Sip This: Daniel Cohn 2015 Bellacosa Cabernet Sauvignon

Daniel Cohn’s family sold its B.R. Cohn Winery, famed for its cabs and olive oil, a couple of years back, and instead of just counting his cash, Daniel decided it was time to start anew. Enter this flagship of his own brand, Bellacosa, a cabernet sauvignon sourced from vineyards throughout the North Coast appellation.

Want to read the rest then do so at the Independent's site.

Santa Barbara Cabernet Has Come a Long Way, Baby

When a word like pyrazine is the “simpler” way to put something, you know you already might be too far down a rocky scientific road. So let’s jump into the nomenclature deep end: meet isobutyl methoxypyrazine. That’s the chemical compound that makes you smell and taste “green pepper” in red wine, a place where we don’t want green pepper, or at least not so much we end up calling a wine vegetal. (And we won’t even get to cooked green beans, but it can get that bad.)

Want to read the rest then do so at the Santa Barbara Vintners blog.

Paso's JUSTIN Winery Nominated for Winery of the Year

When winemaker Scott Shirley says, "I think this is the appellation for luxury and ultra-premium cabernet sauvignon in the United States," it really means something that he's referring to Paso Robles. Sure, he's been the winemaker at JUSTIN Winery since 2012, so you might think he has to say it. But given he moved to Paso to take the JUSTIN job, leaving Napa Valley after working at both the Hess Collection and Opus One, that claim bears a lot of weight.

Want to read the rest then do so at KCET's Food Blog.

Paso Robles Cab Has Its Moment in the Sun

It's too easy to think of Paso Robles as a place you pass on your way to somewhere else -- Big Sur, Carmel, or San Francisco. The real secret is Paso Robles is on its way to better and better wine, and if you want a sense of that you should attend the CABs of Distinction Grand Tasting on Saturday, May 2 at River Oaks Hot Springs.

"Paso Robles has Napa-like climate and French-like soils," says French-born Central Coast convert Daniel Daou of Daou Vineyards and Winery, hailed as the winery of the year in 2013 by the Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine. "It has a unique ability to achieve ripeness year after year and producing phenolic-rich [the compounds that create taste, color, and mouthfeel] wines that are yet elegant. In the last few years, Paso Robles wineries started tapping into the potential of the terroir and we are starting to see some of the results. The reality is that we have just seen the tip of the iceberg in this cabernet region and the best is yet to come."

Want to read the rest then do so at KCET's Food Blog.

Happy Canyon's Grassini Family Vineyard and Winery

It's just like Santa Barbara to name a location Happy Canyon without an iota of irony. The thing is the location -- the westernmost, and therefore warmest, part of the Santa Ynez Valley -- is ungodly gorgeous. There aren't many folks to clutter up the scenery of rolling hills and horse ranches.

It's in this location (and American Viticultural Area, or AVA, since 2009) that the Grassini Family purchased 104 acres of undeveloped land in the late 1980s. "At the time, there was a lot more cattle than vines dotting the landscape," says Katie Grassini, daughter of founders Larry and Sharon, and current CEO of Grassini Family Vineyards and Winery. "Our land was used for grazing cattle until 2001, when my parents decided to plant 35 of our 104 acres with five Bordeaux varietals. As a child, my father spent years gardening with his grandfather, Articondo, who had emigrated from Pisa. It was his fond memories of tending the land with his grandfather that first inspired him to plant the vines. As an homage to Articondo's influence on Dad's green thumb, we named our red blend wine 'Articondo' -- I think he'd be very proud!"

Want to read the rest then do so at KCET's Food Blog.

Confessing My Love for a 22-Year-Old

Last night for my 50th birthday, my wife and I shared a 22-year-old. I have to admit to some anxiety before the first taste, as I had been thinking about this 22-year-old for years, hoping after I had bought it that I'd taken proper care of it, that it would live up to its promise, the weight of waiting. What if I'd done something wrong and ruined it along its journey to maturity? I'd never forgive myself. But now that it was at last mine, plush and luscious in my mouth, I have to admit, it was very very good.

Wait, you might be confused...I'm talking about a bottle of 1991 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon. It was the first expensive bottle of wine I ever bought, perhaps almost $40 back in 1995 (ah, those innocent, cheaper me days), and I've been storing it ever since, assuming there'd be a right time, a right steak (come to think of it, I was a pescatarian when I bought it). I would not want to begin to count the bottles of wine I've purchased/consumed since then, as the Montelena bided its time. Perhaps it felt it was waiting for me, too.

It was a relief bringing the bottle to a restaurant for corkage, as I didn't have to do the opening honors and face the fear of the cork crumbling or the cork lifting and emitting a damp cardboard tinge that might mean taint. The cork itself pulled clean, and was well-reddened, so it seems I stored the bottle relatively well. Not a whiff of TCA, either. And now the Cab sat, an open question, drinking air from a century different than the last it had contact with. We had cocktails to start, as this was Sly's, and you don't pass on Mandy's cocktails even for a 22-year-old.

Finally it was time, and we had much to toast to as it wasn't just my birthday, but my wife had just been named Santa Barbara Poet Laureate--a glorious coincidence for the bottle to be part of. Its color carmine even to its edges--not a bit of brown even for its age. The nose was muted, although that keep changing with the night, some red berry, some leather. The taste, of all things, dignified, although again as it opened more and more it let its wild side out, more bramble in that berry. And it left your mouth better than when it began, teaching your tongue how to taste, making my medium rare Kansas City New York bone-on beef in a drizzle of Bearnaise beautiful.The bottle just kept opening, a night of possibility, growing fuller, deeper, more delicious. As if I needed another lesson in how the best things in life are worth a wait.