Rosemount Estate Chardonnay

Now the Australia event was a special one as my Mom and Dad were in town and able to attend. They were deputized by the high order of the BBS, and they did a good job. I'd gone up to K&L Wines on Vine Street just south of Sunset Blvd( a great wine shop that opened their first LA location a couple of years back. I believe they started up in San Francisco and the Bay Area). They selected a 2005 Rosemount Estate Chardonnay.

Now before the pours started, I knew this wine had an uphill battle. It is a chardonnay. A great many wine drinkers for whatever reason do not like chardonnays. Most wine drinkers complain of the oak.The oak flavor being popular back in the day, wine makers just pumped up the oak volume thinking that wine drinkers would love it that much more. My Dad likened the situation to the French Chablis of the mid to late '70s and early '80s. He said that a certain taste and the name brand Chablis had created a Chablis rush. Inferior wine makers rush in, and ruin the reputation of the grape and the wine.

I can say that personally, this wine quickly won me over. Someone remarked that it had some "green grass" on the nose. With a really nice straw color and flavors of grapes, apples, honey, yes - some oak, and believe it or not... nut oil - this wine had a nice balanced flavor. The general agreement was that though it did have the signature chardonnay oak flavor, it wasn't overwhelmingly oaky. Although one BBSers' comment was that it did have too much lingering oak on the finish.

Probably good with a buttery fish or shrimp or scallops. But it had a nice clean edge which might let it go also equally well with oysters.

RATING:3.5 Screwcaps
LABEL: Rosemount Estate
GRAPE: Chardonnay
PRICE: $7.99

Jacob's Creek Riesling

So March 14th, the Brown Bag Sommeliers met for a night of tasting Australian wines hopefully ones that turned out to be good bargains. I personally felt like we met with a lot of success, although some attending felt like this night decided for them that they didn't like Australian wines. Not that you'd know from all the empties in my recycling bin. Said booze hounds who turned their noses up at Australian juice even as they poured it down into their wine circulating systems( aka: the bloodstream) shall remain names.

We kicked off the night with a 2005 Jacob's Creek Riesling. Looking back at the note cards that people handed in, this wine really divided the room. And it could have something to do with how wine drinkers feel about Rieslings. Some people described it as bitter with a nose of burnt rubber with lingering "yucky" tannins. While others felt that it had a nice, clean mineral taste - " a medium bodied wine with a hint of lemon rind, gooseberry, and seagrass. With a quick finnish but also a lingering syrupy taste."

Personally, I liked the wine. I thought it had a nice clean taste with mineral and hay notes. This is something I could have with shellfish. Aaron, who brought it, likes this with Thai food or something where the wines structure can cut the spicy heat in the food. He also wanted props that he brought in a wine for $8.99. He usually brings wines in at the $12.99 ceiling.

RATING: 3.25 Screwcaps
LABEL: Jacob's Creek
GRAPE:Riesling
PRICE: $8.99

Greenblatt's

On Friday night, Christine, my son James, and I went out to get something to eat at Greenblatt's Deli on Sunset. I love Greenblatt's, and I really love their tuna sandwich. It is one of the few things that I eat which I feel better after eating. Yeah yeah, I know it's strange, but for the most part I feel sick after I eat - not so Greenblatt's Tuna Salad Sandwich. I also know that Greenblatt's has some bitchin' wines in their cellar and selection.

Anyway, what I didn't know is that Greenblatt's has the best wine prices in town for in house eating. When you sit down to eat in the deli you can get wines by the bottle for retail cost plus a $5.95 corkage. To go along with our dinner we got a 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon from Avalon. The total cost with corkage was $16.95. And the wine was fanatastic, and yes as a matter of fact it does go with tuna salad on rye. Another highlight on the menu was a bottle of Veuve Cliquot - the yellow label brut - for 43 bucks. That's less than I saw it in Gelson's for cryin' out loud.

So if you like Deli and you like good wine at great prices hit Greenblatt's Deli 8017 Sunset Blvd, Hollywood CA 90046