My sister called me the other day more upset than I'd heard her sound in a long time. "Dude," she said to me. "Yes?" I replied. "I've got viral pink eye." Doh! I thought immediately, Homer Simpson's catchall bummer phrase perfectly appropriate. You see, Claire's bday was coming up, and this pink eye thing put a major monkey wrench in her plans. Apparently pink eye - in both eyes nonetheless - is seriously contagious for at least 5 to 7 days' time. Her birthday is this weekend. She's had to cancel all celebrations and revelry. And, worst of all, she can't even see anyone for fear of transmitting the virus. Homegirl can't even go to WORK. It's sort of like solitary confinement, except that your boss still expects you to electronically transmit your work from your prison cell.

Because I felt excrutiatingly badly for her I decided to drop off some vino at her place in an effort to cheer her up. We're headed to the South of France for a couple of weeks this summer as a family and, I thought, she really ought to bone up on the pink wine of Provence before we go. And so, in an effort to further distract her from what must be total drudgery hanging out solo at home 24/7, I assigned her this task: write a tasting note for the same wine I'm tasting, and we'll combine our notes for a report on the HIP TASTES Blog.

I didn't even realize at the time the magnitude of consolation hiding in this simple task. She was pumped! She wrote back before I even took pen to paper to document my thoughts on the stuff. Here's the wine's 411 and what she had to say:

2004 Chateau Val Joanis AC Cotes du Luberon
grape variety: blend of Syrah and Grenache
Alcohol: 14%

"I realized quite fittingly last night that I was drinking the rose while my eyes were, ahem, quite rose. I was reflecting on my tragic situation when I realized that, with all of my problems, you know - the whole hazmat isolation and walking biohazard bit - that at least I could still drink wine." - Claire

Claire's notes:
Color: pink, peach, honey
Smell: grass, alcohol, nectarine, cheese (blue or roquefort), apricot, chamomile
Food: nice complement to my summer pasta, tomatoes, garlic, fresh herbs, feta, provolone, light dish
Overall: good beginning of the evening wine. I think it would be lovely to serve as a first course wine with some olives and hard cheese, or even some nectarines which it really reflects for me.

Now, back to me: I decided to drink this wine with a proscuitto sandwich from Say Cheese in Cole Valley I picked up on my way home from a certain VERY COOL TASTING I attended today. The pork and pale pink colored wine seemed destined for each other and my stomach, and, I must say, both went down swimmingly.

The wine is a lot of what Southern French rose ought to be: very pale in color - this one is like a new copper penny or deep orange cantaloupe color - beautifully perfumed and light on the palate. This one's got two of the three down: it's gorgeous in color - I've rarely seen roses in this orange-y color - and got great aromas, but it's a little high in alcohol which takes away from the liveliness on the palate I really love.

Lovely aromas of orange julias, licorice, brown sugar, roasted nuts and baked apricot float from the glass. Then, apricot and some citrus squirt on the palate, but not a lot else. I think this wine is fabulous for what it is - a $12 bottle with a fantastic nose - but would be all that much better with a more refreshing palate. I think a lot of this has to do with the climate in the South of France - it's bloody hot there! This wine has high alcohol as a result.

BUT - I still really enjoyed it. The color just can't be beat. With pork or pink eye - it's just the thing.

Buy it at K&L Wine Merchant

Posted by Courtney at 06:04 PM • Comments (1)

Capri Suns are SO last year.

Although it seems like the 80s since I sucked one down (probably because it was), I couldn't help but reminisce when I took the plunge and bought Three Thieves' Bandit Pinot Grigio not long ago. The reason Suns came to mind is that the Grigio's packaged in this very cool juice-box-reminiscent...well, box. It's lime green and has three gun-wielding dudes on horses on the front. AND, there's booze inside, not some lame imitation non-alcholic fruit juice.

Yeah, NOW we're talking.

Another thing I really like about this stuff, besides its ridiculously cute packaging, is the green thing they've got going on - and I'm not just talking about aesthetics. Each 250 mL (1/3 of a regular wine bottle) Tetra Pak container of it says "this...carton is made of largely renewable resources and reduces packaging waste by 90% compared to glass wine bottles." NICE!

Doesn't taste too bad either. Like the Target cube I reviewed earlier, I didn't think this stuff really merited a serious tasting note. That being said, I've "tested" it now three times - meaning I've consumed three juice-box-sized servings of it - and I'm happy to say it's completely quaffable. I've had it very cold - just out of the fridge - each time, which is probably best given that it's white, it's Grigio and it's simple stuff.

Another reason I like it is that it's the right size - 250 mL is a third of a regular wine bottle, or about 2 glasses. Why 1/3, you must be wondering? Why not 1/4 or 1/5 or? Well, I think the reason this is perfect is because, let's be honest, we rarely want to drink just a glass of wine. Au contraire! If I had my druthers I'd drink wine non-stop, 24/7. This pesky thing called intoxication keeps getting in the way, though, damnit.

So instead, I alternate my "adult" beverages with less fun but essential subsitutes, such as - yawn - water. But that's again why I love the Tetra Pak Grigio from Three Thieves - it feels like a kid's drink but has the benefits we grown ups deserve. But, thankfully, because each serving is just two glasses' worth we're saved from tipping back more than we might otherwise if we had a whole frigging 750 mL in front of us.

Now, if only I could find a way to travel back in time and substitute all my box lunch Capri Suns with Three Thieves Tetra Paks...If that were the case I might be a VINOUS GENIOUS by now, with all those years of research under my belt...on the other hand I could be a washed up drunk still strangely attached to pigtails and Nintendo consoles. On second thought, maybe it's best I just enjoy it for what it is, in the here and now. Time for that fourth box (comes in packs of four)! Game on, Grigio.

Posted by Courtney at 11:38 PM • Comments (0)

Ok, so I know this is a little silly, but I couldn't resist because it's JUST SO FANTASTICALLY RANDOM. These are, quite simply, pics of my sister and me beating drums while drinking wine. What is the point, you may be asking? Don't overthink this people - there is none. However, I DO think it makes a great excuse to solicit pics from you readers posing in other bizarre situations with wine. Ever been snapped on the Great Wall with a little Puligny? Or been caught in the tub with some real bubbly? If so, then I want YOU! I mean, your pics, sorry.

Send your submissions to info@hiptastes with the subject "bizarre wine pic" and please include a few sentences about who you are and what you were doing at the time. I'll republish in the near future with the best ones.

And, for those of you who'd like a little backstory on what exactly we were doing when these pics were taken, read on at your own risk.

We should've known when the hippy bus pulled up to take us from the rustic parking area (read: open field) to the private picnic in a nearby meadow that we were in for a special kind of day. That's exactly what it was, from the AMAZING foodstuffs and beverages to the activities.

Want to chill in a tee-pee for a little R&R? Want to reflect on a beautiful Sunday and the outdoors while beating drums between noshes of ridiculously good food? Perfect. You've come to the right place. We just can't tell you where it was - sorry!

What else we were doing while the pics were taken:

1) laughing hysterically
2) convening with other drummers as part of an amateur drum circle
3) relishing some great wines from Northern California appellations, while at a picnic celebrating the bounty of all things food- and wine-related from Nor Cal
4) feeling elated though somewhat stuffed as we'd just eaten about a dozen oysters each at an obscenely rapid rate at the adjoining oyster bar

Jealous? Looking to whack on some drums while drinking too? I wish you luck. It's not often you get an opportunity to do both at once. But if you do, please, please - send me a picture!!

Posted by Courtney at 04:57 PM • Comments (1)

Everyone, I just have to say HOT DAMN I am so excited - my very own kitty cat, Natasha Petunia, made it onto the illustrious stuffonmycat.com web site with this very attractive picture of her all corked up.

For those of you who aren't in the know, the motto of stuffonmycat.com is "stuff + cats = awesome." I couldn't agree more.

Because she's so large - 24 pounds to be exact - there is lots of real estate for amassing stuff on her body. And, she's super docile - well, except when she's hungry - and so I was able to strategically place all these corks with her barely moving a paw. Now THAT's a special friend.

Also contributing to my success was the fact that, as a Russian Blue, Tasha's got what's called a double coat - meaning her hair is really thick. So it really retains articles that are placed on it - sort of like a velcro effect.

I really have nothing else to say about this. It is what it is. A cat with some corks. But man am I proud. My kitty's Internet Famous. Comments welcome.

PS CHECK OUT THE LATOUR CORK. She's got good taste in addition to being extremely attractive.

www.stuffonmycat.com

Posted by Courtney at 02:45 PM • Comments (6)

I recently checked in on the mysterious Cain Vineyard & Winery on the same trip that took me to Smith Madrone on Spring Mountain above Napa Valley. I say "mysterious" because, although I've heard a lot about the winery's famous Cain Five Cabernet Sauvignon-based blend, until I was at the winery I'd never actually SEEN a real live bottle of the stuff. It was the much-lauded-but-never-seen wine. And it's bloody expensive. So, you know, I find it mysterious.

And intriguing. So I thought I'd go see what all the fuss is about. Boy am I glad I did.

Cain - and, yes, the mysterious Cain Five wine - are, well, fabulous.

This pool sort of encapsulates my feelings about Cain: gorgeous, remote, exclusive. This pool sits at the edge of the Cain property overlooking the Napa Valley below. They've got, by the way, about 90 acres of terraced vines situated on 500 total acres in the Spring Mountain AVA (American Viticultural Area). It's almost better than an infinity pool - you know the type that looks like it runs off into the ocean over some fabulous beach in, say, Cabo? - because here you get the infinity effect over the freaking Napa Valley. Maybe this is just really impressive to wine geeks like me.

Anyhow - you get to use this pool if you're invited to stay at Cain in this amazing mini chateau - they've actually got two mini residences like this all spruced up and ready for wine industry illuminaries. I wasn't invited to stay, so clearly I'm not "big time" enough to score the privilege of lounging by the infinity pool, but I imagine if you're interested in buying lots of Cain wine - meaning LOTS - or writing about it for a very glossy publication you might be able to come and enjoy the chateau.

But that's not really what it's about, now is it? I was much more taken with the spectacular vines on the property than I was with the pool (although, damnit! it was a nice pool!). Here's a pic of some of Cain's vines, as seen from the pool deck. I'm looking back over my shoulder away from Napa towards the Mayacamas Mountains and Sonoma beyond. You can see vines in the foreground and beyond, on top of the next ridge, here. Breathtaking. BTW - Cain has vines that face north, south, east and west on their property, which benefits from thinner mountain soils - forcing the vines to "struggle" - and longer exposure of the vines to sunlight.

The flowers at the winery were also gorgeous, a feat made possible by a full-time groundskeeper. Here's a view of the dogwood in full bloom outside the winery proper. It was really gorgeous.

And, here I am with Francois Bugue, Associate Winemaker at Cain. To Francois's credit, I don't think he spends a lot of time lounging by the pool. Heading into the winery for a tour of the facilities, I couldn't help but catch some of Francois's enthusiasm for the whole operation.

And then, a perfect counterpoint to the manicured perfection of the grounds and piscine outside, the inside of the winery was, well, just what it ought to be: no-frills, not super high-tech, busy. There was stuff going on in there - namely, the racking of some of the wine off of its lees - the dead yeast cells that collect at the bottom of barrels during fermentation - from one barrel and into another.

I'd never actually seen this done before, and it was fascinating. Here's a pic of Francois proudly showing off the lees he's about to toss out. Nice!

Francois also showed us how the bottling line works, explaining that they actually put the wine through it twice - once to get the wine the in bottle and the cork in properly, and a second time just before shipping to apply the labels. The reason for this is that they want to make sure everything looks great and goes according to plan - and apparently there's quite a bit of room for error when you try to do everything at once. I just can't imagine, though, that many wineries take this much care with their bottling. Clearly, Cain isn't your average winery.

Moving on to the really important stuff - the wine! Francois opened up three new bottles for us to try - the winery's most "generic" - if that term can really be used here -wine, Cain Cuvee, their mid-tier offering, Cain Concept, and the illustrious Cain Five, made from a blend of the five key grape varieties of Bordeaux.

They were all delicious, and if I were to apply a blanket term than captured an essense they all possess it would be "smooth." The wines were all just lovely in the mouth - all approachable and fruity but, especially as we moved from the Cuvee towards the Cain Five, increasingly complex.

This smoothness is even more impressive given the relatively low-tech winemaking techniques they use, such as egg white fining, native yeast fermentaiton and foregoing filtration for the Concept and Cain Five. In an age in which wines can be excessively tinkered with to arrive at a manufactured perfection of sorts, Cain isn't doing any of that stuff. The secret, as they say in their marketing materials, is in the grapes. And with yields of less than 1 ton per acre - compared to up to 8 per acre down on the valley floor - Cain clearly isn't overworking its vines, either.

And, so, wrapping up, I'd like to say that if you get a chance to taste any of the Cain wines, DO IT. While the Cain Five absolutely packed the most complex punch of the three wines I tried - redolent with red and black fruit, pine needles, toast, baking spice, cocoa and toffee - the others were delicious as well. I was thrilled to find the Cuvee on the menu at the restaraunt at the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite over Memorial Day, and my companion and I thoroughly enjoyed every drop in the bottle.

It was just so...smooth.

www.cainfive.com

Posted by Courtney at 07:33 PM • Comments (0)

The flowers! The sun! The food! The fashion! The wine! Welcome to Auction Napa Valley , a little slice of the Hamptons right here in our own backyard. Everything at last Friday's Auction Napa Valley Festival was posh and gorgeous , a no-excuses display of wealth and bounty and good living. Even the food was ridiculously good-looking. If I ever have the opportunity to push pause on reality and continue living in a bubble for the rest of my life, this would be my bubble of choice. Let the good times roll!

I was beyond thrilled when granted a press pass to this year's illustrious auction activities, which over the years have raised more than $60 million smackers to benefit various causes including assistance for at-need youth in the area. The most staggering part of that statement is not the dollar figure but rather the fact that there are actually disadvantaged children in the Napa Valley.

The auction, flatteringly (and, I must admit, accurately) dubbed "the granddaddy of all wine auctions" by its own press engine, raised over $8.4 million this year, including a record bid of $1.05 million. Included in the total funds raised was $460,000 for a 12 magnum vertical from 1992 forward of Screaming Eagle. Here's a pic of all that good stuff. I think this woman was actually guarding the stuff from all the gazillionaires cruising around. There's something about Screaming Eagle that makes people a little ga-ga.

The night before the auction I had trouble sleeping because I was so excited. Seriously. I literally felt like a little kid all anxious before xmas morning. Here I am at the press breakfast held at Cakebread Cellars, this year's auction hosts. I didn't get a lot of shut eye, but you can't tell because I was absolutely thrilled.

You see, I was 15 minutes away from the Festival, where I would be able to taste barrel futures from more than 100 wineries, sample delicious foodstuffs and still more wine from more than 140 vintners and generally bask in the wonderfulness of the whole gala event. But don't let me bore you with statistics just yet when there are so many delicious images to look at!

For starters, let's look at the fashion on display at the Festival, because it was seriously interesting. Like I said, the Hamptons in California. Meaning: bags! shoes! burmuda shorts! And, lotsa pink and big hats.

These are my favorite two women from the event, because I loved their outfits, but for very different reasons. The first woman's getup epitomizes Hamptons stilo, replete with bling-y watch, posh bag, super bright attire and incomprehensibly tanned and arobized figure. The second gal's pictured because she was absolutely adorable, from the hair to the dress to the shoes: she nailed casual chic Napa. Way to go!

And, my two favorite dudes from the event - check out their matching festive belts! Very Hamptons.

Back to the event! The food was stunning AND delicious. Here, offerings attractively packaged from the Oakville Grocery, long a favorite of mine for the most amazing foodstuffs in the valley. Check out how the guy's shirt matches the food - a feat repeated in the next shot by the pink-sleeved man taking a sample of this yummy pink endive appetizer. Kind of weird, right?

And, here's a pic of my blogging idol Alder Yarrow and new acquaintances Sam Spencer and Caroline Hoogenboom of Spencer Roloson winery. Their 2003 La Herradura Syrah from the base of Napa's Howell Mountain was my favorite wine of the day. It smelled just like these chocolate/caramel-covered coffee beans I had recently from Bouchon Bakery in Yountville. Also licorice, plums, dust, pepper and black cherry. Yum.

Brian Clark and the guys from Grape Radio! Way to keep us all up to speed on the wine world, folks.

Now, the barrel tasting room. Here's a shot of what it looked like in there. Not only was it crowded, but this place was bumping - literally - with loud music and louder banter echoing off the walls at Trinchero Family Winery, the host winery for the Friday festival.

Here I am pictured with my buddy Francois Bugue, Associate Winemaker at Cain, makers of the famous Cain Five. I had a private tour at the winery recently with Francois, who's super cool and enthusiastic. Check back for my entry about that soon.

To keep the energy high and the bids higher, volunteers would periodically cruise around the room in a conga line. Here's a pic. Although it sounds bizarre, I actually got into it all. The energy was just great. And, it didn't hurt that I was sampling some really great wines. My favorites from the barrel samples included those from Miner, Rudd, Nikel & Nikel's Sullenger Vineyard and, of course, Cain.

Wrapping things up, let's have a look at the live auction display lots. This is St. Supery's display, which included this lovely lady channeling Lucille Ball stomping real grapes. I also really enjoyed St. Supery's white meritage blend, Virtu, by the way. A really nice wine.

This is the Grgich Hills display, a funny tongue-in-cheek (I think) situation including cardboard cutouts of family members. This guy was having trouble getting one of them to stand up, which seemed to really peeve him. Clearly, he wasn't drinking on the job or he might of found it funny, as I did.

And so, to re-cap the day: fantastic! I drove home after stopping into the Oakville Grocery for a latte, a little cheese and some baked treats for later. Back in the city by late afternoon, I was completely content and basking in my overall feeling of good health and good luck for having been invited to attend Auction Napa Valley. Nothing like a little side trip to the Hamptons in your own back yard to make you feel fabulous.

Until next year.

www.napavintners.com

Posted by Courtney at 08:27 PM • Comments (13)