Too good to pass up...

This Rampant Oenophile endeavors always to find great wine values wherever they can be found, so when Wine.com offers Etude for $26 a bottle, I wanted to let everyone know.

Etude Carneros Pinot Noir 2006 ranks at the top of anyone's list of great Pinot's, and at $26, it's a special value. It's ripe, rich, and earthy; should age very well through 2014, and will find itself in very short supply at these prices. I enjoyed a bottle earlier this year at a business dinner and walked away very impressed. You should too if you enjoy maturing Pinot Noirs with full rich flavors. It pairs very well with steak, pork, and pastas, but would also compliment baked desserts and cheeses.

*disclaimer, I have no business relationship with Wine.com and don't profit from anyone who buys a bottle from this link. I just think that this special value is worth spreading the word.

Great Beer Lover's Blog

Just a quick plug for a prolific and informative blog for beer lovers. Take a look at True Brews, on blogspot, for some really insightful reviews of a wide variety of beers. The author is a home brewer and craft beer enthusiast who has a knack for finding some wild craft brews. I'm adding it to my list to check back frequently...

And now for something completely different...

Nothing satisfies this Rampant Oenophile on a sweltering day like a cold beer, and it's been beyond hot this week, so instead of wine, I enjoyed a few craft beers with business friends at a couple of evening events.

I'm a big fan of Samuel Adams Brewery, especially for their mainstay Boston Lager. It's the beer that reinvigorated the craft beer tradition in the United States, and dependably satisfies. I also enjoy the Sam Adams Light, which comes as close to a full flavored light beer as I have found.

Unfortunately, I don't really enjoy some of their seasonal brews. Nearly every bar has the Sam Adams Summer Ale on tap this season, but just one glass was enough to sour me on this overly citrus-y brew. Too tart, too light, and much too lemony for my taste. I just don't want to taste orange and lemon with my beer.

On the other hand, if you can find Sam Adams Scotch Ale, you will enjoy a malty, rich, creamy beer that leaves you feeling full and satisfied. It's brewed with four different malts to add complexity and richness to the brew: two row pale Harrington, Munich malt, chocolate malt, and a rare peat smoked malt also used in distilling Scotch. Enjoyed best with a slight chill, you can taste all the flavors individually.

My favorite beer this week meets the definition of "liquid bread," and probably contains as many calories as a full loaf. Dixie Blackened Voodoo offers a deep, dark, rich and creamy stout experience without the weight of other stout and porter style brews. From the first pour, you expect it to be very heavy, but I found this very dark black beer tastes surprising lighter, more like an ale. Dixie Blackened Voodoo is not a simple drink, offering a complex mix of sweet and savory tones. It hints at chocolate and caramel, but includes spice and malt. Serve it slightly chilled, not quite down to room temperature in bowled glass or mug to preserve the nose. It's tough to find and a bit pricey, but well worth the effort.

337 has Cabernet's Number...

Friends of the Rampant Oenophile invited me to a home cooked meal this week, and a night with good food and good friends is hard to pass up when you spend as much time on the road as I do. Only a good wine could have made the evening better, and 337 delivered in spades.

Though I had heard much about this Lodi Cabernet Sauvignon, I hadn't found it locally until our friends opened two bottles with dinner. 337 is sourced in the Clay Station Vineyards in and around Lodi, and offers a complex earthy Cabernet Sauvignon that provides full body and flavor without too much dryness.

You'll notice rich red berry and chocolate on the nose, but more spice and coffee on the tongue. We enjoyed many glasses with Homemade Lasagna and a rich meat sauce, and 337 held its own admirably. 337 won't shirk from balancing rich foods and strong flavors, so enjoy it with pasta, meat dishes, and grilled vegetables.

Great Summer Reds for under $20.

A friend of the Rampant Oenophile asked for a recommendation for a good summer red that met her standards for "inexpensive, mellow, and not too dry." Like me, this friend doesn't enjoy dry Cabernet Sauvignons, especially on a hot summer afternoon. Summer is for cook-outs, dips in the pool, and refreshing glasses of cool, soothing, fruity red wines that pair nicely with grilled steaks, burgers, and seafood at the beach...

Here's a list of quick finds under $20 that will perk you up without drying out your palate...

Montevina Terra d'Oro Zinfandel, 2006. It's tough to beat sweet and savory combinations for Summer enjoyment, especially if the sweet comes from ripe red and black fruit, and the savory comes from full bodied spicy overtones. This Zinfandel offers good fruit without being jammy, and gushes texture without getting dry. At just $16.49 with $0.01 shipping, Wine.com makes it too easy to buy a bottle, or six!

I'm a fan of Ridge winery, but their vintage stock stays just out of my wine budget for day to day consumption. Ridge offers their Three Valleys blend, 2007, though that meets all of their high standards for wine making, but delivers quality at a value price. The 2007 blend offers rich fruit and solid spice on the tongue. It's filled with the body and spice of a good Zinfandel, but malolactic fermentation smooths out the rough edges of the wine for a very mellow but rich drinking experience. Find this one for about $15 anywhere fine wines are sold.

The world-wide recession isn't necessarily bad for everything. In fact, as prices recede and imports to the US get cheaper, bargains in French wines abound. Delas S. Esprit Cotes-du-Rhone Rouge 2007 is a careful blend of Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre, and Carignan grapes. The blending processes magnifies the flavors and dilutes the immaturity of the wines included, which typically makes for a smoother and more mellow wine. In the case of this Syrah-based blend, expect the deep red color and subtle spices of that varietal, but enjoy the blackberry and plum tones to soften the punch of the spice and mellow this young wine. Wine.com offers this bargain for just $9.99, so buy a few for the rest of July.

Duckhorn Decoy is the Real Thing.

Friends of the Rampant Oenophile invited me to dinner to celebrate my fortieth birthday, and we enjoyed a new find, Decoy.

Decoy is the name of the sister label to Duckhorn Vineyards, and a considerable wine in its own right. All of the Decoy wines are blends of the season's best efforts. Each vintage offers a unique blend of Bordeaux varietals, so expect new combinations of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot.

Unlike many of their other vintages, Duckhorn crafts each Decoy blend to be consumed upon release, but this is no Beaujolais Nouveau. Decoy offers a masterful blend of exceptional wines to offer mature flavors even in a young wine.

We enjoyed our 2007 Decoy red with salmon and steak, and we enjoyed the mellow tannins, full body, and slightly mineral tones of this tasty wine. I didn't notice any single flavor overpowering any other, but enjoyed that artful blend. The Decoy's nose promises berry, chocolate, and leather, but in a smooth, soft, and satisfying package.

Expect to pay $30, give or take, for the 2006 if you can still find it in stores. Many restaurants picked up the 2007, which is still a terrific value even at marked up prices. If you find Decoy on a wine list, choose it confidently, even if it is not at the high end of the range. You will enjoy a more mature wine than the price and the name suggest. It's a Duckhorn through and through.

A lesson learned...

So, every mindful of the need to give people and restaurants a second chance, this Rampant Oenophile visited Oriente, the fine dining establishment at Costa d' Este, the Estefan family hotel in Vero Beach, Florida. As watchers of I drank what? will recall, the dining and wine list were somewhat lacking during the restaurant's early days.

At nearly one year old, however, this Rampant Oenophile expected a maturity in both the menu and the wine list. Unfortunately, only the wine list has improved.

Everyone was pleased that the bar service had improved. Up from just a few wines by the glass during its opening weeks, Oriente's bar now offers a fine selection of red and white wines by the glass.

I enjoyed a glass of Peachy Canyon Cabernet for a pricey $12. I can't hold the wine accountable for Oriente's high prices or stingy pour, but the wine left me wanting another glass. One sniff and you realize that you are drinking a complex and mature wine. Peachy Canyon is a small Central Coast winery and does a great job with this Cab.

With dinner, we enjoyed a bottle of 2006 Duckhorn and a 2004 Boekenhoutskloof Cabernet. Of all the Cabernet Sauvignons I've sampled in the past several years, the Boekenhoutskloof remains my favorite, though finding it at local wine shops has been a challenge. The vintner releases only quality wines, and never compromises standards, so Boekenhoutskloof remains an elusive treasure.

This Cab offers a very mature and polished aroma of subtle fruits and minerals. So soft on the tongue, but full bodied and rich. Not creamy, but very clean flavors impress the palate. It offers sophistication and never overwhelms. If you can't find the 2004, try the 2006, though buy a few bottles and cellar it.

Though their wine list improved since our last visit, the overall operation continues to disappoint. Oriente served all of its wines from the same cellar, so all the reds were chilled to white temperatures. I'm convinced that everyone serves most reds a bit warm and most whites a bit cool, but Oriente's wine staff just over chilled the bottles. When we offered that advice to our server, she snipped back that it was served as recommended. Any casual wine drinker knows that red wine should never be chilly.

Regarding the food, utterly forgettable. Though a few of the cervices were tasty, overall nothing in the signature appetizer offerings impressed. I ordered a flight of 5 cervices samples, something that Oriente is "known for" according to their own press clippings. Unfortunately, of the five morsels, only two were good, two were fair, and one made me choke.

Our companions fared the same. Two of our guests ordered the soft shell crab, only to be served what appeared and tasted like a carnival funnel cake. The fluffy fried batter obscured what only loosely could be recognized as a crab, and overwhelmed any crustacean flavor. The scallops fared no better, being over cooked, dry, and chewy despite being wrapped in ham and served on risotto, which was a bit too much "of the tooth" for anyone's taste.

All in all, a lesson learned. Hotel restaurants may not deserve a second chance. Although the wine list matured nicely, mediocre food and overpriced shallow pours make Oriente fit for tourists, not regulars.