Txakoli Gurrutxaga

Txakoli Gurrutxaga... no it doesn't mean you've had too much to drink if you cannot pronounce this wine. It simply means that it is Basque. With the only language in Continental Western Europe that did not branch off from the Proto Indo-European tongue( a strange fract that Atlantean conspiracists take to mean that Basques are the survivors of the wreckage of ancient Atlantis) Basques are known for their Gehry designed Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, separatists, and a dish of garlicky, baby eels the width of bucantini. According to the Woodland Hills Wine Company( great wine shop by the way) Twitter feed this wine is made from 30% Hondarribi Zuri, 30% Hondarribi Beltza, 20% Mune Mahatsa and 20% Txori Mahatsa.

As with the Basque language, these grapes are completely alien to me. Also according to the Woodland Hills Wine Co, this wine is produced in a small run of 1000 cases having been fermented in steel tanks.

I liked this wine. Light-medium bodied with hints of grapefruit, honeysuckle, and sweet tarts it also carried a great mineral flavor that you find in tradition packed European wines. That mineral kick would make it ideal for pairing with oysters or any briny shell fish.

This was a really great drinking wine, low in alcohol, and a lot of the Brown Bag Team members really enjoyed it.

There's only one problem: it is over our price point. You see, every group needs a rebel, and the elite Brown Bag Sommeliers are no different. Our rebel is Aaron. He has a great sense for great wine. He knows what he likes, and he has introduced me to wines I would never have bought.

For example, one blazing LA Summer our power went out for days and compromised Aaron's wine fridge. He was concerned that the bottles he was keeping in a temperature controlled environment had been ruined and the only way to be sure was to open and drink all of them.

Christine and I had the good fortune of being wine guinea pigs ( we always volunteer).

I suppose it's good to throw 17 dollar wines into the mix to make sure our palate isn't just rotting from a steady schedule of Night Train.

RATING: 3.2 Screwcaps - minus 2 screwcaps for flagrant price point violation
LABEL: Txakoli Gurrutxaga
GRAPE: Blend of Hondarribi Zuri, Hondarribi Beltza, Mune Mahatsa and Txori Mahatsa
PRICE: $17.99

Dibon Brut Reserve Cava

This was the winner of the night. It also happens to be the wine I brought to this knife fight, which makes me happy since I have had two major duds in our four meetings.

The name "Cava" comes from the Latin "cava" which means cave which were used in early production of the Spanish sparkler. It usually uses a blend of grapes including: Macabeo, Parellada, Xarel·lo, Chardonnay, Pinot noir, and Subirat.

The Dibon is a blend ofXarel-lo, Parellada and Macabeo.

The Dibon Cava was a crisp, refreshing sparkler. With a lemony nose and a hint of vanilla, this wine presented a lot of possibilities. It could be very successfully combined with shellfish, oysters, white flesh fish, or even a salad course.

Team members thought it would be the perfect cava to use in a white sangria. Overall, he consesus was that this could become a go to wine in everyone's arsenal: the cava to have on hand for occasions which though maybe casual still called for a sparkling wine to be festive.

Bravo Zulu* Dibon.

* = military code for job well done.

RATING: 3.35 Screwcaps
LABEL: Dibon Brut Reserve
GRAPE: blend of Xarel-lo, Parellada and Macabeo
PRICE: $8.99

Spain Tasting

After Australia, Brown Bag Sommelier set its sights on Spain. Spain is a country that in the past, I have had mad success in the $8.99 to $10.99 sweet spot - even with the mad run-up of the Euro last year, I was still able to find some bargains.

Something was off for the Spanish wines this night. Perhaps, the BBS team members were turning crack commando unit - up from the dirty dozen willing to drink anything that came in a brown paper bag, was made from grapes, and got them happily buzzed after a few sips.

Personally, I think it was a conspiracy. I had the winning wine, and I really believe everyone was giving out shitty scores to purposely depreciate the value of my win. Kind of like the year Rocky won best picture. Yeah it was good, but Stallone would never have won in a year against Scorsese and Coppola.

The huge plus of the night, including of course the company, was the food. Spain has dishes just geared for having with wine. Salty, flavorful, tangy, Spanish snacks have it happening all over the place.

Now the wines...

Four Sisters

At the end of a long night of powerful shiraz wines, there was Four Sisters Shiraz. This '05 Shiraz had its work cut out for it, since the crowd by this time was really sick of shiraz wines. These wines tend to be strong, dusty, fruit forward. Some of them were totally overpowering - like the inky darkness I brought to the party.

Four Sisters won some fans in the group. It was jammy like a zinfandel with tastes of preserved fruits and dried cherries. Some found the taste a little sharp, but still the feeling of the group was that this was a nice balanced wine.

With its zin flavor, this is a wine you could serve with something like a rib-eye steak with gorgonzola butter and smoked paprika. It's tannins would cut through the steak and the cheese cleaning your palate so that you could enjoy each savory bite.

At $8.99, this wine is a solid value.

RATING: 2.75 Screwcaps
LABEL: Four Sisters
GRAPE: Shiraz
PRICE: $8.99

Penfolds Koonunga Hill

Penfolds Koonunga Hill is a solid, dependable big operation winemaker shiraz. This is the kind of wine that I think of when I think of Australian wines: a massive producer that makes oceans of decent tasting, moderately priced red juice. Nothing earth shattering, but something you can pull from the wine rack knowing that it will be decent.

Judging from the team's score cards, no one was blown away by this wine. And I think that because of familiarity with the wine, no one was going to be surprised. Still it delivers on a level.

Structure tends to break down quickly. Still, it has a nice balance with a fruit back taste and a little bit of spiciness.

This wine is dependable, and at $8.99 that accounts for a lot.

RATING: 2 Screwcaps
LABEL: Penfolds Koonunga Hill
GRAPE: Shiraz
PRICE. $8.99

Kalbarri

This 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon from Southeastern Australia was another fairly high scoring wine. After the long string of Shiraz based wines, the group found the cab sauvignon wine a lot smoother and more easy going. This was a wine that would go well with food but could be enjoyed on its own.

The tasters found the nose to have a soft fruit hint like cranberry with some lavender. They also detected a taste that they agreed could only be described as "sweet tarts" - meaning the candy sweet tarts.

I missed a lot of the conversation as I was putting my son to bed( my wife and I host these tastings in our apartment), but I gathered that this wine although not blowing anyone's mind was definitely a crowd pleaser. One person wrote on their note card "love it."

I think this wine came from Ralph's grocery store - which always seems to have a hit or miss selection - so good job to Brown Bag agents James and Heather for bringing this find in.

Extra credit for the price. Both since it is below eight bucks and the decimal is so odd - .59.

RATING: 3.15 Screwcaps
LABEL: Kalbarri
GRAPE: Cabernet Sauvignon
PRICE: $7.59

Yalumba

A blend of Shiraz and Viognier, the 2006 Yalumba earned some really high marks. Again, this was a wine showing some really dark fruits like plum and boysenberry. It was also part of a string of dark, fruit forward wines at the Australia night tasting. What the tasters found, however, with this wine was that it was round in the mouth, balanced, and smooth.

Some found some tart cranberry and crisp pear on the nose - possibly because of the Viognier blended in.

At the end of the night, I took an informal poll, and three of BBS tasters voted it their favorite of the night - even though overall the Gemtree shiraz rated number one. And for those who didn't vote Yalumba their number one, they nominated it second station.

And for a shiraz that has a silky almost elegant finish - what's not to like?

RATING: 3.75 Screwcaps
LABEL: Yalumba
GRAPE: Shiraz/Viognier blend
PRICE: $10.99