Bottle Shock, The Movie

Just saw Bottle Shock, a delightful movie, which is about the 1976 Paris Wine Tasting of American versus French wines with the spotlight on Chateau Montelena's 1973 Chardonnay from California. Alan Rickman and Dennis Farina are both great in the movie, and it also features beautiful scenery around Napa Valley. The movie centers around relationships of the Barretts (owners of Montelena), but here are all the other wines that participated in the 1976 tasting (courtesy of wineintro.com).

1976 Paris Wine Tasting - California Trumps France

The 1976 Paris Wine Tasting was organized by French wine tasters, and was meant to capitalize on the US bicentennial publicity. The tasting was done blind, and organizers expected the French wines to win handily. Here are the results.

Chardonnays

From the US:
1973 Chateau Montelena - 1st (winemaker: Mike Grgich)
1974 Chalone Vineyard - 3rd
1973 Spring Mountain Vineyard - 4th
1972 Freemark Abbey - 6th
1972 Veedercrest - 9th (no longer in operation)
1973 David Bruce Winery - 10th

From France:
1973 Meursault-Charmes - 2nd
1973 Beaune Clos des Mouches - 5th
1973 Ramonet-Prudhon Batard-Montrachet - 7th
1972 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet - 8th

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Cabernet Sauvignon

The Cabs were tasted second, and judges were explicitly trying to choose French wines at this point

From the US:
1973 Stag's Leap - 1st
1971 Ridge Montebello Vineyard - 5th
1971 Mayacamas - 7th
1972 Clos Du Val - 8th
1970 Heitz Cellars 'Martha's Vineyard' - 9th
1967 Freemark Abbey - 10th

From France:
1970 Chateau Mouton-Rothschild - 2nd
1970 Chateau Haut-Brion - 3rd
1970 Chateau Montrose - 4th
1971 Château Leoville-Las-Cases - 6th

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Here are the judges and scores from the Chardonnay tasting (courtesy of Ch. Montelena)...

OFFICIAL RESULTS

Vintage	Wine	Place	Total Points	No. of first place votes
1973	Chateau Montelena	1st	132	6
1973	Meursault-Charmes (Roulot)	2nd	126.5	0
1974	Chalone Vineyards	3rd	121	3
1973	Spring Mountain	4th	104	0
1973	Beaune-Clos des Mouches (Drouhin)	5th	101	0
1972	Freemark Abbey	6th	100	0
1973	Bâtard-Montrachet (Ramonet-Prudhon)	7th	94	0
1972	Puligny-Montrachet ler cru “Les Pucelles” (Dom. Leflaive)	8th	89	0
1972	Veedercrest	9th	88	0
1973	David Bruce	10th	42	0

THE TASTING PANEL
These were the tasters and their scores* for Chateau Montelena

Place	Points	Taster
1st	18.5	Mr. Claude Dubois–Millot – Directeur Commercial “Le Nouveau Guide”
1st	18	Mr. Aubert de Villaine – Co-Gérant, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti
1st	17	Mr. Raymond Oliver – “Le Grand Véfour”
1st	17	Mr. Jean-Claude Vrinat – “Taillevent”
1st	16.5	Mr. Christian Vanneque – Chef Sommelier, “La Tour d’Argent”
1st	16.5	Mrs. Odette Kahn – Directrice, Revue du Vin de France
2nd	14	Mr. Pierre Tari – Château Giscours, Secrétaire Général, Syndicat des Grands Crus Classés
4th	10	Mr. Pierre Brejoux – Inspecteur Général, Institut National des Appellations d’Origine
7th	3	Mr. Michel Dovaz – Institut Oenologique de France

*Scoring was based on 20 point maximum

Igneous

Huckfeldt Ranch, Napa













Don Huckfeldt (left) at his ranch with Sommelier Neil Dundee.

2005 Grand-Puy Ducasse

Had this wine about a decade too early, but still it was very pleasurable and a delight! This is the 2005 Chateau Grand-Puy Ducasse from the Paulliac appellation in Bordeaux. It's a fifth growth. I thought it was awesome. Elegant, with cranberry and cherry notes. It was tight, but really nice.

RECIPE: 9-minute Steak

I have made this several times, and it has always turned out awesome. To make this, you will need: a thick steak, salt, pepper, (and other seasoning if preferred), oil, butter, a stove, and a cast iron skillet.

Buy a 1 to 1&1/4 inch Rib Eye or NY Steak (marblely). Make sure the steak gets to room temperature before cooking.

Dry rub the steak. Pepper, salt, Lawrys or any dry steak rub

Heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Heat a cast iron skillet on stove, add a little canola oil to skillet (just cover the bottom) – make sure it is hot.

Drop a pad of butter in then drop the steak on top of it.

Sear 90 seconds, flip it for another 90 seconds then put the whole skillet in the oven for 9 minutes.

Remove from oven for rare to medium rare. 10 minutes for a less rare and so on…

Goes well with Cabernet (in this case, the Grove Street Meritage). Nice for the price ($10).

Domaine Bastide Blanche Bandol Rose 2007 and the 2007 Domaine Bastide Blanche Bandol Blanc

I was excited to try this Bandol Rose from Domaine Bastide Blanche since it was my first time trying a wine from the Bandol appellation in Provence. The rose was made of 31% Mouvedre, 25% Grenache and 41% Cinsault. The nose was floral, and the wine itself had a hint of melon, but it was VERY delicate to the taste. Maybe too delicate for me. I enjoy things that are a bit more... obvious.

Just by chance, a few days later I had the luck to also taste the 2007 Domaine Bastide Blanche Bandol Blanc. A white wine made of Clairette, Bourboulenc and Ugni Blanc. I was surprised with the beautiful flavors of this wine, and its crispness. It was also very delicate but with a laser like clarity on the tounge. Very nice.

Summer Rose

The Chateau de Manissy 2007 Rose from the southern Rhone appellation of Tavel is great for summer sipping.

Grape varieties : Grenache 60% - Clairette 30%, Syrah 10%.
Average age of the vine 60 years.

It smells like liquefied cotton candy, but is dry, and tastes like strawberries and blackberries. Nice to have chilled on a warm day. Goes well with burgers.

muy bueno!

Top Chef, Shmop Chef

I'm just not getting into Top Chef this season. The contestants are very bratty and it's hard to feel for them. arrrgh! The first season rocked.

Tonight's wine was TRIO, made by Concha y Toro from Chile. Deep, rich and full of berries. Was very indulgent and fun. This was a gift from my boss who visited Chile .. nice gesture! Concha y Toro is a large producer in Chile, but they do a quality job.