Hungry Blonde Chardonnay L'Ecole Semillon Fiora Geneva

Hungry Blonde Chardonnay and L'Ecolle Columbia Valley Semillon with Crabcakes and Scallops Al Fresco at Fiora Restaurant Geneva

We took a trip out to Geneva to visit friend Kay Z and had a delightful lunch at Fiora Restaurant in its rustic charming landmark building and al fresco patio setting.

Fiora was voted by patrons as the 'Best Restaurant' in the Fox River Valley.

Linda had the Seared Scallops and I ordered the Maryland Crabcakes.

Linda had the Seared Scallops with Chili Lime, smashed avocado and tropical corn salsa for her entree (below). From the BTG (By-The-Glass) winelist she had a glass of the Hungry Blonde Chardonnay.

Hungry Blonde Carneros Napa Valley Chardonnay 2015

Produced by iconic Cary Gott, the fruit for this captivating Chardonnay comes from the Poe Vineyard, which sits adjacent to the world renowned Hyde Vineyard in the Carneros appellation at the bottom of Napa Valley near San Pablo Bay. 

Wow, what a find in a BTG offering. Unapologetically bold, Hungry Blonde’s Napa Valley Chardonnay makes no excuses for being made in a rich and buttery style that defines classic California Chardonnay to the fullest. Jeb Dunnuck, former critic for Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate gave this 92 points and wrote, “the 2015 Chardonnay Hungry Blond offers a rock-star Chardonnay experience .... at 30 bucks it’s a killer value.”

Butter colored, full bodied, bold, bright delectable full forward flavors of buttered citrus, honeysuckle, peach, smoky sweet hazelnut and hints of caramel.

RM 92 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2926167

For my entree I had the Maryland Crab Cakes with remoulade sauce, served over sautéed spinach, with estate salad tossed in citrus vinaigrette dressing (below). To accompany this I ordered from the winelist, BTG L’ECole No. 41 Sémillon.

L’Ecole No. 41 Columbia Valley Sémillon 2017

We stopped by the L'Ecole Winery in Louden, WA during our Walla Walla AVA Wine Experience last fall. 

Three generations are involved in the winery managed by Marty Clubb, Managing Winemaker and Co-Owner with his wife, Megan, and children, Riley and Rebecca.  The family-owned artisan winery was founded by Megan’s parents, Jean and Baker Ferguson, in 1983.  

Marty, along with Norm McKibben (Pepper Bridge Winery) and Gary Figgins (Leonetti Cellar) were early viticulture pioneers in the Walla Walla Valley.  In 1997, they partnered to begin the 170 acre expansion of Seven Hills Vineyard.  In the mid-2000s, they partnered once again in the adjacent 1,800 acre vineyard development, SeVein, home to L’Ecole’s newest Estate Ferguson Vineyard. In addition to the Estate Ferguson and Estate Seven Hills Vineyards, Marty works with over 30 vineyards' growers throughout the Columbia Valley.  

This is a blend of 85% Sémillon and 15% Sauvignon Blanc. Fruit for this label is sourced from the Columbia Valley Klipsun, Rosebud, Stillwater Creek, Lodmell and Seven Hills vineyards.

Light straw colored, light medium bodied, bright vibrant melon, pear and citrus fruits with balanced acidity, layers of honeysuckle, honeydew melon, and lemongrass persist with a clean, crisp finish.

RM 88 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3006438

https://www.lecole.com/

https://twitter.com/lecole41

https://www.fioras.com/

Château Guiraud Petit Guiraud 2012

Château Guiraud Petit Guiraud 2012

After dinner we stopped in a neighborhood wine shop enroute back to our hotel and picked up this causal sipper for an after dinner dessert wine to take back to the room. I selected a Château Guiraud Petit Guiraud 2012, a Sauternes, an appellation in France’s Bordeaux region known for some of the most celebrated sweet wines in the world. Sauternes lies within the Graves district of Bordeaux, on the banks of the Garonne River, where cool, foggy mornings and sunny afternoons play a key role in the creation of the area's acclaimed dessert wines.

Different from, but often confused with or compared to Ice Wine, Sauternes sweet dessert wines are produced by leaving the grapes on the vines to allow the beneficial mold Botrytis cinerea to affect the grapes. The Botrytis forms during the area’s damp mornings and causes the grapes to shrivel, creating sugar-laden fruit full of rich, concentrated flavors. Botrytis tends to develop late in the growing season, rewarding those vineyard growers who risk bad weather to leave the grapes on the vine. The resulting Sauternes flavor is rich and sweet, with botrytis contributing a honeyed complexity to the wine, like Ice Wine which is produced in the same way, but by leaving the grapes on the vine into the winter in cold climates.

The primary grapes of Sauternes are white grape variety Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc. This particular label is a blend of those two dominant Sauternes varietals.  This Petit label is the second label or the secondary more economical branding of the more sophisticated and renounced first or primary label, Château Guiraud which is designated a "1er Cru". The first label is naturally more complex, concentrated, expressive and or course, more expensive as to be expected, roughly twice the price.

 Château Guiraud Petit Guiraud 2012

This was straw or butter colored, medium full bodied with thick unctuous tongue coating, almost syrup of sweet 'sticky' notes of honey, hints of pineapple, apple and hints of caramel and what one wine writer referred to as chutney.

RM 89 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2102934

Thanksgiving Dinner with Varied Eclectic Wine Course

Thanksgiving Dinner with Varied Eclectic Wine Course

Thanksgiving is a national holiday that centers on a special celebration dinner feast of classic American cuisine. The traditional menu is uniquely American and is a particular combination of offerings that seldom occurs at any other time - turkey, dressing, cranberry salad, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie...  Even the main course of turkey is rarely featured at any other time during the year. The dinner is based on the original Pilgrim harvest dinner which did not include wine as part of their menu, hence wine selection is based on the modern day food and wine pairing. It is no surprise that the wine tasting selections to accompany the once a year Thanksgiving meal always offers an adventurous wine selection challenge.

The characteristics of turkey and stuffing lends themselves to more neutral, low acidity, non-tannic, clean and crisp fruit filled flavorful wines. Suggested offerings tend towards white wines such as Sauvignon Blanc,  Semillon or a more outgoing forward varietal such as a Riesling or a spicy Gewurztraminer. For red wine lovers, fruit filled moderate bodied earthy spicy reds go well with the dark turkey meat, sweet potatoes and stuffing, robust fruit centered wines, lighter and more moderate to accompany the more delicate neutral white meat.

Finally, there is always a place for Champagne, especially on festive holidays, and most suitably with the white meats, hor d'ovres, appetizers and cheeses.

We started the wine course with the cheese course pairing  .. a sweet 'sticky' accompaniment to compliment the course of artisan cheeses - smoked Gouda, Bellavitano, berry infused goat cheese, and Regianno, with a selection of olives, peppers and pickles.

Tim Smith Barossa Botrytis Sémillon 2005

The Sémillon is a full bodied, heavy, low acidity grape that when held on the vine to full ripeness results in high sugar sweetness for thick syrupy almost oily textured dessert wines that have long aging potential. They are great for sipping with cheese, chocolates, salads or hearty cake desserts. Along with Sauvignon blanc and Muscadelle, Sémillon is one of only three approved white wine varieties in the Bordeaux region that is also popular in Australia. The grape is also key to the production of sweet wines such as Sauternes or in this case, Barossa Valley botrytis semillon.

Great accompaniment to the cheese course - apricot colored, full bodied, thick unctuous syrupy sweet nectar of ripe apricot papaya lychee fruit, accented by almond nut with a layer of smoke on the finish.

RM 89

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=871713

NV Pierre Gimonnet Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs Cuis 1er Cru

Part of our holiday tradition is to serve authentic Champagne as part of the celebration of Thanksgiving for all the blessings that we recognize and for which we give thanks on this day. Of course authentic refers to the fact that only wine produced in the méthode champenoise sourced from grapes from the French Champagne region in northwest France is legally and appropriately labeled Champagne. Like last year, this 1st Cru Champagne is part of a case we acquired several years ago. Sourced from anywhere else, bubbly is simply 'sparkling wine'.  We visited Champagne during our Champagne Wine Experience 2006.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=39540

Chateau Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2003 

Ryan brought this classic Châteauneuf-du-Pape (CDP) for our celebration dinner. CDP is the wine growing appellation in the southern Rhone River valley in the area between the towns or Orange and Avignon in southeast France, up river, north of Marseille and Aix-en-Provence. The CDP appellation rules that control the wines allow for up to thirteen different grape varietals in the blend which typically feature Grenache, Syrah, Cinsault, Mouvedre and are full, complex, gamy, earthy and spicy. We've collected Chateau Beaucastel going all the way back the 1978 vintage. Our visit to Château Beaucastel was one the highlights of our visit to the southern Rhone River wine region including Châteauneuf-du-Pape in 1998. 

The wine evolved over the course of the afternoon and only after an hour or so did it start to open and reveal its native character and style. Dark brownish garnet colored, medium bodied, complex dark berry and spicy black cherry fruits were muted initially but opened up after an hour, accented by pain grillé (toast), smoke, leather, with hints of creosote and licorice on a moderate tannin lingering finish. 

RM 90 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=27759


Deep Sea Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir 2009

Translucent bright ruby color, light medium body, dusty rose with dark cherry fruit accented by brown spices, hints of black tea and tobacco leaf on a nicely balanced modest tannin finish.

RM 88 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1394338






Chateau Tanunda Grand Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon 2009

Dark ruby colored, medium to full bodied, bright forward blackberry and blackcurrant fruits with spice, hints of vanilla and oak on a long with fine-grained tannin finish.

RM 88 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1063509

http://www.chateautanunda.com/

Varner Santa Cruz Mountain Chardonnay 2009

Varner Santa Cruz Mountains Spring Ridge Vineyard Ampitheatre Block Chardonnay 2009

Liat, our friend from Northern California visited and L prepared a Salmon with a  tangy Mango and Cilantro sauce and we served this Chardonnay which was a perfect accompaniment to the entree. It also was a toast to Liat's Northern California Santa Cruz Mountain roots in Los Gatos and long time homestead in the area high above Scott's Valley on Vinehill Road on the site of the old Smothers' Brothers vineyard estate.

Located in the Santa Cruz Mountains south and west of the San Francisco Bay tucked back in the Portola Valley west of Stanford University in the Santa Cruz Appellation, Varner Wines are the product of twin brothers Bob and Jim Varner. This area is not well known for Chardonnay but this 'Amphitheatre Vineyard' Chardonnay is highly regarded and much sought after. The Varner 'Amphitheatre Vineyard' Chardonnay represents a sense of place or "terroir". 

Winemaker Bob Varner selects fruit from the "Amphitheater Block" of their Spring Ridge Vineyard, which was first planted in 1980. This area has never been afflicted with Phyloxera so the vines are from the original root stock and plantings. Varner uses non-interventionist farming practices and native yeast fermentation, yielding a pleasant and impressive wine with character that is crisp and citrusy, with plenty of acidity and minerality. This wine is also a considerable value for the money.

This label is less well known perhaps than their Foxglove label, a line of affordable wines, which offer a high QPR - quality to price ratio; this is from their higher end offerings which are single vineyard and in this case single block designated bottlings. The Varner Spring Ridge Vineyard Amphitheater Block Chardonnay comes from a two-acre block of own-rooted, 28-year-old vines and is aged in 30% new French oak on its lees until bottling.


The Varner Santa Cruz Mountains Spring Ridge Vineyard Ampitheatre Block Chardonnay 2009 was subdued and not over the top like so many Cal chardonnays - medium to full body, excellent texture with aromatic notes of honeysuckle, subtle oak, spice and lemon oil, it features flavors of baked apple, lemon and pear with moderate minerality and a crisp, steely component, with balanced acidity. 


RM 89 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1137045

http://www.varnerwine.com/ 

Beringer Vineyards Nightingale Napa Valley Botytised Semillion Sauvignon Blanc 2004

 For dessert, Linda prepared warm individual chocolate cakes served with ice cream and fresh red raspberries. We  served this with  Beringer Vineyards Nightingale Napa Valley Botytised Semillion Sauvignon Blanc 2004 which accented the red berry fruits and chocolate perfectly.

Golden yellow on release, this eight year old is taking on a weak tea honey colored hue that will continue to darken with age. Medium to full bodied, scents and flavors of honey, apricot and melon finish with a subtle layer of smoke that moderates the fruit and sweetness.

This smokey current greatly resembles the profile of the Beringer Late Harvest Special Select Johannisburg Riesling 1993 that we have tasted over the ensuing eighteen years since release.

RM 89 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=441964