one book to rely on.
The progress was snail's pace but somehow completed the body and I was to attach the sleeves, then found that the basting threads at the shoulder line was lost...

I lost momentum and ditched the sleeveless jacket.
Then last month, I found the jacket during the cleaning (we do major house cleaning at the end of the year in Japan) and decided to finish.
Once I completed the jacket, I regained the momentum and finished making the trousers too.

The pattern is based on Vogue 2836 and I fixed it so that it would fit to JC's body and work with the book I had.
The book I used was Men's Wear from Bunka Fashion College.
I read all the men's tailoring books that I could get my hands on for this project, and found this book the most thorough and practical.

It wasn't easy and I'm not satisfied with the quality, but I'm really glad that I didn't give up.
Do I want to try again? I don't know...

Lokoya Cabernet Sauvignon Diamond Mountain 2002

The first wine of this year: Lokoya Cabernet Sauvignon Diamond Mountain District 2002

Lokoya is a winery in Napa valley which makes Cabernet Sauvignon from four appellations: Mt. Veeder, Howell mountain, Spring mountain and Diamond mountain.

The wine was 15 years old but still tasted fresh: ripe cherry, redcurrant, cinnamon, tarragon, ceder, pencil, violet, toffee and dried meat.
Tannin was high but soft and round, and it had long finish.
Complex and amusing. It was a very, very good wine.
You can drink now, and I liked how it tasted now, but I got the impression that this wine could age longer.
I would like to know how it will taste like 5 years later.

This is the problem of opening a bottle of wine: you won't know when to drink until you try it.
Best way to figure out is to purchase a case and open every year, but I'm not one of the lucky people who can afford to be a collector.
I just have to learn how to judge, and these great wines motivate me to learn (because I don't have extra wines to open at the wrong time!) .

Toyo Bijin, New Year's Sake

We are supposed to drink sake called Otoso on New Years day in Japan.
Otoso is sweet sake infused with medicinal herbs.
However, we had another sake in our mind for this day.

This is the sake we had: Toyo Bijin Banshu Aiyama Junmai Daiginjo by Sumikawa Shuzo.

Banshu Aiyama is the name of the rice. This rice is harder to polish than Yamadanishiki, but for this sake, it was polished to 40%.
The sake was pasteurized in spring, matured during the summer, and released in autumn. This seasonal sake is called Hiyaoroshi.

The brewery is in Yamaguchi, the western part of Japan.
Toyo Bijin was gaining popularity and I always wanted to try, so I was surprised when I heard that their facility was heavily damaged in 2013 by severe storm.
The damage was devastating but volunteers from other breweries helped to rebuilt the brewery and they restarted the production by the end of 2014 and now I finally had a chance to try.

It was sharp and clear, and soft, round sweetness like pear was behind it.
Clean sake. It feels good to drink.

We had this with grilled dried fish and Japanese style crostini.
Toppings were Chirimenjako (dried baby sardine), Takuan (pickled Daikon), Sauteed Spinach, Umeboshi paste, etc.
I liked the pairing with Chirimenjako the best.
JC's choice was with grilled Shishamo (smelt).

Terre de la Custodia Sublimis Gladius for New Year's Eve

There is a custom to eat Soba on New Year's Eve in Japan.
The origin of this custom is unknown: one says that Soba (long noodle) means long life, other says that you can cut off bad fortune like you can cut Soba easily.
JC is interested in Japanese customs, so we followed this one, too.

He had to work at night so instead of simple Soba, we had Curry Nanban (Curry with Soba) so that he wouldn't become hungry later.

I mixed Karaimonoya Curry Powder and S＆B Curry roux for this Beef curry.
This is very easy to make but delicious curry.

We had sparkling wine, too, in case if he wouldn't come home for count down.

The wine we had was Terre de la Custodia Sublimis Gladius.
Sparkling wine from Umbria, Italy.
They make great white wine, too.

The wine was made with traditional method, but it was fresh and retained lots of fruits.
Then you taste layers of white flowers, herbs, baking spices, different stage of fruit, from fresh to bruised. There was taste of yeast but it didn't interfere the freshness of the wine.

We didn't plan to pair these two: we just wanted to have curry this day and we just wanted to open this wine this day.
However, the pairing wasn't as bad as it looked. Maybe because the wine had relatively low acid for sparkling wine?
Anyway, we were relieved.

One of my news from 2016 should be starting this blog. But continuing is harder than starting. This will be my new year's challenge.