Ben’s Top Wines of 2009

2006 Michael~David Lust Zinfandel
Lodi, 100% Zinfandel
The name says it all; after the first taste, all I wanted was more. Every time I passed by this caramel-infused, spit-smoked, blackberry beauty in my local wine shop I couldn’t help but reach for it. This wine should be chewed and not swallowed if possible.
2007 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon
Napa, Unk% Cabernet Sauvignon
This is possibly the most velvety-soft 2 year old wine I’ve ever drank. The tannins dissolve in your mouth like melted chocolate running off of a dried cherry. Perfectly smoked and masterfully crafted, this wine will be good from now until I can’t taste anymore.
2007 Papapietro Perry Charles Vineyard Pinot Noir
Anderson Valley, 100% Pinot Noir
If you thought you knew what Pinot tasted like check again. This bad boy from the Anderson Valley in Mendocino packs more flavor than most Zins I’ve tried. Peppered Pork and ripe strawberry with hints of melon make this wine absolutely mouthwatering. The rest of the crew can attest; it took me longer to finish this glass of wine than any other I’ve had in recorded history.

Jesse’s Top Wines of 2009

Non-Vintage Frank Family Rouge
Napa, Unk% Pinot Noir, Unk% Chardonnay
For a moment, as we poured this sparkling wine into our champagne flutes from its dark green glass bottle, we gasped as if we’d been victim to a color-changing Willy Wonka treat. Up until just a few moments ago, this wine was the most deeply-colored sparkling wine we’d had. In its own surprising way, it wasn’t unlike our major tasting note: a blood orange.
2007 Akemi Pinot Noir
We can’t tell you. Neener, neener.
The first rule of Akemi is, you do not talk about Akemi. (Gary Vaynerchuk, eat your heart out.)
2007 San Liege Côtes-du-Coast White Rhone Blend
Paso Robles, 46% Viognier, 28% Roussanne, 26% Marsanne
I may not have kept notes on this bottle, but I kept the bottle. I’ve already put one email and a call to the winemaker to join his 150 person limit wine club, but by the spring, I’m sure he’ll have handed me a half case and restraining order.

This wine was so smoky, we wondered if the Southern California wildfires had finally caught up with us. After checking Michael~David’s process and our air purifier, we settled in for a wild yet delicious ride. The initial bouquet brought a pachyderm’s nose worth of boysenberry, chipotle Tabasco and teriyaki beef jerky – ostensibly from a great pairing with Bi Bim Bap. This wine is juicy, like a sorority girl’s velour track pants. Tipping a glass of this luscious red delivers a good body, a great mouthfeel (no, we aren’t still talking about that sorority girl) and deep notes of dark chocolate covered cherries. The finish is smooth with little to no tannins.

The Wrap: The fact that a wine of this quality costs under $20 is obscene.  Much of the other bottles under the Michael~David label are dangerously around the $20 range. Thus far we’ve already enjoyed the aforementioned bottle of 2005 Lust, 2005 Incognito Rouge, NV Earthquake Zinfandel & a bottle of 7 Deadly Zins. Having found Petite Petit for $14 makes the temptation of a case purchase inevitable. Finding a 2005 vintage may be difficult at this point, but we’re guessing the 2006 is of equal quality. Now if you’ll excuse us, we have a new wine club to join.

• WHY:Fess Parker was an actor who played Davy Crockett in Disney’s 1950’s series. Fess (Can we call him, “Fess?”) opened his first resort in Santa Barbara in 1986. In 1987, he purchased 714 acres in the Santa Ynez valley for plotting and planting Fess Parker’s Winery & Vineyard. So, if Fess played Davy apparently we weren’t too far off when we said, “while it smells like the armpits of a Frontier man, it doth7s not taste so.” (Here at Hipster Enology, we use silent numbers.) So what were we getting at here? (This was the first of one of our “4 bottle nights.” There are only 4 of us. Do the math and give us a break.) This wine has a very earthy, musky smell when first opened. This is a hobo-chic, one-with-the-earth sort of stink… If a wine could have BO, Frontier Red has it. However, as it pits out, or rather, opens up, you will find some fruit. Jesse even found a rare tang of unripe blueberries in the nose. But, enough about its body odor, don’t judge this wine until you taste it.
  First, Frontier Red Lot No. 82 is HOT. At 15.WTF% ABV this wine needs to breathe before imbibing. (Not that the nose wouldn’t tempt you to put baby in the corner in the first place.) This is now the third time we’ve mentioned this, because it was that hot. Not like Paris hot, but actually hot. Alcohol for miles. Once it cooled off a bit, Ben described the taste as, “It’s like spice and fruit had a fight, but then had sex at the end. Spice and fruit had make up sex.” This became quite an ironic note, because the discussion attempt to define the lingering heat of the wine and taste of pepper caused a small argument. (Ah yes, Serrano vs. Jalapeño: The Couple’s Argument.) Ultimately, we all settled on Jalapeño because the fruity nature of the beast just couldn’t be ignored. Following this spicy, front fruit forward taste was a simple finish: not flat, not overly sweet, yet not dry with no tannin.
• The Wrap:Buy this wine. This is the 5th release of this wine that Fess has tackled, Lot No. 41 being the first. It’s ready to drink and will be sure to please at any barbecue. That brings us back to that heat. All that spice, fruit, earth and alcohol compliments those rich sweet sauces very well. Since the wine isn’t overly complex or rough with tannins, you aren’t going to flatten the taste of your BBQ meats and potato salads. And, as a screw cap, Frontier Red Lot No. 82 would be great to take camping. It’d be just like taking a little Davy Crockett with you.